Revison of previous post.
There is a path which no fowl knoweth,
and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
But where shall wisdom be found?
by the magnitude of the expanse.
that I am sure where he dwelleth.
God is there in the midst of the darkness.
and the day star arise in your hearts…
the depths of our own hearts.
My God you are holy. So holy
So full of all that I have need of
It is you that gives me this marvelous sense of completeness
That which I could never find in the world
but you have given it, O Lord
What fullness!
In truth I can say in my experience and proclaim,
You are holy”
Yes, your glorious Name is hallowed in my experience-
Even in my body, which is ‘for the Lord’..
Worthy to be set above all other names is yours, O Lord
For in your Name it is revealed all that you are.
And in knowing and experiencing you in all that which you are
I find it is always exceedingly abundantly above
all that we could think or even ask
Each and every time
For we are before you as infinitely complex creatures O Lord
Beyond anything which man can understand or fully comprehend
Indeed we need and infinite God in our eternal capacities
And now my eternal perspective is exceedingly wondrous!!!
How marvelous are your works O God.
Way beyond my meager comprehension.
A spiritual maxim was communicated to me years ago that went like this:
The Word without the spirit is death
The Spirit without the Word leads to deception.
For many years I felt like I was experiencing the first precept of the saying.
That is: experiencing a lot of the preaching of the word and man’s emphasis on the Word
but a real lack of Spirit communicated with the Word preached.
Not only was there a lack of power in most preaching
but there was a limiting of the Spirit in allowing others to move in their spiritual gifting.
I experienced countless meetings where I would be refreshed by the Spirit of God
during a time of praise and worshipful singing only to have the life
sucked out of me by a speaker who blabbed on powerlessly ad nauseum.
Why do all these guys think they have to fill an hour with their much speaking?
And then there was the frustration of not finding opportunity
to express ones own spritiual gifts, except on the rare occasion,
even when the scripture teaches that our coming together
was to be just for this each and every time.
How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm,
hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation.
Let all things be done unto edifying. 1 Corinthians 14.26
And so, in reference to such as that I was seeing the truth of the above maxim
played out in relation to the deadness and powerlessness of the modern church gatherings
where the Kingdom is not supposed to be in ‘word’ but in power.
On the other side of the equation:
the idea of too much Spirit leading to deception when not kept
within the parameters of scriptural truth I had only read about but never experienced.
Well, that is not true anymore.
Now is being played out before our eyes this other aspect of the above stated truism
ie. that Spirit without Word leads to deception.
Now, I won’t go into that.
We talk about it all the time on the itnernet these days it seems
as the Watchmen of God are warning of modern error and deception.
Suffice it to say, that in our modern worship if you cannot find it in the scripture
it should be avoided.
When it says ‘pray lifting holy hands’ good and well.
Praise, dance, shout, OK.
But blowing whistles and barking like a dog or roaring like a lion-
that goes beyond the parameters of the Holy Writ.
What I would like to do is to point you to a quote found in a book
which can be found online and the truth shared below:
THE BASIC PRINCIPLE FOR TESTING TEACHINGS BY TEACHING SPIRITS
Since thought, or “belief,” originates either from the God of Truth,
or the father of lies (John 8: 44), there is but one basic principle for testing the source of all doctrines,
or “thoughts” and “beliefs,” held by believers, or unbelievers,
i.e., the test of the revealed Word of God.
All “truth” is in harmony with the only channel of revealed truth in the world–the written Word of God.
All “teachings” originating from deceiving spirits–
Weaken the authority of the Scriptures; Distort the teaching in the Scriptures;
Add to the Scriptures the thoughts of men; or Put the Scriptures entirely aside.
The ultimate object being to hide, distort, misuse, or put aside the revelation of God
concerning the Cross of Calvary, where Satan was overthrown by the God-Man,
and where freedom was obtained for all his captives.
The test of all “thought” and “belief” therefore is its Harmony
with the written Scriptures in its full body of truth.
The attitude to the Cross, and sin. ****
The above quote was taken from the book War on the Saints by Jesse Penne Lewis
and can be found in its entirety online.
I thought this was excellent and really pertinent to what were are seeing in the church in this hour.
…having escaped the corruption
that is in the world through lust.
2 Peter 1.4
Lust is at the center of much human activity
ie. lust for money- power- sex
in our delusion
attention is drawn to self and enhancement
to that which the soul would admire and covet
to food and fleshly pleasures
For all that is in the world,
the lust of the flesh,
and the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life,
is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1 John 2.16
a continual hunger is at work
an abysmal emptiness
born of mankind’s separation from God
from whence springs
all the bottomless pits of the world-
the addictions the obsessions and every abomination
the void sucks and pulls on all flesh
to a continual grasping frenzy
a lusting to fill
longing beyond comprehension
not knowing the paradise
from which they have been far removed
the deeper issues unexplained and unfulfilled
there is a seeking to fill the void with whatever-
while money changers hawk potions of promise
for all and every
but in Christ
instead of a yawning chasm of emptiness
there comes fullness
And of his fullness have all we received,
and grace for grace.
John 1.16
in him the whole course of nature is altered
and instead of want
there is a flow from a wellspring of abundance
and fulfillment
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want…
Psalm 23
instead of need
we operate in an overflowing grace
that creates a giving spirit
first we give to God
and then we give to others
as our cup runneth over
in Heaven’s abundant provision
through the Holy Ghost
…who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings…
Ephesians 1.3
We rise each day
and each day brings
the challenge
and the lie
that it is not so
yet, daily bread convinces us otherwise
with those looked for mercies
which are new every morning
…eat, O friends; drink, yea,
drink abundantly, O beloved.
Song of Songs
There is a path which no fowl knoweth,
and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
The lion’s whelps have not trodden it,
nor the fierce lion passed by it…
But where shall wisdom be found?
and where is the place of understanding?
Man knoweth not the price thereof;
neither is it found in the land of the living.
The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.
It cannot be gotten for gold,
neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
Whence then cometh wisdom?
and where is the place of understanding?
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,
and kept close from the fowls of the air.
Destruction and death say,
We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
The Book of Job
And where too is God to be found?
If I look amongst the stars- mine eye is confounded by the magnitude.
If I look to the clouds all vision is obscured.
If I seek to pierce the darkness of the night sky
it is a deep immense and vast and too great for comprehension.
If I my eye should dare toward the sun
His glory warns not there to attempt.
But where is the Creator of heaven and earth?
and how shall I find or know Him?
Above the heavens?
In the deep?
No, I can only find him by searching that darkness
within my own being.
Then said Solomon,
The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
2 Chronicles 6.1
Within!
That is the only place that I am sure of him .
It is there that I find the witness.
For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness ,
hath shined in our hearts, to give the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4.6
And his word is nigh- even on my lips.
Even His breath sustains me.
And now I find that understanding and wisdom
have become like a lush landscape of heaven within my very heart.
Neither shall they say , Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold , the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17.21
Last night I had a bit of anointed perception
gracefully administered to me.
I saw how that praying in the Spirit begins
with a fullness that eliminates a sense of need.
Spirit filled and spirit directed praying is the way to go.
Often without a sense of fullness
we can find ourselves desperately seeking
for things that have already been provided.
We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
and it is the Spirit that makes known to us
the things that are freely
given to us from God.
By praying in what we will find as a fullness to begin with
eliminates our praying against the truth-
prayers which our Lord cannot answer.
For if it has already been given, how shall we then pray for it?
But so often we are blind to the things
that God has already wrought for us in Christ Jesus.
This is why the great Apostolic burden and prayer
was that men and women
should have the eyes of their understanding enlightened
so that they could see….
We all must get some eyesalve for our eyes
so that we can see as we should
and what we should.
If we are not born again it is sure that we will not see
but born anew we really should see something.
We then learn to look to those things which are not seen.
Things not seen by natural eyes that is, but the spiritual eye begins to discern some things.
And that seeing shall cause the heart to rejoice when we
then are enabled to apprehend all that has already been provided for us in Christ Jesus.
We won’t be strangers at his table
but regular attendees.
That is why the same Apostle exhorted in his writings, “Rejoice!”
And that is why David understood saying,
“I will enter his gates
with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise.”
A pilgrim crossed a great and desolate wasteland
seeking refuge in a city whose builder and maker is God.
His God had called him to seek such
putting in his heart a hunger for that
which was the “Perfection of Beauty”
and the “Joy of the whole earth”.
As he sojourned across the great waste
he cried and prayed continually,
“O Lord I must decrease and you must increase.
I forsake all those things of the world
and those lusts of the flesh and of the mind
that I used to take pleasure in
when I once lived in them.”
“Keep me as the apple of your eye, O my God,
for I know that with you is life and truth
and at your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
Only let me be pleasing to you
and grant me entrance to your everlasting kingdom.”
And this went on and on, such crying out to the Lord;
even great searching of heart and humbling himself before God.
For he travelled far and many temptations sought to waylay this pilgrim
from the goal of his journey that was before him.
But there came a time when, in much weariness, the pilgrim stopped
and sought to refresh himself and gather strength to continue on.
When off in the distance he spied a glimmering dome of translucent light.
Yes, it shimmered off in the distance
such that he thought it might be a dream or a mirage.
It came at a time when he wasn’t expecting it
and in a way that he looked not for.
So he rose and headed towards this apparition
that had so mysteriously appeared before his face.
And as he approached that wondrous sight there appeared a man
dressed in white linen which cried out to him
‘Hail Pilgrim, what is it you seek?”
To this salutation our pilgrim
and seeker of the celestial city answered,
“Sir, I have seen this pure and translucent shimmering from a way off
and I thought that it might be that city that I have heard tell
is clear as crystal and hard to be seen or found.
The Lord of the city had bid me
come and charged me that if I were willing and obedient
I might be granted entrance to this great and noble place.”
The man in linen responded,
” Indeed this is that place you seek.
It is that very place whereof the Lord spoke,
‘I go to prepare a place for you.’
Behold this is the door and I am the gate keeper.”
He held out his hand as to direct our pilgrim’s gaze
and there appeared before him an entrance
and he was enabled to gaze in and see many of those
who had entered the gate already.
“Allow me O gate keeper one query now, for I am somewhat confused.
I see many who have entered in and are on the other side of the door
But there is none that is above the age and stature of a little child.
Are there no adults here?”
“You have seen well, said the gatekeeper.
Have you not heard the requirements of the Lord
that ‘except you become as little children’
you shall in no wise enter in to the things
God has prepared for his own.”
“Ahh! now I see and I understand well,” said the pilgrim.
“Indeed you do,” said the man before the door,
“for you have been humbling your heart all this way
cross the great and howling wilderness
as you have travelled far and sought this city of refuge.”
“And now, you too, as you enter
will find yourself decreasing even more
that it might be fulfilled
even according to the word of the Lord.”
“One last question”, said the pilgrim,” If I may?”
“Say on.” answered the heavenly porter.
“I see that there are few who enter and abide there.
Why is it that in such a city of quiet habitation and secure
and wherein dwells no unrighteousness
and where no wicked nor unclean can enter are there not people very many?
You’d think that the line would be long to get in to such a place.”
To which the man in linen answered him,
“Truly, many are called but few are chosen.
Many even feel so desperate as you to venture the great wilderness
seeking refuge but alas they pass by the city,
not seeing it where it stands.
For it is clear as crystal. Like transparent glass, you see.
And only you could see because you have humbled your heart
and sought to obey in all things.
And there are many that perish in the wilderness
and are not able to enter in because of their unbelief.
And there are those that think the city is some future reality
to enter in to in some other dispensation so that they do not even
believe to enter into something so glorious in this lifetime.
But to you it is given to know the mystery of the city of God
and precious eyesalve is provided to the those
who believe and doubt not and who persevere
through great weakness and inherent sin-
ever humbling themselves and acknowledging their transgression.
Yes even now this bride in the earth prepares herself for that great day.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband.
Revelation 21.2
when in an atmosphere of praise
and the moving of the Holy Spirit
a very powerful word of prophecy came forth.
The Lord spoke through his yielded servant saying,
“If I came as you are asking me to come
then you would have to quit ignoring me.”The Lord, after this brief reproof,
went on to affirm his promise-
He was still coming as he had said,
but a little correction was first in order.
As a child of promise, the Holy Spirit had shown me
some things to come and I was hungry to see fulfillment.
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come ,
he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever he shall hear , that shall he speak :
and he will shew you things to come . John 16.13
But examining my heart I had to admit
that in some areas I was ignoring
the voice and the call of God.
In one area, I realized, I considered it a small thing-
a minor fleshly indulgence.
No big deal.
And maybe that was so at one time.
Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself
for those things that he allows. Romans 14.22
However, once God puts his finger on an area
and calls for change, ignoring him
then, is no longer a ‘small thing’,
but rather becomes big, fat, ugly, disobedience and rebellion.
It took a while for this to sink in.
Take for us the little foxes that spoil the vine.
Song of Songs
The other way I acknowledged I was ignoring God
was when the Spirit would seek
to direct me in a way
that I did not understand the why? or the wherefore?
I would excuse myself for drawing back.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding…
Proverbs 3.5
I was at a stage in my spiritual walk where the Spirit
would be seeking to take control
many times throughout a day
in a way that as a young Christian
I would only experience maybe once a year
as a check in my spirit.
In such a way the Spirit would seek to turn me
from a path I might take or a decision I might make
or a meditation that might begin to roll in heart and mind.
Now I was getting these impositions of the spirit
many times throughout a day
and most often
I didn’t understand what God was after.
And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying ,
This is the way, walk ye in it , when ye turn to the right hand,
and when ye turn to the left .
Isaiah 30.21
Through seeking him I began to understand
these promptings of the Spirit as calls to enter in.
Behold , I stand at the door, and knock :
if any man hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me.
Revelation 3.20
I was learning Jesus doesn’t just knock
to get us saved at the first,
he knocks throughout out the day to bring me in to God’s presence.
And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king
instead of David my father: and I am but a little child:
I know not how to go out or come in.
1 Kings 3.7
The Spirit of God was prompting to get me
to cease from my own activities and understanding.
He was leading me to enter in in a way
that I had never before even imagined.
But as it is written , Eye hath not seen ,
nor ear heard , neither have entered into
the heart of man, things which God hath prepared
for them that love him.
1Corinthians 2.9
F
ailure to maintain any kind of consistent prayer life
over the years was shown to be a weakness
that God’s power could work and be perfected in.
And the admonition from the Lord
to watch unto prayer took on a new meaning
as I’m learning to keep myself
watching and waiting for those special times
of entering in that the Spirit initiates.
Yes, It was quite simply a call to deeper life
in the Spirit and in prayer
and a more consistent appearing before God
which God was working in me.
No man can come to me, except the Father
which hath sent me draw him…
John 6.44
Then the Lord began to deal with me even deeper
about my thought life.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord,
that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk ,
in the vanity of their mind…
Ephesians 4.17
He began to lead me to pray in the spirit
and to use my prayer language more
which I realized I was so loathe to do up til now
because of the pain of moving into a realm
where the understanding is unfruitful.
It was way out of my proverbial ‘comfort zone’.
But if I was to obey God and move out of
that vain kind of living and thinking that is mine
when I don’t enter in by way of praying in the Spirit,
I would need to ignore my flesh
and move out of the comfortability of my previous way
of thinking and living.
Launch out into the deep…. Luke 5.4
And so I see that God was doing this for me who,
in the final analysis , really did not know
how to come out or go in.
The Spirit showed up in my weakness here
and I slowly learned to respond.
I had to learn that when you get those checks
you do not question-
you turn and begin to listen, or wait , or be still…
you know… the kind of things our flesh is reluctant to yield to.
Especially when it is not clear to our understanding
what God is seeking to do.
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard ,
nor perceived by the ear , neither hath the eye seen ,
O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.
Isaiah 64.4
Developing intuitive ability is crucial here.
There are many things in our Christian walk I find
that are beyond our understanding.
That is why he gives us that peace that passeth understanding.
And so in His grace and mercy
I corrected the ‘little things’
that turned out to be not so little
and wished I had done it a lot sooner.
O how much grace we
frustrate that could be ours.
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
Jonah 2.8I
It was said of Abraham that right at the start
of that life of faith that was pleasing to the Father
and through which he would become the father of all who believe,
that he went out… not knowing where he was going.
More and more I find this most significant
in relation to the ways of God and of faith
involving our not leaning to our own mind or understanding.
And I find there is a kind of spiritual
and allegorical beheading
that must take place.
I believe the Apostle John refers to just this
in what I believe is a parable.
…and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God…
Re3velation 20.4
Even if we don’t see the metaphor here,
surely we can see that we are no longer
the head of our lives.
We have been given a new head.
Christ is the head of the body.
Let this mind be in you… Philippians 2.5
Every one who learns to let go of the natural life
and learns to walk in the Spirit
learns to look into a realm imperceptible to the natural mind.
While we look not at the things which are seen ,
but at the things which are not seen :
for the things which are seen are temporal;
but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4.18
Unless we are born again we cannot see such things
but God has revealed them to us
and continues to, until we become established
according to the revelation of the mystery. Romans 16.25
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned .
1 Corinthians 2.14
Our old way of thinking has to go.
Off with the head!
I went to a meeting last night.
It was a “Pentecostal” storefront church in Clevleand.
And there was some shouting going on.
And I did some shouting too!
What does the Bible say?
“Let the righteous exceedingly rejoice!”
The saints were rejoicing exceedingly in the presence of the Lord.
And there was great liberty.
You can’t fake this stuff.
You can’t work it up.
The presence of the Lord is there in power or not.
And I thought ‘How great to see the saints so excited in Jesus!‘
And I thought, ‘Boy, there are many who would think this is just crazy!’
They don’t think its crazy when the football team
scores a touchdown and people immediatly shoot their hands up!
and jump up! and shout!
Most did not learn that from the Bible.
It comes quite naturally when something
causes rejoicing to rise in you.
“Shout to the Lord all the earth!!!”
…to give unto them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness…
Isaiah 61.3
How wondrous was the Lord’s visitation the other
day after that I responded
to what was a somewhat painful heart knocking
with which the Lord was seeking the opening of my heart.
Behold ,
I stand at the door, and knock :
if any man hear my voice, and open the
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me.
Revelation 3.20
I came expectantly and then seemingly
there was nothing…
not as had so readily come of late
when I responded
to spirit promptings by turning inward.
But then I persisted and O what a loveliness…
what an inexpressible beauty I saw!
There are really no words for such favor-
for such a revelation of an aspect of God.
Beauty!
Yes! He gives it in exchange for the ashes of my sacrifice.
For turning my gaze,
if ever so weakly, to look in his direction.
How lovely is his dwelling place!
How amiable are his tabernacles!
How glorious and wonderful
is his goodness to the sons of men,
even to as many as believe on his name
And so often it seems that it is in response
to his leading to just simply lift the head-
even that which the flesh is so loth to do.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty,
the LORD mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates;
even lift them up, ye everlasting doors;
and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory.
Selah. Psalm 24.7-10
