“I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me... that I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.” Proverbs 8:17, 21 The Lord ever seeks to change us, as He desires to bring us up into a cooperative relationship with Him in the outworking of His higher purposes. Before we can go with Him, we must first come to Him. Therefore, the Lord waits for us to reach out toward Him and invite Him to come within (those that seek Me early shall find Me). “Come, My beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give you My loves.” Song of Solomon 7:11-12 The time that we spend devotionally in His presence is of tremendous importance. Each day, we should come into our “set apart place” to worship Jesus, and with a thankful heart acknowledge His goodness concerning us. We should come into His presence in submission and dependence, as being a branch that is attached to the true vine (the tree of life) and give expression in audible worship, as we partake of communion with Him, and then devotionally read His Word. As we faithfully do this, day after day, an impartation of “Spirit” (His quickened presence) will flow into the depth of our being to build up our faith and provide us with the necessary “enabling grace” for obedience, so we can live and walk, closer to Jesus. “The Lord Jehovah hath given to me The tongue of taught ones, To know to aid the weary [by] a word, He waketh morning by morning, He waketh for me an ear to hear as taught ones. The Lord Jehovah opened for me the ear, And I rebelled not — backward I moved not.” Isaiah 50:4-5 Young’s Literal Translation It is essential that each day, we set apart time to be in His presence. Our attending church services should not be neglected, but this should never become a substitute for our devotional times alone with the Lord. So also today, there are those who are searching for something more, who likewise are being called apart to be alone with the Lord, in order to receive a present word. Therefore, it is very important that we respond when the Lord knocks on the door of our spirit. Each one of us should come to the place in which we also can make this statement – “I am the voice of One who is crying in the wilderness of our day.” There is an urgent need for this “voice” to cry out in the midst of the spiritual confusion, frustrations, and accelerating dangers of our day. In Genesis 3:8, Adam and Eve “heard the voice of the Lord walking.” This tells us that God not only desires to speak, but because He is walking, there is a progression in that which He has to say. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus is seen standing at the door that leads into the time of transition from the Church Age, into the Millennial Kingdom Age. He is “knocking” upon the means of entrance into His higher purpose (the Lord has limited Himself to move and work through human agency). In Genesis, His voice was walking, but in Revelation, due to the urgency of the present hour, His voice is knocking on the “door of entrance” into our spirit. Moses was called apart in a time of great need, when the church of that day (Israel) was to be delivered from worldly bondage and servitude. In Acts 7:22 we are told that “Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.” He knew that he was called, and attempted to accomplish the Lord’s work by using this earthly knowledge and training. However, he utterly failed. After his failure, Moses fled into the wilderness where all this ability was drained from him. Then the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush and said, “put off your shoes.” In effect, the Lord was saying, “Moses you have walked in your ability as far as you can go. Now, you are to walk in My enabling ability.” Today, there is a misplaced emphasis on methodology, which instead, should be placed upon divine revelation and enabling grace. Therefore, the need is not fresh, or more methodology, but rather, a turning aside to stand in the “manifest presence” of the Lord to be prepared as the “voice of one crying in the wilderness of our day.” Whenever anyone of us experiences a time of visitation, an enemy will prod us to get busy and do something - anything. He would rather have us “do” than “become.” Moses was never a threat to the powers of darkness until he turned aside and stood in the presence of the Lord. The Lord is seeking to bring us to the end of our abilities, so we can tap into His ability. This requires that we recognize His presence and turn aside to stand before Him. Only then will we be enabled to become the expression of His voice, which is crying in the wilderness of our day. May each of us be willing to turn aside and stand before a bush that burns, but is not consumed, and receive the empowering of a “Holy Spirit baptism of fire.”
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 01:03:12 +0000