The Glory of His Grace

(Ephesians 1:6)

Jesus prayed that we would be with Him and behold His glory. We live in a day when the Holy Spirit is bringing us into more and more experience of His presence and His glory.  The maturity of those who are disciples of Jesus is increasing.  We also see acceleration in many who are coming to Him, meeting Him for the first time.  This is often the case where those who come to Him are not hindered by religious tradition.

We must spend time in His presence, beholding His glory for this is how we are changed. We are not changed by awesome, revelatory teaching.  We are not changed by going to the “best” church we can find.  Teaching is important, even essential.  So is gathering together with other disciples.  As we hear of what He has made available to us, we must receive, apprehend and pursue that which we have heard with our ears.  We learn by practice and experience to mix the word with faith.  This is further developed as we spend time with Him directly.  We hear His voice, not only the voice of the person who is the speaker.  This is what Jesus meant when He said, “Let Him who has ears to hear, hear.”

Our brother Paul prayed that the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened. It is the same with the ears of our hearts, the ears of our inner man.  Here is our secret place, the place we commune with Him, the place that we sit at His feet.  Yes we need to have a physical place or places to do this.  Jesus would go off alone to a high place, above the noise of the day to commune with our Father.  We must do the same.

We find distraction, obstacles, and rocky places in our hearts that hinder our coming to Him and seeing and hearing clearly. He gives grace.  It is His grace that brings us near.  He wants us to come near.  He desires more than we do for us to know Him as Daddy.  His great delight is that His children come to Him.  He delights when a newborn believer appears before Him.  Some father in the church, or some mother has prayed, and interceded for someone and the birth comes.  We have heard and used the word travail.  That refers to prayer that is deep and earnest and often includes tears.  It becomes intense in the spirit.  In the natural, God gave us childbirth as a comparison.  But listen carefully.  There is no pain in true travail in the spirit.  It does not sound like the prophets of Baal, as if the Father does not hear.  It is a cooperative praying in and by the Spirit.

This prayer will result in great grace toward the one being prayed for. It is by grace, not by the following and application of a formula that repentance comes.  Isn’t it the goodness, the grace of God, that leads to repentance?  We fail of the grace of God when we stubbornly continue in our way.  Do we think we can save, deliver, cleanse, or fix ourselves?  No, but we struggle in our own efforts and expect our brothers and sisters to do the same.  We say things like, “You need to do business with God.”  What is that?  Be kind to the one who is struggling.  Love that one.  Has he fallen again?  Don’t beat him up.  Reach down with the grace you have known yourself and pull him back up to his feet.

Each one must know this grace. We are strengthened by grace not by the following and application of the right principle.  We are often taught and learn principles.  Like the natural world, they are helpful for our understanding and they reveal the glory of God.  But they never change us.  Get into His presence.  We pray for our nations.  We humble ourselves, pray, and turn from our wicked ways, and follow the right principles.  Do we seek His face, where the glory of God is?  It seems that we omit that part of that verse from Chronicles.  Only as we seek His face do we really see our wicked ways.  Our self-reliance is exposed there. Our inability to do or become what He is after becomes evident.  We see that without that shining, wonderful glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, we cannot be changed and so fulfill His heart and purpose.  And what is that ultimate purpose but to be conformed to the image of that wonderful, first-born son Jesus.  Together we will be refined to be that bride that He waits for.  Stay in His presence wherever you may be for that bride is not made in the earth but in heaven.  She comes down out of heaven from God and is seen in earth, having the glory of God and shining with the glory of His grace.

Grace

(Hebrews 12:15, 4:16)

God’s throne, the place from which His authority flows, is a source of grace. This grace has no limit.  It is abundant and wherever failure and sin abound, it flows from God.  We must continually receive it.  We get into trouble when we want grace without truth.  He is light and as we have mentioned, when you come to Him, you find him on His throne.  He will shine His light on you and you know that nothing is hidden from His sight.  Don’t be afraid, don’t cringe, don’t shrink back.  Simply agree with Him about whatever has been exposed and His grace, demonstrated at the cross, takes it all away.  This is the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ.

We read that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. His appearance on the earth, at the right time in God’s eternal program, brought in an understanding, an awareness, a consciousness that was not known to man before.  We must say that some did know it, that is they experienced it without the full revealing of it to all mankind, as came in the person of Jesus Christ. Samuel, David, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and many others including those 7000 who had not bowed the knee to Baal in the days of Elijah, knew something of His grace.  In the Psalms, David wrote of His lovingkindness.  This is that grace simply expressed in another word, “lovingkindness.”

We come to His throne to ask according to His will. Sometimes we ask outside of His will.  Thank Him for His love and wisdom that He does not say yes to every request.  Sometimes He does not answer because He has a larger purpose, or sees a particular situation in us that He addresses by His silence.  Jesus prayed three times that the cup, the cross, might pass from Him.  He submitted to God’s will and fulfilled His purpose.  Our brother Paul asked that his thorn in the flesh might be removed.  He asked three times and our Father’s answer was, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Lean into His grace and find yourself leaning on your Beloved and sing as the Shulamite sings. She is singing louder and louder today and her voice is becoming a trumpet.  The voice of the bride and the bridegroom is mingling in the atmosphere.  It is a song of grace and truth; it is sounding more and more like Jesus.  Do not be surprised.  Is that not His purpose from the beginning?  He prayed that we would be one as He and the Father are one.  Marriage sounds like that; two become one.  The wedding feast is our destination. The Lord said to Abraham, “Walk before me and be blameless.”  We are hearing a call to walk like Enoch walked.  He walked with God.  Do you hear Him calling us to be with Him where He is? (John 17:24, Rev. 4:1)  Many who have gone before us walked with Him, but it is not His intention that this be limited to a select few.  We are invited to live at the throne of grace, a place of beholding His shining face, full of joy at our presence before Him, 24/7, 365.  He is able to present us before His presence with exceeding joy.

We are coming to the consummation. The bride is being made ready.  Multitudes have said yes to the proposal offered by the Holy Spirit.  Yet we must wait patiently and endure to that end which the Father knows.  Persevere!  Let sin be washed away by your entrance into His glorious presence by the blood of the Lamb.  Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.  His love has no limit; His grace has no measure; His power has no boundary known unto man.  Don’t stay away from the throne of grace and learn to stay right there, steadfast and immovable.  Nothing requires us to live away from His presence.

The Throne of God

(James 5:15-18)

The river that flows from the throne of God includes true authority.  That authority is never separated from His life, His love, and is only found in the Holy Spirit.  The throne is a symbol of authority.  While these words may seem to limit this authority, that is not the case.  The authority is available to whomever will receive Jesus Christ.  Whoever receives Him, receives the authority to become children of God.  That word, authority, in John 1, is translated in our Bibles as different words such as, power, or right.  The basis and truth of the gospel is simple and beautiful.  We receive Jesus, we welcome Him into our lives, and we are brought to the throne of grace.

It is a throne where we obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.  Jesus walked in full authority here on the earth and it was publically displayed for 3-1/2 years. Authority was displayed with grace and truth.  By it, He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, raised the dead, and proclaimed the kingdom of God.  Over the course of those 3-1/2 years, no one really heard the message, not one truly understood.  It took the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  They saw pieces of the truth but they did not believe every word He spoke.  He told them that His death was coming and that He would be raised up again.  Did they not hear the words?  Later they remembered.  Jesus said that when the Spirit came, He would lead them into all truth.

Consider what Jesus said concerning the Gentiles.  He said that they would come from the East and the West and sit at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the sons of the kingdom would be cast into outer darkness.  Only after that baptism of the Spirit did they understand, and then it took the conversion of Saul to Paul, and a vision given to Peter to go to Cornelius’ house.  Remember Jesus words in the synagogue in Galilee right after He read those awesome words from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me  . . . .”  He cautioned them that He would not be received, as it was with Elijah and others, as God found one worthy outside of the “Israel” of their day.  They were not, and are not, all Israel who are called Israel.

Jesus knew that Israel was to be a light to the Gentiles.  He is the fulfillment of that desire, that decree of the living God.  As He said, “I am the light of the world.”  He often used that phrase, “I AM.”  He is our faithful, high priest, seated at the right hand of God, ever interceding for us.  In His place of authority, He is praying always, according to the will of God.  If we get near enough we can hear what He prays.  It may take a while, some time, some effort born of a true heart, moved and drawn by His own Spirit, to hear His prayer.  I mostly understand it to be like John 17, a desire to draw us to Himself to behold His glory and be changed to be more and more like Himself.  When that is finished, the bride will be ready and the consummation will be upon us.

The throne is the source of the river, the Holy Spirit, the messenger of the covenant, who is refining His body, preparing it like the eunuchs who attended Esther.  He gives wisdom like Mordecai, and like the eunuch who told her how to prepare and dress to be fit for the king.  And what was Esther’s place in time, what was she in the king’s house for?  To intercede for her people so they would be saved from the evil schemes of deep wickedness in high places.  She appealed to the king and Haman caused his own destruction.  Let this same mind be in us.  True authority is directed back to, and does not operate apart from, the One who gave it.

So let us all, everyone who has a heart and mind attuned to Him, draw near to the throne of grace for whatever we need.  It is all based on His abundant grace.  It is this which enables us to stand before Him.  When Daniel saw Him, in His glory, he fell on his face like a dead man.  John had the same type of experience.  As others today have spoken publically of such experiences, the same yet happens.  The strength of God, by His Spirit, caused them to stand on their feet.

You may say that such does not happen today.  It is beyond the experience of many of us but it does indeed happen, whenever God so draws a man, or woman, close and they draw near.  These are not people who are looking for a spiritual thrill.  They are like Daniel, Isaiah, the prophets, and like John, the one whom Jesus loved.  We should not forget Stephen, who focusing upon heaven saw the Son stand to welcome him.  The Lord has always had some like this.

The words of the reference in James are not idle words.  Elijah was no more qualified than those of us who will seek His face in a secret place, in obscurity, until the day He would thrust us out to face an Ahab, and declare what the Spirit indicates.  This Elijah did because He came to the place where he stood before the throne of grace, and received authority to confront one who had corrupted his own place of authority.  In the same way, let us continue to draw ever closer to that same throne and know such authority.  The earth, and people, are crying and groaning for it.

The River of God – continued

(John 7:37-39)

The river that flows from the throne of God has continued to flow in the earth since that day of Pentecost. While it may have seemed to diminish at times in our history, it never stopped but always flowed through the spirits of those who truly believed in Jesus. As He said, he who believes in me, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. The writer goes on to say He was speaking of the Spirit. When any person believes in Jesus, the Holy Spirit takes residence, and begins to flow. Depending on the condition of that person’s soul, flow may come out of the person by speech or other expression. For others the flow may be expressed within as great joy, or peace, or the Father’s love, or any number of impressions internal to that individual.

Now some may say that a second experience is necessary. Brothers and sisters, people of God, members of that one holy nation of kings and priests, we must cease from judging others by our own experience. I was baptized in the Spirit at that moment that Jesus became real. I did not speak in tongues until months later. Nowhere do we read that there is a formula for experience in, and by, the Spirit of God. Encourage one another to pursue the knowledge, the experience, of God. Encourage everyone you meet to that end, to know Him, the Christ. Yes a second experience is necessary. So is a third, fourth, fifth, and on into the eternal age. I need, I want, I hunger for a new experience every day. Some are simply more dramatic than others.

We often speak of a born again experience. Time and a person’s walk, will reveal the truth, the reality of the faith exercised in the moment of an experience. Real faith is expressed in such a way. Jesus said that the one who believes, out of his spirit, would flow rivers, that is, more than one. Rivers, many expressions of His life, would come out of that person. It is He who is that living water. Jesus declares that plainly to the woman at the well (John 4).

Some talk of third, fourth, and fifth waves. One brother asked me once if I was part of one of those. The river is one river with many streams. There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. Are the streams, are the waves, increasing your joy? Are you a living stone in the walls of that city? That is the same as standing in the gap, allowing His hand to form you and rightly connect you in the body of Christ. This is the city which is His bride; beautiful to behold and all belonging to Him.

Each move of God is well described as a wave. We have needed every move of God. Men and women contended in prayer for them and we are grateful. Don’t separate the waves. Those who do so cause divisions while they seek their own ministry, their own “place” in His body, basing their life on being in the “right” stream. We are all His, bought with His blood. The waves are His; all part of His river, the river that flows from His throne. It all comes from Him and will return to Him. Of Him, and by Him are all things created. All things are held together by the word of His power. He has a purpose, a plan, and He holds the times and seasons. Only the Father Himself holds the times. He opens the door and no man can shut it and only He can bring us through. As we go deep into His river, our destination is certain and it is certain to be right on time.

The river is the Spirit. John began that writing called a Revelation of Jesus Christ by saying he was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day. He was in the river and was carried up to the throne room. That writing, that book, ends with more about the throne room. The source is the throne where God sits, where the lamb that was slain sits. He has finished His work and sat down at the right hand of God.

The River of God

(Revelation 22)

The river that flows from the throne of God is a beautiful, simple, yet powerful picture of the life of God which is in, and we might well say, is, the Holy Spirit. The river is the Spirit. Here is the vision John saw when he was brought in the spirit into the New Jerusalem. This is the city of which John Bunyan wrote many years ago in Pilgrim’s Progress. You never heard of that my friend? Check it out. He called the destination the Celestial City. By any name it is our goal. Why go there? The Lamb is there, seated on His throne. It is the desire of the bride, of whom we are members, to be with her Bridegroom. That is the motivation that drives us on. Only love for Jesus will provide the strength for us to endure to the end. Only keeping ourselves intimately knowing Him will see us through.

Consider for a moment that this man, John Bunyan, wrote his book from a prison cell. Paul wrote his letters while under arrest with Roman guards. Jeanne Guyon also wrote from a prison cell. And Watchman Nee did the same. Do we see a pattern here? Might we count them all apostles? We may hesitate to say yes but they certainly wrote to encourage those who, like Abraham, were seeking that city whose builder and maker is God. These are all alive and remain as gifts to the church which is His body. They all are sent ones (apostle means “sent one”), sent from the throne of God, to inspire, encourage, and impart something of the resurrection life that is in the Spirit of God to whomever will receive it.

These all were baptized into the river that flows from the throne; they were immersed in the Spirit of God. Their lives and words bear witness to that. Ezekiel’s vision of the river that became waters for him to swim in, is that picture for us to pursue in reality now. The angels, and messengers of God here today, call us to go into the deep of that river, be baptized into the Spirit of God, and be carried away. Are you willing to let go and let God, as we often hear? What still holds you? What may still distract us from the heavenly vision?

I recently was in a service in what we might call a traditional church. One of the hymns sung that morning used the phrase, “the river by the throne.” In Revelation 22, the writer specifically wrote, “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Somewhere in our past, we began to focus on some future, distant, bye and bye rest for our weary souls. We stopped pursuing Him and earnestly desiring spirituals. We left our first love. We left that communion of, and with, the Holy Spirit where He brings us new revelations of Jesus Christ Himself. We stopped allowing Him to lead us deeper and deeper into the river.

Today, fears of the unknown, of being lost in fanaticism, of being out of control, keep us from a heavenly pursuit. The days grow darker; His coming draws nearer. Acceleration is heard more and more frequently. Sounds redundant, doesn’t it? I hear the Holy Spirit emphasizing that word, “acceleration”. Through the centuries, the church which is His body has sensed an urgency. But the Spirit is never rushed. God is not in a hurry. He still waits on high to have compassion and pour out mercy. Let us press on to know Him, staying close to His throne, the source of the river and place from which His authority proceeds.

The Joy of Jesus

(John 17)

Shortly before Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed as recorded in this chapter. This prayer is only mentioned by John. This man, this apostle, is very significant for our day. He was the one closest to Jesus; he laid his head on his chest. I am hesitant to take space to write this but those who consider this justification for immorality are on such dangerous ground, as they hold to an abomination. We write this without condemnation but with true concern for the destinies of those who are deceived in this way.

John was the one man, as far as we know, that sat at the foot of the cross, with Mary, His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. One man and 4 women and three of the women named Mary. What significance might be hidden in that? We should ask the Holy Spirit to show us.

The other men had run and hid. We ought not to think of them as cowards. Women, and that one man caring for them, would not have been in the same danger as the male disciples. John was with them and therefore he was qualified to be the one to care for Mary. Jesus, in His suffering, does not forget His mother, His earthly family and provides for her care. The bulls of Bashan (search it out in Psalms), the powers of hell through the religious mockers, were surrounding Him and yet He did not forget His earthly family. He committed Mary to the one who had been closest to Him.

So he, John, is the one to record this prayer which follows Jesus discussion of the promise of the Holy Spirit. It is He, the Spirit, who will reveal the glory for which Jesus prays. It is He who will bring the disciples, and those who believe because of their witness, to experience the presence, and the glory of God. Let us pursue this, let us go on to know Him. In the beginning of the prayer, Jesus defines eternal life as knowing our Father and Himself, Jesus Christ. Wherever we are in our journey, our life, we can experience His presence.

Jesus also prayed that we would know the fullness of His joy. Consider our previous writing and the day of Pentecost. Jesus asks our Father to bring us into the fullness of His joy. He does not ask for a taste, he asks for the fullness. The 12 disciples, and 120 in that upper room received that fullness on that day. They were totally transformed and would never again be only disciples. I do not use the word only lightly. To be a disciple of Jesus is very important and significant. Jesus had already called them friends, and now something at another level had occurred. We might say that they were now truly born of heaven. They had been brought to another level of experience of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Without question, it was the point in human history that the church was born, and without limitation, the flow of the river of God into the earth was released.

We have noted the manifestations of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The sound of a mighty, rushing wind, and tongues of fire upon their heads, and they spoke with heavenly tongues. Those who saw and heard them thought they were drunk. They were filled with the joy of the Lord Jesus! To others they looked drunk. New wine had filled them, and they were able to contain it. Their time as disciples had made them new wineskins, ready for the new wine of the Holy Spirit to be poured in.

Where are you today? Have you known the fullness of His joy? It is available for all. Whosoever will may come. I have heard it said, you can have as much of Jesus as you want. I have been knowing this is true. Keep pursuing, there is no end to His love and your knowing of it. No end, my friend. What it looks like it will cost you is nothing. Despise the “shame”. He has taken all the shame. No one who trusts in Him will be put to shame. Your ego will be put away. Who needs it? Your pride will be destroyed. Good, that will keep you from His grace. Every theological box of the prison of Western Christianity will be blown to bits. And you will be free to know Jesus better than you may know Him today. He wants you to share in His joy. The joy of the Lord is our strength so that we, like that man Paul, His bondservant, might press on to know Him.

Jesus Gives Gifts

(Eph. 4: 7-13)

We have mentioned that Jesus received the gift of the Holy Spirit and poured that gift out when the day of Pentecost had fully come. That feast of the Lord was fulfilled in that day and continues fulfillment throughout the earth. That is why people continue to receive the various gifts, including heavenly tongues, spoken of in I Corinthians, chapters 12 and 14. It is a confirming stamp upon the fact that the same Holy Spirit is showing up where hearts are open to the truth concerning Jesus.

Refer to that chapter in Joel to which Peter referred (Acts 2). The dreams and visions spoken of still occur. As I have heard someone point out clearly, the Spirit is poured out on men and also on women. We need to let go of every thought that women are not also called, and anointed, to serve in every capacity in the church. Note that Joel also speaks of the moon turned to blood and the sun being darkened. Much has been written on that recently. Most significant is what I heard John Paul Jackson say that the appearance of the blood moons and other signs is the building of a crescendo of the Holy Spirit’s moving over all of mankind. Looking for the Lord’s moving should always be our main focus.

Now we need to be aware that the gifts themselves, and signs in the heavens and earth can all become distractions. We must look past, or through, or around them to keep our eyes fixed upon the One who gives the gifts. Remember the word to Elisha at Elijah’s ascension, “If you see me. . . “. We are to be careful to guard our hearts from the pride that so easily attends having a gift. How everyone wants a ministry. It is today’s deception replacing church membership and a role in a “church.” Ministry to Him and a life in the secret place is the necessity for us all. For us to know Jesus, and through Him the Father, and only do what we see and hear Him do, is the Holy Spirit’s work and goal. To be filled with His love and maintain pure motives in all we do is ours in cooperation with Him. To sum it up, love from a pure heart is the beginning, and it is the end, of the matter.

The gifts He gives are ultimately us, ourselves. We remind ourselves daily that we present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices. Take a reading of the reference at the title above. Jesus ascended and gave gifts to men. He took some captives, slaves, and made them bond-servants, love-slaves, ones who so loved Him they would go with Him anywhere and do whatever He gave them to do. Search out the meaning of a bond slave in the Old Testament. He hears His Master’s voice. We belong to Jesus, bought with His blood, and are all given to one another as brothers and sisters. We are given to one another to build each other up until we together fully mature to be made like Jesus.

This does not happen by programs, or an analysis of scriptural principle followed by proper application. I will be so bold to say it does not work this way at all. We get sidetracked when we have a program, see some fruit, and think we have a good method and follow on with it. Makes me think of the axe-head lost by Elisha’s company. The way was too straight for them and they lost the borrowed axe-head. Elisha made it float. Had they left the “too narrow” way? Are we seeking and following on into that ever narrowing way? It seems impossible to walk this way of the Spirit. It is! We are desperate for Him to lead us, to bring us through. He is pleased to give us greater, unending grace, and do just that. Our Good Shepherd brings us through, even through every valley of the shadow of death. The end is that death works in us, and life in someone else.

Are we willing to pursue earnestly all the gifts His Spirit will give us so that we can be filled up with Him? And seek those which will edify us so that we can build up others like our honored brother Paul? Or do we tell the Holy Spirit what gifts each of us should receive? Much wounding among the body of Christ has hindered the flow of His Spirit and the testimony of Jesus in His church. We together must stop resisting things “Pentecostal.” Those in the main flow of the river of God have so much to offer us. Do we acknowledge our brothers, and sisters who have gone before us, Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, Kathryn Kuhlman, Ruth Heflin, to name just a few? Some have never heard of them, nor of Watchman Nee. Do you know of these and appreciate their legacies? They are additions to the cloud of witnesses from the last century. Yes, many others are also worthy of our attention. I must also mention Nicolaus Zinzendorf, William Seymour, and Jim Elliot. That might seem a disparate group but if you look at their lives, you are bound to see the lack in your own and seek God’s face all the more. If you dismiss such as these, you miss the river that flows from the throne. I am compelled by His love for us to write these things for the Spirit jealously desires us.

The Coming of Jesus – Continued

This issue of Jesus coming and presence is also about our local, corporate doors.  By that I mean our local gathering.  Is it a church, is it a home group, is it a family?  Is it two or three gathered in His name?  To the measure we truly gather in His name, He will show up.  He sees our hearts.  He sees their true condition.  When Jesus walked through Israel, there were Pharisees who invited Jesus into their homes.  When He entered the home He saw the true state of things and addressed it.  He said things that offended and they did not like it.  When we hear a “hard” word, a word that offends, what is our response?  Do we repent and say, “Lord, come in deeper, I want more,” or do we send Him away?  The Pharisees resisted His words, and resisted Him, until they wanted to kill Him.

Where are you today?  What is the state of your heart?  Are you asking Him to come?  Have you grown weary, or hard?  Are you resisting what you don’t understand but yet you know somehow He is in the thing you don’t like?  I hesitate to get specific, but we must together face what we at first do not understand.  In what we call church history, God has been restoring what was lost in the Dark Ages.  They were dark, and thank God for the monks who copied and preserved the scriptures for us. I believe others kept the true faith, that God had other hidden ones who were true followers of Jesus.  No, I have no hard evidence.  Others may know of other groups but He has always had those who were true to Him since the Spirit came, since the river of God entered this age.  Then the reformers came, as we call them.  It would take too long to go through all the names.  They began to restore truth to God’s house, to His people.  They were His builders as that bondservant Paul called himself.

So what did they build?  All the denominations?  What a travesty they are, contrary to the very thing Paul wrote to the Corinthians.  I am of John Calvin, I of Wesley, I of the Orthodoxy.  Don’t think I mean to say no believers are among those.  Oh no, many are true followers but the whole mess obscures the truth.  Christ is one, and His church is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.  He comes where that reality is known, that is the place He will show up.  In such a place these days, the body is longing for Jesus, the head to have His rightful place.  The gatekeeper, the shepherd of that place will gladly give Him place.

Are you knowing such when you gather together?  Are you hungry for more?  There is no end to knowing Him and when we know Him corporately, as His body, the heavens and the earth register the fact.  Are you seeking Him?  Are you worshipping in Spirit and truth, or are you singing a song?  Across America, many are hungry and turning from the systems of men that perpetuate themselves beyond their season, their time of fruit-bearing.  And some openly resist the Spirit.  They hear of the dead raised in Africa, the blind eyes seeing and they do not fully believe.  They ponder and entertain their doubts.  Such cloud the atmosphere over this land because of unbelief.  So it was in cities where Jesus Himself could only heal a few sick people.

Do not fear you who are seeking for His glory to show up again, you who are hungry for that presence of Jesus.  He is showing up where hearts are turned and open.  He will not disappoint.

The Coming of Jesus

(John 14:16-20)

 As many of us see the words of this title, we will think of Jesus’ second coming.  Let there be no doubt, there is a final, awesome, triumphant coming of Jesus.  That in particular is not the subject of this writing.  I want to call your attention to His present comings, His presence with us.  Jesus wants us to meet with Him every day.  When He was with the disciples who were closest to Him, and the time of His departure was drawing near, He spoke to them kindly and told them He would be going away.  These were a group of people who had grown very close in three years.  They were together pretty much every day for that time.  Think of a school class where the teacher took them on an extreme, three year class trip that turned into a rather wild and challenging adventure.  Then, although He had told them, He, their teacher is taken away and they are distraught.  He also told them He would not leave them alone.

Jesus has been coming all the time since His resurrection.  For 40 days, He appeared to the twelve and others. After His ascension, He gave that which His Father gave Him and His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, has been poured out upon all flesh.  However, like the dove Noah sent out from the ark, He is looking for a place to land.  The eyes of the Lord search to and fro, throughout the whole earth to find a heart that is open to Him.  And He lands there, and immediately the hungry heart will receive Him.  This is not just about an initial revelation of Jesus to any one of us.  This is about His continual coming to us.  Yes, when we receive Jesus, we receive His Spirit.  But we see through the history of the building of His church, He is always ready to give us more of Himself.  He has no limit, and He is at work to stretch us to receive more.  This is about His repeated comings, and His callings, His knocking at our individual doors.

This is the wealth of Christ.  All that He would give us through the Holy Spirit are the true riches.  He Himself is our great reward.  So what does this look like?  We are on uncertain ground when we try to define it.  But, like Peter said on that day called Pentecost, this is that.  When He comes we will know it.  The 120 in that upper room knew it was the promised gift.  And the display that took place could not be missed.  Read Acts chapter two if you don’t know what happened.  So how does it take place today?  I appreciate how our brother, Watchman Nee, addresses this in a message captured in the book, The Normal Christian Life.  He said it is not for us to legislate to the Holy Spirit how He should reveal Himself and the One who sent Him.  He has first come to some hearing the Bible declared, to some through a dream, to some in the Hebrides as they sat in a bar, and to some, like me, as they sat in an office cubicle.  Read the preface to this blog sometime.

Now we know that the Spirit Himself gives gifts to men for their personal growth and the growth of others.  He does so with a spiritual power that transforms lives and often results in dramatic displays.  At the initial outpouring a great sound like a mighty rushing wind was followed by visible tongues of fire, and speaking with heavenly tongues understood by many in their own language.  Why is it that some deny this happens today by the same Spirit?

Millions of believers and disciples across the globe today speak and pray with heavenly and angelic languages.  Denial of its existence today is foolish and even absurd.  Read that first letter to God’s own at Corinth, chapters 12-14 together.  Remember, these three thoughts.  In 12, Paul asks, “Do all speak with tongues?”  In 13, he directs us to faith, hope, and love.  We ought to know by now what the greatest is.  And in 14, he urges us to desire spirituals (the Greek is one word).  He closes the discussion including this, that we not forbid speaking in tongues.  Yes, it is not the end of the Holy Spirit’s work but it is where He began!  And men from every nation, every ethnic heritage, had interpretation in their own language.  May His Spirit surge within us with holy, refining fire and renew and transform our minds to know His.