CHAPTER 9
THE
JUST CAN HEAR HIS VOICE
Matt.
5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven; for
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the
JUST and on the unjust. (In other words, God is speaking to all of us, all of
the time; the Just know this whereas the unjust do not).
Romans 1:17 “For therein
is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, The
just shall live by faith.” You see this
developed in Hebrews 1:1 “God, who in sundry times and divers (many) manners
spake in time past; unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son…” So from one
hearing to another hearing it was REVEALED.
They then wrote down what they heard.
We thus can see that God has spoken to many individuals in the past and
in many ways…some even in very strange ways of symbols etc. Yet, today, this very ONE who spoke to them,
now can speak through us, through what God had promised over and over again of
the Promise of this Word coming and Living in us. (Note how it links it in a process…faith to
faith, or hearing to hearing, which is counted as righteousness, as it was when
Abraham first HEARD God speak to him and God said…”THIS IS TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS,
when an individual hears God and listens to Him. When God says you are justified through what
His Son accomplished alone, apart from self efforts of keeping the rules, then
YOU ARE! No matter how you may feel or
think, God said it, you listened to what He said and beyond your feelings and
thoughts accept it, then this is accounted as so. Did you ever notice that this was all done
before the giving of the Law to Moses?
So, righteousness, justification, is based in what God Promised through
Abraham and accomplished through His Son even before the foundations of this
world. How plain or simple can it get? Yet many turn from this simple truth and seek
a complicated religious system to gain God’s favor. Read Romans chapter 4 in light of this and
you see it plainly expressed. Also in
Romans 9: 8…”They which are the children of the flesh (the unjust), these are
NOT THE CHILDREN OF GOD; but the CHILDREN OF THE PROMISE (the Just) are COUNTED
for the seed. For this is the word of
promise…”
The question is, can
you hear this? Can you accept this, or
do you feel and think otherwise? Come
now, let us reason further….
Romans 8:30 “Moreover
whom He did predestinate, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also
JUSTIFIED; and whom He justified, them He also glorified. (Past completed acts
with present results)…this is the Greek grammar of this and implies that it is
already done before the foundations of the world. Think on this! (This matter of Justification is developed
even more in another book I hope to share called, “Addfire’s Spiritual
Insights.”)
There are so many other
verses that could bring this out even more, but let’s just start with the above
mentioned verses of Scriptures. What is
this thing of being JUST and Justified?
In its true definition it implies that he or she that is just or
justified is perceived by God as one who has never done anything wrong. Through what the Son of God accomplished for
us, we are justified from what our father Adam introduced into this world. I’ve referred to it as “the condition;” the
condition we all inherited through Adam’s fallen nature. All born on this planet have this infection;
an infection that has separated us from God.
Although this infection
affects us all, His rain falls on us all, good and evil, just and unjust, thus
offering to all His mercy and grace.
Whether an individual perceives it or not is another matter. They may attribute this rain to nature cause
and effect, human efforts; but in truth it is coming from God. The powers and energies that keep us alive,
make up this idea of His rain…”for in Him we live, and move, and have our
being.” (Acts 17:28) “I can do all
things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil. 4:13) “HE is before all things, and by Him all
things consist.” (Col. 1:17). When
humanity, knowingly or unknowingly, attribute this rain to natural cause or
human causes, it robs God of that due to only Him. This is what is meant by “the Unjust” in the
text above; whereas the Just live by faith.
What is this thing of
faith? Don’t the unjust use this word,
faith, as much as the just? Many when
using this word faith are implying trust.
It can take this application, yet there is a deeper meaning that only
the Just experience. Romans 8: expresses
this deeper idea which is very descriptive of our excess to faith, which
reaches beyond just trust, becoming the condition of trust which is a Lively
hearing and see of the God who allows His rain to fall on the Just and
unjust. In other words, the Just KNOW
the true source of the rain. In this
case this rain is not only seeing but HEARING from this God in a Personified
way, a one on ONE encounter with the Living God. Those who make up the Just, Hear His Voice
and live by this hearing. You see it
expressed by Paul the Apostle in Romans 10 in this way…”Faith COMES by HEARING,
(note this; with this knowing, that we have the right to Hear from God, is
expressed as the verse continues), ….…”and (the ability, right to hear) hearing
by the words of Christ.”
REMEMBER…this Christ is IN US as Romans 10 clearly states saying His is
near us, in us, and can speak through us.
We don’t have to wait for the sweet bye and bye to hear Him, nor do we
have to try to dig Him up and revive Him from the dead to hear Him speak; He is
near you even in your mouth. Other
words, He speaks THROUGH you and it comes out of you physical mouth in the form
of words to others.
Remember, ”Don’t Let
the Devil’s scarecrow keep you out of God’s corn field.” Don’t let this stop you personally from
enjoying the thrill of hearing from the Living God one on ONE. Will you make mistakes in this hearing from
God? The answer is yes. Don’t even allow this to stop you in your
pursuit to hear from Him. God can handle
your mistakes better than others and is the reason that His grace comes to us
moment by moment. Remember, we do wrestle with the flesh using
the Spirit; the Spirit will always win, but you have got to at least begin
learning to hear. Why would it be said
that My sheep hear my voice if it wasn’t possible? (John 10:2-3)
CHAPTER 10
TIMING
IS OF THE ESSENCE
As we come to hear
God’s voice we learn that, “Timing is of the Essence.” Now you can see this phrase in two ways;
first just looking at the element of timing which would be correct; secondly
you could see it as our “being in the Essence of God” in those moments of
hearing from Him. Both are correct in
that one assist the other. I must first
explain something I may have brought out in other chapters, yet now in light of
our hearing from God. If you do not
comprehend what is called the Trinity, or if you reject it, what I am about to
share in this whole chapter will not be understood. So, suspend for the moment any preconceived
idea you may have of the Trinity and give me the opportunity to share a
spiritual insight I got today.
This word, Essence, is
the best word we can come up with in the English language that describes what
Paul was sharing in Philippians 2: of
how Jesus was in the FORM of God before His incarnation. The word form does not really bring out this
Greek word. Our idea of form conjures up
in our mind “shape.” The better
translation is Essence. So, Jesus was in
the essence of God as well as the Father and the Spirit are in this same
essence, thus “all” would have the attribute of this Essence of God, which is
DEITY. If you see this, then what I now
will share with you will make sense.
Jesus is now once again
in the essence of God; this Jesus, the Christ, is in us and when we, being lead
of the Holy Spirit, when we are walking in the Spirit, as we are commanded to
do, are in this Essence of God. So if
you are attentively listening to the voice of Christ in you, what the title of
this chapter says is true, “Timing (attentive listening) is…of…the
Essence. What you hear is OF THE ESSENCE. So what you hear has in it all the attributes
of the power and nature of God; remember all power has been given to Christ,
the Son of God; which the Holy Spirit, not speaking of Himself (our silent
partner) leads us to hearing from Christ in us. (I develop this in another book
I am presently working on called, “In The Shadow of His Power.”) Paul said it this way, “I am crucified, never
the less I live, yet it is not I, but CHRIST IN ME, and the life I now live in the
flesh (opinions, views and perspectives), I live THROUGH the faith (Jesus
referring your request to the Father) of the Son of God.” Paul is saying it is no longer my egocentric
opinions or ideas that lead me; it is my hearing from Christ in me who gains
excess to the Father, who in return answers us through the Son, to whom He gave
all such power. At the same time it is
our unseen partner, the Holy Spirit, prompting us to Christ in us.
With all that said I
now give a situation in which I learned this and now share with you. I asked for leading from the Holy Spirit for
my day. As I sat at my kitchen table
having a cup of coffee around 8:00 am, what follows was given to me. This thought, “Timing is of the Essence,” can to me. I commented, “I’ve heard this before, yet I
know you have your definition in light of my request to be lead today; so go
on.”
I knew that I needed to
do some banking today; also I needed to get my truck inspected. There were times in the past I would simply
set out and just do what I knew needed to be done without even asking the Holy
Spirit for guidance; I’ve learned the hard way to not do this. All kinds of crazy things would occur leaving
me wishing I had asked for direction.
You might think, “Isn’t this a trivial matter? God doesn’t want to be bothered. Just do it and don’t bother Him.” This isn’t what we are commanded; here is
what it says, “Lean not unto your own understanding, but in “ALL YOUR WAYS”
acknowledge Him and He will direct your path.” (Prov. 3:5) This to my mind leaves no debate, all is
all.
So, as I sat there I
acknowledge Him as I am reminded to do every morning. I asked, “When do I leave? I was told, “Have another cup of coffee, leave around 9:00 am. Get
your banking deposit statement ready and put together the paper work you will
need to get your truck inspected.” I
thought, “Maybe I should have made an appointment?” (You can do this and get ahead in a separate
line, or you can go into another line for those without appointments). I was corrected, “Don’t worry about it, just mind me, timing is of the essence.”
So, I had my second cup
of coffee and did as instructed. I left
around 9:00 am. When I got to the road
to the inspection station it said, “Detour.”
Any other time I’d be upset, but today I was reminded, “Timing is of the
essence;” so I had to go down town to get around the detour. I saw my bank and I was told, “Do your banking now.” As soon as I had this thought there was a
parking space conveniently positioned in from of me. I pulled in, did my banking then headed for
the inspection station. As I was
traveling there I had these thought, “You will get there and there will be a
lot of others ahead of you with appointments, and you are going to have to sit
there and sit there.” I, knowing what I
was told by the Holy Spirit, came against this thought with, “Timing is of the
essence; I have followed what I was told, thus this will not be.” When I pulled into the inspection station
road, “THERE WAS ONLY ONE CAR in front of me who was being waved into the
station, I was next. Moments later, as I
was waved into the station, cars began to line up behind me, “Timing is of the
Essence.”
Rather long story
right? It appears as trivial
correct? Yet understand, it is through
these so-called small matters that prepare us for those situations you would
have wished you learn these lessons in the small matters, when disobedience
would not have come at a HIGH PRICE as those situations of life or death. Learn to listen in ALL THINGS and remember, timing
is of the Essence. When you are
listening and obeying you are in the Essence of God and what is said will come
about. That is when these things
work.
CHAPTER
11
PRIMING
THE PUMP
I’ve had it said that
all I do is build on things written.
Other words, I would read books, listen to tapes, and then add my
thoughts to what others have written or said.
I don’t believe that is what happens.
Let me give an illustration to demonstrate why I believe this isn’t true
of me.
I was sitting at my
kitchen table with a cup of coffee listening to a friend’s CD that was sent to
me. Something in me triggered the
following thoughts in this chapter.
Note; this had nothing to do with what was being said on this particular
CD. Here are those thought: “When you prime a pump, do you drink the
water you used to prime it?”
No. Usually that water runs
through the system, out the spout…..THEN, FRESH WATER comes out from the
well. As long as you keep moving the
pump handle up and down, this FRESH WATER keeps flowing.
Why do I have to prime
the pump at time? There is what they
call a Check-valve that keeps the water from flowing back down into the
well. Other words, from the well to the
check-valve there is space in the pipe.
On the other side of the check valve, there is water that extends from
the check-valve to the pumping handle.
IF this water seeps back down to the well, or over a long period of time
evaporates, you have to PRIME the pump with water, putting water in the pump
handle down to the check-valve. Then you
move the handle up and down utilizing this small amount of water to DRAW water
beyond the check-valve from the well, which brings you the FRESH WATER.
“Out of your inner
being will flow rivers of living water.”
John 7:38
As long as we are in
constant action, diligently seeking the Lord, this flow of living water is said
to be in us, flowing. If, by neglect, we
allow this action to stop, the pump must be primed. How?
Via written words, spoken words, acting as the small amount of water
needed to get the pump primed. For me this day, listening to my friend’s CD…which
now is turned off as I type this insight, which is coming from LIVING WATER….not
anything in particular off the CD.
In my younger days in
the Lord, I would only comment on the books I read or tapes I heard. Very little could be attributed to what I
said above about this thing of Living Water.
I hope what I have given, this Living Water, will assist you to Prime
your pump. It would be interesting to
see what comes out of your Living Word Experience and out of Your Well. Other words, something different to this
matter of pumps, check-valves, wells; something in you, using this written
piece as water, to prime you pump and manifest what is in your well.
CHAPTER
12
BEYOND
THE WRITTEN PAGE
I remember singing a
song in church years ago that expressed these thoughts: “Break thou the bread of life dear Lord to
me, as thou did break the loaves beside the sea; beyond the sacred page I seek
thee Lord, my spirit pants for you O living word.” To suggest what this song is saying in some
circles today it would be considered as heresy; beyond the sacred page? Yet, if one really catches what not only this
song is saying as well as the sacred page, the Bible is saying, we will
discover that we are commanded to look beyond the pages of the sacred book to
hearing the living word of God speak to us.
Yes, as you will hear me say over and over, we do have a more sure word
of prophecy that we should pay attention to, UNTIL, the day dawns and the Day
Star raises in our hearts. (II Peter 1:19) The Bible clearly has its purpose, and that
purpose being among many other things, is this learning to hear God’s voice for
direction in our walk. Now understand,
we can take a “form” of this using only Bible quotes to give us some direction
to our lives. But as Paul put it,
“having a form of godliness but denying the power.”(II Tim. 3:5) The letter of the word can only lead us to
this power; it in itself cannot give us this power. Paul at one point called the written word
“the dead letter” (II Cor. 3:6; Rom. 7:6) and said that the law commanded to
do, yet did not give this power to do.
The power to do is the living words God will speak to you in your
life. Ask yourself, “How did He break
the loaves beside the sea as the song implies?
We would say that it was done in a miraculous way. What we might consider a miracle in our
carnal views, to a spiritual being would be an expected thing. What should be expected? We should expect ONE Spirit to speak to
another spirit; this is the true nature of a spirit being; “His Spirit bears
witness to our spirit that we are a son of God.” (Rom. 8:16)
The only thing that could stop this is our own carnal mind and all of
its limitations. His Spirit speaks to
the carnal mind, “AWAKE!” I pray as Paul
the Apostle prayed, “May God give you the reader of this book a “SPIRIT” of
wisdom and revelation that the eyes of your heart might be open and you come to
know your calling.” (Eph. 1:17)
No comments:
Post a Comment