"Lord, Show us your Glory! Pour our Your Spirit on your sons and daughters!"
If you have been around the prayer movement any length of time or are interested in revival, spiritual break through or evangelism you have probably prayed a prayer similar to the one above. They are simple words, that when answered, have the power to transform entire cities, regions and nations. But have we ever stopped to consider what we are actually asking for?
The other night during a regional prayer meeting as we began praying this prayer, God suddenly responded to our intercession in an unexpected way. How did He respond? He asked us a question:
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
The immediate answer in our hearts was "Yes, of course we want Your glory to come!!". We want to see our region impacted with a revelation of Jesus. We want to see people healed, power on the preaching of the word, breakthroughs in evangelism and experiencing really awesome times of worship! Yes Lord, we want Your Glory to come!
He continued to ask the question.
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
"Everything's going to change! Everything's going to change!"
"Do you really want My Glory to come?"
As the question kept being repeated, the reality of what we were asking for began to sink into my heart and I realized that it was so much greater then I had every truly considered.
I began to realize that my idea of His Glory coming largely entailed what my friend Brian describes as "Church on Steroids". It's essentially Church exactly the way we know it now, except for the fact that the worship time is now totally awesome, the message finally rocks and when we pray for people at the end of the service we actually experience some sort of Holy Spirit manifestation (even if they don't get healed, delivered or transformed).
The problem with that picture is this; it assumes that everything we are doing right now is totally sanctified and submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It assumes that our lives, programs and methods of doing church are perfect and all that we lack is a bit of Holy Spirit power to take them over the top! It says to the heavenly hosts; "We're all good! We just need a bit of energy on this thing!!".
But what will really happen when God pours out His Spirit upon us? Will it simply make everything we're already doing a lot more enjoyable? Or is there something that we are missing?
The more I pondered this question, the more I began to see things differently. The more I realized that everything would change. Not merely because God is itching to do something "new", but because His presence would require that everything change! For God is Holy and in Him there is no darkness at all! (1 John 1:5). That means that everything that is now contaminated by compromise would need to experience instant and radical purification in order for it to remain, or else it would come to it's ultimate demise!
Oh, How we dream of living in the "Acts 2 Reality"! We want the buildings to shake! We want to see tongues of fire!! We want to experience the thrill of seeing thousands saved in a day!!! We want to walk down the street and have the lame healed by the passing of our shadow!(Acts 19)
But what about the ramifications of such encounters?
What about the dramatic increase in the need for radical holiness? "Be Holy for I am Holy". God is Holy, and where His presence dwells there is nothing but holiness. Consider the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5), who fell to the ground dead because they told a single lie! That too is the Acts 2 reality!! God's presence always produces radical holiness (whether we want it or not). Are we ready to encounter such holiness? Are we ready to lose all of the things that we currently cherish which God considers items of compromise?
You see, right now we don't feel a lot of urgency in the area of holiness, but when His Glory comes, those days of saying "It's a process" and being slow to obey will go by the wayside. His Glory will come and will demand that anything that will remain in His presence be Holy.
And what about other Acts 2 Realities?
Who is going to baptize the 3,000 new converts that come into the Kingdom in a day? Based upon the way we do baptism now, with pre-baptism classes, public testimonies and submersing each candidate individually (in front of their friends and family), that process alone would take well over 13 DAYS to complete! By the time we would be finished baptizing the converts from the first day of God's presence being poured out we could potentially have a backlog of 39,000 people waiting to be baptized!
But wait, there's more!
Who's going to do the ongoing discipleship required of these new converts? Who will train them up in the basic understanding of the Word, prayer, communion, confession, repentance and the gifts of the Holy Spirit? We could easily see 250 small groups be formed within a single day. We can't expect our Pastors to handle such a workload. So that means you and I will have to become teachers, preachers and bible study leaders overnight. And don't kid yourself, you're not going to be walking them through the latest best-selling Bible study manual bought through your local Bible Bookshop. It will most likely be you, a bible and two dozen hungry new believers crammed into your living room - no worksheets, lots of questions and plenty of spiritual activity (both Good and Evil).
Paul, before he left on one of his missionary journeys led a bible study that lasted all night (and was broken up in the middle because someone needed to be raised from the dead after falling asleep (Acts 20). Are we ready for that to aspect of His Glory coming?
And what about this spiritual warfare? What about healing, deliverance and miracles? Who is going to do the prayer ministry for all of the sick people who are suddenly lining up outside of our churches, homes and places of employment? It won't just happen in a flash, it will most likely take real people praying for other real people. I'm sure the Lord will provide angelic messengers and supernatural encounters, but we will still be the main graceforce in this outpouring.
And what about when our long day of ministering is done? Am I prepared for my neighbor to show up at 3 am with his sick daughter because he heard that when I pray for people Jesus comes with power to heal?
Who's going to dispose of all of the unneeded medical equipment? The drugs and corresponding paraphernalia? How about the mountains of pornographic magazines, DVD's, alcohol and other substances that start piling up outside of our homes, churches and stadiums?
And then the persecution will come! The enemy will begin to openly hate us (Matt 24:9), stirring up the hearts of wicked men against those who profess the name of Jesus. We will be put in prison (Acts 12). We will be beaten (Acts 16). We will have people attempt to kill us (Acts 21), and sometimes they will succeed (Acts 7).
These are all part of what happens when God's Glory comes upon His people with power! This is included in the fullness of the Acts 2 reality. This is what we are really praying for!
Rest assures, there will also be much rejoicing! It will be a time of great joy, celebration and pleasure as we experience a foretaste of what it will be like when Jesus rules the earth from Jerusalem. Yes, we will have exceedingly great revelation of the beauty and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ, and His name will begin to receive the glory that it is due! True worship will be in abundance as the glory of the Lord is revealed on the earth.
What I have envisioned here is merely a glimpse of what will happen when the Lord pours out His Spirit upon us and a more complete picture of what we have actually been asking God to do. So let us not be shortsighted in what we are asking. His Glory will do more than bring a bit of "fire" upon our regular weekly meetings. It will come like an all-consuming fire that purifies everything within His presence.
Will it cost us? Yes, but only the things we didn't really need.
Will it be worth it? Absolutely!
"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." - 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (ESV)
So join with me, and many others, in lifting up this cry before our Father:
"Lord, let Your Glory fall upon us! Amen."
-
Jon
Wednesday, 23 June 2010
Saturday, 19 June 2010
The Sword Of The Spirit
Today I was meditating on some words written by one of my favorite authors, Derek Prince. He was talking about Spiritual Warfare and in particular the Sword of the Spirit, and commented that it is the Sword of the Spirit. In other words, it is His Sword - not mine.
As I meditated upon this my heart got really stirred.
I began thinking about the reality that anyone who has the Holy Spirit living inside of them has the Author of the Holy Scriptures available to them at all times. However, that does NOT mean that I suddenly know every story, word or promise written in the Bible. Although the Spirit knows all Scripture, He does not impart that knowledge to me apart from my own free will. I must feed upon the Word of God by choice; taking His words into myself like food which brings strength to the Spirit inside of me. It is as though I am handing the Spirit His spiritual weapon, so that He can use it in battle for me.
But here's the interesting thing; just because I have the Word does not mean that the Word is being used by the Spirit. The Word of the Lord can, and is, used by all parties in the great cosmic battle for human souls. The Spirit, the Enemy and our own sinful Flesh all wield this powerful weapon on a daily basis. The problem lies in the fact that only when it is used under the leadership of the Holy Spirit does it produce anything good!
The sad truth is that many times I have taken the Sword of the Word and used it as a weapon against my fellow man. It was not the Sword of the Spirit that I was wielding, it was the Sword of my flesh, and unfortunately for me and those afflicted by these attacks, it is still a weapon of great might.
This is also true of our enemy, The Devil. He too knows the Word and is more then willing to use it against God's image bearers to bring them to destruction. So what does this mean for us? I would suggest that it means this; that just like the power of life and death are in the same tongue, so it is with the Words of God. They do not find their power merely in the fact that they were Divinely authored, but in the eternal authority of the One who administrates them. Let me explain:
Saying "Let there be light!" has no power in and of itself to produce anything. They are simply a collection of letters and sounds arranged in a particular order or sequence. They do not derive their power from that sequence, however, when they are spoken under the Amen of the Godhead they have the power to bring something forth out of nothing.
This is the reality of the Sword. It is always a weapon, but it is only a weapon of Divine productivity when used under the Authority of the Holy Spirit. If I begin to speak the words of Scripture out of a Spirit of Bitterness, Envy or Selfish Ambition, I can be assured that I will not produce the Fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because only the Spirit can produce His fruit.
The Word of God becomes the Sword of the Spirit when we do two things:
a) When we deliver the scroll to Him by choosing to meditate on the Bible
b) When we surrender ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and His Word
Apart from these two activities the Sword of the Spirit is non-functioning and powerless to us in our spiritual battles.
To put it into sporting terms, it is like having the best hockey player in the universe on your team, but He's not in the game because nobody's taken the time to give Him his stick!
The Sword of the Word has been given to you and I, and it is only when we choose to give it back to the Spirit that it becomes a weapon of mass production. Apart from it being in His control it is only good for starting quarrels, arguments and creating divisions.
Let's face it, the Spirit of This Age loves to use the Word of God. Why? Because people bow to it's words and ideas. But those words, apart from the Spirit, are nothing but empty religious ideology. It is the Spirit that empowers the Word. It is God backing Himself up with authority and power that makes the Word of God powerful.
It's time to put the Sword back into the hands of the Holy Spirit and let Him make war in the heavenly places. This is one of the ways that we "effectively handle the Word of Truth" and become ones who move with the Spirit in tearing down strongholds, arguments and all forms of ungodliness.
We need a revolution in our understanding of the partnership between the Word and the Spirit. How many of us are sanctified enough to administrate such a power weapon on our own accord? Surely not this Soldier!
Beloved, in the words spoken to the ancient prophets....
It's time to eat the Scroll.
As I meditated upon this my heart got really stirred.
I began thinking about the reality that anyone who has the Holy Spirit living inside of them has the Author of the Holy Scriptures available to them at all times. However, that does NOT mean that I suddenly know every story, word or promise written in the Bible. Although the Spirit knows all Scripture, He does not impart that knowledge to me apart from my own free will. I must feed upon the Word of God by choice; taking His words into myself like food which brings strength to the Spirit inside of me. It is as though I am handing the Spirit His spiritual weapon, so that He can use it in battle for me.
But here's the interesting thing; just because I have the Word does not mean that the Word is being used by the Spirit. The Word of the Lord can, and is, used by all parties in the great cosmic battle for human souls. The Spirit, the Enemy and our own sinful Flesh all wield this powerful weapon on a daily basis. The problem lies in the fact that only when it is used under the leadership of the Holy Spirit does it produce anything good!
The sad truth is that many times I have taken the Sword of the Word and used it as a weapon against my fellow man. It was not the Sword of the Spirit that I was wielding, it was the Sword of my flesh, and unfortunately for me and those afflicted by these attacks, it is still a weapon of great might.
This is also true of our enemy, The Devil. He too knows the Word and is more then willing to use it against God's image bearers to bring them to destruction. So what does this mean for us? I would suggest that it means this; that just like the power of life and death are in the same tongue, so it is with the Words of God. They do not find their power merely in the fact that they were Divinely authored, but in the eternal authority of the One who administrates them. Let me explain:
Saying "Let there be light!" has no power in and of itself to produce anything. They are simply a collection of letters and sounds arranged in a particular order or sequence. They do not derive their power from that sequence, however, when they are spoken under the Amen of the Godhead they have the power to bring something forth out of nothing.
This is the reality of the Sword. It is always a weapon, but it is only a weapon of Divine productivity when used under the Authority of the Holy Spirit. If I begin to speak the words of Scripture out of a Spirit of Bitterness, Envy or Selfish Ambition, I can be assured that I will not produce the Fruit of the Spirit. Why? Because only the Spirit can produce His fruit.
The Word of God becomes the Sword of the Spirit when we do two things:
a) When we deliver the scroll to Him by choosing to meditate on the Bible
b) When we surrender ourselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit and His Word
Apart from these two activities the Sword of the Spirit is non-functioning and powerless to us in our spiritual battles.
To put it into sporting terms, it is like having the best hockey player in the universe on your team, but He's not in the game because nobody's taken the time to give Him his stick!
The Sword of the Word has been given to you and I, and it is only when we choose to give it back to the Spirit that it becomes a weapon of mass production. Apart from it being in His control it is only good for starting quarrels, arguments and creating divisions.
Let's face it, the Spirit of This Age loves to use the Word of God. Why? Because people bow to it's words and ideas. But those words, apart from the Spirit, are nothing but empty religious ideology. It is the Spirit that empowers the Word. It is God backing Himself up with authority and power that makes the Word of God powerful.
It's time to put the Sword back into the hands of the Holy Spirit and let Him make war in the heavenly places. This is one of the ways that we "effectively handle the Word of Truth" and become ones who move with the Spirit in tearing down strongholds, arguments and all forms of ungodliness.
We need a revolution in our understanding of the partnership between the Word and the Spirit. How many of us are sanctified enough to administrate such a power weapon on our own accord? Surely not this Soldier!
Beloved, in the words spoken to the ancient prophets....
It's time to eat the Scroll.
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Orphans, Widows and The Glory of God
Isaiah 1:17 says "Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows." (NLT)
As a teenager the Lord began to grip my heart for the poor and oppressed, often making trips into Winnipeg's North End to minister to those living on the street and caught in a life of alcohol and prostitution. I knew they were dear to the Lord's heart, I just didn't understand why. As time passed and I finished College, I found myself living in the North End of Winnipeg and attending the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard, where I experienced in a very tangible way what it looks like for the Church to do justice and love mercy. They had a vision for the poor, and the sign on the wall read "let worship and justice kiss". However, no matter how many times I heard them talk about the poor and what it meant to "do justice", I never truly understood what they meant.
Unfortunately, I think this is true of many of us, and many organizations. We have great mission statements which are rich in Utopian rhetoric, but almost nobody can explain to you why engaging in this mission is so important. Or more specifically, why it is so important to God!
Back in those days at the WCV, if I asked many of my friends why we are to remember the orphans and widows, many of them would have passionately responded by saying "because God cares about the widows and orphans!". This is very true, the Scriptures are full of reminders to this extent. But how many of us have ever stopped to ask ourselves why these commands are so important? What is it about the widows and orphans that moves Jesus heart so deeply? Is it because they have it worse off then the rest of us? Is it because He arbitrarily picked these two afflictions as being more important then the others?
We know that "God does not show partiality" (Romans 2:11) and that we are commanded not to show favoritism when giving testimony regarding a poor person on trial (Exodus 23:3). So why have more compassion on these two groups of people?
That question has plagued me for many years, but a few weeks ago while reading Isaiah 1 the Lord blessed me with a marvelous revelation. You see, every command is intended to display His Glory, His Nature, His Name. In fact, everything that has been created, including you and I, was made for the sole purpose of displaying the Glory of God. And this is the motivation behind God's heart for the Widow and the Orphan!
We exist to give Him glory, and in order to do that we must accurately demonstrate what He is like. And this is who God is: God is a Father and God is a Bridegroom, therefore, anything that does not make that reality known in the earth is opposing the Glory of God, it is unjust (because God is Just). Injustice is more accurately understood as being non-justice, or NOT being like God.
So, when you see the Fatherless, and begin functioning under the Spirit of Adoption by taking that orphan into your care, you are doing justice. You are demonstrating that no person is left without a Father in the Kingdom of God. God is a Father. A Father who loves children and has set His heart on adopting into His family every orphan that would come to Him. When we become Fathers to the fatherless, we are displaying God's nature in the earth. (And for what it's worth, evangelism is the single greatest way to do justice; turning spiritual orphans into Spiritual children!)
Likewise, when we care for the Widow, we manifest the intense longing of our Bridegroom King Jesus.Why? Because it is un-Godly for a Bride to be separated from her Husband! ("What God has joined together let no man separate" - Mark 10:9) That's not just a cute line intended for ceremonial purposes. It manifests the fiery passion of God's heart for His glory to be revealed through the covenant of marriage. God loves marriage, and created it to demonstrate His nature. When the visible manifestation of His nature is destroyed through the curse of death, the tangible Glory of God is wiped further from the face of the earth. The result of less Glory being made visible is that less worship is being given to the One who is worthy of ALL worship.
God is a Father, and in His kingdom there are no Fatherless. God is a Bridegroom, and in His kingdom everyone has a Husband.
That's why He commands us to remember the orphan and widow.
So what does it mean to "do justice"? It means that we are to realign the natural things so that they accurately make visible the Heavenly things; an act which re-establishes God's praise in the earth.
However, we must be sure of one thing - remembering the Widows and Orphans is not merely about humanity taking care of it's own; for that has it's end in man, and humanism is an abomination to God! If we are loving our neighbor, remembering the poor, the widow and the orphan simply because they have flesh like us and because we believe that every human has that innate "right", then we are grossly deceived. The issues of justice are all about re-establishing God's Name as a praise in the earth. His Name as Father and Bridegroom. For Colossians tells us, that in everything Christ will have the preeminence - which means everything is to find it's end in Him receiving all of the Glory, all of the Honor and all of the Praise. We must be sure of this - He is the end of all things, not us!
Jesus taught us this important reality, that His desire is for it to be "on earth as it is in heaven".
Those simple words reveal much about His heart, and we do well to gaze upon the heavenly reality and ask that He manifest it in the earth.
That is true Justice.
That is true Worship.
As a teenager the Lord began to grip my heart for the poor and oppressed, often making trips into Winnipeg's North End to minister to those living on the street and caught in a life of alcohol and prostitution. I knew they were dear to the Lord's heart, I just didn't understand why. As time passed and I finished College, I found myself living in the North End of Winnipeg and attending the Winnipeg Centre Vineyard, where I experienced in a very tangible way what it looks like for the Church to do justice and love mercy. They had a vision for the poor, and the sign on the wall read "let worship and justice kiss". However, no matter how many times I heard them talk about the poor and what it meant to "do justice", I never truly understood what they meant.
Unfortunately, I think this is true of many of us, and many organizations. We have great mission statements which are rich in Utopian rhetoric, but almost nobody can explain to you why engaging in this mission is so important. Or more specifically, why it is so important to God!
Back in those days at the WCV, if I asked many of my friends why we are to remember the orphans and widows, many of them would have passionately responded by saying "because God cares about the widows and orphans!". This is very true, the Scriptures are full of reminders to this extent. But how many of us have ever stopped to ask ourselves why these commands are so important? What is it about the widows and orphans that moves Jesus heart so deeply? Is it because they have it worse off then the rest of us? Is it because He arbitrarily picked these two afflictions as being more important then the others?
We know that "God does not show partiality" (Romans 2:11) and that we are commanded not to show favoritism when giving testimony regarding a poor person on trial (Exodus 23:3). So why have more compassion on these two groups of people?
That question has plagued me for many years, but a few weeks ago while reading Isaiah 1 the Lord blessed me with a marvelous revelation. You see, every command is intended to display His Glory, His Nature, His Name. In fact, everything that has been created, including you and I, was made for the sole purpose of displaying the Glory of God. And this is the motivation behind God's heart for the Widow and the Orphan!
We exist to give Him glory, and in order to do that we must accurately demonstrate what He is like. And this is who God is: God is a Father and God is a Bridegroom, therefore, anything that does not make that reality known in the earth is opposing the Glory of God, it is unjust (because God is Just). Injustice is more accurately understood as being non-justice, or NOT being like God.
So, when you see the Fatherless, and begin functioning under the Spirit of Adoption by taking that orphan into your care, you are doing justice. You are demonstrating that no person is left without a Father in the Kingdom of God. God is a Father. A Father who loves children and has set His heart on adopting into His family every orphan that would come to Him. When we become Fathers to the fatherless, we are displaying God's nature in the earth. (And for what it's worth, evangelism is the single greatest way to do justice; turning spiritual orphans into Spiritual children!)
Likewise, when we care for the Widow, we manifest the intense longing of our Bridegroom King Jesus.Why? Because it is un-Godly for a Bride to be separated from her Husband! ("What God has joined together let no man separate" - Mark 10:9) That's not just a cute line intended for ceremonial purposes. It manifests the fiery passion of God's heart for His glory to be revealed through the covenant of marriage. God loves marriage, and created it to demonstrate His nature. When the visible manifestation of His nature is destroyed through the curse of death, the tangible Glory of God is wiped further from the face of the earth. The result of less Glory being made visible is that less worship is being given to the One who is worthy of ALL worship.
God is a Father, and in His kingdom there are no Fatherless. God is a Bridegroom, and in His kingdom everyone has a Husband.
That's why He commands us to remember the orphan and widow.
So what does it mean to "do justice"? It means that we are to realign the natural things so that they accurately make visible the Heavenly things; an act which re-establishes God's praise in the earth.
However, we must be sure of one thing - remembering the Widows and Orphans is not merely about humanity taking care of it's own; for that has it's end in man, and humanism is an abomination to God! If we are loving our neighbor, remembering the poor, the widow and the orphan simply because they have flesh like us and because we believe that every human has that innate "right", then we are grossly deceived. The issues of justice are all about re-establishing God's Name as a praise in the earth. His Name as Father and Bridegroom. For Colossians tells us, that in everything Christ will have the preeminence - which means everything is to find it's end in Him receiving all of the Glory, all of the Honor and all of the Praise. We must be sure of this - He is the end of all things, not us!
Jesus taught us this important reality, that His desire is for it to be "on earth as it is in heaven".
Those simple words reveal much about His heart, and we do well to gaze upon the heavenly reality and ask that He manifest it in the earth.
That is true Justice.
That is true Worship.
Monday, 7 June 2010
One Thing I Desire
We often sing about the "One Thing" reality at the House of Prayer found in Psalm 27, but the past few days I have been seeing David's heart cry a bit differently - not simply as the longing of his heart, but as the longing of God's heart. The one thing that David desired was not birthed out of his own creativity or zeal, it was his response to the invitation that God gave him in verse 8; "When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek." (KJV).
It is God's desire that David is expressing, not his own.
So this morning as I was laying in bed the Holy Spirit began singing this song to me:
There's only one thing I desire
One thing that I seek
There's only one thing I require
That you would gaze on My beauty, gaze on My beauty
Martha don't you know My heart?
Martha don't you know My heart?
Martha don't you know My heart?
Observe your sister Mary, observe your sister Mary
It was a stunning way to begin my day and has truly gripped my heart. He desires for me to gaze upon His beauty WAY more then I ever could. In fact, the only reason I even desire to dwell in His presence is because of Him! He is the one who gave me that desire. He is the one who dreamed it up - not me!
How awesome is it to know that the one thing God desires of us today is to simply sit at His feet and gaze upon the eternal, unsearchable depths of His beauty. That is the heavenly reality, and it is Jesus desire that it would be on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord, release to us the grace to live like Mary of Bethany; for she has chosen wisely.
Jon
It is God's desire that David is expressing, not his own.
So this morning as I was laying in bed the Holy Spirit began singing this song to me:
There's only one thing I desire
One thing that I seek
There's only one thing I require
That you would gaze on My beauty, gaze on My beauty
Martha don't you know My heart?
Martha don't you know My heart?
Martha don't you know My heart?
Observe your sister Mary, observe your sister Mary
It was a stunning way to begin my day and has truly gripped my heart. He desires for me to gaze upon His beauty WAY more then I ever could. In fact, the only reason I even desire to dwell in His presence is because of Him! He is the one who gave me that desire. He is the one who dreamed it up - not me!
How awesome is it to know that the one thing God desires of us today is to simply sit at His feet and gaze upon the eternal, unsearchable depths of His beauty. That is the heavenly reality, and it is Jesus desire that it would be on earth as it is in heaven.
Lord, release to us the grace to live like Mary of Bethany; for she has chosen wisely.
Jon
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