Article of the Month
August
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Article of the Month August | |
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| Our Need
to be Spiritually Needy Because you say, I am rich, and increased with
goods, and have need of nothing
Revelation 3:17a The
Laodiceans were spiritually satisfied and content, having no sense of
any further spiritual need. Therefore,
Jesus is seen as being outside of their spiritual experience, knocking
on the door of their heart, saying, If any man hear My voice, and
opens the door, I will come in to him ... (Revelation 3:20b). He was seeking an active personal
relationship with them, and, He also desires an active spiritual relationship
with us. Concerning
their spiritual condition, they considered themselves to be rich; but
the Lord viewed them differently, and called them poor and naked
(a spiritual baby). Know not that you are wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked. Revelation 3:17b Therefore,
they were given a word of correction: I counsel you to buy from Me
gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich. Revelation 3:18a I
counsel you to buy from Me ... Here, Jesus is without, seeking entrance
as His nature can be produced within us, only when He is within.
He will not come within unless invited, which results from our
having a sense of spiritual need, and our actively seeking more,
beyond our present spiritual experience. This
seeking will cause the Lord to come and knock on the door of
our spirit. If we will rightly
respond and open the door, along with receiving the presence and blessing
of the Lord, His chastening hand will expose our true need.
The Lord instructed the Laodiceans to buy gold from
Him. Their spiritual condition was the result of
complacency, or self-satisfaction - they thought they had need of nothing. However, if they would become quiet in His presence,
they would realize that they needed to purchase the gold that
Jesus offered, which is very costly. Gold
speaks of the divine nature being wrought within us, making us
conformable to the image of Jesus. The
fire is the means whereby the Lord burns out of us all that
hinders His purposes for us. As many as I love, I
rebuke and I chasten; therefore be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:19 If
I do something wrong and the Lord does not bring correction, I have
a serious problem. But, when
I am reproved, I rejoice, because the Word tells us that Whom the
Lord loves, He chastens. My son, despise not you the chastening of the
Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked of Him:
For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He
receives. Hebrews 12:5b-6 Being
chastened, I am corrected from wrong doing. I am scourged when I am doing everything
right, as my self-life (I) is being crucified. The
chastening, or scourging, of the Lord is always positive
and corrective, whereby He seeks to draw us closer to Himself. Opposite to this is the condemnation that the
enemy attempts to put upon us, which is always negative and meant to
discourage and cause us to give up. There
are two sides to the door upon which Jesus is knocking. The first is His part the Lord is seeking
to attract our attention, and desires a response from us. The second is our part, which requires
of us a deep sense of need, or spiritual hunger, so we, with anticipation,
will respond (open
the door),
and listen (invite
Jesus to come within). 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 The
Lord does not leave us to ourselves, as He will make known to us what
He will do when we invite Him to come within. I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the
fire, that you may be rich; and white raiment, that you may be clothed,
and that the shame of your nakedness do not appear; and
anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see. Revelation 3:18 If
we have not established the Lord as being first in our lives, it may
be necessary for Him to remove whatever is between us and Him. An
example of this is given in chapter six of Isaiah. Isaiah had been active as a prophet during the
reign of King Uzziah. He was
always welcomed in the palace, where ample provision was given him. Therefore, he had no need, and was content. When the source of his comfort was removed (King Uzziah died), Isaiah realized that something was missing, and began to seek the Lord.
The chastening hand of the Lord had come upon him. In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also
the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled
the temple. Isaiah
6:1 He
is saying, When that which stood between myself and the Lord was
removed, I began to seek after the Lord, and He was there, waiting for
me. Isaiah saw the Lord, seated on a heavenly Throne
in full control of all things (but only after the earthly throne became empty). Notice
that His train fills the temple, which temple we are. In I Corinthians 3:16, Paul says, Know you
not that you are the Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six
wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet,
and with two he did fly. Isaiah
6:2 These
seraphim represent an overcoming people, as they are in the place that
is promised to the overcomer (Revelation 3:21). Each one had six wings, or three
sets of wings. There is an old
saying, All Word, we dry up. All Spirit, we blow up. But, the Word and the Spirit together, we go
up. To function properly,
each set of wings, the Word and the Spirit, must be in a right balance. With
two of these wings, the seraphim covered their face. Jesus is the head. Our face is to be covered, that the mind of
Christ will be in full control, and Jesus alone seen. We are to submit to His Lordship, and become
obedient to His will. And
with two, he covered his feet.
There was a time when we could go where we desired. Now our feet are to be covered, that we might
move only in the will of the Head, as He directs. If we live in
the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:25). And
with two he flew. When I
submit myself to His Lordship - to the government of His Kingdom, I
am ready to fly. With the Word
and the Spirit being in the right balance, I can now ascend into His
higher purposes, in which His glory will be revealed to all mankind
through those who have been made ready for their part in the
closing out of the Gentile Ages, and the setting up of His Millennial
Kingdom. And one cried to another, and said, Holy, holy,
holy, is the Lord of hosts, the
whole earth is full of His glory. Isaiah 6:3 As
they worshipped, something happened.
And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that
cried, and the house was filled with smoke"
(Isaiah 6:4). Our worship is a key to an open heaven.
When we lift our eyes from the earthly thrones of temporal satisfaction,
and look up to the Lord seated on His heavenly Throne, and begin to
worship in unity with a single eye, He will move toward us and open
the heavens to us - The house was filled with smoke. This speaks of His revealed glory and enabling
power. Truth,
before it becomes ours, must be incorporated within our experience. It is not enough to just hear it - we are to
eat, or experience the truth. This
will bring us into an alignment with His will and purpose. In
the reflection of this glory, Isaiah saw himself and cried out, Woe
is me. An angel came with a coal of fire from off the
altar and laid it upon his lips. This
speaks of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit and Fire. We cannot stop with tongues,
the fire must be applied to do its purging and purifying work. The
Lord is knocking upon the door of your heart, seeking to remove your
Uzziah. Whatever this earthly king may represent in
your life, let it go.
We are approaching the greatest visitation ever, and the Lord
is seeking to make us ready to rightly respond. |
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