| The
Manifest Presence of God - Part 13
Walter Beuttler
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:
If any man hear My voice, and open the door... Revelation 3:20a
This
does not refer exclusively to men, but to anyone who will hear and
respond. Some time ago, in Australia, a Scripture
in I Corinthians 14 was applied literally,
The
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man.
Women
were excluded and told they must remain silent. Rather, this speaks of opportunity.
The only condition is that we hear and respond, which will
result in a feast with the Lord as He reveals Himself to
us in His manifested presence.
This
experiencing of the Lord's manifested presence is available
to all those who love the Lord, and demonstrate that love by their
obedience. Its outworking will depend on how developed
we are toward spiritual maturity, the Lord's purpose for our lives,
our spiritual hunger and capacity, or completely apart from us,
the sovereign purposes of the Lord.
Thus, it is not restricted to an isolated few or given because
we are particularly holy.
We
should rejoice when the Lord condescends to use us. If we ever think that we are special because
the Lord is using us, remember the wonder that He has anything to
do with us at all. If
we become proud because we are being used by the Lord in any way,
think of Balaam's donkey who prophesied to the prophet.
If the Lord can use a donkey to speak, it is no great thing
that He uses us.
His
knocking on this doorway of spiritual opportunity indicates
the Lord's singular desire to personally meet with us. Notice that the emphasis is on our hearing
and responding. Since
this is the voice of the Lord knocking, spiritual perception
and sensitivity is required for us to hear. Our capacity for spiritual perception
can be increased in several ways - through teaching, by our feeding
on the Word, by our fellowship with the Lord, and by prayer. It is very important that we seek to improve
our ability to hear His voice
We
should guard our spiritual awareness and never
take this ability for granted.
It is important that we never take for granted, not treat
lightly, the Lord's approach to us for fellowship.
The Song of Solomon reveals a very high degree of intimacy
between Solomon and the Lord.
Yet toward the end of his life, Solomon turned so far from
the Lord that his eternal state is left in doubt.
In
Italy, there is a painting of Solomon, which shows him coming up
in the resurrection before the Throne of God, in which the saved
are on the right and the lost on the left.
As Solomon approaches, there is an expression on his face,
which indicates that he does not know if he belongs on the right
or the left. There is one Scripture that gives a bit
of a hope, where the Lord said to David, My mercy shall not
depart from him.
At
the zenith of his seeking the Lord, the Lord appeared to Solomon
in a dream and said, Ask what I shall give you.
Consider what your answer would be if the Lord were to say
this to you. Our answer
would be synchromatic with our true spiritual state, as it would
reveal where we stand spiritually.
I
can relate to this as I had a similar experience, but for a different
purpose. Years ago,
during a time of severe dealings, the Lord was grieved with me and
took His Spirit from me for three days.
Then after a time of severe disciplining, the Lord said,
Ask what I shall give you, and I responded, There is
only one thing I would ask, that I might have Your Spirit to return.
Solomon's
response was, Give me now wisdom.
In the Hebrew, the idea it carries is: Give your servant
a hearing heart. There
are two types of hearing - the natural faculty of hearing through
our physical ear, and the inner spiritual faculty of spiritual perception.
God
is a Spirit and Psalm 94:9 tells us, He that planted the ear,
shall He not hear? He that formed the eye, shall He not see? The Lord has no physical faculty of hearing,
but rather, a spiritual faculty of hearing.
Because
we have these two diverse ways to hear, we tend to neglect our spiritual
hearing. Therefore,
Jesus emphasized our spiritual hearing, He that has an ear to
hear, let him hear. They
heard what Jesus was saying with their physical ear, but He reminded
them that there is a much higher level of hearing by which we should
hear. Only then can we know what He is really
saying.
In
John's messages to the seven Churches, he repeated to each of them,
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the Churches. This is an appeal to the inner hearing
of the heart, which was the request of Solomon.
When
I retire at night, I often pray, Give now Thy servant a hearing
heart. I am asking
the Lord to help me to discern when He is knocking on the door of
my heart, so I might respond.
Many
times, I have been asked, How can I learn to better recognize
the voice of the Lord?
The best way is through our times of fellowship
with the Lord. Comparing Himself to a shepherd, Jesus
said,
The
sheep follow Him: for they know His voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him:
for they know not the voice of strangers. John 10:4b-5
These
sheep were not taught how to recognize the voice of their
shepherd. Rather, they
came to know his voice because they spent so much time
with him. The time we spend waiting upon the Lord
is tremendously important.
Along
with this, we come to recognize the voice of the Lord through
our spiritual experiences.
The Holy Spirit will work with us and help us to learn the
Lord's voice. Samuel is a good example of this. He had lain down to sleep and the Lord
came and called Him. He
ran to Eli thinking it was he who had called, but it was not. After he had come three times, Eli told
him that it was the Lord who was calling him. Our translation says, The word of
the Lord was not yet revealed unto Samuel. But the Hebrew reads, The voice of
the Lord was not yet made known to Samuel.
The
best way to recognize His voice and leadings is by association. As we wait on the Lord and gain experience
through our responses to His presence, we come to recognize and
understand the voice of the Lord.
A young child will usually cry when picked up by another. A newborn will not do this, but because
the baby has spent much time with his mother, he has learned to
recognize her.
If
I were to spend time with you, you would come to recognize the sound
of my voice. But if
instead, someone explained to you the sound of my voice, it is most
probable that you would not recognize it when I came into your presence.
There
is a progression that we learn through experience that
will lead us into His presence.
Behold
I stand at the door and knock - attention
If any man
- opportunity
Hear -
spiritual perception
My voice -
recognition
Open the door -
response
There
is no substitute for spending time in the presence of the Lord. As year by year, we grow spiritually,
we will more easily recognize His voice.
|
