The End

"All the foundations of the earth are out of course." (Ps. 82.5)

Man knows not how to build a society, a world.
     Disorder always seems to be advancing,
         and man never abandons that which has failed -
              it is merely recycled in another guise,
                   with the promise that this time the result will be different.

Sadly, as goes the world so goes the church.
We hear voices which prophesy of a wonderful future
where all our hopes and dreams will be satisfied to overflowing.

We seek vainly for voices which authoritatively proclaim 
     the grace of God for today,
          the ministration of the Life of God today.

We hear that Fullness, like freedom, is "just around the corner,"
     but the corner never gets closer.
And lives continue without finding the promise fulfilled.

Well, tomorrow will be what it will be -
     but God abides unchanging today.
Today is the day to hear His voice,
     to find His portion.
Today is the day for our cups to overflow.

Today God says to each of us,
"Ye shall seek Me, and find Me." (Jer.29.13)

The only condition attached is, that the seeking be with all our hearts.
The only question is, can we do this?

Can we tear our hearts away from all else,
     the bad and the good, 
          and seek God alone 
               to find the fullness of Life in Him alone.

                         He calls ... He waits.

Falling Scales

"There fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith." (Acts 9.18)

What happened to Paul?

First the Light from heaven blinded him,

     and then freed him from Darkness.
He came to a place of Spiritual Sight.

Darkness enchains.
It is a sort of premature death. 

It is a place where there is no here nor there.
     It is a sphere where everything disappears.
          a place where there are no forms nor colors,
               no dimensions of distance or size.
 

When Paul was set free from darkness he saw all things clearly.
     He saw in the spiritual realm.
          He saw the here and the there.
               He saw the distances and the values.

He saw a New Way of Life opening before him.

He saw that the things in which he had trusted in the past were of no value,

     that all values were to be measured in the heavenly Light.

          that nothing had value apart from that Light.

He saw life as a journey to that world where Light will be known in its fulness.
He saw a world immersed in darkness to which he was sent as a messenger of the Light which had illuminated all his way.

This is all our calling,
     not to a complicated "religion." 
          but to walk in the Light.

And to show forth the power of the Light which God has bestowed upon us.

Where is Reality?

Was there ever so much talking,
and was there ever so little evidence,
of Reality?

We live in a world of change,
and the sea of change surges around us.
Yesterday's values are no more.
They have been replaced by "new and improved" understanding.

Truth has become whatever the individual wants it to be.
Man has become the center and the whole of existence.

The surging waters of change have flooded the world,
and subtilly their influence has crept into the church.
Pastors have to be careful in their condemnations of sin
because they may offend the sinners and their sympathizers!

I am convinced that the God of the Bible is absolute,
there are no "degrees of certainty" in any of His ways.
That which is of God IS for all eternity - forever unchangeable.
And that which is NOT can never be made to fit into the Kingdom of God.

Time rolls on but cannot bring change to that which God made perfect.
     His Work stands.
          His Word stands.
               His Kingdom and His Church know no change.

Man is ever seeking and when he doesn't find that which is Real,
     that which is of God,
then he follows after things which are illusionary in their promises,
     and empty of any fulfillment.
He reels, and tumbles along in a downward spiral, 
     trying to satisfy something which created things can never satisfy.

We have people prophesying that in the next move of God 
He alone will be exalted,
and yet in the meantime they have their followers, subscribers and "partners."
There seems to be something wrong with this picture...

 "At evening time it shall be light." (Zec. 14.7)
As earth darkens, God is near to hear those who call,
    is found of those who seek.

Whatever may be the move of God in future days,
     God waits to meet those who seek Him,
          waits to satisfy the hunger of their hearts,
               waits to enlarge the measure of their souls,
                    and to cause their cups to overflow. (Ps. 23)

Beyond Our Need

It has been said that there is a way of thinking in the western world,
     which declares everything to be connected by cause and effect -
          and if we only apply ourselves we can make of our world what we want.

Also it  is said that there is a way of thinking in the eastern world,
     which says that everything is chaotic, without order,
          and there is nothing can be done,
               except to try to cooperate with the chaos
                    in order to affect the outcome a little bit.

The Christian lives in a spiritual world where God the Creator dwells.
And it is God, and God alone, Who determines the movement 
     and the outcome of things on earth.
It is God Who determines the outcomes of our lives.

There is a phrase which resounds within me this morning, "He is the Creator." 
     "All things were made by Him." (Jn. 1.3)

John starts his gospel record, not with the account of the earthly story
     but by first presenting the heavenly context.
What happens on earth is the outworking of the Heavenly Kingdom,
     of the thing which God wills to do.

Sometimes it is necessary to lift our eyes, 
     until we no longer see the earthly workings of things, 
          until we see far above and beyond these things 
               that there is a God -
               "Who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will." (Eph. 1.11)

Unless our lives are grounded in this truth we will be like 
     "a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." (Jas. 1.6)

                         This is Surety - this is Rest.
                
               Here is Purpose - and Here is Fulfillment.




 

Prerequisites of the Kingdom

Everything in the spiritual world is centered in God alone.

Everything in the enemy's world is centered deposing that order.

"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: 
for they are foolishness unto him: 
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1Cor. 2.14)

^"Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, 
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Mt. 18.3)

Paul's commission was:
"To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light." (Acts26.18)

These few verses show the unbridgeable division between man's world 
and the spiritual world Jesus came to open.
     God alone opens this world and causes us to see.
  As we seek to understand the things of God we must first bow our knees, 
in a surrender body and mind to Him.

Paul says again, "What things were gain to me, those I counted but loss for Christ." (Phil.3.7)
     This is the only way to come.
          away from myself, and unto God.

How hard it is to turn away from the world of our own making,
the world of our experiences, our learning, our structures,
but I cannot pray "Thy Kingdom Come" unless I truly come to this place. 

 "Jesus ... and saith unto them, 
Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10.24)
     In a wider sense - riches are anything we trust in.

In the Kingdom of God, 
     the King is Present,
          the King is Ruling,
               the King is Working.

Without these 3 elements there is no Kingdom.
     And as we seek to draw near we turn 
     in utter surrender, 
          and utter dependence 
               on the work of God's Spirit within us.

Thus, will we find the Door to the Kingdom.

Kingdom Coming

"Thy Kingdom come." (Mt.6.10)

Each word of the phrase is tremendously important.

As we come to this prayer,
     the first thing we need to do is to ask God to show  us what "Thy" means -
          "Thy" - can never mean the same as "my!"

"THY" - everything else is excluded:
     It is God alone.
          It is an absolute separation unto God.
               It is an absolute dedication to God.

We cannot understand the dimension of this total separation unless God reveals it.
Our human nature is so predominant in all we think and do,
that we can only separate things if the Spirit of God quickens us to do so.

Our minds unaided cannot understand, or receive,
     the Kingdom of the One Who reigns alone.

This is a prayer of dependence.
     This is a prayer for that which alone has value. 

While I am trusting in myself I am denying God.
     Declaring my sufficiency is declaring God insufficient.
          Declaring my capability is a losing of the realm of God's supply.

The first part of the prayer says, 
"hallowed be Thy Name"...hallowed - set apart.
     It is to be removed far from every other thing.

How hard it is for man to ever fully realize what this means in his living - 
a life lived for God alone.
     Yet those who find it, find a relief,
          a rest, and a refuge from all the conflict of a fallen world.

Only the Spirit of God can reveal God,
     and show us the endless distance 
          between the highest thing we can offer and the realm of God.

          It is a letting go of all that is ours,
               and a giving all, to the One Who is All in All.