THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH
I would like to begin by stating that this message may not be a message that is easy to hear, and by extension, it has not been an easy message to give. This message has been burning in my heart for the last week or so. Father usually gives me an idea of the next devotional, even while I’m busy with the previous one. Father continually speaks to me through so many things and in so many various ways regarding the message He wants to deliver. I’ve come to realize even again this morning as I thought about His ways with me, He is never silent and is always talking. Even in His silence, He is absolutely loud!
I pray that Father will have His way in our hearts as we listen to this message. I have a great responsibility when I speak what He gives to my heart, to actually be what I speak and come from a place of authenticity. You will maybe remember in my very first introduction video for my YouTube channel, I spoke of authenticity and said that you might hear this word a lot from me. In essence, this is what this teaching is about… what it means to be authentic and how God goes about making us that very thing.
This word has been such a burden on my heart. I found myself numerous times so emotional over what He has shown me, as if it was amplified with His giving me the ability to see deception where normally it might be easy to overlook. I pray that you will enter into the spirit of humility as you read, as this makes us pliable to receive the ingrafted word of God. A heart where the ground has been tilled receives the seed and is willing to receive whatever needs to be said, so that it can be sown therein.
Not so long ago on April 7th, I woke up with the words in my spirit, “A Christian is someone who doesn’t take the easy way out.” He often does this with me, starting my day with His words. I was not sure why He was saying this on this particular morning, until I remembered that this same night I had woken up at 2:25 a.m. (225). I looked it up in the Strong’s Concordance, and it means “truth”. I still wasn’t sure where He was going with it, but now we can see that this message about truth was birthed out of that very small beginning.
Father speaks to me in so many various ways, sometimes even through other people’s dreams where they have asked for interpretation. These may have no significance to me at that time, but later on they will, even though it has nothing to do with me. Other times I hear or see something in passing, or someone will do or say something. All these things collectively speak to me, and then He starts building a message and finally it forms a picture.
He desires for us to have a learned ear to live from every word that He speaks to us. This is what Yeshua requires of us when He says that we are to “walk by the Spirit”. He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) The bread is a reference to the manna, which is a reference to the written word of God. The spoken word is the words of life, by the Spirit. It’s the very word that Peter spoke about saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go, thou hast the words of eternal life?” (John 6:68) Those words of life are what we are to live from, as He speaks to us and through us. The words that we speak must be of life, as they come out of the abundance of our hearts. That means that His very words are not just life to the hearer, but life to the speaker. In Proverbs 10:11 it says, “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life…”. We live from every word that He speaks to us, and those words are not just hearing but also the ability to discern when and what He speaks from whatever means He chooses. Just as I described now… even discerning His words from a picture or something someone says or does. He is speaking, and He wants us to live by the Spirit, by living by every word He speaks to us through these various means. Because of this, He needs to train us up so that we can be sensitive of this. Let’s go to Isaiah 50 and read more about this:
ISAIAH 50
4 The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.
I have obtained a “learned ear”. He develops that ear by helping us to discern when He speaks to us. In Proverbs 23:26 He says, “My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.” So your ability to hear and see and perceive has everything to do with your heart. As our heart is given over to Him and He purifies it, it clarifies our ability to hear and see and perceive. That is how we live by the Spirit. It is knowing the word of God, but it is out of a pure heart, which opens our spiritual eyes and ears. He gives us a learned ear and an ability to see. These words that Father spoke to me as I was waking up, that a Christian is someone who does not do things the easy way, sounded a bit confrontational. This made me think of how we are prone to cut the corners when it comes to things that make us uncomfortable. A Christian should be someone who is willing to pay the price, whatever that price might be.
The other day, I had a laugh as my husband took me out for dinner. The restaurant we went to was completely painted black on the outside, and the name was called “The Black Sheep”. My husband jokingly said to me, “Oh, there is a restaurant just for you!” I am the proverbial "black sheep" in my family. A few days ago he also said to me out of concern that I should be careful of the things I say on YouTube, or anywhere for that matter, because people might think I am crazy or turn against me. My reply to him was basically, “So; I am a salmon, and I go against the flow.” That is not to be antagonistic, but it shows the type of spirit that the Father expects from us that is against the flow. This is not because we think we’re better or we know it all or because we want to be antagonistic, but because we live by every word that He speaks. And if that means we go against the flow, then so be it. This is like Ahab who was looking everywhere for Elijah, and Elijah came before him. Ahab then asked him, “Are you he who troubles Israel?” In other words, “Are you the one who upsets the applecart?”
Yes, a Christian is one who does not take the easy way out. In order to become that type of Christian, Father has to sharpen us and mould us, and He has to take everything away in us that will cause us not to speak the word in season that is necessary to be spoken. The word says, “The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” (Psalm 12:6) His word that has to come through us has to be refined, and the way it is refined is from the heart. The heart has to be pure; therefore, the word that comes out is pure. Think of this… just because I can quote a scripture with every dot and tittle intact does not make it pure. The heart can defile the spoken word. When you say something that is true, but your heart is insincere, it defiles that word. It will lack the cogency and the power that needs to come with it. This is why the Lord said, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.” (Proverbs 4:23). Yeshua also said to His disciples, “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” (Matthew 15:11) What is in your heart defiles what comes out of your mouth, even if you are good at quoting scripture or saying something very nice. This will ultimately defile you, because the more you speak untruthfully, meaning not out of the place of sincerity and not of truth, the more leaven is introduced into your heart. This will in turn cause you to begin to often say things that are not true but have the appearance of truth. Therefore, you will be living a lie; you will be speaking a lie. That is the type of guile He wants to remove from our hearts, so that the words we speak will have power and authority. Ultimately, the Spirit by which we must live is the Spirit of Truth.
With regard to the time we are going into, Yeshua said that the queen of the south, which is a representation of the Bride, will rise with the men of Nineveh, a representation of the Gentile church, and judge this generation. This was a prophetic statement about this generation we are going into. The Bride and workers will be in a place of judgment, meaning they will speak a word of judgment to this world to convict the world of sin. In Isaiah 11, we find a description of Yeshua and how He judges:
ISAIAH 11
1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:
2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord;
3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:
4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth: with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
A rod is a reference to correction, and the spirits in verse 2 are in all, the Spirit of Truth. Verse 3 sounds almost contradictory, but what it means is that He will not discern or judge things by what He sees or hears. Why? Because the word tells us that He does not look at the outer, but He looks at the heart. He wants us to know that the Spirit, the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Spirit of Truth, discerns the intents and motives of the heart. You might hear something that is doctrinally correct or something sweet and concerning, but if you do not have an ear of the learned to discern, you will go on what you see and hear and not be able to discern the true intents and motives of the heart. This is very important. With regard to verse 4, Yeshua told us that when we judge, we are to judge righteously. Many people say that we should not judge. But Yeshua told us to judge and do it righteously. So when you judge, don’t be quick to do so by what you see or hear, unless you yourself have taken the beam out of your own eye in order that you may judge righteously. You cannot judge righteously unless you have dealt with what is in your own heart first. It becomes righteous judgment when the words you speak in judgment are pure. God will approve of this judgment then, because you will have been judged by your words first. Let’s go to Luke 6 where Yeshua talks about this judgment.
LUKE 6
39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch?
40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.
41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye.
43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.
Can you judge when you have not yet been judged? You will only see clearly once you have dealt with the beam in your own eye. With regard to verse 45, when you judge, you will bring forth good fruit. Proverbs 18:21 tells us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Remember, these scriptures in Luke 6 are talking about judgment. He requires of us that when we judge, it has to be righteous judgment. This is what the workers will do; they will judge. They themselves will be a standard, which is the important part. They will be a standard not just by what they say, but how they live. They will not take the easy way out.
A while back, I had a vision that is applicable now.
VISION - CASTING STONES
There was a man lying on the ground. It was from afar, but I could see that his mouth was open. But then all of a sudden, the vision brought me closer to his mouth. I could see inside his mouth that he had tiny white pebbles; his mouth was completely full of them. This was the end of the vision.
First, this vision was about humbling ourselves, as the man was lying down. It is only from that place that we can speak a judgment where our mouth can be full of judgment. The pebbles refer to throwing a stone. In John 8, we read of the adulterous woman who was brought by the Pharisees to Yeshua, and they were all ready to stone her. Yeshua then told them that he who was without sin should cast the first stone. Of course, He could have stoned her, because He is the only one without sin. So if He is the only one who can judge, then why is He telling us to judge righteously? Because He has to first bring us to that place where we can judge righteously. It’s not that He’s saying not to judge, but He is saying to judge righteously. Unless you can say that you do not have this sin in yourself, then it might be best to be quiet and not speak. That is the only time you cannot judge… when you are guilty of the same sin. We cannot overlook people’s sins under the erroneous thinking that we are not allowed to judge, because “no one is perfect”. That is a cop-out to justify you in your own compromise, because you don’t want to be seen as a person who upsets the applecart and judges and you don’t want to hurt others’ feelings. Saying we are not allowed to judge affirms us in our own compromise.
On the 5th of April, my mom sent me a short video clip where someone took pebbles or small stones and made a picture of a little child sitting with a mother from these pebbles. Then the pebbles formed the crucifixion and then formed the tomb that was empty. It was such a beautiful video about these little pebbles being placed together into pictures and telling a story. When I finished watching it, the Spirit came over me and I started crying. Then out of my spirit I spoke, “Lord, let it never be said of me that I have kept quiet. Let this rock cry out!” I want to live up to my name, which is Pietra, derived from Peter, meaning litte rock or stone. It’s all about the truth and walking by the Spirit, which requires us to speak out in season. I cried out to not be silent because of fear of what people would say or the fear of rejection or because I fear what I may lose. Even if I must be the only person crying out, let me cry out truth!
Let’s now go to Luke 12, which falls in line with what Yeshua said to His disciples about what we will see. He is very clear in His purposes in these scriptures.
LUKE 12
49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!
51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.
53 The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
54 And he said also to the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is.
55 And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass.
56 Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?
57 Yea, and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right?
58 When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayest be delivered from him; lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison.
59 I tell thee, thou shalt not depart thence, till thou hast paid the very last mite.
Yeshua begins speaking of the fire within him to go to the cross, and because it burns within Him, He must go. No matter what the price is, this fire or zeal in Him is to get to the cross so that the will of His Father would be accomplished. It was literally burning in Him to do this. As He speaks of the “division” in verse 51, this word is G1266 and it means to “cleave asunder, cut into pieces”. He is saying that He has not come to bring union but instead division. In my previous devotional, “The Futility of Man”, I spoke about how in the time we are entering in, there is no longer such a thing as “fence-sitting”. You will either be for Him or against Him. There will be no gray areas anymore. It will require of us to make a choice whether we choose this world and the things of this world, whether we choose the general flow of some of our Christian brothers and sisters; or whether we will go with Him. The world will begin to persecute Christians progressively more and more. When that time comes and you have not dealt with these things in your daily life now, you will struggle.
Let me ask you…How is it that you cannot see the things that are now going on in this world? How is it that you are blind to the division that it is supposed to be within your family and within your own household? How is it that you are so eager to protect the unity, when He says He has come to bring division? This is a hard word to hear. What happens is that we would rather want to protect the bond of peace, but at the expense of truth. Peace without truth is not peace, just like love without truth is not love. Truth is the foundation. The church is the foundation and pillar of truth, and this means everything about the church is built on the foundation of truth. This is the whole truth and not partial truth, because partial truth is a lie. The question remains, why can you not discern these times and what this will require of you? You can see all the other signs around you, but you fail to see within your very own household the signs and times. You want to protect yourself from that, but in protecting yourself, you are denying the truth. And He is the Truth. Are you denying the Truth?
In verse 59, as He is speaking about our adversaries, we must remember that these would be members of our own household. They will think they are doing God a service and will bring you before magistrates. He is saying that those of your own household will do this to you! We will be stunned and overwhelmed by what our own family members will do. In all this, He says that we must make sure we are innocent; make sure that there is nothing we have done wrong or that can be held against us. We must be able to stand like Yeshua before Pontius Pilate and say nothing. We won’t have to defend ourselves because we have done nothing wrong. He also told us that in that moment, the Spirit will give us the unction and the words to speak. There will be no defending of yourself; you do not feature there. It will be a word that you speak out of a heart that has a clear conscience.
It is clear that the division He wants to bring is within the house – our own household and even within the household of the church. Someone just today asked me to give an interpretation of a dream, and it was about a boiling pot in her house. The interpretation was that people will come against this family as like a boiling pot, and the house they were in represented the church. The hatred and vehemence and envy and murderous spirit will be prevalent in the time to come as a boiling pot against those who do not take the easy way out -- those who speak the truth no matter what, even if it means their life. Who is sufficient to be able to do this, unless they allow the LORD God to deal with their own heart first?
Next I will share a related dream I had about two years ago:
DREAM OF PERSECUTION
The dream began with me with my brother and sister in a shop. We were buying ice cream, so we were looking at all the varieties in the freezer. I saw my brother and sister next to me, and they were busy in a cupboard. They looked very secretive with what they were doing. They had a blow torch with them, and I saw them lighting something in the cupboard and it caught fire. The next moment, they ran out away from me and left me there. I ran after them, surprised at what they had done. Then the shop owner stopped me and blamed me for what happened. The next moment, the scene of the dream changed where I was at a shelter or what seemed like an undercover place of protection where all the Christians were together. As they were together, each one had an opportunity to testify of something. They had to speak of what they had been going through. There was a person next to me crying, and the person speaking was crying. They were very sad and crying about their persecution. In the dream, the person who had just spoken looked to me, and I said to him, “You think it’s my turn to speak next?” He said to me, “Yes”. I then said, “You have another thing coming if you think I am going to participate in this kind of testimony where you feel sorry for yourself for the persecution that you are going through”. I then started speaking out of John 16 verses 1-4 and then verses 13-15, which says:
JOHN 16
1 These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.
In this dream, my brother and sister are those within the church and within our families. The blow torch that they used to secretly do something in the cupboard represents those doing secretive things against others behind closed doors. It is also a type and shadow of gaslighting and Christians being set up to be guilty of things they did not do, just as I was set up for the lighting of the fire in the shop. I was buying icecream, which is "childlike" or innocent. The next part of the dream represents the persecution that will come to us as a result of being set up. The Christians bemoaning themselves over their persecution is an example of the opposite of how we are to handle these things as is in the word of God. When I began speaking the scriptures to them, I was telling them that the Lord told us that we will be persecuted and that we are to expect it. It’s not like some of us will not be persecuted; we will all be persecuted. This is why Yeshua said in John 15:20, “The servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you…” If you look at John chapter 14 through John 17, you will note that it is all one conversation. In John 16:7 He says, “… It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.” Yeshua was outside of them, but when the Spirit comes, He comes into our bodies. Collectively the Spirit is in all the people, all bodies, forming one body in Christ… a voice all over the world speaking the truth. This is why it was expedient for Yeshua to go, because He was just one person. But when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will be in all believers speaking the truth, and nobody will be without excuse. He made sure they understood, and that we understand that we will be persecuted. Evidently, being filled with the Spirit of Truth comes with being persecuted. I will never forget one time I said to the Lord, “Lord, it is going so well with me; why am I not persecuted?” I ask these types of questions, because I want to be the real thing. I have a burning desire to be authentic and to be true, and that comes with a price. You have to ask the relevant questions. It was not long after I asked that question that the persecution did come.
In my last devotional, I mentioned Luke 12:15 where it says, “And he said unto them, ‘Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth’”. In “The Futility of Man”, I was explaining that we are not to depend upon what we possess – our knowledge and understanding of scripture or even our experiences. We are not to fall back on these things, but instead be lead and guided by the Spirit. The Spirit will tell us the things we need to speak. We are not the sum of what we possess. One of the pearls of wisdom that Father has given me is, “Possess nothing in your heart but Me. I want your whole heart.” To bring a better understanding of what He said to me, let us look at 1 Corinthians 7 where Paul is speaking to the Corinthians about marriage. He is telling them how he sees marriage, not necessarily a law or commandment, but giving them his perspective for their profit. He said it was better not to marry, because he wanted them to understand that once you marry, then you have responsibilities to your spouse. He was clear that it was not against the law or God’s will, but it was simply better not to marry so that you may be all for the Kingdom of God. This is why many missionaries are not married, because they have given themselves over 100% to the kingdom.
1 CORINTHIANS 7
29 But this I say, brethren, the time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none;
30 And they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not;
31 And they that use this world, as not abusing it: for the fashion of this world passeth away.
32 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord:
33 But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife.
Paul is saying here that even though you are married, you are to be as one that is not married. How is that accomplished? This is in a way, a mystery. To understand this, we need to look at what Yeshua said about marriage in Matthew 19 after the disciples asked Him if there was going to be marriage in heaven.
MATTHEW 19
11 But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given.
12 For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.
Even as I am saying this message to you now, not everyone who hears it can receive it. Only if God opens this up to you can you understand it; it is given to you. It is a mystery, and He had to open up my understanding to it as well, just as He will also do for you. We can understand it theologically, but must be brought to live it in reality. Those are two very different things. Knowing something versus being something.
As He begins to discuss the eunuchs, we see some are born this way and some are not. Some choose to become eunuchs. For those who do not know, a eunuch is a man who is castrated and cannot produce offspring out of himself. This in the spiritual sense are those who no longer depend upon the flesh. He is saying that in the physical, there are those who are born eunuchs and then those who are made eunuchs by men. For example, Esther had a eunuch who was assigned to prepare her for the king. The reason eunuchs were used in this regard is because they would not fornicate with the brides given to the kings, and they were also entrusted with the treasures of the king. Another example is in Acts 8 where Philip met up with a eunuch from Ethiopia as he was reading Isaiah 53. He was a great man, and he was in charge of the queen’s treasures. These are the eunuchs that are made by men.
Overall, what this basically means is that unto us is given a choice of how far we want to go with the Lord God. How far are you wiling to lay everything down, including all dependence upon the flesh? That also means all dependence upon everything outside -- the world, people, friends, prestige, knowledge – everything. How far are you willing to be cut off and live as a eunuch, even living in marriage as if you are not married and having children as though you do not have children? In other words, possessing nothing. And with that, I will now say this. Whatever you possess in your heart that you are not willing to let go, whether it be your wife, your husband, your children, your ministry, your gifts, your talents, your knowledge, your abilities – whatever you possess in your heart possesses you. You are still owned by it. If this is the case, then you will not bring the sword down to deliver that word that will cause division between you and that person. You will not be willing to speak the whole truth. This is the case with parents who are not willing to speak the whole truth to their children, because they do not want to lose them. The children live in disobedience. They are sleeping with their partners, they live the way they want to live, and they are in rebellion to their parents and to the Father. As a result, the parents sugar-coat the message of truth and end up with a little slap on the hand, instead of bringing a word that pierces, because it is a truth that cuts. They would rather pat the hand and then move on, because after all, they said what needed to be said. The reality is, however, we did not say it by the Spirit, and we have not dealt with our own heart first in order to be willing to say it as it needs to be said. We must say it as truth, because only the truth sets free.
When we talk about the truth setting us free, we immediately have the idea of bondage. What breaks a chain? A hammer or a sword, something heavy, or something that will crush and cut usunder and divide. It will happen within the families. Whatever you possess, possesses you. This is because of the motives and desires and lusts of your heart. If you desire that your children will see you as their friend and you will not be the one to judge them, then to that degree, you are possessed or owned by that desire. It may be a desire to be loved, approved, and affirmed. The same goes with your friends. If you are not willing to speak the truth to your friends, because you don’t want to be seen as the bad guy like Elijah who upset the applecart, then there is still something in your heart that you have not placed on the altar. Every time you are confronted having to speak the truth, and you find yourself holding back even a little bit, it is because there is something in your heart that you need to place on the altar. You come to a point where you say to the Lord, “I give you my children and place them on the altar”, or the same is said about a spouse. But really in your heart, you still have the desire to receive their love and approval and be considered by them. They are still your source, because the axe has not yet been laid to that root. You can say 20 times or more that you have placed them on the altar, but those are empty words if you have not yourself brought the axe to the root. Let’s read Exodus 32 where Moses commands the Levites to do something similar:
EXODUS 32
26 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him.
27 And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbour.
28 And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men.
29 For Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves today to the Lord, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Notice the Levites chose a side. They chose to stand with Moses on the Lord’s side, but the others didn’t. When we think of the Levites, we think of priesthood. As priests, these Levites have been set apart. They’ve had blood placed on their right ear, their right thumb, and their right toe. The right-hand side speaks of the side of strength, and the blood speaks of a death to that strength of self-dependence. They have been weakened; they have died to their own strength. As Moses told them to consecrate themselves that day, he was telling them to set themselves apart. Consecration means that you are set apart from your spouse, set apart from your children, set apart from your friends. It doesn’t mean that you are not to love them or that you have nothing to do with them. It means they are no longer your source. You are free to love them but also speak a word of correction, or reproof; because you can, and because you have set yourself apart. You live married, as if you are not. You have children, as if you do not. You can speak that word that is needed, because they are not your source of joy, affirmation, or approval. Unless you have laid the axe to the root of your own heart, and you have dealt with the affirmation that you seek from them and laid that on the alter, you cannot be as that “eunuch”. You are not yet cut off. It is only then that you can speak that word of truth that is authentic, because you have judged yourself.
In the case of the Levites, they had to take their OWN sword to judge the others. Your sword in typical warfare is your life; you don’t go to war without it. You live by that sword as your protection; it is the Spirit of Truth, the word of God, and you live by it, by the Spirit. The word that He speaks to you and by which He has judged you, it is by that word you can judge others righteously.
I would like to share a quote that I just happened upon by my mentor, Art Katz. He said:
“The degree that you are willing to compromise with the truth is the degree that you deny Christ and is the degree that you are unauthentic and fake.”
Don’t lose sight of what this is preparing us for… the persecution that is going to come from our own households. In order to speak the truth, we have to be the truth. That is where authenticity comes from. That truth has to be that red line that goes right through everything you do in life. Yeshua told the Samaritan woman in John 4:23, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him”. Worship is not something that you do in a church or that you do in your quiet time with music and raised hands. Worship is your way of life. The word says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”. (1 Corinthians 10:31) Your life is worship, so whether you minister or worship or clean your house or work, all has to be done in spirit and in truth. There can be no lie in you. At work, do you take something that belongs to the company? Husbands, do you look at women with lust in your heart and forget that it’s adultery? Wife, do you submit to your husband gritting your teeth but with a smile on your face? That is a lie and is not submission. It’s a start, but that is not submitting in truth. He wants truth in us and our actions. The word says in Psalm 51:6, “Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts…” He desires truth in the depth of you. Is it truly worship if it’s not true? Is it truly ministry if it’s not true? Are you truly submitting if it’s not true? Are you truly loving your wife when you look at women with lust on TV or wherever you are? Is it true when you send an emoji with a smiley face or a heart when that is not really your disposition? Is the message true that you sent just because it sounded right or what the person wanted to hear? He wants authenticity right through everything we do. The only way to do that is to walk circumspectly and consider what you do daily and to ask Him to give you a heart jealous for truth.
I had a difficult week this week for this reason. I became so jealous for the truth; I love the truth. This is why the Father has given me eyes to see when something is not of the truth. It’s not knowing the lie that gives us discernment; it’s knowing the truth that gives us discernment. And He who is the truth invites us to meet Him face to face that He may show us who we are in the light of Him. It’s when you stand before Him and His truth, and you say, “Lord, rip off the band aid and show me what is really in my heart”. Then He comes with His light and shines into every dark corner of your heart. When you’re willing to face it, then the more you face the truth of your true condition and the more He purifies the words that you will speak. There will be no fear in your heart. You will be willing to pay the price, because you’ve dealt with these issues.
We will not be willing to pay that price of speaking the truth that may cause our families to be broken up if we don’t have a kingdom perspective or an eternal perspective. When you start loving the truth, you start loving words like truth, authenticity, righteousness, and holiness. These words begin to have weight with you, and you begin treasuring them. You actually use these words less, because you see their value and weight and they do something to your spirit. This makes you a peculiar person. You also don’t laugh when others laugh. Or you may sit in a service and everyone is joyful and happy, but something in your spirit is agitated. Your spirit is somehow in conflict with what you are seeing and hearing, because you are not perceiving it physically; you are perceiving it through the Spirit. That makes you a strange person, and it will seclude you. Your life will become lonelier because of it. A.W. Tozer gave a sermon that is called, “The Saint Must Walk Alone”. When you are set apart to the truth, it will come with separation. Not everyone is willing to do this.
I would like to read something that Art Katz wrote in his book called, “The Spirit of Truth”. When I read this, it just nailed it for me. He wrote:
“To love truth is to desire the guileless transparency of Jesus more than anything else. It needs to be a very powerful desire, because along with that transparency comes some things we may very strongly want to escape and refuse. Receiving a love for truth and the Spirit who is truth means facing the prospect of life without recourse to exaggeration or white lies or flattery that I have grown accustomed to employing in order to enlarge or protect myself. It means playing no roles and assuming no poses. That frankly frightens most of us. The Spirit of Truth is going to lead us into all truth, even the parts that may humiliate us before men and leave us spiritually uncertain and perplexed and shatter our false images of ourselves, others, and ultimately God Himself. That might not be what we were hoping for. We were looking for something a little more quiet and much less costly. Receiving the love of truth and the Spirit who leads us to all truth inevitably means suffering, because disillusionment, uncertainty, and humility are all forms of suffering. And suffering is what I desperately want to avoid. I will avoid it all costs, even at the cost of truth itself; unless I love truth even more than I fear it. It is not ignorance that keeps us from becoming true, it is cowardice.”
After we have spoken, we can be left perplexed asking ourselves, “Was that really God?, Was I a bit harsh?, Was that truly scriptural?” When the Spirit guides you, then you can end up in a place where you say to yourself, “I can’t believe I just said that”. This is how it at times feel when you speak the truth. You almost cannot believe you said that.
Just yesterday, I went to the dentist for a checkup. I’ve known I had a hole in my tooth and have had pain from it, but I have been putting it off for quite a while. I knew I needed to take care of it. All along I have known that Father has been speaking to me that this tooth is like guile in my mouth. It affects everything, like when I brush my teeth or drink something hot or cold; it causes pain and it’s just always there. No one else can see it, but it’s there. He was talking to me about this, because I have to apply everything that I say here first to myself. I was looking forward to going to the dentist, because it was like a prophetic act of removing it out of my life as I was praying, “Father, remove all guile from my heart”. Once I got there, the dentist gave me an injection to deaden my mouth, and it wasn’t enough. Then she injected me again, and she started boring through the hole in my tooth, and it was still hurting. She had to inject me a total of four times, and then she said, “I’m afraid we have a root canal on our hands here”. And so…we had to do a root canal. While she was busy, the Spirit said to me, “This is going to hurt”. Of course, this is not the most pleasant thing to hear from the Father while sitting in a dentist chair! In that moment, I said to Him, “I would rather that it hurt me now than the alternative of what it will mean later.” That was His whole purpose, because it did hurt. Afterwards when I spoke to my husband about it, I thought about the fact that it was a “root” canal. Father was telling me, “I don’t want to just deal with this on the surface level, I want to get to the root of it”. Just like the source of a tree is its roots, He says to us, “I want to lay the axe to the root of all guile in you”. Guile is everything that is twisted and untrue and unauthentic. He wants to cut the root and clean it up completely in our lives, so that when we speak, it is a word that is authentic and without guile. We have to be willing to endure the pain it will cause in doing so; we have to be willing to pay the price of all that being removed from our lives.
I would like to end with a word that Father gave me in 2021 on the 30th of September:
ABIDE IN ME
Abide in Me, in My word and in My love, by keeping My commandments, and your joy will be full.
In spite of persecution, you must know that My Spirit will guide you in truth.
This truth will always separate you from the world.
This is so you will be made one, undivided, and that I may dwell in you and you may know that we are one.
You are one with Me and my Father.
Therefore, do not expect the world to like you or even your Christian brothers and sisters.
Your separated life is an offense to them, because of their compromise.
Expect this and know there are others going through the same, as the servant is not greater than his master.
I went through it, because I am not of this world.
I was not like them; I was separated, sanctified.
I am the truth.
Know that to you I sent My Comforter; He will comfort you and speak to you My words.
I will never leave you alone.
The word says, “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3) How can we walk in the Spirit and in truth unless we walk in truth; unless we are truthful about our true condition, unless we are willing for Him to lay the axe to the root. The time we are going into will not be a gray area. If you are still compromising in these areas, not having dealt with the issues of your own heart in order to speak the truth lead by the Spirit, even if it means division, how will you stand in the time to come? How will you be part of the “men of Nineveh” who will judge this generation that Yeshua spoke about? He has called us to be separated unto Him alone being one. Not in compartments where our husband is one part, our child is another, our hobbies even another. Your heart cannot be compartmentalized. Everything is set apart unto Him; therefore, you are wholly sanctified. Nothing has been withheld from Him, as you have given Him all your "Isaacs". He is your only source. As the psalmist says, “…all my springs are in thee”. (Psalm 87:7) We reach the place where we say to Him, “You are my only source of life, and therefore if anything is taken from me, I will not fall apart.”
My close friends know that I have an “open-hand policy”. Everything that pertains to your life – ministry, spouse, children, talents, animals, even love and affection and approval that you receive from people – must be open in your hand and you cannot possess it. The Father then has an open hand to take what He wants and how He wants from you. He is then allowed to put anything in your hand, be that to slay you, take from you, or whatever it may be for His glory. We must have an open-hand policy with regard to our life and those whom we love.
You cannot have a grip on them, because then you are also held by them. Your hand must remain open. If He is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.
