FLOODS, RIVERS AND STREAMS

FLOODS, RIVERS AND STREAMS - AUDIO LINK

I posted a devotional at the beginning of the year about floods.  I will repeat some of the information in this one, just as a refresher, but I believe Father is wanting to encourage His Bride in this last stretch, which is always the hardest in a race.  And we are running the race of our lives.  I am also reminded that the Most High woke me up about a month ago, with me feeling as if my heart will break of intense sorrow, saying, "My Bride is not ready for what it is to come on this earth before I take her away".  I have seen how the intensity of the birth pangs has grown much stronger in this past month all over the world.

This morning He reminded me of this previous post about floods and the significance of that devotional is so relevant, even more so than then.  In Revelation 12 we read about the woman that flees into the wilderness after giving birth to the man child. This woman does not represent the church, but she represents Israel that flees into the wilderness.  This is a reference to Psalm 90:10.  However, the relevance to our current circumstances cannot be denied. In fear she is driven into the wilderness after complete chaos and the dragon pursues her.  He runs after her.  How?  The word says the following:

REVELATION 12: 15

15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

Father could have illustrated this in so many different ways.  He could have said that the serpent persecuted her with his mighty army of locusts.  Or he persecuted her with great wrath and breathed fire or something like that.  Who would choose "opening his mouth and water and flood"?  Well, our Father knows, being the Alpha and Omega.  In the Word, flood is often synonymous with a sea of people.  But the fact that it came out of the father of lies’ mouth, is showing us that the enemy persecutes the woman with a flood of words by the mouth of man.  These persecuting words are words that will come from this world and how they have been deceived by the enemy to believe all his lies.  They will be used by him to persecute her in the wilderness.  Even so, now His bride is being persecuted by a flood of words from this world through different media outlets, but also by those near to us.  Those whom we thought would never turn against us, now make no mystery of their disappointment in us for choosing not to go with the masses.  It is interesting to know that Yeshua said that if we want to be His disciples we have to forsake father, mother, brother and sister and even our own lives.  Could this be because He also said that at His coming neighbor would turn against neighbor and nation against nation?  He made it clear, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace, but I have come to bring a sword."  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.  The enemy sure does know how to strike and hit where it hurts the most.  And yet, Yeshua made it clear that it is in fact He that is bringing this sword amongst families and friends.  Many of us did not see this coming from those we thought would never turn their backs on Him, and yet here we are where indeed the Bride is being sifted.  And truly nothing sifts quite as well as fear.  The enemy's mouth is wide open and he is screaming as loud as he can.  Lady Liberty is being very liberal with her intent to kill those who dare come against her laws.  No longer a lady, but Jezebel holding the torch of the Luciferian agenda high as she stands on the chains of the slaves she wishes to crush.  Whilst the masses are placed under mandate to where masks, the mask of the enemy is coming off.  And let’s face it, it is overwhelming, because the enemy is screaming threats and we see their wicked plans playing out right before our eyes, with the souls being dragged down the mire with it.  In fact, often the natural manifests that which is in the spirit realm, and the floods that has been rampant all over the world is telling of the flood in the spirit that is presently pursuing the Bride.  He is making his plans known and he is making it clear that he is coming after us. But I want to bring your attention today to Revelation 12:14.

REVELATION 12: 14

14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

The meaning of eagle in the Strong’s Concordance is breath and air.  She receives two wings that she may fly as an eagle into her place.  Not just any place, but a place prepared for her.  For one reason.  That she may be nourished.  That she may be taken care of and be renewed as we read in Isaiah 40.

ISAIAH 40: 31

31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

It says that she may be nourished and cared for from the face of the serpent.  This face in the Strong’s Concordance means to gaze upon.  To look at.  That she may in this place, prepared for her in the wilderness (not away from the wilderness), be away from the face of the serpent.  This face makes me think of the face of a television or our other technologies that have that has faces. That she may not look at him and be overwhelmed as he spews his bile of threats and fear.  Herein lies wisdom to us who make it our business to know the schemes of the enemy.  How much time do we spend researching and uncovering these schemes versus the time we spend in that secret place prepared for us?  And if it will be important when the flood of the enemy pursues the Revelation 12 woman to go to a place prepared, does it not stand to reason, that now we too in the time of great floods are to go to that place prepared for us?

I am quite aware that what I am saying may not necessarily be new revelation.  However, what is new is the vehemence and wave of words of persecution that is presently flooding this world.  This is going to increase. The enemy has one aim and that is to wear out the saints.  The threats are going to become more aggressive, and the separation more apparent.  We know this, but a contingency plan is not a bad idea.  The enemy wants to bring us to exhaustion, to kill and destroy.  It says in Revelation 12 that the enemy sends this flood that she may be carried away by this flood.  This carried away means to be clothed with a burden.  But our God has prepared a place for you.  Not just any place.  Just like the woman fleeing into the wilderness flees to her place, Father has prepared your place.  Your place where He will raise you up by His Spirit away from the face of the serpent. This is our only save place.  Not more information, not more exposure, not more knowledge of how the enemy is working now.  Do not get me wrong, there is a season and a time for all things under the sun. However, in this very time, a cool-head goes a long way.  The aim in fear, and trust me, having a daughter suffer from anxiety disorder for 16 years, I know what fear can do firsthand on a daily basis, is to paralyze.  It escalates. It weakens, it becomes toxic to your thinking like a poison slowly filling your peaceful mind without you even being aware of it.  But the Most High has given us not a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.  We can confess this all day long, but the proof is in the pudding.  Is your mind sound?  Are you in that place of the eye of the storm?  Are your eyes on the face of the serpent or are you hidden where He can feed you and nourish you for the time to come.  This world will soon be enveloped in a dark depressing blanket of fear.  The world will be clothed with a burden of fear that will be unbearable, just as the enemy planned.  What will you say to them if you yourself are enveloped in this blanket?  The spirit of this age is the spirit of Jezebel that rules by fear.  Whether I go to that place He has prepared for me and be nourished by Him, will determine how I deal with it when I come out from that place.  Will I be leaning on my Beloved? We all know the well-known Psalm 46, but let us read it with understanding of the relevance that it has for the time we are in.

PSALM 46

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

Verse 4 reads...There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.  Where the enemy comes with his flood of threats, the Most High is saying, "Come away Beloved to that place that I have prepared for you...the holy place.  There My Spirit flows as a river to make glad the city of God. You are that city.  He is saying, come and cast your cares on Me, because I care for you”.  

I have such urgency in my heart to draw ever closer to that place like Elijah to be fed by the ravens. 

1 KINGS 17: 2 - 6

2 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,

3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

5 So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

There Elijah was fed by the ravens and the Most High provided bread and flesh.  He could drink of the brook.  This was a place prepared for Elijah where he would after a while receive his instructions from the Lord to go and tell Ahab of the coming drought.  It is here where He feeds us with His Word and gives us instructions as to what He needs us to do instead of being so focused on this world with our eyes wide open in fear.  Yeshua said that Elijah will come first.  We know this to be John the Baptist as well, the one who found himself living in the wilderness from honey and locusts.  He sends his Elijah company to the wilderness to be fed and nourished by Him so that they may receive strength and instruction for the time to come.  To come away from the face of the serpent and be fed by Him.  Jesus said that whosoever does not eat my flesh and drink My blood does not have life.  We must know that in this place prepared for us, we are to feast on Him.   He has prepared a table today for you in the presence of your enemy and He is that table prepared.  The victory of the cross.  We are to come into this place He has prepared for us by the renting of the veil, His flesh, and abide in the Holy of Holies, there where the river flows from His side that will renew and strengthen us.  In that still place.  The tent of meeting made by Moses was right in the middle of a wilderness.  In your wilderness, your Father has prepared a place where you can be fed.  Where you can receive instruction. 

We have seen the destruction of tsunamis and how everything is carried away with it…just like Revelation 12 says the enemy desires to do.  It will become overwhelming, unless you run to that place where He will strengthen you.  This is not a suggestion, but a clear instruction from Him as He said to Elijah, and now say to us…

3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan.

One of the meanings of Cherith is to make covenant.  The essence of covenant is to become one.  Your enemies will be mine, and My enemies will be yours.  It is an exchanged life.  The Jordan is synonymous with death.  Saying, “Come drink of the brook of My death so that you may have life.  From out of My side flows this river of water and blood, so that you may have life.  This is the river of life that will make glad the city of God.  Drink so that you may be fed by My words.  Where I will speak to you, not as the enemy in a flood, but in a still small voice.”

1 KINGS 19: 11 - 13

11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

13 And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?

It is only in this place that you will hear His voice.  Where the enemy screams, our Father whispers.  But, it is in that hidden place, in the wilderness.  A place He has prepared for you.  Will you come? Even today?

In Matthew 7 Yeshua said that in the end it does not matter what miracles you did in His Name or how many demons are subject to you.  In the end what matters is, "Is your house built on the Rock?"  He said a storm would come.  Makes me think of Trump saying "the calm before the storm".  Indeed the storm is here, and probably just the beginning.  However, even at the beginning of this storm we see people being taken and the fall of their house is great.  He likens those who build their house on the Rock to those who hear His voice and obey His sayings.  Pretty clear cut.  May I add just as a reminder...He says, "Today, if you will hear My voice, do not harden your heart".  Obeying His sayings is not just obeying His commandments, but they also include the fact that He said that man shall not live from bread alone, resembling the written word of God, but from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.  This is also His spoken word.  What is He saying to you today?  Is He calling you aside to come and feast at His table?  Not just today, but know that He will do this often in the time we are in.  Are  you listening and obeying?  He is saying to come and hide under the shadow of His wings. Not just in parroting the scripture, but actually to come and DO it.  This lies at the heart of building your house on the Rock...the building is the obeying.  What brick is in your hand?  The brick of anger and fear?  The brick of resentment and offence at this world?  Did He not say we will have tribulation?  Did He not say that all these things will happen?  Why are you dumbfounded by the audacity of the enemy?  Why are you so busy throwing "bricks" at the enemy when you should be building your house on the Rock in obedience to everything that He is saying to you?  The bricks that you are to build your house with is the Word of God and that in obedience.  It is the only way it will stand in the storm.  As Mary said to His disciples, "Whatever He tells you to do, do it".  Are you positioning yourself in that place where you hear His voice more than the enemy’s voice?  The only way your house will stand, is when it is built on the Rock.  The storm is here, but it seems as if some of us need to do some maintenance and make sure that certain "doors or windows" are closed.  We need to make sure that we have spiritual food in the pantry.

I was feeling a bit deflated yesterday morning and when I came to my prayer room to pray for the day, I had nothing.  And at that moment I started to pray pure word as that river started to slowly flow from my innermost being, the holy place.  I was acknowledging who He is in the light of who I am.  I was praying His word back to Him and nothing I said was from me.  It was just scripture.  The river that flowed through me revived me again as it always does.  It never fails.  The time we are in demands of us to seek His face more than what we have done before.  Nobody is immune to the onslaught of the enemy, no matter how much they profess so.  The only place of immunity is in Him.  Stepping out of this place of communion with Him where He can speak to us is dangerous now.  We have to remain in close proximity to Him, just like John on His breast.  We have to be close enough to hear His whisper.  It is not reciting His word that causes us to be still and know that He is God...it is faith.  He wants to speak to all of us and say "Peace, be still" to the storm raging within.  When that storm is still, no weapon formed against us shall prosper.

It is said that in Isaiah 59 where it talks about the enemy that comes in like a flood, the translators placed the comma at the wrong place.  That it is in fact to be read, "When the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.  The relevance to this is the Red Sea.  The waters stood up like a wall on both sides as they passed through.  The moment the enemy was in the middle of those two walls of waters, like a flood they were destroyed as the waters came down on them.  Many of us, including me, have received dreams about two tsunamis that will come from the east and west side of the USA.  This flood, this standard raised against the whore of Babylon that is presently pursuing His Bride like the Egyptians of old, will once again come and destroy their horseman and chariots.  The Most High will once again entrap the enemy between the two walls of a flood and destroy them utterly.  At the same time I believe the standard that He is raising now is on an individual basis.  The flood of God is His Word.  The enemy has words, but our God is THE WORD.  He is the standard and when we obey His Word, His sayings, we build our house on the Rock so that when the storm comes, a standard is not just raised against the enemy, but a standard is raised in us.  I much prefer the river of God to become a flood in me as the enemy comes against me.  

ISAIAH 59:19 - 21

19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in, like a flood the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

20 And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.

21 As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and forever.

May we meditate on His Word and allow Him to raise a standard in us amidst the words of the enemy flooding our lives daily.  Let us in this day seek His face and draw near unto Him in a time of need.  Let us abide under the shadow of His wings in reality and not just saying it.  The only safe place is a place of obedience.  Are you being obedient to that still small voice that is calling you to come into the cave, the holy place to be fed by Him and to drink from the river of life that flows from His side?  The burdens that we carry are becoming more heavier as we see the world crumble before our eyes.  Our thoughts go to what will be soon and our hearts break in despair over the lost.  His invitation stands and He is waiting for His children to take shelter in Him.  He longs to take us with eagle wings to soar above the storm.  Only those who wait on Him enjoy this privilege, but the invitation is to all His children.  

THE CALL

 

THE CALL - AUDIO LINK

 ^{JOHN 5: 30 - 41}

³⁰ I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

³¹ If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

³² There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

³³ Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

³⁴ But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.

³⁵ He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

³⁶ But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

³⁷ And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

³⁸ And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

³⁹ Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

⁴⁰ And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

⁴¹ I receive not honour from men.

Both in the 5^th and 17^th chapter of the gospel of John, Yeshua makes it very clear who it is that He has come to represent…the Father.  Reading this it is important that we ask ourselves who it is that we represent in our lives.  It is easy to say that we are representing the Father from out of a logical conclusion of being children of the Most High.  But when we ask the Holy Spirit to search our hearts, which I pray is the end result of this devotional, we will find that often in our day to day lives we do indeed fall short of what it means to truly represent the Father.  When Jesus told Philip in John 14 that when he has seen Him, he has in fact seen the Father, it was not a play on words.  When He said that when people reject Him, they are rejecting the One who sent Him, this too was not a play on words.  Authenticity remains the standard by which something is measured.  Words that are synonyms to the word authenticity is the words validity, dependability, trustworthiness, legal, genuineness and faithfulness. When you look at the word authenticity it seems almost devoid of relationship, but when you look at the words that describe it, you find that which undergirds a trusting relationship.  So if we are to ask ourselves this question about who do we represent in our lives, the issue is authenticity. 

Yeshua represented the Father in every aspect of His life.  We read the following verses that underscores this reality.

JOHN 14: 10 - 11

¹⁰ Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.

JOHN 12: 49 - 50

⁴⁹ For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

So we can see that He was not just paying lip service to the fact that He was the Son of the Mot High, but was representing the Father in what He did and say.  Can we echo the words today that the words that I speak therefore, are what the Father said unto me to speak? Not just a given word at a time, but all our words?  He was always about the Father’s business, even before the age of 12, whether in learning or teaching.  Hebrews 5 gives us the understanding that what He was taught was obedience.

HEBREWS 5: 8 – 9

⁸ Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

⁹ And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

The act of representing the Father cannot be separated from obedience and in essence this is what it means to be led by the Spirit of the Most High.   For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8: 14) It is not just about the ability to not fulfill the lusts of the flesh, it is also about the obedience and submission to the Spirit.  In Acts 5 we read, ³² And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him. This is exactly where Yeshua was at.  In His obedience, even the obedience of His baptism, after the act, the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descended on Him.  The words from Father came in that moment for all to hear…”This is My Beloved Son in whom I am well pleased…hear ye Him”. Do you think that the Father was so pleased with the act of baptism, or whether His Son embodied that which the baptism stood for?  I can assure you that it is the latter.  Because whatever sacrament we do without the authenticity of it being a reality in us, is meaningless and pure religious work.  However, on that day, the Father was not just making a declaration that Yeshua was His Beloved, but also His Son.  From that moment on He was about His Father’s business and even though He had a mother and father, He said that He no longer has a place to lay His head.  That is to say He left all behind.  He was now under the control of the Spirit, just as we are to be under the control of the Spirit.  But what does that really mean?  Collectively it means that we are to represent the Father, but personally it means that His will in any given situation or moment, in everything, is all that matters.

In essence it is an issue of ownership.  By His blood we have been bought and have become His bondservants.  Our fate to be fed to the lions has been cancelled by His blood, and we are under His ownership, no longer slaves to sin, but unto righteousness.  From this context we acknowledge His sovereignty over us in two fold.  By ownership and the fact that He is the Son of the Living God and are confronted with the finality of His Word and instructions.  We are confronted with the fact that ultimately we are dust and He is the Creator of all living things.  As His bondservants we have only one function or goal…to do the will of our Master with single hearted devotion.  The heart, the mind and the body belongs in totality to the Master.  In this total subjection which is only achieved through the process of sanctification, a death to self and your whole life, the will of the bondservant is taken up into the will of the Master.  It is not that the bondservant can no longer think for himself, but rather he wishes no longer to think independently to the will of His Master.  Nothing else exists except the will of the Father.  Yeshua said that to do the will of the Father is His meat.  This means that the means by which He lives is by the will of the Father.  This is different to just having the will to do the will of the Father, but rather this is an all consuming desire that trumps all other considerations.  It is not just a gentle stream of submission, but rather a raging river within.  The same is true of true bondservants.  When someone asks this bondservant what is his will in a matter, he can only answer, “I have no will except the will of my Master”.  This is a sacrificial obedience seen in the account of Gethsemané where Yeshua cried out, “Not my will be done, but Thine.”  He chose the will of the Father in the face of the impossibility of the suffering of the cross.  He knew that He was unable to bear the cross, however, he said “Nevertheless”.  This nevertheless, is a declaration of the Father’s strength shown in his weakness.  This obedience is not something we can perform from out of ourselves, but something we are called to, individually in our lives.  I am not talking about our day to day lives, but rather a point in time where we stand before Him alone and hear the words, “Come and follow Me”.  The call.  This is a call to discipleship and not membership.  It is not a call to belong to the Christian Club, but rather a call to ultimate obedience in all things.  No negotiations or justifications.  It requires a stepping out, a choice accompanied with an action where what will be required of you will be beyond your means.  I want to be obedient is only of value when you actually go over into the act.  Lip service will not be tolerated.  But in this act of obedience, as we are told, the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey, faith is made visible.  What I mean by faith being made visible after the act is that usually we obey from the position of faith first, but sonship requires obedience first and in that act of obedience, faith is birthed.  Not the faith of man, but the faith of the Son of Man by which we are called to live from then on.  Faith is produced out of the act of obedience.  Let me explain.

The Most High never calls us to an obedience to what we can perform from within ourselves, our natural abilities.  That kind of obedience performed out of ourselves is what we can call our reasonable service.  We read about this in Romans 12: 1 – 2.

ROMANS 12: 1 – 2

 ¹I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

This is birthed out of faith where we by our acknowledgement of Him as our Savior obey Him in His commandments.  I believe He is the Son of the Most High, therefore I obey Him.  Faith is the springboard to obedience in this case.  These are that which we can do in our own strength.  We show our faith by living in obedience to Him.  Let’s face it, nobody has to hold us back from stealing or murdering someone.  It is within our ability to do this.  The word says that faith worketh by love.  And in 2 John we read the following…

2 JOHN 6: 6

⁶ And this is love… that we walk after his commandments.

This is the faith that leads to obedience.  Having said that, He is however calling us to an obedience that we cannot perform from out of ourselves.  This is the faith of the Son of God, and not the faith that we have generated from out of our life’s experiences, even though this faith is precious in His sight.  What He seeks to bring us into is sonship, which is the spiritual maturity in which we operate in the faith of His Son.  Just like Paul says in Galatians 2.

GALATIONS 2: 20

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

This is the obedience that does not come from out of faith, but in fact produces faith.  The obedience is to act by a will that has been given over and united with His will.  This is what it means to be led by the Spirit.  In this life of obedience that the Son learned through suffering, the Spirit was given unto the Son at His baptism in the Jordan River.  Some people have so little of the Spirit because they live disobedient lives.  It is interesting to note that in Hebrews 3 faith and obedience are directly linked.  And those who are faithless is considered to have a rebellious and hardened heart.

HEBREWS 3: 12 – 19

¹² Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.

¹³ But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴ For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

¹⁵ While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

¹⁶ For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

¹⁷ But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

¹⁸ And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

From this scripture it is clear that we can see that faith and obedience cannot be separated and also reminding us that the Spirit is given to those who obey Him.  I also said that faith worketh by love.  These three are inseparable - obedience, faith and love.  In the first few verses of 1 Corinthians 13 we read that giving our clothes from our backs, having faith to move mountains and even giving our bodies to be burned is nothing if we do not have charity.  I don’t want to be contradictory, but these acts sure do sound like extreme love to me.  However, we are told that they in themselves do not represent love.  They are good works.  So does this means we are not to do these good deeds?  No, on the contrary the word states the following in Ephesians 2.

EPHESIANS 2: 10

¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The rest of the chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 tells us exactly what love is.  For instance… ⁴ Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,

⁵ Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;

⁶ Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;

This speaks not of the outward, but the inward, that is to say the matters of the heart and mind.  Needless to say that He is a lot more focused on the heart in which something is done, but also our hearts in all things.   In the gospels we read of the woman with the 12 year long issue of blood that reached through the throngs of people in order to touch His garment.  The Word says that virtue left Him and He turned around asking who touched Him.  It was this virtue that left Him and touched this woman that was the distinction between her and all the others that touched Him in that moment.  What is virtue?  In the Strong’s concordance this word is rendered as power, or the word dunamis.  However, virtue by its application in any given language is not that of power only, but of character.  We talk about a virtuous man or woman and do not think of a powerful person.  Suffice it to say that those who are virtuous do have power, in the sense of being authentic.  Any power without the divine character of the Most High as its foundation, should be questioned.  The Spirit of the Most High is both His power and His essence, that is to say His character, which is the fruit of the Spirit.  If virtue left Him the moment that she touched Him, does it not stand to reason that virtue was received in order to be given?  This is what lies at the heart of obedience.  When He says that He gives His Spirit to those who obey Him, it is not only in the capacity of power to do great and impossible things, but also in the capacity of His character in the act of obedience that is received.  The obedience comes first in order to receive the Spirit.  People who minister to others do not only give knowledge and wisdom, but they also give of themselves.  After such ministering they are spent and are called by the Spirit to come aside and so to speak, refill.   Virtue has left and virtue has to be refilled. This is why we read of the Son of Man who often went aside to spend alone time with the Father.  He constantly gave of Himself to others. 

Our obedience then is not related to a set of rules, but from the description in 1 Corinthians 13, it is based on a love relationship.  Just as the Son loves the Father and obeyed Him.  His love for the Father overrides His will and so His will was taken up in the Father’s will.  This is what it means to become a bondservant of the Most High.  Even though you are set free, you return back to your Master and say, “I will do whatever You ask of Me”.  God is love.  We know this and this is what Yeshua came to demonstrate in the life He lived and the death that He died.  The reality is that, as Hebrews 5: 8 says, He learned obedience by what He suffered, and we can safely say that all His obediences led up to this final obedience unto the Father in the garden of Gethsemané.  Without all the previous learning of obedience upon obedience, would He have been able to say, “Father, not My will, but Thine” in the prospect of the enormity of the suffering of the cross that He was to be subject to? 

One can liken this earthly journey up to Gethsemané to those of the Israelites in the wilderness.  Gethsemané being a type and shadow of the Jordan River.  There where the crossing takes your will and drowns it in the river of death.  You will note that unlike the Red Sea where Moses was told to place his staff in the waters in order for them to cross over on dry land, the Jordan River offers no staff, but asks of the Priests to step out in obedience to the word given, entering into a river whilst the water is still raging.  The one faith was generated by what is seen, the opening of the waters, whilst the other requires an act of obedience where faith became sight.  The priests represent those who are sanctified and have effectively given up all for Him.  Please read my devotional called, "Blood on Your Hands - link“ with regard to the making of a priest.  Another way we can look at this is with regard to the account of the disciples in the boat with Yeshua sleeping whilst the storm is raging.  He stills the storm and from the basis of what they see, faith is generated and they fall on their faces and worshipped Him.  However, in the other account of a storm raging, Peter is called by Yeshua to step out onto the water still raging.  In fact, Peter asks Him to call him.  The storm is still raging, just like the waters of the Jordan River, and so Peter by an act of obedience to His call, steps out and faith became the substance to the degree where the impossible became the possible.  I am reminding you that He is calling us to an obedience that we cannot perform from out of ourselves, which is to say our reasonable service, but to go further even across the Jordan and follow Him.  It is interesting to note that the Jordan flows from the south side into the Sea of Galilea, the sea that Peter and His Master walked on.  This kind of obedience is where the Spirit of the Most High controls us and not our circumstances.  Whilst still in the boat we have faith unto obedience.  But when He calls you, like the priests to step out in obedience on to the water, there can be no questions asked.  This is where weakness becomes His strength.  This is where He gives His Spirit to those who obey Him.  At this point we need to recognize that this obedience will mark you in the Spirit as you now no longer operate from out of your own capacity, but from the faith of the Son of God.  When Yeshua told the disciples that the Son of Man is to suffer great things and be crucified, Peter took Him to the side and wanted to prevent this from happening.  To this Yeshua addressed the spirit working in Him that sought not the will of the Father, but the will of man.  In the same way I can only imagine the disciples in the boat that night with Peter, thinking. “This man is stark raving mad for getting out into the water.  “No Peter, are you mad?  What are you doing?”  It is here where the obediences that He requires of you will not make sense to those who are still in the boat.  It will even at times confuse them or even cause pain.  And you may not necessarily have the right answers for them at that moment.  It will often cause them to feel confronted with their own lack of faith and the need for self-preservation.  This will cause even those whom you love to turn on you, not because they are not Christians, but because their obedience is still partial.  And the reality is that partial obedience is still disobedience.  Like the snake in the garden the question will be, “Did God really say?”  This obedience will deal ruthlessly with the deep seated desire for the approval of man and will be tested.  This approval of man lies very secure in the heart of man and though we may think that we have dealt with this, it will reveal itself over and over in the most subtle and religious ways.

This obedience has unfortunately become a swearword linked to works, when in fact it is the evidence of sonship or maturity.  Obedience grows in stature becoming more demanding in the same way that you would require less of your 2 year old than your 25 year old.  It is a matter of trust and faithfulness.  Having proven yourself faithful in all things to the One who has proven Himself to you faithful in all things.  

HEBREWS 5: 13 - 14

13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

You will remember in my description of virtue and that of love that this is the fruit of the Spirit that is developed when we live in obedience.  Every act of obedience is transacting an exchange of virtue, that is to say the character of the Most High in you.  The character of the son is not that of a child that still needs to be checked and disciplined for every little thing, but rather it speaks of one that is to be sent to represent the Father in authenticity.  How can this authenticity be achieved without obedience?  And how can He send you as His son unless you have left childish things behind?  Like the disciples in the boat we cannot fathom that His requirement for obedience can be so extreme and total, and consequently be given over to justification.  This is true because we in essence do not want to do as we are told, like little children.  If we are disobedient in the small matters, we have no business walking on the water.  If we are disobedient in the small, we have no business claiming the great.  Obedience was the issue of the wilderness. It was due to a lack of faith that they were not allowed to enter into the Promised Land.  This lack of faith is not stated as to being fearful of crossing the Jordan, but rather the lack of faith was that of being disobedient in the wilderness.  Their disobedience was equal to lacking faith.  We know that without faith it is impossible to please Him.  The Most High drew the line in the sand so to speak saying, “Thus far and no more”.  He is the one that stopped them from crossing over. 

We are called to live by faith and not by sight.  Those who are in the wilderness still walk by sight.  We see like them the fiery column and the cloud by day, with the manna of daily provision in our lives.  This is the faith that leads to obedience.  It is essential that we obey here for it is the prerequisite to crossing over.  Here the issue always boils down to obedience or disobedience.  Sounds simplistic and I know that it is not.  But it still remains the issue of whose will you will choose.  But once you reach the Jordan and step out into the water, you reach the obedience that leads to faith that has the promise of the Spirit, not just in character, but also in power.  Each time in every obedience we are made into the image of the Son of Man, being made able to authentically represent the Father.  It is here where our speaking is not our own, but the words that the Father gives.  Where the work that we do are also not our own, but His.  In essence only the Son can represent the Father.  This is the life of the impossible made possible.  Oswald Chambers states it perfectly saying, “The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being.  If you are My disciple, you must be right not only in your actions, but also in your motives, your aspirations, and in the deep recesses of the thoughts of your mind.  He then says, He changes our heredity.  He does not change human nature – He changes its source, and thereby its motives as well.”  Every time it requires a death, indeed a greater death, but the reward always the same…He gives His Spirit to those who obey Him.  This is where He asks that you walk seven times around Jericho and the walls come down, not by your own doing, but dependent on ultimate obedience.  The obediences will be different than those required when in the boat.  Just as the obediences were different in the wilderness than what was required in Jericho.  This also the domain where the enemies we face are giants.  The spiritual dimension becomes a greater reality than what it was in the wilderness.  The war no longer within, but without, that is to say in the heavenlies. 

 

EPHESIANS 6: 12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

2 CORINTHIANS 10: 4 - 6

⁴ (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)

⁵ Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

⁶ And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Please note the last verse.  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.  This is the prerequisite for this warfare.  These are the greater things He desires us to do, but on a much larger scale than just casting out demons.  This is to do with the forces that are presently manipulating and jerking the world in malicious contempt and control.  Principalities are set over regions, powers are seats of authority, rulers of darkness of this world are the powers that be who do their schemes to the evil one’s bidding and the spiritual wickedness speaks of the high places of occult practices of witchcraft that keeps people in bondage due to a lack of ignorance and disobedience.  We are to be a force to reckon with but we cannot be this in our own capacity because we are nothing!  We do not stand a chance.  But Christ in us, the hope of glory, is the One that through us addresses these principalities.  Even though He gives us authority, we have to realize that He is not mocked by our sinful lives and neither is the enemy scared of those who live in sin.  Also it is essential that we have an eternal perspective with regard to obedience and see it in the light of the Most High’s cosmic plan, because they sure do. 

Many ask why the Most High is not using them the way He is using others.  It is true that some people are called for a specific purpose and office, just like Moses for good and Pharaoh for evil.  But these individuals are subject to vigorous training that others are not, of which their disobedience disqualifies them just as much as anyone else.  Moses is a prime example of this as he was told that he would not enter into the Promised Land due to striking the rock twice in anger.  Be that as it may, how can we expect Him to take us to greater obediences that we in ourselves cannot do, when we walk in disobedience in that which we can do? 

It is time to take stock.  It is time that we see that we are nearing the Jordan River where we are soon to cross over to the “other side”.  We are to seek His face.  His promise remains that He gives grace to the humble.  This grace refers to strength and ability.  It starts with the bending of the knee and a contrite heart that acknowledges that in truth we choose our own will above His.  Let’s just call it what it is.  That we are playing footsy with the devil under the table He has set for us.  He says, “Today, if you will hear My voice, do not harden your hearts.”  Are you ready?  Have you allowed the Spirit to search you afresh?  The thing with compromise is that it often hides in what we deem as permissible.  Sometimes our permissible becomes an excuse for sin and to rebel against Him.  Do you have an ear to hear?  Is He placing His finger on that one or two issues that you have been “footsying” about?  How long must He still tell you to wait before you do or speak?  How long must He confront you with your eating habbits?  Or with your anger issues?  How long must He still by His Spirit plead with you to bend your knee?  How long must He be subject to you ignoring Him and not taking that which He told you to do serious, no matter how small?  How long are you still going to love your sin?  Conviction always brings with it repentance, which in essence means to change.  Have you truly repented and changed from that which convicts you or have you only asked for forgiveness, cheapening the grace of the Most High? We live in condemnation when we rebel against the prompting of the Spirit and then we start justifying it.  If Yeshua said that we are to pluck out our eye and to cut off our arm in order to save our soul from eternal damnation, who are we to have a blazé attitude about sin?  More people are dying daily of sin and thrown into eternal damnation than the present virus we hear so much about.  Yet people fear the virus more than sin.  We cannot play around with sin for two reason that I want to mention.  Firstly, He desires to give you His Spirit, but it is dependent on your obedience.  More and greater will be given.  Secondly, He has a cosmic plan in which you play a vital role as the conduit of His Spirit.  The Priests of the Most High are made in obedience upon obedience and all their obediences leads up to laying their lives down so that many souls can be saved.  Do we understand that our obedience today has an eternal consequence by which many can be saved? 

Oswald Chambers’ devotional of the 30^th December in his book called, My Utmost for His Highest says the following in the chapter called "And Every Virtue We Possess".  Quite applicable.

“AND EVERY VIRTUE WE POSSESS”

“…All my springs are in you” Psalm 87: 7

“Our Lord never “patches up” our natural virtues, that is, our natural traits, qualities, or characteristics.  He completely remakes a person on the inside-“…put on the new man…” (Ephesians 4: 24).  In other words, see that your natural human life is putting on all that is in keeping with this new life.  The life God places within us develops its own new virtues, not the virtues of the seed of Adam, but of Jesus Christ.  Once God has begun the process of sanctification in your life, watch and see how God causes your confidence in your own natural virtues and power to wither away.  He will continue until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus.  Thank God if you are going through this drying up experience! 

                The sign that God is at work in us is that He is destroying our confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but only a wasted reminder of what God created man to be.  We want to cling to our natural virtues (staying in the boat), while all the time God is trying to get us in contact with the life of Jesus Christ – a life that can never be described in terms of natural virtues.  It is the saddest thing to see people who are trying to serve God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them.  They are depending solely on what they have by virtue of heredity.  God does not take our natural virtues and transform them, because our natural virtues could never even come close to what Jesus Christ wants.  No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands.  But as we bring every part of our natural bodily life into harmony with the new life God has placed within us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.  And every virtue we possess is His alone.”

ROMANS 3: 23

²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

At the end what is at stake when it comes to our disobedience, is Christ in us, the hope of glory.  Which is to say that we will fall short of the glory of God.  It is not just about sanctification, but sanctification becoming glorification.  Our enemies do not fear us, they fear Christ in us.  The issue remains… “Do we understand that authority void of virtue, that is to say the Christ character in us, is no authority at all”.  And do we understand that it is to us that is given the authority to trample on serpents?  Not for our glory, but for the glory of God so that the principalities and powers may be made subject to His feet, whom we are. 

ROMANS 16:19 - 20

¹⁹ For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil.

²⁰ And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

EPHESIANS 1: 10-12; 14; 17 - 23

¹⁰ That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:

¹¹ In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

¹² That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.

¹⁴ Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

¹⁷ That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

¹⁸ The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,

¹⁹ And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

²⁰ Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹ Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

²² And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

²³ Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

I was ready to end this devotional so that I could do the audio.  However something that has happened to me the past three mornings is that I have been woken up with my spirit grieving in me.  This happened again after the writing of this devotional and I started to pray, crying before the Lord.  He gave me a word and I believe the word embodies the cry of His heart.  I pray the heart of the Father is heard.

RETURN TO ME

Does My Spirit not groan in Me for the manifestation of My sons and daughters?  Have I not pleaded by My Spirit for you to come out of this world?  Have I not sent My prophets, pastors and teachers to show you and draw you on My narrow path?  The path I have walked and chosen?  Yet you insist in walking on your own path.  It may not be the broad way, but still one of your choosing.  Yet My heart is broken over My children who choose not the way of sacrifice, but the way of compromise.  As a father yearns and is in mourning so I mourn over  My sheep who though having ears, choose to shut their ears.  They have become dull of hearing through every act of disobedience, just as those who through obedience have grown in discernment and understanding of the way I chose.  The rebellious and faithless choosing and making their own way.

Who can contain My tears?  Are there bottles that can capture the sea?  Even so My heart is broken and torn as a father who has lost his children.  Having ears, they do not hear. 

Oh! My children, return unto Me with your whole heart and live. Live in that which only I can give – My life.  But if you choose to insist in staying in the mire of sin, I will have to declare, Go away, depart from Me, I know thee not”.  However, if you choose in this day to turn to Me an repent, I will embrace you as a child coming back from a long journey.  Return to Me My children…return to Me.

Please read Matthew 7