"But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come....Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all" (1 Tim. 4:7-8,15).
Paul plainly said, "...godliness is profitable..." (v. 8). If anything is profitable, it pays off.
Thank God, there is profit in serving God. Living for God is not detrimental to a successful life. It is "...profitable unto all things..." (v. 8).
I think the Spirit of God knew there would be those who would say, "Well, yes, serving God will pay off in the next life. We may not have much to show for it in this life. In this life we wander like a beggar through the heat and the cold. But when it's all over and we get to the other side, it will be different. There's a great day coming when we've left this vale of tears and sorrow."
Well, thank God, there is a great day coming. But Paul said, "... godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is..."! "Having promise" - that's present tense. The life that now is means right now in this present world.
There is a life that now is, and there is a life that is to come. I'm more concerned about the life that now is than I am about the life that is to come. Because the life that "now is" is the life I'm living right now.
There are at least four things that godliness ensures or guarantees:
1. Godliness ensures protection.
If you have property or anything of value, you protect it. Once I was at my son's house, and I saw his dog, King, chewing on a shoe. I said, "Hey, King has one of your shoes!"
"Oh, he's not hurting anything," Ken said. "That's an old shoe we threw away." Ken didn't care about protecting that shoe because it didn't amount to anything; it had no value to him.
But we're not like that old shoe. We belong to God! We amount to something! We are so valuable to Him, He gave His Son to die for us to redeem us. We are precious to God, and He protects us!
We are the Body of Christ, and we are precious in the sight of God. The Bible tells us that.
Writing to the Ephesians, Paul uses husbands and wives as an illustration of Christ and the Church. We can see in this passage how valuable we are to God.
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it.... So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Eph. 5:25,28-30).
Paul makes the statement, "No man has ever yet hated his own body" (v. 29), in regard to the beautiful marriage relationship between a husband and wife. But there's a further thought here, my friends, that I want to get over to you. We are the Body of Christ. We are His body.
A man's wife is bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. And as Paul points out, we are bone of Christ's bone and flesh of His flesh!
Paul said that men were to nourish and cherish their wives. Then he said, "This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:32). In other words, we are precious to Jesus, and He nourishes and cherishes us.
If you have valuable property, you're going to protect it. You're not going to leave it out for the dogs to chew on. As a member of Christ's Body, you are precious and valuable to Jesus. And He has promised to protect you as you serve Him in this life.
Godliness guarantees protection, for godliness is profitable unto all things. Read Psalm 91 and learn about the protection that is yours because of your covenant with God.
2. Godliness ensures promotion.
Consider what God did for Joseph because Joseph stayed true to God. Yes, he was sold into captivity (Gen. 37:23-28). Yes, he was put into prison (Gen. 39:20). But God blessed him even in Egypt.
Ordinarily, a man would become bitter after spending years in prison. But because Joseph was faithful to God, God promoted him and made him prime minister of the greatest nation of that day (Gen. 41:38-41).
Did it pay to be faithful to God? Did godliness pay off? Did it pay to say "No!" to his master's wife when she tried to seduce him (Gen. 39:7-9)? A thousand times, yes!
Joseph spent many years in prison. Most men would have given up on God by then. But remember this: God doesn't settle up His accounts every Saturday night. God doesn't pay off the first of every month, or even the first of every year. But I want you to know, brother and sister, that someday payday in God is coming!
Preachers often use Galatians 6:7 as an evangelistic sermon: "... whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." But Paul wasn't writing to sinners; he was writing to Christians! He wrote that epistle to be read throughout all the churches of Galatia.
Paul encouraged the Galatians not to faint, but to continue sowing into the Kingdom of God. He assured them that sooner or later they would reap the reward - the promotion - for their work in the Lord: "... let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Gal. 6:9).
As you are faithful to serve God, He will promote you. God always rewards faithfulness. But you're going to have to make the dedication and consecration to obey God. You will have to make that choice.
You're going to have to have the intestinal fortitude to say, "This is what God called me to do, and I'm going to do it, go over or under, sink or swim, live or die! I'm going to obey God!"
I preached faith even when I was young in the ministry. People would say, "You know, that Brother Hagin is an odd character." And my friends would answer, "Yes, I don't understand him either."
You see, you're an oddity to others when you walk by faith and they're all walking by sight. You're an oddity to people when you refuse to worry. You're an oddity to people when in the midst of obeying God and preaching that God will promote you, you have to sell your automobile for junk and walk to your next meeting.
When that happened to me in my early days of field ministry, I told myself, Praise God, I'm not going to stop, even if I do have to junk that old car. I'm still going. If I have to walk to get to my meetings, I'm still going. Sooner or later, God is going to promote me! I might have been afoot, and the soles worn out of my shoes, but I knew God would promote me if I was faithful to what He had called me to do.
When I went through hard times like that, it wasn't that God was withholding His blessing from me. It was just the devil, trying to see if I really believed what I claimed I believed. You see, at every turn of the road, the devil will try to put up roadblocks in your path. He's going to try and put you to the test and see if you really believe God's Word.
I understand exactly how Peter could lie down and sleep soundly when they were planning to kill him the next day. Peter had no fear because he was trusting completely in God's power to deliver him. He was in faith! He was sleeping so soundly an angel had to smite him on the side to wake him up. Peter didn't even realize he was really awake until he was outside the prison (Acts 12:6-11).
In the same way, the Lord has enabled me to lie down and sleep soundly even in the midst of the most adverse circumstances. I could sleep even when nothing seemed to be going right. I was able to sleep in perfect peace because I knew that godliness is profitable. I knew if I would be faithful and not grow weary in well doing, in due season I would reap. I wanted to be ready to reap when the due season came!
Yes, many times it would have been easy to become weary. It would have been easy to quit. Absolutely. That would have been the easy way out. Just quit. Just give up.
My flesh wanted to quit. My mind wanted to quit. But something on the inside of me - the Word and the Holy Spirit - kept encouraging me to hold fast to my confession of faith.
Be a man or woman of the Word and of the Holy Spirit! In the midst of adversity, declare that the Word is true. Trials may come, but godliness is profitable. Just remain faithful to obey God even when the going gets hard, and sooner or later promotion day will come.
3. Godliness ensures prosperity.
When I talk about prosperity, I'm talking about enjoying an abundant supply and good success in every area of life.
For example, the Bible says that as long as King Uzziah sought the Lord, God caused him to prosper (2 Chron. 26:5).
Meditating on the Word and acting on the Word is the way to make your life prosperous. That's another way of saying that godliness is profitable unto all things.
4. Godliness ensures perpetuity.
The Bible teaches that godliness ensures perpetuity. That means God promises those who serve Him a long life on this earth and eternal life with Him.
In Psalm 91:14,16, God said, "Because he hath set his love upon me...With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation."
In Psalm 34:12,13, He said, "What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile."
In the New Testament, Peter quotes that same psalm: "For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile" (1 Peter 3:10).
Notice there is always a connection between obedience, or godliness, and God's promise of a long life. We can see this again in God's promise to children who honor their parents.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth" (Eph. 6:1-3).
Teach your children while they're small to honor their parents so they can live long, full lives. When Ken and Pat were children, I read them this passage in Ephesians 6 nearly every day. That's the reason we never had to take either one of them to the hospital. (Those are not "well days" when you're in the hospital.)
Of course, someone always tries to argue, "I know So-and-so, and he was a preacher, and one of his children died."
Well, that doesn't change the Bible. Maybe that preacher was a good man and loved God with all of his heart. But he may not have understood his covenant rights in Christ for protection and perpetuity - long life.
You see, the Bible says, "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever..." (Deut. 29:29). When God's promise of perpetuity was revealed to me, I knew it belonged to my children as well.
The Bible says we can believe God for long life here on earth. But the Bible also says, "... whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Everlasting life is long life, isn't it?
Just because I leave this body doesn't mean the real me - my spirit man - is dead! Man's spirit never dies. Jesus said, "...whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die..." (John 11:26).
Godliness means to live for God. It's profitable. It pays off in this life. In this life! And in the life to come.
So be determined to live for God. You will find that as you do, your profiting will be apparent to all who observe your walk with God. You will be surrounded by God's protection; overtaken by God's promotion; supplied with God's prosperity; and sustained by God's perpetuity!
Monday, June 6, 2011
I'M ALL EARS: Hearing The Voice Of Your Holy Guest
If you want to see greater manifestations of the anointing of God in your life and ministry, then learn to be more sensitive to and honor the presence of the Holy Spirit like you would a very special guest in your home. Be very careful to never grieve Him. Your conduct and your speech are vital in fulfilling this command. Always create an atmosphere that He will feel comfortable in and never take Him for granted.
A minister began doing some research into old manuscripts and found that the old English word was "Holy Guest" rather than Holy Ghost. And when he said that, it really ministered to me because that's what God was telling me. He said, "Learn to honor the presence of the Holy Spirit like you would a very special guest in your home."
Well, when you think of the Holy Ghost as a Holy Guest in your home, is it going to affect the way you talk? Is it going to affect your conduct? Is it going to affect the way you treat your spouse? We keep wanting to hear the voice of the Lord and experience the manifestations of the glory of God but are we creating an atmosphere that He is comfortable in?
Romans 8 (The Message translation) says, "But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, then you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive and present God Who raised Jesus from the dead moved into your life, He'll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus. When God lives and breathes in you, and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus, you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's. So don't you see, that we don't owe this old, do it yourself lifestyle, one red cent. There is nothing in it for us. Nothing at all. The best thing to do is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit. beckons. There are things to do and places to go."
What's He saying? Let's get on with being led by the Holy Spirit. There are places to go and things to do. This resurrection life you have received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant. Greeting God with a child like, "What's next, Papa?"
One Believer's mother has been a great intercessor ever since she was filled with the Holy Spirit many years ago. She prayed the entire family into the kingdom of God. She said that when she wakes up in the morning, before actually getting out of the bed, she'll take her pillow and prop it up against the headboard and lift her hands and begin to praise God and say: "Jesus, Your Word says I am to give my body to You as a living sacrifice. Today, these eyes are Your eyes, this mouth is Your mouth, and these ears are Your ears, these hands are Your hands and these feet are Your feet. Where do You want Your feet to go? What do You want Your hands to do and what do You want Your mouth to say?"
Throughout the day, she'll be led by the Holy Spirit. God will lead her to different people to minister to and she'll just flow in the Spirit. That's adventurous! And once you've experienced it, then your attitude is, "What's next, Papa? What else do we get to do?"
It takes fellowship with the Holy Spirit to become sensitive to His leadership and to hear God's voice clearly. Within the Spirit of man is the God given ability to flow with Him. This shouldn't be something foreign to a believer. It should be the most natural thing to the believer, because we've been recreated in the image of God. We have His divine nature. We have the very same Spirit in us that raised Christ from the dead. We've been careful to feed our body and build it up. We've been careful to train our minds and build them up, but the spirit man we've left almost totally undeveloped.
The reason we aren't seeing any more action in our lives from the Holy Spirit is because, for the most part, our words have bound us and snared us.
There is no telling how many Christians go around saying, "God never talks to me." Those words are snaring you. Proverbs 15:4 says, "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life but perverseness therein is a breech in the spirit. Words affect your spirit." The mind can cast them aside but the spirit absorbs them.
I will never forget the day I heard Kenneth Hagin say, "You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body." That was the first time I realized that I was three parts. Nobody had ever told me that. And then, things in the Bible started making more sense.
I began to think, "the real me was on the inside. my spirit has been recreated in the image of Almighty God and the spirit man craves to follow God." But it will not reach the place of ascendency if you don't train it, develop it, feed it, and exercise it. And that comes from feeding on the Word of God, and fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.
Success in our lives hinges on our ability to flow with the Spirit of God. Jerry Savelle said, "All it takes is one idea from God to change every negative situation in your life. Begin confessing throughout the day, 'My spirit attracts God ideas.' One God idea can turn little into a fortune."
Can you imagine that? Your spirit was created to hear God's ideas! Your spirit craves fellowship with God. Your body may not. Your body may not want to get up early to pray and read the Word. Your body may not want to stay up late. But you'll just have to tell your body what to do instead of your body telling you.
Your mind may say, "We've prayed for an hour and we haven't heard anything." Tell your mind to shut up. Tell your body to shut up. Your spirit man is willing, but your flesh is weak. The more you train yourself to be diligent about your time with the Lord, then the more sensitive you become to God's voice and you'll attract God ideas. They'll begin to come to you.
You could be driving down the freeway, and a God idea will come to your spirit. In the middle of the night, you could hear the voice of the Lord giving you a God idea. You could be eating breakfast and suddenly something will "dawn" on you. The Bible says, "The entrance of God's Word brings light." A God idea! Your spirit was designed by God to attract God ideas.
When you become sensitive to God's voice, you're going to hear counsel that you've been needing. You're going to hear the wisdom of God that you've been needing. You're going to get God ideas for your business or ministry. You may even be awakened in the middle of the night with the answer that you've been needing for the last six months! You're going to become more sensitive to God's voice and to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Before you turn that television on, ask yourself, "Would my Holy Guest watch this with me?" Before you get so eager to get into strife with someone, just stop for a moment and say, "Would my Holy Guest engage in this conversation?"
You are going to find out that acting on this revelation is going to change your lifestyle, and it's going to be a blessing to you. Begin honoring the Holy Spirit like you would a very special guest in your home through your conduct, your speech and your lifestyle. I like to call it "Practicing the Presence of the Holy Spirit."
Always be aware of His presence with you, and endeavor to make a comfortable atmosphere for Him. Then, you'll be sensitive to hear God's voice clearly and receive the God ideas you've been needing.
A minister began doing some research into old manuscripts and found that the old English word was "Holy Guest" rather than Holy Ghost. And when he said that, it really ministered to me because that's what God was telling me. He said, "Learn to honor the presence of the Holy Spirit like you would a very special guest in your home."
Well, when you think of the Holy Ghost as a Holy Guest in your home, is it going to affect the way you talk? Is it going to affect your conduct? Is it going to affect the way you treat your spouse? We keep wanting to hear the voice of the Lord and experience the manifestations of the glory of God but are we creating an atmosphere that He is comfortable in?
Romans 8 (The Message translation) says, "But if God Himself has taken up residence in your life, then you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of Him. Anyone of course, who has not welcomed this invisible but clearly present God, the Spirit of Christ, won't know what we're talking about. It stands to reason, doesn't it, that if the alive and present God Who raised Jesus from the dead moved into your life, He'll do the same thing in you that He did in Jesus. When God lives and breathes in you, and He does, as surely as He did in Jesus, you are delivered from that dead life. With His Spirit living in you, your body will be as alive as Christ's. So don't you see, that we don't owe this old, do it yourself lifestyle, one red cent. There is nothing in it for us. Nothing at all. The best thing to do is to give it a decent burial and get on with your new life. God's Spirit. beckons. There are things to do and places to go."
What's He saying? Let's get on with being led by the Holy Spirit. There are places to go and things to do. This resurrection life you have received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant. Greeting God with a child like, "What's next, Papa?"
One Believer's mother has been a great intercessor ever since she was filled with the Holy Spirit many years ago. She prayed the entire family into the kingdom of God. She said that when she wakes up in the morning, before actually getting out of the bed, she'll take her pillow and prop it up against the headboard and lift her hands and begin to praise God and say: "Jesus, Your Word says I am to give my body to You as a living sacrifice. Today, these eyes are Your eyes, this mouth is Your mouth, and these ears are Your ears, these hands are Your hands and these feet are Your feet. Where do You want Your feet to go? What do You want Your hands to do and what do You want Your mouth to say?"
Throughout the day, she'll be led by the Holy Spirit. God will lead her to different people to minister to and she'll just flow in the Spirit. That's adventurous! And once you've experienced it, then your attitude is, "What's next, Papa? What else do we get to do?"
It takes fellowship with the Holy Spirit to become sensitive to His leadership and to hear God's voice clearly. Within the Spirit of man is the God given ability to flow with Him. This shouldn't be something foreign to a believer. It should be the most natural thing to the believer, because we've been recreated in the image of God. We have His divine nature. We have the very same Spirit in us that raised Christ from the dead. We've been careful to feed our body and build it up. We've been careful to train our minds and build them up, but the spirit man we've left almost totally undeveloped.
The reason we aren't seeing any more action in our lives from the Holy Spirit is because, for the most part, our words have bound us and snared us.
There is no telling how many Christians go around saying, "God never talks to me." Those words are snaring you. Proverbs 15:4 says, "A wholesome tongue is a tree of life but perverseness therein is a breech in the spirit. Words affect your spirit." The mind can cast them aside but the spirit absorbs them.
I will never forget the day I heard Kenneth Hagin say, "You are a spirit, you have a soul, and you live in a body." That was the first time I realized that I was three parts. Nobody had ever told me that. And then, things in the Bible started making more sense.
I began to think, "the real me was on the inside. my spirit has been recreated in the image of Almighty God and the spirit man craves to follow God." But it will not reach the place of ascendency if you don't train it, develop it, feed it, and exercise it. And that comes from feeding on the Word of God, and fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit.
Success in our lives hinges on our ability to flow with the Spirit of God. Jerry Savelle said, "All it takes is one idea from God to change every negative situation in your life. Begin confessing throughout the day, 'My spirit attracts God ideas.' One God idea can turn little into a fortune."
Can you imagine that? Your spirit was created to hear God's ideas! Your spirit craves fellowship with God. Your body may not. Your body may not want to get up early to pray and read the Word. Your body may not want to stay up late. But you'll just have to tell your body what to do instead of your body telling you.
Your mind may say, "We've prayed for an hour and we haven't heard anything." Tell your mind to shut up. Tell your body to shut up. Your spirit man is willing, but your flesh is weak. The more you train yourself to be diligent about your time with the Lord, then the more sensitive you become to God's voice and you'll attract God ideas. They'll begin to come to you.
You could be driving down the freeway, and a God idea will come to your spirit. In the middle of the night, you could hear the voice of the Lord giving you a God idea. You could be eating breakfast and suddenly something will "dawn" on you. The Bible says, "The entrance of God's Word brings light." A God idea! Your spirit was designed by God to attract God ideas.
When you become sensitive to God's voice, you're going to hear counsel that you've been needing. You're going to hear the wisdom of God that you've been needing. You're going to get God ideas for your business or ministry. You may even be awakened in the middle of the night with the answer that you've been needing for the last six months! You're going to become more sensitive to God's voice and to the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Before you turn that television on, ask yourself, "Would my Holy Guest watch this with me?" Before you get so eager to get into strife with someone, just stop for a moment and say, "Would my Holy Guest engage in this conversation?"
You are going to find out that acting on this revelation is going to change your lifestyle, and it's going to be a blessing to you. Begin honoring the Holy Spirit like you would a very special guest in your home through your conduct, your speech and your lifestyle. I like to call it "Practicing the Presence of the Holy Spirit."
Always be aware of His presence with you, and endeavor to make a comfortable atmosphere for Him. Then, you'll be sensitive to hear God's voice clearly and receive the God ideas you've been needing.
Simplifying Your Life: The Disciple And Time Management Part 2
The second phase in time management presents a different challenge. Once you have a well-prioritized plan, you must implement it. As with the planning phase, I divide this second phase of time management into three essential steps: being single-minded, conserving energy, and walking in the light.
Be Single-Minded
The first major contributor to successful implementation of your plan is to be single-minded in the pursuit of it. You can't allow yourself to be distracted. You need to be absolutely determined to accomplish that which you have planned to do. No interruptions or detours will get you off course.
As James 1:8 says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways." Double-mindedness produces instability. It's impossible to hold your course and fulfill God's plan for your life when you are in a condition of instability. You must remain single-minded.
For many of us, staying focused in the midst of the distractions that bombard us everyday is a big challenge. You need to recognize distractions for what they are: interruptions with the potential to get you off course.
They are opportunities for you to get sidetracked from your plan. You need to stay focused. Be single-minded. And in the end, you will have accomplished your plan.
Conservation of Energy
The second essential element to a successful implementation phase is what I call "conservation of energy." Beyond the tendency to get side-tracked, another reason you might not execute your plan is, very simply, you may not have enough energy to stay focused and productive through an entire day. You can simply run out of steam before the day is over.
Of course, the greatest energy drain in your life is tension and stress. Much study has been given to this topic in an effort to reduce work-related stress and increase the overall efficiency and productivity of today's workforce. Well, for the Christian, the answer is a little bit more supernatural than the world's.
Isaiah 40:28-31 gives us God's solution for dealing with weariness: The Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall 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.
(Isa. 40:28-31)
This is God's answer for the energy drains that are so common in the human experience today. God says, "cast your care upon Me and I will give you the energy or strength needed to complete your plan, to finish your day."
You need to look to the Lord to give you the strength to get through the day. When you do, you'll find that your strength will be replaced with God's. You'll cruise through your day with all the energy necessary to fulfill your plan.
Walking in the Light
The third major contributor to implementing your plan is, I think, the most important. I call it, "walking in the light." Being single-minded and conserving your energy are natural requirements; they optimize natural resources. Walking in the light, however, taps into a supernatural way of finding enough time in the day to do what you need to do.
There is a connection between time and light. For us to fully optimize our time, we need to gain insight into how time and light relate to one another. As part of Einstein's special theory of relativity, introduced in 1905, he said two things concerning light.
Summary
It is virtually impossible to achieve God's ultimate plan for your life without godly wisdom to help you do it. This means gaining the understanding that can only come to those who have simplified their lives. And to simplify your life, you must become a master of managing the resources you have at your disposal namely time, money, and relationships.
Be Single-Minded
The first major contributor to successful implementation of your plan is to be single-minded in the pursuit of it. You can't allow yourself to be distracted. You need to be absolutely determined to accomplish that which you have planned to do. No interruptions or detours will get you off course.
As James 1:8 says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways." Double-mindedness produces instability. It's impossible to hold your course and fulfill God's plan for your life when you are in a condition of instability. You must remain single-minded.
For many of us, staying focused in the midst of the distractions that bombard us everyday is a big challenge. You need to recognize distractions for what they are: interruptions with the potential to get you off course.
They are opportunities for you to get sidetracked from your plan. You need to stay focused. Be single-minded. And in the end, you will have accomplished your plan.
Conservation of Energy
The second essential element to a successful implementation phase is what I call "conservation of energy." Beyond the tendency to get side-tracked, another reason you might not execute your plan is, very simply, you may not have enough energy to stay focused and productive through an entire day. You can simply run out of steam before the day is over.
Of course, the greatest energy drain in your life is tension and stress. Much study has been given to this topic in an effort to reduce work-related stress and increase the overall efficiency and productivity of today's workforce. Well, for the Christian, the answer is a little bit more supernatural than the world's.
Isaiah 40:28-31 gives us God's solution for dealing with weariness: The Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary He giveth power to the faint and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength.
Even the youth shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall 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.
(Isa. 40:28-31)
This is God's answer for the energy drains that are so common in the human experience today. God says, "cast your care upon Me and I will give you the energy or strength needed to complete your plan, to finish your day."
You need to look to the Lord to give you the strength to get through the day. When you do, you'll find that your strength will be replaced with God's. You'll cruise through your day with all the energy necessary to fulfill your plan.
Walking in the Light
The third major contributor to implementing your plan is, I think, the most important. I call it, "walking in the light." Being single-minded and conserving your energy are natural requirements; they optimize natural resources. Walking in the light, however, taps into a supernatural way of finding enough time in the day to do what you need to do.
There is a connection between time and light. For us to fully optimize our time, we need to gain insight into how time and light relate to one another. As part of Einstein's special theory of relativity, introduced in 1905, he said two things concerning light.
Summary
It is virtually impossible to achieve God's ultimate plan for your life without godly wisdom to help you do it. This means gaining the understanding that can only come to those who have simplified their lives. And to simplify your life, you must become a master of managing the resources you have at your disposal namely time, money, and relationships.
REVIVAL: Nothing More, Nothing Less, Nothing Else
We're coming up on one of the biggest revivals this world has ever seen: the former and the latter rain coming together to bring in the end-time harvest.
What an amazing time that will be.
Now when I say "revival," I'm referring to more than the local church body having a good time in the presence of God. I'm talking about something more than the entire church body being healed or filled with joy. Revival impacts those outside the church. It goes into the public school systems, into the city, into the workplace. It lights the kind of fire that spreads beyond the four walls of a church. Revival touches the world.
Habakkuk describes what revival looks like:
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. (Habakkuk 3:1–3 KJV)
If the earth is "full of His praise," that means people other than a small company of believers are beginning to recognize and offer their own praise to God. Revival reaches beyond the local church company and affects the whole earth.
And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. (Habakkuk 3: 4–5 KJV)
Burning diseases and pestilence depart before Him by virtue of the outpouring of His power and His great glory filling the heavens. In other words, the curse in the earth is rolled back. This is what revival does. It brings such an awareness of the person of God in such a release of the power of God that it rolls back the curse and its effects in the earth. The whole earth begins to praise God in recognition of who He is and the power that He can bring to bear in their lives. This is what we desperately need—not just individually, but also corporately. Revival is the only thing that's going to change this nation.
Acts 2:16–21:
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
"The last days." That statement has confused a lot of people. The last days? You mean Peter thought that the beginning of the New Testament Church was the last days? We're still hanging around two thousand years later.
Most scholars agree that this is a reference to what we call the church dispensation or the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. That's the age we're living in right now. According to 2 Peter 3:8, one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. When Peter spoke, he was in the beginning of the last days.
James 5:7
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. (KJV)
In other words, the Lord’s timetable is such that when the harvest is ripe as a result of the early and the latter rain, that’s when the end will come and the Lord will return. I think the picture that is painted clearly by scripture is that the end of this age is going to be typified by two great events: an outpouring of God’s Spirit (one that you'll either be a part of or you'll watch from the outside) that will be so great it will bring in an end-time harvest.
This is what the Lord is waiting on to fill the house of God and bring as many believers into the fold as possible. After revival has come, the Lord will return and the church age will end. Today is the beginning of the days of an outpouring of God.
Revival is going to include a lot of different supernatural elements. Peter talked about some of them: visions, dreams, prophecy, signs, and wonders in the heavens above and in the earth, natural events that are going to make men's eyes open wide. A number of different things will occur. You may have a preconceived idea in your head of what revival looks like. If so, you need to consider the words of the prophet Isaiah:
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18–19 KJV)
It's easy to look back on the old things God did and expect Him to move in the same way. Throughout the ages, we've had wonderful moves of the Spirit and heard of many wonderful revivals. We've experienced laughter, joy, healing—all of which were awesome—but we can’t dictate to God what revival should look like. Even though many lives were touched during these revivals, we can't look back.
We must avoid preconceptions about what a move of God looks like. Every revival or outpouring is different. From the day of Pentecost to the Azusa Street revival to the healing revival in the 1940s and the charismatic renewal in the 1970s, virtually every revival has had a different theme with different manifestations of the Spirit being emphasized. We mustn't put God in a box by placing expectations on Him of how we want Him to move. That is a trap we must avoid. God wants to do new things on the earth.
It’s Not Any Man
Another trap Christians fall into when it comes to revival is expecting a minister to give a performance. When a minister feels like he has to perform, everybody is headed toward the flesh and not the Spirit. It is a natural human response to look to a man, but it's something we must avoid.
How can you avoid placing a minister in a box and expecting him to give a performance? When you come to service, expect to hear from God. Don’t tell the Lord how He should speak to you. Simply expect to hear from Him. He might speak to you through the written Word. He might speak to you through preaching. He might speak to you through the inward witness. He might speak to you through somebody in the lobby on the way in or He may have somebody prophesy to you.
God will use a variety of different vessels or methods in order to speak to you and to bring His purposes to pass in your life. The most important thing is to come looking for God. Expect God to move in whatever way is needed, whether it’s through the preaching of the Word, prophecy, or ministry of the Holy Ghost in some other fashion. One week, you may dance all night long. The next week, you may sit quietly in His presence for an hour.
The Word presents us with hundreds of different possibilities of what a service may look like, and we need to stay within the perimeters of the Word. That’s where safety lies. We have a river of living water welling up from within us; the Bible says there is also a river that originates in heaven. I believe the meeting of these two rivers brings a move of God.
There are different ways the river of God can flow. Our task is to find the direction it is flowing. Identify the current. Get in the middle of that river and let it flow.
Brother Hagin used the analogy of getting in the flow of the Spirit to that of being in a canoe. Some ministers come up with their own plans of where they want to go in a service. When they do that, they wind up working very hard and making little progress. That can be compared to getting in a canoe and paddling against the current. It’s much easier to find out which way the current is flowing and then follow it. You might not even have to paddle. You just flow wherever the Lord is taking you.
Stir Up Your Hunger
It’s wonderful to think about God coming to earth and changing hearts and lives in ways we haven’t seen before. I love thinking about lives radically changed because of God's presence. It's important to remember, though, that as much as we may wish it would happen immediately, God’s not going to drop His Spirit on people who aren't ready for Him. We must prepare ourselves for this revival. We first have to be hungry for God—more than anything else in this world.
People in other countries are often desperate for the Lord in a way that is beyond our capacity as Americans to even comprehend. They have nothing, and the preaching of the Word can turn their desperation into a hunger for God. As a result, many of them typically see signs and wonders.
Americans have a hard time cultivating a hunger for God because they don't "need" anything. Much of America seems to mimic the church at Laodicea whom Jesus rebuked in Revelation chapter 7. The Laodiceans thought they were rich, increased with goods, and had need of nothing, but as Jesus pointed out to them, they were poor, blind, wretched, miserable, naked, and lukewarm. That paints a pretty vivid picture, doesn't it?
We have to come to a point where we recognize the utter futility of life without God (even in a nation as blessed as America) and let that begin to birth the hunger within us that will bring the Lord's glory and manifest presence to earth.
Revival begins in small pockets of believers who care enough and who are hungry enough to pray and be determined in their pursuit of God to contend for the glory and the presence of God regardless of the time constraints and challenges they face. Having these remnants of believers in the earth enables the Lord to respond with His presence and His power.
I'm not saying we can dictate to the Lord what to do by staying at church and praying until midnight until He shows up. We can't manipulate the Lord in that way. We're told in the Word, however, that we are to prepare the way of the Lord (Isaiah 40:3–5). There is a preparation that we as His covenant people can make that will enable His plans to unfold in a more effective way than would otherwise be true.
Yes, it is true some things are going to come in the fullness of time, but other things will come as responses to our hunger for the Lord. Simply put, if you don't see enough of God, the first place to check is your appetite for God. Is your appetite to serve God bigger than your appetite to serve the demands of your flesh?
What you're hungriest for is what you’re going to get filled with. If you're not getting filled with enough of the Lord, don't blame it on this ministry or that ministry. You and you alone are responsible for cultivating a hunger for God. Matthew 5:6 says
that if you hunger and thirst, you will be filled.
If we want to have the presence of God like other people have seen, it starts with us getting hungry for the Lord. We have to want it. We have to have a heart for it. When we expect revival and see the hand of God move in miraculous ways on this earth, the only thing left to do is plant ourselves right in the middle and let God take us where He wants us to go. Revival is the only thing that will radically change this world.
What an amazing time that will be.
Now when I say "revival," I'm referring to more than the local church body having a good time in the presence of God. I'm talking about something more than the entire church body being healed or filled with joy. Revival impacts those outside the church. It goes into the public school systems, into the city, into the workplace. It lights the kind of fire that spreads beyond the four walls of a church. Revival touches the world.
Habakkuk describes what revival looks like:
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. (Habakkuk 3:1–3 KJV)
If the earth is "full of His praise," that means people other than a small company of believers are beginning to recognize and offer their own praise to God. Revival reaches beyond the local church company and affects the whole earth.
And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. (Habakkuk 3: 4–5 KJV)
Burning diseases and pestilence depart before Him by virtue of the outpouring of His power and His great glory filling the heavens. In other words, the curse in the earth is rolled back. This is what revival does. It brings such an awareness of the person of God in such a release of the power of God that it rolls back the curse and its effects in the earth. The whole earth begins to praise God in recognition of who He is and the power that He can bring to bear in their lives. This is what we desperately need—not just individually, but also corporately. Revival is the only thing that's going to change this nation.
Acts 2:16–21:
But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; and it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams: and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my spirit; and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
"The last days." That statement has confused a lot of people. The last days? You mean Peter thought that the beginning of the New Testament Church was the last days? We're still hanging around two thousand years later.
Most scholars agree that this is a reference to what we call the church dispensation or the dispensation of the Holy Spirit. That's the age we're living in right now. According to 2 Peter 3:8, one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. When Peter spoke, he was in the beginning of the last days.
James 5:7
Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. (KJV)
In other words, the Lord’s timetable is such that when the harvest is ripe as a result of the early and the latter rain, that’s when the end will come and the Lord will return. I think the picture that is painted clearly by scripture is that the end of this age is going to be typified by two great events: an outpouring of God’s Spirit (one that you'll either be a part of or you'll watch from the outside) that will be so great it will bring in an end-time harvest.
This is what the Lord is waiting on to fill the house of God and bring as many believers into the fold as possible. After revival has come, the Lord will return and the church age will end. Today is the beginning of the days of an outpouring of God.
Revival is going to include a lot of different supernatural elements. Peter talked about some of them: visions, dreams, prophecy, signs, and wonders in the heavens above and in the earth, natural events that are going to make men's eyes open wide. A number of different things will occur. You may have a preconceived idea in your head of what revival looks like. If so, you need to consider the words of the prophet Isaiah:
Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. (Isaiah 43:18–19 KJV)
It's easy to look back on the old things God did and expect Him to move in the same way. Throughout the ages, we've had wonderful moves of the Spirit and heard of many wonderful revivals. We've experienced laughter, joy, healing—all of which were awesome—but we can’t dictate to God what revival should look like. Even though many lives were touched during these revivals, we can't look back.
We must avoid preconceptions about what a move of God looks like. Every revival or outpouring is different. From the day of Pentecost to the Azusa Street revival to the healing revival in the 1940s and the charismatic renewal in the 1970s, virtually every revival has had a different theme with different manifestations of the Spirit being emphasized. We mustn't put God in a box by placing expectations on Him of how we want Him to move. That is a trap we must avoid. God wants to do new things on the earth.
It’s Not Any Man
Another trap Christians fall into when it comes to revival is expecting a minister to give a performance. When a minister feels like he has to perform, everybody is headed toward the flesh and not the Spirit. It is a natural human response to look to a man, but it's something we must avoid.
How can you avoid placing a minister in a box and expecting him to give a performance? When you come to service, expect to hear from God. Don’t tell the Lord how He should speak to you. Simply expect to hear from Him. He might speak to you through the written Word. He might speak to you through preaching. He might speak to you through the inward witness. He might speak to you through somebody in the lobby on the way in or He may have somebody prophesy to you.
God will use a variety of different vessels or methods in order to speak to you and to bring His purposes to pass in your life. The most important thing is to come looking for God. Expect God to move in whatever way is needed, whether it’s through the preaching of the Word, prophecy, or ministry of the Holy Ghost in some other fashion. One week, you may dance all night long. The next week, you may sit quietly in His presence for an hour.
The Word presents us with hundreds of different possibilities of what a service may look like, and we need to stay within the perimeters of the Word. That’s where safety lies. We have a river of living water welling up from within us; the Bible says there is also a river that originates in heaven. I believe the meeting of these two rivers brings a move of God.
There are different ways the river of God can flow. Our task is to find the direction it is flowing. Identify the current. Get in the middle of that river and let it flow.
Brother Hagin used the analogy of getting in the flow of the Spirit to that of being in a canoe. Some ministers come up with their own plans of where they want to go in a service. When they do that, they wind up working very hard and making little progress. That can be compared to getting in a canoe and paddling against the current. It’s much easier to find out which way the current is flowing and then follow it. You might not even have to paddle. You just flow wherever the Lord is taking you.
Stir Up Your Hunger
It’s wonderful to think about God coming to earth and changing hearts and lives in ways we haven’t seen before. I love thinking about lives radically changed because of God's presence. It's important to remember, though, that as much as we may wish it would happen immediately, God’s not going to drop His Spirit on people who aren't ready for Him. We must prepare ourselves for this revival. We first have to be hungry for God—more than anything else in this world.
People in other countries are often desperate for the Lord in a way that is beyond our capacity as Americans to even comprehend. They have nothing, and the preaching of the Word can turn their desperation into a hunger for God. As a result, many of them typically see signs and wonders.
Americans have a hard time cultivating a hunger for God because they don't "need" anything. Much of America seems to mimic the church at Laodicea whom Jesus rebuked in Revelation chapter 7. The Laodiceans thought they were rich, increased with goods, and had need of nothing, but as Jesus pointed out to them, they were poor, blind, wretched, miserable, naked, and lukewarm. That paints a pretty vivid picture, doesn't it?
We have to come to a point where we recognize the utter futility of life without God (even in a nation as blessed as America) and let that begin to birth the hunger within us that will bring the Lord's glory and manifest presence to earth.
Revival begins in small pockets of believers who care enough and who are hungry enough to pray and be determined in their pursuit of God to contend for the glory and the presence of God regardless of the time constraints and challenges they face. Having these remnants of believers in the earth enables the Lord to respond with His presence and His power.
I'm not saying we can dictate to the Lord what to do by staying at church and praying until midnight until He shows up. We can't manipulate the Lord in that way. We're told in the Word, however, that we are to prepare the way of the Lord (Isaiah 40:3–5). There is a preparation that we as His covenant people can make that will enable His plans to unfold in a more effective way than would otherwise be true.
Yes, it is true some things are going to come in the fullness of time, but other things will come as responses to our hunger for the Lord. Simply put, if you don't see enough of God, the first place to check is your appetite for God. Is your appetite to serve God bigger than your appetite to serve the demands of your flesh?
What you're hungriest for is what you’re going to get filled with. If you're not getting filled with enough of the Lord, don't blame it on this ministry or that ministry. You and you alone are responsible for cultivating a hunger for God. Matthew 5:6 says
that if you hunger and thirst, you will be filled.
If we want to have the presence of God like other people have seen, it starts with us getting hungry for the Lord. We have to want it. We have to have a heart for it. When we expect revival and see the hand of God move in miraculous ways on this earth, the only thing left to do is plant ourselves right in the middle and let God take us where He wants us to go. Revival is the only thing that will radically change this world.
Beholding the Lord: Drawing Near To God
It amazes me how many believers miss the point of Christianity. They are truly saved. They go to church faithfully. They read their Bibles. But even so, they neglect to do the one thing Jesus died and rose again to enable them to do.
They neglect to draw near to God. They don't take the time to come into His presence every day to fellowship with Him. They aren't getting to know Him for themselves in a personal and intimate way. Although He has become their very own Father and they His very own children, God still seems distant and unapproachable to them. He is a concept rather than a companion, a theological figure rather than a dear and divine friend.
That kind of distant relationship with God is a Christianized version of religion that substitutes outward forms for inward experience. It fails to provide the one thing that will satisfy the truly born again heart—a deep and intimate fellowship with God.
Such fellowship is the primary point of the New Covenant. God Himself said so.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. (Hebrews 8:10–11 NKJV)
The reason God instituted the New Covenant was not just so we could go to heaven when we die. Thank God for that but it wasn't the primary point. God made a New Covenant so we could all get to know Him!
The word for know in Hebrews 8:11 means to become acquainted with someone by intimate, personal experience. It means to know them like family members know each other, to know someone like a husband or a wife! That's what God wanted from the New Covenant. He wanted His people to know Him firsthand in an intimate and personal way.
The writer of Hebrews says:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…. (Hebrews 10:19-22 NKJV)
What does that verse tell us to do? It tells us to draw near. That's how we get to know the Lord. We draw near to Him! We don't get to know Him just by coming to church. We don't get to know Him just by reading the Bible. We don't get to know Him just by watching Christian television. I'm in favor of all those things and they can be a great blessing. But you can do them all every day of the week and if you never in your heart draw near to God, you won’t get much out of them.
"But, I can't draw near to God, I just don't know how!"
That's not true! No matter how frustrated you may have been in the past when you've tried to sense the presence of God, no matter how many dry prayer times you may have had, the Bible says you can experience the presence of the Lord. You are divinely equipped to do so.
When you were born again, your heart was made alive to God (Romans 6:11). If you're alive to something, that means you can perceive and respond to it, right? Your body is alive to this natural realm, so you're able to interact easily with it. When it's cold outside, you can feel it. When the sun shines, you can see it. When somebody calls your name, you can hear it.
Now, consider this. Your spirit is just as alive to God as your body is to this natural realm. Perhaps even more so because your body has limitations and imperfections, and your spirit doesn't. I realize you may not feel like your spirit is alive to God but it is, nevertheless, because the Bible says so. What you must do then is just believe that fact by faith and begin to act on it.
What kind of actions do you take? Exactly what can you do to begin drawing near to God? I'll help you get started sharing with you some of the ways the Lord has taught me.
One way to do it is by praying the scripture. That way of drawing near to God involves both reading the Bible and prayer. Often, when we read the Bible, we make it our aim to read as much of it as possible in one sitting. But I want to suggest you do something very different. The next time you read your Bible, instead of reading as much as you can as fast as you can, read very slowly. Determine in advance that it doesn't matter how much you read but how deeply you read. Set your heart not on gaining information but on getting revelation.
Certainly Bible study is very good and the Word itself admonishes us to "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV). But you must distinguish between Bible study and drawing near to God. When you are studying, your mind is searching for information. When you are using the Word to fellowship with God, your heart is seeking to relate directly to Him.
Begin by choosing a passage of scripture. Then purposely and by faith come quietly and humbly before the Lord. Let your heart become aware of the fact that He is there with you and in you. Read slowly and carefully, word by word and phrase by phrase.
Resist the temptation to rush ahead and read the whole passage. Instead, turn inward and become aware of your heart's response to what you are reading. As you do, you will become aware of the quickening of the Holy Spirit upon some words or phrases. It will seem as though God is touching you through them.
When that happens, you may want to lift that portion of the scripture to the Lord in prayer. Speak it out to Him and say about it whatever comes to your heart to say. On the other hand, you might be led simply to read it again and again, holding it and imprinting it on your heart. Mentally, you might not understand exactly why the Holy Spirit is emphasizing it so much but that doesn't matter. Just trust your heart and follow Him.
After you have prayed or pondered in your heart that particular portion of scripture, you may sense that the Lord is leading you to read on. When that happens, then slowly and gently begin to read the next portion. When you're finished, you may find you've actually read very little of the Word. But that small amount will have benefited you greatly.
Instead of just skimming the surface of the Bible, you will have plunged deeply into it and found not just words but God Himself! You will have sensed His very presence breaking out like a sweet aroma in your heart. As you continue to cultivate this kind of reading and prayer, you will learn more and more to follow the leadings and quickenings of the Holy Spirit. You'll develop a rich prayer life that flows from your innermost being.
A second way to draw near to God is by doing what might simply be called "beholding the Lord." When you do this, you will also begin by reading scripture but in a different way. Instead of focusing on the scripture and finding God there, you will simply use a verse or a phrase from the Bible to still your mind so that your heart can tune into the presence of the Lord.
If you've spent much time in fellowship with the Lord, you already know that your mind can be your greatest obstacle to overcome. It is accustomed to being allowed to wander wherever it pleases from this thought to that one in a random sort of way. The moment you try to make it settle down before the Lord, if it is untrained, it wiggles and squirms like a child in church. And just like you must train the child to be still, out of love and respect for the Lord, you must make your mind be still also.
As you come before the Lord to behold and wait upon Him, make use of the scripture to quiet your mind. Before you even begin to read, turn your heart toward the Lord. Inwardly come into His presence by simple faith, trusting that through the blood of Jesus you can do so. Then begin to read a portion of scripture. Once you begin to sense the presence of the Lord, don't concern yourself with the content of the verse. Focus instead upon the Lord Himself.
Remember that your purpose is not to read the Bible in this case but to fellowship directly with the Lord. The reading is just an aid to help you turn away from outward distractions and turn inward to the center of your being which is your spirit. It is there where the Spirit of the Lord dwells. So when you tune into your spirit (or your heart) you are also tuning in to Him.
Once you have done that, hold your heart in His presence. Acknowledge and appreciate Him. If your mind starts to wander to other things, don't try to correct it by changing what you're thinking. That distracts you more from your heart and pushes you back into the mental realm. Just quiet your mind again by returning it to the scripture with which you began. Gently turn it inward once more toward your spirit. As you do so, you'll get more and more free from distractions and you'll experience your nearness to God.
One of the reasons we often miss the presence of the Lord, even when we're in church, is because we are so occupied with outward things. We are watching the worship leader or struggling to keep our attention on the preacher thinking that we're going to find God there. But we must realize that God is living inside us. John 14:23 says He makes His home in our hearts.
Once we understand that and begin to cultivate our ability to tune into Him there, we'll find we can have a distinct experience of His presence any time we desire. We will be able to perceive not only that He is there but that He is moving in us. Very often, we will sense Him communicating with us not through words but simply with a sweet and silent touch.
At those times, instead of thinking feverishly about scriptural truths, our minds will be at rest. Our lips may very well be still, sensing no need for spoken prayer. To the uneducated bystander, it would appear that nothing is happening. Yet the fact is that something very wonderful is happening. We are experiencing God's touch. And although we may not be able to explain it, we know that His touch is changing us somehow.
As long as we sense that divine touch, we should endeavor to stay before Him quietly allowing Him to work in us that which is pleasing in His sight.
Many years ago, the Lord assured me of that. He told me that every touch from Him leaves His divine impression on my soul. It engraves His character and His nature upon me. It is as though in times of prayer when I come to Him, He touches me and leaves His fingerprint upon my heart. I cannot see it with my eyes, but it is surely there.
There is no touch like His touch. The Bible says, "As many as touched him were made whole" (Mark 6:56 KJV). That was true when Jesus walked the earth, and it is true today. When we come into His presence, when we encounter Him in intimate and personal ways, He is able to do in us and for us what most needs to be done. When we draw near and touch Him, we are made whole.
"Is that really true?" someone might ask. "Can it really be that such a simple thing as sitting quietly and beholding the Lord could make such a radical difference in our lives?"
Absolutely. That is the undeniable, scriptural truth. And it is why drawing near to God is the whole point of real Christianity.
We can do many kinds of Christian activities and remain unchanged, but when we draw near to the Lord Himself, we are never the same again. We become living demonstrations of the power of God's presence. We become walking proof that what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is eternally true:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)
They neglect to draw near to God. They don't take the time to come into His presence every day to fellowship with Him. They aren't getting to know Him for themselves in a personal and intimate way. Although He has become their very own Father and they His very own children, God still seems distant and unapproachable to them. He is a concept rather than a companion, a theological figure rather than a dear and divine friend.
That kind of distant relationship with God is a Christianized version of religion that substitutes outward forms for inward experience. It fails to provide the one thing that will satisfy the truly born again heart—a deep and intimate fellowship with God.
Such fellowship is the primary point of the New Covenant. God Himself said so.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. (Hebrews 8:10–11 NKJV)
The reason God instituted the New Covenant was not just so we could go to heaven when we die. Thank God for that but it wasn't the primary point. God made a New Covenant so we could all get to know Him!
The word for know in Hebrews 8:11 means to become acquainted with someone by intimate, personal experience. It means to know them like family members know each other, to know someone like a husband or a wife! That's what God wanted from the New Covenant. He wanted His people to know Him firsthand in an intimate and personal way.
The writer of Hebrews says:
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith…. (Hebrews 10:19-22 NKJV)
What does that verse tell us to do? It tells us to draw near. That's how we get to know the Lord. We draw near to Him! We don't get to know Him just by coming to church. We don't get to know Him just by reading the Bible. We don't get to know Him just by watching Christian television. I'm in favor of all those things and they can be a great blessing. But you can do them all every day of the week and if you never in your heart draw near to God, you won’t get much out of them.
"But, I can't draw near to God, I just don't know how!"
That's not true! No matter how frustrated you may have been in the past when you've tried to sense the presence of God, no matter how many dry prayer times you may have had, the Bible says you can experience the presence of the Lord. You are divinely equipped to do so.
When you were born again, your heart was made alive to God (Romans 6:11). If you're alive to something, that means you can perceive and respond to it, right? Your body is alive to this natural realm, so you're able to interact easily with it. When it's cold outside, you can feel it. When the sun shines, you can see it. When somebody calls your name, you can hear it.
Now, consider this. Your spirit is just as alive to God as your body is to this natural realm. Perhaps even more so because your body has limitations and imperfections, and your spirit doesn't. I realize you may not feel like your spirit is alive to God but it is, nevertheless, because the Bible says so. What you must do then is just believe that fact by faith and begin to act on it.
What kind of actions do you take? Exactly what can you do to begin drawing near to God? I'll help you get started sharing with you some of the ways the Lord has taught me.
One way to do it is by praying the scripture. That way of drawing near to God involves both reading the Bible and prayer. Often, when we read the Bible, we make it our aim to read as much of it as possible in one sitting. But I want to suggest you do something very different. The next time you read your Bible, instead of reading as much as you can as fast as you can, read very slowly. Determine in advance that it doesn't matter how much you read but how deeply you read. Set your heart not on gaining information but on getting revelation.
Certainly Bible study is very good and the Word itself admonishes us to "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV). But you must distinguish between Bible study and drawing near to God. When you are studying, your mind is searching for information. When you are using the Word to fellowship with God, your heart is seeking to relate directly to Him.
Begin by choosing a passage of scripture. Then purposely and by faith come quietly and humbly before the Lord. Let your heart become aware of the fact that He is there with you and in you. Read slowly and carefully, word by word and phrase by phrase.
Resist the temptation to rush ahead and read the whole passage. Instead, turn inward and become aware of your heart's response to what you are reading. As you do, you will become aware of the quickening of the Holy Spirit upon some words or phrases. It will seem as though God is touching you through them.
When that happens, you may want to lift that portion of the scripture to the Lord in prayer. Speak it out to Him and say about it whatever comes to your heart to say. On the other hand, you might be led simply to read it again and again, holding it and imprinting it on your heart. Mentally, you might not understand exactly why the Holy Spirit is emphasizing it so much but that doesn't matter. Just trust your heart and follow Him.
After you have prayed or pondered in your heart that particular portion of scripture, you may sense that the Lord is leading you to read on. When that happens, then slowly and gently begin to read the next portion. When you're finished, you may find you've actually read very little of the Word. But that small amount will have benefited you greatly.
Instead of just skimming the surface of the Bible, you will have plunged deeply into it and found not just words but God Himself! You will have sensed His very presence breaking out like a sweet aroma in your heart. As you continue to cultivate this kind of reading and prayer, you will learn more and more to follow the leadings and quickenings of the Holy Spirit. You'll develop a rich prayer life that flows from your innermost being.
A second way to draw near to God is by doing what might simply be called "beholding the Lord." When you do this, you will also begin by reading scripture but in a different way. Instead of focusing on the scripture and finding God there, you will simply use a verse or a phrase from the Bible to still your mind so that your heart can tune into the presence of the Lord.
If you've spent much time in fellowship with the Lord, you already know that your mind can be your greatest obstacle to overcome. It is accustomed to being allowed to wander wherever it pleases from this thought to that one in a random sort of way. The moment you try to make it settle down before the Lord, if it is untrained, it wiggles and squirms like a child in church. And just like you must train the child to be still, out of love and respect for the Lord, you must make your mind be still also.
As you come before the Lord to behold and wait upon Him, make use of the scripture to quiet your mind. Before you even begin to read, turn your heart toward the Lord. Inwardly come into His presence by simple faith, trusting that through the blood of Jesus you can do so. Then begin to read a portion of scripture. Once you begin to sense the presence of the Lord, don't concern yourself with the content of the verse. Focus instead upon the Lord Himself.
Remember that your purpose is not to read the Bible in this case but to fellowship directly with the Lord. The reading is just an aid to help you turn away from outward distractions and turn inward to the center of your being which is your spirit. It is there where the Spirit of the Lord dwells. So when you tune into your spirit (or your heart) you are also tuning in to Him.
Once you have done that, hold your heart in His presence. Acknowledge and appreciate Him. If your mind starts to wander to other things, don't try to correct it by changing what you're thinking. That distracts you more from your heart and pushes you back into the mental realm. Just quiet your mind again by returning it to the scripture with which you began. Gently turn it inward once more toward your spirit. As you do so, you'll get more and more free from distractions and you'll experience your nearness to God.
One of the reasons we often miss the presence of the Lord, even when we're in church, is because we are so occupied with outward things. We are watching the worship leader or struggling to keep our attention on the preacher thinking that we're going to find God there. But we must realize that God is living inside us. John 14:23 says He makes His home in our hearts.
Once we understand that and begin to cultivate our ability to tune into Him there, we'll find we can have a distinct experience of His presence any time we desire. We will be able to perceive not only that He is there but that He is moving in us. Very often, we will sense Him communicating with us not through words but simply with a sweet and silent touch.
At those times, instead of thinking feverishly about scriptural truths, our minds will be at rest. Our lips may very well be still, sensing no need for spoken prayer. To the uneducated bystander, it would appear that nothing is happening. Yet the fact is that something very wonderful is happening. We are experiencing God's touch. And although we may not be able to explain it, we know that His touch is changing us somehow.
As long as we sense that divine touch, we should endeavor to stay before Him quietly allowing Him to work in us that which is pleasing in His sight.
Many years ago, the Lord assured me of that. He told me that every touch from Him leaves His divine impression on my soul. It engraves His character and His nature upon me. It is as though in times of prayer when I come to Him, He touches me and leaves His fingerprint upon my heart. I cannot see it with my eyes, but it is surely there.
There is no touch like His touch. The Bible says, "As many as touched him were made whole" (Mark 6:56 KJV). That was true when Jesus walked the earth, and it is true today. When we come into His presence, when we encounter Him in intimate and personal ways, He is able to do in us and for us what most needs to be done. When we draw near and touch Him, we are made whole.
"Is that really true?" someone might ask. "Can it really be that such a simple thing as sitting quietly and beholding the Lord could make such a radical difference in our lives?"
Absolutely. That is the undeniable, scriptural truth. And it is why drawing near to God is the whole point of real Christianity.
We can do many kinds of Christian activities and remain unchanged, but when we draw near to the Lord Himself, we are never the same again. We become living demonstrations of the power of God's presence. We become walking proof that what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is eternally true:
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (NKJV)
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