Heirs of desire in Him
This privilege of carrying
His presence should never reduce us to
a laborer for God. The decision of being a
servant or a friend is still being chosen by people
around us every day. While it is one of our highest
privileges to serve Him completely, our labor is the
byproduct of our love. This baptism introduces
us to intimacy at the highest possible level. The
heart of God in this matter is clearly seen in this
amazing prophecy from Ezekiel.
I will not hide my face from them anymore, for I shall have poured out my Spirit Ezekiel 39:29
In the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is the revelation of the face of God.
There is nothing greater.
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant
does not know what his master is doing; but
I have called you friends, for all things that I
heard from My Father I have made known to
you. John 15:15
With this promotion, the disciples' attention
would now shift from the task at hand to the One
within reach. They were given access to the secrets in the heart of God. When Jesus gave His disciples this promotion, He did so by describing the difference between the two positions. Servants don't know what their master is doing. They don't have access to the personal, intimate realm of their master. They are task oriented. Obedience is their primary focus - and rightly so, for their lives depend on success in that area. But friends have a different focus. It almost sounds blasphemous to say that obedience is not the top concern for the friend, but it is true. Obedience will always be important, as the previous verse highlights,
You are my friends if you do whatever I command you John 15:14
But friends are less concerned about disobeying than they are about disappointing. The disciples' focus shifted from the commandments to the presence, from the assignment to the relationship, from "what we do for Him" to "how our choices affect Him." This bestowal of friendship made the revolution we continue to experience possible. Here is the picture: The Presence of God is hosted by a person so significantly that He actually lives through us. It's not cancelling out who we are. It's capturing it to the fullest, immersed in divine influence. It is as though our personality, our gifts and demeanor are all being expressed through God living in us. God created us with desires and passions, and the capacity to dream. All of these traits are necessary to truly make us like Him. With these abilities, we can discover more of God, our purpose in life, and the beauty and fullness of His kingdom. When these abilities exist unharnessed by divine purpose, they take us to forbidden fruit. It was a risk God was willing to take in order to end up with His dream, those made in His image, who worship Him by choice, who carry His Presence into all the earth. The King James Bible highlights the role of our desires in its translates,
Therefore, I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:24
We are to pay attention to our desires while we're enjoying the presence of God in prayer. Something happens in our time of communion with Him that brings life to our capacity to dream and desire. Our minds become renewed through divine encounter, making it the perfect canvas for Him to paint on. We become co-laborers with Him in the master plan for planet earth. Our dreams are not independent from God but instead exist because of God. He lays out the agenda, on earth as it is in Heaven - and then releases us to run with it and make it happen! As we grow in intimacy with Him, more of what happens in life is a result of our desires, not simply receiving and obeying specific commands from Heaven. God loves to build on our wishes and desires, as He embraced David's desire for the temple. This truth is risky from our perspective because we see those who live independent of God and only want Him to validate their dreams. True grace always creates a place for those with evil in their heart to come to the surface through increased opportunity. But the richness of this truth is worth pursuing in spite of the perceived danger, because only this truth enables the church to come fully into her destiny through co-laboring with the Lord. This divine destiny was announced by the Psalmist long before the blood of Jesus made it a possible lifestyle.
Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart Psalms 37:4
Time in His Presence will release creative
ideas. When we spend time with God, we
remember phone calls we need to make,
projects we long forgot about, and things we had
planned to do with our wife or our children. Ideas
flow freely in this environment because that's the
way He is. We get ideas in the Presence we wouldn't get anywhere else. Insights on how to fix problems or people that need to be affirmed all come in that exchange of fellowship between God and man. We must stop blaming the devil for all those interruptions. (Many of us have too big a devil and too small a God.) And while the enemy of our souls will work to distract us from the Presence,
he's often blamed when he is nowhere near because we misunderstand our Father and what He values.
When we realize that often it's God interacting
with us, we are able to enjoy the process much
more and give Him thanks for having concern for
these parts of our lives that we might often think
are too small for His input. If it matters to you, it
matters to Him. These ideas are the fruit of our
two-way conversation. But in order to keep from
leaving the privilege of interaction with God to
work on other things, we need to write these things down so we can return to our worship and fellowship with Him. The notes we write are to give us directions we can return to later.
Because God is resting upon us, we should
expect new levels of creative ideas with which
to impact our world. By referring to creative, we are not just talking about painting or writing songs,
etc. Creativity is the touch of the Creator on every
part of life. It's the need of the accountant and the
lawyer as much as it is for the musician and actor.
It is to be expected when you're the son or daughter of the Creator, Himself. It would be foolish to think the danger of front lines kind of ministry isn't real. But when the manifest presence of God is with
you in your assignment, dangerous places become
safe. And the measure we are aware of our need
for Him is usually the measure we become aware
of Him. It really is all about the Presence. It's about
hosting Him. This is what the 70 discovered.
Neither their ignorance nor lack of experience disqualified them. They had been sent by One who
was going with them, Jesus provided the direction and the Presence as seen in the power and authority given to them. What He gave them insures the natural provisions will be there because the Holy Spirit is at work. This is the concept that Jesus taught the multitudes.
Seek first the kingdom of God ... and all these things will be added. Matt 6:33
His Kingdom works entirely on the first things first
principle. The provision of the Lord is not just
food on the table. The supernatural provision of
the Lord is divine protection and full impact in
our assignment. That is the whole issue: Giving
up the reins of being in control of our life to become truly Holy Spirit empowered and directed.
His commission was to go learn how the Holy
Spirit moves. Go learn His ways.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths
straight. Prov. 3:5-6
Trust will take us beyond understanding into
realms that only faith can discover. Trust is built
on interaction, and the resulting discovery of His
nature, which is good and perfect in every way.
We don't believe because we understand. We understand because we believe. Understanding that
comes this way is the renewed mind. Discovering
a fuller expression of God's nature and Presence is
exponentially increased with this simple element
called trust. To acknowledge Him is what we do when we trust Him. The one we trust above our own existence is to be recognized in every aspect and part of life. The word 'acknowledge' actually means to know. It is an unusually big word in Scripture, with a broad range of meanings. But the one thing that will stand out to us the most is that this word often points to the realm of personal experience. It is bigger than head knowledge. It is beyond concepts alone. It is a knowing through encounter.
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain" Matt 6:33
Obviously, a word of this nature is more than an idea. It is deep interaction.
And it shall come to pass in the last days,
says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy. Joel 2
This passage has never been completely fulfilled. It had initial fulfillment in Acts 2, but its reach was
far greater than that generation could fulfill.
First of all, all flesh was never touched by that
revival. But it will happen. In the coming move
of God, racial barriers will be broken, as will the
economic, sexual, and age barriers. The outpouring of the Spirit in the last generation will touch
every nation on the earth, releasing the gifts of
the Spirit in full measure upon and through His
people.
1 Corinthians 12-14 is a wonderful teaching
on the operation of the gifts of the Spirit. But it
is so much more. It is a revelation of a body of
believers who live in the realm of the Spirit that is
essential for last days' ministry. These manifesta-
tions of the Holy Spirit will be taken to the streets
where they belong. It is there that they reach their
full potential. This generation will fulfill the cry of Moses for all of God's people to be prophets. We will carry the Elijah anointing in preparing for the return of the Lord in the same way that John the Baptist carried the Elijah anointing and prepared the people for the coming of the Lord.
We are the ones upon whom the promises of the
ages have come to rest. And they are contingent
upon our being a people who have discovered our
eternal purpose. We have been chosen to be His
eternal dwelling place.
We have been chosen to
host His Presence.
