Posted: 08/24/2015 at 12:57pm | IP Logged

Unlocking the Door – Truth

Proverbs 29:18, “Where there is no revelation [vision] the people cast off restraint…” This word revelation (vision) has the meaning of, “a prophetic vision, dream, oracle; especially the kind of revelation that comes through sight, namely a vision from God.” The above scripture shows that when a society lacks any revelation, any divine insight from God that society heads in the direction of anarchy. Nevertheless, unto those vessels that receive and maintain a vision from God, He delights in the increase of their lives as they began to manifest the characteristics of God Himself. It is for this cause that God releases certain mysteries and gives understanding to those who receive from Him and Him alone. Eph. 3:16-18, shares with us that which God desires, “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height”. “Strengthened with might” is literally “become mighty by His power,” which the Holy Spirit brings to work in the believer. Therefore, we need to receive the indwelling Holy Spirit and allow Him to lead us. This stabilizer causes us to be rooted like a tree and helps us to stay solid as a building built upon a strong foundation. The word “comprehend” means to “receive experientially, not simply to understand intellectually.”

What is it that becomes a key to unlocking a door, which needs to be open? John 15:4 states, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide In Me.” This points us to the need of becoming a people manifesting a Christ likeness. (Read Gal. 5:22-23). In order to be productive, a branch must submit to any necessary pruning and must maintain an abiding union with the vine, revealing that only the Holy Spirit can produce fruit and not of our own efforts. When the Holy Spirit is fully in control of the believer’s life, He produces fruit according to His grace. John 16:13-15, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that He will take of mine and declare it to you.” What the Spirit teaches He draws from and conveys in the authority of Christ and glorifies Christ in all that He does. True ministries in the Holy Spirit never serve a private agenda. By working in and through us, the Holy Spirit never exalts Himself, but He continually glorifies Christ who glorifies the Father.

The desire to serve God above all else is like a well springing up within the hearts of a people. This same people have that desire, from God, to come to the fullness of His Holy Spirit that is willing and able to consume the whole man. Deliverance is the result of seeking to know the truth. As truth is given, it unlocks the door to fellowshipping with God in dimensions not known before. Some words used by the Psalmist David in his desire and longing to mature into this type of fellowship with God are; “rescue me and deliver me, revive me according to your word, turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me, Oh Lord according to your loving kindness.” It is for this fellowship, which the Christ in His ascension spoke to the disciples. They were to dwell in Jerusalem until endued with power to become true witnesses as the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit brought about the needed change. This change will not be complete until, by the progressive work of the Holy Spirit, the whole man is complete.

Rom. 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you”. These things are ours as we believe and trust in the word of revelation by faith. As God continues to knock on our hearts door to come in and sup with us, His coming in allows Him to be a God that is not far-off but one that dwells within us to become a God of the now. In this fellowship, we have eternal life in knowing the Father. John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” We should know that eternal life is not just something that is far off in the future, but we are a part of that eternity now. He is an eternal God, a present tense God who dwells among us and is in us, a God of intimate fellowship that lives with us in the now. Responding to this present tense God unlocks the door to all our opportunities in Him.

In all this, we can ask ourselves, what is the confession of our faith? Does our faith exercise the certainty of those things God has promised? Do we keep Him at a distance when He desires to come in and reveal Himself to us? Does not Proverbs 23:7a declare, “For as he [self] thinks in his heart, so is he.” Where is your heart? Friends, to know Him is to love Him and this knowing Him sheds eternal life throughout our whole being until the fullness comes. The fullness of God speaks of more than a one-time experience or one aspect of His truth or power. His fullness points to a broad-based spirituality, balanced through participating in all of God’s blessings, resources, and wisdom. Eph. 3:19-20, “to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”

This high calling is from God and a normal life to those who dwell in God’s secret place. Is this more than we should have faith in? Not if we live in God now and cease from putting Him off into the future. In the now, God has a dwelling place for us to abide. In this place, we have continual fellowship with Him. Herein God makes the declaration, “these are my beloved sons in whom I am well pleased.” As the Psalmist declares in Psalm 91:1, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty”. The truth is that this truth of Christ in us matures until we are in Christ. In Him, we rest in that secret place wherein all that He is becomes available. How can we continue to pursue the things of this world if we have caught a glimpse of the heavenlies? For this cause, Matt. 6:33 invites, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Unlock the door by coming into the truth. Freedom and liberty remain a life-style and a mind-set unto those who abide in Him. For this cause, seek truth and the God of truth and all He is becomes our inheritance, an inheritance that we can use in the presence tense now. John 8:31-32, “Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, if you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Do you need freedom? Abide in God’s truth and the Word of God (truth) makes us free to abide in Him. This freedom comes not from man’s carnal interpretation of truth but only from that which the Holy Spirit reveals.

Duane Stewart