REAL KINGDOM vs VIRTUAL KINGDOM
Printed From: OpenHeaven.com
Forum Name: VOICE OF PROPHECY - Prophetic Words
Forum Discription: This forum is specifically for prophetic words and the discussion of those words.
URL: http://archive.openheaven.com/forums/forum_posts.asp?TID=26546
Printed Date: 01/17/2017 at 11:58am
Topic: REAL KINGDOM vs VIRTUAL KINGDOM
Posted By: Ron McGatlin
Subject: REAL KINGDOM vs VIRTUAL KINGDOM
Date Posted: 03/03/2009 at 2:09pm
|
Real Kingdom vs Virtual Kingdom
By Ron McGatlin
Many people who are seeking God have done as I did in the past and participated in church activities and services to the fullest extent possible and yet came away again and again thinking, “It seems we came so close but never quite got there.” -- all the time not having a clue where “there” was but feeling an inner need for more of God. For many it was like we were in a virtual reality and trying hard to make believe it was the real thing. We went through all the motions and did all the prescribed things. Yet it seems the fullness of the promised lasting satisfaction of our souls was almost there but not quite. We made it all the way to the gate but remained just outside the gate.
Thank God for our hearts desire for more of Him.
God in His mercy will pour out His Spirit on hungry hearts. If you have ever truly experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon a group of desperately hungry believers, you know that suddenly the heart is filled and joy unspeakable floods our souls. God’s powerful love and grace flows upon us and causes us to see that we may have been looking for more of Him to fill our need, but our REAL need is for Him to have more of us - ALL of us.
Our carnal-mindedness and self-focus may be exposed in the glory of His presence. We may praise God that His Spirit has come and revival is at hand to consume us. Yet, our carnality may not yet be fully dealt with, and over time our spiritual lifestyle may begin to conflict with our carnal ways. Unconsciously, we drift into another kind of hunger, a desire for the things of our natural life, and begin to make decisions to make room for our natural human desires and appetites. The outpouring of the Spirit will not remain amongst our mixed desire for both God and our affections or desires for the things of this world (our spiritual adultery).
From Carnal Christians to Carnival Christians
(carnival n. 1. a traveling amusement show having sideshows and rides.)
The outpouring of the Spirit will soon lift because of our carnal decisions to seek this present world (self desires) along with us seeking God. After the outpouring lifts, we may maintain the ways of the outpouring with human effort in an attempt to keep it going. Our attempts to regain the outpouring without being fully cleansed from our self-seeking mixture will not be successful. We will only create a virtual reality of the kingdom and not the REAL kingdom of God. We can become like a carnival of human excitement and effort and create a virtual reality much like an animated cartoon. It will be something that may look real, but it is only a virtual reality like a sideshow at a carnival with a brilliantly lighted and colorful facade but raw lumber and emptiness behind the facade.
Dr. David Ryser recently wrote a very enlightening prophetic article called “Life vs. Animation: Are You Living a Cartoon?” Dr. David is a theologian who, through years of desert training in the Spirit, has moved through brokenness into an extreme worship love affair with Christ Jesus, which has led to greater revelation of His REAL kingdom. His article is next in this publication.
Getting Real
Our vessel must be filled with a new reality of God to replace our previous mixture in order to become vessels of honor filled with the fresh new kingdom life. There is a cleansing process before we can be refilled with the pure and holy kingdom reality.
2 Tim 2:20-21: But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
Much like preparing a dish to be served to honored guests, we must not use a dirty serving bowl. Whatever was in the bowl before must be completely emptied out, scraped, and thoroughly washed clean before refilling. Absolutely no residue of the previous food can remain to contaminate the fresh new contents. Any leftover residue becomes rotten after the second day.
God has sent fresh reality of His kingdom that is being revealed unto His people in this day.
In the Old Testament sacrifices, the flesh of a vow or voluntary offering was to be eaten the first day, but some leftovers could be eaten on the second day. On the third day any remaining must be burned with fire. It was an abomination both to the one who offers it and the one who eats it. What was good for food on the first and second day is an abomination on the next day. There is a cut-off date of the tolerance of the Lord for our eating from the previous sacrifice. There is a time when we must move on and be cleansed from the previous to become vessels of honor to carry the new.
Lev 7:16-18: 'But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offers his sacrifice; but on the next day the remainder of it also may be eaten; the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day must be burned with fire. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering is eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, nor shall it be imputed to him; it shall be an abomination to him who offers it, and the person who eats of it shall bear guilt.
Emptying ourselves of old vows is voluntary but absolutely necessary to move into the real kingdom of His holy love. It is never enough to try to patch in the fresh kingdom way into our old garment. We are receiving a whole new garment, a pure white robe of purity and righteousness that is to be without spot or wrinkle. We cannot put the holy garment upon an unclean or unholy body. This real kingdom is righteous with nothing entering that defiles. Cleaning the outside of the cup is not enough we must be purified from within.
To continue on with a residue of unclean and self-focused or religious ways while depending on the mercy or grace of God to only get us into heaven when we die is to entirely miss the real kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. To praise God on one day and seek self-gratification in the world on the next day is to be entirely missing the real kingdom of God.
To be unequally yoked with those who are NOT being fully cleansed but are clinging to some of the old food that has rotted can seriously delay or prevent our becoming fully cleansed. If anyone is following after Jesus because of the works that He does, but are not being cleansed within, Jesus will NOT commit to them. He knows what is in the hearts of men.
We must be one with Jesus, which means our full commitment to Him and His commitment to us. Otherwise we are at risk of becoming one of the carnival Christians who may have done many works in His name but whom He never really knew. The Jesus within His cleansed vessels will not commit to all men, only to those who are becoming holy men with cleansed and purified hearts. These are true vessels of honor carrying the word and works of the kingdom of God.
John 2:23-25: Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
God has much more for His people and His Planet Earth than a Disney World, make-believe kingdom. His desire for us is to walk with Him in the Spirit into a kingdom of supernatural, pure, and holy reality of kingdom life of His glory in His presence doing His works, experiencing PEACE beyond understanding, RIGHTOUSNESS that is beyond dispute, and JOY unspeakable and full of glory – all of this filled with and exploding His LOVE into creation.
Keep on pursuing love. It never fails
and His kingdom never ends. Ron McGatlin http://archive.openheaven.com/" target=_blank _fcksavedurl="http://archive.openheaven.com/ - archive.openheaven.com mailto:basileia@earthlink.net" target=_blank _fcksavedurl="mailto:basileia@earthlink.net - basileia@earthlink.net |
Replies:
Posted By: Ron McGatlin
Date Posted: 03/03/2009 at 2:17pm
|
Life vs. Animation: Are You Living a Cartoon?
By David Ryser
I grew up watching cartoons on television. My favorites were the Warner Brothers cartoons with Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, the Roadrunner, Wile E. Coyote, and all the others. These cartoons provided me with hours of entertainment and lots of laughs. They still do. They also fed me some benign, and even amusing, misinformation along the way (I was an adult before I knew the Scarlet Pumpernickel was actually the Scarlet Pimpernel). As engaged as I was in watching these cartoons, I never believed--even at a very young age--that cartoon characters were alive. I never confused animation with life until I became a Christian.
I had just come out of what I thought was a great worship service. The music was upbeat, and the congregation was energetic and demonstrative in worship. These are good things, and I am in favor of them. Sometime after the service, a young man in the church (who sees into the spirit more than he lets on) described the scene he saw during the worship time in words I will never forget. He said, “As the people were worshiping, I saw empty shells jumping up and down.” Hearing something like that will make a guy think, and I’ve thought about what he said for some time now.
Animation is not life. Just because something (or someone) moves, talks, acts, and mimics the other attributes of living does not mean life is present. In the Garden of Eden, God told Adam he would “surely die” if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). “Surely die” in the Hebrew text is a repetition of the word “die” (“die, die”) which intensifies what is being said. God wanted Adam to know He wasn’t kidding about this, and told him he would die immediately upon eating the fruit, not die slowly over time. Adam ate. Adam died. Adam continued to walk, talk, breathe, eat, sleep, work, build, procreate, etc. But he was dead. Adam went from being a “living soul” to being merely animated--a human cartoon character.
In numerous places in the New Testament, especially in the epistles of Paul, a person who is outside of Christ is described as dead (Ephesians 2:1, 5 and Colossians 2:13, among others). This person may show all the signs of life, and be biologically alive, but he/she is nothing more than a spiritual cartoon. And religion won’t make a person alive. Jesus was talking to God’s people (not to the Romans or the other Gentiles) when He said He had come to give them life (John 10:10).
We need to understand there is no life outside of Christ’s life in us. Paul was not using a figure of speech when he said he had died and that “it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the Son of God’s faith (literal translation) who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:19, 20; italics added). All people, no matter what they may call themselves, are dead outside of Christ. There are only two kinds of people on the earth: those who are dead and those who are alive through the life of Christ that was planted in them expressing itself through them. Does that sound weird? What can I say? Blame the Bible and take it up with the Author--I didn’t write it.
Life in Christ involves more than coming to a knowledge of Jesus, getting our theology straight, and agreeing with a creed or a doctrinal statement. The devil knows all of these things and it doesn’t do him any good (James 2:19). We must encounter the Lord of Life and be “born again” into newness of life. And when did “born again” become synonymous with “new and improved” anyhow? If we are in Christ we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), not a renovated form of the old creation. If you give a pig a bath, it’s still a pig (and given half a chance, it will act like it). We can clean up Adam (the flesh, our sin nature), but it’s still Adam. And Adam is dead. Dead people don’t need a bath (no matter how badly they stink); they need a resurrection. Once we have been made alive, then we must allow His life and light to grow in us and displace the death and darkness of our old nature.
I wish I had known this truth when I was a pastor. I spent 14 years trying to help people to change. They wanted very much to change and become more like Jesus. So did I. The problem is that people cannot change; we’re simply not hardwired to change. If we are dead outside of Christ, we cannot change because dead people don’t change (ok, they rot/decay, but their behavior doesn’t improve). If we are alive in Christ we cannot change because the life of Christ is our source of life, and He doesn’t change (Hebrews 13:8).
Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to change--because it’s impossible. We are, however, told that we can be transformed by the renewing life of Christ in us working from the inside-out to produce a harvest of godliness in our attitudes and behavior (Romans 12:2). The Greek word for “transform” is ìåôáìïñöïù . We get our word “metamorphosis” from this word. It means to be transformed from one state (in this case, the state of death) to a new state (becoming alive) by another, more powerful, form of life forcing its way to the outside from the inside. The life of Christ is in us if we are genuinely born again. This life needs to transform us and manifest itself in our behavior.
So how do we work with God to produce this transformation in our lives? The simple, not to be confused with easy, answer to this question is that we must come into intimate relationship with Jesus. Let me be clear: I am not talking about praying a canned prayer, becoming a churchgoer, and walking in a superficial affiliation with Jesus; I’m talking about a living, vibrant, personal, passionate, and intimate relationship with Jesus. We need to allow Him, through the Holy Spirit, to speak to us (through the scriptures and directly) and shine His light into our lives. This takes courage because, if you are like me, you won’t very much like a great deal of what you will hear and see.
Once we become God’s home (1 Corinthians 6:19), then we can talk about doing a housecleaning. The light of God will shine into the dark places and reveal the condition of our hearts--and then it is decision time. It’s like when you turn on a light in a room of your home and see that the room is a mess. We can do one of two things at this point: we can turn out the light and walk away while trying to forget what we just saw, or we can get to work cleaning up the place. Fortunately we have a Helper, the Holy Spirit, to do the heavy lifting and deep cleaning.
Do not be fooled by appearances. We are not alive because we appear to be alive. And we are not alive because we are more animated than our neighbor. Such comparison is not a good idea (2 Corinthians 10:12b). We are alive only because we are in relationship with God through Jesus Christ whose life indwells us in the Person of the Holy Spirit. If we call ourselves Christians, but are living outside of Christ, we are no more alive than the Jews of Jesus’ day who refused to come to Him so He could give them life (John 5:39, 40).
Be brave. Dare to ask yourself the tough question, “Am I alive in Christ, or am I a living cartoon?” I will believe you no matter how you answer this question, but I’m not the one you have to convince.
Responses to this article are welcomed. You may contact the author at mailto:drdave1545@yahoo.com" target=_blank _fcksavedurl="mailto:drdave1545@yahoo.com - drdave1545@yahoo.com
|
Posted By: Bojo Sun
Date Posted: 03/03/2009 at 2:34pm
|
This is so good! Thank you, brother Ron for sharing with us these wonderful writings! I am excited! Bless the Lord! |
Posted By: Vince Sucec
Date Posted: 03/04/2009 at 9:05am
|
Amen, it is all about the connection to ...
What is organic is animated - animated in the sense of alive. what is inanimate is wooden. The enemy is everything that is antithetical to life ... ------------- Until we all come into the unity of the faith ... |
Posted By: Julie Gilbert
Date Posted: 03/04/2009 at 2:26pm
|
one thing really on my heart lately is the fact that we humans put so much emphasis on our FEELINGS. If we don't 'feel' God, or 'feel' saved or healed or alive or like anything we are doing or our BEING is having any kind of effect or affect on us or our surroundings.. I think we all have to be really careful about our soul realm need to 'feel' - 'see' - 'touch' - 'taste' - 'smell'. Hebrews Chapter 11 says BY FAITH .... we can't depend upon our senses telling us or even confirming to us that we are IN CHRIST. By FAITH we stand and we believe regardless of what our 'senses' are telling us. Whether this fits under this posting, I don't know.. I just know that we have to all come into a place where we are just not moved by anything we taste-see-feel-hear-touch with our natural man or our soul man... God is IN US and we are HIS WORKMANSHIP which has been created to do GOOD WORKS that HE HAS ORDAINED in advance for us to do. Obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit, being about the FATHERS business, regardless of how we 'sense' about any thing. If 'we' are truly dead and Christ is fully alive in us - then we really don't need to 'sense' anything with our physical bodies to confirm anything. We just have to be in faith in Christ alone. Right? ------------- See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing |
Posted By: Ron McGatlin
Date Posted: 03/04/2009 at 7:05pm
|
Hello Julie, Isn't it possible to feel hunger for God? Is it possible to feel joy and peace in His presence? Is it possible to feel lack when there is no manifest presence of God? What about feeling comfort and peace by the Holy Spirit? I don't know about everyone else but I feel many things from God. Perhaps saying sense would be a better way to say it. Because we do have sensing by the Spirit. Hearing is a primary sense in relating to God? I think maybe you are talking about goose bumps or something like that and saying that we can believe without having them. And that is certainly true. If God never speaks to us through the Spirit we can still by faith believe in Him. However, the Bible does say that His sheep hear His voice and follow Him. Ron |
Posted By: Julie Gilbert
Date Posted: 03/04/2009 at 10:21pm
|
Hey Ron... I do feel much for God yes.. and I think He created us to do so ... but I think I was more thinking about people who are always relying upon feelings as a gauge. I couldn't quite articulate what I was meaing, I'm afraid... I know that God has really gotten me to die much to my own 'feelings' ... a lot of time He has me go just by faith so to speak so I won't be dependent upon feelings.. I honestly LOVE feeling the love of God ... hunger and desire and passion and comfort and peace etc... YES! But He has just been teaching me that regardless of what I feel, it is always by faith... don't know that I've articulated this well either.. oh well :)
------------- See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing |
Posted By: Kriston Couchey
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 4:50am
|
Julie,
The problem is we have learned to let feelings rule us rather then the Spirit. People are up and down so much because they learn to only do what they feel like doing. Or they judge God's intentions toward them by circumstance and feeling rather then the knowledge of Him and his unchanging Goodness. If we are created in His image then feelings are part of who we are, and part of who He is. It is right and normal to experience feelings, but like someone said, "feelings" are the caboose, they should not direct and dictate our lives. They are the reward of our thoughts and actions, whether it be good or evil. Joy and peace are the reward of the righteous, if we are not experincing these then we need to question why, and what it is we are getting our emotional reward from. God also puts within us feelings that are "sympathtic" with Him. It is important to recognize the source of our feelings. Weeping, brokeness, and being in agony can come from the heart of God desperate for His people to come into union with Him. As we become one with Him, our thoughts, feelings and actions whould continue to be more and more in line with Him, we also learn to recgonize what feelings are not of Him and stand in faith in spite of our flesh telling us otherwise with feelings that do not align themselves with Him. This sounds selfish, but I judge many peoples ministries by what I know personally the Lord has revealed to me of HIMSELF and how they express or deny the heart of the Lord regarding those issues. the Lord expresses to me how He feels about something, and it tells me more of who He is. My goal is to know Him, In His death and ressurection, AND in His life and being. Kris ------------- One of the chosen foolish and weak http://my.opera.com/Boanerges/blog/ - http://my.opera.com/Boanerges/blog/ kcouchey@gmail.com |
Posted By: Ron McGatlin
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 5:53am
|
Yes, Julie and Kriston,
|
Posted By: Vince Sucec
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 6:10am
|
Hello. A good book that addresses this issue of the proper relationship between feelings and spirit is Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross written in the 1600's I beleive. ------------- Until we all come into the unity of the faith ... |
Posted By: Ron McGatlin
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 6:36am
|
|
Posted By: Vince Sucec
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 8:41am
|
Thanks Ron, I have been blown away by the organic connections birthed by the Lord in openheaven.com ! I confess I didnt read the entire flow of the corresponence above so I might have missed the importance of the freedom-experiential emphasis - which I agree with completely ! The Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross is speaking more about the soul being alighned with the Spirit, so that there is a fruitful receptivity when He manifests ... In any case - PLEASE COME LORD !!! Blessings, Vincent
------------- Until we all come into the unity of the faith ... |
Posted By: james hill
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 8:52am
|
Christ has been reduced to merely a "tool" to greater living. Within our churches, Christ has become sorta like a 12 step approach towards faith. It is nothing more than a form of Godliness and ultimately denied power. We attempt to "put on" the charateristics of Christ, and never ultimately have His true nature or character. But rather only a generic duplication or rendition of Him. This all comes from the vein repetitions of men. Some years ago, I had prayed: "Jesus, give me a glimpse of Your cross. I want to love You more. Show me Your cross that I may see what you truly did for me. I can read about it, hear sermons preached about it, but I want You to show me." Soon after this prayer, my world came apart at the seams. I swore the 'ole devil was trying to take me out. But some months later I remember the prayer I prayed about wanting to know His cross. It dawned on me that perhaps He was giving me just a little glimpse of the cross, but through my life. I am not saying that I ever endured anything even remotely close to what our Jesus did! He was love perfected and rejected. To the degree you love is to the degree you will hurt when that perfect love is rejected. I guess I said all that to say that if we continue to seek Christ for the betterment of ourselves, in other words: make me more loving, make me more responsible, give me greater gifts, help me do this or that.......Christ has been reduced to a spiritual "sugar-daddy". Not that these things are wrong in of themselves, but we are always praying or asking for what seems to be the better things for us. There yet remains the sufferings of Christ and the fear of the Lord. Perhaps there is a treasure in these things as well.
|
Posted By: Julie Gilbert
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 11:54am
|
Thanks Ron and Kriston.. appreciate and agree with what you are sharing... we must be led by the Spirit at all times.. 'feel' by the spirit not our soul and flesh realm ... amen! thanks! ------------- See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you. Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing |
Posted By: Beverly Miller
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 6:54pm
|
God has much more for His people and His Planet Earth than a Disney World, make-believe kingdom. His desire for us is to walk with Him in the Spirit into a kingdom of supernatural, pure, and holy reality of kingdom life of His glory in His presence doing His works, experiencing PEACE beyond understanding, RIGHTOUSNESS that is beyond dispute, and JOY unspeakable and full of glory – all of this filled with and exploding His LOVE into creation.
Thanks Ron~
Blessings,
Beverly Miller
|
Posted By: james hill
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 7:20pm
| the church as it is won't understand what you just said......i understand but don't know how to bring it about |
Posted By: Bojo Sun
Date Posted: 03/05/2009 at 8:35pm
|
Dear James: I visited regularly of this forum and saw many loving ones confined their heart to you. I would not add unto that list as I have little to offer. But I would dare to share a thought as an encouragement: Those the Lord had got hold of, He will never let them go. His mighty hand is evidently in your life, in your groanings... As you wonderfully put: "There yet remains the sufferings of Christ and the fear of the Lord. Perhaps there is a treasure in these things as well." I think we all are yet learning this truth and to rejoice in this kind of suffering and enjoy such a fear. Do pray for me that I can share some...:) Moment ago, I took a walk. The Lord laid it on my heart to recommand a book to you. Not the "Dark Night of the Soul", but one by a present author: "Rest of the Gospel." ( I have to confess I only read portion of it. However, it was recommanded to me by two dear brothers I deeply trust and respect.) If you have difficulty to get hold of a copy. Let me know, I might be able to help... Much love, dear brother...
|
Posted By: Denise Detwiler
Date Posted: 03/06/2009 at 5:01am
|
I too love to draw from that "great company" from those who are still
living and writing today and those who wrote our scriptures old and new testament and those who have recorded or been recorded in music and writings down through the years...many times the Lord's led me to read the writings derived from anther's walk in the Lord...there is wonderful stuff in the writings of brother Ron here that I myself have read again and again...I consider it as the great company in Hebrews and so praise and thank God for all who surround me and cheer me on. One can even at times find things to avoid as well as things to embrace in the writings and poetry and lives of those before... However - THE life comes from having THE Son of God. His life in us is eternal and this is the ultimate place He is calling us. Total intimacy and oneness with Him, THAT life. Outside Him there is no life for us in anything else...IN HIM all of existence teems with life. Whatever we do, we eat, where we live, who we read...if we do it outside Him - or in an act of stepping away from Him to try and get life elsewhere, it's dead. If we do these same things within our life in Him they will contain abundance of life. And, to get back to the initial post...REALITY. ------------- |
Posted By: Gayle Getz
Date Posted: 03/06/2009 at 8:11am
|
Amen, DD, "...or in an act of stepping away from HIM to try and get life elsewhere, IT'S DEAD." Just had a conversation with one of my sons who had an experience whereby he died and was brought back to life. As he was born-again but had not made JESUS LORD in his heart HE found himself talking to JESUS through the hours in the hospital and then the recovery time at home. He shared with me the other night that ALL is dead IF GOD, JESUS and HOLY SPIRIT are not in your life. That was just the way he said it and indeed IT did hit my heart as TRUTH. We'd been discussing the need to keep our focus on JESUS and not on the world situation. As my Hubby keeps sayin, "Tell them it is a NEW WAY OF LIFE, THE WAY OF LIFE IN, THROUGH AND BY JESUS. HE IS ALL YOU NEED." GLORY! GLORY! GLORY! HALLELUJAH TO KING JESUS!!! \o/ Love you ALL-prayin' & decreein'& rejoicin'-Take JOY my KING in what you hear, may we be a sweet, sweet sound in YOUR ear. ------------- Shalom-nothing missing, nothing broken-Gayle |
Posted By: Ron McGatlin
Date Posted: 03/06/2009 at 6:56pm
|
Denise wrote:
Amen Denise!!! |
Posted By: Ilene Wood
Date Posted: 03/07/2009 at 5:14am
|
Amen to what David Ryser said! I was wondering why I would come out of a 'church service' and feel like there was death within me. I would be all built up during the week by walking with God, and then go to church and be bored by the 'show' that I would literally feel drained, like the life was sucked out of me. I do praise and worship God in spirit and in truth. I love Him! And there is a difference in living in the Spirit, and in just putting on a show because it looks and sounds right. The church just does not know the difference because it has not experienced the truth; but, of course, the religious will fight back like the Pharisees of Jesus' day against those who follow after Jesus hungering and thirsting after His righteousness. We must continue to pray for God's people to be set free! May God's true church arise in this hour and in that great day! Hold on to the faith! God's will be done! amen! ilene ------------- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. |
Posted By: Ilene Wood
Date Posted: 03/07/2009 at 5:28am
|
And oh yes, we must not 'testify' of our selves, for there is no profit in it! We may profit carnally, but spiritually...no. We cannot say I will do this, we will do this, you will do this. No. It is God who is Sovereign and who Lord and King; we obey Him and submit ourselves unto Him; we are not to lord over one another trying to get others to do 'our' will. {I guess that I am upset over all these years of 'waste' within a system that was set up by man for their gratification out of ignorance at the expense of others; but God's will will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.) By being baptized with the Holy Spirit and empowered from on high we will be 'His' witnesses! There is no other way. May we be fully immersed by His Spirit and empowered to do the works of God so that all may know that we serve the Living God! Keep pressing on in faith and in your walk with God. "Oh, Lord, help us to do what You have for us to do according to Your will. amen." God bless you! ------------- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. |
Posted By: Larry Denton
Date Posted: 03/07/2009 at 7:06am
|
Brother Ron.... This is interesting…. You’re shared: We went through all the motions and did all the prescribed things. Yet it seems the fullness of the promised lasting satisfaction of our souls was almost there but not quite. We made it all the way to the gate but remained just outside the gate Reading here, I find what all are sharing centers around … a place. "Think it's the Kingdom!" On one hand it ( this place) is without, or out there in the real, but on the other it’s “within” each of us” and it seems that when we gather something is birthed in our "imaganitions" ..."for the good! Denise shares... I too love to draw from that "great company"... = "A within thing!... And…. Hebrews 12:1 (KJV) Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, So we run in “patience’s”… to walk with each other…and…we understand more and more of what that place both looks & feels like… and it enable us to move in our day by day lives to worship Some One who is Fathering us from afar, yet “right here…. That place ...in which we know there is this since of security and/or a belonging, and/or a knowing that where we are… there this eternal Peace, foundation for Rest…. And it that is REAL…. As you have shared ( as an elder) of having these experiences and only ending up and remaining out side the gate , I believe this is the reason for the word and or ideal of what and elder and the very reason we are to honor their stand in Christ... I say interesting...because yesterday… I found myself in the Spirit as Our Lord spoke of something He wanted to me to share and as how… He did this; left me standing (so to speak) a bit outside me and or one might say the gate. Meaning: He was allowing me to use an illustration/painting, which I had composed months back, to aid the understanding of the prophesy… So , in my understanding as an elder of soon to be 66 having received the Gospel at nine and responding to my election to serve in it presentation for over thirty years… I too have walked (as we say here in Out-side the Gate, in that…. it required me to “trust “Our Lord in what He had called me to… (And I would think in turn) NOW it appears He “trusting” me to stand up and share the prophesy… with this visual work ((again))… something I had envisioned in my imagination! Well, to am able to stand up and run, and in my doing, do so in the flesh! I say interesting … ((again)) because the prophesy and painting ( for me) has everything to do with what you have mentioned here , having used the words walking, standing, and running …in that we all experience this ongoing search for that something virtual = Existing in the mind, especially as a product of the imagination. And at the same time ….that which is real… Outside the gate.... because for the first time I had worked on something (the painting) in which I was able to see Our Lords understanding and then in having the patience to set down and relate this (commit to write the Prophesy) this experience, found myself,… saying to myself, after the experience, “hold on” this can be and most likely is a matter of pride! So I had elected to “wait” on the matter, and thinking I may have misunderstood Our Lord on the matter. Wait….That is until I found what you shared here. Having said all that, it seems to me that the wisdom of this question is not that: “Either we are seeking something real and or something virtual, but both, in that, one unfolds into and out of the other! It is in this walking in the Spirit that we become conscious, that our conscience can be cleaned…, because it is clean, pure, in that we are relating to some one, who Knows the Way, and the seeking of it, is a virtual experience. “Walking around in the wilderness of the Land of the mind, and having the Holy Spirit help to experience that “place”… Possess the Land in there= “a place” and the land without, is manageable one could say, but how to do this is a question, because there is this narrow path… and on top of that ...”a gate”! By know you know I could write a mile on this, but what seems good to say it is by walking with Him that we can walk together and this word walk become vital, very real as we grow in our understanding. Romans 13:13 (KJV) Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. This walk is based upon a virtual and or subjective experience each or off Have. It is when we do not trust the relational way God walks with us = In the Sprit that we respond to that Gate and or as you have shared stand on the outside of it. Know that on the other side we come face to face with Christ and in doing so come face to face with ourselves…. So it is here the imagination of the mind desire to do two out of three things … {{{Note: In this scripture the word Mind is the word Imagination... Mark 12:30 (KJV) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mind or dianoia, Greek 1271, Strong’s dianoia; from Greek 1223 (dia) and Greek 3563 (nous); deep thought, properly the faculty (mind or its disposition), by implication its exercise :- imagination, mind, understanding. }}} Now… it is in this experience (and I contend this is the most virtues aspect of gathering as opposed to meeting) that we are able to cast down those evil thoughts and or evil being who project them. 2 Cor. 10:5 (KJV) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; So here is my understanding … In walking with Our Lord ( virtual) and or others ( real) seeking the Kingdom this requires us to honor each other , there by creating within us a “living” and or real experience , in that Christ is able to walk with us!!! The contrast being that many desires to “Stand” with Christ and loving Him in via their Heart (or logical mind) and many desires to “Run” with Christ in loving Him with all their soul, but few are able to walk with Him…. loving Him with all the Mind ( imagination) , the wisdom being this requires us to Gather with Him using all “Three” aspect of our consciousness , always being ready to humble ourselves , believing He can speak “ within “ to correct all parts of us so that we can enter into that Gate… Now the light is coming that will cast out the evilness Satan has projected and we are able to love him within our imaginations , and this enable us to walk in the real ( physical) seeing what is happening in our Spirits , and this is a matter or true worship’ Not standings in pride to project strife and or running in jealousy, but walking in the Name of Christ… Ok, I wrote a quarter of a mile! I would ask all here to pray for me if it seems good... as I seek to share this prophecy; He Who Follows Me….Walks. A Prophesy. March, 2009. in a few days... As it seems to me as an assurance of our: fullness of the promised…. Things = thing that are real! Bro. Larry
------------- http://prophets-of-new.blogspot.com/"> 
|
...
.....
..
.Posted By: Ron McGatlin
Date Posted: 03/08/2009 at 6:22pm
|
Thanks everyone for your comments. Jesus did not commit himself to all men because he knew their hearts. Discernment in our lives is important to us in this season of transition. We may loose some relationships as we continue to seek the kingdom above all else. Emptying ourselves of old vows is voluntary but absolutely necessary to move into the real kingdom of His holy love. It is never enough to try to patch in the fresh kingdom way into our old garment. We are receiving a whole new garment, a pure white robe of purity and righteousness that is to be without spot or wrinkle. We cannot put the holy garment upon an unclean or unholy body. This real kingdom is righteous with nothing entering that defiles. Cleaning the outside of the cup is not enough we must be purified from within.
To continue on with a residue of unclean and self-focused or religious ways while depending on the mercy or grace of God to only get us into heaven when we die is to entirely miss the real kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. To praise God on one day and seek self-gratification in the world on the next day is to be entirely missing the real kingdom of God.
To be unequally yoked with those who are NOT being fully cleansed but are clinging to some of the old food that has rotted can seriously delay or prevent our becoming fully cleansed. If anyone is following after Jesus because of the works that He does, but are not being cleansed within, Jesus will NOT commit to them. He knows what is in the hearts of men.
We must be one with Jesus, which means our full commitment to Him and His commitment to us. Otherwise we are at risk of becoming one of the carnival Christians who may have done many works in His name but whom He never really knew. The Jesus within His cleansed vessels will not commit to all men, only to those who are becoming holy men with cleansed and purified hearts. These are true vessels of honor carrying the word and works of the kingdom of God.
John 2:23-25: Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men, and had no need that anyone should testify of man, for He knew what was in man.
|