Division
Habakkuk 2: 13 Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the peoples labor to feed the fire, And nations weary themselves in vain? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
There is a division appearing across the globe. The contrast is more defined daily. There is a breeze of change blowing that gets stronger by the hour. Right now, if you are still, if you pay attention, you can hear it rustling through the trees...you can see occasional gusts move the limbs...a storm is coming.
The division centers on a basic understanding of power. The question of the hour: wait on God for power, or take matters into our own hands? Unfortunately, a large part of the world has tired of waiting on God. You can only wait on an invisible God for so long if you don't love Him. Just ask Aaron’s companions in the desert. God rescued all of Israel by splitting the sea, He leads them with the pillar of fire. He calls Moses up the mountain to meet with Him for a little more than a month, and even though they could see God's "consuming fire" on the mountain, Israel demanded a new God they could see closer to them. A God they could touch and understand. A lifeless gold calf made from their own possessions...their own strength. A “real” god, who would do things right when they wanted him to...
This same choice is about to be made on a global level. It is called the “valley of decision” in the Bible. As Jesus removes His hand of restraint which has held back the evil men's hearts from ripening, it will press people into a choice: press in with abandon to the invisible God on the mountain, or build something more logical with our own strength? The golden calf ends in death. The consuming fire on the mountain brings life in full.
Psalm 24: 3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Yesterday, I saw a picture in my mind of a rich pure light hitting my city in wave after wave. It was the rich golden warm light of God’s glory. The light of a consuming fire like Moses saw, which doesn’t destroy what it consumes, but brings life instead. It was hitting the hills and the valleys, whatever it touched turned to gold. His glory was restoring my city. I saw it touch the two hospitals in my town and then the courthouses and the administrative buildings. It was affecting the health, the justice, the economics...the very daily lives of the people I live near...wave after wave...richer and richer...more golden glory as it touched more and more parts of my city.
Then I heard something: "this is the light of my glory. It will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Right now I am releasing a fine mist all over the earth, but depth is coming. Right now, if you look, you will find it in small measures everywhere. But, now is the time to decide how much depth you want in your city."
The glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. I say this often (I heard it from someone else, and it impacted me): the waters cover the ocean at different depths. The ocean is hot in one place on the globe, and freezing cold in another. One place, there is a tidal wave, elsewhere it is calm and flat.
Because of love, because of free will, we have to choose how much of God’s presence we want in our city. Because God is so powerful, if He even whispered an amount He wanted us to have, we would have to receive it. He refuses to violate love, so He refuses to set the measure. WE set the measure we want, and He fills it. We set it with what we contend for…what we ask for…what we agree with. We get to decide how deep it will be in our town, by how we respond to God. In His relationship with man, God chose love, which means He chose free will. Even His glory He will not force on us. He wants us to invite Him in.
Then I heard this: “This golden, rich light of my glory is PURE. Wherever it goes must be met with an agreement for PURITY. Perfect purity doesn’t have to be achieved, but it MUST be agreed with. It must be contended for. ..it must be the request of your heart. Purity.”
This pure light of power and glory is holy. The Bible says that God’s holiness is so bright, no man can see it and live. But Daniel saw a man in front of the Father:
Daniel 7:13 "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
This was a vision of Jesus, in a human body, standing before the pure, holy, gloriously brilliant light of the Father’s presence. Because of the purity of Jesus’ life, the perfect righteousness of His life, He is able to stand before the Father in a resurrected body. The firstborn of many….
Someday we will all have a body like Jesus. We will be covered in His very righteousness that HE freely gives to us. We will stand before the father and live.
But we have to agree with Jesus’ righteousness to get it. This is justification. Even salvation must be requested and received. We have to start the conversation. Right now that righteousness lives in full in my spirit, but if I want it in my heart where I can extend it into my current life and the world around me, I must invite it into my heart. Along with it comes the very power of the living God, the Holy Spirit, impacting me and those around me. This is sanctification. Jesus told Paul there is an “inheritance of power” (glorification) that comes with sanctification:
Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'
God desires to release a depth of glory in my city that will astound me, but we have to start the conversation. We take one step, He takes 10. I take steps by agreeing with Him about how to ask for it…agreeing with Him about how to contend for it. I want to go after the signs and wonders. I want to ask for them. It is important to reach for the signs and wonders. BUT, Jesus says that we make space for the glorious light of His presence by agreeing with Him about its purity. That pure golden light will only be released where the people agree and make room for purity. If I want to reach for that golden rich light of glory, then I need to reach for purity in my words, purity in my thoughts, purity in my actions, purity in my motives…purity in my relationship with the Author of the Pure Living Light of Glory!
Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
There is a division appearing across the globe. The contrast is more defined daily. There is a breeze of change blowing that gets stronger by the hour. Right now, if you are still, if you pay attention, you can hear it rustling through the trees...you can see occasional gusts move the limbs...a storm is coming.
The division centers on a basic understanding of power. The question of the hour: wait on God for power, or take matters into our own hands? Unfortunately, a large part of the world has tired of waiting on God. You can only wait on an invisible God for so long if you don't love Him. Just ask Aaron’s companions in the desert. God rescued all of Israel by splitting the sea, He leads them with the pillar of fire. He calls Moses up the mountain to meet with Him for a little more than a month, and even though they could see God's "consuming fire" on the mountain, Israel demanded a new God they could see closer to them. A God they could touch and understand. A lifeless gold calf made from their own possessions...their own strength. A “real” god, who would do things right when they wanted him to...
This same choice is about to be made on a global level. It is called the “valley of decision” in the Bible. As Jesus removes His hand of restraint which has held back the evil men's hearts from ripening, it will press people into a choice: press in with abandon to the invisible God on the mountain, or build something more logical with our own strength? The golden calf ends in death. The consuming fire on the mountain brings life in full.
Psalm 24: 3 Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Yesterday, I saw a picture in my mind of a rich pure light hitting my city in wave after wave. It was the rich golden warm light of God’s glory. The light of a consuming fire like Moses saw, which doesn’t destroy what it consumes, but brings life instead. It was hitting the hills and the valleys, whatever it touched turned to gold. His glory was restoring my city. I saw it touch the two hospitals in my town and then the courthouses and the administrative buildings. It was affecting the health, the justice, the economics...the very daily lives of the people I live near...wave after wave...richer and richer...more golden glory as it touched more and more parts of my city.
Then I heard something: "this is the light of my glory. It will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Right now I am releasing a fine mist all over the earth, but depth is coming. Right now, if you look, you will find it in small measures everywhere. But, now is the time to decide how much depth you want in your city."
The glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. I say this often (I heard it from someone else, and it impacted me): the waters cover the ocean at different depths. The ocean is hot in one place on the globe, and freezing cold in another. One place, there is a tidal wave, elsewhere it is calm and flat.
Because of love, because of free will, we have to choose how much of God’s presence we want in our city. Because God is so powerful, if He even whispered an amount He wanted us to have, we would have to receive it. He refuses to violate love, so He refuses to set the measure. WE set the measure we want, and He fills it. We set it with what we contend for…what we ask for…what we agree with. We get to decide how deep it will be in our town, by how we respond to God. In His relationship with man, God chose love, which means He chose free will. Even His glory He will not force on us. He wants us to invite Him in.
Then I heard this: “This golden, rich light of my glory is PURE. Wherever it goes must be met with an agreement for PURITY. Perfect purity doesn’t have to be achieved, but it MUST be agreed with. It must be contended for. ..it must be the request of your heart. Purity.”
This pure light of power and glory is holy. The Bible says that God’s holiness is so bright, no man can see it and live. But Daniel saw a man in front of the Father:
Daniel 7:13 "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.
This was a vision of Jesus, in a human body, standing before the pure, holy, gloriously brilliant light of the Father’s presence. Because of the purity of Jesus’ life, the perfect righteousness of His life, He is able to stand before the Father in a resurrected body. The firstborn of many….
Someday we will all have a body like Jesus. We will be covered in His very righteousness that HE freely gives to us. We will stand before the father and live.
But we have to agree with Jesus’ righteousness to get it. This is justification. Even salvation must be requested and received. We have to start the conversation. Right now that righteousness lives in full in my spirit, but if I want it in my heart where I can extend it into my current life and the world around me, I must invite it into my heart. Along with it comes the very power of the living God, the Holy Spirit, impacting me and those around me. This is sanctification. Jesus told Paul there is an “inheritance of power” (glorification) that comes with sanctification:
Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'
God desires to release a depth of glory in my city that will astound me, but we have to start the conversation. We take one step, He takes 10. I take steps by agreeing with Him about how to ask for it…agreeing with Him about how to contend for it. I want to go after the signs and wonders. I want to ask for them. It is important to reach for the signs and wonders. BUT, Jesus says that we make space for the glorious light of His presence by agreeing with Him about its purity. That pure golden light will only be released where the people agree and make room for purity. If I want to reach for that golden rich light of glory, then I need to reach for purity in my words, purity in my thoughts, purity in my actions, purity in my motives…purity in my relationship with the Author of the Pure Living Light of Glory!
Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. 6 He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday.
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