Obedience and God's Promises - Noah

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“For you have need of patience (endurance),
that having done the will of God
you may obtain the promise.”
Hebrews 10:36 (LITV)

God’s promises come as we persevere in our work of obedience. It is in our “having done” the will of God we obtain His great and precious promises.

Obedience and God’s Promises – Noah

“Just as it was in the days of Noah,
so will it be in the days of the Son of Man”
Luke 17:26 (ESV)

The promise to Noah of salvation for his family was obtained after he had completed the ark. His obedience was required for the promise to be fulfilled.

“God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water…”
1 Peter 3:20

God and His promises waited “while the ark was being prepared”. May we comprehend that His promises concerning us also wait upon our working out of His will in our lives. God’s promise to Noah was inextricably entwined in the work that God gave him to do. So, it is with each of us. The work He has given us to accomplish is directly related to the promises given. Each of us is a participant in the fulfillment of His grace personally and corporately!

“By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith”
Hebrews 11:7  (SELAH!)

How did Noah condemn the world? By His obedience in building the ark. It is through our obedience unto Him that we condemn this world.

“In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ”
2 Thessalonians 1:8

The judgment of God falls on the disobedient but the fulcrum for His releasing of these judgments on the earth is the obedience of His people. God is not a hypocrite; He cannot freely judge the world in fullness until He has a people who walk in obedience.

“And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience,
when your obedience is fulfilled”
2 Corinthians 10:6

Obedience and God’s Promises – Lot

“Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day when Lot went out from Sodom, fire, and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all— so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed”
Luke 17:28-30 (ESV)

God waited in Noah’s day, as He also waited for Lot to leave Sodom and Gomorrah (Revelation 18:4).

“Escape there quickly,
for I can do nothing till you arrive there”
Genesis 19:22

The Judgment of God was stayed until Lot was out of the city! May we comprehend the righteousness of God concerning His judgments in our day and how closely they are related to our obedience. He is ever watching over us, pressing us, drawing us, and moving us to follow in the footsteps of the Author of our Faith, Jesus Christ.

Noah being moved by faith was the beginning of the end of the world and its violence of that Day. So it is in this final chapter of the world as we now know it. The True Faith of God MOVES His own unto obedience. Faith that does not culminate in obedience is a dead, religious faith that will never move the hand of God.

“But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the everlasting God,
made known to all nations FOR the obedience of faith”
Romans 16:26

Why is the Gospel to be made known to all the nations? For the obedience of Faith! The modern-day evangelist who preaches salvation from hell while excluding the obedience of faith has failed to present the Lordship of Christ. There is a vast difference between those who know Christ as Savior and those who know Him as Christ the LORD.

The faith that moves the hearts of men
Is the same faith that moves
The hand of God in a responding manner

†

“The safe place lies in obedience to God’s Word,
singleness of heart and holy vigilance”
A.B. Simpson

See Related Post in this Series: Obedience and God’s Promises – Elisha

See related article on overcoming the apathy: Lukewarmness

See related article on Lot leaving Sodom: The Two Voices

Brian Troxel

The Lord Chastens Those Whom He Loves

 

A friend of mine recently went on a trip from Arizona to Maine.  But it was not God's will for her to go on that trip and the Lord chastened her for her disobedience.  It reminded me of my hitchhiking travels throughout the United States (1996-2020):  if I was going in the wrong direction, I would not get a ride.  Jesus Christ was Lord over my hitchhiking.

Here is her story:

I Don't Get Why So MANY People Have Zero Fear Of The Lord

Here are a few comments from that post:

My comment:  Pauli: When I saw the photo of your cut lip, it reminded me of what happened to me back in September of 1999.

I had been hitchhiking for over three years at the time. I was standing on an on-ramp on I-95 in Lumberton, North Carolina. These two guys walked up to me and started talking to me. I knew something was not right.

All of a sudden, the smaller guy started hitting me with his fists. I just shoved him aside because he wasn’t doing any damage. Then the bigger guy tackled me and started kicking me IN THE MOUTH. The guy probably kicked me several times in the mouth. Then this car pulled up and this tall guy got out and yelled, “Get the hell out of here!” Those two guys ran off.

He asked me if I was okay. I said, yeah and thanked him. He then drove off.

So I grabbed my backpack and started walking north on I-95. I had a bloody nose. This deputy sheriff saw me walking on the interstate, pulled over and picked me up. He asked, “Were you involved in a fight?” I said, “I just got jumped by two guys.”

Then this lady drove up in her car (she saw the whole thing) and told the deputy sheriff that those two guys walked across the interstate and into that motel. She pointed at the motel.

So the deputy sheriff called for backup, we drove to the motel and they brought three people out of this motel room. I identified the two guys who attacked me.

We drove to the sheriff’s office and they asked me if I wanted to press charges. I said no, because I would have to wait around for the trial or hearing. So I think they charged them with a misdemeanor.

As the deputy sheriff drove me to the sheriff’s office, this scripture welled up within my spirit: The Lord chastens those whom He loves (“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” Hebrews 12:6)

Why did the Lord chasten me? Because I was grumbling against the Lord. I was saying things like, “Why do I have to do all of this hitchhiking? I am sick of hitchhiking. Why can’t I settle down, get a job and live a normal life?”

GRUMBLING AGAINST THE LORD IS A SIN.

Even though I had a bloody nose, my nose was not broken. The guy kicked me IN THE MOUTH and not the nose. The Lord’s chastenings are absolutely perfect. Or else you could say THE LORD KICKED ME IN THE MOUTH because I was sinning with my mouth.

It was God’s will for me to hitchhike the United States for most of 23 years. Obedience is better than sacrifice. And obedience goes a lot better without grumbling against the Lord.

Jesus Christ was Lord over my hitchhiking.

Pauli's reply:  I get you, Tim.

Lots of people told me this was not the LORD’s chastening. It absolutely WAS.

I also was grumbling: “Why can't I leave this house? Why do I have to live in this desert? Am I supposed to just sit here forever?” “I'm going to console my friend”, ‘I'm going to the sea”….ETC!!

It's part of the prophetic call to ‘sit and wait’ on the Lord – or in YOUR case: Hitchhike for the Lord.

My comment:  Absolutely positively AMEN!

Right on target. Right on target. Right on target. (In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let every word be established.)

Read the several definitions for the Hebrew word PAGA:

PAGA
https://hitchhikeamerica.wordpress.com/2012/07/28/paga-intercession/

Definition #2: “An intercession that hits the exact mark.”

If we are out of God’s will, we cannot hit the exact mark. Or else you could say, if we are out of God’s will, He cannot use us to hit the exact mark. The Lord has you and David in Arizona where the Lord can use you to hit the exact mark. Praise the Lord!

Example: I Samuel 17. David was anointed. He was in God’s will. He saw Goliath; Goliath mocked the armies of the living God; this really pissed off David. Because David was in God’s will (protection, covering, anointing), David was able to sling that stone and HIT THE EXACT MARK! Goliath was killed and a Satanic stronghold was taken down.

An Interview with Andrew Whalen, Johnny Enlow & Steve Shultz

52:50 - 53:00:  "The highest and most powerful weapon is waiting on the Lord and His peace."

A Conversation about High Plains Drifter

My Trip of Disobedience Against God Caused a Brother to NOT go on another Trip! Hallelujah!

A Conversation about High Plains Drifter

This is an exchange of comments between Belinda Thorne, formerly from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and Tim Shey, author of High Plains Drifter:  A Hitchhiking Journey Across America.  These comments were taken from Belinda's post "Remember Lot's Wife" on her blog Grace and Truth:

September/October 2020

Belinda:  Tim, why is your book called High Plains Drifter?

Tim:  Now THAT is a very good question. I think that in all of my years of hitchhiking around the United States and in all of the years that High Plains Drifter has been available via manuscript, book, Internet Archive or blog, no one has ever asked that question.

I named my book High Plains Drifter after Clint Eastwood’s film High Plains Drifter (1973). I don’t know how many times I have seen that film. I absolutely identify with the main character played by Eastwood (the Stranger) who rides into town and kills some bad guys and then burns the town to the ground.

The Stranger in the film at one time was the town marshal: he was whipped to death by some bad guys who were paid by the owners of the local mining operation. To me, it reminds me of the death of Jesus Christ. There is a scene in the film where the townspeople are having a meeting at the local church and you see this Bible verse on the bulletin board: Isaiah 53: 3-4. The town marshal was rejected by the townspeople and then killed; I have been rejected by family, friends and church people because of my testimony, so I have been alone most of my life (that’s why I identify with the Stranger in the film).

I have a film review on my High Plains Drifter blog that you might like to read: “Clint Eastwood’s film High Plains Drifter (1973)”.

[Here I posted some links pertaining to my book High Plains Drifter.]

I hope these links aren’t overkill to your question, but as far as I can remember, no one has ever asked why I titled my book High Plains Drifter, so I am pleasantly surprised and a little bit flattered.

Belinda:  No, not overkill at all, thank you for answering my question.

Two things have stood out to me. One where you said in your short story that you like wide open spaces. And two, hitchhiking you are on the fringes of society.

I’ll tell you why I asked you that question. Last night I was praying. Praying about what to do. It’s so hard here now. Can you imagine, you who like open spaces, that we are in home prison now for 23 hours a day. Allowed out for one hour of exercise or one of us is allowed to go get essentials. And our Premier has extended this lockdown for an indefinite period till we get to less than 5 cases. I am now convinced he is a madman, full of demons.

Of course I am not sticking to these ridiculous rules. I’m doing what God leads me to. My husband and I have been running an underground church in our home for months, because church is now banned. We have mainly men come, those who’ve just left rehab and prison and we sing and praise and read the Word. They park up the road and walk to our house in the dark and sneak in one by one. It’s the only thing that’s kept me going during this dark time.

So I’m praying last night and the Lord takes me to a cliff top and we look down together over a dusty plain where there is dirty, tattooed, fighting people. He has shown me this before. A few weeks ago He showed me it and said “this is the land I am giving you”.

But last night He just showed me it again and I thought how we were on a high plain looking out over.
Then your book title from nowhere came into my head “High Plains Drifter”.
And I felt to ask you why.

The fringes of society, the outcasts who God has called us to. It has always been them. We can never fit in a church. We fit with the homeless and mentally ill and drug addicts. No one else I know is doing anything at the moment. All the churches are quiet and obediently closed and it makes me sick and angry.

I love your Shiloh poem, wow. The line about Cain bludgeoning Abel to death….

Anyway I am going to buy your book, it’s on Amazon yes?

Thank you for reading this, I don’t know what’s happening to me at the moment, it’s all very strange but I know my Lord and I trust Him.

Bless you Tim

Tim:  I think it is VERY interesting that you asked about the title of my book on a post that has the title “Remember Lot’s Wife”. If you watch Clint Eastwood’s High Plains Drifter, at the end of the film, the Stranger burns the town of Lago to the ground (God’s Wrath). The Scripture “remember Lot’s wife” is alluding to the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah by fire and brimstone (God’s Wrath). So maybe eventually the Lord will lead you out of Melbourne into the wide open spaces (the Outback?) before God’s Wrath hits Melbourne?  You are led by the Holy Ghost; the Lord will reveal to you what you need to do.

About my book on Amazon. I think there is one copy left, but Amazon is charging an exorbitant price for it (probably because it is the last copy). You can read High Plains Drifter for free on my blog.

Yes, I am definitely on the fringes of society. The Lord led me out of the church back in 1991. The Lord has had me alone for most of my life. The Lord’s thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I know that the Lord has you and your family in the palm of His hand (I am thinking of Psalm 91).

Belinda:  You make a very good connection there . . .I had not connected that! I am going to watch that Clint Eastwood movie.

Yes I believe the Lord is leading us out of Melbourne. I am praying for His specific guidance as to where, but we are quite sure we are going.

Thank you for your link to your book. I look forward to reading it.

I have a scripture for you Tim:

Micah 4:6-8 ["In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;  And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.  And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem."]

Jesus was an outcast. If we follow Him we also will be. You have to be an outcast to intercede for the outcasts.
You have blessed me greatly and I pray God will bless you greatly in return.

[A few weeks later . . .]

Belinda:  Hi Tim. I am reading your book. I’ve just finished chapter 7. I love this chapter.

I felt to share with you this:

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” John 3:8

Tim:  I am glad that you liked that chapter. I remember that time back in 1998 when I was in San Luis Obispo, California. I stayed in a motel one night and then I slept outside on the side of this hill the next night. I was in this Burger King having a meal and for some reason I began to think of northern New Mexico (I worked on an apple farm in New Mexico back in 1986). Then all of a sudden the Holy Ghost fell on me very heavy, so I knew that the Lord wanted me to go to New Mexico.

So I was hitchhiking in New Mexico and that guy named Israel gave me a ride. Then the next day, that pastor preached about Jacob wrestling with the angel and then the angel named him Israel. It was quite a trip. When you are led by the Holy Ghost, your life is never boring, let me tell you.

When you are led by the Holy Ghost, your life looks a bit crazy. I thought at times that all of that hitchhiking was crazy. But usually some God-thing or something profound would happen virtually every day, so I knew that the Lord was in the hitchhiking. I knew that the Lord protected me and provided for me in my travels.

So why did the Lord have me hitchhike all those years? I talked to a lot of people about my Christian faith. Intercession was a big part. I was taking up my cross and following the Lord which helped to break curses off of my life and I was delivered of many demons (I am still being delivered of demons). The devil hates a life that is dead to self. Also, hitchhiking was simply obedience to the Lord: when we enter the Kingdom of Heaven, our life is obedience unto the Lord: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven”.

Thank you for the Scripture above (John 3:8).

Belinda:  Amen the devil does hate a life that is dead to self. But the Lord loves it, because He can use that one. And that one has power to prevail with Him.

[Twelve days later . . .]

Belinda:  Hi Tim, I have just finished reading chapter 9 of your book. It struck me that God was training you to be led by the Spirit. That your life was /is a literal representation (like Ezekiel's was) of how God wants to lead us and how we are to respond. We think to go east but we don’t get a ride so we go west and immediately God sends a ride. The children of Israel had to get their feet wet before the Jordan River parted.

You will hear a voice behind you say this is the way, walk ye in it.
To be so trained by the Spirit, to be sensitive to Him, this is it. This is everything. Just some thoughts that have struck me reading your book.
Blessings.

Tim:  Amen. I was definitely led by the Holy Ghost as I hitchhiked the United States.

Hitchhiking, also, was fasting and prayer. A lot of people think of fasting as fasting from food. Fasting can also mean fasting from a former lifestyle: I used to work at a lumber yard back in Iowa before I started to hitchhike. I would get odd jobs here and there on the road, but most of the time, I really had to put my trust in the Lord for Him to provide for me, protect me and find a place for me to sleep. Working at the lumber yard or working for that construction company was a vacation compared to hitchhiking.

Remember when Jesus said that these (demons) can only come out through fasting and prayer?(Mark 9:29)  So many curses were broken off of me while I was hitchhiking around the country; I was delivered of so many demons while hitchhiking. Why? Hitchhiking was fasting and prayer and hitchhiking was taking up my cross and following the Lord. The cross is death to self-will. Demons hate a selfless body; demons love a selfish, sinful body.

In hitchhiking, I met many people on the road and talked to many people about my faith in Jesus Christ. My hitchhiking also reminded me of when the Lord told Isaiah to walk naked and barefoot in Egypt as a witness against them (Isaiah 20:3). Even if I was not able to talk to people on the road, my hitchhiking was a powerful witness of my obedience to the Lord. Obedience is an end in itself. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.

Thank you for reading my book. I greatly appreciate your response.

Romans 8:14: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

Sent Ones

What God is trying to tell us

Book Review:  High Plains Drifter

The Representation of Justice in High Plains Drifter

Obedience is Higher than Prayer and Fasting

This is from the blog Wisdom of the Ages:

“By obedience a man is guarded against pride. Prayer is given for the sake of obedience. The grace of the Holy Spirit is also given for obedience. This is why obedience is higher than prayer and fasting.”

--Silouan the Athonite

Obedience and the Tree of Life
An Obedient Heart
Faith, Revelation, Obedience

Dorotheos of Gaza: “Self-elevation begets contempt”

This is from the blog Dover Beach:

“Listen to what the Lord Himself tells us: ‘Learn of Me, for I am meek and humble of heart and you shall find rest for your souls’ (Mt. 11:29). There you have it in a nutshell: He has taught us the root and cause of all evils and also the remedy for it, leading to all good. He shows us that pretensions to superiority cast us down and that it is impossible to obtain mercy except by the contrary, that is to say, by humility. Self-elevation begets contempt and disobedience begets perdition whereas humility begets obedience and the saving of souls. And I call that real humility which is not humble in word and outward appearance but is deeply planted in the heart; for this is what He meant when He said that ‘I am meek and humble of heart.'”

--Saint Dorotheos of Gaza

Living for Him

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“And he died for all,
in order that those who live
should no longer live for themselves”
2 Corinthians 5:15

The proof that we are living for Him and not ourselves is revealed in our daily life. The risen Christ becomes the purpose and the intent of our everyday existence. Only those who are truly alive in Him know the fire and the intensity of this pressing to spend themselves for Him.

Many may claim such a purpose but within the confines of daily living there is a discernable lack of that unrelenting determination to please Him in all that they do. Life is to no longer be lived within the tedious rote of religious endeavors; it is to be filled with the adventure of His joy welling up from within as we discover the riches of His will in the now of our today. There is much taught about the “now” life but there must be the works to support our confessions of faith. The real need of His people is not an understanding and acknowledgment of a teaching but the pressing into good works to show our faith.

“But someone will say,
“You have faith and I have works.”
Show me your faith apart from your works,
and I will show you my faith by my works.”
James 2:18

True life is one whereby the faith and works of Christ are realized. It is the divine life flowing through the fragile earthen vessel which honors and glorifies the Father. A life devoid of works is a life devoid of love and faith. Neither of these can remain static or inactive within the heart of “those who live”.

“Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven”
Matthew 5:16

The Son ever lives to glorify and please His Father. If He is alive and ruling within, we will know this power and grace at work in us.

“Herein is my Father glorified,
that ye bear much fruit…”
John 15:8

Brian Troxel

Obedience and the Tree of Life

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“Blessed are they that do his commandments,
that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Revelation 22:14

Obedience to the will of God is the revelation of His Lordship. Calling upon His Name and then walking in the stubbornness of our own ways is labelled iniquity in the New Testament. Iniquity simply means “self-will”. It is the unbroken, undisciplined and unconquered will of one who claims to be a follower of Christ and yet exhibits all of the traits of the first Adam. We live in a day of a false gospel, a declaration that by simply naming the name of Jesus we have full access to all the promises of God, such is not the truth.

The message of Jesus to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation is consistent… “I know thy works…” It is in what we do wherein we reveal the nature and the spirit in which we walk.

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord,
and do not the things which I say?”
Luke 6:46

Jesus follows this powerful question with the “Parable of the Houses” being built upon rock and upon the sand.

“Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.”
Luke 6:47-49

How few realize that it is in doing His will wherein the deep foundation of the house is laid! It is in the doing where we discover the true nature of all that we are and run to Him for grace. His will is in itself the very foundation of our salvation. In His will we are confronted with our own stubbornness and we are met with the full knowing of our own weakness and folly. His Will is the cross upon which the horror of self is crucified. They who hear only never come to terms with their true self, they live in a world of teachings, confessions and religious talk without ever venturing into the land of truth. It is WHEN the flood comes that the foundation is discovered and the verity of an individual’s true nature is revealed.

Obedience brings us to the need of the true grace of God, it is no longer a sentient, a catch phrase or a religious cliché; it is the means by which our hearts find the power to submit to His ways and walk in them.

Through disobedience man lost the right and the access to the Tree of Life and it is through the wonder and life of the Son (as expressed in a life of obedience) we gain the right to the Tree of Life and are able to partake of its life giving fruit.

“Blessed are they that do his commandments,
that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Revelation 22:14

Brian Troxel

Serving Jesus

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“If any man serve me, let him follow me;
and where I am, there shall also my servant be:
if any man serve me, him will my Father honour”
John 12:26

The central theme to which Jesus kept directing His disciples was relationship to Him. The great deception of religion is that men and women serve an organization, a doctrine, a teacher or even worse themselves. Here Jesus points to the essential cornerstone of true service unto Him: “let him follow me”. It is in following Him that we become separated unto Him. The “cross” of the individual believer is simply defined by a life of following Him. While many are willing to do strenuous religious observances, fasting, long prayer meetings, conferences and seemingly good works the issue remains one of following Him. The cross of Christ was in doing the will of the Father. In this place of true servitude the Son glorified the Father. It is in our being “yoked” with Him that our lives will in truth glorify the Son. Knowledge of the scriptures must give way to relationship with the Son. Knowledge alone of the Son will never make a person free nor bring about the true experiential knowing of Him within the human heart.

Throughout the scriptures we see that many stopped following Him because of the cost of the Way. The Scribes and Pharisees had no problem with long prayers, religious observances and the rites and rituals of the religious system but they failed to follow Him. In following Him they would have come to the crossroad of serving self or serving God. It is here that the truth of one’s heart is revealed. In this day of the great Apostasy the hearts of many are growing cold and unresponsive to Him and His Word. The forms of truth are retained but the active daily following of Him is replaced by the love of this world, by the busyness of religious programs, and in living a life of self-interest; this culminates in a life that no longer follows Him. Freedom from self with all of its wretched ways and miserable ends can only be found in the following of Him. To truly follow Him requires a forsaking of self. Religion is the “opiate of the masses”; it offers the appearance of a thing without the substance of the thing. It offers the sayings of Jesus without the required obedience to His words. It calls Him Lord but affords its adherents the means to escape actual obedience to Him by the soothing of the conscience with the very words of scripture. Early in Jesus’ life Satan came with great power and temptation by quoting the scriptures so that Jesus might seek to “save” His life supernaturally for all to see (Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus refuted such temptation as He was not here to fulfill His will. His purpose was to fulfill the will of the Father.

There can be no true serving of Jesus without a life of actively following Him. It is evident that we are in the time of the great falling away. It is a very subtle and deadly affair of the heart when men and women cling to the words of Jesus without the following of Him. The subtlety of such a life is called deception and it is the way of spiritual decay and death. We remain static while He moves on in the will and the glory of the Father. We hear many say that God does not answer prayer. The wonder of His presence is lacking and in most places not even expected. We have become accustomed to the forms of religion without His presence and power. It is not because He has forsaken us; it is that we have ceased as a people to “follow Him”. He declares to the Church at Ephesus:

“But I have against you
that you left your first love…”
Revelation 2:4

The verse preceding this one states “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience…” The works continued but the love faded. The forsaking of their “first love” (pre-eminent love) was so critical to their place in God that His judgement upon such a people was the removal of His presence from their midst. The reason for the cooling of the heart of His people is the result of iniquity abounding.

“And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold”
Matthew 24:12

The Greek word translated iniquity here does not fully imply gross sin. It speaks of lawlessness in that instead of obeying the commandments of Jesus we subtly set them aside declaring that we are now under grace. It is through the horror of this deceptive teaching that we are seeing the fervent love of many growing cold and indifferent. It is we who have forsaken the good and right way. The church has embraced teachers who bring in damnable heresies that turn His people from following Him to the serving of self and other things. We call Him Lord yet we set aside His commandments to obey the traditions and teachings of men. WE HAVE MADE THE WORD OF GOD OF NON-EFFECT! It is our own doing and God’s remedy is repentance and the return to our primary love.

“”This people honors Me with the lips,
but their heart is far away from Me; and in vain they worship Me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Isa. 29:13 8)
For forsaking the commandment of God,
you hold the tradition of men”
Mark 7:7-8

God has a simple answer for this generation and this time. It is the simplicity of obeying His commandments and following Him.

“If ye keep my commandments,
ye shall abide in my love”
John 15:10

The teaching of a grace that absolves His people from obedience to the commands of Jesus is a lie and deception of the devil himself! If we do not repent we will stand in the judgement of God as they who once knew the truth and turned away. This is the picture presented to us in the Parable of the Sower where the soil which grew weeds of the cares of self and this life and choked out the precious seed. This truth is presented throughout the New Testament to those who started out well yet grew cold and indifferent to Him in the end.

“For if by a full knowledge of the Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, they have escaped the defilements of the world,
and again being entangled they have been overcome by these,
then their last things have become worse than the first.
For it was better for them not to have fully known
the way of righteousness, than fully knowing to turn from
the holy commandment delivered to them”
2 Peter 2:20-21 (LITV)

Let us find Grace in this day to finish the race which is set before us. Let us not grow weary in our following of Him for we shall surely reap if we faint not.

Brian Troxel
http://www.aword.info

Time to Go and Time to Stay

This is from the Daily Meditation blog:

Hagar ran away from the house of Abraham, and God went all the way to send an angel to ask her to return. The casual observer may think: how can God be that wicked. This was a place where life was made a living hell for her.

However, there was a time she left the house, this time around it was now organised, this time around, she did not initiate the move. But now God sent a message again to her that it was okay, giving her precious promises.

How come God did not want her to leave the first time but the second time, God wanted her to leave? She wanted to leave when God did not want her to leave, and when God wanted her to leave, she seemed not to want to.

It brings us face to face with the “times and seasons” character of God, where different things happens in different seasons because they are different seasons, based on the superior wisdom of God.

What happened to Hagar, is similar to what happened to Moses. He made a move to start to deliver Israel but it led to his running away from them, the second time when he does not want to go, God pushed him to go, showing that the time is in God’s hands, not ours.

Jesus was told by his brothers to go and show himself to the people in Jerusalem, when a feast was going on there, so that he came become popular and more acceptable. But he said his time has not come.

A life of spiritual significance is focused on divine timing more than others. Others can follow humanistic reasoning, follow the way things are normally done, the way of human approval, humanistic rubbish, thinking carnally, judging after the flesh.

Man, Jesus said, does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. What proceeded yesterday, is not what will proceed today, so I need to follow the shepherd so that I do not lean on my own understanding, so that I will find sustenance today.

To get water from the rock for the Israelites, at different times, God told Moses to do two different things. When, the second time, he became moved by what the people are saying more than what God said, God felt slighted, and punished him for it. He hit the rock the first time, and did the same the second time, turning a walk with God to a formula, ritual, routine, though it is a relationship.

God asked Elijah to show himself to Ahab, and he will bring rain on the earth. That was the timing. Elijah could not afford to move by human feeling in that regard. He cannot follow wishful thinking. It was not self-initiated.

To the people, it may seem that Elijah acted on a whim, to seize rain and to bring rain again. He was authorized by God to make those proclamations. God decided to trust Elijah with such power. When rain fell, it was also based on God’s instruction. And in the time of the water coming down, it was based on God’s instruction.

While the prophets of Baal were hoping that Baal was going to answer them by fire, Elijah had no such uncertainty, he acted on express instruction from God, the God of times and seasons. God determines the place of our abode and times of our habitation.

You may be asking: what should I do now, how do I move, where should I go, knowing that the best thing is to know what God is saying.

Isaiah said: my ears he has opened. So my hearing God is not my responsibility, but God’s responsibility. It is written, He makes hearing ears.

So the challenge is not the challenge of hearing, it is the challenge of obedience. God speaks, we read in the book of Job, but we refuse to listen, to pay attention, to yield.

Eve did not have the problem of hearing from God, but she choose differently from what God wanted. She embraced error. What about Saul? He had a clear instruction, but chose not to obey.

But apostle Paul, after he had a revelation of Christ and his purpose in him, said: I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.

If obedience to God is important and it is, and since God has to be justified when he speaks, he needs to clear his own side of the arrangement, which is to make his will known. He puts conscience in us for that reason, the indicator of right or wrong.

He made it so that if you want to know his will, you will know it. He said: ask and it shall be given to you, seek and you will find. You can find out the times and seasons he has for you, the people he wants you to be with, the places he wants you to go, if you want to know, if you will follow his logic and not humanistic rubbish, which is about conforming to the world.

We should stand in his presence like Elijah and declare the will of God, because we know it, because we love it. If our minds are clouded with humanistic rubbish, in which naturalistic thinking which the bible calls carnal mindedness is king, we will not be able to see beyond our noses, to see the path that God has set before us.

So it’s not about what others say, what seems convenient, what is acceptable, but the will of God.

Abraham is a case in point. He was told that he should sacrifice his son, that was what to do, he made preparation for it, organised a party, started out early in the morning, but at the end of it, he did not carry it out. Why? Because the first instruction was about testing Abraham's obedience, not really about anything else. Eventually, Abraham sacrificed a ram. It would have been disastrous if Abraham refuses to hear the second instruction, but God did it so much that he did have a choice but to hear.

Moses saw the burning bush, through which God caught his attention. God knows how to get your attention, but we see Moses afterwards struggling to obey God, even suggesting that God send somebody else. That actually happens partially when it was Joshua who eventually led the Israelites to the promised land.

The attitudes differ between the two: to do or not to do, to hide or show yourself, to move or to stay.

Moses was so used to the “not going” attitude for forty years that when the time came to go, he found it hard to move.

The Mystery of God

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
even the hidden wisdom, which God
ordained before the world unto our glory”
1 Corinthians 2:7

True ministrations of the Holy Spirit present the Mystery of God in a hidden wisdom that is indiscernible to the natural man. This is not a mystery that is to remain unknown but a mystery that cannot be understood with the intellect; a mystery only entered into by a pure heart and a child-like faith. This mystery can only be explored by the lamp of obedience, the result of Love beating within the heart of every pilgrim. It draws men with such beauty and promise that, upon seeing it, they go and sell all they have in order to hold that “pearl of great price”. The religious and curious love to sit and discuss aspects of it, they enjoy expounding upon its merits and possibilities, and are content with it remaining an ethereal concept. To those who have tasted and caught glimpses of its Glory nothing can alleviate the cry to enter into its depth and fullness. Men through all ages have touched the hem of this life, this wonder, and have been so captivated by its beauty they gladly lay everything down for its reality. It is with this motivation that men speak to one another, encourage one another and stir up one another to a greater passion for the living Christ. It is to such a heart that this mystery unfolds His Majesty and Worthiness.

Hidden to be Revealed

The scriptures declare that God conceals Himself in wisdom. Love compels Him to make Himself known but that knowing is wrapped up and hidden from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed to babes in heart.

“I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things
from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes”
Matthew 11:25

The hidden things of God are only hidden with the desire to make them known. God created the material world and all that is in it to make Himself known. This is the only means by which men move from darkness and religion into fellowship and friendship with God. Relationship is impossible where one of the parties involved remains hidden and obscure. The good news of the Gospel is that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son…” The Gospel, the reaching out of God’s heart to man, was God’s initiative, prerogative and design. Our sin, rebellion and sheer ignorance made Him foreign and unknowable in our lost condition. The ability to see, hear and know Him requires change on our part. It requires a “new birth” in order for us to “see” His Kingdom.

“Except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God”
John 3:3

While many in Christendom are satisfied with the mere seeing of the Kingdom there are those whose hearts have been touched by the baptism into His Spirit; those who instinctively feel the call to not only the see the Kingdom but to enter into it.

“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”
John 3:5

Exception to Entrance
Into The Kingdom of God

This seeking of the Kingdom and the desire to touch the invisible, to know the things of God which are beyond knowing (Ephesians 3:19), and the participating in the Mystery of God can only be known by a childlike heart. The word “except” in the scriptures above  eliminates the ability to see and enter the Kingdom of God by any other way. “Except” is an exclusionary term especially when God is the one speaking. Jesus added to the list of exclusionary scriptures by saying…

“Except ye be converted,
and become as little children,
ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven”
Matthew 18:3

This “exception” declares that this must be the experiential reality of those who would enter this Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is the Mystery. It is the mystery of righteousness and the mystery of faith that can only be revealed to those who meet the criteria which God has set forth. It does not require much effort to look over the landscape of the religious world and realize that the wonder and mystery of God is a foreign concept. We have allowed teachings, doctrines and dogmas of men to replace the wonder and glory of His Spirit. We have been caught up in “words” about God instead of the Word of God. We somehow have equated “knowledge” with the means of entering; that somehow the gathering of more knowledge about God will qualify us to enter His Kingdom. This was the mindset of the Pharisees in Jesus day; they knew much and saw little. Jesus spoke to them concerning their “knowledge” of the scriptures…

“Search the scriptures;
for in them ye think ye have eternal life:
and they are they which testify of me”
John 5:39

They handled, spoke and condemned the very manifestation of the Kingdom to their own shame and damnation. Pharisee in the original language means “called out ones”. They were the religious “elect” of their day. They excelled in their knowledge of the scriptures and they excelled all others in their blindness. If the Kingdom came by words and knowledge there would surely have been a people who entered in long ago. However, the Lord tells us the Kingdom is not in word but in the power of His Spirit.

“For the kingdom of God is not in word,
but in power”
1 Corinthians 4:20

Entrance into Kingdom by
Obedience and Character

The entrance into the Kingdom is not by what we know but by what we become through the operation of His Spirit within our hearts. The simplicity required by God is produced by our being “converted”; the depth and power of that conversion brings about a childlike faith and heart. Men with much instruction can become hardened, rigid and lose the ability to flow in the things of the Spirit. The Word becomes too familiar and too well read through the glasses of their own doctrinal concepts and natural reasoning. The Word loses its wonder, its glory and its mystery. The Bible, the pages of which are filled with over four thousand years of God speaking, becomes a one-dimensional plane of religious phrases instead of the pulsating, living and vibrant voice of God. Men cease to hear the voice of God and of the prophetic men who penned such a marvellous work.

“For they that dwell at Jerusalem,
and their rulers, because they knew him not,
nor yet the voices of the prophets
which are read every sabbath day,
they have fulfilled them in condemning him”
Acts 13:27

There are many who read and hear the scriptures every Sunday/Sabbath/Meeting that never hear the voices of the prophets who languish in the throes of a religious wilderness. They hear only good things without the power of God to become expressions of Him in authenticity and truth. There is a form and appearance of being righteous but the inward reality is absent. These are those of whom Jesus spoke “because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not; neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13). It is a hearing that will never produce acts and works of faith. “Faith cometh by hearing” and that hearing is the result of a pure and right heart. It is the “pure in heart” who shall see God; those who know that the real issues of life are the heart’s condition, obedience to His Word and the overall desire to see God glorified (not themselves).

Understanding the mystery of God is on the grounds of faith and obedience. This entrance into the Kingdom of God has the following conditions:

1. A true willingness to do the will of God. “If any man will do his will, he shall know…”

2. Growth and development of His Life within us. “And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”. 2 Peter 1:5-11

Spiritual blindness occurs when men stop adding the virtue and wonder of God to their faith. There is a slumber and a religious stupor of knowing a thing without becoming. Knowing without doing is the pathway to deception and sorrow.

“But be ye doers of the word,
and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”
James 1:22

Rest of article continued on next post.

Brian Troxel

His Word (The Word of Fire) Part One

This is from the blog A Word in Season:

His Word

Part One

The Word of Fire

“Is not my word like as a fire?
saith the Lord;
and like a hammer that breaketh
the rock in pieces?”
Jeremiah 23:29

God’s Word is not only an expression of Himself it is also an extension of Himself. He is His Word and His Word is Himself (John 1:1). We read in both the Old and New Testaments that our God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29). They who bear His Living Word within their hearts know in a corresponding measure to their walk the truth of this. For His Word is the very expression of His Nature, His Thoughts and His Ways. Words without fire are words without unction. Men cannot touch His Presence and remain unaffected, apathetic and unconcerned about His inheritance in the earth. His presence is fire and glory. His zeal for His House (Psalm 119:139, John 2:17) in the earth is a consuming fire within the hearts of those who have His Word.

His Word is a fire which consumes, purifies and impels those who bear it to speak with intensity to all who would hear. This fire cannot be quenched, compromised or contaminated by the tepid atmosphere of religious men who would desire something less than God Himself. This Word is antagonistic to the comfortable, to those who would seek a complacent and more popular approach to God; yet to those who desire to walk and live within the fiery presence of a Holy God it is the necessity of life itself.

It is the work of God to bring His people to such expressions…

“But his word was in mine heart
as a burning fire
shut up in my bones”
Jeremiah 20:9

Men without fire have not yet touched His Presence. It is ever the work of the Holy Spirit to bring men to such places (Exodus 3:2) where the Fire of God burns like the Holy Lamp did in the days of the Tabernacle/Temple of God in the Old Testament. The Word of God declares “ye are the temple of the living God” and as such there ought to be the fire of His Presence burning within our hearts.

The Priesthood of Eli

Eli was a priest who through neglect became blind in His service to God and as a result the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle! This lamp of fire had been preserved and watched over by the priests of God for over 450 years! His sons had become immoral and loose in their walk before God. This was a day of no accountability. Men did as they pleased and the ministry was silent concerning God’s Righteousness. The outward observance of God’s law continued but the fire went out and men did not lay these things to heart.

There is also in our day a ministry in the earth which has neither fire nor unction; a ministry which has resulted in the fire of God going out in His house. There is a religious environment in which men hold the Word in the form of teachings and doctrines rather than in their hearts by the living fire of His presence. These are they who hold His Word in unrighteousness, who seek to fill their churches and fellowships with kind and comfortable words but have no actual concern for the condition of His people or their walk in righteousness. The Word speaks of the fruit of such a ministry:

“And because iniquity shall abound,
the love of many shall wax cold”
Matthew 24:12

The reason the fire goes out is because of iniquity and sin. The Love of God beating within a man’s heart will cause him to forsake sin. A Gospel which does not have the very fire of God within it is not God’s Living Word. In contrast to this unholy ministry we read of another.

The Stranger and the Words of Fire

Two disciples walking down the road to Emmaus in deep despair and perplexity were joined by a “stranger”* who spoke sternly to them concerning their plight and their lack of faith. Their eyes where blinded to the One who spoke with them as they journeyed. Would our hearts receive such words from a stranger?

“O fools, and slow of heart to believe
all that the prophets have spoken…”
Luke 24:25

After realizing the stranger was in fact the risen Lord who had spoken to them these hard words the disciples remarked to one another:

“And they said one to another,
Did not our heart burn within us,
while he talked with us by the way,
and while he opened to us the scriptures?”
Luke 24:32

Empty words proceed from hearts lacking fire. The words of the religious are different than the Words of Jesus and they who serve at His Altar will speak His Words and seek His Glory and not their own.

“And it came to pass,
when Jesus had ended these sayings,
the people were astonished at his doctrine:
For he taught them as one having authority,
and not as the scribes”
Matthew 7:28-29

Burning Words flow from burning hearts!

Even so Lord draw us to the fire of your presence and cause that fire to burn, purify and consume all that is unholy and carnal in us. Make us to be “ministers of flaming fire”. Men who will not abide in such words now will perish in the fire of His return.

“If a man abide not in me,
he is cast forth as a branch,
and is withered; and men gather them,
and cast them into the fire,
and they are burned”
John 15:6

* Men reveal by their response the true condition of their hearts. Here a stranger came and spoke hard words, yet these two downtrodden disciples resisted not the admonition for they were men who desired truth and loved it. Men who refuse the fire and the hammer of God’s Word are not abiding in His Spirit. They have not the love of truth burning within their heart. They appear religious and will seek to build and do religious things but in their inner heart truth is not desired nor pursued. It is the day of the Revelation of Jesus Christ and in the revealing of Him men’s works will be made manifest even as by fire.

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire;
and the fire shall try every man’s work
of what sort it is”
1 Corinthians 3:13

--Brian Troxel

Naked and Barefoot

This is from the blog Unashamed 1:16:

At the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go and loose the sackcloth from off thy loins, and put off thy shoe from thy foot. And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. Isaiah 20:2

God commanded the prophet Isaiah to walk around naked and barefoot. Why did God do this? What can we learn from this? God was using Isaiah as a sign, a warning against Egypt of what is about to happen to them.

The purpose of me sharing this story is to think about the devotion and dedication Isaiah has to God. Many people, even today, like to call themselves prophets, but how many people are willing to sacrifice everything they have to serve The Lord? How many of us are willing to walk around “Naked and Barefoot” if God had called us to?

And the LORD said, Like as my servant Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and wonder upon Egypt and upon Ethiopia; Isaiah 20:3

For three years Isaiah walked around naked and barefoot, do you think he caught anyone’s attention? I’m sure most called Isaiah a fool and mocked him, but think about the revelations God had shown Isaiah due to his obedience. Isaiah wrote many prophecies about our Lord Jesus Christ about 700 years before he was sent.

So shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Isaiah 20:4

Eventually the Egyptians were lead into captivity, barefoot and naked, exactly the same way Isaiah walked around. Talk about a direct sign from God!  Just as when Noah was building the Ark and everyone mocked him , the same was with Isaiah

So whats my point? My point is take notice to Isaiah’s dedication and obedience to God, even when he was asked to do the unthinkable. To the temporary thinker they probably believe Isaiah lived a foolish life but to the Eternal thinker, we know Isaiah was blessed in Jesus Name Amen.

The Spirit of a Prophet