JOURNEY OF FAITH
Day Twenty-five
WHY DO I EXIST
CHAPTER 20
WAITING ON GOD
ANECDOTES
Child of God! Wait thou only upon God! You are an immortal spirit, created not for this world, but for eternity and for God. O, my child! Realize your destiny! Know your privilege, and wait thou only upon God! You must beware of a consuming interest in religious thoughts and exercises and studies deceiving you, and taking the place of waiting upon God Myself…to spend time alone sitting at My feet, just to commune together! You must beware of your two great enemies: the World and Self. Beware of the terrible fascination of the World and the flesh…lest any Earthly satisfaction or enjoyment keep you back from saying, “I will go to God, my exceeding joy.” My child…you must deny yourself; My children need to deny themselves in everything. You must let God be ALL your salvation and ALL your desire. You need to say continually, with an undivided heart, “From Him cometh my expectation; He only is my rock; I shall not be moved.”
SOLEMN WARNING
Beloved…I still hold to these words of warning from the Holy Spirit: “Brace yourself, and tell others that I have warned them to brace themselves, for they are about to see even more shocking things. Ready or not, Nation, here it comes! Brace yourself on My Word and on My promises, and do not rely on your own strength. Do not stop bracing yourselves, and don’t look back; the storm will not pass until I, the Lord, stop the storm! Those who refuse to get ready will be wanting in the end.”
I urge you to watch and take heed to an urgent and solemn warning of the Holy Spirit concerning these End Times in which we are now living: “Worse Than You Thought It Would Be” Prophetic Dream by Pastor Dana Coverstone: https://www.youtube.com/live/xDFT31FM8wM?feature=share
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Friends & neighbors; brothers and sisters…
If you remember nothing else from the pages of “WHY DO I EXIST”… never forget this: GOD LOVES YOU.
God’s Love 4 U is…
Unconditional
Unfailing
Unchanging
Unending
Beloved…I love you because of Who I am…not as a response to who you are, or what you do, or what you refrain from doing.
If only you would know in the depths of your soul, if only you would just fully embrace, the greatness of My Love I have lavished upon you…that the most intense desire of My heart is to gather you to Myself as one of My Own children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. That is the depth of My love for you.
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WAITING ON GOD
My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. And He said to them all, if any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. [Ps 62:5-6; Luke 9:23]
ETERNAL DESTINY; ETERNAL PRIVILEGE
Child of God! Wait thou only upon God! You are an immortal spirit, created not for this world, but for eternity and for God. O, my child! Realize your destiny! Know your privilege, and wait thou only upon God!
WAIT ONLY UPON GOD
My beloved child, wait thou only upon God; if there are other secret confidences you are relying on, they will prevent the blessing that was expected. There is but one God, but one source of life and happiness for the heart; I alone am your Rock.
Wait thou only upon God Myself. You are to let the living God alone, none other and nothing but Me, be your hope…not any people nor any things. Eyes and hands and feet, mind and thought, may have to be intently engaged in the duties of this life; even so, you need only just let your soul, your very self, your inmost being, with all its power, continually wait upon God.
GOD ALONE IS HOLY
My child, wait thou only upon Me. You desire to be good…there is none good but God, and there is no possible goodness but what is received directly from Me. You have sought to be holy…there is none holy but the Lord, and there is no holiness but what I by My Spirit of Holiness every moment breathe in you.
BEWARE AND GUARD YOUR HEART
You must beware of a consuming interest in religious thoughts and exercises and studies deceiving you, and taking the place of waiting upon God Myself…to spend time alone sitting at My feet, just to commune together!
You must beware of your two great enemies: the World and Self. Beware of the terrible fascination of the World and the flesh…lest any Earthly satisfaction or enjoyment keep you back from saying, “I will go to God, my exceeding joy.”
My child…you must deny yourself; My children need to deny themselves in everything. You must let God be ALL your salvation and ALL your desire. You need to say continually, with an undivided heart, “From Him cometh my expectation; He only is my rock; I shall not be moved.”
TWO FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS
You must never forget these two foundational truths:
your absolute helplessness;
the absolute sufficiency of your God.
- You are to enter deeply into the entire sinfulness of all that is of your self, and think not of letting self have aught to say one single moment…in anything.
- You are to enter deeply into your utter and unceasing impotence ever to change what is evil in you, or to bring forth anything that is spiritually good.
- You need only just enter deeply into your relationship of utter child-like dependence upon God, to receive from Me every moment what I long to give.
- You are to enter deeper still into My covenant of redemption, with My promise to restore more gloriously than ever what you have lost, and by My Son and Spirit to give within you unceasingly My actual Divine Presence and Power.
Have you never embraced the Divine Power of My Holy Spirit given to abide in you, working in you everything you need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Christ My Son, Who called you by His Own Glory and goodness? Through these He has given you His Own very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the Divine nature now dwelling within you, and thereby escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
No words can tell, no heart conceive, the riches of the glory of this mystery of the Father and of Christ My Son. Your God, in the infinite tenderness and Omnipotence of My Love, waits to be your Life and your Joy.
Blessed Holy Spirit…You are the Divine Nature dwelling in me, Whose Power in me continually guarantees and secures my capability to live my everyday life:
faithful to my solemn marriage vows as the bride of Christ;
faithfully within the Holy of Holies and the inaccessible Light of the Glory of the unclouded Presence of my Father in our Sacred Covenant relationship.
FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES OF WAITING UPON GOD
I have been writing about how absolutely necessary it is in our spiritual life to wait upon God, how it is the single most important habit of my spiritual life, and the only way I am enabled to live my everyday life in the Power of the Holy Spirit. Following is an outline of the guiding principles on just how a soul actually goes about waiting upon God. I would suggest you diligently review these principles, and wholeheartedly embrace these principles and make them your own.
A] My Waiting Upon God:
1] Quietness.
2] Heart.
3] Faith.
4] Surrender.
5] Worship.
6] Prayer.
B] God Revealing
C] My Cooperating And Responding
A1] Quietness
Wait upon God in quietness. In my life of intimate relationship with God, I must become quiet and still before God, separated from all activities, so that God, as God, can overshadow me with Himself. In stillness of body, emptiness of soul, and silence of my natural human spirit…I need to prepare myself to enter into the Presence of God with no other object or purpose but simply to wait upon Him, to worship Him for Who He is, and to adore Him in His awesome Majesty and Glory. Abba Father, I come to our trysting place to meet with You every day, just to be alone together with You and to enjoy spending time alone together with You…just to love You and worship You, to commune with You and wait upon You. This is my life; I have no other desire.
- I need to bring stillness to my body, separated from all activities… separated from all family and friends, all responsibilities and projects, all the cares, concerns and routines engaging my life, all involvement with the things of the world, all of self and its energy of both mind and body.
- I need to empty my soul of the entirety of the powers of the flesh that reside therein…all the thoughts of my mind, all the feelings of my emotions, all the inclinations of my will.
- I need to silence my natural human spirit with all of its leadings and promptings…all of its affections, attractions, desires and purposes…with all of its controlling desires to determine and direct the selection of my everyday activities, as well as the overriding goals for the course of my life.
- I need to embrace the Word of the Lord, “Be still, and know that I am God.” [Ps 46:10] The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. [Isa 32:17]
A2] Heart
Wait upon God with my heart. Having laid aside the powers of my flesh residing within my body, my soul, my natural human spirit…I need now open my heart before God.
- My soul is not capable of having any personal contact with God. It is in my heart God has given His Holy Spirit, to be there to me the Presence and the Power of God working in me. Only in my heart, wherein God has given His Holy Spirit, am I capable of having personal contact with God…to commune with Him, and experience Him, and come to personally know Him. I need only present my heart before Him, as that wonderful part of my natural human spirit wherein God has placed His Holy Spirit, where God reveals Himself to me through His Indwelling Spirit. In all my spiritual life, it is my heart that must trust and love and worship and obey. My soul…wherein resides my mind with its thoughts, my emotions with its feelings, my will with its inclinations…is utterly impotent in creating or maintaining spiritual life within me; my heart must wait in faith and trust upon God for Him to work it in me.
- What does it mean, “to open my heart before God?” It means to bow my heart before Him in holy silence…yearning for every indication of His Divine Presence, listening for every revelation of His Divine Will, looking for and expecting the fulfillment of every Divine Promise, longing to see His Face and to hear His voice. It is an attitude within my heart wherein…”My heart yearns to linger in Your Presence, Lord, just sitting at Your feet; as the deer pants for water-brooks, so my soul thirsts for You, O Lord; Whom have I in Heaven but You, Lord, and Earth has nothing I desire besides You.”
- The much needed lesson for all who desire to learn truly and fully what waiting on God is: It is with my heart I must wait upon God. “As a man’s heart is, so he is before God.“ All of my waiting depends upon the state of my heart. I can advance no further or deeper into the Holy place of God’s Presence to wait on Him there, than my heart is prepared for it by the Holy Spirit. Remember always the eternal difference between knowing with my mind and embracing with my heart. I need only give my whole heart, with its secret workings, into God’s hands continually; in its hidden depths God will work. He wants my heart, and takes it, and as God dwells in it.
- Remember the Lord’s admonition: “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.” [Isa 29:13-14] Therefore, embrace the Word of the Lord, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” [Matt 6:21]
A3] Faith
Wait upon God in Faith. Having opened my heart before God…I need now wait before God with a child-like trust in Him, and a child-like dependence upon Him.
- Child-like trust is an attitude of my heart wherein I willingly entrust unto God all that I am, all that I have, all that I ever hope to be. My heart embraces the truth that nothing can touch my life apart from what God Personally causes or specifically allows to happen…and that He makes all things work together for my good. And, I willingly give God complete control over my life, to determine and direct the selection of my everyday activities, as well as the overriding goals for the course of my life. This was the attitude in Christ Jesus, Who said, “I only do what My Father shows Me to do; I only speak the words My Father gives Me to speak.”
- The Lord is my light and my salvation…whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life…of whom shall I be afraid? Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever! Precious Lord…I know in Whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that You are more than able to keep and to guard that which I have entrusted unto You until that Day! [Ps 27:1; 23:4-6; 2 Tim 1:12b]
And so Christ’s steadfast love for me…so amazing, so Divine…constrains me…it constrains me to freely surrender unto You my soul, my life, my all… it beckons my soul, my life, my all…because I am convinced that You died on behalf of every soul who was ever brought into existence, and therefore every soul was included in, and participated together with You in, Your sacrificial death on behalf of Mankind. And since You died on behalf of every soul, I who now live joined together with You as Your eternal bride… the bride of Christ, sealed with my solemn marriage vows to You in our Sacred Covenant relationship…can no longer live for myself…but wholly surrendered unto You Who died for me…on my behalf and in my place…and Who was raised again to life for my sake, that I may now share together with You Your resurrection life out from the dead. [2 Cor 5:14-15] - I will never know the quality of my trust until I am in the fire, beset by a fiery trial testing my faith. It’s easy to say that I trust the Lord when all is well… but when I’m in the fire, do I trust Him then? It is there where I learn, or fail, to embrace the words, “Lord, I don’t understand…but I trust.
- I know that You are the Sovereign All-Ruler over all Creation, and that You Personally cause, or specifically, consciously, and deliberately allow all things…all for Your Own good purposes. All that You do is necessarily the very best, very kindest, most loving thing that can possibly be for me. And though I don’t understand, even so, I trust You…that You do indeed make all things work together for my good. I will trust, and not be afraid. I will be strong and of a good courage; I will not be afraid, neither will I be dismayed. For the Lord my God is with me whithersoever I goest.” [Jos 1:9]
- Child-like dependence is an attitude of my heart wherein I look with a confident expectation to the Holy Spirit to BE ALL in me, and to DO ALL in me. I have ceased trying to conduct my everyday activities in the powers of my flesh…in reliance upon my human capabilities and capacities, by my own efforts and in my own strength, according to my own wisdom, knowledge and understanding. I look to the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct my use of the powers of the flesh, but put no trust in their conclusions apart from the confirmation of the Spirit. This attitude embraces the words of the Lord, “Apart from Me, you can do nothing that is good or pleasing or acceptable to God.” [John 15:5]
- I will never know the quality of my dependence until I refuse to move ahead on a course of action unless my ears hear Your voice behind me, saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it.“ In the confident assurance in God which faith gives, I am ever to remember one thing above all…to wait upon God. My chief need in waiting upon God, one of the deepest secrets of its blessedness and blessing, is a quiet, confident persuasion that it is not in vain; courage to believe that God will hear and help. I am waiting upon a God Who never could disappoint His people! In the utter insufficiency of all human strength, “Be strong and let thine heart take courage.” I am to let NOTHING in Heaven or Earth or Hell…let NOTHING keep me from waiting on my God in full assurance that it cannot be in vain!
- Wherefore, brethren, having now boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies by the Blood of Jesus, by the way which He dedicated for me…a new and living way to God through the veil, that is to say, through the veil of His flesh…I will then without further hesitation or delay draw nigh in fullness of faith; here will I continually abide in the fullness of faith. [Heb 10:19-20, 22]
A4] Surrender
Wait upon God in absolute surrender. Having awakened my faith in a God Who has never failed me, and never will…I need now surrender to God all that I am, all that I have, all that I ever hope to be.
- Here is where I surrender to God the entirety of the powers of my flesh…all the thoughts of my mind, the feelings of my emotions, the inclinations of my will; all of my human capabilities and capacities; all my efforts and strength; all my wisdom, knowledge, and understanding…and acknowledge that I put no trust in them. Here is where I bow before the Spirit of God in acknowledgment that by my own will and in my own strength, I am hopelessly powerless, hopelessly impotent, hopelessly helpless to do anything, or say anything, that is good or pleasing or acceptable to God my Father. In absolute surrender, I wait upon the Holy Spirit to place me where I am to be, lead me where I am to go, show me what I am to do to participate together with Him in His work, to give me the thoughts I am to think and present, the words I am to speak or write. This is the place where, in every decision I must make, I am determined to “Trust in the Lord with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding. In all my ways, I will acknowledge Him, and He shall direct my paths.” [Prov 3:5]
- I cannot be more emphatic concerning the following principle; it is absolutely fundamental…the difference between success and failure in hearing the voice of the Lord speaking to me. Whenever I am faced with making a decision, and I decide that I am going to wait on the Lord for His direction, I always have a preference, in my humanness, as to what I would like His direction to be. It is something like, “I am waiting to hear from You, Lord…but I hope the answer is such and such.“ It is here that I must pray against my preference…and pray against it, and pray against it…pleading with the Lord to not let me have it if not His will for me. I need to continue to pray against my preference, until I know in my heart, and can say in all sincerity to the Lord, and know that I mean it, “Lord, it doesn’t matter to me anymore what Your answer is…just show me plainly, clearly, beyond the shadow of any doubt what I am to do. It no longer matters to me where You place me, or how; whether You place me at all, or when; where you lead me to go or what You show me to do. That is rather for You to consider than for me. For in the easiest position, still, You must give me Your grace, and in the most difficult, Your grace is more than sufficient. It is enough for me, knowing that You know why You place me where I am… whether to do, or to learn, or just, perhaps, to suffer. It no longer matters to me what I do or what I suffer. All that matters is that You keep my heart lovingly and joyfully joined with Your will.” Then I will most assuredly hear the voice of the Lord in my heart, “This is the way; walk ye in it.“
If I don’t get to this place of absolute surrender, and know that I really mean it…that it really doesn’t matter anymore…I will NEVER hear the voice of the Lord. I will only hear the voice of my own heart giving me my preference, and deceiving me into believing it is the voice of the Lord.
A5] Worship
Wait upon God in worship. Having now entered the place of humility and stillness and surrender…wholly surrendered unto God, wholly given for the blessing and salvation of souls…I now wait before God’s Spirit until He has quickened my faith and consciousness that He does indeed dwell in me…does indeed fill me…and that He will indeed perfect His work in me.
- Then, in the Power of the Holy Spirit, I worship God for Who He is; praise Him for all He has done for the souls of Man down through the ages; gratefully acknowledge, with a heart of thanksgiving, all He has Personally done for me. I prostrate my inmost being before You, Father. I behold You with an awe-filled regard and bow before You with the utmost reverence and respect; my soul yearns just to linger in Your Presence, Lord…just sitting at Your feet. I adore You, Lord, for Your fathomless love You have so graciously lavished upon me. I admire Your Supreme Excellence and Your Sovereign Majesty. I offer up unto You my entire being…my body, soul, and spirit…as a living sacrifice, wholly surrendered unto You, wholly given for the blessing and salvation of souls. All Glory belongs to You, the One True Living God; You alone are worthy of all blessing and honor; Eternal thanks and unceasing praise are Your rightful due! Hallelujah!
A6] Prayer
Wait upon God in prayer. Worship is always first, before anything else. I am always to “Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and come into His courts with praise!” [Ps 100:4]
When I come to my Lord’s Throne of Grace, I am first of all to worship Him there, then call on His great Name and mighty Power in prayer.
- I need to pray in the Spirit, in faith, for His Mighty Power to come down to bear upon the concerns I am bringing before Him. Call on His Great Name and Mighty Power “on all occasions with every and all kinds of prayers and requests.” [Eph 6:18] Embrace His mighty working in my inner man, that I may be filled to overflowing with the abiding Presence of Christ Jesus. Then wait in stillness of soul for God to reveal Himself, His plans, His purposes, His will, concerning the matters I have brought before Him.
Wait before the Spirit of God…to place me where I am to be, lead me where I am to go, show me what I am to do to participate together with Him in His work, to give me the thoughts I am to think and present, the words I am to speak or write. Be careful not to proceed without His leading, and be prepared to respond with an unquestioning child-like obedience to His every leading and prompting. My soul, wait thou only upon God!
- B) God Revealing
What wait I for?
I am waiting to hear from God…for Him to reveal to me His plans, His purposes, His will concerning the matters I have brought before Him, and a deeper revelation of Who He is.
I am waiting on the Holy Spirit to illuminate my mind to spiritual things…to open the Scriptures to my understanding.
I am waiting on the Spirit to worship through me, to pray through me.
I am waiting for the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit…in every activity of my life. I am not to proceed with any course for my life in reliance upon my human capabilities and capacities, by my own efforts or in my own strength, according to my own wisdom or knowledge or understanding. It is the Holy Spirit, Who dwells in me, Who is to BE ALL and DO ALL through me, with me, in me.
I am to walk in the Spirit…He is the One Who rules and reigns on the throne of my heart, Personally living out the life of Christ Jesus in me…a life of obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial. And He Personally works out the death of Jesus in me, conforming me ever more deeply into the likeness of His death… death to sin and death to self…in order that I may thereby attain, more and more, to the Power of His resurrection life out from the dead…the power to walk through each and every day as more than a conqueror and with overwhelming victory.
- The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s own spirit within him? In the same way, no one knows the mind and thoughts of God…only the Spirit of God. [1 Cor 2:10-12]
- This is what the Lord says…your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you what is best for you, Who directs you in the way you should go. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk ye in it'” The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail! [Isa 48:17; Ps 32:8; Isa 30:21-22, 58:11]
- I will praise the Lord, Who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. My soul waits for the Lord…more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen who wait for the morning! Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul. [Ps 16:7; 130:6; 143:8]
- “For I [Jesus] have come down from Heaven not to do My Own will and purpose, but to do the will and purpose of Him Who sent Me.” [John 6:38]
- C) My Cooperating And Responding
What is the reason why I am waiting upon God? What is the purpose of my waiting upon God? Here is the consummation of all this watching and waiting and listening…the fulfillment of my waiting upon God and His revealing to me is… SO I MAY THEN RESPOND.
All is for naught if I fail to respond, with an unquestioning child-like obedience, to every leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, cooperating with the Power of His enabling grace Who works in me both to will and to do. It is not necessary for me to understand; I am to respond with an unquestioning child-like obedience. And, it is absolutely fundamental…the difference between success and failure…that I do not try to respond in the power of my flesh…which is in reliance upon my human capabilities and capacities, by my own efforts or in my own strength, according to my own wisdom or knowledge or understanding. I am to respond in the Power of the Spirit, cooperating with His enabling grace as He Himself works in me both to will and to do…both the desire to obey my Father’s will, and the power to do His will.
- Jesus saith to them, “My food is, that I may do the will of Him Who sent Me, and may finish His work.” [John 4:34]
- “I do as the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father and that I do only what the Father has instructed Me to do. [I act in full agreement with His orders.]” [John 14:31]
- “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” [John 14:26]
- Not in your own strength…for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you, energizing and creating in you the power and desire, both to will and to do for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. [Phil 2:13]
BLESSINGS OF FAITH
Everyone who overcomes by means of their faith…
- I will give the right to eat the fruit from the tree of life that grows in the Garden paradise of God.
- will in no way be harmed by the second death. Therefore, remain faithful, even to the point of death, and I will reward you with the crown of life.
- I will give to eat some of the hidden manna of Heaven. I will also give you a white stone with a new name engraved on it, known only to the one who receives it.
- those who remain obedient to My will to the very end, I will give authority and power over the nations. Your authority and power over them shall be like that which I Myself have received from My Father.
- will walk in fellowship with Me, arrayed in garments dazzling and white. I will never blot out your name from the Book of Life, but will acknowledge you as Mine, and openly confess your name in the Presence of My Father and His angels.
- I will make a pillar in the Sanctuary of My God. Never again will you leave it. I will write on you the name of My God and you will be a citizen in the city of My God…the new Jerusalem…which will come down out of Heaven from My God; I will also write on you My Own new name.
- I will give the privilege to sit beside Me on My Throne, just as I Myself overcame and am now seated beside My Father on His Throne.
WAITING ON GOD: CARDINAL TRUTHS
These are the cardinal truths concerning the life of waiting upon God, and how deep down these truths go to the very root of spiritual life. [Andrew Murray,
Waiting On God]
The very Nature and Eternal Being of God, as the only Possessor and Dispenser of any life there is in the Universe, implies that He must every moment communicate to every creature the power by which it exists, and therefore also much more the power by which it can do that which is good.
That capability for Mankind to do that which is good is solely and only through the Holy Spirit…God’s Eternal Gift given to dwell within us who are born-again, never to leave us nor forsake us, to be the source of our strength and the Power of our life.
The very nature and being of a creature, as owing its existence to God alone, and equally owing to Him each moment the continuation of that existence, implies that its happiness can only be found in absolute, unceasing, and continual child-like dependence upon God.
The great value and blessing of the gift of the Spirit at Pentecost, as the fruit of Christ’s Redemption, is that it is now possible for God to take possession of His redeemed children and work in them as He did in Adam before the fall.
In the Spiritual life, our great need is the knowledge of two great lessons:
The one…our entire sinfulness and helplessness…our utter impotence by any effort of our own to do anything towards the maintenance and increase of our inner spiritual life.
The second…the infinite willingness of God’s Love…which is nothing but a desire to communicate Himself and His blessedness to us to meet our every need, and every moment to work in us by His Son and His Holy Spirit what we need.
Therefore, the very essence of true religion, whether in Heaven or upon Earth, consists in…
an unwavering child-like trust in God;
an unreserved child-like dependence upon God;
an unquestioning child-like obedience both to do and to accept the will of God…
because we can give God no other glory than yielding ourselves to His Love, which created us to show forth in us its glory, that it may now perfect its work in us.
WAITING ON GOD: REFLECTIONS
Brethren…I have been much impressed by the thought of how, in all our religion, personal and public, we need more of God. I have felt the need for God’s people, in our worship time, to wait on God much more than we do; to make the cultivation of a deeper sense of His Presence, of more direct contact with Him, of entire dependence upon Him, our definite aim and personal goal.
At all our conventions and assemblies, too little time is given to waiting on God. Is He not willing to put things right in His Own Divine way? Has the life of God’s people reached the utmost limit of what God is willing to do for them? Surely not! We need to wait on Him; to put away our experiences, however blessed they have been; our conceptions of truth, however sound and Scriptural we think they seem; our plans, however needful and suitable they appear; and give God time and place to show us what He could do, what He will do, if we would only just give Him free reign to do with us as He pleases.
The great lack of our religion is…we do not know God. The answer to every complaint of feebleness and failure, the message to every congregation or convention seeking instruction on holiness, ought to be simply, “What is the matter? Have you not God?”
If you really believe in God, He will put all right. God is willing and able by His Holy Spirit. Cease from expecting the least good from yourself, or the least help from anything there is in man, and just yield yourself unreservedly to God to work in you. He will most assuredly do all for you.
This is the gospel we so little know. Would God that we might get some right conception of what the influence would be on a life spent…not in thought, or imagination, or effort…but in the Power of the Holy Spirit, wholly waiting upon God. He can do new things, unheard of things, hidden things. Let us enlarge our hearts and not limit Him. When Thou didst terrible things which we looked not for, Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at Thy Presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him. [Isa 64:3-4]
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HOLY SPIRIT: BREATH OF MY SPIRITUAL LIFE
Continually and unceasingly, day and night, my heart needs to breathe in that breath of life that comes from the Holy Spirit and sustains my spiritual life…just the same as my lungs need, continually and unceasingly, to breathe in that breath of life that comes from the outside air and sustains my physical life. This is the blessed life of deep and intimate personal relationship with God.
Abba Father…since I have been raised with Christ Jesus Your Son into newness of life, I continually set my heart and my soul upon the rich eternal treasures that are above, in the Heavenly realms, where Your Divine Son Jesus is seated at Your right hand. I continually set my heart, and my soul…my mind with all of its thoughts, my emotions with all of its feelings, my will with all of its inclinations… on the things of Heaven and the spiritual realm, not on the things of Earth and the physical realm. For I died in union with Christ Your Son, and have been raised up together with Him into newness of life; my new life is hidden now with Christ Jesus in You, Father. When Christ, Who is my life, appears once again upon this Earth…this time in all of His Divine Majesty and Glory and Power…then I also shall appear together with Him in Glory. [Col 3:1-4] Hallelujah!
CONFIDENT ASSURANCE THAT IT IS NOT IN VAIN:
In the confident assurance in God which faith gives, I am ever to remember one thing above all…to wait upon God. My chief need in waiting upon God, one of the deepest secrets of its blessedness and blessing, is a quiet, confident persuasion that it is not in vain; courage to believe that God will hear and help. I am waiting upon a God Who never could disappoint His people! In the utter insufficiency of all human strength, “Be strong and let thine heart take courage.”
I am to let NOTHING in Heaven or Earth or Hell…let NOTHING keep me from waiting on my God in full assurance that it cannot be in vain!
MY WAITING…HIS REVEALING…MY COOPERATING AND RESPONDING
Waiting upon God is the single most important habit of my spiritual life, and the essence of true religion; it is itself the highest privilege of the creature and the highest blessedness of His redeemed child. As I wait upon God, and cooperate with His grace, and respond to His Holy Spirit, He Personally works in me both to will and to do by the Power of His Holy Spirit. My soul, wait thou only upon God! So he said to me, “This is the Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” [ Zech 4:6]
Waiting upon God is the essence of a deep and intimate personal relationship with God in Spirit and in Truth. The personal experience of God as He reveals Himself, His plans, His purposes, His will, is what deepens my knowledge of God, and separates from mere knowledge about God. There is an eternal separation between personally knowing God, and knowledge about God. My soul, wait thou only upon God! Formerly, I had heard of You only by the hearing of the ear, but now my spiritual eyes see You! [Job 42:5]
I am to live every moment of my everyday life, whether involved in things that are sacred or things that are secular, waiting with an unwavering child-like trust and an unreserved child-like dependence upon God…for Him to reveal His plans, His purposes, His will, and a deeper revelation of Who He is…SO I MAY THEN RESPOND, with an unquestioning child-like obedience, to every leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, cooperating with the Power of His enabling grace Who works in me both to will and to do.
I am never to initiate, never to act according to my own wisdom, knowledge and understanding. I am only to cooperate and respond, according to the leading and guiding and counsel of the Holy Spirit. This is the blessed life of a deep and intimate personal relationship with my Father. My soul, wait thou only upon God! I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. [Jer 10:23]
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who listens to counsel is wise. There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. [Prov 12:15; 14:12]
Think what new meaning and promise this gives to my life of waiting upon God… that Jesus gave His disciples this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard Me speak about.” [Acts 1:4]
Just as the disciples tarried at the footstool of the Throne waiting upon the Spirit of God, it teaches me ever also to do likewise. It reminds me that I, too, can only be strong in the life of faith, or the work of love, as I am in direct communication with the Father and Christ Jesus, through the life of the Spirit Who dwells in me. It is the Spirit of God Who Personally lives out the life of Jesus in me…a life of obedience and suffering, self-sacrifice and self-denial…as I give Him free reign to do so. And it is the same Holy Spirit Who Personally works out the death of Jesus in me, conforming me ever more deeply into the likeness of His death… death to sin and death to self…in order that I may thereby attain, more and more, to the Power of His resurrection life out from the dead. It assures me that the Omnipotent God, through the Glorified Christ and the Power of the Holy Spirit working in me both to will and to do, will bring to pass things unexpected, things impossible…all to the Glory of God! My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides You, Who works for those who wait for Him. [Ps 62:5; Isa 64:4]
You will receive Power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; then, you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth. [Acts 1:7-8]
Freda Hanbury; 1882:
“Wait only upon God;” my soul, be still, and let thy God unfold His perfect will.
Thou fain would’st follow Him throughout this year, thou fain with listening heart His voice would’st hear, thou fain would’st be a passive instrument possessed by God, and ever Spirit-sent upon His service sweet…then be thou still, for only thus can He in thee fulfill His heart’s desire.
Oh, hinder not His hand from fashioning the vessel He hath planned. “Be silent unto God,” and thou shalt know the quiet, holy calm He doth bestow on those who wait on Him.
So shalt thou bear His Presence, and His life and light e’en where the night is darkest, and thine Earthly days shall show His love, and sound His glorious praise. And He will work with hand unfettered, free, His high and holy purposes through thee.
First on thee must that hand of Power be turned, till in His love’s strong fire thy dross is burned, and thou come forth a vessel for thy Lord, so frail and empty, yet, since He hath poured into thine emptiness His life, His love, henceforth through thee the Power of God shall move and He will work for thee. Stand still and see the victories thy God will gain for thee; so silent, yet so irresistible, thy God shall do the thing impossible.
Oh, question not henceforth what thou canst do; thou canst do naught. But He will carry through the work where human energy had failed, where all thy best endeavors had availed thee nothing.
Then, my soul, wait and be still; thy God shall work for thee His perfect will. If thou wilt take no less, His best shall be thy portion now and through eternity.
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My beloved child…this is indeed the privilege of all My children: “All who are indeed My children are continually led by My indwelling Holy Spirit!” So I counsel you, walk in My Spirit. Watch for Him and wait before Him; look off unto Him and listen for His voice. He will place you where you are to be. He will lead you where you are to go. He will show you what you are to do to participate together with Me in My work. He will give you the thoughts you are to think and to present, the words you are to speak or write.
The very essence of a blessed life of deep and intimate personal relationship with God…an abiding life of faith in God…can be summed up in this one, all-encompassing, principle:
MY WAITING UPON GOD…Just to be alone together with You in our trysting place, to walk with You and talk with You in the cool of the early hours of the morning well before dawn…just to commune with You face to Face as a man would speak with his friend…
MY WAITING UPON GOD continually and unceasingly throughout the day and night…with a joyful expectation and an excited anticipation, with an unwavering child-like trust and an unreserved child-like dependence…watching and waiting, looking off unto You and listening for Your voice behind me saying, “This is the way; walk ye in it” …
FOR GOD TO REVEAL TO ME WHO HE IS and the rich eternal treasures of the Heavenly realms…ever more deeply and intimately…and Your plans, Your purposes, Your will for me as Your messenger, Your ministering spirit, Your watchman, Your prophet…
SO I MAY THEN RESPOND, with an unquestioning child-like obedience, to every leading and prompting of Your Holy Spirit in living out my every day life, cooperating with the Power of His enabling grace Who is the One Who works in me both to will and to do.
My soul, wait thou only upon God!
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Friends, brothers and sisters…
There is one absolutely necessary preparation for every living soul on the face of this Earth, for the soon coming and imminent return of Jesus Christ…the one preparation that will irrevocably determine in which neighborhood you will spend all eternity, whether in Heaven or in Hell. You must be a born-again child of God.
“I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot be in God’s Kingdom. I tell you the truth, no one can ever enter the Kingdom of God unless you are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at My saying, ‘You must be born again.'” [Jesus…John 3:3-7]
If you have never been born again,
or you are not sure whether you have been born again,
or you have been living your life as a lukewarm Christian and would now like to recommit your life and enter into a deep and intimate relationship with Christ Jesus in preparation for the soon coming marriage supper of the Lamb…
then I counsel you to get alone with God, read the solemn marriage vows presented below you must make to become the bride of Christ and thereby be
born-again, and with sincerity of heart from within the depths of your being,
acknowledge before God, “I DO.”
MARRIAGE VOWS
SPIRITUAL BRIDE OF CHRIST
- Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Divine Son in the Triune God, the Lamb of God Who came into this world to become the One only, all-sufficient, atoning sacrifice through His death on a cross and subsequent resurrection, thereby securing forgiveness for your sins and restoring your relationship with God that had been severed by sin?
- Do you now solemnly vow before God to give yourself to be the bride of Christ, receiving Jesus the Christ into your life in a spiritual marriage, promising to honor and obey Him as both Lord over your life and Savior of your soul?
- To be joined inseparably together with Him in a Sacred Covenant relationship…an Eternal living union of oneness through the new life to be conceived in you by the Holy Spirit…
- To have and to hold Him, above all others and above all else this world has to offer, as the choicest, most precious treasure of your heart…
- To love and to cherish Him, above all others and above all else this world has to offer, reserving for Him alone your sweetest, most tender affections…
- For better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life, until death of this body brings you to be together with Him in Heaven for all eternity?
Our Lord Jesus’ High Priestly prayer to the Father…on that night just prior to His betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane…clearly defined eternal life: Now this is eternal life: personally knowing You, Father, the One True Living God, continually ever more deeply and intimately in a daily living-out union of oneness,
and knowing Jesus Christ Your Son…the Messiah Whom You have sent…in that same deep and intimate personal relationship,
joined inseparably together with Us in an eternal Sacred Covenant relationship. [John 17:3]
God Himself has given this testimony concerning His Son: I have granted you eternal life, and this life is given through union with My Divine Son Jesus.
Whoever is joined together with My Son in a living union of oneness
possesses that life;
whoever is NOT joined together with My Son in a living union of oneness
does NOT possess that life.
I have written this to you so that you who place your trust in Christ My Son will know, beyond the shadow of any doubt, that you do now indeed have eternal life. [1 John 5:9-13]
Holy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcx2O9WXvn8&feature=youtu.be
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Preserve Christian Family 