Immersed In God

Exodus 40
34 Then the cloud [God’s visible presence] covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle!
35 And Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud remained upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

1 Kings 8
10 When the priests had come out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the Lord’s house,
11 So the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.

Acts 2
2 When suddenly there came a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting.
…
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other (different, foreign) languages (tongues), as the Spirit kept giving them clear and loud expression [in each tongue in appropriate words].

•⁠ ⁠Three different dwelling places of Almighty God. Each one with its own baptism (immersion) of God! Each one filled with His presence and His Glory! Each one with a clear manifestation of God’s delight to dwell among his people. God’s deepest desire and glory is that He can dwell among His people! Hallelujah, What a Saviour! What a Gospel!
•⁠ ⁠None of these experiences were continuous though. They were symbolic of God’s acceptance and delight to dwell in the place prepared! But life and service continued on after these precious moments.

John 16
13 But when He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all Truth. For He will not speak His own message [on His own authority]; but He will tell whatever He hears [from the Father; He will give the message that has been given to Him], and He will announce and declare to you the things that are to come [that will happen in the future].
14 He will honour and glorify Me, because He will take of (receive, draw upon) what is Mine and will reveal (declare, disclose, transmit) it to you.

•⁠ ⁠The immersion had come and now there was work to be done. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was to be proclaimed and that’s exactly what the apostles did! The experience of Acts 2 is never mentioned again with longing. The disciples never looked back at the physical experience of the upper room wishing they could have that again, but they walked with a forward focus, proclaiming Jesus Christ, and taught us with obedience, joy and boldness to walk in The Holy Spirit, and to be being FILLED with HIM!
•⁠ ⁠But if we find that we feel empty, if we find that we hunger for more of Him, if we find that we feel a thirst and a dryness, we can do so rejoicing in all that He has given us! If we are thirsty, PRAISE THE LORD, we can drink from the Living Waters! If we hunger, PRAISE THE LORD for we shall be filled!! OH HALLELUJAH! There is never a reason strong enough to ever stop praising The Lord!! So let us continue to bring our sacrifices of praise, for The Lord inhabits the praises of His people! And if we bring to The Lord our songs of praise and rejoicing we shall never leave empty but full of HIM!!

You Sit Still. He Will Not Rest

Ruth 3
18 Then said she, Sit still, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he finishes the matter today.

“Sit still, my daughter, until you learn how the matter turns out”

Boaz also told her not to fear/fret (v11-13). Like Ruth we are told to have faith and trust in our Redeemers work. We also are often reminded to sit still and watch to see how The Lord will bring things about.
The waiting time can often seem so hard for the flesh. We can be so impatient! We have such a selfish, sensual need for control and gratification that we lose sight of the incredible, miraculous and free provision that is being given to us. We lose sight of the “rewarder of the reward” (Hebrews 11:26)
Psalm 46:10 Let be and be still, and know (recognise and understand) that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!
Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
When we have cried out to The Lord and brought our petition before Him then we ought to have the faith to believe that He “will do for you all you require”. This is faith!! This is dependence. This is to rest in Him and to cast yourself upon His goodness and His provision. Ruth could go about her day with joy and contentment knowing that all was being done on her behalf. She could rest and sit still, without fear or worry because her redeemer was doing all that was required.

“for the man will not rest until he finishes the matter today.”

We underestimate how carefully and diligently the man (Jesus) will work to accomplish not our desire but His! This is such a precious truth that we often take for granted or under appreciate! Boaz was not working in a sensual sense merely to satisfy Ruth. Boaz was eager to fulfil his own, selfless desire to provide and to care of both Ruth, Naomi and the household of Elimelech!
Psalm 121:4 Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
Hebrews 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them.
Our Lord, Saviour, Redeemer, Father and Shepherd will not rest until He has accomplished all that will glorify Him in our lives! He will not rest until we are at rest!
Let us not lose sight of our Saviour’s desire for us. How He longs for us, how His whole heart is longing to intimately commune with us. May we rest in great peace and joy knowing all that our Lord is doing on our behalf and all that He desires for us. He has plans to prosper us and do us good and He will be faithful to complete all those plans and to bring us to a beautiful and expected end!

Oil For The Lamp

Exodus 27:20-21
“And you shall command the children of Israel, that they bring you pure crushed/beaten olive oil for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always”

The olives must be beaten/crushed. The oil would come forth from the crushing of the olives. It was in the Mount of Olives where Christ’s will was crushed and He prayed “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.” It is this symbolic crushing death to the self-will that will bring forth oil to fuel the light of the testimony.

Be careful not to focus on the crushing. Do not consume yourself with the death but rather rejoice in the precious oil and the light that comes from such a testimony! Some can become sepulchral, losing all joy, seeing only their unworthiness and lack… But rejoice evermore and pray without ceasing, giving thanks that the Light of The Lord’s testimony may shine on another day.

“In the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail, which is before the testimony”

The oil was brought from the individual homes to the place of congregational worship. It is only as our self-life is crushed that we can learn to love, serve and prefer others above ourselves. As we are crushed and see how much we’ve been forgiven we can learn to love much and we can learn to worship The Lord in unity. That is where The Lord places His testimony. Not in the individual homes but upon a people united unto Him.

“it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel.”

From generation to generation the statute, the marker of The Lord’s presence/blessing/testimony would be the light in the tabernacle of the congregation. It is the offering of crushing of The Lord’s people that keeps it shining.

Oh may we with joy bring our oil to the place of united fellowship and congregational worship. May we bring fuel for the light of our Saviour’s glory and testimony.

Living Waters From Spiritual Paupers

Matthew 5
3 Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The poor, the paupers, those in poverty of spirit, those who recognise and acknowledge they have nothing in themselves, those with nothing to offer, no strength, no riches, no light, no wisdom, no solution… They have a craving hunger and desperate need for the Spirit of God so that they might have His life, His light!

THEIR’S IS THE KINGDOM!! To them it is given! To live in the goodness of it! To enjoy it! To share it!

John 7
38 He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 But He was speaking here of the Spirit, Whom those who believed (trusted, had faith) in Him were afterward to receive…

It is those who recognise the utter inability in self; whose hunger for God drives them to confess in their hearts a surrendered dependence on Jesus Christ; who seek to remove any obstacle that hinders the flow of His life… BLESSED ARE THEY! Those who are yielded to Him, abiding in Him, in desperate need of Him and allow Him to live through them. Oh How blessed they are!

It isn’t pleasant in the flesh to recognise and acknowledge our spiritual poverty and emptiness. The flesh doesn’t like to be found out and exposed. It’s an ugly, rotting corpse that tries to stay covered up. But there is wonderful joy, liberty and victory when we bring it all to Jesus, when we confess our sin, mortify our flesh, repent of going our own way and seek communion and intimacy with Christ above all.

When we acknowledge we are paupers, when we believe on Him, THEN the rivers of living waters flow! And let us believe this!! Stop looking at your weakness, inability and the ugliness of your flesh! Believe on Him!!! Believe His word! Believe in the rivers of living waters! Hallelujah! And let Him flow!

Psalm 119
27 Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.
29 Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.
32 I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.
33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.
34 Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.
35 Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.
36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
37 Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
38 Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

“when you” / “Teach me” / “Give me” / “Make me” / “Incline my heart” / “Turn away my eyes” / “Establish your word”

It is The Lord who does the work. Just like the psalmist, there will be a complete dependence upon The Lord for His Life. He alone will receive all the glory. There is nothing at all that we can accomplish in our flesh! There is an acknowledgement of our pitiful/powerless/sinful state and the recognition that it is only by Him that we have any hope/life or strength to obey.

It is such a wonderful encouragement to hear the psalmist pray like this. These prayers are recorded for our example and benefit. We too can have a heartcry for The Lord’s teaching and leading. Oh Lord, incline MY heart… Turn away MY eyes… Make ME go… Oh Lord please do this same work in me!!