The Greatness of God

I am so hungry for more of God’s presence. I so desire to see the body of Christ walking as the body of Christ as described in the New Testament. I pray constantly for a greater revelation of Christ, Holy Spirit and Father to come to the Church. I cry at times as I see the enemy divide, devour and destroy Christians. I am constantly petitioning Father to show me why we are not being who the bible says we are. I ask questions of Father in every way possible to find out how to see change in the body. I cannot go very long without a prayer escaping my lips asking God to release His church from the bondages the enemy has put on them.

I live for one reason, to know Jesus, Holy Spirit and Father. My purpose is to see the church become THE CHURCH! What will it take?

Because I live in the place of intimacy I do, I hear. Father answers our requests. Our problem, most times, is we do not want to hear or receive the answers He gives.

As I spend my life in the attitude of prayer, mostly for the church, no matter what I may be physically doing, I hear answers. Since I am praying to Father I expect that what I feel, think, see or know after asking Him something, is my answer.

My problem is that Most of what He says is corrective or directive. Some could say that my answers are the result of rebellion or from a lack of submission. Some say that I am myopic about intimacy and discipleship. But I do not think that is the case. I believe I am hearing and what I hear lines up with what God has spoken to people in the past who were in the same place we currently are as The Church. We would like to bring the word to our lives and judge the word. We need to judge our lives against the word instead. I tend to search the bible to find a people experiencing what we are and look at what God says about them. That gives me a place to go from. If I am willing to see the truth and do not justify my circumstances, or think my condition is the exception to what I read, I will find direction or at least my position… In the midst of all of this, I am reminded of God’s greatness and that His Mercies are fresh every day. What if I could change? What if I could be more like Jesus?

The Greatness of God.

Ah, What of the greatness of God?

Isn’t he the one who created ALL things?

Wasn’t I created before the foundation of the world?

Didn’t He create man in His likeness?

When Adam was created didn’t He give Adam caretaking authority over all the works of His hand on earth?

When Adam fell didn’t He provide the sacrifices to cover Adam’s sin?

Didn’t God choose Abram to make covenant with?

Didn’t He provide all that was necessary for covenant?

Wasn’t it Abram’s part to simply say “yes”?

Wasn’t He the Father who walked as Abraham’s friend?

In the midst of Abraham’s doubts and lack of trust, (his sins), wasn’t it God who continually “saved” him from his lies and disbelief?

Who was it that saved baby Moses?

Wasn’t it God who called Moses to be a deliverer?

Who was it that forgave Moses for killing as Egyptian?

Who was it that called him from the wilderness to save his people?

Didn’t God make covenant with Moses?

Who saved the Israelites from the Egyptians?

Didn’t God keep the Israelites even in the midst of their sins?

Didn’t He give a promise of rest to those who believe?

Wasn’t It God who moved the prophets to speak and bring correction and direction to His people?

Hasn’t God always revealed Himself to His people through signs, wonders and visitations?

Didn’t God save me?

I could go on but all things lead to Jesus.

He came to complete God’s work of “saving” man from his sins, indiscretions, and rebellion.

He bought our freedom with His sacrifice–forever.

With this covenant that He consummated to be a “better” one?

Does Father do anything less for us than He did with the Israelites?

Is His presence any less powerful to save?

Does this covenant have less of God’s presence to deal with our enemies than the old one had?

Is there less intimacy in this covenant than the old one?

Is God true to His word or does He mock us with the hope of a salvation that is non-existent?

The question Christ followers need to ask themselves is; CAN I TRUST GOD? (Is it possible for me to believe and step out on my belief in God)?

Do I trust God?

Is it possible for me to trust Father in a real way or is truly trusting foreign to me?

How can I actually show that I trust Father and His word?

So many come to me and desire to walk hearing Father’s voice. They want a close relationship with Father but for some odd reason do not know how to have that.

I say odd because I cannot imagine “not” hearing God. Scripture is filled with promises of God’s voice. He actually commands us to “obey His voice” from the beginning of the Word to the end. We are told That Holy Spirit will lead us, teach us, guide us into all truth and show us things to come, etc. How can He do that if there is no conversation or communication? Is God mocking us with His great and precious promises? Or are our ears closed to anything but tickling?

I get questioned a lot about how to know Father’s voice, how to trust Him. I do not know how to answer that, as it seems such a strange question. Many times, especially with leaders, I get mad inside because it is such a great deception that seems to fill the whole body of Christ. The question of how to know God’s voice is like asking how do you know water is real? All of scripture is the result of hearing God. In it God says we who know Him, follow His voice. Wow… So how can you be a Christ follower if you do not hear Him?

Why we are so fearful of being close to God and why does His presence amongst us baffles us? Why do we accept the world’s words that tell us that hearing God is “looney tune” or crazy? We say that we want more of Christ but deny His provision, promises and commands. If we want more of Christ, all we have to do is spend time with Him, listen and obey.

A relationship with Father and Jesus is no harder than having one with a friend or “spousal unit.” It is about choice and commitment. What you value you commit to and do!

I will use a controversial subject to give an example of our choice to not believe, trust or hear.

I have people tell me that being “baptized in the Spirit and speaking in tongues” (Lu. 24:49 and Acts 1:8), is not needed, or not for today. Even though Jesus commands us not to try to witness without “the power from on High or the promise of my Father upon us” which began on Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4). I have heard people say that they see no need for speaking in tongues even though the bible tells us speaking in tongues “builds us up” (in the nature of Christ) as prophesy, “builds up the church”, (in the nature of Christ) 1 Cor 14:2-4.

This scripture alone should be need enough to obey and receive the Spirit upon us – and there are more scriptures that show our need of this provision of God. The Word says that when we pray in the Spirit with groanings, (inarticulate, not understandable utterances—Tongues—that these are words of the Spirit that are not understandable by anyone but God ( see Rom.8:26-28 and1 Co.14:2-4). These crazy sounding utterances are the Spirit interceding according to the will of God… So if God says we need this “Spirit upon us” and speaking in tongues as part of the Spirit upon us, why do we argue about it? Why would I not want the “Spirit upon” me? That is like not wanting a million dollars to give away to help the poor. How foolish of us. Could it be that we do not want to look foolish? If so then we need to read 1 Cor.1:18-31.

I have a choice, obey, or disobey, or I could say, trust or don’t trust. I can judge any part of the Word as not being relevant or I can submit to it. I get to choose to do the foolish or stand on the wisdom of men and their rationalizations about what God says. Do we judge scripture or do we judge ourselves and obey scripture? Tongues, (one of the results of the baptism of the Spirit) always seems foolish to me but God says it builds me up or “edifies me”, so like Paul (who seems to be a pretty good example to follow), I pray in tongues more than most. I have decided to trust God, not men and their justifications for not surrendering to the Word.

I have been reading the scriptures at the end of Luke, those in Acts and Paul’s statements in 1 Corinthians about baptism of the Spirit wondering why we resist the scriptures on this subject yet accept Matthew 28:18-20 as a command? It is interesting that through the whole bible the “Spirit coming upon..” was the power of God in so many situations and is the event that moved the Prophets to speak and write God’s words. In Numbers 11:23-29 there is an interesting passage worth reading. Look how many times it says “upon” and what happened. Moses’ desire was for all God’s people to “prophesy” Jesus wants the same thing, Paul says the same thing..

What if the only thing that is stopping us from being who we are to be is surrendering to the fullness of the Word and part of that submission is getting the “Spirit upon us”… ?

This disregard for “the baptism of the Spirit and speaking in tongues” is just one area we disobey scripture to follow the traditions or justifications of men. We are leaving (disregarding) the Word for our own comfort and for fear of rejection by our peers and the world.

I know that right now some are quoting Paul saying “not all WILL speak in tongues” and thinking it says, “Not all CAN speak in tongues”. But that is not what it says. God is no respecter of persons so if one of us gets “built up” by praying in tongues and another does not get to pray or speak in tongue and be “built up” God is a liar… He is neither a liar nor a respecter of persons, so the gift is available to all. Some will simply not do it by choice. They cannot let go of control. Why would we not want to be built up or pray by the Sprit of God if it is not the fear of looking foolish? I wonder if God calls that pride? Interesting thought.

God is great and His provision is never changing. He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. He does not have a “shortened” arm nor is He slack concerning His promises. We are the only stumbling block that keeps God from being all that He can be. It is called un-belief, and is characterized by disobedience to His Word.

The greatness of God is exemplified in this; that His mercies are fresh every morning and He forgives sin… We can be recipients of His grace, mercy, love, and power if we choose to. All we need to do is change direction and decide to trust and obey.

I keep getting the same message, no matter where I try to go, I end up here…. I know God is trying to get our attention and change our direction. Will we hear?

will write more later, neil