The Voice

“To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne”  Revelation 3:21

This is the greatest of the promises that was given to the seven Churches in Revelations, yet the most difficult to attain, even more so today, because of the many subtle deceptions that must be discerned, especially the intensity of the temptations that must be resisted.  These hindrances to true spirituality, that must be overcome, are greater than any pressures that other generations had to face.  It is easy to compromise, but the cost is high, as those who do will not be able to hear the gentle knock of the Lord on the door of their spirit – “If any man hear My voice.”

The Bridegroom

The Bridegroom chooses who will sit with Him on His throne, as His Bride.
Our part is to make ourselves so desirable that we will be chosen in that day,
having made ourselves ready for the “marriage supper of the Lamb” (Revelation 19:7-8).
Just as a young woman anticipates her wedding day and prepares herself, so also,
the Bride of our Lord Jesus Christ is to prepare for this day.  She is to “clothe herself”
in fine linen, clean and white.  This speaks of the “righteous acts of the saints”
in which she actively faces and overcomes the problems and pressures of life.
It is the “overcomer” who will sit with Jesus in His Throne, as His Bride.


“To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame,
and have sat down with My Father in His throne.” Revelation 3:21

Prayer

Prayer should be a natural function of our everyday life and at the very heart of our relationship with our Lord.  The heart of our prayers should always be the expression of our love for the Lord, and of our desire to personally know Him.

“I love them that love Me, and those who seek Me early shall find Me.”  Proverbs 8:17

Our need is not to be better informed about the methods and principles of prayer, but rather, to be stirred to spend quality time in prayer.

Our prayer should always include the expression of our total dependence upon the Lord.  We were created to live in a dependent relationship with Jesus - looking to Him in an attitude of worship and prayer for all things.

“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing.”  John 15:5

Prayer is the means whereby this dependent relationship finds its outworking and completion.  It is through this union with Jesus in prayer that the Lord meets our needs.  Thus, prayer is at the very heart of our Christian experience and growth.

If you are searching for some new revelation, personality, or fad to follow, you will easily be led into some form of deception.  The foundation of our spiritual life must be established on an active, personal prayer relationship with Jesus, as being the Lord of our lives and of all that pertains to us.

When Jesus called His disciples, He said:

“Come you after Me, and I will make you (cause you) to become fishers of men.”  Mark 1:17  (comment added)

Note that the emphasis is on our “becoming,” rather than upon our “doing” (fishing).  We are prone to rush out and at once begin to work for the Lord, forgetting what Jesus really said.

Our calling is to work with the Lord, rather than for the Lord.  Therefore, there must be a time of preparation before we can be effective in serving the Lord.  “Fishing for men” will follow as the normal outworking of a life of prayer and communion with the Lord.  If this were practiced as the Lord taught, most of the problems that we have in our Christian experience would vanish.

The enemy greatly opposes anyone whom he finds earnestly praying.  If possible, he would cause them to “do” something - anything, rather than let them alone to spend time in prayer with the Lord.  The devil knows the value of prayer, and will seek to hinder it at all costs.  The saint who is determined to pray must discern the source of these hindrances to prayer, and then rise above all opposition and distraction.

At this critical hour in which we live, the Lord is calling His people apart to serious times of prayer.  Throughout the Body of Christ, the glitter and charisma of personalities and special ministries is fading.  At the same time, the door into the prayer closet is opening wider for those who desire something more from the Lord, and are willing to enter and pray.

“But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret: and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly.”  Matthew 6:6

It is here that the battle must be won.  All else has failed to bring the Body of Christ to its desired spiritual maturity.

Comparing  Isaiah 50:4 with Mark 1:35 we see that Jesus began each day in prayer alone with His Father.

“The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakens morning by morning, He wakens My ear to hear as the learned.”  Isaiah 50:4

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He (Jesus) went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”  Mark 1:35 (comment added)

His disciples noticed this, and were stirred with the desire to pray.

“And it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord teach us to pray….”  Luke 11:1

The answer that Jesus gave unfolds the method of prayer, rather than the words to pray.

“And He said to them, When you pray, say, Our Father which is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.”  Luke 11:2-4

We are to begin by acknowledging our relationship to our Heavenly Father (our Father), and worship Him (hallowed be Your name).   Only then can we pray for His will to be done, and share our needs.  In other words, Jesus said, “You do not need to be taught how to pray.  You will learn to pray by praying.”

Prayer is more than telling the Lord what we think He should do, and all the wonderful things that would happen if only He would do as we ask.  Real prayer begins when we enter into such communion with Jesus, that the Holy Spirit can pray the will of the Father through us.

This is taking hold of the willingness of the Lord, not overcoming His reluctance.  He may reluctantly give us something that we continually press Him for - to our own hurt.  Note the children of Israel who pressed Him for meat, rather than being satisfied with the Manna that He had provided.  He gave them quail, but Scripture tells us that it brought leanness to their souls.

“And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.”  Psalm 106:15

There are no shortcuts, or push-button methods of entering into His presence.  “Prayer” means spending quality time with the Lord.

When the Lord’s people come to an understanding of the value of having a set apart place of prayer for communion with Him, and often enter into this place, they will be on their way to a life of fruitfulness, in His purposes.

Life or death

There is an unmistakable quality in the words that proceed from the Spirit. They give life! There is also a word that quenches the Spirit, that keeps us bound to an earthly realm and only produces death. We are dispensers of a New covenant. A word that endlessly articulates the failings of the body of Christ by seeing them in the natural light and knowing them according to the flesh will not bring life. His Grace is sufficient! Grace is unmerited favor but it is so much more! It is an indwelling Christ alive within us, imparting His Life giving Spirit. Grace is Christ being made alive to each of us and through each of us by the Holy Spirit as we embrace His cross. Where sin abounds His Grace will much more abound. Lift your vision, Lift up Christ, He will draw us. Abide in Him. He will bring us into fullness, not by power or might but by Spirit filled Christians who are overflowing with a heavenly vision of His Bride and releasing that spiritual vision into this realm where it is not visible to natural eyes. Father God lift us from the bondage of the here and now, Lord forgive us of our unbelief. May we see You in each other with eyes of faith and call forth those things that are not visible in this realm and though they were by Your gift of faith.

The Flesh

(Rom 10:4 Moffatt NT) Now Christ is an end to law,
so as to let every believer have righteousness.

(Gal 3:11 Phillips) It is made still plainer that no one is justified
in God's sight by obeying the Law, for: 'The just shall live by faith.'

Within the Body of Christ are different levels of relationship to the Lord. The first level is made up of all those who are satisfied with the “fact” of being saved, but seek to go no further. They are satisfied with the promise of a future heaven, but have stopped short of the full work of the cross to bring them into "spiritual maturity". They accept forgiveness of sins but never submit themselves to the further working of the cross which is a revelation and deliverance from the sin nature. For those the demands of the Law are still in place and if you find yourself in their circle they will attempt to put you under that same law. This believer has not allowed the work of the cross to continue so they set out to serve the Lord with their flesh ; The flesh is all that we have as a result of our natural birth. Even though they are performing many good works and speaking many kind words full of love for all and attempting to obey many scriptural admonitions, the source of their service is betrayed by their words. For the Cross is missing in their life!
(Gal 3:10 Phillips NT) Everyone, however, who is involved in trying to keep the Law's demands falls under a curse, for it is written: 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them.'James 2:10 Moffatt NT For whoever obeys the whole of the Law
and only makes a single slip, is guilty of everything.

Stand

We need only to realize that we are a new creation. That through the work of the cross (our co-death and resurrection) old things have passed away and our life is hid in Jesus. The expression of that new life(His Life) is our strength. Paul said, “I press toward the mark” (Phil 3:14). This “mark” is the finished work of Jesus upon the cross in our behalf. As we hold this truth before the Lord daily in faith their develops within us a deep inner determination to press through to the place where our responses to life no longer come from our old nature, but from the new creation that we have become. I believe the desire in the heart of the Lord is that we will stand on this complete and finished work that He accomplished on the cross and become partakers of His divine nature.
Eph 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth........

True Expression

Eph. 2:8 - "For by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it (grace) is the gift of God."

Just what is "grace"?  An "unmerited favor or gift"? Yes - however, that is a characteristic, not definition, of it. But does that merely mean that God feels sorry for us and is nice to us? Far, far from it! I believe that "grace" denotes Christ dwelling and living within us. Grace is a strong concept of a gift, whereby the giver imparts of  himself, of his very nature or essence, to the receiver; and furthermore, whereby the receiver responds dynamically by taking that very nature of the giver into his own nature, assimilating it, and being imbued by it. Grace describes Christ,  via His Holy Spirit, coming to dwell in us, we containing Him, and letting Him permeate all aspects of our beings!

Glory

It is very important for each of us to recognize that our relationship to the Lord is based on His righteousness, and not our own. 
Once we understand this, we can draw near to the Lord and commune with Him no matter how we may feel. 
As a result of this on-going daily fellowship with Jesus, we become available for the manifestation of His glory through us.
The enemy would tell us that we are not worthy to come behind the veil to behold His glory. 
We must reject and push past this deception and come boldly into His presence to “abide” in His glory.
For this is where we are "changed"

2Co 3:18 But we all mirror the glory of the Lord with face unveiled, and so we are being transformed                                                                                              into the same likeness as himself, passing from one glory to another — for this comes of the Lord the Spirit.
Moffatt NT 

Mature

One dimension of what it means to be spiritually mature,  is that one must be spiritually minded,  In order to function spiritually means that we have come into a degree of spiritual balance wherein we are living and walking in an ongoing personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus. It also implies that we have found our place in the Body of Christ, and both know and function in that position.  For us to be considered as being mature  means that we are living in absolute integrity, and have a positive testimony before all those who witness our daily walk. It is not enough that we present truth and revelation from the Word of God. The revelation may be genuine and true, yet unless it effects a change(becomes real) within the life of the one who received this quickened “word,” it is, in the words of I Corinthians 13:1, but “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. " Our consecration to the Lord, our  daily walk  with Him, our fellowship with the body of Christ , our relationship to the world in which we live, must be of such a quality  that all who witness this both see and hear a present day witness of His Kingdom and Lordship in our lives .

Like Father Like Son

God gives us, as a gift, a deposit of Spiritual Life. We become a partaker of the Divine Nature. That’s a gift. But that isn’t the end of it. That is totally the first, basic movings of God. Now, what does HE desire? That He may build a Christian Character through this; that out of it, like a Spiritual Evolution, may come a New Creation, birthed of God, in Spirit… and in Life, and in all Truth; A REALITY. A thing which will never perish. The body, upon which you lay so much emphasis; that’s going to perish. The things that you do; they will perish! He will never ask me, as I stand before Him, "How many souls did you save?" He’ll never ask me that! He’ll never say, "How many books did you write? How many churches did you build? How many missionaries…" He doesn’t do that! That isn’t the point!! Well, why? Because if any of that has ever become effective in God, it had to be wrought in the Spirit anyway, and not mine! He can’t bless me and reward me for something which he has done! He wouldn’t thank Himself for what He’s done! Why, I say, all of that is what HE has accomplished. What will He do? He will say, "Turn around my child." And as I turn around, He will, with His penetrating power of perception, seek to find how much of the Image and Likeness of His Son; how much of that, has been etched upon my immortal spirit. "What have you done?" NO!! What have you become!!! He will never ask about what you have done! It is always what have you become!! How? You have become this through faithfulness.

Today

The conscience of many is in such a state that before it is awakened they can raise
many arguments against the existence of God. But when they are dying or are in a
very difficult circumstance the conscience will tell them that God is very real.
The days of our life pass away so quickly. They seem so unimportant because we tell
ourselves there is “still time”. But on “that day” when we find ourselves heading
for eternity, the conscience will wake up and speak very loudly of the reality of our
Creator. "Today" is a most beautiful day to call upon Jesus. Today is “the day” of
Salvation. For "one day" it will truly be too late.

Light and dark

I believe we are in a most wonderful time. As we respond to the Lord, His light in our life grows.
We are now in the "end times" from this point forward, we will see the gap between
"being in Christ" and "being of the world", continuously growing. The "light" will get brighter,
and the "dark" will get darker. Ultimately, every person will come to a point of decision.
We will be forced to choose between total commitment to Christ and His Lordship or
totally going along with the world. Our commitment to Godliness or
worldliness will consume us, with no middle ground!