The Way Of Futility

“Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain.” (Ecclesiastes 1:18)

It is painful to gaze upon our true reflection
Ignorance is bliss
Which is better:
To be happily ignorant
Or to be joyfully afflicted?

As I explore the paths of wisdom
I only become more aware that I am a child who knows nothing
An ignorant babe who needs to be taught
I keep sitting up to listen
Yet, You say lay back to hear
I keep sitting up to learn
Yet, You say lay back and be taught
I reach for You to grasp You
Yet, You say drop your hands and receive
I want to strive for understanding
Yet, You say be still as You give revelation

I want to find the source of the wind
Yet, You say let it blow where it will
“Just feel the wind in your face, child”
But I want to hold it in my hand
I want to examine the wind
And You say let it be
“Observe the effects of the wind,
But do not try to grasp it.”
Yet I grasp and reach
For something that is impossible to catch
Why do I keep doing this?
Why am I compelled by futility?

Because we have been subjected to futility
You said, “From this tree do not eat”
Yet, we reached
We grasped
And when we looked down at our hands
To see what we obtained
We looked with horror
We sobbed with grief
Because we reached for You
But we only grasped our self
Our hands are full of ourselves
With no room for You
We reached for freedom
Only to be shackled by Self

For thousands of years we sat in these chains
We sat in darkness
Hands full of ourselves
Minds full of knowledge without understanding
Such is the curse of futility
We were created for knowledge
Yet we cursed ourselves with the inability to understand
What good is knowledge without understanding?
Yes, this is futility

Yet, this is when we begin to understand
To understand the depths of meaninglessness
To understand that without You, there is nothing
Without You, there is only futility
There is only chasing after a wind
That will never be caught
Because our hands cannot hold the wind
They can only hold ourselves
Or You
But we must choose one or the other

(Deut 30:19,20) This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him. For the Lord is your life…

(Rom 8:19-21) For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

(John 3:6-8) That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, “You must be born again.” The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from or where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.

(Eccl 3:11,12) I have seen the burden that God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

(Posted on Facebook 11/16/2020 Talitha Koum)

Broken Zippers

I am a terrible salesman. 

When I was in high-school I got a job at a clothing store in the mall. On the last day I worked there, a young man came in who was interested in an expensive jacket. The job was commission-based and my manager constantly reminded me —“Whatever it takes to make the sale.” The young man was reluctant to splurge on the jacket and my manager saw me fidgeting in reluctance to make the sale. So, the manager came over and convinced the young man to buy it. As the young man walked to the register, I was compelled to tell him the whole truth: “You need to know that the zipper on that jacket is broken.” Needless to say, my manager advised me that my services were no longer needed.

One of the many things I love about the Bible is that it doesn’t leave out the ugly parts. God tells us about the broken zippers. The Bible isn’t trying to sell anyone Christianity, its focus is truth, more so than any particular emotion. And often times, truth can be ugly. Like, Peter-denying-Jesus-three-times-even-though-he-swore-he-wouldn’t, kind of ugly (Mark 14:31,67-72). Scripture paints no illusions as it shows us the full gamut of the human condition: betrayal and faithfulness, sorrow and joy, perversion and purity. We see failure, weakness, and fear, along with victory, strength, and courage.

For a long time Christianity has attempted to sell people cheap happiness, instead of teaching them how to have costly joy. And to teach people how to have costly joy, we must tell them the whole truth of what it means to be a Christian, both the struggles and the joys. We must do exactly as our Master instructed, “teach them to observe all I commanded…” (Matt 28:20). And Jesus never commanded us to sell Him to anyone, He never told us to focus only the good parts, He never said, “Whatever it takes to make the sale.” He commanded us to “count the cost,” and for someone to accurately count the cost, means that we tell them about the broken zippers (Luke 14:28).

We tell them that eternal joy in Jesus Christ is costly. Jesus communicates this emphatically in His teachings (Matt 13:44,45; 16:25,26; Luke 14:16-35). It will cost us our own right to ourselves as we submit to Him as Lord. It will cost us our pride as we humble ourselves before Him. For Christ to be our supreme devotion, means that our walk with Him is one of increasing narrowness (Matt 7:14), allowing nothing-- not family (Luke 14:26), not possessions (Luke 14:33), not ambitions (Luke 14:8,9), not worldly obligations (Luke 14:18-20), not anything in all of creation to come between us and Him.

Beloved, here is the whole truth: Jesus Christ gives us Himself freely by our faith in Him, but we must be prepared in our heart to have Him at any cost.

(Matt 13:44,45) The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy he went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

(Matt 16:24,25 ) Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

(John 15:1,2) I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

(Acts 14:21,22) After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”

(Prov 23:23) Invest in truth and never sell it—get wisdom and instruction and understanding.

(Posted on Facebook 11/15/2020 Talitha Koum)

The Way Of Christ

I have found that one of the most difficult things in my walk with Christ is to allow myself to be taught by Him, rather than be driven by my constant endeavor to learn about Him. 

Beloved, there is a fine line between learning versus being taught. There can be an aggressiveness to learning. Whereas, to be taught, requires a certain degree of submissiveness. A pupil who is taught, needs to be silent and still while they receive the teacher’s instructions. It is difficult to teach when the student is asking questions the whole time. It is difficult to teach when the student spends much of their time trying to anticipate what the teacher is going to say next so they can run out ahead. It is difficult to teach when the student assumes they understand before the teacher is done with the explanation. 

You cannot teach someone who already thinks they know. This is why Jesus didn’t choose anyone from the religious establishment to be His apostle. He needed those who were willing to submit to Him in humility, to forget what they thought they knew and admit that they needed to be taught. Those who would allow themselves to be broken, rejected, mocked, and humiliated. Those who were willing to forsake their pride for His sake. 

There is a breaking-down that is needed to build someone up in the way of Christ. Too often, we only seek the building-up and never submit to the breaking-down. When this happens, arrogance invades the church and the sheep are devoured instead of fed. When we only seek to be built-up instead of embracing the breaking-down, the church looks more like the world instead of the kingdom of God. That is because in His kingdom the way up is down, the way of life is to be put to death, to be great is to be the least. In the kingdom of God, to be made worthy of power is to be willing to relinquish it and be weak. For when we are weak, He is strong, and this flies in the face of the dictates of the current prince of this world. 

(John 14:30,31) I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming, and he has no claim on Me, but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.

(2 Cor 12:9,10) And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

(Posted on Facebook 11/14/2020 Talitha Koum)

The Way Of The Cross

The way of the cross is brutal. It is bloody. The cross says, “The only way to reach out and grasp true freedom is to have your hand nailed down.”

Paradox.

To walk in the valley of the shadow of death is to come face to face with all the things that are working death in you. It is to walk the narrow path of life through the valley of death, and as you walk, you encounter your own ego, your own selfishness, your longing for approval, your desire to be accepted among men, your self-pity, your pride, and other such things we like to keep hidden behind that fig leaf. It is to wrestle against the muscle of your own reasoning. It is to willingly drop to your knees in submission, when you’d rather stand tall in your love of authority. It is to be willing to surrender when you would rather be in control. Paul said, “I die daily,” and so must we (1 Cor 15:31).

I think we are reluctant to admit our struggles with these things because we are ashamed. We are so used to hiding behind that fig leaf, of attempting to cover our own nakedness with the illusion of self-sufficiency-- “Nothing to see in my own heart, move along…” Then there are annoying people like me who shout from the city gate, “Come see how ugly we are, come and face all your warts.” That is because until we are ready to face our own wretchedness, until we are ready to look in the mirror without any filter, I dare say that we can have no real depth of intimacy with Jesus Christ. The land of the flesh is superficial and if we insist on dwelling there, then our pursuit of Christ will remain superficial as well.

We can follow Christ around and merely listen to His teachings, just like many others did in Jesus’ days on earth. But Jesus said, “For those who have ears to hear…” (Matt 13:9). It is one thing to listen, but it is quite another to truly hear what is being said. In Jesus’ day, many listened for a little while, but there will come a time for us just like it did for them, when Jesus will turn around and say, “For those who have ears to hear: There is one thing you lack. And you can follow Me this far and no farther unless you are willing to deny yourself and put your flesh to death” (Mark 10:21; Luke 9:23,24). The price of our freedom was paid for by the flesh of Jesus Christ, but there seem to be so very few who are truly willing to join Him in that death.

Beloved, Scripture clearly teaches that we are to join Christ in His death (Rom 6:4-6), that we are to flee from sin (2 Tim 2:22; Rom 13:14), that we are a new creature who is having Christ formed in us in ever-increasing glory (2 Cor 3:18, 5:17; Gal 4:19; Col 1:27). And this only happens through our cooperation with His Spirit Who works within us unto that end. There are sins of the flesh and there are sins of the heart, therefore I will confess to you that it was much easier for me to face the truth that I was an alcoholic and cut off my hand to stop drinking, than it has been for me to walk through the valley of death and face the evil ugliness of my inner man. But we must face this true condition. We must see the depth of our need, before Christ will begin to practically work Himself into us to meet it.

It is time for many in the church to stop playing with the cross, and climb onto it. Because seed cannot sprout unless it dies.

(John 12:24) Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

(Phil 3:10) I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to Him in His death..

(Matt 13:3-9) And He spoke many things to them in parables saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty and some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.”

(John 15:8) This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

(Psalm 23:3,4) He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

(Posted on Facebook 11/12/2020 Talitha Koum)

Enduring Your Caiaphas

This morning in the barn I read Mark 14:53-72 about Jesus going before the high priest Caiaphas. When Jesus went before Caiaphas, His hands were likely tied behind His back and He was likely pushed down to His knees, as He was taunted and berated by the Sanhedrin. He was spit in the face, slapped and mocked, enduring gross injustice at the hands of those who should have recognized Him as Messiah, more than anyone else.

We see Jesus enduring extreme testing here. He was betrayed by leaders within His own religious system and He was humiliated by those more ignorant and sinful than He. Jesus was allowed to experience both frustration and helplessness in the face of His circumstances, and He did so with His hands tied behind His back. Oswald Chambers said, “Abraham did not choose what his sacrifice would be….never decide the place of your own martyrdom, as if to say, ‘I will only go to there, but no farther.’ God chose the test for Abraham, and Abraham neither delayed nor protested, but steadily obeyed.” And that is exactly what we see exhibited in the life of our Savior and Master.

To endure your own Caiaphas is to be at the mercy of your ordained circumstances and not fight back. It is to willingly allow your hands to be tied behind your back as your circumstances spit upon you and slap you in the face. It is to want to fight back, to want to take control, to want to escape, but to surrender entirely and endure it instead. It is to trust God implicitly despite your circumstances and have Him on His terms, instead of your own. This morning as I sat on the hay loft steps and tears streamed down my face, I looked up to heaven and prayed, “Thank you for not allowing me to have You on my own terms. I will not ask You to deliver me from my Caiaphas, but I will ask for Your continued grace in the midst of it.”

Beloved, God is not in the business of delivering us from the furnace, but in staying beside us as we endure it. He will lead you by the hand into the fire, He will walk with you in the midst of it, but you must choose whether you trust Him enough to enter. “Father, if You are willing, take this cup from Me. Yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).

(Isaiah 43:2) When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze.

(1 Peter 2:20-23) How is it to your credit if you are beaten for doing wrong and you endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps: "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

(Daniel 3:20,24,25) ….our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not…we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up…then Nebuchadnezzar..commanded some of the strongest soldiers in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire….Suddenly King Nebuchadnezzar jumped up in amazement and asked his advisers, “Did we not throw three men, firmly bound, into the fire?” “Certainly, O king,” they replied. “Look!” he exclaimed. “I see four men, unbound and unharmed, walking around in the fire—and the fourth looks like a son of the gods!”

Eating Dust

It is one thing to speak truth but it is quite another thing to speak truth from a pure heart. Satan can speak truth but he doesn’t speak it from a pure heart. There is no life in truth unless it is spoken through Christ in you. That is what we hunger for, and that is why the church currently starves. 

If we are not giving each other Christ, then what good is it? What good is truth from an impure heart? Jesus said the pure in heart will see God (Matt 5:8). It is the pure in heart who see God and then proclaim to a hungry world Who He is and what He is like. That is the testimony of truth, that is the only thing that can truly feed Christ’s sheep. Everything else is a feast of dust.
Jesus said feed my sheep (John 21:17). Jesus said He is the bread of heaven (John 6:51) and the living water that quenches our thirst (John 4:14), thus the only food and drink we can give anyone is who we are in Christ. Therefore, if you are to strive, strive to know Him. Strive in your surrendering more than your shouting. Let your shout become a sigh. 

There is only one Savior and one Teacher and we can only share with each other what He has given us. He is the head of the river of life, He is the source of all knowledge and wisdom (1 Cor 1:30; Col 2:3) and unless we are giving each other Him, unless we are giving each other Christ, Who is our life (Col 3:4), we labor in vain. Unless we are giving each other Him, we feed each other dust, for we are but dust. 

I see many hungry faces
Haunting eyes of longing
The madness of thirst has set in
The echoes of empty bellies deafen my ears

I see the dirt all around their mouths
The dirty mouth of a child
That has feasted upon dust
They gnaw at their tongue with dry and dusty mouths 

Wipe their faces Lord
And give them drink
“Come to me all you who thirst
And I will give you drink”

Get yourself up on a high mountain Zion
Bearer of good news
Tell them, “Here is your God!”

The afflicted and needy seek water
But there is none
Their tongue is parched with thirst
And You will not forsake them
You will answer them Yourself

Showing Suffering

Sometimes we need to see someone else’s private struggles to understand that we are not alone in ours. Sometimes we need to hear someone else’s private prayers so we know how to shape our own. Sometimes we need to bear witness to someone else’s humiliation to understand that we must face our own. Discipleship is to show someone Christ being worked in you, it is to show them what our walk looks like. But we must show them the truth, all of it. Therefore when I share private, intimate moments from my prayer time, I do so reluctantly.

If I am brutally honest, I wrestle with Facebook and the desire to walk away and leave it be. More often than not, I ask God, “Can I be done now?” I think to myself, “This is the last post I will make for a while, I will take a break and sit in my comfortable solitude.” Sometimes I wrestle with thoughts like, “You shouldn’t have said that, you shouldn’t have shared that.” I understand what Paul meant when he said, “We have become a spectacle to the whole world, to angels as well as to men” (1 Cor 4:9).

Maybe this is what people need to see. Brokenness. A Christian who doesn’t have all the answers. I keep wondering if my heart will be strong enough to carry me through the days ahead, and I keep coming to the conclusion that it won’t. My heart cannot withstand the force of the enemy, no one’s heart can withstand the force of the enemy, that is why we need Jesus Christ. We mustn’t fool ourselves with romantic notions of our own strength. You need Jesus Christ, I need Jesus Christ, and if me sharing my struggles and my doubts and my intimate times with God, even against the screaming reluctance of my flesh, will help someone see Him, then it is a price I’m willing to pay.

Today, I am tired of this world. Today, I give no romantic illusions of valor in my stand for Christ. Will I stand? Yes. Will I endure? Yes. But today, I just want to go home. Here I am, here is what is real in me: outside of Jesus Christ I am nothing, I am a coward and a fool and I am ignorant. The only thing I truly know is that I need Jesus Christ. The only thing I can bring Him day after day is my need and my longing as His Spirit does the work of forming Himself in me in ever-increasing glory. That is what I have to share. I would rather not, I would rather just be alone in my barn and keep all those precious moments to myself, but I can’t because God keeps dragging me back here, day after day. The Spirit keeps compelling me, “Share your journey, even the ugly parts.”

Beloved, sometimes our walk hurts. But trust Him always, even through the ugly parts because it is a walk worth making.

(Heb 12:1-3) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Dirt With A Conscience

The other morning I sat on the floor of the barn and prayed and wept and confessed the sins of the church and our culture and our nation, and I cried out for God to give us mercy, even though we are ignorant fools who don’t deserve it. And as I sat and prayed, I looked around at all the dirt. It was all over my legs and hands and feet as I sat in it and wept and prayed. As I looked at the dirt all over myself, it dawned on me, “I am dirt with a conscience.”

We are dirt with a conscience. That is the basic truth of humanity. We think we know, we think we understand. We think we can make wise choices and decisions and rule ourselves, but it is only a farcical illusion.

As I looked around at the dirt and chicken poop that surrounded me on the floor of my barn, I thought of Genesis 2:7, “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.” I looked up to heaven with tear-streaked cheeks and said:
I sit in the dust and remember that I am dust
I am dirt with a conscience
Free will is too heavy a burden to bear for dust
Hold it for me, Lord
Take my will into Your hands and carry it
For it is too great a gift for such as we

That morning, as I sat at the Lord’s feet and confessed the truth of my humanity, the Spirit reminded me of a word He gave me that I published on this blog on 1/29/2019:

Cease striving and know that I am God
Let all the earth sit before Me in silence
Let all mankind contemplate their Creator

What words may be spoken that I haven’t given?
What thoughts may be had that I don’t already know?
What can man do that I cannot undo?
What is man, that I should fret at the work of his hands?

Foolish children
Sit in the dust and lament your own ignorance
Oh church, lament your futile service to a God you do not truly know
Oh nations, lament your futile rebellion against an all-consuming fire

In the end
You will either shout for joy or whimper in terror
When I come from My holy dwelling
All the earth will cease striving
And know that I am God

(Zechariah 2:13) Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.

(Psalm 46:6-11 ) The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He raises His voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. Come and see what the Lord has done, The desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire. He says “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah

Israel Of Fire

“You will see with your eyes and not understand. But you will know in your heart.”

Jesus is real. And His kingdom is real. He will not share His glory with another. He will not share our hearts with another. Our longing must be for Him alone. We must not give Him lip service only, but we must cry out for Him with our hearts. “You will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matt 23:39). This comes to pass when His people have nothing else to put their hope and faith in but Him. In this we have failed, and in this we will now be tested and proven.

“From my distress I called upon the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; therefore I will look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes…O Lord, do save, we beseech You; O Lord, we beseech You, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; we have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and He has given us light; bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God and I give thanks to You..” (Psalm 118:5-9 & 25-28)

Tie me to the horns of your altar, Lord
Let Your fire pass over me
Let Your fire consume me
Let Your fire consume all that is not of You
Let Your fire become my nature

All that I am belongs to You

Make me fire
All that I am belongs to You
Make me burn
All that I am is Yours
And You are a consuming fire

I saw a woman
Her face was aflame
Her hair was a flowing fire
Like the burning bush
She burned, but was not consumed
Because the fire was her nature

When Moses saw the burning bush
God spoke
He revealed Himself
Yet the woman I saw said nothing
She only burned
But she burned beautifully

If she could speak
What would she say?

“Under His glory a fire is kindled
Like a burning flame
The Light of Israel will become a fire
And His Holy One a flame
It will burn and devour both thorns and briars in a single day
His word is like fire
Like a hammer which shatters rock”

(1 Kings 1:50) And Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, and he arose, went and took hold of the horns of the altar. Now it was told Solomon, saying, “Behold, Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon, for behold, he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’ “ Solomon said, “If he is a worthy man, not one of his hairs will fall to the ground; but if wickedness is found in him, he will die.”

Woman Of Fire

“Tell them, ‘Fire’…”
It’s all I can hear. It’s all I can see.
Fire.
Everywhere. Everything.

This morning during my barn time, the Spirit brought me to Exodus 3:1-8, then to Acts 2:1-6. As I read, I thought about the day a few years ago on October 12, 2018, I was praying by my bedside, I had my eyes closed and I saw a woman made of fire. It was just a brief flash, a quick snapshot, but her hair was made of flowing fire, her eyes were flames of fire, her gown was flowing tendrils of fire. My understanding was that this is what we look like in the spiritual realm. During that season of my life, the Spirit kept communicating, “To withstand the fire, you must become the fire.”

As I read the passages in Exodus and Acts this morning, the Spirit reiterated our destiny with fire. We will all meet it one way or another, it is inescapable. God appeared to Moses as fire when He heard the cries of His people and came down to deliver them. Do not let the spiritual weight of that be lost upon you beloved-- Jesus is coming back with fire (2 Peter 3:10,11). Then, thousands of years later, God’s Spirit appeared to the early church as fire, to equip them to carry out His commission and His work.

We see a gradual progression here. First, God appeared as fire to Moses and told him to remove his sandals for “you are standing on holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). At that time, God appeared as fire to deliver his people. Then, God appeared as fire to His church and gave them of it, but just to their tongues. This hearkens back to Isaiah, who appeared before the throne of God and had his mouth sanctified by the burning coal from the altar. God’s intention for us as the church was to carry out His work with the portion of fire He gave us—our mouths—just like He gave Isaiah a consecrated mouth (Isaiah 6:6-8; Matt 24:14).

But God is not done with us yet. At some point, we will not only have mouths consecrated by fire, but our whole being. We will be fire, just as He is fire-- we are image bearers and our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). That will be the only way to withstand His presence, that will be the only way we survive judgment. I do not know what this will look like and there is much of this I don’t fully understand, but I am sharing this with you out of obedience and praying for His Spirit to draw us together in right understanding.

Over and over we are told of “fire” throughout the Bible. Dig into your Bibles and read what God says about fire, especially how it was used in the Old Testament religious services, all of which were visual representations of spiritual realities. Every human being that has ever lived has a destiny with fire, and there are only two outcomes: you either become the fire, or you are destroyed by it.

(Exodus 3:2-5) There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed. So Moses said, "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up." When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am.” "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

(Acts 2:1-4) When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like a mighty rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

(2 Peter 3:10,11) But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to conduct yourselves in holiness and godliness.

(Isaiah 29:5,6) But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant, from the LORD of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

God In The Flesh

In one of my articles last week, I shared with you that our focus must not be on what our enemy is doing, but rather, it should always and ever be upon the risen Christ and His cross. However, such a focus does not negate the necessity of us being wise to our enemy’s schemes (2 Cor 2:11). There is a difference between being focused on the enemy versus understanding him.

There are too many people who do not understand that evil will tell you snippets of truth all day long, simply for the sake of gaining enough of your trust to lead you astray with his lies. What most people don’t understand is that Satan can be nice. The enemy of Jesus Christ can quote Scripture and can be sincere (Matt 4:6). Satan has no problem saying abortion is wrong, or that Jesus died on a cross, or that God is powerful and created everything. Satan speaking facts does not make him truthful, nor does it make him honorable or worthy of trust and respect.

Satan can speak truths when he needs to, but he will not act in humility. Therefore, there is one truth he simply will not speak. Satan will not say that Jesus Christ is God. For to do that, would be to humble himself to humanity, it would be to acknowledge that humanity has been lifted up above himself, because Jesus is both fully human and fully God (John 8:56-58; 14:11; Phil 2:5-8; Col 1:19; 2:9). God became a human being to restore us back into relationship with Himself and that human being is Jesus Christ. Do not think that someone is trustworthy simply because they speak random facts about God and say nothing of the deity of Jesus Christ. Our litmus test in these days of religious and political chaos must be those who call God by the name of Jesus.

The antichrist spirit will not confess God in the flesh, and to confess God in the flesh is to say that Jesus Christ is God. That is what the Apostle John is talking about at 1 John 4:2,3. Therefore, in the days ahead as you hear more and more talk about the three Abrahamic religions being in unity under the same God, you will know that is a lie. The battle line has been drawn and that battle line is Jesus Christ. There is no fellowship with those who deny the Son, because whoever denies the Son does not have the Father. And entering into any religious agreement with those who deny the Son, is to enter into a covenant of death.

(1 John 4:2,3) By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and which is already in the world at this time.

(2 John 1:7) For many deceivers have gone out into the world, refusing to confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.

(1 John 2:23) Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father, but whoever confesses the Son has the Father as well.

(John 5:22,23) Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father Who sent Him.

(1 John 5:19,20) We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him Who is true; and we are in Him Who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Wall Of Fire

I usually don’t share visions. I have on very rare occasions over the years, but only at the prompting of the Spirit or if what I’m sharing is something that I feel will only serve to draw people’s focus to Christ. But I’m going to share a vision I had last fall that I had again this morning, because a trusted brother in Christ wrote about this exact thing this morning. Someone I trust, who lives hundreds of miles away, was shown the same thing.

Last fall and this morning while praying, I saw a wall of fire. I was in a large circular room/area that was surrounded by walls made of fire, but the fire was some type of plasma. I remember thinking that it reminded me of what thick blown glass looks like, transparent but not clear, and you can only see blobs or shadows of whatever is on the other side of it. I was on the inside of it and it was quiet and still and all I could hear was the low rumbling sound of the flames, like when a gas heater is burning. 

The understanding I had was that the wall was going to be the great test of the church. God was going to bring the church up to that wall and everyone was going to have to stand before it and decide whether they were going to pass through it or not. My understanding was that the only thing that was going to matter in the end was passing through that wall. Because of the chaotic state of the church at the time of the end, the wall was going to be the test of true faith regardless of denomination or movement or religious beliefs or whatever. To be able to pass through the wall, the person was going to have to genuinely trust Christ. Their genuine trust would be evidenced by their willingness to walk through it, and only those who passed through to the other side would be God’s true church. 

Last fall, when I had the vision the first time, I saw that there were many people who had made it up to the wall, but they were just standing there, debating on whether or not to touch it. Some stood within inches of it and had their hand raised toward it, but they just stood there with their hand raised in hesitation. They stood there wrestling with themselves, whether they could do it or not. The wall was the place that speaks “you can go this far and no further” without genuine trust in the Lord. Many were afraid and unsure, many doubted because they couldn't see what was on the other side of the wall and passing through was a genuine act of faith. The thing about this wall was that it acted like a mirror, and when people reached it and faced it, they had to face themselves. To pass through the wall was to come face to face with their true condition, to face the wretchedness of their flesh, to face their weaknesses and ugliness, and yet trust that Christ was on the other side of all that and would save us if we trusted Him enough to walk through that wall of fire.

Many turned and walked away. Some were too afraid to step through and they had to face the truth that they never really trusted Christ and the faith they claimed to have was a lie. They had fooled many people with their superficial faith, but you cannot fool the wall of fire. But the only safe place for us was on the other side of that wall in that circular area because that's where God was. No flesh could make it through the wall, everything that was not born of God or formed by God was burned away when someone passed through. 

While praying this morning and seeing that wall again, I remember the Spirit giving me the understanding that the wall of fire was also Christ Himself. When I first had the vision, I saw the wall as a "thing", it was an object, it was merely a “thing” that had to be passed through to get into the inner sanctum, the very presence of God where nothing could touch us. But this morning, the Spirit made me understand that the wall was not a thing. It was not just an object, the fire was a person, it was Christ Himself. Jesus is the wall of fire. It is He that we must pass through to get into the inner sanctum of God. He is both the fire and the presence. He is both what we pass through and where we dwell.

(Isaiah 4:3-6) Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—all in Jerusalem who are recorded among the living—WHEN THE Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of fire, then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy, a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

(Zechariah 2:3-5) Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel came out to meet him and said to him “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it. For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory within it.’ "

(Isaiah 66:15) For behold, the Lord will come with fire-- His chariots are like a whirlwind-- to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.

(Matt 3:11) I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

(Heb 12:29,29) Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. For our God is a consuming fire.

(Zechariah 13:9) This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, "They are My people," and they will say, "The LORD is our God."