Should Christians Judge?

As we all differ one from another, it becomes apparent that our purposes and callings are not identical. While we have all been created for His glory, our similar abilities can vastly differ in the final results. We are given a soul with three specific functions, giving us competence to become and to perform. These three abilities are instinctive and God-created wonders known as the mind, emotion, and will. The oppressive or explosive environments in which Mankind lives are basically descripted as conditions of influence. These influences are completely capable of being depressive or impressive. However, the receptiveness and effect varies from one to another based on pre-existing conditions of the soul. The inner condition of our soul will determine the impact upon our life. It is the understanding of two people seeing things from two completely different perspectives. One sees a cup half full, and the other sees the same cup half empty. Here we see two different views that are both correct. Why is this? The perspective through which we view circumstances is often influenced by certain sensitivities of prior influence. This influence becomes a prominent driver of the way we understand and accept. Perception is the antenna through which most people receive. It is entirely natural for man to use two specific instruments of the body to form judgment. The eye and the ear are the natural perception sensors which bring us judgment decisions. If then, perception is the inspection instrument that is used to view and comprehend, we see how there can be misunderstandings. How does this work in the spiritual world where we are called to function, and why is this so important to understand?

We find that Jesus calls the type of judgment I have just described as unrighteous. We are asked to make righteous judgment. John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. The word righteous means innocent and pure, i.e. without prior influence. This simply means judgment that is true and not pre-influenced by the soul. So, we understand that judgment reached using our eyes is not righteous. Isaiah 11:2 And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; V.3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears.

Jesus did not judge with what His eyes told Him, and He did not reprove things that He heard through His ears. If Jesus didn’t use these means, neither should we. Most people judge with a pre-bias or an obstacle in the eye. This can blur vision and even affect dreams. It can give Satan the advantage to dilute the sensual soul. Jesus likens this to a huge plank of wood that stumbles over a little splinter. This judgment comes from a beam of prior influence that disappointed the proud stumbling icon of self. These are poisonous little venoms that pre-influence the eye and the ear to perceive something small as being huge; they burn with poisonous venom, thus making it way over-blown because of personal anxiety. This will cause pre-influenced judgment in every imaginable way. The beam can easily be labeled with other words of influence like Envy, Jealousy, Despise, Hate, Self-pity, and other vipers of ill-will. Most people that walk around with well-nourished hurts, baby these captions of others’ slight mistakes. Huge mistakes made by someone seldom bring hurts that are nourished. Huge mistakes that are sin against us drive us to the cross, and that is where we can lay it down in surrender. Oh yes, it can take down the very spiritual and established and even the very elect, according to end-time conditions that will come. Little mistakes often drive the soulish man to revenge and aggravation.

Jesus was so full of the Holy Spirit that He would not depend on His eyes or His ears to make judgment that only spiritual discernment could conclude. And the Holy Spirit rested upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Those are six specific virtues from the Holy Spirit that were at rest upon the life of Jesus. The Holy Spirit gives us less intelligence, more wisdom. He gives us less shrewdness, more understanding. He gives us less opinion, more counsel and guidance. Less muscle, more might. He was not knowledge, but the Spirit of knowledge that that will always find us in the fear of God. So, we see that the judgment Jesus used was from the Holy Spirit. The true Saints of God will possess this pure form of God’s Holiness to live by. Nothing pre-conceived, but Spirit-revealed. Let us never be found without our vessel FILLED WITH THE OIL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT! So, do we judge?

1 Corinthians 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? If the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Hallelujah!

The Heart of a Man

Every one of us in the human race has been created to be different from one another. God has ordained it to be this way for His glory. While we have different appearances, we all have certain similar abilities that separate us from all other creatures. We are given a soul. This soul has three specific functions. These functions are perfunctory compartments within us which produce a state of usefulness far beyond any other creature. These elements are distinctive, God-created wonders known as our mind, emotion, and will. Man lives in a realm of constantly being influenced as well as emanating his own influence. This atmospheric potpourri results in our soul’s common nature. Natural thinking says, what we learn we become. God says, what we speak is who we become or already are. Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. So, we see that the immediate source of our words, is that which is in our heart. Let us take some time to understand this phenomenon.

The words of man come from the heart and they defile, tarnish, and contaminate the whole man. How can words defile the heart from which they are spoken, defiling that which seems to be defiled already? Matthew 12:34 out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Can I have evil in my heart and speak good things? Do good and evil live within one’s heart at the same time? Most definitely we are vulnerable to both because of what the heart really is capable of. We read in James 3:10 Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing, but also is given a warning that this is not what it should be like. Jeremiah says the heart is deceitful more than anything and desperately wicked, who will know this? This understanding came from one of the great prophets of God. It is of great importance to acknowledge this truth and remain aware of its defiling rudiments constantly. Once we become honest about our fallible heart, the Holy Spirit will help us overcome our reckless tongue by imputing divine influence upon it. I describe the heart of man as a chamber, filled with suggestions that can be inflamed in a second by impulse, or pre-existing conditions. It can be calm as a silent night, and explosive as a burst of vicious force.

Jesus says it is from the heart that evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies come. If all these sinful tendencies come from the heart of man, how can we overcome them? Trying harder? There must be something in salvation that can over-shadow these heart-filling tendencies, else we would be committing these sins all the time. Is it simply self-denial? Denying the self can squelch many wrong desires until it bursts forth in a desire for life. That is the story of most of man’s failure. There must be something to tone the heart that is higher than human nature and greater in power or we would be in the constant trouble of prospering sin and its destruction.

Actually, our spirit houses the defined results of who we are and that which relates to us and comes out of us. This is why it is of such great importance to house things that are clean, spiritually free, and holy. Within this God-created storehouse is the temple faculty where the Holy Spirit dwells. There is only one thing given to man that has enabling power to govern the heart of evil sources. It is the Spirit of God. We need the Holy Spirit and to be constantly filled and overflowing with Him. We are rescued by His holy presence of heavenly strength and power. He changes the atmosphere around the heart and within the heart. He is the heavenly oil that lights the lamp in our life. He must be welcomed and given all priority to do what He is designed to do! He is the burning candle in Revelation. He is the only one sent by Christ after His resurrection from death! He gifts the Bride of Christ with power and victories not possible any other way! He is among us as power for the saint and deliverance for the faint! He turns our eyes toward heaven and over-rides our weakness with strength! He inflames our soul with Himself and changes who we naturally are! Hallelujah!

My Life for His Will

Years ago, I was in Japan and went on a tour during which they took us to places where we were asked to remove our shoes. They considered these to be very high places of consecrated activities, such as the presentation of offerings and incense. There was a statue of Buddha which they made offerings to. I would not go in but saw it through a large open door. There were scores of bells and many small containers of expensive substance housed there. The place was considered very sacred because it was a place to transfer gifts to some higher point of worship. There were signs indicating the many things forbidden in these places which they called shrines. Shoes, for instance, were not allowed through the door. There was only one thing allowed here, they called it worship.

When Almighty God thinks of His own people, what does He know them as? God sees our body as a temple. The original definition of that word is: shrine. 1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? V.20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Did the Japanese understand something about a shrine that we ourselves deface and disvalue before the true God? The purpose of our body is to temple the Holy Ghost. This is done with a grand welcoming from the once hell-bound human being. We present gifts and offerings of praise and thanksgiving, giving 100% of ourselves here. This is the first and most important thing in our entire life. When this is done, there is splendor and beauty that exists here. This royal practice is heavenly and powerful and so pure. To be at peace with God in this inner curriculum of selfish tendencies and yet defray all circumstantial power of the imagination is something only found where the Holy Spirit spreads his wings of serenity. Oh Hallelujah! Here we can walk in heaven’s balance contained within the human heart. This treasure in an earthen vessel is Holy before God and therefore Satan seeks to desecrate it, bringing continuous trouble to it. These are the inner chambers where the prayers of the saints prevail through faith that is not complex.

There are spiritual enemies that are persistent against this harmony. The accord is not all that visible from the soul of carnal man, but is a spiritual threat in the highest capacity because of the Holy Spirit’s unseen presence. It is the culmination of inspiration, revelation, and illumination as portals of Heaven presented on Earth. The Cain from Eden is never at rest in this pleasant portrait. Cain fights it within or without because he is a vehicle of jealousy to outperform everyone. Everyone is a threat to Cain. Cain is never satisfied with his own shoes. Until we are comforted and can rest in the shoes God designed for us, we are failures to the will of God.

Hebrews 10:5 Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me. Religious pragmatism appeals to the idea that we need to be a victim in order to be a sacrifice. We are no longer victims in sacrifice for offering. What we are, is a prepared body fitted to do the will of God. V.7 Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God. Our task is a simple one to fulfill. We are here to do the will of God.

Scores of people have asked me down through the years how to know the will of God for their lives. I have only one answer to this self-adjusted and complex question: YOU KNOW! Within the daily activities of a temple of His glory, residing within a transformed life, there will always be a lineup of legitimate notations drawing our attention to a question of the simple will of God. Within the heart of the saint there is rest and peace in His will. The will of God is not an imagination. It is not in your head but profoundly quiet in your heart. In the heart, it is never covered with confusion. In the mind, it is seldom without confusion. What is the will of God for your life? You know, now walk therein.

Spiritual Thirst

Forty verses after Genesis 1:1 we find this word—river. It was a river of water that turned into four rivers to water the vast land. One must wonder where this powerful river came from. It came from Eden, the newly created garden of God. The source of this water was the great Creator, the importance of it being the survival of His new creation! It was a tremendous outpouring of water in mere moments to water the entire land. His original blueprint is still being carried out to this very day. Without water, there is no survival of anything. There is a fundamental law that can be seen within the subject of water which must be clearly understood. It is the simple truth that few will ever drink water without first thirsting for it. A healthy person thirsts for water.

There is a vital spiritual application that is key to going deeper with God. What we find is a similar depiction with those that deeply desire to be right with God. Being right with God is something that cannot be produced by us, therefore it creates a thirst. As we cannot create our own water, we cannot create our own righteousness. Hunger and thirst are present when one seeks to be right with God. Matthew 5:6 blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. When one is hungry or thirsty, he pursues, seeks, makes it a priority. When righteousness becomes a thirst or hunger, you will find yourself in the midst of an Abrahamic type promise in Christ. You will be filled. So, to be filled is where God’s acceptable righteousness in Christ reigns. What are we in thirst of? We might define the answer this way: we want more of God, more of Jesus. God’s answer to our need is His righteousness. This is why carnal people seek to construct their own righteousness, which God will never accept. They only produce rags of filth that hold no appeal to Him under any condition. Offering rags of filth generates no true thirst after God at all. The only thing it does produce is the envy found in Cain’s fruit basket, which God turns His face from.

Abraham is called the father of all them that believe. He received God’s righteousness by believing God’s promise. He simply became fully persuaded that what God promised, He was able to execute. Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. V.23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; V.24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Our righteousness comes by believing on Him that raised Jesus from the dead. Who raised Jesus from the dead? Was it God or the Holy Spirit? It was truly God by way of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. If the Holy Spirit of God dwells in us, he fills us with the same resurrected life that it took to bring Jesus from the dead. Many people will argue the technicalities in these verses, but the question remains in compelling display. Is the powerful resurrection of the Holy Spirit clearly activated within me? Does it repel sin within me? In this battlefield of flesh verses Spirit, we find the Holy Spirit to be the king of righteousness.

Jesus made a clear call to the thirsty in the land. John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. V.38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. What a stunning answer to our thirst! We are to come to Jesus and drink, believing the scriptures exactly the way it is written. No private interpretation, no biases, no cultural blindness, without predetermined thoughts.

We must bow down to drink of this glorious river from Heaven! Until we can drink from this river God’s way, we will not have rivers flowing from us. V.39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Many confuse other people’s rivers with being their own, but this is not belly water. Cistern water is not our fountain. When the fountain river gushes forth from within, then you can know that the righteousness of Christ is confirmed through the inner-workings of the spiritual unity of the Holy Spirit. Once we have truly received His righteousness, the flow starts. Hallelujah!

Many can speak with great doctrinal vocabulary and portray astounding theory. However, we must never be swayed by the ear ticklers that carry a message without Gods supernatural attestation. Jesus said the difference is simple. The one that truly believes God’s word as it is written has His evidence. Mark 16:17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; V.18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. These were the last words of Jesus before He departed.

Chaff Within the Sanctuary (4)

When the Holy Spirit baptizes someone, He immediately brings changes to the soul of that person. The heart now becomes enlightened with vision and understanding on a different level. The natural eyes and ears become dull to likely judgment, perception now takes place within their heart in reverence and the fear of God. There is still the human tendency to see, hear, and judge with natural understanding, but as the Holy Spirit processes the natural formations of a man, he becomes completely transformed. His meditations change and his ambitions become spiritual. This change comes on the threshing floor of the wind of the Spirit. Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

What is chaff? Chaff is not called chaff until it needs to be separated from the grain it protects. Chaff is called lemma. It is an important silk-like membrane that forms around the life of a grain that is in the tender stage of maturity. It brings protection from harmful insects and diseases that are prone to destroy the grain. It protects from blight or damage incurred by the surrounding elements. Lemma also protects the grains from drying out in exposure to drought and even natural sunlight. Lemma is of extreme purpose, so long as there is growth in the plant. Once the grain has matured, the lemmas must be separated or it will choke the life from the very thing it was so useful to protect. Now we understand that when the lemma is finished protecting, it becomes chaff. Chaff is good for nothing, humans cannot even digest it. It will spoil the life in the grain if it is not separated.

When the Holy Spirit baptizes the heart of man, there is no longer need for the protectionisms that were depended upon for so long. These personal comfort zones that we were so in need have become a danger to the life now within. The lemmas were so secure, we thought no one could take them away. Now they are in vain and will become damaging to the heart that has turned into a fountain and a running river filled with life. Oh yes! The lemma has now become chaff and has to be separated and driven away by the wind and burned with fire. V.12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into His barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

When the heart becomes baptized in the Holy Spirit, there is an accessory element of unquenchable fire that stays constantly with the Holy Spirit upon that man. This fire is not quenchable no matter how hard one tries. This fire is anti-chaff. It is designed to burn anything that seeks to stem the flow of the river. This fire is as active as the Holy Spirit because it is an integral part of the Holy Spirit. You have been baptized with the Holy Spirit and you have been baptized with this fire. As long as you walk baptized you will be under the power of His fire. This fire cleanses and makes dangerous things disappear and appear. Anything you tend to trust by common nature of the self-life, whether friends, occupation, agenda, hang-ups, biases, lifestyle, will become burnished amber tested by the fire of the Spirit. The temple of the Holy Spirit experiences a heavenly overhaul at His appearance and now it remains completely His to rest in through powerful demonstrations.

This bough of the Holy Spirit is called fire. It protects us at all times and keeps us separated unto the heavenly Father lest we lose the treasure that has been bestowed upon us. It causes our natural man to have many questions at times. As this holy fire does its purifying all around us, we can easily become discouraged until we see what it has fire-proved within us. Now we see these virtues of weakness that have become strengths through the proving of the fire; they are tempered, tested, purified, and cannot be burned up. It is almost a sure thing that our peers will condemn and misunderstand this process. You see, the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God. He says it is foolish and godless to him.

To be separated from the thing that was so needed to bring us to a certain place in our Christian walk, feels like losing all we have. Why? Because it was about all we had; brownie points and personal achievements with God that we deem as medals of our own goodness. We think we have done pretty well and perhaps we have in the eyes and ears of natural understanding. So long as we are satisfied with such self-approval, we will not seek the deeper life that is effectual through the power of the Holy Spirit. Chaff cannot remain in the sanctuary where the powerful Holy Spirit thrives. Hallelujah!

Contusions in the Sanctuary (3)

While Satan desires to make us feel like continual failures, the truth remains secreted within the sanctified ones. It is the quiet voice of the shepherd that acknowledges the treasure in our earthen vessel. There are simply no devices nor contrivances which Heaven has designed to devastate that which He fills the saints with. These are purified ones, having their vestures dipped in the blood of Jesus for constant redemption. These saints of God don’t worship upon other altars. Their cry is deeper than a shallow soul can perceive. They are the neediest of spiritual humanity. They have forsaken the criticism of constant disapproval from the treacherous souls of men and devils. These sanctuaries of God could be focused entirely on pain, hurts, and the utter rejection which has been inflicted upon them, leaving contusions as evidence of their woundings. Instead, their heart speaks of healing, blessing, and overcoming victory. This is their victory cry, and their mission. It is what flows out of them because it is what is within them. The true saint often faces trouble on every side of life because there is so much life within him. The fullness of the flow of life within him comes from having overcome so many obstacles and clever traps that were set up for his demise. He is hated by opposing forces that seek to destroy his inner life.

These sanctuaries of God do have faults at times, especially in the eyes of the carnal man. Faults are simply interpretive, that is why they are not really classified as sin. I do not believe God classifies mere faults as sin. James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. Here it never suggests that faults need forgiveness from God. Faults cause personal hurts and pain at times. The tender conscience that has developed within the saint receives extreme crushings and buffetings from Satan at times. This is usually accomplished through persons in whom the saint has placed their trust. Peter did this very thing to Jesus when he suggested that the death of the cross was nonsense. These darts are designed to wreak heavy destruction upon the heart. But the one who surrenders to the cross does not go into distress easily. He often becomes bewildered by perplexities, but his trust in the Lord will not let him fall into hopeless despair for he knows the cross well. While persecution is a close companion of his, he does not forsake nor is he forsaken. This spiritual man is often cast to the ground but not by his own sin; these sanctuaries suffer for righteousness’ sake, not for evil doings. He survives, and with some time and patience will overcome the intended destruction. Yes, he may suffer and tangle with difficulty for extended periods of time, but will prevail because of His master shepherd who already knows how to overcome.

2 Corinthians 4:8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; V.9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; V.10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. V.11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. V.12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

Paul’s experience was identical as he writes to the Corinthians. What is often so difficult for the saint is to have understanding and spiritual comprehension as to why he is going through these valleys with shadows of death all around. Sometimes we must die to our need of understanding. Can we rest in the fact that we might never know nor understand? Maybe that is in itself the trial we are to endure. Is it the fact that the Holy Spirit wants to walk with us to deepen our dependence with Him? One thing is clear: the Holy Spirit is our comforter and glorious strength through joy. The Holy Spirit will never, never, leave the saint alone because within him is His sanctuary. One of the supernatural attributes of the Holy Spirit is that He can be fully at rest and in complete power within His sanctuary; in His silence, He can seem completely hidden, yet the next moment He is gushing forth in power, purity, and the heavenly overflow from His fountain of love and excellence. A human that is wrapped around the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit is like the wind, not knowing for sure what’s next. The wind is blowing and you hear many sounds, but you don’t know for sure where it’s coming from or where it will end up going.

Contusion of the soul or complete healing, however it may be at this moment with you, there is one thing you must fully know: The Holy Spirit is always completely present within His sanctuary when He is welcome to set free His power to fulfill all the promises of God for His glory. John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.    

Hallelujah!

Activities Within the Sanctuary (2)

There are people who live under the constant guilt of personal imperfection simply because they pursue to perfect themselves under competing pressure. The intensity of this battle is in being under constant maintenance, the focus being on the output of man’s works and performance. This may be perceived by some as an honorable token of spirituality, but it carries the seal of the defeat of self-righteousness. This is not what God is looking for, regardless how spiritual it may seem. We must consider this fateful dilemma within our soul, lest we become bound by it in blindness.

We are all prone to love our own product of performance. While the saint troubles himself with the carnality of such noble fraud, it is humbling to note that God wants no part in it. These are tactics of the enemy to cause us to take our eyes off God and focus within. Now we become a miserable escalation of ugly defeat. The more our eyes focus on our self, the more vicious this battle becomes. The constant defeat of this battle creates an atmosphere within the saint where the Holy Spirit is not welcome. Once the Holy Spirit is not welcome, there goes our joy and strength. This vicious cycle is almost humorous once we see the picture. However, the true saint is honest, and will at some point come to the truth of this messy self-criticism. Why? Because within he is a sanctuary temple of heavenly royalty that God will not forsake.

2 Corinthians 5:2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. V.3 If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked. V.4 For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened: not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up by life. V.7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight)

Many of these conflicts that war within us, turn us to the utmost and only spiritual resolve. Hope becomes a discovered treasure and the only source of dependence on God’s grace and mercy. Here, we lose—He wins, and the picture is perfect! So in essence, we lose—He wins—we win, and all win! Thus are the conversation and picture that form upon the page of experience as a true sanctuary of victory! Hallelujah!

Found within us is this noble interaction between victory and being crushed. This creates an environment of contrition and brokenness that are draws to prayer, meditation, and vehement desire for more of Heaven and less of me. These longings lead us through the path of His righteousness. These personal places are mountains of valleys, or valleys of mountains, that offer a sanctified climate of spiritual strength and dependence. These private experiences bring a form of interaction from Earth to Heaven, and Heaven to Earth. It is the sanctuary of God’s interaction with man and it is the exact place God desires to be. Heaven is God’s throne and Earth is where His feet rest. May we be to Him a sanctuary so His presence can rest and not fight us? Isaiah 66:1 Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? where is the place of my rest? V. 2 For all those things hath mine hand made, and those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

Being spiritually poor here means saddened, even a bit depressed, in mind or circumstances. The Hebrew meaning for contrite is: maimed, dejected, crushed. Trembleth means: “reverences His Word”. God is looking to live in the heart that has these conditions. These are conditions often found in the spiritual and effective saints. These true refined saints have few instructions for other people. They are vessels that God alone is glorified in. The fountain that flows out of these is so rich that many reject it and cannot drink. Their discourse is for God’s glory alone. They have the refinements and victories of Job. These saints know no double life. They are a sanctuary where the attributes of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are exceedingly present.

Psalm 96:6 Honor and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Within the Heavenly Sanctuary (Part 1)

I want to write a series of messages on what transpires within the heart of the true saints of God. Throughout 32 years of ministering to these saints of God, I have found a mass of concerns that have defeated far too many well-meaning saints. I have noticed that in the last four years there is an overpowering plague that has troubled the finest of God’s people. These are things we need to understand lest we be brought to a place of complete despair.

The marvel of the holiness of God reigning in a previously sin-plagued human being, is one of the great achievements of the power of Jesus. This heavenly ambiance within an earthen vessel where the righteousness of Christ reigns, is an exhibition so powerful that Satan relentlessly pursues to bring heavy destruction upon it. God will at times use these abrasions in times of trouble and even sorrow, to bring sanctification to a saint through the Holy Spirit. However, we must take note that not all is sorrow and heartache within the heart of the redeemed. Often, the saint of God can lose his joy when the enemy pursues his soul. The idea that God is constantly chastening us and finding fault with us is simply not the truth of His ways. God Almighty from Heaven is all about building us up and bringing us to a deeper walk with Him through His redemptive ways. If the god you listen to is always tearing you down and overpowering you with inductions of guilt and irrelevant pressure against your soul, know one thing clearly: it is not the Father Elohim.

Satan can transform himself to appear as an angel of light, making us think that it is God that is speaking or chastening us. When God chastens us, He corrects us; this is exactly what He achieves. God truly does chasten those whom He loves, but that is not all He does. Some saints allow themselves to go through a continual beating for years until even their desire for God becomes jeopardized and soured. My friend, this is simply not God!  God’s love does not damage your passion for Him. God’s loving conviction does not tear you down. Jesus said, “I will give you rest under my yoke”. God’s love does not spiritually destroy His saints. God chastens us when we need to be correctively loved, then He moves on leading us into deeper things of faith, joy, hope, grace, and love. God does not damage the saint. Satan is out to destroy, damage, kill, and deceive. When God corrects us, He does it by convicting our soul through the Holy Spirit. When God rebukes us, He does it with a full disclosure of love and perfect timing. Yes, God does lead us to brokenness but not by obliterating us into a cloud of constant condemnation of despair.

There are angels that are transformed, appearing as light that can speak swelling words of understanding or pretense of light. They seek to destroy the soul of God’s effective ones and bring them into the bondage of condemnation. They inflict words that cause great harm and offer nothing redemptive. These thoughts pursue the slight faults of the saints seeking to obscure their view of God. These thoughts from the disguised are utterly sinful and they seek to tarnish the spirit of a clean saint. The Holy Spirit always has the right timing when He speaks, instilling trust in His care. The angel of light has the wrong timing, inflicting despair.

Why does God call Satan a pretending angel? These angels seem super-spiritual whether in thoughts or in ability to speak into a situation. The problem is clear — that it brings the heart into deep constant despair and condemnation. These thoughts, whether they come through man or to man, are very destructive and anti-Christ. They hold themselves as bearers of light or revelation. These punitive thoughts appear to be out of concern, therefore going easily undetected because they seem so spiritual. The saint in his purity has a sensitive conscience to reverence God in honor and to maintain the fear of God. This makes him vulnerable and an easy target.

These people or thoughts are ‘wondering stars’, as Jude describes them. They rove and move but are wanderers in the desert of defeat and ensnarement. There is a carnal tendency for the saint to sense that God is constantly against them. This is never the voice of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will never issue such antagonistic influence of constant despair upon the saint. Satan, as an angel of light, will certainly do so, but it needs to be quickly understood that this it is not the Holy Spirit. Does a godly loving father castigate his son for several years in an unrelenting way? Then how could we perceive that God does this to us? These are tactics to rob the joy of the saint and can never be received as being from God, regardless of how spiritual they may seem.

Proverbs 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: V. 12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth, [Greek: convicts] even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Spiritual Eclipse

Jesus is the only direct power that overcomes blindness because He is the Light. Jesus said if our eye is single our whole body is full of light. Luke 11:35 Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness. If we have what we think is light within us, yet it puts everything out of focus, then we are full of darkness although we think we have light. A single eye is when our two eyes see one thing. An evil eye is when we’ve lost our focus, having two eyes and seeing two different things with nothing in single focus. Jesus said that the light of the body is the eye. I understand that Jesus made this statement to make a spiritual point.

Jesus is the Light of the world and there is no darkness in Him at all. Jesus instructs us to walk in the light as He is in the light, and have fellowship with others. When we walk in darkness, we will not desire fellowship because our minds have an obstacle between us and the Son. This is a spiritual eclipse. Many Christians have this because of a religious blemish or personal prejudiced rites. When we have this, there are simply none as good as our self. No one sees as clearly as I, no one has it together like I do. But deep within this proud heart there is a condition of false humility and discontentment.

When we are in a spiritual eclipse, we place ourselves higher than others. This darkness is generationally devastating and will affect future generations. Now no one is good enough to be a friend anymore; others simply don’t get it. It becomes threatening to learn from anyone outside of our specific religion or biases. This cryptic man becomes a person on a lonely island. This friendless person has a spiritual odor of disapproval that makes even the most personable people sprint. Why does this happen? Our minds have created an obstacle between us and the Son. 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. The condition of one walking in the light will be the same as the one that fellowships with one another; it will be the same condition as the one that has all his sins forgiven, (not just a few that can be easily acknowledged). This condition is concluded as total transparency before God and man. Once we cannot fellowship with one another, we must conclude at once that we have a spiritual dilemma. Once we cannot acknowledge mistakes, faults, or sin, instead justifying our issues, we have no more singleness of eye. The dilemma is that we have removed ourselves from fellowship. Now we walk no more in the light of Christ. The blood of Christ no more cleanses us from all sin. We are convinced that we have it all, know it all, and really have need of nothing, but secretly approve those that would be just like our self.

The last part of this verse says, “And the blood of Jesus Christ his SON cleanseth us from all sin”! When we are in the spiritual eclipse of walking with an obstacle between us and the Son, we are deprived of light, fellowship, and sin cleansing.

What causes spiritual eclipse? A fundamental obstacle? We have allowed something to move between us and the Son of God. It often comes from bitter envying and striving within the heart. It is something earthy, sensual, and devilish. It places us where His light is not upon us. It shines around us but not through us. We are now replacing spiritual hope with idealism and without realizing it. It is an awful condition that everyone can become drawn into and become snared in. It can last a short time, a long time, or even a lifetime until it is acknowledged or repented of.

Jesus said in John 12:35 Then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. V.36 While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

To prevent a spiritual eclipse, we must believe in the Light and walk while we have light that shines upon us. If we don’t walk in what we have, darkness will come. Things will come between us and God.

2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

1 John 2:11 But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

Permissive Conditions Before a Fall (Part 4)

I understand that the permissive conditions in the heart before a tragic failure are pride and envy. It seems that pride and envy are the highest forms of iniquity, and nurture secret rebellion even in the presence of Almighty God. I understand this to have been the element of iniquity in the being of Lucifer before the greatest fall known to man. It was a desire to be that which he admired, worshiped, and paid service to. He was a covering angel and was the music-maker of Heaven. He was created in beauty and full of wisdom. He walked upon the holy mountains of God’s glory. Ezekiel 28:15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. This angel with majestic ability and heavenly prominence, was created perfect in all his ways. In his perfection, his heart was lifted up because of his splendid magnificence. In the midst of this high calling, within him was found a devious sin. It came from a desire formed in a secret place. The desire was to exceed his calling and what he was created for. He realized his created ability, or as the Bible calls it, “his merchandise”. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty. This perfect angel now corrupted his wisdom by his ability to reason. Ezekiel 28:17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness. How can something so perfect become so corrupt?

Now this angel had corrupted wisdom. He came to the first two perfectly created human beings in Eden. He asked questions of Eve and it tarnished her trust into reasoning. Ezekiel 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick. Here we see that Lucifer had now accumulated a substantial amount of iniquities and he defiled God’s hallowed places by peddling reasonings. This is the most evil strategy of Lucifer. He desperately pursues the defilement of holy places. He seeks to stake out where God is doing marvelous works. He hates the presence of God’s Holy Spirit. Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Satan does not need a lot to cause horrific evil. He just needs a stitch of thread inside a heart to cause pride or envy. These anti-Christ insults within a heart can evaporate the love of God in a heartbeat without a dramatic sense of the presence of evil. Actually, it might seem assertively spiritual and even reasonable. It only explodes after it gains capacity in trafficking. Look at the Garden of Eden. What would the number one opponent of God want with a tree that man was told not to touch and not to eat?

When the natural man is forbidden of something, he becomes curious in his imagination. Once curious, he becomes a lucrative target for failure. This is the intensely vulnerable point of entry to the imaginary. There is only one escape for the saint in this profound yet subtle heap of temptation: it is the cross. The unwillingness to lay down our life in this susceptible state will create an open door for the grand deception of reason. The reasoning powers of the human mind now become infected with the overshadowing of Satan’s influence amid considered reasonableness.

When a spiritual picture is so clear that faith is no more needed, then we can be assured that Satan is in the details. Eve had faith to obey what God said until she was overshadowed by her reasoning of it. All Lucifer needed to do was to suggest. That single question, “has God said?”, seemed so reasonable to respond to. The response caused human reasoning against the spoken word. Satan knew that with reasonings he could control all of God’s human creation, bringing them under his authority, if Eve could be beguiled. Satan’s response to Eve was that God knows if you eat, you will be as gods. Eve said wow, rather than woe is me!

Satan hides in the things that are forbidden by God. In Eden, it was a tree of knowledge. This tree of knowledge was the inflammation of Eve’s imagination. It is within this flattered heart that lies the passion to become someone we are not. Here we want someone else’s calling, gifts, treasure, purpose. Satan wanted to sit in the seat of God. Eve wanted to be like gods.

What are the permissive conditions hidden before an epic fall? They are pride, and envy that is saturated with reason.

1 Peter 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: V.9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.