March 5, 2007
by Jo Bowman
The past few weeks I have been wrestling over some issues, knowing that the Lord has it in control but wondering why it is I haven't seen any breakthroughs. The usual questions go round for sometime before I realise the mind games I've got into again. You know things like “may be I haven't prayed enough, or maybe the prayer wasn't in line with His will, or maybe I'm really not dealing with some sin in my life even though I think I have checked that all out with Him a lot.”
Well....I just opened my note book this morning and looked at something I'd written in there, I think back in October of last year.
I read it through and wondered why I hadn't added the name of the author from whom I'd copied it ...that's the truth...and then I realised it was something He had had me write! It had been like a dictation at the time and only now is it a word that is coming alive to me because of the experiencing of it!
Here's what I had written, the black text is the original and the blue is what He's giving me as I write it up today:-
Faith unto salvation is the door for dunamis. It is through faith in His ability and desire to save us fully, body, soul and spirit (to present us as a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God), that He then can impart His dunamis power to us.
This dunamis power is what keeps us. In Rev 3 :10 He is reminding me of a promise He took me to when I first sought Him out to know once and for all if we would get raptured out or stay for the tribulation. He spoke the word “keep” to me and led me to this verse....when I studied out the original Greek word it was clear that this word “keep” does not mean remove from, but rather surround and hedge in, protect in. Since then He has opened many more scriptures to me to show me the truth about the days ahead and His need to have His faithful ones here, with feet on the ground and heads raptured in the heavens in the darkest hour upon the world. That's not what I want to bring out here though so if you the reader are in doubt, do like I did. Be open, seek Him and you will find Him...the word, the truth for yourselves.
This promise in Rev 3;10 is so plain that the scriptures are sufficient as the Lord in John's vision speaks to the one who overcomes in the faithful church of the seven churches.
“ Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth”.
So where does He command us elsewhere in scripture to persevere? Well we are told to pray with perseverance for all the saints in Eph 6:18, but to persevere for ourselves I see is put in another word elsewhere...the word patience! Yep, the one we would all rather skip over!
Luke 21:19 the words of Jesus Himself commanding us to :-
“In your patience possess ye your souls”
Romans 5:3 and 4
“And not only, but we glory in TRIBULATIONS also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience, experience: and experience, hope.”
The root greek word of patience here is G5281 in Strongs hupomone
And means cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy:- enduring, patience, patient continuing, waiting.
And what strikes me is the cheerful/hopeful enduring. Because Jesus Himself said that “he who endures to the end the same shall be saved”.
Now all this cheerful expectancy, hoping, perservering, patient waiting cannot come from our own self. This much I know as I'm sure you do by your own circumstances. Putting a brave face on things is not inner peace and joy in tough times...it's wall papering over the cracks and sooner or later the whole lot will be exposed! So if you have tendancy to do that....take this on board for your own sake and ask Him to start His work on you.
I borrowed a dvd documentary the other night from friends on the antartic expedition led by Lord Shackleton on the ship called endurance. It was all about the horrors they went through. But the whole film was really bringing out some incredible qualities in Shackleton, who had (as an exterior anyway) this hopeful endurance. The conditions and continuing unsurmountable problems they encountered were close to bringing many of the ships crew down to insanity, through fear, hopelessness and physical suffering. Shackleton was experiencing the exact same conditions and also the added weight and disappointment of choosing to abort and thus fail his last antartic trip in order to save the lives of his men. Yet at each apparent end of the road, he would pace alone for awhile in the agony of his own mind, but afterwards appear to his men with complete calm and composure and cheerfully announce the next bit of their journey, emphasising it was one step nearer home! By the end, to some of the men his positive statements were sounding more like insanity than their negative thoughts, but out of respect for him, they too would put on brave faces. You may know the story but in the end after over one year of extreme surviving he saw that not one of his men were lost but all against incredible odds made it back home alive.
How many of us could have kept up like he did? But you know, if we are allowing the Lord to really work within us, He promises we can not just look positive and have inner self strength, we can be more than conquerors and have peace and joy within, a peace not of our own, so it can never be taken, a peace only He can give.
So pondering the fruits of cheerful enduring, we return to what I'd entered in my notebook, remembering that we began by looking at having faith unto being saved. That is His saving us progressively from our own selves, not just initial salvation when we first meet Jesus, but continuing faith to believe He is transforming us and making us like Him! Enduring cheerfully the painful process that is necessary to shape shift our insides from being soul shaped to Jesus heart and mind, His nature! Remember we were seeing how faith unto salvation is the door for His dunamis power.
This dunamis power is what keeps. He went before as the forerunner, the watchman to hem us in and to discern and see clearly, to experience and even passively appear. We know that when He Christ our life shall appear, that then we too shall appear with Him IN GLORY (not a place over yonder..but a physical tangible presence..SHEKINAH GLORY) and we shall be like Him for we shall SEE (have face to face intimacy) Him as He is! WOW.
Col 3:4 and 1 John 3:2
Our faith in His utter salvation opens the door to the dunamis power of God, that is all things then become able or possible! (root word for dunamis = become able or possible, be of power).
That's the end of what I found in my book, but this is what I find He gives me to finish here.
If you should hear another or find yourself just wishing and waiting for God's power to come down now...because you can't take seeing anymore suffering, you long to see His power at work, healing the sick and raising the dead, please please, don't get pulled into the new age quick fix, fast food faith....that stands there and drums up God! You've heard it...come on God, we're waiting, send us your power, show your power, we believe you can do it...go for it God, we're willing to help!
I hear him whispering “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” and such behaviour is foolishness. The book of Proverbs read honestly will help you see this His way!
That kind of talk without experience of the ways of His cross is paramount to the Baal worshippers yelling at their idols to send the fire onto the altar in competition with Elijah. When nothing happens, well it all gets a little bit more frantic, hype up the music and dance, do a bit of self sacrificing too (they began to cut themselves) but looking sacrifical in your lifestyle could do as good and then keep on declaring Him. One thing even more scary than to realise that not all that is done in Jesus name is by His spirit, is the realisation that some of this will also get results. Oh yes, devils have powers and if we haven't dealt with our flesh and get into the power of our own souls by wilfully resisting His cross, we open up entry for such powers to manifest. We have crossed over the boundaries He set for us in to the realms of witchcraft without ever reading up on wicca or any such evil! How...because rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and yelling at God to send some miracles but not surrendering to His commands is out and out rebellion. Many today are being pulled fast towards a fashionable trend to expect miracles, without ever considering that His power comes by the way of the cross and death to the self life!
Getting to know somebody, really have a relationship takes time and investment of your self. The Lord said in Matt 7:22-23 “many will say to Me in that day, ŒLord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, ŒI never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness'!”
There is nothing more plain to me than that not all who are claiming to be of Him today, are...indeed we know that many and not few will fall away from the true faith in Him. The reality is that there are blind leaders of the blind and both will fall into the ditch! How sad but it has to be said, because we are warned to heed these things and be obedient to Him, especially because we are living in perilous times.
See 2 Thessalonians 2, 2 Timothy 3 and Luke 6:39
Of course I do not say that only the most matured surrendered believers are then able to be used for Him to work His miracles, the disciples went out as soon as the Lord commanded them and began....but....they had just seen the Lord crucified and resurrected. They had had first hand experience of God's ultimate plan for saving man kind. They were ON FIRE in their hearts quite literally once the spirit came at Pentecost and we know though the Lord was taking them on that journey of faith in being ultimately changed into His likeness, their hearts must have been just full of desire to surrender to Him and arrive at that ultimate goal.
If the working of such miracles comes from a heart that has truly seen the Lord for who He is and what He wants to do with that individual and from all willingness and desire to surrender whatever the cost to His ways, then the seed of faith is sown and the miracles are of God.
So why then are many real hearts longing to see God move, with true desire to let Him have His way in their lives, but yet seemingly themselves just becoming more weak and powerless? Should they be yelling at God to get it going now...to show His power. Well, it may be He is prompting them to push through some barriers of faith and wrestle with Him to lay hold of what He has for them...yes, but perhaps also, they are weaker because they are that much nearer to the goal than they can see?
Are you really feeling like you are the closest you have ever come to quitting this journey of faith? Have you had the biggest battle you ever thought you could face? Well take heart, DO NOT lose that faith in His saving you that He planted in you at the beginning. Do everything you can to keep that seed nurtured in your heart, meditate on who He is, focus on keeping on your spiritual armour (Eph 6) listen to anointed music, and if you are so weak that you can only just read this message...just say His name over and over...for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.....that is to call on His name believing He hears and will answer you.
I end with just one verse to give you hope and spur you on in faith for His desire and ability to perfect and complete that which He has started in you, because you see He is coming to be glorified IN His saints.
2 Thessalonians 1:10
When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.