Open The Eyes Of Our Understanding!
Hebrew text as well as Greek Scriptures
were written by individuals who actually beheld the Glory of God.
The book of Hebrews declares that
"It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt. He was not afraid of
the king. Moses kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one
who is invisible."
Hebrews
11:27 KJV
Not only are we to display the Glory
of God, but our very call is to see the Glory of God with our very own
eyes as well.
The Spirit of the Living God lives
in our lives right in the center of our hearts, so our spiritual vision
in NOT something that we imagine in the mind of our soulish realm.
The Spirit of the Living God is real.
It just lives in a different realm and God is forever working on our lives
to get us to that place. This is the foundation for this most interesting
study.
You see, this promise of seeing God
was given to us by the Glory of God when He manifested in the flesh for
all humanity to see. . .
"And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
John
1:14 KJV
Yet not all living at that time saw
His Glory, even when God was manifesting in the midst of them, they chose
to remain blind. Only the pure in heart were able to bask in His Presence
and Glory.
"Blessed are the pure
in heart: for they shall see God."
Matthew
5:8 KJV
THE QUESTION NOW ARISES
If the Glory of God truly dwells
within us and is one with our spirit which is our heart, and we have become
the temple of the Holy Spirit who is the LORD, should not our lives be
completely ruled, governed, perceived and affected by this reality?
Well the answer should be a defenite
YES!, but the truth of the matter is that most beleivers truly do not allow
the Glory of God to rule, govern, perceive and affect our lives in this
dispensation.
But why? Isn't that what
every beleiver wants?
Yes it is, but because most of the
time the ENTIRE mind of that particular believer has not been renewed,
this reality becomes an impossibility.
The reality of it all is that as we
receive Jesus as our Lord and as our Saviour, our spirit, our life is saved,
we become a new creature, our spirit man is restored. We are eternally
forgiven. We have been redeemed. This is the reality in the Spirit realm
of God.
You see, "it pleased the Father
that in HIM should all fulness dwell; having made peace through the blood
of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say,
whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven."
Colossians
1: 19 KJV
So if the fulness of God
is found in the person of the LORD Jesus Christ, and you receive Jesus
as your LORD and as your Saviour, then logically according to Scripture
everything that God is, the totality of His Person comes to dwell in your
life at the moment of salvation or what I call the new birth experience.
Apostle Paul says that the mind needs
to be renewed. Our minds need to be aligned with the what the Spirit of
God wants to do in our lives. Our spirit and our minds must be one.
"But we all, with unveiled
face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed
into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit"
2
Corinthians 3:18 KJV
Now remember that the Apostle Paul is
telling us that we are going from glory to glory.
In order for us to fully understand
this internal transformation, we need to know what the Glory of God is
that we may be able to manifest it in our lives.
What is the Glory of
God?
What is the Person of God?
What is the Presence of God?
What is the Power of God
What is the Anointing of God?
When we actively seek God, when we stay
focused on what "the Spirit saith unto the churches;"
Revelation
2:17 KJV
When we do not allow "this book of
the law to depart out of our mouth;" then and only then should we expect
to see the Glory of God in our lives in full operation.
Joshua
1:8 KJV
However even when we do follow all these
instructions, the flesh tries to manifest with its own glory trying to
dimm the Light of His life in ours. It is as if when we are renewing our
minds through "this book of the law" that we are breaking hard ground
or stinking thinking that have set themselves in our minds for years. It
is as if we would be plowing the ground of our minds that we may sow seed
of the kingdom in order to renew it..
The ability to understand inner qualities
and relationships with the LORD in His Realm of the Spirit is Biblical
and I teach this very concept to the Body of Christ. I feel very strongly
that it must be sought after by us. In order for the WORD to take root
in our hearts, the walls around it, the walls of Jericho must be brought
down. Yes, the mind must be renewed.
Yes, over and over again the ability
to understand inner qualities and relationships with the LORD is repeated
through out Scripture. So when this is accomplished, the Glory of God in
our lives is manifested to the point that Signs and Wonders begin to follow
and Glorify His life in our lives.
This is how we go from Glory to Glory.
But what is the Glory of God?
At times suddenly and unexpectedly
some areas of our lives thought to have been rendered immobile or dead
will be triggered by the enemy. As a result of this unexpected surprise,
we may loose some battles.
Why?
Because the flesh caught off guard
by the enemy may react in ways that are not aligned with God's Glory at
that specific moment. It may be triggered by a familiar reaction from someone
that is not completely yielded to the LORD.
As we discern old patterns from our
flesh, quickly we recover from this unsuspected attack, we regroup, recover,
repent and move on victoriously to the next battle.
Now having being attacked
and defeated by the enemy, but determined and more experienced in the battle
field, we are readier than ever not to loose our next encounter
with him.
Having had the enemy come against
the plans of God in our lives and loose the battle is bad enough. The renewal
of our minds is a must.
I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world:
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what
is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans
12: 1-2 KJV
So we must, above all things,
allow the Spirit of God, like a flood, set a resistance against him that
He may totally destroy him.
"So shall they fear the name of
the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun." "When
the enemy shall come in,
LIKE A FLOOD, the Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against him."
Isaiah
59: 19 KJV
But how do we begin to live with
our minds renewed?
Well for starters we do not fight
our battles, the Spirit of the Lord, that Great Comforter, He fights the
battles for us. What do we do?
The Apostle Paul puts it plainly
below;
Dearly beloved, avenge
not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance
is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
Therefore if thine enemy hunger,
feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap
coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with
good.
Romans
12: 19-20-21 KJV
We need to discern however what is being
triggered in our lives and by whom.
First of all, that which is surfacing
in your life as a direct result of the enemy's attack, is it producing
holy anger or is it anger from the flesh that is manifesting?
Once the Glory of God begins to manifest
in our lives, our love and zealousness for Him comes alive displaying the
Holy Fire through our lives that consumes the enemy.
Yet, many within the
Body of Christ, who through the spirit of religion become blinded, make
it a life career to come against the the rest of believers who are trying
to reach that wonderful realm of God's Spirit.
How?
By consciously and at times unconsciously
triggering areas in the believer's life in order to get a rise out of them.
These areas thought to have been
dead to the flesh suddenly become alive and the flesh unfortunately manifestes
sign you thought were long dead.
These attacks can and have produced
in the lives of believers anger in the flesh.
This result is a negative one.
Anger can only be displayed when
it is birth of God. Well, how can one tell the difference?
FLESHLY ANGER
In most instances, anger is considered
to be wrong. Psalm 37:8, for example, commands: “Stop your anger! Turn
from your rage!”
Jesus compared anger with murder
when he said, “If you are angry with someone, you are subject to judgment!”
Matthew
5:22 KJV
In other words, wanting to harm someone
in one's heart is the same, in God's eyes, as actually doing it.
The Apostle Paul in Ephesians
4:31 and Colossians 3:8 both list anger
along with bitterness, wrath, malice, and slander, as attitudes
that we as Christians must rid ourselves of once and for all.
In his list of qualities, the apostle
Paul said that a Christian leader a bishop or pastor, should not be proned
to anger nor be easily angered.
For a bishop must be
blameless, as the steward of God; not self willed, not soon angry, not
given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
but a lover of hospitality, a
lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
holding fast the faithful word
as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort
and to convince the gainsayers.
Titus
1:7-8-9 KJV
HOLY ANGER
Anger of a good sort is also spoken
of in the Bible.
“Righteous indignation” refers
to the emotion felt by a holy heart that is unable to tolerate sin of any
kind.
The anger of God is righteous indignation:
humans should be good, yet they sin and God is angry “because they forsook
the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with
them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt, and went and served
other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom He
had not allotted to them”
Deuteronomy
29:25-26, RSV
Moses’ anger burned on Mount Sinai and
caused him to smash the tablets of the covenant on the ground when he saw
the golden calf and Israel's idolatry.
Exodus
32:19 KJV
In the New Testament, Mark says that
Jesus looked with anger at the Pharisees, who were hoping to catch
him breaking their law.
Mark
3:5 KJV
Jesus’ anger was also shown in his cleansing
of the temple John 2:13; it should
have been a place of prayer but was being used as a place of business.
So Jesus “entered the Temple and
began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the
tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves.”
Matthew
21:12 NLT
His holy indignation was not a sin.
Such anger is an appropriate response to iniquity and injustice. However,
corrupt humans often mistake their self righteousness for “righteous
indignation”; thus one must be careful to examine oneself.
What we think is “righteous
indignation” may be the same old slander, bitterness, wrath, malice,
or pride that God commands us to put to death.
So these who are used of the enemy,
because of their fleshly anger, to hinder God's growth, coexist in life
with us without the necessary faith and understanding to respect the anointing
in others.
They wage war on those who by faith
are seeking a higher level of the Spirit of God. The strongholds behind
them are responsible for their actions because unlike the matured believers,
they have not had their minds renewed.
These declare by their actions that
to have access to a higher realm of the Spirit of God, where closeness
with our Master becomes a reality, is to lead ourselves and other believers
into a false hope.
This type of thinking is the same
heresy that the Pharisees were bound by, it blinded them to the point of
murder, finally it led them to kill the LORD.
But why?
Because the spirit of their minds
had not been renewed by the reading and keeping of the WORD. This same
danger is alive and well today within the denominational and non-denominational
Church.
I beseech ( I beg
of you ) you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.
And be not conformed to
this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Romans
12: 1-2 KJV
I say. . .
"Beware of dogs, beware
of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision,
which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have
no confidence in the flesh."
Philippians
3: 2-3 KJV
Yes, beware of the leaven of the unbelieving
Christian who tries to surround your life with doubt and fear. These limited
in faith believers would have you accept denomination doctrine, religion
and tradition rather to allow you to grow in a higher new level of His
Spirit.
How do they do this?
Through gossip, discord, and through
the full manifestation of their flesh.
Now the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders,
drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians
5: 19-21 KJV
Their leaven will destroy your hunger
for God by not allowing you to reach your assignment given to you from
heaven. Their leaven will do its best to twist your spirit and mind into
thinking that to see God's Glory is sin and an impossibility. This could
not be further from the truth.
How do they who have their leaven
raised to the point of destruction do that?
By constantly trying to steal your
joy, your peace, your faith and your trust in Him that lives. They do it
by constantly questioning and coming against your trust and hunger in Christ.
They do it by trying to convince you that all is well in the place where
you find yourself. They encourage you to become complacent.
God wants you to keep moving. He
wants you to keep rising up to new levels of His Spirit all the time. He
does not want you in anyway shape or form comfortable in Egypt. He wants
you alive and well in His Promised Land.
Although professing to believe in
this same Jesus, these with the raised leaven will question, make comments,
criticize, raise their eyebrows, gnash their teeth and would at any price
try to kill the hunger that keeps you so become alive in your Messiah.
I say, beware of those who
with their spirit of deceit entice you to anger and jealousy, robbing you
of the Glory of God in your lives.
I say, beware of those who in nice
sheep clothing, infiltrate themselves in your assembly poisoning your sheep
that by assignment have been given to you by God.
I say, beware of dogs who through
the influence of religious spirits, would sacrifice, kill and destroy even
members of their own family fulfilling the demon's agenda in their lives.
I say, that these are the very ones,
who under the spirit of Baal and Molech, would pass their loved ones through
the fire condeming themselves to an eternal damnation of hell fire.
I say, beware and listen to wht the
Spirit is saying to the CHURCHES..
Light Shines In The Darkness
It is never enough to know God exists
and to think that that alone suffices. When we through the understanding
of knowledge live in the reality of the realm of heaven, we would live
our lives freed from the boundaries of the flesh and the earthly things
of life.
In order for us to have our faith
activated to the level where are able to receive from Him in the realm
of His Spirit, at times He that lives forever will allow us to go through
seasons when His Presence will not be easily discerned.
It is as if God Himself was literally
hiding from us. God's agenda during these seasons of dryness, if you will,
has always been to bring our spiritual Gifts to full maturity.
I always say that in the dark periods
of our lives, we need to remember what the LORD has spoken to us in
the LIGHT. Therefore, do not think for a moment that God has permanently
hidden Himself from you, this is in direct contradiction of His promise
of "never leaving us nor forsaking us."
Genesis
28:15, Deuteronomy 31:5, Joshua 1:5 KJV
Although during these dry periods it
may seem to be the case that God has forsaken you, it is never so. This
is the time to discern what the LORD is saying to us.
He is teaching us to see in the darkness
that surrounds us through the eyes of His Spirit. He is teaching us to
hear His voice in the midst of noise and the hustle and bustle of life.
Yes! that small still voice which directs our paths is the wonderful voice
of our Master Jesus Christ..
He is teaching us, He is training
our inner man to recognize Him, He is making Himself known to our spirit
man so that, regardless of outer soulish circumstances, we would not be
deceived by the soul but can continually be led by His most Holy Spirit.
In order to fulfil His very own words
that our Master spoke in John 4:23-24 when
He declared to the Samaritan woman that the "hour cometh, and now is,
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth:
for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." it is imperative
that our vision becomes acute in the realm of His Spirit in order for us
to receive clear instructions from Him.
Our natural vision alone will not
do. Why? Because. . . .
"the natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
1
Corinthian 2: 14 KJV
"But if our
gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 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."
2
Corinthians 4: 3-4 KJV
"but
their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same
veil untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done
away in Christ."
2
Corinthians 3:14 KJV
In order for us to be able to see God
who lives for ever, we must learn to tune out, under the guidence of His
Spirit, the continuous loud noise from the world designed to interrupt
the flow of His Spirit in our lives.
These loud noises bring with it fears
and earthly desires designed to dull the the Spiritual vision and hearing
God is placing in our lives.
For God hath not given
us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind.
2
Timothy 1:7 KJV
The result that is produced from the
Lord's working with our inner spirit is a increase of our natural perception
into the Spiritual Realm of our God in order for us to fully understand
our assignment. There we understand that nothing is impossible for Him
when He is operating fully through our lives.
So then when the time of darkness
finally arrives, though it comes from God and seems like an enemy, actually
it compels us to seek Him more seriously and earnestly than ever before.
This season is what is known to many in the body of Messiah as being in
the dessert.
When we find ourselves there, we
should know then that there is an important lesson to be learned. Then
we learn to revere even more God's luminous self when we are walking in
the oasis.
We must never underestimate the darkness
that appears temporarily in our lives as if it was blindness that will
permanently last forever. It is this process that allows us to continue
to experience God's Glory as we learn our lessons.
Our daily walk with Him that lives
for ever is a constant training to usher us into His light. It is this
very process that opens us to see God's glorious plans for our lives and
others. Ultimately, His plan will come to pass and the truth of His life
will be seen through out the entire earth.
"So shall my word be
that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing
whereto I sent it."
Isaiah
55:11 KJV
"the whole earth is full of [God's]
Glory"
Isaiah
6:3 KJV
When we meditate on His WORD and allow
our minds to be renewed by His Spirit we can clearly see how many throughout
history literally experienced the Glory of the Lord. Then and only then,
we become vessels of His Glory ready to be used by Him for the whole purpose
of bringing others to this high calling of God.
Here is the conclusion of the
Glory of God that:
Abraham saw the Christ's glory while
he was in Mesopotamia.
Isaiah beheld Him in the year King
Uzziah died.
Ezekiel fell before the Living One
by the river Chebar.
David, Habakkuk, Solomon, and Zechariah
all saw the glory of the Lord.
Acts
7:2;
Isaiah 6:1;
Ezekiel 3:23;
2 Samuel 6:2;
Habakuk 3:3;
2 Chronicles
7:1;
Zecheriah
1:8
Moses beheld Him, then Aaron, Nadab,
Abihu, and the seventy Hebrew elders as well.
Exodus tells us these men actually
"saw
the God of Israel."
The Bible describes this incredible
scene, saying that "under God's feet there appeared to be a pavement
of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself"
Exodus
24:10 KJV
The concluding thought is staggering;
it reads, "And they saw God, and they ate and drank"
Exodus
24:11 KJV
Think of it: They beheld God! Could
anything be more wonderful? Is there not a jealousy and burning desire
within you go through that experience? To actually be able to look, gaze
upon the the God of Israel?
We must, above all things, be in
complete confidence that to behold the Lord's Glory is not only scriptural
but typical, especially during the pivotal decades between ages or dispensations
which is where we find ourselves today.
So when those with religious
spirits try to discourage you from wanting to behold your Master's Glory,
you need to stop them by allowing the LIGHT that is already shinning through
you, to be seen of them.
The fact is that over six million Israelites
repeatedly saw God's Glory on Mount Sinai. Young and old men, old and young
women, and little children.
Yes, people of every age
and physical condition were all able to see "the glory of the Lord,
the Shekinah Glory as it rested on Mount Sinai."
These were the same people that also
heard with their physical ears "the voice of God" speaking
to them.
Deuteronomy
4:33 KJV
The entire Hebrew nation followed a
cloud of glory by day and was illuminated by a blazing pillar of fire like
glory at night. That unveiling of glory did not stop at Sinai.
This continue to occur not just once
or twice a month but on a daily basis for the next forty years. How much
more shall the Lord of Glory manifest Himself to us at the end of this
dispensation after He has redeemed us by dying on the cross.
All is in place. . . . .
He has given us His Holy Spirit.
He has given us His Power.
He has promised us never to leave
us nor forsake us.
We as seekers of the most High God
know that there will be times of darkness when His most Holy Spirit is
refining our senses that our Gifts may operate in complete harmony with
Him. We should expect to see the Glory of God in every area of our lives.
When darkness surfaces instead of
manifesting it, it gives us an opportunity to cut the head off of that
serpent so it does not resurfaces again.
We should be able to discern the
spirit of anticipation that is visiting the churches around the world.
It is this Spirit of God that is telling us to get ready because one day
soon at any moment now as you enter your prayer closet and begin to worship,
the LORD Himself will appear to you through a dream, vision.
Yes, the Spirit of God is going to
appear to many in some amazing and life transforming way. I know it, the
Lord has already shown me.
In My Own Words,
EDMUND DESOTO
WATCH
NOW
