| Maintaining
Our Spirituality
Wade Taylor
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden
wisdom, which God ordained before the world to our glory. I Corinthians
2:7
The
greatest gift and blessing that we possess is our spiritual sensitivity
and hunger. This hunger, along with the anointing that
enables us to unlock and understand the deeper levels of revelation
within the Word of God, will gradually fade until we are left spiritually
barren - unless we maintain a time of active daily communion and
fellowship with our Lord.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young
men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength. Isaiah 40:30-31a
To
maintain our spirituality, it is essential that we set apart a specific
time and place in which to wait upon the Lord. As we
do this, we will be re-charged
spiritually. Just as a battery
that has been discharged through use must be re-charged, so also,
we must also hold ourselves before the Lord in His presence to allow
His life and power to flow back into our being.
But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses to Me both in Jerusalem,
and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of
the earth. Acts 1:8
The
word after tells us
that this power is given
after we spend time in the presence of
our Lord. These times of
specific waiting upon the Lord will impart to us
a divine strength, which
replaces our human weakness. This
will result in an increase of our love for the Lord Himself, and
produce within us the anointing that will quicken our understanding,
enabling us to respond to the promptings of the Lord.
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear
My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup
with him, and he with Me.
Revelation 3:20
The
emphasis is on our ability to hear, and our willingness to respond.
This hearing is through the inner ear of our Spirit.
Who has ears to hear, let him hear. Mathew 13:9
This
ability to hear can be developed and improved, as we wait on the
Lord, in His presence.
The secret of the Lord is with them
that fear Him; and He will show them His covenant. Psalm
25:14
This
word, fear, speaks of
a reverential awe, or respect that stimulates us to respond to His
presence and wait upon Him
with focused, undivided attention.
It
is important for us to recognize that we function on two different
levels of life.
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual
body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. I Corinthians
15:44
Either
one or the other of these will predominate the natural, or the spiritual. As our spiritual
life increases, our carnal desires will decrease. The strength
of each of these is determined by the choices we make, the preferences
we give, and which of these we nurture with our thoughts and actions.
The
level of our spirituality is greatly affected by the amount of time
we spend in waiting upon
the Lord. The time in
which we come apart and look upward toward the Lord should not to
be passive, but rather an active waiting in anticipation,
as one who watches for someone to enter a room.
It should include a time of quiet
worship and the expression
of our love to the Lord.
I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early
shall find Me ... That I may cause those that love Me to inherit
substance; and I will fill their treasures. Proverbs 8:17, 21
As
we express our love for the Lord, it will bring a response from
Him, and also, it will produce within us an increase in our spiritual
sensitivity, or, perception, which will enable us to more readily
respond to His presence. As
we look toward the Lord in an attitude of receiving, the substance
of His being will flow into us, to change us into His image and
likeness.
As
we continue to daily wait
on the Lord to receive the impartation of spiritual life and
strength that is essential to our spiritual well being, there must
be a parallel crucifixion of our natural, soulish life.
This is accomplished as we commit to the cross all things
which are contrary to our spiritual development, and which seek
to hinder, or replace our times of waiting before the Lord.
The
Lord will, through this process of crucifixion, remove the agitations,
and all that rebels against our becoming still before Him. We must
pass through this time of processing
before we will be able to fully experience the release of spiritual
life that the Lord desires to make available to us.
Our
ability to wait upon the
Lord will increase as we wait
upon the Lord. As desirable
and well intentioned as they may be, relationships with other Christians
will never satisfy our spiritual hunger.
There must be the lifting of our being into a vertical
relationship with the Lord - an intimate, personal, coming to the
Lord Himself, as coming to a person who desires to be known.
As we wait in His
presence, He will make Himself known to us.
Then, we will be better able to fellowship one with another.
But you, when you pray, enter into your closet, and
when you have shut your door, pray to your Father which is in secret;
and your Father which sees in secret shall reward you openly. Matthew 6:6
It
is very important that we set apart special times when we are absolutely
alone with the Lord. I will
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me (Revelation 3:20b).
In
waiting upon the Lord
we are both quickened
and lifted into the
realms of the Spirit. While we wait, the Lord works, re-orienting
our desires and creating within us a sensitivity and openness to
the realm of the Spirit. This process of maturing us spiritually may
be hindered, as while we work, the Lord waits.
The
Lord once said, My people are so busy working for Me that they
have little time to spend with Me.
That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being made conformable to His death. Philippians 3:10
As
our spiritual senses are sharpened, we will better understand the
desire of the Lord toward us, and toward mankind. As a result, we will be anxious to enter into
a relationship of daily communion with the Lord - in the outworking
of His desire for us; and then, in a cooperative fellowship with
Him in which there is the outworking of His purposes for others,
through us.
This
increased spiritual sensitivity, which we receive through our extended
times of waiting upon the
Lord, will also cause us to become more sensitized to the natural
realm. We must learn how
to bear this sensitivity, without any reaction or retaliation because
of what we see or feel.
Who is blind, but My servant? or deaf, as My messenger that I sent?
who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant?
Seeing many things, but you observe not; opening the ears, but he
hears not. Isaiah 42:19-20
Because
of the keen spiritual sensitivity that Jesus possessed, He knew
the hearts of men, but He refused to react according to circumstances.
He maintained His position in the heavenlies and was motivated
according to what His Father was saying and doing, not man.
However that was not first which is spiritual, but that
which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. I Corinthians
15:46
First
that which is natural; and afterward...
As we begin to wait
upon the Lord, we may feel
very little of Him, or of His presence; but as we continue to wait
before Him in the light of the expectancy we have, we will
pass from the natural realm into the spiritual where we become acutely
aware of the Lord, and of His presence.
We
are to move in the faith we have, and then, we will be lifted upward
into the realm of the Spirit
where, with prophetic understanding, we will begin to move into
that which is spiritual.
The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: He wakens morning by morning, He
wakens My ear to hear as the learned. Isaiah 50:4
It
is essential that we set apart time within the schedule of our busy
lives to wait upon the Lord.
We
will never be disappointed, if we do.
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