Following Judah's Lion

Do You Thirst?

One genuine moment spent in the glorious presence of the Risen Christ can effect more personal transformation than years of ecclesiastical expenditure. If servanthood is not birthed in the delivery room of His presence then it is nothing more than a set of obligations carried out in the energy of the flesh. There is a vast and defining difference between a servant who has met his Master and fallen in love with Him and a servant who serves out of duty and the expected chores of a slave. One is constrained by the vigor and power of his Master’s presence, and especially those glorious times of refreshing, rekindling, and refashioning. With each new encounter this servant comes to know his Master in ways beyond what he had previously known and yet it is an expansion of that previous knowledge. This servant serves from the energy of God’s glory and in his highest service he worships as a son.
The other servant moves in the energy of the Master’s description. He knows what should be done and the outlined tasks that are commonplace within the community of faith. Coming and going, speaking and listening, this servant does help others within the scope of his spiritual ability. But he can only lead others as far as he himself has gone. And since his journey has been largely confined to written knowledge his work is noble but restricted. And when asked if he has met the Master he enthusiastically replies that he has, although his finest and most profound meeting was his first meeting, years ago.
But just as Dorothy had an initial breathtaking encounter with the wizard, her subsequent meetings were much more utilitarian and pedestrian. But she was satisfied with what the wizard could do for her. And what was her wish? She desired to return to the dictates of her earthly home and familiar surroundings. There was no place like home for her. But this world is not our home, and our desire should be much, much higher than just a divine blessing upon what we do, which is usually what everyone else does as well. Of course we are called to the mundane tasks of everyday life. And these tasks elicit the bulk of our attention and energy, and this is all the more reason to seek out seasons of fasting and prayer and personal times of worship. Not just perfunctory observances that fit nicely within the framework of everyday life, but sacrificial seekings that cannot be satisfied with the usual “Poly want a cracker” prayer times.
The boy has fallen in love. And while he is at work he thinks primarily of his new found love. He has new found energy, and he cannot wait to punch out and run to be with his beloved. Even some of his senses have been affected, and he is willing to wait until he is with her before he even eats. Even his friends, some of which he has known for many years, are now in submission to this relationship. Spending time with her ignites his life and fulfills almost every desire he has ever had. His entire being has been changed. He is in love. He will spend money on gifts for her, and gladly run her errands. But his greatest joy and longing is to spend time in her presence.
To move within the mystery of the Christ is a privilege of the Spirit. And as you go on your way and proceed along life’s redundant path, please remember, there is a realm that opens its doors to those who diligently thirst and seek after Him. Are you thinking I am speaking of a mystical experience? Does that make you uncomfortable and uneasy? Retreat quickly to the safety of the mundane and wrap yourself with the blanket of the past and shut out any semblance of that which challenges the soul and lifts the spirit to soar. Go ahead and fear an encounter with the Risen Christ, but be assured you have missed a gift of glory.
This meeting with Him does not come with a pursuit that shares its energy with the things of this present life. The door is ready to crack open when and if a saint separates himself for an elongated period of fasting and earthly sacrifice and diligently, carefully, and even dangerously seeks the face of Jesus the King. You must be thirsty for more of Him; much more of Him. And if your thirst can be quenched by something other than a personal revelation of Him, it will. The poison of distractions will kill the journey unless they are quickly and completely confronted and ignored. The entirety of your heart must press in to see and hear Him in a way that cannot be expressed in human words. Oh yes, does that unnerve you?
Perhaps you have been feasting on crumbs that fall carelessly from the table of this present world. And perhaps you have been caught up with the redundant and predictable doings of the religious organization we call the church. Have you been busy slaying dragons? Have you expended your energies in a spiritual kitchen and neglected the glory of the place before His feet? This Jesus we so glibly speak about is real and tangible. And built upon the truth of God’s Word, and without adding or subtracting one jot or tittle from its pages, the Spirit calls us into a sacred Succoth. How tragic it is when we teach an inhabitation of Christ Himself in our very beings and yet we remain aloof and enchanted with almost anything but Him. Go ahead and teach truth, and go ahead and present an unabridged and perfect theology concerning God, and if that is all you have and all you suppose there is, then you are sharing concepts and principles that are void of His life.
Of course I realize the misuse of such teachings, and I acknowledge that evil spirits have used meditation to deceive many. But what many do not realize is that those same evil spirits have deceived many by suggesting there is no such thing as experiencing the very presence of the Christ in a arresting and startling way. And many of us have learned much theology in seminaries, as well as Greek and Hebrew, but you will not be broken and poured out until you seek Him in the night watches and until you hold onto His garment with all your heart. Have you ever sought Him with your whole heart? But “How long” you ask. As long as it takes until you can get up and know that you have met with the Risen Christ and like Jacob He has touched you in a way that cannot be denied.
If you are grounded in God’s Word, then do not fear His presence and do not resist the Spirit’s calling to seek Him. What you should fear is being satisfied with what you now have and the meager and convenient place He has been given in your life. There is a well whose water is rarely dipped into and more rarely drank. The church is very busy and able to do great things in the eyes of men. When the Chinese pastor returned to his home church in China he was asked what impressed him most about the church in America. He replied,

“I was impressed with what the American church can accomplish without God”.

And if we can live and exist without a chronic need to experience Him, then we have constructed our own religion that gives lip service to His name but is void of His presence. It is difficult to even muster up a desire, much less a thirst, to seek Him and His face. There are no more prayer closets and the all night prayer meeting is in the Museum of Ecclesiastical History. The days of fasting have passed and weeping for the lost is now considered melodrama. And if a person reads for ten minutes from a copy of Our Daily Bread he is considered on fire for God. The entire world lies in the Wicked One and is headed for a lost eternity, but the church will sleep well tonight and maybe try out the new technique on marital intimacy they learned from carnal men.

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

How do we repent before our Wonderful Savior and confess our sin? With what words do we use to tell Him how sorry we are for the neglect we have shown Him and yet called it commitment? And let us not even say those words just to soothe our conscience if we are not set like flints to seek Him and His face. If what we have is all there is, then good night to us all. But if there is more…much more, then we must open our hearts to hear and heed the Spirit’s call. The mystery of iniquity must bow to the mystery of the Lord Jesus. Always.
That which we know for sure is a certain mystery which invites us to press in and experience this Person in whom we have believed and are persuaded. But if your encumbered life makes you content and spiritually satisfied, then you need not give a moment’s thought to any of this. Live on.

But…