Questions and Answers
Mike explains his perspective on various topics and answers a few questions as well. May you enjoy his insight and may it encourage you to meditate on the things discussed. Also, any updates on worldwide missions or needs will be noted here.
(July, 2015) Can you explain how it makes sense that there are dinosaur fossils everywhere that date back to millions of years ago if when before the Lord RE-created the earth, it was formless and void? The LITERAL VERSION of Genesis 1:1-3, says: “In the beginning of God’s preparing the heavens and the earth –the earth hath existed waste and void, and darkness is on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttering on the face of the waters, saith, ‘Let light be;’ and light is.” So if God destroyed the Pre-Adamic world of the dinosaurs, and then it was void and formless, then how is it that we have proof that they were here on earth?
The Earth was found to be void and without form. It was not created that way. Verse 2 of Genesis says there was darkness. What void and formless means from a practical perspective is that, first, it was in such a state that natural life (that which was common to it) could no longer live upon it. In the beginning, verse 1 of Genesis, at the Creation, it was not so…..there was life abundant, including dinosaurs and much vegetation. The destruction was such as was Worldwide….most likely ice and water covered the earth destroying all that had been created. Why described as void and without form? There was nothing but barren ice and water. How did that happen? Most likely an event that caused the “darkness” …an obscuring of the sun. One way that could of happened was by ash or dust from impact and explosion of meteorites. No sun, no light, and the earth would freeze and flood. Whatever the cause, it was worldwide and caused dinosaurs and all previous life to become extinct. When God Re-Created the World, “light” was first thing installed. God repaired the damage and brought forth the conditions again to restore natural life to the Earth.
*Sidenote: 2 Peter 3:5-6 does not have Noah’s flood in view, but the catastrophe of the pre-Adamic world. “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:”
(July, 2012) When is the Judgement Seat of Christ?
There is a daily judging that goes on in each individual every day. Working out your Salvation with fear and trembling speaks not only to the future hope of salvation but to the workings out by the Spirit all the convictions from our conscience on a daily basis. Our spiritual condition is known in the spirit realm moment to moment. As that is what determines our tests, trials sufferings, temptations, judgments, rebukes, reproofs, and exhortations and encouragements. We are more spiritual or less spiritual based on our daily responses. The true condition we are in presently speaks of the Word that has been worked out within us. Our state or condition when we pass from here will not need to be thoroughly analyzed to see where we are at spiritually. To be judged worthy to be a part of The Bride and to Rule and reign as kings and priests in Christ’s Millennial Kingdom will be completely self evident to The Lord. That condition we will find ourselves in will correspond with our position and our rewards and status in His Kingdom. The Judgment Seat of Christ is not a long drawn out corporate affair but a passing through a Spiritual Judgment Fire. Simply leaving us in the state relevant to who we really have become IN HIM while living our lives. That Judgment Fire is both destructive and cleansing AND the clothing of the Glory of the resurrected Body.
To be changed in a Twinkling of an Eye means we are being judged daily with anointing for service according to the Head of The Body’s determinations and High Priest’s workings and accordingly we will be found worthy to pass from here in a moment according to what we are at that moment. All those who have preceded us will also go through the Fire of The King of King’s Judgment Seat of Christ when He comes into The Kingly Ministry which is immediately in the Heavens above the Earth at His Return. It makes scriptural sense that all those in Christ would be Judged at the same time …and that would be at the end of the Tribulation. The Judgement seat of Christ is 1000 yrs before the Great White Throne Judgment.
(April, 2015) The Shema, in Deut 6:4, says, “Hear O’ Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Can you explain how Yahweh/Yahshua can be two, yet one?
God is “Elohim” (plural). God is Echad or one, but echad can mean united one. When God created man, “Adam”, He created him after His image AND His likeness. His likeness was when God revealed His form to Moses while in the cleft of the rock. His image is His make-up. This is what we think of in terms of “plural”. Adam was created like God in that he had plurality. That was reflected later in that God removed a part of Adam and Adam called her Eve, bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Adam was elohim echad, like God. Adam’s desire for companionship was like unto the Lord God who, to that desire, created living beings. These beings are of a higher type of substance than Earth, they being made of “spirit” and became known as Spirits or Angels. The Lord God, determining to keep those 2 realms separate, looked with Adam among those physical creations for constant companionship, of which none were qualified, that because Adam being of greater “consciousness”, thus formed Eve.
She was not “created” as much as “begotten”. She was Adam. Adam had that creation or reproducing power within himself. But upon the removal of “Eve”, there was union to procreate. When we think of a human being, we think in terms of a single Creation. We don’t think in terms of 2. There is only One Human Being.
The Lord God…there is none other! John 1:1-4,14 says, “In the beginning…(Time realm) was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was not any thing made that was made. IN HIM WAS LIFE, and the life was the light of men …14 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. Yahshua was with God and was God …Eve was with Adam and was Adam. She became flesh. She is not co-equal as she came after and was brought out of him for him. She is “man”. He is “man”. They are one.
Yahshua says pray in this manner …TO THE FATHER, Yahweh. Yahshua said the greatest commandment is “Hear O’ Israel, God is One.” Yahshua was and is not the Father. He sits beside the Father on the Father’s Throne. He is our Intercessor and our Intermediary, but this in no way precludes our access unto the Father directly. On the contrary, Yahshua directed us to do so. It is right to Worship Him because He is Elohim. He has the Begotten …He has Life within Him as the Father LORD has in Him.
(September 6, 2007) Is there a view that Messianic Jews and Christians share concerning tithing? I have been trying to study that subject for the past week or so and was actually pretty excited that you mentioned it last week at the Torah lesson. It sounded like you have studied tithing before and have already come to some conclusions regarding the issue. I am really having a hard time finding anything that plainly speaks about tithing in the NT. I have seen the “usual” articles on line that point to Acts and the letter to the church in Corinth about giving money for the famine to the people in Judea, but there don’t appear to be any commandments in the NT concerning tithing or the giving of the tenth.
Let me say that I do believe in giving God a tenth or tithe but I’m not certain (other than always being taught that way) why I believe that. I am not looking to be actively ignorant or to not give and feel “okay” about it. On the contrary, I feel sort of helpless regarding the issue in general due to my apparent inability to really get a hold of the concept and I want to seriously understand what God is telling us to do and why.
One of the things that lead to this question floating around in my mind is the fact that I am near my sermon limit. What I mean is that I don’t think that I can take many more of the same old same old sermons that the church is serving Sunday after Sunday. There is a real difference between a life application pep talk and the word of God. I have heard plenty of lectures and there is something about them, especially since attending Torah and choosing to serve God, that have left me feeling empty.
One common theme that I am hearing is that there are churches that are doing well and others that are not. Doing well meaning financially. The same church that tells me that we are under grace tells me that there is a curse on my finances if I don’t tithe. But Jesus became the curse, freeing us from the law….just not that part of the law? Do you know what I’m talking about? Let me know because I really believe that God is telling me to get understanding and inquire but sometimes that feels like I’m bordering on excommunication or something. Not really but darn near it. Anyway. I could go on and on…. Thank you.
It sounds like to me you have a pretty good perspective on New Testament tithing. The Lord set the standard for the NT with the statement in Matthew 23:23, “You tithe down to the last mint in your garden but you have omitted the weightiest matters of the law, judgement, mercy, and faith.” Like the rest of Torah He (Yahshua) expanded the typical “active ignorance” view to wisdom. He filled up the meaning of tithing. New Testament tithing is about “giving” and that from the nature of love. You will not find any teaching on tithing in the NT, but you will find a LOT on GIVING. See also:
Matthew 5:20
Matthew 10:10
Luke 10:7,8 (you’ll have to think here)
Galatians 6:6
1 Corinthians 9:7-14
1 Timothy 6:17,18
1 Corinthians 16:2
2 Corinthians 7:11,8:1-15
1 Timothy 5:17,18
Luke 16:9 (you’ll have to think here too)
A good portion of Matthew 6
Philemon 4:15, etc….
You are right that today’s church has centered up on the law in reference to “tithing” but then centers on “grace” as it relates to other issues, including moral behavior. You can find God’s will in regard to all ritual observances found in one verse in the New Testament… Galatians 5:6 “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision (tithing) availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision (not tithing); but faith which worketh by love.” God bless your Hunger for His will
S. Rams (04/30/2022):
Amen to all this teaching reveals! My question is then, have tonges ceased? Even (to the extent) of that explanation given by Paul (1 Cor 14:2-3) For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God; for no man understandeth; but in the (his) spirit he speaketh mysteries. Are tounges still relevant as a prayer language today or has this ceased?
Tongues given by the Holy Spirit as seen in Acts 2 were given to validate the call upon Israel to the Gentile Nations, as they were articulate. Tongues were and still are given by the Holy Spirit that are inarticulate for prayer. Paul experienced this gift personally probably at the time that Ananias laid hands on him in Acts 9. Paul also declared he spoke in tongues for prayer and gives us direction accordingly in 1 Corinthians 14 and Romans 8. Jude also speaks to tongues as praying and for self edification.
“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.” Galatians 5:6
Noteworthy Posts From Mike
The Christian community thinks one of the major reasons God sent Yahshua was so that He might extend forgiveness to man. Man has decided that was what God had in mind with the redemption plan. But that is not the MAJOR reason for redemption. The major reason was that forgiveness was just the MEANS to the end. That is, it wasn’t about God extending forgiveness, but that He gave us a way to DRAW NIGH unto Him for the forming of Christlikeness by cooperating with the Holy Spirit.
Most Christians live with the mistaken idea that God wants to forgive them for their sins so they can go to heaven, thus they sin…ask for forgiveness…expect God to forgive them…sin…ask God to forgive them…expect God to forgive them…over and over throughout their lives, never knowing or accomplishing what God’s reason for the blood sacrifice was. Not just forgiveness – but – forgiveness that equals MERCY that equals TIME that equals CHRISTLIKENESS formed in the willing and cooperating soul. That is called…overcoming.
Just receiving forgiveness misses the major point of redemption. It’s not about forgiveness that secured a place for you in heaven but Christlikeness that accompanies a yielded heart unto the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Forgiveness only satisfies a need temporarily. Character change of the soul is permanent, eliminating the need for constant forgiveness.
Satan is an Instrument as well as a Recipient of God’s Wrath. Satan is not the only instrument of His wrath, as God also instructs His angels to inflict judgment against the rebellious. The spiritual landscape becomes clearer as we ascribe God’s wrath as the instigator of much of the destruction of mankind’s endeavors apart from the creator. God’s wrath is a natural expression of His holiness manifesting itself against the willful sin of rebellion. Make no mistake, His wrath (the only consequential wrath) is against SELF, the nature of sin. It is carefully appointed, holy and complete upon all mankind. Only righteousness bestowed by God through faith removes one from His wrath. God hates and loves. His hatred is good and just. God hates sin. Sin is selfishness. Rebellion is sin. Judgment is regulated wrath. The judgment of man’s rebellion, under which we stand, is God’s wrath, His pronounced curse under which we fall, and now stand, can only be attributed to God. This curse of God is an act apart from our attitude towards it. Men are “lost” under God’s curse, an expression of His regulated wrath brought to bear by His holy hatred for sin, regardless of whether they are aware of it or not. The wrath of God is, to unbelief, the discovery of His holiness. People’s unbelief will be exposed when God’s wrath is less regulated and we see more of His righteous judgments unleashed.
The gospel begins with the “good news” of deliverance from God’s wrath. It is NOT satan whom we should fear, but rather the author of Hell, the righteous Judge, the Creator Himself. Although we now stand under the heavy weight of God’s curse because of sin/selfishness, it is not God who created selfishness or sin. The creator of self apart from God is Lucifer. Lucifer created satan through twisted pride. He is the author of lies (John 8) and therefore, all selfishness. The Church has not rightly discerned the distinguishing of God’s wrath and curse from satan’s nature of evil. No question, although satan stands independently apart from God, with his own agenda, exercising his violent will at every moment upon his ignorant and helpless subjects, he does so only within the perimeters set, corresponding to the limits of God’s declared wrath. God finds no pleasure in satan. Satan is “the” abuser. Even as far as he can abuse God by abusing His creation. Satan is the master at finding loopholes in God’s declared and ineffable word and character. He exists here only because God allows him to, presumably because God has declared his right to be here, even to His own harm, and until such time as God has appointed he shall remain our enemy.
Again, satan kills, steals and destroys but only within the perimeters allowed by God’s wrath/curse. Much of satan’s destruction God has not willed but because God has allowed him to be here and he has his own will apart from God, he does much harm to His kingdom. What are we to surmise? That God is not the creator of evil, but Satan. Satan has access to mankind because mankind also has rebelled against God. God has judged satan, man, and earth in the garden and declared a curse through His wrath on them all. It is because of God’s wrath that we are under eternal judgment. It is not satan whom we need deliverance from as much as it is God’s curse we need rescued from. The earth and all that are in it are under the eternal curse of death declared by a holy God. To be a citizen of this world’s kingdom is to be a subject of God’s wrath as well as a subject of satan’s kingdom. To experience evil is to experience the result of God’s wrath that was reserved for those who rebel against Him, but not necessarily an experience God willed, as you are both under His wrath but also subject to the ruler of the world under His wrath, Satan. To not understand this dynamic is to attribute all “bad” things to the devil- apart from a “good” God. Giving a wrong connotation to good versus evil. It is necessary for us to understand the dynamics that we might rightly discern spiritual things. Apart from God’s wrath satan would have no opportunity to work his evil. But because of God’s declared wrath, he has taken the opportunity to wreak havoc, but that was what the “wrath” of God was all about, contrasting the fruit of rebellion against loving obedience.
The wrath of God reveals our sickness. It’s a sickness satan uses to kill. A sickness that God reveals that we may hopefully take the medicine He would provide. Because God allows, it does not mean He wills. People think that what God wills must inevitably take place. This by no means the case. God wills a great deal, He will sit most earnestly, but man wills it not, hence it can not be so. This is tragedy. God suffers loss as we suffer the loss of His will through the stubbornness of our own will. The acceptance of Christ’s atonement is to be delivered from God’s holy wrath, lifted up out of the world, where God’s wrath rests. To understand God’s wrath is to understand His salvation. To understand God’s wrath is to bring into proper perspective the dynamics of the world we live in. A world that declares God is not in a war with evil, but that its very existence is temporal based upon the fulfillment of His promises! In other words, God’s wrath has descended and covers the earth realm including the heaven-lies, and there is no escape, neither man nor satan. Man has an antidote! The atonement of Christ! Satan has none. And his time is short.
The part the church has been blind to is basically this: The gift of the Holy Spirit was because of the fullness of the success that Christ’s overcoming atonement provided (this is very involved and I’ll say more on it in a moment). And then that gift was for the primary purpose of empowerment. This empowerment is for character development through the cooperation of the one who has been redeemed, who participates with the Holy Spirit with ongoing application of the Blood of the Sacrifice. That Blood, that “Korban” is that which cries out for mercy over God’s just demand of penalty and wrath on lawbreakers and rebels. Those who participate in cooperation with the Holy Spirit in that atonement through confession and sincere desire for Christlikeness are actually offering Christ’s blood as atonement.
Mercy = Time = Character development into Christlikeness.
Christ’s atonement with the gift of the Spirit was not what the church has believed it was for, even since the 1st century. The error being that Christ primarily was to pay the price, or redeem man from the curse of the law, give him authority over the devil and get his name written in the Lamb’s book of Life. The Truth is that Christ did not need to die to accomplish any of this. Open your Bible to Luke 9:1. “And He gave them power and authority over all devils…” He could give them this authority not because He was God’s Son but because He had successfully withstood Satan in all tests, all temptations and trials. Look at John 14:30 “…for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” Satan had nothing in Him. None of His nature. Why? Because He was the Son of God? No, but unlike the first Adam who succumbed to rebellion and died spiritually and inherited the nature of Satan, this 2nd Adam did not in any of numerous temptations rebel against God but honored Him who was His Father but also hallowed Him who is God. Thus Satan had no authority in this seed of Abraham, this seed of David, both of whom God had promised eternal blessings through their seed. And with David, God said He would raise up from him “One who’s kingdom would never end”. We must understand that this is the basis for Paul’s comment in 1 Corinthians 1:8, “…for had they (Satan and his underlings) known it (the wisdom of God’s plan of atonement) they would not have crucified the Lord of glory…”
What I’m saying is that Satan believed that this Son of man/Son of God was the Messiah that would NOW establish His kingdom upon the earth, the One who would “crush his head”. Look at it from Satan’s perspective…This was the Messiah whom he had nothing in, One who by the authority of God, (Who gave forth the Torah to the first Adam when He said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and REPLENISH the earth and SUBDUE it…”) Satan now sees as fulfilling as Christ, the 2nd Adam, sends out the seventy with authority. AUTHORITY OVER HIM. There is much I could say here about how the Israelites were types and shadows which we can learn from and that they have a unique place in our roots, but they were more about GOD hiding His real intent of atonement than anything else.
Go to Luke again when the 70 disciples returned. Here I venture to say something you’ve probably never seen, as this also was revealed to me by revelation.
Luke 10:17 “And the seventy returned again with joy and saying Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy Name…”
***Then here is a statement few have understood correctly***
“And He said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven, (This has to do with the atonement beyond man, I’ll come back to it) behold I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over ALL the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this, rejoice not that the spirits are SUBJECT unto you, but rather rejoice, because your NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN.”
See this! It was not necessary for Jesus to die to give the believer the authority over the devil!
See this! It was not necessary for Christ to die to get the believers name written in the LAMB’S Book of Life!
That was a FACT that Satan was experiencing at that moment in time! “Wow”, Satan thought, “I’m doomed. Jesus is HE whom God spoke of as the Redeemer and Jesus is going to set up His kingdom on the earth NOW and He’s going to crush my head. What will we do? Let’s try to kill Him!”
And had they known the wisdom of God, they would not have killed Him. Why? What was that wisdom of atonement that they were unaware of? What possibly could be worse than what they were presently experiencing? Why did God let Satan kill Jesus if He had already defeated Satan and had authority to give his disciples, and already had recorded their names in the book of Life?
BECAUSE it wasn’t about authority over the devil. Because it wasn’t about getting their names written in book of life. It was about something MUCH deeper. It had to do with Satan polluting the heavenly utensils of worship in the throne room of God before even the creation of man. It was about God satisfying HIS own righteous demands, the high price HE Himself placed on the atonement of all His creation for what Lucifer did. That PRICE was no less than the BLOOD of HIS own SON…Himself. That Blood, and that Blood alone, would atone not only for man, but more importantly for heaven and all creation. It was His own blood that cleansed the heavenly utensils of worship that had been polluted by the very presence of Satan for thousands of years, as he had access into the very throne room of God (See Job 1). This is what Christ was prophetically referring to when HE said; “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven”.
What was/ is worse than what Satan was experiencing while Christ was alive? Why did/ does he now regret what he did in killing Messiah? He has been purged from heaven. Lucifer’s very being that he himself created, that is Satan himself, has been atoned for throughout the creation. He has fallen like lightning. Christ’s blood has judged him and brought his kingdom to an end and sealed his eternal end and all those he defiled. He is placed into confinement in a place where they will never pollute anything again in heaven or in the new earth. And this is not all the reason Christ would lay his life down.
“To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which HE purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord….” Not only has Christ’s death and resurrection, that atonement, cleansed Heaven’s throne room and sealed Satan’s fate, but God is revealing His many-fold wisdom through His RE-CREATED being… man! The coup-de-grace – GOD through CHRIST’S atonement and the HOLY SPIRIT infilling has put man back into the original “very good” posture of man’s state, in that God desired to create a being that would have the inherent ability through the power of choice, to develop character, that of Christ likeness. See what depth that character of Christ had to be, what urgency, what obstacles, what resolve, what purpose, sorely tempted, far beyond the first Adam. See how that character of overcoming was not without tremendous merit. This very same overcoming character He looks to develop in those He atoned for.
It wasn’t about authority. It wasn’t about your eternal residence. It wasn’t about repentance and forgiveness. It wasn’t about deliverance from the curse of the Law. It’s about SONSHIP. BUT hallowing Him as GOD also. It’s about you valuing the inheritance. Now that you have gotten out of Egypt, it is about cooperating with the gift of the Holy Spirit to get Egypt out of you. “Not every one that saith unto me LORD, LORD, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that DOETH the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity.” This is the cheap grace message. Following Christ unto the eternal inheritance is not BELIEVING in Him and what He did. It’s cooperating with the Holy Spirit in crucifying the carnal soul, and thereby through our will and desire, purging the very nature of Satan which we inherited, and in a sense fulfilling the same heart of sonship and obedience Christ did. THAT is following Christ.
It is religion that has determined that this sinlessness cannot be “done”. It is ignorance of justifying faith and imputed righteousness. It is their ignorance of God’s atonement plan, their willful ignorance of the application of the blood of Christ to obtain mercy (that equates to not critically appraising God’s goodness to continue in acts of that nature that defiles them). We and they are to correctly discern God’s intent in not only honoring Him as Father with their lips, but hallowing Him as a Holy God who requires this willing participation with the empowering Holy Spirit to choose death to “Self” (the nature of Satan within the soul) and the accompanying resurrected Life that flows into the Being that forms Christlikeness. To each believer this process is being worked out. God is able to ascertain in each individual the level of willing participation, for this Glory to Glory to Glory.
Not all will reach the same level of Paul, but like Paul, we buffet our body daily so as not to be found a reprobate (one He never knew). We continue to daily appropriate the Blood that cries out for mercy. With fear and trembling we are working out our salvation, beholding the goodness and the severity of our God. Acknowledging reverently what a High price He paid to maintain HIS own Holy integrity! Praise His name! What an Awesome God we serve. Behold the wonders that God has in store for those who love Him like Christ did, more than their own self wills. Eye has not seen… ear has not heard… nor has it even entered into the heart of man the things God has in store for those who Love Him.
This last week’s Torah lesson, we spoke of the Holy Spirit’s ministry in our regenerated spirit using the first three chapters of 1 Corinthians as our leading texts. We attempted to show the distinction Paul made in regard to the two kinds of spirits and their corresponding “wisdoms”. Paul pointed out that spiritual things come from the inward man who is in communication with the Holy Spirit. That was how the Gospel was communicated to the spirit of man. That is the arena of fellowship and relationship with God as opposed to the mind of the world, the spirit of the world’s wisdom, which is opposed or at enmity with God’s mysteries and deep things.
A few things that would compliment that teaching, that is, to be spiritual we must be Holy Spirit led. If that’s true, then how can we accomplish hearing and being led by the Spirit? Proper fasting (not just NOT eating) is one of the most effective ways to put us into posture of fellowship where we might hear the voice of the Holy Spirit in our spirit. Proper fasting is fasting with the intent to “hear” from the Lord for His will to be performed for life in us – not to just get Him to “do something” for us in OUR “lives”. “Life” is the result of what is imparted to our inward man when we commune in the Spirit with His Spirit. And we institute and incorporate that communication in our lives. THIS is hearing and doing His will in our lives through the Spirit’s force that empowers. That comes through relationship and fellowship in the Spirit/spirit. That is “knowing” with accompanying peace. That is “life”. All this as opposed to fasting our food and praying to get God to merely do something for us in our lives, not ever for sure if it’s His specific will or not because we have not heard from Him (I am not speaking of prayer with accompanying fasting in regard to sin), I am speaking of finding His will by the Spirit/spirit, by “hearing” the Spirit of God speak to your spirit. I’m speaking of how to enhance and enable to commune through fellowship and relationship with God as He desires us to, in the spirit, not through twisting His arm by prayer and fasting for Him to do something. That is the wrong approach and is not unlike leaving fleeces. This is not building spirituality by following the Spirit in our spirit through fellowship. It is like following the Urim and the Thummim – YES – NO – GO – STOP. This might get the will of the Lord done for us in a specific matter, but we can see that it does not accomplish God’s intended purpose for us in our inward man unto change of nature. We have fasted for a “sign” of God’s will in our lives, we have set a fleece and looked to “see” where to go, or what to do. A proper fast is one that “helps” one to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. For fasting is about hearing, not about sacrifice so that God might take notice of your effort and then decide that you are NOW worthy to speak to. No, God is ALWAYS willing to speak and it’s not necessary to fast to get Him to speak to you. We need to stop looking at the act of fasting as something spiritual. It is not spiritual, it is physical. But it can help you accomplish something spiritual…. hearing from the Holy Spirit in your spirit, as LIFE is then imparted and nature change occurs, so eventually we will walk in knowing God’s will because we will have His nature formed in us.
Christ was asked, “Why don’t your disciples fast?” and His response was simply put, “They do not need to fast because I am here and speaking to them directly, but when I am gone, they will need to seek my voice to hear.” Fasting is not unlike Sabbath-keeping in purpose. It’s not the sacrifice or the religious keeping of the day that causes one spiritual approval, but it is for the purpose God instituted, and that is to help us stay our mind on Him, that we might hear from His Spirit and that He might impart life unto our souls. That He might accomplish LIFE into our lives, a force that is in you and WILL come out of you. This is the purpose of fasting and Sabbath. It’s about being “soul-quiet” so you can hear His voice in your spirit.
Can you see it??
Fasting does not make you spiritual. Keeping Sabbath does not make you spiritual.
Us stopping the cares of the world and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit in our inward man will make us spiritual. What is “spiritual” if it is not hearing AND following the Holy Spirit progressively unto Christ-like nature change? This was not to be about fasting or our Sabbath keeping, but about God’s directed way for communication that Paul pointed to in 1 Corinthians chapters 1-3, by the Spirit revelation. To receive revelation is the way God has chosen to commune and fellowship and lead us to Christ likeness. Fasting and Sabbath quiet the carnal mind.
The eye is the busiest of the five physical senses. Try to concentrate on any one thing, such as your shopping list. “What should I get at the store? Well, let’s see….” And while you are trying to concentrate on that list, now move your eyes around the area you are in…look at the flowers out the window, glance at the TV, look at your children, the crack in the ceiling, the pile of junk in the corner…you will notice that you can not get your shopping list done because your moving eyes keep changing your thoughts to different items and subjects. Now the mind is the busiest of the senses of the soul and you will find the same truth when you go to hear from the Holy Spirit, your mind will jump from care to care, from concern to concern. From problem to problem, to choice to choice, from reason to reason, from cares of the world, to the lust of other things, to deceitfulness of riches, to fear of persecution, to foolishness. The reason we can not hear from the Spirit of Holiness is that our mind is too active, too full, too noisy and full of care. We need our mind of the soul to be STILL, and quiet to hear from the Holy Spirit. We can’t hear because the carnal soul with all its reasoning, intellect, emotions and imaginations are drowning out the still small voice (Isaiah 26:3). God wants to communicate to us through our spirit so we may change into His likeness. We are full of cares in the soul that stops us from hearing Him. We must learn to stay our mind upon Him. We must stop taking on more and more cares of the world. More affairs of this world means more disquiet in our soul. We must see the need, in spite of our current circumstances, to stop the rolling soulish mind so we can get and hold onto fellowship with the Holy Spirit. If we are quiet, we will get light in our spirit and elucidation in our mind to the will of God for us.
Lord be merciful, and grant me life here upon earth, for I am yet building this new HOUSE, though I have been slow and it is yet incomplete, unfit for OUR habitation, yet be merciful a little longer less I die and ANOTHER take ITS habitation.
Lord I have PLANTED a vineyard I have just recently plowed a new field and have SOWED my seed in fertile soil, I am yet to share in the FRUIT of my labor. Lord let me see the fruit of my labor.
Lord I am BETROTHED but have not yet been intimate. Grant unto me time that my love may be fulfilled.
Lord for I fear no enemy save my own sin and fear I fall in battle unworthy. Forgive my unpreparedness and grant me time and strengthen me to complete our house, eat of our fruit, and grow intimate with my love.
Lord let not the enemy have victory over me because of my weakness but grant that Christ’s blood who went into battle before me buy me time to faithfully fulfill the high calling you have extended to me. Amen.
