I was on a business trip to Europe in October 2007 . On the 1st night after the day of arrival I was not able to sleep much due to jetlag. The Lord woke me up from a dream. It is only with an eager sense of a desire to share his revelation to you that I pen this email at 6.45 am in the morning to you and other of my brothers in Christ. Not that I think of anything of myself, but that this may impart a blessing to you in your walk with HIM who is glorious.
It was strange but I was in an industrial type setting with an overhead sliding jig moving on top of me in a kind of a factory like warehouse with a 20m high ceiling line. His voice was spoken in a black African style English accent........You hear me now like a gunshot ( which means explosively but occasionally). But do you want to hear me more than this? Then you will need to seek my presence.
I woke up from this dream and sought the Lord on what this meant. I do desire to hear him more but how? What is the meaning of seeking his presence?
Then the Lord revealed this.....If you draw near to me , I will draw near to you.
I realized immediately that this meant more than the 30 mins or so daily quiet time we spend 'drawing near'. This also meant being continually aware of his presence in each and every setting, in the market place where we spend most of our time (like the warehouse setting in the dream above) and every other place .But again how? There are three keys here that the Lord showed me........
First of all it has to start from an inner desire, an exercising of the will. God will provide us the opportunities and experiential settings to desire this, the opportunities to exercise the will, but that is all. We must still exercise the will if we desire, that is. God will not exercise our will for us.
The second key comes from 2 Corinthians 3 vs 4-5. 'And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves , but our sufficiency is from God.. Galatians 6:1-5 further emphasises our disposition not only in the spiritual aspect but in a parallel way, to the marketplace. Vs 3 says if anyone thinks himself to be something, then he is nothing, he deceives himself.
The principle of Sufficiency seems to say that only if we deem ourselves nothing ( does not matter what we have achieved and what we have accomplished) , draw our sufficiency from God, then only can we truly do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us. It is the same Principle by which Christ took on nothingness ,although he was Everything, to become the son of man to accomplish the greatest work of salvation ever. Even being in the form of God , as son of man , he depended entirely on his Father for everything and therefore was able to do the greatest act of salvation.
So we are nothing, yet EVERYTHING in Christ Jesus who strengthens us. We are both nothing, yet everything at the same time, something not quite easy to grasp. But it seems to be that only if we take on nothing then can we be everything God wants us to be.
Therefore the second key to seeking his presence is to acknowledge this nothingness even when we are in the marketplace; and then to draw our sufficiency from him. When we do this then we will draw our strength from him. We will hear his voice in each and every situation as we seek his counsel, EVEN if we seem to know the answers.
(Remember that many great men, businessmen and even Christians have accomplished great victories through great efforts in the marketplace, but have made the mistake of making past victories into tomorrow's principles and have died doing this. For instance Ford Motors that put the first commercial motor vehicle into place was the number 1 in the world 70 years ago. But as the needs of man evolved , they did not refine their car, but hung on to increasing greater horsepower and fuel guzzling, and was left trailing behind the BMWs and other newer generation high efficiency and performance cars. That's because Ford hung on to old victories and their market leadership position.)
God's principle in this as the bible seems to say is not to dwell on victories accomplished ( we should be able to say Victory OVER the minute Victory is Accomplished), but from the point of nothingness and sufficiency from God we need to start with a clean sheet each and very day and ask God for fresh insight, even if we seem to know the answers. Our eyes are not to be on ourselves or on our accomplishments. From this position of humility, then we can truly accomplish ALL things . When we draw from him, then we will hear him , wherever we are. Does not the scripture say ' Call to ME, and I will show you great and mighty things, which you do not know...." Or 2 Corinthians 5 :17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation, OLD things have passed away, ALL things have become new!!
The third key is ... where two or more are gathered, I will be in their midst. That means we will surely have His presence. We are living in a fast paced life with little time for our family ,leave alone ourselves. We are probably failing to do that one crucial thing that the early Christians did and did often....they came together , breaking bread and having fellowship and giving time to prayer and to the word. Did not Christ, say you shall do this as often as you shall in remembrance of me in regards to breaking bread? Is there a deeper meaning to the Holy communion? Are we communing enough? Are we praying together enough? I believe we need to meet more often in smaller groups over a meal and spending time praying and ministering to one another. Would these settings present opportunities for God to speak, and for us to hear his voice? I believe so!
I have never penned my experiences like this before and so quickly, lest I forget what I have heard. But I felt God wanted me to share this so that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ like you may be encouraged as well together with me as we become motivated to hear his voice more!
It was strange but I was in an industrial type setting with an overhead sliding jig moving on top of me in a kind of a factory like warehouse with a 20m high ceiling line. His voice was spoken in a black African style English accent........You hear me now like a gunshot ( which means explosively but occasionally). But do you want to hear me more than this? Then you will need to seek my presence.
I woke up from this dream and sought the Lord on what this meant. I do desire to hear him more but how? What is the meaning of seeking his presence?
Then the Lord revealed this.....If you draw near to me , I will draw near to you.
I realized immediately that this meant more than the 30 mins or so daily quiet time we spend 'drawing near'. This also meant being continually aware of his presence in each and every setting, in the market place where we spend most of our time (like the warehouse setting in the dream above) and every other place .But again how? There are three keys here that the Lord showed me........
First of all it has to start from an inner desire, an exercising of the will. God will provide us the opportunities and experiential settings to desire this, the opportunities to exercise the will, but that is all. We must still exercise the will if we desire, that is. God will not exercise our will for us.
The second key comes from 2 Corinthians 3 vs 4-5. 'And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves , but our sufficiency is from God.. Galatians 6:1-5 further emphasises our disposition not only in the spiritual aspect but in a parallel way, to the marketplace. Vs 3 says if anyone thinks himself to be something, then he is nothing, he deceives himself.
The principle of Sufficiency seems to say that only if we deem ourselves nothing ( does not matter what we have achieved and what we have accomplished) , draw our sufficiency from God, then only can we truly do ALL things through Christ who strengthens us. It is the same Principle by which Christ took on nothingness ,although he was Everything, to become the son of man to accomplish the greatest work of salvation ever. Even being in the form of God , as son of man , he depended entirely on his Father for everything and therefore was able to do the greatest act of salvation.
So we are nothing, yet EVERYTHING in Christ Jesus who strengthens us. We are both nothing, yet everything at the same time, something not quite easy to grasp. But it seems to be that only if we take on nothing then can we be everything God wants us to be.
Therefore the second key to seeking his presence is to acknowledge this nothingness even when we are in the marketplace; and then to draw our sufficiency from him. When we do this then we will draw our strength from him. We will hear his voice in each and every situation as we seek his counsel, EVEN if we seem to know the answers.
(Remember that many great men, businessmen and even Christians have accomplished great victories through great efforts in the marketplace, but have made the mistake of making past victories into tomorrow's principles and have died doing this. For instance Ford Motors that put the first commercial motor vehicle into place was the number 1 in the world 70 years ago. But as the needs of man evolved , they did not refine their car, but hung on to increasing greater horsepower and fuel guzzling, and was left trailing behind the BMWs and other newer generation high efficiency and performance cars. That's because Ford hung on to old victories and their market leadership position.)
God's principle in this as the bible seems to say is not to dwell on victories accomplished ( we should be able to say Victory OVER the minute Victory is Accomplished), but from the point of nothingness and sufficiency from God we need to start with a clean sheet each and very day and ask God for fresh insight, even if we seem to know the answers. Our eyes are not to be on ourselves or on our accomplishments. From this position of humility, then we can truly accomplish ALL things . When we draw from him, then we will hear him , wherever we are. Does not the scripture say ' Call to ME, and I will show you great and mighty things, which you do not know...." Or 2 Corinthians 5 :17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a NEW creation, OLD things have passed away, ALL things have become new!!
The third key is ... where two or more are gathered, I will be in their midst. That means we will surely have His presence. We are living in a fast paced life with little time for our family ,leave alone ourselves. We are probably failing to do that one crucial thing that the early Christians did and did often....they came together , breaking bread and having fellowship and giving time to prayer and to the word. Did not Christ, say you shall do this as often as you shall in remembrance of me in regards to breaking bread? Is there a deeper meaning to the Holy communion? Are we communing enough? Are we praying together enough? I believe we need to meet more often in smaller groups over a meal and spending time praying and ministering to one another. Would these settings present opportunities for God to speak, and for us to hear his voice? I believe so!
I have never penned my experiences like this before and so quickly, lest I forget what I have heard. But I felt God wanted me to share this so that my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ like you may be encouraged as well together with me as we become motivated to hear his voice more!
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3 comments:
great stuff Alburn, keep it coming
This is amazing. Thank you Alburn, your testimonies is so refreshing........
This is amazing. Thank you Alburn, your testimonies is so refreshing....
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