The Power of Unity

The Holy One calls to me this morning. Life with my Lord is never dull. While deep trials mark my pathway, I know He is taking me to places of greater wisdom and understanding as we traverse this "Highway of Holiness" together.

 The time in His Presence is so amazing to me. The world around me may be swirling out of control but in His Presence there is peace.

Today He talks to me about our unity and the importance of community. This has been the topic of our early morning conferences over the last few months. He speaks without words to my heart and mind about unity with Him. With the Holy Spirit, there is a communication beyond words, and many question just how the God of all creation might "speak" to a mortal.

"Without words" is about all I can say. When I surrender my thoughts and mind to Him, I am taken into a higher order of thoughts. When I commit my dilemmas to Him, He opens my mind to see things from a different perspective.

God also speaks through His written Word. Early in my walk, I decided that I wanted to know His Word and become a "Master" of His Word in my own life. I didn't enter into a seminary or school because I was a wife, a mother and business partner to my late husband. Time and responsibilities didn't permit an outside education, but I sat at the feet of My Jesus and by His Spirit, I learned. 

I am still in His institution of "higher education", where the simple Truth is found amid all the chaos of life and the confusion set up by the enemy of my soul. Today, as we talk about unity, the Holy One takes me to Matt 18:19 yet again. Jesus said, "Again, I tell you that if 2 of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in Heaven".

This is just one of His endless promises that belong to His Beloved. It is important to note the "context" of this promise. Jesus was speaking to His Disciples, not the general population, and not the Pharisees. His Disciples were men who embraced His teaching, and surrendered to His authority as they called Him, "Teacher", "Master" and "Lord".

This is important to understand because of the trust that "whatever you agree" to ask for, comes out of a common bond of love for the Lord and the Promise Keeper. 

If 2 agree to build a tower like "Babel" unto the heavens, for a self-exalted empire, even if it is shaped like a "church", the "agreement" most likely will not receive the promise. So, how do we know what to ask? How do we know what to agree to?

God's written Word is His Will. God's Will is always an appropriate place to start in agreement. 

By way of example, Jeremiah 29:11 is a place where many believers can agree and often quote to each other. But that verse follows Jeremiah 29:4-7. This verse is a directive and very much a part of his written Will for us. We are told to "pray for the peace and prosperity of the land of exile, " for if it prospers so will you". 

Can we first agree that the world is not our home and we are just passing through this earth realm which is for us a land of exile? If we agree as to our current placement, we can move on to agree to ask the Lord for the peace and prosperity to flow out over the land of exile. We can look forward to that being answered. This is not "name it and claim it" for lustful fulfillment of things that would become idols. The earth's greatest need is peace. (With God and each other) ...followed by provision to live life here.

For those who do not agree that the Bible is our life manual and a living Word for every life and generation, they will be stuck with just a historical view of God's Word, not applicable to today and therefore relegating them to a life of no hope.

However, if we agree that the promises are all ours in Christ Jesus, then we can go past the model prayer that says:

"Thy Kingdom come

Thy will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven".

 

And on to live that reality here, now, today, and so long as our feet are planted on this Earth.  As I ponder that great promise of power in unity, to ask and receive, I am compelled to look at relationships where that can be most effective.

 When I read that promise, I have always seen it for "prayer partners" who are mostly unrelated saints, and those who come together for fellowship in community. Today the Lord blows open the limited understanding I have had and points out to me, the place of greatest relational impact of that promise in the world.

 That place is the basic relationship of two people upon which all society rests: the marriage of 1 man, 1 woman under the Lordship of Christ. The original benediction over the original pair was that they go forth and take dominion...rule...together... to co-govern with God and each other. Jesus' Word and promise reinstates that benediction.

 I think about what might be accomplished according to God's Word and His Will if married people could come together in agreement over their relationships, their families, their ministries and more. How much power could be wielded against the darkness in the world, if the "marrieds" would come into agreement to declare God's Word over what is out of God's order? How much healing would take place? How much of God's great government would come to our churches and communities? How much rebellion would be quenched, poverty ended, and divorces overruled?

 Evil orchestrates marital division because Satan knows the power of unity.

We have the promise and the plan. The power of unity is ours. The question is: will we wield it?

 The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

The Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit

The Power and Presence of The Holy Spirit

The Holy One calls to me this morning. It's a day to be in awe of the One who calls me. Because He usually brings Glory for the Father and the Son to my mind, it's odd to stand back and worship the role and Person of the Holy Spirit. And because He indwells me it's almost like celebrating myself and that cannot be right...right?

Yet today, I am brought to a new awareness of the magnificence of the Holy Spirit and the so often over-looked or under-appreciated magnitude of His Being.

Scripture says that, "In the beginning", (Genesis1:3), "Now the earth was formless and empty. Darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters". It goes on to say, "And God said, "let there be light" and there was light".

As I meditate on the Trinity and try to grasp the unattainable complete picture of a Being so Glorious, men would be incinerated in His Presence unless He wrapped Himself in flesh. I can only imagine....what it was like....to be there.....in the beginning.

There is such a mystery surrounding the "community" that is made up of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As I think about the 3rd Person of the Trinity and marvel at His possession of my soul...I wonder....

It seems that He is "The Force". As in "The Force be with you". He is the One Jesus relied on to bring His "new immortal body" out of the tomb. And He is the life Force that will bring us out as well for He is the Force behind resurrection life.

That inter-dependency upon each other seems to be the model of what the Lord Jesus called for within His Body, the Church. Since before Creation manifested a world we know as the Universe, God as the Trinity: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were in harmonious unity. Without beginning and without end, they were a Community beyond our comprehension, and always will be.

Yet They have invited us to enter into fellowship and be united with Them ....All of Them...in complete "unity"....in comm-"unity".

It has been suggested that the Holy Spirit is the One who empowers the spoken Word of God. He is the Force in the Word, Who gives life to the Word.

As I move through this course of study and into maturity, I realize I have entered the "school of the Holy Spirit". Upon my own petition and request, He has set about to teach me of His role in the Triune Godhead.

I honor Him and I worship Him. Jesus came to bring Glory to the Father. The Spirit came to bring Glory to the Son and now, we, by the power of the indwelling Spirit, can bring Glory to all Three.

I admit to having a flawed perspective of the Holy Spirit at the onset. My early education did not include a study of His Role or Being. Misrepresentation and ignorance of Him led me to suppress even a desire to become acquainted with the One who will give life to my mortal body and raise me from the dead should I die in the flesh before my Lord comes.

I know this is a sentiment shared by a vast majority of the Body of Christ. Ignorance of this incredible side of the three-part Godhead has crippled the Church since He is the Force behind the spoken Word of God.

In John 14, Jesus laid out what was about to happen upon His death and spoke of the One who would empower all who believe in Him: His identity (as God), His Authority (as Sovereign), His love (as Sacrificial).

Jesus spoke of a Comforter and a Counselor, who would come to live "with us and be in us" He went on in John 15, to give us the picture of Himself as "the Vine" and His disciples AKA you and me, as the branches with His life force bearing fruit through us. That "Life Force" connecting us to Him is the Holy Spirit.

To say that I have just discovered the tip of the iceberg of incredible things to come, is the understatement of all time. I have been blessed in the Sacred Romance to learn more about my Beloved Savior & Lord, now I am being led into places where His life and His Spirit can be unleashed. As in all matters relating to life with the Lord, it is the surrender of my will that unleashes His Power.

All were born into a fallen world. The "curse" is the separation from the Creator. His love could not leave us without a rescue. He sent Himself in the flesh to die the death that was required to lift the curse and redeem man. The death of Jesus, restored the order of Creation and brought peace once again between the Creator and the created.

Free will gives all men a choice to be restored to our Creator God or not. Once the decision is made to go on with God and His Son, Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit is sent to empower the order of Heaven to be manifested through those who have embraced that life with the Creator.

Under the influence and control of the Spirit, we are on assignment here to live in that restored dominion and harmony with the Creator as it was in the Garden before the fall.

The Holy Spirit brings enforcement of God's Divine order through our spoken words. We do not have the power to change things but He does. Our Spoken words are His dominion.

Evil understands this better than we do. The enemy in his cunning strategy has convinced people to speak his agenda and thereby cripple the Holy Spirit's power. "The power of life and death is in the tongue."

We quote that scripture yet do not discipline our words. We speak in agreement in the power of evil over the power of our God. I am called today to repent for all the worthless words I have allowed to pass my lips. Because they were spoken in times of distress and heartache is no excuse.

The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever. The Holy Spirit stands ready to bring my spoken word of God's Word into the earth's realm to the delight of all mankind and the establishment of His order through me.

I celebrate and worship the Holy Spirit. I delight in this understanding of His role within my being. I can feel His confidence beginning to surge.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?

Into the Land of the Giants (Again)

 The Holy One calls me this morning.  Nothing changes our early morning conference calls, and for that I am so thankful.  The Holy One has called to me every morning for years.  We are all on a learning curve and His lessons continue all the days of our lives.  Different seasons bring different applications of His Living Word. 

I am sure He was calling to me even before I recognized His voice or my need to respond.  That's the way it is with Holiness: He calls and then He waits.  Now I recognize His voice like a sheep does the Shepherd's and nothing is more important than listening to all He has to say to me.

The importance of our relationship has never been clearer than while my earthly husband was slipping away into eternity.  The Holy One never left me. In a supremely super- natural way, the Holy Spirit spoke to me throughout the dying process, and the one thing I could count on was His call to me each and every morning.....and then amazing grace for the moments flowed.

The last and most familiar season of my temporal life in 2012 was over.  It ended when my earthly husband crossed his finish line and went to be with our Lord.  Grief may last through the night, but joy comes with the rising of the sun, and the conference with Holiness at daybreak.

The whole earth is groaning with the need to see the return of our King.  He left here over 2000 years ago after having conquered the enemy of our soul.  Upon His resurrection and return to His Throne of Sovereign Authority, He released the power of His Holiness into the life of every person willing to follow Him into and through that death He suffered once and for all.

I am one of the grateful recipients of His gift because Holiness speaks to me.  Out of my thankful thoughts, He takes me to His Word and touches on the next phase of our journey.

The adventure now required me to go on alone.  Not alone in the sense of no fellowship, but alone without my physical companion of 31 years.  Not alone in the sense of no direction or grasp of a plan, but without the other guy providing his vision and his leadership over temporal circumstances.

I confess there was some fear associated with my loss.  And that fear is the point of today's meeting. The Holy One wants me to address the fear of the future.

I believe that in every season, there is a symbolic "out-of-the-wilderness and into-the-promised-land" scenario.  I believe the Word includes all the details of how God worked in the nation of Israel and all those individual lives for our education in Holiness.  I believe that if we look close and be honest about our personal life experiences and compare them to those detailed in God's Holy Word, we would see ourselves on every page.

The fear of the future and even entry into the "promised land" poses a battle.  We must go into the "land of the giants" to take possession of all God has promised us. My lesson today finds me in Numbers 13-14 with the Biblical account of the exploration of the promised land and the reports that came back.

The Holy Spirit speaks to my heart and mind, "going on into the promised land after the wilderness was not only permissible, but it was also a command".  Wow, now that puts it into perspective.  The refusal of the people to move forward into the land of promise, into the land flowing with milk and honey was not only ridiculous from a historic perspective, but it was rebellion in God's eyes.  Reading the account and report given by those sent to explore the "promised land", I understand why.

The faithlessness of 10 out of the 12 who were sent to explore the land, spread like a cancer among the people.  Fear replaced faith and rebellion ensued.  Joshua spoke into their rebellion words that we need to hear today.  Acknowledging that the land was "good", Joshua emphasized the fact that, in spite of the large inhabitants of the land, God was with them and God would lead them and God would give Israel possession of the land.

In Numbers 14:9, Joshua conveyed the point of the "test" for the nation then and for me today when he said, "Only do not rebel and be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up, their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us.  Do not be afraid of them".  It is apparent that the real obstacle to the people of Israel for going forward was the "fear" that was master over their faith.

We are told by the evil one that we are outnumbered and out gunned when it comes to our taking possession of the land.  The obstacles are too big, and any attempt to move forward in God's Will would be a suicide mission.   Turn back, return to what is comfortable, the risk is greater than the reward.  Faithlessness has many expressions.

The Voice of My Shepherd speaks clearly, "If you have the faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "move from here to there" and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you."  "Only do not be afraid". 

The Holy One has made His point to me today.  I can move out and into the "land of the giants" confident that the Sovereign God of all Creation is with me.  Faith vs. fear.  The only question is, "will I go?"  

This testimony of life in 2012 and where He has brought me to this day in 2025, is another season about finding the courage like Caleb to go to the "high country" and defeat the giants in our promised land. The next blog will speak of His calling for us today. 

The Holy Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?