Wednesday, December 14

PREPARING THE WAY

Isaiah 40

Are you born-again? Have you known the Hand of God upon you, bringing you to see and abhor your life of sin, and giving you revelation of Himself and yourself, and so granting you repentance and a change of heart? Have you known the experience of being brought out of the Kingdom of Darkness and into the Kingdom of Light? Are you a totally new creation in Jesus Christ, now seeing a realm of life invisible to you before? If you answer "No," or "I'm not sure," or these questions seem unfamiliar and strange to your understanding, then I beg you to seek the Lord Jesus Christ and His reign until the great crisis in your life comes, and He is revealed and submitted to, and you are made new. You will know without a doubt that you have met the Lord Jesus Christ and you will never be the same again! Then I have more good news for you!

He says, "Comfort ye my people." Though we are now His own, redeemed by His precious blood, He calls us on to be perfectly formed into His own image! Awesome thought! It seems impossible, and so it is in our own strength and ability, but nothing is too difficult for God. And so The Voice cries, good news! "All flesh is as grass and all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field: The grass withers; the flower fades: because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it." Good news? Yes, It's the best news ever proclaimed and heard for those who want all of what Christ died to give! Praise God for those who are willing to give up everything of themselves as Christians—their own abilities, talents, plans, thinking, and strength, which they have been using to serve the Lord, and come into a whole new order of life. It's a life where we can truly say, "Not my will but Thine be done." It's a life of waiting on God for His direction and His provision for serving Him. It's a life of continual sanctification, purity, and holiness; of baptism in Holy Ghost and fire. It's a life of ceasing from everything natural and entering the supernatural Life of the Indwelling Christ. "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me!"

Who will seek God for this precious blessing of baptism in Holy Ghost and fire? Who will lay down all, cease from all natural life and live for God's glory alone in the supernatural realm of His Life and His Provision and His Perfection? Who will allow their own strength to die and be renewed in His miracle power? Who will faint and fall before Him, releasing everything that is dear and valuable and strong, and wait—bound together in expectancy—on the Lord alone?—they who have no other hope, no other allegiances, no other strength or wisdom, no other place of affection and acceptance and honor. "THEY shall renew their strength; THEY shall mount up with wings as eagles; THEY shall run and not be weary; and THEY shall walk and not faint." Tried and True! Everything good in humanity must be brought to nothing that everything good in God alone may be exalted, for it's only on the nothing in man that God builds His Kingdom. Joseph was nothing. Will we be nothing so God can be All, to His glory alone?!

~ Cindy Warren