The above video is transfixing (here is the original video on YouTube.) It helps to elevate my thoughts to contemplate the greatness and power and beauty of the LORD; which lifts me nearer to that spiritual realm where exists a world far more sublime than what can be discerned with the natural senses only. As I behold those ancient hillsides standing out of the deep and restless sea (above) ~ and I remember their Creator, I can almost hear the sounds of "lightnings and thunderings and voices" which proceed from the throne of God (Revelation 4:5).
I muse about how once there was a time (albeit very briefly) when primordial Nature on earth existed, but as yet then there was no man. And how that God, in triune counsel, said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion...over all the earth" (Genesis 1:26). Though that dominion that was short lived, because of man's rebellion.
Almost but not quite obscured by the ceaseless din of wind and rain and thunder and of ocean waves pounding, it seems I still can hear the incessant noise of humanity, striving.
Generations in succession did come, and they also soon passed away. From the last day in Eden until now, mankind has known only hardship, brokenness and suffering. Until....
At the appointed time, the promised Savior came. He was a man unlike any other. Not only did he show us the path of life, but he said that he would be to each one of us individually, our closest companion.
From time to time throughout history, there have arisen some who believed God and who thus walked close with him; in whose lives, accordingly, God showed himself strong on their behalf (2 Chronicles 16:9). Thus God has shown what is his will concerning me, and concerning you; as the Scripture saith:
"I beseech ye therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, [in order] that ye may prove [demonstrate] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)What does it mean: The fact, that history has been punctuated at times, more or less frequently, by men and women who were veritable channels through whom the power of God flowed out continually in miracle-working power? Does it mean that only those select few individuals were somehow worthy of such honor? Or does it mean that God, by his sovereign will, decreed that those ~ and only those ~ persons could draw so near unto God as they did?
Doubtless that is what the devil would have God's children to believe. Satan with fear and loathing seeks to prevent every Christian from entering in to take possession of his or her inheritance in Christ Jesus. Else, then were Satan's kingdom sooner destroyed.
The light of God appeared to me with such clarity, today, that it seems as if never in my life ~ no, not even in all of my studies involving men and women who were mightily used by God ~ have I ever before heard that God's will is that everyone in whom the Spirit of God dwells, should walk with God in such a way that God may continually show himself strong on their behalf!
It "seems" as if I never heard it, I said. For, although I have often pondered such wonderful albeit to me transcendent truths in God's Word, nevertheless, in time past, I was habitually defeated and prevented by the tempter's lying accusations:
"YOU are not worthy; YOU will never be worthy ~ because of your sinful past! God cannot use YOU, because your life and character has too much been corrupted. If you ever had a chance to be a chosen servant of Jesus Christ, yet you blew it!! If you had only begun to be a real Christian when you were much younger, perhaps, by now you might ~ just might, I say, have been able to attain some level of spiritual maturity and power. But now you will just have to content yourself with...what? going to heaven some day? Hahahahaha!!!! You've failed in everything you've ever tried to do!!!! YOU are nothing but a failure!! . . . . ."The devil is right about one thing: Every man that ever lived (except Jesus Christ) has been a complete failure. But that's just the very beginning of the Story. Is it not? Man proved he is a failure (apart from God) ~ in the opening chapters of Genesis! Whereas, the remainder of the Book treats of God's great mercy and grace to redeem fallen man, and to restore man, individually and personally, to union with God in Christ.
I just finished reading a fourth book written by Dr. Charles S. Price (whose writings I very highly recommend); in all of which books he insisted that Christian men and women must come to view themselves as "nothing" in themselves, that is to say, apart from Christ (though we are not without Christ). Dr. Price moreover urged that Christians should not in any wise think to rely upon their own goodness, but only look to Jesus ~ for everything. He [Jesus], only, is our righteousness. As Dr. Price explained it: Most Christians believe they must "do in order to be; whereas, the truth is that we must be in order to do." Our works and our conduct can never produce the character (fruit) or the power of the Spirit of God. Only by abiding in Christ (who is the Vine) can the life of the Vine bring forth his Life and the power of that Life in and through us (which are the branches). (I do not mean, of course, that our conduct is therefore irrelevant or unimportant. For, sin in every form wounds one's own conscience and does violence to one's fellowship with a holy God.)
Dr. Price was used as greatly by God as any other person whose life I have studied. He is one of my heroes and role models. I've learned a great deal from him in a short amount of time. But this revelation, which I am attempting to reveal herein, I did not receive from Dr. Price's writings; I received it from the Lord. Just yesterday, I prayed: "Lord, teach me. But I need more than knowledge merely: I need revelation!" Of course, this is not the first time that I have prayed such a prayer, or that such a prayer of mine has been swiftly answered.
If the life and ministry of Jesus was meant to be our Exemplar, then why should we not also consider the lives of other great men and women of God as being examples ~ for ourselves to follow in their footsteps? Footsteps, that is, that have been proved to meet with God's approval and blessing!
Were the ministries of people such as John G. Lake, Smith Wigglesworth, George Jeffreys, Aimee Simple McPherson, William Seymour, or Dr. Charles S. Price (for but a few examples) extraordinary? Indeed, their respective lives and ministries were "extra-ordinary," contrasted with how most other professing Christians choose to live. But they were not beyond the mien of what may be possible to any others amongst God's children. Those God-anointed men and women, together with a great many others like them, were real-life examples of what God can do and will do in and through every life that is truly consecrated and yielded to God.
That idea may seem elementary to you. But it came as a revelation to me. I have searched for many years to understand the path whereby this man, or that woman, was raised up from a life of relative obscurity and fruitlessness, to become great soul-winners for God, and to do exploits in his Name. Today, I am sure that I better understand.
I cannot imitate anyone else's life or ministry; nor should I try to do that. God doesn't want cookie-cutter copies. He made each of us to be a unique personality. God does however want every one of us to be holy. And the only way anyone can be holy, is to be wholly surrendered to the will of God.
In which case, Jesus truly then is the Alpha and the Omega of my life, the Author and the Finisher of my faith.
Closer, now. Ever closer doth God's kingdom now appear....
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