As some of you may know I have just returned from Scotland. I sense in my spirit that there is a new move of the Spirit coming. To my homeland ? Yes, to America? Yes, to the Body of Christ universal there is a calling from the Spirit to our spirits that we should arise from the ashes of what we now know as Christianity.
The calling is to a warrior race. It is to a group of people who tire of dwelling in the desert. These warriors for Christ will spit in the eye of disease and they will sneer at death. "If I must boast , I will boast in the things which concern my infirmities."(2 Cor 11:20)
Infirmities in the Greek is asthenia meaning disease, sickness, weakness. How many Christians do you hear today boasting about their diseases? Paul was whipped five times, 39 strokes each time. Three times he was beaten with rods. One time he was stoned and left for dead. He was shipwrecked three times. He experienced cold, hunger, poverty, abuse from those who called themselves believers, he experienced extreme weariness and despair. This is a warrior of the Kingdom of God. How do you compare to this man?
Do you think it is unfair to ask how you compare to Paul? Does it make you feel uncomfortable?
In the broadest picture the Christian walk consists of three stages. Stage one is the deliverance from Egypt(the world) Stage two is the desert experience and stage three is entrance into the promised land.
Since stage one should be self evident to all who have been born again, you know where you came from and what the Lord delivered you from, let us discuss stage two. Stage two is the desert and where I would argue that the vast majority of Christians today dwell. If we were to look at the experience of the Israelites in the desert we would see a people who experienced one miracle after another. Miracles of healing, miracles of food and water, miracles of winning battles (remember when Moses hands were raised they prevailed in battle?)
Yet even although they had witnessed the mightiest of miracles which would include the parting of the sea, do we see a sold out group of dynamic believers? Is it not true that no matter how many miracles that they saw they remained a frightened group of people who were more comfortable wandering in the desert and have God look after their every need? They were scared of going into the promised land, there were giants in there. They were a group of people who grumbled and were disobedient and every time something went wrong they proved they had no backbone.
What are today's giants? What is it today that Christians are most fearful of, fears that condemn them to forever wander in a desert that at least they know? I would put it to you that amongst the fears that torture today's Christians are sicknesses, diseases, sufferings, death, insecurity in regard to money. There is a whole industry to pamper to weak Christians who disgrace their warrior King of Calvary.
"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor. Yet I do not know what I shall choose.
For I am pressed together by the two: having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better." (Phil 1:21-24)
"Only let your conduct be as becomes the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you, or else am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, striving together with one mind for the faith of the gospel,
and terrified in nothing by your adversaries. For this is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God.
For to you it is given on behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake,
having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me." (Phil 1:27-30)
You see the word "terrified," used by Paul in verse 28 is a very strong word in the Greek, it is akin to a horse in full panic, running wildly out of control. Paul is arguing that when we react like this, as Christians, then our enemies laugh at us and see it as proof that what we have is not real. Oh how the spirits of Goliath laugh as they shout their taunts into the ears of cowering Christians. To them our fear is a sign of perdition. A study of our reactions and responses to "bad reports," proves or disproves our high and lofty claims that death has no sting for us and the grave is defeated.
After all the miracles of Jesus, How many disciples were left at the end? About 120 in the upper room perhaps. Where were all the multitudes who had swarmed to see the miracles and be amazed at the demonstrations of power? Was this not the same multitudes who had just chosen a murderer over a miracle worker, who had called down a curse upon their heads and the heads of the generations to follow and cry out "we have no king but Caesar?"
And so we have about 120 in the upper room. What was it that brought 3000 into the Kingdom that day? What was it that touched the unchurched on a grand scale? Was it not the Spirit of boldness that had taken over Peter. To stand up and tell that crowd, a crowd who had watched and demanded that Jesus be viciously killed, a crowd that in all likelihood would tear this man limb from limb(think about what happened to Stephen later) to stand up and accuse them of the guilt of killing the Son of God was no ordinary action. This was the warrior Spirit that cared not whether it lived or died for the Spirit that had taken a hold of Peter knew that the grave was defeated and that death had lost it sting and fear was conquered.
This is the same Spirit that got a hold of a young shepherd boy and compelled him to run towards the giant Goliath with complete abandon to the battle and for the name and honor of God. So where are today's David's? Who today cares more about the honor of the Lord than their lives? Where are the bold warriors of today who say that they would rather die on the battlefield of life than to slink of and snivel in the shadows of fear, desperately seeking someone to save their lives?
Why do you think vast crowds follow "miracle workers?" Is it because they are bold warriors for Christ? Where are the warriors today who, in the midst of battle, pull out the arrow and keep on fighting?
The Christian world is on defense. No one ever won a war on defense. It takes warriors to take the battle to the enemy. So where are the Christians who are willing, no eager, to run headlong with complete abandon at the enemy? Where are those who are willing to lose life and limb for the glorious honor of dying for Christ?
Will we suffer loss Christians? Are we willing to die gloriously for our King? Will we be totally abandoned to the battle?
There was a famous group of warriors from the Highlands of Scotland. The "Highland Charge," was one of the most effective field combat strategies in the arsenal of the Scottish army. Imagine facing hundreds of large screaming Highlanders coming at you at full tilt screaming their lungs out and swinging broad swords that measured over six feet. Many armies who faced this charge simply broke ranks and fled, just as many stood their ground. These front-line warriors always took great casualties but they were abandoned to the battle and they died with honor.
If Christians would passover into the promised land, into the most intimate chambers, they must be abandoned to the battle. It is time for the Church of Christ to arise and set their sights on entering into the manifest presence of God. They must be willing to lay down their lives, die to themselves and all of their fears if they are to enter that place where they will be engulfed in the flames of Shekinah glory. This is a higher place than miracles, although miracles will follow in the path of this new generation, but as an unintended consequence of the outflowing of Gods presence. Like a mighty incoming tide the warriors will be swept into His presence. And as with every tide that flows in, it will flow out. And as we flow out on a tide of majestic reverence then we will take a portion of that glory back into the darkness of the world, a world that the Lord so loves.
Do you have what it takes to abandon yourself to the Lord of Hosts? When you cast yourself upon this sea of dependence, you will have to rejoice and embrace and be thankful for whatever comes your way. It is in this embracing and rejoicing, that knowing that your steps are ordered of God and not your enemy, that you will experience the victory of life over death. If you cannot cast yourself upon this sea, you will never experience the glories of heaven and the fulness of God in this life.
We were called to this promised land. Do not live and die in the desert. Believe in God and know that you are in His hand. If you do this, where is fear? You have just ceased from your works and entered into the promised land. The land of true faith. The desert is a place of unbelief and disobedience despite a multitude of miracles. So you want to see miracles? The world says that if you want to reach the moon you have to shoot for the stars. Let us constantly set our sights on the throne room itself, the highest goal everytime, God Himself.
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