*The following article is from the book – Walking With God by Steve Bray - and the chapter entitled “The Fellowship of Communicating with God.”
Learning to respond to the right impressions is an important part of being a Christian. We have therefore included extensive quotes from the best sources we have found on this subject. The following lessons are from Martin Knapp’s book Impressions. (We have provided additional material in the Appendix from Impressions and from Thomas Upham’s book Inward Divine Guidance.)
Emphatic mention of this test of impressions is made by Upham in his valuable treatise on Divine Guidance. He says… “If a leading is of God the ‘way will always open for it.’ The Lord assures us of this when He says: ‘When He putteth forth His own sheep He goeth before them, and the sheep follow Him, for they know His voice.’ Notice here the expressions, ‘goeth before’ and ‘follow.’ He goes before to open a way, and we are to follow in the way thus opened. It is never a sign of divine leading when a Christian insists on opening his own way, and riding roughshod over all opposing things. If the Lord goes before us He will open all doors for us, and we shall not need ourselves to hammer them down. The Word declares, ‘Behold, I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it.’ ”
This open door of providential opportunity awaits every person who follows impressions from above. “I will go before thee,” declares Jehovah to all who follow Him, “and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron.” All true impressions from above find “crooked places” divinely straightened, gates of brass divinely broken and bars of iron divinely sundered.
The providential openings which thus ever welcome those divinely led are marvelous. God never impresses a Noah to build an ark, or a Solomon a temple, but that means, material and men await their appropriating faith. He never impresses a Philip to go preach to an individual, but that he prepares the person for Philip’s preaching…
We cannot forbear to quote further from the luminous teachings of George D. Watson on this frequently puzzling point. He says: “The Holy Ghost never guides us contrary to the Word. The Word never guides us contrary to Providence, and Providence does not guide us contrary to the Word or Spirit. So that these three elements of divine guidance are always harmonious… When you want to be divinely led, simply consult God’s providence and consult God’s Word and consult the convictions of God’s Spirit upon your heart, and the Lord, if you are humble and teachable, will see that you are properly led.”…
God has given us reasoning powers for a purpose, and he respects them, appeals to them, and all of His leadings are in unison with them. He will bring up all the facts in the case in such a way as to convince us that His leadings are all in harmony with sanctified common sense…
God never asks us to act on uncertainties. To do so is a spiritual crime. “He that doubteth is damned if he eat,” and this principle proscribes the doing of anything concerning the rightfulness of which there is doubt… [“For whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Rom. 14:23)]
God does not drive, but leads His children… Watson says, “You can detect the devil by one or two things. The devil always talks loud. Jesus always talks low and tender… When a [worldly] spirit makes an impression on the mind, that impression can be made in a loud, rushing, pell-mell sort of way… I mean to say that the impression has a loudness in the mind… The devil wants you to be in a hurry and rush and go pell-mell and not wait for anything; whereas Jesus is always quiet and He is calm and always takes His time… The more you wait on God, if the conviction comes from the Holy Ghost, the more you wait and the more you pray, the stronger it becomes. If it comes from the devil, the more you wait and the more you pray, the weaker it grows. You can tell by that. If you have a call to some mission work or anything, and you say, ‘I wish I did know whether it were God or Satan,’ you just take time…”
While it is true, when duty is clearly known, that “the king’s business requireth haste,” yet when it is not clearly known it is just as true that “he that believeth shall not make haste.”…
The impressions from above, when followed, are attended by a sweet peace and the consciousness that they are right; those from below, by perplexity and the feeling that something is wrong. The first brings rest. The second robs of it… The Holy Spirit is an unerring guide, and he who detects and turns from every wrong impression and fully follows Him will be led into “all truth.”…
May we each so “try the spirits,” and “watch and pray,” that, like God’s people of old, we may see our “pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night,” and thus while being led in a “plain path” be enabled to “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.”
God does not reveal the full details of His will all at once. He keeps His children in constant dependence upon Him. You will therefore need to have your patience perfected and learn to live each moment by the Spirit. “But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete {living in full dependence upon God}, lacking nothing.” (Jam. 1:4) The more lamb-like you become in your meek and lowly submission to His will, the easier it is to hear His voice and follow Him. You will then begin to discover that you never lack anything.
Wesley Duewel says in his book there is never an emergency with God. Even though we may think there is a crisis, our Sovereign God knows the end from the beginning. In Let God Guide You, he says, “The nature of guidance often requires extended time. You must allow God time to prepare you, others, and the situation for which you are praying.”
Even though there may appear to be a crisis developing at times, God will never permit His Spirit-led children to enter into any greater difficulty than is necessary for their good. As we have learned from the apostle Paul’s life, God will sometimes use very difficult situations to bring us to the end of ourselves. (2 Cor. 1:8-9) He will also use special thorns to separate us from the self-sufficient and self-exalting ways of the devil. He will do what is necessary to produce within our heart a childlike faith so He may keep us in the place where we “lack nothing.”
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Salt - by Guy Morris
This word is to you that have experienced a birth into the family of our Lord. Your life has been changed because of Jesus Christ, but the leaders of today have lost the vision of how the children of our Fathers kingdom grow up.
The purpose the Lord has is to stir up your thinking; to think... asking yourself where you are and what message are you hearing? What direction are you going? Are you on the milk of the Word? Is the milk healthy? Have you ever tasted meat that comes from the Lord? We need to ask ourselves if we know what salt is. Have we ever really tasted the flavor of the saltiness of the Word of God? Are we really carrying the cross that Jesus has asked us to carry following Him all the way or is it only a cross attached to a pretty chain around our neck?
The scripture the Lord has chosen for this letter comes from 2nd Kings 2:19-20, 21 and the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
A cruse is a container or vessel that is used for different things. Some are used to hold water, salt, seed or other things for the household. In this case it is a vessel that holds salt.
The city the Lord is referring to are a people who call themselves the bride of Christ or the Jerusalem of God, the brethren or perhaps they prefer to just plainly be a Christian church. At any rate I spent the first 42 years in these churches of different names and doctrines before the Lord called me out.
It is a divided city which is so full of different names and teachings that we almost lose count of how many there are.
Each one of these which are called by different names will very willingly tell you that they are right and the others are wrong. Saying, 'You will find out when you get to heaven and see that we were right.' This is the city we are talking about. A city that is full of divisions. As you look at this city as a whole you will also find it is a city of confusion. In the book of Revelation the Lord has given this city another name and that name is spiritually BABYLON.
To go on with this scripture we see the situation of this city is pleasant. Most of the buildings we call churches have padded seats to sit on. Nice carpet and the colors are pleasant to the eyes, but it depends who you talk to as to what answer you get. Perhaps the reason for this is because the scripture goes on and says the water is naught and the ground barren.
The Hebrew Word naught has many words to describe its meaning. Here are some; bad, evil, harm, hurt, worse, calamity, wretchedness, and more of such words to describe its meaning. So we see that the watering of the Word is not good and it makes the ground barren.
The Hebrew word barren means to miscarry; that is to suffer abortion, by analogy to bereave of children, and rob of children.
Perhaps the reason He is using this scripture is because the Holy Spirit used this to help teach me and so He is passing it along to you. He used this scripture to help teach me of what the churches have become. It wasn't that I was not saved as they put it or birthed into life by the Spirit of God. It was that I was not growing or developing into a healthy son of God.
The watering of the Word has been so twisted into different meanings and I was being robbed of growing up in our Lord Jesus. It was causing me harm and if it were not for the Lord calling me out I don't know what would have happened to me because I saw in a vision that my pastor was trying to cast me and another person into a bottomless pit. This scared me.
All I knew was going to church was the right thing to do. So now what am I to do? He preached Jesus, being born again, and receiving of the Holy Spirit. Yet God is saying he is robbing me.
We can understand how a child is born in the natural,(by the flesh), but we don't understand the fullness of how a Spiritual child of God is born and given a change of growing up to be just like Jesus. What is born of the flesh is flesh, but what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Many churches may have really had a part of a person receiving Jesus, receiving the Holy Spirit but then tell the people to pitch their tent in the wilderness of this world, far short of the Jordan River and the promised area of God. They call each tent by name and make up the rules that govern their group. If you don't follow the rules they may press you to leave, but if you want to leave on your own they may speak to you like they spoke to me.
You are leaving the will of God; your going to Hell or they may put the quilt trip thing on you trying to get you to come back saying you are going in the wrong direction. Some say, we need you to help us and others are really looking up to you. Patting us on the back does wonders to the ego of the flesh.
Satan is not afraid of a baby casting him out of heavenly places. What he is really concerned about is that baby growing up. He has done a good job so far keeping that child from growing up. I believe the Lord is about to change all that; that is if we are willing to listen to HIM.
The truth of the matter is I was going back to my Father's house looking to the Holy Spirit to guide me. Where I was all those years was living the life of a prodigal son only I didn't know it. Giving my time and money to leaders that were not helping me but harming me and other children of God from growing up in Christ Jesus. Now my Father was calling me out of these tent builders to come Home, to be in His presence.
We read in the scriptures that at one time it was OK to go to church or to gather together with others of like minds. Now it is different, because every one of us have been born into this world at the time of the great falling away. Our churches have become a part of the great harlot Babylon! Maybe there is a church somewhere which hasn't fallen away; I don't know. All I know is I have not heard of any.
When I was being called out two angles came to my house and stood behind me as I sat on the couch. I did not see them but I knew they were there. One of them spoke to me encouraging me to obey the Lord. I obeyed Him and left it. It made me think about the two witnesses that were sent to Lot to get him out of Sodom. At the same time you feel a little like Abraham when he was called out to the wilderness not knowing where he was going looking for the city of God; the one He was building.
The first thing the Holy Spirit began to do was to take away some bad teachings. I felt just like I was in a wilderness with the Lord's people scattered every where unknown to me. He also was teaching me new things that the church never taught. One of those things is the knowing that now I was a part of the true church of God, the one He is making, and not man. Sometimes I missed hearing the singing and fellowship with a few of them, but then manna came down and I was glad I obeyed Him.
Along with the scripture that I shared with you He showed me something else about the churches. I happened to go to Denver and the Holy Spirit wanted me to go to the stock show that was going on in town. He wanted to show me something. I didn't know where to go but I happened to be just in the right place sitting about half way up in the seats. They were selling bulls for reproduction of the farmers herds. Man o man did they fuss over those bulls, washing, combing, brushing and even putting curls in the hair at places. It looked like they were putting some kind of oil on them to make the hair shiny. These bulls were bought by the highest bidder.
The entire time what the Lord wanted me to see is... this is what man is doing to future preachers in the schools of men. They are hirelings groomed for producing people. They will go to the highest bidder teaching the doctrine of that school. They only looked good on the outside.
Elisha spoke what the Lord wanted-- Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
Bring me a vessel full of salt. If you have been called out and you're walking in this wilderness as a living sacrifice unto the Lord; don't desire to go back. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Mark 9:49
Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and teach you because He will make you into the salt of the earth and when the Lord goes forth with healing in His wings; you will be one with Him. Some of the Lord's people will be stubborn and will not come out of her until the day you are sent to them.
You that are being called out and you haven't obeyed Him yet; you need to do it. You need to trust the Holy Spirit to care for you. Jesus said, will there be any faith left when He comes? We don't want to come up short of having faith in God's Word and His promises.
True worship is to obey Him!
The Holy Spirit told me that when they were putting the guilt trip on me.
He is fully capable of getting you where you need to be according to God's will for you. The time will come that everyone whose name is in the Book of Life will be called on to come out of her before she is destroyed.
When I was being called out some things the Lord was showing me were hard to believe and I sort of felt like Abraham and the story told about him when he was called out. Maybe you feel the same way and you don’t know exactly where to go or what to do. I want you to know this is normal for a person like you.
You are special to our Father. One of the hardest things to over come is your own family and the love you have for them, which is a part of this world. The reason is, if you love your family more then Jesus; you are not worthy to have Him. In other words you will never be as one with Him. Talk about being salty? We all have to make up our mind that it is the Lord we will love and obey, denying our own life in order to be one with Him.
The Lord needs vessels of Salt for the healing of the true Church of God. To be vessels of Salt you need the mind of Christ and that means growing up to be Sons of God. Taste the Words that come out of the mouth of our Lord Jesus. If you don't think they are really salty then you are not hearing Him, nor tasting the flavor of salt.
I encourage everyone of my true family which is born of God. Have faith in every Word God has spoken through His Son Jesus or a fresh Word that He is speaking to you now. Yes, to have true faith in His Word will cause you to lose your Life but you will find a life that is truly wonderful and not of this world. We all need to be the salt of the earth; always ready to walk further with our Lord Jesus Christ. Always ready to have an answer seasoned with salt.
Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
There are many obstacles about this door seeking to turn you aside or call you back and the way is to suffer the loss of your life. It will be worth it to become the salt of the earth because that is what JESUS IS.
IN HIS LOVE
Guy
The purpose the Lord has is to stir up your thinking; to think... asking yourself where you are and what message are you hearing? What direction are you going? Are you on the milk of the Word? Is the milk healthy? Have you ever tasted meat that comes from the Lord? We need to ask ourselves if we know what salt is. Have we ever really tasted the flavor of the saltiness of the Word of God? Are we really carrying the cross that Jesus has asked us to carry following Him all the way or is it only a cross attached to a pretty chain around our neck?
The scripture the Lord has chosen for this letter comes from 2nd Kings 2:19-20, 21 and the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren. And he said, Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
A cruse is a container or vessel that is used for different things. Some are used to hold water, salt, seed or other things for the household. In this case it is a vessel that holds salt.
The city the Lord is referring to are a people who call themselves the bride of Christ or the Jerusalem of God, the brethren or perhaps they prefer to just plainly be a Christian church. At any rate I spent the first 42 years in these churches of different names and doctrines before the Lord called me out.
It is a divided city which is so full of different names and teachings that we almost lose count of how many there are.
Each one of these which are called by different names will very willingly tell you that they are right and the others are wrong. Saying, 'You will find out when you get to heaven and see that we were right.' This is the city we are talking about. A city that is full of divisions. As you look at this city as a whole you will also find it is a city of confusion. In the book of Revelation the Lord has given this city another name and that name is spiritually BABYLON.
To go on with this scripture we see the situation of this city is pleasant. Most of the buildings we call churches have padded seats to sit on. Nice carpet and the colors are pleasant to the eyes, but it depends who you talk to as to what answer you get. Perhaps the reason for this is because the scripture goes on and says the water is naught and the ground barren.
The Hebrew Word naught has many words to describe its meaning. Here are some; bad, evil, harm, hurt, worse, calamity, wretchedness, and more of such words to describe its meaning. So we see that the watering of the Word is not good and it makes the ground barren.
The Hebrew word barren means to miscarry; that is to suffer abortion, by analogy to bereave of children, and rob of children.
Perhaps the reason He is using this scripture is because the Holy Spirit used this to help teach me and so He is passing it along to you. He used this scripture to help teach me of what the churches have become. It wasn't that I was not saved as they put it or birthed into life by the Spirit of God. It was that I was not growing or developing into a healthy son of God.
The watering of the Word has been so twisted into different meanings and I was being robbed of growing up in our Lord Jesus. It was causing me harm and if it were not for the Lord calling me out I don't know what would have happened to me because I saw in a vision that my pastor was trying to cast me and another person into a bottomless pit. This scared me.
All I knew was going to church was the right thing to do. So now what am I to do? He preached Jesus, being born again, and receiving of the Holy Spirit. Yet God is saying he is robbing me.
We can understand how a child is born in the natural,(by the flesh), but we don't understand the fullness of how a Spiritual child of God is born and given a change of growing up to be just like Jesus. What is born of the flesh is flesh, but what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
Many churches may have really had a part of a person receiving Jesus, receiving the Holy Spirit but then tell the people to pitch their tent in the wilderness of this world, far short of the Jordan River and the promised area of God. They call each tent by name and make up the rules that govern their group. If you don't follow the rules they may press you to leave, but if you want to leave on your own they may speak to you like they spoke to me.
You are leaving the will of God; your going to Hell or they may put the quilt trip thing on you trying to get you to come back saying you are going in the wrong direction. Some say, we need you to help us and others are really looking up to you. Patting us on the back does wonders to the ego of the flesh.
Satan is not afraid of a baby casting him out of heavenly places. What he is really concerned about is that baby growing up. He has done a good job so far keeping that child from growing up. I believe the Lord is about to change all that; that is if we are willing to listen to HIM.
The truth of the matter is I was going back to my Father's house looking to the Holy Spirit to guide me. Where I was all those years was living the life of a prodigal son only I didn't know it. Giving my time and money to leaders that were not helping me but harming me and other children of God from growing up in Christ Jesus. Now my Father was calling me out of these tent builders to come Home, to be in His presence.
We read in the scriptures that at one time it was OK to go to church or to gather together with others of like minds. Now it is different, because every one of us have been born into this world at the time of the great falling away. Our churches have become a part of the great harlot Babylon! Maybe there is a church somewhere which hasn't fallen away; I don't know. All I know is I have not heard of any.
When I was being called out two angles came to my house and stood behind me as I sat on the couch. I did not see them but I knew they were there. One of them spoke to me encouraging me to obey the Lord. I obeyed Him and left it. It made me think about the two witnesses that were sent to Lot to get him out of Sodom. At the same time you feel a little like Abraham when he was called out to the wilderness not knowing where he was going looking for the city of God; the one He was building.
The first thing the Holy Spirit began to do was to take away some bad teachings. I felt just like I was in a wilderness with the Lord's people scattered every where unknown to me. He also was teaching me new things that the church never taught. One of those things is the knowing that now I was a part of the true church of God, the one He is making, and not man. Sometimes I missed hearing the singing and fellowship with a few of them, but then manna came down and I was glad I obeyed Him.
Along with the scripture that I shared with you He showed me something else about the churches. I happened to go to Denver and the Holy Spirit wanted me to go to the stock show that was going on in town. He wanted to show me something. I didn't know where to go but I happened to be just in the right place sitting about half way up in the seats. They were selling bulls for reproduction of the farmers herds. Man o man did they fuss over those bulls, washing, combing, brushing and even putting curls in the hair at places. It looked like they were putting some kind of oil on them to make the hair shiny. These bulls were bought by the highest bidder.
The entire time what the Lord wanted me to see is... this is what man is doing to future preachers in the schools of men. They are hirelings groomed for producing people. They will go to the highest bidder teaching the doctrine of that school. They only looked good on the outside.
Elisha spoke what the Lord wanted-- Bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him. And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
Bring me a vessel full of salt. If you have been called out and you're walking in this wilderness as a living sacrifice unto the Lord; don't desire to go back. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Mark 9:49
Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you and teach you because He will make you into the salt of the earth and when the Lord goes forth with healing in His wings; you will be one with Him. Some of the Lord's people will be stubborn and will not come out of her until the day you are sent to them.
You that are being called out and you haven't obeyed Him yet; you need to do it. You need to trust the Holy Spirit to care for you. Jesus said, will there be any faith left when He comes? We don't want to come up short of having faith in God's Word and His promises.
True worship is to obey Him!
The Holy Spirit told me that when they were putting the guilt trip on me.
He is fully capable of getting you where you need to be according to God's will for you. The time will come that everyone whose name is in the Book of Life will be called on to come out of her before she is destroyed.
When I was being called out some things the Lord was showing me were hard to believe and I sort of felt like Abraham and the story told about him when he was called out. Maybe you feel the same way and you don’t know exactly where to go or what to do. I want you to know this is normal for a person like you.
You are special to our Father. One of the hardest things to over come is your own family and the love you have for them, which is a part of this world. The reason is, if you love your family more then Jesus; you are not worthy to have Him. In other words you will never be as one with Him. Talk about being salty? We all have to make up our mind that it is the Lord we will love and obey, denying our own life in order to be one with Him.
The Lord needs vessels of Salt for the healing of the true Church of God. To be vessels of Salt you need the mind of Christ and that means growing up to be Sons of God. Taste the Words that come out of the mouth of our Lord Jesus. If you don't think they are really salty then you are not hearing Him, nor tasting the flavor of salt.
I encourage everyone of my true family which is born of God. Have faith in every Word God has spoken through His Son Jesus or a fresh Word that He is speaking to you now. Yes, to have true faith in His Word will cause you to lose your Life but you will find a life that is truly wonderful and not of this world. We all need to be the salt of the earth; always ready to walk further with our Lord Jesus Christ. Always ready to have an answer seasoned with salt.
Matthew 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
There are many obstacles about this door seeking to turn you aside or call you back and the way is to suffer the loss of your life. It will be worth it to become the salt of the earth because that is what JESUS IS.
IN HIS LOVE
Guy
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