| DAY 32 “… what are
the riches of the glory of His inheritance (He has) IN the saints.” Ephesians
1: 18
Yesterday we were mapping
out something of the glorious riches in Ephesians 1. Part of Paul’s great
prayer (verses 17 to 20) concerns the inheritance He has placed in the
saints. We all have an individual and a collective responsibility to discover,
cherish and walk in the inheritance. Check out Nehemiah’s call: inheritance
and power to build the walls of Jerusalem in 52 days. He lived up to
His name, giving comfort
to God’s beleaguered people. From Gethsemane to the outpouring of God’s
Spirit at Pentecost was 52 days – and from a doctrinal point of view that’s
how the Church was built.
Nehemiah needed favour from
Artaxerxes to go and fulfill his call and see the inheritance: a restored
Jerusalem. There’s always a fight over your inheritance because it comes
out of the excellent glory in heaven. Favour helped Nehemiah by acting
as a bridge to success. Ruth had Naomi, Timothy had Paul. The Ephesian
church had the apostle Paul (Acts 19). If we don’t have favour we can
work very hard for very
little. Favour helps us in the first stages of the fight. When division
came from Sanballat, Tobiah and Gershem, Nehemiah refused to debate with
them but spoke the decree in Nehemiah 2: 20,
“The God of heaven
Himself will prosper us; therefore,
we His servants will arise
and build: but you have no
inheritance or right or
memorial in Jerusalem.”
He declared the word God gave
him as a “sword” against the enemies of God’s people. We will have to use
our “sword”, the word of God, if we are to receive our inheritance.
We need to know as churches
and as individual believers, “What is our inheritance?” Call is the pathway,
and power is needed for the realization or manifestation of it on earth.
Paul’s Ephesian prayer begins “… making mention of you in my prayers”.
The word “mention” is a memorial or akin to “statue”. The word picture
involves the apostle making a statue of the finished article in the
heavenlies by his prayers.
He could see, with the eyes of his spirit, what the inheritance of the
Ephesian church was. How we need intercessors like Paul and Nehemiah today
to build the broken down walls of the church. The key to the building program
back in 445 BC was four months of night and day praying (Nehemiah 1). Will
you pray Ephesians 1: 17 – 20 for your church for four months? Then the
glory can manifest.
How we need intercessors
like Paul and Nehemiah today to
build the broken down walls
of the church
DAY 33 “When the righteous
rejoice, there is great glory; But when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.”
Proverbs 28: 12
Praise and worship facilitates
glory… the atmosphere of heaven comes down on those made righteous with
the righteousness of Christ. “To Him be glory in the church…” says Paul
to the Ephesians. The glory comes down in order to return to the Son of
God who upholds all things by the word of His power. God shares His power
because it “works in us” (Ephesians 3: 20).
God is able to do beyond
what we ask or think or imagine when we are dominated by the power or dunamis
(dynamite for blowing up the works of the devil).
Sitting in heavenly places
means we will worship in spirit and in truth. Standing eyeball to eyeball,
toe to toe, against the enemy on the earth means we will warfare with the
sword of the Spirit. Psalm 149: 6 links the high praises of God with the
sword of the Spirit; the already written judgement against the enemy.Worship…
Warfare… May God give us the right balance here. There are churches
who worship with extravagant
love, but do not stand against the enemy because they mistake 2 Chronicles
20: 17, 18 as no warfare. Other churches are working at spiritual warfare
without realizing their position seated in heavenly places. Danger beckons
with both extremes. One leads to passivity – remember in 2 Chronicles 20
there was a spiritual sword (v 19). The other leads to impotence
because we are doing things
in our own strength. How we need the gift of faith – heaven’s divine ability
to walk in the supernatural realm!
Too often we fail to hold
on long enough, for the speaking of Christ
to give us that anointed
sword, and for faith to rise.
Good people are hiding away
today because the wicked have arisen and taken their positions in society.
The righteous are bold as a lion when they praise and enter the dimension
of glory. The Lord will give you a sword to cut through and break off oppressions
and obsessions when you worship. Too often we fail to hold on long enough
for the speaking of Christ to give us that anointed sword,
for the gift of faith to
rise, so we may be worshipping warriors. A new generation must awake to
worship and warfare for the intense spiritual battles ahead.
“Father, Your Son, the
man of war, moved in the power of God, defeating the enemy. Help me defeat
a foe who is already, by the Cross, a vanquished foe.Show me the price
of being an overcomer for the glory of God. Amen.”
DAY 34 “… to Him be
glory in the church…” Ephesians 3: 21
The great aim of church life
is glory: the tangible, visible presence of the Lord. We don’t arrive at
this blessed conclusion automatically. Paul’s apostolic praying begins
with humility (verse 14) and proceeds to an instantaneous experience of
being endued
with power in your spirit
(v 16). We know Christ in us (v 17). We know the dimensions of the gospel
(v 18), as well as love (v 19) and prayer (v 20). What are the four dimensions
of the gospel?
-
WIDTH. Ephesians 2: 4 speaks
of God being filthy, stinking rich in mercy, because of His great love.
Preaching must portray the Cross to reveal that love to sinners. Lifestyles
must lay down self in order to demonstrate that love. No one is outside
the scope of His eternal love. And the one forgiven much, loves much to
prove the width of His mercy (Luke 7: 47). All pastors explore the width.
-
LENGTH. Ephesians 1: 10 is code
for the Lord’s reign in the millennium – “the dispensation of the fullness
of times.” Eras, generations, times and seasons speak to the prophet’s
heart. The present truth (2 Peter 1: 12) is the church age of grace. Before
Jesus cried “It is finished!” the Jews lived under the law of Moses. God
removed the first to establish the second – a better covenant. God’s seconds
are better than His firsts. Through the chronology of our lives God aims
at the new thing. Prophecy helps us perceive it.
-
DEPTH. Ephesians 3: 13 links
the heavy pressure situations with glory. Glory comes at a price: someone
suffers, someone goes through a dark night of the soul. Whatever YOU go
through, the experience is for someone else. Your experiences are not primarily
for you. Meditate carefully upon 2 Corinthians 1: 3 – 6. What should distinguish
the fivefold ministry of Ephesians 4: 11 is a depth of suffering. It will
bring many sons to glory.
-
HEIGHT. Five times Ephesians
has the unique phrase “in heavenly places”. If you are really living Ephesians
is the map, the Mount Everest of scripture, no The great aim of church
life is glory… when you know the dimensions of the gospel references to
the Old Testament, a world of the Spirit, far above all hindrances. More
than conquerors live here. The beautiful Bride breathes in the glory as
she beholds her Lord. She has been washed in the water of His word and
lives and moves and has her being in Him. Praise the Lord!
“Father in heaven,
reveal in my heart the glorious dimensions of the gospel. I want to see
Christ in my brother and sister. Show where there is width and length and
depth and height in church life. For Jesus sake. Amen.”
DAY 35 “… and all
the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.”
Luke 13: 17
Glory in the church equals
God doing the “glorious things” in people’s lives… miracles, deliverances
and healings. The signs following the word of God are His glorious credentials…
born in the eternal glory and coming to earth by the penetrative power
of the Holy Spirit. We need to seek God for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
to see and to grasp the power that raised Jesus from the dead, and quickens
our mortal bodies (Ephesians 1: 19, 20 and Romans 8: 11).
Pay the price for the raw
power of God. A. A. Allen had a dozen or so requirements he had to obey
to move in a huge healing miracle
ministry. The cross was
evident in many of the commands. Luke 9: 23 and John 3: 30 and 1 Peter
2: 20 – 23 with Romans 12: 1
were essentials: there is
a price to pay, a world to renounce, a relationship that has to die, a
life of ease to scorn. Glorious things
have a price tag: perhaps
weeks of prayer and fasting. Some may fast from food or sleep or even fellow
believers! “Leaders are dealers in hope,” said Napoleon, and we believers
know hope is a confident expectation of better things that accompany salvation.
Read the gospels and see the creative miracles Jesus went on performing
for the glory of God. One of the most memorable books I ever read was Gordon
Lindsay’s “A Man Sent by God”, the life of William Branham. He paid the
price in many ways and hundreds of thousands saw notable miracles through
a remarkable word of knowledge. He lost his wife and children in the Ohio
flood of 1937. If he had moved on his own witness to change location earlier
in that year, this would not have happened. However, the leaders of his
denomination had a caution
about him moving away. This was just a few months before the disaster.
It took ten years to get back in the power of the Spirit.
William Branham famously
said that he had to step aside and God had to step in for the miraculous.
It was not the healing gift or the word of knowledge that was of prior
importance. He was a simple man clothed with humility. A halo of glory
appeared over him – because heaven was downloading the knowledge and discernment.
Glorious things will happen when one man accesses heaven… and multitudes
will rejoice.
Inventions occur everywhere
by the natural thinking of man. They can put the Bible into a micro chip
as small as a pin head. Soon a robot will do operations inside your veins!
Do you think God has nothing of breakthrough inventions for the church?
Of course He has. His eyes watch out “… to show Himself strong on behalf
of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”
DAY 36 “… that He
would grant you, according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened
with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Ephesians 3: 16
For miracles we need might
– the Spirit of might (Isaiah 11: 2). If you move against disease and the
needs of mankind the enemy will seek to weary you, exhaust you and bring
burn-out. The chances of full recovery after ministry burn-out are slim
unless you receive the strengthening of the Spirit in the inner man. A
new strength must come to the body of Christ worldwide, for the battles
to come are overwhelming. We must not rely on natural strength.
When you think of strong
men, territorial spirits above you, elemental spirits under you, curses
back in the hereditary lines, soulties
to people near you; when
you see the scope of the warfare, you will desire supernatural strength
– the mighty power that raised Jesus from the dead. We are a Joshua generation,
anointed with a sword in our hand, ready to take territory for Jesus. Micah
was strengthened to declare to Israel her sin (Micah 3: 8). We need the
Spirit of might to declare truth to the sinner and judgement to
the evil spirits. The church
is found in the balances, weighed and wanting if it refuses to receive
strength and a sword*.
The secret of Joshua’s success
was the strength of the indwelling word of God (Joshua 1: 6 – 8), and the
revelation of the
commander of the forces
of heaven (Joshua 5: 13 – 15). A holy encounter with God releases pure
strength that enters our spirit, vitalizes our soul and energizes our body.
Our soul is suffused and infused by what is in our inner man. It is the
determined proactive
believer who has been trained
that will know God’s strength for the Promised Land. Whether you are a
walker, warrior, or worshipper the walls of Jericho are falling when you’ve
had a mighty encounter of divine life, radiating through you the glory
of God.
“O Lord, I need a new
anointing of Your strength. Forgive my efforts in my own strength. Teach
me to hate the strength of my self-life, show me what is sourced from it.
Open my spiritual eyes so I can see. Turn me to the Spirit of counsel and
might. Cause me to seek You Lord Jesus, in Your holy Name I ask. Amen.”
[*All instances of the word
“sword” refer to a word from heaven in this booklet, see note on Day 5
DAY 37 “If you are
reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory,
and of God rests upon you.” 1 Peter 4: 14
In India I once visited a
pastor who was beaten once a month, for simply being a believer in Christ.
In his simple shack lived a suffering wife and two small children AND the
Spirit of glory. There was a mixture of pain and praise in his life: enough
pain to be truly humble and enough praise to be radical in his devotion
to Christ. I began to feel small in that simple shack on the edge of Andra
Pradesh desert. God wants to get the glory out of your inner man. He will
renew you daily by His word speaking personally to you… provided you hunger
and thirst after righteousness. The Spirit of glory will surround you sometimes
– and there is a very important lesson in it. It is showing you that God
has entrusted you with His purpose. The ground of His purposes is the glory
of God. If someone enters into the purpose of God they have experienced
His glory. The great example is Paul in Acts 9… the glory of the light
motivated the Apostle (Acts 22:11). For Paul the glory strengthened him
in the geography of all the persecutions that came his
way. It’s the glory of God
and His presence that transforms our lives, making even washing the dishes
beautiful. Does the Spirit of glory rest on us in the menial tasks?
God wants to get the glory
out of your inner man… God is a winemaker… and He may crush us
To get His glory out of us,
God may crush us. He wants to get us to a place where Jesus is Lord.
Completely.
Unequivocally
.
Surrendered and satisfied.
The believer will have trouble
until he or she makes Jesus Lord. God is a winemaker. Where is He crushing
you? Where you have not made Jesus Lord. Trouble comes to get our attention.
Once the Spirit of glory rests on you because you have overcome your troubles,
and you are producing wine, then God may allow some persecution. Why? For
a greater degree of His wonderful, powerful
presence. Anointed believers
are an automatic target for the enemy. As glory increases in our lives
we come to a place where we don’t notice the insults and derision. We walk
in the glory of the new creation; we run the race in the glory of the new
covenant.
DAY 38 “… I saw another
angel coming down from heaven, having great authority; and the earth was
illuminated with his glory.”
Revelation 18: 1
As the end-time harvest we
will be aware of angelic visitation, and their heavenly radiance. The first
time we were illuminated was the new birth – literally a photo flash of
eternity falling on us (Hebrews 10: 32). This enlightenment heralded a
struggle because it marks us out from once born mankind. We are moving
from glory to glory until we are filled with all the fullness of God. He
wants us “to go
up higher” just as He invited
John in Revelation 4: 1. Higher levels, however, will mean new devils!
However, as we work out the light of truth we know, in lives of love, God
will take us higher: far above all principality and power, to be seated
with Jesus. (We are already positionally seated there, but there are conditions
to be met in order to live from there.)
When we live out truth by
obedience God will not hide what He is going to do. His purposes for this
worn out world include judgement. Baal will be broken into pieces. The
entire Babylonian system falls in Revelation 18 and some of us will see
the stupendous fear in those who have put their trust in it. We have a
privilege and burden to illumine the earth on the amazing coming events.
Verse 7 reveals Babylon as a false queen with no cross, no redemption,
a lady of kingdoms full of occult power in her
business world. In one day
the plagues of God will utterly burn her system. In one hour the world
will utterly change forever
(Revelation 18: 10). Two
harvests are coming. The greatest and most glorious revival. And judgement.
God will have a
people who will not panic
and even sing (read Isaiah 24 – 26). An end-time holy
people of power will be
persecuted yet will experience the glorious adventures
that even angels dream to
inquire of!
Will we come up higher and
receive the revelations of glory and of judgement so we may warn the world
of the coming chaos? The apostle Paul refused to hang on to the past (good
or bad) and moved forward in His assignment, jumping into what God had
gripped him for (Philippians 3: 13, 14). He was aware of not fully seizing
the potential he had in Christ Jesus – but his testimony has illuminated
the earth for nearly two millennia. Let’s pray,
“Father, grace me to live
from my position in heavenly places, with revelation to see what you are
doing on the earth, so I may pray Your prayers. Amen.”
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