Moving On with God
“After these things I perceived, and lo! a door is open in heaven, and lo! the first sound which I hear is as a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here! and I will be showing you what must be occurring after these things." Revelation 4:1 CLV
Our God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, yet He is always moving on. He desires His people to move on with Him, not to put our stakes down where we are. At times, He lets us know what is coming. At other times, we are to put our hand in His hand and follow. If we choose to delay or deny His call to go further with Him, the pastures soon are no longer green and lush, the water no longer running freely from His throne. In other words, we dry up!
It is hard to leave the pleasant places we have so loved spiritually, whether they end suddenly or gradually dry up. We, His people, become comfortable, desiring to settle within our familiar places, less than our full inheritance even as He is saying to come up hither, higher in the things of the spirit. Our Father, in His wisdom, may allow the discomfort of a thorn in the flesh to move us on. He is capable of taking the feathers out of our nests of comfort.
How shall the Lord bring us the new if we will not let go of the old, familiar ways we have had? We must forget the things of the past: all the things we have gone through, the heights and depths of God in our lives as we have walked with Him. Now is the time to forget all that! Isaiah spoke of it and so did Paul:
“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 BSB
If we don’t move, He moves on anyway while we remain in this comfortable place of our former learning, our past rituals and traditions, our familiar places—which may include our familiar hells!When we do not move when God is moving, we miss His new beginnings unfolding in this third thousand-year Day when all things are being made new. Early on the third day, He arose!
Just so, He is arising in our hearts in order to take full authority over our very beings. He is housing Himself (JMNT) in us. Jesus Christ is alive within His body of people, ruling in the heavens with our Father. He is returning to rule the earth also as God tabernacles in His people. This third day arising upon us is the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles, the celebration of harvest. It’s time for reapers to gather what God has sown in the hearts of His people. They will cast away the husks of our outer lives while exposing, revealing the Christ within.
The way of peace, the maturity of obedience is knowing that endings are new beginnings for those who love and serve Him. We can stand upon that! A wise believer praises God for all things He brings our way, giving no credit or attention to the enemy of our souls. Has satan not been defeated by Jesus Christ our Lord? Does He not ever intercede for us? Do you really think the God of our salvation, who counts the hairs on our heads, is unable to show us the way of victory, sharing His overcoming power with us?
But still we cling to the familiar and question His ways when unexpected adversity and change comes upon us. There are multiple reasons why we cling to what God is ending. Often it’s because we do not know it is Him—we do not see our Teacher! Those who continue to eat the fruit of the Tree of Good and Evil see all good things as from God and all evil from satan.
"Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will no longer be hidden; with your own eyes you will see them". Isaiah 30:20 NIV
Study the word, however, and you quickly see that this tree of good and evil is not the way of life. Without the holy spirit, such study is not enlightening. With the holy spirit, God reveals that his thoughts and ways are different from our human understandings:
“‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Jeremiah 55:8-9 NIV
The God of the universe has so much more to teach us as He is creating the Christ character within His own. How then do we refuse to joyfully and with sincere hearts run after Him wherever He leads? It seems that human life on this earth is always seeking to establish itself, to create a comfortable, steady existence when the Lord of our lives did not promise comfort and consistency to His dedicated followers.
He surely did not promise this to His disciples long ago and the calling to come to where He is remains. The biggest shift or challenge to our natural thinking is to recognize that all things work together for our good.
“And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:27-28 BSB
Our discipline is to see God in whatever happens to us, not to label events as from the devil, that enemy of our souls, and leave it at that. Yes there are many things that are meant for evil which God turns for our good when they are submitted to Him. Those who follow on to know the Lord get used to asking this question of Him: “What are you teaching me, Lord?” If Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered, shall not we, His faithful followers, do the same?
Have we forgotten that the holy spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tested by satan? Such testings are not only allowed but are the essence of Father God’s plan and purpose for humanity. His intent, His will is to change our hearts, our very character into His own likeness and image. Adverse events drive us to the Father through Jesus Christ, Who understands it all. He knows the end from the beginning and is able to succor us through hard times of testing and trials. He is ever faithful to intercede.
“Now there have been many other priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office. But because Jesus lives forever, He has a permanent priesthood. Therefore He is able to save completely those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7: 24-25 BSB
What a comfort and strength He is to us as He intercedes so that we learn the lessons that must come in order to move us on. The Israelites saw the cloud by day and the fire by night as they followed God to their promised Land. We have the Lord within us, One Who knows each of us intimately, seeing our hearts of faith as we struggle to learn of His ways. He is truly our ever-present Lord in times of trouble, allowing the fires of adversity to bring us closer, higher, making it possible that more righteousness develops within us.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in times of trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth is transformed and the mountains are toppled into the depths of the seas, though their waters roar and foam and the mountains quake in the surge.” Psalm 46:1-3 BSB
Father God does not desire us to fear regardless of what is happening around us, outside of us in the world. He is concerned with what is in our hearts and does not want us to fear. W3 are only to fear, as in have awesome respect, for Him alone. No, His ways do not make logical sense to our carnal minds. We would prefer to think if He loves us and we are His chosen people, that He will provide a good and comfortable life for us here on this earth.
Instead, He comes not to bring peace to our earthly existence, but His sword of truth that cuts us off from any person or thing that would rob us of our spiritual inheritance.
“Do not assume that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:34 BSB
The sword our Lord wields divides us from our old fleshly nature, our carnal ways, so that we become a new creation in Him. He intercedes personally for us, fights our battles from within, opening our eyes to see and ears to hear His ways and learn of His nature. How patient yet persistent He is with us! Aren’t you glad that He heard us when we told Him we want His will, not our own?
Once He has us, we are assured that He will never let us go. The Amplified Bible most definitely states this:
“Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed--be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, ‘I will never [under any circumstances] desert you [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], nor will I forsake or let you down or relax My hold on you [assuredly not]!’
So we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper [in time of need], I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?’ Hebrews 13: 5-6 AMP
We seem to forget, particularly when God is moving us on from a place, a friendship, a fellowship, or a work, to something further, that Jesus defeated satan on the cross. It is no longer a fight between Jesus and the devil, between good and evil. He has the victory and He has given His victory to us! We are children of the light and we follow the path of life as He directs. This brings a wonderful peace as He works trust and faith in where we personally should walk, regardless if others around us understand the changes we are experiencing.
Father God may call us to times of solitude and isolation as well as times of active ministry where we are servants of all He brings our way. These times of isolation are to strengthen our focus upon Him and Him alone. We are separated from the distractions of the world for a time, including the multiple severe needs of others unless by prayer and fasting as the spirit leads. These are times of learning how to be in Him, rather than do for Him.
He has given us the holy spirit to guide and direct us into all truth. Not one of us can say we know all of God’s truth and therefore can put down our stakes where we are at. No, our God is a consuming fire Who will burn up our settled places if He must. As we yield to Him He will do whatever it takes,to get those who will obey to move on with Him. There is much treasure in the Lord yet to be found but treasure is not handed to anyone easily. That’s why it is considered treasure!
“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32 KJV
We seek after Him, to learn more of the treasures in His storehouse, that we may have His truths established in our beings, written within our hearts. He even uses times of not hearing from Him, going ahead of us to draw us further into Him, into the higher places in which He dwells. Have you ever had times when things were changing in your life and you just cannot hear or understand what He is saying to you? Often He is saying “Wait. Wait until you hear My voice directing you what to do, where and how to move on in Him!”
God works patient endurance within our hearts of faith as we wait upon Him and His direction. We may endure many things for the sake of Christ, but the discipline is to endure all things with patience. After all, it is one of the fruits of the spirit which He creates in our nature as we walk with Him. Many of us prefer to know what is coming next for us, so we can make our plans and adjust to the next move He has for us but He awaits with the new, saying “Come.”
What about when He makes all things new? Where He is leading us now is brand new, something we have never seen, nor heard, nor understood with no details nor an outline of how-tos? Ah, then we are tested to trust Him and not run ahead of Him in this new day, with no ideas or speculations, refusing imaginative constructs of the mind. The age of the kingdom of God is descending into the earth! We do not know what this looks like in its fullness, yet that is exactly where He is leading His called, chosen, and faithful vessels.
May the Lord give us an attitude of gratitude and excitement, as if opening a brand new gift that we cannot imagine. We wait upon the Lord as He unfolds massive changes within and around us, performing His work within our hearts to be as He is in this world. How the world desperately needs Him to do so, for it is clear that there is no other answer for this world than Jesus Christ our Lord.
Consider this wonderfully powerful prayer from the apostle Paul:
“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21 NIV
Let us ever move on when God moves on. Let us rejoice and embrace what He is doing now within us. Thus is the way He will change the world—through the hearts of men and women who follow Him to the ultimate, the end of ourselves. Amen and amen.