Greetings again my Brethren. Let us continue to look at the LORD’s call from the Book of Revelation and from the response merely not being a reluctant consent of the mind, but an active response in deed. God does things in our lives and he is looking for a correct response from us. Our response to God tells Him whether or not we got the message, we got the lesson He is teaching us, or He has to bring us along in a different way so that He can bring us back to the same lesson so He can work things in us that we will need for the future. In all that God does for us is to give us the things we will need for the future to do the things He wants us to do. How can God ever expect us to do the things He wants us to do if He does not give us the resources and abilities? We cannot use our resources and abilities oh we try, but our natural abilities can never work. Paul in Romans writes, “Because the carnal mind isenmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8:7-9) The word “indeed”means just that in deeds or in our doing. If we operate with the things of the flesh then we can never do the things that God wants us to do. Oh how we try, but oh how we fail. So often we try to make our assent to God with our mind in our natural reasoning by way of mental gymnastics, but that is not the way. God is a Spirit and His Spirit dwells in us. he gives us His Spirit to lead and guide us, to convict us of our waywardness at times, and so many more things. We often try to make our assent to God through music, if I can just get to my favorite praise and worship song then I can get to God. Foolishness, God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit (in the Holy Spirit) and in truth. (see John 4:24) We must not forget this truth. Many Christians try to work God in only the Spirit (in hyper-spiritualism) and leave out the truth part and really get off track. They can stand in the sanctuary and speak in tongues prophesying(here could be prophet lying) all day then wag their tongues in back biting and gossip. The “truth”part is NOT bearing false witness and defrauding our brother and sisters. We try so hard to get to God in so many ways outside of what God has given us to get to Him. This will never work my friend. We must use the resources and abilities God has given us no substitute no matter how religious and seemingly spiritual they appear. It is not the consent of mind, but the consent of our spirit God is after in our lives. We see also in the Book of Revelation (not Revelationsthere is only one revelation of Jesus Christ) John, writes, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Revelation 3:22) Now we clearly see that NOT every person who calls themselves a Christian has an ear (an ability) to hear from God. As not everyone who says LORD LORD shall enter the kingdom of God, so too not everyone who says they are hearing from God are. God is not a chatter box be not deceived by all of the folks out there who say God told them “this” or “that” especially about you, take heed. If God wants to get your attention He will. God made a donkey (an ass) talk (Numbers 22:22) and if He wants to speak to you make no mistake He will get your attention. So everyone does NOT have a hearing ear and John writes, “let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” Here John is not talking about today, but the seven “churches” (or assemblies, groups, or fellowships) in third chapter of Revelation. “Let him hear.” Well what is stopping him from hearing? Well we discussed not having the Spirit of God will stop him from hearing, but this is not the case now. They have the Spirit, but they are not hearing to a degree that will enable them to understand what the Spirit is saying. Jesus told the disciples in Luke, “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thinghid, that shall not be known and come abroad.18 Take heed therefore how ye hear:for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.” (Luke 8:17-18) Now Jesus did not say take heed to what you hear because we really cannot help what we hear unless we stick something in our ears or drown out the sound of the words, but we can help hearing with the right heart condition. Do we hear with a soft and pliable heart? Do we hear with compassion and malice for none. Do we hear for the betterment or the worse of others. Of the seven “churches” only three (Smyrna, Sardis, and Philadelphia) did not hear words such as “nevertheless I have somewhatagainst thee.” They had the Spirit, but not too such a degree because they could not discern and understand what the Spirit was saying. And why not? Because they were hearing the Spirit with maybe a hard heart, but for sure definitely with a wrong heart condition. It matters how we hear. Our ascent to God MUST be with a right heart condition and not with carnal ways. If so we will never get to God. Oh we will have a good time in church singing and dancing, preaching and teaching from the Bible, even give an altar call and people may even come forth to be saved, but they will not.
Next month we will point out some spiritual principles contained in some verses found in the Book of Revelation as we look at our response. Do you hear Him calling? Please know God is calling. Walter Beuttler said if you build God a temple He will inhabit it. Have you built God a temple? If you do He will abide and wait for you. Written by David Stahl
