Today

"Of what He is doing today from yesterday."

WE CANNOT STAY where we’ve been in the church body. We cannot remain in the awakening of the early twentieth century. We cannot camp out at Azusa Street or linger in the hills of Kentucky’s revival. We cannot stay in Faith Meetings of the 1980s and 90s. We cannot remain in huge arenas with Kathryn Kuhlman and Benny Hinn. All these were and that is the keyword. WERE. They still hold an anointing. No one should deny the power these held. But maturity is progressive and we, the church, are to take what they knew, what they held, and bring it into the present. We are to be IN THE SPIRIT as He shows us today.

“For God says, ‘When the time came that you needed my assistance, I heard you; and when the day arrived for me to provide you Remedy, I helped you.’ I state this plainly: God is assisting us right now, and now is the time to partake of his Remedy.” (2 Corinthians 6:2, Remedy)

I read a book, which I will not name, that had much truth in it for the era it was written. But the picture of an impersonal God and faith as works simply is not correct. That is what was accepted by many in that time, so the writer communicated it. But it is not who our Father, our Savior, and the precious Holy Spirit are. They have imprinted their heart, their desires within us. We are to know them personally, each one of us, and can talk to them as family, as friends, and hear their reply. It is not specific to me. I have heard others tell of similar stories in what the Spirit speaks to them. Singer Brandon Lake spoke of the Holy Spirit’s sense of humor. Minister Jesse Duplantis tells of conversations with Jesus, as does Prophet Lana Vawser.

Pastor Bill Johnson has the biggest, biggest heart for those who hate him, something he received directly from Jesus. I know of no one who cares for them the way he does. His revelation of death is also well worth receiving. But there are those who seek a “move of God” as what was seen in the past, and so they miss the Father speaking of what He is doing today. Of what He is doing today from yesterday. Look at Sean Feucht and tell me worship and altar calls are past. These he has brought to a new generation exactly how the Spirit sent him forth to do. Look at Andrew Wommack, head of Charis Bible College, who has, through his students and teachers, seen more than fifty people raised from the dead, one from the morgue. Criticize him for this and you speak against the Word of God. Jesus our Savior raised men from the dead and He has told us to go and do likewise (Luke 10:36-37). Wommack is also very accepting of ministers across the church body, who speak to his students, who are going out and spreading the gospel.

As God has sent each one of them. And this is my point. A dream or vision given to one man can be picked up by another or set down forever in favor of your personal agenda. The son can do what was given to his father, and God will bless it, turn it upward and move it forward. The legacy of the parent is passed on to the next generation, and the anointing of what has been remains pulsing in the soil. What does this mean? Well, our prayers never hit the ground. They never die. Nor do the words spoken by those who have gone on to heaven. Our local pastor Karl D. Strader raised up an enormous work that appears to have been deflated. But God sees him, in His presence daily, and knows of the legacy that continues unabated.

“Is not the rest of Nadab’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—” (1 Kings 15:31 VOICE)

How things appear is not how they are in the Spirit. How they are in the Spirit is not always how they appear. These are two separate statements of varying value. We expect things, and He sees our expectations. He knows our trust in Him, our belief for manifestations in the church. But signs and wonders, manifestations, are people. I have said this and will repeat it. Teaching and preaching in the pulpit are to teach and encourage people (1 Corinthians 14:3). They are to display to individuals, moms and dads and brothers and sisters, the aged and the young, the heart of the Father and what He will do in you if you will take hold of Him.

Of Him. Here, I will rest and repeat. Because no book or sermon should ever be spoken or written from a standpoint that is outside of the love of God. Fath is not a process. That makes it works, which we are told strictly by the apostle Paul to avoid. On the other hand, to believe in God for anything that He has promised from the depths of His love is to receive His generous heart. Not as an answer as if postage stamped, but a gift of His mercy, and a picture of His willingness even to send Himself to die in our place. Faith works by love (Galatians 5:6). It is trusting who you know so well to do all that He says. It is knowing Him well enough to obey His wishes, to go where He would send you though you do not always see the entire path. It is stepping out to do His work because He is the fuel behind it and in so doing, laying down your agenda, your life, in favor of His.

When you have let go of all you are, you will find Him in a way that, being honest, few have. Because the letting go feels uncomfortable. We always want something of ourselves to fall back on. Our own thoughts and desires, likes and dislikes. But can we give them up and still be unique? Happy? The answer is yes.

“And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

“The old me who lived for self—who sought to get instead of give, the me who lived on the survival-of-the-fittest principle—died when I recognized the true significance of all that Christ has done. That old me no longer lives, but Christ—with his character of self-sacrificing love—now lives in me. The life I now live in this body I live by trust in the Son of God, who loved me and freely gave himself to win me back to trust and to purge humanity from selfishness and death.” (Galatians 2:20, Remedy)

Image from Pixabay.


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com