The Holy Spirit has lately brought to my attention the river flowing out of the Temple in Ezekiel 47. I believe this river is the Holy Spirit and the temple is our body. When we are brought to this river....when it begins to flow out of God's throne which is our hearts, we have a choice. We can remain where it only comes up to our ankles. These are they who invite the Spirit's presence but wish to remain in complete control of themselves. They continue to move in their own strength and wisdom. The river for them is a mere trickle of what it could be. They declare they are "in the Spirit" but the Spirit does not move them or direct them in any meaningful way. They have little or no anointing.
Some, however, will choose to go deeper. For them, the water is up to the knees. They can still use their own strength but it's more difficult - these too face a choice, go deeper or stay partly in control. They are beginning to see the Spirit move them, work with them, in a greater way, but their intellect wants to analyze and understand it all. It's really difficult for them to "lean not unto their own understanding" and let go of rational thought and let the river carry them. They like His presence as long as He is submitted to them - as long as they remain in charge.
Some, however, choose to go even deeper - up to the loins. These are they who allow the Spirit to cleanse them of fleshly lusts and desires, not just sexual but for the spirit of the world, the things the unholy spend their lives craving. It is more difficult for these to sin - they can no longer move in their own will and strength but must stand still or be swept away. Standing, being still, is a key to knowing Him and going on to the next level - a complete and total surrender to Him, a total lack of ego and pride. Abandoning our life for the Divine life he desires us to live.
But first we must learn to " be still and know that i am God". It is only when we stop moving and being in our own will and strength that we can begin to rely on and live in His. "They that wait upon the Lord" - we must, as did Ruth, come naked before Him, lie at His feet and plead with Him to "spread therefore thy skirt over thy handmaid". And how does God respond to us, when we approach Him in all our nakedness and shame? "NOW WHEN I....LOOKED UPON THEE, BEHOLD, THY TIME WAS THE TIME OF LOVE, AND I SPREAD MY SKIRT OVER THEE, AND COVERED THY NAKEDNESS: YEA, I SWARE UNTO THEE, AND ENTERED INTO A COVENANT WITH THEE, SAITH THE LORD GOD, AND YOU BECAME MINE".
We must give ourselves to Him to do with as He pleases. As His bride, He wants us to become His greatest source of pleasure. And too, as His bride, we must become vulnerable, submitting our weakness to His strength, our shame to His righteousness, our need to His provision, for when we do, He speaks this over us - "I WILL DO ALL THAT YOU REQUIRE - FOR EVERYONE IN THE CITY KNOWS THAT YOU ARE A VIRTUOUS WOMAN".
When we are still before Him, it pleases Him! Jesus was more pleased with Mary who "sat ar Jesus' feet and heard His word" than Martha who "was cumbered about with much serving", yet was not hearing what Jesus was saying. Many churches are "cumbered about with much serving" but are not sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to his words, specifically for them. Many will become still, and sit at their pastor's feet, listening to his words, assuming they are the words of Jesus but very few pastors have learned how to sit at Jesus' feet themselves, listening to his words. Indeed, most quench the Spirit, despising prophecy. The pastors too often went to a Bible College where they learned to sit at a man's feet and hear his words, therefore this is the pattern they pass on to their congregation. "FOR THEY LOVED THE PRAISE OF MEN MORE THAN THE PRAISE OF GOD".
As for me and my house, I want us to be like the ptiests who could not "stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of God". Look at denominations if you must, as the temple built by man, with man's hands, according to man's strength and wisdom, that God chose to inhabit for a time and a season- but just as the moment came when God tore the veil in the Temple made by man, and chose to no longer dwell in the "Temple made with hands" - so has He now forsaken denominations and now dwells exclusively in the "temple made without hands" - that is to say, our own bodies and hearts. May we all remain citizens of that city of which God says "and the name of the city from that day shall be, THE LORD IS THERE", not Icbabod "the glory is departed".
I want to be in the deepest part of the river, where i have no control over my life whatsoever, where "nevertheless not my will, but his will is done". I want to be in the river "THAT I COULD NOT PASS OVER: FOR THE WATERS WERE RISEN, WATERS TO SWIM IN, A RIVER THAT COULD NOT BE PASSED OVER". I don't want to be able to get out of the river again. I want to be completely overwhelmed by the river, not relyimg on my strength or intellect anymore. I don't want to go anywhere He doesn't send me - I DON'T WANT A FREE WILL! I want to say with Jesus "I only do what i see the Father doing, and I only say what i hear the Father saying". I want to be in the mainstream of the Holy Spirit's flow. I want to be "swept away".
"Swept Away"
Why did i resist?
My lover's touch?
My lover's kiss?
I stood on the shore of the river of life -
flowing from the throne of the giver of life,
I let it wash over my feet
but it took years to get in up to my knees -
I still wanted partial control
of the life I'd come to know.
I still clung to old habits and sins and such,
never fully submitted to my lover's touch.
I heard from time to time,
from the depths of my being,
from somewhere deep inside
go deeper, MUCH DEEPER,
My love, My bride,
My joy, My pride,
yet i, still i,
resisted His will.
Wanting to do as i please,
wanting to serve me,
refusing to lie still.....
But now, after so many wasted years,
I want my lover
to completely cover
me so I'm no longer free
to do as i please.
May i no longer do what resists You.
May i no longer be apart from Thee.
I want to be in over my head,
swept along by the fierce passion
of the One who raises the dead
because He loves them and misses them
and wants to forever shower kisses on them.
I want to stay in the river and never leave,
bearing His precious seed deep inside of me.
For i don't just want to be fully
submerged in the river that's Holy,
I want the river in me,
one and the same,
my breath, my body, His to reclaim.
Sweep me away, Lord, far away,
to that distant land where I'll remain
forever changed.
Far from the ways of men,
far from thpughts and far from deeds that are fleshly.
Far from the man that was me.
May i commune Lord, alone with You,
no more to stop and start anew.
Rather may it be unending,
prepared in full for the Day that's pending.
From the world's wickedness- kept away,
from all that hates You, swept away.....
"And the Spirit and the bride say "Come"
