Part Two

 

Psalm 102:16&17 -

"When the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory. HE will regard the prayer of the destitute and not despise their prayer"

We are Zion, spiritually,  but we, as that great Heavenly city, cannot be built up without His appearing among us, in His glory. He is the wise Master builder, He alone has the blueprints for the Body of Christ  - unless HE builds the house, the house is built in vain. His glory is manifested among us today by his Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is the glory of God and it is by His Spirit that He builds us into a "Holy Temple of the Lord" "In whom ye also are built together for a habitation of God through the Spirit"      And just who does He appear to as He builds us up into a worthy habitation? The destitute and poor. Blessed are the poor for He will never despise or turn away from them. We should always cry out to Him from a position of need. When we draw near to Him - next to Him, we are all in extreme poverty  - thank God He draws near to us, thank God He seeks us, as a shepherd searching for a lost lamb.

Yet another benefit of having Him appear in our midst, both in our hearts and in our gatherings, is, because He alone is righteous,  He alone can "put away sin" both private and public  Heb:9:28 - "So Çhrist was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation"  

Verse 26 - "hath appeared to put away sin"  Do you see it? It is to "them that look for him" that he will appear the second time. Today, (as the Holy Ghost saith, if you will hear His voice (many will not), harden not your hearts - take heed, brethren,  lest there be found in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God)"   He will only draw near to those who draw nigh to Him. If someone chooses to harden their heart and they do not love His appearing but rather they depart from Him, no amount of pious looking religious ceremonies can hide this truth - for in those ceremonies He will not appear  - and if someone carrying His presence comes in among them, they will crucify him anew, casting him away from them, for they prefer to worship a dead Christ  not a living, because they themselves are dead. Dead saints prefer a dead Christ.  Living saints prefer a living Christ. 

Part three coming soon 

 There are some wonderful promises found in Scripture for "all them that love His appearing" 2 Timothy 4:8 -

                 'Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,  which the Lord,  the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto ALL THEM ALSO THAT LOVE HIS APPEARING".

We are promised a "crown of righteousness", which is fitting considering we in the Body are all kings (and priests)  on behalf of God. He is, after all, the "King of kings" - but this crown is only promised to those, like Paul, who "love His appearing". I submit to you this thought - this scripture is not just referring to His "second coming" that so many believe in, but it's also speaking of those who love His appearing in the here and now, in the present. They love "His appearing" both in themselves,  personally,  "Christ in you, the hope of glory", they also love His appearing in their public gatherings with other saints wherever they occur.

It's the ones who long for, who ache for Him, who love Him, who delight in "His appearing" who will receive a "crown of righteousness" for He is "The Lord our Righteousness" and it is only by having Him (by inviting Him) to appear in us personally (and subsequently corporately  - for we carry Him with us wherever we go) that we can be made righteous.  We have no righteousness of our own,  so to become righteous,  we, in essence,  hide under the shadow of His wings, we hide under the hem of His skirt, we hide in the cleft of the Rock, our strong, high tower. As the tide of sewage and filth in this world rises even higher, it will not come nigh us - for those who are surrendered  to Him are surrounded by Him.

When He appears, we love His appearing.  We long to but touch the hem of his garment.  We cry out to Him "Son of David do not pass me by"! We tear the roof off to get to Him (we count nothing more valuable than Him). We do not despise Him or mock Him, as some do when He appears, among us now, in the person of the Holy Spirit,  no, we love His appearing. We do not "quench the Spirit" then sing songs about how much we love Him. We do not reject His appearing now but declare we're looking for His appearance later on some distant, undefined day. We don't sing hymns about His return one day for He has already returned to us by His Most Holy Spirit  (we do not make a distinction between Jesus and the Holy Spirit,  preferring one over the other, no, rather we love and embrace them both equally). Indeed, Jesus told us if He did not go The Holy Spirit would not come to us - that's how important He thought the Holy Spirit  is to us - for the Holy Spirit is not bound by time and space the way Jesus in His flesh was. Indeed, the Holy Spirit is not bound by any natural laws.

So, the second coming of Christ is actually His third coming, in a sense. It is Satan's desire to get us to dwell on and teach about His physical return someday while denying His return to us now, by His Spirit.  Satan wants us focused on a future full of God's presence,  power and glory (or a past full of His glorious presence as written in the Bible) but never our present in the here and now.  Anyone who currently rejects Him in Spirit will be shocked when they meet Him in the flesh at His second physical appearing  - for only the dead in Christ and we which are alive will rise to meet Him in the clouds "In Christ shall all be made alive", so, only those who love His appearing now can be made alive then. Many give the Holy Spirit lip service but despise His person, his presence in their midst. 

Part two soon - 

 So, I'm walking through a mall when i see a movie poster for "Singing in the Rain" and the Holy Spirit draws my attention to it by giving me that familiar heart tug. Funny thing was, I'd recently decided to watch this exact movie for the first time. Believe it or not, I'd never seen it! I'd seen songs from the movie, including the iconic title song but I'd never seen the entire movie.

As it turns out, "Singing in the rain" is a timely prophetic cry of God's heart for his people in this present generation.  Those of us who love and welcome the Holy Spirit will be "Singing in the Rain" - we will be experiencing his presence like never before,  like the "latter rain" prophecied in Scripture, poured out on all flesh, like the flood of Noah's day, no one on earth will be able to escape his presence but it's only those of us who love him who will be singing and dancing for joy at the coming outpouring of his presence.  We will, literally,  be "singing and dancing in the rain" for joy - sheer, unadulterated joy!

In the movie, a famous actor is with someone who is pretending to love him, she even convinces herself he loves her but in reality she is using him to advance her career, for her own gain and glory.

He meets a woman who is her exact opposite  - unassuming, humble, not seeking fame or fortune,  who refuses to idolize him and put him on a pedestal.....and he promptly falls in love with her, for her honesty and truth.

In the season we're entering,  God's people, i.e. his actual bride, will stop allowing "fake lovers" to use them for their own selfish agendas, for their own gain and glory. These false Shepherds, thieves, hired hands, wolves in sheep's clothing,  will be exposed and deposed. The ones like the actress in the film, full of pride, arrogant,  unable to see their own arrogance, unable to see their owm faults, who belittle and mock the humble  and contrite in heart, who come against the true children of the Most High  and seek to cast them out of their presence and keep them away from the ones they've deceived, will be exposed like never before, exposed like the actress was at the end of the film. In essence,  Saul's are being replaced with David's in this upcoming season.  Like the humble woman in the film, God's anointed and appointed will not seek applause or attention  for themselves. God's true saints are being exposed even as the false are being deposed.

Watch the movie and notice the tag line "What a glorious feeling!" ( from the poster). Ghat just about sums up what it's like to be in his eternal presence,  embraced by his Spirit, wrapped in his loving embrace  - one cannot help but sing and dance and shout for joy! Let God open the eyes of your understanding.  Join me this year as I'm "Singing and Dancing in the Reign"! 

Like Gene Kelly, as he performs the title song, let's become so in love with God, we'll lose all inhibitions. We won't care anymore who sees us loving and worshipping our beautiful God. We will even sing and dance out of love for him in public!

Apostle Chris

 I sometimes get the impression I've seen it all before,

 like a bus ride in reverse, like a print that's been restored 

And I think it may be because the One my soul loves

 sees and knows it all from His Throne in Heaven above

My spirit has always existed where time and space are not

 My life does not consist of this flesh in which I'm sought

I am not confined to my mortality

 for my soul belongs to Christ in eternity

  I'm on a bus in Sri Lanka when I see a dog start barking at and chasing the bus. And I thought, for believers in Christ,

       The Devil is like a dog barking at a moving bus. He can make himself heard but that's about it. He can't do anything to the bus. If he tries he'll be killed or badly hurt. It would be foolish for the passengers to fear the dog. He can't touch them or hurt them unless they leave the bus, which is the Covenant Body of believers. 

Looking at all the Buddhist and Hindu idols in Sri Lanka, thousands of them, i start thinking,  If your god can be fashioned with your own hands, he isn't much of a god. I'm glad i serve the God who fashioned ME with HIS hands, not the other way around. The gods of men are created by them - from their imaginations, therefore man is the ruler of his gods - in essence,  man is worshipping man - Buddha, most Hindu gods, all take human form - because man is worshipping himself...his own image.