Learn the lesson of the Salmon  -

  A Salmon must return to the stream where it was spawned  - or die trying. It cannot mate - it cannot  bear fruit  - anywhere else.

   We too, if we wander, if we stray, from the river of God's Spirit  - from the Holy Spirit's presence   - wherein we were "spawned" (born)  - must return  to whence we came from  - or we will die. And we cannot bear Him fruut, apart from Him. It is only in His presence that His presence can be in us. We must abide there  - in that river, that mighty river. 

   Built into each of us, spiritually,  is the path home. If we'll choose it.

"NEVERTHELESS,  I HAVE SOMEWHAT AGAINST THEE, BECAUSE THOU HAST LEFT THY FIRST LOVE"

"RETURN TO ME AND I WILL RETURN TO YOU" says The Lord. 

 Your first love is calling out to you  -

 "Who does your heart belong to? "

  "Where is it your heart flew?"

  "oh My love

         come back to

                   the love

                        you once knew"

"Return, oh return to Me,

     and I'll return to you       gladly

Unlearn, oh unlearn  -

  the fruit of that rebellious tree

        and I'll rejoice 

        at your choice

             to forsake the call of your flesh

              that lrads you to your death"

"I'll forgive 

  every kiss

     you gave to another. 

 Remember this  -

     each new tryst

          with each new lover

could never satisfy

what only I

was meant to give"

"Come back to Me,

   that you may live"

 We are livin' with hearts wide open

 lovin' and hopin'

 livin' and copin'

 for I've  got a notion

 God loves us this way too

 There's nothin' he won't do

 for me and for you

So don't be surprised 

 when love gives you wings

 and you rise and you fly

 to better things  (to better things)

Feel your heart getting lighter

 as His love takes you higher

Far above  the pain of this life

 far above to where you'll see His light

 and there He'll whisper better things

 of which your heart will rejoice and sing

 where your heart has already gone.....

and you'll find too

 this isn't some idle song....

 

 Are we like cats when we're born again? Are we initially blind? Paul  - when he encountered Christ for the first time  - was blinded. His outward, physical blindness was a powerful witness to him of his inner, spiritual blindness.  Certainly,  all of us who come to Christ  are blind when we first meet him.

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to recover the sight of the blind"

Like Paul, we have no idea who our Christ is when we first meet him. We can no more understand what's happened to us than a baby born in the natural understands what's just happened to it when it exits the womb  - but it's spirit can understand. 

The thing of it is  - the experience we call being "born again"  - we are entering the womb, not leaving it. It's our moment of conception  - we still must remain in the womb of the Spirit  - growing and maturing  - surrounded by the love of God  - the water of the Word and the river of the Spirit  - till he deems us ready to be "born again".

When Paul, who thought he could see  - who thought he had a proper revelation and understanding of God, was blinded, he had to be "led by the hand" by the men he was previously leading. The spiritually blind always end up being led by man  - they become dependant on man to show them where they should go  - spiritually. They become the blind that are being led by the blind  - of whom Jesus so eloquently spoke. 

It was only when Paul encountered a prophetic disciple  - one who could hear God and one who would obey God  - that Paul had his sight restored.  Today, God will use all his disciples in the same way, who listen to him and obey him. He will fill their lives with Divine appointments  - setting the captives free  - binding up broken hearts, recovering the sight of the blind and giving Divine liberty to the bruised.   Like Paul, we too will never be able to see properly  - to have the spiritual eyes of our understanding opened   - until we encounter the prophetic aspect of the Holy Spirit's ministry to us. We begin our new life in Christ with a prophetic encounter with God - and we must continue therein - we must not quickly substitute man's voice for God's after we first hear him.

When Paul met Christ  - he found out what his true identity is  - and so shall we  - men, flesh, called him "Saul" but God called him "Paul" - meaning "small", or "humble"      - Paul was ministered to by the disciple Ananias  - after three days  - the same amount of time Jesus was in the tomb  - "Ananias" means "The cloud of The Lord". It's in the glory cloud of the Holy Spirit's presence that we receive our sight  - spiritually, and we lose sight of the flesh and the ways and thoughts ofvman. When Paul met Jesus  - he switched trees. He went from the Tree of knowledge to the Tree of Life. He went from hate to love, from persecuting Christ to serving him. God chose to turn the Church's greatest enemy into it's greatest blessing.  All of us are opposed to Christ until we surrender to him, then we too become his willing servants  - Paul, while he was Saul  - persecuted the Church out of ignorance.  His heart was to bless God  - he just didn't know how. He didn't even know who God was. Today, many "Christians" are in the same situation  - they have a heart to bless God, to serve Him, but they don't know him. As Paul didn't know Jesus - they do not know the Holy Spirit.  Like Paul, though, many of them are destined to have an encounter with their own Ananias  - with the Holy Spirit  - and they too will become completely different people - instead of persecuting their brethren who have accepted  the Holy Spirit  - they will join them. Paul became the very thing he hated! Oh may all God's people have a life changing encounter with the prophetic anointing of the Holy Spirit! May they meet their Ananias on the road of life - on the street called Straight.  May every crooked way in them become straight! May they walk the straight and narrow path that leads to Salvation! 

"Straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life  - and few there be that find it"

Part two

 

Fig leaves or fruit  - which will you choose? For if Jesus meets you on the Day of Judgment and you present to Him only leaves  - and no fruit  - you will hear Him say  - depart from Me.  Religion is a Fig tree without fruit, bearing leaves only. It looks fine until you get close to it: then you see that all the promise,  all the expectations you had  - are denied  - for it's barren....Jesus cursed it for "he was hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off ( Jesus and religion are far apart from one another) having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet and Jesus answered and said unto it  - no man eat fruit of thee here after forever. And his disciples heard it."   Immediately after Jesus went and cleansed his temple  - throwing out the money changers. This, all of it, is a prophecy for us today  - Jesus is cursing religion- man's efforts to hide from his presence but look like (outwardly) he is seeking God. Jesus' true disciples will hear this word. They will obey Jesus' command to not eat it's fruit  - "here after forever" . They will recognize Christianity as a religion  for what it truly is  - a barren fig tree. They will say with me to The Lord  - "Master  - behold, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away" -  they will see religion dry up from the roots  -  THEY WILL NOT EAT OF IT'S FRUIT  - for the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil is cursed. They will follow Jesus "out of the city" - THEY WILL NOT LIVE (remain) IN BABYLON  - only visit it to win souls. They will have true faith, faith that bears the fruit God is satisfied with  - for "if a man abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered  - for herein is My Father glorified   - that you bear MUCH fruit  - so shall you be my disciples" .

My disciples are those who allow me to make them whole  - who do not hide from My Presence   - who do not hide behind fig leaves  - for you cannot bear fruit unto Me while avoiding intimacy. You must become naked before Me, to enter into intimacy  - clothed only in humility and my righteousness.  Make haste my beloved, be like the a young hart (heart) upon the mountains of spices. Do not deny Me the pleasure of your company now  - or you will be denied the pleasure of My company later  - when you cry out for it, weeping, and I will not answer.

 "....and they sewed fig leaves together.....and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God...."

How is it you've managed to avoid God's presence all these years?

   I don't avoid God! I go to church every week!

Yes you do  - and your religion is your fig leaf that you are using to avoid Me. Do you want to hear Me say "depart from Me" on The Judgment Day? 

  Then hear Me well oh one I never knew  -

                                              Adam, where are you?

When the Lord God called unto Adam and said unto him, Where art thou?, he was calling out to all mankind  - all who sprang from the loins of Adam  - all who ever lived who came after him, including you and I. He's asking us today  - "Where are you? I miss you. I miss your company,  that I haven't had since you were a child....unless you again become like a child  - you cannot enter My Presence, for a child does not make fig leaves into a covering to hide from Me  - yet that's exactly what you've done with your religion   - you've taken what I've made, you've taken My blessings and My gifts and you're using them to hide from Me  - all the while making it appear to men, who look only upon the outward appearance,  as if you're embracing Me, but I know better. All your rituals and ceremonies cannot hide the fact that I'm not present among you. You use My good Word for evil when you use it to convince people they know (and you know) Me, when you only know my written words, never My spoken words.

Adam, where are you? Why are you avoiding Me? Why are you pretending to know Me when we haven't met privately for years? Will you be made whole? I see you lying there  - crippled by the sins that so easily beset you. I've found you after all these years  - an afterthought to your peers, but first and foremost in My mind. I've sought you out but I ask you again  - Adam, will you be made whole? Will you allow Me to heal you? How will you respond to My Presence, My touch? Will you run and hide again? 

Part two coming soon