- araratchurch
- Oct 20, 2022
- 3 min read
“Peace I leave with you; My [perfect] peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid. [Let My perfect peace calm you in every circumstance and give you courage and strength for every challenge.] You heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you [really] loved Me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going [back] to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does take place, you may believe and have faith [in Me].”
John 14:27-29 AMP
We are spirit beings and as such have the ability to be influenced by the world of the spirit. As we know, the world of the spirit has darkness as well as light. In other words, there is evil in the world of the spirit and there is good in the world of the spirit.
Now, the fact that we are spirit beings and can hear from all types of spiritual input, makes possible the phenomenon I will call a “common” or “collective” consciousness or knowing. Others have used the term “collective consciousness,” but I am not necessarily referring to what they define as a collective consciousness.
What I am referencing is the fact that humanity can receive and send messages—whether knowingly or unknowingly—in the realm of the spirit. Therefore, we can see such phenomenon as the same new idea being acted upon all over the world (a phenomenon that existed before cyber connectivity). Much of what is studied under the heading of “group psychology” could be better understood in terms of this communication portal that exists in humanity.
The problem with this receptivity between human beings is that it is a channel which is vulnerable to influence by the powers of darkness. It is not a safe “frequency,” if you will.
However, the Holy Spirit not only provides a conduit for communication between us and God, but also between us and our fellow human. No, this doesn’t mean that we sit around trying to receive or convey messages from each other by way of the Holy Spirit, although that can happen. But rather, the Lord can use His Holy Spirit to convey information about others, such as their need for prayer, etc.
I’m not trying to confuse you or create some new teaching that is extra-biblical. The fact is, we see the phenomenon of the spiritual communication between people in many examples in the Bible. Here is one of my favorites:
“Now he went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where did you go, Gehazi?” And he said, “Your servant did not go anywhere.” Then he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants?”
II Kings 5:25-26 NKJV
Simply put, the context of this scripture is that Elisha had prayed for the healing of Naaman, but accepted no money or substance from him. His servant, Gehazi, decided that Naaman should have to give something. So, Gehazi made up a story and ran after Naaman to get the prizes Elisha would not accept. As we see, Elisha knew Gehazi was lying to him about this and explains it by saying, “Did not my heart go with you…?” Elisha‘s spirit saw what Gehazi had done.
The reason I am bringing the point to you about the human spirit being able to receive from the human conduit as well as from the conduit of the Holy Spirit, is to issue a warning. When seeking enlightenment, if what you are receiving is bringing you distress and fear, you are probably receiving from the human conduit rather than the Holy Spirit conduit.
In our opening scripture we see Jesus encouraging His disciples before He would go through His Passion. The fact is, the Lord’s spirit always brings peace. Therefore, whatever comes by way of His Spirit—even when it is what we call “bad” news or revelation into what could be distressing information—is accompanied by peace.
Walking in the realm of the spirit is a wonderful thing when we are guided and shepherded by the Holy Spirit of God. However, seeking and/or receiving things in the spirit outside of the Holy Spirit, is dangerous and leads to disturbance in our own spirit.
We light a twentieth candle of illumination today by knowing this:
If you don’t have peace with your enlightenment, it did not come from the Lord.
- araratchurch
- Oct 20, 2022
- 3 min read
“Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down. But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.’””
Jeremiah 38:17-18 NLT
In ancient times messengers were used to convey official news such as the terms for surrender or other demands from one side of a conflict to the other. Sadly, these messengers sometimes garnered the wrath of the one receiving the bad/unwelcome news. Thus we have the phrase, “Don’t kill the messenger.”
Now, nobody wants to hear bad news—and when subjected to it—we tend to be resentful of the one who brings it.
Many years ago a person came to speak to me about their engagement to another person in the church. This person led with saying that God had brought them together with the other person. Now, please understand, a person’s claimed that what they are about to tell you came from God, presents a very sticky situation. It nearly dares you to say anything contrary to what they are saying.
To be honest with you, knowing both of the individuals, I seriously doubted that the Lord had been the matchmaker for this union. Further, the person began to go into great detail about the compulsive tendencies of the soon-to-be-spouse, saying how this behavior was maddening to them.
Knowing that I was about to enter a minefield, I diplomatically broached the potential difficulties this relationship would face. As you might suspect, each of my attempts at giving this person godly counsel was quickly rebutted and I saw that I might as well be whistling Dixie.
The marriage happened and collapsed under its own weight in a matter of weeks.
Generally, when a person thinks about becoming spiritually enlightened, the first thing that comes their mind is not their need to know things contrary to what they really want to hear. But, the fact is, those who are unwilling to hear “bad” news, will never be able to walk an enlightened path.
On Day 10 of our “25 days of Illumination” we talked about our “sacred cows”: those areas we close off to any input from the Spirit of God. This discussion is not dissimilar from the discussion of sacred cows, but specifically references when we have decided that there is something we want to do, or something we want to be a certain way, and are unwilling to hear any contrary input from the Lord.
In our opening scripture we see the prophet Jeremiah giving Zedekiah some bad news. Now this bad news had been a long time coming with the Lord repeatedly warning Judah that if the people continued in disobedience, the Lord would turn them over to their enemies. But, as is often the case, the people did not repent and chose to punish Jeremiah (the messenger), rather than giving heed to the warning.
Having been given the bad news from Jeremiah, Zedekiah, king of Judah, said this:
““But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!” Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the Lord. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.””
Jeremiah 38:19-20 NLT
Well, Zedekiah did not accept what Jeremiah said, and things ended very badly for him. Not only was Zedekiah taken into captivity, he was blinded right after watching both of his sons be executed.
If we really want the Lord to enlighten us, to help us begin to see things the way He sees them, we must approach Him with an open heart, not determined to only hear what affirms our thinking. Otherwise, we may well continue in the counsel of our own echo chamber, not only unenlightened, but potentially destroyed.
We light a nineteenth candle of illumination today by knowing this:
You will never be enlightened if you refuse to hear “bad” news.
- araratchurch
- Oct 19, 2022
- 3 min read
“It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory!” Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke. Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.””
Isaiah 6:1-5 NLT
I’ve got to be honest with you. When a person has to go around telling everybody how “smart” or “enlightened” they are, you can just about be sure that they are definitely not enlightened, and probably don’t know as much as they think they know. I’m not trying to be unkind; it’s just the absolute truth.
I knew a person who you could not talk to for more than a few minutes without them telling you that they were a member of Mensa (a society open to those who score within the upper 2% of the general population on an approved intelligence test). Again—not to be unkind—but to my knowledge this individual never really accomplished anything of any merit, and further, was basically uninterested in doing anything for the Kingdom of God.
On the other hand, I have known individuals who never tried to flaunt their knowledge, and yet were more enlightened than most of their peers. My father was one of those people. He was mostly discounted by his self-aggrandizing peers, yet had a depth of enlightenment they could not even begin to even preview.
Now make no mistake, there are a lot of people who know about a lot of things; but true enlightenment is not about being able to ace an “intelligence” test or to speak like a walking thesaurus. True enlightenment is about recognizing the unsearchable riches of God’s knowing and allowing Him to escort us into the chambers of His glory where we learn from Him, heart to heart. Self-aggrandizers will never enter those chambers.
“He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way.”
Psalms 25:9 NLT
Humility before the Lord produces a receptivity in the innermost being into which the riches of God’s understanding can flow.
Additionally, humility before God binds the work of the enemy. Therefore, it is the thing that Satan attacks the most in the children of God. He seeks to keep us from gaining access to God’s understanding by provoking arrogance and self-seeking.
In our opening scripture we see the response Isaiah had when he beheld the glory of God. He was suddenly aware of his own lack and his own unholiness before a Holy God.
Isaiah‘s reaction to the presence of the Lord should be the reaction of anyone who has truly encountered the unsearchable grandeur of our God.
“Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.”
James 4:10 NLT
I will warn you that the attitude of heart of which I speak is not that of self-deprecation. Indeed, the person who is self-deprecating is still focusing on themselves. True humility is not only recognizing the greatness of God’s understanding, but also knowing that He wants to share that with you. Remember, He desires to share His understanding with you—not because of who you are—but because of who He is.
We light an eighteenth candle of illumination today by knowing this:
True enlightenment comes through and leads to humility.