Light shines all the more starkly in darkness.
The darker it is, the brighter light will seem.
Christ is the light in our world. He is the only light. So, the darker the world becomes--the more steeped in sin and wretchedness, glutting on the horrid aftershocks of its own malfeasance, ever unto deeper reaches of depravity...
...the more starkly pure and brilliantly bright does Christ's love shine, the lone beacon in our midst which puts to shame the absolute shamelessness of such treachery as otherwise seeks to consider itself good, having obliterated most all dissent.
Thus, we have all the more necessity to refrain from compromise.
If we look away from His light, adapting to any evil which calls itself good, yet we still claim to be in Christ...we walk into the darkness ourselves, friends. And who was it who penned that phrase?--"when you stare into the abyss, the abyss peers back into you..." They were so right.
There are reasons we aren't to traffic with darkness. We are to be innocent of evil--we are not to be or become familiar with it: We don't need to know how it operates. We don't need to know all of its faces. We don't need to try to anticipate its next move.
Those are the war-tactics of man, not of God.
Seriously.
I got mired in that for a while--thinking it necessary to study up on the enemy, so as to "know His ways," so to be able to "protect myself and deliver those around me."
It does not work that way. Seriously. That's a sidetrack. It's a distraction. We can do nothing, apart from Christ's empowerment.
That sort of distraction unto self-sufficiency is a tactic of the enemy, which is utterly pernicious, as it has the superficial appearance of well-doing. ...the Lord allowed me to go down that track, for a bit. He allowed me to garner insight into the ways and means of the enemy. He even allowed me to begin to take a perverse pleasure in thinking myself wise to the ways of our foes, to such extent I began to consider myself on "a stronger foundation," because I understood the enemy, thus had ideas of "what to expect."
Thankfully, though, the Lord disabused me of those delusions.
Going so far into an attempt to get into the mind of the enemy...does just that: it deludes you, putting the mind of the enemy into your mind, Holmes.
And you may begin to think like he thinks.
Or, have you not heard of that tactic, as a strategy?: "Know your enemy, so well as to become your enemy--have the mind of your enemy, so you can act like he acts, think like he thinks, as to be able to outmaneuver him."
Which...that is the end-output of that trail, if you follow it to its natural conclusion. Seriously. In attempting to understand the ways of the enemy, you will reach a point where you attempt to get inside their mind, so to understand the reasoning behind certain things--under the guise of being able to anticipate and deflect.
Whose mind do you want to be in, though? Seriously.
Satan's? Or Christ's?
One way the Lord really began to break me of that habit (and, yes, I'm aware I've still got a link to one of Derek Prince's books on here--I have respect for the way he treats demonology, though: the focal point is Christ, moreso than any other demonologist or "deliverance minister" I've yet wandered across...just: Christ is the only answer) was to make it clear that reading about demons and fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit were ultimately mutually exclusive activities. Even when doing so under the banner of an attempt to arm myself to help those whom I encounter, still...it distracted from Christ. And the further from fellowship I began to drift, the more difficulty with thoughts I began to experience.
Mental attacks, in other words.
When I'm not fellowshipping with the Holy Ghost, with Christ...there is an onslaught. A straight-up, full-scale war zone is unleashed within the realm of my mind, when I'm not sheltered in His presence, abiding in His love.
We're talking horrible, horrible thoughts. Ones which would result in hospitalization, at the very least.
But not while I abide in His presence, consciously fellowshipping with Him. While I abide in Christ, all is well--for once in ever.
It's like...sitting next to someone you love, on a couch. There's conversation, but there's also a constant comfort and reassurance in the nearness of their abiding presence, consciously, palpably experienced. Like...the last night I had with my mother, two nights before she killed herself...we talked, and for a brief while shared the normal intimacy of a mother and daughter--I lay with my head upon her lap, as we conversed, and she ran her fingers through my hair, while she reassured and comforted me. That sort of comfort.
That sort of closeness. That sort of intimacy of love. Only more. So much more.
It's His gift. Part of it. To His glory.
Just...I've noticed certain things will make me less cognizant of His presence, to an extent that...if I were to go on, and on, I would eventually lose sensibility of Him, altogether. I would become insensitive to His presence, moreover.
His presence never departs, is the thing of greatest note: He is everywhere, in all. All things subsist in Him.
So, He goes nowhere--whether we're experiencing His presence, or not, He's there. Only, our attention wanders, and we may do things which bar our awareness against sensitivity to His presence. Effectively, we shut Him out. In favor of paying attention to other things--even as many distractions are actively hostile to the Lord, making for complete restriction from awareness of His presence.
That's not...explained very well. Just...cultivating the fellowship of the Lord entails establishing an increased sensitivity to Him, to His presence. It's not that He's not present. He is. Always. Everywhere. He's omnipresent.
He is wholly immanent.
Think of it still in terms of sitting on the couch with a beloved family member. All is particularly and keenly comforting and enlivening when you sit engaged in loving conversation. The comfort of their presence may be just as keenly felt, if you both sit in periodic silence, reading and occasionally sharing thoughts. If one of you is reading and the other watching television, without any conversation, the comfort will still be somewhat sustained...but not nearly as keenly as if you were sharing in like-minded pursuits and engaging in dialogue. If one of you is playing a video game while the other talks on a phone...you might still benefit from one another's presence, but it won't be vital. Past a certain point, one of the two of you may as well be in a different room or not even in the same house, then. And that's the sort of distance that's generally engendered against God, spiritually, according to the way we often live.
We become so focused on absolutely anything and everything else, we're no longer even aware of His presence.
Also, just as horrid, a tangent process: I used to experience His presence during worship in churches--years prior to salvation--and took that as the sign that I was alright with God. Despite that sin didn't phase me, and despite that I didn't abide in His presence, whatsoever......because I didn't abide in Him. Completely overlooked all that portion of Scripture, in other words, for a long while.
There seem to be four broad classes, in that regard: knowledgeable of and abiding in His presence to some meaningful, conscious, increasing degree (indwelled by the Holy Spirit, regenerate/saved); periodically experiencing His presence during guided, collective worship, but not commonly experiencing nor aware of necessity of abiding in His presence (largely unregenerate/unsaved); completely hostile to God, thus wholly insensitive to His presence (openly opposed to the one true and living God); and encounters with His revealed presence are physically painful, even unto torment (demonic influences are prevalent).
Those are the only ones I have direct experience with, at least.
Just: He's everywhere. Yet, for some reason, although the New Testament is rife with mentions of fellowship with the Spirit and communion with Jesus and abiding in Christ--even the abject necessity of being led by the Holy Spirit, as a signifying factor in the life of one who is the Lord's elect...despite all that, for some reason, people don't really talk about the necessity of abiding in His presence.
It's all wrapped up in where our priorities are, though, is the thing. If we're focused on three-million things which have to be done by Friday, every Monday morning and all week, are we even attempting to cultivate and maintain interaction with Christ?
Seriously?
If it weren't something which is of utmost necessity, in present days and coming times, there wouldn't be a need to discuss these such things. But a time is coming, and is now, when we had an absolute necessity--a requirement--of having oil in our lamps, or otherwise we'll be left out in the dark.
Point being, if you're not fellowshipping with Christ, you are fellowshipping with something which has occluded your view of Him. Whether that be self (i.e., the flesh), the world (i.e., all the many shiny, pretty, necessary, or distracting things around you), or demonic influences (e.g., mental detours which begin with random thoughts like, "...are you really going to let them do that to you, and just get away with it???," or "...looks like you completely botched things up again, didn't you?," or "...can you believe he got that promotion? You totally deserved it. Who does he think he is, anyway," etc., ad nauseam)...and that something is likely entirely sinful, whatever it is.
The whole "if your light be darkness, how deep is that darkness?" Yeah.
Because there certainly is a way that seems right to a man, which leads unto death.
And...that would be: anything and everything which isn't Christ.
Which would seem to leave a lot of room for error, wouldn't it?
Even as it's simple. Entirely simple. Christ. Him. Only Him.
Just Him. Our Blessed Savior and Almighty Lord. He is the author and the perfecter....the finisher of our faith. And He is the one who works, in us, through the Holy Spirit.
So we must look unto Him, and Him alone, ultimately. Even as we may congregate, and had ought do so with our brethren in the Lord--ultimately, we're each accountable to Christ, and He is the one to disciple every one of us. We who are His all are to be taught of the Lord, directly, in these last days of salvation through Christ: even as this may mean revelation garnered over course of discipling in a doctrinally sound church. We will look to one another for edification in Christ, for correction and encouragement in Christ...but looking always ultimately to Christ, is the key.
So, we can't compromise. We can't.
He is all, and He must be all in all, to us, in order for us to overcome until the end. Everything in the Bible, and everything from fellowship with brethren, and everything from communion with Christ, Himself, has proclaimed and reinforced that base, foremost requirement of our faith walk with the Lord, throughout this temporal realm.
For each of us, there are different spheres of operation in which He has placed us, yet still to operate according to that same standard. The Lord will guide each of us, individually, in what we need to do in our specific environment, but that base necessity will not waver.
He must be central and paramount priority in all things. He must be.
And He must forever remain in that position, in order to constitute our foundation.
It won't matter, then, whether there's a storm coming or not: It wouldn't even matter if the entire world were on fire: Christ would be and would remain your all, in all, and you would and will overcome, by abiding in Him...in His love, in His peace, and in His will.
There's no other way.
You can study every technique in every manual in every discipline from every age, yet the only solution and survival strategy which will amount to anything worthwhile, as eternal, is to abide in Christ. Which entails coming to know Him. Having fellowship with Him.
Just have conversation with Him, even.
Which is largely how things started, for me: Regardless of how entirely offensive I know that idea would be to most devout theologians, it's no less valid a course than any other, given it was part of His course for drawing me to salvation.
I was in process of undertaking a series of solitary, multi-hundred-mile road trips, and I just started talking to Him while I was driving, as though He were seated next to me. The first time He responded was sufficiently unexpected (and thus wholly unsettling) to have me running for a Bible and multi-hour Google research, in order to verify and test the spirit which had made itself known per even such a still-small voice. But that went on for months: constantly testing. For hours. And still, even now, it's necessary to remain in the Word and to pray, so to retain and further hone spiritual discernment.
We have to test all the spirits, to see if they are from God.
Which, the latter portion of that verse is what really decided things, as far as going about testing every spirit with utmost stringency--never relaxing a defensive stance. For some reason, many years ago I'd gotten the strange idea that you weren't supposed to also verify the Holy Spirit. I'd taken a notion that, somehow, He was exempt from the admonition given in that verse and others like it.
Only, the latter part of the verse directly eradicates that concern: as testing is conducted in order to qualify a spirit's origin, admonition to test all spirits implies that some of the spirits which will be tested may indeed actually be from God. It is a very serious business, though, and not to be lightly spoken of--taking what may be the work of the Holy Spirit for granted as a lesser spirit would be entirely inadvisable, and who truly knows all the works, ways, means, and intentions of God, but He, Himself? So, don't do so lightly. And don't assume, as far as observation goes--let be what isn't directly concerning self and one's personal walk with God, unless the Lord directs intervention. But, only if He directs.
As to the method of testing: I don't know about you, but my only tangible, authoritative resource for comparison, unto determining a spirit's caliber and consistency, is the Bible. So, cultivating fellowship with the Holy Spirit necessarily entailed a lot of delving into Scripture--even just to ascertain and continually verify the identity of He with Whom fellowship occurred and continued. Still, I got sidetracked by periodic revelations--got wrapped up in the momentum, rather than the revealer--yet Christ was ultimately the focus of all pursuit.
He's the only Way, after all. So, He has to be the sole focus of pursuits. Otherwise, what other way is being traveled?
He does reveal Himself to people, though. People who seek Him.
Even as, all along the course, there've been so many matters which have continually developed into distractions. A near-constant stream of distractions. Whereas, everything which distracts from Him alters fellowship, by detracting from the consistency of interaction. Like as, once I stop praying--once I stop talking to Him, or cease from continually acknowledging His presence for the comfort which it is...once I stop remaining consciously aware of Him--I get so wrapped up in other things, I've effectively moved away from sensitivity to His presence, mentally.
So, being holy is just as much about being able to maintain unbroken, ever-deepening fellowship with Christ as it is about being obedient to a beloved Master. For, just as loving God is being obedient to Him and entails obedience to His commands, such obedience simultaneously engenders an experience of His love and abiding presence which is so wholly fulfilling as to be completely inexplicable--there is nothing greater and more wonderful than to know and be known by Him. So comes desire for greater degree of restraint from distraction, per applied self-discipline unto abiding more continually in His presence, as to know Him more clearly. And simultaneous comes all the more opportunity for fruits of the Spirit to be borne, having sprouted while abiding in the Vine. And also, then, the more detestable and utterly untenable acts of sin become, per increasing contrast to the untarnished glory of His person.
It takes time. I know it takes time. But the process can start whenever the desire to progress exceeds the desire to refrain from motion: we ofter prefer the "known" to the "unknown." And apathy is a common ailment.
The light will shine, though. Where Christ comes in to dwell, abiding, He birthes His light. And, in the world, His light so shines as never before, when darker comes the day. Just as when the world seeks to destroy us, when circumstances seek to oppress and completely overwhelm...His light, within, becomes all the more precious and vital. His fellowship then becomes all the more appreciated, beloved, and trusted...and utterly relied upon as absolute necessity.
So, is your lamp full of light? And has it ample oil?
Or are you expecting not to need reserves of oil, set aside to your own solitary, individual use, as to make it through a dark night? Are you expecting always to be able to make it through, upon revelations of the Lord received in group worship? Are you expecting it will be sufficient, just to seek Him in the company of others? ...that's not abiding. ...that doesn't constitute a sufficient store of oil to make it through a long night.
And the oil of this world won't sustain you.
Seek the Lord while He may be found.
We all must.
And must continue to do so, forever.
And we must also exhort ourselves and one another, ever more, to continue to seek Him.
Even as we also do all the Lord wills and allows, to share His message with those who don't yet know Him.
Of which there are so many..
And there are so many who believe themselves saved by grace who don't know Christ. There are so many who call Him by name, yet who don't talk with Him and walk with Him, in private. Even as there are some whom He yet operates through, who otherwise esteem themselves: their heart doesn't long for Him--they have no longing to hear His precious voice, to feel His soothing presence, to know His infinite heart. Not of their own. And what is proclaimed before men is nothing, compared to what lives in the heart of man--of which God knows all.
We can't afford to look to ourselves for answers, is all. We can't afford to attempt to outwit the enemy. We can't afford to spend time trying to understand a system which is corrupt from beginning to end.
Not when knowing Christ, walking ever more closely with Him--abiding in His presence ever more completely, unto total surrender of (as death to) self...is the only answer to any and all which ails.
The Lord bless you and keep you.
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