Breaking Through to the Heavenlies # 4

Breaking Through to the Heavenliness # 4

God is always out beyond the end of what I know, or what I can bear, or what I think my consecration involves. One thing is to talk about and trust God. Another thing is when you have to face the darkness and see that the nature of darkness is not as you had in mind, it works in a different way, it comes in from behind, it invades different areas, Then I have to insist on this: "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." This is the dimension. Not just Thy will be done on earth. God doesn't let us off that easy. "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Do you realize what He's saying?

If I were an angel in heaven and God wanted to do something through me, to what extent would He do it? Could I go back to God and say, "Lord, I would have liked to have done it more fully but circumstances would not permit?" His will as in heaven." There is no coloration through human personality. There is no limitation through the pressure of circumstances. There is no frustration; there is no delay. This is the measure that God wants us to reach, not only in our seeing but in our believing. "Lord, Your will be done in this earth a it is in heaven."

Dad mentioned the importance of singing at the beginning of the meeting, but you know, many times, (I don't know if it happens to anyone here) you think, "Well, when I get to heaven, I'm going to praise the Lord." "I am going to sing, it won't matter who sees me; nothing will matter." "I am going to give Him perfect praise when I get to heaven."

Then the Lord comes and says, "Child, why not now?" Well, is there anything hindering? Is there? "No, nothing...apart from my feelings...and my human personality...and the folks around me...and that I don't want to make a fool of myself..." Right?

God says, "You can present on earth your prayers, your praises, your worship, you service, in the same essential reality that you are going to present them in heaven." I"m sure we will have glorified voices, all the rusty overtones will be taken away, great!! But will the heart be any different? Will death suddenly transform us and endue us with all perfection? I think there is a growth all through eternity, but the desire, the giving, can be just as much ours here as there. Lord, I want to follow You all the way. Can I do any more than that even in heaven? I can't!

God wants us to be wise enough to understand that through faith we take limited abilities and we make them unlimited. Because faith takes hold of God. Just as we go to heaven with our prayers. Taking the earthly into the heavenly,So in all our life there must be that contact, there must be that reality, there must be that flow... otherwise all is death, death, death. It can be a cold death, or it can be wild, shouting, singing, stomping death. It's all the same. The only thing that God is interested in is reality!

Nothing more glorious than to get to the end of life, or get to the end of a day, or even to the end of a meeting and say, "God, I've done what You wanted me to do. Lord, I believed I opened my being that You might flow through me."

There is something within us all that is withdrawn and unbelieving. Unbelief is not just the absence of belief. Unbelief is the presence of something destructive. The Bible talks about an evil heart of unbelief. It talks about not having obtained the grace. "Beware...lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest a root of bitterness springing up..." Beware, if there is not this, then there will be that. If you don't reach the grace you will reach the bitterness. This grace is dimension of victory. This is the release of our personality. This is coming into God.

We don't realize our purpose or find the realization of our life by seeking after it. That is incidental. We find it in God, in our Father which is in heaven. We find it in learning to pray this prayer again. Hallowing His name, pleading for His Kingdom to come.

"Give us this day our daily bread." It refers to that which we eat for our physical well being, but it's far beyond that. It's what we eat for our spiritual well-being - Spiritual bread. Give us this day our spiritual portion.

"Give us this day our daily bread." There must be this expectation. "God, You have promised and I am going to wait with a waiting that is filled with faith." A faith which although it doesn't have a voice is saying, "God, God, God." Right through the day. As though my heart was there in His presence saying, "Lord, I want it, I want it. I need it, I need it." It's a maintaining. Not an audible voice, but an inner cry before God. "Give us this day." "Lord, do not let this day finish without me finding on earth what You have released in heaven for me. Lord, let the communication be open again."

"Forgive us our debt as we forgive our debtors." There are certain things which are conditional. A verse that has been very important through the years is 2 Corinthians 10:6. It says, "When your obedience is fulfilled, God will avenge all disobedience." Before that it talks about the weapons of our warfare being "not carnal, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strong holds." The weapons are mighty...but the strongholds are pulled down when our obedience is fulfilled.

~Paul Ravenhill~

(continued with # 5)