You are invited to an international ZOOM video conference call every Tuesday at 6am PDST (-4:00 GMT). This Tuesday was a blast! For one hour of encouragement, praying with and for each other, please join us by emailing Yahna at admin@lightbearers-ministries.
The ACTS 29 magazine – thanks papa Denny! – should be out by June 1st, as a digital copy in the USA, and printed for distribution around the rest of the world, bless God forever!
THE FOURTH LEVEL
…for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Phil 2:13 NKJV
One of the great goals for any born again one is to rise up to be led by the Spirit. The walk in Christ is a sanctification and growth process. Every believer has the potential to walk in the power, authority, glory and blessing of the Lord Himself because He dwells in them. Growth in Christ is from our perspective a continual process of making righteous choices that allow the potential for growth.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons (Grk. HUIOS) of God. Rom 8:14-15 NKJV
There are five Greek words in the Greek New Testament – NEPIOS, PAIDION, TEKNON, HUIOS and PATER – that describe the five levels of spiritual growth. They correspond to a baby, young child, teenager, adult (son) and parent (father). A ’son’ level believer is the fourth level which requires that one is humble, teachable, receiving revelation, knowing God as Father, taking responsibility in the family of God, having Christ formed within and no chronic or habitual sins. These are prerequisite…and you will see why in a minute!
A son level believer is one who, by the grace and mercy of God, says and does the right thing at the right time continually which is the definition of being led by the Spirit.
FOLLOW YOUR NOSE
One of the great ways that God works to lead us is in what I call the ‘follow your nose’ principle. Back in the 90’s we lived on a farm outside of Stayton. We had a wonderful brown Labrador retriever named Toby, who loved my son Jeremy. One day Toby and I came home in the truck. Our house was on a little hill and we could see out over the fields to the river. I saw that Jeremy was out by the river with a friend about a mile away. I said, “Toby, where is Jeremy? Go find Jeremy!”
Toby gets all excited, then puts his nose to the ground and starts to make ever widening circles. Soon, he has found Jeremy’s scent, and he charges out of the yard and down the road towards the river! I’m watching from the porch. Along the way he encounters a skunk, which momentarily stops him. From about thirty feet away, the skunk releases a huge cloud of spray in Toby’s face, then retreats off the road. Toby shakes it off and proceeds to meet the boys at the water’s edge. Love never fails…
The spirit of God will work in a similar manner. Perhaps we see a promise in the Bible that we need to claim for our own, that we need to see manifested. We ask for the promise, then seek to follow the clues that the Lord lays down – Go here! Do this! – to bring us, step by step, to the fulfillment of that promise. We may face obstacles along the way, but we never let them stop us from achieving the will of God, the fulfillment of the promise. Love never fails…
And she said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table.” Matt 15:27 NKJV
I see this in the ministry of healing, for example. You know that healing wholeness is God’s will for every one, even the unsaved. God’s rain falls on the just and unjust. One time I ministered healing to a Hindu woman in India that led to her salvation. But other times, its like the fitting together of puzzle pieces. You see the whole picture, but fitting together the pieces takes a precise step by step walk. You ask the Lord to show you step by step what to do. Unscrambling the puzzle pieces leads us to the manifestation of the promise.
THE WHOLE ENCHILADA
Other times He gives you the whole enchilada. To my friends who are unfamiliar with Hispanic dining cuisine, some day you must visit us and I will take you to eat enchiladas with rice and beans, with a glass of dark Modelo. You will never be the same! When I say that He gives you the whole enchilada, it means you get a full, step by step understanding all at once.
One time I was to preach to about five hundred Anglicans in a large church pastored by a dear friend. I knew I was to speak about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but I only had twenty minutes to preach. As I’m preaching the Lord speaks to me. He says, “After you preach, you will pray for them to receive. Most will not receive. What you will do then is say to them, ‘Anyone who wants to receive, please stay afterwards.’ Almost the whole church will stay. Then you will lead them through salvation, and then deliverance. Don’t tell them you are doing that. Tell them you are preparing their hearts to receive. Then have them line up, and you will pray for them individually with laying on of hands, and all will receive.”
That, my friends, is the whole enchilada. And, that’s exactly what happened!
AWAKEN THE DAWN
Awake, my glory! Awake, lute and harp! I will awaken the dawn. Ps 57:8 NKJV
At the fourth level you seek to be well beyond that level whose prayer life revolves around ‘Lord I need this or that.’ It’s at the second level that you learn to know God as Father, the One who supplies all your needs. Jesus taught us that the Father already knows our needs. Paul taught us that the Spirit intercedes for us, which includes intercession for all of our needs. When needs arise…pray in the Spirit more and more. Indeed, a day filled with prayer in the Spirit can wash away a month’s worth of worry and dread, floated away in the river of God.
At this level you are seeking to delight in the fear of the Lord.
His delight is in the fear of the Lord…Isa 11:3 NKJV
As the character of Christ is formed in you (Gal.4:19) at the third level – the TEKNON stage – and you delight in the fruit of the Spirit, then you take it to the next level which is to delight in the fear of the Lord. I believe the central practical application of the fear of the Lord is continual, even continuous prayer. This may be the highest level of practicing the presence of God as well. This is prayer which includes praising, worshipping, thankfulness, rejoicing, intercession, and travail both with your soul and with your spirit. This is a place where even groans are heard before the throne of God. The fear of the Lord is where you love God with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength, the apex and summation of the walk in Christ.
You were made to walk with God, dear one. Welcome to the fourth level!
Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…