Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Understanding of the Times and Other Ponderings (November 2015) by Christine Beadsworth



Firstly, I want to thank everyone who prayed for me or emailed me with words of encouragement after I requested prayer. I could literally feel the power of corporate prayer lifting and carrying me and although I am still dealing with some personal physical issues, my computer woes seem to be a thing of the past – Halleluyah! I do feel we are all pressing through some sort of spiritual barrier or gate at present and the forces of hell do not want us to make this journey as it will mean a great unleashing of dunamus power in the earth through yielded vessels. One verse which has greatly encouraged me in these days is from psalm 44:

Psa 44:3  For they did not get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but it was Your right hand, and Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favoured them.

So, Beloved, it isn’t our own spiritual strength or knowledge of the Word that will bring us to full possession of the promised land of our inheritance in Christ. Rather it is by striving to enter into rest from our own labours, and by trusting in the Breaker Who goes up before us, that we will pass through the gate with Him at the head, as Micah so clearly describes. This marks quite a departure from the style of the last chapter that has been filled with warfare and intercession at the gate. It is the favour of God that opens the gate for us into the next chapter. It is the One Who sits at His right hand; His Right Hand Man and the strength of His arm which wins the battle at the gate.

When I was asking the Lord what it is that is creating such strong resistance in the spiritual realm at present, He clearly replied ‘Death’ and I saw as it were, those who were in a chamber like a burial chamber. I was reminded of those who were resurrected when Jesus died and yet stayed in the tombs until He was resurrected (Matt 27:53). In other words, these saints had received what had been purchased through the death of Jesus, but had yet to be released into the fullness of manifestation before the eyes of men. The appointed time had not yet come and everything had to happen in its order; first the Christ, being the Firstborn from among the Dead, and then His brothers in their turn.

The ones I saw in the vision were alive but shut up in this place and eagerly wanting to pass through into the realm of light and sight – they knew the next chapter was about the manifestation of the sons of God and they strained to be released into experiencing all that they had seen only with the eye of faith to this point. However there was a gatekeeper guarding the doorway of the tomb and he was barring the way, not wanting any to pass through and make the transition out of this place. This guard of the underworld has many names in the earth, one of which is Shiva (you will remember the statue outside Cern in Switzerland) and he does not want the saints of God to fully access the resurrection power which Ephesians One tells us is available to us as believers. It was this power which resurrected Christ from the dead. Have you thought about this: even Jesus was not able to release Himself from the place of death and the tomb. He had to wait and trust the Father to do it in His time, as Ephesians 1 so clearly describes:

Eph 1:19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power,  Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,   Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

The secret to moving through this gate, out of conformity to the death of Christ into resurrection power, is surrender and trust and taking firm hold of that for which Christ laid hold of us...and what is that? I believe it is Sabbath Rest; a complete walking away from our own strength, wisdom and understanding and a corresponding total embracing of the FINISHED works of Christ, Who is seated at the right hand of the Father. It is a coming to a place of death of soulish thinking within, that only the life of Christ manifests in our thoughts and our deeds.

As I have been laying hold of this ancient truth afresh, I cannot tell you what a temptation has assailed me in the process to take matters into my own hands; to help the work of God along; to speed things up just a little, to push the answers to prayers l had endlessly repeated, into existence – all for the good of the Kingdom of course!! Perhaps this is why Jesus waited until Lazarus had been dead 4 days and not the pattern ‘3 days in the grave’. Lazarus, whose name means ‘God is my help’, waited a day longer than Jesus to be resurrected. Until his name was called, he must remain in the tomb. It seems patience had to do her perfect work even in the place of the grave, before resurrection power could raise him up and bring him forth.

Is Lazarus not a depiction of the company known as the friends of God, the one Jesus loved, who have been through the valley of fellowshipping in His sufferings and gladly and willingly being handed over to death in order to know Him more deeply? And we too are fully dependant on the Father to bring us forth and raise us up into the heavenly realms to the seat on the right hand – not in theological theory or head knowledge, but experientially, as resurrection power is released like a nuclear explosion within those who have made themselves ready. As Hosea 6 describes for us; after two days He will revive us but on the third day He will raise us up to dwell before His face – the place of the right hand. There is a difference between being revived and being raised up to a different place of dwelling and we are in this transition time at present. Yet the comfort is that we may have made our bed in Sheol but His presence is still with us until the appointed time of release (as psalm 139 confirms) and in this place we are able to have the fullness of joy promised in psalm 16:

Psa 139:7  Where could I go from Your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol (the place of the dead), behold, You are there.

In my struggles of recent weeks, I have had a dim awareness that something was missing in the Bride of being ‘conformed to His death’ and this is why there has not been the attaining of the flowing resurrection life Paul speaks of in Philippians:

Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead (even while in the body AMP). Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

The word ‘apprehend’ is ‘katalambano’ and it means ‘to fiercely lay hold of to possess for oneself’; not a casual picking up but a gripping as if one’s life depended on it.  Like the woman with the issue of blood pressed through the crowd and laid hold of the hem of His garment, causing the death flow from her womb to cease. This woman and the little girl lying wrapped in the death shroud in the house of her father, Jairus depict in full where we are at present. And Jesus’ words to Jairus, “Do not be afraid. Only believe I am able to do this” is the medicine we need right now. It is virtue flowing from Him that must arrest the grip of death; it is He who must do the raising up. It is our part to believe and to trust, despite the fact that time is passing and it is beyond the appointed time for His visit in our mindset. We are pressing through to Sabbath Rest; striving to lay hold of that place and position appointed and paid for by the Bridegroom for us. But it is a striving unlike that which we have known; a striving to cease from our own labours completely in order to work the works of God. Christ in us is the hope of glory but us in Christ IS the glory! And here is where the key is hidden – Christ has already walked this journey and already laid hold of the victory. He has already led captivity captive and led away a train of vanquished foes and so the only thing left for us to ‘do’ is to be found ‘in Him’ and to rest there in the completed works of Christ. Instead of striving to be seen and heard, to be of influence or make a greater impact on the world using our gifting, let the Breaker go ahead of us. Death has already had to step aside for Him when He left the tomb and will not try to detain Him as he knows he is long conquered. If we are hidden totally in Christ, He carries us over the threshold before us with no effort on our part. Doesn’t the Bridegroom normally carry His Bride over the threshold?

In Isaiah 22, the key of David is appointed Eliakim AFTER Shebna is removed from office. Eliakim means ‘God of raising’; it was not in Eliakim to raise himself up to his appointed place – he had to wait for God to remove and approve and lay the key of David on his shoulder. He was hung as a nail in a sure place AFTER another nail was made to fall and the burden upon it removed.

Isa 22:19  And I will thrust you from your office, and from your station will you be pulled down. Isa 22:20  And in that day I will call My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. Isa 22:21  And I will clothe him with your robe and will bind your girdle on him and will commit your authority to his hand; he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulder; he shall open and no one shall shut, he shall shut and no one shall open. Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him like a peg or nail in a firm place; and he will become a throne of honour and glory to his father's house. Isa 22:24  And they will hang on him the honour and the whole weight of [responsibility for] his father's house: the offspring and issue [of the family, high and low], every small vessel, from the cups even to all the flasks and big bulging bottles. Isa 22:25  In that day, says the Lord of hosts, the nail or peg that was fastened into the sure place shall give way and be moved and be hewn down and fall, and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off; for the Lord has spoken it.

There is an Eliakim company waiting in the wings, waiting for the hand of the Lord to raise them up, just as Jesus did with the little daughter of Jairus:

Mar 5:41  Gripping her [firmly] by the hand, He said to her, Talitha cumi--which translated is, Little girl, I say to you, arise [from the sleep of death]!

We are presently in the year 5776; the number 6 representing the 6th Hebrew letter Vav, which is a hook or nail. It is the season when the hand of God will take us by the hand, cause us to arise from the grip of death and fasten us like a peg (nail) in a firm place ( one appointed before the foundations of the earth) and we will become a throne of honour and glory for our Father’s house. We know from Revelation 3 in the word to the church at Philadelphia that the ultimate One who holds the key of David is our Kinsman Redeemer, Jesus, and it is He who opens and no man can shut.

Rev 3:10  Because you have kept the Word of My patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation which will come upon all the habitable world, to try those who dwell upon the earth. Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly( suddenly). Hold fast to that which you have, so that no one may take your crown.

The word patience comes from two root words meaning ‘to stay under’ and ‘endure’. Patience must have her perfect work in us, Beloved, that we may be lacking nothing. Stay under, resist the temptation to take on ‘death’ in battle; he is already conquered. The God of Raising is coming suddenly to your house. That word translated ‘hold fast’ is the same word used when Jesus ‘took hold’ of the little girl’s hand. His strong right hand, the one that wields provision and power, will lay hold of you as you rest from your own labours and raise you up to work the works of God.

David had such a powerful revelation of this truth when he wrote psalm 16 and may these words I end with, impart power to stay under and endure until He brings you over the threshold:

Psa 16:8  I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety, For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one to see corruption.  You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore. 

Christine
freshoil@polka.co.za
 
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