We have also a more
✶ S U R E W O R D O F P R O P H E S Y ✶
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place,
until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts...
2 Pet 1:19
A study of the Word of God has one effect: a light begins to shine in a dark place; the sun/day star arises in our hearts; the eyes of our hearts are enlightened (Eph 1:18). Apart from this one effect, the study is vanity. To study is to dig deep (Lk 6:48) and to seek with all your heart (2Ch 31:21, Jer 29:13). And when the sun begins to peek over the horizon, the study is fueled and intensified. "Where is He that is born KING OF THE JEWS? for we have seen His star in the east, and are come to [love/know/worship] Him." Mat 2:2
WHEN THE TREASURE IS FOUND, however, then what???
"...when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." Mat 13:44
"When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy... and fell down, and worshipped Him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense; and myrrh." Mat 2:10-11
I have been a part of a Bible study that has bred this quest of fervor in my heart. I saw the star; the light began to shine in my fog of understanding. My question is now: what does the response to that light look like? In the two quick examples above, they didn't continue digging and searching. They went All In, put all their eggs in that one basket, laid it all down, and settled.
I can't continue studying. It feels heretical to say that. But I know what I've seen/heard/found, and I'm being strongly pulled to respond. Another lady in the study told me the same thing. She said the study had been revelatory to her, and she felt now that she needed to do something about it, but she wasn't sure what that was.
"And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a [treasure/star/voice] came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased... And [___] being full of the [Holy Ghost/Light] returned from [Jordan/the place of invitation/decision], and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days [tempted/sifted/emptied/poured out/All In] of the devil." Lk 3:22-4:1
"...sell all that thou hast..." Lk 18:22
I believe at this point in a believer's walk, there must be a response; life must take a dramatic turn. You may become rash and irresponsible according to how you have naturally lived, and people around you may worry that you're going crazy. You suffer loss, loss, and more loss, indeed the loss of all things. (Phil 3:8) You experience a cutting away and are wiped clean as a blank slate. But you persist there with joy because you've come to know, through the Word you have previously found, and it's a SURE WORD that continues to reconfirm what it has promised, that's it's a guaranteed investment with huge returns, bigger and deeper than can be told, like a secret.
I have also come to realize that there are some believers that have found this secret, and there are other believers, genuine believers, that have not. There are Abrahams and Lots, Jobs and the-three-friends, Samuels and Elis, Ruths and Orpahs, Davids and Solomons, Peter/James/Johns and the-other-nines, Marys and Marthas, Pauls and Barnabas'.....
But, so, what is the response? "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life." Jn 6:68 You stop. You repent. You lament. You confess with your mouth. And you remain there in that desert place; you endure the emptying; let it all be stripped away, and actually, GIVE it away because it was all dung anyway. Wait on God for the reset, the exchange of lives, the adult form of that baby DNA. Wait on God aka PPPPRRRRRRAAAAAYYYYYYYY. Pray without ceasing. Relentlessly bang on heaven's door on the grounds of what God has promised through His SURE WORD. "Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD." Ps 27:14
There is much strain and utter loneliness in this place of waiting. Everyday life passes by with numbness, as going through the motions without heart. There is ONE THING the heart is fixed on and nothing else matters. If you have heard God speak to you personally through His Word, you know what that One Thing is and you are in the company of the Hall of Faith saints in Hebrews 11.
"When the Son of man cometh, shall He find [The Faith] on the earth?" Lk 18:8
"...ye should earnestly contend for The Faith..." Jd 3
And whether I receive or apprehend that which has been promised to me in this life or the next makes no difference to me. "But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the high calling of God..." Phil 3:13-14
"WHERE IS THE KING OF THE JEWS?"
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