16 November 2017
Be empowered by His Presence – become His dwelling place!
Even though the early apostles received an anointing from Jesus Christ to cast out evil spirits and to heal the sick, they were not yet the ‘dwelling place’ of God. This only became true on the day of Pentecost.
It is one thing to receive an anointing or gifting from the Lord – yet, it is a totally different aspect to become ‘a dwelling place’ of the manifest Presence of the Lord.
The indwelling presence of God, YHVH, empowers us from within and anoints us, equipping us to minister healing and salvation, but most importantly it transforms us into His image and likeness.
Every person can decide if he wants to be one with Christ’s indwelling presence. This is where your spirit and Holy Spirit becomes one - Your spirit man will carry the manifest Presence of God within. What a wonderful place our Abba Father has created for His children. I in Him, and Him in me – We are one.
The empowering presence of Jesus Christ will broaden your understanding of the Word of God. It will fill you with first-hand revelation and a river of spiritual insight will flow from within. You will be able to stand in the day of adversity. You will carry His heart; loving what He loves and hating what He hates. Humbly you will work out your salvation, understanding that adverse circumstances are part of the training program of the inward spirit man. You will recognize the eternal value of godly exercise under difficult trials. Your spirit man will be able to see beyond the immediate hardship and look ahead to the eternal consequences. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor 4:17).
Carrying the manifest Presence of Christ within you, as a child of God – you will start to understand that God’s mission and vision for us is to ‘be transformed into His likeness’.
I believe we miss some of these truths with all our DOING – instead of BEING! We can do so many things, even pray for people, but, if we do this without carrying His manifest Presence and His fruit of the Spirit there will always be something amiss. It is in BEING the possessor of His Divine Nature – that we reflect Christ’s character. Then our lives will be a demonstration of His Spirit, Power and unconditional Love. You will carry God’s Kingdom wherever you go!
This all happens when our spirits become one with the Father and we start living out of the spirit and not the flesh.
It is through the Lord’s abiding presence, that we find peace in the midst of the storms that surround us.
The man that walks with God in Spirit and in Truth – is the man who knows that God will never leave him, nor forsake him. We will only be moved by how God leads us on this journey of life. When you look around in South Africa with everything that goes on from politics to people being murdered daily – people are showered with fear and worries.
I often get asked – What should we do?
All I can say is: But God! He teaches our spirits that we can create something out of nothing. You can believe in miracles because you know your Abba Father will come through for you (Mat 19:26).
Your spirit knows that you may be troubled on every side, but not distressed,
perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:7).
Your spirit man knows that your life, the opportunities you are looking for, are not in the hands of man, but in the hands of God. His possibilities are limitless (Eph 1:3).
Your spirit man knows God and knows that even if we can only see desert around us, it will become a forest. And if your spirit sees famine, he knows that the harvest will be a hundred-fold, because these are the promises of God (Psalm 23).
Your spirit knows that this is the time to pray like never before for all of us in South Africa. And your spirit man gets so excited, because prayer is never a problem or too much effort for him. He knows that it is an avenue, an opportunity for him to be empowered from the manifesting Presence within him.
I truly believe that we are ‘friends of God’ and as His friends we will occupy an important place of intercession on behalf of the people. Not because of excellence of our own, but because of God’s great compassion for His people.
From this position we are allowed to intercede for others by ‘calling on the grace of God’. We need to ask Him to grant us all a heart of repentance which leads to the knowledge of the truth, and thereby we will be able to escape the snares of the devil. Through repentance and forgiveness, we will be set free from our generational commission to serve Satan’s agenda.
I love you my dear friend. Let’s run the race of faith – and grow in the spirit!
Retah and family.