A Closer Walk With Jesus
At this time, The Lord is calling many of us to walk closer to Him. To come closer – like we were when we first loved Him – and stay in that place of fellowship with Him.
So many of His children are estranged from Him for months or even years and it was never meant to be that way. It partly has to do with how we are introduced to Christ through the modern day church system, not just the world.
Yes church as we know it Today – with buildings and services – actually commenced with the Roman emperor Constantine in 330 AD, not with the Apostles as is commonly thought.
It is institutionalized Christianity, that lacks the CLOSENESS to JESUS we are meant to have and the Closeness to Each-other. Many are finding this in Home Churches after really seeking The Lord, because they knew there’s something more than they were experiencing.
Follow Me – Abide in Me
The Lord likes to speak to us in our spirit and many of us have this experience – some more so than others and some less, some occasionally and some even daily. I first experienced this when I set quality time apart with Him one evening, decided that I would spend that time in prayer, nothing else, and again 3 days later, when He gave me direction about bible college (I commenced 2 weeks before that) saying “I give you good teaching, do not forsake My teaching”. I knew instinctively, I was to leave immediately. When I went that evening to cancel arrangements in response to The Lord, it was early, before anyone arrived. I desired to pray for a short time and went to a closet with a stack of chairs for privacy, and He gave me a promise in my spirit, I remember to this day.
Jesus spoke two pivotal words to us in Scripture. One is “Follow Me” and the other is
“Abide in Me”……..on both occasions, He was directing our hearts and lives to Him.
These days, so much of what “the ministry” says and church programs take up a lot of space in a Christian’s mind and heart that is meant to be reserved for Jesus – His Presence, His Words and He can’t be the Guest where He is not invited – those times we’re after spiritual pursuits sometimes, can hinder His intentions for us. And it is good to remember that mental assent has nothing to do with spiritual assent……..in other words, a lot of knowledge we consider to be spiritual, does not feed our spirit or impress The Lord……..He truly wants more than that.
To “Follow Jesus” is just that – to follow Him – not “the ministry” not the “next person”.
At this time, Jesus wants us to come out of the clamor of voices around us, so He can speak to us. Yes personally. He cannot do this as long as you are occupied with what the minister says, your favorite program or author. What He has to say to you – and sometimes teach you – is so different to what they say to you or He says to them. It’s tailor made for you, that’s why. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter and Counselor “He will take what is mine and give it to you”……..in other words, He will speak to you first-hand by the Holy Spirit…… not second hand or third hand but directly. Ministries are good, if they truly follow The Lord closely but they are not meant to live your spiritual life for you and they don’t walk your walk either, so Jesus is the One you should be giving most of your hearing to……He is the One to direct you in life’s decisions and day to day. He really is – two is company, three is a crowd, when it comes to that special place that belongs to HIM ALONE!
A Heavenly Invitation
No-one can speak to us like Jesus, is’nt that what Scripture says? And it’s True!
He always knows exactly what to say…..and…..He does not make mistakes.
I still wonder at the ability of The Lord to say just the right thing. Sometimes it would be through a scripture, sometimes His voice in my spirit, and sometimes through a phrase of a song I am hearing or He brings to remembrance. Occasionally He will bring part of a prophecy to mind. He is wonderful at that, once you start walking close to Him.
The Invitation is there for each one of us. He does not have favorites…….it only seems that way when others are close and we are not. But His resident Spirit is as close as our breath and He wishes to “fellowship and sup with you” just like it says in scripture. Find this true.
I Can Identify With You
I’ve been close to Jesus, very close to Him, distant in my walk and busy every day, drifting off to sleep when it came to prayer time, I postponed through the day. I have been all four of these descriptions, so I can address Christians in each one of those. I would have preferred otherwise, believe me, and could not have imagined. A medically induced disorder sapped up most my energies after managing to stay close, so you don’t have to turn away from Jesus to “be far” fellowship-wise with Him. He gave me a lovely gifting of Poems like Helen Steiner Rice a few years ago, where I would write so many in His Presence (it did not occur outside of those times) for many months.
A Word To Ministries
Then I got busy with making a number of websites with multiple pages, and I spent so little time in prayer really and lived on the inspiration He was giving me for others – one of them was a ministry website that was really feeding my readers spirit. So The Lord was faithful to them and to me. Is that you maybe? A word of advice: it is better to live with Him in worship than to work for Him. Work…..Ministry…..I don’t see the difference!
Just because His Spirit is flowing through you in inspiration OR revelation, does not mean to say your heart and spirit are flowing towards Him. It’s GRACE……believe me, when you honestly compare it to a quality time of WORSHIP each day. I can truthfully say that it is possible to love others more than you do JESUS (in expression) when you love others so much that you keep giving out to them and you fail to give out to Him as much as you do them – it should be more to Jesus, not less. Besides, we can usually give out in the “Anointing” once we have experienced it…….but it is a totally different matter to give out of the Presence of God. One is with you when you are moving in it, the other is with you all the time. What are you going to do about it? Take that to The Lord.
AND THAT, MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS, IS THE DIFFERENCE YOU SENSE WITHSOME MINISTRIES MORE THAT OTHERS AND YOU ARE DRAWN SO CLOSE TO THE LORDAFTERWARDS. IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS, IS’NT IT? IT REALLY IS.
My advice to ALL of you is: once you sense just a little distance with Jesus,“Nip it in the Bud” don’t wait till it gets out of hand, like “a garden with more weeds than flowers” and treat temptations the same way before they get really hard to manage.
An Important Word Study
After an extended time of working with websites and other responsibilities once, The Lord spoke a word to me that contained the word CLEAVE……I changed that word to cling (just out of preference) when I wrote it and had a check in my spirit, to compare these two words. He knows I study word definitions pretty thoroughly and it’s surprising what I come up with. I will share this with you.
Cling is only part of the definition of Cleave.
Cling: To hold on tightly, to remain close.To resist separation, to remain attached.It denotes embracing and to be entwined.
Cleave: To cling and adhere to.Stresses strength of attachment.To be devoted and grow together.To hold-fast and agree with.
Adhere: To follow and carry out.To comply and conform.To observe and follow.
Devoted: To be loyal and very loving.To give quality time to.To stay attached, to trust.Believe in and follow the practice of.
Loyal: To be committed and faithful to.To be trustworthy and always true.This is about being a loyal subject to the KingAnd a faithful friend to Jesus.
Make No Mistake About It To these, Jesus said “If you ask anything in My Name, I will do it”not the distant in heart but those who stay close to The Lord and bond with Him.That’s why He said “he/she who hears My Words and does them, he/she is my friend”and also, He gave the parable about the Five Maidens who were Ready with Oil in their Lamps.
IN THESE LAST DAYS, THE ENEMY HAS A TIRELESS AGENDA TO MAKE LIFE SO BUSY – YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH TIME FOR THE LORD (UNLESS YOU MAKE TIME).AND SO STRESSFUL, SO YOU ARE STRESSED TO THE MAX – IF YOU DON’T STAY CLOSE TO THE PRINCE OF PEACE (YOUR HEARTS CAN GROW COLD LIKE SCRIPTURE SAID).
My friends, that’s when you start to think “It is too hard to follow Jesus” when you run out of time or inclination to stay Close to Jesus……..not “I love Jesus, I love You Lord” but showing Him you DO by spending quality time with Him in Worship (love and adoration).
This is the description of the Bride of Christ when He Comes.To these He will say “Come see the Home I have Prepared for You”
He did not say The Church (all Christians) would leave in the Rapture, He saidthose who are READY.And you say to yourself, you’re not ready to spend precious time with The Lord?
The Maidens in the Parable who were not ready were sleeping, remember?That speaks of the lethargic state so many of His children are inthat leads to spiritual apathy that can cause you to miss out on that Glorious Eventif you do not attend to that.
Remember Jesus saying about The Feast He has Prepared and not many were interested to come? We need to be careful that does not describe us who have received Jesus, when it comes to The Marriage Supper – that Great Celebration, hey?
And if you are concerned for your loved-ones, you can reflect the Love of Jesus much more to them after being In His Presence, than lots of church services – that only makes them feel left out of your life anyway, to the extent that they don’t want our God because they can associate him with a lack of interest in them so to speak.
You will be more inclined to show them the Fruit of the Spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Gentleness and Patience etc when you have been with Jesus. Don’t preach to them, Live It.
Gospel means Good News, not religious, they need to see that God is Good:they can best see this through you on the home scene, that is something church services cannot do for them. There are so many testimonies asliving proof of this. Be of Good Cheer.
THE ORDER IN NEW TESTAMENT TIMES WAS “BELIEVE IN JESUS AND YOU AND YOUR FAMILY SHALL BE SAVED”……… THE HOLY SPIRIT IS INTO RESTORING THAT PROMISE AT THIS TIME. LET THEM SEE JESUS IN YOU, NOT “RELIGION” BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT SO MANY OF THEM CAN SEE.
“FOLLOW JESUS!”