When will we ever begin to learn that God is not like man and that there is nothing we can ever think up or conceive that can conjure up what God is really like?
The fallacy of the statement that what the mind can conceive the hands can achieve is exposed when we realize that the highest achievement of man falls far short of the least in heaven. No man has seen the Father at any time. The only begotten Son alone can declare Him. We can only know God through the working of the Holy Ghost in us. He presents Christ to us - not just the Christ of history but most importantly the Christ of eternity - in all His fullness and glory, in His work of atonement and redemption, in His work as Intercessor on our behalf.
But it requires a constant attending to the things of God and a constant attendance on God. Man's imagination has a ceiling and that ceiling is not Heaven! If we will really know God, we need to pay the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard. It's a tragic but all too true fact that instead of cherishing God's anointing and seeking to be constantly full of the Holy Ghost, we take Him for granted.
Remember when we were saved and we received the fullness of His Spirit in the precious Baptism. We delighted in the wonder of His presence and nearness to us. He thrilled our souls and His love reverberated through our entire being.
Oh Precious Lord! My King and Saviour! Fairest of all and All Glorious!...the constant singing of our heart could not seem to do justice to our Precious Lord! Oh for more…just more…as wave upon wave of sweet and precious goodness swept over our souls. The joy of singing the songs of Zion! The "Old Rugged Cross' brought tears to our eyes as we thought of our sweet precious Lord hanging in shame and humiliation because of our sin! But the love of God overwhelmed us and we were not ashamed to weep openly for joy! When we sang "Speak my Lord", our hearts bled for the millions who in sin and shame were dying without Him and we meant it when we said "I'll go where you want me to go"
As we prayed, the anointing took such a fervent hold on us that we literally trembled and cried and the prayer came from our hearts without a thought to grammar, fancy words or sentence construction. It was 'Be still earth I'm speaking to my Father, My God, Saviour, and my Lord!' Our prayers brought a sweet flow of the Holy Anointing upon the congregation of the saints. It was so beautiful!! And then we testified or sang a special song and it was no longer I but Christ. I had no confidence in the flesh but depended only on the Holy Ghost. And as the song floated out over the congregation, so did the Holy Ghost bear witness to the words. He made the difference because he reached the farthest part of the building and touched all with His presence.
How we waited on the Lord for the anointing to make our prayers and songs meaningful!!
And then the glory of preaching God's Word! Secular education did not matter! Eloquence did not count! It was the Anointing, the precious Anointing that was all important! We needed that Anointing or we could not preach! The hours we spent agonizing over the message! The sermon was supposed to be spiritual food for our brethren to grow and it would only be effective if the anointing saturated it! And when we finally walked up to the sacred desk to lay out the table with God's eternal word it was as though heaven had opened and God's angels were listening with rapt attention as the Holy Ghost placed the stamp of authority and power on the word…making it food baked in the ovens of heaven - a heavenly repast for mortals to feast on!
Lord it was so beautiful! And so the days went by in sweet fellowship and love! Utterance flowed and the authority of God was felt as we lived in the very presence of God!
Then one day it happened..I become distracted by some mundane moments and so I was by former standards unprepared…but was required to pray, sing preach or whatever in the congregation at short notice!
I could only whisper a desperate, short prayer and behold what a pleasant surprise…the anointing was rich in the place! Glory be to God! And then it happened again even though I promised that it would not! …and again...and again! But strange enough I discovered that those desperate prayers helped. That's how it started. Reasoning begin asserting that it was just as good as before! Or maybe this is God's way of making me mature! I reason that a short prayer works just as well as praying through the night! And thus it goes on…! It does not take too long to realize that people like how you sing or preach and the talent and skill begins to take the pre-eminence over the waiting on the Lord. More and more we began substituting the self confidence and abilities of man for God's presence and precious anointing, until one day we wake up to the fact that the anointing is not there.
Now we can decide to run back to the altar of prayer and repentance before a just and merciful God who is ready to forgive and pardon!
Reasoning and logic however prevailed as we try to rationalize our actions and started looking for reasons to justify our new attitude. At the same time we begin to frown upon, and criticize the precious people of God who still jump and cry with pleasure in the Lord. Oh! We say they will soon pass this stage and really grow up. After all we were once just as immature but see how we have grown!!! Children will be emotional but they will mature soon. And so we take every opportunity to make them like us!
God have mercy upon us for what we have done!!! Help us get back to the place of repentance, anointing and power. Back to the place where it is okay to weep before the Lord…where it is still okay to speak and pray in tongues. Back to the place where the glory of the Lord is more important than all the fine speeches of man. For we have a legacy to pas on…a heritage! Please Lord let it be a Spirit saturated heritage and legacy for without you we are just absolute nothing!
We so desperately need you LORD!
