“Meditating on the Lord by Walter Beuttler – (One evening some years ago when I first began teaching at Green Lane) I was fast asleep in my bed – when somebody spoke aloud, and said, Brother Beuttler. I knew it was the Lord that had awakened me, but I did not know what to do. Well now, let’s see here what King David had to say about this? Psalm 63:6-7 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches, because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. In the night watches: When I remember thee upon my bed. Contemplating the Lord. Meditating on Him. Look now at what he says: Because thou hast been my help. Reviewing for an instant, what God has done for us. Reviewing His great works on our behalf. David meditated on the Lord in the night watches.
The activity here that David speaks of is meditation. You know as well as I do that we’re living in a very — in the age of electronics. People these days are losing the art of meditation. And this is a universal thing, especially in the western world. Somehow people don’t seem to like to think anymore. That’s true. People (Especially church people) want to have their thoughts thought by others. (Note here that Beuttler spoke these words before first mention of Discipleship, Shepherdship, or a believer or a fellowship ever needing spiritual coverings was made. The here irony of this is Bob Mumford was one of Walter H. Beuttler’s most promising students.) People like others to do their thinking for them. You find that throughout the world, especially in the west. People today are losing the art of meditation, and contemplation.
We have a television in our house. Now you are lucky in one respect. Unless I’m mistaken, you get television only from one channel here. Is that correct? Well, in the States in our metropolitan centers, you have a dozen or more stations from which you can select anything. You can get almost any kind of program you want. If you don’t like one, you turn to the other. If you don’t like that, you turn again. Like New York City, you get a basket full of stations. The result is that people, instead of thinking and meditating, and reading the Word, and contemplating God; they have turned to television. (We see here that by Brother Beuttler having a TV in his house, and his reference to Pentecostal believers in the States, as well as the members church he is visiting in Australia of all having televisions, — that the argument over television in Christian households had already been long lost among Pentecostals. But as we all well know this battle to captivate [to place in captivity] believer’s minds only began there with each successive layer of electronic gadgetry becoming more seductive than the last, VCR’s, Cable Television, Video Gaming, The Internet, and now online gaming. The pull in people’s lives of these virtual trees of knowledge of good and evil is exponential above and beyond what TV was in its heyday. In many churches our Sunday night services are all but abandoned. Why? People are at home watching television (Or any of the more updated things we are captivated by today) You take a trans-Pacific flight: I go on a 10-11 hour non-stop flight. All right, you have your meals and after awhile it’s movie time. Pull down the shades, and now comes the movies. And people sit there hour after hour watching all of that junk. They want to be entertained. (But there was and still is a lot more going on here than just being entertained – things are entering the eye-gate and the ear-gate and making imprints in our minds, in our souls, and dare I suggest in our spirits. What was once outrageous, or in poor taste, or altogether unclean by listening to the “ungodly’s” multitude of council day in and day out and week in and week out becomes common placed, and just the regular talk. The power of the media regardless of its form — should not be underestimated. In the book “The Media” experts from the industry boast on how they have turned American society inside out, and have shaped political opinion for decades – and have the graphs and charts to prove it.) What a God-given opportunity to read and think, to review your life, to contemplate things. That’s where I use my time for meditation, for waiting on the Lord, for reading the Word or even magazine, for sitting there and doing some thinking. (The) people (in the church) don’t want to think (either). They want to be entertained (too). So you are lucky. You have only one station. In the States, you can turn to a dozen stations. Here if you don’t like one program, you have to turn the thing off. The best part of a television set is the switch to turn it off, especially in light of the junk you get on it,- at least we do at our home.
Now then:
He didn’t get up at 1:00 o’clock in the morning and say, “Well now, I’m awake. What shall I do? I’ll think I’ll go to the television set and watch the late show.” I don’t know what you have, but we have ‘The Evening Show;” we have “The Late Show; we have “The Late, Late Show;” we have “The Late, Late, Late Show. And now halfway through the morning, programs are still going on. Well, David did some meditating. Notice what God says is Psalm 1:1-3:
Psalm1:1-3 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Do you notice in passing, how people (These days are) deteriorating in their relationship with God? (The truth is most churches and believers have been asleep for the last three decades and few and noticed anything even slightly amiss.) First, you have walking, then you have standing, then you have sitting. First we walk with the sinners. Then we stand with them, and finally we sit with them. And then we are one of them. (Beuttler knew, Beuttler foresaw this day, and what has replaced the life and spirituality that those of his generation sought God for, and found of Him.)
And in his law doth he meditate day and night. What better thing to do at night than to contemplate the Lord and to meditate in His Word? David used the night season to meditate on the Lord and His Word. Psalm 119:55 gives us another activity related to this: I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law. (Meditatation, contemplation, remembering and delighting, none of these words imply accidentally running into God. All of these words are deliberative acts, deliberate in that they have to been knowingly done, and knowingly in the place of something else. Another point is most of these words are deliberating calling to memory things that most believers never give a second thought to. – In other words here we see someone treating as precious, that which others taken in by the cares of the world normally treat as common and trod under foot.) David remembered His name during the night.
Now to think upon the name of the Lord is to think upon what God is. His name is what He is. His name is His character. In other words, if we could invent (which is impossible) one word, which in one word would embody the sum total of all that God is. If all that God is could be put into one word, that would be His name. In the Bible, the Lord has many names. The reason the Lord has many names in the Bible is that the Lord is so much that there is not any one name that could possibly be a descriptive name of what He is. When we call upon His name, we call upon the characteristics and attributes of God.
I’d like to now turn to Isaiah 50:10:
Isaiah 50:10 Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, (and) that (ends up) walking in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God.
Look here: There is such a thing in our Christian experience as going through a period of darkness when misfortune has befallen us, sorrow has touched us, trouble has come our way, and we are unable to account for or find our way through it. I have heard it preached, Folks, if you are obeying the Lord, and walking daily with God, you’ll never be in the dark.”
There are those in evangelistic faith healing circles who teach Job was not upright, that he was not perfect in his ways before God And that all that befell Job occurred because Job sinned and let his hedge down when he feared.
Folkses You know, that just is not so.
Job was a choice saint of God, and God said so. He was a man that feared God, stayed away from evil, was an outstanding and righteous man, and he was in thick darkness for over a year with the things that had befallen him.
But look here, look at who these scriptures address, Who is among you — You! that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light?” Here you have a situation in Job, of a believer in God, who fears God, and obeys God, and yet has trouble. In fact, it is true. (And these things happen more than you think.) (Pardon me here as I do not have time to develop this thought.), that there are people who are going through severe trouble, not because they failed God, but because they had walked with God. And Job is an example of this.
The devil gets other (Believers) eyes on Job (And then gets other believers to stand in his place accusing Job night and day.) . Now what is such a person to do? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, in what God is. And when we go, as it were, through deep waters (Of deep trouble, deep darkness, not because we have failed God, but because we have walked uprightly with the Lord)
and when the Lord visits us in the night, and awakes us in the night in one way or another, what are we going to do? Let him contemplate the name of the Lord. – (Let him meditate) what He is: He’s good, He’s faithful, He’s righteous, He is a thousand and one things. The night season is a good time for thinking upon His name.
Psalm 16:7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: (He who pulls) my reins also instruct(s) me in the night seasons.
In Psalm 16:7, we see the night seasons are also for instruction. And we also see we (can) learn things in the night (Through our meditation, contemplation, remembering and delighting in the Lord) that we (can not and) do not learn, or are not likely to learn, at any other time. I will bless the Lord, who hath given me counsel; (He who pulls) my reins also instruct(s) me in the night seasons.
Now this word reins is a difficult word in the Hebrew. It really means my kidneys, but in those earlier years, the kidneys were regarded as the seat of our personality. We know better now. What David is saying is that during the night, God gives me instruction, and I learn things from my own contemplation, from God speaking from within my own spirit. My own spirit will teach me during the night. In my walk I have received from the Lord many instructions during the night. So did Jesus.
Remember last Sunday? “The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned. He wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth my ear as things that are taught.” The Lord instructs us during the night. We learn from our own spirit. We see things more clearly often during the night when we can concentrate on one thing or another.
I’m moving rapidly trying to cover as much as I can. I’ll see what I can do.
Psalm 42:8 Yet the Lord will command his loving-kindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
His song shall be with me. Now we’ll turn to Job for a minute.
Job 35:10 But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night?
Folkses, there are times when during the night God gives us a song. Have you ever experienced this? Who giveth songs in the night.” I had one the other night. I can’t go into detail, I suppose, but I got a song from the Lord during the night that changed my attitude toward the person. I told Wife in the morning, “I have to take a different attitude toward that person. The Lord gave me a song.” It was a strange song for the occasion and I wondered what to make of it. Then I made the connection.
I had an attitude toward a person, though not totally wrong, was nevertheless, it was tarnished by a wrong attitude. Which I would say, was at least contrary to Him. That song taught me to modify my attitude, and consequently, my actions.
During the night He gives us songs of worship, songs of David. I was up with the Lord one night while we were here, and I was sitting there and happened to think about my itinerary. I had a question. Should I, or should I not stop in a certain place. At once, a song rose up, Publish glad tidings, tidings of peace, and I knew right away I was to stop there. The Lord will guide you many times with a song. (If you are not asleep with everyone else.) He gives songs in the night.
I was up another time when I was last here, up for a little while with the Lord. And I had questions in my mind about my having visiting a certain place. It was another one. In regards to that place, I wanted to know whether I had made a mistake? That’s more accurate. And as I wondered, a song came up, It is well with my soul. Do you sing that here? It is well with my soul.
Then I knew everything was all right, and was able to leave it alone. He giveth songs in the night. If you only knew that, (Deep within) you, you would then discover many times the song that comes to you is not simply there as a song, but it is a song to give us instructions.
One night I was awakened out of a deep sleep in the States, and I am a poor sleeper, but I was in a deep sleep that time. I was awakened by a song that sang so — shall I say, loud. I heard it sing in my spirit, and there it was. The song woke me and the song was: Up from the grave He arose. I knew what it meant: It’s meant it was time to get up. That’s the school of the Spirit. Who giveth songs in the night. You must watch for that thing. (Or they will pass you by.) Many times I get these songs – by day too. I get one very often. Oh can I think of it? I’m trying to hurry, and I’m not made for hurry.
I can’t think of it. It will probably come to me. It’s a chorus the Lord often uses with me to alert me that’s He’s going to call on me with something later on. Very often, it’s prayer or intercession. The Lord uses songs by day. He gives songs by night. If it comes to me, I’ll weave it in.
Turn to Ephesians 5:18-19 because the songs are not always a special message or for guidance. Here is another purpose:
Ephesians 5:18-19 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in Psalm and hymns and spiritual songs (Songs of the Spirit), singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Here we see that the Lord, by His Spirit, puts into our hearts a melody by day or by night. And when you get (This song of the Spirit) it by day or night: Well, what will you do with this melody? That is if it does not seem to be for guidance or anything. What do you do with it? Oh, (I’m trying to make up a word) You melody it unto the Lord. It doesn’t have to be loud, just let this thing (Beuttler holds his hand over his chest) sing aloud, and let it sing unto the Lord like, (Beuttler sings:) How Great Thou Art, or whatever it is that wells up within you. Don’t just let this thing go around and around, and around and around, and around and around, until it all dissipates into nothing. Take it and make melody in your heart to the Lord.
You don’t have to wake the family up in the middle of th night and shout all over the place. It doesn’t say make melody with your voice, but it says Make melody in your heart to the Lord”
So the Lord gives those songs. And Job knew it. Who giveth songs in the night.
Isaiah 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early.
(And all we have to do is begin to meditate, contemplate, remember and delight in the Lord — and then really see what He will do.)
http://www.alaskandreams.net/ekklesia/Meditating%20on%20the%20Lord.htm
Well we all do know that we also do experiences unexpected, unpredictable, hail storms, with violent thunder too in our own life’s, where we are beset by negative events, negative circumstances and things are not going the way we had expected them too. And we are not sure if God still has things under his control and how we should react to these storms of life. Two persons will face the same events, and yet their attitudes, experiences may be totally different.. One person next Rejoices over the events, and the other one is biiter over them. Why? (Heb 4:2 KJV) For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (Eccl 8:6 KJV) Because to every purpose there is time and judgment, therefore the misery of man is great upon him. (Eccl 8:11 KJV) Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.12 Though a sinner do evil an hundred times, and his days be prolonged, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, which fear before him:13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
(Eccl 7:8 KJV) Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
(Eccl 7:9 KJV) Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.
(Job 33:4 KJV) The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.Then as we trust God and also praise God we next will come through unscathed, victorious, and even learn the lesson that God has designed for us through the storm..
(Eccl 5:15 KJV) As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.
(Eccl 12:13 KJV) Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
And we always need to remember that (Eccl 2:26 KJV) For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is ( for their) vanity and vexation of spirit.
(Eccl 3:1 KJV) To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
(Eccl 9:12 KJV) For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.
(Eccl 7:14 KJV) In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.
(Eccl 7:18 KJV) It is good that thou shouldest take hold of this; yea, also from this withdraw not thine hand: for he that feareth God shall come forth of them all
In psalm 29 David describes a thunderstorm sweeping over the Palestinian countryside in a fury of lightning and thunder, accompanied by heavy rains and resultant flood and destruction. Read it through and you will see that the Psalm as a whole is a graphic setting in which God seeks to instruct His children when they find themselves in circumstances comparable to such a storm-for example, the flames of the fire of testing, the rumbling thunder of fearful events and floods of unexpected reverses and innocent sufferings.
Psalm 29:1 A Psalm of David. Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.
2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.
5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn.
7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire.
8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory.
10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever.
11 The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.
Notice the Psalmist’s eloquent language:
The voice” of the Lord is upon the waters…. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars The voice of the Lord divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the Lord shaketh the wilderness….The voice of the Lord . . . discovereth the forests Psalm 29: 3-9.
In these turbulent circumstances of life it is of paramount importance that we be properly oriented. A Christian who is not sure of his position in the storm in relation to God is open to additional though unnecessary difficulties. He becomes an easy prey to the wiles of the enemy and a possible victim of the counsel of ignorant advisers. In order to preclude any such eventuality one must turn to the repeated use of the phrase, “the voice of the Lord,” which occurs seven times. This might appear to be mere meaningless repetition in the eyes of the casual reader, yet this very repetition constitutes the heart of this remarkable Psalm and provides the key to the whole problem namely, that the storm is “the voice of the Lord”. God. wants us to know that He speaks in the storm., by means of the storm.
Now it might be rightly asked, “What does God say in the storm?” In answer to this question another repetition must be observed. The name “Lord” is used eighteen times. The meaning of the name “Lord” as used in this Psalm is said to be, “He (who) is.” This is very suggestive and so appropriate because the enemy of our souls will seek to defeat us in the storm by casting an aspersion on God as regards His promises.
The, enemy, will endeavor to_ make us believe that God is the God who isn’t. But this Psalm declares God is “He who is.” “He who is divideth the flames of fire” (lit., “sendeth forth the lightnings”). “The voice of the He who is breaketh the cedars.” “The voice of the He who is is upon the waters,” etc. This repetition of “Lord” leads us to the primary cause of the storm – God, who seeks to reveal Himself as “the He (who) is.”
It must further be noted that there is a reference to God, not merely in every verse, but in every statement. Altogether there are twenty-two direct and two indirect references to God. The entire Psalm is saturated with God, so to speak. What is the meaning of this? That God is in the storm; that He is He who is when it seems He isn’t. That He is in the lightning, in the thunder, in the water, in all. The Psalm, we repeat, is saturated with God; so is the experience. The believer in the storm, must see and believe that He who is sent it; that He who is is in it; and that He who is speaks by it.
Not only does God send the storm; He comes with it. “The Lord sitteth upon the flood” (v. 10). This verse begins to throw some light on the purpose of the storm. Since God is pictured as sitting upon the flood, He evidently uses the flood as a means of conveyance, so that the flood of the storm which comes into the believer’s life brings God with it. This remains true, whether God’s purpose is to bring us more into the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, as mentioned in Philippians 3:10, or God seeks to teach us lessons in order to give us a ministry of help and comfort to those in distress, as stated in 2 Corinthians 1:4, 5. This remains true, whether God needs to demonstrate to Satan that we serve Him because of what He means to us (and not merely because of what He does for us ) as illustrated in Job 1:1 to 2:10, or whether His purpose is to Enlarge our capacity and desire for Him.
The storm will often effect this by tearing us loose from encumbrances that retard our progress, and from preoccupation with things that compete with God for our attention and affection. Thus the storm becomes a means whereby we are conditioned for a closer walk with God, as well as a medium of conveyance, bringing God with it. “The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet” Nahum 1:3. After the sky has cleared and the flood has subsided, the trusting believer _will be conscious of a fresh deposit of the reality of the presence of God in his heart, for “the Lord sitteth upon the flood.”
“The Lord sitteth King forever” (v. 10). Hallelujah! Not only does He who is come with it and sit upon it; He sits upon it as King, as Ruler, as Sovereign. In other words, He controls the flood. The same Lord who uses the storm as a vehicle, who thus conveys Himself into the believer’s heart by a means and in a manner which probably could not be as well accomplished in any other way, exercises such a providential control that the flood, while it is great enough to accomplish His purpose, is not so great that the believer would be engulfed beyond his ability to stand it. “God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able,” the apostle assures us. He who is is completely Sovereign of the flood. He sits upon it, so He comes with it. He sits King, so He holds it in control. He sits King “forever,” so He is always in control. This is the believer’s assurance in the storm.
“The Lord will give strength unto his people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (v. 10). Strength and peace is the believer’s provision for the storm. God who sends the storm also grants the strength to endure it. He “will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” 1 Corinthians 10:13. This way of escape is not so much a deliverance from the storm as it is a deliverance in the storm. The grace and strength of God enables us to bear the storm while the purpose of God is being accomplished.
This strength will be imparted as we wait upon Him, not as we wait for the sympathy of the people. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” Isaiah 40:31. Waiting upon God is as indispensable (and as delightful) a Christian exercise as it ever was. There is no substitute. Israel complained in Isaiah 40:27 in the same manner in which a Christian might be tempted to complain in the storm: “My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God.” In other words, they complained that God does not see, God does not care; and as another version has it, “the justice due me is passed away.” This questions the justice of God. There is great danger in such an attitude. The context uses the words “faint,” “weary,” and “fall.”
As far as the passage in Isaiah goes, this fainting, wearying and threatened falling is due to lack of confidence in the attributes of God Isaiah 40:28; failure to realize that God provides the ability to walk with Him Isaiah 40:29. We are doomed to failure, even at the height of our own resources Isaiah 40:30, unless we wait upon God for enabling by His strength. “The Lord will give strength unto his people.”
“They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles. . . .” It has been said that in an approaching storm all the birds will scurry for cover in fright, except the eagle. He will face the storm, with wings spread, and will allow the howling, contrary wind to carry him to great heights. This is the Christian’s privilege in the storm. Such an achievement takes the strength which only God can give; it requires spending time in waiting before Him.“The Lord will bless his people with peace” (v.11). This is the promise of a tranquil mind and heart in the middle of the storm. Peace not just after the storm, but during the storm. The kind of peace that Christ had when “he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow,” during a storm that filled the ship with water and threatened their lives (see Mark 4:38; Luke 8:23). Let it be noted that these disciples were in the will of God, despite wind, waves, and danger; for they had obeyed His command, “Let us go over unto the other side of the lake.” Our very obedience to God may lead us into a storm which we would not otherwise experience, but it also leads to a compensating revelation of His power which we would not otherwise experience either.
The peace of God is not something negative, not a mere absence of disturbance. It is something positive -the conscious presence of a supernatural calm produced in our hearts by the Spirit. This peace is “not as the world giveth”; it is not dependent on favorable circumstances. In fact, it is independent of both favorable and unfavorable circumstances alike. In short, it is truly His peace, the peace of God.
This peace acts as an insulator, as a defense against, the disturbance of the storm. The strength of the Lord enables us to bear the pressure of the storm, but the peace of God which passes all understanding (and all misunderstanding too) keeps the disturbing elements of the outer storm from penetrating our being.
This twin provision of strength and peace logically leads to the consideration of our activity in the storm.
“Give unto the Lord glory and strength. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (vv. 1, 2). This then should be our activity in the storm- to give unto the Lord worship, to give Him glory. The angels are doing it. “. . . And in his temple doth every one speak of His glory” (v. 9). In any storm God calls for worship; we owe it to Him.
“Give unto the Lord, O ye mighty,” Who are the mighty in the storm? Those who know that it is the”stormy wind fulfilling His word” (Psalm 148:8); those who see God in the storm and wait upon Him for strength. They are called upon to give Him strength, to attribute and contribute, to give Him the fruit of the strength He gave them, even praise in the midst of the storm, and despite the storm- and even because of the storm. The mighty in His strength will give Him glory and praise while they behold the effects, of the storm, the broken cedars of their fondest hopes. They, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness without charging God foolishly, though their hearts are oppressed with a terrible sense of loneliness. They may feel as bleak within as is the desolation without.
Though the spirit may ‘be crushed, and the will may falter because the future may seem empty, God calls for worship with repeated emphasis. “Give unto the Lord,” He calls, “Give unto the Lord.” Faith will respond and say, “It is the voice of the Lord in the storm; therefore will I join the angels giving God glory!” http://www.alaskandreams.net/ekklesia/articles.htm
God in these days also is still speaking to us not just through the words in His Bible. “You are not to go to the left or to the right unless you hear a voice ( of the Holy Sprit) saying this is the way walk there in”.. Many of us have not learned as to how to hear this voice .
It also now seems that unresolved problems tend to make us seek God. How to draw closer to God. You have wanted God to speak to you for a long time. You have wanted to talk to God and get answers back. This is an opportunity for you to have a dialogue with God. God too wants to communicate with you. You might have been in church, a crusade, in your room, or outside under the stars. You felt God’s call, but you didn’t know exactly what God wanted you to do. You knew you were going to do something special, but you didn’t know what it was. Now you can also find out God’s plan for you, and others too and the literature is all free too. It teaches you how to hear God’s voice. God will teach you many things you need to know. Valid spiritual tools to help you make conscious contact with God: Praise, Prayer, Humbleness, Obedience, the Bible. Get yourself ready where God speaks to you
In the book of Psalms we find the expression of a yearning for God Himself; a cry from deep within our hearts, for something more in God. And in reality this is a response to God’s longing heart, His thirst for fellowship with men. That He might fill us to overflowing that we might come into a deep abiding personal relationship with Him and His Son Jesus Christ.
Psalm 84:2 My soul longeth yea fainteth for the courts of the Lord.
This is a longing for His presence and His anointing. This is a cry to walk in the Spirit. My friends, there is something higher, something purer in God that is available to us in this day and this very hour in which we walk. This longing for the Lord is the irresistible urge as expressed by those who so hunger and so thirst after God.
My heart and my flesh crieth out for the Living God Have you experienced this cry for Him to inhabit his people? Have you felt this yearning to be so clothed upon by the Spirit of God? This spiritual longing is far different than the cry of selfish earthly prayers of men.
Psalm 63:1 O lord Thou art my God Early will I seek thee. My Soul thirsteth for Thee. My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is. This is so apart from the typical Christian experience. Are you so consumed with having this inner knowing of God? Do you so thirst that you will be satisfied with nothing less than knowing Him in all the fullness that can be known of him even as the apostles and the prophets of old so knew Him?
David said: “One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after . . . ” Many of this day are guilty of having divided hearts, so that they seek many things. They seek for their ministry. They seek for earthly riches. They seek for their own power. They seek to be seen of men. But there are those who seek God for himself. Believing that His fellowship, His presence, and His approbation are all the reward in itself.
David said: “As a hart panteth after the water brooks so panteth my soul after thee. . .” In out questing for the Lord we find ourselves running over hill and dale, running through mountains and valleys, panting and longing with our mouth wide open, pressing forward, stretching ourselves to reach His streams of living waters. Have you caught the scent of His living waters? I am told that a deer can smell water from miles away.
If you are willing to lay aside your own personal aspirations. If you are willing to close your wandering lustful eye. If you will reach out to Him with all your heart, you too can enter into this wondrous thirst — and sup with Him and eating with Him of His secret manna and drinking with Him of His living waters.
Psalm 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, (The Thirsty) and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
There is a terrific operation of the Spirit going on today to bring the Sons of God into an absolute confinement to the perfect will of God. This is the Day of His Preparation the day in which He is preparing the channel through which He shall pour forth His Glory for all the world to see. This channel is His Body in the earth that glorious company of people who are being conformed through much tribulation and fiery tests to the Image of the Son of God. This is His “battle axe and weapons of war” with which He shall subdue kingdoms and overcome all His enemies. This is His “mighty and strong One” to whom He shall commit the work of judging this world. This is His Overcomer, His “great army” with which He shall bring the nations into submission. The weapons of their warfare are not carnal, natural weapons but they are mighty weapons, mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. These are those who shall “be strong and do exploits.”
But before God can commit this great and tremendous ministry into their hands they must submit themselves to the discipline of the Lord letting Him truly be the Lord of their entire lives.
“Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness” (Isaiah 41:10).
How can I practice His abiding presence?
1) Wait on the Lord: Begin each day by rising up early and sit before Him. Consecrate your life afresh to be a part of His will and purpose in the earth. Ask Him to cleanse and forgive you, and to open your spirit to Him. Be aware of those things He has done for you and His answers to prayer. For the Lord truly appreciates being appreciated.
Have you ever come to the Lord just to sit in His presence and fellowship with Him? We can be so taken up with asking for things that we forget that He has personal feelings, too. You might feel strange if people only came to you when they wanted something.
2) Worship the Lord: Praise, the Bible states, is the fruit of our lips. At times our praise can become lip service rather than luscious fruit to God. This is something to be reckoned with. What is worship? Worship is that which cries out from deep within to bless the Lord. Praise can be singing to the Lord, but worship is singing before the Lord. “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4:23). To come to this higher level requires a special creative working of God within us as we wait before Him. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Cor. 3:18). Entering into a more vital worship and waiting in His presence is a life changing experience.
3) Meditating on God’s Word: “My meditation of Him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the Lord” (Ps 104:34). There is a sweetness in His presence, holding His word before Him during the day. The word “meditate” comes from an old English word which literally means, “to chew the cud,” to ponder, to turn over in one’s mind. When we meditate on His word, we receive a strength and an understanding that we cannot get otherwise. “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. . .” (John 1:14). This is God’s very life and nature entering the depths of our being as we sit with Him meditating on His word!
4) Smell the Roses Along the Way: There is a saying that rings with meaning: “As you go throughout the garden of life, don’t forget to smell the roses along the way.” There are joys and many things to be experienced as we walk out our life in God. It is possible to get so busy that we lose the joy of our salvation, becoming too mechanical for simple things. But God hides Himself in simplicity. If we learn to enjoy where we are in God appreciating what God is doing with and in us, we will make much more progress in our Christian life.
http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/06/22/as-to-what-is-a-christian/
Focus on the Family 