Manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit

 

The fruits of the Presence of the Holy Spirit last. And they have a particular blessing that also lasts. They stand the test of time, like road signs that direct us forward. How many times have I sung the hymns of old with warmth in my heart and a stirring in my soul? Time and again I remember my youth with fondness as I remember those old songs. But only now do I understand from where they came. It was the manifest Presence in a time of renewal! Only by the release of revelation that comes from that intimacy do such words as this come:

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of heaven, my victory won,
May I reach heaven’s joys, O bright heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

“They Presence My Light!” I want revelation like this for today! I want to be in His Presence and breath in the Glory of the Lord today! I want to be like Moses, who asked the Lord, “Show me your Glory.” I want to hear and understand what is on the Father’s heart for me. I want to know I am His son even in my failings.  I want to see the glory that this author saw in the day of His intimacy!

But I want the fresh word of God. I want the word that is for today and tomorrow. I remember the words of old, and they are timeless, those words of wisdom that the Lord had ordained out of His Presence. But those words point to our tomorrows, rather than remind us of our yesterdays. They beckon us forward, into fullness, into wisdom and revelation, into joy, into the fight and with effective weapons, into peace while all hell breaks around us. The seeds of our tomorrows can be found in yesterday’s words. But the fruit of our tomorrows will be released in the new things of the Lord.

“Behold, I am doing a new thing, always a new thing, says the Lord. But you must turn from the old thing to see it.” We must turn from our old things, our old ways, our familiar ways. To see the new thing, we must be fully aware of the “ever increasing” of the Lord.

Rev 1:12 I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands…

“When I turned I saw”. When we turn, only after we turn, we see.

And:

2Co 3:16-18 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Ever-increasing means that God has an endless supply of new things for us that we have yet to see, that we have yet to partake of. This is the key to the new thing.
The religious are stuck in the old things, and fear anything that would come to change it. They drink from the stagnant waters of from where the River used to be… When God shows up with His wonderful Presence, things wonderfully change. But, when God does not show up, even if the old things was awesome in its’ day, nothing happens. We need faith for and an atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit is welcome to bring the new thing of God.

We need to have eyes to see and ears to hear the new thing, then be willing to turn not away from the old thing but to turn with the old thing in hand so as to add to the old thing the new thing.

We must always be willing to see the new thing, and be able to allow the new thing to both add to and then supersede the old thing. In reality, the new thing always supercedes the old thing. The old wineskin cannot contain the new wine. The question becomes, will we be able to yield to God’s new thing?

The new thing will almost always be preceded by the test of change. God is forever testing His leadership in the area of dependant trust and faith. “Here comes a change. Do you have eyes to see it? Do you have ears to hear of it? Do you discern it? Will you agree with Me, even if the new thing requires bigger faith, even if there seems no way, even if you don’t understand it, even if it looks strange? Will you receive it?”

“There is something wonderful in the state of mind that compels us to say, “He is going to violate my boarders again!”, Bill Johnson, Bethel Church Redding CA.

We actively enter into agreement with the truth that the Lord is forever in the business of change and increase! Then, in trust, we watch God do His stuff in the church that results in Kingdom effectiveness expressed into this dying world.

It is to all leaders who are willing to step out in the forever flowing new things of the Lord that will be given the keys to this end time harvest of souls. They are the ones who are so dead to themselves that no offense is feared, no fear manifests and through whom perfect love manifests in power.

I remember those wonderful old songs of my youth with love and fondness. But today, as I only now understand them in their fullness with their wisdom and encouragement, they only point to the future. Whatever stands the test of time from an old move always points towards the new thing.

Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

Vision requires dependency. Dependency requires sacrifice. Sacrifice leads to spiritual wisdom. Wisdom points man and the church forward.

However, vision is meaningless in the natural. The key to understanding the new thing is to align our minds with what is eternal. We must seek articulate spiritual vision, by which we receive Kingdom understanding and Kingdom strategy.

Mark 8:22-25 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Jesus saw it more important to first restore this man’s ability to see in the spiritual realm than to restore his natural eyesight. This speaks volumes to me!

Spiritual vision, this is what comes out of times of His manifesting Presence. Spiritual vision, this is the essence of all our successes in the here and now. Spiritual vision. Isn’t this what our life-walk on earth is really all about? And it always points us forward.

T. Scott Morton