I posted the mini version of some things the Lord has been speaking to us on June 24 (’12) and we continued to pray about whether we were to share the longer version I’d written, summarizing what we believe He’s been saying. We’ve received many precise confirmations since, and this past weekend were finally convinced that the Lord was giving us permission to share this full length version. If you’ve seen previous posts, some of this will be repeat, and some new.
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About two years ago the Lord sat down on (not in) the theological box we’d had in place for nearly a decade. He revealed aspects of His nature and character which we had come to believe were no longer His method of operation under the New Covenant, and He answered theological questions we’d had for eight years. He had tried to show us these things before then, but our theology didn’t allow us to receive them. (Public Service Announcement: it’s not good when you unwittingly end up rebuking God when He’s trying to correct you.) So for the second time in our lives, nearly a decade apart, God revealed Himself in such a dramatic way that it changed our theological framework. (The first time was about the present day work of the Holy Spirit.)
Anyone who began seeing evidence of this second dramatic shift more than a year and a half ago has likely recognized that the revelation He’s given us is not one that many are excited about; it certainly hasn’t won us any popularity contests, but God convinced us beyond the shadow of all doubt that it is His Truth.
In the beginning of 2011, He convinced us He was asking us to lay down our lives and reputations to begin speaking about some of the things He had showed us, in response to an extreme version of teaching we thought we’d never hear. Though what we tried to share then was not well received, the Lord was so manifest that He was more real to us than the opposition against us. He faithfully comforted and encouraged us … but it was what He said to comfort us that was shocking. He stunned us by saying, among other things, “It’s not you they’re rejecting, but Me.” Yet the people rejecting us for what we we were saying believe in and preach “Jesus.” So how could Jesus be saying they’re rejecting Him? It was through this astonishing revelation that He showed us how misunderstandings are causing many to receive and preach “another Jesus,” “another gospel,” and “another spirit“, rather than the true Jesus, gospel, and Spirit revealed in God’s Word. (II Cor 11:1-4)
Knowing the consequences we’d experienced for obeying Him, the Lord asked me a question. He had asked this same question of others before, after delivering a challenging message to His followers that caused many to depart (John 6:60-69). I sensed grief in His voice. It was as though I could see Him looking at me with eyes full of love and sorrow when He said, “What about you? Do you want to leave too?” (Are you also offended by these truths about Me? Do you think the price to follow Me is too high?) It broke my heart. My cry was similar to the disciples ~ “To whom else could I go? You are the only true God ~ my Lord, my Savior, my life, my everything!”
When we truly love God, we will love Him and worship Him for ALL of who He is ~ for ALL aspects of His nature and character ~ not just those that make us feel happy and comfortable. And we will love His Truth regardless of whether it’s easy or enjoyable to hear. My heart was compelled to worship and love Him for the very facets of His nature and character that many people have been rejecting and denying in recent years. After all, whatever He does, I know Him well enough to know that He is good, right, righteous, just and holy in all His ways; there is no fault in Him. As posted last year ~
When we know God through only one facet of His nature, we are like a blind man who tries to know and describe an elephant by only one part; our understanding is error if it’s incomplete.
He is Lamb and Lion; Merciful Savior and Master Lord; Smitten Bridegroom and Jealous Husband; Shepherd and Warrior; Comforter and Avenger; Healer and Refiner;
Adoring Daddy and All-Consuming Fire.
It was only after we accepted the revelation that the Lord finally convinced us of two years ago, about the more challenging side of His nature, that He told us our foundation was now complete. On the precipice of this second major theological adjustment, He had told us we had to go backward before we could go forward in order to rediscover these things we’d once believed.
There’s a whole book of explanation behind these few statements and what’s to follow (literally), but I say this in order to preface the message that He’s asking us to share at this time (a continuation of things He asked us to begin saying in early 2011). We’re not gluttons for punishment. So after feeling “crucified” for the things He asked us to say last year, please believe me when I say that the only reason we’re saying them again is because of His relentless love for His people that has not allowed us to give up after one attempt when so much is at stake.
As mentioned last year, there is an urgency on this message. The trumpet blast has sounded in heaven; the urgency remains. Though He asked us to be silent for nearly a year while He worked some things out, now after several months of constant words (beginning during the 40 days before Resurrection Sunday), He has once again convinced us with crystal clarity that He’s calling us to speak.
(If you read the posts from last year some of this will be repeat and some new).
At the request of some who asked that this word be split into “chapters” after it was posted on FB, I’m posting it here in “parts.”
See Part 2 here
