Matthew 5:6
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Acts 1:8
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you:..
To receive the things of the Spirit, one essential law in Him that must be fulfilled is hunger and thirst. God is the one who initiates that process and He is the one who completes it with our cooperation!
Of all the Spirit’s desires that He imparts in us, the greatest is not for His gifts, power, or grace in life and ministry, but to know Christ intimately and, in that knowing, to share in His suffering. This is the highest privilege ever that has been granted to us on this side of eternity.
The depth of love and friendship is revealed in the difficult paths walked together. What greater gift could Christ offer than to invite us to walk with Him in that journey—to drink His cup, share in His suffering, and witness His vulnerability as He gave everything for us?
So much more could be said here, but His bride must come to this place of sharing in His suffering if she is to witness His glory in these last days amongst her and in this world.
This must be our highest pursuit, and there will be no limit to what He will bestow on us. The cost will be great, but the glory will be far greater—both now and when we reign with Him in eternity.
Today, many pursue His power, glory, and grace, but in the end, they turn these into idols of their own making, leading multitudes astray. Yet for those who pursue Him to the place of partaking in His sufferings, nothing can separate them from His love (Romans 8:35–39). In that place is great power, His glory that he wants to share with us from before the foundations of the world and all grace!
The journey into Christ and the depths of knowing Him requires separation from the world and its lusts, a renewal of our minds, the crucifying of the flesh, and a continual dying to self. Hunger and thirst sustain this pursuit. With this purpose, the Spirit ignites that desire, for without it we will have no appetite to move forward on the journey or yield to His work within us, till He can lead us to that place.
When Adam and humanity chose a path away from God, sin entered and corrupted us. Through our continual wrong choices and the working of sin in our nature, we drifted so far that we lost sight of who God is and how He thinks and works completely. To the point where our (seeming) natural minds and everyday reasoning became contrary to His. When Romans 5 says we were ungodly before Christ died for us, it means that there was nothing ‘of God’ in us. We lost His nature in us 100 percent.
Therefore, when the Spirit of God awakens in us the desire to know God, it is the start of our journey that leads us back to intimate fellowship with our God who is Holy and set apart. It is unique to each individual.
On this journey, we must be cleansed of the world and its corruption from within us. This may happen quickly or gradually but only as we yield to Him. We must learn to crucify our flesh, which opposes the Spirit, and deny ourselves, for only then can we get to the place of truly knowing and experiencing Christ intimately.
In this process, the Word of God is essential for the renewing of our minds. His blessed Spirit leads the way, gently revealing our errors and our need for cleansing and separation. He helps us deny ourselves and crucify the flesh, revealing Christ to us and deepening our union with Him.
He is patient with our missteps, ignorance, and resistance to change and death to ourselves. However, if we continue to choose our own way, there comes a point where He is deeply grieved and no longer works as freely within us.
He still waits for our cooperation and continues to work, but only according to the room we have given Him. Yet, He constantly intercedes for us alongside Christ, groaning deeply in the Spirit that Christ may be formed in us and we experience that place of blessed intimate union with Him.
This ‘work of sanctification’ is only to bring us back into intimate experiential union with the Father. His Spirit purifies us and teaches us, only to be set apart for Christ and Him alone. In the end, when He has sanctified our spirit, soul, and body, our blessed Creator can fully fill us; manifest in us and amongst us in His fullness. It is a blessed place where He reveals Himself to us and we are known by Him.
After reaching this place, we stay on that journey and are transformed from glory to glory as He continues to reveal Himself to us.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
