The River Has a Mind of its Own

http://www.donnorisr.com/blog/

Isn't it amazing? For years we have believed that God is waiting for us to move or pray or do something to get Him

to move and to do what He is supposed to do. It is though God knows what to do, but He won’t do it unless we ask Him to. This is good Holy Place prayer. But we have not considered a very different notion about prayer within the veil of the Most Holy Place. 

 That notion is that God has a mind of His own. He has a plan of His own. He has detailed His own purpose without getting our advice or approval. He really does know what He is doing. We think we have to do something to get God to do something. It is the same arrogance that led humanity to believe that we were the center of the universe. We think God is up there just waiting for us to get it right so He can do something for us. But this couldn't be further from the truth. In His mercy and love for us, He lets us in on what He has planned. It is not us who releases God to do His will, we merely agree with Him that His way is better than ours. It is God who moves and gives us the opportunity to be in the center of His activity.

 In the Holy Place, man fills the candlesticks with oil. Man bakes the bread and puts it on the table. Man makes the incense and lights it. In the Second Day, man moves about at his own will and pleasure. Here man moves and God responds. Man initiates, man builds, man leads. The worship in the Holy Place is born of man's spirit and begins and ends at his wish. The gifts flow at the will of mere mortal flesh as the collective power of the whole body waits for a union of believers that will storm the gates of the enemy and bring victory to the planet.

In the Holy Place, God breaks Himself down into components that man can understand. In the Most Holy Place, man is broken down into components that God can use. There man is separated from his pride, his arrogance and his self will. He is broken down into one through whom God can move freely.

In the Holy Place, activity is man activated. God responds to man as man uses the gifts, worships God and fellowships with the Lord. In the Holy Place, if man does not move, God does not move. If man does not extend his hands to the sick, the sick are not healed. If man does not open his mouth, there is no prophecy, no exhortation and no interpretation of tongues. If man does not open himself to the Spirit of the Lord, there is no discernment, no witness of the Spirit and no comfort of love.

 In the Most Holy Place, where man is broken before God, activity is God-activated. Man responds to the voice of the Lord in utter obedience to Him, without analyzing the results of obedience. In the Most Holy Place, man does not move until God tells him what to do. Here, in the Most Holy Place, there is a confident waiting upon Him. Man is not agitated by silence. He is not fidgety when the heavens are silent. In the Most Holy Place, there is never a pressing need to do something, but there is a rest in the Presence of God as our security is not in our activity but in the witness of His Presence. Here, man is secure in Him alone. Activity is never a validation of worth, it is only the result of the leading of the Holy Spirit.

In the Holy Place, man can be intimidated by the expectations of others. Within the veil, politics and the carnal demands of fleshy people are swallowed up in the essence of the assurance of His love. Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. He did nothing else.

Most Holy Place believers respond to the Father strictly on the basis of building His Kingdom, not their own. They understand that only what He builds stands the test of fire and only what He builds will pass from generation to generation.

As my daughter-in-law JB said to me yesterday, “We should be Burger King Christians and say to the Lord, ‘Have it your way!’”

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