November 24, 2009

THE ROAD TO NOTHINGNESS


Boqer Or (Good Morning Light)!

Shalom Friends,

The anointing and mandate on our lives is to help position and steer you into the greatest spiritual adventures your mind has yet to fathom.  It is a place of the most ecstatic Heavenly joy as you enter into the secret place of the new thing He is doing in the earth today.  The purpose of these “rivers” suddenly breaking out in the wasteland of Israel is to alert us that He is now inviting us to follow Him into a pre-ordained adventure of blessings that has been predetermined for you before the foundation of the world (Prov. 8 and Rom. 8).  Many believers miss this invitation because they do not calibrate their ears to not only hear…but also respond quickly when His Spirit wind suddenly manifests in ways that defy human logic and brain wave activity.  These mysterious Spirit wind encounters/invitations usually do not appear in our highly programmed Sunday or mid-week services, but rather in the wilderness wastelands of His choosing.  They happen spontaneously and always catch us by surprise.  Why?  So that He may receive all the awe and glory and not our own carnal ideas of thinking we know it all.

As I was driving in the desert this past weekend to a wonderful “fishing” adventure, I was suddenly told by the Spirit of God to stop on the literal Highway of Holiness road of Isaiah 35 (sorry, but it is not the I-35 highway in the heartland of the USA that well meaning folks have been presumptuously proclaiming).  I have transversed this road many times the last 25 years but this time the atmospheric conditions changed in my vehicle and I was being caught up into the glory realm.  I immediately pulled over and found myself facing a road sign I have never really paid attention to before.  It was an old weathered sign that simply said in Hebrew, “Road of no exit”.  It was a road to nothingness because it led directly off the beaten trail and into the harsh wilderness desert mountains of the Northern Sinai range with no exit or destination points of interest.

I looked around and noticed behind me that a brand new road had just been completed costing hundreds of millions of Israeli shekels, yet this smaller access road was left unfinished.  Why?  Because the new road led people to the entertainments of the resort city of Eilat while this old access road provided no entertainments for Israeli’s or visiting tourists because it “seemingly” led to nowhere.  It was a road of nothingness.  It was a road that very few sought for or traveled on because it offered nothing but inconvenience.  It was also a hidden road to the wasteland of Israel’s desert mountains and could only be really seen if one was to stop off the busy highway and catch a more isolated glimpse.


As I pondered this newly observed vista of a mysterious entrance into a great Biblical desert wasteland of no exit, the Scriptures began to unfold to me from Galatians chapter 1.  I now remember from past study in historical geography of Israel that this was the ancient Northern approach to the no-man’s land of Arabia!  This is same location where the Apostle Paul sojourned in to keep from being influenced by the flesh and blood leadership of the Jerusalem church!  God was going to do a new and very unexpected thing (i.e. Gentile ministry) and Paul was sent on the road of nothingness to have a fresh revelation of Jesus! 
(Read now Galatians 1:6-24).

And this is the fruit that came out of his time in this wasteland of Arabia-

  1. He was filled with a new discernment of what was the true Gospel message and what was a perversion into another counterfeit gospel (vs. 6-8).
  2. He was filled with a new authority and boldness to pronounce God’s judgment on this satanic infiltration (vs. 8-9).
  3. He was filled with a desire to only please God and not man as he refers to himself as not a servant, but now a bond-servant of the Messiah  (vs. 10).
  4. The Messiah was revealed to and in him in a new unprecedented way that further amplified his earlier conversion experience on the road to Damascus (vs. 15-16 and Acts 9:1-19).  This three year experience in Arabia was the 2nd watershed event!
  5. He was directed to not consult with flesh and blood.  Or better put…not to be influenced by the Apostolic fathers and leaders in Jerusalem until first this new thing was revealed in him (vs. 16-20).

Now let us bring this full circle to our lives and conclude this morning’s fresh manna with some heavy duty Scriptural texts.  By examining this first chapter of Galatians in this refreshed historical and geographical imagery, we can now see where the Apostle Paul was radically transformed by the Spirit of God to become an agent, carrier, and warrior of the true Gospel message for the nations.  This desert wasteland sojourning in a place so characterized by nothingness is actually the secret place of God doing a new thing in His children’s lives.  And lastly, we can see this theme of nothingness woven throughout the Pauline Epistles whether it is when he refers to himself as the scum of the earth (1 Cor. 4:13) or plunging into the depths of nothingness in his awesome goal of counting everything rubbish that he may know the Messiah and His unfathomable resurrection power (Phil. 3:1-15).

It therefore behooves us to be believers in this hour that exhibit these same driving qualities

  1. We need to spend more time alone in solitude with God and delicately balance our time fellowshipping and being tutored by flesh and blood.
  2. We are called to not forsake the assembly together (Hebrews 10:25), however, we must be very cautious not to forsake our quiet solitude time with Him and begin to replace it with Christian gatherings, events, or broadcasts.  This is a recipe for disaster and deception.
  3.  Finding the secret place of the Most High requires a resolute discipline of character that is endurance based not entertainment based.  If you have a hard time reading, studying, worshiping, or praying alone in solitude for extended stretches of time, then you are a prime candidate to be influenced by flesh and blood and morph into a man pleasing gospel.  You must find your road to nothingness and let Him transform you there without the help of man!
  4. As we witness the man pleasing rise of seeker sensitive churches or man pleasing efforts to reconcile with unsaved Jewish people without presenting the clear Gospel message (i.e. see this month’s article on Israel Idolatry and the Christian Zionists).  One must conclude conclusively that this aboriginal movement away from the foundation truths of the Scriptures is the result of believers no longer finding that place of solitude in the secret desert locations of His choosing.  If you were to hear the statistics of how much leaders spend time in prayer and study weekly, then you would understand that we are at the crossroads of a perversion of the true Gospel message like never seen before in Church history.  Are they really preaching the true Jesus?  Or a “Jesus” people want to hear….
  5. The road to nothingness is the way of Gethsemane.  Your will is evaporated in this place of Divine overhaul and then He is able to reveal to you what flesh and blood cannot.  The common denominator between those are brought to their end on this road or those who are pretenders and are good at faking it is one simple overriding symptom.  A man pleasing spirit based on the fear of man and not the true Fear of God!

Have a awesome day pondering these powerful texts and will talk to you all again soon!  Enjoy the mysterious adventures that He takes you on once you decide to venture forward on this road of nothingness and never return back to the popular highway out of the desert!

In His service for your faith,

Scott

PS, The Glory Stealth Projects balance is now at $117,520.04.  Blessings to those who have been faithfully sowing into these exciting operations.

One of the things we can share is that we are looking to rent an apartment for lonely soldiers (i.e. those who families are not here in Israel).  We have found a spacious apartment this week to rent and are needing an added $1000 per month for the next 12 months to complete the lease.  This is a great opportunity and help us secure this location for more fishing adventures!

 


2009 Glory Projects

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NEXT REGIONAL GATHERING DROP ZONE


November 2009


Nov. 27th - 29th


10 Year Anniversary Celebration
&
Holy Ghost Break Out!



The River Church of All Nations
Boras, Sweden
Phone Office: +46 33 13 55 81

Meetings: Friday 7PM
Saturday 10 AM and 7PM
Sunday 11 AM


(Email - leo@theriver.se for more info)

Meetings subject to change without notice due to sudden cloudbursts of the Holy Spirit. Please call the Rivers in the Desert office for confirmation of meeting dates.

 



Rivers in the Desert International
P.O. Box 2788 | Alpharetta, GA 30023-2788
email: info@flashfloods.com
phone: 770.777.0143

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