A Higher Walk!! 2006/2 01/15/06

I have believed for a long time that the ‘higher walk’ is the call to walk in the force or power of love. There is so much that we can gain as we make the choice, in every situation, to let the love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, surface to deal with the circumstances, regardless of what they be. We have to remember, at all times, that our flesh is the most hostile opponent of any exhibition of fruit, however, I know that this is what God is calling His bride too at this time in eternity.

The Lord is truly seeking a people who will stay acutely aligned to truth (His Word) that is within all His scriptures and practice meditation there in the pure counsel of God. There will develop within all who do this, a new strength of purity and holiness. Listen to a powerful, instructive verses; Psalm 119:9-11

“How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it].

With my whole heart have I sought You, inquiring for and of You and yearning for You; Oh, let me not wander or step aside [either in ignorance or willfully] from Your commandments.

Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.”

I know that there are those, at this moment, right here in this room, that the Lord is calling as ardent seekers for true Kingdom life. They are, I believe, being seasoned by spending time locked in His Presence. He is the King of Glory and they will be satisfied with nothing less than His manifested presence, but they also know that there is an ardent call to a season of purification coming with the shaking that is on the horizon.

I think with all that we are looking at now, this is the time that the Lord is calling for fruit inspection, in each of our lives. I have recently been blessed, looking at a portion of Song of Solomon that speaks to this very move. Turn to Song of Solomon 7:10-13, and hear the Shulammite’s [bride] heart;

“[She proudly said] I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me!

[She said] Come, my Beloved! Let us go forth into the field (garden) let us lodge in the villages.

Let us go out early tot he vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened, and whether the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love (loves).

The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and over our doors are all manner of choice fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for you, O my Beloved.”

THE POWER WORKING!

Before we get into these nuggets, we need to remember that the Gospel of Jesus Christ alone, is the power of God working unto salvation. This is not only a salvation from hell, but salvation that works every moment of our lives and in every trial and test that comes against us. The only way in which this gospel works, is by bringing all the loose ends of our flesh up under this wonderful ‘girdle’ of Truth, and letting God pull it so tight by His workings in our lives that none of these loose ends can hang out and cause our walk with Him to be hindered or entangle us in any way. [Hebrews 12:1-2].

COME LET US…!

Now, on with the program. She has said to her Beloved, Come, let us go into the field…and we know that from many other portions, the field represents the Kingdom of God within each of us. She is desiring an inspection of the worth of her vineyard. We are God’s vineyard, the place where fruit is to be harvested, and she tells Him, let us lodge there in the village. Remember last week, we heard that our journey does not include an on again, off again relationship, it is to be continuous, lasting love. Our hearts crying out, I don’t just me to be satisfied, but You my Beloved, I long to sit at Your feet and hear, “Well done…”. We are to be His witnesses wherever we are, in whatever circumstance we find ourselves, with whoever we may encounter and this takes us over less than smooth paths. There are all kinds of bumps in the road of this journey that may cause us to stumble, but God is with us.

We, in this season, are in a place where the fruit must pass the muster of close inspection. We surely see that she does not say, ‘let me go forth’, but rather, ‘let us go forth’.

LET US GET THERE EARLY..

She desires to go to a part of the vineyard that is at the other end of her boundaries, while the dew is on the grass, in the very freshest part of the day, to the places that are hidden from casual scrutiny. There is an eagerness here and a fervent love, and we have to know that the life and soul of every child of God is a vineyard within God’s vineyard. It is with the deepest intent that the bride calls upon her beloved to go with her, and that they discover the quality of love that she longs to give Him.

THE JOURNEY IN THE VINEYARD!

He must walk and talk with her. He must work with and within her, and in this, revealing Himself, bringing her into a new dimension of the fellowship of His sufferings [trials and testings]. This is the place where she will test His resurrection power and be one conformed to His death, and yes, our flesh must be conformed to His death. She desires Him to go to those places in her that are the unseen, the places in the heart where even she is unaware of the condition [Jer 17:9-10]. She desperately wants to know if the fruit of the Spirit is growing and developing. We most often judge ourselves by the attainments or what we may call shortages and that will not suffice. If He goes with us, and we are submissive to His omniscience, we will learn of the areas of our being that need His quickening power to change. Many times we will find that all is not as it appears on the surface. We will find that the plants [fruit] need attention, and that many little foxes were carefully hidden, all the while destroying the vines. Rather than looking at and commenting on others’ vineyards, we need to be about weeding our own.

ONE NECESSARY FRUIT.

One of only two fruits mentioned in this passage is the pomegranate. It is bibically symbolic of humility. It is the rarest and most precious of all spiritual fruit, and without this beautiful fruit, none of the other fruit is possible. We are seeking the wonderful attributes of Jesus and we are to see that there are buds that will soon turn to blossoms and then into green fruit and on to the ripened vintage. She [the bride], is seeking the graces and fruit that is flourishing and calls her Beloved to go with her in all parts of her vineyard and show her any place where she is lacking and needing a pruning. Her cry to Him is probably much like that of David in Psalm 139:23-24;

“Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts.

And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

You see, it is not the surface things that we truly need for Him to search out, for we surely know what they are, but what we need Him to find, is that which He alone can find. We have many cracks and crevices in our soulish man, that are of distant parts of her vineyard, but she knows that, and wants nothing hidden from His dealing.

One, whose name I cannot remember, once wrote that it is not the little fields in our lives that we try to tend every day that we would have Him search out, but those fields that require a long spiritual journey, a long course of dealing and uncovering to reach. Then must we abide there with our precious Lord in submission and communion, until every condition is discerned and made right.

As we abide with Him, submitting to each dealing in her life, no matter how painful it might be or how far down we may be brought, we will find that the pomegranate [humility] is in complete bloom and that gives great promise of an abundance on the scene. It is for this that the Lord has chosen us to go and bear fruit, and that our fruit should abide and be lasting, and in that we know that the Lord is glorified (John 15:8).

We will come back to the words ‘lasting fruit’ in a moment, but first we need to learn that we need to water our fruit with prayer and watch the promises of more abundant fruit and tenderly care for all of them

I think I need to add here, that the growth of fruit is a time sensitive process. Don’t be discouraged if you do not find any fully mature fruit on the vine, recently pruned or upon plants that have just been planted by our heavenly Father. We have to allow to patience to have her perfect work. The bud must come before the blossom and the blossom before the small, seemingly insignificant fruit appears. That little green speck must come and be allowed to ripen and be perfected, and the fruit must be ripe and perfect before we can truly be witnesses unto Him.

We must always hold to the truth that the fruit is not for us. It is to be the display of our witness unto Him, it is His character being lived out through our lives and that is the drawing power that others will experience, and be drawn to Him. Remember, our fruit is to be lasting and it is to His glory. ITS ALL ABOUT HIM!!

I am going to change course for a moment and share with you about the lasting fruit that we are commenting on. Some years ago, the Lord started dealing with me on the subject of wine and it has never stopped, and many here will attest to that. I was pointed to John 2 and saw that the first miracle that Jesus performed, had far more to say than we most often catch. He told them to fill the water pots, all six of them and to fill them to the brim, to the overflow. The pots themselves were most significant because they would hold 20 gallons each and that equals 120 gallons and that is the same number of those in the upper room at Pentecost. The pots were for the purification of those entering the wedding feast festivities. We know the story, the water was changed to wine and the steward said, “You have saved the best until last”. The Lord was speaking to me then and has not changed His word to me then, and that is that we are the last generation and that the significance is that as the pots were for purification, and the fruit of the spirit is ripened and sweetened as we are purified by our cross life, putting to death every fleshly response to life’s trials and allowing Jesus to surface in our walk.

Lets take another step. I cannot think of any wine that was made from a bud or a blossom or even green fruit, but only that which is ripened and mature. As the fruit is crushed and starts the process of being changed from a simple juice, fresh from the vine, to an intoxicating nectar, it can be subject to contamination and the end product of that contamination is still usable, but it is not wine and it is not lasting. Wine, in process, if contaminated, becomes vinegar, and can be used for much, but again, it is not wine and it is not lasting, and the Father is only glorified if our fruit is lasting.

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