Originally released March 28, 2014 – Download PDF:  Dangerous Times are Ahead.Stay Under the Glory.03.28.14

Whenever the Lord says something to me, I take note of it.  When He repeats what He says, I take it that it is at the top of His priority list.

The Lord by His Holy Spirit has been repeating different themes of what is to come.  The coming move of the Spirit of God is one, judgment is another, and now, “perilous and dangerous times are ahead.  Will you let Me in!  Will you allow Me to do whatever I want to do in you that I might do whatever I want to do through you.  You must stay in the Glory!”  Sounds like wisdom to me!  And yet, what does it really mean?

These types of instructions hearken back to the words of Moses-

Deuteronomy 32:46–47 (NASB95)

46 he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law.  47 “For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

The commands and revelation spoken by the Holy Spirit are certainly not “idle”!  The time is now (Is 1:18 NASB).  We have entered a time of change in a variety of dimensions that require having eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to perceive what the Holy Spirit is doing.

The first question He is setting before you and I is whether or not we will let Him in.  At first glance it would appear to be strange if we have already come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and have His Holy Spirit in us.  We must dig deeper to understand what the Lord is both commanding and revealing.

I would submit that the key to understanding “letting Him in”, can be found in Ex 19:10 and Joshua 3:5, where in each instance the Lord instructed His people to consecrate themselves for the new work He was about to do through them, i.e. fight with them to secure the Promise Land.  The term consecrate means simply to set yourself apart, to dedicate yourself, to the Lord’s work.  The Holy Spirit’s mission has always been to answer Jesus’ prayer, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in Heaven.”  His mission can only be accomplished by people that are consecrated to His purposes (not theirs), who are fully surrendered to what He is doing now (not yesterday), and will allow Him to flow through them in order that they can take ground from the enemy.

As we follow Jesus, there are times when He will ask us, “Will you continue to follow Me?”  I would submit that this is one of those times for His entire Church.  The Lord is bringing a global “reset” to the Church because of what is ahead.  He is raising the bar which requires a new commitment, a decision from us, to consecrate/dedicate ourselves to whatever He wants to do in us so He can do whatever He wants to do through us.

Some would say that this is the type of thing that a Christian must do every day, and they would be right to a point.  Jesus stated if we were to follow Him, we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him (Mt 16:24|| Mk 8:34).  That is one level of consecration.  But that which the Lord is doing now is specific to allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through us in power.  In order for that to take place, He must immerse us in His Fire and thereby cloth us with a new level of His presence and His anointing (supernatural ability/enablement) to get His job done.

Make no mistake, the cost is high.  It requires His Fire that brings tremendous change in us and through us.  It requires that we purchase the gold that is refined by fire (Re 3:18), which requires that we surrender our entire being.  We purchase through unconditional surrender to what the Holy Spirit would do in us.  The only way forward is for us to receive revelation by and through His Holy Spirit that will allow us to see what He is doing and hear what He is saying on an ongoing basis.  The first revelation we must embrace is that we are blind, naked, poor, miserable and wretched (Re 3:17).

Why is that so important?  When the Lord used Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, He spoke frequently concerning each situation Moses encountered and revealed what He was going to do through him.  There was precision in what the Lord was doing.  Moses had to stay in step with the Lord, i.e. he had to “stay in the Glory”!  It was only in obedience to the voice of God, that Moses was able to do what the Lord had called him to do.

The same was true of Joshua, who received specific instructions from the Lord at each step of entering the Promise Land, beginning with crossing the Jordan.  His leaders commanded the people saying,

Joshua 3:3–5 (NASB95)

3 and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it.  4 “However, there shall be between you and it a distance of about 2,000 cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”  5 Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

Not only must we see where the Lord is leading, but we must give the Lord room to move.  Staying in the Glory requires seeing where He is and knowing precisely where we should be with respect to Him.  We dare not run ahead and we dare not lag behind.  We must move with precision which can only be done by revelation that flows from His Holy Spirit.  The Spirit is calling the Army of Jesus Christ to stand at attention and receive His orders concerning how to take ground.  Only those that re-consecrate themselves to this work will be able to stand and march in formation.  Presumption concerning what “we think” the Lord is doing, which normally manifested in the following statements, will only bring harm and destruction.  This is not what it means to “stay in the Glory!”—

“I am confident in what I feel…”

“I think the Lord will allow…”

“I read a book on it and that is what I recommend we do…”

“Someone told me, so I think that is what is what we should do…”

“So and so is doing this at their church, let’s do that…”

“This is the current trend, we must do it too…”

“Church leaders say this must be done in order to grow.  Let’s follow their advice…”

These statements are examples of the prideful boasting of self-willed men who have chosen their own way, rather than follow the Holy Spirit and relying upon His revelation.  These are examples of Jud 21:25, where leaders choose to do what is right in their eyes, because they no longer hear the voice of The Shepherd.  These are examples of what is said when rebellion takes root in the hearts of His people.  These are examples of a Church completely out of phase with the Spirit!  In search of the cutting edge, they have forsaken the River of Life.  These are examples of the sin of presumption, going ahead of God, doing things without His counsel, which the Bible classifies as disobedience and the sin of idolatry (Du 1:41-46; Nu 18:7; I Sa 13:11-14, 5:20-23; Ja 4:16; I Jn 2:16).  These are the sins of ignorant, presumptive, and rebellious leaders.  Such leaders should not be followed for they are the blind leading the blind!

Staying in the Glory, under the canopy of His protection, requires revelation in real time.  Unfortunately most of His Church knows nothing of the Holy Spirit, let alone revelation that flows from Him!  The Lord spoke through the prophet Hosea saying—  Hosea 4:6 (NASB95)

6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

What is this “knowledge”?  This term has its roots in the Hebrew word ‘yada’, which is an intimate, experiential knowledge…not an academic knowledge.  A lack of intimacy with the Holy Spirit shuts off the flow of revelation that He wants to impart.  It brings destruction.  The Lord revealed the same thing to the prophet Isaiah–

Isaiah 1:2–3 (NASB95)

2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the Lord speaks, “Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.  3 “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”

How can we say we “know the Lord” when we know nothing of His Holy Spirit?  How can we say we have Jesus in our heart and yet do not follow the leadings and the promptings of the Spirit of God?  If we claim to be ‘followers of Jesus’, why is it that we do not follow the Spirit He sent?  If we know Jesus, we would know His Spirit because they are One.  If we are part of the Lord’s flock, why don’t we hear the voice of the Holy Spirit?  These are the questions each member of the Body of Christ must ask themselves.  They must consecrate themselves to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.  Do we know our Owner?  The ox knows its owner.  Do we know where we can be fed?  The donkey knows its master’s manger.

We must embrace the New Covenant, His Promise, expressed in Is 59:21 and Jer 31:33-34, and realize that it has always been the Lord’s intention to reclaim the intimacy man had with Him in the garden.  Jesus paved the way for the Holy Spirit to come that He might walk among us and speak to us, i.e. provide revelation of both who He is and what He is doing so that we might secure His Promise.  We can only take ground in, by and through Jesus Christ, the Lord is who is the Spirit (2 Co 3:17).

We must let Him in and stay under His Glory!

Mark C. Biteler