On Tuesday, April 17, the still small voice of the Spirit spoke in our church prayer meeting—another fresh word for the body of Christ—and we knew it was time to post again. Below is that word. May you glean all He has for you from the silence that has now been broken.

Mine is a still, small voice. You are weighted down with the cares of your life. You cannot hear me. And I ask you, why are you weighted down? Do you not believe that I am who I say I am?

I want to lead you to a new place. I want to show you things about myself that you do not know. I long to. I long to. But you’re busy with the clamor. I want to teach you to still yourself in my presence and learn of me and truly sit at my feet and hear me speak to you, for there is much I want to say. There is much I need to say. There is much that you need to hear and there is much that you need to learn. And I am patient, and I am not forceful. And I call, and I call, and I call. And I’m always there. And I wait. I wait on you. But I ask you—isn’t it you who should be waiting on me? Shouldn’t you wait on me? I want to teach you to learn to wait on me, and to wait in my presence, and to find your joy in waiting in my presence.

There is a false religion out there that is full of activity and business—but they don’t know me and they don’t hear my voice. My sheep know my voice. And they’ve learned it from sitting in the green and quiet pastures—with the Shepherd. There is no substitute for my Spirit, and there is no substitute for time in my presence. The truly wise know this. But it’s a narrow way. And I speak truth to you tonight and I invite you and I ask you to learn of me. I say to you, come unto me and learn of me. I ask you to sit in my presence. There’s a work that my spirit desires to do in each one of you. But the only way I can work is when you sit in my presence and learn of me.

I tell you tonight, in the quiet stillness: This is me. This is my Spirit. These are my words to you. I am here. I manifest myself in many ways for I am God and I can do all things. But it’s best to know me in the quiet place where there are no distractions and you can hear my voice clearly. Truly it is simple. It is simple as this. If you will come to me daily and sit at my feet, I will give you your daily bread. And it will be all that you need, for I am that bread, and I am all that you need.

In the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians he constantly reminds them of the Lord’s return; in fact, each chapter closes with such a reminder. Such a constant reminder must also prompt us to encourage one another as we, too, see that day approaching.

Paul’s use of the term ‘that day’ penned to the Thessalonians brought a fresh understanding lately. He speaks of ‘that day’ as not overtaking them as a thief; ‘that day’ when Christ will be glorified; and ‘that day’ which is at hand. But it’s a more subtle sentence that offered a new quicken about ‘that day.’ “For ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness” (1 Thessalonians 5:5 ASV).

The expression ‘sons of’ is Semitic (pertaining to the Semites or their languages, especially pertaining to the Jews) and speaks of a special kinship with the light as they live in a pathway where light shines around them. Wisdom penned it this way, “But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day” (Proverbs 4:17).

In the natural our lives are illustrated, many times, by the day. Our birth represented by the dawn and our death at sunset. But there will be no sunset for the righteous in the spiritual; there won’t even be an afternoon. The ‘full day’ of Proverbs 4:17 refers to the sun at its height—noontime—which also is its brightest. Thus the light in our walk with the Lord should never dim, it should never eclipse noontime, it should never see sunset, but should grow brighter and brighter until ‘that day’ when the Lord destroys the wicked one with the brightness of His coming! (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:8).

As twelve of us gathered together for our Tuesday night prayer, the invisible battle in the heavenlies became ‘visible’ as the Lord spoke directly to our enemy, “Who are you to mock the armies of the living God? You are a liar, a created being; My Spirit is in them and as I defeated you so will they, for I know no defeat. The gates of hell will not prevail.”

Only in the spirit can one truly feel exaltation and humility simultaneously. The pure elation of victory, real and blissful; yet, equally balanced with humility and brokenness. For as the paired tears flowed—contradictorily in the natural, but conversely united in the spiritual—we all knew that it is only because of Him can victory be assured.

The Spirit continued, “I am teaching them to ask for the miraculous, and miracles will be done. I am lifting the cloud that has covered them and you must go…Go!” He concluded with an encouragement, “Pray, pray, pray…Pray!”

In any game there is a play that shifts the momentum from one team to another; in any war there are benchmark battles that lead to victory. This is such a benchmark in our spiritual war. The unction to pray is pressing, the call for militant prayers strong, and the miraculous is just waiting to be released. “And whatsoever ye ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13).

Believe it, in Jesus name.

The context to the above is God’s call for the believer to live a holy lifestyle. A challenge to that lifestyle is the adversary’s voice trying to confuse the believer as to what is good and right with what is evil and wrong.

We, as believers, must always remember that Satan’s main occupation is to oppose God’s will in this world and in our lives. Such opposition is what brought our Lord’s rebuke to Peter in Matthew 16 with His statement “Get thee behind me Satan” (v. 23). Here the adversary tried to take the cross out of the gospel. Similarly, today he will try and take the effects of the cross away from the believer.

As the accuser moved in the chief priest, scribes, and elders at the foot of the cross beckoning Jesus to come down (cf. Matthew 27:42) so will he try and deny its power in the life of the believer. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 KJV). A power that, through His grace, will allow for a believer to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world (cf. Titus 2:11-14).

How can the believer differentiate between the voice of God and that of the adversary, how can they know what is good from that which is evil? Obviously it is to know the Word of God as the Lord did in His temptation. But sometimes, and especially in matters of personal holiness, the adversary comes at the believer in a more subtle way. When the tempter tempts with sin he appeals to the believer’s flesh, and most will recognize the enhanced desire in their personal lusts and identify it as such. However, when the accuser accuses the believer of sin, he appeals to the conscience and the conscientious Christian many times struggles to distinguish between the Holy Spirit’s conviction and Satan’s condemnation. Here is a key in knowing the difference: Satan speaks against the believer (‘you hypocrite,’ he says) and leaves the sin untouched; the Holy Spirit speaks to the sin in the believer to reprimand them in love.

William Gurnall, in The Christian in Complete Armour, Volume 1, first penned in 1655,

“Try this test: If such rebukes [by Satan] contradict any prior work of the Spirit in your soul, they are Satan’s and not the Spirit’s. Satan’s purpose in emphasizing your sin is to try and unsaint you and persuade you that you are only a hypocrite. ‘Oh,’ hisses Satan, ‘now you have shown your true colors! See that horrid stain on your jacket—what other saint every committed such a sin! Your whole life is a sham! God wants nothing to do with such a desperately wicked person as you.’

“And with a single blow Satan dashes all to pieces. The whole mansion of grace which God has been building many years in your soul and all the special comforts the Holy Spirit has brought are blown down by one gust from his malicious mouth. He leaves your life in shambles, and tells you it is your own fault (page 99).”

Do not listen to the voice that condemns rather than convicts; that speaks destruction rather than life; that speaks evil as good and good as evil. Hear the voice of the Lord as you grow in a sanctified life: “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6 ESV). Believe it, in Jesus name.

If I were asked about ‘seeking’ in the Bible, my initial thoughts would focus on me as the seeker: “Seek first the kingdom of God…” (Matthew 6:33); “Ask, and you shall receive; seek, you shall find…” (7:8); or, from a pastoral perspective, leaving the ninety-nine and seeking that one lost sheep (cf. Matthew 18: 12). Eventually I would get to the Lord’s words to the Samaritan woman, “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him” (John 4:23 ESV). However, following this direct word from the Spirit, my ‘seeking response order’ has changed. The thought of the Father seeking would be first and my seeking second.

It was nice to personally believe I had put God first in my life; after all, I’ve been in full time ministry for twenty-eight years and had ‘left’ everything behind to do so. Yet, here I hadn’t put Him first in this thought of ‘seeking.’ Will I ever be purged of self and stop putting me first and Him second? Can I truly get over my ‘needs’ as primary and replace them with His desires?

It is possible by expanding my understanding of the Father seeking worshippers as seen in John 4:23. How I love to worship in a church service and how He loves to be worshipped in that way, but that is only an hour or so a week. And though I may worship him daily in my devotions, my worship can’t be limited to that venue alone. I must worship him as Paul instructed the Romans, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1 ESV).

Living a holy life is the true ‘song’ He really wants me to sing. For when I live in purity before Him I truly worship Him in spirit and in truth—and that is the worshipper my Father seeks.

Oh, I say, it breaks my heart—there are many who call themselves by my name and their hearts are far from me and they practice filthiness in secret. I say to you that you will not enter in on that day, for I will not have known you! I say, come to me and cleanse yourselves and be holy even as I am holy! For that is what I call you to.

Let me hear your call to be clean and forgive me Father, in Jesus name.

That being said, in Sunday morning’s service on February 26, 2012, the Holy Spirit spoke directly to the church through the gift of tongues and interpretation. Many times directly inspired words, whether spontaneously from the Spirit or sermon-prepared by the pastor, are focused for the local church body (as witnessed in Revelation 2 and 3); however, there are times when such words extend beyond the local fellowship and into the church at-large. This was one such message.

One practice that we have found extremely beneficial is the recording and publishing of these spontaneous words from the Spirit. It allows for a continued return to just what was said in hopes to glean all that we can from the spoken word. Therefore we will be spending time with this word throughout this first month.

We also find it no coincidence that this word came just before the return of the Crimson House Morning Room Blog. Without doubt, this is a vehicle for many readers to receive from the Spirit the encouragement, confirmation, and maybe even correction, the Lord has specifically for you.

Below is the entire message; call-outs with scriptural support and application will come in the days ahead—so that we may let none of His words fall to the ground (cf. 1 Samuel 3:19).

“I say unto you: I am God, high and lifted up! I am the Exalted One and I am a God, I am a God who is pure in His holiness. I seek a people, I seek a people that I might be glorified in them, in their lives. My eyes run to and fro throughout the whole earth, and I seek a people who will come to me and live for me. Oh, I say, it breaks my heart—there are many who call themselves by my name and their hearts are far from me and they practice filthiness in secret. I say to you that you will not enter in on that day, for I will not have known you! I say, come to me and cleanse yourselves and be holy even as I am holy! For that is what I call you to. Do not be deceived, for there is a deceiver out there and he lies when he speaks to you and he says that evil is good and good is evil. But do not listen to that voice. My voice is clear, my voice is pure, my voice speaks the truth and I say, come and cleanse yourself in my fountain! Come and cleanse yourself and be made clean! For it is a highway of holiness and only the pure and holy can travel on it!

“I’m calling a people who will be called by my name and who will be holy even as I am holy. A people clothed in my righteousness by my blood—a people who obey me, a people who love me. You say you love me, but you are not obedient to my commandments! I say, love me! Love me! Hunger after me and thirst after me that you might know me! That you would rejoice in my holiness! That your greatest pleasure would be to worship me in the beauty of my holiness! That you might know me! That you might know me…that you might know me. I am calling. I am calling a church. I died, I died, I died for the church! I’m calling a people. I’m calling a people who will be holy. I am calling a people who will be holy. The world will not be won, the world will not be won by your filth. That’s not what they need. They need me. They need to know my holiness. They need to be as John when he fell down as a dead man! They need to see me like that. There needs to be a fear.

“I say that dark times are coming, and dark times are upon you! But I am calling a church who will rise up in holiness, a church who will rise up in my strength! You will be victorious, you will be victorious for the gates of hell shall not prevail! What keeps you back? What keeps you from seeking me and taking hold of me and my promises to you and walking forward in my strength? Oh I say, what hinders you? Come to me, come to me and know me! I seek a generation. I seek a generation with clean hands and pure hearts, not hiding their sin but coming before me and confessing all to me. In me there is forgiveness. In me there is forgiveness. Come and be made clean.

“I cannot bless that which is not clean. And those of you who have kept yourselves pure and who look to me I will bless—I am blessing! I see you and I know who you are. I know your name. I have called you. You are mine! You walk with me and I am delighted in you as I was my Son! Listen, continue to listen to Him. Continue. For the enemy rages—there is a great war in the heavenlies even now! And I say, stand together, unite, seek my face for in me there is victory! I am God! I am the one high and lifted up! I am the Sovereign Lord, I am King and I am coming back! I say to you—I will return! Make yourselves ready, prepare yourselves, prepare the way for my coming. For I am coming again and the time is near! Oh my people, I love you. I love you. And I am faithful and I am true.”