Some people read the Bible and only see the history. Others reading the same Scriptures see moral precepts and truths by which they may live. Then there are some who see even beyond that. They find the life of the Lord ministered to them through the Scriptures. To them the history is good to know but it is not their diet, for they are feeding on the life of the Lord.
The trap some fall into is the feeling that they know, they are walking with God, they are hearing what God is saying in the Scriptures, they have arrived. The Scriptures are understood on different levels. Do you realize there is something of God beyond where we are right now? If you are looking for a finality, you won’t find it in God. Many Christians think in absolutes; it is this or that. There is nothing you can shoot for and when you get there you have arrived.
Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end… Isaiah 9:7. If there was a certain amount of God that you could say was His fullness and you moved into that fullness, do you know what would happen? He would expand and there would be more of God for you to appropriate. It is like the parable of the Sower. Among the good ground hearers there were 30-fold, 60-fold, and 100-fold realms. Let’s say that your spiritual growth moved you from the 30-fold to the 60-fold realm of God. Then you continued to increase spiritually until you finally moved into the 100-fold realm. Could you then say that you have moved into the fullness of God? No, for then you would realize that you are in the 30-fold section of the 100-fold and the process would begin all over again. It keeps unfolding. There is not a stopping place in the things of the Lord. The worst thing that could happen to us is to feel that we have arrived.
I’ve heard some say, “I know how to worship in the spirit.” Oh, really? We’ve got a lot to learn about worshiping in the spirit. Too often we are worshiping as individuals instead of as members of Christ.
Acts 14:22 says: We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. When you enter the Kingdom you will discover that there are higher levels of the Kingdom and you have merely entered the lower level. So there are other tribulations to experience. The tribulation is not so much persecution from without as it is God dealing with your flesh nature. We are learning that our main opposition is self. That is what we are talking about – that self attitude of “I know.” You need to know who you are in God, and you also need to know your lack. Only then will you be able to go forward.
Once some years ago I stopped by a brother’s house. He was having a very difficult time, mostly with his flesh nature. When I walked in it was easy to see he wasn’t a happy camper. I said, “Brother, what you need is a breakthrough into a walk with God.” He exploded! “What do your mean? I’ve got a walk with God!!” And I said, “Wait a minute; you don’t understand. I’m not saying you don’t have a walk with God, but there is a walk with God you haven’t entered into yet and that is the one you need.” Too many Christians think their present relationship with the Lord is satisfactory.
Paul said, “I count all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. Even things that are gain to me, I have counted as loss that I might know Him” (Philippians 3:7, 8). Didn’t Paul know the Lord? Of course he did! He also knew there was a knowing of the Lord he had not entered yet. Likewise, we need to learn how to walk in the spirit. We need to learn how to worship in spirit and truth. Regardless of where we are there is another realm we need to learn how to walk in.
II Thessalonians 1:10 When He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe…
You say, “Well, this coming of the Lord is taking place now. He is coming forth in us to be glorified and admired.” True! And when it happens there will be another coming of the Lord to be glorified and admired on a higher level and you will have to move up into it. You see, there is no finality!
Copyright © 2004 by Henry DuBose