Fall 1990

The Urgent Need for Our Having a Present Experience
Wade E Taylor

A teacher in the Bible school I attended often spoke of having a "dis-satisfied satisfaction." He was thankful for, and satisfied with, all that he had received from the Lord. Yet, he was dissatisfied, knowing that there was much more to be possessed. We are told to "Covet earnestly the best gifts" (I Cor12:31a). The word "covet" indicates to us that we are to earnestly seek after the very best in regard to spiritual life and ministry.

After graduating from Bible school, I diligently sought the Lord as to what I was to do, but seemingly was not receiving direction from the Lord. I knew that a new school, Pine Crest Bible Institute, was about to be opened by the Italian Assemblies of God. One of their goals was to train students to minister in the Italian language.

Since this did not appeal to me, I pushed aside the "drawing" that I felt toward Pine Crest. Instead, I decided to pioneer a Church in Philadelphia. On July 4, 1959, I started towards Philadelphia to find a place to live, and to rent a store-front for the Church. As I drove south, the Lord spoke, telling me that I was to go north to Pine Crest.

The Lord waited until I had taken an active step towards serving Him. Then He spoke regarding the place where I was to be. Soon after arriving at Pine Crest, I found a quiet place where I could pray. The Lord impressed upon me the following: "I will allow you to go to Philadelphia and have a ministry there, and I will bless it. But, Pine Crest is my will for you."

The next day, I enrolled as a student. A few months later, while alone praying, I was taken (spiritually) very near to His Throne, into a powerful moving of His presence. Here, I received a specific calling to teach concerning preparation for end time visitation, and experientially knowing the voice and manifest presence of the Lord. Eight years later, in September of 1968, this "word" began to find its fulfillment as Pinecrest Bible Training Center began its ministry.

A verse in Luke expresses an ironical contrast between the traditional methods of preparation, and the school of the Holy Spirit. Above all else, this verse speaks of the absolute necessity of receiving a present word from the Lord concerning preparation for ministry in the last days.

"Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness" Luke 3:2. "Annas and Caiaphas" speaks of the established, well equipped religious system, which the Lord by-passed. "John in the wilderness" speaks of an isolated, barren environment; which the Lord used to prepare John for a critical time of ministry,

This religious system, which the Lord by-passed, had experienced the Glory of God and had received much by direct revelation from the Lord. However, they became dependent upon these past experiences for their present standing with the Lord. The fact that the Lord had moved through them in the past was not enough to equip them for the present need. They were incapable of hearing a present word concerning the soon to appear "Lamb of God."

There must be within us a present seeking of the Lord, even though we may have received much revelation from Him in the past. Yesterday's revelation is not enough to prepare us to face todays pressures and problems.

While I was a student in Bible School, we experienced a visitation from the Lord which lasted two weeks. We were daily in Chapel from early morning until late at night. There was a time of intense confession and cleansing, then His manifest Glory was poured out upon us. Along with this, a "fountain of new wine" was discovered. Anyone who "drank" therein became manifestly filled with the Holy Spirit and with the power of God. "And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit" Eph 5:18.

Being "Not being drunk with wine, wherein is excess" speaks of a substitute for higher spiritual impartation and experience. This substitute has been used by Satan to wreck countless lives and families. Any seeming "benefit" that comes from it is deceptive, and carries a terrible price tag.

"But be filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord." This is the transforming effect of the real wine of the Holy Spirit. It will release a person into a spiritual liberty that will glorify God and enable them to minister in great freedom and power.

However, no matter how tremendous this experience may have been, we cannot continue to depend upon a past experience of "drinking at the fountain of visitation." It is urgent that we begin seeking the Lord to bring us into afresh new dimension of the supernatural. No longer are we to look back to where we met the Lord (Annas and Caiaphas). Nor are we to tell the Lord where, or how the new is to come into our lives and ministries (wilderness).

We must have a dis-satisfied satisfaction: thankful for what we presently have, but actively seeking the Lord for more. There are two sides to a coin. They are different, yet make a singular whole. Our past and present experiences must merge to make a way for us to enter the future.

John's testimony was that he was "The voice of one crying in the wilderness." He clearly saw the urgent need of that hour: "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight" (Mark 1:3).

The very heart and vision of the Bible School at Pinecrest, and of the Banner, is the preparation of a "voice" that can speak in our day as John did in his day, and be available to the Lord for His purposes in this tremendously urgent time and day in which we live.