Winter 1992

FOR PRAYERFUL CONSIDERATION
A call to all who sincerely seek the Lord
Wade E Taylor

It is seldom possible for any one of us to equally hold and experience the positional and the experiential outworking of the different aspects of our redemption. Thus, one area or another is emphasized and the others lag behind. The result is that we do not possess the necessary balance in our spiritual growth that leads to maturity.

Some emphasize the work of justification which was fully accomplished for us by Jesus upon the cross. Here, grace forgives and accepts, but God seemingly remains APART from us, as a Judge who judicially has received full satisfaction and therefore pardons. Adherents to this position find its outworking lies in an understanding of thisjudicial or positional aspect of truth; then continuing to rest and rejoice in it.

Then there are those who emphasize the work of regeneration, wherein the Holy Spirit is released WITHIN US to fully bring our "judicial" standing into an experiential reality. This speaks of a Christ centered "interior life" that emphasizes the work of the cross within us.

There are also those who emphasize church growth, and along with this, the urgency of salvation for lost mankind through witness and missionary efforts. These emphasize the need for the "infilling of the Holy Spirit" as the source of the needed "power for service." This finds its expression through the operation of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and emphasizes the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in various forms of power.

The present day "groupings" of true Christians is usually related to one or another of the above general areas of emphasis. Many, who presently find themselves within one or another of these persuasions, are being stirred by the Lord and are seeking to "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" Phil 3:14. They feel an inner sense of dissatisfaction with their present spiritual environment and are actively searching for "something more."

The Charismatic visitation, which is crumbling in our day, entered and affected almost every denomination within the Church. It's motivational force was an emphasis upon receiving the Baptism in the Holy Spirit as a personal experience. It centered on "tongues" as the full and final evidence of having received this experience. Thus, the experience of "tongues" became the unifying factor that ushered the Charismatic movement into prominence.

The Charismatic visitation therefore, could be characterized by the experience of the "infilling of the Holy Spirit and tongues." This emphasis on tongues, and on the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, led to an explosion of growth in the Church, and in the nationally visible ministries that are presently toppling before us. There is a basic reason for this. The emphasis was upon externals, and neglected purity of life and holiness.

It is only in a balanced harmony of each of the above expressed areas of truth that the blessedness of lasting spiritual maturity can be experienced. The means of attaining this may well be found by considering the original intention of this "infilling of the Holy Spirit" that descended on the Day of Pentecost with cloven tongues of fire upon those who were tarrying in the Upper Room.

While in the wilderness, John the Baptist testified,

"And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees:
therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize
you with water unto repentance. but He that cometh after
me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear:
HE SHALL BAPTIZE YOU with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Whose fan is in his hand, and He will thoroughly purge His
floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire" Matthew 3:10-12.

This "Baptism of Jesus with the Holy Spirit" is to be an inner work. Its intention is to produce a change of life. This is to be accomplished through the element of FIRE (not tongues), which will burn all dross out of a person's life and change them for ever. It will destroy all that is less than the "witness" of Him that we are to become. "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me" Acts 1:8a.

He has a fan in His Hand, and fully intends to fan this fire into a flaming visitation. It will burn away all the dross that has so effectively wrecked the Charismatic visitation, and fully refine the "gold" (His Nature) into a purity of life within each one of us, which will reflect His glory in the coming visitation.

The Charismatic movement failed because it stopped at "tongues" and did not continue on to the "fire." There is a present urgent need for the Lord's people to seek an in-filling (or re-filling) of the Holy Spirit that does not stop short of the original intention.

This fire will melt us into a balanced whole, and reveal to the world the witness that will bring glory to His Name and satisfaction to His heart. Only then will the Lord's ministry no longer be the object of scorn and jokes as it is today.