Winter 1992

Maintaining our Spirituality
Wade E Taylor

"The secret of the LORD is with them that
fear (reverence) Him; and He will shew them
His covenant" Psalm 25:14. (word in brackets added).

He answered and said unto them, Because it is given
unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it is not given" Matt 13:11

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the
hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the
world unto our glory" I Cor 2:7.

Our spiritual hunger, along with our understanding of the "mysteries" of God, will gradually fade and leave us spiritually barren, unless we are careful to maintain a time of active daily communion and fellowship with our Lord along with a time of waiting upon Him.

It is crucial that we set apart a specific time and place to wait upon the Lord. As we do this, we will be re-charged, or built-up in our ability to understand and respond to spiritual things. Just as a battery that has been discharged through use must be re-charged, so we must hold ourselves in the presence of the Lord and allow His life and power to spiritually revitalize us.

The "secret" and the joy to be realized in our waiting upon the Lord is discovered through such intimacy with the Lord as to move Him to share His heart with us. Along with this, our times of specificallywaiting upon the Lord will impart to us a divine strengththat replaces our human weakness. This spiritual strength is produced within us by the Holy Spirit, whose "creative energy" will cause us to have a greater love for the Lord Himself, and produce within us an abiding anointing to quicken and enable us to understand spiritual things.

It is important to recognize that we function on two different levels of life.

"IT IS SOWN a natural body; IT IS RAISED a spiritual
body. There is a natural body, and there is
a spiritual body" I Cor 15:44.

Either one or the other will predominate. As our spiritual capacity increases, our carnal desires will decrease. The "strength" of either of these is determined by our choices, our preferences, and which is fed with our thoughts and actions. The level of our spirituality will be proportionate to the amount of time we spend in waiting upon the Lord.

Our waiting upon the Lord should not be passive. Rather, it is to be an active waiting in anticipation, as one who is watching for someone to enter a room. This time of waiting should include quiet worship, which is best expressed with the palms of our hands worshipfully raised toward the Lord in an attitude of receiving spiritual impartation and enabling, and with the expectancy of entering into His manifest presence.

As we continue waiting upon the Lord to receive this impartation of spiritual life and strength that is essential to our spiritual well-being, there must be a parallel "crucifixion" of our natural, soulish, life. This is accomplished as we commit to the cross those things that are contrary to our spiritual development, and which seek to push themselves in upon us to hinder our waiting upon the Lord.

As we actively wait in His Presence, the Lord will, through this process of crucifixion, remove from us all that agitates or rebels against our becoming quiet before Him. We must go through this time of "processing" before we will be able to fully experience the release of spiritual life that the Lord desires to make available to us."It is sown a natural body; (but) it is raised a spiritual body" 1 Cor 15:44a. Our ability to wait upon the Lord will increase as we wait upon the Lord.

It has been said, "If you wish to know the Lord, get close to those who know Him, and you will come to know Him through them." This is good, but it is not enough. There must be the lifting up of our being into avertical relationship with Him. We must experience an intimate, personal, coming to the Lord Himself, as to a Person Who desires to be known. As we wait in His Presence, He will bring us into a closer identity with Himself and His ways. Then our fellowship one with another will be elevated.

Jesus said "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly" Matt 6:6 NKJ. We must set apart special times to be absolutely alone with the Lord."I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" Rev3:20b.

As we wait upon the Lord, we will be "quickened" and brought upward into the realm of spiritual life and reality. While we wait, the Lord works; re-orienting our desires toward spiritual things, and creating within us a sensitivity and openness to the "realm of the Spirit."

The Book of Hebrews states that it takes the Word, which is sharper than any two-edged sword to divide between soul and spirit (Heb 4:12). These two are so related and intertwined that only the Lord can separate one from the other. This separation, which frees us to discern spiritual things, takes place as we spend time in His presence, waiting upon Him.

As our spiritual senses are sharpened, we will better understand the desire of the Lord toward us, and His intention toward mankind. As a result, we will be able to enjoy our times of communion with Him and cooperate with Him in the outworking of His purposes.

"Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field;
let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early
to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish,
whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates
bud forth: there will I give thee my loves"
Song of Solomon 7:11-12.

Carefully consider that this developed spiritual sensitivity which comes through extended times of waiting Upon The Lord will also cause us to become more sensitive to the natural realm. Therefore we must learn how to bear, without reaction or retaliation, any negative feelings of others toward us. "Who is blind but My servant? or deaf, as My messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not" Isaiah 42:19-20.

Because of the keen spiritual sensitivity that Jesus possessed, He knew what was in the hearts of men (Matt 9:4, 12:25; Mark 2:8). Although He new what men were thinking, He refused to react according to circumstances. He maintained His position in the heavenlies, and was motivated according to what His Father was saying and doing, not man.

"Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural; and afterward that
which is spiritual" 1 Cor 15:46.

As we begin to wait upon the Lord, we may feel very little of Him, or of His presence; but as we continue to wait in faith before Him, with expectancy, we begin to pass from the natural realm into a spiritual awareness of Him, and of His presence. "First, that which is natural, and afterwards ..." We are to move in the faith we have, and then,all at once, we will be lifted upward into the realm of the Spirit.

It is essential that we make room within our pattern of life for times of waiting upon the Lord. We will never be disappointed because we have set time apart to "wait upon the Lord.