Winter 1992

The Lord Loveth Zion
Nancy Warner

The attitude of our heart, along with the level of our spiritual hunger, will determine the Lord's response to our desire for Him to make Himself known to us and to bring us into the level of spirituality that He desires for us.

If our attitude is as those who are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing (Rev 3:17), we will find ourselves in an atmosphere of such spiritual dullness that it will be almost impossible for us to seek the Lord, or anything spiritual.

It is in a service where there is an evident atmosphere of spiritual hunger that the Lord is released to move in lives. When we express our desire and expectation for His visitation, the Lord will respond and move in our inner being to satisfy that hunger. The Lord greatly desires to birth us into the realm of the spirit where we become aware of His presence and can enter into cooperative fellowship with Him as He leads us.

The Apostle Paul said that our faith should not stand in the wisdom of man, but in the power of God. This is the reason for setting aside a special time for just seeking Him. We put aside our books, and the various things we are doing, to tarry together in one place with a singleness of purpose, that He might enclose us in His drawing power so we will more fully know and love Him.

Just before He ascended, Jesus said to the disciples, "Tarry ... until ye be endued with power from on high." If we leave our prayer closets, or wherever the Lord may have us, without first being endued with His power, we have come short of all that He has for us.

There is a prayer that has been within my heart, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power" Eph 1:17-19.

First, we are to seek the Lord and respond to Him as a person who desires our fellowship. And then, "the hope of His calling" and all that it entails will unfold before us. Above all else, the Lord desires to be known. There are those who are being drawn aside, even from their involvement in religious activities, to enter into the intimacy of a personal relationship with Him. These are being so moved upon by the Lord that they feel compelled to seek after Him.

We are to come into a complete rest and trust in our dependence upon the Lord, recognizing that any merits or abilities we may have will avail us nothing. As we bring this prayer before Him, "That I might know Him, "the Lord will begin to draw us to Himself. As we come into an understanding of His nature as being merciful in forgiveness and desirous of our fellowship, He will come to us personally and make Himself known to us.

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love
wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins,
hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye
are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us
sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" Eph 2:4-6.

It was while the earth was dark; without form, and void (Amplified, "an empty waste"), that the spirit of God moved, and God spoke. It is often out of nothingness that the Lord moves. And when God speaks, it is a powerful, creative word. As we continue to seek the Lord, His spirit will move both in our individual lives and in our corporate meetings.

As we pray alone in our prayer closet, the Lord will meet us. There is also a move of God, as we come together as corporate members of His Body to seek Him. "His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God" Psalm 87:1-3.

The word tells us in Proverbs 8:34 that "Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors." In Isaiah 6:3-4, "One cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke." Revelation 15:8 speaks of the smoke from the glory of God filling the temple. John said, "I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne" Rev 4:1-2.

As we watch at His gates, waiting for the posts of the door to move, there will come within us a "governmental rule" of God, establishing His Throne in our hearts and lives so the waters of life might freely and abundantly flow out. The Word says of Zion, "It shall be said that this man and that man was born in her and the highest Himself shall establish her" Psalm 87:5.

There is a "spiritual birthing" that no amount of self-effort can bring into our lives. The benefits of time spent in prayer, and in our waiting upon the Lord are immeasurable. It is important that we faithfully continue to set aside time for the Lord alone. We are told to "watch that ye faint not." Conversely, if we do not pray, we will faint. We are told to pray that we will be accounted worthy, or, as the original says, have the spiritual vigor to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the son of man (Luke21:36).

As these doors open and we enter into His presence, we will behold the Son of man, seated upon His Throne. He desires to bring us into the lace where we stand before Him in a right relationship to Him, and to His Throne, and out of a flow of love and appreciation, worship Him. The spiritual vigor to get there comes from our times of watching and waiting in His presence. There is no other way. God's waiting room is as an elevator, the quickest way to the top is to sit and to wait.

As we wait before Him, we identify with Him in His relationship to His Father. The Lord takes special notice of Zion, which speaks of a higher identity with Him and His Father.

"Then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him:
and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always
before Him" Proverbs 8:30.

"The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the people,
that this man was born there. As well the singers
as the players on instruments shall be there: all
my springs are in thee" Psalms 87:6-7.

My desire for each one of us is this birthing that we might become established as ones born in Zion, who worship in His presence.