Spring 2003
Come Apart
Wade E Taylor

"I love them that love me; and those that seek me
early shall find me ... that I may cause those
that love me to inherit substance; and I will
fill their treasures" Proverbs 8:17,21.

The Lord desires to change us. He seeks to bring us up into His purpose, for us. He waits for us to reach out toward Him and knock on the door of His heart.

Our devotional time is of tremendous importance. Each day, we should come within our “set apart place” to worship, and to acknowledge His goodness concerning us, and recite back to Him the result of His guidance and blessing upon our lives.

As we quietly worship the Lord and prayerfully read His Word, there is a release of "Spirit and Life" which flows into our being to build our faith and provide the “enabling grace” for obedience. It is essential that we set apart time each day to be in His presence. Our attending church services is essential and not to be neglected, but this is not to be a substitute for our devotional times, alone with the Lord.

"Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God
came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness" Luke 3:2.

The program of the Church of that day was in full operation, yet John was called apart to be with the Lord alone. So also today, there are those who are spiritually hungry and seeking something more, who likewise are being called apart to be alone with the Lord for a time of preparation.

As a result of his being alone with the Lord, John came into a oneness with the Lord that could not have been accomplished in any other way. When John was asked who he was, his response testifies to this experience,

"He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah
said" John 1:23.

Each one of us should come to the place where we also could make this statement - "I am the voice of One." There is an urgent need for this "voice" to cry out in the midst of the frustrations and dangers of our day.

In Genesis 3:8, Adam and Eve "heard the voice of the Lord walking." This tells us that God not only desires to speak, but because He is "walking" there is a progression in that which He has to say. In Rev 3:20 He is seen standing at the door that represents the end of the Church age, and is "knocking" upon the means of entrance into His higher purpose. This speaks of the urgency of the present hour.

Moses was prepared in a time of great need when the church of that day (Israel) was to be delivered from worldly bondage and servitude. In Acts 7:22 we are told that "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." He knew he was called, but he attempted to accomplish the Lord's work by using this earthly knowledge and training, and he utterly failed. Today, there is a misplaced emphasis on methodology, which should be placed upon divine revelation and enabling.

After his failure, Moses fled into the wilderness where all this ability was drained from him. Then the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush and said, "put off your shoes." In effect, the Lord was saying, "Moses you have walked in your ability as far as you can go. Now you are to walk in my enabling ability.

The need today is not fresh methodology, but rather a turning aside to stand in the manifest presence of the Lord to be prepared as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" of our day.

Toward the end of the life of a popular minister, he was asked what he would do if he had his life to live over again. He said he had spent seven years in preparation for 45 years of ministry. Instead, he would spend forty five years in preparation for seven years of ministry.

Whenever any one of us experiences a time of visitation, a present enemy will prod us to get busy and do something - anything. He would rather have us "do" than "become." Moses was never a threat to the enemy until he turned aside and stood in the presence of the Lord.

The Lord is seeking to bring us to the end of our abilities so we can tap into His ability. This requires that we recognize His presence and turn aside to stand before Him. Only then will we be enabled to become the expression of His voice - crying in the wilderness of our day.