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Spiritual Winter (S.S. 5:1-6) What are the limits to your obedience and your surrender to find the Lord? Times of refreshing with the Lord to encourage and strengthen! He says come and take as much as you want. Then comes the night, we sleep and the Lord is on the outside looking in. Every believer will come to this place – if he is to grow and be transformed. The reason – our carnal natures keep us at a distance from the Lord. So the Lord leaves (it seems) until our insides begin to ache for Him afresh and anew. We begin to question if we have offended the Lord because He does not draw near. We even feel unworthy because His love is unlike any we have experienced before. When the life of Christ disappears like this the reason is very specific – to reveal our defects. The Lord is actually purifying us by stripping us of all our virtues – it is called WINTER. In the winter experience we look dead and lifeless, but on the inside something wonderful is happening. You are not getting worse, you are simply seeing yourself for what you really are. Until spring comes you are lifeless. But deep down inside there is still the life that produced beauty last year. The only thing you have lost is a sense of your own personal goodness, and instead have discovered your own wretchedness. For the first time everyone around you sees your personal defects (defects that were previously hidden by grace). Some people come to this place in their walk and do not recover – they simply choose to live on a lower level of Christianity, or give up entirely. Throughout the winter season, the tree appears to be completely dead. The tree knows no reality. Here is total destruction – it seems. But the truth is that some kind of transformation is taking place down under in order to preserve and strengthen the tree. The thing winter does to a tree is reveal its ugliness outwardly. Winter preserves the tree, no matter how dead it looks. Leaves are gone and its true state is exposed. But it has never been more alive because the source and principle of life is more firmly established than in any other season. Winter is necessary for the tree if it is to live, survive and flourish. Virtue may have disappeared on the surface, leaving the outward very exposed and conspicuous, but the principle of VIRTUE is being built up – the source of virtue is deep within the soul still functioning. What is going on is exceedingly hidden – humbling. And what is happening is PURE LOVE. The inward man is growing in the stature of Christ. Even though the outward looks gross, no new defects are developing. Only the uncovering of the old faults have come about so they can be healed. THIS IS WHAT THE PERIOD OF DRYNESS IN THE BELIEVER’S LIFE IS ALL ABOUT – a “Spiritual Winter.” Our only responsibility is to remain calm and learn to rest in Him. Don’t fight with Him, make foolish requests, or it will hinder the progress. Only remain open to Him so He can manage everything in your life. Continue to seek Him for Him. (The Shulamite went out seeking Him everywhere she went, even through persecution) Because you are going through a change one of two things will happen: you won’t like the suffering and will turn back, give up, seek former activities, OR you will discover a new love unlike any you have ever witnessed before. That is why when a believer begins to experience suffering that he should not run from it, but accept it, embrace it and find comfort in it. The Lord is bringing you to a point you are no longer blown about by the winds and that you no longer stumble at the problems of life. Outwardly the soul is scattered and divided. Inwardly the soul can be united, having the power to find God. By collecting all thoughts together, He will discover the Lord. Now once you do that, a departing takes place again – not one outwardly but further inwardly toward the center of God. THIS IS THE TRUE GOING FORTH FROM YOURSELF. Not departing outwardly, but by going inward away from self. It is moving into the center of the Creator. Think of the soul as a halfway house. The traveler must pass by this house at some point in his journey. When he has stayed here awhile (winter time), he does not retrace his steps, but goes onward up the road. The further he goes beyond the house, the further he leaves self behind – in the sensual and outward feelings of his flesh. As you keep moving up the road, there you find the Lord. You are invited to come forth from yourself and enter into God. It is here at the center of our being that we truly meet the Lord where self no longer is. The further we journey, the further we advance toward Him, and the further we depart from self. THIS IS WHERE GOD IS TAKING US RIGHT NOW. A Christian’s progress should be measured by his separation from self. How is self defined? It is the individual’s views, feelings, things he remembers and thinks about that reflect his own self-interest and self-reflections. THIS IS SELF. When a believer begins this journey he will be very much self-absorbed in self-reflection and will be very aware of himself. The nearer he comes to the center of his being, where he meets the Lord, he is even more absorbed with self. However, when He actually arrives at the center of his being, he ceases to look upon himself. His feelings, his remembrances, his self-reflections become less and less – this is the death the Lord is looking for in His church, because at this point He begins to see the Lord. Self-reflection is helpful, until it becomes harmful. You must always be looking to the Lord or else you will become self absorbed and destructive. As you journey forth and you find the halfway house, you don’t have to look this way or that way to find direction – you are there. You can fix your eye on the first goal, which is before you. This is your place of rest; this is the place of leaving behind all that hinders. Setting your face like flint, with your eye on the prize set before you – Christ the Lord – you are going to make it. From this point you begin to be lost in Christ. Your perceptions will change, your level of concentration will change. Your “will” is easily reconciled to His. And the limits to your surrender are removed. THE WILL – this is what rules your understanding and memory. When you come to the center of your journey your memory and understanding will have been surrendered over to God. Not to self, not to others, but to God. The one who is truly seeking all of God must then choose to go beyond this point. This is a glorious place to be, but the halfway house is only the introduction. Don’t remain here too long – because you won’t accomplish anything for the Kingdom’s sake. It is from this point you will learn to reach out to accommodate others truly by the Spirit. -Pr. Steve February Newsletter 2005 | Spiritual Winter | You Ravish My Heart Pastor's Journal February 2004 | First Love | Storehouses and Treasures part 2 of 3
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