Friday, July 21, 2006

 

Manifest the Sensational Mystery

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off (Exodus 20:18).

Here is God up on the mountain. There's smoke, thunder, sounds of trumpets, and lightning. This is when God introduces Himself to the nation of Israel . He didn't hand them a sheet of facts about who He was. He didn't hand them a set of propositional truths, and then give them an experience with Himself later on in their walk. Israel had the exact opposite. God said, "Experience Me, and then we'll talk."

This is the opposite of the way we do it. We think that we have to talk and prep people for a possible experience that they may or may not have with God. I'm not saying that this is always wrong, but this isn't the way that God revealed Himself to His people here.

It's going to take some level of aggressiveness for us to enter into the unexplainable dimensions of God. It's not just going to drop into our laps; we're going to have to press in.

The tragedy will be if there are unexplainable dimensions that we don't come into because: (1) We feel that if we can't explain it then it must not be legitimate or valid, or (2) we don't recognize that we have to press in to enter into those areas.

What was the purpose of God introducing Himself like that to the Israelites? God was revealing Himself as "One which is altogether other." Jesus is our Friend and our Brother and we need to approach the throne of grace with boldness. But there is going to come a time when we need to recognize that He is altogether more than us.

The other thing that God was doing was curing them from ever trivializing God and His abilities. Once you're introduced to a God with a sensational event upon a mountain, and later on He tells you He's going to get you into the Promised Land, you can easily believe for Him to move. You don't doubt once you've seen and embraced the mystery of God.

If God were presented to you as someone understandable, when you got into a situation where you could not understand it, you would be stuck. If we're not being fed on the mystery of God, it will be a mystery as to how we're going to get through tough situations. We must have a revelation of the mystery before we can have a manifestation of the Sensational mystery.

Our church services are more of a reflection of our nature than that of God's nature.

I believe that this place of revelation is where our churches need to come. It's as if we're saying, like the Israelites did, "Moses, you speak to us and give us what man can give us; we're comfortable with that. But if God shows up in His mystery and awe, we're going to back away."

Now God told them the reason why He presented Himself like He did. He said, "I did it to test you. To see if you would have the fear of God in your heart." In other words, "I want you to have the awe of who I am in your heart." I believe that sometimes God manifests the mystery to test our hearts. You've heard the phrase, "God will often offend the mind to reveal the heart." That's exactly what this is.

Mystery is here to find out if we have another agenda. Is your agenda to figure it all out? Do you have to be in control? Maybe you have to be able to manipulate it to be palatable; to be socially acceptable. Does everybody have to feel good about it? Or are you all right with embracing that which you don't fully understand?

John 8:32 says, "You will know the truth and the truth shall make you free." The word "know" is experiential knowledge. It is truth that has been experienced, not intellectual knowledge. If we don't experience the truth, we'll be limited in our comprehension of it.

God sends the mystery into a service and all of a sudden you don't know why you're crying; you don't know why you're laughing; you don't know why you're shaking; and you don't know why you're feeling lighter. You don't know why you have faith now to believe for what you had formerly been struggling to believe for. The mystery of God comes into a service and you don't know why cancer leaves your body. It is the mystery of God when the Holy Spirit is allowed to move.

Israel never became fruitful; they never fulfilled their destiny. Why? They never overcame the obstacle of rationalism. Rationalism says, "I've got to figure it out." You know some people always use a rationalistic bias whenever they see the move of the Spirit. They don't realize that they're rationalizing away what God wants to release in their lives. What Israel rationalizes now is war and death to enemies who were once friends. Woe to thee, O Israel.

Randolph @ SpiritWorld.info

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