I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Psalm 16:8
What a word! I scanned through David Wilkerson’s word that he published in 1985. It was a word of warning to the Body of Christ and really to America as to the balance of being prepared, knowing who we are, knowing who God is in us and the fact that He maintains our lot, which really goes along with what you were feeling about a place of safety and security.
To complete that thought about ridding yourself of the intoxication of the world that you might know how to pray. We do this so that our prayers are not a mixture of worldly thinking or of self-focus, desires, and purposes so that we really are finding ourselves aligned with Heaven and what Heaven intends to do in the earth at this time. As we align with the purposes of God and pray in accord with that, He maintains our personal life. All of that gets taken care of.
Then David Wilkerson went on to speak about being in tune with what God is doing - which is part of what Asher Intrater brought to us in Indianapolis. I reviewed Asher’s message a couple of times – just the transcript, and he made many significant statements.
A Fresh Intimacy With God
Psalm 16 and then the fact that the number 16 represents love and loving. Let me just share with you a scripture that we all are familiar with in relation to love – I Corinthians 13. When the Apostle Paul spoke this to the Corinthian church, there are 16 distinct things about the quality of love that God wants us to have and to walk in.
Love is incredibly patient and very kind. Someone here this morning said that God had spoken the word “patience” to them, so you are aligning with what God wants.
Love is incredibly patient, and it is very kind. Love never brags about itself, nor does it envy others. Perfect love does not act vainly or behave in an unacceptable manner. It is not selfish, it is not easily provoked, and it thinks no evil of others. Love mourns sin but rejoices in what is the truth. Godly love is willing to bear, endure all things and to hope for and believe the best. The greatest of all spiritual gifts will never fail you.
I John 4:18 – there is no fear in love.
Interestingly, yesterday Dan Hammer preached a great sermon on his sense for 2016. He spoke, or referenced at least, Proverbs 3:5 where it speaks about acknowledging the Lord in all your ways. The word “acknowledge” is “Yada” in Hebrew, and it speaks of intimacy. It actually means intimacy. It is speaking of love in the sense of that intimate knowing of another person like your spouse. It is speaking of an intimacy with God, that I believe, He is drawing us into in this season.
A Year of Increased Contrast
I feel that this next year is going to be a year of increased contrast. Light and darkness – we are going to see an increase of both. Both light and darkness. We will see the contrast between good and evil. Trust and fear. Belief and anxiety. We are going to see all of that at play, and when I speak about the contrasts, like belief vs anxiety or trust vs fear, this is why He is drawing us into a greater intimacy with Him. Places where we think we have overcome fear, there may be new opportunities to develop a greater trust.
I do not want to sound ominous, but I think nothing should surprise us that will happen in our nation this next year. Therefore, it is incredibly important that we are very stable in God and growing in an ever-deepening relationship with Him.
Again, we will see the contrast between light and darkness. We will see good arise, even as evil arises and it will give us increased opportunity to develop deeper trust and belief as opposed to fear and anxiety.
The Word and Prayer
Two of the ways I believe that He is drawing us closer is through the reading of His word and through prayer. That sounds really basic, does it not? I found it interesting that personally, I have felt a prompting to go back and systematically read the Word. We can do a spot reading. It is so easy, again Kevin, you were referencing the fact that many of us have walked with the Lord a long time. One of the aspects of that is that in reading the Word, you could think, “Oh yeah, I know that”, and kind of skip those verses. I think God is saying, “No I really want you to read My Word.”
Do you remember that Asher Intrater spoke that at the 2015 International Aglow Conference in Indianapolis? Here is what he said: You need to know what the plan of God is. You need to be sure of it because Jesus said, “In the end times there will be a problem of deception.” So, you have to know what this Word says and that that does not come from just pulling up a verse here or there on your Smart phone. It comes from reading this Book every single day in a consistent manner so that you know what is in the Book from the beginning to end.
There may be places or things that you listen to or TV shows - where you begin to feel like, I want to distance myself from that. I do not mean some weirdness or holier-than-thou attitude that is religious or legalistic. There is something that the Holy Spirit is doing that we need to heed. Do not just blow it off or think, “Oh that is no big deal.” Let us be sensitive to what He could be doing, leading us into, and wanting to refine in us. I think it is an important time.
David Wilkerson went on to say, There is a deep hunger and thirst for righteousness that will be seen. It is the drawing of the Holy Spirit preparing a Bride for His Son.
Another thing that I have felt is – we are talking about love and the meaning of the year. The number 16 means love and loving. This is a time of being drawn into a closer relationship with God.
A Transition in the Nations
The third thing that I sense for this year is that there is a great transitioning taking place in the nations. I think this last year with so many of the people from the Middle East entering Europe there has been a huge change that we will see unfold in the days ahead.
As I wrote the note down about the transitioning taking place in the nations, I also wrote that God has trusted us in this hour. We could have been born at any other time, but He has called us for this time. There is a huge trust that He has in us and it is another reason we need to be pliable in His hands and come into that new level of intimacy with Him. As we come into that new place of intimacy, He will stabilize us and give us peace in the midst of all things. There, again, I have a sense of – I know we want to begin the New Year thinking it is going to be a great, new year, and it will be, but it will be as we draw close to Him and are not thrown by anything that we see happen that He will maintain us in whatever comes.