Identity and The Presence of God
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· Greet Jacy - The Garden Society
Always an honour to speak into those that have decided to sharpen their craft in the arena of worship - leading people into God presence is the highesgt honour!
· WORSHIP OPENS THE GATE OF HEAVEN – WORSHIP IS A PILLAR IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, BETHEL IS A PLACE WHERE WE POUR OUT TO GOD
· WE SAID THAT WHEN THE HEAVENS OPEN GOD BECOMES MORE REAL in the extent that HE REVEALS HIMSELF TO A GREATER DEGREE AND THE REALITY OF HIS BEING BECOMES SOMETHING THAT HIS PEOPLE EXPERIENCE!
Today Jacy wanted me to talk a little about identity and the Lord brought me to the Prophet Isaiah
I want to share how important the presence of God is too the development of our identity in Him - I think that Isaiah discovered something concerning the presence of God and it saturates his writings..
· Isa 64:1 ¶ Oh, that You would rend the heavens! That You would come down! That the mountains might shake at Your presence-
· As a prayer, a prophecy with an intercessory cry, where the prophet cries out “Oh that You would rend the heavens and come down”. Here’s this cry for God to tear the Heavens open and to come down.
· Isa 64:2 As fire burns brushwood, As fire causes water to boil-To make Your name known to Your adversaries, That the nations may tremble at Your presence! 3 When You did awesome things for which we did not look, You came down, The mountains shook at Your presence.
He has other instances - He was fascinated with the glory of God
He yearned for the glory of God - to see it again in the earth, in the land of men...
And I believe its because of an experience that he had in his formative years! What happens in the years of our forming have great bearing to who we become in life....In Fact much of what we call our identity is based on our formative years — our likes and dislikes, our preferences and characteristics, our sexual drives and orientations - Our perceptions and perspectives - HONESTLY SOMETIMES WE ENTER INTO ADULTHOOD ALL JACKED UP ---because of what happened in our formative years!!
Thank God we are still in FORMATION - and there is something in Prophet Isaiash’s calling that GIVES US GREAT INSIGHT AND HOPE CONCERNING WHO WE ARE IN GOD!
THE CALLING OF ISAIAH THE PROPHET
· Isaiah 6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. 2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one cried to another and said “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”4 And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.5 So I said: “Woe is me, for I am [a]undone!Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips ;For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts.”
· THE PRESCENCE OF GOD IS MANIFEST AS THE ANGELS WORSHIP HIM
These strange beasts - crying to one another those iconic words - Holy Holy Holy - Is the Lord of Hosts
· THE WHOLE EARTH IS FULL OF HIS SPLENDOR, HIS MAGNIFICANCE
The doors and shake and the house if FILLED WITH SMOKE
The presence of the LORD IS THERE
and I SAIAH IN THE MIDST OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD IS CONFRONTED WITH WHO HE IS
CAN I TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN GO YEARS - WITHOUT KNOWING WHATS UP…WE ALL KNOW people that are totally self unaware----really have no clue about - and this is actually How the scriptures describe us BEFORE CHRIST
WE WERE DEAD in our sins - unknowing and unwitting enemies of GOD, walking to the course of this world - AND THEN BAM - THE GOSPEL - BAM - THE PRESENCE OF GOD and the recognition that WE ARE IN desperate need of a saviour, of a helper, of a healer!!
and this is what happens in the prescence of GOD - YOU ARE CONFRONTED WITH YOUR IDENTITY
· Isaiah says I am a MAN UNDONE- WOE IS ME – “ I HAVE CEASED TO BE”, I DON’T MATTER, I HAVE BEEN CUT OFF
I LIKE TO CALL THIS THE UNDOING!!
The prescence of God is also the place of our undoing!
Its the place of our recognition - ISAIAH recognised there is somethinf about me that is not right - and i would not have seen that unless God manifested Himself in the way that He did!
He said I am a man of unclean lips - i dwell in the midst of unclean people --- My peers have not left me uncontaminated - the culture is in me!
I AM UNDONE!! I AM CUT OFF - WHAT IS, IS NO MORE!!
· CAN I TELL YOU THAT THIS IS THE PLACE IN GOD WHERE SIGNIFICANCE BEGINS TO HAPPEN – THE REASON THAT MANY BELIEVERS NEVER FIND THEIR PURPOSE, THE REASON FOR THEIR CREATION AND THE POWER AND JOY AND REWARD THAT COMES WITH IT, IS THEY HAVE YET TO CEASE TO BE, THEY HAVE YET TO BE CUT OFF…
TOO MUCH OF THEM IS STILL WALKING AROUND LIKE THEY CAN DO IT, LIKE THEY HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER – TO MUCH CONFIDENCE IN THE FLESH ------
WHEN THE PLACE OF TRUE IDENTITY THE PLACE WHERE YOU FIND THE LIFE THAT GOD HAS HID IN HIMSELF - IS THE PLACE WHERE IS PRESENCE IS CONCENTRATED, IS THE PLACE WHERE THE HEAVENS OPEN AND HIS GLORY WEIGHS HEAVILY!
· HAVE YOU BEEN UNDONE SAINTS?
WHEN I THINK OF UNDOING I THINK OF A BALL OF THREAD - BEIUNG UNWOUND
· a number of years ago THE LORD BEGAN TO SPEAK TO ME IN A TIME OF WORSHIP AT THIS CHURCH NO LESS ABOUT THE UNDOING OF GOD
HE ASKED ME A QUESTION? WHAT and who HAS WOUND YOU?
who and WHAT HAS MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE , THE CULTURE, THE ENEMY, YOUR UPBRINGING, YOUR PEERS, SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS HAVE MADE YOU THE WAY YOU, THE WAY YOU THINK AND ACT - WHO HAS PUT YOU TOGETHER -HOLDING ON TO OUR SEMBALANCE OF LIFE….
AND THE LORD BEGAN TO UNWIND THE KNOTS, UNWIND THE PLACES WHERE I HAD BEEN PULLED TOO TIGHT…COME ON (Double knots and triple knots)
WHERE OTHERS HAD PUT THEIR, HANDS ON ME, THEIR WORDS ON ME, THEIR THOUGHTS ON ME....
AND THE PRESENCE OF GOD COMES TO UNDO THE THREADS THAT THE ENEMY SOWED INTO…CUT THE TRACKS THAT BABYLONIAN CULTURE WEAVED IN….UNTIL YOU LET GO OF THIS THING THAT YOURE HOLDING ONTO
THIS IDENTITY THAT YOU HAVE CLAIMED
WHOEVER ISAIAH THOUGHT HE WAS CRUMBLED IN THE PRESCENCE OF GOD…HE SAW THE TRUTH ABOUT HIMSELF AND HIS GENERATION AND IT WAS A GOOD THING!!!
SOMEONE SAY ITS A GOOD THING!
ITS a good thing to recognise when the old man is still alive, its a good thing to see when that attitude is funky and needs adjustment --- too many believers ARE LIVING WRONG AND STRONG! AND because our places of wroship have become so sterile, our devotions lack the necessary TARRY…YOUBIBLE checklists and reading plans ticked off BUT WHERE IS HIS TANGIBLE GLORY THAT SHAKES THE VERY BEING OF WHO WE ARE!!
THE PLACE OF UNDOING IS THE PLACE OF TOTAL INADEQUACY BUT ALSO THE PLACE OF SUBMISSION to who HE has created us to BE
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth with it, and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin [b]purged.”
There is much we can take from this verse - As we are talking about our idenity of course one of the most definitive course correctors in our life is our born again experience
YOUR INQUITY IS TAKEN AWAY AND YOUR SIN IS PURGED — A FORESHADOWING OF THE WORK THAT CHRIST DOES IN US - WE ARE REGENERATED - our sin is taken away
GOD does not throw people away --- UNDERSTAND THAT A SINFUL MAN CAME INTO THE MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD AND WAS PURGED — THAT IS GODS INTENTION ALWAYS ---TO CLEANSE…sometimes we are so messed up in our conception of God that we know longer see Him as the answer to SIN ---MANY PEOPLE that backslide and stay away from God is because of IDENTITY ISSUES
IDENTITY ISSUES DO NOT ONLY AFFECT HOW WE SEE OURSELVES BUT HOW WE SEE GOD - A PART OF THE RESASON WHY ISAIAH THOUGHT HE WAS ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED BECAUSE OF HIS UNCLEANLINESS IN CONTRAST WITH THE HOLINESS OF GOD --- YET ALL GOD HAD WAS THE NEWNESS OF LIFE FOR HIM!
I WILL PURGE YOU, I WILL CLEANSE YOU — YOUR GUILT IS TAKEN AWAY — A GUILTY GENERATION NEED THE PRESENCE OF GOD MORE THAN EVER BEFORE
this is the concept of REGENERATION - RENEWAL
BUT NOT ONLY THAT I WILL TRANSFORM - THERES A RENOVATION PROCESS THAT HAPPENS AND WE SEE IT ALMOST IN IMMEDIATE AFFECT IN ISAIAHS LIFE
8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?”
· WHO SHALL I SEND AND WHO SHALL GO FOR US --- I BELIEVE THAT THE LORD ASKS THIS DAILY OFTEN TIMES A DAY
· · WHOM SHALL I SEND, AND WHO WILL GO FOR ME?!!!
· “Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”
THIS IS WHAT AN ENVIRONMENT OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD DOES - IT PRODUCES THE YES’S OF MEN….
I WILL GO, IT SHAPES THE WILL OF GODS PEOPLE…I WILL DO IT, I WILL STEP OUT, I WILL PICK UP THIS CROSS, I WILL START THIS BUSINESS, I WILL WRITE THIS BOOK, I WILL MENTOR THIS PERSON, I WILL PREACH, I WILL TEACH…I WILL GO
· THIS TRANSFORMATION OF A MAN – WHO WAS BOWED UNLCEAN BELIEVING HE WAS GOING TO DIE,
THAT HE WAS NOT USEFUL AS AN DIRTY MAN IN THE HANDS OF A HOLY GOD – BUT GOD CAN AND WILL USE THE UNDONE MAN, HE WILL CLEAN THEM UP AND USE THEM
· 9 And He said, “Go, and tell this people:
· INSTRUCTIONS COME OUT OF THE PLACE OF TRUE WORSHIP
· “ISAIAH GO AND TELL THIS PEOPLE
THIS IS THE VALIDATION OF HIS PROCESS - THE SEAL OF GODS CONFIRMATION ON HIM
· CHANGED IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD, INSTRUCTED AND CHARGED IN THE ATMOSTPHERE OF THE MANIFEST PRESCENCE OF GOD
GO AFTER IT PERSONALLY, GO AFTER IT CORPORATELY - WHO YOU ARE AND YOU HAVE TO BECOME DEPENDS ON IT!
· IF WE NEVER TRANSCEND IN WORSHIP - APOSTOLIC COMMISIONINGS AND SENDING AND ORDAINING FOR PURPOSE WILL BE A RARE THING!