i need your presence god.
keep me, lest i die.

august fifteen

i want the essence, not the eminence.
i need reality, god in his proper place, me in mine.

...more on wisdom and the fear of the lord

"there is this point of reality where we begin our fellowship, our friendship, our communion with God. when we come into this sweet relationship, we begin to learn astonished reverance, breathless adoration, awesome fascination, lofty admiration...of the attributes of God and something of the breathless silence that we know when God is near. all these things, coming from the divine presence add up to what the bible refers to as the "fear of the lord." the fear of God is that "astonished reverence" it comes any where from -the terror of a guilty soul before a holy God -to the fascinated "rapture" of the worshipping soul. the reverential fear of God mixed with love and fascination and astonishment and devotion is the most enjoyable state the human soul can know. This fear isnt of the earthly kind -fear of invasion, terrorism, fear of the collapse of civilization...men think they know what fear is, this fear is an awe and reverance of a loving and holy God. that kind of fear of God is a spiritual thing and can only be brought by the presence of God. when the Holy Spirit came at pentecost, there was a great fear upon all the people, yet they weren't afraid of anything. a child of God made perfect in love, has no fear because perfect love casts out fear (1 john 4). yet he or she is a person of all persons who most fears God. the presence of God in our midst -bringing a sense of Godly fear and reverance -this is largely missing today. it is someting that cannot be induced it cannot be compared to a superstitious dread. the true fear of God is a beautiful thing, for it is worship, it is love, it is veneration. it is a high moral happiness because God is. it is a delight so great that if God were not, the worshiper would not want to be, either. he or she could easily pray "my God, continue to be as thou art, or let me die! i cannot think of any other God but thee!" true worship is to be so personally and hopelessly in love with God that the idea of transfer of affection never even remotely exists. that is the meaning of the the fear of God.

-AW Tozer, Whatever Happened to Worship?

On wisdom...

"for Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. for it is written, 'i will destroy the widom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning i will thwart.' where is the one who is wise? where is the scribe? where is the debater of this age? has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? for since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. for Jews demand signs and Greeks seek widsom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. for the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. for consider your calling brothers, not many of you were wise according to worldy standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, 'let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.' And i, when i came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. for i decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. and i was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. " 1 cor. 1:17-31 & 2:1-5

im sick of hearing words, words, words. and talk of this and rumor of that, and this ministry and that ministry and this idea and God is telling me this and he's telling me that. i want to see the demonstration of the Spirit of the Lord in our midst. its time that our faith rests in this, in power, not in lofty speech and "great wisdom" of the world, which is really foolishness. empty speech must end. our own words must end. its time for the words of the living God, cause they are not empty, they contain power and the demonstration of the Spirit!! and we want to know what the burden of the lord is? its this, jeremiah 23. its every mans own word. and we pervert the word of the living god. (36)