Series: Oneness; Intimacy; Rest
Sunday am 14thOctober 2018 – Kobus Swart
Eph. 2:6 (Amp Classic); John 14:1-2; Gen. 1:1; Luke 19:17 (Voice); Rom. 8:19-21 (Passion); Heb. 4; (Isa. 66:1-2); (Eph. 1:20); (John 17:21)
Vulnerability, transparency and intimacy – make friends with these three words and begin to experience them. It is possible for a church to be full of people but each individual is isolated, never opening up, never becoming transparent and not knowing what intimacy is all about. Here is a quote which describes the sessions Tes and I participated in one of the conferences on our recent visit to the USA: “I would characterize last week’s collegial gathering as in immersion in love that upgraded unity to oneness, facilitated by vulnerability and transparency that resulted in intimacy. The speakers offered no criticisms, comparisons or judgements, evidencing that their priority is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Those of us who have been blessed to participate in many leadership dialogues, in many places, we agree that throughout the world we agree that we have never been experiencing such corporate intimacy before” (Don Atkin).
What the Lord is underlining in my heart is that we need to move from doing and mere talking, to being! In other words, it is not what I say or what I do, it is who I am. In order to experience this intimacy, we have to bring down our “walls”. In the network of strategic connections/relationships God is currently putting together, becoming transparent and vulnerable is unavoidable. In the last six weeks sovereign new strategic connections came about in our lives, which we did not organize; we did not ask for it, it just happened. We encountered different people from different nations who are on the same frequency. There is something new happening.
And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One) (Eph. 2:6 – Amplified Classic). See this with new eyes: Joint seating with Him in heavenly realms. After the resurrection Jesus went and sat down at the right hand of the Father, which was a signal that He was in REST. Sitting down is a symbolic picture of rest. We are seated next to Him. To be seated with Him in heavenly places, we should at least reach a place of rest. Coming into rest means your spirit takes the governing role and not your soul. Your spirit takes authority in your life; not your soul. The soul is vulnerable to all sorts of forces and tensions, but your spirit must govern. Physical rest is easy, but we are not talking about physical rest. We are talking about emotional rest. We need to come to a place where our physical body will line up with what our emotions tell it to do, provided that our emotions are subject to our Spirit man. Our quest is for emotional rest coming from allowing our spirit to govern. The seat of rest is in you. Unfortunately, we are often sitting there alone instead of allowing Christ to be seated. The moment Christ is in the seat of rest, He will invite you to sit with Him.
There is a new realm calling. There is something beyond which we will only access corporately. There are certain doors that will not open unless there is a corporate group. A true corporate group is where there is vulnerability, transparency and intimacy. (Unfortunately, the word ‘intimacy’ has lost its value and become an ugly word outside of Christ). In the family of Christ there must be intimacy.
We want to reign with Christ, but that begins within our hearts. We are even called to reign in the universe. Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you (John 14:1-2). That means that in my Father’s house there are many dimensions. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1). Heavens being plural! There is not only one heaven. The mistake we make with our natural mind is that we see many levels. It is not levels, it is dimensions. There are dimensions in this room. I pray that our spiritual eyes and ears will open up. Jesus told this parable: The ruler replied, “Well done! You’re a good servant indeed! Since you have been faithful in handling a small amount of money, I’ll entrust you with authority over cities in my new kingdom” (Luke 19:17 – Voice). This means He will entrust us with authority over “cities” in His new kingdom! Nobody knows the extent of the universe. The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters! For against its
Something is beckoning. We must realize that we are the last days(Heb. 4). We are a 7th day people. God set the seventh day apart and sanctified it (Gen 2:3). It was not referring to Sunday or Saturday, but it was referring to a people. God is looking for a people in which to rest: “Where is a place that I may rest
In your daily schedule make sure you have time to sit down; switch off your TV and phone, be quiet and come into rest. Come into an open discussion with God. God is listening, but we must listen to whatever response comes from God. We are going to move into new realms. We are seated with Him in heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6). Do not let the enemy take you off your seat, your seat is booked next to Christ Jesus who is seated at the right hand of the Father (Eph. 1:20). See in the heavenly realms what it means to be one with Christ (John 17:21). Let us go beyond the limitations of terminology. This is the beginning of a completely new walk with God! Look again at the testimonies – and rewards/consequences…! – of men that had a WALK WITH GOD like NOAH (Gen 6:9) and ENOCH (Gen 5:24)!