walking in the Spirit – Larus Press

To Jesus, the supernatural was as natural as breathing and eating.

Like him, we need to expect the supernatural and not be afraid of it. I’m preaching to myself really.

Perspective

The maker of the universe is our Father, and He gives generously to those who ask.

Matthew 7:11 states, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”

He is supernatural. By His Spirit, He lives within those who believe and surrender. Therefore…

We can expect and believe for the supernatural in our lives. Whether it is healing, finance or relational, GOD does work in all those who allow, and often even through those who do not believe.

Engaging

So, how we shall we engage with God on a deeper level? With regard to the supernatural, shall we walk, expectant of miracles and uncanny surprises?

Whether Jesus calmed the storm (Mark 4) or walked on water (Matthew 14), filled water jars with wine (John 2) or raised a dead child (Luke 8), there is no remark about his hesitation or lack of belief.

So let us be like him: Fully surrendered, ever-prayerful, absorbed by the Father.

Waiting

Jesus said he only did those things the Father called him to do,

“I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of theFather who sent Me.” (John 5:30)

So, let us wait on the LORD GOD, ask and wait, to see His deliverance and the miraculous. Let us wait upon the LORD, and see what He will do.

Expecting

We live in an era of fast-everything: fast food, quick fixes, easy communication. But the Father will not be rushed. His timing is perfect, and so waiting does mean waiting, often for a long time. Abraham was 99 when his promised son was born. Moses was 40 years a shepherd before God called him to return to Egypt and rescue the Hebrew people from slavery.

God answers prayers. We can trust He will use us as He has promised. In the meantime, we will expect, wait, engage, and grow in wisdom and patience as we seek His perspective.

Finally

If we walk as though we are tall, we will grow in stature. If we talk with confidence, we will be believed. Within us, the GOD of the universe has equipped us with His Spirit. Let us walk, knowing He resides in us, so we are ready to follow direction as it is given.

Then, in His perfect time, we will see the supernatural increase in our lives.

I think Jesus and after him, his disciples, lived in a very different reality to what we live today. “New Agers” perhaps yearn after a different reality in an ungodly way. But to seek and to find the narrow way of Jesus is, I think, much more than a life of surrender and self denial.

“In Him we live and move and have our being” and “Abide in me”: what do these expressions of devotion to Jesus mean at their deepest level? I wonder.

I am seeking to live a life surrendered to His Spirit: living for God, not for myself. This is because I realise that my own desires are lower than His. My flesh gets life wrong; my spirit yearns for the purity, clarity and vitality that only Jesus can give. Remember he said he provides drink from which we will never thirst and food from which we will never hunger? There is simply a dimension that I’ve had glimpses of, but I hunger for so much more.

There was a time several months ago when I was engulfed in peace. I walked, spoke, breathed differently: more calmly and more full of peace than ever before. I want that again. I could feel His anointing in a tangible way. It lasted a few days and then it lifted. I’m not sad for its departing, like a long lost friend leaving, but I do long for its return. It was as though there was no room for my crotchetiness or my impatience, no place for my temperamental nature; I felt full of love and grace…. as though, for that short time, I truly did live and move and have my being under His anointing.

Why can I not live like that always? To live as though “living under the shadow of the Almighty.” How lovely: fresh, deep, peaceful.

Birthed in prayer, perhaps again that blessing will come. Perhaps it will come to many – or already has. Or perhaps it was a glimpse of what living in Heaven is like. It was breath-giving.

I urge any to join me in this prayer of Psalm 91:

1 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High
Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
²I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.”

³Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler^[a]
And from the perilous pestilence.
⁴He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
⁵You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
⁶Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday.

⁷A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
⁸Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.

⁹Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
¹⁰No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
¹¹For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
¹²In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
¹³You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

14 “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
 I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
 15 He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
 I will be with him in trouble;
 I will deliver him and honor him.
 16 With long life I will satisfy him,
 And show him My salvation.”
Perhaps it is our time in the Lord to soar: to see ourselves high above our distractions, frustrations and troubles, high above where life is full of peace, joy and laughter in the LORD.
Blessings as you reflect with me in this Psalm.