From the desk of Steve Shultz:
Here is a second word this week about the "Lampstand" of the Lord. We just posted another word yesterday by Sandie Freed as well.
As I carefully read Paul Keith Davis' word, I felt as if I was hearing once again the voice of my mentor and Spiritual Father, a great man of God, Wade Taylor. Almost two years ago Wade went home to his eternal reward. However, reading this article by Paul Keith left me feeling as if he too must have sat under the teaching of Wade. I truly felt I was hearing Wade speak through these words.
But Paul Keith explains his understandings this way:
"Over the years I have studied the lives of many who have lived this reality [of being 'crucified with Christ'.] There is one common denominator that I have discovered in each. They have uniformly returned with the overwhelming truth that you do not come into His manifest presence presumptuously nor carelessly."
Please read this word with the understanding that you are hearing or reading through Paul Keith, a sort of combined wisdom and spiritual experiences of great men and women of God. Paul Keith has made it a big part of his life to study and know how many of God's children drew close to Him.
If you have even the slightest desire to draw closer to Christ and you want to learn from those who've gone before...this is a great place to start.
Enjoy!
***
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Paul Keith Davis:
The Light of Revelation - The Revelation of Jesus Christ
There are a number of Scriptures outlining the extraordinary prophetic destiny foretold for the last day generation. These stress the Biblical mandates and preparatory instructions highlighting the attributes essential to enter and abide in His manifest presence; to become one with Him in a union experience that fulfills Galatians 2:20:
"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."
Over the years I have studied the lives of many who have lived this reality. There is one common denominator that I have discovered in each. They have uniformly returned with the overwhelming truth that you do not come into His manifest presence presumptuously nor carelessly. His power and majesty are grand beyond the description of words.
Without controversy, He is our loving and kind Father who sent His Son to demonstrate perfect love. We have the clear Biblical invitation to "come up here" to apprehend throne room revelation and experience God in the unseen realm. Even so, He is also a consuming fire and overwhelmingly holy and awesome.
John G. Lake said it this way, "Think not to come within the court of God with stain upon thine garments. Think not that Heaven can smile upon a nature fowled through evil contact. Think not that Christ can dwell within temples seared by flames of hate. No! The heart of man must first be purged by holy fire and washed from every stain by cleansing Blood. Know ye not that he whose nature is akin to God's must ever feel the purging power of Christ within?"
Moving Through the Holy Place
This journey is clearly illustrated in the Tabernacle of Moses. It takes us through the Holy Place in preparation for the Holy of Holies. Hebrews 9:2-4 says:
"For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron's rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant."
In the Holy Place we learn the secrets and mysteries of God that postures us for the Most Holy place and union with God. It is in the Holy place that we are able to sit at His feet and partake of Him through the revelation of His nature and character by the "Light" of His Spirit. The invitation is to come by revelation into the Holy Place to become acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ.
A. W. Tozer said, "The instant cure for most of our religious ills would be to enter the Presence in spiritual experience, to become suddenly aware that we are in God and God is in us. This would lift us out of our pitiful narrowness and cause our hearts to be enlarged. This would burn away the impurities from our lives..."
The Lord's desire is that we become free in our spirit, soul, and body so that in our freedom we can partake of the intimate relationship that He longs to have with His people. That has always been the Father's heart – to have a people for His own possession with whom He can have relationship and through whom He can express His divine attributes.
The Light of Revelation
In the Holy Place, one of the first instruments we discover is the lampstand. This is representative of light being shed abroad in our hearts to bring us the revelation of the Lord. He is lighting our candle to illuminate our dark places.
For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness. Psalm 18:28
Foremost in our birthright is the opportunity, through His great grace, to be free from our own carnality and the sins which so easily beset us and separate us from Him.
...The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God...For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:4-6
The lampstand is the only source of Light in the Holy Place and is fueled by pure olive oil, speaking of His anointing for this purpose (see Zechariah 4:1-7). Simply put, the Holy Spirit begins to illuminate the Scriptures to us to give us understanding of our inheritance in Him as well as the nature and character of God.
From the Holy Place the light of His Spirit shines upon our soul so that all that is within us is in agreement with Him. As we allow this process, we will likewise receive the impartation of the attributes essential to enter and maintain His divine presence without grieving His Holy Spirit.
Once our conscience is clear and we are walking in His Light, we likewise become the light of the world as Jesus described in Matthew 5:14-16. We can shine for the Lord in the midst of this dark and corrupt generation, drawing others to Him, not because of any virtue of our own but because of His manifestation in us (see Philippians 2:15). That is the Gospel of Kingdom: Christ in us the hope of glory.
The Bread of His Presence
Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that continually proceeds from God's mouth. The Lord has delegated "manna" for each generation, displaying perpetual depths of His greatness and truth.
He is the very fountain of all wisdom and the source of all
knowledge. He expects His people who possess His Spirit to embrace every word that He utters and the continual unfolding of Biblical truth.
In the Holy Place the table of Shewbread (Bread of His Presence) was a symbol of thanksgiving for His divine provision. After serving its purpose in the Holy Place, it was then consumed by the priests. We must consume every revelation of the Lord to be molded into His image and bear His attributes.
Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, dedicating it to Him, to burn fragrant incense before Him, and to set out the showbread continually... The house which I am about to build will be great, for greater is our God than all the gods. But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him? 2 Chronicles 2:4-6
The Lord Jesus is the Word incarnate in flesh. To partake of Him is to share in the revelation of God.
Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst. John 6:35
Our current admonition is to be careful to receive the full revelation of Jesus Christ as revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God. The Light from the Lampstand provides the illumination of the "Shewbread" and the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Thoughts Expressed In His Word
A "word" is a thought that has been given expression. God's attributes, nature, and thoughts are addressed to us in the Word (logos) of God. The logos is identified with the will of God, or with the ideas that are in the mind of God.
The Lord's incarnation is accordingly understood as the outward expression of these divine attributes. The Bible is the divinely inspired, inerrant Word (logos) of God. However, it takes the "rhema" of God to properly appropriate the written Word.
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. 2 Peter 1:20-21
Rhema is a "word" considered or given articulation. It is the divine appropriation of the written "Word." Simply put, it is revelatory insight with practical understanding that has been given expression. It is the power of inspiration in understanding the written "Word" in perfect order.
But what does it say? "The word (rhema) is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" – that is, the word (rhema) of faith which we are preaching. Romans 10:8
To be a reflection of His nature and attributes we must be "grounded" in the revelation of the Word as given by the Holy Spirit. Prophetic utterances came by men of old who were moved upon by the Holy Spirit. God spoke through them. Far too often, customary understanding of the Scriptures has been delivered through the doctrines and precepts of men taught as truth.
For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. Romans 10:3
The Incarnate Word
Charles Spurgeon once spoke of the "logos" saying, "So, brethren, especially is it with the Incarnate Word. We are in the habit of calling the Bible 'the Word of God.' I suppose that is accurate enough...of this incarnate Word, this everlasting Logos, we may say that he standeth for ever. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever."
The Bible is not simply the Word of God – it is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
All revelation from Heaven is more precious than fine gold. Matthew 4:4 declares,
"Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word (rhema) that proceeds out of the mouth of God."
Paul once announced that he did not shun to declare the whole counsel of God in his preaching of the Gospel. We need the "whole counsel" of God to enter the Most Holy place and union with Him. To deny any portion of the sacred Scriptures is to embrace unbelief, the sin that kept the children of Israel from entering the promised land after their deliverance from Egypt.
In Him is the Bread of Life which He freely imparts to those who come to Him unbridled and hungry for His presence. However, we cannot come to Him cloaked in worldly conformity but clothed in His righteousness, bearing His image and likeness. We are sanctified in truth, and His Word is truth (see John 17:17).
If we hunger for the anointing of God in our lives, and even more importantly, if we thirst for intimate fellowship with the Lord, we must become totally absorbed in His Word. He will never do anything contrary to His written Word and His Word is His prescribed WAY into the presence of the Father.
Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16
Great and awesome exploits are prophesied for this generation. We must be conditioned and equipped for them. It is likewise mandatory in this hour that we ground ourselves in His revelation of the Word through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so we can easily discern the deceptions of the enemy that would inhibit the flow of life to us from the Father. If we find ourselves unknowingly agreeing with the enemy, it results in our abiding in the domain of satan rather than the Father. It is through the rhema revelation of the written logos that we recognize the schemes of the enemy, allowing the full release of power to us to escape and defeat the strongholds of the devil.
When we make our habitation in the Word of God...He will make His habitation in us. Grounding in the Word of God will actually have us rooted and grounded in love, faith and truth (see Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:23; 1 Timothy 3:15). There are presently some individual Believers who have tasted this reality. However, the Lord is desiring His corporate Body to have their grounding in Him so He can lavish upon them the presence of God, allowing His glory to fill the earth.
Paul Keith and Wanda Davis
WhiteDove Ministries
Email: inquiries@whitedoveministries.org
Website: whitedoveministries.org
Paul Keith Davis has written numerous articles appearing in various Christian publications, including the MorningStar Journal, Charisma and Church Growth International. He has also written four books including "Thrones of Our Soul," "Engaging The Revelatory Realm of Heaven," and "Books of Destiny," all dealing with prophetic mandates placed upon the end-time generation. His newest book, "Angels That Gather," provides a Biblical outline for the harvest and insight to help access our end of the age inheritance. Paul Keith and Wanda reside in Orange Beach, Alabama. Together they have five children.
