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GOD'S DESIRE:
I will be saying
things that
are familiar to some of you and perhaps unfamiliar to others, but I
believe
that in every message there is food for every level of hearing. This
message
contains milk for those who need milk, bread for the young ones, and
meat
for those who are maturing. However, it is geared for those who really
want to hear.
Song of Solomon 7:10
"I am my beloved's and
His desire is towards me."
It is so important for us to
know this truth because today we are living in an hour where there is
shaking going on every hand. But, more important than the shaking that
is going on outside, there are tremendous dealings going on among God's
apprehended ones and these dealings are progressive. The processing&#
146;s
for those who are called to that high calling realm are going to get
deeper
and more intense. Therefore, it is important for us to know:
"That I am my
Beloved's
and His desire is toward me."
We know that truth has many
aspects and levels to it. We often say it is threefold. We say the
excellent
things are threefold things. In other words, there is surface
understanding
but that understanding can be deepened and you can begin to comprehend
things that are greater. This is true of our relationship with God.
When
you are born again, you are not brought into the deepest relationship
with God, you only receive a surface experience. It may take years, or
an entire lifetime, for God to really bring you to the place where you
can come and have a deep relationship with Him. I don't know all there
is to know about God. I know little, but I have learned some things.
One
thing I have learned is there are different unfoldings and dimensions
to our relationship with God and His relationship toward us. And, it
brings
change! As each change comes, it changes the way you do things.
This in deepening with God
changes your whole motivation and desire. It changes everything. There
are many realms and dimensions concerning this and they run the entire
spectrum from when you walk hostile to God (when you are at enmity to
Him) all the way to the place where your desire is actually going to be
His desire. We are changing and we are being changed – and you
know
that there was an hour and a time when you and I walked contrary to
God.
We walked opposed to His purpose, opposed to His ways. And more than
that,
opposed to Him, Himself. Nevertheless, he has written for us His
purpose
and that is that He does desire us, even though He knew a lot of
processing
was going to be needed to bring us into the place where we would cease
from walking contrary and begin to walk in agreement. It is because of
these times of processing that I want to underline this entire message
with this thought: He does not forget you during it. He has not
forsaken
you. He has not left you. He is with you and He is for you.
To begin: God told Israel,
"And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I
will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I
will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your
children,
and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways
shall be desolate" Leviticus 26:21-22.
We see that, right here, God
told Israel that if they walked contrary to Him, He would walk,
contrary
to them and He would bring certain things upon their lives to make
them
cease from walking contrary to Him. Notice that He said,
"I'll bring you seven
times more plagues according to your sins, I'll send wild beasts among
you, [you could just as well say demons] and they will rob you of your
children and destroy your cattle and make you few in number."
Think about our nation
today.
Our homes have been robbed, children disappear every day, the nation is
in turmoil and we could certainly apply some of these truths to the
situations
of today. He goes on to say,
"And if ye will not be
reformed by me [in other words, He sent these things to reform them) by
these things, but will walk contrary unto me; [notice this] Then I will
also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times f or
your sins ... And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk
contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and
1, even 1, will chastise you seven times for your sins" (Verses
23-24,
27-28).
We see that whenever Israel
would walk contrary to God, God Himself would walk contrary to them.
So,
you have two forces at odds with each other.
If you are like me, when you
think of that which is contrary, you think of Galatians 5:17,
"[that] the flesh
lusteth
against the Spirit
We have all been in the
place
where we have found ourselves rebelling against God. It also says that
not only does the flesh lust against the Spirit, “but ... the
Spirit [lusteth] against the flesh...”
In other words, the Spirit
has a desire. The Spirit is not passive. The Spirit has a desire for
holiness,
for purity and for righteousness, and it is contrary to fleshly desire.
Right here we see that God, in His initial dealings with man, said if
you will walk contrary to Me, then I will walk contrary to you and
these
forces will resist each other; the force of rebellion working in man
resisting
God and God turning Himself from man in contrariness to evil. The real
problem is man does not desire God. Man will never walk in agreement
with
God on his own. If we were to be left there, with no hope of a further
reality, then there might never have been peace between God and man.
Yet,
even in all of this, there is a promise: *To order your copy of
"God's Desire" by Peter Demetris simply E-mail:
pastorpeterd@comcast.net return |
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