From last week...

You must also get the law engraved upon your heart; but where does it all start? It begins with the fear of the Lord; it enables you to be what He called you to be. Without it you are like a man with rubber legs, conquering one area then falling to the next. Without the fear of the Lord, when you get to just a moderate storm, you are screaming and wailing because you don’t have the strength to stand. Why? Because you don’t have the iron of God, that comes with the fear of the Lord, to hold you up in the midst of the storm. It is your strength in the storm. Why do you fear the storms? Because you fear man and that is because you don’t fear God. You fear what man can and will do to you. Without the fear of God, you fear what circumstances can promote and provoke. When you have the fear of God as Moses, Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah and John the Beloved walked in, it becomes iron in your bones, and you can withstand any wind, no matter how great they become. The winds are blowing, getting stronger and coming again and again because we are at the end of time. If anyone tells you any different, they do not understand the seasons of God. It’s going to get harder and harder. How do you stand? The fear of God! Pray for it, fast for it and plead until God imparts it in your heart and then believe everything will change.

If you lived the days of charismatic Christianity, you would pop out of them so fast and move immediately into what God is doing now. You would not stay in the shallow places—since you have the fear of the Lord you are ready to wade the deeper waters. Why do you think in the book of Ezekiel the man had to go in up to His ankles, then up to his knees, and finally his loins? Because it took an impartation from God for him to handle the deeper waters of truth, and it is in truth that we have liberty. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a shallow Christian. I refuse to settle for half of what I could have in this life in God.

Why in the world would I ever want to tromp around in the kingdom of the world when I can tromp around in the kingdom of heaven? Why would I choose to stay in the world when I can come to know my future home here and have it become a part of me and me a part of it? Why do I crave intimacy with things that do not matter when I can have intimacy with God? Why do I look to things that will break me, bruise me, wound me, weaken me, and cause me to live in instability when He promises: I will give you stability if you will just make yourself Mine? If you want to stay in the lower places, that is your privilege, and He will allow you to do so, and I won’t condemn you for your decision. However, the day is coming, and it is close at hand then you will regret that decision more than anything you’ve regretted in your Christian walk. This is the day to press into God. Press in with all your heart and He will keep you stable under the shadow of His wing. It is here that He will protect you from the things that are coming. Go to that place; go for the knowledge of God.

The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. He is a good God. What He wants to give is so high, but our flesh has to die. The Bible says: No flesh can glory in My presence. The flesh has to die to go high. This is not an easy commission. I mean, think about it; I’m standing at the foot of the cross calling you to come and let the Lord hang you on this thing [the cross]. Images of Christ, His flesh torn from the lashes, thorns on His head, nails in His body, blood pouring out for all man and I’m saying, “Come, come!” He said: Those who would be My disciple must come to the cross.

Where is the call? The flesh must die to go high, and God is calling you to go high. He has picked you out; handpicked you just for Himself. He is giving you a personal invitation tonight to go high, will you answer it? It sounds like it could be a painful journey, but there is no other walk like it. If I had it all to do over again, I’d walk the same path. The Via de la Rosa—the path of the cross-- there is nothing else quite like it and your reward, the relationship you enter into, far surpasses the price you pay.

[Prayer]

Father, I am trembling inside by the deposits of Your Word you placed within me tonight. Lord, You pronounce a special blessing for those who tremble at Your Word. I pray that You will give such a heart to every person here who is willing, that they will tremble at Your Word. Lord, Your Word is weighty and powerful; sharper than any two-edged sword cutting the sunder between soul and spirit—exposing, sifting and judging the intentions of the mind and heart. You see what we do not see and know what we do not know, but Lord, when our hearts hunger to know what You know, and we begin to pant after truth like the deer after the water brook, You meet us there. I’m asking that You will touch the people in this room—touch them and awaken in them the quest to have the fear of God inside of them as a pillar that they may have all that You created them to bear. It is a foundational pillar—maybe the most important. We are called to hate sin and love God with all our mind, heart, soul and strength. And Lord—my heart’s desire is that those here will come to hate sin as You hate it and love You with a love only You can put in the heart. May you bend the mind to love You with all of our mind—that we can yield the heart to Your workmanship until we love You with all our heart Lord.

David said: create in me an undivided heart Lord. Unite my heart to fear and honor Your name. No longer being pulled here and there, chasing after the things of the world. The fear of the Lord imparted into us gives us the wisdom to want and to love You with all of our soul and strength. If I only have the strength to do one thing today, Lord, let it be to love You completely. There is a place in God where He consumes the waiting heart and soul. Anyone who wants to go into the heart of God must go through this place where consumption takes place. I must decrease that You may increase. Paul said that he lived to know You and the wonder of Your person. Please put in the hearts a wonder for Your person—that we will find a secret place to pray and spend time in front of the Word instead of the television and come to truly know You.

Lord, you are beautiful—Your face is all we seek; in Your precious name. Amen.

In His Amazing Love,

Nita Johnson