Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 57. We'll go all the way over to the middle of verse 13, then we'll go through 15 and perhaps stop there for a moment.

Father, I thank you for your incredible goodness. We don't know you, Lord. You want us to know you, but we don't know you. Your presence is so beautiful, it's so complete. It completes us in a way that nothing else can, satisfies our hunger and our longing in ways that nothing else can. When You come, we know that we are before the Ruler of every living thing. And what we see in You is authority, love, patience, comfort, holiness. Everything we need that You're so willing to impart is standing before us. So we thank you, Lord, for who You are and what You are, and what you so desire to make of us. In your precious name, Amen.

I have to admit, tonight I feel so very tearful, and not in a bad way, not in a bad sense, but in a very good sense. The more I walk in this place that is going to be before us, the more I yearn for the Church to walk there, because it's so beautiful. It's so beautiful. It's so wonderful. It's everything you could ever hope for it to be and so, so much more.

So let's start here: “But he who takes refuge in me shall possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain [Zion, also the heavenly inheritance in the spiritual Zion]. And the word of One shall go forth, Cast up, cast up, prepare the way! Take up the stumbling block out of the way [of the spiritual return] of my people. For thus says the high and lofty one—He Who inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, but with him also who is of a thoroughly penitent and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the heart of the thoroughly penitent [bruised with sorrow for sin]." Isaiah 57:13b–15 (AMPC)

That tells us so much of what He longs for our relationship to be. If you've never been a visitor to this high and holy place, you don't know how beautiful, how wonderful it is. It speaks things into your heart, into your soul, into your life that can be life changing. I say, “Can be,” because if we follow the admonition that's being given to us, to dwell there is to dwell there in Him. At first with Him but then, in that place, He begins to bring you into a new land of discovery, a new place of discovery, a new understanding of your future and of the future that He has planned.

This is a place to covet. You can let go of everything you might covet in the earth; that would be wise. But to walk with Him, to live in Him, to live with Him in this holy place is something to be highly prized, greatly coveted. May I add the word there: “humbly coveted.” I know that people teach, and it is scriptural, to come boldly into the throne of grace but it's not talking about brashness, it's talking about a boldness of faith and not human fear. If we attempt to come in a brash spirit telling God what He needs to do, you're going to find that you're going to walk away feeling very discouraged because it accomplishes nothing.

The first word that must guide your feet up that mountain and to that holy place must be humility. Humility before God and humility born of the Spirit of Christ. There are many Christians that think they can go to the Bible and, literally, tell God what He's supposed to do, what He needs to do—tell God what you think. Whenever I say that, I always think of this really kind of cute story: I had a friend and I was trying to teach her how to enter into the higher places of prayer. So, one day she was praying and she said to the Lord, “Well, if you want my opinion…” and He interrupted her before she could say another word. And He said, “I really don't. Your opinion is worth nothing to Me. What you need to be discussing with Me is what My opinion is.” Well, she was greatly humbled by that because she had servants, many servants, and she was accustomed to telling her servants what to do. She didn't understand, I suppose.

What we are when we come before the Lord God Almighty, we're not only His children but we're His servants too. So that was an important lesson, and it's not always a fun lesson. The truth is, some of the lessons we are learning in God, at first, are not fun. But if we will obey Him, seek to understand Him, understand His lessons, understand how different His speech is than human speech, understand how different His ways are than human ways and learn to love His speech and His ways, then they become beautiful. He purifies us so that they can become beautiful. We find ourselves, more and more, longing to know His ways, to know the way He talks and thinks and feels. We desire to know above all things. And when our heart is finally settled in on that place where He really is Lord, it's no longer just talk but He has become Lord. And all of your directions come from Him, either by His Spirit in your spirit or through the Word, where He is saying emphatically, “This is the next step.” And when we can find joy in His interest in our life, everything changes.

To be continued next week…

In Him,

Nita