Several weeks ago I shared with my small group that I had felt, through prayers that God wanted to lead me to deeper waters. At the time they questioned what I meant, I answered tentatively what I thought it meant, but today God revealed the real answer to my prayers in an unexpected way. After work I planted myself routinely at a local café and started to write my daily journal entry, while writing I was listening to Leonard Ravenhill. I had several of his messages on my iPod and they were slowly clicking through one by one in alphabetical order.
I was passively listening while at the same time reading from other books and writing in my journal. But after a while I couldn’t help but focus on what I was hearing, I just sat back, listening and even found myself voicing Amen along with what Mr. Ravenhill’s teaching. I started to jot things down in my journal that I was hearing… each of them clearly applicable to my current spiritual life. The last hour or and a half I’ve spent writing them out to share. I felt a very strong conviction that what I was listening to was true to my life. I was so blessed. When I checked what the name of the sermon was I knew instantly that God was speaking to me about my spiritual roadmap, the title of the sermon was ‘Deeper Waters.’ I took encouragement from the fact that Peter changed so radically with Pentecost, and I now know that I need to pray for my own personal Pentecost experience; I’m sick and tired of backsliding! [In retrospect this post is very ‘I’ focused, Sorry!]
From ‘Deeper Waters’ a sermon by Leonard Ravenhill.
[These are all clipped and cut to show how I was being led.]
… You see, one thing about the sanctified life, it surely demands separation from the world, the flesh and the devil in every way. Look what it’s going to cost. What are you suggesting; it cost nothing for Jesus to come from heaven? … Where in God’s name is is the separation, ‘come out and touch not the unclean thing.’ …
… I want to know about the man’s character. You see that’s all God is after in your life. That’s why I said you can be sanctified holy. It’s your character he’s after. Now, now charisma is all right. But charisma without character equals zero, nothing… I’m not interested. …
… You say, I, uh ‘Mr. Ravenhill, can you tell me what really… uh, give me a definition of really… of really being filled with the spirit. What is the spirit filled life?’ Well number one you’re easy to live with. … Isn’t that the truth of it? …
… We’re to be sanctified and meet for the master’s use the word of God says… This sanctified life… We get confused about it because you see, people, when we talk about holiness of life they think… well watch you can’t be faultless. Well maybe you can’t but on the other hand you can cure a lot of faults you have. …
… Let’s say about the sanctified life, look, it is spiritual maturity, that’s what it is. And spiritual maturity is number one, it is a crisis and it is a process. Now I outline for you from the word of God, to substantiate my argument, I outlined the beginning of this epistle to the Thessalonians all these qualifications they had; electory with god, and much assurance, and missionary hearted, and having joined the holy ghost and suffering … and yet despite all of those amazing qualifications which would make them saints in our eyes. The Apostle says ‘I’m still praying the very God of peace sanctify you holy.’ And to show it’s not possible, impossible, in the next verse he says ‘faithful is He that calleth you who also will do it.’ Now, so sanctification is a crisis after a born-again experience. …
‘… purifying their hearts by faith.’ You don’t find Peter backsliding after Pentecost. His heart was pure.
… A fellow said to me, ‘you see that man … God marvelously saved him.’ Somebody said to his wife, ‘it must be very different living at your house now with your husband… isn’t it wonderful?’ The woman thought for a moment and said, ‘Let me put it this way; his habits have changed, but his disposition hasn’t.’ Now sanctification changes the disposition. Justification is legal; it changes my standing with God. Adoption changes my relationship; I’m brought into his family. Regeneration works on my heart. Sanctification again, you see, we’ve separated them unfortunately, they’re two sides of the same coin. The argument of the holiness people is that the children of Israel were in Egypt, when they were in Egypt… This is a fantastic thing, listen, I only just discovered this about two weeks ago… It hit me just as you say, like a two-by-four. … When the children of Israel were in Egypt; poor, lonely, despised, forgotten people… Here they were in Egypt. For argument let’s make it this way: here’s Egypt, here’s the Promised Land God wants them to have. They were in Egypt for four hundred years, and yet God never gave them a tabernacle, he never gave them a priest, He never gave them a revelation. God wasn’t going to set up his tabernacle in lousy, filthy, dirty, immoral Egypt. Come out and be separated. And yet somehow we think that we can just ask God to baptize us with the spirit, make us a missionary, when I am plagued inside with uncleanness, with vile temper, with secret lust, with ambition, with pride, with anger, God doesn’t use polluted things. See so many people can’t fight the good fight of faith; we don’t wrestle against principalities and powers… because we’re wrestling with problems in side all the time that we should have gotten rid of years ago. They had to come out of Egypt, but when they got out of Egypt, God said, ‘Now look, I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you a tabernacle, I’ll give you a priesthood, I’ll give you the message of redemption.’ But he didn’t give them a thing for four hundred years. That must have been a heart brake. Now look everybody here, whether I teach or someone else. If you all sat under the same teaching for the next four years you won’t be all as mature in four years because you don’t have any ears, so you can’t hear. Some of you can hear but you have a stubbornness.
Listen for yourself and be blessed!
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Last night I made my near weekly rounds of Half Priced books in the University District. There are other bookstores in the University District with more extensive sections of religious books, but I’ve been very lucky finding gems at this shop. I got my copy of ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ for 32 cents, and a copy of Spurgeon’s ‘All of Grace’ for 25 cents. Last night I was on a mission to get a copy of Oswald Chambers’ ‘My Utmost for His Highest’ for a friend who doesn’t have it, when I saw it.