“And they having prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God with boldness.”
Acts 4:31 (LITV)
The More of God
They prayed, and the place was shaken. They prayed together (in unity), and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost! They had already received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, but this was a fresh outpouring. Regardless of what we have received, there is always more. Whatever may be our current understanding of the Body of Christ… there is more. No matter where we are in Him, there is more!
In our indifference, we settle for the ordinary and think nothing of the more. If the prayer of Jesus, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” does not stir the heart, if our hearts are satisfied with less than His manifest presence in our midst, we are short-sighted.
If we are content with the mediocrity of the present and do not feel the press of the Spirit to contend against our slumber in this hour, we have lost the live connection with Him who is ever praying, ever interceding for His Body to arise out of the ashes of our unbelief.
Stirring One Another
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near…”
Hebrews 10:24-25
Many declare they see the “Day drawing near” yet have no passion to meet or to stir one another unto “love and good works.” It is this disconnection from the Spirit of God that reveals the great divide between a living faith and one that is in word only. Faith is the mover of men. It is not static, nor will it leave those who live by its wonder uninvolved in the ministration of His Spirit to all.
Neglect Not the Gifts of the Spirit
“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given
to every man to profit withal.”
1 Corinthians 12:7
This scripture is not a teaching. It is a statement concerning those who live in the Spirit. Those who no longer feel the stirrings of the Spirit to manifest His gifts to His people have lost an abiding in Him. These gracious gifts are given for the building up of His Body. Only those who live in and by His Spirit can feel the pressings and the groanings within to see His Will come to pass.
“My little children, of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you,”
Galatians 4:19
When men and women live outside the governing of the Spirit of God, they are isolated from such passions. Too many in ministry are more concerned with filling their church than seeing the living Christ being “formed” in the hearts of the people of God.
The passion for “more of God” is revealed in those who are more concerned for His Body than they are for themselves. Those who feel the “more of God” cannot linger in unbelief, unmoved and isolated from the travail of the heavens concerning this Day.
Elisha
“And Elisha had become sick with his illness in which he died; and Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept on his face, and said, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and its horsemen!”
2 Kings 13:13 (LITV)
Elisha is on his deathbed, and the King of Israel comes to him lamenting his soon passing. Elisha, unconcerned about his departure, spoke prophetically, urging the King to “take a bow and arrows” and, with the prophet’s hand on his, shoot an arrow Eastward to proclaim Israel’s victory over the Syrians. Such is the heart of those who walk in the Spirit of God.
“And Elisha said to him, ‘Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king’s hands. And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in Aphek until you have made an end of them.”
And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”
2 Kings 13:14-19 (ESV)
Even on his deathbed, Elisha’s whole purpose was caught up in Israel’s walk before God.
Peter
We see Peter facing his own departure, declaring with the same fervor:
“But I deem it right, so long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by a reminder, knowing that the putting off of my tabernacle is soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will also be diligent to cause you always to have memory of these things after my departure.”
2 Peter 1:13-15 (LITV)
As one prominent minister of the Gospel of God proclaimed:
“The apostolic church thought more about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ than about death and heaven. The early Christians were looking, not for a cleft in the ground called a grave but for a cleavage in the sky called Glory.”
– Alexander MacLaren
The true ministers of God are stewards who are concerned about God’s portion in His people and are free from drawing people unto themselves.
Paul prayed for the Church at Ephesus:
“…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, the eyes of your mind having been enlightened, for you to know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…”
Ephesians 1:17-18 (LITV)
Many today want to hear only about their welfare in God. The unction of the Holy Spirit filled Paul to pray that they would receive the “spirit of wisdom and revelation” concerning God’s Call upon us, and that we would be caught up in urging the people of God to live for Him, so that HE would be glorified.
The More of God
The “more of God” is wrapped up in those who seek to stir up God’s people to yield themselves to Him that HE would receive all glory and all honour. Those who live unto themselves are blind to the reality of living for the raising up of His Body. They are concerned only for the few with whom they feel comfortable.
Those who abide in the “love of the Father” seek out every true child of His to be found living in the fullness of Christ.
“Everyone who loves the Father
Loves whoever has been born of Him.”
1 John 5:1 (ESV)
“Religion has never, in any period, sustained itself except by the instrumentality of the tongue of fire. Only where some men, more or less imbued with this primitive power, have spoken the words of the Lord, not with ‘the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth,”‘ have sinners been converted, and saints prompted to a saintlier life.”
— William Arthur
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Without God’s fresh stirrings and outpourings of His Spirit, the church would languish in the dearth of religion.
“Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that He has done, His miracles and the judgments He uttered…”
1 Chronicles 16:11-12 (ESV)
Related Post: Life More Abundantly
Brian Troxel
