Category: Hearing His Voice Today

The Way into Life

The Way into Life

“Holding the mystery of the faith
in a pure conscience”
1 Timothy 3:9

The conscience is a great gift of God to us. It is the vital link between the human soul and God’s Spirit. The deeper an individual goes in their relationship with God the greater will be the diligence required to keep one’s conscience pure and clean before God. Foolish is the one who thinks they can ignore the voice of God within and still grow in their understanding of the mystery and wonder of God in their own life. If we have wronged a brother or sister and do not seek to rectify the situation, let us not be deceived into thinking our life in God will prosper! The conscience is the sounding board in our walk with God. Those who truly seek to know Him must ever be sensitive to this inward light of God. An obedient heart keeps the conscience clean. When there is a disturbance in the conscience, true men and women of faith will do all in their power to keep this mirror of God clean.

“Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart,
and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned”
1 Timothy 1:5

They who defile their conscience and yet seek to portray faith and godliness walk in the hypocrisy of religion. Their faith is not genuine, and the defilement of the conscience contaminates their relationship with God. A pure heart is one which is ever cognizant of the status of the conscience.

“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift”
Matthew 5:23-24

Supposing we can worship God in truth while allowing offences to remain unattended is the horror of religion. Such worship is carnal, hypocritical and unacceptable before God. The true heart will respond to the inner voice of the conscience. It requires an intensity of heart to walk in the truth of these things. It requires humility to seek out our brother and sister in order to obey God within the sanctum of our own hearts.

“First be reconciled to your brother” *

How little we comprehend the fact that our relationship with our brother is paramount to our relationship with God. We are the Body of Christ and if I set my brother at aught, in God’s eyes I am doing it unto Him. The growth of any individual in God will be measured by the sensitivity of our responses to this Holy gift of God in us. People may sear and desensitize their conscience by misusing the doctrines of grace. Make no mistake; those who do not obey the conscience will end up in an unfruitful and shipwrecked life, and a darkness from which there is no escape.

A few years ago, I came to understand a simple truth:

“Those who refuse to deal with their past,
will have no future growth in God”

Spiritual Stagnancy is the fruit of disobedience. 

We cannot ignore the voice of God in our conscience and expect His mercies to lead us on into a greater knowing of Him. The life of a true disciple in Christ is one of continual transactions with Him who is true. My sensitivity today is the door through which I enter into the New Things He has for me.

“forgive us our debts AS we also forgive our debtors”
Matthew 6:9

May God make known to us the simplicity of this truth. We may hold on to the doctrines of our forgiveness in God; in reality we are forgiven to the same extent that we forgive others! Forgiveness, like all the precious gifts of God, requires our participation. As with forgiveness, so is mercy… “Blessed are the merciful for they shall OBTAIN mercy”. The religion of men requires no real cost; we can defile our conscience with the very truths of God and somehow think we are in right standing with Him! (Please read the full context of Matthew 5:23-24).

There is a cost but also a great blessing associated with the keeping of a clear conscience. True disciples know the benefits of walking in the Way of Truth. Such things are not optional for those who desire to know Him in Spirit and in Truth.

“And herein do I exercise myself,
to have always a conscience void of offence
toward God, and toward men”
Acts 24:16
* Note: There will be instances where there will be unresolved issues, but the true disciple will do all they can to facilitate reconciliation. The conscience will be clear when God is at rest in the heart. Christ died for the reconciliation of the world, but men and women must respond to His gracious offer. Others must respond to that same offer from us. A clear conscience gives us the ability of “having done all to stand” (Eph. 6:13) in matters relating to spiritual warfare. A clean Conscience is vital for victory. Christ did all and gave all; it is incumbent upon His disciples to do the same.

Brian Troxel

The Day of Decisions

A Day of Decisions

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,
and to overcome them…”
Revelation 13:7

In these last days The Cross of Christ will be much more than a teaching; to the saints it will be experiential. There is far too much frivolity in the popular “gospel” of today. Men and women pin their hopes on politics and wealth; scriptures are misconstrued to conclude that we have been called to worldly prosperity and influence. Read this scripture again and let its truth sink deep into your spirit. Let it bring clarity to the things that lie before us.

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints,
and to overcome them…”
Revelation 13:7

It was given unto whom?

“And I stood upon the sand of the sea,
and saw a beast rise up out of the sea…”
Revelation 13:1

The Beast is rising in our day. They who have ears to hear and discerning eyes to see know that the day is upon us. John hears and sees this phenomenon unfold before him. We are clearly told what is soon to be:

“And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him,
whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb…”
Revelation 13:8

John then hears a stern and powerful exhortation:

“If ANY man have an ear, let him hear”
Revelation 13:9

Can we truly hear? The foolishness of empty words will cease. Let His people be under no illusions; a time of great testing is coming upon us. It is a day to “arm ourselves”; not with carnal weapons but with the spiritual armour and graces of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh,
arm yourselves likewise with the same mind:
for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin…”
1 Peter 4:1

Jesus is the Way! He overcame this world and the principalities of spiritual wickedness through sacrifice, not carnal warfare! It is a Day to arm ourselves with “the same mind” which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is time to cease from the carnality of politics and turn unto Him alone who can prepare us for our day of sacrifice. Our victory in the days ahead will lie in our being “hid” in Christ, where His mind, heart and Spirit becomes ours. We dare not face this day unprepared. The “cross” IS the power of God. It is as we take on his armour today that we will be given the ability to stand in the evil day, having DONE all.

“Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having DONE all, to stand”
Ephesians 6:13

There is a large segment of the church who are becoming zealous for political power rather than the true power of God. To them the cross is foolishness and represents a weakness rather than the power that it is. The carnal mind despises the Cross of Christ and all they who think such things are in the throes of “perishing”. It is to those who are being saved that the cross holds the true hope and power of God.

“For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;
but unto us which are being (the Greek Tense) saved it is the power of God”
1 Corinthians 1:18

The lines of demarcation are being drawn; this Day will separate the wheat from the tares, the true from the false, and those who serve God from those who serve themselves.

The Cross has always been the threshing instrument in the hands of our God.

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision:
for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision”
Joel 3:14

The Day of the Lord is upon us. There is a deep valley through which His people must pass and where decisions will be made. The flood is coming and the foundation of every man’s house will be tested for the day will declare the verity of everyman’s work.

“Every man’s work shall be made manifest:
for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire;
and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is”
1 Corinthians 3:13

(continued)

Brian Troxel

Prophetic Light – Andrew Jukes

Quote for Today

“What the Church now wants is prophetic light—light, that is, to know God’s present will, His will as to existing things—whether this is ‘a time to build’ or ‘a time to throw down.’ No study of the letter of the dispensation will give this. No study of the old law would have shown that in Hezekiah’s day the right thing was to ‘defend Jerusalem;’ in Zedekiah’s, to forsake it and ‘fall to the Chaldeans;’ and in a still later day to ‘flee to the mountains.’ No mere letter of the Gospel will show the Church’s real need to-day. Direct prophetic light is needed—men to whom the Word of the Lord yet comes expressly. And yet these are the men whom the Church always rejects”
– Andrew Jukes (1880)