RELATIONSHIP
THE HIGHEST CALL

“And he said, Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is true to me in all my house: With him, I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings; and with his eyes, he will see the form of the Lord”
NUMBERS 12:6-7

While much of Christendom glories in dreams, visions, and supernatural experiences there is something that is much higher; it is called relationship. We live in a day of many voices and as the scripture declares they are not without significance (1 Corinthians 14:10). They all seek men’s attention and clamor for the hearts and minds of God’s people. Spiritual Gifts are necessary for the building up of the Body of Christ. We are exhorted to seek and desire them, but let us recognize that they are a MEANS to God’s end. They are not in themselves the goal of a true child of God. The purpose of all true expressions of the Holy Spirit is to bring us to the KNOWING of God Himself. While the Lord will speak to some by dreams and visions God’s highest call is to find men who KNOW Him face to face. Relationship with the Most High God is beyond understanding; His presence transcends knowledge and gifts. How HE longs for His own to see and understand His purposes.

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom:
and the knowledge of the holy is understanding”
PROVERBS 9:10

The “…knowing of the Holy is understanding”. True understanding brings men and women to the realization of what Holy is, what it means, and what it conveys to us of the “Fear of the Lord” and the Glory and Wonder of His Presence. It takes very little observation to see the state of the “church” today and lament the utter lack of the sense of the mystery of Holiness. While we have much in terms of “gifts” operating in our midst, and no end of men and women speaking forth great words and prophetic utterances, and the telling of dreams and visions*, we have become much like the Church of God at Corinth. She excelled in the operation of the gifts (1 Corinthians 1:7) and yet was filled with sexual immorality, carnality, and sectarianism (I am of Paul, or Apollos, Peter… etc). Paul called her carnal.

“For ye are yet carnal:
for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions,
are ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one saith,
I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?”
1 CORINTHIANS 3:3-4

Spiritual gifts are not a reflection of a man’s relationship with God. They are gifts given because of the merits and mercy of God as revealed in Christ Jesus. They are necessary for the building up of the Body of Christ, not ourselves.

Relationship with God, as we see here revealed in Numbers, for Moses was based on his faithfulness to God. Moses never placed his relationship with men above God. His concern was for God’s Glory and God’s purposes. Because of this, God did not speak with Moses in dreams, visions, and riddles. He spoke to him as a friend face to face. Such is the depth of relationship that HE has called us unto. While many are satisfied* with the reading of books, listening to sermons, religious works, and attending conferences there is a call of God in that “still small voice” to turn aside unto the seeking of Him. For those who seek shall find that HE IS COME to bring us from the shadows of service into the brightness and glory of a growing relationship with Him.

“Ye are my friends, if ye DO whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants;
for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth:
but I have called you friends;
for all things that I have heard of my Father
I have made known unto you”
JOHN 15:14-15

Friendship with God is costly for it requires obedience which is far beyond religious adherence to a doctrine or teaching. It beckons us to better things, it draws us away from the broad paths into the narrow gate, and it fills us with the promise and hope of knowing our God as HE is. It is in the receiving of His Words, hiding them deep within our hearts and applying what we hear into the common course of our life, that we begin to touch the hem of the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God.

“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God”
PROVERBS 2:1-5

Ω

Through the medium of obeying
We grow through the shadows
Of thought and form
Into the growing light
Of the seeing His Face
And the knowledge of His Heart

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* While these things have value (depending upon their authenticity), if they do not bring us into the “knowledge of the Holy” their value is suspect in terms of all that God has purposed. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord“

Brian Troxel