So often God does something to us, gives something to us or even allows us to experience something and it is wonderful. Among spirit-filled Christianity, this is not uncommon at all. (Of course, others want no experiences and get want they want - no experiences.) The problem we face, those of us who have God-experiences, is that we don't always do what we should with what we have been given. I don't think God gives us an experience just so we can say we had an experience. Every move of God on a large or small scale, and every experience we have as individuals, are meant to be jump-starts, or course corrections, to help us walk in the ways pleasing to the Lord. If we have an experience, but do not learn to walk in what God has revealed, soon we only have faded memories. And, we will say with sad voices "the move is over". Or, we will look backward and arrogantly say "been there, done that".
Bev and I have been privileged to experience so much of God in the last forty years. We have moved, just as God promised, from "glory to glory". We have experienced wonderful things of God. We have always sought to understand how to walk in what God was revealing in each new level of glory. Here is how I came to an understanding that I should do that. As a young boy, I received Holy Ghost baptism but no one told me how to walk in the Spirit and be filled again and again. I had to learn it much later. And, I felt cheated. I spoke in tongues the night I received but it was years later before I did it again. I was taught that if it happened once that was all that mattered. So, years went by and all I had was a good memory. Oh, I had the theology, as did so many others, that I would speak in tongues (again), "if the spirit moved me". Of course, He never moved me again. He was waiting for me to walk in what He had already moved and given. Then, in the '60's, I finally realized I was being cheated. I realized that I could be filled again and again. I realized that I could speak in tongues at will. I had been given something wonderful and I determined I would walk in it and never allow myself to be robbed again.
Recovering what was mine was a matter of determining to walk in what was mine. I had to train my flesh and mind to cooperate. I had to train myself to drink of the Spirit. I had to train myself to yield my tongue. And, at first, it wasn't easy. Disciplining the mind, the emotions, the body, the tongue is not an easy thing, no matter the subject. But, I did it. I trained myself and now I pray in tongues more than I do in English. It is the language of God and of my spirit in communion with God. In other words, when all this happened to me, it was quite an experience. I will never forget it. But, I had to learn to walk in it. And, that took training.
I have learned, from that time forward, to not be cheated out of the walk with God I am to have. When Bev and I experienced the wonderful praise teachings of the sixties and seventies, we heard praise was an act of the will and we willed ourselves to praise. We willed our body to cooperate in lifting hands, dancing, shouting, singing, etc., and sometimes it was a fight to get the body and soul to cooperate, but we did it. Now, we can't stop doing it. We walk in praise. When hilarious joy hit us, the first thing I started doing was to search the word to see what to do with this joy. I wanted to know how to walk in it. The intitial experience was awesome, as were subsequent ones, as they were for others around us during that time. Yet, many of those folks have long since lost that joy while we have not. Our experiences, compared to others were not better or worse. The difference is that we learned to walk in the joy, not just view it as something that happened to us. We asked God what to do with it and with His voice and His word, He said "rejoice". That is an over-arching mommand in our covenant with God. We are to do it always and evermore, and even when persecuted we are to rejoice and leap for joy. Rejoicing is a way of walking with God. You must yield the emotion of joy, the sound of laughter in order to consistenttly walk in true joy.
When we look at what God is revealing only as an occurrence, a happening, we make it insignificant and it soon becomes a faded memory. Our walk with God settles back into whatever it was before and we remain unchanged. For us, every move of God we have experienced, we are still in. We live it. We walk in it, having learned that is why it happened was to correct and enhance our Christian walk. God is continuously correcting our course, adding to us qualitites that please Him. We have listened as others say this or that move of God is over and we are saddened. We know that is not really true. Oh, the things of God temper out, smooth out, however you might say it, but they are still strong in us if we have learned to walk in them. We went through the praise move of the '60's and still praise. We went through the deliverance move and we still cast out devils. We went through the joy move and we still rejoice with unspeakable joy.
Much of the secret of walking in the things of God, things He has made real to you, is found in the word "yield". God may jump start us with a big touch, a big experience, but then if we are going to continue in it, we have to learn to "yield". This is how you train yourself to walk in the way of the Lord. We are to yield ourselves as on alive from the grave. We are to yield the members of our body as instruments of righteousness. We are to be renewed in our mind and thoughts. And, to whom we yield ourselves to, we become servants. If you want to speak in tongues again, after your initial experience, you, at some point are going to have to yield your tongue and will to do it. If you want to walk in great joy, you are going to have to yield your joy, your laugh, your "Ha,ha, ho, ho, hee, hee". If you are going to really praise God consistently, we are going to have will to do it, on good and bad days.
The goal is to take what God does, apply it to our life and way of life and do it until we "become". Success is when we no longer describe ourselves as having "done", but as being what we do. I don't praise. I am a praiser. I don't just worship. I am a worshipper. I don't just talk in tongues. I am a tongues talker. I don't just rejoice. I am a rejoicer. It is like learning to swim. When you are learning, it seems impossible, but when you learn how, you can't not swim. You are a swimmer. I don't just drink of the Spirit. I am a drinker. I have yielded, training myself, until I become what I do. That is the secret to being changed by the glory of the Lord. Each successive glory brings opportunity the be changed.
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