Preparing the Bride of Christ For His Return By Janet Van Hierdan
A Tale of Two Brides is now available on Amazon.com:
Friday, September 25, 2015
Another
Coffee Break:
A Revelation of God's Glory, Part 6
September 18, 2015
So
far in the past week, we've laid the foundation for understanding a fundamental
principle of our relationship with the Lord in the picture of being literally
created for him. Just as Eve was taken
out of Adam's side -- and Jesus is referred to as "the Last Adam" --
we also have been literally taken out of Jesus' side. We will get into this picture more, possibly
today, and maybe not until next week, but let's return to the prophetic cry of
the Lord as it was given by Jeremiah.
We
wrapped up last week by saying that when Jeremiah delivered his prophetic Word
to Israel, the Lord was literally crying out because of the search that was
going on for His people, desiring to be joined once again to that special
people He had chosen for Himself. They
were the reciprocal of the Lord in the earth -- and they had gone astray,
seeking after other gods.
Consider,
then, the prophetic parable that Jesus shares in the 25th Chapter of Matthew as
he talks about the ten virgins. In this
parable, the ten virgins are supposed to be a picture of a people prepared as a
bride-to-be and betrothed to the Lord.
Matthew
25:1-12: Then shall the kingdom of
heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to
meet the bridegroom. And five of them
were wise, and five were foolish.
They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with
them: But the wise took oil in their
vessels with their lamps. While the
bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
And at midnight there
was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed
their lamps. And the foolish said unto
the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so;
lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell,
and buy for yourselves. And while they
went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to
the marriage: and the door was shut.
Afterward came also
the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto
you, I know you not. Watch therefore,
for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
Before
we get too far into this parable, let's define some terms used here in the KJV
as "wise" and "foolish" from the Greek words used in the
original text.
The
word used to describe the "wise" virgins is the Greek, phronimos, and it comes from
a root word, phren, which means: to rein in, to curb,
to discipline one's minds and feelings.
The word, phronimos, by extension,
means: to be thoughtful, discreet, cautious and practical. There's a whole lot here in this description
of the "wise" virgins, and we'll break this out momentarily.
In
contrast to "wise," the Greek uses the term, moros. We get our English word, "moron,"
from this term, but its true definition is: thoughtless,
imprudent, without forethought or wisdom; empty, useless. J. H. Thayer adds to this definition, one who thinks he can operate outside of God's
wisdom; one who neglects and/or despises the sozo offered.
OK,
so far? Good! Then, let's put these terms in the context of
Jesus' parable.
What
was it that defined the "wise virgins?" Let's see if we can enumerate what the
Bridegroom was looking for in His betrothed.
(1) They had their lamps lit, and an ample supply
of oil. Throughout the Word, the lamps
have been a picture of passion and pursuit of relationship. In Psalm 119:105, David makes the statement,
"Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." That passion with God tells you where you are
with Him, and it lets you know (by revelation) where you are going with Him.
The
oil is a picture of the anointing that comes by and through Holy Spirit. One does not come by that anointing
carelessly and heedlessly. It comes by
being in His presence -- NOT occasionally, NOT when one just feels like it, NOT
because you want something from Him -- because you love Him. You WANT to be with Him. You desire to KNOW Him. You crave what He wants. Your purpose is to know His very heartbeat,
to feel what He feels. Your aim is to be
everything that fulfills Him, everything that completes Him.
(2) The ample supply of oil -- the extra beyond
what was needed for the moment -- indicates that the "wise virgins"
were prepared for the possibility that the Bridegroom might not come when they
expected Him, and that they could not allow their passion and pursuit of His
presence to wane during any potential delay.
(3) There is an extraordinary aspect of this
extra oil that often gets missed in the reading of Jesus' parable. That oil cost them dearly! It cost them -- in many instances -- their
reputation, their occupations, their friends, their resources ..... all that
might have been dear to them in the natural!
One thing they absolutely had been required to set aside was their
plans, their reasoning, their thoughts, their doctrines and ideas. They had come to the place where it just didn't
matter what it cost them; having the Bridegroom's heart, having His best wasn't
just important: it surpassed every other consideration!
(4) When the announcing cry sounded, "Behold
the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him," the Greek text uses the term, kosmeo, to describe the
virgins "trimming" their lamps.
In fact, this term, kosmeo, literally means: to put in proper order, to decorate (both literally and
figuratively), to garnish, to adorn.
[We get our modern English word, cosmetics, from this Greek word.]
Again
we get a picture of the "wise virgins" who put their lamps and the
burning flame "in proper order," who "adorned and
garnished" themselves with their passion for the Bridegroom. You see, they were ready for Him! They may have nodded off in the delay
incurred before His coming but they knew He was glorious; every fiber and cell
of their existence and preparation for Him was that they would be an adornment
for that Glory.
I've
probably just scratched the surface of this so far, but let's consider the
"foolish virgins." Remember
the Greek term that describes them? Moros. Thoughtless, imprudent, without forethought
or wisdom.
(1) The sad commentary on these virgins is that
they were virgins. They started off
right! They had been seen by the
Bridegroom as someone desirable, someone with potential, someone with a destiny
who could be a part of His destiny, someone in whom there was passion and
desire.
The
problem was not in how they started, but the fact that they were so sidetracked
by their preconceived notions of when and how He would return for them that
they failed to spend the requisite time in His presence to really get to KNOW
Him, His heart, His desires, His plans, His purposes.
(2) These five "foolish virgins" actually
started off with oil. Their lamps were
lit. They displayed a passionate love
for the Bridegroom. [Let me draw an
analogy here that some folks may take issue with.] As we have noted, the oil is a picture of the
anointing that comes through and by Holy Spirit. It comes by being in His presence.
The
five "foolish virgins" yielded themselves to what we have come to
know as "the baptism of the Holy Spirit." They experienced the initial flow as Holy
Spirit took their yielded tongues and began to speak through them with the
tongues and languages of men and of angels.
The problem was that they stopped there.
They treated the experience as a goal or an objective to be reached in
their preparatory walk with the Lord instead of a gateway to intimacy. They received enough oil in their lamps to
have a flame burning with passionate love.
(3) Ephesians
5:17-20: Wherefore
be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is
excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Reading
the above passage in Greek can be a hilarious experience, but let me focus on
the express verbiage in the second half of verse 18, but
be filled with the Spirit! The Greek text looks like this: Plerousqe en
Pneumati. Literally translated, it becomes, Be
being (continually) filled and furnished in and by (Holy) Spirit. I'll continue with this translation and
amplification momentarily, but there's no such thing as a one-time experience
of being filled with Holy Spirit. This
is a continuing daily, moment-by-moment, hour-by-hour experience.
Baptism
in the Holy Spirit is an initial immersion which takes place when we yield our
tongues over to His control. He begins
speaking through us with words and languages that go far beyond our learning
and natural reasoning. He shuts down our
minds so that we are not partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil, and causes us to begin eating of the Tree of Life and drinking from the
River of Life. Our minds may be going a
hundred miles a minute, but what is coming out of our mouths has absolutely
nothing whatever to do with whatever is going through our minds. It becomes a gateway to being continually
filled and experiencing a dimension of intimacy with the Lord that is not
available any other way.
I've
said all of that to say this: the "foolish virgins" failed to keep
filling their vessels with the oil of the Spirit. They never really got to KNOW the Bridegroom. He was a figurehead in their life, a goal to
be achieved, a future provider and source of provision, but not someone to know
and be known by at the level of the Spirit.
The concept of what it would cost them to be in that place of
continually being filled was foreign.
Let
me take just a bit more of Ephesians 5 before we move on.
Where
our English translations render the word lalountes (lalountes -- from laleo) as "speaking," in fact
the proper word in the Greek to use if we want to render this as "articulate, reasoned, thought-out speaking" should have
been legountes (legountes -- from lego).
The difference here is that the word lego
is articulate speech, whereas the actual word used, laleo, means: to utter a sound, to
use the tongue or the faculty of speech.
If
you're looking at me cross-eyed, thinking, what
difference does this make, let's be clear!
If I articulate words to you, I'm speaking out of forethought. My words are planned. I have reasoned out what needs to be said.
On
the other hand, if I'm just making sounds, what comes out is what Episcopal
Rector, Dennis Bennett, referred to in his book, NINE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING, as glossolalia, describing his experience of being baptized in
the Holy Spirit. They are words, all
right, but they are words NOT formed from my forethought or reasoning: they are
words in languages that I know nothing about.
What
Paul is saying, therefore, is this: "speaking (or singing) to yourselves
in Psalms (the praise or worship or intercession) written (mostly) by David,
[that which has already been set forth as music with words], hymns (NOT what we
have referred to as "hymns" from the hymnal) -- repetitive,
celebratory short songs or phrases, and spiritual songs [supernatural,
spirit-driven, divine utterances], singing and making melody (the Greek term
is, psallo, which means to pluck or strum on a
stringed instrument) in your heart (the Greek phraseology here is to agree in
your mind with what is coming forth by the Spirit) to the Lord.
Let's
see if we can assemble all of this in a cohesive sentence:
Don't be intoxicated with wine, but intoxicate yourself with the
Spirit, being continually filled and furnished [saturated and satiated] in and
with Holy Spirit, freely allowing your tongue to become His vessel in speaking
and singing to yourself the Psalms, celebratory, repetitive short songs and
phrases, and supernaturally given, Spirit-driven, divine utterances, singing
and playing upon an instrument, agreeing in your mind with what Holy Spirit is
uttering [beyond your natural abilities or learning]. (Ephesians 5:17-18, RAC Translation &
Amplification)
THAT,
folks, is how the five wise virgins kept their passionate and fiery love alive
for the Bridegroom. THAT is how they had
an ample supply of the oil of the Spirit.
There's
one other factor that I will touch on briefly, here, but we will dig into it
more next week. The oil that was used in
the lamps, as well as the oil in the Golden Candlestick in the Tabernacle of
Moses, was an oil which came from a crushing process. It is a picture of the crushing that takes
place in those who have the oil of the Spirit.
That crushing is necessary in us to get rid of all of our carnality so that
the Glory of the Lord can be revealed.
This
picture has a lot to it, and it is germane to the cry of the Lord as revealed
in Jeremiah's prophecy, so let's stop here and pick it up next week.
More
next week.
I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call
takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific). As of Monday, September 14th, our call-in
number has changed to (712)
775-7035. The new Access Code is: 323859#. Our previous conference line experienced
drop-outs and periodic audio quality issues, so this was a needed upgrade!
At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an
environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by
conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific. That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and the access
code is 308640#. We hope to make these gatherings available by
Skype or Talk Fusion before long. If you
miss the live call, you can dial (605) 562-3149, enter the same
access code and listen in later.
Blessings
on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
All Coffee Break articles are
copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting,
copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution
and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available
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Monday, September 21, 2015
Another
Coffee Break:
A Revelation of God's Glory, Part 5
September 11, 2015
The
Glory of the Lord is a promise in the Word, first seen in Abraham, promised to
Moses and the children of Israel, and prophesied by David, Isaiah and
Jeremiah. When Jesus came as the
personification of that Glory, He both prayed and promised that His Glory would
be revealed in a people who were intimate with Him. In today's Coffee Break, and possibly the
next one or two, I'd like to deal with the preparation in us for the revealing
of His Glory as Jesus laid it out, Paul described it, and John was given the
demonstration in Revelation.
The
picture I'm about to draw for you begins in the Garden. It flows throughout the Word, often concealed
in "hidden manna" -- Hebrew metaphors with literally extravagant
depths -- in the Song of Solomon, and Jeremiah's prophecy. It is revealed in Jesus' parables,
demonstrated in Paul's epistles, and wept over in the seventh of the seven
letters to the Ekklesia in Revelation.
Watch!
Genesis
1:26-28: And God said, Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of
the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the
earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.
The
very beginning for all of us was that we were first created in the image and
likeness of the Lord God! Get it? His image!
His likeness! Understand, too,
that when we read, "And God said," the Hebrew word used for God is Elohim. This is the plural of Eloah. The plural usage here designates Father, Son
& Holy Spirit, all working together in harmony, in complete agreement with
each other. Hence, the DNA is the
combined DNA of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
That may seem like a stretch to put it that way, but consider that
Father has His overriding dominion, His authority, His character and
nature. Jesus, on the other hand, has
the nature, the character, the very essence of the relationship between Father
and Son. Holy Spirit has the makeup, the
personality, the very nature which imparts, which teaches, which broods and
meditates and infuses the nature and character and essence of Father and Son
combined.
It
takes a revelation from Holy Spirit to get this picture, but it is a critical
picture. We were created in the image,
the likeness, the character, the makeup, the authority, the very essence of all
THREE IN ONE!!! Therein lies the mystery
of the Glory!
Notice
the very first declaration God makes over man:
"And let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth,
and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."
There's
a word for you -- dominion! It comes
from the Hebrew word, radah, which means: to rule over, to tread down, to
subjugate; metaphorically: to take possession of, to
possess oneself of; and in lesser usage: to teach, to bring correction to, to discipline and bring
under subjection.
We
know without hesitation that absolute authority and dominion resides in Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. The authority and
dominion that resided in Adam and Eve was nothing shy of stupendous. Think about it for a minute. Adam was given the responsibility to imbue
every single one of some 50,000 species of animals, birds, reptiles, etc., with
their character, their nature and their personality. And he did it simply by speaking and
declaring over them. "And it was
so!"
But
that's only a tiny part of the picture.
Adam was first created. For some
unspecified period of time, he was alone.
Here's where it gets really interesting.
Adam had no counterpart, no "other self" with whom he could
share all that he was. Yet completeness
is in Father God, completeness is in Jesus -- OOPS, almost (but that's where
we're going with this series) -- and completeness is in Holy Spirit.
You
see, here's the catch. Adam was
complete, but in his completeness, he was incomplete. This brings us to the whole purpose of
Creation....mmmm....just hold steady, folks!
You'll see it as things unfold.
Watch what happens next!
Genesis 2:18: And the LORD God said, It
is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for
him.
It
is really
important for us to make a distinction here. God did not say, I will make him an
helpmeet. He said -- and I'm phrasing
this for you from the Hebrew text -- I will make someone who will
surround him, protect him, provide assistance and nurture him -- one who will
be his counterpart, his other self, one who parallels him, who is appropriate
to his character, his nature and makeup. (RAC Translation & Amplification)
Now,
God puts Adam into a deep sleep. The
Greek Septuagint uses the word, ecstasis, meaning: a state of ecstasy! Adam wasn't simply knocked out or put into
some kind of coma, the Lord places him into an ecstatic dream state. Then he opens Adam up, takes out a rib -- the
rib closest to his heart -- closes him back up and creates Eve.
NOW,
Adam is complete! With Eve, Adam now has
full expression. Consider this: They are a picture of unity. Yes, Eve is different than Adam -- in the way
she thinks, in the way she talks, in the way she arrives at conclusions -- and
yet, no two people could be more alike.
They share the same existence.
They are a part of each other.
Without Eve, Adam is incomplete.
Without Adam, Eve is incomplete.
They share the same purpose. They are best friends. Yet they are spiritual beings, created to
have fellowship with the Lord, our Bridegroom, without whom they would be even
more incomplete.
Consider
Eve. She is the perfection of Adam. No woman could more compliment and finish a
man. Yes, she is beautiful -- stunningly
so -- but, that is not our focus. She
has been given an independent mind with which to think. She has been given the independence to
choose. Were a thousand other men
arrayed before her, she would still choose Adam.
Why? Because she was literally taken from
him. She was extracted from his
side. Before she was, he was. Before she was, he saw her -- if only in his
spirit. Before she was, they were one --
but incomplete. Adam had no separate
feminine expression of his onoma.
He was forever bound to exist in only one dimension as a masculine
expression. There was no independent
expression of love and commitment towards him from a like being who could share
his thoughts, his desires, his hopes, his purposes.
Though
Adam was ruler over the earth, though he had been given power over every living
species, though he had been given the wisdom and revelation to identify the onoma of every living
creature, he had no one with whom to identify his onoma.
Eve
is like him. Yet, she is different. Full of grace and beauty, Eve is the
expression of all that Adam could not be.
Her onoma is his onoma because she was taken from his
side. His onoma is her onoma because he is in
her as she is in him. Without Adam, Eve
is terribly incomplete. Without Eve,
Adam is incomplete, lonely, unable to fully express that onoma which was bred
into his genetic structure when the Lord breathed those first breaths into his
being. Together, they make one whole
being.
Even
though the Adam walking here in the Garden is a picture of masculine greatness,
authority and power, he is only that way because Eve is here to complete
him. Remove Eve from the equation and
you have a man unable to be whom the Lord created him to be. Remove Eve, and his destiny will never be
fulfilled. Remove Eve, and you will have
a partial man.
Eve,
for all her stunning beauty, is incomplete without Adam. Remove Adam from this picture and you have
grace, form, stature, loveliness, compassion, love, emotional expression and
tenderness that will never be fully expressed.
There will be no counterpart with whom to express those facets; there
will be no recipient of her love; there will be no complete demonstration of
the power, authority and greatness incorporated into her onoma.
With
Adam, Eve is the personification of greatness.
With Adam, Eve is the complete expression of love. With Adam, Eve is the visible manifestation
of grace and power. With Adam, Eve is complete. With Adam, Eve is Eve!
With
Eve, Adam has greatness. With Eve,
Adam's authority can come forth. With Eve,
Adam can rule the dominion he has been given.
With Eve, love will go forth in the land. With Eve, Adam is Adam!
Together,
there will be a full expression and demonstration of the onoma that is Adam. Adam is not Adam without Eve. Eve is not Eve without Adam. Adam pours out his being to Eve. She reciprocates of her own free will and
choice. They are Adam.
And
now we are beginning to understand the mystery of our Bridegroom, Jesus
Christ. OK. Wait a minute. I'm getting ahead of myself. Can't go there yet.
We
all know what happened when Eve first ate of the fruit of the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil, and then Adam ate of it. There's a story here that I don't have time
to go into today. We see Adam displaying
the very redemptive nature and character of the Lord Jesus Christ as he
knowingly partakes of the fruit. Eve got
tricked by Satan, deceived and seduced into eating the fruit. Adam wasn't seduced. He wasn't tricked. He knew exactly what he was doing -- and
that's a fabulous story we'll look at some other time. The point of this is that because Adam and
Eve ate of the fruit in disobedience to God's command and warning, it set the
stage for Satan to bring division between man and woman, husband and wife, and
to pervert the very plan of God in the union between husband and wife.
There
is a stupendous Hebrew metaphor revealed in the Song of Solomon, and repeated
in Jeremiah's prophecy. The metaphor
occurs in the Song of Solomon, Chapter 1, verse 5, and it is revealed in the
statement, "I am black." This
statement is actually rooted in the understanding of how God extracted Eve from
Adam, how she was specifically designed for him, how the two of them were
incomplete without each other, and how the two of them completed each other. Following is an amplification of the Hebrew
text of this verse, along with an amplification of the metaphor. As a point of context, it is important to
understand that this is the Shulamite speaking.
(Without hesitation, she
responds.) "Although I am beautiful and desirable for him to look upon,
the real answer goes much deeper. There is a "search" that goes
on in the heart of every person -- a seeking after one's counterpart -- for
their "other self." I have spent my life searching for the man who
would be my "other self," knowing deep inside that when I found him,
an inner joining would occur, a linking up to form a whole person rather than
two partial beings. That inner joining occurred when we met and came to
know one another." (Song of Solomon
1:5, RAC Translation & Amplification)
What
most folks don't realize is that the Shulamite (the Hebrew is Shulammiyth, which is the
feminine form of Solomon) was referring to the fact that Solomon had chosen her
above every other woman. (Everyone knows
of the very extreme search that went on in Solomon for his counterpart, his
other self. I Kings 11:3 tells us that
he wound up with 700 wives and 300 concubines.)
In this passage, the Shulamite was expressing her completeness in
Solomon. As you read through the Song of
Solomon, it becomes clear that Solomon was likewise expressing his completeness
in the Shulamite. Her name comes from
the Hebrew, shalam, and literally translates to the following: to be at peace, to be safe, to
be completed, to reciprocate (and, by extension, to be the reciprocal of). See the picture of Eve? See the picture of the joining between Adam
and Eve and how they completed each other?
Then
consider Jeremiah's prophecy where the Lord is crying out.
Jeremiah 8:21-22: For the hurt of the daughter
of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on
me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is
there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my
people recovered?
Get
it? We have the same exact metaphor
occurring here. The Lord had chosen
Israel as His people in all the earth.
He extracted them from Egypt in the midst of a great deliverance from
the most powerful army on the planet at that time, gave them incredible wealth
and provision, provided for them supernaturally during the 40 years they were
in the wilderness and gave them spectacular victories as they entered the land
He had promised to give them as their perpetual inheritance in the earth.
He
chose them, not because they were the greatest and mightiest nation on earth --
and in fact they were the least of all nations when chosen -- but because it
provided the opportunity for God to demonstrate once again in the earth what
other nations could have, with a people who were His people, joined in a
marriage covenant to Him, designed and destined to be His counterpart, His
other self in the earth!
When
Jeremiah delivered his prophetic Word to Israel, the Lord was literally crying
out because of the search that was going on for His people, desiring to be
joined once again to that special people He had chosen for Himself. They were the reciprocal of the Lord in the
earth -- and they had gone astray, seeking after other gods.
We
still have a considerable ways to go with this picture, so let's stop here and
pick it up next week.
More
next week.
I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call
takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific). As of this coming Monday, September 14th, our
call in number is changing to (712) 775-7035.
The new Access Code is: 323859#.
Our previous conference line has experienced drop-outs and periodic
audio quality issues, so this is a needed upgrade!
At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an
environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by
conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific. That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and
the access code is 308640#. We hope to
make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long. If you miss the live call, you can dial (605)
562-3149, enter the same access code and listen in later.
Blessings
on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
All Coffee Break articles are
copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting,
copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution
and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available
at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com.
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CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry.
Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this
ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses,
or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Saturday, September 5, 2015
Another
Coffee Break:
A Revelation of God's Glory, Part 4
September 4, 2015
Throughout
my 70-plus years with the Lord, I've seen and experienced some pretty
extraordinary things. One thing is
abundantly clear, however, and that is the fact that what I've seen, what I've
experienced, and what I know doesn't even scratch the surface for that which
awaits.
There
have been different times in my life when I literally cried out to the Lord
from the very depths of my being for more and more and more and more of His
presence. I was seven years old when the
Lord appeared to me for the first time and began to reveal His plan and purpose
for my life. The picture He drew for me
of His destiny in my life was so vast and so all-encompassing that it made His
promise in John 14:12 lock in my memory.
Two years later, He added to that picture when He took me to Heaven for
the first time. Then a year after that,
more was added with my second trip to Heaven.
By
the time I was in my late twenties, I could look back and see that I'd led a
number of folks to the Lord, seen a number of them receive the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, received a number of personal healings myself as well as seen a
few other folks healed. It didn't even
begin to measure up to what I knew God had promised me. I was ministering with Bill Christopulos at
Full Gospel Assembly in Salt Lake City and feeling dry, dry, dry! There was a growing cry in my spirit to see
the promise of God come to fruition. One
day Bill came by the house, sent by Holy Spirit.
"What
is it you are looking for from God," he asked. I wasted no time in drawing the picture of
Elijah and Elisha, how Elijah had performed literally every miracle that Jesus
would perform later, and how Elisha -- when asked the same question -- had the
boldness and temerity to say to Elijah, "I want a double portion of everything
you have in God."
"Brother
Bill, that's where I'm at! It's hard for
me to even comprehend all that God has promised me, but I'm no longer satisfied
to settle for what my inheritance in the Kingdom would have been: I want a
double portion!" This story has
been shared before in previous Coffee Breaks and there's no need to share all
the details that came from it, but there was a scream in my spirit that simply
wouldn't be satisfied until I was experiencing the full measure of God's
promises.
In
the years since, that cry has been repeated.
Each time I hit a plateau in the realm of the spirit (and believe me,
each plateau is much higher than the previous one) there is a realization that
what I've known and experienced in God is not even a drop in a ten gallon
bucket to what awaits.
And
that, my friends, is something that brings us to the revelation of the Glory of
the Lord.
Most
believers are well aware of the Cloud of Glory that was positioned over the
Tabernacle of Moses, leading the Children of Israel during the transit from
Egypt to the Land of Promise. Once
Israel had entered Canaan, the Cloud of Glory lifted.
Consider
the significance of that Cloud. It first
appeared to Israel as they prepared to cross the Red Sea. It was both a pillar of fire which prevented
the Egyptian army from attacking them during the night, and a pillar of cloud
which guided their pathway across the Red Sea.
That
representation of the Glory of God served as Israel’s protection against its
enemies during the forty years they wandered in the wilderness; AND it was the
constant guiding presence and manifesting proof that Israel was a unique people
— a Covenant people — a nation under the hand of the Lord God.
It
signified to all who saw them during those forty years that the God of gods,
the King of the Universe, the Creator of Heaven and Earth was in and with this
special people. No other nation, tribe
or people on the planet had such visible proof of an Authority that superseded
all that anyone else could muster. It was
awesome, and it was awe-inspiring. It
brought fear to Israel’s enemies, and every nation or tribe that rose up
against Israel was soundly defeated. In
fact, the military victories that Israel achieved against their enemies in the
face of their own lack of military skill became further proof of the Glory of
God to all the inhabitants of the lands round about.
When
the Azusa Street Revival began to take off on April 9, 1906, the Glory of the
Lord began to manifest in many different ways.
Speaking in tongues was the first manifestation, and the uproar that it
caused among religious leaders caused tens of thousands of people to travel to
the little Apostolic Faith Mission at 312 Azusa Street in Los Angeles during
the nine years following.
That
part of Isaiah’s prophecy quickly began to be seen in which he said, That
will cause the masses, the heathen, the nations of the world to be drawn and
come, desiring to be conversant with that brightness, that revelation of the
Lord that is in and upon you; and kings, royalty, heads of state and leaders of
every kind will come, desiring to receive the light of the revelation now
coming forth from you. It wasn’t only the religious leaders that
came, newspaper columnists and reporters showed up — many from other nations,
senators and congressmen showed up, kings, presidents and heads of nations
began to send representatives to see what this was all about.
On
April 17, 1906, a pair of headline stories in the Los Angeles Daily Times
reported the following critical comments concerning the outpouring, calling it
“a weird babel of tongues,” “a new sect of fanatics is breaking loose,” “a wild
scene last night on Azusa Street,” and “a gurgle of wordless talk by a sister.”
The
San Francisco Chronicle picked up the same kind of rhetoric, mocking the
outpouring taking place on Azusa Street.
The newspapers hit the streets between 4:30 and 5:00 AM that morning,
and at 5:12 AM, the largest earthquake recorded in America to that point struck
the city, devastating it and spawning the Great 1906 Fire of San
Francisco. At the very heart of the city
was the brand new San Francisco Chronicle high-rise office building and
publishing center. Photos taken of
downtown SF show that building in ruins, the rooftop gone completely and walls
exposing missing floors.
Was
it a coincidence that a great fire swept San Francisco following the Times’ and
Chronicle’s mockery? Then consider this
manifestation of the Glory that accompanied the Azusa Street outpouring of Holy
Spirit.
Beginning
either in late 1906 or early 1907, the Los Angeles Fire Department began to get
multiple calls saying that the building at 312 Azusa Street was on fire. Onlookers reported that a blazing fire was
covering the roof. Fire trucks roared to
the scene, hook=and-ladder trucks extended their ladders and began to spray the
roof with water.
The
problem was, there was nothing natural about the fire.
It
was a continuing manifestation of the Glory of the Lord and the presence of the
Lord with such power as people had never before experienced. No matter how much water was sprayed, the
fire wasn’t fazed. At the same time, the
building was not suffering any damage, and the ongoing meetings taking place on
the main floor continued unabated.
Firemen didn’t understand what they were seeing and left the place,
shaking their heads in utter puzzlement.
They’d never seen a fire they couldn’t put out!
Witnesses
reported that the fire department lost count of the number of times it was
called out because 312 Azusa Street was on fire. It WAS, but it was the fire that comes in the
Glory of God. The Los Angeles Fire
Department finally quit responding to the calls because they realized that what
was taking place was a God event.
The
proofs of that were demonstrated in a myriad of ways during the nine-year
period. There
were scores of reports in which people, who heard about the outpouring, began
to converge on the Mission only to fall prostrate in the street — sometimes a
block or more away — for hours on end.
When they were able to get up, they got to their feet speaking in
tongues.
Perhaps
one of the most spectacular demonstrations of Holy Spirit during this
outpouring was the visible cloud of Glory that filled the place. That cloud became so dense that people couldn’t
see across the room. Aimee Semple
McPherson ( who later founded the Foursquare Church and denomination) was a
12-year-old whose family was present to experience this move of God. There are numerous stories that abound in
which she played “hide-and-seek” with other children in the cloud.
In
some cases, people who stood outside and never were able to get inside the
building, but could hear William Seymour preaching and expounding on the Holy
Spirit, would go home, go to bed, and wake up the following morning speaking in
tongues spontaneously. By the summer of
1907, crowds had reached staggering numbers, often into the thousands. The
scene had become an international gathering. One account states that, “Every
day trains unloaded numbers of visitors who came from all over the continent.
News accounts of the meeting spread over the nation in both the secular and
religious press.”
The
Glory of God was being manifested in ways that the religious church structures
and denominations were ill-equipped to understand or deal with, and the
outpouring that was taking place began to result in great divisions and splits
among mainline churches. The individuals
who left Azusa Street and returned to their previous “home churches” sought to
bridge the gap and heal the rift among those who opposed the baptism of the
Holy Spirit, along with the signs, miracles and demonstrations of God unfolding
daily, but in most cases, their efforts were in vain, and they wound up having
to leave and join with other believers who were likewise in pursuit of all that
God had for them.
Between
1913 and 1915, most of the “Pentecostal” denominations were formed, in many
cases doing their best to avoid the denominational construct and simply be
“associations.” Their efforts succeeded,
but only for a short time. Less than a
decade later the “associations” had taken on the form and structure of all the
“mainline” denominations.
You
see, the Glory of the Lord absolutely DOES impact those who come in contact
with it! It is unavoidable, AND it is
the plan of God. Those who are exposed
to it are changed forever — and those who choose to dwell there change the
world around them. It is as normal as
breathing in and breathing out.
In
the late fall of 1956, construction of the church my Dad was building in Barrow
brought a flood of curiosity seekers and the word of it began to spread across
the Arctic Slope. For a good 60-plus
years, the Presbyterian Church was the only church in Barrow and the villagers
were puzzled over why and what this new church was supposed to bring them. The then-pastor of the Presbyterian Church
came over to welcome Dad saying, “We’re just not getting the job done
here. There’s plenty of room for another
church in Barrow. It wouldn’t be long
before he wanted to eat those words.
No
one could have imagined what was about to unfold in this nondescript Eskimo
village of some 1300 or so people. For
some 40 years, a long-rejected Eskimo apostle by the name of Paul Patkotak had
prayed, interceded and cried out for a move of God among his people. After having traveled the arctic from
Wrangell Island in Siberia across northern Alaska and into northern Canada to
preach the Gospel and having been criticized, persecuted, scorned and rejected,
he settled in the village of Wainwright (population: 200), some 90 miles south
and to the west of Barrow to declare, prophesy, intercede, and wait patiently
for the move of God that Holy Spirit had promised him.
When
the doors of the church first opened and Dad began to preach the message of the
Gospel, along with the move of Pentecost, the place was jammed to capacity and
overflowing. Because there wasn’t enough
room to seat people, they took 2 X 12 wooden planks and set them on top of
50-gallon oil drums and stood outside the building looking in the windows so
they could see what was going on. They
were not disappointed!
Hearing
the message of the Gospel in a way they’d never heard before, people began to
climb over themselves to get to the front so they could kneel at the altar and
yield their lives for the first time to Jesus Christ. Time after time after time, as they did so,
they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.
As this continued, the Glory of the Lord began to manifest itself in a
pillar of light or a pillar of fire over the building. That pillar of Glory became visible miles and
miles and miles away on the frozen tundra, drawing hunters to come and see what
it was all about.
As
they got close the presence of the Lord brought conviction. In each case these men repented and were
baptized in the Holy Spirit. The noise
of what was taking place spread to Wainwright.
Paul Patkotak harnessed his dog team and drove the 90-plus miles to see
the promise fulfilled from his years of travail and intercession. The Glory of the Lord WAS on display, and it
was beginning to spread throughout the Arctic!
One
thing to remember in all these stories is that we are being taken as a people
progressively forward in stages as Holy Spirit reveals more and more and more
and more. Here's how Paul put it when
writing to the Corinthians:
II Corinthians 3:18: But
we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord.
More
next week.
I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call
takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific). Once again, the number to call for healing is
(805) 399-1000. Then enter the access
code: 124763#. We also want to alert you
to the fact that come September 14th, our prayer call number is going to
change. Our current conference line has
experienced drop-outs and periodic audio quality issues, so this is needed! We will keep you apprised of the new number
in the days ahead.
At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an
environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by
conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific. That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and
the access code is 308640#. We hope to
make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long. If you miss the live call, you can dial (605)
562-3149, enter the same access code and listen in later.
Blessings
on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
All Coffee Break articles are
copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting,
copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution
and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available
at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com.
Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
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If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry.
Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this
ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses,
or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
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