“Above all things guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.” (Prov 4:23)

Introduction

Writing this particular article has involved a great degree of personal struggle, so much so that I have changed the structure of the paper several times. In the end I have decided to unfold the insights the teaching contains in the basic order and manner that they came to me. This involves 3 basic steps: 1. an awareness of what is happening in my own life, 2. what I see happening to a range of devout Christian leaders in Perth, 3. drawing some theological and prophetic conclusions about the contemporary purposes of God. In taking this approach I do not believe that I am merely projecting my experiences onto scripture and the plan of God, but unveiling a pattern of how the kingdom of God will come with power in our midst.

Personal Prophetic Awareness

In a recent article I shared how in early life my attempts to solve the puzzle of existence and “the meaning of life” nearly drove me out of my mind. My family of origin seemed to be completely oblivious to the reality of such foundational questions. No doubt there was a troubling grace upon my life that they did not possess. There was an even more difficult dimension to this struggle that I have not previously disclosed.

I recall times in my earlier teenage years when I was home alone with my parents and the united force of their opposition to my opinions drove me to sheer rage. So much so that all I felt I could do was to repeatedly bash my head against the nearest wall and punch my temples with my own fists. I felt during those times that my personal sanity was being judged at the most fundamental level of my humanity. I recall the joint testimony of mum and dad to these (very childish) fits of self-inflicting rage, “You silly fool!” they would shout. Looking back at what God has been saying to me in recent days I am in fact most grateful for those times of dereliction, for through the transforming grace of Christ those events have become a source of intense illumination. In particular the Lord has been speaking to me deeply about the power of united testimony; this is the theme at the core of this teaching.

Over the years of ministry I have often been depressed by occasions when I spoke out against a majority opinion and have been actively marginalised for my provocative remarks[1]. Until a recent situation when I felt harassed in a “two against one” situation that Jesus over the City, Wesley Uniting Church Chapel Perth I experienced as  intense and overwhelming, I never made the connection back to my family of origin with the depth and clarity that has come to me recently. Now I can see that the united witness of the two primary authority figures in my youth expressed a judgement that was perfectly dysfunctional.  The sense of inescapable condemnation I experienced seemed, at the time, totally destructive and without any positive purpose. As long as I can remember when cornered by forces totally outside of my control fear and indeed terror have been invoked in my heart. A natural response to this has of course been anger[2]. In the midst of praying about these things I sensed the Spirit outlaying that things are the opposite of what they appear to be.

My earthly mother and father may have been united (in the very limited strength of their fallen humanity) in their witness against me, but my heavenly Father and his Son are perfectly united in their witness FOR me. This witness comes to me as a child of God through the presence of the Spirit (Rom 8:14-16; Gal 4:4-6) from a realm where all judgement has been taken away. This is the realm of God in heaven where there is no condemnation at all. It is the realm of Jesus in the heavenly places where I am seated with him (Eph 2:6). Only as I experience the authority of the united witness of the Word Spirit of God[3] on my behalf can I be healed from lapsing into the self-defensive mechanisms, such as anger and withdrawal, that I have developed to guard my own heart. These infantile safeguards reflect the brokenness of my own damaged early life and effectively quench the total witness of the Spirit on my behalf[4]. This is not my exclusive problem, we have all be impacted by the imperfections of our family of origin and all need the healing power of God at the deepest personal level. I will return to the subject of God’s inner restoring witness in greater detail in the second part of the paper. There is however another insight that is coming from the Lord that is rather more specific.

A scripture that I believe is of pivotal importance to God’s present purposes in maturing the Church is in Psalm 127; “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labour in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. (Psalm vv.1-2). There are several levels of significance in this text which interleave my personal journey with the plan of God for Perth.

Some years ago I sensed clearly that I was to be a watchman over this city, guarding as far as possible the heart of the Church in its relation to the work of God[5]. I have always taken that to mean that wherever possible I would keep Jesus at the centre of all conversations and decisions. To do this has often however placed me in a minority situation, including contexts like those described above when I felt surrounded by contrary and hostile voices. One of the consequences of this stand of watching has been so great a deal of trauma that I have not had a rested sleep for about 14 years. In other words, the truth of God the watchman who “gives to his beloved sleep” has not been real in my experience. As I was praying over these matters recently I had a very clear and real sense that the Lord is indeed watching over his watchmen[6] by bearing witness to his Son who indwells our hearts; “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Romans 8:15-16 cf. Gal 4:4-6). This witness of God needs to be understood carefully according to the manner I will expound in the second part of this teaching.

It is not that God is guarding me as such, but that he guards his own heart in Christ with whom I am one (1 Cor 6:17). To guard those of us who are “in Christ” is the Father’s highest pleasure, as Jesus said, ““Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”” (Luke 12:32). The Father absolutely enjoys protecting us from all harm, both immediate and ultimate, not a hair of our head will perish (Luke 21:18). This guardianship of God makes him vastly different in intent and ability from any earthly father we have ever known. The Abba covering is vastly spiritual and should not be thought of primarily in terms of external power.  Its primary impact is the testimony of his Spirit and Word of God in our hearts as they carry the full weight of his being as Father (Rom 8:14-16; Gal 4:4-6). This joint testimony can alone give us the assurance that we are the children of God in such depth that no matter what befalls us know we are eternally secure in the love of God (1 John 5:1-12)[7]. I am however not only listening to what God is saying to me about these things, but watching how he is working with other edgy people.

Leaders in the Mirror

More than ever before I sense something very significant and enduring is going to break in the spiritual climate over the part of the world where I live for many mature and prayerful Christian leaders[8] have been enduring in recent days greater spiritual oppression than ever before. This may have manifested itself physically, emotionally or relationally, but it constitutes a pattern that foreshadows an imminent transition involving an unusually concentrated manifestation of the divine presence. I believe we will soon witness much radical repentance, many conversions, miracles and the like in the name of Jesus. What I “see” in the Spirit through speaking and praying with various “cutting edge” leaders can be summed up in the following way (Rev 1:10-11).

Satan is attacking Christians who are called to be pioneers of the kingdom of God in areas of their greatest weakness. This is not merely something that God has allowed, but is an essential part of his healing plan for the Church and the land. A little time ago a man who I consider to be a strategic leader in the city asked me for an interpretation of a very frightening dream. Meditating on this dream has provided me with clarity concerning an essential element of spiritual warfare.

In my friends dream there was deep darkness, an apocalyptic scenario of nuclear warfare and the impending destruction of those he loved as he watched helplessly and terrified. I discerned that this mirror was not at all from God, but that he was looking into a spiritual mirror. This mirror has to do with the deception raised up by “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12). These wicked beings always speak lies[9] and by accusing the children of God seek to incite fear, unbelief and a sense of spiritual failure (Rev 12:10). As long as we look into the mirror they hold up we shall suffer a sense of weakness and inadequacy that will lead us to despair. The truth is however that everything seen in the mirror of evil is the opposite of the way things truly are. It is the powers of evil who are intimidated by the gifts and call of God upon our lives of the saints (Matt 8:29) and so they seek to impress upon our minds an exactly opposite sense of what is true about the conflict in which we are engaged. It is Satan who is in a desperate and fearful situation for he knows that judgement has been passed against him and “his time is short” (John 12:31; Rev 12:12). We who are in Christ are in a position of strength and the principalities are a defeated foe.

Yet spiritual conflict is much more subtle than most imagine. Many zealous believers try to claim “the moral high ground” over the devil by approaches to spiritual warfare that are brazen and triumphalistic. Self-confidence has no place in combating evil, for in this way we become like the forces of darkness and not like Christ (2 Cor 10:5; Jude 1:5-16). The mirror of personal self assurance is just as destructive as the depressive mirror held up by the masters of deceit. It is to Christ and Christ alone to whom we must turn!

“And we all, with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we look to Jesus the perfect image of the invisible God all our usual perceptions are reversed, for he alone is the true mirror of the new status between God and man (Col 1:15; Heb 12:2). In seeing who we are in Christ the satanic power of judgement and death is revealed as utterly null and void[10]. In talking with the above brother about his scary dream I felt the Lord give me a particular expression. I will initially use the theological language in which it first came to me then seek to expound its meaning more simply.

The Spirit is working intensely to bring about an “eschatological and apocalyptic inversion” in the realm of spiritual conflict. Eschatological, because we are in the “last days”, apocalyptic, because it relates to the realm of final judgement upon evil, and inversion because it turns upside down all that seems to be experientially true[11].  In practice it looks like the devil is on top, but he knows he’s finished, we can feel judged, but judgement is being passed on the world, we may sense defeat but in Christ we are the certain victors. Everything is vastly different from what it appears to be.

I believe that the Lord will soon pour out his Spirit and the persevering Church will be enveloped in the finality of the transformation that has come in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Such finality will imprint upon the hearts of the faithful people of God a vital sense of eternal things and the imminence of the Return of Jesus. This will spontaneously lead to a radical revolution of values in the light of the closeness of the kingdom of God. Many previously apathetic and lukewarm believers will suddenly shake off their materialism and become zealous disciples of Christ. Sacrifice will be understood as an essential part of the life of all true believers and not something sadly inflicted upon the faithful in far off realms (2 Tim 3:12). The words of Jesus will come true in the experience of witnessing believers in the marketplace of life, “When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:19-20).

Application and Conclusion

I would like to conclude the first part of this article by referring to the insights of two very different men of God that have always struck me as profoundly true. The first is a quote describing the anthropology of the eighteenth century genius Jonathan Edwards who experienced several dramatic revivals during his lifetime; “The form of orthodoxy against which (Jonathan) Edwards contended divided the human personality into three independent compartments- mind, will and emotions….Edwards contended that all the faculties were rooted in the heart, the subconscious wellspring from which flow all the issues of life.” (R. Lovelace). The second quote concerns a prophecy made by the noted twentieth century evangelist and healer Smith Wigglesworth; “A week before his death, Wigglesworth prophesied again during the week-long crusade.  This time, he foretold a second move of the Spirit.  The first move would bring the restoration of the gifts of the Spirit; the second would bring a revival of emphasis on the Word of God. He said, “When these two moves of the Spirit combine, we shall see the greatest move the church of Jesus Christ has ever seen.”’

I believe that our Father is working to a plan to unite these two spiritual insights, something which is humanly impossible. Edwards was a thorough “Word man”, he has been described as the last Puritan and the father of cessationism[12]. Wigglesworth was a “Spirit man”, a provocative Pentecostal pioneer who flourished in the overtly supernatural. The Lord’s purpose is nothing less than to bring about a profound theological and experiential unity in our hearts that has rarely been seen in the history of Christianity but may be summed up in the simplest of ways:

“If you have the Word without the Spirit, you’ll dry up. If you have the Spirit without the Word, you’ll blow up. If you have both the Word and the Spirit, you’ll grow up.” (Donald Gee)

Only through the united witness of the Word and Spirit of the Father to our hearts is it possible for the Church to mature in the true likeness of Christ. This will require a sovereign work of God upon the lives of thoroughly broken men and women. These are the people whose intense God-dependence opens them to a visitation of the Spirit-filled Word which alone can make our hearts whole. Without this divine sequence of brokenness and wholeness (crucifixion-resurrection) the anticipated coming revival will sadly but surely fall under a divine judgement whose external evidence will be widespread fragmentation[13]. This warning explains the urgency of the second part of this paper.