What 3 - 6 hours will NEVER GIVE you... Give up the sound bite...

There was this time many years ago that the Lord wouldn't speak to me for six months...

Here is the story.......

I had been spending time fasting and praying. Long seasons of fasting and seeking the Lord. It was a time of much transition and what I didn't know back then was the foundation was being laid for what the next large season of my life would become.

The Lord had been speaking to me and it was tender and real. Those times of sweetness between He and I. Hours and even days would pass as mere seconds. There was much He was speaking about in regards to fasting. There was much He was speaking about in regards to the love that flwoed between Him and His people, between Him and I.

I was reading the ancients. I was devouring books by Madame Guyon, Theresa of Avila, Brother Lawrence and so on... It was about Him, His presence, the reality of His nature and the immense capacity He has to pursue and love.

There were leaders in the Body of Christ who were teaching upon these subjects and I wanted to learn all I could, in so desiring I purchased a tape set. Yes, that ages me.. I understand.

The moment they arrived I felt like I was holding gold in my hands... I couldn't wait to listen.

Then the Lord spoke, “Don't!”

“There isn't anything within those that I haven't spoken to you already.”

I'd love to say I had the confidence to obey.. I did not...

Not believing... not trusting... I listened...

After I was done .. I realized that there hadn't been anything within the series that the Father hadn't spoken to me... NOW PLEASE.. hear my heart.. I have had teachers and leaders in my life.. I HAVE teachers and leaders in my life.... Men and women who instruct me and help me and walk with me and who I walk with... This isn't a posting to legitimize those who would throw out the Body and it's voice.

So what is this posting...

That tape series was 8 hours long. It took 8 hours to listen to.... But the lessons the Lord had taught me that were as those teachings had taken months.. Honestly, even years of preparation and foundation laying. It had taken intimate hours spent withdrawn away unto Him. It had taken time in fasting and time in quiet and solitude and … AND .. it had just taken time....

Beautiful time...

Not just 8 hours... but a life time of pursuit and of being pursued... Of choosing Him above other things.. It wasn't that there weren't things to be gleaned from another's teaching but the richness that had caused that leader to be empowered to teach.. the hours and life style and life time he spent with the Lord that had granted him that revelation was the same lifestyle the Lord had wooed me into.

Back to my story...

When the last tape had played the last minute of teaching and prayers had been prayed and the button had been pushed to turn it off, the Father's voice was clear, there would be a time where that sweet instruction would not come forth from Him. I had chosen men and He would not instruct me in the same way for six months. Hear me.. He spoke to me as my God and my Father and the Lover of my soul.. He did NOT forsake me nor did He abandon me.. But He did show me the difference...

Why?

Because you CAN NEVER GET in 6-8 hours of teaching what you will get from personally sitting at His feet... Another man or woman CAN NOT give you the depth of inner satisfaction as can the Holy Spirit...

Instruction... yes

Inspiration... yes

But it won't be the same... Iron sharpens iron and we need to be in relationship with one another BUT the fullness comes from Him...

In this time and age we want the quick 30 second sound bite and yet we want to walk in the depths of the Spirit and His anointing.. There has never been a more dangerous combination.. Without the foundations of affection from Him and for Him you WILL NEVER stand in the days of pouring out of His spirit.. What you spend your hours upon matters...

“This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours!” 
― William Wilberforce

This.. this is what it looks like... this is the beauty and affection we can have with God...