Becoming a Disciple of Christ Part 3

Blessed are the Meek

By

Nita LaFond Johnson

New Orleans 2009 Revival Services

We have been speaking on going deep in God. This message follows the teachings on the Reigning Ones. The reason these messages are so near to my heart is because I want to help you understand where you can go in God and what He is getting ready to do in the earth today. In the Discipleship series, I am sharing with you how to get to where you want to go in Him.

Jesus could have shared the Sermon on the Mount with the people and then spent the next three years doing the works of God. Everything He taught afterwards simply confirmed from different perspectives what He said in the Sermon on the Mount.  The Sermon on the Mount was His introductory message regarding what He, life, and we as His disciples, are all about.

As I mentioned before, if you lived in a communist country and could not own the Bible, by possessing and obeying only these three chapters, you could go as deep in God as you could ever want to go. Some people say they do not read the Bible because they cannot understand it. I tell them to just open up Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and learn them to understand God. Our Lord’s life was unique in that His words gave life to all who would hear and His life exemplified His words. He walked as the Son before the Father and walked as the Father before us. He was an amazing gift – worshiped and adored by the multitudes, yet never was a man humbled so low as to be nailed on the cross for the sins of the very ones who hated Him. His life; had He not uttered a word, still would have told us everything we need to know about the Father.

Like Christ, you are also called to walk humbly on this earth, remembering that you are a temporary resident here. This is not your home, and you do not owe man anything except to love him. You owe God everything. If we could remember that we do not owe our flesh or man anything, and we owe God everything, and walked accordingly every day, it would change our lives.

Neither time nor circumstances can ultimately dictate our present or our future. The only thing that can determine our destination is our ever-present will. What we will to do, moment by moment, determines where we are going to walk with God. The decisions of our mind and heart are very meaningful in this life for those who want to go deep in God. In Matthew 5:5 Jesus says:

5 Blessed (happy, blithesome, joyous, spiritually prosperous–with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the meek (the mild, patient, long-suffering), for they shall inherit the earth!

If I were to briefly summarize what the word meekness means, I would say: strength under control. People who are meek are people of great strength. A person may not always recognize this in another because a meek person does not feel a need to fight and win unnecessary battles thus demonstrating what man would consider strength. Their intellect, their knowledge and achievements – where and how they have walked – are not worn like badges. They do not have a desire or need to prove anything to anybody. The more we are freed from this, the stronger we are. Only the weak have to constantly let everyone know their value.

Meekness is the antithesis of weakness. A person who is meek never feels a need to try and prove something to someone else. They have a need to bring pleasure to God and to God alone. The meek are given over to the Lord. The more meek they are, the more they are given over to the Lord. The more pride a man walks in, the less he is given over to the Lord. You know where a man walks by the way he handles daily challenges. If his goal is always to honor the Lord, to grow in love and holiness, then he probably walks fairly close to the Lord.

What creates meekness in the heart? Meekness is a work that is wrought by the Holy Spirit. It is not something that is produced by human energy. Meekness is wrought by the Holy Spirit in the fear of God, for without the fear of God there is no such thing as true meekness. The fear of God produces humility in the heart and soul. One who is truly wrought in the fear of God cannot help but walk before Him in meekness. It is simply a natural by-product of this amazing work by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit creates the fear of God, and He does it, in part, by revelation of the majesty of God. We can read the Bible with our intellect and even stand at a distance in the wonder of God, but when we have stood before His person, Him who reigns in majesty, everything changes.

Revelation 4; 1 AFTER THIS I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice which I had heard addressing me like [the calling of] a war trumpet said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place in the future. 2 At once I came under the [Holy] Spirit’s power, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne! 3And He Who sat there appeared like [the crystalline brightness of] jasper and [the fiery] sardius, and encircling the throne there was a halo that looked like [a rainbow of] emerald. 4 Twenty-four other thrones surrounded the throne, and seated on these thrones were twenty-four elders (the members of the heavenly Sanhedrin), arrayed in white clothing, with crowns of gold upon their heads.5 Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne seven blazing torches burned, which are the seven Spirits of God [[the sevenfold Holy Spirit]; 6 And in front of the throne there was also what looked like a transparent glassy sea, as if of crystal. And around the throne, in the center at each side of the throne, were four living creatures (beings) who were full of eyes in front and behind [with intelligence as to what is before and at the rear of them]. 7 The first living creature (being) was like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature had the face of a man, and the fourth living creature [was] like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, individually having six wings, were full of eyes all over and within [underneath their wings]; and day and night they never stop saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty (Omnipotent), Who was and Who is and Who is to come. 9 And whenever the living creatures offer glory and honor and thanksgiving to Him Who sits on the throne, Who lives forever and ever (through the eternities of the eternities), 10 The twenty-four elders (the members of the heavenly Sanhedrin) fall prostrate before Him Who is sitting on the throne, and they worship Him Who lives forever and ever; and they throw down their crowns before the throne, crying out, 11 Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and dominion, for You created all things; by Your will they were [brought into being] and were created.

I’ll never forget the time I was praying with my secretary in the middle of the night, when suddenly and without warning I was taken up into Heaven and given to be part of this awesome experience…

I saw Him who sits upon the throne, Him who reigns in majesty. The Bible says that our God is a consuming fire and He looked like a fiery stone, a transparent jewel sitting upon the throne. The fire was so intense, as was the brightness of His appearance, the light and glory that shined from Him was so powerful that you could hardly tell that He was a man, the Son of God. I saw the heavenly elders sitting upon their thrones, the Seven Spirits of God, the seven torches around His throne and I saw the living creatures crying out, “Holy is the Lord God almighty!” And I saw the elders rise from their thrones and bow before Him, and I heard the songs of the angels round about Him and what sounded like ten thousands upon ten thousands of saints somewhere to the rear of me singing the heavenly song of worship to the King. I bowed and fell to my face and a worship came from within that words cannot explain – you cannot describe in human language the worship that came out of my innermost being for Him who sat upon the throne, full of majesty and splendor. I was in awe and my whole being trembled in a terror I cannot even begin to describe because He Who sits upon the throne is so holy!

You cannot take Him lightly after you have seen Him like that; it changes everything you are, every thought, every dream. It changes everything, no matter what you have ever thought or imagined about Him before. The final word is that He is God, and although He loves you, you are the created one and He is the creator. He answers to no one; you answer to Him.

The fear of God is the beginning of the knowledge of God and the glorious virtues of meekness, humility, holiness, love, and faith. He is more real than anything you see on this earth. The bounds of the knowledge of God are unfolded to you in limitless expanses so great that, like the heavens, which are beyond natural vision, you cannot see the beginning or the end. How much greater is eternity. The eye of man cannot even count the stars of the heavens or the sand of the sea. Even if we did had the capacity to measure these things, still we could not see how much greater is eternity and how much greater than eternity is the One in Whom eternity is contained. If you can count the stars of the heavens and number the sand of the sea perhaps you could measure the revelation of God so great it is. The revelation of Jesus Christ is so great that all eternity will never have time to unfold it.

The smaller you are in your own eyes, the smaller you become when your spirit and soul are overtaken with the virtues of humility and meekness. The smaller you become in your own eyes, the greater God becomes. The bigger you are in your own eyes, the smaller God seems; it is as though He can never seem to measure up. Unfortunately, we can never seem to comprehend when we ourselves are too great in our own eyes but, as a result, we do not fear His greatness.

I can remember back in the early 90s, around ‘93 or ‘94, when God took me up into Himself. He took me through time and eternity to experience His transcendence. There was a point at which I was so overwhelmed with this revelation that I pulled myself out of it. “You are so great,” I thought, “how could You care about someone like me? I am so small.”  That was over fifteen years ago. I hope to be given the opportunity to experience the same revelation today, and that I would be able to continue on the journey a little longer, fully trusting Him. Over the years since this experience, the Holy Spirit has done different works of humility and meekness in my soul so that I can better understand the great knowledge of God, and bear it.

It is possible to receive many revelations about God and, in the end, know Him no better than before. However, if you do want to know Him, you must be refined in ever-increasing levels of meekness and humility, so that your revelation can be of a higher sort. When we do our Gathering of the Eagles conferences, the Lord speaks to me about many things, giving me dates, times and seasons. He tells me what has happened in the city we are headed into over the last many decades, even revealing names of the major players. He speaks many things to me. I can remember one of my colleagues said to me at one point, “You are so prophetic, you receive such incredible revelation.” And I said to her, “What I am hearing is very low revelation, I do not care how detailed the information is; it is very low because it is about man, the earth, the world and the things therein – very low. When you are taken up into the heavens, or into God Himself, and are given the privilege of experiencing the revelation of Him, that is worthy of comment; that is high revelation. The smaller you get, the more of you He owns.

He gives us the insight into the spiritual history of cities so that we can do what is necessary for our Gatherings, it enables us to do the work we need to do – the work that we are called to do – but it is so low on the scale of the vision of God.”

When you consider the fallen nature of man, the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes – how defiled, worldly and corrupt the soul becomes as a result – you realize that nothing beautiful remains in us and everything that is left is the opposite of the beauty of Christ. As you see an infant grow and become a toddler, then a young child, adolescent, and teenager, you see these corrupt characteristics growing and the innocence fading away, it makes your heart so sad, because the beauty with which that baby was born is being lost to the corrupt nature inside of him. And to think that the glory of God determined before He ever created Adam that He would take that corrupt nature and redefine it by the beauty of His Son, and to all who desire He would give His own righteousness, which is far better, including meekness, humility, love and the highest of all, the fear of God.

The Bible says that Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. He not only saw God’s glory with his eyes but he was filled with His glory. His soul became the house of the revelation of the Sovereign of all creation. This revelation became the source of life from which He lived the rest of his existence, and it created in him the beautiful virtue of meekness. So meek was he that the Bible says he was the meekest man on the face of the earth and he was allowed to know the Father like no other. Meekness provides the platform upon which God has the liberty to reveal Himself. Without meekness, He cannot reveal to us the things He desires. I think some of the saddest words in the entire Bible are the words Jesus spoke to His disciples: “I have so much I want to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” I can hear the Lord’s heart, the aching and longing of the Son to reveal the Father to these men. He loved so much. He was here for such a short time, working every day to develop their souls to contain the revelation of the Father and in the end, just moments before the cross, He has to say to them, “I have so much I want to tell you but you cannot bear it now.” Why? Because the revelation of the Father requires great meekness and great humility; without it, your soul simply cannot bear the burden of the revelation of the Father.

The higher the revelation, the more meek and humble you must become. The more humble and meek you become, the higher the revelation can go. Without humility and meekness, your soul cannot contain or bear the levels of revelation because of its fallen nature. Meekness sees all of God’s dealings as noble. When God has to chasten and discipline one who is meek, that believer will see it as a noble dealing. He will consider himself to be enduring the suffering for his good, because he knows God and His righteous character from which the discipline flows.  He has been allowed to dine at the table of revelation of the King Himself, and he understands the nobility of character that deals both wonderfully and severely with the heart of man.

When a person complains about the dealings of God, you know that there is little or no meekness in his heart. However, if, instead, he embraces the difficult times and instructions of the Lord, even if it is strong discipline, you know that meekness has been forged by the Holy Spirit in that heart. Greater revelation always awaits on the other side of discipline. He is preparing you for the best, the highest. That is why He begins the beatitudes by saying, “Blessed are the poor in spirit (i.e. humble), and blessed are the meek.” Upon those two virtues everything else must rest.

If you want the revelation of God, then bow low every day and in every way. More than the just intellectual revelation, I am talking about the knowledge of God – the experience of true spiritual revelation, embedded in, guiding, and recreating your soul – true revelation to a heart prepared that has the ability to recreate you on the inside. If it is not recreating you, then you are missing the whole point of revelation. Revelation is not about being able to tell others what you know, or what you have seen and heard. It is about creating Christ in you. The ultimate purpose of every revelation He gives is to create Christ in you. The meek and the humble understand that and when they receive revelation they drink from that well until something has changed on the inside of them. So Jesus begins the beatitudes by helping us with our attitudes so that we can receive the revelation of God to lead us into the depths of the revelation of the kingdom.

There is a class of holy beings – I would not call them angels – I would call them ‘living creatures’. They were created for only one purpose: that they might be next to the Father in His throne room, and day and night have the awesome privilege of crying out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty.” That existence is their food and drink; it is their very existence. They were created for that purpose and that purpose alone. The Bible is very clear about their purpose: they are in the throne room and they cry out day and night. These beings are so highly refined, and He created them so pure, that they can bear the splendor of that holy bliss and out of their innermost being comes the words describing what He is: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.”

There are several different kinds of living creatures. There are even those who were created more pure than these I have just mentioned, who live in even higher realms of God. Yet these creatures are so humble. The Bible says about these living beings, “With two wings they covered themselves.” There are those creatures that have been made so high and holy, so pure, that they cover themselves so that they might not even look upon themselves. These have the privilege to see places in God that no other creature can see.

Is there really a holy being higher than the Son of God? No. Is there a creature that is alive and exists today that has the privilege of seeing in God what the sons of God are able to see? If we are His offspring, created in His image, does it not stand to reason that what He sees, we could also see, if only we would become purified enough? Should these incredibly holy creatures, so pure and undefiled, be given to see what the Son of God Himself and the sons of the Son of God could not see? What do you desire, how high do you want to go? How deep do you want the revelation to go? How broad do you want to see and how much of God do you want to behold? The extent of what you will be allowed to behold will be determined by the work you have allowed Him to do in your soul. To every man is given a measure of the revelation of God that determines what they are allowed to see, but most will never see what was assigned to them to be revealed because they will not let God do this deep work in their soul.

If He can do this work in you – the work of purity, meekness, humility, love, and the fear of the Lord, if He can create the environment and the essence of faith so high, so holy, pure and undefiled, then it is possible that you can behold all that you were created to behold in this life. However, to reach this goal, every fountain in you has to be open to every fountain in Him so that the work ordained to prepare you for the revelation of Jesus Christ can come to its fullness.

How do we get to these awesome valleys of pure virtue? It begins with prayer streaming from a hungry heart, “Lord, reveal Yourself to me. I want to know You. Do in me what you need to do to allow me to see You. I want to die that I can become one with You. Give me the grace to die and be crucified with You so that You might live in me.” These have to be your words day and night; fast and pray whenever you can that He will do the work of humility and meekness in your heart. Pray that He will work the work of love and the fear of God because everything is founded on these two virtues. If you do not have the fear of God, you will never know meekness in the way that you need to; neither will you know the humility that is required to fully know the depths of God. It all stems from this beautiful root of the fear of God.

The words that Jesus spoke were so few, yet so rich and full of meaning. He does not have to speak a lot to say very much. What He needs is the fertile soil of the heart that has been prepared to receive the seed that will produce the plant that will produce the fruit of the fullness of the revelation of God in us. If this is your inheritance which was reserved for you before the foundation of the world, how could you not do whatever it takes to receive your assigned portion?

Father, You said so many years ago, “My ways are not your ways; My thoughts are higher than yours.” What an awesome invitation these words are to those who love You. If your ways are different, may we know them Lord; if your thoughts are higher, may we hear them Lord. Our desire is that our thoughts might become Your thoughts; that we might be filled with Your ways and the knowledge of You. Amen

In Him,

Nita