THE SECRET THINGS
© Morris E. Ruddick
“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphim …. and they were calling to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; the whole earth is filled with his glory.’” Isaiah 6:1-3
All truth is parallel. Whether in business, in social organizations or within the church, everyone wants to tap the creative, to unlock the secrets that will release opportunity. Steve Jobs was known for this ability. He thought differently and viewed things from a different perspective than most other people. He sought to change the world and within his sphere he did.
Yet, in God, there is more to this dynamic. In God, the bar is higher. It’s more than what a focused, ultra high-energy intellect can develop. In God, it involves operating beyond ourselves. In God, it entails a cost. In God, it is ignited by His presence and conforms to the pulse of heaven.
In God, there are complexities to our spiritual environments not only to be aware of, but to be taken on and subdued.
The story of Isaiah’s glimpse into the presence of the Lord and the calling that followed unveil secrets in this creative process, a process that goes beyond the normal boundaries of prayer — a process with secrets that will shake the rafters and bring about meaningful change.
Entering God’s presence challenges everything around it. Just praying the words of the seraphim angels puts me in touch with His awesome holiness and the reality of the whole earth being filled with his glory.
Beyond Ourselves
Yet, to abide in His presence, calls for more. There can be no pretense, no illusions nor the traditions of men. Jesus noted that the gateways of heaven would be open to Nathaniel, as he was a man without pretense. Still, both Deuteronomy and Hebrews describe His presence as a consuming fire. Surmounting these hurdles, God’s presence contains a rhythm, a pattern that combines His glory and His nature.
God’s presence triggers secrets or mysteries beyond our natural comprehension that give release to His creativity. Touching His presence sets in motion the unlimited dimension of His glory, as His very nature overflows with the creative. The very process sparks change.
As Isaiah was reaching beyond himself and ran into God’s presence, God’s presence unveiled a secret, which Isaiah embraced. The authority to unfold the creative process followed, as Isaiah’s response to his calling released him into becoming a force for change that would reshape everything around him.
The Progressive Rhythm
Isaiah’s response made him an integral part of this process, this progressive rhythm, this pulse in God. For those entering this dimension in God, change will result. For the person walking out a calling, the first thing that will happen will be that the perspective will change. It’s more than just revelation. It begins inwardly before it can be released outwardly. Encountering God’s presence for Isaiah brought the wise reply of: “Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips.” The response of repentance changes your thinking and begins the process.
Solomon had as much to say about fools as he did wisdom. Fools are constrained by limitations in their thinking, by their own revelations. Fools, regardless of their IQs, are those who become obsessed by their own perceptions of reality rather than God’s unlimited glory and the process to be unleashed.
A Force for Change
Reaching beyond himself, as Isaiah did, is foundational to maintain the process. Sustaining the process means becoming a force for change. It is the simple things that confound the wise. It is why again and again, God uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things. They are ones who have discovered this rhythm and the gateway into God’s treasury of secret things.
The Listening Heart. Maintenance during this process also pivots on listening, a heart intent on hearing His truth. It’s been said that our ability to hear His voice is directly correlated to our willingness to obey it. That explains why meekness and humility are so important to embracing truth. Those who fail to get beyond the inward response, as if it were about them, as well as those who are unable to “hear” due to their own constant chatter, are going to miss it. Even those who have experienced deep revelation must get beyond themselves and stay there. It takes more.
It is more than just hearing. Jesus revealed a deep truth to this dimension about His presence. He told His disciples that the words He spoke, He did not speak on His own authority, but that the Father did the works (John 14:10). Jesus was constantly pointing back to His dependency on the Father. In unveiling this gargantuan insight, He told His inner circle that He was the true vine and the Father was the vinedresser. From that premise, he imparted the necessity of bearing fruit, needed to keep the process moving forward (John 15:1). Fruit is the natural result of abiding in Him.
The Secret of Abiding. This is the biggest point of stumbling. His presence actuates creative change. It’s His nature. Where we fall short and the secret is in being a force for His change. That secret depends on abiding in Him. When we abide in Him, His nature flows within us and the natural course of things will be creative change. It’s a place beyond ourselves. It involves a faith that will not compromise with evil.
As Isaiah pursued the process, he uncovered a deep dimension in the cost of abiding. He prophesied that the Messiah (Isa 53:4) would “bear our griefs and carry our sorrows.” This is a part of the secret in which everything, beginning with the natural order of things, will change. Jesus spent nights in prayer, in the presence of the Father. During those times, He entered the spiritual world and tapped the realities that would soon follow in the natural. It’s where the cost was paid and the transaction sealed. It was in the secret place that He took on the griefs and sorrows and actuated the release from bondages as He flowed in the place of God’s unlimited creativity.
“Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in the heaven.” Matt 18:18
Operating Domains
Historically, the game-changers among God’s people have been those who have learned the secret of abiding and drawing from the pulse of heaven. Game-changers are forerunners, leaders whose influence reshapes the way for others. Progressively, their domains have penetrated the spiritual foundations of society in the world around them. The primary spheres of this game-changing influence include culture, economy and power.
Culture. Long before Joseph was promoted by Pharaoh, to bring sweeping change to all of Egypt, he had a track record of changing the spiritual climate in some very humbling and challenging circumstances. An important part of this dimension was his stewardship and the trust he engendered among those he served. His identity was clearly in God. Challenging the favor and trust as Potiphar’s manager, Joseph experienced spiritual backlash in rejecting Potiphar’s wife’s unrighteous advances. Nevertheless, despite his lack of position in both Potiphar’s house and as a prisoner in the jail, Joseph made a significant impact on the culture around him by what he derived from the presence of the Lord.
Isaiah’s insight into Messiah being wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities is the truth that breaks cultural bondages that have held God’s chosen captive. The cultural trap comes from transgressions and iniquities. This release is not only from the bondages preventing us from knowing Him, but in being released IN Him. It explains why Isaiah’s first burden, the first priority from God’s heart, following His encounter with the Lord in Isaiah 6 was in addressing the dullness of the hearing of the people.
Economy. The economic comes from God’s nature to bring increase. For Joseph, everyone recognized that it was God that prospered whatever Joseph did. The prophetic wisdom from Joseph’s dreams not only averted the impact of the coming famine, but was the creative impetus that put Egypt in the drivers-seat when the money failed and the grain they had stored became the only currency with value. In another instance of famine, Isaac encountered God’s presence and drew on the wisdom and creativity of God and produced harvests when no else was able to grow anything.
One of the biggest hurdles today for those navigating Kingdom agendas is getting beyond the fund-raising mind-set and tapping God’s unlimited creativity and resources. Without degrading the value of community generosity and the need to provide opportunity for others to participate in Kingdom agendas, there are limitations to the fund-raising model, of drawing from the well at the same source.
Among God’s people, fundraising has been elevated to almost the status of a sacred cow, of being the catch-all solution. The story of Joseph gives evidence to how, through God, alliances can be created and resources generated that anticipate change and exceed the limitations and expectations of the world around it. It will be a critical component of the wealth transfer dynamic. There’s a significant bridge to be crossed in our day designed to open the gates into these unlimited dimensions of God.
Power. The biblical stories of God’s people, along with the teachings of Jesus are demonstrations of how righteous power overcomes in corrupt settings. Power is facilitated through leadership. From the beginning, God’s people have been endued and anointed as leaders. As a people, the calling has been as a society of leaders. Leadership, in God, depends on the Isaiah response to Him. It operates by service, influence and by the anointing.
Whether for individuals or as a people of God, the release begins with our mind-sets, our way of thinking. The power and creativity from His unlimited glory begins when we change our thinking and begin renewing our minds.
The real power of God has no boundaries, yet every revival in history has gone through a process in which the unlimited dimensions are squelched over time through institutional and religious thinking. That was the reason for Jesus’ sharp encounters with the blind institutional and religious thinking of the religious elite. The power of God is progressive and depends on the ongoing response to His presence and His voice.
Discerning the Spiritual Environment
In God, there are complexities to the spiritual environments around us that far exceed our human abilities to grasp. Yet, in God, we not only become aware of and sensitized to them, but gain the authority to subdue and bring change to these complexities, to the spiritual climate around us.
Joseph did. It began from the bottom up before he was entrusted to work from the top-down. It’s why the bar is higher in God. It’s why we have to abide and operate beyond ourselves. It’s why truth, meekness and righteousness are so essential. It explains the “waiting on God” that so many modern-day Josephs have experienced. It underscores the importance of the prophetic in this process of preparing as a force for change.
Big Picture Prophetic
While all truth is parallel, not all truth is equal. Even within the prophetic, we need to bring the process full circle to where, like Joseph, Moses, David and Jesus, we get the big-picture. Paul said that we see in part. How true for most. Likewise, how true that so many tend to act when the picture is not complete. It bears on the need to abide.
Jesus said very clearly that to find true life, we have to give it up. We have to get beyond ourselves and our limited, staid ways of thinking and begin abiding sufficiently to start tapping the secret things, the strategic, secret things that are needed for this hour. Abiding takes humility.
In Exodus 15 Moses addressed the people, as a whole, with this truth. IF they would just listen and adhere to the voice of the Lord, it would take them beyond themselves to where none of those things plaguing the world around them would make a big difference to them. They’d be the game-changers, the force for change. It’s the challenge that remains before us.
The whole earth is filled with His glory. When God’s glory is at the core of things, creativity will be released by abiding in that secret place. When the abiding amasses, it will be what’s needed to be the force for change for which the world is yearning.
“My heart overflows with a good theme, with verses addressed to the King. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men. Grace is poured upon your lips as God has blessed you forever. Gird up your sword O mighty one, in your majesty and splendor. Ride on victoriously, for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness. Let your right hand teach you awesome things. Your arrows are sharp, the people fall under you. Your arrows are in the heart of the king’s enemies.” Ps 45:1-5
