Walking Deep In God
Nita Johnson
July 03, 2009
New Orleans Revival Teachings
The Lord has asked me to begin teaching the deeper life. We are entering a time of many hardships in accordance to the order of the world. For this reason, the Lord has asked me not just to invite the heirs of the Kingdom into the deeper life but actually to teach them how to get there.
He wants to raise up an army of great warriors. In truth, you cannot truly be a great warrior in the Kingdom unless you live deep in God. You can be making productive prayers; God can do great things with such prayers just because He loves you and He is a good God. However, if you are going to do “greater works than these,” you have to walk in a place deeper than the Church knows how to walk. In the days ahead, and amidst the coming storms, if you are going to succeed in God and succeed for God, you have to walk deeper than the Church knows how to walk.
In many places in the world, Christians and non-Christians are having a very hard time right now. In the recent past, even people in America have been struggling in ways they had not have to do so for many years in this country. The Church is getting hit by the enemy harder than she’s been hit in a while and many Christians do not know what to do. They are not sure why this is happening and, unfortunately, they are ill-prepared for what is about to occur. But there is a path that you can take in this hour that will give you victory--quick victory and great victory. It is a path that will take you from victory to victory regardless of the circumstances.
A Wonderful Visitation
Last week I shared regarding the grace that God gives to enable us to enter into the deeper places with Him. It is the capacity He will endow us to enable us to walk in places as a human being we cannot otherwise walk. But, because of grace, we can walk deep in the places of God, know deep things, and know God in deep ways even as Jesus Christ knew him. I’m going to talk to you more about that tonight.
I shared with everyone last week a particular visitation I had with the Lord. He came to me and He joined His Spirit with my spirit. And as He did, all of the virtues of Christ that were moving in and through Him began to fill my whole being. His love, His joy, His peace, His gentleness, His goodness, and so on and so forth--all nine fruits of the Spirit were filling me. It was not as man would know love, not as man would know joy, not as man would know peace, not as man would be able to be kind or good, but divine love, divine joy, divine peace, divine goodness, divine gentleness, and so on. Every virtue of Christ began to fill me until I was completely overcome by His virtues. I was completely swathed in His virtues; I was completely transformed into another person. There is nothing in my Christian experience prior to that visitation that could have prepared me for what He revealed to me that day. And having let me experience His own nature and character, He then shared several Scriptures with me, helping me understand what I was experiencing.
After that, He invited me into that life. He asked, “Would you like to live in this place with Me?” Believe me, that was an awesome invitation, because it’s hard to comprehend that a human being could walk in what I experienced that day. It felt like my soul had been lifted up to live and to dwell in the very presence of the Lord in Heaven, even while I was walking on this earth. I was totally incognizant of my own existence. My being had become filled with Him. I had His mind, His heart, His passions, His purity, and His holiness. It was an incredible experience. To understand that a Christian can live in this place on earth is an awesome reality.
This is what He is inviting the Church into. When He asked me, “Would you like to live in this place?” I was overwhelmed. Who wouldn’t want to live in that place? All fear was gone; there was no fear, and my heart was filled with faith. My mind was filled with the thoughts of God. I don’t mean thinking about God; I mean that Jesus was now thinking His thoughts through me. As I said, my heart was filled with faith; there was no fear, no anxiety, and no wrestling with the flesh. All had been conquered, all was at rest, and all was at peace with Christ. And the last thing He said to me was, “Any who will can walk in this place with me. Any who will.”
This path is that which will lead you to a divine rest. So, what hinders the Church from walking in this place of divine rest? It is the unwillingness to let go of the world and go deep in God, the unwillingness to let go of the ways of the world, to let go of the things of the world and the titillations of the world. This is what hinders the soul's ascent into God. As we will to let go of these things, He takes us higher and He takes us deeper into Him.
Mathew 3:11: “I indeed baptize you in (with) water because of repentance [that is, because of you changing your minds for the better, heartily amending your ways, with abhorrence of your past sins.] But He Who is coming after me is mightier than I, Whose sandals I am not worthy or fit to take off or carry; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Now most of our translations read that He will baptize us with “the Holy Spirit,” However, the original Aramaic reads, “the Spirit of holiness.” And what a beautiful understanding that unveils to us.
We know that the Spirit of God is holy--that we know. But when we hear that He will baptize us in the Spirit of holiness--baptize us with the Spirit of holiness--we are awakened to an incredible promise. It is a promise offered to every person who will receive of this baptism. That promise reveals to us that there is a Spirit Who resides within us, and Who is willing to make us holy even as He is holy. It is the Spirit of holiness, that aspect and character of God, that nature of God Who makes Him what He is. All power resides in God because He is holy. There is no power outside of God. This world is able to hold its place in the universe and sustain life because God is holy. You take the holiness out of God and He ceases to be God.
You take the holiness out of God and the world ceases to exist. You take the holiness out of God and you cease to exist, I cease to exist.-, In fact, nothing in creation can exist anymore. He is capable and in fact does hold all things together by the Word of His power because He is holy, and only because He is holy. The same Spirit of holiness is given to the Church to make us holy, to espouse us to something that is greater than we thought, to enable us to become greater than we thought we could be, to enable us to walk higher than we thought we could walk, and to enable us to walk in a place of divine purity we didn’t know we could know.
Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 1:4, “And [as to His divine nature] according to the Spirit of holiness, was openly designated the Son of God in power [in a striking, triumphant, and miraculous manner] by His resurrection from the dead, even Jesus Christ our Lord (the Messiah, the Anointed One)."
His divine nature is in accordance to the Spirit of holiness. It was the Spirit of holiness that resurrected our Lord Jesus Christ out of the grave to rule and to reign over all of creation. He was revealed to be the Son of the living God through the Spirit of holiness.
The Spirit of holiness was revealed in Him in His divine nature in His purity, revealed in Him in His essence, in His glory, and in His majesty. The Spirit of holiness revealed His Godhood, revealed His power over death and the grave, and revealed His eternal life. The Spirit of holiness is much desired by the Church, yet the Church as a whole does not know that. We thought we were getting saved so that we could be a little bit cleaner than we used to be. We thought we were getting saved so that we could enter into a new life to love God and Jesus, and to no longer live by the ways of the world we were born into anymore. What we did not understand was that the reason we were getting saved is that God desired to have Himself a Church that was totally separated from the world and totally separated unto God, being conformed into the image of His dear Son.
We didn’t yet know that there was a place that we could walk in God where we walked in union with Christ, in union with His life, in union with His nature, in union with His heart, in union with His mind, and that our life could be lifted up off the plain of this earth and walk in heavenly places even while we live on the earth. We didn’t understand that when we were touched by the Spirit of holiness, that same Spirit desired to possess us, to own us completely, and to enable us to relinquish our life completely to God.
What is His holiness like? Exodus 15:11-13: “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders? You stretched out Your right hand, the earth’s [sea] swallowed them. You in Your mercy and loving- kindness have led forth the people You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation."
"Who is like You O Lord among the gods?” Moses is leading the people of God in this song after having seen God. The children of Israel had seen His acts; they saw His works and they saw what He did to the Egyptians. But they had not seen God. Moses saw God. And having seen Him, he said, “Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor.” At this point in time, just how comprehensive a knowledge Moses had of God’s holiness is something we do not know. However, by the time his service in the Lord was completed, he understood. He had a comprehensive understanding of God’s holiness because he lived in it, he walked in it; he did more than just beheld it, for it became him, and he became it. Moses finally became holiness unto the Lord.
What was it that Moses saw that made him sing the song “Who is like You among the Gods”? It was all the gods in Egypt that he grew up with, complete with all the putrefying ceremonies and rituals offered to idols made of wood, clay, and metal. What he saw was troubling to the soul. In fact it was downright low and base, and nothing to be desired but everything to be feared. It was low, base, putrefying, and decadent. It was filled with every sort of carnality of the basest sort. These gods required worship in the spilling of innocent blood, in open displays of moral decadence, in murder, in hatred, and in vileness of every kind. He learned about their vile nature by what they demanded of the people.
So when Moses encountered the holy splendor of the Lord, he could not help himself but declare, “Who is like You among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness and awesome in splendor? And in Your splendor and holiness You rule and You reign. You bring down Your enemies and You redeem your people. Your Word goes forth and the enemy flees. Your Word goes forth and the waters part. Your Word goes forth and You redeem your people! You are glorious in holiness and awesome in splendor.”
The God of Israel, unlike the gods of Egypt, is so pure, so true, and He rules and reigns all of creation by virtue of His very majesty. He is a God who is so glorious the human eye cannot behold; He is a God so glorious angels bow, men fear, demons tremble, and creation shakes. He is the One Who is holy and at His presence mountains quake and move and the trees of the field clap their hands. His very Word causes the soul to tremble with terror, but O such love, such mercy, and such goodness is He. And so He is a God so transcendent yet so near to you and I. When I would fear You, O God, You would say, “Do not be afraid.” When I would run, You would say, “Stay.” When I say, "I cannot". You say, “I can.” You are a God Whose Word is eternal in power and authority. You are a God of faithfulness Who fulfills all of His Word.
Moses came to understand the beauty of holiness. He came to understand the desire of His glory. He came to understand the fear, and the awesome dread of His glorious splendor. He came to understand that this God that Israel had worshiped from the beginning was something greater than they knew. Such purity is found in this God, and no defilement and no deception whatsoever is in Him, only glorious love. He came to understand why Abraham bowed his head to the ground and worshiped Him when he saw Him. He came to understand why He was called the Fear and Dread of Isaac. He came to understand why Jacob wrestled to know this King. Such purity he had never known and never seen before. He came to understand the holiness that inspires our worship and he learned what it was like to be in the presence of One Who is holy, and Who inspires and incites breathless awe. So holy, He inspired terror and dread; but so filled with love, in His presence was found comfort and safety.
This God Who is so holy is calling to Himself a people to be holy. His people is the Church, and He has given to His Church the Spirit of holiness to make her holy. The song was written, “Ascribe to the Lord O sons of the mighty, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength, give to the Lord glory due His name, and worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness or in holy array.” The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is upon many great waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. And indeed the voice of the Lord is full of majesty because He is holy. And He is calling to Himself a holy people who are separated from the ways, the desires, the passions, and the things of the world. Such carnal distractions keep the Church—and that’s us—from following Christ wholeheartedly and becoming transformed into His likeness. God is calling unto Himself those who would listen and obey to come to worship Him in the beauty of holiness.
It is amazing that God not only unveils His own holiness before us but longs to make us holy as He is holy. He cares about this, He desires to do this, and He’s capable of doing this. It is an amazing reality to know this holy God. You know, the Church has not given that to Him; the Church has lost the understanding and expectation of worshiping a God Who can make them holy. The Church thinks if we clean it up a little bit, we can come and worship the Lord and that is acceptable to Him. The Church is without the understanding that the call of God is to become like Him. When we are called to be Christ-like, the call is to become like Christ.
To walk holy as Christ walked, to walk lowly as Christ walked, to walk in purity as Christ walked, and to walk in the authority that Christ walked in—that is our calling. What the Church does not understand is the reason we are not walking in the authority that Christ walked in is because we are not walking in the life that Christ walked in. We must overcome ourselves and we must overcome the world if we are to walk in the authority of heaven. If we cannot overcome ourselves, we will not walk in that authority because He will not give it to us. He is going to give it to an overcoming Church and the overcoming Church will walk in the beauty of holiness.
John, chapter 1:12: “But to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the authority (power, privilege, right) to become the children of God, that is, to those who believe in (adhere to, trust in, and rely on) His name.”
God has called us to become the children of holiness, children separated from the ways of the flesh, children who hate lying, stealing, adultery, who hate the impurities of the heart and soul, who hate the ways of bitterness, reviling, back-biting, (soothsaying), and the ways in which the world is entrenched. We have been called to Him to be baptized in the Spirit of holiness that we might become sons and daughters of holiness. God wants to make His Church in these days so pure that to look at the Church is to look at the purity of Christ. To look at the love that is in the Church is to look at the love of Christ. To look at the joy that is in the Church is to look at the joy that is in Christ. To look at the faith that is in the Church is to see that faith of Christ. To look at the righteousness that is in the Church is to look at the righteousness of Christ. To look at the glory that is coming forth from the Church is to look at the glory of Christ. That is where He is going and that is where He is headed. But we cannot follow that path in our lower nature.
The Bible says that the mind of the soul and the mind of the flesh are ever warring against the mind of the spirit. We cannot live in the self-life and go in the path God is taking us in these last days. It is not possible. However, the good news is that He has given the Spirit of holiness to enable us to do what we cannot do on our own. The Spirit of holiness is that which resurrected Christ. If the Spirit of holiness is the power of resurrection, what are its limitations in transforming you and me? Is there anything God cannot do? Can He not transform the mind? He created it; He knows it better than we do. There is no scientist or doctor who knows the mind like God knows it.
Is He capable of transforming the mind into a mind filled with holiness? Yes. Is He capable of transforming the heart to have a passionate love for the beauty of holiness? Yes. Can He transform the soul into one that sees the glory of Christ, searches for the glory of Christ, and seeks only for the glory of Christ? Yes. He can. He can transform the flesh to radiate the glory of Christ. Nothing is too difficult for Him. He is just simply looking for a Church that will leave the world behind to find the prayer life, find the Word life, find the desire and passion to jump in the river and go the way He is going in this hour. He is looking for one to whom He can show Himself strong. His goal is to raise up a whole community of believers who will leave the world behind and go deep in God. That is His goal, His will, and that is where He is headed. If He is headed there, where are we to be headed?
I’m leaving the world behind because I’m going deep in God. I’m going to find the life of prayer and I’m going to learn to seek Him with all of my heart, all of my mind, all of my soul, and all of my strength because He said if I would, He would make Himself known to me. He said if I would get rid of compromise in my life He would be the fullness of my life. He came to reveal the completeness of God and to bring us into the completeness of Himself. He is asking that we abort that which cannot profit us, that we would be filled with that which is of the greatest value in all eternity--the life of Christ. We have been born anew to become the sons and daughters of holiness, that He might reveal the sacredness, the holiness, the beauty, and the purity of the Father.
How do we begin this process? It begins with developing a life of prayer, praying over everything you do and desire. And no matter what you desire, you do not do it unless He gives you permission because little by little, you are giving your life to Him, giving the lordship of your life to the One who created you. So you pray over everything and find His agreement. I If His agreement does not come you do not do it, you do not give, you do not want. You let go and you seek His face. You let Him convict you, change your heart, your desires, and your passions until you desire only those things that He desires. And you only walk in the virtues that He walks in, because you cannot bear to be other than what He is. You seek His face until these things become real.
And then when you have choices to make, you make choices that will lead you deeper into God and further along the path to Him. Don’t pray, “God help me not lie.” And then every time you have an opportunity to lie you lie, because now you are deceiving yourself, as well as Him. Instead, you seek Him to change your heart, to give you the grace, and to be what He has created you to be. Then when the opportunity comes, you, with all of your strength, do what you know is pleasing to His sight. You live only to please Him.
One time He said to me, “When you live to obey, you’re walking the right way.” I think that is such a simple and pure truth: when you live to obey, you’re walking the right way. When you live to have your own way, then you are living the wrong way. I can promise you that most of what you want in this life is going to be exactly the opposite of what He wants. So, it takes prayer to change that heart from a heart of stone to a heart of flesh so that you can begin to desire what He wants and begin to hate what your flesh wants. You have to have a Word life because it is the Word that helps you identify the will, heart, and life of the Spirit. The Word helps your mind understand what you heart has come to know in prayer. You need a Word life and it strengthens you against the wiles of the enemy. With a Word life and with a prayer life God begins to change your desires. And you will ask Him: “Give me the desires of holiness.”
I remember, years ago, I was walking out of one room heading toward the sanctuary of a church that I was going to be ministering in when suddenly, without notice or expectation, the Lord came and filled my innermost being with His holiness. I could feel His holiness drilling down until it touched the depths of me. I was so overwhelmed I couldn’t walk or talk. I didn’t know what to do. I had never known such purity in my soul. I said to the Lord, “Is this where You are leading us, is this the way You are? This is so pure. This is so beautiful.” Being emptied of self and being filled with Christ is such a desirable thing. Holiness is worth anything He would ask. No price is too great to pay to be filled with God Himself.
Indeed it is where He is leading the Church and leading His people--out of the world just like out of Egypt for the nation of Israel. God is calling the Church to come out of spiritual Egypt and into the promise land. What is the promise land? It is not heaven. That is the highest and best of course. We all want to make heaven. Yet, there is a promise land to be achieved here, and that promise land is union with Christ, walking in the fullness of the divine nature and character.
This is the promise land, where your soul has been totally trained to love nothing but what the Lord loves and want nothing but what the Lord wants. Jesus said, “My will is to do the will of the Father.” This tells us that He had a will and that He could have exercised it to do His own thing; but He let us understand He lived to do the will of the Father. He will help any believer who would leave his will behind accomplish that as well. When we come to a place where we live to do the will of the Father, Christ will fulfill that will in us.
This is the path of holiness, the trail of holiness, the life of holiness—being cocooned in God, fulfilling His perfect will in your life. Here is where all of your senses are in God, all of your thoughts are in God, all of your desires are in God, and all of your life is flowing out of the life of God. That is the call: No longer I live, but Christ lives in me. That is the mystery and that is the call. Who will come? Who will say yes? Who will make it their quest? For the one who will, Christ will move heaven and earth to bring him or her into the depths of His life. There is a price. What is the price? You have to leave the world behind.
In Him, Nita Johnson
