Ancient Paths: Speaking with God Face To Face: Our Birthright

“God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” John 4:24

I am going to open up this one pretty straightforwardly.

Many in The Body of Christ are just plain weary of the nonsense; both within their own circles of fellowship, as well as the lack of Kingdom Power and Presence in their own lives and loved ones.

Father has led me to write this as an invitation to grow in our Kingdom Understanding, and for those willing, to apply it to their own walk, and perhaps teach it to their own children.

We are going back about 1,200 BC (give or take) and take a look at a gateway created for our blessing.

The Tabernacle

The Tabernacle was an outward type and shadow of the spiritual walk we have with God. It is an ancient blueprint that was fulfilled in Christ and offered to us today.

It represents the different levels of intimacy we chose to have with our God. Understanding the condition The Body of Christ is in today hinges on our ability to spiritually discern our own walk with God.

The kind of relationship we are experiencing with Father-God can be referred to as Outer Court, Inner Court, and Holy Of Holy levels of intimacy.

This Word, teaching… whatever we want to call it, is being offered in response to those who want to see God face to Face and to walk with Him more deeply than Adam walked with Jesus; to prepare us for the Age to come.

This is His free gift to us. This is our birthright and it is extended to all. It all begins with a desire, and it is accessed through willingness.

Willingness (this will come up repeatedly). We must be willing to acknowledge when and where in our day’s walk we are not drawing upon the Truth that our self-worth comes from Him alone, and that we are complete in Him.

This is the beginning. All relationships, decisions, doctrines, encounters (or a lack thereof) will be formed through this lens.

This website is filled with scriptures and teachings on how to apply our new identity to our souls. This is how we are transformed.

I invite you all to feast on His scriptures and some of the processes outlined here (Free PDF Book download here).

Let’s get going….

What was the Tabernacle?

It was created by the children of Israel at Father-God’s leading and was the place where their relationship with God was seen and experienced on the Earth.

It was a structure with an Outer Courtyard, then a tent inside it, and then finally within that tent, a small private chamber where the Shekinah glory of Jesus dwelt amongst man.

Describing the Tabernacle in more detail is outside the scope of this writing, but it is vital to have a basic understanding of it, so I encourage anyone hungry to look it up. It’s pretty awesome.

Outer Court Intimacy

When one first enters this structure, they enter through The Outer Courtyard opening. It outwardly reflected an inner journey.

Those who chose to form their own worth and identity worship here. It is where the approval of man, and not of God governs one’s life.

The decision to have our self-worth and our desires come from our own ambitions, will, and the approval of others, relegates us to Outer Court relationships, Outer Court experiences.

Much of our life is spent crying out to God in fear and grief, always learning, but never able to apply the Truth to our thinking in a meaningful way. Trial, fear, beg, deliverance, rinse, repeat…

“See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, which are based on human tradition and the spiritual forces of the world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8

“So also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the basic principles of the world.” Galatians 4:3

“Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit.” Galatians 6:8

We are warned all throughout the Word; do not stay in The Outer Court. Get out of there.

A note about Outer Court Relationships.
Make no mistake, we will have spiritual experiences if we are open to them.
Many of them will come from Father’s grace and mercy.

This is the born-again life of The Outer Court. Outer Court living … stinks.

This Courtyard is filled with all that comes from walking in a compromised belief system — fear, pain, doubt, and limited depth of intimacy, with mankind, as well as with God.

Limited and transient peace then waxes and wanes depending on the latest news, phone call or text we receive.

The depth of our intimacy with God will be reflected in the depth of intimacy we have with those closest to us, and the nature of those relationships.

Outer Court Living is nothing more than born-again religion. In all it’s futility and dead fanfare.

When the resurrected life is locked up in our spirit-man, and not allowed to flow into our soul, we are forced to look for counterfeits.

A great many supposed born-again gatherings are counterfeiting The Holy Spirit to make up for the deadness of soul and the absence of the manifest presence of The Holy Spirit.

The Inner Court

However, if we steadfastly continue in the process of letting His Truth define us; (He has said we are deeply loved and fully pleasing; this ALONE is what is meant to define us).

We will pass to the far side of The Outer Court and enter the tent. For those willing to hammer out the sting of rejection, repent of the sin of finding worth from others; through constant confession and taking every thought captive, we will begin to live in The Inner Court.

“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you… But as His anointing teaches you about all things…remain in Him.” 1 John 2:27

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

“Do not be anxious about anything…” This is simply not possible in The Outer Court.

This peace, which defies the intellect, is a blessing and birthright received only in The Inner Court.

If we are not in peace, we are in The Outer Court.

True rest, and a very deep sense of belonging to Him, will begin to abide upon us. The testing of our Faith will hit us with brief blips or uncertainty, but this is where we will sit down together with Christ and walk out the issue together.

Perfect peace will return swiftly and remain. This is where we begin to gain spiritual authority.

Our spheres of influence increase, and when we speak, The Holy Spirit will join with our words in a way that brings spiritual, emotional and physical healing to others as well as ourselves.

“We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” 2 Peter 1:19

The Glory and Presence will manifest in ever increasing portions within our soul, as we continue relating to Him in Spirit and Truth.

Now, for a tough reality. This is also where we can expect to be loved or despised by those we know and meet.

Little gray at this point. Few choose to enter into this level of intimacy.

Divorce, pornography, broken relationships, jealousy, church splits, manipulation from leadership, and a great many other signs point to the reality that although we as The Body of Christ, are given a new identity, we are not choosing to transform our souls.

Few are willing to count the cost. Sadly, this leads to spiritual jealousy and resentment, and curses.

“I am not willing to count the cost, and I am angry that you are, and are experiencing the blessing of it. My spouse is not willing but yours is…”

Yep, you guessed it. This is where a whole mess of witchcraft from our own family in Christ originates from. If we don’t think this is real, it’s because we need to get out of The Outer Court.

But hey, at least we celebrate Christmas and Easter, right?

The Holy Of Holies

“And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of The LORD, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from The LORD, who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18

That word transformed is the same Greek word found in Romans 12:2

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

How does the manifest glory of The LORD increase upon those in The Inner Court?

By continually transforming our belief system.

We do this… by looking upon the glory of The LORD and His image. This increases The Glory of The LORD within, upon, and around us.

Again, this is impossible to do in The Outer Court.

Why?

Because that Courtyard is for those of us who will not let go of our own willful decision to live by a satanic based belief system where love, acceptance and worth are all conditional and based on our performance and the approval of others.

For those who will continue on this ancient Path (the path of True identity — confessing, meditating and applying moment by moment, His Word over you as the only source of worth and value) of living In Christ, we will eventually come to a place where He invites us to sit in His Manifest Presence. This is the Holy of Holies.

What does this look like?

For starters, we will begin to feel a very strong sense of conviction in areas of our walk. Areas He is asking us to repent of.

It is vital to understand that conviction holds no shame. By the time one is ready to receive this invitation, shame and guilt will already have been mostly cleaned up but it is worth sharing. For some to remember, and for others to hear and receive perhaps for the first time.

Shame, guilt, and conviction are not the same thing!

Shame is a deep sense of inferiority over who you believe yourself to be
Guilt is a deep sense of inferiority over what you have done.

Both of these need to be dealt with and repented of. This is Outer Court stuff. Booooo…..

Conviction is to acknowledge that a thought, belief or action is unworthy of who you are as a child of God.

Example: We will at some point in The Inner Court journey, be convicted by The Holy Spirit that shame and guilt are unworthy emotions for a child of God.

The good news is (sarcasm warning) that some highly motivated Christian somewhere will be all too willing to utilize this false identity to manipulate you into being an extension of their own ministry ambitions…

Back to Conviction. Said another way, when The Holy Spirit begins to convict us of something, He is saying, “David, this issue is unworthy of who you are. This has no place in your life, as a redeemed, loved, accepted and precious son of the Living God.”

The Hand of God will begin to rest upon our soul (mind, will, emotions). It will not lift.

What God is doing here is setting the stage for purging. The Holy of Holies cannot be entered without an increase in relational holiness.

This is not a self-righteous project of the flesh. Self-righteousness (pride and shame are both forms of self-righteousness) is an “Outer Court” false identity counterfeit that needs to first be dealt with.

Now this… This is the real deal.

This is a keen awareness initiated by God Almighty that we need to repent of something or some things…

This is preparation; a baptism of fire that sets us free to commune with Him at a level few will allow Him to do is now upon us.

Let me make something clear. This will not be fun. There is no “feel-good” in this initial encounter with the burning coals of His conviction.

Be very careful with whom you even share that His Hand is upon you. Most will discourage you from continuing the process, and even more will offer confusion through carnal, outer-court counsel and theology.

More To Come…

This is a good place to pause for a bit.

I will continue on this process in my next Word on what to do in this season, and how we will then be asked to step through the Veil separating The Inner Court from the Holy Of Holies.

Some very cool verses to maybe meditate on until then that will have personal application:

“Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.” Psalm 97:2

“These words The LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice… And when you heard the Voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me..” Deuteronomy 5:23

“Then Solomon said, “The LORD has said that He would dwell in thick darkness.”” 2 Chronicles 6:1

God.. and darkness? Well I did not say it. God did. Ohhhh yeah. More to come on all this!

I hope this answered some questions, or at the very least, was encouraging to those willing and moving through the journey toward greater and greater intimacy. Until next week!

 

Shalom
~ David Murry

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David Murry ~ One of the ways Father God has asked David to serve the Body is in sharing the amazing truths about what it means to have been made the Righteousness of Christ, and applying that truth to how we view God, ourselves and others. Restoration of the Body back to the heart and nature of the Ancient of Days (who just happens to be our Dad) starts with understanding what truly occurred at the cross on our behalf. It is an honor and joy for David to help the body return to the heart of our Father… in all our ways.
Contact David at: dwmurry.com or email him at: dwmurry@gmail.com

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