Oil For Your Lamps | Print |
Written by Lu   
Tuesday, 27 November 2012 12:28
Oil for Your Lamps

"And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always" (Ex. 27:20).

"Then shall the Kingdom of Heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps" (Matt. 25:13).

Many teaching have been given on this .... Are these virgins part of the brides-maids, or part of the bride?--and so forth. I am not going to talk about that yet.

I want instead for you to look at the next line. "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh" (Matt. 25:14).

We need to learn to walk with God, and not let theology of scriptures cause our hearts to avoid bearing the truth. Theology will take the teeth out of truth, under the false pretence that if it hurts, it can’t be from God. Truth is devastating to the natural man. And until we come to that place of total devastation as far as the natural man is concerned, we are not going to come into the beauty of true spiritual life.

In order to be prepared for the days of darkness that are coming, we need to be prepared with oil. There is coming a day of testing and of trial for God’s people---in fact we might say it is at the door---a day in which God is going to expose the hearts, and reveal the nakedness and poverty of this Laodicean Church that professes to be rich and filled with oil, and to have need of nothing.

It is a day when our confidence in experiences, in blessings, in gifts, in ministries, in charismatic structures, --- is going to fail.

Most the people of God generally find it easy enough these days to come up with solutions. They have access to a vast library of success books, and seminars, and workshops that promise personal spiritual enlargement as well as the enhancement of Church life and Church growth.

The question is: Does it work? If it works, and at least seems to perform the desires of our hearts--that seems to be all that matters. Whether or not it is God’s Way, and will bring forth God’s objective, doesn’t seem to matter.
 

In (Rev 3:10) it says The Lord has warned us that there is coming an hour of trial upon all the world "to try them that dwell upon the earth".

There will be overcomers in that hour, and God has shown us the way to overcome in the day of famine, in the day of darkness and gloominess, in the day when He sends His fire into the earth. It is going to be a day when "the labour of the olive shall fail"-- a day when there shall be "no fruit on the vine". And it is going to be a day of the unveiling of one’s spiritual worth, or of their bankruptcy.

I pray that God will wake up the church and show them their bankruptcy now, as the dept that we have to pay, so that we can begin to "buy gold tried in the fire" and "white raiment" to clothe ourselves, and "eye salve to anoint our eyes" that we might see.

In the parable of 10 virgins, the wise and the foolish were all virgins. They all had lamps -- they all took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. If they were the "brides-maids you can be sure that the bride would require even greater diligence for her preparation, than would the brides-maids themselves. All their lamps were burning with oil; for at the midnight hour they did not arise and light their lamps --- instead they rose up and "trimmed" them. They came to this place of waiting, and of sleeping, with lamps that were burning; but as they slept their lamps grew dim.

The light from the lamps of the foolish appeared to be equally illuminating as the light from the lamps of the wise. But there was one difference, and this was only revealed in the midnight hour.

The wise had brought along with them a supply of oil "in their vessels" while the foolish were trusting that the lamp they had would keep burning, without any extra supply.

Are you trusting in the lamp you have, the structure you are sheltered under, the New Testament Church order you have found refuge in? Or is your confidence in a personal, abiding oneness with Christ Himself?

Are you trusting in the fact that you have received of His Spirit, and have gifts of the Spirit, and have certain manifestations of blessing and power in your life?

Or are you pursuing a life of total abiding oneness with the Lord?

The oil in your lamp will soon burn out. There is no blessing, no experience, no gift, no ministry, and no Church structure that will keep your lamp burning in the hour of trial. Having the proper New Testament pattern, the right kind of structure or covering, the right order----these will not suffice. Having His gifts, His blessings, His ministries--- these in themselves will not do. They have their purpose, a very needful purpose, and that is to bring us into this relationship we are talking about---to cause us to "grow up into Christ"---even unto "the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:18, 19; 4:13).

But if this is not the vision and the hope, and if this is not the objective of our many gatherings together in His Name--sooner or later the lamp will run dry, and the light will grow dim and go out.

There is only one way that we can maintain the oil that will maintain the light that will maintain the vision of His appearing, and prepare us for that appearing---and that is:

by coming into oneness with Him who is the Source.

It is not some new doctrine that you can take or leave. It is God’s provision for His people in the hour of famine and of darkness. You must begin to walk in identification and oneness with Christ, in His Cross as well as in His life. Only in Him is there an unfailing supply.

It is not something you automatically have when you receive of His Spirit and partake of His gifts and blessings. Rather these gifts and blessings are intended to help us along the Way as we seek to follow on to appropriate the death of the Cross and the resurrection life that these enabling gifts and ministries would lead us into.

There is a wrong teaching emanating from the Church in this hour that goes something like this: "Forget those far-out things & get back to basics, get the gifts of the Spirit and start working for God".

That is a lie, in the fact that God has given precious gifts of His Spirit as the means and not as the end. Gifts of power are to help and encourage and strengthen us in our many difficulties; and words of wisdom and knowledge and faith to lead us into abiding fullness with Him.

But as man has always been prone to do, we accept the part, for the whole, the means, for the ultimate end. We accept the scaffolding for the building. We glory in the beautiful flowers of the tree, and care less if there be any apples. We admire the living green of the wheat fields and do not see the value of the ripening grain, and the threshing, and the blowing away of the chaff.

Turn with me to Zech 4:2,3.: "And (He) said unto me, What seest thou? and I said, "I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof."

Not just a candlestick, but a candlestick that was in oneness with an exhaustless supply of oil--oil from the olive-trees--oil from the fountain-head and source. God showed Zechariah that the "olive trees" were the sons of oil, the anointed ones. It was Christ--but it was Christ in oneness with His many brethren. They were the sons of oil, sons of the anointing--and through them there was an exhaust-less supply of oil for the lamp of God.

God has endowed His true servants with spiritual gifts and ministries; but it does not stop there. They are a people who, because of His enabling power, have experienced His Way, and are walking in His Way, and are pointing others to His Way. There is an exhaust-less supply of oil--but you must buy it for yourself. You cannot borrow it from your leader, from your pastor, from your teachers. And when you find it (or rather Him), you cannot sell it to anyone else. You cannot delegate it to others. You cannot give it away, much as you would like to share it with others. One must walk with Him and learn His ways--hearing His voice and doing His will.

Association with God’s anointed ones is not sufficient. As they minister out from the heart of God, they will seek to bring you into oneness with Christ for they know that you will not be prepared to go forth in this midnight hour to meet the Bridegroom, except as you come into vital oneness with Him who is the Source.

You have to buy this oil for yourself, if you are going to have it; and you are going to have to buy it now. At the midnight hour, which is very close at hand, you will not have the opportunity to buy it.

Yes there is a price to pay to get this oil, this price is not based on the value of the oil, this oil can’t be purchased with money, but it has a price-that will depend on you, and there are many earthy things that have blinded your eyes to the true riches. And it can also be the degree of lifestyle or even spiritual attainment that you have right now that you are not willing to give up, to have His fullness.

It could even be a ministry, great or small--full of truth, full of oil, full of blessing--but which will go out in the darkness of the night if you do not surrender it all to Him for the prize of the high calling of knowing Him. The price-tag merely reveals the smallness of your own heart, and the struggle one has to go through in order that he might receive the riches of His grace.

Our Cry should be "Search us, O Lord, and know us. Try us and know our thoughts, help us to buy this precious oil. For truly the midnight hour is nigh at hand; and very shortly we must go forth to meet the Bridegroom under the illumination and anointing and guidance of Your Spirit".

When Jesus came the first time it was those who had an abundance of scriptural knowledge of His coming who missed Him, whereas the humble and the lowly whose hearts were prepared, saw Him.

Can we not learn from what happened at His first coming, as we anticipate His second coming?

It is evident that there are going to be some very dramatic, sudden outward manifestations at His second coming. But it is also evident that there will be aspects of His appearing that only those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, will recognize. Paul saw the Lord in such a brightness of His glory that it blinded his eyes. But his companions who travelled with him saw nothing, and only heard meaningless sounds. And yet it all happened at the same moment, and in the same place. The five virgins saw Him, and walked into His presence, while the foolish virgins saw Him not.

He comes as "a thief in the night"-- to those who are not walking in the light,-- but in the brightness of His glory to those who are (1 Thess. 5:2,4).

Many say that the Lord does not reveal Himself this way, but if you read the parables it exhorts and encourages and warns us that He may appear any moment, and those who see Him, when He appears, and those who are looking for Him, and expecting Him, will see HIM.

Let me encourage you to earnestly look for Him, Keep your hearts prepared, to see and meet Him. We cannot miss Him if we are constantly looking for Him. So that you the Bride of Christ can be” feasting with your Lord’ the marriage supper of the Lamb”.

The Lord has given us some very strategic things to do in the united states and other areas of the world that we will share with you as soon as we get the details from the Lord. Will you please pray and ask the Lord if He will have you stand with us in prayer and financially to accomplish what He wants done through us??

For those that are led to join with us on an ongoing basis or a onetime gift, you may send to the address below or click on this link. “SUPPORT.” Or go to our website and click on On Line Giving in the navigation menue.

We are very grateful to you for your partnering with us as we endeavor the fields of God’s harvest together.

Love and Blessings Lu & Cynthia

 

Last Updated on Tuesday, 27 November 2012 12:36