Fire On Your Head

“The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble;
He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!
The LORD is great in Zion,
And He is exalted above all the peoples.
Let them praise Your great and awesome name;
Holy is He.” -Ps. 99.1-3

How delightful and awe-striking that we should be invited to commune with the God who shook Sinai, and whose presence causes the heavens and the earth to tremble!

Psalm 99 sounds the note of a most happy contradiction, that God is utterly holy, that creation itself cannot bear His presence, but that He calls us to press in, not only to a slight experience of His presence, but into a living communion with Him. He wants us to be “among His priests,” and to “call on His name.” He will purge and purify the sin from our lives, and enable us to walk on the heights of worship and true praise. All of this catapults the Psalmist (and those who hear him rightly) into an outburst of joyous declaration, “The LORD reigns!” Are we being gripped and thrilled along with the Psalmist?

Hear Spurgeon:

Let the chosen people feel a solemn yet joyful awe, which shall thrill their whole manhood. Saints quiver with devout emotion, and sinners quiver with terror when the rule of Jehovah is fully perceived and felt. It is not a light or trifling matter, it is a truth which, above all others, should stir the depths of our nature.

(The Treasury of David: Vol. 4, Charles Spurgeon: Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1881, p. 385)

The Psalmist uses language that resurrects thoughts of the Sinai theophany (when the Lord actually appeared on the mount), but gloriously engages all the saints with a call to the same kind of worship that Moses himself experienced.

The portrayal of the divine epiphany exhibits the features of the Sinai theophany. When God appears in his majestic power a tremor runs through the whole world; the nations tremble and the earth quakes- an involuntary indication of the terrible and sublime power of the God of Mount Zion over the whole world. The poet discerns the holiness of his God in this pre-eminent and comprehensive power which causes everything that is created to tremble. And the involuntary witness which the trembling nations and the quaking earth bear in the presence of the holy God constrains the poet, too, to call upon all men to praise the holy name of God, the revelation of which had taken place in the course of the theophany and which is therefore present in the poet’s mind in all its greatness and terrifying power. Fear and trembling and respectful joy here jointly represent the spiritual atmostphere which is created in the congregation by the advent of God.

(The Psalms: The OT Library, by Artur Weiser; Westminster Press, 1962; pp. 641-642)

Whatever induced this burst of joyous praise and reverent worship in the psalmist, it brought to him the same sense of awe that he imagined to have been the experience of Moses and the ancient Israelites at Sinai. He was gripped with the fear of the Lord, gasping over the glory of God’s goodness, and he called out for the saints to tremble, praise, and worship. He was seized by a “fear and trembling and respectful joy” as his heart was jolted by the holiness and mercy of the Lord.

I think it’s fair to say that the common boredom, dullness of heart, moral compromises, addictions to entertainment, paralyzing depressions, and other ailments in the Body of Christ can all be attributed to the fact that we are not setting aside ample time to behold the God of Sinai, the God of the Psalmists, the God of the prophets and the apostles, the God of creation.

Oh, friends! He reigns! Clear the debris and clutter from your schedules. Plow through the blockades that keep you from the secret place. Shut off the computer if need be. Unplug the T.V. Take the phone off of the hook. Nothing else is more crucial than this: That we, as the people of God, would come into the vital revelation of the greatness of God in His holiness and love. Broken cisterns are easy to come by, but the fountain of Life can only be experienced when we forsake all the other diluted waters. God will meet you in the secret place, the reward will be beyond description, and your joy will be full. He waits for you, even now.

“Exalt the LORD our God
And worship at His holy hill,
For holy is the LORD our God.” (v. 9)

As some Fire On Your Head readers may have noticed by the direction of my recent postings here–a blog site intended to motivate readers towards revival–I’ve been focusing a lot in my own contributions to the site on intimacy with God, and His love.  I’ve personally been having a paradigm shift where I’m realizing unless we individually have a personal revival, there’s not much point in seeking global or national revival.

The reason and my motivation for taking so much time to do so is important.  If we’re going to see the fires of revival spread, then we need to understand what the fuel for that fire is: intimacy with God. And statistically and anecdotally speaking, many of us struggle in that one area of our lives.  Many Christians skip books like the Song of Solomon in their Bible because of not understanding Scriptures through a Bridal paradigm.  Or many of us have struggled in our relationships with our earthly fathers, and have a hard time viewing God as a loving Father.

At any rate, for whatever the specific reason, it’s not uncommon for many Christians to struggle with their intimate relationship with Christ.  I personally used to struggle with approaching my prayer and quiet time from a place of enjoyment, but instead out of duty and obligation, or out of the desire to find something to study so as to have good material to blog or preach about.  It took a long time for my stubborn heart to be open to the idea God was pursuing me; that God delights in me and wants to have a relationship with me just because He’d like to, not just because He wants to ‘use me’ to fulfill a purpose.

That all being said, one of the greatest revivalists in Christendom knew this secret to intimacy with God: Charles Finney, a man credited with being responsible for the Second Great Awakening.  He had a deep intimacy with God that most people don’t know about, which also is why He was so effective in ministry and revival.  I’ve been re-reading a favorite book of mine I got years ago called “Finney On Revival” by V. Raymond Edman.

Check out what Finney says of  his conversion experience:

…I returned to the front office and found that the fire I had made of large wood was nearly burned out.  But as I turned and was about to take a seat by the embers, I received a mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit.  Without any expectation of it or ever having a thought in my mind that there were such a thing for me, and without any recollection that I had ever heard of it mentioned by anyone before, the Holy Spirit descended upon me in a manner that seemed to go right through my body and soul like a wave of electricity.  Indeed, it seemed to come in waves and waves of liquid love, for I could not express it in any other way.  It seemed like the very breath of God.  I can recall distinctly that it seemed to fan me like immense wings.

No words can express the wonderful love that was shed abroad in my heart.  I wept aloud with joy and love, and literally bellowed out the unutterable fullness of my heart.  These waves came over me and over me, one after the other, until I cried out, “I shall die if these waves continue to pass over me!”  I said “Lord, I cannot bear any more”; yet I had no fear of death.  (p.34)

“At home, I soon fell asleep, but almost as soon awoke again on account of the great flow of the love of God that was in my heart.  Then I fell asleep again, and awoke in the same manner. Thus I continued till late into the night, when I obtained some sound repose. “(p.35)

One thing that interests me about the account of Finney’s conversion experience, is how much it underscores the God who was pursuing him.  God was after Him before He realized it to be so.  Just like Adam in the Garden, Abraham, Gideon, the Apostle Paul, and scores of other Biblical and historical men of God, the Lord was the one who initiated the relationship.  How much more so we could each look at our own salvation experiences and see God at work in the same manner!

He goes on to continue to describe a new baptism that he experienced again the following morning when he awoke, stating:

“In this state I was taught the doctrine of justification by faith as a present experience.  I could now see and understand what was meant by the passage  “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  I could see in the moment I believed all sense of condemnation had entirely dropped out of my mind, and that from that moment I could not feel sense of guilt or condemnation by any effort I could make.  My sense of guilt was gone; my sins were gone and I do not think I felt any more sense of guilt than if I had never sinned.

This was just the revelation that I needed.  I felt myself justified by faith…my heart was so full of love that it overflowed.  My cup ran over with blessing and with love…I could not recover the least sense of guilt for my past sins.  Of this experience I said nothing at the time to anybody.” (p.35, emphasis mine)

Later in his life:

In those days there came a profound desire to search out his heart and test his consecration to all the will of God. It was at that time that Finney had the soul-searching struggle of a deeper consecration than ever before, which included his dear wife and family. With utter and unreserved yielding to all that the will of God might be, he came to a perfect resting in that will as he had never known before:

“At this time it seemed as if my soul was wedded to Christ in a sense in which I had never had any thought or concept before. The language of the Song of Solomon was as natural to me as my breath. I thought I could understand well the state of mind he was in when he wrote that song; and concluded then, as I have ever thought since, that that song was written after he had been reclaimed from his great backsliding. I not only had all the freshness of my first love, but a vast increase to it. Indeed, the Lord lifted me so far above anything that I had ever experienced before and taught me so much of the meaning of the Bible of Christ’s power and faithfulness, that I often found myself saying to Him, “I had not known or conceived that any such thing was true.” I then realized what is meant by the saying, “He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think.” He did at that time teach me infinitely above all that I had ever asked or thought. I had had no concept of the length and breath, and height and depth and efficiency of his grace.”

After that meeting with his Master, there never came to Finney the great struggles and protracted agonizing prayer over the will of God; rather he had come to a calmness and perfect confidence in the fulfillment of the divine will, and to say,

“He enables me now to rest in Him and let everything sink into His perfect will, with much more readiness than ever before the experience of that winter. I have felt since then a religious freedom, a religious buoyancy and delight in God and in His Word, a steadiness of faith, a Christian liberty and overflowing love that I had only experienced, I may say, occasionally before…It seems to me that I can find God within me in such a sense that I can rest upon Him and be quiet, lay my heart in His hands, nestle down in His perfect will, and have no worry or anxiety. (p. 54-55, bold emphasis mine)

Finney learned that only a few seem to understand the experience of rest in God:

“But in preaching, I have found that nowhere can I preach those truths on which my own soul delights to live, and be understood, except it be by very small number. I have never found that more than a very few, even of my own people, appreciate and receive those views of God and Christ, and the fullness of His free salvation, upon which my own soul still delights to feed. (p.55)

Father, don’t let us become a people who seek to mimic methods and styles of evangelists and revivalists of the past, but without an intimacy with You.  Grant us this understanding and revelation of rest that so few seem to understand and know about You.  Draw us into that deeper place, for only there will we have any efficacy in our labors for You–if they’re born of love and from the secret place alone with You.  Make of us a people who delight to feed on You and Your Word

Draw us in Father, for we desire to have it said of us that we are first and foremost a people who delight ourselves in You!

Amen

“…. judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” -James 2.13

At the end of our lives, we will see that the most crucial component of our character in God, is whether or not we have become a people of mercy. When the smoke and fire of Jacob’s trouble has cleared, and judgment has been enacted in an ultimate way, the revelation of God in relation to Israel will be a revelation of indescribable mercy. The revelation of God that comes to us in Hosea and elsewhere in the prophets, is that judgment and wrath are not the end, but rather a means to the end; namely, the disclosure of God’s great character and desire, which is mercy.

Men who use “discernment” as a term for their self-righteous judgments and the spread of gossip have totally lost sight of the Spirit of the Gospel itself. If we look upon others- even those with false doctrine- from a humanly contrived foundation, rather than through the lens of mercy, we have removed ourselves from the wisdom of God. We are all recipients of mercy, and if we have anything at all in God, it’s only because it has been given from above.

One of the clear signs that our “discernment” of others is born from below is that it moves us to expose and insult the ones who we are purportedly examining. If the Lord gives us sight of another brother’s error, it is first for the purpose of intercession, and if we haven’t given ourselves in that place first, it most always becomes sin to speak of that erring brother.

There is a need for examination and discernment in this hour, maybe more than ever. I can’t think of time when there were more false gospels being propounded in the earth and paraded as authentic. I can’t think of time when there were more self-appointed apostles, popularized half-gospels, and strange emphases in the Church. True discernment is of paramount importance in our day. Yet there is no true discernment unless it comes from the Spirit of God, and if it comes from Him it will invariably lead us into humility, brokenness and hope for the ones who are deceived. If it leads to a superiority complex, a release of gossip, or any such thing, it has come from below rather than from above. Hear Wigglesworth on this:

Most people seem to have discernment, or think they have, and if they would turn it on themselves for twelve months they would never want to discern again. The gift of discernment is not criticism. I am satisfied that our paramount need is more perfect love.

Lord, in this hour, when the cross has been neglected, and the need for discernment is so crucial, mark us with the Spirit of Christ Himself. We don’t want to be a gullible people, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, nor do we want to be a people who think themselves superior or correct, and who have lost the primacy of merciful intercession, and love towards the brethren. Increase the reality of truth and love in our lives, Lord. We need You more than ever.

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” 1 John 2:15-17

This passage of scripture uses strong language. It leaves no room for error. It states its case plainly, pointedly and concisely.

In the Church, we all have three primary enemies: 1). The flesh; 2). The Devil; and 3). The world.

We see this referred to also in the Parable of the Sower: the world is represented as seed sown among thorns. They grow up and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Not that it bears no fruit at all, but that perhaps it bears no lasting fruit. It BECOMES unfruitful.

What do these thorns represent, specifically? The cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, the desire for other things, pleasures of this life, etc… Obviously, the love of the world.

We all naturally gravitate to that which we love most. We enjoy talking of those things that are most dear to us. We crave any new information or available knowledge of our favorite object of affection with great interest and excitement. We never think to complain of any cost or sacrifice that is necessary to pursue this object of our affection, but instead feel that it is well worth it.

Now, please bear with me here while I put some pointed questions to your own conscience, for the purpose of helping you to discover your own true spiritual condition, whether “the love of the Father” is in you or “the love of the world”.

The passage above states that,”if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him…“.

1). Has serving God become a boring routine to you?  Do you find yourself indulging more and more in worldly entertainment–even in some things with questionable content and/or subject matter–without first asking yourself, “will this glorify God? Will this set a good example in favor of holiness and will this be a positive influence to others of godliness? Will doing this demonstrate and exemplify “the love of the Father”, or “the love of the world?”

If these questions are unimportant to you , and instead, you presumptuously indulge your worldly lusts, you can be sure that you love the world and the things in it, and that the love of the Father is not in you.

2). What kind of things do you most enjoy talking about? Do you find your greatest pleasure discussing deeply spiritual subjects such as holiness, self-denial, prevailing prayer, healing the sick, driving our demons, the love of God, etc…? Or do you prefer discussing the latest worldly music, movies, entertainment and amusements? Remember, Jesus Christ Himself laid it down as a rule of our nature, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”.

3). When you do read God’s Word, is it hard to put it down because you are so hungry for God, or do you find its pages uninteresting and even boring? Do you love to spend time in prayer because you enjoy being with the father, or do you avoid prayer or feel inclined to keep it short so that you can get past it and on to something more enjoyable to you?

4). When you perform what you consider to be your Christian duties, do you feel relieved, and free once again to pursue your worldly enjoyments, as though you had fulfilled an obligation, or do you consider yourself a love-slave to Jesus Christ, and that everything you do,–whether you eat or drink or whatever you do–that it should be done for the glory of God?

My beloved brother, sister, whoever you are, remember that while you read these questions, God’s eye is pouring a searching blaze of light into your inmost heart.

Now, I won’t take it upon myself to accuse you or to decide the answer to these questions for you. I encourage you to examine yourself, listen to your conscience and allow the Spirit of God to search you and show you your true character, and show you whether you are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God”.

If you no longer find pleasure in serving God or if you find MORE pleasure in worldly amusements, then you have left your first love and are a backslider in heart who is “filled with his own ways”.

If this is the case with you, I urge you, at once, to stop what you are doing, fall on you knees and repent, and do your first works. Your first work is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus Christ. Otherwise, you CANNOT be His disciple.

Perhaps some of you are thinking, “this is legalism! this is bondage!”.
To whom is it legalism? If you PREFERRED God and loved Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, you would find your greatest pleasure in pursuing Him, and anything that cooled off your zeal or took up time you could be spending in His fellowship, service or conversation would be repulsive to you. Legalism and bondage is when you perform your Christian duties out of a sense of obligation rather than out of love and because you prefer it. If you loved Him as you ought to, wouldn’t you want to talk of Him, His word and His great love?  Wouldn’t you find your greatest pleasure in pursuing Him and bringing sinners for whom He died into His family, so that “the Lamb that was slain may receive the reward of His suffering?

Remember the sad words of the Apostle Paul, “Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world”.

Your servant-brother,

Joel Crumpton

http://joelcrumpton.blogspot.com

“Then He said to me, ‘Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.’
Therefore, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.’
‘Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people.’
‘I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it,’ declares the Lord.” -Ez. 37.11-14

This well known visionary experience of Ezekiel gives us a glimpse into the kind of death that is necessary for resurrection life to ensue- namely, death in totality to everything that issues forth from the arrogance and presumption of man. Here we have a picture of “the whole house of Israel,” and they have been reduced to this self-description, “Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.”

There are at least 5 common ways that scholars interpret this passage, and I haven’t the time to touch on them all here. I will say that I am convinced that the vision has a partial application to the Babylonian exile and return, and I am also convinced that the vision overall must pertain to a future death and resurrection that the people of Israel will pass through. That is to say, when the remnant of Israel, which represents the “whole house,” has come entirely to the end of her striving, realizes the dryness of the bones which she previously thought had contained life, and becomes aware that all political, religious, and humanistic hopes have perished, the light of the Gospel will break in so profoundly that they will be raised up, “an exceedingly great army.” (v. 10)

Hear this from OT scholar, Walther Zimmerli:

…. Ezek. 37:1-14 expresses the event of the restoration and the regathering of the politically defeated all-Israel.

Before the resurrection of the dry bones of Israel occurs in a way that shall never be reduced or reversed, she must come to the place where all of the crutches she has leaned on for want of the true knowledge of God have been removed from her forever.

Hear Zimmerli once more:

…. vv. 12 and 13 hit exactly what is meant, that God’s people should be wholly the people of God- that is the aim of this new gift of life. Where the return of God in a new freedom and in a new linking of what was previously separated becomes a reality, there God will have achieved His aim.

…. Only when, as a result of this event, the great awareness dawns and men no longer appear with their own achievements, no matter how magnificently righteous these might be, but when they realize that God reveals himself in the miracle of his free promise of life- only there does God’s action achieve its goal. There all ecclesiastical prerogatives collapse, and there remains only the praise given to the God who in the majestic freedom of his faithfulness (“for the sake of my holy name”), has revealed himself to his community.

(Ezekiel 2: Hermeneia- A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible, Walther Zimmerli; Fortress Press, Philadelphia: 1983, p. 264, 266 [emphasis mine])

As Zimmerli notes so wonderfully, when Israel comes to the end of herself, when she is “politically defeated” and when “all ecclesiastical prerogatives have collapsed, and there remains only the praise given to the God who in the majestic freedom of his faithfulness,” reveals “Himself to His community,” then will He have fulfilled His great work in history.

Turning to the Church now, the question needs to be raised, “To what degree have we allowed the Lord to bring us to a place of political defeat, and have our ecclesiastical prerogatives collapsed?”

Have we a hope in the government of men, or are we leaning on some kind of ministerial program? Have we clung to creature comforts and political opinions as our safeguard, or have we an utter abandonment to “God who in the majestic freedom of His faithfulness,” reveals Himself to us?

Are we chasing after the American dream? Have we got aspirations after ministry and recognition that are devoid of a jealousy for the glory of God?

Before we can move Israel to jealousy, and be an intercessory witness toward her, we ourselves have got to be wrenched loose from the same kinds of influences and paradigms that will require the reduction of Israel to a valley of dry bones in the last days. We need an apostolic faith, and if Ez. 37 represents anything, it represents the dynamic of God’s government, which is to say: resurrection life only issues forth from the death that truth requires. Ezekiel 37 describes Israel’s eschatological regrafting into the apostolic Gospel. It will be a glorious day.

But before then, the question remains, how deeply have we come into the necessary death ourselves? We need our ecclesiastical prerogatives to collapse, and to be totally caught up in praise of the One who has given Himself so lavishly for our deliverance. Let the hollow pursuits perish. Let our desire for recognition and prominence be shed from us forever. Let us be caught up in the primacy of worship and the glory of sonship. The Lamb of God is worthy, for He was slain, raised up, and He ascended to the right hand of the Father. He will return with passion in His heart and vengeance in His eyes, and I want to break free from all that hinders a full rejoicing in that great Day.

What about you?

“For I will pour out water on the thirsty land
And streams on the dry ground;
I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring
And My blessing on your descendants.” -Is. 44.3

Of this verse, the “good pastor” Robert Murray McCheyne once remarked:

There are no other words in the whole Bible that have been oftener in my heart and oftener on my tongue than these.

The passage applies directly to Israel, but the principle of the promise can be applied to all contexts where the Creator is active amongst men. Where the land thirsts for righteousness and mercy, and where men thirst for God in recognition of the dryness of their own hearts, the word stands true that He will “pour out water” from heaven, and His own interpretation of the image is that He will pour out His Spirit on our offspring, and his blessing on our descendants.

I would rather be found in the tension of spiritual thirst, without having yet seen the water to come, than to be drunk and satisfied with the wine of this age. I would rather be as a cracked desert ground, and aware of my dryness, than to be full of the delusion of self-satisfied living. To be able to thirst after God is a great gift from heaven. To yearn for Him in the barren wastelands is better than to be satisfied without Him in the man-made reservoirs of the city.

To be at ease and full without the outpouring of His Spirit is to live in a delusion. I may whittle away a lifetime without really thirsting, taking sips from fashion, swigs from sport, gulps from Hollywood, and guzzles from religion, and my life will end in deception. My children will have been robbed of a glory and knowledge of God that could have been theirs, had I been a man of thirst.

But I may live a life of thirst, and in my weakness, yearn for Him in the quiet places of the desert, and the promise will one day be answered. I know not when. I know not the hour of visitation. But the certitude cannot be shaken, for He Himself has declared it. He will “pour out water upon the thirsty land,” and my children will see something of His glory that they would have missed if I had settled for something less than God Himself.

If only the world knew of the glory of thirsting for Him! If only the Church weren’t so distracted and filled from the “buffet” that the world offers us and the busy mentality that modern “ministry” puts before us.

Though I have heard of His great love, and experienced it on many glorious occasions, it still staggers me that He longs to pour out His own Spirit upon us, and our children. It matters not that I’m a dry and cracked soul. In fact, that is the ground upon which He copiously pours out His holy rain. Oh, to live a life of anticipatory thirst. To ache for God Himself, until He comes and makes all things new. This is blessedness indeed.

Oh then wish more for God, burn more with desire,
Covet more the dear sight of his marvellous Face;
Pray louder, pray longer, for the sweet gift of fire
To come down on thy heart with its whirlwinds of grace.

Yes pine for thy God, fainting soul! ever pine;
Oh languish mid all that life brings thee of mirth;
Famished, thirsty, and restless, -let such life be thine,-
For what sight is to heaven, desire is to earth.

(Frederick Faber, as quoted in The Christian Book of Mystical Verse, compiled by A.W. Tozer; Christian Publications, 1963; pp. 56-57)

He will pour out water, dear soul. Thirst then! Thirst after Him…

“…. the Jerusalem which is above is free….” -Gal. 4.26a

“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his own works….” -Heb. 4.10

There is a sabbath rest which has been opened up to God’s people through the cross, and we need to resist all religious activity that flows from any other place. Even prayer itself is subject to lesser and unheavenly influences, for if our intercessions spring from our own emotions or minds, or are robotic and contrived, we are not likely touching the heart of God or pushing back the powers of darkness. We need to come into the prayers of Jesus Himself, not by striving, but by a radical surrender to His heart, and harmony with His mind. This is where the authority lies, which we shall see from a man who knew this reality in real life experience.

Thomas Haire was one of a remnant in history who was acquainted with the rarefied air of the heavenly Jerusalem, and his prayers moved things in spiritual places and shifted things on the earth in a manner that we know far too little of as the Church of modern America. We would do well to hear from this remarkable man.

He was a friend and co-intercessor with Leonard Ravenhill, and travelled with him in a manner much like Father Nash, who was Charles Finney’s “Epaphras” (Col. 4.12-14) during the great seasons of revival and awakening in the 19th century. Haire and Nash were both less known than the men they travelled with, but their labors were no less impactful, and only the Day of the Lord will tell how profoundly their obedience and love invaded history with the light of eternity.

A.W. Tozer was so impressed with Haire’s character and prayer life, that he wrote a booklet about his life even before Brother Haire went on to be with the Lord. I want to leave you with a few thoughts from this life-long intercessor, who happened also to be a professional plumber from Ireland. We can learn something from a man who spent over 50 years praying 4 hours a day, decades of which he went sleepless for 3 nights a week, giving himself over to Spirit-endued intercession on behalf of the Church, and a dying world that he loved so fervently.

I haven’t the time or space to note all of the elements of his devotion, which would challenge and encourage any open-hearted believer. You can find Tozer’s full account online if you search for it.

What hits my heart presently is that Thomas Haire, according to Tozer, was the kindest and most tranquil man that he had ever known, and though his devotion to prayer and intercession was marked with awesome intensity and depth, he was not a tense personality, as many who pursue revival seem to be. This marks him out as unique, I believe, for his sabbath peace was also combined with a remarkable authority and dominion in prayer that we have rarely seen in our day. Souls passed from darkness to light, many were healed physically, and God was glorified wonderfully on the wings of Thomas Haire’s prayers. Through all of the remarkable answers to prayer, revivals, and movings of God, he was also a very gentle and kind man, who could move from a ground-breaking season of intercession to making a child laugh through a humorous remark. He was rare indeed.

Tozer writes of Haire:

…. always he is relaxed and free from strain. He will not allow himself to get righteously upset about anything. ‘I lie near to the heart of God,’ he says, ‘and I fear nothing in the world.’

That he lies near to God’s heart is more than a passing notion to Tom. It is all very real and practical. ‘God opens His heart,’ he says, ‘and takes us in. In God all things are beneath our feet. All power is given to us and we share God’s almightiness.’ He has no confidence at all in mankind, but believes that God must be all in all. Not even our loftiest human desires or holiest prayers are acceptable to God. ‘The river flows from beneath the throne,’ he explains, ‘and its source is not of this world. So the source of our prayers must be Christ Himself hidden in our hearts.’

‘Too many of God’s people are straining for faith,’ says Tom, ‘and holding on hard trying to exercise it. This will never do at all. The flesh cannot believe no matter how hard it tries, and we only wear ourselves out with our human efforts. True faith is the gift of God to an obedient soul and comes of itself without effort. The source of faith is Christ in us. It is a fruit of the Spirit.’

(A.W. Tozer, Thomas Haire: The Praying Plumber of Lisburn; Rare Christian Books)

Of prayer, Tozer gives us more of Haire’s thoughts:

According to Tom, there is such a thing as strategic prayer, that is, prayer that takes into account what the devil is trying to accomplish and where he is working, and attacks him at that strategic point. ‘Don’t waste your time praying around the edges,’ he says. ‘Go for the devil direct. Pray him loose from souls. Weaken his hold on people by direct attack. Then your prayers will count and the work of God will get done.’

Tom makes much of the believer’s authority in Christ. Over the protests of the cautious expositor, he appropriates Scripture that might be proved to belong to a future age. ‘God says we are kings and priests,’ he declares, ‘and what is a king without a kingdom? There is a sphere where we can have full dominion in prayer. Complete authority is ours. We only need to ask and we shall receive.’ If this were mere theory we might dismiss it as being simply an error in interpretation, but is has been proved in the fires of practical living. God has given to His praying servant great power to command, to demand, and the results have been and are many and unusual.

I dare say the kind of authority and dominion Mr. Haire spoke of is something scarcely touched in our generation. There have been many boasts of dominion, shouts of authority, and we have cranked up the music loud enough to move every soul in the building, but the heavens are not moved by sweat and noise. The depth of Christ’s character and the profound union with God that Tom Haire had come into were the foundations of his great authority in prayer.

Before Tozer convinced Haire that his story needed to be told for the sake of the Body, the old praying plumber resisted the idea. Not wanting to be popularized or tempted with fame, he replied in his own Irish way, “I don’t want to lose me power with God.” His secret life with God, formed through decades of engaging in prayer, was more precious to him than anything else in his life or ministry.

Do our self-promoting ministries know anything of such “power with God”? Are we guarding a deep and holy union with Christ that has been formed through years of concentrated prayer and worship, or are we being tossed to and fro by the latest teaching or movement? Have we neglected the primacy of secret prayer and leaned too hard into public efforts, expending energy, burning time, and building works that are mostly “wood, hay, and stubble”? Are we rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, or barely keeping our heads afloat, drinking in the spirit of the world and following Christian fads? Thomas Haire’s “power with God” is a quickening reminder of the possibilities of grace, the glories of communion with God, and the remarkable sabbath rest and authority that the Lord places upon a man when he is in harmony with Christ through the Spirit of prayer.

May the Lord raise up tender-hearted, fervent, holy, and hidden laborers again in our day. May we cast off any pursuit that causes us to lose our power with God. May we shake off all that stifles the Spirit of prayer. May we put first things first once and for all. May the same Spirit that rested on Thomas Haire, make His habitation amidst the Church at large, for the glory of Jesus!

“Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.” -Ps. 51.1

The man who comes to the truest consciousness of his own depravity will be the one to cry out from the deepest place for a total cleansing from God. David the King and psalmist of Judah, after a massive moral collapse, was faced with the word of the prophet Nathan, and the depth of conviction was such that it resulted in a cry for mercy that brought down a speedy answer from heaven. Isn’t the grit of David remarkable? Isn’t it noteworthy how he responds and returns so wholeheartedly?

We tend to fall into one of two traps when our faults are pointed out. On the one hand, we are overcome with embarrassment and shame, and go through extended cycles of remorse and condemnation, wondering how sorry we must feel before the Lord will actually extend mercy to us. On the other hand, we stick our chests out in denial or defense, accusing the bringer of the word of some fault of his own in hopes of shirking our own responsibility before God.

David had a remarkable gift. He had a positive audacity, a repentant grit, and I’m convinced that it had to do with his own deep-seated consciousness that as a man, he could produce nothing without heavenly aid.

Spurgeon writes of David in this event:

My revolts, my excesses, are all recorded against me; but, Lord erase the lines. Draw thy pen through the register. Obliterate the record, though now it seems engraven in the rock for ever; many strokes of thy mercy may be needed, to cut out the deep inscription, but then thou hast a multitude of mercies, and therefore, I beseech thee, erase my sins.

…. The hypocrite is content if his garments be washed; but the true suppliant cries, “wash me.” The careless soul is content with a nominal cleansing, but the truly-awakened conscience desires a real and practical washing, and that of a most complete and efficient kind. “Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity.”

(Charles Spurgeon, A Treasury of David; on Ch. 51, p. 450; Funk & Wagnalls Co., 1881)

David was deceived and in grave error in the committing of particular sins, and there was a haze over his heart. The prophet came and seared the veil with a burning sword, declaring “You are the man!” (2 Sam. 12)

David heard the convicting word about his sins, but he heard something further and deeper than that. We could say that in his inner-ear he heard the prophet declare, “You are man.” In other words, not only are you the one who has committed offenses against God, but you are dust, your life is a vapor, and unless you cry out from that place, you may have your reputation restored among men, but you will not know the joy of My salvation.

Rather than tucking tail and running in light of this revelation, he faced the One he had sinned against. “Against You and You only have I sinned…” Rather than looking for prosperity in his political career or hoping for a restored reputation, he cried out for a cleansing of the deepest kind.

The guilt is intolerable; it must not only be softened and diminished but must be eliminated completely: blotted out, washed away, made to disappear from the sight of God. The petitioner knows “that the removal of this intolerable thing cannot be his own work but only God’s: a divine blotting out, cleansing, and washing away…” (K. Barth, CD 4/1, 579)

(PSALMS 1-59: A Continental Commentary, Hans Joachim-Kraus; Fortress Press, p. 502)

David was not content with a surface brushing. He cried out for a new heart, his spirit had been broken, and he knew that from that place of true contrition, God would not despise Him.

David experienced the Gospel before the apostles ever declared it. David experienced the cross before it had been preached. His was not a desire to have embarrassment removed or his name held high, it was a gut-cry for redemption, and he knew that he would be met with mercy in that cry, for the God to whom he turned is the One who desires ultimate restoration.

One of my friends once said, “If you haven’t cried out about being a man, you’ve yet to cry out.”

May we come into this Davidic grit, this grace to turn quickly to the God of mercy, to lean entirely into His heart, and to be transformed and made true “in the innermost parts.”

The secret of fasting is denying yourself something you need to survive in this realm to partake of something you need to survive in the spiritual realm. Eating of that realm gives you the substance of that realm. Then you will be able to dish out here, what you have tasted of there. If you are able to resist eating, something that is essential to life; then you will be able to resist anything that the enemy temps you with.

Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let Us  make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creepy thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Here we see the creation and the call of man. Man was created in a supernatural state, and from this supernatural state of being man was to subdue the earth. Read verses 28-30 and you will see further that all creation was given by God to the authority of man, the only one created in His image.

Genesis 2:15-17 Then the Lord took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. Then the Lord commanded the man, saying “From any tree in the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

They were created in God’s presence, and  already in a supernatural state. They were called to fast the knowledge of the world. They were to live entirely off the words of God, the knowledge that comes from Him of how to cultivate the garden they were given to keep.

In verses 3:1-6 we see their reaction to His commandment.  The serpent came and tempted them to disobey God by simply eating of the knowledge of this life. They gave in to the desire for food…

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

This was the beginning, the first age of man. And for Adam and Eve, this is all they knew. The wisdom of God was to retain the state in which they were created, living from God alone. The goal of the enemy was to get them to taste of the wisdom of the age, causing them to fall into a state of spiritual death and relinquishing their authority on the earth to the evil one. He tricked them into looking away from God and at themselves. (ref. Matthew 16:23) The temptations here are often repeated throughout Scripture and commonly referred to as: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.” When we respond as they did, looking to ourselves–our own understanding-to try to accomplish something–then it is a work of the flesh. It corrupts our perspective of living off the words of God–the supernatural state of being–to acting in accordance with the age.

Genesis 3:7-10 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called out to him “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked so I hid myself.”

After they tasted they could see just how devastating it was. They no longer saw themselves in a supernatural state, covered in the presence of God. They now saw themselves with merely natural eyes, realizing they were naked. Their scenario is remarkably opposite of ours. They were initially supernatural, and we natural. They forsook the command of God to eat to the world. We are to forsake to the world to eat of the command of God. Now they were naked and their sins were exposed. The knowledge of the world had entered their hearts. Suddenly, they had to be sought out by God. The entire state of being, their entire world had been flipped up-side-down!

Genesis 3:21-22 The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them. Then the Lord God said. “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he may stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”-

No longer can man enter into God’s presence without a sacrifice being made.  In verses 23-24, God kicks man out of the garden of Eden. Why? Because God did not want man to be stuck in this state forever. He wanted to restore Him to his original state so he could fulfill what he was called to do. (ref. Eph 3:9-12) The discipline of expulsion from the garden was mercy so man would not give in again and eat of the tree of life, living forever in a fallen state.

Man forsook God, eating from a tree the knowledge of this life. He hid himself because he was naked, exposed in his sin. What did Jesus do? He forsook the world, eating only the words of the Father, hanging on a tree He sacrificed Himself so man could again come freely into God’s presence. And, just as man hid from God, God hid from Jesus, which caused Jesus to declare “My God, My God, ‘Why have You forsaken me?’ “ (ref. Mt 27:45) Jesus undid everything that was lost in the garden, understading this will shed more light on His life and ministry.

Luke 4:1 Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. In one sense; the garden was the condition of man before the fall and the wilderness was the condition of man after the fall. So here we go; satan comes to tempt Jesus in the wilderness the same way he tempted man in the garden.

Luke 4:2b-4 …And He ate nothing in those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written. ‘Man shall not live on bread alone [but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God  (Mt 4:4b).]‘

Satan shows up and tries to interrupt Jesus, who is fasting-eating of heaven. He tempts Him to eat of this life. Jesus declared that man lives on the word of God. He chose the better way. When God was speaking to man in the garden, those “words” were the very food given to sustain his spiritual life.

Luke 4:5-13 The devil continued to tempt Him, but Jesus was able to resist the “lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (as some say). His obedience and denial of the wisdom of the age caused Him to overcome the age. (ref. Phil 2:5-7) We must resist the food-the wisdom of this world, and live off the Word of God.

Luke 4:14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread throughout all the surrounding district.

Now we see the emergence of someone who is able to fulfill the call of God in the earth! The earth subdued Adam with its temptations. Now Jesus fufills Adam’s call and subdues the earth with God’s Word.

Jesus went into the desert full of the Spirit, and He came out in the power of the Spirit. It is one thing to be full of the Spirit, and it is another to walk in the power of the Spirit. The secret is to desire something more; to eat of the things of heaven, not just the things of this life. Jesus, in John 4:32, told His disciples that He had“Food to eat they did not know about.” This is the food we must want. To eat anything that comes from the Father’s mouth, even the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table. (ref. Matthew 15:27)

What is with the manna in the wilderness? God was teaching a nation to rely on Him and break their mental bondage to Egypt.

Revelation 2:17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.

Overcoming-eating of the hidden manna. It’s not just being in the Church, but the point is to hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church. Hearing what God is saying in this life will reap the reward of overcoming and make us able to eat of the hidden manna.

Luke 4:16-21 Jesus went into a synagogue and read from Isaiah this famous passage…

The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.

Jesus had eaten of heaven which brought actuality to His statement. Its is one thing to teach the word and it is another thing to be the word, to show that it is alive in you. He was not just teaching Scripture, He was fulfilling it. This is when the Spirit moves, when we eat of heaven we become living fulfillments of the word. Start eating of heaven and living for eternity here and now, and that hidden manna will become His Word fufilled in your mouth.

To listen to a sermon of this message, click here.   Scroll down to the sermon player and select; The Hidden Manna.