There exists within man a secret place. For so long many have taken the instructions in Matthew 6:6 quite literally, so they have built special prayer rooms and have designated spots that they find are nice to go alone and pray in. But there is something more the Spirit wants to show us here. Now there is nothing wrong with all of this but our exploration is not in the realm of the seen, for so man would search out a place for solace and solitude to find that which is within him.
Often Jesus went off alone to pray, we can read of times when He just slipped away and got off to the Father. Many instances, Luke 4:30 for example, it must have been that Jesus was surrounded by the mob, whether angry of just seeking. But for this purpose He was surrounded by angry religious types, the most dangerous mob there is, and they sought to end His life. It reads "they dragged Him outside the gates with the intentions of throwing Him off the cliff" with the rest of the garbage, THEY WERE GONNA KILL HIM.
We also read of the apostles being in this situation, an angry religious mob, mad as usual because their beliefs are being challenged. They are in peril, being dragged off in the hands of the merciless mob. 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 here is yet another stunning example of condemned men looking death in the face, yet living, rescued from death's cold gaze and grip. Now how was it that all of those times when these men were taken outside of the gates, i mean taken completely out of any form of security at all, but somehow they lived?
I go back to my original statement, there is a place within man where the door of the spiritual simply needs to touch the physical side. It swings open when man releases his hand from gripping the door knob, or his made is made to be cut off. These moments are times when man knows full well that he is going to die, and as far as anyone else is concerned these men are already dead and there is no possible hope for them. It is written that the Spirit of God will give life to our mortal bodies, that we will be strengthened with all might in the inner man, that is the core of it. Men who know how to take their hands off the doorknob welcome the Lord into dine with them for they have learned that the Father rewards with abundant life in that secret place where no flesh may glorify in His presence. These men know that to be dragged outside the walls by the angry and bloodthirsty mob, the men who have torn their flesh and clothes and cut them with biting words and spitting breath will not be harmed in the inner man. This is some real crucification of the man of flesh. In these moments men must trust in their God for it is He Who shall deliver. I can imagine the angry mob carrying Jesus and then the apostles on their shoulders yelling "death! death to them!", yet the Lord is shouting back "grace! grace be to them!".
Zechariah 4:6-7, this is the word of the Lord speaking of Zerubabel the man who would oversee the rebuilding of the temple of the Lord. "Have no fear when they drag you outside the gates and you are dragged out of your comfort zone! I AM WITH YOU!", says the Lord Almighty, "I am near you!" says the Lord, "I am YOUR GOD and you are my people!" says He. Many men scream for blood when the truth shakes them up.
Back to Ephesians 3:16- Paul was immediately referring to the tribulation that had come to him so many times before. In prayer, there is access just as Paul knew and was now writing to the Ephesians that their prayers for him, themselves, their families, and those abroad had so much more impact than they could ever have known. In v.11 Paul says that this is "according to the eternal purpose that was manifest in Jesus" and in v.12 that this purpose is this access and boldness that is permanent, immediate and demands attention.
When one accesses the temple of God, the first thing you must know is that temple is in you , okay yes then you realize that, then why is it in you? How? Whatever place you choose to pray in will someday not be there, like when Elijah found himself in the wilderness by the brook Chebar, that would someday dry up! His time there would be over. But there is a place within where the streams never dry up, and the "bread of life" the presentation bread of the eternal manifestation of Christ in His holy temple, will never perish. Jesus is STILL trying to get us to stop looking at these worldly things, He used something so basic, so vital to human existence as bread to illustrate the importance of the truth that lies within this very elemental yet powerful force of spiritual nature.
The eternal place of god is seated within you regardless of whether or not you should choose to exercise this boldness to access the eternal within. No matter what state a man could be in he still has this place within reserved for God and the voice still echoes from without as God calling His men from outside the gates , calling them to let Him in so He may come and be seated in His rightful place!
A life of sin robs on from this boldness to access, there are holes in your testimony. This sin is abrasive and degrading to the Spirit of man, it causes nakedness and allows hi, to realize his nakedness as it was with Adam and Eve after the "apple incident". Mankind is in a state of perpetual nakedness. The Spirit within man the part that is separated and distinguished from the soul and flesh has been stripped of it's vestments and the articles of the temple have been desecrated. Sin taking advantage of this keeps men in such a state. When the spirit of man which is permanently altered and robbed of it's dignity lay in this state in the dark the devil has his way with it.
Man denying God access remains naked and helpless to the accuser and any attempt to clothe himself result only in more pain and suffering inflicted at the hands of loss. The crushed head of the serpent with it's busted fangs continues to gnaw away at the flesh injecting his poison into the vein further ravaging the spirit. All it needs is to tear the skin slightly and it's venom is in the blood stream and causing fatal calamity if not for the Blood.
Now here is the point in man, where for lack of direction and understanding feels it is necissary to reserve a place for Tobiah within the temple.
Nehemiah 13:7-9
The name "Tobiah" means "goodness of Jehovah", now we know of study and of reading of Nehemiah that Tobiah was anything but the goodness of Jehovah since he meant to rob the people of the goodness by setting himself up as "an abomination that causes desolation". This abomination has from the very beginning sought to set itself up within the temple after the sin has done it's work on the vestments like moths in a linen drawer and further seperating man from God is still it's goal. After man has done his own work denying access of the King to His courts a type of reverse affect happens and is an imitation of the goodness of Jehovah, the devil deals in counterfeit.
When we first get saved we learn that we are a new creation and we go through a process of becoming that new creation then we learn to enter His gates and furthermore we see that without Him we are helpless. Now this subject is in itself a very deep thing it is almost difficult to not just dive right into it, but we will leave it as it is. You know what you have experienced.
Now when I say that this "Tobiah" is a reverse effect, the truth is just that. The abomination will seek to get it's foot in the door it will seek to set itself up within the temple anywhere it can, does not matter if it is just the storeroom once it is nin it seeks to be worshipped. Even worse that this should be in the storeroom right before the entrances to the inner courts or the place of worship since every time one should try to come into the presence of God this abomination whispers to them and distracts and tries to entrap them in it's own "temple". Paul wrote about this in Romans 7:23, he knew that within all of us this war is raging.
It may not appear to you that this is war, but if it keeps us from going to that eternal place while in dire conflict damage will occur and possibly a life of abundance lost, or maybe even a life or lives depending on the state of things. These Tobiahs have kept many people from really knowing Him. There is a veil over the hearts of man that keeps him from going into the place of the eternal. Nehemiah saw this we are given an example of this boldness here, Nehemiah goes and throws Tobiah along with all of his things out and the room is cleansed. You see just as we were strengthened to prosper in the Lord into everything we might set our hearts to do it might seem in this reverse imitation state that good things are always happening.
It might seem we don't need God, we have cut Him off and look at us! We have a new car we have a nice house, a beautiful significant other and everyone lusts after us. All of those things listed in this sense of "self achievement" might as well be other idols, you might as well have a little shelf in your new closet with red candles, pentagrams, and little wooden figurines of the things that you worship. By any means the Tobiah abomination seeks to get you to resist the will of God.
James 5:1-6, James gives a seething rebuke here of these actions, but what is it that needs to be seen? These are some of the actions that one imitates from what is within himself. The man who has set himself up within his temple to worship the abomination will only result in desolation. Let's look back as that word briefly, first in Webster's and then in original tongues:
Desolation in Webster's is - 1) Greif, sadness, loneliness, devastation, ruin, barren wasteland
Desolation in Strong's - Shamam, to stun, devastate, stupify, make amazed, astonishment, also to be made destitute, destroy, make waste, wonder.
People worship this because on the outside it clothes you with the finest apperal silk and fine linens, it places a crown in your head and puffs you up, it intoxicates you on your own riches and miseries, leaving the inside stripped and naked. When the spirit is stripped and naked man will never be satisfied, worship of these things causes barrenness the only reproduction is the curse of sin and death the inheritance is the same. And so many are following this today. There is a river that everyone is jumping in, it looks good to them because they have wander lust and their eyes are glazed over with drunkeness and it wil cause you to do things that you will later regret. The water looks good but it is filth and sewage and rotted blood filled with every vile disease and stench of rotting corpses that is all heading for a waterfall plunging into jagged rocks and acid fire.
"What we are now saying, is that place within us will now be opened and that we will see the truth. We decalre by the Holy Ghost, that we recieve and hold onto the victory over this illusion of life. We declare that we are spiritual beings that have eyes to see and ears to hear. We declare that our God is mighty, our God is holy, and our God is above all other gods. VICTORY IN JESUS FOR THIS GENERATION"
All of this wandering does not have to be so.
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