WHERE THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS

William Carrol, a pastor at Times Square Church, preaches a message, "What if I fail in my time of trial." He brings out how Peter boasted of a strength that he did not have when he assured the Lord that he would not deny him. This is a message that is taught throughout the scriptures. For forty years Moses thought he was something:he was mighty in word and deed. The next forty years he found out he was nothing:the desert has a way of bringing this out. The final forty years Moses found out what God could do with nothing! You can bet that Moses was depending on God's strength, not on the strength of his rod. All Moses could do with that rod was bust one Egyptian upside the head, delivering one. When God got behind the rod,he opened up the Red Sea and delivered millions!

David said in Psalm 118:14 that, "The Lord is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. It is not enough to sing about how great God is and how trustworthy he is, we must become what we sing and preach. We must be a faithful witness that no matter what comes, I will trust the Lord and thus prove that I believe that nothing is to difficult for my God. David got to this grace by realizing what we all must learn: it is never in our strength but only when we realize that the Lord's strength is all we have. He like Peter boasted, "The Lord is my light...whom shall I fear." Then after years on the run he said in his heart,"I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul."

David lost much of his testimony as it related to what he could do. At one point in his life David made several boasts, "Lord according to my righteousness judge me; I have not transgressed with my mouth; and There is no iniquity in my hands." He once said that he would not set any wicked thing before his eyes but one day he set his eyes on Bathsheba and by his "hand" had Uriah murdered. At this point David learned that unless the Lord builds the house, they that labor, labor in vain. The testimony of David's that stood the test was, "I am poor and needy yet the Lord thinketh on me: The mercy of the Lord endures forever!!

Where the Spirit of the Lord is liberty. You can be sure of this, the presence and freedom that Jesus brings will never be in a heart that in pride is still drawing on human strength to meet a divine call to holiness. The Spirit of Christ will only be present in a heart that has seen that it's absolute best is as filthy rags. When we see the total worthlessness of any work or any worship that does not originate in the heart and counsel of God, we are on the road of recovery. We must become the servant who can say of a truth, it is no longer I that live but Christ lives in me.

Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is a freedom and a power to do the will of God. Before the cross Peter's spirit was willing but weak through the flesh. Once he was broken and become a vessel through which the Holy Ghost filled and flowed through, he was free to preach Christ boldly. The manifest presence of Jesus is promised to you as sure as it was Peter. Where he is, there is a freedom to not retaliate in the "heat" of the moment, to be free not to react in anger. There is a freedom to lay down the sin that so easily besets us, a freedom to run from "Potiphar's" wife as she seeks to push all the "wrong" buttons.There is freedom to deny self and get up early to seek his face; to hear his word; to do the impossible. There is freedom to think right thoughts, to cast down wrong thoughts--those thoughts that would utterly shame us were they to be revealed. There is a freedom to be changed from glory to glory.

The secret to all of this is to be empty before him: God will not fill a vessel that is full of self. As in Elijah's day the oil will flow as long as there is an empty vessel. Be filled with the Spirit!! Be free to be a slave to the will of God!