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Keen lovers of C.S. Lewis’ children’s stories might
be tempted to lament the reference to there being
‘few connecting doors left’ between our world and
the magical land of Narnia.
The door that really matters, however – between
heaven and earth – in no way closed when the Lord
Jesus ascended back to His Father. Although He would
no longer be able to walk and talk with His
disciples in quite the same way, He promised that He
would continue to communicate with them by His
Spirit.
Thousands or years before the Spirit was poured out
on all flesh, the Lord came down in a pillar of
cloud in the wilderness to rebuke Aaron and Miriam
for their critical attitude. The passage quoted
above shows how highly the Lord rated Moses. In the
process it also reveals at least three different
levels of communication. First come face-to-face
encounters, then visions and dreams, and finally
riddles.[1]
We could perhaps liken these ‘direct’ and ‘indirect’
means of communication to soccer referees awarding
direct and indirect free kicks. In the case of
direct free kicks, players have the change to drive
the ball through the defensive wall and into the
net. If the free kick is an indirect one, the ball
has to be passed to someone else before a shot can
be attempted.
I love reading accounts of people who have had
‘face-to-face’ encounters. Extraordinary things
always seem to happen to them. Even better if we are
able to spend time with them – we are more than
likely to ‘catch’ something of their anointing and
authority!
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My mind goes back to the godly Building Society
manager the Lord told us to approach for our first
mortgage application. He turned out to be a man who
walked so closely to the Lord that you could feel
the presence of heaven all around as he prayed.
The Lord told him to go ahead with a transaction
that many another manager would have balked at: to
trust a person who lived ‘by faith’ to meet his
monthly repayments. When we consider all that has
developed as the direct result of owning our first
property, we can only marvel at how significant that
word proved to be. |
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Many years ago, Ros and I spent a few hours with
John and Paula Sandford, whose books are making such
a profound impact on many. As we prayed together, we
could feel the Lord’s presence ‘layers deep’ in the
room, even before they brought a powerful word that
launched us into another phase of our ministry.
Show me Your face, let me hear Your voice; for Your
voice is sweet, and Your face is lovely.
(Song of
Songs 2:14)
The veil between heaven and earth is very thin. One
evening in Paris in the mid 1970’s, I returned home
to my lodgings from a midweek Bible study feeling
unusually deflated.
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For reasons I can no longer recall, my contributions
had not been well received. I flopped down onto my
knees and poured out my heart to God. Suddenly, I
found myself praying an outrageous prayer: that I
might be allowed to go to heaven that night. It was
not so much that I went to heaven as that heaven
came to me. My prayer was abundantly answered as the
presence of the Lord flooded into the room. I was
utterly known in a totally different way to anything
I had ever experienced before.
We conversed together in all for three hours. First
of all, He called me to be His witness. In the
warmth of the Lord’s immediate presence, it is easy
to hear ‘hard’ truths. Amongst many pointers to the
future, He told me that He did not want me to marry
the girl I was engaged to. I had been feeling uneasy
about the relationship for some time, but had been
reluctant to make the break. Now the Lord was
insisting on it.
He also stressed that I should not become a vicar –
something that kept me from confusion when people
made inevitable suggestions that I ‘do it properly
and get ordained!’
Towards the end of our time together, the Lord told
me that although I would not meet Him again in quite
such a dramatic way this side of heaven, His
presence would always be with me. When I asked Him
how I could be sure in the future that I had not
imagined this face-to-face encounter He instructed
me to read a passage from Deuteronomy 5:24: ‘This
day we have seen that a man can live, even if God
speaks with him.’
The Lord eased the pain of losing this intense
awareness of heaven by pouring out His Spirit on me,
and giving me a gift I had been praying for: the
ability to speak in tongues. For several more weeks
His presence remained close, allowing me to remain
as it were on the heavenward side. This was my
‘Mount of Transfiguration’ experience, that equipped
and strengthened me for all that lay ahead. |
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For Reflection and Prayer
We do not have to search far in the Bible to find
examples of face-to-face encounters, from the Lord
calling Abraham and directing Moses, right through
to the Lord Jesus speaking to John on the island of
Patmos, where He bequeathed the Church with
important insights and end-time scenarios.
Most commonly, the Lord grants these experiences in
order to heal, guide, reassure or warn. Ponder
examples of face-to-face encounters that you have
read about or come across. Pray for God to meet with
more and more people in such ways – as in the story
below.
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God speaks a healing centre into being |
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A certain unbeliever was sitting in his office in
Cornwall doing his tax returns when he suddenly
found himself writing across the form, ‘You shall
know my thoughts!’ The man, a down to earth Cockney,
was pondering what this could mean when an angel
appeared in the bay window in a pillar of light.
The angel told him that the Lord wanted to use his
house as a Christian healing centre. As a result of
this encounter, the man began attending the local
church, and asked the Lord Jesus into his life. His
house, Hephzibah, became a healing centre, and he
himself went on to exercise such a powerful healing
ministry that the Church of England commissioned him
into the ministry of healing.
A woman saw an advertisement for the work of this
ministry at a time when her son had severe health
problems. When introduced, this man was miraculously
healed, and later went on to acquire the property
when the original owner died. The ministry and
vision of Hephzibah continue to this day in
Cornwall.[2] |
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Of such tales there is no end. It is no part of our
brief to try to second-guess God’s sovereign
workings. ‘Why were these men chosen for such
miraculous experiences?’ is not the sort of question
that will aid our seeking. What will help is the
willingness to turn all our energies – our hopes,
our dreams, into a fervent quest to love and serve
the Lord.
Back in the thirteenth century, the stunningly
beautiful Margaret of Cortona spent nine years as
the mistress of an Italian ‘cavalier.’ Outwardly she
put on a brazen face, but inwardly she was filled
with much disquiet. Her world fell apart altogether
when her lover was suddenly assassinated. Distraught
beyond words, and laying the blame for this tragic
event on herself for having transgressed God’s
command, she resolved to live henceforth only for
the glory of the Lord.
As prodigals are ever wont to do, her first impulse
was to return to the perceived security of her
family home. She was unable to find the space and
grace there, however, that she so desperately
needed. (Her father and profoundly uncaring
stepmother showed her firmly to the door.) What
followed is an illustration of the Biblical promise
that 'Though my father and mother forsake me, the
Lord will receive me.’
[3]
Sitting beneath a fig tree in total desolation, a
host of demons flocked around Margaret, eager to
reassure her that she would have no difficulty in
finding suitable men to care for her, because she
was so beautiful. Above and beyond the deluge of
temptation, the Still Small Voice spoke, bidding her
to put herself under the care of the Franciscan
friars.
Margaret found with the friars the ‘parental’
support that was so sorely wanting in her natural
home. She went on to live a life of exemplary
humility. The example may appear extreme, but in our
own way many of us can identify with the call to
repentance and humility that Margaret lived out, and
that Suzanne Pillans spoke of in the opening
chapter.
As we have seen, these are the qualities that enable
us to withstand the flood tide of Satan’s
condemnation, and to make an impact for the Lord,
without allowing any trace of the attendant glory to
lodge in our soul.
Such people, and only such as have yielded
themselves completely to the Lord, often experience
a special sense of sweetness in their soul as the
Spirit draws them near to the One they love. His
presence compensates for the troubles they almost
invariably also go through, just as His power
removes the obstacles in their path.
For Reflection and Prayer
‘How can you believe if you accept praise from one
another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise
that comes from the only God?’ (Jesus in John 5:44)
Souls are tested by praise they receive – but they
are tested still more stringently when the light of
Christ in them is misconstrued by others. Just as
many well-intentioned people doubted the Lord Jesus,
so there will always be those who misunderstand both
our methods and our motives. What a temptation we
feel at such times to try to vindicate ourselves.
It is often the most godly who agonize longest over
their motivation. The less scrupulous are far too
convinced of their own rightness to entertain such
hesitations.
We are wise to consider carefully the possibility
that we may be mistaken – yet we must not hold back
when God has spoken. Since we offer the devil
unlimited landing strips for fear and doubt, we
should pray the following prayer as often as we need
to.
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Free us,
Lord from the fear of man!
Make us resolute and incisive when You have spoken,
For this leaves so much less room for the Doubter to work.
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