15.3 Acknowledging Response

God gave all authority to humans when He said, “Subdue,” but reserved all power to His Devoted Spirit. Yet in His integrity, God did give us one power. As a human out from God, I have the right and the power to receive, and I have the right and the power to refuse.

Where there is an entrance, there must be either a welcome or a closing of the door. – To as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become sons birthed out from God. This right goes in the other direction as well – Flee idolatry – Separate yourselves – cast down the accuser. Our response to God, to His Word and to His Spirit, determines everything in our lives and His Kingdom.

The Power Flowing Through. When we speak of power inside this pathway, we are speaking of two very different powers. The power that flows through a wide-open door is all the fulness of God, every aspect of God without measure. But the power to open or close the door is a uniquely human, measured, and sometimes even desperate power. As David said, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God.”

Someone might say, “I’m addicted to this or that and I can’t stop.” But that’s not the power of the doorkeeper. Few were as “addicted” to demons as the Gadarene demoniac, but no demon could keep him from running to Jesus. Your power to close or open your door is the power to say, “Jesus save me.” – “Let it be to me according to Your word.”

The Pathway Itself. The door itself is the consideration of this pathway. It might seem to be the smallest, yet everything else hinges upon it. The door is the simple action of acknowledging God. Much of what happens when we open our door to God belongs in the other pathways of power, but our hand on the doorknob comes before all else.

Abraham was empowered in faith into the promise of God, giving God glory. Abraham was convinced to full measure and completion that what God had promised, He is also able to do. Therefore, it was also credited, spoken inside of God, to him into just innocence (Romans 4:20-22). Contending with a Personal God, face to Face, truth to Truth, honor to Honor, this is the only True beginning.

A Flow of Gospel Words. Let there be light – do not be afraid – and he believed in the Lord – stand still and see the Salvation of God – I would be a doorkeeper in the House of my God – learn of Me – whoever calls on the name of the Lord – let it be to me according to Your word – They immediately followed Him – knock, and it will be opened to you – have faith in God – believe you have received – you shall receive power when the Devoted Spirit has come upon you – consider it all joy – if anyone lacks wisdom, let him ask God – Ask in faith, doubting nothing – we have received the Spirit out from God – our sufficiency is always out from God – we walk through faith, not through sight – Look and see, the new has already become – possessing these promises – I will boast inside my weakness, that the power of Christ might rest upon me – crying, “My daddy, the Father” – live out from faith – believed upon hope - empowered in faith into the promise of God.

Expecting the glory of God – exult boastfully inside of God – reckon yourself to be dead to sin – the word is inside your mouth and heart – all who call upon the name of the Lord – present your bodies a living offering – receive one another in the same way Jesus receives you – and be thankful – the acknowledgement of every good thing of Christ inside of us – by grace we are saved through faith – to comprehend the full extent of God – giving favor to each other as God gives favor to you – enclothe yourself with the full armor of God – Let this same mind be inside of you – that I may gain Christ – I aggressively pursue – welcoming in every present moment – eager to enter into rest – obtained the promise – having already a bold proclamation of entrance – faith is the substance of things hoped for – faith alone pleases God – believe that God is and that He is the rewarder – whom not having seen, you love, into whom now you believe – set your hope fully on God’s enabling presence.

Conceived of an incorruptible word – submitting to word – call on the Father – through Him you believe into God – to those who receive Him, He gives the right to become sons of God – conceived out from God – whoever drinks – hear the voice of the Son of God and live – will come towards Me – eat My flesh and drink My blood – let him come to Me and drink – the one who believes into me – He calls His own sheep by name – My sheep hear My voice – they follow Me – Do you believe this? – Believe also into Me – whatever you ask in My name, I will do – you will know – dwell inside of Me – receive My word – I have called you friends – know the one True God – know Jesus sent into you – receive Spirit Devoted – look and perceive what Love the Father has given to us, that we are called sons of God – by this we have known love – the one who possesses the Son – the one who has an ear, let him hear – open the door and I will come in - the one thirsting, let him come, let him receive the water of life freely.

Acknowledging God as Father. To believe, to know, that God is God and that He is telling us the Truth – this is God’s only entrance. Without faith one cannot please God; indeed, it behooves the one approaching God [in the Most Devoted] to believe that God is and that He becomes the rewarder of those seeking out and requiring of Him (Hebrews 11:6).

The means of devotion is filled with big things; whereas our acknowledging response seems small in comparison. Yet the means of devotion is all practical application; whereas our acknowledging response is the deepest intimacy of friendship. To acknowledge God as Father is to receive Him with open arms, to receive all that He is, regardless, because we honor Him and prefer to be with Him.

A Flow of Our Words. [Notice how this flow of Gospel words is focused on us, our direct response to a personal God.]

Lord Jesus, we receive You into our hearts with all Joy. We receive You as Savior, as Lord, and as the One who lives as us. Lord Jesus, we hear Your Voice and we live. We regard Your Word above all, we welcome the care of Your Spirit, we acknowledge every goodness You are inside of us. Father, You are welcome here among us with all celebration. You dwell in our midst; we receive You. We worship You. You are free, Father, to use our gathering together, and even our bodies, as Your expression. We give You all thanks; we expect You to arise in glory.

The Tension. Every door goes both ways. On the one hand, God’s welcome into us is our discovery that we have entered into God to equal measure. But to refuse God’s entry into us is to refuse our entry into God. Then, to receive one party is, by default, to refuse the opposing party. God and Satan do not dwell together.

We can know Life or not, but never half life and half death. If we’re going back and forth in our minds between good and evil, we’re eating from the wrong tree. The right to receive God is the right to refuse Him. The right to refuse not-God is the right to receive not-God. I now believe that this tension will be forever, that we must engage with God to be sealed into Him.

The Entrance of Perversion. “Did God indeed say?” Nothing succeeds better at getting a human to open the door to evil than these first words of the serpent. This is a mind-game, a desperate play of subtle trickery. “Let’s have a Bible study. Your thoughts are important. What do you think God meant by these words?” Our response to this appeal causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought – the birth of the fake self. It was the bony finger of God that saved me from this horror. ~ “What are you doing to My word?” ~

This word is wonderful, yes, but it’s for holy people; it’s not for you. Not here, not now, not you.

A Flow of Darkness. There is nothing worse than Christians receiving God all the way to the Altar of Incense and then refusing Him, just at the entrance to Completion. Why do they refuse Him? – Because they hate other people, and thus reject a God who loves His enemies (Matthew 5). “Until when, O Lord…? Do you not judge and avenge our blood upon those dwelling upon the earth?”

You don’t believe that, do you? God doesn’t hear you. God doesn’t receive you. God is not talking about you. That’s not “faith”; it’s presumption. – I know what everything is about. Let me explain it to you. I’m the only person who has it right.

The Actions of Overcoming. In some ways, this is also the simplest point of overcoming, yet it is so crucial. Think of these things. – Enclothed in white garments – I will not erase – I will speak his name in the presence of the Father. This is the last point of entrance for a believer into all the knowledge of God. Everything hinges on that “step through” the Veil. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as just innocence, as white garments.

But what really makes the difference? – Receive one another in just the same way that Jesus receives you. You can’t enter into the presence of God without taking your brother and sister with you. – Here am I, Father, I and all these people whom You brought into my life.

Personal Fellowship. I am now seeing that this pathway is, in fact, the deepest familiarity of friendship. I am very comfortable with God, and God is very comfortable with me. Why? Because I take God at His Word. And if I take God at His Word, then I know also that He takes me at mine.

Being “in tune” with God means our receiving one another as we are. Yet how can I be in tune with God, that is, KNOW Him, if His Word is not flowing through me as the essence of my own soul? Yet I know just the same that my true words are also flowing through Him in honor and value. This is what Moses and David mean to us, being friends with God, sharing Hheart with Him.

The Meaning of Victory. Let it be to me according to Your word. –The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

The meaning of Victory inside this pathway of power is a most extraordinarily unexpected surprise. Victory is when friendship with God and friendship with one another is the most important thing in our lives. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God. – I would rather welcome God and my brethren into my presence and I into theirs than to do anything else. Our welcoming one another as Jesus to us is the very fabric, the Spirit-weave, that goes forth throughout all, the Godly leaven that leavens the whole world as the Kingdom of God.

Relationship with other Pathways. Reciprocating LIFE on the one hand is a big deal. The Church as the visible expression of God to creation on the other hand is a big deal. But the pathway from one to the other is simple. We believe that God is telling us the truth, and we receive one another.

Everything God is and does in us and through us is predicated on our welcoming of His entrance every moment forever. This is the Gospel word to Abraham. Only one thing matters to God, only one thing that justifies us, that makes us True and right and good. That one thing is that we receive God into ourselves, believing to full measure that He speaks the Truth and receiving Him in one another.

Two Principles for Kingdom Building. Synergeia: I have believed for some time that our simple action of opening our door to God in response to specific Word and together with one another has massive impact in our world. This is the smallest of synergeias, God and us opening our door that we might enter into one another, yet it is always the beginning of all that is God-known.

Symmorphy: The door is the form. God and I, God and we, share Door together, the Lord Jesus. An open door, arms stretched wide in welcome, the joy on every face. The place of honor given, the sharing of service rendered, the giving of thanks, the speaking of blessing, when this fabric exists, permeating throughout human society as the Church to one another, only then can God share form with all creation.

Guiding and Influencing. That the sharing of your faith might energeo through the acknowledgement of every good thing inside of you inside of Christ Jesus. Our task, our guidance, our influence, is to teach people everywhere to give thanks inside of and for the sake of all, to ask God to fulfill His word in them and to believe He has done so, and to speak Christ personal as themselves and to one another. – Acknowledge God; be reconciled to Him.

There is no greater power we could possess as humans than the power to open the Door that God might come into His House prepared for Him. And God showing up appears as one thing – human kindness, and the result is abundance of Life.

Building and Protecting. One of the most fascinating concepts in home design is the design of the entry into a home. The pathway and porch invite and protect and the passage beyond the door gives place, but only a limited view, showing much more beyond.

The power to receive Jesus is the power not to be afraid. This is the beginning of protection. Then, conversely, the power of welcome dispels all fears. The kingdoms of this world are built on keeping people in their place, as is much “church” as well. The Kingdom of God is built on welcoming people and giving them place. “You will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” – “As Jesus to me.”

Interaction and Sharing. Throughout my years in the move fellowship, I traveled often, both when I was single and after we were married. In most of those travels, we stayed in the homes or communities of others in that fellowship, often complete strangers, except that we shared the same vision and joy. Those experiences were always inside of full and genuine WELCOME. Conversely, in our own homes and communities, we received others in the fellowship in the same way. Incredibly, since we left that fellowship, we still have often stayed in the communities in our travels, yet that quality is not known anywhere else.

I am convinced that this web of welcome, of receiving and being received as honored guests, is the fabric of the Kingdom, permeating into the world and shaping the lives of all.

Our Conclusion. Opening the door is the power given to us that allows the power of God to flow into the knowledge of all. This is the power of the Caller, the power to call God into our world.

Embracing the absolute fact that God has already placed us into the Most Devoted is the one thing that takes us out of a Christian life of hades and into the Joy of our Salvation and the knowledge of God. And from this place of receiving, God and each of us, God and us together, we towards one another, we are about to step forth into a Church on Fire, bringing forth the knowledge of God into the knowledge of all.

Stand still and SEE the Salvation of God, for the death you are aware of today, you will know no more forever.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is now 16.1 “Likeness and Condition.” Likeness means the Church as the visible expression of God to creation, and condition means the glorious liberty in which the Church lives. This is the woman clothed with the sun; this is the glorious liberty into which creation is invited.

What does God look like when He is free to be Himself inside of our world?

The truth is, this question frames exactly the remainder of this text and is our ruling question as we consider the patterns of the Kingdom. You could read Chapter 5: “Oh Jerusalem” in Symmorphy V: Life to prepare.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, seal us together into Your knowledge, for we would be found nowhere else. And Father, inside the power of our open Door to You, we have turned around. Yet the open Door continues, for you have placed us that we might call You into our world.

“Father, Your entrance into us every moment is meek and lowly of Heart, in all goodness and kindness. Now, we enter our world with You in the same way. Yet we enter our world, every next moment, every next circumstance, every next interaction with others, as doorkeepers in Your House, opening the doors of power in every direction and to all.

“Father, we once imagined that David was being ‘little’ when he placed himself as a doorkeeper in Your house, now we know that he was reaching for the most audacious power of all, the power of the open door, the power to call You into the lives of others. And now, Father, like David, with all presumptive boldness, we call You into Your Church, our brothers and sisters in every land and people group on earth.

“Light Your Church on Fire, oh God, clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let Your Knowledge flow into every corner of human society. Our hearts are wide open to You, Father, our souls are in tune with Your Word. Enter now through us into Your creation with glorious liberty. Oh God, You are!”