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| ISBN-13: | 9781449092405 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | AuthorHouse |
| Publication date: | 10/18/2010 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| File size: | 311 KB |
Read an Excerpt
THE GREAT ESCAPE
Word & Spirit MinistriesBy David Levister
AuthorHouse
Copyright © 2010 David LevisterAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4490-9241-2
Chapter One
The Great Escape
There is an inexhaustible world of possibility awaiting every believer in Christ. This extraordinary world exists OUTSIDE the limited realm of human thought and perception. This world can be discovered just beyond the realm of religious thoughts that hold men in bondage to fear, guilt, and condemnation. This world of Spirit is one of peace, safety, health, prosperity, and divine intelligence. Every believer in Christ Jesus has free access into this wonderful world of unlimited glory. As we take our rightful position in the heavenly places, we will begin to operate in a wisdom that flows outside the boundaries of the natural man. These heavenly places are located in Christ Jesus. The Lord spoke through the prophet Isaiah saying,
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa 55:8-9)
Notice, as the heavens are HIGHER than the earth, so are God's ways higher than the ways of man. It's important to understand that the "natural man" will never perceive the higher ways of God. Instead, he continues his pursuit in the limited material world below. However, the spiritual man has the inherent ability to perceive God on a much higher level of wisdom and intelligence. Thus, he is afforded the right to live, move, and exhibit these heavenly realities and attributes in the earth. In this elevated state, there is no sin, sickness, poverty, or death! As man takes his place in this exalted realm of Spirit, this will become his experience and reality. Isaiah proclaims, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa 55:9). Clearly, it's impossible to measure how high the heavens are above the earth. But God says this is how much higher His thoughts are than the thoughts of man. If it were possible to measure the heights of the heavens and their exaltation above the earth, we would still have only a measure of understanding concerning God's majestic ways and the heights to which every believer can ascend in Christ.
In order to gain some perspective concerning this truth, consider the natural heavens. The heavens, as we know them, are massive indeed. The closest star to the earth (apart from the sun) is TEN LIGHT YEARS AWAY! While pondering this reality, please consider that light travels at the speed of one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles PER SECOND!! Now think ... if it were possible to get into a rocket and move through space at the rate of one hundred and eighty-six thousand miles PER SECOND, it would take TEN YEARS to arrive at the nearest star! That's right, Beloved, that little star you see in the sky on a clear summer night that seems to be so close, is actually ten light years away! The fact that we can even SEE the stars testify to the enormity of their size! When considering the vastness of the heavens, it's important to understand that scientists have never located the extremities of space. It appears, say scientists, as if the worlds that exist in space are BOUNDLESS and UNLIMITED. Scientists now say that there are more worlds in outer space than there are grains of sand upon the seashore! These worlds seem to be WITHOUT END!! Albeit, as it is in the natural, so it is in the Spirit! God's heavens, like the natural heavens, are BOUNDLESS and UNLIMITED! No man has ever located the extremities of the heavens, nor shall he! The reality is; there is NO END to these Spiritual heavens! This is because the "heavens declare the GLORY of God." There is NO END to God's glory!! The half of God's glory has never been seen, perceived, heard or told by any man! According to the Bible, the heavens are continually reverberating with the reality of God's glory! The Bible also teaches that the heavens are now the true home of every believer in Christ (Phil 3:21). As believers, it is our distinct privilege to "sit down" in this lofty realm and behold the GLORY of God which is now our own. Jesus prayed to the Father concerning this glory, saying, "And the glory which thou gavest Me I HAVE GIVEN THEM" Jesus goes on to explain why this glory was given us. He says, "... that they may be one, even as We are one ..." God's glory makes man ONE, that is, it delivers man from DUALITY! As we behold the glory of God, we are CHANGED to become ONE WITH THAT GLORY, spirit, soul, and body!!
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor 3:18)
As man is changed by God's glory, he then becomes THE VISIBLE MANIFESTATION of this glory. At which point, THE WORLD WILL KNOW THAT GOD SENT HIS SON INTO THE EARTH (Jn 17:22)! How will the world know this? It's simple. The SON WILL BE SEEN through His Church! The intelligence, wisdom, insight, strength, nobility, character and dominion of Christ will be revealed through the lives of His people. As we are freed from the limitations of earth, the inhabitants thereof will COME TO THE LIGHT and discover that Jesus is alive and well within His holy temple of living stones! Unfortunately, the bountiful glory that is available to the sons of God has largely gone untapped and unrecognized. While heaven and all its glory are made available through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, men for the most part, are consumed in their finite world of earth and situation. Glad will be the day when God's people truly understand the vast resources that are available in Christ and thus utilize these for His glory! Hebrews 2:8 speaks of the glory that is available to man, saying, "Thou hast put all things in subjection under His feet. For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him ..."
Clearly, God has placed all things under man's feet and has left nothing that is not put under him. As we consider the enormity of this statement, we cannot help but to conclude that God has something much greater in mind for man than mere "existence" in the earth! Rather, God created man for the unlimited realm of the Spirit! Every man who fulfills destiny will certainly live beyond the limited world of circumstance and situation. He will likewise live free from guilt, fear, condemnation, and inferiority! This wonderful life is made possible through Jesus Christ. In order to live free, man must live by the REVELATION of the heavens!
Remember, the heavens are declaring God's glory. According to scripture, God's glory is seen in the FACE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST (2 Cor 4:6). It's important to understand that JESUS CHRIST I-S the Glory of God! Therefore, the glory that the heavens declare is none other than the PERSON OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! It is the revelation of Jesus Christ that empowers every man to leave the confines of sin, circumstance, and situation. This revelation affords man the right to stand in heavenly places beholding the bright world above! As the natural sun draws up moisture from the sea thus creating clouds for rain, even so, as we are exposed to God's SON, we are drawn up from the sea of humanity thus becoming clouds for His KINGDOM REIGN! As the natural clouds dispense the rain, even so, Jesus will dispense Himself through those who have been sovereignly apprehended for His glory.
We see a parallel to this truth in the life of the beloved John. In the latter years of his life, John was banished to an island called Patmos. He was taken there for his testimony of Jesus Christ. Albeit, God would supernaturally deliver John from the confines of this little island to prophesy again before many nations, tongues, and peoples (Rev 10:11).
As we will discover in our studies, John was liberated from the little isle of Patmos as he received the revelation of Jesus Christ! As Christ was revealed, John was caught up beyond the limited space of Patmos and empowered to walk in the heights of God's heavens. Eventually, John would "physically" leave the island to share this revelation with the nations of earth. Even so today, God is presently rescuing His people from sin, sickness, limitation and confinement! He is catching us up into the realm of all possibility! How is God doing this, you ask? Simple; He is revealing His Son to us! As the Son is revealed, we find that it's impossible to remain within the confines of Patmos and all it represents!
Patmos serves as a type of the five senses, religious bondage, or the limited realm of the flesh. Please note, John's captors banished him to Patmos in order to silence his voice, sever his influence, and destroy his hope in Christ. If John fails to get off this little island, he will inevitably die in this limited and confined place. So it is with every believer in Christ: WE MUST GET OFF THE ISLAND OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND LIMITED HUMAN ABILITY and be delivered from the limited view of human reason and thought!
In the beginning, when Adam disobeyed the mandate of God, he fell from the lofty heights of the heavens. Before the fall, Adam's awareness of the exalted realm of Spirit was sharp and keen. Thus, he lived in an elevated state of power and glory! After the fall, Adam became dull and insensitive to this higher realm of activity. Like John on Patmos, Adam became a prisoner to the limited realm of earth. The fact is, we all died in Adam. Every man born after Adam was "born in sin and shapen in iniquity" (Psa 51:5). Therefore all men were born into CAPTIVITY! And what is man's captivity, you ask? Man's captivity is his blindness to the glory of God and his formidable tie to the lower world of his five senses! The captivity of the natural man is his inability to comprehend the true Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ! Before Jesus came into this world, although men were breathing, sleeping, eating, etc., they were all DEAD MEN WALKING! Man was dead to God and the higher ways of His kingdom. When Jesus came into the world, He WAS THE ONLY MAN ALIVE! All other men were DEAD in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:5)! In this spiritually "dead state" men could not perceive nor understand the higher life of the Lord Jesus. His Words were continually misunderstood! This is because His Words were SPIRIT and LIFE (Jn 6:63). It would therefore require SPIRITUAL PERCEPTION to receive these Words. The Bible is clear, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor 2:14). Jesus once declared, "... Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (Jn 2:19). The Jews were outraged at this saying! They said to Jesus, "Forty-six years it took to build this temple and will You rebuild it in three days?" Because of their spiritually "deadened state" these Jews thought Jesus was referring to the natural temple of Herod. They UNDERSTOOD NOT that He spoke of the temple of His body. On another occasion Jesus declared, "I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (Jn 6:51). At this saying, the Jews strove among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?" Here again, in their "deadened state" they could not understand the SPIRITUAL APPLICATION of God's Word. These were BOUND to the "little isle" of human wisdom and understanding! In this limited realm, they were "cut off" from the higher realm of kingdom wisdom and intelligence.
Albeit, Jesus declared emphatically, "... I am come that they might HAVE LIFE, and that they might have it more abundantly." (Jn 10:10)
Jesus came into the world to raise all men from the DEATH of Patmos into the glorious liberty of the Spirit of God! (1 Cor 15:22)
Jesus came to free man from the mental and spiritual chains that bind him to the DUST OF CIRCUMSTANCE AND SITUATION! (Eph 2:6)
Jesus came to open the eyes of man's understanding that all might know the hope of God's call and the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints! (Eph 1:18)
Jesus came to free every man from the spiritual chains of fear, guilt, and condemnation! (Rom 8:1, 2 Tim 1:7)
Jesus came to free man from the demands of the law! (Col 2:14)
Jesus came to liberate man from the island life of the five senses into the unbounded glory of the heavens! (Matt 10:39)
Please remember, apart from the revelation of Jesus Christ, John would remain hopelessly bound to the limited island of Patmos and would have inevitably "adapted" to life on this little isle with its restrictions and confinements. So it is with every man! If we have no hope in Christ, we have no hope at all! Men everywhere, consciously or subconsciously feel the restrictions of earth. This is because man was created for the unbounded and unrestricted glory of God! Man is the image of God (Gen 1:26). He was brought forth from the bowels of eternity and created for freedom! Every man who fails to escape the limited restrictions of earth will inevitably live with an inner sense of dissatisfaction! Because of this dissatisfaction, many flock to self help materials for answers. However, these offer little relief. This is because self help materials teach men to save themselves through positive thought and perception. This only leads to further frustration and disappointment because man has an inability to free himself from the confines of earth and its limitations. There is only one Savior for mankind, Christ Jesus the Lord! It's only as we receive Jesus into our heart and soul, that we receive liberation from the earth's woes and restrictions.
"I, even I, am the LORD; and beside Me there is no Saviour." (Isa 43:11)
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12)
There is a great awakening transpiring in the souls of men as God pours out the Spirit of revelation concerning His Son. It's beginning to dawn deep within the hearts of the hungry just how connected they are to the unlimited world of the Spirit through Christ Jesus! The truth is man is powerless to help himself. This is why God provided a Savior! God gave His Son as a means of escape from the dreaded realm of confinement and limitation! Jesus is the door of access into the unlimited world of God's heavens!
In Revelation 4:1, John saw an "open door" in heaven. This open door granted John access into the higher realms of Spirit. As John moved through this open door, he likewise entered into the dimension of all possibility! This open door afforded John the pleasure of escaping the limited island of Patmos! You see, Beloved, God never intended for John to survive Patmos until his death! Instead, God had a glorious plan for his escape! While on this little isle, God would catch John up into the Spirit and walk him through the heavens revealing the glory of Jesus to him. As John followed the Lord through this lofty realm of paradise, God would lead him completely out of Patmos and the limitations thereof. Until eventually John would physically leave the island and proclaim the power of the risen Lord to many peoples, nations, tongues and kings! Even so, every believer today must know that GOD HAS NEVER INTENDED TO LEAVE US IN THE LIMITED REALM OF THIS WORLD! God has "opened a door" for us in heaven. This door into eternity was opened through the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! This open door provides every man a marvelous escape from Patmos and the limitations thereof! As we follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will surely leave the realm of sin, sickness, poverty, guilt, fear, and condemnation. Like John, we will prophesy before many peoples concerning the magnitude of God's glory and power that is seen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ! It's important to understand that John was freed from the confines of Patmos by filling his belly with the prophecy of the book.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from THE GREAT ESCAPE by David Levister Copyright © 2010 by David Levister. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction....................viiChapter 1. The Great Escape....................1
Chapter 2. The Isle Of Patmos....................11
Chapter 3. Yielding To The Spirit....................17
Chapter 4. The Spirit Of Revelation....................22
Chapter 5. Opening Up To The Spirit....................28
Chapter 6. The Purpose For The Spirit Of Revelation....................35
Chapter 7. The Spirit Of The Lord's Day....................39
Chapter 8. Centered In The Son....................46
Chapter 9. Kingdom Liberty....................57
Chapter 10. Living Among The Captives....................67
Chapter 11. Christ The Achiever....................73
Chapter 12. By My Spirit....................78
Chapter 13. The Ministry Of The Holy Spirit....................85
Chapter 14. Presenting All That I Am....................99
Chapter 15. Kingdom Righteousness....................106
Chapter 16. The Contents Of The Ark....................115
Chapter 17. The Pot Of Manna....................121
Chapter 18. Convincing The World Of Judgement....................127
Chapter 19. Completely Justified....................132
Chapter 20. The Day Of Atonement....................157
Chapter 21. Full Salvation....................165
Chapter 22. The Hands Of A Fit Man....................173
Chapter 23. The Imposition Of Carnal Works....................177
Chapter 24. A Past Tense Gospel....................182
Chapter 25. A Heavenly Diet....................194
Chapter 26. Raised Into Glory....................206
Chapter 27. The Empowerment Of The Revelation....................211
Chapter 28. Another Level....................221
Chapter 29. Men Will See Your Good Works....................227
Chapter 30. The Power Of One....................232