"Do you see Jesus in your clouds?"

[slave]

"Behold, He is coming with clouds....." Rev. 1:7.

It's funny, when I was a young Christian I found myself getting in deep intricate heavy stages of arrival with God. Years later I find myself more like a Baby before God, or the smarter I get the less I know kind of thing...smile. And No, its not because my brain is slipping, its because I am maturing in Him. How did I mature? Well, along with simply spending time with Him which, by the way, He tends to rub off on you, I had plenty of clouds in my life.

In the Bible, clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is thru these very clouds that the Spirit of God has taught me how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in my life I would have no faith. "The clouds are the dust of His feet." [Nahum 1:3]. They are a sign that God is there.

What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near me without clouds--He does not come in clear-shining brightness. Over my years I have come to conclude that it is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Even tho His faithfulness takes all things and makes them good. Thru every cloud He has brought my way, He wants me to un-learn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify my belief until my relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child--a relationship simply between God and my own soul, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. So the right question God has me asking now.....is my relationship with Him becoming "Simpler" than it used to be?

I have learned something...and remember one doesn't learn without a change in behavior, that there is a direct connection between the strange and unexpected circumstances allowed by God and what I know of Him, and I have to learn to interpret the mysteries of my life in the light of my knowledge of God. Until I can come face-to-face with the deepest, darkest fact of my life without damaging my view of God's Character I do not yet know Him. I have not yet gained understanding.

"....they were fearful as they entered the cloud." [Luke 9:34].

"Is there anyone except Jesus in your cloud? If so, it will only get darker until you get to the place where there is "no one anymore, but Jesus...." [Mark 9:8; and also vs. 2-7].

 

[Joidevivre]

I understand what you are learning, but there can be one or many people in the cloud with us. Because Jesus, himself, said that He was the one hurting, the one hungry, the one in prison, the one in need.

And in every cloud, He reveals something more of Himself. Even through these people that might share the cloud with you. It is all about how chooses to reveal more of Himself.

I actually began with simplicity - me and Him. And He led me into seeing Him in the face of the people who were suffering around me. And invited me to really see them because until I did, I could not see Him. And when I could share their suffering and help them through it, I would begin to see Him in deeper ways than ever before.

Everyone He teaches differently and thank you for sharing yours.

 

[slave]

You have added a good point -indeed! God deals with us personally in the clouds, as His Spirit interacts with us in our minds and hearts. At some point God needs to take us alone and contemplate when the will of God crosses anything in the will of man somebody has to die, and this cannot be resolved as a group...but as we go thru that... God commissions us to then be the Ambassador of Christ to others indeed! And at times be the recipient of such a journey of others traveling first in that alone time revelation reflecting comfort to us to be able to receive that God time in a prepared way of encouragement.

There is something very personal about the work of the Spirit in us,both in way of our felt revelations and in the commitments to wanting to serve Him because of His will being wrought out in us needing to be apart of His truth in our relationships with others. and in the clouds this is also true.We do need to travel in part, alone, in this with God.

Matthew 6:6 tells us "When we pray, go into a private room, close the door, and pray unseen to your Father who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you." Gods investments in us will result in being different with others as well.. We saw that in Jesus' life when He went to talk to the Father alone on the hilltop, then came and did miracles before men, And loved the unlovely, and hated righteously... so, you are right that our role does not stop with ourselves. And you are also right that many travel similar cloud experiences, and you are right that we can be the recipients of such comfort of others first. And that while we both travel at our own pace we can fellowship with empathy to each others plight.

As we come out of the revelation stages ourselves of truth in our personal walk alone with God we are to comfort others, but it can be that we are the recipient of the other persons revelation comforting us as well. We can sometimes be the second person in all of this , in other words.

Thus,We are to comfort others and be comforted by others as well. Hence, fellowship is born, encouraging one another toward love and good deeds.! "He consoles us as we endure the pain and hardship of life, so that, we may draw from His comfort and share it with others in their struggles." 2 Cor. 1:4.

This, again, is Christian fellowship. This is true friendship. This is discipleship alongside people. This is a natural staging event with others always included in Gods premise of things in life. God's insightful renewing and transforming moments is personally applied, yet God will always remind us that "No two Christians will ever meet for the last time." We are family, we are social, we are all in this together. Even the ones lost still, so have a heart of lose, for those people and have a sense of urgency about their lives, for we are all Children of God. Scripture shows us that this is right, I agree with the other people involved in the staging events of gain in understanding God better in our lives, Joidevivre, Thank You for the insights.

 

[slave]

Simply put -- The message of the text was to outline the principles in relationship to our own individualism, not, yet, responding to the inherent need that Jesus when alone with us then implodes within our Character in our cooperate body of faith to employ ourselves for God's purposes..That is in the next text smile....