Listener: Holy Spirit awakened me in the Fifth Watch with a revelation regarding spiritual authority, a message with insights much deeper than I realized when He was speaking to me. Now He has opened my eyes, and it seems almost impossible that I had never seen the truth of what He told me and the impact that this truth has had on my life. We have no idea how much past experiences in the flesh may affect our current spiritual lives. The revelation that Holy Spirit gave me this morning is a prime example of the deeper work of sanctification that He desires to do in all of us if we will yield to Him. We may think that when the Spirit begins this deeper sanctification He will reveal sins that we do not wish to acknowledge or to deal with. Sometimes that may be true, but I believe that more often His sanctification enables us to better understand why we do what we do; to assure us that He can heal both past and present wounds, even those which are self-inflicted, and enable us to walk with Him in His strength and His Light. Holy Spirit most graciously told me that the personal aspects of His sanctification revelation to me were not a part of today’s Daily Bread, which He promised to deliver later. He began to deliver the Daily Bread when I was walking the dog and praying. The first words of His answer came as Rhema. Psalm 78:9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. Holy Spirit knew that those words would pierce my heart. When He spoke I had been praying about a Call which He has given me, along with the assurance that He has prepared me to fulfill it…even giving physical manifestation of that preparation. He has called me and prepared me for the day of battle; now I must not turn back from that battle. He also knew that I would be aware of the consequences of Ephraim’s turning back, briefly expressed in Psalm 78:67-68 Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph, And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. More completely expressed in the knowledge that Ephraim not only turned away in the day of battle but later led the Northern Kingdom of Israel into rebellion against God, into captivity and ultimately into their dispersal. When God calls us into battle, whatever the battle is, He prepares us and enables us, and He expects us walk in His preparation and enabling to answer His call. As I came to the end of this message, I began to experience concern because none of Holy Spirit’s words had been included, and then He spoke: Listener, Who do you think wrote the words in that Psalm? David simply listened and recorded My words. As for the first part of this Daily Bread message, you know that I frequently use your experiences as teaching examples. Today you did not record the lesson that I wished to give to the Readers, you lived it and were reminded that it is vitally important to hear and to heed My Call. The Tribe of Ephraim is an extreme example of the consequences of refusing the Call of God; nevertheless, there are always consequences when you fail to answer My Call…not in part, but in its entirety. Never question your qualifications or preparation, leave that to Me and simply answer as Samuel did…”Here am I.”
