The Secret of the Saint: Why Receiving Must Precede Releasing

PRAYER OF CONSECRATION

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. 

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.

Jesus, we belong to you. 

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen. 

Acts 6:15 (NIV)

Reviewing . . . 

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

What we are witnessing today . . . this is that. 

All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Now Abbot Joseph listened closely to his student, and when Abbot Lot was done speaking Abbot Joseph got up out of his chair, and he reached his arms and his hands up into the air until he stretched out each of his ten fingers and out of the tips of each of his fingers shot pure flame—ten burning candles there in the middle of the desert—and Abbot Joseph said to Abbot Lot “Why not be completely changed into fire?”

What we are witnessing today . . . this is that. 

So how does one become such a character—a real witness of the Lord Jesus Christ; a person who has become completely changed into fire; a soul whose face shines like the sun? 

It comes by transformation. Stephen had become a transformed person. He brings to mind one of my very favorite texts. 

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces behold the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor. 3:17–18) 

Transformation is not something we do to ourselves. It does not come in response to our efforts or activity. Transformation happens as the transcendent God takes up residence in human flesh. Transformation is a gift we must learn to receive by grace. Just as we are saved (or justified) by grace, so we must also be sanctified (or remade in the divine image) by grace. It is not something that comes in response to our initiative. In fact, any initiative of ours can only come in response to this gift.

By now, most of you are growing familiar with the prayer of transformation we enter into every day on the Wake-Up Call. There’s a lot going on in this prayer. The most notable feature is the way receiving from Jesus precedes releasing on our part. Many have written me asking if we are getting it backwards; that it seems wrong. The thinking is we must release what is sinful or broken or distorted before we can receive what Jesus wants to give us. I agree. I used to think the same thing. 

Then Jesus revealed to me that his Spirit does not work by replacement but by displacement.

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8)

He is not looking for us to get rid of something so he can replace it; to clean the house before he brings his transforming grace. True repentance does not precede transforming grace. It follows. It is not hard for us to grasp that we cannot save ourselves by our works. For some reason, we believe we must work in order to be sanctified. Friends, salvation and every last ounce of it is by grace through faith. None of it comes by works so that none can boast. Anything we do is only in response to what God has done. The great challenge is to actually freely receive what he has done. We must receive before we can release. Revelation always precedes response. The opposite actually forms the basis of idolatry which is the effort of human beings to manipulate God to act in response to their activity. This becomes the bondage of slavery. 

Jesus always goes first. The great challenge for us is that of simply and freely receiving. Something in us convinces us we need to do something first. That something is the broken thing and Jesus is not waiting on us to figure it out and let it go before he replaces it with his transformation. There is no end to this. It is tiresome and ultimately creates a kind of introspection that not only makes us more self-referenced but it is self-consuming. As we receive from Jesus by his Spirit, he displaces the brokenness and emptiness and sinfulness and on we can go. He simply waits in his willingness for us to freely receive what he is freely giving—which is the gift of his Spirit—which is freedom. 

Can you hear him, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32 ESV). 

I believe this is the secret of the Saint—receiving precedes releasing. Spirit receptivity actually requires the death of spiritual activity which then leads to the Spirit’s activity through us—”what I have I give you.”

If we look . . . no . . . behold, I think we get a glimpse of this in the face of Stephen, the witness of Jesus, the soul completely changed into fire. 

THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION

Lord Jesus, I am your witness. 

I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness. 
I receive your love and release my selfishness. 

Come Holy Spirit transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen. 

THE QUESTION

I believe this is some of the most essential, misunderstood, and neglected teaching in the kingdom for our time. How do you relate to it? Does it resonate or do you resist it? Journal your response to this question: What is it about me that makes it hard to receive from Jesus? from others? 

THE HYMN

We will sing some choruses today which we have been missing on Friday. You will know them by heart. 

For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com

P.S. Pray us through the close of New Room today. Pray for the grace of impartation and the movement of demonstration as we depart. 

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