Knowing what keeps your spiritual lamp lit
(USING YOUR SWORD WHILE KEEPING YOUR LAMPS FULL)
Each person connects with Christ uniquely. He has unique ways of meeting with each of us, depending on how He made us. For me there is sort of prophetic streaming song until I feel I am in and with Him; for others it is taking a walk alone in nature; for others it is dancing into His Presence. All can be acts of worship, but each can also be unique.
I think that God is stressing that we know the ways we connect with Him individually–our unique ways of meeting Him. it seems that as things get darker and more turbulent, we need to be able to find our meeting places more quickly and regularly. We need to know how we keep our spiritual lamps lit, so we can be with those five wise virgins.
There are many ways to figure out how you meet with God. It tends to be the things which jazz your spirit when you are doing them. For me it is often prophecying to strangers. But for others, it may be getting a new insight or understanding about His word or history itself. We need to know and notice what jazzes our spirit’s! And be able to get to that meeting activity quickly and often. To stay in His Presence is becoming something of a mandate presently! We no longer have the luxury of waiting for huge gatherings or fountain experiences. We need to walk with and in His Presence daily!
I have friends who get jazzed by taking fast walks and listening to Him talking to them about what they see. Others need to tell people about who Jesus is to feel spiritually alive; still others, need a deep beholding of other people to feel like they are fully in His Presence. It matters less what it is that gets us jazzed (although it does offer us hints about what our true identities are!), than that we enter into that space with Him daily and often.
Many people know their swords but don’t know how to keep their torch or lamps lit. They, in other words, know how to use their unique gifts and weapons, but don’t know how to stay spiritually full while they are in active everyday life. We need both, the lamp and the sword to survive in effulgency in these days! The two are related however.
We tend to have a sword in the area where we have a lamp. That is we have authority in the area where we are most spiritually awake or lit up. For example, I like to tell people what I hear God saying to them in the moment. That activity jazzes my spirit; it also is part of my sword, and so can cut into the spirit of another person and offer them God’s current words for them. Knowing my sword helps me know what keeps my lamp full. Lots of people have not figured out how to keep their lamps lit, and so when they use their swords, they get empty fast, running out of spiritual steam after using their sword or ministering. The truth is keeping our lamps full, helps us use our swords without getting spiritually exhausted.
