'Only For the Advanced'

"There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall."
(Psalm 46:4-5)

"Shepherds! Shepherds! Why are you afraid of Me?
Why are you afraid for your spiritual children?
Don't you know that I love them even more than you do?
You are afraid that I cannot keep them safe without you!

"I promised that I would pour out My Spirit on all flesh—even on your children!
But you have been afraid as if My Spirit is a raging river,
safe only for the spiritually mature to swim in.
Unintentionally you have taught My children to be afraid of Me,
that I will not keep them safe and that I give dangerous gifts to those I love.
You teach them to sing about Me but also to stay at a safe distance away.
They are left with longing, waiting to go deeper,
yet because you have taught them shadows from the old covenant,
the river of My Spirit appears murky to them—forbidding all
but the most spiritually 'advanced' from getting in the water unsupervised.

"For a time I have allowed you to stand between Me and My children
in order to give you time to repent.
But the day is coming when your walls will be broken down:
the rivers of the world will break them, and My Spirit will also break them.
I will allow this so that I may make My children glad with My presence,
and so that I may strengthen them and prepare them for the days that are coming.
Unless the barriers you have put between Me and My children are removed,
My children will not be able to stand in the days to come.

"Take Me at My word: Teach My children the truth of the New Covenant!"

*****

Art: "River of Bondage"