INVITATION OF A KING
by John C. Miller
One morning,
the people of Israel woke up and the fields were full of food. What's this?, they
wondered. "Manna", yes food from heaven.
Most recently, we have posed the same question.
Beginning just over three months ago, God has been sending a new
visitation of His Holy Spirit to our church, including the Seminary students. We had an
overwhelming surprise due to His marvelous working. We never imagined that God would have
in mind to close this millennium unfolding such precious treasures to us, unworthy human
beings.
Man made great preparations for seeing off the second millenium and
welcoming the third one, but God exceeds our imagination, organization and presentation.
After all, He is the creator of creatures named "men", who are bright and full
of revolutionary ideas.
Many lives are being filled with the Holy Spirit, drunk with the good
wine served in the feast prepared by the King.
Isn't it mentioned in Song of Songs that His loved one was brought to the "banqueting
House"? I found it different in the translations consulted, the specific meaning of
such a place: "The House of Wine". Certainly, it doesn't refer to the
kind of wine we men know that if drunk in excess causes damnation to the soul.
In this feast, the wine of the Spirit brings joy, healing, renewal, restoration, and so
on. Yes the Lord is healing hearts, bodies and souls; removing burdens and setting people
free from past encumbrances which forbade them from entering into a deeper relationship
with Him, speaking in tongues, prophesying and having visions.
Yes, the King is giving a great feast; a glorious feast to which His Church has been
invited- and we cannot but marvel at it.
Jesus tells us about a feast in Luke, chapter 14: He refers therein to
a wedding feast given for his son and at supper time, he sent his servant to tell his
guests: "Come, everything is ready! But they all began, one after another, to
make excuses: one said...I've bought five yoke of oxen... and another one said, I've just
got married. All of them, made excuses."
The servant went back and told all this to his master, he was furious
and told his servant to hurry out to the alleys and streets of the town and bring back to
the palace, the poor, the crippled, the blind and lame; and added..." go out to
the roads and make them come in, so that my house will be full, because I tell you that
none of those who were invited, will taste the dinner."
The invitation to the feast is for all His redeemed people. We have
received reports from here and there, where God is working in the same manner. In a small
church, lost in the South of our country, things began to happen. The pastor is trying to
keep close control on the situation. However, I hope nobody tries to prevent this move
from taking place because it will continue anyway because it is a feast prepared in
abundance by the King for His people. He is serving supper to His guests, and to this
feast you are all invited.
On a certain opportunity, a friend of my father received an invitation
card from the Queen of England to attend a reception, which read as follows: "you are
required to attend a reception at Buckingham Palace on such a date and time...",
signed: Her majesty the Queen." These are the sort of invitations sent by Monarchs:
"YOU ARE REQUIRED TO ATTEND..." That's why the master tells his servant "make
them come in!" I like it.
Our excuses are irrelevant, secondary. When this feast started I had everything ready to
go on a trip, the tickets bought and in two days I would be leaving on a trip to the Far
East to attend a conference where the leaders of different churches would meet and had
their retreat already planned. But the King told me: "You are required to stay in
the feast." I had to ring them up and say: "I do apologize but it's the
first time in my life I am not keeping my word: I'm obliged to cancel my trip." And
they replied: "it will be all right, no problem." Two days later, they called me
back to say that they were coming to Argentina to join this feast. We are now surrounded
by Chinese people who have come from different places in the work to receive the move of
God and there are many of them still on their way, who will arrive soon.
He told his servant: "Hurry out to the poor" as not many of them are
invited to great receptions - to feasts given by men - even less the poor, the blind and
the needy. They have to wait until the feast is over to see if they can pick up something
after going through the garbage.
In the feast prepared by God, the poor come in first, the needy, the
hungry, the rejected people, the distressed, and the broken- hearted; the others are
obliged to wait outside until their arrogance, pride and religiousness diminish a little
bit. Let them wait for their turn - until they become poor and needy.
This is not a feast of songs or theological preaching; this is the
feast of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit - and one of great power.
God wants us to enjoy it with His children. If we are not in His feast,
we can have our private party, and put into practice our rules, but when the Lord gives a
feast, He is the one who determines the rules. I remember that ten years ago, there was a
great feast given by the Lord and He told me: "Look, I'm tired of listening to
your organ, your songs, your praises, silence!" I replied: "but God, we are
known in Argentina as the Church that knows how to worship!" Nevertheless, I had to
switch off the organ, we didn't sing or praise as we usually did. We came into the
services, stood in front of the Altar, raised our hands to heaven and cried out to God
until His Holy Spirit was poured out and we saw things that no eye ever saw. In those
days, I really witnessed how people used to fly in the air, thrown many metros away by
God's power; great workings were done in their hearts. There were people that were taken
by God, as though they were dead, their bodies were left motionless and cold on the floor
for hours; they were led, as Paul wrote, to the third heaven, where they saw marvelous
things which they were unable to narrate afterwards. God will do great things, but we must
drop our pre-established structures.
In these times, I saw my people sharing the renewed life the Holy
Spirit brought them, behaving as though they were but children; enjoying themselves in the
Presence of the Lord. He wants us to be like children and in heaven we will come in that
state. We will abandon the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of life. Our human distrust
and all the confusion we have in our brain, will remain on this Earth, for the worms. But
the child that we have inside, that spiritual being that God put inside us, that new
creature is simply a child.
If you really want to participate in this feast, just raise your hands
and honestly ask the Lord: "Please Lord, I want to come in to your feast, let me
in!"
On several occasions I was asked the way to come into this working of God. First, you have
to approach Him as though you were really poor, as poor people who have nothing to lose;
because they have already lost everything; they won't lose their dignity because they
already lost it. Then, those are the ones that come in first. Take off the evening gowns
you usually wear to attend the services. I don't mean to say that you should not come into
the Presence of the King well dressed, but I refer to something inside; to that hypocrisy
and to the masks we wear to pretend that we are really spiritual people. Approach the Lord
hungry and thirsty, taking off the royal garment you have sewn for yourself, dropping that
image of yours. Come to His Presence, showing your famished spiritual structure.
In Jesus times, all rich men wore several tunics, one over the other, because tunics used
to be the most expensive thing; garments represented a worker's monthly income. Many
times, we wear all those garments to hide our famished and spiritually dry skeleton. To
enter into what God is doing, you must take off all spiritual disguises, following the
example given by King David, although you are scolded by your wife when you return home.
Besides, you must run away from your jail and come before God
exhibiting your spiritual drought. My brothers, we have been going through months and even
years in many cases, of spiritual drought and although we try to cover it up by singing
and preaching in the temples, we know deep in our hearts about our drought. And in that
state you must come to His Presence - like the needy - and in that way He will let you in.
There are robust angels at the entrance doors to the party. If you are
sincere, they will allow you to enter. It is impossible to force your way in, because they
are big and powerful. They have tender hearts when dealing with who are dressed as poor
people, but they have hard hearts when dealing with the proud, and the religious. With
regard to the rich, as it is written, God sends them away empty.
Once you come in, just stay there, standing in His Presence, crying out to the Lord until
the doors are opened and you have a personal encounter with Him. Don't try to imitate
other people. God is doing a real and glorious work... but He's doing it individually.
It's well known that one cannot live by other people's experiences. We
must look for and find our own place, the plate that really belongs to us and has our name
written on it where the food we need will be served.
The invitation is for everyone. Enter and drink of the living waters. Come in and join the
great feast; the King is inviting you all.
Every feast has its menu, why should this one be an exception to the
rule? Read the Word carefully:
"There are
things that eye hath not seen; nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man,
the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."