“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

1Thessalonians 5:18

“You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.” Ezekiel 28:15

“I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.” Daniel 5:14

In this last vestige of the Dark Nights there is one temptation that must be avoided and you are the only one who can address this, the most rigorous and hard to kill of all temptations. This temptation is a master of disguise. It appears as humility, and touts what you have been through as proof you are broken. It often masks itself as righteous, mature and recognized by those who are spiritually disciplined.

What is this temptation? It is the temptation to be prideful in our brokenness. It makes us feel that somehow we have paid the price to be where we are rather than Jesus paying the price, a price that allows us to take a journey of purification through the Tabernacle, a journey that we do not deserve. Pride in our brokenness is still pride, no matter how hard we have tried, no matter what we have gone through or given up. Further, this level of pride can result in going around the mountain yet another time. This small level of pride is what made Moses strike the rock instead of speaking to it, which by the way was not the real sin, it was the manifestation of the sin.

MUST WE BRING WATER OUT OF THE ROCK FOR YOU?

The real sin was the underlying pride that made him angry when the people came to him wanting him to get them water from the rock when they were thirsty. Moses forgot that he never was the one who did any of the miracles. It was God. Pride has a sad way of making us forget who the true source of all we do actually is.

Be careful that the new wine you are becoming does not turn to vinegar before the bottle is even opened. All it takes is one wrong particle of bacteria, one small crack in the cork, or one unaddressed moment of pride.

THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SPIRIT

So, here you are in this small golden room so that you might understand how small you are. You can also deceive yourself in this room. How? First, by thinking you actually get to stay here. One day you will, but not just yet. In this room you experience the Light of God for a variety of reasons, but one reason you may not have considered is this; you are experiencing the true, pure, light so one day you can comprehend what it is like to be away from that light - which you will soon find out. Dark Nights are truly dark, and this one is the darkest of them all.

You may be thinking that God might actually leave you. No God is not going to leave you - and we will talk more on that shortly - but it will feel that way. The fact is, this God forsaken feeling will become so prevalent that, even in knowing this before hand, you will still feel He has turned away. Only by the process of being in the Light can you deeply feel for those in darkness, who have no access to this Light, to its beauty, its comfort, its penetration, its illumination, nor the security one has when the Light is present.

LIGHT AND HOPELESSNESS

To be without Light, is to be without hope. When the light departs, the glory departs and all thoughts of a good future vanish. As thoughtless as you may think this process is, God must allow you to experience this darkness, so you can fully comprehend that without Him, you really can do nothing. His presence holds all matter together. It is only with His presence that you, without reservation, know that with “full” faith you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. Notice this verse does not say you can do all things because of Christ, but “through Christ.”

The only way you can grasp the depth of this subtle difference is for God to lift His light from you for a season. When He does this, things will get very, very dark and you will not only notice the absence of His presence and His light, you will feel the loss of the Light as you no longer feel it penetrating you, nor do you feel yourself absorbing it.

THE SOURCE OF ALL MATTER

It is in this darkened place that you eventually and unfeignedly understand the absence of His presence and your resultant inability to do what He has asked you to do. This is where “death to self” is actually experienced - the death of any thought that you actually have the capability to do anything or have any merit in yourself that is worth while in the Kingdom. You will no longer think God is fortunate that you are on His side.

THREE PHASES

The Dark Night of the Spirit does not speedily come and go. There are three long phases of the Dark Night of the Spirit and you must go through them all. First, you will feel abandoned by everyone, and at times, even abandoned by God. Second, you will recognize you are incapable of completing the task you were sent to do and you will battle with the deepest sense of low self worth and sense of failure you have yet encountered. Third, you will recognize that only God can finish the task He gave you. Eventually, you will find that He will still use you to do it, but in His strength, not yours and in a manner you least expected.

It is in the Dark Night of the Spirit that you will learn what it means to be able to give thanks in all things for this is the will of God through Christ Jesus concerning you. Without this experience, it would be extremely difficult for you to consistently do this, especially to do it by grasping why the Lord allowed your deepest pain to come to you. By then end of the Final Dark Night, you will grasp this and like thousands of others before you, weep with gratitude as you marvel at God’s patience with you.

We’ll look at these three phases of the Dark Night of the Spirit and more in the next post.

Blessings,

John Paul Jackson

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Holy Rooms are full of Light due to God’s presence. After all nothing can be holy without Him. This last Room of Mystery is so full of that Light it is hard to fully notice its’ smallish dimensions. The tapestry of the Cherubim hangs ten cubits or fifteen feet above your head. This Mysterious room is the Room of the Spirit. It is much like your spirit, which is held in an area within you that is much smaller than the rest of you. God, who is Spirit, who is also Light, radiates His Presence through His Spirit here, both in the Tabernacle and within you.

WHAT IS GOD AFTER IN THE DARK NIGHT OF THE SPIRIT?

To make it into this room, you had to crucify your flesh in the Outer Court. Next, you trudged through the Dark Night of the Soul in the Holy Place. However, you have yet to experience the more formidable Dark Night of the Spirit.

The grip sin once had on your life was broken in the journey through the Outer Court, the grip of personal agendas through emotions, intellect, and stubbornness was broken in the Holy Place. But, here in the Holy of Holies, there is one more breaking that has to take place, and that is the breaking of the deep seeded root of your own personal capability. In other words, up to this point you actually think you can accomplish what God called you to do.

This root of self-sufficiency runs deep in you. You are programmed with it from a very young age. What is the evidence of this root in you? Well, the thought is deceptive because when you have it, it actually seems to be a holy thought, at least at first. What is this thought? It is the thought that you actually have the ability to accomplish what God has asked and called you to accomplish. Personally said, it is the “I can do it” syndrome.

THE ART OF BROKENNESS IS FOUND HERE

Some errantly believe that brokenness brings the onset of each of the Dark Nights. This is not accurate. Truth be told, all Dark Nights bring brokenness and true brokenness does not come from just one experience of the Dark Night, it come in layers of experiences that prepare you for the next experience. Said another way, we can take a look at the pruning process spoken of by Jesus.

THE COST OF NEW WINE

Jesus is the branch; you are the vine coming from that branch. If the branch does not bear fruit, He cuts off the branch. Why? Because He is not looking for beautiful branches, He is looking for lots of fruit or grapes. This is parallel to the Outer Court. If the branch does bear fruit He still prunes the branch; again to produce more grapes. We tend to think that this pruning is brokenness, but not so. It is parallel to the Holy Place of the Sanctuary.

Some think that when the grapes are gathered brokenness has been achieved, once again this is not so, it is simply the harvest. However, it is the joy of harvest that makes the depth of the Dark Night that much more effective in working its work within you. None-the-less, there is one more process that perfects the deepest form of brokenness.

“And now my soul is poured out because of my plight; The days of affliction take hold of me.” Job 30:16

For those of you who are up for it, God is actually looking for much more than grapes. God will look over all the grapes for the choicest ones and those He selects will then be thrown into His wine press and slowly turned into wine. Here in the wine press of God, you will lose all shape and form of who you once were. You will be crushed, pulverized, and beaten to a point where no shape, not even the semblance of you is left, and what is left is culled off and discarded. Only the bare essence of who you once were remains, and that lies formless in the vat below. God will then pour you into a barrel and store you in darkness until the perfect time for your release.

At that most perfect of all moments, God will then pour you out on the people He takes you to. And those He brings across your path, will drink from you and be filled with God’s goodness, the rich goodness that God took so much effort to produce in you. At this time in your life you can be poured into any shape of container the Lord desires you to be poured into. This moment is worth the wait for both you and them.

There is a wine whose quality only comes through the Dark Night of the Spirit. Some of you, without knowing it are nearly ready to be uncorked. Others of you are just starting this process, still others are in the barrel and are on hold. Be patient. A few of you are not sure you want to take up this cross at this time. We’ll address that in a later Dark Night post.

There is much more to come.

Posts will come faster from this point forward, so please look each week.

Blessings,

John Paul Jackson