Deep Calls To Deep

Deep Calls to Deep

June of 1975 marked a time of demarcation for me. It resulted from making major life decisions, followed by a time embracing the needed preparations, as well as in weathering serious challenges in my quest to redirect the focus of my life to serving the Lord.

The challenges had been severe, the loss of our first-born, followed by a major assault on my integrity, at the hands of a wolf in sheep’s clothing who we had naively reached out to. Yet, those were days in which major strides were made in honing my spiritual equipping and maturity, first in knowing Him and my abilities to navigate the spiritual realm; but with that, in my grasp of my identity and the purpose for this journey of life, that together with Him, lay before us. Of significance during that time was a gift that came from on High, sovereignly imparted for what was before me.

The noted time was at a juncture of wrapping up my coursework for my Master’s degree at our state university. It was a juncture in having left a successful, respected and accomplished career and lifestyle, with everything now being on the line. Within that context, I was leaving the university parking lot, preparing for the drive to our home 70 miles away. With the dime in hand to insert to pay the parking machine to open the gate, strangely the gate was already open. I hesitated, then pocketed the dime and went my way.

As I proceeded on the drive home, the fear of God came upon me. For all my preparation, for a questionable ten cents, in an almost thoughtless response, I was overwhelmed with the thought that I may have yielded myself to crossing a line. My state of mind was such that I barely could talk. For three days, I experienced this incredible sobering reality tied to my being without defense before the awesome holiness of God.
“Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and waves have gone over me.” Ps 42:6-7

Years prior, in becoming a believer, my commitment was unequivocally in surrendering my all to Him: my career, my destiny, my very identity which had been uniquely tied to the career I had been carving out. The response went deep, far beyond the superficial. However, what then much later resulted from the university parking lot experience went deeper, much, much deeper. Far deeper than anything I had ever experienced before. And with it came a time of demarcation.

Understanding the Process When Deep Calls to Deep
Recalling that juncture while wrapping up my graduate school coursework, involved a process of humbling needed to ensure I didn’t miss the unfolding steps due to unexpected change. During that process, something happened within me. It was a complete reset to my thinking, not to speak of the way I had previously processed reality. It also involved major change to the conceptual expectations for the path that lay before me.

Prior to starting my graduate program, I had been offered and said yes to an amazing Kingdom assignment overseas. Then a matter of days before the parking lot experience, the high expectations of this opportunity fell through the cracks. When deep calls to deep, it is not unusual for the process to materialize on our blind side. This most certainly defined the process Joseph the Patriarch went through in being sold into Egypt. Likewise, the assignment given to Daniel was one far beyond his existing frame of reference.

Parenthetically, when I originally yielded myself to the Lord, I had given Him the right to direct my steps; a right still in motion to override my limited perspective and grasp of the realities and circumstances I might have been familiar with.

So, with the high expectations I had been counting on falling through the cracks, the question was: “what now?” With overtones of, but hardly the dramatic result of Moses facing the Red Sea with the Egyptians coming up fast behind him, what came instead for me were a series of simple steps.

Each happened beyond chance expectation; in reality they were miracles, tied to the gift I’d been given during that program, along with a word I had received from the Lord just prior to entering the program: of God alerting me to my future assignment as a consultant. At that time, I hardly even had a realistic grasp of what being a consultant meant.

These simple steps were so subtle and so simple that while initially recognizing and being grateful for their practicality, I failed to recognize their genuine significance as miracles until much, much later.

What was in motion however, was not at all unrelated to that encounter I had had with His holiness. It lends insight into God’s role in that place beyond our human capacities. So it was at that juncture and is now, the need to be alert to recognizing the depths of God that will actuate dimensions beyond our ability to fully see or initially grasp them in the natural.

Accessing the Depths to Face the Realities
Indeed, there are innumerable times when what God is doing resides far beyond our knowledge of Him; far beyond the gifts we wield or even the prophetic grasp we hang onto in staying the course.

So it is, that we’ve entered a season with an increase in challenges not unlike what Joseph and Daniel faced in Egypt and Babylon; a season requiring those called as game-changers to be reaching for and accessing the depths.

Again and again, despite Daniel’s accomplishments in the king’s court, the realities of his assignment, not to speak of his very survival called for him to penetrate and access the depths. Both Joseph and Daniel needed greater understanding of God’s overriding dimension constantly in motion, which operates outside the realm of time. Such are the depths far beyond our human capabilities.

It’s the deep place of His presence where our response has to constantly be beyond our believing, saying and doing, and while these factors each are vital … our accessing this place in Him best resides in our consciously being at rest and abiding in Him.

While recently in a meeting with one of my bankers, I was attempting to access a new app on my iPhone which required my fingerprint ID. In my septuagenarian mind-set, the non-response of the fingerprint function had me progressively pushing harder. Noticing what I was doing, my much younger banker simply advised me: “Touch it lightly!” It worked. So it is with accessing His rest and abiding in Him: it will be triggered by touching it lightly.

A long time, trusted friend recently gave me a prophetic word that illustrates the need to get beyond our limited perspective and into the deep reflecting the realm of God’s perspective. While it provided a key element of clarity for the path I’m currently navigating, it’s a word with overtones very pertinent to those, within the remnant of forerunners that my messages target; those with the mantles of game-changing, modern-day Josephs and Daniels.

This prophetic word gave reference to the pearls God has incubating in the deep; within oysters that have been hidden from the mainstream in which the irritant, the substance forming the pearl was in the process of incubating. In this very descriptive word, these were much larger, far more valuable pearls, set aside for a specific time and season. What was then described was at the right time, the hand of God would reach down into the deep to bring them forth for purposes, along with a timing that only He could have anticipated.

The early Church faced a time constantly requiring the substance derived from the depths. It was a time with very little middle ground; a time in which being a believer meant being fully intent on serving Him. Those were days with an extremely toxic spiritual atmosphere. That noxious atmosphere came from both those who claimed to know God along with those who did not. The response required the faith that reflected thinking, lifestyles and a depth far beyond the ordinary in the natural. Accessing the depths and the supernatural were often tied to matters of freedom, as well as matters of life and death.

I’ve often stated that the messages that I prayerfully prepare for others, typically tap the heart of God in such a way, to significantly impact the course of my own journey. So it has been the case in recent posts: like the significance in staying sufficiently close to Him to accurately process the unfolding reality around us. Likewise, is the value of remembering what God has done, as well as the wisdom we’ve gleaned during times of both challenges and victories. Our response during times of turbulence and reset should have the expectation of not only recovery, but our grasp of the higher dimensions being released for the journey.

When the Gifts Connect with the Deep
Throughout the word of God, there is reference to unique gifts, capabilities given to individuals from God. Scripture indicates that Daniel and his companions were selected to be trained to serve in the king’s court because of their gifts.

Daniel 1:17 indicates that God had given these four young men an unusual aptitude and wisdom for understanding deep aspects of literature. God also gave Daniel special abilities to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. So, when Nebuchadnezzar gave the brutal ultimatum to the wise men of his court to either tell him his dream and interpret it or die, Daniel and his companions, together, accessed the depths of God to incisively and accurately uncover and explain the matter. It was a circumstance requiring a faith with gifts and a response far beyond the ordinary.

Such gifts, given by God, range from spiritual to natural gifts. When these gifts connect with the depths of God, they trigger the exponential in their impact. Such was the case for Daniel in unveiling and interpreting Nebuchadnezzar’s dream and in Joseph’s prophetic wisdom in the plan he outlined, given in response to Pharaoh’s dreams.

It’s not at all surprising that in prophesying about the latter days, when the King of the North in his rage would align with those who would desecrate the temple fortress and forsake the holy covenant, that Daniel observed that it would be those who knew the Lord who would be strong and do exploits. One translation indicates that these who knew the Lord would firmly resist this ruler’s wicked antics and alliances against God’s standards.

Taking a stand, resisting the inclination for complacency or compromise in the face of challenge and change, is accompanied by the means of the combined gifts which explosively merge natural and spiritual abilities that God gives to his chosen. The chosen who access the deep.

Addressing Change when God Initiates Demarcation
Even the most savvy and mature spiritually tend be creatures of habit. The subtle behavioral inclination is that: what has proven to work in the past, will again work in the future. However, such naive standards can represent snares and traps, especially when facing the change released during God-initiated times of demarcation.

Such are the times that require those with high-callings to access the depths. On the one hand, the reality of the process taps a critical, ongoing need in keeping our hand to the plow with the diligence to enable us to emerge without the smell of smoke. On the other hand, the change may require a balance of alertness and awareness to the subtleties of religious spirits designed to mimic what previously may have been pathways of safety.

Being alert to the subtleties of religious spirits will recognize the need of reaching for the depths and the spiritual incubation for sufficient time to adequately give birth to strategic agendas. It also is a season with a need for greater discernment, which only can come from the depths. Likewise, the challenges represented in this season call for higher standards for those functioning as leaders and as a voice.

Recognizing the Incubation Needed for Birthing. The impulsiveness and tendency to hip-shoot is being exacerbated by the instantaneous communications of mobile phones and social media. The result is the world around us becoming a cesspool of clutter and distractions with the allure of seductive minor issues drawing far too many well-intended away from what results from abiding in Him, from the discipline of living in His rest.

These distracting and seductive tendencies require the discipline, presence of mind and immersion in His truth to not overreact or draw premature conclusions. In essence, it means girding up the loins of our minds to enable the incubating needed to give full birth in the Spirit, to matters perhaps not fully understood, but of keen and timely significance.

Greater Discernment from the Depths. Processing the twists and turns of the changes and the emerging realities, is requiring something more for this season’s game-changers, for the modern-day Josephs and Daniels in navigating their assignments.

That something more, that higher dimension involves understanding and penetrating the depths in recognizing and discerning the subtle nuances between what the Lord is saying and the enemy’s attempts to encroach with soul static and counterfeit impressions leading to side trips, distracting rabbit trails and misfires.

Higher Standards for Leaders and Being a Voice. With the shift in the season has come a sobering reality of the need to discern between those whose spirits have been groomed in the depths and those, perhaps well-intentioned, who have either missed or resisted the depths and have simply become a part of the amassing clutter.

In conclusion, at the crux of the demarcation into this new season is the fine line between the Kingdom standard and the emptiness of religion that Jesus hammered home to those he referred to as blind-guides and white-washed walls. Being on the right side of that fine line requires the continual surrender of self; one’s identity, purpose and destiny.

More than in any other time within my generation, we have entered a season in need of priority being given to reaching for the depths and the discipline of simply making time in His presence to listen; of staying immersed in His truth.

Deep calls to deep. Jesus explained that for judgment He had come into the world that those who do not see might see and those who see may be made blind (John 9:39). Then for those who might see among the Corinthians, Paul gave clarity to this matter by noting that as being those destined to judge angels, that if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. In this increasingly toxic spiritual atmosphere, we are the standard bearers. We are the light shining in the darkness.
“You know perfectly that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. Just when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. So let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.” I Thes 5:3-6

There came a time for Peter when he fully embraced his identity as a standard bearer. He became an example for all facing times of turbulence in his refusal to cross the line to live in the middle by mollifying the religious spirits. His words were: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge; but we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard.”

We need to reach for the spiritual maturity that fears God more than man; to become more conscious and wary of compulsions and jumping to conclusions; of having the humility to be willing to recognize and compensate for blind spots. It is a time to reach for the maturity to get past our self to become alert as sons of Light to the snares of success by not taking our self too seriously, by becoming examples of what it means to pay the cost to be servant-leaders; of facing the subtle realities tied to being wrong when we’re right and right when we’re wrong; as well as maintaining an awareness and ongoing recognition of the need in upholding our responsibility in reaching for the standard of the Kingdom, the realm outside of time where God’s ways are higher than ours.

The Prayer
Lord God, in the Name of Yeshua, in the Name of Jesus, I come boldly in humility before your throne. Cleanse my heart O God. Give me eyes to see and ears to hear and bring me into the depths, into that place in You where I need to reside and find my place of rest. Thank You for keeping me in a place of being cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. Thank you Lord, for hemming me in, in such a way that the Holy Spirit not only lives, but operates with freedom within me. And now, I bring every thought and every attitude of my mind, along with every impression of my heart into captivity to the obedience of Yeshua.

Lord, I want to hear more clearly what You have to say. I trust You to communicate to me. And in the Name of Jesus, in the Name of Yeshua, I take authority over every fleshly stronghold along with every demonic, religious and interfering spirit. I forbid any enemy activity to operate in my mind or soul. Lord, I am reaching for more of You and in doing so, I open my heart to the Holy Spirit — to inspire, to guide, to illuminate and reveal to me truth, insights and perspectives that will anoint and guide my efforts in my assignment and in all that You have before me.

I take authority over fear, guilt, anxiety, deception, confusion, doubt and unbelief in the Name of Jesus. I bind any negative, deceiving, seducing, confusing, critical, condemning or religious spirits in the Name of Jesus and I forbid you to interfere with or in any way to imitate God’s voice to me. Lord, I thank you for being in charge of every aspect of my being; my identity, purpose and destiny; my relationships; my assignment. Thank you for all that You are unfolding in Your plans for me in this season. I look forward to walking together with You in great fruitfulness throughout this season and for all that You have planned for me through it. In the Name of Yeshua, in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

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Morris Ruddick has been a forerunner and voice for the higher dimensions of spiritual game-changers and intercessors since the mid-90s. As founder of Global Initiatives Foundation and designer of the God’s Economy Entrepreneurial Equippers Program and the Jewish Business Secrets YouTube series, Mr. Ruddick equips economic community builders with strategy where God’s light is dim in diverse regions around the globe.

He is author of “The Joseph-Daniel Calling;” “Gods Economy, Israel and the Nations;” “The Heart of a King;” “Something More;” “Righteous Power in a Corrupt World;” “Leadership by Anointing;” and “Mantle of Fire,” which address the mobilization of business and governmental leaders with destinies to impact their communities. They are available in print and e-versions from www.Amazon.com, www.apple.com/ibooks and www.BarnesandNoble.com.

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