Again, there are different depths to knowing God. I have been to basically all the depths in my 46 years with the Lord.
I'm going to try teaching deeper truth here at the risk of my pearls getting overcome and trampled by pig's feet in the mud...
Sow in righteousness, reap in mercy (Hos 10:12)
Sow to the Spirit, reap eternal life (Gal 6:8)
These are the two levels of knowing God.
Jesus said, I am the door...
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9
A potential saint goes IN AND OUT of the Spirit...meaning in and out through the door....finding pasture on BOTH sides of the door. When the seeker is not inside the house of God, he should wait patiently at His door. Draw near to Me and I will draw near to you.
There is pasture in God's realm and in ours. Ps 23 says...He makes me to lie down in green pastures. The pastures here are plural.
So whether present or absent from the Lord we do all to be at least accepted of Him. We are to bear fruit where we are and seek God to be where He is. We collect the dew of the morning until He rains His righteousness on us. The dew springs UP from the earth and the rain falls down from heaven.
As we collect the dew of the morning we are washed clean by the washing of the word. So we set off on our day with a peace derived from being forgiven and cleansed from our sin....from there we experience a peace with God. That is until we get involved in the world whereby our feet get dirty. We lose that peace during the day unless we are careful to stay unspotted from the world. Like a man who looks in a mirror and remembers what he looks like and who he is...in the inner man.
So on this level our peace depends on US drawing near to God. We have perfect peace as long as our hearts are stayed on our God.
But as we go through the door who is Christ, there is no need to collect the dew since it's raining righteousness. The peace with God at that level is beyond human understanding.
Being sinless by being in Christ is an afterthought. You see it more in retrospect....because you are too busy beholding the glory of the Lord.
In my normal walk NOW, I have the peace of a seeker that collects the dew every morning. But when I first fell out of the Spirit, I let myself go. I was selfish. It was easy to be loved by God, but MUCH HARDER to show my love for God by waiting at His door in the obedience of a servant.
Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. Prov 8:34
We love Him because He first loved us. But getting that love out of us is not automatic.
I was talking to a woman yesterday who called me asking for advice. She had walked in the Spirit for a few years (10 tears ago) and had left the institution because she saw what the churches have become. But she remained alone. She let herself go. So she is now wanting to get close with God again. So she is like a novice believer...but at a secondary school level.. She needs to APPLY herself in seeking God daily and collecting the dew of the morning. She needs to come back to the door and wait there for Her Master. As a servant. So she is praying about it. We can think that God's love is the same as permissiveness. But a slave of Christ is also to be a slave of righteousness. When we are not in the Lord's presence we shouldn't just become master over our own lives.
Anyway...here are a few thoughts this morning as I collect the morning dew. Righteousness springs up out of the earth...and holiness rains down from heaven
“Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. I, the Lord, have created it. Is 45:8
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hos 10:12
Peace.