Dear ones, while I am very sobered by both the Scripture verses referenced in message six and by brother TAS’s speaking based upon these verses, I am also very thankful that the door to repentance is always left open to us in this lifetime. When our heart hardens and ceases to be “good earth”, it really does seem that the things of the Lord become less and less real to us over time. While this is going on, however, our dear Lord is doing all He can to draw us and cause us to soften our heart and return to Him.
I think we all have had experiences like this. I know that when I came to realize how the LC was producing a proud, arrogant, Laodicean heart in me, besides wanting to flee the LC, the temptation was there to completely give up on the Lord as well. I gave in to this temptation for a good while and the experiences described by TAS in this message began to happen to me. As my heart turned harder and harder towards the Lord, the things of the Lord (especially His presence and His rhema words) became less and less real to me. Things that had been such a great encouragement to me and had really watered my inward man in the past now meant nothing. It was becoming harder and harder to receive any kind of spiritual fellowship. Into this dark, downward spiral, however, He provided a way out - Praise Him! Through genuine repentance, my hard heart really was “plowed up” and made soft once again! This is how hardened hearts can once more become the “good earth” for the “seed” to grow and bear fruit. With soft hearts turned back to the Lord, we really can regain our spiritual sight and we really can regain our spiritual understanding. Hallelujah!
How I appreciate the fact that after so much sober and serious speaking, TAS’s closing words in message six are a call for an honest return to the Lord:
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“Ask the Lord to give you spiritual understanding. And if you do not understand, do not say, 'I do not understand.' Go to the Lord and say, 'Lord, make me to understand.' 'Open the eyes of my heart.' That will show that you mean business with the Lord. And if you mean business with the Lord, the Lord will mean business with you.”
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