The Increase of God

Isaiah 6: In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. 3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. 4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
 
The above scriptures may seem outdated as far as you are concerned, but the truth and principle is as relevant as today's worship service.  The story is about a prophet, a King and the Lord. I want us to focus on the truth and principle of these scriptures.  There is a truth in this incident for each of us.
 
Isaiah, the prophet had spent so much time with King Uzziah that he lost focus of God and His purpose for his life.  Eventually, the King died.  Immediately after the King and the I, I, I, I, died, Isaiah had an encounter with God!  Sometimes we allow people and stuff to divert our attention.
 
There must be a decrease of self before there is an increase of God!
 
John 3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
 
Immediately after Isaiah's God experience, he had many heavenly visions;
 
He prophesied forth about the birth of Christ, before the birth of Christ (Isaiah 7:14)!
 
Isaiah became one of the most proficient writing prophets in the Bible.  His tenure spanned four Kings.  Isaiah prophesied back about creation (42:5) He prophesied forward about a new heaven (65:17).
He Prophesied about the death of Christ (53:10-12).
He prophesied about our healing (53:5).
Isaiah would have never become the great prophet he became, unless the king died and had he not experienced the presence of God the way he did.
 
The old was purged out and the new burst forth!  That is the way God works.  You never get the new until the old is purged!  
 
Mark 2:22 And no man puts new wine into old wineskins: else the new wine does burst the wineskins, and the wine is spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined: but new wine must be put into new wineskins.
 
I believe there are times that we misinterpret what our needs are.  Much of the time we think our need is something natural, when all along it is something spiritual.  What we need is an encounter with God!
 
We need to decrease so that He can increase!
 
All of us would like to have the life changing signs and wonders experiences, but how many of us are willing to purge out the old and make room for the new?  
 
It is quite amazing that Isaiah was able to glimpse heaven and all of its glorious activities once the King died.  
 
Are we missing anything?  What do we want out of life?  Have we settled for mediocrity or will we press forward, glimpse the glory and live an amazing lifestyle?
 
 Everyone of us need those defining moments in our lives when we experience the Lord for ourselves.  Not only are those experiences necessary, they are mandated.  Those experiences will usher us forward and onward in our relationship in God and into our destiny.
 
One of my greatest life changing experiences with God was early in my walk with the Lord back in 1977.  It was an experience I needed for the sake of settling any doubts, so the Lord chose this way of revealing Himself to me.  I had been on a 21 day fast and I was really hunger for God.  I sought the Lord because I wanted to know Him as never before, I wanted to win more souls to Christ and see more miracles manifested.
 
One night about 2 o’clock in the morning as I was sitting at my desk studying and praying, a spot of blood appeared on my calendar desk pad.  As it sat on my desk pad I thought my nose was bleeding, but it wasn’t.  I looked at my hands and arms to find where the blood came from, but there were no scratches.  As I was sitting at my desk, I was not swinging my arms or bumping anything.  Suddenly my heart started beating really fast and I could not figure out where the blood came from.  I finally looked up at the ceiling because I thought; maybe a bird died up there and his blood was dripping down.  I got really stupid with it.  There was no blood on the ceiling.  This all happened in about a minute or so.
 
During this time, that large drop of blood just sat there on my desk pad and did not soak into it.  My skin got tight and I felt overwhelmed.  I jumped up from my desk and ran downstairs to the bathroom to look at myself to see where that blood came from.  Nothing!  As I looked in that mirror the power of God came upon me.  My legs suddenly felt like strings of cooked spaghetti noodles and I fell to the floor.  When I fell to the floor, the audible voice of God spoke to me.  That voice shook my entire being as He said; why do you doubt me!  That was the first time I had heard the audible voice of God (it may have happened once since then).
 
As I was there on the floor in God presence, I wept and wept for what seemed about an hour.  (When you experience the presence of God, you lose track of time).  You really don’t care what time it is.
 
When I was able to do so, I got up and ran back upstairs.  That drop of blood was still sitting on my desk pad.  As I stood there looking at that blood, I worshipped, trembled and wept in the presence of the Lord.
 
I have never been the same since I experienced that sign and wonder from the presence of God (Acts 2:19).  My faith soared as never before, I won souls to Christ as never before and I saw more miracles, healing and deliverance than ever before.  I decreased, He increased.
 
I was a changed man!  That’s what the Lord was after, a new wineskin!
 
Acts 2:19 and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: