The Holy Spirit overshadows you and in a moment your life changes forever. This is eternity’s moment, when the timeless one touches your life within the context of time. Within that moment, brokenness results as self comes to its end. This is the moment that you see yourself from God’s perspective and you see the darkness of your own soul; you see your manipulative ways, scheming to promote yourself, maneuvering to please yourself, and always preserving self at the expense of others. Eternity’s moment is the crashing realization that you are nothing and nobody. In this moment, humility settles deep in the soul and humility overcomes the life of pride, vanity, and self-centeredness. Your own egotistical ways give way to the Holy Spirit’s overwhelming presence of humility. Eternity’s moment is the time you are delivered from the self-life and your soul is overcome with contrition that leads you to hate the nature of self, thus despising its ungodly and unholy affections and appetites. You now see the glory and grace of Jesus Christ and you surrender your own ways, thoughts, desires, plans, and intents of the heart to His Holy Spirit.
Eternity’s moment is the prayerful encounter of weeping before the Holy One as you desire the new life in Christ, thus you lovingly and willingly forsake the old nature of the flesh. This is a precious sight to see—to witness the cleansing of the soul as the holy life comes forth—the empowering of God’s presence that makes you an overcomer. This eternal moment is the time when your desires to be accepted by mere men end, where the need to be approved by men ends, when the excruciating and vexing yen to belong and gain acceptance by those of the flesh ends, and you find your place as a child of God and you are now content to simply serve the Lord. This is eternity’s moment that makes you a saint of the living God, one separated unto Him and living for the approval, acceptance, and attention of the only One that matters.
Over the past three decades of ministry, I have witnessed many lives come to the knowledge of truth, who raised their hands, knelt down in a worship service, and declared Christ as their Savior. I have seen men, women, and children declare their need for God and their desire to go to heaven. However, eternity’s moment goes beyond the raising of the hand, singing a song of praise, praying for a need, reading the Bible, or hearing a sermon. I am referencing the deeper work of becoming broken, contrite, and humble before God in Christ. This is the life of Jesus Christ that moves you to relinquish the old and gain the power of God’s grace to truly live a holy life unto the Lord. This is His sanctifying presence that causes you to pursue His love and holiness. This is the very call of God resulting in your life, commanding you to be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect and you reply with a life that says, “Yes, Lord.”
Few gain this deep work as many Christians often remain ignorant, immature, or sadly, opt to be indifferent. Thus, they stay the same for years; they will gladly talk about the Lord within safe confines and will attend church, read the Scriptures, post encouraging words, and seek to be polite and nice to others while calling it love, but eternity’s moment always escapes them as they vacate the moment when eternity’s cross squeezes them to humble themselves, see their sin, deny themselves, and cry out for deliverance. Eternity’s moment scares them, so they fight or flee but never follow. Few welcome eternity’s moment, holding onto themselves, preserving self in some way, thus they opt to go another way. They avoid the work of the cross and turn aside from the desperately needed, “I surrender all to Christ”. Their lives become busy and their minds remain frustrated with fragmented loyalties—opportunities surface, desires conflict, and the need to please others overshadows their desire to serve the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength.
True revivals of the Holy Spirit are filled with eternity’s moments as souls gain Christ, confess deep and hidden sins, and walk as the people of God filled with the Spirit, caring only for the Kingdom of God. When the Lord revives souls with eternity’s moments, you will see those who surrender while others run from the cross, mock the saints and the preacher and flail against the work. In revivals you will see both emerge.
Revivals engage souls, whether in a large number or just a few, revivals of the Holy Spirit involve this deep work that cuts to the core of the soul and separates you from all that is outside of the Divine Nature. When the Lord revives His people, then you will find souls confessing sins, crying out and wailing in the Spirit as brokenness and contrition settles humility in their heart. Here, human dignity and natural strength give way to the Holy One’s overwhelming presence. Attitudes and behavior change, and the eternal direction for the spiritual life is found and embraced. This is the work of eternity’s moment.
Eternity’s moment must be the quest of everyone who calls themselves a Christian, but this is the hard way and the narrow road, as Jesus taught. This is the time of crushing and extreme conviction as death to your self-life arrives, the cross becomes alive in you, and the devils that plagued you for years relinquish their control over your natural man. Those demons lose their dominion over you when the natural man becomes dead. The demonic say and sway over your soul ends.
Eternity’s moment is the invading presence of the Holy Spirit who plants His flag and goes to war, thus winning your soul and setting you victorious in the battlefields of life in this world. This battle is intense and many flee from the Lord’s demand to obey and His command to be holy. Often, those who struggle find themselves assaulting the preacher and pastor of truth. They view the call for a life of true repentance as unloving and harsh. They flee the work of the cross and fight the Lord’s call and command, relying on all sorts of excuses and explanations to remain in their self-willed ways. There, in that place and posture, envy, offense, bitterness, and personal vanities reside, but for those who yield to the way of the cross there is a glorious victory.
Personally, the Lord brought me to my eternal moment in steps. First, He opened my heart to know the truth and gave me a desire to learn of Him. Then, I pursued Him wanting to know truth and tell others. However, my eternal moment took place in the prayer tower of Zion Bible Institute. There, God’s love overtook me and set me free to fully be His, to belong completely to the Lord, and to live in His love, embrace His humility, and live a life of liberty.
I have witnessed many others find full freedom within eternity’s moment when they were overcome by the Holy Spirit and brokenness produced the broken life of humility. This is the moment when you become the person you once despised and despise the person you once were.
Eternity’s moment is the main event necessary to gain maturity in Christ. This does not mean that your life in the Spirit is free of problems, hassles, struggles, and battles, nor does it mean that you have arrived unto the perfect state. Even Paul encouraged the saints saying, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me . . . Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind” (Phil. 3:12, 16). When eternity’s moment wins your soul, then you are free from the constant nagging to please self, promote self, and preserve self. You are done with self and you want Christ.
My continual quest in ministry is to bring people to the place when eternity’s moment results and causes brokenness to their self-will, self-rule, and the quest for self-actualization. I pray that eternity’s moment be your personal quest, for you and for your family and friends. When eternity dawns and all the tomorrows end, when the Lord of glory comes forth brighter than the noon-day sun, may we find ourselves unashamed in His presence. When the Lord suddenly calls out for His own, may we all have the ear to hear.
See you there, I pray!