Brother, thank you for sharing this, it is a weighty word, and it rings true to the path the Lord sets before those He draws into deeper likeness to Christ. The life of crucifixion and humility is not a punishment, it is a mercy. It is the way He separates a soul unto Himself, teaching obedience that cannot be learned in the noise or in the applause of men.
There are seasons when He will not permit us to walk where others walk, or speak as others speak, or take liberties others seem free to take. And it is not because they are wrong, but because He is jealous over the work He is forming in us. Hiddenness, obscurity, quiet rebukes, the stripping of self‑promotion, the refusal of earthly security, these are not accidents. They are the shaping of a vessel meant to carry something that cannot be mixed with pride.
The Spirit’s strict watch is not harshness, it is love. It is the careful guarding of a heart He intends to make wholly His. And when a soul comes to the place where it is quietly content with His jealous dealings. where the hiddenness is no longer resented but received, that soul begins to taste the atmosphere of heaven.
This is the high calling, to be possessed by Him, governed by Him, and kept by Him in ways others may never understand. And in that place, the fruit He forms is for His glory alone. God bless you dear brother, may we remain on His right side.