Open our eyes..

For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to Whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Romans 11:36).

We ought to meditate on this daily and ask the Lord to open our eyes to see the height, depth, width, length, and breadth of this JESUS Whom we say we serve. May God deliver us from our own idea, concept, perception, and illusion of a small Christ and give us revelation into the preeminence of His Son. When we see Christ as All in All then it will be impossible for us to ever again be reduced to the small, the trivial, the petty things which occupy us and waste so much of our time. Our only hope is seeing a Christ that fills us, a Christ that is greater than us, a Christ that is larger than we can fathom, an indescribable Christ that overshadows, overwhelms, and consumes us through and through!

"I know Whom I have believed" (II Timothy 1:12ff).

We don't know this Jesus we think we know. He is Wholly Other, totally, supremely, magnificently GOD. Only God can remain silent while we speak blasphemies and heresies in His name. He allows mankind to distort and misrepresent and bring people to a place of despair, just so He can then step in and reveal Himself for Who He really is. And He is never, ever, ever, ever what you thought. Nothing is as you have been told. And then, once you meet Him, you cannot describe Him, except to say He is nothing like what you had been told. Beyond description.

The Blessing and the Breaking

"And it came to pass, as He sat at meat with them, He took bread, and blessed it, and brake and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him" (Luke 24:30-31).

After Jesus blessed the bread, and broke it, and gave it to them, their eyes were opened and they knew Him. Until you have the blessing and the breaking your eyes will remain closed. Blessings alone do not open our eyes. Indeed, blessings by themselves tend to close our eyes. We do not come to know Him in the blessing, but in the breaking. Then what we already have in Him will be revealed. Our eyes will be opened and we will see that He has been standing there the whole time.

Do you want to know Him? Do you want to see Him for Who He is? Do you want to go deeper? Do you want to have your eyes opened? Embrace the blessing AND the breaking; receive them both. If you are a bruised reed or a broken cistern, take heart, because you are making progress.

Say To Archippus..."

"And say to Archippus, 'Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it… remember my bonds'" (Colossians 4:17,18ff).

This personal footnote at the closing of Paul's letter to the Colossians deserves a closer look. Perhaps in this word of exhortation to Archippus someone may see an application to their situation today. The ministry (as Scripture intends it) was not, and is not, a position of privilege or class distinction. It was never intended to be a professional office for someone to aspire to, the way one might train to be a doctor or a lawyer. But our situation today is very different from Paul's time.

Today, ministry is often equated to position, influence, title, rank, special privileges, and the most coveted of all prizes: financial remuneration. Unfortunately this mindset is not a 20th century phenomenon. By the middle of the second century the post-apostolic church was already beginning to divide itself along the lines of the "ministers" and the "regular people". Less than 100 years after the last apostle died, after only one or two generations, the priesthood of believers began to be eclipsed by a clergy/laity distinction that continues unabated to this day. The message to the masses is that ministers are special and to be treated differently from the laity. Depending upon the organizational hierarchy, some ministers are even more special than others. Because we have permitted ministers to receive special treatment, people who crave special treatment are all the more attracted to the ministry of Organized Religion.

The situation in the Early Church was quite different. In those days, answering the call to ministry was to accept suffering, hardship, and possible death. Their example was Jesus, the Suffering Servant, and realizing that the disciple is not above His Master, they counted the cost and did not seek the ministry for self-serving purposes. Someone like Archippus had to be encouraged to fulfill the ministry God had given him. Why? Because it was not something anyone would pursue on their own accord. People did not pursue ministry in the Early Church; ministry pursued them.

Ministry was not organized into a hierarchy, and it offered them little or nothing in terms of financial or material reward. It promised little or nothing in the way of fame, recognition, or privilege.

For Archippus, it was not a matter of trying to make something happen, or create a ministry where none existed, or start a new church, or anoint himself to do something he wanted to do. He had already received a ministry from the Lord. The precise nature of this ministry, and what he was called to do, we have no way of knowing. It may have been something that, to our eyes, was grand and noble. More than likely, it was something small and seemingly insignificant. All we know for sure is that Archippus had received a ministry from the Lord, and he had not, as of yet, fulfilled it. Archippus knew it, and Paul knew it, and now everyone in Colossae knew it. He was called to something, and had received something from the Lord, but it was dormant, stagnant, inert, still waiting to be put to use.

Moses certainly knew something of that reluctance to go forth. The work of the Cross was so thorough in him that he begged God to send someone else. This kind of humility and self-abasement is admirable, and to be preferred over a self-confident swagger; but if we persist beyond a certain point then our protests become false expressions of humility and real disobedience.

Timothy had to be encouraged by Paul. "Stir up the gift that is within you by the laying on of my hands... for God has not given us the spirit of fear… be not ashamed of the testimony of the Lord" (II Timothy 1:6-8ff). Paul does not tell Timothy to pray for a better opportunity, or passively wait for God to rise up within him and overwhelm him. Timothy needed to exercise the gift. He needed to stir it up. He had something to offer, something to contribute. Paul's exhortation was not to persist in false humility or passive waiting, but to be proactive, to stir it up, and serve the Body of Christ as a faithful steward. According to Paul's assessment, it was not a spirit of humility that held Timothy back, it was a spirit of fear.

Archippus, like Moses and Timothy, needed some prodding and pushing. Archippus knew there was a calling on his life, and he knew he had received a ministry from the Lord. As content as he may have been to live life in the shadows, Paul would not allow him to continue to ignore that calling from God without some word of reminder, of correction, of encouragement to pay attention to it and see that it was completed.

There are some who, far from the extreme of seeking out ministry for their own ambitious ends, are content to passively wait for God to fulfill everything in His own time. They will do nothing to hinder it, but they will do nothing to help it, either. While this is commendable to a certain extent when compared to the compulsive hast of the ambitious, it is probably motivated more by timidity and fear.

Once a person has received their ministry from the Lord, the humble and patient waiting for it is finished. There was a time when Paul could resort to the desert of Arabia to be alone with the Scriptures and humbly wait for further direction, but when the Spirit finally did send him forth, he went without hesitation, without reservation. Now Paul says to his fellow laborer Archippus, "Take heed to the ministry which you have received from the Lord that you may fulfill it."

Like Frodo who was charged with taking the ring of power to Mount Mordor, the responsibility for the stewardship cannot be shrugged off or left to others. If every brother and sister in Christ would take heed to the ministry they have received of the Lord, and fulfill it, we would have no need of a professional clergy at all. May it never be so with the Lord's Ekklesia.

For those who have a heart along the lines of Archippus, Paul's final admonition is: "Remember my chains." And this last word, immediately following the exhortation to fulfill what God has called you to do, is a very potent reminder of what Paul suffered on behalf of his ministry. Following his own advice cost him his life. He was not afflicted with Italian suits, Rolex watches, facelifts, cars, jets, and homes; but like his Master, he embraced the Cross and died daily so that others could live. His ministry was characterized by self-denial, not self-indulgence.

Archippus is mentioned only once more in Scripture. A few years later, when writing to Philemon, Paul sends his greetings to "Archippus, our fellow soldier" (Philemon 2). If Paul greets him as a fellow soldier then Archippus must have certainly followed Paul's exhortation to fulfill the work God had called him to. He was fighting in the trenches, not criticizing from the sidelines of the battle. I pray that all those who have received something from the Lord will take heed to it, and fulfill the work of the Lord in a manner that brings glory, not shame, to the Lord of the Work.

THE TREE OF LIFE

"To him that overcomes will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (Revelation 2:7b).

I have called these "promises", but a better word might be "evidences". We tend to see a promise as a future thing, something we have to wait for. I like evidences better, because if something is evident in my life then it is the demonstration of something which is mine already. The Lord says when we live as overcomers our lives will be characterized by certain evidences. By these we know who the Overcomers are, and we know if we are indeed living the normal Christian life - which is a life of overcoming.

The first evidence is that the Overcomers eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. Immediately we go back to the Book of Genesis and see that Adam was originally driven out of the paradise of God, Eden, and no longer had access to the tree of life. The tree of life was blocked by angels and a flaming sword (Genesis 3:24). Because Adam ate from the tree of knowledge, he was prohibited from eating from the tree of life.

We should see that Christ does more than restore what Adam lost. He goes beyond Adam, offering the Overcomers fruit from the tree of life, fruit Adam knows nothing about. Obviously this is symbolic language, but what does it mean? The tree of life represents the Cross, for from that Tree the Lord yielded up His Life for us all. Those who overcome have learned that fruitfulness and life come from death to Self, and that is what the Cross means. The Cross is a tree of life to those who embrace it.

Like Adam, we can choose to eat from either tree, but we cannot eat from both. Adam sinned when he fell into the flesh and yielded to his Self-life. He rejected the tree of life in favor of something that was "good... pleasant... and desirable" (Genesis 3:6ff). The Cross does not look like a tree of life at all. It is neither good, nor pleasant, nor desirable. It looks like death. Perhaps this is why Adam did not eat from it first. But God's End is not death, regardless of appearances: God's End is life out of death, which is resurrection. To eat of the fruit of the tree of life is to glory in the Cross of Jesus Christ and find life out of death. It is becoming popular to preach and teach about the Cross these days, but how many are eating of its fruit? Can we really see the Cross as the TREE OF LIFE, and are we eating of its fruit? We will know a true disciple of the Lord, not by words, but by fruit (Matthew 7:20), and the Cross is the tree of life from which this fruit comes.

The Seed Of Apostasy

"...these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation become offended and fall away (Luke 8:13b)."

Jesus told us instead to expect persecution, excommunication, and tribulation. Since Christians today expect blessing, acceptance, and prosperity, it's easy to see why so many are setting themselves up for a big disappointment when GOD does not meet their expectation. Ultimately, you will apply the same expectations upon God as you do upon people, holding Him personally responsible for what THEY did or did not do to you. The seed for apostasy and falling away is planted in my heart, in your heart, in every Christian heart: that is, the unrealistic and unbiblical perception of how we expect God and other people to treat us.

Jesus knew what was in the heart of men. He could perceive their reasonings and murmerings against Him. This is why He could love unconditionally - He expected nothing in return. Why should He? People were and are intrinsically self-centered, self-serving and self-preserving. It is the nature of Adam, and it is our nature. True, Christians now have a new nature, but most only know of that new nature in theory, not by experience.

Jesus did not expect His disciples to remain faithful to Him simply because He washed their feet. His knowledge of people gave Him the liberty to just love them and not expect anything in return. He could wash the disciples' feet knowing they would all forsake Him. It was not as if He became angry when they left, "after all I've done for them." That's OUR way. We keep a mental ledger of debits and credits and EXPECT others to treat us fairly, or support us, etc. just because we applied the Golden Rule to them. If we were in His place, our line of reasoning would be: I can count on Peter, James and John; the rest I am not as sure of; Judas will likely betray me; but, if I show them unconditional love, wash their feet, and pray for them, surely they will stand with me during my time of suffering.
O Christian, how many times have you reasoned thusly, adding up your debits and credits with others and expecting them to treat you as you have treated them? How many times have you expected the preacher to visit you, the neighbor be kind to you, the friend to listen to you, the husband to love you, the wife to honor you, the children to obey you, the parents to understand you? What did you expect? To be applauded? To be affirmed? To be understood? To be appreciated?
O preacher, what did you expect? The praise of the masses? The universal recognition of your special gift? The outward trappings of a successful ministry, with a one hundred-fold return of luscious fruit? Did you expect to be consulted as a dauntless leader, hailed as a church-growth expert, lauded as God's man or woman of the hour?

Yes, you expected it, I expected it, we all expected just a little something from others - and therein lies the problem: no, not in what others did to you, whether it was just or unjust, or what they failed to do, whether in negligence, forgetfulness, or spite. The crux of the matter, the point of stumbling, is your unrealistic expectation that people will behave in a predictable, godly, Biblical, Christ-like, loving manner. Because more times that not, they don't.

And that upsets us. We expect people to approve of our writings, our music, our "word", our ministry, our insight, our revelation, our values, our doctrinal position. And they expect the same of us, and God help the one who fails to render credit where credit is due! The "I" is always hidden behind such a desire, so it is no wonder that we become upset when we are not afforded the appreciation and respect we think we deserve. If they are not Christians, we could shrug and say, "What do you expect? They don't even know the Lord." Ah, but then, people who claim to know the Lord (maybe some who really do) fail to meet your expectations too. We can align our expectations such that we do not expect compassion from a sinner, but what about when compassion is lacking from a saint? My, what a test this is! We can overlook the insults and offenses and misdeeds of the lost and make excuse for them because they are not saved. How then do you make excuse for those who mistreat you while claiming to be on God's side? I maintain that the "like-minded brethren" are the most difficult to get along with.

Then of course, one of those "well-meaning" preachers will tell you that you can expect to be prosperous, healed, and victorious. Hope rises, and you believe. "Expect a miracle!" they shout. And the prosperity you expected does not materialize; the healing does not "manifest"; and victory seems to be way out on the horizon, well beyond your outstretched hands.

The time it takes varies from individual to individual, but each one of us facing the cumulative effect of unmet expectations reaches the same fork in the road. Eventually the focus of our attention shifts from what people have done, to what God has NOT done. It seems to us in such a place that God seldom, if ever, intervenes on our behalf, defends our cause, or solicits what we want from other people.

We worship God, and expect that He will afford us with some tangible evidence or feeling of joy, peace, strength or nearness of His presence. It is in a sense much like Pavlov's dog, who learned how to press a button in order to get a treat. Is this Spirit and Truth?

We read and study the Bible, expecting that God will grant us revelation into His Word, that we may grow in spiritual knowledge and Christian maturity. Or, preacher, you expect to get your Sunday sermon or midweek lesson out of the text before you. But there comes a time when, as Nee says, the Bible looms before you as a massive rock from which you cannot obtain nourishment. What then?
What do we do when He doesn't answer as we expect Him? What then, O Christian? What will you do? What will you believe? Perhaps you will be like Job's wife. Curse God and die, she spat. Why retain your integrity any longer? Not just die, but CURSE GOD first, then go ahead and die! Don't just roll over, Job! You've got some anger going on in there, don't you? You've got a little bitterness in your heart, huh? God blessed you once, but today you are cursed! God prospered you once, but today you are bankrupt! God healed you once, but today the flesh hangs off your bones! You are a stinking mess. You are a bum, a loser, a has-been. This is the result of your life of faith! This is how God eventually treats all His children, by sending them to a cruel cross and crucifying them on it, naked before the world, helpless before the religious mafia, powerless before the devil! You were mistaken somewhere, Job. You had God all wrong. You messed up somewhere along the line. Give up Job. Curse God and die!

Isn't it interesting? When God behaves as we expect Him to - the raise comes, the transfer goes through, the cancer is healed, the marriage is restored, the storm passes us by - we do not protest that we are unworthy, or argue with God's decision to bless us. Unless it is an unusual display of grace we may scarcely give God the credit. Ah, but let God delay Himself, or "fail" to deliver as expected, and behold how quickly our countenance is darkened against Him!

Are people your problem? No. Is God your problem? No! YOU are your problem, and specifically, your expectation is your downfall. Sure, expect great things of God - but qualify what you mean by great. Don't think great things means likeable things, pleasant things, easy things. I tell you plainly that you can expect the opposite. Since you and I were born with an Adamic nature which makes us inherently selfish, stubborn, and greedy, it behooves God to lead us along a path that of self-denial, foregoing what we "like" in favor of conformity to the image of His Son, who is anything but self-ish.
So when we look at Job we see that he was righteous, but he was ignorant. All he knew was blessing, prosperity, and living in the "hedge." Yes, it's lovely to live there in the hedge. Everything he touched was blessed; he was protected from failure. Did Job worship God as a result? You bet! And like most, thought that the blessing was a result of his own righteousness and servitude. But Satan pointed out that that the hedge of blessing and protection was the very thing that kept Job so faithful.

Therefore the testing of Job was a valid test, a crucial one, and a crucible through which each Christian will be purged, sifted, and tried. To what end? It is summed up in the words of Job himself as he neared the end of his ordeal: "I have heard Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now my eye seeth Thee." BUT NOW! BUT NOW! BUT NOW! Before he heard about Him, but now he sees Him, and falls to the ground. Before he worshipped Him having heard, now he worships having seen, and known. I submit that God set him up for such experiential knowledge by allowing him to be subjected to the assaults of the devil, the harshness of his environment, the misunderstanding of his friends, the loss of his family and material possessions, and his physical infirmity. I submit that if anyone desires to take up the cross and follow Christ such testing is the only realistic expectation His disciple can entertain.

Many quickly point out that Job was blessed more in the end than in the beginning; but if getting doubly blessed is our purpose for enduring such affliction then we have failed the very purpose of such a test, and such an attitude only proves man's capacity for being self-serving, even in the worst of circumstances.

I am writing to you, O Christian, who is so full of expectation of what the spiritual life should be like, you who are so sure that you know God, so acquainted you are with His Word! Have you seen God? Or are you worshipping what you have heard, bowing to an invisible force in the clouds, expecting some blessing or feeling or voice or gift? Where will you be, when there is no "Blessed Assurance", when all the evidence points to your failure as a Christian, when "peace like a river" is no longer "attending" your way?

I am writing to that individual who is on the slippery slope of apostasy, ready to renounce their faith (not openly of course, but inwardly) because of some unrealized dream or hope or wish or expectation that after ALL you've been through, surely God will bless you or compensate you or reward you or answer you! Beware! It is more likely that God wishes to know if you worship Him for His gifts, or for Himself; and of course you know that HE knows, it is YOU that must know. The Lord knew, and Peter thought he knew, but by cock's crow Peter knew he didn't know, and we know he didn't know either. Some of you think you know, but you don't know, not yet. Perhaps you need a lion's den to be brought face to face with God. Perhaps a flaming furnace to encounter the Fourth Man. Perhaps you need a cross of splintery wood instead of shiny gold electroplate.

How easy and grandiose it is to speak of martyrdom and dying for Christ. But anyone can DIE for Him: how many will LIVE for Him? The test is not in the dying, but in the living; not in one ultimate act of sacrifice, but in a million little obediences every day! Yes! If you cannot, if you will not, take up the cross and die in the mundane and hum-drum of Today, in the HERE and NOW, you are not fit to die the martyr's death in the unknown darkness of some future persecution.

People do not turn away from their faith and become apostate when threatened with death. They fall away when they become bitter against people, angry with God, and offended with His manner of dealing with them. It isn't a sudden decision you are confronted with, but an invisible thing which starts from the core of your being and works its way into your soul. It is certainly a clear and present danger, and it is within you now, maybe in an inert, embryonic form, maybe in a full-blown disillusionment and anger against God, but it is THERE, waiting for you to succumb to it, feeding itself on your expectation.

Let us draw near to God, and ask to be reduced to Christ. Let us accept whatever He deems beneficial to us, whether it is according to our expectation or not. Know that by the time the rooster crows you may curse and swear that you don't know the Man. Blessed is the one who finds no occasion for stumbling in Him. Love people, but expect nothing from them. Enjoy God, love Him, obey Him: be content with that.

Four Examples of Brokenness:

The Bread of Life:
The Cross represents the principle of brokenness in the disciple of the Lord Jesus. Let us look to the Scriptures for some examples of brokenness. The night He was betrayed, we are told that the Lord Jesus "took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me ( Luke 22:19)." Many times the Lord has told the disciples and the crowds, "I am the Bread of Life." He commanded them to eat His flesh and drink His blood. This is one of my favorite passages of Scripture, and one which I refer to constantly when discussing this subject. Many turned aside and no longer followed the Lord after He said this. How can this man give us His flesh to eat? Because He is the Bread of Life.

The little communion wafers we partake of today fail to adequately represent the Bread of Life. At the Passover there was one loaf, and it was broken into pieces that all may partake of it. Today, the wafers come to us already divided. The Church is certainly divided today, so perhaps this is a good representation of our division, but it fails to show us the vital truth that in order to partake of the Life, there must be a breaking. There is one Loaf, not many loaves. Jesus is the Bread which came down from heaven. How may we receive Him? He must be broken for us. After blessing the bread, and breaking it, He plainly tells us, "This is my body."
It is interesting to note here that the blessing Jesus prayed over the bread is the same blessing the Jews bless their bread with today. It has not changed in centuries. The Scriptures do not record it because it was written for the Jews, and they already know it: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, which bringeth forth bread from the earth."After the blessing, Jesus broke the bread. The Passover ceremony also calls for a portion of the bread to be wrapped in a napkin and hidden, to be retrieved later. Thus, the Lord is showing us His crucifixion and resurrection in the blessing, the breaking, and the "burying" of the bread. He is the Bread which is come down from heaven, broken, buried, and brought forth from the earth. Our traditional communion wafer destroys this beautiful parable. Indeed, our Lord is One Loaf which is broken, that we may all share of His Life. Hallelujah! This illustrates the need for brokenness that Life may issue forth.

Example Two: A Grain of Wheat
Again, for an example of brokenness, let us look to the Lord's Word to us in His final hours on earth: "And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal (John 12:23-25)." How remarkable are the Lord's words here. He begins by saying it is time for Him to be glorified. When we think of the Lord being glorified, we think of His baptism when the Spirit descended upon Him as a dove and the Voice of God declared Him to be His Son. Or, we think of the mountain when His appearance became dazzling white and the brightness of His Glory was shown to Peter, James, and John. How strange then that Jesus talks of being glorified by a cruel death. It seems contrary to what we have been led to believe thus far. But the Lord explains why His death is necessary.

When the Lord Jesus humbled Himself and accepted the limitations of a human body, He was only able to be in one place at a time. For all the people He did heal, there were many millions who remained sick. He simply could not, as a Man, be everywhere at once. He was limited by time and space. In one place He seems frustrated with a holy frustration: "I have come to bring a fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already! There is a baptism I must still receive, and what constraint I am under until it is completed (Luke 12:49,50, New Jerusalem Bible)!" See how the Lord is restrained, and seems to be aching to come forth. He is like the grain of wheat, a seed surrounded by the outer shell of His physical body.
Pick up an acorn. What are you holding in your hand? A seed, yes. But what else? A tree? Yes, once the seed is buried it will one day produce a tree. But what else are you holding in your hand, besides a tree? A forest! Because, from that seed will come a tree, and from that tree will come many more seeds, and from those seeds will come many more trees, and so on. So what you hold in your hand is not a mere seed, but a forest.

Jesus says the Kingdom of God is "as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear (Mark 4:26-28)." Dear friend, this is glorious! We don't have to do anything with the seed but cast it into the ground and forget about it! "For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself." God will bring forth the fruit if we will bury the seed! Do you want to be fruitful? Humble yourself! Cast yourself into the ground and allow yourself to be broken that the fruits may come forth.

Now Jesus says if the seed will not fall to the earth and die, it will abide alone. Take the seed home and place it on your desk. Will it become a forest? Of course not. Why? That forest is inside the shell. It cannot come forth on its own. You see, the potential is there, for there is life in the seed. But the inner life is entombed by an outer shell. How do we get that which is in the shell to come out of the shell? We must bury the seed in the ground - the seed must "die" and give up being a seed. The shell must be broken and that which is within the shell may then come forth. When it dies, it brings forth "much fruit".

You see, the issue is not the ability of the Life to spring forth, but the brokenness of the vessel which holds the Life captive! It is not that we need more power, but that we need more brokenness. When we are properly broken we will find the indwelling Christ is more than sufficient.

Example Three:The Alabaster Box
"And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as [Jesus] sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head (Mark 14:3)." The ointment here represents Anointing, or Life. I use the terms synonymously. It was very precious, but it was contained within an alabaster box. Albaster is a kind of stone used to make vases. But the same stone was also used to make caskets! Again, we have Life encased within Death. The inward release is contingent upon the outward breaking.

How many of us cherish the vessel more than the ointment? Friends, the vessel is nothing. Let us look beyond the vessels and instruments of the Lord and only note if the precious ointment is coming forth freely or is inhibited. The vessel houses the Life and must be broken. If we wish to be containers of this heavenly ointment, let us ask the Lord to break us that the hidden fragrance and anointing may come forth.

Example Four: The Veil Of The Temple
"And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom (Mark 15:38)." The veil of the Temple was a thick curtain which separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the temple. What is special about the Holy of Holies? It is where the presence of God dwelt. No one could step into the presence, or even look behind the curtain, without falling over dead. Only the high priest could enter, and then only once a year. A rope was tied around his ankle with which the other priests could pull him out from behind the curtain in the event of his death.
But when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, the thick curtain which stood as a barrier between the presence of God and the people was split down the middle from top to bottom. Why top to bottom? To demonstrate that it was God Himself who split the veil. Had the veil been torn from bottom to top, it could perhaps be explained away that man was responsible. To tear the veil from top to bottom is indeed a miracle. What does it signify? Of course it means the death of Christ opened the way for us to approach the throne of grace without fear of death (Hebrews 10:19,20). That is the obvious meaning. Yet we know also that the three sections of the temple - the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the Outer Court - represent the spirit, soul, and body of man. The Holy of Holies is the spirit of man where Christ dwells. In between the inner man and the outer man stands a thick veil.

We stand by our assertion that each believer is complete and contains the entire fullness of God; but we also acknowledge that the veil of the flesh must be rent in two in order for that fullness to come forth. How often we meet a brother or a sister and we sense their preciousness, but there is something that prevents the Life from coming forth as it should. That "something" is the fleshly veil which remains intact. We can only hope that they will allow the Lord to rend and break them so the Life can come forth. Similarly, when we sense a lack, we should not pray for more of the Lord, or seek more power, as though the indwelling Christ is not sufficient. Instead, we may ask the Lord to break us and take away the veil that is keeping the Life from coming forth.

The Cross Accomplishes This BreakingNow we have before us four examples from the Scriptures of what it means to be broken, and why it is necessary: the bread, the grain of wheat, the alabaster box, and the temple veil. There is yet another point to be made from these four examples. In each instance, the Lord mentions His death and resurrection. The principle of the Cross is central to each illustration. The blessing and breaking of the bread speaks of His death and resurrection; the grain of wheat speaks of His coming glorification through His substitutionary death; the alabaster box is connected to the Lord's anointing for burial (Mark 14:8); and the temple veil is rent at the moment of His death on the Cross. These are not mere coincidences.

The Lord has continually called us to deny ourselves, take up the Cross, and follow Him. We are not left to wonder what it means to take up the Cross, or what God hopes to accomplish in us when we do so. In these examples He is showing us what that means, and why it must be so. What is He saying? That we must be broken before we can bring forth Life. That to save our life we must give up our life, lay down on the altar, and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. Only then may we truly live for God. Only then may we be vessels through which Life may flow.
One time the disciples asked the Lord, "Increase our faith (Luke 17:5)." Do you remember how the Lord responded to this request? It is a very strange response. Today we ask the Lord to increase our faith, increase our patience, increase our love, increase our self-control, give us more. Strangely enough, it seems as though these repeated requests often go unanswered. We are still asking for "more", and it has been many years since we first asked. It is the same with the disciples. They ask the Lord to increase their faith. Instead of giving them more faith, He basically tells them they don't need more faith, that they have enough already. How do you like that response?

Watchman Nee was once asked to help a sister who insisted that she needed more patience. She told brother Nee of all the times she lost her temper and how terribly she behaved. She prayed and prayed for patience, but to no avail. So she asked brother Nee if he would agree with her in prayer that God would give her patience so she would no longer lose her temper. Brother Nee said, "This I cannot do." Stunned, she asked why not. "Because I can assure you that God will not answer your prayer," he answered. This sister became angry. "What do you mean God will not answer my prayer?" she demanded. "Am I so far gone that He will not hear me anymore?" "No, I do not mean exactly that," brother Nee explained. "What I mean is this: God will not give you more patience, because you have no need of patience." Now the woman was nearly beside herself with anger. "What do you mean I have no need of patience? I am always losing my temper and acting in a most regrettable manner. How can you say I do not need patience?" "Dear sister," he calmly replied, "it is not patience that you need; it is Christ."

He goes on to explain that all we have need of is in Christ, and Christ is in us. Therefore, we do not need to seek God for a little patience here, a little faith there. Instead, we must see that we are complete in Christ, and ask God to humble us and break us, that Christ would be my Patience, and that Christ would be my Faith, and that Christ would be my Righteousness, etc. We have every spiritual blessing already in Christ, but that Life is for the most part trapped within the alabaster box. We love the alabaster box more than the ointment, but we cannot have the ointment without breaking the vessel.

Dear friend, are you an enclosed vessel, or a broken one? Is Christ bound up and restrained within your heart, or is your heart free and unfettered that He may come forth through you? Have you expressed your willingness to die to yourself that you may bring forth much fruit, or are you like the seed which refuses to die and therefore abides alone? Has the Presence been released in you and through you, or does the veil need to be torn in two?

Oh, let us go back to the cross and humble ourselves that He may have freedom of expression through us! Do we desire the presence of the Lord? Then let us ask the Lord to decrease us through the Cross, for "the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."

Taking Up The Cross Daily

"The Old Cross and the New"
"The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam’s proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.

"The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.

"The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, Come and assert yourself for Christ. To the egotist it says, Come and do your boasting in the Lord. To the thrill-seeker it says, Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship. The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.

"The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere, but sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.

"The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was not going out to have his life redirected; he was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromises, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more." -- by A. W. Tozer

"And [Jesus] said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Luke 9:23)."

The Cross is the means by which we enter, as well as live, the Christian life. Most Christians understand how we enter by way of the Cross. That is, we know that the death of Christ on the cross, the shedding of His blood, redeemed us from being dead in our sins. It satisfied the judgment of God against us and opened the door to fellowship with our heavenly Father.

This knowledge is sufficient for us to be saved, but if we only know the work of the Cross in terms of what Jesus did we will be unable to live out the Christian life in a meaningful way. Though forgiven, we will find ourselves unable to forsake the sins we may have just repented of. Please note that Christ called upon people to take up THEIR Cross as individuals and follow Him. Before He ever took up the physical cross and died for our sins, He bid us to bear a Cross of our own as a prerequisite for following Him. Moreover, He tells us the Cross we are called to bear is not a once-and-for-all transaction. Jesus died for our sins once, and there is no further sacrifice to be made. God does not require Him to take up the cross and die daily for our sins, yet He tells us to take up our Cross daily and follow Him. What is this?

Our passage in Luke gives us a clue that the passage in Matthew does not give. The physical cross is nothing in and of itself. The Roman procurator who sentenced Jesus to death, Pontious Pilate, was alone responsible for the death of thousands of criminals on wooden crosses. If someone understands us to say that there is intrinsic power in a wooden upright post and crossbeam then they miss the point. The Cross is a principle, a philosophy, a standard, a symbol of self-denial. When we speak of Christ's death on the physical cross we do not capitalize the word "cross". It is merely an instrument of death and it was a once-and-for-all event, thank God. But when we speak of the Cross as a call to self-denial and discipleship, we capitalize the word "Cross" because it is something more than a method of execution, it is an attitude of daily denying the Self, submitting one's life into the Hand of Another, and giving ourselves up to die to our own will that we may follow His will.

But there is more. Please understand that the Cross is more than death; it is resurrection as well. This is unique to the Cross we are called to bear. The physical cross always ended in death for its victims, Jesus Christ being the only exception. Similarly, the Cross as a principle working within us comprises death and life, burial and resurrection. God does not kill us in order to eradicate us or to render us non-existent. No, no, no, a thousand times no! All that is nailed to the Cross is one day brought to Resurrection! Did not Jesus say if we lose our life we will save it? Did not Jesus say if a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it brings forth much fruit? Hallelujah! This is the glory of the Cross! It is no glory to just die like a dog and cease to exist. No, we have something more glorious in mind than this. The Cross is not the end of me, but the beginning of me - a new man, a reborn me, a newly created me! Yet it is not I, but Christ! I cannot truly live for God until I truly die to myself. Then, the life I receive is resurrected life. Friends, when we overcome death and are resurrected, we cannot die again! Death has no more power over us!

It behooves us, then, to deny ourselves, take up the Cross DAILY, and follow Jesus. Suppose a doctor asks, "Are you alive?" How would you respond? The question of life and death is applicable to your current state, not your previous experience. In other words, you would not say you are alive because you were born thirty years before, or because you had a birthday last week. These are but historical facts; it does not necessarily mean you are alive and well TODAY. Upon hearing of the death of someone, you might comment that they appeared to be quite well the day before. Nevertheless, they are dead today. Life is a daily condition, not a historical one.

In like manner, the question of spiritual life is a matter of my condition today, not five, ten, twenty, or fifty years ago. Since this is the case, it is not enough to take up the Cross in the beginning. In order to live today, we must have His Life today; and in order to experience His Life daily, we must have His Death daily. After many years we can perhaps smile, sing, appear loving, and be very engaged in spiritual work, yet have little Life, vitality, or freshness of spirit. All we have to do is open our mouth and people with discernment will quickly perceive if we are bringing forth Life or Death. We can repeat word for word what we said last week, but if we have not touched Life today we are only babbling spiritual phraseology. Or, we can hear a message and touch the Life of the Lord in the brother or sister who shares it. Then we bring it home and relate it to our brothers and sisters, employing the same words and illustrations, yet it fails to bring Life to the hearers. Why? It was a borrowed Life, not an actual entering into Christ and receiving from Him. The words may be correct, but without Life even correct words are of little value.

Christ compared His flesh to the bread from heaven, called manna, which fell daily and sustained the Hebrews during their exodus from Egypt and subsequent wandering in the desert . Each day a new journey was made to collect fresh manna. All that was not eaten by sunset would become worms by sunrise. We are grateful for the multitude which have tasted of the Lord's goodness, but the issue is not in tasting the Lord, but in feeding upon Him daily. Is this your experience? Our Lord was born in a little town called Beth-Lehem, which means, "House of Bread". Christ taught us to pray "Give us this day our daily bread." Day by day we eat His flesh and drink His blood. This speaks of Life and daily communion. No matter what our previous history and walk with God, everything hinges upon today and now. Union must be maintained; fellowship must be unbroken; communion must be continuous; abiding is always a present action.

How do we maintain the Life of the Lord in us? Was is the testimony of the apostle Paul? "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you (II Corinthians 4:7-12)." In another place, he says, "I die daily (I Corinthians 15:31)." This is what it means to take up the Cross daily. We desire the Lord's Life daily, so we must have His Death working in us daily. There is no resurrection without crucifixion.

The answer to why there is so little power and genuine spiritual fruit in the lives of those who follow Jesus is a simple one: they desire the Life of the Lord, but not His Death. They want a daily pouring out of the Lord's Life, but they shun the prospect of daily sharing in His Death. Why do we commit to teaching this in depth? Why do we belabor the point incessantly? Because the saints of the Lord are well instructed in living victoriously, being blessed, walking in power, overcoming the enemy, and living up to their potential. By comparison, the majority of them know next to nothing about self-denial, bearing their Cross, boasting in their weaknesses, being joyful in trials, winning by losing, gaining by giving up, working by resting, accepting both the bitter and the sweet as gifts from God, enduring hardness and accepting suffering. God desires to increase us and enlarge us; He therefore call us to go back to the Cross and start over again.

Christ says we must die in order to live; we must first take up the Cross before we are fit to follow Jesus. This is the call of the Cross. Who will accept it?

A Place for Him..

"And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as [Jesus] sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on His head" (Mark 14:3).

Perhaps you are in a lonely place because the Lord desires to use you to establish a place in the wilderness for Him. If the Lord has impressed His Need for such a place on your heart, then declare your heart a "Bethany" place and take this up between yourself and the Lord. Give the Lord some ground to build upon. Give Him His place. Do not look for multitudes of people. It is better to have one, two, or three gathered together as the Lord's Bethany than to have hundreds or thousands of people gathered together as something other than Bethany.

Is there anyone in all the world who can truly meet for the purpose of ministering to the Lord and "waste" themselves in worship, giving no thought to their own need, but laying down their lives wholly for the Lord's satisfaction? I pray something is stirring within someone to seriously consider this before the Lord. Many are called, but few are chosen.

Back To The Cross

"For I determined to not know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (I Corinthians 2:2)."

Though Paul had quite a bit of knowledge and many things to say and teach the Corinthians, he determined to become a man of one subject: Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.

We must become foolish in order to be wise.

We must give up everything in order to get back everything.

We must become weak in order to be strong.

We must die in order to live.

We can quote these teachings of Jesus, seek to imitate Him as our Example, strive to walk the narrow Way, and even accomplish many good deeds in His Name. But apart from the Cross these activities are wood, hay and stubble. The moment we are challenged or confronted by the opposition we will fall away. Perhaps we can appear to be patient, but a day comes when we lose our patience. Perhaps we can appear to be gentle, but a day comes when our roughness is revealed. Perhaps we can appear to be humble, but a day comes when pride is discovered in us and we fall. Perhaps we can obey the letter of the law and appear outwardly to others as being righteous, but when alone and faced with the secrets of our heart and mind we discover that the inside of the cup is full of uncleanness.

In calling us to come back to the Cross, God is asking us lay down our lives and embrace the Wisdom of death, burial, resurrection, and ascension in order to live as sons and daughters within the Kingdom of God. Apart from the Cross we can neither enter the Kingdom nor live in the Spirit, no matter how great the desire. For apart from the Cross, we do not know what it is to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us. Apart from the Cross, we do not know what it is to submit to the will of God, accept suffering, and cast ourselves upon Him.

Apart from the Cross, we do not know what Resurrection is.

Religion seeks to reform a man; the Cross seeks to crucify him. Religion may fail to bring about the desired result, but the Cross never fails to achieve its end. Mankind will pursue morality, virtue, spirituality, even perform religious works and good deeds, in order to avoid death on a Cross. But there are no wounds, no scars, no evidence of having ever died and been made alive unto God. Either a man has never died, or he has died and been raised again. You cannot fake a resurrection.

The Cross is the means by which God reduces us to Christ, that we may be raised to new Life. What cannot be accomplished in a lifetime of self-effort is easily accomplished in God through the Cross. We may take many shortcuts along the way and attempt to escape the inevitable, but the day we cease striving and meekly accept the Cross we find everything is done for us. In fact, death by crucifixion cannot be accomplished by suicide. We cannot crucify ourselves. The instrument of our death is chosen for us, as well as the manner in which it is carried out, the timing and the duration of the execution - all is controlled by Another. There is nothing to be done, for we must submit to the Unseen Hand and cast ourselves completely upon Him.

If we will follow Jesus, we must take up the cross daily, deny ourselves, and follow Him (Luke 9:23).

The Law of Life

So how do we touch Jesus directly? "He who comes to Me." Can it really be this easy? A better question is, why should it be difficult? I can come to Him whether I am driving down the street, walking down the sidewalk, or sitting in my chair. I can come to Him whether it is Sunday morning or Tuesday night or Friday afternoon. I can come to Him in a large group, or with two or three, or all by myself. I can come to Him in the desert, in the garden, in the church building, or in the prison camp. I am prevented from doing many things due to circumstance, location, state of mind, or resources. But one thing I cannot be prevented from doing is coming to the Lord.

Must I stand, or bow down, or lay on my face? Am I supposed to whisper, shout, or say nothing at all? Should I sing, or pray, or recite the Scriptures, or be still? What difference does it make? None at all, so long as I come to the Lord. He does not tell us what to do, what to say, or what to expect. He just says, "Come to Me, and you will not be hungry or thirsty." Religion would like to teach us a method and a formula for everything, but Christ is no religion. There are no ceremonies, rituals, rites of initiation or barriers to entry as in the Old Testament. Nor do we have to spend hours and days praying, fasting, or meditating. This is a New Way, and this Way is open. All we have to do is present ourselves to Christ.

Many of us are still prone to asking a lot of questions about how to have this kind of relationship with Christ. But if we will trust in the Life, then the Life will lead us. By comparison, I am not concerned with the Law of Gravity. I do not worry about floating away into space, and I do not have to keep reminding myself to walk according to the Law of Gravity. I just go along as usual and never give it a thought, confident that gravity will keep me where I am supposed to be. Even if I do not know there is such a thing as gravity I am nevertheless held firmly to the earth. If we would have that same faith in the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus then all our questions would be answered. This Law of Life will operate whether we understand it or know about it (of course, we do want to know how it operates so we can cooperate with it, but it works in spite of our ignorance).

The branch who abides in the Vine does not have to know how it abides. So long as it abides, it shares in the Life of the Vine. It does not have to ask how it works, and it does not have to be concerned with producing the fruit. It does nothing but abide, and the Life of the Vine keeps it. The Vine and the Branches is a reality; it is not a parable. Jesus did not say, "The Kingdom of God is like the Vine and the Branches." That would have been a parable. Instead, Jesus says, "I am the Vine, and you are the Branches." This is no simile or metaphor, it is reality. What does it mean? That we are one, and we share in a common Life. Everything happens according to the Law of Life in Christ. But since it is easy to become philosophical and ethereal concerning this, let us quickly bring it down to a practical application and discover how we may cooperate with it......

The Law of Gravity brings objects to the ground. It does not matter to Gravity how large or small the object is. It works the same with acorns as it does with airplanes. Likewise, I know today that it does not matter if I am called upon to wash dishes, mow the lawn, write an article, preach a message, cast out a demon, love my neighbor, forgive my enemy, or lay down my life. It makes no difference to the Life. It is not I, but Christ, who does these things. The principle is the same, and the Life cannot fail. If I give up my life, if I give up my self-effort, then He begins to do what I cannot do. This is Christianity.
The Law of Life means that I do not try to be or do anything in my own strength. Instead, the Life leads me, the Life instructs me, and the Life gives me the words and the actions. I am not a Christian because I believe in the Bible, follow the teachings of Jesus, and live a good life. I am a Christian because Christ is my Life. Since Christ is my Life, I no longer live, but it is Christ who lives in me. I do nothing to achieve this, it just is. Because He lives, I live. In Him I live; in Him I move; in Him I have my being (Acts 17:28a).

Again, let us make this practical. Does a fish become a fish by swimming under the water, or does it swim under the water because it is a fish? Does it say to itself, "I am a fish, therefore, I must learn to act like a fish. I must remember to breathe through my gills and move my body back and forth." Absolutely not. Or what about a bird? Does a bird become a bird once it learns to fly through the air? Or does it fly through the air because it is a bird? Which is it? Of course, the bird is a bird, and therefore it flies. It does not have to be instructed per se, but when it is pushed out of the nest it flaps its wings. It is its nature to do so. So doing does not create being, doing flows out of being.

Now the Law of Life in Christ does not try to make us into something we are not. The very presence of the Life in us demonstrates that Christ already indwells us. We are not trying to be like Christ, and we are not trying to live like a Christian. Since we ARE in Him, we WALK in Him. Our works come from what we are, not what we are trying to be. We do not receive His Life so that we can work very hard to be like Jesus. That is like the fish having to remind itself that since it is a fish therefore it must swim. Or, like a bird having to keep telling itself through positive confession that it must remember to fly. Yet Christians keep reminding themselves, "Now that I am a Christian, I must remember to read the Bible, pray, and live a holy life. I must not forget to love my neighbor and smile no matter what happens." Can you see the problem here? With this mentality we cannot cooperate with the Life, because we would be depending on our life instead of His.

This is why we cannot look for a method, formula, or technique to try and teach people spirituality. It is like taking a bird and putting it in a school to teach it to fly. Just let the bird go and it will fly all by itself! Why do we not take a fish and give it a technique for swimming? You know very well that when you drop the fish into the water it will just swim away of its own accord. But we try to teach Christians three keys to spiritual growth, or four principles of Christian living, or seven ways to overcome, or a ten-step process to this thing or that thing. What we should be doing is letting these people loose and allowing them to discover how wonderful this Life in them is, how the Christ Who indwells them will teach them everything. THE LAW OF LIFE MEANS "ABIDE IN ME, AND YOU WILL PRODUCE MUCH FRUIT"
"I am the Vine, and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, will produce much fruit: for apart from Me you can do nothing (John 15:5)."

It is amazing the number of Christians who believe it is up to them to produce fruit. This teaching is, to them, like trying to force a square peg through a round hole. They become obsessed with making something happen, thinking it is all up to their effort, their willpower, their determination, to grow up into Christ. To suggest that they cease from their labor is to make light of all their hard work up until now, and this offends them! They begin in the Spirit, but look to the flesh (self-effort) to complete the work. That is not the Christ-Life! The fruit will come of its own accord, provided we abide in Him.

But look at the last part of the verse: "Apart from Me you can do nothing." It is similar to John 5:15, which says, "The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do: for whatever the Father does, the Son does." And John 14:10: "I speak nothing of Myself. It is the Father that dwells in Me, and He does the works." As the Son can do nothing apart from the Father Who dwells within Him, so we can do nothing apart from the Son who dwells within us. The question is not whether or not we will work out our salvation, but under whose power will we work it out? Is it our willpower, or is it Christ? Is it our effort, or is it the Law of Life?
Are we making a case for idle passivity? By no means. We are not suggesting that Christians cease all effort, only that Christians cease all SELF-effort. The Law of Life is more powerful and active than anything generated or maintained by self-effort. With self-effort I am always at the mercy of how I feel. If I feel spiritual then I can pray for hours at a time. But if I do not feel spiritual then I cannot even pray five minutes. This is why so many believers live their lives like a roller-coaster. They do not live according to principle, according to the Law of Life. Thinking it is up to them to become Christlike, they turn an easy yoke and a light burden into a difficult yoke and a heavy burden - difficult and heavy for themselves, and for those who must live and work around them.

The one who rests in Christ will produce more fruit than the one who strives with self-effort. This is demonstrated in Scripture and in the real-life experience of countless saints. Paul proclaimed, "I labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." There is no question that Paul worked, labored, and toiled. But the difference with Paul is he knew that he was laboring according to Christ working in him. Was Paul lazy? By contrast, he was more fruitful than ever. The end result is his statement, "I labored more abundantly than them all," quickly qualified with, "yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me (I Corinthians 15:10)." The "I can do all things" must always be followed with "through Christ who strengthens me." If we trust in the Life we will be anything but passive. THE LAW OF LIFE MEANS CHRIST WILL TEACH US EVERYTHING WE NEED TO KNOW
"The anointing which you received from Him remains in you. And no need are you constantly having that anyone be constantly teaching you. But even as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true and is not a lie, and even as He taught you, be constantly abiding in Him (I John 2:27, Wuest Expanded Translation)."

Now the Scripture says that we do not need any man to teach us, for the Anointing (Christ) Who indwells us will teach us all things. More than anything else I consider myself a teacher, so I pondered this for a long time. What use is there for me to teach anything? For that matter, why do we need teachers at all? Would it not be better for each of us to be taught of God directly, without the interference of a human teacher? Then I received insight into this Scripture. It cannot be telling us that we do not need teachers, for it was God who gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to His Church, to encourage, edify, and establish all of us deeper into Christ. Can the Holy Spirit in John contradict the Holy Spirit in Paul? By no means. What then? John was the sole survivor of the first twelve apostles, and now he is very old. Naturally he is concerned with the welfare of the Church after his death. So God comforts John, and then John comforts us, with this truth: even if we do not have access to the apostle, or prophet, or evangelist, or pastor and teacher, we are still instructed inwardly. The Church that Jesus is building is not dependant upon the great men or women of God. We are grateful to the ministry gifts when we have them, but we are not dependent upon them for our Life. The Life is greater than the ministers through which it may be ministered.

Some feel they just cannot get along without consulting someone who is perceived to be a spiritual authority so they can ask them what they should do. Such dependence upon man can become a snare - both for the ones seeking advice and for the ones giving advice. At times we should seek out the advice of others, but the point is that the Life will instruct us individually, and when the Life within us responds, then we "need no man to teach us". The Life will also "amen" what others tell us, or it will voice its disagreement with what we are told. We can trust the Life completely, whereas we dare not put confidence in man, no matter how good and spiritual the counsel may be.

The problem with us is that we do not have the patience to listen for this inward instruction. We too quickly put our confidence in flesh and blood. It is easier and speedier to have someone tell us, "Yes, you should do this" or "No, you should not do that." The question is not should or should not; the question is, how is the Life instructing you? If we do not know what the Life is telling us, then we should be still and be quiet until we DO know. But all too often we know well enough what we are to do, and we are looking for a way out of it; or we are trying to get confirmation from this thing or that thing before we will obey. This is why we have a hard time hearing to begin with. How many times does God have to repeat Himself? How many times does He have to confirm something before we will obey? It sounds spiritual and humble to question and wait, but if the Life has already instructed us then any delay on our part is really disobedience.

The Gift Of Holy Hatred

"I hate every false way" (Psalm 119:104b).

From our earliest days as young Christians our special emphasis is on love. We are taught to love God with all our heart, love our neighbor, and love our enemy. We feel convicted if we do not love someone the way we think we should, and we ask God to give us a love for that brother or sister. How wonderful when the Lord responds to our prayer and we are able to love one another with a holy love.

Yet there is another aspect of love that is often overlooked, and that is hatred. This is a holy hatred. It goes right along with holy love. Yet we do not hear a lot about this holy hatred. We are not talking about the kind of hate that causes people to fight and kill one another. We hear the word "hate" and we think of gossip, slander, strife, murder, war, "hate crimes" against individuals and groups, jihads and crusades. There is nothing holy about that, that is sin. But what we have in mind here is a holy hatred that is the result of a holy love.

I would like to suggest that the reason we are not familiar with holy hatred, the good hatred, is because our love is not strong enough. A strong love produces a strong hatred; a holy love produces a holy hatred. For example, in Psalm 119, David rejoices in the truth of the Law of the Lord. Because he has learned to love the truth, he has also learned to hate every false way. You cannot love the truth and love error at the same time. But the more you love the truth, the more you will hate the false. Do you see this? That is one example of holy hatred.


LOVING WHAT GOD LOVES, HATING WHAT GOD HATES

Do you know that the Lord hates things? As we proceed with our study we will see that God says He hates certain things. Yet God is love. So love and hate are not mutually exclusive, but they are complementary. Why do people hate other people? Because they love themselves. Self-Love is extremely destructive. So love is powerful, and so is hate, even if we are loving and hating the wrong things. Both can be misused, we know that. But holy hatred is as much of a gift as holy love. Until and unless we have a holy hatred of ignorance then we will always be deceived. Until and unless we have a holy hatred of sin then we will always be in bondage to it. Until and unless we have a holy hatred of hypocrisy then we will never be genuine. Until and unless we have a holy hatred of our own way then we will never surrender our way over to God. Until and unless we have a holy hatred for evil then we will never overcome it with good. In your life you will always love something and hate something else. The question is whether or not you will love what God loves and hate what God hates, or whether you will love what God hates and hate what God loves.

"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other..." (Matthew 6:24a).

The context of this passage is talking about mammon (the love of, and the endless pursuit of, wealth). But the principle applies to everything else. There can only be one master in your life. You can only serve one thing at a time. You are not free to do as you please. Even if you say you serve no one, you are still serving Self. So which will it be? Jesus says if you love Him then you will hate everything else. What does that mean? It means that you will allow nothing and no one to take the place of the One you love - not for a day, not for an hour, not for a minute. If our love for the Lord is strong then we will learn to hate everything which competes against Him. We will despise anything that seeks to hinder our relationship with Christ.

Governed by the Holy Spirit

.....I have been filled with the Holy Spirit for most of my life. I can point to a day and a time when I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts that accompany that Spirit baptism. That does not mean that I have always been governed by that indwelling Spirit. Now how about you? You may be filled with the Spirit but you may not be governed by the Spirit, and that explains why charismatic people, prophetic people, are some of the most carnal people you will ever meet in your life.

The Bible says we must be continually filled with the Spirit. Paul says, “Be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit”. And that word “be filled” is a verb of continual action in the Greek. It means to continuously be filled, be being filled, or be continuously filled. Same thing with eating or drinking Christ: “He who continues to eat My flesh and continues to drink My blood will have Life” He says. This isn’t a matter of having some kind of an experience at the altar or some kind of supposed manifestation of God’s presence in your flesh. It is a matter of continuous living and abiding and dwelling and continuing in Christ moment by moment. And if you will come under the government of the Holy Spirit, He will bring you back around to this principle of abiding in Christ and accepting the work of the Cross over, and over and over again. That is the path the Holy Spirit brings you back to.

Now that is the direction of the Spirit and He will work with you a good long while towards that end, but if you continually refuse that government, then the Spirit is grieved and will eventually depart. And I think that accounts for those multitudes of people who call Jesus “Lord” and do things in His name but don’t really know Who He is. If your only evidence of a Spirit-filled life is something you experienced back in 1968 in a camp meeting someplace then something is seriously wrong. A Spirit-filled person is either under the government of the Holy Spirit or is moving towards that government. Standing still or going back is not an option. Be continuously filled with the Spirit. And you can believe whatever you like about works but the bottom line is the fruit of the Spirit or the lack thereof, demonstrates whether we really are who we say we are.

Jesus said a good tree does not produce bad fruit and a bad tree does not produce good fruit and it’s by the fruit that you will know them, not by their leaves. Good or bad, for better or for worse, you’re going to produce something. So the question is not if you will produce fruit, but what kind of fruit you will produce.

So, as we place ourselves beneath the government of the Holy Spirit, it means we will try to go to some places just like the apostles did, but the Spirit will not permit it. Or, we will try to remain silent or stay in one place and be hidden, but the Spirit will compel us to say something or to take action. Or, we may seek to avoid certain people or places or things, but the Spirit will say, “Go here, and doubt nothing because I am sending you.” And He doesn’t always send you into something that looks successful! It may look like a failure. Crucifixions never look successful on the outside. But see, this is something totally different from setting some goals for yourself and saying you want to do such-and-such by such-and-such a date and you’ll go here and there and do this and that; you don’t see that in the Bible. You see them increasingly coming under the government of the Holy Spirit. And they soon learned that to obey the Spirit means Life and Peace, if not outwardly, inwardly. As long as He is doing it and He is initiating it, all is well. But the moment we lay our hand to it, we defile it. Time and time again.

So for me, that means we may, or may not, have a daily message, or a weekly webcast, or twice monthly meetings in our home, or any more workshops, or gatherings or conferences. I’m not concerned for those things any more. I am only occupied with this one thing: whether I go or stay, whether I speak or remain silent, whether I write something every day or never write anything again, whether I appear to be active or appear to be inactive, am I being governed by the Holy Spirit? Because that is the only real basis of spiritual ministry.

Now, if this concerns you at all and bears witness to your heart, you may be asking yourself: How do I know the difference? How do I know if I am led of the Spirit or led of my own self-centered nature? Well, don’t ask me, because I can’t tell you. I can’t give you the answer to that. I would play it safe and assume that I am probably more selfish than spiritual, but you’ll have to do the same thing I have to do: get before God and ask Him to search you and reveal it to you.

When you get into those hard to discern places, you are compelled to get before God and search it out and that’s how you learn. That’s part of your growth. I’ve identified a condition in Christians that I call ‘Spiritual Googleism’. Spiritual Googleism! And this means instead of getting before God, and humbling ourselves and getting answers from the Throne, we hop on the Internet, Google our problem, and try to get answers that way. Well it’s quick, it’s convenient, it’s fast and you’ll definitely get something, but I believe that offends the Spirit of the living God. Why? Because He wants you to come to Him and learn of Him and it takes time and it takes patience and that’s why most people don’t do it and that’s why most people, even for all of their searching and seeking after answers, they are still no further along than when they started. I’m not going to be led by Google, and I’m not going to be led by what Watchman Nee did, or what T. Austin-Sparks did. They served their generation well, but they’ve passed on. The issue is not “What did the Lord say to So-and-so?” That can only take us but so far. What does the Lord say to me, now? That is present truth that meets God’s need at this very moment.

I want to be continuously adjusted to God and continually governed by the Spirit of God. And in that way I can satisfy the heart of God. And it is beside the point whether or not that satisfies everyone else or even if it makes sense to everyone else. And so I invite you to join me in this journey, it begins with a willingness to be adjusted to God, embracing the principle of the Cross and being governed by the Holy Spirit. The end result is a purity that cannot be achieved through any carnal means.

I hope you will make this message and this word a matter of prayer.

Real Ministry

"I am their inheritance: and ye shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession (Ezekiel 44:28b)."

What does it mean to minister to the Lord? It means...

- Not my will, but Your Will

- Not my Kingdom, but Your Kingdom

- Not my glory, but Your Glory

- Not my needs, but Your Need

It means that in times past we may have served the Lord with the expectation of a future reward, but now we serve the Lord with the realization that He is our Inheritance now. It means that it times past we may have viewed prayer as a way to achieve our own ends, but now we pray in order to ensure that the Lord's End is achieved. It means in times past we were obsessed with our needs and getting what we wanted, but now we are obsessed with God's Need, His Desire, and making sure He gets what He wants from us.

It means that in times past our greatest joy was to been seen doing something for God, serving in the outer court, busy with many things; but now, being dissatisfied with that and having discovered Him, our greatest joy is sitting before the Lord in the inner court, quiet and stilled as a child, that we may know Him. In a word, to minister to the Lord is to be content and satisfied, free of ambition, conscious of needing nothing, since He is All in All to us. We were created to love Him; we were created to be loved by Him.

O Lord, make us ministers and priests unto You first and foremost. Teach us to come into the inner court and meet You there. Teach us to seek first Your Kingdom and Your Righteousness, Your Desire, Your Heart, Your Need, Your Satisfaction, Your Glory. You are our Possession, our Inheritance, our Reward. May we never be satisfied with anything less.

"But all their works they do for to be seen of men" (Matthew 23:5a)

Unless we have invested a great deal of time in our secret ministry to the Lord then the shallowness of our public ministry will be very evident. Today it is abundantly clear that not enough time is spent ministering to the Lord, and way too much time is spent ministering to people; hence, most of what is done in the name of ministry is performed in a fleshly, human way which never bears any lasting fruit.

DEALING WITH DIFFICULTY

"Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again;but Satan hindered us" (I Thessalonians 2:18).

If we will wait patiently before the Lord then He will make us to know His will. Almost any mistake can be rectified except presumption and rashness. The flesh is always in a hurry, so we should begin to equate "getting in a hurry" with "getting in the flesh". Out of one thousand presumptuous acts, nine hundred and ninety-nine of them are flesh. We want instant relief, instant answers, and instant results, but God wants us to slow down, remain calm, be still, and know that He is God. He wants us to apprehend His Mind, wait for His Spirit, and become acquainted with His ways.

RESTORING CHRIST TO CHRISTIANITY

We are trying to get to the heart of things and down to the very root the matter. The bottom line is there are many things that are ABOUT Jesus, but are NOT Jesus. Then there is Jesus Himself. When the things about Christ become more important than Christ Himself then we need to revisit who we are and what we are doing.

We live in the Laodicean age that is characterized by insipid lukewarmness and blindness to the truth of our own spiritual condition (cf. Revelation 3:1-19). The picture presented to us is one of Christ standing on the outside of things, knocking at the door, and waiting for someone to open the door to Him (cf. Revelation 3:20). Since this is written to the saints it cannot be construed as an invitation to sinners to "invite Jesus into their heart"; instead, it is the Lord calling upon the church to make Him the center again. The issue was, and still is fellowship, communion, and abiding - maintaining its relationship to the Head.

God's solution for a lukewarm, tasteless, colorless, odorless church is a fresh revelation of Jesus Christ. He will bring us back to our foundation. He will align us with His Purpose. He will adjust us back to Himself. God will purge, refine, chasten, and conform us to the image of His Son. But we must respond to His invitation and open the door.

O Christian, come back to Christ! Simplify your life, eliminate the "many things", count them as dung, and cling to the One Thing! Be reduced to Christ!

The Lord says, "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Revelation 3:21).

Amen! Even so, come Lord Jesus.

Luke 6:46

"Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord' when you don't do what I say?"

One of the greatest delusions today is the idea that you can accept Jesus as Savior without accepting Him as Lord. In other words, you can be assured of going to heaven when you die without having to actually live like a disciple of Jesus here and now.

Confessing Jesus as the LORD of your life means you are no longer free to live any way you please and "do your own thing". If you refuse Him as Lord NOW, you cannot claim Him as Savior THEN.

"Why do you call Me LORD if you aren't going to do what I say?" Either He is Lord OF all, or He's not Lord AT all.

"The fruit of the Spirit is... meekness"

Galatians 5:22,23
God's power is not revealed to us when we are proud, but when we are humble. Any demonstration of "power" manifesting itself through aproud man or a proud woman is, quite simply, not from God and cannot be trusted. Spiritual gifts may be counterfeited, but spiritual fruit cannot be faked. We will know the false from the true by their fruit, not their gifts (Matthew 7:20). Meekness is an essential quality ofspiritual fruit. Gifts may accompany fruit, but gifts may never substitute for fruit.

"Of His fullness have all we received" (John 1:16).

If there is a seeming difference in the "level" of anointing or power or spirituality among believers it is definitely not because some have more of the Lord than others. Let this be an encouragement to you. Indeed, Christ is not divided, and of His fullness we all share.

We are all baptized into the same Spirit. The difference is some saints are more broken than others. Some have passed through many seasons of tearing down and building up, while some after many years of experience are still resisting the Lord and refusing to lay down their lives. Some have recognized God's dealings and have submitted to them, while others have misunderstood or been totally ignorant of God's dealings with them.

The ones who have been sufficiently broken eventually manifest very little of their self, and very much of Christ. God must work long and hard with us to bring us to this place, but what a glorious day it is when we are able to bow our heads and finally surrender everything.

What joy it is to look back over all that the Lord has led us through and realize His purpose in both the good times and the bad times, to behold the goodness and the severity of God in His dealings with us.