When you say, “Have faith,” are you actually saying, “Have hope”? Hope reaches out to the future and believes that God will eventually move in a situation, and this hope is often mingled with faith. But now there has to be a change. We must believe for the tremendous works of God to be wrought right now, and not in the sweet by-and-by. At this present hour, the Lord is saying, “I am Jehovah. I am the God of right now. I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
Amos’ prophecy concerning the plowman overtaking the reaper is being fulfilled in this present day (Amos 9:13). God has promised, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. Isaiah 65:24. God is cutting short His program in the earth, or else no flesh would be left alive (Matthew 24:22). In the midst of the battle, reach out and snag the honeycomb that will enlighten your eyes and prepare you to move instantly into the work that God has set before you (I Samuel 14:27). Appropriate now from the Lord what you need. Do not delay.
Abolish the gulf between what you believe and what you are walking in. Lay hold of God until you are walking in all that you profess, and it is all living within you. People in the world will be confused if you tell them the marvelous things you believe, but they see that you are walking in much less. There must be a constant effort on your part to walk in the things that you believe God is setting before you.
Perhaps nothing did as much damage to the Church for over one thousand years as the teaching that penance is involved with the forgiveness of sin, that dead works will merit favor with God. Works of penance were prescribed as a means by which grace could come to the repentant heart. At the time of Martin Luther, John Tetzel marched through Germany with his little box, selling forgiveness of sins. When the money was dropped into the box, a little bell rang, indicating that the sin had been absolved in heaven. This practice did immeasurable damage.
The reaction of the Protestants caused the pendulum to swing to the opposite extreme. They taught that salvation is completely divorced from works, with the result that works were also divorced from the believer’s life to a great extent. We are not saying that the Catholic position should be revived or that the Protestant position has been that correct. Instead of trying to divorce faith and works in a believer’s life, we need to fuse them together.
The Scriptures say that we are saved by the grace of God through faith, and not by any works which we have done, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8–9). This we believe. It is true that a person does not work in order to be saved, but there is another kind of works that should come forth from the life of the believer, as the evidence of the change in his life, the evidence that the motivation of his heart is different.
He must be driven by the Spirit. Many fundamental believers realize that they should be involved with works, but their efforts are usually too much a matter of working for the Lord. Although we are not saved by works, we are to become fellow-workers with the Lord.
Ephesians 2:10 gives us the true picture: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Paul never said that he was laboring for the Lord. There was no evidence that he was going out to work for Jesus. Yet many preachers today promote a zeal to go out and work for the Lord. The Scriptures teach a higher concept. Paul expressed it thus, “We are laborers together with God” (I Corinthians 3:9). It is rather doubtful that we can do very much for God anyway. But if we can work with Him, being led and directed by the Spirit of the Lord, our works will bring forth fruit, because we have the right motivation.
In the New Testament churches that God is raising up today, we see a great fruitfulness; many people are finding Christ. And yet there is an amazing lack of emphasis on altar calls in the services and other commonly accepted methods of evangelism. According to Ephesians 4:11–12, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry. They are to bring the saints to a level of maturity where they can be sent forth, motivated and led by the Spirit to work with the Lord and bring forth lasting results.
Our goal is to become living epistles read and known of all men (II Corinthians 3:3), as though Christ were entreating them through us. Joel 2:32 speaks of the highest evangelistic appeal that God has ever brought forth in the earth: “Whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved, because in Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and in the remnant whom the Lord God shall call.” This deliverance will not be available apart from the remnant. It will be in them.
There is no indication that world evangelism will come forth apart from the revelation of Christ through His many-membered Body. Christ has committed Himself to work through a many-membered Body, and any revelation that He brings to the world will be spoken through their mouths.
Prior to His great advent, Christ is coming forth to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe… II Thessalonians 1:10. The works that He will do will become a very special manifestation of His presence through us as a witness to the world. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness… Matthew 24:14. No political boundary line—no iron curtain or bamboo curtain or any other curtain—will be able to stop it. They will all be broken down. We are going to see the people of God delivered and released. The cry to God’s people in Babylon, “Come out of her!” is very real. Lift up your voice and call forth His people.
Instead of asking God to sovereignly move in the earth, ask Him to speak and work through you. Become aware that we are the agents of God, and He will work through us. We are the oracles of God. Is that too much to accept? Peter wrote, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth… I Peter 4:11. Faithfully use whatever gift God has given you.
Instead of being concerned about how much work you can accomplish for the Lord, be dedicated to be the vehicle through which the Lord can work. This will bring a complete release from selfish ambition and lift you into the realm where Philip ministered.
He had one message: he preached Christ; he did not preach Philip. Through his ministry, the entire city of Samaria was converted. A man with ambition would have organized a program and settled down with his own kingdom there in that city. But Philip was not concerned about building something for himself; he was only concerned that the Lord’s will be done, and so he moved on.
The Spirit directed him to go to the desert where he met the Ethiopian eunuch and brought him to the Lord. Philip was continually being led and directed by the Spirit. He was dedicated to bring forth the glory of God, and God was constantly speaking through him. Chapters 6 through 8 of Acts tell the story of Philip and Stephen. They are described as being full of the Spirit, full of wisdom, full of the anointing of the Lord, full of faith.
How did the early Church spread the gospel to all the known world without printing presses or cassette duplicators or mp3’s? In fact, how did the Church ever get the Word in the first place? Can you imagine how many hours were spent in copying the books of the New Testament? How many people must have labored in the Word? Yet we never hear of them.
Paul wrote to Titus concerning good deeds. This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful. Titus 3:8, 14.
Fruitfulness comes to those who have learned to move in God. This is far more complicated than people realize. God will draw people to Himself in many amazing ways. If we are yielded to the Spirit of the Lord, people will constantly find the Lord in our midst. Giving someone dogmatic answers to his questions and getting him in a corner, trying to argue him into accepting Christ, rarely involves the wisdom of the Lord. God can show us how to bring a man to Christ.
We must be so led by the Spirit of the Lord that we can discern the spiritual forces that blind him. Then we must bind the strong man before we can plunder his house (Matthew 12:29). Paul wrote, “If our gospel is hidden, it is hidden because Satan has blinded the minds of them that do not believe” (II Corinthians 4:3–4). That demonic assault of blindness against the mind must be bound. First bind Satan; then speak the living Word under an anointing of the Lord, and it will penetrate a man’s heart.
Certain Christian groups that adhere to a strict program of Scripture memorization have often claimed that they reverence the Word of God more than others. We truly honor the Word of God best when it becomes the living sword of the Spirit within us (Ephesians 6:17). We hide it in the sheath of our heart, and at just the right moment the Spirit draws forth that Word. This is a far more effective method of winning people to Christ than the method employed by those who use the Holy Scriptures as their own sword to cut a man to ribbons in an attempt to win an argument. This often causes a sincere person to turn away from God. Instead of using the Word as your own sword, let the Spirit use it through you.
With tears Paul said, “I do not cease day and night to preach the Word of God to you” (I Thessalonians 2:9). Without losing our zeal for the Lord, let us believe for the Holy Spirit to bridle and direct us. Channeled by the Spirit, our works will come forth in a way beyond anything we could have imagined. Discipleship will be presented on a very high and pure level; and in this spiritual climate, many people will find the Lord. A living Word from God will never return void, but it will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent (Isaiah 55:11).
Paul continually emphasized that we are saved by grace, apart from works. James wrote, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17). On the surface, those two statements may appear to be in conflict; however, there is no conflict. Paul was saying that you do not work up to the cross, and James was saying that from the moment of the cross, inspired, anointed works should come forth from that regenerated heart.
Weymouth’s translation of James 2:17–18 expresses it clearly: So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, is dead in itself … prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions. This could be paraphrased in a simple statement: “Faith without a corresponding action is dead, because it abides alone.”
If someone yells, “Fire!” and you believe him, you will not just sit there; you will run out of the building. Your action automatically corresponds to what you believe. If you believe a Word from God, you will act upon it. When the disciples asked Jesus, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” He answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28–29).
Paul told Titus the same thing, “Those who have believed God must be careful to engage in good deeds.” When you really believe God, your whole life becomes motivated to flow in God’s will. However, you will be frustrated in your desire to do something for God if you do not give yourself over to the anointing of the Lord by which those actions are divinely accomplished.
Titus 2:11–3:1, 4–5. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. The grace of God brings us salvation and teaches us to be zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you. Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed.
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind (God’s grace) appeared, He saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness… There is nothing you can do to bring about salvation in your life. The grace of God comes wholly and entirely as the gift of God. By the blood of Jesus Christ you partake of it (Titus 3:6–7). This was the position taken by the Reformation; they refused to go back to the dead works of penance to see sins forgiven. Because we come to the grace of God and accept it, He saves us. Christ has finished the work. There is nothing we can do to bring about our salvation except to believe on the Lord.
God saved us, not because of our works, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by His grace we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. So that those who have believed God may be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men. And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, that they may not be unfruitful. Titus 3:5b–7, 8b, 14.
It is not what you do, but the spiritual quality and the motivation of what you do, that God sees. We read in I Samuel 2:3b: For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. When you put money in the offering plate, or help support a Spirit-led project, God may not notice how much you give, but He weighs your action; He sees the spirit behind your giving. Was it the anointing and direction of the Holy Spirit that prompted you to give, or did a selfish motive enter in? All of your works must be wrought in God and come forth in the anointing of the Lord.
God will lead us to sow beside all waters (Isaiah 32:20); but we must let Him direct us to the many hearts that are eagerly waiting. The vast fields of human souls will not be harvested with a spiritual combine going through the fields; rather, the fruit will be hand-picked. Believe for God to reveal to you the hearts which He has prepared and made ready. When God leads you to speak to someone, ask Him to help you discern the problems and needs in that person’s life, so that he will recognize that God is ready to meet his heart.
Avoid looking for people of a certain religious background. Those with a Pentecostal background, whose doctrines are most similar to those of the New Testament Church pattern, may be more hostile and closed in spirit. On the other hand, people whose doctrines are very different, such as Jews and Roman Catholics, often begin to move immediately in the gifts of the Spirit and the depth of ministry. Their hearts are open, and when a Word is spoken to them by the Holy Spirit, the anointing of the Lord reaches them and that Word is practically created within their hearts. This is the way we are building churches. Yes, we are building them. We are working in God to do it. God is not doing it sovereignly. The gospel in the Church flows with divine grace through human channels.
Do you believe that you can be more effective as you are led by the Spirit of the Lord? Appropriate from God. Instead of begging God to give you what you need, appropriate it. Take it! Whatever you need you can receive from God by reaching into His abundance and taking it. All you have to do is believe. Appropriate!