And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 1 Corinthians 3:1–3.
We can walk before God as mere men and women, or we can become men and women of destiny, realizing that God has something greater for us. Oftentimes when we make mistakes or stumble, we excuse ourselves by saying, “After all, I’m only human.” But does God want us to be mere men, or does He want us to be something more?
As an angel of light Satan has done so much to rob us of the realization of things God has given us, of the riches and the fullness of God dwelling within us. Therefore, we miss so much that God has for us.
Satan makes certain passages so familiar to us that we miss the fullness or the essence of the truth contained in them. The religious system would keep one basic truth from us because it is so important: the fact that we were created as human beings, but with an opportunity to have the creation completed by God until we are complete in Him and created in His image. We were created as mere men, but with the potential of becoming men and women of destiny.
Don’t ever forget your origin that you were born as a human being. Two verses in Genesis tell how God purposed to bring forth man. Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26.
Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Genesis 2:7.
The human being that God brought forth and created from the ground was not the creation that was in the plan of God or in the mind of God. He brought forth a mere man, but He had in mind bringing forth a man of destiny to fulfill the will of God, to come forth in the likeness of God, and to show forth the image of God.
Man is a wonderful creature, fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14), and he has the capacity for doing many great things. In fact, the vast technology of our day shows that he can achieve anything he can imagine. In a measure he has dominion over his environment and over the animal world; however, God’s plan was that man should have complete dominion over his whole environment.
Man is a creature of weakness because he has an adamic nature. Although there is a great deal he is able to do, he can achieve just so much because he is still a human being. He cannot walk in supernatural acts because he is limited to that sphere of being human; he has a natural being. In fact, the Lord warns us in Matthew 6:31–34 that the flesh can keep us from the Kingdom. Do not be anxious then, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or, “With what shall we clothe ourselves?” For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness: and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Man is so much a natural being that he worries about these things in the natural realm rather than casting them upon the Lord to bring him into a Kingdom walk and into that place God has for him.
We must break out of the natural realm before we can break into the spirit realm and the Kingdom of God, and that is what God is working upon us to do. Man is so oriented to this earth that he has no potential within himself to become as God, yet that is what God wants us to be.
So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which indwells me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh: for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wish, I do not do: but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. But if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wishes to do good. Romans 7:17–21.
In spite of all our desires and ambitions, we find that the adamic human nature restricts us so that we are unable to accomplish them within ourselves. In fact, the human nature of an individual cannot even know God. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 2:14.
With all the wonders that God has worked within man, he is still very definitely limited as far as spiritual concepts are concerned.
Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the Law of God, for it is not even able to do so. Romans 8:7.
The weakness of the flesh causes us to stumble. Although there is a certain amount of strength and mental capacity within us, we can go only so far before we begin to break down, unless we reach into the spiritual plane. That we cannot do in ourselves.
We could build a tower of Babel reaching into the skies, but sooner or later God would bring it down because as mere human beings we are not able to break into the spiritual plane.
The fleshly man may be religious and have many experiences, and still he has not changed from a mere man to a man being created in the image of God to discern the spirit.
Regardless of how much we go through or how many experiences we may have, we are still mere men and subject to man’s limitations. We are not able to discern the spirit or to break through into the spiritual realm.
It is most disturbing to realize we have this potential of being men of destiny, and yet we so often keep ourselves back in that realm of mere men.
Dissension, rebellion, and self-seeking keep us tied to our limitations. Bomb those limitations! Get rid of restrictions or you will be a mere man or woman as long as you live.
A ministry becomes a hindrance if it isn’t consistently directed by the Spirit. There must be that constant moving of the Spirit and direction of the Spirit to bring you into the place you want, to walk with God.
A walk with God is ever expanding into walking in more and more of God.
Being born again and receiving the Spirit of Christ makes you a child of God, but you still have not lost your limitations. You have made a good step, but you haven’t lost those limitations.
However you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. Romans 8:9–17.
We must begin to walk in that potential place we have as heirs of God. Jesus was unlimited by His flesh. He could still do the will of the Father. He could hear Him speak and see Him move. The laws of nature did not prevent Him from doing what He was to do, because He had that contact with God which allowed Him to transcend the area of mere men into that of a man of destiny to do the will of God, to know and to move freely into the mind of God.
But He was the firstborn of many brethren! Romans 8:29 tells us that. He is the declared Word of the Father, revealing what manner of creature the Father is producing within the sons in this day.
If we can break the limitations and move out of the position of mere men and women into the place God wants us to walk as men and women of destiny, then the works that He did, and even greater shall we do.
Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me.” Something of him was dying away.
He realized that because of his flesh, he couldn’t break beyond the barrier of a mere man. But he died and Christ, born within him, produced something different, and he began to walk as a man of destiny to do the will of God.
As we are led by the Spirit and learn to follow in submission, we have an opportunity to grow into our destiny. We are heirs of God—heirs of all His promises, of His nature, of His power, and of His glory.
Down through the history of mankind, God has chosen and called certain individuals, each destined for a specific function in His plan. The writings of Paul verify this fact.
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God. Romans 1:1. Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother. 1 Corinthians 1:1. But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. Galatians 1:15, 16.
God has placed His hand upon individuals, called them, and brought them forth as men of destiny. Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. 2 Peter 1:3, 4.
It is important for us not only to see other individuals as having been called as men or women of destiny, but that we recognize that we ourselves have been so called.
It’s a challenge that God gives unto us today to walk in these things. Satan rages against anyone who fulfills the destiny of God, or anyone who even dedicates himself to it.
Satan doesn’t care at all if you are a mere man or woman, but if you become a man or woman of destiny, set to do the will of God and to function as the man or woman whom God has ordained to fulfill His will on the earth in this day, Satan will come against you because he doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want these men and women to come forth.
Satan battles through religion to take away from the present. Religion believes that in the past, men were raised from the dead and healed from sickness, that in the past, demons were cast out; but religion denies that it can be done now. It denies perfection and fullness and immunity now—in the millennium perhaps, but not now.
Religion has promoted this to tear down the thing that God has promised and to keep us from walking into the things that He wants us to walk in now.
The Pharisees hated Jesus because He spoke and acted in the present tense. He declared openly His knowledge of the Father, and religion denied that there could be such an intimacy with God, that a man could walk in the full will of God.
Religion simply promotes unbelief. Faith demands that we accept our destiny in God now. Today is the time to move into that high calling of Christ Jesus, to be filled with the Spirit, to let the Spirit of Christ dwell within us until we come forth into the thing God has promised we would be. Faith demands that we accept our destiny now and begin to walk into it now, not sometime in the future.
Christ can be revealed in you; He can manifest Himself through men and women in this present generation now. You are an heir of God. Don’t let any lie of Satan create doubt and rob you of your inheritance. Don’t let Satan keep you limited as a mere man or woman but let the faith of God that is within you regenerate within you until you come forth as the man or woman of destiny God has chosen and ordained you to be. This is an individual challenge, but also a challenge for the Body, that we are not just a mere Body of believers, but a Body of destiny, ordained to do the will of God in this generation.
If I were the Lord I wouldn’t make it a bit easier for you than it is. There must be something that separates us from the human level into the divine level.
If we are motivated by jealousy or show a preference for one ministry over another, as we look at the little human manifestations of a certain ministry or an individual, or the position he or she seems to have, then we are walking as mere men and women. Unless we get delivered from that, we will stay in that rut and find ourselves back where we started—in old order. If we are to be men and women of destiny, we must be moved by something greater than the human characteristics we see in people.
You will either come in with a revelation of what it is all about and walk with God, or you will always have trouble. If it were made smoother and easier, you would never be brought to any challenge or crisis over it.
If you are failing short, it is my responsibility before God to keep you continually in a state of crisis, to disturb and bother you in one way or another. Therefore, I constantly try to find challenging and disturbing ways of bringing the word that must disturb you.
That is part of my ministry, whether you accept it or not. It cannot be man’s wisdom; you must stand in demonstration of the power of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:1, 4). You are aware that I make no effort to win you with a smooth sales approach. Instead, I throw it at you rough and ready—in myself, in the ministries. This is no diplomatic corps that God is creating; it is the army of the Lord.
This is the hour that the Lord is calling His people: will you walk all of your days as men or women? Or will you rise and walk as children of destiny, as men and women that God hath brought forth in this hour to accomplish His purposes in the earth?
Yea, wilt thou lust after the leeks and the melons and the garlic of Egypt, or wilt thou say in thy heart, “I shall go forward; I shall possess the land of milk and honey; I shall be that conqueror in the name of the Lord; I shall possess that which was promised to my fathers before me.
They looked at the day that I am walking in; they saw it and rejoiced in it, but they did not walk in it. It is given unto me to complete the things that God is bringing forth in the earth.”
Say this in thy heart. Walk not after the desires and lusts of the world round about thee. Be not mindful of the things that the Gentiles seek: what they shall eat, what they shall wear, all of these things that perish with the using. You shall be mindful of the Kingdom of God and see it come forth in the name of the Lord.
Will you live for this or will you live for the passing scene? Will you labor for the meat that perisheth or will you labor for the meat that endureth unto everlasting life?