Our worship must be with a definite element of submission, based upon the divine order that God is restoring.
Our test will come in the absolute, total submission to God as He restores divine order, the Church, and His Kingdom. This brings the work of the cross to the old flesh. We do not want anything of Babylon no matter how it is dressed up and called restoration. We have seen enough of those who use the Church in their efforts to build a kingdom.
In much of Christianity today, every man is doing that which is right in his own sight. If you want to be well accepted in certain Christian circles, speak in tongues a little, preach a few sermons, and then go around helping men build their own kingdoms.
But if you begin to preach divine order and the restoration, you will be rejected. Many want a restoration of experiences, with just enough anointing to grease the machinery and help them build a kingdom.
God has impressed upon my heart that man is not to be exalted. We want to see the divine order, all the way through—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, elders, deacons—all doing what God wants, with a submissiveness. We want to see homes set in order according to God’s pattern. If in any of those areas we fall short in submitting ourselves to the Lord, we will find ourselves being examined and dealt with by God.
The sifting has already started. Those in the outer circumference will back off because they will see very clearly that they do not want this total submission.
Consequently, the Lord has been leading me to speak forth with a real boldness about the Lord’s authority over the believer. True scriptural submission is required as God is trying to establish an order throughout the whole Body.
The remnant that God is raising up will insist on the Lord’s claims, on what He wants on the earth, even if they lose everything else. They dare not follow the course of denominationalism, nor can they become an anarchy with only a few strong leaders, each doing his own thing.
Instead of having little kingdoms here and there, those who really want to walk with God must blend together in their concern that the focus not be on only one or two leaders, but upon the Kingdom of God.
Many ministries are being established in divine order. The restored Church is not a monarchy, nor will it be an oligarchy (the rule of the few), nor a democracy. It is the Lord reigning and establishing in Zion all of those who will move as governors.
The Lord is bringing forth a complete submission in those who are to be the kings and priests of the Kingdom. There can be no anarchy in our hearts. The Kingdom comes forth in our hearts through our submission to the Lord. This walk with God is not another church movement; it is a Kingdom movement. Therefore the laws and principles in the realm of spirit govern us absolutely.
We submit to whatever God wants to bring to us, to however the divine order is to be manifested. We submit the relationships we have to one another. If any of these relationships contain any element of rebellion, we must ask the Lord to deal with them—whether it is a relationship between parents and children, between husband and wife, or between families and the elders over them. We ask that God put a fear in our hearts, lest we should displease Him or fail to be submissive to Him in any way.
The book of Matthew is the gospel that centers upon the King and the Kingdom; consequently, the principles of the Kingdom of God are outlined there with a little more emphasis than they are in Mark, Luke, or John.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:18–20.
The apostles received a commission from the Lord based upon all authority in heaven and earth being committed to Him. Because He had that authority, He could commission anyone to do anything. He commissioned them to go and make disciples of all nations, which implies that they would have authority. They were not told to go and beg them to be disciples, or just to preach to them.
This is the Kingdom gospel, which is different than the commission as recorded in Mark, which says, “Go and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized will be saved, and he that believeth not will be damned.”
Mark seems to give an option, but Matthew speaks of the thing that must come to pass: “Make disciples of all nations. Go and do it! Make disciples of them.” We are to move in with an authority. When we come to the end of the Church age and the beginning of the greater manifestation of the Kingdom, then we have the command: Go out into the highways and hedges (your little boundary lines), and compel them to come in … Luke 14:23b.
There shall be a great forcefulness in the authority that must rest upon the whole Body—the authority to move under the authority of the King. We believe in the King of kings and Lord of lords. And we are the kings and the lords over whom He is King and Lord.
He is not King over Hitlers or Mussolinis, though He does have authority over all rulers and demons. The Kingdom we are speaking of is the Kingdom in which nothing shall defile.
This means, of course, that we, as kings and priests, purify ourselves. We prepare ourselves to be completely submissive to the Lord. In our submission to the Lord begins the manifestation of authority that reaches out to make disciples of all the nations. Those who will be strong and do exploits will know their God, in the sense that they are related to Him properly, in complete submission (Daniel 11:32).
Do you feel in your own heart that you are where God’s will wants you to be? Have you found that the process of dying is painful and slow? Perhaps you have wished that God would speed it up. He has made you submit to the work of the cross. He has brought you through. Now is the time to stand and worship before Him in complete submission.
When Jesus knew that the Father had put all things in His hands, He laid aside His garment and girded Himself with a towel and washed the disciples’ feet. He said, “You call Me Lord and Master, and you say well, for so am I. This is what you are to do for one another” (John 13:3–14).
It is in that submission to one another, in that realm of complete humility, of submission to the Lord and to the divine order, that we are going to hear even our babes prophesy, and watch the miraculous creation of the very thing that is spoken.
The creative prophecy that will cause the bones to become an exceedingly great army will be spoken by the people who have submitted to the Lord (Ezekiel 37:10).
We cannot move in authority if we are not submissive to His authority. Nothing but complete submission to the Lord and to divine order can open the door for us to move in the authority that is necessary.
I know that the test is coming to many brothers. I think of all the consequences, of all that might happen. I search my own heart and wonder who will stand as God brings us down to be submissive in the hard place. I am not submissive to anything that will promote my interests; I am submissive only to the thing that pleases the Lord, whatever command He gives. There is no other rule, no other guideline or principle. All the way through, we must have this kind of dedication to all authority in heaven and in earth. The world will challenge that authority; let us be sure that we do not. Let us submit to it, and then we will see disciples made of the nations.
When Jesus asked the disciples, “Who am I?” Peter answered, “We know who You are. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). Jesus told him: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19. Notice the strange tense: what you do shall already have been done.
The Body of Christ is ready to move into the greatest manifestation of discipleship ever seen. Every venture shall be brought into absolute submission to the mind of the Lord, as it is revealed through seeking God with fasting and prayer. God’s people will not support the projects that are not absolutely in submission to the Lord. There will be true, New Testament discipline operating in the Body, and this will become an issue. Many believers will find their hearts submitting to God with tears and heaviness. No one can be allowed to promote his own little project. God’s people will have to do exactly what God wants them to do. Whatever God tells them to do, this they will do—not with just a passable tolerance, but they will love it. They will cleave to His Word and worship Him with all their hearts. When He says, “Prophesy,” they will prophesy. When He says, “Create,” they will create. When He says, “Make disciples,” they will make disciples.
We must get rid of the arrogance that has existed among God’s people and walk humbly before Him in the submission that He has ordered for us. I know I am speaking what we all feel. We want to walk with God in divine order.
Churches must reevaluate their structure, their leadership, and functions. We may have been very sincere in what we have done, but it is time to bring it all down before the Lord and have a “January inventory.” We will see how much is junk and how much is pure gold. We do not want to build with hay, wood, and stubble; we want to build of gold and silver and precious stones. We are going to call for the Building Inspector to bring His blowtorch and blow on everything we have done. What can be burned, let it be burned. New Testament churches do not need to be promoted; they just need to be what God raised them up to be.
The background of our third Scripture from Matthew deals with someone sinning against you and the course by which you go to him privately and then with one or two more, and next you tell it to the church, and so on. When Jesus finished this teaching, He gave a promise which is related to it. However, I think the promise is more inclusive than just a matter of discipline, or a way of bringing judgment or of excluding the impurities from a church. I think it goes beyond that, for it has a positive as well as negative aspect.
He says, “Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.” Matthew 18:18–20.
This is speaking about two or three of us gathered together in submission to the Lord, in submission to that exalted name which is above every name, above all principalities and powers, and bowing to His absolute, total authority over our lives. As we begin to pray, with that authority to which we submit, what we bind is bound in heaven; what we loose is loosed in heaven. The authority works through those who are submissive to authority. This means a great deal more than just being gathered in the name of the Lord. It means that we are gathered in submission to the name. We read of the authority of His name in the Epistles. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord … Philippians 2:9–11.
The disciples walked very humbly. There was no arrogance, no pretentiousness, no self-assertiveness in them. But notice what God did through them. People dropped dead at Peter’s feet (Acts 5:5, 10).
As we enter into the battle with all boldness, we must be sure that there is none of the arrogance, none of the vindictiveness and hatred in our hearts that is found in the hearts of our persecutors. We should predetermine to walk in love towards them. What we do, we have to do, but we will not do it in hatred or in rebellion. We are going to do it in submission, seeking the Lord’s help and pledging ourselves not to walk in hatred nor in any viciousness, even against our enemies. Does that sound strange? That is what God will bless. This is a way we can show that we love our enemies.
If I am not submissive, I have no leverage against the arrogance and rebellion of the age. The minute I fail to be submissive, the principle breaks down. Parents, apply that also. Do you want submission in your children? Then be sure that in all honesty of heart, you have that same submission toward God. If you want them to listen to you and to what God shows you, then you must also listen carefully to what God is trying to tell you. This principle applies in every area. When an apostle or a prophet brings a word from the Lord to the people, they must listen with the same spirit with which he listens to God. When a man of God in authority bows in humility before the Lord, the congregation will respond in a similar manner. The authority flows down in divine order through submissive hearts. The minute that arrogance and rebellion enter in and there is no submission, the entire flow stops.
If we are submissive to the Lord, we can face ordeals and prevail in them. We know that the arrogant are going to meet their match. Satan and the principalities will come down, and all who have the pride of those demon spirits will fail. The only ones who will prevail, who will inherit the earth, will be the meek, those with the submissive spirit that God has worked in their hearts (Matthew 5:5). We want to have that meekness wrought in us because we know we are about to inherit the earth. We are ready to make disciples of all nations. We are ready to humble ourselves and publish—quickly and efficiently, with all diligence and dedication, even if it means that every one of us must expend our lives completely—this gospel of the Kingdom that will be preached in all the world for a witness.
Forgive us of our arrogance, Lord. Forgive us of our reacting to everything, too much on a human plane. Forgive us, O God, where the relationships that we have in the Body have not yet been completely subjected to Your will. Let the boys and girls repent too, for they have not been submissive to their parents. Let brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, parents and children, husbands and wives—all of them together, Lord—submit to You. Whatever rises up to rebel, let it be smitten by the sword of the Spirit. Let us walk in Your love and Your mercy. We do not want to rebel or murmur against You, no matter how hard the path You set before us.
Let none of us sin, as Moses did, when out of the aggravation of the moment he struck the rock when he should have spoken to it (Numbers 20:11). Let there not be in our spirits that which deviates one iota from what the Lord commands us to do. Let us do Your will completely. None of the brothers are professionals in the sense of the world’s training of ministers. They are men You have trained. They are men of God. Bless our ministries, Lord. They shall be different from the ministers of traditional Christianity because in their hearts will be a submission, and in their mouth will be authority—authority that will change the world. Bless us, Lord, as we prepare our hearts for this new level of worship and what it is going to mean.