There have been wives who have had a very definite input with their husbands, which has been positive, to help their husbands function in walking with the Lord and moving into their place of authority. In a sense, these wives have really activated what God had put in their husbands because of their own appropriation and their own cross experience. They were able to spark what was really in their husbands which might not have come forth otherwise.
Some women have had that ability and they have, in a sense, helped their husbands; and their husbands have progressed perfectly in the Lord, and they are functioning in the apostolic company. But there could also be a motivation there of social climbing or looking for a position.
A woman may have obtained a position by being the wife of a successful ministry. Her motivation was not necessarily wrong—maybe mingled is a better way of expressing it.
We must realize that the inputs we have on each other, what we do to each other, influence what we finally become and what we will do, and the spirit with which we will do it.
Let us explain it this way. Suppose a woman starts out ambitious, and the man begins with a good burden for a ministry; and he is pushed. He can’t be pushed the wrong way without drifting into exactly that way he is pushed. He will assume a position because that is what his wife has to have and she will have a position only because he has one. That is why the minute the position of one of these pastors changes, the wives are out, too. And then they must both take the route of humility together.
The old ego is such, however, that a woman may become very humble without it necessarily following that the man will be humble. He may be very rooted into his position. He may like to function in a certain way; he may want his position and his recognition.
When you take away recognition, and you let simple, humble discipleship prevail, just a desire to serve, you begin to realize how little love and how much ambition and pride really was behind this thing of position.
As a result, when any problems arise, it is very difficult for those who are, in a sense, the leaders to humble themselves to receive the confrontation of those who are under them. In fact, it is very difficult for people to confront a leader because of the threat of retaliation to their own position by doing it.
Even if they are under that leader, they still have an “under” position, but it may still be an important position to them.
Yes, and their rank depends upon the rank of the one directly over them. They don’t want to knock down the one above them because then they are knocked down too.
If we could just have a whole baptism of humility, we would have strength and an authority that would overcome the principalities and powers.
To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Ephesians 3:10, KJV. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:10, 12.
The only place where the enemy has been able to really destroy churches is where there has been arrogant leadership.
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses. And they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called by men, Rabbi. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.” Matthew 23:1–2, 6–12, NASB.
That arrogance is a pharisaic, religious thing that desires a position. It is a phony thing with a very false level of humility that is difficult for the people to see through. Only God really sees what is truly humble. Everyone else can be deceived by people who are very proud and arrogant but who produce the semblance of humility. That’s where the hypocrisy is. It is a false thing. After awhile, you realize that it is only a parody of humility. Who owns the businesses? Who owns the church? Who controls everything? Who controls the money? Who insists they are not a hireling?
The first thing that God does to establish the churches is to destroy our subservience to ecclesiastical positions. Once these positions are gone, there is little left that pride can cling to. And if you submit to this humbling before the Lord, there will soon be the upward pull. You may be brought down in the flesh, but there will be a lifting up in the spirit.
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:10. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. I Peter 5:6–7. “For everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11.
That exalting by the Lord does not mean that He will exalt us to an eminent position, but He lifts us up enough that we can stand in His presence.
Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth. Hosea 6:1–3, KJV.
We see that the women have no position unless a man has a position, and so they push the man to have a position. And much of it is good, up to a certain point. But there is that place where the person who has much riches hears the Word, “Go sell it all; follow Me” (Matthew 19:21).
Discipleship will have to be linked with abasement at His directive.
The Lord says, “Come down,” and you come down. He says, “Humble yourself,” and you do it. If we do this, we will find all the other answers.
And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. And you are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” Luke 22:24–30.
And calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42–45.
Humbling ourselves is the beginning. If we don’t humble ourselves, it is our destruction. God said that He was going to start dealing directly with His people. There is such heavy warfare now or God’s deep dealings (you can’t always tell the difference) that it will be impossible to stand under both. Something will have to give. So, we had better find ourselves in a position of humility.
Humility will have to be very carefully defined to us. To be devastated does not necessarily mean to be humble. When pride is hit and position is taken away, there can be a reaction of sensitivity, which is still the basic ingredient of pride.
We may be extremely sensitive to criticism and rejection. And we have had that. I would have gladly given people opportunity to escape from their submission to the authority the Lord has given me, and I have no right to do that. If someone is moved upon by the Lord to come and be submissive to an apostolic ministry, and he does so, he should not find that apostolic ministry devastated and in such a period of sensitivity that he literally almost pushes him away, saying, “I’m not worthy; you don’t want to follow me. You don’t want to be one to work in the yoke with me.” That person could be pushed away from the very thing that God was trying to work in his life.
That sensitivity in the person who is going through devastation can make it very difficult. It is true that when you are going through the work of the cross, it seems like everyone forsakes you and flees (Matthew 26:56). But there is an impersonal objectivity that you have to have in it. We should not make it so that our own devastation helps a brother to fail.
And that is what devastation can do to people. When they are put in a corner with their problems, instead of facing the problem and just humbling themselves before the Lord and thanking the brother that he was faithful in his wounding of them (Proverbs 27:5–6), they go on another self trip—self-consciousness, self-sensitiveness. That is just a reverse side of the coin of pride, The self, the carnal fleshly nature, always resists what God wants (Romans 8:5–7). So God humbles the flesh. Then we say, “Fine; that is good.”
But the flesh does not necessarily choose to walk in what God wants just because it has been humbled and debased and devastated. It may choose the destruction of itself first. The arrogance of Judas made him a target for a suicidal spirit. He realized what he had done, but instead of a true repentance, which was virtually impossible, he destroyed himself (Matthew 27:3–5).
Judas had failed; he had had a plan and an ambition and it had backfired on him. He may have felt, “If I can’t have it all, I don’t want anything. I am a total, absolute failure.”
Perhaps people should analyze whether they have really walked humbly, or whether they have had a suicidal, self-destructive spirit. If they have had that self-destructive spirit, it may be just another form of self, manifesting itself in their life.
When God deals with you, you either submit to the Lord and humbly walk with Him, or you don’t. If you don’t submit to the Lord, you can be arrogant and insist on your own way. Or if you don’t submit to the Lord, you can just destroy yourself. Running away from the Lord is like that, of course. “What doth the Lord require of thee but to walk humbly with thy God?” (Micah 6:8.) You walk with Him, but you walk humbly. And if you don’t want to walk humbly, you may leave and say, “I am not even going to walk at all!” That reaction is a manifestation of self which is very similar to pride.
Not everyone who has been devastated is necessarily humble. But if they had not been devastated, they would have been in great danger. Now that they have been devastated, they may still be in great danger unless they find the humility and faith that God wants them to have.
I think the choice is always yours. By your own honest evaluation and analysis, you face your response to your devastation. Are you running or crying a lot because you are devastated and it hurts, or are you, by choice, taking yourself to a disciplined, calculated first stage of humility, which takes you before the Lord?
It is at your initiative. Nobody accidentally misses humility just because he didn’t know how to do it or God didn’t devastate correctly. Those are only excuses. The truth is that once the devastation comes, God has opened the door for your right response—being honest with yourself and asking, “Am I humbling myself before the Lord and really giving myself to Him?”
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me and lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23–24. Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord. I called on Thy name, O Lord, out of the lowest pit. Thou hast heard my voice, “Do not hide Thine ear from my prayer for relief, from my cry for help.” Thou didst draw near when I called on Thee; Thou didst say, “Do not fear!” Lamentations 3:40, 55–57.
With that response and humility can come the changes for which God is throwing you into devastation. With repentance comes cleansing, and therefore you are changed (Jeremiah 31:18–19; Psalm 51). What He is trying to work in you, and what He is trying to get rid of in you, and the perfection that He wants to work in you, and the new creation that He wants to create in the depth of your spirit is calculated by Him to bring you to that point. For you to work with Him on it is at your initiative.
Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. James 4:7–8. For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13.
Paul cried: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you. Philippians 3:10–15.
If you are evasive or playing around with what God is doing in you, you will run; you will excuse yourself; you may cry a lot; you will try to slip out from underneath it, only to be brought back around again to face it.
Watch other people who do that, and you will see that they often compensate for it. They buy a new dress or a new suit or get a new hairstyle or fix up with makeup or change their life-style.
Hebrews 12 says, “Despise not the chastening of the Lord. For whom He loves, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom He receives.” It goes on to say, “Neither faint when you are rebuked of Him” (Hebrews 12:5–6).
Anyone can be bowed by devastation or fainting, but being humble is when you come before the Lord and you stand in His presence. That is all He wants you to do anyway. He just wants you to come and be in His presence, humbly asking Him to forgive you, or cleanse you, or to reproduce Himself in you, daily giving yourself again to Him as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1–2). If you have given yourself to Him once, He is causing you to come back to all of the things that He is desiring of you and to live that way.
Let us look at another aspect of our humbling ourselves before the Lord. There are some who say, “So position is gone. But I have a commission, and my commission requires that I be a full-time, supported minister.” They would rather eke out a meager existence, doing without some things that maybe God doesn’t want them to do without, instead of going out and working with their hands. To take a part-time job or learn a trade seems demeaning to some ministers. However, most of the ministers are finding some way of earning some self-support. To begin with, I think the finances of the economy are going to require it. And God will require it also, so that we all learn how to walk humbly with Him.
There are so many ways that pride comes in. It may not be a new dress or a new suit or a fancy hairdo. It may be just nursing an old car along so that we can “work for the Lord.” But actually would we rather do that than relieve the church or someone else from the responsibility of our full support? Would we rather do almost without things and say, “Well, I am needed”? That is probably true, but you could train others to work with you; then you could get a part-time job. You might find this more glorifying to the Lord. And you might find that God would honor you in it even more.
You might find too that the Lord is trying to teach you to redeem the time until you are able to wisely use all the time He gives you, and you work productively according to how much time you have. You can step up your efficiency to do your work in half the time. I remember that you said that you learned to do that from all the responsibilities you had to carry when you were about twenty-four years old. The impossibility of your schedule created an efficiency expert. It created situations where you had to produce miracles every day, and that caused you to be quick-thinking, and aggressive. You faced responsibilities and had to be in impossible situations that daily required your faith to grow. God required this of you to create the ministry in you He wanted.
Coming back again to the beautiful passage in Micah 6:8, it says: He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
This Scripture doesn’t say, “Just be humble.” It has to be a life-style. He says, “Walk humbly; this is what the Lord requires.” He requires kindness. Some who have a commission don’t show kindness to the other people. Sometimes a person who has a commission can flaunt that commission, not by an arrogance that is detectable, but by the way that they intimidate other people, or by the way they exclude them and push them out.
People are in the place where they face the fact that they do not have a position; they only have a commission to serve the Lord, based on a real Word over them. But that is not enough. They have to be kind to one another. That kindness is lacking in some of the relationships.
There are also the ones who don’t seem to have a position or a commission, but who in their relationships one to another seem free to judge that what one person is doing is acceptable and what someone else is doing is not acceptable. In their eyes, therefore, people are included or excluded according to characteristics in their life-style, or in their ways of thinking, or in the way that they relate to other members of the Body. I am concerned about the principle of not judging, and I was thinking about Judas. Some people seem to feel that certain actions or characteristics which others in this walk have, or oppressions, or hang-ups, or ways of thinking, or expressions that they use, mean that these ones could either be a Judas or one who would turn away from us.
I am concerned about this because nobody has the right to decide that outcome ahead of time. The Lord may have known, but I don’t think the disciples knew ahead of time who Judas was. And I have never seen you, as an apostle, close the door to any man. You have talked about the ministry as something that opens the door for others; and you have often said that no man should close the door on any other man. But what happens then when you see all these potentials in someone which look real bad and all the bad things that they could be doing or have done already? I was thinking about what happened when the Lord really knew that Judas had left His presence and that he had sold Him over to the chief priests to be put to death (John 13:21–30). I don’t think that the Lord did anything to close the door to Judas even upon that act.
There are times when we, by our own judgment, or by the leading of the Lord, can see that someone is heading for trouble, but that is a time to really love that person and to stay open to minister to that one. You don’t know what the outcome is going to be, but you know that the answer for that one may be very decisive in his life. And you can minister that answer, faithfully in the Lord, staying open and loving him, never knowing if he will take it and turn, or be a Judas to you, somehow in the future. I have seen that this is the way that you have ministered. And other real ministries in the walk have ministered faithfully also, feeling the conflict within some, and knowing that at any time they might turn on them for their trying to help them in their openness toward the Lord and their walk with Him.
I am saying all of this because I feel that the sheep in the walk don’t have the right to close the door to other sheep by deciding whether or not they are good or they are bad. We cannot judge each other. Our only responsibility is to leave the door open and to love one another.
So speak and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment. James 2:12–13. In Matthew 7, Jesus said: “Do not judge lest you be judged yourselves. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it shall be measured to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:1–5. Therefore let us not judge one another any more, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. Romans 14:13. Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8.
You may have a commission and be trying to really serve the Lord, but the minute that you take that prerogative to judge, you have also exhibited another manifestation of pride. If you have that pride and you judge others, you have a sure promise that the same judgment will come back to you.
And this is the thing that we want to eliminate-that negative action and reaction back and forth, within the Body.
And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, ‘God, I thank Thee that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers’ or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other, for every one who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted.” Luke 18:9–14.
Something else which is very important for us to realize is that we should be subject to one another as Ephesians 5:21 tells us. That verse is right within a passage which talks about the music, the psalms, and singing with melody in our hearts to the Lord (verses 19–21). Do you realize that while they may have real talent and ability and a calling from God, the cardinal sin of the musician is that there is an arrogant pride within them that leads them to be independent, withdrawn, or to do their own thing. There is often not the humility and the love in their work because, basically, they are performers. And performers have to have the self-esteem; and so they build up their own ego for a performance instead of recognizing that there is another way—a way of humility.
Jesus said, “Take up your cross and learn of Me. Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Matthew 11:29). If we don’t really see what He is saying, we can easily judge another brother or we can withdraw from him. This lowliness of heart needs to spread throughout the whole Body. If it did, it would transform the whole Body.
I’m sure of that! We can’t base our decision on whether to leave the door open to a brother or not to leave the door open to him on the basis of, “This one I like,” or, “That one I don’t like.” We must base our feelings about another person, or the way we treat the whole Body, on the Word which the Lord has given over each person. This means that if that person expresses his love and his open heart to the Lord, then our responsibility is to stay open to him.
A Kingdom Proverb: If I humble myself before the Word of the Lord, I must also humble myself before the Word of the Lord over my brother.
You violate the Word of the Lord if you close your heart to your brother. You must keep open to that brother even to the point where he walks out the door and you know that he is going to be a Judas to you.
When it comes down to what the Lord requires of you as a faithful servant, one who really serves the Lord, you realized that you had no right to decide ahead of time whether that person would walk with God or not. You relinquished your right to judge and you have been honored by the Lord because He has seen that you have not shut the door to anyone arbitrarily.
You have not gone by your reason or someone else telling you. And everyone in the walk and everyone in the Body must have that same care for one another, with the depth of love (I Corinthians 11:1; 12:25).
It may look like you are a sheep being led to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7). A prophecy in Psalm 41 says, “My own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, has lifted up his heel against me” (Psalm 41:9, KJV). This was a prophecy of Christ, which meant that He would trust Judas, knowing that he was devil (John 6:70–71).
Do you really want to be like Jesus? In every way? Do you want to suffer with Him? How do you suffer with Him, except that you stay open? You cry over the ones that break your heart, that rip you apart. But don’t you be the one to rip another one apart, or you are not like the Lord.
You are very much like any other human being (I Corinthians 3:3), and you have eliminated your desire to come into the divine nature which the Lord is trying to work in you. It is at your initiative; you exercise your right to stay open, to be slaughtered, to be taken advantage of, or to be humiliated because you have chosen sacrifice and humility. You have chosen to be taken. You have chosen it yourself.
“We who are humble by choice worship You, Lord.”
It is our choice to walk in the whole thing that the Lord has provided for us. At any time, we can turn away from it.
That’s true, but James 4 tells us, “He gives greater grace” (James 4:6). We can choose to be humble—it is our choice—but we can’t always perform it. That requires the work of the cross in us. So then we look for the greater grace that God is bringing to us.
This greater grace is going to be emphasized for some time now as we are coming into the Kingdom. We just want to be His Kingdom.
We talked earlier about fooling ourselves by having a pseudo-humility and a pseudo-repentance, only because we are avoiding what God is really wanting us to do: to come and be before Him, to humble ourselves, and to experience the change into His image from glory to glory within us (II Corinthians 3:18). What you are saying is that we set ourselves to make ourselves into the actual humility that He has provided, without kidding ourselves any longer. It is at our initiative.
We see by the Word just how it is. James 4 says: But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. James 4:6–7, 10.
He gives a greater grace—that’s the key. You can choose it. A greater grace comes because you sense what God wants you to be, how He wants you to humble yourself, and you set about to do it. You say, “Lord, I am going to be humble.” But you can’t do it; you can’t afflict yourself, in a sense. You can’t beat yourself down because that could be a manifestation of self-pride right there. You have seen people who loved being kind of a self-appointed martyr, feeling, “See how humble I am.” We are not talking about that phony humility (Matthew 6:1–6, 16–18). We are talking about the humility that is the true thing because God gives a greater grace, as the Word says.
The Lord has brought us, step by step, through the devastation to this phase we are now in. Will we apply the devastation to true humility or are we going to take it and use it as an excuse? Will we brag about our great devastation (which again is pride) with tears? Are we still kidding ourselves, wanting the trophy for being the most devastated? Or do we accept the circumstances, the surroundings that the Lord has brought us to, knowing that we have been led perfectly, step by step, by Him to the place where now He can work the greater humility in us that He is expecting out of us? Everyone who has gone this route can either take the route of true humility, or they can flee at their choice.
That’s the problem. It is interesting, at this point, to consider the religious world’s standards. For instance, the people who wear a special garb or a special dress think that this shows that they are not going by the fashion of this world. But, in reality, they have set up their own fashion and their own style, saying, “This is the way you do it; this is the way you trim your beard; this is what you shave and what you don’t shave. And this is the way you are supposed to dress and these are the colors you can use.” When they finally finish, they have as elaborate a styling system as the world has.
They proceed to draw attention to themselves because of their manner of dress. Real humility does not exalt itself by extreme fashions, one way or the other. We will learn many things about humility.
For years, you have said that when the true thing comes, it is not going to be easily detected. It will not be understood, because it has never been experienced before (Isaiah 43:18–19; 48:6–7). It is a new feeling because it is a whole new thing coming forth (II Corinthians 5:17). All that every other phase has ever done is to take and put a new face on an old thing or give it a new shape; it was a new feeling about it, it seemed different, or you might see it differently or experience it in a different way. But, as you said, it was the same thing, just dressed up differently.
But what God wants is the new creation and it is such a fine line to even find how to get to it. Nobody would choose to enter that way. We have been taken by a faithful Word to this little eye of the needle that we can go through; and we can make it through as long as we come humbly (Matthew 19:23–26).
This humility in us is going to bring us through. There will be a true remnant who will go through and desire to be zero so that they can really love and serve the Lord for His purpose. The ones who really have that desire will fall on their face and find themselves making the change. At their initiative, they will let the Lord really work the thing in their heart that has to be worked at this time.
It is a whole new thing that God is requiring and bringing on the earth. You have said that it would be harder to get into this step in the Kingdom than it ever was to leave the old order of things. And I think everyone is facing that right now.
A baptism of humility would release a flood of authority.
The proud are earth-bound; the humble rise to the presence of God.
Devastation without humility and faith always spells disaster.
The test of humility is: are you standing in the presence of the Lord?
Having a commission without kindness and love can be as deadly as having a position with arrogance.
Humility does not judge.
If I humble myself before the Word of the Lord over myself, I must humble myself before the Word of the Lord over my brother.
There is no oneness without humility; there is no Kingdom of God without oneness.