“Yea, this is the day that the Spirit of the Lord doth bring thee to a crisis in thy heart, that thou shalt become completely dedicated to the will of God. It shall be an hour that thou shalt not halt between two opinions. Thou shalt not waver in thy heart, for there shall be faith within you to dedicate thy heart wholly to the Lord thy God. Thou shalt bind thy sacrifice with cords to the horns of thy altar, for it shall not be an hour that thou shalt esteem the luxury and the ease of this generation; it shall not be an hour that thou shalt esteem the false gods and the idols that have reigned within Christendom for so many years, but in thy heart ye shall give thyself unto the Lord; ye shall present thy body a living sacrifice unto Him. Let there be nothing within thee of an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. But let there be that violence within thy spirit that ye shall offer up a sacrifice before the Lord in this day.”
“Mercy shall triumph over judgment, and by the mercies of God shall ye present your body a living sacrifice. Is it not written that if any man shall love his soul, so shall this man lose his life; if any man shall hate his life in this life, he shall find eternal life. And so the Lord hath spoken, ‘If any man shall serve Me, let him also follow Me, and where I am there shall My servant be also. And if a man shall serve Me, him shall My Father honor.’ And so thou shalt have within thy heart not only to serve the Lord with thy lips, but also with thy lives. Behold, thy lives shall be given wholly unto thy God. It is the Lord that hath required this of thee, that ye give your entire tithe to Him and thus shall He release thee unto the days of fulfillment and prosperity.”
The Lord is bringing to us by the Spirit the same message as the one He brought in the wilderness when He said, “The people have nothing to eat; give them to eat” (John 6). They answered, “There is nothing except five barley loaves and two small fishes. What are they among so many?” The Lord has been speaking to our hearts that we are going to give all we have; ourselves included. We are going to believe for a miracle existence day by day. Whatever is set before us we will do, and we’ll find a way to do it. We will start with resources that are inadequate and insufficient, and we will believe for divine grace to come—the grace shall abound to us, so that we will always have all sufficiency in all things, and abound to every good work (II Corinthians 9:8).
Lord, condition our hearts today for what is to take place in our lives. Condition us to believe for the grace of God to come. There will not be less giving; there will be more. We will not measure by how much we have given; we will look to see how much we have left. We will be like the widow who cast in all, and God is going to cause it to come back to us heaped up, shaken down, running over (Luke 6:38).
The truths and principles of the Kingdom will be put in action; we will not give from the tops of our purses, but from the bottom of our hearts. The Lord will show us how to do His will. He that has nothing in his hand will go to work with his hands in the house of the Lord. There are so many things to be done, and so many ways of giving that we don’t use a little money to excuse ourselves from other responsibilities.
God will demand total, absolute discipleship. This is what He wants, and I don’t think we should approach it reluctantly as if it were just another church’s giving program. We should face the fact that this is the great challenge of the Kingdom of God. The gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world for a witness, and every one of us will be a part of it.
I covenant before God, “Let me be a part to give in some measure to everything that You are doing in the earth; let me not miss one thing that You are bringing forth. I want to be able to invest myself wholly, completely, totally, toward the thing that God is bringing forth.”
Is there anything else worth living for? Is there anything else for which we could set our goals, for which we could work and strive? Nothing else on this earth can in any way rival the excellence of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Our discipleship shall be without reservation; our surrender to the Lord shall be absolute. When we present ourselves to the Lord it will be as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable unto the Lord, which is our mode of worship unto Him. Praise the name of the Lord. So let it be.
“ ‘Bringing our five barley loaves and two fishes’ isn’t just some little saying; it is to be an attitude in our hearts. We are to present our bodies as living sacrifices; this is our acceptable mode of worship. We are not going to give out of the overflow or out of the top of our hearts that which is easy for us. Like a dentist taking out a tooth, God will touch those nerves in us, those things in our spirits that make us instinctively shrink back and want to immerse ourselves in the ease, luxury and prosperity which the world and the Gentiles are following after. We are going to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. There will be that within us which yearns to bring our sacrifices before the Lord.
“Expect God to test you on these words, expect Him to begin to exact and to bring forth this word in your life. Be sober in your heart; let there be a dedication to receive this word not as the word of man, but as the word of God that effectually worketh in those that believe (I Thessalonians 2:13). As you open your heart the word will create the very thing that it speaks. This is the day God is bringing forth a creative word that will create that army, so open your heart to this word and let it work.”
Somehow believe to be able to say a yes to this word that is more without reservation than ever before. We say, “Yes, yes, yes,” every time God puts it to us, aware that we’ve said “yes” as far as we could, but that we didn’t make that total, absolute commitment to the Lord. But God help us to come without reservation into that circumcision of heart, where the reluctance of the flesh gives way to a willingness of spirit for the Lord to work in our hearts to do His whole will.
“If God has given everything in every way without any reservation unto us, is it not fit that we do the same unto Him? We can hold back nothing. It must be the whole thing where we finally realize all the fullness of God’s grace and all the riches of His glory that have been loosed unto us; then we in turn give wholly all that which He has given in return. We empty ourselves unto Him. Then it will work. It’s the only way.”
“Let us be known as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. We are not children of the night that we should sleep and be drunken during the night, but we are children of the day, and sons of the light. There has to be an alertness and sobriety within us that begins to receive the word of God and awake from sleep, awake from the dead, and hear the word that God is speaking to us. The Lord is speaking a strong word that He desires the whole tithe; He desires our lives, the very depth of our hearts. He says, ‘Woe unto you, you Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law—the justice and the love of God. But these things you should have done without neglecting the others’ (Luke 11:42).
“God is saying that He doesn’t just desire the tithe, He doesn’t desire just the nice things of your life, the pleasant things that you have laid aside, the mint, the cumin, and all the wonderful herbs of your heart, but God desires the deep things—the mercy, the love and the faithfulness of the walk: that depth of faithfulness. Because we are the called of God, He is demanding that this dedication be worked so deeply within us that we no longer have other ambitions, other drives, other desires. There is to be nothing in our hearts except a determination to know Christ and Him crucified, yea, nothing in our hearts except to serve the Lord. We’re believing that as we open our hearts to the apostolic word, God can change us in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye we can be raised from the dead, and the blare of the trumpet is not indistinct but alive. It will sound in our hearts, then we shall sound forth the new day. A New Testament church in Thessalonica walked in this. Paul wrote to them, We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and the labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father; knowing, brethren beloved by God, His choice of you, for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. I Thessalonians 1:2–5.
“God will honor us as we walk in what the Thessalonian church walked in—the work of faith, the labor of love, the steadfastness of hope—knowing the choosing of God that rests upon us. God reveals to us that He is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. It’s not the apostle, the prophets or the words; it is God Himself working in our midst. God reveal it to our hearts that the fear of the Lord may return to us. We will work out our own salvation with fear and trembling because it is God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Let Him awaken us to the vision: we are not Christians playing church, but we are the called of God, and we shall fulfill His calling, having it worked deep within us, to become the expression of the Word of God.”
Lord, bless this word to our hearts, Let it come not as an exposition but as a proclamation of the Word itself. Let us feel that we have not read about the Scriptures but that we have fed upon the word of the Lord. Amen.
For when one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos: are ye not men? What then is Apollos? and what is Paul? Ministers through whom ye believed; and each as the Lord gave to him. I planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: but each shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Notice the next verse: For we are God’s fellow-workers: (the King James reads ‘we are laborers together with God’) ye are God’s husbandry, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given unto me as a wise masterbuilder, I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any man buildeth upon the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble, each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work shall abide which he build thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire. Know ye not that ye are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye. I Corinthians 3:4–17.
Basic guidelines for our labor in the Lord are given in this passage. We are God’s fellow-workers. We are part of the work team. God and all of us in this body are a work team, working together. “Laborers together with God”—we are part of a crew that God is turning loose to do His work, and He Himself is the main member. It goes further than that: “Laborers together with God” indicates that the labor is a combination of divine and human effort, and that the human effort is not dedicated to work independently from God, but to be the instrument of the divine flow.
We are not concerned about just preaching sermons; we are concerned about God speaking through us. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man ministers, he does so in the ability God gives (I Peter 4:11). He does not want to do it through human abilities and talents; instead he wants to draw upon divine grace, divine help.
This is exactly what God is trying to show us now. Paul said, “The day shall declare each man’s work of what sort it is so as by fire. I laid the foundation, Jesus Christ, and let every man take care how he builds on that foundation. He can build gold, silver, costly stones, or wood, hay, or stubble. Then the fire will come.”
The Lord does things drastically. He has a way, even better than city hall of inspecting what we build. He goes through, throws a match to it, and if it burns up, He says, “I’m sorry your life’s work is lost but you yourself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” This passage refers not to salvation, but to the judgment of God on your life’s work.
We have come to a very critical point in this walk. God is demanding that we not build another Babylon. He has thrown the match in that, and Babylon is burning up. The day is declaring it; it is being manifested. Everywhere there is a shaking. Things that looked quite solid are coming down; things that we thought would never be shaken are being shaken. Hebrews gives an illustration of this. God spoke on Mount Sinai and everything shook; God is speaking again and this time it shakes not the earth only but the heavens also—everything—so that we will receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken. Don’t you feel yourself shaking? When God begins to speak, everything within your life, the spiritual and the natural, is shaken. The day is declaring it, so as by fire: God has already started His judgments in the house of the Lord, and everything that the Lord hasn’t planted is being uprooted.
The time has come in which our whole life must count for God. All of our works must be wrought in God. The young folks approaching various decisions of life must get themselves rooted and grounded in this walk before they contemplate marriage or any other important steps. They will find their marriages shaken, and I could predict that unless we carefully follow the leading of the Holy Spirit, many marriages will break up in this walk, because Can two walk together, except they be agreed? Amos 3:3. When total dedication is demanded, unless both are in agreement, it will shake them to pieces. Everything must be wrought in God; if any man builds on Christ gold and silver and precious stones, his work will abide.
We are laborers together with God. Again and again the Word emphasizes this. We find this principle in the story of the great commission in the sixteenth chapter of Mark: And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Verse 16. We need more prayer—prayer that takes the blessing and the anointing of the Lord and blesses every piece of literature that we send forth. There is a famine for the word of the Lord. Never has more literature been available to the Christian world than now, but it is without life, without the divine spark. Men search to and fro not for literature, but for hearing the words of the Lord (Amos 8:12). We have the words of the Lord. The anointing upon this word has been tremendous; we are building gold, silver, and precious stones.
It is not a time to be like Ananias and Sapphira, who felt they had to hold something back for themselves. I know that God is going to make many of us wealthy, because that is in the prophecies that God has given, both by the Spirit’s prophetic word to us and also by the Scriptures. I know that many of us will come into great things. But even if we walk in the sight of the world as though we have been stripped and have nothing, let us lay up our treasures in the King. God is going to strip us of everything we ever thought was financial security. There will not be anything we can put our trust in, so we might as well lay up our treasure for God, not out of a fear of losing it, but realizing that never has a people been as privileged as we are, to come and lay something in the hands of the Lord in the hour of His visitation, His miracles, signs and wonders, and exploits!
It was an exploit to feed five thousand people with a few barley loaves and fishes. Give what you have and watch God make a miracle—make you a miracle and make what you do a miracle. He has given us so much, and yet we seem to have so little we can really give. But let’s give what we can; let’s open our hearts and say, “Lord, I’m ready, as much as lies within me. If there is something that perversely draws back as in the days of Ananias and Sapphira, reveal it to me; I don’t want to be merely mouthing my dedication to Thee. Lord, it’s all Yours.”
I wonder if we can say, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk!” unless we can also say like Peter, “Silver and gold have I none.” When the Lord sent out the twelve and when He sent out the seventy, they were not to take along anything extra; they were to travel light. Sometimes they wondered if it was worthwhile. Peter said, “Lord, we have forsaken all and followed Thee; what shall we have therefore?” He said, “You shall receive a hundredfold in this present time and in the world to come eternal life” (Matthew 19:27–29). An hundredfold is a ten thousand percent return on an investment. Lay it all on the line; you couldn’t possibly expect such a good return anywhere else.
Chapters 49 and 55 in the book of Isaiah deal with the servant of the Lord. Many of the prophecies throughout these chapters (especially the fifty-third chapter) deal with the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, but often shift to Israel (reproofs of Israel, etc.). At no time were those prophecies fulfilled over natural Israel; the only meaningful interpretation is that Israel refers to the spiritual Israel of the end time. The prophecies are of Christ, the servant of the Lord, but now it is Christ within the spiritual Israel of God that is ministering.
The Lord Jehovah hath given me the tongue of them that are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him that is weary; he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as they that are taught. The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward. I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. For the Lord Jehovah will help me, therefore have I not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame. He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand up together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? behold, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. Isaiah 50:4–9.
You say, “That prophecy was about the Lord. It was prophesied that they would smite the Lord and pluck out His beard, and that He would give His back to the smiters.” All of that happened, but also mingled in this passage are prophecies about you, in whom the Christ is coming forth. The prophecies were fulfilled not only in the Christ when He was localized in the flesh and blood of one man, but they are also being fulfilled now in Christ in His many-membered Body. For as the body is not one member, but many, so also is Christ (I Corinthians 12:12)—Christ is not an individual in the flesh and blood of one man, the Nazarene, but Christ is the Head of His great Body, the organic oneness that we are.
Christ is completing His ministry through His many-membered Body today, the spiritual Israel of God. Jesus ministered for three and a half years, but the perfect figure is seven. I believe that the world will see yet a dedicated people, so filled with the Spirit of the Lord, so manifesting and doing the works of the Lord, that through them Christ will complete that three and a half years of ministry and everything will be brought completely under the dominion of the Lord.
We constitute, in whole, the Christ, to speak the words of God and to do the works of God. Our oneness with Christ precludes any other interpretation for us: we are not working for the Lord, but in oneness we are working with the Lord. How can we think otherwise? How can we draw back and give anything less than all that we are? We must present our bodies to be members of His Body. What does the Lord want to do for us? What does the Lord require of us? He wants to do many things for us, but many things need to be done and we cannot draw back from them.
I want to lay something before you in the way of the practical application of your dedication. It is in your heart to do it, but you need some practical guidelines. I don’t know when we have ever had such a pool of willing workers as we have now, but there is much work to be done, in fact, many are working overtime. Find out wherever a job needs to be done, and when you have a free day, go do it. People who are out of work can give something to the Lord; they have more time to give than other people do. Take responsibility, get in and do the work of the church. Gear everything for this apostolic company.
I believe that most of the people in the church are tithers, and if they are not, they should be. But when the Lord referred to tithing in the New Testament, He said that the Pharisees tithed of even the mint and rue, but they passed over justice and the love of God He said, … these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Luke 11:42. There is something much more than tithing that
From time to time, the Lord asks sacrifice offerings of us. It is good to be able to sacrifice; it is good to give to the Lord something that you could have enjoyed or could have spent upon yourself. The Scriptures speak about the house of Stephanas and how they were set to minister to the saints (I Corinthians 16:15). You can become so addicted that all you want to do is give, give, give; your heart and mind is filled with the desire to be a giver. The greatest promise God ever made to me, years ago, was “I will make you a giver, not a receiver,” meaning that I would not be one who drew things to myself, but that He would bless me so much that I would be constantly giving. I have been able to do that. It is fantastic how He lays things in my hands to give.
God is leading us to see what is to be done. Some of our people are from homes that are divided as far as dedication is concerned. In some cases husbands do not come to church, so the wives are unable to tithe. But in almost every instance they give themselves to hours of work which would amount to a good tithe if they were paid for it. Others tithe, give sacrifices and their time. Blessed are they who are able to do that also; they receive a greater blessing being able to give so much. Some work long hours and have little time to put in to the work of the Lord, yet they can give their money and keep the finances going in the name of the Lord.
Some people will be able only to work, make their money and pay their tithe, and even then they will have difficulty paying the rent. We are to have care one for another. We are to be concerned to help each other, but I do not believe in freeloading. In II Thessalonians 3:11, Paul speaks against those who walked disorderly, not laboring with their hands. They just didn’t want to work. Work has never hurt anyone, but not working has hurt a lot of people! That is walking disorderly. The work that is before us requires an absolute dedication, and worse than all the sins of the flesh is the sin of laziness. We read in Matthew 9:38, “Pray to the Lord of harvest that He will send forth His laborers into His harvest field.” Let’s pray for it. We need to labor in the things of God. Don’t just labor for dead works. Be anointed; have anointed hands to touch that work. Be a laborer with God. It isn’t that we are trying to dignify the menial tasks; it is more than that. I think if the Lord Jesus Christ were here, He would teach the same thing I have taught you to do. Young prophets and prophetesses, come out and clean the church; help make ready the house of the Lord.
It is good to work hard; there is great reward in it when you know that your work is directed by the Holy Spirit. It’s good to give, and after you have given, to look back upon it and see that God took something you gave, multiplied it, broke it, and fed the multitudes. If any people have ever had the privilege of really giving wisely in the spirit, we have. Sometimes we would like to have somebody appreciate it, or even say, “Thank you,” but don’t labor for that. If you labor as unto the Lord, and to minister to His Body, He will pour it back to you. He will see that you have your reward. If you look to man for recognition and reward you will get it from them, but you may not get it from the Lord. Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never give casually or routinely. Never give because it’s expected of you. Give because all that you are and all that you have belongs to the Lord and it’s your privilege, your prerogative by the Holy Spirit, to have the initiative to invest it. One day the faithfulness with which you have invested your life will be rewarded—in fact, it will be expected of you. It will be a basis of judgment: To whom much is given, much will be required (Luke 12:48).
The reason that a few in our midst are always on the receiving end of ministry, always crying, “Please help me and minister to me,” is because they are outside of the flow of God’s revelation. Come into this walk asking to be an instrument in the hand of the Lord. If you came in for what you could get out of it, the help you could receive, you have received a secondary purpose in God’s plan. He is blessing us to be a blessing; He delivers us so that we can do His will. When you see the help and deliverance as an end in itself, that self-centeredness precludes you from taking the burden to be a real disciple and doing the will of the Lord, and you will always be needing help and deliverance. But when you take everything God gives you and turn around and give your all to the Lord to serve Him and walk with Him, He will give you everything that you need. It’s all provided.
This is very much the word of the Lord to our hearts. Let’s give ourselves wholly to the Lord. “Lord, You’ve made me what I am. I’m twice Yours, because You are my Creator and then You are my Redeemer. I belong to You; I acknowledge Your claims upon my life. I acknowledge that I’m absolutely Yours, and I delight to present myself a living sacrifice to You.” Give Him the burdens you have, the oppression, the hindrances in your life. Don’t give Him the good only, but give Him the bad too—your temper, your disposition, your old nature, the areas where you need help. Lay them in His hands, and believe to walk free of them. Relinquish your claim on the future and say, “I claim the absolute will of the Lord for every day of my life, and with all of my heart I will walk in it.” We have lived enough days and enough years on the fringe of God’s will. If you are on the sidelines and not in the place where God can bless you, get out of that place! Come on, move in toward the center of the camp where the pillar of fire leads the people, where the glory of God comes down like a cloud, where God’s voice speaks. Don’t be on the outskirts of the camp with the murmurers and the complainers. The fire and the wrath of judgment falls there. Close in. The man who denies His Lord is the one who follows afar off in the hour of trial. Draw in close and let the Lord meet your heart.
Lord Jesus, we claim that resting upon each one of us will be the responsibility for all labors of the church, and the responsibility for ministering to the new ones who come in, being concerned, and caring for them. Let us be there when they need a little help—not just the elders, but the whole Body of Christ to pray with them, minister to them, and love them. We are concerned, Lord, that none in our midst hunger or be without clothing. Bless us to always be looking out for our brother’s welfare. We want to become involved totally with the Body ministry. Lord, we do not cease to pray and believe that every dollar that comes in will be a miracle dollar. Bring miracle money, like the loaves and fishes, that will do outstanding things. Bless the whole Body. We pray against the things that come constantly to prey upon the people of the Lord. Deliver us not only from the evils of this age, but from those things that come like parasites, like vultures to prey upon the people of God and their finances.
Deliver us, Lord, from our ignorance. You have said that if any man defile the temple of God, him will God destroy. Teach us how to respect our bodies as Your temple and to keep them functioning as good servants of the Lord. Lord, show us how to hear Your voice, so that we might know what You demand of us. We will say, “Speak, Lord, Thy servant heareth.” We want to see water turned into wine, and so the command comes, “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” Whatever we have, with all its limitations, we shall give, believing that You will add to it to make the miracle. We will not move in dead works, but in the living works of God ordained for this hour.
We have found enough time and money for the things that we want to do; now, Lord, we can find time and money for the things that You want us to do. Some of us need to repent for the mismanagement of our money, our time and our energies. Too many people are doing second-rate things instead of doing the best thing, seeking first the Kingdom. Lord, we must be faithful stewards who do not waste or misdirect our efforts or our finances, but who live wholly for the Lord. Lay before us the true vision: to be faithful tithers, but also, more than that, to be the believers that see our responsibility to take the light we have been given to those in darkness, to minister the message of pardon to those that are drawn unto death.
God is after us. He’s going to get the last little reservation we have. Even our giving to the Lord is to be part of our worship. We are to be a spiritual people, aware of the Lord. This thought is filling my heart: “We are going to be the Body of Christ in the earth!” This walk is so practical: our heads are up in the heavenly places, but our feet are right down on the solid ground. We are totally the Lord’s, blessed as we respond to what His Spirit directs us to do.