The word of the Lord is saying now to return the people to violence, return them to the violence of spirit and the violence of faith; don’t let it wane in their heart. God is so concerned that we persevere in what He is setting before us, that there be nothing in our hearts that would draw back. There is nothing in which we can rejoice with a finality. All we can do is rejoice as those who are singing as they march down the road. We have not reached our objectives, but we are reaching many milestones as we pass along, evidence’s that God is opening up a new age, evidence’s that it is not being done by the wisdom of man, but it is being done by God, by His Holy Spirit. All of them are in the realm of the miraculous.
Satan is doing everything he can to prevent the coming forth of the will of the Lord. Therefore, it is very important that the ministry of the word open up something to your hearts, that it constantly open up to your realization the unseen world of the Spirit. Your senses have not discerned nor perceived these things that God has done. To quote from I Corinthians 2:9–10: … eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared (perfect tense, hath prepared) for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.
God has prepared a lot of things for you. There is an unawareness the people have today and an ignorance of God, of the spirit world, of divine provision, of the satanic hordes that are coming against them, of the unseen tides in the realm of the spirit that are changing and creating everything visible. You only see the outward manifestations in present life; you do not see what is behind it. You do not know the demonic forces. You do not know the moving of God. You do not see the unseen world which is the cause of all the things that are taking place.
The thing we must do is open our awareness to the real picture. That is the reason we have ministry. Someone comes up, “I had a pain in my neck.” “Why did you have a pain in your neck?” “I don’t know.” The unseen world is often the basic cause of everything we experience and everything we are going through. We are experiencing all these symptoms and manifestations, but how are we to know what is behind them? As we open our hearts to God in this hour, we are going to see visions and dream dreams. We will find that the vision will be restored in prophets who prophesy the word of the Lord and in seers who see as in the days of old. The unseen world will become visible to us, and this is very important. It is very important that we press in.
What is the one thing we could do to help the United States right now in its problems? What is the one thing we could do to help the causes of the churches? What is the one thing we could do for ourselves? What would be the best, most advantageous thing for us to do?
“Well, I’m going to pray for our pastor.”
That is fine, but how do you know how to pray for him?
“I am praying for him because I saw he was going through something.”
Why is he going through it? What is behind it?
“Well, I don’t know that. I’m just kind of praying.”
That is not enough. I will tell you something about praying. People are praying for those in need, for all the churches, for the finances. But what holds up finances? What is keeping the thing from moving? If you don’t know, then that is what you pray about: pray for God to open your revelation perception.
If we know we are asking according to His will, we know He hears us. If we know He hears us, we know we have the petition we have desired of Him (I John 5:14, 15). We know we have it. But the problem is that people are guessing, wishing, hoping, and they know nothing else. “Lord, if it be Thy will; Lord, we don’t know.” This type of prayer takes away the confidence that we must have. We must have confidence that we are praying in the will of the Lord. The one thing that is really needed is what God has poured out in this walk, and that is revelation. We bring someone up for ministry, and we pray for him. God begins to show what is hitting the individual, what is the problem, and why he has not been able to break through by himself. We must have a revelation of it. God has to show it.
Let us pray, “Lord, open up this realm to our hearts so we know, we perceive, we understand, we witness the world around us and what is behind it.” Otherwise we will be motivated by sympathy many times. We will not know whether God is judging someone or the devil is harassing him. How can we pray for someone if we do not know whether it is fish or fowl; if we do not know whether God has put him in the situation and we are trying to pray God’s hand off of it, or whether the devil has put him in it and we should persevere with him. We can get to the place where we pray like the old brother who was praying, “Dear devil, dear Jesus, dear devil, dear Jesus.” As he went on with his prayers someone asked him, “Why in the world are you praying like that?” He said, “Well, the way things have been going with me, I don’t know really which side’s going to come out. I’m trying to keep in good with both of them.” There is the uncertainty in people’s thinking, in their minds, the sympathy with which they react to what they should not react to and their total indifference sometimes to a situation. “Well, that brother is going through something.” He may be contending and be right in the middle of a battle, and if someone joined with him, there would be a great breakthrough, a wedge into the Kingdom.
Oh, that God would give us the perception to know and to understand, and when we do not know and understand, that we come often to the house of the Lord, and God give us prophets who can proclaim the revelation fearlessly and boldly before the Body. Yet, the truth is that if many of the situations of the past few years had been brought out to the people, and they had been told, “This is what is behind this problem; this is what the devil is doing, and this is what God is trying to do,” it could have split the church a dozen times. In one situation there was a man whose heart was never wholly set on the Lord, but he had a way of gathering a lot of people around him. If the truth about that man had been spoken, at that particular time, a large section of the people would have left. So a few of the ministries bound that influence because it was not of the Lord, and not one was lost through that influence. One by one the people’s eyes were opened and their hearts came to perceive what was behind the situation.
Sometimes the things that parade as the most spiritual are rather deadly. I went to one church prepared to find a lot of problems, but I did not find as many problems where they said there were problems; I found the problems in those who were saying, “Here’s a problem.” I took a look at the people who were saying, “Look at the problem,” and they had far more problems. God, help us lest we become self-deceived because our spirits do not open up. Problems there are, but let us see which way God is moving and what He is trying to do.
We are going to go into the sixth chapter of Isaiah. You may say, “I don’t see anything in that whole chapter that is what you are talking about.” You should; it is the call of Isaiah. The call of Isaiah was not that God suddenly met him and said, “Isaiah, Isaiah.”
“Oh yes, Lord. What is it?”
“Isaiah, I thought you should very carefully consider, in choosing a career, the function of a prophet. Now it’s true there is not much market for prophets these days, but you would have an exclusive edge on the whole thing. I’ll give you some good words, and I promise that I’ll make your tongue very skilled. You’ll bring forth some of the most beautiful figures of speech and metaphors that the world has ever heard. You would be quite a man, Isaiah. Why don’t you consider that carefully for a career?”
“I’ll think it over, Lord. What backing am I going to have? Who is going to sponsor me here? Can I become a member of the National Association of Prophets and Teachers?”
This was not the way God called Isaiah, but it is close to the way people would do it now. It is the way seminaries try to reach out to churches and recruit men to be ministers. There is a dearth in the land of denominational men to be trained for the ministry. Some of the major denominations are unable to get enough ministers to fill the pulpits at the present time.
What did God say to Isaiah? He had to do something for him. God looked down, and He said, “Look at this man. I have chosen him to be a prophet. I will pull back the veil and let him see the whole unseen spiritual world and what is going on because he must react to that.”
What is the difference between the way old-order preaching moves and the way God moves in this walk of the Spirit? What God is doing now is much more Biblical than what has happened before. How did they move in the past? What was the pattern of reformation preaching? Very simple. The formula for preaching during the reformation was “Give them hell, and then turn them to Christ.” Just drum it to them that they are sinners. Even Jonathan Edwards practiced that when he preached “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” He warned that the bow of judgment was bent, the arrow of divine justice was pointed at the sinner’s heart, and not one promise in the sacred Scriptures assured the sinner that God would defer for one single moment, piercing him through with the arrows of judgment. People clung to the pillars of the church screaming in fear of falling into hell. He read the whole sermon in a monotone voice with his glasses on the end of his nose, but there was a powerful impact of the Holy Spirit on it, though the preaching in those days was not scriptural. It was not in the pattern of the New Testament. Read the sermons of the Bible such as the one in the second chapter of the book of Acts. It does not start out, “Oh you sinners, you sinners,” but starts another way. “This Jesus was resurrected, and He ascended on high. He shed forth this. Hear all these languages? The things which you see and hear, He has poured out. Do you know who He is? He is the one whom you with wicked hands slew.” That got through to the people.
If you start by trying to convince a man of his sin, you are starting at the wrong end. The man becomes introverted trying to look within, and he is either wiped out by becoming a spiritual introvert, forever examining himself and never rising in his gaze above himself, or he becomes a Pharisee and begins to justify himself, saying the Pharisee’s prayer, “God, I thank You I am not as other men are.”
What happens in this move is entirely another matter. The world of Spirit is opened up, and a man finds a revelation of himself in relationship to the whole thing that has opened up to his heart. When you come into this walk, you get a picture of what God is doing in the earth, and the glory and the wonder He is bringing forth. Then God shows you yourself in relationship to that, and you start crying, “O God, give me a ministry. O Lord, let me be one that will proclaim this word. Let me preach.” It does not start with searching within; it starts with a great revelation of the unseen.
Now we will read Isaiah 6:1–8. In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of Him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. It starts with the revelation of the unseen world. Isaiah saw the throne of God. He saw the revelation. He heard the cries of the seraphim.
Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.” He saw himself in relationship to the revelation of God in that hour. God help us! Open our eyes and our hearts to see the Lord as He is moving in the earth. Once this is a revelation to our hearts, we will find ourselves understanding our need.
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, with a burning coal in his hand which he had taken from the altar with tongs. And he touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is forgiven.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
“Open my eyes that I may see visions of truth Thou hast for me.” You cannot make it unless it is revealed to you. Instead of saying, “Well, I never get a revelation,” seek for it. God has a thousand ways to pierce your thick skull with the revelation of Himself and what He is doing in the earth. Through the Word, through prayer, through waiting on the Lord, in the services, in the sermons, in a thousand ways He can reach your heart. Keep thinking, “Lord, be Thou revealed unto me. Reveal to me what You are doing.” Never think, “I don’t really need revelation because the ministries can tell me what it’s all about.” They can tell you, and after they tell you, they tell you what they told you. The next service they remind you that they told you and that they told you what they told you. Over and over, it is repeated, but until the Lord quickens a truth to your heart and it becomes a revelation, you still do not have what you need. You cannot become related to it until it is a revelation to your heart. When it is related, you cry, “Oh, woe is me,” for then the thing hits you. The impact of who you are and of what you can be does not come until you have the revelation of the Lord in the earth today.
“Here am I. Send me!” This is the only conclusion of a man who has seen the Lord and has seen the woeful condition of his own heart. He becomes identified with all that God is and all that God is doing in the world. Start praying for this revelation.
When will the young children get a revelation of the Lord? Are we content to just teach them and pray with them? When does the truth become a living thing, burning within their own spirit? We will miss it in the training of the young, unless we contend for one thing: a revelation of the Lord.
We are not only trying to get the young people off the old habits and then build up an enthusiasm. We want the revelation. Young people come and go on a basis of enthusiasm. They riot for one cause one night, and then they riot against the same cause another night. That is the way the young people of the world are. There is only one state before us for the young and the old alike. The old people become passive: “Well, you know, I’ve worked hard in churches all my life. I’m going to sit this one out.” How many people that God has called of the older generation are sitting at home passive or bitter, nursing some grudge, feeling they got a dirty deal someplace along the line? Nothing of God is really in their heart because all they can see is some church machinery or some little grievance. They never have had a revelation of the Lord. Young people come and go. Old ones come and go. The whole thing is just a seething mass of unstable people floating, until there comes a revelation.
If you had seen Jesus, if you had walked with Him, do you believe you would have been a believer because you saw His handsome profile, His beautiful curling beard? As you looked at Him, would His eyes have moved you so that you would have said, “This is the Son of God”? Or do you believe the prophet was true when he said, he hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2b. Would you have know the apostle Paul as a magnetic man who would make you follow him all over the Roman Empire, to live with him, suffer with him, and stay in a damp old dungeon with him? Or would you have reacted like the Corinthian church that said, his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible (II Corinthians 10:10), as you listened to him? The little short bald-headed Jew was very careful that he did not use any eloquence and he said to the people, “I don’t come with any enticing words of man’s wisdom. I want your faith to stand in the power of God” (I Corinthians 2:4, 5). Likewise, do you think you can come and look at the men of the Lord today and say, “Oh, what charming men, what personality; these are prophets indeed”? Or will it take a revelation from God now the same as it took for the disciples and the apostles of the first century? It will require a revelation from God now, as it did then, and God will have to open your heart and say, “This is it. This is what the whole world of Spirit is all about.”
Still the Lord comes, and He says, “Whom do men say that I am?”
“Well Lord, there are a lot of opinions floating loose here: Jeremiah, Isaiah, one of the prophets; some say You are Elijah.”
“Whom do you say that I am?”
Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him: Blessed are you, Simon Barjonas, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 16:17.
When Jesus talks about the rock upon which He will build His church, He is talking about the rock of revelation. “Thou art Peter, a movable stone, but upon this rocky plateau, this solid rock foundation, I will build My church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Jesus is speaking of the fact that God the Father reveals to your heart who Jesus is, reveals to you what Jesus is doing today, and reveals where His men are today, His apostles and His prophets. I will tell you the truth: it takes as much revelation now as it did then; maybe even more, because the whole world lies under the deceptive power of the wicked one. Many will come, false christs and false prophets, so if it were possible they would deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24). Only the elect will have that true revelation from the Lord.
Lord, we stand before Thy presence. We stand before Your presence, crying, Lord, “Reveal, reveal Thyself, Lord.” Reveal all that You have to tell us, all that You want us to know of Yourself. When the glory of Your presence comes, its light will shine into our hearts and show our need, and we will say too, like Isaiah, “Woe is me.” Amen, Lord Jesus.
The Lord forgive us for not waiting on Him more. This walk was not raised up just for all the work we can do, though I know we need those endless hours of labor. But if we are missing out on this waiting on the Lord and standing in His presence, we will go like every other energetic movement before us. There are people who stand out on the corners with magazines who are as energetic as we. But God anoint our hearts with the Holy Spirit, and let us talk and open the unseen world to people around us. That will mark the difference. We are workers with a revelation from the Lord. When He says, “Who will go for us; whom shall I send?” we will say, “Lord, here am I, send me! For my eyes have seen the King. My heart has perceived the Lord.”
One of the first things each one ought to do is to come to the elders and say, “Lay your hands on me and pray that the Lord will open my spiritual sight and open my spiritual ears so I can really perceive things on a spiritual plane.” To give mental assent to a truth is not what the Bible calls believing. That kind of faith the devils have, and tremble. Even the devils believe, and tremble, with that kind of faith (James 2:19). The kind of faith we must have is not a mental assent, a thing that has been reasoned out. With the heart man believeth, because therein does the Lord reveal Himself to us.