God is speaking about the way we relate to one another, and what we are to be to one another. As a result, we have had more difficulty in relating than ever before. Relationships are being searched out and are coming under the direct scrutiny of the Lord Himself. All of this gives promise that we will be that army which does not break rank nor thrust one another through (Joel 2:7–8), that we will see eye to eye when the Lord brings again Zion (Isaiah 52:8). This points to the day of oneness and unity that Jesus spoke of: “I pray that they all may be one, Father, as You and I are one; that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:21, 23).
As God leads us into that place, we must understand our relationships, and realize that often we are still relating too much on a human level. In our relating to one another and in our thinking about one another, it is very important that we finally arrive at the basic practical factors which make it all work, so that we can truly be one, without dissension and without division. When we hear a prophecy, we should not feel as if it will be fulfilled automatically and sovereignly. God’s Word speaks a great deal about the oneness of the Body and about the Body coming together, but now that it is actually happening, we find that it is a little more difficult than we thought it would be. The transition from the human level into the oneness of spirit is not that easily attained.
We have learned much about divine order, but when we tried to walk in it, we saw that it often did not work perfectly—not because we did not have truth, but because we did not have all of it. An illustration of that is seen in the marriages, the families, and the homes that have tried to walk in divine order. According to the scriptural pattern, the husband is to be the head of the family and the wife is to be submissive. However, in many instances submission became suppression; consequently, very few ministries developed among the women. If we had had all of the truth, we would have seen the handmaidens of the Lord rising up as prophetesses of the Lord, and moving more perfectly. Since there was no provision for this, there were many mistakes and many problems. There were many failures on the part of both the men and the women. No one is being excused; the fault was not one-sided. But we cannot help but wonder how many prophecies came to pass over the men, ratio-wise, compared to those that came to pass over the women.
How are we to relate to each other, without relating according to the flesh? We relate by the prophecies and commissions over each one of us. There will be a change in our thinking. When I look at your ministry, it should not matter whether you are a man or a woman.
Divine order demands submission, but rarely do we understand submission. The way it has been taught to us, we often have not eliminated a human evaluation of it; consequently, we may have been submissive only to that which was perfect, or so near perfect that it seemed to be without fault or flaw.
The principal ingredient of true submission is faith. When you are submissive to an apostle, you enter in with faith to pray aggressively and to believe for him to be loosed as a door-opener. When the door to any sphere is opened, there will be a thousand apostles loosed to go through the land—more than have ever walked on the earth in the entire history of the world. They will minister to people and lead them into the things of the Lord by the thousands and tens of thousands. Therefore, you loose these ministers with faith. In that process of exercising faith, you find a more perfect submission to authority than you have ever known before.
Ephesians 5:21 tells us to submit ourselves one to another in the fear of Christ. When you submit yourself to me, and you do it with faith, then I find myself more submissive than ever before. Any reluctance in my spirit disappears, and I become totally submissive to be to you what the Lord wants me to be. I also find myself more submissive unto the Lord, as well as more submissive to you. Your submission to me and my submission to you, our submitting ourselves one to another, are equally important. No area excels any other. We look at the commission that God has brought over each of us, rather than looking at the individual personality.
There may be disagreements over many things that are happening, but when we reach the place where our submission is to the Word that God has spoken over each individual, then the circumstances or the shortcomings in his life will no longer bother us.
When you are submissive to the commission that God gives a person, you will be able to relate to him—even though he may be one who seems unable to relate. With this correct focus, you do not have to relate to his idiosyncrasies or his peculiarities. All you have to do then is to have enough faith to believe what God has said over him, to believe the commission that God has given him. When we relate to one another on the basis of a commission from the Lord in the will of God, then the personality clashes cease. The battle becomes a battle over the Word that God gave; that is where we struggle. Let us become submissive to one another, and not reject one another.
We relate to each other by the commission God has given. We may have problems relating to an individual who is unique and different; however, his ministry is still needed in the Body. In fact, we need as much diversity as we can find. Paul told the Corinthians that each man who ministered to them had a commission from God. Paul exhorted them to relate to these men by virtue of the commission and ministry over them, and not to be concerned about their personalities (I Corinthians 3:4–7). Let us not evaluate the ministers on a Richter scale, according to how they shake us up. Let us be open to every ministry; they are all necessary.
Suppose someone has had a Word that he is to be an apostle, but that Word remains unfulfilled. How will that Word come forth? Be concerned about it and pray about it. Relating correctly is not a personality adjustment; it is a relating to the commissions and the Words of God. We relate to a brother by the fact that he is an apostle of the Lord, a prophet of God, a man with a Word from God. That is the basis on which we relate to him! Forget the problems. Relate to one another according to what God has said.
Do not forget that you can sin in the opposite direction when you try to create a closeness with a brother whom you like and admire very much. Again, you are establishing the relationship on the wrong basis. Beware that you do not get your eyes on the flesh either way, pro or con. Whether the relationship is positive because of a personality cult, or whether it is a situation where people reject one another because of a personality clash, God will always blow on it. He wants you to relate together on the basis of the commission that He gave. You may not feel worthy of that commission; nevertheless, you still must have faith in the Word God spoke over you, and other people must have faith in that Word also.
Persecution may precondition people against me as an apostolic ministry. But if someone recognizes that I speak a Living Word from God and opens his heart to it, and he relates correctly to the commission and the Word and my ministry, then it does not make any difference to him what anyone says or does not say about me. My qualifications or degrees will not be an issue. On the other hand, if people accept me because they think I am a wonderful preacher, they will never make it into the Kingdom.
Do you ever get upset with the ministries? They probably get upset with you too sometimes. But that does not mean that they will reject you, nor will you reject them, because we relate on the basis of the commissions and Words from God.
In this walk with God, a young couple usually receive personal ministry in the form of a “checkout,” before they are married. The ministers seek God to determine if their marriage is in the will of God. In addition, they should probably have a “checkup” six months after their marriage, to see if they are walking in the Word they were given.
It would be good for everyone to have a “checkup.” You could do it yourself. Simply review your prophecies or meditate on what the Lord has told you to do, and see if your thinking and your life-style still place the emphasis upon what God has said. Isn’t it amazing that everything the devil said to Jesus in the wilderness brought only this response from Him: “It is written. It is written.” A Word from the Lord was all that was necessary.
What does God say about our relationships? The following guidelines will help us in our relationships with one another, as well as our attitudes toward ourselves and others.
1. You will not get along with anyone else until you get along with yourself. If you withdraw or are rebellious toward God, it will taint every attitude you have toward someone else. Do you find that you do not like yourself? Then you will not like anyone else either. You will not like the Lord. When you love God, you love what is begotten of God (I John 5:1). Are you begotten of God? Then love yourself. Is your brother begotten of God? Then love your brother. Jesus tells us in Mark 12:28–31: “The first commandment says, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength.’ The second is like unto it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ ” Why is it like the first one? If you love God, you love what is begotten of God; then you love yourself, you love your neighbor, you love your brother. The authority of that commission is always before us.
2. As yet, there is an incomplete manifestation of the authority in a brother’s commission. How can you accept someone as an apostle when you see that many of the prophecies and promises over him are still unfulfilled? You accept me because you believe the Word over me. How can you accept other brothers as apostles and prophets of the Lord? Because you believe the Word. The incomplete manifestation is not to disturb our faith in the Word. We believe that the Kingdom is coming, yet we see little manifestation of it at this point. You must believe the Word, regardless of how incomplete the manifestation of it is at this time. That is why the bottom line is faith. It is the main ingredient.
3. Have faith for the Lord to complete what He has said. Believe the Word and pray for it to come to pass. If you see a brother, who is supposed to be a prophet but has little discernment, you must still believe the Word over him and pray that God will give him discernment and fulfill in him that ministry of a prophet.
Let me suggest a very worthwhile project for every local church. Collect the prophecies over the church, as well as those over each individual member. Summarize what God has said over that church, both by prophecy and through any elemental spirit search that has been taken in that area. Then summarize what the Lord has said concerning each family and each member, specifically their office and commission. This material could then be printed and a copy given to each member. Each member, then, would be responsible to have faith for the Lord to complete all that He has spoken. Then if anyone became offended at one of the brothers, he could open this book and read what the Lord has said about him. The Lord may have said, “This man will be a winner of souls,” or, “He is going to be a healing balm in Gilead.” Then you could not take offense at anything you saw in his life; instead, you would believe what God had said. Many of the churches have already printed these summaries and are following this faith procedure.
This, then, becomes the basis of relationship: we relate by commission, we relate by the promises of God, we relate by a Word from God. If we do not see a prophecy completely fulfilled, we still have faith for it.
4. Exercise that faith by intercession. When you know what God has said over a brother, but you see also the problems and difficulties in his life, you will have one of two responses: Either you will have enough faith and love to intercede and pray for him, or you will judge him. If you judge him, you yourself will be judged. Avoid the tendency to compare two brothers who have had similar prophecies, when one seems to be doing much better than the other. This is placing the relationship back on a human evaluation and personality basis.
5. Avoid the sin of preferring one ministry over another. You are guilty of that also when you attend the services only when your favorite minister is preaching. More and more, there must be an acceptance of every ministry that God has commissioned. If we prefer one above another, we will be in the same carnal state as was the Corinthian church.
6. When you truly submit to an apostolic ministry, then you will also be submissive to the Lord who sent him and to those who have been commissioned by him. If you have not submitted to those who have been commissioned by the Lord through the laying on of hands by an apostle, then you have also not submitted to that apostle. The fact that these commissioned ministries have problems is not the issue; nor do the problems of the apostle enter into the picture. It may surprise you to know that God has problems too. In fact, He is always creating problems. By ten great miracles He brought a whole nation out of Egypt, and then He let them stand at the Red Sea with mountains round about them and Egyptians chasing them. Moses did not create that problem—God did! In this day, when we move into the greater works and the greater miracles, it will once again be because God has led His people into a place where He has a problem.
God puts you into a situation and then He demands that you believe Him. But remember—He put you there! Are you honest enough to admit that as you walk on with God, you are constantly being led into a difficult situation? You may condemn yourself or rebel or even withdraw, but you must realize that you got there because you followed the Lord. You received a Word, it was confirmed, and God put you right in the middle of the situation. I am convinced that God is in the business of creating more problems for Himself today than He has in any other generation; but He can handle them. He can handle them all! “I am persuaded that He is able to perfect that which concerns me. Having begun a good work, He is able to perform it unto the day of the Lord” (Psalm 138:8; Philippians 1:6).
Sometimes God seems to create the need of a miracle because He wants to express Himself. What logical reason could God have had for allowing the three Hebrew children to be thrown into the fiery furnace? He could have found many different ways to deliver them: the furnace could have exploded, an earthquake could have swallowed up the furnace, the fire could have gone out. Many things could have happened, but then there would not have been the miracle of a fourth man walking around in the fire. Most of the spectators were fearful, but some had the perception to say, “We see that the fourth is like the Son of God.” That is what God likes to do—manifest Himself. Not only does He put Himself in a place with a problem, but He walks hand in hand with His people right through it.
7. You must be submissive to the Word over yourself, even if you have received only a limited commission.
8. You must be submissive to those whom you have commissioned. This is even more difficult than being submissive to those over you—including the Lord Himself. When you look at the person whom you have commissioned and prayed over, and you see that he does not seem to be doing very well, what should you do? Move in on him! Remind him of the prophecies over him and exhort him, “Get busy and do what God called you to do!” That is the only time you should be critical of a brother—when you see that he is not walking in the commission over him.
The Lord has taught me to have faith for every man. Why do I refuse to give up on anyone? I do not dare, or I would be sinning against God in heaven. He would surely punish me if I did not submit to the Word that has come through my own mouth over any individual. When I minister to you, I must have faith for you and submit to the Word over you. I may not accept the way you are walking, but I will exhort you, I will teach you, and I will keep standing with you, because I must believe the Word that God moved me to speak. There are probably many who were not worthy of the faith others had for them. They may have been doing things that they knew they should not be doing. And some probably still are. But somehow we will all make it if we keep believing. Paul cried, “Oh, I labor with that which works in me mightily, to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (Colossians 1:28–29). That cry must be in our spirits too.
Follow these basic principles so that the attitudes and the criticism you have had toward people, as a result of deep conditioning, can change. Refuse that old way of thinking about them. No matter what happens, determine that you will think according to the Word of God and the commissions that have come over your church and over each member. This is the way we will reach forth into the Kingdom.
We always seem to be trying to put ourselves in different classes: Class A, Class B, etc. We must recognize that in the Kingdom of God, the only distinction among any of us is the commission that the Lord has spoken over us. In the sight of God I do not differ from you, except for the specific Word and commission He has given each of us.
Let us no longer evaluate people or deal with them on the basis of personality or of what they seem to be. God does not do that. In the Body of Christ, He bestows the more abundant honor upon the part that lacks, so that there be no schism in the Body, but that we all have the same care one for another (I Corinthians 12:24–25).
God wants to equalize the Body. There is no difference in each member except that one is a hand, one is a foot, one is an ear. Each one is a distinct ministry according to the function and commission God has given him. This is the only quality that makes us different. Therefore there is no hierarchy. A pastor cannot say, “Because I am a pastor, I am in a special class.” He is special only because of a commission, and we submit to that. We do not need to say, “You are a pastor because you are superior in every way.” We do not need to say, “You are a pastor because you know more.” Neither do we reject that minister by saying, “You are a pastor, but I know more than you do.” It makes no difference what you know, or what you are, or where you stand.
In the sight of God there is no difference among us, except by virtue of a commission. After the day of Pentecost, never again did the disciples argue over who was the greatest. That issue ceased to be. From that time on they went forth to do what God told them to do—by virtue of the anointing. They accepted one another on that basis. This will also solve all of our problems in relationships. I am nothing, you are nothing, everyone is nothing; God is everything. Paul nailed it down by saying, “So neither he that plants nor he that waters is anything, but God that gives the increase. As a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, but let every man take heed how he builds thereon” (I Corinthians 3:7, 10). Each of us will have to answer to God.
Let us be faithful stewards and believe for one another. I do not have to believe in you, for that means I must evaluate what you are right now; rather, I believe for you. The Word from God gives me a basis for my faith. I can believe for you, and it will not make any difference how you squirm under the dealings of God. Take that same attitude toward each other with all your heart.
We need to repent of attitudes we have had toward one another that are contrary to this Word. We will face God Himself if we do not heed this Word and change our attitudes. This change will lead to a perfect oneness, a oneness based upon conformity to the Word of God. Unity will be based upon the way we believe in the commission, the promises, and the Word. It is still a war over the Word. We cannot escape that truth. Everything starts and ends with a Word from God.