It has been traditional for Christian believers to say, “I want to work for Jesus,” and to a large extent that is what we do; we work for Him. Our efforts are often tainted with human ambition; sometimes we are moved by more than divine initiative. After making his plans a man might say, as an afterthought, “Oh, by the way, Jesus, please bless my plans. Please bless the program that I’ve worked out. I have a great ministry that will make a lot of money, save a lot of souls, and create a lot of publicity to make me an important name; so please bless it, Lord.”
The traditional religious systems have much self-seeking in them, and we want to be careful that we do not fall into the same rut. If you are working for Jesus, you may lose out, because sooner or later you will divorce yourself from your oneness with the Lord. You are called to work with Him, not for Him.
The prophet Isaiah saw this day of the Kingdom and said, “Lord, Thou hast wrought all our works in us” (Isaiah 26:12). This means that God is working in you to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). It seems as if everything is initiated by the Lord. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8–10: For by grace are ye saved through faith … not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
We should not look around and wonder, “What good thing can I do for the Lord?” Instead, we should be in earnest prayer that the Lord will reveal to us what we should be doing. The greatest challenge we face right now in the Kingdom is that people are searching to find the perfect will of God and to do what God wants them to do, but they want to do it with the flow of the Spirit.
The greater works will not be invented by us. They will be worked through our hands; however, the enablement will come directly from the heart of the Father. We look for the signs, wonders, and exploits to come; but how careful we are that in every step we take, every move we make, and every day that we live we are praying, “Lord, direct us. We do not want to live this day at our own initiative.”
Ours is the initiative of faith, to be led by the Spirit of the Lord, not only in the large projects but also in the small day-to-day tasks that we do. God can direct us and give us guidance. In every venture set before us we ought to say, “This is the priority. This is the work we will do today. We set our hearts to do it.” How many times have we had a leading from the Lord and then postponed following it, only to find that the weather or something else prevented our doing it when we finally got around to it. It is good to bring the leading of the Holy Spirit and the direction of the Lord into the details of living our lives. The mark of maturity is reaching the place where we do what the Lord wants us to do, not what we want to do.
In one of Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances to the disciples, He told Peter, “When you were young, you girded yourself and went where you would. But when you become older, another person will gird you and take you where you would not.” This He spoke of Peter’s death (John 21:18–19). This is a difficult passage to understand. The main thought is this: When you are young, you take a lot of initiative to do many things, and the Lord winks and smiles on that, temporarily! But after He chastens you for a while, you come to the place where another girds you. The Body of Christ girds you about with protection, and you are taken into a direction that you would not normally have chosen.
If I could have chosen my own path, I would have remained in a place of obscurity, which I coveted and desired for many years. Very rarely has a picture of me appeared in a publication, and never at my encouragement. In 1951 the Lord spoke to us that man was not to be advertised, but His Word was to be proclaimed. We carefully obeyed that directive, and eventually we did not want to place any advertisements in the newspaper at all. Most papers are filled with the sensational claims of the latest “extraordinary ministry,” which only glorify the human vessel. People are not interested in reading an advertisement that says, “The Word of God is rich. Come and hear it.” Consequently we have remained more or less in an obscure position, avoiding as much as possible any publicity, newspaper articles, or interviews.
I think God has been pleased with those efforts, but now we have come to a place where something else is happening. Now we are being led in a path that we do not want, a path which will involve adverse publicity and persecution. All manner of evil is being spoken of this walk with God and its ministers. What can we do when we face such things? We realize that this is a time of maturity, and God is pleased to allow the persecution to come forth so that He can be glorified in it. We have little or nothing to say about it.
Actually it was the preaching and the magnifying of the Word throughout all these years which brought us to this place of personal persecution. The Lord Jesus Christ told His disciples, “If they accepted Me, they will accept you also. If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they accepted My Word, they will accept your word. If they rejected My Word, they will reject your word” (John 15:20). The real issue is over what God is speaking in the earth today.
How are we going to serve the Lord? Hopefully, we will constantly look to Him for guidance and direction in everything we do. Let this be our whole vision, the principle which we apply to every aspect of our lives.
At the present time we are being trained to wait on the Lord. Have you noticed that as you wait upon the Lord, there is less frustration and futility in the day’s work? This is because you are more in tune with the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes the day catches you as though you were a little cork in the waves; it dashes you about until you have no control over your day whatsoever. But as you wait upon the Lord, you seem to anchor yourself into the eternal purposes of God and into the works that He has before ordained for you to walk in. Then you find that you are led into situations where you are doing the will of the Lord. This is the mature state that we seek.
We are looking for the place in God where we are not the victims of assault, being battered to and fro. We are no longer to be children, tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the sleight and cunning craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Those things are not to affect us anymore. But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head (Ephesians 4:14–15). We reach into that dwelling place in God.
It is difficult to make the transition from being a child to becoming a son. When you are a spiritual child, you have a great deal of initiative over your life. As you come and go, seeking the blessing of the Lord, God always has “a breast for you to nurse at.” But when you reach maturity and enter into the battle of Canaan to possess your inheritance, the manna ceases, and from that time on you eat of the corn of the land. You go in to possess what God has for you; but in order to obtain it, first you must kill a few giants. You will eat, but only after you have entered into the warfare and battled for the food.
When the Israelites entered Canaan under Joshua, they ate of the old corn of the land. However, they did not slip in and steal it; they possessed it. There was a time, in their immaturity, when twelve men were sent to spy out the land (Numbers 13:25–33). They were all deeply impressed, but only two had a good report. The spies returned with a bunch of grapes so large that it required two men to carry it. Can you imagine how fruitful that land must have been? They had raided somebody’s vineyard to steal the grapes, for at that time they did not possess the vineyard. However, the time came when God said, “This is all yours. It belongs to you.” Then, in their maturity, they strove to possess what God said was theirs. In their immaturity, which often led to chastisement, judgment, and destruction, they said, “Oh, we can’t do this; we can’t do that.” They always evaluated their situation by limiting God to their limitations. They limited God to their limitations.
The second generation responded differently. When God commanded them to possess the land, they said, “Fine, we’ll do it! We can do it.” They did not impose upon God any of their weaknesses. They believed that God would enable them to do what He told them to do. They were led by the Spirit of the Lord.
In some instances, they even had cooperation from the forces of nature! Do you remember how the hornets came and helped them? (Joshua 24:12.) What a nice little troop of bombers to have on your side! Imagine the hornets coming from all over Canaan to chase away the enemy, just when he was getting the best of you. On another occasion, Joshua’s troops were prevailing in the battle and the sun was going down, which would have allowed the enemy to be scattered. So Joshua made the sun stand still for about twenty-four hours while he got the job done (Joshua 10:12–14).
That is exactly what the Lord wants us to see. The miracles will be done. They will be done when we step out by faith to do what God tells us to do. If we do not have enough resources, or enough strength, or enough wisdom to do it, then God will move on the scene and help us.
Recognize that it is not working for the Lord, but working with the Lord that is effective. We are working with the Lord. This is the key to great victories.
In I Corinthians 3:4–8, Paul talked about the various apostles and how the Corinthians had received them. In verse 9 he said, For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (The King James translation reads, For we are labourers together with God.) We are God’s fellow-workers. We are destined to work with God. In II Corinthians 6:1, Paul wrote again about working with God. And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain. II Corinthians 5:20: Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
The apostles saw themselves as channels, recognizing that God within them was doing the works. They were working with God; they were not working for Him. They refused to engage in activities that in their thinking were apart from God. They did not try to do God’s work for Him. Neither do we want to do God’s work for Him. He does not need us to do His work for Him; instead, He needs us to be channels through whom He can work, which is quite a different thing.
This principle can apply to almost every activity. In our prayers we sometimes go through a phase in which we almost throw rocks at God, shouting, “God, come on, get with it; be God to us.” When we reach the mature state, our intercession will change. We will have waited on God to such an extent that when we pray, we will be speaking the very prayer that Christ, in His intercession, is speaking. We will speak what the Spirit is speaking, with groanings too deep for words.
In Romans 8:16–17 Paul teaches us: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him. Notice the key phrase of Romans 8: “with Him.” We suffer with Him; Paul did not say that we suffer for Him. We will also reign with Him. How can this phrase “with Him” become real to you in all that you do? What is the meaning of working “with Jesus” rather than “for Jesus”? If you do some foolish thing and you suffer for it, there is not much reward. But as you do the will of God and people come against what God is doing, then you are suffering with Him. Your obedience to work with Christ will open the door for you to enter into His authority with Him, and then you will take dominion over the situation and see it changed. At that moment there will be a manifestation of sonship! Suffering with Christ is the open door for His authority to be manifested, for you to sit on the throne of authority with Him.
Consider Paul and Silas at Philippi when they were beaten because they were doing the will of the Lord (Acts 16:9–26). They were working with the Lord; they had gone to Macedonia in the will of God. They had seen a vision of a man saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” They immediately sailed across the Aegean Sea to Macedonia, entered into one of its principal cities, Philippi, and began to minister. That obedience got them into trouble. As they were doing exactly what God wanted them to do, they were seized, dragged into the marketplace, beaten, and imprisoned. In the prison, Paul and Silas were singing praises to the Lord, because they knew that they were obediently walking with the Lord. That is when the Lord sent the earthquake and opened the doors, setting them free. Physically, they may have been in a jail cell, but in reality they were on the throne with Christ, because they were working with Him; they were tuned in with Him.
It was said of Christ, as well as of David, “The reproaches of those who reproached thee have fallen on me” (Romans 15:3). That is exactly what is happening to us now. Paul wrote to Timothy, “Be a partaker with me of the suffering. Don’t be ashamed! Don’t be ashamed of me for what I’m going through, because it is all for Christ’s sake” (II Timothy 1:8). The apostolic ministry today could deliver the same exhortation to the young Timothys coming forth: “Don’t be ashamed of me. Don’t be ashamed of what I’m going through. I do not want to be led in this path, but I am going through it because I have been doing the will of the Lord.”
The persecutions have been building up steadily since the day that God gave the absolute direction for the way the churches and the ministries were to move. It is inevitable that persecutions will come, but it is also inevitable that we are going to reign with Him. We suffered with Him—not for Him, but with Him. Now we are going to reign with Him. What rich truth!
In Romans 8:23–27 we read: And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one also hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. (Paul was referring to that deep churning and yearning within the spirit.) And in the same way (it is part of the same process) the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should. Even though you have a great initiative in intercession, do you ever walk away from it, saying, “We still don’t know how to pray as we ought to. We still don’t know what to do.” But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
It is beautiful to see that we are not praying to God, as much as we are praying with God. The Spirit of God within us is interceding, and even when we do not know what to say, He does. He who searches the heart knows what the Spirit within us is praying for. He knows the mind of the Spirit. This brings us back to the fact that much of our intercession could be in tongues. If it is true that we do not know how to pray as we ought to, why not let the Spirit pray? When we speak in tongues, in the Spirit, we pray well; we give thanks well (I Corinthians 14:17). The Holy Spirit knows exactly what to say.
Does it seem as if praying in tongues would be taking a step backward in the restoration? I do not think so. The ability to use tongues in intercession is the very thing Paul was speaking about in I Corinthians 14 when he said, “I thank my God that I speak in tongues more than you all; yet in the assembly I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might teach others” (I Corinthians 14:18–19). The basic rule is to let everything be done to edify, to build up, to encourage. Avoid anything that seems foolish and does not draw everyone into the blessing. That is a good guideline to follow.
In this walk with God, we have been careful not to abuse tongues. However, when we have sessions of intercession, it would be good to give ourselves more to the use of tongues, letting the Spirit of God pray through us. After you have finished praying in tongues, you probably do not know what you said; yet surprisingly, there is a great release from futility and frustration, because the Spirit has prayed according to the mind of God; the intercession is coming forth. When you speak in tongues, you are not praying at God; you are praying with Him.
Another Scripture, Romans 8:34, will make this truth even more real to you: Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. If you think that intercession is out of order, remember that Christ’s great ministry now is to intercede. By His intercession, everything that He won on the cross will come into manifestation. Intercession, therefore, is as important as what He accomplished on the cross.
On the cross the provision was made. Through intercession, we acquire the possession of that provision. There are two phases to His redemptive work. Christ died for sinners, but that alone does not save them. When we intercede for them, we bring forth the second phase—the reality of that provision. Pray for one another. Hold fast to one another. Love one another. You will see greater results through intercession than by anything else you can possibly do.
Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God, interceding for us, and because of that we can say, like Paul, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Thy sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35–39. The Kingdom will come forth because the Lord possesses us, not because we are working for Him. The Kingdom will come, and intercession will be one of the great marks of it.
Each new move of God in the earth seems to bear a great deal of reproach in the beginning. When the Pentecostal movement came forth (which has now evolved into what is called the Charismatic movement), there was a great reproach upon tongues. This is no longer true, but it was then. Someone who spoke in tongues might be called a “Holy Roller.” That was what God was doing then, and I was a part of it. I have been very fortunate. Whenever God was doing something new, I was right in the midst of it, but amazingly, it was never popular. Then when God moved on and I moved on with Him into the next reproach, it seemed as though the people who had stayed behind suddenly became well thought of! It seemed to me as if I was always a part of things before their time of acceptance.
After tongues ceased to be a reproach, then the Lord began to restore prophecy, and there was a great deal of resistance and opposition launched against that. The Lord first brought singing in the Spirit during a period of revival in the mid-Forties. Many people were critical of it, even though it was a flow of the Spirit. When singing in the Spirit gave way to more acceptable ways of worship, such as the singing of psalms by individuals, it seemed for a time as if everything we were doing in this walk with God was acceptable.
Then the Lord began to give some prophecies, saying, “I’m going to bring forth intercession.” For almost two years we heard that. Then it started breaking loose; and today it is one of the chief causes of consternation, even within our own ranks. As we enter into the intercession, we say, “God, whatever You want to do, even if You want to make fools out of all of us with this intercession, we will go along with it.” We will not make it any other way. Everyone should recognize that the intercession is the mark of reproach in the Kingdom. It is part of the groaning of the sons of God to come into their glorious liberty. In fact, the intercession may become so pure that we will come together and find ourselves doubled over in travail, groaning before God, hour after hour. It may be purified into something that is quite different in its form from what we know now, but at least we know we are on the right track.
If we do not become stereotyped into a rut now, but instead we keep open to the Spirit as this intercession comes forth, then we will be groaning and crying out as the Spirit within us brings intercession that is beyond human words or expression. We will be linked with Him as He sits upon the throne, ever living to make intercession for us, so that He might save us to the uttermost and bring us forth into the glorious state of sonship. We will be linked with Him! The quickest way to move forward is to find out what God is doing and then yield yourself to be a channel of it. Yield yourself to be a channel of Him, a part of what He is doing.
This word tells us where we are going and explains a few truths to your heart. Is it still difficult for you to enter into the intercession? When you get into intercession, it is amazing how you express what is in you. Some may express rebellion; others, frustration or futility. Some use intercession as people formerly used tongues, to pump themselves up out of a state of defeat, or to cover up the fact that they are in a state of unbelief or defeat. This was done with tongues, and now some will try to do it with intercession.
Intercession should be an expression of faith. It should be an expression of what the Spirit wills to come forth in the earth. It should edify and build up. It bombards heaven because it stands in Christ’s victory. Christ’s rule in the Kingdom will begin within us first, as we yield to His authority in our hearts. Submission inevitably will yield itself into intercession. The more we yield to Christ, the more we flow in what He is doing; and the ministry of Christ now is intercession. We have an Advocate with the Father. We have the Paraclete, the Comforter, the One who comes to us. He is with us and shall be in us (John 14:16–17).
This is the whole key to the New Testament. The disciples were not allowed to go out and preach even one sermon until they had been possessed by the Holy Spirit. Christ told them, “Wait until you are filled with the Spirit of the Lord” (Luke 24:29). He did not choose people because of their excellent talents and abilities; He picked them to be channels! At best, we too are to be channels. One plants, another waters, and God gives the increase. He who works is nothing; it is God who gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:6–7).
After they received the Holy Spirit, the disciples moved out of their egotism; no longer did they argue over who was the greatest. They argued about that before the cross, but after they had been possessed by the Holy Spirit, that was never again an occasion for argument. In their carnality other people may have argued over it, but not the apostles. They knew that they were nothing more than channels. The prayer life of the apostles was fantastic, because they realized that they were channels for prayer. Paul said, “I do not cease day and night to give thanks for you and to make intercession for you” (Ephesians 1:16). It was a continual ministry.
Anything that we see brought forth in the Holy Spirit will never be perfected or established in the earth without that intercession.