Sometimes when God brings us His Word, it devastates us and we may even overreact to it, to the point of thinking that everything we have been doing is wrong. Although this is not true, it sometimes appears that way, especially when the Word is a fresh expression of a truth that we have not yet come to grips with in our own experience.
This teaching to Timothys and to teachers is that kind of Word. It contains many Kingdom Proverbs and will probably be used as a guideline for spiritual relationships and communication from now on. It is probably a key that can help Shiloh and the Kingdom schools more than anything else. It can also help every student and every teacher. It can certainly help every preacher and every one of the sheep.
The old Adamic nature of the male has a tendency to drive off or kill the younger male. We see many illustrations in the Bible of what we call “sibling rivalry.” It originated soon after Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden. When Cain slew his younger brother, he could well have said, “Am I my younger brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:8–9.) Remember that it was Joseph’s older brothers who threw him into a pit and sold him as a slave; in fact, some wanted to kill him (Genesis 37:18–28). In the parable of the prodigal son, we read that the older brother was the only one who was critical of the prodigal son (Luke 15:25–30).
We all remember the story of David and Goliath, but we may not remember how young David’s brothers accused him of mischief, of being a naughty boy away from home, when he brought food to them in the army camp (I Samuel 17:17–28). It is strange that they could be around David so long, and David could even be anointed by Samuel to be the king, yet his brothers chided him before he strode down in the valley and slew Goliath. The first conflict between Isaac and Ishmael arose when Ishmael laughed and mocked Isaac (Genesis 21:8–10).
Malachi ends with these verses: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.” Malachi 4:5–6. The stronghold to be broken before we see futility loosed from creation is the tendency in the Adamic nature which still causes the older to destroy the younger, even when the younger is set to edify the older.
Let me express something very frankly concerning my spiritual sons. My spiritual sons who have come up directly under me have had less of a spirit of criticism to overcome than have my spiritual sons who originated under other ministries. Sometimes this critical spirit was so deeply ingrained that it took years to get rid of it. It manifests itself in different ways, such as sarcasm, criticism, and harshness, and is a serious drawback whenever it is manifested.
I am not defending my spiritual sons, except to say that they have been far less critical of other ministries than other ministries have been of them. Yet many of them entered into the battle years before most of the others entered into it. Some of them have gone so far and so deeply into it that it is difficult, even for those who are closest in this family of God, to understand what they have experienced.
It is important that you grow up with a spiritual father or a spiritual older brother who does not relate to you with that same Adamic spirit we have seen in the Word, where the older brothers lorded it over the younger ones. How much initiative does a son have who can never do anything right in the sight of his father? A last frontier of futility in the relationships within this end-time walk in the Spirit is the despair, the intimidation, and the conditioning caused by an older brother, by a teacher, or by a spiritual father who instills the attitude that you cannot do anything right or that your best is not good enough. When there is futility and frustration in the leader himself, he usually fails to see the divine potential in a little one. This futility and frustration in the leader causes him to nitpick at the negative things he dislikes.
A good leader is far more critical of himself than he is of his followers. A leader cannot lead the sheep very well until he ceases to be on the defensive with them, and he is motivated only by compassion for them. Either he will have divine, consistent compassion, or else there will be subjective, continual criticism. It will be one or the other. Leadership is of such a nature that you will either lead people in compassion, or you will try to get them to stay in line by threats of rejection. A leader leads by love or by fear.
No doubt one of the problems parents have is that they do not love their children enough. They are cowed by their children. The Scriptures tell us that the fear of man makes a snare (Proverbs 29:25). Some parents are afraid of their children; others, in their defensiveness, destructively dominate their children. I can give you an illustration of this. It takes a lazy drunk to come home and beat up a good woman and his children, because he is on the defensive, because he senses his own failure. And it takes a feeling of inadequacy in a teacher to be sarcastic with the children. This continual, subjective criticism can come from anyone who has been called to be a leader. It can come from an elder or a pastor. It is the failures that roar the loudest. With a defensive action they rely upon human adequacy instead of trusting the Lord. It is an insecure mother who becomes jealous and critical of her daughter.
We want to see the harvest of the Kingdom come forth. The problems of the young are exceeded only by the problems of the older. When the problems that start with the apostolic ministers are solved, then you will see how fruitful we will be throughout this entire walk with God.
The older we are, both in the Lord and chronologically, the more responsible we should be to lead and to be mature. Those of us who are older face something unique which the young people do not have to face: We must repent of our failure to learn when we had the opportunity. The young face the need for discipline. They must have a dedication to relate to everyone who can communicate to them the wisdom, motivation, and inspiration they need. I think God has been good to me in teaching me how to withdraw from those who assumed authority, and He led me to seek out true ministries of authority who could give me the wisdom, inspiration, and motivation I needed.
In times past, a king beheaded the wise and the strong because they were a threat to him. That was human nature. It is still human nature for a leader to suppress and intimidate what he cannot completely control. We still have problems of communication in this walk with God. The minute someone does not think the way you think, the human, Adamic nature takes it as a threat and says, “Oh, you can’t do that!” Don’t you understand that God is bringing forth a diversified Body?
Do you feel that there is overkill in this Word? There may be some, but the Word is intentionally strong. There will be much more truth to come that you can stumble over. This is the only way we will see results. The best teacher is always a learner. He listens.
The pride of position grows subtly in every climate. The disciples had it when they argued over who would be the greatest (Luke 22:24). The pride of position can dull the sensitivity of comprehension. This is why the most educated are often the greatest fools and the most inferior teachers of spiritual truths. Perhaps you had a teacher in school who was very well educated, yet he was your worst teacher. This was because the pride of position dulls the sensitiveness of comprehension.
We are ready for change, as we prepare to bring in people from the community. We want to strengthen the churches that exist, and also build others. Heeding this teaching will make our pastors, prophets, and teachers the best to be found anywhere. Humility in a leader will allow him to assume authority, but reject any conflict with the follower. He will not accept any contest, any rivalry. He will reject conflict with the follower. The spirit of conflict, of contention, and of sarcasm are general evidences that the leader is not actually leading and the follower is not learning.
Two passages of Scripture in Paul’s Epistles to Timothy deal with this. Do not fail to read them carefully. I Timothy 6:3–6: If any one advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness actually is a means of great gain, when accompanied by contentment.
II Timothy 2:23–26: But refuse foolish and ignorant speculations, knowing that they produce quarrels. And the Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
We need to be concerned about leadership, because we still have a confused idea about it. This does not mean that I am asking you to see me now in a different light. To me it is a thing of wonder that many who would lay down their lives for me still do not understand what I am doing. It involves more than teaching you many truths. If you stop and think of it for five minutes, you will realize that probably no one on this earth loves you any more than I do.
Our familiarity with the children leads us to so magnify their little idiosyncrasies and problems that we do not see them with a prophet’s eye. We do not see their potentials. Consequently, we become negative and dwell upon what is wrong, and tell the child what to do. This applies to the schools, but it applies also to Shiloh and to the churches. When we forcefully tell children what to do, this may have a legalism in it which is not good. A good leader does not command the way to go; rather, he teaches the followers the principles so that they can find their own way.
A prophet has failed if his hearers do not learn to hear the voice of the Lord for themselves. He is not a prophet if he has not brought forth others who can hear the voice of the Lord themselves. In the Kingdom, the positive aspect of the prophet and teacher will be greater than the negative aspect where he tells everyone what to do. He will teach people how to hear the voice of the Lord. Then the prophecy of Isaiah 54:13 will be fulfilled: “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord.”
The true miracle worker shapes the young, faithful heart into the wonder of Christ’s will for him; but the pastor or teacher will fail if he only creates a facsimile of himself and a conformity to his own thinking. We want to work the miracle in the children so that Christ’s will comes forth in them; but if all we have done when we finish teaching them is to produce someone like ourselves on the human plane, with conformity to our thinking, we have failed.
A good teacher is forever bonded to his pupil, whereas a poor teacher will find that his pupil soon seeks to escape from his authority. The pupil builds up resentment to the submission and conforming to disciplines which are only shackles, and do not serve the purpose of opening the door of learning and of becoming. This frustration can lead to rebellion. The pupil will have to fight having a bad spirit, as he strives to get out from under the authority of that teacher or pastor.
Sometimes a pastor asks me an honest question that before God I have been apprehensive to answer. He asks, “Why is it that people want to leave my church, but no one ever asks to come to my church?” It is because this pastor demands that the elders, the ministries, and the people be submissive to him, and he aggressively complains when they are not submissive. Again this principle applies: A good teacher is forever bonded to his pupil; however, the pupil of a poor teacher soon seeks to escape the authority of his teacher, and he builds up resentment to the submission and the conforming disciplines he is put under because those disciplines do not unlock the door of learning and of becoming what he strives to be. Usually the problem is a matter of a basic lack of love. Many who become school dropouts were originally sincere searchers; but they were ignored, rejected, intimidated, and repulsed when they reached for help, and so eventually they ran away from it. A good teacher bonds with the students.
We have received much teaching concerning relationships and communication; but I think we need to review it all again. That teaching is needed for Shiloh, for the Kingdom schools everywhere, for the Kingdom businesses, especially for the Kingdom churches, and for the families where there is still a conflict of association without oneness, or an association that falls short of oneness. Do you have this conflict and confusion that exists in an association that falls short of oneness? It may be found in your family and personal life, and also in areas such as Shiloh, the Kingdom schools, the Kingdom businesses, the Kingdom churches.
The apostolic company has problems relating with the pastors; the pastors have problems relating with the apostolic company, etc. This is the last frontier of futility, that in every association—teacher and pupil, pastor and people, ministries and people, apostolic company and churches—we learn to relate. For years God has prepared us with teaching on oneness, relationships, and communication, yet we still do not communicate and relate as we should. We still fall short of oneness!
In the animal world, the older males often kill the younger males or drive them off, sometimes by intimidation. This is why the big male lion roars. He thinks that perhaps there will not be a fight; perhaps the younger lions will run away. This tendency to intimidate is found also in the Adamic nature of man. The older one intimidates or suppresses anyone who is younger or lesser in development than himself.
In the Kingdom of God, the Timothys should not have to fight the ministries who father them, nor should the Timothys challenge those appointed to lead them. What a difficult position we are in! Often the most difficult counsel for a frustrated young person to accept is this: “You go home and make peace with your parents.”
Sarcasm is the cesspool of the human nature. The flesh nature of an individual is always sarcastic to someone in a lesser place. Whenever relationships start breaking down, you get this feedback. The first grader harasses the kindergartner, and he himself is harassed by the second grader. That damnable tendency in human nature goes all the way up the ladder, until finally the teachers in higher education are still making sport by putting down the postgraduate students whom they teach. The fact that this Word is coming means that this sarcastic tendency must end now! We have learned how to appropriate. When we hear a truth and it hits our hearts, there must be instant repentance. This will bring a release.
The following truth will never be very popular: The mark of a good relationship is humility in the teacher as well as in the pupil. If that humility comes because of intimidation or fear, the relationship is always wrong. But if the humility is with compassion and concern on the part of both pupil and teacher, then their faith will explode into the most creative relationship that God has ever brought forth. Oh, the miracle of a pupil sitting at the feet of a humble teacher! Humble compassion, where neither one is tainted or conditioned by the venom of bitterness or defensiveness, opens the door for an exchange of questions and answers between pupil and teacher.
Every one of us faces the problem of being on the defensive, don’t we? When we are thrown into a position by commission and an impartation of authority, we usually feel very inadequate. We do not know how to get the job done. It is more than we can handle emotionally. Yet we dare not have fear, for then we will wall off the one we are to help, or else we will adopt a condescending pose and an artificial superiority over him.
Here is a good formula: Humble faith will reduce your ego in the sight of anyone who is under you spiritually, whether it is a child in the school or someone in the church. Then you will become his friend and an oracle of God. How great is the teacher who walks humbly with a child! Do you remember how even the disciples sent the children away? Do you drive them away? Do you drive away your own children?
Let me try to explain something which is difficult to put into words. The older ones fear the flesh nature that they see coming up in the younger ones, and so they get out some boards and a hammer and nails in order to crucify it. But you cannot crucify the flesh in a child. You can only lead him in faith to appropriate this change for himself. If you force a child by saying, “We are going to crucify this old flesh; I am going to nail you down, son!” it will not work. Even after you have worked to crucify the flesh in yourself, you still see a few roots left; and this makes you fearful. You know the exceeding great threat that the flesh has been in your life; and you do not want it to ruin the lives of the younger ones. But they must experience its crucifixion for themselves. Nevertheless, it is good that we all fear the harvest of the flesh. This is a good, healthy state.
There are none too young and none too old, however, to exhort another, humbly and with compassion. It always requires great submission and faith to speak, and it always takes great submission and faith to hear. We must all be free (Galatians 5:1). A teacher does more than teach facts to the children; unfortunately he imparts to them a measure of his own bondage. The teachers must be free. A free teacher fosters a free student who can soar to the limitless space of his full potential. But the teacher who is not free cannot bring the student into freedom.
The freedom to learn is an effect; a free teacher is the cause. A free Kingdom, free sons, free Timothys are always the result of a free apostle. You have heard this truth for years; and this is why you keep praying, “Loose our apostle!” The more I become free, the more you become free.
When we pray the apostle or the teacher out of his bondage, then a thousand prison doors will be opened to those who have stood with him and prayed for him. Was this not also true of the Apostles in the early Church? (Acts chapters 4, 5, 12, etc.)
This Word applies to everyone—those who are being led and those who are learning to lead. Let no one justify himself, because no one is excused. We all need a fresh vision of it. I am in this position too. If we attack this hill—the last frontier of futility to be broken in the relationships within the Body of Christ—then everything else will lay open before us to possess.
In the final analysis, there are no perfect teachers but one—the Lord Himself. All the rest of us must be humble students who will break the bread of truth together while we ask wisdom from Him who gives to us liberally and upbraids us not (James 1:5). No wisdom is greater than that which perceives its areas of ignorance and hungers with an unquenchable thirst to know, even as we are known. “In Him alone are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3); and we reach into Him.
Sometimes we forget the spiritual qualities of wisdom. The first spiritual gift listed in I Corinthians 12 is the gift of wisdom (verse 8). We must remember that wisdom is a gift, an endowment. This should take away the conceit of wisdom. God calls the wisdom of this world foolishness (I Corinthians 3:19). The true wisdom, which will bring forth the Kingdom of God, is an endowment. It is a gift which must be imparted to us if we would teach others. Wisdom must come as a divine impartation through us to those whom we teach.
Notice that I am using the word “teach” rather than “preach.” Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will come and will teach us all things (John 14:26). People usually speak of the anointing of the Spirit to preach, but the great anointing of the Spirit comes to teach. “All thy children shall be taught of the Lord” (Isaiah 54:13). May the Lord give us an understanding heart, and then give us the key to unlock hearts to understanding. As we face the time of evangelism, we see that in some communities the people are locked into old conditionings and ways of thinking. If these people are challenged and threatened and intimidated by the Word we bring them, we will never win them. Let us heed the admonition of Proverbs 4:7: Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
A Word like this always brings forth a reaction. It may bring results that the preacher did not expect. After he has finished, the sheep may be lying on the floor bleeding, while the goats are jumping up and down in the pews, shouting “Amen.” In other words, those who needed the Word passed it off, and the ones who did not need it so much were sorrowing over it. Would to God we could all receive this Word, knowing that there is something in it for each one of us. Potentially, every one of us is a teacher with authority and commission; we will all be teaching others. Yet every one of us is also a student at the feet of the Lord.
We learn more by observing the disciplines of those who are over us in the Lord than we do from what they tell us. I pray that my life will be such that when people see how the Lord has chastened it and brought it under His will, they will submit to the same process in their lives. A true teacher has disciplined himself to learn, and by his example he teaches his pupil the disciplines of learning and becoming. A teacher who is undisciplined in his emotions, in his time, in his goals, and in his spirit will impose useless disciplines upon the students, because of his ignorance and lack. Those disciplines will produce in the students a frustrating drudgery and a very shallow comprehension of what they are doing. This is followed by a resistance to learning, a hostility to knowledge. We see this situation out in the world, too. That is why many children dread going to school.
I would like to see Shiloh become the perfect climate for learning and becoming for everyone there. Would it not be wonderful if people could come to Shiloh and find that their problem is not the leaders? When we use the word “leader,” we mean anyone who has been commissioned to do something, anyone who has authority. Could you say that in every area—whether Shiloh, or a local church, or a Kingdom school, or a Kingdom business—most of your problems have been in relating to those over you? Does this mean that this teaching is only for the leaders? Not necessarily. The problem exists on both sides. You who are students or Timothys may be causing the problem. You may be an explosive, wandering around waiting for someone to step on you so that you can explode. When you unlock the door for yourself, you have the key that will unlock everyone else’s doors.
Wisdom must be appropriated before it can be disseminated. Before you can go out to sow the seed, you must first have the seed. You cannot scatter or disseminate it until you have it. You cannot give what you have not taken. But if you have taken all that you are able to take, then by faith you can give a double portion to a student or a follower, to one who looks to you for help, even as Elijah gave to Elisha (II Kings 2:9–10).
Persistent, humble seeking doubles the ultimate appropriation. “To him who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance” (Matthew 13:12). If you neglect any gift, you will lose it. Use it, and you increase it. Thirst and drink, and you will become a river (John 7:37–38). With faith let us reach up to God and say, “I know that I can be a follower and I can be a leader, but not in myself. If I have faith, I can be anything that God wants me to be.”
“Wisdom is justified of her children” (Matthew 11:19). Prophets will produce prophets, and teachers will produce teachers, but the one who refuses to learn will produce nothing. The fearful, defensive heart is always barren. The compassionate shepherd or teacher is the fruitful one. A person can detect, even beyond the words you speak, the love you have for him. An unconcerned teacher becomes barren. With the wisdom of God in us, we will be fertile, bearing a thousand sons. When there is indifference and unconcern where the house of God and the things of God are concerned, the harvest is death.
The beautiful definition of love, found in I Corinthians 13, gives this as the bottom line: “Love never fails” (verse 8). Whenever we fail in being submissive, or in leading, or in manifesting authority, it is because we lack love. If we have love, we will never fail. There will never be a failure where there is His love.
Love keeps pulling people in. Love removes the threat of being rejected and gives us the assurance of being accepted in the Beloved (Ephesians 1:6). When someone is overwhelmed with condemnation over what he has done and you pray with him, you will find that he does not despair, but that godly sorrow works a repentance not to be ashamed of (II Corinthians 7:10).
Where the Word or the teaching fails in love, the threat of expulsion or rejection is often substituted. This is not the spirit of a Kingdom school! We know that our children must be disciplined to some extent; however, the threat of being excommunicated or expelled will not hold children. They must be assured that they will be disciplined and trained, but also that they will still be accepted in spite of their problems.
Rebukes must come once in a while, but let us follow the pattern of the New Testament. Most of it is phrased, not in rebukes, but in exhortations: “Lift up the people! Call them in a little closer to the Lord!” Faith, hope, and love must be mingled in as necessary ingredients with everything you teach (I Corinthians 13:13). Although a rebuke in love is often necessary, sometimes it is the exhortations of visions and inspirations that will provide the sun and the rain, as well as the weed-killing hoe, that carefully tend a young heart and mind so that the Word of God can bring forth a hundredfold in his life.
Let us face it—all children are somewhat of a mess. But we would have no concept of what a mess is if we had not once been one to some degree. In the book of Titus we read how the older are to relate to the younger, how the brothers are to relate to the sisters, how the older women are to relate to the younger women, and what the elders should be in a New Testament church. This makes us realize that this Word the Lord is bringing has been in His heart for a long time. Yet we are just now beginning to find this phase of it springing to light for us.
Every minister who has come up under me knows that I have never trained him to imitate me or to do things the way I do them. No doubt I am unique in this respect. Billy Sunday always had a lot of little Billy Sundays in his wake, Aimee McPherson produced a lot of little Aimees, and Billy Graham has many little Billy Grahams around. It is considered a form of flattery to develop the mannerisms and even to add some presentations of those who have taught them. But I am boldly making this statement: A pupil who is only an imitator of his teacher, who voices only a conformity to his teacher’s ideas and attitudes, is a living evidence of the failure of the teacher. In the Body of Christ there is to be a diversity in the members that come forth (I Corinthians 12:12–20). I am calling for a little more understanding, a little more initiative and wisdom, because each one is to have a distinct and unique ministry.
I am aware that people have different backgrounds. They think differently and have a different vision, a different commission and anointing upon them. The day that Shiloh makes everyone come out of one mold is the day we have failed miserably. Of all places in the world, the school and the church at Shiloh, with its disciplines, should break us out for the first time so that each distinct, individual ministry in the Body of Christ will really come forth.
Shiloh should be the one place you can break through. Do not insist that the people all intercede or sing alike. Do not look at their little idiosyncrasies and say, “You have to get over that! You all have to be alike.” That is like saying, “Everyone is going to come out of Shiloh with a certain stamp on him as though he had come off a conveyor belt.” This is what seminaries and Bible schools and denominations try to do. They say, “This is our creed and our liturgy. Follow our format. Do things our way.” That is Babylon’s attitude; it is never ours.
Just about the time God’s people think they have everything all worked out, someone like John the Baptist comes on the scene and dispels their idea. Because he was of the priestly order, John the Baptist could have been in the Temple, wearing the priestly robes and serving. Instead he was out in the desert, wearing a leather girdle and eating locust pods and wild honey (Matthew 3:1–4). He did not hesitate to denounce and rebuke the religious orders of his day. He was not afraid of insulting or offending anyone. No one could cut off his salary. No one could excommunicate him and put him out of a church or a denomination. He was preaching in the wilderness.
You may not know it, but we are also in a wilderness. So let us not try to build another Babylon of conformity. Remember that conformity contains the word “form.” Conformity always leads to a form. We want only one kind of conformity—to come forth in His likeness (Romans 8:29). (Even with this definition, I would prefer that we use a term other than “conformity.”)
I do not want you to come forth in my likeness or in your brother’s likeness. I would like to see the individuality, the creativity, the inspiration come forth. Change does not mean that you will all be alike. Change means that the impasses and barriers will be removed so that you can move in God’s perfect will for you.
True faith always has an element of repentance in it. This does not mean that you put yourself down; rather, you continually repent for not appropriating the fullness of the Lord’s provision. Faith always incites you, “The Word promises you more!” Even while your faith reaches up, you need to repent that you have not appropriated more of what the Lord has provided for you.
The spirit of Shiloh is being voiced throughout the land. But I am not satisfied with it and neither are you. We are striving to break through, and we will break through. We begin with the faith which repents for not having appropriated more. When there is true revelation, there is also perpetual repentance. Anyone who has received true revelation from the Lord will not react by becoming pompous and arrogant. Instead, he will repent, because he sees the Lord and His promises as being far greater than his limited appropriation of them. When you see the Lord high and lifted up, your first reaction is, “Woe is me” (Isaiah 6:1–5). Deep repentance comes because you see His greatness and His promises. Conversely, arrogance and pride generally indicate a lack of revelation.
The deep dealings of the Lord often bring a revelation of your own immaturity. Just about the time a leader feels adequate and mature enough to lead others, the Lord may put him in a place where he needs help more than anyone he has been teaching. His sensing his immaturity is actually a revelation of his inadequacy for the next step. Realizing that he is immature does not mean that he must put himself down. He says, “I do not have enough maturity, or wisdom, or faith to make the next step.” And this is where repentance begins.
When people discover their lack, they respond with one of two extremes. One is self-condemnation. A Word on love, for example, smites them and they feel utterly condemned. They say, “It is true. I don’t have enough love. I should love the people more. I have failed.” Many are caught up in this kind of self-condemnation. But self is a hydra-headed monster. It has another aspect: self-justification. This is conveyed when people take the attitude, “I have been doing the best I can. You cannot condemn me for what I am not.”
These are the two extreme reactions: self-condemnation and self-justification. Only deep, lasting repentance will eliminate both of these human extremes, so that you will neither condemn yourself nor justify yourself. Repent before God for what you are not. Then reach out with great expectation to become what you are not. You repent of the lack because you want to be the kind of servant to the Lord who can minister. We want to be able ministers of His new covenant (II Corinthians 3:6).
Let us believe that our intercession will be filled with greater love. Believe that in every function, both the leaders and the sheep will find a deep meeting with God, a baptism with the compassion of Christ. There is not actually anything wrong with us; it is the things that are not right with us that we want to eliminate. “Harmartiology” is the study of sin. Harmartia is a Greek word, meaning “You missed the mark.” We usually think of sin as doing something wrong. There is also a kind of sin which does not mean that you did something wrong, but you did not do it right; or, if you did do it right, you could improve upon it.
We are falling short of what we could be. If you have the vision and revelation of this, then you can reach into the kind of repentance in which you do not condemn yourself as though you were an unbeliever, but you repent because you have not appropriated more of His fullness and you are not yet more in His likeness. You will repent because you are not a greater channel of His love. You will repent that you do not have more love and more faith. You will repent that you do not have more revelation over those you lead and over those who lead you.
How could our worship services be improved? There should be less emphasis on the format—what we teach and the songs we sing—and greater emphasis on the faith that each one has, to bring right into the service more of God’s presence and the awareness of it, as well as more of His love. Is this something the preacher should do? No, you do it!
The sanctuary is only a building. You must bring the presence of the Lord into it. Having an excellent format for the services is not enough. Let this be your attitude: “However a service is led, I am determined that it will bring a revelation of the Lord. His presence will be real. I believe that it will be real to me, to those on either side of me, to those in front of me, and to those behind me. The Lord’s presence will be disseminated throughout the congregation.” Let us take this attitude into the schools, into the Kingdom businesses, and into every local church.
Would you honestly admit, whether you are leader or follower, that the one thing you need more than anything else is the deep encouragement of love? that you want more love for those who follow you and look to you, as well as for those who lead you? that you want to receive more love from them also? This is what we all want.
When you add vinegar to a certain formula, the result will be much different than if you add sugar. When someone exhorts you harshly, you may know that he is telling the truth, yet you are aware also that he is not speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). No doubt something was festering in his heart which had been building up for a long time, and he wanted to erupt with it. How should you respond? Tell him, “Oh dear brother, you are so right! Lay hands on me. Put your arms around me. Pray for me. Love me. Help me.” When he prays for you, he will have to do so with love and faith. Because he is forced to bring love and compassion into the situation, he will receive a greater blessing perhaps than you do. The love and the faith in our hearts will grow exceedingly if we want it to.
Over and over again the Lord has told us that the Kingdom is based on relationships. The Scripture in Luke 17:21 has been translated in various ways: “The Kingdom of God is in your midst”; “The Kingdom of God is within you”; “The Kingdom of God is among you.” However, it only comes forth as you relate to it.
This Word has not taken away our liberty, but it has brought us to a step of greater appropriation. Do not skip over this truth lightly. Determine that it will help you reach into a new depth of love, a higher level of faith, impartation, and appropriation.
Lord, we want greater love for our brother. When we see his need, we do not want to see it with criticism or a desire to judge, but with love and compassion and faith. Sometimes we have difficulty expressing this love. Lord, help us to do it. Give us a revelation of our brother. Let us see what You have for him, what You are doing for him. Show us how to show love. Teach us, Lord, how to minister love to one another with a greater faith than we have had.