The Lord is speaking in this day about a joy that comes to strengthen the believer. That joy will be needed; otherwise the Body of Christ will bog down under the heaviness of the Word. The Word, although heavy, does not come to crush the people of God; it comes to open the door so that they can walk right into its fullness.
The Body of Christ is somewhat like a centipede that meets a mosquito. The little mosquito says, “Oh, it’s very interesting to look at you, Mr. Centipede. I see that you have one hundred legs. How rapidly your legs move! Tell me, Mr. Centipede, which leg moves first?” That question ends the centipede’s progress. When he stops and tries to analyze which leg he moves first, he is completely at a standstill. He has one hundred legs, and he does not know which one to move first!
Sometimes we begin to think about the process by which something is done, and then what was automatic becomes a process of thoughtfulness which causes us to freeze up. Sometimes it seems as if the whole Body has been given an analysis by the Holy Spirit on which foot to move first; we get overly concerned about how we should move into new things. This analysis is not ultimately designed to take away our liberty; but it is part of our adjustment, for if we continue to do things by habit or by rote, we find that we make very little spiritual progress. Such a habitual process will not bring forth the pure Word of the Spirit.
When you travel in a strange area, you have to be very careful to follow the markings on the highways in order to get around. Anyone who is familiar with the highways drives by rote. Normally when something becomes a habit, you do not realize what you are doing, and the process becomes mechanical; it becomes a rut. There are times when the Body of Christ must stop and look at the markings on the freeway. Everyone must become accustomed to feeling and going through this reevaluation process, because the Lord is bringing His people by a path they have not known before. It is not possible to drive automatically through the worship services. There must be a continual reaching in to a new level. As the Body reaches a new level, it must stop and study it a bit.
The joy of the Lord and the blessings of the Lord come because we have many things to learn. Anyone can go through the same old motions and sing the same old songs; but people who walk in the Spirit will not want to sing the same old songs mechanically. They will not want to break forth in worship only to realize that they have been thinking about a thousand things other than the Lord. Such practices would lead them into a worse form than that of most ritualistic churches. Spiritual worship dare not be a form.
In worship, it is possible for a person to go through various forms. This has happened in the old order; but no one can go through a form without it being blasphemous. It is not possible to stand and sing in the Spirit unless your whole heart is in it. Worship is not a habit; it is not a ritual. God is bringing a remnant to a new day of speaking the Word of the Lord, and it is going to be a fresh new path to them. They have to war against this mechanical attitude. Any halfhearted worship must end in order for the church to truly be a ministering Body. Every member must be alert—alert to the Spirit, ready to move in the Spirit of the Lord, ready to prophesy, and not just mechanically say the same old words.
Prophesy a new level. Determine that the Body of Christ will be a people led by a pillar of fire. The Spirit is saying, “Move, brother! Bless My people. Strengthen their hands now. Get the joy of the Lord and do not let it be too heavy for them because it is not going to be a labor; it is going to be a joyful adventure into new realms that they have not entered into before.”
There is a need for God’s people to be liberated from that which is a dead habit and from that which is not aware or perceptive. If you want to tune in to the Lord, the first thing that you have to do is to become aware of Him. People can be standing before the Lord and even be somewhat attentive, but they often do not realize the blessings that are hanging over them. That is true of the ministries too. Often there are blessings hanging over them; all they have to do is pull them down, but they are unaware.
Do not allow yourself to become unaware of what is going on. The key to seeing visions is that you are looking for visions. The key to speaking the Word is that you are listening for the Word of the Lord. The key to moving in God is that you have your foot up, ready to take a step, and you are asking, “Where do I put it, Lord?” This alertness, this readiness that is instant in season and out of season, is the key to all moving.
There must be an alertness in you. Come alive to it; see what God is doing. Look, and if you cannot see anything, look anyway, because you will feel it. Most people do not have a special gift of spiritual sight as far as the optic nerve is concerned, yet many have the ability to look at a person and discern things about him. Your spirit bears witness; it gets a hold of something. You cannot continually come to the Lord and say, “Lord, give me a Word.” You must cry out, “Lord, let Your Word burn within me.” He will give you a Word. If you have a problem, say, “Lord, I have a problem,” and He will give you an answer. Seek and you will find; ask and you will come alive (Matthew 7:7). Do you want to be a prophet of the Lord? Act like a prophet of the Lord. Come alive; be alert to what God says you are going to be.
Ambition is a carnal quality; some people are ambitious to move. You may say, “Oh, I want to be seen, I’ve just got to function here.” Forget that! It is of the flesh. But there is another quality, a spiritual one, that has an eagerness about it. Real faith anticipates moving. “God has spoken words over me, and I’m going to move. Now, Lord; now, Lord.” You can anticipate without having ambition; it is a function that comes out of spiritual alertness. It is coming alive in the name of the Lord.
God speaks a great deal about people in the end time being asleep. It is the truth; they slumber. Paul wrote, …Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. Ephesians 5:14. They are asleep; their eyes are heavy; their ears are heavy; they are not getting the Word. Neither hot nor cold (Revelation 3:15), they are unable to see anything that is going on. But there is a remnant that is a contradiction to this age. There is a people who walk down the road alive and alert to God, ready to move in everything that God has for them.