Have your souls been content with that which is only half a measure and half a blessing, or hast thou come to the place where thy soul is stirred within thee to believe that the Lord shall give thee the double portion, that thy cup shall run over, that thou shalt say unto the Lord, “Behold, we cannot contain all Thy blessing.”
Wilt thou be content with half a victory? Wilt thou be content with walking in just a portion of what the Lord has revealed? Yea, the prophecies that have come—wilt thou rejoice greatly because half of them have come to pass? or wilt thou wait before the Lord and say, “O God, we shall contend earnestly till Thou hast restored the full measure of blessing unto our hearts.” Let there be a stirring in our hearts. Let there be that which does not allow anything in our thinking short of absolute, perfect victory in the name of the Lord.
“Those who mean business with the Lord, behold the Lord shall mean business with them. Those who have determined in their hearts that they will not accept a lesser portion than the full promise and intention and purposes of God—these are the ones that the Lord shall meet. Behold, thou shalt stand before the Lord and cry unto Him day and night. He shall bring deliverance unto all of His remnant. Not a hoof shall be left behind. All shall know the Lord and all shall enter into a total fulfillment of God’s promises.”
Does not the Word say, “Behold there remaineth much land yet to be possessed?” The Lord has made the provision, even as He hath given the promise. Yea, let there be a diligence in thy heart to appropriate all of it. Hath the blood of Jesus Christ availed for all sin, or for just part of it? Hath the Lord opened up a small measure of victory, or hath He said unto thee, “It is perfect, complete victory for thee in the name of the Lord”? Even in this hour of the Passover Feast, thou shalt believe in the Lamb that was slain for thee. Thou shalt contend earnestly to walk into all of that provision, every part of it. There shall be nothing within thee that shall not yield itself to the provisions of God, not one thing within thee that does not yield itself to the victories of the Lord Jesus Christ. Break up the fallow ground, until the Lord come and rain righteousness upon thee.
The Lord has chosen you to bring forth His glory. Are you expecting defeat? Then you will have it. Are you expecting His victory? You will have it. Make up your mind.
It is the cry of our hearts to have the capacity to draw from God. We want the faith to lay hold upon Him. We know the Lord’s provision is here, but we must overcome the fear that we cannot take hold of it or appropriate it fully and completely as we are supposed to. The Lord is doing battle with that kind of fear. The message speaks of the perfect, complete Passover. Not a part, but the whole commandment of God was to be followed. We need God to help us break down whatever is hindering that perfect appropriation. The woman who had been hemorrhaging for twelve years said, “If I can just touch the hem of His garment.” She did—and you can do it, too.
In the days of the great prophet Elisha, a siege was on in Samaria. The city was surrounded by an army and no one could get food from the outside, so the people turned to cannibalism. Two women killed a little child, cooked it, and ate it. It seems impossible that such a thing could happen, but it did. The king came to the prophet and blamed him for everything. But Elisha told him, “Tomorrow about this time, here in the gates of Samaria, they will be selling grain at just a small price.” The king’s aide said, “If the Lord would make windows in heaven, could that thing be?” The prophet told him, “You will see it, but you won’t eat any of it.” The next day, less than twenty-four hours later, it happened. Some lepers discovered that a noise sent by the Lord had driven the Syrians off. They went out and ate the food the Syrians had left and then went back to tell the people. The people were so hungry that when they heard about the food, there was a stampede out the gate. The king’s aide was standing at the gate looking in unbelief at what happened. But he never tasted the food. He was trampled by the people running out to get the food (II Kings 6:24–7:20).
See what can happen in twenty-four hours? Would you like to have the spiritual drought broken for you? Would you like to put off the old man and put on the new? Have you been trying to crucify the flesh and walk in newness of life? The provisions in the Word are workable and practical. If it seems that all the devils in hell are trying to stop our appropriation, it is only because the Lord is letting our faith be tested for a moment. We have experienced that. We are going to get into real deliverance, the real Passover. We are going to leave bondage behind. It will work because God’s Word is true.
We have seen it work partially, but we want to do violence to that; we want it to work as it should—one hundred percent. How will we do it? By getting rid of any unbelief. That is what delays everything. Get rid of rebellion. Open your heart to worship. Do not worry about what anyone else does; you worship God. Worship increases a man’s capacity for God more than anything else. Your capacity of faith and your capacity to move in God increases in direct proportion to your worship of the Lord. When you stand and worship the Lord, you will find it much easier to appropriate the work of the cross in your life. It just seems to happen. If you are not a worshiper of the Lord, you always have walls up. Worship is the best wall-demolisher I know of. When you take down those walls to God, it opens up a right spirit within your heart. Now is the time to expand your capacity and hunger after God. Increase it like a fire that you carefully tend and feed until it becomes a roaring inferno. We are going to move into everything God has for us.
It is almost staggering. We think, “Oh, we cannot do what we are supposed to do.” We not only can—we are doing it! It is not a vague possibility; it is happening.
I have watched people change when they were not even aware they were changing. The devil will try to convince you that nothing is happening. You are believing to change, yet it seems you are not changing. You were looking to God for something and it did not happen. Maybe it did, even though you did not see it. Things take place in the realm of spirit before they make their appearance in the physical realm. You know this is true. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Many times God has blessed my faith with the witness that I have the thing I have been seeking. So I carry it around in my pocket and every once in a while I take it out and look at it. It is unseen, but I have it. It is a substance, yet it has no density, no weight. I carry many invisible things in my pocket.
You are changing. Have faith in it. You are moving into a new day, a new realm. You are becoming a different person completely, as you leave the old things behind.
Sometimes you make more progress than appears to you. Just take faith and believe it is happening to you.
We are God’s people, but we will not be what God wants us to be as His instruments unless we lay hold with great faith on what He is setting before us. It is not enough to hear the doctrine or the principles or teaching; we must take hold of them. We have already had enough truth in this Feast of Passover to change the whole world. But we must continually battle against the level of truth being so high and the actual experience of it so limited. That has happened in too many other movements. What we preach, we want to walk in. What we hear, we want to appropriate as we hear it. We do not want a long process where we weigh it over in our minds trying to ascertain by deep deliberation the veracity of that truth. To hear it must be to walk in it.
All the deep praying is marvelous, but you will not be heard for your much speaking. You are going to be heard for your believing God. It is a battle you have to go through until nothing in the world can wipe you out or change your course and purpose. You determine to walk absolutely in the perfect victory of the Lord, as you appropriate fully what God has for you.
First of all, you need to rebuke your own emotions and moods. When you are distracted by the passing scene, you become upset and wipe yourself out, instead of just hanging on to the Word of the Lord. Be moved only by what God is saying to your heart. Do not be moved by your own emotions and feelings or by deep prejudice concerning a situation. God has given us a Word and we are going to walk in it. We are going to have everything He sets before us.
How do you go about praying about unbelief? What did Jesus do when the disciples did not believe? He rebuked them. Can we rebuke our own hearts of our unbelief? Can we command that everything within us—our minds, our spirits, our souls—believe the words of the Lord? Rebuke your unbelief in the name of the Lord.
Command the doubts and the fears out of your life. Then command your will toward faith. Do not forget that faith is not pumping up a mental assent to the truth. Saying, “I’m going to believe it, I’m going to believe it, I’m going to believe it,” is not faith. Faith is the determination to believe. You can believe what you want to believe. I will to believe the Word of God. Have you ever heard the statement, “The Word of God is not contrary to reason?” How ridiculous! Everything God ever said is contrary to human reason. Where does anyone get the idea that faith involves leaning on your own rationalization and reasoning of things? The Scripture says, “Lean not upon your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your heart” (Proverbs 3:5).
Faith is an act of the will. If the Spirit were to witness to me that the moon was made of green cheese, I would will to believe that the moon was made of green cheese. That is the way faith operates. Science says the world was created by an explosion. The Bible says it was created by God. I know that is not reasonable, but I will to believe that God made it. I am going to believe God’s Word, contrary to any evidence that my senses have ever had.
I believe in this walk with God even though I do not have any reasons for believing it. Every time God gives me a word and I start to walk in it—whack!—I get knocked flat. My reason would ask, “What kind of walk with God is that?” Every time an anointed word is spoken over me, devils come from behind every bush to attack me. What kind of God is that who gives prophecies that way? It is not reasonable. Nothing is reasonable except one thing: God is leading you to believe His Word and to set your heart upon it.
Your will must be absolutely set. This is necessary when you bless someone too. You do not bless anyone by the force of your emotions. The trigger of faith is your will, not your feelings. You draw from the Lord in the full authority of faith and send a blessing. If I get all excited and emotional and say to a brother, “I love you; I pray for you, my dear brother; I think it’s marvelous what God has done for you,” it does not really do much good. But if I come, determined to bless him, if I will to bless him as I reach out in the spirit and draw on the Lord, he will be blessed. He cannot be anything but blessed because in God I will to bless him. He must take the blessing of the Lord, not just as a little emotional experience, but as the strengthening and confirmation of his faith.
We must determine to be believers. The next time you start to reason things out and they seem to be unreasonable, remember this word. Until you become a real believer, everything you experience is just one time of chaos after another. Believe the Word of the Lord. Then the changes will come in your heart. Then your capacity for God will be increased and the Lord will bring new blessings and new experiences. Did you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law? The Passover messages speak about sin and repentance, but if you become legalistic and try to fix things up, you will wind up with a self-righteousness that will not work at all. Repentance is to lead you to a real experience in God and to the grace of God.
I am believing for many things to happen. Like Abraham’s Isaac, some things have lingered and are a long time in coming. We are aware that God must loose things for us in order for us to move in the will of the Lord. He has to loose many problems on the human level. I sense certain things that have to be done in my own life. I am not waiting for them to happen. I shall do everything to show my faith. I shall get out there and start walking and if God says there will be a bridge, it will be His problem to have the bridge under me and to keep me from falling in a hole. I am going to move out, and so are you. We will believe every word that He has spoken, and if there is any wavering, we are going to battle it.
There must be a determination to be a believer; otherwise you will wait for something to happen, and that is not faith. It may be hope, but it is not faith. We are going to have the faith that reaches into the provision and says, “It is mine. I take it.” We are positioning ourselves in God. Do you want a meeting with God? Then go out to meet Him.
In the name of Jesus Christ the Lord, we are going to be the kind of believers who will see witchcraft rebuked in this land. Nothing that is required of us will we count impossible, for God will enable us to do it. By faith, we have the provision for health, for strength, whatever material things we need, but above all we have the spiritual authority to accomplish the things that God has set before us.
Exodus 12:29–37: Now it came about at midnight that the Lord struck all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of cattle. And Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians: there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead, Then he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the Lord, (notice this next phrase) as you have said. Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”
At first Pharaoh had absolutely refused to let the Israelites leave. Later he proposed a compromise, but now he says, “Just as you said, that is the way it will be. Take both your flocks and your herds as you have said.”
And the Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. “As you have said. Whatever you want.” Thus they plundered the Egyptians. Now the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children.
Verses 40–42: Now the time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. And it came about at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
God had a real purpose in mind, and He accomplished it. There was no negotiation at the end. There was no compromise with Pharaoh. When it came time for them to go, they went—all of them, every single one. They said that not a hoof should be left behind.
In Exodus 19:4–6 God reveals what He had done for them. He said, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.
In Exodus 33:13 Moses is praying to the Lord: “Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found favor in Thy sight, let me know Thy ways, that I may know Thee, so that I may find favor in Thy sight.”
Moses had experienced the Passover and the miracles, and now he voiced another prayer: “Lord, let me know Your ways.” What an audacious thing to ask. “Lord, I want to understand how You rolled the sea apart. I want to understand just how You did it. I want to know Your ways. I want to know the way You deal with people. Lord, I want You to teach me to think the way You think. Oh yes, another thing, Lord, I want You to show me Your glory” (Exodus 33:18). Moses was becoming more audacious all the time, believing that God was going to answer.
“Consider too, that this nation is Thy people.” Previously God had said, “These are your people, Moses” (Exodus 32:7). Now Moses says, “Wait a minute, Lord. There is something else—I want You to acknowledge ownership of these people. They are Your people. Let’s get that straight.”
After the Israelites had committed the idolatrous act of worshiping the golden calf, the Lord was ready to destroy them and make Moses a great nation. Imagine Moses contending with the Lord, and pleading for the Israelites. Then the Lord promised him, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” Moses added a little postscript to that promise, saying, “If Thy presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.” Exodus 33:14, 15.
In other words, “We do not want to go one step farther unless You sign the contract before we start, promising to finish the job. We know that You will not make any mistakes, but we are not so sure about ourselves, and we do not intend to be abandoned in the wilderness over some weakness that we have. We want a covenant with You Lord, that You will love us and take us through, no matter what.”
Verses 16–18: “For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Thy sight, I and Thy people?” Notice: Thy people. Moses is emphasizing the fact that they were God’s people. “Is it not by Thy going with us, so that we, I and Thy people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight, and I have known you by name.” Then Moses said, “I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!” And God did reveal His glory to Moses.
These Scriptures show how perfectly the Lord led them all out of Egypt—all of them. And they went all the way. God declared His intention, and Moses exacted from Him as it were, a covenant to which the Lord agreed, “Yes, Moses; yes, Moses; just as you say.” These phrases sound like Pharaoh: “As you have said, that is the way it will be. As you have said.”
The message is very simple. When you set your heart to believe God, even the devil’s emissary has to say, “Yes, it will be just as you say.” And when you get into some real contention with God, He Himself says, “Yes, it will be even as you say. All the way, just as you say.”
Is this the way people usually think? No, for they are constantly accepting a compromise, especially where God is concerned. From the time they go into church, Christians are conditioned to make excuses for God. Moses was not making excuses. He insisted, “Lord, You promised. Now what are the Egyptians going to say? that You started something You couldn’t finish? that You took Your people out there in the wilderness and turned them loose, that You just dumped them there? They will not worry about these stupid Israelites, or accuse them; they will say You did it, that You were not able to pull it off, that You started a great undertaking and it turned into a fiasco because You could not go through with it, Lord. What do You think Your name will be like then? Your wonderful name” (Exodus 32:11, 12).
The story of the Passover in the book of Exodus reveals a man who contended that there would be no compromise with Pharaoh and no compromise with what God had promised either. No selling it short. They would have exactly what God had said. Pharaoh could not talk him out of it and the Lord could do no less than that.
I am contending for this too. It is so easy to accept something less. I want to stand up every morning and protest another day in which I have fallen short of the perfect will of God or the perfect appropriation of His provision.
Our floundering in our contending with God can not be exposed to anyone else. They will not interpret it as faith; they will think it is unbelief. But to me, faith had to see that the Word would be exactly as it was spoken, that of all the promises contained in the Word of God none had failed; all had been fulfilled. It had to be true in this generation also, just as it had been in other generations. I began to contend earnestly, to believe it, and then to come before God and insist that it happen.
God is not a God who pays off His obligations fifty cents on the dollar. A man who owes you some money may come to you and say, “I am sorry. I don’t have the money, but I will buy your note at a discount if you would like to sell it. Will you settle for fifty cents on the dollar?” You agree because you realize that he is not going to pay you in full. You do not have to do that with God’s promises. You can say, “Lord, I want a blessing. I want to be blessed the way You blessed David. You are no respecter of persons. When I stand here, I expect my cup to run over too. I want to sing a song, ‘My cup runneth over,’ just as David did. Now come on, fill it up and to overflowing. I don’t want just a little in the bottom of the cup; I want it to run over!”
We are believing for the Living Word. We are believing for God to give us what we need to go full steam ahead. At times we have been on the verge of backing down to almost a halt. We need to contend with the Lord. “Now, Lord, we are going to believe to start blessing and breaking those five barley loaves and those two fish just as You kept blessing until You had fed all the multitudes. Come on, nothing short of that. We expect to have twelve basketfuls left over after it is over. When we get into the Kingdom, we expect to be carrying twelve basketfuls of provisions, because we weren’t able to use it all.”
Our thinking must involve a faith that insists on God’s integrity. We believe that He is the God who is described in the Book. He is what He says He is. He has the essence and the being of the Father and Creator of all that this Book says. And He is a rewarder of them who diligently seek Him. They seek Him diligently.
Is that kind of thinking too radical for you? Have you found your own thinking following that same pattern? Do we have to accept less? Do we have to be content with just a little portion? Can we not believe for everything that is provided in His Word? Do you want that miracle worked in your life? It can be yours.
In the parable of the importunate widow (Luke 18:1–8), Jesus was trying to explain what the Father was like. He told about a certain widow who went to an unjust judge and asked him to avenge her of her adversary. At first he would not help her. But finally, because of her continual coming, he said, “I will avenge her of her adversary.” Jesus said, “How much more will your Heavenly Father avenge those who cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them.” He concluded with the question, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, will He find faith on the earth?” God help us; let Him find that faith here as we cry day and night unto Him.
To whom did Jesus compare His sweet, loving Heavenly Father? To an unjust judge, one who was all wrapped up in his own legal profession and not at all concerned about a widow. Why did Jesus liken the Father to someone like that? The Father has predetermined His character for the development of His sons. Therefore, He has given freely and generously, even to giving His only begotten Son to die for you. But the enforcement and the appropriation of those blessings seems to come from a God who is reluctant to give them. Even though He did everything, even giving His Son, in order that you might have them, yet He feigns a reluctance to do it, that He might draw out the violent faith in your own heart.
Do you remember when Jesus passed through the coast of Syrophenicia and a woman came to Him who wanted her daughter delivered of a devil? Jesus seemingly ignored her. I think He just pretended not to hear her, but it seemed real to that woman. Finally the disciples said, “Lord, send her away,” but she was persistent. She refused to let anything He said discourage her. Jesus told her, “Great is your faith.” That was what He was looking for.
If it seems that the Lord has been reluctant to fulfill His Word, if it seems that He is not as willing to fulfill His promises over you as you thought, you will have to learn a little something about God. He gave you a key: He is waiting for that persistent faith on your part—faith that does not compromise and accept less than His total provision, faith that says, “I will not let You go until You bless me,” faith that knows if we ask and keep on asking, we shall receive; if we seek and keep on seeking, we shall find; if we knock and keep on knocking, it will be opened to us (Matthew 7:7).