It is amazing to see how many things people can be dedicated to, without being really dedicated to doing the will of the Lord. They use a walk with God with its miracle deliverances, believing they can create for themselves a selfish and rewarding personal life. Peter asked the Lord Jesus, “We’ve left all to follow You; now what will we have therefore?” (Matthew 19:27). Likewise, people today are wanting to know, “How will I come out of this?” Sometimes they become fearful because they find themselves out on a limb and the limb is being sawed off.
If their motivation and dedication are lacking, the prospects are very somber. Socially, they are outcasts, in a position where people do not speak well of them. They are not creating an impressive reputation or presenting a fine image. Paul experienced this. He said, “We’re considered the offscouring of the earth; as poor, yet making many rich; as despised, yet well thought of.”
A conflict is going on in their minds, which is very confusing. If they want to maintain self-esteem, they are in the wrong walk. But if they want the Lord to be great, if they are willing just to be a channel that He can use, if they are willing to forget themselves in the greatness of God’s will being wrought through them—then this is the walk for them. Too often people are concerned with their personal ambition and welfare. That happened in other movements which preceded this walk. They taught the people to expect “filet mignon” every day, to anticipate walking down the street, doing miracles and signs and wonders. It built up a wrong ambition within those who were spiritually unprepared. He that would be greatest must be the servant of all (Matthew 20:27). You must be prepared for that which humiliates and degrades you.
Many people who do not even know what the moving of God’s Spirit is about will persecute it, making demands that can never be met. They will demand ministry—always on their terms—to accomplish what they want done in their lives: to make their lives easier, more pleasant and successful, more fulfilling and rewarding on a human plane. Do not prostitute the gifts of God. That is what Babylon is doing. In Zion, we minister to people that they may do the perfect will of God, not that they may use the blessing for personal fulfillment. You are not seeking a good time. You do the will of God with all your heart in the place where God placed you to do it. It cannot be anything less if you want to please the Lord.
You are not fitting God in your vest pocket so you can use Him. That was the great sin of Simon, related in Acts 8. When Peter and John went down and laid hands on the people whom Stephen had won to the Lord and they received the Holy Spirit, Simon the sorcerer offered them a great sum of money if they would give him this gift. On the surface, it seemed that he was close to being converted since he wanted to give people the Holy Spirit. Actually, he wanted Simon to be great. Peter told him, “Your money perish with you” (Acts 8:17–20).
You do not receive the Holy Spirit to use Him, but for Him to direct you and to use you as His channel and instrument. Do not forget that He is the leader and you are the follower. You are not receiving the Holy Spirit for your personal gratification. That is the heathen idea. The occult and the philosophical religions are based upon the concept of drawing from God in order to have peace of mind, as well as psychic powers and abilities. They believe that God is to be used and fit into a groove. Demonology operates on the same principle: they use a devil so they can work certain things by performing, witchcraft or controlling spirits. Eventually, of course, they themselves become possessed.
From the very beginning you have not taken Jesus basically as your Savior, but as your Lord. The surrender of your life to Jesus Christ, your dedication to do His will and to serve Him is the basic concept of a walk with God. The only thing that actually counts is the dedication to do the will of God—to be possessed by Him, to be controlled, to be yielded.
What is the real dedication of your life? Remember—God desires truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part He will make you to know wisdom (Psalm 51:6). Do you really believe, way down deep? Is the honesty there? Many times our musings, meditations, and thoughts run in quite an erratic pattern and down a rather carnal road. It is very strange that people can be so close to God and still have such a definite pattern of the flesh present also. It has to go.
A movie depicting the beach landing on D-Day showed a tough sergeant yelling, “Let’s go! There are only two kinds of men on this beach: the dead and those that are about to die.” We might paraphrase that command and say, “There are those who have died in Christ and those of us who are living and about to die.” Without a doubt, some of us will break through into the Kingdom without dying. But it really does not make much difference. When you storm the wall, it does not matter whether you help win the victory by being one of the carcasses piling up, forming a ramp to get over the wall, or whether you are one who goes over the top. I am aware of the battle ahead, but I am also dedicated to go through it, all the way. Through the years I have had my days of wondering just how deep my dedication was. I am determined to go through with this whether I have six hours, six days, six weeks, six years, six hundred years, or six millenniums.
I will continue to minister to many people, but the ones I will really support and be associated with are the men I can find who will not love their lives unto death, who are so dedicated to a walk with God that they are willing to die for it. Personal relationships do not bother me: I will get along with anyone who is truly dedicated to Jesus Christ to walk with Him. With him I will be associated unto death.
I have helped many churches and many ministries, and I will continue to bless them and give them a word. But my basic concern is for those who are submissive because God has revealed something to them about their relationship to me, to the elders, to the Lord, and to the whole New Testament order. These are the ones for whom I am laying down my life. I am building the thing that God is building. I want to speak the word that God is speaking, I want to do what God is doing. This army of the Lord that is coming up in total submission will send this gospel to the ends of the earth. They will create the songs that have never been sung, the books that have never been written, and bring forth the truths that have been hidden for all the ages. These are the ones who follow the Lamb withersoever He goeth and love not their lives unto death.
This walk in the Spirit is not just an opportunity to receive a great blessing, to sing in the Spirit, and have a smattering of the gifts. Before we are through, this will be life and death, with judgment upon the nations. Your motivation must be right and your dedication must be deep; it must be exactly what God wants it to be. Some begin to slow down when the pressure is on. When the climbing gets a little steep, they do not know whether they want to go all the way. Others stop and take a deep breath while they ask God for grace; then on they go, with nothing else in their minds except doing the will of God.
Many lords have had dominion over you, but now He is going to “run the show.” Let us start searching our hearts to see where we stand in this.
As dedicated as you may be to go on with the Lord—even to laying down your life—that dedication is really tested by those who are related to you. Would you husbands walk with God absolutely if He told you to do something that meant your wife would be spiteful and complaining because of it? Would you wives go on and do the perfect will of God, no matter how obstinate and devilish your husband became? (Some of you are already doing it.) Would you be dedicated to do the will of the Lord regardless of how subordinate a role you had to fill, working with someone else in his ministry? There can be no personal ambition or self-seeking at all. And this is not an easy place to arrive at.
What causes rebellion, resentment, and bitterness in people’s spirits? Don’t you think it is the result of selfishness and self-centeredness? You must decide, “Am I going to live my life only for myself? Even in my walk with God, is it for myself? or is it to do the will of God?” This is not easy to determine. I did not want to be the ministry that God has made me to be. I could have lived a much more pleasant life. After being raised in a minister’s home and being in the public eye constantly, the thing I valued most—above money, position, or anything else—was privacy. That was what I wanted, but I do not have it. You are going to lose your life for His sake. Let go of it. “He who loses his life for My sake will find it,” Jesus said (Matthew 10:39).
The shortest route to receiving all the good things that God would give you is not in working for those good things, but in first working for the perfect will of God to be wrought in your life. Then all these other blessings will be added unto you. God wants those who will be His bondservants and His handmaidens. That is the whole issue of your life. Lose it! Let go of it! You cannot live it for yourself. Live it for the Lord. When you strive to do His will, He will be faithful to take care of your life, and you will be happy.
Do not be concerned just about getting certain problems worked out in your life. There are problems that have confronted me for a long time, but for the first time I find something new in my attitude toward them, and I can say, “Lord, I am glad You have not cleared up that problem until You have worked this in my heart to be absolutely surrendered to Your will.” It is not a matter of my overcoming certain obstacles and hindrances that stand against me; nor is that to be your objective. The objective is not to get rid of the problems, but to get rid of the wrong reactions and the lack of dedication in your own heart, until you are wholly dedicated to the Lord.
In his dedication, I cannot picture Paul ever having too much concern about any of his persecutors or the harassments round about him. Imagine the hatred and bitterness in people who vowed they would not eat until they had assassinated him. Think of all the things he experienced—beatings, imprisonments, fastings, riots, shipwreck—and yet he said, “None of these things move me; neither count I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course and finish my ministry with joy” (Acts 20:24). And because he set himself to do that, God blessed him. I have never known any individual called of God, who, failing in that dedication, was not troubled in everything he tried to do: every ambition turned sour; every achievement became ashes in his mouth. There is only one way to win: do the will of God. Let go of your life. Live it for the Lord. That dedication must become an inward compulsion until you can do nothing else. Do you love Him that much? These probe messages are not meant to help you get rid of problems, but to take on an allegiance and a servitude to Christ.
You cannot immediately say yes to the will of God completely. Keep saying yes as much as you can. It just is not that easy to enter into the perfect will of God; nor is it too easy to fall out of it after you get into it. It involves a series of dedications in which you go forward, driving your pins into the next cliff as you get a toehold and pull yourself up to gain more ground. When you finally reach the summit of the perfect will of God, there is no flag waving, no sense of achievement; but only a sense of having been in a long struggle, with yourself and the reluctance of your own heart to say a definite yes to the will of God. You are constantly dealing with the deceptiveness of your own heart. The Scripture says, “The heart is deep and desperately wicked. Who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
You may be absolutely sure that you want the will of God, and then you find something within you that is very deceptive. Because your heart has not said yes as much as you thought it had, you find yourself with conditions and reservations and you draw back. We become dedicated by reaching in a little more, a little more, step by step, until it is not a conditional, but an unconditional yes to God’s will. This is an important key you must never forget. Say yes to the will of the Lord to the best of your ability. Believe as much as you can; then repent of your unbelief and with the little bit of faith in your heart ask God for more faith. Let your faith rise to pray for more faith. Let your dedication be dedicated to be more dedicated. Use what you have to reach into something deeper.
Do you dream about doing the will of the Lord? Do you pray about it? Do you seek it? Or, like a lot of people who love God, do you have a kind of dread and a desire to push it back into the corner, thinking, “The Lord may demand more of me than I want to give Him”? Do you pray with a reservation in the back of your mind, “Lord, I’ll go where You want me to go, but I sure hope You do not call me to Africa.”
As everything within yourself is exposed to yourself, you see the frustrations, the conflicting dedications and loyalties, the conflicting motivations. It is that conflict within you that causes you to react as you do. Your moods and temper, your depression, your withdrawal, your ups and downs—all are a result of conflict. Get rid of that conflict, become a dedicated follower of the Lord, and you will eliminate most of your problems and fluctuations. In the truest, fullest sense, we are disciples of the Lord. We follow.