Behold, when the Prophet Joel did speak of the days in which you are entering now, he spoke of how the Lord would pour out His Spirit and the vats should overflow with wine and oil, that there should be no scarcity, for the people of the Lord would eat in abundance and be satisfied and bless the name of their God. The days of their shame would be over, for He said, “My people shall never be ashamed.” They shall not walk in that which praises the name of the Lord and exalts Him, and beholds that His arm is short in their midst, for they shall find the fullness of the Lord, even in their midst.
They shall find the fullness of His provision even to their partaking. Behold, how the Lord shall bless thee, that there shall not be among thee those who are feeble, those who are hungry, and those who are naked. But spiritually thou shall be clothed upon by the Lord, thou shall be fed of His bounty, thou shalt be prepared unto every good work. Thou shalt enter into those things which the Father hath ordained before the foundation of the world that the people in this hour should walk in.
Yea, even thine own heart has been chosen of the Lord that ye should walk therein, that ye should not draw back from these days, though there be days of adversity and days of darkness. Though the day of the Lord comes as a day of clouds, as a day of foreboding over all the earth, and a day of fear upon the hearts of men, yet it shall not be so with thee. For behold, as thou shalt look upon these clouds of judgment upon the earth, thou shalt behold that the Lord hath prepared the clouds of blessing. When ye shall ask rain of the Lord in the time of latter rain, He shall make lightning and give to everyone rain—rain in the field. So shall thy harvest come forth, so shalt thou be fruitful, because the Lord hath ordained for thee blessing in the midst of the days of judgment and cursing. In the midst of the hour of wrath, He hath remembered mercy. He hath forsaken not His remnant; upon them shall the bounty of the Lord be poured out.
Thou shall not think in terms of judgment as the earth does, but thou shall think of how the judgment hath begun within the house of the Lord to prepare their hearts that thou be not a partaker of the judgments of this earth, but thou shalt be delivered by the name of the Lord, and thou shall partake of all the good things that the Lord hath set before thee as a people.
Yea, take not the promises of God that thou should merely rejoice in them for a season, that they be a strength to thee in days of adversity by encouraging thy heart. But take the promises of God as commitments of the Lord who has bound Himself and His fullness to thee in this hour. Yea, He has committed Himself—yea, the unlimited One, the One who knows no limitation at all, hath limited Himself voluntarily on thy behalf, saying, “Surely I will bless thee! Surely I will pour out My Spirit upon thee! Surely thy vat shall overflow with wine and oil! Surely there shall be plenty in the house of the Lord.” He hath committed Himself to thee that ye should rejoice in His fullness. Enter into it with all of thy heart.
Let there not be that which would merely rejoice in the Word, but as hungry souls wilt thou not partake of it? Yea, the Lord hath not intended that thou should merely smell the banquet of that great supper that hath been prepared in the end time, but thou shall rejoice and partake of it. Even as thou art seated in the presence of thine enemy, yet shall thou sing and rejoice and thy cup shall run over. Ye shall know that the Lord hath given thee in abundance. For this purpose bath He raised thee up and blessed thee, that thou shalt not walk in a little measure, but thou shall walk in fullness; thou shall not have only a subsistence diet, but the Lord shall cause thee to wax strong in the Lord, in the power of His might, and prevail over all things that come against thee. The victory of the Lord is ordained to come forth in thy life believe it and rejoice in it. Yea, the hour of fullness is thine in the name of the Lord.
Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; and He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth. Hosea 6:1–3.
The prophet was speaking of the fact that for two thousand years the church went into an eclipse. Only in recent times, in the last few hundred years, has the Lord revived the church. The age is to come when we will be living before His sight, “and on the third day we will live in His sight.”
“Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.” This is necessary; the people of God are not to seek for signs, they are not to seek for some mystical powers or gifts, but they are to seek to know the Lord. Let us press on to know the Lord, and then He will come to us like the rain falling on us. His going forth is as certain as the morning; you cannot prevent His coming forth in manifestation in this end time any more than you could hold back the dawn. He will come to us as the rain.
I find my heart crying this prayer, “O Lord, that I may know You.” John speaks about knowing the Lord in his epistles. Paul said, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). The cry is to know the Lord, to really know Him. Moses cried that he might behold the glory of the Lord (Exodus 33:18), but to know the Lord is even greater—to come to really know Him in your heart.
Since the Lord dealt with me I have found my own heart reacting. I came to see something about the Heavenly Father that I had not known before. When I prayed to the Father, I had a certain image of what He was and how He reacted, but I was so wrong. I realized that I was as guilty as a heathen who made an idol, because I had a false image of God. My image of Christ was not wrong, nor my image of the Holy Spirit, but the image I had of the Father was wrong.
Then God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” Exodus 20:1–6.
The first commandment had expressly forbidden an idol or an image of God being made. I realized the broad scope of that passage in past years and refused to have a picture, a man’s conception, of Jesus Christ in my house. I refused to have a crucifix, for the Word says, Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 2 Corinthians 5:16b. I am not picturing my Christ hanging on a cross, or as in the days when His humanity was limited. For He dwells in a light that no man can approach (1 Timothy 6:16). He is exalted to the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33). I was determined to not have a false concept of Jesus Christ in my mind, but my consternation was great when I found I had to repent of a wrong image of the Father.
What I am going to share will shake you. You will stop praying as you have prayed in the past, prayers of petition and begging as though the Heavenly Father were sitting up on the throne ready to answer you! The most startling thing I ever heard was the voice of the Spirit saying, “Don’t ask as you’ve asked, God will give you nothing: He has already given you all things.” Somehow I did not understand the greatness of the Father. I did not see the total thing He had wrought. His intervention into things was not the way that I thought it was.
A man can go to a banker and say, “Please, dear banker, give me a dollar. I need a dollar.” The banker won’t give you a dollar, but if you have a checkbook in your pocket and the deposit has been made, write a check, present it to the banker, and you will get as much as you want.
Ask a banker, “Give me a hundred dollars,” and he will say, “What are you, a crook? Are you a robber? Are you a beggar?” But if you say, “No, I’m a depositor,” then he will say, “All right, fill out this check, and I’ll give you the money.”
The thought hit me forcibly, “God is not going to move like I thought.” I began to weep. I wept over the years of frustration when I prayed for things to happen, certain doors to open, the liberation of ministries of authority. I have prayed for the liberation of churches. I’ve prayed for the Body of Christ to move into the dominion over the material realm. I prayed for all of these things, but I stopped at that moment, because I realized the responsibility was not resting on God to answer my prayers; the responsibility was resting upon me to believe and appropriate it. It dawned on me, and I was furious. I realized all this time I had been walking in a small percentage of what God had provided for me because I did not see the provision. I did not see how thoroughly and completely it had been provided for me. What a false image to have of God, as if He were some Santa Claus, passing out presents. What a wrong idea we have about the loving Father.
Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short, of it. For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest; just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. (Ouch, and Amen! His works were finished from the foundation of the world!)
For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before. “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:1–11.
Then I began to understand! On the seventh day of creation God rested, and there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. That Sabbath means that we are to cease from our labors. “Let us labor to enter into His rest,” to cease from the labor and the struggle and the striving. Some people almost blaspheme God by the way they intercede. We must go back and see the missing pieces. What we taught on intercession was right, and there is a way of crying unto the Lord and calling unto Him, but there is such a thing as believing that we are earning it or laboring for something instead of violently releasing what is really ours.
His works were finished from the foundation of the world. Does any Scripture say that Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world? Yes, in Revelation 13:8. Does any Scripture tell us that He foreknew us? Yes—For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son … Romans 8:29. Do you believe that before the foundations of the world were laid, God actually had the thing planned out? He knew all about you, and had made every provision for you and, as far as the Father is concerned, even the redemptive work of His Son was already finished in His heart. Do you believe His whole plan for your life was finished and completed? If you do, why do you pray as you do? Why are you acting like beggars instead of heirs? Why do you pray as though the decisions were yet to be made?
We have to change. We must sense our destiny and our position in God. We say, “I would be all right if I were spiritual, but I’m not; I don’t know how to be.” How do we become spiritual?
Jesus said, “Behold, I have come to do Thy will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second (this refers to the old covenant and the new). By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified (or, are being sanctified). And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. Hebrews 10:9–15a.
As far as the Father is concerned, and as far as Jesus Christ is concerned, the major aspects of our whole redemption are completed. God has given us the long-promised Holy Spirit, which is the earnest (or the down payment) of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:14). This means that God gives us the Holy Spirit as the first taste of all that is to be ours. The Holy Spirit then comes with the express mission to take all that the Father has given the Son (“All things are mine,” Jesus said) and to show it or manifest it to us (John 16:13–15). Something is wrong in the way we let the Holy Spirit lead us, and the way we think of the Holy Spirit. Hebrews 10:14 says concerning Christ, “He made one sacrifice that forever perfected the saints.”
The Father had finished the works before the foundation of the world, and in the due course of time, Jesus came, manifesting the fullness of provision. Only one aspect of it remains in continuance—and that is His intercession. He ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). This is in the plan of God, because we are still in such a carnal state that the Father cannot look upon us with favor at this particular state of the work of redemption. He still has to have someone who is living to make intercession for us. Isn’t that beautiful?
Christ ever lives to make intercession for us. This is because God knew that He could not stand us unless He had someone to plead for us. He loved us so much, but He foresaw the problem: He could not look upon our sinful state, even as a believer, so He not only sent His Son to redeem us, but to live to make intercession for us. My little children, I am writing these things to you that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 1 John 2:1. He stands to plead our case, to help us and bring mercy to us.
We have more in the divine provision of God than we realize. Isaiah said, “With His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5), but when Peter quoted it, he said, “By His stripes we were healed” (1 Peter 2:24). It has already taken place; at the whipping post it happened. The provision has been made. As far as the Father and the Son are concerned, there is not anything wanting or lacking in the perfect provision for us. Is He concerned about us? Yes. Does He know all our needs? Yes.
Do you find when you pray that the problems often persist? You may think that is God’s way of teaching you. Name something you learned. Half the time you do not learn much when you go through those things. But, you could learn this lesson: Had you known how to appropriate an answer from God, you would not have needed to go through nine-tenths of the things you went through. It was there for you, and it was your fault that you didn’t claim it. This ticket to Glory includes all meals, all tips, and every kind of service. If you sit down in the hold of the ship eating cheese and crackers, it is your own fault. There are people who go around, “I don’t believe that I can be healed. I don’t believe the Lord is going to fill me with the Spirit. I don’t think the Lord has gifts. He does not have prophecy, revelation, any signs and wonders for today.”
“All right, what does He have?”
“Well, I believe that by the blood of Jesus when I die I’ll go to heaven.”
“Fine, if that is all you believe, suffer. Grin and bear it, brother; that is all you will get.”
But on the other hand, you can believe so much that you get yourself in hot water. You say, “I believe that on my behalf, the Lord overcame principalities and powers.” Do you really believe that? If you do, the principalities and powers will be around tomorrow, and you can apply it. Do you believe in this great spiritual warfare, and that Christ has given us everything?
“Oh, I believe that!”
Good, put on your armor, because that’s the way it is going to work. We came into this walk with God anticipating restoration, and it is happening. People have had hands laid on them, gifts prophesied, ministries directed, and then the bottom falls out and problems come. Is it real? It’s real; that is the proof.
You must believe because by faith, you will inherit what is yours. “The word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard” (Hebrews 4:2). The word can come and just be sound to fill your empty head, and just roar and echo back and forth, but if you really believe the word that has been spoken, it is united with faith to you. Faith united that word until it is indelibly written on your heart. Every Scripture that you believe, you can act upon.
The whole purpose of the Holy Spirit when He came was to constantly make us aware of what the Lord had for us.
Part of what I buried was teachings of men that I had read as a boy. For example: “It remains to be seen what God will do with a man who is wholly sold out to the Lord.” Maybe so, but that is like trying to back in to a battle wrong end first. This thing is not being done because of how much we are capable of giving ourselves to the Lord. We used to think, “Just sell out to the Lord, pray, and seek the Lord, and as I give everything over, then the Lord will fill me with the Holy Spirit.” I found that was not right. People were receiving the Holy Spirit who were not especially dedicated—they just reached in and took hold of it. I don’t believe that the world is waiting to see what happens when a man is wholly sold out to God. The world is waiting to see what will happen when a man really believes God. In the first place, we are not capable of being sold out to God without faith to appropriate that. “For by one sacrifice He forever perfected them that are sanctified.” That perfection comes by what God did for us, not by what we come up with.
I do not believe in man’s faithfulness, but I believe in His faithfulness. The real thing comes when a man hangs onto God. I have found that some real dogs make it because they just hang onto the Lord, and a lot good, substantial people wash out because they are not really clinging to the Lord in faith.
But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom, which God predestined before the ages to our glory; the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; but just as it is written, “Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.” For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God … (We will not know these depths of God or much about the Lord’s provision, or the Heavenly Father’s great plan and concern for us, unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to us. We still have misconceptions because we are not trusting the Lord for revelation to come to us of what the Father really is.)
For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 1 Corinthians 2:7–14.
This means there is no hope of God being known of any man unless the Holy Spirit is the agency of revelation. There is no other way we can come to know what the fullness of Christ is in His provision.
Jesus said, “All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said, that He (the Spirit) takes of Mine, and will disclose it to you.” John 16:15. We will not understand God or the depths of God or know the thoughts of God, or know the provision of God or the completeness of that provision, except by the Holy Spirit leading us into it. There is no other way to be what we want to be in God and what God plans for us to be. The Holy Spirit was given to reveal the depths of God and guide us into all the truths. Jesus said, “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13). This is what He is given to do. It is a perfect provision.
During a period of waiting on the Lord I saw this, and it has opened up my prayers. Too many of us are trying to hold up the heavens, trying to work something out. We need to enter into His rest and into the completeness of His provision. We fret and still react to things. We have so many troubles because we do not believe that God has really provided for them. We have needs because we do not believe in the provision of the Lord. We have illnesses because we are not believing that “by His stripes we were healed.”
You say, “You’re throwing it back on us now; it’s our fault.” Yes, it is our fault. We must open our hearts to it being our fault. If we do not believe that, we will go down the road and become rebellious because our system does not work. We will come to grips with unanswered prayers, with the fact that we have unfulfilled prophecies. There we are, laboring in the flesh, begging God to do something He said He has already done. God does not honor the whines of beggars. He answers the demands of sons and heirs. He is the banker who says, “No. I won’t give you a hundred dollars. Write a check on it and you’ll get it.” Many of us found that when we were begging for the Holy Spirit, we got nowhere. But then someone told us it was a gift, laid hands on us and said, “Receive,” and it worked.
Some said, “I’ll never prophesy.” But the elders laid hands on them and said, “Prophesy the Word,” and they did. Many a man would perpetually backslide and come to pound the altar and try to “pray through” all over again. But the man who simply accepts the finished provision of Jesus Christ does not need any special decision in heaven. The blood of Christ provided for it already. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. 1 John 2:2. You just need to say, “Thank You, Jesus, I know that You love me, I know the Father loves me, and the Holy Spirit has made real the Word. I take You, Jesus. Thank You.”
Is it that simple? It had better be, because it will not work if it is not that simple. Beware that we do not turn our walk into crawling on our hands and knees or doing penance. It is by grace, the free gift of God, that we come to Christ.
There are many ways the Holy Spirit can make things real to us. We always hear with hope instead of faith: “Oh, isn’t that wonderful. I wonder when it will take place.” We should say, “That word is mine, I take it right now.” There has to be a sense of appropriation. “I’m going to walk in it. I’m going to do it. Lord, You are my God. If You say, ‘I am this’ then I believe ‘I am that.’ If You say ‘I have this,’ then I believe ‘I have it,’ and I look to God for the Holy Spirit to channel it through my life. I will not look within for inner resources to some hidden depth. I will just believe the word of the Lord.”
There has to be a better way of appropriating than we have done. There has to be a better way of prayer than we have made. We must yank the whines and groans out of our prayers. There must be that violent, triumphant shout which plows through satanic walls, claims the thing, walks in it, and believes it to happen in the name of the Lord. That is why I had a funeral and why I cried, because I had to bury a God who had been an image that was not really true. I had a much better one and I didn’t realize it. I am not a “Philadelphia lawyer” to talk God into answering my prayers; that isn’t my prayer life. God put it in me in the first place not to even want that. For it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Philippians 2:13.
Get away from the attitude of trying to talk God into something. Realize that all the time God has been trying to talk you into something, and you have to accept it. “Lord, I will be what You want me to be. I am what You say I am. I’m not going to walk as a beggar. I’ll take the testings of faith, but I will not accept anything short of the full provision of the Lord.” If you don’t take that attitude, what will happen to you? On the days when things are going well, you will think, “I’ve got a hot line to heaven now.” Other days when things are not going so good, you will get discouraged within yourself, because you are waiting for that mystical reaction from God, something that God probably is not going to give you.
The meetings with the Lord that were prophesied over me did not come sovereignly at a certain day and hour; they came when I began to fast and pray, “Lord, a meeting is promised. I’m going to have it.” Then God came and met me. When the Lord revealed Himself to me, He hadn’t said that He would meet me on a specific day; the burden was on my heart and I went out to meet the Lord. The Lord will always be there to wrestle with you and meet you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. James 4:8. That is the order the Scripture gives. Come on, move into the promises of the Lord. Believe God or don’t believe Him, one of the two. Don’t stand at the Jordan’s banks and say, “It is beautiful land over there, in Canaan.” God said, “You can enter in and possess the land that I have given you.”
“But there are giants!”
“I’ve given it to you. That’s enough.” If you’re going to believe Him, go in and take it.
God is raising up ministries, but you are still waiting for something to happen. You can make it happen. Think about this message, and you will make it happen. Don’t pray for God to suddenly bring beautiful lights over you and do certain things. You get in and open the door. He has set before you the open door (Revelation 3:8); you enter into it! You walk into it; you do it! This puts the initiative upon your faith. Push in; that’s the way you are going to get something. Claim the thing that God has for you. Or are you going to sit on the sidelines gathering moss? I suggest that you repent for the wrong way you have prayed. Go over your promises and the word God has brought over the whole Body, instead of waiting for some voice from heaven to speak to you again and tell you exactly when to blow your nose. Get with the things that God has already said. Believe them. The initiative is yours.
This is a true walk with God and it is coming forth in the name of the Lord. “But, I still want to believe it is in the sovereign will and the timing of the Lord, and the Lord has a certain hour in which He will do it.” I don’t believe that. I believe that if God’s people back away from this teaching, it would set the whole thing back a thousand years, until a people come along who believe it. “Maybe it is a thousand years too soon.” We can make it happen anyway. Why? And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. Matthew 24:22. We can stand on that verse. Get in and believe the Lord. People have said for years that the country is “going to the dogs.” What can we do? Someone must stem the tide. John Wesley prevented England from a greater bloodbath than happened in France during the French Revolution. The French people did not have John Wesley. We can move in with all of our hearts to everything God has for us—it is up to us. I don’t like the passivity on people. I deeply resent becoming a victim of circumstances and events and of people’s conniving and maneuvering. Paul said, when he was told what was to happen to him, “None of these things move me” (Acts 20:24). I don’t want to be moved by people, circumstances, anything. I want to be moved by what God says. I want to believe it.
A man has to come to the place where his emotions, his feelings, and his spirit, are not moved by what he sees, hears, feels, or observes round about him. Any conspiracy of circumstances, any abundance or lack does not phase him or affect him. He is moved only by one thing—the word God has given him. That is the only valid thing in his life. That is what he believes. He is on his way then to appropriate everything God has for him.
Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut. Revelation 3:8. “That is nice! I think I’ll make a little plaque of that and put it on the wall.” No, don’t make it into a plaque; go through the open door. Don’t say, “Isn’t that nice—we have an open door.” Go through the open door, and know that no man can shut it. God will see you through. He has promised. You still have to get up and walk through the door. This is the meaning of Pentecost. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses … Acts 1:8. Lord, bring the Spirit of the Lord upon us. The early church would pray, and the place would be shaken. They would be filled with the Holy Spirit and speak the word of God with boldness. That is all you lack. If you are timid, be filled with the Spirit.
In years past, I had many visions, visions that have come to pass through the years. Then they stopped, and I know why—I stopped believing for them to happen. When I believed I was going to have visions, I had visions. When I believed I would have a new filling of the Spirit, I would have a new filling of the Spirit. When I believed that God would give me an open door to preach, I would have it. Once when I was about fifteen I remember praying, “Lord, open doors,” and before the day had passed, a pastor called and wanted a week’s meeting. I would pray and expect things to happen, and they did.
We should carry on an even higher plane the same thing that gives us a word and promise. Expect them to happen and go about the prayer believing that it will happen.
“So many times we come up to the threshold of fulfillment and begin to recoil and shrink back. There is a way we can receive this word and it can work in our lives where we begin to appropriate the word. The way we receive the word is so important. If we could just come and not say, ‘This is just something in the future that I will file away,’ but say, ‘That is mine. I take it. I’m going to move in that right now.’ I’m rebuking the things in my life even about preaching the Word. Instead of saying ‘In a couple of years when God works all these things around,’ I am going to do it right now. Today is the day. There are a thousand New Testament churches to be started. They will never be started as long as we keep sitting here and nothing is done. But if we stir our hearts and begin to move in, God will work.
Hebrews 4:12, 13 says, For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
“This is a key to the word that has been coming—that dividing asunder of soul and spirit. We are dropping off so many things we have known of the past, so many ways that we have been conditioned to move in. Sometimes when you move into a new plane, you find the remnants of the old thing hanging on. Then you have to say, ‘All right, they are still there, but I’m going to believe God. I’m not countenancing the unbelief. I’m believing to press into the new thing.’ Let there be that exposure, that deep repentance in our spirit.
“Bring down the walls. Bring down the barriers. Everything is naked and laid open because God will not use a people who are haughty in their hearts and arrogant in their own sight. There is a humility before God that the kings of the earth count arrogance. There is a violent commitment to the promise of God, that wrestles with God and says, ‘I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me.’ Everyone else will say, ‘You are the most arrogant, presumptuous person I have ever seen,’ but that does not matter. We are intent on God’s Word being fulfilled. This is the humility that we get rid of—the arrogance that parades itself in a passivity. We must move into what God has said.”