At times God does not seem to be concerned for His own Kingdom. Why should we end up destroying ourselves for something that God doesn’t seem to care about? Have you ever felt that way?
In Luke 18 is the parable about the unjust judge who did not seem to care, one way or another, about the widow, but because of her importunity she kept on with a persistence that would not be denied. The judge avenged her of her adversary and the money she had lost through fraud was regained. The Lord said, And shall not God avenge his elect, that cry to him day and night…? Luke 18:8.
We have been crying day and night unto the Lord. We have been praying and we will continue on. Whatever is necessary we will be there persistently crying out to the Lord, “Lord, are you concerned? Lord, be concerned!”
There is an intensity of desire that God has toward us. In Luke 13:24, the Lord exhorted us to strive as in agony to enter in, for many will seek to enter in and shall not be able.
The Lord is drawing out the intensity in our spirit because He knows how much is going to be required in the days ahead. We will have to strive as in agony, we won’t make it unless we do. Even now He is teaching us how to move.
If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? Jeremiah 12:5a. That means, if you cannot handle it now, what are you going to do when the devil really opens fire on us?
God is not teasing nor tormenting us. He is drawing us into an intensity of spirit because it is the only quality that he can bless—perseverance to go on into the Kingdom. This is entirely a dealing of God upon His Remnant.
Some people argue about the great tribulation and what is going to happen. The discussions become so completely removed from God’s people that it seems like we will just be sitting here reading about it, or up in heaven looking down on it. They get excited for everyone else except the people of God; and yet we are the ones who will be the central figures in all that God does.
Is God unconcerned? Is He really uninterested in us? Isn’t He concerned about His own Kingdom? Doesn’t He care? Yes, He cares. I don’t imagine Jesus ever lost His composure, but you can read about Him weeping and crying aloud during the Feast of Tabernacles—lifting up His voice and quoting the Scriptures about how the zeal of the Lord consumed Him. It was eating Him up; it seemed to eat up the very Spirit that was in Him. Twice He took cords and drove the money changers out of the temple.
Probably the most dramatic and intense incident in the whole of the Word of God was the last Passover that Jesus kept with His disciples. Into what was considered a large room, but very small by our standards, the Lord and His disciples came. They spread out a little covering for a tablecloth and like a group of men would do it, they laid out the ingredients. As the custom was, they reclined, partially leaning on one another—tables and chairs were something that came a little later. The room was dark, a couple of little lamps were so positioned that in their flickering, shadows would fall across the thirteen men gathered together. They all looked to the Lord and He said, With desire have I desired to eat this Passover with you.… Luke 22:15.
The Son of God and the Creator earnestly expressed in an understatement that the heart of Christ had a great desire to partake of that Passover and to bring forth what we now rejoice in—the body and the blood of the Lord at Communion. It moves us that the Lord opened up and said, “Take a look at My heart, see how much I want to love you and bless you. What great desire I have toward you!” That is equaled by only one other passage: in the book of Ephesians, Paul prays that the Lord will open our hearts to understand what His inheritance is in the saints (Ephesians 1:18).
The Lord is working for something in you and me. We think that we want it, but we are not capable of wanting or striving, yearning, praying, or getting down on our knees and fasting in sackcloth and ashes and crying out for it.
We are not capable of experiencing even a fraction of His intense desire to make us His peculiar treasure in all the earth—to redeem us unto Himself for all eternity. His inheritance is in us—in the saints of light—that is what He wants.
Maybe it seems as if we are banging and storming away at heavens of brass; but we are not. He is just drawing us out and goading us. Men may strive for gold medals at the Olympic games but He is helping us to strive for incorruptible crowns (I Corinthians 9:25).
Do you know that He really cares for you? He is concerned about His Kingdom. He is concerned about the sons of the Kingdom who are coming forth: His children who are going to fight and lay their lives down to do the will of God. He is trying to incite you into more violence in your spirit than ever before, … Casting all your cares upon him; for he careth for you. I Peter 5:7.
An Olympics’ champion came out of the hospital with a partially collapsed lung and won a bronze medal. What fortitude he had to fight through that. A young woman won a gold medal in diving and she made one remark: “This is a lonely sport.” This walk is lonely too, Body ministry or not, this is a lonely sport. Sometimes you are standing with nothing but principalities and powers kicking at you, and you just have to believe God. God is in on this because He cares for you.
In this generation He is going to produce saints who were not produced in any other generation. All the records will be broken now. All the limitations will be taken off. God help us to know what that means. All the restrictions and limitations will be taken off the people of God. It means divine health, breaking through principalities and powers, taking dominion over everything.
It is rough to go through it, but thank God, we are in it; we do not dare to grow weary now. We don’t intend to. We don’t want to give place to any discouragement; we want to set our faces to seek the Lord through the days ahead. We are right at the threshold and believing that there is going to be a visitation from the Lord with many things changed, just like a brand new dawn coming. We believe for all the churches and all the people within the Body who are striving and keeping up their courage. We want to walk before the Lord, not just as examples but to be a lifeline of faith for them.
We have stopped praying for our own personal interest and we are wholly seeking the Kingdom. All things will be added unto us but they are not the issue anymore. The season is coming when we will reap and not faint. We will be pushing in with all our hearts.
Walk with God. Stay with it. Do not be weary in well doing. I can’t point to one area where we are not winning!
If you are thinking, “I don’t see any change in my life yet,” don’t be discouraged, don’t give up, we are really winning the conflict of the ages that has been determined by the Remnant of God. Believe it and contend on; seek God and keep praying.
Persistence is the watchword. We are prevailing in the Lord. We possess our inheritance in God. The prophecies are coming to pass.
The apostolic company is not a dream, it is with us and growing from day to day. It could loom up as the greatest force that has come on the Christian scene in two thousand years. I am such a believer, I want to break forth unto the Lord with weeping and say, “Lord, I believe. I believe this is Your day. This is the hour of Your Kingdom. This is Your Remnant. This is Your army. This is Your apostolic company. It is coming forth in the name of the Lord. I am a believer.”