The true submission that the Lord desires is not a superficial passive submission. There are progressive steps of submission, as we determine the will of the Lord and walk in it. There must be a balance between our individual seeking of the Lord and the collective ministry of confirmation that comes from the Body. First, let me point out to you the wrong procedure. There are those who come with scarcely any prayer or seeking of the Lord. They come, presenting every need, and say, “Show me the will of the Lord. I am submissive.” They are submissive in the same sense that a person is submissive to a fortune teller or some psychic reader when he asks him to tell what is coming in the future. There is a certain kind of submission to that, if you believe in it, but it can also be oppressive.
God expects much more than that type of submission from us. In the first place when you say, “Here I am, tell me what to do and I’ll do it,” you are being lazy. No one should come for ministry who has not first prepared their heart by seeking God themselves. For it to be a really true word, it should be a confirmation to your heart. It should not be the original initiating word, but it should be a God-given revelation to someone else, a word that confirms what He has already spoken to your heart.
In Acts 13:2 we read, … Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. As they waited upon the Lord, seeking His face, the word came forth, “This is what I have chosen, what I have called them to do.” It was beautiful that Barnabas and Saul already knew what the Lord wanted, and were holding it in their hearts. Then God spoke to the prophets and teachers and they all concurred and gave the Word of the Lord, but first Barnabas and Saul had been seeking the Lord themselves. Instead of seeking ministry first, let it come in its proper place. The individual should first seek and be submissive to the will of the Lord on a personal private level, then he will be ready for the next step, which is opening up for the revelation that the Lord will give.
This revelation can be unique. It may come by the Lord answering a fleece or in other ways, but you begin by getting the answer yourself. You may think this sounds like very independent action, but it is not. Do you think that the ministries should protract the infancy of the people so that they never move into mature revelation themselves and come to true sonship of being led by the Spirit of the Lord? We ought to teach them from the very beginning just as a little child is taught to walk. First he walks around the table or a chair, so he has something to hold onto. He may fall on his face a few times but he will keep trying. You will delay his growth and progress if you help him too much.
God gave apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists, and teachers for the edifying of the Church, that you be no more children tossed to and fro (Ephesians 4:11). A person is not a true prophet who creates a dependency on themselves with a little sphere of people round about them who always come to them and say, “What is the word of the Lord?” They are not a true prophet. They are missing it completely. Nor is a person a true apostle who teaches and leads until the people are utterly dependent upon them. The true ministry is constantly reaching out and bringing others into that same maturity, into that same flow of revelation. That is why some of you get a word for a while and then you get no word. You are going at it wrong, when you keep crying for another word. You have had enough guidance, and now you are to begin to find the next steps yourself and then come and submit them to the Lord and to the Body. Everyone must press in on an individual plane of individual revelation.
The next step is that you become aware of the commission or authorization of the Lord. Again, it is on an individual level. You have the revelation, and you sense the word of the Lord directing you into something. At this particular point of commission, we find a danger entering in. Now you can become a law unto yourself, as you rejoice in getting the word of the Lord.
I Corinthians 8:1 tells us that knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. It is difficult to receive revelation without having your ego built up to the point of feeling you don’t need anyone. Yes, knowledge puffs up. This is talking about spiritual knowledge. Whenever revelation begins to come to an individual, and they say that the Lord is giving them visions, dreams, and other marvelous things, I check it out; and if it is true, then we give them the job of keeping the toilets clean, or some other menial task of that nature, for six months. Why? Because it is necessary then to go into the discipline of submission, to serve the Body. Revelation must move under authority, otherwise it goes berserk.
After we receive a revelation, the next step is to look for confirmation at the Body level. We come to those who are over us in the Lord and submit what the Lord has shown us. This is difficult. Many would just as soon go off at their own initiative and quietly do their thing. But no, this is where we come to submit, and then we go on from there.
The fifth step is the commission at the Body level. This is where the laying on of hands takes place. We fast and pray and lay hands on them, separate them for the work to which God has called them. Thus we are literally following the New Testament pattern in Acts. When we set men aside for eldership, and so forth, they already have the witness themselves: then the witness and confirmation comes to the other ministries and is confirmed in the hearts of all the people.
The sixth step is the dedication. After these other steps of your being submissive, having the word come to you, having it confirmed, and being commissioned or ordained, then your submission must take another form. At this particular point the word of the Lord is taking form, taking shape. Then the dedication becomes a submission to a specific thing. Up to this time the whole submission is to bring self and lay it at the feet of the Lord, to get rid of any reluctance until there is a general willingness in your heart. Now the individual initiative to dedication is to take over. It is no longer vaguely waiting for a word, but now comes the real work. We have tuned in and finally we are getting the message, and we begin to record it, and we know exactly what it is. We are not just tuning in to some static or noise, but we find out what to do and set about to do it with all of our heart, with everything that is within us. We wait, girded, armed, and ready, so that when the charge comes, we know our foe, we know the objective, the hill we are to take, the city we are to conquer. Then we go after it with an aggressiveness.
Faith at this particular point can be stronger than at any other time, because we have a sure word from the Lord that has been miraculously confirmed. We haven’t pulled a Scripture out of a precious promise box, hoping it was a word from the Lord. There is a better way; it is a little more difficult and a little more involved because you have to learn the voice of the Lord.
At the beginning of the New Testament Church, the first replacement among the apostles was done by casting lots. But later on we hear the Holy Spirit speaking, “Separate unto Me these men for the ministry.” The order was becoming more set by that time. It’s a more sure leading of the Lord. When you have a confirmed word and you know exactly what you are going to do, the devil may meet you when you get into a dark alley and say, “You don’t have a word from the Lord”; you can say, “I may be a little depressed today, but that doesn’t alter the fact that I know I have a sure word from the Lord. I know! I know that I know that I know, because the Lord revealed it to me, and it was confirmed to me miraculously in the Lord.”
This gives a basis for faith. Faith is not a mystical feeling that is pumped up and says, like the little engine, “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” You are not trying a little harder every day to con yourself into believing it. Faith is not conning yourself into some positive attitude: faith is based upon the fact that you believe God because you have a word from God to believe, and you enter into it with all of your heart and your soul.
In all of this, we are laying the whole foundation for submission. You may be saying, “I’m going to get down and pray and seek the face of the Lord earnestly and humble myself before the Lord. I’m going to start getting some revelations and then I will submit them. I have always looked to all the elders to give me the guidelines and now they won’t have anything to do.” You don’t think so? Suppose you come to them and say, “I have a word from the Lord; can you confirm it?” What do you think that will do to the elders? They will be down on their faces saying, “Lord, give us some revelation.”
Often people come to me and say, “I want you to pray for me.”
“What’s your problem?”
“Well, I’d rather not say. Let the Lord show it to you.”
In case the elders think that this procedure is easy, they will probably change their minds when the people start coming to them with words and they have to have miraculous confirmation or rejection of what they present. It is very difficult. But that brings maturity.
Now we turn to the book of Galatians for the classic Scriptural example of this. Both in the ministry of our Lord and in the ministry of the Apostle Paul, we see how carefully they walked before the Lord. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (You see, on the personal, individual level he received that revelation of Jesus Christ.)
For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me (notice: not just to me but in me; no revelation comes apart from Him; everything God reveals to you is a revelation in you and becomes a real part of your being), that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood (he didn’t go around looking to someone; he was first going to seek the Lord himself), nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus. Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.)
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me. Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. And it was because of a revelation that I went up (up to this time, Paul had been active in the ministry to a degree, but the real commission was yet to be confirmed); and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.
But not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. Galatians 1:11–2:5.
There was submission, but there was a complete rejection of those who were going against the revelation that had been confirmed. Paul submitted it to the apostles because he had a revelation, that had not been commonly preached by the other apostles. They were not preaching anything contrary to it, but it was a revelation that Paul had received concerning the Gentiles and their complete release from Moses’ law as far as it being binding upon them. They were delivered from circumcision and other laws. But Paul submitted to the other apostles.
But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter with the gospel to the circumcised (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised, effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles), and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do. Galatians 2:7–10.
He had a revelation, but he brought that revelation and submitted it. It was a very controversial situation. James, Peter, and John were the pillars who were ministering to the circumcised. They were not preaching that one had to be circumcised in order to be saved, but they were going among the circumcised, the Jewish people, those of Israel, ministering to them the Word of the Lord. This was the designation of their apostleship, especially of Peter who was the apostle to the circumcised. Paul said that he was sent to the uncircumcision. Therefore, he established the teaching of the grace of God throughout his epistles, which was very important. Although this commission that he had received from the Lord was very important, he still brought it and submitted it to those who were over him in the Lord. “Because of a revelation I came up and submitted it” (Galatians 2:2). Paul almost seems to boast that he didn’t receive it from man, nor was he taught it by man, but by a revelation from the Lord, yet the divine order was followed.
Regardless of how much God reveals to you—even if you could write a whole new Bible—you still must submit it to those who are over you in the Lord. There has to be confirmation. This is a safeguard, for people can easily “spook” or be misled, even though they are very sincere. The Lord doesn’t say, “We will put all of our eggs in one basket.” No, we’ll put them in two or three baskets, and by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word will be confirmed. It is God who brings supernatural, miraculous confirmation that enables us in this Walk to say, “We don’t need the old-fashioned church boards, we don’t need the autocratic government of a hierarchy, for we are governed by the Lord, the Head over the Church in all things. He is capable of revealing His will and His mind in every single instance and in every single ministry. All of us, called of God, are hearing the voice of the Lord, but with the safeguards and the checks by which we submit to one another in the fear of the Lord we come to that positive confirmation that gives us the assurance that we are really being led of the Lord.”
If we follow visions and dreams and heavenly encounters that are unconfirmed, we can get into a lot of trouble. I have great confidence in the word of the Lord, but I may not have great confidence in my hearing the voice of the Lord. I have confidence in the word, but I don’t have confidence that I am getting it straight, so confirmation comes and little by little it is clarified. It is marvelous that God is so perfectly leading this Walk when there are so many imperfect people in it. God uses unworthy vessels and produces an outstanding work. As long as we adhere to this pattern of confirmation, God will bring forth His will and His way.
Now let us consider how we are to proceed from this point, especially with regard to the active faith following a confirmed word. God has given you the word as you have waited upon Him. He has confirmed it by ministries of revelation and you know what you are to do. This is the time to make haste slowly. By this I mean don’t throw away your carefulness and become reckless. As you continue carefully seeking the Lord, it is also time to shift from a passive submission into an active submission. This can result because you have waited on the Lord and you have submitted. Your submission becomes an expression of active faith. Personal pride is almost eliminated because you have submitted to others to give you the word and you are entering in now to the period of being consecrated to it.
In an army, a person is subordinate and submissive to those who are over him. But if he is always rebellious and bucking the sergeant, he is asking for trouble because his superiors will work on him until they crack him down. Finally, after he has been drilled and drilled, and he learns how to salute and how to march, the deep resentment gives way to a submission. He finally agrees that he is a soldier and he will continue to be a soldier. He has hated it, but now he is submissive, as he goes through the paces.
After all of this has been accomplished in him, then he is given a commission, a job, a project. The general shows him the field of battle and says, “Do you see that hill over there? Take some men and take that hill.” He knows that if they take it, they may all die; nevertheless he has an order and he says, “Yes sir,” as he salutes. Out he goes and gets his men and their guns and they go after it. There is an aggressive submission. If God says, “Jump,” we set about to jump as high and as fast as we can, and God honors it.
King Joash came to Elisha, weeping, when the prophet was on his death bed. “My father, my father, the horses and the chariots of Israel.” He recognized that Elisha was about to die. Elisha said to him, “I’ll give you some help against the Assyrians.” He laid his hands on the king’s hands as he held the bow through the open window toward Syria and commanded, “Now take the arrows and beat the ground with them.” So he pulled out his arrows and feebly hit the ground three times as though he thought it was a silly thing to do. The old prophet raised up on his death bed, furious with the king. He said, “You should have beaten the ground many times. Now you will have three victories and then they will chase you” (II Kings 13:14–20).
Half-heartedness can have no place. The measure of fulfillment of a prophecy is always dependent on that last stage. God will give you either a token fulfillment or else something so exceedingly abundantly above all you can ask or think that you will hardly be able to contain it; it depends upon the way you go at it. If you go after it reluctantly, still passive, you will not receive much, but if you beat those arrows on the ground until every feather is beaten off, you will have a victory as he could have had, that is total and complete. God wants you to wholeheartedly respond to a word as a word from God. Don’t turn to the right hand or to the left, but go after it with everything that is within you. That may not sound like submission, but that is true submission in its final stage.
If you pursue something aggressively and you stumble, that doesn’t make one bit of difference at that point, providing you are following a word from the Lord and a commission, for that seems to blanket everything you do. You can scramble to your feet and go right on and nothing makes any difference. You may say, “Oh Lord, help me with these mistakes I’m making!” Just get up and go on. The biggest mistake of all is made by someone who has a word from the Lord and does not aggressively and actively stand on the promises of God and press into them with his whole heart. That’s the mistake that cannot be repaired, except by God dealing with you and chastening you until your spirit begins to respond like tempered steel that has been through the fire, and you are ready to respond instantly and completely to what God really wants from you.