Progressively, we are becoming more and more free in our expression of worship. But the great freedom and the great worship is just ahead of us. We must understand something about the basic problem of our emancipation and our liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ. The problem is that liberty has to be learned; it must be taught to us.
Freedom was real in the hearts of men like Patrick Henry, who said, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Those early patriots of our country had fled from the yoke of oppressions and bondages which had been upon them in Europe. Because they saw that freedom had to be guaranteed to the people, they put together the Bill of Rights. Every generation since then has become more careless about their freedoms. When there is a socialistic approach in the schools, the children are not taught freedom, and it does not mean anything to them. Liberty has to be learned, or sooner or later you will have to give your blood to recapture it.
All creation is to enter into its glorious liberty; but that will not happen until the sons of God enter into it. Then they will loose creation from futility. Futility is learned, too. It has been imposed upon us and we have become conditioned to it. Like the children of Israel, we have been conditioned in our minds to accept futility and bondage. Even after the Israelites left the slavery of Egypt and became free men, it took an entire generation for them to unlearn the conditioning that they had received in Egypt. They were taken out of Egypt, but the conditioning of slavery had not been taken out of them. They could not think free. They could not talk like free men or react like free men.
When the Israelites were slaves, they did not have to make any decisions. They did not even have to decide whether they would live or die; someone else decided that for them. Whether or not they were going to be whipped was decided by someone else. They did not have to make a choice about what they were going to eat. Someone else set out the fleshpots, like garbage pails, and everyone helped himself. The only decision they had to make was whether to eat the food or starve. As slaves, they were told what to do and how to do it. It took very little initiative to be a slave. But it took a lot of initiative to be a free man. When they got out in the desert, they became responsible for their actions. They had to respond to their freedom.
The sons of God are coming into their glorious liberty, and the Lord is getting us ready for the greatest manifestation of spiritual liberty that the world has ever seen. I wonder if we are prepared for it. We need for the Spirit of God to wipe out the conditioning of bondage still in our minds.
It is difficult to get out of that conditioning, and adapt to something new. The first cars that were invented were simply modified versions of carriages. In fact, they were called “horseless carriages.” They even had a little socket for a whip. People had not yet accepted the fact that a car would look entirely different from a carriage. It took a long time for them to visualize what a car should look like.
We are in the greatest spiritual revolution that has ever existed in the history of the world—right in the middle of our services. We do not really know all of the changes we are experiencing. We do not have the understanding or the expertise of guiding a Kingdom-age service. We do not have the pattern for it. No one knows the full import of this now.
Our services are still held in auditoriums, as they were in recent centuries of the Church age, and yet we keep talking about the Kingdom. It seems that we are half in the Church age and half in the Kingdom age. We do not know exactly what will happen next. We do not know how to make the adjustment and break through into the Kingdom. We have been conditioned by the fact that this move of God is probably the most pure and perfect expression to come forth in the restoration of the Church. Because it is so pure, it has opened the door for us to make significant inroads into the Kingdom. Now we wonder, “Will we have ‘church’ in the Kingdom?” Yes. No doubt we will have elders and prophets, etc., but what kind of worship services will we have? We don’t know. We know that we will gather together all the more, as we see the day of the Lord approaching (Hebrews 10:25). However, I am not really convinced that we should come together for formal services as we have known them.
Our services should continue to be led by the Spirit of the Lord, but not necessarily according to the familiar pattern. I believe that more and more they will consist of a dialogue, with several prophets and teachers speaking the Word of the Lord. This procedure must involve a great deal of liberty, yet it cannot be a thing of lawlessness without a divine order and restraint. God will show us, and teach us, how to relate to one another. Over and over He has been giving the Word that the Kingdom is a matter of relationships. That is what will make it unique.
We reach freedom by the route of faith, rather than by wisdom. After all, we do not have enough wisdom to know which way to go, for “we have not passed this way heretofore” (Joshua 3:4). But as we keep interceding, there will be faith to believe God for the greater works to come.
Men of faith have always been put in a position where it looked as if the circumstances were the opposite of what God had said. When the three Hebrew children were threatened with the fiery furnace, they said, “We don’t know whether or not God will deliver us. But one thing we do know—we are not going to bow down to the image!” (Daniel 3:17–18.) Their obedience was the expression of their faith. As a result, God delivered them. We too must believe and obey God. A formula is being laid before us very plainly; keep praying, do not panic, have faith, look to God for even more faith. Don’t worry about answers. Believe for faith.
When you are backed into a corner, do not allow a sense of futility to overwhelm you. Instead, declare, “I have a Word from God, and I am standing on that!” We must realize that we are moving into freedom by faith! But that freedom must be taught to us before we can be really free.
The freedom that God is bringing to us has to be learned. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” John 8:32. You can know the truth without understanding all the answers. When you hear a Word from the Lord, you must walk in that Word. Your freedom is going to be just as real and extensive as your realization of it. If it is not real to you, it will not exist. You have to realize it. You take it by faith and walk in it.
In this walk in the Spirit, we have reached a turning point. We will either walk on into the greater works of the Kingdom, or we will back off because we cannot understand or because the circumstances are hostile to us.
Before the greater works will come forth, we probably will be put in a position of jeopardy. There was no other way for Daniel to be established except through the lions’ den. The disciples had to be put in jail so that their liberty and freedom could be manifested. The believers prayed for them day and night, but when Peter was let out of jail by the angel, it was difficult for them to realize that he was free. They had been so conditioned to the fact that he was in prison, that when he got out of prison and stood outside the house where they were gathered, they could not believe that it was really he (Acts 12:7–16).
Some of us may find ourselves in financial jeopardy or maligned because we have “rendered to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s” (Matthew 22:21). But remember that there comes a time also in which Herod gets up and makes his arrogant speech, and immediately finds that he is smitten and eaten by worms; and he dies (Acts 12:20–23). The time is coming in which the temporal powers will learn the fear of God. They will realize that God means it when He says, “Touch not Mine anointed and do My prophets no harm” (Psalm 105:15). And this will happen because some of us will be put in a place of jeopardy. We have never been in this climate of judgment before, but we are now! Now God will intervene. The Holy Spirit is prophesying it—God will intervene! God will intervene! We may not have all the answers, but we have faith. We are determined to be believers in this hour. We will do His greater works (John 14:12).
Everything that happens will have to be by the grace of God. How carefully we have declared that this walk with God is a matter of grace; we have never believed that any meritorious works will bring us into it. That was what God told Abraham. We read about Abraham’s faith in Romans 4. For this reason it is by faith (notice: it is by faith!), that it might be in accordance with grace, in order that the promise may be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the Law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, (as it is written, “A father of many nations have I made you”) in the sight of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. Verses 16–17.
God has been doing the same thing for us that He did for Abraham. He has given us prophecies; and we have been listening to them and rejoicing in them. God called Abraham “a father of many nations” at a time when he was not yet the father of even one child, let alone of nations. By faith he had to accept what God said, even when there was no evidence to support that faith. In fact, the situation was deteriorating day by day.
God has promised me also many things, and I could react in unbelief by saying, “I should live so long!” But I know that there are many things that must come to pass. I have gone through physical harassments, demonic assault, and emotional problems, but out of all this will come great change. Out of this, His life will flow from us.
Romans 4:18–21: In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” Abraham believed this! And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. In spite of the fact that he was becoming weaker in body day by day, Abraham was not being weakened in faith. He did not become weak in his faith. He was believing God.
Yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. Nothing pleases God as much as that kind of faith. In fact, you cannot please Him without it. Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” How can you please God when you are depressed, doubting, and withdrawing? Believe every Word from God—that is the name of the game. It is a war over the Word! We have had a Word and a revelation from God, and by faith we will come into the fulfillment of it. We recognize our place. We realize the promises of God! And that awareness will be the thing that brings forth this move of God in the earth.
We could say, “What about resurrection life? What about Romans 8? It sure doesn’t look as if it will be fulfilled.” I agree with that. It doesn’t. But that is not the issue! I do not care how things look—we will not waver in unbelief! Can you hear Abraham saying, “Sarah is getting older, and my body is as good as dead.” Then do you suppose he heard God answer, “That is true, Abraham; but we are not going to start writing any obituaries yet, because little Isaac will be born. The promise will be fulfilled. A covenant will come, and nations will come forth.” Today, God is saying to us, “There will be the Kingdom.” We will be surprised when we see how many people who never attended church will make their way right into the Kingdom.
People are going to believe God, even when there is no wisdom. Tell me—with the wisdom of God, could you write a book on how to walk around in a fiery furnace? Or could you write a manual telling how to coexist in a den with hungry lions? Daniel was a real prophet of God. He talked with angels. He talked with the Lord. He saw visions. He saw the times of the Gentiles. He prophesied accurately when Christ would be born (Daniel 9). But as great as Daniel’s wisdom was, it was not enough in the lions’ den. There he was in a position where one lion could have destroyed him, together with all of his wisdom. In that place of jeopardy his faith reached up, beyond the limited wisdom of God that he had, and he obeyed God! His faith did not waver. He believed that God was able to perform what He had said. God likes that kind of faith. God is not a sadist, but He does receive glory and joy out of our sufferings when we have entered into them because of our faith.
Concerning Paul, the Lord said, “I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). And Paul did suffer. No one in the New Testament times endured any more suffering, beatings, whippings, and assassination attempts against his life than Paul. At one time when the Jews were plotting to kill him, they waited at the gates of the city to capture him. Paul’s disciples had to lower him down over the wall in a basket so that he could escape (Acts 9:25). That is faith—faith with real obedience. In II Corinthians 1:10, Paul wrote, “We have set our hope on God, who delivered us from death, and He does deliver, and He will yet deliver us.” He was always expressing that confidence and faith toward God. This was true also of Abraham. He said, “I am fully assured that what God has promised, He will perform.” I am positioning myself on this very Word. I hope you will do the same.
What did God do for Abraham because of his faith? Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Romans 4:22. We know that Abraham was a good man, but this Scripture does not refer to natural righteousness. It was not human rightness. He did not always do the right thing. He even, in a sense, lied about Sarah and said that she was his sister, which placed her in great jeopardy. But still, Abraham had faith. Notice the way he believed. He would not waver. His faith kept growing stronger. Every day Abraham became a little weaker physically, but his faith became a little stronger. Even as Sarah aged, his faith was strong. When God looked down and saw that faith, He said in effect, “We will wipe Abraham’s ledger clean. We won’t keep an account of his assets and liabilities. Because of his faith, we will mark everything down as righteousness. We will count it all to him for righteousness.”
Even when you walk with faith, you can make a lot of mistakes. Actually, sin is a relative thing anyway. What one person considers to be a serious sin, another does not consider so bad. It just depends upon what little sin you are petting in your own life. God knows how quick we are to excuse ourselves and to condemn others, how we build up some phony religious system of measurement. But if you go before God and repent of your unbelief with all your heart, everything in your life will change. Not only will He impute righteousness to you; He will impart righteousness to you. You will be able to live before God in a way that you have never been able to live before. Repent of unbelief. Like Abraham, determine to walk in faith.
We must adjust our thinking to the fact that our bondage must be unlearned. When the blacks were set free after the war between the states, it seemed like a wonderful blessing. But it was a disaster to many of them, for they did not know how to cope with freedom. Consequently, they stayed on the plantations and worked, just as they had done when they were slaves. They had no place to go, and they did not know what to do with their freedom. This illustrates a problem we have. It is not enough to rejoice because we are under the grace of God, and not under the Law; we must learn how to be free. We must become aware of what it means to be the free sons of God and to walk in the liberty of the Spirit. I pray that we learn freedom and unlearn the bondages that we have brought along with us from our past. I pray that we become free in our spirits so that we reach into the glorious worship that belongs to us in the Kingdom of God. Let us break through into His presence, into the greater works and the signs following.
Did not God place a limitation upon Himself when He determined that His will would come forth in the earth through His people? He chose to manifest His unlimited power and His Kingdom upon this earth through us and our faith. It is a painful miracle process, but aren’t you glad that He included us in His plan?
The Living Word, the Gospel of the Kingdom, must be preached to the ends of the whole world. How are we going to do it? Not by making this move of God in the earth an extension of a little missionary movement of past generations. We will have to learn freedom. Be determined to learn it. The Holy Spirit will teach you to be free and to walk in the Spirit. Unlearn the things which have conditioned you. We will learn how to get out of the bondages that have rested upon us, that we have carried along with us. Away with them! Let us be free of them! We may have to fast and pray and repent before we are out of those bondages, but we are going to do it, so that we can say, “Good-bye old world! We’re moving into the Kingdom!”