If you have been privileged to be in a service of commissioning or ordaining, you may have noticed that after laying hands on someone, that person usually begins to experience unusual difficulties in his life. It seems as if every ugly thing within him comes to the surface. As God deals with him, every wrong thing in his life is exposed and you could find yourself wondering, “Didn’t the Lord prophesy over him to be a prophet and to move in signs and wonders?” Instead of that immediately happening, however, the defects and the things which should not be in his life present themselves.
The Lord sits and refines all the sons of Levi as silver and gold are refined in the fire, so that there may be a pure offering to the Lord (Malachi 3:3). During the process of refining silver, the impurities come to the surface, forming a black scum on top of the silver. As you ladle off these impurities, soon the silver is so pure that you can look into it and see your face reflected back. When God says, “I want this man to be a treasure in whom I can be revealed; I want an earthen vessel in which My glory will come forth” (II Corinthians 4:7), He must first refine that person so that the impurities in his life come to the surface.
God deals with you; and while He is dealing with you, He keeps looking at you with the intent of seeing His own face reflected back at Himself. The Lord will never be satisfied until He can see Himself reflected from you. The trouble is, however, that every time He puts the fire to us, what bubbles up is some more of us, some more of the corruption that we must escape. We can … become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. II Peter 1:4. But this process can take time.
I am always patient and full of grace whenever I see in someone a hunger to walk with God, and I know that God is dealing with him. Although we cannot expect that everything we see coming out of his life will appear good, we do expect that when he stumbles and falls he will have an honesty, an openness, and a readiness to confess and forsake his sin. I expect him to discover the areas of his weakness. I expect him to discover the areas of his ignorance. I expect to find God constantly helping him discover the areas of a bitter or bad spirit. I expect that person to be put in a position where the bad will come to the surface.
Whenever you see someone experiencing these dealings, do not accuse him of having a bad spirit. He probably has a good spirit, but the bad thing in his spirit is coming out and you see that first. Have faith for people. Men would not be in situations where God can deal with them if He had not first laid His hand on them, if He had not touched their lives. You may feel that you have so many problems that you are ready to run. Of course you are having problems. Unquestionably, walking with God is a true form of brinkmanship. It is as if we were teetering on the edge of Niagara Falls (and not in a barrel either), or we were trying to walk a tightrope.
God wants to show us what He is doing with us. The essence of it is the reason why we can be on top of a mountain, have a vision of the Lord as great as Peter, James, and John had on the Mount of Transfiguration, and then come down and struggle with a situation as difficult as the disciples faced—that of trying to cast out a demon that would not come out (Matthew 17:1–16). How did the Lord respond to their plight? He said, “O unbelieving and perverse generation! How long will I be patient with you?” Then He cast out the demon (Matthew 17:17–18). After we have experienced a period of revelation, it seems as if the Lord intervenes sovereignly, because it is then that we are thrown from a mountaintop up into a valley. Geographically, of course, we go down into a valley; but that is not the picture spiritually.
God’s whole intent and purpose through this is to take the spiritual things and bring them down into reality. The life of Joseph is an example. He had a wonderful dream that the sun and the moon and eleven stars all bowed down to him. Doesn’t that seem wonderful? Yet his brothers were extremely jealous of him. Even his father was slightly offended at it and said, “You mean that even your mother and I will bow down to you!? How can you have such a wild dream, Joseph?” (Genesis 37:9–10.)
Joseph had been given the coat of many colors, which was an indication that he was his father’s favorite and that he would inherit largely—this in spite of the fact that he was not the firstborn. It is true that he was the firstborn of Rachel, but Leah had had many sons older than he. What about Joseph? What would happen to him? Being a pampered son and having such wonderful dreams was certainly far removed from what the dreams revealed he was to be (Genesis 41:39–40). The Lord had to take his dream, that vision which was floating around unseen, and bring it down until it was an actuality.
When we have faith in a Word, that faith is the substance of the thing hoped for, an evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1); it is still floating around unfulfilled. How do we bring it down so that it becomes a physical reality? Even if you believe that God can turn water into wine (John 2:9–10), you will be drinking water until you learn how to work the miracle, until you learn to bring it down from the ethereal into reality.
God wants all the prophecies and all the promises to be real to you. He wants them to come into focus, into tangible reality. That is why He constantly deals with you regarding your unbelief, your rebellion, and the impurities that take away from the effectiveness of your faith. The Lord is giving a glorious vision of the new Jerusalem, but it still has to come down out of heaven and become a permanent part of the earth (Revelation 21:2–3).
The book of Hebrews is an excellent book to read to see how God ties different themes together. After the great roll call of faith in the eleventh chapter, the twelfth chapter gives us a picture of several things. The first concerns our focus on the Lord (Hebrews 12:1–3). The second refers to the right attitude we must have toward His discipline, so that He can take out the impurities that hinder us (Hebrews 12:4–11). The third deals with the bitterness that can come forth and defile many, mentioning Esau and what was in his spirit (Hebrews 12:15–17). Then we read about coming up to the unshakeable Kingdom, to Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:18–29).
Amazingly, you actually will wallow through your own mess while the Lord is disciplining you. You will wallow through problems wherein you will have to learn to focus on the Lord, to consider Him, to fix your eyes on Him (Hebrews 12:2). You will have to go through all of these dealings before you can truly arrive at the Kingdom that cannot be shaken. Do you see this truth? It is you who must come to the place where you cannot be shaken.
Often, two individuals who are going through similar dealings gravitate toward each other and talk over what is bothering them. Their pastor sees this and says, “They are not good for each other. All that their conversation consists of is rebellion and criticism.” Actually, the entire problem is that they are not yet focused. Do not criticize them. Simply try to encourage them. Their impurities are coming to the surface, and every time these individuals come into a service where God probes their hearts, He will skim away some more of that corruption and their whole life will become a little more pure. I cannot reject someone simply because God is causing what is in his heart to surface. It is much better that this happen and the defilement be eliminated than for it to remain. If you are steady and faithful now, it is probably because God dealt with you, and anything in your spirit that could come up, did. You had to face all of your bitterness, all of your wrong reactions, everything that was wrong in your relationships and in your attitudes. That is why you are steady now. That is why you are able to stand without any wavering.
To have God deal with you in that way is far better than to carry around within you a seed of defeat, which is much like carrying around a time bomb. Since World War II, hundreds of ships have been sunk because they hit naval mines which had been laid during the war. Long after these mines have served their purpose, they are still destroying ships. How many more hundreds of ships could sink because of these mines that were laid in the early Forties? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get rid of them all now?
Is it possible that you are carrying a “bomb” around in your heart? Is it possible that you can serve God and work for Him all of your life, and then find some little thing in your heart that rises up and knocks you out? Do you have some seed of defeat, some little inclination that could be triggered off at any time in the future and blow you up? Do not be too shocked at that possibility. Surely you do not want to carry around in your heart something that will cause you to lose out with God further down the road.
The Lord knows this. He knows that the devil can push a certain button in your nature, that he can manipulate exactly the right combination of factors, and you will fall for his trickery. Perhaps you have a little flaw in your spirit or in your attitude, which, if the right circumstance were to present itself, would cause you to stumble. Do you have a little pet peeve, a little pet prejudice? Is there something from the past that irks you? You may not even be aware of it, but somewhere down the line an instance could occur which you would immediately relate to a past situation where you failed before. Psychoanalysis will not help. Sometimes it is also difficult for you to probe yourself, although the Living Word publication Search Me, O God could help you get rid of many of these floating mines, these secret weaknesses in your heart that could blow you up later. Read the book Search Me, O God. It will put you through a spiritual inner probe.
God wants to guarantee that you will not be defeated in the future by something that is not taken care of now. Do you want to be a prophet of God? Then you do not want to be a prophet of God who turns sour down the road, because of some impurity still remaining in your heart. When men of God prophesy over you that you will be a prophet, God begins to deal with you, to chasten you, so that everything in you that is wrong can come out. It is far better that it emerge now than later. Let God deal with it now! Are you thinking, “Am I going through something drastic! I am so bitter, so critical, so rebellious.” Then deal with those problems! It is good that they are coming out, so that you can get rid of them and walk on with the Lord with a pure heart.
It is time to see the Lord. But remember—it is the pure in heart who will see God (Matthew 5:8). We must be fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2. We are told in the next verse to consider Him, lest we become weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:3). Keep your focus right. Are you tired and discouraged? Then get your eyes back on the Lord.
When you watch a scene on television, you can focus on it and identify yourself with it to such an extent that you lose your focus on the Lord. This actually produces a weariness. One time I watched a boxing match on television, and by the time the fight was over I was exhausted. I had identified and related to it, and because it had affected me, I was weary; I was emotionally drained. If I had spent the time waiting on the Lord, I would have been greatly refreshed.
It is possible to identify with another person’s spiritual battle, with some problem that he is experiencing. Perhaps you know of a brother who is overtaken in a problem of the flesh. Then you had better heed Paul’s warning: “You who are spiritual restore him, but consider yourself lest you also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). You can so identify with another man’s problem that you are sucked under with him in it.
Have you been running the race? Are you weary? Then keep your eyes on the Lord. Do not lose that focus: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of your faith” (Hebrews 12:2). If you are continually watching other people and their problems, you will become tired. Keep yourself refreshed. Keep focused on the Lord. Do you see many things that you wish were changed? You have probably noticed how those who are doing the Lord’s will are often undermanned, overworked, and with many jobs still pending. Instead of focusing on those needs, focus on the Lord and how He is moving. Then your heart will be refreshed, and you will be encouraged.
Look to see what God is doing in men’s lives. Be aware of the chastening of the Lord. We are urged in Hebrews 12:5, “Do not despise the chastening of the Lord.” Further on we read, All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness. Hebrews 12:11. God wants us to share in His holiness; therefore He keeps laying His hand to us. All of that brings out what is wrong. God does not “spank” us in order that we be good; He disciplines us in order to aggravate the bad so that it comes to the surface. If you spank a rebellious child, he will become quite angry at you. All that you do by spanking him is bring out the problem. Perhaps he has been having his own way too long and now finally he is too much for you to handle; he is acting like a little monster. So you spank him. Then something bad comes out. He objects to your action. He rebels against that crossing of his undisciplined will.
When God disciplines His children, He too crosses their will until they submit to Him. Do you say, “I went through a hard dealing, and I did not find God in it.” But you did find yourself in it. You found out what was in yourself, and that is the first step. “Well, I did something good and no one appreciated it. I worked hard and people criticized what I did.” Stand up and take your licking like a man, because you will discover plenty of reactions in yourself. And when you discover them, you will turn to the Lord.
God is shaking us by the Word that He is speaking, by His dealings. This cannot be emphasized enough. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken, in order that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:27b–29. Remember this, so that when you experience God’s dealings, you will not say, “God has forsaken me.” Rather, you will say, “God is giving me special attention, so that I will become a partaker of His holiness, so that I will be able to walk with Him and not lose out.”