The Scripture in Ephesians 4:14–16 builds a truth that we need to hear. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming (notice that deception and the attack of that which is not true comes against the immature; we are no longer to be children); but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
When people are spiritually immature, they are subjected to the waves, the winds of doctrine, the trickery of men, and the craftiness in deceitful scheming. The immature Christian is subjected to many of these things. The whole purpose of the restoration and the foundational ministries is that we would no longer be children, but we would speak the truth in love, grow up into Him in all things, and begin to function in a tremendous way in edifying one another and building up one another in love.
We must move deeper into the love of God. We must move into the place where we can truly help and support one another in a more perfect way than we have known. We must become immune to the winds, the waves, the doctrines, and the deceit. There must be a stability so that we will not be moved, but will speak the truth in love and minister to one another in love. Then the Body will begin to make the rapid advances forward that God intends for it to make.
Much of the energy of the walk is already directed toward what God wants all over the world, but we would be amazed if we knew what percentage of our spiritual energy and attention and force is still devoted to dealing with our immaturity, our reactions to every wind and doctrine and everything that comes and goes.
Today any business that cannot make a certain profit simply folds up and quits. If it loses money, it quits. God looks upon us in the same way. Do you remember the parable of the fig tree? The man came, looking for fruit, and did not find any. He wanted to have the tree cut down, but finally he decided to dig around it and fertilize it for another year. Then if it did not bear fruit, it would be cut down. He wanted to give it a little more time (Luke 13:6–9).
We need to bear fruit. We have had enough time. We need to come into the spiritual growth. We need to reach the place where we do not spend years of our energies and our spiritual attention in just trying to keep one another from falling out of the boat, let alone hoisting the sails to get us to our destination.
It is time that we loose ourselves into the flow and the immunities. We are no longer to be carried about by every wind of doctrine or the trickery of men or craftiness in deceitful scheming. It is true that people are quite solid in this walk with God, but much of our energy and time is still spent trying to hold the Body together, instead of reaching beyond that stage of spiritual immaturity and really making the advances into what God wants us to do. The key is to speak the truth in love.
A lot of truth is spoken that has no love in it. It may be the truth, but the Word says that only the truth spoken in love prevails. If you cannot speak the truth in love, keep quiet until you can. If you cannot speak of a brother’s need without your heart breaking, then do not mention it.
It would be interesting to compare the transference that comes to us from God and that which comes from Satan. Love has the power to create. Hate has the power to destroy. The Word says that Satan was a murderer from the beginning, that he is a lie and there is no truth in him; he is the father of lies (John 8:44). It says of Christ that He is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). All things were created by Him (Colossians 1:16). If we could only understand how intently He loves us.
Only when the Body begins to move in that same love will we have the creativity of God flowing in our midst. We will grow and advance because we are speaking the truth in deep love for one another. We are loving each other so devotedly that we literally build up one another.
Galatians 5:15 tells us: But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. In a type of cannibalism, hatred causes you to prey upon one another. This is the way of Cain, which is one of the signs of the last days (Jude 11).
It is difficult to imagine the forces of witchcraft and the vicious hatred of Satan that will be turned loose against the people of the Lord. That is why God tells you to love your enemies. By moving in this love, you will come into an immunity, and nothing that comes against you will touch you. The wicked one will not be able to touch you (I John 5:18). You are in for trouble if you straddle the fence. But if you move right on into God’s perfect love and you minister to one another in love, you will not only see the creative life flowing through the Body, but you will also see the barriers and walls and immunities that you seek against the assaults of the wicked one. You will be loosed and free from those assaults.
Now is the time that we ought to face the black cloud of hatred and destruction that is coming from the wicked one. What defense do we have? Our defense is not in hating him back. We hate the evil—that is true. We know God will judge it. Our greatest defense is found in speaking the truth in love and loving one another fervently with a pure heart (I Peter 1:22). You cannot give yourself too much to this. There are still restraints and reservations in your commitment to love. God must break that down and break it down quickly. The time is upon us that you cannot love one another with the same reservations you have now. It must be a total love. Even as He loved us and gave His life for us, we ought to be willing to lay down our lives for the brethren (John 15:12, 13). There must be a total, absolute dedication to love. In that we will find our immunities. As we do that, we will no longer find ourselves carried about by every wind, and no longer will any of this trickery get to us. No longer will we find ourselves reacting back and forth like a little cork tossing to and fro in the midst of a hurricane. Instead, we will stand like the rocks that God intended us to be—rocks of the Church standing against all the powers of darkness.