Progressively the door is being opened to something completely new for us. The Holy Spirit is speaking so strongly that it is not the Moses ministry that God is bringing forth now, but it is the Joshua ministry which is leading the people into the promises of the Lord. The Joshua ministry also operates in governmental sonship in the heavenly places in Christ, and is a door opener for others, to begin functioning in this realm, this is where we displace fallen angels.
In the wilderness, Moses taught the Israelites the precepts (rules to regulate behavior) of the Law. He instructed the people as to how they were to walk before the Lord in the ways of mercy and in God’s dealings upon their lives.
After that they came to the land of Canaan and Joshua took over. He was to lead the people into the Promised Land. The principles and the teachings were quite well established. That is a picture of what has been happening to us for a number of years.
We have been in a wilderness of teaching and of learning how to walk with God. Learning how to put on various aspects of the divine nature, coming under the dealings of God, and being tested for the purpose of promotion.
From now on the Apostolic company will be moving under a Joshua ministry to possess the things that God has spoken. We have been projected to a higher plane (we could also call it a deeper level) in the Spirit realm. We are going beyond the level we have been on for some time. And this projection into a new spiritual level is of utmost concern to us.
More than anything else, Satan hates the new level of the word that is coming forth, for the Word will be spoken with great authority and power.
The Lord has given us a key which will open the door to the next step. That key is transference. Everything depends upon it. For us to enter into what God has, there must be a flow through the ministry directly from God to you.
There has to be a way in which you can be relieved of everything that is oppressive to you. It has to be laid upon the Lord. This is the basis, of course, of Christ’s work of redemption. God laid upon Christ the iniquity of us all that He might lay upon all of us His righteousness and divine nature. This transference is the basis of everything that we believe in.
It is also the basis of witchcraft, which works entirely by transference. We must learn how it operates and how to control it, for the immunity which we seek depends solely on our being able to control what Satan would transfer to us.
The perfect Body ministry comes about when, in perfect love, we edify one another and keep building each other up. We need to understand this positive aspect of transference and how we can enter into it.
Several passages of Scripture will be the key to the flow which we must enter into now that we are approaching a spiritual level of battle where we do not have a strong enough anointing and flow to really meet the need. We are no longer dealing with demons or familiar spirits, and the wiles of the devil. We are coming against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
We do not have enough from God for the level that He has thrust us into, so we have to find out exactly what we must have. I know it sounds repetitive, for we have heard it from the beginning, but here is the key:
I Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love. It is not easy for us to realize that everything has to be done in love, even spiritual warfare. Our battle is not against flesh and blood, but the principalities that are influencing the leaders of our governments here on earth, the leaders of the church who are deceiving people, so that we cannot hate the people they are influencing.
I Corinthians 14:1 reads: Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. We are to pursue love. Notice also chapter 13, verses 1 and 2: If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
God is concerned about what we are becoming. Without love we are nothing. It is only as we are moving in the ministry with the fullness of divine love that we are anything. God is calling us to the first phase of the manifestation of the sons of God. It is not so much what we do that is important, but it is what we become and the level of maturity which we reach. This love is the key for us right now! Our prophecies have been wonderful, and our worship music has been beautiful; but they are not adequate for the level which we are on now.
As the Lord gives us greater revelation, we realize that we also need greater love. When a greater level of revelation enabled me to see a brother’s or sister’s problem or need, I realized that I did not have enough love from God to minister to that particular need. Then I tended to judge and to be critical of it. Then I would back off and pray, “Forgive me, Lord. Give me more love. Whatever You grant me to see in the Spirit, give me enough love to meet that need.”
However we move, we must have more love in the churches, more love in everyone who prophesies and more love in everyone who leads worship.
In this hour, nothing avails anything but faith which works by love (Galatians 5:6). We have been concentrating on moving mountains. That is fine, but a mountain-mover can still be nothing. We have been concentrating on knowing the depth of the revelation of the Kingdom, but even with such knowledge, a man or woman can still be nothing. The key to everything is love. There is no way that I can emphasize this strongly enough.
What causes us to sink back into a flow which is no longer pure? A little bit of criticism or a little bitterness will do it. You see this wrong and that wrong. I listen carefully to what everyone has to say, and let me tell you very bluntly: you can bring your arguments to me and I will listen to them, but even if you speak the greatest of truth in pointing out everything that is wrong, even if you understand all mysteries and have all knowledge, but you have not love, I will judge your spirit and say that you are nothing. I have a scriptural basis for that—I Corinthians 13:2.
Do not criticize. Do not murmur. Do not complain. Do not poison the stream of what is coming; purify it and move into the next step by flowing in His holy love. We must love. And it must be divine love.
All of what you are involved in becomes just the mechanics of another movement and will never rise any higher unless there is a creative force of love that motivates your desire for change. You must want something to happen because you want a brother or sister to be blessed, you want them to make it. You want everything to be right, and your love goes out to them. You move, not in criticism that poisons, but in real love.
Do not tell me about your personal problems. I know very well what is happening. Often, I want to minister to some of your problems, but God will not allow it. To solve your problem would be to remove you from a circumstance in which God has contained you.
Wives and husbands, are you having problems? There is no way out for you. Are you having problems at work? There is no way out for you. I emphasize—there is no way out for you. This is not a movement of doing miracles; this is a movement of becoming sons. There is quite a difference. The doing becomes the result of what we have become. God is not going to deliver you until you learn that your reactions in bitterness and your reactions of immaturity, in which you seek vindication, avail nothing. When you scream, “This is wrong. I am right and I should be vindicated,” God is not going to vindicate you. He is waiting to see you love with faith. He is waiting to see what you are going to do. You will only get out of that corner when you have moved into love. There is no other way out of it.
You may be concerned about the various things you should be doing. They will still be there next week, and unless you move in love, they will still be there next year and the following year. We cannot mechanically produce the vision which God has set before us. This vision of the greater works will be wrought by a people in whom His greater love is being manifested.
Let everything be done in love. Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. I Corinthians 14:1. Why do we need prophecy? While we are pursuing love, prophecy becomes a channel by which the love can flow. We ought to do some serious praying about this.
In I Corinthians 14:39 Paul gives the exhortation, “Forbid not to speak in tongues,” and he urges us to prophesy. Maybe it would be unscriptural, but I would certainly like to see everyone keep quiet until each one has sought God long enough to come up with more love and a deeper level of moving in God. If we cannot do that, then in the name of the Lord, we must pursue love while we are in motion.
Let us pursue after love because of the transference which is involved. In instance after instance, even among the brothers and the pastors in some of the churches, we have seen that the way in which they acted toward one another was not with love at all. They had a little revelation, but they were not walking in love.
This walk will require much more than administration ability or the gifts of the Spirit in operation. What is it going to take? Faith that works by love. If I have everything, but do not have love, I am nothing. We want to come into divine sonship. How often we have read Romans 8:14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. There has to be a certain key to being led by the Spirit of the Lord, and that key is the fact that you love Him, and His love is reaching through to you.
Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:14a, “For the love of Christ controls us.” You ought to underline that statement and remember it the rest of your life. Being led by the Spirit of the Lord is not just getting the signals with some psychic awareness; it goes way beyond that. There must be love in our hearts so great that we love the Lord and follow the Lamb wherever He goes. We do not want to get tied up with the mechanics of this. We will not concern ourselves with the gifts of the Spirit right now. We must be conscious of the level of love which we have in the church. Let us be concerned about it so that we break through right now, and really love one another more deeply.
I am very aware of the need for greater love because this ministry is going to reach the whole world. The effectiveness and the quality of it will depend upon our love for the Lord and the way that love comes through to others. I am not condemning you or saying that you do not have love. I am merely saying that we have been thrust into a new level and the love which we have is not adequate for this next step. The depth of the anointing is not adequate for what we are facing. It just is not enough. It was enough for yesterday and for last year, but it is not enough for today.
More than ever before I find my heart reaching out to search after the Lord—not in unbelief, but because I believe Him and love Him. Is this hunger for the Lord a real concern in your hearts, too? What is important is your personal love for the Lord, His love for you, and the way that it comes through.
There is a story about a party to which the local pastor was invited. He was an old man. Included in the crowd was an actor who was quite famous for his readings. The actor goaded the old preacher to quote the twenty-third Psalm, but the preacher declined. Then the people encouraged the actor to do it, and he consented gladly. With the arrogance that is typical of actors, he recited the Psalm. When he had finished, everyone clapped, for it was eloquent. The actor then asked the preacher again. The preacher was embarrassed, but he finally agreed. When he had finished, there was an awesome silence; no one clapped. With tears in his eyes, the actor shook his hand and said, “I know the twenty-third Psalm, but you know the Shepherd.” There is a great difference.
It will not be because of the way we say things or the way we do them, but it will be because we know Him and His love, because we walk with Him, that people will be blessed. When we prophesy, their hearts will be met because the anointing will spill over and bless everyone. I am not concerned when you stumble around or fumble around. Perhaps we are beginning to look a little too much for excellence.
Let every man’s offering be tested, not by his eloquence or by the excellence of his talent, but by the depth of the love that comes through. This is what we need now. This is what will fill the churches. This love thunders like Sinai when there is not a sound. It is what moves men. When they look at what is produced through us, they may consider it strange and peculiar, but they are moved by the love that comes through to them.
Acts 3:1–10 relates the story about Peter and John going up to the temple and healing a lame man. Joyfully the man leaped and embraced them. Then they went into the temple where thousands were converted that day. But when the people crowded in around Peter, he said, “Why do you look upon us as though by our power or by our holiness we had made this man whole.” When God does a work, two things happen. First, the mechanics of a miracle are present: a prophecy, a healing, or some other manifestation of a miracle. But in itself that is not enough because Satan will do signs and wonders; false prophets will arise and deceive many. To have a show of power is not quite enough; we must have the show of His holiness and His righteousness. That is the second factor. Christ has to come through. That is the difference between the true and the false today. The false will come with great power and demonstration. There will be power and demonstration in what we do, too, but there will also be a revelation of our Lord. There is going to be a flow of love through what we do, and it has to start with what we have become. If the love is not there, all the miracles in the world are meaningless. They could be just another competition with Satan, and he will do something that looks even more spectacular. But that is not the issue. Oh, let the love of Christ abound! Let that compassion come.
When we read about a miracle in the Bible, we do not read the account correctly. We read where Jesus healed all that were sick. Everybody came and all were healed. But go back a few verses; how often do you read that He was moved with compassion for the multitudes, because they were like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). He was moved; one could see that constraining compassion coming through. The Father’s love flowing through the Lord’s heart motivated it.
Paul writes, “Though I have faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing” (I Corinthians 13:2). Love is the mark of a son. When you come up to love, you have come up to maturity. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. I Corinthians. 13:11–13.
What must you do in order to move into the next step of manifested sons? Start seeking for God’s love with all your hearts. We had enough love for the level we were on as children, but not for the level of sons. You must pursue love. Are you aware of the fact that you would not have had so many problems if you had had more love in your heart? Then God would not have had to put you in a corner. You know it! Perhaps you had a problem with criticism or bitterness. Repentance is necessary, but do not put too much emphasis upon the matter of guilt. Consider it a real opportunity to look at yourself in the mirror of God’s Word and realize that your thinking has been immature and that you have to grow up. When that happens, you realize that God wants you to walk with Him as a son. He wants you to be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. He wants you to love one another with a perfect love.
God is demanding this love. You must have it; therefore you can have it. If God wants you to walk in it, you can walk in it. If you lack wisdom, He will give you wisdom (James 1:5). Is God not the fountain of all love, too? To a great extent, it depends on your turning loose the love of God which is already in you and letting it become active. Start believing right now and move in that love. Reconsider your judgments and your opinions during the last month. Then ask the Lord to give you all the love you need.
This message may be just a little flame right now, but as the days pass, it is going to be like a raging furnace inside you. You will have prayer meetings in which you weep before God. You will hunger deeply for Him. Where it has been a labor to do something, you will now find yourself driven, because you will live with a broken heart and a broken spirit before the Lord. Every day, and all day long as you walk with God, He will be very real to you. You will be a continual worshiper. The sense of duty and the pressure will be taken away, and there will be no more living with that awful sense of defeat. You will be like a flower that is in the sunshine, opening its petals. You are going to feel like that in your spirit, and everyone else will see it.
When you bless your brother and your sister, believe to be a channel of love for them, and believe that they shall be a channel of love to you. Open your heart so that this will become very real. This is not any type of a doctrine. Even though it seems radical, it is the simplest truth conveyed in the Scriptures.
We have heard it from the beginning, that we should love one another. Only now it is very necessary for the love to be perfected in us.