The book of Deuteronomy ends with Moses going up “to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah.” There the Lord showed Moses the land that the sons of Israel were to possess. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day. Deuteronomy 34:5–6.
The book of Joshua opens with God’s promise of the same land to Joshua, after the death of Moses. Until we are further into this next dispensation, we also will constantly contend with our frailty and the fact that we are expendable. These two things we will find in almost every servant of the Lord.
When Moses disappeared from the scene, no one knew where he was buried. This was probably a blessing, for we read in Jude 9 that Satan and Michael the archangel contended over the body of Moses. It was not that Satan wanted to take the body of Moses and have it forgotten forever; Satan would have loved to see the people build a shrine around the body of Moses. Then the descendants of those who rebelled against Moses would eulogize him as a great man. Satan has a way of doing this when a prophet has been dead about a hundred years. Satan turns things around so the people make a shrine or a monument of him, so they can adhere to their dead doctrines a little easier.
Our present spiritual reality does not come by looking back to a dead prophet or reformer. It comes by wrestling with the Word of a live one. God has a Word to say to you now. Listen to it, and you will have a struggle over it. This is what Joshua faced when God gave him this simple statement: “Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.” Joshua 1:2–3. This is what God tried to convey to Moses: “I have given you all the land where your foot shall tread” (Deuteronomy 11:24).
For your foot to stand on your inheritance, you will have to “fight a troop and leap a wall” as David did (Psalm 18:29). The initiative was clearly defined to the children of Israel, along with the heritage that they had received by promises and covenants from God. Promises and covenants do not have their fulfillment until the time comes when men with the initiative of faith move in and believe that they can possess what God has promised them. The true battle is a continual contest to enter in and possess what God has given you. At no time does a promise of God look realistic, humanly speaking. Always a promise of God seems to be a future “pie in the sky” by the illusion and interpretation of men. God says, “I have given it to you.”
“Oh, thank You, Jesus. We will write a song about the promised land and sing it for the next hundred years.” Why use a promise of God as some soothing syrup, as some downer in moments of tension, or as an upper when you are so low that you must be pepped up to believe that “in the sweet by-and-by it will all come to pass.”
God’s promises are something to contend with now! This is the message which you must understand. Do you not see that the spiritual battle taking place in the churches is over the Word that has been spoken to them? Some people may be so deceived that they think there are other issues involved besides the Word. They try to find something wrong in a brother or in something that has happened.
As we read about Joshua, we see the basis of what our attitude should be. Do not get your eye on a brother; keep your eye on the Word that God is bringing forth through that brother. Otherwise you will see many faults to criticize. Nothing else can ever be as important as the purpose God has for that brother to fulfill. For this reason we must have a compassion that refuses to judge harshly. We must contend for the fulfillment of the will of God in the brother’s life.
This is the attitude we see in Joshua, and in some ways he was more successful than Moses. Moses saw the glory of God, and he was transformed as few men have ever been in all of history (Exodus 34:29). Few have ever known the things that Moses experienced as he talked with God (Exodus chapters 33 and 34). In spite of all that God spoke to Moses, he had a way of focusing on the people and their problems. When he came down from the mountain after a visitation from God, and saw what the people were doing, he smashed the stone tablets (Exodus 32:15–19). Then he had to go up for another forty days to get another set. Something within his heart was constantly reacting to those about him.
At times Moses fell on his face and cried out to God. At other times, he was filled with anger. Once he smote the rock when he was supposed to speak to the rock only (Numbers 20:7–11). He reacted to the people. They drove him beyond his limitations because he was focused too much upon them, in spite of his great focus on the Lord. We never find this true of Joshua.
Joshua was so focused on the Lord that he never reacted in a bad sense to the people who were following him. The secret of his success was not how he handled people. It was not military strategy; it was not what he did in any sense. He had one key: “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth” (Joshua 1:8).
God promised Joshua, “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.” Joshua 1:5–8.
If your focus is on the things that are taking place around you, something can happen, or someone can do something against you that will offend you or make you stumble for a little while. A lot of things could reach me that way—reports of problems in the churches, or their focus on little undercurrents of criticism. To a large degree, the vision of 1979 I saw in 1972 has come to pass. The churches are on two levels already. In the vision I saw, there was no split; there was still a type of oneness. The churches still adhered together because the Living Word had been the common bond between them. But there were those who had no limitations or barriers upon their dedication to walk in that Word. They were pressing into the Kingdom and into sonship.
If a man walks with you five miles and you are going ten, it is not an occasion of division. Walk five miles with him, but certainly do not be arrogant about it; many times you will be humbled very much by your own dedication. The kind of dedication we are reaching to attain now does not exalt you; it humbles you. Every day you will feel more like nothing, because you are more nothing than you were the day before. You will feel inadequate and know you are inadequate. Joshua must have had this feeling in his spirit, yet he had this simple key for success: he focused only on the Word.
I find myself torn, like a rupture in my heart, when I realize all the conflicts that some people are going through. I have determined that in no instance will I be critical. The Lord is flooding me with such compassion that I am not driven by fear; I am driven by faith. When people criticize me, I do not care. That is irrelevant. They may say a lot of things they will be sorry they said later. People will wish they had done things a little differently, but they get caught up in problems. To evaluate them subjectively, and on a personal level, would be foolish. I am sure Paul did not, or he would not have bothered to write to someone who said that “his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible” (II Corinthians 10:10). “You should hear his speech!” This did not bother him. He still gave them the Word of the Lord.
Paul said, But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power. For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. I Corinthians 4:19–20. Here Paul was talking about power words in contrast to human words on a low, subjective level that God will eliminate by His dealings.
This is what I believe: I am a believer, and I encourage you to be a believer. I encourage you to walk very humbly. I encourage those at Shiloh to walk humbly, because one accusation that has been given unfairly, and wounds deeply, is that they are arrogant and are critical of other people. No one who has been aware of the things our young people have gone through could say they are arrogant. They are humble by choice! Many of them get their clothes out of the Shiloh clothing commissary. They do not have much materially, but it does not matter to them. They keep praying that they can go on and be a part of the sacrifice that is coming forth. They have a pure vision and a revelation of things. This is not arrogance.
If we intercede humbly, and with persistent faith, God will honor our faith even when the objects of our intercession protest. Some may not want us to pray for them because they do not want any change. However, if God has spoken a Word over them, those changes must necessarily come. He may put them in a corner until they are open to His Word and until the changes happen. Let us not be vindictive in any instance, nor allow any arrogance or pride in our intercession.
Shiloh probably represents one of the most difficult levels to maintain in God’s Kingdom at the present time. Every other church has more stable qualities, while Shiloh faces a constant flow and an adjustment weekly to a new influx of people. These people constitute three-fourths or more of the basic core of people who represent the intensity of the Spirit that Shiloh attained through a long winter of intercession. The dilution of what was attained then is like diluting wine.
It has to be very good wine, if one plans to pour a bottleful in a bucket and fill it up with water. Who wants to drink diluted wine? It would not be bad if there were nothing else, but it would not be the best. There is a certain richness that should not be diluted.
There is a richness in Shiloh which we fight continually to maintain, a fight that no other church or group has. Many come who need help. Week after week we work to pull a few up and steer those who are ready to go forth. They generate a momentum, and they take that momentum back to their churches. Then new ones come to be built up. Some churches have adopted a program of sending different ministries weekly. Shiloh does something for them, and they go back to be a blessing to their churches.
This places a necessity on Shiloh to be in much intercession and to show great love and compassion. Those who come must not be ignored. They must be drawn in to absorb the Spirit, the anointing on Shiloh. Shiloh could become one of the greatest places of ministry in the whole world. There are not large crowds. It is a Gideon’s opportunity with three hundred people every week, if there is faith to do it, faith to press into it. Over and over again we pray, “Lord, it is a new weekend. Meet these people. Something more must be done. Break through upon them.” Let us cry out to God to meet them, because they are to be met by God before they go back.
Some of these precious ones come to Shiloh with two strikes against them because they have been preconditioned by criticisms of Shiloh. It takes them a little while to realize, “I was stupid to listen to that.” But people should not spend two weeks before they find out that Satan was lying to them. Oh, how much they could miss in one service, what they could miss in one breakthrough at Shiloh!
With all your heart, pray against everything that comes against Shiloh. God did not bring forth Shiloh without Satan battling it. Where is he battling it? The criticism is not all coming from outsiders. Walls against Shiloh are within some of the related churches. It is a shame that some sacrificed, knowing they were doing the will of God, and then afterward became critical. If you open your mouth to criticize without a revelation, you could be guilty of fighting against God. Either you have a revelation, or you have a presumption.
You can move into the will of the Lord at Shiloh. It is not dependent upon any man. You can reach into the Lord and have Him do something for you in the Word. The burden of ministry at Shiloh is already set in motion. Each person can have the meaning, the vision, and the commission to do what the Lord sets before him.
Each one is responsible for maintaining the high spirit of Shiloh. Two or three weeks of diluting this Spirit, and it could disappear. Why? Too many people come in, get a portion, and go. The people who are left may be weary; they may not keep the Spirit up. When another group comes, they take a little more of the Spirit, and they go. God establishes what He is doing in Shiloh with a great deal of diligence, a great deal of faith, and a great deal of persistence from all of us to see it established as a facility of the Kingdom.
Diligently press in with all your heart as Joshua was told to do. You may become occupied with spiritual battles, but keep meditating on the Word continually. You may face difficult situations which require wisdom, but keep your heart focused on the Word that God is bringing. People move in, in tides that come and go, and it is important that we abound in the Spirit that is Shiloh.
Keep the vision of Shiloh in your heart. We not only maintain the spiritual status at Shiloh, but we humbly believe the tide will rise; we humbly believe it will more than rise, that it will flow out to the churches everywhere. The churches will be met if they can see a pure spirit in Shiloh.
One church invited a Shiloh brother to visit them. He went so humbly that they were disarmed. They had expected Shiloh to shove them, because the Word at Shiloh is heavy. Instead, he sat down with the brothers, and they melted and began to flow with him. He also went to some other churches, and the same thing happened again. Another brother went out to a church and ministered a quieting effect, because he has an easygoing, quiet manner.
If we follow the Word, we can love and be a blessing to the churches. It is time to be closely linked to the local bodies. I suggest that we send a ministry from Shiloh and a ministry from a church together for counseling or ministering to Bible classes in homes. Let there be no distinction or comparisons between Shiloh and other churches. Walk humbly before the Lord, and know that all is of Him. Talk about the Word and the Word only!
Do not compare any ministers, either. Who is more important? someone who unlocks a door and opens it? someone who holds the door open? or the people who walk through the door? Their ministry may be a hundredfold. Who are we opening a door for? A thousand prophets, or all of our efforts are in vain. Who is the most important? One plows, one sows, another waters, another harvests; but it is God who gives the increase (I Corinthians 3:6–7).
We have a common task to accomplish, and it is related to the Word! It is certainly not related to judging one another or even having a high estimate of ourselves. We can say, as Paul said, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God; who also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant. II Corinthians 3:5–6a. May God drive this into our minds and hearts, lest we, to some degree, become a follower after men. We are followers of the Lord! We have a Word to this generation that is as significant as any Word that has ever come from the Lord in the history of mankind, a real Living Word. The gospel of the Kingdom is becoming very real to us. We will publish that Word!
While the Lord gave this Word to Joshua, it is very important we also apply it to ourselves. We cannot in any way stop magnifying the Word and ministry that God wants to come forth from Shiloh or from any of the churches. We emphasize that. This is the Word from the Lord. We would be going against the Word if we did not. The exaltation of man, or conversely the sinking to the level of argument and criticism where man becomes the focus, is one of the deadliest traps Satan has made. We must not tolerate it.
I, myself, am nothing. At best, I am only a voice. All I want to be is a voice, speaking His Living Word. This is the one thing God gave me that I exalt. I delight to be a channel for the Word. I magnify this office, as Paul did his; but as far as taking anything to myself personally, I do not. I am not a privileged person on the human level. Every day, I take less privilege on the human level, for I believe the Lord’s people will be a humble people by their own choice.
Do not exalt any man to a position that God has to destroy. Do not make an ideal of my humanity, so that you have crutches. You are to walk with God, and exalt Him only. The human level is not to be exalted. Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. II Corinthians 5:16.
Only this is to be exalted: the fact that God has raised us up, that we have this treasure in earthen vessels (II Corinthians 4:7), and that His Word has been put in our hearts so we can do His will. This is the way we are to think and to serve.
Do you judge the performance of one brother’s ministry above another? What did Paul say about that evaluation? Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God. In this case, moreover, it is required of stewards that one be found trustworthy (faithful). But to me it is a very small thing that I should be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself.
I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God. Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that in us you might learn not to exceed what is written, in order that no one of you might become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. I Corinthians 4:1–6.
Let no one be arrogant. We are to walk humbly with God together.