Do you want to learn the way to end periods of discouragement? It is also the way to move into the fullness of the Lord. For some time, I have known that there is a connection between encouragement and activity; the people who are the most depressed are probably those who are the most idle.
Have you ever noticed that after doing nothing for a few days you feel discouraged? There is always a connection between your activity and the mood that you maintain. When you become discouraged, counteract that with activity.
I learned early in my walk with God that I was not always able to break through into great victories of the Lord by spending long hours on my knees in prayer. Often, I paced the floor, calling upon the Lord about situations which I knew had to change. I was often able to throw off frustration and discouragement by lifting weights. This vigorous physical activity always affected me, and it broke irrevocably the mood that had settled over me.
We come under demonic assault because we are in the conclusion of the battle of the ages. If you give it attention, you agree with it and it continues, we must stay in motion.
We are actually still in the beginning of the kingdom age, not much has been accomplished in expanding the kingdom.
At times believers go through battles that are so persistent and bitter that the believer, does not know how to draw on the grace of God to sustain themselves. When weariness comes upon them to a point of deep discouragement, they must know how to alleviate it.
Ephesians 2:10 emphasizes that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works. We must sense that the works which we are to enter are the fulfillment of our destiny. They also are the means by which we break through in growth, into the walk of mature sonship.
It is necessary that worship and faith be in everything you do. These two elements cannot be separated, or the works will become so laborious and tedious that you will be discouraged.
Likewise, if you do not work with the Lord, you will be discouraged. There must be this combination, so that you can enter the labors that God sets before you with real faith. Do not regard them only as work; let them become an expression of your burden and faith for God’s kingdom to fill the earth.
The vision for the school of prophets is very necessary because we are entering into creative prophecy. Let us be diligent to teach hungry men and women how to become efficient ministers of the Word of God. There must be more opportunities for them to come together for teaching and training.
A thousand prophets will learn things that they never would know as quickly otherwise, because someone imparts to them, sets them on the path, and demands of them a dedication and discipline to the Lord’s service. This is the way they can come into maturity.
The Scripture teaches, “It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth” (Lamentations 3:27). When someone has a true desire to walk on with God, we should not wait until they have a full revelation before we encourage them to combine the revelation they do have with diligent action.
The diligent worker is never far from more spiritual breakthroughs. But the one who is slow to do the will of God is further from breakthroughs than they realize, for they must first break through moods and other obstacles to become obedient. The lazy person is always tired.
Your capacity to do the will of God increases as you are in motion. You grow after you have reached your limit, and you must reach out and snag the honeycomb to finish the day destroying Philistines (I Samuel 14).
When you reach a point where weariness would overtake you, appropriate His rest. Do not be discouraged with working with the Lord or try to avoid or evade it. When you have worked to a point of discouragement, lift your heart to the Lord and draw from Him something that you have never had before! When you expand your capacity to appropriate God in your need, you grow.
You produce a spiritual crisis when you feel you have come to a place where you have nothing left to give; then your capacity for God increases the moment you must reach into Him for more grace.
This does not mean exhausting yourself beyond your physical capabilities. However, there can be a consistent drive, day by day, which goes beyond what your mind believes is possible.
The book of Hebrews, more than any other book in the Bible except the book of Romans, deals with deep doctrines and teachings of the Scripture. It speaks of God’s promises and provisions: the better sacrifice, the better covenant, the better sanctuary, better promises. However, intermingled with these are many fantastic passages which give us the initiative to do the will of the Lord—not only to hear and accept a doctrine, but to act on it.
Chapters 3 and 4 of Hebrews tell us about the believer’s promise of entering God’s rest. How do our works relate to the rest which God promises is to be ours? Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest anyone of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end; while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.” For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Hebrews 3: 12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
We are to reach in and partake of Christ, which always encourages us.
Disobedience can come in two ways: A person is disobedient if they do what the Word says they should not do; but they are also disobedient if they do not do what God tells them to do.
Because of some weakness of the flesh, you may do what God says you are not to do. But sometimes the more deadly disobedience is knowing the will of God, and yet not doing it. It is strictly unbelief, and the Scriptures label it as a type of disobedience. The children of Israel were disobedient because they did not do what God told them to do.
There are two kinds of unbelief, this is apistia human unbelief. That which is natural to humans. The other word is apeítheia which is willful unbelief or disobedience.
Human unbelief is natural to the believer, it is a failure of maintaining our spirit connection with the Lord, not abiding in the spirit, and is called departing from the Lord. Which is simply walk in self, not being continually filled with the Spirit, happens all the time and the believer is not even aware they are doing it, it is a failure to have a conscious aware of the presence of the Lord all the time. It is minding natural things instead of setting our minds on the things above. It is simply walking in the flesh and not the spirit.
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:11.
What example of disobedience? What did the children of Israel do wrong in the wilderness? It was not only what they did wrong, but also the fact that they did not do what they were supposed to do. They did not take the step of faith, to enter the promise land.
When you step out in faith to do the will of God with all your heart, the Lord will take you through the testing’s. We are being tested all the time. Today is the day of salvation, we are either walking in it or we are not.
Sometimes, you may wonder why no one understands or appreciates your labors in church. You may think, “Other people are taking advantage of my good nature and willingness to work.” This seems to be true because every leader will lay a task upon the one who is willing and takes the initiative to do it. Of course, a leader will take advantage of a willing heart. But I have noticed that God does too!
The person who has an “itch to preach” does not grow nearly as quickly as those who are determined to serve. Why?
They may evade humble tasks to do the one thing they want to do, the thing that makes them happy. Yet that is not the answer.
The minister who is truly effective does not walk through life with their finger in their Bible, waiting to open it and preach.
The messages you receive which most greatly move the hearts of the people come while you are in motion. There are those who advocate the use of quiet meditation and introspection to hear from the Lord. Meditation is fine, but why not meditate after you receive a Word from the Lord?
Often God speaks as He did to Eleazar, while he was on the way with the camels to find a bride for Isaac. He said, “I being in the way, the Lord led me” (Genesis 24:27).
He was moving. The best way to find the leading of the Lord is to be in motion. You will never see a traffic policeman directing parked cars. The cars in motion are the ones he directs. When we are in motion spiritually, the Spirit of the Lord is faithful to lead us in the right direction.
Do the will of the Lord. If no one gives you something to do, seek the Lord, and bother your leaders. Ask them to show you what you are to do in the will of the Lord. They might give you a tedious job, which will show you the kind of spirit that is in you. Before the day is over, God will have spoken to you about your spirit more than He could have if you had done nothing.
Without question, the people who are in motion are the ones whom God can lead into the next step. So, step right in! Idleness destroys the spirit and the morale of people. Women who have nothing to do but call each other on the phone cause problems in a church. The families that are idle should be encouraged to get moving.
Another passage in Hebrews tells us how maturity comes. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For every one who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Hebrews 5:12–14.
Maturity does not just automatically happen. If you wait until you are fully developed and mature before you move, you will never do anything. Maturity comes from consistent exercise at every level. Can there be any growth without action upon a Word? Whenever you fail to act on the Word of God, you are in trouble.
You must do the will of the Lord. There may be things that you do not like in your church; but do not refuse to become involved because of them. Constantly train yourself to put aside the things that would cause your mind to stumble and perhaps even cause you to lose out with the Lord.
Instead, focus on doing the thing that you do understand. When you have a directive from the Lord to do something, obey it. Take an active step to follow His Word and believe that God will accomplish His will perfectly through you.
Hebrews 6: 7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
This is talking about dead works that have no reward, we only receive a reward for living works, these are the things that are done through the anointing, Christ in us is doing them.
Believers, especially those in the five-fold ministry have no idea that all their labors in ministering to the congregation will be burned up in the fire. They have not imparted God to the congregation, just gave them so mental knowledge that did not change them, they probably will forget the sermon in a couple days and have not been given a word from God to act on.
We do not need to hear a bunch of doctrines, we need to hear one word from God to act on, to practice until it becomes a part of our spirit, written on our heart, transforming our lives.
If you are going to preach the word, give the people one word, and explain it in different ways so that the people get it, the word is sealed to their heart, and they grow spiritually becomes of it.
Hebrews 6:9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. 10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hearing a word from God requires patience, it is not going to come to pass until certain things are worked in your heart. There are always conditions that must be met in us concerning any word that we hear from God, for that word to bear fruit. Often it will seem like everything you are experiencing is contrary to what God said. When you hear a word, it will test you like Joseph who was tried by the word until it came to pass in his life. He went for the dungeon to the throne, but it did not happen overnight.
Aways remember it is a battle over the word. Hath God said? This is the enemy battle ground to stop what God said from coming to pass in your life.
Is there any fruitfulness apart from faith and patience being exercised? You are to bring forth things that accompany (or go along with) salvation. God does not forget; He always holds in His mind the fact that you have ministered and do minister to His saints.
When you go through hard places, all you have to do is get up, and go on and do the will of the Lord.
There have been periods in my life in which I was experiencing things I could not understand. Yet they were times of great growth because I knew enough to seek the Lord for a Word and then preach it to the people.
Sometimes I did not know fully how to apply it to my own heart, yet I did my best to lead the people in that Word. Thus, I became more mature and learned how to apply the Word to myself.
I basically teach the word for my own benefit, I grow by teaching, whether anyone hears what I am saying or not.
A bond servant may not always understand every directive from the Lord, but they must obey them. Peter probably did not understand what Jesus was doing when He washed his feet (John 13:6). Embarrassed by it, he protested, “Oh no, never shall You wash my feet.” The Lord answered, “Then you have no part with Me.” Peter wanted to be willing: “Wash my head and feet, then!” Jesus told him, “No, just your feet.”
After Jesus had washed His disciples’ feet, He told them, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” When you know the Word, do it. Your understanding may not be complete, but at least you understand enough to obey it. Act immediately; do not question it in your mind or heart. “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.” If you don’t do them, a heaviness will rest upon your spirit.
Heaviness can be destructive. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength; so, we must find a way to dump the heaviness and appropriate the joy. The joyful people are active people; they are continually moving in the will of the Lord. “Do not be sluggish,” the writer of Hebrews warns. “Show full diligence to the end.”
The book of Hebrews contains doctrines which are difficult to understand, but the author makes it clear to us that a doctrine works only when it is acted upon.
Never read a Scripture without acting on it. Do not accept it only as a theory. For example, John 13:35 is a good, quotable text: “By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another.” When you read that, do something about it. Determine to show your love, to show your discipleship.
Hebrews 8, 9, and 10 speak of the New Covenant, the priesthood, and sacrifice. We read in chapter 10: And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:21–23.
The rituals of the priesthood at the laver are symbols of our cleansing. After our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies are washed with pure water, we leave the altar of burnt sacrifice and come into the holy place of the Lord.
Imagine that we are standing then in that great holy place, with its table of shewbread and the lampstands. Before us in the Holy of Holies is the altar of incense. The altar of incense has been moved now into the Holy of Holies, and as go beyond the veil into the heavenly places in Christ we see everything differently.
We have passed through the process of cleansing; now we can stand in the presence of the Lord. What profound Word will God speak to us in this holy, exalted, spiritual state?
24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, (after reaching this high and lofty state, what are you to do? Encourage your brother and sister to love and good deeds!), not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24–25.
But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly, by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. For you showed sympathy to the prisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. (Does this mean that if you hang on in faith and do not get discouraged, after a while it will work out? No, the reward is not based on what you hold to in your mind, it is based on staying in motion.) For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay.
Now this scripture is not to be interpreted like the early church did who was waiting for the second coming of the lord to destroy Jerusalem, that they may flee the city and escape persecution from the Jews who were persecuting them.
He who is coming is referring to us as the Lord coming to fulfill the word spoken to us personally and the promise contained in it.
The problem with Christians is that they do not know how to interpret the bible. The New Testament was written to the people who were living at that time, but there are spiritual principles in it that apply to us today. So, we interpret the bible differently than the early church did and the disciples who were not born again in the gospels did.
I hear preachers interpreting the New Testament wrong all the time. So, they are not teaching a living word, but some false doctrine. A living word is what God is saying to you personally right now. When you act on what God is saying to you right now then you grow spiritually.
The second coming of the Lord has already happened and Now Jesus is seated at the righthand of the Father waiting on the church who has delegated authority to take control over planet earth.
The teaching that we are in the last days is the greatest heresy right now in the church and almost every believer, believes it. This results in a powerless church.
I have yet to hear one person teach the book of revelation accurately, because it was written to the early church.
But it is also a revelation of Jesus Christ in his many membered body, specifically a remnant of that body who are the four living creatures and the twenty four elders, the trumpets, the 144,000, the man child, the two witnesses, and it is that group of believers that is going to take over planet earth, and Babylon is the religious church or the church at large today, and the governmental systems functioning today.
Religious Babylon are all the bible teachers that are preaching false doctrines, and the church is entrenched in it right now.
Once you start teaching the bible accurately you are considered as a person teaching heresy. Every new move of God is persecuted by the last move of the Spirit in the earth, and this has been going on for hundreds of years. That is why there are currently estimated to be around 45,000 to 50,000 Christian denominations globally, and they are all teaching something different. The church is totally divided and powerless to change planet earth.
Hebrew 10: 38 Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.
The promises are fulfilled when people believe them and act upon them. They are as obedient as they know how to be to what God tells them to do. Act upon the thing God sets before you! Walk in it with all your heart!
It is amazing how the Scriptures, especially these in Hebrews, reveal marvelous truths and then nail it down to a practical application. Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body. Hebrews 13:1–3.
What a beautiful directive— “Do something; always reach out to help.” Although it is ego-satisfying to come up with a profound revelation, remember what I Corinthians 8:1 tells us: “Knowledge puffeth up.” Even spiritual revelation can make one arrogant.
A young minister who comes into discernment and revelation must learn that they do not have to impress anyone.
They cut through all the rubbish that would seem profound to the natural mind, and then minister something practical in such a way that the Lord is glorified.
Their focus is upon glorifying the Lord, not themselves, as some great preacher, that people stand in awe of.
Like a lighthouse set on a hill, they follow Matthew 5:16: “Let your light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father.” The Father is to receive the glory.
Hebrews 13: 15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Would you like to stand and worship God all day? I am in favor of people spending just as much time praising God with their mouths as they do working with their hands.
17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.
The following verses contain one of the most profound benedictions in the Bible: Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20–21.
As we become dedicated to do His will, the doors of fruitfulness open in our lives. When we act on His Word, we trigger our faith. Sometimes you say, “I believed, therefore I moved.” At other times you move and then you come to believe.
Faith is both generated and increased by obedient action on a Word that God gives. You start out with a little faith, and as you go along and the battle gets rougher, you are tempted to say, “If I had known when I started that it was going to be this difficult, I might not have answered God’s call.”
Think back. If you had known in advance what God was going to require of you, would you have been diligent to do His will? Of course, you do not want to go back now; but had you known then what you know now, you probably would not have done the will of God. You would have been too discouraged.
When you started walking with God, He did not tell you all that eventually would be required of you, because you did not have enough faith then.
As you went along, your faith was increased by obedience. Fruitfulness came by obedience. You moved out on what God said, and because you did the will of the Lord, you grew. Now you could not be persuaded to turn back now.
But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Hebrews 5:14. All skills are learned by doing. All spiritual abilities are developed, enhanced, and matured by your obedience. Acting on God’s Word causes your faith to grow and develop.
Do you want to be a man of God? Do you want to be a handmaiden of the Lord? Then go to work. Always work with a sense of what you are doing.
It is not the amount of energy expended that makes a son of God. Rather, when you set about in the Lord to do what He (or someone over you in the Lord) has commissioned you to do, your faith will be challenged, and it will be released.
I know of no easier way for you to become a man or woman of God than to do the will of the Lord. God has set before us much to do, and as you enter into it your ministry will grow. You may be unaware of the change in yourself, but others will see it.
The people who fail are those who refuse to serve. It is not the ones with a “preacher’s itch” who really make the ministry. The ones who succeed are those who present themselves as living sacrifices, willing to do anything.
We open our hearts to help one another. There can be no self-seeking. We are becoming servants of one another. Our desire is not for a place or for security, but simply for an opportunity to serve. We are learning the way into the fullness of God.