How great shall be thy life, O house of the Lord. Thou shalt live by the life of thy Lord. He became that broken vessel in order that thou shalt feast upon Him and partake of Him. Yea, let there be that strength within thee, and faith that shall lay hold upon the Lord, upon His fullness to humbly proclaim, “The Lord is our fullness and we are complete in Him who is our spiritual Head.”
The Lord bringeth forth a people like the world has not seen before—not a people that have excelled by virtue of their heredity or by virtue of their innate strength, but a people that are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. In this people shall the words of Zechariah be fulfilled: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” The Spirit shall come upon thee, and thou shalt know the renewal by the power of the Holy Spirit and thou shalt be made strong in the things of thy God.
Prevail, prevail. Let none say, “I am defeated.” For it is not how the enemy hath come against thee, but it’s how thy Lord hath prevailed over the enemy. You are standing in His victory, in His attainment, for He hath made an open show of principalities and powers, triumphing over them in His cross. You too, in the cross that the Lord shall lay upon thee, shall find the victories of Jesus made real in your life; and ye shall come forth to prevail over the powers of darkness. Behold, the wicked one shall overcome them not: these people that God raiseth up shall stand in His might and stand in His strength; they shall prevail in His victory. Oh, thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Lord wants to bring forth something in the earth, He follows a process: it is created, then crucified, buried, and resurrected. Think on that for a moment, then apply that process to the Church. The Church came forth vital and strong; then it went into an eclipse during the Dark Ages when it was, so to speak, buried; then resurrected and renewed. And without a doubt the restored Church will be far superior to the apostolic Church.
On a smaller scale, the present-day local churches go through the same process. God raises them up and in due time they go through a period when He slays them before He resurrects them. When that happens the congregations must not cry out, “We deserve something better than this,” because they will already have been blessed a thousand times over for everything they have done. Their heart must be willing, as they submit to this part of the process in which God lays on the line everything He wants them to be.
God worked out our salvation by following the same process. Our Lord came forth; He lived and ministered; He was crucified, He was buried, and He was resurrected. Then He entered into the greatness of His ministry, seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession for us, henceforth expecting until His enemies be made the footstool of His feet (Hebrews 10:12, 13). We’ve also seen that process take place in individuals in the churches—either over a long period or a short period of time. We bless a brother and he flourishes for a while. Then he goes into a wilderness, after which he comes out strong.
When the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and He heard the testimony of the Father, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased; hear Him,” He went forth from the waters of Jordan driven by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days of fasting, to be tempted of Satan, and to go through a kind of eclipse, after which He went forth healing the sick and preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. It’s always that way. We find that when we first hear a word of revelation, we flourish in it; then the Lord puts us through the work of the cross and we die. After that we come up strong.
We learned this early in the walk. An individual would have hands laid on him, and the following few days he’d be prophesying and moving out. Then suddenly he seemed restrained. He couldn’t understand it, until finally he realized that each of us must go through a wilderness. Anyone who comes into the walk must go through a wilderness. When he comes out of the wilderness he moves—but not with ambition, for that seemed to die in the wilderness; not with flesh being exalted, not trying to make a career or place for himself as he did in the beginning when he functioned as an individual. After going through this process he comes forth functioning as a member of the Body of Jesus Christ.
When I am in a wilderness experience I hold to one confession: what God has said concerning me is true. The fact that I am being tested does not alter it. I possess what He has said, in the name of the Lord. What God has declared to be so, I purpose to move out on.
The time of renewal is here. “After two days will He revive us; on the third day He will raise us up, to live in His sight,” is the prophecy of Hosea 6:2. How can God revive and renew us? What can He do for us? I don’t know if everyone will experience it, but I anticipate that a few of us will tap the secret of longevity, achieving the renewal of the glands and functions of the body. I think we’re going to see some marvelous things happen and I want to be a part of it all. Why not believe that physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually God can renew and change us, constantly bringing us up to a state of excellence.
There are several beautiful Scriptures that speak of this renewal. How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:1–3. Perpetually we draw on the living word of God, receiving the freshness, the vitality, and the fruitfulness.
And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. Ezekiel 47:12. What wonderful trees, bearing fruit every month, always fed by the streams of water that issue forth from the sanctuary of God. That’s one thing I want from God. We must find some way that God can bless us by providing perfect nutrition. I don’t want to search the world for health secrets. I believe God has better secrets for us, secrets that will enable us to eat sawdust if necessary, and find that God has blessed it to us.
I hope you understand the language of the following Scripture. But thou hast exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, my ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me. The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalm 92:10–15. I want to be one of those trees, full of sap, bearing much fruit. The sap is the sign that you’re drawing up the life and you will produce something in your life that doesn’t wither. I curse the idea that we have to degenerate and deteriorate and finally fall apart. I don’t think it’s true. I believe we should reverse our thinking and anticipate instead the vitality that God wants to bring forth of His own nature and His own life through a many-member Body.
How can the Head be exalted and rich and the Body poor? Can you visualize some poor old bum dressed in rags, but wearing a beautiful crown on his head? Then why do we picture the Body of Christ like that? We cannot picture an exalted Christ without seeing that we’re blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places with Him. We must realize that we are enriched in Him; that anything He has experienced becomes our experience; that anything He has won, we have won. We are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. It’s true, that if we suffer with Him, we will also reign with Him. We must hold fast to this truth in the name of the Lord. We’re going to have it. Let us not think of ourselves as defeated, as aging or falling be the wayside, as losing our dreams and visions until the wonder of the life that God has given us is no longer enchanting to us and we seem to have failed in everything. We haven’t failed; we’ve only commenced to begin. We’re going to move in more rapidly in every area. There is so much that we have to leave behind. Like caterpillars, we must pull away from the earth and build a cocoon, if we expect to fly among the flowers; we must die for a little while so we can live effectively.
It takes patience and you must have faith for one another, lest you start judging and give up on anyone. Let the wounded lie there and bleed awhile; then they’ll get up and fight some more. Every time God has taken me another step I’ve gone through this same process of death and coming forth in life. And it’s miserable. But according to Paul it is most necessary. He writes in II Corinthians 4:12: So death works in us, but life in you. Unless death works in an apostle there is no life worked in the people. Whenever a Superman type comes marching into the church wearing a blue cape with a big S on his chest, beware—he’s probably related to the antichrist. In order for our ministry to come forth, God must put us through a great deal; otherwise we’d become exalted out of measure or fall under the condemnation of Satan.
I think of one brother who has an important position in the world, yet he came humbly for ministry, without arrogance over what he knew or could do. Then God began putting him through it and he went into an eclipse; professionally he was buried. But now he’s coming up. We pray God to resurrect him in his life and let him walk humbly before the Lord. Experiences like that encourage me. Similar stories could be told about the businesses God is raising up and the ministries, including those of pastors. God is producing a people who will not only have a ministry; they will have the humility of Christ worked in their lives.
Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit; who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalm 103:1–5.
Although I don’t feel it physically, in my spirit I know that my best and most vigorous years are ahead. My spirit is convinced of it. It can’t be any other way. Though the outward man seems to be perishing, the inward man is renewed day by day (II Corinthians 4:16). I think there will be something more than that: the outward man will begin to quiver and quake under the convulsive resurrection life that is coming forth.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Romans 8:11. I’m embracing that and believing for it. It belongs to the sons of God. Will you confess it, too? Will you believe that somehow nothing can be a bondage, no habit can chain you, no malfunction can grip you, no process of deterioration will be able to harm you, if you can lay hold upon this promise that the Spirit who raised up Christ from the dead is going to quicken your mortal body also? If we can get hold of that, it will be life to us. Yet somehow it’s more a matter of God getting hold of us.
Renewing our youth like the eagle’s has long been a favorite and beautiful spiritual illustration. The eagle flies up to a high pinnacle, plucks out his feathers, pulls out his talons and files his beak, and then lies there dormant, until everything grows out again. Then he is quite an eagle to contend with, soaring higher than ever. An eagle knows how to go through a process by which he renews his strength and his youth. Lord, teach us!
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. Isaiah 40:29–31. Lord, teach us how to enter into these days of renewal.
As the Lord goes forth He will shine upon us and bless us, coming forth with healing in His wings; for he is the blessed Son of Righteousness. Everything that the Spirit of God touches is going to take away the weariness, fatigue, and despair that seems to be age itself, and bring something that is youthful and vital. There must be a revival of strength and vigor, of zeal and anointing upon the spirits of the people. God has done so much for us and yet sometimes we feel as if we’ve only started into the wonders God has for us. There is so much more that we can and must have. God puts us in a position where the next step is not a luxury, but an absolute necessity. I think He has a way of bringing that which looks like a blessing and then placing us in a position where it becomes a necessity. Miracles such as raising the dead and casting out devils are not merely signs that will identify us as men of God, because the devil will do that sort of thing too. But we will be enabled to work our way out of every kind of situation that Satan brings against us, for God will make us invincible, until we have proclaimed the word that He has to speak to the world in this age.
In every one of us there needs to be an expectation. I don’t want to think old; I want to think God. I don’t want to think as a man, and be a part of the corruption that is upon creation. I don’t want to sigh and die in the world’s garbage; I want to rise in the power of the Spirit and walk with God. I don’t want to be part of a dying order; I want to be God’s new creation, anointed and raised up by God and established in the name of the Lord.
In the words of our Lord the Scripture says that the Father gave to the Son to have life in Himself, and to whomsoever He will He giveth to them to have life in themselves. What a life we have in the Son! But it’s a thing that He gives to us, to have that life within our very selves. This we claim. It is true it is basically spiritual, but it must touch the need of the physical body. We cannot expect anything less than to find that the Lord is our healing, the Lord is our strength, the Lord is our refuge.
Let it happen! Touch the hem of the garmet! We may have been languishing for many years but we can touch Him now. We can touch Him and be every whit whole.
Lord, we lay hold upon Thee and Thy strength because Thou hast made thyself available; Thou hast made this a blessing that we can attain.