The messages which have been coming make us want to move quickly into the will of the Lord. You may be wondering, “What can I do? When do I start?” Several verses from I Thessalonians 5 show what you can do now from the position you are in spiritually. You can put your life into motion; you can advance. You do not need to stand still.
Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing. But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another. And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient to all men. See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all men.
Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good; abstain from every form of evil.
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. Brethren, pray for us. I Thessalonians 5:1–25.
Unique things keep happening in the Walk. Today I received a report about a good little church being started in Brooklyn. They have received the manuals, The First Principles and The New Testament Church, tapes and literature that will benefit and bless them. The church in South Carolina is growing by leaps and bounds; we recently sent another pastor to join in the work there. Another church has been added to the Walk, and we praise the Lord.
You may think, “Well, I can’t do anything like that. I can’t start a church. I can’t pastor. Even if I could, I wouldn’t know how to get started.” I want to give you some guidelines. I pray that God will cause the mantle of anointing and an awareness of your value and place in the Walk to come over you. There are no big shots in the Walk; there are only people who work hard. The Kingdom is coming forth with the concept that every member of the Body of Christ has a ministry; each has a function.
“Good,” you say. “What do I do?” You start by realizing what you really are. Otherwise, you cannot do anything. We do not want you to come in and work with a sense of ambition, but on the other hand, we do not want you working to try to merit favor with God. We want you to come with a realization of your position. You are a member of the Body of Christ. You are a son in the family and household of God. You are a citizen of the Kingdom, entitled to all its privileges and governed by its principles. You are a soldier in the army of the Lord which God is bringing forth, the end-time army that will not break ranks nor thrust one another through (Joel 2:8). God is bringing again Zion, and they shall see eye to eye (Isaiah 52:8). You are a worshiper who will stand in the days when the kings and priests are being assembled in the earth; as a holy priest of God you will stand in the assembly, lift your hands and worship in the Spirit.
You are very essential, not as an individual but as a part of the whole. And you are probably worthless if you function as an individual apart from the awareness that you are a member of the Body and a part of the whole. You must realize who you are and the relationship that you bear to the rest of the Body. Your moving ahead is not a matter of being convicted by God to get in motion and so you respond individually. It is relative to your relationship to other people. You will move as you learn how to relate.
Can a marriage move forward unless the husband and wife learn to relate to each other? If there are problems and they do not communicate or relate to each other, the marriage does not move ahead. It stands still. Can a church move ahead when the members within that Body do not relate to each other as they should? To begin with, you are in motion in one sense the minute you begin to act upon the compassion and love you have for the brethren. As long as you do not express it or show it, you are not in motion.
I think of certain ones who are pushed almost to the limit because they are relating to the Body of Christ as a whole, to the Kingdom as a whole, but specifically to their congregation to see what they can do. For instance, since God brought one brother in and elevated him into a place of responsibility, he has set about to relate. He has set about to take everyone he can and help them into a ministry. He shares whatever knowledge and skill that he has as much as he can to bring others into it. In my mind, this is moving.
You say, “Well, he is doing that sort of thing but I’m doing something else that is spiritual.” There is no distinction. The man who speaks the word is the servant of God; the man who comes and gives him a cup of cold water to a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward (Matthew 10:42). You are not without this. You cannot move ahead until you understand your relationship to one another and your relationship to the Body as a whole.
You can want to move, and it will only be vague effort until you understand what your church is, why God raised it up, and you become a part of the church. You are not in it just for what you can get, so that one day you can say, “Bye, bye, I have all I can get, and I’m on my way to do my thing someplace.” It will never work. You must begin to relate where you are. Be responsible to function and relate in your local Body. You will not make it as an individual fighting your battles. Most of them will be stalemates if not a total loss until the day that you relate to the Body, and forget your own problems.
You will move forward when the church moves forward. I have never seen it fail—young people are brought in, God meets them, and what happens to them? In a few weeks they are drawn right up to the level of the church. When the church moves forward, it will drag you along by your heels, if by no other way. Your problems are no problem to God.
It is strange how fast you will move if you believe to be a blessing and support the apostolic ministry. Your life would have meaning and significance even if you had nothing else to do but hold up my hands in prayer and help me in battles where I have been stalemated for years. You could start praying and pray through. I certainly am not feeling sorry for myself; I know where I stand and I have accepted it because I do not want to drag people into my level of battle. Many of them are too immature to be able to handle what I have to handle as my spiritual cross, as the battle the Lord gives me to bear.
I wonder if in all of the Walk I could find fifty people who really understand, yet that doesn’t mean that you are not aware of the Walk and have a revelation of it and the word that comes. A great deal will come because people stand in the gap and intercede to see this thing go ahead. We could make more progress this next year if we could find just one church that really knew how to intercede and stand with me.
“But we are praying more than ever.”
That is why you are getting this message! You want to know how to move forward. I just gave you one key.
If each church is to succeed, it will not be many people going in different directions, but it will be a body of people who do not break ranks, who are going in one direction. And when something is set before us, everyone will not be doing his own thing but doing what God sets before the Body. One need is the strengthening of the ministry of the elders, the pastors, and the prophets of God. Much is demanded of them, and there needs to be more prayer, real active submission and blessing for them. This is an area where you can start moving.
“Well, I don’t have much burden for that.”
What do you have a burden for?
“I just like to get up and prophesy.”
Prophecy that really counts is prophecy that comes from a functioning member. It seems like a séance if prophecy is coming from a hand that is floating around the room. The prophecy that counts is the prophecy coming from a hand that is a functioning part of a body. Lose the independent spirit and begin to think in terms of the Body; begin to think in terms of what God is doing in the unique place God has set you. Support the pastors and ministries that are over you.
When someone stands to prophesy, do more than listen to him. Pull it out of him! This is the function of a Body that relates to each other. You are a part of everything that goes on; you are a part of everyone that moves. And the Body makes increase through that which every joint supplieth (Ephesians 4:16). All of you are part of it; all of you relate to it. Moving becomes an outgrowth of this deep attitude and revelation of who you are in relationship to each other. This profound, yet very simple truth can step up the moving of the church a great deal.
If you have walked in defeat, it will lessen the day you are more concerned about the Body than about yourself as a member. The true burden of Body ministry is that you bring forth the ministry of another brother. That satisfies and meets the need. This, of course, will indicate how you relate to responsibility. You cannot demean anything related to the Body. I promise you God will bless you and anything you do that is related to the Body. You will be blessed if all you do is help clean the church and trim its landscape.
Be concerned, like one brother did for years. He walked through the church picking up songbooks and papers, service after service. He said, “I can’t do much.” But he did write a fine little book on the mathematics of the Bible. Perhaps we should reprint it one day, in memory of a brother who spent a lot of time studying and working. It would be good for the young folks to read it. He said, “I want you to know there is someone who cares.”
It is so important that someone care. What will happen if you do? God will bless you and there will be a flow to you, but even more important is what happens to another member of the Body when you show that you care. When you were sick, have you ever been noisy, groaning and demanding attention because you wanted people to feel sorry for you? When someone gave you sympathy, you felt happy about it. In fact, you groaned a little louder because it was so good to have attention! The Bible is talking about this in I Corinthians 12. God devotes upon the member that lacks more abundant honor, so that there is no schism in the Body, but that you have the same care one for another. Do it. Do not let any brother who comes in be considered small in your sight.
We ministered to a couple recently to check them out for marriage, and I wanted to cry. The fellow was so homely; the woman was brilliant, well-educated. I felt the love that she had for that man, and for the first time in his life he has the potential of making it because of her devotion. I wonder how many times they have been stepped on, how many times they have been abused. My heart was tender toward them.
Why do I say this? Because I look around at you and I can cry again. Some of you have really been stomped on. Some of you have not yet recovered from things of the past. Some of you carry heartbreak with you, crushing. Oh, don’t avoid one another. Relate to each other.
When can you move? You will move when the awareness that you are a Body takes over. You start in motion when you become aware that you are a Body of many members, but you are one. Don’t let the little brother and sister shrink back on their scars. Heal. Bless. Minister. Care for each other. Do not be put down by the brusque approach some people have. You do not know what they are hiding. They may be running very scared. Do not judge on the surface. Some have been beat down so much. Learn not to put each other down as you move on in the Lord. You do not know what heartaches people carry. One day the Lord will say to you, “I was hungry and you fed Me. I was naked and you clothed Me. I was in prison and you visited Me. Inasmuch as you’ve done it unto one of the least of these, you’ve done it unto Me” (Matthew 25:35–40).
When we talk about moving out in God, let’s define what it is. This is the fast that God has chosen, that you deal your bread to the hungry, that you never turn away the poor when they come to your house (Isaiah 58:7). Look for it. It is in people’s eyes, in their faces. All through the Walk they are saying, “Look on me. Help the Christ to come forth in me.” Oh, I mean this with all my heart. This is the way that you move. Draw it forth. It is a pure thing.
There must be support in every service. I think a lot of this begins right at home. Do you live in a communal home? Take those walls down; get rid of that irritability. Ask God to toughen that thin skin of yours. Speak kindly to each other. Go out of your way to help.
“Well, it’s not my business. It’s his turn to clean up the sink.”
Come on, give a little bit. Some who come into communal homes don’t know how to do anything. The simple process of living has left them completely helpless. Sometimes we wonder at young couples—some of the girls don’t even know how to boil water, let alone make a home. Put them down? God forbid. Walk with them. Love them; help them.
Never look down on someone because he is not able to measure up to your consecration yet. Do not turn away from someone who has a consecration superior to yours. Learn. Be humble. Participate with the Body, be concerned about it.
“What can I do? I don’t have any money.” Do something to help someone. Relate yourself to others. Be concerned about them. What can be done, do it with all of your heart.
Do not be quick to pass this away. Our young people are very much inspired and they reveal it, but the sense of responsibility is slow coming to some. They need the kind of responsibility that makes one take hold of a job and fulfill it day after day, week after week, month after month. The glamor disappears; the hard work goes on. In the middle of a demonic battle against you, you last for a little while and then think, “I must get away from this. I am getting hit.” Of course. You are on the front lines, buddy. Want a safe place? There is none. There is no place to hide. Get with it. Move in and do the thing that God can do through you.
If you would like to move and do not know how, take the key given there. Relating to one another can be done only if you relate to the Lord. When you learn to practice His presence, everything, every moment, every act takes on significance. The humdrum existence disappears completely when you practice His presence and come into an awareness of Him.
When you know your local church, support it. Learn how to discipline yourself to appreciate it above everything else. We are not asking loyalty to a denominational system. We are asking loyalty and faithfulness to a restored Church after divine order. It is yet imperfect, but you believe God and help it to become what God wants it to be with all the burden of your heart. This word is giving instructions. You should feel, “I am going to be different. I know how I am to move now. I know how to get with it.”
Let’s look at I Thessalonians 5:6 and 8 once more: So then let us not sleep as others do.… Therefore encourage one another… These verses deal with your basic attitude, your awareness of the time, your awareness of yourself and of others, and in all this there is a proper relationship of encouraging one another and building up one another. Can you do that? This is the way to move.
Verse 12: … Appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction… Appreciate them. I received several notes today expressing appreciation for the word. One sister wrote, “I’ve heard these things all the time I’ve been here, but today it really got through to me,” and she told how God was speaking to her heart. Maybe He is doing the same thing to you. Is He bothering you, troubling you? You say, “I don’t know where to start.” Start by encouraging the brother next to you. Then, encourage those who are over you. Verse 13: And … esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.
Verse 14: And we urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly (keep talking to them. They are a little rebellious, so keep admonishing them. Don’t ignore them), encourage the fainthearted (the King James Version says, “comfort the feebleminded”), help the weak, be patient with all men. All this chapter is on the end-time relationship as we are waiting for the new age to come forth. This is how we tide it over. Look around and take care of each other.
Verse 15: See that no one repays another with evil for evil… (When you see someone getting ready to bounce a rock off another’s head, say, “Ah, ah! no, don’t do that. Love him!”) … and seek after that which is good for one another and for all men.
Verse 16–20. Rejoice always. (“But I don’t feel like rejoicing.” Rejoice always!)
Verses 17–20: Pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks.… Do not quench the Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. It is a basic attitude that governs our whole relationship to each other and makes it functional.
The Body cannot be a theory; it is a functional reality. You are members of one another. You are members of a specific body of people. You are in the place where God has appointed you to worship. You are here for a purpose. You are a member of the Body. You are a member of the household of the family of God, and you are to function as such. You have stopped being an independently functioning individual; you are part of the whole. This attitude and your action upon it will enable you to move faster than anything else.
I am concerned and burdened about the way the communal homes function. Sometimes kids never make the hurdle; they remain individuals in a house. But I watch when God moves and the house becomes a unit functioning in the purpose that God gave that house. The ministry homes, as they are called now, are assigned a specific task. This gives them something bigger than being a group of young people living together not knowing how to relate to each other. They start relating when they have a schedule to keep, when they have a job to do. This is very important.
Sometimes those in ministry homes seem rather lost. They are loners; individuals. They need to be swallowed up in the function of the whole, to understand what their home is there for and really have a burden for it. The day that one comes in on another and finds him on his knees crying because the function of that home is not being met, the day one has a need and everyone rallies together to meet it, that is the day they will start functioning as the home God intended them to be. This is the way you move from being an individual to becoming a distinct member of the Body. It cannot work any other way, because this is what God is raising up. This is the way the homes and families function, it is the way the ministry homes function, it is the way the local church functions. It is the way the whole Walk is to function.
As I move throughout the churches, I want to keep them from becoming independent little groups sitting off somewhere doing their little thing. They are part of the great Kingdom. A church can be busy, busy, busy, but if it is an entity in itself, it will never make it. Neither will you. It is when you relate, and when you function in your awareness that you are part of the whole.
Reach out as a member that blesses another member. Strengthen each other. Never be too busy with your own projects to reach out in love.
Are you ready to take a step? Be determined in your heart to walk in this word and in unity with the Body. Press into everything He has for you. Be concerned about it; ask the Lord to seal this word to your heart. Talk to others in the ministry home where you are, and believe for that little friction to disappear. Express your desire to serve and to love the rest of them.
Go to your pastors. Tell them, “You can count on me. I’m ready to serve. Tell me what to do!” I am concerned now that we act upon this word, that we begin to think in terms of relating to each other, that there will be no thought in our mind of another day passing before we move into this unity. I intend for this word to be a forceful projection into what we are ready to walk in. I believe it will not take six months; this word will yield dividends in actual blessing from this moment on.
Are you going to be a little more gentle? Are you going to be kind? Don’t be so quick to react. The one who bothers you may be pulling out of problems caused from drugs. You do not know what others have been through. They may be heartbroken. There may be things they do not know how to handle. Be of help to your brethren, considerate in love and in all purity. We are brothers and sisters.
One function that you can fulfill is to get busy and pray. Prophesy and believe for God to bless this country. Believe God to open the door so that the Living Word can keep right on sending the gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the world, and that from your own number God will send forth mighty members who will speak. Don’t say, “I’m going to sit here forever. I’ll never be used.” You are here for a purpose. You are here to function, and that purpose will be fulfilled. You are going to walk with God. But do not sit around, waiting for it to happen; begin to move, right where you are.