HE OWNS US ALL
The Soul Level Has Either Position Or Possession
The soul level in its emotions has a unique quality; it moves in either position or possession. You can find a couple who will love each other, but if they’re walking on a soulish level somebody has to have the position. One has a position, and the other one will possess them, or vice versa; or they become very possessive of each other, to the point that they isolate themselves from everybody else, and you can’t get Body ministry because they’re so possessive of each other that they shove everybody else away from each other. It’s the possessiveness, I think, that is dangerous.
We Have To Belong To The Lord Totally
For relationships to work, we first have to belong totally to the Lord.
When You Rip The Bandage Off Of Somebody, They Will Yell “Ouch!”
As we keep growing we are creating one another. Yet sometimes when you rip the bandage off of somebody they’ll yell, “Ouch! You hurt me.” But you have to do it for each other.
You Have No Control Or No Right Over Another Person, But You Have The Right To Minister The Lord
“There’s only one thing we should minister and that’s the presence of the Lord to each other.” None of us should own or control anyone—even if we’re married. If you think about it, you have no control or no right over another person; you don’t own him. But you have the right to minister the Lord. Now, other people fill in the blank spaces where you say, “the Lord.” They will say, “Oh yes, this is of the Lord. This is what you should do. This is the way you think. This is the way you should move today. This is what you shouldn’t be doing.” And that’s coming in and taking God’s place, where all you should do is weep over them and say, “Today I’m going to give you the presence of the Lord somehow, by faith. And I’m going to keep my thinking and my decisions, and what I think you should be doing, out of it, and let God talk to you.” If you can learn to get that across to a person, then you have a right to minister to him. And even that fury of intercession should never come across with your plan and your purpose in that person’s life. If you do, your prayers can come across in a psychic thought that the recipient might feel like it is the Lord coming through to him. So finally he will do what you wanted and you will say, “Aha! That was the Lord. The Lord really ministered!” Yet that person may have been just a puppet; and it all took place in the psychic realm.
Our Dedication Means That We Relinquish The Rights To Ourselves
Our dedication as the disciples of the Lord, or bondservants, means that we relinquish the rights to ourselves. We cannot say that we have relinquished the rights to ourselves until we’re no longer our own man, but we’re Christ’s man. We belong to Him, to be totally controlled by Him, but then it would be inconsistent for us to possess and control somebody else. Usually, if you try to possess or control another person, it’s because you yourself are retaining the possession and the control of yourself. So it comes back to the presence of the Lord being the issue—our surrender to Him and our love to Him. We give over all the rights to ourselves. We also give over any rights that we feel we might have over others. We commit them to the Lord so that we can bring them into the same relationship to the Lord, only.
Then that’s the oneness, because you see, relating is only perfect in oneness. And in oneness—real, true, oneness—you’re losing your individuality on that level and losing the rights to yourself.
If You Control And Possess, It’s A Bondage
Paul kept talking to the Corinthians about that. He said, “Don’t you know that you were bought with a price, and you’re not your own?” (I Corinthians 6:19–20.) It comes right back to the same thing. That’s what I try to convey when we dedicate these little babies. I say, “What we’re doing is putting them through escrow; now they’re going to belong to the Lord.” If you can get a parent to relinquish that possessiveness and control over a child, and just look to the Lord—“What do You want for this child?”—and be led by the Lord for the child, then that’s a good parental relationship to the child. You raise them in the fear and the admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). It makes a lot of sense. If you can say, “I possess that child and I control that child,” sooner or later there has to be a great deal of conflict between you and the child, because he has to assert himself to become a person. We’ve certainly had enough of that control and possessing, for if you control and possess, it’s a form of slavery; it’s a bondage.
The Conflict In The World Is Over The Desire To Possess and Control
The whole thing comes right back to the fact that the conflict in the world is over the desire to possess and control other people. Now that’s why this spirit has to be broken when we come into the Kingdom; the other spirit is what’s in the world. The whole world is in conflict because of that. And that’s what it said in Revelation, wasn’t it? They bought and sold the souls of men; they made merchandise of the souls of men (Revelation 18:13).
Before God We Can Create One Another
That’s the key of Babylon. It’s the key of the old age marriages and the conflict that’s in them. That’s why you can’t start with just love; that’s not enough. It has to be something of discipleship or dedication that comes to the place where we say, “I love you. You will not possess me and I will not possess you. I will not be limited by our relationship, but as we both stand before God we can create one another into a oneness that will be pleasing to Him.” It’s a fine line, but it’s the only way. And though it is a fine line, it sure is a mark of division in relationships.
We Are Uniquely His
It started out in the book of Exodus when God said He delivered Israel out of Egypt so that they would be His “peculiar treasure, peculiar possession” (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 14:2). “Peculiar” then meant “unique”—uniquely His. You see the same word coming up again in the King James translation of First Peter. But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. I Peter 2:9, KJV. It is translated now in the more accurate translations as “a people for God’s own possession.”
He wants to possess us. I’m wondering if the jealousy of God isn’t involved in all of this. God says, “I want to own it all. I want you to all belong to Me. I don’t want this husband to belong to Me, and then his wife belongs to him and his children belong to the mother. I don’t want that. I want them all to be Mine. They’re all to be Mine.” When you get into that you begin to understand that the great issue of the Kingdom is: who owns whom? You either own yourself or God owns you. You own another or the Lord owns them.
The basic rule of marriage is that it’s all as unto the Lord (Ephesians 5:22). As unto the Lord.
God Has, Through The Word, A Track On This Thing Of Possession
When you think about people owning others you can go back to the story of Exodus. The children of Israel were literally possessed by Pharaoh and the Egyptians. And what was God’s message? “Moses, you go down and tell Pharaoh, ‘Let My people go.’ ” See, the Lord claimed they were His. And then, of course, there was the long contest and the plagues to get them free. So He brought them out, and He made them His peculiar treasure. And then you get into what He said that He was going to do: “They’re going to be a Kingdom of priests to Me and My own possession” (Exodus 19:5–6). He really had great plans for them.
Finally He had to settle for the Levites, one tribe, that He would possess (Numbers 3:12–13). But you notice the thing about the Levites, that they couldn’t possess anything else. They didn’t have their heritage, a division of Canaan with the rest of the tribes, because the Lord said, “They’re Mine.” He saw to it that they were supported—the people had to come and give the tithes and the offerings that supported the Levites. Isn’t that interesting. You see, God has, through the Word, a track on this thing of possession. “They’re My people.”
“Lord, It’s All Yours—Make Me A Faithful Steward”
We had better lay everything on the altar and say, “Lord, it’s Yours. Make me a faithful steward of it.” I think most of the problems in Babylon come when the leaders, or the husbands, or those in position, refuse to give an accounting of their stewardship. They won’t give an accounting of it because they don’t consider that it’s really the Lord’s, and that they’re a steward that must give an account. Paul said, “Moreover is it required of stewards that they be found faithful” (I Corinthians 4:2); and he went on to talk about the accounting that we have to make to the Lord. This comes right back to the individual relationship.
I don’t think that you can love and give yourself to one another freely if it’s on a basis of position and possession. If it’s on that wrong basis, then you’re definitely limiting love. Love has to be on a basis of giving, not on a basis of controlling and possessing.
The Number One Trait Of The Soul-Flesh Is To Possess And To Control
Everything that we’ve touched on here is a matter of a right to possession. The only One who really has the right to possess is God, and anything else is a usurping of that. That’s why God is in such conflict with the soul-flesh, because the number one trait of the soul-flesh is to possess and to control, instead of to submit.
That’s the whole conflict of the book of Job, if you wanted to analyze it correctly. The devil says to God, “You’ve given him all this stuff, but if You take it away from him, he’ll curse You.” But God had said, “Consider My servant Job; he’s just perfect—perfect in all of his ways.” So when they took it all away, Job said, “The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:8–11, 20–22). Job never was one to be resentful toward God or to rebel toward God because God had taken it away from him; he only sensed himself to be a steward of it. So God turned around and gave him a double portion, twice as much as he ever had before. Why? Because God saw him to be faithful; He saw that he was a steward. All the parables, especially in Matthew 25:14–30, talking about stewardship: The master gives each of his servants a talent or a certain amount and says, “You go out and do business.” Afterwards he comes back and he wants an accounting. God has given a lot of things in our hands; and if we’re faithful in the few things, He’ll give us many. Again it comes back to God’s evaluation of possession.
Covetousness To Possess And Control
Don’t try to be greedy and think that you possess something. If you notice what God says in Colossians, it talks about covetousness which is idolatry (Colossians 3:5). That covetousness to possess and to control, to have it in your hand, is idolatry. That sure lays it on the line—it’s idolatry. And if you say, “Well, that’s just referring to money.” It can refer to people; it can refer to a position, or a control that you have. When you begin to zealously say, “This is mine. I built it. I worked for it, and nobody can touch it,” that’s when God will blow on it and take it all away from you.
We Can’t Be Jealous, But He Can
One thing about God—He can be jealous; but we can’t. He’s the one that’s to own it all. We’re not to be owners, so we can’t be jealous; we can’t be covetous; we can’t be possessive; we can’t strive for position over one another. But He can—He wants to be everything, Lord of lords, King of kings. He wants to possess everything, including all the kingdoms of this world (Deuteronomy 10:14, 17; I Timothy 6:15; Revelation 11:15, 17; 12:10). And He’s jealous if somebody gets in the way of that.
PURE LOVE GIVES, NOT POSSESSES
A Word for All Relationships
For several days, and especially this morning, we’ve been seeking the Lord about this wedding; and the Lord keeps speaking one thing. I’m so completely persuaded that this is a Word for every marriage, for all of us that are here, for all relationships, that we begin to understand something about what God is wanting from us. Listen carefully to probably the most important Scripture that you could have in a wedding: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. I Corinthians 6:19–20.
How Can I Say “Lord You Own Me” And Then Try To Own Somebody Else?
In “To Every Man That Asketh” we have a message titled, “To Be a Christian.” We ought to get copies of that out and read it again. The basic premise is that when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord, you should, in effect, be relinquishing the title of your life from yourself to the Lord. No longer are you your own person but Christ’s. We relinquish the right to ourselves when we say to Him, “You’re going to be the Lord.” He may give us the talent and ability, a commission, and say, “This is what you are to do,” and we do it because we are obedient to Him, totally submissive to Him. We don’t do it as a drudgery, but we do it because we love Him and it’s the love-service unto the Lord. We are His bondservants. We are stewards (I Corinthians 4:1–2; I Peter 4:10). We are, as Peter puts it, “a people for God’s own possession” (I Peter 2:9). We are redeemed with a price and we are not our own. We know that this is the truth; we know that it is scriptural. But how can I look up to the Lord and say, “Lord, I don’t own myself; You own me entirely,” and then turn around and try to possess and own somebody else?
Babylon Makes Merchandise Of The Souls Of Men
God has such an amazing rule about this thing of possessing. I don’t think that God ever intended that one man should be a slave to another. And yet we still are in the process of thousands of years duration in which we have watched people possess others. These things we’ve watched, and now we begin to understand the great thing of Babylon in the book of Revelation, where it says that they made merchandise of the souls of men (Revelation 18:11–13). They owned and possessed people.
The World Has Been Built In Futility On The Idea Of Taking A Position That Dominates Another Person
We’ve gone through a purging period among our own churches; though they started out to be New Testament churches under an apostolic order with elders and deacons, all of that was eliminated until one or two—or maybe more—literally possessed the people and had total control over them. God was against that and has blown on it everywhere. He is saying, “A man does not own a church; a denomination does not own a people; a government does not own people.” I was reading the Declaration of Independence, and I loved it. “These rights are inalienable: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These are things that we’re supposed to have—inherent rights. This is what America’s founding fathers saw that the Scriptures meant. But it’s strange how we gravitate back to the domination of one another. The world has been built in futility on the idea of possessing or taking a position that dominates over another person. That cannot be. The Lord would destroy that. As we’ve come to the days of the Kingdom of God, every institution is being shaken.
Every Marriage In The Kingdom Of God Is Going Through A Shaking
The need to dominate, to make slaves of one another—these are things that you may say are not related to a marriage. Oh yes, they are; and they’re related to every relationship you have. Every marriage in the Kingdom of God is going through a shaking. It’s going through a shaking until some have said, “I wonder if God isn’t in divorce.” They don’t realize that God has a law about marriage; it is a scriptural thing, and God does not want that law broken. But there is also something else coming forth that we have to understand. The unequal yoke seems to be a principle greater even than the law of marriage, for God does not want you unequally yoked together with unbelievers (II Corinthians 6:14). He does not want you to be controlled and dominated and possessed by those who would keep you from giving Him your all.
We Give God Ourselves First; Then We Can Give Ourselves To Each Other
If you love God and give your whole heart to Him, and somebody else comes and says, “I’m going to possess you and dominate you and control you,” sooner or later, God has to deal with that thing. There must come a relationship where God, in the Kingdom, says, “Here are two people. They have given themselves over to Me; they are Mine. Now they can be one with each other.” You see, we give God ourselves first, and then we can give ourselves to each other in a right relationship. I want you to understand this. This probably is the most important teaching that has come for some time. God is trying to teach us that you cannot possess another person, neither should you be possessd by another person. He is a jealous God (Exodus 20:4–6). He constantly says, “You’re Mine. I’ve redeemed you unto Myself. Another will not control you. Another will not possess you.”
You Are Not Serving God And Demanding That Another Serve You To Your Own Ends
This does not mean that there may not be a special strength in one partner of a marriage, a strength that helps. Sometimes that is the greatest thing that God can give you, for if two walk together and one falls, the other shall help him up, the Scriptures say (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10). We open our heart to the fact that we are a strength to each other, but that does not mean that we are not set to see the fullness of God and His perfect will wrought in each other. You are not serving God and demanding that another serve you to your own ends. It’s inconsistent with what God wants. He wants us all to present ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God (Romans 12:1). Then He wants to teach us that it’s not by some unbalanced relationship that we coexist, but it’s by a mutual dedication to the Lord, a surrender to the Lord, a thing that causes each one to come forth into the fullness of God’s perfect will for them.
We’re Raised Up To Create One Another In An Atmosphere Of Dedication And Faith To The Lord
Women were never intended to be second-class citizens. It has taken many centuries to come to the place, at the threshold of the Kingdom, where we will actually see that we’re neither to be male nor female, bond nor free (Galatians 3:28), but we’re to come to that place before God where we love one another and we create for one another the atmosphere in which the perfect will of God can come forth. This is a new concept, but it’s scriptural; it’s so true. It’s the way that God teaches us to be helpers of one another’s faith. We’re not raised up to destroy one another; we’re raised up to create one another in an atmosphere of dedication and faith to the Lord.
He’s Going To Have A Seed That Is Holy
There are special functions that each of us have to perform, but this means that in the midst of performing these functions, though they may be individually related to each in the union, it’s something very special that God is bringing forth in the earth. He is going to have a seed that is holy. He’s going to have a people that are set apart for Himself (Malachi 2:15–16; Psalm 4:3).
The Children Have Been Sanctified
I have had such a witness and revelation from the Lord that the children have been sanctified, as Paul says in I Corinthians 7, even if there is only one believer in the union. But how much more, if there are two believers of one spirit, will you find not only a birth that is sanctified, but a continuing ministry that comes through the father and the mother to those children? Two parents can believe together and thus create an atmosphere by which their children can really come forth into the fullness of the Lord—even long after they have left home.
We have no rights that we will lose except the rights to ourselves (Romans 14:7–8). Then we will have all of the rights and privileges that come from belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ. When we become His and when we’re free in Him, then we find a great many things will come forth.
You Can’t Be Submissive To Another Person If You’re Not Submissive To The Lord
Ephesians 5:22–33 is probably the Scripture that has been read in weddings more than any other passage. It’s a very important one. It says, Wives, be subject to your own husbands … You say, “But that’s against what you’re teaching here.” No, … as to the Lord. Ephesians 5:22. Her being submissive to the Lord starts it. You can’t be honestly, scripturally submissive in the will of God to another person if you’re not submissive to the Lord. It has to start on a foundation of oneness with Him. If you always keep this in mind, it takes away all of the problems. You’re rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We’re Talking About A Sacrificing Love
For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church … He’s the head just as Christ is the Head. It has to become a spiritual thing. He takes a headship over her because Christ is the true Head. Let’s not miss it.… He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her. Ephesians 5:23–25. That means we’re not talking about a possessive love; we’re talking about a sacrificing love. We’re talking about a love that you have for the Lord that’s so great, and a love that you have for your wife that’s so great that just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, so the husband gives himself unselfishly for his wife.
It Is Necessary For The Husband To Love And Give Of Himself
There is no logical reason in this modern society why a man should want to get married. It only means that he will have the obligations of supporting a wife and raising children; yet he works and sweats it out because there is an element still resident in the male that makes him want to give himself to a family. Call it an instinct or whatever you want. It’s based upon this thing we’re talking about. If the man perverts that and becomes possessive and dominating or if he assumes a tyrannical position, he frustrates everything.
As Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it, so it is necessary for the husband to love and give of himself. It is necessary for you to see this. If you do see it, you have the capability of being a wonderful husband.
That Purging Of Spirit That You Effect In One Another
Christ loved the Church, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. Ephesians 5:26. I don’t think that any of us come into marriage really ready for it. We check couples out the best we can, but if we only married the people that were ready the generation would die off soon, because who is really worthy of it? But it’s in this that we find something very, very valuable.
As with Christ and the Church, the husband sanctifies his wife; he cleanses her. We’re talking about that purging of spirit that you effect in one another. I know how that works. It’s a beautiful thing. Paul said, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless. Ephesians 5:27. Now we see what the Lord is doing. How much He gives Himself to us! We see the exalted Lord, but we fail to see that sitting on the throne of thrones, Lord of lords and King of kings, is the Footwasher (John 13:1–15). That’s how He loves us.
The Basic Thing Is The Way That You Relate To The Lord
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this cause (Notice it says, “For this cause”) a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. Now the conclusion of it comes and you ought to hear it: This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Ephesians 5:28–32. You see, the whole basis is your relationship to Christ. Secondary to that is your relationship to each other; you can’t get away from it. Paul lines it out when he’s talking about wives and husbands and the way that they function and relate to each other. Then he says, “Don’t forget, I’m talking about Christ and the Church.” Nevertheless let each individual among you also love his own wife even as himself, and let the wife see to it that she respect her husband. Ephesians 5:33. So he just ties it down; it’s a very simple thing. But the basic thing is the way that you relate to the Lord.
What Happens To A Marriage When They’re Not Both Wholly Dedicated To The Lord?
What happens to a marriage when this is not true? There are many Scriptures about marriage that you must understand. Some marriages are being shaken to a point of disintegration because the husbands and wives are not wholly dedicated to the Lord. In II Corinthians chapter 6, you read how that you’re not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. The only reason we check marriages out so carefully is that if we do not discern what is going to be an unequal yoke (and we can), we’re creating a hazardous marriage.
If One Isn’t Going To Serve The Lord, He Will Proceed To Dominate The Other Person
We start from this basis of giving ourselves wholly to the Lord first. If one isn’t going to serve the Lord, that one usually will live on such a soulish level that he will proceed to dominate or control or possess the other person. Or, one will move in a realm of jealousy or passivity, or will withdraw from the relationship. It is very important that you see this.
Your Dedication To The Lord Makes Possible Your Oneness Together
There will always be a question in your mind about what I’m saying unless you get into the Scriptures. It says, Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? II Corinthians 6:14–15. It goes on to tell us to come out from among them and be separate (II Corinthians 6:16–18), showing that the law of an unequal yoke was so important. The first law of all is that you love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37). You’re to do this; you’re to give yourself completely to the Lord. Then you can have a very successful relationship. But He is warning you not to take on the additional problems of being unequally yoked together. It’s your dedication to the Lord that makes possible your oneness together as you give yourselves completely to the Lord.
For the married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then if, while her husband is living, she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. Romans 7:2–4.
There Is A Kind Of Death While You Yet Live
Using a real illustration of death, the application Paul makes of it puts it on a spiritual plane for the first time. Everyone has always interpreted the Old Testament and the teachings of Christ on marriage and divorce that a person is alive if he has a heartbeat. But the Scriptures teach that a person can be dead in his trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1–5). That means that there’s more than one way to die. A marriage can come to the place where one person is alive to God, and the other is a corpse with a heartbeat, a spiritual corpse. There are indications of this throughout the Scriptures. Paul talks about a woman who loses her husband and she’s still wantonly going after pleasures and sin and so forth, and he says, “She’s dead while she lives” (I Timothy 5:6). He comes out and nails it down that there is a kind of death while you yet live.
God Is Demanding That These Marriages Be Shaken And Get On A Spiritual Level
This begins to put a new slant on things. You begin to see that it may not just be the devil, but it may be God who is demanding that these marriages be shaken, and that they get on a spiritual basis, and get out of the unequal yoke. Now you say, “What’s the recommendation?” I Corinthians 7:15 tells that if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; the believer is not bound in such a case. It lays certain restrictions upon them about what they can do; but Paul is saying that there’s a release, because the unbeliever, in his death, has turned away from the marriage. But he makes it very plain: if that unbeliever is content to dwell with the believer, let the believer not depart (I Corinthians 7:12). He is to stay right with it. The reason for it is this: when a marriage is started, it’s a very sacred and holy thing to God. Somebody may get married and six months later say, “I’m unequally yoked.” No, you got into it, probably with a good witness from the Lord. You stay with it and try to help that person become the person that can walk with you in the Lord together.
In The Marriages That Are Being Shaken, Ninety-Nine Percent Could Succeed
I’m convinced that in the marriages that are being shaken, not over one percent of them need to fail, if that; ninety-nine percent of those marriages could succeed. They could still come through by the faith and working together to bring the two of them from that unequal yoke. I’m very much in favor of saying, “Let’s believe in marriage. Let’s not believe in divorce.” Above all, we believe that it will work best—in fact if it will work at all, it will work because we are not unequally yoked, but we want to walk with God and put God first together.
When You Draw Back, Everything In The Relationship Is Dealt With
There’s a companionship that you can have on many levels, and none of that will be enough if one of you draws back from the Lord. The Lord says, “If any of you draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.” So we’re not to be those who draw back to perdition (Hebrews 10:38–39). When you draw back, everything that you are in, in the way of a relationship, is challenged; it’s dealt with. So what’s the bottom line? If you’re married, make every effort to keep tracking together and have a lot of faith.
If The Relationship Is Wrong, It’s Because A Relationship To The Lord Is Wrong
Why are the marriages going through it? Because they’ve not moved from this soul-flesh level into the spirit level. If you want to counsel the marriages that are having difficulties, pull each one off in the corner and say, “I’m going to give you the secret. You go before the Lord. Wait before the Lord and worship Him. Give yourself wholly to the Lord.” Then go to the other one and tell him the same thing. Say, “Don’t you tell each other, but you spend a lot of time doing this.” The next thing, then, one will say to the other, “I don’t know what the preacher told you, but we’re getting along a lot better.” Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; all of these other things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). That’s the key of it. The key is not in changing the relationship; if the relationship is wrong, it’s because a relationship to the Lord is wrong. Let’s get at that as quickly as we possibly can.
If A Woman Dominates A Man, She Will Begin To Hate Him
Let’s look again at this thing of possessing or dominating. We have a familiar phrase for it in the world—the war of the sexes. Why? Because there’s a contention; somebody wants to get the upper hand. The worst thing they can say of a woman is, “She’s wearing the britches in the house.” What they’re saying is, “She has taken over, dominated, and whipped down the man.” In the war of the sexes, though, you find that when a woman does that and dominates, she comes to despise her husband very much. When a woman gets a man, if she dominates him, she will begin to hate him. And the opposite is true. When a man takes a woman and subdues her spirit and dominates her, pretty soon he loses a lot of the respect and love that he has for her.
Be One With The Lord And You Won’t Have Any Problems
See, in this oneness, we create one another. Otherwise, one or the other person is destroyed. We have to create this oneness. I think that I could never give any counsel to you greater than this. Be one with the Lord, each of you, and you won’t have any problems. You’ll find all the kindness and understanding, all the diligence, all the sacrifice, because in your oneness to the Lord, you’re ready to sacrifice yourselves for each other in a way that God really wants.
Walk With The Lord Together
We’ve been tracking on this for some time, because there are too many marriages being shaken. That shaking will continue until they get straightened out and they both begin to walk with the Lord together with a faith for their relationship.
I’d like to give a prayer. It’s half a prayer, really. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed by Thy name. Thy Kingdom come … on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9b–10. And this is the Kingdom teaching, believe me. This is the teaching of the Kingdom of God.
“WHAT DO THE PEOPLE NEED?”
The Lord Has to Be First
We keep coming back to this, that the Lord has to be first; He has to be first in all of our lives. That was in the message yesterday; but we don’t want to deal just with marriage; we want to deal with the “centrality” of this whole thing. It has to be the focus on the Lord: worship.
We Cannot Walk In Oneness If We Are Not Walking With The Lord
Many of the problems that we are up against are solved with this one answer—whether it is personal counsel or whatever the needs are in the churches—this thing of our individually walking with God has to be finalized or we will never be able to walk as a Body. We cannot walk in oneness if we are not walking with the Lord.
There Must Be Something Within Us That Is Wholly Dedicated To Please God
That is where the emphasis is. Paul had written to the Galatians, “If I would try to please man, I could not please God” (Galatians 1:10). Christ always did those things which pleased the Father (John 8:29); and He never pleased Himself (Romans 15:3). There must be something within us that is wholly dedicated to please God. If we try to please people first—maybe the word is “appease”—then we are not going to please anybody.
Of course, what is the requisite of pleasing God? Without faith you cannot please Him (Hebrews 11:6). So there has to be the dedication and the faith, and that gives us the only way that we could ever please anybody.
Break Through To A New Level Of Worship And Waiting On The Lord
The centrality of worship could be the factor that could draw us together. Romans 12:1 speaks of our giving ourselves to the Lord, which is “our reasonable worship,” and then giving ourselves to each other follows in the chapter.
Romans 12 uses that same approach. You present yourselves, and then you minister by the gift that He gives you (verses 6–16). And there is a great deal about love and compassion in the rest of the chapter.
The worship that it would loose could be such a powerful force in our intercession—the warring priesthood. You’ve told us that so constantly, but I don’t think we have really begun to move yet in that warring aspect of worship.
I have been trying to break through to a new level of worship and waiting on the Lord myself. I think yesterday’s Word was the beginning of a real apostolic foundation of that whole line of teaching that we need so much.
We Must Make A Commitment Too
I found myself concerned about this commitment that you have made to the Body—that you would not make it unless the Body makes it too. That was a commitment, and if the Body is not being responsive or responsible to walk in this Word, it is like a marriage. Something has to click, where we reach in until this hunger for the Lord breaks through, and this seeking the Lord breaks through, until we meet God. You have to meet the Lord. A marriage is not going to make it if one of the parties is not meeting the Lord.
I know there are things that I need to repent of, but God is going to cleanse me if I stand in His presence. That’s where I’ll be able to change; I can’t change down here, trying to repent on a certain level. I have got to break into the presence of the Lord and change.
The Ultimate Real Changes Will Have To Take Place In His Presence
It is a principle, isn’t it? In the presence of the Lord is the joy, and the strength, the Word that comes, and the anointing and change, so that we can fulfill His will. You almost have to come to this conclusion: there can be sincerity and truth, but the ultimate real changes will have to take place in His presence (II Corinthians 3:18). I wonder if we still aren’t trying to work with one another and produce the changes and then work upward to the Lord.
Start With Each One Reaching Into The Lord
You just can’t get the unity from individuals who are independent of each other, and try to get them to come into one. You have to start with each one reaching into the Lord. The oneness with one another has to come. How do we get these people to break into it?
When we say that people have to find their identity, it is almost that they have to find their individual dedication more than an identity. They can’t just go along with the crowd; that would be a kind of false unity that would be ineffective for them. There are tremendous promises to the Body, but they are expressed in individual dedication, and experiences, and appropriation. Though somebody else may help you, you have got to be in it.
If we had to do things over again, we would have been very restrictive about who we laid hands on and who we ministered to because we would have insisted that their own personal quest and dedication and waiting on the Lord precede it. But there was such an emphasis that the Spirit was bringing then of, “You don’t have to tarry because the promise is for you” (Acts 2:38–39), that we swung into the appropriation. Many of the experiences that those people received were not as valid as the ones where they to sweat it out alone, because in the sweating it out alone, they reached a personal dedication to the Lord.
The Greatest Open Door
Here is the greatest open door and opportunity that is set before the Body that has ever been. And now there is an ability to reach in personally and lay hold of God. It is a door that is open. That is the opportunity and the obligation that each of us will have to express individually.
We Are Helpers Of Your Faith; We Don’t Have Dominion Over You
We are helpers of your faith. We can have faith for another person, but the ultimate goal is that we help that man to have faith.
Helpers of your faith. Underline your. It is not as though we had dominion over one another, but we are helpers of one another’s joy and faith. That’s the Scripture. Paul was very careful to say, Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand. II Corinthians 1:24, KJV.
I have swung into a very solid, good ministry, because I am not a dictator or lord over God’s heritage; but I want to be an example to the believers (I Peter 5:3). I want to be a good shepherd; I want to lead them. I will tell you the truth: if you get in the way and you begin to take dominion over these people, then you are usurping something that Christ does not want. He wants to be the Lord over them.
Provoke Hunger
There is a passivity when you go into different churches; a lot of the people are passive. They are not hungry; they don’t particularly want to wait on the Lord. Some way you have to provoke them. Provoke their hunger. Stir them up to the love and the good works and the faith and the seeking after God (Hebrews 10:24).
I think this is what we have to get at today. I think this is the most practical thing that we can do. All of us who are shepherds have had to come to this place where we have to lead the people into being His sheep. “He leaded me”—it is Psalm 23 again, isn’t it?
Introduce Them To The Lord
You have to remind God, “These are Your people.” That is the way that a shepherd should approach it. But then the people also need to know, “This is your God. People, this is your God,” and introduce them to the Lord.
Even Moses’ intercession to God was when God said, “Your people which you brought out of Egypt.” And Moses said, “No way! They are Your people.” (Exodus 32:7, 11). You see, that was classic. Moses was introducing a people to God. They were God’s people.
He Had The Heart Of A Shepherd
He said, “I will take of you, Moses, and make you a mighty nation” (Exodus 32:10). But Moses had the heart of a shepherd. He wanted the sheep to make it. He spent forty years on the backside of the wilderness taking care of sheep. And you know that being a shepherd is a smelly business, if you have ever been around a sheep much, because of the lanolin on the wool. Imagine these shepherds coming up and patting each one and talking to it. They say a good shepherd makes a personal contact with the sheep every day.
Each One Has To Know The Lord
There was a pattern in which the priests came and represented the people to God (Leviticus 6:7; Hebrews 9:7). And the prophet came and represented God to the people (Amos 3:7; Hebrews 1:1; James 5:10), because they seemed to be so far off. But Ephesians 2:13 says that those who were far off has God made nigh. From the beginning we have had prophets who have said, “The time will come that you will not say to your neighbor, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me” (Jeremiah 31:34). The time has to come where all must know the Lord; each one has to know Him.
The greatest compliment that you can have is when a person comes into the church for the first time, and they say ‘He knows the Lord. And he is introducing us to the Lord.’”
It’s All A Matter Of Hunger
In the early days, you laid hands on people and there were those whose lives changed when they received the Holy Spirit, but then there were those who didn’t; they just accepted the experience because God was instituting something different. And to a degree, you’ll find the same thing now: those who are a little hungry will get just what they are asking for and believing for; but others will be really stirred by it. It’s all a matter of hunger.
“Lest I Have Bestowed Upon You Labor In Vain”
Paul said, “I am concerned over you-apprehensive” (Galatians 4:11). And doesn’t he also make the statement, “until Christ be formed in you”? (Galatians 4:19.) The Galatians got into the mechanics and the forms, but they didn’t have the real possession of the Lord. So Paul felt that his whole labor was to bring them into it and if they missed that, then he had labored in vain.
That Scripture is Galatians 4:9: But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Galatians 4:9–11, KJV.
That is a heavy thing. Many people have come to know the Lord, but weren’t that hungry for Him.
HUNGRY FOR HIS PRESENCE
Blessed are They that Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness: For They Shall Be Filled
I can’t think of any place I’d rather be than right here, right at this moment, and to speak or hear the Word that’s going to come. Do you like the emphasis that’s coming? There’s a Scripture in Matthew 5 that says, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6, ASV. I’ve always been impressed with the fact that people receive the blessings of the Lord in various degrees. Some have terrific experiences with the Lord; others have just a little passing experience—afterwards they even question it themselves.
There is something about this business of being hungry that’s very, very important. I’ve watched it for a long time; when you preach the Word to people and you give them the truth, they respond in various ways. Some do nothing about it at all; others will lie on their faces before God and they will cry out to the Lord to get that Word fulfilled in their lives. They won’t stop; they’ll cry day and night until that Word of promise is fulfilled (Luke 18:7–8a).
We Don’t Dare To Be Anything Less Than Totally Hungry For The Lord
I’m thinking that right at this particular point, we don’t dare to be anything less than totally hungry for the Lord. We seek the fullness of the Lord. We don’t want just enough to say that we’ve had an appetizer, or that we took the edge off our appetite; we want to go further than that. We want to come to the place where we are totally filled.
Be Filled With All The Fullness Of God
The Word is so rich for us, but I have a little regret that through the years there were some marvelous experiences that people had, and some of them received experiences that were rather shallow—yet they were quite satisfied because they weren’t that hungry. I think it’s good to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to want above everything else that the Lord will fill you. Remember what Paul wrote in his prayer in Ephesians: … that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19, KJV. You don’t want just enough to take the edge off your misery, your soul pain; you want something that’s going to really break through.
Desperation Is Next-Door To Being Hungry
You see, the difficulty is that people have received Scriptures that have been wonderful, covenants from God, promises that have been made real to them in the teaching of the Word, and prophecies that have come over the assemblies and over them personally; but the degree to which they are fulfilled varies. Back around 1950 and 1951, prophecies began to come over individuals. With some, it would take five years before you’d begin to see a change; with others, the change came just like that. And you say, “What’s the difference? Why?” Well, some would receive a prophecy, file it away in the drawer and forget about it; but afterwards the dealings of the Lord created a desperation (which is next-door to being hungry) and desperately they would begin to seek God; then they would begin to walk in what God had promised. But there are some who have never received the fulfillment of the prophecies, but not because they weren’t true or they weren’t confirmed. Many times there would be a little token fulfillment at the very beginning, so that the people would know that it was a real Word from the Lord; they knew that. But you see, they weren’t really hungry to meet God in it.
Everything That God Gives In His Word Is To Entice You To Seek After The Lord With All Your Heart
Everything that God gives in His Word, and everything that He gives in personal ministry and counsel—all of these things are not the main course; they are just the appetizers. They are to entice you to seek after the Lord with all of your heart.
Here’s a wonderful promise in Jeremiah: “In the day that you seek for Me with your whole heart, you’ll find Me” (Jeremiah 29:13). Wonderful! How many days have you found Him? That’s how many days you were seeking Him with your whole heart. Interesting, isn’t it?
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6, ASV. The fullness comes to those who are really going to be hungry.
The Body Is Going To Be Just As Strong As The Individual Hunger And Appropriation Of Each Individual In It
The Body is going to be just as strong as the individual hunger and appropriation of each individual in it. The Body is going to be just as much filled with the presence of the Lord as each individual in it hungers and thirsts after God and is filled.
If You Don’t Have That Hungry Heart, You Begin To Pick At Things That Spoil Your Appetite
It’s the lack of fullness that causes the problems, I think. The walk with God is always made on a full heart. Otherwise you find yourself drawing back, withholding yourself from what God really wants you to do. You seek after the Lord with a steadfast heart; and the objectives that He has for you, you do with the fullness of the Lord, with that hungry heart. But if you don’t have that hungry heart, you begin to wander around and pick at things that further spoil your appetite. Did you ever have a mother who, just about the time you were reaching into the cookie jar, would say, “Don’t get that cookie; it will spoil your dinner”? You know what we’re talking about. Sometimes to feast a little bit on these things of the world or to satisfy yourself with them is to eliminate a little bit of hunger for the Lord.
What Satisfies Your Appetite?
I take a very generous view about a lot of the things that people do. I don’t draw a hard, harsh, holiness line on them that is an artificial regimentation of their lives, but I do feel this: whether you watch television or you don’t, whether you go to the movies or you don’t, whether you do all of these things of the world or you don’t is not an issue; but is that what satisfies your appetite? That is what I say. Are you really hungry for the Lord? Do you say, “I’m not going to rest until first I’ve been in the Word; there’s a tape I want to hear again; there’s something I need that’s going to meet my spirit”? Afterwards, you feel a release. Then, what you engage in afterwards will not be designed to satisfy your soul, because you’ve already satisfied your heart on good things. “He satisfieth thy heart with good things” (Psalm 103:5). Isn’t that wonderful?
I’m Not Out To Relegate Your Behavior But I’m Out To Create Sons Of God—That’s What I’m After With All My Heart
In Galatians the fourth chapter, Paul talks about the bondages that they were returning to, and he says, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Galatians 4:11, KJV. And I feel that way sometimes about the people that I’ve ministered to. Did I waste my time? Are they going to come up with a walk with God? Are they going to hang on to the things of the world? I’m not out to regulate your behavior, but I’m out to create sons of God, and prophets of the Lord. That’s what I’m after with all my heart.
Filled With The Spirit Of The Lord
It’s very interesting that today there is a dissemination of knowledge; you can touch the whole world. But what will it do? What will that produce? Will it satisfy the heart? Not until you’ve been satisfied on the Lord. Can you even endure a newscast without it hurting you? Fear, terror, and apprehension can hit your heart, and you say, “What’s the world coming to?” And you’ll say that in despair if you don’t know what you’re coming to. You’re coming into sonship; that’s a different thing. To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. Titus 1:15b. And it’s true, because once you’re filled with the Spirit of the Lord, these things don’t have a way of reaching your soul-flesh and bringing you into some state of semi-defeat. That’s the only way I know how to call it. It’s almost a total defeat; at least you’re ripe pickings for the devil to hit you hard.
Psalm 23: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. Now notice this: Thou dost prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; Thou hast anointed my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
David Found The Lord To Be His Experience
David wrote this; he was talking as a little shepherd boy who found the Lord to be his experience. He knew sheep, and he knew that he was the Lord’s sheep. He said, “The Lord is my shepherd. I belong to the Lord.” There are so many personal pronouns there: “I will walk. I will fear no evil. I will dwell …” But what he was talking about is the hunger that he had—that the Lord would prepare that table before him.
Learn How You Can Feed Upon The Lord Regardless Of What’s Happening In Your Life
It doesn’t make any difference what enemies you have, whether they’re devils or circumstances or family or friends or enemies, in-laws or outlaws. Whatever the enemies are, it does not matter; He prepares that table before you, and you’ll learn that. You learn how you can feed upon the Lord regardless of what’s happening in your life. Then David said, “All of this goodness and mercy is going to follow me all the days of my life, but I’m going to dwell in that house of the Lord. I’m going to live in His presence, forever.” This was the ultimate thing.
What Does A Shepherd Do? He Leads The Sheep Into Fullness
I’m getting to something here that is very important. What does a shepherd do? Does he run when the wolf comes? No, he fights off the wolf. What does a good shepherd do? Does he beat the sheep and say, “You lousy sheep; you get over there.” He can’t do that. He has to lead them. He has to bring them in: “Here’s the pasture; here’s the still, deep, beautiful water for you to drink. Here’s the table I’ve prepared for you.” He leads the sheep into fullness.
There’s an old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.” Have you ever heard that one? Likewise, you can lead a sheep to pasture, but they’re going to vary in sizes depending upon how much of the pasture that they eat. If a sheep won’t eat, you’re going to have a skinny sheep.
You’ve Got To Get Every Sheep Looking To The Shepherd
You see, the truth of the matter is this: I’ve got to find ways to whet your appetite for the Lord, to get you to desire to come and stand in His presence. I’ve fed you with all kinds of teaching, and it’s wonderful. The world has never seen anything better than the teaching God is bringing forth in this end time. But it’s not going to do you any good if you don’t hunger for it to be an experience in your heart and a reality in your heart. What good is the Living Word if you don’t come and meet the Lord in it? What’s the good in studying the Scriptures if all you do is come up with doctrines and principles, but you don’t apply them or get anywhere with them? I want you to see that, because everything here is designed in a certain way. You say, “Okay, let’s all get together; we’ll all be unified; we’ll work each other over,” and so forth. No, you’re going from the wrong end of it. You can’t get the flock together and shape them up that fast. What you’ve got to do is get every sheep looking to the Shepherd.
The Bountiful Fullness—When You Get It, Then You Can Give It To Somebody
It’s in the presence of the Shepherd that we’re going to change. And once you stand there and you worship the Lord and wait on the Lord, you’re going to receive something that you can turn and bless your brother with. But don’t try to bless your brother when you have nothing to give. You’ve got to see to it that there is the bountiful fullness. You get it first. When you get it, then you can give it to somebody.
Nothing Really Is Going To Function Until You Get The Fullness
The difficulty with intercession, the difficulty with the interaction of the gifts and the ministries and the love in the Body, is that nothing really is going to function until you get the fullness. We talk about experiences, and Acts 2:4 says that the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance; but I’ve heard people speak in tongues, and that certainly wasn’t the Spirit of the Lord they were full of. It had so much flesh and so much carnality in it that it was difficult to determine just what they had. You’ve seen that too, haven’t you? Have you heard people prophesy, and you said, “That was a beautiful prophecy, but it didn’t do anything for me”? People have interceded, and the mechanics of it were loud and furious; but you see, it’s a sound and fury unless you’re filled with the Lord first.
“They were filled with the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:4). Constantly through the Scriptures you read that. They prayed to the Lord and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit; and they began to speak the Word of God with such boldness and such fullness as it came to them (Acts 4:31).
God Is Ready To Pour Out The Rain
There are several Scriptures that talk about the latter rain. The latter rain is just in its initial stages. God is ready to pour out the rain. Zechariah 10:1, KJV, says, Ask ye of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds (a better translation is “lightning’s”), and give them showers of rain, to everyone grass in the field. We’re looking for that.
“Come, Let Us Return To The Lord That We May Live In His Sight”
Hosea 6:1–3 also talks about the latter rain; and through the years it has been one of the greatest prophecies of emphasis. It is talking about the days in which the Kingdom is going to begin to come forth in the earth; and it says, “Come, let us return to”—the Walk? the churches? to our first experiences? No, it says, “Come, let us return to the Lord.” Hosea 6:1a. “Well, I went through something and I sort of lost my motivation.” Yes, that’s what it says. “For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day that we may live before Him.” Hosea 6:1b–2. The King James Version says, “that we may live in His sight.” You haven’t gone through these things because God didn’t love you! God has many ways of trying to draw you to Him. He wants you to recognize that the Parousia is not necessarily at His initiative alone, but also at your initiative. You seek to live in His presence.
The Gifts Were Not Given Because The Church Was Perfect; The Gifts Were Given To Perfect The Seeking After God In Every Heart
All of this was not designed to give you a superficial experience. The gifts of the Holy Spirit that came increasingly among us to prophesy, to lay on hands, to minister various forms of healing and ministry to one another, the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge—we’ve had sprinklings of that all through the churches for many years, but they’re not an end in themselves. The gifts were not given because the Church was perfect; the gifts were given to perfect the seeking after God in every heart. If there is an oppression, the gifts of the Spirit by faith can break it, so that you can break through to the Lord. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are to break every hindrance, every oppression, every barrier that keeps you from breaking through into His presence.
Intercession Is To Break Through To God
Do you see this? How many times have you settled for the blessing of a service? How many times have you settled for the blessing of knowing how to intercede and going into a few sessions of intercession, and that was it? The intercession is to break through to God. “Well, I was interceding to destroy the enemy.” The bombs fall harder from His presence, from the throne, than they do from some psychic force generated out of your awareness of a need. Get up there in the heavenly places seated with Christ (Ephesians 2:6) and then throw your bombs. It will be done righteously.
From The Beginning The Emphasis Was Upon Coming Into His Presence And Knowing Him
Doesn’t this bless you? It makes you want to say, “I’m not going to be passive; I’m going to stir up my hunger for God.” How long has it been since you’ve been down on your knees? You say, “Oh, that’s old order.” Get down on them anyway, old order or not. How long has it been since you’ve waited upon the Lord? From the beginning the emphasis was upon coming into His presence and knowing Him. I think you believe this. I think you are all very guilty and should repent.
That’s My Heart—To Hunger And Thirst After The Lord
Some of the songs we used to sing in the early days were not the jubilant, buoyant songs that came later. But they were filled with such a hunger after the Lord; they touched the note of the cry of the heart. And we still find those songs coming up all the time. I find myself waking out of my sleep, singing some of those songs. I don’t sing these songs of hunger because I’m under self-condemnation; I sing them because that’s my heart—to hunger and thirst after the Lord. You have to do this. You say, “I have too many problems; I’m distracted.” Break through to the Lord, and then you have more leverage for your problems, your relationships.
You’ll Never Be All To The Lord That He Wants You To Be, Until He Has Become Everything To You That He Is
Everything is different when He’s really the Lord, when you come and you just kneel before Him and say, “You’re the Lord. You’re the King. You’re my Master. I belong to You. I hunger after You.” You see, the Lord has great desire to be to you everything that He is, for only in that way will you be to Him everything He wants you to be. You’ll never be all to the Lord that He wants you to be, until He has become everything to you that He is.
No Relationship Is Going To Be Right Until Your Relationship To The Lord Is Right
If I could do something for you, I’d lift every one of you up right into His presence. I’d do something to open your understanding, to rip off the veil so that you’d see how much you need Him. I’d stimulate that hunger within you to stand in His presence, because no relationship is going to be right until your relationship to the Lord is right. When you seek first the Kingdom and His righteousness, the other things are added (Matthew 6:33). When you come to know the Lord, everything unfolds in the Kingdom after that. Those who stand in the Parousia are those who have pressed in to His presence, and they please Him.
A Heart Pleasing To God—The Greatest Leverage In Trying To Minister To Other People
I was going through the Scriptures about pleasing God. I Thessalonians has quite a few of them, and they’re found in other places too. In Galatians 1:10 Paul made a blunt statement. He said, “If I’d strive to please men, then I would not please the Lord.” Now why did he say that? Because he knew that if he started down here, and he tried to please everybody, he could never do it. But if he stood before the Lord, with a heart that was pleasing to God, he would have the greatest leverage in trying to minister to other people. And that’s where it is.
Do You Want To Be Hungry? This Word Is Strong Enough To Create Within You The Beginnings Of It
Do you want to be hungry? I think this Word is strong enough to create within you the beginnings of it. I think it has the promise of something that you need very much; and I think that you can have it. You can walk in it with all your heart. This is where it starts.
We seal this thing to ourselves and determine that it’s not going to escape us, but it’s going to bear fruit. You’ll be walking with God all your days, and in victory, if that hunger is put in your heart today—a hunger based upon a faith in the Word that you’ve heard and the provisions that are yours and the teachings that you’ve received, the inappropriate blessings. The dead-letter office of heaven is filled with a lot of things that God had for you and you didn’t bother to go pick up. Come on, let’s go after it.
You Either Walk In This Or You’ll Continue To Walk In Less
This thing is like a summary .
That’s all we’ve been trying to get across for years. But it comes right down to say, “This is the key. You either walk in this or you’ll continue to walk in less.”
This Is The Ultimate Of Creating The Atmosphere Where You Can Stand In His Very Presence
This Word opens the door for us to stand in the presence of the Lord. And I’m claiming by faith that we’ve heard it and it is created in our spirit. And it’s your liberty and it’s your freedom. We minister it back to you with a faith, because if we do this, that is what frees you. Your life has been to stand in the presence of the Lord. And if we’re doing this, that is the ultimate of creating the atmosphere where you can stand in His very presence.
Be Doers Of The Word
The Parousia isn’t a doctrine; it’s a pursuit of His presence.
If you never heard another message for the rest of the year, but you just remembered this, you could become a very spiritual person. And on the other hand you could hear a lot of sermons and not apply them and not walk in them, and they wouldn’t do you that much good. To be hearers of the Word but not doers of the Word (James 1:22) is a terrible thing. We want to be doers of the Word. Let’s do this thing.
How Do I Become Hungry? The Exercising Of What Hunger You Do Have Has A Way Of Increasing Your Appetite
How do I be hungry? Well, start seeking God. In the first place, you start seeking and you realize just about where your hunger is. The exercising of what hunger you do have has a way of increasing your appetite. How do you think these people with great big appetites got that way? By eating everything that was set before them. That’s true, isn’t it?
This Should Be A Constant Giving Of Yourself To The Lord As A Pure Sacrifice
That seeking the Lord has to be done with an aggressiveness. There has to be a way that you come and you give yourself to the Lord in a new way. I think this should be a constant giving yourself to the Lord as a pure sacrifice to Him daily.
It’s a progressive thing. You give Him as much as you can today and tomorrow you’ll find that there’s a little more that you can let go of.
We’ve done it before but there has to be a way of exercising it afresh constantly, that we are determined to stand in His presence because He’s going to meet us. We’ve got to be met by the Lord.
The Lord Is Going To Shift Our Feeding Ground
I feel the Lord has got to change our spirit. He’s got to change our root spirit. We’ve been rooted and grounded in the Living Word, and we have been fathered, and we’ve been brought into a maturity, and the Lord’s saying, “Now there’s a shift.” And if we can reach into Him with a constant thing until we know we’ve got it, the Lord is going to shift our feeding ground almost. There’s going to be a new relationship with Him; He’s going to come and meet us. You’re going to have a relationship with the Lord; that’s all you’ve wanted.
The Living Word Is Not Going To Do You Any Good If You Don’t Meet The Lord In It
The Living Word, and everything that you hear is not going to do you any good if you don’t meet the Lord in it. You see, this is not just some kind of discipline to see how long you can concentrate, listening to a cassette. Every Word is a message to bring you into the presence of the Lord, and if you don’t meet the Lord in that—if you don’t meet the Lord in this message today—you’ve just missed it. The purpose of it is for you to meet God in it.
Don’t Separate This Thing In Doctrines; Keep It Together
“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord” (Hosea 6:3). We had some teaching here just very recently that was good and said, “Don’t separate this thing that’s in the doctrines; keep it together. It has to be a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the way; He is the truth; He’s the life; He is the resurrection (John 14:6; 11:25); He is the Parousia; He’s everything. And if you begin to divide it down into little doctrines, pretty soon it just becomes weak philosophies, teachings. And we don’t want that. We want every Word to be living. He is the One: out of His mouth goes a sharp two-edged sword (Revelation 19:15).
God Is After The Sons To Come Forth
God is after something—He’s after the sons to come forth. It’s Romans 8, and we had better believe it and press into it with all of our heart. There can be something in you that says, “I’m going to know the Lord in this and walk with the Lord.”
SERVING BY THE WILL OF GOD
The Right Atmosphere to Create
There have to be those who come and create an atmosphere and do not cross the tender leading of the Lord by what they want. All a ministry needs is those who will see the commission, the authority, the wisdom, and the love that he has. Then they will connect with him in total backing and love and just let him be what he knows he’s being led to be. We’re seeing produced around these men the right atmosphere that we purpose to create.
We Should Create One Another, Not Challenge One Another
Some of these aggressive ones try to squeeze in and take away from the thing that a ministry can really give. If there ever should be rebuke in a service, you should take the man who is so efficient and so aggressive that he’s taken over, and say, “Sit down and be quiet. Let the meek minister, and everybody will inherit the earth” (Matthew 5:5). You know, I may not get mad about many things, but I do about this. I think we should create one another, not challenge one another.
Believe In What You’ve Created And Create A Place For It And Let It Function
God bestows the more abundant honor on the member that seems to lack it, that there be no schism in the Body (I Corinthians 12:22–25). Don’t judge by the aggressiveness of a ministry; judge by the fact that God will heap grace and ministry and blessing on somebody that seems to lack honor. The Word doesn’t say that they do lack honor, only that there is a non-recognition in the hearts of others. That arrogance of pressing in or of ambition sometimes is misinterpreted as being really spiritual. The truth of the matter is, “Let each esteem the other better than himself” (Philippians 2:3). When we get right down to the principles of it, we have to create one another. And after you do that, believe in what you’ve created. Create a place for it and then let it function.
In The Kingdom The Atmosphere Is Going To Be Prepared For People To Function, To Move, To Grow, To Create One Another
A lot of the ministries think, “Well, I hold back and therefore I’m nothing.” But you see, from the very beginning, thirty years ago, I said, “Somebody can get up and prophesy, ‘Yea, yea I say unto thee,’ but someone else can come up with a simple little Word from the Lord and the people won’t have ears to hear it because they’re trained to respond to position. They’re trained to respond to the aggressiveness of personality, and they should not do that.” In the Kingdom, the atmosphere is going to be prepared for people to function, to move, to grow, to create one another and to make the place for one another. I pray for these ones that quietly go about the ministry because I know that they’re the key.
The Ones Who Contaminate Your Atmosphere
There’s another extreme in this. There are people who see a ministry and they become a bunch of “kiss-ups.” They’re trying to get a position by trying to force a man of God into a place, so that they can be carried along on his coattails.
Those are the ones who contaminate your atmosphere. They are the big broadcasting system around You, and you’re stuck with the advertisement that they give. And the thing that causes trouble for you is that they try to make it seem like you’re initiating it.
That’s what happened to you, John. Some people were supposed to create a dwelling place for you in the spirit, but they were all really creating their own place and a position-type atmosphere.
For many years I could speak a Word from the Lord; and then I’d hear that somebody else had taken that Word and quoted it, and preached it, and it was entirely different. It was a different spirit. They used the Word to establish themselves. When I was a kid growing up, I was raised in churches where there was the personality syndrome: “Sell yourself.” Every service the sermon talked it little bit about the Lord, but a lot about the preacher. I think that that’s a common failure of people who get up and preach for an hour and a half; when they finish, all they’ve done is tell stories about the wonderful things that they have done and about themselves. You see, it’s that personality syndrome.
A Purity That Starts On The Inside And Works Its Way Out
It’s flashy packaging with a very poor product inside. There’s nothing there. They are a whitewashed sepulchre (Matthew 23:27). It has to look good on the outside because there’s nothing inside to back up the boasts. But what you’re leading us into, John, is from the inside out. It’s a purity that starts on the inside and works its way out and finally gets to the outside (Matthew 23:26). Someday I believe we’re going to look good, but for the glory of the Lord when it couldn’t matter less to us. But it’s starting, not on the exterior where the Pharisees look, but right in the purity of heart that you have and that you’re imparting to your sons.
God Is Teaching Us That If We’re Humble Before Him, We’ll Be An Expression Of Him In The Earth
As long as we’re just really concerned about sending our roots upward, we’ll ultimately bear fruit downward to the whole world ultimately. Nature teaches us that this is the way of fruitfulness. First it has to come through the root and then it comes out.
God is trying to teach us that if we’re humble before Him, eventually we’ll be an expression of Him in the earth. And if we’re not humble, we’ll be an expression of what’s in us; and that’s entirely different. That’s what these guys who are selling themselves are doing. If they don’t change, they will never come to an expression of Christ in the earth; all they’ll be doing is selling themselves. There has to be this total dedication of humility and a drive to glorify the Lord. And when you put those together, it’s an unbeatable combination.
Say, “I’ll Serve You On The Lord’s Terms”
When I see the way people use different ones, I’ve thought, “The people who will use a person are the ones who don’t want to receive any spiritual ministry from him.” And I’m wondering if there’s not going to be a principle come out of this. Somebody comes along and says, “Here, you do this and that for me. Serve me.” You have to say to him, “I’ll serve you on the Lord’s terms.” You are not being arrogant about it at all, but truly, sincerely humble in it: “Yes, I’ll serve you, but I’ll serve you in the will of God. Let’s pray about how I am to serve you. Let’s get down on our knees together.” But when you do that, some will say, “Forget it. I don’t want your ministry!” And then you can say, “Then you must not want me to be your slave, either.”
Let’s Find A Way To Serve By The Will Of God
Why should we contribute to a person’s not serving God? Let’s find a way to serve him by the will of God: “I will be to you everything that I can be in the will of God. I will be to you all that God wants me to be.” That’s positive, but it also has restrictions. You come to him and say, “God doesn’t want me to be this to you.”
Galatians 6 says, “You should bear one another’s burdens, but every man should bear his own burden” (verses 2, 5). This becomes so necessary.
There has to be that desire to get in, to bless people, to share; but there also has to be the desire that you do not become the “patsy” for someone else to avoid doing the will of God.
Serve A Commission
On the positive side, I know what it feels like to go and serve somebody that you know has a commission. It is so much fun and such a blessing to go and lay yourself at that person’s feet and say, “What can I do for you? I don’t want to take over your job; I just want to be the little person that runs errands. Just let me take calls for you; let me do something for you.” As you serve him, you are careful not to create a crosscurrent by your own decision, but you have him tell you exactly what to do and you relate just as somebody’s helper.
We’re Going To Be Ministries In Motion
There are so many things you could see in somebody else’s life that the Lord is doing, and you could come and just say, “Let me be an instrument to be a part of that ministry coming forth. I’ll do anything.” In fact, that’s the training ground for you to become even more mature on your next phase, because you’re so aggressively serving a ministry. I think we could seek the Lord and look for a Word from God and wait on God—and those are wonderful things to do—except you had better be in motion and activated, because we’re either going to be prophets with our heads in the stars trying to get a walk with God, or we’re going to be really down to earth as ministries in motion.
Activating Your Walk With The Lord By Action
I feel that the ones who take the most ground are the ones who are actually activating their walk with the Lord by action. You can be the top ministry of what you want to do in the Lord by constantly washing somebody else’s feet. Find something to do in your walk with the Lord that really creates something for somebody else.
Be Busy In That Service That Is Really Fruitful
There’s a story in the Bible of Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38–42). While Mary was sitting at the Lord’s feet, Martha was doing all the serving. Martha objected to that and said, “Can’t You bid my sister to come and serve, too?” And the Lord replied, “You’re careful and troubled about many things; but one thing is needful, and Mary has chosen that thing” (verses 41–42). He didn’t mean that Mary shouldn’t serve, but there was that moment of sitting in His presence that was the essential thing above everything else. Martha was reproved in a sense because she didn’t do the waiting on the Lord, but I think that both sides are so important. If Martha had waited on the Lord, she would have been head and shoulders above Mary. If Mary had just gotten busy and served also, she would have been ahead of Martha. It’s the combination of the two that I think God really wants.
The real basic thing is not just to be busy, but it’s to be busy in that service which is really fruitful. That’s your joy; it’s in doing the will of God. If you stay in the other you become somebody’s slave; and sooner or later you’re going to have a rebellion against it. You will be used instead of serving the Lord and others by the will of God.
Meet The Dedication That We’ve Set Ourselves To Have
What you’ve said is really important. I’ve found that if I have set my heart to do something, then it’s right to do it and it’s wrong to decide not to do it just because it seems a little bit too hard, or the timing isn’t right, or “I’m not in the mood to do it.” We have to cross ourselves and crucify the desire of the soul-flesh that says, “Oh, there’s another reason. Maybe I’m going to be spiritual; maybe I’ve got this other thing to do.” And if we don’t really meet the dedication that we’ve set ourselves to have, then we’re not crucifying the soul-flesh.
We Are Going To Expand In Our Abilities To Do More And More
I think we should do something to follow through with our dedication in an action even to the point where we do it with tears, deciding, “I’m going to do this. I don’t care how I feel about it. I am going to do this thing and it’s going to be a blessing.” Maybe I’m carrying it too far, but I feel that we’re going to grow in the spirit and expand in our abilities to do more and more, even in shortcut time, with no loss of focus. In fact, it should enhance your focus, because what you’re doing is secondary to the fact that you’re going after something in the spirit; what you do should be an expression of that. There has to be a way that we are exercising our spirits in the thing, plus we’re crossing ourselves. It was important to me to say that, because I think we’re missing it if we think we’re going to go through life as we have in the past. We’ve got to make changes; we’ve got to get over the hurdles that the Lord has been telling us about. This last six to ten weeks the Lord has been exposing what we think we’re going to get out of our way of life. He’s nailing us on that.
Our Labor Is Unto The Lord And It’s Not In Vain
I was thinking of the Scripture about the elders who gave themselves to the ministry and the Word of God continually; they were to be counted worthy of double honor (I Timothy 5:17). I think that meant that they were not only taken care of financially, but more important than that, those who were ministering to the Word were served like Marilyn was talking about. What a privilege to come and say, “I’ll just be a servant to you. I’ll do everything that I can to help you, because you’re in the flow of the Word.” This is nailing it down. We started it with kind of a negative approach, saying, “Don’t be taken by somebody who isn’t doing the will of God; don’t let him make you be his servant.” But now we’re saying that you have the privilege, however, of serving in the will of God, giving yourself totally to that, and you’re not being taken. Our labor is unto the Lord and it’s not in vain (I Corinthians 15:58).
VISITATION OF SEPTEMBER 16, 1982
Intercessors are Not an “in” Crowd
We were into finishing up some summaries and the Lord began to give the Word for tonight; and that Word gave way to one of the most precious meetings with the Lord that I’ve had. The unique thing about it is that Marilyn was in it too. I can recall the early years in which we had those months of waiting on the Lord, learning His voice, and so forth. This is something greater than that in its depth and in its intensity. We want to share it with you because a lot of the Word is related to you, too. First of all, a review: as we were in the period of getting titles and summaries of messages that have come, the Word that came for tonight is that the intercessors are not an “in” crowd.
Intercession Is A Relationship To God
There are a number of points in this Word:
1. Intercession is the function of every ministry and every member of the Body. It is not just the function of a few select people. It’s supposed to be everybody’s function.
2. Intercession is a dedication, not a position. That seems to be very, very important.
3. Intercession is a relationship to God.
4. An intercessor’s qualification is the purification of his spirit.
5. The focus of intercession is by the Holy Spirit, not by personal vindictiveness. The need may motivate intercession, but the Spirit must direct it—not our own personal feelings.
6. The first function of intercession is to blow up dams and to tear down walls that would prevent an answer.
7. Grappling with God begins with the inner conflict with ourselves. The violence that takes place in the Kingdom begins with the violent release and purification of the intercessor himself. Those whom God would answer, He first wrestles with.
8. God pushes the intercessor because it is the effective fervent prayer of a righteous man that availeth much (James 5:16). God wants to give a big answer.
9. The intention of divine delays is to build up the faith of an intercessor so that God can give a greater answer.
10. Delay is not a denial, but by faith it compounds the answer, and that great answer is ours.
11. Delay must give way to the deluge. God gave us time to build an ark so that we would not perish when the answers came. This is entirely different thinking than we have had in the past about delays. This is the latter rain. The showers of deliverance and judgment have come.
“Well-Pleasing Are Both Of You In My Sight”
This is where it began in such a flow and a meeting with the Lord.
I don’t think we have ever had anything that’s been so simple, but such an answer. It did more than give an answer; it just dispelled the question.
The Lord spoke, “I have not given you until now the reasons for delay, for I would test your faith. But now your obedience and persistence in faith have unsealed more than answers to your intercession. Now shall come the breaking of the dams and floods on the dry ground.
“I brought you through the prayers of desperation and of fear and perfected the persistence of faith. I brought you through the vacuum of My silence and you did not despair. My pleasure is to give you a blessing that you cannot contain.
“Thine enemies are snapping dogs that I shall deal with. This vengeance is Mine because I have loved you. You, too, are born of My womb at the dawn of the day. Search the Scriptures for the words ‘well-pleasing,’ for well-pleasing are both of you in My sight. I set before you this Word: it shall take more faith to believe that you have obtained my favor than for You to believe for your deliverance.”
“I Am The Lord, Who Upholds Your Right Hand, Who Says To You, ‘Do Not Fear, I Will Help You’ ”
Then the Lord directed us to a passage which I did not wholly recall, but this is the Word that came: “ ‘Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored; those who contend with you will be as nothing, and will perish. You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them, those who war with you will be as nothing, and non-existent. For I am the Lord your God, who upholds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’ ” Isaiah 41:10–13.
It’s really hard to share this because it’s just difficult to repeat; it was such a devastating thing.
“I Shall Be The Boaz To Your Need And I Shall Not Rest Until The Answers Have Come”
“The lisping tongue of the infant and the stammering of an infant shall give way now to you speaking My Word. It shall please Me that your lips shall speak My Word and it shall shake the heavens and the earth. I created the ear; shall I not heal it? I created the eye; shall it not see what I am doing? Shall I not make known by thy tongue and create by My Word what shall come to pass? The multitudes that I shall slay shall be by My hand. From this hour on judgment shall not be an effort of thine but of Mine. The intercession of the many has been heard, for they have thrown their prayers into My lap.
“I shall be the Boaz to your need and I shall not rest until the answers have come.” When we looked in Ruth 3:18, it said: Then she said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out; for the man will not rest until he has settled it today.” “The birds come to devour the seed. Hold fast to this Word and rest in it, for surely this day My arm is made bare. Oh, see how the Lord gains the victory.”
“Tell My Bondservants, ‘I Am Being Glorified In Your Prayers’ ”
This meeting is called because of this next phase of it. “Tell My bondservants, ‘I am being glorified in your prayers. The vacuum of silence is broken and I shall speak freely because you have a diligent ear and heart to hear.’ ” Then He spoke to me; He said, “My son, I’ve seen your fear and your love and that the latter has cast out the first. I’ve seen your violence and your faith and I’ve seen no difference.” And the Word came, “They all shall know Him.” Then a vision came: a crowd with all their faces blurred. Then their ears became prominent and distinct, and God kept speaking, and their ears heard and the blurred forms of the faces of the intercessors became clear, and the Word came: “I have given ears to hear and I am creating you by the Word that I speak.”
I don’t know how we can share with you the intensity of what happened to us in this. It left us both so broken before the Lord. Maybe it was just the Word we had to hear, but we share it with you because that’s what the Word said to do.
You Finally Get The Answer That You’re Looking For And It Breaks Your Heart
We were just going along on one level of this Word which was classic on intercession. It establishes the top final principles and then goes right into God just speaking, and it shatters you to pieces. You’ve got to accept it, because it’s all leading up to this. This is the first time that a visitation on this level has come to both of us, and with it the assurance: This is what we are going to live in. This must be the way of oneness with the Lord. We’ve had a lot of oneness, but there’s oneness and then there’s oneness.
“I Gave You Ears To Hear And I’m Creating You By The Word That You Hear”
We certainly aren’t going to interrupt anything like this for a single second. You have to partake of it because you see what the Lord has done for you. In the vision, the first thing that became distinct and clear was your ears. And then God said, “I’m creating you by the Word. I gave you ears to hear and I’m creating you by the Word that you hear.” I don’t think any of us yet realize the depth of that thing; it sounds so simple. But this Word that’s been coming and coming is so creative; it gives you your identity before the face of the Father. You’re functioning in the Family. It just breaks my heart. I don’t want to make you sad; I think this should be an occasion of great joy to all of us, don’t you?
For weeks, we were tracking in the spirit realm, and all of a sudden it seemed like everything was kind of shut off; we couldn’t communicate with anybody anywhere. And we realized that God used the silence to prepare our hearts as a testing of faith. Now that He has started speaking again, you almost feel like repenting for any apprehension that you had.
COMPLETELY DEPENDENT ON YOU
The Lord Does Not Want a Passive Rejoicing That Lets Down
I had a real visitation from the Lord last night that included some dreams of judgment. Usually I can look to the Lord and recall it, but this one was buried and almost veiled from my memory. Why would God do that? I think it’s because the Lord does not want a passive rejoicing that lets down. I think that He wants us to keep pressing in so that we claim the answer completely. Then we won’t become passive because we’ve seen a little token.
I’m Absolutely Dependent On Your Prayers
This morning I was wondering how much God will make me permanently dependent upon the intercession and prayers and sustenance that comes from ministries that hold me up.
You see, I’m totally at your mercy, but I’m the door opener also; I’m opening the door for you. It just takes away from the idea, “Oh, John has a big need.” It’s beyond that; he’s absolutely dependent upon your prayers—totally dependent. Approach it from the spiritual angle.
Nothing Is As Important As This Pure Atmosphere Of The Kingdom
Here’s the thing. If you were God, and you were trying to take an individual ministry and make it totally a Body, Kingdom ministry, how would you do it? You’d let him advance as fast as he could to get a pure Word from the Lord but you’d also make him totally dependent upon the rest of the Body. That’s why there isn’t anything as important as this pure atmosphere of the Kingdom.
It’s A Lifestyle Now
That’s why we’re going to stay totally connected. We live this way. It’s a lifestyle now. See, that’s why we need a facility. We’re starting to see the kind of Kingdom facility, or we called it a little colony. But I see, every time, everywhere you go, you’re going to have to have something around you that is accessible, because people need to live right nearby. The School of Prophets facility that Shiloh has is the perfect atmosphere under one roof—as far away as it is—but we’re going to have to start living somewhat this way.
The Family Spirit Is The Key
I think the family spirit is more the key of this thing than anything. You made one statement, that when we get this spirit of sharing back and forth, God is going to bless our finances. Everybody is just being brought into the whole family spirit. And that’s the thing that God’s going to bless.
That’s what He’s waited for. He’s waited for His family to come together as the Body of Christ.
We had the Word emphasizing the family in Honolulu, but the revelation of it came in 1972 with the vision of the prophetic community. This should be voiced. What they’re going to do in Shiloh and every place is just promote this family spirit.