The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; It is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, we beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, we beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Psalm 118:22–26a.
This was probably written because of David’s great day of victory, recorded in the tenth verse.
He says: All nations compassed me about: In the name of the Lord I will cut them off. Psalm 118:10.
He’s referring to the enemies who had come against his life. Then came the day of victory, and of that day he says: This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Verse 24. “We will rejoice in this day—the Lord has brought forth a victory to me.”
These verses were sung at the Feast of Tabernacles when the people brought their green branches into Jerusalem to build the booths in which they were going to live for those seven days.
It was also sung when Jesus made the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. It’s significant that these important verses became the basis of a declaration of the Lord and a new prophecy quoted in Matthew 21, in the parable of the vineyard. There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country. And when the season of the fruits drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, to receive his fruits. And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them in like manner. But afterward he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But the husbandmen, when they saw the son, said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and take his inheritance. And they took him, and cast him forth out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner; This was from the Lord, And it is marvellous in our eyes? Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you (referring to the Jewish people of that hour) and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And he that falleth on this stone shall be broken to pieces: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will scatter him as dust. (Another version reads “grind him to powder.”) And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, because they took him for a prophet. Matthew 21:33–46.
This is very important. If you see this rock and fall on it, you will be broken. But it if falls on you, it will grind you to powder. Often we get the idea that this walk merely sprang up and we need to promote it to make it go. Actually, no one can make this walk go anyplace and no one can prevent it from the full course of what God wants it to be. There’s a relentless quality about the whole program and plan of God.
God is speaking a word and people are trying to evade it. That’s all right. If they fall on the rock they’ll be broken and contrite and open to God, and they’ll be blessed.
But if that rock falls on them it will grind them to powder. When a person begins to fight God he will soon realize what a relentless force God has turned loose of Himself, of His very Word.
If we cooperate and blend with it, we will become the instruments of that relentless force to change the world. If we fight it, we will be destroyed.
A good example of this is the nation of Israel. They had every opportunity, but they tried to fight it. Fighting God is like taking your hand and trying to hold back a glacier. It’s going to move right on. You can’t stop it; it will keep right on coming. God is that way: He keeps moving. God is moving in the earth today and He will continue until He has accomplished all of His purpose.
When Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda the people criticized Him because He had done it on the Sabbath day. To this He said: My Father worketh unceasingly and so do I. John 15:17 (Weymouth’s translation). “God keeps right on moving, He keeps right on working, and so do I.” This is the relentless force God has turned loose.
We sometimes get the idea that God is failing, that a lot of it is misdirected effort. But in Isaiah 55:11 God says, “My word that I send forth will not return unto Me void. It will accomplish the purpose for which I have sent it.” When God speaks it will come to pass. The Lord was teaching something about this rock; He said, “I am that rock. Fall on Me and you’ll be broken and delivered from your obstinancy; but if it falls on you, it will crush you.” Occasionally you feel the need to build a scaffolding to support the Kingdom, as though it all rests upon your shoulders. God wants us to pursue after Him with all our hearts, but it’s also true that God has spoken this word and it will come to pass. What we do is best accomplished by cooperating with this relentless force that God is turning loose, learning the perfect will of God, hearing what God is saying, and seeing what God is doing. Then we join in and pursue after it with all our hearts.
God is trying to teach us this relentlessness in His Word. He teaches us that very same thing in nature. He puts a little of His relentless drive and force in almost everything that He creates.
He puts it in a little baby. There’s something of a relentless drive in those little ones; they kick and wave and yell until they are all red in the face. When they begin to crawl, no world explorer is as thorough as one of those little crawlers. They’re into everything. Their curiosity leads them to grab everything within reach and stick it in their mouths. They’re fascinated. They try to eat everything, regardless of what it is. That’s the way they are.
God puts this same relentless drive in the animal kingdom.
When my spiritual father was young, he lived on a farm and he used to go around on a trapping line with his dad. They caught a lot of mink in that area and his father would skin them and put the hides up to dry. But they always had to dynamite the dams which the beavers had built. When the beavers heard them coming they would slap their tails on the water to warn each other. They had to get rid of the dams because they would flood their land, but the beavers would build them up again—overnight (they would start cutting down trees to rebuild their dams.) That most relentless drive is in those dumb little beavers.
Have you ever watched spiders build their beautiful and intricate webs? If you sweep those webs down, they are not discouraged. They put their main lines in, start all over, and spin another one. That’s a relentless drive.
God put it in animals; He put it in insects; He put it in birds, the way they build nests; He put it in little newborn babies. He puts it in everything.
The whole way of life is to be lived with gusto.
The way of worship is to be with gusto. Worship the Lord your God with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.
This passivity, indifference, and deadness that parades as reverence is not a normal state; it’s a state of sickness. People are sick.
They’re really sick, because wherever life is really vital and thriving, the people are living with all their hearts. You won’t get anything out of this walk with God until you pursue it with all your heart. Why?
Because God is turning loose this relentless word, a force that is going to sweep away everything before it. You had better not simply stand and watch it, but cooperate with it using that same relentless dedication in you that you see in God.
Some people who have been interceding and crying unto God for a breakthrough for the apostolic company when suddenly God revealed that He was more concerned about it than they were.” We sometimes get the idea that we need to persuade God and influence His reluctance.
God isn’t reluctant! He’s more anxious to have His will come forth than we are. We need to learn how to tune in to what God is bringing forth. For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith. I John 5:4. God didn’t intend for us to be defeated. He didn’t intend for us to be limited. He has deposited that same relentless principle in us that He placed in all the other natural creations. He put it in our spirit. As children of God, we are to overcome all things. Whatever is born of God overcomes the world.
You must face the fact that you’re often up against a lot of pressures, and you can’t walk in a message like this without realizing certain things are necessary to make it work. If you are going to see this message really work, you must realize that you are not one person, but two. You have two natures, and you’re not going to tune in to what God really has for you until you understand that the two natures are at war within you. Learn how to cope with the part of your being that drags its heels and tries to make you indifferent, or withdraws when the battle gets rough. If you don’t deal with that aspect you will never attain the drive and determination that will help you follow what God is really doing.
Learn how to direct your thoughts and channel them on divinely appointed goals. You must find out what God wants you to have or what He is trying to do and concentrate on that, or you will never make it. I’ve been thinking: “Lord, I know that You’re turning something loose. I can feel it. It’s in the earth. It’s relentless. It’s violent. It’s going to accomplish Your purpose. But now, what do we do? We don’t want to burn out and fail. We don’t want to accomplish only a little; we want to be a part of the whole thing You are doing.” So what do we do when so many distractions come against us to hinder us? We must be determined to learn how to direct and redirect our thoughts on what we know is the will of God in the earth, what He wants us to do, and what He wants for the church.
Some have found that one long span of study is more effective than trying to learn a little each day for a long period of time. Even so, you can’t concentrate on one thing for too long a time, because your mind will wander. You must keep redirecting your thoughts; bring them back and focus them. If something in your old nature is trying to distract you, be determined to control your thoughts enough to redirect and channel them back on the main line. By doing this, you will be exerting that same relentless pressure as God is doing. Cooperate with it! When God says something over you, listen to that word and keep bringing your mind back to it. Refuse to dismiss it. Even if you’re distracted, bring your mind back and say, “I am going to dwell upon the things of the Lord.” Day after day dwell on it until God makes it a reality in your heart. What you constantly direct your thoughts to will become a reality in your life. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7).
If you follow this pattern and remain patient, you can change any deep convictions and any deep conditionings and responses that are in your nature. The mind can change back and forth a dozen times a day over an issue, but deep in your spirit you don’t change that quickly. If you have an angry spirit it will tend to stay angry for years. If you have bitterness in your spirit, it’s hard to get that out. You can tell a person, “You’ve got to be forgiving. You must open your heart and not hold a grudge.” But if it’s in his spirit, even though he agrees with his conscious mind, that bitterness and unforgivness will remain there. How do we change these deep responses?
Although inner concepts and ideas are learned slowly, believe that with persistence you can reach down to the depth of your being and respond as you should to the Word of God. If there’s a tendency to be lazy, apathetic, and indifferent, deal with that. You may have to battle it for awhile because your spirit will learn more slowly than your conscious mind. Wisdom comes through the years. A young man going through school can learn a lot of factual knowledge. He can learn to reason about certain things, but the wisdom and good judgment will come when all he has learned is distilled to the point that it becomes a part of his deep nature. There it has become very real to him. A young doctor may impress you with his efficiency, but your confidence is in the older doctor who seems to understand you better. It’s taken time for that to take place.
The inner spirit learns very slowly; nevertheless it will respond in time if we are persistent. That’s why we are going to take all our thoughts and constantly direct and redirect them. Pray to the Lord about it because your spirit is going to change; it is going to go from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord (II Corinthians 3:18). The more we constantly expose our spirits to God and to what He is saying, the more we will become like Christ.
Have you ever felt there was a perverseness in you, that when you want to do good something constantly works against it? You start out to read the Bible, but it only lasts for a few days and then all your determination is gone. What is this thing that rises up and wipes you out? What is this indifference that floods up out of your soul and poisons your mind when you know you are really enthusiastic and ready to work on a problem? The solution doesn’t come by merely hearing a sermon and walking out the door and forgetting it. The only way to overcome those deep responses in your heart is to mortify them. Put them to death by persistently going after them!
William James, who was the first teacher of psychiatry at Harvard, placed little confidence in willpower. He said that if you try to set your will to do a certain thing you won’t be able to do it. The great changes come through attention. Not willpower, but attention. Don’t worry about changing—just set your attention upon a thing. Think about it, and give it your attention constantly. Write notes to yourself and pin them on the mirror. Constantly focus your attention upon it because whatever a man puts his attention to, that he will do, or become. If I diligently give attention to what God wants me to be, God will work in me both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). That will be God’s part of it, while I simply focus upon it. Say like David, I have set the Lord always before me. Psalm 16:8.
If you see what God is doing in the earth and you want to be a part of it, all you need to do is just take one step now. One step now! Even if you aren’t able to change everything, don’t despair. You may say, “There are so many things in my life I can’t change.” What you can do is to take one step now. The story of Ben Hur tells of a man who was sold as a slave. He went to the galley master and asked if he could be switched from one side of the boat to the other from day to day. These men were in an unnatural position, and in time their bodies became so distorted that they finally died.
He rotated back and forth, rowing on one side one day and on the other side the next day, because he had confidence he would be freed. He took one step—the only step he could take. It worked and he stayed alive. The life span of a galley slave was notoriously short, yet he kept alive because of that one step.
Do you want to make the Kingdom? Take one step now—not tomorrow. One step now. Perform some spiritual ministry, something you’re inspired to do and do it faithfully, even if it’s just picking up paper off the church floor. Any small accomplishment you do faithfully tunes you into that relentless drive of Him who is called Faithful and True (Revelation 19:11). It makes you a part of what God is doing by getting into the flow. The minute you’re in the flow, doing something, you have a change. Don’t stand on the sidelines. Do something about the deep attitudes. Do something about becoming a ministry. Start someplace and God will bless you.
Do you want to know how to take hold of God and walk with Him with a real drive, to change your prayer life, to change your ministry, and your whole approach? Draw on the great believers around you. Paul said, “Follow us so that you have us for an ensamples” (Philippians 3:17). It sounds rather conceited for a man to say, “Follow us,” but he knew if Christians associated with men who were dedicated and learned to draw from them, they would change because the things of spirit are highly contagious. You can’t be around an inspired man without being inspired yourself. You’ll become dedicated by just being around a dedicated person. Draw on the great believers around you and associate with them. Stay away from the whiners, grumblers and complainers as much as you can. Give them a good word now and then, but don’t become a part of their negative attitudes. Be sure that a little root of bitterness springing up in one does not defile many and go all through you (Hebrews 12:15). While you’re trying to change yourself, take your honey with a big ladle and take your vinegar with a teaspoon.
Keep a demolition squad ready to turn loose when you get in trouble, like a bunch of angry dogs that are trained to be killers. When you are surrounded and hemmed in by the little dogs of discouragement, passivity and distractions, turn the big dogs loose—turn loose the demolition squad that comes in with dynamite and blasts out the old deadly thoughts. You can get hung up with thoughts which are so deadly that they slowly poison you. Review your prophecies, study the notes you have taken on sermons, and meditate on the Scriptures you have marked in the word of God and throw some bombs. Turn loose those tough thoughts and the tough truths; let them come in with muscles and beat up on the passivity and indifference! Thrust them out of your life; you can do it. You can change—you don’t have to be defeated.
Let me give you two definitions of prayer which will help: (1) Prayer is practicing the presence of the Lord; you can pray without ceasing. This is a quieter aspect of prayer. The man who does that is capable of praying in another way, and this is the kind of prayer that’s going to change you; it’s going to tune you into the drive that God is bringing forth in the earth: (2) Prayer is thinking, inquiring, desiring and beseeching intensely, concentratedly, and relentlessly about a thing. That will get some action. This is really prayer without ceasing.
God’s moving on the earth will be so fantastic. The Word says His going forth is as sure as the dawn, and He will come to us as rain (Hosea 6:3). You couldn’t hold back the dawn. You can’t hold back this new day that is coming, but you can determine to be a part of it. God can probably bring it forth without you, but I’d like to be a kind of spiritual Orpheus, who in Greek mythology would play his sweet harp and sing, because the sun was a little stubborn. He sang so beautifully that the sun would come up to listen. Orpheus was so marvelous in the way he sang and played that he could charm the sun right up out of the night. They had to use him; otherwise they would have had all darkness in those days—they thought. So he sang and brought forth day after day.
Maybe we think it will take our songs and our prophecies to bring forth the Kingdom. It will come forth anyway, but He is going to come forth through people who are singing and prophesying. God will have His channels, and if we are not the channel it will be someone else. Let’s be that channel!