The Lord is launching us into what is indeed a whole new beginning. After it explodes in our hearts, like the expanding mushroom cloud of a nuclear blast, it will spread with the swiftness of a prairie fire.
We have passed through a number of stages during the past years. A tremendous flow toward restoration began, which came to be called “the walk.” With it came a realization that God was doing a work preparatory for the Kingdom.
Now, because the primary emphasis is on the Kingdom of God and our soon-coming Lord, the term “the walk” is almost obsolete. Through the years, the Lordship of Jesus Christ has been the focal point, the principal teaching. If any teaching could be called the one doctrine identifying what God has been doing with us through the years, it is the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our lives. That truth has been repeated hundreds, perhaps thousands, of times. Now we have entered a period of such rapid transition that many churches which God has raised will go through a great shaking.
The Lord has given the vision of what must take place. I saw from this that certain principles had to be taught to the people if they were to make it through these times, one of the most important being the unity which would have to exist, until brother truly helped brother. That truth impressed me as being the chief guideline by which we would survive.
There will be two levels among the churches. There will be some who continued basically on the same spiritual level. Others, however, entered into a period of preparation much greater than they had ever known before. There came a realization that the attainments of the past suddenly were not enough for them, and they had to prepare their hearts for the next level that God was bringing. That level exists now, and the preparation in the hearts of many has brought them to the place where they are ready to move on.
We have received some of the best teaching that the Lord has ever given during any period in the history of the Church. It has been so simple. We cannot point to any commentary written during any period in the entire history of the Church that equals the unfolding revelation which has reached young and old alike during this period. There has been nothing purer than this Living Word. A few have tried to twist the meaning of a phrase here or there, but it is extremely difficult to honestly or scripturally find any fault with the revelation teaching that has come.
The messages all unfold progressively and expand the truth. This Word has been the most consistent unveiling of the Gospel of the Kingdom that the Lord has permitted to come in any generation. As a result, many ministries have been pre-pared for something greater.
Those who have sat under the Living Word as it unfolded over the years have undoubtedly witnessed periodic times of deep repentance, and periods in which God shook us very deeply. At no time has any Word ever allowed us to sink into a religious form—where we would be motivated and controlled and regulated by religiosity—or a legalism that reduced our walk with God merely to a certain set of rules or a conformity to a certain level of conduct. Instead, the emphasis of every Word has always been on a living righteousness that comes by faith. We learned that there had to be a miracle change within us.
A few are probably still in a period of semiconfusion, because they are in a period of semirevelation. There is no such thing as being in this wonderful Kingdom walk with God unless you are in it by revelation. Consequently, the means of evangelism existing among the denominations and the old order does not exist with us, because if anyone can talk you into it, someone else can talk you out of it. However, if God reveals this to you, the gates of hell will not prevail against that revelation (Matthew 16:17–18). Anyone who receives this Word will be tested on it; therefore, it is extremely important in this day that the Living Word be imparted so strongly to the hearts of God’s people that it becomes a revelation deep within their own heart.
We are living in a day in which many persecutions will come. Yet, almost all of us have subscribed to this one thing: If we speak, we will speak as the oracles of God (I Peter 4:11). The day of preaching sermons has passed. The day of creeds and doctrines has passed. What do you believe today? What did you believe a year ago? If you are continuing on with God, you believe now what you believed a year ago, but you also find yourself believing more. Why is that? It is because the path of the just is shining more and more unto the perfect day (Proverbs 4:18). And those who are not of the night but of the day (I Thessalonians 5:5) are finding that they are recipients of an unfolding panorama of revelation which will sustain them in the days ahead.
This revelation has come like a pillar of fire to lead us through the wilderness that is before us (Exodus 13:21). What was prophesied ten years ago did not seem too important to many at the time. However, the same prophecies repeated today are so timely that those who know the signs of the times and what circumstances are in the world now make haste to prepare for these coming days that are upon us. Before long, climactic events will occur, like a chain reaction, across the face of the earth. In fact they are already happening. We are seeing develop, one after another, many things which were once only vague prophecies. At the time, our understanding of them was vague, and we wondered what the Holy Spirit was speaking about. But this day was sure to come; we knew it had to come.
Now the time has come in which someone must light the fuse. Many of you have the Word in you; you have gone through the dealings of the Lord. You may still be in them. But you have gone through enough and have had enough of the Word written upon your heart that the time has come to explode this Word until it reaches the ends of the earth (II Corinthians 3:2–3). Everywhere we go, we find those who are poised and ready. They are almost desperate, saying, “The prophecies are resting upon me. I have the commission. God has dealt with my heart. Now what do I do? What happens now?”
It takes some understanding to realize that your release will come to pass through certain definite steps. First of all, you must be made aware of the commission that is resting upon you—and by commission I mean the complete and absolute setting aside of position. We have gone through years of the most drastic dealings that any movement in history has ever experienced, in which we found that position will not work anymore.
Let me explain why position will not work. Just as denominations built a hierarchy, so also our local churches almost became an entity in themselves. Many times, the local pastor and elder structure locked people in as effectively as the feudal system, or a denominational system. Therefore, we set about to break that pattern. Immediately there was consternation. Nevertheless, in these days when the Kingdom of God is unfolding, there cannot arise another movement having a hierarchy. There simply cannot be the coming forth of another denomination! It must be that God breaks the very beginnings of that potential with us so that we see only one thing: the commissions which the Lord lays upon us.
What makes one person different from another? Is it because we have various ranks? God forbid that ranks arise within this walk in the Spirit, until one is considered higher or lower than another. We did reach the place, however, in which it looked as if we would have an apostolic company consisting almost solely of men who had some recognition as being an apostle or prophet of God. Nevertheless, God has not allowed that to take shape the way some thought it would. You can say, “But you have to have authority!” Yes, you must have authority, but you cannot have a hierarchy. If you have a hierarchy, you lock in the sheep. According to Ephesians 4:11–14, all of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given for one purpose alone—to bring everyone up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, to eliminate the immaturity so that they are no longer children tossed to and fro.
What advantage is there, then, in being an apostle or a prophet? There is none, if you are looking for a position. Even the apostles of the first century were called “the offscouring of the earth, a spectacle to both men and angels” (I Corinthians 4:9, 13). It will be the same now. It is already the same. The great tide of persecution against God’s men today is thoroughly amazing in light of the fact that we are walking in more orthodox teaching and more God-given righteousness in these days than has existed in any movement in history. Yet, as you watch all these other things happening, are you puzzled about what we should do? Simply, we will carefully again position ourselves on the Scriptures.
We face a time when many false prophets will come forth, and the churches will be shaken (Matthew 24:11, 24). When there are disputes—and I believe disputes and issues will arise within and between churches—what should we do? How will we resolve the issues when they arise? In a Baptist church, a board of deacons would convene and make a decision. The Methodists would call the Bishop, and he would make the decision. The Roman Catholics would call the Pope or the Cardinals, and they would make a decision. However, all of those things are the old order that God will not smile on. In Acts 15:1–30 we read how the early Church resolved a problem. The apostles and the elders met. There was no apostolic decree formed without involving the churches; rather, the elders and overseers of the different churches also participated with it. Consequently, a hierarchy was not created, because every rank of authority—both in the foundational ministries and on the local church level—gathered together to find the mind of Christ. Because this pattern was so perfect, the Spirit of the Lord spoke, and the great schism developing over how Gentiles should be admitted into the Church was resolved by the Holy Spirit speaking.
We will face days like that again; but right now let us be concerned with the steps that will lead us there. First of all, we must have a deep, fundamental sense of the Word of commission over us and abandon any idea of position. You need the Word of revelation and commission over you. Secondly, the ministries whom God has raised up must impart to the people of the Lord. More than teaching now you need impartation, an impartation of a portion or a double portion, or double that if you will. The third step is that there be appropriating action on the part of the people.
The time of coming to a service and expecting only to prophesy without seeing the other gifts and ministries of the Spirit in operation is over. There will continue to be prophecies in the service, but there will also be miracles; there will also be signs and wonders. And they will not be wrought only by a few. There will be an expression, from every member, of the greater works which are to come (John 14:12). They have to start sometime, and we ought to anticipate their beginning now.
If people do indeed exhibit personality traits which are characteristic of their particular nationality, I believe that Peter must have been half-American and half-Canadian. When the Lord Jesus spoke to him to walk on the water, with full Yankee impetuosity he jumped out of the boat and started walking. Then the Canadian instinct said, “Let me think this over.” The more he thought about it, the more uncertain he felt about walking on water in the middle of a storm (Matthew 14:28–30).
It is not enough then to be impetuous, and it is not enough to reflect on our situation. We must abandon the Canadian tendency to think and reflect on what action to take. However, we must not move with Yankee impetuosity either. We must not be impetuous to shove into an action, but neither should we let reason weaken the faith that God wants in this hour. Let us take the commission, take the impartation, and move in faith with an appropriate action which lights the fuse for all that we have ever learned to spring into action, to be exploded.
Do you honestly believe in your heart that it is time for the prophecies in your life to have more than a token fulfillment? Is it not time for our worship to break through until the heavens are opened upon us? It is time for the gifts of the Spirit to operate freely. It is time for prophets to speak a Word and cause a whole city to fall on its face before God (Jonah 3:1–8). It has to start someplace. It has to start! And it will start in the hearts of those who have been prepared.
This does not always seem to be the case, however. At times, it appears that the very opposite is true: The more orthodox, the more prepared, the more trained someone is, the deader he is. Perhaps the statement that it must start with a people whom God has prepared needs a little qualification. It is a matter of honest statistics that most soulwinning is done by young converts. They are naive enough simply to walk up to someone and tell him about the Lord. The older saints, however, who have been in the church a long time, often feel that they have a special calling to “enlighten” younger ones. They think, “We have to help these fiery young converts face reality.” Consequently, they go around with a watering can, putting out their zealous fires. How true that often is. The good solid people of the faith are usually the ones to put down the fervent zeal in those who, in their opinion, do not yet know what they are doing and are without experience. Somehow, it must be that God “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers, lest the Lord come and smite the earth with a curse” (Malachi 4:6). Somehow, the wisdom of those who know the Word and the young zeal of those who do not know it as fully must be brought into a common expression of faith that will move like a tidal wave across the earth.
Do you believe that now is the time to move? Or are you having some doubts about it actually happening? Are you thinking, “I know this Word is right. It moves me. It is a good message. But I want to explode. What am I supposed to do?” We can start by prophesying over an individual and then asking you to decide whether or not that prophecy is right; then if you believe it is right, to act on it. You cannot call in a hierarchy to decide for you. We are at the place where we either confirm the Word, or we do not confirm it. We all must listen to the Lord.
The Word God brings can be upsetting to a church. It changes so many things. It has already initiated perhaps the biggest game of leapfrog anyone has ever seen. Do you know what I mean by a game of leapfrog? We are seeing the truth of how the Lord makes the first last, and the last first (Matthew 19:30); and many ministries are having the somewhat discouraging experience of kneeling down to pray, only to look up and see the back end of a young Timothy who jumped in front of them.
Would you like to reach the place where you do not move impetuously, but neither are you hindered by shackles, hobbled with that awful servitude to reasoning things through? Instead, you simply move out in God, absolutely committed once and for all to what God is speaking, with your fear totally and completely overcome.
All that God has been doing over the years has created in you more of a pure faith than you realize. If someone lights a match to it, something is bound to happen. Many of you do not realize how much the Lord has perfected in you already. From the very moment this Living Word first came to you, you began to experience the dealings of the Lord, and you had to walk by faith. Did not that first revelation become a reality to your heart at the time? It was not in vain, was it? Have you already seen the fulfillment of everything God made real to you at the beginning? When do you think the rest of those promises will be fulfilled in you?
Would you like to slip back into old-order interpretation and doctrine, and put off the Kingdom for another age to come? Or would you like to believe in dispensational teaching and put everything of God back in the past, saying, “It is all over. There are no more miracles today.” Surely, you do not want that. Nevertheless, if you believe that it is for now, you will have to walk in it now. If you do not, you will become an even greater hypocrite than those who say that they have faith, but evade it by their elusive doctrines. You will have to believe. You will have to step out. You cannot back off from it. If you believe in the greater works, you will have to do them.
I Peter 4:7 stresses: The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. During a time of intense intercession, the Lord gave this Word: Just as speaking in tongues was the issue and reproach in the Pentecostal movement, so would intercession be the object of reproach in the days of the Kingdom. Yet when we gave ourselves to intercession and the persecutions began to be heaped upon us, what happened? Suddenly, many in this walk with the Lord wanted to become more respectable. They did not want their services to be so open for criticism.
Do you believe in intercession? Do you practice it as much as you did before? The Lord spoke a Word that intercession will now break loose against principalities and powers, and we will begin to pray down satanic forces and dominions. All over the country, intercession is reviving, this time not merely for the liberation of some ministries. This time our faith is reaching out to bring down strongholds (II Corinthians 10:4). We are on the verge of seeing them fall. It can happen!
The element of futility which was often a part of our intercession in the past will be absent now. As that element of futility disappears, our intercession will be with great force, claiming and believing that God is moving now, and that this is the hour of fulfillment.
When you pray for someone or minister to him, believe that he is receiving the answer right at that very moment. Recently, we laid hands on a former Roman Catholic priest who had asked some of our brothers for permission to move with them in ministry during services. At first the brothers turned him down because he was still a Roman Catholic. After discerning what was wrong in his life, however, the brothers agreed to tell him, “As you straighten out your life, go ahead and minister.” As he does so, I believe that man will truly stir up an inferno within that religious system. The Lord is setting the stage. He is booby-trapping Babylon. For some time, God’s work of preparation has been almost a hidden work in our hearts, and now it is ready to explode into action.
Let us examine the next verse in this passage from I Peter. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. I Peter 4:8. Why is this important? A major problem has existed in many churches. Individuals have held a position without also having the compassion. After the resurrection, the Lord said to Peter, “Peter, do you love Me? Then feed My lambs. Peter, do you love Me? Then feed My sheep. Simon, son of Jonas, do you love Me? Feed My sheep” (John 21:15–17). Today, everyone who thinks he has a position is being moved down the ladder, and the humblest brothers are leapfrogging ahead of those who have become so set in their ways.
Do you know why this is happening? One important truth must be in our thinking. We must reach the place in which our fervent love for one another is the only basis of ministry. Instead of being concerned about having a position, we will determine to move in our commission with compassion. Why is this necessary? Because when a man has a position and possesses a great deal of insight and revelation, he can become critical. As a result, a wave of criticism continually moves beneath the surface. It is true that you can find something wrong with everyone. But if you see another’s need with compassion, you will say, “I have a commission to minister to you, not to criticize you. I will have compassion on you.” If you discern something wrong in someone’s life, you will minister to him to help him. You will not try to find out how many things are wrong so that you can judge and criticize him. Instead, you will try to find out where the gifts are buried, where the talents are buried, how his ministry and blessing can be drawn out.
We lay hands on someone and prophesy over him to explode him into something from God that he needs. Instead of merely preaching, we need to reach into a spiritual reality ourselves and project it with great force and faith to someone else’s heart. Let your words have an impact in the spirit. Literally grab people’s attention and say, “Come on, stir up that dormant faith! Get rid of the passivity! Come and drink, and let rivers of living water begin to flow out of your belly (John 7:37–38). Move in what God has said.”
It is difficult to understand the apathy of this Laodicean Age (Revelation 3:14–16). In this decade, possibly more people have received the Holy Spirit and spoken in tongues than in all the generations of the Church Age. Yet how could the Charismatic movement, which bears witness to this fact, turn so quickly into such a commercial entity? What is wrong with us in this age? How can we passively accept doctrines and experiences without moving into the very purpose for which they are given—for the witnessing and the power? (Acts 1:8.) Does this sound as if I am chiding someone? Perhaps! We absolutely must not have this limited appropriation! After having come this far, we should not fail to move into all that God has promised us. Let us be aggressive to move into it.
As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies. I Peter 4:10–11a. In other words, if we move, let us move in God. How much of what we do is still in the flesh? How much of what we receive in our services is still merely a sustaining action, a way to gain a little encouragement? We often come wanting ministry to help lift our spirit a little; but we ought to break through to the moment when we rise above every barrier to our expectations. From that time on, the service should explode. Overflow ought to be the rule, not merely trying to keep the well from running dry.
Chapter 5 of I Peter begins: Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow-elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ. I Peter 5:1a. How foolish it is to say that Peter was the first Pope! Here he calls himself an elder. During the first ten years of this move of God when people asked, “What are you?” I would say, “I am the overseeing elder.” Later, many had such a revelation of apostleship that they began to emphasize it strongly. They would pray for “the” apostle, which was an overemphasis. Do you know what the Lord is saying now? Stop thinking in terms of position, of apostles and prophets; forget that whole emphasis. Do these ministries exist? Of course they do; we know that they exist. But that is not the issue. The issue is feeding the sheep. The issue is being a shepherd.
What does Peter say about this? Shepherd the flock of God among you, not under compulsion, but Voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time. I Peter 5:2–6.
In verses 7–8, Peter tells us to cast our anxiety upon the Lord, and to be alert for the devil. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. I Peter 5:9. The same experience is happening to all of your brethren, wherever they are. Would you like to know what is happening to the remnant of believers in some other area of the country? They are experiencing the same thing that is happening to you! All of these experiences are being worked in your brethren who are in the world. The Lord is bringing us all to this day of fulfillment as rapidly as He can. The Lord is doing a quick work in the earth (Romans 9:28).
There are saints who spend all of their lives waiting on God and disciplining themselves. Many have done this throughout the history of the Church. Yet they do not make as much progress spiritually as one young person does in one month in this walk in the Spirit. Read the writings of some of the Christian ascetics and see why. Read what many of them have said. Some of it is the most farfetched material you could ever read. They usually formulate some kind of religious philosophy, and when they finish expounding it they have said virtually nothing. However, think of what God is doing for you, what He has put within you. Now all of that Word must be exploded.
Along with our explosive faith, of course, must be the humility Peter speaks of in I Peter 5:5–6. We cannot say, “God raised us up; we will do great things” if there is the least bit of ambition in our saying it. Our motivation must be that we recognize the necessity of doing the will of the Lord, and we do it for that reason.
Over the years, we have strictly avoided publicity. At the very beginning of this walk in the Spirit, the Lord told us to advertise the Word alone, and we have carefully followed that directive. We do not promote this Word with pictures of the one who speaks the Word. One of the few pictures ever to be taken of me was obtained by the media and printed in connection with a derogatory newspaper article! Needless to say, “All who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecutions” (II Timothy 3:12). Do you find it difficult, however, to always heed the Lord’s admonition, “When they say all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake, rejoice and be exceedingly glad”? (Matthew 5:11–12.) Can you say, “I have hardly been able to become exceedingly glad over it yet, but I am working at it, for the Lord’s glory”?
We must arrive at the place where we are neither self-assertive, nor are we self-conscious. Whatever the Lord might do, even if He raises us up like Saul of Tarsus and says, “I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16), we say, “If it fulfills the purpose of God, let it happen. We will glory in that. We will count it the highest honor to be a partaker of the sufferings of Jesus Christ.” With that humility in us—not a martyr complex, but a simple humility and a preparation of heart—God will use us. Let us see the fire started now. Jesus said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!” Luke 12:49. Something is being kindled right now in our midst. Do you truly want to see it happen? Would you give anything to see all that God has put within you break loose? Let’s explode!
This Word could come more alive than anything we have ever seen. I honestly believe that all God has been doing has been preparation. The action is to come next. What is that action to accomplish? It is to glorify God in the earth. When does the authority come? I believe it has already been committed to us. When do the ministries come? They have been prophesied; the commissions are here. Where is the authority? There are elders everywhere. Where are the pastors, the prophets, the apostles? I think that we have talked about this so much that we do not realize how much has already been done in men’s lives. And it is time for them to move.
What if people make mistakes? One aspect about a true prophet is that he is open for correction. Probably the only ones who will become angry anyway are those who do not have any real walk with God, but are trying to defend their gift or their ministry or the privileges of their position. You do not have to defend anything. If God gave it, it will be confirmed. If no one has confirmed it yet, then simply continue driving nails, as Noah did for a hundred and twenty years (Genesis 6:3; 1 Peter 3:20), and believe God anyway.
You may say, “But I have been persecuted! I have not been accepted!” That is all right. The work of the cross must be done, and you cannot do it by yourself. Try it. You may succeed in driving a nail in one hand and another nail in your feet, but how will you get your other hand nailed down? You will have to say to your brother, “Come over here and help me.” The work of the cross is never completed until your brother helps you. This does not mean that you should go around with a handful of nails, looking for all the brothers you can help. It means that you move into this dedication with all of your heart.