Spiritual Gifts are Divine Investments in You: Be Accountable

     There are many things wrong with the church today just as there have been many things wrong with it throughout the centuries since Jesus came to establish it.  In some places the churches are not true to the teaching of the Scriptures. They have imposed their own views of God’s program, will, and nature on the Bible. They pick and choose the part they want to believe and cast aside the others.

In other places, the churches have lost their vision for mission and evangelism.  All their energies are expended in caring for their own members.  Their horizon reaches only to the back pews of their own buildings. They behave as though Jesus had died only for them, or as though men and women are going to heaven regard less of what they believe.

The others things visibly hurting the church are divisions that stem from racial bigotry, heresies that grow out of Biblical ignorance, personality cults that celebrate human achievement, compromise with pagan valves in sexual and marital matters. All these give the church a clinical rating that ranks with some of the sickest persons in an intensive care ward.  These problems weaken the church’s mission, but what debilitates the church more is the neglect of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ. The situation in thousands of assemblies and gatherings is literally tragic. It is sad, despite Christ’s strong warning.  Matthew 25:14-30 speak specifically to the tragedy that God’s people suffer when they do not make the most of the gifts that God has given them. The story is in the parable of the talents whose familiar theme is found in the text;

1)      the tragedy of abused accountability;

2)      the tragedy of missed opportunity;  and

3)      the tragedy of lost joy.

No account of the discovery and cultivation of our spiritual gifts can be complete if we fail to note the damage done when those gifts are neglected.  The people in the parable are one key to its message: a master and three servants. That relationship speaks of accountability. Servants must answer to their master in all details of their life and work. We make a great mistake when we mix our role with God’s; He sets the term of our work. He is in all things the Master, our task is not to make the rules, but to obey by saying “yes” to the rules He has already made.

Jesus began His parable thus: “For it will be as when a man going on a journey called his servants and entrusted to them his property to one he gave five talents, to another two to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. “(Matt. 25:14-15).  Who decides who would get the five, the two and the one? The master, of course, only he knew that servants well enough to determine how much property each of them had ability to handle. There was no squabble among them, no elbowing each other for the largest share, no badgering the master for an extra talent. They recognized his right to decide. They had no property of their own, nor any power to acquire it. Their share was determined by His grace and by that grace alone. We are accountable to the Master’s grace.

The master’s grace placed them under obligation to make the best possible response. What they had not earned or deserved had been put in their trust, their only acceptable answer was to use it well. The Master of the Church gives these gifts of the Spirit to the Body as expressions of His grace. We do not chose which gifts we receive or how many. These matters are up to Him. Most importantly, we cannot chose not to use what He has given us.

There is a purpose why He lavished His grace upon us. This fact is made clear in the master’s rebuke of the servants who had hid his own talent (matt 25:276-27). It tells us that God’s grace in our lives is counted as an investment. It is not just to be conserved. That was the wretched servant’s mistake. He did not realize that grace is a seed to be planted for further growth. He did not understand that God’s blessings are not for hoarding, but for multiplying as we put them to work in the lives of others.

That servant could not plead ignorance. He knew precisely how demanding the master was. But he misapplied the knowledge that he had. He was defensive, not aggressive. He took no risks in using the master’s grace and, in so doing, took the greatest risk of all; he neglected his accountability to the master’s purpose.

The gifts of God’s, Holy Spirit are precious and true. And the Lord of the Church demandingly wants them treated as such. They are not like gold to be stored in Fort Knox, nor like Rembrandts’ paintings to be hung in a well-guarded museum. They are fuel to be converted into spiritual power, they are ore to be refined into useful tools, and they are seedlings which will grow into fruitful trees.

The grace of God granted this servant was an opportunity to expand and grow as a person; he missed all that because he was fearful and unduly cautious. God gives more, when we use well what we have.  Part of the servant’s tragedy was that he missed his opportunity for greater blessings. The Master’s command was harsh; “Take the talent” he said “from him, and give it him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away” (Matt 25:28-29).

The greatest responsibilities, the larger privilege, the expanded service, the enhanced growth, all of these chances were missed because the servant misread his master’s instructions. Sadly he lost the chance he had; so his single talent had to be forfeited.  Unused gifts may lead to disqualification from God’s service. Who dare take lightly any spiritual gift bestowed upon us by the risen Lord Jesus.  He is Lord of all. Wisdom demands that we discover what gifts God has given us and to diligently use them in full submission to Him. It is not about doing things for God or being active, busy and involved.  Rather it is about letting God do things through us. Let us not cripple the Church and turn the body of Christ into losers because the Holy Spirit gifts have not been put to work for God’s purpose. Joy follows when we purposefully use our spiritual gifts in service for Him. Let us therefore, walk humbly before our God and be accountable to Him for the spiritual gifts we have received so far.

The Christian Walk: Reflection 3

In Living With the Giants: The Lives of Great Men of Faith, Warren W. Wiersbe introduced his readers to the life of Dr. C. I. Scofield (1818-1921). This man was fully aware of the Lord’s leading and was driven by his commitment to obey God at all cost.
“Cyprus Ingerson Scofield was born on August 19, 1843 in frontier Lenawee County, Michigan. While he was still a lad his family moved to Wilson County, Tennessee, where he lived until he was seventeen. When he should have been enrolled in college, he enlisted in the confederate Army and served with distinction for four years. He received the Cross of Honor for bravery at Antietam. After the war he located in St. Louis with his older sister, who had married into a wealthy family. Unwilling to permit his brother-in-law to pay for his education, Scofield went to work as a land clerk, examining titles. In two years his promotion to chief clerk provided sufficient money to study law. He passed his bar examinations at the age of twenty-six and was elected to the Kansas legislature. An efficient lawyer and politician, he was appointed by President Grant as U.S. Attorney for Kansas. He served two years and then returned to St. Louis to practice law.
“Another attorney, Thomas S. McPheeters, a dedicated Christian, was one of Scofield’s close friends. Scofield was battling alcohol. McPheeters came to Scofield’s office in September 1879 and said, ‘For a long time I have been wanting to ask you a question that I have been afraid to ask, but that I am going to ask now. Why are you not a Christian?’ He then took out his pocket New Testament and reasoned with the lawyer. Scofield wanted more time to consider the matter, but McPheeters would not give in. The Holy Spirit won the case. The two men prayed together and C.I. Scofield gave his heart to Jesus Christ. Instantly the chain was broken, never to be forged again. Scofield wrote in later years: ‘the passion for drink was taken away! Divine power did it, wholly of grace. To God be the glory.’
“Later, Scofield became active in the YMCA. During this time he was associated with Dwight L. Moody. He also grew under the ministry of James H. Brookes whom he called ‘the greatest Bible student I have ever known.’ Scofield developed a hunger to know the Word of God. One day he visited C.E.Paxson, a Christian friend, and saw him drawing lines in a new Bible. “Man, you are spoiling that fine new Bible!’ Scofield protested. But Paxson showed him he was connecting Acts 8:5 and Acts 8:8 to demonstrate that Philip’s preaching of Christ brought great joy to the city. Scofield’s logical mind instantly caught the importance of the lines that were ‘ruining’ Paxson’s Bible, and from that hour he marked cross references in his Bible. Scofield’s experience in Paxson’s office was his first step toward editing the most famous study Bible in English.”
Redeemed children of God are on a path led by our Lord to a place in life He has prepared for them. The tragedy in life is that most of us are not aware of His presence and, therefore, are neither obedient nor submissive to His leading in our daily walk. Are you aware where God is leading you?
“Lead me, lead me, Savior, lead me lest I stray.Gently down the stream of time lead me, Savior,all the way.” Frank M. Davis

Leading in Christ

In the real world where God is acknowledged and obeyed, every Christian is a leader. The difference is in the sphere of influence. In our mixed and twisted world the ongoing thing is to emphasize and promote one individual to the exclusion of others in the collective.

When the focus on one individual is considered to be the best, the leadership potentials of the other individuals in the collective are neglected and undermined in the process. This means that their interest, possible growth, and development are not given the necessary attention and encouragement to enable them to be all they could be as leaders.

The emphasis would be to recognize the leadership potential in every individual and encourage them to take advantage of the opportunities before them to develop to their fullest potential and attain to their full sphere of influence. Simply put, it means that every individual is to be encouraged to grow to the full limit of their potential and not to be forced to exceed it. This is because, when an individual exceeds the limit of their ability, they would become a liability to themselves and to those around them. This effect is appropriately described in the management circles as Peter’s principle.

The Biblical example of this truth that you should work within the limit of your ability is found in the parable of the talents and minas, as told in the Gospel of (Matthew 28:14-25); Luke 19:11-17). Every person was given the opportunity to grow and develop to the very limit of their ability. They were all encouraged to act and given the resources to attain to their full potential. Failure was only due to their neglect to take advantage of the opportunities given to them.

Everyone was assigned to what they were able to handle. The failure was due to personal neglect when they had the opportunity but failed to take it. Everyone was given what they could handle, nothing more or less. Romans describes this principle as the measure of grace (Romans 12:3-8).

The chance to grow and be fully developed to the limit of your personal ability is what is inherent in the divine distribution of the gifts of the Spirit (Eph. 4:1-14; I. Cor. 12:1-11), in the Body of Christ. When every believer is encouraged to be focused on using their gift or gifts to the best of their abilities in influencing others for the good of the Kingdom of God , the world would be better off in the end.

Although we are leaders with various levels of influence, we submit to one another as good team players and contribute our part in obedience to the leadership of Christ our sovereign Master. No Christian leader should consider himself or herself better than those who follow him or her (Deut. 17:18-20).

The Christian Walk: Refection 2

Henry Drummond (1851-1897) was walking with a Glasgow businessman down the street one day. He saw a merchant throw a stock of round strawberry boxes into a gutter. Instantly a group of boys swooped down upon the boxes and put them on their heads as a cap. Then they lined up in military formation and marched away. “There is an idea for you,” Drummond told his friend, and out of that ‘coincidence’ grew the Boys Brigade program that God still uses to win boys to Christ.

D.L. Moody speaks of Drummond as a man who lived nearer to the Master and who sought to do His will more fully. Due to his walk, he was able to see in common events an uncommon path in fulfilling the great commission.

Our service for our fellow humans does not come from strained efforts on our part to live for them but rather from seeing Jesus doing so, and then simply making ourselves available to Him. We do so that we may be channels of His grace and power to them. This is the way in which He walked in His relationship with the Father, and it is the way in which we must walk in our relationship with Him.

Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do, for what things soever He doeth, those also doeth the Son likewise (John 5:19). We, too, can do nothing but what we see the Lord Jesus doing until we see that we are helpless, and our service is nothing more than self-initiated striving. It is not ours to originate anything but simply to yield ourselves to Him to be the channel of what He initiates and carries through and to trust Him to do so through us.

In the words of Roy and Revel Hession, The Lord Jesus is for others, just as the Vine does not bear the grapes for its own refreshment but for the refreshment of others…The Lord Jesus is not alone in this. He draws redeemed men into cooperation with Himself in the outworking of His glorious purposes, and they become His branches on which His fruit is borne. Just as apart from Him the branches can do nothing of themselves, so it is that apart from them the Vine does not bear fruit. The branches cannot, however, produce or initiate the fruit; that is altogether His work! They simply bear what He produces as He lives His life again in them (1958, 132).

The Christian Walk: Reflection 1

The Human Soul:

The value of the Human Soul was brought to our attention by Christ Himself in the parable of the rich farmer (Luke 12:16-31). In it Christ pointed out how precious the human soul is in the sight of God. If we could see how precious the human soul is as Christ sees it, our ministry could approach the effectiveness of Christ, says Phillips Brooks in his selected sermons (1835-1893).

May the souls of men always be more precious to us as we come nearer to Christ and see them more perfectly as He does. No one can ask any better blessing on any ministry that that. The ministry of D. L. Moody was effective and forceful as an evangelist and soul winner due largely to his love for Christ and proper view of the human soul. He had a tremendous burden for the lost and a willingness to do whatever God asked him. This is the point at which a person sees the true value of the human soul just as Christ sees it.

Then comes the true words of Henry Varley quoted often by D. L. Moody thus: “The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated.”

Preaching:

One of the definitions of preaching is that it is the communication of divine truth through human personality. The divine truth never changes, but human personality does. This explains why two preachers can take the same text and develop two different sermons, and why the same preacher can preach often from the same scripture passage and always discover something fresh. It must come through his character, his affections, his whole intellectual and mental being. This means, of course, that the preparation for ministry is nothing less than the making of the man.

The preacher of truth, therefore, must be a man open to truth, all truth, no matter where it is found because truth comes only from God. It involves delivering a message which we cannot transmit until it has entered into our own experience, and we can give our own testimony of its spiritual power.

When we preach over people’s heads, it is not the fault of the character of the communication, it is the fault of the aim that makes the missing shots. Remember, in ministering to people, every message fortifies each other. Therefore, no one message should be considered alone as completing the task before us. The harvest time is not at the end of the message. We must learn to leave the results in God’s hand.

Faith Defines the Christian Walk

Life in general is properly described as a journey and not a destination. In this perspective the sum total of what we are engaged in is a walk on this journey. Along this life’s journey many have distracted themselves into side shows. Some are counting the miles they have covered so far and are settling on the wayside. To a good proportion of people the activities of fellow pilgrims have become their preoccupation, and so they turn themselves into walk-watchers.

To the believer in Christ there are rules as to how we walk on this journey. These rules are kept in proper perspective if we are focused on the essence of our walk, and that essence is our faith. It defines our walk.

For example, Hebrews eleven reminds us all of effectiveness, courage and loyalty to God in their walk. Their deeds were not based on wisdom, power, or enthusiasm. Collectively they tell us not to marvel at the great deeds of their lives. We are told, “God made bare His holy arm and has done this by us in His name through faith” (Acts 3:12-16). It is God who has done all these wonderful works.

We make a profound mistake in attributing to these men extraordinary qualities of courage, or strength of body or soul. To do so is to miss the whole point of the reiterated teaching of Scripture. They were not different from ordinary men and women except in their faith.

One characteristic common to all the heroes of faith of the Hebrew story is their faith in God. This lifted them above ordinary men and women and secured for them a niche in the temple of Scripture . This indeed is the capacity of the human heart for God, a marvelous faculty of faith. Four times over this is cited as the secret of all that Moses did for his people.

Our Lord Jesus repeatedly taught and emphasized the need for faith in a believer’s walk. In His judgment having wisdom, being strong and enthusiastic are as the small dust of the balance and must not be taken into serious consideration compared to having faith.

His incessant demand is for faith to b e present in persons. He would say “If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamore tree, ‘Be thou plucked up by the root, and be planted by the sea; and it should obey you’” (Luke 17::6). To a father he once said, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth” (Luke 9:23, 24).

The believer, therefore, is the God-filled, the God-moved, the God-possessed human person, and the work which he or she effects in the world is not his or hers, but God through him or her. It is certain that as the present age draws to a close, God has great schemes on hand which must shortly be realized. According to His invariable method, He will have to perform them through the instrumentality and faith of human persons.

Walking by faith implies never to evaluate circumstances or things in the light of our strength, education, abilities or resources. Keep in mind that Jehovah, our Jehoshua, our resource, is all we need to face anything in life.

God is Working in You

Life today is like a warehouse, assembled from pre-fab sections, ready to receive goods. It is fast, compressed, condensed—slam-bang, it’s done.

It is not so in God’s wilderness schooling. When it comes to walking with God, there is no such thing as instant maturity. God does not mass produce saints; He hand-tools each one, and it always takes longer than we expected.

God takes this careful measure because for anyone to lead effectively such a person must accept being questioned, attacked, accused, hated and betrayed. It is painful, but it enables the person to stand alone. How is it possible to endure such, one may ask. God accomplishes it through the furnace of affliction (Isa. 48:10; John 12:24-25; Heb. 1:9-10; Heb. 5:8). If you learn your lessons well, you will no longer need anyone to pat you on the back. You will go straight on doing what God had called you to do even in the face of both opposition and intimidation.

No matter what role one is called upon to fill, such a role is not unimportant when it come to standing alone for truth. This is because standing for the truth is standing before God. It makes one a unique spokesperson in one’s day and age at this moment and time.

As God works in us, every shred of self-sufficient arrogance, every hint of independent spirit, and all thought of rebellion is scraped away. Any indifference toward authority is replaced by a firm commitment to do only as told regardless. Survival is learned in the crucible of intense, extreme training that characterizes Divine dealings with a chosen vessel.

Mark it down. Things do not “just happen.” Ours is not a random, whistle-in-the-dark universe. There is a God-arranged plan for this world of ours which includes a specific plan for you. Through every ordinary day and every extraordinary moment there is a God who constantly seeks you. The God who loves us and redeemed us uses these moments to advance His purposes. He is there, and He is not silent. He doesn’t speak vocally from heaven, shouting down His word at you. He uses His Book, the Bible, His people, and He uses events in your life. So be patient with yourself, for God has not finished with you yet.

Paul: Prisoner to the Will of the Spirit

An effective and disciplined soldier is a product of disciplined training which includes the proper use of weapons, submission to authority and obedience to command. Then after training he is entrusted with weapons. God always had the power necessary to defeat the enemy we face, and He is not weak. He has not, however, had a people ready for His power.
As the consummation of all things draws near, God in His great mercy is doing a work with an ordained and predestined people. He is bringing them into complete submission, digging out every bit of rebellion, every spirit that opposes God and exalts itself. He makes us prisoners of Jesus Christ. Let us stop fretting about the confinement, the wilderness testing, and submit to the dealings of God for the hour (Hebrews 12:1-6). We cannot be the tool God will work with to bring the world to submission if we are not first broken, perfected and matured for use.
The Apostle Paul sat in his prison cell working carefully on the scroll as he penned a letter to his friend Philemon. This was a special letter for it was being written under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit and would eventually find its place in the Scriptures as part of God’s inspired written Word. The first few words of greeting from this Apostle of God were simply: “Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ”. These words, coming from Paul himself, had a great significance. Paul had learned what it was to be a prisoner of Jesus.
He knew what it was to sit on the backside of the Arabian desert for years with the light of the Truth burning in his heart like the noon day sun, while a lost world perished in darkness. He learned to be disciplined under the ministry of a local church in Antioch until the Spirit gave the word through them for him to “Go”. He had felt the harness of the Spirit about him to the extent that he was “forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia” (Acts 16:6). He had been through the training of being bound to the will of God to the extent that when “they assayed to go into Bithynia; …the Spirit suffered them not” (Acts 16:7).
He had become so disciplined to speaking only the word of the Lord that, when in Acts 16 a young demon-possessed girl followed them day after day crying out after them, Paul answered not a word until the Spirit moved upon him to speak and deliver the girl. On his way to Jerusalem in Acts 20:19 he tells how prophecy came to him from prophets in every city telling of the bonds and afflictions that were awaiting him in Jerusalem. In response he said, “None of these things move me” for he was committed to the will of God. He was a prisoner of Jesus Christ and could no longer make his own decision or choose his own course or run his own life. He was disciplined to the will of the Spirit.
Each hour of the day we must choose to obey God. When we submit to God, we shall have to submit to those around us who are in authority over us. Only in this way will we show that we are really submitting to God. What people do to us to hurt us are things God uses to break us. In this way He will make us even deeper channels for the life of Christ to flow out to others.

Moses: Prisoner to the Will of the Spirit

The New Testament shows us clearly that the Lord Jesus wants us to take the low place of slaves. We have no choice in the matter. We cannot decide not to be slaves if we really want to be disciples of Jesus. Slavery is a self-emptying and humbling position. This is what it takes to be a prisoner of Jesus and of being imprisoned to the will of the Spirit.
“Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and in deeds” (Acts 7:22). This man Moses, ordained and predestined by God to deliver His people from Egypt’s bondage, was laid in an ark or basket of bulrushes and carried by the current of the river right close to Pharoah’s palace. There he was taken in and raised as Pharoah’s own grandson, taught in their finest school, trained to lead the armies of Egypt, and his name went abroad throughout the land as a great orator and a great warrior. None of the children of Israel in Goshen had the ability, nor the background, nor the knowledge to do the job as well as Moses to deliver the Israelites from bondage.
Moses tried but failed miserably, the same way we all have failed to bear fruit and conquer sin. He found, just as we all do to our utter dismay, that his own strength was pitifully weak in comparison with the task that must be done. This was all in the plan of God, for after He had proved that the greatest of the great was insufficient for the job, then He sent His chosen servant into the wilderness to be stripped of his strength and ability, to die to his own will and knowledge and desires.
In his own efforts Moses had slain one of the enemy and had hidden his body in the sand. That decaying, stinking thing hidden in the earth was a testimony that it was not the deliverance God’ people were after and needed. Many ministries have cracked under the strain, and many of God’s people have become disillusioned at this high pressure type of thing, as men have tried to rise up and stay the enemy before they themselves had come under the wilderness stripping and discipline of the Spirit. With what rest and what ease Moses lifted up his rod and delivered God’s people and destroyed the might of Egypt, once God had brought Moses into submission. This is the work God is doing today with His true ministry.
The answer is not in the few sheep Moses fed in the wilderness or how fat and productive he could make them. The purpose of God during that forty years was in that man, that ordained and chosen one in the process of God’s dealings. He realized now that the answer is not in him, in his strength or ability. He must hear the voice of God, and he will not move until this comes. Forty years of discipline—all this time the weight of Israel’s burdens pressed down upon his heart, and their cries for deliverance were continually in his ears. There is travail in his soul that finally brought him to a face- to-face meeting with God at the burning bush.
When God finally spoke to this man to go forth and bring deliverance to His people, this Moses confessed his weakness and inability to God and declared that he could not even speak properly and needed someone to do his talking. What a stripping of his own strength! What a binding of his own freedom! At last God had a prisoner who could only move at His word. Then he was ready to bring deliverance to the nation. Now God was ready to entrust him with the greatest power and authority that had ever been possessed or used by man.: “that the excellency of the power may be of God not of him” (2 Corinthians 4:7-12).

Joseph: Prisoner to the Will of the Spirit

One of the most notable of God’s prisoners in the Old Testament is Joseph, one of the twelve sons of Jacob. In his childhood he was beloved of his father and had freedom to move about as he chose. He had seen a vision of the Throne, of rulership and authority, and he believed God was going to bring this to him. Nevertheless, this vision was not shared by his brothers, and because of this vision he was brought into a very real confinement by his brothers, into a pit with no way to look but up.

He was then sold into slavery, and he was brought to Potiphar’s house in chains of bondage. At Potiphar’s house Joseph was blessed in such a way that Potiphar gave him a measure of freedom and authority, and he was the means of feeding and caring for the others who were also in bondage. He may have become a little satisfied with his measure of authority and his measure of freedom and the good work that he was doing. Perhaps he travailed before God to complete and fulfill the original vision he had seen. At any rate God began the work of bringing him to the throne.

How? By setting him free? Oh no! But by bringing him into a terrible disgrace and the losing of his reputation and the “measure” of his freedom and authority. God brought Joseph into a greater confinement than he had ever known, and for years He kept him confined in a prison cell. This lasted until Joseph began crying for deliverance, and he tried to enlist the aid of everyone who could get a word with the king. He cries, “Get me out of this place.”

There was real travail of his soul. Psalm 105:19 tells us that “The word of the Lord tried him.” Even in the darkest hour when it looked as though he was a complete failure and his life was nothing, Joseph never lost the vision of what God had shown him. He held on to the word of the Lord to him. When he was completely submitted to the dealing of God, in the fullness of time God brought forth His chosen vessel to feed the nation in the time of need. God was not late, neither could He be forced or pressured into moving too soon. He was right on time. He had Joseph, His chosen one, ready for the hour.

Just because God has given you a vision does not mean you should exert all your strength to take it at will. You must be patient before God and allow Him to prepare you for it. It is not an easy road. Before the world can be brought into submission to God, He first will perfect and mature the tool He will work with. You can never be in this company who rule with Christ on His Throne until you have become His prisoner and been brought into absolute submission and obedience to His perfect will.

To Christ every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, but you will never be used to bring others into submission as long as there is the least bit of the rebellious nature within you. You must be disciplined to the will of the Spirit. Remember that having a burden does not necessitate timing. Surrender and submit under the mighty hand of God.

Peter: Prisoner to the Will of the Spirit

In the last chapter of John, just before His ascension, Jesus spoke these words to Peter: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, when thou wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest, but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee wither thou wouldest not” (John 21:18).

In our youth and immaturity (spiritually) the Lord permits many things in us that He later strips from us as we become more mature in the Spirit. One of these is the freedom of our own choices. When we were young, like Peter, we girded ourselves with our armor and went forth to battle, walking wherever we desired. Wherever we saw an opportunity to do a good work for God, we got involved and engaged. There was a freedom granted to us, and God graciously blessed and anointed our efforts as we prayed and sought His help.

If we pastored, He blessed and gave increase. If we decided to go on the evangelistic field, He blessed and anointed and gave us souls. If we decided to teach, He blessed and gave us revelation of His Word. Though we sought for His guidance and tried to be led of the Spirit, there was not that absolute binding to the perfect will of God and the voice of the Spirit. This was in our strength, our youth and immaturity.

With growth and maturity there came a discipline of the Spirit bringing us into submission to His perfect will. Sometimes, because of the strength of our wills or stubbornness and hardness of our own spirits, there comes affliction and tribulation to weaken our own flesh in order to make us submit to His purpose in us. Paul prayed three times for deliverance from a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, but God would not deliver him. In effect He told Paul that He was doing this to keep him weak. For the Lord said, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Peter found that, as he grew older in the Lord, there was to be no more of the walking “where thou wouldst.” Rather, there was to be a binding of his own strength, and his girding would come from another, and he would be carried to destinations determined by someone else. This is a mark of maturity. There is a work of the Spirit now going on to bring us to a place of absolute imprisonment to the direct guidance and will of the Spirit. What a glorious confinement!

Just to know that I am bound up in His divine purposes, regardless of what He chooses to do with me and to me, is a privilege worth accepting. It is a difficult and tortuous path at times, until we recognize who our Jailer really is. We fret and worry when we think we are bound by our circumstances, or by our associates, or by the devil. Those who are called into the high calling of God need to come to the realization Who controls their destiny, so that they can come into a REST, and submit to His workings and dealings in their lives. Like Paul and Peter and those other heroes of faith, we are prisoners of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ in the Fullness of His People

Christ is fully God and fully man. He is God man, and His blood washed saints are simply an expression of Himself in the fullness of His people. Therefore, the authority and power they exercise are simply delegated. Such privileges are available to the Body as they fully submit their own wills to His will and are constrained by the leading of His Spirit. “…He is the head of the body, the Church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence” (Colossians 1:18).

The Son of Man is the glorious and wonderful fulfillment of Jacob’s ladder. No wonder Jacob called the place “ Bethel ’, for this is the House of God of which we speak, even the Body of Christ. The Head is in heaven, but the Body is upon earth, and according to the Scriptures the Head hath sent forth the celestial hosts as ministering spirits, ministering upon the Son of Man, this “ new man,” that Paul speaks about, “created in Himself of twain” (Ephesians 2:15-18). It is Christ in the fullness of His people. The heavens are now open to His people, the Body, even as it was to Him, the Head, there at the River Jordan that eventful day.

If we ask the question as to when and how we come into this glorious place, the answer is certainly by faith. We claim it in His Name. In actual experience any honest hearted child of God will admit that the heavens have not yet been opened to him, and that he does not dwell in that place beyond the veil where Jesus, our forerunner “is for us entered” (Hebrews 6:20).

Now we have a priesthood ministry on this earth. Revelation 1:5-6 says: “…Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father.” Also the Lamb, “hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:10). Honestly, we are not yet beyond the veil, in the heavenlies. We have not yet entered unto our priestly ministry in full, nor do we reign as kings, but as Jesus came to the river Jordan and set the Pattern, just as surely shall the true Body of Christ follow the Pattern. Hebrews 6:20 says that He is our forerunner, indicating that we are to follow Him into the Holiest.

By faith we enter into that place now, but in actual experience this is still ahead of us. How far ahead I cannot say, but I feel that it is very near. Already the Body of Christ is nearing maturity; dispensationally the water of Jordan is the figurative waters of death. There must be a dying out, a complete death to self and old ways, so that we might be brought into our inheritance. Those who have ears are hearing the call to repent of our religious hypocrisy and forsake that which is dead and turn unto life, to the way of the living God. Submit to the Word, and to the ministry in the earth. This is what will bring the Body out of Jordan unto a glorious freedom and victory that is yet to be experienced.

All these experiences must come by an act of the grace of God. You cannot think, believe, work or even pray your way in. However, one can pray, believe and be ready for Him when He comes to His people. When He comes in visitation, we must follow Him into the wilderness, where He can prune our branches so as to make us bring forth fruit in our lives. It is the fruit-bearers who shall come into this glorious place in God, in the Body of Christ.

The Body of Christ

If Jesus is the sign, and the Scriptures most plainly show that He is, then who or what is the fulfillment of this sign? This is the glorious mystery that was revealed to Paul the apostle, which he calls “my gospel. For it was Paul who saw the wonderful truth of the Body of Christ, the “Perfect Man,” the sons of God, the many-membered man that God was making after His own image. God’s man is neither male nor female, Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free…,he is made of many members, and we are all one in Him (Colossian 3:11; I Corinthians 12:12-14).
In the Genesis chapter 1 account God began a creation with substances present of which man was made. The dust of the earth and the breath of God were there, but man had not yet been formed. The first day light was given; it was the day of beginnings. On the third day there was a harvest of fruit in the earth. Then on the sixth day God brought forth His man to rule over the earth, and on the seventh day God rested while man ruled. Now we know that Jesus is the light of the world…John 1:1-9 tells us: “That was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.”
Salvation, or justification, is the beginning of eternal life for us (every person that believes in Christ). This pointed out beautifully in the types and shadows God gave in the Old Testament law. At the time of the Passover, God said that this should be the beginning of months for them. Everything starts with the sprinkling of the blood on the door post. The death angel passes over them, and the children of Israel are safe from the judgments of God. Then in the third month they are to bring forth the first fruits of the harvest, and on the fiftieth day following the Passover Sabbath comes the feast of Pentecost’
Jujst as the Passover was fulfilled in Jesus spilling His own precious blood on Calvary and rising from the tomb, so was the feast of Pentecost fulfilled when He sent back the Holy Spirit upon the waiting Church, bringing forth a great harvest in the earth, a harvest which actually is only the first-fruit of what God is going to do in the seventh day of the great Feast of Ingathering. For in the seventh month, in the end of the civil year comes the great feast which has never yet been fulfilled, the great Feast of Tabernacle or Ingathering reserved for the end of the age.
Political and historical events of our day are pointing clearly to the fact that we are in the sixth day period. Like the biblical account, God is forming His man, “one body, many parts” man (I Corinthians 12:12) in the earth and is bringing it to completion. To accomplish this divine purpose, the risen Lord Jesus is stirring up within the Church, the five-fold ministries to take center stage for the perfecting of the Body until we all come unto “a perfect man” unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:7-13).
Jesus Christ was the sign given by God of the authority and power He has purported to place upon the redeemed humanity. We see the Head of this Body supremely victorious, waiting until the Body comes to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that His enemies become His footstool (Hebrews 2:8-9). The Head is victorious and crowned. This glorious work He began will continue until His whole body, even the feet, shall rise to the place of authority and power that He has. The smallest and weakest member of the Body, the least in the Kingdom, shall have dominion over every satanic force, over the work of creation, even over their own spirits. “Where I am, there ye may be also.”(John 14:13). The Body is Christ in the fullness of His people.

Jesus is God's Greatest Sign

In these days we are hearing much about signs and wonders. Many of these, of course, are spurious and false…tricks of the enemy to deceive and mislead God’ people, to magnify the flesh and glorify man, and to sidetrack us from the main purpose of God in the earth today. Not all signs are of the devil. The very fact that there is a counterfeit proves that there is a real, for no one counterfeits that which does not exist.

In Isaiah 7:14 the prophet cried out “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The sign was not the virgin who brought forth. It was not the swaddling clothes that He was wrapped in, nor was the miraculous birth itself the promised Sign, but rather it was the One who still is God’s greatest sign.

Now a sign is that which points to something, and this man Jesus, His birth, life, death, and resurrection point unerringly to that great thing which God is doing in the earth, the eternal Purpose in Christ Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25 states clearly that the Sign was not fulfilled when Jesus was born. It said that a sign was given. The prophet has promised that God would give them a sign. God gave them this sign when He gave them Jesus there in Bethlehem ’s stable.

Now a sign is not fulfilled when it is given. It is fulfilled when that which it points to comes to pass. That baby lying there in Mary’s arms is the greatest sign God ever gave to the earth, and it shall not fail. That which it points to shall most surely come to pass. The angels spoke to the shepherds in the field on that glorious night: “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tiding of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you” (Luke 2:10-12). They went on to tell them where to find the child.

Simeon the prophet came by the Spirit into the temple, and there he found Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus. Holding the baby he prophesied saying, “Behold this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against” (Luke 2:25-34). Jesus Himself said “…this is an evil generation, they seek a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be (a sign) unto this generation” (Luke 11:29-30).

Jonah was a sign pointing to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This sign was given to the Ninevites when Jonah came forth after 3 days in the belly of the whale. The sign of Jonah was fulfilled when Jesus czme forth from the tomb. Jonah’s sign pointed unerringly to the Truth; it did not fail, and now a greater sign than Jonah is given. In Isaiah 8:18 the Scripture says: “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and wonders.” Hebrews 2:13 makes us to understand that the One who spoke these words was actually our Lord Jesus. He says that He is for a sign, and so are the children (sons) that God hath given Him, those who are being conformed to His image, the Body of Christ. Thank God for His eternal plan and purpose.

From Prison to the Throne

Though Joseph was a slave, the Lord was with him, and everything he did prospered. He was made overseer over all the house of Potiphar, and when any of the other servants needed anything, Joseph had the key. When any were hungry, he fed them. God prospered and blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake.

So it was with Jesus. Though He was stripped of His heavenly dignity and took upon Himself the form of a slave, yet He was not defeated in His circumstances. He lived with a people who were bound by the limitations of the Adamic nature, yet He had the key of blessing. Whatever their needs were, He was the answer. In spite of the fact that He walked about in the same earthly prison house of a human existence as other men, yet He ruled in the midst of His circumstances.

There was such a divine radiance about Joseph, such a godly charisma in addition to the fact that he was a handsome young man, that the evil, lustful nature of a worldly woman was attracted to him. As Potiphar’s wife wanted Joseph to compromise his godly standards in an act of adultery, just so Satan tempted Jesus to mix the divine life with earthly desires. Neither man would yield to the temptations, and this led to the cross for both of them.

For Jesus, it was crucifixion at Calvary and into the prison house of death. For Joseph it was the prison house of a living death with no hope of pardon or liberty. Jesus defeated death and took the keys of death and hell from Satan and stands ready to open the prison doors and set the captives free. Joseph was so blessed of God in his prison that the keeper of the prison committed all the prisoners into his hand, and whatever was done in the prison, he was the doer of it. He had the key to unlock any door, and everything he did the Lord made it to prosper. What a peace it brings when we realize that our Lord Jesus has the key to the prison house of humanity we are in; whatever happens to us comes from His hand (Romans 8:28).

Joseph, the elder brother of Benjamin, is a strong type and shadow of our elder Brother, the Lord Jesus. He came out of the prison house and on to the throne. In one bright morning, Joseph was delivered from the darkness of the cell as the prison gate was rolled back. He took his place at the right hand of Pharoah, the supreme ruler of Egypt . All power to administrate the affairs of all Egypt was put into his hands, and all things were done in his name. “Go to Joseph” said the king when anyone asked for corn, or when anything needed to be done. Genesis 41:43 said that every knee was made to bow before him. What a tremendous type he was of the greater One that was to come. For Jesus, our elder Brother, the stone rolled away from the tomb, and He ascended to take his place at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Every knee bows, every tongue confesses, and every thing is done in His great name! Faith looks beyond the circumstances.

Joseph Unveiled

The sons of Jacob were faced with a terrible problem. They could not bear to face their father without Benjamin, but they were helpless before their judge, guilty and defenseless. Then Judah, the very one responsible for selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites some 22 years earlier, now makes an impassioned plea for Benjamin to return with them. There is no doubt in my mind that Judah had suffered much from a guilty conscience as he watched his broken hearted father grieve for Joseph, especially after he, Judah, had sons of his own and had experience of losing two of them in death (Genesis 38). Whatever a man sows shall surely bring him an abundant harvest. Would you believe that it was the sons of Judah, the Jews, who were responsible for selling the elder brother Jesus into the hands of the Roman gentiles?

The Jews have suffered much since then because of the anguish of the Father’s heart over what they did. But mercy is coming your way, Judah ! He who sits on the throne will hear your impassioned plea in these closing days of this age, and the beloved elder Brother with the Melchisedic robe of priesthood will unveil Himself to you.

Genesis 45 is a beautiful chapter of reconciliation, forgiveness and restoration. When Joseph revealed himself, his brothers were so startled, shocked, and fearful; they were absolutely speechless. I am sure if there had been any place to hide, any rock or mountain to cover them, they would have fled from his presence. He made them know that in spite of their hatred, wickedness and scheming, it had all been the will of God to bring him to Egypt for the purpose of preserving them in time of famine. It was all necessary in order for the family of Israel to stay in Egypt for 400 years until they grew into a mighty people, ready to go back to Canaan and rule their own country.


That which seems to us to be so unnecessary and even seems like the work of the devil is part of God’s overall plan to bring forth a great people strong enough that they might return to “their own land” to rule and reign with Jesus Christ, our elder Brother. Ours is to trust Him and know that He is on the throne, and that all things will work toward an ultimate victory for His Church, His Body. Let that many membered company of the younger brother of “Joseph” know that they are playing a very important part in the bringing about of this glorious restoration.

The Genesis narrative did not tell us of the special relationship Benjamin had with his long lost brother, once the family had all moved to Egypt . Certainly Joseph had some important work for Benjamin in the five years remaining of the time of famine (Genesis 45:9-15). Beyond that no one knows what part Benjamin had in the glory of Joseph’s Kingdom administration. None can tell you what the sons of God will be doing 10,000 years from now in the Kingdom of Christ and of God (Ephesians 5:5), but I am sure it will be glorious! It will be worth it all, when we see Jesus!

The Silver Cup

After the banquet Joseph’s steward filled the men’s sacks with as much food as they could carry. Joseph arranged for the steward to put his own personal silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. Hardly believing that they had been treated so nicely and were getting away so easily, the eleven sons of Jacob started home. Gingerly they made their way, until finally they were out of the city limits. They began to feel more relaxed, perhaps joking and singing as they started the long journey home.

But a short way out of the city, they looked over their shoulders, and, lo, a cloud of dust was arising as the steward came upon them with a squad of palace police. The brothers experienced a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs as they asked: “What is the matter, what have we done?” Then they were told that someone had stolen the prime minister’s silver cup. They protested that one of them would never do such a thing, and to prove their sincerity they volunteered that if any of them had the cup, he should die, and the rest of them would become Pharoah’s slaves. These were confident statements, until the sacks were all opened, beginning at the eldest to the youngest.

The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. What a shock! “Benjamin, how could you do such a thing? Why would you take such a chance for a piece of silver?” It was no matter that young Benjamin protested vehemently that he was innocent. The proof of guilt was there. Can you imagine the reproach Benjamin had to suffer from his brethren because of the silver cup?

In Matthew 20;22 Jesus warned His disciples that to follow Him they had to drink of His cup and asked if they thought they were able to do so. Joseph’s personal cup, speaking of his years of suffering in slavery and prison, was give to Benjamin. In Genesis 44:17 Joseph told the ten brothers that the one that had his cup would stay with him and be his servant, and the rest of them could return to their own realm or homeland.

Beloved sons of God, there is a price to pay to be a servant of Jesus Christ and live in the same realm He is in, “…that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 24:3). Our relationship with Him brings great reproach. The writer of Hebrews tells us to “go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach.”

What do you think the neighbors thought of young virgin Mary when she was found with child? What do you think her parents thought? Do you think they thought she was still a virgin? Do you think they believed her story of an “angel” visiting her? The carnal suspicious mind would never believe that the one responsible for Mary’s pregnancy was an “angel” much less the Holy Ghost. What a terrible reproach that young girl had to bear because she believed and received the word of the Lord that came to her! Was it worth it? Ask Mary now if she would have had it any other way. Sure, there is suffering and reproach to bear, in order to drink of His cup, but He makes it up to His beloved a hundred fold and more.

The Christ of God

Christ of God is a dynamic Savior and a powerful Lord who can help us know that our lives are in His control. He is the only One who can liberate us. He can set us free once and for all from the wretched feeling of being lost.

The Christian life is a constant struggle until we have a one to one encounter with the preexistent, preeminent, personal, all-powerful Christ. Christ who is able to control our lives existed in eternity before time and creation. He was co-equal with God the Father. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1-2). These opening words from the Gospel of John help us catch the magnitude and majesty of the preexistent Christ. As the Word, He was, and is, the generative power of the universe, the One through whom all things were made at the Father’s command.

The One we like to think of as a Friend, Teacher, our Good Shepherd, is also Christ the Word, the uncreated creator of universes within universes, who created life on the planet earth. When the Father said, “Let us make man in our image,” (Genesis 1:26), humankind was thus created. Life Himself brought life into being. The Father was the instigator, the Son, the implementer, and through the ages made us and who came to remake us. He was born among us so we could be reborn.

In His humanity Christ revealed how life was to be lived under divine control. As the son of God, He called His followers to faithful and obedient discipleship. As Immanuel, God with us, He left no ambiguity about who He was. With authority He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58) asserting His preexistent oneness with Yahweh. With equal force He spoke with power and declared that He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Joseph's Two Sons

Manasseh and Ephraim were two fine young men with a great heritage. They were Jacob’s grandsons, but they shared in the inheritance with Jacob’s other sons. Thus Joseph actually had a double portion of the inheritance, and his sons were joint-heirs with him. He who is both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36) has a double relationship with His chosen ones. He is our elder brother (Romans 8:29), and we are the children whom God hath given Him (Isaiah 8:18; Isaiah 53:10). He is called “the mighty God, the everlasting Father” (Isaiah 9:6). He who is the Alpha and Omega (Jesus) said that the overcomer shall be His son (Revelation 21:7).


Ephraim was both a son to Joseph and a younger brother to Manasseh. In this picture we see Joseph as a type of the Father and Manasseh as a type of the elder brother. The life of Joseph the Father was imparted to both the elder and the younger brothers, and they are joint heirs together of his inheritance. When the two brothers were brought to Jacob for his blessing, he laid his hands upon their heads and began to prophesy. His eyes were dim, and he could not distinguish one from the other, but by the leadership of the Spirit he crossed his hands, and placed his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, the younger brother. He explained that this one would become a multitude of nations (Genesis 48:15). Thus the younger son was set ahead of his elder brother and given a greater work to do. The “son of the right hand” or that one who received the blessing with the right hand laid upon his head, received greater authority and power.

As we consider who our elder brother is, this idea seems absolutely outrageous and heretical, but I call to your attention what Jesus said in John 14:12-13…”He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father.” He indicates that this brings glory to the Father. Notice He did not say “more” works (as some present day evangelists say is now true), but He said “greater works.”

All evidence from the sacred record reminds us all and points to the fact that the manifestation of Jesus Christ, as Head of His body in this earth will be greater than what men saw when He walked the shores of Galilee (with the exception of His redemptive work on Calvary which cannot be duplicated or excelled).

The Sad Awakening

Jacob worked for seven years for the privilege of marrying Rachel, and it seemed to him but a few days. This is because of his love for her. That is all that is said about these years, but we can feel the heartbeat of expectancy of those two young people. Girls of the east mature quickly, and it is possible that Rachel was only thirteen years of age when Jacob first saw her. By the end of the seven years, she was a mature young woman, and Jacob was anxious to receive the reward of his labors.

The custom of the land was to have a great wedding feast, all the neighbors gathered, and the wine flowing freely. The bride was kept out of sight until time to come to her husband. Finally, late in the evening, when Jacob was well filled with wine, the bride was brought in, her face covered with a veil, and the marriage was consummated.

When morning came and his head was clear, he found he had married Leah, the older sister. He was furious and went to Laban in a rage. “Seven years I labored faithfully, and you have tricked me! Why would you do this to me, your own nephew?” He was now reaping the harvest of his own cunning, deceiving nature. What a man sows that shall he also reap.

“Oh,” said the cunning old Laban. “Didn’t I explain the law of the land to you? The younger sisters cannot be married off until first their older sisters are married. According to the law and the custom of the land, I had to let you marry Leah before Rachel was qualified to be wed. But now she is ready, so if you will fulfill the wedding week for Leah, give her the customary honeymoon, then we’ll have another wedding, and you and Rachel can be married.”

What could Jacob say? He was trapped by the law, and he did not want some other man to marry his beloved Rachel. Where was she during the wedding? Hidden away somewhere by her scheming father, most likely grieving about her promised husband and her hated sister. So Jacob agreed, and the honeymoon week went on, unpleasant though it must have been.

After Leah’s honeymoon, Jacob wedded Rachel, his true beloved, before any payment was made. He had to work yet another seven years in return for her. The bride of the law was paid for in advance, but the beloved was the bride of grace, nothing having been paid for until after she was really his. So it is with us. We cannot be satisfied with what we have earned or worked for under the law. When we receive the real thing, we find we have paid nothing for it, but we labor the rest of our lives in a labor of love and gratitude (Ephesians 2:8-10).