HUNGRY

FOR
MORE
OF
 HUNGRY
FOR
MORE
OF

DAVID WILKERSON
 CONTENTS

Preface 9

Section 1: Feeding on Christ 11

1 The Bread of God 13

2 Winning Christ 22

3 Answering the Call to Grief 32

4 Having a Perfect Heart 43

5 Walking in Holiness 53

6 Coming to His Table 63

7 Taking Hold of Christ 74

8 A Letter from the Devil 84

9 Walking in the Spirit 95

10 Manifesting the Presence of Jesus 107

Section 2: The Cost of Hungering 119

11 The Cost of Going All the Way with God 121

12 We Will Be Tested 132

13 Sifted Saints 149

14 The School of Sympathy 159

15 He Is God of Our Monsters 166

Section 3: God Meets Us in Our Hunger 175

16 God Will Restore Our Wasted Years 177

17 The God of Hope 183

18 The Lovingkindness of the Lord 192

19 He Will Help Us Be Faithful 204

20 The Present Greatness of Christ 213

 PREFACE
I have in my library twelve volumes by J. B. Stoney, a devout
writer among Plymouth Brethren. Every volume centers on
Christ-thousands upon thousands of pages extolling the
beauty of our Lord and His ministry as A Man in Glory. In
devouring these precious books, I find myself continually
humbled and challenged by this brother who has written so
much on the single subject of the glory of Christ.

In recent years I have been preaching more and more about

my blessed Savior and praying much for a greater revelation of
His grace and glory. Never in all my years of preaching have I
been so hungry for more of Him. The Holy Spirit has not failed
to satisfy that growing hunger, and now He has enabled me to
share with the Body of Christ a single volume entirely about
Jesus.

If you, too, hunger for more of Jesus, you will find some
fragments here to feed your soul. I would expect that only
those who have been recently awakened by the Holy Spirit to a
new hunger and thirst for Christ and His holiness will take the
time to read this book. You have to really be Hungry for More
of Jesus to come to the table and eat. This is not for "fast
food" Christians in a hurrybut for those who are learning to
wait upon the Lord for manna from heaven.
David Wilkerson
SECTION I
FEEDING ON CHRIST
 1

THE BREAD OF GOD

The Church of Jesus Christ today has been experiencing

history's worst spiritual drought. Multitudes of starving sheep
are crying out to their shepherds for some life-giving food,
something that will sustain them in these troubled times. Yet all
too often they are not given even a scrap of something
spiritual! They leave God's house empty, unsatisfied and weak.
And they have grown weary of trudging back to an empty
table time after time.

This is not what God intended for His people-and it grieves

Him to see it. God has provided bread for the whole world. And
the bread He offers is more than mere sustenance; it is food for
life in its fullest measure-the "abundant life" Jesus spoke of.

What is this bread of God that we hunger for so desperately?

Jesus gave us the answer. He said, "The bread of God is He
wh o comes down from heaven and gives life to the world"
(John 6:33). In other words, Jesus Himself is the answer! Like
the manna sent to sustain life for the children of Israel in the
wilderness, Jesus is the Bread of God for us-the gift sent to
sustain life for us today and every day.

The Bread of God, when eaten daily, produces a quality of life

that Jesus Himself enjoyed. Christ participated in a life that
flowed directly from His heavenly Father-a life, He said, that
ought also to quicken us: "I live because of the Father, so he
who feeds on Me will live because of Me" (John 6:57).

This bread is the very thing that modern Christianity lacks-

y et desperately needs. And it is my earnest prayer that this
book will help meet the spiritual hunger many are sensing in
their lives.

This spiritual famine has continued for years. You see, the
further a person strays from Jesus, the Source of all life, the
more death seeps into him. In the same way, churches and
ministries also die when they lose touch with that life-giving
flow. Many of them, in fact, have been slowly decaying for
some time. That is why so many disillusioned saints cry out to
God, yearning for a church that has some life. It is why most
young people refer to their churches as "dead."

The prophet Amos spoke of a day when "fair virgins and

strong young men [would] faint from thirst" (Amos 8:13). He
cried out,
"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord God, "that I will
send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander
... they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but
shall not find it."

Amos 8:11-12

Many Christians are offended when they are told that God
sends such a famine of the true Word. And, granted, there is
much vigorous preaching and teaching today that is called
"revelation." Bibles are more visible than ever. Multitudes flock
to hear their favorite preachers and teachers. Some even say
this period of Christian history is a day of revival, a glorious
time of Gospel light and new truth. Yet if what is being offered
to God's people is not the Bread of God from heaven, then it is
not true spiritual food. It will not produce life. Instead, it will
cause terrible spiritual starvation.

Indeed, starvation abounds right in God's house today. The

famine is driving believers from the church to find something
that will satisfy their inner needs. Now churches are being
overrun with adultery, divorce, "Christian" rock and roll,
unbiblical psychology and New Age gospels. Many Christian
young people are turning to drugs and sex to try to find
fulfillment.

That is because much of what is heard from pulpits today is

at best pleasurable pabulum. The sermons are not meaty and
not hard to swallow. In fact, they are "fun"! The stories are
well-told, the applications easy and practical, and nothing said
ever offends anyone. No one has a problem taking along a
non-Christian spouse or friend on Sunday because they won't
be embarrassed. They won't be confronted about sin. No hot
coals from God's altar will burn their consciences, no flaming
arrows of conviction from the pulpit will drive them to their
knees. No prophetic finger will point straight into their hearts
and thunder, "Thou art the man!" And if the hammer does
come down against sin, the blow is quickly softened.

It is astonishing but true: The most convenient and

conscienceeasing place to hide from the flaming eyes of a holy
God is inside a dead church. Its preachers serve more as
pallbearers than apostles of life. Instead of guiding starving
believers to the abundant life Jesus offers, they give soft
assurances that try to ease the hunger: "All is well. You have
done everything you need to do. Don't bother about feeding
on the Bread of God by abiding in prayer, or dusting off your
Bibles, or aligning your hearts with His."

Some preachers protest that, far from dead, their churches are
full of glorious praise and worship to God. Yet not all
exuberant, emotion-stirring churches are necessarily full of life
either. Worship from unclean lips is actually an abomination to
God. Praise that flows from hearts full of adultery, lust or pride
is a stench in God's nostrils. Christian banners held high by
sin-stained hands are nothing more than arrogant flauntings of
rebellion.

I once heard a minister "prophesy" that a time is coming soon

when church meetings will consist of ninety percent praise. Yet
if this happens, and even if the praise is heartfelt, that leaves
only ten percent for the remainder-which I assume would
include the preaching of God's Word. Yet won't we grow
spiritually weak if we shout and praise, but do not eat the
Bread of God? Does this mean we have reached the place to
which the children of Israel came when they complained, "Our
appetite is gone. There is nothing ... except this manna"
(Numbers 11:6, NASA)? Could it possibly be that we are bored
with sitting at the precious table of the Lord?

We must understand that true praise comes only from

thankful hearts-hearts that overflow with the pure life of Jesus
Christ!

The apostle John heard a voice crying from the throne room
of God, "Give praise to our God, all you His bondservants, you
who fear Him, the small and the great" (Revelation 19:5, NnsB).
Thes e bondservants were rejoicing and giving glory to God.
They had walked as faithful followers who prepared
themselves as His Bride (verse 7). And they ate the Bread of
God faithfully and reverently because they were in awe of its
life-giving power.
 How many Christians today fully understand what takes
place when we partake of the Bread of God, eating Christ's
body and drinking His blood? Christ's pure and all-powerful
life-force, when fully infused into the spiritual man or woman,
works to expel and destroy all that is of the flesh and the devil.
Nothing can drive the cancer of sin from us but this flood of
divine life!

The Holy Remnant

The old adage is true: You are what you eat. Jesus said His
flesh should be our meat, our staple diet: "Unless you eat the
flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life
in you" (John 6:53).

The Jews could not comprehend such a thought, and "many

o f His disciples went back and walked with Him no more"
(verse 66). They said, "This is a hard saying; who can
understand it?" (verse 60). Even today those who restrict the
eating of the Lord's body to the Communion table do not
understand what Jesus meant. The reason we observe the
Lord's Supper is to remind us that He became our source of life
through death. And yet the Communion supper is more than
symbolic; the more we come to eat and drink of Christ, the more
of His life we will see demonstrated in us. We have an open
invitation from heaven to come to His table, to eat and become
strong.
 I know a number of followers are doing just that! In the midst
o f a generation of hireling shepherds and pabulum-fed
followers, a holy, Levitical priesthood is rising forth in the land
today. These are servants and handmaidens who desire to
become shepherds after the Lord's heart. And the Spirit has
anointed them to lead a separated people who will follow them
into the fullness of Christ.

These believers are consumed with love for the Lord, stripped
o f all pride and worldly ambition, burning with the zeal of
holiness. Their numbers are few but growing. They have no
food other than Christ, because they know there is no other
source of life. They burst with life because they have come
diligently and often to the table of the Lord. They love
according to the truth, and they are fearless. They denounce
sin without apology, tearing down idols and strongholds. And
they do all this to bring freedom to their brothers and sisters-to
produce in them a hunger for the reality of Christ Jesus and to
teach them how to feed on Him.

This holy remnant in the land today worships the Lord in

spirit and in truth. They are more enamored of Jesus than of
His blessings and gifts. They praise Him with clean hands and
pure hearts because the Holy Spirit has taught them that
Christ's body will never be offered as food to the unclean. The
Holy Spirit will not permit the Bread of God to be brought forth
wherever people are holding onto lusts and idols. Yet,
tragically, many today still eat at the table of demons, serving
their own lustful appetites, and then attempt to come to the
Lord's table to feast with the righteous. This leads only to
spiritual sickness and death because these deceived ones do
not discern the true Bread of God.

These sickly sheep have become so spiritually weak and

diseased by sin that they cannot eat strong meat. Instead, they
prefer to nibble at the husks of ear-tickling teachings. They
gravitate toward lightness and entertainment rather than the
genuine Word. Their spiritual appetites have become dull as a
result of eating too much junk food.

Take television as just one prime example. Few activities lure

Christians as much as this one. Television is a particularly
ins idious form of idolatry-one that I find myself crying out
against more and more as I see our nation's spiritual starvation.
What is much of television programming today if not a satanic
dinner spread? One network's radio advertisement asked
viewers to tune in to a particular TV program "to get a good
dose of greed, lust and passion-as you like it." Whatever we
Christians might call it, television producers themselves call TV
by its true name: a fountain of lust! Yet, even knowing this,
literally millions of Christians sit in front of their televisions
hour after hour, day after day, taking in a steady diet of
garbage that must grieve the heart of God!

Nothing could be clearer to me than God's grief over this-not

television itself, but Christians' addiction to it! It is a flaunted
outrage against a holy God. The Holy Spirit mourns over the
multitudes of spiritually blinded believers who refuse to obey
His inner promptings to quit drinking from this filthy cistern. If
Jeremiah could witness this sad spectacle-millions of God's
people lolling in front of the TV every Sunday, drinking in lust,
crime and greed, instead of sitting in God's house to eat His
Bread-the prophet would weep and wail. He would cry out from
the Lord: "My people have changed their Glory for what does
not profit. ... They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living
waters, and hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can
hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:11, 13).

How jealous we must make the Lord! We give our time so

generously to eat at the table of His enemies-TV is just one
examplebut we abandon and ignore His table. Oh, how He
would love to have that time to feed us the true Bread of Life!
Isn't it past time to overturn the table of the devil in our lives?
To enter the prayer closet and feast on the true Bread of God?
To rid our lives and homes of everything that stains and
pollutes our spiritual minds? We need to ask ourselves
honestly: At whose table will we be seated when the Redeemer
comes suddenly to Zion?

Bread of Strength

I once spent weeks before the Lord, weeping and crying out
t o Him for a message of comfort and hope for all the hurting
believers who write to our ministry at Times Square Church.
And, as we work here in New York City with addicts, alcoholics
and the homeless, I have prayed, "Lord, everywhere I look I
see pain, sorrow, grief and trouble. What message can I
possibly send to those in such dire need? What is Your word
to them? Surely You care for these precious people. Surely You
long to bring them a word that can set them free."

The Lord has given a word, and it is this: He has provided a

way to strengthen every child of His to resist the enemy. This
strength comes only from eating the Bread sent down from
heaven. And our spiritual health and strength depend on
getting this Bread into us.

Listen carefully once more to the words of Jesus: "I live

because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because
of Me." Jesus was in such close communion with the Father,
and was so committed to doing only His will, that the Father's
words became His very food and drink each day. Jesus was
sustained daily by hearing and seeing what the Father wanted-
and this was the result of spending much time alone with Him.

Christ told His disciples, "I have food to eat of which you do
not know.... My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and
t o finish His work" (John 4:32, 34). He also instructed them,
"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food
which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will
give you" (John 6:27). We dare not miss this secret of strength:
Even as Christ lived by the Father, so must we receive our life
by feeding on Christ.
 A dear 86-year-old man wrote to our ministry, telling how he
nurses and cares for his crippled wife. They are too poor to
afford a nursing home, and he is worried that he might die,
leaving no one to care for her. To this man I say, don't despair!
Look up, and drink in Christ's presence. Let the Holy Spirit feed
you the manna of heaven. Call on Him-He hears the most feeble
cry. And He promises to feed you Himself. He will enter your
innermost being with renewed light and life. God said that
Jesus is our Bread of Life, from whom we live and receive our
sustenance. So trust Him by feeding on Christ-and He will give
you strength!

A farmer's wife in Montana wrote that she is angry, perplexed

and at the end of her rope because the family farm is about to
g o bankrupt. Her husband has tried hard but their situation
seems dark and hopeless, and no one seems to care. I say to
that beloved sister, stay at the Lord's table! Go back to your
source of life-the Bread of God!

The writer of Hebrews addressed a people of God who

"joyfully accepted the plundering of [their] goods, knowing . . .
[they had] a better and an enduring possession ... in heaven"
(Hebrews 10:34). I say along with this writer, "Therefore do not
cast away your confidence, which has great reward" (verse 35).
Don't leave the table of the Lord and sulk in some dark corner
of despair. Wait on Him until you are satisfied-you will find at
His table all you need for life and godliness. No one can take
that eternal, life-giving Bread away from you. Live by Him! Eat
Christ and overcome!
 I say to the divorced, the unemployed, the lonely, the parents
who grieve over lost children, the sin-bound who want to be
free: Have you been looking for help in the wrong places? Do
what you know to do: Run back to the Lord's presence and
seek Him with all your heart! Go back to eating the right
spiritual food, and throw out all the junk. You will find all the
power and strength you need as His life comes into you
through the Bread of God.

I rejoice with those who have reason to rejoice, and I weep

with those who weep. Yet at times I believe I hear the Spirit
whis pering to me, Don't grieve with Christians who have
forsaken My table. Don't weep over them or let their problems
burden you. They do not pray anymore or read My Word,
though they waste hours recklessly on themselves. They have
forgotten Me day after day. They will go on hurting until they
return and eat the Bread that I have provided to heal and
strengthen them.

Our ministry also receives letters from Christians who have

endured great affliction but who eat God's Bread daily. Many
of these believers have only grown stronger, with an
increasing sense of God's presence in their lives. In the midst
of their testing they have turned to the Lord with all their
hearts. They have sought Him in their troubles-and He has
heard their cry and satisfied their hungry souls, giving them
what they need to endure the hard times. God has raised them
above their problems-until knowing Christ has become more
important to them than finding relief. They live on Christ
literally, because they have discovered Him to be their mighty
source of strength. And one day they will come forth as pure
gold, having been tried by fire. They will be totally purified of
self and pride. Like Christ, their only desire will be to do the will
of the Father and to finish His work.

The Bread of God is dispensed daily, just as manna was to

the Israelites. The Bible says God gave His people manna to
humble them (Deuteronomy 8:16). They were not humbled
because it was poor man's food, for it was in fact "angels'
food" (see Psalm 78:25). No, they were humbled because they
had to seek this food on a daily basis. It reminded them that
God held the key to the cupboard. They were forced to wait
upon Him and acknowledge continually that He alone was their
source.

Christians today are humbled in the same fashion. God is

telling us that what we ate of Christ yesterday will not supply
our need for today. We must admit we will starve spiritually
and become weak and helpless without a fresh, daily supply of
heavenly Bread. We must come to the Lord's table often. We
must be diligent to keep the feast. We must make up our minds
that the time will never come in our lives when we will have
more than one day's supply of strength.

For those of us who love Jesus and desire to count ourselves

a s part of that faithful remnant, I can promise one thing:
Famines do not last forever. God will again visit His people. As
we will see in the next chapter, He wants to satisfy us
completely. He wants to give us the abundant life we long for.
He longs to meet every sincere heart that is hungry for more of
Jesus.
 z

WINNING CHRIST

Do you know if you have won your Lord's heart? Do you

know that if you hunger after Him you will have a desire to win
His heart? The apostle Paul stated that this was his purpose in
renouncing his past life:

I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
o f Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of
all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.

Philippians 3:8, KJV

Paul was completely captivated by his Lord. Why would he

feel the need to "win" Christ? Christ already had revealed
Himself clearly, and not just to the apostle but in his life. Yet,
even so, Paul felt compelled to win Christ's heart and affection.

Paul's entire being-his ministry, life and very purpose for

living-was focused only on pleasing his Master and Lord. All
else was rubbish to him, even "good" things. I believe one of
the reasons Paul never married was to give himself more time to
care for the things of the Lord (see 1 Corinthians 7:32). And he
urged others in the same direction, "that you may walk worthy
of the Lord, fully pleasing Him" (Colossians 1:10).

Is this scriptural, you may ask, this idea of winning the heart
of Jesus? Aren't we already the objects of God's love? Indeed,
H i s benevolent love extends to all mankind. But there is
another kind of love that few Christians ever experience. It is an
affectionate love with Christ such as occurs between a
husband and wife.

This love is expressed in the Song of Solomon. In that book,

Solomon is portrayed as a type of Christ and in one passage,
the Lord speaks of His bride this way:

You have ravished my heart ... my spouse; you have ravished

my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your
necklace. How fair is your love ... my spouse! How much better
than wine is your love ... !

Song of Solomon 4:9-10

Later He says, "Turn your eyes away from me, for they have
overcome me" (6:5). His bride responds, "I am my beloved's,
and his desire is toward me" (7:10).

The bride of Christ will consist of a holy people who long to

be so pleasing to their Lord, and who live so obediently and so
separated from all other things, that Christ's heart will be
ravished. The word ravish in this passage means to "unheart"
or to "steal my heart." The King James Version of the above
passage says that Christ's heart is ravished with just "one
eye." I believe that "one eye" is the singleness of a mind
focused on Christ alone. This singleminded devotion to Christ-
and also the symbolic love between husband and wife-is
expressed in another book of the Bible: Ruth. It is the story of a
converted maiden who won the heart of her earthly lord. I see it
as a prophetic story, a message that speaks powerfully to us
today, for we win Christ in the same way that Ruth won her
master, Boaz.

Yet as I researched this idea, poring through all my

commentaries, I could not find a single writer who saw this
spiritual and prophetic meaning in the book of Ruth. Only one
writer even suggested that, since Ruth was a Moabite, God
may be telling us something about the Gentiles being "grafted
into the vine." But there is much more to this story than just
historic significance. I believe we need to look at this beautiful
story more closely because it teaches us a great deal about
how we are fed by seeking to win His heart.

The story of Ruth begins with these words: "There was a

famine in the land" (Ruth 1:1). This famine represents the same
famin e that the Church has been experiencing today: the
absence of God's presence, a hungering for the true Bread of
God. Because of the famine, the Israelite Elimelech took his
wife, Naomi, and their two sons and fled the land of Judah for
Moab. Elimelech later died there and Naomi's two sons married
heathen wives, Orpah and Ruth. They all remained in Moab for
another ten years.

But Moab was a place of idolatry. It represented the

congregation of the wicked, the seat of the scornful. In fact, the
name Moab means fornication. Moab himself, after whom the
region was named, was born of an incestuous relationship
between Lot and one of his daughters. It was he who seduced
Israel at Shittim in the wilderness, and afterward 24,000 died
from a plague.

God forbade the Israelites to marry Moabite women, for

"surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods" (1
Kings 11:2). As I pointed out in the last chapter, the same thing
happens in the spiritual realm today when a famine of God's
Word occurs: God's people turn toward the world, yielding to
the seduction of idolatry and mixing with the ungodly. The
famine in the Church has driven believers to Moab, the place of
idolatry. And, as Naomi learned when she lost her sons there,
Moab is a place where young men die!

Back in Judah, however, the famine was finally over. Word

came to Naomi that God was once again visiting His people
with plenty of bread. Suddenly memories of past blessings
flooded Naomi's soul and she began to yearn for the holy place
where she once dwelled. She was sick of Moab and its idolatry
and death. So "she arose with her daughters-in-law that she
might return" (Ruth 1:6).

Ruth and Orpah said good-bye to parents, friends and family.

They told their lifelong loved ones that they would be gone for
good: They were going with Naomi to Judah, a place where
God was visiting His people!

We can see the parallel in our world today: Some believers

h a v e resided in a contemporary Moab-lethargy, coldness,
worldly pleasure and success. Yet in the midst of these, a holy
remnant has persevered. They have endured the self-exaltation
of TV evangelists, the sordid sensuality in God's house, the
foolishness in the pulpit and mockery by backslidden
Christians. These hungry ones have prayed, fasted and
interceded, and now the Lord has heard their cry.

Why is Times Square Church, and others like it, packed with
hungry seekers? Because word has gotten out that God is
visiting His people in these places! People have heard that a
word from God is coming forth. Yes, the famine is over. God
has sent bread from heaven. And if you have not yet tasted the
heavenly manna, then get out of Moab and go back to where
God is visiting His people!

This is exactly what Naomi's two daughters-in-law planned to

do. You see, Naomi's name means "grace." And following their
mother-in-law was a way of following God's grace. It
represented a move away from living for the world and a move
toward living by the grace of the Lord. They were being drawn
by the Spirit of God, attracted by the news of His visitation.
And today in the same way thousands are heading home, back
to the fullness of Christaway from the hype, compromise,
halfheartedness and emptiness of a gospel of ease and
prosperity.

The sad thing is that many who plan to return to God stop at
the border. They don't break loose totally, they don't pay the
price. I have seen this happen to hundreds of people in our
church: They start out with great fervor, claiming to be hungry.
But then they get hung up on the border between Moab and
Judah and turn back to their old ways. Likewise, in Scripture,
when Orpah and Ruth reached the border they faced a
decision: Would they follow Naomi-that is, God's grace-into
the fullness of the Lord? Their names offer a clue to the
answer: Orpah means "stiff-neckedness." Ruth means "friend,
companion."

Going Back and Going On

A confrontation took place at the border. Naomi decided to

t es t the two younger women's commitment. For Orpah and
Ruth, the decision to go on would require more than emotions
and mere words. Naomi could guarantee them no rewards for
following, no prosperity, ease or success; she could offer only
a clear vision of the high cost ahead. She described her
homeland as a place of suffering and poverty, a land that
offered nothing of earthly goods; they would have to exist
only on a walk of faith. The picture was so bleak that Naomi
encouraged them both to return to their own mothers' houses
"that you may find rest" (Ruth 1:9).

The picture Naomi presented is indeed the gospel of God's

grace: suffering, self-denial, the cross. And Orpah and Ruth
both remained steadfast-at least on the surface: "They lifted up
their voices and wept. And they said to her, `Surely we will
return with you to your people' " (Ruth 1:9-10).

You have probably guessed from Orpah's name that, in spite

o f her river of tears and her strong words about pressing on,
she would drop out and return to her idolatry. Outwardly she
was broken and tender, and she seemed to want to be part of
the move back to God. But her heart was gripped powerfully by
her love for her old circle of friends and family; she didn't know
this idol remained in her soul. Orpah wept at the border
because she was torn between two loves. She sincerely wanted
to go on, and she loved the precious fellowship of the other
two women-but she had not cut the ties to Moab.

Tears are never enough. Naomi knew this and put the two
younger women to a final test. Naomi said, "Turn back, my
daughters; why will you go with me? Are there still sons in my
womb, that they may be your husbands? Turn back, my
daughters, go" (Ruth 1:11-12). I believe Naomi saw into Orpah's
heart, into her inner struggle.
 Naomi probably thought to herself, The poor child! She
thinks she wants the Lord's fullness, but she is still charmed by
this world. She would be miserable if she went on, because she
would always be looking back. So Naomi told Orpah, "Go your
way!"

Orpah then must have reached a decision in her heart. She

had probably asked herself, Is this the only option? Rejection,
poverty and separation from all I've ever known? No! I'll go
back to Moab and serve God my way. I'll still love these saints,
but I've got to get on with my life. The Bible says, "They lifted
up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-
in-law" (Ruth 1:14). An original manuscript adds to the
sentence, "and went back."

Perhaps as some of you read this right now, you may be

thinking of kissing your brothers and sisters in Christ good-
bye. Something in your heart could be pulling you away,
perhaps a circle of old friends or the lure of old habits. Orpah
went "back to her people and to her gods" (Ruth 1:15). Your
heart, too, can be gripped by an idol from your past, something
you can't let go of.

Yet there is no middle ground for the Christian! The line has
been drawn and we can move in only one of two directions:
either forward toward Judah, or backward toward Moab. Orpah
turned back and from this point on in Scripture, she is never
heard from again. She faded away into the shadows of idolatry,
having nothing more to do with God's work or eternal
Kingdom. Now God's great concern was with Ruth.

Naomi tried one last time to discourage Ruth, saying in verse

15, "Return after your sister-in-law." In other words: "Quick,
Ruth! If you hurry you can catch up with Orpah. Why don't
you go and follow after your own desires?" But Ruth wouldn't
let go: She "clung" to Naomi (Ruth 1:14). This suggests a
picture of a maiden on her knees with her arms around her
master's waist, as if she will never let go.

Ruth wanted God! She wanted to take part in the great

visitation of the Lord, and only death could stop her now.

Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from

following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and
wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my
people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and
there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if
anything but death parts you and me." When she saw that she
was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.

Ruth 1:16-18

Little did Ruth know that by making the choice to go on, she
placed herself under the sheltering wings of Jehovah. And,
more importantly, as soon as she crossed over the border with
Naomi, she was on the road to winning Christ. There was no
signpost to tell her, but we know where the road led-straight to
the heart of Jesus.

Soon, Ruth and Naomi came to the place of blessing, arriving

during the beginning of the harvest season. They were poor
an d almost stripped bare, not knowing where their next meal
would come from. Then young Ruth said, "Let me go to the
field and glean."

In those days, only the very poor did such work. The Law
commanded field owners not to harvest the four corners of
their fields or to glean the rest-that is, gather up the grain
missed by the reapers-but to leave that excess available for the
poor (see Leviticus 19:9-10).

At this point, it looked as though Ruth had made a poor

bargain. Her devotion had led her all the way to the place of
God's visitation, yet now she had to sweat over a minimum-
wage job. She was below the poverty line, with no future in
sight.

I urge you to take a good look at Ruth, because this is how

you may end up if you break loose from the world and go all
the way with God. This was the cross of the apostle Paul until
he died:

We have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels

and to men. We are fools for Christ's sake.... [We] both hunger
and thirst, and we are poorly clothed ... and homeless. And we
labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled ... persecuted
... defamed... [we] have been made as the filth of the world.

I Corinthians 4:9-13

Yet Paul had the audacity to say, "Therefore I urge you, imitate
me" (1 Corinthians 4:16)! He said this with good reason, and it
is the reason we can't feel sorry for someone like Ruth: because
she was just about to win Christ!

"She ... went and gleaned in the field after the reapers. And
s h e happened to come to the part of the field belonging to
Boaz, who was of the family of Elimelech" (Ruth 2:3).

The writer of this story must have chuckled when he wrote

t h at Ruth "happened" to end up in the field of Boaz, her
kinsmanredeemer. This was far from accidental. It was, rather,
the clear leading of the Holy Spirit, because from the moment
Ruth crossed the border and trusted her entire life to God's call,
she was led supernaturally by Him.

The scenario must have looked something like this: Ruth,

with a song in her heart, passed by many fields. Then a sudden
urge within compelled her to turn right and start gleaning on
the north end of a particular field. A few hours later, Boaz got
inspired to check on the harvesting. He looked over the fields
and saw numerous young men cutting sheaves and poor
maidens gleaning behind them. But then he stopped, because
his gaze was held by Ruth. "Whose young woman is this?" he
asked. He was smitten on the spot. She gleaned for only half a
day before she caught the eye of her master! That great man
walked over to her and said, "Do not go to glean in another
field . . . but stay close [in the company of] my young women"
(Ruth 2:8). He promised that no one would bother her, and said
that when she was thirsty she should go and drink from what
the harvesters had drawn. Later he told his harvesters to drop
handfuls of grain on purpose for her to find.

Why did Boaz say this to Ruth? Because he was ravished by

her. She had stolen his heart and he had to have her near him.
And what attracted Boaz to Ruth in the first place? Ruth asked
that question of him herself: "Why should you take notice of
me since I am a stranger?"

Boaz answered that he had heard of all she had done for her
mother-in-law, and how she left her own land to join a new
people. "[May] a full reward be given you by the Lord God of
Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge" (Ruth
2:12). Boaz was drawn to her because she had come to trust the
covering wings of God.

We Become the Apple of Christ's Eye

Do you see the parallel? Boaz represents Christ, our

KinsmanRedeemer. The moment we walk away from all other
loves, the moment we let go of all former idols, old friends and
old ways, Christ's eyes fall upon us. That is when we win
Christ. We lose the world and its fleeting glory and passing
pleasures, but we win His eternal love.

And when we win His heart, we also win His favor. Never
again will we suffer hunger or thirst in our inner man. He will
lead us and provide for us in miraculous ways. Like Ruth, who
ran home to tell Naomi all the exciting things that happened to
her, we will run to the family of God and share miracle after
miracle of how the Lord is supplying all our needs. Each of us
will end up saying, "Who am I to be so blessed?"

This was only the beginning of Ruth's blessings. At the end

of the harvest Naomi directed Ruth to take part in a custom of
the times. In that day servants would sleep at their masters' feet
in perpendicular fashion, fully clothed, in order to warm them. If
the master was a near relative, it was his duty to redeem, or
purchase, this servant's inheritance so that it would not be lost.
The kinsman signified that he would do this by taking a cloth
or covering and putting it over the servant's shoulders, saying,
in effect, "I will be your covering."

Naomi told Ruth to go to the threshing floor that night where

Boaz would be winnowing barley; and, after he had lain down,
s he was to uncover his feet, lie down there and do whatever
Boaz told her. So that night, Ruth did as Naomi had directed.
And when Boaz awoke to find her there, he was eminently
pleased:

"Blessed are you of the Lord, my daughter! For you have

shown more kindness at the end than at the beginning, in that
you did not go after young men, whether poor or rich. And
now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you
request, for all the people of my town know that you are a
virtuous woman."

Ruth 3:10-11

Think of what Boaz was saying: "I will do for you all that you
have desired." Every desire of Ruth's heart would be granted,
because she had been faithful. She had not turned her eyes to
wealth, success or glamour-she had wanted only him. And in
turn, her redeemer-kinsman said to her, "I can trust you; your
love is true. You won't leave me for others, no matter how
attractive they are. You will be mine only and I will be yours
only."

So at the gate of Bethlehem, before ten witnesses, Boaz

redeemed Ruth's inheritance. He satisfied all claims to her and
her possessions and acquired her as his wife. The mighty man
of wealth married the lowly servant.

This is indeed the work of the cross: Jesus has cleared all
claims that the devil has on us or our inheritances. We are
completely free to be espoused to Christ!

After their marriage Ruth gave birth to a son. His name was
Obed, and he became the great-grandfather of David, the seed
of Christ. This servant, Ruth, has a place in the very lineage of
our Messiah.

Did Ruth win Christ? Why, Christ became her very life! In the
same way today, we win Christ by the choices we make that are
pleasing to Him, decisions that prove our faithfulness to feed
only on Him. If we love Him unreservedly, hungering for Him
continuously, we will remember Him in every choice. We will
ask ourselves, "Will this please Him? Will it make Him say to
the angels, `See, My love has left all else for Me'?"

If we truly hunger for Jesus, we will desire to win His heart-

a n d then to know His heart. We will abandon ourselves
completely to Him and rest peacefully under His almighty care.
 3

ANSWERING THE CALL TO

GRIEF

Just as Ruth teaches us about sharing the Lord's joy, the

prophet Samuel teaches us about sharing His grief.

What does grief in our hearts have to do with hungering for

Jesus? If we are truly going to hunger for Him, we will have to
know His heart and come out against the sins that break it.
This is not always easy, but I am convinced that the only way
to experience the fullness of joy in Christ is to share in His grief
as well. Scripture says that in the days of Noah,

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was
only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had
made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.

Genesis 6:5-6

God indeed grieves over sin, and those who walk truly with
Him will also enter into that grief.
 The Hebrew word for grief here means "cut to the heart." It
signifies hurt or pain. The wickedness of mankind hurt God
deeply and caused great pain to His heart. Isaiah said of Christ,
"He is ... a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.... Surely
He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3-
4). Christ Himself entered into the very hurt and pain of the
heavenly Father-that is, the grief caused by the sin of mankind.

This grief is present in the lives of men throughout the Bible.

King David discovered the glory of joy in Jehovah God. But
David's joy was born out of great grief over the transgressions
among the Lord's people. He said, "I beheld the transgressors,
a n d was grieved; because they kept not thy word" (Psalm
119:158, KJV). "Do not I hate them, 0 Lord, that hate thee? and
am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?" (Psalm
139:21, KJV). David hated what God hated, and he grieved over
the things that grieved God.

The prophet Amos shared God's grief over a backslidden

people who lounged in ease, ignoring the impending hour of
judgment. He cried out against those "who are at ease in Zion
... [who] are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph" (Amos 6:1,
6). These people played the music of their pleasure and drank
the wine of selfishness, but they had no grief over the ruin all
around them (see Amos 6:1-6). The word Amos used to
describe their lack of grief is sickened. He was actually saying
to them, "The sin and ruin among God's people does not sicken
or disgust you, because you have become blinded by sin and
the good life you now enjoy."
 Nehemiah was grieved because he saw the evil that had
infiltrated the house of God. A backslidden priesthood had
brought terrible compromise into the Lord's house, and only
Nehemiah understood the depth of the iniquity and the awful
consequences it would bring upon the people (see Nehemiah
13:1-9).

During this time the high priest Eliashib, whose name in

Hebrew suggests "unity through compromise," had set up
residence in the Temple for Tobiah, an Ammonite prince. By
law, no Ammonite was permitted to set foot in the Temple. But
Eliashib allowed Tobiah (whose name means "prosperity,
pleasure, good life") to live there. The high priest made God's
house a dwelling place for a heathen! Thus, a corrupt ministry
was now in league with paganism. "Eliashib the priest, having
authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was
allied with Tobiah" (Nehemiah 13:4). The people of God
yearned for prosperity and the good life, and Tobiah was only
too willing to teach them the materialistic path of idolatry.

Nehemiah saw the evil that was being sponsored by a soft-

on-sin priesthood:

And I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib

had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts
of the house of God. And it grieved me bitterly; therefore 1
threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. Then
I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back
into them the articles of the house of God.
Nehemiah 13:7-9

Nehemiah was not acting on impulse or legalistic tradition.

Rather, he was seeing through God's eyes, feeling as God felt,
discerning the evil of the cancerous growth of compromise in
God's house. If more ministers today understood the dangers
of fleshly entertainment and the lust for materialism, they
would grieve over them as Nehemiah did and cast them out of
their churches. 0 Lord, give us a body of preachers and
parishioners who are sick of sin and who will take a stand
against it! Give us people with enough discernment to see the
depth and horror of the compromise that has crept into God's
house!

In the New Testament, Paul also grieved over the backsliding

of God's people. He warned,

Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you
even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose
glory is in their shame-who set their mind on earthly things.

Philippians 3:18-19

The Greek meaning for Paul's weeping here is loud or piercing

sobbing from a broken heart. As Paul saw those Christians turn
aside to embrace earthly things and reject the reproach of the
cross, his heart broke to the point that he literally shook with
God's grief. This was not silent despair or a resigned sigh; it
was the loud, piercing, heartbroken cry of a man entering into
God's own grief for His wayward children.

But as I mentioned earlier, the one man-with the exception of

Christ-who was called more than any other to express God's
grief was Samuel. He was actually called to the ministry of grief.
The grief he bore was not his own or that of humanity; rather, it
was the deep and unfathomable grief of God.

The Ministry of Grief

In the years before Samuel was born, God's people had fallen
away from Him into idolatry and internal decay. God was
profoundly grieved over their backslidden condition, and He
had no one who could express it to the people. The Lord was
about to remove His glory from His house at Shiloh, and the
ministers who stood before His altar at that time did not even
know it. How sad to be so deaf, dumb and blind right at the
hour of judgment! Israel was corrupt, the priesthood was
adulterous and the established, organized ministry was totally
blind.

Eli, who was the priest of the Temple at the time, represents
the decaying religious systems with all their self-interest and
only token disdain for sin. Just as the people had grown soft
by easy living, Eli himself had become fat and lazy about the
things of God. He was simply going through the motions, not
only of his priesthood but of his fatherhood as well.

His sons Hophni and Phinehas represent the ongoing

ministry of tradition. These two young priests never did have
an encounter with God. They knew nothing of hungering for
God, of hearing from heaven, of burning passionately to
experience the glory and presence of the Lord. They were
consumed with lust and hardened by sin.

We do not have to look so far back to see the kind of

religious system that guards and even encourages self-serving
ministers. We can just look around us today and see
shepherds who do not fast or pray, who look for the best
ministerial positions with the highest benefits and the best
chance for promotion. Their hearts have never been broken
over lost humanity. They know little of suffering. They are the
products of cold, dead ritualism; they are not fresh from time
spent with God. They say the right things-novel things-and
they sound and act professional. But they have no anointing,
n o holy unction. They do not know the fear and dread of a
holy God. And, like Eli's sons, they become sensual, worldly
and self-serving. They make themselves "fat with the best of all
the offerings of Israel" (1 Samuel 2:29). Hophni and Phinehas
became so corrupt that God called them "the sons of Belial," or
"sons of Satan." Scripture says of them, "They did not know
the Lord" (verse 12).

This is yet another reason why multitudes of evangelical

youth today are growing cold and sensual, leading a bored and
res tles s existence: Too many pastors have catered to the
sensual desires of these young people. We now face the
tragedy of an entire generation's going astray because so few
shepherds can show them how to escape the satanic snares of
this age.

As may happen with these wayward shepherds, Eli lost all of

his spiritual discernment. This is clear through the presence of
Hannah, a godly woman who wept bitterly in the house of God
at Shiloh. She remained in deep intercession, beseeching the
Lord to give her a son. Hannah serves as a type of the
interceding holy remnant today who yearn and cry out to God
for a fresh word from Him.

"Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but
her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk"
(1 Samuel 1:13). Hannah was in the Spirit, conversing with God,
under divine unction and soon to become a channel of renewal
i n Israel. Yet Eli, the man of God, could not discern this! He
totally missed the significance of what was happening at the
altar. You have to wonder what had happened to this priest of
the Most High. How could he stand at the threshold of a
profound new move of God and yet be so out of touch with the
Lord that he mistook the Spirit for the flesh?

The Lord was grieved; He wanted to shake things. He was

about to move swiftly. How could He get His message through
to this backslidden, corrupt people of Israel? The priest had
become so indulgent, comfortable and steeped in tradition that
he had not the slightest hint of what God was about to do. The
message to us in this passage is clear: God had to go outside
the established religious structure to find someone open
enough to Him to share His grief.

The Prophecy

As we know from this familiar story, Hannah did conceive

and bear a son, Samuel, and she dedicated him to the service of
the Lord. Some time after the child went to live with Eli in the
Temple, God sent an unnamed prophet to the priest with a
message. The word he brought was like an arrow shot directly
into the heart of a religious system that had thought itself well-
protected. God said to Eli, "You ... honor your sons more than
Me.... I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father's
house.... And all the descendants of your house shall die in the
flower of their age" (1 Samuel 2:29, 31, 33).

How had Eli honored his sons more than he had honored his
God? By knowing of his sons' wicked behavior and doing
nothing about it. When Eli heard, for instance, how his sons
flaunted their fornication at the very door of the tabernacle, all
he said to them was, "No, my sons! For it is not a good report
that I hear. You make the Lord's people transgress" (1 Samuel
2:24). And when they took the meat that was intended for the
Lord's offering, he looked the other way. God later confirmed
with the young Samuel that this was why He would judge Eli's
house: "I have told him that I will judge his house forever for
the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made
themselves vile, and he did not restrain them" (1 Samuel 3:13).

I believe that a day of judgment is appointed here on earth

anytime ministers of the Gospel know about the sin in their
congregations or their families yet refuse to deal with it. They
may slap the wrists of the adulterers, the fornicators, the
gossips, the selfcentered-but they offer no penetrating
message of reproof. They are afraid to discipline their spiritual
children. But on Judgment Day our Lord will ask, "Why did
you not show the people the difference between the holy and
the profane?"

Why was Eli so soft on the sins of his boys? Because when
they stole the filet mignon before it went into the seething pot,
they brought the fresh, red meat to Eli for roasting-and he had
grown accustomed to it! If he came down too hard on them, he
would have to go back to eating the sodden, boiled meat from
the offering that was the priest's portion. He had learned to
shut his eyes to all the evil around him in God's house and in
his own family.

This is why some preachers are soft on sin: Their appetites

have become whetted by the good life. They enjoy the comfort
a n d prestige of large numbers and big buildings. Oh, how
subtle compromise is! When something must be addressed, the
minister simply utters a limp, "You shouldn't do these evil
things." He has no holy thunder, no grief over sin and
compromise, no vision like Paul's of the exceeding idolatry of
sin, no warnings of divine retribution and judgment. "After all,"
he says, "people might get offended, stop coming and stop
paying the bills. The growth of the church might be hindered."

I have preached in some of these churches and it is a

heartbreaking experience. Like Eli, the pastor usually loves
God. He is not an evil man, but he is a fearful man. He is afraid
of the moving of the Holy Spirit, afraid of offending people. He
pays lip service to holiness, but he fears dealing too harshly
with sin. Divorce is rampant in his church; some people have
secret affairs; young people are bound by evil habits.

I have stood in some of these brothers' pulpits calling for

repentance, making known the Lord's demand for holiness and
warning of His judgment upon sin. Those who have been
living in compromise rush forward, weeping, confessing,
seeking to be made clean. But when I look at the pastor, I see
that he is worried that the service might get out of control. He
is afraid people might weep uncontrollably or fall to the floor
from conviction as they grieve over their sins. He fears his
"new people" won't understand-so he cannot wait to take over
the meeting and quiet things down. He comes to the pulpit and
whispers sweet reassurances that God loves them all, then
reminds everyone of the lateness of the hour and quickly
dismisses the gathering. He puts a wet blanket on the Holy
Spirit's conviction-and the sin-burdened members go home
troubled by what appears to be their pastor's lack of concern.
 I leave these kinds of meetings brokenhearted. I ask myself,
Where is the grief over sin? Can't leaders see that these
weeping sheep want to allow the conviction of the Holy Ghost
to do His cleansing work in them?

The Samuel Company

Where are the Samuels who have heard the voice of God,
who have been awakened by the Holy Spirit and have received
a revelation of soon-coming judgments upon a backslidden
Church? Why aren't all preachers of the Gospel grieving over
the sinful condition of God's house? Why aren't all pastors and
evangelists crying out as watchmen on the wall? Scripture says
that Samuel was given a vision in which God pronounced the
end of a backslidden religious structure, and "Samuel told [Eli]
everything, and hid nothing from him" (1 Samuel 3:18). I ask
you, pastor: Are you telling it all? Are you holding back, hiding
the truth, afraid of offending your people?

Yet in spite of those who are afraid to come forth with the full
message for the Church, I believe that the Lord always brings
in a "Samuel company" who will hear His voice in a time of
spiritual decline. This company is made up of men and women
who care nothing for tradition, promotion or denominational
boundaries. They represent pastors and laypeople who have
an ear to hear God's voice and know what grieves Him.

Without question the message of the Samuel company is not

a pleasant one. "Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision" (verse
15). This vision was overwhelming; but Samuel could not help
but share it with the one on whom judgment would fall. God
would no longer put up with a form of godliness that did not
have the power of holiness.

Yes, God was about to remove His presence from Shiloh, but
He would do a glorious new thing in Israel. He said, "I will raise
up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what
is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house,
and he shall walk before My anointed forever" (1 Samuel 2:35).
This verse describes the Samuel company of believers and
ministers who share the very heart of God. They know the
Lord's mind and His will, and they walk in fear and holiness
before Him. The Samuel company is a praying people; it was
while Samuel was in prayer that God revealed to him the fearful
things to come. And because they are in touch with God they
know and share His grief.

God is speaking in these last days to those who are shut in

with Him. He reveals His heart to those who hunger and thirst
for more of Him-who pant after Him as the deer pants after the
water, who have died to every selfish ambition and who have
no goal in life but to bring pleasure, glory and joy to His heart.
I say this unflinchingly: God will not choose a denomination to
deliver His Word to this last generation. He will not call on a
committee to hear His voice and ignite the last-day gathering of
the remnant. Instead, when the angels of the apocalypse go
forth to smite the earth, denominations and religious leaders
will be found hard at work protecting their interests and
strengthening their authority, drawing up by-laws and making
resolutions. But the Samuel company will be found in the
secret closet of prayer, seeking their Master's will and sharing
His grief over sin.

Samuel, the man God raised up to serve as judge and prophet

for the Israelites, bore God's grief over His people to the very
end of his ministry. The Bible says Israel eventually lusted
after a king so they could be "judge[d] ... like all the nations" (1
Samuel 8:5). At this Samuel fell on his knees, greatly
displeased. God spoke these sad words to him: "Heed the
voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have
not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not
reign over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).

Samuel went to the people and warned them of the hardships

they would have under a king, how he would conscript their
children and take their lands and produce, but the people
insisted it was what they wanted. "Make them a king," the Lord
said, and their history changed again even as they broke God's
heart.

Everywhere you turn now a growing number of God's people

are rejecting the Lordship of Christ. They are clamoring to be
"like the nations." That is the essence of compromise or
mixture: to be just like the world. They are saying, "We want
God and the world, too!" They want the world's recognition
and prestige, the world's pleasures and the "good life" of
luxury. But thank God for the protesting Samuel company!
They have heard from God, and they know where all this
compromise is going to end. They see the frightful results of
apostasy ahead, and like Samuel they sob a piercing,
heartrending cry of grief.

With the Grief Comes Joy

Those who weep over sin in the Church and discern her
errors are called doomsayers. Many who know them say, "I
don't like to be around them. They sound negative and morose
and they look so sad." But such onlookers simply do not know
these weeping people. They do not understand that those who
truly grieve with God are given a leaping heart of joy in
Jehovah.

Although the fig tree shall not bear fruit; neither should there
be any provision on the vines; the produce of the olive should
fail, and the fields not yield subsistence; the flocks should be
cut off from the fold, neither should there be any herd in the
stalls. Yet will I leap for joy in Jehovah. I will exult in the God of
my salvation. Jehovah my Lord is my strength.

Habakkuk 3:17-19, Spurrell Original Hebrew

Such joy comes from knowing that God will always have a
pure ministry through a holy and separated people, even in the
most evil of days. These people know that God will honor them
with His constant presence. They draw strength from believing
in the majesty and power of God, whose judgments are always
righteous. With Habakkuk they can say, "Though all else fails,
my heart will rejoice in God alone." Even when failure seems to
surround them and they see little evidence of fruit, their grief
gives way to ecstatic joy because they are near to the heart of
the Lord. And, like Paul, this grieving remnant can say, "As
sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich;
as having nothing, and yet possessing all things" (2
Corinthians 6:10).

It seems that Samuel had little joy during the disastrous reign
of Saul, the chosen king, for he continued to mourn for him (1
Samuel 15:35). Finally the Lord said, "How long will you mourn
for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?
Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the
Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his
sons" (1 Samuel 16:1). This was, of course, the young David, a
man who shepherded Israel "according to the integrity of his
heart" (Psalm 78:72) and who prefigured the Messiah.

It is, in fact, David's words that encourage us to believe that

sharing God's grief will result in rejoicing. Speaking from his
own wealth of experiences as one who hungered after the Lord,
David said, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in
the morning" (Psalm 30:5).

So may it be for the hungering people today! May we find

that our hunger leads to the prayer closet to share His grief,
and to the Body of Christ to share His joy.
 4

HAVING A PERFECT HEART

Do you know it is possible to walk before the Lord with a

perfect heart? If you are hungering for Jesus, you may already
be tryingdesiring earnestly to obey this command of the Lord.

I want to encourage you: it is possible or God would not have

given us such a call. Having a perfect heart has been part of
covenant faith from the time God first spoke to Abraham: "I am
t h e Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect"
(Genesis 17:1, KJV). Later God reminded the children of Israel,
"Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy
18:13, KJV).

In the Old Testament we see that some succeeded. David, for

instance, determined in his heart to obey God's command to be
perfect. He said, "I will behave wisely in a perfect way.... I will
walk within my house with a perfect heart" (Psalm 101:2). His
s o n Solomon, however, was one of many to fall short: "His
heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of
David his father. . . . [He] went not fully after the Lord, as did
David his father" (1 Kings 11:4-6, Kw).

In the New Testament we see that God's command for His

people to be perfect is renewed in His Son. Jesus said, "You
s hall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect"
(Matthew 5:48). Paul said he labored, preaching and teaching,
"that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus"
(Colossians 1:28) and "that you may stand perfect and
complete in all the will of God" (4:12). Peter wrote, "The God of
all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus,
after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen,
and settle you" (1 Peter 5:10).

To come to grips with the idea of perfection, we first must

understand that perfection does not mean a sinless, flawless
existence. People judge by outward appearances, by what they
see. But God judges the heart, the unseen motives (1 Samuel
16:7). David had a perfect heart toward God "all the days of his
life"-yet David failed the Lord often. In fact, his life was marked
forever by adultery and a notorious murder.

No, perfection in the Lord's eyes means something entirely

different. It means completeness, maturity. The Hebrew and
Greek meanings of perfection include "uprightness, having
neither spot nor blemish, being totally obedient." It means to
finish what has been started, to make a complete performance.
John Wesley called this concept of perfection "constant
obedience"; that is, a perfect heart is a responsive heart, one
that answers quickly and totally all the Lord's wooings,
whisperings and warnings. Such a heart says at all times,
"Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening. Show me the path,
and I will walk in it."

Some time ago, during the long drive from the Teen Challenge
farm in Pennsylvania to New York City, the Lord spoke to my
inner man. He said, There is such a thing as a perfect heart and
I want to show you what it is so you can seek after it. He then
showed me three things that distinguish such a heart.

1. A perfect heart is searchable.

The perfect heart cries out with David, "Search me, 0 God,
and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if
there is any wicked way in me" (Psalm 139:23-24).

God does indeed search our hearts; He said as much to

Jeremiah: "I, the Lord, search the heart" (Jeremiah 17:10). This
is also stated in 1 Chronicles 28:9: "The Lord searches all
hearts." The Hebrew meaning for this phrase is, "I penetrate, I
examine deeply." New Testament verses echo this: "The Spirit
searches all things, yes, the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians
2:10).

The Spirit also alerts us to sin in our hearts. When Jesus

s poke about "the depths of Satan" (Revelation 2:24) He was
speaking of the profound deepness of sin, that evil goes down
deep into the soul and its roots go down into hell. David said
of the wicked: "Both the inward thought and the heart of man
are deep" (Psalm 64:6).

These passages all are holy warnings to us. They say, "You
do not realize how deeply any association with evil affects you.
If you stay on the path of sin you will plummet into the depths
of Satan himself, depths that are mysterious, bottomless and
profound. This path leads to hell!" Yet in these last days sin
has been disguised by complexity, subtlety and sophistication.
It comes masked in the guise of art, culture and education.
Scripture warns: "Woe to those who seek deep to hide their
counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark"
(Isaiah 29:15).

The perfect heart wants the Holy Spirit to come and search
o u t the innermost man, to shine into all hidden parts-to
investigate, expose and dig out all that is unlike Christ. Those
who hide a secret sin, however, do not want to be convicted,
searched or probed.

A man once came to me, weeping, during a prayer meeting at

Times Square Church. He had left the church a few months
before because he thought the messages coming from our
pulpit were too piercing. Up to that point, he had been going
on with the Lord and growing in spite of himself. But then he
left and went to a church where a smooth word was preached.
It was not long before he backslid into his old sins. He went
through all the motions at that church, and others told him that
all was well with his life. Yet he knew better: He knew he was
going down deeper into his old sins! Now, at the prayer
meeting, he was coming back for the cleansing, unfiltered word
of God.

That same night, sitting right next to this man was a man in a
wheelchair. He and his wife had come many miles simply
because they wanted to hear a convicting word. The man
hungered to have his innermost being shaken by God. He told
me, "It's been so long since I've heard a message that
convicted me." He wanted his heart searched and tried because
he wanted a perfect heart.

The ritual of the Old Testament tent-tabernacle provides a

clear example of the kind of walk with God the Church should
have. The tabernacle had an outer court where the sacrificial
animal was slain. This provided the blood covering for sin. But
there, as well, was a laver, or basin, in which cleansing took
place. No priest could enter the inner court, the Holy of Holies,
and commune with God face to face until he was first cleansed.

Yet the modern gospel of today says, "Just go to the altar

and, by faith, trust in the blood shed there. Then go boldly into
the Holy of Holies. Your Daddy loves you and He is waiting for
you. He sees only Jesus in you. You don't need to search your
heart. Your sin is under the covering of the blood. All this
digging and searching out of sin only brings condemnation
and guilt."

Christians who embrace this thinking believe they can bypass

the laver, the washing we all need by the water of the Word.
They believe they can rush past personal commitment to Him
in the holy place, their hearts caked with sin and clinging to
sinful habits, then walk right in and boast, "I am the
righteousness of God in Christ." They want nothing more than
to be covered-a quick ticket to glory. They want no pain, no
cross, no cleansing, and they go around crying, "I'm under the
blood, I'm safe!"

Those who feel this way take this verse as their authorization:
"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1
John 1:7). This statement, however, is only the conclusion of
the idea that John is presenting. Here is the rest of it: "If we say
that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie
and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is
in the light ... the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us
from all sin" (I John 1:6-7). We must walk in the light if we
expect to be cleansed from sin. Jesus said, "Now ye are clean
through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3,
KJV). And He was not talking to the world, but to the Church.
In Revelation 2:23, Jesus said, "All the churches shall know
that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will
give to each one of you according to your works."
 We must not be deceived: The perfect heart yearns for more
than security or a covering for sin. It seeks to be in God's
presence always, to dwell in communion. Communion means
talking with the Lord, sharing sweet fellowship with Him,
seeking His face and knowing His presence. And that is what
we get in the Holy of Holies. Our approach to God must come
in this order: covering, cleansing, commitment, communion.

The Lord's heart-searchings are not vindictive, but

redemptive. His purpose is not to catch us in sin or condemn
us, but rather to prepare us to come into His holy presence as
clean, pure vessels. "Who may stand in His holy place? He
who has clean hands and a pure heart. . . . He shall receive
blessing from the Lord" (Psalm 24:3-5).
2. A perfect heart is trusting.

The psalmist wrote, "Our fathers trusted in You; they trusted,

and You delivered them. They cried to You, and were
delivered; they trusted in You, and were not ashamed" (Psalm
22:4-5). Over and over David testified, "In the Lord I put my
trust" (Psalm 11:1), and, "0 my God, I trust in You" (25:2).

The Hebrew root word for trust suggests "to fling oneself off
a precipice." That means being like a child who has climbed up
into the rafters and cannot get down. He hears his father say,
"Jump!" and he obeys, throwing himself into his father's arms.
Are you in such a place right now? Are you on the edge,
teetering, and have no other option but to fling yourself into
the arms of Jesus? You may have simply resigned yourself to
your situation, but that is not trust; it is nothing more than
fatalism. Trust is something vastly different from passive
resignation. It is active belief!

As we hunger for Jesus more intensely, we will find that our

trust in Him is well founded. At some point in our lives we may
have thought that we could not really trust Him-that He did not
really have control over the big picture and that we had to stay
in charge. But growing closer to Him and getting to know Him
better changes that. It means that we do not just come to Him
for help when we are at the end of our rope; instead, we begin
to walk with Him so closely that we hear Him warning of the
trials ahead.

Think of it this way: In the past we may have pictured the

Lo rd as the captain of some kind of cosmic fire-and-rescue
company. It was as if Satan had set the house on fire and we
were stranded on the roof yelling, "Lord, help! Save me!" So
along came the Lord, with His angels holding a big net, and He
said, "Jump." We did jump, the house burned down, and we
said, "Thank You, Lord, for getting me out."

Many of us have probably limited our trust at some time to

this type of spiritual rescue operation. It is like saying to the
Lord, "I trust You to come and put out all my fires-to save me
from all my troubles and deliver me out of all my trials. I know
You'll be there, Lord, when I need You." In saying this, we
think our faith is stretched and that it pleases God. But we do
not realize that we have merely credited the devil with being the
causer and made the Lord the reactor. We say emphatically,
"The devil is behind it!" Yet this viewpoint makes God look as
if He only reacts to all the devil's well-laid plans. But our God
never reacts-He initiates!

If you have a true walk with Christ you are not the devil's
punching bag. He does not have free access to harass or touch
you. What kind of father would I be if I allowed a drug pusher,
bully or child molester to have free access to any of my
children? Yet we go around saying, "The devil did this to me.
He shut this door ... he put this or that on me." I ask you, where
do we think our Father is? Sleeping? Doesn't He care about us?
Can we really think that He allows us to remain as open prey to
rapists and killers? Never! Remember that Satan could not
touch Job without God's permission. God had to lower the wall
around Job in order for Satan to get to him. Scripture also says
Jesus was "led up by the Spirit ... to be tempted by the devil"
(Matthew 4:1). Our God is always in control. Not for one
moment has Satan ever been-or will he ever be-beyond the
power of God's Word.

A messenger of Satan came to buffet Paul-but only because

Go d allowed it. The Lord would not allow His servant to be
lifted up in pride because of the great revelation he had
received; God would remain in control. At the same time it is
true that at least twice Paul tried to go to Thessalonica, "but
Satan hindered" (1 Thessalonians 2:18). Yet the devil could not
stop God's work: The believers in Thessalonica later became
Paul's "crown of rejoicing."

Likewise, God may allow the devil to have access to our lives
for any number of reasons; our own sin or disobedience may
lead us to the devil's doorstep when God has been trying to
warn us that we are in danger. But His desire is always that we
learn to trust in Him, His perfect goodness and lovingkindness.
He may allow us to have some hard lessons in order for us to
see Him as He really is.

The trusting heart always says, "All my steps are ordered by

the Lord. He is my loving Father, and He permits my sufferings,
temptations and trials-but never more than I can bear, for He
always makes a way of escape. He has an eternal plan and
purpose for me. He has numbered every hair on my head, and
He formed all my parts when I was in my mother's womb. He
knows when I sit, stand or lie down because I am the apple of
His eye. He is Lord-not just over me, but over every event and
situation that touches me."
3. A perfect heart is broken.

I once thought I knew what a broken heart was. I felt I had

experienced much brokenness until the Holy Spirit opened my
eyes to its deeper meaning. As David said, "The Lord is near to
thos e who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a
contrite [crushed] spirit" (Psalm 34:18). He also said, "The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart-these, 0 God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).

Brokenness means more than sorrow and weeping, more than

a crushed spirit, more than humility. Indeed, many who weep
are not brokenhearted. Many who lie before God and groan are
not broken in spirit. True brokenness releases in the heart the
greatest power God can entrust to mankind-greater than power
to raise the dead or heal sickness and disease. When we are
truly broken before God, we are given a power that restores
ruins, a power that brings a special kind of glory and honor to
our Lord.

You see, brokenness has to do with walls-broken-down,

crumbling walls. David associated the crumbling walls of
Jerusalem with the brokenheartedness of God's people: "The
sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart.... Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; build the walls
of Jerusalem. Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of
righteousness" (Psalm 51:17-19).

Nehemiah was a truly brokenhearted man, and his example

h as to do with those broken walls of Jerusalem. During the
Babylonian exile Nehemiah served as cupbearer to the king. It
was in the Babylonian palace at Shushan that he learned the
walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and the gates burned.
Soon he returned and saw the brokenness for himself:
I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what
my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there
any animal with me, except the one on which I rode.... I went up
in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned
back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.

Nehemiah 2:12, 15

In the dark of night, Nehemiah "viewed the wall." The Hebrew

word shahar is used here. It is the same word used in Psalm
51:17 for "broken heart." Some might think Nehemiah's
brokenness came when he "sat down and wept, and mourned
certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven"
(Nehemiah 1:4, KJv) when he first heard about the destruction
of the walls back in Shushan. Yet his weeping and confessing
were only the beginning of the breaking. Nehemiah could have
stayed in the king's court at the palace, weeping, mourning,
fasting for days, confessing and praying. Yet still he would not
have had a broken heart. His heart was not fully broken until he
came to Jerusalem, saw the ruin and decided to do something
about it.

In the fullest Hebrew meaning, Nehemiah's heart was breaking

in two ways. It broke first with anguish for the ruin (sharing
God's grief as we discussed earlier), and second with a hope for
rebuilding (bursting with hope).

This is a truly broken heart: one that first sees the Church and
families in ruin and feels the Lord's anguish. Such a heart
grieves over the reproach cast on the Lord's name. It also looks
deep inside and sees, as David did, its own shame and failure.
It cries out, "Lord, I've made a breach in the wall! I've
disregarded Your holy testimony. I am crushed by my sins.
This cannot go on." But there is a second important element to
this brokenness, and that is hope. The truly broken heart has
heard from God: "I will heal, restore and build. Get rid of the
rubbish, and get to work rebuilding the breaches!"

Several years ago, as I walked through Times Square, I wept

and mourned because of all the sin I saw. I went back to my
home in Texas, and for more than a year I grieved before the
Lord. Then God said, Go and do something about all the ruin. I
had seen the destruction and been broken over it, but I was not
fully broken until I was moved with hope to begin rebuilding
the wall-in this case, by coming to New York City to help raise
up a church.

Have you been "viewing the ruin" in your own life? Like
David, have you sinned and brought reproach on His name? Is
there a breach in your wall, something that is not repaired? It is
good to fall on the Rock, Jesus, and to be broken into little
pieces (see Matthew 21:44). For when we see Christ coming in
all His glory, the sight of Him at that time will indeed shatter us.
Ev e n the good things in us-talent, efficiency, abilities-will
crumble when we stand or fall down before Him, helpless and
drained. Like Daniel, who saw the great vision by the river, we
will say, "There remained no strength in me: for my comeliness
[natural color] was turned in me into corruption [a deathly
pallor], and I retained no strength" (Daniel 10:8, KJV).

Brokenness is the total shattering of all human strength and

ability. It is the recognition of the full reality of sin and the
reproach it brings on Christ. Yet brokenness also means
recognizing and heeding the next step: "Stand upright, for I
have now been sent to you" (Daniel 10:11). It is the absolute
assurance that things are going to change, that healing and
rebuilding will come-that our ruins are going to be reclaimed for
God! A holy faith says, "God is at work in me. Satan cannot
hold me. I am not going to deteriorate or be destroyed. My sin
has grieved me, but I have repented. Now it's time to rise and
rebuild." Until we take hold of that hope, zeal and
determination, we will not move past our tears.

Our lives may still appear to be something of a rubble heap.

But if our hearts are open and being searched by God; if we are
trusting that He is sovereignly at work; if we are broken in grief
and in hope, then we possess the most valuable tool for the
work of the Kingdom of God: a perfect heart. We will know
communion with God. We will have His assurance and hope.
And we will be His repairer of breaches in the Body of Christ.
 WALKING IN HOLINESS

One of the great tragedies of the Church in this generation,

and one of God's greatest griefs, is that so many Christians are
not truly happy. They put on a good front-singing, clapping,
smiling and praising. But lurking just beneath the surface is
loneliness and deep misery; their joy does not last.

These Christians are hot, then suddenly cold. They cannot

cope with fear. Depression runs over them like a steamroller.
One week they are high, the next week low. Many times their
marriages follow that pattern as well. One day all is well
between a husband and wife, and the next day they are
miserable. Some days they cannot even talk to one another.
They explain, "Well, that's just the way marriage is supposed
to be. You can't expect to stay happy and loving all the time."

Believers caught in this up-and-down cycle should heed the

words of Paul to Timothy. He encouraged the young man to
help others come to their senses and "escape the snare of the
devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will" (2
Timothy 2:26), or as the King James Version puts it, "taken
captive by him at his will." This describes many believers
perfectly: Because they give him access, Satan moves in and
out of their lives at his own will. They exercise no authority to
stop the devil at their heart's door, and he flaunts his hold over
them. "You have no power of Christ in you to stop me," he
says. "You are my captive and will do as I wish."

This lack of victory in Christ is appalling! Satan places fear,

loneliness, depression or lust upon these people at any time he
chooses. Is this what Christ died for? To raise up children who
are under the power of the devil's will? Is this our testimony to
the world: "Give your heart to Jesus, but leave your will to the
devil"? Certainly not! There is no reason for a Christian to live
as a slave to the devil.

Those who are caught in this satanic snare may blame their
unhappiness on suffering, poor health, being misunderstood or
having an uncaring mate, boss or friend. They can blame
anything they choose, but Paul said the real reason is because
they are "in opposition" (see 2 Timothy 2:25). To be in
opposition, or "oppose yourself" as the King James Version
puts it, means to set oneself up to be trapped, to refuse God's
way of deliverance and victory. Such people have opposed His
way and set up their own way, and they will not do what must
be done to be delivered from the devil's trap.
 Are you in this situation? If Satan plays on your emotions
an d you are getting worse, not better; if your problems are
getting bigger; if fear is rising, joy is dissipating and sadness is
setting in, then something very serious is wrong. You are a
captive to the enemy of your soul. You must recognize the trap
you are in and seek to be released. If you have been serving
the Lord for more than a few months, you should be growing
daily in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. Your spiritual
victories should be sweet. You should be assured of His
constant presence, and you should be changing from glory to
glory into His likeness. By now Satan should be running from
you!

So what is the problem? Why have so many Christians

become captives? It is because their hunger for Christ does not
bring them to the point of desiring to walk with Him. They do
not seek His holiness. Let's look at the life of a man who lived
this to a degree that few have emulated: Enoch. All of us can
learn from his example.

Walking with God

"Enoch walked with God" (Genesis 5:24). The original Hebrew

meaning for walked implies that Enoch went up and down, in
a n d out, to and fro, arm in arm with God, continually
conversing with Him and growing closer to Him. Enoch's
father, Jared, lived to be 962 years old and Enoch's son
Methuselah lived to be 969. Enoch lived 365 years-or, a "year"
of years. In him we see a new kind of believer. For 365 days
each year for all of his 365 years, he walked arm in arm with the
Lord. The Lord was his very life-so much so that at the end of
his life, he did not see death:

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death;

and was not found, because God had translated him: for before
his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But
without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh
to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them
that diligently seek him.

Hebrews 11:5-6, KJV

Like Enoch, who was translated out of life, those who walk
closely with God are translated out of Satan's reach-taken out
o f his kingdom of darkness and put into Christ's Kingdom of
light: "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and
h a t h translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son"
(Colossians 1:13, KJV). Right now we stand translated out of
the devil's snare and into the very heart of Jesus. The Greek
word for translated here suggests that Christ comes personally
and carries us away from the devil's power and sets us in a
heavenly place. God translates only those who walk intimately
with Him, like Enoch. Those who are held captive at Satan's will
cannot be taken up and delivered from darkness.

I believe that we are not truly saved until we set our hearts
firmly on walking with God. We can claim to be saved and to
love Him, and we can tell the world we belong to Him. We may
even pray, weep and devour His Word. But unless we walk
closely with Him every day we will never change. We will fall
deeper and deeper into bondage.

Enoch learned to walk pleasingly before God in the midst of a

wicked society. Yet he was an ordinary man with all the same
problems and burdens we carry. He was not a hermit hidden
away in a wilderness cave; he was involved in life with a wife,
children, obligations and responsibilities. Enoch wasn't "hiding
to be holy."

Today, however, many Christians are running for the hills to

h id e from the mounting calamities. So-called prophets are
telling people to come to their safe rural havens. Messianic
Christians are being warned to flee to Israel to escape the
financial collapse anticipated in America. But Enoch proved
that the greater testimony is to walk with God in the midst of
the storm, no matter what. Jesus' command was "Go ye!"-not
"Hide ye!"

Yet Enoch knew full well this world was ungodly. He looked
down through history to the very last days, and all he could
say was, "Ungodly!"

Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these

men also, saying, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands
of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are
ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they
have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things
which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."

Jude 14-15

We must not hide from the world. But, at the same time, if we
are walking with the Lord, then we must also see the world as
Enoch saw it-ungodly, full of the spirit of the Antichrist and
polluted with harsh speech against our God.

How can we hunger for Jesus and remain part of what is un

godly? How can we desire Him above all else and yet count
ourselves with those He is coming to judge? I am not talking
here about ministering to a lost world, which is our duty as
disciples of Christ. I mean that we cannot be a part of that
world. I am also not condemning the beauty of nature and the
good things God has created. We should "consider the lilies of
the field" (Matthew 6:28). But if we are walking arm in arm with
Jesus, talking with Him and listening to Him, we will hate this
ungodly world system. We will take His side against those who
talk against Him. We will heed His Word that "whoever ...
wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of
God" (James 4:4). And when the Lord is coming with tens of
thousands of His saints to judge a sinful, lost world, then we
will not stand before Him guilty and ashamed.

One other prophet was literally translated, like Enoch, and

that was Elijah. The two had something in common: Both hated
sin and cried out against it. Both walked so closely with God
that they could not help sharing His hatred for ungodliness.
This is the undeniable effect on all who hunger totally for God.
And not only do they hate it, but they separate themselves
from it as well. If we still love this world and are at home with
the ungodly, if we are friends with those who curse the Lord,
then we are not walking with God and our salvation is a sham.
We are sitting on the fence, putting Him to open shame.

"Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him"
(Genesis 5:24). We know from Hebrews that this verse speaks
of Enoch's translation, the fact that he did not taste death. But
it also means something deeper. The phrase he was not, as
used in Genesis 5, also means "he was not of this world." In his
spirit and in his senses, Enoch was not a part of this wicked
world. Each day as he walked with the Lord he became less
attached to the things below. Day by day, year by year, he was
going up, heading home, getting closer to glory. Like Paul, he
died daily to this earthly life. And he was taken up in his spirit
to a heavenly realm.

Yet while he walked on this earth, Enoch undertook all his

responsibilities. He cared for his family; he worked, ministered
and occupied. But "he was not"-not earthbound. None of the
de mands of this life could keep him from his walk with God.
Th e Lord consumed Him; in every waking moment his mind
came back to Him. His heart was attached to God with what
seemed like a huge rubber band-and the more you stretch a
rubber band, the more strongly it springs back when you let it
go. Enoch's heart always "sprang back" to the Lord!

Changing into the Lord's Image

All around Enoch mankind grew increasingly ungodly. Yet as

men changed into wild beasts full of lust, hardness and
sensuality, Enoch became more and more like the One with
whom he walked. Likewise you and I are changing and by now,
along with many Christians, we should be becoming like Jesus.

This is not true of all believers by any means. Instead many

h av e become hard and selfish. They should be growing in
grace, completely satisfied in Him, but they are backsliding and
reverting to their old fleshly ways. Why? Because they do not
walk with God. They seldom pray. They rarely dig into God's
Word. They brood and get hard over life; they pout and open
themselves up to the devil's will. They simply do not love
Jesus enough to want to be with Him.

As we saw earlier, Hebrews 11:5 says clearly: "Before he was

taken [Enoch] had this testimony, that he pleased God." What
was it about Enoch that pleased God so much? It was that his
walk with God produced in Him the kind of faith God loves.
These two verses cannot be separated: "Before his translation
he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it
is impossible to please him" (Hebrews 11:5-6). We hear this
latter verse often, but rarely in connection with the former. Yet
throughout the Bible and all of history those who walked
closely with God became men and women of deep faith. If the
Church is walking with God daily, communing with Him
continually, the result will be a people full of faith--true faith
that pleases God.

Too many Christians rush to faith seminars, distribute faith

tapes and quote "faith Scriptures" all in an effort to produce
faith. It is true, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the
word of God" (Romans 10:17). But these Christians fail to
realize that Jesus is the Word. "The letter kills," Scripture says.
Without intimacy with Jesus, a Christian who adheres to the
letter produces in himself a dead, selfish, demanding emotion
that is not faith at all. And God hates it. Faith comes by hearing
His Word and walking closely with Him; talking without
walking will get us nowhere. We should always be "looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews
12:2).

Faith really consists of knowing who God is. It consists of

becoming familiar with His glory and majesty-because those
wh o know Him best trust Him most. Show me a people who
walk closely with Him-who actively hate sin, have become
detached from this world and are coming to know His voice-
and I'll show you a people who won't need much preaching and
teaching about faith. They won't need "ten steps" on what
faith is and how to get it-because true faith comes out of the
very heart of Jesus. And it will be His own faith, not theirs, that
grows and emerges from their hearts.
 "By faith Enoch was translated." This is an incredible truth,
almost beyond our comprehension. All of Enoch's faith was
focused on the one great desire of his heart: to be with the
Lord. And God translated him in answer to his faith. Enoch
could no longer bear to stand behind the veil; he just had to
see the Lord. He prayed, believing that God would answer his
cry to be in His actual presence. He so hated the world he
experienced on earth that he said to God, "Come, Lord-there's
nothing left for me here."

Think of how most Christians squander what they call faith.

Theirs is all centered on self-their own needs, their own wants.
Where are the Enochs of today, who spend their faith believing
to be translated out of the devil's darkness and into the hands
of God's dear Son?

Our brother Enoch had no Bible, no songbook, no fellow

members, no teachers, no indwelling Holy Spirit, no rent veil
with access to the Holy of Holies. But He knew God! With
neither the reproof of a prophet nor the example of others,
Enoch set his heart to follow the Lord. Why is it hard for so
many today, with all the available helps, convictions, prophetic
warnings and pleadings of the Holy Ghost, to walk in victory?
Is it not a rebuke to us that Enoch rose above his wicked day, a
man who walked with God despite so little help?

God as Rewarder
 "He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is
a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6).
H o w do we know Enoch believed God was a rewarder?
Because we know that that is the only faith that pleases God-
and we know that Enoch pleased Him! God is a recompenser, a
remunerator, that is, One who pays well for faithfulness. How
does the Lord reward His diligent ones? I know that when I
walk arm-in-arm with Jesus, in love with Him, rewards break out
on all sides. Those are times when everything I do or have is
blessed: my wife, children, friends and ministry. I see a life of
Christ growing within me that flows like a mighty river. Yes, I
have trials and tribulations, even in the closest times of walking
with Him. But through it all He rewards me with manifestations
of His presence.

There are three important rewards that come by believing God

and walking with Him in faith.
1. The first reward is God's control of our lives.

The person who neglects the Lord soon spins out of control
a s the devil moves in and takes over. Such a person has a
devastated self-image. His feelings of self-doubt and despair
cannot be curbed, and his tongue wags and moves under the
power of bitterness and anger. If only he would fall in love with
Jesus, walking and talking with Him! God would soon show
him that Satan has no real dominion over him and this person
would quickly allow Christ to control him. Then he would be
chasing demons, putting thousands to flight, standing up by
faith against every fear, lie and doubt that comes at him from
hell.

2. The se cond re ward that come s by faith is having "pure light."

When we walk with the Lord, we are rewarded with light,

direction, discernment, revelation-a certain "knowing" that God
gives us. Zacharias prophesied that Christ came "to give light
to those who sit in darkness ... to guide our feet" (Luke 1:79).
And as we die to this world day by day, that light grows
brighter within us.

When we are truly in love with Jesus, He turns up the light. In

His presence there is no darkness at all. But we can deceive
ourselves into thinking that we have the true light, when really
we have a counterfeit. Jesus warned, "Take heed that the light
which is in you is not darkness" (Luke 11:35). Jesus told the
Pharisees that judgment falls upon those who pervert or refuse
the light:

"For judgment I have come into this world, that ... those who
see may be made blind." Then some of the Pharisees ... said to
Him, "Are we blind also?" Jesus said to them ... "Now you say,
`We see.' Therefore your sin remains."

John 9:39-41

Like the Pharisees, some Christians think they "see." They

think they have discernment and are in the light. Yet they
should look at their lives and homes, at all the trouble and
confusion in their hearts and admit, "Lord, I don't see. Show
me! Am I blind?" If we will not admit to our darkness and open
up to true, pure light, then our discernment can only be a false
light. The one who goes around saying "I see" is cursed with
the worst form of darkness and pride.

Check your heart: Are you under the spell of some kind of
darkness or indecision? Are you confused, befuddled or
foggy? Then you are still walking in darkness.

Here is your answer: "I am the light of the world. He who

follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of
life" (John 8:12). "Whoever believes in Me should not abide in
darkness" (John 12:46). "He has delivered us from the power of
darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His
love" (Colossians 1:13). Go back to walking with Jesus, and He
will expose all darkness and restore to you His pure light.

3. The third re ward that come s with a walk of faith is prote ction
from all our e ne mie s.

"No weapon formed against you shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17).

In the original Hebrew this verse is translated as: "No plan, no
instrument of destruction, no satanic artillery shall push you or
run over you, but it will be done away with."

Everything Satan tries in order to get us down just will not

work. Those big guns aimed at us will melt away in Christ's
presence. Do you think Satan would dare aim at Jesus, with
whom we are walking? If he should try, God has promised to
wreck his attack upon us.

God said through Isaiah, "I have created the waster to

destroy" (Isaiah 54:16, KJV). Remember, "the waster" is under
the Lord's control. And the reward of those who diligently seek
Him is the privilege of becoming more than conquerers
(Romans 8:37) even in the midst of trials and temptations.

For 365 years Enoch shook off every fiery dart. He lived in
total victory until his last breath. He did not crawl out, nor did
he limp out; he went out in a blaze of life and glory. And God's
word to us is the same today:

"In righteousness you shall be established; you shall be far

from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it
shall not come near you. Indeed they shall surely assemble, but
not because of Me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall
for your sake."

Isaiah 54:14-15

When we walk in holiness, we will be delivered from all

oppression. We will not fear, for our security and peace will be
in Jesus' righteousness.
 Such a basking in His presence will help us see what He has
there for us: Hungering for Jesus allows us to take our seats at
the King's table. A great revelation awaits us.
 COMING TO His TABLE

An old gospel song has profound meaning for me. It says,

"Jesus has a table spread Where the saints of God are fed He
invites His chosen people, come and dine."

What an exciting prospect: The Lord has spread a table in the

heavenlies for His followers! Jesus told His disciples, "I
bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one
upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My
kingdom" (Luke 22:29-30). Hungering for Him means that, by
faith, we also are seated at this table. Paul says we have been
"raised ... up ... and [made to] sit together in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).

We now share the company of Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu

and the seventy elders of Israel who ate at the Lord's table on
Mount Sinai:

They saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it
were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very
heavens in its clarity. But on the nobles of the children of Israel
He did not lay His hand. So they saw God, and they ate and
drank.

Exodus 24:10-11

What an awesome picture: 74 men of God, seated with Him and

eating and drinking at a supernatural table! What a revelation
of glory this must have been!

A royal table also was maintained by the kings of Israel, and

it was a great honor to be assigned a seat at this table. It was
there the king shared his wisdom in glorious intimacy, opening
his heart to all who were seated with him. Israel's first three
kings give us varied examples.

King Saul assigned a seat at his table to David, but

eventually it became a great risk for David to sit there because
of Saul's jealousy. In order to test the king's intentions, David
and Jonathan, Saul's son, devised a plan to leave David's seat
empty and gauge the king's reactions. As expected Saul asked,
"Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or
today?" (1 Samuel 20:27). When Jonathan said that David had
gone to visit his family, Saul flew into a rage and revealed his
intention to kill him.

Later David, as king, granted a seat at his table to Jonathan's

s o n Mephibosheth: "Do not fear, for I will surely show you
kindness for Jonathan your father's sake ... and you shall eat
bread at my table continually" (2 Samuel 9:7).

In King Solomon's day the Queen of Sheba marveled at the

glorious feast of the royal table. She was breathless as she
beheld "the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the
service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers and
their apparel" (2 Chronicles 9:4). When she saw and heard what
took place at that table, she exclaimed: "Happy are your men
and happy are these your servants, who stand continually
before you and hear your wisdom!" (2 Chronicles 9:7).

Can you see the spiritual significance of this? In the Old

Testament, the table of kings represented feasting with the
King of kings at His heavenly table!

When the apostle Paul instructs, "Let us keep the feast" (1

Corin thians 5:8), he means let us understand clearly that we
have been assigned a seat in the heavenlies with Christ at His
royal table. Paul is saying, "Always show up. Never let it be
said your seat is empty."

If Saul could say of David, "Why does he not come to my

table? Where is he?," cannot our Lord say the same of us, who
have no justification for missing a feast? He says, "I gave you
an assigned seat at My royal table. This is where My servants
see My face, hear My wisdom and get to know Me. It is where
I feed them the Bread of Life and it is a great honor. Why then
do you take it so lightly? Why do you not take your seat? You
run about working for Me and speaking of Me-but why do you
not sit with Me and learn of Me? Where have you been?"

The sad truth is that the Church of Jesus Christ simply does
not comprehend what it means to keep the feast. We do not
understand the majesty and honor accorded us by having been
raised by Christ to sit with Him in heavenly places. We have
become too busy to sit at His table. We mistakenly derive our
spiritual joy from service instead of from communion. We do
more and more for a Lord whom we know less and less. We run
ourselves ragged giving our bodies and minds to His work, but
we seldom keep the feast. And because we miss the feast so
often, our generation has a stilted, stunted vision of the Lord
Jesus Christ. In spite of all our preaching, praise and endless
talk about Him, few Christians really know Him.

Picture the Lord looking down upon the earth, watching the
multitudes of those who call themselves by His name-pastors,
missionaries, Christian workers, saints of God. What is it that
the Lord wants most of all from those who claim to be devoted
to Him? What blesses, pleases and delights Him most? To
build Him something? To start more churches? more Bible
schools? more evangelistic centers? more homes and
institutions for hurting people? No, He who dwells "not in
buildings made by hands" wants much more than that.
Solomon thought he had built an everlasting Temple for God,
but within fifty years it was in decay. In fewer than four
hundred years, it was gone completely. In light of eternity, that
is four winks of the eye. What can we possibly accomplish for
God's glory when He already has all the glory?

The one thing our Lord seeks above all else from His
servants, ministers and shepherds is communion at His table.
This table is a place for spiritual intimacy, and it is spread daily.
Keeping the feast means coming to Him continually for food,
strength, wisdom and fellowship.

In Galatians, Paul speaks of the three years after his

conversion that he spent separated with God in the desert of
Arabia and in Damascus (1:17-18). Those three years were
glorious for Paul because he spent them sitting in the
heavenlies at the table of the Lord. It was there Christ taught
the apostle all he knew, and the wisdom of God was manifested
to him.

Indeed, for Paul, conversion was not enough. Nor was a

onetime, blinding vision of Christ, a miraculous hearing of His
voice from heaven. In spite of having had one of the most
direct spiritual calls a man of God has ever received, Paul
wanted yet more. Something in his soul cried out, "Oh, that I
might know Him!" (see Philippians 3:10).

No wonder Paul could say to the entire Christian Church, "I

determined not to know anything among you except Jesus
Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). He was saying,
"Let the Judaizers keep their legalism. Let the Sabbatarians
argue their points of doctrine. Let those who seek to be
justified by works wear themselves out. Let everyone else think
he is passing me by with all his worldly wisdom. As for me, I
will know rothing but Jesus Christ."

In order to keep the feast we need three things.

1. We need a revelation of the vastness of Christ.

Ever since the cross, all spiritual giants have had one thing in
common: They revered the table of the Lord. They became lost
in the glorious vastness of Christ. They all died lamenting that
they still knew so little of Him and His life. So it was with Paul,
t h e disciples and many early Church fathers; with Luther,
Zwingli and the Puritans; with the pious English and Irish
preachers over the past two centuries, men such as Wesley,
Whitefield, Fletcher, Muller, Stoney, Mackintosh, Austin-
Sparks. And so it has been with the pious American church
leaders, such as Tozer, Ravenhill and many others.

This is a powerful roll call of men, and every one of them

shared the same ruling passion: an everincreasing revelation of
J e s u s Christ. They cared nothing for success, ambition,
worldly fame or the spectacular. They prayed not for things,
not for blessings, not to be used of God, not for anything of
self, but rather only for a fuller revelation of the glory and
vastness of their Lord.

With the devil on the loose, displaying great wrath because

h e knows his time is limited, Christians need exactly this: a
greater revelation of Christ. Satan is exerting great power in
these last days, and hell is unleashing all its fury. The enemy's
strongholds are much more fortified, powerful and deeply
entrenched than in any past generation. Without question,
Satan-his power, his kingdom and his work-is on the increase.
He is becoming better known, less feared and more accepted.
And in this final battle against him, a basic Bible school
knowledge of Christ will not be enough. In fact, knowing a lot
about Christ will not be enough. We need to quit studying
Christ, and instead go to His table and let the Holy Spirit reveal
Him to us. This requires time.

I have read a number of volumes written about Jesus Christ,

but found that in many of them the authors really didn't know
Him. Their descriptions were clinical, precise and doctrinally
pure, but ultimately lifeless. These authors had not been eating
and drinking in His presence. Yet that is how we come to know
Him-by sitting with Him, hearing His voice and waiting on Him
to impart divine wisdom. Busy, preoccupied people never get
to know Christ. They live for years on some past vision of
glory, with no fresh word or new revelation of Him. They honor
and exalt Christ, but He has not become their very life.
 You cannot go into battle in this world, where demons rule
virtually uncontested, unless you are committed to having an
everincreasing revelation of Christ's power and glory.
Otherwise, you will have no impact against the kingdom of
darkness. The principalities and powers of evil will scoff at
you. Only those who know Christ in fullness and in
everincreasing vision will send fear throughout hell. We must
be on our knees often. We must come into the battle directly
from the throne room of God. Otherwise we will crumble before
the enemy.

Our vision of Christ today is too small, too limited. A gospel

o f "vastness" is needed to overcome the complicated and
growing problems of this wicked age. You see, God does not
merely solve problems in this world-He swallows them up in
His vastness! Someone with an increasing revelation of
Christ's vastness need fear no problem, no devil, no power on
this earth. He knows that Christ is bigger than it all. If we had
this kind of revelation of how vast He is, how boundless,
measureless, limitless and immense, we would never again be
overwhelmed by life's problems.

In the past ten years enough "how-to" books on the

Christian life have been written to fill the Library of Congress.
There is an easyformula book on every subject known to
mankind, each promising relief from problems. Yet little of such
advice is of any value, for it is all based on a stunted vision of
the vastness of Christ. Because most believers do not
genuinely hunger for God; because they do not drink the Word
and feed on Christ daily, they become vulnerable to the spirit
of the age.

Think of all the troubled marriages among God's people:

Decades of advice have failed. Books, cassettes and seminars
all have had relatively little effect. In fact, the problems have
only grown worse. What we truly need to heal this and every
other calamity is to rush back to the Lord's presence, to enter
the secret closet of prayer, sit at the Lord's table and become
lost in the fullness and vastness of Christ. All of our answers
will come from time spent at His table, learning of Him!

Again, Paul is an example to us. He was committed to having

such an everincreasing revelation of Christ. In fact, all he had
of Christ came by revelation; it was taught to him at the Lord's
table and made truth to him by the Holy Spirit. Remember, it
was three years after his conversion before Paul went to spend
time with the apostles in Jerusalem, and he stayed with them
only fifteen days before continuing his missionary journeys.
He later said, "By revelation He made known to me the
mystery" (Ephesians 3:3). The Holy Spirit knows the deep and
hidden secrets of God, and Paul prayed constantly for the gift
of grace to understand and preach "the unsearchable riches of
Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). We have "boldness and access" to
these glorious riches, he said, "with confidence through faith
in Him" (verse 12).

God, forgive us for not taking advantage of our "access with

confidence" to Your vast riches in glory!

The Lord is looking for believers who are not satisfied with
sifting through all the conflicting voices to find a true word. He
wants us to hunger for a revelation of Him that is all our own-a
deep, personal intimacy.

2. We need more intensive preaching.

If you are a preacher, missionary or teacher, think about this:

What are you teaching? Is it what a person taught you? Is it a
rehashing of the revelation of some great preacher? Or have
you experienced your own personal revelation of Jesus Christ?
If you have, is it everincreasing? Is heaven opened to you?

We ministers need to preach Christ with growing intensity.

Paul said, "In Him we live and move and have our being"
(Acts 17:28). True men and women of God live within this very
small yet vast circle. Their every move, their entire existence, is
wrapped up only in the interests of Christ. Years ago I knew
the Holy Spirit was drawing me into such a ministry, one that
preached Christ alone. Oh, how I yearned to preach nothing
but Him! But my heart was divided, and I found the circle too
narrow. As a result, I had no flow of revelation to sustain my
preaching.
 To preach nothing but Christ we must have a continuous
flow of revelation from the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, we will end
up repeating a stale message. If the Holy Spirit knows the mind
of God and searches the deep and hidden things of the Father,
and if He is to well up as flowing water within us, then we must
be available to be filled with that flowing water. We must stay
filled up with a neverending revelation of Christ. Such
revelation awaits every servant of the Lord who is willing to
wait on Him, believing and trusting the Holy Spirit to manifest
to him the mind of God.

Today we have so little fresh truth, so little of a clear and

precious word from the Lord. Our churches are overrun with
would-be prophets who claim, "God told me this," or, "I have a
word from God for you." Most of this is nonsense! What the
Church needs most right now is God's infallible Word-that is, a
true and living revelation of it. Multitudes in congregations are
trying to sift through all the clamoring voices to hear a clear
word from God. They are becoming weary of a barrage of
voices, voices, voices. And they are finding only a few kernels
of wheat from among the mountains of chaff.

All over the world, God's people are ready to move on in the
Lord. They are hungry for more of Jesus and tired of all the
lightness and foolishness being preached in the pulpit. And
right now the Lord is calling His Bride to come out from among
the foolish and the lighthearted. A holy, weeping, praying
remnant is arising out of Laodicea. And my concern is, will
there be enough servants of God in our pulpits with sufficient
anointing and fresh revelation to sustain the sheep? Or will the
sheep outgrow their shepherds? Will there be nourishment for
all those who are going deeper with the Lord?

I was once a "big-time" evangelist with an entourage of road

men and backup people. Thousands came to hear me preach.
But I grew steadily empty, having become too busy to receive
fresh revelation from Christ. I wept alone often, lonely and
hurting. Then, in my desperation, a saint of God gave me a
copy of The Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall,
a Puritan writer. The message crushed me with its depth of
knowledge of the Lord. I admitted, "I don't know God the way
this man does." And that did it-I shut down everything. I pored
through the Puritans, the later writers, and on and on-all of
those pious men I mentioned earlier. These writers made me
hungrier to find my own place in Him. I read them all until God
said, Stop! Now eat My Word.

We must not be deceived: Good works will not dispel

emptiness. Preaching on social issues will not either. Those old
Spurgeon notes will not take care of it. And the best
storytelling in the world will not help. All of our personal
experiences and clever life-applications just won't cut it.
Nothing will get us in the flow of the revelation knowledge of
Jesus Christ until we put up our notes, stop studying other
preachers and study Christ alone in the secret closet of prayer.
We all serve the same God and we all are taught by the same
Holy Spirit, as has been every man and woman who has grown
into the fullness of Christ. It simply must become a matter of
hunger and desperation. We must become hungry enough to
eat His Book, to get our own touch of God.

If you have been lax in this area, I encourage you: Determine

in your heart to preach Christ next year in fuller measure than
you did this year. Stay fresh. Offer Christ alone; go from glory
to glory. Away with all success preaching, motivational
preaching, selfimage preaching, political preaching. They are
but dregs peddled by those without a fresh revelation of
Christ.

3. We need an increase of Christ's life within.

Once I received a letter from a godly father in Christ. Reading

the letter was like hearing from the apostle Paul. He wrote,

The fact that Paul saw "only in part" did neither lessen the
glory of what he did see, nor make it more difficult for him to
declare it. I believe that in all our seeking after Him, we have to
recognize that it is the knowledge of Him we truly need; and
the truth we seek is truth that must be wrought out within us
by the spirit of life before it actually becomes ours. Knowing
this, we begin to understand that God does not see fit to impart
more, nor should we desire more, than we are able to digest and
build into our lives. Revelation can do us more harm than good
if there is not a corresponding ministration of life in our spirit.
The Tree of Life is still more desirable than the Tree of
Knowledge. Just in knowing and seeing Him we are suddenly
growing to know and understand mysteries of truth that we
could never unravel in any kind of research. "Working in you
that which is well-pleasing in his sight" (Hebrews 13:21, KJV).

This man's message to me echoed the apostle Paul, for he

said Christ was being revealed in him, not just to him (Galatians
1:16). In God's eyes it is a crime to preach a word that has not
already worked its power in the preacher's life and ministry. It
may seem all right for certain shallow ones to preach Christ
with contentionbut not so for the man or woman of God. We
must preach an everincreasing revelation of Christ, yet only as
that revelation effects a deep change in us. My prayer now is,
"0 God, let me preach only that which I understand by the
Spirit. Let it be a fullness of Christ. Let it first become a part of
my nature and character, a part of my own spiritual history with
You."

Paul also voiced a personal concern: "Lest . . . when I have

preached to others, I myself should be a castaway" (1
Corinthians 9:27, KJV). Paul certainly never would have
doubted his security in Christ; that was not in his mind here.
The Greek word used for castaway means "unapproved" or
"not worthy." Paul dreaded the thought of standing before the
Judgment Seat of Christ to be judged for preaching a Christ he
really did not know or for proclaiming a Gospel he did not fully
practice. This is why Paul speaks so often of the "living Christ"
or "Christ living in me." In Paul's eyes, any minister who
preaches to others must always be increasing in his knowledge
and practice of Christ, or he is unapproved.
 We cannot continue another hour calling ourselves servants
of God until we can answer this question personally: Do I truly
want nothing but Christ? Is He truly everything to me, my one
purpose for living?

Is your answer yes? If you mean it, you will be able to point
t o a dung heap of your life, the one that Paul spoke of in
"counting everything worthless that I might win Christ." Have
you counted all things as loss for the revelation of Him? If you
want nothing but Christ then your ministry is not a career-your
ministry is prayer! If He is all-in-all to you, you will refuse as
wickedness the ladder of success. You will hide yourself away
with Him. You will not have to be prodded to seek Him; you
will go often to your secret closet, knowing that the moment
you walk in you are seated at His table. You will worship Him,
sitting in His presence unhurried, loving Him, praising Him with
upraised hands, yearning after Him and thanking Him for His
wisdom.

So many of us use Christ to further our own ministries, to

build our own kingdoms, to advance our own careers. We trade
on His name. God, forgive us! Do we really love Him? Do we
truly want only Him? We must settle that question first. Until
we know that Christ alone is all we need and desire, we should
not go anywhere or do anything in His name, because the only
thing we can give to people that will transform them is what we
have of Christ. And that comes from time spent sitting at His
table, feasting on Him alone.
 TAKING HOLD OF CHRIST

I am convinced that many who call themselves Christians will

not be able to endure the end times. The Word proclaims that
in the latter days the love of many will grow cold and die
because of the explosive power of wickedness. Some will turn
away from the truth and follow false teachers and prophets
who will deceive them and cater to their selfish lusts. Others
will be seduced by doctrines of demons and will become
spiritually blind. In the end God will give them over to their
reprobate minds.

That having been said, I thank God for the letters I have been
receiving from committed Christians across the country. It is
clear to me that a hunger for Jesus is growing among His
people! I have read wonderful testimonies of how the Spirit of
God is compelling earnest, searching believers to embark on a
walk of holiness. Their spiritual discernment is increasing
greatly. Many are forsaking idols, dead churches and false
teachings. Among these are ministers of all denominations who
now weep for their sheep and preach with the true burden of
the Lord. I marvel at the tremendous changes we are hearing
about and seeing, as many write to tell us how the Lord is
bringing them through His refining fire. For all this I give the
Lord praise.

Yet my heart still grieves because those who are turning

wholeheartedly to the Lord represent only a small, despised
remnant. The majority of Christians-and even shepherds-are
shutting out the sound of the trumpet and ignoring the
watchman's cry. The spiritual blindness of the churchgoing
masses must be growing intolerable for God, because now we
see Him moving quickly and openly in judging His people. The
Redeemer has come suddenly to Zion with great indignation,
and He will not withdraw His hand of judgment until every last
moneychanger and thief has been driven out of His house. We
are seeing only the beginning of His awesome judgments upon
crookedness, lies, deceptions and evil distortions of His
Gospel. The shaking has only begun! "For the time has come
for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with
u s first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the
gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17).

The Needs of the Sheep

A pastor once wrote me: "You speak out about the failures of
shepherds, but you don't tell us where we are failing. I ask in
love that you back it with truth."

The failure lies in this: We ministers of the Gospel are not

holding fast to our purpose of pressing upon believers the true
cost of discipleship. Jesus made stern, uncompromising
demands on those who chose to follow Him and confess His
holy name.

We see in our pulpits today too much ego and pride and not
enough alarm and grief over sin. Few ministers now preach in
tears and agony about the backsliding and coldness among
believers. It is tragic that so many shepherds have lost the
anointing of the Holy Spirit and now devote themselves to
building their own reputations. Their eyes focus not on the
needs of the sheep, but on financing and promoting their own
expensive dreams.

The apostle Paul had a true pastor's heart-one always in

travail and always concerned for the spiritual growth of the
sheep. He wrote to the Corinthians, "I am jealous for you with
godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that
I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians
11:2). He spoke of the Galatian sheep as "my little children, for
whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you"
(Galatians 4:19). He wrote to the Thessalonians of "night and
day praying exceedingly that we may see your face and perfect
what is lacking in your faith" (1 Thessalonians 3:10).

My heart breaks when I realize how far short I fall in

measuring up to what a loving shepherd ought to be. Often I
desperately lack the Spirit that moved Paul with such love and
concern for the people of God: "For what is our hope, or joy, or
crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our
Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and
joy.... For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord" (1
Thessalonians 2:19-20; 3:8). This man of God encouraged the
sheep with letters that provoked them to holiness and great
hunger for Jesus Christ. With tears he said to them, "We also
pray always for you ... that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
may be glorified in you, and you in Him" (2 Thessalonians 1:11-
12). "We were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother
cherishes her own children.... [We] exhorted, and comforted,
a n d charged every one of you, as a father does his own
children" (1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11).

Paul did not want these people's money. He took great care
never to be a burden to them. He wrote that he "worked with
labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to
any of you" (2 Thessalonians 3:8). When he justifiably could
have received financial support from them, Paul instead chose
to support himself. He refused to put on a "cloak of
covetousness" because he had been entrusted with the
Gospel. He summed up his goal in ministry in this verse: "So
that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before
our God" (1 Thessalonians 3:13).

I beseech God that He would give me such a loving

s hepherd's heart! Oh, that the Holy Spirit would raise up
pastors and evangelists today who have no goal in ministry
other than to establish believers in holiness and to provoke
them to lay hold of Christ!

Tragically, those in ministry have so watered down God's

truth about self-denial that we have birthed a generation of
loose-living, impotent believers who do not understand the
meaning of separation from the world. Many of our churches
have so mixed worldliness into their messages that Christians
can now out-sin the wicked without blushing! In fact, in recent
years the world has been shocked and outraged by the filth
and corruption in Christendom, and justifiably so.

Much Gospel preaching today contains no mention of the

cross, no doctrine of suffering, no reproof, no repentance, no
hatred for sin, no demand for separation or purity, no call for
unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Christ, no daily
death to self, no crucifixion of the fleshly lusts, no self-denial,
no rejection of the self-life, no warnings of coming persecution
and imminent judgment. And, most tragic of all, many
Christians now prefer to hear about their rights in Christ-and
ignore His claims on us!

Christ's Claims on Us

Multitudes followed Jesus, yet He knew only a few would

hold fast to Him and become true disciples. The Jews wanted
to hold to both Jesus and Moses, to keep their traditions and
dead rituals while claiming to be Christ's followers. But Jesus
would have nothing to do with their double-mindedness.

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one
an d love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon"
(Matthew 6:24). Jesus exposes here the paradox of a divided
heart. He tears away the facade of phony discipleship and
shows us the fate of those who try to serve two masters at the
same time. We dare not miss our Lord's pointed warning:
Unforsaken sin will lead into the worst hypocrisy possible.
Some say they love the Lord and hate the devil, but by clinging
to secret lusts, idolatry, bitterness or rebellion, they instead
despise the Lord and hold onto Satan. They secretly give their
allegiance to the one they say they hate, while giving only
lipservice to loving their God.

To such hypocrites Jesus said, "These people draw near to

M e with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their
heart is far from Me.... In vain they worship Me" (Matthew
15:8-9). He is saying, "No one can testify that I am the One he
loves and at the same time despise Me by his evil doings." The
Greek meaning of the word despise is "to esteem lightly." To
despise the Lord is not to take His Word to heart-to disregard
His claims as if they are not binding. Let me list just three of the
claims Christ has on us as we desire to take hold of Him:
1. He calls His followers to love Him so passionately that all other affections
appear as hatred in comparison.

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his
own life also, he cannot be My disciple."

Luke 14:26

The Greek word for hate means "to love less by comparison."
Jesus is calling us to have a love for Him that is so all-
inclusive, fervent and absolute that all our earthly affections
cannot come close.

If we had that red-hot, all-consuming, intense and joyous

love for Christ, we would not need outlines, diagrams and
instructions telling us how to pray; we would pray because our
hearts would be on fire with love for Him. We would not grow
bored trying to fill up an hour praying ambiguously for needs
all over the world; Christ would be the object of our prayers,
and our prayer time would be precious. We would spend hours
behind closed doors, expressing the overflowing admiration
and sweet love that flood our hearts for Him. Reading His
Word would never be a burden; we wouldn't need formulas on
how to finish the Bible in a year. If we loved Jesus passionately
we would be drawn magnetically to His Word to learn more
about Him. And we would not become bogged down with
endless genealogies and end-time speculations. We would
want only to know Him better-to see more of His beauty and
glory so that we could become more like Him.

Think about it: Do we know what it is like to come into His

s weet presence and ask nothing? To reach out to Him only
because we are grateful that He loves us so completely?

We have become selfish and self-centered in our prayers:

"Give us ... meet us ... help us ... bless us ... use us ... protect
us." All this may be scriptural, but the focus remains on us. We
go to His Word for answers to our problems, for guidance and
comfort, and this also is right and commendable. But where is
the lovemotivated soul who searches the Scriptures diligently,
who wants only to discover more and more about his beloved
Lord?

Even our work for the Lord has become selfish. We want Him
t o bless our service to Him, so we can know our faith is
genuine. We want to be considered diligent, capable and
successful as a sign of His blessing upon us. I have been
crying out in my own heart, "0 Lord, is my own ministry more
important to me than You? Is love my only motive for my
Savior, or do I want to see something tangible that I have
accomplished for You?" You see, our Lord is more interested in
what we are becoming in Him than in what we are doing for
Him.

Someone reading this may be hurting because doors of

ministry have closed. He or she may feel "put on the shelf."
Someone else may think he would be more useful to the Lord
on some needy mission field. But I say we cannot be more
useful to the Lord than when we minister love to Him in the
secret closet of prayer. When we seek the Lord, when we
search His Word endlessly to know Him, then we are at the
peak of our usefulness. We do more to bless and satisfy God
by being shut up with Him in loving communication than by
doing anything else. Whatever work He might open up for us
to do, at home or abroad, will flow effortlessly out of our
communion with Him. He is more interested in winning our
whole hearts than in our winning the world for Him.
2. He calls us to se e it through.

"Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down

first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it-
lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish,
all who see it begin to mock him, saying, This man began to
build and was not able to finish.' "

Luke 14:28-30

Christ knew many of His followers would not have what it

took to see them through. He knew they would turn back and
not finish the race. I believe this is the most tragic condition
possible for a believer-to have started out fully intending to lay
hold of Christ, to grow into a mature disciple and become more
like Jesus and then to drift away, becoming cold and indifferent
to Him. Such a person is the one who laid a foundation and
could not finish because he did not first count the cost. He
went only so far because he ran out of resources and then quit.

What a joy it is to meet those who are indeed finishing the

r a c e ! These believers are growing in the wisdom and
knowledge of Christ. They are changing daily, from moment to
moment. Paul says to them encouragingly, "We all, with
unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are
being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just
as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18). They are
becoming increasingly distant from the world and its pleasures.
They are becoming heavenly minded, their spiritual senses
exercised, their discernment increasing. The older they get, the
hungrier they grow for Christ. They break loose from all earthly
attachments, and with growing intensity they long to be with
Jesus in His glory. For them, to die is gain, because the ultimate
prize is to be called into His presence and remain at His side
forevermore. It is not heaven these believers seek, but Christ in
His glory!

We can be sure that when Jesus returns, He will have a

glorious Church consisting of those who have been changed
into His likeness. Her members will have become so unattached
to this world and so united to Him that moving from the
corruptible state to the incorruptible will be just one last step of
love. It will be like breaking through a thin veil of tissue,
because they will already have drawn so close to Christ in this
life.

I know that many who read this particular message are in the
process of pausing or taking a step backward. It may seem like
a small step, but it will cause a swift decline away from His
love. If this is true of you, realize the Holy Spirit is calling you
all the way back-back to repentance, self-denial and surrender.
And at this very moment, time is a big factor. If you ever intend
to lay hold of Christ, do it now; see it through!
3. He calls us to fight Satan.

"What king, going to make war against another king, does not
s i t down first and consider whether he is able with ten
thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty
thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he
sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise,
whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My
disciple."

Luke 14:31-33

Enoch once prophesied, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten

thousands of His saints" (Jude 14). Scripture says we are kings
a n d priests unto the Lord, and we represent these tens of
thousands going out to battle Satan's army. Satan wars against
us because he hates us greatly: "And the dragon was enraged
with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest [the
remnant, KJV] of her offspring, who keep the commandments
of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation
12:17). If we have set our hearts to lay hold of Christ, we have
become the devil's target in this final conflict. He will hurl
everything in hell against us.

We must be prepared for what is coming. We must be ready

to spend our days in spiritual warfare, knowing that a flood of
iniquity is aimed against the people of God. If we are
determined to lay hold of Christ, then we need to realize that we
are invincible in Christ. It is written, "Greater is He that is in
you than he that is in the world" (see 1 John 4:4). God says we
are guaranteed victory over all the power of the enemy; we
have all the hosts of heaven fighting for us!
 This is especially encouraging because, as we have noted,
the devil is amassing greater power. We do well to remember
the words Moses spoke to Israel for God:

"You shall not make idols for yourselves.... Walk in . . . My

commandments, and perform them, [and in turn] you will chase
your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five
of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put
ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword
before you."

Leviticus 26:1, 3, 7-8

Joshua also encouraged the Lord's army with these words:

" One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the Lord your
God is He who fights for you.... Therefore take careful heed to
yourselves, that you love the Lord your God" (Joshua 23:10-
11).

Moses told them what would happen if they mingled with the
world and attempted to serve two masters. "How could one
chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless
their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had surrendered them?"
(Deuteronomy 32:30). Those who no longer cling to the Rock-
Christbecome cowardly and fearful before the enemy. Sin and
lukewarmness rob them of all power and confidence. They will
leave their first love and end up running in fright from the
devil's harassment.
 If they continue to refuse to let go of secret sin and hidden
lus ts , these double-minded Christians will eventually try to
make a deal with the devil. They will seek conditions of peace
by sending their consciences out to meet the enemy and
negotiate a truce. They want to continue their claim of loving
the Lord, but they don't want to give up that last stronghold,
that one besetting sin. And they make this truce with the full
knowledge that the devil still rules as the god of this world. He
could swallow them up at any time!

We cannot make deals with the devil. We cannot compromise

with sin even slightly. We cannot allow our faith to be
shipwrecked by compromise and false peace for even one
moment. We are in an all-out war and we have to defeat the
enemy completely to have victory over all his claims on us.

May God give us more Holy Ghost fight so that each of us

can shout to the world and all the hordes of hell, "Nothing
shall separate me from the love of Christ! Not tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or
war. No, in all these things I am more than a conqueror through
Him who loves me. For I am persuaded that neither death nor
life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present
nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created
thing, shall be able to separate me from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (see Romans 8:35, 37-39).

This is the battle cry of those who hunger for Jesus.

 A LETTER FROM THE DEVIL

The Old Testament tells the story of how King Hezekiah of

Judah received a letter from the devil:

And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the

messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house
of the Lord ... and said, 0 Lord God of Israel, which dwellest
between the cherubim, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all
the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.
Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes,
and see: and hear the words . . . Sennacherib [has sent] to
reproach the living God.

2 Kings 19:14-16, Krv

The letter that Hezekiah, king of Judah, received was signed

b y Sennacherib, king of Assyria--but it was sent directly from
hell! Sennacherib's name means "man of sin" (also, "moon-god
who multiplies brothers"). He represents Satan, the god of this
wo rld , who is determined to create for himself a vast
brotherhood of God-haters.

At the time Hezekiah received this satanic letter, Jerusalem

w a s under siege by the mighty Assyrian army. King
Sennacherib and his hosts had already carried the ten tribes of
Israel into captivity. Israel had come under God's judgment for
her immorality, idolatry and apostasy. The people had "sold
themselves to do evil," and this had been the result:

For he rent Israel from the house of David.... For the children of
Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam ... [and] the Lord
removed Israel out of his sight.... So was Israel carried away
out of their own land to Assyria.

2 Kings 17:21-23, KJV

In this passage, Israel represents the backslidden, sin-

s aturated, harlot churches of today. Israel was full of
compromise, lust, adultery, homosexuality-sheer pleasure-
madness. And just as is true today, the Israelites possessed a
form of godliness without power: "And the king of Assyria
brought men from Babylon ... and placed them in the cities of
Samaria.... [T]hey feared not the Lord" (2 Kings 17:24-25, KJv).
A gospel of mixture was evident among their ranks-and it went
with them into captivity: "So these nations feared the Lord, and
served their graven images" (2 Kings 17:41, KJV).

Today the devil has no need to seduce, harangue or write

threatening letters to such a people. That is because he already
controls this segment of the Church! In fact, he has placed his
very own "angels of light" in the pulpits. He has entrusted to
them a lukewarm religion of mixture: just enough tradition
combined with a great deal of wickedness.

No, the devil's onslaught today remains focused on those

precious ones whose hearts are set wholly on hungering after
the Lord Jesus. In the story of Hezekiah and Sennacherib, the
nation of Judah represents the Lord's remnant Church on earth.
She is Satan's target because she is under covenant with the
Lord and, therefore, poses a tremendous threat to the kingdom
of darkness.

Scripture says Judah's King Hezekiah was a godly man:

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.... He
removed the high places, and brake the images, and cut down
the groves.... He trusted in the Lord God of Israel; so that after
him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any
that were before him. For he slave to the Lord, and departed
not from following him, but [obeyed] his commandments....
And the Lord was with him; and he prospered whithersoever
he went forth.

2 Kings 18:3-7, KJV

This is why the "man of sin" was out to destroy Hezekiah.

And it is the very same reason Satan will attack you.

"No More Tribute to the Enemy!"

Up to this time Judah had been a servant nation to Assyria,

which was a form of bondage. Thus, the man of sin had yet a
place in Zion. In events leading up to the delivery of the letter,
Assyria's king had taxed Judah three hundred talents of silver
and thirty talents of gold.

And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the
house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king's house. At
that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the
temple of the Lord.

2 Kings 18:15-16, KJV

This is a picture of compromise and it can be found in God's

Church today: Christians walk in fear and intimidation,
accommodate worldliness and are afraid to step out boldly and
expose sin for what it is. Just as Hezekiah bowed to the desires
of the man of sin, the Church today pays tribute to the devil by
producing wicked rock and roll music, calling for "Christian"
entertainment and practicing double standards.

Yet, in this story, Hezekiah's heart was finally stirred. He

cried, "No more tribute to the enemy!" This was a type of Holy
Ghost awakening, a calling apart of a holy remnant-people who
would no longer compromise or fear the man of sin. At one
time, in another crisis, the children of Israel had tried leaning on
the arm of flesh by sending for aid from Egypt. But Egypt
proved to be no help to them at all. Now, the people of Judah
and their leadership cast themselves wholly upon the Lord.

Yet here was the conflict: As long as this people paid tribute
t o the devil, they remained unmolested. They had no
opposition, no war. But then Hezekiah stepped out in faith
toward God. He decided there would be no more appeasing the
devil, no more halfway discipleship, no more compromise or
worldly ties, regardless of the cost. And that's when he
received a letter from the devil.

You see, the moment you give up on this world and put your
life wholly in the hands of the Lord-watch out: All hell will
come against you! You will become a target of the devil, and
you will come under siege from the man of sin. You will be
tested severely to see if you will really trust God in all things.
And everywhere you look, you will see the enemy standing
against you.

Satan Uses Subtle Devices Against the Remnant

The Assyrians represent today's "guides to prosperity." The

devil will parade his army around your walls: people who are
powerful, beautiful and seemingly successful in all they
undertake. When you see them, you will feel walled in like a
prisoner! "And the king of Assyria sent ... Rabshakeh ... to
king Hezekiah with a great host against Jerusalem" (2 Kings
18:17, KJv).

The first trick of the man of sin is to question a believer's

commitment to trust the Lord fully. Rabshakeh was the king's
ambassador; his name means "drunken envoy." He mocked the
godly with his taunt: "And Rabshakeh said unto them, ... What
confidence is this wherein thou trustest? ... Now on whom dost
thou trust, that thou rebellest against me?" (2 Kings 18:19-20,
KJV). The accusation was, "God is not going to get you out of
this mess. You are going down! You are in real trouble, and
your faith is not going to work."

Are you in a mess right now-really deep trouble? Has the

devil told you that God is not going to rescue you, your faith is
too weak or too little, and you're as good as dead? Perhaps you
are unemployed right now, and your bills are slowly mounting.
You are scared because everything looks hopeless. You hear
the devil laugh, "In spite of all your love for Jesus, giving up
the world, doing the right things and trusting in God, it's not
going to work. You are destined to fail! You are going to end
up broke, hounded by creditors and headed for suicide."

Now, listen to the devil talk in the Old Testament: "How then
wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my
master's servants ...?" (Isaiah 36:9, KJV). In other words, he
s ays , "What can you do to stop this trouble? How will you
make it if you can't find a job-if you can't see even a month
ahead of you, let alone your whole future? How can you
possibly survive if there is an army of troubles coming in
behind your present ones? Do you really believe God is going
to work a miracle for you and get you out of this big mess?
Give up! Here-I have a deal to offer you...."

Now Satan adds a new twist: He tells you that God is the one
behind all your troubles. Assyria's messenger claimed, "The
Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it" (2
Kings 18:25, KJV). Satan will try to convince you that God is
getting even with you, that He is mad at you. This is his
slickest lie! He makes you believe God has forsaken you and
turned you over to trouble and sorrow. He wants you to think
all your problems are the result of God's punishment for your
past sins. Don't believe it! It is Satan who is out to destroy
you.

Our Lord is a deliverer, a fortress. Isaiah said He comes

to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them

beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of
praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called
Trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might
be glorified.

Isaiah 61:3
 No, dear saint, you are not going down. You are simply under
attack, being barraged by the enemy's lies because you have
s et your heart truly to trust in the Lord. Satan is trying to
destroy your faith in God.

Another device Satan uses to intensify his attack on you is to

t r y to focus your attention on his victories over other
Christians. "Hath any of the gods ... delivered ... out of the
hand of the king of Assyria? ... Where are the gods of Hamath,
and of Arpad? Have they delivered Samaria out of mine hand?"
(2 Kings 18:33-34, KJV).

Satan will boast, "I am more powerful than your God. I

brought down some of your biggest evangelists and seduced
them into gross sin. I turned some of them into money-crazed
liars. So what makes you think you can escape my power?"
This same voice came to Judah from Assyria: "Who are they
among all the gods of the countries, that have delivered their
country out of mine hand, that the Lord should deliver
Jerusalem out of mine hand?" (verse 35).

Satan will bring to your mind all the Christians who claimed to
trust God but who suffered trouble, sickness and even death.
H e will point out some dear, old trusting saint, perhaps an
elderly widow, who is always in pain and has so little to live on
she seems crushed by it. The enemy will say, "She trusted
God-and look what it got her! Those fallen televangelists were
supposed to be close to the Lord, but look how they ended up.
If preachers can't make it, how can you? What makes you think
God is going to answer you when so many spiritual giants are
falling?"

I know of one Pentecostal preacher who fell for this lie of the
enemy. It happened one day as he sat in his minister-father's
tiny mobile home. His dad was more than 75 years old, and he
was ill, with no savings. He was barely scraping by financially.
The younger man heard the devil whisper to him, "See how
God pays his faithful shepherds? You will end up poor just like
him! He led a godly life-yet he is ending it in deep poverty."

At that moment the minister told himself he would never be

p o o r. A demonic spirit entered him, and from then on he
became a wheeler-dealer, doing all he could to turn a dollar. He
became involved in shady deals. He admitted he was driven by
evil spirits. They haunted his every waking hour, saying, "You
don't have to be poor!"

This man is still in the ministry today, but he is utterly

miserable. He is losing money left and right because all his
deals eventually turned sour. His dad will probably die poor
yet happy in the Lord-but he himself looks likely to leave this
earth full of bitterness and unbelief.

Satan Will Try to Offer You a Deal

 Another of Satan's tricks is to paint a fantastic picture of what
your life could be like if you make a deal with him:

Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria,

Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me,
and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of
his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:
Until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a
land of corn and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of
oil olive and of honey, that ye may live, and not die: and
hearken not unto Hezekiah, when he persuadeth you, saying,
The Lord will deliver us.

2 Kings 18:31-32, KJV

The devil's voice whispers, "There's no need for you to be a

nobody or to suffer unjustly. Just come out of your narrow,
straight-laced ways and I'll fix things for you. You're going to
prosper! I'll give you all the money you need-corn, oil, wine. No
more bills, no more just making ends meet. I'll open the bank for
you."

What a crooked salesman the devil is! He tells you, "Just one
little deal, and all your problems will be solved. You deserve a
break; you've suffered enough. Now it's your turn to make it."
Bu t don't be deceived: Every compromise you make in your
walk with Jesus is the same as "going out" to the devil. When
you sell short your relationship to Jesus, you are cutting a
deal, making a bargain --and you are selling your soul in the
process.

Satan promises, "I [will] come and take you away to a land
like your own land" (verse 32). He says, in other words, "You
can take God with you when you go with me. You will have to
make some changes--but you will still be you. It won't hurt
anything. You can have it all--Jesus and a deal!"

Be warned: If you buy into this lie you will be the devil's slave
from that point on. There is no land of wine and oil or paradise
as he promised. The minute you come out to him, he will slap
chain s around your neck and hands and lead you off to
Babylon. You will never get what you thought you would get.
Instead, you will get the whip and chain, broken promises and
despair. You will get a taskmaster for a father. The satisfying
water he promised you is actually poisoned. No, you won't
have freedom. Instead, you will live under complete bondage, a
slave to Satan's whims.

Finally, as a last resort, Satan will send you a threatening

letter: "And Hezekiah received the letter of the hand of the
messengers, and read it: and Hezekiah went up into the house
of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord" (2 Kings 19:14, Kw).

The messenger who delivered this letter was the devil's

envoy. The letter was a reproach of the living God, designed to
make God's people fearful. It was the incarnation of the devil's
laugh. He mocked them and said, "I am going to cut you down,
make you a reproach and destroy everything in your house."

Have you received your own letter from the devil? Those
divorce papers you received may have been Satan's way of
saying to you, "Read it, you failure! What good does it do to
serve God and deny yourself? It didn't save your marriage. It's
all your fault. It could have been avoided. Phony! Failure! Give
it all up!"

That pink slip on the job may also carry the devil's voice. "So
that's what you get when you follow Jesus, huh? A swift kick?
Nobody wants you. You're too old, too much of a has-been.
You're going down, you'll lose everything. You won't have any
rent money or be able to care for your family. You're finished!"

Or what about that X-ray? There it is in black and white: You

have a terminal disease: AIDS! Cancer! Lupus! It's hopeless.
And Satan says, "So you believe Jesus heals, do you? Well,
where is He now? Why do you still have to suffer? You gave
Him everything, and look what happened. He gave you
nothing but continued suffering in return."

A dear friend of mine who is a businessman got a letter from

the devil some time ago. It was an accountant's report showing
that a trusted employee had embezzled hundreds of thousands
of dollars from his company. These were the devil's words to
him: "Read my lips. It does not pay to be righteous. This is
what you get for giving to the Lord. You pray, you give, you
walk the straight and narrow way -and you end up being
embezzled. Ha! Some deal. Why don't you give it all up?"

So what do you do when you are confronted with a message

from the devil? First, you have to spread the enemy's letter
before the Lord, as Hezekiah did: "And Hezekiah ... spread it
before the Lord.... And Hezekiah prayed" (2 Kings 19:14-15,
KJV).

Pray and seek the Lord. Don't ever talk or reason with the
devil. Simply hold your peace, as the people in this passage did
the taunting messenger: "The people held their peace, and
answered him not a word: for the king's commandment was,
saying, Answer him not" (2 Kings 18:36, KJV).

You see, God's response to the devil's letter is to read it and

laugh! "This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning
[the king of Assyria]; The virgin the daughter of Zion hath
des pis ed thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of
Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee" (2 Kings 19:21, KJV).
In other words, God takes your letter personally. He said,
"Devil, you didn't send that letter to My child. You sent it to
Me!" For "whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and
against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine
eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel" (2 Kings
19:22, KJV).
 He who touches you touches the apple of God's eye. God
says His loved ones are safe and that the devil cannot harm
them:

Therefore thus saith the Lord ... He shall not come into this
city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield,
nor cast a bank against it.... For I will defend this city, to save
it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake.

2 Kings 19:32, 34, iJv

That same night God showed Hezekiah that it takes only one
angel of the Lord to destroy an entire army:

And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the Lord went
o u t , and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred
fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the
morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

2 Kings 19:35, KJV

Remember also: "The angel of the Lord encampeth round

about them that fear him, and delivereth them" (Psalm 34:7,
KJV).

No matter how many demons invade, no matter how fiercely

the kingdom of darkness threatens, God's people are safe. Let it
sink deep into your heart of hearts: You are safe. The Lord is
set to defend and deliver you.
 The Lord Sends His Own Letter to the Devil

The Lord has written His own letter to the devil in Psalm 46.
A n d it is so powerful that when you read it aloud, all the
demons in hell will shudder and cringe in fear! It is your answer
to the devil in all his attacks. It reads as follows:

Dear "man of sin":

"God is a very present help in trouble" (verse 1, KJV here and

throughout). Our God is present now. He is our help not just in
ages past but a very present help now, today-in the midst of
any and all troubles.

"Therefore [we] will not fear" (verse 2). We have no need to

fear. Our God is a consuming fire, a defender and shield for His
children. Second Timothy 1:7 tells us, "God hath not given us
the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound
mind." He is altogether faithful and true to His Word.

"God is in the midst" of this temple, I cannot be moved (verse

5). My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit-and He says He is
in the midst of that temple. Christ Himself makes His abode, His
dwelling place, within my heart. And I cannot be moved or
shaken! "The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved"
(verse 6). Let the heathen rage, let all the kingdoms of the earth
be shaken and moved. Our God will completely destroy all
demonic attackers.

"He maketh wars to cease ... he breaketh the bow, and cutteth
the spear ... he burneth the chariot in the fire" (verse 9). He is
m y army against my enemies, against those who make war
against me. And He Himself will completely annihilate all the
devil's weapons arrayed against me: "No weapon that is formed
against [the servants of the Lord] shall prosper" (Isaiah 54:17).

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (verse 10). I will be
still and rest completely in the knowledge that He is God. He is
my God, my Redeemer, my Defender-the sovereign Lord over
all my affairs. I am safe, surrounded by His presence in the
pavilion of His love. And I will stand firm and behold His
majesty and glory!"

Dear saint, God provides this letter for all of Satan's attacks
o n your faith. Read it, meditate on it-believe it. It is heaven's
answer to your letter from the devil.
 WALKING IN THE SPIRIT

The apostle Paul commanded, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye

shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16, KJV). He
also said, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit"
(verse 25). As Christians, we have heard this phrase
throughout our lives: "Walk in the Spirit."

Many believers tell me they walk in the Spirit-yet they cannot

tell me what that truly means. Now, let me ask you: Do you
walk and live in the Spirit? And what does that mean to you?

I doubt that there are many of us who have even the faintest
notion of what the Spirit-walk is all about. It remains a vague
concept to many Christians, including ministers. But Paul
makes clear how important it is to live and walk in the Spirit.

I believe "walking in the Spirit" can be defined in one

sentence: It means allowing the Holy Spirit to do in us what
God sent Him to do. And I believe that you cannot allow the
Holy Spirit to do that work until you understand why God sent
Him.

Jesus said of the Father,

He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with

you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot
receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye
know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

John 14:1017, Klv

The Holy Ghost has been sent down to us from the Father to
accomplish one-and only one-eternal purpose. And unless we
understand His mission and work in us, we will make one of
two mistakes. First, we will settle for only a small portion of His
wo rk in us-such as a few of the spiritual gifts-mistakenly
thinking this is His total aim and missing the grand work of His
eternal purpose in our lives. Or, second, we will quench the
Spirit within us and ignore Him completely, believing He is
mysterious and therefore His presence is something we must
take by faith and never understand.

The sad truth is the Church is often guilty of both of these

grave mistakes! We think, "I must be walking in the Spirit,
because His gifts operate in me." Yet we can operate in the
gifts without walking in the Spirit. Paul says we can prophesy,
heal and speak with tongues; but if we do not have love, we
are nothing-we are not operating in the Spirit.

Many Christians today are convinced they are walking in the

Spirit simply because they pray in tongues. They reason, "How
could I pray in tongues and not be walking in the Spirit?" But
praying in tongues is not necessarily praying in the Spirit.
Many who wish to pray in the Spirit immediately launch out
into tongues-and yet their minds are totally elsewhere! The
Bible says that if you are speaking in tongues, your
understanding is not fruitful. The Lord desires us both to
speak with tongues and to pray with understanding. Praying in
the Spirit can include praying in tongues-but it is so much more
than that.

How many believers have been stunted in their spiritual

growth because they focused on one or two particular gifts of
the Spirit, yet went no further? They were somehow convinced
the Holy Spirit's only work was to hand out gifts.

And how many other Christians experience the second

mis take: The Holy Spirit is quenched inside them-seldom
acknowledged, rarely consulted, and unable to do in them what
God sent Him to do.

We acknowledge the work of Jesus Christ on the cross and

we believe He abides in us and we know His presence. But we
do not acknowledge the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit
within us. Do you wonder what this means? It is simply this:
Do you talk to the Holy Spirit as you do Jesus? Do you
acknowledge Him daily?

I admit, this has been a problem for me. But I had an

experience recently in which the Holy Spirit spoke to me in my
prayer closet. He said, David, acknowledge Me. Don't keep Me
in some dark corner of your mind and heart. Acknowledge that
I am manifesting Myself to you right now.

A time must come when you become serious about why the
Holy Spirit has been given to you. You must be able to say,
"Holy Spirit, the Bible says You were sent to me as a gift from
my heavenly Father. The Word says You live in me. Tell me-
why have You come? What is Your eternal purpose? What are
You trying to accomplish in me?"

His Eternal Purpose

The eternal purpose of the Holy Spirit in us is to bring us

home to Jesus Christ as His eternal, spotless Bride.

The Holy Spirit has come to dwell in you and me to seal,

s anctify, empower and prepare us-all for the bridehood of
Christ. He has been sent into our world to prepare a Bride for
marriage!

An Old Testament type of this relationship between believers

and the Holy Spirit is found in Genesis 24. Abraham sent his
eldest servant, Eliezer, to find a bride for his son Isaac. Eliezer's
name means "mighty, divine helper"-a type of the Holy Spirit.
And just as surely as this mighty helper came back with
Rebekah to present her as a bride to Isaac, likewise the Holy
Spirit will not fail to bring back a Bride for our Lord Jesus
Christ.

God chose Rebekah as a bride for Isaac, and the Lord led
Eliezer right to her. The servant's entire mission and purpose
was focused on one thing: to bring Rebekah to Isaac-to get her
to leave all she had, and to be enamored of Isaac and espoused
to him. Rebekah's family recognized this. They said to Eliezer,
"We see this is from the Lord. Take her and go-let her be the
master's son's wife" (see Genesis 24:50-51).

And so it is with you and me. God chose us. Our salvation-
our being chosen for Christ-was done by the Lord. He sent the
Holy Spirit to lead us to Jesus-and if we trust Him, the Spirit
will bring us safely home as Christ's eternal Bride.

Don't think for a moment you chose Christ first. You were a
stranger, an alien: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen
you" (John 15:16, KJV). "I have chosen you out of the world,
therefore the world hateth you" (verse 19). "He hath chosen us
in him before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4,
KJV). "God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2
Thessalonians 2:13, KJV).

Moses told Israel they were a special, chosen people: "For

thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God
hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all
people that are upon the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:6,
KJV). Oh, how the Israelites loved this message! They loved
being chosen, being special in God's eyes.

But the problem with Israel was they wanted to enjoy the
benefits of their chosenness without taking on the obligation
and discipline of becoming worthy of their Master.

You see, Eliezer had told Rebekah, "You've been chosen.

Now I will bless you with many blessings." And Rebekah put
on the gold bracelets and earrings, jewels, silver and expensive
clothes Eliezer had brought for her. Then Eliezer said, "Come,
go with me."

Suppose Rebekah had answered, "Thank you for choosing

me, and for all these blessings. But I can't go now-I'm enjoying
my present place too much."
 I ask you, don't we respond in much the same way today? We
take all the blessings-all the gold and silver-and we accept the
"chosenness." But there comes a time when we must get up
and go. We have to go with our Eliezer, the Holy Ghost. He
tells us, "I have a divine purpose. I came with a mission from
God-and I'm going to complete it!" And just as Eliezer came
home with a bride for Isaac, the Holy Spirit will not come back
empty-handed. The nation of Israel never got up and followed
the Lord's leading to the Promised Land. They never followed
the Spirit at all costs. They continued in stubborn rebellion,
backslidings, spiritual harlotry and idolatry. They were chosen,
but not cleansed. They were special, but they never separated
themselves unto Him. And when it was time to go into Canaan,
they were not ready. Instead, they were turned aside, having
learned nothing in the wilderness. They were as backslidden as
they had been at the beginning. What a tragedy! All that time
living only for self.

This is truly a picture of modern-day Christianity. We gloat

over being chosen and called of God, but we do not want the
discipline of the Holy Ghost to prepare us for the holiness of
the bridehood. We take all His blessings, His gold and silver
and His great provision. But when the Holy Spirit says, "Let's
get up and go, it's time to get prepared as a Bride for the
Master"-then it's a different story.

If you were to tell me that you are saved, that you are chosen
in Christ and that you love Him, I would have to ask: "Do you
have a `Rebekah heart'? Is Jesus the Lover of your soul? Is
your love for Him growing and consuming your heart? Are you
more hungry than ever to please Him, follow Him wherever He
may lead?" Rebekah was asked, "Wilt thou go with this man?
And she said, I will go" (Genesis 24:58, KJV).

His Mission

Everything the Holy Spirit does in us is related to His

mission.

The Holy Spirit does not perform His work in us in some

disjointed, haphazard way. He does not exist simply to help us
cope with life, to get us through crises and to see us through
lonely nights. He is not present in us just to pick us up and
pump in a little more strength before putting us back into the
race.

Everything the Holy Ghost does is related to His reason for

coming, which is to bring us home as a prepared Bride. He acts
only in keeping with that mission. Yes, He is our Guide, our
Comforter, our Strength in time of need. But He uses every act
of deliveranceevery touch, every manifestation of Himself in
us-to make us more suitable as a Bride.

Neither is the Holy Ghost here just to give gifts to believers.

His every gift has a purpose behind it. If you prophesy, that
prophecy has one purpose: to glorify Christ and to make the
world and His Church fall in love with Him. Every time someone
is healed, the Holy Ghost is saying, "Take a look. That's your
Jesus! Isn't He wonderful? He embodies healing-you're seeing
the manifestation of who He is!"

Indeed, those gifts are our Eliezer, saying, "Do you love
Jesus? Look at what He's done for you!" Everything the Holy
Spirit does points to Jesus, for the Spirit "shall not speak of
himself" (John 16:13, KJV). "But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father . . . he shall testify
of me" (John 15:26, tcJV).

The Holy Spirit has only one message; everything He teaches

leads to one, central truth. He may shine in us like a many-
splendored jewel, but every ray of truth is meant to bring us to
a single truth, and it is this: "You are not your own--you have
been bought with a price. You have been chosen to be
espoused to Christ. And I, the Spirit of God, have been sent to
reveal to you the truth that will set you free from all other
loves. My truth will break every bondage to sin and deal with
all unbelief. For you are not of this world; you are headed for a
glorious meeting with your Espoused and are being readied for
His Marriage Supper. All things are now ready-and I am
preparing you! I want to present you spotless, with a
passionate love in your heart for Him."

That is the work of the Holy Spirit-to manifest Jesus to the

Church so that we will fall in love with Him. And, even better,
that love will keep us! The Bible says if we walk in that kind of
spirit, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Why? Because
the Spirit is turning our hearts to Christ. He comes to open
Jesus to us, to show us the beauty of His holiness.

We talk a lot about Holy-Ghost guidance. We cry out, "Lead

me, Lord. Show me the way to go." Yet we do not always yield
to His guidance. Instead, we spend our time trying to decide,
"Did I hear the right voice? Or did I miss it? Was it just my
flesh? Why didn't it work out the way I thought it should?" We
become so concerned about "getting it right" that we end up
not trusting the Holy Ghost at all! We do not believe He abides
in us, that He has an eternal purpose, that if we will just yield to
Him, He will guide us into God's plan.

I ask you: Why are the manifestations and gifts of the Spirit
given? Paul said it was for our profit: "The manifestation of the
Spirit is given to every man to profit withal" (1 Corinthians 12:7,
KJV). The gift of wisdom has nothing to do with the wisdom of
this world. Rather, it is wisdom in the things of Christ. Faith,
healing, miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues,
interpretationswhat is the profit of these gifts "withal"? It is to
bring us to Christ as a Bride.

Everything the Holy Spirit does aims in that direction-and

although we may forget this, the Spirit never does. Not one of
these gifts has any meaning whatsoever if it is separated from
the Holy Spirit's eternal purpose. Instead, it becomes only a
"clanging cymbal." The operations of spiritual gifts have
meaning only as they conform us to the likeness of Jesus
Christ.

Have you ever been to a miracle or healing meeting? Did what

you see humble you? Did it show you the "exceeding
sinfulness of sin"? Did it flood your soul with love for Jesus?
Did it make you long for His return? If not, then the Holy Spirit
was not present because that is His work. His purpose is to
draw the Bride nearer to the Bridegroom. If that did not happen,
then what you saw was of the flesh. The Holy Ghost does not
come to entertain, to provide signs and wonders and miracles
just to thrill us or make us feel good. No, every one of His
workings has this divine purpose: "I am preparing a Bride."

The work, ministry and mission of the Holy Spirit is singular:

It is to wean us from this world ... to create a longing in us for
Jes us ' soon appearance ... to convict us of everything that
would blemish us ... to turn our eyes away from everything but
Jesus ... to adorn us with the ornaments of a passionate desire
to be with Him as His Bride.

How the Holy Spirit must grieve as He beholds pastors and

evangelists today turning His ministry into a circus! The Spirit
cannot bear the manipulations and fleshly showmanship, all
done in His name. I have heard recently about phenomenal
gimmicks that have been used to try to create a sense of His
presence. How grievous that must be to God's heart!
Moreover, it is blasphemy against the Spirit of God.

If the Holy Spirit is at work in a church, then every song,

every word of praise, every note of every instrument is given
unction by the Spirit to exalt Christ. The Spirit is doing what He
has been called to do-present us to our Bridegroom in all His
glory and majesty. In every healing, prophecy and
manifestation of God's glory in His house the Holy Spirit is at
work, saying to us, "This is the love of your Espoused-this is
what He is like. Isn't He wonderful? Isn't He kind, gentle,
considerate, merciful? And you're seeing only a glimpse of Him
to whom I lead you!"

Now let me show you one of the most glorious works of the
Holy Spirit.

His Work

The Holy Spirit has been sent to give us a foretaste of Christ.

A foretaste is an advance taste or realization. The Bible calls

it an earnest-"the earnest of our inheritance" (Ephesians 1:14,
KJV). It means to have a taste of the whole before we have the
whole. Our inheritance is Christ Himself-and the Holy Spirit
brings us into His very presence as a foretaste of being
received as His Bride, enjoying everlasting love and
communion with Him.
 Paul describes a people of God who are "sealed with that
Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 1: 13, KJv). This speaks of a people
specially marked by a work of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit has
produced in them a distinguishing mark, a glorious inner work,
something supernatural that has changed them forever. They
are not ordinary believers anymore. They are no longer "of this
world," since they have set their affections on things above,
not on the things of this earth. They are not moved by the
world's events; rather, they are unshakable. They are no longer
lukewarm or halfhearted. Instead, their hearts cry out night and
day, "Come quickly, Lord Jesus...."

What happened to change them? What did the Holy Spirit do

i n these believers? What marked and sealed them forever as
the Lord's possession? Simply this: The Holy Ghost gave them
a foretaste of the glory of His presence! He came to them,
rolled back heaven-and they experienced a supernatural
manifestation of His exceeding greatness.

This is why it is so necessary that God's house be holy-why

our hearts and hands must be clean, why we can have nothing
in us to hinder the Spirit's work. It is because the Spirit of God
delights in pulling back the veil, to give us a foretaste of what
is coming.

Right now the Holy Spirit is opening the eyes of His chosen
ones-"the eyes of your understanding being enlightened"
(Ephesians 1:18, tcuv). The Holy Spirit comes to a church that
wants Him and is praying ... to shepherds who are broken
before God ... to believers who have no concern other than to
see the Body of Christ conformed to the image of heaven. And
God is sealing such a people right now! You can go to
meetings in which Jesus is so real that you taste a little bit of
heaven in your soul. You come away with such a sense of
eternal reality that your problems no longer bother you, the
lapsing economy doesn't shake you, and you are especially not
afraid of the devil. God puts a holy fire in your soul, and you
say, "This is supernatural. This isn't me-this is God's Spirit
working in me!"

He gives us "a little heaven" to go to heaven with-a whetting

of our appetites. He opens the windows of heaven and lets us
look into the glory that will be ours. We get a taste of His
holiness, His peace, His rest, His love-and we are forever
spoiled for this earth, because we yearn for the fullness of what
we have tasted.

His Completed Mission

The Spirit's mission is not complete until He creates in us a

passionate, ever-increasing yearning for Christ.

What kind of Bride do you think the Spirit will present to

J e s u s Christ on that day of Revelation? One who is
halfhearted? Whose love is lukewarm, or cold? Who is not
devoted to Jesus? Who does not want intimacy with Christ?
 If you truly love Jesus, He is never out of your mind. He is
present in your every waking moment. Some Christians think,
"That will happen after I die. When I get to heaven, everything
will change. I'll become the special Bride of the Lord then." No-
dying doesn't sanctify anybody! The Holy Ghost is here today,
He is alive and working in you-to produce in you a passionate
love for Christ on this side of death.

Romans 8:26 describes one of the most powerful works of the

Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer: "Likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray
for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us
w i t h groanings which cannot be uttered." What is this
groaning of the Holy Spirit deep inside the heart? What is this
emotion that is so profound there are no words to express it?

The Hebrew word used for groaning means "a yearning"-a

longing for more of Christ. You can yearn after Jesus so much
that you sit in His presence and nothing comes out but a deep
groaning, something that cannot be uttered. It says, "Jesus,
You're the only happiness there is in this world. I have tasted
and seen that You are good-and I want all of You."

This is the deep, inner cry of someone who hungers for

holiness and is anguished over his iniquities. Yet he admits, "I
don't know how to pray. I don't know what to pray for, or as I
should." His heart's cry is: "Holy Spirit, come! You know the
mind of God. You know how to pray according to the will of the
Father. Walk with me-take control!"

The mark of one who walks in the Spirit is that he has an

insatiable appetite for Jesus. It is not just because he is sick of
all the garbage he sees in the world-all the filth, crime, drugs
an d unemployment. No, rather, it is something very positive.
Like Paul, he is simply anxious to depart and be with the Lord.
He is being moved upon by the Spirit to pursue Christ with
such passion and emotion that He is overwhelmed. His heart
so longs for Christ that no words can express his hunger and
love. It is a marvelous, powerful experience-yet it is also
painful, because he cannot yet come into the fullness that
awaits him!

Sadly, few today have this longing for Christ. There is little
hungering or thirsting, and so little passion. Each Sunday
churches are packed with Christians who never question or
examine their love for Christ.

But the Holy Ghost has found His people. They are allowing
the Spirit to take control. They are beginning to yield to Him-
and the more they do, the more His inner groaning comes forth.
I ask you: What has happened in your life since you got
saved? Are you just going through the motions? Are you
lukewarm? Are you afraid to be set "on fire" for the Lord
because you will be considered a fanatic?
 Ask the Holy Ghost so to reveal Christ to your heart that you
will be totally weaned from this world. That's what happened to
Abraham. He said, "I'm only passing through here." He was
looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. He had a
vision, and his eyes were opened to eternity.

Can you say right now that you are ready to go be with Him,
that you want Him more than your very life? You may say that
oftenbut do you mean it when you sing, "He's more than life to
me"? Are you more passionately in love with Jesus than when
you first met Him?

Right now, the Holy Spirit may be poking at the dying embers
of your love. It is because He desires to set your heart aflame
for the Bridegroom. Are you allowing the Spirit of God to
convict you of sin and unbelief? If so, rejoice! He wants you to
be cleansed from every spot or wrinkle on that day when you
meet your Bridegroom. Yield to His leading. Let Him do His
work in you completely-and you will truly know what it means
to walk in the Spirit.
 10

MANIFESTING THE PRESENCE

OF JESUS

If you were to ask any Christian, "Do you love Jesus?" the
answer you would most likely hear is, "Yes, absolutely!" What
believer would answer of himself otherwise?

But words alone will not stand in the holy light of God's
Word. Jesus said two distinct things reveal your love for Him.
And if these two things are not evident in your life, then your
love for Jesus is in word alone and not in deed and truth.
These two evidences are: 1) Your obedience to Jesus' every
command, and 2) manifesting His presence in your life.

This verse says it all: "He that hath my commandments, and

keepeth them, he it is that loveth me ... and I will love him, and
will manifest myself to him" (John 14:21, u.►v). We know what
i t means to keep Christ's commandments. But what does it
mean that He will "manifest" Himself to us?
 Manifest means to "shine or break forth." It means, in other
words, that we are to become an instrument or channel that
radiates Christ's presence. The Church often prays, "0 Lord,
send us Your presence. Come among us, fall upon us, move
upon us, reveal Yourself to us!" But God's presence does not
just "come down." It does not suddenly fall and surprise or
overwhelm the congregation. We seem to 'have the idea that
Christ's presence is an invisible smoke that God sprays into the
atmosphere, like the Old Testament glory-cloud that so filled
the Temple that the priests could not stand to minister.

We forget too easily that, in this day, our bodies are the
temple of the Lord: "Know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19, KJV).
And if His glory comes, it must appear in our hearts and fill our
bodies. Christ does not inhabit buildings or a certain
atmosphere; in fact, the very heavens cannot contain Him.
Rather He is manifested through our obedient, sanctified
bodies, which are His temples: "For ye are the temple of the
living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in
them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people" (2
Corinthians 6:16, KJV).

But why is there little or no presence of Jesus in the midst of

our churches? Why are so many congregations dead? Because
either the pastor or the people-or both-are spiritually dead!
Experiencing the presence of Jesus in a church is not so much
a corporate matter as it is an individual one. True, a spiritually
lifeless, prayerless shepherd can spread death over the
congregation. Yet every member is still a temple and remains
personally responsible to obey God and to be available as an
instrument of His presence. Your church can be dead, and yet
you still can be full of Christ's presence.

A few short years ago, four teenage boys told me, "You
preached in our church last year, and it was dead. So we four
started a prayer meeting just for us. We wanted to get right
with God, to repent and be on fire for Jesus. Our group grew to
ten, and we helped other fellows get saved. Now we're inviting
the deacons and pastors to come and pray with us. We really
have a changed church. The Lord is there now!"

A true revival, as I see it, is a restoration of this kind of

intense love for Jesus. This love is marked by a new desire to
obey His every word, a heart attitude that says, "whatever He
says, I will do." Indeed, a revival is a return to obedient love by
a people who have individually confessed and forsaken all sin,
desiring only to become channels of Christ's presence. True
revival is embodied in such people. They carry Christ's glory
and presence with them, because His life flows through them at
all times.

Pastors of large churches have said to me, "You must come

a n d see what God is doing. Thousands are coming-we're
packed out. Our worship is really something to behold!" I have
gone to some of these churches with great expectations, but
seldom have I sensed or experienced the actual presence of
Jesus in their mass meetings. The congregations exhibited no
true repentance. I believe that if a prophet had stood up and
exposed the divorce, adultery, fornication and mixture with evil
music that existed in those churches, half the crowd would
have walked out.

I left these meetings knowing in my heart that Jesus was not

among the people. It was clear they did not live in obedience to
Him, so in truth they could not be loving Him. Jesus will not
manifest Himself to those who say they have love but do not
obey. Wherever you find the presence of Jesus, you always
will find at least five manifestations breaking forth among His
people:
1. God's people manifest a deep, smiting conviction of sin.

Wherever holy vessels embody the living presence of Jesus,

and His holy presence bursts forth from obedient hearts, the
person who harbors sin in his life will do one of two things:
either fall down and confess, or run and hide! A day is coming
when Jesus will reveal Himself fully to wicked mankind. And
when that takes place, as the book of Revelation foretells,
people will try desperately to hide from His awesome presence:
"[They] hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us,
and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne"
(Revelation 6:15-16, KJV).
 During one Tuesday night service at Times Square Church, I
w a s overwhelmed as the presence of Jesus became real
through the godly worshipers waiting upon Him. People came
to the altar, some weeping. The fear of the Lord was awesome. I
felt like Isaiah who said, "Woe is me! for I am ... a man of
unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean
lips" (Isaiah 6:5, KJv). At our church we often preach against
sin, and many can say, "I've laid down everything the Spirit
has exposed in me that's unlike Jesus." But sitting under
convicting sermons alone will not bring the hatred for sin that
so many need in these last days. It is going to take deep,
piercing manifestations of God's holy presence. It is while in
His holy presence that we learn to hate sin and to walk in His
fear.

I hear Christians boast, "On that Day of Judgment, I will not

have to fall on my face. I will stand boldly, warts and all,
because I am trusting in His salvation, not in my works!" It is
true that we are not saved by works. But if we do not obey
Christ's commandments, then we never really loved Him, and
He was not manifested in us (see John 14:21).

The apostle John, our "brother, and companion in tribulation"

(Revelation 1:9), the one who once leaned on Jesus' breast, saw
Christ in His glorified holiness. John testified,

I turned ... [and] I saw ... one like unto the Son of man.... His
eyes were as a flame of fire ... his voice as the sound of many
waters. ... And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his
strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he
laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not.

Revelation 1:12-17, KJv

You may be as John was, a righteous brother or sister in the

Lord, a servant who has endured much tribulation. But can any
o f us stand before a Presence that shines as the sun in all its
strength? We will no more be able to look upon that holiness
than we can now look into the sun without tinted glasses. He
will have to enable us in that day, to touch us and reassure us
not to be afraid. He "is able to keep you from falling, and to
present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy" (Jude 24, KJV).

2. God's pe ople manife st the powe r to de stroy sin.

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that
hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive
them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked
perish at the presence of God.

Psalm 68:1-2, KJv

This passage is a picture of what ought to happen when you

g e t alone with God in your prayer closet. His awesome,
manifest presence is like a hurricane that blows away the dirt
and smoke of lust. Like a blazing fire, it melts down all
hardness. Wickedness perishes in His presence.
 "The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord" (Psalm
97:5, KJV). The hills in this psalm represent satanic strongholds
and mountains of stubbornness, all of which melt away from
those who are shut in with God. We can pray until we are
exhausted, "0 God, send Your sin-exposing, sin-destroying
power to all our churches!" But it will not do any good until the
Spirit raises up in those churches a praying, holy remnant
whose pure hearts invite His presence into the sanctuary. You
will not experience the real presence of Jesus until you have
within you a growing hatred for sin, a piercing conviction for
your failures and a deepening sense of the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. Those without Christ's presence become less
and less convicted by sin. And the further they withdraw from
His presence, the bolder, more arrogant and more comfortable
in compromise they grow.

Yet it is not enough for us to eat and drink in His presence.

We must also be changed and purified by being with Him.

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy

presence, and thou halt taught in our streets. But he shall say, I
tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye
workers of iniquity.

Luke 13:26-27, KJv

Those who confess that they have eaten and drunk in His
presence will really be saying, "We were in Your presence, we
sat under Your teaching." Thus they will be judged out of their
own mouths. They will admit that they sat in His presence-but
they were not changed. They remained blind to their own
sinfulness, hardened and unaffected by the presence of Christ.
Jesus will answer them, "I don't know you-depart from Me!"

How dangerous it is to sit among saints of God who radiate

His glory and presence, to whom Jesus reveals Himself so
powerfully, and not be changed! How deadly not to see the
ugliness of sin, the plague of the heart! Will you dare tell the
Lord, "I attended a church where Your presence was real-I sat
in Your holy presence"? This will seal your own destruction. It
would be better for you never to have known His presence.
3. God's people manifest a spirit of holiness.

"[Jesus was] declared to be the Son of God with power,

according to the spirit of holiness" (Romans 1:4, KJV).

True holiness has a spirit operating behind it. Wherever you

find the presence of Jesus working in or among His people,
you will discover much more in them than obedience,
separation from the world and abstinence from ungodly things.
You will find a spirit of obedience.

To these people, obedience is no longer just a matter of doing

what is right and avoiding what is wrong. The believer who
delights in pleasing the Lord has a spirit resting upon him that
automatically draws him to the light.

For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth
truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God.

John 3:20-21, KJV

Those who harbor hidden sin possess a spirit of

deviousness. This is a secretive spirit that hates reproof and
seeks to cover hidden corruption.
 A holy person is not afraid of the light of God's presence.
Rather, he invites that glaring light, because a spirit of holiness
within him cries out, "I want all hidden things to be brought
out! I want to be as much like Jesus as is possible for a human
being on this earth." This servant runs to the light, and when
he surrenders, the light of Christ's presence becomes pure
glory to him.

When the presence of Jesus is manifested, it exposes all

s ecrets and brings all hidden things into the open. God's
people forsake all darkness and become open books, to be
"read of all men" (2 Corinthians 3:2, KJV). Listen to the
language of the spirit of holiness: "We keep his
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his
sight" (1 John 3:22, KJV). In the Greek translation, these words
are very strong: "We keep His commandments, holding to them
with great excitement, because we know it pleases Him!"

Here is how I believe this spirit of holiness operates in a

church where the presence of Jesus is manifested:

First of all, brothers and sisters come to your church in

victory with the smiles of overcomers. They testify, "I'm being
changed! The Lord is putting a desire in my heart to obey Him
and walk blameless before His presence." And as you witness
this, your spirit rejoices, saying within, "Thank God, these
servants are bringing Him pleasure! My brothers and my
sisters are making heaven rejoice!" Your excitement extends
beyond the freedom we presently enjoy, and beyond our
rescue from the devil's power. It stems from the fact that, more
than all else, you are becoming a body that is learning how to
please Him. You obey not out of duty nor out of fear, but
because a spirit of obedience lives inside you. You delight in
Christ's joy, rejoicing that His heart rejoices! This is true
holiness.
4. God's people manifest a sharing of the Lord's burden.

Every true burden that the Lord has given me to bear has
b e e n borne out of a deep, life-changing encounter in the
presence of Jesus. Nearly 35 years ago the Spirit of God came
on me in a spirit of weeping. I sold my television, which
dominated my free time, and for a year I shut myself in with the
Lord in prayer. I spent months praying in my study and in the
woods, and while I was in His presence, He opened His heart
to me and showed me a whole suffering world. Out of this came
the command, Go to New York. I obeyed, and while I walked
these streets He shared with me His burden for gangs, addicts
and alcoholics.

Several years ago, God called me to a life of much deeper

communion. I spent months alone with Jesus, being purged,
laying down all ambition, wanting only to please Him. Then
came this command: Go back to New York. Now our ministry
moves only through prayer and by being in His presence. The
burden we have must be His burden, or it is all in vain.
 When I was a child, camp meetings were popular. At that time
there were no Christian campgrounds or retreats; tents and
little cabins were all that churches could afford. In later years
Gwen and I used to go to one called "Living Waters Camp" in
Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania. People would come to that camp
full of God's presence. We had no TVs, and no one dared even
to think about going to the theater. Jesus was our everything!

The meetings would last until late in the night. It was in just
such a meeting when I was eight years old that Jesus shone
forth so mightily we all ran to the altar. I remember kneeling in
the straw, and while I was in God's presence He became my life.
He spoke to me there, saying, Give Me your life! I lay for hours,
weeping and trembling at that camp-meeting altar. And when I
stood up God's hand was on my life and His burden was on my
soul. I doubt if I would be ministering today if not for the dear
saints who came to those camp meetings so full of Jesus. They
manifested His glory.

No one shared the burden of the Lord more than the apostle
Paul. Jesus laid on his shoulders the yoke of His own heart.
But how did Paul receive that burden? From an encounter with
t h e bright sun of Christ's presence: "Suddenly there shined
round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth"
(Acts 9:3-4, KJV). This was the very presence of Jesus, and
Paul's ministry came out of that encounter. Notice that the
command, "Arise, and go" (verse 6), came next. When you
have the actual, living presence of Jesus, you don't need
committees, strategies or how-to seminars for direction. The
Holy Ghost comes and says, "Go here ... go there ... do it this
way. . . ." He tells you when, where and how.

You may hear two ministers, each sincere, each preaching the
same message. The doctrine of both may be right, and each
one may preach with gusto. Yet the words of one are lifeless
and fall on deaf ears; nothing results. But the words of the
other prick the heart like a sword. This preacher shares and
reveals the true burden of the Lord because he has been shut
in with Jesus and can speak what is on his Lord's heart. God's
presence through him brings both conviction and life.

Show me a minister who is shut in with Christ, waiting in His

presence, and I will show you one who never misses the mind
o f Christ. If he takes one step out of line, the Lord brings him
back. Likewise, show me a church that obeys God's Word and
manifests His presence, and I'll show you a church body that
hears from God, knows His burden and does only what pleases
Him. Such a body lets the striving crowd pass by. They will
hear a thousand voices of good causes and promotions
saying, "Come, help us!" Yet they will not move until He says
move. This church will pursue no cause if His presence is not
in it.

5. God's people manifest an exuberant and exceedingly great joy.

"Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt

make me full of joy with thy countenance" (Acts 2:28, KJV).
Have you ever wondered what Jesus was like from day to day-
what His heart and His attitude were? Did He look crushed by
all the burdens He carried? Did He weep a great deal? Was
there a solemn heaviness in His presence?

He did weep, and He did carry heavy burdens. In Gethsemane

He sweat drops of blood, and at other times He groaned and
sighed over unbelief. But the Word of God makes it clear Christ
was full of joy and gladness:

For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always

before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be
moved [troubled]: Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my
tongue was glad.... Thou hast made known to me the ways of
life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.

Acts 2:25-28, KJV

In speaking this to the council of the Jews, Stephen quoted a

prophecy from Psalm 16. It was a vision of Christ who had a
rejoicing heart, a tongue speaking gladness and a countenance
full of joy because of the presence of His Father. Likewise, we
are to rejoice, be glad and full of joy for the same reasons-
specifically four of them-that Jesus is joyful.

The first reason is that He knew it was impossible for death to

hold Him. And so it is for us! This knowledge destroys the
wicked doctrine that says Jesus was placed in the devil's hands
and had to fight His way out of hell. Jesus knew on earth that
death could not hold Him-and so do we.

Second, the Lord is at our right hand in all our troubles. We

can rest hopefully and expectantly, knowing He is beside us at
all times.

Third, "Thou will not leave my soul in hell [death]!" We will

rise to new life in a new body, in a new world.

And fourth, His very presence floods us with joy! How can
we do anything but shout and be glad when we have been
delivered from hell, promised eternal life, given His assurance
in all troubles here on earth and have His presence manifested
before us?

At times we must be still and know He is God. Sometimes the

Spirit brings forth sweet, melodic love songs to Jesus. But
throughout God's Word, whenever He brought victory over
enemies, the people always lifted up a great shout, a loud noise
of praise to the Lord. On the seventh day that Israel marched
around Jericho, this commandment circulated: "All the people
shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall
down flat" (Joshua 6:5, KJV). "And the people shouted with a
great shout, that the wall fell down flat" (verse 20, KJV).
 In Ezra we discover that another great shout took place when
the Temple foundation was laid.

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the

Lord, ... they sang together . . . in praising and giving thanks
unto the Lord.... And all the people shouted with a great shout,
when they praised the Lord ... so that the people could not
discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the
weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud
shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

Ezra 3:10-11, 13, KJv

The Hebrew word used for shout here means "split the ears."
The weeping of the Israelites was so joyful, and the praises so
loud, that it was ear-splitting!

God wants us to know His word on this matter. Noise in

He b re w, suggests "thunder, sparks, fire." The Psalms
command us: "Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands"
(Psalm 66:1, KJV). "Sing aloud unto God our strength: make a
joyful noise unto the God of Jacob" (Psalm 81:1, KJV).

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud
noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.... With trumpets and sound
of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King.... Let
the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together.

Psalm 98:4, 6, 8, KJV

 God's people know exceeding great joy whenever the
presence of Jesus has been revealed. And if we will not shout
His praises, the trees will do it for us. In the words of a praise
song, we can "sing till the power of the Lord comes down!"

If you hunger for Jesus alone, you will experience the

manifestation of His presence.
SECTION 2
THE COST OF
HUNGERING
 11

THE COST OF GOING ALL THE

WAY WITH GOD

One of the fastest ways to lose friends is to go all the way

with God. Once you become serious about spiritual matters-
forsaking all your idols, taking your eyes off the things of this
world, turning to Jesus with all of your heart and hungering for
more of Him-you suddenly become "a religious fanatic." And
soon you'll experience the worst rejection of your lifetime.

Why this change?

When you were a lukewarm Christian you were no trouble to

anyone, not even the devil. You were neither overly sinful nor
overly holy. You were just another of many halfhearted
believers, and your life was quiet and untroubled. You were
accepted. But then you changed. You got hungry for more of
Jesus and you could no longer play church games. You
repented and turned to the Lord with all your heart. Down came
your idols of money, fame, pleasure, sports-anything and
everything that was more important to you than Jesus. You
began to dig into God's Word. You stopped pursuing material
possessions and became obsessed with pursuing Christ. You
entered a new realm of discernment and began to see things in
the Church that before had never bothered you. You heard
things from the pulpit that broke your heart. You saw other
Christians compromising as you once did, and it hurt you. In
s hort, you were awakened, turned around, made broken and
contrite in spirit, and God gave you a burden for His Church.

And the result? Now your friends and family think you're
crazy. Instead of rejoicing with you or encouraging you, they
ridicule you, mock you and call you a fanatic. "What's
happened to you?" they say. "We don't even know who you
are anymore. Why don't you go back to the way you used to
be?"

If you've experienced this, don't be discouraged-you're in

good company. Let's look at several Old and New Testament
faithful who knew just what you're feeling.

Moses, for instance, was touched wonderfully by God, and

wa s awakened in his heart concerning the bondage of His
people. In fact, Moses was so excited by this great revelation
of deliverance that he ran to share it: "It came into his heart to
visit his brethren. ... For he supposed his brethren would have
understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but
they understood not" (Acts 7:23, 25, KJV).
 Moses and his vision were spurned. But why? Moses was
t h e meekest man on earth, consumed with God. He was not
acting holier-than-thou; he was acting prophetically according
to God's will. He only wanted his brothers and sisters to hear
and see what God was about to do. But his spirituality
offended them. They rejected him, saying, "Who made you a
ruler and judge over us? Who do you think you are?"

A few years ago the Holy Spirit awakened me and I began to

embrace the Lord's call to holiness. I got serious about walking
in God's truth, and His Word became life to me. I began to see
things I'd never seen before, and I wanted to share them with
everybody. I called ministers on the phone and explained what
God was saying to me. Many came to my office to see me. I
opened up my Bible to them, weeping, and pointed out the
glorious truths of full surrender and heart purity.

I thought these ministers of God would see these truths, too -

that they would love the Word and fall on their knees with me
t o pray for a new touch of God. Instead, most of them just
blinked and looked puzzled. They said things like, "Are you
sure you aren't going a little overboard?" or, "That's a little
heavy for me." The more I sought God, the less I saw of them.
It was as if they were throwing cold water in my face. They
didn't want to hear anything the Lord had shared with me.

What to Expect
 Again, if this has happened to you since God awakened you,
you are not alone. God's Word warns you what to expect if you
are determined to go all the way with Him. You can expect any
or all of three reactions: 1. You will be rejected. 2. You will be
cast out. 3. You will be stoned.

1. You will be rejected.

Jesus warned, "If you were of the world, the world would love
its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you
out of the world, therefore the world hates you" (John 15:19).
Show me a believer who has become both a lover and a doer of
the truth, and I'll show you one who has been rejected and
persecuted by the entire lukewarm Church. Rest assured, if you
give up on this world, it will quickly give up on you.

Jesus had many followers-that is, until the word He preached

was perceived to be too hard and demanding. The miracle-
loving crowd heard His claims and forsook Him, saying, "This
is too hard! Who can receive it?" Then Jesus turned to His
disciples and asked, "Will you also turn away?" or, in other
words, "Is My word too hard for you, too?" Peter answered,
"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life" (John 6:68). No, Peter and the rest of the disciples would
not walk away. They loved the word that most people said was
too harsh and demanding; they knew it was producing in them
eternal values. They wanted to follow the truth, no matter what
the cost.
 This is the question every Christian must face in these last
days: Will we turn aside from truth that convicts us-that points
out our sins and commands us to tear down our idols? Will we
ignore truth that tells us to take our eyes off materialism, off the
things of this world and off ourselves? Will we allow the Holy
Spirit to probe and expose us?

Every lover and doer of truth desires to come to the light, to

have every secret deed exposed. Jesus said, "For everyone
practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light,
lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth
comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they
have been done in God" (John 3:20-21).

Genuine truth always exposes every hidden thing. When

Jes u s began to shed His light on the hidden sins of the
religious Jews, they sought to kill Him. Jesus said, "I know that
you are Abraham's descendants, but you seek to kill Me,
because My word has no place in you" (John 8:37). "You seek
to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth" (verse 40). "He
who is of God hears God's words; therefore you do not hear,
because you are not of God" (verse 47).

Multitudes of Christians today do not love the truth. God

says it is because they hide their sin and secretly take pleasure
in unrighteousness. These compromising pleasure-lovers are
deceived but, like the Jews of Jesus' day, they are convinced
they see clearly. They believe that they are God's children, but
they reject ferociously every word that exposes their deep,
inner secrets and lusts. Something other than truth holds their
hearts; they do not embrace God's Word like a priceless pearl.
Instead they coddle whatever that thing is-a hidden pleasure,
idol, sin or false teaching that caters to their flesh.

But a day of reckoning is coming. The Bible says that those

who turn a deaf ear to the truth will soon miss it altogether:

And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will
consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the
brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is
according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and
lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among
those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the
truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will
send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie,
that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2 Thessalonians 2:8-12

You must understand that those who reject you and forsake
you because of truth have good reason: It is because they see
you as a threat to something they hold dear. Your separated
life is a rebuke to their compromise and lukewarmness.

Paul experienced this numerous times. He wrote to Timothy,

"All those in Asia have turned away from me" (2 Timothy 1:15).
The apostle had given his all to these people, declaring to them
the whole counsel of God. He was blameless before them, holy
and unrebukable. Yet the churches of Asia rejected him and his
o wn spiritual children avoided him. Why? Because Paul was
now in prison. He was suffering-in deep affliction, bound by
chains, "a prisoner of the Lord." In the meantime, a new teacher
had become popular, one who brought an ear-tickling message
to the people Paul had taught. "Alexander the coppersmith did
me much harm," the apostle wrote. "May the Lord repay him
according to his works" (2 Timothy 4:14).

Alexander and Hymenaeus were teaching a false gospel that

catered to the flesh. Their doctrines denied all suffering and
hardship. Alexander's name means "man-pleaser." Hymenaeus
was named after the god of weddings; he represented a gospel
of love, blessings, joy, celebration and man-pleasing without
holiness. Scripture says Paul turned these men over to Satan
that they might learn to stop blaspheming (1 Timothy 1:20).
This was for the destruction not of their bodies, but of their
flesh-doctrines.

Paul said these two men shipwrecked true faith by excusing

s in, for they themselves did not have pure consciences, and
the result was man-pleasing doctrine. Alexander and
Hymenaeus had rejected Paul because he was in prison, which
they perceived to be a spiritual loss of freedom. They viewed
his chains as a lack of faith; they believed the devil held Paul
prisoner. They thought, If Paul is so holy, and if he preaches
God as so all-powerful, then why is he suffering? To those who
believed Christians don't have to suffer, Paul's prison stay was
embarrassing.

Today we still have such people-pleasers among us. Many

Christians will reject you and be ashamed of you as you endure
trials, tribulations and sickness. They'll think it's all happening
because you don't have enough faith, or because you haven't
received the "revelation" that they have about sickness and
suffering.

2. You will be cast out.

Jesus warned His disciples of the further rejection they would

face: "They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time
is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God
service" (John 16:2). Jesus was saying, "I'm telling you these
things so you won't stumble. Don't be surprised when the
lukewarm church throws you out, because they don't know the
Father or Me."

Christ once healed a young man who was born blind. When
this man's eyes were opened, he became overjoyed-he could
see! The religious Pharisees brought this man in to interrogate
him. Yet all he told them was, "One thing I know: that though I
was blind, now I see" (John 9:25). And in response to their
probing about Jesus, he added a further revelation: "If this
Man were not from God, He could do nothing" (John 9:33). Did
the religious leaders rejoice over this man's newfound vision?
No! They thought it absurd that one who was "completely
born in sins" would be teaching them by his testimony, and
they cast him out of the synagogue (John 9:34).

This young man who was healed of blindness represents the

h o ly remnant whose eyes are now being opened to the
holiness of God. Go ahead and testify as he did, giving glory to
God: "Once I was blind, and now I see!" But be forewarned:
Those who don't want to hear of your new vision will cast you
out also, saying, "Who made you our teacher?"

If you intend to go all the way with Christ, you must be

prepared to bear His sufferings: "If the world hates you, you
know that it hated Me before it hated you.... All these things
they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not
know Him who sent Me" (John 15:18, 21). Who reproached
Jesus, heaped shame upon His head and vilified His name as
filthy? It was the man-centered religious crowd! Just as Christ
walked in this world and was subject to its rejection, so are
you. If the world persecuted and reproached Him, they will do
the same to all who die to self for His sake.

This is one reaction from the "religious crowd." But you may
also find that just the opposite is true from another segment of
church life: If you are in a church that is lukewarm, the people
likely won't criticize what anyone thinks.
 I have heard hungry Christians say, "My church is dead.
What shall I do?" Their answer can be found in the book of
Acts. The apostle Paul went into every new synagogue he
encountered and tried hard to persuade any lukewarm
churchgoers about Christ, hoping they would hear. But the
people's response was to expel Paul from the region.

Hear this warning: Do as Paul did and get out! He "shook off
the dust from [his] feet against them" (Acts 13:51). Paul said to
these religious Jews, "It was necessary that the word of God
should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it ... we turn
to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46).

If you are in a fellowship or church that has heard the truth

a n d has turned aside, "Lo, leave it." You are not going to
c h a n g e anything-but they may change you! "What
communion has light with darkness?. . . `Come out from among
them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is
unclean, and I will receive you' " (2 Corinthians 6:14, 17).
3. You will be stoned.

If you hold fast to your commitment to Jesus, even in the face

of being rejected and cast out, the same man-centered majority
will stand ready to stone you: "And they stoned Stephen as he
was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit"
(A c t s 7:59). Who stoned Stephen? The most prestigious
religious council of the day (see Acts 6:12). Stephen stood
against the entire religious system!

Here was Stephen, a man who had his eyes fixed on Jesus yet
who was hated by men who supposedly loved God. Listen to
the venom of these religious leaders: "When they heard these
things they were cut [furious] to the heart, and they gnashed at
him with their teeth" (Acts 7:54). "They ... stopped their ears,
and ran at him with one accord" (verse 57). What was it about
this righteous man that so angered the religious multitudes? It
was that he preached truth that cut them to the heart: "You
stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always
resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you" (verse
51). "[You] have received the law ... and have not kept it"
(verse 53).

These leaders' hearts still clung to the world, bound as they

were by lust. They knew God's Law but they refused to obey it.
Now the two-edged sword of truth had cut to the deepest part
of their hearts. Stephen's testimony of an open heaven finally
brought down their wrath upon him:

But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw
the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,
and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God!" Then they cried out with a
loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;
and they cast him out of the city and stoned him.

Acts 7:55-58
 This stoning will not likely take a literal form in your life.
Think of it this way: Today, in this age of grace, if a man looks
upon a woman with lust, in God's eyes he is committing
adultery. If someone hates, he is a murderer. Conversely, if
vicious words are hurled at you for going all the way with God,
you are being stoned: "[They] sharpen their tongue like a
sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows-bitter words"
(Psalm 64:3).

Jesus taught a parable of a householder who owned a

vineyard. At harvest time this vineyard owner sent his
servants for the fruit, but the one in charge of the vineyard
took the servants, beat one, killed another and stoned another
(see Matthew 21:35). And so it happens today as well. God has
sent out his Holy watchmen to gather in the fruit of His
vineyard. But instead of being heard and accepted, these
watchmen have met with verbal abuse, hatred and stoning with
sharp words.

It was no different for Joshua and Caleb in the story of the

s pies told in Numbers 13-14. The Israelites wanted to stone
them for calling upon the people to go all the way with God
into the land of Canaan. Joshua and Caleb declared boldly,
"Let us go up at once and take possession of the land, for we
are well able to overcome it!" but the other spies would hear
none of it. They said, "There are too many giants, too many
high walls. Let us choose a leader and return to Egypt."
 As Moses fell on his face in grief at this expression of
unbelief, Joshua and Caleb warned the people not to rebel
against the Lord or fear the people of the land. They spoke
assuredly that the Lord would be with them. Yet here was the
response of the people: "All the congregation said to stone
them with stones. Now the glory of the Lord appeared in the
tabernacle of meeting before all the children of Israel. Then the
Lord said to Moses: `How long will these people reject Me?' "
(Numbers 14:10-11).

Why would a call to obedience provoke such a reaction in

them? Because compromise and unbelief go hand in hand.
Once the heart is captured by an idol or lust, unbelief takes
hold. And after that happens, all preaching against compromise
grates on one's conscience; that person ends up fighting God,
even while blindly confessing His name.

I believe that, like Stephen, we can say, "I see heaven open!"
Like Joshua and Caleb and Moses we can warn, "Don't rebel
against the Lord!" We can have a clear vision of Jesus-a
cutting word of truth-and we can be sure it will evoke the wrath
of those uncircumcised of heart.

What Is Our Response?

How shall we react when rejected, cast out and stoned? We

shall follow the example of our Master, Jesus, the Lamb who
"opened not His mouth." His actions say this to us: Do not call
down fire out of heaven upon those who heap abuse on you.
"Pray for those who spitefully use you" (Matthew 5:44).
"Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure" (I
Corinthians 4:12).

I have no sympathy for arrogant, self-styled prophets who

fig h t back, threaten or throw curses about. In the Old
Testament, Shimei stood on a hill throwing stones at David as
the king retreated from Jerusalem and from his rebellious son
Absalom. David's army captain said, "Why should this dead
dog curse my lord the king? Please, let me go over and take off
his head!" But David answered, "Let him alone, and let him
curse.... It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and
that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day"
(2 Samuel 16:9-12).

Scripture says that when Moses went all the way up to the
mountain and shut himself up with God, his face shone.
Although the others saw it, Moses did not know it. Eventually
he put a veil over his face, but he had not even been aware of
the reflection of God's holiness upon him. And, like Stephen,
Moses did not flaunt his touch from God. These men did not
put on airs, professing to be prophets; they did not threaten.
They did not speak of having "new" or "special" revelation.
They did not put on a display of false piety. Humility is the
mark of the soul who is totally dependent on Christ. That
person has no spiritual pride, no hint of an attitude of
exclusiveness.
 You see, we face a cost for going all the way with Jesus, but
we also will receive a reward: It is simply the blessing of having
Christ stand with us. There are many other rewards as well (see
Matthew 19:29), but I mention this one because it is all we will
ever need.

When Paul was imprisoned in Jerusalem, the whole religious

system wanted to kill him. They accused him of polluting the
h o ly place and preaching false doctrines. His life was in
danger; even the soldiers "feared lest Paul be pulled to pieces."
So they took him by force and locked him away in a castle. The
next night the Lord Himself spoke to Paul, and what a word He
brought: "Cheer up! There's even more trouble to come!"

The cost of following Christ was clear in the lives of these

men of God-and if we are going to be like our Master, then we
mu s t embrace this cost as well. Enduring it becomes a joy
because Jesus promises to stand with us in every situation.
And we can face anything or anyone when we know the Lord
stands with us.

So count the cost and know that your reward, in all things, is
the precious presence of Jesus Christ.
 12

WE WILL BE TESTED

Rest assured, those of us who want to walk righteously

before the Lord are going to face trials. In fact, the deeper our
walk with Christ, the more intense our furnace of testing will be.
Scripture gives us the reason: It is because the Lord wants to
burn out the impurities in our hearts and conform us into the
image of His Son.

"The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out
great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall
instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and
flame, by captivity and plundering. Now when they fall, they
shall be aided with a little help.... And some of those of
understanding shall fall, to refine them, purify them, and make
them white, until the time of the end; because it is still for the
appointed time."

Daniel 11:32-35

This prophecy tells us that a great time of testing is coming

upon "those of understanding." Just who are these people of
understanding who will be tested? They are the righteous--
those who do ex ploits for the Lord, who walk with God and
have the wisdom of Christ.

You may find yourself in circumstances right now that cause

you to wonder, "Why is my faith being tested? Why is all of
this happening to me?"

It helps to understand why God allows these trials if you

think back to your school days. When a test was given, your
answers revealed how much you had actually learned of what
you had been taught. In the New Testament, Paul speaks of a
different school, one in which we are "learning Christ" and
"have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus" (Ephesians
4:20-21). If you belong to Jesus, you are in His school. You
may have thought you had already graduated-but none of us
will until we are in glory!

When I was in school, I hated pop quizzes, those annoying,

unannounced tests. Yet the Lord has told us to be ready to be
tested at any time-and that such tests will continue until Jesus
returns. All who are hungry for more of Jesus will go through
these fiery trials and be purged of all that is not Christlike in
preparation for the soon-coming wedding of the Lamb.

This means we are not to run from the time of testing. Instead
w e are to be on our knees beseeching God that Christ be
formed in us. We are to long in our souls to become real
followers of God. We are to be obsessed with the desire to be a
man or woman of God. Our hearts and lips should cry out,
"Jesus, make me into Your own image. Let me become Your
bond slave!"

There is one thing I want more than anything else in this

world, and that is to become a true man of God. I want my
living and my dying to bring glory to Jesus. Do you feel that
way, too? Then we must all be prepared to enter His school.

I can't even begin to number all the ways the Lord tests His
children, but there are four tests common to all of us, and I
want to focus on them. But first I want to say a word to those
w h o may be enduring hardship for another reason. These
people are not facing tests of the Lord's choosing but, rather,
are suffering from their own choices. One reason is sin and the
other is wrong decisions.

If you want to hunger for Jesus but know you have sin in
your life, then every occurrence of sin may feel like unexpected
o c e a n waves sweeping over your soul, and you can't
understand why you are swamped again. You cry out, "0 God,
it's too much for me. I can't handle it anymore." You are
wounded knowing that you have spiritual corruption within,
and it so sickens your mind that it has likely begun to affect
your body. You are weighed down with depression and fear.
 Know that because God loves you He will work to cleanse
y o u . He brings His wrath and chastening upon obstinate
wickedness. But it is a loving chastening upon those who
repent and return to Him.You may feel God's arrows in your
soul because of your past and present sins, but if you have a
repentant heart and want to turn from error, you can call upon
His chastening love. You will be corrected-but with His great
mercy and compassion. You will not feel His wrath as the
heathen do, but rather the rod of His discipline, applied by His
loving hand.

Or perhaps your suffering comes from making wrong

decis ions . How many women are suffering because they
married men whom God warned them not to marry? Now they
are being abused and feel as if they are living in hell. How
many children are breaking their parents' hearts, bringing them
to the end of their ropes? Yet many times this happens because
of the parents' own past years of sin, neglect and compromise.

You know you have arrived at your lowest point. It is time to

seek the Lord in brokenness, repentance and faith. It is time to
receive a new infusion of Holy Ghost strength. It is time to be
renewed and refreshed, to have spiritual strength overflow
within you.

You see, when you cry out to God, He pours His strength
into you:
"In the day when I cried out, You answered me, and made me
bold with strength in my soul.... Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand
against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save
me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy,
0 Lord, endures forever."

Psalm 138:3, 7-8

Let's assume now that we have cleansed our lives as much as

we know how. We are not following paths of known sin, and
we are trusting the Lord to work with us and through us in
troubles that we may have brought on ourselves. It is not until
we come to the end of ourselves that we throw ourselves
completely on the Lord. Then we are ready to study in the
school of the Holy Spirit. Here, then, are four tests that He may
use to purify His children.

1. We are tested by afflictions-both our own and others'.

One of the most difficult things for Christians to accept is the

suffering of the righteous. Up to the time of Christ, the Jews
associated prosperity and good health with godliness. They
believed that if you were wealthy, in good health or otherwise
blessed, it was because God was showing that He was pleased
with you. This was why Jesus' disciples had a hard time
understanding His statement that "it is easier for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the
kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:24). The disciples asked, "Who
then can be saved?"

Likewise today, there is an erroneous doctrine that says if

you are in covenant with God you will never suffer; just call
out to your covenant partner, God, and He will come running
and solve everything immediately. But this is not the Gospel!
The heroes of faith listed in Hebrews 11 all walked in covenant
with God and they suffered stonings, mockings, torture and
violent deaths (verses 3638). Paul himself, who walked closely
with God, was shipwrecked, stoned, whipped, left for dead,
robbed, jailed and persecuted. He suffered the loss of all
things. Why? These were all testings and purgings, the
proving of his faith to the glory of God.

I don't know what your area of testing may be. I do know that
many of God's precious ones have prayed for years for their
deliverance, particularly physical healing, and are still waiting
for it. I believe we will have afflictions and I believe in healing.
But I also believe that God allows healing afflictions. David
said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your
word" (Psalm 119:67).

At times I've had to endure physical pain for years. Each time
I've prayed for God to heal me, yet through the pain I could feel
God working in my life, driving me to Jesus and keeping me on
my knees. And after each painful episode passed I could say it
had been good for me. Do you want to be a man or woman of
God? Do you want the hand of God on your life? Then drink
your cup of pain and bathe your bed in tears. Ask God not
only for healing, but for what He wants you to learn from the
trial.

Your pain may not be physical; sometimes another pain feels

much worse. It's the pain of being bruised and rejected by
friends, the pain that parents feel when teenagers trample their
hearts and become strangers to them. It's the pain that fills the
hearts of husbands and wives when walls of silence build up
and first love disappears. How tragic it seems, the turmoil
within, the difficulties at home, the restless, sleepless nights-
knowing that God is real, that you're walking in the Spirit and
loving Jesus with all that's in you, and yet you are still
enduring affliction. I say to you, hold fast: God promises to
deliver you.

The apostle Peter offered these encouraging words about our

trials and testings:

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which

is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings,
that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with
exceeding joy.

I Peter 4:12-13

Now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by
various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much
more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by
fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation
of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6-7

I believe that we will have to learn the lesson before the pain
will be lifted. We enact this ourselves when we discipline our
children. One of the worst things a parent can do to a child
who is being disciplined is to offer sympathy, comfort and ease
before the child learns the lesson. This can destroy the child! If
the rod is spared and the lesson never learned, rebellion sets
in. The child will believe that he can do something wrong and
get away with it. It will affect not only his relationship with his
parents, but will spread into every area-including his faith.

Jesus is our trustworthy parent, and while we are being

disciplined we can call on Him as much as we want. But He will
not move until we have learned what He wants to teach us. He
will not allow destructive sin to take hold in our hearts-so He
will not lift the rod until we yield.

Yet we mustn't forget that the whole time we're being tested
a n d disciplined we are under God's protection. Peter says
further that those who are tested by many trials and
temptations are "kept by the power of God through faith" (1
Peter 1:5). You see, when Jesus allows suffering and trials in
our lives, He's after one thing-the same thing He sought when
He asked Abraham to sacrifice his beloved son Isaac. God
allowed Abraham to lead Isaac all the way up the mountain and
raise the knife above him. Only then did the Lord say, "Stop!"
What was God after? Simply this: "Abraham, do I mean more to
you than the object of your deepest earthly affections?"
Abraham proved he was willing to lay down all that was near
and dear to him-even the son who was the sole object of God's
promise to him-and to put his future totally in God's hands. He
gave his all to the Lord.

During this time of testing we do well to check our attitudes.

Are our hearts still grateful to God for His love and mercy? Do
we continue to praise His perfect goodness? Or do we murmur
and complain that He has forgotten us, that He doesn't really
care much about us?

Nothing will reveal the contents of our hearts like suffering.

Take care that if a complaining spirit is exposed in you, you
repent of it! God hates murmuring and complaining. In fact, He
allowed the children of Israel to suffer all kinds of hardships in
the wilderness because the people had become habitual
murmurers. Their hardships could be traced to their tongues!

They murmured because they had no water, so God gave

them water from a rock. They complained because they had no
bread, so God gave them bread from dew on the ground. Then
they complained because they had no meat, so God gave them
meat from out of the sky. The Lord gave them all these things
and what was their reaction? The Bible says the people loathed
it. They still complained once they got what they wanted!

There are Christians today who would complain about what

they got if God answered their prayers because murmurers are
never satisfied. If you do what they think you should do, they
come up with a dozen more demands. The list never ends
because their spirits are out of control-not under the governing
power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible says of them, "These are
grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts"
(Jude 16).

Murmuring begins in the thoughts-thoughts of discontent, of

being mistreated by the Lord, of being misunderstood by God's
people. Scripture warns us today, "Neither murmur ye, as some
of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer"
(1 Corinthians 10:10-11, KJV).

Another way we can be tested in this area of affliction is by

witnessing the suffering of righteous, holy servants of God.
T h i s kind of testing is probably the most difficult to
understand. We read in the Scriptures that "many are the
afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of
them all" (Psalm 34:19). Yet we see many devoted Christians
dying before our eyes. Some suffer agonizing pain.

In truth, we should not be surprised when we see the godly

suffer. Peter said, "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, that you should follow His steps" (1 Peter 2:21), and,
"Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their
souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator" (1 Peter
4:19). Jesus Himself said, "In the world you will have
tribulation" (John 16:33). The Greek word here for tribulation is
thlipsis, meaning "anguish, burdens, persecution, trouble."
Furthermore Jesus warned us about the difficulties of the last
days: "They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and
you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake" (Matthew
24:9). Note that this says "all nations." Some think we are
exempt from trouble in America because we are "getting back
to God" by working to evangelize the world and supporting
Israel.

My secretary's sister, Faith, spent her last 25 years helping

ghetto children. She was a godly, caring, humble disciple of
Jesus Christ who did everything He commanded her to do. Not
long ago she died of bone cancer, and while I was praying for
her just prior to her death, I felt Jesus take her by the right
hand and lead her into calm, green pastures.

I know some are offended and confused at my saying this,

but as David said, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the
death of His saints" (Psalm 116:15). Precious in Hebrew means
"valuable, necessary." It means that He needs them, that their
deaths are necessary to His eternal purposes. Paul said boldly,
"Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by
death" (Philippians 1:20). He went on to say, "Stand fast ... and
not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a
proof of perdition, but to you of salvation" (Philippians 1:27-
28). Paul was telling us that even though suffering and death
are signs to the world of loss, ruin or disaster, to those who
know God they are deliverance.

I am convinced we don't understand the kind of marvelous

deliverance the Lord has in mind for His children. His ways are
far above ours. I've visited suffering believers in hospitals who
had more faith and hope than all the Christians around them
who were praying for healing. In some cases, the suffering
ones usually ended up praying for the others. When you have
that kind of hope in you, you're not living for this world
anymore-you're living for eternity. Those who have suffered
and died holding strongly to their faith have received a true
healing; it has meant Christ for them. Peter said they "partake
of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, [they]
may also be glad with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13). Their faith,
demonstrated here, will bring great honor to God in glory.

God wants to plant something in our hearts through all our

testings and trials. He wants us to be able to say, "Lord Jesus,
You're my Protector, and I believe You rule over the events of
m y life. If anything happens to me, it's only because You
allowed it, and I trust Your purpose in doing it. Help me
understand the lesson You want me to learn from it. If I walk in
righteousness and have Your joy in my heart, then my living
and dying will bring glory to You. I trust that You may have
some prepared glory, some eternal purpose that my finite mind
doesn't understand. But either way, I'll say, `Jesus, whether I
live or die, I am Yours!' "
2. We are tested by delayed answers to prayer.

Most of us pray as David did: "In the day that I call, answer
me speedily" (Psalm 102:2). "1 am in trouble; hear me speedily"
(Psalm 69:17). The Hebrew word for speedily means "right now,
hurry up, in the very hour I call on You, do it!" David was
saying, "Lord, I put my trust in You-but please hurry!"

God is in no hurry. He doesn't jump at our commands. In fact,

at times you may wonder if He will ever answer. You cry out,
weep, fast and hope-but days go by, weeks, months, even
years, and you don't receive even the slightest evidence that
God is hearing you. First you question yourself: "Something
must be blocking my prayers, some hidden sin. Maybe I asked
amiss. Or perhaps my faith is too weak." You become
perplexed, and over time your attitude toward God becomes
something like this: "Lord, what do I have to do to get this
prayer answered? You promised in Your Word to give me an
answer, and I prayed in faith. How many tears must I shed?"

Why does God delay answers to sincere prayers? It certainly

isn't because He lacks power. He could merely wink an eye or
think a thought and His work would be finished. And He is
most willing -even more than we are-for us to receive from Him.
No, the answer is found rather in this verse: "He spoke a
parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose
heart" (Luke 18:1).

The Greek word for lose heart, or faint in the King James
Version, means "relax, become weak or weary in faith, give up
the struggle, no longer wait for completion." Galatians 6:9 says,
"Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we
shall reap if we do not lose heart." The Lord is seeking for a
praying people who will not relax or grow weary of coming to
Him. These people will wait on the Lord, not giving up before
His work is completed. And they will be found waiting when
He brings the answer.

I thought I had unshakable faith, that I fully trusted in the

Lo rd . Then some of my very important prayers were not
answered for a long time; in fact, some still are not answered. I
reasoned with the Lord, "If You will just answer my prayers, it
will build up my faith. I can go to the sanctuary and boast of
Your faithfulness the way David did. Think of how others will
be greatly encouraged." But the whole time the Lord was
saying to me, I don't build your faith on My answers-I build
your faith on My delays!

Anybody can believe when the answers to prayer are

flooding in. But who's going to believe after a year or two
years? As time goes on, we abandon our prayers and the belief
that He will answer, and we move on to something else. We
say to God, "I'll be faithful to You. But don't expect me to have
faith to wait for answers to prayers anymore." In reality, God
wants only to make sure you're not going to relax in your
prayer vigil. He wants your heart set on persevering, no matter
how long His answer takes.

Jesus gave us a parable to prove that He waits on us to dig in

and determine not to give up. It is the parable of the distressed
widow who kept coming to the judge seeking justice (see Luke
18:2-8). The judge finally granted her request only because he
was worn down by her constant pleading: "Because this
widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual
coming she weary me" (verse 5). Jesus added to this parable,
"And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and
night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that
He will avenge them speedily" (verses 7-8).

You say, "But doesn't Jesus seem to be speaking a paradox in

this verse? First He says God `bears long' with us-then He says
H e `will avenge us speedily.' " Most of us misinterpret this
passage completely. You see, Jesus isn't speaking of delaying
a long time. He says God wants to answer us speedily but is
enduring something. God is bearing something that calls for
patience on His part. He's saying, I'll put up with this thing I
see in your heart-I'll bear with you-until you're willing to lay
hold of Me for the answer as I desire you should.

As I look back at some of the things I've prayed for over a

long period, I hear the Lord saying, David, I'm holding up this
request to you, like a mirror. And through this, I'm going to
show you what's deep in your heart. What I've seen reflected
in that mirror are doubt ... fear ... unbelief ... things that have
made me throw myself at Jesus' feet and cry, "0 Lord! I'm not
interested in the answer anymore, but only in getting this spirit
out of me. I don't want to doubt You-to pray and weep for an
answer, yet still have seeds of unbelief in my heart!"

It's true that the hardest part of faith is the last half hour.
When it looks as if God won't answer, we give up, putting all
behind us and going on to something else. And as we do this,
we think we are surrendering to God's providence, His
sovereign will. We say, "Lord, do what You think is best," or,
"Well, God, You must not have wanted it after all." That is not
what God ever intended! When we pray for what is obviously
the will of God-salvation of a family member, for instance-we
have every right to hold on and never give up until Jesus
answers. We have every reason not to listen to the devil. And
we have every right to ask God to plant the faith of Jesus
Christ in us and not let us relax until we see completion.

Too often, instead, we faint-we fail the test. If we hadn't

fainted, we would still be holding on more determined than ever
to see the answer through. Yet the Lord sees our fainting heart
a l l along. In fact, He gives us a picture of this humbling
experience in 2 Kings 6-7.

Samaria was under seige by Ben-Hadad and his great Syrian

army. The city was starving: A donkey's head sold for eighty
pieces of silver, a pint of dove's dung for five. The prophet
Elisha had prophesied to the king of Samaria that God was
going to deliver the people supernaturally. He said to hold on-
to wait, pray, repent and trust God no matter how bad things
got.

As the king paced atop the city walls, he may have thought,
"How long must this go on? We can't hold out much longer. If
God doesn't answer soon, we'll have to go out with the white
flag and surrender." Then a woman saw the king and cried out,
"Yesterday my neighbor and I boiled and ate my baby. We
agreed that today we would eat her baby, but now she has
hidden her child. King, it's unfair-make her give up her baby,
too!"

That did it! The king ripped open his sackcloth, and in a rage
h e bellowed, "Elisha, off comes your head! You had us
believing that God would answer your prayer. You told us a
miracle would happen." When the king found Elisha praying
among the elders, he screamed, "Why should I wait for the
Lord any longer?" In other words, "It's too late! The deadline
has come and gone and God didn't keep His word. Prayer isn't
going to help. It's time to take matters into our own hands!"

While the king was fainting-quitting on his faith-the answer

was almost at the gate. Elisha told him, "Tomorrow about this
time a seah [about eight gallons] of fine flour shall be sold for a
shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of
Samaria" (2 Kings 7:1). It's too bad the king hadn't waited
another 24 hours before blowing up. He didn't know that God
was at work creating a miracle. In the Syrian camp, a miraculous
buzzing filled the air-the sound of a huge army of chariots
rumbling toward them. Panic swept over the Syrians, and they
dropped everything and ran for their lives. So the Samarians
brought home wagonloads of the Syrians' food. Vegetables,
fine flour and barrels of barley poured through the city gates.
Watching this, the king must have been red-faced as he
recalled stating, "God didn't keep His word!"

This kind of thing must have happened to me at least a dozen

times. I've given up and said, "Oh, well, this must not have
been God's will. It's an impossible situation." And sometimes
the answer came within an hour of my words! Is that what's
happening with you? Have you given up and stopped pressing
in? You must recognize that God is already at work, and His
answer is just about to arrive. It is when we wait in faith and
see it through that we grow in faith and bring greater glory to
His name.

3. We are te ste d by our failings.

In saying this, I do not mean that Christians who fall back

into old sins and turn back to the world are being tested. No,
t h o s e believers are being shipwrecked. Peter sends this
warning to believers who are growing in holiness and are set
on following the Lord: "Beware lest you also fall from your own
steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked" (2
Peter 3:17).

We are tested by our failings when we take a fall in spite of all

the progress we've made with the Lord. A number of things
could be the cause of that fall-a root of anger, for instance. If
you asked someone what caused his fall into anger, he might
answer with something like this: "I was provoked by my own
family and I blew up. I can't understand it-I thought I was
becoming a little sweeter, a little more like Jesus. But somebody
pushed the wrong button and I lost it!"

If there is a root of anger or bitterness or pride or any other

area God is working on in our lives, He will make our homes a
testing ground. We will be provoked time after time until all of
the hidden fault is exposed and plucked out by the Holy Spirit.

We may think, I'm only human. How much am I supposed to

take? It does not matter that we are provoked, or even that we
might be in the right. The provoking simply proves we need
deliverance in that area. Scripture says: "Let all bitterness,
wrath, anger, clamor [fighting], and evil speaking be put away
from you, with all malice [grudges]" (Ephesians 4:31). God's
going to keep testing us until we say, "I've got a spirit in me
that's got to go!" We will see no growth in Christ, no peace at
home or on the job, until we can say, "You're right, Lord-take it
out!"
 Sometimes when we are tested we may tend to feel unworthy.
We may even wonder if the Lord still loves us. Let me assure
you that if we have truly repented God puts His loving arms
around each of us and says, "I allowed that to happen so you
could see what's in your heart. But you're making progress, real
growth in areas that matter to Me. You've said you want to
walk with Me, and I'm teaching you. I know what's inside of
you, and I'll allow you to be provoked until you get rid of it all.
But the important thing is, I'm here with you. I'll stand with you
in the midst of all your trials!"

Our response is: "Lord, You've put Your finger on some areas
in me. Pluck them out of my heart. Encourage me, Lord, that I'm
not going backward-instead, I'm going forward with You."
4. The test of isolation.

I know what it is like to face divine silence, not to hear God's

voice for a season. I have walked through periods of total
confus ion with no apparent guidance, the still, small voice
behind me completely silent. There were times when I had no
friend nearby to satisfy my heart with a word of advice. All my
patterns of guidance from before had gone awry, and I was left
in total darkness. I could not see my way, and I made mistake
after mistake. I wanted to say, "0 God, what has happened? I
don't know which way to go!"

That's some positive confession to make, you may say! But

all of us will face that kind of confusion when God begins to
test our commitment to Him. Thank God, it is only "the dark
night of the soul," and it will pass because the Lord desires to
make our paths clear. The following words came from the lips
of Jesus, God's own Son: "My God, My God, why have You
forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46).

The hour of isolation comes when it appears God has hidden

His face, and none of your friends truly understands what you
are going through. But, you ask, does God really hide His face
from those He loves? Isn't it possible He lifts His hand for a
short while to teach us trust and dependence? The Bible
answers clearly: "God withdrew from [Hezekiah], in order to
test him, that He might know all that was in his heart" (2
Chronicles 32:31).

I can honestly say that Jesus has never been more real to me
than He is today. But I can also say that there are times it
seems you can do little to break through to heaven-times when
you get on your knees and discover that the heavens are as
brass. Prayer doesn't break through. You feel nothing but
emptiness and defeat. And your heart cries out, "0 God, where
are You?"

God says, "With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a
moment" (Isaiah 54:8). But also it is He "who redeems your life
from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and
tender mercies" (Psalm 103:4). He promises He will extend
tender, loving mercies in our times of isolation.

One time, after one of my evangelistic meetings in San

Francisco, a certain young man walked into the prayer room. I
had met him years before when he had attended one of my
crusades, and he had cried in repentance and prayed for
salvation. That night he had walked out of the prayer room
with true joy in his heart. But now he looked totally forlorn; I
had never seen such a sad young face in all my life. He said,
"Mr. Wilkerson, I don't know which way to turn. I have no joy,
and God seems to be far away. I'm being tempted, and I'm afraid
I'm going to backslide and lose my touch of God. I feel nothing
but fear and trembling!"

I put my hand on the young man's shoulder and said, "Son,

this is your hour of trial. God is testing you to see what is in
your heart. Will you repent, accept His forgiveness and keep
coming to the Light? God has not forsaken you."

Suddenly tears began streaming down his cheeks. "You mean

God really isn't mad at me after all?"

"No," I answered.

Then he asked, "Is my restlessness and despair the result of

some terrible habit in my life?" I told him only he could answer
that. He replied, "No, I don't think so."

Then suddenly he began to see the light: It was not God's

fault after all! It was his own neglect of prayer and hunger for
the Word during his season of suffering that caused him to
fear and stumble. At that moment, the Spirit of the Lord began
to minister hope to him, and he raised his hands and praised
the Lord: "Take me through, Lord. Restore my faith!" When I
left him, he was thanking God for bringing him back to a solid
commitment. The Holy Spirit was beginning to shine forth in
him again.

I've known what it means to pray for, and then receive, the
finances needed to sustain our ministry. I've known what it
means to walk for a whole year with Jesus leading me every
step of the way, His voice behind me saying, David, this is the
way, walk in it. I've known what it means to get out a pad and a
pencil and to write down questions and have Him answer them
for me. Then I've immediately turned around to face nights of
deep, dark confusion when I didn't know which way to turn.
I've made multiple mistakes that cast me down in despair, and
I've cried out, "0 God, where are You?" I've gone into my
prayer closet for three or four weeks at a time and said, "God,
I've got to touch You. I've got to be broken." And I've felt
nothing but my own grief, coldness of heart and the heavy
silence of heaven. Yet through it all I sensed God was at work.
Just hold steady, I've heard the Spirit say. Ride out your storm.
When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the
Lord shall lift up a standard against him (see Isaiah 59:19).
Know Whom You Have Believed

You may be going through a flood of trials right now. You

know what I'm talking about when I say the heavens are as
brass. You know all about repeated failures. You've waited and
waited for answers to prayer. You've been served a cup of
affliction. Nothing and nobody can touch that need in your
heart!

A woman came up to me once after I preached about testing

and trials. She said, "When I came to church this morning, I
walked in acting happy and carefree. But when you talked
about the cup of pain I began to weep. I realized I was just
putting up a front. My husband has left me and my home is in
turmoil. I've had to cover it all up. But now I know-I'm being
flooded!" That woman was broken before the Lord. I prayed
with her for God to keep her faith strong, and she left with the
true joy of the Lord in her heart.

When a man or woman is hungering for God, enemy forces

will come against that person with great fury. In fact, there is
also a difficult time of sifting for God's children. But that
believer can stand up and say, "Though I am tried and tested,
though all these forces are arrayed against me, `I know whom I
have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I
have committed to Him until that Day' " (2 Timothy 1:12).
 That's the time to take your stand! You don't have to be able
t o laugh or rejoice, because you may not have any happiness
at the moment. In fact, you may have nothing but turmoil in
your soul. But you can know God is still with you, because
Scripture says, "The Lord sitteth upon the flood; yea, the Lord
sitteth King forever" (Psalm 29:10, KJV).

Soon you will hear His voice: Don't get excited, don't panic.
Just keep your eyes on Me. Commit all things to Me. And you
will know that you remain the object of His incredible love.
 13

SIFTED SAINTS
"You are those who have continued with Me in My trials.
And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father
bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My
table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve
tribes of Israel."

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has

asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have
prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when
you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."

But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both

to prison and to death."

Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow
this day before you will deny three times that you know
Me."

Luke 22:28-34

You may have heard of the late Kathryn Kuhlman, a healing

minister from Pittsburgh who was used mightily by God. The
Lord graciously allowed me to minister with her in that city for
more than five years, and during that time my wife, Gwen, and I
got to know her well.

One thing I remember very clearly about Kathryn was the

hushed tone of voice she used whenever we discussed Satan
and the powers of darkness. On one occasion I began telling
her about our work with drug addicts and alcoholics in New
York City. She must have thought I was being too nonchalant
about the subject as it related to demonic activity, because as I
spoke she became very somber. Finally, in a quiet voice she
told me, "David, don't ever take lightly the subject of spiritual
battles or satanic powers. It's a sobering topic."

To my knowledge, Kathryn never once feared Satan or

d emo n s . But the subject of principalities and powers of
darkness was no light matter to her. God had given her spiritual
eyes to see just a portion of the war being waged in the
heavenlies for the souls of men and women.

When Jesus walked the earth, He knew all too well the
fierceness of Satan's power, that he comes with every weapon
in hell to sift the Lord's people. I don't think any of us can
comprehend the great conflict raging right now in the spirit
realm. Nor do we realize how determined Satan is to destroy all
believers who have fixed their hungering hearts firmly on going
all the way with Christ. But it is true that in our Christian walk,
we cross a line-the "obedience line" I talked about earlier in the
story of Ruth-that sets off every alarm in hell. And the moment
we cross that line into a life of obedience to God's Word and
dependence on Jesus alone, we become a threat to the
kingdom of darkness and a prime target of demonic
principalities and powers. The testimony of every believer who
turns to the Lord with all his heart includes the sudden
onslaught of strange and intense troubles and trials.

If you've crossed the obedience line, then you're making

waves in the unseen world. We've all experienced harassment
from hell of some kind.

The congregation of Times Square Church, located in the

midtown section of the largest city in the U.S., represent the
broadest cross section of people, all of whom experience this
kind of harass ment. One Sunday night I had to interrupt the
worship to make this announcement: "Someone is trying to
break into a yellow Mercedes parked right outside the door. If
this car is yours, get out there quickly!" Thieves had already
stolen the radio and were in the process of stealing the car.
Thank the Lord they ran away and the car was rescued.

The owner turned out to be a woman very committed to the

Lord's work. Later that week she called my office and said,
"Pastor, I knew immediately that was harassment from Satan.
He was trying to keep me from hearing the Gospel preached.
But I won't be put ot"
 Another woman from New Jersey had her car fender
damaged, and on another occasion her car was stolen. I knew
what was happening in that situation: This woman also was
changing and growing in the Lord. She had crossed the line for
Jesus and now Satan was bullying her, trying to discourage her
from coming to church.

"Simon, Simon! ... Satan has asked for you, that he may sift
you as wheat." Here Jesus introduces this subject of the sifting
of saints. In Christ's day, grain workers used a sieve just before
t h ey sacked grain. They shoveled wheat into a square box
covered with netting, then turned the box upside down and
shook it violently. The grit and dirt fell through the netting
until only the grain kernels remained.

Sift in this verse means to be shaken and separated-to be

shocked through the agitation of sudden trials. Jesus used this
analogy to say to Peter: "Satan believes you're nothing but grit
and dirt, and that when he puts you in the sieve and shakes
you, you will fall through to the ground!"

There are tests and trials, and then there is sifting. I see
sifting as one major, all-out satanic onslaught. It is usually
compressed into a short but very intense period of time. For
Jesus it was forty days and forty nights in the wilderness, as
Satan came at Him with every deception from the kingdom of
darkness. For Peter, the sifting would last only a few days. But
those days would become the most faith-shaking, shocking
and remorseful days of his life.

Note that Jesus did not pray Peter would be spared from
Satan's sifting. Rather, He prayed that his faith would not fail.
That is Satan's prime target: our faith. Let's study this example
as it relates to our faith, and the sifting of our lives by the devil.

When Sifting Comes

We learn first from this story that Peter's sifting came

immediately after a great revelation.

Peter and the other disciples had just received from Jesus a
promise of fruitful ministry. "I bestow upon you a kingdom,"
He had said, that they might eat and drink at His table and sit
on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

The Greek word for bestow is taken from a root word meaning
"to channel." Jesus had made an incredible promise to His
disciples. In essence He told them, "I am going to channel My
Kingdom through you, just as the Father made Me a channel of
His glory." Not only would these men be channels of Christ's
majesty, but they also would be seated at the Lord's table to
enjoy eternal intimacy with Him. They would become princes,
ruling and reigning with Him!
 Yet little did Peter know that while Jesus spoke of these
glorious promises, His heart was praying in agony over what
He saw in the invisible spirit world. Satan was at the Father's
throne, accusing Peter and asking permission to get his hands
on him, as he had done with Job. He must have said something
like this: "The Son of God calls this man Peter `Rock,' saying
He will build a Church on his kind of faith. I say he is not a rock
of faith-he is chaff and unworthy to be a channel of Your glory!
Let me shake him, let me put him to the test. He has an evil
streak, he won't last. He's going to fall!"

You must understand that Satan seeks to sift only those who
threaten his work. He goes after the tree with the most potential
t o bear fruit. But why did the devil desire to sift Peter now?
Why was he so anxious to test him? Well, for three years Peter
had been casting out devils and healing the sick. And Satan
had heard Jesus promise the disciples another baptism, one of
Holy Ghost power and fire-and he trembled! Now, the devil
heard God's ultimate plan for Peter to rule in the new Kingdom.
He realized that the past three years would be nothing
compared to the greater works Peter and the other disciples
would perform as a prelude to that day. Having already pulled
down Judas, he would have to look for a measure of corruption
in Peter to build on, to make Peter's faith fail.

Perhaps, like Peter, you are in the sieve right now, being
shaken and sifted. But, you ask, why me? And why now? First
of all, you ought to rejoice that you have such a reputation in
hell! Satan never would have asked God's permission to sift
you unless you had crossed the line of obedience. Why else
would he spend his efforts harassing and troubling you,
scaring you and shaking all that you have? He is sifting you
because you play an important part in God's Church in these
last days. God is doing a new thing once again in this last,
great revival, and you have been set apart by Him to be a
powerful witness to many. He has set you free, and is
preparing you for His eternal purposes. And the greater your
gifts, the greater your potential, the greater your surrender to
the will of God-the more severe your sifting will be.

Sifting Can Remove Pride

Peter was not aware of any glaring weaknesses in himself.

Listen to his testimony: "Lord, I'm ready to go with You! I've
had three wonderful years of the best training possible. I've
been around. I have experience. I've seen demons run, and I've
moved crowds toward God. I've grown so much! I'm not the
man I was three years ago. Praise God, I'm ready, and I'm going
all the way with You."

Even the Lord's warning could not shake Peter's self-

confidence. Jesus was trying to shake the disciple, to wake him
up to the danger just ahead, but it seems Peter did not hear a
word of it. It made no impression on him because he had no
discernment. Peter was in grave danger, only hours away from
committing an unbelievable sin. Yet he went confidently on his
way, boasting, "I'm ready-I won't fail. If anybody is going all
the way, it is I!"
 Perhaps you, too, have been in Peter's shoes at times. God
has His hand on you, you've grown in the Lord and you love
Him with all your heart-but you don't think you can fall. You're
not aware that Satan is about to sift you, that you're going to
be hit heavily by the enemy's assault.

One example of this comes immediately to my mind-that of a

powerful young evangelist who was greatly used of God to
heal the sick. He had a special anointing and received
revelation in the Word. God's hand was heavy upon him.

Then he and his wife began drifting apart and they separated.
About that time, the evangelist's eye fell on a young woman.
He knew it was wrong to pursue her, so he decided to be "just
a friend." He began calling her two or three times a day and
every night, "just talking about Jesus," he said. Eventually he
ended up divorcing his wife and marrying the other woman.

Yes, he still has his ministry, but it is only a fraction of what it

was meant to be. We mustn't be deceived: This man missed
God. His example should serve as a sober warning to all of us.
May God drive out all spiritual pride from our hearts, and may
we heed His warnings.

As for Peter, within 24 hours of his boasting he became a

moral cripple-cursing, carried away by cowardice and denying
Chris t three times. He did something so evil and wicked he
never could have thought it possible. Yet Jesus could not-and
would notstop the sifting process for Peter. There was
something inside this disciple that three years of pure teaching
could not touch, that miracles, signs and wonders could not
shake, that Christ's warnings could not dig out. The only thing
left for Jesus to do was to let Peter go into the fire, straight into
the hands of Satan and overwhelming temptation.

Peter had to be broken and humbled. He had to see the pride

lurking in his heart. Whenever such a lack of discernment and
blindness toward self-confidence exist, the sifting hand of
Satan is the only alternative left to cleanse the vessel for
Christ's use.

The Role of Prayer

When someone is going through the fire of sifting, what

should those around him do? What did Jesus do about Peter's
imminent fall? Jesus said, "I have prayed for you, that your
faith not fail."

I look at this wonderful example of Christ's love and realize I

know almost nothing about how to love those who fall. Surely
Jesus is that "friend who sticks closer than a brother"
(Proverbs 18:24). He saw both the good and the bad in Peter
and concluded, "This man is worth saving. Satan desires him,
but I desire him all the more." Judas could not be saved; he had
n o heart for the Lord. He was sold out to greed and
covetousness and that became an open door for Satan. But
Peter truly loved the Lord, and Jesus told him, "I have prayed
for you." Jesus had seen this coming for a long time. He had
probably spent many hours before His Father talking about
Peter-how He loved him, how needed Peter was in God's
Kingdom, how He valued him as a friend.

Lord, give all of us that kind of love! When we see brothers

and sisters compromising or heading for trouble or disaster, let
us love them enough to warn them as firmly as Jesus warned
Peter. Then we'll be able to say, "I am praying for you."

And we need to say this in love, not in an accusing way. Too

often we react with, "You are so bad, so compromised. You
need all the prayer you can get!" Or, "I'm going to pray for you.
You sure need it." But Jesus did not lecture Peter. He did not
say, "If only you'd listened. If only you'd stayed awake and
prayed with Me in the Garden. If only you weren't so proud."
Rather, Jesus said simply, "I have prayed for you." We, too,
must take these brothers and sisters to God's throne and plead
for them to come through these trials with their faith intact.
And may they respond in kind when we find ourselves in the
same situation.

In the original Greek, you is plural, meaning "all of you."

Jesus was speaking about praying not only for Peter but for all
the disciples-and for us today:
"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom
You have given Me, for they are Yours. . . . Holy Father, keep
through Your name those whom You have given Me.... I do not
pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You
should keep them from the evil one."

John 17:9, 11, 15

When Jesus was confronted with the devil's schemes in the

wilderness, He overcame them with God's Word: "It is written,
`Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds from the mouth of God' " (Matthew 4:4). "It is written
again, `You shall not tempt the Lord your God' " (Matthew 4:7).
"Away with you, Satan! For it is written, `You shall worship the
Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve' " (Matthew 4:10).

Today we have yet another "It is written" with which we can

d o battle against Satan. It is this: "I have prayed for you, that
your faith should not fail." You can tell the devil: "You may
have gotten permission to sift me, to try to tear down my faith.
But you need to know this: My Jesus is praying for me!"

After the Sifting

When Peter was sifted he failed miserably-but not in his faith.

You may be thinking, "How can that be? This man denied
knowing Jesus three different times. He cursed and swore it!"
 But you see, if Peter failed, then Jesus' praying would have
been to no avail. I know Peter's faith did not fail because just as
he swore and it looked as if the Lord had lost a friend and an
anointed disciple, Peter looked into the eyes of Jesus-and
melted. He remembered how the Lord had said, "You will deny
Me three times," and "Peter went out and wept bitterly" (Luke
22:61-62). Wept bitterly in the Greek actually means he cried "a
piercing, violent cry." I picture Peter walking toward the Judean
hills, falling on his face with hands outstretched, crying, "0
Father, He was so right! I did not listen. He warned me that
Satan would attempt to destroy my faith. I'm not ready! Die for
Jesus? Why, I couldn't even stand up to a maid. Forgive me, 0
Lord-I love Him. To whom else shall I go?" Eventually Peter's
faith grabbed hold of something else Jesus had said: "When
you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren" (Luke
22:32). How many times Peter must have played this over and
over in his mind, pondering, "Didn't Jesus say I would return to
Him, be brought back? Didn't He say I still had a ministry?
After what I did, can I really help others?"

Yes, God answered His Son's prayer. And I can see Peter
standing up with the Spirit of God flowing through him, his
hands raised to the sky, shouting, "Satan, be gone! I failed
Him, but I still love Him. He promised-in fact, He prophesied-
that I would come back and be a strength to others, a rock. I'm
going back to my brothers and sisters!" Indeed, Peter was the
first disciple to reach the tomb when they were told Jesus had
risen. He was with the other disciples when Jesus later
appeared in their midst. He was there worshiping when Jesus
was translated to glory. And it was Peter who stood as God's
spokesman on the day of Pentecost-and what a sermon he
preached!

A flood of new converts is coming back to the Lord today,

Jews and Gentiles alike, and many backsliders as well. Where
will they find strength in the troubled times ahead? From the
returning, sifted saints, who can say with authority, "Don't
trust yourself. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you
fall" (see 1 Corinthians 10:12).

Do you sense a seductive pull of temptation in your life?

Does some kind of deep trouble brew now in your heart? Then
hear the words of Jesus and realize that Satan may have been
given permission to sift you. Don't take it lightly. You don't
have to fail as Peter did; in fact, we are to read his story and be
warned by it. But even if you have failed and grieved the Lord
Jesus, you can look into His face as Peter did and remember He
is praying for you. Repent, return and then share your
experience with others who are being sifted.

I have asked the Lord to help me give the same word of hope
t o fallen believers as Jesus did. He did not say, "If you come
back," or, "If you are converted," but, "When you return." I
want to be able to look at weeping, broken, failing sheep and
say with hope and confidence, "When this sifting is over,
when your faith is stronger, when you are restored-God will
use you!"
 So if you are one of God's "sifted saints," take heart. I know,
and you must remember as well: Satan wouldn't come against
you unless he had seen a glimpse of holiness and obedience in
your heart.
 14

THE SCHOOL OF SYMPATHY

A doctor friend once told me the process God used to enlist

him in the school of sympathy. Doctors see so much pain that
often they become immune to it, and at one time my friend was
no different. He had very little empathy for people who
suffered. He couldn't understand, for instance, why patients
with kidney stones screamed in agony. It can't be that bad, he
thought. They must be acting just a little perhaps to get
medication. Then one day he woke up with kidney stones of
his own and the pain was worse than his patients had said. It
was terrible! He needed painkillers just to get through the day.
Today my friend has true sympathy for his patients' pain.

My wife has shared with me some of the letters she has

received from women who have had mastectomies or gone for
checkups because of a lump on their breasts. They know Gwen
has survived many cancer operations, and that she knows the
agony of waking up with terrible feelings of disfigurement. The
women who write to Gwen are crying out for sympathy and
hope, and my wife guards their letters like gold. These hurting
women are like suffering students to her. She has gone through
God's school of sympathy, and now she can offer comfort,
hope and strength to them.

Likewise, today there is a Holy Ghost "school of sympathy,"

which consists of tested and sifted saints. They have been
tossed to and fro, tempted, tried, mistreated. The Bible speaks
of a "fellowship of His sufferings" (Philippians 3:10). It is a
fellowship with Jesus, a sharing of deep, mysterious,
unfathomable trials. For He, too, suffered great mental and
physical anguish. Jesus was rejected, distrusted, abused,
mocked and laughed at. He was lonely, hungry, poor, unloved,
slandered, put to shame and made the butt of jokes. He was
called a liar, a fraud, a false prophet. He was humiliated by
others. His family misunderstood Him. His most trusted friends
lost faith in Him. His own disciples forsook Him and fled.
Finally Jesus was spat upon, mocked and murdered. Yes, Jesus
sympathizes with all our hurts and sufferings because He went
through them all Himself: "For we do not have a high priest
who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has
been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews
4:15, NASB).

You can be sure that God has a divine purpose behind every
single trial you are now enduring. And ultimately, I believe, it is
to raise up comforters in the Body of Christ.

Suffering Produces Comforters

You may not understand why you have gone through such
deep testings. In fact, life may have been so difficult for you at
times that you nearly gave up. But then the Holy Spirit came
and brought peace to your heart.

As our Comforter He comes to us in our deepest sorrow, and

He strengthens and helps us and lifts our spirits. And there is
eternal purpose behind His work: "That we may be able to
comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with
which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also
abounds through Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:4-5). Paul makes it
clear that some people are permitted to endure much affliction,
not just for their own learning but to benefit and teach others:
"If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation" (2
Corinthians 1:6-7, NASB).

Who among us, though, can look at what he or she is going

through and say, "This is going to comfort, bless and save
others who will go through the same thing"? Hardly anyone!
While it's hard to believe and accept during the time of trial,
God's Word nevertheless holds true: "Tribulation produces
perseverance" (Romans 5:3).

Through His school of suffering, God is training

sympathizers. He sees the great tribulations that lie ahead for
the Churchincredible sufferings and grievous persecutions.
And God will not leave His people without tried and true
witnesses in this last time. You have been in the Holy Ghost's
school of sympathy because God has a ministry of comfort for
you. You are being taught great lessons, all for the purpose of
giving hope and consolation to others who only now are going
into the fire.

The Body of Christ today needs a people who have not been
offended or destroyed by their sufferings, who are not cast
down, dejected or full of questions, but who instead hold fast
to God's love, proving Him faithful in all things. They must be
patient, enduring and strong in faith. They should be an
example to the weak, a source of true comfort and consolation.
It is easy for those who haven't suffered to throw around
words of advice. But unless they have gone into the fire and
died to their own wisdom and doctrines, their words are dead.
They have no true comfort to offer those who truly need it.

We Have a Choice

Our sufferings will either train us or destroy us. Look at this

description from Hebrews:

"For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every

s on whom He receives." If you endure chastening, God deals
with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father
does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which
all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not
sons. Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected
us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily
be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they
indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them,
but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness.

Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but

painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of
righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Therefore, strengthen the hands which hang down, and the

feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that
what is lame may not be dislocated but rather be healed. Pursue
peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will
see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the
grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause
trouble, and by this many become defiled.

Hebrews 12:6-15

It's all up to us. Still we can either allow our suffering to

become a school of sympathy to help others, or else it will
become a death camp that will destroy us and defile others who
look up to us.

If we endure great sufferings because we are being chastened

by the Lord, we can be comforted in knowing that He chastises
us in great love, to produce His holiness in us. He says it is for
our profit, and that if we are willing to be trained by it,
afterward it will produce in us the peaceable fruit of
righteousness.
 If a seed of bitterness takes root, on the other hand, it will
destroy and defile us. Yet there is a sure way to stop that root
and defilement: Encourage ourselves in the Lord! Lift up limp
hands, strengthen feeble knees and make straight paths for our
feet, so that what is lame may be healed. This is a call to rouse
ourselves, to shake off apathy, to get back to serving and
trusting God, to be healed of doubt. We must rid ourselves of
every thought of quitting. We must take captive every thought
of "easing off," in total obedience to the Lord.

Afflictions or sufferings do not in themselves teach us. Many

good people have learned nothing in their troubles; some have
e v e n lost ground with God. We can profit only through
sufferings understood and afflictions accepted as from His
hand. Our flesh is irritated and depressed by any kind of
suffering and affliction. That's why so many false doctrines
abound today, telling us Christians should never suffer (or
even die!). These cater to the flesh. So unless we understand
that God permits our sufferings and has a training purpose in
all our afflictions, our spiritual growth will be hindered by these
trials. David said, "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord"
(Psalm 77:2). And that is God's purpose-to break us from the
love of this world and drive us to Jesus in total dependence for
all our help.

God knows us! He permits our afflictions, saying, "You are

the kind who forgets Me in good times. You neglect Me when
all is well. But I love you too much to lose you to the devil. I'll
awaken you through affliction, to remind you of how short life
is and to make you dependent on Me."

Here are some good arguments to use when the devil tells
you godly people don't suffer:

1. Christ suffered in the flesh mightily-and He was perfect.

2. Paul and all our Church fathers suffered great afflictions, yet
God loved them dearly and used them mightily.

3. To the godly, suffering is not a sign of God's displeasure but

a sign of sonship. Whom He loves, He chastens.

4. Every affliction is intended for my spiritual benefit and

growth, and to equip me to sympathize with others in need.

5. My suffering may be grievous and painful. But if I'll accept it,

afterward it will bear the fruit of holiness and pure love for God.

Deliverance Day

We looked earlier at this verse: "Many are the afflictions of

t h e righteous" (Psalm 34:19). The Hebrew word used in this
passage for "afflictions" is ra, which means "evil, calamity,
distress, mischief, sorrow, trouble, wretchedness." That covers
just about everything that could happen to a human being.
These afflictions are many and, yes, they do happen to the
righteous. That is God's Word, plain and simple.
 But Scripture also says, "The righteous cry out, and the Lord
hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles" (Psalm 34:17).
Deliver means "snatch away, pull out, rescue."

How are we to understand deliverance in this sense when a

trial can seem unending? Certainly no one doubts that God can
intervene and stop all our suffering, pain or distress. By simply
speaking a word He can send a legion of angels, a host from
heaven to our aid. (We already know He has angels encamped
about each one of us who believes.) But we also know that like
a good father who disciplines his children, an all-wise God
would not put us in the furnace to purify us, then stop halfway
through His refining process and let us off the hook because
He felt sorry for us. He would not quit on us before He
accomplished His will; then it all would have been in vain!

You see, we are not always delivered by the easing of our

sufferings, but rather by the intensification of them because
God wants to hasten our escape through our dying to this
world. We are delivered not when we are freed from suffering,
but when we die to our flesh! Have you cried out to God for
deliverance and then watched as your troubles increased? Are
things getting worse for you now and not better? Then rejoice,
because you are about to be delivered up to death. You are
about to lose all your fight and die to your own will. That is
your escape-dying to your self-will.

Deliverance comes not through resignation, but through

resurrection. When Israel reached the Red Sea, with Pharaoh's
army bearing down upon them, how did God deliver them? By
doing away with the trouble? No, they weren't delivered until
they went down into the Red Sea. This was a type of dying to
the worlddying, that is, to trusting in their own flesh.

It is no great testimony to be able to say, "God gave me

s pecial faith. I spoke the Word, and all my troubles and
sufferings and sicknesses ended. Praise God, I am free of all
pain and affliction!" The much greater testimony is to be able
to say, "No matter what lies ahead, no matter what the trial or
affliction, God has proven Himself faithful. He has produced in
me life out of death. None of these afflictions can move me
now. And now I can say with full confidence in His love, `I
consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.' "

And then, even in the midst of our pain, we will be able to

offer true comfort to others-a sacrificial comfort that brings
delight to the heart of Christ.
 15

HE Is GOD OF OUR MONSTERS

We could not talk about suffering and trials, or even the

subject of true versus false comfort, without looking at the life
of the most troubled, distressed, despairing believer of all time.
He was a righteous, God-loving man-yet when sorrow and
trouble overwhelmed him, he sounded like an atheist. At the
height of his suffering he concluded: "[Even] if I called and He
answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my
voice. For He crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my
wounds without cause."

You have probably guessed that I am talking about Job. He is

t h e man who lost everything-his family, wealth, goodwill,
health and hope. The above quote is from chapter nine of the
book bearing his name, and it is only one of the many
despairing remarks that came from his lips as pain multiplied
upon him.

All of Job's calamities came suddenly ("God doesn't even

give me time to breathe between my bitter trials," see 9:18), and
in his deepest despair he uttered these hopeless words: "[God]
will laugh at the trial of the innocent" (9:23).

In so many words Job was saying, "It doesn't pay to be holy

or walk uprightly. God treats the wicked and the pure the same
way: They both suffer. So why labor to be upright?

"I was a praying man, loving God with all my heart. I was
repentant, raising my children in the fear of the Lord. I was just
and honest. I was kind and compassionate, caring for the poor
and clothing the naked. And look what's happened to me. My
life is all sorrow, trouble, hardship. No one really cares about
me; no one is able to advise me. I don't have an intercessor.
Oh, let God take His rod off my back; let Him stop terrifying me!
All this is overwhelming! If God is at work in it, I certainly don't
see it. In fact, my life is a joke, and God is mocking me in my
sorrows."

The example of Job should be a great comfort to many of us

because I believe he represents the last-day believer who will
undergo great trials. I believe that in the days just ahead,
multitudes of God-fearing, holy believers will go into the same
fire that Job did. I don't know if we have already entered that
time; but I do know we are swiftly nearing a time of trouble
beyond all comprehension, a time the likes of which the world
has never seen.
 Already many wonderful, righteous Christians have lost their
jobs or been out of work for weeks or months. Some have, like
Job, been stripped bare, and many say they have never faced
such hardship. Marriages are being tested, families are
experiencing great heartache. Trouble is piling upon trouble.
We have lost our young ones to the insanity of the hour. Our
national and personal wealth is vanishing. Our health is
declining as new diseases afflict people both young and old.
As we look around, we find ourselves on the ash heap of
despair.

And looking into the future can be a scary prospect because

all we may be able to see is more uncertainty, fear and crisis.
Our hearts may cry out, "What are we going to do? Why is all
this happening to those of us who have been faithful to God?
Why doesn't God intervene and stop it all?"

Consider this thought: What is happening to our generation

is what happened to Job. There is much we can learn from his
story.

The Accuser

I would be lying if I said that in the days ahead Christians will

see trouble on all sides but will remain safe within a cozy
cocoon of health and wealth. That will not happen. But just as
God brought Job out of his affliction, He will bring us out as
well.
 I hear this message being preached from pulpits all across the
nation. It is being proclaimed by many whom God has raised up
as true prophetic voices, and they are preparing His people for
what is ahead. Hundreds of ministers are gathering to pray in
different cities, and they're hearing the same confession:
"Never have so many been tested so deeply. In the past
months something has been unleashed in the land. A flood of
trouble, hardship, deep sorrow and suffering has befallen the
godly."

That flood has an identity: Satan. He was Job's troubler, and

he is our troubler right now. Is it possible he again is standing
before God and issuing great accusations against the last-day
Church? Might he be challenging God, "It is the last hour, true,
but You have no true Church. You have no spotless Bride.
They are not wise virgins. In fact, most of them are asleep!
Look at them-they're materialistic, self-centered, grasping for
riches and the good life. Listen to their teachers telling them
they need not suffer, that all things are theirs for the asking.
Take down Your wall of protection, God, and let me put them to
the test. You won't have a holy remnant left! I'll smite them with
sorrows, flood them with temptations and pour out on them a
spirit of fear and despondency. I'll bring them to poverty. You'll
see this pampered generation fold. They'll crumble and quit.
There are no Jobs in this church-they're all spiritual wimps!"

This kind of scene is why Scripture says, "Woe to the

inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come
down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he
has a short time" (Revelation 12:12).

Like Job we may cry out in confusion. We just don't realize

h o w important it is to God that we trust Him through all the
floods that come upon us. We know the devil cannot touch us
unless God first lets down the wall and allows it-and I believe
that wall is coming down now for all of us. Scripture is crystal
clear in warning that in these last days God will put us through
a purifying fire.

This is not, of course, the counsel Job heard. While Job was
in his deepest despair, he was swamped by critics posing as
counselors. They discouraged him further by pushing him to
renounce the hidden sin in his life. God later told Job that all of
their words were foolishness.

I have a warning for those who aren't suffering but who know
a dear brother or sister who is. Maybe you have a Christian
frien d who's unemployed with no job in sight, or sudden
calamity has struck his home, or problem after problem has
popped up out of nowhere. When you see such a person
discouraged by a trial, don't judge him. Only God can know his
heart and whether or not sin lodges there. Instead put your
arms around him and tell him, "I care for you." Weep with him
who weeps, grieve with him who grieves. That's true counsel,
because it comes straight from the Word of God.
 It is a wicked thing to misrepresent God to those who are
suffering. Don't add to your brother's sorrows; lift his burden,
bear with him, weep with him, share his grief. Pray that God will
give you His heart of compassion and sympathy, because you
might be the next one to encounter the heat of affliction.

If you are suffering and the reason is not because God is

dealing with sin in your life, then you will recognize true
counsel that comes from praying people who are ordained of
God and have the compassion of Jesus Christ. These ministers
of comfort will come to you with the encouraging, edifying
Word of God, and it will confirm what He has already spoken to
you. You'll rejoice and say, "Thank God! Yes, that confirms
what is in my heart. You've encouraged me that God has heard
me!"

The Revelation

Our present suffering will end up producing one of two

things in us: either hard-heartedness and a spirit of unbelief, or
a glorious vision of God's control over everything concerning
us. As for Job, he discovered in the midst of his suffering that
despite all his knowledge of God, he didn't really know the
Lord. He confessed, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the
ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes" (Job 42:5-6).

Job was at least seventy years old at this time and he had
been hearing about God all his life. He had spent many reverent
hours praising God and worshiping at an altar erected to Him.
His counselor friends had preached to him of the depths and
mysteries of God. They had taught him about the consolations
of God, the holiness of God, the character and nature of God
and the wrath of God. They had spoken of the majesty of His
power, His wisdom, His terror. But in a mind-boggling crisis,
Job did not see God at all! God had become a vague theological
term, a series of sermons, a dead word, a knowledge that had
no life or power. Job had heard of God with his ears, but he had
not seen God with the eye of his heart.

This is what God had to bring to the surface in Job. You see,
He wants more than a holy man or woman kneeling at an altar,
prostrate before Him, singing and extolling His praises. God
wants a believer who can see Him in all he goes through; not
as a God of the dead letter of the book, but as One who is all-
knowing and ever near, One who has everything under control.

Sadly, many Christians today have built their house of faith

o n the sands of ease and goodness. When the storms of trial
come, they will be blown away. Already I see Christians being
blown apart in these last days. They don't understand the
testings and trials of the Lord. They believe that because
they've sought after God with all their heart, loved Him and
longed after Him, they should be entitled to prosperity and a
painless existence. They think every prayer should be
answered immediately, with no trials at all.
 But, as we have seen, the Bible doesn't say that the Lord will
keep us from afflictions; it says He will deliver us out of them.
And that's what God did for Job. In the middle of a whirlwind
(representing trial and affliction), God appeared to Job to show
him how to rise above his troubles. And He did this by making
Job look into the face of two awesome monsters-the mighty
hippopotamus and the serpent-like crocodile: "Look now at the
behemoth [hippopotamus]" (Job 40:15). "Can you draw out
Leviathan [crocodile] with a hook?" (41:1).

Why would God begin His revelation by having Job consider

these two massive monsters?

First, He poses this problem to Job: "Here comes the

hippopotamus. What are you going to do, wrestle him down?
Sweet-talk him? And behold the crocodile. Can you put a rope
in his nose? Play with him, tame him like a pet, bind him in your
own power? Are you going to pry open his jaws and expose
his teeth? He has a heart of stone, he has no mercy. He is king
over all the children of pride."

This was more than a lecture about the strength and

ferociousness of two awesome creatures. God was telling Job
something about life's "monsters"-that the hippo and crocodile
represented the monstrous problems raging in Job's life. He
was saying, "If you try to fight these two creatures, you'll
never forget the battle!"
 The hippo tramples down everything in sight. He is a problem
too big to handle. How do you wrestle down a hippo? Do you
lasso him or bribe him with a bushel of corn? No, you are no
match for him. Only the Lord knows how to stop a hippo.

The crocodile represents the demonic teeth that the devil

flashes at you. No person can strip him of his armor using mere
human strength. Only God can win a battle with him.

God was saying to Job and to all who will hear Him today,
Face the truth about the monsters in your life. You can't handle
them. I'm the only One who can.

I can imagine a little light suddenly clicking on in Job's head:

"These monsters He's talking about-huge, overwhelming,
fearless-they're my troubles. And I'll never wrestle them down!
I've been sitting on this ash heap trying to figure out why God
has permitted these monstrous problems to attack me, how I
can fight them and chase them away. But I've forgotten that my
God can do everything." Now Job's words were of a different
tenor. He "answered the Lord, and said, `I know that Thou
canst do all things, and that no purpose of Thine can be
thwarted' " (Job 42:1-2, NASS).

Suddenly Job saw clearly: "God is all-powerful. My life is not

out of order. God does have a plan behind all my suffering. He
i s standing over me, sword in hand, to deliver me at the
moment He sees fit. No man or monster can change His mind or
affect His plan. My God will have His way. I can't stand up
against the hippo or the crocodile-but I can stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord!"

I learned this lesson years ago while working with Teen

Challenge when, after walking the streets of New York City-
worn out, broken in soul and body-I got mononucleosis. I
ended up in the hospital for six weeks and developed a growth
in my throat. I couldn't drink or swallow, and sometimes I
couldn't even catch my breath. My weight soon fell under 115
pounds. I couldn't travel, and before long all our ministry's
money dried up. It looked like the end of Teen Challenge. The
crocodile was baring his teeth! So I lay flat on my back in the
hospital, more than a little irritated at God. People came in to
visit me, but they only made me nervous. And more than three
counselors came in to give me "a word from the Lord" that only
depressed me.

But I remember the night I said in desperation, "Lord, I give

up, I can't fight it. It's all Yours-I'm just going to trust You. I
have to ask just one thing of You. If you want the doors of
Teen Challenge to close, that's Your business. But please, God,
get this thing out of my throat!" Within an hour I coughed up a
growth the size of a large walnut-and in that amount of time, I
was well again. I left the hospital soon afterward and my
strength started coming back. Most important, I discovered
that while I was gone Teen Challenge had survived. I don't
know how the Lord did it; it certainly wasn't through a
miraculous big check! But while I was ill, the staff began to
trust the Lord instead of looking to me. And that is what God
was trying to accomplish all along.

Our troubles are not unforeseen accidents. And whatever we

a re going through, however deep the hurt, God is right on
target and right on time in fighting our monsters. We may tend
to think that the devil came in and interrupted God's plan, but
that's not the case. If we are listening to His leading, hungering
for close fellowship, ridding our lives of all that displeases Him,
then He will harness everything meant for evil and turn it
around for good.

Don't look back. Don't focus on your past mistakes. Get your
eyes off the monsters! And don't let bitterness or self-pity
destroy you. Encourage yourself with these words: "My God
can do anything. He has not forgotten me. No one can change
His plans. No matter how bad things look, God has everything
under control."

You may ask, "Am I ever going to get out of this fiery trial?
Will there be a happy ending, or will my suffering continue
until Jesus comes? Will I ever rejoice again?"

Here is God's answer to you:

 "You have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end
intended by the Lord-that the Lord is very compassionate and
merciful" (James 5:11). "The Lord restored Job's losses when
h e prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as
much as he had before" (Job 42:10).

You may never double what you had, monetarily or

otherwise, but you will possess something much greater: You
will have a true heart-knowledge that God is in control of your
life. You'll never again fear any adversary or hardship, because
you will have come through seated in high places with Christ
Jesus, more than a conqueror. Like Job, you may know God by
hearing of Him, and that's good. That's where faith comes from.
But now God wants you to see Him-to receive an absolute trust
that He has a plan for your life, and that His eternal purpose
cannot be thwarted by any demon in hell or any monster that
appears in your path.

Then in the midst of the greatest trials of your life you can
quote confidently one more verse from Job: "Though He slay
me, yet will I trust Him" (13:15).
SECTION 3
GOD MEETS US IN
OUR HUNGER
 16

GOD WILL RESTORE OUR

WASTED YEARS
"I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten,
the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm,
my great army which I sent among you."

Joel 2:25, KJv

Hungering for more of Jesus, while opening us to trials,

opens us to great blessings from His hand as well. As we draw
closer to Him, we will hear His voice more clearly, warning,
directing, wooing us, and we will find joy we have never known
before.

But now we might wonder about all the time that it has taken
u s to get to this point. How many years did we waste before
repenting and surrendering all to Jesus? How much of the past
was eaten up by the cankerworm of sin and rebellion? We
know we are forgiven and the past forgotten because it is all
covered under the blood of Christ. But wouldn't it be wonderful
to recapture those lost years and live them for the glory of the
Lord?

In his final days the apostle Paul reflected on his life and
testified, "I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith.
Now a crown of righteousness is awaiting me." As I read this
passage not long ago, Paul's testimony pierced my soul.
Something I couldn't shake nagged at my heart for weeks.

Finally in prayer I had to confess, "Lord, I don't think I can

s ay that with Paul. I don't think I've fought a good fight of
faith!" Perhaps I might be able to say that about the first fifteen
years of my ministry and the last ten years, but there is a gap in
that middle period during which I feel I wasted time. It was not
that I resorted to some deep, dark sin, but rather that I drifted
simply because I was not at my best for Jesus.

In my marriage, too, I look back with some shame because I

wasted so many precious hours not nurturing and enjoying the
relationship I have had with Gwen. I have been happily married
to her for almost forty years now, and we are more in love than
when we first married. Yet in recent years I have had to ask
Gwen to forgive me for the times in midlife that I was arrogant
and unkind, not at all the gentle, loving man God wanted me to
be.

Perhaps, like me, you can look back with regret at wasted
years. I think of a businessman in our church who threw away
years by drinking and abusing drugs. He was an adulterer who
left his wife for weeks at a time, a wild man driven by lust and
greed. Today he is on fire for God, growing in Christ and
wanting to make it all up to his wife. Yet he still feels the shame
of those years that the cankerworm destroyed.

In fact, the closer you get to the heart of Jesus, the more
thos e wasted years grieve you. The more you hunger for
Christ, the more you cry out to Him from within: "Dear Lord,
how could I have hurt You so? How could I have been so
deceived? I took years that belonged to You and threw them
away! 0 God, Your Word is so precious to me now, and I am so
thrilled to be growing in the knowledge of You. How much
growth in Christ I squandered, how much revelation I lost!
How much blessing and anointing I forfeited!"

Yet here is an amazing thing: It doesn't matter if you have

been walking with Christ for thirty years or thirty days; God
can and will restore all your wasted years! The prophecy of
Joel I quoted at the beginning of this chapter was directed to
the nation of Israel, but it also applies to Christ's Body and to
individual believers today. God has much to say to us in this
prophecy-about both His character and our future.

Life Before Repentance

The entire second chapter of Joel speaks of a great army and

the one directing it. Because Joel identifies the commander as
God -"The Lord gives voice before His army" (Joel 2:11)-many
interpret this passage to mean that huge numbers of godly
soldiers are going forth to fight the Lord's battle against the
enemy.

Not in this instance. This army is composed of spirits of

destruction that Joel compares to locusts, palmerworms,
caterpillars and cankerworms-all devouring insects. This great,
dark army is employed by the Lord as a rod to execute His
Word, for He calls it forth to bring down the wrath of His
judgment. Joel said of this demonic army, "Sound the alarm in
Zion! Warn them! Warn God's people that this army is coming
to bring darkness and destruction!" (see Joel 2:1).

Joel gives us a picture here of an unrepentant people whom

the enemy is given permission to attack. Thus the evil spirits
rage like flames and burn everything in sight. These locusts are
agents of war, climbing over every human wall of resistance,
entering through every window of the mind and heart. Nothing
can destroy them. The people are without defense and can
only cringe, their faces full of sorrow.

Anyone who has been bound by a satanic habit knows what

this is like. Your home-once a garden of life, full of peace and
lovewas soon devoured and left a desert wasteland. You tried
to stop the attack but, like powerful horsemen, the destructive
spirits leaped on you and were too strong for you to resist.
One satanic worm after another devoured your life: "That
which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that
which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that
which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpillar eaten" (Joel
1:4, KJV).

Every vile movie, coke bag, bottle of wine, lurid novel, lustful
thought becomes a locust, a cankerworm. Doesn't that describe
what happens to every unrepentant soul? Satan has his teeth
clamped on him or her, and his "teeth are the teeth of a lion"
(Joel 1:6). He causes waste, ruin and mourning. Everything is
devoured. "The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered
... all the trees of the field are withered ... joy has withered
away" (verse 12).

Think back to your own life before your salvation. Do you

recall this same terrible destruction? You were dying both
physically and spiritually; you were totally helpless to fight the
hordes of hell. And then you met Jesus.

Full Restoration

"I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten"
(Joel 2:25, KJV). The New American Standard Bible says, "I will
make up to you for the years ... eaten." What an incredible
promise!
 After seeing how I had failed the Lord, I wanted to make up
those years to God, to make amends and repay Him. But He
said, No, you can't repay Me for a single wasted hour. I will
make it all up to you! All those years of being wasted, stripped
and harassed by the devil will be restored to you. Walk before
Me in righteousness and turn from your sins and I will make up
all the losses, whether they were yours, your loved ones' or
Mine.

We need not be ashamed of our wasted years because when

God removes the evil army from us we will eat and be satisfied.
To all repentant sinners He declares, "Fear not! Be glad and
rejoice for the Lord will do great things. You will never again be
ashamed" (see Joel 2:19-21, 26-27).

Now, because of Christ, everything is new including the

calendar! The Lord goes back to the day the locusts came in,
removes all those wasted years and starts counting again from
the moment we repented. All those blessings we missed have
been stored up. All the joy, peace and usefulness that seemed
dead and gone were actually kept by the Lord. In hell, the
damned may be haunted with a vision of what their lives could
have been. Jesus implies they may see what they lost (see Luke
16:19-31). But this is not so for the repentant because all will be
restored to us. We need never again say, "Oh, what I missed,
what I could have been! Oh, how much God had for me, but I
blew it." God can restore all those wasted blessings!
 In the Old Testament we read that God commanded a sabbath
year in Israel to take place every seventh year. The Israelites
were to allow the land to rest in that year and not be cultivated.
But the people wondered what they would eat. So God told
them: "And if you say, `What shall we eat in the seventh year,
since we shall not sow nor gather in our produce?' Then I will
command My blessing on you in the sixth year, and it will bring
forth produce enough for three years" (Leviticus 25:20-21). The
Lord of the harvest had only to speak, and the need would be
met abundantly.

The same is true for every believer today. God need only
s peak a word to restore any abundance. God restores our
wasted years by producing in us supernatural joy, revelation,
peace and victory far beyond our human comprehension. He
can accomplish more in us, for us and through us now than we
ever thought possible. We can stand upright today as if we
had never sinned, as if we had lost no time, as if we were right
where we would have been had the devourer never come. God
puts us right back on His divine schedule. His eternal purpose
and plan are exactly where He planned them to be: Nothing is
lost to Him. And we need dwell on it no longer.

Pressing On

Paul states it this way: "Forgetting those things which are

behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I
press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in
Chris t Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14). In other words, Paul is
instructing us, "Forget your past and press on in Jesus!"

This instruction is vital because Satan's favorite harassment

is to scare you by bringing old skeletons from your past out of
the closet. He will try to persuade you that an old habit,
addiction or lust will rise up again and bring back the devourer.
You can react to this in one of three ways: You can fall back
into the old temptation. Or you can begin to think you cannot
fall, and thus succumb to pride (and then you will have already
fallen!). Or, finally, you can do what is right-and if you do, who
can possibly harm you? You might feel the pangs of remorse
for your waste as long as you live. And, yes, the memories will
keep you humble. But in God's eyes, your past is a dead issue.
As far as condemnation and guilt are concerned, God says,
"Forget the past-I've taken care of that. Press on to what I have
promised you!"

Are you being devoured even now? Are the worms of the
devil eating away at your life? If so, you can start all over
again, right now. In fact, God's law of restoration can begin
making everything new this very hour. Your past can be wiped
clean, and this can be the first day of a new life for you in
Christ. The Bible gives us a picture of such restoration in the
New Testament, when Jesus healed a man with a withered
hand: "He said to the man, `Stretch out your hand.' And he
stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other"
(Matthew 12:13).
 Be encouraged that as we are restored in Jesus our old
wounds can't even be found. So take any worries and heart-
naggings about wasted years to God today, and let Him begin
His restoring work. Press onward, straight ahead, toward the
prize of your high calling in Him, then watch in wonder as the
blessings that were taken away are restored to you in
overflowing abundance.
 17

THE GOD OF HOPE

Some time ago, a distraught woman wrote to me:

I am terrified! I think it would be wonderful if hydrogen bombs

fell on us, especially on me and my family. Then it would all be
over for us in a hurry, and we'd be with Jesus! I am a retired
widow with no man in our family. I lost my husband to cancer. I
just got out of the hospital and am recovering from a broken
back. I have two unmarried daughters, one who has health
problems and hasn't worked in two years. We have suffered
terribly for the past sixteen years. Members of our fellowship
are being persecuted, and my friends are all suffering
unmercifully. Fear and anxiety are my lot in life. Mr. Wilkerson,
we are hurting! Is there no hope for the Bride of Christ? Please
answer!

This woman is just one of thousands who write our ministry

o f their despair and hopelessness. We hear from many who
love the Lord deeply but who live in situations and conditions
that appear hopeless to them. They speak of dead-end
marriages, family conflicts and health problems. They use these
phrases:

"There's no way out!"

"I brought it on myself. Now I'm in a prison, stuck for life."

"God doesn't seem to hear me, because nothing ever

changes. And if it does, things only go from bad to worse."

"Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. I wish the Lord would

come pull me out of this pit."

"I have a few good days. But then this feeling overwhelms me
that I'm worthless, just doing nothing."

It has been said that the only thing worse than insanity is
despair. But, praise the Lord, we serve a God who will fill us
with hope! The Greek word for hope is elpo, meaning "to look
forward to with pleasurable confidence and expectation." The
apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, "Now may the God of hope
fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may
abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans
15:13).
 Paul introduces an incredible idea in this passage-that we
"may abound in hope." He means that we "may have enough
to spare, a supply that is overflowing, excessive, beyond
measure." Some of you may think, "That sounds like a cruel
joke. In my present condition all I want is a ray of hope just one
small evidence of answered prayer!" But this passage in God's
Word is as true as every other. He is a God of hope-a hope that
is excessive, overflowing and beyond measure. And Paul's
prayer for all believers is that He "fill you with all joy and peace
in believing." This is to be the normal state for all Christians-
not just for well-adjusted, happy-go-lucky believers, but for all!
God does not mock His hurting children today. No, He truly is
now a God of hope, ready to flood our souls with exceeding,
overflowing joy and peace.

Paul stated,

For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not
hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we
hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with
perseverance.

Romans 8:24-25

Our response, however, is usually a demand to see change: "I

would have hope if I could just see a small bit of evidence that
God is working for my good just a little something to get hold
of. I need to see something change. How can I have hope when
months go by and things only get worse?" But to abound in
hope is to have excessive, overflowing perseverance and
patience-more than enough to wait for God's answers. Joy and
peace come only when you know God has everything under
control.

Misplaced Trust

Hopelessness is the result of trusting in man:

Thus says the Lord: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and
makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.
For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see
when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the
wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited. Blessed is the
man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he
shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its
roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its
leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of
drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit."

Jeremiah 17:5-8, emphasis mine

Jeremiah introduces here two immutable laws of spiritual life.

One leads to death and hopelessness, the other to life and
hope. These laws are the keys to understanding why some
Christians enjoy constant peace and joy in the Lord while
others grope in despair.
 The Hebrew word Jeremiah uses for cursed means "utterly
detestable." In other words, the person who departs from God
and leans instead on man is utterly detestable to Him. How can
we know when we are trusting in man rather than in God? If we
come apart when someone lets us down, or if the actions of
others affect our walk with God, then we know our trust is in
man-that is, in something or someone other than God.
Christians who put their trust in man in order to provide safety
for themselves are guaranteed to get hurt. At some point,
someone is going to let them down and disappoint them
deeply. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and
desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). Just
when they think they know someone, they're in for a shock.
They end up saying, "I never expected that of him."

A woman may argue, for instance, "My husband really has

hurt me. He neglects me all the time, and he doesn't even try to
understand. His words cut me so deeply; he is killing my love.
If only he'd change, then I could be happy!"

No, I'm afraid that wife wouldn't be happy. When the Bible
talks about putting "no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians
3:3), it means our own flesh. Even if that husband became a
perfect mate, saying kind things and treating her like a queen, it
would not change her. She would not see the good in it
because her heart would not be changed. She would still
despair; in fact, she would feel worse because her problem is
not with her husband or anyone else. It is with her. It is a God-
problem. She is trusting in someone other than Him to bring her
happiness and hope.

Jeremiah describes this as being a shrub in the desert, not

s eeing the river but instead inhabiting the parched places in
the wilderness. It is being cut off from the true supply of
happiness and hope. By neglecting the Lord, this woman and
those like her are not drawing on His living water. They have
become like dry desert shrubsfruitless and barren!

One of the great manmade wonders in America is the

incredible New York aqueduct. It took a whole army of Italian
immigrants to build it. It is made of bricks, is underground and
runs for miles and miles from upstate bringing water to New
York City. Now what would happen if this aqueduct were cut
off, and suddenly there was no water supply flowing to the
city? New York would become one of the "parched places ... a
salt land which is not inhabited."

This is what can happen in our lives. Many Christians today

lose hope, turning inward instead of running to the Lord. But
God is saying to His people, "You are in despair simply
because you do not trust in Me. You turn to others-to doctors,
medicine, friends, counselors, finances. You are not uplifted by
My promises-yet you let the words of men cast you down. You
have cursed yourself by not coming to Me. You are dry, empty
and lonely because you do not draw water from My well."
 Jeremiah describes further "the sin of Judah" (17:1). God's
own people sinned in difficult times by not turning to Him in
faith and instead seeking help from their own flesh:

"The virgin of Israel has done a very horrible thing. Will a man
leave the snow water of Lebanon, which comes from the rock
of the field? Will the cold waters be forsaken for strange
waters?"

Jeremiah 18:13-14

Like the cold, refreshing waters that flow down from melting
snow, God gives an unceasing supply of power to His people.
In this passage, Lebanon's water is a steady stream of strength,
always available and never failing. Yet God's people often
continue on their way dry, empty and sad, saying, "We have
been left to ourselves. We'll just go our own forsaken way,
unwanted." This is a picture of despairing Christians who have
forgotten the promises of God, who sit dejected beside a
flowing stream of God's love, thinking, "The Lord is not at work
in my life. I'm just going to have to grit my teeth and do the
best I can. I'll fight alone if I have to. It's no use hoping
anymore. I'll just have to do what I can to survive."

How God must continue to grieve over this today when He

hears the language of hopelessness spoken by so many
downcast Christians! I shudder when I hear believers use these
words of despair: "It's no use. There's no hope!" It is the same
language Israel used when they despaired: "And they said,
There is no hope" (Jeremiah 18:12, KJv).

There is a great danger in remaining hopeless:

"Because My people have forgotten Me, they have burned

incense to worthless idols. And they have caused themselves
to stumble ... to walk in pathways and not on a highway."

Jeremiah 18:15

Our city streets and bars are filled with despairing people. They
a r e the walking wounded, throwing away their lives and
perhaps still trying to get even with someone who hurt them.
Some are people who got mad at God for not helping them in a
certain way when they wanted Him to.

I know of one minister's wife who plunged into a deep

depression. She was sick from all the gossip and trouble in
their church and she thought God was not helping them with
their problems. Finally she told her husband, "I can't take it
anymore." She left him and their two children and ran off with
an unsaved man. She now spends her time drinking in bars.

I could write a book about all the tragedies of people I know

wh o have grown so depressed and hopeless that they have
become reckless with their lives. If people allow the devil to
convince them that they are helpless victims-worthless, good
for nothing and for no one-he can make them do things they
never thought possible (including suicide). This depression
can also lead to spiritual laziness. People give themselves
excuses to do nothing about their situations. "Just leave me
alone," they say. "I'll figure it out on my own." They believe
God has forgotten them. But Scripture says their problems
have taken place "because [God's] people have forgotten
[Him]."

Depression, dryness and hopelessness are the direct results

of being cut off from our daily supply of living water. When we
neglect faith, prayer and the Word-our access to the flowing
snow-waters of Lebanon-the result is always loneliness,
fruitlessness and emptiness.

The One Who Hopes

Thank God there is another immutable law-the law of hope

and life! "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water"
(Psalm 1:3). This verse contains the secret of living in constant
hope and is the lifeline of those hungering for Jesus. It's not
found in trying to reform, in attempting to please people or in
making promises to God we can't keep. The person who
experiences this promise can no longer be hurt by people
because he does not hope in them. His expectations instead are
all in the Lord. He does not care what man says or does; his
eyes are on the Lord alone. And the Lord never fails him or lets
him down.
 "He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water." An
amazing Hebrew word is used here for planted. It actually
means "transplanted." Faith uproots the scorched desert-shrub
and transplants it by the living stream of the waters flowing
from Lebanon. David said this about the Lord: "You visit the
earth and water it, you greatly enrich it; the river of God is full
of water.... You bless its growth" (Psalm 65:9-10).

This river of God heals everything it touches. If we put our

roots down deep in His river, we will not fear when the heat
comes. For our "leaf [appearance] shall be green [fresh, alive]."
The dry spells will not affect us and we will bear fruit
constantly. We will not be continually tired, weeping, lonely,
dry and feeling forsaken. Instead, we will be refreshed and
renewed simply by resting in His Word.

Why do some believers always rejoice and abound in hope?

Why do they seem so full of peace and joy, radiating the glow
of spiritual life and health? Is it because they don't have any
problems? No-in fact, they probably have more problems than
most people. But they have learned the secret of having roots
in God's river.

If you are rooted in the river, you don't always need a revival.
You don't need "showers of blessings," a special outpouring
or a sudden flood of victory. If you enjoy an hour-by-hour flow
o f life-giving water, you're not constantly moving from dry
spell to blessing, from lows to highs, from coldness to revival.
Spiritual famine doesn't touch you, and the scorching heat of
apostasy doesn't faze you, because you are drawing water from
the steady flow of God's river of life. If I had to choose between
revival and roots, I'd take roots any day. For long after revival
is gone my roots would supply me daily with all I need.

The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of the New Jerusalem

and saw a stream pouring out of the Temple (see chapter 47).
As he watched, the stream swelled from a trickle to a rushing
flow. He then saw a man measuring this growing stream of life,
until it became a river. On the banks of this river stood many
trees, all green and bearing fruit:

"Along the bank of the river ... will grow all kinds of trees used
for food; their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail.
They will bear fruit every month, because their water flows
from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves
for medicine."

Ezekiel 47:12

What do these trees signify? They represent all those with

roots of trust in the Lord.

"And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever

the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of
fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and
everything will live wherever the river goes."

Ezekiel 47:9
 And this river is Jesus! His very presence refreshes and
renews us. The moment we cast down all doubt and fear,
crying out, "0 Lord, in You I have abounding hope," we will be
transplanted to the banks of this river by the power of the Holy
Ghost. And it is important to get our roots down deep in God's
hope now, because the worst is yet to come:

"If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you,
then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of
peace ... they wearied you, then how will you do in the
floodplain of the Jordan?"

Jeremiah 12:5

A great time of distress is coming soon upon the earth, but as

w e hunger for Jesus, hoping in Him, we will be sending our
roots down by the river, digging deep into the secret reservoir
of His life. And doing this is the only way to cheer our hearts
and remain glad.

To those who wait patiently and expectantly on God, "the

Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in
the night His song shall be with [us]" (Psalm 42:8). Christ will
turn our hopelessness into rejoicing and clothe us with
gladness-if we put our faith and trust in Him. "You have turned
for me my mourning into dancing; You have put off my
sackcloth and clothed me with gladness" (Psalm 30:11).
 Because He has everything under control, because we are
rooted in the river of His abundance, we can abound in hope.

Let us rejoice in the God of hope-and live!

 18

THE LOVINGKINDNESS OF THE

LORD

I know that if we hunger for God He will pour out His

lovingkindness on us, but this is one aspect of the Lord's
character that I know very little about. I believe few Christians
do. During my lifetime, I have experienced and preached much
about God's righteous judgments, His holy fear, His justice and
holiness, His hatred for sin. But I haven't understood or
preached much about His lovingkindness.

While in prayer, the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to my heart

about this subject. He said, David, the road is indeed straight
and the gate is narrow that leads to salvation. But don't try to
make My way straighter and narrower than My Word makes it!

Needless to say, that hit me. I reached for my concordance

and very soon I discovered how much the Bible says about the
lovingkindness of the Lord. Again and again we can read these
wonderful words spoken by Moses, the prophets, the apostles:
"Your God is merciful, kind, gracious, anxious to forgive, full of
lovingkindness, slow to anger" (see Exodus 34:6; Deuteronomy
4:31; Joel 2:13; Jonah 4:2; Romans 2:4). I must confess, I have
never truly pictured the Lord this way. Such knowledge of Him
is in my head-it always has been-but I have never truly
experienced it in my heart.

Moses thundered prophetic warnings to Israel about

impending judgment, but Moses also had a great revelation of
the Lord's lovingkindness. In the cloud of God's presence, the
Lord revealed to Moses His nature:

Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him
there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord
passed before him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God,
merciful and gracious, longsufl'ering, and abounding in
goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity and transgression and sin."

Exodus 34:5-7

In spite of all the warnings of judgment that Moses preached,

he always remembered God's mercy. He said, "When you turn
to the Lord your God and obey His voice (for the Lord your
God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy
you" (Deuteronomy 4:30-31).

In the Old Testament, God's people forsook Him time after

time. Yet each time He restored them and gave them incredible
blessings. The Lord had every right to give up on Israel, but
instead He remained faithful to them. Nehemiah sums up this
wonderful revelation:

"But after they had rest, they again did evil before You.... Yet
when they returned and cried out to You, You heard from
heaven; and many times You delivered them according to Your
mercies. ... In Your great mercy You did not utterly consume
them nor forsake them; for You are God, gracious and
merciful."

Nehemiah 9:28, 31

Isaiah also preached often about God's vengeance against

s in. He told of dark days of doom and despair coming upon
those who live in rebellion against God. Yet in the middle of
one of his most frightening messages about the Lord's day of
wrath, Isaiah stopped and cried out,

I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord and the praises

of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us
... according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His
lovingkindnesses.

Isaiah 63:7

In the midst of all the sin, apostasy and rebellion in Israel,

Is aiah could look deep into his own heart and recall a
revelation of what God was truly like. He cried, "0 Lord, we
have rebelled against You and vexed Your Holy Spirit. But save
us again by Your pity. Stir up Your mercy toward us, for You
are full of lovingkindness."

The prophet Joel also warned of the coming days of

darkness, full of devouring flames, massive earthquakes and
the darkening of the sun and moon. But then, like Isaiah, the
prophet stopped and, in the midst of dire warnings about wrath
and judgment, prophesied:

"Now, therefore," says the Lord, "turn to Me with all your

heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning." So rend
your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your
God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.

Joel 2:12-13

He relents means that God wants to change His mind about

t h e judgment He has planned. He doesn't want to judge;
instead, He hopes we will mourn over our sins and turn to Him
for forgiveness.

As I said, for years I, too, have prophesied judgment

concerning the Body of Christ. And I will continue to prophesy
until Jesus comes, if He will allow me. But lately I have sensed
the Lord saying to me, No prophet in My Book could prophesy
until he first had a revelation of My lovingkindness. You, too,
must first understand this aspect of My character.
Understanding His Lovingkindness

Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man
glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he
understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising
lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For
in these I delight," says the Lord.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

I have never had any trouble confessing my sin. To the best

of my knowledge, I have not tried to excuse or hide my failings,
and I have always run to the Lord right away when He has
revealed sin in my life. Yet still, whenever I fail the Lord and
know that I have grieved Him, I become overwhelmed with
shame, guilt, condemnation and unworthiness. I preach to
others that the Lord is gracious and forgiving. But when I fail
God, it suddenly becomes a different matter.

You ask, "Aren't we supposed to experience those feelings

when we sin?" Of course we are. But we are not supposed to
continue for days and weeks thinking God is mad at us. The
guilt and condemnation should lift quickly. You see, even after
I repent, I feel I have to make it all up to the Lord. Like the
Prodigal Son, I can have the Father hugging my neck, kissing
my cheek, putting rings on my fingers and a robe on my back;
He can tell me to forget the past, to come inside His house and
enjoy the feast He has prepared for me. But I say, "I can't go in-
I'm not worthy! I've sinned against You. Let me pay You back.
Let me grieve and carry the guilt a little longer." It is easy for
me to believe that God forgave Israel, Nineveh, the heathen,
the dying thief. But I find it hard to understand how, the very
moment I turn to Him with all my heart, He quickly and lovingly
accepts me as if I had not sinned.

"Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will

understand the lovingkindness of the Lord" (Psalm 107:43).
David received the awesome revelation of God's gracious,
forgiving heart simply by looking at His record of dealing with
His beloved children. David relates the key to understanding
God's lovingkindness in this particular psalm. And that key is
simple and uncomplicated: 'Then they cried out to the Lord.... "
It is repeated four times in Psalm 107.

The children of Israel wandered away from the Lord in the

wilderness, hungry and thirsty, lost because of sin. "Then they
cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out
of their distresses" (verse 6). Yet again they rebelled and
backslid. They fell so low they were at the very gates of hell.
"Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.... He brought
them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their
chains in pieces" (verses 1314). Once more they found
themselves suffering greatly, afflicted and unable to eat
because of their transgressions. 'Then they cried out to the
Lord in their trouble.... He sent His word and healed them"
(verses 19-20). Whenever God's people come to their wits' end,
when storms are raging and trouble melts their souls, "Then
they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them
out of their distresses. He calms the storm, so that its waves
are still" (verses 28-29).

Here is what the Lord was teaching David: "Simply look at

My record. Observe all My dealings with the children of Israel.
They failed Me and failed Me. But when they cried out to Me, I
heard them. My nature is touched by the tears of my children
and moved with compassion when they return to Me. I am
touched by the feeling of their infirmities."

In response to this revelation, David is saying in this psalm,

"Look how easily God's heart is moved, how quickly He
responds to the cries of His children. There is no end to His
mercies!" We don't have to continue experiencing agony and
guilt; we don't have to run to a counselor or call a friend. We
can simply go to the Lord and cry out in confession to Him. He
is a tender Father who is touched by our needs.

I think David appreciated this revelation from the Lord all the
more because of his own experiences of sinning. Because his
heart was so tender toward the Lord, he must have been
miserable after committing adultery and murder. I believe David
wept in sorrow the very night he fell into adultery. Such a
Spirit-filled man of God could not operate day after day without
carrying an agonizing burden of shame, guilt and fear.
 I recall the times I have been in a room when pastors or
church members who truly love God have been confronted
with their sin. Those who are close to the Lord have nearly
always broken down crying, "Yes, yes, it's true! How could I
have done it? My sin has been ever before me. 0 God, forgive
me-I want help!" This undoubtedly happened when Nathan
confronted David. Through the prophet, God told the king of
Israel, "You have brought reproach upon My name." Then,
while David was still weeping, Nathan assured him, "Your sins
are forgiven."

But those words were not enough for David. It is one thing to
b e forgiven, and quite another to be free and clear with the
Lord. David knew that forgiveness was the easy part. Now he
wanted to get things right with God, to be able to have his joy
back. So after this episode he cried, "Do not cast me away from
Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me"
(Psalm 51:11). Then throughout Psalm 51 David remembers the
longsuffering and mercy of the Lord.

Like David, we, too, must find victory over sin by having
absolute confidence in this one thing: No matter how
grievously we have sinned or fallen, we serve a Lord who is
ready to forgive, anxious to heal and who possesses more
lovingkindness toward us than we could ever need. The devil
will come to us and say, "No! If you get off the hook too easily,
you'll jump right back into sin." He will try to make us feel
miserable, dirty, unworthy to lift our hands in praise to God or
even to pick up His Word. But here is our weapon: Cry! We
must cry out as David did, with all our hearts! Cry out as the
Israelites did, throwing ourselves totally upon the mercy of the
Lord. We can go to God, confess our sin, appeal to His
lovingkindness. We can say, "Lord, I know You love me, and
Your Word says You're ready to forgive me. 0 Lord, I confess!"

At that very moment, we are clear with God. We do not have

to pay for our sin. God loves us so much that He gave His Son,
Jesus, who has already paid for it. A merciful, loving Advocate
is yearning to help and deliver us: "My little children, these
things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone
sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous" (1 John 2:1).

Not long ago I was strolling with my young granddaughter

and she wanted to walk atop a low wall. I held her from behind
to keep her from falling, but she tried to push my hand away.
Eventually I let go and she toppled over without hurting
herself. Yet when she fell, I didn't desert her. I didn't say, "Look
at what you did. You're not mine anymore!"

The Lord spoke to me through this: You allow yourself such

love for this child. But you won't allow Me to love you in the
same way. You swell with pride over your children, but you
won't allow Me to do so with you. Not long after that, the Lord
spoke yet another tender word to my heart. He said, David, you
bless Me. You bless My heart! No one has ever said anything
better to me in my life. What joy in knowing that, as the Bible
says, God takes pleasure in His children!

Enjoying His Lovingkindness

Jonah was a prophet who fully understood the

lovingkindness of the Lord, yet he could not enjoy or
appropriate it. Instead, it was a burden to him. When God
commanded him to go to the wicked city Nineveh and
prophesy its quick destruction, Jonah ran in the other
direction. Later, he told the Lord why he had run away: It was
because of His lovingkindness!

Here was Jonah's argument: "Lord, You've commanded me to

walk up and down the streets of Nineveh, prophesying that
they have only forty days before it's all over. But I can't do that
becaus e I know You. You are easily touched. Tears and
repentance soften Your heart. I know what will happen: They'll
repent and You'll change Your mind. Instead of sending
judgment, You'll send a revival and I'll end up looking like a
fool."

Jonah did eventually go to Nineveh, but only by way of the

belly of a giant fish, who spat him up onto dry ground. Finally,
the prophet proclaimed the judgment of God-and, sure enough,
Nineveh did repent (even though the prophet's message
mentioned nothing about repentance, only destruction). These
sin-hardened, wicked Ninevites wept, fasted, mourned and put
on sackcloth, even on their animals! It was one of the most
sweeping revivals ever recorded in the Bible.

In the midst of all this, Jonah grew angry. He must have

prayed: "I knew this would happen. You send me out on those
streets crying, `Judgment, bloodshed, fire!' Then they call on
You, and as soon as You see the first tear fall You change your
mind. I knew it because I know You. You are slow to anger,
eager to forgive and ready to send peace and blessing instead
of calamity."

I have to confess, I know how Jonah must have felt. Not long
ago I had a little egg on my face, too. Our ministry warned
America that God might judge us on the battlefield of Kuwait
and Iraq, echoing Abraham Lincoln's belief that all war is a sign
o f God's judgment. We proclaimed that America had not
repented nor had our leaders called for nationwide repentance,
and we feared a great effusion of blood. During one of our
church's Friday night prayer meetings, I said, "How can God be
with our armies when we have so much blood on our hands?
The Bible is full of accounts of God giving up on His armies
when the people sinned as we have. We face judgment!"

Instead, victory came swiftly. After only one hundred hours

of ground fighting, the war was over, one of the most lopsided
conflicts in history. Soon I got a letter from someone who used
t o attend our church. It said, "You lied! There was no
judgment. God was with our armies and there were no
thousands dead. Your warning was not from God."
 Here is what I believe happened: Once again, the Lord's
gracious heart was easily moved. Hundreds of thousands of
soldiers and believers around the world suddenly cried out to
God, "Help us, give us one more chance!" Churches all over
the world held prayer meetings, crying out, "0 God, forgive us!
Cleanse us from our sin!" One reporter in Saudi Arabia said,
"Never have I heard so many soldiers praying or singing
spiritual songs. Never have I seen so many reading the Bible. It
was like church!"

I believe God was moved with compassion. He was moved

and touched, because He is so ready to forgive. Like Jonah, I
s hould have known He is "slow to anger and abundant in
lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm" (Jonah 4:2).
Instead of pouring out judgment on America, God used our
army as His rod against Saddam Hussein. God was with
America! Our gracious Lord took pity on us and changed His
mind as surely as He changed His mind about Nineveh. And I
believe the tears and repentance of believers brought forth this
great lovingkindness.

I pray the Church doesn't make the same mistake Jonah did
and fail to enjoy God's lovingkindness. We need to thank Him
for His great mercy toward us, that He heard the cry of our
nation-and answered!

Joy and His Lovingkindness

 The Bible says the joy of the Lord is our strength and without
i t we have no power to stand. We must be on our guard,
because guilt and condemnation for sin absolutely destroy the
joy of the Lord.

Now, those who still cling to sin and refuse to return to the
Lord's fullness have no right to the joy of the Lord. In fact, the
Bible says they will have a troubled countenance. When Judah
sinned God said, "I will take from them the voice of mirth
[laughter] and the voice of gladness" (Jeremiah 25:10).
Included in the punishment for sin is the loss of all joy: "The
joy of our heart has ceased; our dance has turned into
mourning" (Lamentations 5:15). The Christian who has
something to hide can't actually hide anything, because the
change caused by sin is written all over his face. It is evident in
his walk, talk and appearance. If you ask him, "How are you
doing?" you will likely hear the answer, "Well, so-so. I'm just
barely making it." He has no shout, no sign of victory-only a
look of despair, sadness and dejection. There can be no joy or
vibrancy where sin is lurking.

If in hungering for Jesus we have repented of sin we must not

allow the devil to rob us of our right to rejoice and be glad. As
we accept God's forgiveness then we can worship and praise
Him joyfully. Throughout Scripture God pours out His oil of
gladness on those who love His righteousness: "Be glad in the
Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you
upright in heart" (Psalm 32:11). "Let the righteous be glad; let
them rejoice before God; yes, let them rejoice exceedingly"
(Psalm 68:3). "Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in
You" (Psalm 70:4). And the Word says of Jesus: "You have
loved righteousness and hated lawlessness; therefore God,
Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than
Your companions" (Hebrews 1:9).

Some Christians picture Jesus only as weeping in the Garden,

sweating great drops of blood. Yes, He did spend nights in
agony, praying all alone. But I believe when He came down
from those quiet times with God, He had laughter in His soul.
He could clap His hands and dance and praise His heavenly
Father!

People who have forsaken their sins and are walking with the
Lord may still have an unresolved struggle. But there is such a
drawing toward the Lord in them, such a hunger for Christ, that
t h e outcome is inevitable: They experience an overwhelming
outbreak of joy! True heart-confession and a desire for the
Lord open up rivers of praise and a fountain of thanksgiving.

Perhaps the following scenario will help you picture the

Lord's lovingkindness more clearly: Suppose Jesus appears in
the flesh, dressed as an ordinary man, and sits next to you in
church. You are a defeated Christian, sitting there wounded,
wearing a look of gloom, guilt, condemnation and fear. You do
not recognize Him and He begins to talk to you:
 "Do you really love the Lord?" He asks.

You answer, "Very much so!"

"You've sinned, haven't you?"

"Y-yes," you say (hoping this isn't a prophet who can read
your mind!).

"Do you believe He forgives any and all who confess and
turn from their sins?"

"Yes, but ... I've hurt my Savior. I've truly wounded Him."

"Why haven't you appropriated His forgiveness? If you've

confessed, why haven't you received it?"

"I've done it so many times!"

"Do you believe He will forgive 490 times-if each time you
confess and repent?"
 "Yes."

"Even murder? adultery? homosexuality? drugs? jealousy?

hatred?"

"Yes."

"Do you hate your sin? Do you still want Him?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Then why are you letting the devil rob you of the victory of
the cross, the power of the blood of the Lamb? Why aren't you
appropriating His joy?"

I hope that by picturing this scene we can all remember that

we don't have to give up our joy in the Lord. We have a right
to praise Him -to sing, shout and be happy in Him!

Proclaiming His Lovingkindness

Scripture says clearly that we are to preach about the Lord's

lovingkindness to all mankind. David said,
I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have
declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not
concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great
assembly.

Psalm 40:10

David did not just appropriate this wonderful message for

himself. He knew it was also sorely needed by the whole
congregation and by a hurting world. He was grateful to God
for such great love because he was aware of his own failings. It
doesn't matter how badly people have sinned-God still loves.
That's why He sent His Son. And that is what we should be
preaching to the world. Can we say with David, "I have not
concealed Your lovingkindness from the great assembly"?
That is His desire for all of us.

Perhaps one of the most quoted and sung verses in all of

God's Word is this: "Because Your lovingkindness is better
than life, my lips shall praise You" (Psalm 63:3). What does it
mean, "His lovingkindness is better than life"? The fact is, life
is short. It fades like the grass, which is here one season and
gone the next. But God's lovingkindness will endure forever. A
billion years from now, Jesus will be as tender and loving to us
as He is this minute. People may take someone's life, but they
can't take away God's eternal lovingkindness.

Stop and think about it for a moment: God is not mad at us

anymore. The Word says that nothing can come between our
Lord and us-no guilt, no torment, no condemning thoughts.
We can say, "My life is a blessing to the Lord, and I can rejoice
and praise Him. I am clean, free, forgiven, justified, sanctified
and redeemed!"

We have a loving, tender Father who cares about us. And as

we begin to understand how compassionate He is toward us-
h o w patient, how caring, how ready to forgive and bless-we
will not be able to contain ourselves. We will shout and praise
until we have no voice left: "His lovingkindness truly is better
than life!"
 19

HE WILL HELP Us BE
FAITHFUL

The book of Hebrews offers this strong, vital word to all

believers:

Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the

Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who
was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was
faithful in all His house.

Hebrews 3:1-2

The phrase partakers of the heavenly calling means simply

this : that we hear heaven calling us. Right now heaven is
calling for a people who are not living for the world, but who
wake up each morning and hear Jesus calling them to Himself.
They look at all that surrounds them and cry inwardly, "Jesus,
my heart is not here, my future's not here. Nothing in this world
satisfies me. You alone, Lord, are my life!"
 I believe that many today in the Body of Christ truly are not
bound to anything on this earth. You could take away their
jobs, houses, bank accounts, businesses-everything but the
clothes on their backs-and yet still they would love God with
all their hearts. But faithfulness to God does not just mean a
willingness to lose everything for His sake. In fact, Scripture
says we can give our bodies to be burned at the stake as a
testimony, but without the proper motive-without love in our
hearts-we will die in vain (see 1 Corinthians 13:3).

Some think of faithfulness to God as simply living without

lus t or maintaining victory over sinful habits. Others think it
means being constant in Bible reading, prayer, giving and
church attendance. Still others think of it as performing good
deeds, or keeping pure by avoiding all evil. These things in
themselves can never make us faithful to God. You may ask,
"Do you mean all my striving against sin, all my sanctified
service to God and crying out in prayer are not considered
faithfulness? If that's not being faithful, what is?"

All these wonderful things indeed are commanded by the

Word, and we will do them if we are faithful, but in themselves
they do not constitute faithfulness. Faithfulness to God is
impossible unless it springs from a trusting, believing heart.
Here is a very simple statement on the surface yet one we must
not overlook if we are to be faithful to God: We cannot hunger
for Jesus if we allow unbelief to take root in our hearts.
 Unbelief in even its slightest form is hateful to God. It hinders
God's work in us and it is the sin that lies behind all departure
f r o m Him. We can be totally weaned from all worldly
possessions and long in our hearts for Jesus' coming. We can
sit under strong preaching, sing God's praises in His house and
devour the Word of God every day. But unless we're praying,
"0 God, let me hear Your Word in my inner man; let me believe I
can apply it and that it will become life to me," then it has no
effect whatsoever. The Word you hear must be mingled with
faith: "The word which they heard did not profit them, not
being mixed with faith in those who heard it" (Hebrews 4:2). Let
those words sink in: Unless what we read and hear preached is
not mixed with faith, it is of no value to us!

The verse at the opening of this chapter says that Jesus was
faithful to God just as Moses was faithful. In what way was
their faithfulness measured? How were Jesus and Moses truly
faithful in all things? They were counted faithful because they
never doubted the heavenly Father's word to them. They knew
that what God said He would do, He would indeed do.

Faithfulness, then, is simply believing that God will keep His

Word. In this sense Jesus and Moses "[held] the beginning of
[their] confidence steadfast to the end" (Hebrews 3:14). They
didn't have an up-and-down, here-today-and-gone-tomorrow
kind of faith. Their faith never wavered to the end. And just as
Jesus proved faithful in His confidence in the Father, we who
make up His house will find our faithfulness measured by the
same standard: "Christ [was] a Son over His own house, whose
house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of
the hope firm to the end" (Hebrews 3:6).

As our trials increase and the battle grows more intense, our
flesh can become weary. Over time, many Christians allow fear
and doubt to creep in, and they lose their abandonment to God,
their childlike faith in Him. Caution and questioning invade
their hearts. But I don't want to come to the end of my life like
so many believers I have seen, whose years were wasted
because they did not know where they stood in Christ. When
the end came for them, I thought they would have a certain
strength, that they would be refreshed to know they were
nearer to meeting the Lord. Instead they went out with a
whimper because they did not remain steadfast to the end.
Now, as I look down the road that remains of my own life, I see
limited time and I want more than anything to be rejoicing in
hope, holding firm to the end.

Let me share with you how we can become faithful to God

and hold fast our confidence all our days. If we want to be as
strong in our last days as we are now in His presence, then we
should take these two things to heart.

The Accuser

First, we must be sure never to listen to the lies of the devil.

 We must remind ourselves daily that we have an enemy who
is out to destroy us. He is a liar, a deceiver and seducer. Jesus
s aid, "The devil ... was a murderer from the beginning, and
does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.
When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he
is a liar and the father of it" (John 8:44).

Jesus has exposed the "father of all lies," the instigator of

every deception and falsehood. He said that all lies are birthed
in Satan's bosom. And God has clearly warned His Church that,
especially in the last days, the devil will spend all his time
accusing us: "So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of
old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. .
. . The accuser of our brethren ... accused them before our God
day and night" (Revelation 12:9-10). The devil stands before
God 24 hours a day, accusing us and spewing out lies against
us. His lies are meant to disrupt our peace and confidence in
God.

Satan does not waste his time lying to sinners; they are
already captive, held prisoner by his deception. Instead he
works on believers whose hearts are hungering for the Lord.
He plants lies in the minds of the true seekers, God's holy ones.
In fact, we can narrow this down even further: Satan lies to
those who are determined to enter God's rest:

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he

who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his
works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter
that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of
disobedience.

Hebrews 4:9-11

This "rest" means a place of total trust in God's Word. It is a

place of faith where there is no struggle, fear or doubt. It is a
settled rest, a continuous confidence that God is with us, that
He cannot fail and that He who called us will see us through to
the end.

Yet just when many of us think we are about to enter this new
life of total rest and trust in the Lord, just when we think our
flesh is crucified, that we no longer trust in our own works and
instead depend on the Lord, then along comes the old serpent
with a new pack of lies and accusations. He gets the ear of our
consciences and, using horrible lies out of hell, accuses
everything we do.

As I mentioned earlier, Satan's direct target is your faith in

God. He knows that if your faith is allowed to grow, it will make
all his lies ineffective. And when you stand before God and
say, "I don't want anything in this world but Jesus," the devil
knows you mean it. He knows it not just by your words but by
your actions, because it is no longer merely a statement for you
but a way of living. So if you really mean what you have said,
then beware: All hell is going to come at you. The devil will lie
to you in your prayer closet, in church and on your job. But
you can rest assured that such harassment has marked the
lives of all godly men and women. I have read about many
dynamic people of God, and every one of them acknowledged
that Satan came to them in their most productive, holy times,
trying to destroy them with lies.

Here are three of the devil's biggest lies:

Lie Number One: "You are making no spiritual progress."

A voice whispers, "In spite of all your hunger for God, your
self-denial and all the preaching you have absorbed, you've
made no progress in your walk with Jesus. You are still sinful,
hardheaded and full of self. You've been given so much, yet it
h as changed you so little. You wouldn't grow up spiritually
even if you lived to be a hundred years old. Something is
wrong with you. Others are growing and passing you by.
You're just a phony, a hypocrite. You're a weak, spineless, no-
good Christian!"

How many times has the devil come to you with these
particular lies? First of all, Christians do not compare their
growth with others'. And secondly, the devil is not the one to
tell you whether or not you are growing. In fact, he would not
come to you with lies unless you were growing.

Lie Numbe r Two: "You are too we ak for spiritual warfare ."
 The devil tells you, "This spiritual warfare is too much for
you. You are worn out, weary and tired. You don't have the
strength to go on fighting." In every waking hour he whispers,
"Weary .. . worn out ... at the end of your rope ... give up ...
slow down ... go easy ... tired ... tired ... tired.... "

Daniel warned us that the devil would be successful in

wearing down the saints: "He shall speak pompous words
against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most
High" (Daniel 7:25). The Hebrew word used here is to "tire
mentally, make the mind weary." Maybe you have heard that
voice in your head recently: "I'm mentally drained, totally
wiped out." This is not the language of the overcomer. Yes,
there are times when we become physically weary or tired, but
the devil wants to use those words to make us spiritually weary
and to rob us of the victory and the joy that are ours in the
Holy Spirit.

The fact is, much of our spiritual weariness is caused by this

implanted lie from hell. Satan tells us, "Don't get so intense
about the things of God, about the lost and hurting, the poor
and needy. You shouldn't work so hard. Just ease off.
Something is wrongyou're supposed to be at rest, but you're
wearing down. You must have sin in your heart. What terrible
thing is hidden in you?"

I have often heard the voice of the deceiver try to invade my

study and whisper these words into my heart: "You are not a
good shepherd. You have no true biblical rest in your soul.
Look how hard it is for you to get a message. David, you are
tired, dry. If you had faith, you would not have a daughter
going through radiation and chemotherapy treatments. You
would not have a cold that's hung on for weeks. You would be
so full of power and revelation, multitudes would be flocking to
God. You are just worn out. You have so little faith."

Where does all this come from? Straight from the pit of hell,
from the father of all lies! Satan questions our faith, accuses
our faith and lies about our faith.

Lie Numbe r Thre e : "God is not with you. You have grie ve d Him
away."

Satan whispers, "God still loves you. But He is not with you
n o w. There is something in you, something unseen and
unknown to you. His blessing and favor are no longer with
you."

The devil will pound you with God's Word out of context.
He'll say, "Didn't God leave Israel when she sinned? He cut her
off and forsook her. Your present dry spell and your daily
struggles are all proof that God is not with you. The Holy Spirit
has left you!"

This was the lie the devil planted in Gideon's mind. Israel had
been delivered into the hands of the Midianites and suffered
great cruelty under them. Then God sent an angel who said to
Gideon, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!"
(Judges 6:12). Gideon looked around him-then heard the devil's
lie and said, "If the Lord is with us, why then has all this
happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our
fathers told us about, saying, `Did not the Lord bring us up
from Egypt?' But now the Lord has forsaken us and delivered
us into the hands of the Midianites" (Judges 6:13).

It is true that God delivered Israel to the Midianites-but only

to chasten them. He never forsook His beloved people and He
will never forsake His Church today. He will let us be
chastened by the enemy, but when His discipline is complete,
He says, "Hands off! These people are Mine."

Today we have this word: "He Himself has said, `I will never
leave you nor forsake you.' So we may boldly say: `The Lord is
my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?' " (Hebrews
13:5-6). "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age"
(Matthew 28:20). Jesus will never leave us, never forsake us.
God is with us always.

If we have been seeking the Lord, He is with us no matter

what lies we hear, no matter how we feel, no matter what our
circumstances. We need to stand face to face with the devil
before all the demons in hell and say, "I don't care what you
say about how I feel. God is with me! If God is for me, who can
be against me?" (see Romans 8:31).
The High Priest

The second word of encouragement to help us hold fast our

confidence, besides never listening to the lies of the devil, is
this: We must be fully persuaded that our High Priest cares and
that we have full access to His throne.

Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed
through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot
sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted
as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need.

Hebrews 4:14-16

We have been invited into the throne room of the Potentate

o f the universe. And He knows what we have been through,
what we are going through now and what we face ahead.
"There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are
naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give
account" (Hebrews 4:13). The Lord is waiting for us to come
boldly to Him with everything that concerns us.

He Himself has experienced all that we are going through at

all points, and He is sympathetic, loving, full of mercy and
anxious to help in our time of need. Is this your time of need?
Do you know He is available at any time? We don't have to
say, "I've got to go home and get in my secret closet to enter
God's throne room." The throne is available to us anytime and
anywhere. And God invites us to come boldly and without
reservation to that throne, with full confidence that He will
answer, that He will always keep His Word. We don't have to
explain anything to Him. We can just kneel before Him and say
boldly, "Jesus, You know what I'm going through. I can't put it
into words. But You've been here, too-so please help me!"

We live by promises, not by what we see. And if we are to be

faithful to God, we cannot sit around nursing our doubts.
Instead, we have to encourage ourselves daily in the Lord,
dealing with all unbelief, saying, "Lord, I'll not put up with it!"
We must reject the devil's lies and build our faith upon God's
Word: "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in
the love of God" (Jude 20-21).
 20

THE PRESENT GREATNESS OF

CHRIST
[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Him the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of
His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding
greatness of His power toward us who believe, according
to the working of His mighty power which He worked in
Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at
His right hand in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 1:17-20

In this well-known prayer, Paul wanted the Ephesian church

(and the Church today) to know something important. He
prayed that God would reveal to us the exceeding greatness of
Christ's power-and that means not just His past greatness, but
His present greatness as well.
 What does this mean, the present greatness of Christ?

The Church has great reverence for the Christ who walked on
earth-the Galilean Jesus, Son of Mary, teacher and
miracleworker. We never grow tired of hearing about the
greatness of Jesus of Nazareth, how He chased demons, stood
strong against all temptation, opened blind eyes, unstopped
deaf ears, caused paralytics to leap, restored withered limbs,
healed leprosy, turned water into wine, fed multitudes with a
few loaves and fishes and raised the dead.

Yet at some point in history the Church put limits on our

great, mighty, miracleworking Savior. We developed a theology
that made Him Lord over the spiritual but not over the natural.
We believe, for example, that He can forgive our sins, calm our
nerves, relieve our guilt, give us peace and joy, and offer us
eternal life-all work that is done in the unseen, invisible world.
But few believers know Christ as the God of the natural, of our
everyday affairsthat is, the Lord over our children, jobs, bills,
marriages and homes. Paul says we need a revelation of the
power Christ has had since the time He was raised from the
dead, to show us His power in all these things. Even now, he
says, Jesus sits at the right hand of God, possessing all power
in heaven and earth, and that God has "put all things under His
feet" (Ephesians 1:22, emphasis mine).

As I prayed on this matter, the Holy Spirit spoke powerfully

to my heart. He said, Jesus has never been more powerful than
He is right now. Indeed, Scripture says, "[He is) far above all
principality and power and might and dominion, and every
name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which
is to come" (Ephesians 1:21). If we really believe this, the
implications for us are awesome.

He Never Gave Up on the Dead

He who conquered death has all power. And the greatest

evidence of Christ's power on earth was those He raised from
the dead. "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives
them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes"
(John 5:21, NAS). Jesus clearly claimed to have power over
death. He even said of Himself, "I am the resurrection and the
life" (John 11:25)-and He proved it!

But do we truly believe Jesus when He said, "The hour is

coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the
Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has
life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in
Himself" (John 5:25-26)? And if so, do we realize the
implications for our day-to-day lives?

As Jesus talks here of the dead rising at the sound of God's

voice, He is not speaking only of the final resurrection. Jesus is
also describing His present power to raise up everything that
has died. You see, we all have a secret graveyard in our lives
that holds someone or something we gave up on a long time
ago. We have buried it and inscribed on its tombstone the date
of its death. And whenever we think about it, we never
consider the present power of Christ to give it His resurrection
life.

A few years ago a dear family acquaintance told us about

going to her child's graduation. Her former husband would be
among the relatives who would be attending-a man who had
left her years before for another woman. Our friend's marriage
was beyond resurrection, since her former husband had
remarried. Yet God bade our friend go back to the graduation-to
the grave site of her dead marriage-and pray for the salvation
of her husband and his wife. This woman did not give up on
the spiritually dead.

I know another dear woman in Christ whose husband left her

years ago. The man is now lost in deep sin. Where a good
marriage once blossomed, a tombstone now stands. Yet she,
too, has learned that Jesus never gives up on the dead. It is not
that she wants her husband back (indeed, he may never come
back). Rather, she wants him resurrected from the death of sin
so she prays for him now. She will not give up on the dead
because she knows she serves a God with present-day
resurrection power.

A pastor wrote to me with this sad story: He took into his

home a released convict, a man who seemed repentant. After a
few months the pastor came home and found the man in bed
with his wife. The man fled, but the woman had become
pregnant by him. This pastor now lives in constant grief. He
can barely support the two children they already have and his
marriage is in a shambles. He has the added worry about AIDS
from the former convict's drug use. He just can't see how he
will ever make it. "It's a dead end everywhere I turn," he wrote.
"It seems absolutely hopeless with no way out."

I know a father who grieves over his sixteen-year-old

daughter. The girl once was innocent and loving. Now she is
hooked on crack and wanders the streets to sell her body. She
is physically emaciated, and she possesses the morals of an
alley cat. This father loves his child dearly, but now she is half-
dead-really more dead than alive. He weeps over her high
school photograph, remembering the long walks and talks they
enjoyed together. Now, sadly, he has given up all hope. He sits
and waits for that dreaded late-night phone call telling him to
come to the morgue and identify his young daughter's body.

All these victims of the devil's ravages seem to have good

reason to give up on their loved ones. But Jesus never gives
up on the dead! Instead, He brings life out of death. And all
that anyone ever needs in any situation is His Word, His
breath-and what has appeared dead and hopeless will come to
life anew.

A grieving father named Jairus once came to Jesus to ask for

the healing of his dying daughter:
One of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus by name. And
when he saw Him, he fell at His feet and begged Him earnestly,
saying, "My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and
lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will
live." So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed
Him and thronged Him.

Mark 5:22-24

Jairus represents most of Christianity. Like him we know

Christ is our only hope and in a crisis we run to Him and fall at
His feet, seeking His mercy and help. Jairus had a good
measure of faith as well. He asked Jesus to come and lay His
hands on the child "that she may be healed, and she will live."
He was saying, "Lord, all she needs is You. You have all
power. You can keep her from dying." And responding to this
man's faith Jesus went with him.

Most of us in Jairus' position would undoubtedly be filled

with great hope at Jesus' consent. But we might also be struck
with a terrible thought: What if we're too late? It's wonderful to
have Jesus by my side but we need time. I need Jesus and time!
If so, we have limited faith and need a different perspective. If
we call on Jesus and know who He really is-"the resurrection
and the life"-we can rest in our spirits and tell our troubled
hearts, "Jesus transcends time. I don't need more time-I just
need Him."
 The nominal believers who stood at the girl's bedside
certainly had limited faith. As long as there was a little life left,
they reasoned, Jesus was wanted and needed. Most likely
before her death these people said to themselves, "Yes, we
believe Jesus is the great Physician, the great Healer. Nothing
is impossible for Him because we know He has all power. But,
oh, please hurry, Lord-she may die any minute!" What kind of
faith is this? It is faith only to the point of death; it believes
only to the grave. And when circumstances look as if all is lost,
this faith dies.

This is the faith that Mary of Bethany had. She said to Jesus
after Lazarus died, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother
would not have died" (John 11:32). This also was the faith
Lazarus' neighbors and friends had: "Some of them said, `Could
not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept
this man from dying?" (11:37). Neither Mary nor Martha nor a
single person at that grave site had any faith in Christ as the
Resurrection. To them Jesus was powerful and much-needed-
but only to the point of death.

Similarly, when the crowd around Jairus' daughter saw that

she had died, they lost the little faith they had. I can see them
taking her pulse and pronouncing her dead. Their first order of
funeral business was to notify the Healer that He was no
longer needed. So they sent a messenger to Jairus saying,
"Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any
further?" (Mark 5:35).
 These words must have seemed so final to Jairus: "Your
daughter is dead!" I ask you, are these same words ringing in
your ears? "Your marriage is dead-don't bother Jesus!" "Your
ministry is dead-don't bother the Lord!" "Your child is dead in
sin-don't bother Christ!" "Your relationship to that loved one is
dead-give it up! Why trouble the Teacher any further?" In
other words, "Why hold on when it's all over? It's a dead issue
now. Leave it alone."

When the news reached Jairus of his daughter's death, he

might even have said something similar: "Thanks, Lord-I know
Yo u meant well. Maybe it would have been all right if that
woman with the issue of blood hadn't touched the hem of Your
garment and delayed You. And I really had faith. I knew in my
heart that if You arrived while my daughter was still breathing,
she would live."

But no need and no person is ever too far gone for Jesus!
Thos e dreaded words mean absolutely nothing to Him. He
never gives up on the dead: He is resurrection life. In Greek, the
best rendition of verse 36 is, "Jesus, as if He did not hear what
was spoken, said to the ruler of the synagogue, `Be not afraid,
only believe.' "

Faith that goes only to the point of death is not good

enough. Jesus allowed time to run out in this instance because
He wanted His followers to have faith in His resurrection
power. He wanted their faith in Him to go beyond
hopelessness, beyond even death.

Jesus did not turn away, and a terrible scene occurred at

Jairus' house. I am deeply saddened when I read the account of
wh a t happened when Jesus arrived there. Amid the total
confusion, fear and wailing, everyone acted as if Jesus were a
mourner coming to pay His last respects. I can hear them
saying, "Well, at least He's decent enough to come to the
funeral. Better late than never!" Mark 5:38-40 reads:

He came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and saw a

tumult and those who wept and wailed loudly. When He came
in, He said to them, "Why make this commotion and weep? The
child is not dead, but sleeping." And they ridiculed Him.

The King James Version says they "laughed him to scorn."

I ask you-is this the reason there is so much commotion in so

many people's lives, so much grieving and mourning? Is it
because they do not believe that Jesus can resurrect what is
dead? Perhaps they don't believe Jesus knows what He is
doing, that He has a life-giving plan. They think He is too late
and that things have gone too far. They cannot believe Jesus
is still at work on what they have already given up on.

As I read this account in Mark, I look at those doubting

people and want to shout, "What are you laughing at? Why
have you given up? Hold on, trust Him. He can raise her up! He
wants to raise her up! It's been His plan all along."

When He had put them all outside, He took the father and the
mother of the child, and those who were with Him, and entered
where the child was lying. Then He took the child by the hand,
and said to her, "Talitha, cumi," which is translated, "Little girl,
I say to you, arise." Immediately the girl arose and walked.

Mark 5:40-42

As we hunger in our hearts for more of Jesus, He will apply

His living power to our dead circumstances. We will not cry
out to God in our trouble, hoping He will answer before it is too
late. We will not turn into mourners when it appears that the
answer has not come. We will not tremble before the power of
the devil, as if he has won the victory-as if Jesus has lost and
the devil has won! When things go from bad to worse we will
not ever say, "That's it! It's too late, it's all over. For some
reason, the Lord has chosen to let this happen. He is not going
to rescue this situation."

Some may think that this final statement appears noble. But it
is not enough to love, serve and worship God only to the point
o f hopelessness. We must trust Him when all our hope seems
gone, when it looks as if we will never land a job or see our
loved ones saved, when things are piling up on all sides and it
appears humanly impossible to go on.
 If Jesus walked into your present situation, how would He
find you? And how would you react to Him? Would you still
grieve? Would your heart still be in turmoil? Or would you say
to Him, "Lord, it looked hopeless. I was about to give up but I
know You are the same today as You were in Jairus' day! You
can heal this problem. You can bring life out of death." And,
when Jesus finally does work your miracle, will you be found
on the outside with the scoffers or on the inside among His
faithful circle? The faithful were there to see Jesus at work.
And that is where we all should want to be- -on the inside, the
faith side!

Our faith must hold that Jesus' power goes beyond the point
o f death. We must look directly into the face of all that is
lifeless and proclaim, "Jesus never gives up on the dead! He
has never been more willing to show His power than He is right
now." We can never give up on anyone or anything that Jesus
desires, no matter how hopeless the situation seems.

Notice that in the story of Jairus and his daughter the Lord
was not interested in showing His power to unbelievers. In
fact, He commanded the ones in that room not to tell anyone
about it. He said, in effect, "Don't tell them what you saw. The
miracle is among us in this room." This tells us that those who
hold on in unswerving faith are in for a glorious manifestation
of Christ's resurrection power! Only you and the Lord will
know all the intimate workings. He will astonish and thrill you-
and He will show you His glory.
 The present greatness of Christ can be summed up in one
powerful verse: "In Him was life" (John 1:4). Jesus was, and is
now, energizing life. He was renewed constantly as He drew on
a heavenly reservoir of life. He never wearied of the crowds
pressing in on Him. He was never impatient. When He called
His disciples to come aside for a while to rest, they departed to
a quiet place across the lake-but the crowds were waiting there,
too. Not once did He say, "Oh, no! It's that problem bunch
again, with their silly complaints and stupid questions. Won't it
ever end?" Instead He saw the multitudes and was moved to
compassion. He was energized by the Spirit and went to work.
He had days of toil, nights of prayer and time for little children.
In a weary moment He stopped to rest at a well, but a woman
needed help. Again He was energized. His disciples found their
Master relaxed and refreshed. "He said to them, `I have food to
eat of which you do not know' " (John 4:32). That is the secret
energy of resurrection life!

Believers today have been promised the very same energizing

life of Christ. And when we feel like a drained car battery we
s hould bring this quickly to mind: "If the Spirit of Him who
raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ
from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through
His Spirit who dwells in you" (Romans 8:11).

Are you full of the Holy Spirit? If so, then thank God for the
present greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ. By faith draw upon
His life and energy "so that your youth is renewed like the
eagle's" (Psalm 103:5). And when the time comes for that final
resurrection-entering into His glorious heavenly Kingdom-we
will thank Him for eternity that He enabled us to walk out our
earthly lives in His resurrection life and power.

"I know of one sure place where the supply of Bread never
fails, and that is the secret closet of prayer. The Holy Spirit
waits there to bring this precious Bread to you, to satisfy you
completely, and to make you strong and able to resist the world
and the devil. If you are hungry for more of Jesus, then come to
the Lord's table often. Be diligent to keep the feast. There you
will find the abundant life He longs to give you."

from Hungry forMore of Jesus