Can you imagine such effrontery?
Can you imagine such effrontery?
When we went back into class, one of the students, knowing nothing of my pronouncement to God, began to prophesy. He said: "If you mean what you said, it will be a blessing to many people."
Well, I meant exactly what I said. Now, 65 years later, I still mean it.
You know what? Perhaps because of my statement to God, God has given me a passion for His will. I do not have a passion for souls, as some do. I do not have a passion for prolonged intercessory prayer, as some do (although I pray without ceasing in that I talk to Jesus constantly).
But I have an absolute passion to do the Father's will.
I am not boasting about this passion. I realize it is a gift from God. All aspects of salvation are a gift from the Lord. I love to do God's will. I rejoice in it. I have found there always is grace to do what God wants.
It is true that sometimes His will is hard to find, and we have to watch and pray very carefully that we do not go off into error. It is true that sometimes we have to surrender idols. But God's will always leads us to righteous behavior, love, joy, and peace. Who does not want these.
I pray fervently every day that Christ will give me truth and deliver me from the deceptions of Satan. Do you do this? It is needful is the present hour.
I would imagine serving Satan can be difficult, and that he never is pleased with his servants. But God is not difficult to serve, once we make up our mind that we want to do His will at all times. His commandments are not grievous, as the Apostle says.
The more Christ is formed in us, the more we delight to do God's will. This is because Christ delights to do God's will.
The strongest of all prayers is, "Your will be done." We must live with this determination always before us.
I believe God is calling forth His firstfruits today. One thing is certain: if we wish to be in this company, we must always do God's will as we understand it.
It appears that ever since man has been created he has determined to find his own way in life. If everyone, including the Christian people, would announce to God that they were going to cease from their own ways and look to Christ for every decision they make, could you imagine what kind of world this would be?
There would be no more wars, for one thing. We have wars because the political leaders are choosing their own way instead of seeking God's will. It is just as simple as that. I have never heard our own President mention the name of God, let alone Christ, even one time. I believe this is unprecedented in America. But there it is. Maybe he has, and I wasn't present to hear it.
I have no faith whatever in a president who does not seek God's will for our country but relies on his own abilities.
I am passionate about doing God's will and everyone else doing God's will. If I have enough authority after I die and pass into the spirit world, I will insist that everyone do God's will.
No more of this saying it is too hard; that everyone must sin once in a while. God told Cain that sin was crouching at the door and he must master it. God did not say it was impossible to master it. With the help of Christ we can master sin. I won't hear of anything else. How about you?
And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. This is the sound of power, of the "seven thunders" mentioned in the tenth chapter of the Book of Revelation. The voice of the thunders was silenced because the people of God are self-willed, seeking their own aggrandizement.
When there are enough believers who are willing to forsake their own way and look to Jesus for everything, the seven thunders of power will speak. Then we will see the two witness of Revelation, Chapter Eleven. They are victorious saints in whom Christ is dwelling. God will thunder through them as they do His will in the earth, bearing witness of the soon coming of the Kingdom of God.
The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. In addition to the voice of power there was the sound of singing. So it is true that the power of God is delightful. It is a time of dancing, of worshiping, of tambourines and violins and trumpets, of the loud cymbals declaring the Glory of God, not our own glory.
Today we often hear ministers of the Gospel pray for power. But they are not dancing with Christ. There is no music, only striving. They are seeking their own glory, in numerous instances. Enough of this! We need to sing and dance with the Lamb. The Father will issue all the power needed to do His will, not our self-seeking will! Let the harps play so we can sing and dance in the heights of Zion.
And they sang a new song. The old hymns helped us on our way. "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." There is a new song today. It has to do with our oneness with Jesus, our forsaking of our own life that we might live by His Life.
The new song speaks of total victory over sin, Satan, Antichrist, the False Prophet, and our own sinful nature and self-will. The new song tells us to not fret about the conditions in the world but to keep our eyes fixed on Christ as He prepares to destroy the enemies of God.
The new song speaks of the Kingdom that is being fashioned in Heaven and that is coming to the earth to install the new world of righteousness. The new song portrays the Kingdom of never ending righteousness, love, joy, and peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:7)
Can you hear that song? Tell the Lord you want to hear it. You want to obey God perfectly no matter what the world and the churches do.
Before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. They do not sing for the benefit of other people. They sing before the Throne of God; before the four Cherubim of Glory; and before the twenty-four elders. How often do we sing to be heard by other people? Imagine singing so God can hear us!
(No one could learn the song except the 144,000) who had been redeemed from the earth. It does not sound like the Lord, does it, to single out specific people for such glory and honor .
But that is the way of the Kingdom. I have no doubt that some of the most dedicated saints of history, or even of our own day, are unknown to us. Why is this? It is because they are precious jewels of the Lord and He does not want other people to see them. They are reserved for Him alone.
Would God do such a thing? Absolutely. But they are known in Heaven, and we will know them when we die if our lives are acceptable to the Lord.
These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. It is my opinion that this is not speaking of human women necessarily. The Bible says that marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled. It is obvious in our own day that because of the demons of lust in the spiritual atmosphere, a Christian denomination that does not permit its ministers to marry results in the clergy engaging in criminal sexual activities with children.
No, I believe the defilement has to do with anything that defiles the believer, such as money, or education, or entertainment, or material wealth. It can include immoral relationships with women, but I do not believe it is speaking of ordinary marriage.
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. (I Timothy 4:3)
The Apostle Paul refers to such ordinances as doctrines of devils. And so they are, as we can tell from the fruit they bear.
They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. This is the highest calling possible for a human being. We can embark on this adventure today by telling the Lord Jesus that we want to be with Him wherever He goes.
This does not mean necessarily that He wants us to go with Him to China, although it could mean that. How about the little journeys around our house or job. If we keep looking to the Lord Jesus, throughout the day and night, and keep telling Him that we want to go with Him wherever He goes, I think He will answer that prayer for us.
When it comes to pass that you are with Him wherever He goes, then a person cannot have you without having Jesus and can't have Jesus without having you. It is true also that no one can have God without having Jesus, and no one can have Jesus without having God. How utterly marvelous!
Do you have a powerful desire to always be that close to the Lord? I do!
They were purchased from among men. Again you can see that all men are not "purchased." I have been sounding this note from the beginning, that salvation is of the Lord. He chooses people and does with them as He will. This always is true of the Kingdom of God.
Today the emphasis is on the rights of people---how wonderful everyone is and must have their "rights." Mankind is in love with itself. We might think such an attitude is godly, but it is not. It is an illusion, for one thing. All people are not nice. Some molest children. They are not nice. Some people live by stealing from other people. They are not nice.
The truth is, people are not nice, ordinarily. We all were born in sin. Even the "nicest" people will hurt you if they feel it is necessary for them to keep from losing anything. Most of us are self-seeking scoundrels, if the truth be known.
But the Spirit of God moves among the multitudes of the earth, and He does what He will with people. Some were purchased from among men. That is what the Bible teaches. And it is up to those who have been purchased to seek Christ to find out for what role and tasks they have been grasped for.
If God has chosen us to be members of His Firstfruits company, then nothing will satisfy God except our turning over our life completely to Christ that He may conform us to His image and teach us to find rest in the perfect center of God's Person and will.
And offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb. Where produce is grown, that which is reaped first is the best; the tenderest; the tastiest. The Old Testament has much to say about firstfruits.
Mankind is God's planting. He is a Farmer. He wants good fruit from what He has planted. There is a Firstfruits purchased by the blood of the Lamb. God watches over His Firstfruits. They are being made in the image of His Son, that Jesus may have true brothers in His own image.
I believe you and I can be firstfruits to God and the Lamb. But we will have to cease comparing ourselves with other Christian people and follow the teachings of the Apostles of Christ. We absolutely must present our body as a living sacrifice that we may prove God will for ourselves. Never mind what other Christians think or do, just follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
We must learn to live by the Life of Jesus in all we think, say, and do. Nothing short of this will enable us to stand, and help others to stand, throughout the Divine judgment that is facing the United States of America.
Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats, nor any amount of money can protect us from what is coming our way. Only the Lord Jesus Christ can save us, as we fear and trust in Him.
No lie was found in their mouths. All of us are natural-born liars. We begin to lie at our earliest age. We survive in this valley of the shadow of death by evading the truth. There may be someone of whom this is not true, but Diogenes never found him.
God does not lie. If we are to cease lying we must ask God to help us. He will do that. He will burn the lie out of us. It may take a while. But if we do our best, and keep asking God, He will purify us from the spirit of lying.
They are blameless. The man or woman, boy or girl, who never lies might be said to be blameless. In any case, a truthful individual is well on his or her way of being found blameless in his or her behavior.
When all is said and done, there is a Firstfruits company. They will stand with the Lord on Mount Zion, the place of deliverance from Edom, from the works of the flesh.
Today is the time when the Spirit of God is looking for such blameless people. He has a great purpose for them in His everlasting Kingdom, in His new world of righteousness.
I see no reason why you and I cannot aspire for God's highest and best.
Let's do it!