(tm) The answer is, part of Jacob died
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He died and was raised again in God just as we die and are raised again as the result of our consecration-wrestling. We come to the point of believing all hope is gone; but somehow our life is preserved. Not only do we now have the answer to our prayer but—best of all—we have come to know the Lord.
And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh. (Genesis 32:31)
Jacob now had a lame hip and he limped for the remainder of his life. He had been touched in the region of fruitfulness and strength. Now he was bound forever to God, having always to depend on God for support.
We, too, learn to depend always on God for help and support as a result of our consecration-death in God. No longer are we able to accomplish our goals by our own will, abilities, and scheming. From this point on we are weak in ourselves and must depend on God for every victory. In the sight of God, this is the necessary condition if we are to be entrusted with increased fruitfulness and Divine strength.
The fellowship of His sufferings. The eternal life that we seek comes from death. Aaron’s rod sprouted with life after being laid up in the Most Holy Place. If we will place all our ambitions and hopes before the Presence of the holy Fire, and then leave them there until the Lord moves, there will come forth the buds, blossoms, and almonds of eternal, incorruptible resurrection life.
The buds are the first sign of resurrection life. The blossoms are the forerunners of the fruit to come. The almonds are the final result—the Nature and Presence of Christ fashioned in us.
Whatever comes forth after having been placed and left for a season in the Presence of the fire of God has been resurrected from the dead. It has been accepted eternally in the sight of God.
The only means by which the Life of Christ can come to other people is by our death.
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: (Colossians 1:24)
Eternal life has come to the Body of Christ because Christ was obedient to death. The resurrection Life from God flows from death just as crops on a farm spring from the seed that has been sown in the ground. The only way by which the Life of Christ can keep on coming to the members of the Body of Christ is by the death of those who minister, as they follow the Lord Jesus in denial of self.
People cannot live from what we give to them from our own personality. People partake of God as the result of our having been willing to die the death that God has required of us. As we choose to die to self the Life of God raises us up. In the process of that raising, the saints to whom we are ministering are nourished with the resurrection life that is raising us.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
If we are willing to be crucified with Christ, to share His sufferings, we will deny ourselves to the point of death, as the Lord leads. We will set aside our own life each day and pursue His desires for us, whether or not we enjoy them.
Such self-denial will bring death to our first personality; but from this death will flow His resurrection Life. The result will be expanded areas of fruitfulness plus the possession of the strength of God Himself. "Christ lives in me." This is fruitfulness. This is Divine, eternal strength.
Are we willing to become servants of Christ, each of us being part of the Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 42:1)? If so, we must walk humbly with God to the point of being deprived of our lawful rights. The result will be a generation of fruit so great it scarcely can be described.
There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. (Psalms 72:16)
Notice the following:
In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth. (Acts 8:33)
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