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The Lord’s Will (Mat 6:10 KJV) "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." As you go into deeper experiences with God, you will experience great struggles at times. The enemy will fight you severely. But that doesn’t lessen the fact that God wants you closer to Him than to anything else in life. Conversion is a beginning of life. But walking with Jesus (going where He goes, stopping where He stops, speaking what He speaks, holding silence when He is silent) should be our goal. Those who don’t know the will of God don’t know the Kingdom of God. In order to follow the Lord you must first receive from Him. We fail God when we don’t know what instructions He wants to give. We fail when we don’t discern God’s will. We may not say this, but in our hearts it may be true, "I don’t want the Lordship of Christ. I will do what I want." And this is why the power of God does not operate in our lives. Whether we do it consciously or unconsciously, we don’t wait to receive the will of God. We have some wonderful Christian leaders and people, kind, & loving, but they do what they want. No matter how beautiful and pleasing to the flesh, anything not done by the leading of the Spirit dissatisfies God. (Romans 8:8) "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." Jesus is the only man that ever pleased God entirely. And it is the same today. Only Christ in us can please God. And Jesus lives in us and dwells in us only when we do the Father’s will. (Matthew 7:21) "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; Be he that doeth the will of my Father." How are we going to live in heaven except we do the will of Him today? To truly belong to Christ, we must actually do God’s will. We must learn what He wants and follow His direction. Everyday we must listen for His voice to receive instructions and follow through. (Matthew 16:24) "If any man WILL" -- It is our choice – but how many do? "COME AFTER" it means to obey. But how? -- "Let him deny himself." The Holy Spirit must be allowed to show us "self" in order to deny it and then begin to apply His will. Are you willing to let the Holy Ghost show you? Denying self is found in verse 25 – "in order to gain we must lose." In losing we find all. This is humility - to give up self. Humility is the opposite of selfishness or self. Self is the carnal nature that came through Adam. But Jesus didn’t have Adam’s carnal nature because He came from the seed of the Holy Spirit. Therefore His blood was pure – perfect. Jesus wants us to have His Spirit, but it only happens when we are obedient to Him. We are filled with carnality – anger, envy, spite, resentment, criticism, argumentative attitudes. You can’t give half and keep half. The church is weak today because we are half-breed Christians. People are looking for the real thing: Full blooded Christians. The last part of Matthew 16:24 is "Take up your cross." You cannot have Christianity without the cross. The cross is where the carnal nature dies. Jesus went to the cross voluntarily. We must daily bring our evil natures and submit to the cross--this is true sanctification--it is crucifying the inner man. But, we can’t do it unless we allow God to slay us. Our carnal natures are wrapped up in self – deny self and cling to the cross. Instead of Jesus leaving the cross to save Himself, He suffered, He agonized – all of you who have taken the cross are agonizing and suffering for Jesus, are you not? When we say "Lord have Your way," He will slay us over and over to destroy the carnal nature. Religion looks good to the average Christian because it satisfies the flesh. But true Christianity destroys the fleshly appetites of pride, jealousy, murmuring, fault-finding, analyzing, and self-sufficiency. Most everyone wants a victorious life, but few want to pay the price. A suffering soul is terrible, yet it is wonderful. Because that which remains according to 2 Cor. 3:10 says "it is glorious." This is personal, yet the world will know there is a difference because you will have everything in Jesus. I cannot walk with God unless I deny myself. In order to hear His voice, I must obey HIS WILL. By carrying the cross, my attention is heaven-ward and I will live the Biblical way. (Col. 3:1) "If you be risen with Christ, you will seek these things which are above." Jesus now becomes Lord of my life. That means I will seek His advice – what to do, where to go, even how to dress, and what to say. Your life is no longer yours, but CHRIST’S. When that happens, you will never again debate His Word. You will never try to make something out of His Word to satisfy your life style. It will be real, it will guide, it will bring repentance, and you will be filled up with everlasting life. NOW, all hell will be against you and it’s only by God’s grace that we will be able to continue. But praise God, in our weaknesses He is made strong. Then His promises apply to our lives. (Prov. 3:5-6) "He shall direct your path." You can only get to know the Lordship of Jesus as you obey and let Him guide you. The rest is mere knowledge, intellect, carnality, self-will instead of self-denial. The church today is missing Christianity until we deny self, carry the cross, and obey. We have been trying to do what God wants without doing what He says. Some say the church wants to control people, but that is because people are too weak to allow the Spirit of God to lead. Thank God we are weak – only then can God take over. But He won’t take over until you let Him. We can eliminate our plans, our desires. When we are willing to be unrecognized, then Jesus can be made Lord of all. The Church isn’t controlling, but the Spirit of God is. He is the only one who has the right to be. We just blame the church because we would never blame God directly. Our assignment right now is to be cleansed by the Spirit. When we are, God himself will bring in the souls that will truly be born-again and live for Jesus, not one-time conversions we never see again, but those who will walk away from the worldliness and give all to Christ. God wants people to wait on Him, to be slain in Him that He might have full control. He wants those who will die to self, who don’t want recognition or popularity, those who can be broken and humbled so He can be glorified. In the meantime we will be attacked by principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and spiritual wickedness in high places. They will try to steal the Word, your faith, your self-denial. But you can place the blood of Jesus over your heart and mind, lifting the shield of faith over your soul. And then just go on trust. Trust in God and in Spirit-led people. The world is dying for the LORDSHIP of Jesus. His love never will flow if we, the church, walk in disobedience. This love will forgive all wrongs, will overlook misunderstandings, will not judge actions, will hold no grudges. It will make us one in Christ, and the power of His Spirit will be manifest through the Body. The great revival of all times will come. And that will usher in the return of Christ. It only takes one group of people to get it started. Wouldn’t it be great if it started right here? [In 1942 Loren Helms was told by God He would send the latter rain as soon as He found a group of people willing to submit to His will. None Yet!] (John 1:12) "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God." There is a difference between "the power to become" a son and actually "being" a son. Sonship is in (Rom. 8:14) "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God." This is true Holy Ghost possession. We must die out to self. We must go to the cross. We must learn how to obey. And we must be led by His Spirit. When these things are done, the Kingdom of God is come and the will of the Father is done in earth, even as it is in heaven. -Pr. Steve November Newsletter 1998 | The Lord’s Will | Pastor's Journal November 1997 | Questions on the Test Clean Hands and a Pure Heart | A People of Understanding part 4 of 4 | Poems | Thanksgiving Revised: July 23, 2009. |
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