A SATANIC MASTER-STROKE

                              

2Co 2:10  To whom ye forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ; 

2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Perhaps one of the most significant things to any who are Not Ignorant of his (Satan’s) devices is that there never has been a specially spiritual movement of God in the earth, calculated to serve Him in a particularly useful way, but what Satan’s ANIMOSITY thereto has been Manifested along the line of Division, Schism, Discord, Separation, and a Breaking Down Of Fellowship.

And how often has the Real Sting and Stigma been modified by a feigning love unbroken and preserved, when the divided parties should have no association with each other in the things of God.

Love, let us again say emphatically, is incumbent upon the Lord’s people toward “all men,” whether of the “household” or otherwise (Gal. 6:10), but fellowship is something more. It is the most spiritual things which suffer the greatest shocks in this matter, and again we say this carries its own satanic significance.

The methods of the enemy are numberless, the “wiles” unfathomable by human wit.

A Suggestion of Suspicion, IF it finds lodgment, is enough to completely paralyze the work of God and spiritual progress. Have a doubt and you are done.

There never was a time when Positive Spiritual Work was more jeopardized by suspicion than now.

It would seem that hell is largely employed in issuing forth smoke, clouds, vapors, mists of suspicion, question, reservation, in order to INFECT with uncertainty, mystification, prejudice, fear, discrediting, distrust, aloofness. 

It is in the “heavenlies” that this is most registered; that is, the higher ranges of spiritual things. It is an atmosphere, and it is everywhere. You sense it wherever you go. In some places it is stifling – there is no clear breath of the Spirit, and a word of Life is almost choked back. Of course, this is no new thing, although now so intensified. The New Testament is full of it.

The Lord Jesus met it – Not in Spiritual people, ONLY in Religious people. John met it. Paul met it in every direction. It was made to circle round his person, his methods, his character, and his message.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Stand Still And Wait

  
God speaks to His people by the voice of His Spirit: "Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left" (Isaiah 30:21).

The voice of His Spirit comes to us primarily through the Scriptures. He may open up a biblical passage that will be the key to our deliverance. But before we can hear His voice of direction, God requires something of us: We are to stand still and wait for Him to act.

This word is NOT a suggestion BUT a commandment. It is the secret to our total victory and deliverance. Indeed, the Lord commanded His people to stand still on many occasions.

In Joshua 3 we read of another crossing Israel had to make, at the Jordan River. God instructed the people: "When ye are come to the brink of the water of Jordan, ye shall stand still in Jordan" (Joshua 3:8). Then the Lord added: "As soon as the soles of the feet of the priests shall rest in the waters of Jordan the waters of Jordan shall be cut off and they shall stand
upon an heap" (verse 13).

God was saying, "When you get to the water, plant your feet in it and just stand there. Be still, rest. Just wait for Me to act and I will part the waters for you!"
                                                                                                          
The Hebrew word for stand still in this passage means "stop all activity, cease all striving." Yet, how many Israelites obeyed when they came to the Jordan? As they stood with their feet in the water, many must have thought, "How do we know this is going to work?"

Some might have been tempted to build some sort of pontoon bridge and try to get across on their own ingenuity. But that would have been in vain.

God did act on that occasion — He parted the waters. Israel's act of obedience was accompanied by faith and God answered their faith!

~David Wilkerson~
 

Crucified To The Religious World

 

Galations 6:14 But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world

It is interesting to notice the particular way in which the apostle speaks of the world here. That term is a very comprehensive term, and includes a very great deal. Here Paul gets right down to the spirit of the thing. You notice the context. It is well for us to take account of it.

Gal 6:13  For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
 
What does the apostle mean? They want to say, See how many proselytes we are making! See how many followers and disciples we are getting! See how successful our movement is! See what a power we are becoming in the world! See all the marks of divine blessing resting upon us! The apostle says, That is worldliness in principle and spirit; that is the world. He sets over against this his own clear spiritual position. 

Do I seek glory of men? Do I seek to be well-pleasing to men? No! The world is crucified to me and I to the world. All that sort of thing does not weigh with me. 

What weighs with me is not whether my movement is successful, whether I am getting a lot of followers, whether there are all the manifestations outwardly of success; what weighs with me is the measure of Christ in those with whom I have to do. It is wonderful how this at the end of the letter comes right back upon these Galatians, and the whole object of the letter.

We recall the words in which that object is summed up. “My little children, for whom I am again in travail,until Christ be formed in you”.
 
Christ formed in you, that is my concern, he says, that is what weighs with me, not extensiveness, not bigness, not popularity, not keeping in with the world so that it is said that this is a successful ministry, and a successful movement. That is worldliness. I am dead to all that. I am crucified with Christ to all that. The thing that matters is Christ, the measure of Christ in you.

You see how the world can creep in, and how worldly we can become almost imperceptibly by taking account of things outwardly; of how men will think and talk, what they will say, the attitude they will take, of the measure of our popularity, the talk of our success. That is all the world, says the apostle, the spirit of the world, that is how the world talks. Those are values in the eyes of the world, but not in the eyes of the risen Christ.

In the new creation, on the resurrection side of the cross, one thing alone determines value, and that is, the measure of Christ in everything. 

Nothing else is of value at all, however big the thing may be, however popular it may be, however men may talk favourably of it; on the resurrection side that does not count a little bit. 

What counts is how much of Christ there is.
You and I in the cross of the Lord Jesus must come to the place where we are crucified to all those other elements. Ah, you may be unpopular, and the work be very small; there may be no applause, and the world may despise, but in it all there may be something which is of Christ, and that is the thing upon which our hearts must be set. The Lord give us grace for that crucifixion.

There are few things more difficult to bear than being despised; but He was despised and rejected of men. What a thing is in God’s sight must be our standard. That is a resurrection standard. Now that is the victory of the cross. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ…”

~T. Austin Sparks~

IDOLATRY And GOD'S PUNISHMENT

And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him; that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord God (Ezekiel 14:10-11).

God is telling us in tender terms: "I am going to do whatever it takes to get  you away from your polluted idols. I will not let you fall into deception and destruction. I am going to woo you back to Myself but if that doesn't work, I will have to bring punishment.”

When ye see their ways and their doings ye shall know that I have not  done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God" (verse 23). The Lord is saying: "You will know that My strong dealings with you are for a reason. I simply will not let you go."

Do you have a stumbling block of iniquity in your heart? Are you deceived by a bondage that could destroy you? If so, and if you find yourself under conviction from this message, there is hope for you.

It does not matter what your idol is — covetousness, sexual sin, pornography, alcohol, drugs, bitterness or unforgiveness. Ask God to open your eyes to your sin and seek Him for a revelation about it. Ask the Holy Spirit to instill the fear of God in you, to soften your heart to His convicting voice. You must hate your sin and determine to make no peace with it.

Cry out to Him now: "Lord, don't leave me blind. If there is any delusion or deception in me, expose it. I don't want to believe any more lies. I only want to hear Your voice and have Your power and authority rule my life."

There is deliverance for you if you truly want it. One day soon you will realize you are no longer a slave, but a child of God set free by truth.

~David Wilkerson~

Faith Has NOTHING To Do With Feelings

Heb.11:6  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. 

Heb 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

IDOLS Of PRIDE And JEALOUSY

                                                       
When the Holy Spirit convicts a believer of a particular sin or habit, He comes again and again with loving warnings. God's Spirit is tender, patient, loving and He will wait for a believer to respond before He brings discipline. He will continually hammer that person's compromise with His loving conviction.

When all the wooings and warnings of the Spirit are ignored and sin takes root, the penalty is chastisement and, finally, judgment. God will allow blinding of the eyes and hardness of the heart until it becomes impossible for the habitual sinner to see his own depravity. Eventually, the hardness of his heart becomes impenetrable.

Saul's heart was under the dominion of the idols of pride and jealousy. Pride continually rose up in this man, making him jealous of David and anyone else who walked in holiness, and his heart was overcome with idolatry.

Here is the sad testimony of this idolatrous king: "And Saul answered, I am  sore distressed . . . God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams" (1 Samuel 28:15). Saul could weep, seek out prophets, and pray for dreams, but the Lord answered, "No, Saul. I'm not talking to you anymore, because your heart is captivated by an idol."

The book of Jeremiah tells us that Ephraim fell under the Lord's severe  chastisements because of sin. But Ephraim repented, turning away from his idols and smashing them. Here is that man's testimony: "Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed" (Jeremiah 31:19).

Do you understand what Ephraim is saying here? In essence, it is: "When I had idols [sin] in my heart, I went to the Lord for instructions. But I couldn't get a word from heaven. I didn't hear anything from God until I repented and smashed my idols to bits. Then I got clear instructions!"
 ~David Wilkerson~
 

Have You Got A Cross and Grave?

                          

1Co 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Have you got a Cross in your history? Have you got a grave in your history? If you have not then you are dwelling in the shadows.

You may get flashes and touches, but they will be fleeting, transient, coming and going. If you have a Cross and a grave in your experience, in your history, the Holy Spirit has got what He requires, and it is blessedly possible for you to have the abiding of this risen Life in which all these values are made good, and growingly good.

What is the new creation? With it there comes first of all a new consciousness. You are conscious that things are new, and things are different. It is a new consciousness as to the Lord. You are alive to that to which you were never alive before; in every realm things are the same, yet entirely different. Somehow or other you move in the same surroundings, and touch the same people, but there is something new. There is a new consciousness. Things have become different....

Not only do we have a new consciousness, but we have a new capacity. The Holy Spirit gives capacities that none of us have by nature. We may by nature be very limited in our capabilities. By the anointing of the Holy Spirit we may have capabilities that the best men and women of this world without the Holy Spirit have not got.

A truly Spirit-indwelt child of God has capabilities and capacities that no one else has. This very breathing carries with it capacity. Until Adam was breathed into he had no capacities for all that he was intended to do; but when he became a living soul by the breath of God he had capacities for knowing, for doing, for understanding.

The new creation is like that, with new capacities, capabilities for knowing, for understanding, for doing, that we never had before. No child of God ought ever to settle down and finally accept the position that they "cannot" in any particular. We should never say in any matter that is presented to us in the will of God, "I cannot." 

The presence of the Holy Spirit means capability and capacity for doing things which we could never do before. We ought to prove the Lord in that way.

~Austin T. Sparks~

JACOB'S LADDER

One of the most interesting people in the Old Testament is Jacob, a cheating, deceiving, manipulative man. Yet God loved this man dearly.

Jacob had tricked his brother Esau out of his birthright. When a famished Esau  came in from hunting, Jacob offered him a pot of stew in exchange for his birthright. In their culture, the birthright was the right of the firstborn male to be the head of the clan. This included a “double blessing” — that is, receiving a double portion of all their father’s possessions. More importantly, whoever had the birthright was to be the progenitor of the patriarchal seed through which Christ would come: “And in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 28:14).

Jacob had also stolen the patriarchal blessing from his father, Isaac — a  blessing that belonged to Esau — by pretending to be Esau. When Esau learned that Jacob had stolen his blessing from their father, he was determined to kill him.

Their mother, Rebekah, persuaded Isaac to send Jacob away to where her brother  Laban lived. She wanted Jacob to find a wife there and live peacefully. While Jacob was on his way, God gave him an incredible vision. He saw a ladder descending from heaven down to earth, with angels going to and from the throne
of God, doing His bidding (see Genesis 28:12).
                                                  
God was drawing back the curtain and showing Jacob divine activity that was  going on all the time. All those angels were on assignment — going back and forth to the earth to guide and lead God’s people, minister to them, camp around them, warn them, protect them, guard them, provide for their needs.

Beloved, that ladder is still there! And those same angels have not aged a  single hour since Jacob saw them. In fact, they are still working and ministering on our behalf today.

To Jacob, and through him to us, God then said, “I am with thee, and will  keep thee in all the places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of”
Genesis 28:15.

~David Wilkerson~

Have~You~Been~Listening To~Satan's~Lies?

                                                    
So, have you been listening to Satan's lies about your walk with Jesus? Have you been thinking you're unworthy, that you cannot worship God until you make everything perfect? 

I have good news for you. You already know Satan is a liar but I can prove to you that Jesus has made you clean, worthy to stand before Him and serve Him in faithfulness. How are you made worthy? By Christ's sacrifice on the cross you are given every right to worship and serve the Lord.

That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; 

Giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins (Colossians1:10-14).

The Greek rendering of this passage is: "The Father has made us fit, worthy,  qualified in character good enough to be partakers in the inheritance of the saints of light."

What Jesus did on the cross qualifies you for eternal inheritance. And if God has qualified you for eternal life, then He has made you strong in character.

You could "sit down" from ministry for a month, a year, a whole lifetime trying to make yourself qualified for Him,working on your character in an effort to become good enough to be used of God. But you can never meet the criteria on your own.

Even if you were able to win victories over every wrong thing you have done, every wrong thought you have had, you still would not be qualified in God's sight. It is impossible. Why? Because God will not accept any righteousness except that of His own Son, Jesus Christ.

You cannot obtain the righteousness of Christ by working for it. The only way to obtain it is by believing and trusting God for it. It all happens by faith in what Jesus has done!

~David Wilkerson~

VICTOR OVER THE ENEMY!!!

                         OUR GOD IS VICTOR

IDOLS In The HEART

                                                 
Certain elders of Israel came to the prophet Ezekiel seeking guidance from the Lord. These men were not like many of the Israelites, who openly bowed their knees to idols. You would not find them in some idol temple, offering sacrifices to the false gods there. They were leaders of the people and they wanted to appear before everyone as godly men.

Outwardly, these elders had the appearance of men who had a heart for God and  wanted to know His word for their lives. That is the manner in which they approached Ezekiel but God revealed to Ezekiel what was in their hearts. He said to the prophet, Son of man, these men have set up idols in their heart and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face (Ezekiel 14:3). 

The Lord was saying, These men have come to you saying they want to hear a word from Me...that they want to walk in obedience to my commands. But they are lying! They have secret sins in their life.

These elders all had hidden, secret idolatry. Their hearts were in bondage to sins they indulged in behind closed doors. No one could tell this by their appearance. On the contrary, they came across not as pagans or idol worshipers, but as respected men of God going about their ministries.

A stumbling block of iniquity is any evil thing that stands between you and God..any enticement that robs you of a steadfast walk with Him. It is any besetting sin that causes you to waver in your faith; any desire that brings shame to your heart and to the name of Christ; any sin you cling to as you come to the Lord seeking guidance. You can come to God's house, raise your hands, worship Him loudly, and still have a stumbling block of iniquity in your heart.

Only by turning away from your idol in wholehearted repentance can you hear the true word of the Lord and receive clear, divine guidance. 

When you repent, the first thing that returns to you is your discernment, and the farther behind you leave your sin, the clearer you will see and hear God’s voice. He will become distinct, sure, speaking with the authority of truth.

~David Wilkerson~
 

True Service For The LORD

                             

Rev 2:19  I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 

 

Oh, that we should get some better idea of what the service of the Lord is than that it is platforms and pulpits and open-air meetings.

Beloved, service for the Lord is just as important when it is rendering some kindly act of helpful service to some rather depressed child of God in the ordinary domestic things of daily life; just as valuable as getting on the platform and giving a message.

You see it is strengthening the hands of the Lord's children, it is coming in to check the crushing overweight of the adversary, coming alongside to lift up the testimony in some life or home where the enemy is trying to crush the testimony out – and the testimony is something maintained in domestic relationships, in family life, private life.

There are too many who want to give up their domestic service and go to Bible College, failing to recognize that that service there may be just as valuable to the Lord as their going out to the mission field. It is spiritual, not technical, not organized, and you may be as much a priest of the Lord in going round to some home tomorrow where the enemy is pressing in, and giving a practical hand in helping with the washing, as you may be a priest in standing on the platform....

There are many priests of God whose voices have never been heard in public, who have never been seen in a public way, who are unknown, hidden very often in the assembly and yet in secret history fulfilling a most valuable ministry. Get adjusted over this thing.

We have to come to the point where we deliberately decide as to whether the Lord is worthy of this, and abandon ourselves to it because of our appreciation of Him, the Master. You see, this servant abandons himself freely, voluntarily, for all time to the service of his master because he has come to love his master.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Message Of The Cross

The sin of idolatry brought down God's awful wrath on His own people. It angered Him more than any other sin in the Old Testament, so much that He declared: The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger (Jeremiah 7:18).

This is God's declaration against idolatry in the Old Testament and  He hates idolatry just as much today. It brings down His wrath on any generation, including this modern one.

A new idolatry is sweeping across our world right now. No we don't  see people kneeling down before carved images anymore; instead this modern idolatry seduces multitudes by its subtlety and cleverness. Yet it angers God more than any Old Testament idolatry.

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed (Galatians 1:6-8).

This other gospel that Paul mentions is a message of salvation without the cross. The great idolatry of our day is the casting aside of the message of the cross of Jesus Christ.

The cross including its demands and hopes is the very heart of the gospel. Any worship, any fellowship, anything calling itself church is blatant idolatry if the cross is not at its center. Such worship is of another spirit entirely and God will have nothing to do with it. Without the cross, all that is left is chaff a perverted gospel, something from the pit of hell. It is more insulting to the Lord than the idolatry of Israel.

And I if I be lifted up from the earth
will draw all men unto me John 12:32. This lifting up from the earth Jesus mentions is His crucifixion. He was lifted up before the whole world on the cross~an image of His great sacrifice for our sins.

~David Wilkerson~

The LORD Will NOT Fail You

                            

Deut 31:8  And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, neither be dismayed.

If we are seeking to go on with God to any degree beyond that which is commonly accepted as a true Christian life; if we are called to pioneer the way for any further advance in Spiritual life or Divine service; if we are given a vision of God's will and purpose not seen by the general mass of God's people or even the larger number of the servants of God ours will be a lonely way.

There are many other ways in which we may feel aloneness. It may be for geographical reasons or it may be because of an inward experience through which we are passing; an experience or phase which cannot be shared by another, even the one closest to us.

All these and other reasons may respectively become our "wilderness" in which Satan comes, and, while there is a basic occasion, his business is to push things into the extra realm of untruth and tell us that we are actually and utterly alone. It is not a rare thing for him to tell a child of God that God has left him or her.

Elijah verily believed that he was the only one left in faithfulness to God, and he repeated his complaint several times, "I only am left."

He had lost sight of the possibility that the prophets reported by Obadiah to have been hidden might still be in that underground faithfulness, or some of them at least. But the Lord knew better and told him of seven thousand unsurrendering saints who would not capitulate to Jezebel or Baal.

The fact is that what Elijah believed was positively not true. If we look at things horizontally we shall only see so far, but if we look from heaven we shall see much more.

~T. Austin Sparks~