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Declaring good news of real change out of, through and into the Spirit of Jesus Christ Rom. 12:2, Rom. 11:36.

Faith

(part 6)

Faith, which is not faith.

It is in humbleness of heart and contriteness of spirit that I sit down to start this next article. We are sons in union with the Spirit of our Heavenly Father, but we are as yet in training. We all make mistakes. Now, while I do not like to focus on my mistakes; neither do I want to hide myself from them. There are many today, who have received a genuine understanding of justification by faith in the shed blood of Jesus as the Passover Lamb; and even many of these same, who have gone on to the Pentecost experience to begin to hear the voice of God for themselves. Only, some of these same people, (and I have been here, and do not condemn) at the first sign of adversity, fall back, away from what they hear, into what they have always been taught. Or, they will reject outright a Word from God despite the anointing they feel quickening the word to them, because it seems to contradict what they have always believed.

I quote Stephen Jones in his booklet Hearing God’s Voice: “Pentecost deals with our ability and willingness to hear His voice. That voice calls us up the mount into that all-consuming fire. It is a call to die, and most people today, like in Israel’s day, run away from this sure death, wanting to preserve their mortal lives and carnal beings.” –End Quote-- It is only natural; we do not like to die. We do not like to deal with death. We do not like to think about death or dying. I believe it is safe to say that this is one subject with which we do not like to associate ourselves in any way, shape or form. But, hear this; we are called not to the natural, but to the spiritual. Moses, because of his experience, knew that hearing God’s voice was not only death to the carnal mind, but also life to the spiritual mind. The children of Israel, however, did not have this understanding, and thus said to Moses; “Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, then we shall die.” (Deut. 5:25)

I want to look at a couple of things here. First, notice that these people saw themselves as being the people of God. “If we hear the voice of the Lord our God…,” can we see that they (and now we) thought of themselves as God’s people? His chosen people, no doubt; and they were proud of this. They had seen the wonders of God as He worked their release from Egypt, hardening Pharaoh’s heart at each step along the way, until finally at the Red Sea the entire Egyptian army was wiped out. They had genuinely experienced the deliverance of the Passover Lamb, while all of Egypt mourned the death of their firstborn. They knew the preternatural extension of God’s hand in helping them out from under the rule of Egypt (the world) that oppressed them. They knew and delighted in this memory of God’s working miraculously in their everyday lives. But at Sinai, all of this was nothing more than memory.

The next thing I want to draw to your attention is that they had already heard the voice of God. “If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more…,” can we see that they had indeed heard God’s voice once, and more importantly recognized it for what it was? What happened is that they did hear. A mental picture (an idol if you will) of the death required in order to continue to hear His voice was raised in their minds; and they feared the picture of their imaginations. Just as Pharaoh had hardened his heart at each word of the Lord that came through Moses, so too, the children of Israel hardened their hearts as if they were being provoked. “Hence, we read in Hebrews 3:15, ‘While it is said, Today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in provocation.’ In other words, be not as Israel in the wilderness, who stood afar off and refused to draw near to God in the all-consuming fire to hear His voice and have His Law written on their hearts.” (Stephen Jones, Hearing God’s Voice) They did hear; once, but they were afraid because of their lack of understanding.  They worshiped an idol of their own making (the golden calf) because they were afraid. They were afraid of the holy fire of God’s presence. Do we see ourselves in any of this? I have been afraid, I know it can happen. 

Law and Order

So then, we are called of our Father to join Him upon the mountain of His holiness, because wherever our God chooses to reveal Himself to us is holy ground, to have His law written in our hearts. Now, it is a remarkable thing in this day and age, I speak to a lot of people in my daily affairs, and every time a word on the law being written in our hearts comes up, almost immediately someone will faithfully tell me that we are not under the law, but under grace by faith. This I agree with whole heartedly. Yet, we also know that God does not change. If He gave us a law, to point out our inability to keep His law; He is also going to provide us a means to fulfill that same law. Now, I do not teach law. I am a disciple of grace as much as the next person. But I am coming to understand that the law written in tablets of stone and the law of the Spirit of Life written on the fleshly tables of our hearts is the SAME LAW. So then, that law of God is fulfilled (written into our nature) in being brought to understand His love flowing to us, and through us.  Jesus walked in complete union with the Spirit of His Father, and did only what He saw His Father do, and said only what He heard His Father say. Jesus’ steps were ordered in God.

There are many in this day who will say they hear this word of God’s fire unto purification, yet if the message of an in-ward law is brought up, they will turn back, or argue, or think you less a believer then they, because they think you are still trying to work out of the law to accomplish your own salvation. Brethren, this is not the case. As we partake of the Fire of the Holy Spirit, we will have God’s law written on and in our hearts. God’s law, fulfilled in love, is a part of God’s nature. It is a part that we, as a lawless-lazy generation, wish to put aside; but if your only desire is to know Him in the fullness of Who He is, you will come smack up against the in-working of His law into your nature and character. Argue and squirm all you want, if you are being drawn by God in this hour of coming into His image and likeness, you will have this as part of who you are, because it is part of who He is. To see Him, we must BE LIKE HIM. When the Children of Israel received the law, God gave to them a part of Himself. Their problem came because of their fear and unbelief. They did not want to hear God for themselves. They wanted someone else to hear for them. For the carnal mind CANNOT receive the things of God, neither can they be known therein. But, we have the mind of Christ. Fear not the law, for it is holy, as our Father is holy. Are we not told that, it is the fool that says: “No(!), God?” Are we then fools? I ponder on this a lot.

When we begin to see that the law of God is in-worked into us for a purpose designed by and in the knowledge of God in Christ, we will no longer struggle with the knowledge of the in-dwelling Christ nature fulfilling the law within us. As I said earlier, we are all in training; that is a part of the purpose in God--to train us. We will make mistakes; but the law of His love is the divine standard by or against which we can measure the in-working of God in Christ within us. We cannot fulfill the law out of our own strength; that lesson, we learn first. Many give up on the law from there. I guess they figure that since we cannot keep the law to be righteous, then it is best to just not fool with the law. It is true, we cannot keep the law; but it is also true that the law is holy as God is holy. Jesus came to fulfill the law, (Mat. 5:17-18). In the fire of His Holy Spirit, we are brought into union and oneness with the completeness of our God in Christ Jesus. It is here that our steps are ordered in God also. This is the Lion lying down with the Lamb. This is the heavens and earth passing away, to bring forth the new. This is the establishment and the fulfillment of the law, in love, within us. This is oneness with and in Him. This is the law in His grace.

Idols and Antichrist

Now we come to the rub; and the reason for my stated contriteness. What I am about to write, I do not claim to have in fullness. I am still learning. Our minds are powerful; and we sometimes set up images of God (a mental golden calf—if you will), or use the awesome power of our souls to do things, and then call that doing-the power of God, when it is, in fact, not God at all. Trust me, this can occur. Our natural minds, believe it or not, are that powerfully carnal.

“You see, idols do not have to be tangible things; such as statues, figurines, money, homes, cars, jobs, offices of prestige and authority, etc.” Elwin Roach-Diet of Asses’ Heads, Doves Dung & Babies, and Bro. Roach goes on to write: “Idols can very well be between our ears. When we worship that which we imagine God to be, rather than Him as a living reality of whom we know—that is idol worship. If all we have of God is an image in our minds, and that is what we are worshipping—it is idol worship. Although it is less obvious, and tucked away in our minds, those vivid imaginations can be so real at times that they can be mistaken for God Himself. But our keen imaginations do not make it so. All they can do, at best, is to take over God’s place (for a season-Author’s note) in the role of creation. That is, we create God in our image and likeness, rather than Him creating us in His image and likeness.”—End Quote--

Stephen Jones writes: “An idol is formed when we create God in our own image; that is, when we formulate an image of God in our minds according to our own carnal understanding. It is important that we not confuse the word of God with our understanding of the word, lest we end up worshipping an image that we have assumed to be the true God.” –Hearing God’s Voice--, Bro. Jones continues with: “…When Moses and the prophets needed to know a further detail about the law of God, or its true interpretation or application, they went to God…with no preconceived ideas about what God ought to say.”-END QUOTE- Do we see? It is our preconceived ideas which are equated with idols in scripture.

A mixture of God truth with man wisdom is no less an idol. This is rampant in this day and age. There is much truth in the religions of the world, but they are not THE TRUTH because they do not come up by way of the Son who is THE WAY. It is a mixture. We take the truth of God, (and the “taking” is the problem) and use the strength of man to try to attain it. There is a word for this mixture, which is ANTICHRIST. Oh, I know what the system teaches, but in this hour, we must allow God to remove the veil from our understanding to see into the reality of things. The word antichrist is most literally translated as: “instead of Christ.” We have always been taught that the prefix “anti” means against, and so it does; therefore, religious man has built this image of a literal man who is against Christ. Dear ones, this fanciful picture is not completely accurate. You see it hits a little closer to home when we start to see that “anti” also means instead of. When we see something in God, and then try to walk into that which we see in our own strength, instead of in His strength; we are antichrist. It is taught today as realize. We are told to realize our union with God. But it is not in us to realize anything; we are brought to realization by His Spirit within us. Same word, but do we see the difference? I cannot realize, but in the Spirit of Christ Jesus, I can be brought into a real-ization. If we take, it is-instead of-antichrist; when we receive, we have life.

I do not condemn, I have been in this very spot, and it is sometimes really tricky to see the difference. Our Father does this on purpose, that our education in authority (kingship) and ministration (priesthood) will be completely dependent upon Him. If the attitude of our hearts is one of worship, He will bring us to recognize and overcome this usurper. He will faithfully cast down the idols and antichrists of our old nature so that He will be glorified in every aspect of who we are in Him. It is prudent and wise to remember that our God is a jealous God. He will not, for very long, suffer another to receive glory that belongs to Him. Do we remember the Philistine idol Dagon? When the Ark of God’s Covenant was brought into the temple of Dagon, the next morning the idol was face down-in a state of worship. After they had set it upright, the next morning it was again found face down with its head and both hands cut off. This symbolizes the thought of (carnal mind) and the works of (works of the flesh-good works, right hand and evil works, left hand) the idol being removed because of and in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant of God. This was under the old covenant, how much more than in the presence of the reality of the New Covenant being established within us. There shall be no flesh to glory in His presence. There shall be no soul, not in union with Him and subject to Him, raised and seated upon His throne. We are being brought to this realization. We are kings and priests. We have been given-this word of reconciliation for the restoration of the Kingdom of God in the earth. In the night all the idols of carnality will bow and worship the reality of God’s living covenant within us, and have the power of thought and deed removed from them.   HALLELUJAH! O HALLELUJAH! Glory to God in ALL!

Faith that is faith

So then, when is faith not faith (?), when it is presumptuous, self-seeking, or fearful. How do we tell the difference? When what we hear and see seems to go against what we know (Notice, I did not write, against what we believe.), we ought to tread very carefully. I use four facts as a kind of tester; I call them the “God is” tester. God is omniscient; God is omnipresent; God is omnipotent; and God is love. God sees all, is every where, is all powerful and He loves us. There are a bunch of other attributes that “God is.” But, if what I am seeing seems to contradict one of these four facts, I go before Him in question and humility to either have Him remove that falsehood off of me, and off of the one I heard it from, or to have Him teach me that I might gain understanding in the matter. We have a faithful teacher. It is ok to question, as long as we remember that God wants to answer us in truth. If we have a preconceived notion of what we want to hear from God, He will answer us according to the desires of our hearts, and then judge us because of them. Don’t believe me? Check out Ezekiel 14:1-6, and Numbers 11:18-20, 33-34.

But, as we know, judgment is unto correction; and, it must begin in the house of God. So then, we can understand why God would say: “to him that overcomes will I give…” We are coming into the salvation of our souls, dear ones, by and in faith; I urge you to wait patiently for it. Let us still our eager, questing hearts and allow God to give, and allow patience to have her perfect working within us, where by we overcome into oneness in Him.

“In the beginning stages of our (spiritual) birth and beyond, the rhema (spoken word) of God is LIFE to our being. Jesus made this clear when He said, ‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth (gives life); the flesh profiteth nothing: the WORDS (rhema) that I speak unto you, they are SPIRIT, and they are LIFE. (John 6:63)’ The faith that comes from hearing the rhema is wonderful indeed, we would be lost without it; but we should never remain in this place of believing only, for there comes a time when we must begin to acquire KNOWLEDGE and UNDERSTANDING  of the WORD, which has to do with the LOGOS. For one to grow unto maturity, it is an absolute must to comprehend what it is that God is saying to us.—Elwin Roach—The Word, Part Two”

We are coming into the Logos of God, His living expression, known and understood by us and in us in this spiritual day. Remember, the evening and the morning make the day. During the evening and the night, all the idols of our carnality are brought low and have their power of thought and deed removed. We have taken on the mind of Christ. We have had the fair mitre, with its forehead plate inscribed to say “Holiness to the Lord,” laid upon our thoughts. We have been clothed in the robes of His righteousness; we have been brought to the realization that we are one within Him in Spirit. Our hearts are filled with the joy that was and is His from before the foundations of the earth. Dear Brothers and Sisters, we are walking examples (living epistles) of the Kingdom of God manifested in the earth, in our earth. We still have this treasure in earthen vessels. This is so that “seeing, they will not see, and hearing, they will not hear”, just as it was in Jesus’ day. But in us, “this is the Day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!” Dearly beloved, we are coming to the end of our faith, even the total rescue and safety of our souls! Can you see? Without preconceived notions or any fear other than the holy fear of the Lord, we indeed can see and rejoice in Him who is our rescuer.

Joy and peace to all who read in Christ Jesus…Larry.

References: The Companion Bible with the King James Translation; Elwin Roach’s Pathfinder—Diet of Asses’ Heads, Doves’ Dung & Babies, and The Word Part Two; and Stephen E. Jones’ Hearing God’s Voice.