SAVED TO SERVE

 

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One of the most beautiful and well-known events in the Word of God is about Mary who broke the alabaster box at Yeshua’s feet, anointed Him and wiped his feet with her hair.  Truly a beautiful moment and one that still lingers centuries after the event, just like the fragrance of the oil that filled the house.  This is the disposition of the Bride who sits at her Beloved’s feet and worships Him, just like Ruth at Boaz’s feet.  In fact, Yeshua said that she would be forever remembered for this worship she lavished upon Him.  A few chapters later in John 13 Yeshua rises and takes off His garment and washes His disciple’s feet.  The roles have changed where one disciple was washing His feet, Mary, to Him washing their feet.  He tells them under no uncertain terms that unless they allow Him to do so, they would have no part in Him.  The same words were said by Yeshua in the previous chapters where He spoke of His blood and body that has to be eaten by them.  Saying that unless they do so, they would have no part in Him. 

Yeshua says the following in John 13 after washing His disciple’s feet.

JOHN 13: 13 - 17

¹³ Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

¹⁶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

¹⁷ If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

 

What a statement to make…’For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.’  Where do we start should we think on what He has done for us in our lives and then to do it unto others?  How lavish would our love, giving and longsuffering be? 

When it comes to the Blood and the Body, I see the Blood as His Redemption and partaking of His body as sharing in His suffering.  Isaiah 53 is known as the chapter of the Suffering Servant; however, Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53 is not to be separated.  The last few verses of Isaiah 52 introduce this Suffering Servant of God.

ISAIAH 52: 13 - 14

¹³ Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

¹⁴ As many were astonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

 

In Philippians 3: 10 Paul says that he wants to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings.  As discussed in my devotional, “No Greater Love”, we need to take into account not just Yeshua’s earthly life, but also His preincarnation.  He is the Lamb slain before the foundation of this world.  And to be the Patterned Son to whom we are to look to, His death was a stripping from the moment that He left heaven.  He stripped Himself from His divine attributes and became a man and took upon Him the form of a servant.  He was born into this world to serve.  His whole earthly life was a stripping up to the point where His very flesh was stripped from His body.  As in heaven, so on earth.  He was truly the Suffering Servant.  Should we expect any less of our own serving?  Not that we are looking to suffer, but that we understand that it will come.  When He told His disciples to wash one another’s feet, we understand that this was not so that they all could walk with clean feet, but that He was talking about a disposition by which they would be known, just like their Savior. 

Romans 1 Paul starts the first verse with, “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God.”  So as to say, I wish to be known first and foremost by my servanthood and not my office.  In John 13 He says that he who is sent is not greater than Him who sent him.  The distinction of an Apostle, Prophet and by extension anyone in office, is that of being a servant.  In The most noble office for any child of God is in fact to be a servant.  To be a slave in that time was degrading.  Only slaves washed feet in that generation.  The moment someone came into the house, there would be a slave waiting to wash their feet.  And by no means were their streets as nice as ours.

 

Yeshua in that moment of washing the disciple’s feet was not just demonstrating to them what they need to do, but He was demonstrating to them who God in fact is…a servant.  God serves.  God is humble.  God goes down into the gutters of this life and brings up from the miry clay the most wretched and vile people, and washes them and establish them upon the Rock.  This is who God is.  He serves and He washes feet and He will never cease to be a servant as we read that He will even serve us when we meet with Him in Heaven.  To be a servant is more than just choosing to be humble in a moment that requires it of you out of necessity or command. It is the very distinction of what it means to be a son and daughter of God.  I think we have missed this in our walk.  We think that doing great things through Him is the greater things.  But I cannot help but think that for the Creator of all things to bow down and serve mankind in so much love is the greatest of all.  It is one of the manifestations of the sons and daughters of God that this world is waiting upon that in fact demonstrates who the Father is.  And where will they see it?  Amongst the brethren in a time that will have many fighting for their own rights as they struggle to survive.  Everybody will be desperate to make ends meet or just kill someone for one morsel of bread.  The time upon us is a time where the veil will be ripped from all pretense as there is nothing more revealing than tribulation to show mankind exactly what they are.  And as I have said before, “It takes tribulation for the real church to stand up.”  Where will His servants be in this time?  Is our vision so limited to think that it will just be glory upon glory and that it will not require us to endure to the uttermost?  Are we ignorant of exactly what it means to get down in the dirt, get our hands dirty and at the sweat of our brow serve the lost, the poor, the hungry and destitute until we are tired to the bone?  Notwithstanding, the reality of persecution of those who serve as He did, will be very real.  Light shines very bright in utter darkness and you will be targeted.  The servant is not greater than his Master.  Will they see the Suffering Servant in all our doing?  Are they seeing it now?  A true servant will serve even the lowliest, because His very character is part of him.  He is IN Him.  “He who has been forgiven much, loves much”, is what Yeshua told His disciples after Mary’s lavish giving.  It was an expression of a life poured out.  A servant does not serve to be seen, but is saved to serve.

In Jeremiah 38 we read of the account where King Hezekiah left the fate of the prophet Jeremiah into the hands of his princes.  They did not like what Jeremiah was prophesying.  Instead, they chose to let him down into a dungeon with cords into a pit filled with miry clay.  No water, no food and no light.  Left to die in complete destitution. Talk about basic needs being stripped from you.  It says that Jeremiah sunk into the mire.  One can only imagine what this pit was used for and how terrible this must have been to sink into mire and to be left there to die a very cruel death.  However, there was a servant with the name Ebedmelech.  He was an Ethiopian and an eunuch.  Eunuchs were trusted by the King because it simply meant that they could not make use of the King’s harem and they were also trusted with the King’s treasury, as was the case with the Ethiopian eunuch that Philip met along the road, discussing Isaiah 53.  Ebedmelech means “servant of the King”. Ebedmelech had one goal.  Get Jeremiah out of that pit.  He went to the King telling him that his princes have done a great evil against the King by putting Jeremiah in the pit.   The king trusted Ebedmelech and told him to take 30 men with him and take Jeremiah out of the pit before he died.  From verse 11 we read the following:

JEREMIAH 38: 11 - 13

¹¹ So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

¹² And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.

¹³ So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

 

These rotten rags in the Strong’s Concordance speaks of an old garment, and also to salt or season.  This Prophet of God was saved by an Ethiopian, one who was a servant and an eunuch.  In the eyes of man, not to be considered.  But the Lord God chose this one man for this purpose.  To be a servant of the King and to be in that moment, at that precise time the person the Lord God would use to save Jeremiah.  The Most High is not into great numbers.  In fact, the lesser the number, the better.  As was the case with Gideon’s army that was lessen to only 300 men.  What would have happened if Ebedmelech was not there?  Would we have had the privilege of the rest of Jeremiah’s prophecies or even the ones before?  What about Lydia in the book of Acts?  Paul was meant to go to Jerusalem during the feast times where one could consider the evangelical opportunity as perfect.  But the Spirit of God prevented him from the many and told him to go to Macedonia where he met one lady, Lydia.  Such was Paul’s obedience.  Because of Lydia, there was a place of refuge for Paul and the disciples.  It is said that through Lydia the door of the gospel was opened into Europe.  The same can be said of the Ethiopian eunuch that Philip met along the road.  Through this eunuch the gospel went into Africa.  We have no idea what God can do just through one person.  He is able to do super abundantly above all we could ask or even think according to the power that is in us.  How many of God’s servants will in the time to come where the Prophets of God will be let down in pits of persecution be there to take upon themselves cloths or rags to pull them out?  Chosen ones to serve the brethren in a great time of need.  Notice that Ebedmelech took rags or cloths to raise up the prophet.  Even so, Yeshua took off his garment when He was with His disciples and took a cloth and washed their feet.  Did He not come down and take you out of a horrible pit, you of the miry clay and set you upon a Rock and established your goings? (Psalm 40: 2) Did He not bend down and bring you out of darkness into His marvelous light?  This is such a beautiful example for us to know that our serving one another and those whom He calls us to serve, will have eternal consequences.  Who knows what He is preparing us for, whether it will be numerous acts of service of this kind, or only one that will have eternal consequences?  The only important thing is that we are servants at heart and leave the rest to Him.

 

And now a word received from Father 24^th October 2021

A BODY PREPARED

Let Me love through you.  When you surrender and offer your body as a living sacrifice, it will mean sacrifice.  There will be a price to pay, which is to lay your will down, so that My will can be done.

In this your mind is renewed to know My good, acceptable and perfect will.  This is why I have given you My Spirit, so that you may live by every word I speak.  Therefore, to lay down your life as a living sacrifice requires you to constantly know My will in every situation.  Your will, will always rebel against Mine.  It has to be laid on the altar every time, in every situation.  In that moment you will hear.  In that moment you will understand.  In that moment when you submit, I can love through you.  It is My love that touches hearts.  My hands, My feet, mind and mouth.  All is Mine.  Therefore, as My body you have to be subject to My will as the human body is to the mind.

Instructions have always come from your mind.  But now you have the mind of Christ.  My mind.  How will you know unless you quiet the distractions, the emotions and the demands of your own will?  Therefore, do not think this comes overnight.  Practice makes perfect.  Again and again, you teach your mind to go into the path I lead you.

Have I not said that I will instruct and teach you in the way you should go?  Surely all My ways are peace.  Therefore, walk circumspectly as a soldier at all times.  Ready to listen, to submit and to obey.  Trust Me to guide you in every situation that I bring upon your path to make a way for you.

Come each time to learn of Me for I am meek and humble.  This is not about you.  This is about a vessel given over to Me, to be used by Me so that I can love the lost, the broken and the poor.  Do you realize how much I want to touch them?  To heal them like I did with the washing of feet?  I said, “Father, a body thou has prepared for Me to do Thy will.”

Your body is there to do My will, not yours.

So let Me have full play through your hands, feet and mouth.

Seek to do My will.

 

In Genesis we read of an embarrassing account of Noah, where he became drunk and laid naked in his tent.  Noah had three sons, of which two covered their father and walked backwards to ensure that they would not look upon their father’s nakedness.  Not so with the one son called, Ham, who was the father of Canaan. 

GENESIS 9: 24 – 27

⁴ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.

²⁵ And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.

²⁶ And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

²⁷ God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

A curse was spoken upon Canaan, Ham’s generations to follow.   And yet Yeshua took upon Himself the form of a man and made Himself a servant.  He took the curse of being a servant, and He made it noble, Kingly and Priestly.  To serve is to express God who He truly is.  It displays His love, humility, mercy and longsuffering.  It showcases His grace and wisdom that simply turns the wisdom of this world into foolishness and confounds the wise. 

When Yeshua took off His garment, it was a statement of what He did when He left the bosom of His Father to come to this earth.  Showing us that in order to serve, one has to first take off your outer garment.   What does it mean to take off your garment?  Your garment represents who you are as a person.  The same way we can make a logical conclusion of someone dressed as a doctor, nurse, someone poorly dressed, who is dirty or the latest expensive clothing and car, to be exactly that which the outer garment portrays.  And He took off His glory and divine attributes to become the Son of Man, a slave.  Have we ever truly meditated on this?  Have we truly thought of the price He paid for us?  Not just the suffering on the cross, but the suffering of leaving His Father’s bosom for us?  Yeshua makes it very clear.  “I have not come to be served, but to serve.”  Can there be any true washing, or act of true servanthood until the outer garment is taken off?  Mary that broke the alabaster box is in the same way, a taking off or breaking off of the outer garment, our earthen vessels in order to allow our lives to be poured out at the King’s feet.

MATTHEW 10: 24

²⁴ The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

Note that here a distinction is made between a disciple and a servant and whom they serve.  The one does not necessarily make the other.  You can be a disciple and not be a servant, but you cannot be a servant and not a disciple.  The Strong’s Concordance helps us to understand the differences:

The word “disciple” in the Strong’s Concordance is G3101 which is a learner or a pupil.  The word “master” holds hands with this, which is G1320 and this means instructor, doctor and teacher.  Whereas the word “servant” is G1401, meaning slave or bondslave.  Holding hands with the bondslave is the word “lord”, which is G2962, which means (supremacy); supreme in authority, that is, (as noun) controller; - God, Lord, master, Sir.  This serving is more than just being willing to wash someone’s feet, but is a disposition that a slave has towards their lord.  Interesting enough, only in the book of Matthew do we read where Yeshua tells His disciples in Matthew 7 that not all who say to Him Lord, Lord will be saved.  Even if they come to Him and tell Him of all the great exploits they have done in His name.  The only thing that will matter to Him is whether they did His commandments.  Servants obey their lords without question, in totality, unconditionally and without reservation.  Obedience is by far the most valuable act that we can do, far greater than any miraculous works.  And this is what the Lord God wants us to see.  His love language is obedience and this obedience can only be done in faith.  He is not asking us to be slaves in the context that we have no mind of our own, but willing bondslaves that love Him so much that we are willing to be cut off from anything that we depend upon. Why?  So that through our bodies, being living sacrifices unto Him, He can love and serve the lost and broken.  That as His corporate Body the greater things that He promised, right around the world will be done.  Not us doing it.  We can do nothing.  But vessels given over unto Him, through which He can pour His love and salvation.  It is not about us.

This word “servant” in the Strong’s is the word “doulos”, which means: a slave, bondman.  One who gives himself up to another’s will, those whose service is used by Christ in extending and advancing his cause among men.  It means to bind, tie and fasten with chains. 

Whenever in the Word we read the word “servant” or “handmaid”, we should know that the context is a bondslave.  The custom was that all slaves were to be set free at the 7th year.  However, a bondslave is one who has been set free, but decides to remain with his lord as his slave (Exodus 21: 2 - 6) saying, “Though I am free, I bind myself to you as a willing slave.”  One who has given up his own will to live his own life the way he wants to, being free, in order to give up that freedom to be a slave.  Saved to serve.  That is to say, released after 7 years and choosing out of his own free will to become a bondslave.  Yeshua laid down His will to become a bondslave to His Father.  He was not bound, but He became a slave, a bondslave.  He said, “Nobody forces Him to lay His life down, but that He lays it down willingly.”  A thought came to me the other day.  I was wondering whether this will not be the requirement for some of His chosen servants during tribulation, having been translated into glory, and then to make a choice to leave that glory, come to earth and lay their lives down for the Father.  It is admirable to be here and say that you will stay and lay your life down.  It is quite another thing altogether to be raptured into the glories of heaven, then to take off your “garment” and come to earth.   We serve an ultimate God.  In Revelation 14 we read that they are the lambs that followeth Him wheresoever He goeth.  They know His voice and shall not follow another.   

This is the difference between a disciple and a servant.  Not that disciples are not committed, but this is for us to understand that commitment goes much deeper than just following.  Also, understanding that you first have to be a disciple and mature in Him for the purpose to become His bondslave.   It is not a moment only, but a way of life.  In 1 Peter 2: 16 Paul says that we as free are not to use our liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.  Use your freedom as a cloke of servanthood.

It is easy to see this outer garment as the cutting off of the “flesh” that is in enmity with the Spirit.  And there would be nothing wrong with that.  However, the Lord wants to draw our attention to that which cuts even deeper and permanent, that of castration.  Just like there are physical and spiritual circumcision, so also physical and spiritual eunuchs.  Yeshua spoke about this, as well as Paul, calling himself an eunuch for Christ.  Yeshua also mentions in the Gospel of Matthew the different eunuchs.  When circumcised, there is still life within you that you from out of your natural self, even spiritual things, still can produce.  When an eunuch, no more life can be produced from out of you.  This same analogy can be seen in a slave and a bondslave.  A slave being set free can now make his own decisions, but he who chooses to be a bondslave gives up that right.

Should you choose this, you need to understand that in the context of a bondslave, there is no such thing as autonomy.  Webster’s dictionary gives us a very clear definition of the word autonomy.  He says…

Autonomy:  the quality or state of being self-governing.  Especially, the right of self-government, self-directing freedom and especially moral independence. 

In a nutshell…free will or the ability to make your own choices.  As Christians we are given the choice whether we want to hold on to our autonomy or not.  We can still go on with life as normal and pretty much make our own decisions.  We can get to choose what our imitations or boundaries are in our Christian walk.  I am not talking about sin, but rather to what degree we give Him our lives in every category.  Some may aspire to this, whereas others are perfectly happy with their Christian walk.  With their circumcision.  Castration is too drastic.  Asking, “Do I really have to be cut off from this world and all the little things I like that hurts no one?”  Nobody is offended.  Children of God sounds a bit better than bondslaves.  “Do we really have to go so drastic?”  The truth is, you do not have to.  Just like the slaves were released after 7 years and had a choice, so do you.  However, we are called to it, but it still remains a choice. 

Being free we still make the decisions in our day-to-day life, trusting Him to guide us and give us favor.  And He does.  We are His children and He guides us and gives us wisdom.   However, to become a bondslave of Christ is to take off your outer garment, and put on a towel and that then becomes your identity.  You are putting off your autonomy, your right to make decisions of how you live your life in every category.  Not one area is to be kept for yourself, whether, physically, emotionally or spiritually.  Even your very thoughts, motives and intents, your opinion…all is given up once and for all.  Oh, and do we not love to romanticize such an undivided devotion.  It sounds so heroic and pious, when in truth it is nothing of the sort.  For there is just simply no more consideration for yourself, only your Lord and Master.  Your will has been taken up in His.  Then you no longer live, but have in fact died and the life you live, you live by the faith of Jesus Christ.

We know now that the word “lord” means sovereign, supreme, controller, master etc.  You can only embrace His sovereignty and call Him authentically Lord, when you have died to your autonomy.  We acknowledge and celebrate our God’s sovereignty, but that’s of course until He disrupts our schedule.   Small things like these show the true disposition of our hearts.  How we react to when things are taken from us.  One thing after the other demands your attention and that which you set out to do is shipwrecked.  And how we react to all of this, gives us an indication of where we are still at.  Giving up things like wants, we deem difficult and it is true when one is addicted to something it can be pure hell to let go.  But giving up your basic rights to life is quite another thing.  You feel victimized.  You feel that something is taken and not given.  You feel controlled.  You feel that your will is dismissed or your very reasonable and natural needs ignored.  You feel you do not count and that you should just constantly suck it up for the greater good.  Doing this for a season is still bearable, but doing it as a way of life, you are bound to feel like a victim.  Taking it even further, we cannot celebrate and worship God as sovereign in our lives and yet say, “He can take my things, but He cannot take my child.”  He can take my home, but not my husband or wife.”  We have these secret thoughts in our hearts that we will not admit to others or ourselves, but He knows where we truly are in our walk.  The problem with these types of secret thoughts is that first, they contradict His sovereignty and secondly, it is not a matter of Him taking, but us giving.  Having an open hand in all things.  And by our own standards we may very well see it as just that and would be considered justified in our thinking.  But seeing how He sees it is of far greater importance and value, because He holds all things into account, even the latter end.

In the Bible there is one man known especially for this stripping. Job.  Job was the first man in the Word that the Lord God called His servant. Satan was with the sons of God, the angels, presenting themselves before the Lord.  He was asked by the Lord God,

 

Job 1: 8

8 And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my SERVANT Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

We know things turned out quite badly for Job, but Job shows the true disposition of a bondslave in verse 21.

21 And (Job) said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Later, his wife comes to him, seeing the sorry state her husband is in, and tells him to curse God and die.  He responded to her, saying…

Job 2: 10

10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.

Notice that Job did not sin with his lips.  We know that our lips testify of our heart’s true condition.  Job lost everything and still did not sin against God with his lips.  Can you imagine that?  Going through so much and not once sinning with your mouth against the Lord?  His heart was truly upright towards the Lord and he feared God.  It is amazing how quickly we hold onto something, whether time, purpose, mission, rest, comfort, family, ministry, calling…you name it, we latch on.  Not necessarily for wrong reasons.  Our motives might even be pure and exactly what He required.  In the time to come this is exactly the disposition that will be required where many of His servants, like Job, will find themselves completely stripped as workers in the tribulation.  Will they be like Job and not sin against the Lord with their lips?  To have this disposition will require of you now to constantly ask Him what you need to let go of in order to allow the Spirit to have full control over you.  The same disposition that was in Yeshua who said in John 10 that nobody takes His life from Him, but He lays it down.  Can we see that which is “taken” from us, as not actually being taken, but the right He has to our lives to do so as His bondslaves?  How can we say we live for Him alone, but when these things are taken, we squirm, feel victimized, and bereft of our own free will?  Depending of course what is taken from us.  He never said that we are to feel nothing, but what will at that moment come out of our mouths?  Did we not lay our will down on the alter and echoed His words from the Garden, “Not my will be done, but Thy will”?  Or what about “Father, hallowed be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?  Words come easy, but He proves our hearts.  The key is to have the right disposition, not only about our wants, but also our very basic needs…the disposition of being saved to serve. At the end Job was blessed with twice as much.  He received a double portion.

After I wrote this devotional, during my quiet time, I received a vision of a golden key opening a door.  This door was in fact a porthole.  I walked through the door and was ascending stairs that were enwrapped in clouds.  As I was going up, Yeshua came down and just lightly touched my hand.  Then I clearly heard, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.  I instantly knew that He was saying to me that as the Way He is that door, and that by the same means that He came down, I will go up.  In other words, the way up, is down.  Humility or in this case servanthood.  Truth be told, the devotional was not even on my mind, so I was not sure why He showed me, until the afternoon I “stumbled” upon a short video, explaining what the Hebrew letters of the word servant means.  There are no coincidences with our God.

The word servant has three letters, the first being Ayin, then Beyt, and lastly Dalet.

Each letter has a meaning as well as a picture to go with it.

Ayin means eye, which is to see, know, experience, and to understand.

Beyt, means a house or tent

Dalet means a door or path.

Very similar to the vision Father gave me.  Servants were never given the privilege to be part of the household.

The open door speaks of the ability to see in the spiritual world, but also to understand.  This speaks of revelation. The door, like in the vision is have access to live both in heavenly places and on the earth.  The door is open for these servants where they can enjoy the intimacy of being part of the household of God. I was also woken up the next morning at 5:19, which means in the Strong’s Concordance, maiden, bondmaid or bondslave. 

In Acts 2 we read the following…

ACTS 2: 18

¹⁸ And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:

The open door is for His servants, that is to say His bondslaves.  “Ayin” particularly means eye, to see, know, experience and to understand.  When we see with spiritual eyes, know from where He has come and understand our inheritance in the Lord concerning what He has given us now, we have an open door before us to know the mysteries of God by faith.  This made me think of Revelation 3.  The context is that this door is open to His bondslaves

Revelation 3: 7 - 9

7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

8 I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

At the end of the Age, we have this promise from Yeshua.

Luke 22: 24 - 30

24 And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.

25 And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors.

26 But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.

27 For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as he that serveth.

28 Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations.

29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;

30 That ye may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

 

If you want to reign, you have to serve.  It is by now a known fact that all great rulers are great servants.  Ruling and reigning as kings on this earth, will not happen unless your heart is in the hand of the Lord, all autonomy given over, and you have been brought to this reality of being His bondslave.  It goes much deeper than works of humility or compassion.  Unless you are a bondslave, you cannot rule.  We make a grave assumption when we cheapen God’s standard to fit our own and grab whatever verse in the Bible as ours without the corresponding reality in our lives. You want to rule one day, then you have to be a servant at heart. You have to become a willing bondslave of the Lord.  Clearly, He was not speaking of us just serving one another only, but as one, just like Him, who has come to serve, even willing to lay your life down.  Your autonomy.  Your dominion and reigning are directly link to your submission to His will in all things. This is our call.  “As My Father has sent Me, so I send you.”  He came to serve.  One can serve and yet not have a servant’s heart. How is your present serving?  Not necessarily in ministry, but with what disposition are you serving your loved ones, your boss, and your enemies even now?   You can do many things and not do it with the appropriate disposition of heart.  It does not matter whether it is big or small, but rather with what heart we do and for whom.  We can do great acts of service, because we love Him, but secretly pride ourselves in a job done well.  In that case, you have done it for yourself.  Or you can simply hate what you are doing and moan and groan all day long.  You might be serving, but you are most definitely not honoring the true essence of the word, not from the context of one who has laid his life down.  We have to remember that what we are presently doing is the training ground for what is to come.  It has eternal value, just like Ebedmelech who had a true servant heart.

Yeshua chose to become a bondslave, because of His love for His Father.  This love is not just a feeling, but an undivided devotion in all things.  Love for the Father lies at the heart of why He laid down His life.  There is no greater love.  It is not so much to do with how much He loves us, but rather how much He loves the Father.  It is from this place that He took off His outer garment.  Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.  He knew from where He came and where He was going to and that all things were given unto Him.  Love lays its life down for its friends, how much more for its God?  It all depends on who your true God is…yourself or Him.  As the Word clearly tells us, whomever you serve, he is your master.  What is that thing that you are now presently unable to give up for Him?  Anything we depend on, meaning that we struggle to go without, whether as simple as your morning coffee, your husband or wife, or your children, your job, or your favorite tv show.  Anything that you cannot go without, you ultimately depend on.  How then can you say that you truly abide?  You cannot feed from two trees, and yet many of us are.  We have been circumcised, but not truly been made eunuchs.  He still loves us, but He is looking for those whose hearts are perfect towards Him.  The call of God is an ultimate call and only He can bring us to this, if we are willing, by His Spirit.

 

Will you be able to live life willingly like that?  Not as a prophet, apostle or teacher, or any other great office with great gifts, but just as servant?  And even if you are called to operate in any specific office, what is your true disposition?  Not necessarily in the great acts of service, but in the small and mundane everyday life?  For the true test is not in the big, but in the small in diligence, faithfulness and an excellent spirit.  These are your training ground for what is to come as well.  Be careful to see this in the light of your own understanding.  See it through spiritual eyes, because if there is one thing you need to understand, it is that God is in the details.    The smallest of details matter to Him. Every single detail of your life under your Lord’s watchful scrutiny to see if your heart is perfect towards Him.  How much of that will you be able to handle and for how long?  His grace is sufficient in our weakness to bring us each time to such total surrender if we are willing.  This is what Yeshua did.  Understand that this is how Yeshua lived.  This is the price He paid for us in order to show us how to walk as He walked.  This is how He served His Father. He was total and ultimate in His love, obedience and suffering towards His Father.  And because of that, He was so dependent on the Spirit.  He took off His outer garment.  

One has been fully cut off.  A type of shadow of the female version of this, is Hannah in the Old Testament and Anna in the New Testament, also Sarah and Rachel.  These women were unable to produce offspring from out of their own natural means.  They were barren.  When we read John 15 Yeshua tells His disciples that without Him they can do nothing.  They too are barren and unable to bring forth fruit.  The whole chapter is about abiding in Him, saying that He is the Vine and that they are the branches.  In the book of Romans Paul states that we have been grafted into the Vine.  It stands to reason that for any branch to be grafted in, one has to first be “cut off” from any dependance on all flesh or things of this world.  You are cut off in order to be grafted in and to live from the sap of the Vine.  Only when grafted in can we produce abundant fruit.  This fruit will then not be from our own loins, our own human capabilities, even for spiritual means, but it will be the fruit produced from that Resurrection Life within that will be abundant and everlasting. 

Yeshua changes the direction of abiding to that of servanthood and friendship.  He tells them that He calls them no longer servants, but His friends.   They know all things, because He told them.  Servants often become the closest confidants of their lords, just as Ebedmelech could entreat the King with such boldness.  The King trusted him, by how he served Him.  Yeshua is here acknowledging that His disciples are His servants, but He considers them no longer as servants, but they are now His friends.  Can the one be without the other?  This is not afforded to all, but only those who are His servants. 

John 15: 13 - 15

13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.

 

 

From just this one statement we can clearly see the blessing and honor of what it means to be a bondslave of Christ.  Their disposition as a slave is what qualifies them as a friend.  Not the work they do as slaves, as if we can obtain any merit by works, but their disposition.  A slave belongs completely to his lord.  The relationship between a lord and his slave is that of knowing that what he requires of him, will be done at any cost, without question.  At the same time, the slave, beyond any doubt, knows that he solely lives to do the will of his lord.  This in itself fosters trust, and those we trust we call friends.  As Psalm 25: 14 says, ^“The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”  That word “secret” is H3245.  It means a session, that is, company of persons (in close deliberation); by implication intimacy, consultation, a secret: - assembly, counsel, inward, secret (counsel). And for these friends, He lays His life down, because they have laid their lives down.  They have cut themselves off from any dependence and are His bondslaves.  The heart of this is covenant…a life for a life. 

This is not a place or disposition that we just walk into, but one that He has to bring us to.  What you do in the “seven years” of slavery before you are set free, will determine whether you are willing to become a bondslave or hold on to your freedom, just like the slaves who are set free.  How much of your wilderness years, that is to say your sanctification years, have brought you to a place where you are willing to be castrated from your autonomy?  And should you decide from where you are presently at now in your spiritual walk, that you do want to be a bondslave, you should know that all bets are off.  There will be no more negotiations about what He can do or cannot do in your life, so choose wisely.  You are completely and utterly His.  You are no longer your own.  Refrain from romanticizing it, because it will not serve you in facing the reality of the cost.  And from that moment on He will then do whatever it takes to bring you into the full authentic reality of what it means to be a bondslave.  Should you desire so, you need to count the cost and then commit with all your heart, mind and strength to the process.  It will not be easy.

Many of us in truth are not yet here in our walk with the Lord.  It takes a long time to reach this place simply because of how much we depend on other things than on Him.  He has to work this in us in our daily walk and our will has to be laid down completely on the altar.  It almost sounds impossible.  But the Patterned Son did it so that we may know that it is possible, when we abide.  And to abide, you need to depend with all your heart, mind and strength on Him, so that His life may flow through you.  He is very patient and He is seeking those who want to become His bondslaves.  He is committed to make you one, but you have to count the cost. 

 

And now a word that I received on the 22^nd of February 2021

ARE YOU WILLING?

Are you willing for Me to devastate you, even as I did with Job?  In righteousness you now stand, but are you willing to fall down to the ground?  Down in ashes?

Are you willing for Me to strip you bare of all things and consume you with fire?  For any self-preservation will cause you to cry out for help, but I will be silent.  I will speak no more.  For you have to become silent yourself.  You have to become still and know that I am God.  And as God, I choose how I will form My vessels of glory.   If I beat you to dust, it is My will.  If I burn you to ashes, it is My will.  For unless you are willing for My will, whatsoever it may be, without any limitations, how are you choosing My will above yours? 

At the ultimate extremity, to the point of shedding blood, His cry was, “Not My will, but Your will be done.”  There can be no limitations.  There can be no degrees.  All is Mine, even your very life.  And if you hold onto that life, you will surely lose it.  But, if you are willing to lay it down, I will not only give you life eternal, but resurrection life now.

From out of you I will be your life.  No longer you living, but I.

Count the cost.  Sit down and count it.  Be still and think on what I am asking.  For I will not take your life, even if I can.  You are My friend and I am yours.

Will you lay it down?

Whose will do you choose?

Mine or yours?

Are you willing to lay it down?