Saturday, April 8, 2023

THE FUTILITY OF MAN

 



Let us begin this devotional with Luke’s discourse in chapter 12 where the disciples are asking Yeshua what will happen during the end times. 

As we read the scripture, we must remember to read it also in the “is to come” mindset and not just historically or how it applies to us now.  We want to read this as if we are standing there with Yeshua and the great tribulation has started.  Imagine Him standing right in front of you, and He is saying this directly to you as His worker.

 LUKE 12

In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

 

The very first thing He says to us is to be aware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  In verse 15, He says:

 15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

 You can see the connection of the title of this message, “The Futility of Man”, and it is directly connected. This “possessing” is not just materialistic things, but even in of itself, what man has accumulated in his understanding and his own knowledge and research.  If we take this and bring it closer to home regarding our own depth of understanding through our personal studies and research of scripture, the history we have read, and even our life experiences…  everything we have accumulated; this is in our “possession”.  All of these things are of great value to us, and all of these things we “possess”.  Even though Yeshua is warning them of covetousness, we need to understand that within in us as man there is a desire and a lust for information, even scriptural information.  It is very subtle because we crave more and want more.  You might ask, “What is wrong with wanting more of scripture; are we not to thirst and desire to understand scripture?”  Of course, we are, but He does not want us to be dependent upon that which we possess -- not our knowledge or understanding or wisdom that we have accumulated.  He does not want us to depend on that, but He wants us to depend upon Him.  This dependence upon what we possess is very subtle, and the Holy Spirit wants us to know how easy it can be to depend upon self.

 Continuing in Luke 12:

 LUKE 12

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known.

Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:

But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

10 And whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven.

11 And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say:

12 For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.

 

In verse 4, He mentions his friends, and these are the workers.  John the Baptist is known as a friend of the Bridegroom, and the 144,000 are also known as the friends of God. 

Before I go on, I would just like to share that as I prepared this message, everything was ready to go.  In the week-and-a-half I took to get it ready, I had it all typed out with all key words highlighted, all the scriptures ready, and all was in order.  I always go in well-prepared before I present one of my devotionals.  The weekend prior to posting it, I wanted to read it again.  I read it with conviction and in the Spirit wanting Father to reveal if there was anything that I should take out or even add in.  As I read it and got about nine pages in, my spirit just felt dead.  What I read was dead.  When I prepared it initially, it was alive.  The conviction that came through the pages and all the connections spoke of His hand upon it, and yet when I read it later, it was as dead as a doornail.  It seemed there was no anointing on it.  It was at that moment Father spoke to me.  This is what I previously referred to in verse 15 not to hold on to the things which we possess and that a man is not the sum of what he possesses.  What He was saying to me is, “I don’t want you to prepare beforehand; instead let Me speak through you. Yes, you know more or less what I want to talk about, but I don’t want you to go prepared before me.  I want you completely dependent upon Me.”  I must tell you I was thinking of Moses, officially a murderer and a fugitive, who he spent 40 years in the desert, and then came upon a burning bush all to receive one line, “Let my people go”.  Here he is assigned to go to the Pharaoh of Egypt who was seen as a god, a mighty man with many slaves and people revering him.  He, Moses, a fugitive and a murderer and a man of stammering lips, is to go and walk into the presence of this man and say with the authority of God, “Let my people go”.  What kind of faith is required to do that?  All because he saw a bush burning and heard a voice?  I doubt that. 

This is what all the wilderness experiences in our lives are all about…to deal with the very issue of the fear of man in our lives.  When I think of the time we are going into, I cannot help but think that there will be no gray areas left.  At this moment, people are still opinionated and have an opinion about everything.  Then there are also of those with no opinion.  This reminds me of something my daughter said to me the other day.  She was talking to me about the people who are identifying themselves as various things, even wolves and other animals.  I responded that maybe we should identify as “unidentifieds”.  At that moment, it made me think that we can still sit on the fence and say that we don’t identify with any of these things, or we don’t have an opinion about it.  But there is a time coming, very soon, where there will be no gray area or fence-sitting; you will either be for Him or against Him.  Yeshua said, He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.” (Matthew 12:30).  In this time that is coming, there will be persecution, and we will be seen as the outcasts and the scum of the earth, to be taken out and hunted down.  In the face of that kind of fear that will be prevalent, we cannot sit with the issue of the fear of man in our hearts.  We cannot depend on man or look to man.  We will have to be holy and utterly total towards God. This is the thing about the gospel… the true gospel of God is an offense.  The Lord God orchestrated it in such a way that it is offensive, and the offense is the totality that it requires.  Those Christians that are still mediocre and lukewarm, knowing what to say and using the right lingo, but their hearts are not ablaze, are not sold out to Him.  They don’t give everything over to God, and their focus is not where His is.  They are trotting along making sure that their noses are clean and they are not exposed.  They go to church and pray and read their bibles, but they are not truly in love with the Bridegroom; they are still lukewarm.  They will be found out when the “heat” comes in the time to come.  It is now the time to deal with the issues of the fear of man, so that when we stand before authorities and magistrates, a sentence of death or imprisonment or slavery is given, we will truly, truly fear no evil.  Not because it is written, but because it is a reality for us.  We will have dealt with the fear of man.

 Let us go now to Acts 9 and read about Paul, or Saul, and his experience.

 ACTS 9

And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

 Saul is on his journey, and he is about to crucify or kill anyone who even smells like a Christian.  We see a type and shadow of those Pharisees, those who are of the house of God, who will come against those who are ultimate, those who no longer sit on the fence and those who fear no man and do not trust in themselves.  That kind of spirit that was in Saul is the same antichrist spirit who will be in the children of disobedience and those who are lukewarm – those who have not turned to God in the time we are going into.  They will either be for God, they will sow towards the kingdom of God, or they will scatter abroad.  There is no middle ground.

 As Paul was on his way to persecute Christians, a light then comes from heaven.  Darkness that was pursuing the Christians was confronted with a light from heaven.  Continuing with verse 4:

 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

 As with Saul in verse 4, the first place of hearing is the place of humility when we find ourselves in the dust, with our face down to the ground, when we can hear His voice speaking to us.  As Yeshua asks him why he is persecuting him, Saul then asks, “Who are you Lord”?  This is an important and fundamental question that needs to be asked.  When we come to that place when He confronts us with the light so we can see ourselves as we truly are, the important question to ask is, “Who are you Lord; who are you really?  What are you truly like?  Not what I have seen or deemed you to be, but who are you?  And who am I in the light of you?  Unless I know you, I cannot go into what lies ahead of me.”  Just as Moses said, “Unless you go with me, I cannot go”. 

 “Unless I know your love and your sovereignty, unless who you are is truly a reality to me, I cannot go.  It is time for me to seek you…. Who are you?”

 Further beginning with verse 6:

 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Kicking against the pricks is a reference to pricking the heels of cattle to get them to do what was needed, so here Yeshua is telling Saul that he is resisting the guidance of His voice; he is resisting the Spirit. It is very interesting that his name is Saul.  We know there is another Saul in scripture.  In my previous devotional "Two Johns and a Jezebel", I pointed out that Saul is a type and shadow of the Jezebel spirit, that antichrist spirit, that in these last days will persecute the children and true prophets of God.  It is that same spirit that is here in the type and shadow of Saul, the Pharisaical spirit.  The Word tell us that members of our own families and of our churches, those with a Pharisaical spirit, they will think they are doing God a service by giving us over to the authorities.  Both the Saul in the Old Testament and the Saul in the New Testament are a type and shadow of the Jezebel spirit and the antichrist spirit that will come against the “Davids”, with this being a type and shadow of Yeshua.  It is a spirit that is covetous of the gifts of the Spirit that will be used mightily at this time.

Reading further in verse 7:

 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

This is the most important part of this scripture… seeing no man.  The men who were with Saul could not see the man he was speaking to.  But even so, it is the fact that no man was seen.  There was a voice speaking, and this is what He wants to do in us, that we will come to the point where we see no man and all we are about is God.  We see no man, including ourselves.  At the moment, we are so self-conscious and self-aware of what will be and how God will use us or about our call; the self-awareness is heightened.  Father wants to get us to the point where we see no man, not even ourselves and we will not look to ourselves for anything.

 Verse 8:

 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

 Here Saul also sees no man, but yet his eyes were opened.  Obviously, he was lying on the ground with his eyes closed, in fear saying “Lord, who are you”.  But this is more than that.  Once your eyes are opened to the reality of who God is and who you are, you will see no man.  It will no more be a question of who approves of you or who rejects you, who likes you, who subscribes to you or comments to you, who pats you on the back and who thanks you…  you will see no man.  You will not be indifferent to it, but these things will no longer matter to you, because you seek the approval of your Master.  You will see no man.

Saul, now becoming Paul, was blind and was guided by the men who were with him, almost like a babe, so dependent upon someone else to guide him.  This is what happens with the opening of the eyes where you see no man.  It brings you into such dependence upon God, to such a place of weakness and awareness that you have nothing to give and your words fall to the ground.  This is what happened when I read what I had prepared for this devotional, which was seemingly significant and interesting with important information, but it lacked the power.  It lacked the anointing, because my dependence was on what I prepared.  Even though He showed me all these things, He did not want me to look to man, to my own wisdom and understanding, not to anything that I had compiled, and not even my past and everything I’ve been through.  He wanted me to look only to Him and to be blind to whatever I could give, so that He could speak to His children a word in season and of Him alone. 

He told the multitude and His disciples that man does not live by bread alone but from every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.  He also told this to the enemy during his 40-day fast.  We are to live by the words that come out of His mouth, so that we are so dependent upon Him that in the time to come, the Spirit will remind us of what He has said and give us utterance.  This will be because we are so given over to Him alone and we see no man.

 Let’s go now to John 2:24-25:

 JOHN 2

24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

The Word says that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it?  He says in Jeremiah 17:10, “I, the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”  Yeshua knew what was in the heart of man, and that is why He did not commit Himself to man. 

 Now to John 5 where Yeshua is speaking:

 JOHN 5

23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself…

 Remember in John 6 where Yeshua asked His disciples if they were going to also leave Him, and Peter said, “… to whom shall we go?  Thou hast the words of eternal life”?  His word is life.  That word that He wants to give and speak through us is life.  And here Yeshua is saying that the hour is coming when those who are dead, not actually dead in the body but dead in their spirit, hear the word of life coming out of His vessels, they will receive life.  When He speaks, that word is life in us.  His word is alive, and only the word that He speaks, not our wisdom and our understanding of it, but the actual word that comes out of our mouths as spoken by Him through us, a vessel truly given over to Him.

 30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

 

He is the patterned son for us to emulate, and He says that in His own ability as a man, He can do nothing.  He says, “As I hear, I judge”, not “as I know or as I have learned through studying all these years from a young child going to the temple and learning scriptures and accumulating information”.  No, He says, “as I hear”.  He explains that it is in the moment that He hears that He speaks, and that is when He judges, because He hears the Father speak.  He seeks not His own will, not that of His own flesh, understanding, and even wisdom from scripture, however true and impressive it may be.  He seeks only to hear His Father’s voice, and in that moment, then He speaks so that only the Father’s will may be known.  Even further He says:

 31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.

 

He does not receive a witness from man and does not need us to agree with Him or approve of Him.  He does not look to man to give Him a pat on the back or tell Him how eloquent His words are, or to affirm Him, or to thank Him.  He simply testifies of the Father.  The words that He speaks are those of the Father, so when we reject Him, we are rejecting Him who sent Him.  This is why it is important for us to understand that when He tells us not to prepare beforehand what we will speak, it has everything to do with not fearing man and being wholly and completely dependent upon God to hear His voice in that moment.  Just as it was in the case with Saul who fell down to the ground and said, “Who are you Lord?”, then He heard the voice.  This is God’s same dealing with us.  You must also fall to the ground and say, “Who are you Lord? That I may hear your voice, that I may be blind and see no man, but only hear your voice, so that I can be a vessel given over to you and speak your word that you give me in that moment”.  So, when they come against us and reject us, just as in John 16, we can know that the servant is not greater than his master.  If they persecuted the Master, they will surely persecute the servants.  We can know according to His word, that He said when they reject us, they actually reject the Father who sent us.  Just as when Yeshua said that it was not Him they rejected, but they rejected the Father who sent Him.

 Continuing with verse 35:

 

35 He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

37 And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

 

Yeshua tells them here that they rejoiced in the light of John the Baptist – a man – they were willing to receive this light.  But He was one with the greater witness than John, because the Father sent Him.  They did not hear His voice, because they had not fallen down to the ground to ask, “Who are you Lord?”.  They had not humbled themselves or come into the Father’s presence, asking Him to reveal Himself to them.  They had not seen themselves in the light of who He is.  They did not fear God, because they did not know God.  They were willing to receive the word a man, John the Baptist, and were willing to accommodate his preaching and listen to what he had to say.  But not Yeshua, who has the light and the Father speaking through Him.  He was an offense to them, shaking them in their categories, confronting them with their religiosity and dependence upon self and the way they deemed God to be.  They were holding on to how they see God and had already determined in their minds and hearts who the Father is.  They had already determined His ways and how He operates, and they were willing to accommodate their own understanding.  But when Yeshua speaks the truth, and the gospel is an offense to them because it required that they give up their own understanding of the Father, then they were offended and not willing to receive the light that would expose their own darkness.  They believed in their own light, their own fleshly understanding.  He says:

 39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

 

They had searched the scriptures and gained their own understanding of the Father; but it was the scriptures that testified of Yeshua and who He is, and He was the one who wanted to reveal Himself to them that they may know Him.  Likely to us as well…  we can boast ourselves in the scriptures in how much we know.  We can memorize scripture, gain more understanding through the Strong’s Concordance, we can put all the puzzle pieces together, and we can even go out and minister using eloquent words based on scripture that sound very impressive.  However, the difference between life and death lies in whether or not we have the ear to hear and allow Him to speak through us, because only those are the words of life, that two-edged sword that will pierce through marrow and bone and will prick the hearts of those who listen to us.  This is just as the hearts of the people who were pricked when they listened to Peter speak after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  He confronted them as the Spirit came over him and he began to testify that they were the ones who crucified Christ.  That “pricking” means they were vexed in spirit and irritated emotionally, and they cried out, “What must we do to be saved?”.  That is a word of life that comes from a mouth of someone wholly given over to the Spirit and it pierces into the hearts of people, not stroking them, causing them to say, “Interesting point, let me think about it.  Or, let me pray about it and come back to you.” In this situation with Peter, they were literally pricked in their hearts and spirits, causing them to cry out in desperation.  This is how the Father wants to use us, but unless we fall to the ground and say, “I bear myself before you God to take away any dependence upon any form of flesh that I hold onto, no matter how much understanding I have accumulated over the years or how beautiful or impressive it sounds.  I come before you as nothing.  I know nothing, and I have nothing to say.  Only your words of life will be able to raise the dead.”  Ultimately the Jews Yeshua was speaking to would not come to Him that they might have life, because the cost was too great.  The gospel was an offense to them and was not going to accommodate where they were or how they viewed Him. 

 Continuing with verses 41:

 41 I receive not honour from men.

 

Him not receiving honor from men is the same as not receiving testimony from man.  He was saying that He would reject anything nice they might want to say about Him or any approval they might want to give.  In Mark 10 in the story of the rich young man who asks Yeshua what he must do to be saved, he approaches Him and says, “Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”  Yeshua answers with, “Why callest thou me good?  There is none good but one, that is, God.”  He is saying there is no good in man, and this is what He has to show us.  He has to show us the depths of the depravity of our hearts.  He has to lift up that veil, as a light from heaven figuratively speaking, of the depths of our own understanding regarding the depths of the depravity of our hearts.  This is true especially when it comes to our religious service – how we serve Him, how we worship, how we minister, how we talk, how we study, and what we know.  Ultimately where Jezebel hides, this antichrist spirit and flesh that exalts itself against God, is in religion; it hides in our walk.  Remember Saul, a Pharisee of Pharisees, with one impressive resume that he could have boasted in, counted it all dung for the excellency of knowing Christ.  It is all about knowing God, but you can only know Him, when He shows you who you are…nothing, dust.

 Verse 42:

 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

 

Somehow the love of God is vitally connected to knowing Him as He truly is.  He is basically saying to them, “Because you don’t know my Father, you cannot perceive that which I say, because my Father is ultimate.  He asks everything.  And He is asking this of those who will follow Him.”  He says,If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14: 26).  Why would He say that we must “hate” these people and ourselves?  This is obviously quite contrary to what the world says, “You must love yourself”, or the lie that “You cannot love another person unless you love yourself “.  That is the problem… we don’t hate ourselves; we love ourselves.  This is why we get offended, depressed, and cannot take critique.  It’s not because we don’t love ourselves, it’s because we do love ourselves and cannot handle it.  But He says that unless you hate that life in you -- that “self” who wants to exalt itself in a religious garb, that self that wants to depend on what it knows and its own wisdom -- unless you hate that and you deny that, you cannot be my disciple.  Being His disciple means you’ve left all those things, and you see no man.  You see only God.  You do not look for the approval of man, and you do not fear man.  You are wholly dependent upon the words of life that He gives you.

 Verse 44:

 44 How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

 

He is saying that we have a choice that you can either receive honor from God or honor from man.  You can have a man applaud you and tell you all these nice things and build you up, and you can say you are doing it for me, but deep in your heart, you know you relish and enjoy it.  Or you can seek the honor that comes from Him, but this honor does not come immediately.  It comes right at the end when you will receive a crown.  But will you be able to wait in the face of persecution for the honor that comes from Him alone?  If not, it shows your unbelief.  This is why He says, “How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another…?”  The honor of man has everything to do with unbelief.  If there is anything in you that still gets offended when you don’t get a thank you, when you don’t get recognition; or when you have to do something you don’t want to do and you mope and moan; or if you still need to do something so that you are recognized or you want to be seen as the prophet of the hour with the greatest dreams and visions…  If there is anything like this still in you, no matter how small, knowing that a little leaven will leaven the whole lump; if there is anything Pharisaical like this in you that covets these things of man, you are still in unbelief, and you do not know the Father.  You do not know Him as you ought.  When you do know the Father, you will be brought to dust, you will see no man, and you will be utterly dependent upon Him and His Spirit, and you will not dare to look to yourself.  You will cling to Him in utter weakness, because this is how the Spirit waxes strong.  In Luke 1, it says that John the Baptist’s spirit waxed strong, and in Luke 2, it says that Yeshua’s spirit waxed strong.  God’s currency is your weakness for His strength; for in your weakness, He is strong.  When you are weak, and when you are suffering and going through all these types of things, this is how He does business with us.  “Your everything for My everything.  Then I alone will get the glory, the honor, and the praise.”

 In verse 19, continuing in John 5, it says:

 19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

 

The word says, “Blessed is the man who is pure in heart, for he shall see God” (Matthew 5: 8).  It has everything to do with the purity of heart, being without guile, and not cutting corners when we speak to people.  What kind of person will it take to endure in the time to come, when there is no gray area and we are either for Him or against Him, and people will hate us because we are for Him?  What kind of work will the Father have to do in us to make us that kind of person who will not fear death?  What does He need to work in us so that we will not cut corners when we need to speak truth?  How can we become those people who will not play games or placate to people’s needs but instead speak the truth in love so that it will cut to the heart, even to the bone and marrow?  The only way this can be done is when we say, “Lord judge me first.  Let me fall to the ground.  Judge me by your word.  Expose the leaven in my heart and the trust I have in my own understanding and all I have accumulated.  Expose the idolatry of my heart and anything that is at enmity with you.”  We ask Father to do these things, even though they are covered in religious garb, because it will persecute the truth that He wants to speak through us.  It silences the truth, because we would rather want to be seen and have the biggest platform.  We say, “I want to glorify Him”, but it is actually, “I want to be seen.”  Our desire must be, “Expose this in me Father, so that I am nothing in my own sight and I see no man and only you.  I hear your voice, and I see you, because I have allowed the two-edged sword to judge me first.”  This is the reason the sword is double-edged, because both sides cut, first cutting the speaker before he goes out to preach, so that he will only speak that which God gives him to speak.  He has allowed the sword of the Spirit to cut him first, before he goes out with that sword and cuts into the hearts and pricks the hearts of men.  It is a living word then, because it has become a reality.

 Now we will go to John 3, starting in verse 27:

 JOHN 3

27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.

28 Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

29 He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

30 He must increase, but I must decrease.

31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.

32 And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.

33 He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.

34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

 

We can receive nothing, unless it comes from God.  Whatever you have to give will fall to the ground if it comes from yourself, no matter how great a revelation you think it is.  It has to be His words through you.  John says that he hears the voice of God, and he is not the light, but He hears the voice of the One who is.  He acknowledges himself as a man and dust, and that what he has to say is human wisdom, even though it is religious.  It is only words of life that cause the dead to be raised.  The word, “Apostle”, means sent.  And a word coming from one who is sent, is a “sent word” from God.  Just as Moses was the first apostle sent to Pharoah; he is a sent one with a sent word because he has received it from above.  In order to receive it from above, he must decrease, so that God may increase, so that it is the literal word of God through his mouth and not the word of the apostle or prophet or anyone sent to speak.  As Isaiah said in chapter 6 when the train filled the temple, “Woe is me, because I am a man of unclean lips…”.  He acknowledged he was just a man with unclean lips, aware of the guile in his heart before a mighty holy God.  He asked the Lord to touch his lips, and the angel came and did so with a burning coal.  The living word of God must touch our mouth, and He will only do that when we realize we are a man with unclean lips; we are nothing and have nothing to give, unless He gives it from above and unless we hear His voice.

 Finishing now with verses 35-36:

 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

 

It is a mercy and a grace for God to extend this time for us to seek His face that He may reveal Himself to us.  In earnestness, we must seek Him and say, “Lord, who are you?  I’ve served you for so many years, and I am tired of this world and Christian clichés.  I’m tired of hearing of dreams and visions, but yet I don’t have the reality of who you are in my life.  I want you to be so real to me that I see no man; that I don’t even see my own seeing or hear my own hearing, that I don’t speak my own words.  But instead, it is you. As a servant or handmaiden is looking to her Master, I am looking to your hand Lord.  I am looking to you to move; I don’t want to move.  I want the reality of God, of who you are as the truth in my life, even if it means everything that is not real in me or that is dressed in false religious garb must be exposed.

I would like to share a word that Father gave me back on February 27th of this year before He showed me all these things.  He is so faithful to come afterwards and flesh it out and bring substance to it.  I pray that you will hear what He has to say.

 

FROM DUST TO GLORY

 I the Lord dwell with the lowly.

Those who seek not honor nor glory but choose the path of humility.

They seek not the applause of men nor the praise of the crowds.

Those who seek Me in the lowly places of their inner sanctuary, who are contrite and broken and know that they are dust.

For surely when they have come to this place, they cannot raise themselves.

They can only see My feet.

But I will raise them in My appointed time to be kings and priests who have walked on the road I have travelled.

They have followed Me when I called and were willing to go into the depths of depravity and poverty of spirit.

For blessed are the poor in spirit, yes blessed indeed, for I will raise them up from dust to glory.

But who can ascend into My holy hill and stand before Me in My presence?

Only those who have travelled to the depths of darkness and have seen and know the depravity of their own hearts.

Those who are willing to look and see and be known as even as I know them.

For them is given to know Me, to know My heart, and to come into My secret counsel.

They see only Me, therefore, they are not lured into the temptations of this world.

They look neither to the left or right but only see Me.

Therefore, they will not follow another, for they truly know My voice.

I will teach them My ways and will guide them to walk through the valley of the shadow of death, as there is no darkness in them.

A light unto many to lead to Me, many will follow simply because they follow Me.

   And they will lead many of My lost sheep into the shelter of My arms.

It is them I anoint and their cup will surely run over.

For they were willing to drink the cup of poverty of spirit.

Therefore, I will not only restore but give in abundance to those who walk in lowliness of mind.

Then those who seek only Me, they will come up to the mountain and there be fed in My presence and My glory forever more.

 

I think of Psalm 24:

 

PSALM 24

1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.

Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?

He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

 

These are they, they who are willing to have clean hearts and hands with no guile in their hearts; these are they who seek Him.  In verse 9, it says, “Lift up your heads, O ye gates…, and the King of glory shall come in”.  Think of your mouth as a gate, think of the Lord who comes into our hearts and He walks through the gates of our mouth as the King of Glory.  It is a word filled with the glory of God coming out of a pure vessel.  That word that comes out of your mouth comes and brings life.  This is why He tells us not to think ahead of what we will speak, because the Spirit will give you utterance.  As a vessel given over to Him, the Spirit will utter life-giving words out of your mouth as living water.  Just as Proverbs 10:11 says, “The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life”.  Your words will be a well of life, and it will give life.  People will look to us and want to go with us, because we have the words of life.  Just as Peter looked to Yeshua and said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou alone hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6: 68)

 I would like to now read what Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1:

 

1 CORINTHIANS 1

17 For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

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.

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

 

Paul is saying that if he speaks of everything he knows as a “Pharisee of Pharisees” and can give great understanding of the scriptures, coming with the wisdom of his own knowledge, he would then make the cross of Christ of none of effect.  Paul wanted to come in weakness so that he could depend upon the finished work of the cross, so that the power could be manifested in what he was speaking.  When you are fully dependent upon God to speak through you, because you are weak, you are manifesting the power of the cross through your words.  It will be the power of God made manifest through a weak vessel, and here He alone gets the glory and the honor and the praise.  Remember the Pharisees, those who thought they knew the scriptures and could open up the word to the people.  The people went to them for understanding.  Paul is saying that even that is to be made foolishness, for when God speaks, whatever man knows and however impressive and true, falls to the ground as dust.  Only His words have the words of life, eternal life. 

Continuing in verse 22:

 22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

 

Paul says that the Jews require a sign, because they are in unbelief, a wicked generation seeking signs.  The Greeks seek after wisdom, as they lean upon the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, even if it is in Christian things.  He emphatically states that he and those like him preach Christ crucified, they preach totality of the cross, weakness, they are nothing, and they preach that it is only Him and they see no man.  And then this preaching is received by the Jews as a stumbling block and by the Greeks as foolishness.  But to the called, it is received as the power and wisdom of God.  This is just like me… a housewife in South Africa with nothing to my name.  That is God’s wisdom.  That is what He does; He uses His “nobodies.”  We must be a nobody.  It cannot be just lip service.  We must be brought into that reality.  When we stand before the magistrates and those in authority and He speaks through these weak vessels, these “nobodies”, it will confound them, because it will be His words.

 Now let’s go to 2 Corinthians and continue with what Paul was speaking:

 1 CORINTHIANS 2

For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.

And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? but we have the mind of Christ.

 

Paul was clear that he did not come with wisdom and the things he understood.  He came in complete dependence upon God, and that left him in weakness fear and trembling.  He didn’t come to impress them.  He came to speak the wisdom and mysteries of God.  When God speaks, He speaks in mysteries as well.  Those who are not in the Spirit, who are still carnal and depend upon their understanding of scripture, how they see things, and all they have accumulated, they are still carnally minded whilst they think they are spiritually minded.  They cannot receive the things of the Spirit, because they still see man.  They still see and depend upon themselves, and they do not live by faith.  They are still in unbelief.  When we trust the Father as we ought, we receive the things that He has prepared for us by the Spirit, the mysteries and the wisdom of God.  As a man, we cannot know the things of God, but the Spirit of God speaks to us and freely teaches and gives us these things.  That natural man in us, with our own understanding and opinions and ways of thinking about God and life and everything, hates and is in enmity with the Spirit of God.  The natural man must be brought to naught, to the dust, and to fall and be blinded so that we see no man, not even ourselves. 

The Lord has led me to do a voice recording of a book I read some time ago, called “The Antichrist in Man”.  With the previous short teaching video I posted, “The Appointed Time”, I was speaking about the different veils of the worker bride during the tribulation, which were scarlet, purple, white and gold.  I mentioned how we find the same example with Jezebel in Revelation 17, also dressed in scarlet, purple and gold and pearls.  We see that she represents the bride of satan, so to speak, and how the enemy duplicates the bride of Christ and what she will look like.  This book speaks of this Jezebel, the flesh that depends upon our own understanding, that is in enmity with the Spirit of God in us and wants to persecute it.  When we look at the Book of Revelation, we see the macro view of the end time as an eschatological understanding. This book, “The Antichrist in Man”, speaks of the reality of that within us.  It was written in 1647 and is very revealing, exposing the works of the flesh in us.  I plan to post it on YouTube and on my Telegram channel in 15 - 20 minute segments.  I pray that you will listen and allow the Spirit to show you these things and allow Him to bring you to that place of nothing.  I believe Father guided me to do this in order to serve His children and minister to you and encourage you to allow the Lord to bring you to such a place where you say, “Lord, cut it to the marrow, bring the ax to the root, so that I am fully dependent upon you in the time to come.”

I pray that you will hear what the Spirit is saying to us in these last days and continue to seek His face every day, asking the question, “Who are you Lord?”.


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