RAPTURING FAITH (PART 7)
Introduction:
"FOR THUS SAITH THE HIGH AND LOFTY ONE THAT
INHABITETH ETERNITY, WHOSE NAME IS HOLY; I DWELL
IN THE HIGH AND HOLY PLACE, WITH HIM ALSO THAT IS
OF A CONTRITE AND HUMBLE SPIRIT ..." (Isa.57:14)
What do you think translation is? It's God
Himself carrying you about! (Acts. 8:39) Then you
must be one of the contrite and humble spirits
with whom he dwells! Read on, and be humble.
GOSPEL DISTRIBUTION
HUMILITY AND SPIRITUAL POWER
Quoting from the "encyclopaedia of the bible, it
says:
"Humility is indeed a virtue, the proper attitude
of the human creation toward his divine creator.
It is the spontaneous recognition of the
creature's absolute dependence on his creator, an
ungrudging, unhypocritical acknowledgement of the
gulf which separates self-subsistent Being, which
is God, from utterly contingent human being."
Prophet Michah wrote "What does the Lord
require of you but to do justice, and to love
kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?""
(Micah 6:8).
Humility is the essence of new testament piety
in view of Christ's own example: He voluntarily
abandoned his divine status; he surrendered his
dignity in order to live as a human being on the
lowest level of poverty (Phil.2:5-8). He was
gentle and lowly in heart. (Mat.11:29). Rather
than accepting praise, He bore witness to total
dependence on his Father as the source of his
wisdom and power; rather than grasping for glory,
he ascribed all glory to his father. (Jn.5:19,
Jn.6:38, 7:16,8:28,50; 14:10,24).
Christ taught humility with the following
instruction: "When thou art bidden of any man to a
wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a
more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
And he that bade thee and him come and say to
thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with
shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art
bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room that
when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto
thee, Friend, go up higher; then shalt thou have
worship in the presence of them that sit at meat
with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall
be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be
exalted." (Lk.14:8-11).
Pride is a state of the heart, just as humility
is a state of the heart. That is, even if you
have not acted it out, if your heart is in either
state, it will show very soon, when you are put in
a revealing circumstance.
The above teaching of Christ points out the
proud heart as it interacts with other human
beings, (when invited to a wedding). Another
human being like yourself may humiliate you! The
following parable of the Lord points out the
proud heart, in God's eyes, when it talks to the
Lord God. This is more important to believers
nowadays; we must meditate on this and watch how
we present our requests before the Lord. There is
a time to not demand your right as a son of God,
and of course, there is a time to stand up against
the devil and claim the promises of God, yet
humbly:
"And he spake this parable unto certain which
trusted in themselves that they are righteous and
despised others: Two men went up into the temple
to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a
Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with
himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other
men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even
as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I
give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off, would not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a
sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his
house justified rather than the other: for every
one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he
that humbleth himself shall be exalted." (Lk.18:10-
14).
If the one in authority over you, let's say
your boss at work, passes down a decision and you
feel bad that you are being pushed around, watch
out for the spirit of pride. The devils can rouse
up fleshy manifestation of pride to react to a
bossy type of decision in people. It will still
be a wrong reaction: especially in the household
between husband and wife, or between parents and
children.
The next teaching of Christ points out the
proud heart as one disciple relates to another
disciple of Christ: "But be not ye called Rabbi;
for one is your master, even Christ; and all ye
are brethren. But he that is greatest among you
shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt
himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble
himself shall be exalted." (Mat.23:10-12).
Even to the twelve Apostles, Christ had to hammer
it down as the flesh tried to manifest: "And he
came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked
them, what was it that ye disputed among
yourselves by the way? But they held their peace:
for by the way they had disputed among themselves,
who should be the greatest? And he sat down, and
called the twelve, and saith unto them, if any man
desires to be first, the same shall be last of all
and servant of all." (Mk.9:33-35).
A disciple must turn his back on status,
security and success, asking only an opportunity
to serve, however inconspicuously; glorying in
nothing but the cross. (Mat.23:8,10; Mk.10:35-45;
Gal.6:14). In short, the faithful disciple fights
a continual battle against pride, the egoism which
breeds self-centeredness, self-exaltation, self-
will, self-sufficiency, self-confidence, self-
righteousness, self-glorying and hence self-
delusion with its ultimate fruit of self-
frustration and self-despair. (Rom.10:2).
You probably know someone in your congregation
that you can say is too proud. But don't begin to
point accusing finger at anybody! It's a battle!
We all need to reevaluate and if we have been
beaten down by the devil in any of these egos,
let's simply learn from it, rise up and run the
race now with humility, before the all seeing eyes
of the Almighty God!
Often believers ask and love to receive the
mighty miracle-working power of God. But have you
stopped and asked yourself why you want the power?
God's miracle power through the Holy Ghost comes
to do only ONE job; that job is to deliver souls
from the bondages: "OUGHT NOT THIS WOMAN, BEING A
DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM, WHOM SATAN HATH BOUND, LO,
THESE EIGHTEEN YEARS, BE LOOSED FROM THIS BOND
EVEN ON THE SABBATH-DAY?" (Lk.13:16). You should
ask: "Is it really the love to set people free
that you have, OR, is it the side-effect of power,
which is fame and recognition, that you love?"
As a disciple keeps on winning the battle
against pride and presumption, he matures in that
holiness which flurishes only in the soil of
humility. Humility, however is not the subtle
masochism which enjoys its own debasement. It is
that attitude which results from a fearlessly
honest self-appraisal, a self-appraisal which
neither minimizes one's achievements nor
exaggerates one's failures, but never forget to
attribute all achievements to God, the source of
one's help. (Psa.121:1-2).
There are many bible verses about humility such
as: "Be clothed with humility." "Humble yourselves
therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he
may exalt you in due time." (1 Pet.5:5-6).
"Before honour is humility" (Prov.15:33; 18:12).
We must resist spiritual pride. "If we live in
the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let
us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one
another, envying one another." (Gal.5:26)
"For thus saith the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell
in the high and holy place, with him also that is
of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of
the contrite ones." (Isa.57:14).
In Leviticus chapter 4 concerning sin
offerings, the Lord said the people should bring a
BULLOCK for the priest's sin; they must bring a
YOUNG BULLOCK for the congregation's sin; for a
ruler's sin they must bring a HE-GOAT. For the
common people's sin the people must bring a LAMB.
But Christ came as the LAMB of God to save
mankind. "Behold the lamb of God which taketh
away the sins of the world" (Jn.1:29). It means
there is neither provision for the priest, nor for
the ruler, nor for the congregation's sins.
EVERYBODY MUST COME TO GOD AS THE COMMON PEOPLE,
and as an individual (not as a congregation) to be
saved. Now can you see that humility is needed
for even salvation?" (Mat.18:3).
If the first fruits must arrive at the stature
of Christ before he can rapture them, then they
must arrive at the perfect humility that he wants.
Pride does not allow the Lord to be seen through
the believers. It overshadows the Christ which we
are presenting by the personality or acclaimed
personality of the proud witness.
Meekness is the desired attribute for a leader
while humility is the attribute for a good
follower. As the chief Shepherd, Christ said
"Learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart".
(Mat.11:29).
How to overcome pride:
Remember love! Love is not puffed up! (1 Cor.13).
Recognize that pride is from the demons whispering
to the mind. Therefore resist their thoughts.
Let's think of ourselves thus: "this is not our
field of expertise. And if it is, there are many
other experts ahead of us in the field. So we
must be humble."
"Let nothing be done through strife or
vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each
esteem other better than themselves. Look not
every man on his own things, but every man also on
the things of others." (Phil.2:3-4). "Be kindly
affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in
honour preferring one another." ( Rom.12:10).
For example, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
was turned into a beast for seven years because of
his pride.
Remember what Nebuchadnezzar said and how he said
it before he was turned into a beast? (Dan.4:30)
"The king spake and said, Is not this great
Babylon that I have built for the house of the
kingdom by the might of my power, and for the
honour of my majesty? While the word was in the
king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven,
saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is
spoken, The kingdom is departed from thee."
(Dan.4:30-31).
After he was restored, he wrote: "Now I,
Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honour the
king of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his
ways judgement: and those who walk in pride he is
able to abase." (Dan.4:37).
King David also, in a form of pride, numbered
the people (2 Sam.24:2). (1 Chronicles 21:1). One
can count one's blessing the wrong way. If you
feel very bad when you are slighted or because of
an opposing view point, pride may be in your
spirit.
For example, Ahitophel committed suicide when his
counsel was rejected. (2 Sam.17:23-25).
Pride spirits tempt people on their talents or
blessings to make them puff up with it. The
following visionary parable was given in the early
church: "An angel of the Lord gave each believer
a small stick. The angel who had given the sticks
to the people asked for them back again, and they
were summoned to him in the same order as they had
received them, and each of them returned the
sticks. The angel of the Lord took them and
examined them. From some he received the sticks
withered and eaten. .... Others returned their
sticks half-withered and cracked; and so on. The
meaning of the parable was also given. The stick
that relates to this sermon is this: Those who
returned their sticks green and cracked were
faithful and good at all times, but they had a
certain jealousy of one another over questions of
preeminence and about some kind of distinction.
But they are fools to be jealous of one another
regarding preeminence."
Yea this jealousy is very real in this age,
especially among the charismatic and endtime-
message groups. This fleshly manifestation must
be eradicated! The bible says: "LET US NOT BE
DESIROUS OF VAIN GLORY, PROVOKING ONE ANOTHER,
ENVYING ONE ANOTHER!" (Gal.5:26). "For who maketh
thee to differ from another? and what hast thou
that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst
receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst
not received it?"
(1 Cor. 4:7). Concerning translative power,
remember the power of God is not for show. Pride
will not be content until it shows what it has!
"Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue, keepeth
his soul from troubles." (Prov.21:23).
Keep your mouth diligently. Certain things are
to be kept secret: John at the Isle of Patmos was
told not to write the utterances of the 7
thunders. Paul's vision spake of unspeakable
words. (Rev.10:4; 2Cor.12:3-4).
In a visitation one morning, after the Lord gave
some spiritual secrets for translation, a voice
said: now that he knows it, is he not going to
show it to his wife? will he not get on stage and
demonstrate it to the audience?
When I meditated on this thought, the Lord made me
to realize that it is "pride" that makes men boast
before their wives. It will make a man begin to
reveal to his wife things that he ought not. It
is pride that will make a minister try to
demonstrate a spiritual power before any audience
-- God's power is not for show! The Holy Ghost
moves as He wills! Now can you see that humility
is necessary with rapturing faith?
Remember the first temptation of Christ by Satan:
"If thou be the Son of God, turn these stones into
bread". That means, "Show us! Prove it! Prove
that you have this power!" Showing off is pride.
Therefore, "be clothed with humility."
Also, watch out for those subtle pride in the
heart: A very subtle pride will not allow some
brethren to read a literature like this one. When
it comes to them for the first time, it is not
colorful with crusade-pictures of stadium crowd
listening to the preacher; or maybe it arrived in
the mail worn out and dirty; someone will
probably throw it aside. It's a subtle pride,
especially in a country where laser-printers are
used, and flamboyant magazines in color from other
ministries are in circulation. But James wrote:
"My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of
persons. For if there come unto your assembly a
man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there
come in also a poor man in vile raiment. And ye
have respect to him that wear gay clothing and say
unto him, sit thou here in a good place, and say
to the poor, stand thou there, or sit here under
my footstool; Are ye not then partial in
yourselves, and are become judges of evil
thoughts?" (James 2:1-6).
All we should desire is to please Jesus who has
purchased us with his precious blood.
The story of the violinist come to mind. On
the day of his great convocation, he was applauded
by the whole audience except one old man sitting
in the front row. The violinist was sad and went
aside to weep. The organizer came to him to ask
him why he was sad after such a great performance
and great applause from everybody, except one old
man in the front row. The violinist replied:"You
don't understand; that old man is the one I have
to please! He is my master- the Chief musician!"
The great teacher can spot the errors in our
deepest parts which the common folks cannot see.
Oh that we believers can strive to please only
the master - the Lord Jesus Christ! When we
realize that upon all we have done, we have not
fully satisfied him, we should be humble. Look
at the master's ministry and compare to yours.
Look at the master's life and compare to yours.
Look at the master's holiness and compare to
yours. Then we all have to withdraw to a corner
and weep before him that we have not yet measured
up to the standard he laid down, humbly.
Yea, to be exalted to the rank of the
rapturable saints, we must be clothed with
humility! "FOR HE THAT HUMBLETH HIMSELF SHALL BE
EXALTED!"
YOUR SPIRITUAL LIFE- WHERE IS IT?
If we remember the life of prophet Daniel, we
will notice how he was catapulted to a great
position just by using the spiritual gift of God
for his own profit. By telling the meaning of the
dreams of the King Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel was
elevated to a high position in the kingdom of
Babylon. We also remember a similar success in
the life of Joseph in Egypt, who was exalted to a
position of the Prime Minister of Egypt due to the
use of his gift of "interpretation of dreams".
We all love the results these men had in their
life. But what we always forget is the price they
paid to be able to get such success. They had a
life-style which was pleasing to God before he
could endow them with the gift that prospers them.
All the preaching of the gospel is to make us
emulate prophets like Daniel. How did he do it?
And how can we get favour with the Lord? Our
direct access to God, which we already have in
Jesus, is what we must learn to use to be
effective when we ask anything from the Lord.
Remember Daniel was confident in the Lord to
call his prayer group together (Shedrach, Meshach
and Abednigo), "that they would desire mercies of
the God of heaven concerning this secret; that
Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the
rest of the wise men of Babylon". (Dan.2:18). God
answers prayers!
We love the result these men got. We have to
look at what they did in their walk with God that
fetch them such result - those extra efforts which
they took! God honours our extra efforts in
getting closer to him. For example this prayer
meeting (where this sermon is being preached) is
an extra effort by all of the participants because
we start at 9pm and continue many times past
midnight. God honours such efforts on our part.
Ponder on this: Daniel was just one of the
captives from Judah. Nebuchadnezzar instructed
his servants to get young men from Judah to be
trained to stand before the king: "And the king
spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs,
that he should bring certain of the children of
Israel, and of the king's seed, and of the
princes; ... whom they might teach the tongue of
the Chaldeans" (Dan.1:3).
Among them were Daniel, Shedrach, Meshach and
Abednigo. Remember they were all hebrews. But
these four men decided to stand out of the crowd
in their commitment to their God. All the others
were also Jews. But these four men purposed to
keep themselves pure from polution according to
their religious law. Sometime it takes some bold
steps and extra effort like that to get a special
place with the Lord. These men decided to make
their request official rather than to refuse to
eat without anyone knowing why, which will make
them look like "trouble-makers".
What I'm pointing out is that these four men
stood alone to identify themselves with their God,
and the rest of the men were also hebrews.
Likewise, you may be in your school or college.
The other students may claim to be christians too,
but they will go along with the crowd. It takes
boldness to stand out for Jesus and approach your
school Principal to request for an exception from
some things. The rest of the school may mock you.
But they that know their God will shine at last.
You will do exploits if you will take the first
step to stand out for God. (Dan.11:32).
The result Daniel and his three friends had in
Babylon is what all of us love to have, but we
must first walk in the narrow road which they
walked to obtain it. We love the end-result when
Shedrach, Meshach, and Abednigo were thrown into
the fiery furnace and the Lord delivered them in
it. We love the result when Daniel was able to
tell the dream of the King and was honoured for
it. All those results came to them because of the
steps these men took early on!
Remember this: It is a serious business when
walking with the Lord! You want to stand out of
the crowd! You will need to stand by yourselves
many times. Sometimes there will be no one to
stand with you! It may be you and your family.
Whether you are fasting and praying more, it will
be between you and the Lord.
Daniel and his friends refused to eat the
king's meat because they knew it was contrary to
their religion. But the other Jews with them in
Babylon didn't mind. They left their religion
back in Jerusalem, and it's okay with them to eat
the portion of the king's meat. What I'm trying
to say is, "you've got to take some steps sometime
to officially stand out of the crowd"; but God
watches over each step that is taken toward him
and He will honour it.
There are prices the prophets paid to get the
results of their faith which we also long for.
One of the prices they paid is seen in their
prayer life. These people took a lifestyle which
brought them great reward. For example king David
wrote about his own prayer-life in psalm 119 verse
164, and 62. He said "seven times a day do I
praise thee". This is an example of the price
David paid which brought to him those great
rewards which we all admire. David also showed a
great "thoughtfulness" towards the things of God
and received special blessing. (2 Sam.7). Those
are the extra efforts that will make our prayers
to be effective. For example God watches that
none of the words of Samuel the prophet fall to
the ground. (1 Sam.3:19). That means God actually
honours the prophet. A servant of God must be
well pleasing to God for such honour. David again
said about himself: "At midnight I will rise to
give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous
judgement"." These people paid some prices to get
the honour from the Lord. We must also pay those
prices to get our prayers as effective as theirs.
Most of the prophets were always all-night on the
mountain. It is when you minister unto the Lord
in worship and in songs regularly that you will
feel his presence more pronounced around you.
"Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me, and to him
that ordereth his conversation aright will I show
the salvation of the Lord." (Psa.50:23).
Gross Darkness covering the land!
As the end of the world comes closer, things
will be getting rougher. More demons will be
unleashed. Only the well-beloved among the
believers will be getting through easily in
prayers.
At the end of the world, all apocalyptic events
that will come upon the world as written in the
book of revelations are the fingers of God. It
will therefore be difficult, if not entirely
impossible, for any believer found around that
time to use prayer to stop or resist it. That is
why prayers will become tougher to get through.
I had a vision many years ago: All houses
around my apartment were crumbling by a quake. I
was using the faith of the Lord to resist that it
will not come near my apartment. With the Lord
seen by my side in that vision and with the
substance of faith built heavily in me, the quake
still crumbled my apartment.
When I woke up that morning, I wondered in my
heart why my faith could not restrain the quakes
though the Lord was seen by my side. Then I
thought within myself: "suppose it was the Lord
who was causing the quake to destroy the whole
area without my knowledge?" Then the bible verses
in Ezekiel came to me where he said: "THOUGH
THESE THREE MEN, NOAH, DANIEL, JOB, WERE IN THE
CITY, THEY SHOULD DELIVER BUT THEIR OWN SOUL BY
THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS, saith the Lord God." (Eze.
14:14). These three men were righteous before
God, and they were great intercessors. But in
such a situation, God said it has gone too far:
they can only deliver their own soul and nothing
else. Therefore, there could be some tough times
when our prayer will not be able to stop some
things. Perhaps we can deliver our own neck or
perhaps our family.
In my other sermons, I have preached before
that by our prayers, we can begin to take back
our grounds gradually. Starting from our house,
in prayer we can say: "Devil, you are not welcome
in this house". Later, we can extend our border
and command the devil to get out of town! Or
later drive the devil out of the country. However
as the world is coming closer to the end, prayer
will be getting tougher because it is now God
himself moving the hand of the clock. He stated
again that "though Noah, Daniel and Job were in
the city, they shall deliver neither son nor
daughter".(Eze.14:20). Therefore, we've got to
get more righteous, and get more honour from the
Lord so that He so much honour us and He just have
to answer our prayers. If things are getting
worse, we should get better, individually to be
counted in his eyes, in the class of Noah, Daniel
and Job!
God will still honour somebody. But will he
honour you or me? Because he said again: "Though
Moses and Samuel stand before me concerning these
people", they cannot turn his wrath back.
(Jer.15:1). It is time for the saints of God to
get more fine-tuned so that our influence is great
in heaven to deliver more souls by our
intercessions.
We must have a spiritual life to present before
the Lord for Him to honour us. Remember King
Hezekiah was able to present his case to the Lord
when he was sick unto death and God reversed the
evil with a promise. Even the sun turned back on
his behalf! (2 Kgs.20:3-6). We must have an
acceptable spiritual walk with the Lord regularly,
so that when the time comes that we need Him to
show his miracle hand of deliverance, He will not
withhold it from us: "NO GOOD THING WILL HE
WITHHOLD FROM THEM THAT WALK UPRIGHTLY". Remember
Daniel the prophet when he was thrown into the
lions' den. He paid the price of a consistent
prayer-life, and refused to stop when he was
threatened. He paid the price mentioned earlier
of standing tall and all alone where others would
have compromised. The result was God's
intervention so that the lions did not harm him.
We must have a consistent spiritual walk with God
which the Lord will have to honour in order for
supernatural wonders to happen on our behalf!
In all of these, remember, it is to the Lord we
are to show our spiritual life. Only He can
promote us. Therefore humble yourself before Him
as it is written: "Humble yourselves therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt
you in due time!" (1Pet.5:6).
While we still have access to heaven, while we
still have the Lord ready to move on our behalf,
let us get hold of the Lord and show him a
spiritual life that is acceptable in His eyes.
Then we will be effective to deliver our families
and others from the evils that are building up in
the land all around us.
The end is near!
If you are edified by this literature, write and
let us know. For as the Lord said "Unto you that
hear shall more be given." (Mk.4:24b). We also
welcome your offerings for the work of the Lord.
Gospel Distribution