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March 26, 2008

Losing Yourself, Finding Him

Dear brethren, beloved of our Precious Lord, I pray for all of you always, that He might find you waiting and watching in this hour; for His appearing for His little ones. Be strong and of great courage, for the King is coming! That which is held in mystery in the present will soon be manifest; and let us all be ready (found in Him) when He comes to fulfill all His promises.

To lose ourselves seems like a scary proposition, far too unattainable until we discover that in losing ourselves we gain He who is the source of all life, light, love, power, grace, truth and wisdom. Indeed, He is the All that pleases and delights the heart of our Father, for He "honored the Father". Oh that we would Honor Him in turn and all those who do so.

A short time ago, I found myself winding my way through William Law's "Address to the Clergy" written hundreds of years ago (I recommend this by the way - you can find it online in entirety). in which he tries to convince the religious orthodoxy of the day that Christianity, in all of its forms, promises, endeavors and outcomes, is merely the expression of the life of God, lived out fully in the Spirit in all those who have come to Christ Jesus, to love Him and receive Him and walk solely in Him. It sounds so simple, so academic really; yet this is hardly what the current manifestation of the Christian life is to most people, those living it and those observing it.

Here are some excerpts -

"A religious Faith that is uninspired, a Hope, or Love that proceeds not from the immediate Working of the Divine Nature within us, can no more do any Divine Good to our Souls, or unite them with the Goodness of God, than an Hunger after earthly Food can feed us with the immortal Bread of Heaven.— All that the natural or uninspired Man does, or can do in the Church, has no more of the Truth or Power of Divine Worship in it, than that which he does in the Field, or Shop, through a Desire of Riches.— And the Reason is, because all the Acts of the Natural Man, whether relating to Matters of Religion or the World, must be equally Selfish, and there is no Possibility of their being otherwise. For Self-love, Self-esteem, Self-seeking, and Living wholly to Self, are as strictly the Whole of all that is or possibly can be in the Natural Man, as in the Natural Beast; the one can no more be better, or act above this Nature, than the other. Neither can any Creature be in a better, or higher State than this, till something Supernatural is found in it; and this Supernatural something, called in scripture the WORD, or SPIRIT, or INSPIRATION of God, is that alone from which man can have the first Good Thought about God, or the least Power of having more heavenly Desires in his Spirit, than he has in his Flesh."

"A Religion that is not wholly built upon this Supernatural Ground, but solely stands upon the Powers, Reasonings, and Conclusions of the Natural uninspired Man, has not so much as the Shadow of true Religion in it, but is a mere Nothing, in the same Sense, as an Idol is said to be Nothing, because the Idol has nothing of That in it which is pretended by it. For the Work of Religion has no Divine Good in it, but as it brings forth, and keeps up essential Union of the Spirit of Man with the Spirit of God; which essential Union cannot be made, but through Love on both sides, nor by Love, but where the Love that works on both sides is of the same Nature."

"And here lies the true unchangeable Distinction between God, and Nature, and the Natural Creature. Nature and Creature are only for the outward manifestation of the inward invisible unapproachable Powers of God; they can rise no higher, nor be anything else in themselves, but as Temples, Habitations, or Instruments, in which the Supernatural God can, and does manifest himself in various Degrees, bringing forth Creatures to be good with his own Goodness, to love and adore him with his own Spirit of Love, for ever singing Praises to the Divine Nature by That which they partake of it. This is the Religion of Divine Inspiration, which being interpreted, is Immanuel or God within us. Every Thing short of this, is short of that Religion which worships God in Spirit and in Truth. And every religious Trust or Confidence in any Thing, but the Divine Operation within us, is but a sort of Image-Worship, which though it may deny the Form, yet retains the Power thereof in the Heart. And he that places any religious Safety in theological Decisions, Scholastic Points, in particular Doctrines and Opinions, that must be held about the scripture Words of Faith, Justification, Sanctification, Election, and Reprobation, so far departs from the true Worship of the Living God within him, and Sets up an Idol of Notions to be worshiped, if not instead of, yet along with him. And I believe it may be taken for a certain Truth, that every Society of Christians, whose Religion stands upon this Ground, however ardent, laborious, and good their zeal may seem to be in such Matters, yet in spite of all, sooner or later, it will be found that Nature is at the Bottom, and that a selfish, earthly, overbearing Pride in their own Definitions and Doctrines of Words, will by Degrees creep up to the same Height, and become that same fleshly Wisdom, doing those very same Things, which they exclaim against in Popes, Cardinals, and Jesuits. Nor can it possibly be otherwise. For a letter-learned zeal has but one Nature wherever it is, it can only do that for Christians, which it did for Jews. As it anciently brought forth Scribes, Pharisees, Hypocrites, and Crucifiers of Christ, as it afterwards brought forth Heresies, Schisms, Popes, papal Decrees, Images, Anathemas, Transubstantiations, so in Protestant countries it will be doing the same Thing, only with other materials; Images of wood and Clay, will only be given up for Images of Doctrines; Grace and Works, imputed sin, and imputed Righteousness, Election and Reprobation, will have their Synods of Dort, as truly evangelical, as any Council of Trent. "

It is interesting (and frightening) that most believers know little of what this new life means or is even, and yet they carry on with such bold assumptions of what they will be able to carry out in Jesus' Name. The popular church most certainly does not know and mis-teaches such things, thereby creating pseudo disciples, bent solely on the improvement of man by his owns means and religion. It is a familiar, "self-saving and self-sanctifying" theme seen over and over again.

Our Lord had much to say of this in the Old Testament - sacrifices that repulsed Him, vain attempts by the creature to honor Him by their own inspiration, skin-deep revival that touched not the life and the heart. Read how He spews such out of His mouth, and with great boldness declares the vanity and emptiness of such supposed religion severed from His life and glory.

Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, "Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me--for Me? (Zec 7:4-5)

Look around brethren. So much done in the name of God and Jesus. So much activity; so many programs; so many bold claims of this result or that. Yet is it really for the glory of God, or the temporal and religious benefit of man? Have we, as ancient Israel, not learned that we have only been blessed by grace that we might be a blessing to others? Have we Gentiles not been extended grace in this age that we might gladden the heart of our Heavenly Father and His Son?

Here in the wilderness my brethren we should know better, where all we have is His life, and His hope and His wisdom. To grow in maturity is nothing more or less than growing in Him, and being reduced of all that we are. Salvation is an everyday necessity, not just a one time event. He saves us from ourselves, the world and the devil. He saves us from within from the lie that is all around us; from the wickedness in high places that permeates the air and all the very nature of man and the world. He saves us from the empty myth of man's religious pride and expression, that God hates.

And the end of the ages is upon us dear ones, most certainly. God Himself will intervene in His wrath to destroy all and any who have rejected His grace as offered in His Son. He is longsuffering but not “all-suffering”. He is merciful but not a fool! He knows the hearts and minds of men and what they truly want. The Beast and all those bound to it is an unnatural creature that represents creation mobilized in opposition to the Creator. It is the ultimate carnation of the serpent and his lie.

Right now the Lord is gathering His own to Himself and the devil is gathering his own. The time of choosing is at hand, and do not presume anything little ones. We must be watchful, praying constantly in this hour that we would remain true, and wait for Him to execute His plans. Nothing else matters. We need discernment like never before, and not the kind that requires theological intelligence but the ability to discern the day and hour, the spirit of life from the spirit of death. If you are not taken as His reward (the very few who will receive the reward of His Millennial Kingdom), then you will remain in this world to be tried and tested in the furnace of the Anti-Christ. And if this be the case, make no mistake, if you hold fast your confession of the Living Christ, you will most definitely be tortured and murdered. Your faith and profession for God will be tested in the most ultimate manner. You will be forced and coerced in every vile way to take his mark; to align yourself with God’s enemy. You need to consider this, and pray for the provision and grace of Jesus Christ today.

Oh Lord, that you would save your little ones, and that our only confidence and hope might be rooted solely in your All in all. In Jesus' Mighty Name Amen.

Living the Life in Him, Wayne

Note: for more on this topic, I highly recommend you read G.H. Pember's Great Prophecies Concerning the Church, particularly the section on the Letter to Laodicea, available from Schoettle Publishing.

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Please pray for us here at Living-Walk, that we would watch and see the Master at work, and understand what He would have us be and do.

Your friend and servant in Christ Jesus,

Wayne