“Who ARE You, Lord?”

by Michael

Paul Meets JesusAs he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.
Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”
And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”(Acts 9:3-5 [NKJV])

What was it that changed Paul from being a self-righteous, judgemental, law and death wielding Pharisee into one who lived by the law of God’s love and had compassion for the saints of God? Wasn’t it a divine and personal encounter with the living Christ? This same man that was highly educated by the best available schools of Judaism after His divine encounter, counted it all dung except for his knowledge of the LIVING Jesus Christ. It was then that he said, “If any man thinks he knows something, let him know this… he knows nothing as he really ought to know.” There is knowledge and then there is an intimate knowing of the ONE who knows all things. When we truly KNOW HIM, we can never again settle for mere scholastic knowledge… The Tree of Life vs. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the choice we must face. Choose LIFE!

Where There Is No Light, There Is No Fellowship

by Michael

Zoo Fellowship

What is fellowship? If you ask a dozen Christians this questions you will probably get a dozen different answers.

John wrote,

This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:5-9, NKJV)

It would seem, that according to John, true fellowship hinges not on the club or group we belong to or even the pet doctrines we all might cling to, but whether all who seek true fellowship (koinonia) are drawing every closer to the Light of God which exposes any darkness that may still abide in us and not making any place for the flesh of Adam to operate within. God is Light and in HIM there is no darkness. If we truly desire to live IN Jesus Christ we will make no provision or place for the flesh in ourselves. What fellowship does light have with darkness?

“If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Truth is a practice, it is a lifestyle. It is also where all true worship of Jesus stems from. Light exposes the lie within. Without this being dealt with we can not say we are true worshippers of Jesus for He said, “…those who would worship God must do so in Spirit and in truth.”

John continues, “…if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Interesting sentence here! We have all believe that the blood of Jesus washes away our sins, but John puts a condition on our part before this can happen. We must walk in the Light as Jesus is in the Light, have fellowship with those who do and at the same time the blood of Jesus will be cleansing us from all unrighteousness. Wow! This is a very inclusive statement here. We each must seek the light of Christ to expose our secret faults. Close fellowship in the Light can be used by God to do just that as long as we prayerfully restore one another in a spirit of meekness. This is a part of being cleansed by the blood of Jesus. He did HIS part and we have our part. All too often we see salvation as a blank check written out to us to do with whatsoever WE will. This is not the case and it this fleshly mindset that surely makes for the collision of a lot of private agendas when we come together. Yes, it is by grace that we have been saved, but we are not only to be saved from our past sins, but from SIN (falling short of the glory of God) as a principle of life as well! We are to be dwelling in HIS LIFE and LIGHT, always. Light is an ongoing work that does away with the darkness in us that we MIGHT have fellowship IN the Father and the Son. Remember, salvation was not only given us to keep us out of hell, but it was given to us that we would grow up INTO the fullness of Christ and leave our childish ways behind and live to the glory of the Father just as Jesus did and not our own.

There is another part of walking in the Light. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” When we discover darkness (sin) in our lives we should do the opposite of what the flesh and the devil wants us to do, cover it up. Rather we should run to the Light! My father-in-law once lived out in the country when my wife was a young girl. They had a skunk move into the crawl space under their house and those critters smell even if they don’t spray (sin manifest). So, he put a bright light under the house and the skunk moved out. Sin stinks! Light exposes our darkness so that we can confess our sins to Him and be forgiven and cleansed from all our unrighteousness that is still in us as a breading ground for sin. Not too many of the “easy grace” persuasion we see today among Christians, have taken a serious look at the “If” statements that go with the New Covenant. Jesus did His part and it is up to us to walk in HIS Light by making no place for the flesh in us. Only then will we be fit for true fellowship with one another IN Christ… A fellowship that is uplifting and found abiding in heavenly places IN Christ Jesus and not one that tares one another down.

Living By Every Word of God

by Michael

Image

I have been a reactionary most of my life, sad to say. One day about 20 years ago I was praying and I heard Father say, “Michael, is there a Book of Re-Acts?” I said, “No Lord, just a Book of Acts.” Then He said, “Learn from this.”

As I read the Book of Acts again I was amazed at how much of it was the acts of the apostles and saints as they listened to and obeyed the Spirit. I had to do some serious soul searching after this encounter as to how many things I believed that were simply a reaction to what happened in my past. And He STILL is showing me things that are more a reaction rather than walking in All Truth as the Spirit was sent into our lives to make happen.

Did I get this message from the Bible? No, I got it from the mouth of God. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that PROCEEDS from the mouth of God.” Did the Word who created all things stop talking with the closing of the canon as most Biblicists believe? I think not! We talk about a “Personal Saviour” and “Personal Salvation” and then set out to depersonalize our walks in Christ by following the traditions of men and what THEY say about the scriptures.

What is most interesting to me is that the early church members had no personal copies of the scriptures or personal Bibles as we have today. That eunuch from Ethiopia had to pay much for a copy of Isaiah to read on his way home and he was stumped by what the prophet said until the Spirit in Philip revealed it to him and he was converted on the spot!

The early church had ears that could “hear what the Spirit was saying to the churches,” but by the end of the first century their hearing had become dull and as a result they had gone off coarse as they had heaped to themselves teachers to tickle their ears teaching Gnosticism and Judaism. This is what 1 John is all about, trying to get them to return to the voice of God instead of the voices of the deceivers that were among them in the form of many anti-christs.

As for the power of tradition, God had to rebuke Peter, who was hung up on his Jewishness, for isolating himself from the Gentiles who would and did come to Christ. Concerning this matter, he even said to the Spirit on one occasion, “Not so, Lord!” Now there is the worst from of religious blindness possible! Calling God “Lord” and refuting his commands because of our perception of what the scriptures say. Like Jesus said to the Jews, “You make of no effect the commandments of God with your own traditions.” “Man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man.” “If you had known what this means, ‘I will have mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless”… His concept of obedience to the Word of God and theirs was miles apart.

It is obvious to me that if we are truly of the NEW Covenant we are not to live by the letter of the law or the letter of the scriptures, but by the Spirit that God has put in us to “lead us into all truth” (Jesus’ words, not mine). The sin against listening to and obeying HIS voice is what must be dealt with, which is mostly a result of our reactions to the past. The doctrine of Sola Scriptura is a REACTION of the reformers to the Papal decrees called “bulls” and such and it is flawed because of the flesh which seeks to enforce it even to this day.

Something deep and lasting happened to Paul between his Damascus road encounter with the living Christ where he said, “Who are you, Lord?” and when he was able to write many years later, “For me to live IS Christ and to die is gain.” That something is called the way of the cross of Christ which puts to death the First Adam and makes way for the pre-eminence of the Last Adam, Jesus Christ in a life.

Whether we search the scriptures because in them we think we will find life like the self-righteous Pharisees of old or whether we become spiritualists and listen to every voice that speaks to us from the ether waves, we are equally deceived. Why? Because the human heart is desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. It will always grasp on to a message that fortifies its position and pre-eminence over its own life and the lives of those around it. Unless we have been converted and given an NEW heart, the heart of Jesus, and Christ’s Spirit within to lead us and then take up our crosses and follow Him, we will be deceived. That which is born of the flesh IS flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit IS spirit.

Knowing this I often pray, “Oh Father, don’t let me miss the high calling IN Jesus Christ you have on my life. Search me out and root out everything in me that is not of your Son. Conform me into the image of Christ, the Last Adam, and put on the cross all that is in me of the First Adam.” I know that only when His deep cleansing is going on will I hear His voice clearly and will be able to read the scriptures with HIS full Light bringing them forth to accomplish what they were intended.

 “In Him was life and the LIFE was the light of men.” It is always Life then Light.

Jesus Prayed, “That They ALL May Be One…”

by Michael

God would have us all be single-minded and with the Mind of Christ in each of us it is possible. In Acts we read of the infant ekklesia in Jerusalem, “And they were of one mind and in one accord.” Jesus prayed just before He died on the cross:


“That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.” (Joh 17:21-23 KJ2000)

I have been absorbed, pondering the depths of this prayer as of late. The thought of such unity in the Father and the Son that Christ has made available to us is overwhelming to me. I just now coupled for the first time Jesus’ prayer with something that Paul wrote,

“For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized [immersed] into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26-28 KJ2000)

If we are ONE in the Father and the Son because we have been immersed INTO Christ through faith true faith in Him alone, then it stands to reason that there can be no divisions among us whatsoever unless someone is failing to be ONE by clinging to their self-life and individuality, more than they cling to Jesus. Maleness (macho) or femaleness (feminist), Jewishness or pride in nationalism, free people lording over their servants and slaves, the rich looking down their noses at the poor, etc., all these things have their roots in pride, the ugly pride of fallen Adam and Eve who ate of the wrong tree so that THEY could become their own gods separate from the Father.

But true unity IN the Father and the Son is found by abiding IN them alone and being totally caught-up in the love they have for one another and for us and being caught-up in that love until our only identity is one great fellowship of love in Christ and in one another.

But whoever keeps his [Jesus’] word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: by this we know that we are in him. He that says he abides in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. (1Jo 2:5-6 KJ2000)

Will it Be the Churches or the Called-Out Ones of the Father?

by Michael

churchesJesus knocking

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very early on in the history of the body of Christ, the father of lies discovered that he could not eliminate the kingdom of heaven on earth by persecuting it. The more he did so, the more it flourished! So, he decided to kill it with kindness. He cleverly made an earthly counterfeit of the ekklesia of God and called it “the church” and its popularity has continued down through the last 1700 years. In its infancy the ekklesia of Christ were known as the people of The Way, not “the Church,” because they adhered to the One who said, “I AM the Way to the Father.”

According to the New Covenant, we who are Christ’s are God’s assembly of called-out ones. We are called out of the world and all its systems; governmental social and religious. As we follow our Good Shepherd we are pilgrims and exiles upon this earth for just as they hated Him, they hate and reject those who truly belong to Him and are born from above by the Father. Here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one which will come down from the throne of God, the NEW Jerusalem, which is above and is the mother of all who belong to Jesus, not that wicked city that kills the prophets and the Christ. We NOW sit in heavenly places IN Christ Jesus. We have a kingdom that does not come with an outward manifestation like the church systems of today which break up the sky line with their great monolithic buildings and institutions, but rather is hidden from the world’s view as His kingdom developes within us.

With all this in mind is it any wonder that there were no “church buildings” erected by those of The Way until after Emperor Constantine of Rome got his hands on what was left of that faith in about 311 AD and seduced them to fall in line under His rule, promising peace in the place of persecution and made it the new official religion of the Roman Empire? He rapidly converted The Way into another bureau of his government with which to conquer and control the world, the bureau of religion, to facilitate his military conquests and capture the minds as well as the bodies of the subjugated masses! Those conquered nations that would not convert were often put to the sword by this great “benefactor of the church” with the advent of a new theology, “holy wars.” Funny how he took to himself the titles of “the Thirteenth Apostle” and “Pontifix Maximus” (the greatest pontiff or bishop of Rome) totally lacking in humility. What a contrast to the lowly Jesus who came as a Servant in a back-water town in a subjugated nation where He conquered hearts with the weapon of His great love.
Soon the visible church ceased to be an organism with Christ as its Head and only Foundation and became an organization with paid priests (often “converted” pagan priests) and bishops over it with the Emperor as their head as the first pope. The “birds of the air,” demons, began to nest in its upper most branches and tares were sown among the wheat (see Matthew ch. 13) as new adherents to the king’s new religion were either bribed or coerced to joining the his new church. Cut off from its true Head, the body soon died and it was not long until the City on a Hill filled with light became the cause of the Dark Ages as its light went out bringing to mind Jesus’ warning, “If the light within you is [becomes] darkness how great is that darkness.” When salt looses is saltiness it is good for nothing but to be trodden under the feet of men. That living organism born from above that “turned the world upside down” soon became part of the world system.

Since then Church Reformers have come and gone and were often persecuted and killed by the “mother church” and they made some coarse corrections redeeming part of what was lost due to doctrinal changes, but the changes were not enough. Sad to say, these reformers were often just as bloody and hateful as was the mother church they protested against, using force when argument did not prevail. The nut (Protestantism) didn’t fall far from the tree (the Catholic church). The daughters of Babylon never fully returned to having Christ as their Head, but rather chose men to lead them and be the heads and lieutenants of their denominations. They never fully comprehended Jesus’ warning to the disciples when He said, “The kings of the Gentiles rule over them and they are counted as benefactors, but with you it cannot be. He who is great among you shall be your servant and the greatest one among you shall be your slave.” They also never fully embraced the Holy Spirit as the guide and Teacher of each individual believer, but rather chose pastors and bishops to be their teachers and guides. They never left off constructing and supporting Christian temples and “churches” or appreciated what it means to be the Living Stones in God’s holy temple “not made with hands,” but kept on building “church buildings” just like their mother. They still embraced sacerdotalism, seminaries to generate its leaders and Old Testament laws with which they furthered their power structure, lording over the people to keep them in bondage and fear. They still kept the rigid division between clergy and laity — those with the right to rule-over and the subjugated masses — adhering to the doctrine of the Nicholaitans (Greek – to conquer and rule over the people) which God hates. The more that things “changed” in the Reformation, the more they remained the same.

The hour is now come where Jesus has had enough. He is no longer content to stand outside the Laodicean church system, knocking on its doors, asking them to join Him while those inside this closed door system are oblivious to the fact that He has left “the building” and that they are “poor, miserable, blind and naked” — the only state a body can be when each member no longer looks to the Head for its supply! Jesus is now seen standing in the heavens, as the next passage in Revelations reveals, calling to us through an open door! Didn’t He say, “I am the door to the sheepfold. By me they come in and go out and find pasture”? He is calling and saying, “Come up here and I will show you things…” It is as we seek Him as our ALL in all that He administers eye salve that we MIGHT see and clothes us in His white raiment, the garment of His bride who is being made ready. It is here that we are made rich with gold (His righteousness worked within) made in our fiery trials as we sit with Him in heavenly places with the Father, where we have only ONE Mediator who ever stands before the Father to make intersession for us, not an earthly priesthood of paid professionals.

Saints, what will we say to Him if “we neglect so a great salvation” and continue to settle for the kingdoms of men which call their organizations “the church” and ignore His upward call? God help us!

Therefore, having left the discourse of the beginning of Christ, let us go on to full growth… And this we will do, if God permits. For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good Word of God and the powers of the world to come, and who have fallen away; it is impossible, I say, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify the Son of God afresh to themselves and put Him to an open shame. (Heb 6:1-6 MKJV)

And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul and hateful bird; for all nations have drunk the wine of her impure passion, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich with the wealth of her wantonness.” Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. (Rev 18:2-5 RSVA)

 

 

 

“That where I am, there they may be also”

by Michael

“That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me. And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.” (Joh 17:21-23 KJ2000)

Jesus told Philip, “If you have seen me you have seen the Father.” Oh, what pure obedience to the Father that He could safely say this and affirm to them that He only did the works He saw His Father doing and only spoke the words He heard His Father saying.

I once prayed this, “Father that I would be as your Son, that I would only speak the words you have for me to speak and would only do the works you have for me to do.” Don’t pray like this if you are not ready to suffer greatly and be totally broken by Him.

As we are broken of trusting in ourselves and seek only that Life that is found IN Christ to abide in us, we will be able to say to this lost and dying world as Christ’s body, “If you have seen us, you have seen Jesus” and it will stick. Until then we are just part of the problem.

“Beloved, now are we the children of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.” (1Jo 3:2-3 KJ2000)

Constant Prayer

by Michael

Road RashATV Wreck

From “Practising the Presence of God” by Brother Lawrence…

“That he expected after the pleasant days GOD had given him, he should have his turn of pain and suffering; but that he was not uneasy about it, knowing very well, that as he could do nothing of himself, GOD would not fail to give him the strength to bear them.
That when an occasion of practising some virtue offered, he addressed himself to GOD, saying, ‘LORD, I cannot do this unless Thou enablest me;’ and that then he received strength more than sufficient.
That when he had failed in his duty, he only confessed his fault, saying to GOD, ‘I shall never do otherwise, if You leave me to myself; tis You must hinder my falling, and mend what is amiss.’ That after this, he gave himself no further uneasiness about it.
That we ought to act with GOD in the greatest simplicity, speaking to Him frankly and plainly, and imploring His assistance in our affairs, just as they happen. That GOD never failed to grant it, as he had often experienced.”

As I was flying through the air in that wreck I just had on an ATV machine two days ago, I prayed, “Jesus, I need your help in THIS one.” After looking at the wreck afterwards and where I landed thirty feet down the mountain side, I had to conclude the He had given His angels charge over me least I had dashed my face upon the stones. As it was I lit face first in a bed of pine needles and small sticks. I praise Him that the injuries were bad enough to teach me not to go riding when there was snow and slush on those mountain roads, yet minor enough to keep me from any real permanent harm.

The other thing that has occurred to me in all this was that I need His help, direction and LIFE in ALL the things I encounter each day, not just the ones in which I feel out of control. “For it is in HIM that we live and move and have our being.” The Lord is so good! (the picture of me above was taken right after I got home and I had not seen the humor in all of it as of yet 🙂

Love to you all,

Michael

The Refiner’s Fire

by Michael

Melting-gold

An important difference for us to understand, just how God separates soul from Spirit in us…

I have refined you, but not like silver. I have tested you in the furnace of suffering. (Isaiah 48:10 GW)

The furnace of affliction is for those who by faith are in Christ. What happens in the furnace of affliction? What is it that is dealt with in the fire? Is it you, and is it I, that are refined in the fire? Are you refined in the fire? Am I refined in the furnace of affliction? I say, No! emphatically NO!! If we say, “Yes!” well, let us look at the furnace of affliction, the fire with the metal in the crucible. What are you doing with that metal? Well, you say, you heat the fire intensely and all the uncleanness, the corruption, comes to the surface; this is skimmed off, and when that process has been carried through to its end, there is left pure gold! Then if you say that is you or that is me you will have to abandon your doctrine of total depravity, and you will have to come back to the place where you say there is good in us, after all! You will have to say there is good and bad in us, and the furnace of afflict ion is to get the badness out of us and leave the goodness! Is that true doctrine? No!

The furnace of affliction is not for the removal of the bad out of us so as to leave the good that is in us, and secure it! Then what is its purpose? Is it to refine Christ in us? We need not discuss that! Christ needs no refining! What is it for? It is to divide between what is us in fallen nature, and what is Christ, and to get rid of the one in order to give full place to the other! The furnace of affliction is the application of the Cross to the getting rid of you and me, in order to leave the whole place for Christ. It is the measure of Christ that God is after, not to cut in between the good and bad in us, but to cut in between what is Christ, and what is ourselves. That is what the Lord is doing. He is after increasing Christ, and in order to do that He has to displace self, the old creation. It is all the measure of Christ in this realm. The realm of God is not going to be refined self, reformed self, or any kind of patching up of self. It is going to be none of self, and all of Christ.

T. Austin-Sparks

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002210.html

A Famine of Hearing

by Michael

deaf manBehold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of HEARING the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find [it]. (Amo 8:11-12 KJV – emphasis added)

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that PROCEEDS out of the mouth of God.
(Mat 4:4 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

He that has an ear, let him HEAR what the Spirit SAYS unto the churches. (Rev 3:22 KJ2000 – emphasis added)

Paul wrote, “The head of every man is Christ…” Earlier in the same letter he wrote, “But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food; for you were not ready for it; and even yet you are not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving like ordinary men? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apol’los,” are you not merely men? What then is Apol’los? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.” (1Co 3:1-5 RSVA).

The trouble with “discipleship” as it is taught today in systematized religion is that it always puts one man over another. “Who is your covering” is the often asked question among them. Paul makes it clear that only Christ is our covering and that anyone who prays or prophesies with another covering on his head dishonors Christ. He is not talking about wearing hats here!

Paul continues by saying, “For no other foundation can a man lay than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1Co 3:11 KJ2000). In many of today’s churches men are seeking to leverage thier power by taking on titles like “apostle” and “prophet” and boldly tell everyone that they are the foundation the church has been missing. This is anti-christ. When men seek to take the place that belongs to Jesus alone they are operating under the anit-christ spirit. Take the title “Vicor.” It means “instead of” as in “vicarious”… “vicor of Christ”… “instead of Christ,” the very definition of anti-christ. Then there is the title “Reverend.” This word is found only once in the entire Bible, “He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and REVEREND [is] his name.” (Psa 111:9 KJV). Men so freely take this title that belongs only to God to themselves and the people love it so. Men seeking pre-eminence over the saints of God have been doing so in the church since Diotrephes (3 John) while they cast out from their churches the true saints of God who put Christ first in their lives.

Paul finished this chapter saying, “Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And ye are Christ’s; and Christ [is] God’s.” (1Co 3:21-23 KJV). Oh how carnal Christians “babes on the breast” love to heap up to themselves teachers to tickle their ears. This is an open door to the anti-christ and John addresses the problem by telling the believers, “These [things] have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” (1Jo 2:26-27 KJV).

The famine in the land of Christendom today is one of HEARING the Spirit of God. Dear saints, true teachers can only do so by the Holy Spirit and what they teach will not contradict the Spirit’s voice in you. All they can do is confirm you in your ability to hear the voice of the Good Shepherd. If we seek men to do what only the Spirit can do we are under the influence of deceivers. In this hour when “evil seducers are waxing worse and worse” we need to learn to follow only one Voice and not the voices of the hirelings and strangers or we will be constantly falling into the ditches dug deep by our blind guides. Our sufficiency is always in Christ and never in men.

What is True Mentoring in Christ?

by Michael

 

grapevine

 

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has made ruler over his household, to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he comes shall find so doing. (Mat 24:45-46 KJ2000)

 

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven, and gives life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst. (Joh 6:32-35 KJ2000)

 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whosoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, dwells in me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me. (Joh 6:53-57 KJ2000)

I have never thought of this passage in Matthew ch. 24 as applying to me until a brother wrote recently and did just that. I still see myself as an “unprofitable servant” and am more at home with this thought than being a “mentor.” I once prayed, “Lord, make me like your Son, that I would only do the works that I see you doing and only speak the words I hear you saying.” I had enough time to think to myself, “Boy, that sure was a righteous prayer.” To this He answered, “No, my son, that is only the starting point!” We all have so much of our selves to lose and so much of Jesus to still be apprehended and walked in.

So this whole experience has got me pondering, “What is true mentoring as we walk in Christ?” We often hear a heart’s cry from someone begging that we would “mentor them.” Is this a true New Testament activity of those whom God calls to lead? If so, how is it done? Paul said, “Follow me even as I follow Christ.” Yet, John said that we have no need that any man teach us, but that the unction we have received as believers in Christ will teach us all things that we need (see 1 John 2:26-27). Was Paul seeking “followers” or was he really saying, “Just as I follow Christ, so should you follow Him”? I believe that the only one who can mentor us is Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit whom He has sent in His place.

 This brings to mind the other passages that I quoted above from John. Here Jesus speaks of Himself as the true bread from heaven and goes on to say, “I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.” Couple this with, “Whosoever eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” Later in the Gospel of John Jesus referred to Himself as the True Vine to whom all who believe are attached as His living branches. It is from the Vine that we drink and eat of our Life Source. It is from Him that we first receive and then grow in our eternal life (a life without end) as long as we are attached to Him as our Vine (Read what He said in John chapter 15)!

 There was a time I was a conference junkie. I couldn’t get enough of them. I would run to this Christian conference and that one to hear a special teacher, seeking to be filled, and within days after it was over, I was just as empty as ever. It was all so much empty calories and wasted expensive. It wasn’t until I found Jesus as my True Vine who provided all the spiritual food I needed that my spiritual hunger began to be satisfied. I did the same thing with “pastors,” too. I was like a spiritual infant, running around with my umbilical cord in my hand looking for a man to plug-in to. Many of them took advantage of this and sucked me right into their own subterfuge and false teachings as they took the place in my life that belonged to Jesus alone.

 So, what is the responsibility of the older saints that have had years of experience in Christ and have learned from their mistakes (this is what it truly means to be an elder in Christ’s body)? Are we to be such great pastors and teachers that all hang on our every word and follow us around like a bunch of little orphaned puppies? Doesn’t it make sense that if we are to be “a faithful and wise servant… over his household, to give them food at the proper time,” that the only proper food in that proper time that we should be providing the household of God is Jesus Himself? Shouldn’t we be pointing all who hunger and thirst to the Bread and Fountain of Life that they might find Christ as their sufficiency?

 Jesus warned, “But you be not called Rabbi: for one is your Teacher, even Christ; and all you are brothers” (Mat 23:8 KJ2000). Call no man Rabbi or teacher! Only Jesus through His Spirit is to be our Teacher. We are ALL brethren (siblings) under the same Teacher. The goal of the Father is for us to become just as our Teacher! Looking to men for what we need is not going to get us there. The best thing I can do for you or any other person who is serious about their calling in Christ to is keep pointing you to the truth that is only found IN the Christ who is our Truth! How can we become perfected in the eyes of the Father if we are not becoming as our Teacher? How can we become AS our Teacher when we are constantly looking to mere men for what we want. Like Paul said to the Corinthians,

 

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with solid food… For you are yet carnal: for while there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and walk as men? For while one says, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are you not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers (Greek: servants) by whom you believed… I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. For no other foundation can a man lay than what is laid, which is Jesus Christ… Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?… Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; And you are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s. (1Co 3:1-23 KJ2000)

 The carnal church of today spends way too much time focusing on human teachers and the “gifted” among men. Is it any wonder that most Christians are suffering from milk anaemia? Our true food and true drink is the flesh and blood of the True Vine which came down from the right hand of the Father in heaven who said, “He that eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells in me and I in Him. As… I live by the Father: so he that eats me, even he shall live by me.” Or as Paul put it, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” First we believe INTO Him by HIS faith operating in us and from that point on we live IN Him and get all our life sustenance from Jesus our Vine. After that the spiritual fruit comes forth naturally as we rest IN Him. Even fruit bearing is all HIS doing.

 By the power of Christ in me I will keep pointing you to Jesus and away from myself and others as long as we communicate. I hope that you have sensed this in all that we write as well. If you see me trying to draw away disciples after myself, let me know for this is anti-christ and so many so-called “ministers” today are doing just that (See Paul’s warning to the church in Acts 20: 29-31).

 

And this is the promise that he has promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that deceive you. But the anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teaches you of all things… you shall ABIDE IN HIM. And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. (1Jo 2:25-28 KJ2000 – emphasis added) 

 

Dear saints, I entreat you to pray that the Spirit shows you the depth of what it means to abide IN Christ as your only Life source just as the branch abides in the vine. You will never experience the riches of Christ while nursing from the breasts of men and women in your lives who seek to take His place.