INDEX TO VOLUME 3(6)
60. Where do you stand today?
61. The Latter rain.
62. Do not have a wrong expectation.
63. The just by his faith he will live.
64. If you are in pursuit of knowing Him .
65. What are we to do now?
66. Eleven is the number on the way to”12″.
67. Who is he who desires life?.
68. Self control.
69. The endurance of Christ.
70. Until Christ is formed in you.
71. Sons and daughters of God.
72. Who are the Gentiles of our time?
73. God’s justice must be established on earth.
74. Your Kingdom come.
75. The Great day of Yahweh .
76. But we have the mind of Christ.
60. Where do you stand today .
Today is the 10th of January 2021 and I open the Scriptures on Ezekiel 40: 1 which also refers to today’s date: “… on the tenth day of the first month.” . Then the man with the linen rope continues to show the dimensions of the New Temple to the prophet Ezekiel. This was in the 25th year of the people of God’s exile. So it would take another 45 years to complete the 70 Years. Then came this message of hope. What a good, faithful and positive Father! This morning, new hope poured into my spirit amidst all the negative and devastating news every day: Again new lockdown announcements that are confining us more and more. The “Conspiracy Theory” that is circulating everywhere now reveals many things — if it’s not again “Fake news”. Years ago, in the Seventies, I was part of a study group in Komatipoort where we researched and discussed the activities of the Illuminati or International Money Power. But I soon realized that having knowledge of these things — if they were true — would do me no good. I need to get to know the great All-Wise, Omniscient and Almighty God and His Son, Yashuah Messiah, from up close, and believe His word. Then, and then alone, I am safely hidden in the Rock and do not have to fear, even if the worst happens. In any case, He does not want us to call a terror what this people calls a terror. He says we MAY NOT call it that. So this is an ORDER! Read it: “Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ concerning all that this people call a conspiracy, nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” (Isa. 8:12). And on this note, I begin with Chapter 10:
If you read the plans of the world’s money bosses in their “Great Reset” then there are truly enough things to get anxious about — that is, of course, if you are not hidden in the Rock (Yashuah). Either way, this is going to be the big test for this. Is this perhaps the tribulation that is coming upon the whole world of which Revelation 3:10 prophesied?: “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” If you are anxious and afraid of losing all your possessions and even your loved ones’ lives, as well as your own life, you will argue against this. This is probably normal for someone who lives in the flesh. And even if these threats and plans of the “Money Power” are only “fake news”, it probably serves the purpose of making you realize that you are not yet hiding deep in the Rock. The “fear / peace meter” quickly flashes the red light to warn you that you are walking in iniquity. Do you still remember that peace goes hand in hand with righteousness (Ps 85: 10-11). Please also read verse 12. Then Isaiah 32:17 also says: “The work of righteousness will be peace, and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.“
Would our Father and God in heaven ever break His promise to us when He said, “My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.” Every night I remind Him of His promise and thank Him daily for it (Isa. 32: 18). I also trust the Holy Spirit that He will continually lead me to say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” (Ps 103: 1-2).
Something that makes one wonder whether there is any truth in the so-called “Conspiracy theory” is Daniel 7: 7 and verses 19-28. Please read this. He says here that this “fourth beast” will wage war against the saints and conquer them. The Hebrew text says (translated into English), that “he will wear them out mentally” (The Fourth Beast, that is). I have prayed a lot about this Fourth Beast and the Father has made it clear to me that it is the “Money Power or Illuminati”. And did he not wear us out? Mentally weary — spirit and soul weary! The nations are weary (Lamentations 5: 5-22). But there are some questions you and I need to ask ourselves: Does the resurrection power of Yashuah really work within me? If so, why then am I upset about all these things happening in the world right now? Why do I lose my peace so easily? If righteousness and peace go hand in hand, am I not perhaps walking in iniquity — especially the sin of unbelief? Am I not perhaps still eating from the “Tree of knowledge of good and evil“? Did I truly manage to get to the “Tree of Life“? Am I now eating uninterruptedly from the Tree of Life? Remember Christ is our life (Col 3: 4). Besides for Him there is no life. There is knowledge that comes from the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil — also knowledge of acceptable and unacceptable — but certainly not knowledge of life! The life — that which is Christ — flows spontaneously through you if He lives in you.
Do you struggle to experience the Stream of Living Water through you all the time, to have the Fountain of Living Water in you (John 4: 13-14; 7: 38-39)? Do you always look for faith when you are in a crisis? Are you looking for love when you are maltreated? Are you annoyed if your advice is not followed? If you do not get recognition?
Do you feel that you know better than your husband / wife? Do you feel annoyed if he / she does not follow your advice? If so, are you sure you might not still be eating at the Tree of Knowledge (knowing-it-all) and then giving to your husband to eat?
Do you, husband, feel that you want to follow your wife’s advice because she would feel put off if you do not follow her advice? If so, you may have long ago, same as Adam, broke the covenant: “But like men ( Afrikaans Bible: Adam) they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt treacherously with me” (Hosea 6: 7). God created you and commanded you to rule over all of Creation — that includes your wife (Gen. 3:16). The time has come for the people of the Saints to take control of the whole world (Dan 7: 18, 27) and how will you rule in the church as a forerunner if you cannot rule your own house (1 Tim 3: 4-5, 12)? If we cannot rule in the church, how are we going to rule the world? I mean of course to govern in the right way — in God’s way. Paul says: “You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you!” (1 Cor 4: 8). This was clearly not the right way to rule! Maybe it was a reign that came from the Tree of Knowledge. Do not forget that, because the man is born of the woman, he too is burdened from birth with the fruits of know-it-all and stubbornness. Read Job 15:14; Job 25: 4. But the woman ate first and then gave to her husband to eat (Gen 3: 6). Adam had a free choice to eat or refuse. When he ate what his wife had given him to eat, he broke the covenant with God (Hos 6: 7): He willingly ceased to rule! And you, man? When you have time, read the previous Chapter 9 pages 17-24 again. This will help you understand this passage better.
Therefore, wife, you have a great responsibility to make sure that you walk in the Spirit and that all the admonitions you give your husband, all the advice and comments, come from the Tree of Life — thus through the Spirit of Christ. If it does not come from Him but from the Tree of Knowledge, then you, man, are responsible before God to not, like Adam, break the covenant and eat of it! You must be so filled with God’s Spirit that you can discern whether the counsel comes from God or not. You will not have an excuse. Just like Adam — and many other men (1 Kings 21:25) — you yourself decided to listen to your wife! Oh, how great is the need for an endowment of the power from on high, which Yashuah promised in Luke 24:49, “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”
Wait on the promise of the Spirit
When I say “a new outpouring of the Spirit of God” do I mean a second day of Pentecost? No! There was only one such event. But, just as many believers received the same Holy Spirit years after Pentecost, every believer now needs it again. Read Acts 8: 14-17; Acts 9:17; Acts 10: 44-45; Acts 13:52; Acts 15: 8; Acts 19: 1-6.
You will now wonder if the “Speaking in tongues” today still is further proof that you are filled with the Holy Spirit. I will write more about this later. What is important now is the latter rains that we are now in great need of all over the earth, and we must wait on it now!
61. The Latter Rain.
When God promised through the Prophet Joel that He would send a change of destiny for His people, He was referring to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2: 23-32). Peter then also confirmed this on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 16-18). But, as in a sowing season, the rain comes in its time to bring about a harvest, the early rains to germinate the seed and provide the first phase of growth with water. And then the late rains to bring the wheat to maturity and full ripeness. So it is with the Word that the Sower, Yashuah, has sown on this earth (Mark 4:14; Matt 13: 37-38).
The harvest time has come (John 4:35). Through the ages, saints have sown the word over the earth, and now we — you and I — must bring in this harvest (John 4: 37-38). But, the question is whether the crop is ready to be brought in? If we look at what John says about our readiness on the day when Yashuah comes, then we realize that the harvest needs more rain (1 John 2: 28). Yashuah himself warned several times that we must be ready on the day of His coming (Matt. 24: 44). And how happy you are when the Lord can say to you, “Well done good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things…” (Matt. 25:21). When He warns that His return to this earth will come as suddenly and unexpectedly “like a thief in the night”, are we ready? (1 Thess 5: 1-11). But to be ready we must be able to say, “Father, I have finished the work You have given me to do” (John 17: 4). To do as Yashuah did, we need the same Spirit as through which He did it. This is the Spirit of Christ (Rom 8: 9-17). Please! Do not rush through these Scriptures! Read it carefully with the prayer that God, through His Spirit, will make it alive in your heart. If you have done this now, are you experiencing in your heart that you are lacking something in your spiritual life, namely the same Spirit that was in Christ, and still is? It is this Spirit who takes all of what belongs to Him and declares it to you (John 16: 12-15). Do you still remember when I explained to you what the term “… declare to you …” means? (John 16: 14-15). I compared it to the pantograph of an electric train. It is the device that brings the electrical power from the overhead cables to the locomotives so that it can pull its heavy load. If the pantograph does not make contact with the overhead cables, the power from above cannot do its job in the motors in order to set the train in motion and thus pull its heavy load.
Yashuah said that we should wait in the city of Jerusalem until we are endued with power from on high: “Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49). Here now is a situation you can do nothing about! You may be someone who has a plan and a solution for everything, always knows better, always rolls up his sleeves and jumps in and does the work, but here you will have to wait powerlessly until you are endued with power from on high. Acts 1: 4-8: “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
And they obeyed and went to wait, just as Yashuah had commanded them! But were those who became believers after them through the ages willing to wait? I do not think so! They did obey in some cases, but in most cases they designed a doctrine that made them believe that they were already filled with the Holy Spirit, because the Spirit was poured out once and for all on the day of Pentecost. Is not this the preaching to which the apostle Paul referred? “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” (2 Tim 4: 3-4). This is where we now have to go check if these doctrines are so correct, because the day for it to be tested has now come.
The woman at the well (John 4: 4-19) had to realize, when she met Yashuah, that she could not give him water, but rather He for her. We are going to make the same discovery now because the water we provide through our efforts quenches your thirst very temporarily. But the water that Yashuah gives you is eternal. In fact, He is the fountain of living water. John 4: 6-15: “Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.
7A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
9Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.
10Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”
11The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”
13Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”
15The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.
Do you not now, while reading the above Scripture, get so thirsty for the living water that you pray to Him that He will give you the fullness of the Holy Spirit? He promised this in Luke 11:13: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
If you now read John 7: 37-39: “On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. 38He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” 39But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” At that time, Yashuah was not yet glorified, but after His resurrection and ascension, when He was exalted at the right hand of His Father, He poured out the Holy Spirit. Read about this in Acts 2:33: “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear.” The filling with the Holy Spirit thus flows from the exalted and glorified status of Yashuah, from His throne where He sits at the right hand of His Father. He shares His glory after His resurrection with us who are still here on earth. He promised after all that He would not leave us as orphans (John 14:18). When you are not filled with His Spirit, you feel like an orphan, abandoned. Especially now with the things that are happening on this earth, and especially here in South Africa. But He promised that He would make it beneficial for us that He leaves. Without His physical presence here with us, we would therefore be better off without Him: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.” (John 16: 7-15). The reason for this we read in verses 13-15. You must read it prayerfully and trust the Father to make it alive in your heart. I already talked to you about the pantograph in the beginning of the section on “The latter rains”. If the pantograph’s contact with the overhead cables is broken for any reason, it must be pushed up until it makes contact again. It does not just happen automatically. The driver or his assistant must push it up with a stick. (Nowadays they do it with compressed air). But how does the driver know if the contact is broken? It’s easy: the locomotive loses its power and it stops! How do you know if you have lost touch with the Holy Spirit? It’s easy: You simply realize that you have no power and your spiritual life has come to a standstill. The Holy Spirit, who must bring the power and life of Christ down to you, for some reason no longer does. Perhaps you have grieved the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30). Or maybe you insulted Him as Heb 10:29 says. Whatever the reason, restore that contact immediately. This is more important than any other important thing!
The latter rains at the right time
As God promised that He would give them the early rains and the latter rains at the right time in Deut 11: 14, there is also a right time for the latter rains of the Spirit. Now Yahweh tells us, “Pray for rain in the time of the latter rains”. He promised it in Joel 2:23 and now is the time for it. If you now read Jer 3: 3 and Jer 5:24 you will see that their sins were the cause of no latter rain. But “…They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season. He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”
Likewise, sin has crept increasingly into the ranks of Christianity, causing the rain to cease. The question is whether now is the time to pray for the latter rains? We often find the living Word in Zech 10: 1. The headline reads: “Restoration of Judah and Israel.” And then verse one: “Ask the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain. The Lord will make flashing clouds; He will give them showers of rain, grass in the field for everyone.” Also read verse 2 which says that the “…The diviners envision lies, and tell false dreams; they comfort in vain. Therefore the people went their way like sheep; They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.”
There are truly the shepherds who comfort the thirsty sheep with wind. They explain to the believers that they must believe that they are filled with the Holy Spirit. And it is true that we must believe it. There will come a time when God will “fulfill every work of faith with power”. Read 2 Thessalonians 1:11. The filling with the Holy Spirit does begin with faith in the word of Yashuah when He says to you, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (John 20:22). But if that faith is not worked by the Holy Spirit, it will simply remain mental faith until the end of your life. You will never experience the power that Yashuah promised. Nor the fruit of the Spirit. So you will need to make sure that the faith with which you believe that you are filled with the Holy Spirit, is worked by the Spirit of God. You will have to wait on Him in prayer to reveal it to you.
Now I am writing to you a promise from our Father that you can / should read in Hosea 6: 1-7. The resurrection from the “dead because of sin” (Verses 1-2, 4, 7) leads to a desire to pursue knowing God (Verse 3). And then the wonderful promise: “… His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth.” What does your Father say to you through this? If you now realize and confess that you, like Adam, broke the covenant that God made with you as a man to rule over His creation. You did this by becoming enslaved by men (1 Cor 7:23; 2 Pet 2:19); If you begin to chase after knowing Him, He will surely come to you through the “latter rains”. Thus He will pour out His Spirit into your heart!
62. Do not have a wrong expectation.
In addition, you may not have a wrong expectation. Do not expect a specific experience or event. Expect Him — Yashuah! He says, “Therefore, wait for me” (Zeph. 3: 8). The Spirit you are waiting to be filled with is the Spirit of Christ: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” (Gal 4: 6). So if you do not have a serious desire for the Son of God to come to live in you, do not pray for the Latter Rains. If He comes to live in you, He will change your whole social life. He will become your life! He will come to dwell in you together with His Father, as He promised in John 14:23. At this moment, He may still be standing outside at the door of your heart and He is knocking. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” (Rev. 3:20; Please also read Verses 14-22). But when He comes in, He will become the Head of your house and therefore you will no longer be able to live in the flesh as before. Your body will now be a temple of God in which the Holy Spirit dwells. 1 Cor 6: 19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” There is now another homeowner and He paid dearly for the house. He paid with His blood. He is now throwing out your furniture (Read Neh 13: 8) and bringing His sacred articles into it. Everything will now change when you are born again by the Spirit (John 3: 3-5) into a new creation. Everything will now become new (2 Cor 5:17). Many of your friends will not like it and they will not want to know you anymore (1 John 3: 1) because you will now be “strange” to them (1 Pet 4: 4). Are you willing for another spirit to take His infancy within you — that is, the Holy Spirit of God? Is it acceptable to you that He is now going to dictate, and no longer you? And definitely not your wife / husband anymore but the Spirit of Christ.
He says that it is the same Spirit that baptizes you into the body of Christ: “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Cor 12:13). The Spirit makes us all part of Christ’s body: “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” (Ephesians 5:30). Also: Rom 12: 4-5: “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” Also read Col. 1:18 and 24.
Are you prepared that you will now become part of another family consisting of people who have been born again? They will certainly not be there because they belong to the “Elite”, but because they said “Yes” to Yashuah. There will be Elite too, but now they will no longer be prideful and conceited. They will also no longer care about mixing with the poor.
So if you are not up for such a community life, do not pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit aims to make you part of the body of Christ where you, along with other believers, will have a function or ministry in His body — each with his own separate ministry. Read Ephesians 4:15-16: “but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Are you up for this? Or would you rather serve Yahweh on your own, without fellow believers? I just want to add that if you want to live your own life in Christ without other fellow believers, you will soon realize that you cannot be the full body on your own. Christ is the Head of the body (Col 2:19; Ephesians 1: 22-23; Ephesians 4: 15-16). We are the members, each with a function that is indispensable to each other. Just as the human body needs every limb, so does the body of Christ. Are the feet prepared to walk without the eye? Now you must first read 1 Cor 12: 12-31. You cannot continue reading this writing, not until you have read 1 Cor 12-31! If you have finished reading we can now continue.
The purpose for which Christ poured out the Holy Spirit
When you pray for the Latter Rain, your purpose will need to be the same as that of Christ. His purpose for which He poured out the Holy Spirit was to endue the disciples with power from on high (Luke 24: 48-49) so that we could be His witnesses (Acts 1: 8). To be His witnesses of what? Witnesses that He rose from the dead (Luke 24: 46-49). This means that throughout the week — not just Sundays — you are a living proof that Yashuah has risen from the dead. How will the world know that Yashuah rose from the dead? They will know this when they see Him living in us as His body. And then they will believe! Some Greeks came to Yashuah’s disciples and asked if they could see Yashuah. Read John 12: 20-26. They have surely heard a lot about Yashuah, but now they wanted to see Him. The world of today has heard a lot about Jesus (Yashuah) but now wants to see Him, because the world argues that “seeing is believing”. We believed Him without seeing Him (John 20:29; 1 Pet. 1: 8). Yet there are those who want to see Him before they believe, such as Thomas (John 20: 25-29). Where are they going to see Him? In you and me as part of His body (1 Cor 12: 12-27; Ephesians 5:30).
Then Yashuah also speaks to His disciples in John 14: 16-20: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. 19“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. 20At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” Can we not see Yashuah, and yet see Him? This seems like a paradox.
Heb 12: 1-2 says: “… looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” John 6: 40 also says: “And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”
His purpose is also to let the world know that God has sent His Son as the Saviour into the world when they see our unity and love for one another. John 17: 21: “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 sent Me.” When His Spirit conveys to us the attributes and characteristics of Yashuah, the world will know it. Do you still remember John 16: 14-15. You probably remember that the word “declare” in this passage means to convey to you what belongs to Christ as the pantograph of a train, as a conductor, conveys the power to the cars. Are you ready for a life in which Christ lives through you and will change everything. If you now read Acts from the beginning, you will only realize 10 chapters later that those people’s lives have never been the same since Pentecost. It was truly glorious but also required many sacrifices. See what Paul’s life was like (2 Cor 11: 23-33). You will say, “But I am not Paul.” That is true, but if you receive the same fullness of the Spirit as he did, your life will certainly be turned upside down — 180 degrees! Are you willing? Or do you want to say “Yahweh, fill me with Your Spirit but leave me alone so I can live my life”?
To conclude these paragraphs on “what to expect when the Holy Spirit will fill you” I want to say: Expect the Person Yashuah to step into your life and replace your old life with His new life. It will cause a revolution but will also bring great glory. And the only one who can give permission for this is you! Yashuah said, “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” (John 10: 17-18). If you love your old life you will lose it anyway, but if you want to lose it for Christ’s sake, you will receive the new life (Matt. 16: 25). This life you will receive as Yashuah pours out His Spirit in you.
You must now carefully calculate the cost as Luke 14: 25-33 also says. Think carefully about this. Are you ready for the new life that the “Latter Rains” will pour out in you? Read Luke 14: 33 again. If you have settled the matter with God, and you are ready for it, then you start praying for the “Latter Rains”. When I say you have to calculate the cost I do not want to scare you! No, there is great glory for you. But it will definitely cost you a sacrifice — the sacrifice of yourself. You will have to die. Or rather: you will have to believe that you have already died with Christ, and are also buried with Him. The Holy Spirit has been wanting you to believe this for so long.
63. The just by his faith he will live.
This statement by God is clear in Scripture (Rom 1:17; Hab 2: 4). For without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11: 6). But how are we going to obtain the faith? Do you still remember how Christ promised that it would be beneficial to us for Him to leave, because then He would send the Holy Spirit to us? He also promised that the Spirit would take it from Him and convey it to us (John 16: 13-15). Do you still remember that we said that the Holy Spirit has already been poured out, but that we must believe it — not with a mental faith but with the faith that the Spirit works in us? It is the faith that works spontaneously through our loving relationship with God (Gal. 5: 6). And for this you must pray earnestly.
You will not see wind or rain (2 Kings 3:17)
In the above passage of Scripture, the miracle lies in the fact that the normal visible signs of rain were not detected here. And yet the valley became full of water. Early this morning the rain fell softly but penetratingly here by us. This is typical of the “latter rains” as opposed to the early rains. The early rains are usually accompanied by fierce winds, lightning and storms. It was so on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). But the latter rains fall quietly and silently, as this morning. Is not this the reason why the Father has now given us the word in these last times about the “quiet ones in the land” (Ps 35:19)?
For us it is a privilege to be part of the “Quiet ones in the land”. Preaching everywhere in these last decades, just like every church and faith, no longer makes sense. In the times of Acts, there was only one congregation in each town or region. At that time they preached everywhere and everyone knew it was the Christians. (The people called them Christians. Acts 11:26). After the death of the Apostles, differences of opinion soon led to the formation of a large number of different faiths. The one accused the other of being sects — and even cults. In our own country, there were already several thousand faith-based denominations years ago — each claiming to interpret the Bible correctly. But in the meantime, God is not so much about the correctness of interpretations but about “Christ who is our life” (Col. 3: 4). Someone said that sitting in a garage does not make you a car. So you will not be able to claim to be a disciple of Yashuah if you sit in a church or even become a member of that church. The life of Christ in you alone can do it. And if you have the life, you do not need to explain it. In my life I have repeatedly been badly deceived by people who have strongly testified to what good born again Christians they are. Was it Shakespeare who said, “Thou explaineth too much”? If someone explains so much then the world wonders. However, if you quietly just let the life of Christ flow through you then deeds speak more than words.
Someone once said “God silences man”. Yes, truly, the longer you walk with Yashuah the quieter you become. I look forward to the day when the “Quiet ones in the Land” will be functioning fully: Without any denomination, church or organized religious group. Only people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, full of love for one another as well as for sinners, full of the peace of God, faith working through love, righteousness that Christ works in them and, yes, the full fruit of the Spirit. A fig tree that has to explain why it is a fig tree and not a vine, makes one wonder if it might not be “plastic figs” on a thorn bush. Anyone sitting in the greatest darkness can observe a small light from a distance. In this way they can also smell the life of Christ with a sincere believer without having to explain it. First read again 2 Cor 2: 15-17; 3: 1. Then you will also notice that God speaks to you in the silence rather than in the storm. Read 1 Kings 19: 8-13.
The “Quiet ones in the land” will not need to explain what they believe. Nor will they engage in religious disputes, arguments about the truth, and differences of opinion regarding the interpretation of the Bible. Is not this the “something new” to which Scripture refers? Read Isaiah 43:19. Revelation 21: 5. Quietly, the “Latter Rain” will only fall and wet the earth and wet the seed that has been sown by evangelists and teachers for so many years (Isa. 30:23). The seed of the Word (Mark 4:14) will then germinate and bear fruit, without great organizations and deeds: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zech. 4: 6).
64. If you are in pursuit of knowing Him.
According to God’s promise in Hosea 6: 1-3, the coming of the “latter rains” will be preceded by believers who will “press on to know the Lord.” Read it again. Do you know Yahweh? Do you know the Father? You may answer “Yes” to this. You may be annoyed with me if I put a question mark behind your “Yes” answer. How can I doubt that you know Yashuah? You will say that it is part of the “new covenant” that He came to make with us through the blood of His Son (Matt. 26:28). According to the covenant, all will know Him: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.” (Heb 8: 10-11). It is so. But still there are different degrees of “know”. Although Paul probably knew Yashuah, there was a higher level — a more intimate “know” of Yashuah that he pursued as if he could seize it. He was willing to sacrifice everything for this. I quote from Phil 3: 7-13: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith; 10that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own;” You may have already made great sacrifices for the sake of your passion for sports or other things you love. Maybe you made such sacrifices for the sake of someone you love. Maybe the person you love is yourself. Thus you’re a narcissist. But have you given up everything yet, and considered it a loss in order to gain Christ… so that you may know Him in the power of His resurrection?
You probably still remember that “to know Him” also means “to experience Him” and to be constantly aware of Him. He fills your whole being, your mind, soul and spirit (heart). If you do not know Him in this way, then there is the danger that you have only heard of Him but have never seen or met Him. Knowing Him stems from your first encounter with Him — with Yashuah. He still remembers that time! He says in Jer 2: 2: “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.” If only we could know how great the love of God the Father and His Son Yashuah was for us, and still is. If only we could know how He longs for that “betrothal” when we followed Him in the wilderness. Continue reading verses 3-13 and note that the “good times” God gave them in His love, did not do them any spiritual good at all. They exchanged Yahweh — their glory. What did they exchange Him for? They exchanged Him for what brings no benefit (verse 11). “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (verse 13).
If you can sit in front of your God today and in His presence ask yourself the question: “Where can I get water to drink? Am I drinking poisonous water and trying to quench my thirst this way? Did I leave the fountain of living water, Yashuah (John 4: 10-15; 10: 37-38), to make my own drinking place — a cistern that had to collect the water for me, but then burst and could not hold any water! So no benefit to me — maybe a financial benefit for a while. Or a little prestige and popularity for a short time until the cracked cistern leaked empty. At the time when this people at the southern tip of Africa had the opportunity to vote: “Yes” or “No” for a so-called “New South Africa”, God told me that what 66% of the people voted for, “is not going to hold water”. Do you know the expression or saying “Your argument holds no water”?
In those years (1992) there were many promises by the world that a new day would dawn if South Africans voted “Yes” to a “New South Africa” —governed by a Democratic government. I want to say again that a Democracy would be wonderful if everyone who could vote in an election were children of God. They would then have voted with the love of God and in His wisdom and righteousness. But that was not the driving force behind the “Yes” vote. The International world promised that our relations with them would normalise should the “Yes” vote win. Sport participation and investments in South Africa were high on the list of incentives to vote “Yes”. In March 1992, 66% of whites voted “Yes”.
Did that decision at that referendum “hold water”? Was it not also a “cracked cistern that holds no water”? Was the government that emerged from that referendum like the Scripture in Isaiah 32: 1? “Behold, a king willl reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule with justice.” (And now you will have to read on to verse 8 and then decide for yourself, if you look at the government in South Africa, whether they meet those requirements?) When I later asked my Father who was going to rebel against this government, His answer to me was: “In most cases those who voted for it, or their children who at that time did not yet have the right to vote.” Do not ask your parents if they voted “Yes.” “Those who voted for it is long dead,” we say with a bit of humor knowing that they are too proud to admit it. And then let’s be honest: Is there any other government that meets those requirements in the whole world? Certainly not. Now what is our solution? War?
We all have probably already accepted that the 1992 decision was a selfish and carnal decision, but allowed by God. Or should we rather say: Determined by God? He appoints or dismisses kings and governments (Job 12: 13-25). Jeremiah 27: 4-6: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters: 5‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. 6And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon.” Dan 4: 32: “…until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses”. We are therefore not bitter towards those (66%) who voted “Yes” because this evil came from the Lord. “Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this calamity on them.” (1 Kings 9 : 9).
65. What are we to do now?
We must now hear from God what He wants from His children here in South Africa, not what we want. If we ask every citizen of this country what he / she desires, we may have a variety ranging from the most right-wing to the left-wing, from the most liberal to the most conservative, from the most religious to the most wicked. How will you and I, who are reading this word, know the will of our Father in heaven? To know His will there are clear requirements in Scripture: Rom 12: 1-2: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
Yashuah knew and did the will of His Father because He wanted to do it. The Father does not reveal His will to people that He knows do not want to do His will. “You are not willing to come to me” (John 5:40). God wants to take for Himself a people from the Gentiles for His Name (Acts 15:14). But our will and God’s will were directly opposite to each other! And even though He told us so, we as a people chose to do our will. Was it not for this reason that He cast Israel from ancient times away from His sight? I asked, “What should we do now?” Every time the Holy Spirit convinces me of something I have done wrong in my Father’s eyes, I fall to my knees and confess it with remorse. This is what this whole nation will have to do: with deep repentance before Yahweh confess their great sin, namely unbelief in Him and His Word (John 16: 8-9).
But what will such remorse and repentance achieve? The revivals in our history have always been preceded by prayer, humility, and repentance of their transgressions. Not just a little hour of prayer, but a man / woman who can stand before the face of God as Ezek 22: 30-31 clearly says: “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one. 31Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord God.”
What else is there what we can do in South Africa at this time? Hear what the prophet says in Habakkuk 3. In verse 12 he says that God marches through the earth in indignation, and He tramples the nations in anger. But in verse 13 He says what His purpose is: “You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah.” You know that “Selah” means “Stop and meditate on it”? Then do it now: Stop here first and meditate on the fact that God is hitting the earth now and dealing with the wicked, but not with us. He does purify us but His purpose is not to exterminate us. Then read further from verse 14: “You thrust through with his own arrows the head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me; their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret. 15You walked through the sea with Your horses, through the heap of great waters. 16When I heard, my body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones; and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops. 17Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls— 18Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.” Pray to your Father earnestly and urgently that He will fill your mouth and your heart with songs of praise. That you constantly bring Him a sacrifice of praise, as Heb 13:15 also says: “Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.”
Ask of Me and I will…
“I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You. 8Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession.” (Ps 2: 7-8). This is a word that Yashuah’s Father gave concerning Him. But it is also a living Word to us in Christ. Yashuah confirmed this in John 16:23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full”. Remember you do not claim from God but by God. Your claim is against the enemy! It is the flesh, unbelief and against the demonic forces. Are you willing to be so inspired by God’s Spirit that this nation’s spiritual condition will captivate you in such a way, to bring you into labor before God as Gal 4:19 says “my little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you”.
In a war, the best, smartest and strongest men are sought to do the most ingenious things to win the war. The best weapons, and those who have to use them, are needed there. In this spiritual war (2 Cor 10: 4) it is no different, although we are not looking for people who are wise after the flesh, nor many mighty or strong after the flesh (1 Cor 1:26; Ps 147: 10). But we need men like those to whom Jeremiah 9: 23-24 refers: “Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; 24But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the Lord.” We are looking for men of prayer, men who can stand before God with all their heart focused on Him: 2 Chron 16: 9 “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars”.
Does the Scripture not say in James 5:16, “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much”? Also in Luke 18: 1-8. Verse 7: “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?”
We need prayers — the best prayers! Callers upon His Name like Samuel: “…And Samuel was among those who called upon His name; they called upon the Lord, and He answered them.” (Psalm 99: 6). We need men and women who are sanctified in spirit, soul and body in order to be entirely at God’s disposal to stand before His face and intercede for the saints. This is what Yashuah sits at the right hand of God for, as our Mediator and the One who intercedes for the saints as Advocate. He is waiting for us as the intercessors or claimants in God’s court of justice to bring the case of the saints before Him. Read Proverbs 31: 8: “Open your mouth for the speechless, in the cause of all who are appointed to die.” Job 13: 18 “See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated ”. Job 23: 4: “Then I would present my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.” Job 29:16: “I was a father to the poor; and I searched out the case that I did not know”. And when you have brought the case before Him, you then wait on Yashuah to plead before the face of God for the salvation of the remnant when He shows His blood to the Father. Do not now wonder who you are going to pray for and how you are going to pray. The Holy Spirit will guide you. Just sign on. If you enlist as a soldier or warrior, you do not yet know the job what you must do. You sign up with the willingness to do what your Commander-in-Chief wants you to do. To be a warrior you will need to be taught how to fight. But King David said that Yahweh taught him how to fight and how to bend a bow of bronze. Ps 18:34 “He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze”
It will also definitely come at a price and there are many sacrifices you will have to make in order to be a warrior of Yashuah: 2 Tim 2: 3-5 “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.” But the reward after that will make all the sacrifices worthwhile. Yashuah Himself is going to reward us (Rev 22:12). You will not be rewarded by God for what you have accomplished in this world’s systems, but only for what you have done in God’s kingdom (Matt. 16:26). For that which you do in the world, the world rewards you — so they say!
Therefore, you yourself, personally, must put on the full armor of God. Do not forget that our war is not against flesh and blood but against evil forces. Read again 2 Cor 10: 4-6; Ephesians 6: 10-20. But read it in the Spirit! And notice in Ephesians 6: 18-19 that He says: “…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel”. Notice that Paul is not able to bring the gospel to the Gentiles without the prayer of the saints. Many Christians realize that the salvation of the people of the saints (Dan. 2:44; Acts 15:14) must take place now. But also that “the fullness of the Gentiles” must first come in (Rom 11:25) before His glory can be revealed in this world by Yashuah Messiah. Yet it is as if they are blinded and paralyzed! Paul says in 2 Cor 4: 3-4: “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” Are your senses perhaps blinded by the god of this world? —That is the devil. He is “the ruler and god of this world” (John 14: 30; 16:11). Paul asks, “Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth?” Maybe you need a greater deliverance from the power of evil than you think! The word “bewitched” means that someone has enchanted you. It is an indication that evil has influenced you so that you have not obeyed God, nor have you fully believed.
You need the Holy Spirit. You need the Fountain of Living Water. It all comes through the “Latter Rain”. If you start praying for it now, you will benefit from it and not only you but also every sincere one. But you will not feel like praying for the latter rains as long as you have not met Yashuah. Once you have met Him you will be so captivated by Him that nothing will stop you from starting to pray! You will just want to know and experience more and more of this wonderful, loving, merciful Saviour. You will only pray: “Father, fill me more and more with Your Holy Spirit, imbue me with the Person of Your Son and with His Spirit”.
If you succeed in seeking your Saviour and His Father this earnestly, you will find Him too. His word says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matt. 7: 7-8). And it is impossible for Him to lie. Hebrews 6: 15-20: “And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. 19This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil.” If you do not believe God like that, your soul is anchorless and every storm you encounter on your journey will throw you around and cause you to spiritually strand.
Finally, I want to say that you should never get the impression in this what I am writing to you that the amount of time you spend in prayer will determine your spiritual growth! No, it’s the quality of your prayer, not the quantity that counts. That uninterrupted walk with your Father and your Saviour through every day, that’s what counts! This is where the “Quiet ones in the Land’s” secret of a quiet victorious life lies! AMEN!
66. Eleven is the number on the way to “12”.
NB: There will be various matters arising from this Chapter 11 for which you must please pray. So make a note of it in your diary so that you can pray about it as often as the Spirit leads you.
When you come across the number “11” in the Bible, you will notice that it speaks of the path that God walks with His children on the path to perfection, namely “12”. It is a study in itself and I may later, if the Spirit leads me in this way, get to it and share it with you. One thing is for certain: we must not stop at the “Eleventh Chapter” because it will be an imperfect journey, as the case would have been if the Israelites stopped at Kadesh Barnea after eleven days’ journey from Egypt. (Deut 1: 2). Twelve days’ journey would have brought them to the heart of the Promised Land, but eleven days would have brought them only close — but not to within – the border of the land of Canaan. But, alas, because of their disobedience and rebellion against God, they forfeited the short journey to the Promised Land (Num. 32: 8-13) to finally wander 40 years in the wilderness until the whole generation of that time— with the exception of Joshua and Caleb (Num. 14) —passed away. Everyone under the age of 20 could enter the Promised Land.
To write now about the spiritual meaning of the number 11 is not the intention of the Spirit with you when reading this chapter. We therefore still dwell on the imperfection of the flesh and how God in His great love deals with it through the blood of the Cross: His death, burial and resurrection, which all become our share through the filling with the Holy Spirit. And because we now realize more than ever before that the Holy Spirit alone can pour it out in us, we pray with devotion for the “Latter Rain”. I want to emphasize again that we do not expect a “Second Day of Pentecost”, because the Spirit was poured out once, 2000 years ago. It is like a waterfall that is still flowing all the time, from which we have moved away, but now have to move in under it again, after we have not used the privilege for years. It is also like the “Fountain of Living Water” that the saints drank from centuries ago, but then went to carve out water cisterns for themselves— “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jer 2:13).
We found other drinking places. We have searched for and found other things that are not the “Water of Life”! It was not difficult after the Fall to find replacements for the “Tree of Life”. Although we were then cut off from “The Tree of Life”, “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” was ever available to us. And it was “Poisoned Water” that we drank then. Read Jeremiah 8:14: “ for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish, and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord.” Do you still remember that we read in Ezekiel 31: 16 that the evil princes, of whom we read here as “trees in the Garden of Eden”, are “all that drink water”. They are looking for a place to drink water. Read Luke 11: 24-26: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. 26Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” The unclean spirits therefore find a place to drink water in certain people as well as certain situations. This is when other lords rule over you (Isa. 26:13) —not Yahweh — but, for example, people. This is why Paul says, “You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.” (1 Cor 7:23). The great prince of Egypt and all the spirits of bondage (Rom. 8:15), enjoy enslaving man, that was created in the image of God, for it is one of their beloved water drinking places. They enjoy it when they can rule over you through people, or directly through the influence of evil spirits. They enjoy it when you can no longer say of Yahweh that “All my springs are in you” (Ps 87: 7), when you have found other springs to drink from. Here you will have to bow before Him with an open heart, and being truly honest with yourself and with your Saviour, say: Search me, O my Saviour, as You alone can do: “As for you, my son…, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.” (1 Chron. 28: 9). Or do you want to sit by the strange fountains for a while longer and enjoy the poisoned water together in the seat of the scornful (Ps 1: 1-2) —if you can enjoy it or want to enjoy it! Read Hebrews 11:25 as well as 2 Tim 3: 4.
The people whom you drink water from — water that is not from the Fountain of Living Water (John 4:10), but … “These are wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. 18For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through lewdness, the ones who have actually escaped from those who live in error. 19While they promise them liberty, they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.” (2 Pet 2: 17-19). This also applies to religious people who have a semblance of godliness and spirituality, but do not have it, even if they look very spiritual and devoted.
This is the reason why you need the filling with the Spirit of God because “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor 3:17). Even if you have to suffer under the worst governments of oppression and persecution, you are still not in slavery but in freedom. How can this be? If you are filled with the Spirit of God, you are full of the same Spirit as Christ. And He is free! So are you!
Your experiences with the Holy Spirit?
You yourself will know what your experiences with the Holy Spirit were! Or maybe you do not know? Many believers who end up in the Charismatic churches still remain searching for something more. It is true that, when you walk with Christ, you never feel that you have arrived, you will always continue to strive for more: “nearer still nearer, close to your side, draw me my Saviour, full of love for me…” (goes the song). Yet you will know if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. And it is wonderful that the word says in John 4: 13-14: “Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, 14but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” This is what the Holy Spirit does: He quenches your thirst, and He also becomes a fountain that springs up into eternal life. As a young man from a Calvinist church, also being in a Pentecostal church for 17 years, I personally still have not had the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit. And this after spending a lot of time in prayer. I was even a pastor for nearly 10 years. And I do not want to now blame the church at all! To this day I still love people I knew there — many of them devout Christians! — with the love of Christ. I am willing to accept that my experiences there came about because of my own shortcomings. Also, I certainly should not have placed my expectation in a church’s doctrine, but rather in Yashuah Himself! I realized this later and therefore I do not blame a church, but myself. Today, however, I am happy for the path my Father walked with me!
If I then look back at the path through the Calvinistic church into which I was born, and even studied for a time as a pastor, I again do not want to lay any blame on them. The mistake was probably once again with me personally. But that I have been earnestly seeking God through all the years is certain. God is my witness! And when I read books like Dr. Andrew Murray’s, I feel better. I own many books of which I have read very few. The books I inherited and also received as gifts. This morning I walked to my shelf and took out one book out of a set of ten, “Collected Works” written by Dr. Andrew Murray in 1888 and started paging through it. This “Part 3” is about “The work of the Holy Spirit”. The book comprises 411 pages! If my life wasn’t as filled with other commitments, I would have probably wanted to read the book. But I then spent about 5 minutes reading a few pages in “The Preface” and that was enough to conclude that a man of prayer, like Andrew Murray, was highly concerned about the absence of the working of the Holy Spirit in the Dutch Reformed Church of those years (1888).
He strongly urged the members of the church as well as leaders that a new search for the filling of the Holy Spirit is necessary in the church. One of the volumes of the set of books: “The Spiritual Condition of the Church” (Volume 6), will certainly confirm my conviction that the churches of Christianity need a new search for the filling with the Holy Spirit. And especially now! We are in need here in South Africa. Literally thousands of us — especially young people — do not have jobs and have to go overseas for it. Others flee the country for fear of the enemy showing no mercy. Do you know and realize what it will mean for you and your home/family when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and what it will mean for the whole nation here at the southern tip of Africa? Do you know, above all what it can mean to you, what it can mean to Yahweh — He who sent us here so that His Name may be glorified here. And did He not say that when the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, comes, He will glorify Him? (John 16: 13-14). Following are some promises made by Yashuah himself to you personally — promises that the Holy Spirit will make for you, especially at a time like this: John 14: 16-18: “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” Verse 26: But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
John 15: 26-27: “But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” John 16: 7 – 15: “Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. 8And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9of sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; 11of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.
12“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
I just read now, while enjoying my early-morning coffee and rusks (thank you my dear wife for that!) before the face of my heavenly Father, in John 12: 20-50. In verse 21 I read that people came to the disciples of Yashuah with the words: “My lord, we would like to see Yashuah”. Although they have heard a lot about Him, they want to see Him. So many people in the world have heard of Yashuah in our day but would like to see Him! Yes, they come to the Christian churches to ask, “We want to see Yashuah.” But that by which the people will know that we are part of the body of Christ is not present with us. Yashuah said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). The Holy Spirit alone can give us this love. Read Romans 5: 5; Rom 15:30. It is this love from the Spirit that answers Yashuah’s prayer in John 17: 20-22: “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21that 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 sent Me. 22And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one.” It is ONE Spirit that unites us into ONE body. 1 Cor 12: 12-14: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14For in fact the body is not one member but many.” You can by yourself read on until verse 31.
If there is no love in a community, we can rightly ask if the Holy Spirit is present there. What is your personal experience in this regard? Do you love Christians from other churches and denominations?
67. Who is he who desires life?
Ps 34: 12
: “Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may see good?“ Something that many people in our country, and also all over the world, have lost now in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic, is their zest for life. They no longer have any desire for life. There is nothing pleasant left for them. They have no more hope, nor any interest. For the man who does not now place his hope in Christ, there is little left to live for. Therefore suicide, or self-termination of their lives, will only increase daily. But fortunate are you when you place your hope in Yahweh (Ps. 42: 5). David speaks to himself: “Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.”
Do you sometimes get up in the morning and suddenly and shockingly discover that you do not feel like anything in life? You do not feel like going to work, nor do you feel like going to visit anyone. You notice that your body becomes overweight and unfit, but you do not feel like exercising or doing physical work. Your garage is cluttered but you do not feel like repacking it. You have no desire for anything. The worst part is that you do not feel like talking to your Father either! You do not feel like calling on Father, nor do you feel like praising Him. If this has never happened to you, you should be wondering if you are even normal!
What is the cause of this? As long as you are still living in the flesh and your source of power lies in the flesh, the world and all its plans and resources, then you can go on with many endeavors, as long as the resources last. So many athletes and sportsmen have recently, while the restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic left the pavilions empty, declared that they miss the applause of the people, the cheering of the crowd! Because it makes them play more inspired.
Every day we hear of people who have gone through tremendous traumatic experiences and how they have miraculously risen from their condition. But in many cases, there was publicity given to their misfortune and the encouragement of people made them recover beyond expectation. With those whose loss or misfortune was not noticed by people, it did not always progress that well. Human initiative can accomplish fairly great miracles as long as it is motivated by humans. As soon as there is no more carnal motivation, it falls flat.
So as long as the source of your encouragement persists, you feel like the challenge. If flesh is your source — therefore your own self — then it will last as long as you do not turn to God and accept His Son as your Savior. The moment you declare to God that His Son, Yashuah, is now your righteousness and strength, you have submitted your resignation from the carnal and worldly sources. Now Yashuah has become your Source of life and you must now be careful how you go about dealing with Him.
You need a filling with the Spirit of God. You need the Latter rain. And you need the stream of Living Water to flow through you every day and never stop. As a righteous person, you are now living by faith (Hab 2: 4; Heb 10:38). If you grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30) you will suddenly experience how His absence paralyzes you. You will be physically and spiritually paralyzed because you have annihilated your previous source and are now living by the Spirit and by faith. He is now your only Source.
Do you feel that you no longer have the strength to keep going? Then He now says to you through this Word: “Stand up straight on your feet!” (Acts 14:10). God is not going to pick you up. You must take the first initiative and then He will do the rest. Last year was quite a crisis year for me personally in terms of my health. On the 16th of May 2020, He twice gave me the Word: “And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you. Arise and make your bed.” Then he arose immediately.” (Acts 9: 34). Immediately I realized that I now have to take the initiative and stand up. I could barely get up but forced myself. And when I stood trembling, my Father entered and His power began to flow in and He touched me. But the first initiative had to come from me. He said to the man with the withered hand (Matt 12:13): “Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.” He had to make the first move and obey Yashuah, then God’s healing power came into effect. Also in Luke 17:14: “So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.” And as they departed — believing and obeying Him by taking the first initiative — they became pure.
If you now perhaps ask: “But why can I not believe?” the Scripture answers you: “… the faith working through love” is what you need. Do you still remember it? Do you remember that faith works through the loving relationship and fellowship with God your Father and Yashuah your Savior? Do you remember that faith does not work through the mind and thinking of man? The flesh cannot please Him (Rom 8: 8). The more you sit or stand intensely before Him and concentrate on Him and focus your eyes upon Him — with an expectation that He will do something for you, the more you will experience His Spirit flowing into you and faith in Him becoming your share. “And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. 8Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. 9For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” (2 Chron. 16: 7-9). If you lean on the arm of the flesh, there will be wars against you. Yes, there will even be a curse over you! Read Jeremiah 17: 5: “ Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord.“ If / when you become so silent before your Father and you look at all that His mind has devised and His hands have made, how then could you think about using your mind to solve your problems?
God has given you understanding for one purpose and that is to know Him: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5: 20). Can you, like Paul, say, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason.” (Acts 26:25)? You can also say this provided you have experienced how He opens your understanding (Luke 24:45). When will you be able to say that? When He destroyed your wisdom and understanding as 1 Cor 1:19 says, “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” You should actually read the entire passage from verses 17-31.
At some point in your life you will come to the place where your understanding and your thoughts and your plans, will perish (Ps 146: 4). Does not the word in Micah 2: 4 now apply to us Whites? “In that day one shall take up a proverb against you, and lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; How He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.” Do you still have plans and threats? Do you have another word of comfort for your family? Or is it already done with all your plans? If you can answer “Yes” to this, I want to say to you: “You have now come to the best place ever in your life! The “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil — of Right and Wrong” finally has no solution for you! Finally, you can exclaim like Paul: “but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor 1: 24).
68. Self-control.
It is sometimes easier to rule over others than over yourself. You soon realize that you cannot control yourself — there is a sin in you from which you cannot free yourself! Christ alone can do this (Rom 7:17, 20, 24-25). When the Holy Spirit fills you then He defeats your spirit (Isa 66: 2) and fills you with the Spirit of Yashuah. But then there is still the human soul (flesh or “own self”) over which the Spirit of Yashuah wants to rule. However, He needs your permission and willingness, because you have a free will. Self-control is when you surrender and abandon your “self” to Christ so that He can rule over your “own self” through His Spirit. That is self-control. But so many times we experience that our “own self” is not under Yashuah’s rule and then do things that we later become ashamed of. Our “own self” or flesh (soul) is therefore uncontrolled. Only when Yashuah controls your whole spirit and soul, then you are doing His will in everything. Then you have self-control (Gal 5:22-23; 2 Tim 1: 7).
Yashuah alone must prevail as Ruler (Zech 14: 9; Matt 14: 23; Matt 17: 8). He is the ONE, the only ONE. Job 23:13-14: “But He is unique, and who can make Him change? And whatever His soul desires, that He does. 14For He performs what is appointed for me, and many such things are with Him.”
The first place where Yashuah wants to rule is in your heart (spirit and soul). And then He also wants to control and rule over your body. After all, He bought you with His blood (1 Cor 7: 23). 1 Peter 1: 18-19: “knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” Therefore, He wants to fully possess and control your spirit, soul and body (1 Thess. 5:23). 1 Cor 6:19-20: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
Yahweh sends you through trials daily to show you that you must pray very earnestly for the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) —especially for self-control. Now pray to Him for that and also pray that He will show you the extent of your lack of self-control. Are you afraid of self-control like Governor Felix (Acts 24: 25)?
You probably still remember that the Holy Spirit, like a pantograph of an electric locomotive, will take what belongs to Christ and pass it on to you? John 16: 13-15: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. 14He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. 15All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Spirit will therefore take out of Yashuah’s self-control and pass on to-, or transfer it into you. There is no other way but God’s way. And when we see how often we cannot control our fear or unbelief, our lovelessness and unforgiveness, our lusts and desires, our greed and desire to “want”, we confess that we cannot do it out of ourselves. Especially when we look at Yashuah’s self-control in so many cases. Read Matt 26:39. Do you desire such self-control even when you face death? To never hesitate or shrink back — for no human or any enemy or circumstance. It is because of the self-control of Christ in you. Then you do not need to lie yourself out of a difficult situation, for fear of what people will say!
69. The endurance of Christ.
In addition to self-control, you also need the endurance of Christ (Yashuah). I have written about this several times before, but now just want to refresh your memory because it is so important — actually indispensable: There is a Word in Revelation 3:10 that we must never forget: “Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth.”
In Revelation 14: 6-13 there is a description of the “Angels announcing the judgment of God”. He then says in verse 12: “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints”. If you are still wondering why the Scripture says in Heb 10: 36, “For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise” you will now realize, if you read Revelation 14: 6-13, that a day will come when the endurance of Christ will come in handy for you. You are going to need it on that day! And you must remember that it is not just any endurance, it is the endurance of Christ (Rev 3:10). And, IF there is going to be a Rapture, don’t you think that there will be some or other qualification for those who will go along with the rapture? Those who are left behind — according to the teachings of those who believe in a rapture — will need the endurance of Yashuah to endure in the hour of trial which is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell upon the earth (Rev 3:10). Would not those who are going to be raptured away need the endurance? One of the most important fruits of the Holy Spirit, namely the ability to suffer for the sake of His Name? Is it not precisely because they do not have the fruit, that they are trying to flee before the trial comes? Could Yashuah go through His bitter suffering without the endurance that the Holy Spirit worked in Him? Never! Neither can you! But if you have the same endurance that He had, you will also be able to go through the same suffering and persecution. Yashuah asked His disciples the question, “Can you drink the cup that I drink?” And they answered “Yes” to this. And when they had to go through a bitter suffering for the sake of Christ, they could triumph! How did they manage that? Because they had the same endurance as Christ! Do you have it? Are you sure?
For as soon as Zion was in labour, she gave birth to her children
The question is asked in Isaiah 66: 8: “Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labour, she gave birth to her children.” The birth of God’s people comes from Above, arising from a “labour in prayer.“
Micah 5: 3: “Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labour has given birth; Then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel.” Our condition is now very critical: “This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.” (Isa. 37: 3). If the people of God no longer have the desire to seriously go into prayer, then our hope is lost! I have been preaching and writing about prayer for years but finally I must discover that this people no longer feel like praying! We can say of this people as we read in Hosea 13:13: “The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, for he should not stay long where children are born.” What the living word tells us here, is that the birth of the children of God is not important to us. Even in this time when we whites are in such great need, one gets the impression that the security of our farms, homes and families are more important to us than the birth of God’s holy nation! They are praying much more earnestly for a good price for their lands so that they can make a new beginning overseas, than praying that God will pour out the “New thing” (Isa. 43:19) here in South Africa when the latter rains will start pouring over the sincere! Yet labour pains will overwhelm us (Hos 13:13) when God causes this people’s property to change ownership. Micah 2: 4: “In that day one shall take up a proverb against you, and lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; how He has removed it from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ” Jer 6:12: “And their houses shall pass over to men, to fields, and to women, all together; for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD.”
There are many who will be able to get out of this country “in time”, but the rest will have to stay here. They will have no other solution than to turn to their God. Or they will make their own plans with the necessary consequences!
And now already God is going to provide the sincere believers with a desire to pray! It is done with all our plans. Our hold has disappeared. Deuteronomy 32: 36: “For the Lord will judge His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone, and there is no one remaining, bond or free.” When our power is gone — and it is now almost gone! —and there is no one remaining, bond or free (without exception), our Father will hear our cry for help and rush to our aid. Who are the “no-one remaining”? Are these all the inhabitants of South Africa? I do not think so. Is it all the whites? I do not think so either. Is it perhaps all Christians? The name Christian is very broad so I believe that we will have to be more specific. If all the sincere children of God’s power are gone and, bond or free, no-one remains, they will, in their despair of any carnal resources, direct their hearts undividedly to Yahweh as their only Saviour. They will then expect Him. For He said, ““Therefore wait for Me,” says the Lord, “Until the day I rise up for plunder; My determination is to gather the nations to My assembly of kingdoms, to pour on them My indignation, all My fierce anger; all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy.” (Zephaniah 3: 8). They will expect Him to appear on the scene in His great love and also in His vengeance on our enemies. He himself will come to save us. “And it will be said in that day: “Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.” (Isa. 25: 9). “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” (Isa. 35: 3-4). Or He will send a savior: “for they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors, and He will send them a Saviour and a Mighty One, and He will deliver them.“ (Isa. 19:20). But all people will know that God did it! (Ps 12: 5).
Is it already done with you, without exception? Has your hold completely disappeared? Or do you still have plans you want to make? If you trust in it, the word comes to you: “When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you. But the wind will carry them all away, a breath will take them. But he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain.” (Isaiah 57:13).
70. Until Christ is formed in you.
In order for Christ to be formed in our country South Africa, and also over the whole earth, childbirth is required in the spirit of a worshipper — an intercessor that knows the need and distress and knows that the Holy Spirit alone can do the necessary, and that there is therefore no other plan. The Boers say: “A farmer makes a plan” and the Indians say: “The Indian has a plan” but here, no plan other than God’s plan will work. His plan is that He fills the spirit of man with His Spirit. He therefore replaces our machine with another. Years ago I was driving my Borgward car (I believe few people knew this car). But it was a car that could go! When I looked in my rearview mirror I saw an old Ford Prefect car hot on my heels ready to pass! I could not believe it because it was only a slight little car. And when he got a chance to pass, he just left me in the dust! It amazed me until someone told me they had a big V8 engine built in there. Then I understood everything. It’s but a poor comparison with the powerful Spirit of God built into this fleshly shell, my weak body, to do things I could never do. Now it is no longer me but the Spirit of Christ who lives in me. What a “Machine”!
Look at the “Machine” that Peter received on the day of Pentecost when the early rains were poured out. Before Pentecost he was afraid to confess Yashuah in front of a maid (Matt. 26: 69-75). But when the Spirit of Christ was poured out on him, he spoke fearlessly in front of thousands of people and powerfully witnessed the resurrection of Yashuah from the dead (Acts 2: 14-36; 4: 8, 13, 51). This is why the true worshippers now pray for the “Latter Rain”. But where is the intercessor who is in labour like Paul? He says, “My little children, for whom I labour in birth again until Christ is formed in you” (Gal. 4:19). Are you willing for this? While other (rather) good Christians still have plenty of time for their own pleasures and enjoyments, do you not want to make yourself available to God to be such an intercessor? You do it for the pleasure of Yashuah and His Father! It will soon become a pleasure for you too.
71. Sons and daughters of God.
Years ago I was in a church for a funeral and then I saw a big banner in front of the hall that read: “Friends in Christ”. The series of sermons of the pastor apparently revolved around the theme where Christ said: “I have called you friends”. John 15:15 “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.”
First, He called them “servants” (Luke 17:10). Then He called them friends (as we have already seen above). Then He called them His children. John 1:12-13: “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” There is a word for “child” in the Greek language: teknon. And then there is a word for “son”: huios. This is the greatest honor that God can give a sinful man, who has converted to Him and accepted the full righteousness in Christ in faith: That he may be called a child of God (1John 3: 1-3). But that he can be called a son of God is an even greater honor. Being a daughter of God is also a greater honor than just being a child of God. There is also a word for “daughter” where we read in 2 Cor 6:18: “I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord
Almighty.” On this topic I will have to write more in detail later, but now is not the time.
To be sons and daughters of God, you must know Him closely. The Greek says that “child” refers more to the birth of a child, while “son” refers more to “the dignity of the relationship with the Father, into which people are brought by the Holy Spirit when they truly believe in Christ”. To know Christ in this way, you must sacrifice your everything, as Philippians 3: 7-14 also says: “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
And this great honor and privilege of being called “son and daughter” of God the Father, is not only bestowed on the believers from Israel, but also on those from the Gentiles who turn to God and accept Yashuah as their Savior and Redeemer. Now we’ve touched on a big topic, which, if you safeguard this word in your heart, will turn your whole life around! So now read on with an open mind:
When we think of the conversion of the Gentiles, there are many things that flash through our minds. Throughout the history of Christianity, the “gospel to the Gentiles” has been an integral part of the proclamation of Yashuah Messiah. They preached Christ — not a religion but a Person. Read Acts 8: 5, 12. Elsewhere we read that they preached the gospel. This is the glad tidings of Yashuah as Saviour (Matt 1:21). But the gospel to the Gentiles was a prominent subject throughout. In the Dutch Reformed Church, as well as in many other churches in our country and around the world, they believed that they should have a “mission driven heart”. Tithes were constantly being collected for missionary work. I personally come from a mission-conscious family. But we have always seen the Gentiles as natives of countries where Christ had not yet been preached. We did not notice the Gentiles with our own skin color and language. This brings us to the question: who are the Gentiles of today?
72. Who are the Gentiles of our time?
At the time of the Acts of the Apostles, there were two groups of people: Jews and Gentiles. And that was it. If anyone was not a Jew, he was a Gentile. The Greeks were Gentiles and so were the Romans. Read Romans 1: 5, 8. But all non-Jews were called Gentiles or goim by the Jews. So when the Apostles went to the Gentiles with the gospel, everyone understood that they were going to the non-Jews. And if we were to believe, as the Israel-truth people in our country believe, that they are descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel who were scattered among the nations, then we would not have been Gentiles, before our conversion to Christ. We were and are then Israelites after the flesh. But on this subject I have wondered a lot and also conducted deep research about it. Although it seems very tempting to me, there is great uncertainty about this assertion. I was even in Israel in their “Museum of the Dispersion (Diaspora)” in Tel Aviv in 1980, but there is a great deal of uncertainty as to whether our Western White civilization is indeed the descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel.
To me it is enough answer if my Father tells me that He will send Israel away into captivity if they are unfaithful to Him, but will bring them back to their land if they repent and turn back to Him. For this you will have to read in Deut 29: 14-29; Deut 30: 1-20. Nehemiah mentions this before God in his prayer: “Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name’.” (Neh 1: 8-9). Ezekiel also quotes this in Ezekiel 39: 27-28: “When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer.” So when Israel returned to their land, no one was left behind. What would have become of the rest then? They perished there. The “Museum of the Dispersion” in Israel has numerous pieces of evidence of various groups that hunted down the Israelites and exterminated them so that there was truly no one left behind. So those who did not return to Palestine perished there in the lands of their captivity.
It is very difficult to determine who the Gentiles are today, but if we obey the Holy Spirit wherever He leads us, He will let His life shine through us, and they will receive the pleasant fragrance of Yashuah from us — without us preaching to them or trying to convince them. (2 Cor 2: 15-16). We are “the quiet ones in the land”, are we not (Ps 35: 20)? Therefore our lives testify, not our mouths! God testifies of His Son in us (1 John 5: 9-10) by saying, “This is My beloved Son.”
Is someone who does not have the Spirit of Christ a godless one? Rom 8: 9 “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.” Does this mean that He is without God because He does not belong to Christ? Christ and His Father are ONE. So, does being without Christ also mean that such a person is godless? Ask your Father about this. But the godless as well as the Gentiles all need repentance to God. They are all being saved in the same way (Acts 15: 9-11; Rom 3: 9, 21-24). Now, why the distinction between Jew, Gentile and godless? They have all sinned (Rom. 3: 21-24) and are all saved by faith in Yashuah’s atoning death. Everyone who does not have God is therefore the same as a Gentile. Therefore, the Spirit of God can send us to any person in any country as it pleases Him. So He sent Paul and his men to Macedonia (Acts 16: 9-12) and Peter to Cornelius and his family (Acts 10).
73. God’s justice must be established on earth.
“God’s justice” means “that which is right in His sight” —in other words, “that which is pleasing to Him.” If everyone who is willing to do God’s will from the ranks of sinners, Jews, Greeks, Gentiles or godless, then appropriates and exercises that right for themselves, this world will give great glory to God! But unfortunately, it is the opposite: mankind does not want to please God.
Do we know the justice of the Lord (Yahweh)? Jer 8: 7; “Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord.” If we know the justice of Yahweh, we will realize that we have a great responsibility to Him. As such we also have a great responsibility to all people. Read Rom 1:14; 2 Cor 5:11. Paul also tolerates many things in order to bring people to Yashuah (1 Cor 9: 19-27). Yashuah’s rights also became ours. Our prayer that His kingdom will be established on earth, involves bringing His justice to the nations. Matt 12:18: “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles. 19He will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets. 20A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not quench, till He sends forth justice to victory.”
This week we heard in the news that a German (95), who was a guard at one of Germany’s concentration camps in 1945, was banned from the USA because he would have been part of the “crimes against humanity” that Hitler committed by killing the Jews. He is already 95 years old! The new President of the United States has certainly shown through these actions that the USA is against crimes being committed against people. Very good! But are they consistent? In South Africa crimes are committed daily against whites who are killed and robbed of their lands without compensation. Are these not crimes against humanity? Or do these laws apply only to certain people on earth? This is what the word of God speaks of in Hab 1: 4 when He says: “Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds”. Yashuah came to bring justice to the nations “… He will bring forth justice to the nations” (Isa. 42: 1-4; Matt. 12: 17-21). We truly have something to look forward to when His kingdom comes and He comes to rule on this earth. He will rule the nations “with a rod of iron” (Rev. 2:27; Rev. 19:15). We here in South Africa can probably quote thousands of things in which we can ask: “Where is the justice in this matter”. And many people ask, “Where then is God? How can He allow this? Our justice is disregarded by God!” But His word in Job 34:17 will be fulfilled: “Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn Him who is righteous and mighty?”
He asks this question and finally comes to the conclusion that “that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people.” When the rulers appointed by God will rule, we will see and experience rulers in righteousness and justice. Read Isaiah 32: 1-5. And what a glorious experience that is going to be?
When people turn their foolish desires into a right, a generation of self-righteousness is established. They feel that they are entitled to certain things — actually to everything! From this came the so-called “Generation of entitlement”. And because they desire certain things, to which they are not entitled, they commit violence to obtain them! It’s just becoming a bigger problem every day. And we live in such societies (Isa. 10: 1). We can therefore no longer seek justice, righteousness and also fairness. We will only get it from Yahweh. He will bring forth His justice to the nations but “Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 4“Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” (Hab 2: 3-4)
Do you think that God will provide justice for all people? Or will He do it only for the righteous? Ps 135: 14: “For the Lord will judge His people, and He will have compassion on His servants.” Deuteronomy 32:36 “For the Lord will judge His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone, and there is no one remaining, bond or free.” Therefore, as the people of God — not all people — we will experience how our heavenly Father provides justice to us when our power has disappeared and there is no one remaining, bond or free. The more injustice is being done to us, the more we will begin to pray for His kingdom to come. Eventually we will shout it out: O Yahweh, let Your word in Isaiah 32: 1 be fulfilled on this earth: “Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.” Think about it for a moment: “A kingdom ruled in righteousness!” Read Deut 16: 18-20.
Yashuah Messiah is our Righteousness according to 1 Cor 1:30. Read this and also Jer 23: 6. Note that it is written in CAPITAL LETTERS: “THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS”. Is this not a matter for which we as the people of God on earth must begin to pray — provided, of course, that we believe that God answers prayer! It is thís prayer that we pray in Yashuah’s Name. John 16: 23-24: “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. 24Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” Do you truly believe that HE hears and answers your prayer in Yashuah’s Name? Then, what prevents us from praying?
But be careful to not start fighting for your rights. Do not become an activist! Whether it’s for the rights of animals, women, children, religion, culture, language, races or whatever, do not fight for it yourself. “The Lord shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:14). “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46: 10). Many people not walking the streets with posters and are not activists, also not in the newspapers or in the news, but they are fighting for their rights inside their home or in their marriage.
74. “Your kingdom come”.
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28: 18). “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor 15: 25-26).
Regarding the word above, what was His command to us? It was, “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…” (Matt. 6: 9-10). ‘The coming of His kingdom’ is a topic that has provoked much debate. What does the coming of His kingdom entail? Is it only the repentance of a select group of people who are now moving into His kingdom so that the elect become full? Yes, definitely! But it involves much more: It involves the coming of the former dominion (Micah 4: 8). Was the earlier dominion He is referring to here, some earthly / worldly kingdom? No, it was Adam’s dominion before he fell into sin (Gen 1: 26, 28). But when they fell into sin, they surrendered their dominion to Satan. Christ recognized Satan’s dominion over the people of this world when He met him in the wilderness. Read Luke 4: 6: “And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” When Satan said that all power had been handed over to him, Yashuah did not argue. He therefore acknowledged this because He knew that Adam had handed it over to Satan, but God, His Father, allowed it. God did not sit helplessly by, watching Adam hand over power to Satan — He had to allow it, otherwise He is not the Almighty! In fact, Adam’s wife gave it up! This dominion that Adam had would have grown into a much greater one if his wife had rather eaten of the “Tree of Life” instead of the “Tree of knowledge of good and evil”.
Therefore, when we pray “Your kingdom come”, we pray for that dominion. This is Yashuah’s government on earth. This is what we look forward to: Heaven that rules (Dan 4:26).
The Evil One is constantly trying to maintain his rule here on earth but he can only succeed if we do not believe that he has already been conquered by Yashuah. You probably remember always that Yashuah met Satan in an open duel when He met him in hell during the three days He was in the tomb? Read again Col 2:15 as well as Rev 12: 7-13 and Rev 3:21.
The coming of the kingdom is therefore accompanied by the dominion of Yashuah. After all, He is the King of the kingdom. And He must reign. But does He not already reign? Yes, read Ps 98 and 99, then you will know that He already reigns. The whole of Scripture is full of testimonies that He has been reigning this whole time. He only allowed Satan to reign the earth for a time. But He now wants to let us reign as the people of the saints together with His Son. (Rev 5: 9-10; Dan 7: 26-27) If this is true then the kingdom has already come. Is that not the reason why He says that His kingdom is within us? (Luke 17: 20-21): “Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; 21nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
How do you know if the kingdom of God is within you? Does the King of the Kingdom live within you? So I ask: Does the Spirit of Yashuah live in you? Did you open to Him when He stood and knocked at the door of your heart? (Rev 3:20). Is He King in your life? Or are there other kings? Your husband, your wife? Your children? Your pets, hobbies, your sports; your church and its teachings? Your politics? There are many things that can be king in your life. This will cause the King of kings not to be king in your life because two kings cannot rule in you simultaneously. “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24). Therefore, you cannot say that the kingdom of God is within you. So when you pray for His kingdom to come, ask Him to begin with you: “Let it begin with me, O my Father!”.
Along with the prayer that His kingdom will come, we also pray: “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. Is His will being done in you just as His will is being done in heaven? You will have to come to Him and pray to Him to cast out every spirit that is not of Him, as He did with Mary Magdalene: “Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons.” (Mark 16: 9). If this happened in your life, the kingdom of God has truly come upon you: “But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Luke 11:20). If Yashuah reigns in your life and nothing and no one else, you can say that His kingdom is within you.
If His kingdom is in you, you will find that you have to wait a little longer until Yashuah’s enemies — who are also your enemies — are brought to your feet. They have already been subjected to Yashuah. Hebrews 2: 5-9: “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 6But one testified in a certain place, saying: “What is man that You are mindful of him, or the son of man that You take care of him? 7You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honour, and set him over the works of Your hands. 8You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.”
(Question: Do you see Him? I write about this in Chapter 12)
The coming of His kingdom therefore entails that the people of the saints will take possession of the kingdom: “But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.” (Dan 7:18). Verse 22 says, “until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.” So there is a determined time that must come for the people of the saints to take possession of the kingdom. What would determine that time. Is it perhaps that the people of the saints do not believe that they should take possession of the kingdom, and pray for it. Also that they should hear from their Father what they should do with regard to the possession of the kingdom?
An Unshakable Kingdom
Here on earth we are now dealing with visible kingdoms. And are they not faltering at the moment? But there are larger and more powerful kingdoms that are not visible. It is those invisible, demonic forces and empires against which we are wrestling. Volumes can be written about this. 2 Cor 10: 3-6 clearly describes this. So also Ephesians 6: 10-20. I believe you have already read it but read it again, prayerfully and seriously! You need this armor because God is going to shake this earth once more: “whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29For our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12: 26-29). Therefore He is going to shake everything that is shakable on this earth and also in heaven. Yes, He is going to shake it like it has never been shaken before — not as in the time of the Flood, nor as in the time of the Exodus from Egypt. And these words: “…Yet once more…” make us realize that this is going to be the final SHAKE. And Yashuah is looking forward to it: “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” (Luke 12: 49). It is His great day (Luke 17: 24) – “The day of the Yahweh!” (1 Thess. 5: 2). This is the day on which the shakable things will fall and our unshakable kingdom will take over the rule on this earth. Are the governments of this world shakable? Yes? Then it’s going to be shaken! Are the military systems shakable? Yes, definitely! Then it’s going to be shaken too! And the medical systems, agriculture, food supply, industries, religions and ideologies? Yes, it’s all shakable and therefore it’s going to be shaken. Yes, also your marriage, your family and circle of friends, your prestige, your job, yes name it… and MONEY? Yes, it will be shaken! So that the unshakable can be revealed.
If you have received Haggai 2: 6-7 as a living word from your Father, you will also realize that it is not going to be that long before He causes everything to tremble: “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
The poor within the kingdom of God?
The Scripture clearly states that we will always have the poor with us (Mark 14: 7). And Yashuah also has wonderful promises to the poor. He says that the gospel will be preached to the poor (Luke 4: 18; 7: 22). He also says, “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God” (Luke 6: 20). In contrast, He says, “But woe to you who are rich…” (Luke 6: 24). In an overpopulated world, it is probably logical that there will also be an overpopulated society of the poor. And so it is, and it’s getting worse by the day. If we have to hand out all our possessions to the poor, each one of them will get one piece of bread and then they will also die of hunger anyway, and we maybe together with them, because those who have are in the minority to those who do not. Caring for the poor is a major issue in today’s world. Yet the prophet Isaiah said that there will be a distinction between those who go hungry and those who eat: “Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, My servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, My servants shall rejoice, but you shall be ashamed”. (Isa. 65: 13).
As you can probably guess, I also run into beggars daily. My heart is still too soft to be heartless to them. But my greater desire is to do the will of my Father in all things. Therefore I immediately speak quietly to Him in my heart because I am still in uninterrupted fellowship with Him — that surely is our desire! He then guides me what to do in each particular case. One I give money to, the other I buy bread for and yet another I send away empty-handed, but in most cases I say to that person: “You know my friend, King David said he was young and also he grew old, and he never saw the children of the righteous asking for bread (Ps 37: 25). So there is a problem between you and your God that you need to sort out”. In most cases then they are not happy about what I told them, because they did not ask for a sermon but for money!
In 1 Cor 1: 5-6 we read: “that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you.” It is this richness in Christ that the truly repentant and born-again person possesses, not materially that rich, but a richness in their spirit. They are rich in faith and trust. Their faith stems from a rich loving relationship with their Father and His Son (Gal. 5: 6). They do not fear the distress that is coming upon the world because “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). They believe Yahweh’s word which says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil 4:19). This is a promise from God and they believe that this promise was made to them personally. So they turn to their Father in their distress and make their need known to Him, as Phil 4: 6 says: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus..”
Our great calling is to proclaim Yashuah to the wicked and godless. But, as many evangelists have said, “You cannot preach the gospel to someone with a hungry stomach.” Therefore, many evangelists began by first handing out food to the people, and then preaching the gospel of Yashuah to them. Did it work? Did these people not hear that free food was distributed, and then flocked there? Did Yashuah not also tell them that they were following Him for the sake of the bread and the fish that He had given them? (John 6: 26). If we have to preach the gospel this way in India, and even here in Africa, we will need millions of Rands towards it. Is the answer perhaps rather that we will have such a deep and intimate love relationship with Yashuah that He will lead us to those to whom He wants to bring His gospel at that moment — hungry or not! He says after all “I know My own and am known by My own” (John 10: 14; 2 Tim 2: 19). And if they then truly came to Yashuah, He would fulfill their needs in all, through whoever He wants to utilize.
We must also not forget that Yahweh said in various places in the Scripture that the wicked will perish by the sword, the famine, the wild beasts and the plague. There is this word in Jer 11: 22: “therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Behold, I will punish them. The young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine.” This word occurs in many places in Scripture, that God will send the sword, famine, plague and also wild beasts (Jer 15: 2-3) over the disobedient and rebellious people. When I asked Yahweh what the wild beasts were, He told me that the people will become like wild animals. Has it not already happened? But that millions will starve to death is assured. Doing good to some of them is not wrong, but our responsibility lies with the believers in Christ (Gal. 6: 10).
75. The Great Day of Yahweh.
The day of Yahweh is not 24 hours. It is a time period of the end of days when Yashuah will take over the rule of this world and its evil systems, as already prophesied in Dan 2: 44-45: “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.” The judicial court of God, the just Judge, has already been held and Yashuah Messiah was given the kingship centuries ago. But now the word comes into play. Now His day has come and we as His saints are going to rule with Him (Dan 7: 27). What a privilege and also what a great responsibility. This is why Paul addresses the Corinthians strongly when He says to them: “Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? 3Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” (1 Cor 6: 2-3).
But our King’s affairs will have to become more important to us than our own. This was the attitude that was in Yashuah that Paul also refers to in Phil 2: 5-11: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And Paul poured himself out as a drink offering, in order to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. His King’s affairs were more important to him than his own. Read Phil 2: 17; 2 Tim 4: 6. He looked forward to the day when his King would come and he would receive the reward from Him (Isa. 40: 10).
This is the day on which the fullness of the Gentiles enters (Rom 11: 25). It is also the day on which His justice is brought forth to the nations and everything that the people of this world regard as justice, they will be deprived of. Truly a wonderful prospect: a day when justice and righteousness will be done on this earth. All the people who perished unjustly, all the lands that were unjustly plundered from God’s children, yes, all unrighteousness will be repaid and compensated to those who suffered unjustly. Joel 2: 25: “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you.” Zech 9: 12: “Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.”
76. But we have the mind of Christ.
If Scripture says so then it is so. When Paul says through the Spirit of Yahweh: “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor 2: 16), then it is so! But alas, we experience it differently! Thousands of thoughts that we ourselves know are not from Him are constantly flowing through us. David prays: “In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.” Ps 94: 19.
Firstly, I think of the thoughts of God. Ps 40: 5 says, “Many, O Lord my God, are Your wonderful works which You have done; and Your thoughts toward us cannot be recounted to You in order; If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.” Also, Ps 92: 5: “Oh Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.” We must soon realize that His thoughts are not ours: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55: 8-9).
You probably declare to God every morning that you are putting on Christ (Rom 13: 14) and that He also is your “whole armor” (Ephesians 6: 10-20). I have already said that He (Yashuah) is my girdle of truth (John 14: 6); the shoes on my feet for the preparation of the gospel; the breastplate of righteousness (1 Cor 1:30); the shield of faith (Gen 15: 1; Ps 3: 3); and for me, also the helmet of salvation (Isa. 59: 17). He is it for me and for you. He is also the sword of the Spirit for you!
If He is then the helmet of salvation, it means that He protects your mind and thought against all thoughts that do not come from the Spirit of God. You can pray and believe in Him for that. Romans 8: 5-7 clearly states: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”
The separation of soul and spirit
In Heb 4:12 there is a word that has already caused great controversy in the ranks of Bible teachers: “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The Word of God, which is a “two-edged sword”, permeates — eventually — the separation of spirit and soul. I have asked in previous chapters if “soul” and “spirit” are the same faculty for you? In other words: is it the same thing? Or are these two separate things that are both present within you? Many psychologists see it as the same thing. But the Scripture distinguishes between the two: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess 5:23).
If you believe this word in Heb 4:12 and take it to heart, you will experience a working of the Holy Spirit within you: You will experience that sometimes you experience something in your head and sometimes you experience something in your heart (spirit). I do not mean the pump that pumps your blood! When I refer to your heart I am talking about your spirit. But when you experience a conviction in your spirit, you feel a soft burning sensation in your chest — a warm glow where your heart sits. This is why the Emmaus goers said, “And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24: 32). But if it is a thought that comes from your flesh (soul), you feel it coming from your head — from your mind or thoughts. Many times you will also hear people say: “My head tells me”. Or they say, “God has given you common sense to think for yourself.” You probably still remember that the Son gave us understanding for ONE thing and that is to know Him who is true: “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20). When you know Him, you will also know that He is the Head of the body of which you are a member! (1 Cor 12: 12-27). He does the “thinking work“ in the body, and you and I perform it as limbs of the body should work. The hand or the foot cannot think. Only the Head (Christ) can. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts…” (Isa. 55: 7-9). In 1 Cor 2:16 we read: “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” The “sense of Christ” is the same as “that which the Spirit devises” (Read Romans 8: 5-8).
The only way you will be able to distinguish between your soul (flesh) and spirit is through the living Word of God who makes the separation as a “two-edged sword”. You will need to allow something more than just the Bible to speak to you. You will need to get to know the living Word so that your Father can speak to you. The living Word does more than just speak to you. It also works in you. Read 1 Thess 2: 13: “…the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.”
The struggle of my flesh with the Spirit of God
(NB: You will have to read a lot of Scripture here because I cannot write everything here. I hasten to write Chapter 12 before I leave for India. Although I do not yet know exactly when I am going. It may even only happen next year (2022). Then I will be 80 — if Yahweh wills.)
We have come to the end of this “Chapter 11”, and to move on to “Chapter 12” there is a definite issue that we must deal with God as Jacob wrestled with God at the river Jabbok (Gen 32: 22-32). Jacob’s name means “deceiver”. And this deceiver thought he could inherit the blessing of God through his own human strength and efforts. He, along with his mother who spoiled him, made a clever plan to fraudulently exchange the first-birthright, which Esau had, for a pot of lentil soup. Read Genesis 25: 19-34. His mother was very clever — probably because of the “Tree of Knowledge” that all people ate after the Fall. Jacob was also her favorite. Neither she nor he tried to obtain the blessings by seeking the face of God. As his grandfather Abraham did (Read Romans 4: 1-3), the two of them did the opposite through an evil plot: “I will myself”. Read about the cunning way in which Jacob obtained the blessing of the firstborn by his father, Isaac. But “Abraham believed God” and therefore God blessed him. God intended to bless Jacob as well but first had to let him go through experiences that would break down his “Own self” and change his name from “deceiver” to “Israel”. It was a difficult path!
First he had to flee before his brother Esau, after stealing his birthright from him. On the advice of his mother, he fled to his uncle Laban in Haran. But before started out, he finally received the blessing from his father Isaac, and after that he left (Gen 28: 1-7). On the way, God made him see a dream of an angelic ladder from heaven (Gen 28:12). God stood on top and promised him that he would bless him and his descendants, who will be like the dust of the earth. Also, the blessing entailed that “in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 28:14). It meant that the Christ (Messiah) would be born of his descendants.
After this Jacob went out to Laban his uncle, to work for him. He loved Rachel and was willing to work for her for 7 years. But then Laban gave him her sister Leah, and he had to work for Rachel for another 7 years. Finally he left Laban with his two wives and their children (also slaves and their children), and also many cattle. He had to flee from Laban (Gen. 31).
On the way to his land — the Promised Land — the angels of God met him (Gen. 32: 1-2). He was afraid of his brother Esau, whom he now had to face again for the first time since he fled from him (Gen 32: 6-12). He stayed the night and prayed to God in his distress (Verses 11-13). The two of them, after a gift from Jacob, were reconciled (Verses 20-21).
That night, “a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day” (Gen 32:24). “Now when He saw that He did not prevail against him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Jacob’s hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him.” (verse 25). “But he (Jacob) said, ‘I will not let You go unless You bless me’ ” (verse 26). Verse 29: “And he blessed him there”.
Jacob wrestled with God and with the people — including himself — and prevailed. He then finally received the blessing of God! (Gen 32:28; Hosea 12: 4-5). The battle between the flesh and the Spirit that Paul wrote about in Galatians 5: 17 does not have to be a long and drawn-out battle. You just have to make the right choice, and then hold onto God for it!
You will also, like Jacob, first have to become weak in yourself. “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12: 9). You will have to despair in yourself and believe that “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.” (Ps 127: 1). You will have to believe Yashuah and also live practically in what He says: “for without Me you can do NOTHING” (John 15: 5). This struggle can become a long and painful process if you struggle with the wrong motive with God and yourself. Do you really want to receive the blessings of God, which is in Yashuah? (Ephesians 1: 3). You can be blessed by God in many ways and areas. Which one do you choose? Material blessings? Or do you choose to live in a blessed loving relationship with Yashuah and your heavenly Father? Pray about this and then you wait for Chapter 12 so I can finish it. While you wait, pray earnestly for me that I may write God’s word to you! Amen