INDEX TO VOLUME ONE(2)
15. A broken and contrite heart.
16. In who are you rooted?
17. His Eternal Intent.
18. The Word my Enabler.
19. The Word that effectually works in you who believe.
20. The law of faith.
21. The Law of Unbelief.
22. Look to Me and live!
23. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
24. A Transformation
25. To Know Him
15. A broken and contrite heart
Last night at our prayer meeting, we discussed the very important topic of “brokenness”. I know that this is not going to be a very popular topic to speak about, but if you read the Word that came through the mouth of Paul, the Apostle, you will quickly notice that it was a major part of his life and also his ministry. Is this not the reason why there are many Bible scholars who excluded Paul and his epistles from the Bible? You will probably be shocked to hear this news (that one of the most prominent apostles in the Bible was kicked out from the teachings in the New Testament by some). I personally was not amazed because I have had experiences with these people, some of whom are even professors from major universities in South Africa. Many years ago a lecturer of the college where I studied, went to the United States to complete a doctorate. He, together with some other students from South Africa, and also other countries in the world, were so disappointed when they discovered that the Apostle Paul was called a psycho and a mad man. Most of the other students left this university and returned to their homes prematurely. However, this lecturer from our college persevered and stayed right through to the end. He had many debates with them but they were not at all open to the truth.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:37 that if anyone considers himself a spiritual man or a prophet then he must admit that he, Paul, speaks and writes the words of God. To me personally, it was the words of God being spoken by Paul. These then became alive in my spirit. You remember that in the Book of Galatians Paul told us that after his repentance he went to the desert of Arabia for 3 years to present himself to the God that he repented to. He wanted to hear from Him what His plans for his life were. He did not first go up to Jerusalem to meet the other Apostles, but he went to the desert for 3 years of prayer, for daily sitting in the presence of his Saviour, and thereby receiving from Him, from the Jashuah that he persecuted before, a revelation of a secret that was hidden for many years.
A major part of Paul’s ministry was the teachings on “brokenness” which are so unpopular with the Christians of today. The world teaches you to be strong in yourself and to believe in yourself while the Word of God teaches you to be weak in yourself, and to even doubt yourself, but to trust in the Lord. Even in the Old Testament David said in Ps 51:16: “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.” Also in Is 57:15 “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones”. In Ps 34:18 “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” Is 66:2 “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word”. Are these Scriptures from the Old Testament enough to show the character of the God whose hand has made all things? He is the strong and Almighty God and we must be humble before Him.
In 2 Corinthians 12:1-5 Paul speaks about an experience that he had when he was caught up in his spirit (or in his body – only God knows),to the third Heaven. It would have been so easy to boast about this vision that he had. As the man who knew the Word of the cross (1 Cor 1:18) very well, and because, after all, he was the man to whom this great word of the cross was revealed, he knew that it was dangerous to his whole spiritual life and relationship with his heavenly Father to boast in things revealed to him. And Jahweh, who knew of this danger even more so than Paul, gave him a ‘thorn in his flesh’. 2 Cor 12:7-10: “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
An old book that I discovered this morning, written by Roy Hession and titled “The Calvary Road”, has a lovely paragraph that I would like to share with you. I don’t read books at all, not because I do not like it, but just because I do not have the time. However, this morning the Spirit clearly led me to my shelf to look for this very small book. I found it and opened it at the following paragraph: “We already said quite a few things about the life of Christ in us. And that is what Revival means, the Revival that the churches so much pray for. Revival is only the life of Christ that flows through people. If, however, we are to come into this right relationship with Him, in order that His life can flow through us, the first thing we must learn is that our rules must be broken to His will. To be broken is the beginning of the life of Christ in you, or, the beginning of Revival. It is painful, It is humiliating, but it is the only way. It is being not “I” but Christ, and a “C” is a bent “I”. The Lord Jashuah cannot live in us fully and reveal Himself through us, until the proud self within us is broken. This simply means that the heart, the unyielding self, which justifies itself, wants its own way, stands up for his rights, and seeks its own glory, at last bows its head to God’s will, admits it’s wrong, gives its own way to Jashuah, surrenders his rights, and discards its own glory, — that the Lord Jashuah might have all and be all. In other words, it is dying to self and self attitude”. Is this not a true disposition of what Jahweh revealed to us through many years? But, are we living it?
If we look at ourselves and our whole Christian world, we can only admit that
self is the ruler of Christianity. Even our strongest religious campaigns are in most cases driven by self. When self is in any action Christ is out! I know that this is a hard Word, but is that not what they also said to Jashuah? In John 6:60 His disciples said: “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” Then in the next verses 61-63, when Jashuah knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them: “Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life” (John 6:60-63).
The lovely fragrance of Christ cannot be diffused if the earthen vessel, in which the treasure of Christ is stored, is not broken first. Mark 14:3: “And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head”. Please also read 2 Cor 4:7; 2 Cor 2:14-16. We are the earthen vessels or clay pots. How many of us walk around for many years with this great treasure, Christ, in us, but He cannot be revealed? This lovely fragrance cannot be dispersed and diffused if we are not broken first. This message is hard but it is true. If you really love the Lord, go to Him in prayer and ask Him to speak to you and confirm this Word. Knowing this Word is one thing, but to have this Word implemented in your soul and spirit is something else. It is, however, a good start to hear this Word with your ears, and to speak it with your mouth, because you believe it is true. Then pray earnestly that your Father will make this Word alive in your spirit. This will not only change your life, but also the lives of many others. You will become a demonstration model of the life of Christ in a human being. My prayer this morning is that this Word will become a part of your whole being and mine, and also all the saints over the whole world.
16. In who are you rooted?
There is so much talk in the Bible, and also in our society, about “your roots.” In our own country, South Africa, we ask ourselves the question, as people who landed here on the Southern tip of Africa 365 years ago from Europe, “where are our roots?”. If we are reasoning about our roots on a fleshly and national level, it is a great and arguable question, but when it comes to our spiritual roots it is another question entirely. Many white people today ask the question: “But should we be here in South Africa? Should our ancestors ever have come here? “But why are they asking these questions? Just because our citizenship of this country is now threatened. If this had not happened, we and also our descendants would have been living here unfazed for another 365 years and would never be asking questions about where our roots lie. There are institutions in our country now preparing petitions to present to the UN about the so-called “Genocide” and “landgrabs” that are happening here. Others want to submit our case to the President of the United States.
We must not start with our earthly citizenship and carnal roots, but with the spiritual. Jashuah says that “… Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.” (Matthew 15: 13). It is precisely with this question where we should start. If our roots are in this world, and we are thus not planted by our heavenly Father, we will now certainly be uprooted. Is this not what our Father is busy doing now? With the exception of the remnant (which we have already referred to in the chapter titled: “Like Sodom we would have become”, is that not what our Father is going to do to everyone who is not planted by Him in this country? Are they going to be uprooted? I am not stating this, I’m just asking. You know the voice of your Father. You can go and ask Him about it.
Paul is referring in Philippians 3:20-21 to our spiritual citizenship: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself”. So we are born again from above. And that is what being “born again” means: We are born from Above, we are “born of God” (John 1:12-13). It results in us not being accepted in this world. The world does not know us as it did not know Jashuah (1 John 3:1-2; John 17: 9-17).
If the world does not know us then we are strangers in this world. This is exactly what the Scripture says. We are strangers and sojourners. Read 1 Peter 1:17; 2:11. But we have a mission and calling namely to repossess this earth which belongs legally to Jashuah, according to Psalm 24:1; Ex 9:29; Deuteronomy 10: 14. We must conquer it in His Name. This in itself is a separate subject that we’ll talk about later when our Father wills. But more now about your roots.
Eph 3:16-21 says: “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” This Word is probably one of the greatest prayers Paul prayed in the Scriptures. But note that he prayed this for those who are rooted and grounded in love (Already). However, the New Afrikaans translation differs here. It says that Paul is praying that believers will be rooted in love and grounded (In future). If you now read Gal 5:6 it states that faith works through love. Love is therefore a prerequisite for faith. That is why 1Corinthians 13:2 says that faith without love would mean nothing. It would be dangerous for Yahweh to give faith to someone who does not love. If they can move mountains and let people fall dead just because they hate them, all sprouting from an evil heart of lovelessness, hatred and revenge, there will be terrible things happening on this earth! No, faith belongs only to someone who has God’s love. In Ephesians 1:15 Paul prays also that the Father will, in a special way, by His Spirit, grant the saints a revelation of all the wonderful things that He, in Christ, gave them (verses 16-22). But in verse 15 we see that he prays this for those who already have faith and love. If you are thus not rooted and grounded in love, you will first have to pay attention to your roots. The Father, in His love for you, is now speaking to you about this. He asks you: Where are you rooted? You can be very strongly rooted in your church’s doctrines and dogmas, and yet not in love.
Love is above all. First, the love for God the Father and His Son. Second, the love for your neighbor (Matthew 22: 34-40). Love is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 1:8-10). Therefore the Word says: “Let all that you do be done with love” (1 Cor 16: 14). Then you certainly know 1 Corinthians 13? Who does not know it? But who lives it? Are we not living in a loveless world? Was God’s love the first impression you got from Him? Not with all of us. In my case I first got an impression of His severity. But when I turned myself to Him was when this message revealed His love to me: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”(John 3:16). If the love of Christ compels you, as 2 Cor 5: 14 says, then your roots are in the right soil, firmly established in the Rock, Jashuah (1 Corinthians 10: 4; Psalm 18: 32). This love, along with faith, which are both available in Christ (1 Tim 1: 14), is the only ground in which you can be rooted for your salvation – now and in the future. If you are rooted in anything, or anyone else, your tree will be uprooted in the time that is now coming upon this world.
There is a piece in the history of Israel, which you should read if you have the time. It is in Ezekiel 17: 1-24. Read it and ask God to give you insight herein. Ask Him also to reveal to you if Babylon is not perhaps the place where your roots are? Revelation chapters 17, 18 and 19 predicted the fall of Babylon. In Chapter 18 verse 4 He says, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues.” What He actually says here is that you should get your roots out of Babylon, and put them in Christ. This does not mean you should quit your job and move to another place. This means that while you’re still doing the same job, living in the same place, and going to the same church, your heart – your mind and soul – will be rooted in Jashuah Messiah. As Col. 2: 6-7 says: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. “
17. His Eternal Intent
We have already shared in a previous section the wonderful Word about the great truth that “all things work together for good to those who love God”. But it is not the whole truth. There is also another truth connected to it. Read Romans 8: 28 again. It adds that the promise is also linked to “those who are the called according to His purpose.” So if you love God and are called in accordance with His purpose, all things work together for good. So what does it mean to be called according to His purpose?
The Father planned everything on earth and in heaven. This Scripture calls it “His eternal purpose.” He had everything planned, “the broad road” that leads to destruction (Matthew 7: 13), and also the narrow path that leads to life (verse 14). But He has given man a free will to choose between the two ways (Deuteronomy 30: 15-20). He did not plan what route you should choose, but he knew in advance what you, by your free will, are going to choose. In accordance with your own choice, He has planned for you all your life in detail. This He calls His “eternal purpose”. He planned how much grace you will receive. Read Romans 12: 6 and 15: 15, 1 Corinthians 15: 10, Ephesians 3: 7 and 4: 7. If you attempt to gain a deeper spiritual life, it will be in vain because Father had planned it all – it is His eternal purpose for you. If you now read Romans 9 you’ll be inclined to think that it does not sound fair and just. Read it from verse 6-21 and note that your works (verses 11, 16) do not count. Also Galatians 2: 16 and Ephesians 2: 8-10 testify of the same. Remember that you were crucified with Christ and consequently you are dead to the law and all good works (Rom 7: 4-6; Gal 2: 19-21). A dead man cannot commit sin but neither can he do good nor fulfil a law. This is why God let His Son live in us so that He could do the good works that we cannot do ourselves. And now you and I cannot glory in anything. Just think, if we could do good ourselves, we would have a lot to boast about. Is that not the reason why the Pharisees boast? Yes, to this day such people who have good Christian lives by their own strength, continue to boast in themselves. They supposedly have pride in Jahweh, but it’s actually in themselves!
God planned that His Son shall be all and in all. “… Him who fills all in all” (Eph 1: 23). “… but Christ is all and in all” (Col 3: 11). Also Col 1: 15-20: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
Our Father has promised that there will be a remnant of His people on earth in our time. Also in our country South Africa. Romans 11: 5 -7: “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.” The remnant is also planned by Jahweh as cited above. It is premeditated by Him and you and I cannot change anything about it – certainly not by our good works. This word can cause you to lose your courage, as was the case with the disciples who left Jashuah when He said that no one can come to Him unless His Father in heaven draws them (John 6: 44, 65-66). But if you realize that it is His will that everyone who is willing to do His will, will be saved, then you have a lot to be grateful and thankful for. And what about the reward that someone else will receive that you may miss? This is actually another chapter on its own, but I can provisionally only say that your wages, as He states that you should be paid, if you only give a prophet, or a simple disciple, a cup of cold water, will be the same wage as that of the prophet! Read Matthew 10: 40-42. Regardless, our Father has only good things planned for us and there is ample reason for us to rejoice in His Son every day! Everything works together for good for you because you love God and are called in accordance with His purpose! (Rom 8: 28).
But how do you know that you have been called in accordance with His purpose? You know because He has given you of His Spirit (1 John 4: 13). This is the Spirit by which He draws you to His Son. Only your quest for the truth, that urges you now to read this site, is for you already ample evidence that He draws you by His Spirit. Thank and praise Him for it!
18. The Word my Enabler
Regarding this chapter, I would like, if Father wills, to make a DVD that will be made available to you. This is a critically important topic that, if you can grab it truly with your whole heart, will bring about revolutionary changes in your spiritual life. Therefore, you should not take it lightly. It deals with the effect of the Word of God inside of you. This stands against your own works and own efforts. How many times do we want to help God to do something we’ve long been praying for? Why do we want to help God? Is it because He is incompetent? Or is it because He lingered too long? Or does He not do it like you – I – would have done it? You waited perhaps for years for the salvation of your child or someone else and you do not see any improvements, let alone a true repentance and rebirth. Now you begin to preach to the child and to warn him and even blame him. This all in an effort to help God hurry up.
However, where we want to help God the most, is when it comes to our salvation and deliverance from sin and carnality. We want to cleanse or sanctify ourselves in order to be holy. That we do because, when we look at ourselves, we seem not to be delivered from sin at all. Of course we are looking at what our eyes are perceiving (2 Cor 10:7), and not what we are believing. Like Thomas, we will only believe it when we see it. (John 20: 25-27). The Word in Hebrews 11, that faith is evidence of things not seen, we can easily apply to many circumstances, but first and foremost it must become a reality for us as far as our salvation from sin, our sanctification and our cleansing through the blood of Jashuah, is concerned. With regards to this, are you willing to believe in something you have not yet seen happen? Can you believe that you are saved from sin while it is evident that you are a slave to it? Can you believe that you are cleansed by the blood of Jashuah although you actually see the opposite? Can you believe that you are sanctified by his Spirit, the Holy Spirit, while you still feel and look so unholy to yourself ?
You might remember that there are three types of faith: the first is to believe what you see and it is also the easiest kind of faith. Seeing is believing, so people say. This is the kind of faith that Thomas had. The second kind of faith is what we read about in Hebrews 11: 1-3. It is faith in the Word of God without we seeing or feeling anything of what He promised to do. This is evidence of things not seen nor felt. The third kind of faith is to believe God’s Word when the opposite happens. As in the case of Lazarus, when Jashuah said he was only sleeping, while the opposite was evident (John 11: 11). He was already beginning to decompose and smell (Verse 39).
If you want true deliverance from sin, you will need the third kind of faith: that means that you believe that you are saved from sin, while the opposite occurs in your life. Can you believe that you are saved from your moods and bad temper when you just got frustrated and succumbed to it? Can you believe that you are sanctified for God’s use only, while you just again had a wonderful party with the people of the world. Now you feel so polluted because there was nothing that bothered you while you were partying. You feel so empty and unfulfilled, and you feel that the Name of your Savior, was definitely not honored by it?`
The day comes when you discover that every Word that comes to you through the Scriptures is not meant to be an assignment, instruction or command for you to do something in your carnal power for yourself, but that the Word is you enabler. This is the day the light will break through in your spirit. Take, for instance, the Scripture that says “be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1: 15-16). There is no way by which you can sanctify yourself (and ‘be holy’). In the Old Testament God said to Israel: “that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you” (Ex 31: 13). The Word which God speaks to you, “be holy because I am holy”, is a Word with creative power (i.e. the power to form or create). It is the same as the Word that He spoke when He said, ” “let there be light”; and there was light” (Genesis 1 : 3). Through His Word He shone the light into the darkness. By the same Word holiness is given to you, and by the same Word He cleanses you. And He said: “You are already clean because of the Word which I have spoken to you” (John 15 : 3). However we can point to many things that they still did wrong after the day He spoke this Word to them. For example, after that Word was spoken to them, Peter denied that he knew Jashuah. Later, in Galatians 2: 11-14, we read how the apostle Paul had to rebuke Peter because he separated himself from the Gentile believers.
No, that Word was spoken to everyone who believed God. To everyone who would receive it in their hearts, and by doing so, quicken an action of the Word, that cleanses and purifies you to be holy and clean, to turn your mind and soul to God. Please read the Scripture in 1 Thessalonians 2: 13. “Therefore, we also thank God without ceasing, because, when you received the Word of God which you heard from us, you did not receive it as the Word of men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” Do you see that he says that the Word works in those who believe.
Here it is not you who is working but the Word. And you certainly do not need to help the Word work. Do you want to help God? If He needed your help you should have been born millions of years earlier. There are a number of places in the Scriptures where He said that He did not need the help of any people when He, as the Creator, created everything through His Word (John 1: 1-10). It is presumptuous, so highly presumptuous, to think that you can help God and lend a hand where He is in the process of doing something. Read Galatians 2: 21 and note that He says that if you think you can – through your own efforts – cleanse yourself and make yourself holy, you then effectively declare that Christ died in vain.
The Father already determined, in His great wisdom and omnipotence, how He will bring about your salvation. He sent His Son to be the Saviour (Luke 2: 11). His Name is Saviour (Matthew 1: 21 – read in the Amplified Classic Edition AMPC). Your name is not. It is His action which saves, cleanses and purifies you. But what could or should you be doing? Should you not be still, doing nothing, and wait for Him?
19. The Word that effectually works in you who believe
The longer a person walks on this road – Jashuah is the way (John 14: 6) – the more you begin to realize that you cannot grow spiritually through your own efforts, neither can you obtain God’s grace by your efforts. You cannot improve yourself, nor cleanse yourself; nor make yourself holy. You can only bring yourself by your free will to Jashuah and pray: “Please cleanse me and sanctify me my Savior.” If you come to Him, you come to the Word because He is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1: 1-14). The Word is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword (Hebrews 4: 12). The Word is Christ. He is the Word of God (Rev. 19: 13). It is His Name. He is alive, in fact He is the resurrection and the life. And those who believe in Him have eternal life in himself (John 6: 47; 10: 10). So Christ is your life (Col. 3: 4). He thus has the Word in Him, the living Word (1 Peter 1: 23). He has the seed of life in Him. It is the seed of the new birth. The seed from which the new birth, the new creation in Christ, germinates and grows and yields fruit (Mark 4: 14).
If you hear this revelation, and keep it in your heart, life awaits you. Not life like the world sees it, but as Christ does. He is alive and because He lives we live also. We live in Him and He in us. Because He lives in us as the Word and the Spirit, we experience a force, an active operating force of the Spirit and the Word (1 Thess 2: 13). For the Spirit and the Word are one and it is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail (John 6: 63). The Word that He speaks to us is Spirit and is life.
So if you receive a living Word from Him, and you believe that Word, you will find that there is a force of the Word and the Spirit being put into action in your heart to transform your whole life. It is God who lives and works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil 2: 13). He does it, not you. You are only willing. And the willingness has grades: willing to be made willing is surely the lowest grade. The highest grade is then being eager and having a strong desire to do God’s will(Ps 40: 8).
The question now is whether there is anything you can or should do. What can you do other than to call on God in prayer? This is so that Hewill now do in you the work already done by and in Jashuah. He will replicate or reproduce in you the work by which He raised Christ from the dead. He will do that by the same Spirit that raised Christ to life (Rom 8 : 11).
There are three major factors, that Scripture refers to, that play a role in our complete redemption:They are the Spirit, the blood of Jashuah and the Word. The Word and the Spirit are one (John 6: 63). If the Spirit works in you, it is the Word that works in you. This is what the Scripture reference in 1 Thess 2 verse 13 emphasises. He says there that you have received the gospel, not as the word of men, but as the Word of God, “which also effectually works in you who believe”. Have you received the Word as the word that comes from people or as the Word of God, which also works in those who believe? Before you heard this good news, you definitely had not received the Scriptures you read, regarding your salvation, as the Word which works in you who believe. This is because you were still not aware of it. But now that you know what the truth is, any Scripture you read will have a different meaning. It will no longer mean that you yourself should do something. No, it will mean so you much more than that: it will tell you that if you receive that Word in Scripture as God speaking to you personally you will also concurrently receive the ability to do what that Scripture says. Not by imitation, nor even by your own efforts, but by a powerful force of the Holy Spirit working to make that Word alive inside of you. It makes you and lets you be as the Word says. We look at our example where the Bible says “Be holy because I am holy”. When you get to know that Word with this new knowledge that you have received about the Word of God, you will believe that Word works in you to enable you to be holy as He who called you is holy ( 1 Peter 1: 15). The word is now your enabler.
Let’s take another example: there is a passage in Ephesians 4 verse 29, which says that no corrupt word should come out of our mouths. In the past, when we read such words, we then tried our best not to curse again. Oh how greatly we were disappointed when we realized that we cannot achieve this. This is described well by Romans 7 verse 15 to 26. We then proceeded to try and try again and each time we failed. If you managed not to curse for a time, you were very satisfied with yourself and seldom gave God the glory. This was with good reason because it was not God who did it, but you yourself. If you really believe that the Word is working in you, and you then consequently experience how the dirty language is disappearing, that you no longer want to curse and to swear, you will then rightly be able to give God all the glory.
How wonderful it would be if the Word that says “Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5: 34) was alive in you and the Word began to heal you completely. That is of course if you need healing.
20. The law of faith
In a previous chapter I said that He does it, not you. This is how it works. And is it not exactly what the Word says in Romans 3 where He speaks about the law of faith compared with the law of works (verse 27)? Remember when we said that the definition of an act is: “The rule according to which certain events unfold: Eg. the laws of nature, mechanics, gravity. Often it is named after a person who had formulated or discovered it, such as“ohm’s law or the law of ohm”. Also “Newton’s laws of motion”. Then the dictionary adds also “rule established by God, the divine law, the Ten Commandments”
At the time of the Old Testament there was another rule according to which things had to work in order for man to please God. In the New Testament there are new rules by which we must please God. In Old Testament times there was “I have to keep the law” and now there is a new law. It once was the law of works (Rom 3: 27) and now it is the law of faith (verse 27). It was important that there had to be a change of law (Heb 7: 12) because the old law was not by grace and it was important that the law by which man is saved will be by grace and not works ( Rom 4: 16), not merit (Rom 3: 24).Gal 3:23-25 refers to two periods: “Before faith came” and “after faith has come”.
If a law then is “the rules by which any power works”, the law of faith is the rules by which faith works. And the rules are then firstly: Faith is a gift of God and you need to pray for it. You can not turn it on. Secondly: faith works through love (Gal 5: 6). And the love is poured out by the Spirit of God in your heart (Romans 5: 5). So if your love for God and your neighbor becomes the most important objective in your life (Matthew 22: 34-40), you will find that faith spontaneously begins to flow through you. So start to spend short periods of time with your Father and His Son. These are times when you become quiet before Him. In this time you should be careful not to read the Bible. You have enough promises from His Word living in your mind, which now needs to become alive in your heart or spirit. As you sit before Him and open your spirit before Him in order that His Spirit can begin to work in yours, letting the seed of His Word germinate in the ground of your spirit, you will experience something beyond description. Establish your focus on Him, think about Him in all His goodness and greatness. Think about Jashuah’s sacrifice on the cross and in hell to save you and give you new life. It’s a time of intimate love-declarations, worship, adoration and thanksgiving. Draw closer to Him and He will draw near to you (James 4: 8). This paragraph is the key to faith, and faith is the key to the Word that works in you . 2 Thessalonians 1: 11-12: “Therefore, we always pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of the calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and all complete power makesthe work of faith with power, that the Name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ. ” In the latter text He says that He will fulfill every work of faith with power. If faith then, as I said, works through love, it is clear then why you do not find salvation from sin. THERE IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IN YOUR LOVE RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD YOUR FATHER, AND WITH JASHUAH, YOUR SAVIOR. This is where you should start looking into the law of faith: faith that works through love (Gal 5: 6). If you are feeling tonight that you have a greater desire to go to the pub with your friends than to go and have a quiet time with Jashuah, the Lover of your soul and spirit, you realize that there is something lacking in your love relationship with God. Go ahead and start praying about it so that Yahweh will give us a Word, a Word from His heart for you!
21. The Law of Unbelief
Just like faith, unbelief also has a specific law according to which it works. Thus a rule of law according to which it works. The law of unbelief, or disbelief, is certainly a logical law when you realize what the law of faith entails – it says the opposite of the law of faith – logically! Yet it is good to contemplate the opposite of faith because it gives you a better understanding of what the law of faith means.
The law of unbelief, or the rules by which unbelief works is easy: Living to please yourself, pursuing your own pleasures and thinking on the things of the flesh (Rom 8: 5-9). Letting your “self-I” or “my way” reign in your life. Not considering it necessary to forgive others for what they did to you. Praying as little as possible … what more shall I say? Yes, tell Jashuah that you are sorry that He had to die on the cross because it was not necessary, that you can please God by your own doing, that He does not need to be your righteousness. Then you can take a black pen and scratch Gal 2: 21 and 1 Corinthians 1: 30 out in your Bible. Then you can ask me, or somebody else, to quote or list for you all the Scriptures that say it is impossible to please God by your own good works, so that you can scratch them out in your Bible. Actually, you have to save yourself a lot of time, discard the entire New Testament because it is the good news of God’s grace! It’s not a textbook on merit and your human efforts to please God!
Am I being sarcastic? No! I am very serious! And I want to add more: Also you should do as little as possible to set your mind on the things above, there where Christ sits at the right hand of God (Col 3 : 1-2). Rather set your mind and heart on things that are on the earth. Spend more time on your social media, your TV and all the cute messages that all so freely sent, watching movies rather than sitting in the Father and His Son’s presence seeking His face. I can still mention a lot of things, but if you do this only you will experience very soon that you have no faith. There will be a working of unbelief, fear and anxiety in you. You will definitely experience it!
22. Look to Me and live!
The English Bible says, “Look to Me, and be saved” Isaiah 45: 22. I own many books that I inherited from my mother and grandfather. It is very rare that I read the books, because my time is so limited. In some cases, the Holy Spirit leads me to take a book from the shelf and then I randomly open and read a few passages from it. Sometimes it’s just a paragraph. And it is very rare that I read more than one page. Then I close it and put it back on the shelf. This morning I took an old book, written in 1927 by Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest”, and I opened on page 22 and read: “WHAT AM I LOOKING AT?” And then he continues saying: “Do we expect God to come to us with His blessings and save us? He says – “Look to Me, and be saved.” The great difficulty spiritually is to concentrate on God, and it is His blessings that make it difficult. Troubles nearly always make us look to God; His blessings are apt to make us look elsewhere. The teachings of the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7) is, in effect – Narrow all your interests until the attitude of mind and heart and body results in concentration on Christ. “Look unto Me” he said. In other words: “Look to me, and be saved”. (Isaiah 45: 22).
Many of us have a mental conception of what a Christian should be, and the lives of the saints become a hindrance to our concentration on God because we look more at their lives than to God. There is no salvation in this imitation of other “model” children of God. Yahweh says: “Look to Me” and not “and you will be saved”, but “and be saved” (i.e. not future tense). The very thing that we look for, we will find if we would just concentrate on Him. We get preoccupied and sulky with God while all the time He is saying – “Look up and be saved”. The daily problems and decisions which our minds are constantly preoccupied with, things like “what will we do in this time of trouble, or “what we should do tomorrow”, will all disappear when we look to God.
Train yourself to look to God and to direct your eyes to Him. Build your hope in Him. No matter if there are 101 things that are putting pressure on you, be determined to exclude them from your mind and look to Him for the answer. “Turn to Me and be saved” – and the salvation and redemption is yours from the moment you look at Him and you turn to Him. Read 2 Chronicles 16 verse 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.”
Heb 12 verses 1-2 : “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 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”.
23. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you
If one reads this passage in James 4 verse 8 it is clear that you should get closer to God. Then in John 6 verse 44 you read again where He says “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.” In verse 63 He says: “It is the Spirit that gives life, the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are Spirit, and they are life.” He continues in verse 65: “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father”. From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more (verse 66).
The passage in James reminds us that the first movement between me and God, in order to come closer to each other, is to be from my side. However, the passage in John reminds me that it must come first from God. Now how does this work? The answer is: By God’s foreknowledge He knew from before the foundation of the world who would be willing to do His will. And so He wrote their names, before the foundation of the world, in the book of life. You can read more about this in the Bible (Eph 1:4, Rev 13: 8). The people He knew from before the Creation, He also called (Rom 8: 30). These are the people that He drew to Him so that He can also draw closer to them. Your desire to do His will was initially only a willingness to do His will, but later, when He started working in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Phil 2: 13), this mere willingness became, or will become, a strong desire. Similarly, your desire to love Him, and to love your neighbour, will become stronger. It will later become the cry of your heart in prayer to Him for His love to be poured out in your heart (Romans 5: 5)and also that He will draw you closer to Him. Hear the words of this song: “I’m Yours Lord, I have heard your voice, it tells your love to me. Draw me higher o Lord in your faith and even closer to Your side. Draw me closer to You, closer, to your wounded side, to the cross where you suffered for me. Draw me closer, closer precious Lord to Your pierced side”. Your desire to get closer to Him will get stronger the more and more you pray to Him. And the more you pray the more He will draw you closer to Him. Part of the image of God in you is your free will. Part of your free will is your will to seek Him and to draw closer to Him. Would you begin to pray to Him so that He will work in you to will in a much stronger way than you have ever experienced? Ask Him also to draw you to Him, and this desire will get stronger and stronger until your life with Christ is hidden in God (Col. 3: 4).
In the previous chapters I shared a few words with you about being still and quiet before your Father and His Son, your Saviour, preferably early in the morning. This time of intimate love communion will eventually become so precious to you and also to Him. Once you realize that it is just as great for Him to hear your voice as it is for you to hear His, you will no longer miss it for anything in the world. And when you have a very busy schedule ahead of you that day, you will get up earlier, in order not to miss those precious moments, the time in which you can be alone with Him. You just cannot miss it because without it you can, after a while, no longer live. If you miss that time, you will soon notice in your life that there is something lacking in your strength, faith, love, and the fruit of the Spirit in general. Especially now when we have entered a time here in our country, and in fact around the world, where there are many things threatening us. You will soon realise how your courage and faith has grown to a very high level as you, in the morning or during the day, spend that quiet time alone with your Father and your Saviour, Jashuah.
24. A Transformation
Looking at the history of “The quiet ones in the land” (Ps 35: 20), we see many differences between them and the people of the church-age. You will notice that I write the word church here with a small letter because the name “Church” with a capital letter actually refers to the kuriakon or the proclaimed of God, those who were called out of this world by God (in the original Greek text they were referred to as “ekklesia”). And they are “The quiet ones in the lands” or as the Scriptures refer to in Psalm 83: 3 “Your sheltered ones”. If the difference between the two then becomes a point of discussion, there is one important difference that we should not miss. This is the difference between cleaning the cup on the outside, while it is still full of your fleshly human things on the inside, and cleaning the cup first on the inside so that it will be cleansed automatically on the outside (Matt 23:25). Through the years in which I served as a minister in a church, it was astonishing to notice how great an emphasis was placed on a “beautiful life”. The impression we had to make on people was much more important than the impression we had to make on our Father. It was very important that, after a “repentance”, a person could not smoke anymore, neither could he drink, nor swear, but gossiping, slander and doing the things Paul refers to in Romans 1:28-32, were not considered so important. Not to mention the great mother sin of all, unbelief (John 16: 8-9.). Through these years, I got the impression that it’s not so important to impress God but rather to look good to people. And that’s why Jashuah tells the Pharisees that they want to put on a beautiful show just to be seen by the people. Paul also writes about this “good showing in the flesh” that they want to make by keeping the law of circumcision (Gal. 6:12).
Why would they like to make a nice impression on the people? It is this impression that attracts people to their church. The beautiful life is thus an advertisement of how Christian, spiritual and divine they are. It is proof that their religion is working. They want to make the impression that people’s lives change, because God is at work there. People are saved from sin and their lives are transformed. They become a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We have laughed well many times when someone tells us that a particular person did not quit smoking, as he testifies, but only ceased to buy cigarettes because he now smokes on the sly at other people’s costs. To date, it is a great desire for many people to be saved from sinful habits, especially the habits that have become a social evil and financially affected their families. But God would like us to be transformed into the likeness of His Son. He wants us to be free from all slavery to darkness: the sin, the flesh, and the world. And with that He also wants His Son to be our righteousness and that we should not try to establish our own righteousness (Rom 10: 3) by which we will try to please Him.
Now we come to the Scripture for this chapter and we read it in 2 Corinthians 3: 7-18. ” But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Here’s the Scripture of a transformation and metamorphosis. It happens when you face the glory of Yahweh with an uncovered face. The Holy Spirit does this work and not yourself. It is not you who should behave yourself better and bite on your teeth not to curse. Neither you who should keep your face serious so as not to laugh at a dirty joke. It is also not you who should suppress your desire to enjoy a drink with someone. It is also not you who should try to feign faith. It is the Spirit of God that now works in you that pours the wonderful life of Jashuah into you. It’s as Jashuah said in John 16: 13-15, that the Holy Spirit would take from what belongs to Him and declare it to us. He says He will “declare” it to us. The Amplified Bible says that He will “transmit” or “convey” it to us. I’ve already written in previous writings – or I think I have – that the word “declare” in John 16: 14-15 is like when an electric train’s locomotive draws the electric power to work its motors through a pantograph. It is a device that conducts the current from the overhead power cables into its motors in order to activate and power it. And by this the locomotive can pull a tremendously heavy load. But the power is brought from above and does not come out of the locomotive itself. So it comes from “ABOVE”. The Holy Spirit brings it out of Jashuah to you and carries it over in your mind, soul and body. It is thus the Spirit that conveys the image of Jashuah into you (Col. 1: 15) and shines and works through you. He changes your form to His, to the same image (2 Cor 3:18), through the same Spirit that raised Him from the dead (Rom 8: 11). You become totally dependent on the Holy Spirit and no longer trust in yourself. This is what Paul meant by being weak in yourself but strong in Christ. 2 Corinthians 12: 8-10: “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 13: 4: “For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you”.
However, there are a number of things that prevent the light, that is in the face of God, from shining on you so that you can undergo a change of image and appearance. If you look again at 2nd Corinthians 3 and you read from verse 13 then you will notice that He immediately says: “unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face…” And then in verse 14 He says: “But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
The biggest hindrance is the veil which is nothing but the law or laws. It does not mean that lawlessness and licentiousness will bring you to the glory of God’s face. No, there must be a law, but a law other than that of the Old Testament. This is the law of the Spirit, the law of life in Christ Jashuah (Romans 8: 1-3). It is the perfect law of liberty (James 1: 25; 2Cor 3:17). It is not a law that forces you, but the Spirit of God that urges you. You must first experience the difference between force and urge before you taste the glory of it. If you, as a wise citizen, experience the pleasure of coming to a crossroad where there is no stop sign, and then feel your responsibility towards other road users urging you to slow down and look left and right to check if no other vehicles are coming, then you will understand how the law of freedom works. At the crossroads, you were not forced by law to stop, but your concern about your fellow human beings forced you to act responsibly. Looking back at our passage of Scripture, we realise that human law may be a barrier and hindrance to us when we want to come into God’s presence. I have often experienced it: when I want to sit for a short while in my Father’s presence, get silent and say nothing but just relax in the love of His face, worship Him and love Him and His Son, experiencing how His Word pours through His Spirit into my spirit, suddenly human and earthly laws are in charge as well as the obligations and responsibilities that call. Then I must jump and immediately pay attention to the obligations determined by earthly and human laws. If there is someone who has a sense of duty towards God and man, then I am that person. I say it in all humility and with gratitude for Father’s mercy. I grew up that way and was educated to be like that. Over the years it only became stronger. So if the duties call, there is no rest for me and I must go straight away. Now the only answer and solution that has come to me is to get up earlier in the morning. And the Holy Spirit has also helped me and has woken me over the past few years. Two, three, four times a night I wake up and rise and bend very low in worship before my Father and His Son. When I go to bed again, I seldom sleep again but worship Him where I lay on my bed. Sometimes I fall asleep but it’s no longer important to me. You may not believe it, but as a young boy I went to bed 7o’ clock in the evening. My family called me “sleepy”, named after one of the Seven dwarfs of Walt Disney. But I had to sacrifice my sleep. For years I had been fighting against it. When I started waking up during the night, I rebelled and asked Father why I could not, like others, be allowed to sleep. But when He revealed to me that He would like to hear my voice when I praise and worship Him, my whole attitude changed. Every night, I have a wonderful time of love communion in the presence of Jashuah and the Father, a time when I worship and glorify them. I have already confessed many times that I was so short-sighted and doubted Father’s love and goodness.
In those times when the earthly laws of sleep and rest were removed, I began to experience to be free from all those laws, looking with uncovered face in the face of the Father and His Son. It is, however, only in an early stage, but I am already experiencing a change in my inner being. I realize that it has to start first with my inside before it can be seen outside. Therefore, even if people still do not see that there is a change in your form and image, you will experience it yourself first. Therefore, keep your courage and continue to spend every possible opportunity in your Father and Jashuah’s presence, and everything will change for you: you will feel it in your peace, faith, love, tolerance, yes, in every fruit of the Spirit.
25. To Know Him
I have written about this subject in the past, but for me personally, the desire and urgency to know the Father and His Son grows even greater from day to day. Go and read the prophet Hosea 6: 1-6 “Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, that we may live in His sight. Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. 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. “O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew it goes away.”. (Note: the Amplified Bible translation reads in verse 3: “Yes, let us know (recognize, be acquainted with, and understand Him; let us be zealous to know the Lord [to appreciate, give heed to, and cherish Him]. His going forth is prepared and certain as the dawn, and He will come to us as the heavy rain, as the latter rain that waters the earth.”)
If you, in the time that you sit in silence before the face of your Father and in the presence of His Son, seek with a deep desire and craving to do everything according to His will and to in all things please Him, then you will experience growing within you a great desire to know Him – to closely know Him. And the Word in verse 3 will encourage you, the Word which assures us that “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”. It gives us courage and faith that He will surely reveal Himself to us so that we can know Him, “and the power of His resurrection,” as Philippians 3: 10 promised us. Please read this before we proceed. You will notice that certain conditions are attached. As we read today in almost every ad: “T’s & C’s Apply”, there are also conditions attached here. We must carefully look at these conditions, otherwise you will have the desire through your whole life to know the Father, as well as His Son, but will never have that experience.
If you read in the passage from verse 1-9, you will notice that it was a very important thing for Paul to maintain and obey the law and that, according to him, he also almost succeeded in doing it. But in order to know Christ in the power of His resurrection, he had to take into account these important achievements in his life, i.e. being a good maintainer and enforcer of the law, and consider them all mere rubbish and dung. Please read those verses again. Do you now realize that it was necessary for Paul, and also for you and I, to count as worthless the works of the flesh so that we could know Christ and the power of His resurrection, the sharing of His suffering, all while being conformed to the His crucifixion(Gal 2: 20)?
If you now very seriously pray to our Father in order to reveal the depths of this passage to you in your spirit, the following things will clearly be revealed to you: First, you will find that everything you regard as gain in life, you should consider loss. Also, whatever possessions or privileges you may have, you will have to be willing to be regarded as rubbish in order to gain Christ. Please don’t go now and burn and discard articles in your home! This Word only applies if the Holy Spirit reveals these things to you in your spirit, and tells you that if you really want to know Christ closely, and also the Father, you will have to sacrifice these things (i.e. This is to sacrifice them in your heart. To be willing at any moment to be rid of worldly possessions if the Spirit should so lead you). If that is too difficult for you, you should not forget that 1 Cor 1: 30 says that Christ is your righteousness. He will surely be your “breastplate of righteousness” (Eph 6:14) and the “shield of faith” that protects your heart against the flaming arrows of the evil one (Eph 6:16). These “arrows” will enable you to rather make a decision in favour of the things you regard as a benefit, whilst the Holy Spirit points out to you that these things are to be sacrificed. The enemy would love you to choose the things that satisfy the desires of your flesh (Rom 13: 14), rather than to chase after Christ in the power of His resurrection.
To encourage and inspire you to hunt after knowing Christ you need to read Jeremiah 9 verse 23 and 24 : “ 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; But 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.”
You cannot know the almighty Creator without knowing God as merciful and doing justice and righteousness on earth. You cannot get to know Him if you do not realise that no plan for Him is unfeasible and that nothing and nobody can stand against Him. If you really get to know Him and His Son in the power of His resurrection, He will change your whole life and you will find out that His decisions flow through you and that you have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2: 16). You will experience how His thoughts flow through you and that the thoughts and ideas of this world are dead to you. You then will have the full armour of God. If you can now read Ephesians 6: 10-20 and realise that every part of the armour of God is embodied in Christ. He is the belt of truth with which you gird yourself (Verse 14). He is the willingness for the gospel of peace (Verse 15). He is the breastplate of righteousness (Verse 14). He is the shield of faith (Verse 16; Ps 3: 3). He is the helmet of salvation (Verse 17). He is the sword of the spirit (Rev 19: 11-16). Yes, everything that He is you will discover and experience in your own life and in your spirit. You’ll discover faith you’ve never had before and love like you never knew. You cannot get to know Him without knowing His love, knowing the length and the breadth and the height and depth of his love (Eph 3: 17-21).
So, speaking of His love, it will become important for you to get to know the full extent of His love as we read it in Ephesians 3: 17-21. Maybe now that you chase after knowing Him, you’ll also find out that you’re chasing after getting to know His love. And it will fill you to all the fullness of God (Verse 19). And then you will find out that He does things for you, as His child, exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think according to His power that works in you (Verse 20).
For the time being this Word is quite a lot to absorb. Therefore you must first go over this while you are in the presence of God. Discuss it with Him and tell Him that it matters a lot to you to know Him. It may also be important at this stage to realise that to know Him is eternal life (Joh 17: 1-3).
Perhaps I should just mention that this is the reason why He gave you your mind and human wisdom, not to work things out for yourself, as you think is best, but He has given you your mind in order to know Him as He says in 1 Joh 5: 20. He also enabled you to be baptized into His body by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 12: 12-27). Pray about this, pray for this. It will be worth it for you!