Taking up your cross
Two deaths, Jesus’ and yours, activate the blood covenant!
You cannot expect God’s richest presence and blessings without your part of the blood covenant, without sacrifice. Jeremiah 34:18-20 states that we are in the hands of our enemies if we transgress the covenant.
You may have been focusing on the blood of Jesus and what the Cross accomplished for you, and you may have been using the word of your testimony to speak the Word of God into your affliction, but without taking up your cross, everything else will be of no avail. We will see how taking up your cross is simply cooperating with the Word of God to allow the character of Jesus to replace your old character. It means totally abandoning the things that you have relied upon for your love, security, and significance. God does not want us to change, He wants us to “die” and allow Jesus to live His life through us.
We cannot have true fellowship with God without a good conscience, which cannot exist without holiness, and true holiness is nothing more and nothing less than Jesus living His life in our vessels (1 Timothy 1:5, Hebrews 12:14).
Can we really take up our cross without help? We can only take up our cross to a point, but not all the way. We don’t have enough hands to crucify all of ourselves; the last nail must be inserted by the world. We must experience some sort of pain and breaking to really get the job done. God does not do this, the world does. We can offer to God those things that we control, those things that we are aware of. However, God sees with vision we do not have. He knows those things in your soul that are keeping you from complete healing and connection with Him. The more of you that can die, the more of Him can live in you. His plan is not to clean up your old life, but to have you experience the crucifixion with Him.
We will be focusing on two major consequences or rewards that are a result of living a life of taking up your cross.
1. As you continually take up your cross you will be conformed to the image of Jesus. You will be conformed to love like He loves, give like He gives, and forgive like He forgives, and be holy as He is holy. As you live this life of love, all of your spiritual enemies will be rendered harmless, and you will overcome. Remember, faith works by love! (Galatians 5:6).
2. As you continually take up you cross, the second major reward and consequence will be that you will experience the presence of God.
You need the presence of God to free and cleanse you in order to overcome. You cannot overcome difficulties in life with plans and formulas, with the pastor’s sermon or the Sunday school class. You must be in touch with the Living God! In Revelation chapter 2, the church at Ephesus was into great works, but God said to them, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4).
I stay hungry for His presence!
Staying in God’s presence magnifies Him and makes Him larger than your afflictions. “Oh, magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together” (Psalms 34:3).
“Blessed is the man You choose, And cause to approach You, That he may dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Of Your holy temple” (Psalms 65:4). Our greatest blessing in life is to be honored by God’s presence. There is nothing like being in real time touch with Him. However, we need a pure conscience otherwise we will be deceived.
Often we hear the expression, “Feeling the presence of God.” While we do not trust in our feelings, and certainly we need faith in the presence of God without feelings, often we can and do sense and feel the presence of God. The Tabernacle pattern makes this “feeling” dependable. God wants our emotions involved. As you will learn in this process our emotions are not relied upon until after we consecrate our mind and will. If we use this pattern, our emotions are safer. There are a lot of “spirits” out there that can and do affect man’s emotions, but God has made a safe way to know that it is Him.
When we are in affliction, the only remedy is to push into the presence of God for relief. When we find His presence, it seems like everything will be all right. We discover a different perspective on our life and on our afflictions, which only His presence can uncover. We begin to look at things from the heavenly viewpoint.
We need to know that there are enemies that want to stop God from being real to us. Our enemies come at us three main ways, our flesh, the world, and Satan.
God has already provided for all victory over our enemies! The way into His presence was provided at the Cross when the veil of the Temple was torn from top to bottom. Mark 15:38 says, “Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.” Now it is our job to cooperate. We must take up our cross - which will give us the victory!
However, we need to understand that we may be cooperating with some of these enemies which will prevent us from entering into God’s presence and even from overcoming. In this chapter we will deal with those issues by using the example of the Tabernacle. Some hindrances which may be blocking the presence of God in your life may be:
a. Not accepting God’s forgiveness, and not offering forgiveness.
b. Not making the Word of God first place in your life.
c. Keeping an unthankful attitude towards God.
d. Hanging on to your independence and your strong will and not allowing God to work out His will in your life.
e. Not allowing God to renew your mind and remove strongholds in your life.
f. Not maintaining an attitude of praise, which leads to worship.
g. Not loving and giving as Jesus does. In other words, being selfish and self-centered.
h. Trying to live by legalism and the law, rather than by grace.
i. Trying to live an unholy life by being presumptuous on God’s grace.
The Tabernacle is a picture of the three parts of our soul, which are the will, intellect (mind), and emotions. The Tabernacle will serve as a foundation for our part of the blood covenant, our sacrifice.
Quote from God’s Plan and the Overcomers [1]- Watchman Nee.
“The Old Testament tells us how the chosen people of God lived on earth. At first, the tabernacle served as the center of the 12 tribes; later it was the temple which became their center. The center of the temple was the ark. The tabernacle, the temple and the ark are all types of Christ. As long as the children of Israel maintained their proper relationship with the tabernacle or the temple they were victorious, and no nation could overcome them. Even though their enemies learned how to fight while they themselves were not familiar with fighting, the children of Israel overcame all their enemies nonetheless. But the moment they had problems with the tabernacle or the temple, they were taken into captivity. Nothing else, whether they had powerful kings or great wisdom in themselves mattered at all; the only concern which mattered was whether or not they had offended the ark of the tabernacle or temple. If the Lord had the preeminence, then theirs was the victory. So too with us today. In minding the victory of Christ, we also have the victory.”
One part of overcoming is “…and they did not love their lives to the death” (Revelation 12:11c). The word “lives” is psuche in Greek, which means the soul. It does not mean our physical life, it means our will, intellect and emotions. It means that unregenerated part of our being that needs to become like Jesus. “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Luke 9:23).
God is actually accomplishing many things during our overcoming affliction.
1. We are overcoming the actual curse or affliction we are dealing with.
2. We are closer to God, in intimate fellowship, than we have ever been before.
3. Our soul is going through a healing and is being renewed.
4. We are being conformed into His image.
5. We receive the rhema, God’s personal Word, to us.
Paul wonderfully expresses taking up your cross in the Book of Romans. Paul takes the first eight to eleven chapters of Romans to explain the desperate need of mankind and the wonderful provision God has made for that need. Then he says in effect that in view of these wonderful mercies, take up your cross. “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. And 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” (Romans 12:1,2). Then in the next few chapters he gives some very good practical advice on how to take up your cross and present your members as a living sacrifice. I urge everyone reading this to read Romans Chapters 12-15 prayerfully, asking God to convict you in your ways of selfishness.
Our mind needs to be transformed and renewed, to change into another form, to transform, to transfigure. Christ’s appearance was changed and was resplendent with divine brightness on the mount of transfiguration. God does a supernatural work of changing us as we submit our old will, intellect, and emotions.
Transformation is kind of like the displacement method. When clean water is poured into a glass of dirty water, the displacement theory transforms the water. The dirty water did not become clean, but was displaced by the clean water. As we go through this process the character of Jesus displaces our old will, mind, and emotions. That is called grace!
As you journey into fellowship with God, picture taking a walk through the Tabernacle as the priests of the Old Testament did.
“In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me” (Ps 27:5b).
We begin here. We walk through here We end up here and take up our cross. in God’s presence.
Walking through the Tabernacle
When Jesus said that we must deny ourselves, lose our life for His sake, etc., He was using a word that refers to our soul. So we must deny, or say no to, our soul.
Our soul is three parts: the will, mind (intellect), and emotions. The Holy Place represents that part of our being, the soul. It has three pieces of furniture that represent our will, mind and emotions (see above picture). Allowing God to replace our old will, mind, and emotions with His, is the taking up of our cross.
Now we will take a journey to each of these items in our prayer time and journey right past our enemies into the very presence of God!
A Journey into the Presence of God
First stop, His Cross. Receiving forgiveness and forgiving others.
The first stop within the Tabernacle pattern towards the presence of God is the Bronze Altar. Bronze stands for judgment. Our sins have been judged as transferred to Jesus on the Cross. I believe that this altar is a pivot point, kind of a watershed, not only for coming into God’s presence and overcoming, but also for our entire relationship with God. I make this statement based upon the fact that in the Book of Revelation, as God is looking for overcomers, He continually makes the statement, “He who overcomes….” Then he makes overcomers some promise, a different one for each of the seven churches. He is referring, in each case, to overcoming their faults, sins and fleshly attitudes.
The Brazen or Brass Altar represents the Cross of Jesus and His sacrifice there for our sins and our sin nature. However we must appropriate this sacrifice by being honest with Him.
Many people have never been comfortable enough with another person to be totally transparent and honest. If you have never encountered the person of Jesus, in the Holy Spirit or in another human, it may be difficult for you to bare your heart before God.
Look at it this way. Imagine that you are preparing to go into a courtroom where you were the defendant. Imagine further that you were sitting in a restaurant in the building just downstairs from the courtroom, thinking about your trial, and suddenly the judge walks in. He sits next to you and begins to tell you how you can win the trial for sure. He gives you advance information on what he will be looking for. He gives you inside information. This is how I see Revelation chapters 2-3. They are not put there to make us feel condemned, but rather to prepare us for victory. There may be many hidden and deceitful attitudes in our lives that the enemy can use against us. You can trust the judge who does this. He is looking out for your best interest.
We need to be and can safely be very straight up with ourselves and with God about our attitudes and sinful actions. I am not promoting some kind of striving after sinless perfection that could drive us to despair, but rather am encouraging you to be totally gut level honest with the One who loves you more than you love yourself. He will not condemn you nor make you feel dirty. The devil does that. The devil never gives you a way out. However when we allow God to convict us, He always does it in love, and always gives us a way out. It is called repentance, to turn from our attitudes and actions with the power given to us in and through the Holy Spirit living within.
I have seen a lot of people study the Bible and become very grounded in who they are in Christ and what the Cross did for them, and they even continually confess those Scriptures, but they experience defeat. Why? I submit that it is because they do not want to be honest with their real condition, and they do not want to be real with themselves and with God.
Repentance is a gift from God. Being able to repent brings revival; it brings the presence of the Lord. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).
We can be honest with Jesus, we can trust Him. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
A big part of taking up your cross is being gut level honest with God. You need to be totally transparent and tell Him everything. Take time to pour out your heart to him as you would your best friend! Often we do not even know our sin. The safest thing to do is what I have learned from my wife, just tell Him everything! Pour out your heart to Him telling Him how you feel about everything. You can be sure that as you do that, some of what comes out of your mouth will be the confession of sin, and Jesus loves it!
1 John 1:7 says, “But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Jesus said in John 3:19 that sin had no power as long as people came out into the light with the truth, and did not attempt to hide in darkness. Jesus did not die for our excuses; He died for our sin!
Here are some of the areas in which the Holy Spirit will work in your life.
a. Sin against men. The greatest issue is that you need to walk in love, and when you fail, run to God to be cleansed. If we stay turned toward God and stay honest with Him, He will see us through even in our mistakes and stumbling. Read 1 Corinthians 13, the “love chapter.”
b. Sin against God. The greatest issue with God is that many Christians still go to “other gods” for their needs rather than to the Word. The Old Testament is overflowing with this issue and Jesus spent a lot of time teaching about “You cannot serve God and Mammon.” Mammon is not simply money, it is increase (outside of God’s Word) of any kind, including love security and significance. Your safety lies in repenting from all other idols in your life. Then Jesus can supply your needs.
c. Let us look at Revelation again. Jesus wanted to prepare the Churches of that day, as well as you and me, for the trial. His way of doing that is expressed in Revelation chapters 2-3.
God is looking for overcomers in Revelation. Overcoming is the bottom line message to each of these seven churches. Jesus was showing each one of the churches back then, and each one of us right now, that there are certain things in our lives that we need to line up with God’s plan, so that we may become overcomers. We need to clean up our ways because before we overcome, we will be in intense war. As soldiers, we need “clean rifles, shinny boots,” and obedient spirits. The message continues and shows us that things will get bad, then they will get worse, and then they will seem intolerable. It will look like evil is winning. We don’t know if we can hang on any longer, then suddenly, Jesus comes on the scene on delivers us. We overcome! The rewards of overcoming include a closer relationship with God, more of His character in our lives, more of His provisions for temporal needs, and spiritual authority to go rescue others who need to overcome.
The word overcome is used eleven times in Revelation. The first seven times it is for the churches, and you and me. The next two times, Chapter 11:7 and 13:7, the bad guys overcome the good guys. The next time, Chapter 17:14, Jesus, The Lamb, overcomes the bad guys. The last time is in Chapter 21:7 when Jesus tells us, “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son” (Revelation 21:7).
I admit that I do not understand all of the beautiful pictures and language portraits in Revelation. In an effort to summarize some practical points gleaned from Jesus’ message to each of the seven churches in Revelation, I offer the following practical, yet probably incomplete summary. I believe that included here are areas that each one of us may apply to our own lives. Remember Jesus was not condemning these believers and churches, He wanted them to overcome. He knew that Satan would prevent their overcoming unless they repented.
The Church of Ephesus (Revelation 2:1). They were working hard for the Gospel, undergoing trouble and were patient. They would not endure wicked people. Their heart was in the right place for God and His work. But they left their first love. Jesus said, “You deserted ME! Get back into real time, vital living contact with Me, or you will not survive and overcome what is about to happen to you.” We need to be in “real time” contact with God through the Holy Spirit and the Word. The analogy is, we can write letters to one another, we can send email to one another, we can even “chat” with one another on the internet, but unless we get face to face, our relationship will be limited. We need face to face contact with God.
The Church of Smyrna (Revelation 2:8). This was, and represents the persecuted church. Jesus knew of their great distress, affliction and poverty, but He told them to hang on and be faithful, even if to death. Jesus had nothing against this church. I submit that this includes people who are destined to be physical martyrs. Their reward is the Crown of Life. Crown stands for authority, and life represents the spiritual life given by God. Historically, the death of martyrs has brought about a great harvest of souls. In the year 2000, there was a tragic incident in an American High School in Colorado, where two demonized boys killed thirteen people. Some of the ones who died did so as true martyrs. Since that time there have been thousands of souls come into the Kingdom of God through this event. I believe that the “Smyrna believer” can also be those who are in terrible suffering which may not be unto death. Notice in verse 2:9 the Lord calls those who are afflicted and in poverty rich. “I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich)…”(Revelation 2:9). The next verse says that these people “will have tribulation ten days.”
The Church of Pergamos (Revelation 2:12). These people lived among an evil people who had the spirit of anti-Christ, yet they did not deny Jesus. But Jesus saw that some of them had a money problem, serving two gods at the same time and they welcomed some false teaching about needing a mediator between themselves and God (Nicolaitans). Some believers and some entire denominations feel that there needs to be a human priest to mediate between God and man. “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5).
They also were prone to sexual vice. Perhaps they had a love of the “world” and its “gods.” Revelation 2:14 states that these people held to the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak, the King of Moab to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel. Balaam was hired by Balak to curse the Israelites prior to waging war with them. Balaam, a prophet, tried to curse Israel, but he could only bless. Later, as recorded in Numbers 31, in a war with the Midianites, the Israelites, at the prompting of Balaam, mingled with the Midianite women. This sin caused Israel to fail, and a plague came upon the entire congregation of the Lord.
“And Moses said to them, “Have you kept all the women alive? ‘Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD’” (Numbers 31:15,16).
Satan knows that sin and disobedience is the quickest way to overcome God’s people. The curse could not be effective because God had blessed them, but their own choice to sin defeated them. Obedience is a very big issue with God, and many Christians are deceived, even self-deceived, by their own works; and even deceived by their own sacrifices. Obedience is better than sacrifice.
Jesus said that if they did not turn from these sins, that He would fight against them. He also promised them a major blessing of close fellowship with Him if they overcame these problems.
The Church of Thyatira (Revelation 2:18). Jesus recognized their love and service, but He saw the spirit of Jezebel (which is being out of line when it comes to authority). This often leads to sexual immorality and being led astray in many other ways. Jesus promised authority to those who overcame. There are many manifestations of the spirit of Jezebel, some within the church and some outside the church. It is not primarily a sexual demon, although it uses sex as one of its tools to control. It counterfeits the Holy Spirit and often acts as a false prophet. Often when found in the church, Jezebel’s goals are to destroy the congregation. Often she is successful. Pastors must remain vigilant to people who disguise themselves as super-spiritual. Pastors, and all men, must remain in proper relationship with their God-given spouse; otherwise they are prime targets. A woman very often traps young men, who do not submit to the authority of Jesus, with a Jezebel spirit. Young women who find themselves without an authority figure are often trapped by a male with a Jezebel or an Ahab (Jezebel’s husband) spirit. This is why the church is commissioned to minister to widows and orphans. They make up a large groups of those who are not under a male authority (divorced women as well).
The Church of Sardis (Revelation 3:1). Jesus called them dead! He said that they thought that they were alive. That is a very dangerous position to be in; dead but convinced they are alive! This could describe many main line denominations that go through the motions without real life. He stated that their garments were dirty but that there were a few who had on white, representing His righteousness. The remedy prescribed for them, and for those who are tending to be like them, is to back up and remember the lessons they have heard in the past, and to be a doer of the Word this time. In other words, be obedient to the Word of God. He said that if they repented and turned that He would not blot their names out of the Book of Life. It is a fearful thought that some people may have been scheduled for salvation but had their name blotted out!
The Church of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7). These people are overcomers! This was the church that was doing its best to live and minister properly, but they were constantly under attack from the enemy. He found nothing against them, but warned them to hang on to the end, or they would lose. I believe that these are the people who are positioned to turn their troubles and curses into triumph and blessings! I believe that these are the people who will win if they hang on long enough. Revelation 3:10 indicates that God will keep them safe during the “trial.” These are the people who will have spiritual authority and will be able to help others overcome.
The Church of Laodicea (Revelation 3:14). This was the lukewarm church; they were neither hot nor cold. They said they were rich, but Jesus called them poor. I believe there is an indication that they were very religious and self-righteous. They were blinded to their condition. Jesus warned them to be overcomers, not losers. The reason I feel that “lukewarm” indicates self righteousness, is because He told them, “Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ --and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17). That is spiritual pride. In verse 18 He tells them that they cannot even see their condition. I believe that all of us can take a warning from this admonition.
Let us not forget how grace reached down and saved us. Let us not judge others too quickly. The only effective way of dealing with a brother or sister who is not acting right is to bring them into the presence of God. It will not remedy their situation if we hit them over the head with the Bible! I am not saying that there won’t be times of firm dealings with some people, but for the most part love and grace are the needed ingredients. Criticism and gossip will not help people. Criticism and gossip is what comes out of the mouth of the self-righteous, and those are the people who Jesus will “spue out of His mouth” (Revelation 3:16b).
The wonderful promise for repentance from a self-righteous attitude is that the person may be intimate with Jesus. “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” (Revelation 3:20). There is no intimacy with God for the self-righteous, critical and legalist.
I have known “cold” believers who have been precious. Remember cold tastes good to Jesus. I have known many believers who do not know very much about the Bible, but they have a great love for Jesus and for people in general. They walk and live in love, but may not be very evangelistic.
The lost world does not need religion they need love. Our brothers and sisters in the Lord need to be loved and encouraged.
Simple honesty with God is powerful. When you confess your sin without excuse, and determine to turn around and go in a different direction, you are positioning yourself to enjoy God’s presence.
Now that you have been offered such free and undeserved forgiveness, you must also forgive those who have offended and hurt you. You must forgive whether you feel like it or not and whether or not the other party has apologized.
Second stop in the Tabernacle: The Laver: The Word of God.
The word laver means, bowl or to wash. Here it is a symbol for the Word of God. The first object was the brass altar that stood for the Cross and the blood of Jesus. Now that our conscience is clear, we can make contact with God through the Word. Sometimes the Word will not be powerful to us if our conscience is tainted.
The Word says that the priest would die if he tried to get into the Holy Place without stopping at the laver. We cannot proceed into God’s presence without being cleansed by the Word of God (Ephesians 5:26-27).
The laver will cleanse us from the filth of the world. It will also be a mirror to judge us; it will bring things to our mind that we need to get right with God. The Word will renew our mind so that we can think spiritually and stand against the words that demons speak into our minds.
The Word is a mirror. The Word is cleansing water. The Word judges. The Word is a seed. The Word is a sword. The Word is Jesus and Jesus is the Word. You need to soak yourself in the Word of God on a daily basis. It will change you and change your circumstances. The Word of God is a vital stepping stone into the presence of God! The Word will not return void. It will produce what it is intended for.
The third stop is thanksgiving.
We must enter in the Holy Place with thanksgiving. Now it is time to go through the first of two veils from the outer court into the tent itself and that portion called the Holy Place. However, before we study the Holy Place we must see what gets us into the Holy Place and how we get through the first door or veil.
The Word of God commands us to give thanks at all times and under all circumstances whether we feel like it or not.
“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name” (Psalms 100:4).
I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”
A sacrifice of thanksgiving is the key! The will is the key. The time to thank the Lord is when we do not feel like it, when our emotions tell us not to be thankful. That is the time that our will must take over. Like David said in Psalm 104:1, “Bless the Lord O my soul...” He spoke to his soul and commanded it to praise God, especially when he felt bad. Thanksgiving is a function of the will. “And when you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the LORD, offer it of your own free will” (Leviticus 22:29).
When we enter into thanksgiving and praise to God during the bad times, something in us “dies.” When we “die,” we see God. In Psalm 50, God is saying that He does not really give much value to all of the Hebrew sacrifices compared to the sacrifice of thanksgiving. He told them that He was not hungry for food. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He said that He was hungry for three things: thanksgiving, paying one’s vows and calling upon Him in the day of trouble. That is what satisfies God’s hunger.
a. We need to give thanks for what we see. Do we have a “Gimmee, Gimmee” attitude, or one of thankfulness? The boy was complaining about having no shoes until he met the man who had no legs. Sometimes we don’t know how well off we really have it. God is not into giving us more things and solving our problems when we are not thankful for what He has already done; no matter what bad thing we are facing. I know I am that way with my children. I can’t help it, I just am, and so is God!
b. We need to give thanks for unseen. How can we give thanksgiving and praise without being phony? The answer is the Cross! What God has already done? The Cross is an accomplished fact, we just need to see the truth behind it, and we will not see the truth unless we “die,” or take up our cross. The Cross has the power to change the seen via the unseen through the Word, praise, and thanksgiving. The Cross is invisible to us today, but it is still a fact in history and believing in it and acting on it through the Word of God will change your condition. Thank God for the things that do not look good because God has entrusted them to you to utilize as raw materials for blessings. Overcoming is about turning junk into jewels for the Kingdom of God. No junk, no jewels!
Now you enter the Holy Place.
The fourth stop is the Table of Shewbread. This represents the will.
When Jesus said that we must deny ourselves, lose our life for His sake, etc., He was using a word that refers to our soul. So we must deny, or say no to, our soul. Our will, mind and emotions are where we actually take up our cross and make the connection to His Cross, and the blood covenant.
We are using the Holy Place to represent our mind, will and emotions.
Inside the Holy Place there are three pieces of furniture: the Table of Shewbread, the Golden Lampstand and the Altar of Incense. One symbolic meaning for these (there are many) is that the Table of Shewbread stands for our will, the Lampstand for our intellect and the Altar of Incense for our emotions.
Showbread (the King James Bible calls it Shewbread) literally means the Presence of His Face, or that God is staring at it. In our Tabernacle journey, this piece of furniture represents our will, or giving up our own will for God’s will.
Something that I want to impress upon your thinking even before you study this section is that God will allow you to have your own will. He will not violate your free choice. You must give your will to Him. If you do not, He is ready to allow you to suffer the consequences, even to the point of pain and destruction, and yes, even to the point of spending eternity in Hell. He will move Heaven and earth to give you the options, but you must choose life or death, blessing or curse, His will or your will. Often God will lovingly guide a strong willed person by allowing them to feel the pain of their self will.
Romans 12:1-2 says that we should offer our lives as “a living sacrifice” to God so that we may “prove” the perfect will of God for our lives. In other words, we need to give God our will. When we do that, we are promised that we will prove, or walk out through trials, the perfect will of God for our lives.
Your will is your decision maker. Man is the only animal that has the freedom to choose. This choice is what gives us the potential for real love; it is also what gives us the potential for evil. This is when the word “will” is used as a participle, kind of like a verb; “I will give...”
Why would God want you to give Him your will?
So He can give you His! In a covenant relationship there is always a swap. Yours for mine and mine for yours! Now who do you think gets the better deal, you or Jesus? All we do is give up “junk” in order to receive “jewels.” In spite of this, so many people think it is such a sacrifice to give up their wills and accept God’s will. The only person who ever received anything bad by giving up their own will to God’s will was Jesus, and He did it with joy, the joy of seeing you and me saved.
Many people agonize over God’s will for their lives, feeling that if they give into His will that He will call them to some sort of torture, suffering, or ask them to move to another country. The truth is, if God ever did ask a person for such a task, that person would have a burning desire to accomplish it. God’s will for every life is “abundant life.” “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
What is God’s will for you? God’s Word is His will for you and me. We need to see God’s Word as a friend who died and left His riches to us. In addition, God has a customized plan or will for your own individual life. However you may be hindering Him from working that into your life by hanging on to your old fleshly will. Ephesians 2:10 indicates that God has a predestined path for each of us, and He calls it the good life, the abundant life.
How do you give God your will? One way is when you submit to the Word, you are giving your will to God. When you read in the Word to be kind, not to criticize, to give and not be selfish, then you are giving your will to God so that He can give you His.
Other ways are to put your thoughts, plans, and desires “on the altar” and allow God to either burn them away or perfect them. This can be difficult for some people who are strong willed and very talented. They are capable of feeling that their desires are always God’s desires because they perform them out of their own power and abilities. However, if we give our plans and desires to God and then back off and see if He performs them, that is the faith life, and it is truly trusting God’s will for your life.
Breaking is needed! The bread on this table is laid out in the shape of a cross. We can only take up our cross to a point, but not all the way. We don’t have enough hands to crucify all of ourselves; the last nail must be inserted by the world. We must experience some sort of pain and breaking to really get the job done. God does not do this, the world does.
God will give you His will through His Word.
God wants to paint His will on the tablet of your heart. God is a visionary, and He created us as visionaries. Yes, He wants us to be practical in the everyday affairs of life, but He wants to transfer His will to us by painting pictures on our heart by the media of His Word. Look at Genesis chapters 30 and 31 to see how God transferred His will for Jacob into reality by speaking a word to Jacob and allowing him to see a dream about spotted and speckled cattle. We need to trust God more and open up to Him. We can tend to get too cautious and be too “Western-minded” and too much into linear thinking. We should take some lessons from the Eastern, African and Asian mindsets that understand that the supernatural works through pictures on the heart. Pictures on the heart is the language of the Holy Spirit. We just need to make sure that it is God who is painting the pictures and not some other god, and not ourselves.
Not my will but yours!
Oftentimes Christians, even well meaning Christians, can get into the trap of using their own will without God involved. “Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).
The Bible story that best illustrates this is centered on Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac. God came to Abram in Genesis 12 to call him out from his own family, his business and financial security, his idols and his method of worship, in order to create a family to be called the “family of God.” This would be the Israelites, the Jews, and eventually the Christians, the Body of Christ, who were grafted into God’s spiritual family.
In Genesis 15 God, appeared to Abram again and they discussed having a child. “But Abram said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?’ And Abram said, ‘You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.’ Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.’ He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the heavens and count the stars--if indeed you can count them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:2-6).
Abram could not figure out how God was going to give him a child since he was so old and his wife Sarah was barren and could not have children. He knew God’s will, and he figured that it was time to just do it. So he made his own plans for having a child. The story continues and Sarai, Abram's wife, suggests that her maidservant Hagar become the mother of Abram’s child. The child was named Ishmael. Although God loved Ishmael, he was not God’s choice for creating His family of Israel from whom the Messiah was to come.
As it turned out, all of the Arab nations came from Ishmael, who was a result of Abram’s plan. Israel, Jesus, and Christianity all came from the supernatural birth of Isaac, which were all part of God’s plan and His own doing. God is interested in saving the Arabs now through Jesus Christ. God wants to graft them in just like He grafted in you and me.
God was not finished with Abram now called Abraham. God had other plans, His plans! He came again to Abraham some years later and told him about His plans. Genesis 17 records how the Lord appeared to Abraham again at a time in life when both he and his wife were beyond child bearing, and promised them the supernatural birth of Isaac.
“Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him” (Genesis 21:1-3).
The lesson we are to learn from this is that we need to allow God to perform those things for us that He wants. Sure we are supposed to work, study and try hard. But so far as our will is concerned, we are to offer that up to Him. Abraham should have had this attitude. He should have said, “Oh God, I know your promise to me, I understand You want me to have a child, and I don’t see how that can possibly happen. Perhaps I misunderstood you; perhaps You have something else for me. I lay this desire of mine, and promise from You on the altar and ask You to perform it for me if you want this for my life. I dare not touch this to help You. If this is from You, then I will wait until You perform it.” We need to refuse to manipulate people and circumstances to get our way. God never does that, and we should be afraid to do it. This will ensure that we do not create an “Ishmael” in our life that we will be sorry for, perhaps forever.
One of the rules I have adapted for sifting out God’s will from my will is a method I learned when I used to sail in the Virgin Islands and other parts of the Caribbean. We would begin to enter a harbour and would be warned that there were coral reefs all over the harbour entrance. However we had a map, or a chart, that would give landmarks on the land from which we could line up our entry course. For instance, there would be a church, a water tower, and the city hall. If we would line up those three objects so that we could only see them in a straight line, then the chart would tell us, we could enter the harbour on that course and would be safe. In the spiritual world I like to line up three or four items to find out if a certain course is God’s will. I want to hear from Him in the Word, I want to hear from the Holy Spirit, I want to see circumstances begin to line up, and I want to see the Body of Christ affirming my decision.
The fifth stop is the Golden Lampstand. This represents the mind.
At this stop in our walk through the Tabernacle towards the presence of God, we have the need to exchange our old thoughts for the mind of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4-6 tells us that the spiritual warfare is our mind. It tells us that strongholds, reasonings, and imaginations hold our thoughts captive, and that these things keep us from the true knowledge of God. These thoughts lie to us about the goodness and grace of God and His saving love and power. Demons constantly accuse us and bombard our minds with half-truths. They perpetrate guilt, unworthiness, and fear. They preach that we must perform to please a harsh God. Isaiah 11 tells us that God replaces our natural intellect with that of the Holy Spirit: i.e., Spirit of The Lord, knowledge, counsel, wisdom, understanding, might and fear of the Lord. There is much to be said here because our thoughts are the very core of our being.
We must set our thoughts free! How? When we were slaves to sin, we used the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is our independent reasoning. Now we should be using the Tree of Life, which is the Word of God. I no longer think and decide, but I use my mind for it’s God given purpose, and that is to listen and obey! When we truly see the glory of God as Paul did on the road to Damascus, we no longer reason, we simply say, “Lord what do you desire for me to do.” You may ask, “Am I supposed to forfeit my creativity and become a robot for God?” No! God wants you be creative just like He is, however He wants to author your creative thoughts.
The mind, why is it represented by the Golden Lampstand? The Lampstand traditionally represents testimony. We should utilize our intellectual powers to speak God’s Word as a testimony to the enemy. The Lampstand is also symbolic of the Holy Spirit, with its symbols of oil and fire. When God made Adam and Eve, He told them that they could touch any tree in the Garden, but could not eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. I believe that the Tree of Life is the Word of God and that the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is our own mind that is not taking instructions from the Spirit of God. Adam did not need to have knowledge to decide what was good and evil. If he had lived in oneness with God he would have intuitively known. But Adam wanted to be independent of God, so he began to make his own decisions of what he should do and not do. He did not want to be bad, just independent.
What was the original intended function for the mind?
We are supposed to use our mind, but God’s guidance transcends human reasoning. When God saves you He does not remove your mind, He renews it. The mind is the organ of thought. It is the hidden force of human destiny because your thoughts turn into actions, which turn into habits, which turn into character.
God made us in such a way that we are supposed to use our mind to pick up information for navigating life on earth from our five senses, but to obtain information on spiritual reality from our spirit.
The Helmet of Salvation. Our brain needs salvation from cleverness, from allowing our mind and intellect to take God's place in our lives. Without this, we will never walk in God's perfect will for our lives (Romans 12:1-2). More often than not, this is not something that we can or will voluntarily give up. Usually it takes a "breaking," a set of circumstances that take us beyond what our brain can negotiate and/or solve. Only then can we quietly wait on God for Him to speak and be silent while He works out our lives.
We need to work on holy concentration.
Our imagination can lead to blindness if we do not totally consecrate it to God and His Word. The imagination is a powerful God-given function designed to be submitted to Him so that He may write His pictures on it. If we allow Satan or the world to write on our imagination, we become blind as the following Scriptures testify.
“In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
If we habitually concentrate on the negative past we will stay bound to it, and eventually “go back to it.” Hebrews 11:15-16a (AMP) says, “If they had been thinking with [homesick] remembrance of that country from which they were emigrants, they would have found constant opportunity to return to it; But the truth is that they were yearning for and aspiring to a better and more desirable country, that is, a heavenly [one].…” We need to focus on the better things God has for us, not our past failures.
If we do not concentrate on the positive, our mind will default to the negative. If your mind is passive, the imagination is passive. It is waiting for an outside stimulus.
Positive concentration, especially on the Word of God, is important for the overcoming process. “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8). According to Strong's Concordance, the word meditate in this Scripture means to speak, utter, imagine and study. I have heard it said that meditate is like a cow chewing a cud. She regurgitates it, then chews it again, then the process continues over and over. We should do the same with the Word of God. Soon we will be thinking God’s thoughts and we will be so close to Him it will surprise us!
Strongholds of the mind.
A stronghold is a fortress of false knowledge that is believed on as truth.
Satan is capable of building strongholds in our minds, which are designed to protect his property that he may have gained in our lives. That property may simply be a carnal worldly mindset, or the stronghold could progress to influence by a demon. I believe that what starts out as fleshly thought in our mind and is allowed to become a habit may ultimately be latched onto by a demon. Jesus is our protector, and He will protect us, provided we cooperate (2 Corinthians 10:4,5).
One primary evidence of a stronghold is a feeling of hopelessness and helplessness. It causes the person to act ungodly without being able to even choose the godly behavior. Strongholds can nullify one’s will.
Strongholds can include, but are not limited to:
Fear, guilt, shame dishonesty, poverty, temper, cheap grace, legalism, judgment, and others.
How strongholds can get a foothold in your life:
a. Your sin.
b. Generational sin
c. Sin in the world
d. Weights, or oppression
e. Through an idol in your life
f. A “soul tie” type of relationship can bring powerful strongholds!
g. Rebellion against authority
h. We can be responsible for becoming slaves to various things and people (excepting of course those issues that have to do with our childhood).
We become slaves to whomever or to whatever we yield (Romans 6:16).
What is the solution?
Here is what Jesus said about getting free. “Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed on Him, If you continue in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31,32).
First you must continue in His Word. The word “continue” is a strong word. It means to settle down, abide, and make our home in His Word. It does not mean to look at His Word once a week or even five minutes a day, it means to sustain your very life by His Word. “But He answered and said, It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’” (Matthew 4:4). The word used in this Scripture for “word” is “rhema.” Rhema means a personal Word spoken from Jesus to you. You must invest time with God to receive His rhema.
Next you must be committed to being Jesus’ disciple. That means to be so united to Him that He is your teacher in everything. It means that you drop your pride and allow God, who knows you better than you know yourself, to have His way with you. When you are going through discipline with the Lord, remember He is doing it because He loves you.
The result will be that you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. “Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me” (John 14:6). Knowing Jesus is knowing the Truth. Having a personal, close, intimate relationship with Him is the only thing that will really make you free.
God may use many methods of delivering this freedom to you. He may cause demons to be cast out of you, or out of the influence of your life. Or He may take you through a long process of getting free through pouring the Word into your life.
My own personal experience has been one of displacement. I continually pour the Word into my vessel, and everything that is not of God comes out, including demons. Matthew 8:16 is an example of Jesus casting out demons with His Word. It says, “And evening coming on, they brought to Him many who had been possessed with demons. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick.” The basic idea is to starve the mind of the flesh and replace it with the mind of the Holy Spirit.
Prayer for deliverance.
1. Personally affirm your faith in Christ. “Lord Jesus Christ, I confess that you are my Lord. Lord, I believe that You are the Son of God and the only way to God - that you died on the Cross for my sins and rose again so that I might be forgiven and receive eternal life.”
2. Humble yourself. “I renounce all pride and religious self-righteousness and any dignity that does not come from You. I have no claim on Your mercy except that You died in my place.”
3. Confess any known sin. “I confess all my sins before You and hold nothing back.” Now list and confess them.
4. Repent of all sins. “I repent of all my sins. I turn away from them and I turn to You, Lord, for mercy and forgiveness.”
5. Forgive all other people. “By a decision of my will, I freely forgive all who have ever harmed or wronged me. I lay down all bitterness, all resentment and all hatred.” Now list and confess them.
6. Break with the occult and all false religion. “I sever all contact I have ever had with the occult or with all false religion. I renounce all the works of the devil, Satan, and other evil spirits in my life. I confess and renounce all my occult practices and sins as abominations before You, a Holy and righteous God. I renounce any occult influence from my forefathers.” Now list and confess them.
7. Prepare to be released from every curse over your life. “Lord Jesus, I thank You that on the Cross You were made a curse, that I might be redeemed from every curse and inherit God’s blessing. I renounce every curse from my forefathers. On that basis I ask You to release me and set me free to receive the deliverance I need.”
8. Take your stand with God. “I take my stand with You, Lord, against all Satan’s demons. I submit to You, Lord, and I resist the devil. Amen!”
9. Expel. “Now I speak to any demons that have control over me.” Speak directly to them. “I command you to go from me now. In the name of Jesus, I expel you! I pray that any evil power or ability I may possess, or which have oppressed or possessed me, be completely destroyed or removed from me. I commit myself, my body, my mind, my personality, my emotions, my whole being to the Lord Jesus Christ to be my Lord and savior. I pray this in the mighty Name of Jesus, believing I am delivered.”
The sixth stop is the Altar of Incense - Emotions.
The Golden Altar in the Holy Place is the last piece of furniture that one comes to prior to going through the final veil into the Holy of Holies and into the very presence of God. It is symbolic for several things. We are going to look at it primarily from the standpoint that it symbolizes our emotions as we make our way into the Holy of Holies and God’s manifest presence. It also symbolizes our prayer, praise, and worship.
In front of this altar is the thick veil that hides the Holy of Holies and the presence of God. God wants you to come through the veil more than you desire to. He will pull you through. No natural man could go here without dying.
This veil was torn from top to bottom when Jesus died on the Cross, giving us entry into God’s presence by His blood and indicating that His death removed the obstacle that sin created for coming into the very presence of God.
The Holy of Holies is the place where there is no light except for God. The High Priest could only go here once a year, and only under certain conditions. The incense censor from this altar actually went into the Holy of Holies with the High Priest once a year. This symbolizes that your praise and worship do not stop here but that they are the very entry into His presence. They actually accompany us into His presence.
The table of Shewbread symbolized the will, and the Lampstand the mind and the Holy Spirit. The final attribute in man’s soul is his emotions. God wants us to be “whole people” with emotions that are in their proper place. He does not want us to be robots unable to express ourselves. We are in God’s image and God has intense emotions that He expresses. Mankind has either perverted his emotions to go wild or to be held in and not expressed; both are wrong and are out of order. This altar gives us an opportunity for exchanging your old emotions induced by your flesh and the world, for God’s emotions which have their roots in the fruit of the Spirit, love joy, peace, kindness, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23a). Altars are where things die.
The emotions feel like the real you, but they can be unreliable. Experiences in life and your generational makeup often damage emotions. Some of your emotions are in prison, other emotions keep you in prisons. Perhaps emotions are primarily the windows which express or sometimes fail to express the inner prisons like rejection, loneliness, depression, guilt, low self-esteem, confusion, broken hearts, etc.
Jesus has emotions. He cried, grieved, mourned, groaned. Not only did He feel and experience emotions, but He also expressed them.
Our emotions can cause us to act contrary to God’s desires if we allow them to rule us. In God’s order, our emotions cannot really be trusted until He has dealt with our minds and our wills, then our emotions can be freely expressed; and indeed should be. Unregenerated man has put his emotions on the throne, and allowed them to control his mind, will, and body. This is outworking of God’s divine created order. Emotions should be the result of a will and mind laid down and consecrated to God. Only then could man’s God given emotions be whole and well.
God is a heart God.
He enjoys your presence. Your presence is not real if you bury your emotions. You need to allow them free reign with Jesus while you are with Him. You need to give Him the good, the bad, and the ugly. You cannot really be with someone whose emotions are not allowed to come out. You feel like you have been with a machine. Your spouse’s will and mind may be consecrated to you and that is important. But how would you feel if your spouse told you, “My will is to love you, my mind is to love you:” Then that person just shuts their mouth, has a glassy stare in their eyes, and they totally bury their emotions? You have not really been with that person, or in that person’s presence.
God, where are You?
Every human being has the latent need to experience God in His fullness including His emotions. However I believe in most cases God cannot trust you with His emotions until you are totally consecrated to Him. It is like a marriage engagement, or like dating. A girl should not become emotionally intimate with a boy until that boy has made a commitment. God wants you to go through the act (continuously) of consecrating your will and mind, represented by the Table of Shewbread and the Golden Lampstand, then He can trust His emotions to you.
The baptism in the Holy Spirit allows you to experience God with His emotions.
I believe that this Altar in the Tabernacle can also represent the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the outer court represents the Holy Spirit being with you. We may think of the Holy Place symbolic of the Holy Spirit being in us. Jesus told His disciples in John 14:16-17 that there would be these two relationships, with and in. In John 20:22 Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit in them. However there was one more relationship spoken of by Jesus about the Holy Spirit. He said in Acts 1:8 that the Holy Spirit would come upon them. Finally in Acts 2:4 when the Holy Spirit did come upon them, they were filled.
There is an experience or a filling of the Holy Spirit that will cause God to be more real to you then ever before. God desires that His emotions and your emotions meet. I believe that as God pulls you through the next veil for the first time, that you will experience this upon and filled experience. I also know that as you go through this veil into the Holy of Holies on a regular basis, that you will touch God and God will touch you in a way that is powerful and meaningful. These experiences are not “simply emotional highs” but are truly an encounter with the God who created the Universe. They are a connection that pleases both you and God. When you go through this veil into the Holy of Holies, your afflictions, and even your worldly pleasures, will become pale and meaningless in the light of His glory and grace. The hotter His presence becomes, the colder your suffering becomes.
It is like a bridegroom and a bride who have only met through letters and long distance telephone calls. They have perhaps experienced each other’s will and mind, but without an actual face to face experience, they cannot really experience each other’s emotions. When they finally do meet face to face, they actually discover each other’s emotions and truly experience the fullness of the other person. I believe that is the way God feels about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. He reveals Himself to you as the glorified Christ, you are deeply moved and filled with His presence, and you allow your emotions to go out to Him.
The love of God is the only thing that can heal your damaged emotions.
You can truly trust God with your real emotions. There are very few people who you can truly trust to peer into your inner heart via your emotions. That is why so many people pay a lot of money to go to psychiatrists, lay on their couches and pour out their hearts. God wants your real emotions for several reasons. First He wants to heal them, and second, He enjoys being in your presence.
This altar is the place of a sacrifice of praise.
Altars are for death. You cannot go into the Holy of Holies without something dying at this altar, and that something is your emotions. If you do not feel like praising Him, do it as a sacrifice. A sacrifice infers death, just as altars are for death.
Praise heals emotions.
I interviewed an anointed psalmist and worship leader about this subject. He confirmed that when one praises God, it has a healing effect on one’s emotions. Entering into praise heals fractured and wounded emotions. He said that even secular people know that singing can dispel depression. Psalm 100:4 says, “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” As we live a life of praise, he told me, the up and down emotions become smoothed out.
You can praise God even in bad times if your praise is based upon the Word of God, not your emotions. For instance, in 2 Chronicles chapter 20, a strong enemy was attacking the Israelites. A prophet came and spoke the Word of God to Israel, stating that the battle was the Lord’s and not to worry. Based upon the Word of God, Israel’s strategy was to send for the choir and praise God.
“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: ‘Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.’ Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated” (2 Chronicles 20:20,22).
Demons flee when you praise God!
“Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand, To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples; To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron; To execute on them the written judgment--This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!” (Psalms 149:6-9).
If you cannot articulate praise because of your damaged emotions, or because you are hurting too bad, then read Psalms 145-150 out loud as a sacrifice of praise. Use some of the other great Psalms, like 23 and 91. Praying them out loud has always been powerful in our lives.
Worship.
The Altar of Incense starts out as a place of praise but ends up as a place of worship. Praise brings on God’s presence, which causes us to worship Him. God inhabits praise. Therefore His presence will manifest as we praise Him. His presence will give us a true picture of who He is, and that will result in true worship. First we give thanksgiving for what He has done for us. Then we praise Him for what the Word says even if we cannot see the evidence yet, and the result is worship.
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[1] Nee, Watchman. God’s Plan and the Overcomers. NY: Christian Fellowship Publishers, 1977.