This glorious inworking of Holy Ghost power is preparing
us for rapture. Our
greatest theme, the glory of the splendor of our Lord. His face! His tenderness!
His
sweetness! Making our hearts long to be forever with the Lord. Amen! So let it
be!
Romans 8:35-39. "What shall we say to these things. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these
things we are more than
conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor
life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers nor things present, nor things to come, nor
height, nor depth, nor any
other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in
Jesus Christ our Lord."
Oh the joy of the thought of it! What shall separate us
from the love of Christ?
A place of confidence, assurance, and rest, where God has perfect control over
all
human weakness. You stand as on the mount of transfiguration manifested and
glorified as in the presence of God, able to say, I know all things are working
together
for good within me, silently destroying all that can be destroyed that He might
have
preeminence in the body. If God be for us who can be against us?
God is bringing forth a new creation; the Sons of God are
to be manifested,
and we must see our inheritance in the Holy Ghost. Nothing can separate us! What
is it God wants us to know? Right in our earthly temple God has brought forth a
Son
with power, with manifestation, with grace, crowned already in the earth,
crowned
with glory. (John 17:22). "The glory which Thou has given me I have given them,
that they may
be one even as we are." The Spirit of the Lord is showing me that God must get a
people who can see that from before the foundation of the world He has had them
in
His mind.
God has been delivering us through all of our
difficulties. Where sin abounded
He has brought in His grace. Where disease came in to steal our lives, God's
raised up
a standard, and we are here, having come through our tribulation. God has been
purifying us, strengthening us, and equipping us with Divine audacity by the
power of
Almightiness--till we can say, "What shall we say then to these things? Shall we
dethrone what we know up to the present time has equipped us and brought us
through? Shall we allow our hearts to fail us in the day of adversity?" No! That
which God has already strengthened and perfected… Weakness made strong!
Corruption changed to purity! Knowing that the tribulation and the fire of God
have
purified us, what shall we say to these things? These light afflictions are
working for
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
The New Creation People have been in meetings where the glory of God has
fallen and the expression of God has been upon everything; fortifications have
been
made in the body. The next morning the power of Satan has assailed, but the
spiritual
life…the Son manifested the glory of the New Creation…is already in our mortal
body. But, the flesh is a battleground for the enemy and is tested. That which
God is
forming is greater than the mortal body. The spirit, which is awakening into the
glorious liberty of a Son of God, is greater. From perfection to perfection, it
is this
knowledge of what He has done--what shall we say? How shall we compare this
with that which is to come? "The flesh profiteth nothing but the Spirit of the
living God.
Though worms destroy this body, I have another life greater than this life which
shall look upon Godwhich
shall see Him in His perfection--which shall behold Him in His glory--which
shall be changed
like unto Him and be formed into Him."
By the presence of God, a new creation, a glorious
celestial shall so clothe us
that we shall be there in the presence of His likeness. Knowing this, shall I
give place
to the devil? Shall I fear? Shall I let my feelings change the experience of the
Word
of God? Shall I trust in my fears? No! A million times, no! There has never been
any good thing in the flesh, but God has quickened the spirit till we live a new
life
divine over all time, and we are eternally shaped for God.
What shall we say? Are you going to let the past where
God has wrought for
you bring you to a place of distress, or are you standing to your testing--"Now
are we the
Sons of God." Are we remembering how God has answered our prayers, brought light
into our home, delivered us from carnality and touched us when no power in the
world could avail? What shall we say? Can anything be brought against the elect
of
God? I know in Whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He, Who purposed
us for God, will surely bring us to the place where we shall receive the Crown
of Life
through the faith that God has given us. God is in you mightily, forming within
you
a new creation by the Spirit, to make you ready for the glory that shall be
revealed in
Him.
One said to me the other day, "I am in terrible trouble; a man is cursing me all
the time." If God be for us, who can be against us. God is never small in any of
His
blessings. He takes you into all He has, v. 33. "He that spared not His own Son,
how shall
He not with Him freely give us all things." God has given us Jesus, the bosom of
His love,
the image of His Person, so perfect in brilliance, purity, righteousness and
glory. I
have seen Him many times and it always changes me. Your struggle is one of the
all
things. Many needs have broken my heart, but I could say to the troubled one,
God is
greater than your heart, greater than your circumstances, and greater than the
thing
that holds you. God will deliver you if you dare to believe Him, but we have to
press
it in and in and in before we can get the people to believe God.
A dear woman was marvelously delivered and saved, but she
said I am so
addicted to smoking, what shall I do? "Oh," I said, "Smoke night and day." She
said,
"In our circumstances we take a glass of wine and it has a hold on me." "Oh," I
said,
"Drink all you can." It brought some solace to her, but she was in misery. She
said,
"We play cards." I said, "Play on!" But after being saved she called her maid
and
said, "Wire to London and stop the shipment of those cigarettes." The new life
does
not want it. It has no desire. The old is dethroned.
A clergyman came to me. He said, "I have a terrible
craving for tobacco." I
said, "Is it the Old Man or the New?" He broke down. "I know it's the Old," he
said. Put off the Old Man with his deeds. One said, "I have an unlawful
affection for
another." I said, "You want revelation." Seeing God has given you Jesus. He will
give you all things. He will give you power over the thing, and it will be
broken, and
God broke it. "Allow God to touch thy flesh." Now He has quickened thy spirit.
Allow Him to reign, for He shall reign until all is subdued. He is pre-eminently
King
in thy life over thy affection, thy will, thy desire, and thy plans. He rules as
Lord of
Hosts over thee, in thee, through thee, to chasten thee and bring thee to the
perfection of thy desired haven. It is Christ in thee. It is the glory. "Who
shall separate
us from the love of Christ?" Once things could separate us, but they no more
can. We
have a vision. What is the vision?…those days when we have eaten of the hidden
manna.
The Sword
When I was baptized in the Holy Ghost, God showed me that
when Adam and
Eve transgressed and were turned out of the garden, at the gate was put a
flaming sword,
a sword of death, if they entered in. The Baptism of the Holy Ghost put the Tree
of
Life right in me and a flaming sword outside of me, to keep the devil from me,
that I
might eat all the time of eternal bread. I am eating of this wonderful bread of
life. It
is the life in the body, which has come to a perfect place to this life from
which
nothing can separate us. It is increasing tremendously, perpetually; rapture has
something to do with it. In a moment this will clear out and leave the body.
What is
it? What shall separate us? Tribulations come, but they only press us in, press
us
nearer persecution, the finest thing that can come. There among the persecuted,
you
get the ripest, the holiest, the purest, the most intent. Filled with divine
order, all
things work for us. Nothing comes but what is helpful. Trials lift you,
distresses give
you a heave and sigh, but God causes us to triumph. Greater is He that is in you
than
all the powers of darkness.
Whatever befalls you, as you abide in Him, is the good hand of God upon you,
so that you won't lose your inheritance. Every trial is a lift, every burden a
place of
exchanging strength. God will work. "Who can lay anything to the charge of God's
elect?"
People do it, but it makes no difference. God is for us. "Eye hath not seen nor
ear heard,
neither hath it entered into the heart of man what God has laid up for those
that love Him." But
unto us, it hath been revealed by the Spirit. Not a weapon that is formed
against you
can prosper. Know the wisdom and purpose of the great Hand that is upon you.
Glorify God in distresses and persecutions, for the Spirit of God is there made
manifest. Be chastened! Be perfected! Press on to heights, lengths, breadths,
and
depths. Faith is the victory, the hope is within you, the joy set before you.
The peace
which passeth all understanding. The knowledge that the flesh has withered in
the
presence of the purifying of the Word. He, who has brought you hitherto, will
take
you to the end. I have wept bitterly and mourned when I needed revelation of
God,
but I need not have done.
The Lord lifteth up and changeth and operateth, and makes body and soul till
He can say, "There is no spot in thee." Yes, it was persecution, tribulation,
and distress
that drew us near. Lifting places, changing places, the operation of God by the
Spirit.
Do not let us pass this way but let God have His way.
God stretched out His Hand, covered us with the mantle of His love, and
brought us nearer and nearer into the channel of His grace until our hearts have
moved and yielded, and so turned to the Lord that every moment has seen a divine
place where God has met us. He stretched out his arms and said, "Seek ye My
face--
look unto Me." Behold and see what great love the Master has for thee, to lead
thee
to the fountain of living water. Yield! Be led! And let God be glorified! Amen