The Lord allowed Satan to touch the body of Job (1:12). Similarly, He allowed the body of Peter to be stricken with illnesses, but for different purposes because Peter caused it all himself. The Lord is not responsible for Peter’s state of health, Peter himself is. Here the comparison between Job and Peter ends regarding the Purpose of the Lord, but it does not end regarding that process. Just as Job went through an agony in his heart and mind and had many questions, so also Peter had and still has in his head and heart many questions being despondent. Each such heart knows its own history, how deep it went into depression, gloominess, dejection, sorrows, desolation, perhaps even hopelessness questioning God’s Wisdom, Faithfulness even Love. Despite that, Job did not sin against God, nor charged God foolishly apportioning blame to Him (Job 1:22). The Lord showed to me that Peter sinned against God speaking blasphemies and blaming Him for the state of his health. His heart stepped down from the foundation of grace and started to have demands on God and expectations as if God were responsible for his state of health, or as if God had some duties toward Peter. Therefore, God has no problems with his body, but with his spirit and soul!
The Lord waits and keeps giving him Grace through opportunities in order to cleanse his spirit and soul through his wheelchair. Should he not sin against God, maybe, he would not have been in the wheelchair any more, but would run on his own feet. In Part 5 we were speaking about the Light of the Lord, which we need quite desperately so that we could see ourselves, how the Lord sees us and what we need in His eyes. The Lord had given to Peter His Light at least in principle, not in details. When Peter receives that Light about himself, will believe it, will follow the Goodness of the Lord which will bring him to his repentance (Rom. 2:4), and when he will do that repentance from his heart, the Lord will heal Peter and that wheelchair will lose its significance. If Peter will not receive that Light and will not repent to the Lord, nor to his wife, nor to his son in front of whom he spoke those blasphemies against God, then he will never be healed, but will be damned without pardon, because Peter would thus lose any respect and honour toward the Almighty God! His words and deeds do not show any sign that the Holy Spirit would dwell in him. He should pray Psalm 51:10-12 (“Create in me a clean heart…“, etc.)
The cripple from Matthew 9:2 must have been twisted, hardened and stiff and I judge that such must have been also the picture of his spirit. Because, for example, pride, stubbornness, unwillingness, selfishness, indignation, anger, obstinacy, judging others, etc., could have formed his spirit and soul into such hardened and stiff form. And this forming was done through the sins which he was committing through those evil spirits. When his sins were forgiven him they lost their strength and power, his soul and spirit, as it were, “woke up”, became soft and with them also his body. Hence, that person was crippled primarily in his spirit and soul and not in his body. And when they told him they were going to bring him before Jesus to heal him, the spirit and soul of that person could have received such a “jolt” of faith, hope and expected grace and healing that the Goodness of God could have brought him to a quick and deep repentance (Rom. 2:1-11). When they finally laid him down before Jesus, his sins could have really been forgiven him. Till the Goodness of God opens our eyes and brings us to repentance, may take several years. Repentance and forgiveness of sins may take several minutes.
The whole multitudes of Christians should be in wheelchairs, not because they can’t walk on their own feet, but they do not have even the slightest interest to walk with the Spirit of God, to seek the Kingdom of Heaven and thereby to change in their own spirit and character, and then get into that Kingdom of Heaven. Hence, the Lord has to put us into unpleasant, even painful situations and conditions in order to achieve in us what He wants and what we, in fact, also want – but without wheelchair! Wheelchair thus may be a very useful and blessed instrument, just as a bed in hospital or some “hopeless situation“, etc. These are all very precious things when they are supposed to bring us into the Kingdom, or “at least” to the Salvation of our soul. When the Apostles were strengthening the new disciples, they were encouraging them to continue in the faith and also they were telling them: “…we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22b).
Only Overcomers will enter into the Kingdom of God. Every Overcomer must have anointing from God without which he could not overcome. The Bride of Christ without the anointing by the Holy Spirit, that is, without the holy oil, does not exist! We know that for the virgins without oil, the entry door to the Kingdom was closed and the Lord told them that He does not know them (Mt. 25:8-12).
6) Not all believers in these days just before the end of the world have the necessary measure of preparedness for the Coming of the Lord. It is only the so called “Remnant” from the Church, which are, or are becoming, ready for His Coming. The Lord’s heart is focused on this Remnant, which, in fact, represents His Bride. These people are for Him a precious and peculiar treasure, an extraordinary, personal, confidential and also intimate vessel – not because the Lord had in his heart any intention that they should be separated from the others, but because the others were not willing to pay the required price for their change into a New Man, Overcomer, the Bride.
It is noteworthy that in the Old Testament, the “Remnant” of 7,000, which did not kneeled down before Baal was not mentioned and the Lord did not bring it into the light until Elijah appeared on the scene (Rom. 11:2-5/ 1Ki. 19:18). Here, the Lord commands Elijah to return to the wilderness of Damascus and anoint Elisha for a prophet in his stead. Hence, these from the Remnant were brought into the light at the same time when Elisha was brought to the light. This gives us the key to the understanding of the character of these people. An outstanding and extraordinary characteristic of the life and ministry of Elisha was LIFE, more precisely, the resurrection LIFE. Elisha represented the power of life that was victorious over death.
When we come to the New Testament, John the Baptist filled with the Holy Spirit from his birthday, came in the spirit and power of Elisha (Elias) in order to make the people ready for the Lord (Lk. 1:15,17). John’s life and ministry of preaching were focused on transferring everything to Christ. And when that transfer was made, they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit descended upon them (Acts 19:1-7). Later on, Apostle Paul apparently discerned in them a lack of life and power, that is, the signs of the Presence of the Holy Spirit were missing; that’s why he asked them about their baptism.
The Remnant, people prepared for the Lord, came into the light with Elisha, which means, the sign of the people prepared for the Lord is the government of the Holy Spirit in their soul and the power of resurrection. This represents comparatively hard life for our flesh. Many may pray for the fullness of the Spirit, for the power of the Spirit, for the guidance of the Spirit, but the Spirit-governed life, which never went through the depth of the cross destroying their natural power and natural wisdom, does not exist. There is no place in us for two governments – our own and that of the Holy Spirit, that is, for both at the same time. And when we say that we are His instruments, the fact is that He may use us, but our position and conscience will be rather like spectators, than instruments. We do not have to have a conscience at all that He is using us. When we speak of the sign of the resurrection life, the power of His Life in us must be visible and well-established by our very own personality and her history, that power must be manifested in us. Our continuous experience will be the situations where it will be abundantly clear that to speak demands the Holy Spirit, to work demands the Holy Spirit, to do anything for the Lord demands the Holy Spirit – and NOTHING FROM US. Even the humanly best, most honest, most faithful believers were ruined by their own pride, conceit, vanity or self-promotion in their earthly life and especially in their work for the Lord. There was always found in them some compromise, agreement with things, which were essentially bad or which came from evil.
What is Baalism? Baalism is a link with what is satanic; even in our unrenewed nature, there is a link with what is satanic. Satan comes to Christians through the link of pride. What was actually the sin of Baal? What was his crime? He received glory and fame from God’s things. That’s it. Personal gain from God’s things… because he loved reward, something for himself from God’s things, if not something material, tangible, then at least some name, reputation, admiration. He thereby satisfied his pride and built his image. Is among us anyone, who would say that nothing like that is in me and never was? Those that were, or still are, used by the Lord know very well that to be used by the Lord is at the same time a dangerous thing. The sphere of great God’s blessings is at the same time the sphere of the greatest dangers for those blessed ones because the hazard of a concealed pride and self-exaltation is lurking at them from every side. Despite these dangers, the ministry of the Remnant must continue. These instruments of the Lord will be similar to John the Baptist in the power of Elijah. John the Baptist went to the prison and there he was beheaded. His life had to depart in order to get place to the coming Christ and the New Resurrected Life. This, of course, is a parable and we must understand the spiritual truth, where our old man must also be “beheaded” and our old life must similarly depart in order to get place to the New Resurrection Life.
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To be continued next week
brother Hanola
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