Mark of True Call of God: Perseverance

Many people say that they want great experiences from God—encounters in the throne room, angelic visitations, burning bush experiences—but they do not realize the responsibility that comes along with these types of encounters.

Yes, God wants us to be captivated with Him and truly experience Him not just with head knowledge, but with actual revelation. However, many of the dramatic encounters we see in the Word of God were a commissioning to do a great work of God. These commissionings were given to strengthen the person to do great exploits in the face of grave danger and hardship over long periods of time where it seemed the promise would never come to pass.

Any believer can go preach the gospel—the Lord calls us all to do this, but there are certain assignments set aside that are so difficult that the Lord will grant specific experiences to sustain that person over the long-haul.

Most people so covet the experience, but they do not realize that God gives those encounters, because He knows that person is going to have so many difficulties that they will want to quit over and over again.

The world, Satan, and even our own human nature are constantly pushing us to give up and quit. However, God will come strengthen us with His grace so that we can persevere.

I have heard Mike Bickle say, “Perseverance is the mark of a true minister of God.” Everything in us and around us says, “Quit, give up, you’re a failure anyway.” However, God’s Word says that we have already won. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus, and the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.

Encounters into the realm of heaven give us a glimpse into eternity, and pull us out of our present circumstances into the vast expanse of God’s redeeming plan. When life gets mundane, difficult, or we are in danger of losing our very lives, we can remember those times when God met us in such a way that we will never forget it. Those times strengthen our hearts to persevere.

I can imagine that when things got hard for Moses, he remembered the bush that burned with fire, but was not consumed. He remembered the voice that came from the bush and sent him to deliver Israel from the land of Egypt. An encounter like that is difficult to forget no matter the circumstances. I am sure that encounter sustained him in the journey.

Even Paul had a dramatic encounter on the road to Damascus. He met Jesus and was blinded by His glory. Meeting the risen Christ sustained Paul through beatings, shipwrecks, stonings, scourges, hunger, thirst, and miles and miles of endless road. He had been captivated and could never turn away.

God comes to strengthen the weak hands and the feeble knees. He comes to tell us, “Do not grow weary in doing good, for in due season, you will reap a harvest, if you do not lose heart!”

Life & Message of the Apostolic: Laying Down Your Life

On the night that Jesus died, he was in the garden of Gethsemane praying in anguish that the grueling assignment of his death would be taken away from Him. He knew His assignment on earth was to die on the Cross. Yet, He knew it would be the hardest thing any human being has ever done (Lk. 22:39-46; Mt. 26:36-46).

However, Jesus stayed in the place of prayer and surrendered His will over to the will of His Father. He said, “Not my will, but Yours be done” (Lk. 22:42). In the place of prayer, He laid down His life before He was even arrested or went to the Cross.

Jesus knew what was coming for His disciples and He told them to pray so that they would not enter into temptation (Mt. 26:41; Lk. 22:40). He knew that they would have the opportunity to lay down their lives that night, and He told them to pray to strengthen their spirits so that they were not tempted to betray Him.

However, they all fell asleep in the garden. None of them prayed during that time of temptation, and all of them were scattered. By the end of the night, every one of the disciples betrayed Jesus.

Jesus had promised that anyone who wanted to be His disciple needed to take up their cross and follow Him (Mk. 8). A mark of following Jesus is laying down your life.

Later on, after the resurrection of Jesus, the disciples were restored back into their ministry. I believe they were forever marked with what it means to lay down your life.

Time and time again, Paul preached how the mark of the apostleship was laying down their lives for the Church. And ultimately, nearly all of the apostles (if not all of them) were killed for their faith.

Laying down your life is a constant process of being identified with the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ in your daily life (Gal. 2, Rom. 6). It is like being “a living martyr” who is fully surrendered to Jesus. However, the entire New Testament is marked with those who actually died for their faith.

Before the return of Jesus, the Lord will restore the true apostolic to the church again and many will die for their faith in Christ.

However, if we, like Christ, stay in that place of prayer so that we will not be delivered over into temptation, our lives will already be completely surrendered to Christ in life, a long time before we are given over to death.

“Greater love has no man than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (Jn. 15:13).

Life & Message of the Apostolic: Fellowshipping in the Sufferings of Christ

For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. (I Corinthians 4:9-13)

Over and over again throughout Paul’s letters, he repeats the lifestyle of an apostle as one of a bondservant—a slave, who gladly lays down his life (Rom. 1:1, II Cor. 4:5, Gal. 1:10, Phil. 1:1). He speaks of the apostle as being one who is whipped, beaten, shipwrecked, reviled and distained (II Cor. 11:22-33). He defines the life of the apostle as being one who fellowships in the sufferings of Christ and bears the marks of His suffering (Phil. 3:2-11).

All throughout the New Testament, the life of following Christ and the life of the apostle is one of laying down your own life and completely giving all to Christ. The lifestyle of an apostle or minister of Christ is not one of glamor, fame, or popularity, but one of suffering, labor, and hardship.

Many of us care so much about fulfilling our assignment or calling in this life. However, look at the life of Jesus. What was His assignment on this earth? What was He born to do? Heal the sick? Raise the dead?  Cast out demons? Preach the Gospel?—No.

Jesus Christ’s assignment on this earth was none of those things. Those things were just demonstrations of how believers are supposed to function on the earth in communion with the Holy Spirit. He was demonstrating how sons and daughters walk in their inheritance.

When Jesus Christ came to the planet, His assignment was to die. He was called to die on the Cross and save all of humanity. Jesus did not fulfill His assignment until His death on the Cross.

In Gethsemane the night before He died, Jesus was in agony over fulfilling His assignment. He asked the Father to take the assignment from Him because it was too difficult to bear.

Many of us want the glamor of a big assignment, but we do not realize that it will cost us our very lives. If our own Lord and Savior had to die to fulfill His assignment, how much more should we?

Devo 65: Consecrated

Devo 65: Consecrated June 8, 2010

“Jesus stepped in front of me and took His hands with the bloody nail scars and pressed them into my hands. His blood was left on my hands and I realized that even my sacrifice was His sacrifice…”

The Hebrew word “consecrated” literally means “hands full of blood,[1]” and was used to describe the priestly ministry because they had bloody hands after sacrificing animals at the temple altar. They were then stripped naked and bathed in front of the whole assembly of Israel, redressed by Moses and blood was put on their ear, thumb, and big toe. They then stood in the door of the tent of meeting for seven days—just waiting there.

It is amazing that when Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice, He was pierced through His hands. He literally had “hands full of blood.” It was the ultimate consecration as a priest. He was the priest and the sacrifice. His hands were full of His own blood rather than the blood of bulls and goats.

When Jesus asked us to take up our cross and follow Him, He was saying not only to take up a life of sacrifice, but take up a life of priestly ministry—of “consecration.”

However, the more I learn about it, the more I realize that even this sacrifice of ours is not really ours, but His. We can only do it through His Grace, which comes through the blood that He shed. No matter how zealous we are to fast, pray, give, and live lives of righteousness—we only accomplish it through His Grace. Works of our own are as filthy rags, but when we enter into His rest, it is His work of grace that works righteousness in us. It was by His obedience that we were made righteous (Rom. 5:19).

These nail scars of Jesus were more than just sacrifice and priestly ministry, they were also the fulfillment of a promise to Israel. In Isaiah 49:15, Jesus said, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget you, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands…your walls are continually before me.

Jesus inscribed Israel on the palms of His hands according to His promise. Those nail scars are a continuous reminder of the remnant He will never forget. He was pierced for their trangressions and wounded for their iniquities—and ours (Isaiah 52-53).

His very name in Hebrew “Yeshua” literally means “salvation.”[2] So, the places in the Hebrew Scriptures where the word salvation is used, it is the same word as the name Yeshua. So, Isaiah 49:6 says, “Indeed He says, ‘It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, That you should be my salvation (yeshua) to the ends of the earth.’”

I heard a teacher[3] say that even the Hebrew letters YHVH (the Name of God) basically translate as “The hands,” “Behold,” “The nail pegs,” “Behold.” I have to research that more in depth to make sure it is legitimate, but it is amazing to think about.

The Grace and Salvation of the Lord far exceeds what we can ask, think, or imagine. I used to think that salvation was the point where the blood of Jesus covered us, but after that we needed to live holy, obedient, and work as hard as we could to live a life of righteousness. Well, that is true to an extent, but actually it is His grace that helps us do that as well. It is only by His blood we are saved and by His grace we keep on the path of righteousness.

We have to realize the power of the blood of Jesus. He was only “salvation” when He did that one act on the cross, but He IS salvation. His name is still Yeshua. His name is Salvation. Every time we interact with Him, we are interacting with Salvation. In Him we exist, move, and have our being (Rev. 4:11). Every moment is because of His saving grace.

It was through His sacrifice and surrender to the will of God that He entered into the rest of God and also created the way for us to enter into His rest.

There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His (on the Sabbath). Let us therefore enter into that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience…
Hebrews 4:9-11

How do we enter this rest? What does it mean to enter the rest of God? Verses 12-14 go on to speak of the word of the Lord that divides soul from spirit and determines the thoughts and intents of our hearts. We cannot hide anything from Him, but all things will be revealed. We will have to give an account. I believe this is speaking of the motives for why we are striving to do our own works and entering into everything but the rest of God. However, there is a High Priest who sympathizes with us…

Seeing then that we have such a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but on all points was tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Hebrews 4:14-16

We see our High Priest and we hold fast to our confession. What is that confession? It is the confession of His blood sacrifice that He gave, and therefore we can enter into the rest of the Father, by approaching His throne where we obtain mercy and find grace.
Mercy is something we obtain, but not through our own works, but by approaching His throne and holding fast to our confession that we have been bought with the blood sacrifice of Yeshua, our salvation. If we came to that throne claiming righteousness by any other work, we would not obtain mercy, but rather the wrath of God.

When we approach His throne, we find grace. It is almost as if unexpectedly, grace comes to us. It is as if we are there groveling, hoping that in the midst of His glory, fire, and the fear of the Lord we may obtain mercy, and we feel as though we will never amount to anything or do anything right. Yet, right in that place, we find grace. Grace is not merely forgiveness, but it is empowerment to become what God has designed you to be. It breaks off condemnation, shame, and sin that has already been bought. Grace is a wonderful gift that God gives us so that we can live a life of righteousness—a life of consecration.

It is as though the very blood from His hands covers our hands and gives us the strength to follow His example in living a life of being totally His. Not only were we bought out of sin into life, but we are given the grace to be transformed and to live a life of taking up our cross and following Him.

Ask God to give you that grace (strength) to remain in His righteousness. Ask Him for grace in time of need. Ask Him even before you feel you need it. Ask Him to strengthen you, and focus on the fact that everything—literally everything is about Him.

Bless you in the name of Jesus.
Amanda

[1] Apostolic Foundations. Art Katz
[2] Eitan Shishkoff. Israel Mandate Conference. 2010
[3] Dr. Terri Terry

Copyright © 2010, Amanda Rich, All Rights Reserved

Devo 56: Death, Burial, & Resurrection: The Place of Intercession

"Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life…"

Romans 6:4

Even as it was the place of intercession that Christ died for us, so we also reach enter into the place of intercession through a daily death. As we take up our cross and follow Christ, conflict arises between our natural man and spiritual man. While wrestling in that place, if we choose to “put to death the deeds of the flesh” (Rom. 8:13), and truly walk in the Spirit, we are then able to enter into our calling as sons and daughters and join into intercession with the Father.

In John 17:3, Jesus said that He came to give us eternal life. Then, as if we did not know what that was, Jesus goes on to define eternal life by saying, “And this is eternal life, that they may KNOW YOU, the one true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent…” He defines eternal life as relationship. Life is about knowing God, and eternal life does not start when we die a natural death, but when we die to ourselves and are raised into the newness of a life in Jesus Christ. That is where eternal life begins.

Once we realize that eternal life is about knowing God, it leads us right into abiding in the Spirit (Jn. 15). Abiding in the spirit is all about having that personal relationship with Him—knowing Him. Jesus said that we MUST abide in the Spirit or we will be cut off. Also, we can do nothing apart from Him, but if we abide in Him, we can ask anything we wish, and it will be done for us (Jn 15:5-7). Abiding in the Spirit allows us to walk in the newness of life.

One of the difficulties we all face with walking in this newness of life is the problem of our old man creeping back in. For this reason, Romans 6-8 and Galatians 5-6 both talk about putting to death the deeds of the flesh and walking in the spirit. As Jesus instructed us in Mark 8, we must take up our cross and follow Him, which means that we must face crucifixion everyday.

As we walk the way God tells us to walk, we are faced with decisions daily where we must “put to death the deeds of the flesh” and therefore, our old man is crucified. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

As we are confronted with these situations where we must die to ourselves, we are then able to enter that place of abiding in the Spirit, because we are remaining in Him. He said to His disciples that they were already clean because of the words He had spoken to them. Then He said, “Abide (remain) in me and I will remain in You, as the branch cannot bear fruit unless it remains in the vine.”

When Jesus saves us and we enter a relationship with Him, He speaks to us and says, “You are a new creation, the old has passed away and all things have become new” (II Cor. 5:17). These are the words He speaks to us that make us clean. Then, from looking at John 15:4, we can see that He would say, “Remain in these words…”

When we remain in these words, we bear fruit. Galatians 5 talks about the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, etc…we cannot bear that fruit without remaining in the spirit, remaining in His words. These are not “fruits of our strivings” but “fruits of the spirit.” We cannot make them happen unless we abide in the vine.

But, the enemy comes to steal, kill, and say that we are not a new creation. He comes to tempt us so we walk outside of the Spirit and therefore “prove” that nothing has changed in us and we are not a new creation.

However, if we continue to walk in the Spirit and abide in His words, we will walk in the newness of life—being a new creation. As we look at God and who He is through the word, we become more like Him and are transformed from glory to glory (II Cor 3:18). When we mess up and depart from the vine, we must ask for forgiveness and jump right back in without allowing lies and condemnation to stop us.

But what does this have to do with intercession? Everything. Jesus is the prime example of an intercessor, who laid down His life, but ultimately gained the place of authority by taking up His cross and following the will of the Lord no matter the cost.

Philippians 2:15 lays out God’s divine strategy by saying that Jesus humbled Himself, took up the cross, despising its shame, and therefore, God has highly exalted Him and raised Him to the right hand of the Father.

Every place in our lives where our will and desires conflict with God’s will and desires is a opportunity to take up our cross.

When we daily take up our cross and follow the Lord, we are exalted to the right hand of the Father. Ephesians 2 says, “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…” (Eph. 2:4-6). We are already in that place because of the words He has spoken to us, but we must remain in it and walk in it.

Abiding in the spirit, taking up our cross, walking in the spirit—all allow us to walk in that “newness of life” of being seated with Him in heavenly places, and boldly approach His throne with confidence (Heb. 4:16). Then, we ask whatever we wish and it will be done for us.

I believe this is why so many times there is such turmoil surrounding a time of intense intercession. Things are being brought up in the intercessor that require that person “to die,” and then allow that person to “be raised up.” It is a daily process. I also believe that this is why prayer and fasting go hand in hand, because fasting brings up so much turmoil in the flesh that must be put to death, and then we are raised up before His throne in the place of intercession.

We are all intercessors. God has called every believer to pray. Some are called to make it a lifestyle more than others, but we are all called to “pray without ceasing” and to abide in the spirit. In that place, we will bear much fruit, but without it, we can do nothing.

Grace and Peace,

Amanda
 
Copyright © 2010, Amanda Rich, All Rights Reserved