Where’s The Light?

… this present evil world Gal. 1:4

Have you ever looked out at night? What do you see? Darkness, of course. I am sure this is no news for anyone. What might be news is that the darkness you see out there at night signifies the spiritual condition of this present world. In the Bible, evil is equated to darkness. And the physical darkness that we see in the world is an metaphor or symbol of the spiritual condition of the world. The earth rotates on its axis and we see both light and darkness, signifying the two kingdoms of God and the devil. But in this present world that we live in, the sun has not risen yet. That is why the Bible talks of

“the rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph. 6:12)

In the spirit, the present world is under the rulership of the rulers of darkness. The world is under deep darkness. If you want to know just how evil this present world is, just look out into the night. You will see only darkness. In the spirit world, much, or all of that darkness resides in the heart of man.

But there is something else! At night you see the stars. Bless the Lord for the stars, for they are they that brighten the night (the moon does not). Have you ever gazed up at a starry sky? It is incredibly beautiful.

We are like the stars. We bring light to this present world. How? Through our works of righteousness. In the spirit, the church is the only light in this present world. The sun has not risen yet. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes the second time, then the sun will have risen. Then this present world will run from His presence. The light chases away the light.

At present, as I said, we are like the stars in the sky. We are the only light that shines in this darkness.

Unfortunately, the church today is not shining brightly. I know I will have my critics; but I have to say what needs to be said, namely, (and I need to write it in capital letters) THERE IS REALLY NO MORE CHURCH IN THE WORLD TODAY, JUST A GLIMMER.

How can we say there is a church when what is called “church” today is full of anything and everything (too much to enumerate here) other than the beautiful fruit of the Spirit that shines in darkness; the works of righteousness; fruit that can only be had through an identification with the denial of self, the sufferings, death, and resurrection of Christ; Christ living in us.

How can we say there is a church when the true gospel, the gospel of the cross of Jesus is not being preached in church? On the contrary, we find that the most popular gospel in the church today is that of which the Apostle Paul spoke:

“For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom” (1 Cor. 1:22)

God’s people run after miracles, signs and wonders, while others seek after intellectual understandings of scripture rather than desiring the inner work of the cross. But what did Paul preach?

“But we preach Christ crucified… Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor. 1:24)

Christ crucified is the real power and wisdom of God.

Judge ye yourselves. Should the church preach any other gospel other than

“Christ crucified”?

Then there is neither power nor wisdom of God. If it preaches anything other than Christ crucified, the church  will never shine like the stars in heaven. It will never bear the fruit of the Spirit – which is the true “light” of the world – without the cross working in her. Look at the Corinthian church. They had all the gifts of the Holy Spirit: so much so that they overlapped each other during ministry. But they had no fruit of the Spirit. They were carnal Christians, babes in Christ.

If we are to grow and become mature in Christ and reveal the glory of Christ in us, we must bend ourselves under the cross and allow it to do all it needs to do in us (breaking us) to the end that all the works of the flesh in us might be crucified and that Christ in all His glory might be seen in us!

[There is really no more church in the world today, just a glimmer]

Women In Ministry – Part 3

1 And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him.

2 And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,

3 And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

4 And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable:

5 A sower went out to sow his seed… Lk. 8:1-5

[We should never lose sight of our key scripture above]

The second foundational scripture I want us to consider is 1 Peter 3-6.

“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your husbands… For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.”

The Bible says Sarah called Abraham “lord”. Is that even possible? Yes, it is – in the Spirit. Just as it is possible for a spiritual man or woman to turn the other cheek, it is possible for a woman to call her husband “lord” in the Spirit. I never read in the Old Testament that Sarah called Abraham “lord”. But the apostles knew this fact by revelation. How so interesting scripture can become. And how so powerful our spiritual lives become when God’s order has been established!

What scripture means here is that Sarah acknowledged and honored Abraham in the Spirit, not because he was a great man of faith, but simply because he was her husband. She acknowledged and recognized the authority that he had over her in the Spirit, and she honored this authority by calling him “lord”. Sarah, being a woman of the Spirit, understood God’s order in the Spirit; and she chose to honor it.

But it was not just Sarah. The Bible declares:

“… in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands”.

It was not just Sarah. In the old time, every Godly woman honored their husbands. In this scripture, the Bible emphatically establishes the fact that spiritual women of old had no problem with authority.

Man in his raw carnal nature has a problem with authority. Unfortunately, the issue of submission is a big problem in the church also. But the Apostle Peter exhorts us,

“Likewise, ye younger submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” (1 Pet. 5:5)

Here, again, scripture establishes the fact that spiritual people, both men and women, old and young, have no problem submitting their lives.

This is an incredibly powerful spiritual understanding. If every believer could arrive here, God would not have the heartache that He has today. And the church would have so much grace and power and unity in the Spirit.

A true woman of God is not the woman ‘minister”. Rather, it is the woman who can humble herself and submit herself to her husband. That is what the Bible tells us in those words.

” For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands”.

Not by strutting across the stage. Let a woman submit herself to her husband and she becomes the most powerful woman alive.

Finally, let us consider the Apostle Peter’s words in verse 6:

“whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement.”

Who or what is Peter warning them to beware not to fear?

It is their own selves. Self is the greatest threat to doing the will of God. Here the Apostle Peter is telling Godly women, “If your lives are surrendered to God, you have nothing to fear.”

When our lives are nailed to the cross, we do not fear this Goliath called self. We do not fear the pride that would have us unable to humble ourselves. When our flesh is nailed to the cross we are free! We are free of any kind of fear.

That is why marriages work in the church. Both the husband and the wife having crucified their flesh can see far ahead in the Spirit into God’s grand plan (not their little self-ish whims). They discover they are mere cogs in the great wheel of God’s plan and they rejoice as they serve God in their very different (but complementary) capacities.

The Test For Our Faith

1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 1 Cor. 13:1-3

It is incredible, don’t you think, that someone can speak with the tongues of men and angels and yet be of no consequence before God. Or that they can have the gift of prophecy and an understanding of all the heavenly mysteries and be considered nothing.

These are almost unbelievable things to hear. Verse 3 is even more astonishing:

“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.”

How can one bestow all his goods to feed the poor, or give their body to be burned and still profit nothing from it?

How can such things be possible?

They call it the litmus test. Webster’s Dictionary gives the definition of the litmus test as “something (such as an opinion about a political or moral issue) that is used to make a judgment about whether someone or something is acceptable.”

They further describe it as “a test in which a single factor (as an attitude, event, or fact) is decisive.”

The litmus test of our faith therefore is our life. It is the life we live. Our faith and the grace of God that goes with it are measured by the life – and love – of Christ in us. This talks of the Christ-like nature. What matters with God is the nature of Christ in us.

But this requires us to surrender our old, carnal nature.

Did you know that the Galatian church was so rich in faith that they had miracles occurring in their midst (Gal. 3:5)? Great faith was at work in that church.

And yet Paul told them they were “bewitched”! (v.1)

Now, that sounds like a contradiction. God’s people bewitched?

Oh, yes. These people were bewitched because they had the Holy Spirit working overtime in their midst to the extent of doing miracles – and yet they would not change! Those miracles and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their midst did not profit them in the least.

With the gospel, if we are not changing into the character of Christ, whatever we are doing is of no profit to us. No change, no deal.

It is good to have the Holy Spirit upon us; but it is infinitely better to allow Him to work in us. This is where He deals with the old man of the flesh. This is where He works to bring a mortification, or death to our earthly, carnal nature:

“5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. 8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth” (Col. 3:5-8).

The Galatians had faith to perform miracles but not faith to change!

This is where God has a problem with us. We cheer the great faith and the miracles, but at the same time deny the Holy Spirit a foothold to work in us, to break us. But that is exactly the price we need to pay.

Whatever does not lead us to take the strait and narrow road should be viewed with great suspicion. Whatever gospel does not require you to take up your cross and follow Christ cannot be of God. That is the simplicity of the gospel.

It is in following Christ through taking up our cross that we are transformed. When we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us He teaches us to deny self and to take up our cross and follow Christ.

When we are living this kind of life, we can show forth the love and life of Christ.At the end of the day, the test of our faith is our readiness to deny ourself, take up our cross and follow Christ.

[Below: The grace that is needed within the church can only come about as a result of the crucifixion of the flesh]

Suffering – Gateway To Life

29 For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;

30 Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me. Phil. 1:29-30

I am a vain man. I tend, for example, to believe that my wife is the greatest woman in the entire universe. For once though, despite my overblown vanity, I could be right on this one. From reading the Word of God and from experience I am absolutely certain that my wife is one of the most excellent women in the world. To me she is Ruth, she is Esther, she is Abigail – all wrapped in one. I couldn’t provide a better description of her than Proverbs 31. She fits it like a glove. Her price is, undoubtedly, far above rubies.

I feel extremely blessed and somehow even over-favored by God to have Flo as my wife. She has enriched my life in many different ways. Above all, she has enabled us to have a stable and fulfilling marriage. I realize that having her for a wife is one way of God telling me, “I love you”. He is so caring, loving and faithful!

There are many men, though, even fellow brethren, who are not as blessed as I am in their marriages. They have suffered in many different ways through their marriages. One of my brothers, a fellow minister, has had the most difficult marriage imaginable for close to 30 years! The bad news is that the problem has only grown worse with time. The man is no angel, of course, but I know his heart. His wife, on the other hand, is an intractable, unyielding and unforgiving woman.

Another one of my friends hadn’t yet tasted what marriage was about before his wife began wearing a complete “full suite” to bed. She would even wear hard-core shorts, complete with a lockable Rambo-style belt – to bed!!

I used to feel sorry these and other people who were suffering in their marriages. I would think in my heart: ‘Poor folks! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful wife.’

And then, one day, the Lord showed me something that changed my whole outlook of the situation. He showed me that it is not having a spiritual wife that constitutes a blessing. The true blessing, He revealed to me, is when I am taking my cross and following Jesus.

God showed me that even though He may have blessed me with the sweetest wife on the planet, it did not mean that He was going to let me off the hook when it came to suffering for Christ. My faith may be working well in my marriage, but there were other areas where it would be tested. God would use other areas in my life to try out whether I was fully obedient to him. It is so easy to exercise our faith only in the small, painless areas of our lives. But we cannot serve God half-heartedly. God wants our entire lives to be submitted to His will. And in this regard, God is not short of areas to work in in our lives!

Whatever the case is, God will make sure that I arrive at a place where I will be confronted by the cross of Christ. Christianity is not there just for me to enjoy myself. Sure, God will allow me to enjoy myself in many areas. But in my relationship with God, my becoming a spiritual person is of far greater importance than my earthly enjoyment of His favors. Above everything else, God wants me to be spiritual and to live a spiritual lifestyle. But this spiritual lifestyle can only be attained when I am constantly crucifying my flesh and its desires. For this reason, God will make sure to bring obstacles in my life to club spiritual sense into my life. In other words, God will confront my carnal nature.

God may not use my wife, but He could use my children, or my neighbor, or a situation at my workplace. God could also use a financial situation. He could make me rich or He could make me poor, to test me. God could even use my pastor! Or He could use persecution. God can use anything. Many times we do not know what He intends to use. The one thing that is sure is that if I am called of God, He will put a stumbling block in my life just to block out all the carnality in my life.

That is why, much as I have no complaints in my marriage, still I must carry the mind of Christ and be ready to suffer in many other areas of my life. This suffering, as we just noted, comes in the form of confrontation. God uses situations or people to confront us in our different carnal ways. How we react is the most important thing with God. Do we humble ourselves or do we hold onto our rights? The one reaction holds life, and the other means death. We must choose wisely.

I can tell you from experience that it is not easy to choose to humble ourselves. It is not easy to choose life! But I am learning – sometimes step by step, like a baby – to walk the strait and narrow road.

God calls me to arm myself with the mind of Christ. For this reason I must watch my attitude, not just towards my wife but towards other situations also. That is why I must have the mind of Christ. The mind of Christ is a mind of humility. With a mind of humility, I can give God the glory by humbling myself in every situation and allowing Him to break the things that come from my human folly and pride.

That was the struggle that Paul had. Paul had no wife, good or bad, to deal with. Yet Paul suffered in many other areas of his life. Flesh is flesh. God had many areas to deal with in Paul’s life.

The joy of having a loving wife is that, after I have come from a day out working the “conflict” that Christ has set out before me, I can go back home to warm, welcoming arms, a beautiful smile, and a deeply loving and caring heart. That’s Flo.

[Below: Vain me with my Flo]

The Holy Spirit For Our Sanctification

The Holy Spirit affects us in three major ways:

• The Holy Spirit with us
• The Holy Spirit upon us
• The Holy Spirit in us

This diversity shows how rich God is. And, just for discussion’s sake, which, amongst these three aspects, would you prefer to find the Holy Spirit ministering to you in if you were asked to choose only one?

Well, none is less needful, but we shall soon see why having the Holy Spirit in us is of the uttermost importance to the born-again believer.

The Holy Spirit with us. When the Holy Spirit comes to be with us He convicts us of many things, as we read in John 16:8-11. The Holy Spirit with us affects even the un-Godly as we see in verses 8-9:

“8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9 Of sin, because they believe not on me…”

The ministry of the Holy Spirit with us is therefore broad and all-encompassing.

The Holy Spirit on us. When the Holy Spirit comes upon us, the first sign that He is upon us is that we speak in tongues. Speaking in tongues is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and it has many benefits. In the first place, God, being Spirit, desires that we communicate with Him in spiritual language, and that is why He has given us the gift of tongues. It is far more edifying spiritually to speak to God in tongues than in any earthly language. That is what the Bible says in 1 Cor. 14:1-4.

Secondly, tongues are used to bring prophecy to the church. God uses the ministry of speaking in tongues to bring a direct message from His heart to the church. God then uses other ministries within the church to interpret those tongues. God is so rich!

One of the best examples of this in the Bible is the case of Balaam’s donkey. The donkey wasn’t human, but he spoke in human language when the Holy Spirit came upon him. Now, no donkey will inherit God’s heavenly Kingdom; but the Holy Spirit came upon the donkey and the donkey spoke in tongues and saved Balaam’s life!

As I said, Balaam’s donkey is not going to heaven. That means a donkey cannot be spiritual. Speaking in tongues, therefore, or prophesying in tongues does not mean you are spiritual. Sometimes someone – a preacher, or a believer – can have a rotten spiritual lifestyle, and he knows it. But yet he preaches and miracles happen in his services and, unfortunately, he believes that this makes him spiritual or acceptable to God. But no; that is just the Holy Spirit upon him operating on behalf of God. Again, God is so rich in grace He can allow these kinds of things to happen.

What makes a man acceptable to God, though, is something entirely different, and it is what we will look at next.

The Holy Spirit in us. The Holy Spirit in us is what pleases God most. Why? It is because the heart of man is the place where God has chosen to make His dwelling place. That is an incredible fact, but it is true. God has chosen to live in men’s hearts! When we say God has made the heart His dwelling place, it is talking about man’s spirit.

I am sure none of us would love to live in a dirty house. God therefore works very hard to clean His house. The Bible says,

“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14).

A clean heart is a holy heart! People love talking about grace, but here and elsewhere, scripture makes it clear that grace comes with a responsibility. We are commanded to be holy if we ever hope to “see the Lord”! The permissive grace that many people love talking of is certainly not of God.

Something – a change – definitely needs to happen in our hearts. The Holy Spirit in us is where God operates upon our hearts to bring about this change. Here God reveals to us the reality of the spiritual life. He shows us, just as He did with the Apostle Paul, how much we must suffer for the gospel’s sake.

What does it mean to suffer for the gospel’s sake? It is the cleansing process. It is the uprooting of the old man of our carnal nature. True Christian life is a transformation. God wants our hearts to be transformed to become like His – pure and holy.

God knows, for example, that if I have envy in my heart I will not inherit His eternal life. But He knows exactly what is needed to transform me. God therefore gets to work to deal with my envy. He raises up a huge stumbling block in my life to deal with that envy. As long as I am willing, God will use that stumbling block to chip away at my envy down to its roots. God’s working in my life becomes my “thorn in the flesh”, but it produces the sweet fruit of a sanctified life.

It was for this reason that the early apostles welcomed suffering in their lives. They knew what it would do in them. It would transform them!

May we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way in us. He is there to sanctify us. Suffering – giving up our earthly rights – may last for a night, but the morning is coming. The reward for this sanctification is unfathomable.

[Below: The old Indian Quarter in Musoma Town]

The Challenge To Obey God

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. Rom 8:13

The first man to die was Adam, and here scripture gives us the reason why he died. Adam died because he followed after his flesh rather than obeying God. This scripture also brings us to realize that what has always troubled the church then and now is the flesh. Much as we would love to blame the devil for the church’s woes, yet it is far much safer to stay with what the Bible says; and here the Bible states that the real enemy of God’s church is the flesh. If that is the case, therefore, there is no doubting the fact that every other gospel preached has missed the mark, except one – the gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ, as it was revealed to the Apostle Paul – “For the preaching of the cross… is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). The revelation of the cross of Jesus Christ is the singular gospel that has power to deal death to the flesh, and to enable those who are called by God to inherit eternal life (Gal. 6:14).

To find ourselves even beginning to understand this revelation is an indescribable grace!

Now, before we go on, let us make sure that we understand perfectly clearly what the Bible means by the word flesh. The Bible itself gives us the meaning right here in Romans 8:13: the flesh, it says, are “the deeds of the body”. Again, the “body” mentioned here is not the physical flesh and blood body that we know of. Rather, it is the innermost part of man, his soul. In Bible language, the “body” is that unregenerate nature of man.

A list of the body’s “deeds” is written down in Galatians 5:19-21:

“19 … adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like.”

These are the things that the Bible refers to as the flesh. They are the things that we absolutely must put off from our hearts in order to enter heaven.  God has given us His Holy Spirit for this very purpose.

The Holy Spirit is more than sufficient for this task while, on the other hand, on our own we are completely useless. So what is our role in all this? Our responsibility is to humble our wills to the working of the Holy Spirit and to allow Him to deal with these “deeds” in our hearts. To carry a humble heart is the singular greatest responsibility that man has before God.

I find it interesting that many born-again believers think that they will enter heaven with their carnal ways just as long as they have done some things on the outside… fulfilling some church roles, or obeying some laws and regulations.  And yet, throughout scripture, we find that the singular condition for us to be ushered into God’s heavenly Kingdom is for us to put off the old man of the flesh and its lusts by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There are people who will counter that this “requirement” implies works rather than grace. But no. This requirement is not of works nor, indeed, can you do away with the flesh through works. There is no power that can defeat the works of the flesh, except one – the power of God, the Holy Spirit. But God has given us this same Holy Spirit to come live in us. The power of the Holy Spirit, which saved us in the first place, is even more capable of dealing with our sinful nature.

Living in sin or appeasing the flesh is therefore a denial of the Holy Spirit’s power in your life.

That is why the Bible insists that we must be transformed. In other words, the Bible reasons, seeing God has given us His Holy Spirit, there is no reason for a believer to not be transformed into the image of God’s Son Jesus Christ, for which very purpose God has given us His Holy Spirit!

The church wants to ride the sugar train of the flesh and also inherit God’s spiritual Kingdom? No way! And yet today, increasingly, Christians want it that way. They want to sing “Glory, glory hallelujah!” and raise a racket in church while embracing the lusts and passions of the flesh. But God is more interested in us putting off the carnal nature in us than in our singing. God is more interested in a pure heart, for example. He is also interested in us living a morally pure and holy life. God is interested in a heart of mercy, and a heart that can easily forgive. There are many things that God is interested in, and they can only be found in us if we have crucified the flesh and allowed the Holy Spirit to cleanse us.

Paul in Galatians provides us with a list of the things that please God in a man.

“22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (5:22-23).

Such people – people who have crucified their flesh – are free! They are free from any laws. You cannot even tell such a person, “Obey God!” because he has already obeyed Him by putting off the works of the flesh. Praise God!!

Many believers have been taught spiritual warfare, to war against the devil. They boast in being able to confine the devil in the bottomless pit and many other places. But few know how to defeat the flesh. Incidentally, I haven’t read anywhere where it says that if you confine the devil to the bottomless pit you will go to heaven.

But the cross of Jesus Christ teaches us exactly what is needed to please God: it is the mortification of the flesh. Moreover, through the revelation of the cross, when it comes to the devil we learn that, once we have defeated the flesh, we have in effect defeated the devil (Eph. 6:10-18). He cannot touch us.

The Bible is an interesting Book because it does not use half-way words like “maybe” or “probably” or “just might”. But when the Bible says that we will die if we live according to the flesh, it means just that. When God told Adam he should not eat of the fruit that God had told him not to eat for he would die the minute he ate it, Adam thought God had said “just might”. But God had not said that. When therefore Adam ate that fruit, he died immediately.

How much more do you think we shall die spiritually if we fail to deal with our carnal natures? Much more so, I am sure. And yet believers walk about with this mindset of testing God. For that reason, many believers today are dead spiritually, and the Bible declares that some have even died physically as a direct result of choosing to walk in sin (1 Cor. 11:30-32).

That is why we must crucify the flesh. I believe that the first business of the church is to put to death the deeds of the flesh. The power of the Holy Spirit is readily available to us, and we grieve the Holy Spirit when we ignore Him. Even worse, of course, is that when the church fails to take the way of the cross, it fails to grow and become the bride that Christ is awaiting.

The church today appears larger-than-life, and yet it is all a façade. Before we boast of our mega-churches, we must crucify the flesh. God is not really bothered about the size of someone’s church.

Before we sing “Glory, glory hallelujah!” we must crucify the flesh. I haven’t read anywhere in the New Testament where it says that I have to absolutely sing “Glory, hallelujah!”, but I certainly have read that I need to crucify the flesh if I hope to one day make it to heaven.

This is our challenge to obey God.

Paul, A Bond Slave Of Christ

And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. Gal. 5:24

A paraphrase of that scripture would be, “They that are true Christians have crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts”.

Notice the Bible does not say that those that are Christ’s are those who have gone to the mountains to pray, or those who have fasted forty days. Nor does it say that it is they who have casted out devils. Nor does the Bible say that those who are Christ’s are they who have been “serving God” for 20 or 40 years. No. You could do all those things and still not have fulfilled the one condition that will make you Christ’s.

And probably most importantly for today’s charismatic church, being Christ’s is not about shouting “Power!” You could shout your way right into hell, because the devil is not bothered by such declarations. If you want to really engage the devil, you will need to become Christ’s. The Bible says clearly,

“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”

And what, pray, does it mean to become “Christ’s”?

In the Old Testament, we read of God’s instructions to Moses about the man who would willingly wish to remain a bond slave of his master even after he had been set free, because he loved his master’s house “because he is well with thee” (Deut. 15:16-17). That man, the Bible says, would have his ear drilled with an awl at the door frame, and from that time onwards that person would be a bond slave to his master – forever (or, until death would do them part, of course).

Becoming “Christ’s” means becoming a bond slave of Christ, because you love Him. Paul was one man who managed to become a bond slave of Jesus Christ. Paul did not become a bond slave by following some rules or laws. He became a bond slave of Christ by willingly giving up the inner things of his nature, by crucifying his flesh. That is the equivalent of the man who had his ear togged at the doorpost.

Today, most born-again believers are Christ’s “bond slaves” by force of law. That is why there is so much law in church today because it is needed to keep God’s people there. Many believers have not reached the place where they are willing to die to the lusts and passions of their flesh, for Christ’s sake. Many would rather walk in law. Law is far much easier on the flesh.

But you cannot take supplementary things like prayer or quoting scripture or good works, or so-called spiritual warfare and try to substitute them for the work of the cross in your life. The Bible commands us to crucify the flesh and its lusts! (Remember, “command” here is all of grace, not law, because in the first place the one being commanded has willingly and lovingly become Christ’s – Christ’s slave!)

Let me tell you right here that realizing that you need to die to your flesh is a revelation from God. It cannot be otherwise. That is why there are millions of born-again believers today who have absolutely no idea that they need to crucify their flesh. They do not have that revelation. And so they cuddle that little jealousy, those flashes of anger, the hardheartedness – it becomes the norm in their lives, and they move along.

If there is one thing the church should be praying for today, it is for the revelation of the cross in the lives of God’s people.

Let us consider another scripture in this regard.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:14)

What does the word “led” imply here? Just imagine a bullock whose owner has drilled a hole in its nose and passed a rope through and he uses this rope to lead the bullock. In such a case, the bullock is fully surrendered to its master. It is at the mercy and leadership and direction of its owner. That is what it means to be led by the Spirit of God: it means to become a bond servant of the Spirit.

If you ask most born-again believers who their number one enemy is, they will look at you as if you are trying to pull their leg, and they will answer you testily: “The devil, of course!”

But they are wrong. The devil cannot touch us if we have crucified the flesh. When the devil was preparing his epic “rush” at Jesus, our Lord declared to His disciples, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” (Jn. 14:30)

Yes, Satan was coming to deliver his coup de grace on Jesus, but Jesus had the one weapon Satan’s arsenal could not penetrate: Jesus was dead to the flesh with its passions. People do strange and pointless things like dragging a corpse through town, but to what purpose? A dead man is simply that – dead.

Jesus was dead to the flesh and its passions. Jesus would be verbally insulted, but He would not reply. He would be tortured and crucified – but He did not threaten. Finally, He asked God the Father to forgive His tormentors.

The devil tried everything on Jesus, but each time he lost, for the singular reason that Jesus was dead to the flesh. In His spirit, Jesus carried about His cross.

No wonder the Apostle Paul rejoiced at the revelation of the cross in his life. He says:

“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Gal. 6:14)

When Paul talks about the world he is not talking about New York City. He is talking about the carnal lusts of his flesh. It is these that he says he died to. The cross working in his life made sure of that.

Beloved, let us desire this revelation that the Apostle Paul had. This was the man who had the true revelation of Christ in his life, and who willingly became a bond slave of Christ. And that is why Jesus used Paul so well. When you carefully read the New Testament you begin to realize that were it not for Paul, the gospel of the revelation of the cross might never have reached us.

[Below: Paul became a bond slave of Jesus Christ by losing all]

The Strait And Narrow Road

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. Mat. 7:13-14

What was Jesus saying here? Was He talking both to believers and unbelievers? We know that unbelievers will go to hell, but was that what He was referring to here?

The answer is no. In both these verses Jesus was referring to believers. He was saying that, in the final account, many believers will chose the broad way that leads to destruction and that few will choose the narrow way that leads to eternal life.

In reality, Jesus was warning those who would believe on Him – the church – about the most dangerous obstacle to their attaining eternal life. That obstacle is the flesh that is the carnal nature in each one of us.

Jesus was saying that, in the final analysis, many believers will choose to follow the flesh rather than the Spirit. Many will choose to follow the lusts of their flesh rather than choose the difficult road of self-denial. Indeed, few believers, even today, are willing to lose this aspect of their lives for the sake of the gospel. They will preach, sing, pray and visit the sick. But dealing with the things of their carnality is another issue altogether.

In our town, I heard of a bishop who beat up his wife so badly that the neighbors protested in indignation. I believe the police were also involved. Can you imagine that? A bishop! In our country a bishop is like the pope – he is a big man, with many local churches under him. You can imagine the damage done to the Kingdom of God by this one man who claims to be a Christian but who has no inkling of what the cross is supposed to do in his life.

That is why the devil has brought in so many substitutionary gospels because he knows that there are more than enough customers willing to subscribe to them. Not many professing Christians are willing to suffer for Christ. Not many are willing to lose the deep inner things of their carnal nature. And these will flock to churches that do not tell them to take up their cross and follow Christ.

But find me a man or woman who understands and who has embraced the gospel of the cross – the gospel of self-denial that Jesus taught – and I will show you someone who has eternal life in them.

The message of the cross is an incredibly powerful message. It is the only message of self-denial that is guaranteed to transform you into the image of Christ and hence into a citizen of heaven.

Any other message panders to the flesh, and the end result, the Bible guarantees, is “destruction”.

Jesus said: “Enter ye in at the strait gate…”

Dare we choose any other way? Or is Jesus required to downgrade that requirement and say, “Ok, guys… it’s all right even if you do not hit that 100% mark”?

By no means. As a matter of fact, Jesus never has had to apologize when asking us to take up our cross and follow Him. Instead, He promises to help us on the way of the cross. That is why the church needs to understand and open their hearts to the message of the cross. There we will find, not only a reason to take up our cross and follow Christ, but also the power to do so.

Do you remember Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane? The prospect in front of him was so difficult He asked His Father to take away the cup from Him if it were possible. But it was the Father’s will that He partake of that cup. And the Bible says that God sent an angel from heaven to strengthen Jesus.

And so the next day, Jesus spent six hours suffering indescribable agony on the cross. And that was in addition to many other traumas that He had had to undergo.

We ought not to be in league with the flesh. The Bible says we are indebted to the Spirit, and not to the flesh. The road of the cross is hard and difficult, but it is the only way to eternal life.

We defend so many seemingly important things, but they are the things of our carnal nature. But when we by God’s grace receive the revelation of the cross in our hearts, we turn and confront these very things.

[Below: The ‘MV Magogoni’ connects the coastal region of Kigamboni to Dar es Salaam City]

True Spiritual Armour

38 And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.

39 And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them. And David put them off him. 1 Sam. 17:38-39

The story of King David in the Bible has brought much excitement and delight to countless generations of God’s people. But not all of us realize that David’s life is a serious reflection of the life that we need to live in the Spirit. We probably are not aware that there is nothing “cool” about the life that David lived. On the contrary, it was a life where the flesh was constantly nailed to the cross in order that David could do God’s will.

The Bible testifies of David, that,

“… David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite” (1 Ki. 15:5).

From this scripture we can surmise that, except for his backsliding in the matter of Uriah’s wife, David paid a tremendous price to be able to please God to the extent that he did. In the Spirit, therefore, David was one of the greatest men who ever walked this earth. David had a humble and obedient heart. Were all God’s children to carry such a heart, there would be more joy in heaven than than there is now.

Let us now take a closer look at our subject matter.

Notice what happened here: “Saul armed David with his armour”.

Here a disaster of cataclysmic proportions was headed David’s way. David was about to be armed with Saul’s armour! But Saul was a man of the flesh, so much so that he had even been rejected by God as king over Israel (1 Sam. 15:26). And here he was, trying to fit David with his armour! That was a real disaster in the making. Had David gone to fight Goliath in that armour, Goliath would not have much of a fight on his hands. He probably would have fed David to the birds without even having to kill him first.

Unfortunately, David had no way of knowing that Saul was a man of the flesh, nor that God had rejected him from being king; so he tried on the king’s armour. But it simply wouldn’t fit, and the minute David put it on he knew it would be a hindrance rather than a help. In any case, David told the king, I have never used such armour.

David therefore put off Saul’s armour. Thank God for that! I am not sure whether the king was happy about that; but the Kingdom of God is not about pleasing men. David put off Saul’s armour because it was, in effect, the armour of the flesh.  But David was used to another kind of arlour, the armour of the Spirit. He had seen God deliver him from the lion and from the bear. In both instances, David had used the armour of the Spirit.

There is an armour in the flesh, and there is armour of the Spirit. When you fight with the armour of the flesh, you are bound to lose in the Spirit. But when you put on the armour of the Spirit, you will win.

The Apostle Paul gives us greater insight into this in Ephesians 6:

“10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” Eph. 6:10-18

There are a whole lot of spiritual forces that are at war with us as believers. There is much wickedness in the spirit world. Much of the time we are not aware of these things and we fight back against situations in the flesh. But these wicked powers are very much alive and they are spiritual. And they exploit the only thing in us that they can hinge their powers on – the old man of the flesh, or, the mind of the flesh. That is why, in Ephesians, Paul tells us to put on the whole armour of God. What is the armour of God? According to this scripture, it is the righteous life that we are called to live on this earth by the power of the Holy Spirit. When through the Spirit’s power we put to death the carnal nature in us we are able to walk in victory against all the spiritual forces that wage war against our souls.

When we are not saved, we are at home with these desires. But when we get saved, it is war!! They want to drag us back again into bondage.

Of course, war is a two-way affair. The lusts of the flesh wage war against us, and we wage war against them. But how, pray, do we wage war against the lusts of the flesh? It is by crucifying them. That is why the gospel of Jesus Christ speaks of denying self. The gospel is all about crucifying the flesh and its desires. In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul put this fact in a most insightful manner. He says:

“20 But ye have not so learned Christ; 21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” (Eph. 4:20-24)

In other words, there are many ways of learning Christ. You can learn Christ and still walk in sin. But Paul tells the Ephesians that they learned of Christ in such a way that they would be able to walk “in righteousness and true holiness.”

These people learned Christ as a revelation, a revelation of the cross.

We should thank God that today we can walk in this revelation. The cross is the true power of Christ. By walking in the revelation of the cross, David put off the works of the flesh and defeated the enemy. In the same manner, when we put off the works of the flesh in our own lives, we can expect to walk in the same spiritual victory over sin and every work of Satan.

Let me end by saying that many believers are not willing to lose their lives. They will fight tooth and nail to protect their perceived rights and privileges. Some even talk of “basic rights”. One prominent preacher here recently said in an open-air meeting: “The Bible says that it is more blessed to give than to receive” – and threw a punch signifying that Christians ought not to just lie low when their rights are taken away from them.

That was a preacher twisting scripture to fit in with his inability to crucify his flesh.

And that was what King Saul did. And he lost in the Spirit.

[Below: A Hindu temple in Musoma Town]

The Price for Spiritual Maturity

21 And Balaam rose up in the morning, and saddled his ass, and went with the princes of Moab.

22 And God’s anger was kindled because he went: and the angel of the LORD stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him.

23 And the ass saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field: and Balaam smote the ass, to turn her into the way.

24 But the angel of the LORD stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side.

25 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam’s foot against the wall: and he smote her again.

26 And the angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place, where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left.

27 And when the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam: and Balaam’s anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff.

28 And the LORD opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times?

29 And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee.

30 And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.

31 Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand: and he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face.

32 And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me:

33 And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive. Num. 22:21-33

Now, what in Hades was this donkey thinking, trying the patience of this great, anointed man of God? Apparently – and luckily for her – the prophet’s bodyguards were not armed, otherwise this particular donkey would have been shot immediately.

But Balaam was a blind prophet. Now, mind, he was a prophet all right, and he could prophesy all that the Lord told him to. But on another even more important level, he was blind. There are many great servants of God who will forfeit their due heavenly reward simply because they were blind to what God wanted to do in their lives.

Spiritual blindness made Balaam not to realize what his ass was doing. For, far from intending evil upon his master, we find out later that the donkey was instead focused on saving him!

I heard the true story of an airplane passenger who kept grumbling about this and that on the plane. When the plane hit a violent turbulence at a high attitude the stewardess approached the man, handed him his seatbelt and asked him to fasten it. The man threw off the belt in anger, let off some steam on the stewardess and stayed put, belt-less. Suddenly, a side door near him blew open with a loud explosion, and this man was instantly sucked out from his seat by the air pressure, never to be seen again.

When we are not seeing in the Spirit, we lash out at the circumstances that seem to come against us. That was what Balaam – and this airplane passenger – did. They did not know that the very circumstances that seemed to chafe them the wrong way were actually set by God to save them. The angel told Balaam:

“… the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive” (vs. 32-33)

That is us. Much of the time we impatiently rush at situations, and there die. We rage and huff and attack the very situation that has come to deal with our carnal nature. But the very situations that were contrary to us in the eyes of our flesh are more likely than not the situations that are working for our spiritual good. Had Balaam known this, he would not have struck his donkey. But because his ways were “perverse” before the Lord, he was spiritually blind, and he could not see in the Spirit.

God is in control of everything. He it is who allows every situation into our lives. Even if a sword were to be raised against us, still God would be in perfect control of that situation.

Whenever I find myself displeased at any situation, I have come to know that it is not the situation that is not right, but it is my heart that is. At that particular moment, I always know that something is not right in my heart. God was in that difficult situation, trying to save me spiritually; but my hard and rebellious heart “kicked against the pricks”, as it were (Acts 9:5).

That is why the gospel is all about obedience. Now, you cannot obey if you have a rebellious heart, can you? That is why we need humble hearts, that we might allow God to craft His handiwork in us and make us true sons and daughters in the Spirit through the cross.

[Below: God wants to form us into mature sons and daughters in the Spirit]