Danger From Above

The entire Pacific coast was sprayed last week and on into this week.

From The Prophetic School: Obedience To Spiritual Revelation

Has God touched your heart and spoken to you things that make no sense? Have you reasoned in your mind about what God has said to you, trying hard to figure out just exactly how it will come to pass?

Have close friends and family ridiculed you for holding fast to what God has spoken over your life? You are not alone!

Todays lesson will examine your position and the position of those who feel that you are foolish for holding fast to a word from the Lord over your own life.

You will indeed see that it is wise to hold fast to that word from God, believing against all reasoning and analyzing.

II Kings 5 records the story of Naaman being cured of his leprosy. The first verse tells us: Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Jehovah had given victory unto Syria: he was also a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

The Syrians had gone out in raids and had taken a little girl from the land of Israel. She was waiting upon Naaman's wife.

She told her mistress, "Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy."

The king of Syria sent word down to the king of Israel, along with presents and gifts, and said, "I am sending you Naaman that you may cure him of his leprosy."

The king of Israel was distraught because he thought the king of Syria was seeking a quarrel with him. Who could cure leprosy?

He rent his clothes, thinking that it was an occasion of war that had come against him.

2 Kings 5:8-11King James Version (KJV)

⁸ And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.

⁹ So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.

¹⁰ And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.

¹¹ But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.

Elisha was not very congenial with Naaman. He just sent a messenger out to him and said, "Tell him to go wash seven times."

He was not impressed by the man's position or anything else. He just sent him a word to go and wash in the river.

Neeman was so angry that he went away and said, "Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Jehovah his God, and wave his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Are not Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?"

II Kings 5:11-14

The important thing to see in this incident is that Naaman almost missed God, and he came very close to missing the healing.

He did so because he was an extremely logical man.

I suppose there may be a place for being a reasonable, logical person, but I have not seen many people who ever gained much from God through the processes of logic and reason.

The way a man obtains supernatural blessings is through a supernatural revelation and obedience.

The limitations upon the human mind were divinely imposed. It is by divine intent that intelligence and understanding are limited.

God does not intend that the natural mind be able to comprehend and understand spiritual things.

That is why He gives us the warning: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Above everything else, God wants complete and perfect trust in Him.

With this in mind, we can understand why the prophet Elisha would ask Naaman to wash in the Jordan River, dipping seven times, something that seemed to be absurd.

According to human reasoning, no river could cleanse him, especially the Jordan, because it was rather dirty.

Naaman reasoned, "We have cleaner rivers in Syria than this old mud hole. I cannot see how it will do my leprosy a bit of good to wash in this river."

That was his argument, and of course it was logical. We know that leprosy is a disease which is closely related to the bloodstream.

You do not cure such an internal disorder by an external cleansing. Something has to reach within the inner nature in order to do it.

And yet Elisha had commanded the procedure by the revelation of the Lord.

Naaman was upset. His servants said,"If he had asked some hard thing of you, would you have not done it?"

Naaman, with his logic, had always reasoned that nothing could be accomplished except by sacrifice and effort, and always in logical sequence.

for example, being a man of valor, he knew how to take a distant city or country. He would lay out the strategy, and then step by step, assault after assault, he would take that city.

Now, if Elisha had instructed him in a like manner, he would have understood it. But simply to dip seven times in a muddy river in order to receive healing was a thing he could not grasp.

The carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the laws of God, neither indeed can it be ( Romans 8:7 ) .

This is the reason that the natural man never perceives the things of God.

Paul was very explicit about this in I Corinthians 2:8. He said that if the rulers of this age had understood the wisdom of God, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. They would not have crucified Him if they had known what they were doing.

But they were delivered over to the reasoning of a natural carnal mind, and so they missed God.

In one sense, it is almost dangerous to come face to face with this move of the Spirit and know that God has set before us blessings and promises that are absolutely unlimited, but often we depend upon our own reasoning to such an extent that we ourselves impose walls and barriers in our minds, thinking that we can only go thus far.

God did not impose these limitations on you. The Word of God is explicit in saying,"All things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23).

The limitations are built by your own thinking, by following the processes of reasoning in the human mind.

Everything that God does in the supernatural world is done by faith, apart from the natural processes of reasoning.

God honors an expression of obedience to revelation. For instance, at the marriage in Cana, there was no rhyme nor reason to filling the water pots with water, drawing it out, and bearing it to the governor of the feast.

But Jesus said to do it, and Mary said,"Whatsoever He says to you, do it." So the woman were constrained to do what was not logical or reasonable at all.

If they had leaned upon their own understanding, they would have nullified faith.

In its trust and reliance and obedience to God, your spirit reaches a higher plane, beyond what the mind can fathom or reason out.

When God says, "I am going to do such and such a thing," and you start reasoning it out, questioning,

"Will it work? Will it not work?" you are destroying the very thing God is trying to do.

Lean not on your own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Naaman was not the only one who had to do this; other men had to do the same thing. Abraham, for instance, produced Ishmael in his haste to try to help God.

He followed a certain line of reasoning that his wife suggested to him. The Word says that Abraham's faith was finally purified and he considered not his own body as good as dead (Romans 4:19 ) . He came to the place where he refused to consider it.

That is quite difficult. I do not know whether they had mirrors in those days, but every time Abraham saw his reflection, or every time he stood up and felt the aches and pains in his bones, it must have been difficult not to consider his own body as good as dead.

He still rejoiced in the promise and knew it was going to be fulfilled, even though day after day and year after year he watched the ravages of age take hold of his body.

And what about Sarah's age and the deadness of her womb? He could not consider his that either. He did not stagger at the promises of God.

He did not consider his body as good as dead. He just reached the place where he trusted God with all his heart. The fulfillment of a ministry depends upon that very principle.

In the New Testament, too, the Lord often demanded that people hurdle the barrier of the natural mind, so that He could bring them into the obedience of revelation.

He told the blind man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam ( John 9:1-7 ).

This was not reasonable. If washing a man's eyes could cause him to see, then we could send every blind person a little bottle of eye lotion with which to wash his eyes, and he would be healed.

But it was not that. The clay was put in his eyes and he had to stagger and stumble through the streets until he came to a reservoir at the edge of town.

Christ required him to wash the mud from his eyes for only one purpose: by an act of obedience, he would be healed.

Of course, it was not reasonable. But there is reason behind the seeming unreasonableness of God.

When God demands something of you, His wisdom appears to be foolish. God says that He is going to take the foolish things to confound the wise.

Why?

Because the wise lean on their own understanding. Another man, in simplicity and with childlike faith, can come to trust in the Lord without analyzing all the whys and wherefores.

That man will come right into the blessing of the Lord.

If you want to enter into the riches of the Kingdom, you must become like a little child ( Matthew 18:3).

When a Word comes from God, you must trust it and believe in it, regardless of what happens. And yet, during a ministry service, we notice that when someone comes up with a request that sounds unreasonable, the rest of the congregation seem to want to slap his wrist in a nice way.

They want him to hush and just stay within the bounds of what we can understand and move in.

Some person may come along with a rather childlike faith and say, "I have an empty purse and bills to pay, and I am trusting the Lord to put some money in my purse."

To most people that sounds like a very unreasonable request. Consequently, no one has been looking into his billfold lately and drawing out bills that he never put there.

In fact, the nearest thing I can recall to that happening was the incident when a little fishhook was thrown in the water and a fish was pulled out containing a coin to pay the taxes ( Matthew 17:27 ).

In those days, they had simple faith. People will not believe for such a miracle today, because it is too far out of the line of reason.

And yet, the day of miracles is not past. God is speaking to us that the day of miracles is drawing in which His arm will be made bare as never before in the history of His dealings with mankind.

We are living on the border of the miraculous, but we are also living in a day that is completely conformed to reason and completely conformed to the scientific approach.

Today, if a man cannot reason something through his senses, he will not accept it. If he cannot see how it is going to work, he will not believe it.

There are two kinds of knowledge. One, which comes by scientific inquiry, is based upon the evidence of the senses, upon the procedures of logic and of analyzing the evidence of the five senses; what your eyes can see and your ears hear, what your nose can smell, what your mouth can taste and your hands can touch.

Those senses filter all knowledge that is absorbed, and the mind begins to analyze it and arrives at what people call knowledge or wisdom.

It is a natural wisdom or a natural knowledge.

However, many times what the senses see, hear, and perceive are absolutely contrary to what God's Word says. The world in which we live is full of delusions.

The Christian Scientists tried to explain this, but they were definitely mistaken in their conception. Yet we understand one thing: much of what we see is a delusion. Satan can take things that we see and create them into something that is absolutely a lie.

For instance, you may find that you have certain aches and pains, and so you come to the conclusion that you are sick. Then as you go along, you pray over that sickness, asking the Lord to heal you.

From that point on, there must be another kind of knowledge that comes to bear upon this situation. If you continue to regard the ache, you are going by the evidence.

If you say,"I prayed that God would take away my backache, and my back still aches; so I am not healed," you are going by the sense of feeling. You have allowed reason to become the basis of your knowledge and you will come to a conclusion on that basis.

A more scriptural approach would follow this line of thinking; "My back seems to be aching all right, but over here in I Peter 2:24 it says, "By his stripes you were healed." God says that and I am going to believe it."

The revelation that comes to the inner man, based upon God's Word, seems to be completely unreasonable because it is going against the evidence of the senses.

It is going against all knowledge that you normally arrive at by scientific inquiry.

You must come to the place where you say, "This pain I do not regard or accept as the reality. god's Word is true. By His stripes I am healed."

You believe that; you stand upon it. that becomes the reality. What happens to the ache or the pain? It disappears. In time, it is gone.

You are healed, and everything is glorifying to God. you have come to rely upon another kind of knowledge.

Neeman was moving only by one kind of knowledge, based upon the fact that it did not seem

reasonable for him to wash in the Jordan River.

How many things are you refusing to do for God because it does not seem reasonable to you? How many times are you backing off because you do not see your way clear?

God's Word is filled with examples of men who started out to do the will of God. They did not know how, nor did they have the means or the resources. One thing they did have: a Word from God; and that gave them an inner knowledge, beyond anything they could see, beyond anything else they knew.

They stood upon a promise from God. That was the reality. And as they stood upon that promise, God delivered them.

The Word of the Lord that came unto Jehoshaphat at the invasion was very similar to this. Jehoshaphat did not back off as Naaman did at the word that was given.

Instead, he cried to the Lord and said,"They are coming to invade us, Lord, but our eyes are upon You."

The prophet spoke and said,"This is what you are to do. Get some singers to go before  you. Go out, and when you get there, God will have taken care of the enemy. They will all be dead" (II Chronicles 20:1-25 ).

It happened exactly that way, but only God could do it. Jehoshaphat put his faith in the word of the Lord and one of the greatest and most unusual military victories in history was given to him because he wholly trusted in the Lord.

That was also the difference between Caleb and Joshua and the other ten spies. Caleb and Joshua came back, not the least bit impressed by what they had seen.

They were still greatly moved by what God had been speaking to them through the preceding months and years.

Joshua and Caleb said,"Oh, let's go in. God has given us the land. This is beautiful country. Let's take it."

The others came back and said, "We cannot go in because we were like little grasshoppers and they were like giants. and the walls are high. We can't do it."

They were following the evidence of their senses ( Numbers 13:30-33).

When you are facing a battle, do you reason in this manner? "Well, let me see if I can take this fellow. Let me measure his reach, and see how much he weighs and how much experience he has had."

When you discover that he has knocked out all of his opponents and has never lost a fight, you will probably find several excuses: "My reach is too short. I have never had a bout in my life and I'm in terrible condition. Let's call this fight off right here."

This is the way reasoning operates. When Goliath, nine feet tall, came striding down into the valley, every Israelite around said,"We can never defeat him."

But there was one young boy who said, "I'll do it. I'll take him on." He took his slingshot and went down to pick up some stones to bring down the giant ( I Samuel 17:4-51).

A little David will do it every time because he is not moved by what he sees. He is not looking at a man who is nine feet tall. He is looking at a man who is blaspheming the name of the Lord Jehovah, and he is determined to bring him down.

Do not look at the appearance of a situation. Many times God will let you sit and chafe under circumstances until you learn that you must not derive your attitudes from the circumstances.

You derive your attitude, your motivation, your faith, and your trust from the living God who said,"Thus saith the Lord." That is what you believe.

When the prophecies and the promises of God are upon you, you are rich in them. You do not need to draw back from any man. You do not need to worry about any hindrance.

When God says that you are a free man, you may look at yourself and see chains from head to foot. Do not worry about them. God will deliver you.

If He says you are free, then you are free. Do not look at the way things momentarily appear. God will deliver you from them.

At some point in your walk, you must resolutely declare, "Everything God has spoken over this move is absolutely true. I do not care what we have experienced. This I know: This walk in the Spirit was raised up by God. It is in the will of God.

I know I am in it by the will of God. It does not make any difference whether I flounder, whether I fail, or whether I am successful.

I am in this church by the will of God. I am going to trust God for what He has said over it. I am going to rely upon Him, even if it seems that everything has just come to a devastating conclusion."

The Lord will honor you in that, and bring it forth to His glory.

There are many instances where men have done these very things.

One time, when God saw that His people needed deliverance, the word of the Lord came by the prophet to fill the valley with ditches. When the water filled the ditches, the sun reflected on it and made it look like blood.

Do you remember how the enemy came stumbling into the ambush, and was completely destroyed? God gave a great victory ( II Kings 3 ).

Why God does some of these things, we do not know. He is smarter than people give Him credit for being. There is a wisdom behind the foolish things-foolish in the sight of man-that He seems to require of us.

We had better trust in the Lord with all our hearts, and not lean on our understanding. The logical process that you lean upon will work in many areas, but when it comes to walking with God, faith has to cling to a knowledge and an assurance that is above reason.

From The Prophetic School: Spiritual Perception And Understanding

We have to have the 'want to' if we are going to continue in revelation. We have to have the desire to obey God and to walk in His ways if we are going to continue to have perception. Today's lesson will explain why this is important for us if we are to continue forward in our walk with God.

Spiritual perception and spiritual understanding are both essential to a true walk with the Lord, so much so that it is almost impossible to understand what God is doing and the truths He is bringing forth unless He opens our eyes to see and anoints our hearts to understand.

Understanding is that spiritual faculty whereby we know true doctrine, teachings, and experiences, and are able to grasp their significance.

It is very essential for us to recognize that understanding is not a faculty of the mind; it is a quality and ability of the human spirit, given by God to those who will do the will of God.

We need to recognize the things that will enhance that understanding.

Many Christians desire to understand more of God's Word, however, no amount of reading of the Scriptures will provide this spiritual understanding.

Many people are versed in the Bible, but they have no spiritual understanding of it. It takes more than reading and becoming familiar with the Word.

It takes this God~given ability to discern. How is this ability given?

John 7:15-17 will give the answer.

The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, havng never learned?

How could Jesus have so much understanding? He seemed to know everything, and yet He had not been educated according to the standards of higher learning of that day.

The Jews knew this; they were familiar with His background, and therefore they asked, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me.

It is very important that we do not miss the significance of His next statement: If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself.

In reply to their question of how He had this learning and understanding when He had never studied letters. Jesus said," This teaching is not Mine. It came by revelation. It came from God."

By this statement He put His finger upon the strange capacity that people have to know the true teaching when they hear it.

In a congregation, there are a number of people who know the truth the minute they hear it.

Others can not grasp the truth, no matter how deeply it is explained. The faculty of spiritual understanding is a matter of spirit.

If any man wills to do His will, he will know whether the truth is spoken from God or from man. No credentials are necessary.

Any man who has a dedication to do God's will wrought within his spirit will know. The capacity to know is based upon the dedication of Spirit.

This explains why some people who do not know very much about the Lord are able to come into this understanding easily, whereas Bible scholars and ministers with a great deal of training and knowledge of the Scriptures usually miss it.

The seemingly wise scholar does not receive the understanding. This is according to the Word: "Father I thank You that You have hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them unto babes" ( Luke 10:21 ) .

The wise and the prudent sometimes do not have a will to do His will. They may have a great mental grasp of many truths and doctrines, but they do not have the dedication to do His will.

So we see that the faculty of spiritual understanding is based upon spiritual dedication. To him that hath shall more be given ( Mark 4:25 ) .

This great God~given faculty to know the truth should be guarded very carefully. Always be obedient to every truth that God brings.

In the days of the New Testament, the Jewish people were the first to receive the light. Afterwards the message went to the Gentiles.

The Lord came first to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. They received a measure of truth.

Jesus said of them, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they would not have had sin; but now there remaineth no covering for their sin" ( John 15:22 ) .

No one could understand that. The most spiritual of people were brought face to face with the truth, and suddenly darkness engulfed them as a nation, and they stumbled.

Paul called it a veil ( II Corinthians 3:14-15) . He said that a veil had come over them and over their understanding; and that veil remains to this day.

They are so veiled that even when they hear the Word preached and the prophets read, they do not perceive what it means. Their spiritual understanding disappears.

Why?

They come face to face with the truth, but there is no dedication in their spirits to walk in it.

The most dangerous thing that can happen to a person's faculty of spiritual understanding occurs when he comes face to face with the knowledge of the truth and then backs away from it.

When that happens, the entire ability and capacity to know and understand the truth of God is injured and damaged.

There is a limit as to how much light you can sin against, before the capacity to see light is lost entirely. That sounds very serious, and the Scriptures are full of these warnings.

For example, notice this amazing passage in John 8:31-32:
Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make thee free.

This Scripture is often quoted, but rarely understood. Many are saying, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free," but who is going to know the truth?

A man may be told the truth, but he does not have a capacity to know it unless he has fulfilled the condition: "If you abide in My Word, then are you My disciples, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

Those who abide in His Word are really his disciples; they will know the truth. Others do not know the truth even when they hear it.

No matter how many courses on logic or inductive reasoning a person may take, he still will not know the truth, unless he fulfills that first condition of abiding in God's Word.

Then he will truly be His disciple and know the truth. He will be able to discern what is the truth and what is not the truth; and the truth will make him free.

Hoe does fuller revelation and understanding come? By continuing and abiding in God's Word, by opening your heart to the truth when you receive it.

Then you will have a capacity to know the truth when the next revelation comes to you. If you turn your back on it, suddenly all revelation ends.

When Christians begin their walk with God, they receive certain revelations and truths. Then when deeper truths come, which constitute a cross upon which they must die, they sometimes turn away, for they love the self-life more than the cross-life.

In time it becomes evident that even the first truths disappears, and progress in revelation ends.

Being able to follow on to know the Lord is a tremendous God-given capacity, which should be nourished and cherished very carefully.

When it is lost, people continue on in the same old rut. How many Christians are in that rut?

Every Sunday they go to church, hear the same line of truth, the same warmed-over message viewed from another side, without new expression or depth from the Word.

They hear only the same old line of approach. Why is this?

In spite of the fact that they seem to be dedicated Christians, somewhere along the line the Holy Spirit has ceased to bring new revelation to their hearts.

The day the believer no longer receives new understanding and revelation out of the Word is the day he should get on his knees and repent, because at some point he backed away from what God was saying, from what he was putting His finger on in his life, or from some truth in which he was to walk.

The pulse of this great walk in the Spirit can be tested by the evidence of a continuing and unceasing progress in revelation, understanding, and truth.

If any man willeth to do His will he shall know the truth; but even more than that- he has a capacity for further truth.

His understanding keeps opening up and God keeps showing him more and more. Carefully guard that capacity for spiritual understanding.

Whenever a person sits in a service and finds the message is going over his head because he does not perceive, suddenly he is aware that he has no spiritual perception.

When God is moving, he does not sense what is going on; he has no understanding of what God is saying. He hears the prophecies, but they are not a word to his heart.

He hears the sermons, but they are not alive to him. It is time for that individual to have ministry. Something very basic is lacking.

The problem is usually not that he has committed some heinous crime or sin; it may be that he needs someone to lay hands upon him and impart to him ears to hear and eyes to see.

How often the lord spoke of the ability to hear. Blessed is he who has ears to hear ( Matthew 13:16 ) .

If any man has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches ( Revelation 3:22 ) . Such spiritual ears are necessary. Spiritual perception and understanding is God-given and absolutely necessary.

Spiritual perception and understanding is God-given and absolutely necessary.

What will happen if you do not open your heart to the Word of God or to the truth when it comes to you?

What will happen if you fail to walk in the truth? What will happen to the spiritual understanding that you have?

Romans 1:18-19 gives the answer. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness ( the margin, as well as the King James version, reads, "who hold the truth" ) ; because that which is known of God is manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. 

The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against anyone who knows the truth and does not walk in it, but walks in unrighteousness.

Verse 21 says that they are without excuse, because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasoning's, and their senseless heart was darkened. 

This is just another way of saying that their understanding and their capacity to know have been taken away from them. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools. Romans 1:22.

This first chapter of Romans tells us what is behind sexual perversion, and why men burn in lust one toward another and leave even natural use of sex for that which is totally perverted.

And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, hateful to God... Romans 1:28-30.

What a list of iniquities and sins is found in this chapter!

It all starts because people refuse to have God in their knowledge; then God turns them over to a reprobate mind.

Wherever there is an expression of the reprobate mind, or of perversion of anything that God has brought forth in this world, there is some sin against light or truth which causes the thinking to become reprobate.

God turns them over to it, so that in the eyes of all the world they become a mockery, a symbol of all their wickedness, and a sign that they have held the truth in unrighteousness.

This is why these sins exist in Hollywood, and why we have this perverted manifestation in society today. It is God's sign that America has held the truth in unrighteousness.

When they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, neither were they thankful; so God turned them over to these things.

Why is America turning to scandalous books, magazines, and videos that are dedicated to sexual perversion of every form?

This is happening for only one reason. It is a sign that America once knew God  ( for America has heard the gospel preached ) , but they did not want to retain God in their knowledge; so God turned them over to this reprobate mind.

This has taken place on a worldwide scale and is even taking place within the churches. Christians who turn away from the truth get things so twisted up in their minds that they cannot even think straight thoughts concerning the Bible.

Why is this strange thing taking place? Whenever people refuse to walk in truth they have held, then the capacity that God created-that delicate mechanism of spiritual understanding-is tampered with and becomes defective.

It works the same way in the church and in the world.

II Timothy 3 speaks of these present days, and gives the signs of the times. Verse 7 speaks of those who are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of truth.

There is no tragedy greater than to have a mind filled with curiosity to learn and to study, and to have a desire and a hunger to know, but to have no capacity to perceive or to understand what one has learned.

Such a person is ever learning and never able t come to the knowledge of the truth. What a tragedy!

Man is a delicate creature, and as far as spiritual things are concerned, his mind does not function unless his heart is set to do God's will.

It is with the heart that a man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, man confesses ( Romans 10:10 ) . It is the heart that is to be fixed on God.

We are to worship and serve Him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength; but whenever the heart is not truly set to serve God, something happens to this understanding, this great capacity for spiritual perception.

The greatest preparation for a walk with God of revelation and discernment, for the things of God to be made very real, will be found upon your knees as you let God's Spirit search your heart unti lthere are no reservations whatever, and you are walking on with God.

When a man's heart is set to do God's will, he will know this word to be true: If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it s of God, or whether I speak from myself. John 7:17.

He will never be in doubt; he will never be deceived.

The only people who are deceived are those whose hearts are not set to walk with God. Many Scriptures confirm this fact-Scriptures speaking of blindness, deafness, and dullness of hearing.

This principle is found in Christ's teaching in Matthew 13. It was given in parables so that the majority of the people who heard might not understand, because God had already taken away their capacity for understanding.

Only the people with spiritual understanding would understand the Word; the rest, though they heard it, would not even know what it was all about.

I would like to give understanding to every man in the world, If I could, but God says that if he knows the truth and does not walk in it, He will cut off the light from him and he will receive no more light.

To those who walk in the light, the Lord will continue to give more light. It is very essential that we receive every truth that God brings forth, and that we purpose in our hearts to receive it, not as an idea or a doctrine, but as a truth which we purpose to walk in.

We must be dedicated to this. Let our cry be, "Lord, what You teach us, we will walk in. What You show us, we will absolutely do."

This will guarantee that no matter how great the experiences and blessing, we will have the perception to know what is of God and how to enter into it individually.

Kent Henry The Lord's Worship Leader

From The Prophetic School: The Perfect Will Of God

Today's lesson is knowing the will of God for your life. Many Christians are confused about what exactly the will of God is for their lives. The will of God is not complex, nor is it hard to find. In this lesson you will find the will of God for your life. That is a bold statement, but I assure you that you are going to learn precisely what the will of God is for you personally. 
Read on...

As the basis of this lesson, we have chosen three Scriptures which refer to the will of God.

 The first speaks of the believer's delight in doing the will of God.

The second is a believer's prayer, asking God to lead him in His perfect will.

The third is a benediction.

Psalm 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.

Psalm 143:10: Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy Spirit is good; lead me in the land of uprightness.

Hebrews 13:20-21: Now the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, even our Lord Jesus, make you perfect in every good thing to do his will, working in us that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be the glory for ever and ever, Amen.

This is one of the great benedictions of the Bible, but it is also a prayer in which we ask the Lord to help us to do the perfect will of God-to make us perfect in every good thing to do His will.

In these studies on spiritual perception, we have dealt at length with the mechanics of finding the leading of the Lord as well as other aspects, but now we want to consider those basic inward qualities which will actually bring forth the will of God and cause us inevitably to do the will of God.

First, we want to read an exceptional passage about the will of God found in Matthew 12:46-50

46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.

47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.

48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?

49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

The Lord was showing them that by doing the will of God a spiritual bond and a spiritual relationship to Him and to one another is created that cannot be accomplished in any other way.

Perhaps you are finding that flesh-and-blood ties mean far less to you than the bonds existing between brothers and sisters in the Lord, and that you are more concerned about this relationship to the Lord than relationship to anyone else in this world.

Suddenly family values diminish.

A young man who is called to be a prophet may find his parents set against the perfect will of God for

his life.

Suddenly he comes to the crossroads because he is set to go on with God.

They are following one path and he is following another. Although the young man really loves his parents, the relationship has changed.

The Gospel of Luke expresses it this way: "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his brothers and sisters, he cannot be My disciple" ( Luke 14:26 ) .

The Greek word used for "hate" means that he must love them a good deal less by comparison. This means that your love for Him must be very true and real, and you must reach the place where everything else is secondary.

This passage in Matthew 12 about the will of God is wonderful. Jesus' mother and His brethren were waiting outside to see Him.

At that particular time His own brothers did not believe on Him. We read in John 7 that His brothers goaded him about going up to the feast of Tabernacles, saying, "Why don't You go up and show Yourself and the works you are doing?"

But Jesus remained until the middle of the feast before He went up to the Temple. His brothers did not believe on Him at this time; however, I Corinthians 15:7 tells that the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to his brother James and his other brothers after his resurrection, and they were converted then.

His brother James wrote the book of James, and he is also mentioned in Acts 12:17. Jud, who wrote the epistle of Jude, was also His brother.

When the message came, "Your mother and your brothers are waiting outside to see you," Jesus was impressed concerning His relationship with His disciples, and He said, "Who is My mother? Who are My brothers? 

These are My mother, My brothers, and My sisters," and He pointed toward His disciples.

In what way were His disciples the mother of Jesus?

What did Jesus mean when He pointed to them and said, "These are My mother" ?

They were those who were carrying the revelation of Christ in the womb of their hearts. They were going to bring it forth to the world.

We who are walking in the will of God have a living Word, the Word of Christ, within us.

Sometimes it involves a great deal of travail, but He is coming forth; and as He does, those who do the will of God will mother a real Word of Christ to this world.

The will of God is a very important reality.

Who is My brother? Who is My sister? Those who hear the Word of God and do the will of God. They walk in His will.

It is not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord," but the one who does the will of the Father. This is what counts.

To summarize this point, we would say that those of us who walk with Him, and who walk in the perfect will of god, enjoy a relationship with Christ and with one another that is beyond explanation.

The bonds in the Spirit are those that really count. It is the trick of Satan to get people to pick at one another.

Do not do it.

God's people must not fuss with each other or be quick to criticize one another. They must have one goal in mind: to do the will of the Father.

Find the will of God and do it.

We are talking about the divine leading and guidance for our lives and the way to do the will of God.

Sometimes we think that this involves only the mechanics, so let me explain what I mean.

The person who will be classified as the mother, brother, or sister of the Lord will be the one who does the will of the Father.

That person has not found the perfect will of God by putting out fleeces to determine whether he should do this or that.

The perfect will of God does not come by using the right judgment or making the right decision concerning what you are to do from day to day.

The perfect will of God is the state which exists in your spirit., as well as your correctness of action and your being guided or led by the Spirit in everything you do and in everything you say.

Those things are only incidental to it. We are more concerned about the state of heart. To be found in the will of God does not mean simply making the right decisions and saying the right things at the right time.

It is more than that. It is a condition of heart.

To be in the will of God is to have a heart that is so in tune with God that it is set to do only His will.

When Jesus came into the world, He said, "I come to do Thy will, O God." ( Hebrews 10:5-7 ) .

He also said, "I do always those things which please the Father" ( John 8:29 ) .

Jesus walked in the perfect of the Father. ( John 8:29 ) . Jesus walked in the perfect will of the Father.

If we could only walk that way! It is not enough to have right judgment in every decision, or to take the right action through some odd conspiracy of chance.

You might make the right decision in a hundred different instances and therefore conclude that you were in the will of God. Not necessarily.

A man may make the right choices and the right decisions, but it is the state of his heart that really counts.

What about all the Christians who stumble and falter and use bad judgement in many situations? They are too unaware to know what they are to do.

They stumble along, feeling their way, picking themselves up off the ground a dozen times, yet going on, looking for help saying, "Pray for me, minister to me, help me."

Are they out of the will of God? Are they out in orbit somewhere under the devil's  control?

No indeed!

I cannot believe that being in the will of God or reaching the goal actually depends upon a man not making any mistakes as to what he is to do today, who he is to call on or telephone, which chapter he is supposed to read in the Bible, whether he asks the blessing before every meal, says his prayers before he goes to bed, or remembers to pray over all his prayer list.

The will of God is not involved with these things.

There are many people who stumble along like Peter.

One time the Lord said to him, "Hold on. Get thee behind Me, Satan!" And another time He commended Peter, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona; the Father revealed that truth to you."

People who are growing, opening up to the Lord and hungering after God with all of their hearts- they are in the will of God.

God is concerned with that state of heart.

David was a man after God's own heart, and we know how he failed!

You cannot get away from the fact that God loved him and chastened him  severely. When he finally came through, he had been beaten up by the devil and by the Lord Himself.

It is difficult to know who gave him the worst time- enemies who were buffeting him and making him seek God, or God, who was correcting him if he deviated from the way.

Set your heart on God. This business of doing the will of God puts you in a certain state where you learn to do the right things.

You learn because God puts the pressure on you. I want to encourage those who never seem to feel or sense a blessing, who never react to the presence of the Lord, but have to take it all by faith.

They may have more faith than those who tune in and feel and sense so much.

Those who must accept it all by faith usually come through with more faith than anyone else, because they trust God implicitly. They learn to trust God to take care of them.

I have found one passage of Scripture that has taught me more about the will of God than any other passage I have ever read.

It is in the sixth chapter of Ephesians. You may need seat belts to hold you down, because some of these thoughts will be hard to take.

 When the Lord gives you a truth, do you ever feel as if you are on a roller coaster and the seats are falling away from under you, and you are ready to be transported?

Some truths affect us like that.

Ephesians 6:5-8 was actually written for slaves. You may say there is no slavery today. You don't think so? What about your boss? Isn't he your master, at least from nine to five?

Servants ( slaves or bond servants, according to the margin ) , be obedient unto them that according to the flesh are your masters, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; not in the way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers; but as servants of Christ, doing the will of god from the heart with good will doing service, as unto the Lord, and not unto men; knowing that whatsoever good thing each one doeth, the same shall receive again from the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

Let us consider this Scripture that we may grasp it fully, because it is a rich passage. A man who is a slave can be in the perfect will of God.

How does he do it? He must obey his master, but not with lip service or as a man-pleaser. In other words, he will not "butter-up" the boss or use a little "soft soap" on him, for such actions involve an element of hypocrisy.

God's servants are to be obedient unto their masters with fear and trembling, in singleness of heart as unto Christ. As unto Christ!

Am I saying that you should serve your boss, that "Simon Legree," as you would Christ? Yes!

There are some things in the book of Ephesians we may think should be deleted or rewritten for the twenty first-century mind, in order to be accepted or believed- statements concerning wives being obedient to their husbands, servants obeying their masters as they would Christ, in singleness of heart, and children obeying their parents.

( No doubt you detect my sarcasm. )

Should such instructions be there? It should indeed.

It may give us a bad time, but it belongs there. Consider the life of a slave in Paul's day. He was owned, body and soul, by someone else; and because he was a Christian, he worked and served that master- to whom he was obligated by the laws of that time- as he would Christ.

The Civil War was fought on the wrong basis. That was not the way to set the slave free. It should have been done another way, without bloodshed.

Very few honest historians today believe that slavery was the real issue in the war between the states; it was the propaganda issue.

Something else was at stake: the vying for industrial control between the North and the South.

The Lord has another way to solve the problem of slaves and masters. If you are under obligation to a man as a boss, you are to fulfill that obligation as unto the Lord.

Suppose you feel that the man is of the devil- then are you supposed to serve him? There is a place, of course, where human conscience enters into the picture.

Then you render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God, the things that are God's.

But as much as lies within you, with a singleness of heart, you will give him the full obligation you are required to give. You are to do the will of God from the heart.

Why? Because you know there is a principle behind it: knowing that whatsoever good thing each one doeth, the same shall he receive again from the Lord, whether he be bond or free.

Whatever you set in motion will remain in motion and will come back to you. If a man sends out evil, inevitably it will circle back to him in a boomerang fashion.

Haman died on the gallows he had built for Mordecai, and his sons died also. The lions suddenly found their mouths loosed, not to chew up Daniel, but to chew up the men who had plotted to put Daniel in the lion's den.

this is the way it always happens. Saul searched for years to kill David with his sword, but ultimately he himself fell on that sword and took his own life.

Hatred, jealousy, and malice always have a way of swinging back in a circle to hit you. The things you send out will come back to you.

If you send out good, eventually it will come back to you. what you sow, you will reap ( Galatians

6:7) .

Give and it shall be given unto you, heaped up, shaken down, and running over will men give to your bosom ( Luke 6:38 ) .

This is how God works. Actions travel in circles. What we send out will come back.

I am counting on this principle with all my heart. I know satanic devices have been set against us and there are people who have felt their full force, but I know also what will happen if we commit it to the Lord.

That device will circle right back on the one who sent it. You do not have to fight your own battle. God has set certain laws in motion which will work.

When you are worshiping and blessing the Lord and someone sets in motion some force or some curse against you, it will go right back on that individual.

Many a hand has been raised against me during and actives aggressive ministry, and I have seen one after another of those hands brought down.

What did I do? Not a thing. God did it. God says, "Touch not Mine anointed and do My prophets no harm" ( I Chronicles 16:22 ) .

This does not mean that His prophets are foolproof, that they are beyond making a mistake. That is not the issue. God has His hand on them. He is dealing with them very carefully and holding them in line Himself.

The same thing is true of you. If you are a Christian, people in the world may come against you and criticize you for many things, but it will come back on them.

Sometimes the confidence of a Christian is shaken because of the way he is being railed at, discredited, and beaten down, until he may wonder if there is something wrong with him.

But if keeps his confidence in God, even though he may be the poor of this world, God will make him rich in faith and an heir of the Kingdom which He has promised.

The things that come against him will ultimately come back on those who came against him. This is a great law. If you set blessing and good in motion, it will certainly come back to you.

If you are merciful and kind, if you love your enemies and do good to those who despite-fully use you, it will return to you. God will bless you in it. This is a picture of the will of God.

We now turn to Ephesians 5:8-21:

⁸ For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:

⁹ (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)

¹⁰ Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

¹¹ And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

¹² For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

¹³ But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

¹⁴ Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

¹⁵ See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

¹⁶ Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷ Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

¹⁸ And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

¹⁹ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

²⁰ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

²¹ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

Doing the will of God is sometimes a matter of feeling your way until you find what is well-pleasing to the Lord.

For a long time you did not know your place, where you fit in, or what you were supposed to do. 

You were just feeling your way along, but everything that you did seemed to come back to you in blessing.

Sometimes it means much labor, but is always rewarding, because you are setting something in motion by doing the will of the Lord.

We walk as children of light, and even though we seem to stumble along, we prove what is well -pleasing unto the Lord and we walk in it.

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them; for the things which are done by them in secret it is a shame even to speak of.

 But all things when they are reproved are made manifest by the light: for everything that is made manifest is light. Wherefore he saith, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine upon thee. 

Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

This is all a matter of doing the will of God. Much of it is dependent upon human initiative.

The Word continues: Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. There are some in this move of God who need to know how to get into the perfect will of God.

Sometimes people think they will be in the perfect will of God if they move from one city to another, or if they go to a different church. 

They keep moving around, but they never are in the will of God because they are missing certain things they need to know.

Let us take note of the exhortation in Ephesians 5:18-21:

¹⁸ And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

¹⁹ Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

 ²⁰ Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

²¹ Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.

They were not to be drunken with wine, but to be filled with the Spirit, singing psalms and rejoicing

in the Lord. 
Praising God continually is very essential. Give thanks to God always for all things- not only a few things.

In everything we are to give thanks. 

There are actually three things to note in this passage concerning the will of God: the rejoicing and the singing to the Lord, the thanksgiving, and the subjection one to another. 

The will of God then actually becomes a state that is wrought in our spirits.

Let us consider this further. Was Jonah in the will of God when he was preaching to Nineveh?

Mechanically he was going through the motions, but was his heart in the will of God? No, he preached to them because he had to; it was forced on him.

He had experienced a submarine ride which was very convincing. Later he was sitting in the shade of the gourd waiting for the forty days to be up and for God to send fire and judgment down on Nineveh.

But they all repented and God forgave them. When judgment did not fall, Jonah pouted and became surly because the will of God was not really in his heart. 

He did it mechanically, but not with his heart.

Our Scripture in Ephesians speaks about not being foolish, but understanding what the will of God is. Very clearly it states, "Be careful how you walk; not as unwise, but as wise people."

It is made very plain that we must redeem the time because the days are evil.

Being in the perfect will of God involves a certain inner state rather than simply having the right actions. Jonah finally did the right acts, but he never did them from his heart.

He reluctantly did the will of God, and that is not the perfect will of God.

The things that knock you out of the will of God are rebellion and depression on the one hand, and ingratitude on the other.

We mention rebellion in contrast to submission. The apostle Paul stated it positively, "You are to walk in the will of God; and in order to walk in the will of God, you must sing to the Lord, give thanks for everything that happen, and be subject to one another."

It is truly a state of being.

In order for Paul to be in the will of God, was it necessary that he find the leading of the Lord as to where he should go?

God did guide him, but sometimes, because he was being persecuted and chased out in the middle of the night, he had to flee to the next city, where he began to preach the next morning.

I do not think that the mechanics brought about the will of God. It was the state of his heart that brought him into the will of God.

I trust that you understand this is one of the most important truths about knowing the will of God.

If I am depressed, I am certainly not in the will of God. If I am discouraged, and I preach because it is my duty to preach on Sunday morning and evening and whenever a service is scheduled, if I do not preach out of a willing heart, but from a sense of duty, then I am not in the will of God.

That is not the perfect will of God for me. If I sit around and grumble and complain because the battle is rough, because I am in spiritual conflict, and I wish I could get out of this mess, that also is not the will of God.

Suppose everything becomes worse? Am I to be discouraged, and grumble and complain?

The children of Israel were always murmuring. What were they expecting? They were having a Free ride- manna every morning; everything they needed was supplied.

They had everything going for them. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. A little river followed them all through the wilderness.

There was always fresh water to drink from the rock, yet they grumbled and tried to find something to complain about.

Why?

Because they simply did not have the will of God in their hearts. They were taken out of Egypt, but Egypt was never taken out of them, though they seemed to be marching along to do the will of God.

Finally God said," I can't stand them any more," and He killed all of the older generation in the wilderness and led on a  younger generation who would obey God and do what He wanted them to do.

Do not prophesy because it is expected of you, or sing in the Spirit because it is expected of you. Do it with all of your heart because it is a joy to do it.

A church is in the perfect will of God, not because it has gifts of the Spirit or because ministries are coming forth, but because they are moving in a right spirit in a right way.

The will of God is being done from a condition of heart. You may be tithing and still be out of the will of God because you are not doing it with a true spirit of faith as unto the Lord; you are not investing in the Lord.

You may be going through the motions in doing many things, and still be missing it because you are not doing it with all of your heart unto the Lord.

To be in the will of the Lord, we cannot disobey the first commandment while going through all the motions, or we will be just like the Pharisees, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "You thithe anise and cummin and mint, but the weightier matters of the Lord you leave undone.

You forget mercy, justice, and truth. You ought to pay tithes of everything you grow, but you should not leave the other undone ( Matthew 23:23 ) .

They were busy going through the motions, saying in effect, "We are doing the will of God!"

They were not doing the will of God, because their hearts were not right. To love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength- this constitutes the basis of the will of God.

What then shall we do? What shall our reactions be? When we are in the will of God, they happen automatically.

A man who has the will of God wrought in his spirit and in his heart performs the right acts when the chips are down and when the situation demands it.

When Paul ans Silas were beaten at Philippi because they had cast a spirit of divination out of a woman and all hope of gain was gone for her masters, the anger of those masters lashed out.

They had Paul and Silas beaten and put in jail. No doubt salt was rubbed into their wounds according to Roman custom; and they must have been in a great deal of pain.

But they were not crying and complaining about the pain. Their praise to the 
Lord enabled them to transcend the physical discomfort.

They were in the will of God and they knew they were in the will of God.

They did not say," If we are in the will of God, why were we beaten and put in jail? Since Christ is the Lord, the Lord of heaven and earth, how is it that we are being persecuted?

If He is the Lord and we are in the will of God, why did this happen?"

Reason could have taken over. Depression, rebellion, and grumbling could have come forth.

That is what happens to some of us sometimes. We may be very much in the will of God, but when adversities come against us, we do not obey the Word, "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" ( I Thessalonians 5:18 ), and this verse also, "Give thanks always for all things in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father' ( Ephesians 5:20 ) .

In everything we are to give thanks.

Have you thanked God for everything that happened to you this year? We are all guilty on this count. I have talked to the Lord about some things that happened to me recently for which I was not thanking Him.

I even had some heated discussions with the Lord, and I am not very grateful about it. Yet I honestly know that everything has worked for my good.

To be thankful is part of being in the will of God- thanking God for everything that happens.

What about the defeats? We learn more from our stupidity than from our wisdom. If we do something right, we do not know what we did and we probably could not do it again if our lives depended on it.

The Lord puts us in places where we learn more because we do not know what to do. What we do not know leads us into knowledge.

Can you really thank God for the path you are on?

Can you thank God for your life. Can you thank God that you are His child? Can you thank God that you are in His will?

This is all a part of being in the will of God. You are not to be unwise, but you are to understand what the will of the Lord is and walk along in it.

At the very beginning of Paul's life in God, the Lord told Ananias, "I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:16); and that is exactly what happened to Paul.

He suffered. I suppose there were people who came to Paul and said, "I can't figure it out. If God truly anointed you and called you to preach, why is it that you end up in jail? Why are you beaten? Why are people always plotting against you?

Surely where there is a little smoke, there must be some fire!

Are you sure you are in the will of God, running all over the country preaching to some heathen who do not even appreciate it? 

They have even run you out of town. Something is wrong. Maybe you should change your style of preaching. Paul. Use a little diplomacy. You ought to learn how to win friends and influence people. 

Perhaps then you could settle down and have a ministry that would be well accepted."

Have you heard that kind of reasoning? Have you ever asked yourself, "Here I am trying to serve God, and if the Lord is in all of this, where are the people?"

In the past I have said, "We built the church- now where are the people? The Lord was going to bless this house, and we just lost forty or more!

Now what are we going to do." 

We are going on with the Lord because we are in the will of God. We will rejoice more in the Lord, give thanks in everything that happens, and sing more than ever.

A child of God, even with tears and weeping, can sing better songs than the world can sing. The world has nothing to sing about.

Even though they beat up a storm and get tremendously excited, their songs have no real message. They sing about frustration and despair, about violence and hatred, because the world  is filled with violence.

I wish we has some real entertainment. I like an old-fashioned belly laugh, when you have to hold your sides because you laugh so hard.

The world's entertainment is filled with blood and thunder, beatings and shootings. What is the matter with the people of the world?

They are only reflecting what is taking place in the spirit realm even before the physical violence breaks out in the world. Persecution and many other things are about to be manifested.

In the midst of this, what will the people of God be doing? They will rejoice and give thanks and walk on a path God has chosen- not in a state of resignation, but because the will of God is being wrought in their hearts. 

If bitterness had filled the heart of young Daniel at the age of seventeen when he was taken as a war captive, placed in the king's palace, and treated like an absolute slave, how different the story would have been. We do not know all that was done to him.

It is very possible that many of these young men were mutilated so that they could never have a future as a man or a father, because that was the custom.

Daniel and the three Hebrew children could have been filled with bitterness because of what had to submit to in those days.

Instead of that, Daniel's prayers are exulting examples of the sovereign power of God over their lives to deliver them. It is an amazing thing to have the will of God wrought in your heart.

If God has done His deep work in a man, he is submissive to the will of God. That man is not depressed. He is not a grumbler. He is not ungrateful. He does not murmur against the Lord.

If a man does the will of God and the will of God is wrought in him, and he truly walks in the perfect will of God, the man sings and praises God for everything.

That man is submissive to his brothers and sisters in the house of the Lord.

What is the answer for the people who really want to walk in the will of God? Simplify! One more

Scripture will tell us to come into this simplicity.

In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And He called to Him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. ( Matthew 18:1-3 ) .

The teaching of the Lord must be embraced in its total aspect of truth in your life. To become a Christian you must believe that Jesus blood washed away your sins. 

But if you want to walk with God and do His will, a change must take place in your life. The will of God is done through people who become like little children.

This does not mean that we enter into a second childhood and become senile. This word is speaking about our attitudes, about being simple and uncomplicated.

Come like a child and say, "Father, I trust You. Father, I serve You." We are too complicated. Simplify and become like a little child. The will of God is done in simplicity.

The prophets were men of simplicity. They put first things first and never let other things interfere.

If you want to learn to play the violin, you must practice day after day, day after day. Some day people may pay to hear you.

If you want to learn to play, you must put everything else aside. People may try to discourage you and want you to give it up, but if you are in the will of God, you will focus with simplicity upon that one thing and do it.

Whatever God has called you to do, set your heart on that one thing until it is finished. Even volcanoes erupt, earthquakes come, and minor revolutions take place in the meantime, do not be distracted.

Stay with what God called you to do. The secret of doing the will of God is in simplifying everything until it is reduced to the one thing that is really important and then doing that.

Paul said, "Forgetting the things which are behind, this one thing I do" ( Philippians 3:13 ) .

Why was that in his thinking? With his genius, he could easily have set up some concessions, started a special publishing company in Jerusalem, and a Christian Zion movement with converted Jews traveling through Gentile churches to take up offerings.

Paul could have been ambitious and accomplished many things, but he did not. He was focused on only one thing. 

He said, "I determined not to come to you with enticing words of man's wisdom: I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" ( I Corinthians 2:1-2 ) .

What happened?

He moved a world for God. He penned half of the New Testament by the anointing of the Spirit. He did not start out to see how many books he could write or how many different things he could do.

He had only one goal, and the outgrowth of it was tremendous.

Does it pay to be simple in your approach to things? Many things may beckon you. Many things can absorb your interest.

I had an ambition for many years to own a small ranch where I could get away from everything. One day as I was praying about it quite earnestly, I knew the Lord was speaking to my heart.

He said,"I did not call you to raise radishes which can be bought two bunches for a dollar."

 Simplify! Simplify! When Jesus told His disciples," You are to leave all to follow Me," they forsook their nets and everything! 

I suppose some of them said," This business of following Christ is fine, but why couldn't we organize the business, have a business manager, and continue to sell fish on the side? It could turn out to be a real blessing to the Lord."

Discipleship could not be learned in that way. Almost every man whom God chooses to use, sooner or later experiences a time when everything goes by the board, and his all is laid on the altar. One thing emerges from it: His life is simplified to the demands of Christ as the Lord and Master of his life, and out of that comes the will of God.

Coming into the will of God is not a simple matter of coming to the pastor and saying," What do I do next? Do I resign my job? Do I go to Bible School?"

The will of God is attained by an attitude of heart. When that is accomplished, you start walking with God one step at a time.

A young man once asked, "God has called me to preach; what must I do to become a preacher? I am afraid I will miss it."

He received a wise answer: "Son, if you just walk with the Lord every day, and with every step you take, you loo to the Lord, loving Him and following Him, then if it is His will for you to become a preacher, you cannot help but become a preacher."


Simplify!

Without ambition, just walk with God. There are many important things to be done and we will do them as they come. Do not worry about them. Just walk with God and do the will of God.

We conclude with Romans 12:1-2:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of god, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God... 

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.

The will of God is done by a people who hold nothing back. They give the Lord their all. They are not conformed to this age. Their minds are renewed and they prove and walk in the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.