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The Need of the Hour

Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint. (Proverbs 29:18 NIV)

No one who knows anything about the present conditions will disagree with the statement that the Church is in tragic need of men with a message, but our point is that what is needed is the knowledge of what the message is for the time. That message must come from God to men chosen for the purpose. This is not a ministry which can be taken up. Usually for such ministry there is a long and deep history with God, a history full of mystery and suffering. Many phases are passed through, all in the permissive will of God, or in His directive will, inasmuch as they are intended to educate and give experience, but the course is never that of the established and settled kind, and so big changes may be called for, each of which comes by a new spiritual crisis. No one can do anything in the making of such vessels, however much they may be concerned for them. This is God's work alone, and they have to be left in His hands....

Men of vision and courage! Yes, and more courage will be required here than in any other realm of which we know. A specific revelation will to begin with set a distance between such as have it and such as have not that specific revelation. This will give rise to many possibilities. Even the best servants of God who have not so seen will probably stand back. It will mean loneliness, and going on alone perhaps for quite a time. It will mean ostracism, misunderstanding, misrepresentation, suspicion, closed doors (so far as man can close them). Then, no revelation from God is ever just verbal truth, it always involves practical issues. These practical issues will appear like the crystallizing of the truth, so that those who obey it will become marked people. This raises a new set of opposing elements. If God has given a revelation concerning His purpose in Christ which is of such vital importance as to have called for all this special history and preparation, we must realize that it is of very great moment to Satan's interests, and he will leave nothing unused to make its course impossible.... If the greatest need of the hour is that of men of vision, along with it will go the need for willingness to pay the price. But there is another side, and that is God's side, and the compensations are great. It is a great thing to be in possession of an open heaven and of a mandate from God.

His mercy is on those who fear Him.

Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

If you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear. § The Lord is near to all who call upon Him … in truth. He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.

“Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord … and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the Lord. § On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word. § The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.

Luke 1:50;  Ps. 31:19,20;  1 Peter 1:17;  Ps. 145:18,19;  2 Kings 22:19;  Isa. 66:2;  Ps. 34:18

Those who honor Me I will honor.

Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer … Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. § Praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Sam. 2:30;  Matt. 10:32,  Matt. 10:37;  Matt. 10:38  Matt. 10:39;  James 1:12;  Rev. 2:10;  2 Cor. 4:17;  1 Peter 1:7

No Hunger - No Growth

Let us go on and get past the elementary stage. . . advancing steadily toward the completeness. . . that belongs to spiritual maturity" (Heb. 6:1, Amp.).

The birth truths of Romans 1:5 are not meant for our spiritual growth. The growth truths of Romans 6:8 are presented for our spiritual development and maturity. The Reformation brought back the birth truths, but the Cross and the Life truths are necessary for our growth.

"So many rest content with the thought that their sins are pardoned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a personal attachment to the risen Lord Jesus Christ as their life, or of faith that lives in the invisible and walks with the Father.

"With many this is the consequence of the hopelessness that came from the failure of their utmost efforts to live as they desired. They struggled in their own strength; they lost heart, they went back. The profession of faith is not cast away; religious habits are kept up; but there is nothing to show that they have entered or are seeking to enter the Holiest to dwell there.

"The power of the world, the spirit of its literature, and temptations of business and pleasure, all unite to make up a religion in which it is sought to combine a comfortable hope for the future with the least possible amount of sacrifice in the present." -A.M.

"Struggle and effort in themselves will never secure blessing, but by leading to despair and complete self-disgust they serve a divine purpose in the experience of the soul. I would rather see a soul in honest exercise, however legal he was, than see the light and careless acceptance of divine truth. I do not think God gives anything without preparing us for it by making us feel the need and value of it. It is a divine principle that He satisfieth the longing soul' (Ps. 107:9)." -C.A.C.

"He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger" (Deut. 8:3).

Praying Priests - Study in Prayer (8)

Mission Accepted