Spring 1994

His Work Within Us
(El-Bethel)

There is a growing company of overcomers who are obeying the Lord in the face of apparent impossibilities. At His command they move forward although the enemy besets them on every side. When He calls to press onward, they do so, step by step, taking possession of new ground.

These have come into a level of commitment where they can be trusted, where no unwise words mar His plans, where no running ahead nor lagging behind hinders what the Lord purposes to do. They will not shrink back when told to do what may be difficult or humiliating. Comparatively few have attained to this place, where they can be fully trusted by the Lord.

Only as our will merges into His will and our way is lost in His way, can we become as these and render unquestioning obedience to the Lord. This level of experience cannot be reached in a moment. It is a narrow and lonely walk. There are many testings and hardships that must be endured.

We must continue to yield to His dealings until we are stilled "as a weaned child with its mother," until there is nothing in us to grieve or offend the Lord, and then yield to His drawing love until our eyes and affections are fixed upon Him "as the eyes of a maid unto the hand of her mistress."

God's own tender hands empty these from one vessel to another, until no impurity nor dregs of self-will or self-life remain to mar or hinder their fellowship with Him! The Lord desires, and is well able, to bring us through these many battles and testings. Over and over, He will lead us to Calvary, until our desires are purified and our self-interests subdued, that we might be fully absorbed into His will. As we learn deep humility, we will be adorned therewith.

They that are half-hearted, zealous one moment and indifferent the next, will never experience in any fullness this deep, supernatural relationship to Christ. As He lays His hand upon each place in our life that must be further purged and changed, we must hasten to take up the cross that He offers us.

As we prayerfully review the path over which we have come this far, we will see why He has been unable to fully trust us. Consider how many times we acted without waiting to hear from the Lord. Even so, He continues to call us to the place where we will never again fail Him through our selfishness and ignorance.

There is a deep relationship to the Lord in which the soul experiences Christ and His indwelling presence as a present, ongoing reality. Not all attain to the fullness of this experience, for it means an emptying of our self-life.

How still must be the heart in which Christ dwells in full revelation, in which He reigns supreme and the consciousness of His presence is unbroken. But suddenly all is changed. He seems to withdraw Himself from us, and hides behind our "wall." We struggle to grasp again that holy stillness; but our very struggles cause an unrest and anxiety that make Him seem to withdraw still further. And we wonder why?

It is because we forget how prayerful and careful must be our attitude and daily walk, if He is to reveal Himself to us. We forget that all flesh must keep silence before His holy presence, that every earthly sound must be hushed, if His voice is to be heard. We forget how yielded and meek must the heart remain, if His presence and revelation are to abide with us and increase.

Now our thoughts and desires must be further purified. Our wayward hearts must be turned toward Him many times before we can say: "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed, trusting in thee." It is within the heart that has become thus fixed upon Him that He finds undisturbed rest. It is to the heart that has fully yielded to Him and has been purified that Christ will reveal Himself.

Has He found within us such an abiding place? Have we yielded to the Lord's purifying process until an undisturbed resting place has been prepared in our heart for our Beloved? Have the activities of our self-life, of the natural and soulish, become so subdued and quieted that the heart of our Beloved can safely trust us?

The only way in which we can enter into this place of rest and mutual abiding in Him is by reckoning upon our union with Him in His death and resurrection. If we would have this relationship with Him established and perfected, we must practice this both in times of blessing and testing.

Regardless of how the enemy opposes us, or how little progress we appear to be making, our relationship with the Lord will become an unwavering reality in our lives - if we will continue to press onward.

Then, we will be able to walk as He walked and be trusted to speak for Him only as He moves upon us.