Winter
2000
The
Test of Pressure
Wade E Taylor
Those who are fully committed to the Lord - who actively
seek to follow Him, often find themselves entangled in on-going
difficulties. Finally, a release comes, only to find that
other pressures take their place.
But there is a reason for these hindrances. Therefore, we
should view them as servants, placed to accomplish their purpose
in our lives. Only as we refuse to allow them to hinder us,
and rise above, or overcome them, will we be able to “press
toward the mark” for the prize, and become the “overcomers”
that the Lord desires.
"Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to
Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and
His bride has made herself ready. And it was given
to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and
clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of
the saints." Rev 19:7-8. NASB.
We may question how we can make ourselves ready. This is
accomplished as we respond appropriately to the circumstances,
testings, and disciplines of obedience that we face, and recognize
them as the means to prepare us.
Those who have fully submitted their lives to the Lord, and
who seek His highest, are potentially His Bride. Paul said,
"Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended.
But
this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are
behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are
before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the
high calling of God, in Christ Jesus" Phil 3:13-14 KJV.
Just as a young lady who is to be married anticipates her
wedding day and prepares herself, so also, the Bride of our
Lord Jesus Christ is to prepare for this day. She is to “clothe
herself” in fine linen, clean and white. This speaks
of the "righteous acts of the saints" in which she
actively faces and overcomes the problems and pressures of
life.
It is the overcomer who will sit with Jesus in His Throne,
as His wife.
"To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me in
My
throne, even as I also overcame, and have sat down with
My Father in His throne" Rev 3:21.
This process begins when we understand that the purpose of
these pressures is to press us into the image of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Only then will we be able to rightly respond
to them. A permanent press in our slacks requires both heat
and pressure.
"All the commandments which I command you this day
shall you
be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in
and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers.
“And you shall remember all the way which the Lord
your God led
you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble
you,
to prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would
keep His commandments or not" Deut 8:1-2.
The Lord knows whether we will press through to receive this
prize of sitting with Him in His Throne. But His knowing this
is not enough. He will take us through diverse experiences,
where we ourselves make the decision.
Therefore, He permits us to hunger spiritually - seemingly
without satisfaction, while our problems linger without an
apparent solution.
If we only experienced blessing, and an uncluttered pathway,
we would relax and think we had arrived. There would be little
inner change or spiritual progress, as we would be resting
in the provision, rather than seeking the Lord.
Sometimes the Lord places us under a ministry that is less
than we would wish. He may even cause a really able minister
to appear to be "dumb" concerning our problems.
Thus, we will be forced to seek the Lord.
For example, I approached Walter Beuttler concerning a very
troublesome problem. I became confused, because although he
had an outstanding walk with the Lord, he had no help for
me.
Later, as I sought the Lord under extreme pressure, the Word
began to expose my true need, rather than to give me what
I wanted; a pat on the back, and a rebuke for the other party
involved.
"And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger, and
then He
fed you with manna which you did not know ..." Deut 8:3a.
Only then could I truly recognize my dependance on the Lord
Himself.
"And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks
to you
as to children, My son, despise not the chastening of the
Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the
Lord loves He chastens, and He scourges every son whom
He receives" Heb 12:5-6.
I am chastened when I do something that I should not be doing,
and as a concerned Father, the Lord deals with me. I am spiritually
spanked and corrected. I rejoice when this happens because
the Word says, “Whom the Lord LOVES, He corrects.”
The Lord is hindered in chastening us when we have not surrendered
to Him the right to our lives, and have unconditionally made
Him our Lord. In the Garden of Eden, Adam gave up his dependence
on the Lord. He chose to become independent by eating from
the tree of (self) knowledge. Later, an animal was slain and
Adam was covered with its skin. He was forgiven, but he had
eaten, and the "right to choose for himself” was
within him.
Although we are forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus on
the cross, we still have within us the right to our own lives,
as (being born of Adam) we “ate” of the tree of
self knowledge.
Only we can relinquish this. When I saw this, I carefully
gave back to the Lord the right to my own life. He was my
Saviour, now He has become my Lord. Now I can place myself
under His headship and ask Him to chasten me.
As I rightly respond to the process of being corrected, I
grow spiritually and enter into my spiritual identity as a
mature son. Now I am ready to be scourged, for the Word tells
us that “every son the Lord receives, He scourges”
Heb 12:5-6.
Being scourged has nothing to do with any wrong doing. Rather
it is an indication that we are doing everything right. Scourging
has to do with the reduction of our independence. It reaches
into the very depth of our being and crucifies our self life
- our right to our own ways. It removes our propensity towards
all self-sufficiency.
A spirited horse has to be broken before it can be ridden.
This is done, not because the horse has done something wrong,
but so it can become productive. Likewise, scourging has to
do with our becoming a yielded vessel in the hand of the Lord.
John W Follette once said that there are few who minister
out of a broken spirit. This is because there are few who
are willing to go through the process of being reduced through
scourging.
We may feel that we do not deserve the problems we find in
our pathway, and this is true. But they are there because
the Lord is seeking to make us far more useful to Him in the
outworking of His purposes.
Only then can the Lord trust us with His glory, and the end-time
authority which is about to be released.