A Daniel-Ministry And A Lucifer-Ministry - Zac Poonen

(An extract from the book THE FULL GOSPEL – Published in 1996)

Daniel was a man whom God could use in his generation. When he was a young man, "he determined in his heart not to defile himself" (Dan.1:8). When Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah saw young Daniel taking a stand for the Lord, they too got the boldness to stand for the Lord themselves (Dan.1:11). They did not have the courage to stand on their own. But when they saw Daniel's stand, they became bold. There are many people like those three today, who do not have the boldness to take a stand for the Lord on their own. They are waiting to find a Daniel who will take a stand. Then they will join him.

Will you be such a Daniel? Will you say, "I will not defile myself. I will not seek to please any king, or commander, or backslidden elder, or any relative or anyone. I shall stand 100% for what the Word of God says."

There is a great need for such Daniels today – men and women who will "lead many to righteousness" (Dan.12:3). That verse does not refer to those who preach righteousness, but to those who lead others to righteousness - by word and by example. This is the Daniel-ministry.

We read in Scripture of another ministry that is the exact opposite of this "Daniel-ministry". It is the "Lucifer-ministry".

In Revelation 12:4, we read that Lucifer succeeded in getting one-third of the angels (stars) of heaven to follow him in his rebellion against God. These millions of angels became demons. Why did God permit Lucifer to lead so many angels astray? So that heaven could be purged of all the disgruntled and rebellious angels. Their rebellious hearts would not have been exposed, had not a Lucifer arisen in their midst to lead them in their rebellion against God.

And so, even today, God allows brothers and sisters to have a Lucifer-ministry in our churches. God permits them to go from house to house backbiting, accusing, telling lies, speaking evil, sending emails, so that all the disgruntled, rebellious and worldly believers in the church can be identified, exposed, gathered together and taken out of the church – so that the Body of Christ can be purified.

God will not stop those who are engaged in such a Lucifer-ministry today from moving around among believers in the church, just like He did not stop the original Lucifer in heaven, millions of years ago. That is Divine wisdom.

We can warn believers about such Lucifers, just like we warn them about Satan (See Rom.16:17). But we are not afraid of what these Lucifers will do. They cannot corrupt the church. They will only take out the weeds from God’s garden. God Himself will preserve the church. And at the right time, He will destroy those who defile the church (as He has said in 1 Cor.3:17). But God is long-suffering and waits many years before He judges. But when He does judge, His judgment will be severe.

It is foolish for any church to boast that it has never had a split. There was a split in heaven itself, among the angels, right at the beginning. Such splits are necessary. The Holy Spirit says : "There must be divisions (splits) among you (in the church), so that those who are approved (by God) can become manifest" (1 Cor.11:19).

In the very first paragraph of the Bible also, we read of another split. God separated the darkness from the light (Gen.1:4). That separation also was necessary. Without such separations of people from the church today, God's testimony on earth will be corrupted.

All of us can have either a Daniel-ministry - building unity and fellowship in the church - or a Lucifer-ministry - sowing discord. God hates those who sow discord (Proverbs 6:16-19). We cannot be neutral in this matter, for Jesus said that those who do not gather with Him are scattering people away from Him. There are only two ministries in the church - gathering and scattering. (Matt.12:30).

In our churches in India, the Lord has wonderfully and deftly arranged circumstances, so as to expose and remove from our midst those who sought position and honour, or who had a controversial spirit, or who were jealous of younger brothers going ahead of them, etc., God has caught the “clever” people and the “big” people in our midst "in their own craftiness" (1 Cor.3:19) and thus frustrated their secret plans to "hijack" the church!! This is a mark of the Lord's care for us, and of His intense desire that there should be a pure testimony for His Name in our land.

We praise the Lord that He watches over us constantly to preserve us from such Satanic attacks. "Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchmen keep awake in vain" (Psa.127:1) It is only where brothers dwell together in unity that the Lord can command His blessing (Psa.133:1,3). Only a united church can triumph over the gates of Hell. So the Holy Spirit works mightily in our midst, to remove all those who hinder that unity, so as to preserve us as a united Body in our CFC churches.

We must pray that the Lord will continue to do this work in our midst in the future as well – because there is always the possibility of people becoming proud in our midst at any time. God’s promise to us however is: "I will remove from your midst the proud, exulting ones,.......and I will leave among you a humble, lowly people, who take refuge in the Name of the Lord" (Zeph.3:11,12). The church can be built in unity only with humble, lowly people.

The Lord is jealous to preserve His church in purity, and so He Himself will expose and remove self-seeking people in His own way and in His own time, just like He drove the money-changers out of the temple at the right time. All glory and praise be to Him.

Source - http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/word_for_the_week.php?display=01_02&year=13

God will Either Open or Close the Door at the Right Time for Overcomers - Zac Poonen

In Rev 3:7 The Lord describes Himself as the One who can open or shut any door. ("And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens…)

If we are overcomers, we need never stand before a closed door at any time, when it is the will of God that we should go through.

But the Lord also shuts certain doors before us, so that we don't go into paths that He has not ordained for us - paths that He knows will not be profitable for us.

It is really an exciting life to be an overcomer. The Lord Himself decides which doors we should go through, and which doors we should stop knocking at.

In the book of Jonah, we see how the Lord shut one door (of a ship, by getting Jonah thrown overboard) and opened another (of a fish's mouth, by getting it to swallow Jonah). When the fish came to the coast of Israel, the Lord opened the fish's mouth once again to place His servant ashore. Thus God brought Jonah back to "Square One". Then He told him once again to go to Nineveh, where He wanted him to preach. Then Jonah went.

If God wants us in any place for any purpose, He has ways and means of closing the wrong doors before us (getting us thrown out of somewhere perhaps!) and of opening the right doors in front of us. He even has means of transporting us back to "Square One" in our lives, so that we don't miss His best! What He did for Jonah, He will do for us too. He will do even more.

The key to every door is in His hand. If you are a wholehearted disciple of the Lord, with no ambition in life but to glorify God, you can be certain of one thing - that nothing can stand in your way. Like automatic doors that open as soon as a person comes near them, every closed door that hinders you from moving forward in the fulfillment of God's will, will open up before you - as soon as you come near it. He opens each door at the right time - not too soon and not too late. He will also close those doors that would make you miss His perfect will for your life.

Source - http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/word_for_the_week.php?display=01_03&year=13

Recall What God Remembers - Oswald Chambers

Thus says the Lord: ’I remember . . . the kindness of your youth . . .’ —Jeremiah 2:2

Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Does everything in my life fill His heart with gladness, or do I constantly complain because things don’t seem to be going my way? A person who has forgotten what God treasures will not be filled with joy. It is wonderful to remember that Jesus Christ has needs which we can meet— “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7). How much kindness have I shown Him in the past week? Has my life been a good reflection on His reputation?

God is saying to His people, “You are not in love with Me now, but I remember a time when you were.” He says, “I remember . . . the love of your betrothal . . .” (Jeremiah 2:2). Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He ever find me pondering the time when I cared only for Him? Is that where I am now, or have I chosen man’s wisdom over true love for Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me? Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him?

As I recall what God remembers about me, I may also begin to realize that He is not what He used to be to me. When this happens, I should allow the shame and humiliation it creates in my life, because it will bring godly sorrow, and “godly sorrow produces repentance . . .” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Source - http://utmost.org/

When Things Go Wrong - Chip Brogden

"We wanted to come to you – even I, Paul, time and again - but Satan hindered us."

1 THESSALONIANS 2:18

We should not expect things to always go as planned, even when we are indeed following the will of God, and especially when we are trying to do what we feel led to do. Sometimes it seems as if everything is rising up against us. Cars break down, people get sick, misunderstandings arise, businesses fail, things happen.

We do not want to give the devil any glory and attribute everything to him. But we do want to discern the true operation of the enemy so we may dispose of him. We must exercise discernment and wisdom to know the difference between the hand of the Lord, the work of the enemy, and the natural environment. Otherwise we will suffer unnecessarily.

Source: Dealing With Difficulty by Chip Brogden

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BUSY, STRONG AND WITHOUT GOD by Greg Gordon

A warning against having church strength without God

A PROPHETIC WORD

In a Church age of frivolity, foolishness and fun there needs to be strong admonitions and warnings against this type of acceptance of Church practice and profession. Never in the history of the Church have so many false concepts crept in unawares beguiling many souls. This is the method of the devil to work all deceivableness amongst the Church as an angel of light to deceive even the elect! One of the most successful attempts of the subtile enemy of our souls is to teach and allow the Church to rely on its own strength rather then on the power of God. The saintly E.M. Bounds wrote a old article on this topic and it speaks with prophetic unction to our modern day stance we find ourselves in. May God minister it afresh and anew to our hearts in these terrible last days:

“This is one of the devil’s most insidious and successful methods to deceive, divert and deprave. He marshals and parades the most engaging material results, lauds the power of civilizing force and makes it glories and power pass in review till church leaders are dazzled, and ensnared, and the Church becomes thoroughly worldly while boasting of her spirituality. No deceiver is so artful in the diabolical trade of deception as Satan. As an angel of light he leads a soul to death. To mistake the elements of church strength, is to mistake the character of the Church, and also to change its character all its efforts and aims. The strength of the Church lies in its piety. All else is incidental, and is not of the strength of things. But in worldly, popular language of this day, a church is called strong when its membership is large, when it has social position, financial resources; when ability, learning, and eloquence fill the pulpit, and when the pews are filled by fashion, intelligence, money, and influence. An estimate of this kind is worldly to the fullest extent.”

“The church thus defines its strength is on the highway to apostasy. The strength of the Church does not consist of any or all of these things. The faith, holiness and zeal of the Church are the elements of its power. Church strength does not consist in its numbers and its money, but in the holiness of its members. Church strength is not found in these worldly attachments or endowments, but in the endowment of the Holy Ghost on its members. No more fatal or deadly symptom can be seen in a church than this transference of its strength from spiritual to material forces, from the Holy Ghost to the world. The power of God in the Church is the measure of its strength and is the estimate which God puts on it, and not the estimate the world puts on it. Here is the measure of its ability to meet the ends of its being. These are signs that are unmistakable and of dire import that Protestantism has been blinded and caught by Satan’s dazzling glare.”

“On the contrary, show us a church, poor, illiterate, obscure and unknown, but composed of praying people. They may be men of neither power nor wealth or influence. They may be families that do not know one week where they are to get their bread for the next. But with them is ‘the hiding of God’s power,’ and their influence will be felt for eternity, and their light shines, and the they are watched, and wherever they go, there is a fountain of light, and Christ in them is glorified and His kingdom advanced. They are His chosen vessels of salvation and His luminaries to reflect His light.”

THE BARENESS OF BUSYNESS

Don Currin relates in a recent article on the theme of ‘The Tragedy of Substituting Work for Worship’ and gives two very strong examples of this in this article that is of vast utmost importance for us to hear: 

“Satan called a worldwide convention. In the opening address to his evil spirits he said, ‘We can't keep true Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from having conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience with Christ. If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, read their Bibles, and have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time so they do not have time to have an intimate fellowship with Christ. This is what I want you to do: keep them busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds.’ How tragic it is that the devil has been so successful in getting so many believers to overextend themselves today in this world's pursuits to the neglect of fellowship with Christ.”

“Hudson Taylor warned of the danger of allowing the demands of this life to keep us from maintaining the vineyard of our fellowship with Christ. Our attention is here drawn to a danger which is preeminently one of this day: the intense activity of our times may lead to zeal in service, to the neglect of personal communion. Such neglect will not only lessen the value of the service, but tend to incapacitate us for the higher service. Let us never forget that what we are is more important than what we do, and that all fruit when not abiding in Christ must be fruit of the flesh and not the Spirit. As wounds when healed often leave a scar, so the sin of the neglected communion may be forgiven and yet the effect remain permanently. The story is told about a spring whose waters had certain medicinal properties so that those who drank from it were helped in the cases of various infirmities. In the course of time, homes sprung up around the spring. Later, a hotel was built, then stores of all kinds. Eventually, a town grew into a city! Years passed. Then there came a day when visiting tourists would ask, "By the way, where is the spring from which this grew?" Dwellers of the city would rub their hands in embarrassment and say, "I am sorry that I cannot tell you, but, somehow, in the midst of all our progress and improvement we lost the spring and no one knows where it is."

CHURCH WITHOUT GOD

We see a very clear picture in Scripture of the Church that does not rely on God’s strength but on their capabilities and dependence. We see a picture of the mighty Samson who was used mightily of God before the Philistines. But alas let us read how the story ends: “And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times as before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. But the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him to Gaza and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.” Oh tragedy of tragedies! “he wist not” Samson did not realize that the power of God had completely left him! Do we realize that God’s manifest presence has left the North American Church? We are incapable of reaching this generation of lost souls without God no matter what mission organization statistics are saying in our day. We need to repent from any Laodicean spirit in us that says: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing...” Oh how we are in need of much today, we are missing the glory of God and a measure of Him that we never even realized that we could possess. There are very few people who realize what God has done in the past and what He can do today. The words in the book of Judges God speaks to us and shows us the condition of our day also: “and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” We have people that know God even in the evangelical sense but have lost the sense of the beauty and majesty and awesome terribleness of our God. The fear of God has been lost as God said: “Fear ye not me? saith the Lord.” 

Catherine Booth shares these stirring words of professors but not possessors of religion in her day: “The moment anybody attempts really to obey Jesus Christ, they cry, ‘Mad! mad! away with such a fellow; he is not fit to live.’ What a veritable laughing-stock to hell such professed Christians make themselves. The devil says, ‘All right; let them alone. Let them go to their sanctuaries, let them have their creeds and ceremonies, let them sing their sweet hymns, and amuse themselves with their religious entertainments and their Bible classes; do not disturb them, whatever you do, they are amongst my best and most successful allies.’ Oh, may God show us these things, and help us to set to work to awaken every backslidden, lazy professor within reach of us.” Those that truly know God will be active in obedience with God, we must persevere and give continued proof that we are indeed born again. God in us and in our midst! there is nothing more exciting and powerful in this world! Oh it has to change things, it must!

WEAK BUT STRONG

Christ uses the weak to shame the wise, the poor to usurp the rich, the meek to overpower the strong, the persecuted to give a manifest token of the perdition of ungodly men. It has been said that from the beginning with Adam and Eve that Satan desires for us to utilize our soulish capabilities rather then depend on the Spirit of God. This was the first subtlety and it continues to our day. God uses the unusable still! A.W. Tozer spoke prophetically of a generation of popular preachers that would in lead the masses of Christianity into spiritual weakness. We need a revival where God uses the weak once again so that His strength may be shown. When we are weak we are truly strong! 

The Apostle James wrote this 2000 years ago and it is a fresh word for our generation may we take heed to it: “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” Surely also the older prophet word given by Joel needs to taken heed to also: “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?”

Oh Church of God to our knees! J. Hudson Taylor’s advice to his missionaries was: "You must go forward on your knees." William Cowper said "Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees." The Church need to be found on its knees in our day, may we be found there when God comes.

My song is love unknown - Samuel Crossman (1664)

1 My song is love unknown,
My Savior's love to me;
Love to the loveless shown,
That they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake
My Lord should take, frail flesh and die?

2 Christ came from heaven's throne
Salvation to bestow;
But people scorned, and none
The longed-for Christ would know:
But O! my Friend, my Friend indeed,
Who at my need His life did spend.

3 Sometimes they strew His way,
And His sweet praises sing;
Resounding all the way
Hosannas to their King:
Then €"Crucify!"€ is all their breath,
And for His death they thirst and cry.

4 They rise, and needs will have
My dear Lord made away;
A murderer they saved,
The Prince of life they slay,
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes,
That He His foes from thence might free.

5 Here might I stay and sing,
No story so divine;
Never was love, dear King!
Never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in Whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.

http://www.hymnary.org/text/my_song_is_love_unknown

The Nearness of Our God by Francis Frangipane

In the 73rd Psalm, the psalmist Asaph expressed a struggle we all might feel at times. He questioned why the wicked seem to prosper while the righteous are chastened. The whole idea was troublesome until he entered the sanctuary of God. Once in the presence of God, Asaph realized his error. As he compared himself to the unbeliever, he saw that, apart from the influence of God, he had nothing in which to boast. He said, "When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You" (vv. 21-22).

Finally, his soul brightened as he considered that God alone was his salvation, and his relationship with God was his strength. He wrote, "Nevertheless I am continually with You. … You will guide me, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. … God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (vv. 23-26).

The summary thought of Asaph's revelation, and the point of this message, is in verse 28. He wrote, "But as for me, the nearness of God is my good."

Let's settle this truth once and for all: It is the nearness of God that produces our good. Christianity was never designed by God to be sustained by nice people trying to appear good. We're not that good. We're not that clever. And we're not that nice. The only thing that can sustain true Christianity is true union with Jesus Christ. It is nearness to Him in all things that produces our spiritual fruit.

If we are honest, we will admit that, apart from the influence and work of God, there is nothing morally superior or remarkably virtuous about our lives. Our flesh has the same carnal passions as do people in the world; our soul carries within it the same insecurities and fears. Thus, apart from the influence of Christ in us, there's no difference between Christians and non-Christians (except that Christians, when living separate from God's presence, can be more obnoxious). It's only our relationship with the Lord that keeps us from fulfilling the lusts and desires of the flesh, for apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).

Therefore, the strength of our walk does not originate from within ourselves; rather it comes from our relationship with Christ. Our virtue, if it can be defined as such, is that we have learned to prioritize seeking God; our character is the offspring of our oneness with Jesus. By this I mean, Jesus is not only first on our list of priorities; His influence rules over all our priorities. He inspires love in our relationships; His voice becomes the conviction in our integrity. God has made "Christ Jesus" to be to us "wisdom … and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. 1:30).

Thus, the God-seeker desires to find the Lord's pleasure drawn to every aspect of his soul. He also knows that, should an area of his heart exist in isolation from God, he will remain vulnerable to manipulation by the enemy in that area. So let me underscore the psalmist's truth, and let us say with our own voice of conviction: it is the nearness of our God that is our good.

Oh God, You are the lover of my soul. Faithfully, have You extended Your hands toward me. Yet, I have been, at times, a drifter and distant. Master, this day I acknowledge my most wonderful times are those spent close to You. When my heart is near to You, I am partaking of the nectar of life.