Hello family! There is so much going on in this world, it is evident we are living in the last days. This message is timely and important as we as the body prepare for what is ahead. Enjoy!
His Protection By Our Obedience
Zechariah 4:1 “And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
2 “And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
3 “And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4 “So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
5 “Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
6 “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
7 “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain:
and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8 “Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house;
his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
11 “Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
12 “And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
13 “And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
14 “Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
Let’s read again: 7 “Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8 “Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it.”
We are living in the time in which God is bringing forth His Spirit in a very mighty way. He said, “Not by might, nor by power, but it is by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” Then he goes on to talk about the two spirits that are before God of the whole earth: Jesus and the Holy Ghost.
Then go back to Jesus on the mountain of temptation and when He went to Nazareth and He read the scriptures where is said He was anointed to preach the gospel to the poor. In Isaiah 11 He talks about the Spirit of the Lord: the Spirit of wisdom, counsel, knowledge, understanding, might and the fear of the Lord. God is bringing forth the Spirit in His people: Christ, the Holy Ghost, and the Father in us. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”
What are we here for? His power is in us and the training will come forth by the Spirit of the Lord and it will make a difference in our lives. If it is going to be the Spirit of the Lord doing it, then we need to let Him do it; otherwise it won’t be done for we are not going to do it. That is the difference you will find here.
We have a few other things to do; He wants to bring us into a balance with Him for we do it as unto the Lord. I wonder if we understand what the Lord is saying. Let the Lord direct us. He has given us the spirit of wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. I know as the days get worse we are going to need the fear of the Lord because we do not want to displease Him.
It is getting more and more exciting every day. He said it is by the Spirit of the Lord not by power nor by might but by my Spirit says the Lord and He cried grace, grace. The day of the law was ended, and the day of grace came through Jesus who died on the cross and rose again. We are not under the law of Adam and Eve any longer we are under the law of Jesus. By His Spirit the mountains in our lives shall become a plain.
You cannot say God’s grace was extended to those who practice a sin that was never given over to God. God puts a shield around them and He watches over them that are obedient; but they do not have that protection if they keep their old ways. If they do not know him they are under the law of sin and death. Until they are born of the Spirit they cannot come under the law of salvation where the mountains will become a plain.
Jesus is the giver of grace if we will permit Him to be our savior. His grace is different from the law. It is amazing. We think about how He has extended things for us and how He extends His mercy to us; think about the children of Israel and how they sent them into captivity. He told them not to go into Egypt they would die there. They did anyway and it came to pass that they died there. God protected the ones who stayed in Babylon; but the ones that went onto Egypt lost their lives because they disobeyed the Lord.
If we run away from Him we run into trouble, His protection is in Him. We have to take the consequences if we are disobedient. His grace is in the Spirit of God which we can draw from. I think about what God has extended to us through Jesus Christ for He said, “If you lack knowledge I will give you knowledge; if you lack understanding I will give you understanding. Anything you ask, I will give it to you.” But He can only do it if the Spirit of the Lord is in us. If His knowledge is not in us He cannot give it to us.
“With my Spirit comes knowledge; I will give you of my knowledge and wisdom.” I know that when you move by the Spirit of the Lord something happens. It is His Spirit pouring it into you, God gave it to you. He is teaching us day by day.
You say “I need a little wisdom and counsel on this, I need a little patience here.” You get it by tribulation! Don’t ask for patience you will get tribulation. We would rather move by His Spirit. Why should we want human understanding when we can have God’s? God runs this place! It is not by my knowledge, but by His Spirit. I do not know how to do any of the things here. Some of you did not know how to do anything; but the Spirit of the Lord taught you. We are going to give Him the glory and fulfill His word. It is up to us how fast we grow or how much we want to run our own business. It’s up to us whether we will allow the Lord to fill us with His Spirit or not!
We need to recognize His Spirit every day and we need to flow by the Spirit. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts”. He is bringing it into the realm of the spirit. He can direct us so that we will not be afraid. God is calling us by His Spirit. God has laid a foundation by this work and we must finish it by the spirit of knowledge, wisdom, counsel, might, understanding, and the fear of the Lord.
He said, “…the spirit of the Lord and the spirit of the might.” Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might because you are going to do warfare. We are not here without doing battle but He is training us for it.
Eph. 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world…”
You are putting on the whole armor and it goes on to tell us what we wrestle with.
13 “Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
14 “Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
15 “And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
16 “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
17. “And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:”
What are we going to do? I used to have a lady here that would take a walk to put on the whole armor; she would do it every day. He puts it on by His Spirit. Put on the whole armor of God that you can stand against the wiles of the devil. Girt your loins with truth, shod your feet with the gospel of peace, faith, love, and truth which works by love.
When the Spirit of love comes you need nothing else. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We are strong in Him and the power of His might. He says to be strong in the spirit of his might. Take up the shield of faith and the breastplate of righteousness. Have your feet shod with peace and prepared to take the gospel.
We had better be afraid if we do not have His peace within us. He has given us everything we need to be good soldiers. You don’t have to listen to the devil; that is why you put on the whole armor. Do not pay attention to the enemy. The Lord does not force us, He leads us. He wants us to understand that He does not condemn but He forgives and does not hold it against us any more. The enemy brings doubts and unbelief.
There was a family that came here and when the man took a walk out to the big tank the devil would talk to him “This person is this and that, there is no water in the tank.” If we think about it we will know that the devil is a liar and you do warfare against him.
Let the Lord seal your mind for the devil is not welcome any more. We can shut the door and lock it and he does not live there anymore. When God says to do something we need to walk in it. Why do we play around with lies if we have the truth? If we are willing to give our lives to God, His grace changes things. These lies are not of God; they can come in and beat us to death. We just say, “Devil do not do that to me” and just shut the door. Your mind belongs to Jesus! If you are strong in the Lord, you do not have to be tormented. Our lives are changed and we can have a Spirit filled day where we can walk by His Spirit and fight with the word of God. Jesus spoke about it and we need to use it.
The Lord has given us His love, His power and His might. Our sins are washed away by His blood and as we walk in the Spirit we let go of the old self. You will be changed; you will not know the old. I disagree with people telling what they did as sinners. We should not brag about what we did before our salvation. We are saved by grace not of our own will. If we live in the Spirit, we will fulfill the deeds of the Spirit and if we walk in spirit He will cause us to run and not grow weary.
When Paul was writing about the Holy Spirit He says: “There is no condemnation to him that walks after a new law living in us; not the old law or the law of sin.” It is Jesus that makes us free from the law of sin and death. If we are born again the law of sin death no longer has power over us. We are now under the law of Jesus and we walk not after the flesh but after the Lord.
There is a mixture in us of the Spirit and the old law when we keep telling the deeds of the past. He wants us to walk in the Spirit that He can flow through us in the power of His might. Do you know what it means to walk by the Spirit of the Lord? You do it unto him. If you try to do it in yourself it will never work; we do it in the Spirit of the Lord Jesus.
I realized what it was saying when the Holy Ghost showed me that under the law of the Spirit of Life we can know we are free. He has made us free by His Spirit for there is no law against it. A new law is ruling in us; the law in Christ Jesus. We had just become aware of His presence and we are not under the law of Adam any longer. We have been set free and when we realized it we would bubble over with it day and night.
We were teaching about the old man and how bad he is; but realized that it was not scriptural. We are under a new law and we focus on Christ. We do not have to fulfill the law of the flesh. In His name we pray. Amen.
