Doing the will of Christ.

You know, if each one of us would pray and wait before the Lord to find out what he or she is supposed to do at every moment, the Kingdom of God would be at hand.

There are only two ways in which an individual can live, move, and have his or her being. One way is that of using our brains, experience, and talents to accomplish our objectives. The other way is that of looking constantly to the Lord for guidance. There is no third way.

"Not my will but Yours be done."

It is impossible to move past the Pentecostal experience of the baptism with the Holy Spirit until we are ready to lay down our own life and endeavor to follow the Lord in every aspect of thinking, speaking, and acting.

"But don't people who have accepted Christ and been baptized with the Holy Spirit do the Lord's will in everything? Not really!

It is possible to repent, be baptized in water, receive the benefits of the blood atonement, be born again, speak in tongues and prophecy, and still live according to our own will. We have millions of believers in the Evangelical-Charismatic churches who are in this condition.

We have to take a positive step of faith to be saved. We have to take a positive step of faith to yield to the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues. Then we have to take a positive step of faith to decide to lay down our own life and do the will of Christ. And we have to do this every day until it becomes an integral part of us.

I get the feeling (and I may be as wrong as anyone ever was) that most church work proceeds without a clear understanding of the Lord's will. We all want to help God out. But you know what? I think God knows exactly what He wants and has the ability to do what He wants. But He likes to use people to work with Him. Can He find anyone who is willing to set aside his own ideas and just obey God?

But what if God doesn't do anything? What if the Ark of the Covenant fell in the mud? I guess it boils down to trust in the Lord, that He knows exactly what He is doing at all time; that the world is in His control no matter how chaotic it seems to be.

Jesus did not come down from Heaven to do His own will but the will of the Father. The Lord sometimes said He only did what He saw the Father do. He went further than this. He said the words He spoke and the things He did were not proceeding from Himself but from the Father who sent Him.

Since this is true, we never really heard or saw Jesus. What we read about came from the Father through the totally obedient Christ.

This is the desire of my heart—to say and do only that which is of Christ. This is the rest of God, of which the Book of Hebrews speaks. I realize I am not there yet, but I am pressing on the upward way. How about you?

The Altar of Incense of the Tabernacle of the Congregation speaks of death to self, and the willingness to set aside our own will that the will of Christ might be done. When we kneel at this altar of death to our own will, we pass through the massive Veil and come before the Ark of the Covenant and the Lid of Atonement. Here is the fullness of God that we seek.

Total obedience to Jesus Christ. Not more programs; not more manmade efforts to help God out; but a total effort to find the will of Christ and to do it perfectly and completely. "Let's forget about ourselves and concentrate on Him."

To be continued.