We had a men's retreat recently. At one of the meetings the spirit of the gathering was high. The men were on their feet praising God with all their might. The musician were playing and singing the high praises of God.

Suddenly I realized that in the spirit realm the Lord and some of His warriors were moving among us. You know what They were looking for? They were looking at the men to see their level of maturity in righteousness.

They were not paying any attention to the loud praise nor were they praising and dancing. They were looking to see how far along each of us is in righteousness of character.

At a previous meeting we had prayed a prayer of deliverance for a brother who was horribly bound because of circumstances beyond his control. After the lengthy session a good measure of release had been obtained. Then I saw the angels and the heavenly warriors dancing and rejoicing mightily. For the first time I realized the import of the saying, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God when one sinner repents." Although this was not exactly a sinner repenting, a human body was changing from being the temple of Satan to being the temple of God. Such great rejoicing over one such transformation!

But as I said, Christ and His officers were not dancing or praising God during the next meeting. They were looking to see where we are in spiritual growth, where we are as far as the stature of the fullness of Christ is concerned.

Hopefully the praise and pageantry will greatly multiply in numerous churches in the days to come. Hopefully too there will be much more participation on the part of the members of the congregation in gifts, ministries, and expressions of worship.

But the end result, the fruit the Farmer is looking for, is the moral image of Christ in each one of us. That image is iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to the Father.

So we see that the Antichrist spirit is in us until our personal cross drives it from us. We must remain in the Lord's prison until we receive the crown of life.

Our work in the Kingdom of God means little or nothing unless we are in close contact with the living Jesus.

There is an emphasis on growth in righteousness today. From here on the churches increasingly will become battle zones. The conventional services may remain for a season, but they already are vestigial. Moses is dead. The mantle has passed to Jesus Christ as Joshua.

Christ is coming to us today in the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish Blowing of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah). He is the Lord, strong and mighty in battle. He is going to drive Satan from the physical creation, beginning with the saints closest to Him.

All worldliness must go before Christ's mighty power. All the lusts of the flesh must flee before His mighty power. All of our self-will, the Antichrist spirit that is in us, must be burned out by patient, cross-carrying obedience. Jesus Christ will bring us into situations where we have to keep saying, "Not my will, but Yours be done." He had to learn stern obedience to the Father. We have to learn stern obedience to Christ, and through Christ to the Father who sent Christ and has commanded us to hear and obey all that Christ commands.

To be continued.