We must decrease so He may increase. Each day we are brought down to death and each day the resurrection Life of Jesus lifts us up. In this way we cultivate the Presence of Christ in all we are and do.

Whether our gift is that of an apostle, or the showing of mercy, or whatever else it may be, we are to look to the Lord Jesus for every effort we make. Ministry should be initiated by the Lord Jesus. Sometimes we get the impression the Christian ministers are operating blindly, hoping the Lord Jesus will bless their efforts. Such blindness was not the case with the Lord Jesus and it should not be the case with us.

The Lord Jesus always knew the Father's will and He did exactly what the Father told Him to do—no more and no less. Such close following of the Father required that the Lord be in continual prayer, always looking to the Father and listening for His voice.

The same must be true of us. We are not to just launch out on some new plan that has been presented as though Christ has left the building of His Kingdom to the ability of man to perform, and has withdrawn into the heavens until the job is finished. Rather we are to go to the Lord in prayer about every detail of all we are doing. We must learn to pray without ceasing.

To look to Jesus for every aspect of life and ministry is to enter the rest of God. Entering the rest of God requires faith. The remainder of the church world looks at us and wonders why we are not moving from one activity to another in order to "save souls from Hell." When we say we are waiting on the Lord's will we are regarded as an impractical dreamer or accused of being in passivity.

From the invitation to leap off the gable of the Temple to the sarcastic challenge to come down from the cross, Satan continually was tempting the Lord Jesus to act in His own wisdom and strength, to take matters into His own hands.

But the Lord Jesus waited on the Father for every detail of life and ministry. He always cultivated the Presence of the Father. He was not moved by the frantic shrieking of demons—demons who understand well that the individual who waits for the Presence of God is to be greatly feared.

What would be true today if the Christian churches did only what they saw Christ doing?

We are not a true and faithful witness when we draw conclusions. The witness is to tell what he has seen and heard, not what he or she has concluded to be true.

For thou shalt be his witnesses unto all men of what thou hast seen and heard. (Acts 22:15)

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) (I John 1:1,2)

To be continued.