Let us look at some questions about the goal of our faith. What are the desires of our heart? What is it that we hunger and thirst for? Do we hunger and thirst for righteousness? Or has there become some other goal we have been seeking? What are our dreams? Has the goal become an important position in the Kingdom of God, one with power? Have we become distracted from our true goal and calling of God?
Jesus said we are to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. In the Kingdom of God there is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Any true teaching or word from the Lord is meant to increase this desire for His Kingdom Life and His righteousness to be manifested in us and to point us to Christ. The Holy Spirit will never lead us to seek high positions, rank or a place of honor. And it will never make us feel equal to Christ. I know it is strange, but there are teaching out there that implies this. That is what Lucifer wanted. He said "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High." (Isa 14:14)
The Kingdom of God is not about seeking the next "revelation" or "experience"; it is about being changed and conformed into the life of Christ. While we seek Him, He will reveal more and more of Himself to us, but He never said we would be omnipotent, to know all and be all. To be conformed into His likeness is to be changed in character, life and love, as He displayed it to us in His life, but not in position or equal to.
The heart attitude of one that seeks the Kingdom of God in this manner (no matter how far advanced they might come) will never see themselves as equal, they will remain subjected to Christ. Jesus never sought His father’s position. Jesus came for a purpose and when that purpose is complete the scriptures tell us that He will turn ALL back to His father. (1 Corinthians 15:28) "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all."
Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
There is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost because of Love. Jesus explained to His disciples that His food was to do the will of His father, it satisfied His hunger. His father's will was to lay down His life for the good of others; this is love in the highest form. He loved the Father more than His own life. There can be no pride, self-will or self seeking motives in us if we are going to love as Jesus loved. This is our goal...to walk as Jesus walked, to love as Jesus loved.
Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)
There has been much emphasis placed on positioning and of becoming "Sons of God", "experiences" and new “revelations”. Again, what are we seeking? What is our heart's desire? Should it not be to do the will of our Father no matter the cost? Should this not be the "food" that satisfies our hunger? There is no "higher" place than to be on our face at the feet of our Father, to be in His presence seeking His will no matter where it takes us.
The world seeks positions and honor. But Jesus said, "…it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister (servant); and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant (slave): Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:26-28
There are teachings that talk about "the deep work of the cross" and "dying to the Adamic nature", but no real substance on what this means. The focus seems to be more on experiences, and “levels” rather than the love of God and doing His will. The true sons of God are those that have grown to a place where they have laid down their own lives for the Lord. They have given up self will and self love, and their only motivation and “food” is to do the will of their father. These are the ones that are raised into Christ's life of pure love that He displayed on this Earth. They will be constantly laying down their own “rights” for the good of others. This is an incredible love that can only come from the Lord as we submit to Him in ALL things. The more we grow, the more we will become dependant on our Father, just as a child is dependant on their mother, until we become as dependant on the Lord as a new born baby is. This is true humility.
Let our eyes not be on "positions" or the great things the Lord could do through us, but rather let our eyes be upon Him, so our joy will be to do His will and suffer for Him if need be for the good of others. Let Him become our substance; let doing His will be our food. This is the life He wants to give us, let us be willing. Let us seek the Kingdom of God where there is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost!
A friend wrote the following:
God is love. It is a self-sacrificing love. He cannot help Himself. He must give of Himself. He even gave His only Son for us. That is what self-sacrificing love looks like. And what His intentions are in redemption, is to make us like Him in that same nature of self-sacrificing love. That is how the world was to be won over to God's kingdom.
The power that comes from heaven should not be thought of in terms of a force that enables us to do miraculous things for God or have "unique" experiences. Rather, we must look for it as a power that will enable us to enter into that sacrificial life of love. And it is a love that "doesn't count the cost" but rather is a poured out life in the same extravagant way that Mary anointed Jesus with the costly perfume. Not that it {true Christ-like love} desires or even tries to act extravagantly, but when one becomes a vessel empty of the fallen "self"-centeredness in a true circumcision of the heart by the power of the Spirit (Romans 2:29, Colossians 2:11), it is a life that God's Spirit can pour the life and nature of Jesus through in abundance! Coming to any other conclusions as to what our redemption is all about are misguided conclusions I believe and keep the Body of Christ on a low spiritual level or completely in error and deception.
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