Valley of Achor

Joshua 7: 26  The they erected over him(Achan) a great heap of stones, which is there to this day; and Jehovah turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.

Achor - meaning  trouble in Hebrew, is the name of a valley in the vicinity of Jericho.

A week  ago, on my train trip to Chandigarh for propagating the gospel of the Kingdom, I was reading the Word; the Lord impressed me very deeply concerning the Valley of Achor. How did this come about? The origin of this phrase is note worthy and there are many spiritual lessons to learn!

Unfaithful to God’s Word

In chapter  6 of Joshua, Joshua strictly followed the command of Jehovah and conquered Jericho; in chapter 7 verse 1, But the children of Israel acted unfaithfully in that which was devoted to destruction, for Achan the son of Carmi,... took that which was devoted to destruction; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the children of Israel. 

Losing God’s Presence and Being Defeated

Later, because of this sin, the Israelite lost the presence of God, so Joshua had to scheme and plan according to his past experiences; by sending spies, but did not asked Jehovah. Once he lost God's presence mostly due to sin, big or small, the Lord's presence would not come again until the very sin was dealt with.Ignorant of the losing of God' presence, Joshua sent forth 3000 men, underestimating the enemy and not trusting in Jehovah. The result was obvious-- but they fled before the men of Ai, v.4b- a shameful defeat!

God’s Sovereignty Even in Our Failure Bringing in Repentance

However, God was sovereign even in our failure. Though God allowed us to pass through the valley of darkness and death, He nevertheless loved us and turned the failure into blessing by teaching lessons of life that needed to be learned.

This failure led Joshua to fell to the ground upon his face before the Ark of Jehovah until evening v.6. Then, Jehovah replied, "Israel had sinned." v. 11a.

Need for Sanctification by Dealing with Sins

After learning lesson of life, Joshua did the sanctification work, Rise up, sanctify the people, v.13. Then the person who committed the sin of disobedience by taking something devoted to destruction, a mantle of Shinar and two hundreds shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them, v.21. Achan and his family and everything he had, or, connected to him, were all brought to the Valley of Achor. And all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire when they stoned them with stones,v25b. Then and only then, Jehovah turned from the fierceness of His anger, v.26b.

The Sin Committed was Covetousness—Greed, Lust for Mammon, Basically the Love of the World

“ a mantle of Shinar and two hundreds shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels,” v.21  were quite a treasure. No wonder, Achan coveted them. Though he knew these were devoted for destruction, his greed and lust for the world overcame him to disobey what Jehovah had commanded, and his sin led to the failure of the whole house of Israel. 

Warning to all Christian: "Do not love the world nor the things in the world."  1 John 2 :15.  For the love of money is a root of all evils, because of which some, aspiring after money, have been led away from the faith and pierced themselves through with many pains. 1 Timothy 6:10. 
And the best way not to love the world is to love the Lord Jesus Christ and be filled with His love.

God’s Presence Restored after Dealing with Sins

After this dealing with sin, Jehovah promised them victory over Ai, and instructed them how they should fight by giving them specific strategies of war, and then the victory over Ai was won.

The Valley of Achor was such a revelation to me. This is my timely need; never to take God’s presence for granted and being faithful to heed to His Word and dealing with sins in every possible way. 

Complete Cut-off

Complete Cut-off from all Christ-less Connections 

This morning in my time with the Lord, the Lord reminded me of my need and urgency for a complete cut-off from anything that is not Christ. The enemy's baits are not so obvious a sinful appearance, rather they are always sugar-coated poison. Good things are even the greatest tools of the enemy. Good things are not necessarily from God, though God does good things too. Often times good things are a good counterfeit of God Himself. 

In Deuteronomy 20:17, the Lord commanded that Israelite must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. When God led the Israelites into the goodland, His command was to annihilate the enemy totally, a complete cut-off of anything of the enemy, even the things designated to destruction must be completely burnt off and rejected. However, the lack of absoluteness of the Israelite, for instance, Achan in Joshua 7, led to the defeat before Ai. And anything not cutoff later became channels for troubles and defeats to the Israelite.

Similarly, once a Christian was regenerated, there needs to be a complete cut-off as signified by baptism, and its reality by the clearance of his past. Otherwise, the uncleared past would haunt the believer and snare him to be as dog returning to its own vomit. This is the case of too many Christians.

This is the very thing the Lord reminded me today. Heeding to the Lord's speaking is my need. Dealing with anything that the Lord may point His finger to is my duty. And His grace is sufficient to enable me to do so. Then a prayer of repentance and confession followed suit. 

Complete Consecration

Having dealt with the past and negative things by compete cut-off, no matter the price, there is a need for complete consecration to the Lord afresh. Once emptied of the sinful, one need to be filled with the Spirit; cleansing, then the anointing comes. The two should go hand in hand. And this is my consecration too.

Christ Conscious

Once the duo deeds, complete cut-off and complete consecration, are done, a believer will be revived in the spirit, renewed in the mind and refreshed in the body. As such, he will be a normal Christian, living Christ and living out Christ, becoming Christ conscious in every minute detail. Such is a Christian living (Phil. 1:21), filled with Christ having the mind of Christ (Phil. 2:5.)

Christ Centered

Such a living will take Christ as the center for, of and in everything; taking and honoring Christ as the Head and as the Body; individually Christ as the Head, and corporately Christ as the Body with all the other members of the Body. 

The ultimate goal of all these complete cut-off, complete consecration to be Christ conscious and Christ centered is to live a normal Christian life in a normal church-life for the building up of the Church, the Body of Christ, for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose. These are not for oneself, but ultimately for the Lord's interest. 

Lord grace me to completely cut-off anything not of Christ; and I completely consecrate myself to You afresh; to be filled with you, one with You, all the time, in everything.

Useful Vessel

Many Christian desires to be used by God or rather be blessed by God; for this they have been praying years. However, not many of these prayers were really answered. Yes, God indeed wants to use any one or every one, but He must be able to use him or her! Vessels are many, but suitable vessels? They are really few.

Personally, it is indeed my prayer too, as many does. But whom can the Lord use? As in Isaiah 6:8, Jehovah God asked, "Who shall I send?" The response of Isaiah was, "Here am I ." The same trumpet call is sounding today; and many heed to the call with an "amen." But how many of those who answered in the affirmative are really qualified? Like in the selection of Gideon's army in Judges 7:6, those drinking water by fetching with their hands and putting to their mouths were selected. There are indeed qualifications. Even the New Testament unveiled of Mary, through whom the Lord was conceived of the Holy Spirit, had qualifications, as confirmed by her prayers, a godly woman filled with the Word: 

Luke 1:46 And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, (47)  And my spirit has exulted in God my Savior; (50) And His  mercy is unto generations and generations, unto those who fear Him. (51) He has exercised might with His arm; He has  scattered those who are proud in the understanding of their  heart. (52) He has brought down potentates from thrones and  has exalted the humble; (53) The hungry He has filled with  good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.

These cases reveal that God has qualifications for whom He could use. A willing heart as in Isaiah, a disciplined and dealt with person as in Gideon's army and a sanctified vessel filled with the holy Word as in Mary. Paul is another example of a scholarly person absolute for the Lord, and many likewise. 

The preparation of a vessel, the very being of the person, is of utmost importance for the Lord to use or to bless. This reminds me of my need for being dealt with thoroughly through the cross by the Spirit, to be transformed from being merely a man of clay to be a man of stone, from a vessel of dust to a vessel of honor and glory. Lord this is my need today. Do whatever you may and gain me. "Lord, I long to be filled with Thee; with Thee and in Thee is the greatest blessing."

The Word

Last week my feeling was somewhat down and I did not enjoy much of the Word, though I read it regularly, I did not receive much light nor any revelation. The same was with my time in the morning revivals and pursuings.  Even till the Lord's day morning, I did not really enjoy anything as should be. However, after the Lord's table meeting I was much revived. I did not know how it happened, but I knew I was much enlightened and the Word that I had been reading and storing within me became the "rhema" and supplied me richly. Later I prophesied in the meeting and enjoyed the Lord's rich anointing. Again, in the evening, I ministered the same enjoyment of the Lord in a group meeting and was richly blessed.

The Word constituted into our being is never a waste. The more constitution of the Word, the better it is. The enjoyment may not come at the moment but later the Lord will anoint it and use it. This reminds me of camels storing food in their humps and eating them whenever needed. We have to store spiritual food in our being and use them whenever needed.

Daily discipline of the reading the Word and pursuing the ministry of the word must be cultivated, even though it seems monotonous or religious. We must have this habit and exercise. The Lord will reward this exercise richly. It is like saving money in a bank and can be withdrawn whenever needed. This is what the Lord impressed me with this experience.

One of the points the Lord enlightened me with last week was the "goings forth of Christ" in Micah 5:2. This goings forth as revealed in John 1 spans eternity past to eternity future with five great universal events as a bridge of time--in creation, revealing Christ; in incarnation, mingling God with man; in Christ being the Lamb of God for redemption; in Christ becoming the life-giving Spirit and in Christ being the heavenly ladder to join heaven and earth. All these will ultimately consummate in the New Jerusalem to fulfill the eternal purpose of God. This goings forth of Christ is still continuing in me as I open to the Lord to work Himself into me, and as I cooperate with His inward move by preaching the gospel and shepherding the saints.

Lord, may Your goings forth continue in and through me...

Genuine Worship

To offer the burnt offering and the other offerings is to worship God. God wants us to worship Him with Christ as the reality of the offerings. God does not want a people who worship Him by bowing down,  kneeling, or even merely by singing and praising. 
Genuine worship, the worship which satisfies God’s heart, is a matter of our coming to worship God by offering to Him the Christ whom we have experienced and offering Him according to our experiences, reviewing the experiences we have had in our daily life. This is the worship the Father is seeking, the worship He desires. The Father wants us to worship Him by offering His Son to Him according to a procedure in which we review our experiences. 

Life-Study of Leviticus, Message 9

This pursuit opened a new vista to my understanding of worship. It is not an outward piety or rituals performed, but a "living."  The very living of a God-man life is a true worship to the Father. Void of this living, its all religious superstition. Many, not excepting me, and have fallen prey to the devil's wiles of worship. Worst is, many does this ritual thinking it is a worship to God! Religion indeed has blind folded many seekers of God, just due to ignorance of the truth or misinterpretation of the truth. Such is the case of today's religious genre. There is an urgent need for the knowledge and understanding of the truth with the experience of the very truth understood rightly.

Rightly, the Lord said in John 8:32 : "And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." Ignorance of the truth leads many to religious sins and superstitious deeds. So is the urgent need for every seeking believers to know the truth, experience the truth and live the truth.

What a relief to know this! Our living is a genuine worship of God; a living of Christ daily by taking Him as our life and our living.

Lord gain my living everyday, all the days of my life, to live You and You only as Paul did and said, "For to me is to live Christ." Phil.1:21

"Proper worship involves the burnt offering and the meal

offering. To offer the burnt offering for God’s satisfaction

and to offer the meal offering for our satisfaction and for

sharing our satisfaction with God—this is real worship.

Proper worship is a matter of satisfying God with Christ as

the burnt offering, and of being satisfied with Christ as the

meal offering and sharing this satisfaction with God. In real

worship Christ as the burnt offering ascends to God, and

Christ as the meal offering enters our being. In such worship

we satisfy God with Christ, and we share with Him our

enjoyment of Christ."

Life-Study of Leviticus, Message 11

The Blessing of the 3T’s Training

A decade ago, when I was a trainee in the full-time training in India, I attended a training on 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. A documented record of my experience was unearthed and re-appreciate the fresh speaking of the Lord. The ministry is indeed the ministry. At any given point of time, any message given at any time is ever fresh and new; the Lord's anointing is in the ministry. Indeed, this is the ministry of the age. Lord, preserve me in this ministry unto the end.

The training on 3T’s was truly a blessing coupled with feasting on the healthy word, yet a warning on the Satanic chaos in the Church’s decline. The crystals of my enjoyment of the training are paraphrased thus as—

“God’s economy is in faith is to dispense Himself in Christ into us to constitute us as members of His Body, the Church. The Church is the House of the living God, thereby, we must be living too, and live in Him, by Him and with Him. The Church is the Pillar and Base of the Truth, thus, with all the saints we must uphold the Truth which is Christ Himself, come to the full knowledge of the Truth and bear forth the Lord’s testimony. The Church is the manifestation of God in the flesh, as such, in the principle of incarnation we must live a Christian life which is normally human, yet spiritually divine and avoid any spiritual gimmick.

“Christianity has tolerated different teachings apart from the apostle’s teaching and produced different divisive ministries issuing in the Church’s decline. But in the midst of such chaos we must live against the tide by receiving the divine inoculation of the healthy word. Much more, we must be inoculators. To be inoculators, we must exercise our spirit and steadfastly remain in the healthy teaching in the Lord’s recovery. And be God-men having faith in God and loving God absolutely. That we may be overcomers: fighting the good fight, running the Christian race and keeping the faith.”

 Apart from the truth, the very act of training, to my understanding, has trained me as to how to conduct training to shepherd the saints in love, yet under strict training norms. In fact, I was blessed with much exercise of character and learnt how to be faithful to the responsibilities assigned.

Glorious Beginning

The Lord is ever new and He is doing new things. The past few weeks have been a real blessing and a glorious beginning of His move. What a privilege to be a part of it! The speaking of the Lord was crystal clear, and His direction too. The preparation work the Lord has been doing was marvelous; digging deeper and deeper into my heart, purifying and sanctifying it. This preparatory work in me was very precious, I learned a lot. thanks to the brothers whom the Lord pleased and chose to use.

Though I was quite aware of the dates and schedules of the propagation, but I was clueless to what the Lord  would do. Until the day we began the propagation, when we finished our pursuing and was about to go out, I had no idea what to do. Instantly, the Spirit led us step by step, whom to meet, when to meet, and how to meet. From day one we saw baptism, sinners getting save, gentiles calling upon the Lord's Name. And it continued with higher and higher intensity. In the midst, the speaking of the Lord through the pursuing was apt to the core; a matter of the outflow of life is the gospel preaching, it is not a work nor a movement per se, but the overflowing of the divine life.

Altogether we had 12 baptisms in one week, baptism(s) happening everyday. The authority of the Lord's ascension was manifested, the subduing of the enemy was witnessed, the victory of Christ was experienced and declared! Hallelujah.

The coordination among the saints were so sweet, each functioning according to the measure of God's ordination.No murmuring, no complaint. Everyone enjoying the Lord! No struggling, no scheming. Everyone living the God-man life! What a blessed foretaste of the Body life in small groups. 

Skeptically, should this continue? Yes, indeed. This is just a foretaste, and just the beginning. Yes, indeed, a glorious beginning. The best is yet to happen....

His Presence

These days the Lord's sweetness was so dear and enjoyable. Yesterday, in my time with the Lord, He led me to a thorough confession to have a thorough and intimate fellowship with Him. The intensity of the prayer was so deep, I hardly sensed the passage of time. The same thing happened this morning. My heart was so hungry for the Lord's supply and His presence satisfied me. O the joy of His presence!

'Tis indeed an universal truth: Any insulation in our fellowship with the Lord hinders the supply of the Lord's sweet presence. Therefore, to live a joyful life, there has to be a thorough confession and application of the blood of the Lamb, a thorough and intimate fellowship with the Lord and a thorough prayer in oneness with the Lord.

This, the enemy is well aware and robs many Christian of their allotted portion by baiting them with the worldly pleasure and attraction for distraction, sins and their very self with the embodied sinful nature expressed in various forms.

However, the dealing with the world, sin and self will undo the enemy's tactics, and for this, the Lord's bountiful grace is accessible anytime with the exercise of the mingled spirit. Thus, the joy unspeakable is recoverable any moment.

Later, the Lord further enlightened me on the self. The self is the greatest enemy of the Body. If I ever have any problem with the saints, its not their problems, but mine; my self is not thoroughly dealt with. A good self is deceptive, but when the Lord exposes it, it is all for good, that the self be broken and Christ be gained.

This self, having been dealt with will usher into the living and working out of the New Jerusalem. All Christian works must take the New Jerusalem as the goal and the model to carry out the work.

Stanza 2 in Hymn # 477 impressed me deeply:
What e'er thou lovest, man,
That too become thou must;
God, if thou lovest God,
Dust, if thou lovest dust.
Go out, God will come in;
Die thou and let Him live;
Be not and He will be;
Wait and He'll all things give.

Source: http://www.hymnal.net/hymn.php/h/477#ixzz2B4MItfD9