10. IT'S YOUR MOVE

IT'S YOUR MOVE or KINGDOM INTIATIVE  or IF GOD WILLS IT, WILL IT HAPPEN???

I was in a situation the other day where I wanted to make a good impression. Perhaps the whole city would open up to the ministry if I had made a good impression. It was the state capital and a large city. I wanted to make a good impression and to keep the good impression I had made. But I had to call a man of God on a destructive statement he had made. Very destructive, and yet, the whole crowd seemed to agree with him. Friend, let me tell you something. You can not be a man-pleaser and remain in the Kingdom of God. The fear of man brings a snare on every level - and in every place. Spiritual prostituution is the worst prostitution of all. It is that which compromises to gain, keep, or curry favor. If a man has a sell-out price, satan will come up with the silver.

I saw a political cartoon the other day in which a politician was posing for a picture, but was inadvertently standing beside a "for sale" sign. It reminded me of so many "would-be" but won't-be men of God-as long as they are for sale.

The destructive statement this gentleman made was: "Well, if God wills it, it will happen," and, "We'll be able to tell if it is the will of God by whether or not it happens."

Please let me explain why I believe this fatalistic thinking and acting, (or should we say lack of action) is so destructive! Look at the following Scriptural examples:

1. "Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened. . . " Matt. 7:7-8 (KJ). Question: What will happen if we do not ask, and seek, or knock?

2. "Whosoever shall call upon the Name of the Lord will be saved" Rom. 10:13-15 (KJ).

Question: What will happen to those who do not call? "[God is] not willing that any should perish" n Pet. 3:9 (KJ). Does that mean everyone 'Yill be saved? no, No, No!'

3. "And how shall they hear without a preacher?" I've heard folks say of some ministries, "If God is in it, it will go." But the Word says, "How shall the preacher preach except he be sent?" Rom. 10:-15 (KJ). Sometimes we are at each other's mercy!

4. What would happen if the 'Godly ones in Ps. 149 did not exercise their privileges and did not "bind [the] kings with chains?" not "execute vengeance upon the heathen?" not "execute punishments upon the people? and not "execute upon them the judgment written?"

5. Jesus said, "From the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the Kingdom of Heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force. . . the most ardent zeal and intense exertion: Matt 11:12 (AMP). Question: Will the Kingdom be taken if men and women of the white hot zeal of the fiery intensity of the Lord of the Armies of the Universe don't take it??? .

6. Jesus said, "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved" Matt. 24:13 (KJ). Question: What happens if we don't endure to the end???

7. In the next verse Jesus says something very important, (doesn't He always?) He says, "And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come!!" Matt. 24:14 (KJ). Question: Will the end come before this Gospel of the Kingdom is preached in all the world??? Come on, you lazy laggard, I curse to hell your insipidity, lethargy, passivity, and bondage! I prophesy the Mighty Lion of the Tribe of Judah to rise up within you and that you rise up from the dust, oh daughter of Zion, and shake yourself like a lion going forth to take a prey!! ! !

8. Jesus said, "Whatsoever ye shall bind . . . shall be bound, and whatsoever ye shall loose, shall be loosed. . . !!!" Matt.18:18 (KJ) But what if we don't bind??? And what if we don't loose??? Sweet, sweet sister of the Saviour, and my precious brother in the Lord, If you don't bind, it won't be bound; and if you don't loose, it won't be loosed!!! unless our Sweet and Precious Saviour someday, somewhere, somehow, sometime raises up someone to do what you were supposed to have done!!! The only problem is that "The night is coming when no man can work!" So we had better "Work the works of Him [that sends us] as long as it is [yet] day!!!" (John 9:4) Will you help us? We are willing to help you. That's only one reason why we wrote this book.

9. Jesus said, "Shall not God [also speedily]avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him. . . ?" Luke 18:7 (KJ). But what hap pens if we don't cry day and night. Will we be speedily avenged of our adversary?

10. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling" Ph. 2:12 (KJ). What if we don't?

Tell, me, precious theologian, what will happen if we don't use "the weapons of our warfare [that] are. . . mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds?" II Cor. 10:4 (KJ). [That's a big "10:4"]. What will happen if we don't "go into all the world" and obey the Great Commission? What if we don't "compel them to come in?" (Luke 14:23) If we don't "do the work of an evangelist?" If we don't "pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers?" (Matt. 9:38) If we don't pray that our flight won't be on the Sabbath or in winter time? (Matt. 24:20)

Thus saith the Lord, If we don't do it, either it won't get done, and Christ's return will be delayed, or He'll have to raise up someone else to do it, or maybe, just maybe, you will finally get with His program!!! Let's just hope to God it will be in time! How many of the dear ones have gone to hell because you and I haven't told them? How many sick are dead, or still suffering because of our passivity and disobedience? How many marriages have broken up because WE didn't share a better way with them? How many people have been murdered, mobbed, or mugged, maimed, or massacred because you and I didn't do our part in binding and loosing?

You may be objecting to this harassment, saying that I am trying to put you under condemnation. Dear one, are you willing for some good old-fashioned conviction??? I pray God Himself to mess with you and me, and mess with us until we are smack dab in the middle of the sweet, sweet, perfect will of God! !! Thus saith the Lord, "From this day forth, we are free to do the will of God. We are free to be led by the Holy Spirit." In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Please look at this! If you have received Christ as your life and believe that He is living His Life in you, and that you are seated on His throne in Him with the Father, and that He is living in you and that He has blessed you with everything in Him, then won't the Christ in you be exercising some aggressive initiative? Won't the zeal of the Lord of Hosts be demonstrated through you?

Over and over I hear people advise, prophesy, or pray, "Don't strive", "Don't be 'out of rest'", "Don't 'lean on the arm of flesh'". If I were satan, I would try to get people to be passive, and that's exactly what he's done! But God says, "Woe to those who are at ease in Zion!" (Amos 6:1). "Cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood." (Jeremiah 48:10b) Imagine telling Christ to not be "out of rest", etc., when He was sweating great drops of blood in the garden, or when He was driving the money changers out of the temple, or when He was seeking the Father's face with strong crying and tears!!! Right doctrine is False doctrine when wrongly applied, and the Church of Jesus Christ needs to wake up!!! We prophesy to the sleeping giant of the church of Jesus Christ to wakeup!!!

Then the man of whom I spoke at the beginning earlier advised me, "Don't lean of the arm of flesh." I told him, "Mister, I'll tell you what's of the flesh-laziness, passivity, lack of love, apathy, lethargy, insipidity, lassitude, lack of obedience. Fiddle faddling while the world burns, or letting peop1e go to hell forever, and live in hell in the meantime, is of the flesh, if we could have rescued them."

The people that say, "Don't strive", should read scriptures like:

1. Luke 13:24, "Strive to enter in at the straight gate"(KJ)
2. Rom. 15:30, "Strive. . . with me in your prayers." (KJ)
3. Rom. 15:20, "So have I strived to preach."(KJ)
4. Phil. 1:27, "With one mind, striving for the faith." (KJ)
5. Col. 1:29, "Striving according to His working." (KJ)
6. Heb. 12:4, "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." (KJ).

Jesus said, "And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize]-a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought for with the most ardent zeal and intense exertion" Matt.11:12 (AMP).

Oh how the Christ within us wants to accomplish His works in the earth! But there exists a real problem in the Church! You see, we have been passively waiting for God to do what He has been waiting for us to do-have been asking Him to do what He's told us to do. But now the time has come when God's people shall respond to the call of God! The prophecy of Isaiah 59:16-19 comes true, "Rise up oh Daughter of Zion from the dust; shake thyself and wrap thyself with zeal as a cloak; go forth with the spirit of the Mighty Lion of the tribe of Judah, to take a prey, to see God's Kingdom come, God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Having clothed thyself with the razor sharp, white hot, fiery zeal of the Lord of the Armies of the Universe. For from the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, but now comes forth those of 'the most ardent zeal and intense exertion' of the Spirit of the Lord to Make it Happen!!!"

Picture Christ Himself living within you, wanting, waiting to do what He wants to do in and through you, while you are praying to a long distance-God-in-heaven to do sovereignly for you what He already waits to do in and through you! Remember that scripture, "But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, 'Do not say in your heart, "who will ascend into heaven?" (that is to bring Christ down), or "who will descend into the abyss?" , (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? 'The word [rhema] is near you, in your mouth and in your heart' " Rom. 10:6-8. Jesus is the Word-He is in you as your Life! Amen.

Remember what we said about Christ Himself being our Life? Well, this is the short cut to the fulfillment of the Will of God!: "You are not sufficient of yourself so as to think anything of yourself, but your sufficiency is of God, who makes YOU an able minister of the covenant!!!" (ll Cor. 3:5, 6 KJ).

These next truths will help you put wings and wheels on the fulfillment of the will of God in your life!!! Pray this prayer, now.

Dear Heavenly Father, In Jesus' Name we come to You. We come boldly, humbly into Your Throne Room to stay forever, and to find help in this time of need. We deeply repent of the dead works that clutter our lives, and we intensely pursue the Leading of the Lamb of God wherever. We would be those Spirit led sons of God. We volunteer to be your Joels' Army soldiers of the Lord, who hear Your voice and do Your will now and forevermore, Amen.

We reckon the old life to be completely dead, and embrace You as our Life. We embrace Your discipline as our discipline, and by Thy grace shall do those Living Works and speak those creative words. We believe Thee, receive Thee to be now all You are, in us!!! Now and forever more, Amen.

ABC'S OF KINGDOM INITIATIVE OUTLINE

I. Most people expect God to do what God expects people to do!

A through Z, above: After each point ask the question, "What will happen if WE don't do our part of the promises/commands? (Ans.: Either it will not get done, or God will raise up someone else through whom to do it!, or maybe finally we will do what we should!)

Review Questions

DO IT NOW!