It ain't over till its over.

The more I study the Scriptures, the more I discern God’s applications of His Word and truth to my own life in this world in its present chaos, the more Christ rules and reigns in my life, the more I follow the leadings of the Spirit in what to focus on in ministering to others in these last days, the more convinced I am that God is speaking to yesterday's and today's church to:

Be diligent, zealous, fervent of spirit and to chase after His Kingdom and His Righteousness (both) and to be careful of spiritual pride in my inclusion in the body of Christ, spiritual double mindedness, spiritual dullness, spiritual laziness, spiritual complacency and spiritual presumption that my spiritual past is automatic prelude to my spiritual future.

Granted, the solution to all these problems or risks is the strength of my oneness with and my fullness of Christ.

The usual problem though is that although I may quickly and wholeheartedly embrace "oneness and fullness" and, as one brother has said, acknowledge it in words, I fail to see or worse, take seriously, the forces, power or temptations at work in daily life that pull me inch by inch into the very things that will rob me of oneness and fullness and ultimately, if left unabated, into separation. Sometimes, even when oneness and fullness to a great degree are my experience, I am self lulled into presumption.

Jesus said (through His servants) FLEE from things of the world and FLEE to the things of Christ, the Kingdom of Christ, and the righteousness that is found in Christ. This is the race to be run. It is a fleeing from and a fleeing after kind of running, as in "run for your life”. There is a sense of "boiling over” or feverish spirit in this run ( zealousness).

Paul was so concerned about the dangers and risks of being DQ’d in his own race even after years of faithfulness in life, speech and ministry. He was, at the end of his ministry afraid he wouldn’t finish well and be short of the finish line.

If Paul was on guard to the very end of his race so that no encumbrance of sin or hindrance of weight of the world would drag him down short of his own finish line, how presumptuous must I be to have a lesser degree of care, concern and appreciation of the risks all around on a daily basis that would drag me down inch by inch.

Don’t get me wrong. I know the solutions. I just get afraid I don’t appreciate the risks sufficiently enough. God is faithful to the faithful. He is zealous for the zealous. He shows strong support to those whose hearts are wholehearted towards Him. May it be so with me and all who call on the name of the Lord with sincerity and integrity of heart.

These two passages about Paul and imitating him have impressed me greatly in my own race:

Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified -- 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 (CSB)

My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead. Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. -- Philippians 3:10-17 (CSB)

Drawing closer to Jesus is the solution. We do this by fleeing to Him in every way He calls us to and conscientiously also fleeing from everything that would draw us away. It often isn’t blatant sin that draws us away, at least not at first. Blatant sin is the final straw usually for the Christian. It is the lack of diligence, careful heeding of His warnings and the lack of zeal (with wisdom) in fleeing to and fleeing from that leads to the sin of spiritual lukewarmness, dullness, complacency, and spiritual pride and presumption.

I realize these truths are taught by example from the OT and by example and command in the NT. Everywhere. Yet, so many lack the maturity, understanding or the faith and faithfulness to heed the warnings and "run for their life". Paul said in the Philippians passage above, "let the mature think this way.” And those who are mature, must teach and disciple the immature this way in order to help them finish their own race. The increasing weight of the sinful world on the believer is going to make the race extremely difficult going forward. Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he likewise fall. Likewise, let him who runs take heed lest he be weighed down.

So many things can become hindrances or blockages to pressing on towards the mark and keeping our eye on the goal, blatant sins are just obviously destructive.

Even ministry and good works if focused upon and overemphasised can become a hindrance and a crutch that we use to hold ourselves up, because of the special ministry anointing that comes upon us for service.

Focusing so much on what the church is doing wrong and trying to be doctrinally The Watchdog and doctrinally perfect and constantly recognizing the sin and the incorrect doctrine within the body of Christ or within the world is a serious hindrance as well and this is often overlooked by many in the religious community.

This can actually become an addiction and a practice that we fall into and become so accustomed to that it becomes the main focal point of our religious experience, and because it's not combined with the spirit of prayer and supplication deep intercession for the perceived issues, we become seriously unbalanced and our focus becomes earthly and temporal.

So instead of our focus being on Christ him being our sanctification and righteousness and the divine nature through whom we have been imputed and imparted and continue to receive this spiritual blessing, looking unto the prize of Christ likeness and oneness with Christ, our focus is always the majority of the time upon the sins of the world and the sins of the church and we stagnate our own growth we don't enter into seasons of separation,seasons of fasting and prayer that are gracefully ordained and given to us during our Christian walk.

Our minds become filled with doctrine and knowledge and we get puffed up like the apostle Paul said knowledge does puff up but love edifies and builds up.

And unknowingly we choose knowledge, The tree of Knowledge of good and evil over The tree of Life and love, for God is love, and because we know so much of the Bible and doctrines much of it is very correct, but we neglect love and mercy and prayer and good works which are meant to flow from love Mercy and prayer rather than commands and doctrines that we understand in our mind we sell ourselves short from the fullness of God.

And instead we settle for corporate blessing and anointing through gathering with the Saints a couple of times a week.

And we Neglect true secret prayer where the anointing comes through devotion and brokenness of prayer, where just (I and the Lord) so to speak become acquainted with each other without the help of the corporate gathering anointing.

This is the place where the heart of the lord is, on the mountain top or in the closet in the quiet place, this is the place where the spirit of prayer and supplication the prayers of mercy are birthed and experienced and used by the Lord to intercede for others but also to teach us on a personal level how much God loves people and how much he loves sinners and back sliders and how he wishes that none would perish but that all might come to repentance.

We learn in this place of how to love those that don't love us and to love those that are carnal, this is a humbling experience, and we find this in a place separate from ministry separate from the corporate gathering we find this in a place where the heavens are rent this is the place of secret prayer and the place where the lord calls us to gather with him alone with no aids of the gathering of the two or three .

We can't replace this place or live with imbalance and focus on anything else and neglect this secret place where God's true heart is tasted and consumed, a place where God deflates the puffiness of prideful knowledge and self-righteousness where we learn to identify with the worst of the worst and cry out for Mercy for us all as one.

This is a place of personal awakening of personal revival, a place of personal humbling and humility a place of personal weakness but where we experience the power, the grace and the strength of the holy spirit in our hearts , a place of personal helplessness and recognition of God's Sovereign Grace.

This is a place that the blood has bought for us, a place where we also cry out farther forgive them for they don't know what they're doing.

This is a place where the season of separation will lead you into and a place where the separation will become your sanctification.

Gary,

I can never quite explain it, but whenever I read the posts you write like this one, there is a massive check in my spirit. There is so much wrong with what you've written, and yet it's masked in what would seem like an innocent motive.

You have fundamentally misunderstood the forbidden tree in the garden, and equating it with doctrinal knowledge, or knowledge in general, is error in the highest degree.

But I have to be careful here, because my post is exactly what you warned against, effectively rendering myself, and anyone else who opposes what you say as someone who does not walk with God in love.

Ironically, in my meditations on these points, I've realized every book in the Bible deals at some point with warning and exhortation to avoid and expose false teaching... Interesting is it not?

Robert,

I was going to post yesterday with a hearty Amen to your post, but didn't feel the liberty to do so. I understand now why.

Amen though dear brother. Interestingly I recently listened to a sermon by David Wilkerson called, I think, which race are you running. Gary would condemn the sermon as being divisive and focused to much on knowledge, but I highly recommend it, it is a prophetic word to a pastors conference.

Thanks Evan.

I didn’t react to Gary either. It’s a consistent pattern with some concerning spiritual undertones that go beyond doctrinal differences. I just was curious if it was only me noticing because if I’m the only one then I tend to question my own discernment of the matter.

Evan , encouraging people to go into secret prayer to hit the prayer closet and have that as one of their major emphasis and passions in their life is not false teaching brother, I think what might be happening here brother is you're coming under conviction of the holy spirit...

Brother just so you know I cut my teeth in on David Wilkinson, Carter Conlon, Paul washer, Leonard Ravenhill, Tozer they were all considered my favourite preachers for many years. I don't have favourite preachers anymore but tozer was definitely a blessing and I would recommend him.

But again you make Wild assumptions about things you have no idea about, your guess work is not really good today brother.

Running the Right Race is the title you recommended. I just looked it up and will listen. Thanks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIqY5C9WBQ4

Gary,

You picked the one theme I didn't even blink at (secret prayer, which obviously is part of the believers life), except for the mention that God is in the mountaintop experiences and we should essentially live from one mountaintop to the next. Jesus seemed to experimentally teach the exact opposite when he rebuffed the disciples for wanting to pitch tents on the mount of transfiguration, and instead went into the throngs to deal with Satan, in the literal valley.

If our faith consists of seeking constant spiritual highs, deception lies at the door step. This is self evident.

But those are side issues, and conviction and leading are so far distant from one another that to confuse them would be almost impossible to a born again believer.

The mistaken view of the tree, not however a side issue. In fact, I believe that to be in error concerning Satans first and most powerful deception, is to lose it all. It's to misunderstand the entirety of the fall of mankind, what it is to eat of the flesh and drink of the blood of Jesus, the other tree; and ultimately to be open to mindless (literally) spiritual deception that defies any and all reasoning. Which could explain why the many beckoning to reason together with you are met with judgment and criticism, all under the guise of your accusations that we are judgmental, unloving and critical.

Anyway, this is argument as nauseum at this point. I am helpless on these matters, they are matters only the Holy Spirit can sort out individually in each of us.

I was at a conference when the woman who wrote this song sang it. WOW!! It's worth a listen!

"It Aint Over Yet" | Worth It Worship | Christian Music
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhU2OA_O_4g&pp=ygUqaXQgYWluJ3Qgb3ZlciB5ZXQgd29ydGggaXQgd29yc2hpcCBseXJpY3Mg

Robert
I find "Running the Right Race" a very important message, thank you for that.

Here is another message that I find important;
Loving Righteousness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gEn6KKy_Uw

We don't want to run and then be disqualified.
May it help and encourage all of us

Markus