The Excerpts are the property
of the author and may not be reproduced by any
means without the written consent of Paul K. Weigel, ©;
January 2000.
A Journey In The Wilderness
Becoming Fruitful In The Kingdom
by Paul K. Weigel
Published By:
Mass Communications Inc.
E-mail: ajourney@theforerunner.net
Website: http://www.theforerunner.net
ISBN 1-895960-10-X
A Journey In The Wilderness -
Becoming Fruitful In The Kingdom
Copyright © 2000 by Paul K. Weigel
All rights reserved. This book or part thereof
may not be reproduced in any form except for
brief quotations in reviews without the written
permission of the Publisher.
Published by: Mass Communications Inc.
E-mail: ajourney@theforerunner.net
Website: http://www.theforerunner.net
All Scripture quotations are from the
Authorized Version of the Bible unless notated.
Cover design and layout by: Mass Communications
Inc.
Cover photographs by: Paul K. Weigel
The Online Bible program was used to assemble
this book.
Thanks to Larry Pierce and David Pohl.
Copies of the program can be had at:
http://www.OnlineBible.org
Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data
Weigel, Paul K. (Paul Kenneth), 1950-
A journey in the wilderness : becoming fruitful in the kingdom
ISBN: 1-895960-10-X
1. Christian life. 2. Church work. I. Title
BV4501.2W4163 2000 248.4 C00-930770-2
Printed in Canada
Dedication
To my precious Melissa,
to whom, I pray, that these
truths will guide into your
special place of Kingdom fruitfulness.
Acknowledgements
Much
of the content of this book came to me as a series of revelations
during the years from 1986 to 1989. These revelations were a response
to a “calling out” for understanding as to what God was
doing in my life. I had sold a successful business to follow Him
in what I believed to be a call to ministry. God had other plans.
He wanted to prepare me for ministry first. I never dreamt that
it would take almost 13 years and that He would use those outward
foolish looking experiences and these revelations to be a part of
my ministry to the Body of Christ.
One
of the great mercies of God to me was that He gave me a prayer partner
through some of this journey. His persistence and continual seeking
of the Lord for “the next step” was one of the reasons
I didn’t give up on scores of occasions. There were countless
days spent seeking the Lord together, trying to find a place of
understanding. Many times we thought we were crazy for the risks
we were taking with our lives. Either we were right in what we were
hearing, or we were going to be complete fools. I am thankful to
the Lord for David Hall, and for his contribution to my journey
in the Wilderness.
There
were others too many to name who, for a season, prayed or played
some other role appointed by the Lord in my process of sanctification.
They were knowingly or unknowing serving me and the Lord with their
gift of grace.
Special
thanks to Jeanette Duncan, Margaret Kennedy, and Ken Waite for their
work editing the manuscript.
Introduction
The Heart of every
Christian who loves his Lord and Saviour is to serve and please
Him. Scripture describes us as vessels of silver and gold that must
first be prepared or sanctified in order to be of honor. Although
God’s love for us is unconditional, we desire, because of love,
that His purpose for our lives be fulfilled unto honour and unto
glory to Him. God’s preparation is not a PhD in theology, but
a consuming fire which purges the dross of our Hearts, so we can
do God’s work, God’s way, from a pure Heart. This is vital
to achieving our “call” in the way in which He will get
the glory. Although the redeeming work of God is a lifelong process,
there is a distinct season of God’s purging which follows a
definable, systematic pattern for the Church and every Spirit-filled
Christian. Worldwide, the Body of Christ is entering this season
of purging. We are being called into the Wilderness in preparation
for the most difficult and glorious time in the history of the Church.
We are being prepared as the Church who will overcome the Devil,
the Flesh, and the world. We are being prepared to rule and reign
with Jesus in this Age and in the Age to Come. We are being readied
as the Bride of Christ for the Marriage Feast of the Lamb. We are
being prepared for our ministry to God.
God has revealed
to us in Scripture a pattern of the process of sanctification and
instruction outlining how we must respond to His work so we do not
fight against it and become derelict in the Wilderness. Many Christians
who are in the Wilderness misinterpret the purpose and objectives
of the circumstance and rebel against God’s purging work without
discerning what He is doing. Some Christians won’t enter the
Wilderness because they don’t or won’t believe that God
is anything but their carnal definition of “good”. We
can either cooperate with His preparation or knowingly or unknowingly
resist it. Scripture reveals God’s ways of working which can
only be seen when looking at the overview of circumstance. These
patterns in the Christian life are designed to give us the “big
picture” view of our day- to-day lives in light of God’s
objectives and perspective. How we respond to God’s preparation
will determine whether we will become vessels unto honour or vessels
unto dishonour.
When we sacrifice
our lives on the altar of refining fire, we prove that God is truly
Lord of our life and that we love Him and trust His sanctifying
work. Our trust and surrender is as much glorifying to God as any
thing we could do for Him, because God looks on the Heart.
But
in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver,
but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel
unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, [and]
prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow
righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the
Lord out of a pure heart. 2 Timothy 2: 20.
No
discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however,
it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have
been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak
knees. “Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame
may not be disabled, but rather healed. Make every effort to live
in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will
see the Lord. Hebrews 12:11-14. NIV
Every
man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare
it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try
every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work
abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but
he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 1 Cor. 3:13-15.
Chapter
One
Becoming
Fruitful In The Kingdom
Therefore say I unto you, the kingdom of
God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth
the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall
be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to
powder. Matt. 21:42-43
The
Scriptures document many instances of God’s discipline, purging
and sanctifying process in preparation for ministry. They are examples
for us of how God calls us and then prepares us before we are commissioned
into service. In the most recent years, there have been many prophetic
words proclaiming that God is raising up an army. This is the “call”.
The process of sanctification is the “boot camp” of preparation
which precedes it.
Part
of our makeup as human beings is to find a purpose for our life.
God made us this way so He could fulfill us with His purpose and
thereby bring pleasure to us, and glory to Him. It is part of His
plan for His Body. As a member of the Body of Christ, every person
has a unique place of service. We were reborn into this new life
which is characterized by abundant fruitfulness, to bear fruit.
It is not our efforts which produce fruitfulness but rather, fruitfulness
is the work of the Holy Spirit. Our calling to service to Jesus
is not necessarily some physical activity (although it often is),
rather, it is a spiritual cooperation with the Holy Spirit to produce
fruitfulness not only in others’ lives, but first and foremost
in our own lives.
Our North American concept of fruitfulness is not necessarily God’s
concept of fruitfulness. We may have visions of preaching to a football
stadium of people or praying for the sick. We may have thoughts
of successful ministry through business and giving millions of dollars
to the work of the Kingdom. All of these things may be a result
of fruitfulness. This, however, is not the essence of fruitfulness,
but rather the manifestation of it. Fruitfulness is the acquisition
of the treasure of the Kingdom. Receiving life from the Holy Spirit
and surrendering to His pruning will produce the fruit of the Kingdom
of God which is our first service to Him. Therefore, this process
of sanctification is for every Believer. Every person who confesses
Christ as Lord and Saviour is destined for sanctification, purging,
and preparation to reign forever with Him. We are commanded to be
fruitful by abiding in the ongoing flow of life and sanctification
of Jesus (Matt. 15:1-8). It is His work in us which produces the
fruit, and it is the fruit which is our ministry to God. Outward
signs of ministry may not necessarily be fruitfulness since Jesus
warned about doing the work of the Kingdom out of an impure motive.
These can be dead works which do not flow out of the life we draw
from Christ.
“But
seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well.” Matt 6:33 NIV
articulates this view of our service to God: to become what He has
called us to seek to be and the rest of life will fall into place.
It sets our surrender to the discipline, purification and the sanctification
process as the highest priority in any Believer’s life. Our
surrender and cooperation with this purpose is our first ministry
to God. It is through our becoming like Him that we overcome the
Flesh, the world, and the Devil. This brings glory to God.
The
Process Of Sanctification
On one particular day, at one particular time, you and I each entered
into the Kingdom of God. We were outside looking in. Then in a moment,
we were translated from death into eternal life. As marvellous and
wonderful as that was, it was only the beginning of our salvation.
Since that time, the Holy Spirit has revealed righteousness to us.
He has led us to repent, denounce, and confess our sin, thereby
bringing us into the abundant life. Jesus came to us to lead us
into eternal and abundant life. Scripture doesn’t always delineate
about which it speaks, but we know that we are saved (eternal life)
and are being saved (abundant life). In one sense, everything was
done for us in that moment in time when we entered eternal life;
in another sense, we are just at the beginning of acquiring the
abundant life. We are sanctified, and in the process of being sanctified.
Therefore, for our purposes, the “Process” of sanctification
will always refer to our acquisition of the abundant life.
Scripture
clearly defines for us the road to eternal life and it clearly defines
the path to abundant life. The Process of God’s sanctification
is more obscure in Scripture than the steps to eternal life, but,
nevertheless, He has made it evident for those who diligently seek
to find it. The Process is defined, systematic, and identifiable
as is the path to eternal life.
He has
revealed His process of sanctification in Scripture so that we would
understand His process and cooperate with it. For some who have
not come to this understanding, it will give meaning to the past.
For others, it will be revelation as to how they have been resisting
the Holy Spirit’s work out of ignorance or misunderstanding.
Ultimately, a fresh and clear understanding of God’s process
of sanctification will bring a new sense of destiny, vision and
calling which we need in order to continue saying “yes”
to the Holy Spirit’s work. If we can see ourselves in the process
of death to self and believe in faith that God will raise up a new
man, alive in Christ, then in that instance, we have overcome the
Flesh, the world, and the Devil and have acquired more of the abundant
life.
God
does not leave us in the pain we are in. He has created us for pleasure
and wants to restore us to that purpose. Complete redemption restores
us to His original purpose. His purging of our sin and past pain
is one of the greatest acts of love in the history of the universe.
With one word, He created the Heavens and the earth, but it took
the blood of His Son to rescue us from the fear, stubbornness, and
rebellion inherent in the Adamic Nature. There is a hostility, the
Scriptures say, between the Adamic Nature of man and the Holy Spirit.
God’s Process is putting that hostility of the Adamic Nature
to death, step by step, so that we are no longer at enmity with
God. Some Believers are afraid to admit that there are still unredeemed
areas in their lives where the Adamic Nature is alive and is in
fact, hostile to God. They feel that if God knew about their rebellion
and anger toward Him, He would be angry. They suppress these thoughts
rather than expose these areas for God to redeem. Nothing is hidden
from God, and it is His way to expose these things so that we may
take our hostility toward Him, to the cross. We need not fear God
because every Believer is being redeemed from their enmity toward
Him. The purpose of the Process is to fully redeem us to Christ,
and in that, there is intimacy with the Father and abundant life.
As you can well imagine, the unredeemed areas of the Adamic Nature
are “the little foxes that spoil the vine” of intimacy
with Christ (Song of Solomon 2:15). The depth of intimacy with God
is determined by the level of death to the Adamic Nature that the
Believer has experienced. No amount of striving will build our dependence,
trust, and love for God. Only walking with Him in the valley of
the shadow of death and having Him deliver us into new life will
lay the foundation for intimacy with Him.
...If
any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose
it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Matt. 16:24-25
The
perfect life for Christians is walking in obedience to the Holy
Spirit because it is in walking obedient to the Holy Spirit that
we will completely fulfill the purposes of God, and not the lusts
of the Flesh. It is not for want of trying that we fail to walk
in the Spirit. It is that we have an enemy of the Spirit, which
is alive in us, which is the Adamic Nature. Although the process
of sanctification is ongoing throughout the Believer’s entire
life, there are distinct seasons of purging which produce an ever
increasing ability to walk in the Spirit of God. The greater the
obedience we have to the Holy Spirit, the greater the ministry we
have to God. It is this obedience that only He can see, that produces
intimacy with God, joy, and peace. This is the abundant life, and
the foundation for fulfilling our call.
As unpleasant
as it may be, it is in life’s valleys that we find our Saviour.
There He is, confident and sure,
unmoved by the darkness that frightens me.
I take His hand and when I do, I know He is
completely in control,
and that my fear is totally unwarranted,
even an affront to His love for me.
I hang my head in my failing;
unable to trust the love that saved me before, and will save me
now.
He gently lifts my head and smiles,
and in that instant, I am delivered of my fear,
for I have seen and experienced again, the love of my Father.
It
is humbling to see ourselves in light of the perfect love of Jesus.
It is that humbling of the Heart which acquires grace and grace
is the currency of Heaven. It is through grace we were saved and
are being saved. It is humbling that entitles us to grace because:
“God gives grace to the humble”
(James 4:6). The Flesh (Adamic Nature) vehemently opposes
humbling, yet there is no other way to be saved. Our choice in the
battle between Flesh and Spirit wins the war. Our choice can bring
the power of the blood of Jesus to our aid or grieve the Spirit
away. Our right to choose is man’s greatest power because it
will determine our destiny. We either put the Flesh to death through
the power of the Spirit, or strengthen the power of the Flesh in
our lives by our choice. The Adamic Nature attempts to deceive us
into making the Flesh lord. The benefits are short term, and we
soon see, that we have traded our birthright for a bowl of stew.
The
Holy Spirit will always lead us into death of the Flesh. Sometimes
that death is in the form of suffering and humility. It is His job
to create just the right circumstances to drive a stake through
the “Heart” of the Flesh. When He does, He resurrects
with Christ the New Man in the Spirit. The things Jesus suffered
taught Him obedience to the Spirit. He perfectly fulfilled His ministry
to His Father and man because He walked in obedience to the Spirit.
This
is what it means to take up our cross and follow Him. It is to choose
death, suffering and humility, in order to be reborn of the Spirit,
and to live the abundant life. The cost is high, but the rewards
make it a bargain.
...that
he (Jesus) might sanctify and cleanse it (the Church) with the washing
of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that
it should be holy and without blemish. Eph.
5:26-27
Jesus
is preparing us and the Church, not for ministry as we would think
of it, but for the Marriage Feast, (Matt. 22:4) where we will take
our role as His Bride and rule and reign with Him for all eternity.
As with any Bride before the wedding, she is preparing for the biggest
day of her life. Everything must be perfect with no detail too small
to which to attend. And so it is with the Church in these days,
just before the return of our Bridegroom. Jesus is preparing us
for the biggest day in the history of the universe. He will not
return to find His Bride in disarray. She will be perfect, glorious,
wonderful, and wholly in love with Her Bridegroom. When Jesus was
tempted in the Wilderness, He was victorious because the Devil “found
nothing in Him”. He was wholly the Father’s and wholly
directed and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Will we, as the Church,
ever be wholly directed and controlled by the Holy Spirit? Fortunately
for us, the role of the Holy Spirit is to sanctify us and prepare
us. Our part in the process is to say “yes” to the Spirit’s
work.
Jesus
was baptised in the Holy Spirit. Then, immediately after this, the
Holy Spirit “drove” Him into the Wilderness to be tested.
After He came out of the Wilderness, He began His public ministry.
This is a paradigm which says something of the time clock marking
Jesus’ return. In 1906, the Azusa Street revival marked the
beginning of the greatest outpouring of the Holy Spirit to the common
man that has been seen since the birth of the Church. The book of
Joel talks of the early and latter rain, and the early and latter
outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures reveal the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit in the early Church. Most recently, there has
been the “Latter Rain” outpouring of the Holy Spirit from
1906 through to about 1980. That season being over, the Church is
in a season of preparation or testing prior to it being unveiled
as the glorious Bride of Christ. Having been baptised in the Holy
Spirit, the Church is now being driven into the Wilderness for a
time of purging and testing.
God’s
order in dealing with His people is: first, His prophets, then secondly
His leaders, thirdly, the general Body of Christ, and then finally,
He will judge the world. This season of refining has not gone unnoticed
by many of God’s prophets. Ten years ago, no one was interested
in talking about God’s process of sanctification, but now there
are prophetic teachings and songs being written about it. God is
calling His people into the “Wilderness” for a time of
preparation for His return. Most of the Children of Israel died
in the Wilderness because they rebelled against His refining process.
So also will our power of choice determine our destiny. Psalms 103:7
says: “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the
children of Israel”. We are a nation of kings and priests,
filled with the Holy Spirit. God intends to make known His ways
to us, as a Church, that we may not sin against Him in this Process.
He wants to reveal His ways of refining so we will cooperate with
Him. Making wise choices will result in our being fully prepared
in what will be the Church’s most glorious hour, just before
Jesus, our Lover, returns for us.
©
Paul K. Weigel, January 2000
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