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A Higher Purpose
Wade E Taylor
And they sung a new
song, saying, You are worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:
for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation. And have made us to our God kings and priests:
and we shall reign on the earth. Revelation
5:9-10
These (overcomers) are singing
because they understand the time of processing that they have submitted
themselves to and have made us in order to become these kings and priests.
And the Word was made
flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. John
1:14a
The eternal Word
is the greatest revelation that God could ever give to man, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who was born of a virgin and dwelt among us in condescension as Jesus of
Nazareth.
That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which
we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life ... that which we have seen and heard
declare we to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. I John 1:1, 3a
The written
Word is to become the experiential Word - a personal reality in our
life experience that can be seen and handled by those who
surround us. Therefore, each aspect of
our life should be of such yieldedness and submission to the resurrection life
of Jesus that the written Word, which has been imparted into our spirit, will
find its expression and fulfillment through us.
This will encompass our
consecration to the Lord, our walk with Him, our fellowship
with the body of believers, and our relationship to the world in which
we live. In each of these areas, that
which the Lord has accomplished within us should be evident to others as a witness
to them. We are the only Bible
that many will ever read.
In Acts 1:8, Jesus said,
You shall be witnesses. That
is, we ourselves are this witness, as the expression and outworking of that
which we are becoming. Our growth toward
spiritual maturity is nurtured and established through the application of spiritual
laws and truths to our life experience.
The objective truth
that is set before us within the written Word of God, or in that which is written
about the Word of God, must become a practical part of us through personal experience,
before it is really ours.
For
we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has
before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
The quickened Word, which we hear in our spirit,
is to become personalized within
us through a process of testing and proving. As we rightly respond to the circumstances that
we face in the outworking of our daily life experience (especially from those we closely relate to), we will grow toward spiritual maturity,
and, the
Our having a part in
the Millennial Kingdom of God will be the result of the Word being personalized
within us. Only as the life of Jesus
is manifested through our lives will we be able to affect the lives and actions
of others. We are to become an extension
of the life of Jesus, as a part of His corporate Body. Then, as happened during His life, people will
again marvel and say, Never did any man
speak as does this man (John 7:46).
The Lord revealed both
Himself and His intentions and purposes to Moses. He heard directly from the Lord and lived and
walked in the ways of God.
Once our lives are fully
committed to the Lord, each decision or choice that we make will have a higher
purpose that transcends its present effect. It will not only produce spiritual maturity
and authority within us, but as we experience these things, we will be able
to understand and help others.
Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all
our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble,
with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
II Corinthians 1:3-4 NKJV
It is very important
for us to understand this process, so we do not become discouraged or turn away
from these experiences or dealings, because they do not seem reasonable or make
sense to us.
We remember most of our
spiritual consecrations because
they are made at special times and have a recognizable purpose. We value these and hold them as being important
spiritual landmarks. Along with these
are the multitudes of seemingly unrelated choices that we make each day of our lives, which do not appear to
us as having any lasting purpose or value. We
tolerate these, but think concerning them, If only I could get past all these mundane things, then I would be able
to seek that which has spiritual value and purpose.
However, the Lord views
these seemingly mundane decisions quite differently than we do, as they are
not merely arbitrary choices that are made along the pathway of life. From His eternal perspective, these varied circumstances
are purposely placed in our path so as to provoke us to make decisions that
will affect the higher purpose of God for us.
Behold
the sower (the
Lord) went forth to sow ... (the
circumstances that require of us a decision or choice) Matthew 13:3b
The result of each of
these seemingly mundane decisions will then become one of the ingredients in the composition of the seed (that
which we are becoming) that is being
formed by the Lord within our physical frame - our new creation life.
The Scripture tells us
that we are predestined to be conformed
to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29b). The present development
of this image can be pictured as
being a seed that is formulated within
us and gradually develops during our span of life. This seed contains all of the ingredients that
are necessary to enable us to function as overcomers in the Kingdom Age to come.
All that is needed for
that which we have become to be fully revealed, is the atmosphere of the Kingdom. Here,
we will be measured as to how much
we have grown into the fullness of His image. This will determine our place and function in
the
Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Ephesians 4:13
In that day, our lives,
fully released from the husks of the
present time of preparation, will function in a Kingdom relationship to the
Lord in relation to the potential that had been developed within us.
And
have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 5:10 NKJV
This can be compared
to an apple seed. Every necessary ingredient
- all that is needed to produce a tree having bushels of fully developed apples
ready to be harvested, is contained within this seed. There is nothing that needs to be added. All that is required for it to develop into
a fully matured tree is the right environment and time.
We often become confused
when our spiritual consecrations or decisions, which to us seemed so outstanding
at the time, fade away with no lasting consequence. This is because we only see the present effect
that these produced. We do not realize
that these consecrations or decisions became an ingredient in the preparation of this seed (the opportunity
for us to overcome). Nor are we able to see the fully matured tree (us) that will be released from this seed when
it is lifted into the
When the Kingdom Age
dawns, the necessary ingredients will be present to release the pent-up life
that we have become, which is contained within this seed. Only then will it be able to spring forth into
its full expression of life and purpose. The
life that will be manifested from this seed will be the cumulative result of
all the decisions we made, both good and bad (0vercoming), that went into
its make-up.
Jesus said of this seed,
that some fell into good ground, and
brought forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold
(Matthew 13:8). The extent to which our consecrations and decisions
have become a personal reality in our life experience, will determine which
of these gradations will apply to our eternal estate.
The most important thing
that we can do today is to live in such a way that only the very best ingredients will go into the make-up of
this seed that we are becoming.
I
love them that love Me; and those that seek Me early shall find Me ... That I may cause those that love Me to inherit
substance; and I will fill their treasures. Proverbs 8:17, 21
Much has to be accomplished
within each one of us in order to prepare us for compatibility with eternity,
so we might be made ready to enter into the cooperative relationship with our
Lord that He intends. In eternity, the
substance that developed within
us through the accumulated choices that we made during our lifetime, will come
into its full fruition in the outworking of this relationship.
There is not enough time in the here and now for this to happen.
The vision that was given
to Ezekiel revealed a man with a four-sided face (Ezekiel 1:6-10). From
one side, he appeared to be as a lion; from the second side, as a man; from
the third side, as an ox; and from the fourth side, as an eagle. Each of these views revealed the same man, yet
each demonstrated a different quality within his makeup. This vision was repeated to John in Revelation
4:6-7 as four living creatures, who picture the New Testament overcomer. These have a function and purpose and are seen
as being in the midst of the throne.
These four-sided heavenly
views can be compared to this fully developed and matured seed that we are becoming.
This understanding of the purpose of the Lord in forming a seed
from the cumulative decisions, choices, and experiences of our present life
experience is very important. It will
enable us to make the right decisions in our every day experiences, and it will
help us to rightly interpret life.
From the Lord's perspective,
He will place within our daily pattern of life, all of the circumstances that
are necessary to enable us to make the decisions that will produce this fully
developed overcomer that He desires
us to become.
I can better express
this by sharing an experience from my life.
In the immediate view, the things I went through made no sense at all,
nor could they be interpreted at the time.
We were living in a very
comfortable home. Then, we were told
that we had to move. I found a home that
was both affordable and desirable that seemed right for my family. However, when I submitted it to the Lord, He
clearly said No. Later, I looked
at another home that was adjacent to a swamp. It was so enclosed in trees that it was dark
within during the day-time. As a result
of this, it was very damp and musty throughout the house. Also, it was too small for us to rightly fit
within. Everything about it seemed wrong.
Even the rent was higher than a more desirable home.
Nevertheless, the Lord
said that this was the place for us to be. We
moved in, and all of our things began to get damp and musty. At the time, it did not seem to make any sense
at all for us to be there, nor did it seem reasonable that the Lord would tell
us to live in such a place. But, He did.
The guidance of the Lord
almost always transcends our present understanding and requires faith and implicit
trust on our part to be obedient. Our
obedience is far more important than our present understanding of things, or
even our own comfort. We may make a judgment
and choose what we feel to be best, but in His Kingdom, all is quite
different and relates to a far higher purpose. Had I used my own judgment, the following could
never have happened.
The principle of the
Kingdom is life out of death - that the way up may first be down. In obedience, we moved into this house completely
against everything that was reasonable. No
one in their right mind would have done this. However there was a purpose that was completely
unknown at the time.
The second day that we
were there, a lady came to the door and told my wife that because we were living
just outside of the city limits, the children had to be registered for school
that very day. There was no way for her
to get to the school, as I had gone to work in our car. A family that we knew lived a short distance
from us. She walked over to see if they
would take her to the school.
Just then, two men were
leaving this home and told my wife about a special week-end meeting at a Bible
school. She shared this with me and I
said that I would rather not go. Later,
I remembered this and said, If we were going, this would be the day, but
we are not.
Later, the same day,
the Lord clearly told me that we were to go to this meeting. While there, the academic dean spoke a prophetic
word that I had been sent there by the Lord to be a teacher, and I was hired.
When we moved to the
This step of obedience,
in falling into the ground to die, became a part of the seed that I
am becoming, and also, I was released into a higher realm of life and ministry.
This is an outworking of the
In our Lords time and
way, we will understand the why
of these present difficult and trying experiences that we must daily endure,
and in that day, we will be fully
satisfied.
His
lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful
over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things: enter you into the
joy of your lord. Mathew
25:23