by Susan Tang
Most ministers today do not minister out of a strong inner life. Image is more important to them. Many of them have worked hard to rise to the height of influence, privilege and glory. But they have forgotten that there are dangers lurking on those heights, and that they need to guard their lives with the strictest vigilance.
The indictment given by God to the prophets of Israel in the days of Jeremiah was that they had separated their ministry from their relationship with Him. God charged that they had not stood in His council to see, to hear and to listen to His word before they went ahead to minister (Jeremiah 23:18). As a result, they had no fresh word from God. Instead they borrowed one another's visions, dreams, fleshly prophecies and words and ended up as the "blind leading the blind."
If prophets and priests have no capacity for God, then where does this leave our people? How can we take them further and deeper? If spiritual leaders were to sever their relationship (with God) from ministry, then not only will they be easy targets for marauding demons of lusts and deception, but where will they draw their strength from?
It is a lie to believe that when we have Jesus we have an inexhaustible supply. No, the truth is: when we have Jesus we have ACCESS to the inexhaustible supply and the accessing must be made frequently and unceasingly. The apostle Paul talked about "prayers and the supply of God's spirit" (Philippians 1:19, 2 Corinthians 1:11). Prayer will keep our spirits supplied with God's spirit and strength. If we do not connect with Him through prayers, the supply will be cut off. Life is too full of complications and complexities, and the only way to unravel the complications and the complexities is to come into the presence of God so that the deep subtleties of our own hearts can be exposed.
Spiritual intimacy or prevailing in God's presence will unravel the complications and put all deceitfulness, deception, strife and painful complexities to rest. (Please read my book on SPIRITUAL INTIMACY.) To do spiritual work without connecting with God is utter foolishness and the sure result is failure. This explains why there have been so many moral failures among the priesthood in the last two decades.
Ministry is about fighting wicked spirits, not flesh and blood. The only thing that can help you withstand these vicious attacks is your strong inner life. Many priests are not aware that they had "picked up spirits" in the process of their ministry. Demons of uncleanness, lusts, hurts, anger, sickness and death can follow you and then call for a full attack when you are not conscious of it. You may say that this is not possible because God promises that "greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world." Well, how great have you allowed Him to be in you? Can God rise great in you when you do not connect with Him? Instead of walking in His light, you walk in your own selfish will. No, God cannot rise greatly in us when we daily make the choice to let self rise higher.
Demons are not afraid of our great and fanciful exteriors. They only understand the language of force which comes in the name of Jesus through a strong inner man. A strong spirit or a strong inner life is the only thing that can succour you or help you "lift up the standard" against the flood waters of the enemy. The Bible tells us: "The spirit of a man will sustain (hold up) his infirmity but a wounded spirit (injured or weak inner man) who can bear?" (Proverbs 18:14). What a tragedy that today's priests and prophets spend their time building into the outward (ministry, building, reputation etc) but not into their inward or inner man or into their relationship with God.
When King David requested God to "build the walls of Jerusalem" (Psalm 51:18) in his penitent prayer, he was acknowledging that his inner walls had collapsed. This was why sin and temptation could take hold of him so easily and he could live in it for years before God Himself apprehended him. David's outward moral walls fell because he had not been building into his inward spiritual walls. He was so intoxicated with success, prosperity and position that he became spiritually incapacitated. Honour can be too much sometimes for some people. David had allowed success to breed complacency and laxity into his life, so much so that he became insensitive to the timing of God in his life. When the time came for war, he refused to go to war. While every man in his kingdom went to do his duty, he became 'un-dutiful' and he absconded. He lingered behind, became restless, walked about aimlessly, saw Bathsheba and fell into sin with her.
Oh, that God will bring us back to His ancient ways to re-lay the right foundation. We have deviated and we have swerved. We have pushed back God's ancient stones and strayed from His ancient ways to concentrate on the wrong thing. We have drunk from only broken man-made cisterns and attended too many seminars that challenged us to build for God, build for God and build more for God. But when will we ever learn to let God build into us? Many prophets and priests fall because they are too busy building for God but have never allowed God to go beyond the scaffolding of their lives to build into their inner man.
In "CLOSING THE GAP", I wrote the following paragraph,
"Let God work into you and build into you because the only thing we can take with us into heaven is what He has built into us. The apostle John learned this lesson when he was taken up to a high mountain by an angel. The angel wanted to show him the Lamb's Bride (Rev. 21:9-10). On reaching the top of the mountain, he saw, to his surprise, not a bride, but a glorious and heavenly city - the city of Jerusalem! The bride had become a city! A city built by God! God is telling us that every redeemed life has to become a city, a city built by God. Are you a city built by Him? If we are not, then nothing in us will be of lasting value and worth (page 72, "CLOSING THE GAP" by Susan Tang).
Most ministers today do not minister out of a strong inner life. Image is more important to them. Many of them have worked hard to rise to the height of influence, privilege and glory. But they have forgotten that there are dangers lurking on those heights, and that they need to guard their lives with the strictest vigilance.
The indictment given by God to the prophets of Israel in the days of Jeremiah was that they had separated their ministry from their relationship with Him. God charged that they had not stood in His council to see, to hear and to listen to His word before they went ahead to minister (Jeremiah 23:18). As a result, they had no fresh word from God. Instead they borrowed one another's visions, dreams, fleshly prophecies and words and ended up as the "blind leading the blind."
If prophets and priests have no capacity for God, then where does this leave our people? How can we take them further and deeper? If spiritual leaders were to sever their relationship (with God) from ministry, then not only will they be easy targets for marauding demons of lusts and deception, but where will they draw their strength from?
It is a lie to believe that when we have Jesus we have an inexhaustible supply. No, the truth is: when we have Jesus we have ACCESS to the inexhaustible supply and the accessing must be made frequently and unceasingly. The apostle Paul talked about "prayers and the supply of God's spirit" (Philippians 1:19, 2 Corinthians 1:11). Prayer will keep our spirits supplied with God's spirit and strength. If we do not connect with Him through prayers, the supply will be cut off. Life is too full of complications and complexities, and the only way to unravel the complications and the complexities is to come into the presence of God so that the deep subtleties of our own hearts can be exposed.
Spiritual intimacy or prevailing in God's presence will unravel the complications and put all deceitfulness, deception, strife and painful complexities to rest. (Please read my book on SPIRITUAL INTIMACY.) To do spiritual work without connecting with God is utter foolishness and the sure result is failure. This explains why there have been so many moral failures among the priesthood in the last two decades.
Ministry is about fighting wicked spirits, not flesh and blood. The only thing that can help you withstand these vicious attacks is your strong inner life. Many priests are not aware that they had "picked up spirits" in the process of their ministry. Demons of uncleanness, lusts, hurts, anger, sickness and death can follow you and then call for a full attack when you are not conscious of it. You may say that this is not possible because God promises that "greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world." Well, how great have you allowed Him to be in you? Can God rise great in you when you do not connect with Him? Instead of walking in His light, you walk in your own selfish will. No, God cannot rise greatly in us when we daily make the choice to let self rise higher.
Demons are not afraid of our great and fanciful exteriors. They only understand the language of force which comes in the name of Jesus through a strong inner man. A strong spirit or a strong inner life is the only thing that can succour you or help you "lift up the standard" against the flood waters of the enemy. The Bible tells us: "The spirit of a man will sustain (hold up) his infirmity but a wounded spirit (injured or weak inner man) who can bear?" (Proverbs 18:14). What a tragedy that today's priests and prophets spend their time building into the outward (ministry, building, reputation etc) but not into their inward or inner man or into their relationship with God.
When King David requested God to "build the walls of Jerusalem" (Psalm 51:18) in his penitent prayer, he was acknowledging that his inner walls had collapsed. This was why sin and temptation could take hold of him so easily and he could live in it for years before God Himself apprehended him. David's outward moral walls fell because he had not been building into his inward spiritual walls. He was so intoxicated with success, prosperity and position that he became spiritually incapacitated. Honour can be too much sometimes for some people. David had allowed success to breed complacency and laxity into his life, so much so that he became insensitive to the timing of God in his life. When the time came for war, he refused to go to war. While every man in his kingdom went to do his duty, he became 'un-dutiful' and he absconded. He lingered behind, became restless, walked about aimlessly, saw Bathsheba and fell into sin with her.
Oh, that God will bring us back to His ancient ways to re-lay the right foundation. We have deviated and we have swerved. We have pushed back God's ancient stones and strayed from His ancient ways to concentrate on the wrong thing. We have drunk from only broken man-made cisterns and attended too many seminars that challenged us to build for God, build for God and build more for God. But when will we ever learn to let God build into us? Many prophets and priests fall because they are too busy building for God but have never allowed God to go beyond the scaffolding of their lives to build into their inner man.
In "CLOSING THE GAP", I wrote the following paragraph,
"Let God work into you and build into you because the only thing we can take with us into heaven is what He has built into us. The apostle John learned this lesson when he was taken up to a high mountain by an angel. The angel wanted to show him the Lamb's Bride (Rev. 21:9-10). On reaching the top of the mountain, he saw, to his surprise, not a bride, but a glorious and heavenly city - the city of Jerusalem! The bride had become a city! A city built by God! God is telling us that every redeemed life has to become a city, a city built by God. Are you a city built by Him? If we are not, then nothing in us will be of lasting value and worth (page 72, "CLOSING THE GAP" by Susan Tang).
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