The Lord is trying to teach us how to allow Him to move through us, so that what we do is not done from our own energies but by His power. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6.
Psalm 127:1 Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman wakes but in vain.
If a person builds a house, it is in vain unless the Lord does it. It is also true that unless you build the house it won’t get done.
There are many truths in the Bible that seem to be paradoxical. Paul said, But to him that works not, but believeth on Him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Romans 4:5. James, on the other hand, says, Faith without works is dead. James 2:20. They are not contradictory; the faith and works must work together. You could say, “Well, I’m not going to do anything. I’ll just sit here and have faith.” Nothing will get done; nothing will happen. Or you could say, “I’m going to get the job done; I’ll work for the Lord.” Still nothing will happen. It is not working for the Lord, and it is not sitting back waiting for God to do everything. Rather, it is working with Him. The faith and works must go together.
What we do must not be done in God’s stead. Jesus said He only did what He saw the Father doing. The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. John 5:19. We must function in the same way. We see what He is doing, and we enter in to do it with Him. We work with Him. It’s like the illustration of the flea and the elephant. The elephant crosses a bridge with a flea on his back. When they get to the other side the flea says, “Boy, didn’t we shake that bridge!”
We’re
going to work with the Lord. He says, Take My yoke upon you…For My yoke is easy, and My
burden is light (Matthew 11:29,30). We’re going to get in the yoke
with Him. We’ll do a great work, but it will be the Lord that does the shaking.
Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets.
What does He mean when He says He is not going to do anything without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets? What is His secret? He will not do anything until He reveals His secret, why? God is a secret, and everything He does is a secret. Why is that true? It is because God operates in the spirit realm and man functions on a physical and soul realm. Man doesn’t see God, and he doesn’t know what God is doing. So God is a secret. How many times have you heard the phrase “the Man upstairs”? The phrase itself indicates that the one using it doesn’t know Him. Though they should, most Christians do not really know the Lord – that is, they don’t relate to Him on the spirit realm. God is a mystery. He is secret. Everything He does is in the spirit realm, so everything He does is a secret.
God is not a secret to His prophets, though. What He does is not a secret to them because He reveals it to His servants the prophets. Why does He do that? He reveals His secret to His prophets because they have to do it. They have to execute His plans.
“Dear prophet, let Me tell you a secret. This is My plan….”
“Oh, that’s a good plan, Lord. When are You going to do that?”
“It’s going to be done when you do it.”
That is the reason for God telling us something. He wants us to put it into action. He wants us to execute His purposes.
Not much is going to be done by just praying for God to do it. God is not our servant; we are His servants. We don’t tell God what to do and then He does it. He tells us what to do and then we do it. We tend to get things backwards. God is the doer, but He is not the doer by Himself. He works through His people. That is the way He functions. He says, “If you want Me to do something, I’ll do it through you.” Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets. Amos 3:7.
Acts 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people.
Notice that it was by the hands of the apostles that many signs and wonders were wrought. If anything is going to get done, we will have to do it. But the apostles didn’t do it without the Lord. We have to see the whole picture.
In Acts chapter three Peter and John were going to the temple to pray. The lame man was at the gate begging alms. Peter said, Silver and gold have I none: but such as I have give I thee. He then reached out and took the lame man’s hand and said, In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk (Verses 6,7). What a turmoil that started! Now look at verses 12, 13, and 16. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus…And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Jesus is being glorified! He did it! Yet in Acts 5:12 it said that the signs and wonders were done by the hands of the apostles.
In I Corinthians chapter twelve Paul talks about these things, and he uses the body to explain how the Body of Christ functions. My arms work, my legs walk, and my mouth does the talking. What comes from the head? The messages that controls the body comes from the head. If something happens to my brain, my limbs won’t function properly. And Jesus is the Head of the Body of Christ. He gives us the messages and the Body of Christ carries them out. That is the same thing the prophet Amos said. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but He reveals His secret unto His servants the prophets. The Body of Christ is the prophetic company that executes the will of the Lord. Then Jesus said, Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man. Matthew 7:24.
Jesus’ primary ministry was to His disciples, creating a many-membered Body of Christ. He knew that He would be leaving this natural realm, and that He would become the Head of that many-membered Body. Now we have the opportunity to become members of that Body, too. If we don’t speak the Word of the Lord, how will it be spoken? There won’t be a booming voice from Mount Sinai. God reveals His Word to those who will boldly proclaim it. What I tell you in darkness, …that speak ye upon the housetops. Matthew 10:27.
If His Word is going to be taken out of the spirit realm and put in the natural realm, we will have to speak it. What God is doing in the spirit realm is released in the natural ream by these hands and feet – through the Body of Christ.
Romans 10:13-14 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not
believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and
how shall they hear without a preacher?
Why haven’t they believed? Why haven’t they heard? It is because they are on the natural realm. Everything in the spirit realm is a secret to them. They haven’t heard God. They haven’t seen God. They haven’t believed on Him because they don’t know Him. So a proclaimer of the Word is needed. Someone who can hear God on the spirit realm and turn it loose in the natural realm by speaking it.
Romans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.
Preachers that preach something they studied when they don’t really know the Lord are not the kind of preachers we need. They must be proclaimers of the Word that God has created and sent. They must be prophets to whom God has said, “Listen, servant, I’m giving you My secret. I’m telling you My plan. Now you go speak it.”
As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things. Who has this ministry? The apostolic company does. The apostles and prophets are the “feet ministry.” Paul tells us that in his epistle to the Ephesians. He says that the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20). They are the feet of the Body of Christ, and we need those feet in action.
Acts 13:1-2 Now there were in the church that was in Antioch
certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger,
and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the
tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy
Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called
them.
How did the Holy Ghost say this? Was it a loud voice from heaven? No, it was spoken by one of the prophets as they ministered unto the Lord.
Acts 13:3-4 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their
hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost…
The Lord had chosen Paul and Barnabas as apostolic ministries. So they laid hands on them, commissioned them, and sent them forth. Notice that it says, They sent them away. Who sent them? the prophets and teachers that were there. They laid hands on them and sent them forth. Verse three says that the prophets and teachers sent them forth. Verse four says that the Holy Ghost sent them. God revealed His secret and they spoke it. What God revealed in the spirit realm they turned loose and manifested in the natural realm.
Copyright © 2003 by Henry DuBose