Every time there is real change separation takes place. Advancement in the Lord also means the removal of something that has hindered God’s will for your life. We cannot take the things of the world into the Kingdom of God. Jesus said, My Kingdom is not of this world (John 19:36). Therefore, the things of this world that cling to us must be separated from us like the chaff from the wheat.
Self is a greater hindrance than the world, and this is where many Christians miss the higher calling of God. The inability to deny their self-nature causes them to lose the life they could have in God. Then said Jesus unto His disciples, 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. Matthew 16:24-25.
Abraham went through many separations in his journey with the Lord. He was separated from his country, his kindred, and his father. Lot who left on the journey with him went only so far with him and he was cut off. The time came when it was necessary for Abraham’s advancement to be separated from Lot. There were also many separations from his self-life. Separations will be a way of life for those who walk with God, and oftentimes they are not fun. Be sure your separations are unto the Lord. In other words, be sure you are not like Lot being separated from Abraham.
It’s a strange thing that the ones being separated from the will of God usually feel better than the ones continuing on in their walk with God. When you are in the yoke with Christ there are certain limitations and restrictions that are upon you to keep you in the way of righteousness. But those like Lot who are separated from the will of God feel freer. The restrictions of His Lordship are no longer upon them and they feel free. Now they can do their own thing; now they just know that God is really with them. Deception always moves in on the Lots when they are separated from Abraham’s walk with God.
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God.
The fact that Paul was separated unto the Gospel of God meant that he was separated from other things. Would you like to be separated unto the Gospel of God? Are you able to drink of the cup that Paul drank of? The following passage of Scripture will give you some idea of what Paul went through to be separated unto the Gospel of God. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. II Corinthians 4:6-11. Are you willing to drink of Paul’s cup? Do you really want to know the Lord? This is not a game! It is not religion! It is life! It is a walk of separation – separation from and separation unto. Paul calls it “separated unto the Gospel of God.”
Leviticus 20:26 And ye shall be holy unto Me: for I the Lord am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be Mine.
The purpose of separations is for us to become His. God is holy. Therefore, we must become holy, too. The fallen nature of man is not holy, and it is impossible for man to make himself holy through any means of discipline. Only God can make us holy, and He accomplishes it by the various severings of our self-life. How does He do that? He does it with the sword of the Spirit.
Matthew 10:34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
If you have been called to a walk with God, then you have been called to the ministry of His sword. You will not be at peace with the world! You will not be at peace with your self-life! When God starts hacking away at your self-life, you will think that God has decided to destroy you – and, in fact, He has. He is going to destroy everything about you that is in opposition to His will.
You might say, “I want to be separated unto the Gospel of God, too.” Paul was separated unto the Gospel of God through the ministry of the sword. He was no longer at peace with the religion of the Jews, and you will no longer be at peace with religion. Every Christian that desires to really know the Lord must submit to His ministry of the sword. The difficulty of many Christians is not the desire to become but the dedication to the means of becoming – separation. God wants you to be His. Therefore, He wants to separate you from everything that opposes Him, which includes your adamic nature.
Copyright © 2007 by Henry DuBose