“If we believe no, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” (II Timothy 2:13)

“For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?”    (Romans 3:3)

Certainly, we recognize that faith is a necessity in the life of a believer, for “without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him”, (Heb. 11:6).  But whether we believe God, or do not believe, that does not change God’s character.  He is still the God, Victor over all.  Were it possible for our unbelieving attitudes to have an effect upon God’s operations, then unbelief, not faith, would be the stronger.  If, in our unbelief, we “limit the Holy One of Israel”, we do bring a restriction into our own lives, which God will then have to deal with.  Paul once wrote, “Our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.  Ye are not straightened in us, but ye are straightened in your own bowels”, (II Cor. 6:11-12).  We become bound in ourselves, but God is not bound by us.  His purpose shall be accomplished.

But, praise God, it is, as we do believe, open up our heart to trust and rely upon Him, that His victory begins to work in us in an experimental way.  God was all-victorious before the ages of sin and selfhood began.  He knew what was going to happen, for He planned that it should happen, and He has always been in total control, restraining what He did not purpose to use, and causing what He did purpose to use.  But He not only is God of the past, He is God of the present, “by Him all things consist”, (Col. 1:17).  The word “consist” coming from the Greek word meaning “to put and hold together”.  Things can only fall apart to the extent He plans for them to fall apart, for He holds all the boundaries, holding together all things, working out His plan in perfect order.  And, obviously, He is God of all our future, so that ultimately all things will have been worked together into our good, and for His praise.  Past, present, future – forever He is God!

“Grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ.” (Ephesians 4:15)

There is a spiritual realm of dominion and control, not a position that is selfishly grasped, but a position filled by those prepared by the Lord. “Keep on fostering the same disposition that Christ Jesus had. Though He was existing in the nature of God, He did not think His being on an equality with God a thing to be selfishly grasped,” (Phil. 2:5-6, Williams).

“And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, (Heb. 5:4). One can always find a few self-appointed apostles and prophets in the land. Those who would like to prophesy others into some kind of a position, as if by saying so would cause them to qualify. But let it be clear, OVERCOMERS are not self-proclaimed reactionaries, they are carefully prepared by God through much purifying “To him that overcometh…”implies that there will be a sufficient amount of obstacles placed into your pathway for your overcoming, so that having gained the victory you qualify for the crown. If the difficulties seem to be piling up in front of you, take it as a sign from the Lord that He purposes to make you an overcomer. Consider the trials as a token of the personal attention of God in your development.

You are sitting alone in the desert, the Lord is talking to you only by these pressures; He is testing you with trial and tribulation, and yet you feel so dry and dead, no feelings, no morsel of fellowship for a long time, and then one comes along boasting of their many works and the causes they are promoting. Don’t envy them, don’t measure your life by theirs, and don’t let their activity place you under condemnation because you aren’t engaged as they. Many a star falls out of its place and blazes across the sky in a spectacular display, but it burns itself out, and plunges into darkness. God is bringing forth developed disciples that will qualify to share His throne, which will abide in the place He appoints for them, to rule in righteousness.

“What shall one then answer the messengers of the nation? That the Lord hath founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall trust in it (betake themselves unto it).” (Isaiah 14:32)

Tell me, what’s going on these days? Is anything happening? What is God’s move for this hour? THE LORD IS FOUNDING ZION! Take a heavenly tour and walk about Zion and count, inspect, look over His new creation. God is raising up PILLARS in the midst of the land, His elect, and they KNOW IN WHOM THEY HAVE BELIEVED. They are willing to be ‘placed’ by God, and there to abide. Let the nations rage, let the people imagine a vain thing. Let the storms blow, and let the darkness cover the earth. They are unafraid because they KNOW HIM. They are upheld by His mighty hand, and they shall become a beacon of light to those who stumble in darkness. When men’s hearts fail them for fear, these shall remain calm, cool, and collected, ready to give an encouraging word to him that is weary. These processed saints have been so disciplined by the Lord that they are not easily disturbed by the pressures without. Thus, God shall have His strong ones in the midst of the land, and the poor shall be able to take themselves unto these FOUNDED ONES, to find safety, security, and help.

We have become ‘a nation on wheels’, driven by a restless spirit, searching everywhere for they know not what. Buried deep in the bosom of every Israelite is that call of God which says, “we have here no continuing city”, and with Abraham we “look for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”, (Heb. 11:10). Men do not know this is what they seek, but their very restlessness is an evident token that they are not inwardly at home, at rest, at peace. Not until we find ourselves again contained in the fullness of the will of God, conformed to His image, filled with His Spirit, do we find a satisfaction and an inner quietness. God’s elect, His Zion, is being brought into this place of stability and victory in Him.