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“Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. (I Corinthians 14:20)

Totally unexpected, while walking across the room one morning, the Spirit spoke these words within me, “with malice toward none.” What challenge lies therein! The Dictionary defines the word “malice” as enmity of heart, ill will. The Greek word here is “kakia” meaning evil, badness.

If every expression that proceeded from our being were pure, holy, and governed by love, obviously there would be no malice. It is hard for the natural mind to conceive of such a state of being, for the flesh seeks to protect itself, and generates an ill feeling towards anyone or anything which would affect it adversely. “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,” (I Peter 2:1). It takes a mighty inworking of the grace of God so that all of our actions are totally without any ill feeling towards another!

Study the emotions that stir us to action. When we are of a benevolent disposition, we tolerantly let a lot of things “slide by”, but when our disposition changes, and we have an ill feeling, we strike out in self-defense. Purgings are needed until we are made “pure, as He is pure”.

O flesh so arrogant and proud,
Self-centered ways that clamor loud,
Your days are numbered, fading fast,
Your vaunted image cannot last.

The cross shall deal its deathly blow,
Humiliation lay thee low,
Till Christ alone shall be revealed,
The inner man, so long concealed.

And then true grace and mercy give,
Forgiveness births a hope to live,
With neither malice nor ill will,
But joy and peace the earth to fill.

“Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not” (II Corinthians 4:1).

Note the words “faint not”, from the Greek, meaning: to turn out badly, or cave in. True, there are days when one feels like they are going to cave in, and what keeps us from it? Because we have RECEIVED MERCY. We realize that “greater is He within us” than all of the outside pressure. We are “God’s husbandry, we are God’s building” (I Cor. 3:9). He will maintain a proper balance of the exterior and the interior. He does not overload the circuits so that we explode and cannot contain the measures of His love and grace, nor does He short-circuit the power so that we do not have enough to face the need of the day. He is our sufficiency all the way!

Whatever the ministry, whatever the service He has called us to, He has also given us mercy which undergirds and is equal to the task, yes, and MUCH MORE. The Psalmist knew this well, and stated, “all my springs are in Thee” (Ps. 87:7). Therefore, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations” (Ps. 89:1).

“We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (II Cor. 6:7). No need to despise the earthiness of the vessel. He chose it to place His treasure therein. No need to try and exalt the earthen vessel, it has nothing of itself wherein to boast. But we can rejoice in the mercies of the Lord, the grace of God given to us through His kindness, and the power, which abides within to sustain us. “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in Him” (Lam. 3:22-24). “O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good; for His mercy endureth forever” (Psalms 136:1).

“Mercy there was great, and grace was free,
…there my burdened soul found liberty, at Calvary.”

“I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (Psalm 16:8)

Obviously, Jesus walked with a continual God-consciousness. A relationship that was a dominant factor in His life. “I and My Father are ONE.” (John 10:30) “Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I know that Thou hearest Me always…” (John 11:41-42). His inner-consciousness was His oneness with His Father, and while He might also become aware of outside conditions, the needs of the people, even to casting out demons, this did not take away from His inner consciousness of oneness with His Father’s will and purpose at all times.

Now, what about us? What is our inner-consciousness? You cannot be God-conscious and devil-conscious at the same time. Fear is a negative emotion. Worry is a negative emotion. Doubt and unbelief are negatives. When these abide in us they become a fertile field for devil-consciousness to develop. We become more than just aware of the enemy, it is an inner disquietedness. We then are prone to lash out at every shadow, and begin to think that every situation is Satan-controlled, and we forget that GOD IS IN CONTROL.

The challenge remains, “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind… neither give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:23, 27). The mind is the area where the adversary would seek to gain his toehold in our temple. So Paul instructed, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, think on these things” (Phil. 4:8). When the mind is filled with a Christ-consciousness there is no ‘place’ therein for the devil.

It was the Psalmist’s determination to have the Lord “Always before me.” Conscious that even “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:for Thou art with me.” (Ps. 23:4).

Inwardly conscious that Christ is our King,
And He controls all our pathway would bring.

“And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” (Col. 1:17)

Consist – from the Greek word “sunistemi” meaning:to unite, bring together, and then be held together.

Our Lord, in His creative activity, has brought all things together in harmonious unity, with the result that they cohere. Even in our chaotic state of seeming disorganized confusion, HE CONTINUES TO “work out all things after the counsel of His own will,” (Eph. 1:11), and it is impossible for things to utterly fall apart. There may be times when individually, in our personal situation and circumstance, the bottom seems to have fallen out, and everything is at loose ends, and appears to be thoroughly disjointed. Yet because “IN HIM we live, and move, and have our being,” (Acts 17:29), as we learn to “stand still and see the salvation of the Lord,” we find it does not totally disintegrate. Out of the bleak and barren, out of the rhymeless rhyme, out of the seeming nothingness He births another time, a time of life and victory, and we see that He truly does have it “all together.”

The loose ends, that to us appear miles apart, are held together in HIS hands, and He is in control of all things, steadily working out His plan of the ages. Ultimately all shall redound to His praise. “Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” (Col. 1:20). In us there may yet remain much confusion, turmoil, enmity – but IN HIM it is all reconciled, and now He is working in us to bring us to this same state of total triumph, perfect peace and harmony. Ere time has run its course, we shall see how truly BY HIM ALL THINS CONSIST, have been placed and held together.

It remains, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.” For “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” (1 Cor. 10:26). HE IS WITH US, in absolute control of our circumstances, to work it all together into our good, and for His praise. Because He holds us together, we can daily overcome!

“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations (ministries, services), but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.” (1 Cor. 12:4-6)

The Greek word translated as “operations” is “energeia” from which we get our English word “energy,” and it literally means an INWORKING.

There are many aspects and divisions of these Divine operations, but it is the SAME GOD which worketh all in all. No matter how diversified it may be, each individual with circumstances and situations peculiar to his own need and development and processing, nevertheless, it is the SAME GOD which is working it all together after the counsel of His own will, it will be to our good, and it will be to His praise.

Christendom’s theology appears to have two Gods working:God inworking the good, and the Devil working the bad things. With this duality in their consciousness they are in a constant state of confusion as to which Force is in control of their situation at any given time. Not until our eye is single unto the Lord, to know that HE IS SOVEREIGNLY IN CONTROL of the interplay of good and evil, do we begin to find a stability and confidence, and rest in the Lord, to “hold our peace” until He has finished His work, and we see how much it is truly GOD ALL THE WAY. The same God working all in all.

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He have executed, and until He have performed the thoughts of His heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.” (Jer. 23:20).

The anger of the Lord – literally, the energy forces of God set in motion, reaching out to accomplish a purpose, to restore to rightness again. He uses His judgments, His disciplines, His corrections, with a view of bringing forth a state of righteousness. The end result is of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” And He INWORKS all things until that goal shall be consummated. What a mighty God we serve.

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building.” (Heb. 9:11)

Not of this building – the Greek word for “building” is “ktisis” in all other cases translated as creature or reaction. There is a greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not of this Adamic, earthy creation.

“But I say unto you, That in this place is One greater than the temple,” (Matt. 12:6). For the Lord of the temple was in their midst, and they knew Him not. He offered a way of LIFE, a life in the Spirit which superceded all the ordinances and rituals of their systems of worship.

Greater – Greek, “meizon” from the root “megas,” a million times. This denotes the tremendous superiority of the “greater and more perfect tabernacle.” Just as the figure of speech would say it is a million times better. One cannot even make a comparison between the first order and the second, for one is of the flesh, earth, and the other is of the Spirit, heavenly.

More perfect – “teleios,” ended, brought to the full, complete. It is also the word that is used in Matt. 5:48, “be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” It is perfection that is required for the whole man, for “I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless.”(1 Thess. 5:23).

2 Peter 1:14 says, “I must put off my tabernacle.” Not only must all of the flesh works, observances, rituals, forms, ceremonies have to go, but even the body itself, this first tabernacle must give way for a new, a greater, a more perfect tabernacle. “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, age-during in the heavens.” (2 Cor. 5:1).

“Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.” (Phil. 3:21). His body is the blueprint, the form and substance, the greater and more perfect, into which we are thus to be changed . To be “in Christ, a new creature (building).” (2 Cor. 5:17).

“I tell you, in that night there shall be two in one bed; one shall be taken, and the other left. Two shall be grinding together; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” (Luke 17:34-36)

The positive and the negative are both unfolding in this hour. With a positive application we find that though there shall be “two resting in the same place same church home, same doctrinal blanket covering them, yet one is taken out, called forth unto Him without the Camp, to bear His reproach, being conformed to His own image, while the other one is left to sleep on yet awhile. Two are grinding at the mill, grinding out the programs and ceremonies of the flesh, when suddenly the eyes of one are opened, they see the emptiness of it all, and are led forth by the Spirit to lay hold of pure reality, and yet the other one is left to grind on in blind obedience to the religious institutional systems. Two are out in the field, labouring hard, and God lays hold of one, sets him aside for spiritual development, while the other is left to toil on building the kingdoms of men.

It appears that the negative application is more literal and natural in fulfillment, while the positive application as presented is a spiritual fulfillment. Of the natural we read that when the earth is to be reaped, God gathers “first the tares.” (Matt.13:30). Binding them in bundles to be burned. Then He gathers His wheat into His garner.

In the positive, spiritual application, His remnant is now being drawn out first – firstfruits of the new creation order. Thus, there is depth on depth of meaning in the Scriptures, as the Spirit quickens our understanding. One is taken, the other is left. What is the deciding factor as to who is to be called out, to move into a new realm with God, while the other remains in that spirit of slumber and blindness? Is this not an election of God? A divine choosing according to His grace! O, take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. ‘Draw me, we will run after Thee.” (Song of Solomon 1:4).

“Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby Thou didst confirm Thine inheritance, when it was weary.” (Psalm 68:9)

When we read the challenge – “If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?” (Jeremiah 12:5), then we really wonder, are we able to follow onward, and come through all of the increasing pressure and tension of these times? Will we survive the dealings of God, and become His inheritance? If it means “by our own strength,” the answer is, “No, we cannot make it.” But when we remember that we are GOD’s HANDIWORK, and that He will refresh us when we are weary, then we commit ourselves to His keeping, and know His abiding peace.

He has, He does, and He will confirm His inheritance. The word “confirm” is the Hebrew word “hun” which is literally threefold in its meaning: to be formed, prepared, established. All of the formation is His. All of the establishing is His. Yes, the inheritance is HIS. And Paul prayed that “the eyes of our understanding being enlightened: that we may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of HIS INHERITANCE in the saints.” (Ephesians 1:18).

Of the being weary, we need not comment, for this experience comes to us all, but of the refreshings which He imparts, in that we rejoice and would hold before us. For “He that stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).

Confirmations come in many ways, an inner quickening, a word from a friend, a dream in the night, a word that leaps from the page as we read His Word. It matters not the ways and means that are used, the joy is He knows just when we need that encouragement, and He will refresh and strengthen, until we are fully established in Him. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” (Psalms 1:38:8).

“In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: God also hath set the one over against the other, to the end that man should find nothing after him.” (Eccl. 7:14)

“In the days of prosperity be joyful.” The Hebrew word for “prosperity” is “tob” meaning GOOD, as in contradistinction to that which is evil, adverse. We praise the Lord when all goes well, pressures lessen, times of refreshing come our way. Our vision soars out into the expanses beyond, contemplating the vastness of His purpose of the ages, and ultimate victory in the hope set before us. There is the feeling of a surge of spiritual vitality, so that we could declare, “For by Thee I have run through a troop; and by my god have I leaped over a wall.” (Ps. 18:29).

Then comes “in the day of adversity.” Suddenly conditions turn, going in a contrary direction, acting against us, with distress, when we are more limping than running, and crawling instead of climbing over the wall. It is then we are admonished to “CONSIDER.” Consider that God hath set the one over against the other. He soverignly controls the interplay of good and evil, prosperity and adversity. And all this, “to the end that man should find nothing after him.” Just about the time we get everything figured out, prosperity has broadened our vision and we think we know what direction it all is going, God veils it all over with times of adversity, when we follow on just one day at a time, not knowing what the morrow will bring forth.

It still remains that our challenge is for DAILY OVERCOMING! It is through the travail, as God sets the one over against the other, prosperity and adversity, with our actions and re-actions, which will bespeak the degree of our development, and how we qualify. “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” (Prov. 24:10). “But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” (Dan. 11:32). With a positive attitude we shall day by day gain the victory.