God wants, by the power of the Spirit, to reveal to us our position in Christ. We see that Jesus foreshadowed blessings that were to come. Most of His ministry was a type of what the believer is to enter into. Let us see what God had in mind to do for us through His Son:
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed [”ordained,” KJV] you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. (John 15:16)
Oh, to realize the fact of ordination! What will bring it–will we stand before God? He wants us to be right up-to-date in everything, and the Spirit of the Lord will be able to bring before our minds what the mind of the Spirit is concerning us, so that we may step into all privileges.
God wants a strong people. Remember the charge God gave Joshua. First He said, “Be full of courage; be neither dismayed nor discouraged,” and then He gave him the charge. (See Joshua 1:6-9; 8:1.) If God forecasts anything for you, He will give the power to carry it through. So, after God had given Joshua the word, He said, “Now it will depend upon your living day and night meditating on the Word of God.” (See Joshua 1:7-8.) As you come into this blessed state of holy reverence for the Word of God, it will build you up also, and make you strong.
“Then you will have good success” (v. 8). God told Joshua that, in this state of grace, whenever he put his foot forward, he was not to let it slide back but to have the other foot ready to go forward. The Devil brings back to people’s minds things that they did so long ago, and there they are, thinking about them day and night! There are two things that are certain, and there is a third thing that is more valuable than either of the first two. One is that the Devil doesn’t let you forget your sins; the second is that you never forget them; and the third is that God has forgotten them. The question is whether we are going to believe God, the Devil, or ourselves. God says that our sins are passed, cleansed, gone! You cannot go on with God until you stand on His Word as cleansed, with your heart made pure. Standing on this blessed Rock, you can step forward and make inroads into the Devil’s camp, overthrow all his tactics, and bring desolation to his power as you realize that your sins are forgiven and finished with.
God has ordained us. But people allow Satan to say to them, “Yes but that was only the disciples’ order.” I tell you, beloved, that God’s order is for the church. What He said to the disciples, He says to us. If we can believe, God has ordained by the Holy Spirit to fill us and clothe us until we know we are the chosen of God, precious in His sight to carry the vessels of the Lord (Isa. 52:11); ans we are not only to be coworkers with Him, but also to “arise to [our] inheritance” (Dan. 12:13), dividing the powers of Satan.
This salvation is too big and too great for any mind to take in. It is only the flash of eternity, the divine light of heaven, the Spirit of the living God with His infinite mind that can flash into the caverns of the human soul until we see the whole heaven and are changed by His power so that there is not a weak point, not an unbelieving attitude, because the Word has so changed us that we are a perfect pattern of the new covenant of Christ.
The ordination can be finished, but there still may be lack of power. The credentials are all right, but the power is not there. Jesus said, “I have ordained you; I have chosen you ‘that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you’ (John 15:16).” I believe that God wants us to know that our fruit has to remain. Beloved, we should recognize that our prayers are in vain unless we really expect what we ask to be granted to us. (See James 1:5-7.)
“The word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” (Heb 4:2); but may God give us the word of faith, and then you will know for a fact that there is a great change in you. Even the preacher himself will be changed as he reads and preaches the Word. The Word quickens the preacher, the hearer, and everybody. The Word gives life, and God wants there to be such life in you that will be moved as it is preached. Oh it is lovely to think that God can change things in a moment, and can heal in a moment. When God begins, who can hinder Him?
Sometimes a thing comes before me, and I realize that nothing but the Word of God can meet this need. I meet classes of people–even people who have no faith–and I find that the Word of God quickens them, even those who have no knowledge of salvation. You often notice billboards with advertisements that would make it appear as if the thing advertised could cure everything. Oh the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ does cure everything!
–Smith Wigglesworth, On the Anointing, 95 - 98.
