Now I just love that word adjustment. Adjustment. I know it is uncomfortable and disconcerting to have the sense that everything you thought you knew is wrong (or at best, incomplete), and God shows you a different way, a more excellent way, and usually that “way” is not a way that you would have chosen or come to on your own. It is not a process that anyone particularly enjoys going through.
Even so, we are all in need of a major adjustment. I have a saying that has served me well through the years, and I’d like to share it with you now: the purpose of revelation is not to SUBSTANTIATE your illusions, but to ELIMINATE them. Do not seek confirmation from God as to your thoughts and your perception of things, but seek instead to be disillusioned; seek to be rid of all your illusions about God, all your misperceptions and misconceptions about Who He is and what He is doing. Seek to know Him and His Will no matter how contrary it seems to everything you have heard and learned and experienced up to this point.
The Bible calls us to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus; and this growth is only possible through revelation. With this revelation comes adjustment, and that adjustment is continuous and it is ongoing, until we are perfectly and completely aligned with God’s heart and mind, His purpose, His Will, and His Kingdom.
Repentance, in its truest sense, is an adjustment of the heart, an adjustment of the mind, the thoughts, and the attitudes of the soul; and this leads (or should lead), to an adjustment in terms of things we used to do that we no longer do, or things we have not been doing that we begin to do. It is a revelation of something that leads to a change of heart, which causes a change of mind, which results in a change of behavior and must result in a change of direction. That is repentance. Not this crying of tears and making of resolutions, only to go out and do the same things over and over again. But repentance is an utter adjustment to God – an adjustment to His Purpose, His mind, His heart, His will.
Because, you understand, that God will never – and has never – adjusted Himself to us. That is to say, that God will never settle for something less than His full thought, His full intention. He is after something, and He will never compromise Himself or lower His expectation to better suit our wishes. Obviously God’s Kingdom and God’s Will is not going to be centered around what we want, or what we expect. And that is why we pray, “Your Kingdom come, and Your Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” I have found it is impossible to pray this every day, and make this the focus of your prayer life, and still expect things to go according to your own will. It’s just not possible. Prayer is adjustment, and if you are not adjusted through prayer then you haven’t really prayed.
“Not my will but Your will be done” – that is the ultimate in adjustment. Even Jesus found Himself in an agonizing situation where He found it necessary to utter these words to God in prayer: “Not My will but Your will be done”. I have never once heard the Lord say to me, “Well Chip, I hadn’t thought about that. You make a good point. Now that you bring it up, your way does sound better after all! I’m going to adjust Myself to your will.” Never once has He done that, and I know Him well enough by now to say unequivocally that He will never adjust Himself to suit my expectation and He will never adjust Himself or adjust His eternal purpose to suit you or your expectation either. Instead, He will constantly challenge us to deny our own will, and our own thoughts, and our own perceived wishes and wants and needs and to be adjusted to Him; to leave our ground altogether and come onto His ground.
Now, if you have ever experienced this adjustment from the Lord, then you know that it is a continual process. You and I are in constant need of being adjusted to God. We tend to be double-minded and unstable. Our scattered thoughts are often troubled and conflicted. Our foolish hearts are filled with self-centeredness and self-seeking.
Even in our holiest moments, when we think we are really pursuing God and really doing His will, so many times we are really pursuing our own agenda and it just so happens that what I want, and what I think God wants, are the same thing! But you know, that can be so deceptive. Is there a single Christian on the face of the earth that doesn’t believe, truly believe, that the thing they are doing is God’s will? Would you ever intentionally do something that you knew was not God’s will? Well if you did you would know it was sin, but I’m referring to the many good things that we do and in particular I’m speaking to those of us who feel called of God into some kind of ministry capacity.
Is there a single person pursuing their ministry who does not believe one hundred percent that this is God’s will for them? Well, the thought never crosses their minds, “God called me and this is the thing I am pursuing for Him.” Now, I’ve done it, many of you have done it, and may I say that puts us in a very precarious position. It puts us in a place where we are so sure, so positive, so certain that we are doing the right thing, that we are no longer adjustable.
The work of the Lord becomes more important to us than the Lord of the work. And some people cannot even tell the difference between the two; to them, the work of the Lord and the Lord of the work is one and the same thing. Well, I am saying that there is a difference between the two; between the work of the Lord and the Lord of the work. And I have to confess that I have spent most of my life, since the time I was twelve years old, pursuing this thing called “the ministry”.
God began to radically adjust me over ten years ago and that adjustment was so severe, so penetrating, that I was forced out of the denomination I had been a part of for sixteen years. You’ve probably read or heard my testimony before; I’m not going to bore you with it again now. The point is that God began a process of adjustment in us and that process is on-going. It is continual. But you have to be open to that process of adjustment – and so few people are. They cannot and will not be adjusted by me, by God, by anyone else. Maybe they are called, maybe they are gifted, but the very thing that God calls them to, the very thing that they are gifted in, becomes a snare to them. It becomes a trap. It becomes a distraction from Jesus.
Now, how many people do I have to bring up from the Bible to get you to see this? You can look at Abraham. There is the son of promise, Isaac, and in Isaac rests everything God has called Abraham to do and to be. And then God tells Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, “Yes, you heard Me correctly: give him up. Give him back to Me.” And the argument, of course, would go along these lines: “Well God, you gave me this son, this son is a miracle! This son represents Your covenant and Your promise and everything is riding on Isaac. Now You say ‘Sacrifice Isaac to Me as a burnt offering.’ It doesn’t make sense! This can’t be You! How could You do this to me?” Now Abraham didn’t say a word, he just began to carry out the instructions, but if he was a human being he certainly had thoughts along these lines. Is there anyone listening to me now that would not question God’s will if it called for you to give up your only child or any of your children? Are you so pious and spiritual that you would accept it without question and begin to carry it out? No, you would question it and so would I! And it’s very doubtful that we would do it.
But what is the principle? That the very thing that God calls you to, the very thing He gives you, can become a snare. I don’t know one man in ten thousand, myself included, that would do what Abraham was called to do. What is the application to you and to me? That God demands we give up the thing we love most. The thing we love most, even if it is a good thing, even if it is something He gave to us, can become an idol if we permit it. And that is the sad legacy and tragedy of many churches, ministries, works done for God. They will all be burned up and revealed as nothing but straw.
Now there’s nothing wrong with Isaac. Isaac was good, faithful, obedient – the joy of his father’s heart. And in the same way there is nothing wrong with the call of God and the gift of God; nothing wrong with having a ministry if it is a true expression of Christ. It has nothing to do with the ministry, it has everything to do with the minister. The message may even be a good message but often the messenger leaves so much to be desired. The prophecy may be technically correct, but the prophet, the person, is absolutely out of order.
I experienced this a few weeks ago, “Brother Chip, read my prophecy, tell me what you think.” Well, that is a dangerous thing to ask me to do, especially when you aren’t really looking for the truth. I would rather not tell you what I think about anything because more times than not, that will be the end of a friendship. But she said, “Brother Chip, read my prophecy and tell me what you think.” I didn’t know her very well so I said, “Okay, I’ll read it and I’ll tell you what I think.” And the Spirit of the Lord gave me discernment. Not only did I see it the way He saw it, I knew that this person would not accept my counsel. And actually that made it easier for me, I knew then I could just tell her the truth, she could reject it and we could go our separate ways. So here’s what I said. I said: “The prophecy is technically correct. The Scriptures are in order. There’s nothing wrong with the prophecy; nothing wrong with the word per se, but there is much that is lacking in the prophet.” And I went through step by step and gave her three or four areas that were out of order in her life: the way she was going about her idea of ministry; her religious spirit; her hypocrisy; all of that. See, I didn’t deal with the word, I dealt with the person giving the word. And predictably, she rejected all my counsel, called me a lot of ugly names, and in doing so she fulfilled everything I had spoken over her and didn’t even realize it. Well, she got more than she bargained for, didn’t she? I think she could have handled my criticism of her word but she could not handle any kind of adjustment upon her heart, her mind, or her actions.
Now maybe you can understand why I do not speak in churches any more, and hardly ever speak to homegroups any more. That is the kind of penetrating adjustment that few people are willing to submit themselves to. They will offer God anything except what He asks them for. They will protect Isaac with their last breath if necessary, rather than sacrifice him. Isn’t that the natural instinct? “Well, this is the promise of God! This represents a ministry that will bless the nations. We’ve been meeting in homes for twenty-five years or this church is one hundred years old and God forbid that we would ever sacrifice it or let it go or even question its existence. Our whole life has been poured out to bring us to this place and now we have what God has promised and you’re saying that we have to give it up. Well we will not give it up. We will not sacrifice Isaac.” And at that moment it dies. Why? Because it no longer has the mark of the Cross upon it.
The mark of the Cross means we willingly sacrifice whatever God requires of us and we trust Him to raise it from the dead in a time and season of His choosing, or, to resurrect something else, something better in its place. And if you read the story of Abraham you see that is exactly what happened. He gave Isaac back to God and God renewed His covenant with Abraham and gave Isaac back to him. Well, if you know anything about the principle of the Cross then you can easily see the lesson here with Abraham and if not, then I pray God will open your eyes to the truth. “Unless a corn of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, if it dies, if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.” Where does the fruitfulness come from? It comes from the dying, the laying down of Self.
God brings life out of death and to get us onto resurrection ground He must take us through the work of the Cross. Never mind your ministry, or your gifts, or your calling, if the mark of the Cross is not on your life, on your very being, then everything you do is tainted with Self. It isn’t pure. There is a mixture. And those of us who are being dealt with along these lines can easily see that impurity in other people. Why? Because God is constantly dealing with that impurity in ourselves.
Well, take a look at Moses. If ever there was someone called and gifted of God, it was Moses! But here’s what you need to understand; hear what I’m saying: the gifts and callings of God are not the issue. The issue is the one who is gifted and called. Can this person be adjusted to God or will they expect everyone and everything else, including God, to be adjusted to them? Will they submit to the Cross or will they tenaciously cling to their self life? Finding gifted brothers and sisters, finding called brothers and sisters is not that difficult. The difficult thing is finding crucified brothers and sisters; people who have accepted that principle of the Cross and have died to their own way.
Moses had God’s gifts. Moses had God’s calling. But he wanted to go about things in his own way. So you see, there was an impurity there. So many are gifted and called, but that does not qualify a person. I would rather see a plain, ordinary person with no discernible gifts and no sense of extraordinary call, but they are broken! They can be adjusted. God can use someone like that; He can do something with someone like that. But called and gifted people have to be broken first before they can be used. You don’t like it, I don’t like it, but there it is in the Word of God.
Moses acted in the strength of his personality. He was true to his gift and true to his calling but God said, “That is not enough. Your gift and your calling is not enough. You need some time in the desert. You’ve been living as a prince of Egypt for so long and you’ve got to stop thinking and behaving like an Egyptian if you want your gift and calling to find its purest expression. The desert will provide you with that adjustment you so desperately need. I want you to know I’m in no hurry. I will not be rushed. I will not work along the lines of your schedule and your timeframe, Moses. Ten years, twenty years, forty years – it makes no difference to Me. I want something from you, and I’m not going to rest until My purpose comes to maturity in you. Then, and only then, can I send you forth as a deliverer of My people, as someone who is not just called but chosen!”
Well, Moses fled Egypt and he had nowhere to go except the wilderness. It was not something he would have chosen for himself. He had to be driven away. And it was all part of the sovereign dealings of God with him. It was very severe. It was very penetrating. And it was very revealing. Moses had a lot of garbage to get rid of. He had a lot of unlearning to do. He spent forty years hidden away in the desert working as a shepherd. In today’s society it would be like saying he was a garbage collector for forty years. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s certainly not glamorous. It’s honest work, but it’s not glamorous. It’s hot, dirty, smelly work, and it’s work most people don’t want to do – especially people who feel called to the ministry, it’s something that they would look down upon. They want a position in a church some place! That’s their training; carry the pastor’s Bible around or do something important! Preach a couple of sermons. See? They haven’t been to the desert. They haven’t spent any time in the wilderness. There’s no death, burial and resurrection operating in their life; still seeking something for them, thinking the whole time that they are really seeking what God wants. And it’s very difficult for someone like that to be adjusted to Something and to Someone other than their preconceived ideas of what the ministry consists of.
The ironic thing is that Moses would turn out to be the greatest prophet in the Old Testament but Moses had to be adjusted first and at the end of those forty years in the desert he was saying “Lord, I can’t speak. Please send somebody else.” And that’s the kind of person that God can use. Forty years of building up, forty years of tearing down and now after eighty years he was broken, and humble, and meek, and pliable, and flexible, and adjustable. That’s the kind of person God can use, someone who does not seek the things but is content to just be hidden. God can trust someone like that. But it never fails that the ones who are so often pushing themselves to the front, wanting to speak, are the ones who don’t have anything worth saying and don’t have anything worth listening to. They’ll crawl halfway around the world to preach a sermon, but they won’t walk across the street to listen to one. There’s no deep secret history with God in the desert. They just have a lust for preaching, or a lust for pastoring, or a lust for being in charge of something. Do you think God is going to endorse that carnal lust for spiritual things? Does that represent the spirit, character and nature of the Lord Jesus?
Jesus says, “That which is of the flesh, is flesh”. And the truth is that many will come to Jesus in that day and say, “Lord, Lord, we did all these things for You” and He will judge all those works as fleshly, carnal, self-serving and self-seeking works. He calls them “workers of iniquity” yet they all call Him Lord! And they are all very busy; out doing things that most ministries do – prophesying in the name of Jesus, casting out demons in the name of Jesus, working miracles in the name of Jesus – if that isn’t ministry then what is it? Isn’t that what Christians so eagerly seek? Prophetic words, power, signs and wonders… isn’t that what we get all excited about? So why isn’t Jesus impressed with that? The bottom line is the work of the Lord became more important than the Lord of the work. “I never knew you” He says, and the point of that is there is no abiding relationship with Jesus. No intimacy. No communion. No prayer life. No seeking the Scriptures. No seeking His will or His kingdom – only a carnal seeking for themselves and for their so-called “ministries”. It doesn’t stop them from doing works in His name, but if those works do not lead anyone into a deeper knowing of Christ, then in God’s estimation they are workers of iniquity, because you cannot lead anyone else to a place that you have never been to yourself.
Well, it’s something to think about and I’m not suggesting that I am perfectly adjusted to God’s purpose and intention as it relates to true spiritual ministry. I still need that adjustment on a daily basis. But I apologize to Him and I apologize to you for those times when I have failed to represent Him properly. I have repented of that and I will continue to seek His face and His will until I am perfectly adjusted to Him in every respect. The truth is, I am not a pastor. I am not someone who can bring you a message every week. I am not a theologian who can untangle all the doctrinal nuances, and unravel all the different opinions and questions people have along the lines of theology or doctrine. I am a watchman first, and a teacher second. And I can only speak what God gives me to say, when He gives it to me.
The idea of having a daily word or a weekly webcast or a monthly teaching is good, and it’s noble, but truthfully I think it reflects back upon a pastoral mindset that God has not called me to. It’s like I’m afraid if I don’t keep putting something out there then somebody’s going to slip away; slip away from God or slip away from me I don’t know which, but either way, I’m not responsible for your spiritual growth and development. I am responsible to point you to Christ and to proclaim God’s eternal counsels and purposes concerning His Son, and to be an instrument of adjustment in your life. That is the public side of this ministry.
The private side, the hidden side, is to minister to the Lord with prayer. Period. I’m called to be with Jesus. That’s my calling. My gift is Christ Himself. He is my Gift. That is what I want to be reduced to.
Now all these other activities have their place but those activities are not Christ, and those activities can very well take the place of Christ if we are not careful. I think if you sum it all up, I sense the absolute necessity for me – and for you, because we’re just the same – we need to be governed by the Holy Spirit. That is the key: governed by the Holy Spirit. Now that answers all the questions about what to do, where to go, what to say, when to do this thing or that thing, or if to do this thing or that thing. It is not a question of schedule or time, or the demands and expectations of other people. If that is what I am to be governed by, then I may as well take a church someplace, announce my sermon a week in advance and follow a predictable path. But that, in my opinion, is not what it means to be governed by the Holy Spirit.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is one thing. But being governed by the Holy Spirit is something else.
I have been filled with the Holy Spirit for most of my life. I can point to a day and a time when I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts that accompany that Spirit baptism. That does not mean that I have always been governed by that indwelling Spirit. Now how about you? You may be filled with the Spirit but you may not be governed by the Spirit, and that explains why charismatic people, prophetic people, are some of the most carnal people you will ever meet in your life.
The Bible says we must be continually filled with the Spirit. Paul says, “Be not drunk with wine but be filled with the Spirit”. And that word “be filled” is a verb of continual action in the Greek. It means to continuously be filled, be being filled, or be continuously filled. Same thing with eating or drinking Christ: “He who continues to eat My flesh and continues to drink My blood will have Life” He says. This isn’t a matter of having some kind of an experience at the altar or some kind of supposed manifestation of God’s presence in your flesh. It is a matter of continuous living and abiding and dwelling and continuing in Christ moment by moment. And if you will come under the government of the Holy Spirit, He will bring you back around to this principle of abiding in Christ and accepting the work of the Cross over, and over and over again. That is the path the Holy Spirit brings you back to.
Now that is the direction of the Spirit and He will work with you a good long while towards that end, but if you continually refuse that government, then the Spirit is grieved and will eventually depart. And I think that accounts for those multitudes of people who call Jesus “Lord” and do things in His name but don’t really know Who He is. If your only evidence of a Spirit-filled life is something you experienced back in 1968 in a camp meeting someplace then something is seriously wrong. A Spirit-filled person is either under the government of the Holy Spirit or is moving towards that government. Standing still or going back is not an option. Be continuously filled with the Spirit. And you can believe whatever you like about works but the bottom line is the fruit of the Spirit or the lack thereof, demonstrates whether we really are who we say we are.
Jesus said a good tree does not produce bad fruit and a bad tree does not produce good fruit and it’s by the fruit that you will know them, not by their leaves. Good or bad, for better or for worse, you’re going to produce something. So the question is not if you will produce fruit, but what kind of fruit you will produce.
So, as we place ourselves beneath the government of the Holy Spirit, it means we will try to go to some places just like the apostles did, but the Spirit will not permit it. Or, we will try to remain silent or stay in one place and be hidden, but the Spirit will compel us to say something or to take action. Or, we may seek to avoid certain people or places or things, but the Spirit will say, “Go here, and doubt nothing because I am sending you.” And He doesn’t always send you into something that looks successful! It may look like a failure. Crucifixions never look successful on the outside. But see, this is something totally different from setting some goals for yourself and saying you want to do such-and-such by such-and-such a date and you’ll go here and there and do this and that; you don’t see that in the Bible. You see them increasingly coming under the government of the Holy Spirit. And they soon learned that to obey the Spirit means Life and Peace, if not outwardly, inwardly. As long as He is doing it and He is initiating it, all is well. But the moment we lay our hand to it, we defile it. Time and time again.
So for me, that means we may, or may not, have a daily message, or a weekly webcast, or twice monthly meetings in our home, or any more workshops, or gatherings or conferences. I’m not concerned for those things any more. I am only occupied with this one thing: whether I go or stay, whether I speak or remain silent, whether I write something every day or never write anything again, whether I appear to be active or appear to be inactive, am I being governed by the Holy Spirit? Because that is the only real basis of spiritual ministry.
Now, if this concerns you at all and bears witness to your heart, you may be asking yourself: How do I know the difference? How do I know if I am led of the Spirit or led of my own self-centered nature? Well, don’t ask me, because I can’t tell you. I can’t give you the answer to that. I would play it safe and assume that I am probably more selfish than spiritual, but you’ll have to do the same thing I have to do: get before God and ask Him to search you and reveal it to you.
When you get into those hard to discern places, you are compelled to get before God and search it out and that’s how you learn. That’s part of your growth. I’ve identified a condition in Christians that I call ‘Spiritual Googleism’. Spiritual Googleism! And this means instead of getting before God, and humbling ourselves and getting answers from the Throne, we hop on the Internet, Google our problem, and try to get answers that way. Well it’s quick, it’s convenient, it’s fast and you’ll definitely get something, but I believe that offends the Spirit of the living God. Why? Because He wants you to come to Him and learn of Him and it takes time and it takes patience and that’s why most people don’t do it and that’s why most people, even for all of their searching and seeking after answers, they are still no further along than when they started. I’m not going to be led by Google, and I’m not going to be led by what Watchman Nee did, or what T. Austin-Sparks did. They served their generation well, but they’ve passed on. The issue is not “What did the Lord say to So-and-so?” That can only take us but so far. What does the Lord say to me, now? That is present truth that meets God’s need at this very moment.
I want to be continuously adjusted to God and continually governed by the Spirit of God. And in that way I can satisfy the heart of God. And it is beside the point whether or not that satisfies everyone else or even if it makes sense to everyone else. And so I invite you to join me in this journey, it begins with a willingness to be adjusted to God, embracing the principle of the Cross and being governed by the Holy Spirit. The end result is a purity that cannot be achieved through any carnal means.
I hope you will make this message and this word a matter of prayer.
I have been asking God to meet my wants and my desires to know him but I had been depending upon many other teachers, books, articles and have over 50 books in my audible library and recorded television ministry’s. I’m shutting down my Kindle and believing all recorded programs so that I can be taught by the Holy Spirit himself.
I’m eternally thankful to Jesus for leading me to find Him here, even working my restless/anxious “spiritual googleism” into finding HIM adjusting my original inquiry, resulting in yet another grateful redirection to HIS TRUE HEART AND MOST GLORIOUS MIND…the only search that always finds me in His pursuit of my permanent purification that occurs in the twinkling of HIS EYES, WHEN FINALLY MY FAITH EYES BEHOLD ONLY HIM, WHEREVER I LOOK…OUR BELOVED IS. HALLELUJAH ABBA…more than my words can express. WE CHERISH YOU LORD JESUS.
Oh my goodness, what an amazing word! Ouch, and yes.
Thank you for this straight forward word. I am in agreement with allowing the Lord to adjust us. This is a lifelong process saying yes to His Spirit.
Very well thought out. Thanks again.
It is always refreshing to hear a testimony of how God is gaining ground to manifest as we decrease and are brought to weakness. His ways are so much higher than our ways and past finding out.
Thanks Chip!
Thanks for being honest and real, Chip. It encourages me to seek God, His adjustments and be governed by His Spirit…increasing always.
Yes, yes, and yes. I don’t know what else to say.
WELL CHIP YOU HAVE HIT THE BUTTON RIGHT AT THE RIGHT TIME FOR ME. I AM IN A POSITION WHERE I NEED TO BE ADJUSTED FOR SURE AND I AM WAITING FOR FATHER TO POINT ME AS TO WHERE HE WANTS ME AND WHAT HE WANTS ME TO BE DOING.PEOPLE IN MY APARTMENT COMPLEX KEEP ASKING ME IF I AM GOING TO MOVE OR STAY AND ALL I CAN TELL THEM IS I DO NOT KNOW BUT I WILL DO WHATEVER HE DIRECTS ME TO DO.I FOR SURE NEED TO BE ADJUSTABLE TO HIS PROMPTING CAUSE MY DECISION MAKING IS NOT GOOD BUT I KNOW THAT HIS IS THE BEST,EVEN IF I DO NOT LIKE IT SOMETIMES.
Amen. Brother Chip this is sound teaching. It’s like you are speaking my language or l should say God’ s language. All the Glory be to The One who gave up His life for us… Amen
Thank you.
My sincere prayer is that the Holy Spirit should bring everything in us in obedience and alignment to Christ.
I would like to ask, At what point do we grieve the Holy Spirit and Quench the Holy Spirit? What are the implications?
yes very profound, deep penetrating. I will read and listen to this article multiple times. this is a huge portion of solid food, a full banquet. thank you..
Very profound. Thank you
This has given me so much to take before the Lord! It is what I surely need to do. I desire to please God and live according to His will. I have a way to go but by His grace and His Holy Spirit guiding me, I will be safe in my spirit along the Way.
And He doesn’t always send you into something that looks successful! It may look like a failure.
Wow … I have listened for so long that God is a good God and only good will happen to you. If things are going well, it’s the devil. I have for so long believed satan has had more power than God because of the things going on in my life.
Spiritual Googleism!
Forgive me Lord. This has been me. Not having the patience to sit and listen to what you want to tell me.
The woman you described with the prophetic “word” and carnal yucky heart….resembles the old me. Its difficult to admit, but I don’t personally know any of you and therefore feel safe to confess this. When I think about all the times I wanted to “run with the word”, speak a “word” over someone when God never told me to….too many times to recount. I got off on other people thinking I was “prophetic”, because we all know how we tend to gravitate towards someone like that. We want them to speak a word over us, because its too much effort to seek the Lord for ourselves. We prefer a personal prophet, right? It fed my need for acceptance. I may have spoken God’s truth at times, but my heart was nothing but the heart of a Pharisee. Oh my goodness..how this revelation from God, about who I REALLY was in the deep of deeps creeped me out at first. It was tough to handle the truth. Funny thing is, my unsaved family members saw right through it. They saw a self righteous person with no real God love. This all started when I asked God to show me the good, the bad and the ugly about myself. I did not know that what I was asking for was to be DECREASED and for Him to INCREASE. This Holy Spirit adjustment started happening after thinking I was a great believer for 23 years. I’m so grieved with all the ways I hurt the Holy Spirit by hurting and misleading others, all the ways I misrepresented my Lord. However….I’ve repented with Godly sorrow and laid down everything I thought to be true, everything some denomination taught me. The Holy Spirit has brought so much freedom, so much clarity. Other believers still think I’m not doing enough because I’m not out there attending a church, disciplining others, serving others in typical “church” ways. I have to fight against that guilt trip and go back to being led by the spirit. Moses was out in the desert for 40 years, for heaven’s sake..I’ve only been out for 2.5 yrs. This cannot be rushed. One time you said Chip that there are believers out there who are better off being “out”, just so they stop hurting people. Thank you for this word on Holy Spirit adjustment.
Thank you for this teaching. It helped to know that we don’t have to know what to teach people, but just lead them to the Holy Spirit who will be their teacher and stay focused on Jesus.
I liked the teaching on being governed by the Holy Spirit. I was filled with the Holy Spirit in a nondenominational faith church and by a Catholic priest laying hands on me in a Baptist convention center. I didn’t know anything about right or wrong. I was just in love with Jesus.
Several years later, I tried to do things the right way, using my carnal thinking, instead of being led by the Spirit. I apologized for speaking and said I would submit to a five-fold ministry pastor. Wrong…. The next morning I woke up and saw the Holy Spirit go into the earth of my heart. I cried for weeks, months, years. I then spent a large amount of money going to the best Christian conferences, but in the end God showed me that I was totally lost. He told me that He was going to show me the way. I expected to see a piece of paper with 1, 2, 3 on it. Instead, I heard “I am the way.”
You quoted 1 Cor. 3:1-3, but it continues on with verses 4-7, “For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
God filled me with the Holy Spirit in three denominations. I was in love with Jesus. But then when I tried to do things the right way and said I would submit to a pastor, I totally quenched the Holy Spirit.
I believe this training is bringing restoration to me. Thank you for it.
I believe this teaching is so very important. The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. But “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” (Rom. 8:7) Our warfare is in the mind. (2 Cor. 10:3-5) We have to cast down and demolish every high thing that exalts itself against the ‘knowledge of Christ.’ We need to take every thought captive to the obedience of ‘Christ.’
Usually after we are baptized or give our lives to Jesus, we are told to ‘go to church.’ But the Spirit of God led the Israelites into the wilderness. After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit led Him into the desert.
I wanted to share this example of how God led me one time. Many times, I don’t even know He’s leading me. I’m not trying to be led by the Spirit.
A couple Native American women asked me to take them to a tent revival. I did. It was cold and I was absolutely bored. It was all in Navajo, which I don’t understand. I was not being spiritual at all. I was praying and asking God to make the service end so I could get back home where it was warm.
All of a sudden I heard the song “There’s Fire in the House.” The band wasn’t playing this. I heard it in the Spirit. I looked around and told God, If you say that there’s fire here, I guess there is, but I sure don’t see it. At the altar call, I told God that if there was something He wanted me to receive to let me know. The band started playing Holy Ghost and Fire. I went forward and received prayer. I felt the fire of God touch my lips. God gave me the scripture where Isaiah said that he was a man of unclean lips living among a people of unclean lips. The angel took the coal and touched his lips and cleansed him.
The next day, I had a meeting with a Native American couple. All the way there, the Holy Spirit was telling me to tell the man to quit complaining and be thankful. The lesson was on repentance. One of the scriptures was “Unless you repent you too shall die.” It was said twice and it was about the tower of Siloam. I thought of the twin towers.
As I said that scripture, I saw it pierce the man’s heart. He got so angry at me, he left his house. His wife then got angry at me and left. I asked God what I had done wrong. I had come to show them love. Now they were mad at me. God told me that it was His Word that had done it.
The next morning the man called me and apologized. He told me that he hadn’t been able to sleep all night. He kept crying out to Jesus. Jesus appeared to him and told him to give him everyone who had hurt him.
The word had pierced his heart. Acts 2:37 says, “Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
Luke 1:15 says that John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother’s womb. He was in the wilderness. But multitudes of people came to him repenting.
I was told by a Christian minister that nobody could be saved in the place where the tent revival was where the Holy Spirit and Fire were. It was in the De-Na-Zin wilderness.
If we really want God we need to be led by the Spirit not by our carnal thinking, even if we think it is good.
I believe Mary and Joseph were led by the Spirit. Jesus was not born in the Temple, but in a stable.
I have had so much fun following the Holy Spirit. I would have missed so many things, and am sure that I have missed many, if I let my carnal mind argue against what the Spirit of God was doing and how He was leading me.
Hello Chip,
thank you for this word of ADJUSTMENT TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
My Marriage had been 19 yrs and since it breaks down because of the price to pay…you named it..i had been crushed and have to admit that GOD had allowed this breakdown for HIS Purposes!
I had never imagined that this would come. But now, i and my hubby are to learn that we , every one alone, to be adjusted to HIS PURPOSES.
So, you had very much wisdom here given to His Saints.
Precious Chip! God bless you!
Suzi
Dear brother Chip, once again the Principle #3 is very well written. I got to learn so many things. Its only He (Holy Spirit) who guides us through the Path when we enter the Gate and make every effort to walk with the Lord… I am rejoicing in Him and eagerly waiting for all the mails and messages and all the encouraging writings from you with the most precious thing…ie “LOVE..!!!” thanks you bro. love you.
Repentance = Adjustment. Now may sense. Thank you Brother.
Chip…very thot-provoking article…it’s good you keep us on our toes and thinking. I know that I have gone thru much ‘adjustment’ over the yrs. in allowing God to live His life in me rather than living it myself. When I was saved I was told “now I must live ‘for’ Christ. Eventually, God showed me in my confusion “I no longer live but Christ is my life.” I am a vessel-container of the Christ-life. A replacement. He wasn’t cleaning up the old flesh to make me more presentable.
As you mentioned in the article, I was one that had many illusions about God and misconceptions and misperceptions of who He was and who I was in Christ. My heart aches when I think how I must have grieved Him when I thot of Him as separate from me–Him out there somewhere and me here or Him along side me when He is in me and my All in All. I used to ask Him for things like victory in my life, for more love, or peace. Now I understand I need not ask for these things because God is Victory-He is Love and He is Peace (see, I read your articles and listen to you :-))I just need to let Him manifest Himself in me and release it as He gives Himself to me not the ‘thing.’
I like to compare with David because I want to be a woman after God’s own heart. I want that initimacy and to know His heart. Lord knows I need adjustment and I need it daily as so often I find myself living out of me-my needs-my wants rather than replacing my life with His. I used to be such a people pleaser but when I truly understood who I am in Christ that revelation brought adjustment an alignment with His Word that it is not man I need to please but my heavenly Father.
I never thot of myself as gifted or talented-I was always self-conscious rather than God-conscious.I just need to become hidden in Him and let His life flow thru me as the branch drinks the sap from the Vine. Chip, you have always taught strongly we must decrease but He increase and that we must die before we can live–self is the hardest thing to die to and I die to it daily.
My life should not be me doing anything on my own initiative–trying to live, trying to pray, trying to love ,etc because I am no more-I am dead–He is my life–He is my strength–He is my thots–I must be broken and I have been broken. God says He loves a broken and contrite heart. Scripture says we either are slaves to the world/sin or slaves to God/righteousness.
I am so very sorry for the times I have taken my focus off of Him and done things my way-my will rather than His way and His will. God is my All in All and I want to be that empty vessel He can fill with His plans and desires and purpose. He sets us free from the law of sin and death. Adjustment can be hard but if we learn to submit and be governed by His spirit, He truly does guide us and lead us thru His Spirit. It is a good feeling when we are in sync with Him. I am learning I can do nothing–only Him in me.
I agree with your message Chip – people in ministry has made what they think is God’s will or call difficult – when actually I find that when you die , bury yourself and resurrect by His Spirit – things tend to just happen sponetaneously when being obedient. The best thing besides my salvation alone is God bringing me out and leading me into the wilderness – God tried for so long to grasp me out – 3 hospital stays is what it took to be alone and to heed his voice so I wouldnt of had been distracted or detoured from others – I was alone hidden in Christ – sometimes you just got to push other things out – others theologies, others gifts, others opinions – others doctrines ,erase all that from your mind and let God reteach you His mind – His thoughts – His ways.. re- adjusted as you wrote of– some people have become so hardened and so stuck in their own beliefs – they rebuke any thing that the Spirit tries to show them because it is not of the norm..I can tell you this – many great men/women of God had to leave their comfort and get led into places they were unsure sure – got led into battles that looked impossible – and some even martyed to fight for the way of the truth CHRIST – I have had to repent so many times for quenching the Spirit because I thought it was to uncomfortable to endure it and have felt alone when others persecuted me for where I was being led. How many times every week messages are routinely – tradition – on a time schedule and the Spirit being tossed out . I say be obedient in all things because if anything is originated with man (plans, etc ) it will all fail anyways or not bear fruit. I use to be consumed with the thoughts of what I was to do for the Lord ( my calling/gift )because everyone wanted to please Him – However I just seek Him -I seek nothing else.. not my calling, not my talent, not my gift , not my will – nothing.. while others I know of are in search of their destiny and potential and advancing the kingdom – and God’s will for their life – Christ is my destiny, all potential is IN HIM ( not in me ) and how can you advance a kingdom when it is within you. and God’s will for my life is to put him first , submit to Him, be obedient – love Him with all my heart , soul , mind and love others – while picking up my cross and following Christ – Thanks Chip for this message.
Tracy…all I can say is WOW!!! You’ve “hit the nail on the head!” God Bless You! 🙂
Beautifully put. God is good. He gives us what we do not ask for. He is constantly bringing to us Himself. The God who comes to save…even such a wretch as I. I is impossible to give enouch thanks to the One who knows that I am dust ,liiks at us in love and causes us to grow in Him. I love Him so, and for this I will give my ALL!
Thanks for this message Brother Chip. I appreciate the illustration of the difference between baptism and goverance of the Holy Spirit. It explains a lot. Also – it is really nice to be able to hear and read at the same time! Nice!
THIS mESSAGE ON BEING aDJUSTED BY gOD AND CONTINUALLY BEING GOVERNED BYtHE hOLY sPIRIT IS SO TIMELY, iT EXPLAINS WHAT i AM GOING THROUGH AT THIS TIME BUT DID:NT UNDERSTAND. iTHANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS TEACHING,.AND MAY gOD BLESS YOU ABUNDANTLY.
mARGIE WESTERN aUSTRALIA
What a glorious message but even more what a glorious God we serve. When governed by the Spirit of God, He always prepares the heart for the path or the to do or not to do. We need only depend on Him for our substance as He is that substance.
If we would but only drink from our own cisterns.
Blessings to you
Tina
Such CLARITY!! Ouch, Chip!! BUT, if we could put into practice just a portion of this teaching, we would advance several levels towards Spiritual maturity.
Eph. 5:22 “Wives…and ADAPT yourselves to your husbands…” That word “adapt” jumped out at me yrs ago as I struggled in finding my unique purpose in the home. I cried out to the Lord to teach me submission from the heart—not just outwardly…
In our situation, with my being a stay-home Mom (by desire and choice), I was shown how all responsibility had fallen to my husband’s shoulders….”the buck has to stop somewhere”, the Lord told me.
The Word to me was “to ADAPT myself” to my husband, to his work schedule, to whatever made his responsibilities lighter. Actually, I learned and understood, that I was ADAPTING myself to the Lord, for I could only have “adapted” by the power of the Holy Spirit within me…
Life became easier, more peaceful, more quiet in the Brown household…Yes, some dying took place….I thought, “how dare God tell me to do this!”
He showed me my rebelliousness was toward Him, not my husband, and I broke before Him…surrendered my will for His, and you know what?
My husband began to treat me like a Queen, and does to this day!…Not so much that my husband changed, but I changed!
Was it easy? NO-O-O-O! Not at first. But I began to adapt as the Holy Spirit guided me, and my heart changed. Then my behavior changed…The Lord proved His Word in me as I listened and applied it…
“Adjustment”, “adapt” have become positive words to me now.
Giving up to gain…how wondrous are God’s Ways!
Brenda Brown