Deeper into Christ—into the Fellowship of His Sufferings

God’s grace and peace. We are living in amazing times; everything seems to be falling apart. The people of God, who were baptized by the Spirit of God a few years ago, appear to be in need of a deeper communion with God in order to be fully victorious. We need to once again force our way into the heart of God by the Spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning. The precious blood of Christ must be allowed to cleanse out all impurity so that the power of Christ can be manifested. We must endure the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ if the power of God is to remain with us; since we are to be conformed to Christ in His death. We know that Christ died in weakness; yet it is precisely in this weakness that the power of God can be manifested.

“Do not be lukewarm in your zeal [Norw.], be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” Rom. 12:11. It is not possible to serve the Lord with a lukewarm spirit. If we are to serve the Lord, we must be fervent in spirit. We need such a fire everywhere. God will vomit the lukewarm out of His mouth. It is our own personal work in our daily life that is the most effective—not just in the meetings. A cry must go out to all the people of God to be more vigilant. There must be more of the cross and more perseverance. To rest on the fact that you were filled with the Spirit of God 3 or 4 years ago is of little value, if you’ve just been an enemy of the cross of Christ since then. It’s of little help to pray for power when you hate suffering. The power of God is kept and deepened in us through the cross and sufferings. Think of how Jesus and all the saints have always had to suffer and fight the fight of faith in order for God to form them. Jesus Himself learned obedience by the things He suffered. However, if people want to have a good relationship with God and at the same time have peace with the world, then we know that they are useful for all sorts of things—just not for the kingdom of God.

God has a purpose in everything. He does not give us His power in order for us to waste it, but so that we, by and with this power, should go deeper into Christ.