Keeping the Connection With God

A servant of the Lord must keep a heart relationship with God. When Samuel was commanded to anoint one of Jesse’s sons to be king, his own ideas and understanding were com­pletely different from God’s, but he was used to listening to what the Spirit spoke. Right from his childhood Samuel had been attentive. Without this attentiveness and obedience, David never would have become king. Samuel’s mindset was: “Speak, for your servant is listening!” We must not speak ac­cording to our own preferences or our own thoughts. Some people believe that the power in our ministry lies in the confi­dence people have in us. But that is not correct. We must serve according to the power God gives—that is what inspires confidence! This is not the confidence a person gains because he talks with people and is good to them according to their understanding of love and goodness. If a servant is faithful on this point, people will recognize that God has confidence in his faithfulness!

It is no small punishment that your development stops and you begin to serve people. In the time of the new covenant, some people still labor solely to establish an outward form for the body of Christ. These people do not eat from an altar where God is speaking. In all of Johan O. Smith’s letters, you can see that he has a relationship with God, and the develop­ment of the church, right from the days of Smith, has gone the way of the leaven. He heard what the Spirit spoke, and those who heard him experienced growth. Serve and live in such a way that you are totally independent of the honor and ap­proval of people!

David would have gladly remained hidden in a cave, but when the war came, he was right where he was supposed to be. He caused the people to fear. He was a brilliant tactician. They never knew what he would do next. That is exactly how it is with a servant of God—he is like the wind. No one knows what is coming next. Even he doesn’t know. He understands to serve God according to the promptings of the Spirit and becomes very unpredictable for carnal people.

Carnal people must not be allowed to oppose, organize or have any influence in the church. They are not allowed in the Holy Place. If they stay in their place, it will go well with them, but they must learn not to go out of their own area. We must be warriors and stand together in a spirit of unity. Do not al­low yourself to be influenced by carnal people, not even those who are closest to you. These are the wars of the Lord that we are waging, that we are fighting for the sake of Christ and not for ourselves. The trumpet must sound clearly. The leader­ship in a local church must stand united! Never allow evil sus­picions to come in. That will break down confidence. One for all, and all for one—this is how we must fight with the weap­ons of light. Then Satan will not get power. Carnal people in the church must either be obedient or they have to leave. If they do not have their heart in the right place, or if they want power in the church, it is a blessing if they go somewhere else. There will be just as great a reward for chasing people like this away as there will be for saving others.

“These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not hav­ing the Spirit.” Jude 19. These people must be kept in their place so that we can have peace and order in the church. Do not be afraid when you wage the wars of the Lord. Be free from your own reputation! Be free from a desire to be the “loving brother.” Perhaps you get a reputation of being good, but you are no warrior if you cannot unite with your brothers. If we do that, God will bring us total and perfect success. In brotherly love, we are to have love to all men. Some people are outside brotherly love, yet they want to be good to all people. That won’t work. The evidence of love is that we re­ally care for one another. Brothers and sisters who are cir­cumcised can tell one another the truth, but they never work behind each other’s backs. There must never be guile. You should keep away from people who have guile in their spirits. They need to repent or leave. Through enlightened eyes of the heart, you will see their guile, and then you will never surren­der the flock to them.