THE GREAT IMPERATIVE
Hans R. Waldvogel
Somehow God has ordained that we should walk by faith, not by sight. Faith relates to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It could be illustrated by a plant. When the seed of the Word of God is sown into a good heart, the Bible says it begins to germinate. When seed is sown into the garden, it goes into the ground; it has to disappear and die before it can bring forth fruit. I had a friend whose little boy was planting a victory garden during the war. He planted carrots, but when a little green appeared, he had no patience to wait for the carrots to ripen. He went to the garden every day and plucked them up to see how big they were, and then he put them back in. Of course, he didn't get full-grown carrots. That isn't the way to get carrots. You have to leave the seed in the ground and have faith it will mature. So when the seed of heaven, the holy Word of life, is received by faith into the heart, it immediately begins to germinate, and brings forth that whereunto God sent it. The creative Word of Almighty God operates to bring forth fruits unto righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. It is by this means—by the germinating of this incorruptible seed of the Word—that we become partakers of the divine nature.
Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." And again, "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me. . . . Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am."
That is the goal to which faith leads us. And that is why the life of faith is so imperatively important. I must learn to walk in faith and live by faith—to let Jesus Christ reign in me by faith. Faith relates to this unction that abides. As I walk in the faith of the Son of God, I live in Him and He lives in me.
This is why Holy Ghost meetings are particularly valuable: We are constantly reminded of Him and constantly drawn to Him—into the secret place of the Most High. The devil constantly labors to draw us out of it. That is why Jude tells us to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints. He tells us of those who have crept in among the saints of God whose eyes are full of adultery, whose hearts are seared with a hot iron, who come forth drawing disciples after themselves, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. But he also tells us of those who are going to be presented spotless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Who are they? They are the ones that keep themselves in the love of God. They stay in the fire. They pray in the Holy Ghost.
Where are the people who fight the good fight of faith, who keep the faith, who fight through—the people that prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord? Beloved, it will be a sad day for many of us, unless we have our vessels filled with oil. In order to have our vessels filled with oil, we need to keep them filled all the time. We should "feel the current moving on the line" all the time. We need to live in faith all the time— morn-ing, noon, and night. The inner eye must look at Jesus; then the whole body will be full of light. God will see to it that our bodies are temples of the living God; then the living God will take care of our bodies. That's all I know about divine healing; but unless we give our hearts to Him, unless our whole being—spirit, soul, and body—becomes His possession and we allow Him to take over, our faith will not work. There is much that is called faith today that is not faith. Faith is only faith when it is living faith that makes room for Jesus Christ to come in and reign. Faith, after all, is the gift of God, and is one of the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. All this the Spirit of God will bring to fruition in the heart of any child of God that will present his body a living sacrifice.
Beloved, some day—one of these days soon—Jesus Christ will come to appear to those who look for Him. That is the life of faith—looking for Him. And looking for Him will not allow us to look to the right or to the left. We will not be stumbled by the faults and mistakes of others. We will not have time to look at them, nor will we dare to look at them. We will keep our eyes steadfastly on Jesus, and as we keep the eye of faith on Him, He keeps anointing our eyes with eyesalve, so that the sight of Him grows more intense. Everything falls into its proper perspective. The people we see, and the whole world we know, and everything past, present, and future, will conduct us to that sight of the Son of God.
Oh, the wonder of fighting the good fight of faith! The Bible tells us that the end or goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls. This is the goal of the gospel. And throughout the New Testament this doctrine is taught—Christ within, the hope of glory.
What help does God give in this fight of faith? His Word. The New Testament. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And the Bible tells us very plainly that as we hearken diligently to His Word, Christ will come and enter our lives in the wake of that Word. That is the only way Christ can be experi-enced. He said that if we have His commandments and keep them, He will manifest himself to us. You will find that the entire riches of His salvation are offered to you in His wonderful Word. Beloved, we need the Bible. We need the New Testament. And we need the Holy Ghost to turn it into substance. When Jesus said, "He that eateth me, even he shall live by me," He meant that we should receive the truth and feed upon the living Word of God, which works effectually in those who believe.
Why did the apostle Paul have to fight a fight—the fight of faith? Because all hell is pitted against the saints of God. But hell is defeated by the faith of the Son of God which He and you and I are called to exercise; and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith. And why is faith victory? Because it makes contact with heaven—with the exceeding greatness of His power.
When Christ was glorified, He received from the Father the gift of the Holy Ghost. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, [from within him] shall flow rivers of living water." Thereby the Lord Jesus Christ shows what this contact with the indwelling Spirit will do. He will be within me a fountain of living water springing up into everlasting life. That explains the essence of the life of faith. "Not I"—I'm through with myself. Even though I live in this body of my humiliation, my body is not the boss anymore. My belly is not my God. I have crucified my flesh with its affections and lusts, and within me the indwelling life of the Son of God lives and reigns and wins the victory.
Let us indeed sing, "And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight"; but let us also pray, "God, don't bring that day before I have 'fought a good fight,' and 'finished my course,' until 'there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.'"
The above may be printed and distributed for the glory of God.
Hans R. Waldvogel
Somehow God has ordained that we should walk by faith, not by sight. Faith relates to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. It could be illustrated by a plant. When the seed of the Word of God is sown into a good heart, the Bible says it begins to germinate. When seed is sown into the garden, it goes into the ground; it has to disappear and die before it can bring forth fruit. I had a friend whose little boy was planting a victory garden during the war. He planted carrots, but when a little green appeared, he had no patience to wait for the carrots to ripen. He went to the garden every day and plucked them up to see how big they were, and then he put them back in. Of course, he didn't get full-grown carrots. That isn't the way to get carrots. You have to leave the seed in the ground and have faith it will mature. So when the seed of heaven, the holy Word of life, is received by faith into the heart, it immediately begins to germinate, and brings forth that whereunto God sent it. The creative Word of Almighty God operates to bring forth fruits unto righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God. It is by this means—by the germinating of this incorruptible seed of the Word—that we become partakers of the divine nature.
Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." And again, "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me. . . . Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am."
That is the goal to which faith leads us. And that is why the life of faith is so imperatively important. I must learn to walk in faith and live by faith—to let Jesus Christ reign in me by faith. Faith relates to this unction that abides. As I walk in the faith of the Son of God, I live in Him and He lives in me.
This is why Holy Ghost meetings are particularly valuable: We are constantly reminded of Him and constantly drawn to Him—into the secret place of the Most High. The devil constantly labors to draw us out of it. That is why Jude tells us to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered unto the saints. He tells us of those who have crept in among the saints of God whose eyes are full of adultery, whose hearts are seared with a hot iron, who come forth drawing disciples after themselves, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. But he also tells us of those who are going to be presented spotless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. Who are they? They are the ones that keep themselves in the love of God. They stay in the fire. They pray in the Holy Ghost.
Where are the people who fight the good fight of faith, who keep the faith, who fight through—the people that prepare themselves for the coming of the Lord? Beloved, it will be a sad day for many of us, unless we have our vessels filled with oil. In order to have our vessels filled with oil, we need to keep them filled all the time. We should "feel the current moving on the line" all the time. We need to live in faith all the time— morn-ing, noon, and night. The inner eye must look at Jesus; then the whole body will be full of light. God will see to it that our bodies are temples of the living God; then the living God will take care of our bodies. That's all I know about divine healing; but unless we give our hearts to Him, unless our whole being—spirit, soul, and body—becomes His possession and we allow Him to take over, our faith will not work. There is much that is called faith today that is not faith. Faith is only faith when it is living faith that makes room for Jesus Christ to come in and reign. Faith, after all, is the gift of God, and is one of the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. All this the Spirit of God will bring to fruition in the heart of any child of God that will present his body a living sacrifice.
Beloved, some day—one of these days soon—Jesus Christ will come to appear to those who look for Him. That is the life of faith—looking for Him. And looking for Him will not allow us to look to the right or to the left. We will not be stumbled by the faults and mistakes of others. We will not have time to look at them, nor will we dare to look at them. We will keep our eyes steadfastly on Jesus, and as we keep the eye of faith on Him, He keeps anointing our eyes with eyesalve, so that the sight of Him grows more intense. Everything falls into its proper perspective. The people we see, and the whole world we know, and everything past, present, and future, will conduct us to that sight of the Son of God.
Oh, the wonder of fighting the good fight of faith! The Bible tells us that the end or goal of our faith is the salvation of our souls. This is the goal of the gospel. And throughout the New Testament this doctrine is taught—Christ within, the hope of glory.
What help does God give in this fight of faith? His Word. The New Testament. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And the Bible tells us very plainly that as we hearken diligently to His Word, Christ will come and enter our lives in the wake of that Word. That is the only way Christ can be experi-enced. He said that if we have His commandments and keep them, He will manifest himself to us. You will find that the entire riches of His salvation are offered to you in His wonderful Word. Beloved, we need the Bible. We need the New Testament. And we need the Holy Ghost to turn it into substance. When Jesus said, "He that eateth me, even he shall live by me," He meant that we should receive the truth and feed upon the living Word of God, which works effectually in those who believe.
Why did the apostle Paul have to fight a fight—the fight of faith? Because all hell is pitted against the saints of God. But hell is defeated by the faith of the Son of God which He and you and I are called to exercise; and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith. And why is faith victory? Because it makes contact with heaven—with the exceeding greatness of His power.
When Christ was glorified, He received from the Father the gift of the Holy Ghost. "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, [from within him] shall flow rivers of living water." Thereby the Lord Jesus Christ shows what this contact with the indwelling Spirit will do. He will be within me a fountain of living water springing up into everlasting life. That explains the essence of the life of faith. "Not I"—I'm through with myself. Even though I live in this body of my humiliation, my body is not the boss anymore. My belly is not my God. I have crucified my flesh with its affections and lusts, and within me the indwelling life of the Son of God lives and reigns and wins the victory.
Let us indeed sing, "And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight"; but let us also pray, "God, don't bring that day before I have 'fought a good fight,' and 'finished my course,' until 'there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.'"
The above may be printed and distributed for the glory of God.