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"For IT IS GOD Himself whose power creates within you both the desire and the power to execute His gracious will." [Philippians 2:13 Weymouth.

 "And ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord God." [Ezekiel 14:23].

             There are many ideologies and concepts being taught today, and even pulpit preaching is most diversified, ranging from the confused thinking of "God is dead," to a social lecture which merely uses religion for a background support. To counter some of this, others seek to evangelize and rally men back to God and the Bible, and one even went so far as to propose-- "Let's spread the rumor that God is still alive." To us, such an idea is as bad as the first shameful statement that God is dead. If it is only a "rumor" in their thinking, they know very little of His LIFE. Surely the best witness of a "LIVING GOD" is to be experimentally partaking of that life, so that our state of being will be a manifestation of that life.
             Then another messenger came along to explain that the reason some people find it hard to remain enthused with the gospel story is because they only live in the "afterglow" of Christ's resurrection.  Perhaps as far as most of Christendom is concerned, he spoke correctly, for they have but a fading afterglow of past glory. But this is not the message we would proclaim, for the life and victory manifest in the resurrection of Jesus Christ shines with greater brilliance today than ever before, now being realized and enjoyed by those who are becoming ONE IN HIM. There is a present-tense reality, which John rightly declared, "He that hath the Son hath life." [1 John 5: 2].
             While we thrill to the truth of that which happened almost two thousand years ago, it need not become an "afterglow," but the beginning of a progressive unfolding of HIS LIFE which becomes personally experienced by those who follow on to know the Lord in all of His fullness. And these are finding that God is indeed involved in all the affairs of their daily life, and that He can inhabit their "now."
             Apart from the theological fact that "in Him we live, and move, and have our being; ..." [Acts 17:28], for all practical purposes of comparing personal relationship with Christ, we will admit that for many, their God is dead, inasmuch as their "understanding is darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." [Ephesians 4:18].
             Others have received a measure of His life, enough to know that He is alive, but even so, for them He is still a very small God, relegated to miracles in days long past, or yet to be revealed in the distant future. Their concept seems to be that God is in an eternal struggle with the Devil, and while God wins one battle, the Devil wins the next one, and so the matter goes-- and in the end, if there be an end, God shall take a few to heaven, while the rest remain captives of sin, and are eternally bound in a prison of torment, co-existing in God's universe as a vivid reminder that God brought forth out of Himself a creation, giving them a will that is stronger than His, and that the Devil was able to gain control of that will and bend it to his evil way, so that they are lost forever from God. We have no time whatsoever for such a concept. It is a caricature of the nature and power of our God. We would emphasize that God is sovereign, always in perfect control of circumstances, and working out all things after the counsel of His own will, into our good, and for His praise, and we  need Him to be Lord of all our "now."
             Someone, we know not who, once wrote, and we quote: "We habitually stand in our own 'now' and look back by faith to see the past filled with God. We look forward and see Him inhabiting our future. But our 'now' is uninhabited except for ourselves. Thus we are guilty of a kind of pro tem atheism which leaves us alone in the universe, while, for the time, God is not. We talk of Him much and loudly, but we secretly think of Him as being absent. We inhabit an interval between the God who was and the God who will be." unquote.
           This is very thought-provoking! May God work in us a consciousness of His present-tense INDWELLING LIFE. We need more than an afterglow kind of theology, of a Jesus who was, and we need more than a hope for some future "Lord in the millennium."  We need to KNOW--revelation alive with divine quickening, that in our NOW "all things are of God." Paul so firmly believed this truth that he makes, and repeats this positive statement six times in his writings. Romans 11:36, 1 Corinthians 8:6, and 11:12, 2 Corinthians 5:18, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 2 :10. This is no careless handling of the truth, but the Spirit of God so working in the apostle that he arrived to this settled and firm persuasion through processes which contained both the severity of suffering and the glory of pure revelation.
             Even the Old Testament maintains this positive aspect. "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure." [Isaiah 46:10]. "The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.-- For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it ? and His hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?" [Isaiah 14 :24, 27].
             Hebrews 12:2 clearly states that Jesus is "THE AUTHOR and finisher of our faith." Various translations have given emphasis to different shades of meaning for this word " Author," some reading that He is THE SOURCE, or some point that He is THE LEADER, and one even describes Him as THE PIONEER of our faith. But there is a deeper meaning than all of  these, true as they might be, as when the Wuest translation gives Him to be THE ORIGINATOR, and the Amplified included the explanation that HE GIVES THE FIRST INCENTIVE for faith.
           Combining these thoughts together we find that He is not only the Source of our life and salvation, but He is the very One who initiates every phase of its working in our behalf. SALVATION BEGINS ON THE PART OF THE SAVIOUR, not on the part of the one needed to be saved. Christendom tells the world, "Come to Jesus." But the bride in Song of Solomon 1:4, says, "DRAW ME, we will run after Thee." HE MUST FIRST DRAW, or how else shall we run after Him ?
             In the case of the redemption of mankind, this is even more severe, for this is not just a "rescue action" on the part of God, to reclaim a dying creation. Nay! It is far more than that, for the natural man is already dead to the spiritual realm. "To be carnally minded (i.e. to mind the flesh) is death." [Romans 8:6]. And Paul declares that we "were dead in trespasses and sins." [Ephesians 2:1]. How, then, can there be any initial action on the part of a dead man ? If a man were drowning, but not yet dead, you could throw him a life-line and expect just a little cooperation on his part, to receive and hang on to the rope while you pulled him in. And while you would be giving forth the most effort, you would like his cooperation in the matter. But if he were already dead, how then shall he respond to your rescue action ? Not until life is imparted can there be any responsible action on the part of the one being saved.
           Thus we read of our Lord that He "was made a quickening (LIFE-GIVING) Spirit." [1 Corinthians 15:45]. As He chooses, and imparts of His life, men begin to live and grow in spiritual stature. "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I THE LORD DO ALL THESE THINGS." [Isaiah 45:5-7].
             Now it is self-evident that there has to be a CAUSE before there can be an EFFECT. GOD is the First Cause of all causes, and we see the proper sequence given in this passage of scripture. The principle is one, ALL GOOD, and then it can become perverted, thus being changed into evil. IF it was evil to begin with, it couldn't be perverted. And with God as the First Cause, were evil brought forth from His being initially evil, that would be saying that there is eternal evil in God. NEVER! But we read, "I form the light, and create darkness." The word "form" comes from the Hebrew word "yatsar ," meaning form, fashion, frame, CONSTITUTE. While the word "create" used here, from the Hebrew word "bara" means to prepare, form, fashion, create. FIRST He constitutes the light, bringing forth the light from His own being and substance, and it is GOOD. Then out of this light other things can be fashioned. Pervert the light and it becomes darkness. But darkness is not an enduring state in itself, it can only exist in its relationship to the light. Darkness can once again be swallowed up into the light, but light can never be overpowered and swallowed up into darkness. "The light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehendeth it not." [John 1:5].
             "I make peace, and create evil." PEACE must come FIRST, and when peace is turned upside down and perverted you have confusion and strife. But just as soon as all the turmoil is straightened out and corrected: peace reigns once more, for it is the first, and final state. Since all things ultimately have to return to their beginning, in harmony with the law of circularity, all evil must be corrected, and all things worked together into good.
             Now, whether it is the initial bringing forth of creation, or in the present process of drawing us back to Himself, we still see the creative handiwork of God, as HE causes and initiates our salvation, and all of our successive action. "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing." [Isaiah 43 :18-19]. So much of our activity has been a trying to repeat past cycles. We look back into history to see how God has moved, and then pray that He will do it that way again. But we have come to sense within a deep consciousness that God is preparing to DO NEW THINGS, and we are not to remember the former things any more, lest we would be tempted to try and repeat them. But we are to look ahead for the springing forth of the new. You say, "What are these new things?" Ah, if the mind of man could figure out God's next moves, it is self-evident that they would not be of His initiative. HE WILL ORIGINATE THE ACTION, He will do the first act, and in His revelation we shall learn what our responsive actions are to be.
            "OF HIS OWN WILL begat He us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures." [James 1:18].
           "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. --But there are some of you that believe not. --Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto him of My Father." [John 6:44, 64-65].
           Now, while we praise the Lord for His work in us, and freely admit that it was not of our choosing, but HIS, that He initiated the action in us, and only by His grace and power shall we ultimately come through to full maturity in Him, so also, we would clearly state, God has, and shall initiate the personal application of salvation in every man. " And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." [Isaiah 65:24].
             This promise has long been a source of encouragement to many, just to know that regardless of the need that might arise, before ever we are aware of our need, and cry to Him for help, HE has already begun the answer. Thus again it is self-evident that God initiated the whole process.
             I am sure that Paul well understood the battle with negative forces, for he so clearly taught that "our contest is not with human foes alone, but with the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this dark world; that is, with the spirit-forces of evil challenging us in the heavenly contest." [Ephesians 6:12, Williams]. But Paul also knew his position in God, and that even now, through Christ, we are "more than conquerors." [Romans 8:37] .Thus he sought to maintain a God-consciousness.
             Even when Paul was troubled, and "there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me," [2 Cor. 12:7], still he knew that it was GOD WHO PROVIDED THE THORN. And when he had settled the question with God as to whether or not it should be removed, he went on to rejoice in God's grace sufficient for the need, thus keeping his eyes upon the Lord, and not on the thorn. As far as he was concerned, GOD was the First Cause of all that came into his life, and he did not entangle himself with a fighting against so-called "second causes," blaming this and that, and thus becoming more negative conscious than he was of the positive victory secure in Christ.
             Then consider the example of Joseph, and of how his own brethren cast him out, sold him for a slave. The trials and testings were many, eventually leading him right down into the prison house. One would be prone to blame the brethren and fight against them, accusing them of being the cause of all his distress. But when the process was ended, and Joseph became ruler in Egypt, and in due time his brethren came down into Egypt seeking food, and were brought before him -- when they learned his identity they became fearful of what he might do to them in retribution. But Joseph quieted all their fears, and reassured them that all was well, by saying, "I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.-SO NOW IT W AS NOT YOU THAT SENT ME HITHER, BUT GOD: and He hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt." [Genesis 45 :4-5, 8].
           GOD caused the brethren to sell Joseph. GOD caused him to be put in prison. GOD brought him out of prison and made him ruler in the land. GOD PURPOSED ALL OF THIS TO WORK SALVATION FOR ALL of Joseph's brethren, and to bring the house of Israel down into Egypt where they were to sojourn for a time, plus also bringing blessing to the Egyptians through his ministry as well. GOD, the First Cause of all, working His sovereign plan.
             We are so prone to look at the present circumstances, and place the blame upon those involved; brethren-betrayers who caused us to be cast out; unsaved loved ones who stirred up trouble; immature Christians who have misunderstood the call of God upon our life, and so thought we were off the deep end. Yes, we lay the "cause" at the feet of many, but we need to look past all of the exterior part of these things, and see that behind it all is GOD, bringing circumstances to bear upon us to work out His will. HE is the living God, the First and the Last, and all of our life is in His hand, and He is directing our steps, even though sometimes it requires the sovereign operation of the interplay of good and evil.
             Our natural question is: how can any good come out of evil ? And many see these opposite forces in constant warfare, but we are persuaded that BOTH ARE IN THE HAND OF GOD, He controls their interplay, and uses all things to fulfill His divine plan. "The Lord hath made all for Himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil." [Proverbs 16:4].
             Another illustration is found in the life of Samson, a young man who had been dedicated to God from before his birth, to be a Nazarite, fully separated unto the Lord. When he grew up, he saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines, and requested of his parents that they would get her for him, to be his wife. This cut deep into the heart of his parents, they wanted him to have one of the daughters of their own people, not one of the uncircumcised Philistines. But Samson insisted that he must have this woman, and the scripture declares, "But his father and mother knew not that IT WAS OF THE LORD, that He sought an occasion against the Philistines..." [Judges 14 :4]. In the natural this would be a bitter thing to swallow, and must have brought much distress of mind to Samson's parents, and perhaps they sought to reason out many things as the cause of this thing-just a backslidden condition, or the influence of the wrong kind of company, etc. Whatever the outward circumstances were, the Bible does not record, it simply says, "IT W AS OF THE LORD," He was the real Cause of it all, and in the end it all turned into good, as God used Samson to become a severe thorn in the side of the Philistines, destroying many of them.
             When Israel became a nation, with their reign of kings, after the reign of Solomon the kingdom was divided. Rehoboam was asked by the people for an easing of the yoke upon them. He rejected the counsel of the old men, followed the advice of the young men, and we read, "So the king hearkened not unto the people: FOR THE CAUSE WAS OF GOD, that the Lord might perform His Word ..." [2 Chronicles 10:15]. And when the ten northern tribes refused the kingship of Rehoboam, and made Jereboam their king, then Rehoboam gathered his army to go and bring them back under his control. But God sent a messenger to him, saying, "Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren: return every man to his house: FOR THIS THING IS DONE OF ME." [2 Chronicles 11:4].
             First a division in the kingdom, then later both kingdoms dispersed into captivity, God all the while fulfilling His purpose. Many would now teach that it was all over for Israel, but we read on, "God hath not cast away His people which He foreknew.  Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: - For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all." [Romans 11:2, 25-26, 32].
           DIVINE CAUSE stands behind the whole process! A  purpose in the division, and a purpose in the dispersion, and also in the ultimate time of restoration. "If the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the nations; how much more their fullness ? For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead ?" [Romans 11:12,15].
             One might look for secondary causes, sin, idolatry, etc. bringing the judgment of God, and all of this is true in a limited sense, but behind it all stands the outworking of the purpose of our sovereign Lord.
             "I am sought of them that asked not for Me; I am found of them that sought Me not: I said, Behold Me, behold Me, unto a nation that was not called by My name." [Isaiah 65:1].
             Just as surely as Jesus declared that no man could come unto Him except he was drawn by the Father, so also He declared, "It is written in the prophets, And they SHALL ALL BE TAUGHT OF GOD." [John 6:45]. What God has now been working in the hearts of His first fruits He shall also work in the heart of every man in due time, for all shall be taught of God. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order." [1 Corinthians 15:22-23].
             There are those who object to such a glorious plan of salvation, one that shall include every man, for though they feel they personally are called to be apart of the present order, they do not want God to apprehend others for a succeeding time and order. But we would ask again, WHO INITIATED THE WORK OF SALVATION IN OUR HEARTS ? Christ did! Could we do one thing about our salvation before He began to draw us personally to Himself? No! For how can a dead man begin to save himself? And neither can any other creature initiate the action for their salvation before the Spirit begins to draw them. Yet, thank God, He has purposed that they shall all be taught of God.
             "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." [Isaiah 54 :13].
             "And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." [Jeremiah 31:34].
             Man may plan his programs, and seek to teach others his traditions and creeds, but gladly do we look forward to the time when GOD initiates His teaching unto the nations, even as it is written, "In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the people shall flow unto it.  And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." [Micah 4:1-2].
           There shall be a RETURN UNTO THE LORD. Creation has known the path of destruction and degeneration, the bondage of vanity. But God has also purposed a regeneration, and a time when He shall send forth His light and truth in degrees we have never dreamed of, and draw to Himself all mankind. The CAUSE is His, and He will initiate the action to come. He has not ceased His working with His creation, nor is He merely repeating cycles, but as already pointed out, He has new things which He has purposed for this day, and the days to come. The first act is His, and contains the revelation of how we are to follow in that operation. The inworking is God's, Who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. The yieldedness to that inworking is our part, to respond as He calls, and to obey that which He commands.
             Then with joy we can also begin to reach out a helping hand to others. "Him we preach and proclaim, warning and admonishing every one and instructing everyone in all wisdom, (in comprehensive insight into the ways and purposes of God), that we may present every person mature-full grown, fully initiated, complete and perfect-in Christ, the Anointed One. For this I labor striving with all the superhuman energy which HE so mightily enkindles and works within me." [Colossians 1:28-29, Amplified].