"Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy name." (Psalm 86:11).

"That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." (Philippians 3:10-11).

        Three beautiful statements by the Psalmist which rise to challenge us to go onward with Him. First-- "Teach me Thy way, O Lord." Here is the Teacher, and the Truth! We have no desire to be taught by men, and become entangled in their schemes and programs. Nothing will cause us to suffer a burn-out any faster than the doing of man's work, man's way. We hear of the agenda of men as they continue to tear down their old barns to build bigger barns, with constant need of more finances to support their many efforts, and one can become weary just listening to them. For sure, their yoke is not easy, and their burden is not light. Yet the pressure is there-- they feel they must do more and more-- for they are being taught by man, the doctrines of man. But our heart cries out to be taught of the Lord! And we rejoice to know that we shall be. "It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God." (John 6:45). This is what the prophet said, "And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children." (Isa. 54:13). While Paul adds his clarifying word, "Ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another." (1 Thess. 4:9). GOD TAUGHT! Herein lies the hope of creation. A personal involvement of the Creator in the lives of His creation. As the chorus so beautifully expresses it:
                                      "He came to reconcile the world, nothing wasted, leaving none out,
                                       He came for all men everywhere, to redeem the world to Himself."
        "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." (Jer. 31:34). Herein is a truth so staggering and awesome, that most folks cannot grasp the scope of the prophetic promise. As to the how? And the way? And the time? It is true, we do not know how our Father purposes to accomplish this, but the fact is, HE PROMISED IT, and believing in the integrity of His Word, we are persuaded that though the time is long, it shall be fulfilled. He will draw unto Himself, "every man in his own order." (1 Cor. 15:23). God knows the order, and God knows the time. What a precious word from God Himself -- to comfort the hearts of those parents whose children grow up and leave home, seemingly to go their own selfish way, without even a thought of serving God. Yet they shall be taught! As the Psalmist said, "My times are in Thy hand." (Ps. 31:15). No child will be forever eternally lost-- for they are destined to be taught of God. Time is not the controlling factor, all the times and seasons are in our Father's hand-- and we read in Job 14:14-16, "All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands. For now Thou numberest my steps..." Jesus said, "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Matt. 10:30). Job says our steps are numbered. Certainly this emphasizes that we are fully known unto God, and when He purposes to teach us His way, He knows exactly where to find us. Not only does He know the path we take, HE controls our going so that even our rebellion, self-centeredness, etc. are under His hand. So we read, "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." (Psalm 76:10). Yes, more and more we realize we need to be taught of God, and not be corrupted by the traditions of man. Truth on the sovereignty of God, His love, His grace, His mercy-- only HE can teach us these things-- for HE is the Righteous One, sharing out of His very own substance. HE who is LOVE can rightly teach love. Not just about love, but impart the very essence of love-- for His state of being is love.
        I dare say, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." (1 Cor. 2:9-10). Even the apostle John bears witness to this-- "But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it,..." (1 John 2:20-21).
        They didn't need Paul to write it to them. They didn't need John to write it to them. Both could give CONFIRMATION, but the Teacher was God, and as He wrote upon the tables of their heart, they would know the truth, and the truth would make them free. The Teacher abides within, and the truth He unveils comes within. It is a work of the holy Spirit-- for "When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: For He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will shew you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John 16:13-14). Furthermore it is written that "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh." (Joel 2:28) .
        What a tremendous GOD-TEACHING awaits us. We know so very little and we do struggle to grasp the truth "precept upon precept; lime upon line; here a little, there a little." (Isa. 28:10). But in His own time, and in His own glorious way, He shall fulfill that Word-- "Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then Judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." (Isa. 32:15-17).
        How we yearn for the Spirit to be poured upon us from on high, and that we would receive that long awaited Teacher of righteousness rain. "Be glad then ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain..." (Joel 2:23).
        He has given the former rain moderately. The Hebrew word is, "li tsedaqah" meaning-- TO RIGHTNESS. While we have rejoiced betimes in His refreshing showers, and truly, there is an inherent blessing in His rain, yet its real purpose is for a divine correction until we are RIGHT with the ways of God.
        We also note that the word "FORMER" in this verse, while meaning the first rain, also is the same Hebrew word for "teach," being "yarah." So Young's Literal Translation reads, "He hath given to you THE TEACHER FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Former rain is a teaching rain to bring forth righteousness in the earth. Certainly wherever the holy Spirit is moving, He is teaching that righteousness is essential. "I will send Him unto you...He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." (John 16:7-8).
        Then, in great mercy and love toward us, He will confirm to us the truth He reveals. But the fact is, whether or not we ever hear the voice of another man bringing confirmation, the truth abides and will be fulfilled. What He .teaches will come to pass in minute detail just as He promised. Indeed, it will far surpass all of our expectation. O let Him ever teach us His way!
        Jesus was one with His Father's will. The greater the conflict to be faced the more He sought for oneness in that will. So when Calvary loomed on the horizon, we find Him praying in the garden, "Not My will, but Thine, be done." Nor was it just a casual lip-service prayer, but "being in an agony He prayed more earnestly." (Luke 22:44). More earnestly-- the Greek word is "ektenesteron," meaning: stretched out, and thus, more earnestly. With all His heart and soul He was STRETCHED OUT to lay hold of, to become one with the Father's will -- ready to face the cross and lay down His life In our desire to become one in Him, partakers of the fullness of His life, it is certain that we will walk through our Gethsemane, share in His suffering, being made conformable to "His death-- and then find that we share in Him an overflowing abundance of His life. For, confirmed truth though it be, that we take a death walk with Christ, yet the fact is it climaxes IN LIFE, for He declared, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10). Death is but a means to an end-- the end is IN CHRIST. "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory." (Col. 3:3-4).
        The Williams translation of Phil. 3:10-11 expresses it so beautifully-- "Yes, I long to come to know Him; that is, the power of His resurrection and so to share with Him His sufferings as to be continuously transformed by His death, in the hope of attaining, in some measure, the resurrection that lifts me out from among the dead."
        In hope of attaining-- the Greek word is "katantao" meaning: to arrive; but it is made more intensive with the preposition "kata" that means: DOWN. In effect he is saying, "That I may come down low enough that I might come up in the resurrection out from among the dead." Christ went down into death and then was saved out of it by the resurrection. People would like to go directly from their present state of being, however carnal it may or may not be, into the fullness of HIS image and nature, as if by any means they might escape the way of the cross, and dying to self. We read that HE DID ."by the grace of God taste death for every man." (Heb. 2:9). This was not to absolve us from dying, but actually to guarantee that every man would eventually become dead to sin, and alive unto righteousness. Our physical death is not the issue, it is this "death to our self-will" that is so vitally essential.
        "Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth." These two statements certainly go together. Of what purpose would it be for Him to teach us His way, if we will not walk it out in the nitty-gritty of every day living? "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." (Matt. 7:24-25). His sayings, HIS WORD, imparted by the Spirit, and worked into the fabric of our life so that HIS TRUTH BECOMES OUR LIFESTYLE, and we DO it-- it is his "walk" that He desires of His people. Hearing that becomes a doing!
        The Greek word for "obedience" literally means-- an attentive submissive hearkening. It is a doing that follows our attentively listening to our Lord. The power for the DOING is in the Word received. HE speaks and we receive that engrafted Word, and proceed to walk it out. It is not by our own strength, but by His enablement. A poet expressed it this way--
                                  "Do this and live, the law commands, but gives me neither feet nor hands.
                                  A better word the gospel brings. It bids me fly and gives me wings."
        Paul adds a good word when he states, "But God be thanked... ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you." (Rom. 6:16). THE WORD, THE TEACHING, must first come to us-- "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?" (Romans 10:14-15). The point is clear-- there needs to be a preacher/TEACHER, one that has been divinely sent with a message. NOT a self-sent, personal kingdom building endeavor-- but a God-imparted Word that, when spoken, will bear fruit to the glory of God. It is HIS VOICE declaring HIS WORD that when received will enable the hearer to arise and obey-- focused with a single eye upon the Lord. And it is a fact, as one has said it so well--
                                  "No man can see until the Father gives him vision,
                                  Nor can he walk a path where he has not been, led..."

        There is no doubt that a great many people would welcome "the vision" if it did not include, what we have already stated as, a death walk with Christ. Jesus taught it-- "He that taketh not his Gross, and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me. He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it." (Matt. 10:38-39).The life we find is IN CHRIST. "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for Me." (Gal.2:20).
       HIS LIFE not only flows in might and power and glorious overcoming, as He expresses through us the power of His resurrection, but it also includes a PROGRESSIVE SURRENDER. Paul said, "I die daily." (1 Cor. 10:31). "As it is written, For Thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet it is also written, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." (Romans 8:36-37). So we have a blended balanced working-- daily to lay down our life, and daily to live by His life. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body." And the result of this divine in working is, Paul says, that "death worketh in us, but life in you." (2 Cor. 4:10, 12).This is an awesome and wonderful thing-- a negative/positive process that glorifies our Lord. This teaching is not desired by those who would seek only for the satisfaction of their flesh. A death walk with Christ, with its cycles of Gethsemane,  can only be faced when HE teaches us His way, and the glory that follows. "For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth. For we are glad, when we are weak, and ye are strong: and this also we wish, even your perfection." (2 Cor. 13:8-9).
        "That the life also of Jesus might be manifest." What a tremendous walk this is, as we decrease and He increases. As we lay down our life, and He reveals HIS LIFE in those around us. Sure, and their time will come, when they, too, will experience this blended in working, but for now let it be-- when death works in us, concurrently life is working in others. And lest we become overwhelmed with the process, let us listen ever more attentively to our TEACHER-- the Spirit, for He will also teach us of the glory-side of the process, and with our eyes focused on the joy that is set before us, we are able to "gird up the loins of our mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 1:13).
        Over and over again the Psalmist sought the Lord for His teaching. "Cause me to hear Thy loving-kindness in the morning; for in Thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto Thee. Teach me to do Thy will; for Thou art my God: Thy Spirit is good; lead me .into the land of uprightness." (Ps. 143:8, 10). To this prayer we add our-- hearty amen!
        "I will walk in Thy truth." Lord, I have heard you teach THE WAY, and now  I would walk-- go on therein. It is not just that we are taking a walk, wherever our steps might wander, but it is "IN THY TRUTH!" There is a receiving of what He teaches, and living it out day by day.
        How precious is the word of the Lord through the prophet, that the Lord's house would be established in the top of the mountains, "And all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths." (Isa. 2:2-3). To attempt to walk right if we have not been taught by God, means we will run in circles trying to devise a walk by our own mental aberrations. When we are "ignorant of God's righteousness," (Rom. 10:3), we are prone to try and establish a way of our own making. But when HE speaks a Word within, and we surrender all our ways to Him, then we begin to walk His way. "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." (Gal. 5:16).
        "Unite my heart to fear Thy name." This third statement in the verse (Psalm 86:11), is certainly vital in the outworking of the previous two statements, "Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth." There is a great need for unity within-- "unite my heart." "A double minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James 1:8).
        We find that for this phrase "a double minded man, " the Greek text reads, "a two souled man." The word "soul" from "psuche" meaning-- the MIND. It speaks of a man with two minds, trying to MIND THE WORLD and yet MIND THE SPIRIT at the same time, with a constant wavering between the two. Such instability is the very opposite of one that is solid in their commitment to Christ. O Lord, "unite my heart to fear Thy name!"
        Williams: "A person with two minds, unreliable in every step he takes."
        While Phillips is most interesting. We are to "ask in sincere faith without secret doubts as to whether we really want God's help or not. The man with inward reservations, is like a wave of the sea, carried forward by the wind one moment and driven back the next. That sort of man cannot hope to receive anything from the Lord, and the life of a man of divided loyalty will reveal instability at every turn."
        Strange that at one moment a person can quote the promises very religiously and the next moment be filled with inward reservations. We have heard the Spirit teach us His way, we have determined to WALK that way, and so it becomes imperative that our heart and mind are united in oneness to what HE has taught us -- with an unshakable surrender/commitment to the Lord. For, as Paul writes, "The man who is in union with the Lord is spiritually one with Him." (1 Cor. 6:17, Williams).
        Religious Babylon has done much to foster these "inward reservations," for much of what has been taught by man has placed so many question marks in every mind. Are we IN the will of God, or are we OUT of His will? Is God doing this, or is the devil doing this? And with all the reservations and questions, people are never sure if we are IN or OUT, UP or DOWN, FOR or AGAINST it, etc. For sure, until we come to the place where we realize that our GOD is in sovereign control of all that touches our lives, we will waver-- question, doubt, and never quite know exactly where we stand today.
        Paul writes of "Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." And, that it is an on-going process, "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God." (Eph. 4:3, 13). We read these things, and truly desire the unity of the Spirit, and unity of the faith, but neither of these can be fully manifested in our midst if we first are not united in Christ personally. "Unite my heart!" Let there be a oneness within my own being; no more double-minded, no more lusting after the things of the world while we claim to be seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. No more trying to mesh together the commandments and traditions of men, and the truths which the blessed holy Spirit whispers into our heart. You cannot "sew a piece of new cloth on an old garment," (Mark 2:21), and keep it together in unity. Likewise, this deep inner work of the Spirit requires that we take this death walk with Christ as He purges out the old, that we might become ONE WITH THE NEW, sharing in His resurrection life as we are fully joined to our Lord.
        "Unite my heart"-- to what end, and for what purpose? "TO FEAR THY NAME." It is that we might truly worship Him in Spirit and in truth. It is not a "getting it all together" so that we are focused in on doing our own will, but it is directed towards "THY NAME." "For Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." (Rev. 4:11).
        To fear-- literally, to reverence-- it is giving all praise and glory to our Lord who hath redeemed us, and brought us into His marvelous light. We repeat, this is an internal working-- wrought by the Spirit WITHIN US. The oneness is in our own state of being. We are not torn seven directions at the same time, trying to please men and satisfy the flesh. But we are learning to "yield ourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead." (Romans 6:13).Yielded unto the Lord, partakers of His life-- it is a path of SEPARATION UNTO HIM. Once we were able to mingle with the crowds so as to be lost in religion. Once we could devote ourselves to good works and Christian service. But then HE began to apply the way of the cross, as we were made conformable to His death-- and oh, what a death process it has been. We stand utterly alone-- only Christ is there, drawing us onward to Himself. And what can we say? "Let us go forth therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." (Heb. 13:13). When He strips the veil away, we will see that what seemed to be wrapped in the dark shadows of death, is now clothed with the light and glory of His resurrection. Amen.

                                  O wondrous work of Christ within, to teach us of this path in Him.
                                  He is the way, the truth, the life-- the cleansing of all self-hood strife.

                                  The many things that men say "do," are tattered threads, with nothing new.
                                  They try to sew and make one piece, but fail to stop the rent's increase.

                                  Fragmented, yet the toil goes on, the scattered sheep bleat out their song.
                                  Confusion overwhelms the soul, which path is right? which way the goal?

                                 But God is drawing to Himself, away from all this earthly pelf.
                                 And He unites us, makes us one, to bear the image of His Son.

                                 The walk of death we shared in Christ, now leads us to a sacred tryst.
                                 And resurrection we shall know-- the Master surely taught it so. Amen!
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(1)Prinzing, Ray and Doris "Letters of Truth"  Boise, Idaho 83705, P.O. Box 5822

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