"Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us." (Isaiah 26:12).

        The focus is upon our Lord, and the in workings of His grace. He ordains, sets in place, and fulfills His purpose and plan. Moffatt translates our text as "But oh maintain our welfare; for whatsoever we achieve is all Thy doing." This is certainly confirmed by Paul in Ephesians 2:10, and we note the Concordant Literal Trans. "For His achievement are we, being created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God makes ready beforehand, that we should be walking in them." HE marks out the path we should walk, the work we should do, and then HE fits us for that accomplishment. "I can of mine own self do nothing." (John 5:30). If ever this truth is quickened in us, that is "ALL THY DOING," then more and more we shall find Him stripping away our own flesh works, while we learn to live and walk by His Spirit, desiring only HIS WILL. Truly He works all His works in and for us.
        The opening statement is that HE "will ordain peace for us." Here is the  message the angels proclaimed so long ago-- "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." (Luke 2:14). The Hebrew word for "peace" is "shalom" and also means "completeness." It bespeaks of a cessation of all our strife, self-effort, and then an inner tranquility because there is no part lacking. God shall be ALL in all in us, and in His fullness we will have total peace, within and without. The Amplified translation gives us a beautiful wording, "That God may be all in all-- that is, be everything to everyone, supreme, the indwelling and controlling factor of life." Who can fully grasp such a working? HE will be ALL in all within us, so that there is total perfection and supply in us individually, and He will be the same ALL to every creature. Everything to everyone!
        How reassuring are the words of the Psalmist, "All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's: and He is Governor among the nations." (Psalm 22:27-28). Thus we are assured that our God shall be totally successful in accomplishing His purpose. Loudly we proclaim it, THE TRIUMPH OF CALVARY IS FAR GREATER THAN THE SIN OF ADAM!  To believe otherwise is to do despite unto His grace, and bring us in danger of being numbered with those who "count the blood of the covenant,  wherewith we are sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace." (Hebrews 10:29). Rather, let us join the multitudes of them that cry out, "0 magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." He is LORD, He doth prevail, and HIS WILL shall be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. God has left nothing to chance, it is all predestined, prearranged. So immutable is His purpose and plan, that once He put the forces into motion for its outworking, He entered into His rest. "Sat down on the right hand of God: from henceforth expecting till His enemies be made His footstool." (Hebrews 10:12-13). Full well He knows that His purpose and plan shall be successful-- and therefore the message of "PEACE" can be declared. True, all around us turmoil and strife seems to continue, but the cross will accomplish its purpose, while resurrection power shall establish the new covenant, and ultimately reveal His victory.
        Now it is written, "To us there is but one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge." ( Eph. 4:6). ONE GOD-- He is over all, in control of all, and indeed, He is working out a plan throughout the ages which shall redound to His glory and praise. IT IS IN HIM that "we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will: that we should be to the praise of His glory." (Ephesians 1:11-12).
        The word "worketh" used in this Scripture comes from the Greek "energeo" from whence we get our English word "energy" and literally means to IN WORK. It is power that is efficiently and forcibly exerted. The point cannot be emphasized too strongly-- it is GOD who is doing the working, and His work shall be ALL IN ALL. Far too long people have held the concept that there are two forces-- a God for good, and a devil for evil, and mere mortal man is in a constant quandary as to which power/force was/is in control of his immediate circumstance. Now we KNOW there is but ONE GOD, He is the First Cause of all causes, and all other powers are subservient to His will and purpose. HE controls the interplay of good and evil, and whatever negative thing that He does not purpose to use in the outworking of His plan of the ages, He simply restrains from happening. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." (Psalm 76:10).
        There is no capricious act in His working, no tyrannical exertion of power in His operation, no coercive compelling in His will, but all is wrought with that pure outflow of love and wisdom designed for the perfection of His creation, and its ultimate elevation into joy and peace and perfect harmony. Whatever pressure He uses to bring us into alignment with His purpose is with the knowledge that it is for our highest good and blessing. "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). "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts," (Isaiah 55:9). So pure, so holy, so love-motivated are all His actions, it staggers the mind to even remotely try to comprehend.
        Therefore, to those apprehended by His grace in this hour, being taught by His Spirit that HE IS LORD, and the First Cause of all that comes our way, we can receive all things from His hand, whether they appear good, or evil, being fully assured, with an absolute knowledge, that "ALL things are working together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." (Romans 8:28).
        Our sovereign God is in total control, yet Paul writes, "Howbeit there is not in every man that knowledge." While Hosea declared, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," (Hosea 4:6), then adds the fact, "because thou hast rejected knowledge." What a sad indictment! What sorrow men are experiencing because of this lack of knowledge of God. Not knowing that He alone is God, they fashion to themselves doctrines of many gods, and wallow in corruption and defeat. Yet even all of this distressful situation is in GOD'S control, and He foretells of a day when "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." (Habakkuk 2:14). And adding a second word to confirm this truth, we read in Numbers 14 :21, "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." We may not know how, we may not know when, but this we do KNOW, God said it, and HE is the One who shall fulfill it.
        As already noted, the ultimates are to be "all in all," but the application  of His working is a present-tense personal experience. He draws us to Himself. It is an operation "INTO US," and not just an abstract movement in a generalized populous over yonder somewhere. We must not think in terms of an operation of some mighty, nebulous, cosmic ray in a far off corner of the universe, entirely unrelated to us. Rather, every action of God, be it in the ages' past timing, or in that which is yet to come, all is being wrought by God's hand into us, that we should be to His praise.
        The ramifications of God's inworkings are far too vast to cover in a page or two of writing, but if seed-thoughts can be planted in the hearts of the receptive, the Spirit will inspire and confirm the truths which cannot presently be uttered, nor expanded upon. Among those seed-thoughts, one of the deeper aspects of truth, is how the Spirit probes beyond our conscious mind, beyond our sub-conscious, into the unconscious realm of our being, purging out all of the tainted blood-stream of Adam's transgression, until He has restored us into the original purity of pristine holiness which was once ours when we dwelt in pure spirit form in God.
        The Psalmist acknowledged that he had been "shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." (Psalm 51:5) .This was not an acknowledgment of some illicit act on the part of his mother, which resulted in his birth. Perish the thought! The following verses bear out the fact that it was the hereditary "mystery of iniquity" which was passed upon all men, and stamped upon the very "genes" of his makeup. It was this which he acknowledged, and for which he sought deliverance. "Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and In the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. -- Create in me a clean heart, O God: and renew aright spirit within me." (Psalm 51:6-7,10).
        While the "seed of Adam" has the propensity for wrong-doing, we praise God that the "seed of Christ" has within it the inherent quality of righteousness. It is by the "washing of regeneration" that we are cleansed from the old, and brought into the new-- to become anew creation species in Christ, partakers of His divine nature, conformed to His image. PURGE ME, WASH ME, CREATE IN ME, RENEW-- all of these words of the Psalmist bespeak of the process of putting off the old man "with his deeds," that we might "put on the new man, which is RENEWED IN KNOWLEDGE after the image of Him that created him." (Colossians 3:9-10).This is a sovereign working of God!
        How little we have grasped the secrets of the greater operations of God as they move in their allotted cycles in our life. Now we desire to KNOW, to understand more fully the marvelous working of our God. With Paul we also pray, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." (Ephesians 1:17-18).
        Methinks we have been so busy with our own workings, self-efforts, building, kingdoms, that we have not been attentive to what God purposes to DO IN US. Thus it is only as HE awakens us, and kindles within us that fire of desire which yearns after Him, do we cast aside all our petty works, that we might KNOW HIM, and the power of His resurrection, and find our release from this "bondage of vanity " to which we have been subjected.
        "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13). IT IS GOD-- this is the pre-eminent fact, IT IS GOD that energizes and creates in us both the desire, and the ability for its fulfillment. If He created in us the desire, but left us without the means, the power for its fulfillment, we would be of all men most miserable. But with the implanted desire comes the power for its doing. This infusion of His Spirit-energy has not, for the most part, been a conscious experience, since it has been wrought under the cover of darkness to the senses of the natural mind. Passing through the cycles of our separations and stillness, we move on as He leads, to suddenly become aware of a new depth in truth, and a greater stability within, which has been developed while we saw it not. There may be moments, when the blessings of God are flooding your being, that you feel like you are energized enough so that you could "run through a troop, and leap over a wall," as the Psalmist once declared. (Psalm 18:29). But with the routine of the nitty-gritty of every day living, one is not aware of great strides of spiritual growth and development, for it is a hidden work, being wrought in that "hidden man of the heart." (1 Peter 3:4).
        Indeed, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation." (Luke 17:20).
        This also Jesus taught in His parable, "So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear." (Mark 4:26-28).
        The power of life IS IN THE SEED. The energy force is inherent in the seed. The effort is not on the part of the earthen vessel; but the effort is on the part of the seed of life which is growing within. GOD working to will and to do-- bringing forth after His own kind. The inworking of God creates in us HIS DESIRE, which gradually overcomes all other desires. HE works in us TO WILL -or, as Phillips reads, "to give you the will" to do His good pleasure. In man's rebellious course of self-will, there is no desire to do the will of God. Self sits on the throne within, to dominate the action with its own lust. Man has no desire toward God until God energizes in him, kindles within him that fire of desire that urges him onward towards God. "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." (John 6:44). At first man's yearnings for God might be ever so faint, even disguised only as a feeling to want to do something good, turn over anew leaf and be better. It might even be a feeling that one ought to attend a religious meeting somewhere. But as one yields to this desire, and God fans it into a more intense flame, we gradually become aware that none of these other things can satisfy, for it is GOD HIMSELF that we are actually yearning for. There is nothing under the sun, but only GOD can satisfy the desire HE places within us for Himself. This sovereign inworking of God as He detaches us from all other things, is purposed that we might be joined unto Him. Indeed...
                             He is stripping of every desire, this one whom His love has embraced,
                             He is quenching all forms of strange fire, which once our being encased.
                             Till emptied of all of earth's holdings, loosed from its system and pride,
                             We rejoice in His higher dimensions, in love's blessed union abide.
                             While the Spirit ignites His desire, imparting the purest of flame.
                             Every action to henceforth be His work, bringing glory unto His name.
        All of the inworkings of God's purpose and plan hold within them, as in embryonic form, the potential power for their outworking unto fulfillment. The irresistible drawings of God, initiated by Him, and consummated as He brings His purpose to fruition, will result in our total redemption. He is that "true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world," as we read in John 1:9. And the promise is sure, "In Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order." (1 Cor. 15:22-23). It is also a fact that needs constant emphasizing, that our salvation is GOD'S inworking and not a product of our own making. We cast ourselves upon His mercies as we believe into Him, and find that "Thou also hast wrought all our works in us." Paul saw the need for this understanding, and in many of his writings he reminded the people-- "That no flesh should glory In His presence. But OF HIM are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (1 Cor. 1:29-31).
        We are OF HIM-- His awesome handiwork! Our transformation is not of our own making. We cannot earn His blessings. We cannot generate the power to achieve. There is not a formula, a twelve steps to glory program for which we are responsible. "Not of works, lest any man should boast." (Eph. 2:9) .
        We have noted that it is a GOD INWROUGHT desire, divinely given and divinely fulfilled. "Both to will and to do of His good pleasure." These words, "good pleasure" come from the Greek word "eudokia" meaning: GOOD THOUGHTS. It is wonderful that HE WORKS into us of His desire, until we desire His will in all things. But in harmony with this must come that transfor- mation of the mind, so that our thoughts and our desires are in harmony. When the deep yearnings of the heart, and the thoughts of the mind, are all unified to fulfill His will, we shall be found pleasing in His sight. Yet, how little have we known of HIS THOUGHTS. In fact, the carnal theologian has imputed to God many thoughts that are not His at all-- thoughts that spring out of the perverted mind of man, and have nothing in common with the mind of Christ.
        Good is that word through the prophet, "The anger of the Lord shall not turn back until He has executed and accomplished THE THOUGHTS OF HIS MIND AND HEART. In the latter days you shall consider and understand it perfectly." (Jeremiah 23:20). No wonder we are so often surprised at the way things turn out-- when we least expect it to go that way. He is not going the way of our thoughts, but executing the thoughts of HIS mind and heart. Ending the old bondage of corruption, He gives us an expectation of "more abundant life in Christ." O beloved friend, God's thoughts for us are of salvation, restoration, redemption, bringing us into victory. HE is the SOURCE of all these blessings. "ALL my springs are in Thee." (Psalm 87:7).
        How little is ever taught on the positive, true thoughts of the Lord-- thoughts which He would work into us, fulfill in us. He has "thoughts of peace, and NOT OF EVIL." (Jeremiah 29:11). Far too much religious dogma has made a caricature of the love and mercy of God, of His justice, of His righteousness, because of their distorted views of wrath, anger, and evil. Under the limitations of time's cycles, "sufficient unto the day," God does use evil to accomplish certain ends, but in the finality of His purpose His thoughts are of peace-- literally, of completeness, total salvation for all mankind-- spirit, soul, and body. Here is truth in glorious gospel which bespeaks the thoughts of His heart towards His creation.
        Many of the disappointments, frustrations, testings and trials endured, might seem to be evil to us during the time we experience them, but when God has brought this processing to its climax, He is not bringing forth an ultimate harvest of evil, He is bringing forth a harvest of good, of peace.
        Watchman Nee stated, "The work of God in time is to sum up all things in Christ. To leave no loose ends of any kind, to have nothing out of harmony in His universe." What a positive view of the handiwork of God in man.  It is one of the inherent laws of nature which God has ordained, that ultimately all evil shall self-destruct, and all good shall be perpetuated. "
        "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." (John 10:10). This is the nature of evil. And when there is none else upon whom to work this evil, then there comes a falling out among the thieves, and they begin to destroy each other. God causes death to destroy itself, for when death has encompassed the whole, there is nothing left to be dying. But the rest of the verse reads, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." Here is GOOD in action,  giving LIFE, freely, abundantly, thus perpetuating itself in its lavish giving. Its nature is to give, to bless, to enrich, and thus in love's outflow comes an expansion of its own glory and honour.
        Because it is GOD, which "worketh all in all," in total control of even our seeming adverse circumstances, we realize that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." (2 Cor. 4:17-18). Praise God!
        Coming into a godly desire, and receiving of His thoughts, we find that we are also in the process of God INWORKING all of our "service," or what might be termed "a ministry," that we might fulfill His will. It does not require the appearance of an angel, nor a voice of thunder, or some other form of extra-ordinary manifestation to alert us to His will. Indeed, as His thoughts become our thoughts, and we do them, we find that we are doing His will, with an undergirding of joy and peace-- regardless of the outward circumstances and situations. The thought of "ministry" is not just for  preaching, teaching, evangelizing, etc. it is simply the GOOD WORKS which proceed from a vessel that is indwelt by God. "Christ liveth in me: and 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).
        Whatever the "greater ministries" of the future are to be, and if God has quickened to individuals of those things to come, well and good, but HE IS WORKING IN US that we might become laborers together with Him, and we will not speculate about coming ministries, nor speak prematurely of the things which are before us. Rather, this is the hour to be diligent in yielding to His inworkings so that we shall be prepared for whatever HE has purposed.
        Time given to mow the lawn, clean the house, wash the clothes, etc. these activities of our daily routine, can be done-- lived out-- as unto the Lord, and there is a hearing of His voice/ with a plan being fulfilled through it all. "In singleness of heart, fearing God: and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. - for ye serve the Lord." (Colossians 3:22-24). GOD'S HANDIWORK will serve Him regardless of  the level it is on-- spirit, soul, and body, we are the Lord's.
        What AWESOME HANDIWORK- -God all the way, molding and shapening us for that which HE purposes. Our desire is that HE would be glorified, and that all praise should be given to Him.  "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created." (Rev. 4:11). How can we say it more clearly and forcibly? We are not self-made, we are GOD CREATED! "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall shew forth My praise." (Isaiah 42:21). The goodness and mercy of our Lord continues to unfold day by day. May we keep our eyes focused upon Him-- what He does, what He says, what HE IS shall be to His glory. Whatever judgments are needed for our correction, they are not an end in themselves, but simply more of His handiwork as He brings us into oneness with Himself. May we, HIS handiwork, always be to His praise!
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(1)Prinzing, Ray and Doris "Letters of Truth"  Boise, Idaho 83705, P.O. Box 5822

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