Whispers of Expressing

His Life ⁽¹⁾

by Ray and Doris Prinzing

Chapter 9

 GOD'S INDWELLING CONTROL

"However, when everything is subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also subject Himself to he Father Who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all -that is, be everything to  everyone, supreme, the indwelling and controlling factor of life." [1 Corinthians 15:28, Amplified]

            The organ plays softly, and it's prayer-worship time in the service, the congregation sings the meaningful little chorus:

            The desire is there, burning like a purifying flame within. We long to be able to FULLY MANIFEST HIM, to come into that covenant relationship where we truly "live and breathe as one." That everything within us would be fully "subject to Him." Yet we realize that it is not a working of the flesh, not out of the will of man, "Not by might, nor by power, but BY MY SPIRIT, saith the Lord of hosts." [Zechariah 4:6]. Thus to read that ultimately God shall be "ALL IN ALL ―that is, be everything to everyone, supreme, the indwelling and controlling factor of life, " brings renewed assurance to the heart, and we continue to pray, "Lord, have Thine own way within us."
            Truth is truth regardless of whether or not men believe it. The fact is: GOD SHALL BE ALL IN ALL. Our minds cannot fully comprehend what all this means ―but it certainly emphasizes His sovereignty and total triumph. There are no other powers that will be seen in contra-distinction to Him. He, and He alone IS GOD. It is more than a subjection that causes every knee to bow before Him ―for it is not a worship that is forced by coercion, omnipotent power compelling every knee to bow. It is the result of CHANGED NATURES, conquered by His love, freely surrendered to Him, to be FILLED WITH HIS SPIRIT, and thus HE becomes that INDWELLING AND CONTROLING FACTOR OF LIFE.
            It is written, "No man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the holy Spirit." [1 Corinthians 12:3]. Thus when we have the complete fulfillment of Joel 2:28, "I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh..." we begin to understand the glory of this victory of God, and pray all the more to be FILLED WI.TH HIM. In our own life now, and ultimately in "ALL FLESH," in every man!
            It is with joy that we continue to proclaim the promise, that "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." [Habakkuk 2:14]. It staggers the imagination and beggars all description to try and tell what this means ―MANIFESTATIONS OF HIS GLORY to fill all the earth. Every minute earthen vessel, and the earth in its totality.
            This brings us to a remembrance again of the law of circularity. "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. For all things originate with Him and come from Him; all things live through Him, and all things center in and tend to consummate and to end in Him. To Him be glory for ever! Amen." [Romans 11:36, Amplified]. HE IS the Alpha and the Omega of all things. He is the Originator and the Consummator! He will be ALL IN ALL.
            We are also reminded that man is tri-part, body, soul, and spirit, and it is this "spirit" dimension which is far too often ignored, and yet which is the essential part of our being. "The Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him." [Zechariah 12:1]. ―"There is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." [Job 32:8].
            In the age of innocence, man lived in the Garden of Eden, ruled by communion with God, living before God, being responsible to God. "They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day." [Genesis 3:8]. Whatever the dimensions of spiritual reality were known initially in the garden, before the temptation and fall, it could be said that Adam and Eve were neither holy, nor unholy ―but they were innocent. They were very unproven ― very untried. Were they holy, they could not have sinned, for HOLINESS is an attribute of God, unchangeable, incorruptible. We are to become "partakers of His holiness." [Hebrews 12:10]. And when we are, then "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." [1 John 3:9]. There is a STATE OF HOLINESS that we are progressing into as we are BEING born of God.
            We also observe that in the beginning Adam was not self-conscious, he was CONSCIOUS OF GOD, and of his relationship to God. Then came the command from God not to eat of the fruit of a certain tree. Man disobeyed, and THEN THEY KNEW ―suddenly they were very self-conscious. "The eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked." [Genesis 3:7]. Whatever they knew before this, it was all good, but having partaken of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil," they had a different knowing, for now the faculty of the conscience was brought to the foreground, into focus. The word "conscience" means: a knowing with oneself. And now they had gone from God's rule to the self-rule of conscience. Man had gained a knowledge, a knowing with oneself.
            One of the functions of the conscience is to perceive right from wrong. And another function is to condemn or justify. With the partaking of the knowledge of good and evil, we then develop a philosophy of what we esteem to be good, or evil, and we measure everything according to our SELF-KNOWING.
            The eyes of their carnal understanding, sense knowledge, were opened, and they knew themselves. There was no fresh knowledge of heavenly wisdom attained, no fresh beams of divine light shone into their hearts. The first knowing that came to them was that they were now naked, exposed.
            The Serpent, the Tempter, by divine purpose, to be sure, wanted Adam and Eve to eat of this tree of the knowledge of good and evil, knowing that it would DIVIDE AND DESTROY. "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy." [John 10:10]. To this day, as long as man eats of this tree of knowing ―deciding this is good, this is evil, there is an ongoing division taking place. If someone else thinks what we call evil, is to them good, then we are immediately separated one from the other. Divide and conquer is not just a new tactic of man, it dates back to the beginning, as the adversary sought to destroy.
            It matters not where you go, nor what group you fellowship with, as long as people are partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, there will be division. But Jesus Christ has come that we "might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly." When we are all brought to the place that we are partaking of the TREE OF LIFE, then we will MANIFEST LIFE. If we partake of duality, then we express duality.
            So the question readily arises, Why did God arrange for man to partake of this tree? "Howbeit...God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart." [2 Chronicles 32:31]. Now certainly GOD already knows all that is in the heart of men. In one place it is written, "Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man." [John 2:24-25]. But, when God withdraws from man a consciousness of His presence, then man becomes very self-conscious, and is exposed to himself. But left to his own devices, without a consciousness of God being there, man will expose all the inner motivations of his own heart ―and betimes we are shocked at what we see in ourselves, certainly these are not EXPRESSIONS OF HIM, and then we cry out with the Psalmist, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from Thy presence; and take not Thy holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit. Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto Thee." [Psalm 51:10-13].
            Note the word "RENEW" aright spirit within me. You cannot RE-new something if it hadn't once been new. It is because our spirit came from God, pure and innocent, then became defiled with the spirit of this world, that we can now pray for a RENEWAL into His purity again. Likewise the word "RESTORE" into the JOY of His salvation, signifying that we had once known a realm of JOY in Him, lost that joy when man knew himself to be naked, and now needs a vital restoration. That is why the SON REIGNS, rules, works within us, until all is fully CHANGED, purged, made new, and then shall God be all and in all.
            Then this is on-going prayer, UPHOLD ME with Thy Free Spirit. Only as we are upheld by Him, brought into oneness with HIS FREE SPIRIT, will we know true liberty. "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." [2 Corinthians 3:17]. And, we could rightly say, "WHERE THE SPIRIT IS LORD, there is liberty." It is restoration into His Lordship that we find the freedom ― the liberty that we desire. HE IS "the perfect law of liberty." [James 1:25]. Or as one translation gives: "The law that makes men free." Free from the bondage of sin and corruption. Free from the tyranny of self-will and self-centeredness. Free from the law of sin and death.
            When HE is the INDWELLING, CONTROLLING FACTOR of our life, we shall be an expression of glorious liberty ―"The glorious liberty of the children of God." [Romans 8:21]. We repeat again, as one translation gives "into the liberty of the glory." For, "In Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures ever more." [Psalm 16:11].
            It is this carnal knowledge, the minding of self and the things of the flesh, that equals trouble. For knowledge gained by the carnal mind is DEATH. Death bespeaks of separation from the LIFE of God. To mind the things of the Spirit is life and peace ―just the opposite from the minding of SELF which is attuned to the flesh, and the spirit of this world.
            With his disobedience, man was expelled from the Garden of Eden, and then God's rules were represented by the conscience. "When the nations, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their CONSCIENCE also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing." [Romans 2:14-15].
            Even those men, Paul writes, who did not have the outward standard of the law, written on tablets on stone, to help keep them in the right walk, yet it was INTERNAL, written in their heart, and THEIR CONSCIENCE would bear witness to them when they were doing right, or when they were doing wrong. And then in their mind they either felt accused, or thought out excuses for their behaviour.
            While the conscience is a faculty of the spirit (human spirit), it is expressed through the soul, and through self. "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?" [1 Corinthians 2:11]. The problem is that man does not always listen to his conscience. He gives heed to the things without ―the spirit of the world, the enticements of the flesh, and tries betimes to silence that inner voice of conscience.
            Furthermore, it is found that a conscience can become, seared, even as Paul wrote of those "having their conscience seared with a hot iron." [1 Timothy 4:2]. The word "seared" literally means: to brand, cauterize, then to render insensitive. We need to constantly be on guard against anything that would destroy our sensitivity to the Spirit of God, and our own conscience that is quickened by Him.
            How does this searing take place? The rest of the verse goes on to speak of their departing from the faith, and giving heed to doctrines of devils, to become filled with lies, etc. And with man's attention taken up with all these things, he is no longer sensitive to the "still small voice" of the Spirit of God communicating to him through his conscience. Turning to the things of the flesh, with all of its lusts and allurements, the conscience is hushed, ignored, seared. Then every expression through man is of the world in its various degrees of degradation and sin.
            The moralistic sense of the world bends to the desire of the lust of the flesh, until they say, "All is fair in love, and war." There is no need to even expand on this at length ―evidence abounds all around us of those who forsake a clean conscience to fulfill the lust of the flesh, which they call love, and they covet their neighbour's wife, they cheat, devour, destroy, and anything goes for the satisfaction of the flesh. Self-love is exceedingly destructive, and often turns to hate ―hatred towards others, and even a hate for self, negative, death encompassing.
            Deliberate rejection of the conscience causes it to be less sensitive to the truth. "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." [James 4:17].
            When Israel was first brought into the land of Canaan, after their deliverance from Egypt and long journey through the wilderness, Joshua being their leader, and as he came down towards the end of his life, he issued them a strong challenge to serve the Lord ―"Choose you this day whom ye will serve; ―but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." [Joshua 24:15]. It was a stirring time, and Israel was deeply moved, and promised to serve the Lord, and they did so "all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that overlived Joshua." (verse 31).
            But then the years went on, forgotten were the works of the Lord as He had brought them into their promised land. Until eventually we read, "In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." [Judges 17:6]. It became a time of anarchy. When they no longer followed the rule of God within, through their conscience, it became a time of total confusion and disorder.
            So from the level of CONSCIENCE RULE man had to descend still lower to MAN-RULE, by laws, by force, by human government ―man over man, with the stronger to rule the weak.
            After the flood, God told Noah, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." [Genesis 9:6].
            Yet we see that even these authorities are ordained by God to represent Himself in ruling over fallen man. When the righteous are in authority, it goes well for the nation. When the wicked bear rule, sad is the state of affairs, for bondage is increased, injustice abounds, and fear is everywhere. Still, we have to realize that GOD is still the OVER-ALL CONTROLLER, and Paul wrote, "Let every person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God ― by His permission, His sanction; and those that exist do so by God's appointment. Therefore he who resists and sets himself up against the authorities resists what God has appointed and arranged. And those who resist will bring down judgment upon themselves ―receiving the penalty due them." [Romans 13:1-2, Amplified].
            When not under man's jurisdiction, people will do as they please, and far too often, they seek only to satisfy their own flesh, at the expense of everyone around them. Thus the law is given for a restraint, and the rulers are needed to encourage man to obey those laws, that there might be a measure of peace among them. But all of this will change, praise God, and with joy we look forward to a return to HIS RULE, when HE becomes the indwelling and controlling factor of life.
            It could also be stated that many Christians still require the rule of man ―to be controlled by pastors, bishops, headquarters, shepherd coverings, etc. and if this rule is not there, they don't know what to do, how to walk, but are fully disoriented, weak, and wandering aimlessly about. This confusion supports or proves that they are still living in the fallen condition of being ruled by man. They cannot even trust their own conscience, let alone ascend into the higher realms where the Spirit is Lord of their life. They know nothing of what it means to be a son of God. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." [Romans 8:14].
            Though we praise God for all the ministries which HE uses, appoints for the help of men, yet we will never teach for the following of a man, but that higher vision ―that CHRIST become the head of every man. Praise God for all the help and blessing which He brings to you through these pastors, teachers, etc. but keep your eye single unto Jesus, for HE ALONE is the "Author and the Finisher of our faith." This will not produce anarchy, because GOD WILL LEAD YOU BY HIS SPIRIT, and His walk is of holiness, perfection, humility, love, etc. and thus we become EXPRESSIONS OF HIS LIFE, and not just expressions of some man, or man's ministry.
            Israel said to Samuel, "Make us a king to judge us like all the other nations." This was very displeasing to Samuel, and he prayed unto the Lord about it, and God said to him, "They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them." [1 Samuel 8:6-7].
            In the rule of man we do what man says. In the rule of conscience we have an inner self-rule. But in God's rule we live by the revelation of His Spirit. There is a realm of living beyond your conscience. "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." [Galatians 5:25].
            In order to move into the fulness of this SPIRIT RULE, it will obviously require a "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." [2 Corinthians 10:5].
            Furthermore, as God works this glorious restoration with us, we are not losing, but gaining -and the conscience is not abolished, but it is brought into oneness with His Spirit. So Paul said, "Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men." [Acts 24:16]. While Hebrews 10:22, speaks of "Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience." What an inner cleansing, purging is taking place, that once again we might have a pure conscience attuned to the Spirit of God.
            Then shall we also be able to say with Paul, "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the holy Spirit." [Romans 9:1].The Amplified gives: "My conscience (enlightened and prompted) by the holy Spirit, bearing witness with me. "
            "ENLIGHTENED AND PROMPTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT." God's indwelling control is greater than our conscience. Thus the lesser serves the greater, is swallowed up into the greater, and our conscience BEARS WITNESS to the greater which is the Spirit. This is a marvellous working of God, that as we go from glory to glory, we do not lose the lesser, but it is raised to the higher dimensions. "When that which is perfect is come," then that which is "in part" is no longer identifiable for its "in part" state, it is swallowed up into the whole, that GOD MAY BE ALL IN ALL.
            John gives us another glimpse into these beautiful truths, when he writes, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day..." [Revelation 1:10]. We note that the word "was" is the Greek word "ginomai" meaning: to become, and thus signifies an entrance into a different state or condition. Then the word "in" is the Greek "en", which makes it a preposition followed by the locative case, and thus reads, "I BECAME IN THE SPHERE OF THE SPIRIT..." This was not the relative control of the holy Spirit as he had known it in day to day living, wherein perhaps his yelding is not perfected. Here the degree of control is increased from a relative to an absolute one, GOD'S TOTAL CONTROL, beyond any action of man's will, etc. Then the revelation was given to him of those things most profound and glorious.
            God waits with long patience for the day when He has brought man into this union with Himself once again. And we can hear some of the call of His own heart, when we read, "0 that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them, and with their children for ever." [Deuteronomy 5:29].
            Shall that day ever come? YES! "A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh... and I will put My Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them." [Ezekiel 36:26-27].
            We read that "IN HIM we live, and move, and have our being." [Acts 17:28] and this is a marvellous truth. But, what about when, IN US HE LIVES, AND MOVES, AND HAS HIS BEING? Praise God, this too shall be realized, for "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." [2 Corinthians 6:16].Then every expression that comes through His people shall be expressions of HIS LIFE, and we shall be found to His glory and praise. May the Lord indeed hasten the day of this reality!