Page 159 - Evidence of Things Unseen

works in us, but life in you.

Certainly I knew some trials in the many years preceding 1999. After all, I had a
sincere devotion to Christ, and a desire to please Him. But my trials were fewer and far
between. There were great seasons when the Lord simply left me alone to follow the desires
of my heart. Since 1999, when I understood that Yahweh needed to do a work in my life of
bringing all things in this soul of mine under subjection to His rule, the pace has greatly
accelerated. I said, “God, bring me to a quick death, for I want the life of Christ to be
revealed in me.”
He began by stripping me of all that I had acquired through many years of covetous
living. In 1999 I was forced to file for bankruptcy. I surrendered my home, and my custom
van to the creditors. At the direction of the Spirit of Christ I held a yard sale and sold all my
furniture and worldly goods. He then led me to trust Him for all of my provision as I
focused on fulfilling the ministry of writing to which He had called me.
I had a wife and two children, and my faith was far from perfect. The Lord led me to
trial after trial in the area of provision, and at each test I had to wait patiently, not seeking
to deliver myself by carnal means, and in every instance He came through. What a sifting
it was to this man who has feet of clay and a mind unsettled by many fears, doubts and
unbelief. In six years time the Lord led our family to move over fifteen times, and at each
new move I had no idea where I was to go, or through what means my family’s provision
was to be manifest. As I obeyed, and put my feet to the path the Father showed me, He
always opened up a way. His pattern was always, “Put your feet in the water and then you
will see them part.”

Joshua 3:13
“And it shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark
of Yahweh, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters
of the Jordan shall be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above
shall stand in one heap.”

It would do the Israelites no good to protest that everyone else who crossed the Jordan
did so by boat. Why should they have to do things differently? I also knew that it would do
me no good to protest that no one else I knew was living the way I was. I did not know of
anyone else who was going out to move their family time after time without knowing where
they were going or how they would find their provision. This was the path the Spirit led me
on. I had to do as He directed. It did make things more difficult that even the Christians I
knew called me a fool and condemned my walk. I was reproached for my obedience to the
Spirit’s leading.

Romans 15:3
For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, "The reproaches of those
who reproached Thee fell upon Me."

Have you ever considered that Christ was reproached for living in the manner in which
His Father directed Him to live? He had no job. He had no home. He traveled about with
a number of disciples, and they received their substance from whatever means the Father
provided. Oftentimes the Lord’s provision came from the hands of a group of devoted