FINAL INSTRUCTIONS

by | Nov 20, 2017 | Christianity Today | 14 comments

 God is doing a secret work in our day. He is raising up a hungry people who are growing more and more dissatisfied with the fleshly, worldly system as it now exists—even in the church.

These God-hungry people are saying among themselves, “This is not it. There is something more. The bigness and the sensationalism of it all has left us empty and dry. We want more. More than entertainment. More than big, showy buildings. More than a shallow celebrity gospel. We want deeper values. We want to see Jesus. We want spotless robes of righteousness. We want to go back to doing things in total dependence on God.”

I see it all over the nation today — disillusioned Christians searching for reality. The people in the pew are beginning to fast and pray. They are the ones who now weep between the porch and the altar. And, they are crying out for more depth and more of eternal values from the pulpit. If the minister of their church goes on in some egocentric way, pursuing expensive dreams, they will go out looking for a place where their deepest spiritual needs will be met.

I know it to be a fact that numerous ministers share my own desperate hunger for a deeper work of God in the church and ministry today. There seems to be a secret underground network of men of God who are stripping themselves down, humbling themselves, and getting back into the secret closet of prayer. Recently I have met a number of ministers, of various denominations, who are praying up to 6 and 8 hours a day. They are fasting. Some of these dear men of God grieve over conditions in the church today. God is revealing to all praying people that a glorious new work of the Spirit is about to break forth. God is going to shake everything that can be shaken. He will tear down the old political, backslidden, ecclesiastical system. He will disown the formal, super-church structure. He will chase out of His presence all who are engaging in self-promoting ministries.

Be honest, saints of God. Are you really satisfied with the religious system today, and especially in your church? Some are. But most are not getting their needs met. I believe we have gotten off the track of true spirituality. The spiritual leanness of so many Christians today is a direct result of getting into the flesh — trying to do kingdom work in our own power, with worldly methods. Our values are becoming perverted.

Shame on us! We are substituting temporal values for eternal ones. We have evangelists and teachers who specialize in telling believers how much God owes them. Material blessings are magnified, spiritual ones minimized. According to some, it is our right to be rich, successful, and immune to all pain.

These teachers point to themselves as examples of prosperity. “Look at me,” it is said, “I have proved the promises. I live well. I am never sick — I have no unpaid bills. I drive the best cars. I live in the finest home. It works for me, so believe as I do and you can have what I have.”

Beloved, how much of that teaching will stand up before the judgment seat of Christ? There is a growing inner knowledge in me that most of our modern, self-centered teaching is going to be consumed before the flaming eyes of the Son of God.

John, in his vision of the Son of God, saw an awesome sight.

“…his head and his hair were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire…” (Rev. 1:14).

John goes on to say,

“…I fell at his feet as dead…” (v.17).

Will any of us, as teachers and evangelists, be able to stand before those piercing eyes of flaming fire? Can any Christian look Him in the eyes? No ego can withstand His gaze. No self-centered dreams can go unexposed. All secret sin will be exposed as a terrible abomination in His sight.

All the things we have accumulated will burn. All the great works we have done for Him, with such zeal and sweat, will they also burn?

burn

How important is what you are doing to God’s kingdom? God can give you the desire of your heart, but send leanness to your soul. God assisted Israel in their desire to have a king. But He later disciplined them for their selfish motives.

Are you in some kind of competitive race? Are you doing things for God just to keep up with others? In eternity, looking back—how really necessary will it all be then?

Children of God, what is the good of what you and I are doing? Do we have motives based on eternal values? If we truly believe the end of all things is upon us, what should we be doing about purging our values? What is it going to take to wake us up and get us out of the drift toward ease and comfort?

I confess to you that it has taken years for me to live only for eternal values. I grieve when I think back of the time and money I wasted trying to build something tangible for God. I wanted something people could see. How important I thought those buildings were to God’s kingdom. I convinced myself, “God deserves the best.” He does—but not in bricks, mortar, and steel—He deserves the best of our time and yieldedness. Thank God for the day the Spirit revealed to me how shallow my values were! I spent 20 years planning programs, building buildings, running all over the world trying to show God how important to His kingdom I was. All the while my reputation grew as a minister of faith and vision. Yet, after each new project, I felt a letdown. No sooner was one building finished, and I was already planning another. I was an idea-man for God. I had more ideas than any preacher in America. Ideas on how to evangelize. How to organize New Testament programs. The programs and ideas were successful enough to entrap me and keep me on the treadmill of busy-ness.

But all along my heart yearned for more. I knew the blessing was not in building. Not in some well-planned scheme to reach the lost. Not in bigness, and not in activity. I discovered the hard way, that the glory of God, the peace and joy of the Spirit, was in being stripped down, emptied, and made totally weak. God had to expose all my values. He turned His flaming eyes on my soul and showed me I had better reject my old way of doing things, or be lost in a maze of self-imposed activity.

Now, my greatest joy is waiting upon Him for direction. I have made time to be alone with Him, and have prepared my soul to abide in His quiet presence. He is letting me sense what the Spirit is saying to this generation. The more He empties me, the more He fills me with a desire to depend only on Him for everything. I see now that all along the Lord was waiting for me to lay down all my plans, all my ambitions, and be given over to Him as a bondslave. The sweat is now gone – the pressure is off. He is recreating all my values.

The Final Shaking

What will happen when God begins to shake everything that can be shaken? When all false values tumble and earthly dreams and plans lose their meaning?

Sadly, many of God’s children are going to end up bewildered and confused. As the world moves into the era of economic collapse – when persecution falls even upon civilized nations – when governments are convulsing and tottering on the brink of total collapse — how many Christians will survive the test?

test

A lot of God’s people are going to wonder where they are. Ministers who are caught up in the trap of human vision will leave the ministry confused, all their work to no avail. Multitudes will be asking, “What’s it all about? What’s happening? What does the future hold? Where are we? Who can tell us the mind of God?”

We are now moving swiftly into what we know as the end time. We had better be in possession of a heavenly vision of holiness and humility. The testing time is coming down upon us with lightning speed. It is going to take more than a doctrine or a particular teaching to see us through. We are going to have to really know the Lord in His fullness. We had better have our eyes on eternal values. Only spiritual things are going to remain. Only spiritual people will understand what is happening and not faint. We must be linked up with the mind of the Spirit so we will not be thrown by the radical changes that are coming. We must bring ourselves, to the place we have nothing to lose. We need to walk away from all the junk in our lives — we are going to lose it all anyhow.

How much of God do you possess in this final hour of disintegration and fear? How earthly are you? How transitory are your desires? Have your values been sifted and purged by the Spirit of almighty God? How much of the world interests you — how much time is consumed in chasing after things that don’t matter now?

End-Time Restlessness

You will know when the Spirit is calling you out of the shallow Christianity about you. You will know when the Lord is wanting to touch you in a supernatural way. You will know when He is calling you out of the ordinary. He will stir your nest. An unexplainable divine restlessness will come upon you. You will become disinterested in what you have been doing. All your successes will leave you feeling empty and unfulfilled. Nothing that you have or do will meet the need in you for reality. You will sense that a very deep need in you has not yet been met — questions that have never been answered. A shadow of dissatisfaction will be cast over your entire life.

That is a mark of God’s dealing with you in a supernatural way, trying to get you to turn loose of all that you hold dear. It is His way of showing you that your needs are really spiritual and not physical.

You will feel His magnetic pull back to prayer — back to spiritual hunger, to broken-ness and self-emptying. Soon, you will be touching those satisfying eternal values and your soul will cry out, “This is what I’ve been wanting all along. He has taken away the earthly and replaced it with the spiritual.”

Saints, the key word is hunger. He has promised to fill the hungry heart. I have never been so hungry for God. That hunger almost overwhelms me at times. Every waking hour my heart reaches out to Him. Because His thoughts are always on my mind, the things of the world have lost their value. I see things as Paul did — nothing but the dung of this world. I am becoming a nobody—it feels so good.

Do you also sense this call to a deeper walk with God? Is your soul hungry for more of the Spirit in your life? If so, end the civil war in you — by yielding everything you have to the Master. The misery goes the very moment you surrender all to Him. You can know true peace and happiness the moment you quit trying to be somebody. Want nothing but Jesus, and your life will take on a new meaning.

rest

Don’t Waste Another Hour

My greatest grief is that it took so long for me to get out of God’s way. I wasted years doing things simply out of compassion. I was spiritually blind, not knowing that God must clearly direct every step I take. I had an international pulpit — preaching to thousands — with crowded altars. Thank God He showed me there was much more. The numbers and the crowds meant nothing. I wanted to see people get deeper into the Lord. I wanted nothing more to do with shallow decisions. God had to totally change my way of thinking, and now, like Gideon, I know that big is not always best.

Don’t let it happen to you. Take stock of your life and values. Shut yourself up with God alone in the secret closet. Pray diligently for spiritual hunger. Ask God to give you a spirit of sorrow for wasting so much time. Pray for a greater desire for His Word. Pray for a broken heart. Pray for a purging and a purifying work in your life. Then get ready to be cast into the fire of testing.

“…I will purge the sons of Levi…” (Mal. 3:3)

I can tell you it’s worth it! The purging will not seem joyous, but rather grievous. But you will soon glorify the Lord for the results in your life. All the anxiety will be gone. All worldly ambition will die. Your spiritual eyes will be opened to truth. The Spirit will give you revelation knowledge. You will exchange the riches of this world for the true riches of Christ Jesus. You will wake up each morning with an over-flowing joy. Your soul will cry out “I found what my soul has been longing for. Rest–beautiful rest in my Lord.”

You can then say with David, the Psalmist — “In his presence is there is fullness of joy; at his right hand there are pleasures forevermore…” (Ps.16:11).

Proof Scriptures

“…for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ So then everyone of us shall give an account of himself to God…”(Rom. 14:10-12).

“…The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer…” (I Pet. 4:7).

“… The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light…” (Rom. 13:12).

“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build, upon this foundation gold stones, wood, hay, stubble; every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire…” (I Cor. 3: 11-15).

14 Comments

  1. pmitchell381

    Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

  2. Scott Trandel

    Wow! This is where I’m headed. I’ve been saying much of this for some time. Thank you for the on-time word!

  3. Sheila

    Awesome stuff Mario!
    Thank you and God Bless!

  4. Karen

    Pastor Wilkerson,
    You are RIGHT on. My husband and I longed for the deeper spiritual things of God. Leaving our church of swveral years and now finding that church that teaches the full gospel with expectations that God still moves as He promised has been fulfilling in our continued walk with Him. God is calling His people to draw nearer to Him as we know our time on this earth is short. Come Lord Jesus Come!

  5. aangelknight4u

    Awesome inspiring words to cause change…loved it.

  6. Aaron

    So good!!

  7. Aaron

    Mario
    Dave wikerson was so right on.
    Yet i have heard people say he was legalistic because he held people with public representation (song leaders,musicians,assistant pastors,etc) in time square church to a ministry agreement form that put boundries on ministers in the church.
    People with platform expression had to conform to a set of guidlines things like abstaining from alcohol and acountability to attendance or tithing.
    Could you give your take on ministry standards?
    I dont have problem with it because i dont have a problem with those things.

    • Aaron

      As a matter of fact i would give up a lot to be discipled under Dave wikerson.

  8. Linda J Pontnack

    YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH BALANCE. JESUS said in his word that “If you ask anything In MY name, that will I do” Also God’s Word saids “when you are in Christ, you are Abraham’s seed & an Heir according to the promise.” Also Jesus saids “Seek FIRST GOD’s Kingdom & His Righteousness & ALL these other things (divine health & healing, opulent lifestyle dedicated to Christ) will be added to you” Get balance in your message. Jesus said STOP judging your brother…Love one another as he loves us.” Love helps those preachers who are straying not condemn them!

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    • Aaron

      Linda it would seem you are unfamiliar with RIGHTIOUS JUDGMENT.
      I would turn off joseph prince,rick warren and joel osteen get alone with a bible and concordance and do a study on judgment.
      Your accusation of not being balanced is coming from an unbalenced point of view.
      Mario is making a valid point few are willing to make.
      Mostly because of reactions like yours no doubt.
      Check your heart, honestly.
      Why would you publicly make a stand on the internet against a man of God that is promoting a higher calling and deeper walk with God.
      If it makes you that angry there must be a problem.
      You could have overlooked it moved on but you took time to express your FEELINGS by posting a contrary statment.
      Rebellion is a nasty spirit.
      I would seek deliverance.
      I was just like you at one time.
      Jesus can set you free.
      And when he does your eyes will be open.
      Happy thanksgiving and be safe especialy if your deep frying a turkey.
      Metal,oil,steam and fire can be dangerous.

      Happy thanksgiving

      https://youtu.be/8t2dwPTnsyA

  9. David Larson

    I haven’t read this post form Mario yet, I suppose I will, and maybe I should have before sending this link. But the church (lower case for a reason) is irrelevant and we all now why. No need to beat a dead horse. No dead preachers, please. If you’re alive in this time, you’re alive for a reason. Check this post. This is the real deal, church or not.

    https://www.facebook.com/ liftable/videos/ 2022448677989846/

    No poems, no messages going nowhere, no nonsense, no turkeys. You don’t have to be a preacher. Live your life and others will notice. Put your baster away.

  10. David Larson

    https://www.facebook.com/ liftable/videos/ 2022448677989846/

    Facebook would like to hide this from you. If it doesn’t come up to the explanation of taking a knee, then type in the full address.

  11. Barry

    “Sadly, many of God’s children are going to end up bewildered and confused. As the world moves into the era of economic collapse – when persecution falls even upon civilized nations – when governments are convulsing and tottering on the brink of total collapse — how many Christians will survive the test?”

    So many sermons about the last generation and that scripture in Timothy 3:1,2 being applied to millennials:

    “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.”

    Maybe these sermons are somewhat true millennial and all generations. Paul seems to be referencing his generation. However, I had a dream one time about this verse and I what I saw was more like a devastating war and governments in shambles that ushered in the level lawlessness being described. Although all of these things obviously exist currently, the dream had more of a Mad Max feel to it. Something like Wilkerson describes that is yet to that happen rather than entitlement and safe spaces. I got the impression it will be a brutal time to be alive.

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