By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible (Hebrews 11:24-27).

Moses paid the price to follow God, refusing the power, riches and prestige in the court of Pharaoh. He had been reared in luxury, in a palace. Anything money could buy he had. Servants waited on him. Even his own mother was brought in to be one of his servants. Schooled by the best teachers in Egypt of his day, he was well educated. Admired, Moses could have married any Egyptian girl of his choice. Many of them would have been honored to have been his wife, considering his position. In that kingdom, he was important, but he gave it all up to follow God, to take his place among slaves.

Life in Pharaoh’s court provided every luxury the world had to offer. What did the Hebrews have to offer Moses? Poverty, misery, exile, frustration, distress, hatred. They had nothing of value, as far as the world was concerned, but Moses saw beyond earthly value; he saw the true living God, the Jehovah of the Children of Israel.

Moses Prophesied about Jesus

Through the Spirit of God, Moses had a vision of Jesus, and he prophesied of the great Prophet to come. Peter tells us about this prophecy and the consequences of not listening to that Prophet: For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people (Acts 3:22,23).

Moses didn’t have a complete revelation of Jesus in one instant, but as he followed the Lord, day by day he learned much, and it all added up. Moses kept that wonderful vision in mind, that vision of the Lord and what was to come.

When I say he had a vision of Jesus I don’t mean he actually saw Him or that Jesus came to him in person. There are different kinds of visions. Moses was given insight to the Lord’s greatness, to the Son of God, for he had decided to choose the better way of following the Lord.

A Friend of the World Is an Enemy of God

Have you renounced the pleasures of this world, or do you still hang on to them? Are you one seeking to be entertained, looking for happiness in worldly amusements? Perhaps you don’t actually go into sin, but are you so busy enjoying the pursuits of self that you neglect the work of God? Are you so preoccupied seeking entertainment that you are not praying as you should, not fasting and not taking time to read the Word of God? Are you so taken up with man’s opinions that sin appears innocent to you? How involved with the world are you? Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (II Corinthians 6:14-18; 7:1). Separate from the world.

If you are a friend of the world, you are an enemy of God. It’s easy to be involved with this world, easy for the pleasures of the world to take hold of you. Because the world has such a direct contact with you by radio, television, magazines, the Internet and other things, you can easily be distracted from the plan of God for your life.

Are Your Days Lost Causes?

As a sensible, anointed, Holy Spirit-filled child of God, you must be able to separate what will help you in the Lord, what will edify and bless you, from what won’t. The Bible says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12). Work out your salvation with what will help you, what is best for you, what will edify you in the Lord. Did your actions yesterday help you, did they bless you? Were you a better person because of what you did? Was God enriched, Heaven blessed by your actions? Was it a lost day for God? How about two days ago: Did you do anything to edify yourself, anything that blessed you in the Lord and built up your faith? Did you climb a little higher in Him? Did you yield to Him a little more? Did you do anything to enrich Heaven last week? Did Heaven record anything favorable about you during those days? Did the angels rejoice because of what you did? Did they give the Lord a good report concerning you, or did they shake their heads, saying, “Nothing today, Lord”? Are your days lost causes?

Angel Ministers

The angels must feel sad at times in reporting to the Lord. They are there to minister to you, to help you, to protect you. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation (Hebrews 1:14)? But the angels cannot keep you out of danger if you turn a deaf ear to their directions. They can’t keep you out of places you should not go if you want to go. You have free choice; angels do not have the power to take your choice from you or to make you do anything against your own will, and that is why it is so important to yield your will to the Lord. Unless you yield your all to the Lord, you won’t be obedient to Him; you will be obedient to the will of self.

Trying to follow the Lord’s teachings without being yielded to Him brings frustration, resentment and rebellion. It brings the kind of hypocrisy that leads some churchgoers to sneak off and indulge in what they know the Lord and other church members wouldn’t approve of.

It isn’t for me to draw lines and tell people how to dress, where they can or can’t go. I peach the Word of God to help everyone I can to yield to the Holy Spirit so that He can regulate their actions according to the Word. I preach the Word of God, and people are free to do with it what they choose. This is the way Jesus taught when He was here on Earth. He even spoke in parables so those who wanted more of Him could ask what the parables meant, and those who didn’t could close their minds and go on their own way. Jesus told people what the will of the Father was; He gave teachings that would edify and show how to please the Father. What people did with His teachings was left up to them.

Moses Weighed His Options

Following God, Moses chose the right path. Will you yield to God and make the right choices? Have you decided to seek the world’s approval, to hold dear that which millions and millions have sold their souls to hell for? Will you worship money, prestige and pleasures of the flesh?

Moses weighed out all his options, and came to the conclusion that what God had in store for him was much greater than all the wealth and power in the world. He had the foresight to know that the world’s pleasures would last only a season and then he would have to die.

Everyone should visit a cemetery once in a while to bring home the fact that one day they will go the way of all flesh—only those taken alive in the Rapture will not die. The devil can fool you into feeling that death will never come to you, that you have a long time before you have to face it. In reality, you may have but a few days to live, a few months at the most.

Although the times we live in are growing more and more perilous, we as children of God should be delighted that Jesus is coming to rescue us. The torments, the burdens, the battles with the devil at every turn are not easy, but we are going to be delivered from the devil, removed from his presence to a place where he can never ever come near us again. For this wonderful deliverance, there is a great price to pay. In searching the pages of God’s Holy Word, we find that anyone who was used by God or who came into the greatness of God had to pay that great price.

Never Take Your Life out of God’s Hands

Some people are content to go to Heaven doing God’s permissible will and not His divine will—and they can get there through the blood of Jesus—but they might not make the Rapture. Others are willing to pay a great price to do His precious divine will, the complete will of God, and to please God in all things.

It’s wonderful to be used by God anytime He wants and to have the power of God moving in your life in this hour. This is a great time to be on the face of the earth, to be a person so yielded to the Spirit of the Lord that He can use you whenever and wherever He wants, speak His words through you to whomever He wants to hear. How fabulous to think you can be a vessel so yielded that you never take your life out of the hands of God! Each day you say, Use me, Lord! Use me!

A Time of Preparation

Moses was in no condition to lead the Israelites when he left the palace of Pharaoh. It took forty years in the desert to prepare him before the Lord talked to him at the burning bush. Moses came to the place he could be trusted with the miracle rod, the rod of faith that performed miracles. By assuming it was he not God who was bringing about the miracles, Moses could have misused God’s power. He could have boasted to Pharaoh how he, Moses, would show great wonders. Moses didn’t do any of it; he remained most humble. God waited until Moses would use His power in the right way, until Moses would have the right attitude.

Moses was seeking to find a reality in Jehovah God, the great I-Am. At the burning bush he found that reality. Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God (Exodus 3:1-6).

In the burning bush Moses found what he was looking for, and in our burning bush today, the Holy Ghost, we find what we are looking for. Through the fire of the Holy Spirit, we have the reality and greatness of God. Now God is so real to us we wonder why He isn’t that real to everyone else. But we must remember, we didn’t always have the fire of the Holy Spirit.

Moses had awesome experiences with the Lord. As he stood before the Red Sea and commanded the waters to separate, he must have felt overwhelmed with the greatness of God. But look at the struggles he endured to reach that place. What a price Moses paid! The days, the nights of dealing with a disobedient people as the devil tormented him were difficult.

Many, many years of preparation took place before the Lord dared take Moses to Mount Sinai where he lived in the presence of God without food or water for forty days and nights. Moses said, When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water (Deuteronomy 9:9).

With His own finger, God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone. And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God (Exodus 31:18). Imagine how Moses felt! To be secluded with God Himself for forty days and nights while He wrote His commandments would be fantastic. Then to have His big hand reach down to put them into your hands—what a thrill!

The Flesh Must Be Crucified

Some people, content to see others work for God, are not willing to pay the price so that God can use them in a great way. God exerts much effort to get us ready for His work. Your journey has not been an easy one if you have been willing to yield all to God, but the wonder of experiencing His greatness in your life is beyond price. If you are one who was here when the Lord called us into the prayer closet for two hours on Wednesday, it wasn’t easy, but you helped bring about something great and mighty to this world-wide Jesus outreach. You who have joined us later found it not easy to become part of such a force. To join in with preaching coming straight and direct from the Word of God in this modern hour is quite a transition for some. Being dedicated to God goes against the flesh. It hasn’t been easy spending hours and hours in God’s presence, crucifying the flesh, but the blessings of God and the way God is moving now and the fantastic miracles we are seeing make any sacrifice worth it.

As we see the greatness of God poured out, it gives us more energy, strength and determination to pay whatever price God asks. Have you decided that if it takes your life, you will gladly give it to follow the Lord all the way in this last and final hour? I’ll give mine for that cause. I mean it, and the Holy Spirit bears witness in my heart that I mean it. If I get to use the all-out greatness of God in this last hour only a short while, I’ll give my life to use it for that short while.

People Must Have God’s Reality

Multitudes need deliverance, multitudes need help. Throngs of people are filled with doubt, despair and disease. They have been warped and almost destroyed by skeptics, agnostics and false teachers. Even some ministers who claim to preach the Word of God tell their congregations that God’s power does not move for people today, that miracles and healings were only in the time of Jesus, that a God of love wouldn’t dream of sending people to hell—all horrible lies of the devil! They have erased the power of God from the minds and lives of many. It will take the all-out miracle power of God to deliver them, to give them a real faith in the true and living God.

We must bring God’s reality to God’s people. We can only bring them that reality if we first have it in our own lives. You can’t serve what you don’t have. God cannot serve through you unless He first gives to you what He wants served. At this point, many fail. God must be able to trust you with what He wants served. You must have holy hands, a holy heart and holy lips yielded so completely to Him that He can depend on you to handle what He gives you to serve to others.

They Soon Forgot God’s Miracles

Moses went forth, criticized, belittled even by his own people. How many told him that they appreciated him? Most grumbled, complained and were ready to turn against him in an instant. What a price to pay—but he paid it. As long as Moses prayed down a great miracle that brought a mighty deliverance, they were quiet. For a little while they would enjoy it, but as soon as everything wasn’t going their way, they started complaining again. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. How he had wrought his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the field of Zoan (Psalm 78:41-43).

God didn’t lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage to leave them in the wilderness. He started to the land of Canaan with them, but because of their unbelief and murmuring He couldn’t take them right in. What a price Moses paid with those people in the wilderness for forty years! They brought their judgments upon themselves.

Angels Buried Moses

I once felt sorry for Moses because he didn’t get to enter the land of Canaan, but no more. God did him a great favor by taking him to a mountain and showing him the land. Had he been the one to lead them into Canaan, he would have been disappointed in the people once again because they still didn’t do right. Moses would have continued to be troubled, tormented.

The Lord took Moses on to Heaven and angels were the undertakers; God didn’t let man handle his body; in fact, man has never found his grave. God didn’t want anyone to have the bones of Moses. The Israelites were so involved in idol gods, that had they found the bones of Moses, they probably would have worshiped them. I’m sure Moses was glad he was completely out of reach.

The devil tried to claim the body of Moses. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee (Jude 1:9). Since the devil disputed with the angels over Moses’ body, imagine how much more will he try to get the bodies of you who are alive! But the blood of Jesus is your protection. No power can stand before that wonderful miracle-working blood power.

Favoritism Brought Jealousy

I think of the price Joseph paid and the wonderful spirit he had through it all. Joseph was favored by his father (Jacob, also called Israel) who made him a special coat of many colors. The favoritism shown Joseph brought jealousy. His brothers hated him not only because of the coat, but also because of the revelations the Lord gave him concerning them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours. And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying (Genesis 37:3-11).

Joseph’s family thought he was saying he would be a ruler over them, and they didn’t like it one bit. That was exactly what he was going to be, but before it could happen, his brothers sold him as a slave.

Sold for Twenty Pieces of Silver

Imagine how agonized Joseph was! His own brothers threw him into a waterless pit as though he were an animal. And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt (Genesis 37:23-28). His brothers sold Joseph into slavery. They knew what they were doing to him, because later they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear… (Genesis 42:21).

Joseph cried and cried. At first he thought it must be a cruel joke, but it was just cruel. I imagine that for days, weeks, months Joseph could hear the silver being counted out for his price. It must have gone over and over in his mind as he thought about his loving father and the grief he was going through. Joseph paid a price, but he looked at it differently from what most would. He looked without anger, without bitterness, revenge or unforgiveness, and that is the same way we must look on our persecutions.

Joseph didn’t have a life of his own, but was sold to an officer of Pharaoh. He now had a fashionable home to be a servant in. Unfortunately, his master’s wife wanted him; fortunately, Joseph rejected her. One day he fled from her in such a hurry that he left his coat behind. His master’s wife lied about him, said she had rejected his advances: And look, here’s his coat he left when I had to fight him off! Because of her lies, Joseph was sent to prison. Twice he got into trouble over something so innocent as a coat. It wasn’t the coat the devil was after, of course; it was Joseph. The devil doesn’t want your possessions; he wants you.

How would you have felt had you been Joseph? Not only were you sold by your brothers into slavery because of their jealousy, now you were in the dungeon because of a lie. But even in prison, Joseph had favor. God looked out for him.

God Gives Favor

No matter your hard places; no matter where you are, God will give you favor if you walk in His divine will. It may not be the kind of favor you want. God didn’t give Joseph favor that kept him out of the dungeon, but once in the dungeon, Joseph had that favor. Some of us don’t recognize the favor God gives us in difficult times; we look at the situations and not how God is working. Too often we think God has forgotten us, when all the time He is waiting for us to yield ourselves completely to Him so He can bless us with His favor.

In prison, Joseph was put in charge of everyone else. And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt. And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers. And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound. And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, which were bound in the prison. And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day? And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you (Genesis 40:1-3,5-8).

God gave Joseph the interpretations, and things happened just as he said. The baker was killed right away, and the butler set free.

The butler said he would remember Joseph—and he did, a few years later when Pharaoh needed a dream interpreted. The butler, freed from prison, went out to forget all about Joseph—but God didn’t forget.

Although people may forget you, God never will. If you are born again and walking with Him, you have favor with Him. No matter the trials you may be going through, God is favoring you, and you are getting along far better than you would without Him. No matter the circumstances surrounding you, if you are in God’s divine will, you have the favor of God, and He is working for you. Always see the hand of God.

Instead of hating, Joseph spent time forgiving. Have you ever spent time forgiving wrongs done to you? Some people never forget the wrongs. In bitterness, they rehash them over and over in their minds instead of dwelling on deliverance and forgiveness.

Have a Little Talk with Self

You can make yourself forgive; sit down and have a talk with self. If self doesn’t listen, you may have to threaten it with a fast, with an extra hour each day in the prayer chamber. Then take self close to the person you had a problem with. If self begins to draw up, remind self what you told it. You can straighten out self if you are firm, and when you win the victory, it’s sweet.

The Prison of Bitterness and Revenge

In prison, Joseph had much time to bring self under subjection. He could have plotted which brother he was going to get revenge on first, but Joseph could never have been made second to Pharaoh in Egypt had he not gotten all the bitterness out of his heart.

In this life, you will be mistreated by others; some may say all kinds of hurtful things against you. They may lie about you, slander you, but never let injustice lock you up in the prison of bitterness and revenge. If you do, God can’t raise you up to the place He wants you in this final hour. We all have a work to do for Him. If you have something in your heart against another, you must get it out of the way. Hard? Yes, it’s hard, but it’s the only way out of that prison to the top of the mountain.

Joseph didn’t conquer overnight. I don’t know how long it took him to be rid of hurt and bitterness, but he did it by the time he was thirty years old when he was second only to Pharaoh. It took time to get Joseph ready. He was human; he had to work to get rid of bitterness. Those nights he lay awake crying, he must have felt hatred for those brothers and what they had done to him. God had to wait until it all was gone. God is waiting until He can get hindrances out of us.

Joseph Was in Egypt for a Purpose

Could you have walked out of prison with the same sweet attitude of Joseph? Could you have walked out saying, “God, your hand is upon me”? Could you have realized your brethren were more miserable than you, that you still loved them? Probably never a day passed that Joseph’s brothers didn’t think about him.

God was with Joseph. He was sent to Egypt for a purpose, and he was ready for it. The day came when a great famine caused Joseph’s brothers to journey to Egypt for food. Joseph, in charge of food distribution, recognized them, but they didn’t know him. He must have looked and sounded like an Egyptian by now. He loved them but he wanted to find out if they loved him before he revealed himself. There is no need to go back into something if no correction has been made. There was no need for Joseph to reveal himself to his brethren if they were going to kill him on the spot so their father would never know what they had done. Joseph had to find all this out, and he tested them. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies: Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. And he put them all together into ward three days. And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God: If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes (Genesis 42:7-24).

Later Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, and they condemned themselves. But Joseph said, Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life (Genesis 45:5). The love and forgiveness in that scripture is thrilling!

In Joseph is found the Spirit of Jesus. Don’t torment yourself about what you did to me. Don’t grieve: The Lord sent me to save you. Can we look at our enemies today and know God has a hand in our encounters with them? Forgiveness can come hard, especially when you are going through the experience, when you are dealing with the person who persecutes you; but when you have the Spirit of Jesus you forgive.

Persecution Can Keep You Close to God

Do you have any thorns, anyone who is a thorn to you, blocking your road to Heaven? Perhaps if it weren’t for that person, you would not make it to Heaven.

Some groan about the one they married: Oh God, why did you give me this person! Of all the people I could have married, why this one! God didn’t give them their mate: they chose for themselves. I have seen people who were married to the meanest of mates. How they could even bear to go home was a mystery to me. But they had the victory and held on to God. Finally that mean one found salvation. Now the one who had held on to God for so long backslid.

I have seen cases where the wife knew she had better have the victory when she got home because she was going to meet the devil, tail and all. Then her husband received salvation. Wife didn’t have to pray for her survival and peace of mind: she had a little angel at home. It didn’t matter whether she read her Bible anymore. Everything had worked out. But little by little she grew away from God. Before she knew it, she had gone away from Him altogether.

Persecution can force people deeper into God or further away from Him. In this final hour, persecution will keep the Bride close to God. She will fast, pray and live in the Word of God. More than ever, the members of the bridal company will talk to God in all faith believing. There is a great price to pay for yielding all to God, but the paying will be more than worth the price. The “bears” will be after you; souls are at stake, and everyone of you will be crying out, “Lord help us finish your work, and then come and get us!”

Do You Blame God?

If you are content with the world, you haven’t paid the price of denying self and taking up your cross to follow Jesus all the way. Are you going to pay the price? What price will you pay for the greatness of God?

Joseph was able to preserve his whole family because he paid the price. Are you willing to pay the all-out price so that all your loved ones will be preserved from the Tribulation Period? Are you willing to pay any price so that they come to God?

When you come before the Lord, will you be bitter about the path He brought you? Do you think God has done you an injustice? Are you always looking to your past in resentment? Do you blame God? You can’t do that. You can’t blame God for anything that comes your way.

Do you blame God about your job if it isn’t to your liking? You can’t do that.

Do you resent God because it seems He blesses others more than He blesses you? You can’t do that.

Put self down in that chair and have another talk with it. You must have control over self. Tell self that it will never speak a word against God, and if it does, make self pay. Tell self you will never allow it to resent God or whatever He brings your way. Fast, pray and live in the Word of God until self is put under subjection to God’s will. Rise up against self, your worst enemy. When self is conquered, you have conquered all. When Moses conquered Moses, he conquered all. When Joseph conquered self, he conquered all.

Self Likes to Cover Up

Some insist they have never done anything wrong. King Saul disobeyed God in the matter of Agag and the Amalekites. Saul was told to smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. And Saul gathered the people together, and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand footmen, and ten thousand men of Judah. And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and laid wait in the valley. And Saul said unto the Kenites, Go, depart, get you down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them: for ye showed kindness to all the children of Israel, when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. And Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah until thou comest to Shur, that is over against Egypt. And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly (I Samuel 15:3-9). Samuel the prophet said to Saul: Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites (I Samuel 15:19,20). Saul insisted that he hadn’t done anything wrong even though he deliberately went against the Word of God. Saul had big plans, and looking honestly at self wasn’t one of them.

Self can have the biggest of plans—especially when God wants you to fast. Astounding, thoroughly convincing reasons flow from self explaining why you should not fast at that time. Remember, all the men and women that God has ever used needed time for Him to get them ready, and Bible fasting is a great preparation. If they stayed in with God, yielded to Him, listened to His voice, God was able to get them ready to be used the way He wanted.

Exactly what do you think about self? Write it down—but destroy the paper when you get done. Can you bring self under subjection to fast? To pray like you ought? To read the Word of God? Can you bring self under subjection to work for God, to deal with people about their souls? Can you do it? There is a price to pay. There are mental prisons and dungeons, lonely nights, mind battles. None of it is easy. Have you decided to pay any price? Have you made up your mind? What will you pay?

A Message from the Holy Spirit

Thus saith the Lord: I never ask my people to do something that I will not do. I forgive; I ask my people to forgive. I love; I ask my people to love. I sacrifice. I have sacrificed all, and I ask my people to sacrifice. I forgive, not like man forgives. I forgive and remember no more. When my people can use my love to forgive like I forgive, then my people will be a victorious people, saith the Lord. I see the sins of man. I see the faults of man. I see the failures of my people, and yet when they cry unto me, I forgive and I do not hold it against them, saith the Lord. My people sometimes doubt my forgiveness. They fail me, even sin against me; and they cry unto me. Humbly they ask my forgiveness, and I forgive. Yet they won’t accept it; they will not believe that I have forgiven them. Oh, that my people would study my Word and know my Spirit of forgiveness! Then my people could rise up with greater spirit within them, knowing that I am the Lord that forgiveth them all their iniquities, that healeth all their backslidings, that I am the Lord their God.

Oh, that people would pay the price every day to walk in all the greatness of God, to win the lost at any cost as the Holy Spirit without measure is poured out on planet Earth today!

I vow right now I will pay—I will pay, no matter the price.

I’m going through;
I’m going through.
I’ll pay the price,
No matter what others do.
I’ll take the way
With the Lord’s despised few.
I’ve started for Heaven,
And I’m going through!