"In His Humiliation ...."
A couple of months ago I kept hearing in my spirit these words, "In His humiliation His judgment was taken away...." I knew the Father was talking to me about Jesus, and I just kept meditating on what Jesus went through prior to His death. That word humiliation is low estate, and judgment is accusation. So you could say - In His low estate His accusation was taken away. What God was doing was revealing to my spirit more of the gospel - really giving me more of an understanding of what Jesus went through during that time of humiliation. And also reassuring me that I have that Spirit in me.
You can read off the pages of the bible all the things that took place with Jesus prior to His death, burial and resurrection, but when God by His Spirit ministers it to your spirit, it will be 'alive' in your heart because the Spirit ministers life. And I have read many times before what went on with Jesus prior to His death on the cross, but this time something was definitely going on in my heart - it was being made alive inside of me. During the time that God was speaking this to me, I just kept weeping. There was an appreciation for this man in my heart like I had not had prior to this.
When He hung naked on the cross with a crown of thorns on his head, and they mocked Him, buffeted Him and spit upon Him and set over Him the accusation written, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews," and told Him, "If you be the Son of God, come down from the cross and save yourself," if anyone could have been offended and bitter and resentful - He for sure could have been. Especially since He had done nothing worthy of all of this. But instead what did He do? He asked the Father to forgive them. You talk about strength and humility - and we have that Spirit in us.
In Philippians 3:9-10 it says we are to "be found in Him, not having our own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: that we may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;..." We are to be partners of His pain or hardship. In II Timothy 1:8 it tells us that we are to be partakers of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.
If Jesus is our example, then we, at some point in time in our walk with God, will go through some of the things that Jesus went through on this earth. We will never have to die, be buried and go to hell for anyone, because He was already made the perfect sacrifice once and for all. But we will undergo affliction, pain or hardship when we suffer for righteousness sake. And that's the only suffering that counts, when you are tempted not to believe God while going through it. And that is not suffering for 'self-righteousness' sake - it is suffering for doing the will of God. In Hebrews 5:8 it tells us that Jesus learned obedience by the things which is suffered or experienced. And that is exactly how I have learned obedience in my walk with the Lord - by the things I have experienced and undergone.
There have been many afflictions in my life over the past 12-14 years, and every one of them have been for obeying God. There have been false accusations made about me, people pursuing me, revilings, to name a few, but I have 'learned' to keep my heart on the gospel and bless people. And do you know what Jesus said in Matthew 5 will happen to people that have had this done to them? Their reward will be great in heaven. Jesus did say, "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." So that in itself has been encouraging to me at what was going on - just for my obeying the Lord Jesus. And you know, they hated Him and envied Him for doing the will of the Father and I have come to see that it has been no different in my life.
Back in December of '91, one night while I was driving home in my car thinking in my heart how hard things were and how much pressure there was over some things in my life, the Lord spoke to me and told me to endure this hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ - to walk through it. He obviously agreed with what was in my heart. You could say I was going through some 'sufferings', because that word means to undergo hardship. And Jesus told me to endure it as a good soldier. My main pressures and hardships have come from fighting, in faith, the Jezebel spirit. And right after the Lord spoke this to me, the pressures became even more intensified. That is when the Jezebel hit my body (face) like I was not expecting. In my fighting this spirit, I have always overcome more and more of its wicked works, and there has been much suffering that has gone along with it. And in the process of it, my heart and soul have gone through a real purging - and that has been the mercy and grace of God upon my life, and I thank Him for it.
But getting back to Jesus -- This man was betrayed, denied, mocked or taunted, scourged, spit upon, false witnesses were sought for Him and then because of envy, they ultimately killed Him. But not once did he become offended, resentful or bitter over any of these things that they did to Him. And that is the Spirit that is in you and me, if we are joined to the Lord. He walked in humility and submitted Himself to the One who judges righteously. And the Father had told Him that He was going to die, be buried and be raised again the third day, and He believed the Father and humbled Himself and became obedient unto the death of the cross. Because of this, God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name, that at that name every knee must bow and every tongue confess Him Lord.
Jesus spoiled, or put off, all powers and principalities and made an open shew of them, triumphing over them when He was raised from the dead. And that resurrection power working is us will do the same thing. Jesus in us will make an open shew of all those wicked spirits and wicked people that have falsely accused us and we will triumph over them (or gain the victory over them), and I do like that. And the victory that overcomes them is our faith.
In the book that Doyle wrote "Jesus on the Cross," there have been some things in it that in times past I had not seen as emphatically as here recently. And I believe it is right to share some of what is written in that book in this testimony. I appreciate the Lord for directing Doyle to write these books, because the Lord has used them more than once to encourage me in my walk with Him. It really gives me an appreciation of what Jesus went through and that I have the strength of that same Spirit in me. Really an incredible thing.
"Jesus was betrayed by Judas--one of His closest associates, one of the twelve disciples. Jesus chose Judas in obedience to the Father. Judas betrayed Him with a kiss. How would you feel if someone whom you had anointed to cast out devils, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and heal the sick kissed you as a sign that you were the one to be taken?
Jesus did not become offended when Judas betrayed Him. You have that same Spirit in you. At some time, you will be betrayed. You might as well be ready for it. If you walk in the Spirit of Christ, however, and if you walk in love and obey Jesus, the betrayal will not harm you, because He has already been betrayed, and it did not harm Him.
The only way the devil can harm you is through your soul. He cannot harm your spirit. The Spirit of Christ that is in you has been tried and tested in every way. If you will walk in that Spirit, your spirit will not be harmed. And know this, to walk in the Spirit, you will have to walk by faith."
Continuing on with some more that is on another page,
"Know this, however--Jesus will never let you face a difficult situation until you are ready. He knows where He can lead you. You do not have to be afraid that God will let someone put a crown of thorns on your head or bow their knee and mock you.
He will not let them spit on you, slap you, pluck out your beard, or smite you on the back. You do not have to be afraid of those things, because if you obey Jesus, they will never happen to you until you are ready.
I have learned that Jesus will not lead you into a situation that you cannot handle. That is reassuring, isn't it? You will be able to handle it so easily, you will think, 'Isn't this nice?'
When You are led by the Spirit, He will not lead you into a situation over your head. He will never lead you into defeat. He will always lead you to victory."
Over the past couple of months since God has been ministering this to my spirit, I could tell there was some fear in my heart about all of this. But as I continued to pray and read the Word of God out loud day and night, I really overcame a lot of that fear. When God is perfecting your love, the fear will always come out. And that is what it says in I John 4:18. Also the confidence that is there about the strength of His Spirit in me just gets stronger and stronger. In the Psalms it says that blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, and whose heart are the ways of them. And you better know, my strength is in the Lord, or I would cave in for sure.
I will be honest and say that there have been times when I have felt like every single person I know was against me and opposing me. But there is one thing I have learned, and that is if God is for me, it matters not who is against me. If I am obeying the One raised from the dead and doing His will, then not one other thing matters. And I am sure that God will bring every person to that place at one time or another in this walk where they will feel as if they are totally alone - except for the Lord Jesus. And the purpose will be to try you and prove you, to see if you will stand fast in your believing Him and not a man. When the pressure is the greatest is when your faith will be tested and proven the most, and God will prove to YOU where you stand in your believing this gospel. And when it is God in you, there is no man that can move you because God is able to make His servant stand. Praise God.
In Romans 3:4 it says to let God be true and every man a liar, and also that we might be justified in our sayings, and that we might overcome when we are judged. If people say things falsely about us, we can overcome those accusations when we are judged. Why? Because Jesus did and He is our example.
He has been tested and tried every way there is to be, and if we are joined to the Lord then that Spirit is in us and we can trust in that Spirit and come through every test and trial in total victory. That is a comfort to know. God is faithful and He will prepare your heart in the way as you are walking through these tests and trials, so that you will not get hurt in the process of it - and as long as you walk in the Spirit you won't. Only pride is what gets hurt and becomes offended.
What else is amazing about Jesus, is He knew when all things were accomplished, and after making a couple of statements, He bowed His head and gave up the ghost. He had fulfilled everything perfectly, and then He gave up the ghost. We have that same Spirit in us, and we too can know when all things are accomplished in our lives that God has spoken to us.
In Colossians 2:6-7 it tells us, "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." And thanksgiving is what causes God's grace to abound in our lives and faith is what accesses that grace. This is definitely a walk of humility - and humility is submitting to the will of God and nothing else. He grants grace to the humble every time, and I do thank Him for His grace upon my life.
