Brother Sikes wrote:
John 5:30 is an anthem of this prophetic hour – “By myself I can do nothing…” Exceeding the boundaries of God, even in the innocence of presumption will have costly consequences! This penalty is not being orchestrated for our harm, but for our eventual good because the age requires complete understanding and patient discipline in carrying out our assignment upon the earth. Like David in 2 Samuel 6:1-13, I have often received God’s ‘direction’ without awaiting His ‘how to,’ the end result being a quagmire in which I wallowed in the mess of my own impatience. Flesh cannot touch what God is doing. Ismael and Isaac cannot live in the same house. Those who have begun to see the end of themselves will no doubt recognize this type experience, and too recognize that impatience is a stout enemy to walking in this deeper place with God.
STEER US TO THE REST, LORD
Before leaving the subject of “exceeding boundaries” let us recognize its vast importance in Kingdom dynamics. Many are shocked to see the words “selfish ambition” in Galatians 5 linked with sexual immorality, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, jealousy, fits of rage, drunkenness, orgies, etc., Ambition is respected in the World’s System, even considered a worthy character trait; hence we often see the World’s System nestled in the Church in the form of mega churches and television ministries built upon the appetites and ambitions of men rather than God. Mega ministries are not the only evidence of man’s ambitious nature in the Church. Many pastors, music ministers, and church leaders are products of their own ambition. Elder boards are filled with successful businessmen and community leaders, not for their spirituality but rather their worldly success. Much of the carnality of today’s Church is a result of man’s ambitious nature. In business, we see Christian businessmen trying to ‘get ahead’ using their own striving nature to achieve their purpose in God, a trait I am all too familiar with.
In order to tap into “God starting” something in our lives, we must yield the deepest part of our being, even our dreams and ambitions; and this is where many will get off of the bus, because we are unwilling to give up our dreams and ambitions. The irony is however, that if we would, we would find that God has something even better! Many are missing their inheritance because they are in the wrong arena, launched there by ambitions. God is looking for a few dead men! What we are speaking of here is completely losing our lives in exchange for His (Matthew 10:39/John 12:24). Most of us have found it easy enough to give up the appetites of the flesh, but impossible to give up the appetites of the soul – specifically, our dreams and ambitions, even our desire for a mate. God sees our heart and inherently knows what we are willing to submit to Him and what we are not. Since our dreams and ambitions are so deeply personal to us, coupled by the fact that they cannot be seen in an outward way, we tenaciously cling to and are unwilling to submit them to God. To us, they represent the inner core of what we want out of life. These are always the last bastions of strength in self’s war against God.
It is also important to remember that Satan was kicked out of heaven and sent to earth
because of his ambitious nature. The bible identifies him as the god of this world and his force rules many. This (almost) hidden spirit, unlike lust and other forms of obvious demonic spiritual activity, is often operating in us without our knowledge. Since, as the Bible states, satan is the subtlest beast in the field, we have been sold the bill of goods that self-appointed ambition is a good thing. As an evidence of the subtly and acceptance of this spirit, most of us ignorantly impose some of these ambitious appetites upon those we love the most – our own children! Often our acceptance of our children is based on how well they perform to our expectations, and our rejection of them when they do not. The challenge remains to muster the courage to yield ourselves completely to God for His expectations of us, not ours or anybody else’s.
Self-rule is a dangerous thing to a man or woman of destiny. What caused the fall of man initially was the desire to exceed the boundaries established by God: Man wanting to be God in his own life (Genesis 3:1-6). The temptation in Genesis had to do with limits. Man was originally purposed to respect God’s limits for him and trust Him (God) that these limits were for his (man’s) own good; NOT barriers to his growth and freedom as satan proclaimed. Man fell for the temptation because he saw the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil as something that would give him power to supply his own needs (food), give him power over himself and the environment by making him wise, and make him a god by knowing good and evil. In other words, man would become independent of his Creator and God’s imposed limits on him, and man could use his own resources of self-acquired wisdom and self-acquired ability to solve problems and create what he wanted. Remember this if nothing else you read; this continues to be our individual battle today! The antithesis of learning how to tap into God’s power within us is to constantly tap into our own strength, ability, intellect, and wisdom, the result of which is stress, toil, strain and fatigue. Stress, toil, strain, and fatigue are sure signs that we are not living and walking in the “rest” of God, a place of complete and total trust where we allow nothing to rattle us: A place in which we completely trust that all things we will ever encounter are of, through, and to God (Romans 11:36), hence whatever we face we can face with confidence if we are walking in the rest.