'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Part 5

"Power" is the exercise of might and is not necessarily synonymous with authority, but with control and influence. It is that which flows from the explicit ability of "might". It is firmness and hardiness, together with the fruits of such labours. It may even be used in relation to the fruit of the vine or the quality of meat: all derived from the strength of the soil, of the earth, of Adam. Ultimately, it is cold-blooded and morally neutral. It does not care as long as it achieves its required end - to bring something about. It is no surprise one other use of this word refers to a large lizard - also present in the Garden of Eden, that also slid across the ground and ate the dust of the earth. "Power" and "Might" are masculine and earthy; they are from below and speak from the viewpoint of the world with the wisdom of this age. They are potent and seductive and are an ever present temptation to God's people in every work of His church. If such things are utilised the World can make a claim in the Church, the World can exercise influence with the Church; the World becomes a part of the Church.

No!

What must be born must be born from above, and not of this world, so it can be clearly seen as being from God Himself. It is entirely appropriate that the word for Spirit - Ruach - is feminine.

It is clear, given the judgement of the Lord God in the Garden of Eden and the subsequent history of mankind through war and work throughout the world, that these two words, "Might" and "Power", should be allotted as masculine. The exercise of might through power is an overtly masculine thing.

Masculine nouns in Hebrew are often concrete, and feminine nouns - abstract. Still, it is the language that God chose to express His Testament of Promise. Man's essential relationship is with the Earth and the woman's is the man as they were taken from both. For both male and female, their origin of creation was cursed. There is only one hope here and it is through the woman. The fruit of the earth can produce nothing. Salvation will come through women. Feminity is the conduit and canal of salvation. She who was taken out from inside now gives birth. "Power" and "Might" are from below. The Spirit is from above. Out of the darkness of the womb, out of the unseen comes forth God's plan of salvation, and His heel shall crush the head of the serpent, that former "Power". Power and Might are in direct opposition to God; they are enemies of God. Even that term "Power" suggests explicitly the spiritual identity behind such Might and that it derives itself from the spirit of the air - even when that "Power" is sincerely considered to be God Himself; God will not lend Himself to such schemes of men.

Out of the smallest seed in the Day of Small Things where there is a watery darkness, through the travail of birth and the agony of contractions - those involuntary pulses that cannot be controlled, comes a nation of priests, comes the line of David, in the Ark of Noah through the waters of the Flood, sealed in pitch, squeezed through the Sea of Reeds, and finally up out of the River Jordan after going down into the waters of baptism, breaking up out of those waters comes New Life. God gives birth in no other way; any 'work of God' that was not born was manufactured.

'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Part 4

Both "might" and "power" in the original Hebrew are masculine, however, the "Spirit" - Ruach - is feminine. There is a reason for this.

"Might" refers to resources of all kinds, whether in ourselves or in the world or between collectives of individuals. It assumes either skill, organisation, qualification, ability or an inward worthiness through qualification of some form. 'In ourselves' implies valour or bravery or some such quality highly valued. 'In the world' speaks of a force or unit of military or financial or manual resources, as such recognised and known by a distinct identity. 'Between us' is the 'system' of efficency or production or a network of labour that is ordered or works as a unit. These, together, are all the abilites that would normally be put to good use to complete any job. However, there is a divine embargo upon this 'might'. Not only this, but there is this embargo on any and every work of God that has the hallmark of the Spirit upon it . . . not just for Zerubbabel, not just for Zechariah - but for all of us.

One could not conceive of any mighty engineering project without many if not all of the above 'mights' being included. Indeed, this was how the Tower of Babel was constructed and assembled. Man builds, but God grows. It is man's remit to plant and to water, to tend and to care. For every work of God there is a season, but for man any time will do as long as it is now and quickly. One thing man will not do is wait. How often we work for God but without Him! How often is our divine host and midwife excluded from proceedings?

All these 'mights' existed before the commission came from God. We could quite easily fulfil this commission through these 'mights'; we could fulfil them for Him but without Him - once more asserting our independence and autonomy from God whilst serving Him! Such 'service' is an outrageous sin and usurping of God's authority, a setting aside of God's 'niavete' for our own sophistication and 'knowingness'. After all, we live in the real world, we know how things are done and achieved - otherwise nothing will happen! How can a Spirit build a temple? But we forget how He brooded over the waters and what came of that. Or is it that we want to make a name for ourselves? By using our education, our natural talents and skills, our coordinated effort, we want to serve God out of ourselves out of our convenience to show what we can do.

The question needs to be asked and answered; it is not enough to say I am going to use all these 'mights' for God. They may well be used, but it is not our place to choose them. Silence must come in the aftermath of the commission; reaching for the first tool to hand must stop. The "Not . . . " must sting us and shock us. This is a different project, wholly other, where the Eternal Spirit irrupts into this world; it must bear the distinctive of that same Spirit - not the world it manifests in. Until we are willing to let go of every competency we possess, and place them in limbo indefinitely, He will not use us in the work that will last. Undoubtedly, we could build skyscrapers and corporations and mega-churches but, when the fire comes, will they be stubble? The test is this: do we despise the small thing? Do we look down upon it and wince? The mustard seed? The wheatgerm? The stemcell? Or will we be like Jack and the Beanstalk?

The power of the Cross is the power not to do: we have the power to do something but we refuse to do it. We are silent; we are still in the face of the enemy; we stand and raise our hands; we call upon the name of the Lord; we consult the prophet and we obey. We are weak so that God can be our strength, and in that gap, that dark hopeless abyss of separation the Son of Man will rise. And if He is lifted up many will be drawn to Him.

'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' Part 3

"What are you , O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground."
Zechariah 4:7

What is the dirt that has to be dug through? First to go is the life that grows out of that dirt: that which has a semblance of life and fruitfulness, that which seems to be benefitting you, that which has been with you most probably from the beginning - olive groves that have been here longer than the mountain - that which simulates the life of God and in some way it is unthinkable to lay the axe at its root: but I have been blessed by it! we declare. These things are the closest to our heart, that which we have yearned for and prayed for and God has allowed us to have and yet it comes between us and God. Will you lay it down? These are simply the extremities, the levers God uses to prize open our heart. The real work has not yet begun. Others will wonder: why have you done that? It will make no sense to them. Why would anyone cut down such beautiful olive trees? Even then you may be tempted to replant them.
Next will come the dirt out of which this purported life grew. Soil is a mixture: weathered rock, rotten life, water and air. In short, death. But it's fertile! It gives life! Life only comes by one death: the death of Him, not you! The death of your 'death' - the death of your sacrifice on your terms is the real death; it's not about your sacrifice, it is about His in you. But this is what I've achieved; I've spent years and decades on this! The death of your self-appointed and self-conscious sacrifice, where we whitewash our tombs, must come. We cobble together from the remnants of our life something that approximates to life, but supplants the real life. We stitch it together and rationalise it. The life of God needs no such explanation; it is self-evident.
The dirt is cleared to reveal what the Lord really wants to get at, and this is where the real work is done by the hands of God. Something which sticks up vertical needs to be laid down. At its core it is the rock-like obstinacy and stubbornness and self-will that will not bend or yield in certain or any circumstance. It will not allow the circumstance to dictate to it but wrestles with it. It bucks beneath the circumstance - not accepting that this is God's will. We wanted the victory and the triumph but He must conquer our hearts first. On first contact it must be broken and then peeled back and excavated to reveal the strata of the rock, its secret and hidden ways of how it was originally made. We protest and complain that its uprightness was for God. It's hardness and strata will be put to more glorious uses than it was otherwise intended for: an indefatigability for God, a defiance for God in the face of the world's onslaught, a strength that will take the whole weight of the House of God because it has been laid in a tomb of rock and not of earth.

'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' Part 2

"What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone . . .."
Zechariah 4:7

We want to start something; we want to plant and we want to build. Man has been doing this for millenia and he has built one of two cities: Babylon or Jerusalem, both with different foundations. One city of the 'I will' and the other of 'Your will'. But before a single stone can be dragged onsite, before a single stone can be laid as a foundation, before any of that starts, there is a mighty work to be done and it is not to build up into the air as in Babel - it has always been to dig down, down into the dirt to get to the rock.

And who is it that digs? It is not us who performs the work; it is the High Priest. And who is the High Priest if He is not Christ himself? And upon what or whom does He perform His destructive work? It is upon us. We are the object of His levelling. Up to this point we have got it completely wrong. We thought we were doing a work for God, but - in fact - it has been Him who needs to turn us into the workmanship of God. Like David, we have offered to build a house for His Name when in fact the Lord has turned round to refuse the offer. Instead, He will be the One to build a House for David to rule over for ever. We can always offer but God will always trump us; He always has something better in mind. We look to build something temporal when God looks to build something eternal.

That proud, rugged and wild mountain must be brought low and circumcised before God can begin to build. Where once people would say, 'Look at that fine, beautiful mountain,' they now say, 'Look at the temple mount, the house of God!' They no longer see the mountain, it has disappeared. Its pride has been brought low. Where once nothing could touch it save for groves of olives and wild animals, it is now brutalised under a building site, marred and scarred beyond recognition. Its lofty heights laid low, all that it took pride in is now despoiled. It is a woman bereft of her hair, a soldier shorn of his weapons. The mountain lies naked and exposed. The guts of the mountain have spilled over to reveal what is inside. And when people pass by to look at the work in progress they will be appalled - disfigured beyond that of any mount. They will not recognise the likeness of the mountain ever again. They will remember the former mountain and shake their heads. But the haughty mountian must go through this if it is to be beautiful once more for wholly different reasons. Before, it was beautiful for its own sake, now it is beautiful because of what it bares - a place for God to dwell.

Remember this when the stone masons get to work on your stone heart, when the chisels and the pick axes fall, when God digs deeper and flattens you out. You thought you were a mountain; now you are a footstool.

It will stop. The rasp of metal on stone will cease and all will feel like paradise. And when they bring out the capstone what a shout will rise up from the mountain. What delight will be yours when the perfect stone is laid on a perfectly level surface. Before anything is built the mountain has as its heart one joint, one union upon which everything is built, from which everything is measured. What delight will be yours when God comes to rest in your centre, upon you, without a gap between you . . .  complete contact.

You thought you were a mountain, now you are the resting place of God.

'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' Part 1

'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6)

The signature verse for this blog was given to me as a baptismal 'promise' 26 years ago. I didn't like it at the time as I always wanted some great promise about me as a great man of the future, not some note of caution or rebuke implying some character flaw. I never liked anyone telling me what I couldn't do or the limitations to my evidently great spirituality; my flesh had always to be pampered to and puffed up and very few people in my life opposed this in me. I couldn't take criticism at all and was always extremely sensitive to it. I wished someone had opposed me with some godly wisdom, but I am completely responsible for this flaw.

The upshot was that I spent the majority of my christian walk trying to make something of myself when I should have been making nothing of myself (Philippians 2:7). I got it completely the wrong way round: I had been taking the high way instead of the low-way.

Back to this verse: it has been nagging away at me for decades now, like a bad penny, like the big bit of grit in the centre of an oyster. It has puzzled me in its conciseness and plainness. It's language appears straightforward and it sounds spiritual. I barely know what it means today!

Recently, however, something was unlocked inside of it when I read Watchman Nee's "The Latent Power of the Soul". Something clicked into place. To put it simply, the "might" that is disallowed by this verse refers to the physical strength to achieve and build; the "power" that is forbid may well refer to political machinations to achieve, but for the individual, it prohibits the use of the soul in all its intellectual, emotional and psychological (conscious and sub-conscious) power to counterfeit any work of God; this includes any projection of the soul to persuade and manoeuvre people into your way or methods.

It is not by the use of soul power that God's temple is built, though that could quite easily achieve the required end result more swiftly. No, the Spirit of God must build His temple if He is to dwell in it, He will dwell in nothing less than His own creation. Other temples maybe built with more guile and apparent skill and may appear more beautiful, but they will not stand in the flood or the fire. It is only the true spiritual house with its foundation on Christ that will stand both.

How often are we tempted to counterfeit God's work with our own well-qualified programme or ministry. Therefore, bind up your flesh and your soul as you plant the seed of God's work and make them slaves to the will of God for His purpose - do not start your work and ask God to bless it. The world will but God won't.