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The Great Prize

December 7, 2022 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Luke 22:42

The soul of man is the prize of God. This is the one earthly item which we definitely know that God desires more than all others. Gold, silver, lands, cattle, angels? No! The soul of man is the great prize. When this is won, then all creation is won. God DESIRES SONS, not robots, not beings compelled to worship Him, but sons who willingly lay at His feet all the goodness He gave to them.

Luke 22:42 says, “Not my will, but thine, be done.”

Gifts from the Spirit of God are to be given back to God. God is not making man independent of Himself, but by His goodness being poured out upon us, He is drawing us to Himself. There is nowhere else where the goodness of God can be MAXIMUM EFFECTIVE, but in the hand of God. Do you use God or does God use you? God is His own administrator and when man acquires the attributes of God and uses them for self, he is usurping authority.

There is another classic example in the Bible in Revelation 4:10 and 11, “The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”

Here the beasts represent the souls of men changed from the beast nature to the nature of the Christ. They took off their crowns, came off their thrones, fell down before Jesus Christ, and worshipped Him.

“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.”

This is what they say surrendering to Him all the power and glory He gave them by His Blood and sacrifice. This loudly suggests that they will not be their own, but forever be His and part of Him who redeemed them.

According to the promises of the Lord, we are to be made priests and kings. Revelation 4 shows this situation, when man is at last made priest and the soul is inhabited by the King Jesus Christ, thus, we also become kings. Even as Jesus surrendered all power and authority to the Father, and submitted Himself to the ignominy of the cross, so also the sons of God, true to pattern, surrender their crowns and their priesthood to Him who redeemed them. A very beautiful picture indeed.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 127-128)

Thought for today: The Great God and Creator of all is asking such a small thing of us – to give ourselves to Him. In return we get all of God! Do not let this life and the cares of this world rob you, but submit to God and trust Him today so that you may receive joy that is unsurpassed!

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Without Spot or Blemish

December 6, 2022 by Admin

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Scripture reading: 1 Peter 1:19-25

We can see that the term “without spot or blemish” (as stated in 1 Peter 1) speaks of a soul as the lamb of old without any scar or tarnish of sin, which has been thoroughly cleansed of God, emptied of self, and offered to its Maker for His use. It is possible that a person can reach the stage right HERE AND NOW, where he or she does not sin with his mind, neither with his or her emotions, neither with the will, nor with the desire. When you are in this condition, then you only need to make sure that your motive for all this was not SELF. Self-PRESERVATION could easily make a man get so smart with His God that he would submit and do all he needs to do. If self-anything is our motive, then self is still alive. All our motive must be GOD AND GOD ALONE. God’s people, God’s plan, God’s will. Lost, utterly lost in God, and absolutely rejecting that which we knew to be the thing called self. When Adam fell, his thought pattern fell. Now we rise. Our thought pattern must rise.

“For as he thinketh in his heart, SO IS HE.” Proverbs 23:7.

The Christ cannot be fully resurrected from within us until we are dead in Him. Death of the seed precedes the life of the new plant. If Jesus cleanses us of all sin, then, praise God, we should reach the point where sin is completely driven out of our soul nature, and the divine nature is being formed within. Without spot or blemish… blameless.

Wherever men of faith dwell, and wherever men live by faith, the name Abraham becomes a beacon and a sign post to them.

Genesis 22:2, “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; And offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” Verse 4, “Then on the THIRD DAY Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.” Verse 6, “And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.” Verse 10, “And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.” Verse 11, “And the Angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, ABRAHAM, ABRAHAM: and he said, Here am I.”

The angel had spared Isaac by his intervention, BUT had slain the self-life of Abraham. How significant it is that all this took place on a mountain which was afterwards the site of the temple built by Solomon (see 2nd Chronicles 3:1). The site is City of Zion, the stronghold of the people of God, and a SYMBOL of God’s elect in the end of this age. This was also the same spot where the threshing floor of Ornan stood, where David offered the sacrifice to God and saved Israel from a terrible plague. Today, the spot is covered by the Dome of the Rock and the El Aksa Mosque, a Moslem house of worship.

God, the same today as He was yesterday and shall be forever, required from Abraham the same sacrifice of self which He requires of us today. With the greater knowledge and more ABUNDANT LIFE which we have received, we will automatically give more when we give all. “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). All of a bucket is different from all of a well, and yet the sacrifice is the same.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 126-127)

Thought for today: Let us empty ourselves of us as we let God thoroughly cleanse us, and let us commit to do the will of OUR FATHER!

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No More Me but Thee Lord!

December 5, 2022 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Leviticus 10:1-7

The Golden Altar of Incense is a place of life. The whole idea of the Holy Place is the type of entering into the life of Christ, BUT one must remember that when one enters into the life of Christ, one must give up his own life. It stands out as truth, therefore, that to enter into the very fullness of the life of Christ, one must settle the question of SELF LIFE and ALL OTHER ALIEN TYPES OF LIFE, upon which the Covenant of the Outer Court was sealed and signed with blood.

There is a fearful record of DEATH AT THE GOLDEN ALTAR. Leviticus 10:1-2 records the death of Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron who were also priests. In our time, it represents not only ministers, but those who have reached that stage in Christ. God did not kill Nadab and Abihu. They transgressed basic principles and became the victims of their own folly. No other fire was to be used in the tabernacle but the fire from the Outer Court altar of sacrifice, which God Himself lit, and which was a holy fire to be perpetuated. They disregarded instructions, and EXPERIMENTED in things of God. All this sounds familiar to me. The men and women of our day are transgressing in this very thing at the Altar of Incense and are indeed DROPPING DEAD, both physically and spiritually.

Adam was created of God, a LIVING SOUL, but Adam died. Since that time, the perfect will of God for man has been to see man move again, NOT ONLY INTO LIFE, BUT INTO IMMORTALITY.

2 Timothy 1:10, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”

It is God’s will, therefore, for man to move higher than just being a LIVING SOUL, but to the very LIKENESS OF GOD, becoming a QUICKENING SPIRIT.

This, in other words, is the SONSHIP MESSAGE which we preach. It is the message of God to His creatures to lift them from SERVANTSHIP to SONSHIP. They are to be masters and rulers in the natural, but children in the spiritual.

It transpires, therefore, that when the soul realm is conquered, and the GIFTS AND FRUITS of the Spirit begin to come forth in our lives, and we begin to have power over the enemy, having overcome the enemy within, THEN there remains only one enemy, or one VEIL yet, and that is ourselves. The veil represents flesh, and there are three to be crossed in the Tabernacle, before we come into the Holy of Holies, where God meets with man in a FACE TO FACE relationship (see Exodus 25:22).

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 124-125)

Thought for today: Let us consider what we are working so hard for. God’s plan is perfect, he sees the end. Let us submit to Him and get higher by putting down our soulish nature and putting on the nature of God.

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Breaking Through the Veil

December 3, 2022 by Admin

This message entitled “Breaking Through the Veil“ was given by Brother Cecil duCille in 1973.

For more audio messages please visit Audio Messages – Foundational Teachings.

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The Mystery of the Man Child

December 2, 2022 by Admin

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Scripture reading: Revelation 8:1-6

Revelation 8:1, “And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.”

We must understand what is meant by “silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” It means, of course, that there were no angel movements, neither spiritual movements by men. Those whom God had anointed to preach had stopped preaching, the angels who were anointed to help them had stopped helping them, and those who were anointed to work, to do service, had stopped working.

What could have caused that? THE DEATH OF THE SONS OF GOD. In chapter 6, dealing with the fifth seal, the souls of those under the altar who called to God said to Him, “How long…dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” And He gave them “white robes” and “it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.”

We see here a picture of what happens in heaven when the sons of God are slain. When Jesus Christ was slain, His work was cut short, there was no more healing of the sick, no more deliverance for a period of time, because the Son had died.

Coming back now to the sons of God, He said things ceased for “about the space of half an hour.” We have to look at this as a PROPHETIC UTTERANCE. A spiritual half an hour could be anything. We have to get the revelation. For a space of time there was no movement. None of God’s business was being done.

Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.” This is the time we are reading about in Revelation 8:1, a time when the sons of God will be slain.  “Silence in heaven” is talking about the death of the sons, even as it was the death of Christ Jesus. The sons will die. The sons of God will be dead for three and a half days.

The sixth seal is symbolic of the overshadowing. Now we are dealing with the seventh seal which is the church of the man child. God has always described the church as feminine, as a woman. The reason is because the church had no power in itself to give forth life. It had to receive life to give life, like a woman has to receive the life, or the seed, from her husband in order to bring forth a child. We the church were receiving life from God and bringing forth nothing.

The church has been described as a barren woman. Hannah, for instance, was a barren woman and she brought forth. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was a barren woman. God always uses the barren woman as the type of the church. This barren woman church has never brought forth anything but now she is being overshadowed by the Mercy Seat or the two angels on the Mercy Seat which is a symbol of God Himself. No man can overshadow and bring forth God. Man can only bring forth man. When a person is discipled to another human being, he cannot rise above that human being, because the master is greater than the disciple, but if we are discipled unto Christ, then we will bring forth Christ.

God has brought the female church to the point where she will bring forth a male church which is called the church of the overcomer or the man child-church. (The words “man child” will be described in other devotionals.) Let us really understand what we are writing about.

The child that this woman church will have (churches always bring forth churches) will be a life-giving being. The church will be a life-giving church. Why? Because the church will have Christ in it. Remember the picture we saw in the first chapter in Revelation with the Christ standing in the middle candlestick? This is the same picture that we are seeing through the whole Revelation, as we speak of this seventh seal. The seventh seal is the mystery of the man child.

This mystery of the man child therefore is a type of the ARK OF THE COVENANT.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 153-154 & 165-166)

Thought for today: As Hannah cried out for her barrenness and was delivered so also may we cry out to God that we may be part of the man child company.

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