Fear Of Holy Enthusiasm

                                                                                                                        
There also seems to be a chilling fear of holy enthusiasm among the people of God.

We try to happy we are-but we remain so well-controlled that there are very few waves of glory experienced in our midst.

Some of you go to the ball game and you come whispering because you are hoarse from ting and cheering. 

But no one in our day ever home from church with a voice hoarse from shouts brought about by a manifestation of the glory of God among us.

Actually our apathy about praise in worship is like an inward chill in our beings. We are under a shadow and we are still wearing the grave clothes.

You can sense this in much of our singing in the contemporary church.

Perhaps you will agree that in most cases it is a kind of plodding along, without the inward life of blessing and victory and resurrection joy and overcoming in Jesus' name. 

WHY IS THIS? It is largely because we are looking at what we are, rather than responding to who Jesus Christ is!  

We have often failed and have not been overcomers because our trying and striving have been in our own strength. That leaves us very little to sing about!

Dr. A.B. Simpson wrote:
Fainting soldier of the Lord, Hear His sweet, inspiring word; I have conquered all thy foes, I have suffered all thy woes. Struggling soldier, trust in Me, I have Overcome for thee!

This has to be the secret of our praise and enthusiasm-Jesus Christ is our Overcomer!

In our own strength we cannot overcome anyone or anything.

Fear not though thy foes be strong, Fear not though the strife be long;Trust thy glorious Captain's power, Watch with Him one little hour.

Hear Him calling,  "Follow Me, I have overcome for thee!

Brethren, human activity and human sweat and tears work not the victory of Christ!

It took the sweat and tears and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It took the painful dying and the victorious resurrection and ascension to bring us the victory! 

~A. W. Tozer~
    

The Devil's Jackals

                                                                        

       

One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing–a very beautiful woman. 2 Samuel 11:2

At that hour David saw Bathsheba. We are never out of the reach of temptation! Both at home and abroad we are liable to meet with allurements to evil.

The morning opens with peril–and the shadows of evening find us still in jeopardy. They are well kept–whom God keeps! But woe unto those who go forth into the world, or even dare to walk their own house, unarmed.

Those who think themselves secure, are more exposed to danger than any others. The armor-bearer of sin–is self-confidence.

David should have been engaged in fighting the Lord’s battles, instead of which he tarried at Jerusalem, and gave himself up to luxurious repose, for he arose from his bed in the evening. 

Idleness and luxury are the devil’s jackals–and find him abundant prey. In stagnant waters–noxious creatures swarm. Neglected soil–soon yields a dense tangle of weeds and briers. Oh for the constraining love of Jesus to keep us active and useful!

When I see the King of Israel sluggishly leaving his couch at the close of the day, and falling at once into temptation–let me take warning, and set holy watchfulness to guard the door!

Is it possible that the king had mounted his housetop for prayer and devotion? If so, what a caution is given us to count no place, however secret–a sanctuary from sin!

While our hearts are so like a tinder-box, and sparks so plentiful–we had need use all diligence in all places–to prevent a blaze.

Satan can climb housetops, and enter closets! And even if we could shut out that foul fiend–our own corruptions are enough to work our ruin–unless God’s grace prevents it.

Reader, beware of evening temptations. Be not secure. The sun is down–but sin is up. We need a watchman for the night–as well as a guardian for the day. O blessed Spirit, keep us from all evil this night. Amen.

~Charles Spurgeon~

GOD Knows Humans

The Bible tells us often that God knows humans better than they know themselves - He doesn't have to wait for the information to come from the accuser, the devil.

God has said, Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. For my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. (Isaiah 48:8b-11a)
 
God does have a stake in each of us -and it is for His own sake that He will lift us up. 

He is not going to bless us for our own sake. He is going to bless us for Jesus' sake and for the sake of His own name!

If you think that there is anyone in the world so good that God could do something for that person's sake, you don't know sin; and if you think there is anything that God will not do for you for His sake and for His name, you don't know God!

If you have failed, remember that you are not responsible to men in this regard. You stand responsible before your heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. 

Let us be encouraged by this good news!

In the third place, some are fearful that they will lose their reputation as sober and conservative and traditional Christians. In other words, they have never been willing to be a fool for Jesus' sake!

It is amazing that genuine Christians are not willing to stand up wherever they are and give a good word for the Lord.

There are great political ideologies sweeping the world now whose members will make double-eyed, long-eared donkeys of themselves for the sake of the party and the cause.

There are religious sects whose witnesses are willing to go to jail, to be pushed around, to be lampooned for the sake of a miserable, twisted doctrine!

But in our Christian ranks, we prefer to be respectable and smooth, and we have a reputation for being very solemn Christian believers.

I can only conclude from my experience that many solemn, professing Christians will never make any spiritual progress and will never really be happy in the Lord until God finds some way to shake them out of their deadly respectability!

Charles G. Finney, the great American evangelist, knew this experience of becoming God's man and God's mouthpiece in such a way and with such unusual blessing and results that many just stood as critics and tried to frown him down.

~A. W. Tozer~

"Feeding Sheep Or Amusing Goats"

The mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired.

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An evil resides in the professed camp of the Lord so gross in its impudence that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate evil for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.  From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses. My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it?     Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That is clear enough. So it would have been if He has added, "and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel." No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Then again, "He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry." Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them.  Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll. Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the Church to the world? "Ye are the salt," not sugar candy-something the world will spite out, not swallow.  Short and sharp was the utterance, "Let the dead bury their dead." He was in awful earnestness!   Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission, He would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear Him say, "Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!" Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.   In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel amusement. Their message is, "Come out, keep out, keep clean out!" Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence.  They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, "Lord grant Thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are." If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They "turned the world upside down. That is the difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.   Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to affect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts.   Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them 'halfway,' speak and testify.   Let the heavy-laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God's link in the chain of their conversion, stand up!  There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts.  The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.   ~C. H. Spurgeon~

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Satan Magnifies Memories

Are you allowing Satan to magnify the memories of your spiritual failures?

He will always keep them before you unless you take your stand and move up in faith.

The devil will whisper, "You didn't get very far along toward the deeper life, did you?"

He will say, "You made a big 'to-do' about wanting to be filled with the Spirit and you really flopped, didn't you?"

He will taunt you with the fact that you may have stumbled in the faith - and perhaps more than once! 

The devil wants you to live in a state of discouraged chagrin and remorse.

Remember, the Bible does not teach that if a man falls down, he can never rise again. The fact that he falls is not the most important thing-but rather that he is forgiven and allows God to lift him up!

Perhaps you have read of the saintly Fletcher, whose holy life became so recognized that he was called "the seraphic Fletcher."

His testimony reveals that he stumbled and miserably failed God seven times. But after the seventh failure he went to a room and did not come out until he was able to rest his case completely in the strength of God's hands, He came out of the room saying,

Dear Lord, I believe that I am delivered from the bondage of my sin. If you will keep me and help me I will never cease telling the world what you can do for a man!

For the rest of his life Fletcher exhibited to the world God's power to bless and to keep His transformed children on earth.

If our failures are going to hinder us forever, we might just as well never have taken the first step. But God knew all about us and He still loved us and desired His eternal best for us.

~A. W. Tozer~

Seeking Approval

2Ti 4:2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

I cannot believe in the spirituality of any Christian man who keeps an eye open for the approval of others, whoever they may be. 

 

The man after God's own heart must be dead to the opinion of his friends as well as his enemies. He must be as willing to cross important persons as obscure ones. He must be ready to rebuke his superior as quickly as those who may be beneath him on the ecclesiastical ladder.

 

To reprove one man in order to gain the favor of another is no evidence of moral courage. It is done in the world all the time.

We'll never be where we should be in our spiritual lives until we are so devoted to Christ that we ask no other approbation than His smile. 

When we are wholly lost in Him the frantic effort to please men will come to an end. The circle of persons we struggle to please will be narrowed to One. Then we will know true freedom, but not a moment before.

Lord, does anyone ever really get over the desire to seek the approval of others? That is a battle for which we are totally dependent on You for victory. Help me today to be content with only the smile of Your approval. Amen.

~A. W. Tozer~

This Is NOT A Game

                                                                               
Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, was on his way home from being with Ahab, the evil king of Israel.

The Lord sent a prophet out to meet him, with these strong words: "Jehu the son of Hanani the seer (prophet) went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord" 2 Chronicles19:2.

God was saying to Jehoshaphat, "You don't know the danger and consequences of what you've done. You may think it's a light thing to join an affinity with someone who is against Me. 

Ahab was my enemy—an idolater—and you made friends with him. You listened to his wicked talk and indulged his filth.  

Yet you didn't take a stand against any of it, Jehoshaphat. I have a controversy with you about this!"

At this point, you may be thinking, "I understand that Ahab was evil. But as I consider my own friends, there's no way I can think of them as God's enemies.” Yet, consider these passages from Scripture:
 
He that is not with me is against me" (Luke 11:23). Does your friend take the Lord's side in all things?

Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft 1 Samuel 15:23. Is your friend's counsel full of rebellion? 

He that condemneth the just . . . [is an] abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 17:15. Does your friend speak evil of godly people?

This is not a game! Your friends are a serious matter to God because their actions have serious consequences: 

Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest . . Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces" Psalm 50:19-22.

Thank God, Scripture says, "Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah" (2 Chronicles 20:3). 

The king humbled himself and repented: "Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord" (verse 18).

God responded to Jehoshaphat's brokenness by giving Judah total victory against the Moabites. Finally, the Bible says, "The realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about" (verse 30).

~David Wilkerson~

Ignoring GOD'S WORD

                                                                          
I am certain that Jehoshaphat was convinced he was acting righteously when he pledged to join Ahab in war. In fact, Scripture says, "Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today"

2 Chronicles 18:4. He said, "Let's ask the Lord for His counsel on the matter. We won't act until we hear from Him!"

God made His word to Jehoshaphat and Ahab clear, leaving no doubt as to what He thought about the whole affair: "It's doomed! Go at your own risk. Nothing but death and defeat await you on the battlefield" (see 2 Chronicles 18:16).

At this point, Jehoshaphat seemed willing to obey a true prophetic word and do everything God told him. Yet, for centuries, Bible scholars have marveled at what happened next: When the clear word came, Jehoshaphat ignored it!

Beloved, you can boast all you want about loving God and wanting to obey Him. But if you do not break away from the deception of ungodly friends and seek Holy Ghost discernment  you will end up ignoring God's Word!

You may accompany your friend in his war but when the chips are down, he will hand you over to the enemy. That's just what happened to Jehoshaphat when he went to war with Ahab. The evil king set up Jehoshaphat to be killed; he told him to dress in his kingly robes, while Ahab himself dressed as a soldier.That way, Ahab reasoned, the enemy would go after Jehoshaphat instead of himself.

Ironically, Ahab was killed by an arrow that pierced him through a tiny slot in his armor. And suddenly, Jehoshaphat was surrounded by enemy soldiers, who were ready to cut him to pieces. The king knew he was facing death and he cried out to God for help. Scripture tells us, "And the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him" (18:31).

The war was a disaster. Israel's army fled in disarray, like sheep without a shepherd. And Jehoshaphat retreated to Jerusalem, his friend Ahab dead and his armies defeated. It was only by God's grace that he escaped death!

I can imagine the thoughts that must have raced through Jehoshaphat's mind as he hurried back to Jerusalem: "Oh, God, thank You for delivering me! Now I see the danger of walking with an ungodly companion. Never again, Lord! I won't be a part of that worldly system anymore. It's all over now!"

~David Wilkerson~

A Life Of Dependence On GOD

                              

Col 2:9  For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
 

Col 2:10  And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Oh, those subtle suggestions that are ever being whispered in our ears, that if we give up this and that we are going to lose, and life is going to be poorer, and we are going to be narrowed down until we have nothing left.

It is a lie! That is the thing that is countering God's great thought for us. God's thought for us is that One, no less than His Son Jesus Christ, in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form, should be our fullness.

All the fullness of God in Christ for us! You never attain to that by rejecting Him.

Life must be much less than it need be if you are not going all the way with the Lord; and what obtains in the matter of our consecration to the Lord, our entire and complete abandonment to Him in our life and our complete cut with all that is not of the Lord, obtains in the realm of service.

This flesh loves to sport itself in Christian work, and tells us that if we are going to be dependent upon the Lord we are going to have an anxious time.

But a life of dependence upon God can be a life of continual romance. 

It is there that we make discoveries which are a constant wonder.

You may be nearly dead one minute and in the next the Lord gives you something to do and you are very much alive, dependent upon Him for every breath you breathe.

But thus you come to know the Lord. Then after that experience you are just as helpless and dead again for a while, but you remember that the Lord did something. Then He does it again; and so life becomes a romance; yet no one would ever guess you were depending on the Lord for your very breath.

It is a very blessed thing to know the Lord is doing it, when you could not do it at all; it is, humanly, naturally, impossible, but the Lord is doing it!

~T. Austin Sparks~

In The Darkest Of Circumstances And In The Midst Of Everything We Must Rejoice In The LORD

                                   

Hab 3:17-18  Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:

Hab 3:18  Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

 

I ask you to observe what a disastrous situation is being described in this passage and to notice how courageous is the faith that is expressed.

It is as if the writer were actually saying, “Even if I am forced to undergo the extreme condition of not knowing where to find my next meal, and although my house is empty and my fields yield no crops and I see the evidence of divine pestilence where I once saw the fruits of God’s plentiful provision, ‘yet I will rejoice in the Lord.’”
 
I believe that these words are worthy of being written forever
in stone with a diamond tool. 

Oh, by God’s grace, may they be deeply etched on the tablets of each of our hearts!

 

Although the above verse is very concise, it nevertheless implies or expresses the following thoughts of the writer: that in his time of distress he would flee to God; that he would maintain his spiritual composure under the darkest of circumstances; and that in the Midst of everything, he would delight himself with a Sacred joy in God and have cheerful expectations of Him.
 
Heroic confidence! Glorious faith! Unconquerable love!
 
~Philip Doddridge~

Nothing Good In Me But Jesus Christ

Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27                           

What does this mean? Not that I come before God saying, “I have had pure motives; I have been very honest, earnest and conscientious, and my intentions have all been of the best.” Let us stop talking nonsense. It is utter folly to talk like that. We do not know ourselves. 

Only God knows the truth about us, and none of that finds a place with Him or counts with Him for a moment. The point is, have I recognized that the Cross of the Lord Jesus was the smashing and ending of me, good and bad, so that I am not holding up before the Lord anything?

I am as capable of the worst as any being in God’s creation is. For anybody to take the attitude that they are not capable of the worst is an attitude of the deepest deception. We do not know the power in our beings until we are put to it. 

If we have never committed the worst, it is because we have never been put to it in the mercy of God, but it is all there. The Lord puts His finger upon it in principle when He says, “He that hates his brother is a murderer.” It is the same spirit.

You have only to extend that, provoke that anger enough, put that nature into certain circumstances, and you will discover that you are capable of things of which you would have stood in utmost horror at one time.

You and I have got to come down before God and admit that we are capable of the worst, not standing on the ground of our right.

The only right one is Christ from God’s standpoint. The only safe one is Christ, and therefore the only one who stands in God’s eyes is Christ, and it is as you and I, in all the brokenness, frailty, conscious weakness and humility of our own beings, by faith cling to Christ that we shall find the way out, the deliverance, the salvation.

We must look behind God’s words to see bigger things than words on the surface indicate. “To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at My word.” That statement embodies all that we are saying.

To what one will He look? To the one who never says, “I am right!” but to the one who says, “I may be as wrong as ever a man or woman was wrong, there is nothing of which I am not capable; my only ground is Christ; so help me God, Christ is my ground!”

To stand on Christ is to stand always in the consciousness and recognition that this other ground, ourselves at any point, is dangerous ground. He is so Other, and there is the great divide, there is no overlapping.

Between Christ and us there is a gaping chasm. God never sees that bridged, but thank God He will put Christ into us by the Holy Spirit, and while the two will ever remain apart, the old creation will go one day and that which is of Christ, as wrought into us, will abide.

~T. Austin Sparks~

ELIJAH

                                                                       
Elijah's hatred for the sins of Israel sprang out of his very strong love for God's people. He was not a people hater, only a sin hater. He was not a man of revenge, but rather a man whose heart yearned for Israel's return to the Lord. 

To understand the spirit and power that was upon Elijah, you must hear his heartbroken cry on Mount Carmel: Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell . . . and when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces 1 Kings 18:37-39.

Elijah was not at all interested in being validated as a prophet. He wanted only to see the honor of God restored and the backslidden in heart "returned to the Lord." True prophets, though they may sound hard against sin, are at heart merciful, kind and patient. And when they see real biblical repentance, they are builders and restorers of breaches.

I believe there exists today an Elijah company of true shepherds.

Not all preachers are backslidden or self-serving.

I am hearing from a growing number of holy shepherds who have been wounded and rejected by uncaring sheep. Some are being literally driven out of their churches for preaching holy standards.
 

But cruelest of all are the so-called prophecies and denunciations from harsh "prophetic voices" that have no mercy or redemptive quality to them.

If you should ever hear a "prophet" pronouncing curses on anyone, you can be sure he is not walking in the Spirit of Christ. He is often a proud, self-proclaimed Elijah, full of arrogance and lust. The Word says clearly, "Bless, and curse not." Romans12:14. 

Those who go about speaking of cursing ought to shudder at these warnings: "As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him. As he clothed himself with cursing like as with a garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones" (Psalm 109:17-18).

The Elijah company is comprised of a weeping people and any prophetic word that comes forth from their lips is bathed in tears. In brokenness and godly sorrow, they walk in repentance. 

They refuse to wink at sin and they fear no man or devil when it comes to standing up for the honor of Christ.

~David Wilkerson~

A LOVING PURPOSE

                                          

Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.  Psalm 35:27

What is "prosperity?"

Is it threads of life weaved into a bright outcome? a full cup? ample riches? worldly applause? an unbroken circle?

No! these are often a snare; received without gratitude; dimming the soul to its nobler destinies.

Often spiritually, it rather means God taking us by the hand into the lowly Valleys of Humiliation; leading us as He did His servant Job of old; out of his sheep, oxen, camels, health, wealth, children; in order that we may be brought before Him in the dust, and say, Blessed be His holy name!

Yes! The very reverse of what is generally known in the world as Prosperity forms the background on which the Rainbow of Promise is seen.

God smiles on us through these and teardrops of sorrows! He loves us too well. He has too great an interest in our spiritual welfare to permit us to live on in what is misnamed "Prosperity." 

When He sees duties languidly performed, or coldly neglected, the heart deadened, and love to Himself congealed by the absorbing power of the present world — He puts a thorn in our nest to drive us to the wing — and prevent our being grovelers forever!

I may not be able now to understand the mystery of these dealings. I may be asking through the tears, "Why this unkind arrest on my earthly happiness? Why so premature a lopping of my boughs of promise? Why such a speedy withering of my most cherished gourd?"

The answer is plain. It is your soul's prosperity which He has in view. Believe it.....your true Ebenezers will yet be raised close by your Zarephaths.

~John MacDuff~

Shun Any Sort Of Idolatry

Shun (keep clear away from, avoid by flight if need be) any sort of idolatry (of loving or venerating anything more than God). 1 Corinthians 10:14 AMP

There are many things which are not only harmless but good in themselves, which have, nevertheless, been allowed to take the place of the Lord Himself, and good things can therefore embody the principle of idolatry in the one in whom the devotion is found.

Touch some Christians, or Christian institutions, and let the touch be even in relation to something more of the Lord Himself, and you will find an uprising of jealous regard for the institution which utterly blinds to that possibility of an extra measure of the Lord Himself.

You can be so devoted to a denomination, a missionary society, a piece of Christian work, that there is no room for any extra measure of the Lord.

The thing itself has become the end, the object for which you live, and when the Lord wants to get you moved on into something more of Himself, the obstacle is that good Christian work, association, institution, tradition, connection.

Yes, and that is idolatry in principle, and we see from history how the Lord again and again has had to smite with smashing blows things which in themselves were good, in order to save His people unto Himself personally....

What is He after? It is Himself which He is seeking to establish as the object of man's life, and not the things that have relation to Himself: and I say again, you meet something intensely fierce if you touch a thing, even though you are touching it maybe with a view to getting people to move on with the Lord Himself.

To put that in the other way, if your appeal for moving on with the Lord seems to people to involve their having to move away from this or that or some other thing, then there is warfare; which shows that Satan in his eternal campaign of idolatry, has got a footing amongst Christians in relation to things which take the place of the Lord Himself, good things though they be in themselves; and you find, if you are spiritually sensitive, that you are not just encountering the established institutions, but you are encountering a terrific spiritual force. 

Is that true? It is true. Had I never come up against it, never would I have believed the terrific force there is lying behind Christian institutions if your ministry touches them. 

You meet something which turns upon you, and it is not just the thing or the people. 

It is something that threatens your very life, to slay, and this in principle and essence, beloved, is idolatry; because its ultimate effect is that even the Lord cannot have what His heart is set upon and get His people spiritually where He wants them, because they are so bound up with His things.

They are not able to discriminate between His things and Himself.

~T. Austin Sparks~