God is establishing a work that is really of Him. We often refer to the Kingdom of God as “His Kingdom,” but it would be more accurate to say, “the Kingdom of Him.” “His Kingdom” indicates a possession of God that can be apart from Him. It is His but it is separate from Him. On the other hand, “the Kingdom of Him” means it is of His nature. Likewise, the Scriptures speak of His disciples, but the word order in the Greek would be “the disciples of Him,” which speaks of something much more – that they are not just followers of the Lord, but they are partaking of His nature. In the same sense, we want to be a people of Him. We want to partake of His life, to be “of Him.”
The more we partake of the Lord the more we will want Him. It is the opposite of the natural appetite – we eat, get full, and we don’t want anymore. Spiritual hunger, on the other hand, increases as we partake of the Lord. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Psalm 34:8. With every taste your hunger for Him will increase.
We want to minister the presence of the Lord so others can partake of Him. Speaking the Word is a means of transference, transferring Him to the hearts of the people. We must learn the principle of transference because spiritual growth is impossible without it. Within the principle of transference are the principles of appropriation (receiving) and impartation (giving). When you repented and accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, your sins were transferred all the way back to the cross. They were transferred through about 2,000 years and however many miles you were from Jerusalem. The cross ever lives. Everything the Lord has ever said or done is still living. He is eternal and His words and works are eternal. So, Jesus shedding His blood on the cross still works because it is an eternal work. That tells us that there is no distance or time in the realm of spirit, because wherever you are in time or space it still works, and it works immediately. God lives in eternity; He does not live on a timeline of past, present, and future, as we know in this world. He is now! That is why He calls Himself Jehovah – I am that I am – the God of the right now.
Paul said that he served God with his spirit (Romans 1:9). When we learn to function in the realm of the Spirit, we will realize that it doesn’t matter where the person is that we are praying for. Instead of asking God to bless the brother for you, you will turn it loose. The Lord will do the blessing, but you will be the channel for Him to work through. We must learn how to function in the realm of the Spirit.
Ministry is a matter of appropriation and impartation. We cannot impart something we do not have, so we must first appropriate the presence of the Lord. All things pertaining to life and godliness are in Him (II Peter 1:3; Colossians 2:3, 9). A good example of appropriation is the little woman with the issue of blood (Mark 5:25-34). She pressed through the crowd and said, “If I can just touch His garments, I know I will be healed.” When she touched Him, she was made well. But Jesus said, “Who touched Me?” There was a crowd about Him, and one of the disciples said, “Lord, people are about You; how can You say, ‘Who touched Me?’” And He said, “I felt virtue go out from Me.” The woman was healed. She appropriated something from the Lord that He wasn’t giving. It was there, resident within Him. Everything we need is in the Lord. The provision is in Him. All we need to do is reach into Him and appropriate His life.
Transference is accomplished with your spirit. It is with your spirit that you appropriate and it is with your spirit that you impart. It is not done with your natural energies, mental or physical. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Zechariah 4:6. We must learn how to function in the realm of Spirit. Our spirits and the Spirit of God working together, for we are laborers together with God (I Corinthians 3:9).
When the Lord communicates to you, it is not an audible voice. He transfers something of Himself to your spirit and it has to work its way to your conscious mind. Have you had a time when you were involved in some household chore, working in the garden or some such thing and suddenly receive the answer to something you had been praying about? God could have spoken it to you weeks before. There is a gap between your spirit and your conscious mind, and it takes time for what He puts in your spirit to reach your conscious mind. But the more you wait upon the Lord, listening to Him (keeping your heart in the receiving mode), the smaller the gap becomes until eventually you hear as soon as He speaks. When God speaks to you, though, He doesn’t speak English or whatever is your language. He imparts something of Himself to your spirit and out of that will come the wisdom and knowledge that you need. In Him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:3. Consequently, if you are looking for information, you are slowing down the process because you are omitting the most important step. Just appropriate the Lord. As you appropriate His life, you will receive what you need.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart; and lean not unto your own understanding.
How have you been living your life? You have been living your life according to your education, your environment, your natural senses, and according to what seems reasonable to you. You determine how you feel about a certain thing by the input of the mind and soul. The natural processes of man’s reason will lead us away from God. We must learn how to receive our input from the Lord, learn how to think like Him. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9. Do you realize that almost everything the Lord has to say will be opposite from the way you think? The carnal mind is God’s enemy (Romans 8:7). We need to learn how to think like Him. We need the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5. That is a process that takes place as you appropriate His life, and it doesn’t happen with the snap of your finger. We must learn how to function in the Spirit. We must learn how to walk with the Lord, to really know Him.
Proverbs 3:6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Making the switchover from directing your own life to being directed by the Lord is not easy, but it is exactly what we need to do.
Proverbs 3:7 Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
What is the evil? Is it smoking, drinking, four letter words, robbing a bank or some such crime? No! It is the evil of not trusting in the Lord with all your heart. The evil is leaning upon your own understanding and not acknowledging Him in all your ways. The evil is directing your own paths and not being led by the Holy Spirit. The evil is being wise in your own eyes. Depart from the evil of self-exaltation.
The Book of Revelation talks about those who were beheaded for the Lord. I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God.… Revelation 20:4. We need to be beheaded, too. I’m speaking in spiritual terms. We need our headship removed and His headship put on. That is when He really becomes our Lord.
On one occasion a certain scribe said he would follow the Lord, and Jesus answered, The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has not where to lay His head (Matthew 8:20). Jesus wasn’t merely saying that He did not have a place to sleep at night. He didn’t have a place to lay His Headship. He did not have a many-membered Body to lay His Headship. He is the Head of the Body, the Church… Colossians 1:18.
One could say, “I became a member of His Body when I became a Christian.” Not necessarily! You are a member of His Body when you are under His Headship, when He is the Lord over you, when He is directing your paths and you are leaning upon Him and not upon your own understanding. We are talking about a switchover that is impossible for the natural man. God has to do it, and it doesn’t happen in a skinny minute. It didn’t happen when you were saved. It is a process that began when you were saved and whether that process is continuing or not depends on how you are relating to His Lordship.
Paul speaks about us being translated into the Kingdom. [God] has delivered us from the power of darkness, and has translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son. Colossians 1:13. That didn’t happen when we were saved. It is a process that is taking place right now. We are leaving this world and being translated into His Kingdom. Jesus said concerning His disciples, They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world (John 17:16). Jesus speaking those words sealed the completion of their process of being translated into His Kingdom. There are two worlds – man’s world and God’s world. Those who are in the will of God are moving into His world, which is the same thing as saying His world is being established in us.
Jesus told His disciples, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away… (John 16:7). Then He said, A little while, and you shall not see Me: and again, a little while, and you shall see Me, because I go to the Father (John 16:16). God is Spirit (John 4:24). So, Jesus saying that He was going to the Father was another way of saying He was going to Spirit. Jesus was going to leave His fleshly body state and become Spirit. Now, Jesus had said, It was expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you (John 16:7). Jesus is talking about how we are translated into His Kingdom. Next, He says, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:2-3). Jesus is not talking about us going far away into the heavens somewhere. He is talking about us being translated into His Kingdom. He is talking about us becoming one life with Him.
Copyright © 2008 by Henry DuBose