The Purpose & Method of God — Paul Ravenhill

The Method of God's Redeeming Work

Just hearing about the purpose of God, the work of God, the necessity of God's intervention is true. I want to touch a little bit on the method. It's something the Lord's been laying on my heart for quite some time now.

Different scriptures with the same message. I was thinking as we were singing that hymn there, let me find it again. Get the words exactly right. 350, 350, 355. Have thine own way, Lord. Search me and try me, Master.

I pray wider than snow, Lord, wider than snow. There's a verse in Isaiah that says the Lord, the Redeemer, will come again to Zion. Some time ago I was looking at that scripture and looking at the meaning of the word.

There's an aspect of that word which means he who with violence reclaims that which is his. We think of the Redeemer as the one who forgives us somehow, pays the price somehow, restores us to peace. And yet I believe in his work with regard to the negative things of sin and death which are in our life.

There is a violence, and not only that, but beyond that when we come to him with violence he desires to take and to possess himself for himself. All that we are, all that we have, all that we can be. We heard this week the curse of the church.

The Church's Curse of Mediocrity

Something I've said many times in South America, the curse of the church, the state of the church is mediocrity. We live in a mediocre day. We live in a day where just so we reach our emotional high in a meeting, we mistake our ascent for a total commitment to the things of God.

I've even heard people kind of express it, well, they're in the meeting, there's the Spirit, you say, yes, Lord. Sure, there's a feeling, there's a backing of the Spirit, but then there comes a time when doing that and not carrying through on it, what does it lead to?

Total insensitivity to the working of the Spirit. So we have churches and we have denominations, and as you travel around, if you get to travel around in different denominations, they all have their own jargon.

They all have their own way of praying. They all have their own way of responding. The Pentecostal church has one way and the holiness church has the other way, and better not mention denominations by name, but anyway, they've all got their own way.

You could close your eyes and walk into a church without having seen the sign on the door, and you know, because God, seeing you so limited, has given only this to the church. No, it's not that. It's the church has somehow lost the vision of a God that's a little bit greater than whatever I've been taught here through the generations which have been here before.

Psalm 63 and Spiritual Responsibility

Psalm 63. David cries out when he's in the wilderness, not in the temple, not on the throne, O God, thou art my God in the wilderness. Early will I seek thee, my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is, to see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Just those two verses. To see thy power and thy glory so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. We need God to come, we need God to work, we need God to revive us, but I want to take the aspect of our responsibility.

These two verses, here is, I don't know what happened there, I almost got started talking in Spanish. Okay, here is man's responsibility. Here is the responsibility of every Christian on the mission field, in the homeland, the young, the old.

We're responsible to translate our spiritual vision to an earthly reality. We've got a song we sing many times in South America, Lord, I want to see thee as I've seen you in your temple. Lord, I want to see you clothed in your glory and your power, but I want to see you in the dry and thirsty desert.

We sing it as a song of supplication. Lord, I want. You know, the only fulfillment in life, they've got a saying in South America, they use it a lot of times, it says, to live without, well, to live without pain is to die without glory, is the sense of the thing.

To live without pain is to die without glory. If there is no hurt, if there is no challenge, if there is no enlargement, there will not be any glory, unless, let's take a 20th century word, there'll be no fulfillment.

We live in a day when the church is seeking fulfillment. We heal everybody's hurts, real and imagined, past, present, and future. We try and get them to feel all right about themselves and, you know, all these phrases, which somehow I don't know where they came from, how they invaded the church, but we talk about a good self-image, you know.

It's a real sad thing if somebody's got a poor self-image. God help us. God pity us. You know, it's not in what we think about ourselves. The Bible is talking about a vision of God. The Bible is talking about a world out beyond, talking about something, and here again it's the same thought, something done on earth as it is done in heaven, talking about a being put in harmony with God.

Then we're not wondering about, am I all right, am I not all right, am I okay and you okay, or are you okay and I'm not okay, or, you know. You remember that book some years ago, the bestseller? Sure, with a title like that.

I'm okay, we're all okay, praise the Lord. It wasn't okay, he says, okay. So, fulfillment, once again, let me underline it. Fulfillment is in responsibility. Performed. Responsibility, the fulfilling of responsibility is the fulfillment of my life.

Frustration is the state of the world. Frustration is the state of the church. We get to talk one-on-one with most anybody. There's always this element, you know, what I would like to be or what I would have liked to have been or what I would like to attain to.

We've got all these people that are waiting when they're young, waiting and twiddling their fingers, their thumbs, and when they're older, looking back to what could have been but never was. And you've got to face it, that in 90 and over 90 percent of the young people, it never will be.

You know, you get people that come and they share their dreams. It's going to happen to them like it happened to Martin Luther King. You remember his famous speech, I have a dream, I have a dream? Well, he never lived to see his dream.

And 90, 99 percent of the Christians never live to see their dream, not because God doesn't want to do it. Once again, I remind you of what Tozer used to say. When we come before the throne of God, we're not, not, not going to be able to say to God, God, I would have liked on earth to have reached, to have possessed, to have known such and such a place, such and such a condition, such and such a level of faith or ministry or whatever it is.

We will not be able to say that because God will turn around and say to us, child, I gave you everything you needed to fulfill everything you've seen. This is what it's all about. As I have seen. He's talking about spiritual vision.

This is what life is all about. God does not demand of us anything which he has not shown us. We got a lot of people going around trying to transmit something that they've only heard about. It's not as easy as we think it is to learn the prophet.

You know, you've all heard the famous thing that it takes 20 years to make a preacher, right? How many have not heard that? How many to make a preacher? You know, it's, it's, it's commonly accepted as being true.

And we hear about great men of God. And they said, how long did it take that you to prepare that message? And they said 20 years or 25 years or 30 years. And some of them even say 50 years, you know, it took me that long to understand and to see that which I now see.

Look at Job in the Bible. If you want a biblical example, all he had to go through. I mean, all he had to go through there till at the end, he said, Lord, I had heard. But now what did he say? Now my eyes see.

This is what God wants to bring us to. And I'm wanting to talk about transferring the vision to the natural or to the, to the world around us. But maybe first we better emphasize that the part of the vision itself, because I believe a lot of people never seen a vision.

And I'm not talking about seeing angels. Patty's getting worried. Not talking about seeing, you know, wheels within wheels or something like is equal. So, but I'm talking about knowing that God has given us a revelation of his truth.

Something that he wants us to pose that we're responsible to seek. You know, if it only comes through the mind, it'll go out through the mind. I remember a missionary telling me down there on the mission, really out of Bible school.

And he said, you know, he said, I've seen the Lord come in a meeting and touch somebody and the ministry of the spirit. And he said, I've seen also the times when I've taken somebody into the office and I've talked maybe for a couple of hours to try and get them out of the problem.

He said, and they go out and they step out of the office, all three. And then somebody that, you know, they don't get along with or something passes their, crosses their pathway or somebody says a word.

And that which went in through the mind has gone, has gone. And David starts out here saying, Oh God, thou art my God. It's got to start there. They say personal experiences are not too good in meetings, but bear with me.

Knowing God Personally

I remember when I first went to the mission field, there was a man of God down there that had many, many experiences. The Lord had really used him down through the years, tremendous experiences of God.

And one day he came and he was talking. He said, you know, Paul, you have to come to the place where you can say, this is my God. This is the God who speaks and the God who backs that which I do. This is not just the God of the Bible.

This is not just the God of church history. This is not just the God of, of the doctrines of the, of the saints. This is my God. Be able to say that I know that my God is with me. What did Elijah say?

God in whose presence I stand. And I'm sure he didn't learn that in the day either. Waiting for the ravens there beside the, beside the brook, leaving the land, traveling to the widow woman's home, living there from hand to mouth, seeing the trees and the crops drying up, seeing the people suffering hunger, crying out, Lord, how long?

God in whose presence I stand. So he says, my God. There'll be many aspects of this. Maybe one thing that's lacking in 20th century is the knowledge that God is total authority. I cannot say my God and then do my will.

It's got to be my God, thy kingdom come. And a lot of times, somehow, subconsciously, it's thy God, my kingdom come. Thy God, my ideas, plans, purposes, desires be fulfilled. Lord, bless me. Lord, lead me.

But it's always kind of like, you know, go with me. My God. Once again, even this we can't see without a revelation. God, my God. I'm not waiting for direction on any earthly thing. I'm not considering circumstances or events round about me.

I'm not subject to any of this. Lord, what is your will? Once again, we live in such a structured age. I remember when the great discipleship movement first started in Argentina before we ever exported it to the United States.

Now I was there at that time. You know, boy, this was the secret because then we'd get these dummies that don't know anything and we'd teach them all we know and the church is going to go ahead like a house of fire.

It does not work that way. You know, because even if you know more than the disciple, that's not the way God chooses to do it. Submission, you know where submission comes from? Not from above, from below.

You all that go to different churches or whatever, hope it fits in with where you are. Submission is when I see the grace of God, when I see the authority of God on a person, I say, I'm going to follow that person.

Not when that person says, you've got to follow me. You know, that's not biblical authority. It's not the person laying down the law because we're all human. Look at New Testament, look at the church, the Bereans there.

When the apostle Paul came, this is not Paul Raven, this isn't even Leonard Raven, this is the apostle Paul. He says what? They went home and they searched the scriptures, whether it was true what this man was saying.

You know, I noticed so much, noticed in this conference, again, every time I go out, I notice these people go to church, the person up front says, this is true and this is true and this is true. Oh, it's not right.

Amen. It's not heavy, you know, and then he says somewhere along the line, he says something that isn't true and everybody, oh yes, amen. You know, there's no discernment. You remember, we're getting a little bit off the track, but we'll come back, don't worry.

You remember Gideon, when the Lord sent him to prove the people, sent him down, he said, now separate those that knelt down and drank the water from those that lifted up the water and took it out of their hands.

Now these people are seeing what they're doing. If you got your nose in the water, you're liable to drink whatever comes along. Now, maybe there's other, you know, aspects of this thing, but there were very few people in this whole tremendous multitude that were looking what they were partaking of.

And it's a lot easier just to throw yourself face down and say, oh, isn't a beautiful atmosphere here. Praise the Lord. I take it all in than it is to say, Lord, wait a minute. I can never, ever, ever in this world, totally commit myself to anything apart from the guidance of the spirit of God, because they who are led by the spirit of God, they alone, let's put that word in there.

They alone are the children of God. The others are not. I mean, we're biblical people, aren't we? Well, let's apply it to ourselves also. We need to watch the moving of the spirit of God. That's one thing about revival.

Revival, apart from everything else it is, is a time when the church moves with God. It's a time when the sensitivity of God descends upon a people. It's a time when somehow everybody gets out beyond their mind.

David's Dependence and the Priority of God

So David starts out saying, oh God, thou art my God. All that God is, thou art to me. I will not look any other direction. You can look at David's, the rest of the Psalms of David, see how absolute his dependence, his obedience, his confidence was in God.

The Lord is my shepherd. It's the same thing. He is the one who will guide. He is the one who will direct. He is the one who will close doors, open doors. Take me maybe where I never thought to go. Cause me to do that which I never thought to do.

Hold me back from the things which I desired to do. But only as I see the first and only as I possess the first part, can I go on that he leadeth me through still waters and beside the still waters and through the pastures and through the valley of the shadow of death and prepares the table and all the rest.

That's true because this is true. It was actually a name of God, God's shepherd. He says, thou art my God shepherd. And here again, oh God, thou art my God. And he's in the desert as he's writing this.

He's in the wilderness of Judah, the title says. He says, early will I seek thee. Time wise, chronologically, but also with regard to the priorities of life. Before anything else comes God. The Bible starts saying in the beginning, God.

In the new Testament, John says in the beginning was the word. I read one time that word, word that John uses in, in, in Greek, of course it means what it says, but in Hebrew, the word, word and the word reality are one and the same.

John was writing in Greek, but thinking possibly in Hebrew, the language of the, of the Israeli is saying in the beginning, there was reality before there was ever any, a false thing before there was ever any darkness, before there was ever any death, before there was ever anything that wasn't what it was supposed to be in the beginning, there was total, absolute reality.

He said that reality was life. That reality was light. And that reality was the life of man. And if we're going to live a, a, a meaningful Christian life, we've got to come into that. My God, my reality, or is this world our reality?

You know, that's why people go to the mission field and get wiped out. That's why culture shock and spiritual culture shock and all of those things, wipe people out. That's why people in this country come to the church.

And in times of trial and temptation and difficulty, they, they wither and die. They've never come into this. Now, my God, early will I seek thee in the first place, God, the eternal priority is God. Okay.

Experiencing God's Promises in the Wilderness

My flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is to see thy power and thy glory as I've seen thee in the sanctuary. David had an experience of God. Once again, this is something that God, I believe in a measure has given all of us.

If we're the children of God, evidently some more, some less, it is something which throughout life will be continually, continually unfolding. As someone has said, by the time we get to the end of life, each of us has our own Bible.

There are words which Lord has given me, which he didn't give to him. There are, there are passages which have become meaningful. There, there are, there are verses which have been lifted up in my life as signposts.

That was telling yesterday, maybe I can repeat this, about his accident when he was in the burning hotel, jumped out of, out of the window, smashed into the ground, both many, many bones. And the doctor came and he covered him up and he said, he's going to die.

And the pastor of the church came and he said, you know, God gave me two crutches to walk out of this situation. He told the doctor, I'm not going to die. He said, the pastor was there with a face as white as a sheep, four o 'clock in the morning at the end of the bed looking.

He said, God told me two things. I shall not die, but live. What was the other one? And as for God, his way is perfect. So we have two things to take him out of that situation. And I'm sure he's not, well, he hasn't forgotten them yet.

And I'm sure he never will. You know, there are things that God gives us. These are mine. Let me say this. Yeah, let me say it this way. Everything God gives us has life in itself. Every word that God gives us is a seed.

And from the time he gives us, it brings forth fruit all through life and on into eternity. It becomes the ground of my sowing in the Lord. The tiniest word of God, the tiniest spiritual victory, the tiniest revelation is mine from there on out.

You know, if I once know within me that God has promised to provide, unless he's definitely referring to a specific situation, but I'll see you through this. But if God just gives me the word for provision, that's mine for the rest of my life.

If he says, child, I'll guide you, take it, Lord, I'm going to need that right all the way through. You know, there are words that he spoke to the disciples. We look back and we say, isn't that beautiful?

The pathos of the moment, the emotional content, and yet somehow, you know, it was for them. But if you have ever heard him say, I'm being in a place where you really, really need it, I'll never leave you.

I'll never forsake you. That's something you go back to day after day. It goes, it goes until finally it takes dominion over all of life. He'll never leave me. It doesn't matter where I am. It doesn't matter if I've got money or don't have money.

I have health or don't have health. It doesn't matter if the world is falling around. He has promised he'll never leave me. I walk with him. This is what it's all about. I walk with him, my God. But he says, I want to see your power and I want to see your glory here in the desert, just as I've seen it in the sanctuary.

The Church Beyond Its Buildings

Probably one of the greatest curses on the church is that we've relegated all Christian experience to a building. Maybe I've said before, probably. But there are mission fields today that are worse, I believe, than they were a generation ago.

They're worse than they were a hundred years ago. They're worse than they were 2 ,000 years ago when Jesus came. Because just as God works from life to life, faith to faith, glory to glory, so the enemy works.

And every sin and every sickness and every pain and every sorrow and every twisted thing and every hurt thing and every degenerate thing is added to the weight of darkness, to the weight of oppression which covers the nation.

And so we talk about Christianity and we talk about those tribes and those countries which we've got to enter into and possess the world before the Lord comes. And if you'll excuse me saying a lot of it is baloney when we get right down to the practical.

We look at South America that's right south of us, the closest to us here. Apart from the southern, what they're down there they call the southern cone, some countries of the southern cone, what is the gospel penetration in depth?

You take out Argentina and Chile and Brazil, but can anybody imagine what it is to go into, let's not talk about Paraguay where we are, Bolivia, to talk to Indians that just look at you, never smile, never change.

And all your theories come tumbling down in a huffing. In a dry and thirsty land, this is a desert land, this is a land where everything sooner or later is overtaken and consumed by death. And as we go into those situations, or let's illustrate it a little bit more clearly maybe, we go into one of those mission fields where that kind of a spiritual atmosphere is present, is reigning, then we automatically come under the power of that, unless there is a greater power of God within us.

Now is it easy to do the work of God or isn't it? You know we get a lot of kids, you know, I want to serve the Lord, I want to go around the world, I want to go here, I want to go there, I want to hand out tracts, I want to be in street meetings.

That's not where it's at. If we're talking about an effective work of the kingdom, if we're talking about establishing on earth, and this is a measure, I mean this is a measure that God gave to us, on earth as it is in heaven.

Not just a question of avoiding transplanting American Christianity, but it's a question of knowing what the essence essence of the working of the Spirit of God would be in every place and in every condition.

In a dry and thirsty land where no water is. You know it says when God led his people through the desert, he opened up and in Psalms it says he gave them water from the great depths. This was not surface water, this was water given by a miracle, of course the symbolic interpretation, this was the life of God himself.

But this is water from the depths where it's been purified, fresh, pure, abundant, coming up a gift from God himself. Unless we have in life the gift of the water of God, in this measure, in this dimension, unless God breaks up the depths for us, the desert's going to take our life.

You know you can have a lot of good intention, you can have a lot of conviction in your mind and step into the desert, it won't make a scrap of difference. If you don't have water, you can try and talk your way out of it, believe your way out of it, act the part like you don't need the water, but it won't last very long.

Total Commitment to God's Calling

As I said, this is something Lord's been bringing back to me time after time after time. If we're not in this, we're just playing at Christianity. If there's no vision, if there's no daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, lifelong fighting, then we're missing totally the purpose of God.

This world from pole to pole is a desert place. Even the Christian countries, so-called, are desert places anymore. Go over to Europe where the Reformation first started, go to Germany, go to England, or even come over to this country.

You know, we've kept the form, we've kept the tradition, the last thing to die is the form, the tradition. Maybe it's kind of like a fungus, it grows more as there's more death within. It doesn't die, it grows on death.

We've got all the form, we've got all the tradition, but there's not very much essence, there's not very much life, there's not very much vision. How do we get there? Well, we get there by this commitment.

I don't know if that's a good word. Commitment's kind of like, you know, I am able to say to God whether I'll do it or not. It's a response to God. I can decide whether I'm going to respond or not, but I can't decide, there's no such thing as a response in measure.

Somebody said there's nothing worse than somebody who does the Lord's work. I can't remember exactly how the phrase went, but who does the Lord, gives himself to God in a measure. You know, Lord, I'll give you so much, but no more.

Lord, I'll go so far, but no further. Of course, we don't consciously do this, we unconsciously do this. It's called taking care of our health, it's called, you know, being practical, it's called our responsibility to our family.

First God, last is God, in the beginning it's always got to be God. What does God say? I've seen people that were going to go to the mission field, you know, well, we're just going to stay here and we're going to get married here, and then when our baby's born, then we'll go down to the mission field.

Forget it. That kind of people never make it, because the first baby is born, and then the second baby, and then the third baby, and then they start going to school. And, you know, if God calls me today, when does he expect me to respond?

You know, it's not like you get your notification that two months from now your tags are going to expire on your car. So think whether you want to sell the car or pay the tags. God doesn't deal with us like that.

When he comes, he says, today. What does it say in the New Testament? Today, if you will hear his voice, and if you hear his voice, it's always today with God. He never tells me what he was going to be asking or demanding of me next year, or six months from now, or even tomorrow.

He gives me the light, and if I desire to come into more light, if I desire to come into spiritual possession, if I desire to translate that which I vaguely see as a kind of a spiritual impact on my soul, if I desire to bring it down and see it in life on earth, the only way is to say, yes, Lord.

Yes, Lord. Lord, it doesn't matter what anybody says. You know, I know it's dangerous, but there's a lot of seeking counsel, which ends up that we're asking people advice when we already know what they're going to tell us.

You know, I think the Lord's calling me. What do you think? No, I don't think he's calling you. Thank you. You got me off the hook. Somebody talked to me a little while ago in a certain place, and this was the whole situation.

Obedience When God Calls

You know, how many people know, if I go and talk to my pastor, and I feel the Lord's calling me to a mission field, he said, no, you're doing a real work here among our young people, and we need you. Are there churches like that?

Think of one girl now, maybe six, seven, eight years ago, went to the church, and I felt God was talking to her about the mission field, and I talked to her. She was the pastor's daughter, and fine, you know, she was very American, great spirit of independence, and she was going to think about it, pray about it.

And I came back two months later, she said, you know, for two months I've been going round, and round, and round, and round, and round, and round. But her father was a pastor. The rest of the family, there were several children, they were all kind of working in the church, and one was helping in the school, and another helping there, and another, you know.

And if she'd have broken out of that, it would have been a kind of mini Hiroshima in the family. So she didn't, and yet already that place was too small for her. God was calling her to something greater.

And so she didn't do it, and guess what? The Lord provided a husband. You know, I've seen this, not once, not twice, but right at that time, and maybe he does. I mean, I'm serious, he does. Because he says, well, okay, you're not going to go on.

Here, here's a nice little boy, get my, settle down, raise your family, stay in the church. Remember, the boy came back from one of the mission fields in South America. I think two days later he was in.

How do you do that? I mean, that's got to be God, or something else. You know, he had this girlfriend before he went, and he went back, and lo and behold, she's been going with somebody else, and they're married, John, oh, boom.

Two, two weeks later, three weeks later, they're married. Some other girl came back. It's probably about three weeks later, and she's fighting about this boy. You know, once we've said no, then let's not say it was God, because God is, you know, he won't cut you off.

He's not going to kill you. He's not into this business of totally destroying us if we're not into accepting his will, cost what it may. Yeah, he provided. Sure he did, because he knew you, you know, whatever vessel, what does the Old Testament say?

Whatever vessel can pass through the fire must pass through the fire, and those that may not can be purified by washing with water. You know, God doesn't want to destroy the vessel, but what does Isaiah say?

Our God dwells in the fire. We only get so close to God if we ever say no. And I'm not saying there's not repentance, and I'm not saying there's not restoration, I'm not saying there's not a second opportunity, but what I'm saying is once most people close their eyes, they never ever open them, that I've seen.

The Test of Willingness and Spiritual Decisions

I remember a girl on the mission field in a Bible school, very rebellious, and the missionary there was a young fella who, long story, but anyway, the government had pressured and he couldn't get out of it.

He worked in the CIA for quite some time, and he was whatever they call them, field contacts or something. He was one of the guys that's out spying around and running into difficult situations, but he'd seen a lot of life.

So he gets out on the mission field, and this girl's rebellious. And there are a couple of cases, I'm not sure which is which, but anyway. One was a case of a girl, she said, you know, I'm not rebellious, because deep inside I want the will of God.

He told one time of a hit man that died in his arms, in one of their experiences there. He said, this guy died in my arms, and he said, you know, as he was dying, as he was losing his breath and losing his life, he was saying, you know, I'm not a murderer.

Tell people that I'm not a murderer. He said, I was little, and the family picked on me, and my brothers didn't understand me. He'd become what he was because he felt that society hadn't treated him right.

This girl was saying, I'm not rebellious. He said, you know that man, as far as society was concerned, what was he? He was a murderer. He was a killer. Because he'd murdered, because he'd killed, because his life would be given to that.

You're not rebellious. You want the will of the Lord inside, but what's your life doing? What are your decisions? What's your attitude? He talks about life being like, they play a lot of, what do they call it down there?

Checkers. A lot of checkers, some people in South America. He said, it's like you're playing checkers, and you say, well, I know I can win, and so I let the guy take, my opponent take this piece, and that piece, and that piece, and then I'm going to win, but you don't have enough pieces left.

You know, that happens to us all the time, spiritually speaking. I'm going to do the will of the Lord. Right now, I'm waiting. I'm just seeing, I'm looking for more guidance. You know how much guidance we need?

Just guidance enough to know whether God wants something or not. We don't need 335 verses of confirmation in the mouth of two or three witnesses. That's a biblical thing. Lord, is it really you speaking?

He gives me another verse. Yes. When am I responsible? Right then. Right then. Because life's too short. We've got a word in South America, it's a slang word, but it refers to people who are kind of soft, put things off, not too smart, feminine-type men.

You know, we kind of, well, the will of the Lord. So it's something that is totally beyond us, if God wants to do it. God's looking. Look at it in the New Testament. It'd be an interesting study. When God finds a man, I'm not talking about children.

We don't want children. I'm not talking about young people. A man is what? If somebody is not dreaming of the future, somebody can take the day and face the decisions and the demands of the day and step into life.