John G Lake- Defeating the Spirit of Unworthiness
Jesus started His earthly ministry by quoting from Isaiah chapter sixty-one. He boldly declared that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, and He had anointed Him. That anointing was for the purpose of the Father to be accomplished through Jesus. We know the Father so loved that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus.
“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61: 1b-3
One area that most people, including believers, struggle is with a sense of self-worth, and as a result, we feel worthless. We seek to gain a sense of worth through things and by being accepted and validated by people. Because we suffer such constant rejection, we believe that the Lord sees us the same way, unworthy.
The truth was we were all unworthy because of sin, and we were unable to come into His Presence. We sought to hide from Him and from ourselves, covering problems with excuses because we knew we could not overcome them by ourselves.
John G Lake explained:
“God has been seeking a habitation a long time. God found a habitation in Jesus Christ, and He became the dwelling place of God. Christ’s purpose for the world was that men like Himself should become the dwelling place of God.”
Going back to what Jesus declared in Isaiah’s quote, we see He would offer “beauty for ashes.” If we look closer at the Hebrew for “ashes” is “epher” and it means worthlessness. The Lord comes and lifts those who are worthless and clothes them with the beauty of sons and daughters. Further, He comes to raise us up to be a habitation of the Living God. Think about the depth of intimacy He invites us to know, not just to be able to come close but that we would be worthy to have Him come and abide in us.
Lake further explained:
It was not purposed that Jesus Christ was to be a particular or special dwelling place of God. It was rather purposed that mankind should be just as much a holy and desirable dwelling place of God as Jesus Himself was. The purpose of the Gospel of God was that through Jesus Christ His Son many sons should be begotten of God, should be begotten of Christ.”
He came to declare the year of jubilee and that in Him we would be lifted to a place where we would become the very temples of the Living God. Not like the Old Testament prophets who were anointed for a purpose, but something even greater, habitations of God. Jesus said of John the Baptist:
“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than He,”
Matthew 11: 11
John was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, yet the least in the kingdom is greater than him! How? We have to fully appreciate the mystery of the Church and how He desires that we would be one with Him, in which we abide in Him and He in us. A unity in which He makes you something so glorious and, He lifts you to dwell with Him in Heavenly places. In the Old Testament, they understood the power of the Presence dwelling with them and how it lifted them above all nations. We are not just called to experience His Presence abiding with us or anointing on us, but like Jesus to know the abiding in us.
But how is this possible? We see ourselves and all our failings, and we can never be worthy of such an honor.
“Christ’s undertaking was to save mankind from their sins and transform them into sons of God like Himself. That is the purpose and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Jesus addresses not just our unworthiness but destroys the issue that caused it in the first place. Paul explained:
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
1 Corinthian 2: 12-14
When the Lord speaks, His words are spirit and truth, and they penetrate deeper. But His words must be spiritually discerned because our natural man can’t understand them. He didn’t come and simply place a bandage on the problem, but He got to the root of the issue and overcame it for us. John G Lake explained:
“The soul joined to Christ in His divine affection, the spirit of man entering into Christ, the Spirit of Christ entering into man causes such a transformation that the man becomes a new creature. All his impulses have changed, the ruling of his human nature ceases, and finally he is a son of God.”
Reading Psalm forty gives us a powerful insight into what He did for us through Christ.
“I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth- praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”
Psalm 40: 1-3
Until we come and see His face and cry out we will never experience the transformation only He can bring. He answers the deep cry of the heart. He comes declaring that we are accepted in Him because of Him.
Lake explained:
“That is wonder of the cleansing power and Cross of Christ in the nature of man. The wonder is that Jesus purposed to make your heart and mine just as sweet and lovely and pure and holy as His own. That is the reason that He can accept the Christian as His bride. Who could imagine the Christ accepting Christians polluted, defined, of a lower state of purity or holiness than Himself?”
But for many of us, we see ourselves as the greatest of sinners, and we are disqualified from His mighty grace. But Lake explained:
If you felt, dear brother or sister, that you have been a sinner above all that dwelt in Jerusalem, as some did, be assured that the cleansing power of Jesus Christ is equal to your need, and the thoroughness and almightiness of His Spirit’s working in you can make you a king and prince, lovely and beautiful, pure of heart and life like unto Himself.”
If we will come in honesty and humility and seek His face, He is more than able to lift us.
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”
1 John 3: 21
The word for “beloved” means worthy to be loved. He has declared us worthy to be loved, and through His mighty grace and our receiving that grace by faith, we are given the confidence to draw close. But, we must be willing to cast off the old clothes of the one who was unworthy and receive who we now are in Him.
Lake explained:
“Beloved, I want to say that if any unholiness exists in the nature, it is not be the consent of the Spirit of God. If unholiness exists in your life it is because your soul is giving consent to it, and you are retaining it. Let it go. Get it out, and let God have His way in your life.”
If we will dare come and take time with Him in the Secret Place of His Presence and give Him time and place, He will do mighty work in us. He will do a mighty heart surgery on us.
Lake said:
“When we become the habitation of God, God lives in the mind, God lives in the brain, what will be the result? What will we do and what will we say or think? What will be the tenderness of our emotions, of our soul, and what will be the depth of our feeling? What will be the growth of our capacity to love?
John G Lake- Defeating the Spirit of Unworthiness
Jesus started His earthly ministry by quoting from Isaiah chapter sixty-one. He boldly declared that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him, and He had anointed Him. That anointing was for the purpose of the Father to be accomplished through Jesus. We know the Father so loved that He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus.
“He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty of ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.”
Isaiah 61: 1b-3
One area that most people, including believers, struggle is with a sense of self-worth, and as a result, we feel worthless. We seek to gain a sense of worth through things and by being accepted and validated by people. Because we suffer such constant rejection, we believe that the Lord sees us the same way, unworthy.
The truth was we were all unworthy because of sin, and we were unable to come into His Presence. We sought to hide from Him and from ourselves, covering problems with excuses because we knew we could not overcome them by ourselves.
John G Lake explained:
“God has been seeking a habitation a long time. God found a habitation in Jesus Christ, and He became the dwelling place of God. Christ’s purpose for the world was that men like Himself should become the dwelling place of God.”
Going back to what Jesus declared in Isaiah’s quote, we see He would offer “beauty for ashes.” If we look closer at the Hebrew for “ashes” is “epher” and it means worthlessness. The Lord comes and lifts those who are worthless and clothes them with the beauty of sons and daughters. Further, He comes to raise us up to be a habitation of the Living God. Think about the depth of intimacy He invites us to know, not just to be able to come close but that we would be worthy to have Him come and abide in us.
Lake further explained:
It was not purposed that Jesus Christ was to be a particular or special dwelling place of God. It was rather purposed that mankind should be just as much a holy and desirable dwelling place of God as Jesus Himself was. The purpose of the Gospel of God was that through Jesus Christ His Son many sons should be begotten of God, should be begotten of Christ.”
He came to declare the year of jubilee and that in Him we would be lifted to a place where we would become the very temples of the Living God. Not like the Old Testament prophets who were anointed for a purpose, but something even greater, habitations of God. Jesus said of John the Baptist:
“Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than He,”
Matthew 11: 11
John was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, yet the least in the kingdom is greater than him! How? We have to fully appreciate the mystery of the Church and how He desires that we would be one with Him, in which we abide in Him and He in us. A unity in which He makes you something so glorious and, He lifts you to dwell with Him in Heavenly places. In the Old Testament, they understood the power of the Presence dwelling with them and how it lifted them above all nations. We are not just called to experience His Presence abiding with us or anointing on us, but like Jesus to know the abiding in us.
But how is this possible? We see ourselves and all our failings, and we can never be worthy of such an honor.
“Christ’s undertaking was to save mankind from their sins and transform them into sons of God like Himself. That is the purpose and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Jesus addresses not just our unworthiness but destroys the issue that caused it in the first place. Paul explained:
“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
1 Corinthian 2: 12-14
When the Lord speaks, His words are spirit and truth, and they penetrate deeper. But His words must be spiritually discerned because our natural man can’t understand them. He didn’t come and simply place a bandage on the problem, but He got to the root of the issue and overcame it for us. John G Lake explained:
“The soul joined to Christ in His divine affection, the spirit of man entering into Christ, the Spirit of Christ entering into man causes such a transformation that the man becomes a new creature. All his impulses have changed, the ruling of his human nature ceases, and finally he is a son of God.”
Reading Psalm forty gives us a powerful insight into what He did for us through Christ.
“I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth- praise to our God; many will see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord.”
Psalm 40: 1-3
Until we come and see His face and cry out we will never experience the transformation only He can bring. He answers the deep cry of the heart. He comes declaring that we are accepted in Him because of Him.
Lake explained:
“That is wonder of the cleansing power and Cross of Christ in the nature of man. The wonder is that Jesus purposed to make your heart and mine just as sweet and lovely and pure and holy as His own. That is the reason that He can accept the Christian as His bride. Who could imagine the Christ accepting Christians polluted, defined, of a lower state of purity or holiness than Himself?”
But for many of us, we see ourselves as the greatest of sinners, and we are disqualified from His mighty grace. But Lake explained:
If you felt, dear brother or sister, that you have been a sinner above all that dwelt in Jerusalem, as some did, be assured that the cleansing power of Jesus Christ is equal to your need, and the thoroughness and almightiness of His Spirit’s working in you can make you a king and prince, lovely and beautiful, pure of heart and life like unto Himself.”
If we will come in honesty and humility and seek His face, He is more than able to lift us.
“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.”
1 John 3: 21
The word for “beloved” means worthy to be loved. He has declared us worthy to be loved, and through His mighty grace and our receiving that grace by faith, we are given the confidence to draw close. But, we must be willing to cast off the old clothes of the one who was unworthy and receive who we now are in Him.
Lake explained:
“Beloved, I want to say that if any unholiness exists in the nature, it is not be the consent of the Spirit of God. If unholiness exists in your life it is because your soul is giving consent to it, and you are retaining it. Let it go. Get it out, and let God have His way in your life.”
If we will dare come and take time with Him in the Secret Place of His Presence and give Him time and place, He will do mighty work in us. He will do a mighty heart surgery on us.
Lake said:
“When we become the habitation of God, God lives in the mind, God lives in the brain, what will be the result? What will we do and what will we say or think? What will be the tenderness of our emotions, of our soul, and what will be the depth of our feeling? What will be the growth of our capacity to love?
He further added:
“When God lives in a man’s spirit, the spirit of man reaches out into the boundless, touching the almightiness of God, discerning His nature, appropriating His power, securing His almightiness.”
And:
“God living in a man’s flesh, giving off a vibration of God-life, God-power; God indwelling his blood, God indwelling his hands, God indwelling his bones and marrow- a habitation of God.”
Amen?
Let us never forget that in His Presence there is fullness of joy.
He further added:
“When God lives in a man’s spirit, the spirit of man reaches out into the boundless, touching the almightiness of God, discerning His nature, appropriating His power, securing His almightiness.”
And:
“God living in a man’s flesh, giving off a vibration of God-life, God-power; God indwelling his blood, God indwelling his hands, God indwelling his bones and marrow- a habitation of God.”
Amen?
Let us never forget that in His Presence there is fullness of joy.
