Smith Wigglesworth- Breaking Discouragement- Stirring up the Fire
As a believer, we live in a fallen world, and it is easy to become discouraged or become weary. We are to run the race with endurance and not to be weary. In Paul’s writing to his spiritual son, he said:
“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.”
2 Timothy 1: 6, 7
Paul would go on to explain to Timothy that he was to “endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Further, Paul speaking of the glory said:
“Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we do not lose heart.”
2 Corinthians 4: 1
To run this race and endure demands that we receive fresh fire from Heaven daily. Smith Wigglesworth preached:
“Faith brings into action a principle within our hearts, so that Christ can dethrone every power of Satan. God’s accomplishment for us can be proved in our experience, not a dormant position, but a power, a revelation, a life; of the greatness of it. The possibilities of man in the hand of God, brought out in revelation and force.”
The Lord does not want us in a dormant position where we have lost the fire of His Word in our lives, and we are simply busy doing religious duties but not the purpose of Heaven. Or there are people actively running a race and boasting in themselves but don’t have the afterglow of His fire. They may walk with sincere or insincere intentions, but only what we do fill with the fire of Heaven is of any value. We can become wearied by distractions or emotional attacks of the enemy,
In the Aramaic, it says:
And now, if hearkening you will hearken to My Word, and will keep My covenant, you, before Me, shall be more beloved than all peoples; for all the earth is Mine. And you, before Me, shall be kings (and) priests, a holy people. These are the words which thou shalt speak with the sons of Israel.
Exodus 19: 5, and 16 Targum
Now if we turn to the Book of Revelation:
“To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen,”
Revelation 1: 5-6
Out of His love and His authority, He made us kings and priests. And as we see in the Aramaic Version of Exodus, it was Jesus pre-incarnate that was the Living Word. Our relationship with the Lord is essential, and our intimacy based on holiness brings pure fire. Holiness is a message lost today, but the Holy Place where He dwelt and His glory was seen in the Old Testament was appropriately called the Holiest of Places. In our lives, He comes to abide in the holy place in us and to make us holy. As believers, we came as sinners to the Cross, but by His blood, we were lifted and made blood-washed saints.
Now look at John the Baptist, who understood his call and the authority he had because of the call. We must discover our call in Him and rise up with the authority of that call. When we come before the Master based on the call, He expects us to ask according to the call that we might abundantly receive to fulfill the call. But in the difficult seasons where we enter strange territories that we are not familiar with and we find ourselves alone, the enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. Smith explained:
“John (the) Baptist had a wonderful revelation, a mighty anointing; how the power of God rested upon him. All Israel moved. Jesus said, ‘…there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist: notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he’ (Matthew 11: 11). We see how satanic power can blind the mind unless we are filled or insulated by the power of God. Satan suggested to John, ‘Don’t you think you have made a mistake’?”
Think about it for one moment! Jesus said that John was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. He could hear the voice of the Lord, and he knew who Jesus was until he found himself alone in prison. How many times have we run well and been filled with fire only to find ourselves broken, discouraged, and questioning? Smith said:
“I find men who might be used by God to subdue kingdoms go down through, allowing suggestions of Satan to dethrone their knowledge of the power of God.”
The strategies of the enemy never change, and we see them in the temptations. The first one is based on our weaknesses and needs:
“If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread,’ But He answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4: 3, 4
The enemy wants you to question who you are and feel the need to prove it. Our validation and our value doesn’t come from the call but from Him. The enemy loves to point to things you are going through as signs that you are disqualified. We must walk knowing Him and that we serve the Master.
“No, God wants men flames of fire, strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Let us live as those that have seen the King, having a resurrection touch. We know we are sons of God as we believe His Word and stand in the truth of it.”
There is an afterglow, fresh fire that we should experience as we dare to linger longer in His Presence and stay longer. There is something so powerful when we come hungry to know Him and seek His face. Listen to these:
“but the Glory of My Shekinah shall dwell among you, and My Word shall be to you for a redeeming God, and you shall be unto My Name for a holy people.”
Leviticus 26: 12 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
And when we walk away from the natural order of complaining to true worship of Him, we encounter His glory.
And Moses and Aaron went from the face of the murmuring congregation to the door of the tabernacle of ordinance, and bowed upon their faces, and the Glory of the Lord’s Shekinah was revealed to them.
Numbers 20: 6 Pseudo-Jonathan
We must be willing to walk away from many things that seek to capture us in our emotions and circumstances. Our lives are to be wrapped up in God the Word. We are to meet with Him in the Secret Place, which is the Holiest Place.
Smith explained:
“Oh! Be not a sleep concerning the deep things of God. Have a flaming indignation against the power of Satan. Lot had a righteous indignation, but too late; he should have had it when he went into Sodom. Be thankful you are alive to hear, and that God can change the situation.”
We need to know Him and who He really is, for all too often, we are moved by what we see and what we feel. But we must make a quality decision of pursuit from the heart.
Know therefore today, and set your heart upon it, that the Lord is God, whose Shekinah dwelleth in the heavens above, and reigneth on the earth beneath, neither is there any other beside Him.
Deuteronomy 4: 39 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
And when we encounter His glory, which cannot change and declares His greatness, we should know that He is the Almighty God. Therefore, we refuse to allow the enemy to use the world, the flesh, and the devil to discourage us.
Therefore be not downbroken before them, for the Shekinah of the Lord your God is among you, the Great and Fearful God.
Deuteronomy 7: 21 Pseudo-Jonathan
No wonder Paul explained:
“I had no rest in my spirit…”
2 Corinthians 2: 13
Paul was so disturbed on the inside of his spirit regarding Titus, it caused him to seek the face of the Lord and to move. We need to be disturbed in our spirits until holy desperation consumes us, driving us to seek His face.
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”
2 Corinthians 2: 14
Do you see that afterglow from abiding in His Presence that lifts you and brings you into victory, and enables you to carry to others a fresh touch? Listen to this:
Know, therefore, today that the Lord your God, whose glorious Shekinah goeth before you, whose Word is a consuming fire, will destroy them and drive them out before you; so shall you drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord your God hath said to you.
Deuteronomy 9: 3 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan
He goes before us in His mighty Shekinah glory, and He is with us. His Shekinah is the glory found in His abiding Presence. We may not physically see Him, but He is with us. We must recognize it is a spiritual battle, and the battle is His.
Smith powerfully explained:
“Anything that takes me from an attitude of worship, peace, joy, of consciousness of God’s Presence, has a satanic source. Greater is he that is in you”
We are in a spiritual battle, and the victory is won in the Secret Place and realized when we refuse to be moved by anything that would dethrone Jesus from the throne of your affection and imagination. No wonder Jesus said:
“Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.”
Matthew 4: 10
The only thing we bow to is Him. We make a stand and refuse to allow our circumstances, emotions, soul, and its needs for justice, and anything that would try to capture us.
