Hello, brothers and sisters and Heartdwellers family. I got this reading from The Imitation of Christ a while back when I struggling with the contradictions and the humiliations the Lord allowed with my trip to Ghana and the City of God community delays. As Holy Spirit does, He was right on point and all I could do was laugh in humble submission to what I now realized the Lord was doing in my soul.
I wanted to share with you guys because it falls perfectly in line with our Belonging to Christ series and really opens our eyes as the Lord is wanting us to die to ourselves completely and live for our heavenly rewards and thinking eternally.
There is a Rhema a couple of us have pulled at Mother’s house. And it’s from Joyce Meyer. It says, “The robot: ‘What about me, what about me, what about me?’” It’s from a teaching on how we can be so self-absorbed and full of self-pity in our Christian walk when we compare ourselves and nothing seems to be
bearing any fruit in our lives. She was on stage doing the robot, saying how we feel inside—saying, “Lord, what about me, what about me, what about me?” When I got this Rhema reading I was struggling with comparison and discouragement, asking the Lord “What about me?” not realizing he was breaking me to prepare me for eternity.
This is Chapter 49, and the title is called, “Of the desire after eternal life, and how great blessings are promised to those who strive after it”. I thought, “What About Me?” would be a more fitting title for this message. So I have personalized this, so the counsel given is From Jesus, speaking to us.
Jesus begins,
“My Child, often the fire burns, but the flame ascends not without smoke. So also the desires of some men burn towards heavenly things, and yet they are not free from the temptations of carnal affections. Therefore, they are not acting with any altogether simple desire for God’s glory when they pray to Me so earnestly.
“Such, too, oftentimes is your desire when you have imagined it to be so earnest. For what is tainted with your own self-seeking is not pure and perfect. Do not seek what is pleasant and favorable to yourself but what is acceptable and honorable unto Me. For if you judge rightly you must choose and follow after My plans rather than your own desire. Yea, rather than anything that can be desired. I know your desire and I have heard your many groanings. Already you long to be in the glorious liberty of the Children of God—already in your eternal home which you delight in and the heavenly country full of joy. But the hour is not yet come. There still remains another season, even a season of warfare, a season of labor and probation. You desire to be filled with the Chief Good, but you cannot attain it immediately. I am that Good, wait for Me until the Kingdom of God shall come.
“You must still be tried upon earth and be exercised in many things. Consolation from time to time shall be given to you but abundant satisfying shall not be granted. Be strong, therefore, and be brave, both in working and in suffering things which are against your nature. You must put on the New Man and be changed into another man. You must often do what you do not want, and leave undone what you would want to do.
“What others desire to do shall have good success and what you desire to do shall have no prosperity. What others say shall be listened to; what you say shall not be received nor listened to. Others shall be great in the report of men, but about you, nothing shall be spoken. To others this or that shall be entrusted; you shall be judged useful for nothing.
“Because of this your nature shall sometimes be filled with sadness, and it is a great thing if you bear it silently. In this, and many like things, as the faithful servant of the Lord, you will be tried in how far you are able to deny yourself and bring yourself into subjection in all things. Scarcely is there anything that doesn’t need to be mortified in yourself especially as much as seeing things that are adverse to your will; especially when things are given to you to be done which seem to you foolish or of little use to you. And because you dare not resist a higher power, being under authority, therefore it seems very hard for you to yield yourself to another and to forgo your own opinion.
“But consider My child, the fruit of these labors, the swift end and the reward exceedingly great. You will begin to find no pain in bearing these things then, but rather a stronger resolve of your patience. When you forsake these small trifling desires you shall always then have your will in Heaven. There you will find, My child, all that you want and all that you long for. There you shall have all good within your power without fear of losing it. There, your will, will be ever one with Mine. You shall desire nothing outward, or nothing for yourself. There, no one shall resist you; no one shall complain of you, no one shall hinder you, nothing shall stand in your way. But all that you desire will be present together and your whole affection refreshed and filled up even to the brim.
“There, you will glory for the scorn suffered here, the garment of praise for sorrow and for the lowliest place, a throne in the Kingdom forever. There shall it appear, the fruit of your obedience. You will rejoice over the labor of your repentance and your humble submission will be crowned gloriously.
“So now, therefore bow yourself humbly under the hands of all men, nor let it trouble you who said this or who ordered that but take special heed that whether it is those over you, those under you, or your equal that require anything from you or even show a desire of needing you in any way, take it all in good stride and study with a good will to fulfill their desire. Let others seek this, another that; let another glory in this and another in that and be praised a thousand, thousand, times over, but you rejoice only in the contempt of yourself, and in Mine own good pleasure and glory. This is what you ought to long for, even if that is by life or death, that God may be ever magnified in you.”
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