The Vision by Rick Joyner
EPISODE 46
The High Calling
Then the famous Reformer offered a final exhortation:
"Do not try to teach others to do what you, yourself, are not doing. Reformation is not just a doctrine. True reformation only comes from union with the Savior. When you are yoked with Christ, carrying the burdens that He gives you, He will be with you and carry them for you. You can only do His work when you are doing it with Him, not just for Him.
"Only the Spirit can beget that which is Spirit. If you are truly yoked with Him, you will do nothing for the sake of politics or history. Anything you do because of political pressures or opportunities will only lead you to the end your true ministry. The things that are done in an effort to make history will at best confine your accomplishments to history, and you will fail to impact eternity. IF you do not live what you preach to others, you disquality yourself from the high calling of God, just as we did."
«I do not think I could even consider seeking a high calling," I interrupted. "I don't even deserve to sit here in this place you say is for the lowest rank in heaven. How could I ever consider seeking a high calling?"
"The high calling is not out of reach for anyone that the Lord has called. I will tell you what will keep you on the path of life—love the Savior and seek His glory alone.
Everything you do to exalt yourself will one day bring you the most terrible humiliation. Everything you do out of genuine love for the Savior, to glorify His name, will extend the limits of His eternal kingdom and ultimately result in a much higher place for yourself. Live for what is recorded here. Care nothing for what is recorded on earth."
The couple then parted with a cheerful embrace, yet I felt anything but cheerful. As they walked away, I was again overwhelmed by my own sin. Memories of the times I had used people for my own purposes, or even used the name of Jesus to further my own ambitions or make myself look better, began to cascade down upon me. Here, in this place where I could behold the power and glory of the One I had so used, such memories became more repulsive than I could stand. I fell on my face in the worst despair I had ever known.
After what seemed like an eternity of seeing people and events pass before me, I felt the Reformer's wife lifting me to my feet again. I was overcome by her purity, especially as I now felt so evil and corrupt. I had the strongest desire to worship her because she was so pure.
"Turn to the Son," she said emphatically. "Your desire to worship me, or anyone else at this time, is only an attempt to turn the attention away from yourself, and justify yourself by serving what you are not. I am pure now because I turned to Him. You need to see the corruption that is in your own soul, but then you must not dwell on yourself or seek to justify yourself with dead works, but turn to Him."
She said this with such genuine love that it was impossible to be hurt or offended by it. When she saw that I understood, she continued:
"The purity you saw in me was what my husband first saw in me when we were young. I was relatively pure in my motives then, but I corrupted his love and my own purity by allowing him to worship me wrongly. You can never become pure by worshiping those who are more pure than yourself. You must go beyond them to find the One who has made them pure, and in Whom alone there is no sin.
"The more people praised us, and the more we accepted their praises, the further we drifted from the path Then we started living for the praises of men, and to gain power over those who would not praise us. That was our demise, and it was the same for many who are here in the lowest place."