As those who love God, fear God and want to cooperate with God to care for God’s habitation, we need to realize that it is good to desire to do something for God, but we should not initiate anything; God doesn’t need our initiation – He needs our cooperation.
We see this in the history of David; he was a man according to God’s heart, and he desired to build a habitation for God on earth, a dwelling place for God and the Ark of God.
However, he was stopped by God, and he stopped; our stopping when God tells us to stop is a great matter, for whoever cannot stop working for the sake of God is not qualified to work for the sake of God.
On one hand, we love God, we fear God, and we want to do something for God; on the other hand, God doesn’t need our help but rather, He needs our cooperation.
If you really love someone and want to do something for that person, you need to get to know him, know what he likes and dislikes, and do something for him according to what he likes. For this, the cross needs to operate in us.
Our flesh can be zealous for God; our flesh seeks to please God and do things for God, for there are aspects of our flesh that want to improve themselves, do good things, and please God.
The flesh, however, can never please God; the flesh cannot submit to God and His authority, and the flesh can never do something that God is pleased with.
So the Lord arranges a certain amount of circumstantial suffering, some sufferings in the environment, and He also operates in us as the Spirit to expose the flesh and put it to death.
Our life as believers in Christ is, on one hand, a life of learning to overcome and be victorious, and, on the other hand, a life of brokenness, for the cross operates in us to break the other man and put the flesh to death.
The goal of the discipline of the Spirit through the environment and the operation of the cross in our being is to break us; when our natural man is broken, God has a way to work Himself into us and infuse His element into our being.
We may think we love God, we seek God, and we pursue God, and we may feel that we’re quite OK and even qualified to serve God because we don’t do bad things, we are willing to go along with others, and we don’t impose our point of view.
However, anything that we do apart from God, anything we do apart from the enjoyment of Christ, is in the flesh, and it can never please God.
Praise the Lord, He has already crucified the old man on the cross, and today we can cooperate with the Lord as the Spirit to put to death the practices of the body.
He will have a way; He will break through, and He will gain what He is after, for His life in us can make it.
Care for God’s Habitation on Earth yet Not Initiating anything in the Work of God but Cooperating with Him in His Work
2 Sam. 6:1 – 7:29 shows us how much David cared for God’s habitation on earth, the habitation of the ark of God (Psa. 132:1-18).
He wanted to build a house for God and told the prophet Nathan concerning this; however, God spoke to him through Nathan, Is it you who will build Me a house for Me to dwell in? (2 Sam. 7:5)
God didn’t want David to build the temple, and David stopped when God told him to do so.
However, David prepared the builder, the site, and the materials for the building of the temple.
God also revealed to David by His Spirit the pattern of the temple, and before David died, he gave this pattern to Solomon his son (2 Sam. 8:11; 1 Kings 7:51; 1 Chron. 22:14-16; 29:1-5; 28:11-19).
Acts 13:22, 26 reveals that David, a man after God’s heart who cared for God’s habitation, fulfilled his ministry and co-worked with God for the completion of the building of the temple.
God revealed to David the pattern of the temple and David passed it on to Solomon.
He set his affection on the house of God and had a desire for God’s habitation, but he stopped when God told him to stop; however, he still cared for God’s habitation by preparing everything necessary for its building up.
In 1 Chron. 29 we see how David prepared and gave a private treasure of gold and silver for the house of God, and he asked the people of Israel for whoever is willing to consecrate themselves to Jehovah, and they offered willingly to Jehovah and rejoiced with a great joy.
David was zealous to build a temple for God (2 Sam. 7:1-3), but God rejected David’s good intention; God sent Nathan the prophet to David to tell him that it was not him but his son, even the One that God will bring forth from his loins and will be called the Son of God, that will build the house.
This shows that all our work for the Lord and our service in the church must be initiated by God and not by us; even more, it all must be according to His desire.
Anything that we as men initiate out of our good heart for the Lord and His house, anything that is started by man for God, regardless of how much of it is for God, is a religious activity devoid of the presence of Christ.
Yes, God needs His people to work for Him and serve Him, and He wants them to have a desire and care for God’s habitation; however, He doesn’t need man to initiate anything in the work of God but rather, cooperate with God in His work.
Everything that we as believers in Christ do should come out from God according to God’s perfect will.
The work should be initiated by God, it should be through God as our means, our ability, our strength, our power, and our everything.
And the result should be that God gets all the glory and not us.
This is what Rom. 11:36 says, Out from Him and through Him and to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
We need to pray that, as we serve the Lord, our service would be out of Him as the source, through Him as the means, and to Him for His glory.
Our heart to serve God is acceptable, but our decision to do something for Him without Him initiating it is not acceptable, for God doesn’t want us to decide on His behalf.
When we want to do something for God, we simply need to be joined to Him in His desire and let Him initiate; we should never initiate the work for God.
In David’s case, since he was a man who shed blood, God wanted his son to build the temple; it wasn’t David’s function to build the temple, so David cooperated with God’s intention.
A lot of time, as we serve the Lord, we don’t have any realization about the fact that God needs to be the Initiator of our service and we might do something for the Lord that is not initiated by the Lord.
God doesn’t want us to initiate things or decide anything on His behalf. May we open to Him in this matter and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we love You and we care for God’s habitation. Amen, Lord, we are here for the building up of Your dwelling place on earth, the church as the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem. We come to You, Lord, and we take You as our life, our person, and our everything. May we learn not to initiate things in serving God and in our work for God. Save us from making decisions on Your behalf. We take You as the Initiator; we want to do everything one with You, through You as our means and ability, and to You for Your glory. Amen, Lord, may all the work for God be out of God, through God, and unto God, so that God gets all the glory! Make us those who serve God according to His desire and not in a religious way with many activities initiated by man!
All the Work for God should come from God, and All that Matters is what God does for Man
David was a person according to God’s heart; he was a man who feared God and knew what was on God’s heart, so he cooperated with God.
David did not react when God told him through the prophet Nathan to stop in his determination to be the one who would build the temple; this stopping is a great matter before God.
Sister M. E. Barber once said, “Whoever cannot stop working for the sake of God cannot work for the sake of God.”
This is a very precious and important matter; if we cannot stop working for the sake of God when God tells us to stop, we are not qualified to work for the sake of God.
In Luke 10:38-42 Mary stopped her activity and sat at the Lord’s feet, listened to His word, and received an infusion of His heart’s desire.
Martha was busy doing many things for God, but Mary chose the better part, for she stopped her being and listened to the Lord’s word.
As those who care for God’s habitation on earth and want to cooperate with God for the building up of the church, we need to serve Him according to His desire, His preference, and His will.
So we need to stop our being and sit at His feet to listen to Him; as we spend time with the Lord, His desire and preference and will are being dispensed into us for our service to Him.
David stopping to build the temple when God told him to establish a twofold testimony in the universe: all the work in the universe must come from God (not from man), and all that matters is what God does for man (not what man does for God) – see 2 Sam. 7:11-14a, 18, 25.
David desired with all his heart to build a house for God, but God told him that it was not him who will build a house but his son, the Seed that will come out of David and who will be called the Son of God.
When David heard this, he didn’t beg God to let him build the temple but prayed back to God the word that God spoke to him.
He went and sat before Jehovah and praised Him for what He has done in and for David, and he asked Him to fulfil the word He has spoken to David.
David didn’t just hear God’s word, he prayed it back to God; this is a man according to God’s heart.
A man according to the heart of God is one who cooperates with God and is willing to stop working for the sake of God when God asks him to stop; such a one takes God’s word and prays it back to Him so that He would do what is in His heart.
We must all learn deep within that God wants not our initiation in His service but our cooperation.
God doesn’t need us to do anything for Him; rather, He wants us to stop our opinions, decisions, and ideas, and simply let Him speak, let Him come in, and let Him command (Matt. 17:5).
When Peter was on the mount of transfiguration with the Lord Jesus and Elijah and Moses came to speak with Him, he had an idea and spoke it, but the voice from heaven said, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight. Hear Him!
God delights in His Son, and He wants Jesus Christ to be the Head of the Body and the Initiator and Doer of the work of God.
He appreciates our desire to care for God’s habitation but does not need our initiation; rather, He needs our cooperation.
May we learn to stop our being, stop our activities, stop our decisions and opinions, and simply cooperate with God for the building up of the church, God’s habitation.
Many throughout the centuries loved God, and were full of zeal for God but were not willing to stop for the sake of God.
Opportunities will come, but God’s word also comes, telling us to slow down and allow Him to initiate things; will we listen to the Lord’s word and stop working for the sake of God?
May we all learn this matter of cooperating with God but not initiating anything in our work for God. God doesn’t need you or me to do anything for Him; He simply wants us to let Him speak, let Him come in, and let Him command, while we cooperate with Him.
Lord Jesus, we want to learn deep within that God wants only our cooperation and not our initiation in our work for Him. We want to sit at the Lord’s feet and listen to Him to be infused with His desire and intention. Make Your heart’s desire become our heart’s desire. May we serve You according to Your desire, preference, and will, not according to our ideas, preferences, and opinions. Amen, Lord, we want to learn to stop all our opinions, decisions, and ideas and simply let You speak, let You come in, and let You command. May all the work be initiated by You and be done by You in us and us in You so that You may gain all the glory! Oh Lord, keep us one spirit with You all the time so that we may be willing to even stop working for the sake of God so that God would do a deeper work in us for the sake of God. Amen, Lord, have Your way in us and through us!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953, vol. 1, “Knowing Life and the Church“, pp. 277-284, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Samuel (2021 winter training), week 6, entitled, Spiritual Principles, Life Lessons, and Holy Warning seen in the History of David.
- Hymns on this topic:
– My soul, be silent, wait upon the Lord! / First let Him speak to thee, then speak to Him; / True prayer in thee the Lord initiates, / Thou but a channel art expressing Him. / My soul, be silent, wait upon the Lord! / Learn to deny thy thought and all thy will. / Learn to let God anoint thee with Himself / And thru thy prayer His purposes fulfill. (Hymns #793)
– Pray to labor with the Lord; / Let the Lord initiate / All the plan and all the work; / Then thru us He’ll operate. / Pray to labor with the Lord / Till the wheel begins to move; / Pray together with the Lord / Till the Church His pow’r shall prove. (Hymns #786)
– Recall how David swore, / “I’ll not come into my house, / Nor go up to my bed, / Give slumber to mine eyelids, / Until I find a place for Thee, / A place, O Lord, for Thee.” / Our mighty God desires a home / Where all His own may come. (Hymns #1248)
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