| Date: Friday, April 28, 2006 Title: |
| The Eye Of The Needle (This talk was given on: 4th March 2001) A prophetic word/vision given by Charlotte Baker in 1981 Worship Symposium Dallas, TX ...The Eye of the Needle ... The Gate of Worship The Ultimate Choice "I have brought this people together today to make unto you a choice. You can minister unto men...or you can minister unto the King of Glory!" I stood among the sons of men, strong and tall. My heart was filled with enthusiasm. My life was given to the purposes of God. Upon that day, I said to the Lord, "I will do mighty exploits in the name of my God." The Lord came unto me and He said, "What is it, son of man, that thou would have?" I said, "Lord, if I could only be among those who play sweetly upon an instrument and who sing well in the house of the Lord, then I would do great things for my God." The Lord came to me and He gave unto me the desire of my heart. He let me play and He let me sing. I saw the day when the hearts of men were moved by that thing the Lord had given unto me. After hearts of men were moved, I stood back and I said to myself, "Now I will be content for I have been able to move the hearts of men." But in my secret hour I bowed my head before my God and said, "Lord, You have given me what I asked for but my heart is heavy. I have a longing for something more." He came again unto me in the night season. He asked me again, "Son of man, ask Me again the thing that thou would have of Me." I said, "Lord I see men bowed by burdens low. I see hearts that are broken. I see sadness and discouragement. Oh give me the power of the spoken word that I might speak the word and their hearts be delivered." The Lord came unto me and said, "Son of man, I have given thee the things which thou hast desired." With great joy, I marched before the people of God. In my youth and in my enthusiasm, I spoke the Word and men were delivered. I spoke the Word and their hearts were made whole. I knew what it was to bind up the broken hearted and to pour in the oil of joy replacing their mourning. While men were yet praising Him, glorifying His name, I went back to my secret chamber, I bowed my head in sorrow. I said, "Oh my God, my God, I am not satisfied." He came again unto me and He said, "Son of man, what is it that thou desireth of Me?" And I said, "Oh my God, give me power in my hands that as You did, I might lay my hands upon the sick and see the healing flow." He said unto me, "It is done as thou has commanded." God healed the sick. I went to the nations of the earth and I saw the sick raised from their beds. I saw pain and suffering go away. I was rejoicing as I went to my secret place. I bowed my head before my God. I said, "Now my God, I will be satisfied for you have given me that which I have desired." No sooner had the words come out of my mouth when the heart within me began to ache and cry. I said, "God, I don't understand. Again my heart is sad. Lord, will You, just one more time, give me the thing I ask of Thee?" He said, "It is done." "God, I desire to go against principalities and powers, the powers of the wickedness of this world and spiritual darkness in high places. He said, "Surely I give it unto thee. Now go." So I went and the Lord allowed me to go into dens of iniquity, the holes and dives where men hide from the light because of the sin and evil that is upon them. There was a day when I saw demons cry out at the very presence of the power of God that rested on me. Then I went back to my secret place broken. I said, "God, I have asked You for all that I desired and still my heart is not yet satisfied. Nor do I feel that I have touched the thing that You have called me to. In my youth I have expended myself with all the things that my heart had desired." Then one more time a gracious and loving God visited me in the night season. He said, "Now - what is it that thou dost desire?" In brokenness of heart, I bowed before Him and I said, "God, only that thing which You desire to give unto me." He came unto me and said, "Come with Me and I will take you on a journey." He took me past my friends. He took me past those with whom I had come into the house of the Lord. He took me into a desolate place. He caused me to go into a place alone in the wilderness. I said, "Oh my God, what are you doing to me? You have cut me off from those I love." He said, "I take thee to the place where all men must come if their heart's cry is to be fulfilled." At a certain hour, I bowed before a gate that is called.… The Eye of the Needle, The gate of Worship! There before the Eye of the Needle I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Bow low." So I bowed lower. He said "Yet lower. Thou does not go low enough." So I went as low as I could possibly go. But I had upon my back my books of learning. I had with me my instruments of music. I had with me my gifts and abilities. He said unto me, "Thou has too much, thou can not go through this gate." I said, "But God, You have given me these books. You have given me these abilities." He said, "Drop them. or thou dost not go." So I dropped them. I went through a very small gate that is called 'The Eye of the Needle'. As I went through this gate, I heard the voice of the Lord say, "Now rise to the other side." As I rose, a very strange thing happened to me. You see, the gate which was so small on one side that I must lay aside everything, was now so wide I could not fill it. As I stood in the presence of the Lord I said, "God, what is this thing that You have done unto me, for my soul is now satisfied?" He said, "Thou has come through the gate of worship. Now come up to the circle of the earth and I will show thee a great mystery. I will reveal unto thee the thing that I am doing among the sons of men." The Spirit of the Lord caught me away. He took me to the circle of the earth, higher than where the eagle flies, beyond where the clouds can rumble, beyond where the sun shines or the moon finds her path. There at the throne of my God, He said, "Look down upon My people." I saw strange things. I saw my companions gathered around a very small gate that is, 'The Eye of the Needle, the gate of worship'. I saw them wringing their hands and crying. They were saying one to another, "But God has given us these instruments of war. This sword is my sword and I will work with it against the enemy to bring him down. I cannot go through this gate, for, if I go through this gate, I must put down my sword. God has called me to be a warrior and therefore, I will not do it." And I heard another one say, "Me? Lay down my instruments of music? Lay down all God has given me, just to go through that silly little gate, to be nothing but a bare man who comes out the other side stripped of everything? I cannot do this thing." I saw them as they stood aside in their pride, afraid to bow themselves before a very small gate. Then I saw again, as the Lord brought me closer to the gate. I saw a man bow low, laying down everything that he had. As he came through the very wide gate on the other side, his instruments of music were there. His sword was there. His books were there. The power was there. The Word of the Lord came to me, "Go now and tell this people before you, I have given unto this people extreme talents and much ability. But I say unto you today, if you do not come through the very small gate, which is the gate of worship, and bow low and lay before me thine instruments, thy talents, abilities, vision and power, thou shall always be among those who will only be able to minister to the hearts of men, and bless the hearts of men. But there is a gate open to the Church in this hour, a very small gate. And through this gate, only men and women who are worshippers will go. These people will lay their talents before their God. These people will say, "God, we will be Your worshippers." Through that wide gate they will come and they will arise on the other side, not to minister unto men, but to minister unto their God. I have brought you together this day, to make unto you a choice. You can minister unto men and I will cause you to sway the hearts of men with your talent. Or, you can go through a very small gate, that is 'The Eye of the Needle', the gate of worship, and while making new worshippers, you will minister unto the King of Kings and Lord of lords!" I want you to come with me on the greatest journey possible – a journey to seek the heart of God and something of His character. God is personal. He is aware of his own existence, reasons and makes free decisions. He is an intelligent moral being, not merely an abstract idea, a `thing' which somehow exercises fatalistic control over the universe, like a giant robot in a factory. He acts and speaks because he consciously chooses to act and speak, deciding what He will do and what He will say. God is conscious of Himself in a most complete way. Ex. 3:14 says 'God replied' “I am the One who always is. Just tell them, 'I am has sent me to you.'” God knows that which He is. We are dealing with a God that knows all there is to know about Himself and we can be sure He isn't going to change His mind because He just found out that He is a just God. If He is totally conscious of Himself, then He is totally conscious of us. That should put us at peace about who we are. We are that which He has made us. We are just exactly what God wants us to be this day, at this hour, at this moment. God cannot be hindered or restricted. You can't build a fence around Him. He can do whatever he wants, whenever He wants. He is independent of us and all that we do, yet He has chosen to be around us. think on that one for awhile! THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE LIMITED HIMSELF TO STICK AROUND WITH US! God loves us! Of that I have no doubt. God's love is far above all human love. This love is seen in I John. 4:10 which shows that God sent Christ, in love, to a people that did not love Christ, or God. 'This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.' He gives his love and does not force that love upon those that reject it. Rom. 5:8 tells us that while we were yet sinners He acted by sending His Son, for He loves righteousness and justice (Psalm 33:5), and His unfailing love fills the earth. God is living, working in His world, and relating to His people. He's aware of what is going on, makes plans, and carries them out. He forms relationships and has purpose and will. He is a jealous God, taking himself seriously and insisting that others take Him seriously. His love will not allow Him to tire of taking care of His people. His love will not allow Him to tire of seeking to save the lost. His love will not allow Him to forget His promises to us. Those are a few observations I've made about God and His personality. Listening to that lot, it would be very easy to think “What on earth would I do for a God as powerful as that? What could I do?” I believe that we've first of all got to make up our minds that we want to do something before we decide what we can do. After deciding that we want to, we've got to determine that we are able to. We can't let our minds lock onto the idea that we can't do anything, or that we don't have anything to give. I believe that if we do that, we'll talk ourselves out of both a blessing from God and a wonderful opportunity to be a part of a miracle. God delights in using anyone, boy or girl, man or woman, who makes themselves available to Him. I suspect that, if we investigated, we would find in most hearts here tonight, a basic hunger to be used by God. For those of us who've been Xians for some time, we may have experienced something of this and we can remember the joy and sheer excitement of it. For those who haven't yet experienced it, boy, what a ride you've got in store! There is nothing quite like the sense of having been a channel of divine activity, of having been used to do God's work. I suspect that there are many of us here tonight that have a hunger in their heart to be used by God, not merely occasionally, but consistently. And to be used, not despite ourselves, as sometimes happens, but to be used in the full knowledge of His divine path for us. We have desires to be used to heal, to make right, to restore, to break down walls of partition, to unite that which is shattered and fragmented, to deliver from oppressions, from bondage and enslavement and to empower, enrich, fulfil, and intensify. All these are descriptions of the work God is here to do, and what He will use us to do if we are available to Him. It is exactly what God proposes to do with each one of us, and, thus, to be used is what gives meaning and purpose to our lives. Without this, the best we can do results in a sense of deadness, meaninglessness, and pointlessness. We might give a most impressive display of energy, vitality, and activity, but when we get to the end we shall have to ask ourselves, 'What's been the point of it all?' In the day of the judgment of the believer before God He may say to us, 'What you did was interesting, and active, but you missed the point.' But. I can hear you now thinking 'Oh no. Not a but. Buts in a story aren't good'. Well you'd be right. I believe that through the vision I read earlier, God is asking us to go another step forward with Him tonight. I believe that He has new callings for some of us. A reinforcement of callings for others, for some, a calling that they never thought they'd be called to and yet others, their first call from God. It's going to be tough. But only if we take our eyes off God. If we keep focussed on Him, talking to, listening and praying, He will not only lead us to the gate, but He will be on the other side when we've dropped all our baggage, bowed down and crawled through, to raise us up again and give back what we left behind in greater measure. So far I've ministered to and hopefully blessed the hearts of women and men. I want now to minister to the heart of God in which ever way He sees fit for me to serve. That then is I believe the challenge set before us. I was once driving my lorry down the motorway and I noticed a sign on the back of one which read 'Any Load, Any Place, Any Time.' What a great motto for Xians. Any load Lord, Any place Lord and any time Lord! Do we stay in the comfort zone of what we know and we feel secure in, or are we prepared to let go and let God? Let's pray. Any load Lord, Any place Lord and any time Lord. We don't live up to that, but we want to. With Your help and grace Father You make it possible for us to do all things. Tonight we open ourselves to You and ask that You give us the strength to give up those things that You have on Your heart for us to loose. Guide us to that small gate of worship and help us to relinquish all to You. Thank You for Your promise that You'll be there on the other side waiting for us, and we draw near now to You in faith. Amen. |
| scribbled @ Friday, April 28, 2006 |
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