A TRAINING EXERCISE

FOR

GOD'S HEAVENLY MILITIA

 

A SHORT EXERCISE FOR THE SPIRITUAL WARRIORS

 

    1. To do spiritual warfare, it is essential to have the Presence of God (accustom ourselves to His divine company, speaking humbly, and lovingly communing with Him at all times, in every moment) especially in the time of temptations, of sufferings, of dry times, or of displeasures. Yes, even at times of unfaithfulness and falsehood, so we may immediately recover ourselves.

    2. We must constantly endeavor to have all our thoughts and actions be a kind of conference and conversation with God. This must not be as study, but only as it proceeds from purity and singleness of heart.

    3. We must perform all our actions with weight and measure (deliberation), without impetuosity or (carnal) precipitation which denote a wandering spirit. We must labor gently, quietly and lovingly with God and pray to Him to accept our labor. By our continual attention to God, we shall bruise the head of the devil and cause him to drop his arms.

    4. During our labor and other actions...yes, even in the midst of our reading and writing, regardless of how spiritual they may be, even while engaged in our outward devotions and vocal prayers . . . we need to give over for a little season as frequently as possible to WORSHIP God in the center of our hearts. It is important to be caught up into His realm and get a taste of Himself and of eternity surreptitiously by stealth, as it were. Knowing God to be present with us, from time to time to retire into little seclusion sessions and to pause in the midst of outward occupations, and our vocal prayers, to adore Him inwardly, praise Him, offer Him our heart and give Him thanks.

    5. All worship and adorations are to be done through FAITH, for we believe of a truth that God is in our hearts. We believe that He must be worshipped, loved and served in Spirit and Truth. Our Father sees all that shall come to pass in us and in all creation; He is independent of, and above all, for all are dependent upon Him. He is infinite perfection and by His infinite excellency and sovereign right of dominion He is worthy of and deserves all that we are. He merits all that is in heaven and earth both in time and in eternity; consequently we justly owe Him all our thoughts, words and deeds.

    6. We must carefully determine and examine the virtues that are most necessary for us; those which are the most difficult to obtain. (With some it may be patience; others may find gentleness to be very hard come by and still others may not be given to mercy.) Also, determine the sins most likely to trip us up and note the most frequent and unavoidable occasions of our falling. We must have recourse to God (access, entreaty, prayer, supplication) with full confidence and FAITH while we are engaged in spiritual combat (in the midst of temptation), to resolutely abide in the Presence of His divine Majesty, to adore Him in humility, to tell Him of our miseries and weaknesses and to lovingly beseech the assistance of His grace as our situation requires, and according to the stress of the battle.

    This conversation takes place in the center of the soul where the inner man speaks to God heart to heart with great and profound peace in Him. Now everything outward is to the ascended soul (or spirit) as nothing, for the holy fire from heaven is now enkindled and the outward cannot seriously disturb our internal communion and peace. We must practice the Presence of God and communion with His Son in silence by having our communion and association in the heavens even while in the midst of our natural life and activities.

    To obtain the (overcomer's) crown of life, all must hold out to the end in the fight unto total victory which must precede the obtaining of the first and spiritual resurrection when we shall be able to say that the Lord is risen in us. Then we shall demonstrate His hidden life. No suffering or hardship in the will of God (in union with His will) moves or deters one whose whole life and purpose is wrapped up in Him.

    Our Beloved is victorious and has passed on ahead of us, and He will drink His wine and His milk with the virgins of the Bride Chamber who have followed Him fully in the process of regeneration. They have trimmed their lamps, filling them with oil from the seven fountain lamps that burn perpetually before the Throne of the Majesty, in the light of which the Majesty may be beheld in the center core of the soul. Spiritual worship may be attended unto irrespective of the many outward circumstances and burdens that would try to hinder.

    To worship God in spirit is to worship Him by a humble and genuine adoration of spirit in the center of our beings. There is none but God Who can see this adoration, which we may repeat over and over, till finally it becomes, as it were, natural; as if God were One with our soul and our spirits were one with God, which is proven true by our experience in Him.

    True worship in and by the Spirit of God is to acknowledge Him for what He is, and to acknowledge ourselves for what we are. We confess that He is infinitely perfect, infinitely adorable, infinitely removed from evil, etc., and behave ourselves accordingly under the direction of His Spirit.

    We truly worship Him under the guidance of the Spirit of Truth as we confess that we are entirely contrary to Him and that He is able and willing to make us like unto Himself even as He has purposed and promised. We owe Him continual worship and adoration. Truly the Father has many worshippers in the spiritual temple who have learned well these divine maxims. The religious kingdom of men opposes such inner spiritual worship for it takes away from the merchants of souls those who thus learn to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. These spiritual merchandisers know not that in vain do they attempt to dam up an inner river that runs unseen underground that may easily break forth in seven streams when these religionists seek to resist but one river.

    Both sides, religionists and spiritual worshippers, include multitudes who are at war, and opposition will continue against these spiritual worshippers of the inner sanctuary. But these worshippers hear the Word of the Lord by His prophets saying unto them, "Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God's . . ." --II Chronicle 20. Thus, believing in the Lord their God and by a continual inner-self entering into the divine Presence and a standing still in the center of their beings from all carnal, self-initiated activity and corruptibility of the natural mind (with its depraved imaginations and self-will) these shall surely be established.

    All these listed in the military roll of the Lamb of Mt. Zion (that is, they that are in the election of God unto the first resurrection, being separated and sanctified from the world to that end) must, above all things, study this short and easy exercise of the Heavenly Militia to stand in the Presence of God, and to STAND STILL. Thus shall they behold that great salvation and glory which is now about to be revealed in these latter times.

    To become masters of this holy exercise, the following is required: (1). A very great purity of life; (2). A faithfulness to the practice of His Presence and to the INNER BEHOLDING OF GOD by faith; (3). Special care that this inner beholding (though but for a moment) may precede, accompany and end every action that we undertake; (4). Obedience to the Spirit of Christ, to follow Him whithersoever He goeth and to rest where He rests. We need to especially observe this in the reading of the Scriptures and other books written under the anointing of the Holy Spirit.

    There exists a great jealousy on the part of ecclesiastical "princes and courts" concerning those who love God wholly and seek His glory only, to the exclusion of man (see book of Galatians concerning the Judaizers). Such is the blindness of carnal, unspiritual human nature that knows nothing of the silence spent in the Presence of God in the heavenlies.

    Thrice blessed is he that shall be obedient unto this heavenly call, for he shall have a name written upon the foundations of the New Jerusalem and shall be made a pillar in that temple which descends from heaven.

    These are those that shall fight the battles of the Lamb and bring Him to reign on (and over) the earth, so that all kingdoms and nations may serve Him as appearing in His saints.