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ambition, Ananias and Sapphira, ascendancy, aspiration, Baptism in the Holy Spirit, following Jesus, God's guidance, Holiness, joy, Judgment, Life and Death, Light and Darkness, Overcoming, overcoming the world, peace, Pentecost, rest, Satan, self, spiritual power, T.A. Sparks, the cross, the devil, The Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God, The Kingdom of Heaven, unholy, walking by the spirit
Today I want to offer you some food for thought by T. Austin Sparks, a man of God of whom I am certain that he really knew what he was talking about from his own experiences in the kingdom of God. Regarding spiritual ascendancy and power Sparks meant that we should follow God’s “inward and upward call” (my words) to overcome, in particular the devil. TAS said that Satan cannot tempt anyone whom he finds poor in spirit. Indeed, if we are fully dependent on our Lord in all things, the enemy is helpless while we are being drawn higher and higher on this spiritual mountain called “Zion”. In that which follows you will find two excerpts from two different articles by TAS.
What was the secret of the church’s ascendancy in those first days? What was the secret of the power of those who represented the kingdom of the heavens? Well, it was their subjection to the absolute Lordship of Christ. Look at Peter in relation to the house of Cornelius, the little bit of battle that was fought out in relation to the mastery, the Lordship, of Christ. But when that Lordship was established, even over Peter’s traditional acceptances and mentality, what power came in in the house of God! Why, heaven came down, heaven was manifested there in mighty power! Peter, in reporting the thing over against the questionings of his own brethren, said, “Who was I, that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:17). ‘I was perfectly helpless in this matter; heaven took it out of my hands. Just as had happened at Pentecost, heaven took it out of our hands; we were swept off our feet, so it happened there.’ It is the Lordship of Christ.
In the life of Paul it was like that. Paul set out on his way, committing that way to the Lord and trusting the Lord about his way, and he reached a certain point and he thought to go in a certain direction and preach there, but he was forbidden of the Holy Spirit. Then he thought in another direction: this would be the place to go to, this is a needy area, surely it would be the right thing to make Christ known there, but the Spirit of Jesus suffered him not (Acts 16:7). Now, supposing he had leaned to his own understanding and pursued the course of his own judgment, he would have gone into Asia and Bithynia, and there would have been no result. Perhaps he would have got into trouble; that is usually what happens when you pursue a self-chosen, self-directed way. But at that point, the Lord showed him another direction. Perhaps he had never thought of that. That certainly was not in his present mental program, but he was adjustable to the Lord.
[…]
The great question for you, for me, for the Lord’s people is this: the question of higher ground. And higher ground means advantage, vantage ground over the enemy and all his work and his power. If that ground is to be obtained, these two things which come out here in connection with the first mountain [i.e., the first mountain of the “Great Commission”, see Mt 28:16-20 – explanatory note] must be realized – things in our own hearts. First, a spiritual disposition found in those laws of the kingdom: the poor in spirit, those that mourn, the meek, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and so on – a disposition. Persecuted for righteousness’ sake – there is no virtue in being persecuted; anybody can be persecuted for anything, but for righteousness’ sake is different. For example, you do not turn round and say, ‘I will get even with you one day.’ It is a disposition: “Who… when He suffered, threatened not”, it says of the Lord (1 Peter 2:23). That is the secret of power and ascendancy. And then the preparedness to let the Lord have the upper hand in all arguments, to let the Lord have the last word in all matters, to adjust to anything that the Lord brings in a new light. Yes, openness to Him and complete subjection to His full authority. That is the way of going on in power. It is proved in this book, as we have seen, and it always is so. May the Lord bring us on to that mountain.
https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/003266.html
Upon what does spiritual power rest? Power with God, power from God in our lives and in this world, enabling us to overcome; upon what does it rest? Who shall ascend? “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, and hath not sworn deceitfully” (Ps. 24:4). “I have set my king upon my HOLY hill of Zion” (Ps. 2:6). This matter of spiritual power is a matter of holiness at its root and foundation. Many have thought that spiritual power is a matter of enduement. To receive a “baptism” of the Holy Spirit, that is said to be the way of power – something that happens to you like that. Let me point out that that concerns power for witness. “Ye shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8). But power over the power of the enemy is by reason of the nature of the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit – and the witness, the power, of the Church in its effectiveness at the beginning was simply because the Holy Spirit had come to be absolutely in the ascendent as Lord. That is why, when in the book of the Acts you so soon find something unholy rising up in the midst, there was such an instant action of judgment by the Spirit. You will recall the cases of Ananias and Sapphira and others.
That opens up a very long and full history, and you at once see that the great enemy’s one means and method of destroying power over him was to corrupt, to introduce something unholy. That is the history of man.
[…]
How persistent the enemy is to get us somehow involved in something questionable! There is an extraordinary phrase used in relation to Israel’s life – a phrase not easy to understand, and I do not profess to understand all it means; but there it is. It is this phrase: “the iniquity of the holy things” (Ex. 28:38). What does it mean? Well, I can see something of what it means, and a great deal more than I am going to say now. I am only going to suggest to you that in the fuller meaning it means this – that there are holy things, and it is in the realm of the holy things that the enemy is always trying to get something that involves compromise.
Love, true love, is the most holy thing, and it is in the realm of love that the enemy is always trying to get something compromising, something wrong. We have said ambition is not a wrong thing. It is a Divinely implanted thing. God made man to have dominion. Perhaps ambition is the wrong word; aspiration is a more spiritual word – the desire, the sensing of destiny, that you were made to rise, made to attain. You were not made a worm grovelling on the earth: you were made with legs; which means that you were made to get somewhere. Interpreted spiritually and morally, God made us to rise, to reach, to attain. That mighty instinct is found in the apostle –
“Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on…” (Phil. 3:12). Here it is at work, that kind of thing. Aspiration is a holy thing. Tell me, is it not just there that all the iniquity is found? – the self-element, the possessive, the acquisitive, the assertive, the domineering, the effort to gain dominion. Then dominion becomes domination, and it has gone wrong: the very spirit of it has gone. Meekness has become pride, the glory of God has become instead our glory. It is the iniquity of holy things: and remember, that the nearer you get to the most holy, the nearer you get to the deepest perils. The deep things of Satan lie next to the deep things of God. “The iniquity of the holy things.”[…]
You have gone with the Lord – “They… follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth” – and no one else follows you; you are very much alone; it is spiritual loneliness. We are in this world and if we touch it in a voluntary way we become defiled. I am not saying we have to leave our business. As Paul says, if we are not going to have anything to do with this world in practical ways, we had better go right out of it (1 Cor. 5:10). That is not the point. The question is that of our voluntary moral and spiritual links, our choices. It is not our business obligations that need involve us, but our heart association – the sort of things we want, like, choose. Those things bring a death touch, and we come under arrest. We find we have lost our position, our spiritual power, our ascendency, whatever that may mean – our joy, peace, rest. We have touched the dead realm somewhere in spirit. It is a terrible thing in spirit to touch death – and that is iniquity; you have touched iniquity.
Hence the Lord has to do this work of the Cross in us.
https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001047.html
All images © Susanne Schuberth 2022
Entering the Promised Land 
Susanne, we have both been around spiritual things and organizations long enough to know that the enemy goes after anyone that has been set apart for the purposes of the Lord. The more we draw closer to Him, the greater the temptations that come at us.
Today I spent the morning with a brother, who along with his wife, have been attending a local church in our area that is part of a large denomination. I asked him how things were going there. He replied that the pastor had to step down because of an affair and the assistant pastor had risen up and was dictating what could and could not be done during church services among other things. The problem was that his dictates were contrary to the things Paul laid out in his letters to the churches. This brother said that they were no sure how much longer they would be going there.
In 1904 Lord Acton of England said to an Anglican Bishop, “It is not a question of who had the right to rule. NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO RULE. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Jesus put it this way,
But Jesus called them [the disciples] to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matt 20:25-28, ESV2011)
Satan has a heyday anywhere men have acquired ascendancy. Yet, carnal man always heap power on their leaders to settle all problems that come up. The larger the threat, the more power we give our leaders. Then we wonder why they are soon found to be totally corrupted by that power and we get offended! This is especially true not only in governmental bodies, but in church systems as well. This is where the wisdom of what Jesus said above shines forth, “But it shall not be so among you!”
“But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher [ the Holy Spirit ], and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matt 23:8-12, ESV2011)
The way up in the body of Christ is the way of the humility as an abject servant. It is better to have the church janitor pray for us than the exulted man up front. I thank God for your prayers, dear sister. God has been stripping us of anything that we many have once taken pride in and I pray that He keeps it up until only Jesus can be seen
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1John 3:2-3, ESV2011)
Your brother forever IN Christ,
Michael
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You are right as to your observations regarding churches and leadership, my brother. We have seen it often, where self reigns, destruction follows shortly.
It seems to me that God’s wisdom can be found in this whole process of dying to our old nature because rising spiritually with Christ means simultaneously a decrease of self and the other way around as well. Surrendering to our crosses as living sacrifices pleasing to Him, we become humble servants on earth while the Lord rules through us whose spirits already dwell in the heavenlies with God. That is spiritual ascendancy!
The power that comes through us then is always only the power of His Spirit. The more we have died to our old nature, the closer our love relationship with God becomes, too. This is indeed a secret and a mystery to the self-led Christian leader.
Your sister IN Christ forever,
Susanne
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Dear Susanne, you wrote,
“It seems to me that God’s wisdom can be found in this whole process of dying to our old nature because rising spiritually with Christ means simultaneously a decrease of self and the other way around as well. Surrendering to our crosses as living sacrifices pleasing to Him, we become humble servants on earth while the Lord rules through us whose spirits already dwell in the heavenlies with God. That is spiritual ascendancy!”
Wow! You could not have said it more perfectly. It is obvious to me that you are speaking from your own experience of the cross of Christ that has worked His wisdom deep within you. I love who He is in you, dear sister! ❤ I thank Him so much for the fellowship in the Spirit we share,
Michael
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That was very encouraging to read for me, Michael. Thank you so much! ❤
I am very grateful for this wonderful, strengthening fellowship God has given us to share! 🙂
Your sister Susanne
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May we all seek such higher ground. ❤
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Yes, Anna. ❤️👍🏼
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As a retiring; once a cessationist tent-maker – struggling with the not-so-glorious retirement blues, and, more importantly, the lack of “power” in my life and in the church I see around my new stomping ground, I have have given some effort in my search for a remedy in a 2nd baptism – there’s gotta be something more. So your post on Jan 11/23 sent me searching through some dated material an here I found your quotation of TAS to be very helpful: “the Church in its effectiveness at the beginning was simply because the Holy Spirit had come to be absolutely in the ascendent as Lord”. I need to lay down my schemes and lay hold of His Hand. Thanks Sis. Gilbert
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You are welcome, Gilbert. Thank you so much for sharing your honest testimony, brother. I am sure our Lord Jesus Christ has stretched out His Hand to hold you and keep you on the path He chose for you personally.
May His grace and peace be with you! 🙏🏼🕊️🌈
Susanne
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