© 89 RLM Used by kind permission
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
James 1:4 KJV
Oh, is it possible to be perfect?
Certainly, it is possible.
Who is saying so?
It is the Breath of the Spirit.
It is the hidden man of the heart, of a man who has a heart like his Brother’s.
The Holy Spirit is speaking through James, the Lord’s brother. James speaks very much like his Brother. Likely enough, we might expect when we read these wonderful words that we too, have a kindred spirit with the Lord.
James had to learn patience.
It was not an easy thing for him to understand how his Brother could be the Son of God, and be living in the same house, with his brothers Judas, Josiah, and the others.
He had to learn to be patient, to see how it all worked out.
There are many things in your life that you cannot understand. But be patient, for when the Hand of God is upon a thing, it may grind very slowly, but it will form the finest thing possible, if you dare wait until the end of it.
Don’t kick until you are through, and when you are dead enough, you will never kick at all. It is a death come to death, that we might be alive unto God. It is only by the deaths we die that we are able to be still.
The cross? I can despise the cross.
The shame. I can despise it,
The bitter language spoken ’round,
‘If thou be the Christ, come down!
And we will believe!’
He stood it.
They smote Him,
But He reviled not again.
Jesus is the picture of patience for us.
He was patient, enduring the cross, and despising the shame.
Why?
He knew that as He came to the uttermost end of the cross, He would save the Los Angeles-people forever. (This message was given in LA, USA. Ed)
He would save all men forever.
Don’t Be Moved
Let patience have her perfect work, that you might be… entire… James 1:4
‘Entirety’ here means that you are not moved by anything, but rather are living only in the divine position of God.
‘Entirety’ means that you are not moved, or changed, by what people say.
The mighty God instils something strong in you through divine acquaintance. The new life God gives you is not surface. It builds the character in purity, until the inward heart is filled with divine love, and has nothing but the thoughts of God alone, ‘… that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing‘, James 1:4 says. Wanting NOTHING!
Some people came to me in New Zealand and said, ‘We would like to make you a Christmas present, if you can tell us what you would like’.
‘I haven’t a want in the world’, I said. ‘I cannot tell you what I’d like. I have no desire for anything: only God’.
Another time, I was walking down the street with a millionaire. [It was Cecil Polhill, who financed Pentecostal missions worldwide, especially to China, India, and Africa. Ed] I was feeling wonderfully happy over the way the Lord was blessing in our meetings. As we walked together, I said, ‘Brother, I haven’t a care in the world. I am as happy as a bird!’
‘Oh, stop!’ he said. ‘Say it again! Say it again!’ and he stood still, waiting for me to repeat it.
‘Brother, I haven’t a care in the world. I am as happy as a bird!’
‘Oh, I would give all my money’, he said, ‘I would give everything I have, to have that!’
We can be wanting nothing. Halleluia!
The Spirit of the Lord is moving us mightily to see that this all has to do with resurrection power.
We were planted with Him.
We have risen with Him.
We are from above; we do not belong to what is beneath.
We reign in life by Another, by the life of God’s Son, manifest in this human body.
Ask God for Wisdom
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering…
For let not that man think he shall receive anything from the Lord.James 1:5-7 KJV
Many people come to me, and ask if I will pray for them ‘to have faith’. I want to encourage them, but I cannot go away from God’s word. I cannot grant people faith.
But by the power of the Spirit, I can stimulate you until you dare to believe, and rest on the authority of God’s word.
The Spirit of the Living God quickens you. ‘… faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God‘ (Romans 10:17), and this is a living word of faith: ‘If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally…‘ (James 1:5).
One thing you never experienced is God judging you for the wisdom He gave you, or for the blessing He gave you. He makes it so that when you come to Him again, He gives again, never asking what you did with the last blessing. That is the way God gives: God ‘… giveth… liberally, and upbraideth not…‘ (James 1:5). Therefore, you have a chance today to come to Him for much more!
Do you want wisdom?
Ask of God.
Tongues Message & Interpretation
“It is not wisdom that you get from the earth; it is divine wisdom that brings a peaceful position. It ruleth with diligence, and it causes you to live in quietness. You know the difference between the wisdom that is from above, and the wisdom that is from beneath.”
“And so the Spirit breathes through our brother to show you that you have to be so in the perfect will of God in asking for these things until one thing must be fulfilled in your heart. If you ask, you must believe, for God is only pleased when you believe.”
You have to be in the order of asking. This is the order: ‘But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering…‘ (James 1:6)
I am satisfied that God, who is the builder of divine order, never brings confusion into His order.
It was only when things got out of order that God brought confusion. When people who were building a tall tower asked for bricks, they were given straw. They were out of order. They were trying to get to heaven some other way, and they were thieves and robbers. So God turned their language, and their whole plan, to confusion. There is a way into the kingdom of Heaven: It is only through the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ!
If you want divine order in your life, if you want wisdom, you have to come to God believing.
I want to impress upon you the fact, and I am learning the truth of it more every day, that if you ask six times for anything, it shows you are an unbelieving person. If you really believe, you will ask God only once. And that is all you need to do, because He has abundance for your every need. But if you go right to Him, and ask six times, instead of one, He knows very well you do not believe He’ll give what you ask, so you do not get it. God does not honour unbelief: He honours faith.
If you would really get down to business about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, ask God definitely and once to fill you, and believe it, what would you do? You would begin to praise Him for it, because you know He has given it!
If you ask God once for healing, you will get it. But if you ask a thousand times a day, until you aren’t even aware you are still asking, you will get nothing.
If you would ask God for your healing now, and begin praising Him because He never breaks His word, and will heal you as the word promises, you would go out perfect. Only believe.
God wants to promote you. He wants to get away from your own thoughts, and your own foolishness, and get to a definite place where you believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek Him diligently.
Have you got to the place where you dare to believe God, and count it all joy?
Have you got to the place where you are going to murmur no more when you are in a trial?
Are you going to be weeping, telling people about it, or are you going to say, ‘Thank you Lord, for putting me on the top’?
Many people do not get cheques sent to them because they didn’t thank the donor for the last one. Many people get no blessing because they did not thank God for the last one. A thankful heart is a receiving heart. God wants to keep you in a place of constant believing, with thanksgiving, so you will receive.
Keep on believing Jesus is near,
Keep on believing there’s nothing to fear,
Keep on believing, this is the way:
Faith in the night, the same as the day.
Endured Temptation Brings the Crown
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
James 1:12 KJV
People do not know what they are getting when they are in a great place of temptation.
Temptation endured brings the crown of life!
Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Do not err, my beloved brethren.
James 1:13-16 KJV
There is nothing outside of purity that is not sin.
All unbelief is sin.
God wants you to have a pure, active faith, so you will be living all the time in an advanced place of believing Him.
You will be on the mountaintop, singing, when other people are crying.
I want to speak now about lust. I am not speaking about the menial things; about the carnal desires, about adultery, fornication, and such things. I am speaking about anything that has turned you aside to some other thing instead of God.
God has been offering you better things all the time, and you have missed it if you have been turning to something else.
Three blessings are available to us in life, but I notice that many people are satisfied with having only one.
There is a blessing in justification, a blessing in sanctification, and a blessing in the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Salvation is a wonderful thing; we all know that.
Sanctification is a process that takes us on to a higher height with God.
The fullness of the Spirit is a process too, just as salvation and sanctification are.
Any number of people are satisfied with, ‘good’… salvation. Other people are satisfied with ‘better’… a sanctified life; a life purified by God. Other people are satisfied with ‘best’… the fullness of God, with revelation from on high.
I am not satisfied with any of the three. I am only satisfied with ‘best’ with improvement. I come to you, not with ‘good’, but with ‘better’; not with ‘better’, but with ‘best’; not with ‘best’, but with ‘best’ with improvement: Going on with God.
If we are going on with God, we won’t give in to lust, because we know that, ‘… when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death‘ (James 1:15). When anything takes us from God, it means death in some way.
When Jesus told His disciples that the Son of man would be put into the hands of sinners and crucified, Peter remonstrated with Him. But Jesus said, ‘Get thee behind me Satan, for thou savourest not the things of heaven, but the things of the earth‘, (Matthew 16:23, paraphrased).
Anything that hinders me from going to death is of the Devil; anything that hinders me from being separated unto God is of the Devil, and anything that hinders me from being purified every day is carnal, and brings death!
I pray for you today, that there would be no lustful thing in you that would rob you of the glory. May God take you to the very summit of the blessing, where you can be increased day by day into all the fullness of God.
Another word I want to tell you is this: God has wrought out the whole, beautiful plan of our inheritance, and we are brought into His spiritual order through the word.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.James 1:19-21 KJV
Do not neglect the word of God.
Take time to think about the word of God.
It is the only place of safety.
Los Angeles, USA, July 22nd. 1927
An Account of Smith Wigglesworth Turning Water into Petrol
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© 89 RLM Used by kind permission