Authority: For He Taught Them as One Having Authority, and Not as the Scribes. Re. Matthew 7:29

By Ray D. Brown

“Never man spake like this man” (re. John 7:46). The authority to speak in the name of Jesus Christ is given to them whom, by suffering association and self-denial, have taken up their cross and followed him, not straight to heaven but to Gethsemane, Pilate’s Hall, and then Calvary. The cross of Jesus Christ is my cross, and it is yours. By appointment, we are given place in midnight wrestlings to win the power, and by progressive grace and truth, we are given place. This is authority to have place in Christ and to speak out of that place for Christ. Mainstream Christianity has no viable witness of Jesus Christ because they do not live for Jesus Christ; they live for themselves. Christians talk about everything but Christ. Someone has to say it, and this book without apology does just that.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Voices
• Release date: Aug 10, 2018
• ISBN: 9781462412334

Ray D. Brown

The author challenges those us who call ourselves Christian to rise to a viable witness for Christ. Out of personal experience, and out of what he calls, "the agony of greater Grace," this fresh voice confronts the Truth of a compromised church and world- conciliatory Christianity. This is a raw, unsparing testimony.

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authority

For He Taught Them as One Having Authority,

and Not as the Scribes. re. Matthew 7:29

ray d. brown

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Copyright © 2018 ray d. brown.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-4624-1232-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4624-1233-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018904527

Inspiring Voices rev. date: 03/06/2020

This effort to magnify the Lord Jesus Christ is dedicated to Pastor

Mitchell Tolle, Senior Pastor at Man O’ War Church of God in

Lexington, Kentucky, for the exceeding grace and love and humility

of the Lord Jesus reflected in himself, and extended toward me.

In the beginning was the Word.

                            re. John 1:1

Here, then, is the inception of reconciliation, the genesis of Grace and Truth; Let there be light.¹ Here the rudiment of relationship in the birth pangs of the first dawn, the infancy of Alpha and I. This the origin and cradle of creative genius, the calling of those things which are not as though they were,² the debut of Logos, the initiation and actualization of the first faith. This is Christ.

Here, then, is the first utterance of faith dividing the darkness, the preface of form upon the void, the person of God. We witness omnipotence and omniscience move upon the face of the waters, the impetus and embryonic emergence upon the deep of the omnipresence of God; the Word of Life thus living and moving, the fabrication of faith. And God saw the light of it, that it was good.³

Here, then, is the first glimpse of Grace, the organization and intuitive strategy of Genius, the unsearchable wisdom and intent of Jehovah God; this is Alpha expressing himself. This the prelude and passion of Christ, that of a Savior and a great King, that of righteousness, and of a peace having neither beginning of days, nor end of life.⁴

Here, then, is the catalyst and continuity of the critical cataclysm of Life, the conflict and disaffection of Light and Darkness, a great divide - the chasm and mystery of God in Christ reconciling unto himself a world yet made. This, then, the preface of faith; that God had a plan. Here is the absolute of God, his unassailable sovereignty in the power of his Word, the unfathomable person of faith speaking the impossible into existence.

How to arrest eternity to analyze and appraise the person of God in Christ, such Grace in the genesis of time, and the beginning of mankind? In the beginning there was One, and he is HOLY. And the evening and the morning were the first day.⁵

O Holy Father, and this, is the enigma of my grace in the moment of an immeasurable mercy, that you who made the heavens and the earth, are also mindful of me. That I would experience the intensity and conveyance of your emotion, the communication of your Spirit, the intonation of your holy desire for me - that by suffering association you are mine, and you have empowered me, and given me place to speak your holy name. In awe and wonder I sit in the silence of my soul, on the other side of the fire I thus sit, out of place to ponder great things; O my beginning, my first and last breath, my broken heart I bring, my feelings and thoughts by divine dialogue, simply to be magnificently known, the glory of I cannot express.

My hope is to sit quietly beneath your commandment in the One Word of your law, and to listen for the footfalls of your love. In this Word is the fullness of God and all my sufficiency, the tome of my character laid bare. You keep me from error by grace through that faith which works by love and obedience unto all sanctity - I will not believe a lie here; no, not out of this place of thy perfection. Thank you, O righteous Father, for shielding me about by Truth, encompassing me by Grace, saving me with One Word of Faith. You are my hiding place, O Word of Spirit and of Truth, I cannot be taken here, I will not fear. I will believe and thereby enter in, I will abide in your Word, and from here ask what I will.

In this my beginning was the Word, and in this the day of my salvation I am sustained, there is no day but this one. I will rejoice, and be glad in it. Deception has no purview or part in this place, a lie cannot attain unto me here. Thy Word is Truth,⁶ and this is the beginning of my being born again, and the breaking up of fallow ground.

When I was yet without strength, and when I was lost and undone, and without hope in the world, in due time the Grace of God searched me out down the corridor of time and precarious circumstance to see me there; and in the beginning was the Word. At the end of myself emaciated and disillusioned, resigned to the death I had courted and surely won, and as I resolutely breathed what I thought was my last, well, in the beginning was the Word. Having taken the gift of life which God had given into a far country and wasting it on riotous living, and determinedly destroying the man I had become but could no longer live with, and finally, at death’s door, in the beginning was the Word. According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,⁷ yes, even before the earth was declared to be without form, and void, and as darkness was yet upon the face of the deep, in my beginning was the Word. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.⁸

In this my beginning I have always been, and before the world itself began, God had a plan. My salvation was hid in the mystery of the wisdom of Almighty God in Christ Jesus, ere before the foundation was laid, my feet were set upon a rock, and my redemption was sure. Before there was a world made which would succumb to sin, he knew me. In the fullness of time God sent forth his Word, and healed me from my destructions. In the beginning was the Word, and I, in the hourglass and continuum of God’s grace came I forth unto birthing.

This, then, is my beginning, and the Word has always been. In the sovereignty and foreknowledge of God I am found, a son born into the Father’s favor by faith; even so, I came forth. By fire and by flood I came forth full term into faith, into place; through sanctification of the Spirit thus separated from the world umbilicus and expectations of men, severed from sin and shame and made a son by the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ I thus press into place.

In the beginning was the Word in which I have always been, and in which I now take my place, in this the fullness of time I press, in this a living Word to dwell, and from here to speak in Christ; an auspicious beginning, indeed.

Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.⁹ By the will of God the Father the Holy Spirit moves upon the Word of God in my heart and mind, and by light and by living water, and by all things working together, it springs into newness of life. In this my beginning was the Word. Even as Jesus began to explain the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:11, he prefaced his exposition by saying, Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God. And we know that the LORD Jesus Christ, being the Word of God, and the seed of God, is One and the same; One LORD, One faith, One baptism. One God and Father of all by One Spirit; One Church, One bride, One people of God.

In my beginning there came an hour in which the Son of man was glorified as God, and he would have to die to do it; In that hour in which I saw him lifted up upon a cross bleeding and dying, that hour in which the Spirit of God made it real that it was my sin for which he died. Jesus Christ as the Word was revealed unto me by the Holy Spirit, that he was, indeed, GOD. In that hour of my auspicious beginning from the birth pangs of death unto sin I rose in the revelation of my true self and the realization of God, One and the same. In the beginning was the Word; the person of God.

As said the LORD Jesus, The seed is the Word of God, and as said the apostle Peter, being born again by the Word of God. And here, then, is a glimpse by grace of the mystery of its wisdom in the sovereignty of God. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.¹⁰ Of course, the LORD Jesus refers emphatically and empirically and unequivocally to himself, the suffering servant of God; the emissary of the mercy of God, the manifestation of the Grace and Truth of God. This, then, is the gospel of Jesus Christ and him crucified, and there is none other gospel. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.¹¹

In the beginning was the Word, and God had a plan; for so it pleased him, and he’s under no obligation to man. God owes me no explanation or answer to my innumerable, inane questions of obfuscation and misdirection designed to get the light off my self and the sad state of my soul, though if I have a sincere inquiry, and am prepared to live in the light of its practical application and truth, God will graciously answer me every time. But let me be prepared to answer some hard questions myself. God’s word is not for the casual or carnally curious and/or compromised, I will receive no unconditional endorsement or affirmation to remain in my sin. There must be a severance from sin, and a definitive separation from the spirit of this world. Sanctify them through thy Truth: Thy Word is Truth.¹²

In the beginning was the Word. If I would make a new beginning, I must begin here; the Truth about God and the Truth about myself, and, moreover, the Truth about sin and my flirtation and fleeting fornication and spurious love affair with the spirits and princes of this world system which crucified Christ. Thy Word is the Truth which separates me from sin; this, this is my beginning. This is the wisdom that is from above, that is first pure.* This is where I begin if I would be born again, that God is Holy; that God is a Spirit, and that he is first pure, an Holy Spirit - then, peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.¹³¹⁴

From the throne of omniscience and omnipower in the omnipresence of Jehovah God the Word of God came; the seed of God, the only begotten of God. This Word was with God, and this Word was God. Moreover, He shall see his seed.¹⁵ See here in the preeminent promise of the Christ among the prophets how God sent his Son, this Word, this corn of wheat into the earth to die and bring forth much fruit. In the beginning he saw his seed, and the prosperity of it. And we see how that this corn of wheat had to fall into the ground and die, how it had to be sent into the world, and sown into the earth of it - for the sin of it. Here is the prophecy of Isaiah some estimated 750 years before Jesus Christ was born; Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, HE SHALL SEE HIS SEED, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.¹⁶

God sent his Son into the world with an harvest in mind. Thus the soul of God was made an offering for sin, and in this prophecy we get but a glimpse of the grief of the Eternal Father, the Grace extended toward mankind, the Truth about the wages and exceeding sinfulness of sin, that its forgiveness would come at such an excruciating cost as to pierce the very heart and soul of God. Nevertheless, blessed be the name of the LORD Jesus Christ and the efficacy of so great salvation, and its outreach down through time unto a sinner like me, that by this One seed many, also, would be justified, and the soul of God satisfied. We see the mercy of it, and the longsuffering love of a Father, to prolong the days in the season of the Son of man and those sanctified and also sent; God not willing that any be lost.

He shall see his seed down the corridor of time and eternity, and for the joy set before him endure the cross, and despise its shame, to set down at the right hand of the throne of God.¹⁷ This is the seed of God which was sown into the earth as a sin offering for the soul of the world, that corn of wheat which had to die to bring forth much fruit. God saw this seed, that it prospered in his hand, and did that which was pleasing in his sight. That God would prolong its days is the dispensation of the exceeding Grace in which we live, the moment of an immeasurable mercy, and room to repent. Yet in the longsuffering love and patience of God, the judge standeth at the door, if you will, and Truth is anxious to answer the Grace whereby Jesus Christ came; to put the sickle in, and finally separate the tares from the wheat, to offer up vibrant and teeming sheaves taken from the very sorrow and satisfaction of the soul of the Son of man, and to present them before his Father with exceeding joy.

In the beginning was the inspired creative genius and purposeful mind of a prolific harvest which first spoke light into the darkened earth that the seed might have warmth, and that the seedling might have the illumination of the singular cause and divine vision of Jehovah God; a dream to live for, a faith to reach for the souls of men.

Let there be Light, this is my beginning; that this One and same Word of Light is God. Let there be an awakening, a stirring in the earth, a breaking up of fallow ground to receive the Christ of God, the seed of the nature and character, the living revelation of Jehovah God. In the beginning was Jesus, the Christ of God, the only begotten of God, the spoken expression of the mind of God; yea, even the fullness of God, for so it pleased the Father to absolutely and without reservation to within his Son dwell, the person of the Divine.

And the Word was with God.¹⁸ This utterance and articulation of the character of God is inseparable from the Father, and the One Spirit whom God is. The Word of God is the fullness of the essence and expression of the explicit person of God; all of God, and nothing less than God. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are One.¹⁹

This is that One God which moved upon the face of the waters when the earth was without form, and void. When darkness was yet upon the deep this unspoken Word dwelt in the mind of the Father by the Holy Ghost, even as the One Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, this Word hovered and brooded there contemplating, also. As God considered and concluded the darkness and chaos unacceptable to his Holy character this Word of Light spontaneously came to mind, and the LORD Jesus Christ was spoken into the earth.

I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.²⁰ The intimacy and progressive revelation of the person of God is found in the exchange and fellowship of the Father and the Son by the Holy Ghost. This is how the Holy Spirit shows us who God is. As the LORD Jesus said concerning the Holy Spirit, He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall shew it unto you.²¹

These three that bear record in heaven have always been, and they have always been One. The Word was with God in the beginning inseparable, inviolable, immutable; this Word is the mind and soul of Jehovah God. This Word is the Eternal Voice of Jehovah God, and his name is Jesus. For those that have ears to hear, he still speaks.

That he spoke, Let there be light, in the beginning is the indubitable, incontrovertible proof that the Word was with God on that glorious debut of the LORD Jesus Christ being spoken into this world, O hallelujah, even before he was born into this world as the Son of man. This is the Word that became flesh, and dwelt among us. The mind and the heart and the soul, and the very person of God, became flesh, and walked among us. We needed a Redeemer, and the LORD GOD Jehovah came down and did it himself, and put darkness under the feet of the LORD Jesus. This Word, this, Let there be light, this very same Word was with God, even before it was uttered. From all eternity this Word was with God. This is how the LORD Jesus, as the Son of man, could tell the scribes and Pharisees, I am not alone. This is how he spake with such authority, because he was all of God, all by himself.

All things that the Father hath are mine.²² And here this is qualified by the voice of one crying in the wilderness, sent by God, even John the Baptist, The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.²³ When the disciples of Christ would be offended in him, and scattered, yea, even to the Son of man’s inner circle, still, the Word was with God. Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: AND YET I AM NOT ALONE, because the Father is with me.²⁴ Indeed, as surely as the Father was with his Son, likewise, the Word was with God.

In the beginning was the creative genius of God by, and in, and with his Word, indispensable, inseparable. The Father never left the LORD Jesus, except when he who knew no sin, was made to be sin, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.²⁵ Only in that hour, and in the power of its darkness, when the exceeding sinfulness of sin was exposed, and the Lamb of God was slain. Yea, even in that hour the Word was with God, and God was with and in his Eternal Word to by him speak thus into eternity the salvation of God. To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the Word of reconciliation.²⁶

And thus we scribe, and speak the mysteries of the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus revealed unto them whose will is awakened to take by the violence of this progressive grace through faith the kingdom of God; thus our mantra, And yet I am not alone. As sure as the Word was in the beginning, even so, God is with his Word beginning and ending and eternally immutable, omnipotent, omniscient, and yes - omnipresent. Jesus is here now. Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world the Word of God made flesh, and behold the Spirit of this Living Word in the Resurrected Christ, the gift and impartation of the Spirit and Life of this Word, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. Believer in Christ, it is out of this Word that you may speak, and the Voice and Word of the LORD Jesus which the Father ever-hears, and never, never fails to answer.

That he is with God is why we pray, for we pray in and by and through Christ Jesus, and our prayer is not heard from any other place.

Lo, indeed, that the Word is with God is why we speak; where all we will is thus won, from here we wrestle before the world was. And now, O Father, glorify me with thine own self with the glory which I had WITH THEE before the world was.²⁷ Out of the mind of Christ before time began God made a way for mankind, as by grace and mercy love spake, It is done.²⁸ Even from the beginning of time as we know it, our redemption exists prophetically done, and in the foreknowledge of God in Christ Jesus we stand firm upon this Word; It is finished.²⁹

Even out of the mouth of God this Word proceeds, as the LORD Jesus says, I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world.³⁰ Children, we may be with God, even as the Word was with God, and is still with God. In the beginning and the ending we are, eternally we are with God. Behold, from this place let us press - into this progressive prophecy we press, from this place to thus pursue, we follow after. With God, we occupy; from this Word speak Spirit and Life, and It is done.

But have we the revelation, Church, have we the resolve? Are we with God as Christ, in Christ, with Christ, to speak that Word of Spirit and of Life? to walk the rows with the LORD of the Harvest, to gather fragments into the basket of God, to sow and to water and to present oneself for pruning, to lose one’s life to be WITH God as the Word was WITH God? Do we abide like that, or do we circumvent the field? Has our faith an outreach from such excruciating fellowship and suffering association, are we, are we, are we made sacrament unto a lost world in Christ to be WITH God as the LORD Jesus was with God, or have we saved our lives for ourselves? To be with God as the Word was with God is to be broken bread and poured out wine for the life of the world. To be with God as the Word was with God is to be where he is at among the lost and the destitute, among the broken least of these his brethren, and to lose our lives among the leprous.

And the Word was with God, but are we? Church, it is from this place of abiding by which we occupy and transact business in the advance of our Father’s kingdom, from here we pray and perdure, and then procure. Herein is the fruit of the disciple, and God the Father glorified. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.³¹ To be WITH Christ in God, this is my beginning; that the Word was with God, and still is. This is the hope of glory, and the daily bread of my abiding, to be WITH God in Christ Jesus. This is my dwelling place; where Christ asks, and the Father gives. As I abide in the Word of God, even so, I abide in the unbroken fellowship of the Father and the Son, in the place where the Son receives absolutely all that he asks. This is the holy place where the prayer of faith is answered. And the Word was with God.

And so the Word reaches out of God, and is sown into the earth. Now the parable is this: The seed is the Word of God.³² As the Word was with God, and then sent into the world, even so, out of God we ought be sent in Christ; meaning, of course, that God wants us to go, or; all are sent, but few have went. As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.³³ Out of this holy place of abiding intimacy and communal exchange of the virtues of Christ Jesus by the Holy Ghost we are sent, to look like Christ the Son, and to represent the kingdom interests of the Father. And the Word was with God. Are we, then, there with him? This is the pertinent question of our place, that it is already given, but have we gone up into it to assume its responsibilities and maintenance; have we thus occupied?

To be effective, to be a viable seed out of God sent into the world as his Witness, we are going to have to abide in his Word, Christ Jesus. This may well be allegorical or metaphorical or figurative, but still, it is also quite literal. The outreach of the love of God must come from God. The Word must first be with God. It is from here we are sent, and from no other place operative and profitable and realizable. God is looking for profitable. This is the place, the prophetic nature of this Living Word called Jesus Christ, that only out of my abiding may I bring forth fruit. From here we are made broken bread and poured out wine in the Witness of the new covenant for the life of a lost world, the extension of the sacrament of a broken Christ; that the world might eat his flesh and drink his blood, and thereby have life.

And the Word was with God. This is that living bread which came down from heaven for the life of the world. It is as we are in Christ Jesus that we are also with God. From this place we are also thus disseminated, the LORD God’s bread in Christ Jesus to break as he sees fit. Child of God, this makes you a disciple, indeed, to continue in this Word unto sanctification and freedom to take your place in Christ for the life of the world. As Jesus said, I am that bread of life.³⁴ Believer, you too, are bread in the kingdom interests of Jehovah God. Now, the LORD Jesus put it like this to the multitude of wannabe disciples one appointed day, which is also prophetically today; yes, this very day, and the day in which you read this particular page. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, DWELLETH IN ME, AND I IN HIM.³⁵

And the Word was with God. And for you and I to be with Christ Jesus as he is with God, we are going to have to live as he lived, love as he loved, and die as he died. He that saith he ABIDETH IN HIM ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.³⁶ This is the losing of one’s life to find it, to present out of our appointed place, and to be as bread cast upon the waters of the world by the hand of God. Jesus, in this particular discourse in the 6th chapter of John, intimates to the crowd that day, unto them with ears to hear, that it is going to cost them something to follow him, to continue in his Word, to be his disciples, indeed, that, in fact, it is going to cost them their very lives as they know them - it is going to cost them everything. And of course we read the response of the crowd that day, From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.³⁷

And the Word was with God. As Jesus was with God, even so, we ought be with God in him. As Jesus lives by the Father, even so, we live by the Son; this is our sustenance and security and sanctification in being sent - this is the salvation of Jehovah God. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.³⁸ This is the effectual potency and operative prophetic progression of the gospel of God by the Grace and Truth by which Jesus Christ came; us in him, and him in us. This is industry and efficiency and purposeful production, this is the efficacious catalyst of the Word of God as seed in the earth, and the prophetic revelation of you and I also sent; the promised bringing forth of fruit. This is life, and life more abundant; to have first lost all.

He that saith he ABIDETH IN HIM ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked.³⁹ Follow me. It all culminates in the gospel of Grace and Truth, Jesus Christ, and him crucified; it all culminates at Calvary, and all things gathered into One. This is the place, and this is the unfolding prophetic day; the day of salvation NOW. From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.⁴⁰ And with what shall we answer the HOLY in this our day, and shall we take our place in the prophetic portend of progressive Grace in the Truth of our being broken bread and poured out wine for the life of a lost world. We are, Church, the sacrament of God in Christ, if so be, we abide in him as we insist we do; and, if so be, we are with God, even as the Word was and is with God.

But will we go as we are mandated, and commanded to be sent? This is that day and place, and that prophetic time in which many of the LORD’S disciples still go back, and walk with him no more; that critical juncture, when we learn it is going to cost us all to have all, and that the cross of Jesus Christ is our cross, also, and that its gospel of Grace and Truth is required of us, to take its Witness into the world. This thing is about more than you and me being ministered to.

And the Word was with God, and this is my place also, if so be, that by obedience unto sanctification and true holiness I make it mine by progressive grace through faith. This is the holy place, for he is Holy. This is the LORD my righteousness, and the Witness in earth of the blood of Christ, my boldness of access into the holiest of all, and my being made a son; to be with God, as the Word was with God. This is the olive press into presence, into place; the anointing of the most High, and the hand of the HOLY upon me. Out of this place I speak in the name of Jesus Christ, thus abiding, thus dwelling with God. If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be.⁴¹

Yes, with God; even as the Word was, and is, with God. Out of the holy place to speak, to petition, to occupy. This is where the Son asks of the Father,, and is denied nothing. Once more, believer, here is your promise, If ye abide in me, and my Words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.⁴² Yea, verily, but let my asking first shadow a life of godly living, and only out of the holy place ask; and with the will of the whole man procure for Christ. I ask for that which is birthed in me by the seed (the Word) of God, and it is out of Christ Jesus that I ask; and from this place of abiding am denied nothing. Answered prayer will be the proof of my abiding, indicative of my serving, my following, my faith. The prayer of this faith shall have its heart’s desire, for it is written, God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?⁴³

Here, then, is a place for a priest, and the promise thereof, And where I am, there shall also my servant be.* This is the whole man separated unto God, and from here the heathen will know, that the LORD, he is God; when God’s people have entered into place, to apprehend and assimilate the intercessions of Christ. When God’s people are living for God, then shall the world know that Jehovah is God and Father, that Jesus the Word is God, that the HOLY Ghost of Truth is God; and that these three, they comprise One whose first name is HOLY. When