Come Boldly Before The Throne
Introduction
It is greatly beneficial that this exquisite masterpiece concerning the God-given virtue of utilizing our faith toward performing the will of God should be published in these writings, for Brother George L. Pike has proven his armor in over thirty years of ministering across this nation and all around the world.
He is a minister who is uniquely set apart from the ordinary, inasmuch as he refused to accept personal offerings, and has never asked, as most do, for a revival" to the contrary, he has journeyed forth, on many countless occasions, across the countryside with only a few dollars, with his faithful family, trusting God alone to meet his needs. He never has solicited for money or for churches to stand with him in a crusade or revival when he came into a city. Now, he is reaping from those pioneering experiences as he is internationally acclaimed as the truth shines forth through radio broadcasts, satellite television, and the printed page.
It is no wonder that a man, who has trusted God in all things as he has, should feel impressed of God to share the revelational secrets of his success in soul winning and living by faith.
You can rest assured that when you read these pages, you will discover a treasure chest of faith that no money can buy. All God requires of you is an honest heart and a keen spiritual appetite for the truth in the inward parts, and then, the Lord will open the door of your heart and mind as, at last, we comprehend God’s provided way as to how we can come boldly before the throne of God.
Come Boldly Before The Throne
There has never been a greater sermon that has ever been preached than the sermon of charity. I’ve preached on charity many times, and I’m sure that some of the other ministers have ministered on it, but out of all the sermons that you ever preach, there will never be a greater than the sermon on charity, because charity is the root of the entire universe and of eternity. Without that wonderful root there would be no universe. The Bible tells us that if God had not left us a root, we would be like unto Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus was the manifold love of God that was given to us in human form. He is the root to all living. It is by Him that we live, and in Him that we live and have our being. Without Jesus, there wouldn’t be any existence because God would literally have destroyed all things. Through His mercy, His love and His compassion, the world and God’s creation continues, for which I’m very grateful.
I think about it a lot of times: people, as a rule, really don’t give God an opportunity to do anything for them. They take it for granted that God is going to bless them because they are children of God" whereas that’s not wrong. Truthfully, God is going to bless them because they are children of God. This is God’s plan and God’s favor toward them" but on the other hand, though God has already blessed us with all heavenly blessings in Christ Jesus, and though God has granted unto us through Christ Jesus all things that pertain unto life, and we’re not shortcoming in anything whatsoever, for He has given us all things" yet, we’re not altogether partakers of these benefits because of our unbelief and our lack of development. The Bible uses the terms that My people perish from the lack of knowledge. We’re not always partakers because we don’t have the divine knowledge as to these things belonging to us and as to our rights.
It’s like the crooked lawyers of today, and how they take away an inheritance. If you don’t know your rights to your inheritance, should you have an inheritance, and you employ a lawyer, then you don’t get it by the time the crooked lawyer gets through. He’ll give you enough to pacify you, but he’s taken all of your inheritance. So if you don’t know your lawful rights in God, the devil will take away everything that you have, and people that are supposed to be shepherds or leaders will talk you out of all the benefits, because when they get through ministering to you, they’ll have you so frustrated and confused that you won’t know whether you’ve got a benefit or not. And if you do have a benefit, the way that they minister to you, the benefit is so far away until there would be no chance of ever reaching it in your lifetime. So, it’s like some of the bodies in the galaxy. They are so far away, you’ll never be able to reach them, even though you see them. You get some benefit out of them, but they are so far away. They do very little as to your benefit.
The blessings of God are nigh unto you, and the kingdom of God is not afar off. The kingdom of God is also nigh unto you, and you are not appointed unto wrath, the Bible tells us, but unto the favoritism of God. You’re God’s people, and God loves you and God wants to bless you" but to have the blessings, you must believe. You must believe. A lot of people just take it for granted that they believe. They’ll say, “I’m a child of God. I believe.” Maybe you do believe that you’re a child of God, but so far as believing for the benefits, you don’t do that. So then, you must believe.
Do you remember how Brother Osborne has tried many times to stir the faith of the heathens that he might get a healing and a divine miracle, so that the people would believe? I remember a great minister making the statement in his early ministry when God was dealing with him and anointing him in a great way. He said that he was in a service and he just could not get anything to take place. Finally, he just said, “God, I believe in the law of averages. If I pray long enough, something’s bound to happen. I’m bound to strike faith in somebody.” So he kept on praying for the people until finally, he struck somebody that did have faith.
I remember Jesus, who is our example. The Bible said that He went into a city, and though He had been doing great things, when He came into this city and He found a bunch of unbelievers, the Bible said that there He could do no mighty works because of their unbelief. And whether we want to accept it or not, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It’s necessary for us to believe if we’re planning to be used of God. It’s necessary for us to fast and pray, to exercise our ability in His appropriated means and funds for us if we’re ever going to draw any revenue from it.
I sometimes wonder how many of us come to service, having prayed any during the night, or fasted any, missing a meal or two, and the motive why we prayed or fasted. You know, you can fast and pray and it still won’t do you any good unless your motives are right or unless you are doing it according to His program and plan. They said in the Old Testament, Jesus reminds us, “Wherefore have we fasted, say they. You didn’t bless us after we fasted.” Jesus said, “I’m tired of the solemn assemblies. You don’t fast the way you should, as to make your voice to be heard on high. Your prayers are not right. I’m tired of your prayers. You make long prayers with pretense that you might draw the admiration of men, and you love the salutations in the market places. You love to be called ministers or rabbi to have the preeminence among the people.”
This is no good. But He recommended that we pray in secret, so that when no one else sees us, the heavenly Father may see and reward us openly. Some people, when they fast, publish it. They want the people to know about it, and they go to great lengths so that the people will know that they are fasting, and when they pray, they make a special effort so that people will find out about their endurance. Of course, the Bible tells me that they have their reward. They’ve received their reward, which is the admiration of the people. They didn’t receive any reward of the heavenly Father.
So many people have fasted in vain, and many people have prayed in vain, to no profit and no avail, but should we fast to God, and should we pray to God and should we do our alms in secret to Christ, then the Bible teaches us that though we have done it in secret, He will reward us openly that others may see the blessings of the great God of heaven upon us. This is thrilling to me. This is so wonderful to me.
I encourage you from day to day to try the Lord. The Bible said, “Try Me herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts. See if I’ll not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that you’ll not be able to receive.” I’ve tried the Lord in my lifetime. I’ve sincerely tried it. And do you know, that He’s poured me out a blessing that I’ve not been able to receive? He’s opened the windows of heaven, and I’ve had to share my blessings, even my financial blessings, as well as my spiritual blessings. I’ve had to share it with hundreds and thousands of people across the world. And He is still pouring out His blessings, and He is still opening the windows of heaven upon me because of His mercy and grace" not that I’ve merited anything, but just that I believe His Word and I’ve accepted His Word. Through the years, He has graciously, bountifully blessed me. So let’s pray and believe, and when Jesus comes into our area, let it not be said that many mighty works He could not do because of our unbelief, but let’s receive Him with faith.
Let’s make an effort to believe. Just going along every day, feeling as though you are a believer, and feeling that you are going to be blessed, will not bring you the blessings of God. Make a special effort as one that gets up in the morning when you’re tired and weary, knowing that you have a responsibility. The father must go to work. He must provide for his little family. So it is with one that believes, as I also heard the great man Oral Roberts say one time many years ago. He said, “Some people are too lazy to believe.” And that is true. Some people are actually spiritually lazy. I’ve never heard him call them spiritually lazy, but they are spiritually lazy. We’ve thought many times in our life about spiritually lazy people.
I said to a brother one time, “Some people are spiritually lazy.” I was in a little prayer meeting, ministering, and after this meeting, he said to me, “You know, that really struck home with me. I’ve always been a man that’s been diligent. I’ve never been lazy. I get up early in the morning before my employees come on the job, and I make sure everything is just right. But it dawned on me that a man can be very diligent in the natural and just be plain spiritually lazy. I’m going to be different. I’m going to make a change. I’m going to do something for Christ.” And he’s made an effort since that time. So then, let’s make an effort to believe.
It takes an effort to believe and not make believe. You can have a carnal effort by saying, “I believe, I believe, I believe,” and when you get through you don’t believe any more than you did when you started, and this is no good. But let’s make an effort to believe in the sense that we do the things that Christ asks us to do, that which creates faith in our heart as to the stimulation and as to the moving of faith toward God.
You don’t create faith in your heart to that extent. Faith cometh by the hearing of the promise" that is, by the hearing of the Word. The preacher preaches, and he that hath a spiritual ear gets something. Now I know a lot of people say, “Well, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Brother Pike, I’ve heard enough of the preaching that I can move mountains.” That’s not the kind of hearing He is speaking of. The world hears it on radio and TV. They read about it in the newspapers and magazines. They hear it from the denominal churches every day. They don’t seem to have any more faith. As a matter of fact, it appears that their faith is becoming less and less. This isn’t what the Lord is talking about" not at all. But he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church.
Do whatever God tells you. You are sanctified by the faith of Christ and you are contending for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints of God. Let’s do what is needful. If it’s fast, let’s fast. If it’s pray, let’s pray. If it’s give, let’s give. If it’s humble our hearts, let’s humble our hearts. If it’s conforming to His way of life, let’s conform to His way of life. If it’s meeting His means and measures of life as to the benefit of others, let’s do that also" whatever it is that God would have us to do. If it’s to seek God in secret, let’s do it. That way, we make an effort to believe.
John said, “Brethren, hereby we assure our hearts before God, in that we do the things that please God. And having done the things that please God,” he said, “this assures our heart, and persuades our heart in Christ.” He said that because of this, we find ourselves having a confidence in the promises of His divine security, or in His benefits. We have confidence in what He has told us. “And this is our confidence,” he said, “that arises from our efforts: God heareth us. Because we do the things that please Him, thus the confidence arises in our heart. We know that if God hears us, then we have the petition that we desire of Him.” He said that if you have this confidence, then we know that He hears us. If God hears us, then that settles it, because we’re children of God. He isn’t going to deny us. If God hears us, then we know that we have the petition that we desire of Him, because He will not turn us away.
So that’s why the Lord said to the Israelites, “You do not pray as you do this day, in that you’re trying to do the right thing today. Many times you’ve prayed and fasted,” He said, “and it was not as it is today, to make your voice to be heard on high. You’ve not fasted, you’ve not prayed, you’ve not done the things that please Me to bring about the confidence in your heart that God hears you. That way, if you’ll fast for this confidence, then you can have the desire of your heart,” He said. But when you delight yourself in Him, do the things that please Him, then you build this confidence.
When serving the Lord becomes a joy and a delight and a benefit in the sense of your expectation, then He’ll give you the desires of your heart. And as I say so often, He will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth" the high places with the rich, with the millionaires. And He’ll do you as He did David. He said to David, “I’ve taken you from among the sheepcote and I’ve given you a name like unto the great men of the earth.” He made his name great. It’s in the Scriptures. His blessing maketh rich, and it doesn’t add any sorrow because the blessings are not appointed unto wrath. His thoughts are good towards you, and He would above all things that you be in health. He would that ye prosper. He would that your soul prospers. His thoughts are not bad towards you as you think, for He knows His thoughts towards you. His thoughts are toward you according to Calvary and according to the atonement and according to His bountiful love in that He gave His best through Jesus. What can He withhold from you in that He gave you the best at the beginning? He can withhold no good thing from them that walk upright before Him.
So then, as it was said at the supper, God has saved the best for the last. He will make all of your beds in the time of your sickness. If you have to go to the hospital, or if you take that outlook in that you weren’t able to ride over the hill with faith, God will see that the hospital bill is paid. If you get sick at home, He won’t let it be of a long continuance. He did tell them in Deuteronomy, the twenty-eighth chapter when He exhorted them to have faith: “If you don’t do the things I tell you,” He said, “then I’ll make your sufferings of a long continuance.” But otherwise, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but He’ll deliver you out of them all. So we can tell by that when we’re pleasing God and when we’re not pleasing God. He will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth" feed you with the heritage of Jacob" make your bed in the time of your sickness" His blessing will make you rich. He’ll make you like the tree that’s planted by the rivers of waters. You’ll bring forth your fruit in your season. Your leaves will not wither.
I’ve said this numbers of times before: people come to me and ask, “What can I do to prosper?” It doesn’t make any difference what you do, you’ll prosper. If you just want to idle along through life, and do nothing in the way of natural work, as long as you talk about Jesus, tell about Jesus and spend your life just drifting here and there bragging on Jesus and praising Jesus, then He’ll see that you are fed and taken care of. Now you might not believe that, but He will. I know He will. He will do it. He will take care of you. I recommend, though, that unless you’re going to be out in the work of the Lord Jesus, that you do something to take root, so that you’ll be stable, that you labor that you might have to give and share with others and that you be an example. Paul said, “Working with your own hands.” But if you have a calling in God, then don’t be afraid. He’ll meet your needs. He’ll take care of you. I mean He’ll bountifully take care of you.
When the crisis comes, if you don’t utilize your ability to believe, then your deliverance won’t come. When the time comes that you’re having a close call, financially or whatever" if you start getting frustrated and you begin to fear and you begin to get double minded, then the Bible says to let not that man think that he shall receive anything of God. He said to ask in faith, nothing wavering. You’ve got to believe. Ask in faith.
When you come into the sanctuary, come in with thanksgiving and praise. Enter into it with praise. Come with a deep, embedded expectation. Have a deep, subconscious expectation of the miraculous in your life, and in the superceding strength of His ability that you might be strong in His might: that is, to a confession of strength when there is no strength. Confess it anyway. Confess that you are strong. When you are weak in the natural, take the Word of His promise, and faith by the Word that says we’re strong in Him. We’re complete in Him. Say to yourself, “I’m strong in Christ Jesus.” Don’t just have an intellectual thought about it, or some intellectual brainstorm as someone has said, but persuade your heart. Deep down in your heart, decree a thing and it will come to pass. Whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive it and ye shall have it.
Jesus said, “Whatever you say.” It doesn’t make any difference. It’s whatever you say. You say, “I think I’ll take a trip overseas. I want to go over there and preach to the heathen.” But you don’t have any money. As I have told my wife, “I think we’ll go overseas, Betty. We’ll have a crusade.” Betty would say, “But you don’t have anything to go overseas with.” I would then say, “Well, that doesn’t have anything to do with it. You know that. You get everything ready because we must go overseas.” And you decree it in your heart, and you say, “Away we go!” And then, all of a sudden, the Lord, who knows you must go overseas because you have believed it, provides the funds. All of sudden, there it is, and you go overseas. Now you say, “Brother Pike, that can’t happen.” It has happened many times with me. That’s the only way I’ve ever been overseas. I never have had enough money to pay my bills, much less go overseas, except by faith.
So then, I believe in using faith, beloved friend. I believe in doing what the Lord wants me to do. I remember on one occasion when it cost me multiplied thousands of dollars to set a tent meeting in the state of Alabama, and we paid every dime of it. The Lord provided because we believed. We didn’t have it, but we believed. If you decree it in your heart, then don’t doubt" don’t waver.
Don’t come to the place where you’re of a doubtful mind as to say, “Well, I don’t know. God is real. I know God’s real, but I don’t know whether I could believe that or not. Everything’s so natural around me and I’m so carnal. I look at the walls and at the trees and at the sky" where’s this going to come from? How is this going to happen? I don’t know of anybody that cares that much for me. I don’t know that this will ever happen.” See, don’t be like that. Say, “No, I’m a Christian. In His sight, I’m without spot, wrinkle, or blemish. He hath made me perfect forever, and I’m complete in Him. I’m His son or daughter, and He loves me and I love Him. He said He’d give me the desires of my heart, and I’m going to decree this thing in my heart.” Not as to a selfish reason, in that the Bible teaches that many ask but they ask amiss. They don’t receive it because they want it for their own human desires, to consume it on their lust. That is, they just want to be gullible and carnal and natural, saying, “Give me a car. Give me a house. Give me this and that.”
But, do it in a spiritual frame of mind. Do it as unto the Lord. Do all things as unto the Lord, and say, “Lord, I want this so that I can be a better Christian. I want this so I can have a better livelihood. I want this so I can be a better example. I want this so that people can see my faith, and know that I have faith, and they’ll believe in me when I tutor them. I want this so that I can use it for Your glory. I want to share this with the needy.” If these are your motives, then God will give it to you. See, decree it in your heart, and don’t be of a doubtful mind. Just say, “I’m God’s, and He’s mine. You said to come boldly before the throne of grace that I might receive this help in the time of need. God, You’re going to give it to me.” Don’t say it in a haughty way: “God, You’re going to give it to me,” because God doesn’t have to give us anything. But say it in a positive way: “God, You’re going to give me this and there isn’t any doubt about it. It’s mine. You’re going to give it to me. It belongs to me, Lord.”
You come boldly before the throne of grace and you say, “Now Lord, this is mine. I’m going to have it. You’re going to give it to me. There isn’t anything in heaven that’s going to stop me from getting it. It’s mine.” Somebody might say, “Yeah, but Brother Pike, I think He might try to stop me when I talk like that.” No! He’ll give you a little shove forward. He’ll stand there, watching you, saying, hallelujah! “Just keep on. Keep on keeping on.” He gave us a big start and a big shove at Calvary in the right direction. So just say, “Lord, it’s mine.” Get it out of your mind about God resisting you. Get that out of your mind.
Satan likes that thought, you know. He likes to get it in your mind that God is in front of you and that God is the middle wall of partition, because he likes to feel that he is God. He is the god of this world, and he loves for you to do obeisance to him. He loves for you to obey him and humble yourself to him" but see, get him out of the way. After you get Satan out of the way, there is no middle wall of partition, because God will not pervert a man in his cause. He will aid a man in his cause, especially the children of God. So then, get that out of the way.
Don’t let your thoughts wrestle with you to the extent that you feel like saying, “Well, how in the world am I ever going to get it because I’m wrestling against God? How in the world will I ever get it?” If you feel like God doesn’t want you to have it, and you feel like you’re not good enough for Him to give it to you, and if you’ve got that feeling that you haven’t walked circumspectly with Him and you haven’t done what’s right, well, that means you are wrestling against God. You might as well forget about faith, because faith worketh by love, and God is love, and if God isn’t on your side, you’re in trouble.
The Bible said that if God is on your side, He’ll make your enemy, Lucifer, to be at peace with you, and all of your neighbors, too. He gave Solomon great peace when Solomon did right. But He stirred up his enemies against him when he did wrong. So then, I’m saying that it’s on the basis of serve yourself.
I’m saying this to you because, before I ever came into the sanctuary today, I thought the Lord wanted me to do it. He and I are on speaking terms. He talks to me and I talk to Him" He hears me and I hear Him. He wanted me to say these things to you, so don’t get it in your mind that you’re wrestling with Him. Get that out of your mind altogether, and have this kind of thinking, even the mind of Christ, the pure mind. Have this frame of mind, that He is mine and I am His. Before Him, I have no sin. I have no spots. I have no wrinkles. I have no blemish. Now, I know the devil will quote Scripture to you and say, “Aha! He that saith he hath no sin, thus and thus and thus.” Well, there’s one thing about it. We either have to believe that we have some sin, or that He took it away. Which one do you choose to believe? Someone would say, “Well, I know He took them away.” How in the name of reasoning do we still have it? Here’s what it is. It is a misunderstanding of the Scriptures, and Satan takes that to hold over your head, to beat you over the head with it because you don’t understand.
Just like he said to Jesus, “Hey, You’re Jesus. Jump off this mountain. Exercise Your great ability. Just jump off this mountain.” Jesus said, “No.” Somebody would say, “Why didn’t Jesus just do it and shut his mouth and show him who He was?” For one reason. If Jesus would have jumped off the mountain, then, naturally speaking, He would have been killed. That would have been the end of the plan of salvation. Somebody would say, “No, not Jesus. He couldn’t be killed.” Well, He was killed at Calvary. So, it’s positive proof that He could have been killed. But, He saved His life for a purpose.
Then, on the other hand, God could have preserved Him and He could have utilized His faith to keep from being killed if He would have jumped off the mountain. But, if you transgress the Scriptures, then you don’t have any faith, because faith is in the Scriptures. He knew that. He would have been contrary to the heavenly Father. And again, if He would have turned those rocks into bread, do you know what He would have done? He would have automatically submitted Himself to Satan and became Satan’s subject, in that He would have honored and obeyed the word of Satan contrary to the Word of His Father. Because of what Satan had said, if He would have done it, then all would have been lost in this life. Salvation would have been a lost cause, because He would have, at that point, submitted Himself to the enemy and the enemy would have been His master. He said, “No. I won’t do that, Satan.”
So then, a lot of times, we don’t understand the Word, and such is the case in the writings of John. John said, “He that saith he hath no sin, that this man is found to be a liar, but if we confess our sin, God is just to forgive us of our sins.” We’ve got to understand to whom he was speaking. This same John was the one that, a few passages of Scripture over, made this statement: “He that is born of God cannot sin. He cannot sin because the seed of God is within him. There is no sin in his life. He that sinneth is of the devil.” By this we can tell the difference between the children of God and the children of darkness. He said that you can differentiate it to this point, because he that sinneth is of the devil, but a child of God doesn’t sin. Therefore, beloved, there is no sin to them whose sins are forgiven, whose iniquities are covered.
When the Lord said, “He that saith that he hath no sin,” He was speaking to the self-righteous Pharisees and Scribes and religious people that felt that they were clean by the law of Moses. Paul tried to tell them that the law could not cleanse any man from iniquity. If there would have been a law that could do that, then Jesus would never have came and died, and if the law could do that, then Jesus died in vain. This was the dispute Paul had with Peter. He said, “I’m not going to frustrate the grace of God, Peter. There’s something you don’t understand.” He misunderstood something. He let Satan take advantage of him. This is true, because Peter did curse at times. He got upset before he really got filled with the Spirit. He was in error. It is true that Peter did follow a symbolic thing concerning Lucifer. History tells us that he was crucified upside down to show the fall of Lucifer, in that Jesus said to Peter, “Get thee behind Me, Satan.” Also, from Peter comes the Catholic Church and the papacy (they claim Peter as the first Pope) and all that which is contrary to God and which brought about the whorish way of life, even to the killing of the Savior Himself.
I said all of that to try to say this: When you believe, believe that your sins are gone. The songwriter said, “My sins are gone. They are underneath the blood on the cross of Calvary, as far removed as darkness is from dawn. They’re in the sea of God’s forgetfulness, and that’s good enough for me. Praise God! My sins are gone.”
So, when you come before God, come as a sinless person. Come as a Christian. Come as a son of God. Don’t come as a sinner. If you are a sinner and you come as a sinner, then be born again and be washed in the blood so that you can come as His darling daughter or son, as the apple of His eye. And when you come, say, “Heavenly Father, there is something I want. I thank You, heavenly Father, because You’ve not denied me this, and I rejoice in the fact that it is mine, and all things are mine. I praise You for this, heavenly Father. I praise You for an overcoming life, because I am complete in Christ Jesus. I praise You for divine deliverance and healing in my body, in that sickness cannot reign in the membership of Jesus Christ, of whose bone and flesh I am. You’ve overcome it, Father. I thank You because I’ve overcome death and I’m alive forevermore. I shall never come into condemnation, because I cannot sin. I have passed from death unto life. Thy seed, even the Word which brings me faith unto sanctification remains in my heart to the power of translation into another world, in that I’m not of this world. I’m not in the flesh. I’ve been chosen out of the flesh. I am with Thee, heavenly Father, forever. I have a table prepared before me in the presence of mine enemies, and my cup is running over because You have anointed my head with the great loving Spirit of the oil from heaven. Even though I’m still down here in the valley of this old world, walking beneath the shadow of the spirit of Satan, the enemy of life, I won’t fear him. I won’t fear any of his evils, and I won’t have fear nor frustration in my heart, because Thou art with me. Not against me, but Thou art with me. Thou art with me.”
David said that He’ll make me to lie down in the green pastures, He’ll lead me beside the still waters. That is to say, I’ll fellowship people that are not wretched, boisterous, mean and contrary. He won’t lead me into troubled ways of life and with people that are evil and wretched, in that John refers to people as waters. He’ll lead me beside the still, peaceful waters, because they that follow Thee have great peace. What great peace have they that love Thy law, in that the Bible tells us that all of the ways of God are peace. You’ll lead me beside the still waters, in the peaceful paths of righteousness.
David went on with his parabolic speech until he said, “And Lord, I shall dwell in Your house forever. I shall abide in the house of the Lord forever.” Paul said that it’s not him that liveth, but it’s the body of Christ. It is the house of God. My little house has been torn down because of sin, folded up and laid away as in the Old Testament, because the plague was found there. It has been taken away, and I now live in a new house. This new house doesn’t have a plague in it, and my spiritual man has moved into the new house. In this new house, the plague has been taken away. In the Old Testament, if a house could survive when it went through the washing of the hyssop, then the plague was moved and a person could continue and the house was not destroyed.
Jesus said, “Destroy this temple. I’ll raise it up in three days.” David said, “I’ll abide in the house of God forever.” In that this is the temple of God, Peter said, “When I leave this tabernacle, I have another one eternal in the heavens, which is the body of Jesus Christ in the Spirit. This one is not made by hands.” So, I am in the house of God, and I’ll abide in His house forever. In this house, there are many members, or in this house, there are many mansions. Each one of you is a beautiful mansion for the spiritual man to dwell in, in that you’re the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those many mansions in the house of God, or the many members of His body, is what Jesus prepared for us. “I go to prepare a place,” Jesus said, “and after that I’ve gone to the throne to make everything right, I’ll return again and receive you unto Myself, or unto My own, that where I am, there you may be also.” In this we see what David meant.
Then David said, “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” That is, Thy rod being Thy Word, Thy staff being the Holy Ghost. Thy rod and staff, they comfort me. Your Spirit and Your Word, Your presence and Your understanding, they comfort me. So then, I’ll not fear. Be not afraid of sudden fear" let your heart be fixed so that evil tidings will not trouble you. David said, “I’ll not fear.”
Knowing this, let’s go boldly before the throne of grace. It is a throne of grace. The law is folded up and taken out of the way, and it is the law of grace. You’ll not be judged by the law. There is no condemnation to them that walk upright before Christ. God wants to give you the desires of your heart. Are you enjoying the desires of your heart? I really am enjoying the desires of my heart.
As a Christian, if you never received anything in your life, just to have Christ in your heart should be the desire and joy of your heart. The Bible said that He is the desire of ages. At least you should know that and be enjoying it, but I’m not only enjoying the desire of my heart in that the desire of ages is in my heart, but I’m enjoying the desire of my heart in that whatever I ask of Him in His name, He gives it to me. “I would that ye bear much fruit, and this is the fruit that I would like for you to bear, even whatever you ask in My name,” the writer said.
I give my heart and my life and my spirit to my Maker, even to my Savior Jesus Christ, without any reservation of heart, to love Him with all of my strength, with all of my mind, with all of my heart, to love Him that way and to love my neighbor as myself. God is love, and faith works by love, and Enoch was translated by faith that he should not see death.
I said all of these things to encourage your faith in God towards your benefits. Go boldly before the throne of grace" claim what you want. Decree it in your heart" not in your head, but in your heart. Your heart has to wrestle with your head because of your human senses. These senses dictate to your head, and Satan works through the weakness of those senses to rule and reign over you" but I can assure you that your mind in not in your head. Your mind is in your heart. As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. Though science declares the mind to be in the head, they’re not wrong to this extent: the mind of Lucifer is in your head because he works through your human senses, and that’s the only way he can reach your heart to oppress it.
But though he works through sight, sound, smell, taste and feeling to gender thoughts of evil, Paul spoke of the outer bondage by saying, “But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am!” Though he looked at this, he also said, “On the inside, I delight after the things of God, for I see a law inside, which is the law of liberty. In this, I rejoice, and with my mind (the mind of Christ, the pure mind as David called it) I serve God. Within my heart, I serve God: within my mind, I serve the Lord.” Deep down in my heart, I serve God. The power that brings me into captivity, the law of my members, hath no power over me because of the body of Jesus’ death. That part of me is folded up and laid away, and God never sees those dictating thoughts and those errors and that oppressing power that runs across my mind to try to trample down the mind of humanity. God never sees that. I’ve escaped that through Jesus. He doesn’t see the conflicting mind of doubt and the problems and circumstances of life. All He sees is the positive mind, not the negative. He sees the positive mind as the mind of Christ, and He sees the positive body as the body of the Son of God, of His flesh and His bone, which is righteous. And He sees the Spirit of Christ, not my erring spirit of problems. He sees me as the body of His beloved Son, the one to whom He can deny nothing.
So then, being the Lord Jesus Christ, He cannot deny me anything, not anything, at any time. He must give me the desire of my heart. You say, “Why?” Because I have earned it. If I have earned it, how then can He deny me? Somebody would say, “But Brother Pike, you’ve earned nothing.” I know that the man that is dead, buried, and laid away in a watery grave in Jesus name didn’t earn anything. But the man that lives now has earned it. Paul said, “It is not I that liveth, but Christ Jesus that liveth within me, and the life I now live, I live by the Son of God because I’m bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.” That man earned every bit of it by the nails in His hands and by the beating on His back, and even though He earned it, did you know that not one time did He claim it, though in fact, He earned it? He gave it all to me, and He gave it all to you. Then He died as a sinner. He died as one that was lost, and made His grave with those that were lost so that I might live and never have to die. I’ll never have to be buried if I’ll just walk on and have faith in Him. This is the mystery that Paul spoke of when he said, “I show you a mystery, we shall not all sleep, but be changed, and that, from glory to glory.”
I am His body, and I reap all of His benefits. He claimed the mercy of God, and today, I claim the mercy of God by His earned benefits through His efforts. I claim nothing as to a merit of myself, but in Him, I am complete, and all things that pertain unto life are given unto me through Him. So I claim those things through His efforts and His toils, and by His stripes, I am healed. This is wonderful, because God cannot deny me anything.
If you are in this frame of mind, then are you in the mind of Christ, and you reap the full benefit. If you are not in this mind" if you are in the old conflicting mind of the world, and you are not up in the heavenly place and you’re not hid with Christ in God whom the heavens have received, then you are walking in the flesh. If you are in the flesh, then you cannot please God, because being in the flesh means that you are walking in the human senses and in the range and radius of tangible matter or natural life, and this means you can never please Him.
Yesterday, a young minister came to me. He’s been in the ministry for quite a number of years, and he’s not so young in that he’s had a lot of experience. He’s been with some of the leading ministries and with one of the most outstanding ministers we have in the earth. But, he came to me and he said, “Brother Pike, I know that all of my efforts were in the natural. I know that they were, even though I was with that ministry, and this ministry moved across the earth. I know now that the ingredient that has been missing in my life is the revelation of Jesus Christ as to the mysteries and the unfolding of God’s Word.”
But you know, beloved friend, here is something I want you to think over. I talked to him before he ever went out in his early ministry. I told him those things, and I told him what he needed, but his zeal, as I reminded him yesterday, took him into those things. As it was with the Jews, it was a zeal without knowledge, as one that runneth and beateth the air, not having a message from God, not waiting on the Lord, but having people in admiration because of advantage. He said, “Brother Pike, it had to happen to me, didn’t it? I had to do it. I had to go out there. It has torn me to pieces, and almost made me bitter. I told my wife, if I wouldn’t have done that, how far advanced I would be, how far I would be in the things of God. But I had to do it.”
So, as I explained to him, it was necessary. He had to do it to really get rid of his zeal so he could come to this. Now, he’s grateful because he feels like that at last he’s going to progress in the things of God and come to the desired haven in Christ.
So I said all that to say this: don’t be of a doubtful mind. Be of the frame of mind that I spoke early about. Don’t wrestle as to try to get a little nibble of something that’s very tasteful, because the whole thing belongs to you. Don’t let the devil sit and eat and throw crumbs to you. Jesus said that the crumbs belong to the dogs, and He said the Gentiles were dogs. That’s all they ever get in this life, though they have new cars and homes and whatever. Paul said that these are the beggarly elements, the crumbs that fall from the children’s table.
Jesus appreciated the spirit of the woman and her humility when He rejected her as to her apparent desire. Then she said, “The dogs eat of the crumbs.” Seemingly, she desired something of Christ, but not as to what she thought she really wanted, and He knew that her desire was human desire. He corrected her desire, and told her that what she really needed, by giving her a little reproof, was humility. The Bible said that humility goes before honor. Moses was the meekest man in all the earth, so he was highly exalted. So then, Jesus said, “The bread is for the children.” She accepted it when He said, “Shall I then take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs?” She said, “Master, the dogs eat of the crumbs.” Then He said, “Woman, great is thy faith. You won’t be found eating of the crumbs, because you are a daughter of Abraham.” He wanted humility so that the middle wall of partition could be torn down and she could be filled to the full. Fill my cup, Lord, fill my cup to overflowing. “My cup runneth over,” David said.
So, if you’re not in the frame of mind that I spoke of, then you’re running short. You’re running behind. You failed to have that charity that John preached about, because faith works by love. You failed to fully submit yourself to this wonderful, bountiful fountain that’s open in the house of David, which is the stream of love and the river of life. You failed to have perfect love, because perfect love casts out fear. Jesus said, “Fear not.” Fear is faith in reverse, and it’s contrary to your believing. “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to them that believe,” Jesus said. Because you are a believer, then all things happen to you. There is nothing impossible to you. There is nothing but what it can’t happen to you. When Jesus said all things are possible to them that believe, He did not mean that all things by chance could happen to you, and He did not mean that perhaps, by chance, you’ll strike it rich and get a nibble. He didn’t mean that. He said because you believe, there is nothing impossible to you. All things are therefore yours because you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.
So He was saying because you believe, whatever you want, you can have it. All things have become possible to you because you are a believer. There is nothing impossible to you" just believe and go on and have what you want, or that is to say, it is all yours. Because you are a believer, then you have come to the fact that all things belong to you. You can partake and benefit as you will. So then, let’s believe, friend, let’s believe.
I want you to stop and think: why should I listen to the negative voice of Lucifer, that which resists me in my desire toward Him? Why should I listen to a conflicting voice that says, “No no no”? Someone would say, “Well, the devil doesn’t say that to me.” Yes he does. He says, “You’re not good enough. You’ve got to pray some more and fast some more, and you’ve got to live a better life, and then you’ll be eligible. God doesn’t do things like that in this day. Your faith is not strong enough for that. You can’t have that.” And on and on. He keeps saying no.
But the Bible teaches that all of the promises of God are yea and amen because of Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus, they are yea and amen. He’ll not alter the thing that’s gone out of His mouth, but He’ll hasten to perform it. The Word of God will not return unto Him void, but it will prosper in that where unto He sent it, and accomplish the thing that He pleases. All things were made by Him and for His pleasure were they created. Without Him was nothing created that was made, and all things belong to us because He gave them to us through Adam. Though Adam lost it, He redeemed it through the second man Adam, and He restored it back to me if I can believe. That’s where faith comes in.
They believed unto death because of the fall of the first man Adam. Why can’t we, as children of the second man Adam, of the regeneration into the new generation of our Savior, of His generation and posterity" why can’t we as children of God claim what Adam claimed in the beginning before he fell? I believe that it’s mine, folks. The kingdoms of this world belong to my God and His Christ, and He’s going to reign forever and ever, and all things are mine. I am with Him to rule with a rod of iron over all things" even the Word, the rod that David spoke of. “To him that overcometh, I will give him power over the nations. I will give him My new name. I’ll write My new name upon him, and nobody will know it but him. I will give him power over the nations" he shall rule with a rod of iron" and he shall break the nations into shivers as a man breaks pottery. I will give him to eat of the hidden manna,” Jesus said.
This is so wonderful, so lovely, so beautiful. So then, being sons of God, why should we be denied? If there is a question in your mind as to son ship, then, to keep Satan from having any advantage, I suggest that you settle that dispute. If you don’t believe that you are a son of God, then you need to get saved. Believing is what makes you a Christian.
One of these days, we’d like to talk about the dispute over the body, because that is where we are living today. The dispute is over the body. It’s not over the spirit. We accept the fact that we’re born of the Spirit, but the Bible said that there was a dispute over the body of Moses. Someone would say, “Well, he’s dead and he’s gone.” I believed that until the Lord showed me different" but there was something that happened to Moses’ body. Moses’ body has to do with a great and a mighty thing in that he was God to the people, and without God you can’t go anywhere. You can’t do anything.
How many of you would like to say within your heart, “O Lord, I believe what this preacher has said. I believe that this is the missing link. I believe that this is the key that the doctors have taken away and shut up the door to knowledge. I believe that this is the key that Peter found as he found the Christ.” If you can actually, really, truly feel and think and react in your heart in the same calm, collected, confident way he did, then what can you be? Who are you? What is this that you have received? What is this that the Bible said our father Abraham has found as pertaining to godliness?
Friend, some will never receive this because they are given to the flesh, and they are given to the natural way of life, and they are given to things and human desire. They do not know honor. They do not know obedience. They do not know reverence. They do not know Christ, and all of their labor is for themselves, because self demands it. Satan savors the things that be of self" but you that are just simple, down to earth believers, you are the Christians, though you may not be outstanding and great in the eyes or thoughts of somebody. How much greater can an individual be than being a son of God? Is there anything greater? When Jesus said that ye are gods, can there be anything greater than being God? God said to Moses, “I’ve made you God unto the people.” Is there anything greater?
Therefore, you are gods, though you die like men. Why do you die like men? Because you do not understand, and you will not listen, and you lack knowledge. That’s why you die like men. Why do you die like men? Because you do not know the benefits of the promise" therefore, you cannot believe what you do not know. You have not applied yourself.
So then, I ask you to accept what I’ve said. Believe what I’ve said, and go forth, not wavering, not doubting, but with full confidence. The Bible said that Abraham was fully persuaded in the promises of God. He was fully persuaded. He wouldn’t listen to that old negative mind with its negative thoughts, for he knew that the heart of man is continually evil.
The Bible teaches that the thoughts of man are continually evil. There is no good thing in the flesh. You must kill it. You must fold it up, and you must lay it away. You must take on new flesh and new bone, even the sanctified body of Jesus. Charity thinketh no evil. Charity never listens to the negative side of eating and drinking and riding and reveling, of frolic and gullible desire. It never listens to the distorting thoughts of oppression and sorrow, of being cast down and misused and pushed aside as to being denied of that which belongs to us through Christ. The song writer said, “I will not be denied. Since Jesus came and died for me, I will not be denied.”
So then, we see what God wants us to have. We see the wonderful ways of God and the lovely benefits of Christ. So let’s pray: “Father, God of heaven, we’re so thankful, heavenly Father, and we do give honor to our heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus, giving all praise and honor to Thee, heavenly Father, and Thy lovely Son, Jesus. We praise and adore Thy loving name, Father, knowing that we have right to the throne and access to the great light, even the heavenly Father, and that through the Son of God and the veil of His human being, or His flesh, that He hath rent the flesh and the veil to make a door into heaven. We know that we have the benefits through Him, even Jesus, who dwells in the great light. He alone is heir to it" therefore, we approach unto Thy throne, Father, and we do it with reverence, yet with great boldness, knowing that all things are ours. This is the confidence that we have in Thee, that we pray and You hear us" and in that You hear us, we have the desire of our heart. We are contending for the faith, even the faith of Jesus Christ, that was once delivered unto the saints of God, even the quickening that raised up Christ from the dead, even that which we feel in our mortal body. Father, go with our beloved brothers and sisters, and be with them throughout the world, and especially these at Bethlehem, dear God. So, let it be, this great thing, God, for we believe. Lord, we believe. Hallelujah! All things are possible unto me, Lord" therefore, I give praise and honor to Your name.”
The Bible teaches us to praise Him and thank Him for all things. The thing that displeased God is when we do not give praise, honor, and glory to God for all things. The Bible said that we should give praise, honor, and glory to Him for all things. Someone would say, “For all things that He hath created.” No, though we do praise Him for that. Give praise for all things in that you accept all things that belong to you as a rightful heir, giving praise and honor to God through the mind of confidence that all things are yours. You belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God.
So, go about rejoicing in your heart, because there is nothing that is denied you. There is nothing that is not yours. Life, health, hope, security. Just give praise in your heart because you are not striving to be a millionaire, but you have always been a millionaire. You’re not striving for the wealth of the world to get a little bit of it like a rich man would do. You’ve always owned all of it. You’ve always been the heir to it. You’re not waiting for the inheritance to come, or for the time of the bar mitzvah, because Calvary was the bar mitzvah. The only thing is, you weren’t born at that time. So you had to wait until your day to be born, and now that you’re born, all you have to do is accept Calvary, and at the birth, the child is caught up to the throne.
If you’ve been born again, you’re there at the throne to rule with a rod of iron. Your bar mitzvah was at Calvary. The Jews, until Calvary, were under tutors, but when Calvary came, the faith came. The faith by which we’re sanctified came, and the law was folded up and laid away. We’ve been justified by the faith of Christ ever since we believed in that faith. Thus came the bar mitzvah. The Jews didn’t recognize it, but the spiritual Jews took their place and they recognized it. So, let’s not wait.
Solomon said that deferred hope sickens the heart. Let’s not wait. Let’s thank God for all things. Give praise and honor to God for all things. Let’s enjoy all things. Let’s realize who we are and what we are, and that He supplied all of our needs according to His riches in glory. He hath supplied all of our need through Christ Jesus, and He will supply all of our needs as to our confidence toward those things as we walk out and partake of them, for wherever we set our feet, He’ll give it to us. Whatever you say, you can have it. As you think in your heart, so you are. Say it, and you can have it. Decree it in your heart. Go on your way and enjoy it. He’ll renew your youth. He’ll renew your strength. He’ll make you rich and add no sorrow, and make whatever you do prosper. He’ll give you the desires of your heart, and make you to ride upon the high places of the earth.
By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.
Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.
Holiness Unto The Lord