A lot of people say pride goes before a fall. That’s not true. It says in Proverbs 16:18: “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” I don’t want to end up in destruction. I’m speaking to you out of personal experience. Please don’t imagine that I think I have achieved it. But I will say I’m a very different person from what I was before this happened. And I am continually amazed that God has been so patient with me. I am literally amazed that He would tolerate things in me so long.
And let me say I’ve never been guilty of adultery, or immorality, or fornication, or drunkenness, or misuse of funds, or other things that people think about when a minister speaks about sin. That’s not where it was. The thing that God convicted me of most was carnality. I was lying there sick and I thought to myself: “Here I am. I’ve preached healing for fifty years and I’ve seen multitudes of people healed. I believe what the Bible says, by the stripes of Jesus we are healed.” So my problem was not really that I was afraid of death, my problem was intellectual. How can I relate my present condition to my belief in the Bible? And about 2:00 a.m. one morning on the day in which I ended up in hospital, though I didn’t know I was going to be there, the Lord woke me and very graciously and gently showed me how much He hated carnality.
You know that God has got strong feelings, you know that? God loves and He hates. He says in Malachi, “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.” And Esau is one of the Biblical types of carnality. God showed me that carnality is absolutely hateful to Him. He didn’t say I was hateful, He reaffirmed His love. He showed me certain scenes from my past, some of them in restaurants, let me say that. I wondered how I would explain to others what He showed me. Because I mean, lots of people do things I never did and I do things that they never did. And this is my definition of carnality as far as I’ve been able to see it. The writer of Hebrews said, “Here we have no continuing city, but we look for one to come.” And any time we begin to think and act and live as if this world was our home and we had something permanent here, that is carnality. It doesn’t need to express itself in any big or ugly sin, but once we lose the vision of eternity and are not living in the consciousness of eternal issues, that is carnality.
God hates it. He doesn’t hate you, He doesn’t hate me. He’s infinitely patient but He wants to deal with it.
Afterwards when I was recovering physically and getting better, the Lord told me that it would take time, that He was going to do it but it would take time. And then He said something so sweet, He said, “Be patient with me as I have been patient with you.” I couldn’t argue with that! I’m still being patient. I want to testify I’ve come a long, long, long way. I am really flourishing. I’m not totally as strong as I was before I became sick.
I don’t want to be just in the abstract. I want this to come down to the place where you live. It affects you. Your destiny is at stake. It’s not just theology, it’s how we live. There is no abstract theology in the New Testament, you cannot find it. Every time there’s a theological truth propounded in the New Testament it’s applied to the way we live. Without exception, you can look but you’ll never find just abstract theological truth.
Dear Father, I pray You’ll reveal in my life where there’s carnality. I also pray You’ll preserve me from condemnation. I know that when You’ll show me, it will be in love, to help and deliver me and focus me on the eternal issues. Thank You for Your grace, kindness and patience! In Jesus’ Name, amen.
