The Bride of Christ is a Servant – Episode #681

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The Bride of Christ is a Servant
Episode #681
12/22/2019

With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow

This is the continuation of a series of podcasts started in Episode #678.
When we wait on the Lord to speak, we are approaching Him as His servant. And that is the position of the Bride of Christ. That is bridal preparation!

Martha:
I feel led to describe the suffering I went through this week, about four days. Suddenly I felt absolutely terrified to write this book. And I felt like a failure. I felt like I was not capable. And I… Finally, I understood it was an assault from the devil accusing you day and night. And… But I spent hours overcoming it because it was so kind of vicious, and hours declaring His victory, and then a lot of time restoring myself to the right place, if that makes any sense. But Christ is victor and this… I want to go into this next writing thing with the warfare already accomplished.

John:
Yeah, absolutely.

Martha:
And that’s one reason why it happened to me. I underestimate, always…

John:
Um hmm.

Martha:
…the hatred of Satan for the things we’re doing, John. We are this little group in the mountains, we’re not, not famous, not big. But…

John:
But the con, the concepts and the, and the, the, the topics that we’re hitting are some of the, the highest.

Martha:
Yes!

John:
The Exchanged Life

Martha:
Yes.

John:
is, is, is it! It is the Gospel.

Martha:
And Christianity doesn’t know it!

John:
And…

Martha:
My heart is for that one because most Christianity doesn’t know it. I read something from someone that I really follow and love the other day and I went, “You don’t know!”

John:
Um hmm.

Martha:
“You’re not even talking about Christ in me, the hope of glory.”

John:
Right.

Martha:
So, you don’t know it.

John:
So, there’s that. There’s the, the, the Bride, which we are, we are all being prepared as a bride and if… You know, I mean obviously there’s people that have taken it off into, to, to, you know, weirdness and stuff like that. But the, the… I want to know about the Bride. I want to know about the Lamb! That’s His nature,

Martha:
Um hmm.

John:
you know. And Sovereignty, there’s another one!

Martha:
Um hmm.

John:
Who’s, who’s, who’s talking about sovereignty? Sovereignty is how we really stomach everything that’s going on this world.

Martha:
Uh hmm. Yeah and how we can bear it.

John:
How we can bear it.

Martha:
And yet on the other hand, those who don’t want that subject…

John:
Um hmm.

Martha:
…and are so confused by it. It’s a, it’s a topic that you sort of have to understand by faith.

John:
I say that this book tackles the very, the very difficult truth that… This book tackles the very difficult truth that the greatest and most lasting revelations of God come out of the hardest crises of man. It is called The Sovereign Touch and it reveals why we can and should trust God with these crises and hardships. I… You know, there’s… It, it is just going to get more difficult. The times are, are gonna be more trying and more trying…

Martha:
Right.

John:
and more trying.

Martha:
And more crisis.

John:
And more crisis. And…

Martha:
Perilous times…

John:
Absolutely.

Martha:
…great suffering.

John:
That, that even, even, you know, He says in Revelation, if it was possible even the very elect would be deceived. So, I mean, that’s pretty big.

Martha:
That is. And there’s reports from my book on forgiveness (Altogether Forgiven) that are real encouraging and what it’s doing to transform lives and so… And I’ve heard from people, two people in distant places in the last month that so encourage me that they’re, they are reading and hearing and knowing and with us.

John:
Right.

Martha:
And we don’t even know.

John:
Right, exactly.

Martha:
We don’t know how many and who. And… So, John, do you have anything more to teach us about listening?

John:
Well, I mean I would just attest to the fact that it is a hugely valuable and honored position to go waiting and listening rather than to, to go thinking and doing.

Martha:
You know what I see in that, John, is your one… I’ll give this secret of the Bride. The secret of who qualifies for the Bride is going to be a humble servant. The Lord is looking for a humble servant to take to His heavenly kingdom. And what you’re doing is going as a servant waiting for the orders, waiting for the word of your Master. You’re going as a bond slave, John, utterly owned, utterly surrendered. And it’s a state that you’ve developed through practical life. You’ve talked about it recently. And it’s serving the sheep and serving the, these people up here as the shepherd. And…

John:
Right.

Martha:
…many others as a shepherd. But you have the posture, the mentality, the habit, the engrained perspective of being a servant. So, you’re going to the Lord as a, as His servant. You’re not going to get something so you can have something. You are going absolutely abject posture before Him…

John:
Hmm.

Martha:
…as His, as His servant, the slave of His mind and His will. And so that’s why you’re getting such riches.

John:
Well, one of the first messages that I heard from you was about “Christ the Head.” And it, that message is, it comes out of The Spirit and the Wind messages and that message resonated so strongly with me because I realized, yes, Christ does have to be Head of His church for it actually to function as church. And so I’m bowing. When I’m going, I’m bowing and listening for the Head.

Martha:
Right.

John:
I’m looking for the Head. See, there’s that was an initial impartation that you gave me that the, the Spirit brooded over and worked into my life because I needed it. I needed the, the stillness. I think that that’s one of the things that, that prevented me from, from being a listener is that I wasn’t still. My mind wasn’t still. I wasn’t still. I was vibrating inside. And the Spirit has just done a work to, to bring a stillness and a, and a quiet. I can sit and I’m not, you know…

Martha:
Jittery…

John:
Jittery.

Martha:
…and jumping and…

John:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean before I could say, “Ok, I’m going to sit and listen” but I, I was vibrating. Now I can sit and listen and wait. “If You speak…

Martha:
It’s evident.

John:
…it’s great.

Martha:
It’s evident. Uh huh. You can, you can be in utter silence and you are not present.

John:
No, I’m waiting and, and…

Martha:
You’re empty. You’re willing to be empty.

John:
Completely! And, and that is a, that is a huge part of it and, and, I, I, would basically, I would recommend it because it’s a treasure trove of spiritual life and, and Him. It, it’s just… That’s where you can access it.

Martha:
“Be still and know that I am God.”

John:
Absolutely.

Martha:
And someone taught me recently it says, “And I will be exalted above the heavens and I will be exalted in the earth.” And when… This, this man said, “When you are still and let God be God, then He rises…

John:
Right, exactly.

Martha:
…and He is elevated,” and that’s what happens. He’s elevated for you and He, He, He reigns and…

John:
I think He’s willing to allow us to flounder and, and, and flop about and, you know, until we, we wear our self out so that He can do that rising.

Martha:
Uh huh. So the reason I wanted to ask you this is because you, you show, you demonstrate it to me how you’re getting this writing. And I hope it’s how I do, too. I don’t know that I do it as well as you do. But it’s obvious that you have come to, the Holy spirit has gotten you to the place to be still so that He can be this vast God of the heavens and of the earth, too, over you and over your writing. It’s very exciting.

John:
It came with a price but it, it’s worth it all day long.

Martha:
Um hmm.

John:
It wasn’t, it wasn’t all glory and bubbles.

Martha:
And it didn’t happen overnight either. It happened over years.

John:
Yeah. It’s, it’s been…

Martha:
Years!

John:
…a process of twenty-five years at least…

Martha:
Um hmm.

John:
…directly this part of my life.

Martha:
Well, I thank you for being open and sharing and…

John:
Thank you for being willing to look and, and see what I was doing because I mean, you know, I, I particularly wouldn’t have said, “Oh, this is what I’m doing.” It was because you pointed it out that I knew what I was doing. And, and for you to see it and then value it, says a whole lot about you.

Martha:
Hmm. Well, I feel like you’re teaching me as an example and it’s…

John:
Well, you imparted it. You gave me the impartation of, of it and then now it’s being displayed back for you so you can actually see it in a, in a life outside of your own.

Martha:
But you came under that mantle.

John:
Yeah.

Martha:
And you received me…

John:
Right.

Martha:
…and served and served me so very much, more than I can even talk about. So I hope it blesses people there who want to express their faith and just hear Him and write down what you hear.

John:
Um hmm.

Martha:
Sometimes, I’ve with several people, I’ll say, “Wait, stop! I’m gonna write down what you’re saying, it’s so wonderful.”

John:
Exactly. You do that a lot.

Martha:
Yeah, we do. So we just bless everybody who’s willing to listen to us from the North Georgia Mountains (laughs).

The Bride of Christ is a Servant – Episode #681 – Shulamite Podcast

When we wait on the Lord to speak, we are approaching Him as His servant. And that is the position of the Bride of Christ. That is bridal preparation! It’s not all about what we need and want. We begin to ask, “What are You on today, Lord?”