Towel Discernment - Gateway Worship Center

CHECK POINT

A Leadership and Intercessory Letter written to those who desire Integrity in the Inward Parts (Psalm 51:6)

"Towel Discernment"

Written by Esther Dummer on October 10, 2005

Twenty-seventh Edition: December 29, 2005

When I first woke up and heard this odd saying, I really had to stop and think about what God was trying to say to me. What in the world is “towel discernment anyway?” It was unusual, but I did remember that I had heard this exact phrase months ago.

The first thing I began to look at was the gift of discernment and wondered what that had to do with a towel.

As I pondered over the next several days, God began to show me the past, present and future of the people of this move of God. While I will use the title “intercessors,” I do not exclude a single member of the body of Christ, for we all have the ministry of intercession. If we didn’t, than that would be one area that we would not be like Jesus, for that was what His life was and is about.

If we truly want to awaken to the heartbeat of the church that Jesus cries out for – it is that of prayer and ministry that comes from prayer.

So, having said that, let’s look at the “negative” side of the picture. This is a necessary check-up for all of us as we prepare for the future of the Church.

Discernment:

Abuse

Discernment - A greatly abused and a greatly used gift:

Discernment is a loaded shotgun.

It is a barrel of buckshot that can do a lot of harm to a wide space if released in the wrong direction.

Preparation is taking “lessons” at the shooting range.

There you learn how to load the gun, use the gun safely, clean the gun before you fire the gun.

Then you take aim and hit the target.

The Lord began to speak into my spirit the past history of intercession and the move of God. Many people have received so much from the Holy Spirit in the way of gifts.

But, even in the best church, with people under the best discipleship and training, discernment has still been greatly abused and used for man’s glory.

It has been abused by those who’s hearts have not been right with God.

Maybe some of you started off like this, long ago, before God got hold of your heart and cut away foolishness and pride. Maybe you realize that God saved your neck by bringing discipline to your life in this area of gifting. He had to because for Him to take you where He desires, this gift has to be dedicated, sanctified and pure to work for God’s glory.

It is valuable to God and useful to you only if you are walking in holiness and humility.

Pride

Acts 8:9-11; 17-21

9 But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one:

10 To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God.

This man came to Jesus but still had some very dirty old trappings. He tried to buy the “power to lay hands on people and have them receive the Holy Ghost.” It was dealt with very quickly and firmly because if this man with the former sorcery and pride started a ministry of “laying hands on people and passing out the power,” he would have mislead all the people who believed in him as “the great power of God.” That would have been a disaster for the growing Kingdom of God.

I believe that within the revival church today that there are those that walk in this sort of pride, using their gifts to build a following of people who cluster around them who believe that “they have some sort of great power.”
I also believe that the church needs to practice correction and rebuke, if necessary, when someone is “strutting their stuff.”
It does no one any good to allow these things to go unchecked.
The lost souls out there don’t need to have “Witchy Christians” lay hands on them and “pass out gifts.”

Caution! If you are one who is always “seeking a word” from someone, your time would be better spent in “seeking God in His Word.”

Caution! Be careful who lays hands on you and “gives you anything.”

Fascination

There has been a dangerous fascination with this gift and some have even used it to gain a name for themselves as ones who “see and know.”

I thought upon the things I have seen that have been done in the name of Jesus and shuddered at how God could have stood it. He has watched His church so puffed up and acting in such “spiritual attitudes and actions” as the hearts of the “discerning ones” was either fluffy cotton candy or judgmental.

Discernment has been used to “chase devils,” and “discover the things that lay buried in people’s hearts,” not because of a desire to see people set free, but a desire to know.

The prophetic gifts of the discerning ones, the seers, those with prophetic insight, are powerful and can do good work or much harm.

Discerning of spirits is a Holy Spirit Gift:

It is necessary to do the work of God.
It is spiritually powerful and valuable.
It is an eye-opening gift.
It takes away the guess work when ministering to people.
If ministry is the objective and God gets the Glory, it is powerful!

Jesus walked in discernment, listening to His Father all the time and discerning the hearts of men and identifying devils.

Some have ruined churches and destroyed confidence with the abuse of this gift, moving into spiritual witchcraft.

But it has been used with wisdom and spiritual insight by many who chose to walk a path of integrity and humility before God and man.

It has been a great gift to the church, to the move of God and to the hurting who need a touch from God.
There have been years of intercession in which God has revealed much to His people.
Many have used this gift wisely.

But, even for those who are clean, most of the discernment has been spent in a “Hands-Off-Mode.”

I will explain what I mean by this because to learn what God is saying to us is so important to the future of where God is taking His church. Let’s look very briefly at you and me – past and present.

Part I – The Past

In no way is this message meant to diminish anything that God has done through you in the past years of intercession and revival, just to serve as instruction for where God is desiring to take us from here forward.

Phil 1:6 - Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

While others prostituted the gifts that God gave them, you stayed right with God and allowed Him to mature the things He placed in you.
You may have learned some hard lessons early on, but you did learn them, not to repeat them.
You may have stumbled into areas that God was not pleased with, but took the correction, where others turned Maverick and unaccountable.
But there are too many prayers, too many tears, too much travail, too many years of pushing in when it was nothing but hard work to underestimate the things that God has done through your dedication to God’s service.
You have yielded when it wasn’t easy, allowing God to have the right of way in your life.
You have taken a stand for righteousness sake that was not popular and even caused others to withdraw from you.

You have stayed true, though others may have turned away from the increasing cost of obedience.
You have learned well and prepared your heart as best as you knew to do.
Some of you have fell on the Sword of Truth, cutting away everything that smelled of death and deception.
Some of you have allowed the Holy Spirit to cut away “Proud Flesh,” as you repented and humbled yourself.

The past has yielded a strong tree that stands well-rooted and watered.

There is not a curse upon you because you have born the good fruit of the Spirit, not the works of the flesh.

Part II – The Present

I do not believe that any of us would want to go back to the starting line and begin all over. We all know that we are NOT the same people we were back then.

We have gone through the refiner’s fire and a sifting process that has been long, hard and painful at times.

We have been speared by the arrows of the Lord, pierced by the Sword of the Lord and felt His disciplines in our lives over and over as He has worked His Will in us.

We have cast off the garments that were spotted by the flesh.

We have left behind the “Old Wine Skins” of our past and have been enlarged and stretched time and again as God has caused us to become more and more pliable.

We have felt it when the Potter’s Wheel seemed to spin out of control and the Hand of the Lord pressed sorely upon us, molding and making us in His image.

The Cry of our hearts even now has become more insistent for God to work in our lives – More Lord!

The closer we get to Him, the more undone we seem to become.

It is a kind of dirt that can only be found in the presence of a Holy God, as we approach His throne in humility and get a vision of how Holy God is and how wanting we are, even though we love Him. Isaiah experienced this.

Isa 6:1-8

1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

2 Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.

3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:

7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

There is something about coming to grips with the holiness of God and preparation to be used of God.

This was also a key part of God’s introduction of Moses to his ministry.

Exod 3:2-5

2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

God has brought all of us face to face with the fact that He is Holy and we are lacking in areas of our life.

This level of encounter with God is a kind of preparation that we have to go through to be able to be sent by God into the big harvest field.

I don’t believe that any of us are satisfied even now with where we are – MORE LORD!

God really is taking us somewhere. He didn’t take us to a wilderness to wander the rest of our life until we die. The promises of God are just ahead of us. Every step and every day gets us that much closer. I wonder how many intercessory people of God are wondering if they have bought into a pipe dream.

Part III - The Future

What has the Past and Present have to do with the Future?

Everything!

If all we did was “have revival,” “go to intercessory conferences,” “Sing new songs,” “Do warfare,” “Pray more,” and “Preach and prophesy,” and just keep doing this, then we have done nothing more than create a new religion – one called “Revival.”

“A Revival in a New Rut” can turn out to be a “dead zone” where God will not stay.

Though the way has been longer than we originally thought for our cities begin to feel the impact of what God has been doing in His people, remember - there is a time when the Lord will say, “It is finished.” There is a time on this earth where the Lord tells us to “enter in.”

There is a door that we have to enter – a crossing over into the new land of promise where we learn what we have prepared for.

One of the words that Holy Spirit gave us was “Winds of Change.”

I believe that God is getting ready to blow over our past use of the gifts; all that has been used for man’s lifting up and even those that have been used to bless God’s people. For us to be used the way God desires, I know change has to come – yes to even the most gifted and most humble servant. We may be doing fine right where we are, but if we were thrust into a new venue, how would be do? Are there things out there that would cause us to be self-exalting or cause us to fear or draw back or abuse something God has put in our hands to be prepared?

If you are willing, God will purify this gift and even increase it to His glory.
It is needed to work in the harvest, just as Jesus used it when reaching mankind with the truth.
Discernment was also used by the Apostles as they ministered.

Let’s look at Jesus Christ and see our example of “The Towel in Ministry” in John 13:3-9

This is where Jesus took the towel in His hands and proceeded to wash the feet of His disciples. These men, especially Peter, did not know what He was doing and why.

Peter was not discerning concerning the truth of the towel in His master’s hands.
He resisted strongly to Jesus being in this place of servitude, as a common slave or servant.
He was actually embarrassed to have Jesus wash his feet.
His religion was still too formal and in tune with the “old ways.”
Jesus had “stooped too low” and had actually taken on the role of a common servant of the house.
He was serving as a servant to show them a truth.

John 13:3-9

Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;

God had placed all things in the hands of Jesus and evidently He had also placed a towel there. The scripture tells us that Jesus did nothing but what His Father told Him to do it. The Father had already sent Jesus from His high estate and placed Him in a lowly stable as a little baby.

Jesus became the human towel in His Father’s hands!

God bent low over the earth in love, prepared to wash away the sins of the world.

He was preparing to send Him to the cross to die for the sins of man. But before He left, Jesus had valuable lessons to teach His disciples.

They had to learn to serve humanity or they would never be the right building material for the Kingdom of God.
If He sent out arrogant men to try to help the hurting masses, they would set themselves up on high seats and help themselves to a lot of glory.
The church of Jesus’ day was already full of man’s glory.

The Word tells us in John 13…

He rose from supper - symbolizing salvation in the kingdom.

There has to be movement on the part of the church. We have to rise up from our supper, the table of the Lord, where we have eaten well of the Bread of Heaven and take it to the hungry.

And laid aside his garments; the cloak or mantle and the tunic

In this case, Jesus “dis-mantled Himself.”

Jesus laid aside His kingly robes to come to earth, though still of royal descent.
Look at the things that Jesus did:

Phil 2:6-8

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

The cross is another place that Jesus mantle was removed as He hung on the cross to die.
If we are also called to die, then should we not also “remove our mantle” of identity and self-worth, laying down our lives for the Kingdom of God?

And took a towel, Used of the linen towel or apron which servants put on when about to work

He identified with the servants.
He by, demonstration of wearing this towel, showed His disciples, meaning us, the humility that a servant should manifest.
He demonstrated that we are to not only remove our “mantle of importance,” but put on the “apron of humility.”
It is not enough to lay our coat down.
Anyone can walk into a room and take a coat off, but who can also go to the servant’s quarters and get their garments and wear them in servitude?

And girded himself. - To bind or to gird all around, prepared Himself to do the work.

We can look like a servant and still not have a servant’s heart.
We can make an appearance and not do the work.
To gird up is symbolic of preparation to work.

After that he poured water into a basin - A vessel for washing the hands and the feet,

Jesus is really serious about this servant thing.
He takes the next step to do the work.

And began to wash the disciples' feet, - Used of disciples listening to their teacher's instruction are said to be at his feet

The Lord was dealing directly, by example, with what the key issue was.
By washing their feet, he was sitting at their feet in a subservient position, as if He was to learn of them.
Could the King learn something by washing their feet?
It was a hand’s on service.
He did learn a lot about their heart and especially Peter’s heart.
When you are washing someone’s feet, they feed back information to you.

And to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Jesus was finishing the job of serving.

There is really no step one, step two, step three to a true servant.

Everything is about “every whit whole” to Jesus.

He is an “It is finished Jesus.”

We cannot afford to do a half-way job when ministering to people either.

Then cometh he to Simon Peter:

This is where Jesus gets a “hand’s-on ministry time” with Peter.
This is where the ideas of Peter are challenged by truth.
This is where the lesson is learned by Peter – we are washed by the Master and then we wash others.
Once Peter understood it, he went “totally overboard.”
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

Everyone wants a powerful anointing and to be used of God to touch people’s lives. We know that nothing can be done without it. But it is also imperative that the “anointing not be placed on strange flesh.” Discernment is wonderful, but without the anointing it is shallow. Look at Jesus…

Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because…

(Think about the list of gifts in I Cor. 12:7-11– word of wisdom, word of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing,

working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues.)

He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; (Notice that in this scripture in Luke 4, the anointing for preaching the good news is followed by “action under the unction.”)
He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
To preach deliverance to the captives,
And recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised…

Jesus’ entire ministry was this kind of “get down with the sinners and dirty ones” outreach. He was in contact with those that needed washed – publicans and sinners.

Matt 9:10-12

10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.

11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?

12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.

Everyone knows that feet are dirty and it is a fact – sinners were also dirty and in need of washing, better interpreted - saved, healed and delivered.

Look at this list of the “kinds of people - sinners” that Jesus served:

Mark 5:1-5 – “there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

John 8:3, 10-11 – “a woman taken in adultery,”

Matthew 9:32 – “a dumb man possessed with a devil.”

Matthew 12:22 – “one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb,”

Luke 8:1-2 – “Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,”

Luke 19:4-7

4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.

6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.

7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.

Jesus also went to those who were physically hurting, rejected by society, dying and dead.

Luke 17:12 – “ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off:”

Matt 4:24 – “all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

Matt 9:20 – “a woman, which was diseased with an issue of blood twelve years”

Luke 13:11 – “a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together”

Mark 8:22 – “a blind man unto him.”

Jesus also reached across the prejudicial lines

John 4:7-10

There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink.

(For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)

Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Jesus’ ministry touched the rejected, taxpayers, prostitutes, adulterers, demon possessed, lepers, diseased, depraved – He washed dirty souls by stooping low enough to be a servant to all who needed salvation, healing and deliverance.

The Harvest is Dirty

We are after the harvest which is made up of lost people, dirty people, deceived people,

The souls of the harvest field are pulled from the earth, just like the natural seed.
The world’s field that you plow is dirty.
We will have to get our hands into the dirt to gather this harvest.

There is no farmer anywhere that does not come in from a days work in the field that does not need to go in and clean up before dinner.

He understands that he has to sweat under the hot sun in a dirty field in order to get the harvest in.
It is the price of the harvest, whether he is sowing, watering, weeding or harvesting – he has to do the hard work in a dirty field.
People are sick of sin and the chains that they are bound by.
We need to understand that houses of prostitution, homes where children are abused and molested, schools where children are taught the world’s ways, back alleys where drugs are sold and people are bought cheap, churches where hypocrisy has ruled supreme, governments where corruption is the foundations, judicial systems that have corrupted themselves through manipulation and deception – the field is dirty folks.

I believe that God is saying that we are getting ready to transition to “Hands-On-Ministry,” where those carrying the truth in discernment and loving compassion can go out and see lives changed.

It’s time to get the feel of the “towel in your hands” making contact with human flesh, hurting flesh, wounded flesh.

You can have all the discernment you wish but…

If the soup bowl is empty, what good is it?
If the chains and shackles are still on people’s lives, what good is it to tell them what is “wrong with them?”
If the darkness is still gripping their minds, what good is it to walk all around them in the light?
If the lives are still drenched in sin, what good is it if there is no water and towel available to wash them?

I believe that the “Missing Ingredient” of discerning ministry is a bowl full of love and a towel of compassion.

“Why we must have Compassion”

Because we will not see without it.
Because we will not feel without it.
Because we will not care without it.
Because we will not hear without it.
Because we will not move without it.

All around us, people are in desperate need of a physician, healing – they are dying – crying out for help – cries that can only be heard by someone with spiritual ears attuned to that frequency – the one that goes beyond the smile on the faces, fancy cars, homes, jobs and clothes – and sees the silent cries and tears that break just beneath the surface.

Then there are those that we see daily that are openly showing pain, that we have passed by over and over until we no longer see their pain, just them passing by.

The ‘antidote’ for every condition known to mankind is in the hands of the church.

We have the Word, salvation, Holy Spirit, The anointing, healing, deliverance and miracles at our fingertips. Within our reach are the answers to depression, brokenness, loneliness, sorrow, rejection, the lost state of the fallen soul, sickness, disease, oppression, possession and so much more.

When Jesus bowed himself as a servant – the towel was not a separate thing – it was an extension of His love. He became the towel in the Hand of God and now it is our turn.

It is time for you and me to prepare for our future - to become “a human towel,” in the Hand of God.

When the “towel” awakens (spiritual eyes and ears open) to this level of discernment, and we bath the weary, the hurting, and actually feel the wounds and see the scars and smell the death, we will then understand, “Towel Discernment,” for it is you who will bend low and minister to the dirty feet of sinners.

John 20:21 - Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.