On January 28, 2022 at 4:19 AM, I woke as I heard what sounded like a door opening. It wasn’t physically in the house and faith surged in my heart. I said, “I’m here Lord in service to you.”

I had been reflecting on how we originate in God and pass through these waters for testing by fire to be received back to Him with the evidence of His craftsmanship perfected in our hearts. Faith is the worthy service we are called to, by which to consent to this divine transformation. But being born into sin, Satan tempts man to instead be in service to self.

The Spirit brought to remembrance a vision received quite a few years back, wherein the Lord illustrated the dangers of man’s pursuit of the aspiration, by using the imagery of climbing a tall ladder. In the vision, the ladder I had been climbing on had reached a height that I began to fear. I wanted to climb back down but noticed that there were no rungs beneath me and I was standing on just the two rails of a very long ladder as if on high stilts.

The Spirit ministered about the rungs climbed over the years in the natural man’s pursuits in the flesh; how these offer no true security, but fall away behind man in that system so that the fear of going back down would increase with every rung climbed.

This spoke of the system man is raised in by our first birth in this world – where the drive of the God-Code is directed to the aspiration to seek peace and security through the pursuit of increase and success in carnal things (education, sport, finance, relationships, careers, etc.) This misdirected labor is what God frees believers from by the yoke of His covenant, whereby our labor is not to our destruction, but His glory as true peace and divine increase is gained in Christ.

Luke 8:18
Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

In truth, the ladder symbolizes of the God-Code joined to the aspiration to progress with the knowledge of the world. When the aspiration replaces faith, then the grace of God is replaced by a strong delusion which is not of one’s own choosing but assigned by God as a consequence of resisting His grace and choosing instead the counsel of Satan who offers a counterfeit substitute to replace faith in the heart.

Jesus warned, “Take heed how you hear”. He was setting a pattern for our learning; stewarding the grace of God received from God. Jesus (Son) was in recognition of God as the greater one (Father) and teaching the same recognition. For the fruit to reflect the seed sown by God, the will must labor with the pattern and power provided by God. Laboring to increase with anything less than Christ will rob the heart of faith and produce the fruit of iniquity which is not pleasing in the sight of God.

This also includes man’s pursuit of religious aspiration (serving God by logic joined to scripture), instead of conforming to His revelation of the spiritual covenant and priesthood sanctified by Jesus’ blood. Jesus made distinction between those who recognized the face of God in the knowledge being stewarded through this vessel of flesh (the steward of God’s election) and those who only saw a man and reasoned within themselves about anything he said or did.

The outcome is completely different. When the God-Code is joined to the grace of God to labor for increase, the fruit of faith is found in the hearts and upon the lips of the righteous, who have ceased from laboring with sin and death. As you learn to be faithful with these things which keep faith tethered to the throne of God, you are also enabled to discern when another power and knowledge system is being promoted.

The part of Luke 8:18 that we want to stop at and consider in relation to the vision, is the last part: “…from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.”

The aspiration builds with a delusion. Self worth is imagined to be increasing as one climbs the ladder of the world. Some call this “standing on the shoulders of giants”. It is the loss of this illusion of power and position that is feared. In reality, there is no ladder and they remain firmly rooted in the soil bearing forth the corruption of Satan’s seeding in their hearts. While that fruit seems to be of power in that system, in the end it will all burn up and there will be nothing left to find expression through.

It is a bit like in movies where the actor is seen to be high on the edge of a building.; it can cause the viewer’s body to react as if they too were high on the edge of a building even though sitting safely in a chair, simply watching the movie scene. This is an illusion that can play tricks through our senses. Satan does the same thing to those laboring for increase with the aspiration in place of faith.

By the process of regeneration God designed to be effected through covenant faith, the soul suffers loss through the circumcision of the heart as the old powers of the aspiration, principle and imagination are severed in our cycles of growth. God provides the power of His peace to buffer the soul from this loss and to assist grace and faith in producing the fruit of righteousness through completion from cycle to cycle.

God is always focused upon His plan to raise up sons and daughters filled with His glory and virtue by this process. Believers need instruction to share in this glorious process, which God provides through His living apostles. As a result, recognizing the pattern God set in Jesus for faith to progress in His covenant care, the faithful then labor without ceasing to keep their vessels full. This is why the stewards of God in the house of EVA remind us so often to keep our vessels full of faith.

We want to bear fruit for God, and to do so, faith must remain active with grace through each challenge to faith. It is then that we experience the watermark rising as the Lord manifests the progression of His work within our hearts. The rising watermark is something Chief Apostle Eric brought out in a recent Sunday assembly.

(If you’d like to share in that teaching, here is the link to the January 23, 2022, Assembly Week #4 audio Bible Study by Apostle Eric: s8w.org/audios/assemblies/2022-01-23-Apostle-Eric-vonAnderseck.mp3)

The watermark speaks of the grace of God increasing as the fruit of faith increases in the heart. Just as a plant requires more water day by day as it grows, so also does faith. God supplies for this increase when faith progresses from revelation through resistance to reward with conformity, consistency, and communication.

Once believers are instructed in the function of covenant faith and so following after the Spirit of God, this is the common experience of faith. However, when believers are led by faulty instruction to mix aspiration with faith, then they fall into patterns of highs and lows and chase after things that seem to always be just out of reach. That is not how the Spirit of God functions and that is evidence of working with a seducing spirit.

Jacob also saw a ladder as we read about in the Book of Genesis:

Genesis 28:12-15
12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13 And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.

15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

This ladder speaks of the plan of God according to the covenant terms and conditions set by Him and revealed by grace in truth. He opens this door through revelation given to and through stewards of His election, for believers to enter through in obedience of faith.

Jacob was a man of faith who reflected upon and labored with the revelation of God received and stewarded by Abraham:

Genesis 15:18
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Joseph also labored in faith by reflecting upon this covenant knowledge revealed by God:

Genesis 50:24
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

This ladder is not for the aspiration but for faith. The aspiration cannot ascend this ladder of faith because the Spirit of God refuses to work with the aspiration which is left to resource other powers which are less than light – darkness.

The blessing of the Lord is truly known and experienced once believers gain access to His knowledge, revealed to His steward, and rehearsed for our confidence and contact with Him. This is kept within the faithful heart in recognition of His purpose, power, and plan. This has always been true and does not change from covenant to covenant.

However, His covenants have changed (one door closing as another is opened) as the Lord has given new direction for His people throughout the ages – each time providing knowledge for faith through His steward. And in this dispensation of time, faith is measured to the covenant of Christ in order to meet God’s mark in righteousness through the activity of His spiritual priesthood.

Revelation 3:7
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth.

Faith increases by this labor to restrict faith to only those things which the Lord provides in His covenant knowledge and sanctified tools which are tokens provided by God for faith to labor with and exchange within His holy kingdom. The knowledge and tools of Christ are joined to the operations of God in grace which are wonderfully brought out in the EVA Grace Wheel (which is available within our IDCCST course). When grace is present, these are all made manifest and evident.

Blessed are they who recognize the mark of Christ in His knowledge and tools and cease from laboring to increase with counterfeits; taking up instead the yoke of His priesthood in worthy service to God.