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by
Roberts Liardon
CONTENTS
Foreword
1 Laying Aside the Weights
2 Yielding to the Holy Spirit
3 Dying to Self.
4 Living in the Realm of the Spirit
About the Author
FOREWORD
In the most agonizing moment of His life, Jesus cried
out to His Father, . .. Father, if thou be willing, remove
this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but
thine, be done (Luke 22:42). The Amplified Bible says, . .
. Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from
Me; yet not My will, but (always) Yours, be done.
Jesus accepted His crossdying on Calvary which
provided the way through which all mankind might become
part of the family of God. Jesus found no way out of the
cross experience. No one else could take His place. He
faced His Gethsemane alone. When He was undergoing
the agony of the cross experience, His disciples fell asleep
instead of praying, and later Peter denied that he even
knew the Christ.
And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven,
strengthening him.
And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat
was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples,
he found them sleeping for sorrow,
And said unto them, Why sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter
into temptation.
Luke 22:43-46
1
LAYING ASIDE THE WEIGHTS
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is
set before us,
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for
the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the
shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1,2
mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into
spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather
yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to
come down, O Lord.
Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of
Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down;
for the press is full, the vats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the
Lord is near in the valley of decision.
Joel 3:9-14
We no longer can run with the world and also run with
God. We no longer can straddle the fence. The Word says
a person cannot serve both God and mammon. (Matt.
6:24.) We must make a choice. We cannot live for God
part of the time and for the devil the rest of the time. We
must choose whom we will serve.
Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye
cannot be partakers of the Lords table, and of the table of devils.
Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all
things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
1 Corinthians 10:21-23
2
YIELDING TO THE HOLY SPIRIT
I used to ride on the coattail of my grandmother's spirit.
I knew that whenever she moved into the glory world,
those goose bumps would pop up on me as well. I knew
that if I stayed close enough to her, she could "piggyback"
me into the realm of the spirit.
But one day, God said, "Now, it is your fight. Now you
will be held accountable for your own spirit."
When that release came, I began to realize what my
grandma had kept me from. I began to realize the
protection she had been to me. Until that time, my mind
had never been confused. I had never known what it was
to be tormented by evil spirits, because she kept them
away from me.
I can remember the time when I would come home
from school as a youngster, and Grandma would abruptly
stop me and pray for me before I barely got my nose
inside the front door! She saw into the realm of the spirit,
and she saw when I had demonic spirits hovering over
me. Thank God for Grandma!
When I was on my own, I had to learn to pray for
myself and get into the realm of the spirit for myself. I
began to realize that no person or ministry would ever
succeed because of great education, financial success, or
connections made by man. These things will not entice the
anointing of God to fall upon you, because the Holy Spirit
will cause the anointing to fall as He wills, never as man
wills. The Holy Spirit never takes directions from man.
3
DYING TO SELF
When God came to my room, we began to walk and
talk as friends. I became the student. He became my
Teacher. The old Roberts Liardon began to die. He began
to take away the desires of my flesh, the goals I had set
for my life. I was destined for college. I was destined for
sports. I was destined for other things I had in mind.
However, as I began to yield myself as a vessel to God,
He slowly reached in and pulled Roberts out. Many nights,
it seemed as if He cut me wide open. He never used any
painkillers, either. He just reached in and grabbed
something I dearly loved in the flesh or something I
wanted to do in the natural.
As my flesh began to die, it felt as if I was dying a
thousand deaths. I was being nailed to my own cross. I
had submitted myself to my own cross, but now God was
operating on me. He was taking things out of me that
were not of Him, and it took a while for all those things to
be pulled out of me.
One day, God took me to what I call a "spiritual
graveyard." Every person who means business with God
must visit this place, which is a graveyard where the flesh
is buried.
I saw a coffin with several angels standing around it. As
I walked closer, I looked insideand there lay Roberts
Liardon. As I saw myself in that coffin, I began to cry.
There lay my wife, my children, my college, my basketball
careereverything I had ever wanted or planned for my
life.
And I was the only one who had the power to shut the
coffin. Until that day, I had not known what it really meant
to "see self die." I had not understood the reality of seeing
self fight for survival. I had never realized how powerful
self was.
I did not realize then that the most exciting and
beautiful life possible cannot begin until self dies.
After I shut the lid of my coffin that day, I was buried.
Then I wrote on my tombstone: "Here lie the remains of
Kenneth Roberts Liardon."
As I left the "graveyard," I was sad. It is quite a task to
bury your own self, to bury your own desires. I believe it is
the hardest thing Christians must do in the Earth,
surpassing other spiritual experiences.
When I walked away from the graveyard that day, I had
died. That is all I knew. Later, I returned to mourn my
death, and a huge angel stood in front of the graveyard
and said:
"Those who mourn the death of self in this place will
never be able to be used for the glory of God."
Once self dies and is buried, leave it there! Do not
mourn your death. Mourning your death will cause self to
revive, and it will be harder for you to die to self the
second time. The complete death of one's natural self
the carnal desires and thoughts and behaviorwill lead
not to revival of self but to the resurrection by the Holy
Spirit of a spirit-controlled soul. So begin living unto God.
Then, you can begin living in the spirit world. Never go
back to the flesh, the realm of self.
You Must Crucify Self in Order to Live
The first step into the realm of the Holy Spirit, I believe,
is to die to yourself. Until you do, God will never be able to
use you in the manner He desires. You cannot die to self
partially and become alive unto God partially. You must get
to the point where there is none of self and all of God
Almighty in you. You must come to the place where you
can say, with the apostle Paul:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith
of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20
It was not the flesh that caused the new birth. It was
not the flesh that brought Christ to the Earth. It was the
Spirit of God who brought Christ to the Earth. It was the
Spirit of God who raised Him from the dead. That same
Holy Spirit lives in you. Yield yourself to Him.
But many believers yield themselves to the flesh, and
then they ask, "Why are my words powerless when I stand
to preach? Why doesn't anything happen when I witness to
people about the Kingdom of God? Why? Why? Why?"
When I tell people of the necessity of dying to self and
yielding themselves to the Holy Spirit, they laugh, mock,
criticize, and persecute. They do not seem to want the
truth that will set them free.
My friends, if the glory of God came into some churches
and homes, His presence would cause the physical deaths
When you will not bow to the flesh, the natural realm,
or to man's decrees when they violate God's laws, great
strides are made for the Kingdom of God and great glory is
given unto God. That is what happened in Daniel's
situation.
Then king Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages,
that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you.
I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men
tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God,
a n d stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end.
Daniel 6:25,26
4
LIVING
SPIRIT
IN
THE
REALM
OF
THE
If you walk in love, you will not sin. If you walk in love,
you will live right. You will talk right. You will be right.
However, you cannot say you are walking in love, sin on
Saturday night, and show up in church as "holy" on
Sunday morning. God does not agree.
You cannot get in the pulpit and preach a Holy Spirit
sermon when you have sinned on Saturday night with your
next-door neighbor's wife. You cannot preach a Holy Spirit
sermon unless things are right in your life.
The Church will receive correction, because God loves
the Church. The Church has gone without correction far
too long. Any time you let a child go without correction, he
will get into trouble. Many congregations are in chaos
because preachers, pastors, and evangelists have not
spoken the truth as God spoke it to them. They have held
back from proclaiming the truth because of people who
are influential through finances or through popularity. We
must be like Jeremiah. We must be like Ezekiel. When the
Lord says, "Speak," we must speak!
God no longer is asking people to die to self; He is
commanding it. He no longer is asking people to live in
holiness; He is commanding it. There is no time to play
games anymore, because the Church Age is coming to a
close.
When time stops, wherever you are found is where you
will be judged. If you are dead to self, you will be in that
special spot that God has ordained for you. Nothing can
stop you, if you are living and abiding in the presence of
the Almighty!
THE
PRICE
OF
SpirituaL POWER