"But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."
- 1 Peter 2:9
Instead of us being "distracted" by things going on in this natural world we need to learn how to become more proactive in "extracting" the things of heaven. What that means is there are things awaiting us in that unseen realm that need to be drawn upon. All that Christ accomplished for us in redemption isn't going to come without us putting a demand upon it. It takes a divine extraction.
Over in the book of Hebrews, Paul writes: "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Heb. 11:6). There is tremendous value in understanding what this word "diligence" means. The whole idea actually points to us being expeditious. In other words, we need to be busy about what the Father wants done. To be diligent means to run in haste, to pick up speed, to thrust the throttle forward to full capacity. We don't need to become lazy with our faith. We need to become earnest in our efforts, extricating ourselves from every entanglement that tries to slow us down or weary us in our pursuit.
Too many of God's people have become passive when it comes to putting a demand on their faith. It's almost as if they have left everything up to God to do what he wants to do, all the while thinking they have no part to play. But that is simply not true! When Jesus ascended up on high he paved the way for us to carry out his work on this earth. That's not something we need to do sitting down.
We are a chosen generation, chosen to do exploits! Our primary task is to extract everything possible out of our heavenly resources so that we can cause the light of God to shine ever so brightly. There are those around us who sit in darkness. They have no hope and are without God in this world. How can we afford to just sit back and hope that they will somehow find their way? It just doesn't work that way. We carry their hope within us! We are the light bearers that can illumine the way. But that will never happen as long as we sit idly by and never become proactive in our faith.
Much of what has been given to us in Christ has been left on the table. Our profound sense of depravity has kept us from looking up and seeing ourselves as kings and priest unto our God. But this is exactly what we must do. We have to recognize our God-given potential and begin to shoulder the responsibilities as true ambassadors for Christ. We cannot leave this to heaven alone to do. Our position in Christ means we must take part in this divine extraction. Heaven can only do what we put a demand upon it to do, and if it doesn't get done then we can't assume it didn't happen just because it wasn't God's will.
It's time we pull out all stops! It's time to lift the restraining forces that have tried to slow down our faith. It's time to pick up the pace and move forward. Everything the enemy has sought to do to detour us or impede our progress must be confronted and removed. None of it is just going to go away on it own, especially if we remain passive in our pursuit. The things of heaven will not come into manifestation by us just hoping that God will intervene. We have to take the kingdom by force.
R. A. Torrey once wrote, "Prayer can do anything that God can do; for the arm of God responds to the touch of prayer. All the infinite resources of God are at the command of prayer." What Torrey came to realize is that prayer was meant as a means to making divine extractions! He understood that all that heaven wants to do to move waits for us to move, and if we don't move then we hold up the economy of heaven from manifesting in the earth.
I don't know about you but I don't want to wait for something to happen when I have within my grasp the power to make things happen! The Lord Jesus has placed within our hands a mighty salvation. We cannot allow ourselves to grow slack or even neglect what has been given to us. "Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip" (Heb. 2:1).*
