Monday, May 31, 2021
Faith in the Omnipotent
"Now it was not written for his sake alone ... but for us also..." (Rom. 4:23-24).
Oh! Come, my brother, be confronted with thy God, face to face with him. Be alone with thy God; Jesus bringing thee near to him; the Spirit moving between thy God and thee.
How canst thou then and there, here and now, best honor him and give him glory? How but by being fully persuaded, and in thy dealings with him proceeding on the full persuasion, that what he promises he is able also to perform?
Remember that it is with none other than the Omnipotent that thou art invited to be at home; it is in none other than the Omnipotent that thou art called to confide.
Take any promise of his within the range of this blessed book. Take it in its highest reach and widest sweep. Plead it for thyself and thine. Plead it for himself and his. Plead it, in the full persuasion that no difficulties such as sense might consider can stand in the way of its accomplishment; for what he has promised, what he promises, he is able to perform. Be strong in this faith, giving glory to God.
Sunday, May 30, 2021
Faith in God
Faith in God
"And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform" (Rom. 4:21).
I at least never dream of calling in question the omnipotence of God. I perfectly well know, and am firmly convinced, that what he has promised he is able also to perform. And yet I see not how that knowledge and conviction will of itself make me, or any man, strong in faith.
Very true, O friend. To believe that God is omnipotent, however strongly, with whatever full persuasion, when that belief is the mere admission of a dogma in theology, a general truth or proposition, proved by reason and affirmed in Scripture; so to believe and be fully persuaded and assured that what God has promised he is able also to perform; will go but a little way towards strengthening or establishing you in that faith which glorifies God.
But let me again remind you that the faith in question is believing God; not believing something about God, but believing God.
It is a personal dealing of God with you, and of you with God. He and you come together; he to speak, you to hear; he to promise, you to believe; you to ask, he to give.
Saturday, May 29, 2021
The Cross and Ministry
The Cross and Ministry
The second letter (to the Corinthians), as we know, is the ministers' letter! It tells us what a minister is from the Divine standpoint when the Cross does its work.
Moses, the minister of God, is brought very much into view, ministering in the old covenant, declaring the thoughts of God, revealing the Divine mind. That is what a minister is. A minister, this word says, is one who shows forth the Divine thoughts, who manifests the mind of God. When Moses read the law, his face shone, the glory of God was expressed through him as God's servant, God's minister.
That, mind you, was under the old covenant, the covenant of signs, the covenant of symbols, of types; yes, and a ministry of death and condemnation: and, says the Apostle, we have another ministry, and ministry is the shining forth of God in the face of Jesus Christ in our hearts.
That is what a minister is; and let me put that simply, plainly.
There is no such thing in the New Testament as an official ministry as such. God has never, in this dispensation, appointed officials, as such, to be ministers.
The ministry is a matter of a revelation of God in the face of Jesus Christ in the heart shining out, and what constitutes one a minister more than another is the measure of the revelation of Christ in the life; and we all ought to be ready to give place to that.
It must be a revelation of God in your heart, in my heart, that constitutes us God's ministers.
The credentials of ministry are the shining of God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ in our heart, and anybody who has that can be a minister; and anybody who has not that has no right to call himself a minister.
The Cross must strike at all ideas of ministry that are merely professional, which are anything other than spiritual.
Spiritual gifts, spiritual revelation, spiritual knowledge, spiritual resources, spiritual riches, these alone constitute us ministers.
Friday, May 28, 2021
The Importance of Being in the Spirit
The phrase "in the Spirit" occurs several times in the book of the Revelation. It represents the way of escape for the Lord's people from the oppression of the earthly conditions which surround and beset them.
John, being so oppressed on the island of Patmos, found deliverance from earth's limitations into the much larger realm of things as they are in heaven. The book of the Revelation shows, as perhaps few other books of the Bible do, how real and absolute is heaven's government.
In the matter of the whole Church (represented by the seven churches), the nations, the great world systems (represented religiously by Babylon and politically by the Beast), and even to the hidden warfare with spiritual evil, it was made clear to John, and so to us all, that it is really the heavens which rule.
Emerging from this truth of heaven's absolute dominion is that fact that through the adversities and sufferings of His people, God is providing a fruitful ministry of spiritual fullness and wealth.
So heaven came in on Patmos, and turned what would have been misery and crippling limitation into something tremendously fruitful for the Church throughout many generations.
There can be no question as to the untold value of John's ministry which resulted from this Revelation of Jesus Christ.
What was true in the case of John himself is revealed to be also the case for many of the Lord's servants. Those of us who have even a small experience of being shut up and hemmed in by difficult circumstances will perhaps realise a little of what the great apostle must have felt. He had so much spiritual wealth; he was the sole survivor of the apostles; he could realise how greatly the churches needed him; and yet he was, banished to a lonely island, cut off from all opportunity either of fellowship or service.
In some way Paul before him had gone through a similar circumstance in his Roman imprisonment, and could also at times have felt singularly frustrated as to useful service to Christ. Yet how much poorer the Church would have been without his 'prison epistles'.
So he and John had this in common, that the seeming limitation of being prisoners for Christ had produced unlimited spiritual helpfulness to many generations of Christians.
It may well be that what was true of them will be found to be valid for the whole Church. The vision at the end of this book is of a Church of such vast measurements that its dimensions seem to have been grossly exaggerated. The simple implication is that heaven will have overruled the earthly trials and tribulations of God's suffering saints and made out of them a fruitful means of dispensing Christ's riches to the whole universe for all eternity. This is the significance of being "in the Spirit".
From "Toward The Mark" Nov-Dec, 1972
Thursday, May 27, 2021
Don't Slack Off
Don't Slack Off
By Oswald Chambers
'Whatsoever ye shalt ask in My name, that will I do.'
John 14:13
John 14:13
Am I fulfilling this ministry of the interior? There is no snare or any danger of infatuation or pride in intercession, it is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit whereby the Father is glorified.
Am I allowing my spiritual life to be frittered away, or am I bringing it all to one centre - the Atonement of my Lord? Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest in my life? If the one central point, the great exerting influence in my life is the Atonement of the Lord, then every phase of my life will bear fruit for Him.
I must take time to realize what is the central point of power. Do I give one minute out of sixty to concentrate upon it? "If ye abide in Me" - continue to act and think and work from that centre - "ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
Am I abiding? Am I taking time to abide? What is the greatest factor of power in my life? Is it work, service, sacrifice for others, or trying to work for God?
The thing that ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the Atonement of the Lord.
It is not the thing we spend the most time on that moulds us most; the greatest element is the thing that exerts most power. We must determine to be limited and concentrate our affinities.
"Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do."
The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and his apparently free choices are God's fore-ordained decrees. Mysterious? Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes, but a glorious truth to a saint.
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Philippians 2
1 If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
2 Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:
15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do ye joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.
22 But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel.
23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.
24 But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly.
25 Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants.
26 For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick.
27 For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28 I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful.
29 Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation:
30 Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.
Inspired Invincibility
Inspired Invincibility
'Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me.'
Matthew 11:29
Matthew 11:29
"Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth."
How petty our complaining is! Our Lord begins to bring us into the place where we can have communion with Him, and we groan and say - "O Lord, let me be like other people!" Jesus is asking us to take one end of the yoke - "My yoke is easy, get alongside Me and we will pull together."
Are you identified with the Lord Jesus like that? If so, you will thank God for the pressure of His hand. "To them that have no might He increaseth strength." God comes and takes us out of our sentimentality, and our complaining turns into a p�an of praise.
The only way to know the strength of God is to take the yoke of Jesus upon us and learn of Him. "The joy of the Lord is your strength."
Where do the saints get their joy from? If we did not know some saints, we would say - "Oh, he, or she, has nothing to bear." Lift the veil. The fact that the peace and the light and the joy of God are there is proof that the burden is there too.
The burden God places squeezes the grapes and out comes the wine; most of us see the wine only. No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit, it is an inner unconquerableness.
If you have the whine in you, kick it out ruthlessly. It is a positive crime to be weak in God's strength.
The Greatest Need of the Times
The Greatest Need of the Times
If we were asked what we feel to be the greatest need of the time, in the light of our far-flung travels this year, first as far East as India, and then over U.S.A. and Canada, we should say with strength: the greatest need of the times is a movement of God to bring His people to know the fullness of Christ! Only as the Church is brought into the good of that will the world be adequately touched and the spiritual forces in this universe be shaken from their hold upon men and things.
The evangelism of our times needs much more behind it than it has. The Church is very busy, but very ineffective. It is fighting to have itself recognized, but it has little impact upon the powers of darkness; therefore little also upon the world.
We have often pointed out that the things which have become the greatest evangelical and missionary forces have always been movements or ministries which brought God's own people or new converts into a far greater measure of Christ and spiritual life than is usual and fairly general.
We could easily prove this by mentioning names, but it is not necessary. Our grief is that in so many of these cases the enemy has succeeded in making them other than they were at their beginnings. This is the present need, and nothing but this will counter the vitiating, dissipating, diluting, and cheapening course of things in these days and make the Church able to complete her testimony on the earth in power and triumph.
It is time for all who have spiritual responsibility to get down, as far as possible together, to consider the spiritual state of the Church and to be willing, whatever it costs, to take the way by which the lost fullness of Christ may be recovered!
There is no doubt that a situation exists today which corresponds to that which is found in the Book of Esther; and the need is for an intercessory instrument coming to the Kingdom "for such a time as this."
In keeping with T. Austin-Sparks' wishes that what was freely received should be freely given, his writings are not copyrighted. Therefore, we ask if you choose to share them with others, please respect his wishes and offer them freely - free of changes, free of charge and free of copyright.
Bigger and Better
Read Psalm 4:1-8
Sometimes God's people can be so discouraging!
In Psalm 4 we find David listening to people saying, "Who will show us any good?" (v. 6).
David's own men were discouraged. They were going through a trial, and some were saying, "O David, this is the end. God is no longer going to help us." That's hard to take. It's rough when your associates or friends say to you, "Well, you've reached the end. Who will show us any good?"
But David called on the Lord, and God enlarged him. "You have relieved (enlarged) me when I was in distress" (v. 1).
Pressure on the outside should make us bigger on the inside. The trials of life will press against us and make us either midgets or giants--either smaller or bigger. But we have to start on the inside. "You have relieved me when I was in distress."
How did this happen? David cried out to God, "You have put gladness in my heart" (v. 7). He started out with sadness and ended with gladness. He started with tears and ended with triumph. Once again he's sleeping beautifully. "I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety" (v. 8).
David discovered that what was important was not the circumstance around him but the attitude within him.
Let God enlarge you when you are going through distress. He can do it. You can't do it, and others can't do it for you. In fact, others may want to make things even tighter and narrower for you. But when you turn to the Lord and trust Him, He will enlarge you on the inside. You'll come out of your distresses a bigger person because you've trusted in the Lord.
There is a relationship between our attitude inside and our circumstances outside. If we maintain the proper attitude, God will use our trials to enlarge us.
Are you going through a trial today? Give your circumstances to the Lord and trust Him to enlarge you.
Tuesday, May 25, 2021
God's Gracious Response
God's Gracious Response
"Then said 1, Here am I; send me" (Isa. 6:8).
It is a signal instance of grace on the part of the Lord that I am allowed to be a volunteer.
The Lord has a right, a dearly purchased fight, to deal with me very differently He might issue a peremptory command. He might utter his stern voice of authority, and at once order me. But he knows what is in man better than to treat thus the broken and relenting heart of one whom he has smitten by the brightness of his glorious holiness to the ground, and healed by the touch of his everliving sacrifice of blood. He is considerate. He is generous.
His servant is not coerced or constrained, as with bit and bridle. He has the unspeakable privilege and happiness of giving himself voluntarily and, as it were, ultroneously, to the Lord, who willingly gave himself for him. He simply hears, or overhears, a conversation in heaven; a question asked and waiting to be answered.
Heedfulness V. Hypocrisy In Ourselves
By Oswald Chambers
'If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him Life for them that sin not unto death.'
1 John 5:16
If we are not heedful of the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other folks are failing, and we turn our discernment into the gibe of criticism instead of into intercession on their behalf.
The revelation is made to us not through the acuteness of our minds, but by the direct penetration of the Spirit of God, and if we are not heedful of the source of the revelation, we will become criticizing centres and forget that God says - ". . . he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death."
Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.
One of the subtlest burdens God ever puts on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning other souls.
He reveals things in order that we may take the burden of these souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them, and as we intercede on His line, God says He will give us "life for them that sin not unto death."
It is not that we bring God into touch with our minds, but that we rouse ourselves until God is able to convey His mind to us about the one for whom we intercede.
Is Jesus Christ seeing of the travail of His soul in us? He cannot unless we are so identified with Himself that we are roused up to get His view about the people for whom we pray.
May we learn to intercede so whole-heartedly that Jesus Christ will be abundantly satisfied with us as intercessors.
Draw Near with Boldness By Andrew Murray
 Draw Near with Boldness
This refers to that strengthening of the inner life by which He, who was tempted in all things like as we, meets us and enables us to conquer temptation. Grace is the divine strength working in us. . . The believing supplicant at the throne of grace not only receives mercy, the consciousness of acceptance and favor, but finds grace, in that Spirit whose operations the Father always delights to bestow. And that grace is for timely help, lit. "well-timed help," just the special help we need at each moment. The infinite mercy of God's love resting on us, and the almighty grace of His Spirit working in us, will ever be found at a throne of grace, if we but come boldly, trusting in Jesus alone. |
Monday, May 24, 2021
Getting Into God's Stride
By Oswald Chambers
"Enoch walked with God." Genesis 5:24
The test of a man's religious life and character is not what he does in the exceptional moments of life, but what he does in the ordinary times, when there is nothing tremendous or exciting on.
The worth of a man is revealed in his attitude to ordinary things when he is not before the footlights (cf. John 1:36).
It is a painful business to get through into the stride of God, it means getting your second wind spiritually. In learning to walk with God there is always the difficulty of getting into His stride; but when we have got into it, the only characteristic that manifests itself is the life of God. The individual man is lost sight of in his personal union with God, and the stride and the power of God alone are manifested.
It is difficult to get into stride with God, because when we start walking with Him we find He has outstripped us before we have taken three steps.
He has different ways of doing things, and we have to be trained and disciplined into His ways. It was said of Jesus - "He shall not fail nor be discouraged," because He never worked from His own individual standpoint but always from the standpoint of His Father, and we have to learn to do the same.
Spiritual truth is learned by atmosphere, not by intellectual reasoning. God's Spirit alters the atmosphere of our way of looking at things, and things begin to be possible which never were possible before. Getting into the stride of God means nothing less than union with Himself. It takes a long time to get there, but keep at it.
Don't give in because the pain is bad just now, get on with it, and before long you will find you have a new vision and a new purpose.
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?"--Romans 8:35
Be this never forgotten, that if we have ever been brought near to the Lord Jesus Christ by the actings of living faith, there never can be any final, actual separation from him.
In the darkest moments, in the dreariest hours, under the most painful exercises, the most fiery temptations, there is, as with Jonah in the belly of hell, a looking again toward the holy temple.
There is sometimes a sigh, a cry, a groan, a breathing forth of the heart's desire to "know Him, and the power of his resurrection;" that he would draw us near unto himself, and make himself precious to our souls. And these very cries and sighs, groanings and breathings, all prove that whatever darkness of mind, guilt of conscience, or unbelief we may feel, there is no real separation.
It is in grace as it is in nature; the clouds do not blot out the sun; it is still in the sky, though they often intercept his bright rays. And so with the blessed Sun of righteousness; our unbelief, our ignorance, our darkness of mind, our guilt of conscience, our many temptations--these do not blot out the Sun of righteousness from the sky of grace.
Though thick clouds come between him and us and make us feel as though he was blotted out, or at least as if we were blotted from his remembrance, yet, through mercy, where grace has begun the work, grace carries it on: "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" (Phil. 1:6).
Setting Our Minds On Things Above
Setting Our Minds On Things Above
The notion that Christians should always be optimistic and congenial is heresy pure and simple. An ill-founded optimism may, under certain conditions, be extremely harmful.
A Christian is not obliged to be either pessimistic or optimistic or glad or sad or positive or negative after a preconceived rule of philosophy. He should (and will if he is Spirit-taught) reflect the will of God in any given situation.
His one concern is with God's will. His one question in any set of circumstances is ?What does God think of this?? To him nothing else matters.
What the current popular attitude may be is of no importance to him. He will approve or disapprove altogether as the written Word and the indwelling Spirit indicate. Religious vogues, passing moods or popular notions will affect him not at all. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.
This rather rigid attitude will, in a world like ours, quite naturally work against the one who holds it and earn him a reputation as a pessimist. People like the man who agrees with them, even if a day later they change their minds and require him to change his, too. This inconsistency they laugh off as an amiable weakness, and why be so pious about it anyway?
Well, the sons and daughters of eternity care very little about this maypole dance of popular favor.
Like the water bird on the shore of the lake at the approach of winter, they feel within them a strong instinct to migrate. They expect before long to take off on a journey and they're not coming back soon. So whether they leave behind them a reputation for pessimism or optimism is of little consequence to them.
They are, however, eager to be remembered as children of God and followers of the Lamb. That's all that matters to them.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
At His word shall they go out, and at His word they shall came in. Num 27:21
Our Daily Homily
At His word shall they go out, and at His word they shall came in. Num 27:21
The emphasis is on the word His. Moses had asked God to indicate a successor to lead out and bring in the people. But Jehovah drew a distinction. Joshua was to receive the Divine direction from Eleazar, the priest, who should enquire of the Lord; and at His word, i. e., God's word through Eleazar, the people were to go out and come in.
Our goings-out should be determined by the Word of God. - We never waste time when we stand before the true Priest, who has the Urim of Divine direction, especially when we are considering some call to duty.
Very often we have gone out at the instigation of pride, or emulation, or fussy activity; we have gone out because others have done so, and we were eager not to be left behind. Under these circumstances the outgoings of our mornings have not been made to rejoice; we have encountered disappointment and defeat.
When we go forth at God's bidding, He becomes absolutely responsible; otherwise we pierce ourselves through with many sorrows, and bring discredit on the cause we would fain serve.
Our comings-in must be determined by the Ward of God. - When we should come in to rest, to pray, to fill again our souls with His Spirit, to suffer in secret, or to die, must be left to the determination of His will.
It is easier to go out than to come in. Activity is pleasanter than passivity; the stir and rush of the world preferable to lying still to suffer. But our times are in His hand, and as soon as we recognize the decisions of the Urim in the appointments of Divine Providence, the speedier shall we be at peace.
If we are fully surrendered to God, both our going-out and our coming-in shall be ordered aright by His Spirit.
Direction By Impulse
Direction By Impulse
'Building up yourselves on your most holy faith.'
Jude 20
There was nothing either of the nature of impulse or of cold-bloodedness about Our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into panic.
Most of us develop our Christianity along the line of our temperament, not along the line of God.
Impulse is a trait in natural life, but Our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple.
Watch how the Spirit of God checks impulse, His checks bring a rush of self-conscious foolishness which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves.
Impulse is all right in a child, but it is disastrous in a man or woman; an impulsive man is always a petted man. Impulse has to be trained into intuition by discipline.
Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God.
Walking on the water is easy to impulsive pluck, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is a different thing.
Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he followed Him afar off on the land.
We do not need the grace of God to stand crises, human nature and pride are sufficient, we can face the strain magnificently; but it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours in every day as a saint, to go through drudgery as a disciple, to live an ordinary, unobserved, ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus.
It is inbred in us that we have to do exceptional things for God; but we have not.
We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things, to be holy in mean streets, among mean people, and this is not learned in five minutes.
God Knows Me
By J.I. Packer
I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me.
I know Him, because he first knew me, and continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or His attention distracted for me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.
This is a momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort--the sort of comfort that energizes. . . in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love, and watching over me for my good.
Three is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowl3edge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion him about me, in the way I am often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. . . He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow-men do not see (and I am glad!), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough).
There is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose. . . not merely that we know God, but that He knows us (J. I. Packer, Knowing God, p. 37).
The Lord said to Moses, " . . . you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name" (Exodus 33:17).
Saturday, May 22, 2021
Characteristics of Maturity
Characteristics of Maturity
1. The first mark of maturity is the ability to deal constructively with reality to face facts, to not cover up reality or call it something else, but to deal with it as it is. Mature people do not kid themselves.
2. The second mark is, adapting quickly to change. We all experience change, whether it be physical, at work, in the family, or whatever. I am amazed at how much some of you have changed through the years while I remain exactly the same! Immature people resist change. It makes them nervous. But the mark of maturity is to adapt to change because change is inevitable.
3. The third mark is freedom from the symptoms of tension and anxiety. The worried look, the frown, the ulcers, the palpitations of the heart -- come because you are upset, anxious and worried. Maturing means you have begun to see that God is in control of this world. He is working out purposes that you do not always understand, but you accept it. He will take you through the deep water, not drown you in it. Maturity means you are learning to trust.
4 Fourth, it means to be satisfied more with giving than receiving. Some of you have recently learned that the joy of Christmas is not getting presents but giving them. To see the joy in someone else's face when they get something they either need or want. That is a sign you are growing up. You are discovering the true values of life.
5. The fifth mark is, to relate to others with consistency, helpfulness and mutual satisfaction. Maturity is learning to get along with other people, to be a help, not a hindrance, to contribute to the solution and not to be always a part of the problem.
6. Finally, maturity is sublimating and redirecting anger to constructive ends. Maturity is the ability to use the adrenaline that anger creates, not to lose your temper and add to the problem, but to correct a situation or to contribute to changing the nature of the difficulty.
I Am The True Vine By Andrew Murray
I Am The True Vine
When Jesus says: "I am the true Vine," He tells us that all the vines of earth are pictures and emblems of Himself. He is the divine reality, of which they are the created expression. They all point to Him, and preach Him, and reveal Him. If you would know Jesus, study the vine. How many eyes have gazed on and admired a great vine with its beautiful fruit. Come and gaze on the heavenly Vine till your eye turns from all else to admire Him. How many, in a sunny clime, sit and rest under the shadow of a vine. Come and be still under the shadow of the true Vine, and rest under it from the heat of the day. What countless numbers rejoice in the fruit of the vine! Come, and take, and eat of the heavenly fruit of the true Vine, and let your soul say: "I sat under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste." |
Destiny Of Holiness
'Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.'
1 Peter 1:16
1 Peter 1:16
Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is.
The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness.
Nowadays we have far too many affinities, we are dissipated with them; right, good, noble affinities which will yet have their fulfilment, but in the meantime God has to atrophy them. The one thing that matters is whether a man will accept the God Who will make him holy.
At all costs a man must be rightly related to God.
Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe God can come into me and make me holy? If by your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I resent your preaching.
The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it must reveal that I am unholy; but it also awakens an intense craving. God has one destined end for mankind, viz., holiness. His one aim is the production of saints.
God is not an eternal blessing- machine for men; He did not come to save men out of pity: He came to save men because He had created them to be holy. The Atonement means that God can put me back into perfect union with Himself, without a shadow between, through the Death of Jesus Christ.
Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied walking with the feet, unsullied talking with the tongue, unsullied thinking with the mind - every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God.
Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me.
Come Out of Confinement
Read Psalm 18:16-19
For several years David had been forced to live in confined places while he fled from Saul. More than once he fled to a cave to save his life. Then God brought him out of the caves and out of confinement and into a large place. "He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me" (v. 19).
David was a man after God's own heart, and God delighted in him, just as He delighted in our Lord Jesus. God said of Him, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17).
We often talk about our delighting in the Lord. "Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4). That's important to do. But what about God's delighting in us?
As parents and grandparents, we enjoy delighting in our children and grandchildren. In a similar way God wants to delight in us.
Because God delights in us, He delivers us. And He uses the difficult experiences of life to make us bigger. "He also brought me out into a broad place" (v. 19). Verse 36 of this chapter says, "You enlarged my path under me."
When God puts us into a large place, He has to give us larger feet. But don't stop there. In Psalm 4:1 David said, "You have relieved me."
God delivers us so that He can put us into a larger place, so that He can enable us to take giant steps of faith for His glory.
David had gone through several years of confinement, difficulty, persecution and sorrow. But when it was over, he was a bigger man.
Let the trials of life make you a giant, not a midget. Let God put you into a large place, where you can take giant steps of faith for His glory.
Life's trials are not easy. But in God's will, each has a purpose.
Often He uses them to enlarge you.
Are you feeling confined? Be encouraged that God delights in delivering you from confinement.
Difficult times build your faith, if you let Him use them for His glory.
Friday, May 21, 2021
He Reveals to Individuals
He Reveals to Individuals
"And I sought for a man among them..." (Ezek. 22:30).
But even God can't work without man. We are called to co-operate.
History is the story of the race, of the nation, of the individual; and so, while God has been making His revelation, He has been making it to men and He has been looking for men who will apprehend the revelation and carry forward His purpose here in time.
My brethren, I point out to you that God has never wrought anything tremendous by means of masses and crowds in human history. He has wrought His wonders through the ages by individuals--people whom He could trust, people who exercise faith.
What is faith? We are told in this first verse of the chapter, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The objects, therefore, of faith, are the future and the unseen; and the office of faith is to give present existence to future things and vital reality to unseen things.
And wherever such faith has been exercised, wherever men have laid hold of the divine revelation, God has built a new era in the human story.
It is the advent of personality which alters the current of history. The sharp turning points of history are due to the rise of great personalities.
It is not so much by ideas as by personalities that God sets the world forward.
The mightiest civilizing powers are personalities, and the mightiest civilizing personalities are Christian men.
Response to Suffering
 Response to Suffering By Alan Redpath
In order to fulfil that purpose, God will put His children through any fire if only He may mould and fashion them and make them what He wants them to be--like Jesus. Everyone of us, without exception, as we apply these words to our own lives, would support the statement I have made because what you have gone through has either hardened you or melted you. What has Paul to say about this? I find it very wonderful and challenging. His surroundings were hostile, his plans in confusion, his missionary campaign checked, but that wasn't everything. Behind all this scene there was God's unchanging and eternal purpose, and therefore, Paul says, "I know this shall turn to my salvation" (v. 19). . . . "This humiliation, this agony, this apparent frustration, being chained to somebody I can't stand, this proximity to any enemy, so much so that even when I pray I am not alone--" Have you thought about that? Paul knew nothing about a quiet time alone. All his time was in the company of a man manacled to him: "--This imprisonment has actually been part of the way in which God's great purpose for my life is being fulfilled. As always, Christ shall be magnified in my body." In my body? Yes, my lips shall speak of Him. Magnified by my hands which even in prison can serve Him. Magnified by my feet which even here, within the limited space at my disposal, can run His errands. Magnified by my shoulders which gladly submit to this burden and bear it for Jesus' sake. Christ shall be magnified in my body. "For in this experience I have learned," says Paul, "to be willing for all the will of God." Hallelujah--anyway! . . . . That is what imprisonment had done. It had brought Jesus near. Have your experiences had that effect, to make the Savior who was only at a distance to be brought wonderfully near? Paul did not know whether he would escape or not, but he was determined to magnify Christ whether by life or by death. In that desperate experience death had taken on a totally new meaning. Had it been left to his choice, he would rather die immediately. "It would be gain for me, because it would be to depart to be with Jesus, and that is far better." Don't let that phrase pass. "To depart" is one thing; even more wonderful, it is to be with Jesus. "If you leave it to my choice," says Paul, "with all my heart I long for death. But perhaps it isn't God's will for me. For me to abide in the flesh is more needful for you, my beloved Philippians. I am prepared to sink every personal preference, even my longing to see Jesus face to face, if by my staying a little longer I can be a blessing." "What I have gone through." Have you been applying it personally as a message from God to your own soul? How have you come out of it all? What effect has it had upon the unsaved around you? What effect is it having upon Christian people? But most of all, what effect is it having in you? (Learning to Live, pp. 124-26) |
"We will come unto Him and make our abode with Him" (John xiv. 23).
"We will come unto Him and make our abode with Him" (John xiv. 23).
The Bible has always held out two great promises respecting Christ. First, I will come to you; and, second, I will come into you. For four thousand years the world looked forward to the fulfilment of the first.
The other is the secret which Paul says has been hid from ages and generations, but is now made manifest to His saints, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. This is just as great a revelation of God as the incarnation of Jesus, for it makes you like Christ, as free from sin as He is.
If Christ is in you, what will be the consequences? Why, He will put you aside entirely. The I in you will go. You will say, "Not I, but Christ." Christ undertakes your battles for you.
Christ becomes purity and grace and strength in you. You do not try to attain unto these things, but you know you have obtained them in Him. It is glorious rest with the Master.
Jesus does not say, "Now we must bring forth fruit, we must pray much, we must do this or that." There is no constraint about it, except that we must abide in Him. That is the center of all joy and help.
Love Conquers Selfishness By Andrew Murray
"The fruit of the Spirit is love." Why? Because nothing but love can expel and conquer our selfishness.
Self is the great curse, whether in its relation to God, or to our fellow-men in general, or to fellow-Christians, thinking of ourselves and seeking our own. Self is our greatest curse.
But, praise God, Christ came to redeem us from self.
We sometimes talk about deliverance from the self-life -- and thank God for every word that can be said about it to help us -- but I am afraid some people think deliverance from the self-life means that now they are going to have no longer any trouble in serving God; and they forget that deliverance from self-life means to be a vessel overflowing with love to everybody all the day.
And there you have the reason why many people pray for the power of the Holy Ghost, and they get something, but oh, so little! because they prayed for power for work, and power for blessing, but they have not prayed for power for full deliverance from self.
That means not only the righteous self in intercourse with God, but the unloving self in intercourse with men.
And there is deliverance. "The fruit of the Spirit is love." I bring you the glorious promise of Christ that He is able to fill our hearts with love.
Thursday, May 20, 2021
The God of Hope
The God of Hope
Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost--Rom 15:13
In the Hebrew language, as scholars know, there are several different words for rain. From which we gather that in Hebrew life rain was something of very great importance. It is the same, though in the realm of spirit, with the names of God in the letters of St. Paul. The variety of divine names there betrays the deepest heart of the apostle.
In the Hebrew language, as scholars know, there are several different words for rain. From which we gather that in Hebrew life rain was something of very great importance. It is the same, though in the realm of spirit, with the names of God in the letters of St. Paul. The variety of divine names there betrays the deepest heart of the apostle.
Think, for instance, of the names one lights on in this fifteenth chapter of the Romans, all of them occurring incidentally. He is the God of patience and of consolation (Rom 15:5). I trust my readers have all found Him that. He is the God of peace (Rom 15:33), keeping in perfect peace every one whose mind is stayed on Him. He is the God of hope (Rom 15:13), touching with radiant hopefulness everything that He has made, from the mustard seed to the children of mankind.
The Hopefulness of God in Nature
Think, for instance, how beautifully evident is the hopefulness of God in nature. Our Lord was very keenly alive to that. There is much in nature one cannot understand, and no loving communion will interpret it. There is a seeming waste and cruelty in nature that often lies heavy on the heart. But just as everything is beautiful in nature that the hand of man had never tampered with, so what a glorious hopefulness she breathes! Every seed, cast into the soil, is big with hopefulness of coming harvest. Every sparrow, in the winter ivy, is hopeful of the nest and of the younglings. Every streamlet, rising in the hills and brawling over the granite in the valley, is hopeful of its union with the sea.
The Hopefulness of God in Nature
Think, for instance, how beautifully evident is the hopefulness of God in nature. Our Lord was very keenly alive to that. There is much in nature one cannot understand, and no loving communion will interpret it. There is a seeming waste and cruelty in nature that often lies heavy on the heart. But just as everything is beautiful in nature that the hand of man had never tampered with, so what a glorious hopefulness she breathes! Every seed, cast into the soil, is big with hopefulness of coming harvest. Every sparrow, in the winter ivy, is hopeful of the nest and of the younglings. Every streamlet, rising in the hills and brawling over the granite in the valley, is hopeful of its union with the sea.
Winter comes with iciness and misery, but in the heart of winter is the hope of spring. Spring comes tripping across the meadow, but in the heart of spring there is the hope of summer.
Summer comes garlanded with beauty, but in the heart of summer is the hope of autumn when sower and reaper shall rejoice together. Paul talks of the whole creation groaning and travailing in pain together. But a woman in travail is not a hopeless woman. Her heart is "speaking softly of a hope." The very word natura is the witness of language to that hopeful travail--it means something going to be born. If, then, this beautiful world of nature is the garment of God by which we see Him, if His Kingdom be in the mustard seed, and not a sparrow can fall without His knowledge, how evident it is that He in whom we trust, who has never left Himself without a witness, is the God of hope.
The Hopefulness of the New Testament
Again, how evident is this attribute in the inspired word of the New Testament. The New Testament, as Dr. Denney used to say, is the most hopeful book in the whole world. I believe that God is everywhere revealed--in every flower in the crannied wall. But I do not believe that He is everywhere equally revealed anymore than I believe it of myself.
The Hopefulness of the New Testament
Again, how evident is this attribute in the inspired word of the New Testament. The New Testament, as Dr. Denney used to say, is the most hopeful book in the whole world. I believe that God is everywhere revealed--in every flower in the crannied wall. But I do not believe that He is everywhere equally revealed anymore than I believe it of myself.
There are things I do that show my character far more fully than certain other things--and God has made me in His image. I see Him in the sparrow and the mustard seed; I see Him in the lilies of the field; but I see more of Him, far more of Him, in the inspired word of the New Testament. And the fine thing to remember is just this, that the New Testament is not a hopeless book. Hope surges in it. Its note is that of victory. There steals on the ear in it the distant triumph song. It closes with the Book of Revelation where the Lamb is upon the throne. And if this be the expression of God's being far more fully than anything in nature, how sure we may be that He is the God of Hope.
Christ, the Gloriously Hopeful One
And then, lastly, we turn to our Lord and Savior. Is not He the most magnificent of optimists? Hope burned in Him (as Lord Morley said of Cromwell) when it had gone out in everybody else. There is an optimism based on ignorance: not such was the good hope of Christ. With an eye that sin had never dulled, He looked in the face all that was dark and terrible.
Christ, the Gloriously Hopeful One
And then, lastly, we turn to our Lord and Savior. Is not He the most magnificent of optimists? Hope burned in Him (as Lord Morley said of Cromwell) when it had gone out in everybody else. There is an optimism based on ignorance: not such was the good hope of Christ. With an eye that sin had never dulled, He looked in the face all that was dark and terrible.
There is an optimism based on moral laxity: not such was the good hope of Christ. He hated sin, although he loved the sinner. Knowing the worst, hating what was evil, treated by men in the most shameful way, Christ was gloriously and sublimely hopeful till death was swallowed up in victory; hopeful for the weakest of us, hopeful for the very worst, hopeful for the future of the world.
Now call to mind the word He spake: "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father. "He that hath seen into that heart of hopefulness hath seen into the heart of the Eternal.
Once a man has won that vision though there are many problems that may vex him still, he never can doubt again, through all his years, the amazing hopefulness of God.
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