Sunday, March 31, 2013
Helpful or Heartless Toward Others?
Do we need any more arguments than these to become intercessors-that Christ “always lives to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25),
and that the Holy Spirit “makes intercession for the saints”? Are we
living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of
intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by
His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do
crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or
elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the
presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a
stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with
God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of
intercession, where God works His miracles.
Beware of getting ahead of God by your very desire to do His will. We
run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, becoming so burdened
with people and problems that we don’t worship God, and we fail to
intercede. If a burden and its resulting pressure come upon us while we
are not in an attitude of worship, it will only produce a hardness
toward God and despair in our own souls. God continually introduces us
to people in whom we have no interest, and unless we are worshiping God
the natural tendency is to be heartless toward them. We give them a
quick verse of Scripture, like jabbing them with a spear, or leave them
with a hurried, uncaring word of counsel before we go. A heartless
Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord.
Are our lives in the proper place so that we may participate in the intercession of our Lord and the Holy Spirit?
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?
If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of
God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where
other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it
into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into
intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us
not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct
penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be
completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us,
becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, “. . . he will
ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to
death.” Be careful that you don’t become a hypocrite by spending all
your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him
yourself.
One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as
saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us
discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls
before Him and form the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5).
We should intercede in accordance with what God says He will give us,
namely, “life for those who commit sin not leading to death.” It is not
that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we
awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us
regarding the people for whom we intercede.
Can Jesus Christ see the agony of His soul in us? He can’t unless we
are so closely identified with Him that we have His view concerning the
people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so wholeheartedly
that Jesus Christ will be completely and overwhelmingly satisfied with
us as intercessors.
Friday, March 29, 2013
Holiness or Hardness Toward God?
March 30, 2013He . . . wondered that there was no intercessor . . . —Isaiah 59:16
The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial— that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, “But God, I just don’t see how you are going to do this”? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work-work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Our Lord’s Surprise Visits
March 29, 2013You also be ready . . . —Luke 12:40
A Christian worker’s greatest need is a readiness to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience has been. This battle is not against sin, difficulties, or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in our service to Jesus Christ that we are not ready to face Jesus Himself at every turn. The greatest need is not facing our beliefs or doctrines, or even facing the question of whether or not we are of any use to Him, but the need is to face Him.
Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical situations. The only way a servant can remain true to God is to be ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. This readiness will not be brought about by service, but through intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This sense of expectation will give our life the attitude of childlike wonder He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious. In other words, we must stop using religion as if it were some kind of a lofty lifestyle-we must be spiritually real.
If you are avoiding the call of the religious thinking of today’s world, and instead are “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2), setting your heart on what He wants, and thinking His thoughts, you will be considered impractical and a daydreamer. But when He suddenly appears in the work of the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. You should trust no one, and even ignore the finest saint on earth if he blocks your sight of Jesus Christ.
Isn’t There Some Misunderstanding?
by: Oswald ChambersMarch 28, 2013
’Let us go to Judea again.’ The disciples said to Him, ’. . . are You going there again?’ —John 11:7-8
Just because I don’t understand what Jesus Christ says, I have no right to determine that He must be mistaken in what He says. That is a dangerous view, and it is never right to think that my obedience to God’s directive will bring dishonor to Jesus. The only thing that will bring dishonor is not obeying Him. To put my view of His honor ahead of what He is plainly guiding me to do is never right, even though it may come from a real desire to prevent Him from being put to an open shame. I know when the instructions have come from God because of their quiet persistence. But when I begin to weigh the pros and cons, and doubt and debate enter into my mind, I am bringing in an element that is not of God. This will only result in my concluding that His instructions to me were not right. Many of us are faithful to our ideas about Jesus Christ, but how many of us are faithful to Jesus Himself? Faithfulness to Jesus means that I must step out even when and where I can’t see anything (see Matthew 14:29). But faithfulness to my own ideas means that I first clear the way mentally. Faith, however, is not intellectual understanding; faith is a deliberate commitment to the Person of Jesus Christ, even when I can’t see the way ahead.
Are you debating whether you should take a step of faith in Jesus, or whether you should wait until you can clearly see how to do what He has asked? Simply obey Him with unrestrained joy. When He tells you something and you begin to debate, it is because you have a misunderstanding of what honors Him and what doesn’t. Are you faithful to Jesus, or faithful to your ideas about Him? Are you faithful to what He says, or are you trying to compromise His words with thoughts that never came from Him? “Whatever He says to you, do it ” (John 2:5).
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (2)
A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved
through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the
highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God
will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is
also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but
when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits.
Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in
temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates
you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what
holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve.
Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple.
You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to
move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you
find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.
Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year
to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been
brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a
truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to
your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.
Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t
turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where
you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not
audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?
“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ?” (Genesis 18:17).
God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our
personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal
it.
Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (1)
by: Oswald ChambersMarch 26, 2013
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God —Matthew 5:8
Purity is not innocence— it is much more than that. Purity is the result of continued spiritual harmony with God. We have to grow in purity. Our life with God may be right and our inner purity unblemished, yet occasionally our outer life may become spotted and stained. God intentionally does not protect us from this possibility, because this is the way we recognize the necessity of maintaining our spiritual vision through personal purity. If the outer level of our spiritual life with God is impaired to the slightest degree, we must put everything else aside until we make it right. Remember that spiritual vision depends on our character— it is “the pure in heart ” who “see God.”
God makes us pure by an act of His sovereign grace, but we still have something that we must carefully watch. It is through our bodily life coming in contact with other people and other points of view that we tend to become tarnished. Not only must our “inner sanctuary” be kept right with God, but also the “outer courts” must be brought into perfect harmony with the purity God gives us through His grace. Our spiritual vision and understanding is immediately blurred when our “outer court” is stained. If we want to maintain personal intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ, it will mean refusing to do or even think certain things. And some things that are acceptable for others will become unacceptable for us.
A practical help in keeping your personal purity unblemished in your relations with other people is to begin to see them as God does. Say to yourself, “That man or that woman is perfect in Christ Jesus! That friend or that relative is perfect in Christ Jesus!”
Monday, March 25, 2013
Maintaining the Proper Relationship
Goodness and purity should never be traits that draw attention to
themselves, but should simply be magnets that draw people to Jesus
Christ. If my holiness is not drawing others to Him, it is not the right
kind of holiness; it is only an influence which awakens undue emotions
and evil desires in people and diverts them from heading in the right
direction. A person who is a beautiful saint can be a hindrance in
leading people to the Lord by presenting only what Christ has done for
him, instead of presenting Jesus Christ Himself. Others will be left
with this thought— “What a fine person that man is!” That is not being a
true “friend of the bridegroom”— I am increasing all the time; He is not.
To maintain this friendship and faithfulness to the Bridegroom, we
have to be more careful to have the moral and vital relationship to Him
above everything else, including obedience. Sometimes there is nothing
to obey and our only task is to maintain a vital connection with Jesus
Christ, seeing that nothing interferes with it. Only occasionally is it a
matter of obedience. At those times when a crisis arises, we have to
find out what God’s will is. Yet most of our life is not spent in trying
to be consciously obedient, but in maintaining this relationship— being
the “friend of the bridegroom.” Christian work can actually be a means
of diverting a person’s focus away from Jesus Christ. Instead of being
friends “of the bridegroom,” we may become amateur providences of God to
someone else, working against Him while we use His weapons.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Decreasing for His Purpose
If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of
God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a “friend
of the bridegroom” (John 3:29).
When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus
Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right
direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a
difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that
his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on
earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over
again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed
amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying,
“This person should not have to experience this difficulty.” Instead of
being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day
that person will say to us, “You are a thief; you stole my desire to
follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him.”
Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always
look to rejoice over the right thing. “. . . the friend of the
bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice.
Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must
decrease” (John 3:29-30).
This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the
Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping
aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.
Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the
Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any
thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring.
Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You
may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it
(see Matthew 10:34).
Am I Carnally Minded?
The natural man, or unbeliever, knows nothing about carnality. The
desires of the flesh warring against the Spirit, and the Spirit warring
against the flesh, which began at rebirth, are what produce carnality
and the awareness of it. But Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and you
shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). In other words, carnality will disappear.
Are you quarrelsome and easily upset over small things? Do you think
that no one who is a Christian is ever like that? Paul said they are,
and he connected these attitudes with carnality. Is there a truth in the
Bible that instantly awakens a spirit of malice or resentment in you?
If so, that is proof that you are still carnal. If the process of
sanctification is continuing in your life, there will be no trace of
that kind of spirit remaining.
If the Spirit of God detects anything in you that is wrong, He
doesn’t ask you to make it right; He only asks you to accept the light
of truth, and then He will make it right. A child of the light will
confess sin instantly and stand completely open before God. But a child
of the darkness will say, “Oh, I can explain that.” When the light
shines and the Spirit brings conviction of sin, be a child of the light.
Confess your wrongdoing, and God will deal with it. If, however, you
try to vindicate yourself, you prove yourself to be a child of the
darkness.
What is the proof that carnality has gone? Never deceive yourself;
when carnality is gone you will know it-it is the most real thing you
can imagine. And God will see to it that you have a number of
opportunities to prove to yourself the miracle of His grace. The proof
is in a very practical test. You will find yourself saying, “If this had
happened before, I would have had the spirit of resentment!” And you
will never cease to be the most amazed person on earth at what God has
done for you on the inside.
The Burning Heart
We need to learn this secret of the burning heart. Suddenly Jesus
appears to us, fires are set ablaze, and we are given wonderful visions;
but then we must learn to maintain the secret of the burning heart— a
heart that can go through anything. It is the simple, dreary day, with
its commonplace duties and people, that smothers the burning heart—
unless we have learned the secret of abiding in Jesus.
Much of the distress we experience as Christians comes not as the
result of sin, but because we are ignorant of the laws of our own
nature. For instance, the only test we should use to determine whether
or not to allow a particular emotion to run its course in our lives is
to examine what the final outcome of that emotion will be. Think it
through to its logical conclusion, and if the outcome is something that
God would condemn, put a stop to it immediately. But if it is an emotion
that has been kindled by the Spirit of God and you don’t allow it to
have its way in your life, it will cause a reaction on a lower level
than God intended. That is the way unrealistic and overly emotional
people are made. And the higher the emotion, the deeper the level of
corruption, if it is not exercised on its intended level. If the Spirit
of God has stirred you, make as many of your decisions as possible
irrevocable, and let the consequences be what they will. We cannot stay
forever on the “mount of transfiguration,” basking in the light of our
mountaintop experience (see Mark 9:1-9).
But we must obey the light we received there; we must put it into
action. When God gives us a vision, we must transact business with Him
at that point, no matter what the cost.
We cannot kindle when we will The fire which in the heart resides,
The spirit bloweth and is still, In mystery our soul abides; But tasks
in hours of insight willed Can be through hours of gloom fulfilled.
Identified or Simply Interested?
The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign
the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional
opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a
moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I
have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified with
Christ . . . .” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate
Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him”-but-”I
have been identified with Him in His death.” Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in
me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit
the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.
“. . . it is no longer I who live . . . .” My individuality remains,
but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are
radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right
to myself has been destroyed.
“. . . and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life
which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live
in my mortal flesh-the life which others can see, “I live by faith in
the Son of God . . . .” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus
Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8).
It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all
imaginable limits-a faith that comes only from the Son of God.
Friendship with God
The Delights of His Friendship. Genesis 18 brings
out the delight of true friendship with God, as compared with simply
feeling His presence occasionally in prayer. This friendship means being
so intimately in touch with God that you never even need to ask Him to
show you His will. It is evidence of a level of intimacy which confirms
that you are nearing the final stage of your discipline in the life of
faith. When you have a right-standing relationship with God, you have a
life of freedom, liberty, and delight; you are God’s will. And
all of your commonsense decisions are actually His will for you, unless
you sense a feeling of restraint brought on by a check in your spirit.
You are free to make decisions in the light of a perfect and delightful
friendship with God, knowing that if your decisions are wrong He will
lovingly produce that sense of restraint. Once he does, you must stop
immediately.
The Difficulties of His Friendship. Why did Abraham
stop praying when he did? He stopped because he still was lacking the
level of intimacy in his relationship with God, which would enable him
boldly to continue on with the Lord in prayer until his desire was
granted. Whenever we stop short of our true desire in prayer and say,
“Well, I don’t know, maybe this is not God’s will,” then we still have
another level to go. It shows that we are not as intimately acquainted
with God as Jesus was, and as Jesus would have us to be— “. . . that
they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22).
Think of the last thing you prayed about-were you devoted to your
desire or to God? Was your determination to get some gift of the Spirit
for yourself or to get to God? “For your Father knows the things you
have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8).
The reason for asking is so you may get to know God better. “Delight
yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your
heart” (Psalm 37:4). We should keep praying to get a perfect understanding of God Himself.
Abraham’s Life of Faith
In the Old Testament, a person’s relationship with God was seen by
the degree of separation in that person’s life. This separation is
exhibited in the life of Abraham by his separation from his country and
his family. When we think of separation today, we do not mean to be
literally separated from those family members who do not have a personal
relationship with God, but to be separated mentally and morally from
their viewpoints. This is what Jesus Christ was referring to in Luke 14:26.
Living a life of faith means never knowing where you are being led.
But it does mean loving and knowing the One who is leading. It is
literally a life of faith, not of understanding and reason—a
life of knowing Him who calls us to go. Faith is rooted in the knowledge
of a Person, and one of the biggest traps we fall into is the belief
that if we have faith, God will surely lead us to success in the world.
The final stage in the life of faith is the attainment of character,
and we encounter many changes in the process. We feel the presence of
God around us when we pray, yet we are only momentarily changed. We tend
to keep going back to our everyday ways and the glory vanishes. A life
of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after
another, like soaring on eagles’ wings, but is a life of day—in and
day—out consistency; a life of walking without fainting (see Isaiah 40:31).
It is not even a question of the holiness of sanctification, but of
something which comes much farther down the road. It is a faith that has
been tried and proved and has withstood the test. Abraham is not a type
or an example of the holiness of sanctification, but a type of the life
of faith—a faith, tested and true, built on the true God. “Abraham believed God. . .” (Romans 4:3).
Will I Bring Myself Up to This Level?
Therefore, having these promises. . . .” I claim God’s promises for
my life and look to their fulfillment, and rightly so, but that shows
only the human perspective on them. God’s perspective is that through
His promises I will come to recognize His claim of ownership on me. For
example, do I realize that my “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit,”
or am I condoning some habit in my body which clearly could not
withstand the light of God on it? (1 Corinthians 6:19). God formed His Son in me through sanctification, setting me apart from sin and making me holy in His sight (see Galatians 4:19).
But I must begin to transform my natural life into spiritual life by
obedience to Him. God instructs us even in the smallest details of life.
And when He brings you conviction of sin, do not “confer with flesh and
blood,” but cleanse yourself from it at once (Galatians 1:16). Keep yourself cleansed in your daily walk.
I must cleanse myself from all filthiness in my flesh and my spirit
until both are in harmony with the nature of God. Is the mind of my
spirit in perfect agreement with the life of the Son of God in me, or am
I mentally rebellious and defiant? Am I allowing the mind of Christ to
be formed in me? (see Philippians 2:5).
Christ never spoke of His right to Himself, but always maintained an
inner vigilance to submit His spirit continually to His Father. I also
have the responsibility to keep my spirit in agreement with His Spirit.
And when I do, Jesus gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived-a
level of perfect submission to His Father’s will— where I pay no
attention to anything else. Am I perfecting this kind of holiness in the
fear of God? Is God having His way with me, and are people beginning to
see God in my life more and more?
Be serious in your commitment to God and gladly leave everything else alone. Literally put God first in your life.
The Servant’s Primary Goal
We make it our aim. . . .” It requires a conscious decision and
effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means
holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not
making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to
have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a
lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of
working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a
week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to
the standard He has for you. Paul was like a musician who gives no
thought to audience approval, if he can only catch a look of approval
from his Conductor.
Any goal we have that diverts us even to the slightest degree from the central goal of being “approved to God” (2 Timothy 2:15)
may result in our rejection from further service for Him. When you
discern where the goal leads, you will understand why it is so necessary
to keep “looking unto Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2).
Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it
would not take him in the wrong direction. He said, “I discipline my
body and bring it into subjection, lest . . . I myself should become
disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
I must learn to relate everything to the primary goal, maintaining it
without interruption. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I
really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him
and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how
lofty it may sound?
The Master Will Judge
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike,
“appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here
and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final
judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in
you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ,
and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a
wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of
the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of
another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it
immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty
there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and
through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not
only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner
and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop
doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get
used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even
realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from
being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent
consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light. . .” (1 John
1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to
the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude
of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which
comes from unconsciously living a lie.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The Master Will Judge
March 16, 2013
Paul says that we must all, preachers and other people alike, “appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” But if you will learn here and now to live under the scrutiny of Christ’s pure light, your final judgment will bring you only delight in seeing the work God has done in you. Live constantly reminding yourself of the judgment seat of Christ, and walk in the knowledge of the holiness He has given you. Tolerating a wrong attitude toward another person causes you to follow the spirit of the devil, no matter how saintly you are. One carnal judgment of another person only serves the purposes of hell in you. Bring it immediately into the light and confess, “Oh, Lord, I have been guilty there.” If you don’t, your heart will become hardened through and through. One of the penalties of sin is our acceptance of it. It is not only God who punishes for sin, but sin establishes itself in the sinner and takes its toll. No struggling or praying will enable you to stop doing certain things, and the penalty of sin is that you gradually get used to it, until you finally come to the place where you no longer even realize that it is sin. No power, except the power that comes from being filled with the Holy Spirit, can change or prevent the inherent consequences of sin.
“If we walk in the light as He is in the light. . .” (1 John 1:7). For many of us, walking in the light means walking according to the standard we have set up for another person. The deadliest attitude of the Pharisees that we exhibit today is not hypocrisy but that which comes from unconsciously living a lie.
The Discipline of Dismay
March 15 2013
At the beginning of our life with Jesus Christ, we were sure we knew all there was to know about following Him. It was a delight to forsake everything else and to throw ourselves before Him in a fearless statement of love. But now we are not quite so sure. Jesus is far ahead of us and is beginning to seem different and unfamiliar— “Jesus was going before them; and they were amazed” (Mark 10:32).
There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a disciple’s heart to its depth and makes his entire spiritual life gasp for air. This unusual Person with His face set “like a flint” (Isaiah 50:7) is walking with great determination ahead of me, and He strikes terror right through me. He no longer seems to be my Counselor and Friend and has a point of view about which I know nothing. All I can do is stand and stare at Him in amazement. At first I was confident that I understood Him, but now I am not so sure. I begin to realize that there is a distance between Jesus and me and I can no longer be intimate with Him. I have no idea where He is going, and the goal has become strangely distant.
Jesus Christ had to understand fully every sin and sorrow that human beings could experience, and that is what makes Him seem unfamiliar. When we see this aspect of Him, we realize we really don’t know Him. We don’t recognize even one characteristic of His life, and we don’t know how to begin to follow Him. He is far ahead of us, a Leader who seems totally unfamiliar, and we have no friendship with Him.
The discipline of dismay is an essential lesson which a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong (see Isaiah 1:10-11). But when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Yielding
The first thing I must be willing to admit when I begin to examine
what controls and dominates me is that I am the one responsible for
having yielded myself to whatever it may be. If I am a slave to myself, I
am to blame because somewhere in the past I yielded to myself.
Likewise, if I obey God I do so because at some point in my life I
yielded myself to Him.
If a child gives in to selfishness, he will find it to be the most
enslaving tyranny on earth. There is no power within the human soul
itself that is capable of breaking the bondage of the nature created by
yielding. For example, yield for one second to anything in the nature of
lust, and although you may hate yourself for having yielded, you become
enslaved to that thing. (Remember what lust is— “I must have it now,”
whether it is the lust of the flesh or the lust of the mind.) No release
or escape from it will ever come from any human power, but only through
the power of redemption. You must yield yourself in utter humiliation
to the only One who can break the dominating power in your life, namely,
the Lord Jesus Christ. “. . . He has anointed Me . . . to proclaim
liberty to the captives . . .” (Luke 4:18 and Isaiah 61:1).
When you yield to something, you will soon realize the tremendous
control it has over you. Even though you say, “Oh, I can give up that
habit whenever I like,” you will know you can’t. You will find that the
habit absolutely dominates you because you willingly yielded to it. It
is easy to sing, “He will break every fetter,” while at the same time
living a life of obvious slavery to yourself. But yielding to Jesus will
break every kind of slavery in any person’s life.
God’s Total Surrender to Us
Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the
experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God
means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into
perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think
of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But
salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought
me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I
am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with
something infinitely greater than myself.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to
miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.
If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own
efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the
One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know
nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until
you understand that John 3:16 means
that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our
surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself
for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The
consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never
even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.
Total Surrender
Our Lord replies to this statement of Peter by saying that this
surrender is “for My sake and the gospel’s” (10:29). It was not for the
purpose of what the disciples themselves would get out of it. Beware of
surrender that is motivated by personal benefits that may result. For
example, “I’m going to give myself to God because I want to be delivered
from sin, because I want to be made holy.” Being delivered from sin and
being made holy are the result of being right with God, but surrender
resulting from this kind of thinking is certainly not the true nature of
Christianity. Our motive for surrender should not be for any
personal gain at all. We have become so self-centered that we go to God
only for something from Him, and not for God Himself. It is like saying,
“No, Lord, I don’t want you; I want myself. But I do want You to clean
me and fill me with Your Holy Spirit. I want to be on display in Your
showcase so I can say, ’This is what God has done for me.’ ” Gaining
heaven, being delivered from sin, and being made useful to God are
things that should never even be a consideration in real surrender.
Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus
Christ Himself.
Where does Jesus Christ figure in when we have a concern about our
natural relationships? Most of us will desert Him with this excuse—”Yes,
Lord, I heard you call me, but my family needs me and I have my own
interests. I just can’t go any further” (see Luke 9:57-62). “Then,” Jesus says, “you ’cannot be My disciple’ ” (see Luke 14:26-33).
True surrender will always go beyond natural devotion. If we will
only give up, God will surrender Himself to embrace all those around us
and will meet their needs, which were created by our surrender. Beware
of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have
only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly
experienced it.
Obedience to the “Heavenly Vision”
If we lose “the heavenly vision” God has given us, we alone are
responsible— not God. We lose the vision because of our own lack of
spiritual growth. If we do not apply our beliefs about God to the issues
of everyday life, the vision God has given us will never be fulfilled.
The only way to be obedient to “the heavenly vision” is to give our
utmost for His highest— our best for His glory. This can be accomplished
only when we make a determination to continually remember God’s vision.
But the acid test is obedience to the vision in the details of our
everyday life— sixty seconds out of every minute, and sixty minutes out
of every hour, not just during times of personal prayer or public
meetings.
“Though it tarries, wait for it . . .” (Habakkuk 2:3).
We cannot bring the vision to fulfillment through our own efforts, but
must live under its inspiration until it fulfills itself. We try to be
so practical that we forget the vision. At the very beginning we saw the
vision but did not wait for it. We rushed off to do our practical work,
and once the vision was fulfilled we could no longer even see it.
Waiting for a vision that “tarries” is the true test of our faithfulness
to God. It is at the risk of our own soul’s welfare that we get caught
up in practical busy-work, only to miss the fulfillment of the vision.
Watch for the storms of God. The only way God plants His saints is
through the whirlwind of His storms. Will you be proven to be an empty
pod with no seed inside? That will depend on whether or not you are
actually living in the light of the vision you have seen. Let God send
you out through His storm, and don’t go until He does. If you select
your own spot to be planted, you will prove yourself to be an
unproductive, empty pod. However, if you allow God to plant you, you
will “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).
It is essential that we live and “walk in the light” of God’s vision for us (1 John 1:7).
Being an Example of His Message
We are not saved only to be instruments for God, but to be His sons
and daughters. He does not turn us into spiritual agents but into
spiritual messengers, and the message must be a part of us. The Son of
God was His own message— “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and
they are life” (John 6:63).
As His disciples, our lives must be a holy example of the reality of
our message. Even the natural heart of the unsaved will serve if called
upon to do so, but it takes a heart broken by conviction of sin,
baptized by the Holy Spirit, and crushed into submission to God’s
purpose to make a person’s life a holy example of God’s message.
There is a difference between giving a testimony and preaching. A
preacher is someone who has received the call of God and is determined
to use all his energy to proclaim God’s truth. God takes us beyond our
own aspirations and ideas for our lives, and molds and shapes us for His
purpose, just as He worked in the disciples’ lives after Pentecost. The
purpose of Pentecost was not to teach the disciples something, but to
make them the incarnation of what they preached so that they would
literally become God’s message in the flesh. “. . . you shall be
witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8).
Allow God to have complete liberty in your life when you speak.
Before God’s message can liberate other people, His liberation must
first be real in you. Gather your material carefully, and then allow God
to “set your words on fire” for His glory.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Turning Back or Walking with Jesus?
What a penetrating question! Our Lord’s words often hit home for us
when He speaks in the simplest way. In spite of the fact that we know
who Jesus is, He asks, “Do you also want to go away?” We must
continually maintain an adventurous attitude toward Him, despite any
potential personal risk.
“From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more” (John 6:66).
They turned back from walking with Jesus; not into sin, but away from
Him. Many people today are pouring their lives out and working for Jesus
Christ, but are not really walking with Him. One thing God constantly
requires of us is a oneness with Jesus Christ. After being set apart
through sanctification, we should discipline our lives spiritually to
maintain this intimate oneness. When God gives you a clear determination
of His will for you, all your striving to maintain that relationship by
some particular method is completely unnecessary. All that is required
is to live a natural life of absolute dependence on Jesus Christ. Never
try to live your life with God in any other way than His way. And His
way means absolute devotion to Him. Showing no concern for the
uncertainties that lie ahead is the secret of walking with Jesus.
Peter saw in Jesus only someone who could minister salvation to him
and to the world. But our Lord wants us to be fellow laborers with Him.
In John 6:70 Jesus
lovingly reminded Peter that he was chosen to go with Him. And each of
us must answer this question for ourselves and no one else: “Do you also
want to go away?”
The Surrendered Life
To become one with Jesus Christ, a person must be willing not only
to give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at
things. Being born again by the Spirit of God means that we must first
be willing to let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing
we must surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants
us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do
better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us.
And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid
righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything,
and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.
Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need
to surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give
up our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender
our grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in
our lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?
We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we fully
surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord sees them, it
is not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the
awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ.
When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror,
and desperate conviction hit home for them.
If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender,
make a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that
you have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do
all that He requires of you.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Vision, Vitality, and Victory
by Charles R. Swindoll
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You. Psalm 25:21
Thoughts are the thermostat that regulates what we accomplish in life.
My body responds and reacts to the input from my mind. If I feed my mind upon doubt, disbelief, and discouragement, that is precisely the kind of day my body will experience.
If I adjust my thermostat forward to thoughts filled with vision, vitality, and victory, I can count on that kind of day.
Thoughts, positive or negative, grow stronger when fertilized with constant repetition. That may explain why so many who are gloomy and gray stay in that mood . . . and why those who are cheery and enthusiastic continue to be so.
You need only one foreman in your mental factory; Mr. Triumph is His name. He is anxious to assist you.
His real name is the Holy Spirit, the Helper.
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You. Psalm 25:21
Thoughts are the thermostat that regulates what we accomplish in life.
My body responds and reacts to the input from my mind. If I feed my mind upon doubt, disbelief, and discouragement, that is precisely the kind of day my body will experience.
If I adjust my thermostat forward to thoughts filled with vision, vitality, and victory, I can count on that kind of day.
Thoughts, positive or negative, grow stronger when fertilized with constant repetition. That may explain why so many who are gloomy and gray stay in that mood . . . and why those who are cheery and enthusiastic continue to be so.
You need only one foreman in your mental factory; Mr. Triumph is His name. He is anxious to assist you.
His real name is the Holy Spirit, the Helper.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
The Source of Abundant Joy
Paul was speaking here of the things that might seem likely to
separate a saint from the love of God. But the remarkable thing is that
nothing can come between the love of God and a saint. The things Paul
mentioned in this passage can and do disrupt the close fellowship of our
soul with God and separate our natural life from Him. But none of them
is able to come between the love of God and the soul of a saint on the
spiritual level. The underlying foundation of the Christian faith is the
undeserved, limitless miracle of the love of God that was exhibited on
the Cross of Calvary; a love that is not earned and can never be. Paul
said this is the reason that “in all these things we are more than
conquerors.” We are super-victors with a joy that comes from
experiencing the very things which look as if they are going to
overwhelm us.
Huge waves that would frighten an ordinary swimmer produce a
tremendous thrill for the surfer who has ridden them. Let’s apply that
to our own circumstances. The things we try to avoid and fight against—
tribulation, suffering, and persecution— are the very things that
produce abundant joy in us. “We are more than conquerors through Him”
“in all these things”; not in spite of them, but in the midst of them. A
saint doesn’t know the joy of the Lord in spite of tribulation, but because of it. Paul said, “I am exceedingly joyful in all our tribulation” (2 Corinthians 7:4).
The undiminished radiance, which is the result of abundant joy, is
not built on anything passing, but on the love of God that nothing can
change. And the experiences of life, whether they are everyday events or
terrifying ones, are powerless to “separate us from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39).
Taking the Next Step
When you have no vision from God, no enthusiasm left in your life,
and no one watching and encouraging you, it requires the grace of
Almighty God to take the next step in your devotion to Him, in the
reading and studying of His Word, in your family life, or in your duty
to Him. It takes much more of the grace of God, and a much greater
awareness of drawing upon Him, to take that next step, than it does to
preach the gospel.
Every Christian must experience the essence of the incarnation by
bringing the next step down into flesh-and-blood reality and by working
it out with his hands. We lose interest and give up when we have no
vision, no encouragement, and no improvement, but only experience our
everyday life with its trivial tasks. The thing that really testifies
for God and for the people of God in the long run is steady
perseverance, even when the work cannot be seen by others. And the only
way to live an undefeated life is to live looking to God. Ask God to
keep the eyes of your spirit open to the risen Christ, and it will be
impossible for drudgery to discourage you. Never allow yourself to think
that some tasks are beneath your dignity or too insignificant for you
to do, and remind yourself of the example of Christ inJohn 13:1-17 .
Is He Really My Lord?
Joy comes from seeing the complete fulfillment of the specific
purpose for which I was created and born again, not from successfully
doing something of my own choosing. The joy our Lord experienced came
from doing what the Father sent Him to do. And He says to us, “As the
Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).
Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful
to it— to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of
fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus sent you
to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear Him say to you, “Well
done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21).
We each have to find a niche in life, and spiritually we find it when
we receive a ministry from the Lord. To do this we must have close
fellowship with Jesus and must know Him as more than our personal
Savior. And we must be willing to experience the full impact of Acts 9:16 — “I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”
“Do you love Me?” Then, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:17).
He is not offering us a choice of how we can serve Him; He is asking
for absolute loyalty to His commission, a faithfulness to what we
discern when we are in the closest possible fellowship with God. If you
have received a ministry from the Lord Jesus, you will know that the
need is not the same as the call— the need is the opportunity to
exercise the call. The call is to be faithful to the ministry you
received when you were in true fellowship with Him. This does not imply
that there is a whole series of differing ministries marked out for you.
It does mean that you must be sensitive to what God has called you to
do, and this may sometimes require ignoring demands for service in other
areas.
Is This True of Me?
It is easier to serve or work for God without a vision and without a
call, because then you are not bothered by what He requires. Common
sense, covered with a layer of Christian emotion, becomes your guide.
You may be more prosperous and successful from the world’s perspective,
and will have more leisure time, if you never acknowledge the call of
God. But once you receive a commission from Jesus Christ, the memory of
what God asks of you will always be there to prod you on to do His will.
You will no longer be able to work for Him on the basis of common
sense.
What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”? If I have not been
seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will
consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as
dear. I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself.” But Paul
said he considered his life dear so that he might fulfill the ministry
he had received, and he refused to use his energy on anything else. This
verse shows an almost noble annoyance by Paul at being asked to
consider himself. He was absolutely indifferent to any consideration
other than that of fulfilling the ministry he had received. Our ordinary
and reasonable service to God may actually compete against our total
surrender to Him. Our reasonable work is based on the following argument
which we say to ourselves, “Remember how useful you are here, and think
how much value you would be in that particular type of work.” That
attitude chooses our own judgment, instead of Jesus Christ, to be our
guide as to where we should go and where we could be used the most.
Never consider whether or not you are of use— but always consider that
“you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.
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