Christ is Message and Messenger

Every word spoken by Jesus must be understood by the life of Jesus. The one cannot be separated from the other. If we attempt to understand what He said without reference to what He did, we do violence to God's revelation of Himself. Here are some examples:

"Give up your right to yourself." Can this mean self-destruction, masochism, obliteration of the personality? See the perfect Son of God, exercising his human will in the fullness of its God-given power, as He offers Himself, pours out his soul unto death. What life streams from that giving up. What strength springs from his weakness.

"The truth shall make you free" (Jn 8:32 AV)--words often wrested away from their context ("lf you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free") and also away from the Man who spoke them. His life, his every act, was perfectly free. It was free because He heard the Word of the Father, did what He saw Him do, and knew Him. His freedom was the result of his obedience. There is no shortcut to our freedom. We must live the life Christ lived--a life of faith, a will offered to the Father, daily obedience. - E.E.

Patience and kindness. Not very powerful words. They don’t exactly strike fear into the heart. And yet, they are powerful weapons in the world today. To use them means to die to self. Think about the greatest victory in history that was overcome. The battle was won with love. Love displayed on a cross. The epitome of selflessness. When we choose to fight this world with God’s weapons, we can never fail. Living for myself is natural. Living for God and others can be a struggle. But with His help all things are possible. The Bible reminds us that showing kindness to the world is like heaping burning coals upon their head. So, today, with God’s help, I hope to show other’s kindness. Even if they don’t deserve it. Isn’t that what Christ did for us?

Weapons of Righteousness
“The means of conquering the world, spiritually speaking, are not weapons of violence or organized power. In fact they are not thought of in the world as "weapons" at all, but as pitifully ineffective for obtaining any kind of victory. They are patience and kindliness, gifts of the Holy Spirit, sincere love, declaring the truth and the power of God. They are weapons which we wield in both hands, right and left (2 Cor 6:6,7).

The object of our conquest not being power, position, property, or personal satisfaction, the weapons required are not such as would be used by men seeking those things. Our Captain had one aim in dying for us--that we should cease to live for ourselves (2 Cor 5:15). This is our aim. Therefore our weapons will seem to those whose aim is worldly (i.e., "natural," and selfish), a strange set to choose.” – E.E.

God Is Our Refuge, Strength And Mighty Fortress

Hmmm, I think the Lord has an agenda in mind concerning what I've been reading lately. Yesterday my Morning and Evening entry was on fear. My Elisabeth Elliot devotional was on fear. Valley of Vision spoke of fear. The scripture I read in Psalms was concerning fear. Is God hinting at something? Yeah, I think so. How kind of God to be so intentional about addressing the state of our hearts. I think one reason God takes fear and worry so seriously, is because when we struggle with it, it often paralyzes us and makes us ineffective, not to mention it tells God we don't trust Him. When you are afraid, trust in the Lord and remind yourself of the truth of His word. He promises to never leave us or forsake us. We can trust that promise!

"What good has worrying ever accomplished? It has never made anyone stronger, helped anyone do God's will, or provided for anyone a way of escape out of their anxiety or confusion." - L.B. Cowman

“We must tread down our enemies, including all the nagging "what ifs" of our lives. To frightening possibilities Christ answers, "I will never leave you or forsake you." Let the very worst thing come to pass-even there, especially there, his hand will hold us. That's why He became a man. That's why He died. That's why He rose again. My Lord and my God--forgive my fears. Deliver me by the power of your resurrection."- E.E.

"Worry only destroys the effectiveness of lives that would otherwise be useful and beautiful."- L.B. Cowman

"God is our Refuge, our Strength, our Mighty Fortress. Nothing will get by the moat of his protection without his permission. To be afraid of what happens today or what may happen tomorrow is not only an awful waste of energy, it is not only useless, it is disobedient. We are forbidden to fear anything but the Lord Himself."- E.E.

Worry:"Can anything be gained by it? Don't we only make ourselves unfit for action and separate our minds from the ability to make wise decisions? We simply sink in our struggles when we could float by faith." - L.B. Cowman

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord

in the land of the living! Wait for the Lord; be strong,

and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 27:1, 13-14

Covenant

The past couple of days, the Lord has been overwhelming my heart with gratefulness for His constant care. For His tenderness to me when I'm breaking, His steadfastness when I'm failing. I love how His character and love doesn't change, even when my fickle emotions ride the waves. Thank goodness God is not like us! He has made a covenant with us that will never be broken and He is eternally faithful to this covenant. Am I? Will I love and follow Him in sickness and in health? In good times and in bad? God is drawing my heart to pursue more faithfulness and less fickleness. O God, bind my heart tightly to thee!

Lord, Jesus,

Grant me the favour of being lead by thee, under the directions of thy providence and thy word. Grant me the blessings with bitter things, to brighten and quicken me, not to depress and make me lifeless; Grant me, like Gideon of old, way-tokens, by removing things that discourage me; Grant me succour beneath the shadow of thy sympathy when I am tempted. Accept my unceasing thanks that I am not cast off from thy hand as a darkened star or rudderless vessel. Suffer not my life to extend beyond my usefulness; Cast me not under the feet of pride, injustice, riches, worldly greatness, selfish oppression of men; Help me to wait patiently, silently upon thee, not to be enraged or speak unadvisedly. Let thy mercy follow me while I live, and give me aid to resign myself to thy will. Take my heart and hold it in thy hand; write upon it reverence to thyself with an inscription that time and eternity cannot erase. To thy grace and the care of thy covenant I commit myself, in sickness, and in health, for thou hast overcome the world, fulfilled the law, finished justifying righteousness, swallowed up death in victory, and taken all power everywhere. Mark this covenant with thine own blood in the court of forgiving mercy; Attach unto thy name in which I believe, for it is sealed by my unworthy mortal hand. - The Valley of Vision (Puritan Prayer)

Ascend The Mountain

I am currently reading a book titled, “In Christ Alone” by Sinclair Ferguson. It is helping me to “know whom I have believed”. To know more so I can love and trust more. To think deeply so I can feel deeply. In Morning & Evening, Spurgeon uses the example of our relationship with God being like ascending a mountain. The higher we go, the more we can see and delight in Him. Every truth learned, trial passed through and day lived, has the potential to take us further up the mountain. But we still have to make the climb. With His help, it’s possible!

“When we first believe in Christ we see but little of him. The higher we climb the more we discover of his beauties. But who has ever gained the summit? Who has known all the heights and depths of the love of Christ which passes knowledge? Paul, when grown old, sitting grey-haired, shivering in a dungeon in Rome, could say with greater emphasis than we can, I know whom I have believed, for each experience had been like the climbing of a hill, each trial had been like ascending another summit, and his death seemed like gaining the top of the mountain, from which he could see the whole of the faithfulness and the love of him to whom he had committed his soul. Get thee up, dear friend, into the high mountain.” – charles hadden spurgeon

Learning The Father's Love

I thought it was so cool and so like God to reaffirm what I wrote about yesterday through Elisabeth Elliot's devotional today. "Whenever I have resisted Him, I have cheated myself. Whenever I have yielded, I have found joy."

-When my brother Dave was very small, we spent a week at the seaside in Belmar, New Jersey. In vain my father tried to persuade the little boy to come into the waves with him and jump, promising to hold him safely and not allow the waves to sweep over his head. He took me (only a year older) into the ocean and showed Dave how much fun it would be. Nothing doing. The ocean was terrifying. Dave was sure it would mean certain disaster, and he could not trust his father. On the last day of our vacation he gave in. He was not swept away, his father held him as promised, and he had far more fun than he could have imagined, whereupon he burst into tears and wailed, "Why didn't you make me go in?"

An early lesson in prayer often comes through an ordeal of fear. We face impending adversity and we doubt the love, wisdom and power of our Father in heaven. We've tried everything else and in our desperation we turn to prayer--of the primitive sort: here's Somebody who's reputed to be able to do anything. The great question is, can I get Him to do what I want? How do I twist His arm, how persuade a remote and reluctant deity to change His mind?

When the people of Israel were encamped in Pi-hahiroth and saw the Egyptians coming after them, they felt they were looking death in the face and it was all Moses' fault--"as if there weren't enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out here to die!"

"Don't be afraid," said Moses. "Stand by. The Lord will fight for you if you'll just be quiet."
You know the story of deliverance--the sea was rolled back, Israel marched through it dry shod, and when the Egyptians pursued them the sea swamped their horses, their chariots, and the whole army. "Not even one of them remained." The song of victory Moses and Israel sang reveals their recognition not only of the strength, majesty and wonder-working of the Lord, but of His loving-kindness, immeasurably beyond anything they had dared to hope.

Poor Dave! His father could have forced him to come into the water, but he could not have forced him to relax and enjoy it. As long as the child insisted on protecting himself, saving the life he was sure he would lose, he could not trust the strong love of his father. He refused to surrender. In this simple story we hear echoes of the most ancient story, of the two who, mistrusting the word of their Father, fearing that obedience to Him would ultimately bar them from happiness, chose to repudiate their dependence on Him. Sin, death, destruction for the whole race were the result.

Learning to pray is learning to trust the wisdom, the power, and the love of our Heavenly Father, always so far beyond our dreams. He knows our need and knows ways to meet it that have never entered our heads. Things we feel sure we need for happiness may often lead to our ruin. Things we think will ruin us (the chariots of Egypt, the waters of the sea, or the little waves in Belmar!), if we believe what the Father tells us and surrender ourselves into His strong arms, bring us deliverance and joy.

The only escape from self-love is self-surrender. "Whoever loses his life for Me will find it" (Matthew 16:25, NIV). "Dwell in my love. If you heed my commands, you will dwell in my love, as I have heeded my Father's commands and dwell in His love. I have spoken thus to you, so that my joy may be in you, and your joy complete" (John 15:9-11, NEB). My father knew far better than his small, fearful, stubborn son what would give him joy. So does our Heavenly Father. Whenever I have resisted Him, I have cheated myself, as my little brother did. Whenever I have yielded, I have found joy.-e.e.

So, I had a new thought this morning...well, maybe not a new thought, but at least a better Formed, better Informed one. Selfishness/self-seeking directly correlates with not trusting God. The result? God will often times let us have our way, but in the end we will be unsatisfied. The opposite of that is unselfishness/surrender which correlates with trusting God. The result? God will take our interests into His hands. He will take care of us. You would think that knowing that truth would make us never want to take things into our own hands again, but no, like foolish children we often grab for control again and again! God is so kind and patient with us though. I am hoping to continue grow in trusting God and giving all to Him...He always knows the best time to give and the best gifts to give.

“If you will devote yourself to God,

as making a sacrifice of all your own interests to him,

you will not throw yourself away.

Though you seem to neglect yourself and to deny yourself,

and to overlook self in imitating the divine benevolence,

GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU;

and He will see to it that your interest is provided for,

and your welfare made sure…

If you are selfish,

and make yourself and your own private interests your idol,

God will leave you to yourself

and let you promote your interests as well as you can.

But if you do not selfishly seek your own,

but do seek the things that are Jesus Christ’s,

and the things of your fellow-beings,

then God will make your interests and happiness his own charge, and

He is infinitely more able to provide for and promote it than you are.”
-jonathan edwards