THE CONCATENATION OF GRACES, in their birth, growth, and decay 1/2

Note.  The sanctifying saving graces of God’s Spirit are linked inseparably together; there is a con­nection of them one to the other, and that in their birth, growth, and decay.

           First Connection.  In their birth.  Where one sanctifying grace is, the rest are all to be found in its company.  It is not so in common gifts and graces. These are parcelled out like the gifts Abraham bestowed on the children he had by his concubines, Gen. 25:6.  One hath this gift, another hath that, none hath all.  He that hath a gift of knowledge may want a gift of utterance, and so of the rest.  But sanctifying graces are like the inheritance he gave to Isaac; every true believer hath them all given him.  ‘He that is in Christ is a new creature.’  And, ‘Behold all things are be­come new,’ II Cor. 5:17.  Now, the new creature con­tains all.  As natural corruption is a universal princi­ple of all sin, that sours the whole lump of man’s na­ture; so is sanctifying grace an universal principle, that sweetly seasons and renews the whole man at once, though not wholly.  Grace comes, saith one, into the soul, as the soul into the body at once.  In­deed, it grows by steps, but is born at once.  The new creature hath all its parts formed together, though not its degrees.  Some one grace may, we confess, be per­ceived to stir, and so come under the Christian’s notice, before another.  He may feel his fear of God putting forth itself in a holy trembling, and awe upon his spirit, at the thoughts of God, before he sees his faith in the fiduciary recumbency of his soul upon God; yet the one grace is not in its production before the other.  One part of the world hath been discov­ered to us long after the other; yet all the world was made together.  Now this connection of graces in their birth is of double use.

1. Use.  To relieve the sincere Christian when in doubt of his gracious state, because some one grace which he inquires for, cannot at present be discerned in his soul by him.  Possibly it is faith thou hast been looking for, and it is not at any hand to be heard of. Well, Christian, do not presently unsaint thyself till thou hast made further trial of thyself.  Send out therefore thy spies to search for some other grace—as thy love to Christ; may be thou wilt hear some tidings of this grace, though the other is not in view.  Hath not thy love to God and Christ been seen by thee in such a temptation, chasing it away with Joseph’s answer to his wanton mistress, ‘How...can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?’  Yea, mayest thou not see it all the day long, either in thy sincere care to please him, or hearty sorrow when thou hast done anything that grieves him? in which two veins run the life‑blood of a soul’s love to Christ.  Now, know to thy comfort, that thy love can tell thee news of thy faith.  As Christ said in another case, ‘He that hath seen me hath seen my Father,’ John 14:9; so say I to thee, ‘Thou that hast seen thy love to Christ, hast seen thy faith in the face of thy love.’

      

I had a complete different post in mind for this morning. But this devotion today stirred my memory and all the emotions that I went through along with all the benefits that come with having the resurrection of Christ being imparted to your soul.

This post is not about sharing with you all that I have experienced with God. If you are used to reading me, you know that I am one of those weirdos that God has chosen to reveal Himself left, right and center. Sometimes, my soul is so swollen with gratitude toward Him for having dealt with me in this way, that if I do not cry and let it out; it feels as if I am going to burst because there is no more room within me to contain my emotions. I don’t know why He chose to deal with me that way and honour me with His glory, except that I have a spot in my heart for this great God and I am nuts about Him. There is also the fact that I am the biggest simpleton you will ever be given the opportunity to know. Because of my simple mind, I do not have the capacity (not enough intellect) to complicate what God ask of me. People like me are major challenge for Satan.  Make no mistake, my gratitude toward Him comes from the fact that I know how much “I am nothing” and I so wish you could see my heart.

This Devotion brought back some sad memories of people who are the pillars of a big Church. Each of them have been Christians for more than 50 years, yet felt the need to mock me when I told them that God asked me to surrender all. I remember going through the whole Bible trying to find one little verse where God literally said Christians have to surrender. I wanted to prove to them that my revelation was not made up. Unfortunately, I did not find anything that could not be refuted by them. So, I decided to keep silent and cherished God’s revelation about the need to surrender, I kept praying that He would help me understand even though I felt I was standing alone.

I decided this post today for two reasons. First, I am still sad these leaders who are responsible for thousands of souls in a very flourishing Church, could be so ignorant of God, while they have no idea. If anything they think they have so much to teach others. I still remember how everyone bought into the idea that they are so spiritual and so mature, they are considered as “father of the faith;” just thinking about them and all those that are following blindly, cause me a lot of sadness.

Before I tell you about the second reason for this post, I need to share this. For the past few weeks, I have no idea why, but I have been living this thing that feels like a dream. But, since I am not sleeping and I am going about daily chores and businesses as usual, it is strange to feel as if you are dreaming when you are not sleeping. It is as if God is feeding my spiritual brain and I can see it with my spiritual eyes. It’s all happening right in front of my eyes, outside of me. I hope you can understand what I just said. Two things that I keep seeing over and over again, is that the Bible is becoming so big to me. But, strangely the only thing that I keep taking out of it is the surrender process that God wants of us.

Now, if we go back to the life I am living in the flesh, we find that every day that I read the Bible, every chapter; every verse is filled with the surrender process. As the matter of fact, last week I was reading the Bible and suddenly I said “what the H--- E--- double hockey sticks” (I know sometimes I have a potty mouth, but I am truly ‘work in progress’.) I put my Bible down and I could not read further because I realized all of the sudden from the Old Testament to the New Testament, full surrender to God is plastered all over. I could see, it’s implied everywhere in each verse. It was basically too much for me.

Today, as I was reading April 11^th Devotion from Oswald Chambers, I became conscious of one important thing. Most people write or talk to other Christian by telling them to make a decision. When we say to a Christian ‘making a decision’ it seems like we are inviting them to work harder for their salvation, which does not work well with most Christians and this subject of working for our salvation is very controversial out there. I, too, am guilty of it. I keep telling people to make the decision to go to God. Make the decision to be done away with sin. Make the decision to want to get to know Him etc. Personally, I do not think I will change my way of phrasing these things.

Today, God took me back to my decision of being done away with sin. He took me back to when I found out I was identified with Christ and life was injected into my old dry bones, then He took me back to when I first met with God, the father while I was ‘inside’ Christ. He highlighted those words for me in the devotion book

• And once I decide that my “old man 

• Paul’s writings is that after the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made 

• Once I have made that important decision about sin,

Then He said to me did you truly make a decision or where you living the surrendered life? There is so much to this sentence that I have to stop

I am stopping there because as I am writing, I am still on cloud nine with all that I am living out inside me. I also know how important this bit that I shared requires spiritual insight to get through and become your core being. I am going to let you ponder all, on your own, be still before Him. Be sincere in your need to find His heart. Go with an open mind, not with a mind already filled with what you know. Be nothing before Him!  Also, be open to accept, and do His will. Ask Him to put indignation in your heart, for living a half baked Christianity. Ask Him to make Himself real to you. Go to His loving and outstretched arms, He is waiting and willing. Are you willing? Don’t just believe in God, but choose to believe Him… My dear brothers and sisters these are two separate things.

I love you all,

MJ 

Complete and Effective Divinity

Courtesy of: http://utmost.org/

04

11

2014

If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . . —Romans 6:5

Co-Resurrection. The proof that I have experienced crucifixion with Jesus is that I have a definite likeness to Him. The Spirit of Jesus entering me rearranges my personal life before God. The resurrection of Jesus has given Him the authority to give the life of God to me, and the experiences of my life must now be built on the foundation of His life. I can have the resurrection life of Jesus here and now, and it will exhibit itself through holiness.

The idea all through the apostle Paul’s writings is that after the decision to be identified with Jesus in His death has been made, the resurrection life of Jesus penetrates every bit of my human nature. It takes the omnipotence of God— His complete and effective divinity— to live the life of the Son of God in human flesh. The Holy Spirit cannot be accepted as a guest in merely one room of the house— He invades all of it. And once I decide that my “old man” (that is, my heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything. My part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals to me. Once I have made that important decision about sin, it is easy to “reckon” that I am actually “dead indeed to sin,” because I find the life of Jesus in me all the time (Romans 6:11). Just as there is only one kind of humanity, there is only one kind of holiness— the holiness of Jesus. And it is His holiness that has been given to me. God puts the holiness of His Son into me, and I belong to a new spiritual order.

“It Is A Bad Thing To Be Satisfied Spiritually”

I read this sentence from Oswald Chambers devotional today. The idea behind his devotional is about God teaching us patience. Patience is the fruit of the Spirit and the other name often used to describe patience is long-suffering. Whether you say patience or long-suffering this fruit of the Spirit is not only essential in our Christian walk, but when you learn patience it brings endurance and it also says that you are not devoted to yourself or your idea of who God is, but you are devoted to the true God. It says that you now have true faith instead of having faith in your own belief. Believe it or not it makes a big difference because faith in our own belief never brings God close. The gift of patience conveys a steadfast walk with God.

 “It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually” In this small sentence there are two things to consider. One is being satisfied inwardly and the second one is the key word “spiritually” we cannot leave out this key word. Many Christians equate being satisfied with their Christian walk as in “working for God.” While some get involved in serving more in the Church and some actually go on their own without having the vision from Him, or if they have had the vision they did not wait for God, but instead, went ahead of God to realize the vision by creating opportunities for themselves. None of these things bring spiritual satisfaction. Spiritual satisfaction comes from pursuing God in a steadfast walk.

It is sad to be satisfied with less, when the God that we possess inwardly is so small. If your God is small, then you need to understand that you are not in God’s will because His will for you is to have Him in abundance. One of the most common things that cause us to live the Christian life with a miniature God in mind is that we are lazy. This laziness that I mentioned several times in different posts, is not something that one should be insulted when reading it. This laziness, even the most devoted Christians have to struggle to get out of this frame of mind to get hold of God. It forces us to get into the habit of doing Christianity while inwardly we are idle.

Many times, we have to bring ourselves up and struggle to keep cultivating the mind and heart and be willing to grasp more of God. Over the years I have come to understand not only we have to wait for God’s vision to take shape in our lives, to let Him prepare us for service whether here or in heaven; we also have to keep the vision of God every day of our lives to help us reach over and above what we know and understand. To keep grasping for more means we have to commit it all to God. We learn to commit to let Him be the Master in this relationship as we yield to Him. These things I mentioned in this paragraph alone, when you set out to do them, you will find it is easier to work for Him 365 days a year with no rest and no sleep, than to live out this kind of commitment to Him. Unfortunately unless we learn to grasp with our mind and heart through an unwavering commitment to Him through patience, then, intimacy with God will always be one more unattainable thing in the Christian life.  

I learned through the years, this command in James 4:8 “Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.” It is of the utmost importance because it keeps us close, it keeps our mind sharp even when life is totally foggy and God is nowhere to be found. It keeps us alert so the enemy cannot get the opportunity to invade our camp. It keeps us where we need to be as soldiers of His. Through the pursuit of intimacy, we are sustained in Him and it keeps us consistent in our constancy. It also helps us to remain connected inwardly to Him when laziness set in. So, we can't afford to be satisfied spiritually because as we do, we forfeit all while Satan is having a feast at our expenses.

Some of us are wasting time every day finding comfort in one verse or two and we high five other people we say Amen and we feel good. While it is good to keep the verses in our hearts but ask yourself, how has God’s Word changed me inwardly lately?  You want to make sure you go a step further than Satan and his legion of demons, by letting the Word of God changes you.

If you are not aware that the Word of God is having His way in you, then who is? Let go of your mini God and get hold of a God that is so big, so powerful, so majestic, and so sovereign that the universe is not big enough to contain Him. Can you see Him? Can you get hold with your mind and your heart of this God that is so humongous that He holds the whole universe in His hands? Let this God be yours and embrace Him with your heart. Go forth with one goal in mind “to make Him yours” and do not stop on your way, do not be content with what you have of Him. When you truly fall in love with God, you really do not care what’s in it for you. Calvary is already plenty. Please consider surrendering your whole life once again, dedicate all that you are for His glory. Ask Him to teach you how to keep your heart and mind open to Him and let Him have His ways in each itsy bitty part of you. He is your father, He loves you and there is no reason to fear the unknown with Him. He will be delighted and He will delight you in return.

It is okay to have fear of surrendering your all to Him, but it is not okay to let your fear cripple you to the point where you rather learn to be spiritually satisfied with less of Him. Stop repeating verses after verses of how much He loves you but prove it to Him that you truly believe His Word by surrendering your all. By passing your fear to surrender to Him because you believe He truly loves you, would be an example of the work of your faith in Him, a work pleasing to Him.

We are soldiers of the Cross, let’s not be lazy or the enemy will invade the camp!

Here Is Oswald's Devotional

The Patience To Wait for the Vision

05

02

2013

Though it tarries, wait for it . . . —Habakkuk 2:3

Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “. . . he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.

“Though it tarries, wait for it . . . .” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord . . . ? I will take up the cup of salvation . . .” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . .” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation

The Need To Have The Eyes Of Our Heart Opened

Paul was proud of the Ephesians and how well they were doing. He felt they were doing so well that he could now reveal much more of the Christian life and the inheritance they were called into as adopted heirs. The Ephesians letters covered both encouragement and hope at the same time they displayed his pride. The pride I am referring to here is not the one that destroys us but rather his pride came from the joy of knowing that they stood firm in the midst of the commercial metropolitan area of Asia where there was so much corruption and idol worshipers. In fact, the temple of Diana dominated the ancient Ephesus. So between the cults there, the pagan religions, the worship of the goddess Diana and living in a place that was the financial foundation of Ephesus, one has to wonder how the Christians managed to hang on so tightly to God.

Since Paul stayed in Ephesus for about two years until he was ousted by Diana’s worshipers, he knew exactly what was going on and how difficult it must have been for the Christians to flourish in spite of it all. So, we see in the first chapter of the Ephesians books, Paul prayed that the eyes of their heart would be opened. I want to draw your attention to two things: the fact that he knew the eyes of their hearts were not opened yet and also he knew, needed to be opened. This is not something reserved to just the apostles to know, and it is basic spiritual Christianity.

We are told in Matthew 6:22 that the eye is the instrument by which we see. But, we do not truly get this verse to the fullest until it happens to us. There is nothing secular about it and no matter how we spin it, we will never have the fullness of what the apostle was saying until we get to the spiritual component that makes up the statement. Simply put, when the eyes of your heart opens up, you own your Christianity, because you can see deeper within. I have to be careful here. I do not want anyone to see anything mystical like the non Christian religions where they believe in man-made or Satan's enlightenment. Ours comes from a real God who is the father of Jesus-Christ and One with Him.  

Spiritually speaking, Christianity is about dealing with an invisible but very much alive God. It is about dealing with Christ who has died, resurrected by the Father and ascended into heaven. It is about dealing with the Holy Spirit an entity that we cannot see, yet He is to lead our lives to make us a “little christ.” It is about a life lived very much in the spirit. It is about the transformation of our souls. When you grasp all these things with your heart and believe through your actions that this life is about demolition of the old life and construction of the new life by the Holy Spirit, then you understand how important it is to have the eyes of the heart opened so that we can deal with what can only be seen and understood through the spiritual eyes. It makes sense that at this stage of the Ephesians's walk with God that Paul prayed for them to have this much needed gift. It also makes sense that God feels the need to equip those who are firm in the faith and take away the guessing work as to what is the truth from His sets of standards.   

It is strange when you get there, the very first thing you see is the difference between those who have never been enlightened and still doing Christianity with much zeal and ignorance. You can also see those who have actually left the feeble understanding of things to grab onto God for everything that He has promised and planned for us for the Christian life here and after. 

When my spiritual eyes opened the very first thing that I saw was one of the prominent leaders of my Church, after fifty years or so of Christianity, hasn't even begun to getting there. It is a moment that is etched in my heart and I still remember the sadness as I observed what could only be seen with spiritual eyes. One of the things that make such awareness harder is that you cannot share what you know even with that person or anyone else for that matter. The gift comes pre-packaged with the knowledge that you cannot blurb it out.

I got to that stage in my walk with Him, within eight years of Christianity. It is just a growth process. But seven years ago, I did not know it was just some sort of intermediate growth. You are no longer a baby in the faith but you are nowhere near being a seasoned Christian either. It is spiritually apprehended. So, it makes sense if we are doing Christianity or living a man-made Christianity we are not in a position of grace, to apprehend it. That’s all.

With the eyes of the heart opened, this is how we perceive the truth and we understand it. So, it is about a spiritual life that needs to be seen and understood from His standards, just so that we can follow hard after Him.

Spiritual Plateau Part 2

On Tuesday December 11, 2012, I wrote a post title spiritual plateau. Today, as I was reading Oswald Chambers January 15, 2013, I knew all along one the main ingredients to avoid spiritual plateau is to know the meaning in the depth of your soul, what it means to have gone to your own funeral and learn to walk in white.

The reasons I did not want to elaborate on the post further is because it was already long enough and the second reason is that this very subject will be included in one of my upcoming books and the title will be a good indication to you. So, today I felt led by the Spirit to finish what I started.

The end result of not going to your own spiritual funeral will cause this spiritual plateau where the Holy Spirit cannot move an inch in us anymore because, the next step that is needed to continue the work has not been taken by us. God always brings us to places where, not choosing to embrace our own funeral causes us to be in our depth in disobedience. We do have the right to take other paths, but it remains exactly what it is in the eyes of God. We are forced to build on the religion of man or like the Israelites we live like those who never made it out of the wilderness because they never apprehended more of God according to His standards.

Sometimes we have refused the path He presented to us on so many occasions that we do not even realize anymore that we are not walking with Him and we have left Him behind to do our own things. As we live this life, we ought to examine ourselves and if we keep moving sideways, no matter how good it feels and look, know that something is wrong because true Christianity, and a true child of His keeps going forward. 

One of the ways to know you are moving sideways: the depth of spiritual things and intimacy with God evade you. They remain things you read through other people!

Do You Walk In White?

01

15

2013

We were buried with Him . . . that just as Christ was raised from the dead . . . even so we also should walk in newness of life —Romans 6:4

No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a “white funeral”-the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream. There must be a “white funeral,” a death with only one resurrection-a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can defeat a life like this. It has oneness with God for only one purpose— to be a witness for Him.

Have you really come to your last days? You have often come to them in your mind, but have you really experienced them? You cannot die or go to your funeral in a mood of excitement. Death means you stop being. You must agree with God and stop being the intensely striving kind of Christian you have been. We avoid the cemetery and continually refuse our own death. It will not happen by striving, but by yielding to death. It is dying— being “baptized into His death” (Romans 6:3).

Have you had your “white funeral,” or are you piously deceiving your own soul? Has there been a point in your life which you now mark as your last day? Is there a place in your life to which you go back in memory with humility and overwhelming gratitude, so that you can honestly proclaim, “Yes, it was then, at my ’white funeral,’ that I made an agreement with God.”

“This is the will of God, your sanctification . . .” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Once you truly realize this is God’s will, you will enter into the process of sanctification as a natural response. Are you willing to experience that “white funeral” now? Will you agree with Him that this is your last day on earth? The moment of agreement depends on you.

Courtesy of: http://utmost.org/

Your Spiritual Life Matters To God!

LEARN TO GROW SPIRITUALLY IN HIM IN SPITE OF OTHERS

DEVOTION

Jeremiah 15:10.

Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

Some people call Jeremiah crying baby, I guess it is the lack of understanding what it means to be truly called by God. While He is training you there is also a call in your soul to leave the self behind. You do not leave the self behind without humiliation to your soul and the pain of standing alone. You also have to learn to wait for God on God and in God. There is desolation in the soul that is felt on the outside.

When He is having His way with your soul in order to use you as an empty vessel, you will groan under the heavy burden of carrying His Word out there so other people might be revived. You groan for the spiritual blindness of the people around you, in the Church and in the world. Even though you experience Him up close and personal but the time span He talks to you is so far in between. We have examples in the Bible, people like David we can see that at times, in his psalms, he was going on with no spiritual strength at all. The same situation with Paul, God had to send His angels on three occasions to comfort him. Therefore, it is hard to hang onto what you know for sure is His faithfulness to you, His love and grace that has been innumerable while the sorrow of your mind being tried, your heart being pierced, and you are trying to avoid Satan’s fiery darts all at the same time.

When you think about how young Jeremiah was, his lack of experience and the weight of his mission on his shoulders, it makes sense that he had a hard time. Through the process, while God was using Him to help and warn his people, He also refined this young man. The hatred Jeremiah had to endure from his people, the persecution, trials and hardships; all would take its toll on a weary soul. I have no doubt that at times, Jeremiah wished he could convince his people that he was telling the truth and he would have killed two birds with the same stone. First they would change their ways and they would stop hating him for disturbing their comfort zone. But, such is this life. When you are walking close with God, you have to come to a point where you know that you know what you know and that is sufficient to continue in spite of how other people feel about you. Whether you are able to convince others so they would join you in walking in the light is not the priority. Nor being vindicated in this life. You have to know for yourself that God already knew the outcome and using you in this manner serve a purpose that is higher that what you can comprehend.

While Jeremiah was feeling overwhelmed by what his ministry had brought his way, God kept applying pressure on Jeremiah and his people. God cares how we answer to Him when we get overwhelmed by our burden. The challenge for us is to remain in the Spirit so we do not have to be crushed in our soul because in our weakness, He is strong. So we learn to depend on Him for our need moment by moment.

PRAY

My God and my Savior, teach us to always find our strength in you and leave behind the need to please others and be accepted by them. You Yourself was misunderstood, rejected, ridiculed, tortured and killed. All of it was for our own good. So teach us to learn to live in this world and make it solely about you like You did with Your Father.

In His Love & Service, 
M. J 

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