Faith - Spiritual Knowledge - Part 3

December 8, 1775

My Dear Friend,

...Your comment on the seventh to the Romans, latter part, contradicts my feelings. You are either of a different make and nature from me, or else you are not rightly apprised of your own state, if you do not find the apostle's complaint very suitable to yourself. I believe it applicable to the most holy Christian upon earth. But controversies of this kind are worn thread-bare. When you speak of the spiritual part of a natural man, it sounds to me like the living part of a dead man, or the seeing part of a blind man. Paul tells me that the natural man (whatever his spiritual part may be) can neither receive nor discern the things of God. What the apostle speaks of himself, Rom. vii. is no more, when rightly understood, than what he affirms of all who are partakers of a spiritual life, or who are true believers, Gal. V.

17. The carnal natural mind is enmity against God, not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. When you subjoin, "Till it be set at liberty from the law of sin," you do not comment upon the text, but make an addition of your own, which the text will by no means bear. The carnal mind is enmity. An enemy may be reconciled: but enmity itself is incurable. This carnal mind, natural man, old man, flesh, for the expressions are all equivalent, and denote, and include, the heart of man as he is by nature, may be crucified, must be mortified, but cannot be sanctified. All that is good or gracious is the effect of a new creation, a supernatural principle, wrought in the heart by the Gospel of Christ, and the agency of His Spirit; and till that is effected, the to uyhlongggkk, the highest attainment, the finest qualifications in man, however they may exalt him in his own eyes, or recommend him to the notice of his fellow-worms, are but abomination in the sight of God, Luke xvi.15.

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The Gospel is calculated and designed to stain the pride of human glory. It is provided, not for the wise and the righteous, for those who think they have good dispositions and good works, to plead, but for the guilty, the helpless, the wretched, for those who are ready to perish; it fills the hungry with good things, but it sends the rich empty away. See Rev. iii. 17, 18.

You ask, If man can do nothing without an extraordinary impulse from on high, is he to sit still and careless? By no means: I am far from saying, Man can do nothing, though I believe he cannot open his own eyes, or give himself faith. I wish every man to abstain carefully from sinful company and sinful actions, to read the Bible, to pray to God for His heavenly teaching. For this waiting upon God he has a moral ability; and, if he persevere thus in seeking, the promise is sure, that he shall not seek in vain. But I would not have him mistake the means for the end; think himself good because he is preserved from gross vices and follies, or trust to his religious course of duties for acceptance, nor be satisfied till Christ be revealed in him, formed within him, dwell in his heart by faith, and till he can say, upon good grounds, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me."

 I need not tell you these are Scriptural expressions; I am persuaded, if they were not, they would be exploded by many as unintelligible jargon. True faith, my dear Sir, unites the soul to Christ, and thereby gives access to God, and fills it with a peace passing understanding, a hope, a joy unspeakable, and full of glory; teaches us that we are weak in ourselves, but enables us to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might to those who thus believe, Christ is precious-their beloved; they hear and know His voice; the very sound of His name gladdens their hearts, and He manifests Himself to them as He does not to the world. Thus the Scriptures speak, thus the first Christians experienced; and this is precisely the language which, in our days, is despised as enthusiasm and folly. 

For it is now as it was then; though these things are revealed to babes, and they are as sure of them as that they see the noon-day sun, they are hidden from the wise and prudent, till the Lord makes them willing to renounce their own wisdom, and to become fools, that they may be truly wise, I Cor. i. 18, 19; iii. 8; viii. 2. Attention to the education of children is an undoubted duty; and it is a mercy when it so far succeeds as to preserve them from gross wickedness; but it will not change the heart. They who receive Christ are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God, John i. 13.

If a man professes to love the Lord Jesus, I am willing to believe him, if he does not give me proof to the contrary; but I am sure, at the same time, no one can love Him in the Scriptural sense, who does not know the need and the worth of a Saviour; in other words, who is not brought, as a ruined, helpless sinner, to live upon Him for wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. They who love Him thus, will speak highly of Him, and acknowledge that He is their all in all. And they who thus love Him, and speak of Him, will get little thanks for their pains in such a world as this:- "All that live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution: the world that hated Him will hate them." 

And though it is possible, by His grace, to put to silence, in some measure, the ignorance of foolish men; and though His providence can protect His people, so that not a hair of their heads can be hurt, without His permission; yet the world will show their teeth, if they are not allowed to bite. The apostles were accounted babblers, and wV perikaJarmata tou kosmou egenhJhmen pantwn periyhma (we are become as the garbage of the world and the offscouring of all things, 1 Cor. 4:13). I need not point out to you the force of these expressions. We are no better than the apostles; nor have we reason to expect much better treatment, so far as we walk in their steps.

Faith - Spiritual Knowledge - Part 2

......You sent me a sermon upon the new birth, or regeneration, and you have several of mine on the same subject. I wish you to compare them with each other, and with the Scripture; and I pray God to show you wherein the difference consists, and on which side the truth lies.

When you desire me to reconcile God's being the author of sin with His justice, you show that you misunderstand the whole strain of my sentiments; for I am persuaded you would not misrepresent them. It is easy to charge harsh consequences, which I neither allow, nor, indeed, do they follow from my sentiments. God cannot be the author of sin in that sense you would fix upon me: but is it possible that, upon your plan, you find no difficulty in what the Scripture teaches us upon this subject? 

I conceive that those who were concerned in the death of Christ were very great sinners; and that, in nailing Him to the cross, they committed atrocious wickedness: yet, if the apostle may be believed, all this was according to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, Acts ii. 28; and they did no more than what His hand and purpose had determined should be done, chap. iv. 28. And, you will observe, that this wicked act (wicked with respect to the perpetrators) was not only permitted, but foreordained in the strongest and most absolute sense of the word: the glory of God, and the salvation of men depended upon its being done, and just in that manner, and with all those circumstances, which actually took place; and yet Judas and the rest acted freely, and their wickedness was properly their own.

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Now, my friend, the arguments which satisfy you, that the Scripture does not present God as the author of this sin, in this appointment, will plead for me at the same time; and when you think you easily overcome me by asking, "Can God be the author of sin?" your imputation falls as directly upon the Word of God Himself. God is no more the author of sin, than the sun is the cause of ice; but it is in the nature of water to congeal into ice, when the sun's influence is suspended to a certain degree. So there is sin enough in the hearts of men to make the earth the very image of hell, and to prove that men are no better than incarnate devils were He to suspend His influence and restraint. Sometimes, and, in some instances, He is pleased to suspend it considerably; and, so far as He does, human nature quickly appears in its true colours. Objections of this kind have been repeated and refuted before either you or I were born; and the apostle evidently supposes they would be urged against His doctrine, when he obviates the question, Why doth He yet find fault? Who hath resisted His will? To which he gives no other answer than by referring it to God's sovereignty and the power which a potter has over the clay.

I think I have, in a former letter, made some reply to the charge of positiveness in my own opinion. I acknowledge that I am fallible; yet I must again lay claim to a certainty about the way of salvation. I am as sure of some things as of my own existence; I should be so, if there was no human creature upon earth but myself. However, my sentiments are confirmed by the suffrages of thousands who have lived before me, of many with whom I have personally conversed in different places and circumstances, unknown to each other; yet all have received the same views, because taught by the same Spirit. And I have, likewise, been greatly confirmed by the testimony of many with whom I have conversed in their dying hours.

 I have seen them rejoicing in the prospect of death, free from fears, breathing the air of immortality: heartily disclaiming their duties and performances acknowledging that their best actions were attended with evil sufficient to condemn them: renouncing every shadow of hope, but what they derived from the blood of Christ, as the sole cause of their acceptance; yet triumphing in Him over every enemy and fear, and as sure of Heaven as if they were already there. And such were the apostle's hopes, wholly founded on knowing whom He had believed, and his persuasion of His ability to keep that which he had committed unto Him. 

This is faith; a renouncing of every thing we are apt to call our own, and relying wholly upon the blood, righteousness, and intercession of Jesus. However, I cannot communicate this my certainty to you; I only tell you there is such a thing, in hopes, if you do not think I willfully lie both to God and man, you will be earnest to seek it from Him, who bestowed it on me, and who will bestow it upon all who will sincerely apply to Him, and patiently wait upon Him for it.

I cannot but wonder, that while you profess to believe the depravity of human nature, you should speak of good qualities inherent in it. The word of God describes it as evil, only evil, and that continually. That there are such qualities as stoics and infidels call virtue, I allow. God has not left man destitute of such dispositions as are necessary to the peace of society; but I deny there is any moral goodness in them, unless they are founded in a supreme love to God, have His glory for their aim, and are produced by faith in Jesus Christ. A man may give all his goods to feed the poor, and his body to be burned, in zeal for the truth, and yet be a mere nothing, a tinkling cymbal, in the sight of Him who seeth, not as man seeth, but judgeth the heart. 

Many infidels and avowed enemies to the grace and Gospel of Christ, have made a fair show of what the world calls virtue, but Christian virtue is grace, the effect of a new nature and new life; and works thus wrought in God, are as different from the faint partial imitations of them which fallen nature is capable of producing, as a living man is from a statue. A statue may express the features and lineaments of the person whom it represents, but there is no life.

The Spirit Of Supplication

By Andrew Murray

"I will pour upon the house of David… the Spirit of grace and of supplications" (Zech. 12:10).

"The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: But the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:26-27).

The Holy Spirit is a Spirit of prayer. He was promised as a "Spirit of grace and supplication," the grace for supplication. Prayer is the breathing of the Spirit in us; power in prayer comes from the power of the Spirit in us, waited on and trusted in. Failure in prayer comes from feebleness of the Spirit’s work in us. Our prayer is the index of the measure of the Spirit’s work in us. To pray aright, the life of the Spirit must be right in us. For praying the effectual, much-availing prayer of the righteous man, everything depends on being full of the Spirit.

Three Lessons in Being Taught to Pray by the Spirit

1. Believe that the Spirit dwells in you (Eph. 1:13). Deep in the inmost recesses of his being, hidden and unfelt, every child of God has the holy, mighty Spirit of God dwelling in him. He knows it by faith, the faith that accepts God’s Word and realizes that of which he sees as yet no sign.

When we quietly believe that in the midst of all our conscious weakness, the Holy Spirit as a Spirit of supplication is dwelling within us for the very purpose of enabling us to pray in such manner and measure as God would have us, our hearts will be filled with hope. We shall be strengthened in the assurance which lies at the very root of a happy and fruitful Christian life, that God has made an abundant provision for our being what He wants us to be. We shall begin to lose our sense of burden and fear and discouragement about our ever praying sufficiently because we see that the Holy Spirit Himself will pray and is praying in us.

2. Beware above everything of grieving the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30). If you do, how can He work in you the quiet, trustful, and blessed sense of that union with Christ which makes your prayers well pleasing to the Father? Beware of grieving Him by sin, by unbelief, by selfishness, by unfaithfulness to His voice in conscience, etc. Do not consider it impossible to obey the command, "Grieve not the Spirit." He Himself is the very power of God to make you obedient. The sin that comes up in you against your will, the tendency to sloth or pride or self-will or passion that rises in the flesh, your will can at once reject in the power of the Spirit. Cast your sin upon Christ and His blood, and your communion with God is immediately restored.

Accept each day the Holy Spirit as your leader and life and strength. You can count upon Him to do in your heart all that ought to be done there. The unseen and unfelt One, but known by faith, gives there the love and the faith and the power of obedience you need. He reveals Christ unseen within you as actually your life and strength. Grieve not the Holy Spirit by distrusting Him because you do not feel His presence in you.

3. "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph. 5:18). While some rest content with a small measure of the Spirit’s working, it is God’s will that we should be filled with the Spirit. Our whole being ought to be entirely yielded up to the Holy Spirit to be possessed and controlled by Him alone. We may count upon and expect the Holy Spirit to take possession and fill us. If we have seen that prayer is the great need of our work and of the Church, if we have desired or resolved to pray more, let us turn to the very source of all power and blessing – let us believe that the Spirit of prayer, even in His fullness is for us.

It is to the Father we pray, and from whom we expect the answer. It is in the merit and name and life of the Son as we abide in Him and He in us, that we trust to be heard. But have we understood that in the Holy Trinity all the Three Persons have an equal place in prayer and that the faith in the Holy Spirit of intercession as praying in us is as indispensable as the faith in the Father and the Son? As much as prayer must be to the Father and through the Son, it must be by the Spirit. It is only as we give ourselves to the Spirit living and praying in us that the glory of the prayer-hearing God and the ever-blessed and most effectual mediation of the Son can be known by us in their power. 

Gifts of Discernment and Wisdom

I have received emails asking me the difference between the gift of Discernment and Wisdom and read those who actually do not have the gift of discernment but trying very hard to conjure it up. So, I have decided to Blog about it and I am taking part of an answer I sent to a sister in Christ in response to her email. So, if you are reading this post you know who you are.

Wisdom:

The gift of wisdom gives you insight into God’s purpose and will and shows you how to resolve the everyday problem for you and for other people. It goes without saying that you are resolving them according to the Holy Spirit’s guidance and God’s will. Mind you Solomon squandered it and solved problems apart from God as he followed after other gods. However, we can have wisdom without the gift of discernment, because the gift of discernment goes further, but we cannot have the gift of discernment without wisdom

Discernment:

Consists of what people calls word of knowledge, it also comprises distinguishing amongst spirits etc. While some people separate them, the Holy Spirit taught me they are one in the same because what we are doing is seeing through others with the very eyes of the Holy Spirit. As we grow in the Lord and walk with Him daily, the gift keeps growing as well. We have insight into the purpose and the will of God about us and other people. We can see their motives, sometimes even their thoughts etc. We really have insight on people and things that only God would know.

What makes this gift hard to live with is that you can have a friend who is very happy about an assignment for example. He or she is over the moon thinking that he is going to serve the Lord in some capacity. While he or she is over the moon with joy, you cannot tell your friend that this is actually dead works. Yet, you cannot lie and say “well I am happy for you” Another example is that you are not a leader, yet you can see all the pastor is doing wrong like being out of God’s will, totally not walking in the Spirit and the preaching does not have God in it, etc. Yet, you are forced to say nothing except praying for this pastor, you are to find the strength to keep on going there until God calls you out.

I knew a Church where the leaders got into a major conflict, yet God showed me what He was trying to achieve through this conflict in each group and it did not work because both groups were disobedient and their ego got the best of them. Even today, I am still in pain for these leaders doing Christianity with their ego right in the middle of it. Yet, I am supposed to keep it all for myself.  With all my heart, sometimes I wish I could shut if off just for a little while just to be me.  

God gave me my gift of discernment since I was a baby in the faith. Imagine being in the Church and God seemed to take away everyone, as if they disappeared, all of the sudden He singled out one of the leaders and point out things this person would never want anyone in the Church to know. (Believe it or not he is a nice guy) When He kept insisting on showing me week after week, my question to Him was “why you keep showing me that?” I did not have intimacy with God, nor did I know how to converse with the Holy Spirit. He gradually taught me and He also gave me proof that it was Him by forcing me to go to someone one a Sunday after service and told this person this is what God told me to pray for you. There were five other mature Christians there, and we were all in a circle. Everyone could not believe what they were hearing because they knew the man on a personal level and they asked me how I knew these things about him. I just replied like an idiot, “I don’t know, God just told me” and I laughed.

After I was in the wilderness for a few years with the Lord, He was breaking my stiff neck and changes me on the inside to transform me, one day, the Holy Spirit told me that He had given me the gift of discernment. What was strange to me was the fact that He waited so long to confirm that He had given to me the gift of discernment, yet He told me about my gift of Wisdom when I was approximately seven years in my walk with Him. I realized what He was doing all this time was training me to know how to use the gift of discernment and also testing me to see if I could be trusted with the gift.

I have never researched the gift up until approximately two years ago. I did it because I wanted to understand something God was not telling me which was “why me?”  I am not a leader and I am no one. – A few weeks after I started researching the gift, I could not get any answers at all and I was a little bit discouraged. Then suddenly, during my quiet time with Him one morning, the Holy Spirit made clear why, by telling me about my ministry and made it clear that my gift was mainly for my ministry. Guess what my ministry is? Working with people He puts in my path, people that have been in the church for a long time but never made it to truly become Christians. These people have lots of bible knowledge, they participate in Church services, Bible study etc. They are nice and very often intelligent and extremely educated people that we interact with day in day out yet they have never gone one step forward with God in their heart.

In my ministry I found it is extremely important that I know whether this person has ever received Salvation through an encounter with God or this person has had an encounter with God but is plainly disobedient with a stubborn heart with dull conscience, etc. Both types are difficult to work with, both type do not want to hear it.  

I find that He also blocks people that He does not want me to see. Sometimes He blocks someone He wants to use in my life, someone like a leader, and then unblock them once He finished using them.  I find it strange that some people are trying so hard to have the gift, because, when He showed me how I was going to be hated, misunderstood, misjudged etc because of my ministry, I sobbed like a baby for hours and asked Him to take it away. But, I got over it, knowing that it is not about me but about my God and I am not above my Master.  

One of the reasons I do not like talking about this gift of mine is because once people realize what you can do, they stay away from you. When it comes to leaders, if they do not stay away, they try to minimize it. Some actually think you are a total idiot for thinking you have the gift. One of the pastors who treated me that way had no idea that God showed me exactly where he was at. Because of that, this pastor has been constantly in my prayer for God to open up his heart and stop practicing Christianity with a “to do list” and also for him to learn to walk in the Spirit. Sadly, they do not realize the need to act in a certain way should tell you where you are at with God. It does not matter how much you love God and you are slowly growing, it simply means that you are still in the same frame of mind like Adam and Eve when they hid from God. It also means you have never gone forward just as you are and stand naked in front of God’s light.

Naked here does not mean without clothes but rather without our excuses, pretences, ego, pride, sin, double-mindedness, disobedient heart, lack of commitment, the lies we live and we tell Him, our stiff necks, etc. Yet, being able to stand naked in front of God and learning to live in the light of God is a major part of Salvation. God wants to restore us right here, right now and put us in the same relationship He had with Adam & Eve before the fall. Contrary to public’s opinion, this relationship is not when we die.

As I mentioned in my book Apprehended & Apprehending when God teaches us righteous judgment, we will find that we are our first customer, simply because we cannot judge people with righteous judgement for one single tree in their eyes if we have not learned to see the forest in our own eyes. In the same way if we cannot live in oneness with Him, if we cannot learn to live righteous lives moment by moment then the gift of discernment could become a curse instead of blessings. I say blessings here because God calls it such. Sometimes, as you live it out, it could be such a heavy gift that you ask yourself why is this a blessing?

In fact I asked God the same question when He was pressing me to go to someone. Since this is a long time friend that I did not want to lose and I knew my insistence would cause me to lose the friendship. The Holy Spirit answered me “I want you to go to this person because I do not want to hear ‘I did not know’ I could then turn and say to this person that I sent my servant to you” – It is funny how I realized that day, knowing that you are God’s servant is one thing, but having Him called you His servant is another thing. All of the sudden my question disappeared, I knew I could not dispute it anymore and I spent hours trying to process the fact that He called me His servant.  I ended up going to my friend, and yes the friendship is now almost non existent.  

The truth is people do not like feeling they are on display about their shortcomings. I still remember how I hated it. Every time I have to put someone on display, I am very mindful of that and every single time I see myself how I used to hate it and how it made me feel. But in equipping me for my ministry, He gave me boldness to do it with no regard for myself. It always comes down to “choosing myself or choosing Christ” or “displease men to please Christ” I would rather people hates me right now than having to face God’s wagging finger later.

Some of you want to know how I would feel if I was judged in the same way? Well, my answer to you is that I am going through it day in and day out with other people. When other people do it, I do not care and I will let God be the judge between me and them. Most of the time while they judge me, they have no idea that God shows me the spirit in them. Through my training for my ministry, God has taught me to keep a sober mind and remain alert, because in the same way He can show me someone else business, He could also turn around and do the same to me at any time. My duty is to learn to live in the light of God as He is in the light. As long as I am in the light as He is in the light, then I have nothing to worry about. I make sure I am at peace with the fact that other people can see that I am a true work in progress in Christ. I am certainly not sinless, nor that I have arrived.

We are perpetual students in the hands of God.  It is also for that reason that God made sure that I mustered the courage though the Holy Spirit and His grace, to appear before Him just as I was. I no longer need to hide like Adam & Eve did. I passed that stage with Him. For those of you who are still hiding from God, when He calls you, if feels like a strong and distasteful medicine. You dread going and you want to prolong the hiding as much as you can. In my case the Holy Spirit made it clear that I had to go and go by myself because He could not do it for me. Once you face God, you find it’s finished. He is your dad what did you expect?

I also found out, we cannot claim to live righteous lives when we are still hiding from God. These two definitely cannot be separated. The need to hide so we are not found out by others simply says that we have not exercised enough faith to go to God. Once you appear naked in front of God, you find that you have become the most transparent person and the fear of being found out is gone. God actually takes the fear away from you. All that is left to do is to live a righteous life in Him. And no, righteous here does not mean you do not have sin.

I hope I was able to shed some lights for all your questions. I know I have gone deeper in answering what is the difference between wisdom and discernment but there are too many people who are under the impression they can seek the gift but not the giver.  Some have hardly taken two steps with Him then they want the gift, to be able to discern the spirits to what end? I don’t know. Could it be that I know but it would be better to talk about it in another post?

I like Pastor MacArhtur, and he has a good post on the gift of discernment and wisdom which I found a few months ago by accident. But, this particular post of his has not exhausted the gift of discernment as I have learned directly from the Holy Spirit, but it is worth reading.

http://apprising.org/2012/02/14/john-macarthur-on-the-gift-of-discernment/

This morning as I was reading Oswald Chambers devotion, it dawned on me that something that happened to me so many years ago was right there in the Bible, yet, I had no idea it was written in one of the books that I love so much, the Romans.

When I first entered the wilderness with Him, He gave me two solemn warnings. One was that voice I heard when I was by myself in the house. The voice was loud and so clear that I did not move for a few seconds. All I heard was “nothing in this life is about you” This was the first and the last time I heard His voice that way. I also understand later on, He spoke to me that way because I have not acquired the discipline of hearing Him in my heart yet.

Through the message, I knew “hard time” was coming but I was not prepared for what was ahead for me and I am glad I did not know the full scope. Right after this message, I was put through a rigorous training of hearing the Holy Spirit speaking to my heart. During that period one thing He made clear to me was that not only my life was never to be about me, but as we move forward, anything that will happen to me during this period I was in, had nothing to do with me. I did not say a word; I listened and remained silent the whole time. It is funny how both of us all of the sudden were silent. But my silence was not the same as God’s because though He was no longer talking, He was for lack of a better word, infusing in me what He meant by “this period of my life had nothing to do with me”

It was one of the most beautiful experiences that He let me keep with me even now. I knew that everything about that particular season of my life was about God and other people that He would put in my path. I knew, rejecting the season or wasting it away, meant forfeiting God’s plan for me. What was amazing in my experiencing this with Him was the fact that I could see myself as being just a tool. I could see from the moment I was conceived in my mother’s womb that was God’s purpose all along. There were a whole bunch of people in the shadow, all faceless, I could see they came from all shapes, height, sex, and sizes. While it appeared they were all strangers, yet they were holding hands. They were also waiting there, as if they were waiting for me to make my move or say something.  All I got from this encounter was that I was born to touch their lives in whatever capacity He decided.

This encounter also helped me in such a deep way to walk the steadfast life. I knew, my going through the season, was simply part of the process. It was amazing to see something so personal and so intimate could make me feel so much like I do not matter. Let me explain. It was very important for God to make me feel like I was something like a hammer that was fashioned for the purpose of being used just like a hammer would be. I carried this understanding and feeling within my heart to see me through the darkest days of my wilderness, even when things were unbearable to my soul. I was aware, if I did not let Him have His ways, then how could I live with myself knowing I failed these people? I failed God? I failed the reason I was born for? 

I wish I could make you see with your spiritual eyes the impact of knowing that even when you were nothing yet, your father or grandfather were not even born. Yet, God put a plan forward with you in mind. Can you grasp the magnitude of the God that we serve? Can you see how important you are? It is never about the big thing you can do. The sensation and the importance, but it is about being His instrument as you live the life you were born for. Through this experience I could see when we all die and Christ is putting all things the way they should, people that I honor now, might end up being last. I beg you to see with your heart what I am saying it is who you are “IN HIS HANDS” that matters.

                 

To me, it was not a question that God could change His plan and use someone else or do it Himself. It was instilled in me that was my responsibility. I felt, if I fail, then my life was worthless. From this single experience I learned so much that I could write a book about it. But, the funny thing is, all I learned no matter how I look at it, all I can see is God’s sovereignty which has been magnified in my life more than I could find words to explain myself. I enjoyed learning a tiny bit about the intricacies of His plan for us and how each one of us has a responsibility and how important it is to live out His plan for us.

I could see through the experience with Him, how when you touch someone’s life according to His will in your own life, the gift keeps on giving even after one hundred years or two thousand years down the road. I know my writings do not cajole people and make them feel good in their lethargy. If I were to do that to get more readers, or to be liked, I would not be true to the reason of my being on this earth. I would not be true to Him who made me. I also know God has a plan and my writings will find those I am writing for. BLESSED BE HIS NAME! These people are singled out by God Himself.

I am the first one amazed at God’s power when I learn from books written 3, 4 or 7 hundred years ago. While these people are long gone that even their bones no longer there, but, because they live God’s purpose for their lives, they are still teaching me. They are allowing me to go deeper and deeper in Him. What is more amazing is that when I read those classic and those puritan books and sermons, I know God had me personally in mind. He knew this person writing was going to make an impact on me for His Glory. What an amazing life we have waiting for us? What a magnificent God we serve? I hate the fact that there is not enough room in my heart to love Him the way He deserves. I hate most that I keep failing Him over and over again in this life, when in reality He deserves my all, unconditionally.  

This is why, as long as I live, and as long as it is His will for me, I will always write against physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, and our lethargy because the Christian life is too hard. Whether we like it or not, it makes a difference to God because His Word told us in Revelation 2:7 “…..To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God”  At the right time, He will separate those who profess to be Christians and those who possess the Christian faith and we are dead wrong if we think all we will be losing is just some reward.

I know I have a long way to go. So, am I perfect at it? This is a big NO and thousands times NO, but I am truly a work in progress in His hands of love.  Every day comes with its own challenges and sometimes the learning curve is so steep I want to rest. (This rest here means when you go back to your old self to find your comfort zone) But I also know that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me, so I keep going forward toward the goal, apprehending what He apprehended me for.

Are you living out God’s purpose for your life? Are you your brother’s keeper? I beg you not to take things lightly! 

This should have been split in two post. I apologize. But, I will leave you with Oswald Chambers devotion for today. Read it if you have time or come back to it when you can.

“Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”

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None of us lives to himself . . . —Romans 14:7

Has it ever dawned on you that you are responsible spiritually to God for other people? For instance, if I allow any turning away from God in my private life, everyone around me suffers. We “sit together in the heavenly places . . .” (Ephesians 2:6). “If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it . . .” (1 Corinthians 12:26). If you allow physical selfishness, mental carelessness, moral insensitivity, or spiritual weakness, everyone in contact with you will suffer. But you ask, “Who is sufficient to be able to live up to such a lofty standard?” “Our sufficiency is from God . . .” and God alone (2 Corinthians 3:5).

“You shall be witnesses to Me . . .” (Acts 1:8). How many of us are willing to spend every bit of our nervous, mental, moral, and spiritual energy for Jesus Christ? That is what God means when He uses the word witness. But it takes time, so be patient with yourself. Why has God left us on the earth? Is it simply to be saved and sanctified? No, it is to be at work in service to Him. Am I willing to be broken bread and poured-out wine for Him? Am I willing to be of no value to this age or this life except for one purpose and one alone— to be used to disciple men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ. My life of service to God is the way I say “thank you” to Him for His inexpressibly wonderful salvation. Remember, it is quite possible for God to set any of us aside if we refuse to be of service to Him— “. . . lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).

Courtesy of: http://utmost.org/

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?

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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/