Faith - Part 9

  How do we know we are actually living out true faith?

The answer is when we believe everything God said about Himself and everything He said about us. When you can believe that He is indeed everything He said He is, brings you to a place where you can make a total commitment to Him. But the challenge we all face, is getting to that state where the belief that is in the mind is transferred to the heart and into practice into the everyday life. 

A. W. Tozer said: The word “faith” is common these days, but placing one’s faith in God is a weighty action, uncommonly fraught with consequence and, by His design, inconvenience. Faith in God is reassuring and comforting only insofar as believers trust Him—and that depth of trust is the mark of a mature Christian who has allowed faith to intrude on his life and shift his gaze away from his.

  

When I was in the wilderness with God by the time I reached 2007, things have gotten so bad that for a moment I felt God was cruel.  You see, I had my own expectations and understanding and in my mind I was under the impression that God can only push things so far. Let me explain what I mean by that. While this is not biblical to think that God could push things so far, but I came to think this way, by hanging on to certain verses which I understood with the little intellect I have.  I can think of two of those verses right now.  One of them is “ I will never leave you nor forsake you” and the other one is “ for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  In my mind I thought, for God to take everything away from me was in contradiction to so many verses in the Bible and I could not wrap my brain around it.

Between 2005 up to the beginning of 2007 God kept bringing me to places where I needed to prove to Him that I trusted Him Even though the uncertainty was insurmountable and I could not see where anything was leading, I kept saying yes to God and chose Him over and over again thinking it would be sufficient. (After all, He did not let Abraham sacrifice Isaac)  I had no idea what God was doing, was simply preparing me for the worst that was yet to come.

In my mind, I kept thinking there is no way God would take me deeper because my life would be catastrophic so the alternative was unthinkable.  But, if you follow my thoughts so far, you will notice all throughout my hardship, I was looking at me, my pain, my failure and my losses. Yet, even though I was wrong all the way and Salvation was still about me, I had no idea I was failing Him miserably. I honestly felt that I proved myself to God when it came to my faith in Him and as far as I was concerned He should have been satisfied. After all, when it truly mattered and He put me to the test, I chose Him.

To make a long story short, when time was of the essence and I needed God to come to my rescue and end the waiting process, He told me it was time to come to terms with the worst case scenario. Then He showed me His worst case scenario would be me being homeless on the streets and alone. Well, I answered Him by lashing out to Him and I told Him He did not honor His word. After I hashed it out with God, I learned to trust Him and that He had a plan for me even if I could not understand the reason behind it all, it was not my place to doubt Him.  Even though I was scared, confused and in pain because the life that I knew was disintegrating before my eyes and I could not do anything to salvage it, I actually accepted my fate.  With uncontrollable tears and intense pain I went to Him and said “May your will be done regardless what I expect or desire.” When I finished, I asked Him to watch over me and I would appreciate it if He could show me which street is better. I prayed that He would sustain me through the pain, all the losses and the shame.

Later on, God showed when I accepted the worst case scenario that was the moment I showed true faith in Him.  He showed me the difference between the first few months when I chose Him but I made the outcome and everything else about what He was putting me through, about me. Even though I was still a babe in the faith, I found there was a world of a difference in my heart.  There was humility in my heart, I had a heart focussed more on living upon Him, I was persuaded of His right to my life and I surrendered to the truth of the word of God.

Amazingly, as soon as I made the decision to trust Him, He showed me how us Christians misunderstand and misused verses of the Bible most of the time because we understand them with our intellect. I also stopped thinking that God owed me anything. He also taught me why most Christians do not have faith but they are not aware of it. It was something out of this world how He opened up my heart to learn spiritual truths. But most of what He taught me during that time was about the state of Christianity out there and why I needed to be set apart.

Well, since He was so happy with me and He was teaching me so much, I again assumed that He was not going to go through with His plan for me to be out there on the streets.  Not only I was wrong, He did go through the worst case scenario with me.  Furthermore, I found out soon after, the loss of everything and being homeless was just the beginning of what was going to become my life.

When I first lost everything there was nothing left except perhaps my life for Him to take, I did not even have time to mourn my losses because God was busy putting me through the brokenness process, then it was a time of regeneration, the next that followed was declaring me holy. It all happened in that order. During that time, I was so shattered into millions of pieces on the inside I felt like a shadow of myself.  At times I wish I could get an epidural to endure the pain of the impartation process. There were times, I wish I could sleep while God did the work in me. But, this is not how God works. I am now in my eighth years and the waiting process is still in full fledge.

All this happened because I felt called by Him to draw closer. When I obeyed the call, I had no idea this was going to be a life long of testing faith.

The rest of this story is for another post.

How Will I Know? - Oswald Chambers

Today’s devotion is a very good one. As I was reading it, something Oswald said there could be mistaken easily, so I decided to blog on the subject.

Oswald said: "We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step"

I had a hard time understanding why we do not grow into a spiritual relationship  step by step since we are called to grow spiritually. But, Holiness and a spiritual relationship with God are two doctrines that could stump us when we read such blatant statement like Oswald’s. The reason being those two doctrines cannot be concocted by us no matter how hard we work at becoming holy or to have a spiritual relationship with God. They are infused in us by God’s grace and we either have them or not.

What Oswald is saying here is that we can either be spiritual or not. The best way I can explain the difference between spiritual relationship and spiritual growth are like, a woman is either pregnant or not, but she cannot be a little bit pregnant. Now, throughout the pregnancy the baby keeps growing and even more when he or she is out of the womb.

It does not matter how long you have been a Christian, but your lack of spiritual understanding which you acquire solely through the Holy Spirit, comes from unbelief and the fact that the Holy Spirit is not finding a dwelling through you to work out this life. The Holy Spirit need complete control if He is to infuse this life in us. The more you understand spiritual things, the more the Lordship of the Spirit is accepted by you, hence why He can reveal God’s word to you.

You should read 1 John chapter 1 and 2 and ponder on the word of God there. 1John 1:6 said "If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth". John was talking to Christians, these people were not unbelievers. As Christians we like tossing those big words around like the Christians John was writing to. But you cannot say you have a relationship with God, while you are walking in spiritual darkness. So, how do you know you are walking in darkness? There are many ways I can describe it, but the very first test that we should do is to see how well we understand spiritual truths and I am not referring to your own interpretation of God’s but what you are taught by the Holy Spirit. Spiritual darkness comes from not being obedient to God’s word, and there is unbelief in your heart. It is that simple

Oswald is right, one simple detour we miss out on the whole thing especially if we never recover from our detours. But one simple move to obey, all of the sudden heaven opens up and you realize you are being taught things that you have no idea what to do with.

I am going to keep it short but I will write more about this subject later.

How Will I Know?

10

10

2013

Jesus answered and said, ’I thank You, Father . . . that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes’ —Matthew 11:25

We do not grow into a spiritual relationship step by step— we either have a relationship or we do not. God does not continue to cleanse us more and more from sin— “But if we walk in the light,” we are cleansed “from all sin” (1 John 1:7). It is a matter of obedience, and once we obey, the relationship is instantly perfected. But if we turn away from obedience for even one second, darkness and death are immediately at work again.

All of God’s revealed truths are sealed until they are opened to us through obedience. You will never open them through philosophy or thinking. But once you obey, a flash of light comes immediately. Let God’s truth work into you by immersing yourself in it, not by worrying into it. The only way you can get to know the truth of God is to stop trying to find out and by being born again. If you obey God in the first thing He shows you, then He instantly opens up the next truth to you. You could read volumes on the work of the Holy Spirit, when five minutes of total, uncompromising obedience would make things as clear as sunlight. Don’t say, “I suppose I will understand these things someday!” You can understand them now. And it is not study that brings understanding to you, but obedience. Even the smallest bit of obedience opens heaven, and the deepest truths of God immediately become yours. Yet God will never reveal more truth about Himself to you, until you have obeyed what you know already. Beware of becoming one of the “wise and prudent.” “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know . . .” (John 7:17)

The Ministry Of The Inner Life - Part 2

Not long ago, I was talking to an older Christian lady who has been a Christian for about fifty years. She then told me proudly about a prayer and a deal she made with God. When she finished her story, I did not say a word simply because I did not know what to say. My mind was vacillating between, her stupidity, her stubbornness, and her ignorance that is larger than life. I also felt pity for her and her obvious need to have Jesus come into her heart. Her prayer was exactly the way Oswald Chambers described it. Which means her prayer was pitiful, self-centered with lack of belief in the atonement of Christ and so on.  The prayer she was so proud of, I can sum it up for you in this way “God do this favour to me and I will do this for you” Yet, this was not the worst part. The worst part was when she told me what she wanted to do for God, it was so juvenile, like saying to God, give me a million dollars and I will say thank you to you. She was so proud that her prayer has been heard that I asked myself, where am I supposed to start with this person?

 We would be wrong to ignore what Oswald said in the first paragraph of June 20 devotional and jump into the second paragraph while thinking that it will all work out like by magic, if we learn to pray for our friends.  Here is what Oswald said in the first paragraph: “The fact that I am trying to be right with God is actually a sign that I am rebelling against the atonement by the Cross of Christ. I pray, “Lord, I will purify my heart if You will answer my prayer— I will walk rightly before You if You will help me.” But I cannot make myself right with God; I cannot make my life perfect. I can only be right with God if I accept the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ as an absolute gift. Am I humble enough to accept it? I have to surrender all my rights and demands, and cease from every self-effort. I must leave myself completely alone in His hands, and then I can begin to pour my life out in the priestly work of intercession.” Through these words, he is telling us to learn cultivate the inner life before we learn to intercede for others.

As you learn to cultivate the inner life, you have no need to make deals with God anymore because you know His role along with yours. Also, His atonement has magnified in your life in more ways than one. Oswald is also saying that apart from learning to cultivate an inner life you need to change your attitude toward God, you need to change your motive and your reason for doing good deeds and walking with Him.  

He is telling you to learn to humble yourself before Him by understanding first of all your need for Him and who He is, then accept and embrace your new found knowledge in Him and incorporate it all  in your life. Then, lay down your life at His feet. Actually, if you pay close attention to the chapter of the Bible that Oswald based his devotional for June 20, you will find that, Job 42:10 tells you “After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.” But, once again, it would be wrong to take verse 10 of Job 42 and run with it by claiming it for your life without putting into context what has happened in Job’s life.

I have to be honest here. When God moved in, to change my life by turning it upside down and inside out, as if it was not enough, He then shattered it into millions of pieces, I read Job and I was strengthened when I read partly  verse 42”10. I kept living with the hope that one day I will be like Job and God will be giving me much of what I have lost. As time went by, this idea or this presumptuous faith was a hindrance in my walk with Him and He had to deal with me because I was stuck. And because it was presumptuous faith, it caused me so much anxiety and I was messing up the waiting process He put me in, to work through me.

But, if you have ever gone through a wilderness time or dark nights with Him, you know for yourself, of all these emotions Job has gone through. One of them was his attitude toward his life and the fact that he felt he was dealt with unfairly. From a human point of view it is true. You also find, that  God broke the silence and finally answered Job’s many questions and it was not at all what Job was expecting but it was sufficient. From chapter 38 to chapter 42 the conversation is between God and Job where God did most of the talking and basically you can sum up God’s answer in few words, “who do you think you are Job?”

Then, you find the beauty in chapter 42. If you take a look at verses 5-6, you will see Job’s response to God “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” After this treacherous time in his life, before he prayed for his friends and before God restored his wealth and everything Job lost, he found out the ministry of the inner life and he could see God with his spiritual eyes. He experienced his creator in a way that he had never before, he found out being His bondservant is awesome, but when you pass from bondservant to friend, it is more awesome than your heart can take.

Look at the awesomeness of knowing God in the inner parts. Job asked for forgiveness and repented in verse 5-6, yet he was still suffering because of his health and with all the losses he incurred in his life. God had not restored things for him yet. But, when you meet with Him face to face, none of it matters. This moment he was experiencing with Him that led him to ask for forgiveness and to repent, meant the world to Job and it was more precious than silver and gold. Of course, God always takes the sweetness of those moments away from us because it would give us an edge and this life would be easy as we would be floating all the time.

Furthermore, during the time of hardship especially when we experience lost beyond measure, it is extremely important to understand that we cannot expect the outcome of our lives to be the same as Job. We can always expect to grow and to be more intimate with Him, but the rest is up to Him. As God dealt with me to help me get rid of my presumptuous faith, I found that I had to come to a point where I was satisfied with Him whether He restores my life back to what it was before or not. As time went by, I learned from the Holy Spirit that sometimes the wealth we received in terms of experiencing Him and the knowledge of Him we accumulate as we walk those dark nights, should be enough to make up for what we lost in terms of materials and health. 

One thing we learn as we learn the ministry of the inner life is that, prayer is a big part of this ministry. Prayer becomes sweet to our soul and you find out that you have lost that narrow mindedness where you concentrate on you all the time. Personally I find when I am praying for everybody else which is every day, it is like I have a constant need to ask daddy for a favour for one of my friends, a family member, someone you see on the street etc. Except, in this relationship, your earthly father could get tired of you coming day in day out but, the oneness in your heavenly relationship with the Father calls for you to keep asking and He simply enjoys that you take it onto you to keep coming with those requests. The ministry of the inner life is indeed a delightful one.

The Ministry Of The Inner Life - Part 1

Yesterday’s post (June 20) was done in preparation for today’s post. The reason being that in both Devotionals (June 20 & June 21) Oswald Chambers is talking about the inner life.

There was a time, reading about these things especially June 20^th devotional, if I want to be honest, I have to say they used to get on my nerves.  For instance, when you read the June 20 devotional, I used to feel the author was all over the place a little bit. Now I know,  all that Oswald Chambers is talking about is related to the ministry of the inner life. The ministry of the inner life is the whole of Christianity, it is where life resides, it is where we commune with Him, it is where we live and walk. It is proof of your Salvation because it differentiates you and me from the other religions out there which all, offer some sort of spirituality kind of thing. So, the inner life where our spirit and God’s spirit intersects, it is indeed “true Christianity.”

I used to be scared of the inner life simply because I started my walk with God when I was part of a conservative Baptist Church and they wanted to have nothing to do with God’s manifestation in us Christians. It was so bad that, after I was filled with the Holy Spirit, which is such a memorable day for me, during Church services, my worship time would be so filled with the Spirit that I would be trembling and trying very hard to control myself. It got so bad that I prayed for the Holy Spirit not to meet me there or perhaps to ease up a bit. “This is truly sad isn't? ” I remember after I prayed the Holy Spirit to stop meeting me in the Church, the only answer that I received was something like “you silly goose, the power you are feeling has nothing to do with the Church but it is in you, you bring me there with you”.  Now, you cannot read this statement without seeing  how stupid and ignorant I used to be. Most of my ignorance was due to the fact that I was walking a walk where I had no mentor, and no one to share those things with. Someone who would have been there already with Him and knew exactly what I was experiencing.  Worse, I never heard a sermon about how the spiritual growth works and what it was about. Over time I learned from the Holy Spirit, yes, this is a lonely path, but you are not alone my child.   

Sadly, the Church leadership was scared of any kind of spiritual manifestation coming from the flock, because way too many so called Christians out there have been using the Spirit’s manifestation fraudulently. From faking speaking in tongues to faking healing others, faking the gift of the spirit to the point we ascribe titles to ourselves without being consecrated by Him. And if you have been watching television you know the list goes on as people are caught up into doing things to feed their ego and to some, their wallets too.  As I walked in the Spirit, He took my fear away. 

He taught me while the leaders of my Church are right in their assessment that most Christians out there are abusing what they think is the power of the Holy Spirit, but those leaders are equally wrong to let themselves be led by the spirit of fear to the point where everyone in the Church is affected by that mentality. He taught me, that as long as one walk in the Spirit, one has nothing to fear of the manifestation of the Spirit, simply because He is in charge of one’s life. After all, if you have the true Spirit at work in you, then you have the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of discernment, and the Spirit of light who is stronger than the spirit of darkness, why then should I fear? What the leaders did not know, if they themselves walked in the Spirit, there should not have been any reason to be scared of the Spirit's manifestation in other people, because the Holy Spirit would have taught them who is real and who was not.  After all, it is His job.

The ministry of the inner life will be your biggest ministry as you walk the Christian path. Because it is alive, and it is literally larger than life, it does not die and it does not get old, and keep rejuvenating on a daily basis. It swallows up the self, it takes charge of you, it fellowships with God in a way that makes you want to go see Him directly and be done with this life on earth. The inner life is the life, that the life of Christ living in you is constantly working on. It is the regenerated you, it is Christ being formed in you as He keeps growing bigger than the container you are. (Galatians 4:19.)

Even though sometimes we do not feel that we are making any advancement in our spiritual life, yet if God shows you amazingly how He is feeding, His life to your own inner life, you never doubt for a moment that you are growing constantly. The feeding of a baby in the womb of a mother is not felt, yet the child is being fed and strengthens daily, moment by moment. This inner life is so big, that we could live hundreds of years, while we grow every day, yet God would still have a lot to do within us. Because, the inner life is the life that He is conforming to His and since there is an unreachable vastness between Him and us, there will always be work to do. It is the reality of your redemption which is the true Gospel of God. It is a life that goes beyond common sense and reason. It is a life of faith and trust where the Word of God, along with the Holy Spirit found no limitation in the host, to move freely and work within. It is the holy life we are called to live out, and it is also about being prepared for eternity. Brothers and sisters the only end to our preparation for heaven and the only end to our spiritual growth is in our mind and the limitation of what we are willing to receive from Him.

On a side note, I know some of you will not feel comfortable with the fact that I said there is an unreachable vastness between Him and us. It is good that you believe the cross of Christ bridges the gap, and I agree wholeheartedly because only His blood can washes us clean, but that’s not the same thing as the vastness between us and Him that I am referring to.  One learns about the vastness that separates us and Him and will always separate us and Him even when we are in heaven, by going forward with Him while putting no restrictions on the Holy Spirit. I learned about the vastness that separated me from Him, the hard way and by then I was exhausted in the wilderness. As you grow with Christ, you get to that stage where there is a oneness with the triune God, but God the Father has become so big in your life that you can literally see it with the eyes of your heart, which is also the ministry of the inner life. He becomes so big in your life that you can see why the universe is way too small to contain Him.  Only then you can understand why He holds the universe in His hand and it is no longer something you say. 

As you cultivate your oneness with Him, He does not take that knowledge and picture away from you. He is holier than your mind can imagine, and His love is not only as big and mysterious as an abyss, but, the intensity alone is suffocating that you cannot remain there for ten seconds, in human time. One thing for sure, as one learns to see God in His majesty, one learns to heed to Paul’s word in Philippians 3:10-18. Once you can see Him with the eyes of your heart, the magnitude of this being who, by His grace has chosen to bring us into a relationship with Him, you give up your idea of what a saint should look like and take on God’s standards because you realize that your idea is totally irrelevant to God’s.  I could go on and on and on. But, I hope this explains what I mean by the vastness between Him and us. 

A Daily Prayer For Freedom - Part 3

Holy Spirit, I sincerely receive you as my Counselor, my Comforter, my Strength, and my Guide. Thank you for sealing me in Christ. I honor you as my Lord, and I ask you to lead me into all truth, to anoint me for all of my life and walk and calling, and to lead me deeper into Jesus today. I fully open my life to you in every dimension and aspect-my body, my soul, and my spirit-choosing to be filled with you, to walk in step with you in all things. Apply to me, blessed Holy Spirit, all of the work and all of the gifts in Pentecost. Fill me afresh, blessed Holy Spirit. I receive you with thanks and give you total claim to my life (and my spouse and/or children).

Heavenly Father, thank you for granting to me every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

I receive those blessings into my life today, and I ask the Holy Spirit to bring all those blessings into my life this day. Thank you for the blood of Jesus. Wash me once more with his blood from every sin and stain and evil device. I put on your armor-the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation. I take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, and I wield these weapons against the Evil One in the power of God. I choose to pray at all times in the Spirit, to be strong in you, Lord, and in your might.

Father, thank you for your angels. I summon them in the authority of Jesus Christ and release them to war for me and my household. May they guard me at all times this day. Thank you for those who pray for me; I confess I need their prayers, and I ask you to send forth your Spirit and rouse them, unite them, raising up the full canopy of prayer and intercession for me. I call forth the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ this day throughout my home, my family, my life, and my domain. I pray all of this in the name of Jesus Christ, with all glory and honor and thanks to him.

AMEN

Example of a Godly Wife

The Wife's Rule by James Smith

"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord." Ephesians 5:22

The comfort of home very much depends on the wife, and the happiness of the husband is greatly in her power. The wife has often ruined the husband, or rendered the marriage-tie a subject of deep regret. An ungovernable temper, a proud spirit, a wish to conform to all the fashions of the present world — has rendered many a Christian's home really miserable!

Submission is difficult — where pride rules in the spirit! Yes, it is impossible! And yet, without submission on the part of the wife, happiness will never be the portion of the husband. Submission is the wife's duty: the Holy Spirit says, "As the church is subject unto Christ — so let the wives be unto their own husbands in everything." A submissive disposition, and a meek quiet spirit — are two of the most beautiful ornaments a wife can wear.

Every Christian woman should look upon her husband as the representative of Christ in the family, and submit to him as such. Her submission should extend to everything which does not run counter to the commands of God. The less a wife desires to have her own will — the better for her own comfort.

In consequence of sin, the Lord said, "Your desire shall be to your husband — and he shall rule over you." And this declaration of God stands in full force at the present day, "The husband is the head of the wife — even as Christ is the head of the church." In these different epistles, has the Holy Spirit spoken to wives, and commanded them to submit to their husbands; this may imply that the duty is difficult — but it testifies that the duty is imperative.

The wife should love her own husband — as the church loves Christ; and strive by every possible means to make him happy and honourable. She should strive to make his home the most comfortable, never meeting him at his return with a frown, or hailing him with a cross word; but her countenance should be lighted up with love, and on her lips should be the law of kindness. A woman's love, judiciously manifested — is almost invincible! But an evil temper indulged by a wife — is most repulsive! Nothing weakens a husband's love, or raises a husband's temper, like cross words or unpleasant looks from his wife. They never ought to be; but if they have been, they should be confessed with sorrow, and conquered with care.

The wife should bear in mind, that her husband is a Christian; that Jesus tenderly loves him; that He has made him His representative; that He requires her to submit to him in His name, and for His sake: and that He looks upon her disobedience — as directed against His authority; and her unkindness to her husband — as grieving His love.

My sister, it is your duty to learn subjection, for the Lord's sake, to imbibe and manifest a meek, lowly, and submissive spirit; a spirit that will yield everything for conscience' sake, unless in so doing you would sin against God.

Oh, if wives were willing to submit, if they only consulted the happiness of their husbands, if they made the precepts of the gospel their rule — what happy homes, what happy husbands they would have!

"Let the wife see that she respect her husband." But is this the case, even with godly wives? Can it be neglected, and the Spirit who commanded — not be grieved? Can the Spirit be daily grieved, by conduct the very opposite of His command — and the Christian be happy? It is impossible! See then one cause why so many wives are in such an unhappy and uncomfortable a state!

Chaste conversation should be coupled with fear — a fear to grieve, wound, or distress a husband's mind. Sarah, who obeyed and reverenced Abraham, should be the wife's daily pattern. No wife can be happy, no wife can be ornamental, no wife can have the testimony of a good conscience — unless she observes the precept, "Wives submit yourselves unto your husbands — as unto the Lord."

Yesterday and today's post go well with Oswald Chambers today, so I could not resist it

Yielding

03

14

2013

. . . you are that one’s slaves whom you obey . . . —Romans 6:16

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

Courtesy of http://utmost.org/

Check out the devotion/prayers section of my site: http://www.intothyword.us/

Spiritual Fruit - Part 3 Last One

Preached at North Street Chapel, Stamford, on September 2, 1858, by Philpot

"From Me is your fruit found." Hosea 14:8

What is this fruit then? It is faith, hope, love, godly fear, submission to God's will, tenderness of conscience, love and esteem for the brethren, self-denial, putting off the old man, putting on the new—and I might stand here until midnight and then not exhaust the catalogue. These are set forth by the Apostle Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians, where he says, "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance—against such there is no law." Here are all the fruits of the Spirit penned down by the Holy Spirit himself; but you may examine it for yourselves, and indeed compare what is in your soul with it; then you will confess how short you come of bearing that fruit—the bearing of which stamps the Christian indeed—but we shall never bear fruit to God, until we are brought to see that our fruit comes from God.

III. How this fruit is from the Lord—"from me is your fruit found." How positively and clearly is this set forth in the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters of John's Gospel, where the Lord says, "Without me you can do nothing." "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abides in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me." So you see that union with Christ is indispensable to the bringing forth of fruit; for as the sap flows out of the stem, so it is with the believing soul and Jesus—only so far as Christ flows into his soul is he able to bring forth fruit unto God. "Abide in me and I in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abides in the vine, no more can you except you abide in me." Then there is a being in Christ by vital union, and an abiding in him by faith, prayer, hope, and love, and a receiving grace for grace out of his fullness—so that from him is our fruit.

Now, as we begin to feel day by day our barrenness, and as our wrinkles arise in our face, we begin to see that from Jesus only is our fruit. Let us then raise our souls up out of our miserable selves, and fix our eyes upon him at the right hand of God and beg of him to communicate his grace to our souls, and send down the influence of his Spirit that will bring forth fruit in us—which is peace, praise, and honor to God. No one can bring forth fruit without a conflict with self—self checks the crop like the ivy clinging to and strangling the vine.

I have a grape-vine in the front of my house, and almost the first thing I noticed when I returned home yesterday was that every leaf was struck with mildew—in fact the whole tree has been struck, as it were, with the same withering disease. What an emblem of a poor, withered professor! There will never be a cluster either fit to be made into wine or eaten as dessert. Now, when we see what we are in ourselves we see nothing but mildew. As the grape-vine seems to have more enemies than any other fruit, because, as it is said, it cheers the heart of God and man, and we are represented in Scripture as branches of the vine, therefore we need the grace of God in order that we may overcome these enemies. Though I have not sufficient skill to cure the mildew on my vine—yet the Lord has skill to cure the mildew in our souls, for his grace can and does and will sanctify the sinner's heart.

Therefore whatever despair I might feel about having any fruit from the vine on my trellis, there shall be no mildew upon the trellis of your soul, for he can send a shower to wash off the mildew, and put forth his hand to knock off the insects that feed upon the fruit of the vine. The Lord says, "From me is your fruit found." The fruit flows forth—the spirit of thankfulness, of brokenness, and godly sorrow for sin. And yet there will be times and seasons when we sink very low, and when we feel or fear that there never was a spark of grace in our heart. But your very feeling of your unfruitfulness, is in itself a fruit. Your mourning over your unfruitfulness and your being cast down into dejection—these very things are spiritual fruit, for they are produced by the same Holy Spirit that brings forth the blossoms of faith, hope, and love.

III. There is the FINDING of this fruit. In a vine some of the richest clusters are found under the leaves. Leaf and fruit go very much together, for where there is a leaf full of mildew, you find nothing but a cluster of rotten fruit. Well, so in grace—if there be little fruit there will be a withered profession, because the 'leaf' represents the 'profession'. The world can see what you profess, and they will see the mildew spots upon it. "O," they say, "that man talks about religion—but he is just like us. You who have to deal with him know how he deals, how he can laugh and giggle like other men, and how angry he is if anything crosses him. It is only a profession—he goes to chapel, but we all know what he is."

Here is a profession with the mildew upon it. "See," they may say, "that man was drunk last night—yet he goes to church on Sundays." If the 'leaf' is so bad, what must the 'berry' be? If the man's profession is such, what must be the man himself? So if the mildew has struck the leaf you may be sure the mildew has reached the clusters.

We find that the best clusters sometimes grow on the lowest bough; so it is in grace—the humbler a man is the more fruit he will bring forth. The same sap that feeds the branch nearest the stem feeds the branch farthest off. "From me is your fruit found." Your soul may be often cast down, and you may say, "Was there ever any sinner like me?" but your complaints do not take you into the world again—you are not telling lies or joking and gossiping with your neighbors—but you are mourning and groaning that you are not bringing forth fruit unto God.

Now, the Lord may speak these words to encourage his saints—"Come out of the world. From me is your fruit found. Not from the world. Do not be carried away with the things of time and sense. Not from worldly-mindedness, not from family distress is fruit produced—but from me, out of my fullness by the communications of my grace."

If you don't get it from that source you will get it nowhere, and every branch that does not bear fruit, he hews down. So that we come to one of two things—you must either be a branch that bears fruit from Christ—from the communications of Christ's love to your soul—or else one that bears not fruit, which the Father takes away. There is no intermediate state whereby we have part from ourselves and part from Christ, for "from me," says the Lord, "is your fruit found."

The Obedient Life

I have to confess, sometimes I am tempted to write simple things that are easy to swallow, that do not demand much of Christians.

When these thoughts come into my mind, it is because I am somewhat in a stage where I want to please more people and give them what they want. It is because I know the average reader is not interested in anything that call for leaving the comfort zone, as such they learn to weed you out. But, I also know, this would not be me, it would not be the true ministry God had prepared me for and it would throw away all those years of hardships that I had to go through to be where I am with Him.

So, when I am tempted, I find great comfort reading those writers that I know have been through God’s university and curriculum. I find comfort, because as I read them, I can easily recall many of those moments that were created by the Holy Spirit for me to learn His process. I also find comfort in reading these writers because they too seem to be drastic in their approach to Christianity. But, really, it is not a question of being drastic; it is rather a question of living the truth that we learn directly from Him. We tend to appear drastic because the God we have come to know is a drastic God and we know He has no tolerance for shoddy Christianity. I know, if I were to uphold a lesser truth in order to appease people, I would not be true to myself and I would offend God!

From the above paragraph, I am not saying that I am the in the same caliber of those past writers. Far from it and I have no illusions, although I aspire to become a servant of Christ, like them. For example, right now in my walk with God, when I am separated from His Divine nature, often I do not seek to re-establish the communication for a day or two. But, Andrew Murray was known as the man who would stand in the middle of the street, just to re-establish communication with His divine nature at the very moment he became aware of such interruption.

What Am I Telling You All This?

Because I need to prepare your mind for this Itsy Bitsy piece of truth written by Andrew Murray. Do not dismiss it. Don’t’ take it lightly! It is my deepest desire that you would ponder on those words. Go to God directly, pray and ask Him to set you apart to live His truth in the recess of your heart and soul.

Andrew Murray In:

The School of Obedience

THE ENTRANCE TO THE LIFE OF FULL OBEDIENCE

'Obedient unto death.' -Phil. 2:8.

After all that has been said on the life of obedience, I purpose speaking in this address of the entrance on that life.

You might think it a mistake to take this text, in which you have obedience in its very highest perfection, as our subject in speaking of the entrance on the course. But it is no mistake. The secret of success in a race is to have the goal clearly defined, and aimed at from the very outset.

'He became obedient unto death.' There is no other Christ for any of us, no other obedience that pleases God, no other example for us to copy, no other Teacher from whom to learn to obey. Christians suffer inconceivably because they do not at once and heartily accept this as the only obedience they are to aim at. The youngest Christian will find it strength in the school of Christ to make nothing less from the commencement his prayer and his vow: OBEDIENT UNTO DEATH. It is at once the beauty and the glory of Christ. A share in it is the highest blessing He has to give. The desire for and the surrender to it is possible to the youngest believer.

If you want to be reminded of what it means, think of the story in ancient history. A proud king, with a great army following him, demands the submission of the king of a small but brave nation. When the ambassadors have delivered their message, he calls one of his soldiers to stab himself. At once he does it. A second is called; he too obeys at once. A third is summoned; he too is obedient to death.

'Go and tell your master that I have three thousand such men; let him come.'

The king dared count upon men who held their life not dear to them when the king's word called for it.

It is such obedience God wants. It is such obedience Christ gave. It is such obedience He teaches. Be it such obedience and nothing less we seek to learn. From the very outset of the Christian life let this be our aim, that we may avoid the fatal mistake of calling Christ Master and yet not doing what He says.

Let all who by these addresses have in any degree been convicted of the sin of disobedience, listen as we study from God's Word the way to escape from that and gain access to the life Christ can give-the entrance to the life of full obedience.

Choosing an Obedient Lifestyle!

Intouch magazine in by Pastor Charles Stanley September 2, 2008

“Choosing an Obedient Lifestyle
Romans 6:16-18

Though God is sovereign and omnipotent, many believers don’t trust Him to guide them. Instead they think about obedience on a case-by-case basis, evaluating how the consequences of various choices might affect their life. But the Lord desires followers whose lifestyle is submissive—in other words, people who've made a deliberate decision to surrender to His will in every circumstance.

When confronted with the idea of absolute submission, many of us are assaulted by anxious thoughts: What if the Lord wants me to do something I can’t? Or, What if I don’t want to do what He asks? We fear we wouldn't have the strength, wisdom, or faith to carry out commands He might give. And we’d be right—if we relied upon our own resources. But if we commit to obedience, God equips us at the right moment to follow where He leads.”

If you noticed on a few occasions in my blog I said to you guys “there is a different Christian life other than the one most of us are accustomed to” The truth is even though I know it is true, but whenever I said those words I always felt uncomfortable because I was always afraid that some Christians would think that I am referring to a different Gospel. My problem was that I could never find the right words to describe what I am living in the Spirit and the life that I come to know as my regular daily life with Him.

I started reading the Bible from Genesis 1 yesterday January 3. As I made it to chapter 3:6, it dawned on me, all of the sudden there was a burst of light and I said out loud, “I got it” “this is what I have been trying to explain”. I realized all the time that I have been saying to you there is a different kind of Christianity in union with Him, the difference really lies in the life of Adam & Eve before their eyes opened and they acquired their own wisdom after their eyes opened. In Genesis 3:6 “the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it”. The only word that did it for me so vividly that I could grasp it with my spiritual eyes is the word “wisdom” even as I am writing this, I am hoping God would give my readers the spiritual understanding to see what I also saw.

Now I know it is more than living a life in the Spirit, even though living in His divine life is so awesome and so out of this world, so pure and so restful that man has not created a word that could describe this life fully. The ingredient that makes the Christian life we live through the eyes of God and through our own understanding, so different, is the absence of the worldly wisdom that was acquired by Adam and Eve after they disobeyed. The whole difference I have been trying to share with you in just in that sentence and it is so powerful to my soul.

It is powerful because this wisdom Eve was seeking after has brought us sin, blindness, spiritual death, limitations, barriers and heaviness of the life in the flesh, the bondage, the filth in our souls, the miseries etc. Imagine being able to let go of it?

It is funny though that I have a whole chapter in my book “Apprehended & Apprehending” dedicated to how the life we have in Christ, as we live in oneness with Him, feels as if He is feeding us His life like a mother feeding the growing baby in her womb. The baby is us, taking all that we need as we are fed spiritually by Him. I also shared how essential it is to keep growing in this manner with Him. Yet, I did not realize the discovery of this “different kind of Christianity” that I have been sharing with you is simply the continuity and the growth that I am experiencing with Him as I am being fed by Him.

On a side note the feeding tube is His divine life we acquire only as we live in oneness with Him. It is the abiding life. If you could only see the beauty of being connected to Him, then you would fully understand what we are told in Romans 8:39 “neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It was only then God allowed me to claim this promise for myself.

Beloved, I still have such a long way to go. I am not sharing this with you to show off or make you feel bad. I answer only to God, and if this was my aim, then He would deal with me accordingly. But, understand that my blog is not to condemn, or censure you, and even though my words can be so bold sometimes and I have no shame of telling you bluntly what I see with the gifts of discernment and wisdom given to me by God. Believe it or not, my heart is full of love and I am hoping that God could touch few of you to teach you to live a better life in Him.

There are three paths for us Christians and we have covered them all in the Church with Christians in the pews and in the pulpits. There is a group that fall in the category pastor Charles Stanley referred to as having obedience on a case by case basis. If you belong to that group then you are waking once in a while in the Spirit and that is not good enough to live the abiding life and your growth is slow and limited. There is a small group living deliberately the surrendered life. The third path is for those sitting in the pews and in the pulpits thinking they have truly made a decision for Christ, when in reality they never believe but they are not wiser. Unfortunately, this group is really big, much bigger than the other two combined, hence, my ministry.

Right here on earth, we are expected to live the Christian life having acquired eternal life, and the Kingdom of God within. If we do not have them here on earth, then they are not ours for the taking when we die, it would be too late. The diluted Gospel tells us that we are going to be missing out on some crowns, yes that is true. But, that is only part of it. Before worrying about missing out on a crown or two wouldn't you like to know that you have the very basic? It is like fantasizing about a fancy wedding ball that you are going to, yet you have never managed to secure the tickets you need for admission. Furthermore, you have never been fitted by the groom, with the proper attire. For some of you missing out on a few crowns is the last of your problem. You need to re-prioritize!

I read a long time ago that Andrew Murray was crossing the streets, before he got to the other side, he stood there in the middle of the street quietly for a moment. Someone when he reached the other side, a man asked him why he stopped in the middle of the street. He replied young man I lost contact with the Holy Spirit for a moment and I had to regain it before he continues crossing the street. I wish I could say I am there. Often, I am aware that I lose contact with Him, but I wait a few hours and even a day or two before I go back and reattached myself to Him. I am indeed work in progress.

Quote from Andrew Murray

“The purpose of redemption is Possession, and the purpose of Possession is likeness to Him who is Redeemer and Owner, is Holiness.

The link between Redemption and Holiness is Obedience.

The life of Christ is the holiness of Christ. The reason we so often fail in the pursuit of holiness is that the old life, the flesh, in its own strength seeks for holiness as a beautiful garment to wear and enter heaven with. It is the daily death to self out of which the life of Christ rises up.”
Andrew Murray, Holy in Christ.