The Big Book Of Christian Quotes FREE ON AMAZON

The BiG Book of Christian Quotes is Free today and tommorrow.  Download your free copy while you can and be sociable, share with your friends too.

DOWNLOAD IT TODAY AND TOMORROW FOR FREE

This collection of timeless quotes and Bible verses have been gathered with you in mind. You will have access to the writings of great Christians of early days and also great Christians of our times, right at your fingertips. It is my hope that your walk with God will be influenced in a very deep way as you go through those pages. 

Get this jam-packed treasure chest for less than the price of a cup of coffee, It is filled with a wide range of Bible verses listed by subjects. You will also get a section with Bible study helps along with a vast array of Christian quotes on various subjects such as: Blessings, character, children, marriage, contentment, faith, encouragement, friendship, life, love, God, the Church, Christ, salvation, The Holy Spirit, the soul, sin, virtues, God's Will, the spiritual life, spiritual walk, eternity, heaven, unbelief, spiritual gifts, leadership, eternal life, surrender, obedience ,loving God, marriage, prayer, relationship, and much more. Here is a list of names of puritans, classics and great theologians that you will find within the pages of this book: 

Brother Lawrence, C. S. Lewis, R. C. Sproul, Charles Colson, Charles Spurgeon, Dallas Willard, D. L Moody, D. Martyn LLoyd-Jones, DeWitt Talmage, Dietrick Bonhoeffer, E. M. Bounds, Henry Blackaby, John calvin, Ebenezer Erskine, F. B. Myer, F W Krummacher Francis Chan, G K Chesterton, J. C. Ryle, J. R. Miller, James Hudson Taylor, J. I. Packer, James Smith, Jerry bridges, John Piper, John Wesley, Johnathan Edwards, Leonard Ravenhill, Martin Luther, Mathew Henry, Paul Washer, John F MacArthur John Newton, Oswald Chambers, and much more 

Three Rules for a Happy Marriage

J. C. Ryle  "The Gospel of Mark" 1857 Of all relationships of life, none ought to be regarded with such reverence, and none taken in hand so cautiously as the relationship of husband and wife. In no relationship is so much earthly happiness  to be found, if it be entered upon discreetly, advisedly, and in the fear of God. In none is so much misery seen to follow, if it be taken in hand unadvisedly, lightly, wantonly, and without thought. From no step in life does so much benefit come to the soul, if people marry "in the Lord." From none does the soul take so much harm, if fancy, passion, or any mere worldly motive is the only cause which produce the union. There is, unhappily, only too much necessity for impressing these truths upon people. It is a mournful fact, that few steps in life are generally taken with so much levity, self will, and forgetfulness of God as marriage. Few are the young couples who think of inviting Christ to their wedding! It is a mournful fact that unhappy marriages are one great cause of the misery and sorrow of which there is so much in the world. People find out too late that they have made a mistake, and go in bitterness all their days. Happy are they, who in the matter of marriage observe three rules:  The first is to marry only in the Lord, and after prayer for God's approval and blessing. The second is not to expect too much from their partners, and to remember that marriage is, after all, the union of two sinners, and not of two angels. The third rule is to strive first and foremost for one another's sanctification. The more holy married people are, the happier they are.

Enoch Walked With God - What a Learning Curve!

Today, as I was reading Oswald Chambers devotion of May 5^th – Two things struck me right on the onset. Right there, I remembered how a few days ago after the intense moment with God, I felt subdue. Then, I was reminded by the Holy Spirit that what I lived out there -- when He asked me to walk with Him like Enoch -- was still about my salvation at work. The first thing that should stand out to us as we read today’s devotion is what Peter said in 1 Peter 4:17. I felt the need to read the verse because it is about God’s judgement beginning with the house of God, meaning, us who makes up the Church.  

The second thing that I noticed was the fact that Oswald talked about the unfathomable depth of Salvation. He also said that Salvation is the great thought of God, not an experience. I smiled when I read these two ideas to convey how salvation is to be seen and lived out. This brought in, intensely mixed feelings. While those words of Oswald seem simple enough, but I know for a fact that God has to work them out within us. You do not get to understand this concept to live it out through the depth of your soul and make it your life and the way you serve Him in this life, unless He writes this concept Himself onto your heart and soul. I used the word “concept” because so far, the Church is failing God for this very reason. We do not understand Salvation from God’s standpoint. We make it about us and extirpate from it, what it means to us, grab onto His promises and run with them. All the while we leave behind, part of the truth, the context and His divine purpose.

The unfathomable depth of salvation, once grasped, changes our attitude toward God and toward the way we decide to live it out. The reason it changes us is that when we put God and depth in one sentence, we KNOW without the shadow of a doubt how much we need to continue like little children and even then we will never see the depth of it all in this world. Notice here, there are two concepts, one is to CONTINUE which has no end as long as we live this life on earth. The second thing which is equally important is the need to continue like CHILDREN with no preconceived ideas of what is what to us.

I have learned so much today in the May 5^th Devotion that I have never learned before. So it was not so much about what is contained in the book, but what Oswald did not mention. My plan today to read the word of God changed suddenly, because God opened up my understanding to His word found in 1 Peter to embrace the apostle’s counsel in those few pages. Suddenly I could see in 1 Peter something that God had tried to show me when I had the vision with Him. The spiritual life we live day in day out in, with and through Him, the life that brings phenomenal transformation and keeps changing you and me inwardly as we walk with Him like Enoch did is right there in the word of Peter. I am excited and I know God enough to say what He taught me today is just a tiny beginning to get me going.

God never gives us the whole plan. He gives us enough to get us going, we take the path and make His business, our business. We follow with joy because we love our father. We follow with joy because we know our Father will never fail us and will never steer us in the wrong direction. We follow, the path that we are put on, not knowing the depth of it because it is reserved only for God alone to know. For now, I can see through those pages of 1 Peter, a life of submission that cannot be derailed, a life of living closely with Him, in the Spirit. I can see a life of Godly living, not our idea of what it means but as Christ did. A life impregnated with the Agape love and faith where we serve God and man willingly through the sufferings that comes with all of it.  With the eyes of my heart, I can see so much more.

While this life I see in 1 Peter might seems basic to some Christians, but there is a depth to it. There is more understanding, there is maturity, there is more joy and the privilege to take the path engulfs your heart. You would think there is so much more to do on our part as a human being. But, you would be wrong. My job is to be mindful of the path He put me on, keeps His plan and purpose in mind and embrace the daily life with this attitude. This is one of the beauties of walking with God. You would think that I know what His plan and purpose are. You would be wrong. I have no idea what is waiting for me around the corner. I have no idea what He is trying to achieve. Ten years ago, that would be scary. I KNOW HIM enough to embrace with a heart filled with joy, His purpose and His plan without knowing “what the heck is that?” Ten years ago, that’s exactly what I would have asked Him. Not only that I would be worried sick about His request of me, what would be behind each door etc. Now, with spiritual maturity and knowledge of who He is, it does not matter that I know His plan or purpose, it matters that my Father wants me there.

As I am writing this post I stopped there and I got lost in my meditation, then, the Holy Spirit told me, you are ready for the path you are on, because He is truly now, your living hope and your sure salvation, so taking the path without knowing what is ahead of you simply the proof and the work of your faith in Him.

With that in mind, I will stop writing as I have a need to pray and worship so deeply, right now….

1 Peter 4:17 "For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?"

Here is the link to read today's Devotion from Oswald Chambers

I went from someone who knows nothing about prayer, embarrass to open my mouth in front of people to a life of total commitment to prayer where when I am addressing my father, I do not care if my English is right, I do not care about my grammar, and basically do not care at all about who is standing next to me. Your rank, status, style, education or what have you do not matter to me because when I am praying, even if the room if full with people, it is personal and it is about me and my dad. This is not something you develop overnight. Through practice it took me almost a decade. It is a life where God takes us gradually by the hand and teach us in the way we should go. Psalm 109:4 says “….But I am a man of prayer." Some versions say: “…but I give myself unto prayer” -- or “…But I continue to pray.” The Psalmist did not mean by that he prayed when he had a problem or when they attacked him.  It is a life totally committed and given up to Him

While God expects all of us to be given up to prayer exactly like Jesus Christ did when He walked the earth, but it is not a life for everyone. This does not mean you are off the hook because it is not for everyone. It does not mean that you are not going to have to answer to God for not having cultivated this life. It does not mean you will be off the hook for all the people that could have been blessed through your prayers. You will not be off the hook for having trodden the sacrifice He made on the Cross to bring us the freedom to approach Him at any time. While this life is not for everyone, but it is certainly for those who love Him with reverence, fear and gratefulness in their heart, so, in this sense, yes you will have to answer for your lack of love and fear. The prerequisite for this life of prayer is: love and gratitude in the soul.

The frequency we turn our eyes and heart to Him is very important. You might say well, I do not have the time. Well, I say to you, if you have time to surf the internet for your own entertainment you made a choice between God, eternal things and wasting fifteen minutes of your life that you will never get back. I am not being harsh, but it is about prioritizing. While you are walking toward the washroom, pay attention to what occupy your mind. While you are washing dishes, cooking etc., the time you spent thinking about the cares of this world could have been given to God.

I know I like mentioning the washrooms and there is a reason behind it. I was working for a Bank where I used to give them at least twelve hours per day, plus about three hours travel time to and from fighting the traffic. Plus most of the time I had to go in on Saturday just so I could catch up. I was constantly tired. One day, I knew I had to make a decision to learn to cultivate a prayer life at least something that seemingly resemble to Christ’s.  Until then my prayer time was like a duty. My problem was the fact that there was not enough time in the day for me to pray. I also felt I needed every waking moment at work to keep in mind what needed to be done. I started my prayer life by accepting the fact that my job needed all my attention, yes, but the time that I was taking to walk toward the washroom was mine. So at least three times a day, I would go to the washrooms just to turn my mind to Jesus. All of it was done in my heart. It was hard at first but before I know it I started going to the washrooms just to be with Him. As time went by, I learned to take away from my sleeping time and shared it with Him. That too was extremely hard but God knows when we make sacrifices just to be with Him, and He does uphold and blesses us. The point is, you need to do whatever it takes to acquire this prayer life.

Suffice to say this verse that Oswald Chambers expounded in today’s devotional, is a deep verse. It is one of those verses where it will take God years to develop it in your life. Even after He develops it in your life, there will still be a bigger part of it that He can only show you on the last day. But, for Him to develop it in your life, it requires a life of abandonment at His feet. It is a life that takes your all, yet you do not have to worry about how to get there, but just start where you are and with the little time you have to offer. While you might be constrained by time and it is understandable to some extend, but do not be stingy in your attitude toward Him. Do not be stingy in your yieldedness either. God really makes provision for us to reach the point where we need nothing else because we have such great spiritual light and knowledge of Him. This does not mean that we know everything, but it will certainly mean that we know everything we need to know to rest secure in His bosom in this life. It is not a fake rest where we muster in our own strength, but one that comes directly from the oneness we share with Him.

When His Salvation touches your soul, you can never go back to the meagre and useless life you knew before. When you truly know Him, it is actually depressive to live your ordinary life on this earth, yet you are propelled forward because you know too much to settle for what you can see today. In a way, there is no rest for you until you see Him again. Make no mistake, the more you experience God, the more difficult it is to live out this life on earth, because you have tasted the sweet nectar of the heavenly life. Life down here is depressive because there is nothing that could ever satisfy what your soul is longing for which is living an uninterrupted, passionate, majestic and all around a wonder of heaven kind of oneness with Him. Yet, while you are longing for the life to come, in a paradox, you find rest in Him. This rest comes from an attitude of the heart. 

This attitude of the heart comes from having been led up to the heart of God the Father Himself. The journey of finding the heart of the Father starts with Salvation yes, but if there is one lesson I learned in the wilderness with God, Oswald says it best in the May 27 devotion “…Our waiting is not dependent on the providence of God, but on our own spiritual fitness. It is not the baptism of the Holy Spirit that changes people, but the power of the ascended Christ coming into their lives through the Holy Spirit. We all too often separate things that the New Testament never separates. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not an experience apart from Jesus Christ— it is the evidence of the ascended Christ.” The evidence of the ascended Christ in us is never invisible to us or people around us.

Being able to submit and start a prayer life right now with God that after a while become bigger than life, is the evidence of the ascended Christ in you. Cultivating a life of prayer is not a life apart from your Salvation, it is Salvation in your soul being worked out with fear and trembling. Sure, there will be pruning through it and the vinedresser will appear to be harsh sometimes. But, it is a path that only you can take and you have to meet with Him alone. I guarantee you that you will stumble and fall and He will help you get right back on your feet, you dust your bottom and continue. He will break you and you will carry the invisible scars, but through the pain you will find daddy’s heart. If you think knowing Christ bring joy to your heart and soul, wait till you find the heart of God the Father, it is a joy simply out of this world. Would you submit to it? Would you let Him show you? Or, are you too busy finding your thrills for this life in the care of this world?  Make the right decision!

Unquestioned Revelation

05

28

2013

In that day you will ask Me nothing —John 16:23

When is “that day”? It is when the ascended Lord makes you one with the Father. “In that day” you will be one with the Father just as Jesus is, and He said, “In that day you will ask Me nothing.” Until the resurrection life of Jesus is fully exhibited in you, you have questions about many things. Then after a while you find that all your questions are gone— you don’t seem to have any left to ask. You have come to the point of total reliance on the resurrection life of Jesus, which brings you into complete oneness with the purpose of God. Are you living that life now? If not, why aren’t you?

“In that day” there may be any number of things still hidden to your understanding, but they will not come between your heart and God. “In that day you will ask Me nothing”— you will not need to ask, because you will be certain that God will reveal things in accordance with His will. The faith and peace of John 14:1 has become the real attitude of your heart, and there are no more questions to be asked. If anything is a mystery to you and is coming between you and God, never look for the explanation in your mind, but look for it in your spirit, your true inner nature— that is where the problem is. Once your inner spiritual nature is willing to submit to the life of Jesus, your understanding will be perfectly clear, and you will come to the place where there is no distance between the Father and you, His child, because the Lord has made you one. “In that day you will ask Me nothing.”

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?

01

15

2013

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

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

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

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

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

Courtesy of: http://utmost.org/

Spiritual Plateau

Two days ago I mentioned something in my post about some of us with a need to keep seeking for the truth as if it is lost out there. Because I know people in my own circle with the same issue and because I can see it though oodles of people like me with internet ministry, I felt that I needed to give perhaps an example that could shed some lights on the reason why some of us are stuck there.

Some of us have been Christians for decades, we are attached to our Bibles, we do our best to understand the Word of God and we have reached a place where we know more than a lot of people in our Church. If you belong to a Church where the pastor himself has not been that far personally with God, it makes sense that with his limited spiritual vision and understanding, he sees you the member of his church, like some kind of apostles or prophets materials. After all, you are able to take some verses of the Bible and go wild with them. You are able to even impress some younger or lazier in the faith, with your Bible knowledge and so on. When it's all said and done, you are on fire for Him.

From the outside your life represents the picture perfect of what a deacon or elder looks like. You have learned to suppress certain behavior in a way that most people admire you for it. Soon, you find out you belong to the group of people that are considered godly man or woman and that gives you so much more encouragement. Why not? After all you have managed to achieve status in the eyes of man.

But, someone who has been walking with God can see right through all these hooplas, not because he or she wants to, but it is the nature of true Christianity. As you go forward with God in obedience, He opens the eyes your heart, He gives you wisdom and/or discernment to avoid those traps. What I described in the above paragraphs is in reality, the religion of man. When we get caught up in religion, years and years have passed, it feels as if you have reached a plateau which feels like you have learned almost all there is to be learned. If you are too caught up in religion and you need to have your ego stroke, you do not realize you are no longer going forward with God but you are just moving around. Yet, in true Christianity, no matter how far you have walked with God, He keeps calling you higher and higher. (I discussed that more in depth in my book Apprehended & Apprehending)

There is a trap there, while you go about putting on more shows and conferences, in your mind it seems that you are helping others, and yes God is able to use all that. If He uses Satan for His purposes, He used Pharaoh’s hard heart, of course, He can use anyone. But, your trap comes from the fact that there is no one spiritually wiser around you to tell you how easy it is to spot that you are walking in the flesh and you are not aware of it. There is no one around you to let you know that you have never been broken, no one to tell you that you are stubborn with your head knowledge. How is this possible in a Church of hundreds of Christians?

All who make up the leadership of your Church are in the same boat. NO ONE IS SPIRITUALLY WISER. The Pharisees were there, they have done that. Nothing is new under the sky. Like the Pharisees, when we get accustomed to having our ego stroke, we get attached to our self proclaim titles, Satan is having a fiesta, he gets us exactly where he wants us. What I am going to say next might shock you, but I see self proclaimed prophetesses, prophets, apostles, well respected, yet if they truly see what I see, they would know they have not even received salvation for their own souls yet. It is so pitiful, pathetic and gut wrenching.

What I am trying to say is that when we reach so many years of Christianity, there is nothing else the Holy Spirit can do any more unless we make the choice to offer the natural life to Him. We still have a much better chance to shape up when we are undisciplined and everyone can see we are not mature yet. But, when we spend years masquerading our lack of spiritual discipline and nobody knows that inside we are like wild horses still, unless they have spiritual eyes, Satan is the big winner. At the end of the day, we do not need one more event to uncover the truth, but we need to make the decision to go with the truth. Mathew 23:15 says: “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.”

Please get my book, "Apprehended & Apprehending” the subtitle is: Soaring In The Wilderness With God!  You can read it on your computer for only $5.95. Get one and may the spirit of truth help you!  

Please download the free book from Andrew Murray “The School Of Obedience” at

http://www.intothyword.us/Classicbooks.php

OSWALD CHAMBERS IN: 

The Offering of the Natural

Dec

10

2012

It is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman —Galatians 4:22

Paul was not dealing with sin in this chapter of Galatians, but with the relation of the natural to the spiritual. The natural can be turned into the spiritual only through sacrifice. Without this a person will lead a divided life. Why did God demand that the natural must be sacrificed? God did not demand it. It is not God’s perfect will, but His permissive will. God’s perfect will was for the natural to be changed into the spiritual through obedience. Sin is what made it necessary for the natural to be sacrificed.

Abraham had to offer up Ishmael before he offered up Isaac (see Genesis 21:8-14). Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural. The only way we can offer a spiritual sacrifice to God is to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). Sanctification means more than being freed from sin. It means the deliberate commitment of myself to the God of my salvation, and being willing to pay whatever it may cost.

If we do not sacrifice the natural to the spiritual, the natural life will resist and defy the life of the Son of God in us and will produce continual turmoil. This is always the result of an undisciplined spiritual nature. We go wrong because we stubbornly refuse to discipline ourselves physically, morally, or mentally. We excuse ourselves by saying, “Well, I wasn’t taught to be disciplined when I was a child.” Then discipline yourself now! If you don’t, you will ruin your entire personal life for God.

God is not actively involved with our natural life as long as we continue to pamper and gratify it. But once we are willing to put it out in the desert and are determined to keep it under control, God will be with it. He will then provide wells and oases and fulfill all His promises for the natural (see Genesis 21:15-19).

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Sometimes, I like posting other people's writings because I can identify with them. We have the same message because we have learned directly from the Holy Spirit. I had one of Oswald Chambers devotional book for about 9 years. While I had great respect for his writings but I could not truly understand what he was talking about and where all these things were coming from. At one point I had to admit to myself that he had a great relationship with Christ, but I dismissed it with words like " this is his life, his walk and his things"so I kept reading him like some sort of historian that I admired. After the Holy Spirit led me to the wilderness to become His favorite rag doll that’s when all of the sudden I knew exactly what he was talking about. I could identify with each page.

As I started identifying with Oswald’s writing something sad occurred. Pastors and mentors that I used to admire for their eloquence and their knowledge, faded away. People that I used to think were so knowledgeable when I was not deep in Christ, all of the sudden I could see how much they knew nothing about Him and how shallow their teachings have always been. Make no mistake it is a sad realization because you are losing your heroes and you find it is hard to let go.

As time went by, the Holy Spirit healed my heart and filled it up with His love. He made me understand that it is all part of this walk. It is the act of being set apart for His glory. It is part of being detached from the world. And it is also what it means to be part of the remnant He keeps for Himself. When I understood that, I found a new love for these people that I was leaving behind. I will forever be grateful to them, because God has used them in my life. I love them dearly and the only way I could ever repay them is by praying for them, always.

So, while Oswald Chambers died in November 1917 these words of his are more real than ever. The Church has not improved, instead things have gotten worse. Every word in today’s devotion is still right for today’s Christians but on a larger scale.  So, I am leaving you with Oswald’s own word on Christ supremacy. May the Spirit of truth help you understand these words as you open your heart to Him. I pray that He would help you let go of resistance, pride, ignorance and stubbornness in your heart as you break down in repentance. 

The Supremacy of Jesus Christ

Nov

29

2012

He will glorify Me . . . —John 16:14

The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.

The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!

Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.

The Fellowship Of His Sufferings

Check out the $50.00 Contest details of this book @ www.apprehended.ca

This Post is From The 4th Chapter of My Newly Released Christian Book 

"Apprehended & Apprehending"

Chapter Title: The Fellowship of His Sufferings

.......If you truly receive Him in your heart and you immediately die afterwards, then you are indeed saved, and at judgment time, God will judge and reward you according to His own sets Standards. Remember God is God, He said to Moses in Exodus 33:19,

“ … For I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose”

It is not our place to corner Him by using the story of the thief on the cross. Besides, the event of the thief on the cross is so much deeper than meets the eyes.

The next big thing we should consider is that Scriptures teach us there is no such thing as being saved and having the pause button on our Christian life perpetually pressed until He comes. Christ had a lot of followers who did not really believe in Him but wanted something from Him. We also know from Scriptures that a relationship with Him is a dynamic one. Therefore, if indeed we have received Him, we need to do the next best thing He asks of us, which is taking up our cross and go on with Him as His follower. The choice is clear here. So, instead of examining God, I would suggest that we learn to examine our actions, motives, and attitudes first. It is incomprehensible to see how many professed Christians simply dismiss some of the examples we have in the Bible as to how God will be dealing with His own people who are not able to hold fast in the faith. In Matthew 25:1-13, we have the story of the 5 foolish virgins who did not have oil, which incidentally, represented the work of our faith, the faith that keeps you going forward with Him. We also have the Parable of the Seed in Luke 8:13, and what about the Parable of the Talents and the demise of the last servant in Matthew 25:30? Sadly most of us do not understand how important it is to live Christianity with a spiritual balance that is found solely through an exchanged life WITH and IN Christ (1 John 3:1-3 & Colossians 3:3-4.) the exchanged life simply means that He has become your whole life while your life is in Him. Strangely when this is known to your soul, you can see this paradox with your spiritual eyes and it all seems so simple.

Please visit us at www.apprehended.ca to download "free" 2nd chapter of this book 

All formats of this book are available on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles, Alibris, and online only with Smashwords

Please visit my site www,apprehended.ca to see my  6 months personal guarantee. If you do not like this book you are refunded, no questions asked.  Plus there is an opportunity to win $50.00 Cash through Paypal or Amazon gift certificate

Commitment To The Faith

 

In my book "Apprehended & Apprehending" I have a small chapter about commitment. The reason commitment is so important to me and I felt I had to include it in the book is because while I had no idea what it meant to walk in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit was hard at work in the background to help me come up higher. I realize He has never let me be satisfied with my own explanations of the Word of God in the Bible. Pushing people to not be satisfied with data tucked away while living in the flesh, makes knowing someone like me, a little bit annoying if you like your comfort zone. It is harder if you are an immediate member of my family. But, in my defense, I have no idea how to live the Christian life any other way because the Holy Spirit targeted me right at the onset of Salvation.  (Although I suspect He targets all of us) I shared almost throughout every chapter of my book how He called me to come up higher over and over again. Since I talked about it at length, I will refrain from going into more details.

You see, while some professed Christians are busy separating Salvation, discipleship commitment and grace to excuse their behaviors God showed me they are all one in the same according to His standards at work in us. I was surprised to find out that Christ’s call to us in Mathew 16:24 “to take up our cross and follow” actually meant “make the commitment, come up higher, live like you have a Master and surrender to me at any cost.”  Later on, I was more surprised to find out that not only this is Salvation being worked out in me, but the strength to do all these above were in Him,  through His grace alone.  This walk, the Holy Spirit was constantly working in the background to get me to question what I understood only in the flesh, in order to get to the point where I would make the commitment to follow and step into my discipleship role. Indeed, making the commitment to Him to let Him be the Master of your life it is not an easy thing to do. When you make this commitment you know what you have done is in effect what all the other disciples in the Bible did as they left everything behind and follow Christ on the onset of His ministry. The commitment to follow Him, if it is done with the right understanding, attitude, motive and with the Holy Spirit makes you realize that you are aware you found something that deserve your full attention. You feel, there is a Master in town now, and you have to go with Him to hear what He has to say. Like Paul turning his back away from his honourable position with Gamael, like Peter leaving his lucrative fishing business behind, like Matthew the tax collector who left his booth and lucrative business to follow and so forth.  

Just in case you are wondering what I mean in the paragraph above when I said the right attitude, motivation and understanding it is about understanding we have to do it knowing even though it will hurt but it has to be done. We know this mean we will lose complete control over our lives and we are no longer in charge. It means going forward with His plans, not ours. It means we will have to be broken and the self has to be eradicated etc. The end result will mean fellowship, oneness, pride left behind to embrace humility, deeper worship and love for Him and so forth.

Being compelled to go forward is a work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is a work of grace and there is no way left on our own we would understand the need to go forward with Him. I was pleasantly surprised to find out how all of it relates to each other. Through receiving Him I received the light. If I receive the light and I am no longer the “old me”, then I need to learn how to live the new life. While the Church put together discipleship classes and preaching the Word to get us to understand this new life, but it is my duty to hear His call to come up higher. When we go forward to become His disciple, all we are doing is making a commitment to study with the Master. Why do we need to study with the Master? Because not only He needs us to accept our position as His pupil, He also needs our total commitment so that He can make real in us the work He has started, meaning Salvation.

So, God’s call and wooing to come up higher along with Christ giving us a choice to take up our cross and follow Him, plus we have Romans 12:1 where Paul told us to surrender ourselves to Him, are all the same. Meaning same goal, same purpose and all of it is wrapped up in a commitment to this life through His grace. When you live according to His standards, all of it is there in black and white, there is no need to hold a debate. Everything we have in this Christian walk build on each other. The whole thing is like building a foundation for a house where Christ is the builder and He is putting the materials needed together to build this house. While this house starts with Salvation entering our hearts and souls, but we cannot separate it from the builder and the materials needed to erect the house.

This post was meant to be Sunday’s post. But this morning in my quiet time with Him I read Oswald Chambers, I knew this was not a coincidence and that I had to switch the post. So, instead of ending with a prayer, I will end with copying Oswald Chambers devotion for you.

Keep in mind that the second chapter of my book which is about commitment to this life is available for you to download for free. Go to my website

www.apprehended.ca

Here is Oswald Chambers today's devotion

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . . —Galatians 2:20

These words mean the breaking and collapse of my independence brought about by my own hands, and the surrendering of my life to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to this point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot push me through it. It means breaking the hard outer layer of my individual independence from God, and the liberating of myself and my nature into oneness with Him; not following my own ideas, but choosing absolute loyalty to Jesus. Once I am at that point, there is no possibility of misunderstanding. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ or understand what He meant when He said, “. . . for My sake” (Matthew 5:11). That is what makes a strong saint.

Has that breaking of my independence come? All the rest is religious fraud. The one point to decide is— will I give up? Will I surrender to Jesus Christ, placing no conditions whatsoever as to how the brokenness will come? I must be broken from my own understanding of myself. When I reach that point, immediately the reality of the supernatural identification with Jesus Christ takes place. And the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable— “I have been crucified with Christ . . . .”

The passion of Christianity comes from deliberately signing away my own rights and becoming a bondservant of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I will not begin to be a saint.

One student a year who hears God’s call would be sufficient for God to have called the Bible Training College into existence. This college has no value as an organization, not even academically. Its sole value for existence is for God to help Himself to lives. Will we allow Him to help Himself to us, or are we more concerned with our own ideas of what we are going to be?

Personal Relationship With Him!

Excerpt of My Book Apprehended & Apprehending" From Chapter 2

There is such a misunderstanding among Christians about what a personal relationship with Christ means. Personal relationship with Him is not about going on through our cultural type of Christianity while mimicking Christ. Think about it. There are comedians out there making a living on mimicking well known and famous people, but just the fact that they imitate other people does not make them someone else nor do they become good friends with those they mimic. Our lack of understanding of the Scriptures and lack of walking in the Spirit cause us to think that it is okay to go about doing the external things that the apostles and Christ did when they were on earth. The footprints to imitate them are found inwardly in the person of Jesus-Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit.  We tend to forget that, before we are judged for our work, Christ will look at who we are in Him first. If you do not know Him, there is a strong indication that He does not know you either. Our work has to be an extension of who we are in Christ, and if I do not have enough faith, obedience, and love to go forward in getting intimate with Him, then who’s doing the work? And why? What is the purpose? What is behind that misplaced zeal?

Our personal relationship with God starts with our personal story of salvation according to non-watered down Gospel. We become grounded through acquiring sound biblical doctrines through the body of Christ, yes, but it comes primarily through the Holy Spirit expounding the Word of God to us. Through the right understanding of these doctrines, we find ourselves at His feet in fear and gratitude for His goodness to us and for who He is. Then we move forward in utter abandonment to Him in complete trust. We are told in John 7:17 that the key to knowing God is found in our obedience to Him. Therefore, before we go on with our Bible rituals, it would do us good to resolve to obey His Word by any means. I do not have the slightest doubt that if we do not have sound doctrines from the Holy Spirit Himself, our relationship with God will be off.

I was told by a few people who are serious about their walk with God that they keep my book like a reference book and go back to it over and over again. So, please get the book. I give you my word that you will be glad you did. It is an amazing thing to have intimacy with Him!