None of Self and All of Thee—Will You Lay Down Your Life?

"If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9:23-24

Today I was reading Oswald Chambers devotion and once again, for the gazillion times I was reminded by the Spirit that it is a life where you lay down the self daily, then, you learn to lay it down moment by moment.

Oswald is right in his assessment of us when he recorded “It is much easier to die than to lay down your life day in and day out with the sense of the high calling of God.”  When we get to do things for God, we do not have to feel the pain of being who we are. We get lost in working for Him because it gives us a sense of control in our lives. More than that, choosing to work for Him instead of laying this life down, helps us make sense of the natural life and takes away the chaos and uncertainty that the supernatural takes us through. I feel the need to say chaos because God does not tell us each step of the way what He is doing. As we wait, we wait some more, then a little bit more, again some more, yet, still nothing. As a human being, it is hard to take and hard to live out. So, all the feelings that the waiting process and the uncertainty bring to our lives cause chaos in the mind.

The past two weeks, I have been in some sort of tiring mood and it bothered me because I knew I had no business feeling the way I was feeling. I have been walking with God long enough to know if this kind of mood is not dealt with right away, you get yourself into a spiritual depression and before you know it, your devotion time, prayer time with God and everything of this spiritual life suffer as the heart grows cold toward Him. So, even before I finished reading Oswald Chamber’s devotion, I was convicted and I knew I had to get back to the same attitude that I know so well, in Him

When you are a child of God, this attitude can be found literally in the blink of an eye as you switch your brain’s gears. Instantly, you find rest. When you switch gears, it feels as if you were carrying a load off your back, but now you no longer have it, as if it suddenly disappeared.

But, the Spirit took it a step further to show me that the load that I felt I was carrying was made up of things such as: self-pity for myself because all my hopes seem to be fading away and my failure is made so big right in my face. I have also been having some issues with impatience through the waiting process,—after all, I have been waiting only eight years, no biggie—but you can see the kind of thinking process and disposition that plagued me the past two weeks.  So, the spirit showed me, even though I did not raise a finger to do work outside His will in order to avoid laying down my life, I still can move away and do the next thing that comes easier instead of laying down the life as He asked of us.

So, yes, for the past two weeks or so, I can truly say that I forgot to lay down my life daily. Every time the Spirit teaches me something, I am the first one amazed at how this self-life can creep up on us, so easily without even being noticed. I am also amazed at the 1001 ways we have to occupy ourselves in order to avoid laying down our lives. The worst thing is that I thought I dealt with self-pity in my life and I put it away for good. So when the Spirit showed me that self-pity was one of my heavy load, all I could say was “how did that get there?” Once more I was confronted with my being nothing, unless I am in Him. Without Him, I can’t do anything right

But, I know He is not finished with me, in fact, this journey that I have been on for the past eight years has only showed me this Christian life has just began.

Like T. Monod said, we start with,

‘All of self—and none of Thee.’
move to ‘Some of self—and some of Thee.’
then ‘Less of self—and more of Thee.’ Until we get to
Grant me now my soul’s desire,
‘None of self—and all of Thee.’

Will You Lay Down Your Life?

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. . . . I have called you friends . . . —John15:13, 15

Today’s Devotion June 16: for Oswald Chambers

I bequeath my pastor's soul to the devil

I bequeath my pastor's soul to the devil

Puritan Thomas Brooks 

"Covetousness, which is idolatry." Colossians 3:5

Covetousness is explicit idolatry.

Covetousness is the darling sin of our nation. 

This leprosy has infected all sorts and ranks of men.

Covetousness being idolatry, and the root of all evil,
is highly provoking to God.

Whatever a man loves most and best—that is his god. 
The covetous man looks upon the riches of the world 
as his heaven—his happiness—his great all. 
  His heart is most upon the world,
  his thoughts are most upon the world,
  his affections are most upon the world,
  his discourse is most about the world. 

He who has his mind taken up with the world, and 
chiefly delighted with the world's music—he has also 
his tongue tuned to the same key, and takes his joy 
and comfort in speaking of nothing else but the world 
and worldly things. If the world is in the heart—it will 
break out at the lips. A worldly-minded man speaks 
of nothing but worldly things. "They are of the world, 
therefore they speak of the world," John 4:5. The love 
of this world oils the tongue for worldly discourses, 
and makes men . . .
  forget God,
  neglect Christ,
  despise holiness,
  forfeit heaven.

Ah! the time, the thoughts, the strength, the efforts, 
which are spent upon the world, and the things of the 
world; while sinners' souls lie a-bleeding, and eternity 
is hastening upon them! 

I have read of a greedy banker, who was always best 
when he was most in talking of money and the world. 
Being near his death, he was much pressed to make 
his will. Finally he dictates:

First, I bequeath my own soul to the devil
—for being so greedy for the muck of this world!

Secondly, I bequeath my wife's soul to the devil
—for persuading me to this worldly course of life.

Thirdly, I bequeath my pastor's soul to the devil—because he did not show me the danger I lived in, 
nor reprove me for it.

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and
 a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that
 plunge men into ruin and destruction." 1 Timothy 6:9

Idleness In A Chritian's Life

What is it that leads to all other sins? 

IDLENESS

"I walked by the field of a lazy person, the vineyard of one lacking sense. I saw that it was overgrown with thorns. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down. Then, as I looked and thought about it, I learned this lesson: A little extra sleep, a little more slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—and poverty will pounce on you like a bandit; scarcity will attack you like an armed robber." Proverbs 24:30-34. This, too, is fine painting—the late riser, the lover of sleep, the drowsy drone, lifting up his half-opened lids weighed down with sleep, grumbling at the person who has disturbed him, turning away from him on his bed; and settling himself down again to slumber. And then the broken fence left without repair, the thorns and nettles covering the field and choking the vineyard. How true to life. "Only fools idle away their time." Proverbs 12:11. "And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle." 1 Thes. 5:14
Idleness is a complicated vice. Yes, I say VICE!
First it is a most wasteful vice. It wastes time, which is more precious than rubies; it wastes a man's mental faculties; it wastes property.
Idleness is a disgraceful vice. How reproachful is it in a being made to be active, to spend life in doing nothing, and to throw away his mental powers in sloth.
Idleness is a criminal vice. God has commanded us to be active, and will call us to account for the sin of killing time.
Idleness is a dangerous vice. Doing nothing is next to doing evil, and is sure to lead to it. From its very inaction it ultimately becomes the active cause of all evil. "The Devil tempts all men; but the idle man tempts the Devil."
Idleness is a wretched vice. An idle man is the most miserable of all God's creatures. Woe be to the man who is doomed to bear the pain and penalties of a slothful disposition.

No Two Conversions are Precisely Alike In Details- Spurgeon

To you this picture will not make sense, but to me there is great significance. Forget the fact that this is a woman and forget her ethnicity and try to put yourself there you will have a perfect picture of what your spiritual life is about. God is constantly showing me my life on this earth and the spiritual life that I live with Him. My spiritual being is always identical to me except that the “me” in the flesh is always at the bottom and the spiritual one is higher.  The spiritual “me” is never a colored picture or image whatever you want to call it. There is beauty, knowledge, peace and something that transcends this life in the other “me” that I always enjoy and feel privileged when God decides to let me have  a peak of my spiritual being.  The Spiritual life that God calls us to, is truly beautiful and possible and should be aspired to at any cost. With that in mind, here is the post for today!

True Conversion

Spurgeon, IS CONVERSION NECESSARY?

The Spirit calls men to Jesus in diverse ways-
Some are drawn so gently that they scarcely
know when the drawing began, and others are
so suddenly affected, that their conversion
stands out with noonday clearness.

Perhaps no two conversions are precisely alike in detail-
the means, the modes, the manifestations, all vary greatly.
As our minds are not all cast in the same mold,
it may so happen that the truth which affects one
is powerless upon another; the style of address which
influences your friend may be offensive to yourself.
"The wind blows where it will."

Yet in all true conversions there are points of essential agreement-
there must be in all a penitent confession of sin,
and a looking to Jesus for the forgiveness of it,
and there must also be a real change of heart such as
shall affect the entire life thereafter.

Where these essential points are not found,
there is no genuine conversion.

Where there is true faith, there is the new birth, and that
implies a change beyond measure, complete, and radical.

Any man who is united to Christ has experienced a great change.

This change is a thorough and sweeping one, and operates upon
the nature, heart, and life of the convert.

There must be a divine work, making us new creatures,
and causing all things to become new with us,
or we shall die in our sins.

Our condition before God,
our moral tone,
our nature,
our state of mind,
are made by conversion totally different from what they were before.

In a word, if we are in Christ Jesus we are new creatures;
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

In conversion, infidels become believers,
Roman Catholics forsake their priests,
harlots become chaste,
drunkards leave their cups,
and, what is equally remarkable, Pharisees leave
their self-righteous pride, and come as 'sinners' to Jesus.

Conversion may be known by the fact that it changes the whole man.

It changes the 'principle' upon which he lives-
he once lived for self, now he lives for God.
He once did right because he was afraid of punishment
if he did wrong, but now he shuns evil because he hates it.
He once did right because he hoped to merit heaven,
but now no such selfish motive sways him- he knows that he
is saved, and he now does right out of gratitude to God.

His 'objects in life' are changed-
he once lived for gain, or worldly honor;
now he lives for the glory of God.

His 'comforts' are changed-
the pleasures of the world and sin are nothing to him now,
he finds comfort in the love of God shed abroad in his heart.

His 'desires' are changed-
that which he once panted and pined for,
he is now content to do without.
And that which he once despised, he now longs after
as the deer pants after the water brooks.

His 'fears' are different-
he fears man no more, but fears his God.

His 'hopes' are also altered-
his expectations fly beyond the stars.

The man has begun a new life.

A convert once said-
"Either the world is altered or else I am."

Everything seems new.

Beloved hearers, may we all meet in heaven.
But to meet in heaven we must all be converted,
for inside yonder gates of pearl none can enter
but those who are new creatures in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen.

HEARTLESS WORSHIP - Spurgeon

HEARTLESS WORSHIP

by Spurgeon
'Soul' worship is the soul of worship, and if you take away
the soul from the worship, you have killed the worship--
it becomes dead and barren henceforth.

There are 'professors' in this world who are perfectly content if
they have gone through the 'mechanical part of public devotion'.

If they have occupied their seats, joined in the hymns and the
prayers, and listened to the preaching, they go away quite
content and easy. They would not like to be absent from the
solemn assembly, and their conscience would prick them if they
neglected the outward ordinances, but having gone through
them, and complied with the accustomed 'form', they are
perfectly content with themselves, and think they have done that
which is lawful and right, lovely and excellent.

Now, it is never so with the true child of God.

If his soul is awakened from the torpor of death, and his
sensibilities quickened into the vigor of life, he will feel
that unless in the song he has really 'praised' God in strains
of gratitude with emotions of thankfulness, he has rather
mocked his heavenly Father than acceptably adored him.

He knows that 'prayer', if it is not the soul that speaks with God,
is but the carcass of prayer, destitute alike of the sweet savor
which can find acceptance with God, and of the sweet
satisfaction that can bring refreshment to one's own breast.

When he 'hears the word preached', he longs to feel it penetrate
his heart, even as the rain soaks into the soil. And if he cannot so
receive the truth of the gospel when it breaks on his ear as the
engrafted word that saves his soul, and so feed upon it as the
bread of life which nourishes his soul, he goes away sad at heart,
deploring that, while others were feasting at the banquet, he was
there without appetite, and had not the pleasure or the profit
which they derived.

Beloved, in our public services we ought to account nothing
truly and rightly done which is not done with the heart.

If the soul is there, in the full exercise of its powers and
passions, I believe God is gracious to pity and forgive a
thousand mistakes in outward fashion and skill of execution.

If it is 'heartless' worship it is unacceptable.
God cannot receive it.

If we have not thrown our heart into it, depend upon it-
God will never take it to his heart and be pleased with it.

Only that prayer which comes from
our heart can get to God's heart.

If we pray only from the lips, or from the throat, and not
low down from the very affections of our nature, we shall
never reach the affections of our Father who is in heaven.

With every kind of religious exercise, the 'soul'
is the standard of the whole compass of worship.

Growth in Grace — Part 8

Excerpts from the book by Thomas Watson: Body of Divinity

Download Your Free Kindle Now!

"But grow in grace." 2 Peter 3:18

True grace is progressive—of a spreading and growing nature. It is with grace as with light; first, there is the daybreak; then it shines brighter to the full meridian. A good Christian is like the crocodile—which continues to grow as long as it lives. The saints are not only compared to stars for their light—but to trees for their growth. Isa 61:3, and Hos 14:5. A good Christian is not like Hezekiah's sun, which went backwards, nor Joshua's sun that stood still—but is always advancing in holiness, and increasing with the increase of God.

In how many ways may a Christian be said to grow in grace?
(1.) He grows in the exercise of grace. His lamp is burning and shining; therefore we read of a living hope. I Pet 1:1. Here is the activity of grace. The church prays for the blowing of the Spirit, that her spices (that is—her graces) might flow forth. Cant 4:16.

(2.) A Christian grows in the degree of grace. He goes from strength to strength, from one degree of grace to another. Psalm 84:7. A saint goes from faith to faith. Rom 1:17. His love abounds more and more. Phil 1:9.

What is the right manner of a Christian's growth?
(1.) It is to grow less in one's own eyes. "I am a worm, and no man." Psalm 22:6. The sight of his corruption and ignorance, makes a Christian grow into a dislike of himself; he vanishes in his own eyes. Job abhorred himself in the dust. Job 42:6. It is good to grow out of conceit with one's self.

(2.) The right manner of growth is to grow proportionately, to grow in one grace as well as another. 2 Pet 1:5. To grow in knowledge—but not meekness, brotherly love, or good works—is not the right growth. A thing may swell and not grow; a man may be swelled with knowledge—yet may have no spiritual growth. The right manner of growth is uniform, growing in one grace as well as another. As the beauty of the body consists in a symmetry of parts, in which not only the head grows—but the arms and legs. Just so, spiritual growth is most beautiful, when there is symmetry and proportion, and every grace thrives.

(3.) The right manner of growth is, when a Christian has grace suitable to his several employments and occasions. When corruptions are strong—and he has grace able to give check to them. When burdens are heavy—and he has patience able to bear them. When temptations are fierce—and he has faith able to resist them. Then grace grows in the right manner.

Whence is it, that true grace must grow?
(1.) It is proper for grace to grow; it is an enduring seed, the seed of God. I John 3:9. It is the nature of seed to grow: grace does not lie in the heart, as a stone in the earth—but as seed in the earth, which will spring up, first the blade, then the ear, and then the full corn in the ear.

(2.) Grace must grow—from its sweetness and excellence. He who has grace is never weary of it—but would have more. The delight he has in it causes thirst. Grace is the image of God, and a Christian thinks he can never be enough like God. Grace instills peace; a Christian, therefore, strives to grow in grace, that he may grow in peace.

(3.) Grace must grow—from a believer's ingrafting into Christ. He who is a scion, ingrafted into this noble, generous stock, cannot but grow. Christ is so full of sap, and vivifying influence, that he makes all who are grafted into him, grow fruitful. "From me is your fruit found."


What MOTIVES or INCENTIVES are there to make us grow in grace?
(1.) Growth is the end of the ordinances. Why does a man lay out cost on ground, fertilize and water it—but that it may grow? The sincere milk of the word is given, that we may grow thereby. 1 Pet 2:2. The table of the Lord is on purpose for our spiritual nourishment and increase of grace.

(2.) The growth of grace—is the best evidence of the truth of it. Things that have no life will not grow: a picture will not grow, a stake in the hedge will not grow; but a plant that has a vegetative life grows. The growing of grace shows it to be alive in the soul.

(3.) Growth in grace is the beauty of a Christian. The more a child grows, the more it comes to its maturity, and looks more ruddy. Just so, the more a Christian grows in grace, the more he comes to his spiritual maturity, and looks fairer. Abraham's faith was beautiful when in its infancy—but at last it grew so vigorous and eminent, that God himself was in love with it, and crowned Abraham with this honor, to be the "father of the faithful."

(4.) The more we grow in grace—the more glory we bring to God. God's glory is more worth than the salvation of all men's souls. This should be our design—to raise the trophies of God's glory; and how can we better do it, than by growing in grace? "Hereby is my Father glorified—if you bring forth much fruit." Though the least grain of grace will bring salvation to us—yet it will not bring so much glory to God. "Filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are to the praise of his glory." It commends the skill of the farmer—when his plants grow and thrive; it is a praise and honor to God—when we thrive in grace.

(5.) The more we grow in grace—the more will God love us. Is it not that which we pray for? The more growth, the more God will love us...... to be continued

SANCTIFICATION—Part 7

SANCTIFICATION

Excerpts from the book by Thomas Watson: Body of Divinity

Download Your Free Kindle Now!

This is an impressive outline of a chapter on sanctification which is part of this free kindle

OUTLINE:
What is the NATURE of sanctification?
(1.) Sanctification is a SUPERNATURAL thing; it is divinely infused.
(2.) Sanctification is an INTERNAL thing; it lies chiefly in the heart.
(3.) Sanctification is an EXTENSIVE thing: it spreads into the whole man.
(4.) Sanctification is an intense and ARDENT thing.
(5.) Sanctification is a BEAUTIFUL thing.
(6.) Sanctification is an ABIDING thing.
(7.) Sanctification is a PROGRESSIVE thing.

What are the COUNTERFEITS of sanctification?
(1.) The first counterfeit of sanctification is MORAL VIRTUE.
(2.) The second counterfeit of sanctification is SUPERSTITIOUS DEVOTION.
(3.) The third counterfeit of sanctification is HYPOCRISY; when men make a pretense of that holiness which they have not.
(4.) The fourth counterfeit of sanctification is RESTRAINING grace—when men forbear vice, though they do not hate it.
(5.) The fifth counterfeit of sanctification is COMMON grace—which is a slight, transient work of the Spirit—but does not amount to conversion.

Wherein appears the NECESSITY of sanctification?
(1.) God has called us to it.
(2.) Without sanctification, there is no evidencing our justification.
(3.) Without sanctification we have no title to the new covenant.
(4.) There is no going to heaven without sanctification.
(5.) Without sanctification all our holy things are defiled.
(6.) Without sanctification we can show no sign of our election.

What are the SIGNS of sanctification?
First, such as are sanctified, can remember a time when they were unsanctified
A second sign of sanctification is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
A third sign of sanctification is an antipathy against sin.
A fourth sign of sanctification is the spiritual performance of duties, with the heart, and from a principle of love.
A fifth sign is a holy life.
A sixth sign is steadfast resolution.
Use one: The main thing a Christian should look after, is sanctification.
Use two: What are the chief INDUCEMENTS to sanctification?

(1.) It is the will of God that we should be holy.
(2.) Jesus Christ has died for our sanctification.
(3.) Sanctification makes us resemble God.
(4.) Sanctification is that which God bears a great love to.
(5.) Sanctification is the only thing which makes us differ from the wicked.
(6.) It is as great a shame to have the name of a Christian—yet lack.
(7.) Sanctification fits for heaven.

How may sanctification be ATTAINED?
(1.) Be conversant in the Word of God.
(2.) Get faith in Christ's blood.
(3.) Breathe after the Spirit.
(4.) Associate with sanctified people.
(5.) Pray for sanctification.