Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

The most effective witness for outreach is one in whom the Lord takes up every place in him so that the work is, not by us in the Lord, but by the Lord in us—everywhere in us. It’s very instructive to know there is no place in us the Lord is not to take up and that it is attained by the law of displacement.

John the Baptists inspiringly stated, “He must increase, but I must decrease”. Similar to as we have two physical eyes we also possess two spiritual “I’s”—the old I and the new I. The Lord does not want to displace you, but your nature. He does not want it to be, all Jesus and none of you, but Jesus and you. God’s desire is to have you in your personhood, plus the new nature!

Notice John did not say, “I must be eliminated”. This does not design the removal of the old nature but its restraint, because the Lord continues use the Adamic nature to teach us for our growth in Christ, just as He used it to draw us to Christ. We came to Christ because we were made to realize the seriousness of sin and the more we are shown the depths of its decadency, the more we realize the depths of God’s holiness.

I like what John Gill commentated concerning something Christ said on the Cross; “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. Jesus was referring to their ignorance to the fact that they did not realize they were crucifying the Messiah, nor the prophecies concerning Him, nor the evil they were committing in putting Him to death: not that their ignorance excused their sin; nor was it without sin; nor does Christ use it as a plea for pardon, or found His intercession upon it, which is always done upon His own propitiatory sacrifice; but this is mentioned as descriptive of the persons Christ prays for, and points out a branch of His priestly office He exercises, in having compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way. (J. Gill bible commentary)

The issue of sin is not so much the wrongs of people as much as it is their lacking the realization of the seriousness of the wrongs; which comes not by discovery but by revelation--by the Spirit’s enlightenment. One cannot judge, nor expect an unregenerate person to live the Christ-life any more than expecting a pig to stay out of the mud after cleaning it. A sinner is expected to sin willfully just as a pig is expected to willfully return to the mud. If the model is to keep a clean pig, the goal is not in cleaning its body but in addressing its nature. -NC

“Most would say, “The work of the Holy Spirit is to save souls.” Yes, but why? Just to have them saved? No; but in order that the Lord Jesus might have His place. These souls are the residence of Christ. The Spirit may instruct believers and build them up—for what purpose? Just that they should be more mature Christians? Not at all; but so that the Lamb of God shall have a larger place. No matter what the Holy Spirit does, He has one all-inclusive object and end—the glorifying of the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, giving Him place and then filling all things with Him. Do not think of the “being filled with the Spirit”, or the “fullness of the Spirit”, in any other way than this: the Holy Spirit’s filling of all things with the Lord Jesus—He is “all, and in all”. –MJS/Person To Person/WithChrist.org.

“. . . that in all things He may have the preeminence.”.


4-11. INWROUGHT FOR OUTREACH

"Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving".

At first our concern is to be used, to serve; but it is our concern. Then He begins to impress His concern upon our hearts, that we be like Him. Finally, it is His concern and ours that others may be reached by Him and established in Him.

"The Holy Spirit indwells us and thereby accomplishes our sanctification--an adjustment of our personal lives to His own person and character, to the dropping away of sin's power over us and the implanting of His Christ-imparting attributes in us. But to what purpose is all of this? For the beautifying of our personal lives? To terminate upon us? Not at all. His work in us is that He may have an instrument adjusted to His use, thus to work through us to the blessing of others. -N.B.H.

"It is not so much a matter of our attainments or full conformity to Christ, but rather our progressive movement towards the final goal. Even if we were perfect in ourselves, that would not make us ministers, for ministry consists in the Spirit's manifesting in our lives something more of Christ that was not there before, and then making it shine out for the blessing and transformation of others." -H.F.

"And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men". -MJS/WithChrist.org
 
4-12. NOT HOW, BUT WHO!

"Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).
We never question how He works, once we know Him for who He is. When I gain the treasure of knowing Him, I can well afford to trust Him.

"The heart that is captivated by an object could never be at rest until it was with the one who had won it; for satisfaction you must be where He is. Love really does not think of anyone but its Object until it is quite sure of its place with Him, and then when at rest about itself it studies the mind and heart of the Object.

"I find that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me when I was in a most unattractive state; but He makes me suitable to Himself, and I am so assured of the permanency of His love and of my association with Him that my heart is free to study Him. The more I am in His company, the more I acquire the tastes and characteristics which answer to His mind."

"There is an amazing effect of beholding the Lord's glory. You may be transformed from some old taste without even feeling it; but you are transformed! and you cannot tell how. It is not the process that occupies you, but you are engrossed with the Lord. We are united to the glorified Lord where He is at home, and, blessed by God, that is our home, our life is there." -J.B.S.

"Your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).
 
The Christian life is not living by what Christ can do but by what He has already done. There is nothing we do not already possess in order to ever increasingly be conformed (Rom 8:29--by the Spirit through the Cross) to the Christ-life. “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ” (Eph 1:3). Nothing can be added to that which “is finished” (John 19:30) and makes us “complete in God’s will” (Col 4:12).

This first involves realizing we work from and not towards God’s spiritual blessings, by appropriating--through reckoning. Paul’s pressing toward the prize was in reference to the resurrection of his body (Phil 3:11) because his spirit had formally been regenerated and this was due to already possessing God’s blessings. As the Holy Spirit increases our understanding of the written Word, the presence of all of God’s blessings in our lives will become more evident.

We reckon--by faith, and to reckon on God’s written Word is to be convinced it is always true. I believe the most crucial issue concerning reckoning, faith and God’s written Word is to know that God’s blessings are in our lives “through the faith of the operation of God” (Col 2:12), esp. when at times (some call it a “pause”) our faith may seem weak (2 Cor 12:9, 10).

Regardless whether or not we think we deserve His blessings, He “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11), not according to the performance of our lives. For Christians this means we do not receive something good because we do good, nor do we receive something bad because we did something bad.

Everything is foreknown by God and is being used to teach us of Himself. A Christian’s desire is always toward pleasing God and therefore, in spite of mistakes, is sowing to the good. The totality or summation of everything a person does is toward good or evil and only “He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11).
-NC


4-13. DUAL RECKONING

"For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).

"Reckoning" on the work of the Cross is the only relief from the carnal burden of self. Then comes the spiritual burden of Christ--to be more like Him. "Reckoning" is the answer there, too. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through [in] Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6.11). If we seek to escape the death, we will not experience the life.

"We are not to try to crucify self, but we are to agree (reckon) with what God has said and done. In the lives of most believers self has usurped the place belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a criminal worthy of death, but the trouble is that they do not realize that this self-life has been crucified on the Cross. They do not believe the facts of the Word, and sin therefore reigns in their lives; they live in bondage to sin, praying for deliverance, praying that they may die to sin, but refusing to believe what God says He has already done." -L.L.L.

"The constant tendency is to try to improve the manner of one's life here below by adopting Christian principles, whereas you will never arrive at it unless you start from 'crucified with Christ.' Then it is not thinking of what I am, but of what He is, 'Christ liveth in me.'" -J.B.S.

"And ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:10).

-MJS/WithChrist.org
 
After being saved, the next most significant issue is our worship to God, which involves everything we do (John 4:23, 24) and it is how we glorify Him (Mat 5:16). The next most significant issue after our worship to God is our witness to others. After all, outreach to others is how everyone comes to Christ, by God using those who are His to draw them to Christ, beginning with the twelve.

So, this is a list of three pillars in the faith: personal salvation; worship to God; outreach to others. Is anything missing from the list? What could be your next item? How about personal growth in our salvation? Yes, this concludes the pillars of faith to be four and this last element is as significant as the first because it will determine the effectiveness of the second and third elements.

As we know, God uses His Spirit to conform us to the life of Christ and the Spirit’s primary item of use is the written Word of God. Just as the more Sun we’re exposed to, the more tanned we get; the more Word we’re exposed to, the more Son we get. Concerning God’s word, our primary responsibility is to continue to expose ourselves to it and it is God’s responsibility to cause it to mature us in His Son’s image (Rom 8:29).

“All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim 3:16, 17). “It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

The quickest and most effective growth in the life of Christ involves direct Son-light, which is by the written Word of God because it is the only source unfiltered.
-NC


4-14. APPRECIATION, NOT DEPRECIATION

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Colossians 3:16).

As believers we rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus died for us, but few are affected by the fact that He arose for us. Fewer still realize that we died and arose with Him. Learn the facts! There will be continual struggle and failure until we gain adequate understanding of the liberating truth.

"The Lord Jesus on the Cross removed the barriers which separated me from God--my guilt, my sin, the law; and He dealt with my enemies--the world, the flesh, the devil. These six things were dealt with, so that we need no longer be in bondage through fear and that we may come boldly to the throne of grace.

"Have we given a hearty assent to these things which the Lord Jesus did for us? Or have we, as we read the Word, drifted by them, taking it all for granted? Let us lay hold of that for which God has laid hold of us. Let us gird up the loins of our mind and consent to that which He did for us. Let us enter into all that which being united to Christ as our Life means. Let us rejoice in all that was accomplished for us on Calvary." -L.L.L.

"It is necessary that the truth conferred by grace should be known as a possession and the virtue of it apprehended, before there can be any walk in keeping with it. For if there be ignorance or misapprehension, the truer the conscience, the more defective is the practice." -J.B.S.

"Set your affection on things above" (Colossians 3:2)


-MJS/WithChrist.org
 
The Father in His mercy has been teaching you that there is no solid advancement in growth apart from personal fellowship with Himself. It is not only His infinite love that you need, but it is your own heart-love that He longs for. Think of it, the Creator yearning for the love and companionship of the re-created.

Ponder the infinite pathos of the Lord Jesus’ plea to the Twelve, while many of His disciples were forsaking Him: “Will you also go away?” (John 6:67). Does not your heart all but break as He asks the same of you? Surely your loving response can be no less than that of Peter’s: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:88). –MJS/Person to Person/withchrist.org


4-15. PURPOSE, PROVISION, PROCESS

"I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory" (Exodus 33:18).

There are three vital factors that will keep us on the path, and in the power, of spiritual growth: (1) study to know that God's purpose in saving us is to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28, 29); (2) learn to reckon upon the finished work of the Cross as His provision for that purpose (Romans 6:11); (3) yield to the Holy Spirit as He carries out the daily process of that purpose (2 Corinthians 4:11).

"Christ Jesus' earthly life showed the path, His heavenly life gives the power, in which we are to walk. What God hath joined together no man may separate. Whosoever does not stand in the full faith of the Redemption, has not the strength to follow the Example. And whosoever does not seek conformity to the Image as the great purpose of Redemption, cannot fully enter its power. Christ lived on earth that He might show forth the image of God in His life; He lives in heaven that we may show forth the image of God in our lives." -A.M.

"God has but one way of revealing Himself, it is 'Christ in you.' He has no other way of showing Himself to men except as Christ lives in us; not by the Shekinah glory in the temple built with hands of men, but in lives redeemed and freed and cleansed as they walk about in this dark world with Christ living in them." -L.L.L.

"And we all, while with face unveiled we behold in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are ourselves transformed continually into the same likeness; and the glory which shines upon us is reflected by us, even as it proceeds from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18, Cony.).

mjs/withchrist.org
 
I believe the most applicable word to describe everything in our life as a Christian and our fellowship with God could be “vicarious”, because nothing we do or have (esp. salvation) of God originates from us.
Everything which has to do with God in our life precedes forth from the Holy Spirit through our regenerated self--by way of the “new man” because this new nature within us is created after the image of Christ (Col 3:10) and Christ is the image of the Father (2 Cor 4:4; Heb 1:3).

“Yielding ourselves unto God” (Rom 6:13) means presenting our new self to Him, not the old self. When we are discouraged it’s because we’ve yielded our old self, which He cannot use (Rom 8:7). It bears repeating that when we are disappointed it’s because we’ve based our support on human strength (Eph 6:10) and not on God, because He never disappoints.

Therefore, it is a refreshing thing to realize that “he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works” (“own works” which are apart from God--Heb 4:10). It’s God’s works and not ours which “keeps us from falling” (Jude 1:24).
-NC




4-16. HANDICAPPED FOR CHRIST

"My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

In self we are crippled; in Christ we conquer. The secret is to face up to the former, and rest in the latter. The disadvantaged believer has all the advantage--he knows it must be "not I, but Christ."

"It is a great step when the believer fully consents to his own weakness, and the abiding consciousness of it, and so works faithfully on, fully assured that his Lord is working through him. He rejoices that the excellence of the power is of God, and not of us. Realizing his oneness with his Lord, he considers no longer his own weakness, but counts on the power of Him of whose hidden working within him is assured.

"It is this secret assurance that gives a brightness to his look, and a gentle firmness to his tone, and a perseverance to all his efforts, which of themselves are great means of influencing those he is seeking to win. He goes forth in the spirit of one to whom victory is assured; for this is the victory that overcometh, even our faith. He no longer counts it humility to say that God cannot bless his unworthy efforts. He claims and expects a blessing, because it is not he, but Christ in him, that worketh. The great secret of abiding in Christ is the deep conviction that we are nothing, and He is everything." -A.M.

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God". (2 Corinthians 3:5).

-MJS/withchrist.org
 
Until we learn to “labor to enter His rest” (Heb 4:11) much of our work will be unnecessary because instead of it being “Not I, but Christ” it will be “Not Christ, but I”. Continuing in our “own works” delays, but not inhibits, God’s work in our life. Our old man-related works are to be shunned in order to yield to God to work through us—“by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph 3:16). It is the Spirit of God who causes us to avoid many wrongs in our lives which we would otherwise encounter (Gal 5:17).

As God rested from His works of creation (Gen 2:2, 3) and never needing to repeat it, He will progressively reduce in our life works which derive from our "old man" which, by law of displacement, will allow more works which derive from the "new man"--through the Spirit.. “For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Heb 4:10).
-NC



4-17. REST AND RECEIVE

"I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10, Wey.).

The difficult thing for most hungry-hearted believers is to wait in dependence upon the Lord for everything. Truth is not to be grasped, but received--received by faith, mainly through study. How true this is concerning reckoning! Many seek to reckon before they understand the scriptural facts upon which to count, and that adds up to failure. The secret is to learn the truth of our identification with the Lord Jesus so thoroughly that reckoning and its resultant growth will come as a matter of course, just as in our justification.

"The death of our Lord on the Cross has depths of meaning that can only be plumbed by way of discovered need, but then reveals 'unsearchable riches.' To the believer who still has hopes of 'attaining' in the Christian life, a verse such as Romans 6:11 is a rather meaningless jargon used by those who give messages on the 'deepening of the spiritual life.'

"To the believer who has been taught by the Holy Spirit something of his own utter, inbred sinfulness, it comes as a message from God full of hope and encouragement. He grasps the rescue rope flung to him by the right hand of Omnipotence, and with humble thankfulness sets out to learn how he can reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. When he looks at the Cross he sees there the fact that not only did the Lord Jesus die for him, but that he himself was taken down into His death, in order that the practical reality of His resurrection life might transform him into the divine likeness." -J.C.M.

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" (Romans 6:5).

-MJS/withchrist.org
 
4-18. ABIDING LIBERATION

"For we preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake" (2 Corinthians 4:5).
Our Father took the old fleshly life into death at the Cross (Romans 6:6). He gave us new spiritual life in Christ at the resurrection (Romans 6:4, 5). As we keep our eyes upon the Cross for the old, and upon the Lord Jesus Christ for the new, all that will remain for others to see will be "not I, but Christ."

"In Romans Seven, the personal pronouns 'I,' 'me,' 'my,' are used 47 times in 18 verses. This is the way in which believers live who do not know or who do not recognize the fact of their union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

"To be occupied with self is to be defeated and to have failure and live in sin; but to be occupied with the Lord Jesus will mean victory. He must be the center, He must be everything to me. In Him is liberation; apart from abiding in Him is defeat and failure. Are you trying to please God, or trusting the One to whom you are united, the One who did 'always the things that are pleasing to Him'?" -L.L.L.

"In our Position (union) in Him we are made manifest to God; we are holy and complete in Him. In our Possession of Him He is manifested to men; He lives out His life through us. As we are accepted in Him, so may He be manifested in us." -N.B.H.

"But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2 Corinthians 4:7).
 
Due to the potentially excessive controversy which can be generated concerning Israel and the Church, I chose not to comment but rather suggest a link which I have found to be the most helpful on this issue.
http://withchrist.org/newcovenant.htm. I would gladly welcome any comments or questions concerning this material, but only in the spirit of neighborly love (Eph 4:15). Blessed Be God!
-NC



4-19. LAW OF LIFE

"For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ" (John 1:17).
We need not submit to the law, nor do we need to struggle against it. It is now a matter of our standing on heavenly ground in our risen Lord, free from the influence and demands of the entire principle of law. In Christ Jesus we are motivated by a higher law, 'the law of the Spirit of life' (Romans 8:2).

"There is no way of deliverance from the law and its bondage, into that liberty for which Christ set us free except to believe, and to keep reckoning, that we died to the law with Him, and are now risen, and joined to Another, the Risen One--even as Romans 7:4 asserts: 'Ye also were made dead to the law through the body of Christ; that ye should be joined to another, even Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.'" -W.R.N.

"In man the law and the flesh always go together. The Cross was the end for both in the sight of God. The flesh was judged and condemned there; it was treated as a dead thing before God--dead and buried; and the law which deals with the flesh we are dead to. We have passed out of both; we are not in the flesh (Romans 8:9), and we are not under the law (Gal; 2:19). -W.K.

"But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you--directs and controls you" (Romans 8:9, Amp.).

MJS/withchrist.org
 
Previously I posted a thread entitled “That Inadequate Feeling” which I claimed that the Christian will at times feel like there’s something wrong but can’t put a finger on it. I stated that I believe it comes from the still indwelling of our old nature because we cannot still have it and not notice it.

I’ve learned there is such a thing referred to as “the pause” and I also briefly mentioned it in another post but now I would like to expound a little on it. The pause is that time in a Christian’s life that all can seem temporarily neutral, not good or bad, happy or sad, but empty. This is unavoidable as it eventually occurs to all in the Body of Christ and I believe its purpose, as any other thing, is to cause us to learn to not be moved by adversity, regardless the type.

Justice is receiving what we deserve. Mercy is not receiving what we deserve and Grace is receiving what we do not deserve. As we know, the last mentioned here is the crux of it all and the more we center and draw on it, the more we are learning to know God, which develops our desirous love for God into more practical love for Him.

Our Position is our place with Christ where He is and our Condition is Christ’s place in us where we are. In our Position, regardless of what we think, God “Hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). In our Condition, regardless of what we feel, Christ’s presence in us eventually overcomes our hardships, “For He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” and “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Paul concluded, as we should too, “For when I am weak, then am I strong” (Heb 13:5 ;1 Cor 12:9, 10). The weaker we are in ourselves, the stronger He is in us. The more we rely in our Position, the less we’re moved by our Condition.

-NC



4-20. SOLID GOLD TRIALS

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:15).

Since He is both my God and my Father, and since all of the hardships He takes me through are specifically designed to conform me to the image of the Lord Jesus, how can I help but trust Him and rejoice in His faithfulness?

"It is well to remember that the deepest and truest spiritual qualities are not learnt or established in us by our happy or enjoyable times, but in the difficult ones! There is nothing wrong in times of great joy and spiritual blessing; in fact we long for more of them, and look back perhaps to some days of much blessing in our lives or in the work of the Lord; but in the securing of Christ in greater measure in our lives, we find that it is by the things which we suffer that we learn most. So let us give thanks for the joyful days, and learn all that the Lord intends by the days of waiting and difficulty." -C.J.B.H.

"Faith asks for no props from the men and things around it; it finds 'all its springs' in God; and hence it is that faith never shines so brightly as when all around is dark. It is when nature's horizon is overcast with the blackest clouds, that faith basks in the sunshine of the divine favor and faithfulness." -C.H.M.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17).

MJS/withchrist.org
 
4-21. TRINITY-TRAINED

"He comforts us in our every affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction by means of the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:4, Wey.).

It is a great comfort to know that everything our Father takes us through--much of which may be hard and heartbreaking--has a dual purpose. That which He utilizes to cause us to grow spiritually is at the same time designed to prepare us for His service. He does nothing in vain; He wastes nothing.

"In the very service itself God makes the servant fit to carry it out. A person is first disciplined for service, and then in the
service he is made fit by it for the character of it. God has not servants ready made. He makes them fit for His own service in connection with the race they have to run. The word 'chasten' is the same as that used in Ephesians with respect to bringing up the children: it is nurture. We attach too much the idea of severity, or retribution, to it." -J.B.S.

"Why does God take some through such deep and trying experiences? Why is it that He does not allow some of His children to have an easy way and to be satisfied and gratified with elementary things? The needs of others--that is why.

"We know quite well if any have been able really to help others, it is because they have gone through deep experience, they have pioneered this way, they have paid a great price for this freedom. It has been costly, but worthwhile if others can be really helped."

"But to God be the thanks who in Christ ever heads our triumphal procession, and by our hands waves in every place that sweet incense, the knowledge of Him" (2 Corinthians 2:14, Wey.).
 
Why we do what we do is superior to what we do and how we do it. Motive, message and method are involved in all we do, esp. in our outreach which is our ongoing witness and example.

It is a restful thing to know there is nothing required for us to remain saved, for it is retained in the same manner it is given—by Christ. If we feel it is up to us to remain in God’s Grace, we haven’t understood how we have received it. We do not keep God, He keeps us (John 10:29; Rom 8:35, 38, 39), because it is He who drew (John 6:44) us to receive and it is He who “keeps us from falling” (Jude 1:24).

Working to keep our salvation would be the same as working for it because fearing its loss if we think we’re not up to an acceptable performance would mean regaining it upon an acceptable performance.
We work, not for salvation but from or out of it. The design in “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” is modeled to intended "work about your salvation"; employ yourselves in things which accompany salvation (Phil 2:12).

If we do not depend upon the Spirit to work in and by us, we are trusting our treasures to the frailty of self and will gain no ground of spiritual growth. Self does not possess the required ability concerning the things of God because they must be worked into us, “For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). We’re working but it’s Him doing the work!
-NC


4-22. GUIDING COMFORTER

"If ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under bondage of effort to please God by works of the law" (Galatians 5:18).

The motivating principle of the old life is the law; the motivating principle of the new life is "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus." The one produces "the works of the flesh"; the other, "the fruit of the Spirit."

"To be guided by the Holy Spirit is to be moved through the most delicate relationships the heart can know. The 'bit and bridle' of the law must give way to the glance of the eye of grace (Psalm 32:8, 9). At this point Satan, appearing as 'an angel of light,' will seek to misdirect the believer's life by making use of a morbid conscience, a mistaken impression as to duty, or a lack of understanding as to the exact teaching of God's Word. However, Satan's leadings are to be detected since they are irksome, painful, and disagreeable. The leading of the Holy Spirit is sweet and satisfying to the heart of the one who is yielded to God. We must remember that the will of God is said to be 'good,' 'acceptable,' and 'perfect' (Romans 12:2)." -L.S.C.

"The believer has an all-engaging responsibility of continuing in an attitude of reliance ('by means of the Spirit be walking') upon the Holy Spirit. This is the believer's divinely appointed task and place of cooperation in the mighty undertakings of God. Thus, and only thus, can the Holy Spirit possess and vitalize every human faculty, emotion, and choice." -L.S.C.

"If we are living in the Spirit's power, let our conduct also be governed by the Spirit's power" (Galatians 5:25, Wey.).


MJS/withchrist.org
 
Everything operates within a principle or law, i.e. law of gravity, law of thermal dynamics, etc. Society must live within “the law” or be punished. Ancient Israel was instructed by God to live within “the Law” which He revealed to them by Moses. Paul said the Gentiles live by “a law which is unto themselves” (Rom 2:14) which was similar to “the things contained in the Law” which “showed the work of the Law written in their hearts” (v 15), because “the matter and substance of the moral law of Moses agrees with the law and light of nature” (John Gill).

The purposes of any law, upper or lower case L is not to make a bad person good but to restrain him. A Christian requires no restraint of any law (Gal 5:23), except “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” because he is no longer restrained by “the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2). The sole restraint of the Christian is the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:17)!!
-NC


4-23. FULFILLED LAW

"For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but under grace" (Romans 6:14)

The believer's attitude toward the law is that it is "holy...and just, and good" (Romans 7:12). He does not belittle it by refusing to be under it; he honors it by acknowledging its fulfillment. "For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Galatians 2:19).

"If I say I am under law, and stop there, I am left in spiritual anarchy. If I say I am under law and under grace, I am in the current Galatian heresy which seeks to combine law and grace. But if I say I am not under the law but under grace, I am giving a biblical and Christian testimony." -C.I.S.

"Our identification with Christ in His death places us in perfect reconciliation to a violated law. God has said, 'The soul that sinneth, it shall die.' The believer has sinned, and has died in Christ's death. The law has said, 'Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.' None have continued in obedience. But Christ has been 'made a curse for us'; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree.' Hence, crucified with Christ, we have been accursed in Him. Not one jot or tittle has then passed away from the law, but all has been fulfilled." -A.J.G.

"If, then, when you died with Christ, you put away the childish lessons of outward things, why, as though you still lived in outward things, do you submit yourselves to decrees?" (Colossians 2:20, Wey.).

MJS/withchrist.org
 
4-24. MY FATHER CARES!

"I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear" (Job 42:5).

The heart that is hungry to have God's purpose worked out in his life is going to be neither disappointed, nor pampered. When it comes to seeing self for what it is, there can be no pampering; when it comes to seeing the Lord Jesus Christ for who He is, there can be no disappointment.

"Why are the people of God suffering?--that they may be conformed to the image of His Son. Of course, we may not need a world upheaval to do this, but God is going to use all conditions to that end, and, tragically enough, there are multitudes of the Lord's people who do need a world shaking.

"They are so bound up with the externalities of Christianity, with its whole structure and system, that nothing but that which will overthrow, disintegrate, destroy, and raise tremendous questions about the whole business, will bring them to the place where the Spirit of God can begin really to do the work He has come to do in them." -T. A-S.

"Job was a true servant of God; but he needed to learn himself, as we all do. He needed to have the roots of his moral being laid bare in his own sight so that he might really abhor himself, and repent in dust and ashes. And furthermore, he needed a truer and deeper sense of what God was, so that he might trust Him and justify Him under all circumstances." -C.H.M.

"But now mine eye seeth Thee" (Job 42:5).

MJS/withchrist.org
 
The most significant item on the Christian’s daily to-do-list is the same as that which will be the number one priority in eternity—fellowship with God! Our order of priorities is often misarranged if we have yet to realize our fellowship with God is the main purpose of all that He places in our lives, because this will be our priority in the next and the effectiveness of our outreach to others is determined by the condition of our fellowship with God.

Our union with the Father has been established through His Son and is “irrevocable” (Rom 11:29 NKJ), but the nearness of our fellowship is determined by our maturity in His Son. “Our life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3) and through Christ we are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:6), which means, how near we are to God (Jam 4:8) is commensurate with our level of conformity “to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29).

It is reassuring to know that we are not to conform ourselves (which is an impossibility regardless the level of desire), because it is written that we are “to be conformed” (Rom 8:29). This means we are growing “up into Him in all things” (Eph 4:15) and that each and every individual Christian, from where his level of maturity stands, is constantly being lovingly conformed by our Father.

This also involves the comforting fact that God is already aware of all our choices in this life, which encourages us to know that our unintentional wrongs and mistakes (which all the wrongs of the true believer are undesirable--Heb 10:26), even those which can result in misfortune and adversity from bad choices, are used in His prearranged plans to “work all things together for good to them that love God” (Rom 8:28).

I love referring to this as “The Magoo Factor” because regardless of our decisions and outcomes, He will “keep us from falling” (Jude 1:24)!
-NC


4-25. FIT FIRST

"And the servant of the Lord must not strive" (2 Timothy 2:24).

Our one responsibility, that of concentrating upon the Lord Jesus, has a three-fold result: (1) fellowship with Him; (2) growth in His image; (3) ministry of life to others.

"The love of the Lord culminates in this, that we should be with Him. He died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him (1 Thessalonians 5:10). I find the one who is set on usefulness (Martha) does not advance like the one set on personal affection to Him (Mary). The Lord give us to be more personally attached to Himself; then we shall be useful according to His good pleasure."

"There is one thing that all can do--be 'meet for the Master's use' (2 Timothy 2:21); and this is the secret of usefulness. Usefulness is not activity; it is not merely being used, but it is fitness, cleanness, preparedness, and separation of heart, singleness of eye, the affections set on things above--all, in fact, that proceeds from the judgment and denial of self, and the manifestation of Christ in the life by faith."

"All my ability to act for the Lord Jesus here depends on my conscious identification with Him where He is, not where He was for me; though as I receive power from Him I walk here even as He walked; His life is manifested in me. -J.B.S.

"But be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient" (2 Timothy 2:24).

MJS/WithChrist.org
 
To believe in somebody and to just believe about him are prominently distinct issues. We can believe one is capable of performing and be knowledgeable of what he can do and who he is but if this is as far as it goes, this is just belief about him without doubting he’s real. A good example is when God appeared to men (esp. wilderness Israel) in ancient times which confirmed their belief of Him being real but with many, it was not “mixed with faith” (Heb 4:2) because they did not believe in Him.

In other words, many even after seeing, did not trust in God and “with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness” (1 Cor 10:5). James 2:19 writes “Even the demons believe--and tremble!” They believe about God by sight but do not believe in Him by faith or trust.

A great truism is that the unsaved need to come to Christ for deliverance from the guilt of sin and the saved need to know Christ for deliverance from the ruler-ship of sin. The best example is the visit of Jesus to the two sisters Mary and Martha. Mary was concerned more with knowing Jesus than serving Him and He told Martha “Mary has chosen that good part” (Luke 10:38-42).

The more we read, study and share God’s written Word, the more He causes us to “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18; Eph 4:13). Our part is to read; His part is to enlighten what we read. I like the analogy of computer programing and operations. As an operator can only utilize the content of the program, God utilizes the input of His Word in us.
-NC


4-26. KNOW TO GROW

"And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).

The heartbreaking knowledge of self brings a life-giving compensation, which is knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The needs generated by the realization of the sin of self produce the necessary motivation and hunger which cause us to focus upon the Lord Jesus and become conformed to His image. "And we all, while with face unveiled we behold in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are ourselves transformed continually into the same likeness" (2 Corinthians 3:18, Cony.).

"Many a new believer has obtained relief in his conscience from his sins, because of faith in the Blood of Jesus Christ; that is, he does not see further than Romans 3. He has faith in the work of Christ, but has not yet come in faith to Christ. He is like the woman who touched the hem of His garment, assured of His work but not yet acquainted with Himself." -J.B.S.

"It is one thing to believe on the Lord Jesus, to be born again, to be saved. That is a glorious thing as a beginning, but it alone will not take you right through all you have to meet; and if you are really in the Lord's hands He will see to it that by virtue of need you are drawn into knowing more and more of His Son. It is the normal course of a true, Holy Spirit-governed Christian life that, in order to get through, an increase of Christ, a growing discovery of Christ, is necessary." -T. A-S.

"That I may know Him" (Philippians 3:10).

MJS/WithChrist.org
 
The work of the Holy Spirit is performed for the glorification of the Father and His Son (John 15:26), and within this life He leads us in our salvation to also glorify the Father and the Son (Mat 5:16).

It’s written that Jesus was led of the Holy Spirit into the wilderness (Mat 4:1; Luke 4:1) which eventuated in His death at the Cross. It’s also written that Christians are led of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:14; Gal 5:18) which also eventuates in our death at His cross by being “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20). We were “dead with Christ” (Rom 6:8), but this does not include our “old man” or, old nature.

Nowhere is it viewed in Scripture that our sinful nature is dead, but rather “crucified” (Rom 6:6) We “are dead to sin” (Rom 6:2) but it is not dead to us. We left the cross to be “buried with Him by baptism into death” (Rom 6:4) so “that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). We died and were raised in our spirit (Eph 2:6). Our condition involves the possession of the Spirit in this life but our position, while in this life, involves the fact that God has “made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6).

We, as a spirit being, along with the addition of a “new man” or new nature, have left the cross with Christ; but our “old man” or old nature, which still dwells within us (Rom 7:17, 18 - flesh meaning old nature, 20, 21, 23, 25), is still on His Cross. It is not written that it was “crucified” (Rom 6:6) but “is” crucified. It is the Spirit’s initial application of Christ’s Cross to us and our “old man” which brought about our regeneration, and it is the Spirit’s ongoing application of the Cross (Luke 9:23) to this sinful nature which restrains it from ruling us.

To serve or be ruled and dominated by the sinful nature is to be obedient to it without the possibility of refusing its influence; but If one usually refuses its influence (only through the Spirit - Gal 5:17) he is no longer being ruled and dominated by it. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. . . “For sin shall not have dominion over you” (Rom 6:12, 14).

John wrote, “Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God” (1 John 3:9). His “seed” is not Christ, nor the Spirit, but is something from Them (not Him but “seed” from Him) which is attributed to the reason why the one born of God does not sin. The one “born of God” is not Christ because it is not limited to Him by the use of “whosoever”, and the phrase “born of God” intends the same as “born again”, which Christ did not require. This leaves us with one remaining possibility, which is the “new man” or new nature, because it is sinless, being created “after the image of Him that created him” (Col 3:10) and I believe the Spirit uses this new nature to make us “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4). I believe this passage designs that those who are “born again” do not sin; in that life of them which is of the “new man”; similar to Paul’s, “If I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I (as the new man) who do it, but sin (his old man) that dwells in me” (Rom 7:17, 20).

The Cross and Me!

When I picture the Cross I see one positioned
Without crown barely alive in condition

He was once there and so was I
So who do I see there with my eye?

Not the Lord or me but who could it be
But my old man until I am free
-NC


4-27. THE CROSS AND THE SPIRIT​

"But God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" .

The Lord Jesus carried out the work of the Cross as to our eternal position. The Holy Spirit carries out the work of the Cross as to our present condition. "He will take the things that are Mine and will transmit them to you" (Amp.).

"We cannot separate the Cross from the Holy Spirit. We can have no Easter and no Pentecost, until we have first had a Good Friday. Through the Cross alone we are prepared for life in the fulness of God; only he who is crucified with Christ can be a vessel unto honor. Our 'old man' must be crucified with Christ, and in His resurrection we find the roots of our new life. Whosoever loses his life, shall find it. We must learn the lesson of the Cross, as condemned and rejected ones, who have been crucified with Christ.

"Then the door will be open for a life of power and blessing. All that belongs to death must be turned over to the death of the Cross, even as the body is laid away in the earth, because it belongs to the earth. The Holy Spirit, the Eternal Spirit, is unchangeable. He brought Christ our Head to the Cross, and us His children with Him. For this work in us is twofold. On the one hand, it leads us to death; and on the other hand, to that life which God has placed within us and which leads from glory to glory." -A.M.

"And all of us, with faces uncovered, because we continue to reflect like mirrors the splendor of the Lord, are being transformed into likeness to Him, from one degree of splendor to another, since it comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (Wms.).
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Our prayers to the Father can be fueled by remembering not only is He our God but also that He is our Father (Abba – Mar 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6). “Go to My brethren, and say unto them I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God” (John 20:17).

Paul wrote that “We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us” (Rom 8:26). I like to think of it as this, that due to the “weakness” and “infirmities” of our carnal nature we cannot at times express enough to God, by prayer, the fervency of our heart and mind, esp. in times of distress or elations, but the Spirit “helps us” in our shortcomings.

When our mind is on God, esp. when praying, our best honor to Him is remembering to center our focus on Him (along with Son and Spirit of course) more than on His blessings, because they are intended for this self-same purpose!

“Lest--when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God” (Deu 8:12-14).
-NC


4-28. THE ONENESS OF PRAYER​

"And we have an assured confidence that whenever we ask anything in accordance with His will, He listens to us" (1 John 5:14, Wey.).

The Christian life is the expression of the Lord Jesus Christ through the believer to men in the world, and in the church. The prayer life is the expression of the Spirit of Christ through the believer to the Father in Heaven. As there is growth in Christ, there will increasingly be prayer in the Spirit (Romans 8:26).

"Through the Lord Jesus every true believer is united to God in Heaven by a life-link. We are not praying down here on earth to One who is a long way off in Heaven. We are one with Him there and He is one with us here! The devil is all the time trying to create a sense of distance between us and the Lord: but there is no distance between if we abide in Christ, for no one can be closer to the Father than the Son, and we are in Him! -T.L.M.

"Efficacious prayer is to the glory of the Father (John 14:13), in the Name of the Son (John 14:14), and in the enabling power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26, 27). Compliance with these conditions insures that the human will is in agreement with the divine will. Transforming things, mighty indeed, are wrought by prayer, but only such things as comport with the will and purpose of God." -L.S.C.

"If we want our own way we will find that everything is against us; but if we have chosen that God shall be sovereign in our lives then everything is for us."

"And since we know that He listens to us, then whatever we ask, we know that we have the things which we have asked from Him" (1 John 5:15, Wey.).
-MJS/WithChrist.org
 
4-29. LOVING KINDNESS

"Now the God of peace . . . make you perfect [complete, mature] in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13:20, 21).

My life is not only in His hands, but He is my very life. "For by Him were all things created . . . and by Him all things consist" (Colossians 1:16, 17). He controls and maintains the universe, and we can surely depend upon Him to care for us who share His life.

"We are all of us prone to forget the weighty fact that 'God trieth the righteous.' 'He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous' (Psalm 11:5; Job 36:7). We are in His hands, and under His eye continually. We are the objects of His deep, tender, and unchanging love; but we are also the subjects of His wise moral government. His dealings with us are varied. They are sometimes preventive; sometimes corrective; always instructive.

"We may be bent on some course of our own, the end of which would be moral ruin. He intervenes and withdraws us from our purpose. He dashes to fragments our air-castles, dissipates our golden dreams, and interrupts many a darling scheme on which our hearts were bent, and which would have proved to be certain destruction. 'Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living' (Job 33:29, 30)." -C.H.M.

"Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:14).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
4-30. LIBERTY FOR ALL

"If ye died with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, do ye subject yourselves to ordinances?" (Colossians 2:20, R.V.).

When it comes to spiritual growth and walk, any help from ourselves is a hindrance to us. The source is wrong. On the death side, we are to receive deliverance from sin's power through the Spirit from the Cross; on the life side, we are to receive growth through the Spirit from the Lord Jesus. It is a matter of receiving, not contributing. We are branches, not vines.

"The old elementary legal rudiments of a legal age are for those 'living in the world' (having an earthly temple and worship). Believers are seated in the heavenlies in Christ, and are spiritual people with a sanctuary in Heaven. 'Touch not,' 'taste not,' 'handle not'; such commandments of men have no value. They perish with the using (Col 2:22).

"'Voluntary humility,' 'neglecting of the body,' 'fasting,' etc., have a show of wisdom. They gratify religious pride and self-righteousness, they 'puff up the fleshly mind,' but they are 'not of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.' The flesh is not subdued by fasting, nor pride by whipping, nor worldliness by neglect of the body. These are of 'no avail' though men glory in them. Only the Holy Spirit brings one into liberty--and that via the Cross. 'The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Romans 8:2)." -G.G.

"Stand fast, then, in the freedom which Christ has given us, and turn not back again to entangle yourselves in the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1, Cony.).

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