Bible Study Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

[Mitspa]

Two great post Chaplain! You "Chaplains" allowed to preach?

God Bless

 

[God's_gift]

5-27. SLOW BUT SURE

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him; fret not thyself" (Psalm 37:7).

Our Father moves on the basis of His finished work, therefore hurry is not a factor with Him nor should it be with us. We are to 'walk in the Spirit,' and the blessed Holy Spirit will see to it that we obtain all that our Father has for us, step by step. "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in His way" (Psalm 37:23). Don't be discouraged--Enoch walked with God for three hundred years before he was translated!

"We cannot become spiritual all at once; we must be content to begin as babes. Spiritual maturity and strength do not come by effort but by growth; and growth is the result of being nourished by proper food. But if we do not grow by effort it is important to remember that we do not grow without exercise.

"God begins by giving our hearts a sense of the blessedness of the grace in which He has called us, that we may be awakened and enhungered to pursue the knowledge of all this with purpose of heart and prayerful study." -C.A.C.

"Whatever we do accurately must take time and collectedness of mind, and there is no accuracy in all the world like keeping company with God, and yet nothing so free from bondage or tediousness. By going slow with the Lord we accomplish more than by going with a rush, because what we do is done so much better and does not have to be undone. It is done in a better spirit, with deeper motives, and bears fruit far out in the future, when all mushroom performances have been dissipated forever." -G.B.W.

"Delight thyself also in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4).
MJS/WithChrist.org

Thanks for this netchaplain

 

[netchaplain]

When we are undergoing a trial, it’s helpful to know and remember that its purpose is to “glorify God on this behalf†(1 Pet 4:14, 16).

Here is an encouraging thought from J.B. Stoney: “I come to a wall and I say I would like to have a door here. The Lord says, ‘if I were simply for you I would make one, but I am in you and you must go over the wall.’ That power is the Holy Spirit who dwells in you. When sorrow, or trial, or weakness comes, the thing is to look for grace to be above it. If trial is impending, it is better to be quiet. I have association and fellowship with the Lord Jesus where He is, and I have the power of my Lord where He is not. If you want to be effective, to have practical power while walking down here, it must be by abiding above, by fellowship with the Lord Jesus where He is.â€

"My grace is sufficient for you" (2 Cor 12:9). “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth†(Col 3:1, 2).


5-30. "LOVE NEVER FAILETH"

"And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God" (Ephesians 3:19).

God led the children of Israel into the desert with its thirst, that He might bless them. "For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). It is for no less a reason that He takes us into the desert at times. "How shall He not with Him [Christ] also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:2).

"Our Father disciplines us that we may be more fully free from the old nature, and find everything in the Lord Jesus. But He begins the lesson with the assurance, 'I love you perfectly.'

"'I bring you into the desert to learn what you are, and what I am; but it is as those I have brought to Myself!' He gives us a place with the Lord Jesus, but then shows us what He is and what we are. The discipline of the way teaches this; but if He, in His love, strikes the furrows in the heart, it is that He may sow the seed which shall ripen in glory."

"Those who receive deliverance from their troubles never grow like those who get strengthened in the difficulties."

"How slowly one learns that His sympathy is not expressed in removing the affliction but in raising one above it to Himself, so that He becomes so endeared to the heart that He is more an object to the heart than oneself." -J.B.S.

"The hand of God never deals but in concert with His heart of infinite love towards us." -J.N.D.

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it" (Hebrews 12:11).
MJS/WithChrist.org.

 

[netchaplain]

5-31. ETERNALLY NIGH

"But now in Christ Jesus ye who once were far off are made near by the blood of Christ" (Ephesians 2:13).

Until we know our position in the risen Lord Jesus, we can never really face up to the sinfulness of our old nature. But "hidden with Christ in God," we can both face up to and face away from the old, "looking unto Jesus, the author and perfecter [marg.] of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).

"God sets me in nearness to Himself in the Lord Jesus; and as I learn my nearness to Him, I am prepared for the exposure of my natural distance from Him, and I am, through grace, morally apart and sheltered from it (Romans 8:9), at the very moment when I see it. The greater my height, the greater the enormity of the depth appears; but I am safe from it. As a consequence I'rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh' (Philippians 3:3)."

"Two things mark spiritual growth; one is a deeper sense of the sinful old nature, the other is a greater longing after the Lord Jesus Christ. The sinfulness is discovered and felt as the power of the Holy Spirit increases; for many a thought and act passes without pain to the conscience where the Lord Jesus is less before the soul, which will be refused and condemned as the knowledge of the Lord increases in spiritual power within." -J.B.S.

"When the Lord Jesus Christ is enjoyed, things unlike Him drop off like fading leaves."

"For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-1. TIME TO GROW

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" (Psalm 37:7).

Lincoln said that "a short speech requires great preparation; a long speech can be given anytime on short notice. "Now, are we going to "spend our years as a tale that is told" (Psalm 90:9); or are we going to settle down and grow in the image of our eternal Lord?

"In our spiritual experience we often find that not least of our trials is the fact that God seems so slow to respond; sometimes it would appear that He is careless or indifferent--and that just when our needs are most acute. Two of the major elements in the spiritual life and experience of His own are the seemingly slow and hidden ways of God, and the demand for persistent faith in His servants." -T. A-S.

"The work of God in the lives of His people is designed to make them 'partakers of His holiness.' He undertakes their training in His school with the intention that, however difficult in practice the course may be, it will yield 'the peaceable fruit of righteousness' in the lives of those who undergo it.

"This evidently represents His norm--no shortcuts and no exceptions. At least, He did not make an exception of Abraham, or Joseph, or Moses, or any of the great men and women whose names are listed in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. Their training lasted for decades and led them into painful situations and difficult places. But their lives, as a result, were incomparably fruitful." -J.P.

"My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-2. CROSS OF LOVE

"Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creation, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39).

John 3:16: The Saviour laid down His life for His enemies. 1 John 3:16: We are to "lay down our lives for the brethren." The death of the Cross spells love for both friend and enemy.

"If we get a wrong idea about the inward working of the Cross we shall lose our own enjoyment of God's love and fail to manifest that love to others. We have no doubt that, for the sinner, the Cross is the outstanding expression of God's love, but unless we realize that it brings us, as believers, into a very personal experience of being crucified together with Christ, we are apt to lose sight of the love of God.

"We set our teeth, as though making up our minds that from now on everything is going to be grim and harsh. It almost seems that the carnal Christian may be cheerful and happy, but the crucified ones must expect to pass into a gloomier experience. Nothing is farther from the truth. The Cross will always bring us back to the love of God in ever-increasing fullness."

"The challenge of the Cross, the insistence that we have been crucified with Christ, may sometimes appear to be a dark and forbidding message. The Cross is not the end: It is the way through to His end. God is working for something beyond the immediate; He is working towards the glory." -H.F.

"I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-4. GAZE AND GROW

"Who (Jesus), being the brightness of His (God's) glory, and the express image of His person" (Hebrews 1:3).

Basically, the Bible is the Biography of the Beloved. Its primary object is to provide the Object for our contemplation and conformity.

"Many a Christian has not got beyond this: Christ is a shelter for me, and takes care of me. Souls look for their barrel of meal not to waste, and their cruse of oil not to fail. But is that all? Is it that Christ comes and dwells with me and cares for me?

"I make bold to say it is not. Is it shelter only? No! You are mutilating Christianity if you confine it to that. God says: I have saved you by My own Son, and now another factor must come in; you are to live by the One who has saved you; My purpose is that you are to be conformed to His blessed image."

"There comes a moment when the soul knows union with Christ. Has your soul ever got a glimpse, by the Spirit, of Christ risen? Of 'the mark' of which Paul speaks? It is Christ in heaven; He is my Object!

"Practically it is what souls have lost sight of. They do not look for acquaintance with Christ Risen. The first thing is the education of the Word; the second, Christ Himself must be seen (2 Corinthians 3:18). The Word delights the heart, but till the eye of your spirit has rested on the Person of Christ, you have not the model for the Word to take; there is no formation."

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2).
WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-5. "FREE BORN"

"If God be for us, who can be against us"? (Romans 8:31)

Faith in the facts alone gives the rest of reliance.

"Is there an accuser, a judge, or an executioner, still after us? The accuser may go away rebuked by this, that God has justified us; the judge may go away rebuked by this, that the Lord Jesus has died--has already suffered the judgment, and His work has been accepted to the full in heaven itself; the executioner may go away rebuked by this, that all the malice of earth and hell together shall never drag us away from the firm embrace of our God. And if there be now neither accuser to charge, nor judge to condemn, nor executioner to slay, the court is cleared!" -J.G.B.

"It is a blessed thing to be shown our enemies and told with Gideon, that Jehovah has delivered them into our hands (Josh. 8:7). Our old man has been crucified (Romans 6:6), the world 'overcome,' and its prince 'judged' (John 16:33, 11). If we are walking by faith, as risen with the Lord Jesus Christ, Satan, the world, and the flesh are under our feet." -J.N.D.

"Not a hair of the child of God can fall without God's permission. Satan is but the unintentional instrument to accomplish God's will; he can do no more than he is allowed to do. If trials come as a host against us, we know that the Almighty is between us and them. They will but work out for us His own purpose of love."

"What shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? . . . Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us" (Romans 8:35, 37)
WithChrist.org./MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-6. CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE

"If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf" (1 Peter 4:16).
Often the lapidary will polish the jewel with its own dust. Just so our Father makes use of the weak and beggarly element of our nature to produce the mirror-like luster in which His image is finally reflected for all to see. "They shall be Mine. . . in that day when I make up My jewels" (Malachi 3:17).

"Those who know the Lord best are those who have gone the deepest way. Those who go the deep way of trial do so because God puts the premium upon their knowledge of Him. They are the people who are shut up to God. But this knowledge is firstly, constitutional: that is, it is to constitute a certain kind of person and character; and secondly it is vocational: it does not end with the person concerned, but is the essence of service, in time and eternity. God is very practical, and requires that things in His service are never merely theoretical but real and true to life." -T. A-S.

"Our path ought to be the mold, the opportunity, for the expression and virtue of Christ's life. Saints seek to use Him rather in order to get through their circumstances, instead of seeing in the circumstances the mold in which they are to be taught the strength and power of the Lord Jesus. May we grow in Him, knowing Him, not only as helping us through circumstances, but using the circumstances which He puts us through as opportunities for enlarging our souls in Himself."

"But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).
WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-7. PROFFERED PROVISION

"We have known and believed the love that God hath to us" (1 John 4:16).
The Spirit convicts us of sins that we may be convinced of God's cleansing. We do not deserve to be forgiven, but the Lord Jesus deserves to be trusted.

"We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? How can I take it to God? If it was suffering for righteousness' sake, then I would, but I am suffering for my sin; and can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them?

"Yes: the Lord Jesus has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. Will God judge us both? No; I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can justly meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ's work has been so perfectly done." -J.N.D.

"The guilt which the throne detects, the altar removes. If in the light of the throne one object is seen, namely, ruined, guilty, undone self; then, in the light of the altar, one object is seen, namely, a full, precious, all-sufficient Christ. The remedy reaches to the full extent of the ruin, and the same light that reveals the one reveals the other likewise. This gives settled repose to the conscience. God Himself has provided a remedy for all ruin which the light of His throne has revealed."

"If we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7).
WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-8. THE WORD'S WORD

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19).

The written Word is meant to reveal the Living Word, not to hide Him. Many know prophecy better than the Prophet. Our Father gave us His written Word that we might know His Son, not only as Saviour but as our very Life. "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

"The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of the believer's life. That is, it underlies our very relationship with God; it underlies all our growth in grace; it underlies every fragment of our service. There is nothing which comes within the compass of the life of the Christian which does not depend upon the knowledge of the Lord Jesus." -T. A-S.

"Heart acquaintance with Christ is the secret of spiritual growth. One may know all the truths of the Bible, and yet be practically ignorant of the person of the Lord Jesus. It is possible to go back into the world with acquaintance with the scriptures, but it is virtually impossible to return thither with the scriptural acquaintance of Christ in the heart."

"The believer should have but one object: knowing Christ has laid hold of him for glory, his heart is running after Him. He is to have no other object, though he may have many things to do. The Lord Jesus is 'in all' believers as the power of life, and He is 'all' as the object of that life. He is 'all and in all' (Colossians 3:11). And, 'all to Him I owe.'"

"Having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:2l, 22).
WithChrist.org

 

[Mitspa]

6-8. THE WORD'S WORD

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19).

The written Word is meant to reveal the Living Word, not to hide Him. Many know prophecy better than the Prophet. Our Father gave us His written Word that we might know His Son, not only as Saviour but as our very Life. "Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth" (John 17:17).

"The knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is the basis of the believer's life. That is, it underlies our very relationship with God; it underlies all our growth in grace; it underlies every fragment of our service. There is nothing which comes within the compass of the life of the Christian which does not depend upon the knowledge of the Lord Jesus." -T. A-S.

"Heart acquaintance with Christ is the secret of spiritual growth. One may know all the truths of the Bible, and yet be practically ignorant of the person of the Lord Jesus. It is possible to go back into the world with acquaintance with the scriptures, but it is virtually impossible to return thither with the scriptural acquaintance of Christ in the heart."

"The believer should have but one object: knowing Christ has laid hold of him for glory, his heart is running after Him. He is to have no other object, though he may have many things to do. The Lord Jesus is 'in all' believers as the power of life, and He is 'all' as the object of that life. He is 'all and in all' (Colossians 3:11). And, 'all to Him I owe.'"

"Having an high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:2l, 22).
WithChrist.org

Excellent post Chaplain!

God Bless -Mitspa

 

[netchaplain]

6-9. VICTORIOUS VINEDRESSER

"No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it" (Hebrews 12:11).

Vision: The Word gives us the true picture of growth. Verification: The Spirit gives us a taste thereof. Vindication: The Lord Jesus, later, gives us maturity.

"A great mystery surrounds the spiritual growth of the hungry-hearted believer. The Spirit gives a foretaste of a deeper life before the believer is led into the fulness of it. Many believers mistake their foretaste for the fulness, not realizing that the Lord is just beginning to lead them

"The forwardness of nature is the failure of our youth--our spiritual youth, as well as our natural youth; eagerness to run in God's path, but not apprehending what the path is, or what it requires to walk in it. On the other hand, when the cost is counted, and our weakness known, the energy begotten of self-confidence being gone, we need a stimulating call on God's part, to get out of the persistent occupation with our weakness now, as with our strength before." -F.W.G.

"Suffering is not meant by God to be loss and deprivation. Satan says that it is. God means suffering to result in increased spiritual capacity, which is the basis of added responsibility, trust, and fruitful sharing. The branch of the vine may bleed from the drastic pruning and feel stripped of much glory; but more and better fruit is the vinedresser's vindication."

"As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49).
WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

6-10. DIVINE LAYAWAY

"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12).
In faith we apprehend the growth truths; in fact the Lord Jesus apprehends us for growth in those truths.

"I have been much struck by the thought of the hiddenness and slowness of God's workings. It must be a matter of distinct faith. If we do not understand this it will make us impatient. If we understand it will teach us to rest in God and to yield ourselves all the more joyfully to Him to work out His purpose. In all creation time is the great perfecter of growth. So with us, God will perfect that which concerns us."

"'Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness' (Romans 4:3), when his faith apprehended the promise of God; yet it was nearly 40 years after that this Scripture was fulfilled, when he offered his son. The faith had its apprehension and enjoyment for many a year before the work of faith.

"In proportion as the revelation is of God, in like measure must there be an answer to it sooner or later. Effect must follow cause. If the light has been received, the day will come that it must assert and obtain an expression of itself."

"Two glad services are ours,
Both the Master loves to bless.
First we serve with all our powers,
Then with all our helplessness."

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).

 

[netchaplain]

6-11. TREASURE TROVE

"But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Romans 8:9).

The Spirit's ministry is to make Christ all to each.

"We are the objects of the continual care and discipline of our heavenly Father. If we walk after the flesh, instead of after the Spirit, this may call for His loving rebuke and chastening (child training); but that in no way interferes with the precious truth of our continual acceptance and position in the risen Lord Jesus Christ, by whose one offering we have been perfected forever.

"Through grace, we are not in the flesh, but in Christ, yet the flesh is in us; but our part is to reckon it as having been, before God and to faith, judicially put to death in Christ crucified, thus setting us free to be so constantly occupied with the triumphant Son of God, as to find all our resources, all our strength, all our springs, in Him." -H.H.S.

"If we have the Lord Jesus, we have all--without Him, we have nothing. You can be happy without money, without liberty, without parents, and without friends, if He is yours. If you have not Christ, neither money, nor liberty, nor parents, nor friends can make you happy. Christ, with a chain, is liberty; liberty without Christ is a chain. Christ without anything is riches--all things, without Christ, is poverty indeed."

"If children, then heirs--heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ--if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17).

WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-13. THREE-FOLD CORD

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

The Word of life, the Lord of life, and the exigencies of life all must combine to give us a ministry of life.

"There is no personal knowledge of God but as we count on Him, as we are practically conscious of depending on Him and of His caring for us. One without straits, and victories, really has no growing acquaintance with God; and where there is not this, however great the intelligence or sincerity, there is little or no savor."

"It is the trials and difficulties of the way that are the opportunities for our hearts to grow in acquaintance with Him; and it will be found, while there may be a great enjoyment in ministry, and in the unfolding of truth, that really there is not strength but in proportion as one has learned how God has been for and with one in the trials and sorrows of the way; and as one has known Him in them, so is one able to speak of Him."

"The one purpose which our Father has in view, in all His ways, is to conform us to the image of His Son. This may explain our perplexities as to the past; it will govern our behavior in the present; it is to be our guidance in the future. The chief concern of our Lord is not to instruct us about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials which we are called to pass through. He is working out everything to serve His supreme purpose in displaying the character of His Son in His redeemed ones."

"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).
WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

It is sometimes the trials of seemingly empty-meaninglessness that can be the most surprising because there’s nothing to see, only feel. Unlike trials that involve visible elements whereby we can utilize our senses, trials involving invisible elements can be puzzling. This is when opportunity for faith can be most appropriated, because there’s less opportunity for your senses to be of use.

Therefore, the seemingly empty-meaninglessness trials can be the most fruit-bearing because faith is at its greatest substance (Heb 11:1) when visibility is at its least (Rom 8:24). Since only in this life faith will be used, we would do well to maximize the “trying of your faith†by exercising, as much as is within us, that which it produces first—patience (Jam 1:3; Rom 5:3). “For we walk by faith, not by sight†(2 Cor 5:7); in eternity it will be inverted to walking by sight, not by faith.

Along with neighborly love, our patience is also the most usable gauge when evaluating the position of our conformity to Christ. As we know, Scripture has much to say concerning patience and it was the Lord Himself who said, “By your patience possess your souls†(Luke 21:19 NKJ). -NC

6-14. "THY WILL BE DONE"

"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into various trials" (James 1:2).

You can be sure that you are in the will of God when He keeps you dependent upon Himself, walking in the Holy Spirit, and abiding in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Often all we think of is, having our need met; but how little a thing is that with God! It would cost Him nothing, we may say, to meet the need of a lifetime in a moment; and a lesser love than His would supply it at once, and get rid of the constant burden.

"But that is not His way. To supply the need is a small thing; but to supply it in such a way as to make us feel in each seasonable supply the Father's heart never withdrawn from us, the Father's heart ever employed about us--that is what He means. 'Give us our daily bread': is it not much more than to ask, 'Give us now, that we may not have to come again?'"

"The God-given experience of the Spirit's working many a time passes away, and leaves the soul apparently dull and dead. This is only until the double lesson has been fully learnt: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God, even when feeling and experience appear to contradict the promise (Romans 8:28, 29); and (2) that the divine life only predominates as the life of the flesh is held in the place of death, inoperative (Romans 6:11a). The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Corinthians 4:11, 12), and as in weakness and nothingness we look to him (2 Corinthians 3:18)." -A.M.

"Knowing this, that the testing of your faith worketh patience" (James 1:3).
WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

Philippians 4:8 encourages us to think on that which is true, honest, just, etc. and the more often the more encouraged we are. As we contemplate such, we are not to find our sufficiency in them but in who procured them.

Our helm is to be guided by “things above, not on things on the earth“ (Col 3:2) but our craft of life is settled in the work of Christ’s atonement. Though salvation and the blessings it brings are unsurpassed in joy, our contentment is not to be in this, but in what our Father settles His contentment in concerning us—His Son and what He has “finishedâ€.

God “gives us richly all things to enjoy†(1 Tim 6:17) and even justification, righteousness, holiness, etc. are not to be considered our support, but effects of our Supporter. There is some time involved to learn to base our security and assurance on the work of Christ alone and this is what the Spirit will be teaching us in all things. -NC

6-15. "RAISON D'ETRE"

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace" (John 16:33).

Great will be the day when you come to realize that the sole reason for the existence of your Bible, your soul and your spirit is to glorify--and share--the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The moment we begin to rest our peace on anything in ourselves, we lose it. And this is why so many saints have not settled peace. Nothing can be lasting that is not built on God alone. How can you have settled peace? Only by having it in God's way. By not resting on anything, even the Spirit's work within, but on what the Lord Jesus has done entirely outside you. Then you will know peace--conscious unworthiness, but yet peace.

"In the Lord Jesus alone, God finds that in which He can rest concerning us, and so it is with His saints. The more you see the extent and nature of the evil that is within, as well as without, the more you will find that what the Lord Jesus is and did, is the only ground at all on which you can rest.

"Alas! the freedom which the Gospel brings may be used to take things easy, and, more or less, retain or gain in the world; but where this is the case, it is seldom a soul possesses any large measure of spiritual enjoyment, and it is never accompanied by solid peace. The soul becomes thus unsettled and uncertain. These oscillations may go on for a certain time, until God carries on the work more deeply in the heart."

"As free, and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God" (1 Peter 2:16).
WhithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-16. UNDIVIDED ATTENTION

"Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God" (Deuteronomy 8:11).

Our Father would be free to favor us with far more of His riches in Christ Jesus if we would keep more in mind that grace is unmerited favor--so that "He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy" (Romans 9:23).

"It seems so natural, when one is surrounded with blessings, and thus sensible of being an object of divine favor, that the eye is turned from God to oneself; for when God is before one, self gets no place, though there be the deepest awareness of His favor.

"Hence it is the saint who is the object of the greatest favor who needs to be on his guard, that he allow not his eye to rest on himself where the favors are sent, but on God from whom they come. If his eye turns to himself because of the favor, then the favor has been the means of turning his heart from God to a mere gift of His."

"If there be a growing up into the measure of the stature of Christ, there must be a conscious refusal of that which would tend to revive or invigorate the old nature. The saint is not only a new creature to grow into the likeness of the Lord Jesus, but he has to watch and beware lest the things he has to do with should in any way minister to another will in him, which would divert him from God to himself. Self is the circle and center of man's mind in his fallen state; but when Christ is formed in the soul, God is the center and source of everything." -J.B.S.

"For we . . . worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).
WithChrist.org/MJS

 

[netchaplain]

6-17. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED

"And you, that were once alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight" (Colossians 1:21, 22).

In order for our Father to be satisfied with us, He placed us in His Son. In order for us to be satisfied with our Father, we"rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).

"On what ground is our faith tested? It is on the ground of our very relationship with God and God's attitude toward us. The concentration of the enemy is upon that point--to interfere with our link with God.

"What is our link with God? It is this--the Lord Jesus Christ, as the answer to God and to Satan for us. It will never be what we are in ourselves. If you are expecting a day to come when in virtue of what you are in yourself you can satisfy God, you are destined to an awful disillusionment. The day will never come when we can satisfy God in ourselves, not even more or less."

"How could there be any doubt about the believers perfect security if his position in the Lord Jesus were realized? It would be impossible. Can He change? Or will God say to Him, I cannot any longer accept You as standing for this people? Or, once again if standing for them, is He on probation? Is His work completely done, or still to do?" -F.W.G.

"And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses" (Colossians 2:13).

WithChrist.org/MJS