Bible Study Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

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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!
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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

 

[netchaplain]

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)!!
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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

 

[netchaplain]

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

 

[netchaplain]

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)!
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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

 

[netchaplain]

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.
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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

 

[netchaplain]

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 “whosoeverâ€, and the phrase “born of God†intends the same as “born againâ€, 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 manâ€; 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
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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.).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

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).
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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

 

[netchaplain]

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

 

[netchaplain]

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.).

mjs/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

4-31. WHY STRUGGLE?

"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Our Father allows the believer to struggle with self, not for victory, but for defeat. Then the "wretched man" learns to rest in the Victor.

"Once you have begun the Christian walk, and know the blessedness of it, you are not trying to correct yourself, for you know that all has been removed from the eye of God; and you insist on the fact that self has been to the Cross, and that Christ is your life. The old man was crucified, and you cannot reform him; all attempts of amiable people to reform him are only denying the fact that he has been dealt with in judgment. The responsible (law) man is not before God now. It is now the day of grace. Everyone who receives His grace is set free from the domination of the old man. The appeal to the believer now is not to do, but to look." -J.B.S.

"The believer is never told to 'overcome sin,' but to reckon, on the ground of his death with Christ, that he has died to it. On the basis of death, he is told not to 'let' sin reign in his life. It is to be dealt with by an attitude of death, not by 'overcoming.' The believer therefore is not to be spending his whole life in getting victory over sin, but understanding his position as having died unto sin."

"[We] are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
mjs/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

“While we were yet sinners†it was all about us making our way to God. Now, being in God, it is all about us drawing close to Him (Psa 73:28; Jam 4:8). Christ’s first descent procured the redemption of our spirit (Gal 3:13); His last descent will procure “the redemption of our body†(Rom 8:23), then we shall finally see the face of “the invisible God†(Col 1:15), who is the Father and “do we with patience wait for it†(Rom 8:24).

I do not believe absence makes the heart grow fonder but that it causes us to be more appreciative of its object. Loving God “with all of our heart†is a constant degree of intensity which never varies, but our gratitude for it will never cease to increase!

Love is at the pinnacle of its gratefulness when in the company of its object, so entering our eternal union with God is only part of grace; the other part is to also be in fellowship with Him, which is where He wants us.

Regardless the level of our understanding in what God has shown us, the believer is unified with Him and He’s causing everything to make us to be “true worshipers†in our fellowship with Him because “the Father is seeking such to worship Him†(John 4:23).
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None But the Hungry Heart #5
What is shared herein is designed to further your acquaintance with the Lord Jesus on high, and to enrich your fellowship with Him and with the Father. Through prayerful meditation in None But the Hungry Heart #5, we trust the Holy Spirit will bring about a strengthening of faith and an upward drawing of heart.

Furthermore, it is hoped that these thoughts may provide you an opportunity to try your "faith wings"--to learn more fully the need to abide above, and thereby walk here below in the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).

"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment (discernment); that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:9-11).
-Miles J. Stanford; Sept. 1973

5-1. THE GREATEST

"We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus' love by what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is to us. The first is known at the Cross, the latter is entered into through personal fellowship with the risen Lord.

"There are three steps in appreciation of His love for us. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He saved me. He is our treasure 'My Beloved is mine' (Song of Solomon 6:3). The second step of affection is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. He would have me for Himself. 'I am my Beloved's' (Song of Solomon 6:3).

"The third step is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company 'His desire is toward me' (Song of Solomon 7:10). Love's delight is found in the company of its object. May we know in a deeper way, and in a fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with 'the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me' (Galatians 2:20).

"Much ministry is lost upon us as to any practical result, because we are not prepared to be detached from things here, so as to be simply here for Christ. And the preparation for this is to come personally under the influence of the blessed attractiveness of the Lord Jesus. When we sit under His shadow with great delight, everything else becomes so small, and loses its hold upon our hearts." -C.A.C.

"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

The believer can encounter many learning experiences from Scripture when the understanding of the right insight concerning the theme of Christianity is apprehended. One has said that religion is man reaching to God and Christianity is God reaching to man. I believe the theme of Christianity is well displayed in the following scriptural passage: “Your life is hid with Christ in God†(Col 3:3).

Everything we have of God is hidden from the world, from the natural man who does not see with the eye of spiritual discernment (1 Co 2:14). The method of being “in God†is being "hid with Christ", which also involves His intention of manifesting Himself only to those who are His. This was understood by Judas (not Iscariot) when He asked, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world" (John 14: 21,22)?

The most prepared readiness is to remember to address everything in this life with the life of Christ and not our own, because “Christ is our life†(Col 3:4). This will teach us to realize the immensely significant difference in God’s plans, for us, between an earthly life and a heavenly life.

The earthly life of Adam, even “before sin entered the world†(Rom 5:12), was not a position as elevated as “the glory which shall be revealed in us†(Rom 8:18), for being with God on the Earth is a lesser position of glory than being in Him in Heaven.

This has been God’s plan in His thoughts of us from eternity past which He has pre-arranged, that we, through “the natural life first, then afterward that which is spiritual†(1 Cor 15:46), would “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world†(Mat 25:34).
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5-2. INITIAL PREPARATION

"Saul armed David with his armor.... And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not tested them" (1 Samuel 17:38, 39).

Years of preparation are worth a moment of truth! Rest assured that once we are developed and trained by the Holy Spirit, the work whereunto He has called us will be ready and waiting (Acts 13:2). "Our Lord must have an instrument which He has formed in the fire and to which He has given peculiar knowledge of Himself."

"The greater the knowledge committed to a servant, the more necessary and important it is that he should be much alone with God about it, in order that he may realize the nature and effect of it on himself before he undertakes to make it known to others.

"It rebukes the haste and readiness with which many now enter the ministry, attempting to impress others with a measure of the truth which they have not proved for themselves. Surely the servant should ever be able to say: 'I believed, and therefore have I spoken' (2 Corinthians 4:13). It is better to lose time as to work in preparation for service than to lose time in repairing one's mistakes in undertaking a work for which one is not yet qualified."

"A servant's discipline must always be in advance of the service prepared for him. He cannot lead beyond the point to which he himself has been led. But when the depth and reality of the truth has been established in his own soul, he is made the channel of it."

"I have found that many a thing which I had presented in an extreme way because I was sure of it, I put forth in a simpler and a more real way when I had touched it in my own experience." -J.B.S.

"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you" (1 John 1:3).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple†(Luke 14:26). Of course, this passage is not Christ instructing us to hate anyone because it would conflict with His “second great commandâ€, to “love one anotherâ€.

He is using a hyperbolic expression to intensify the desire of our love for Him compared to our love for self and all others. It intends that to be His, we would need to love Him, even if loving Him required hating family and self, which would never be (hyperbole). Matthew 10:37 clearly delineates this which writes, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Meâ€.

Both of these passages are followed by, "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Meâ€. Instead of not preferring people to Christ, this passage is in reference to not yielding to things, trials and hardships which compromises, not our desirous love to Him but our practical love for Him. One may have a desirous love to Christ without an actual practicing love for Him.

The crux of the preceding material focuses on making Christ our object instead of self, which I believe J.B Stoney so aptly commented concerning true devotedness: “When I rest in the Lord Jesus, then I begin to find all my joy and strength in Him, and I occupy myself with Him. This is the first step, or the foundation of true devotedness. I do not become devoted in the true sense until I have found rest in Him. I am, up to this, rather looking to receive from Him, thus, I am more an object to myself; but when I find how fully I am an object to Him, then my heart is at liberty to make Him its object, He having made me His.â€
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5-3. APPREHENDED TO APPREHEND

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (Philippians 3:8).

Positionally, our Father subjected our old nature to the Cross and its resultant death. Experientially, He applies the work of the Cross to our old life, thereby progressively holding it in the grip of that death. He is "unforming" the old nature in death, and conforming the new nature in life.

"Life more abundant requires that what He did for us shall be made good in us. In His Cross He dealt with our sins, and He also dealt with ourselves; but that is something which has to be made good progressively. It is as we ourselves are dealt with in the power of the Cross that the way is made for His life to express itself in ever deepening fullness.

"The fact is that it is the old life which is in the way of the new life and its full expression. It is the natural life which obstructs the course of the divine life. Thus what has been done for us has to be done in us, and as it is done in us that life becomes more than a deposit, more than a simple, though glorious possession; it becomes a deepening, growing power, a fullness of expression." -T. A-S.

"You may have been in the fires and have been having a pretty hard and painful time in your spiritual life, but that only means that God has been preparing you for something more. No, God is not a God who believes in bringing everything to an end. He is always after something more. And if He has to clear the way for something more by devastating methods (Cross), well, that is all right, for it is something more that He is after. There is so much more, far, far transcending all our asking or thinking."

"I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12).

 

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The believer is always in a life and death situation. The living-dead are fictional but there are those who are the dead-living because as a believer, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God†(Col 3:3) and therefore we, “walk in newness of life†(Rom 6:4). Being “dead indeed unto sin†results in being “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord†(Rom 6:11).

Reckoning ourselves to be “dead indeed unto sin†does not cause us to be dead unto sin. We are dead to sin because we are “alive unto God†and therefore we “reckon†or realize we are dead to sin. In other words, we cannot make ourselves dead to sin; this was Christ’s work on the Cross. All we can do is count is so, that it has been done and know that it is an ongoing crucifixion to our old nature – by the Spirit. This causes us to live in the new life we have in God through Christ.

We count none our victories, esp. that over death, as results of what we do, but what God is always doing. What we do results from what He does; not, what He does results from what we do. He is always the cause and we are the beneficiaries of the effect--life out of death. His best for our worst!
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5-4. FIXED POSITION

"And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23)

True spiritual experience will result from our standing immovable in our position "in Christ." All too often believers allow certain "experiences" to move them from the faith-ground of their objective position, and they are soon adrift on the sea of subjective feelings and unscriptural influences.

"The Christian life is essentially a continuous dying, and a continuous living. Of course, there may come a particular crisis in experience where the Spirit of God brings the soul face to face with a definite issue as to a willingness for the Cross, and a yielding of the life to God. Yes, the first revelation of the secret of victory also may constitute a real crisis in the life of the believer, but that crisis or experience can never, in itself, avail for the future.

"There is a subtle danger in relying upon some isolated experience of 'sanctification,' so-called. The victorious Christian life is a Person, not an experience. Following the crisis, whatever phase or landmark in the life that may represent, there must be the daily reckoning, the moment-by-moment abiding and the control of the Holy Spirit. Whatever may have been our experience of holiness, and the measure of spiritual attainment in the past, we can never get beyond the need of abiding in Christ and the continuous reckoning of faith." -R.W.

"For we, alive though we are, are continually surrendering ourselves to death for the sake of Jesus" (2 Corinthians 4:11, Wey.).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

5-5. OLD REJECTED, NEW ACCEPTED

"You were set free from the tyranny of Sin, and became the bondservants of Righteousness" (Romans 6:18 Wey.).

The principle underlying resurrection life is, of all things, death. "For since we have become one with Him by sharing in His death, we shall also be one with Him by sharing in His resurrection. Surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead" (Romans 6:5, 13, Wey.). Let the facts of your position overwhelm the feelings of your condition.

"By exercising faith in the Word, apart from any feelings, be 'planted together with Him in the likeness of His death' (Romans 6:5). Only by thus standing in your position will you begin to experience 'the likeness of His resurrection. Reckon on your life-union with Him. Reject the old life on the basis of your death in Christ on the Cross, and count yourself alive in Him until He makes experiential your resurrection position. Do not forget that you must stand firmly upon the specific truths: 'dead indeed unto sin--alive unto God in Christ Jesus' (Romans 6:11).

"The sharing of His life is our blessed experience just in the measure in which we share His death. So many of us are content merely that the Cross should be the power to save us from the penalty of sin, but death was not the end of the manifestation of Christ. It was resurrection, and it is the risen life, shining forth in the believer, that alone can carry out the purpose of God in redemption. The believer, in whose daily attitude the mark of resurrection is seen, becomes what the world is looking for, a convincing witness to the power of the Living Redeemer." -G.W.

"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

As we encounter the experiential realizations of God’s blessings we are to understand that they come by way of His truths, so, our faith is to be in the truth of the blessing and not in the blessing. The blessings are the effects of our faith in God’s truths and faith in what He has said is to have faith in Himself.

Encountering God’s blessings brings salvation and the joy which comes from all within it, but the primary purpose of salvation isn’t just to be saved but to be in union with God. It’s normal for one young in the Lord to be more caught up with the blessings than the Blesser, as a child’s focus and sustenance is on the parent’s provisions more than parent. But as the child advances, his attention eventually focuses more on the parent as he realizes that his trust is not in the provisions, which are the effects and not the cause of his union with his parent. Faith is the substance of our objective and Christ is our objective! (Heb 11:1)
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“Attainment follows faith in the truthâ€, not faith in the blessing, which H.F. Witherby aptly explains: ‘We speak of the truths themselves, not of the experiential realization of them. We realize what we believe. Realization is not a stepping-stone to faith. Faith is the foundation of practical realization. Experiential acquaintance with the truth is not the truth itself, thank God! And the truth of God, not our realization of it, is our confidence and rest. Therefore, as our souls, by the ministry of the indwelling Spirit, enter into the truths of our Father respecting our blessing, we begin to experientially enter into the blessing we seek. We obtain by faith, not to faith.’â€


5-6. TRANSFERRED AND TRANSFORMED

"If [since] ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).

The growth truths seem complicated and difficult to understand on first encounter. However, with progress in grace we find them to be as clear and logical as the truth of justification. For both time and eternity, all is summed up in John 17:3: "And this is life eternal. . . [to] know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ." Study on!

"The marvel of divine grace is that not only has everything according to the heart of God been secured for me through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but that I, a child of Adam, should be, not only in peace with God where I was under His judgment, but that I am transferred from Adam to Christ, and I am to have Christ formed in me now.

"I am born of God--of new and divine origin--a new creation to be here on earth now where I was a child of Adam, in the grace and beauty of Christ, led by His own power to stand for Him; daily more and more 'transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord' (2 Corinthians 3:18)."

"I used to study this passage and that passage to obtain guidance and light. I see now that if I were really near Him beholding His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), I should be transformed, should come from Him so impressed with Himself that His interests would, as it were, naturally control me." -J.B.S.

"When the heart has found its rest and satisfaction in Him, it can turn to Him naturally and continually in every circumstance."

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

It can be difficult at times to picture ourselves in Heaven, “where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God†(Col 3:1), even though we are presently positioned there, because the Father has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus†(Eph 2:6). As often as we can, we’re to “seek those things which are above†and “Set your mind on things above†(Col 3:1, 2). Doing these things will not affect our position above but our condition below.

It’s encouraging to realize that regardless of our present understanding in all things, our condition cannot affect our position. We can go through with joy and singing or kicking and screaming, but regardless which, we are going through because “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day†(2 Tim 1:12). What is it that Paul committed to God, but his soul, as Peter wrote, “Commit the keeping of their souls to Him†(1 Pet 4:19). Speaking of keeping, God “is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy†(Jude 1:24).
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5-7. ABIDE ABOVE

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).

The Cross has separated us from the power of sin (Romans 6:11), the old man (Romans 6:6), the world (Galatians 6:14), the law (Romans 7:4), and the devil (Hebrews 2:14). The Spirit has joined us to our risen Lord, and we are "hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). We are free--to abide above; free--to fellowship with our Father in glory.

"The lack I find in souls is, that while they know that their sins are forgiven, they do not know their new place. What place do you have? Is it earth or heaven? It could not possibly be earth, for the Lord Jesus was rejected from the earth. It has a great moral effect upon a person to be able to say, 'I have a place in heaven; I have no property on earth at all, it is all in heaven.'

"'It is the Lord's property I have on earth, but in heaven I have my own.' In the garden of Eden, man lost his place; the question to him then is, First--Where art thou? then, What hast thou done? Every believer seeks to be clear as to the latter, but very few are clear about the former." -J.B.S.
"Many do not go beyond Christ's resurrection; they do not extend to His ascension. They do not know Him in glory. They are occupied with Him in relation to their own side. He was at my side and glorified God there both in His walk here and in His death; but He is now at His own side, and it is there I intelligently realize the vastness of my life, for He is my life."

"My mind must rise above what I am to what God is; then it is that one is formed by the revelation of what God is. To this we are called." -J.N.D.

"Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
MJS/WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

The law of sin and death states that “The soul that sinneth, it shall die†(Eze 18:4, 20). God first introduced this law, or, principle in Genesis 2:17 when He revealed to Adam His first command just prior to creating Eve.

Before “the elect†are “drawn†(John 6:44) to salvation, they are, by the Father, poised for Christ. After being in God they are positioned in Christ, so, “as He is, so are we in this world†(1 John 4:17). There remains nothing for the Christian to obtain (in order to secure his assurance of eternal life) but, to attain, in his earthly walk of (of which the Spirit, and not the believer, has overall control - Gal 5:17) “godliness†which “is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come†(1 Tim 4:8).

Righteousness, justification and esp. holiness are attributes the Christian already possess, so, we work from these elements, not for them, as C.H. Mackintosh explains: “The more we realize the truth that everything has been accomplished on the Cross, for the perfect establishment of our peace in connection with the holiness of God, the more we shall see how futile is every thought about ourselves. A question as to the believer’s peace, is, in reality, a question as to the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you touch one, you touch the other; for â€Christ is our peace.†Our Father’s estimate of Him and of us is the same – “Ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power†(Col 2:20). “Wherein He hath made us the accepted in the Beloved†(Eph 1:6).

The believer needs only to understand to appropriate, by reckoning, all that he now possess in Christ because God “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness†(2 Pet 1:3).
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5-8. POSITION POSSESSED

"The God of peace . . . working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13:20, 21).

Abiding involves a dual choice. We can abide in the old nature and thereby become the victims of the internal civil war as depicted in Romans Seven. Or, we can abide (rest) in the risen Lord Jesus, the Source of our new nature, and thereby become the glad recipients of His life and liberty, as depicted in Romans Eight. "The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2).

"How do we abide? 'Of God are ye in Christ Jesus' (1 Corinthians 1:30). It is all the work of God to place you there, and He has done it. Now stay there! Do not be moved back onto the ground of the old nature. Never look at yourself as though you were not in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Him and see yourself a new creation in Him. Look at Him as the very source of your Christian life. Abide in Him. Rest in the fact that God has placed you in eternal union with His Son, and let the Holy Spirit take care of His work in you. It is for Him to make good the glorious promise that 'sin shall not have dominion over you' (Romans 6:14)."

"We should be spared years of struggle and failure if we learned at once--as the converts did in the days of Paul--that we ourselves were taken through the death of the Lord Jesus. The past blotted out, the pardoned sinner accounted crucified with the crucified Lord, henceforth joined as a new creation to the risen Lord and now sharing His life (Romans 5:10)."

"The Lord Jesus is all that we need for all that we are."

"Your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).
MJS/Withchrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

Our strong-hold is “the new man†or new nature, and I believe this is the medium the Spirit works through to conform us to the life of Christ (it being created after Christ – Col 3:10). Our weak-point is our carnal nature, which I also believe is the only medium through which the Enemy can influence us, and is more of a Trojan-horse than an Achilles-heel, because the Christian has no fatal vulnerabilities (Jude 1:24).

Walking after, or, in the Spirit does not mean to follow but to be in the Spirit, which is related as a control issue, not just instructional. The Spirit who “teaches you of all things†(1 John 2:27) first enlightens us, then controls (conforms) our (Gal 5:17) lives to the things of God.

In this Spirit-Saint relationship we are helpless as to performing the things of God because He is the only one qualified for the work. We cannot “conform†ourselves but are “to be conformed†(Rom 8:29) and “are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord†(2 Cor 3:18). In this light we can understand that everything we do, as pertaining to the things of God, is being done by the Spirit using us, not by us using Him. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts†(Zec 4:6).

Our part is but to continually “yield yourselves†(Rom 6:13) to the Spirit and, even in this He controls us to do; as a rescuer must wait for the drowning victim to become helpless, so does the Holy Spirit first reveal the futility in our attempts to yield, or present our carnal nature, instead of our new nature, to God.

The first realization pertaining to the holiness of God is in being knowledgeable of the indwelling enmity (Rom 8:7; 7:17, 20), because the comprehension (never fully) of knowing the holiness of God is commensurate with the level of understanding the depths of the decadency of our carnal nature, as the Spirit progressively reveals to us.
The lesson-learned is in realizing we cannot, within ourselves, address the carnal nature as to its influence on us. This is the Spirit’s continuous work in us through the work of the Cross of Christ; for it is not the old man “was crucified†but, “is crucified†(ongoing – Rom 6:6).
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5-10. "SEARCH ME, O GOD"

"I, the Lord, search the heart" (Jeremiah 17:10).

During the early, carnal years we are afraid to face up to the sinful nature within, not fully realizing that it was dealt with in condemnation to God's full satisfaction at Calvary. When we come to see that all the old nature was taken down into the death of the Cross, and in Christ Jesus we are completely clear of its penalty and power, then it is that we begin to welcome the work of the Cross upon all that of which the Holy Spirit convicts us.

"The natural man cannot bear the thought of being searched by God; he cannot stand to think of being found out in his true condition and character. But to the truly hungry believer it is a positive comfort to be assured that God knows everything about us; He knows the very worst that can be discovered. He has searched out all that we are, and in spite of all He has thoughts of blessing concerning us. There is, therefore, no fear of anything coming to light that might cause Him to change or reverse His thought of blessing and acceptance." -C.A.C.

"Our acceptance with God in Christ is perfect, and therefore unimprovable. It never alters; never varies. And it is very important for us not to mix the acceptance itself with our enjoyment of it. Our acceptance is 'in Christ,' and therefore eternal; the enjoyment is 'by the Spirit,' and therefore (because of the working of the flesh) often hindered." -J.B.S.

"The sense of His goodness removes the guile of heart that seeks to conceal its sin." -J.N.D.

"For 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

 

[netchaplain]

Where our dependence is, that’s where our faith rests. The proper placement of our faith brings independence and dependence: The Cross of Christ brings independence from the rule old the “old man†(Rom 6:12, 14); and the Spirit of Christ (Holy Ghost) brings dependence on God in the “new man†(Eph 3:16).

If we are discouraged there are two unnecessary weights (Heb 12:1) at, or in, hand: depending on man; and not depending on God. Is there anything we can do which He has not already done (Eph 1:3; 2 Pet 1:3) that we might remain encouraged? Remember, disappointment means to trust in man and not God for He never disappoints!

Until we learn consistency, it’s acceptable to be occasionally distracted from remembering God is always “for us†(Rom 8:31), that is, we in our new nature; and it helps our memory to realize that this also means God is against us, that is, we in our old nature, but threat not for “the Lord of the harvest†(Mat 9:38; Luke 10:2) has foreseen not to harm you in the new man, during His judgment in this life on the old man (Mat 13:27—30).
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5-11. RELIANT REST

"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
Our Father allows us to be independent until by that means we come to know our own weakness and need. "Strength is always the effect of having to do with God in the spirit of dependence."

"Some say, 'I want to feel that I am strong.' What we need is to feel that we are weak; this brings in Omnipotence. We shall have a life of feeling by-and-by in the glory; now we are called upon to lead a life of faith. What believer but knows from the experience of the deceitfulness of his own heart, that, had we power in ourselves instead of in Christ, we should be something. This is what God does not intend."

"The very essence of the condition of a soul in a right state is conscious dependence. Now one may use the fact of completeness in Christ to make one independent. Two things are implied in dependence: first, the sense that we cannot do without God in a single instance; and, secondly, that He is 'for us.' In other words, there is confidence in His love and power on our behalf, as well as the consciousness that without Him we can do nothing." -J.N.D.

"We are to walk humbly and lean ever and only on the mighty arm of the living God. Thus the soul is kept in a well-balanced condition, free from self-confidence and fleshly excitement, on the one hand; and free from gloom and depression, on the other. If we can do nothing, self-confidence is the height of presumption. If God can do everything, despondency is the height of folly."

"But my God shall supply all your need according; to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).
MJS/WithChrist.org