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The Son of God reveals Himself in me, and out of devotion to Him service becomes my everyday way of life.
I love this!
January 18 “It Is the Lord!” “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ ” John 20:28 Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink’ ” (John 4:7). How many of us are expecting Jesus Christ to quench our thirst when we should be satisfying Him! We should be pouring out our lives, investing our total beings, not drawing on Him to satisfy us. “You shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). That means lives of pure, uncompromising, and unrestrained devotion to the Lord Jesus, which will be satisfying to Him wherever He may send us. Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ.
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Yes.
explains much of the sadness around us.
The most important rule for us is to concentrate on keeping our lives open to God. Let everything else including work, clothes, and food be set aside.
Yes.
warning which needs to be repeated is that “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches,” and the lust for other things, will choke out the life of God in us (Matthew 13:22). We are never free from the recurring waves of this invasion.
Important reminder for me. You?
Tell God you are ready to be poured out as an offering, and God will prove Himself to be all you ever dreamed He would be.
personalized for me this morning, 2/6/17. Repurposed This morning in Kona 2/6/22!
The remarkable thing about spiritual initiative is that the life and power comes after we “get up and get going.” God does not give us overcoming life—He gives us life as we overcome.
What our Lord wants us to present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us. And what He gives us in exchange for our sin is real solid righteousness. But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all our claims of even being worthy of God’s consideration.
My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound?
will I make this my purpose? Yes, by God's grace and heIp, I will!
Think of the last thing you prayed about—were you devoted to your desire or to God?
Christ’s resurrection destiny—His foreordained purpose—was to bring “many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10). The fulfilling of His destiny gives Him the right to make us sons and daughters of God.
Our amazing privilege!
You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it. Have you seen Jesus? If so, you will want others to see Him too. “And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either” (Mark 16:13). When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don’t believe.
Have you entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ, until all that remains in your flesh and blood is His life? “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Shared by Mark Bundy at CBMC this morning.
Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life—gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, not knowing what tomorrow may bring.
Important for me to think on.
The spiritual life is the life of a child. We are not uncertain of God, just uncertain of what He is going to do next. If our certainty is only in our beliefs, we develop a sense of self-righteousness, become overly critical, and are limited by the view that our beliefs are complete and settled. But when we have the right relationship with God, life is full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy.
No matter how difficult something may be, I must say, “Lord, I am delighted to obey You in this.”
Prayer is not an exercise, it is the life of the saint. Beware of anything that stops the offering up of prayer. “Pray without ceasing”—maintain the childlike habit of offering up prayer in your heart to God all the time.
The degree of hopelessness I have for others comes from never realizing that God has done anything for me. Is my own personal experience such a wonderful realization of God’s power and might that I can never have a sense of hopelessness for anyone else I see? Has any spiritual work been accomplished in me at all? The
Where sin and sorrow stops, and the song of the saint starts. Do I really want to get there? I can right now. The questions that truly matter in life are remarkably few, and they are all answered by these words—“Come to Me.” Our Lord’s words are not, “Do this, or don’t do that,” but—“Come to me.” If I will simply come to Jesus, my real life will be brought into harmony with my real desires. I will actually cease from sin, and will find the song of the Lord beginning in my life. Have you ever come to Jesus? Look at the stubbornness of your heart. You would rather do anything than this one
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A true disciple is one who has his new name written all over him—self-interest, pride, and self-sufficiency have been completely erased.
Ouch!
But if I love Jesus Christ personally and passionately, I can serve humanity, even though people may treat me like a “doormat.” The secret of a disciple’s life is devotion to Jesus Christ,
As a saved soul, the real business of your life is intercessory prayer.
What a privilege! Sadly, I often neglect this, which is also a responsibility.
Great question for me today. For you?
The aim of a spiritually vigorous saint is “that I may know Him.” Do I know Him where I am today? If not, I am failing Him. I am not here for self-realization, but to know Jesus Christ. In Christian work our initiative and motivation are too often simply the result of realizing that there is work to be done and that we must do it. Yet that is never the attitude of a spiritually vigorous saint. His aim is to achieve the realization of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances.
what a stretching, yet ennobling truth!
My vision of God is dependent upon the condition of my character.
Important For me
A disciple realizes that it is his Lord’s honor that is at stake in his life, not his own honor.
Invaluable
God does not give us overcoming life—He gives us life as we overcome. The strain of life is what builds our strength. If there is no strain, there will be no strength.
Important reminder for me. For you?
I must learn to identify myself closely with my Lord in ways of holy fellowship and oneness that some of us have not yet even begun to learn. “I must be about My Father’s business”—and I must learn to live every moment of my life in my Father’s house.
But I must see to it that the Son of God is exhibited in my human flesh. “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19), that is, your body is the Bethlehem of God’s Son.
Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied by your life, or are you exhibiting a walk of spiritual pride before Him?
I deeply desire His being "abundantly satisfied" by my life, day in & day out.
Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me—sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost
Important distinction for me. For you?
Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ? The one true sign of discipleship is intimate oneness with Him—a knowledge of Jesus that nothing can shake.
Poignant question! By His kindness I do. Do you? If not, why not? Begin today!
“Make a decision for Jesus Christ,” places the emphasis on something our Lord never trusted. He never asks us to decide for Him, but to yield to Him—something very different.
Yielding. Initially, then daily and hourly. Only by His grace and with His help.
In the Christian life, godly influence is never conscious of itself. If we are conscious of our influence, it ceases to have the genuine loveliness which is characteristic of the touch of Jesus. We always know when Jesus is at work because He produces in the commonplace something that is inspiring.
Men who didn't know it, impacted me permanently.
Am I prepared for His coming? Jesus cannot come and do His work in me as long as there is anything blocking the way, whether it is something good or bad. When He comes to me, am I prepared for Him to drag every wrong thing I have ever done into the light?
Heavy and ever timely for me!
God has only one intended destiny for mankind—holiness. His only goal is to produce saints.
Will I focus on this one destiny, for myself? For others? Will you as well?
Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind—placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life.
This is my desire, choice, and determined commitment, by God's grace and with His strengthening aid.
“He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water”—and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break “the flask” of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?
Wise challenge....but, not easy.
Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. “You shall be witnesses to Me” (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me.” Be
Am I/are we His? May this be true of us all
Are you saying, “But I can’t be expected to live a sanctified life in my present circumstances; I have no time for prayer or Bible study right now; besides, my opportunity for battle hasn’t come yet, but when it does, of course I will be ready”? No, you will not. If you have not been worshiping in everyday occasions, when you get involved in God’s work, you will not only be useless yourself but also a hindrance to those around you.
True surrender is a matter of being “united together [with Jesus] in the likeness of His death” (Romans 6:5) until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him.
This hits me like a ton of bricks! "until nothing appeals to me that did not..
You must maintain continual watchfulness so that nothing arises in your life that would cause you shame. “.
Important reminder for me...you?
It is impossible to carry on your life as a disciple without definite times of secret prayer.
Unequivocal strong statement!
Jesus Christ’s honor is at stake in our bodily lives.
This truth convicts, humbles & motivates me to "trust & obey". You?
Being a disciple means deliberately identifying yourself with God’s interests in other people. Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34–35). The true expression of Christian character is not in good- doing, but in God-likeness.
This is a worthwhile focus for me. A high reach. For you? Only with God's help
He demands absolute righteousness from His servants, because He has put into them the very nature of God.
I commit myself to cooperate with Him! You as well?
He wants us in a relationship where He is so easily our Master and Teacher that we have no conscious awareness of it—a relationship where all we know is that we are His to obey.
There is no other way to be 'happy in Jesus' than to trust & obey. My desire!
God nowhere holds a person responsible for having the heredity of sin, and does not condemn anyone because of it. Condemnation comes when I realize that Jesus Christ came to deliver me from this heredity of sin, and yet I refuse to let Him do so. From that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “This is the condemnation [and the critical moment], that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light” (John 3:19).
wise truth hefre
