The Status of an Heir: by Watchman Nee

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

Here I must share with you my own experience. Thirteen years ago I came to the point where I knew that there was a lack somewhere in my life. Sin was defeating me, and I saw that something was fundamentally wrong. I asked God to show me what was the meaning of the expression, 'I have been crucified with Christ.' For some months I prayed earnestly and read the Scriptures, seeking light. It became increasingly clear to me that, when speaking to us of this subject, God nowhere says, 'You must be,' but always, 'You have been.' Yet in view of my constant failures this just did not seem possible, unless I was to be dishonest with myself. I almost turned to the conclusion that only dishonest people could make such statements.

      Then one morning I came in my reading to 1 Corinthians 1. 30. 'You are in Christ Jesus,' it said. I looked at it again. 'That you are in Christ Jesus, is God's doing!' It was amazing ! Then if Christ died, and that is a certain fact, and if God put me into Him, then I must have died too. All at once I saw. I cannot tell you what a wonderful discovery that was.

      The trouble with us today is that we think crucifixion with Christ is an experience we have somehow to attain. It is not. It is something God has done, and we have only to receive it. The whole difference lies here: Is the Cross a doctrine to be grasped and then applied? Or, Is it a revelation which God flashes upon my heart? It is quite possible, as I have proved, to know and preach the doctrine of the Cross without seeing the wonderful fact.

      All God has done, He has done first of all to Christ, and only then to us because we are in Christ. God does nothing directly upon us. Apart from and outside of Christ, God has no work of grace. Here is the preciousness of 1 Corinthians 1. 30. God has not only given us Christ but Christ's experience; not only what He can do but what He has already done. From His death onwards, all that He has is ours.

Root of Bitterness: by AW Tozer

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; Hebrews 12:15

It is on record that Charles Spurgeon made this comment about a man who was well-known for his bitter and resentful spirit: “May the grass grow green on his grave when he dies, for nothing ever grew around him while he lived!”

The sad and depressing bitter soul will compile a list of slights at which it takes offense and will watch over itself like a mother bear over her cubs. And the figure is apt, for the resentful heart is always surly and suspicious like a she-bear!

In our Christian fellowship, what can be more depressing than to find a professed Christian defending his or her supposed rights and bitterly resisting any attempt to violate them? Such a Christian has never accepted the way of the Cross. The sweet graces of meekness and humility are unknown to that person. Every day he or she grows harder and more acrimonious, trying to defend reputation, right, ministry, against imagined foes.

Is there a cure for this? Yes! The cure is to die to self and rise with Christ into newness of life!

Ideas + Images… the Battle for the Mind: from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Ephesians 2:6
 And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Psalm 27:8
 My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, LORD, I will seek.
Romans 8:6
 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
1 John 2:15-17
 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world.
 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

There is a mighty battle going on for control of your mind. Heaven and earth intersect in your mind; the tugs of both spheres influence your thinking. I created you with the capacity to experience foretastes of heaven. When you shut out the world and focus on My Presence, you can enjoy sitting with Me in heavenly realms. This is an incredible privilege reserved for precious ones who belong to Me and seek My Face. Your greatest strength is your desire to spend time in community with Me. As you concentrate on Me, My Spirit fills your mind with Life and Peace.      The world exerts a downward pull on your thoughts. Media bombard you with greed, lust, and cynicism. When you face these things, pray for protection and discernment. Stay in continual communication with Me whenever you walk through the wastelands of this world. Refuse to worry, because this form of worldliness will weigh you down and block awareness of My Presence. Stay alert, recognizing the battle being waged against your mind. Look forward to an eternity of strife-free living, reserved for you in heaven.

The 2 as 1: by Watchman Nee

"And the law of kindness is on her tongue." Proverbs 31:26

In joining two people together as husband and wife,. God has arranged that there should be subjection and love in the family. He has not asked the husband and wife to find and correct each other’s faults. He has not set up husbands to be instructors to their wives, or wives to be teachers to their husbands. A husband need not change his wife or a wife her husband.

Whatever the manner of person you marry, you must expect to live with that for life. Married people should learn to know when to close their eyes. They should learn to love and not try to correct.

As Christians, we must learn to deny ourselves. To deny oneself means to accommodate oneself to others. Family life requires discipline. It means learning to be willing to lay aside your own opinion, in giving due consideration to the views of others.

Life and Light: Henry Blackaby

In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. John 1:4

When Jesus came to a world that was in to darkness and dead in its sin, He came as light and life. His light dispelled sin’s darkness wherever He went, for the forces of evil could not withstand Him. The life He brought was abundant and free, available to all who were dead in their sin. (Eph. 2:1; John 10:10).

If you are a Christian, Jesus lives in you, and His light is within you. Christians are called to dispel darkness (Eph. 5:11). The light of Christ ought to shine so brightly through you that those practicing darkness are uncomfortable when they are around you. The light within you should dispel darkness from the lives of your friends, coworkers, and family members.

The fullness of life found in Christ dwells within you as a Christian (Col. 1:27). The life that Jesus offers is available to others through you. Don’t discount what you have to give to those who are hurting. Christ’s life within you is more than sufficient to meet every human need. When people encounter you, they encounter Christ within you. You do not know all the answers, but you have Someone within you who does! You will not carry the burden of the needs of others. Christ will. Be aware that just as many resisted Jesus, so there will be those who resist the truth that you offer (John 1:11). Be thankful, however, that God chooses to express Himself through you, giving light and life to those around you.

Compound Interest: by CS Lewis

 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8

Though Christian charity sounds a very cold thing to people whose heads are full of sentimentality, and though it is quite distinct from affection, yet it leads to affection. The difference between a Christian and a worldly man is not that the worldly man has only affections or 'likings' and the Christian has only 'charity'. The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he 'likes' them: the Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on—including people he could not even have imagined himself liking at the beginning.

This same spiritual law works terribly in the opposite direction. The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the Jews because they hated them: afterwards they hated them much more because they had ill-treated them. The more cruel you are, the more you will hate; and the more you hate, the more cruel you will become—and so on in a vicious circle for ever.

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.

Nothing Can Separate You: Henry Blackaby

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Romans 8:35

Nothing you could ever experience, no matter how terrible or frightening, could ever separate you from the love of God. No tribulation and distress you might ever suffer could be so intense that God’s love for you is not even more fervent. No persecution could be so painful that God’s love cannot bring comfort. Famine might starve you of food, but you will never hunger for the Father’s love. Poverty cannot strip you of God’s compassion, just as even death itself is incapable of robbing you of your heavenly Father’s infinite love.

If you base your view of God’s love on your circumstances, you will become confused. There may be times when you will ask, “How could a loving God allow this to happen to me?” You may begin to question what you find clearly stated in the Word of God. God promised that you would never be separated from His love; He did not say that you would never face hardship, persecution, poverty, or danger. If you doubt that God could love you and still allow you to experience difficult experiences, consider the life of Jesus.

If you allow the death of Jesus on the cross to forever settle any questions you might have about God’s love, you will approach difficult circumstances with confidence. Knowing that there will never be anything that could separate you from God’s perfect love, you will watch to see how God expresses His love in each circumstance. Don’t ever judge God’s love based on your circumstances. Instead, evaluate your circumstances from the perspective of God’s love.