Overcoming the World: by Andrew Murray

 

Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
—1 John 5:5

Christ spoke strongly about the world hating Him. His kingdom and the kingdom of this world were in deadly hostility. John summed it up: “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness” (1 John 5:19); “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

John also taught us what the real nature and power of the world is: “the lust of the flesh [with its self‑pleasing], and the lust of the eyes [which sees and seeks the glory of the world], and the pride of life [with its self‑exaltation]” (verse 16). Eve, in Paradise, had these three marks of the world. She “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise” (Genesis 3:6). Through her body, eyes, and pride, the world acquired mastery over her and over us.

The world still exerts a terrible influence over the Christian who does not know that, in Christ, he has been crucified to the world. (See Galatians 6:14.) The power of this world proves itself in the pleasure of eating and drinking, in the enjoyment of what is to be seen of its glory, and in all that constitutes the pride of life. Most Christians are either utterly ignorant of the danger of a worldly spirit, or they feel themselves utterly powerless to conquer it.

Christ left us with a far‑reaching promise: “Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). As the child of God abides in Christ and seeks to live life in the power of the Holy Spirit, he may confidently depend on the power given him to overcome the world. “Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” This is the secret of daily, hourly victory over the world and all its secret, subtle temptations: “I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). But it needs a heart and a life entirely possessed by the faith of Jesus Christ to maintain the victor’s attitude at all times. My fellow believer, take time to ask whether you believe with your whole heart in the victory that faith gives over the world. Put your trust in the mighty power of God, in the abiding presence of Jesus, as the only pledge of certain, continual victory.

“Believest thou this?…Yea, Lord: I believe” (John 11:26–27).

Problems??? from Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

 

2 Corinthians 4:16-18
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, ¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Welcome problems as perspective-lifters. My children tend to sleepwalk through their days until they bump into an obstacle that stymies them. If you encounter a problem with no immediate solution, your response to that situation will take you either up or down. You can lash out at the difficulty, resenting it and feeling sorry for yourself. This will take you down into a pit of self-pity. Alternatively, the problem can be a ladder, enabling you to climb up and see your life from My perspective. Viewed from above, the obstacle that frustrated you is only a light and momentary trouble. Once your perspective has been heightened, you can look away from the problem altogether. Turn toward Me, and see the Light of My Presence shining upon you.

Psalm 89:15
Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
    who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face,

The Principle of the Cross: by TA Sparks

 

The Son can do nothing by Himself. John 5:19

That is the principle of the Cross. He accepted that position of being able to do nothing out from Himself. It must all come out from God. There is no way through otherwise.... There was a revolution in my life thirty years ago when that principle of the Cross came flat up against ministry – ministry that for years I had been producing – against all my study, reading and late nights, to get up the stuff for ministry, till the whole thing became an intolerable burden in myself. Others perhaps thought it to be pretty good, but the crisis when – listen to me, men and women who are in ministry, or contemplating it – the whole turn came upon the recognition of this principle, this principle of the Cross when, with the door closed, I said to the Lord ‘I am finished in all ministry, I am never going to preach again unless You do something now. I have been doing it all these years; I have been producing this, now I am finished. You have got to do it.’ But I saw that principle, you see, as the principle of the Cross and I meant it.

Forgive me speaking of myself, but I must bring this home in some way. The next week would have seen my resignation in with my church officers, and I would have gone out from ministry if the Lord had not done it. But the Lord was true to His own principle. It was an utter end of anything that I could produce for ministry, and I meant it to be like that, because I recognized that God meant that. That was the principle of the Cross – nothing out from ourselves. No fruit that labor and study of the mind and heart could produce has a way through in the work and service of God. God was true to His own principle – He always is. From that day to this, there has been no trouble about ministry. It is easy to let ministry go, and much more easy than to accept it. This clamoring for ministry – it is uncrucified flesh. Well, there has been an open heaven since then. Again I beg your forgiveness for making this personal reference, but this is a true thing. It is a principle which covers all the ground.

Christ’s Life In Us: by Andrew Murray

Because I live, ye shall live also.
—John 14:19

There is a great difference between the first three gospels and that of John. John was the beloved friend of Jesus. He understood the Master better than the others. Many consider John 13–17 to be the innermost sanctuary of the New Testament. The other gospel writers spoke of repentance and of the pardon of sin as the first great gift of the New Testament. But they said little of the new life that the new covenant was to bring, with the new heart in which the law had been put as a living power. John recorded what Christ taught about His life really becoming ours and of our being united with Him just as He was with the Father. The other gospel writers spoke of Christ as the Shepherd seeking and saving the lost; John spoke of Him as the Shepherd who so gives His life for the sheep that His very life becomes theirs. “I came that they may have life, and may have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

And so Christ said, “Because I live, you will live also.” The disciples were to receive from Him, not the life He then had, but the resurrection life in the power of its victory over death and of His exaltation to the right hand of God. He would from then on always dwell in them; a new, heavenly, eternal life—the life of Jesus Himself—would fill them. And this promise is to all who will accept it in faith.

Unfortunately, so many people are content with the beginnings of the Christian life but never desire to have it in its fullness—the more abundant life. They do not believe in it; they are not ready for the sacrifice implied in being wholly filled with the life of Jesus. Child of God, the message comes again to you: “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God” (Luke 18:27). Take time and let Christ’s wonderful promise possess your heart. Be content with nothing less than a full salvation, Christ living in you, and you living in Christ. Be assured that it is meant for everyone who will take time to listen to Christ’s promises and will believe that the almighty power of God will work in him the mighty wonder of His grace—Christ dwelling in the heart by faith. 

We Do Not Despise God-given Emotions: by AW Tozer

 

But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad Matthew 9:36

OUR EMOTIONS ARE NEITHER TO BE FEARED nor despised, for they are a normal part of us as God made us in the first place. Indeed, the full human life would be impossible without them!

A feeling of pity would never arise in the human breast unless aroused by a mental picture of others’ distress, and without the emotional bump to set off the will there would be no act of mercy. That is the way we are constituted and what I a m saying here is nothing new. Every mother, every statesmen, every leader of men, every preacher of the Word of God knows that a mental picture must be presented to the listener before he can be moved to act, even though it be for his own advantage!

God intended that truth should move us to moral action. The mind receives ideas, mental pictures of things as they are. These excite the feelings and these in turn move the will to act in accordance with the truth. That is the way it should be, and would be had not sin entered and wrought injury to our inner life. Because of sin, the simple sequence of truth-feeling-action may break down in any of its three parts.

The Christian who gazes too long on the carnal pleasures of this world cannot escape a certain feeling of sympathy with them, and that feeling will inevitably lead to behavior that is worldly. To expose our hearts to truth and consistently refuse or neglect to obey the impulses it arouses is to stymie the motions of life within us, and if persisted in, to grieve the Holy Spirit into silence.

Knowing Christ: by Henry Blackaby

 

You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.      John 5:39-40

Bible study will not give you eternal life. You could memorize the entire Bible and be able to discuss minute issues of biblical scholarship and yet fail to experience the truths found in its pages. It is a subtle temptation to prefer the book to the Author. A book will not confront you about your sin, the Author will. Books can be ignored; it is much harder to avoid the Author when He is seeking a relationship with you.

The Pharisees in Jesus’ day thought God would be pleased with their knowledge of His Word. They could quote long, complicated passages of Scripture. They loved to recite and study God’s Law for hours on end. Yet Jesus condemned them because, although they knew the Scriptures, they did not know God. They were proud of their Bible knowledge, but they rejected the invitation to know God’s Son.

Can you imagine yourself knowing all that God has promised to do in your life but then turning to something else instead? You may be tempted to turn to substitutes. These substitutes aren’t necessarily bad things. They might include serving in the church, doing good deeds, or reading Christian books. No amount of Christian activity will ever replace your relationship with Jesus. The apostle Paul considered every “good” thing he had ever done to be “rubbish” when compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ (Phil. 3:8). Never become satisfied with religious activity rather than a personal, vibrant, and growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

The New Covenant in Hebrews: by Andrew Murray

 

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
—Hebrews 8:12

In the book of Hebrews, Christ is called the “Mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises” (verse 6). In Him the two parts of the covenant find their fulfillment.

First of all, He came to atone for sin, so that its power over man was destroyed and free access to God’s presence and favor was secured. With that came the fuller blessing: the new heart, freed from the power of sin, with God’s Holy Spirit breathing into it the delight in God’s law and the power to obey it.

These two parts of the covenant can never be separated. And yet, unfortunately, many people put their trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sin but never think of claiming the fullness of the promise of being God’s people and knowing Him as their God. They do not allow God to bring into their experience a new heart cleansed from sin, with the Holy Spirit breathing into it such love and delight in God’s law, and such power to obey, that they have access to the full blessing of the new covenant.

Jesus is “the Mediator of the new testament” (Hebrews 9:15), in which the forgiveness of sin is in the power of His blood, and in which the law is written in hearts by the power of His Spirit. Oh, if only we could understand that, just as surely as the complete pardon of sin is assured, so the complete fulfillment of the promises may be expected, too: “I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me” (Jeremiah 32:40); “I will…cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments” (Ezekiel 36:27).

But God has said, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27). He spoke these words to Jeremiah in regard to the new covenant. The new covenant requires strong, wholehearted desire for a life wholly given up to God. It means we must set aside all our preconceived opinions, and in faith believe in the mighty power of God. It means a surrender to Jesus Christ, a willingness to accept our place with Him, crucified to the world, to sin, and to self. It means a readiness to follow Him at any cost. Succinctly, the new covenant means wholehearted acceptance of Christ as Lord—heart and life wholly His. “I, the LORD, have spoken it, and will do it” (Ezekiel 22:14).

The New Covenant in Ezekiel: by Andrew Murray

 

Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness…I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments.
—Ezekiel 36:25, 27

Here we find the same promise as in Jeremiah, the promise of being so cleansed from sin, and so renewed in the heart, that there would be no doubt of walking in God’s statutes and keeping His law. In Jeremiah God had said, “I will put My law in their inward parts” (Jeremiah 31:33), and “I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me” (Jeremiah 32:40). In Ezekiel He said, “I will…cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments.” In contrast to the old covenant, in which there was no power to enable them to continue in God’s law, the great mark of the new covenant would be a divine power enabling them to walk in His statutes and keep His judgments.

“Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Romans 5:20), bringing about wholehearted obedience. Why is this so seldom experienced? The answer is very simple: the promise is not believed, is not preached; its fulfillment is not expected. Yet how clearly it is laid out for us in a passage like Romans 8:1–4! In this passage, the man who had complained of the power “bringing [him] into captivity to the law of sin” (Romans 7:23) thanks God that he is now “in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1) and that the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made [him] free from the law of sin and death” (verse 2), so that the requirement of the law is fulfilled in all who walk after the Spirit. (See verse 4.)

Once again, why are there so few who can give such testimony, and what is to be done to attain it? Just one thing is needed: faith in an omnipotent God who will, by His wonderful power, do what He has promised. “I the Lord have spoken it, and will do it” (Ezekiel 22:14). Oh, let us begin to believe that the promise will come true: “Ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness…I will…cause you to walk in My statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments.” Let us believe all that God promises here, and God will do it. Beyond all power of thought, God has made His great and glorious promises dependent on our faith. And the promises will bring about more of that faith as we believe them. “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29). Let us put this truth to the test even now.

The New Covenant in Jeremiah 31: by Andrew Murray

 

I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel…I will put My law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts.
—Jeremiah 31:31, 33

When God made the first covenant with Israel at Sinai, He said, “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people” (Exodus 19:5). But Israel, unfortunately, did not have the power to obey. Their whole nature was carnal and sinful. There was no provision in the covenant for the grace that would make them obedient. The law only served to show them their sin.

In Jeremiah 31, God promised to make a new covenant in which provision would be made to enable men to live a life of obedience. In this new covenant, the law was to be put in their minds and written in their hearts, “not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God” (2 Corinthians 3:3), so that they could say with David, “I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, Thy law is within my heart” (Psalm 40:8). Through the Holy Spirit, the law and the people’s delight in it would take pos­session of their inner lives. Or, as we see in Jeremiah 32:40, God would put His fear in their hearts so that they would not depart from Him.

In contrast to the Old Testament covenant, which made it impossible to remain faithful, this promise ensures a continual, wholehearted obedience as the mark of the believer who takes God at His Word and fully claims what the promise secures.

Learn the lesson well. In the new covenant, God’s mighty power is shown in the heart of everyone who believes the promise, “They shall not depart from me” (Jeremiah 32:40). Bow in deep stillness before God, and believe what He says. The measure of our experience of this power of God, which will keep us from departing from Him, will always be in harmony with the law: “According to your faith be it unto you” (Matthew 9:29).

We need to make a great effort to keep the contrast between the Old and New Testaments very clear. The Old had a wonderful measure of grace, but not enough for continually abiding in the faith of obedience. But that is the definite promise of the New Testament: the power of the Holy Spirit leading the soul and revealing the fullness of grace to keep us “unblameable in holiness” (1 Thessalonians 3:13).

BEHOLDING: by TA Sparks

 We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The word 'beholding' is a strong word; it is not just taking a look, it is 'fixing our gaze.' That is what the New Testament means by beholding, behold. We all, fixing our gaze upon Christ, as He mirrors in His own Person the glory of God, the satisfaction of God, the mind of God in perfection. The point is that you and I must contemplate the Lord Jesus in spirit, and be much occupied with Him. We must have our Holy of Holies where we retire with Him. We must have a secret place where we spend time with Him. And not only in certain special seasons, but we must seek, as we move about, ever to keep Him before us. Looking at the Lord Jesus, contemplating Him, we shall be changed into the same image. The Holy Spirit will operate upon our occupation.

You become like that which obsesses you, which occupies you. Is that not true? You see what people are occupied with, and you can see their character changing by their obsessions. They are becoming like the thing which is obsessing them; they are changing; they are becoming different. Something has got a grip on them; they can never think about anything else, talk about anything else; and it is changing their character. Now Paul said, "For me to live is Christ – being occupied with Him." It is the wrong word to use, but nevertheless it would be a good thing if He became our "obsession," our continuous occupation. As we steadfastly fix our gaze upon Him, the Spirit changes us into the same image.

The Collision of God and Sin: by Oswald Chambers

 

…who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree… —1 Peter 2:24

The Cross of Christ is the revealed truth of God’s judgment on sin. Never associate the idea of martyrdom with the Cross of Christ. It was the supreme triumph, and it shook the very foundations of hell. There is nothing in time or eternity more absolutely certain and irrefutable than what Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross— He made it possible for the entire human race to be brought back into a right-standing relationship with God. He made redemption the foundation of human life; that is, He made a way for every person to have fellowship with God.

The Cross was not something that happened to Jesus— He came to die; the Cross was His purpose in coming. He is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The incarnation of Christ would have no meaning without the Cross. Beware of separating “God was manifested in the flesh…” from “…He made Him…to be sin for us…” (1 Timothy 3:16 ; 2 Corinthians 5:21). The purpose of the incarnation was redemption. God came in the flesh to take sin away, not to accomplish something for Himself. The Cross is the central event in time and eternity, and the answer to all the problems of both.

The Cross is not the cross of a man, but the Cross of God, and it can never be fully comprehended through human experience. The Cross is God exhibiting His nature. It is the gate through which any and every individual can enter into oneness with God. But it is not a gate we pass right through; it is one where we abide in the life that is found there.

The heart of salvation is the Cross of Christ. The reason salvation is so easy to obtain is that it cost God so much. The Cross was the place where God and sinful man merged with a tremendous collision and where the way to life was opened. But all the cost and pain of the collision was absorbed by the heart of God.

The Cross & LIFE: by TA Sparks

 

I want to know Christ – yes, to know the power of His resurrection and participation in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death. (Philippians 3:10 NIV)

Do recognize that the Cross is the end of the risen life, and not only the beginning. If you forget everything else, remember that. The Cross is the end of the risen life, as well as the beginning: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death." People have been to me with Philippians 3 and have asked: "Why did Paul put death at the end? Surely it ought to be right the other way round – 'That I may be conformed to His death, and know Him in the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings.'" No, there is no mistake. The order is of the Holy Spirit. The power of His resurrection presupposes that there has been a death, but the very resurrection-life leads to the Cross. The Holy Spirit in the power of the risen life is always leading you back to the Cross, to conformity to His death. It is the very property of Life to rule out all that belongs to death. It is the very power of resurrection to bring us back to the place where death is constantly overcome.

That place is none other than the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ where the natural life is put aside. So Paul says: "...becoming conformed unto His death," which means: to have the ground of death continuously and progressively removed; and that, again, as we have said, is the fruit of living union with Him. It would be a poor look-out for you and for me were we to be conformed to His death in entirety apart from the power of resurrection in us, apart from our already knowing the Life of the Lord. Where would be our hope? What is it that is the power of our survival when the Cross is made more real in our experience? There would be no survival were it not that His risen Life is in us. So Paul prays: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection..." and that means conformity to His death without utter destruction. The end of the risen life is the Cross. The Holy Spirit is always working in relation to the Cross, in order that the power of His resurrection may be increasingly manifested in us.

The Fear of God: by Andrew Murray

 

Psalm 112:1
 Praise the LORD. Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who finds great delight in his commands.

The fear of God—these words characterize the religion of the Old Testament and the foundation that it laid for the more abundant life of the New Testament. The gift of holy fear is still the great desire of each child of God, and it is an essential part of a life that is to make a real impression on the world. It is one of the great promises of the new covenant in Jeremiah: “And I will make an everlasting covenant with them…[and] I will put My fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from Me” (Jeremiah 32:40).

We find the perfect combination of the two in Acts 9:31: “Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied.” More than once, Paul gave the fear of God a high place in the Christian life: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you” (Philippians 2:12–13); “Perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

It has often been said that the lack of the fear of God is one of the areas where our modern times cannot compare favorably with the times of the Puritans. It is no wonder that there is so much cause of complaint in regard to the reading of God’s Word, the worship of His house, and the absence of the spirit of continuous prayer that marked the early church. We need texts like the one at the beginning of this devotion to be expounded, and new converts must be fully instructed in the need for and the blessedness of a deep fear of God, leading to an unceasing prayerfulness as one of the essential elements of the life of faith.

Let us earnestly cultivate this grace in the inner chamber. Let us hear these words coming out of the very heavens: “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? for Thou only art holy” (Revelation 15:4).

“Let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Hebrews 12:28).

“Blessed is the man that fears the Lord.” As we take these words into our hearts and believe that this is one of the deepest secrets of blessedness, we will seek to worship Him in holy fear.

“Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling” (Psalm 2:11).