Risky: by Watchman Nee

“I give my judgment, as one that has obtained mercy of the Lord to be trustworthy.” 1 Corinthians 7:25

God does not want the man He creates to be like a machine, having no freedom of choice, but having to obey perfectly. It would be easy for him to make such a machine. There would be no trouble with man, but neither would there be glory for God. Such obedience and goodness have no spiritual value. There may not be any fault or sin, yet neither can there be holiness, for the obedience is passive. God rejects such a thing.

God does not want an automaton; He wants a man with a free will. It is a calculated risk with God to choose man as a minister of the Word. Yet in spite of the complexity of man and his many problems of sin and weakness, God entrusts His Word to man. Through the greatest rigor God obtains the highest glory.

Listen in Silence: by TA Sparks

Let the person who has ears listen to what the Spirit says. Revelation 3:22

The man or woman who has no inner ear, no inner silence, no inner place for hearing the Lord is never going to be of much use in the service of the Lord, and mark you, it must be the Lord, and we must be very careful that we do not give even good men and good writers the place that the Lord ought to have. There is a time when we must sweep our books aside, when we must shut ourselves up from the voices of men, when we must get quiet with the Lord and listen, and more, we must seek to cultivate, by the grace of God, the ear that is always open to the Lord even when all the other sounds are around us. It is difficult, yet not impossible, that in the raging of the street and the rush of business life the Lord should say something; but He will only speak to those who recognize the value of listening to the Lord and who are giving Him His place of silence to speak when possible. The ear to hear the Lord when all other sounds and voices are around us is prepared and trained in these times of detachment which the Lord demands, and against which the devil is eternally active to capture the ear again.

Now, that is elementary (we are not seeking to be profound), but tremendously important. You and I know, never mind how spiritually mature we are – the one object of the devil is to capture our ear from God, to make it impossible for us to have the silent hour and the silent ear for God. The pressing in, and all the things which happen just when you have decided to have a little quiet time; then it is you have to fight for the ear – you know it is true. Do you see there is something bound up with that; the undoing of the work of the devil, the registration of God's mind upon this universe, everything which is meant by priestly ministry, which is bringing God in, is bound up with this: God having the ear.

The Light That Never Fails: by Oswald Chambers

 

We all, with unveiled face, beholding…the glory of the Lord… —2 Corinthians 3:18

A servant of God must stand so very much alone that he never realizes he is alone. In the early stages of the Christian life, disappointments will come— people who used to be lights will flicker out, and those who used to stand with us will turn away. We have to get so used to it that we will not even realize we are standing alone. Paul said, “…no one stood with me, but all forsook me….But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me…” (2 Timothy 4:16-17). We must build our faith not on fading lights but on the Light that never fails. When “important” individuals go away we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, so that only one thing is left for us to do— to look into the face of God for ourselves.

Allow nothing to keep you from looking with strong determination into the face of God regarding yourself and your doctrine. And every time you preach make sure you look God in the face about the message first, then the glory will remain through all of it. A Christian servant is one who perpetually looks into the face of God and then goes forth to talk to others. The ministry of Christ is characterized by an abiding glory of which the servant is totally unaware— “…Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him” (Exodus 34:29).

We are never called on to display our doubts openly or to express the hidden joys and delights of our life with God. The secret of the servant’s life is that he stays in tune with God all the time.

Responding to the Spirit: by AW Tozer

Quench not the Spirit. Holdfast to that which is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:19–20

Are we raising a whole generation of young men and women without any sensitivity to the voice of God’s Holy Spirit?

I am on record, and I will be as long as I live, that I would rather lose a leg and hobble along throughout the rest of my life than to lose my sensitivity to God and to His voice and to spiritual things!

Oh, how I want to keep that sensitivity within me—within my soul!

I am thinking about a great throng of men and women raised in Christian homes. They have been brought up in Sunday school. They probably cut their first baby tooth on the edge of a hymn book when the mother was not watching.

Still, to this day, they are not right with God. Some have made a kind of profession but have never been able to delight themselves in the Lord.

The reason? They have lost sensitivity to the message and the voice of God. If the Holy Spirit cannot move something within their beings every day they are not going to be effective Christians—if they are Christians at all!

Precious Repentance: by Charles Spurgeon

Ezekiel 20:43

There you will remember your conduct and all the actions by which you have defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evil you have done.

When we are accepted of the Lord, and are standing in the place of favor, and peace, and safety, then we are led to repent of all our failures and miscarriages toward our gracious God. So precious is repentance, that we may call it a diamond of the first water, and this is sweetly promised to the people of God as one most sanctifying result of salvation. He who accepts repentance, also gives repentance; and He gives it not out of "the bitter box," but from among those "wafers made with honey" on which He feeds His people. A sense of blood-bought pardon and of undeserved mercy, is the best means of dissolving a heart of stone. Are we feeling hard? Let us think of covenant love, and then we shall leave sin, lament sin, and loathe sin; yea, we shall loathe ourselves for sinning against such infinite love. Let us come to God with this promise of penitence, and ask Him to help us to remember, and repent, and regret, and return. Oh, that we could enjoy the meltings of holy sorrow! What a relief would a flood of tears be! Lord, smite the rock, or speak to the rock, and cause the waters to flow!

Mind Your Mind: by Watchman Nee

 

“Lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your thoughts should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3

Before a man can receive a new heart from God, he needs to have a change of mind. This is what happens at conversion. Even after this, however, the believer’s mind is not exempt from the assaults of Satan. The same apostle who affirmed that the god of this world had blinded the minds of unbelievers was also concerned lest Satan should deceive and corrupt the thoughts of those who had experienced this change of mind.

In deceiving Eve by his craftiness, Satan first put doubting thoughts into her mind. At that time her heart was sinless. Yet she allowed her thoughts to be distorted, so forfeiting her reason and spoiling her relationship with God. Let us be careful of boasting about the sincerity of our hearts while being careless concerning our thought-life. Transformation depends on the renewing of the mind.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”

Christ Is All: by Andrew Murray

Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us. Colossians 3:11

Christ is all—in the eternal counsel of God, in the redemption on the cross, as King on the throne in heaven and on earth. In the salvation of sinners, in the building up of Christ’s Body, in the care for individuals—Christ is all.

Every hour and every day, this knowledge provides comfort and strength to the child of God.

You feel too weak, too unworthy, too untrustworthy. But if you will only accept the Lord Jesus in childlike faith, you have a guide who will supply all your needs. Believe the word of our Savior in Matthew 28:20: “And be sure of this: I am with you always,” and you will experience His presence each day.

However cold and dull your feelings may be, however sinful you are, meet the Lord Jesus in secret and He will reveal Himself to you. Tell Him how miserable you really are and then trust Him to help and sustain you. Each day as you spend time in His presence, let this thought be with you: Christ is all. Make it your goal: Christ is all—to teach me to pray, to strengthen my faith, to give me the assurance of His love, to give me direct access to the Father, and to make me strong for the schedule of the day.

More Light: by TA Sparks

God, who… made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

We stand by revelation, "God who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." "God... called me through grace to reveal His Son in me." - Gal. 1:16. How are we going to be made to stand, to be established? How is this endurance going to be put in us? By knowing the Lord Jesus in this inward way, by revelation. The people who are going to stand are those in whom this thing has become a living revelation; "God hath shined in our hearts," this is one side. The other is, "pressed on every side, perplexed, pursued, smitten down... yet not unto despair" - 2 Cor. 4:6-10. We are troubled and pressed down... why? "That the LIFE of JESUS might be made manifest in our mortal bodies" - 2 Cor. 4:11.

Is not that endurance? Pressed on every side yet not strangled! "In pressure Thou hast enlarged me" - Ps. 4:1. What was meant to be "pressed down," God has made for enlargement. Cast down, yet a wonderful rising up. Why? How? It is "God who hath shined in our hearts... in the face of Jesus Christ," therefore you can go through and survive. Nothing can carry us through but the revelation of the Lord Jesus by the Holy Spirit in our hearts; an inside knowledge of Him - not mental assent to a creed or a doctrine, but a living, vital reality in our very being.

Noah Walked with God: by Henry Blackaby

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. . .Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God.  Genesis 6:8-9

No matter how ungodly the environment you may be in, God will always find you and walk with you. Noah lived in perhaps the most wicked age in history. No one worshiped God. All the people worshiped idols and pursued their own sinful pleasures. Noah’s neighbors were evil; every person he associated with in the marketplace, or along the street, or in public gatherings, ridiculed the very thought of being faithful to God. Every temptation imaginable was abundantly available to Noah. How oppressive such an environment would have been to a righteous person!

The people of Noah’s day were so wicked that God planned the most complete and drastic act of judgment recorded in Scripture. Nevertheless, Noah was not lost to God in the crowd of sinners. God noticed every act of Noah’s righteousness. Noah had chosen to live uprightly before God despite what everyone around him was doing, and God had observed him. There may have been times when Noah wondered if it mattered if he lived a righteous life, since no one else was. Yet he continued, and his persistence in righteousness saved his life and the lives of his family members.

Are you constantly surrounded by evil? Do you struggle at times to live a righteous life when those you associate with each day have no concern for God? Find assurance in the life of Noah. God watches you, even as He observed Noah. God will seek you out of the crowd every time, and He wants to bless you and your family just as He blessed Noah.

The Next Best Thing to Do: by Oswald Chambers

Seek and you will find. — Luke 11:9

When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives” (James 4:3). What motivates you when you ask? If you are asking to receive things from life rather than from God, you are motivated by a desire for self-realization. Watch out if this is the case. The more you realize yourself, the less will you seek God.

“Seek and you will find.” Have you ever sought God with your whole heart? Or do you merely give a half-hearted cry in his direction in moments of doubt? Get to work. Narrow your interests until they are centered on God. Seek, concentrate, and you will find.

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters” (Isaiah 55:1). Are you thirsty, or are you so satisfied with your experience that you want nothing more from God? Experience is a gateway, not a destination. Beware of building your faith on experience. If you do, you run the risk of becoming so smug that you wind up driving others away from God. You can never give other people what you’ve found, but you can make them homesick for what you’ve got.

“Knock and the door will be opened to you” (Matthew 7:7). The door is closed; your heart is pounding. “Wash your hands, you sinners.” Knock a bit louder; you notice that you are dirty. “Purify your hearts.” This is even more personal; you are filled with sincerity now. “Grieve, mourn and wail.” Have you ever gone before God full of grief about the state of your inner life? Have you gone without an ounce of self pity remaining inside you, only a heartbreaking amazement that you are what you are? “Humble yourselves” (James 4:8–10). It is deeply humbling to knock at God’s door; you knock with the crucified thief. “To the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matthew 7:8).

Spiritual Intelligence: by TA Sparks

This is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Philippians 1:9,10

Personal, inward, spiritual intelligence is a very rare thing. No wonder that the enemy has such a successful line in delusions, counterfeits, and false representations. Our greatest safeguard against such will be a deep knowledge of the Lord through discipline. To know the Lord in a real way means steadfastness when others are being carried away - steadfastness through times of fiery trial. Those who know the Lord do not put forth their own hand and try to bring things about. Such are full of love and patience, and do not lose their poise when everything seems to be going to pieces. Confidence is an essential and inevitable fruit of this knowledge, and in those who know Him there is a quiet restful strength which speaks of a great depth of Life.

Let me point out that in Christ "are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden," and the Lord's will for us is to come to an ever-growing realization and personal appreciation of Him in Whom all the fullness dwells. We have only stated facts as to the Lord's will for all His own, and their greatest need. The absence of this real knowledge of the Lord has proved to be the most tragic factor in the Church's history. Every fresh uprising of an abnormal condition has disclosed the appalling weakness amongst Christian people because of this lack. Waves of error; the swing of the pendulum to some fresh popular acceptance; a great war with its horrors and many-sided tests of faith; all these have swept away multitudes and left them in spiritual ruin. These things are ever near at hand, and we have written this message to urge upon the Lord's people to have very definite dealings with Him that He will take every measure with them that they might know Him.

Dependence: by Sarah Young

Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man lays a snare,
    but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
John 10:10
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

     Living in dependence on Me is the way to enjoy abundant life. You are learning to appreciate tough times, because they amplify your awareness of My Presence. Tasks that you used to dread are becoming rich opportunities to enjoy My closeness. When you feel tired, you remember that I am your Strength; you take pleasure in leaning on Me. I am pleased by your tendency to turn to Me more and more frequently, especially when you are alone.
     When you are with other people, you often lose sight of My Presence. Your fear of displeasing people puts you in bondage to them, and they become your primary focus. When you realize this has happened, whisper My Name; this tiny act of trust brings Me to the forefront of your consciousness, where I belong. As you bask in the blessing of My nearness, My life can flow through you to others. This is abundant life! 

Take Charge of Your Thoughts: by Watchman Nee

“Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God.” 2 Corinthians 10:5

One sphere of Satan’s operations is man’s thought life. He arouses imaginations which must first be suppressed before we can bring our thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. We need to know what satanic temptation is. The devil will inject into your mind a thought, a fancy, which appears to be your own. Attracted by it, you accept and use it as though it were yours, though in actual origin it is his.

Many sins are first committed in the mind’s imagination. Many unpleasantnesses among Christian brothers and sisters arise from fancies. As Martin Luther suggested, “You cannot forbid a bird from flying over your head, but you can prevent it from making a nest in your hair.” Refuse to let evil thoughts find a resting place in you.

FORMATION: by TA Sparks

 My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you. Galatians 4:19

The profaning of the Lord's Name, and the taking away of His glory, is the inveterate habit and course of the old creation nature. Should you see any of the old creation getting into the realm of the things of God, what is the result sooner or later? That man takes the glory, and dishonors God. Is not that the tragic, dark story of "the Church"; man in his old creation powers and life pressing into the things of God, and making a name for himself? The Church has been the happy hunting ground of men for reputation, position, influence and all such things. The flesh always does that. It takes God's glory away, it profanes God's Name. In order that that might not be so there must be a new creation, where all things are of God.... I see the appalling state of things today amongst the Lord's people everywhere; death, weakness, limitation, defeat, failure, inability to stand up, to go on; and, without being critical, censorious or judging, you have to come to the conclusion as you speak with so many, that the measure of Christ is pathetically small. Sometimes when you speak about the Lord to people, who have borne the name of Christian for many years, they gape at you as though you were talking a strange language.

Let us ask the Lord that, so far as we are concerned, there may be an increase of Christ in every way. Let us seek grace for any fiery furnace in the light of the explanation, that it is neither what is of Christ that is being tested in us, nor any good within ourselves, but that what is not Christ should disappear, that it should be Christ, only Christ. At last this universe will know nothing but Christ. He will fill all things, and that will be a great day! May He be fully formed in us.

God's Promise Keeps: by Charles Spurgeon

"Cast thy bread upon the waters: for you will find it after many days." Ecclesiastes 11:1

We must not expect to see an immediate reward for all the good we do; nor must we always confine our efforts to places and persons which seem likely to yield us a recompense for our labors. The Egyptian casts his seed upon the waters of the Nile, where it might seem a sheer waste of corn. But in due time the flood subsides, the rice or other grain sinks into the fertile mud, and rapidly a harvest is produced. Let us today do good to the unthankful and the evil. Let us teach the careless and the obstinate. Unlikely waters may cover hopeful soil. Nowhere shall our labor be in vain in the Lord.

It is ours to cast our bread upon the waters; it remains with God to fulfill the promise, "Thou shalt find it." He will not let His promise fail. His good word which we have spoken shall live, shall be found, shall be found by us. Perhaps not just yet, but some day we shall reap what we have sown. We must exercise our patience; for perhaps the Lord may exercise it. "After many days," says the Scripture, and in many instances those days run into months and years, and yet the Word stands true. God's promise will keep; let us mind that we keep the precept, and keep it this day.