Revelation in the Heart: by TA Sparks

God... Who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of His own purpose and grace. 2 Timothy 1:9

The Lord Jesus did not come in just as a rescuer of man and of man’s lot. We should almost be led to believe by certain emphases that redemption is the greatest thing in the universe, and that all God’s interest is in redemption, and that we should be occupied solely with redemption. Redemption is a great thing. We can never, never exaggerate, and I doubt whether we shall ever know what a great thing redemption is; and yet, great as redemption is in its scope, in its depth, in its cost, redemption is only incidental to the eternal purpose.

Christ came into time to rescue His own inheritance. In that, of course, man is rescued, but it is something very much bigger than that. It relates to the Son primarily, and until the Lord’s people get the right attitude, the right point of view, that is, that all things in God’s full and final concern are centered in God’s Son, they have not come into line with all God’s resource. While the direction is toward ourselves – redemption, sanctification, glorification, and so on – or toward anything less than the Son Himself, we have not got God’s dynamic for accomplishing His work, and therefore it becomes necessary, as the sufficient, the adequate basis of the Holy Spirit’s operation, that there should be a revelation of Jesus Christ in the heart, for it is in relation to Him and what God has purposed concerning Him that all the energies of God are released and made active.

Is He Really Lord? By Oswald Chambers

So that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus. — Acts 20:24

Joy comes from the ultimate fulfillment of my life’s purpose—that for which I was created and reborn. It doesn’t come from the successful performance of a task. Jesus’s joy lay in doing what the Father had sent him to do, and this is also where our joy lies: “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).

Have I received a ministry from the Lord? If so, I have to be loyal to it. I have to count my life precious only for its fulfillment. Think of the joy and satisfaction that will come from hearing Jesus say, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:21). We all have to find our place in life, and spiritually we find it when we receive our ministry from the Lord. First, though, we must get to know Jesus as more than our personal savior; we must know him as an intimate companion. Only then will he reveal to us our purpose.

“Do you love me?” Jesus asked Peter. “Feed my sheep” (John 21:17). Notice how Jesus doesn’t offer Peter, doesn’t offer us, a choice about how to serve. The only possibility is absolute loyalty to his command, absolute loyalty to what we discern when we are close to him.

Sometimes we misunderstand the call. We think that we are being called by a certain need—the need of God’s children to hear the gospel, for instance, or to have someone intervene for them in prayer. But the need isn’t what’s calling us; the need is simply an opportunity for answering the call. The call itself is a call to absolute loyalty. God wants you to be loyal to the ministry you receive when you are close to him, whatever it may be. This doesn’t imply that there is a specific campaign of service marked out for you, but it does mean that you will have to ignore the demands for service along other lines.

UNBELIEF: by Martyn Lloyd Jones

2 Corinthians 4:3–4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Let us consider what our Lord has to say about the terrible condition of unbelief. The first thing He tells us is that it is a definite mentality, a definite spirit. Unbelief is not a negative but an active thing. Of course, our tendency is to think of unbelief as just a negative condition in which a man does not believe, but according to the Bible that is an utter fallacy. Unbelief is terribly positive and active, a state and condition of the soul, with a very definite mentality. The Bible, indeed, does not hesitate to put it essentially like this: “Unbelief is one of the manifestations of sin; it is one of the symptoms of that foul disease.” Or as the apostle Paul puts it in:

2 Corinthians 4:3–4 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

It is a terrible state and condition. Let me put it like this. It is not just a refusal to believe. That is how the devil foils us. He persuades modern unbelievers into thinking that they are unbelievers because of their great intelligence, their wonderful intellect and understanding. They think that people who are Christians are fools who have either not read or have not understood what they have read. The unbeliever thinks that he is in that state because of his scientific knowledge, and that it is in the light of these things that he refuses to believe. They rejoice in their great emancipation, that they have been delivered from the shackles of the Bible, and that they have been emancipated from this drug, this dope of the people that we call the Gospel. Poor things! They are unconscious slaves, and they do not know that they are victims.

With God's Help: by CS Lewis

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Remember, this repentance, this willing submission to humiliation and a kind of death, is not something God demands of you before He will take you back and which He could let you off if He chose: it is simply a description of what going back to Him is like. If you ask God to take you back without it, you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot happen. Very well then, we must go through with it. But the same badness which makes us need it, makes us unable to do it. Can we do it if God helps us? Yes, but what do we mean when we talk of God helping us? We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself, so to speak. He lends us a little of His reasoning powers and that is how we think: He puts a little of His love into us and that is how we love one another. When you teach a child writing, you hold its hand while it forms the letters: that is, it forms the letters because you are forming them. We love and reason because God loves and reasons and holds our hand while we do it.

Come to Me: from Sarah Young, Jesus Calling

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Come to Me, and rest in My loving Presence. You know that this day will bring difficulties, and you are trying to think your way through these trials. As you anticipate what is ahead of you, you forget that I am with you--now and always. Rehearsing your troubles results in experiencing them many times, whereas you are meant to go through them only when they actually occur. Do not multiply your suffering in this way! Instead, come to Me, and relax in My peace. I will strengthen you and prepare you for this day, transforming your fear into confident trust.

Joshua 1:5,9 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Freedom of Love: by Dallas Willard

1 John 4:7-8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

In the movie The Stepford Wives, the wives are continually ecstatic about sewing and baking. When they get together, they mainly trade recipes or coo over their latest triumphs in making their husbands’ lives more comfortably. They are never unpleasant to anyone. A few of the wives remain on the individualistic side, but they eventually leave for a “vacation,” and upon their return they focus on cleaning floors just like the rest. The surprise of the movie is that these women are all robots.

Conformity to another’s wishes is not desirable, be it ever so perfect, if it is mindless or purchased at the expense of freedom and the destruction of personality. The freedom of God’s love is central to how we think about God’s relationship with his human creation and about what his love for us means.

Think about this: When we are looking for answers or making tough decisions, the fact that we are created with free choice can feel like a burden. At this point in your life, how do you feel about the freedom God is giving you? We need to be careful that we do not take this freedom lightly or halfhearted. Responsibility comes with every decision and accountability is always the result.

A RANSOM: by Martyn Lloyd Jones

For you are bought with a price. 1 Corinthians 6:20

What Paul has learned from the cross is that the Lord Jesus Christ had died for him there in order to deliver him. Now, many terms are used to explain this, and one of them is the term of paying a ransom, paying a price. Man has become the slave to the devil and of sin and of evil, and he has to be bought. The apostle says that he discovered that what was happening on the cross was that the Lord Jesus Christ was purchasing him. So he writes to the Corinthians about morality and behavior, and he puts it like this: “What? Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Now then, here the new view comes in. He was the slave of the devil, the slave of the world, the slave of sin and of evil. He could not get free, try as he would. But he has been bought. He has been delivered; he has been set free. He has been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s Son. He has been redeemed. And now he has a new view of himself. He is not his own; he does not belong to himself anymore. He formerly lived to himself, but no longer; he has been bought with a price. He has a new life; he is in a new world. You know, this so grips and thrills this man that he cannot stop saying it. Listen to him saying it in

Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

Open Heaven’s Windows: by TA Sparks

I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Malachi 3:10

There is very much prayer being made, and appeal being pressed for revival.... If the Spirit of God either ignores or transcends so much that marks the Christian system, and makes it as though it counts so little, (and the Holy Spirit never compromises on what is vital and really of God), does it not mean that He calls for a reconsideration of very much that obtains? The days of the Church's greatest spiritual power and impact were days when ecclesiastical forms, architecture and ritual were nil, and the Lord Himself was everything.... To get away from the lesser things we need a mighty visitation of the Spirit of God; this, and this only, will do it. Most people agree to this, and we have heard very much said along this line. What has always perplexed us is that, while things of this kind have been so repeatedly and strongly stated, the implication seems never to have registered itself with sufficient strength as to result in practical adjustments. So, on the other hand, if we seriously faced the things which the Spirit of God has again and again ruled out when He has had His way, would not the way be opened for a more permanent high level of spiritual life, fullness, and effectiveness?

Is not reformation an essential part of revival? Does not the Lord call for certain drastic adjustments before He can "open the windows of heaven"? (Mal. 3:10). Whenever and wherever, by a new revealing of Himself, His purpose and method, the Lord has secured those who have moved out on to the ground of Christ only and in fullness, they have always had to meet a great and painful cost. Usually it has been their own brethren in Christ who have exacted it.... How difficult it is for organized Christianity to believe that anything very much of real value can go on without machinery, publicity, and all the framework of organized work! May it not be well to pause and consider whether God's mightiest and most fruitful works in nature and in grace are not done hiddenly, quietly, unobtrusively, and – in many cases – done before anyone knows about it? What of the resurrection of nature every Spring-time? The law of God's highest work is the biological, the law of Life; it is organic.

IN CHRIST: by Andrew Murray

It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 1 Corinthians 1:30

The expression " in Christ" is often used in the Epistles. The Christian cannot read God's Word aright nor experience its full power in his life until he prayerfully and believingly accepts this truth:

I AM IN CHRIST JESUS.

The Lord Jesus in the last night with His disciples used this word more than once. "In that day," ---when the Spirit had been poured out, "you shall know that I am in the Father, and you IN ME!" And then follows, "Abide in Me; he that abides IN Me bears much fruit." "If you abide in Me, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you."

But the Christian cannot appropriate these promises unless he first prayerfully accepts the word: IN Christ. Paul expresses the same thought in Romans. "We are buried with Christ." "We are dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

There is no condemnation to them which are In Christ Jesus." And in Ephesians: "God has blesses us with all spiritual blessings IN CHRIST.", has chosen us in Him; has made us accepted In the Beloved.; In Him we have redemption.

And in Colossians: "In Him dwells all the fullness"; we are "Perfect" In Christ Jesus". "Walk ye in Him." "You are Complete in Him."

Let our faith take hold of the words: "It is God that establishes us in Christ." "Of God I am in Christ Jesus." The Holy Spirit will make it our experience. Pray earnestly and follow the leading of the Spirit. The word will take root in your heart, and you will realize something of its heavenly power.

But remember that abiding in Christ is a matter of the heart. It must be cultivated in a spirit of love. Only as we take time from day to day in fellowship with Christ will the abiding in Christ become a blessed reality, and the inner man will be renewed from day to day.

...Lord Jesus, teach me to abide in Christ, renew me day to day. Amen.

Correcting Our Arithmetic: by CS Lewis

John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Matthew 7:13-14“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Would you think I was joking if I said that you can put a clock back, and that if the clock is wrong it is often a very sensible thing to do? .... We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.

Our Lord the Object of Faith for Salvation: by AW Tozer

 

… Preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:). Acts 10:36

It is altogether doubtful whether any man can be saved who comes to Christ for His help but with no intention of obeying Him, for Christ’s saviorhood is forever united to His lordship.

Look at the apostle’s instruction and admonition: “If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved… for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:9-13

There the Lord is the object of faith for salvation! And when the Philippian jailer asked the way to be saved, Paul replied, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

Paul did not tell him to believe on the Savior with the thought that he could later take up the matter of His lordship and settle it at his own convenience. To Paul there could be no division of offices. Christ must be Lord or He will not be Savior!

There is no intention here to teach that our first saving contact with Christ brings perfect knowledge of all He is to us. The contrary is true. Ages upon ages will hardly be long enough to allow us to experience all the riches of His grace.

As we discover new meanings in His titles and make them ours we will grow in the knowledge of our Lord and the many forms of love He wears exalted on His throne!

Beware of the Amalekites! by Henry Blackaby

For he said, “Because the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”  Exodus 17:16

The Amalekites were the persistent and relentless enemies of the Israelites. When the Israelites sought to enter the Promised Land, the Amalekites stood in their way (Exod. 17:8-16). Once the Israelites were in the Promised Land and seeking to enjoy what God had given them, the Amalekites joined the Midianites to torment the Hebrews in the days of Gideon (Judg. 6:3). It was an Amalekite that caused the downfall of King Saul (1 Sam. 15:9, 28). The Amalekites continually sought to hinder the progress of God’s people and to rob them of God’s blessing. Thus God swore His enmity against them for eternity.

As you move forward in your pilgrimage with the Lord, there will be “Amalekites” that will seek to distract and defeat you. God is determined to remove anything that keeps you from experiencing Him to the fullest. If your commitment to your job is keeping you from obedience to Him, God will declare war against it. If a relationship, materialism, or a destructive activity is keeping you from obeying God’s will, He will wage relentless war against it. There is nothing so precious to you that God will not be its avowed enemy if it keeps you from His will for your life. King Saul mistakenly thought he could associate with Amalekites and still fulfill the will of the Lord (1 Sam. 15:8-9). You may also be hesitant to rid yourself of that which causes you to compromise your obedience to God. Don’t make the same mistake as King Saul. He did not take the Amalekites seriously enough, and it cost him dearly.

The Centrality of the Cross: by Martyn Lloyd Jones

2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead.

Everything proceeds from the cross. A Christian is a man who glories in the cross. If the cross is not central to you, you are not a Christian. You may say that you admire Jesus and His teaching, but that does not make you a Christian.

The apostle tells us that the cross governs his view of himself and that he has a new view of himself as a result of the cross. This is one of the most glorious aspects of the doctrine of the cross. It gives a man an entirely different view of himself.

Now, how does that happen? If you read 2 Corinthians 5, you will find that he there expands this aspect in a particularly clear manner. He has two great things to say: “Wherefore,” he says in verse 16, “henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” That is one. But here is another in verses 14-15: “For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.”

What he is saying in that chapter is all summarized in verse 17 when he puts this astonishing statement before us: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” And among the “all things” that have become new is man’s view of himself. This is one of the most glorious deliverances a man can ever know, to be free and delivered from himself.