BEHOLDING: The Unveiled Face: by Oswald Chambers

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image. 2 Corinthians 3:18

The most remarkable characteristic of a Christian is the unveiled face. Open and honest, hiding nothing, we stand before God so that our lives may become a mirror of his. By being filled with the Spirit, we are transformed. By standing unveiled before him, we become his mirror. It is always easy to sense when someone has been beholding the glory of the Lord. We can feel the Lord’s own character, shining out from within.

The golden rule for the Christian life is this unfailing concentration on God. If God requires it, we must be willing to set aside our concerns for everything else—work, food, clothing, shelter, everything. The busyness of modern life tends to draw our attention away from God, darkening the mirror within. Usually, the thing that dirties the mirror is a “good” thing, a worthy concern. It is the good that is the enemy of the best.

Let other things come and go as they may. Let other people criticize as they will. But never let anything disturb the life that is hidden with Christ in God. Never be hurried out of the relationship of abiding in him. This is the one thing that tends to get pushed aside, and it is the one thing that shouldn’t. It is the toughest discipline we undergo as Christians: the discipline of keeping our focus on the glory of the Lord.

Extreme Smuggler: from VOM Extreme Devotion

2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.

Watchman Nee, the Chinese church leader, had only six hours. He must lead the guard in front of his prison cell to Christ so that his letter of encouragement to Christians outside the prison could be delivered.

Chairman Mao's government was infuriated by the spread of Christianity in China. In order to stop the spread of this "foreign cult," they had forced out or killed all foreign missionaries and had sent thousands of Chinese church leaders to prison or to "re-education through labor" camps. But the church still grew.

When the police discovered that Nee's beautiful, powerful letters of encouragement were making their way out of the prison and into the hands of Christians, they doubled the number of guards and never allowed a guard to stand outside Nee's cell more than once. They sho1tened shifts to six hours, hoping Nee would not have time to convert the guard

Nee told the guard about the Father's love and willingness to give up his own flesh and blood so the guard could live forever in heaven. "'Communism cannot get you to heaven," he said. "Only the blood of Jesus Christ can do that." Five hours into the sermon, with tears streaming from his eyes, the guard accepted Christ. Yet another soul was won for the kingdom, and yet another of Watchman Nee's letters would be safely delivered.

Real Sight: by TA Sparks

One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see. John 9:25

What is the beginning of the Christian life? It is a seeing. It must be a seeing. The very logic of things demands that it shall be a seeing; for this reason – that the whole of the Christian life is to be a progressive movement along one line, to one end. That line and that end is Christ. That was the issue with the man born blind in John 9. You will remember how, after they cast him out, Jesus found him, and said to him, "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" and the man answered and said, "And who is He, Lord, that I may believe on Him?" Jesus said unto him, "Thou hast both seen Him and He it is That speaketh with thee." And he said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped Him. The issue of spiritual sight is the recognition of the Lord Jesus, and it is going to be that all the way through from start to finish.  

We may say that our salvation was a matter of seeing ourselves as sinners. But had it been left there it would have been a poor lookout for us. No, the whole matter is summed up into seeing Jesus; and when you really see Jesus, what happens? What happened to Saul of Tarsus? Well, a whole lot of things happened, and mighty things which nothing else would have accomplished. You would never have argued Saul of Tarsus into Christianity; you would never have frightened him into Christianity; you would never have either reasoned or emotionalized him into being a Christian. To get that man out of Judaism needed something more than could have been found on this earth. But he saw Jesus of Nazareth, and that did it. He is out, he is an emancipated man, he has seen.

God’s Remedies: What God Did For Us After the Fall? By CS Lewis

John 3:16 “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

And what did God do? First of all He left us conscience, the sense of right and wrong: and all through history there have been people trying (some of them very hard) to obey it. None of them ever quite succeeded.

Secondly, He sent the human race what I call good dreams: I mean those queer stories scattered all through the heathen religions about a god who dies and comes to life again and, by his death, has somehow given new life to men.

Thirdly, He selected one particular people and spent several centuries hammering into their heads the sort of God He was — that there was only one of Him and that He cared about right conduct. Those people were the Jews, and the Old Testament gives an account of the hammering process.

Then comes the real shock. Among these Jews there suddenly turns up a Man who goes about talking as if He was God. He claims to forgive sins. He says He has always existed. He says He is coming to judge the world at the end of time.

Now let us get this clear. Among Pantheists, like the Indians, anyone might say that he was a part of God, or one with God: there would be nothing very odd about it. But this Man, since He was a Jew, could not mean that kind of God. God, in their language, meant the Being outside the world, who had made it and was infinitely different from anything else.

And when you have grasped that, you will see that what this Man said was, quite simply, the most shocking thing that has ever been uttered by human lips.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Seek Me: by Sarah Young

Psalm 27:8 My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”  And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”

Jeremiah 29:13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.

Seek My face, and you will find more than you ever dreamed possible. Let Me displace worry at the center of your being. I am like a supersaturated cloud, showing Peace into the pool of your mind. My Nature is to bless. Your nature is to receive with thanksgiving. This is a true fit, designed before the foundation of the world. Glorify Me by receiving My blessings gratefully.

I am the goal of all your searching. When you seek Me, you find Me and are satisfied. When lesser goals capture your attention, I fade into the background of your life. I am still there, watching and waiting; but you function as if you were alone. Actually, My Light shines on every situation you will ever face. Live radiantly by expanding your focus to include Me in all your moments. Let nothing dampen your search for Me.

Philippians 4:7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Discipleship Is Christ in You: by Henry Blackaby

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Colossians 1:27

The heavenly Father’s plan from the beginning of time was to place His eternal Son in every believer. If you are a Christian, all the fullness of God dwells in you. Christ’s life becomes your life. When Christ lives in you, He brings every divine resource with Him. Every time you face a need, you meet it with the presence of the crucified, risen, and triumphant Lord of the universe inhabiting you. When God invites you to become involved in His work, He has already placed His Son in you so that He can carry out His assignment through your life.

This has significant implications for your Christian life. Discipleship is more than acquiring head knowledge and memorizing Scripture verses. It is learning to give Jesus Christ total access to your life so He will live His life through you. Your greatest difficulty will be believing that your relationship with Christ is at the heart of your Christian life. When others watch you face a crisis, do they see the risen Lord responding? Does your family see the difference Christ makes when you face a need? What difference does the presence of Jesus Christ make in your life?

God wants to reveal Himself to those around you by working mightily through you. He wants your family to see Christ in you each day. God wants to express His love through your life. There is a great difference between “living the Christian life” and allowing Christ to live His life through you.

EXTREME BETRAYAL: from Extreme Devotion (VOM)

Ephesians 4:32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

In Communist Romania, churches were closed and pastors arrested as part of a seven-year drive to eliminate the nations of all superstition.

So when Richard Wurmbrand and his wife, Sabina, began holding more church meetings in their little home, they knew it would not escape the attention of the government forever. Every evening Richard prayed, "God, if you know of some prisoner who needs my help, send me back to jail." His wife shuddered while she mumbled a reluctant "amen."

"Then they learned that one of the church members' homes had been raided and copies of Richard’s sermons had been confiscated. They also learned that the assistant pastor, their friend and coworker, became an informant and had denounced Richard.

It was 1 :00 AM. when the police raided the little apartment and placed Richard under arrest. As they handcuffed him, Richard said, "I won't leave here peacefully unless you allow me a few minutes to embrace my wife." The police reluctantly agreed. They would have their way soon enough. The couple held each other, prayed, and sang with such emotion that even the captain was moved. Finally they escorted him out to a police van with Richard’s wife tearfully running after them.

Richard turned and called out his last words before disappearing for many years, "Give all my love to our son and the pastor who denounced me."

EXTREME BETRAYAL REQUIRES EXTREME FORGIVENESS.

Day by Day: by Andrew Murray

Yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:16

There is one lesson that all young Christians should learn, and that is the absolute necessity of fellowship with Jesus each day. This lesson is not always taught at the beginning of the Christian life, nor does the new convert always understand it. He should realize that the grace he has received—the forgiveness of his sins, his acceptance as God’s child, his joy in the Holy Spirit—can only be preserved by daily renewal in fellowship with Jesus Christ Himself.

Many Christians backslide because this truth is not clearly taught. They are unable to stand against the temptations of the world and of their old nature. They strive to do their best to fight against sin and to serve God, but they have no strength. They have never really grasped the secret that the Lord Jesus in heaven will continue His work in them every day, but only on one condition: every soul must give Him time each day to impart His love and His grace. Time alone with the Lord Jesus each day is the indispensable condition of growth and power.

Read Matthew 11:25–30. Christ says, “Come unto Me…and I will give you rest…learn of Me…and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (verses 28–29). The Lord will teach us just how meek and humble He is. Bow before Him, tell Him that you long for Him and His love, and He will let His love rest on you. This is a thought not only for new Christians, but also for all who love the Lord.

If you desire to live this life of fellowship with Christ, if you wish to enjoy this blessed experience each day, then learn the lesson of spending time each day, without exception, in fellowship with your Lord. In this way, your inner man will be renewed from day to day.

Count the COST: by CS Lewis

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13

William Law, in his terrible, cool voice, said,… ‘If you have not chosen the Kingdom of God, it will make in the end no difference what you have chosen instead.’ Those are hard words to take. Will it really make no difference whether it was women or patriotism, cocaine or art, whisky or a seat in the Cabinet, money or science? Well, surely no difference that matters. We shall have missed the end for which we are formed and rejected the only thing that satisfies. Does it matter to a man dying in a desert by which choice of route he missed the only well?

It is a remarkable fact that on this subject Heaven and Hell speak with one voice. The tempter tells me, ‘Take care. Think how much this good resolve, the acceptance of the Grace, is going to cost.’ But Our Lord equally tells us to count the cost. Even in human affairs great importance is attached to the agreement of those whose testimony hardly ever agrees. Here, more. Between them it would seem to be pretty clear that paddling is of little consequence. What matters, what Heaven desires and Hell fears, is precisely that further step, out of our depth, out of our control.

What is Spiritual Growth? by TA Sparks

He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

What is spiritual growth? What is spiritual maturity? What is it to go on in the Lord? I fear we have got mixed ideas about this. Many think that spiritual maturity is a more comprehensive knowledge of Christian doctrine, a larger grasp of scriptural truth, a wider expanse of the knowledge of the things of God; and many such features are recorded as marks of growth, development, and spiritual maturity. Beloved, it is nothing of the kind.

The hallmark of true spiritual development and maturity is this: that we have grown so much less and the Lord Jesus has grown so much more. The mature soul is one who is small in his or her own eyes, but in whose eyes the Lord Jesus is great. That is growth. We may know a very great deal, have a wonderful grasp of doctrine, of teaching, of truth, even of the Scriptures, and yet be spiritually very small, very immature, very childish. (There is all the difference between being childish and child-like.) Real spiritual growth is just this: I decrease, He increases. It is the Lord Jesus becoming more. You can test spiritual growth by that.

Restoration: by Watchman Nee

“And I will restore to you the years that the locust have eaten.” Joel 2:25

Do our hearts ache over the years we have foolishly squandered? Then let us thank God for the comfort of knowing His power to restore them. “Alas,” we lament, “our best years have been devoured by the locusts. They are lost now never to be regained. What shall we do?” The answer is, “Nothing!” It is God who will restore those years. As to the time wasted, a lost decade of ours may have been worth no more than one day in God’s eyes; but if hereafter we redeem the time by using it for God, then one day may become equal in value to 1,000 years.

For the day on earth is not clocked in heaven on the basis of twenty-four hours. Instead, God has His own moral scale of computation. If our service is according to His will, let us take courage. Who can tell what a single hour may count for in His sight?

Revelation 21:5“And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, 'Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.

Forward: by Watchman Nee

Philippians 3:13, 14 Forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, I press on.”

Because God acts in history, the flow of the Spirit is ever onward. We who are on earth today have inherited vast wealth through servants of Jesus Christ who have already made their contribution to the Church. We cannot overestimate the greatness of our heritage, nor can we be sufficiently grateful to God for it. But if today you try to be a Luther or a Wesley, you will miss your destiny. You will fall short of the purpose of God for this generation, for you will be moving backwards while the tide of the Spirit is flowing onwards. The whole trend of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is a forward trend.

God’s acts are ever new. To hold on to the past, wanting God to move as he has formerly done, is to risk finding yourself out of the mainstream of his goings. The flow of divine activity sweeps on from generation to generation, and in our own time it is still uninterrupted, still steadily progressive.

Resolutions: by Henry Blackaby

So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” John 21:15

Jesus has a wonderful way of restoring us when we fail Him! He does not humiliate us. He does not criticize us. He does not ask us to make a resolution to try harder. Rather, He takes us aside and asks us to reaffirm our love for Him.

Peter miserably failed his Lord when he fled with the other disciples from the Garden of Gethsemane. Later, he publicly denied that he even knew Jesus. Peter must have wondered if he had been capable of being Jesus’ disciple when he was unfaithful to Jesus in His most crucial hour.

As you begin a new year, you may be painfully aware that you have failed your Lord in many ways. Perhaps you were not faithful. Perhaps you disobeyed His word to you. Perhaps you denied Him by the way you lived. Jesus will take you aside, as He did Peter. He will not berate you. He will not humiliate you. He will ask you to examine your love for Him. He asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” If your answer, like Peter’s, is “Yes, Lord,” He will reaffirm His will for you. If you truly love Him, you will obey Him (John 14:15). Jesus does not need your resolutions, your recommitments, or your promises to try harder this year. If your resolve to obey God last year did not help you to be faithful, it will not make you successful this year. Jesus asks for your love. If you truly love Him, your service for Him in the new year will be of the quality that He desires.

Out with the Old… In with the New: by Sarah Young

Isaiah 43:18–19 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! As you begin a fresh year, rejoice that I am continually working newness into your life. Don’t let recent disappointments and failures define you or dampen your expectations. This is the time to make a fresh start! I am a God of unlimited creativity; expect Me to do surprising things in this year that stretches out before you.

Today is a precious gift. The present moment is where I meet with you, beloved. So seek My Face throughout this day that I have made. I have carefully prepared it for you—with tender attention to every detail. I want you to rejoice and be glad in it.

Search for signs of My loving Presence as you journey along the path of Life. Look for the little pleasures I have strewn alongside your pathway—sometimes in surprising places—and thank Me for each one. Your thankfulness will keep you close to Me and help you find Joy in your journey.

Psalm 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.