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.