"Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, "Samuel! Samuel!" and Samuel answered, "Speak, for Your servant hears" (1 Samuel 3:10)
Our desire to walk by faith, stepping solely within the will of God for our lives, begins with a desire to hear what He is saying. When we have no idea where God is leading us or what He wants to change in our hearts, listening is the first and most crucial component to a greater faith.
Samuel was a young boy when he first heard God speak to him. The first sounds of God's voice were difficult for him to discern. Yet through some gentle guidance from Eli, Samuel's faith began to blossom. Listening for God's voice became a pattern for Samuel's life. Countless times throughout his leadership in Israel he heard and obeyed the voice of the Lord.
As we deepen our relationship with the Lord, we can improve our hearing in relation to God's voice through the following:
Meditate upon God's Word. If we know the Word of God already spoken, discerning His voice clearly will be easier.
Establish a time to listen to God. Our prayers become more effective when we are willing to hear God's heart.
Expect God to speak. If we don't believe that God does and desires to communicate to us today, we won't be as inclined to listen. However, when we do believe the truth - that He does want to speak to us - we hear Him loud and clear.
Lord, open my heart to discern Your voice. Give me the discipline to listen for You and the faith to believe You want to speak to me. Amen
~Charles Stanley~
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Faith - Not Emotion
"We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7)
For a while, we are fully aware of God's concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.
If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to "walk by faith." How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, "I cannot do anything else until God appears to me"? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, "Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!" Never live for those exceptional moments - they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life - our work is our standard.
~Oswald Chambers~
For a while, we are fully aware of God's concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.
If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to "walk by faith." How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, "I cannot do anything else until God appears to me"? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, "Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!" Never live for those exceptional moments - they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life - our work is our standard.
~Oswald Chambers~
Monday, November 19, 2012
"If Anyone Has an Ear, Let Him Hear" # 9
"And When the Day of Pentecost Was Fully Come"
Furthermore, Christ is saying, "I AM the Living Bread," I AM the Bread that endureth, which means: I, the Christ, will sustain your Lives before the Lord forevermore. Notice that John 6:47 tells us, "He that believeth hath everlasting Life"; and John 6:51 states that, "If anyone shall eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever." So in these two Scriptures, we find that we not only have Everlasting [Eternal] Life, but if we eat (partake) of Him Who is the Bread of Life we shall live forever, we shall have age-abiding Life. The Emphasized Bible puts it this way: "If one eat of this Bread, he shall live unto times age-abiding." Beloved, Jesus Christ is the Living Bread, and as we partake of Him, He alone will sustain our lives before the Lord God both now, and forevermore - through Christ, we shall live breath by breath, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, year after year, age after age - for in Him we have age-abiding, everlasting Eternal Life.
Now, what was the reaction of the people to these Words of Life spoken by our Lord? First of all, we are told that the Jews murmured at Him, complained discontentedly among themselves, because He said, "I AM the Bread Which came down from Heaven." In the Gospel of John, the phrase, "the Jews" is usually used of those who were in active opposition against the Lord, and who rejected Him as the Messiah; usually, they were the religious and political leaders, or someone who represented them (John 1:19-24). So among the people who sought Jesus, because He fed the 5,000, were a group of "the Jews". And when Jesus said, I AM the Bread Which came down from Heaven, "the Jews" knew He was saying that He was the Son of God, they knew He was saying that He was the I AM, the One Who had spoken t Moses, they knew He was saying that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And they thought that He, Who was only the son of Joseph in their eyes, was surely a blasphemer.
But the Lord Jesus Christ was saying much more than their limited idea of God and His Christ; Jesus was saying that He Was, and Is, and Ever-Shall-Be the I AM spoken of in Exodus 3:14 when God told Moses His Eternal Name: "And God said unto Moses, 'I AM that I AM.' ". The I AM is the Name that describes the Eternal-Self-Existence of God. It is the Name that speaks of the uninterrupted, boundless, Endurance and Everlastingness of the Eternal God. It is the name that reveals that in God there is no limitation of Himself in Fullness. Thus, in speaking of Himself as the I AM, the Lord Jesus Christ is revealing that He is the Fullness of God, and that there is no Limitation and no Ending of His Fullness (Col. 1:19; 2:9). And John tells all of us who are believers: "of His fullness we have all received" (John 1:16).
So when Christ proclaimed: "I AM the Bread of Life," He was saying that He Was, and Is, and Ever-Shall-Be the ALL, and in ALL to those who believe in Him. In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus Christ, THE I AM, says of Himself:
I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51);
I AM the Light of the world (John 8:12);
I AM the Door of the sheep (John 10:7);
I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11);
I AM the Resurrection, and the Life (John 11:25);
I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6);
I AM the True Vine (John 15:1).
So the Jews began to complain when Jesus said, "I AM the Bread Which came down from heaven" (v. 41), because they knew that He was saying He was THE I AM. Then they really got upset, and began to contend with one another when Jesus said: "If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Then Jesus spoke the Words that would divide asunder this company that had sought Him out. He spoke the Words that could only be laid hold of by faith by those who are willing to follow Him "Whithersoever He goest.." He spoke the Words that can only be comprehended by those that "hath an ear to hear what the Spirit saith."
"Then Jesus said unto them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me and I in Him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that Bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever.' "
And, so again, Jesus was announcing that He was the Feast of the Lord. He was saying that old things had passed away, and the only way the people of God could please the Lord is to partake of Him, which meant they were to take Him as their ALL.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 10)
Furthermore, Christ is saying, "I AM the Living Bread," I AM the Bread that endureth, which means: I, the Christ, will sustain your Lives before the Lord forevermore. Notice that John 6:47 tells us, "He that believeth hath everlasting Life"; and John 6:51 states that, "If anyone shall eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever." So in these two Scriptures, we find that we not only have Everlasting [Eternal] Life, but if we eat (partake) of Him Who is the Bread of Life we shall live forever, we shall have age-abiding Life. The Emphasized Bible puts it this way: "If one eat of this Bread, he shall live unto times age-abiding." Beloved, Jesus Christ is the Living Bread, and as we partake of Him, He alone will sustain our lives before the Lord God both now, and forevermore - through Christ, we shall live breath by breath, moment by moment, hour by hour, day by day, year after year, age after age - for in Him we have age-abiding, everlasting Eternal Life.
Now, what was the reaction of the people to these Words of Life spoken by our Lord? First of all, we are told that the Jews murmured at Him, complained discontentedly among themselves, because He said, "I AM the Bread Which came down from Heaven." In the Gospel of John, the phrase, "the Jews" is usually used of those who were in active opposition against the Lord, and who rejected Him as the Messiah; usually, they were the religious and political leaders, or someone who represented them (John 1:19-24). So among the people who sought Jesus, because He fed the 5,000, were a group of "the Jews". And when Jesus said, I AM the Bread Which came down from Heaven, "the Jews" knew He was saying that He was the Son of God, they knew He was saying that He was the I AM, the One Who had spoken t Moses, they knew He was saying that he was the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And they thought that He, Who was only the son of Joseph in their eyes, was surely a blasphemer.
But the Lord Jesus Christ was saying much more than their limited idea of God and His Christ; Jesus was saying that He Was, and Is, and Ever-Shall-Be the I AM spoken of in Exodus 3:14 when God told Moses His Eternal Name: "And God said unto Moses, 'I AM that I AM.' ". The I AM is the Name that describes the Eternal-Self-Existence of God. It is the Name that speaks of the uninterrupted, boundless, Endurance and Everlastingness of the Eternal God. It is the name that reveals that in God there is no limitation of Himself in Fullness. Thus, in speaking of Himself as the I AM, the Lord Jesus Christ is revealing that He is the Fullness of God, and that there is no Limitation and no Ending of His Fullness (Col. 1:19; 2:9). And John tells all of us who are believers: "of His fullness we have all received" (John 1:16).
So when Christ proclaimed: "I AM the Bread of Life," He was saying that He Was, and Is, and Ever-Shall-Be the ALL, and in ALL to those who believe in Him. In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus Christ, THE I AM, says of Himself:
I AM the Bread of Life (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51);
I AM the Light of the world (John 8:12);
I AM the Door of the sheep (John 10:7);
I AM the Good Shepherd (John 10:11);
I AM the Resurrection, and the Life (John 11:25);
I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6);
I AM the True Vine (John 15:1).
So the Jews began to complain when Jesus said, "I AM the Bread Which came down from heaven" (v. 41), because they knew that He was saying He was THE I AM. Then they really got upset, and began to contend with one another when Jesus said: "If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world." Then Jesus spoke the Words that would divide asunder this company that had sought Him out. He spoke the Words that could only be laid hold of by faith by those who are willing to follow Him "Whithersoever He goest.." He spoke the Words that can only be comprehended by those that "hath an ear to hear what the Spirit saith."
"Then Jesus said unto them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me and I in Him. As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that Bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever.' "
And, so again, Jesus was announcing that He was the Feast of the Lord. He was saying that old things had passed away, and the only way the people of God could please the Lord is to partake of Him, which meant they were to take Him as their ALL.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 10)
Expect Changes
Psalm 23:1-6
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" (v. 1). That must be one of the most familiar quotations from the Old Testament. Everybody has some kind of shepherd. Jeremiah said, "It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). We are like lost sheep, not able to guide our own lives. We need a shepherd. Who is your shepherd?
When the Lord is your Shepherd, what will happen in your life? First, you live a day at a time. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (v. 6). Psalm 23 talks about all the days of our lives, and they are lived one day at a time when the Lord is our Shepherd. Someone has said that the average person is being crucified between two thieves - the regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow. Consequently, he can't enjoy today.
Second, when the Lord is your Shepherd, you "listen to His voice." In John 10:27 the Lord Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice." The Shepherd does not drive His sheep from behind. Rather, He calls them from ahead. How do we listen to the Lord's voice? Through the Word of God and from the leadings of the Holy Spirit within.
Third, when the Lord is your Shepherd, you "must expect changes." You may have green pastures and still waters. Then you go through the valley of the shadow of death. You have a table in the presence of your enemies. Then you live in the house of the Lord (heaven) forever. You will experience changes in life. Expect them; don't be afraid of them.
When you follow the Shepherd, the future is your friend, because the Lord is going before you. Live one day at a time, following the Shepherd, and you won't have to be afraid.
Some people fail to adapt to life's inevitable changes. As a believer, you need never fear the future. Trust the Shepherd, who goes before you, and listen to His Word. Commit this day to the Lord and thank Him for His guidance.
~Warren W. Wiersbe~
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" (v. 1). That must be one of the most familiar quotations from the Old Testament. Everybody has some kind of shepherd. Jeremiah said, "It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps" (Jeremiah 10:23). We are like lost sheep, not able to guide our own lives. We need a shepherd. Who is your shepherd?
When the Lord is your Shepherd, what will happen in your life? First, you live a day at a time. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" (v. 6). Psalm 23 talks about all the days of our lives, and they are lived one day at a time when the Lord is our Shepherd. Someone has said that the average person is being crucified between two thieves - the regrets of yesterday and the worries of tomorrow. Consequently, he can't enjoy today.
Second, when the Lord is your Shepherd, you "listen to His voice." In John 10:27 the Lord Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice." The Shepherd does not drive His sheep from behind. Rather, He calls them from ahead. How do we listen to the Lord's voice? Through the Word of God and from the leadings of the Holy Spirit within.
Third, when the Lord is your Shepherd, you "must expect changes." You may have green pastures and still waters. Then you go through the valley of the shadow of death. You have a table in the presence of your enemies. Then you live in the house of the Lord (heaven) forever. You will experience changes in life. Expect them; don't be afraid of them.
When you follow the Shepherd, the future is your friend, because the Lord is going before you. Live one day at a time, following the Shepherd, and you won't have to be afraid.
Some people fail to adapt to life's inevitable changes. As a believer, you need never fear the future. Trust the Shepherd, who goes before you, and listen to His Word. Commit this day to the Lord and thank Him for His guidance.
~Warren W. Wiersbe~
Sunday, November 18, 2012
"If Anyone Has An Ear, Let Him Hear" # 8
Now, it was during the season of the Passover that the Feast of Unleavened Bread was also kept; and in John six, we find our Lord Jesus revealing further the true meaning and reality of these Feasts of the Lord as He miraculously feeds the 5,000. Each of the Gospels records this important incident: Matthew tells us that, "Jesus ... saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and He healed their sick" (14:14); Luke tells us that, "He received them and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing" (9:11); Mark tells us, "And Jesus, when He came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things" (6;34). John tells us that it was the Passover season, and only in John do we find the full meaning of the feeding of the 5,000.
So, "When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, 'Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?' And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do" (John 6:5, 6). Jesus knew what he would do, for He knew what was in the hearts of men. He knew that this great company that was coming unto Him was not only hungry physically, but He knew that in their hearts, they were starving spiritually. He also knew that these 5,000 men that were coming unto Him were, by decree of the Law of God (Ex. 23:14-17), on their way, or soon would be on their way, to Jerusalem to the Feast of Passover and to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For God's Law decreed that "three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God." They were to appear at the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, and at the Feast of Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. This is why John six numbers the men, and not the women and children.
Yes, Jesus "knew what He would do," for He knew that the "feasts of the Jews", held at the temple in Jerusalem, would not sustain the people's lives "before the Lord God." Jesus was about to announce that the Law of God had been fulfilled: - the Law which had brought these Passover pilgrims three times a year before the Lord their God had been fulfilled. He knew that the "time had come, and now is" that He alone could sustain their lives before God. And, now, all who would "come unto Him" - both men, women and children - would partake of Him Who is the Bread of Life.
So Jesus fed the 5,000. Consequently, when the men who had seen the miracle realized that Jesus could meet their natural and material needs, they wanted to make Him a king, by force if necessary. But Jesus perceived their intent and departed, because He was not to be a king in the old creation. No! He was the True Bread from Heaven! He was the Eternal Life and the Life Sustainer of the New Creation!
Then the people began to look for the Lord Jesus, and when they found Him the next day, He said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loves, and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting Life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:26, 27).
"Then the people asked Him, 'What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?' And Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent" (John 6:28-35). In other words, the Lord was saying, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
Then, even though they had witnessed the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, they asked Him to give them a sign that they might see and believe; and with the feeding of the 5,000 filling their thoughts, they also spoke of the manna their fathers had eaten in the wilderness, "As it is written, 'He gave them Bread from Heaven to eat' " (John 6:31; Psalm 78:24). Many of the Jews believed that Moses was a redeemer and that he had caused the manna to rain down from heaven. And it was also their belief that the Messiah to come would cause manna to come down from heaven. They were looking for a Messiah who would satisfy their earthly needs and desires.
Again, Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and He said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; [no, that manna came from God, and His next words brings them right to the present time] but My Father giveth (present tense) you the True Bread from heaven. For the Bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth Life unto the world." Then said they unto Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread" (John 6:32-34).
"And Jesus said unto them, 'I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst' ... 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting Life.' I AM the Bread of Life." (John 6:35, 47, 48).
With these words, the Lord Jesus Christ proclaims the principle of Life in the New Creation; for as the Bread of Life, He gives Eternal Life to the believer - Life in the present, and Life in the future, and Life forevermore. And we receive this Gift of Eternal Life because He gave His Life upon the Cross; for as the Bread of Life, Christ is saying of Himself, "I AM the Living Bread which came down from Heaven: 'If any man eat of this Bread, he
shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 9)
So, "When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw a great company come unto Him, He saith unto Philip, 'Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?' And this He said to prove him: for He Himself knew what He would do" (John 6:5, 6). Jesus knew what he would do, for He knew what was in the hearts of men. He knew that this great company that was coming unto Him was not only hungry physically, but He knew that in their hearts, they were starving spiritually. He also knew that these 5,000 men that were coming unto Him were, by decree of the Law of God (Ex. 23:14-17), on their way, or soon would be on their way, to Jerusalem to the Feast of Passover and to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For God's Law decreed that "three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God." They were to appear at the Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, and at the Feast of Pentecost, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. This is why John six numbers the men, and not the women and children.
Yes, Jesus "knew what He would do," for He knew that the "feasts of the Jews", held at the temple in Jerusalem, would not sustain the people's lives "before the Lord God." Jesus was about to announce that the Law of God had been fulfilled: - the Law which had brought these Passover pilgrims three times a year before the Lord their God had been fulfilled. He knew that the "time had come, and now is" that He alone could sustain their lives before God. And, now, all who would "come unto Him" - both men, women and children - would partake of Him Who is the Bread of Life.
So Jesus fed the 5,000. Consequently, when the men who had seen the miracle realized that Jesus could meet their natural and material needs, they wanted to make Him a king, by force if necessary. But Jesus perceived their intent and departed, because He was not to be a king in the old creation. No! He was the True Bread from Heaven! He was the Eternal Life and the Life Sustainer of the New Creation!
Then the people began to look for the Lord Jesus, and when they found Him the next day, He said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loves, and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting Life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you: for Him hath God the Father sealed" (John 6:26, 27).
"Then the people asked Him, 'What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?' And Jesus answered and said unto them, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent" (John 6:28-35). In other words, the Lord was saying, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the Gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
Then, even though they had witnessed the miraculous feeding of the 5,000, they asked Him to give them a sign that they might see and believe; and with the feeding of the 5,000 filling their thoughts, they also spoke of the manna their fathers had eaten in the wilderness, "As it is written, 'He gave them Bread from Heaven to eat' " (John 6:31; Psalm 78:24). Many of the Jews believed that Moses was a redeemer and that he had caused the manna to rain down from heaven. And it was also their belief that the Messiah to come would cause manna to come down from heaven. They were looking for a Messiah who would satisfy their earthly needs and desires.
Again, Jesus knew what was in their hearts, and He said unto them, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; [no, that manna came from God, and His next words brings them right to the present time] but My Father giveth (present tense) you the True Bread from heaven. For the Bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth Life unto the world." Then said they unto Him, "Lord, evermore give us this bread" (John 6:32-34).
"And Jesus said unto them, 'I am the Bread of Life: he that cometh to Me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst' ... 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting Life.' I AM the Bread of Life." (John 6:35, 47, 48).
With these words, the Lord Jesus Christ proclaims the principle of Life in the New Creation; for as the Bread of Life, He gives Eternal Life to the believer - Life in the present, and Life in the future, and Life forevermore. And we receive this Gift of Eternal Life because He gave His Life upon the Cross; for as the Bread of Life, Christ is saying of Himself, "I AM the Living Bread which came down from Heaven: 'If any man eat of this Bread, he
shall live for ever: and the Bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world" (John 6:51
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 9)
God Is At the Controls
"And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31)
I do not know why God does some things, but I am convinced that nothing is accidental in His universe. In the creation chapters of Genesis there is a beautiful exercise in utility - God making an orderly world for a purpose, with everything having a reason for existence.
If I am allowed to go into a hospital operating room, I am completely ignorant about the uses for most of the strange and complex facilities. But the surgeon knows each one and none of those is there by accident.
If I could step into the cab of one of the great, powerful diesel locomotives, I would be perplexed by the many buttons and handles and bars. I could wreck the whole thing in a few minutes. But the engineer knows - and he gets the proper results when he pushes the proper switches and the right buttons.
So, when God Almighty stepped into the cab of His locomotive, which we call the cosmos, He was at the controls and He has always pushed the right buttons.
Just because there are things in the universe beyond my human explanation does not allow me to accuse God of making a lot of unnecessary truck to clutter up the universe. God mad everything for some purpose!
~A. W. Tozer~
I do not know why God does some things, but I am convinced that nothing is accidental in His universe. In the creation chapters of Genesis there is a beautiful exercise in utility - God making an orderly world for a purpose, with everything having a reason for existence.
If I am allowed to go into a hospital operating room, I am completely ignorant about the uses for most of the strange and complex facilities. But the surgeon knows each one and none of those is there by accident.
If I could step into the cab of one of the great, powerful diesel locomotives, I would be perplexed by the many buttons and handles and bars. I could wreck the whole thing in a few minutes. But the engineer knows - and he gets the proper results when he pushes the proper switches and the right buttons.
So, when God Almighty stepped into the cab of His locomotive, which we call the cosmos, He was at the controls and He has always pushed the right buttons.
Just because there are things in the universe beyond my human explanation does not allow me to accuse God of making a lot of unnecessary truck to clutter up the universe. God mad everything for some purpose!
~A. W. Tozer~
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Why Don't They Stir Themselves?
America cannot fall - because she is already fallen! This goes for Britain, too. She cannot go into slavery - because her people are fettered at the moment in the chains of self-forged, self-chosen moral anarchy. Here are millions, diseased morally, with no longing for healing. Here are men paying for shadows at the price of their immortal souls, men who not only reject the Substance, but who openly sneer at and caricature it.
An unprecedented tidal wave of commandment-breaking, God-defying, soul-destroying iniquity sweeps the ocean of human affairs. Never before have men in the masses sold their souls to the devil at such bargain prices. "There is none ... that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee" (Isaiah 64:7). What hell-born mesmerism holds them? How does the spell bind? Who brainwashed them? Why don't they wake and stir themselves?
Directed by the devil, the world has given a new injection to the flesh. One of the signs of "the last days" is that men are lovers of pleasures." (Note that it is in the plural). And where is hell's broth stewed? In the breweries of the world. It is a lame argument that in some cased subsidies are granted to help the breweries keep men employed. Breweries are maternity clinics that breed men-slayers operating with guns, and men driving on the highways while drunken. Courts deal with the fruit of liquor; revival would slay this deadly tree at the roots.
The mad merry-go-round of sensuality is filled with millions awaiting their turn for initiation into iniquity. When wrong is so sweet a morsel, the sin-soaked, sex-slain youth could not care less about doing right. One crowded hour of glorious "life" - so they argue - is worth a gamble on the speculation of the theologians so-called "eternity."
Look for one bitter moment. Could anything be less intelligent and unmanly than a drinking match? The prize winner is the last man still standing on his feet when all others, grunting like hogs, have fallen to the floor, unconscious in drink. This is a sport not of stone-age men of the Baliem Valley, but of the new intellectuals, satiated in body, stained in soul, and recklessly abandoned to iniquity!
Loaded with lechery, gutted with gambling, damned in drink, such men (who are adult in body, but moral imbeciles) whine out Lord Byron's lament:
"I now have ashes where once I had fire,
The soul of my body is dead;
The thing I once loved, I now merely admire,
My heart is as gray as my head."
If the Church had something vital and victorious to offer, these men who choose golf clubs by day and night clubs by night might be drawn from these fleshpots.
Since in their freedom men will not heed God, will He have to enslave to Communism the mighty millions of America that they might have time to remember His day, His way, and His Son? Better to die bound in body and free in spirit than free in body and bound in soul!
We stand aghast when we see fine men magnetized by science, but mystified by the Christian religion. When these have forsaken faith, they feed on films and football. In the light of "a thousand years being as one day," it has taken science a matter of mere seconds to bring us from the chuck wagon to the station-wagon, and from the covered-wagon to the Sputnik.
But after admitting that science does hold and attract when it drills a hole two miles deep into the earth for oil, and if there is none, does the same thing in the sea - let us seriously consider that science has diabolic and deadly forms too - even lobotomization!
Keeping lobotomized millions in mind, meditate on this from the pen of famed Bertrand Russell, whose "Principles of Logic" has made him the uncrowned king of modern philosophers: "Man now needs for his salvation only one thing: to open his heart to joy, and leave fear to gibber through the glimmering darkness of a forgotten past. He must lift up his eyes and say? "No, I am not a miserable sinner; I am a being who, by a long and arduous road, has discovered how to ... master natural obstacles, how to live in freedom and joy, at peace with myself and, therefore, with all mankind."
Would it be hard to persuade yourself that this "false prophet" of peace is dedicated to deception, consciously or otherwise? The same Bertrand Russel has trouble in trying to accept the incarnation. But would the relatives of the massacred Hungarians think his message a gospel of hope?
This is an hour in need of burning hearts, bursting lips, and brimming eyes! If we were a tenth as spiritual as we think we are, our streets would be filled each Sunday with throngs of believers marching to Zion - with sacks on the bodies and ashes on the shaking heads, shaking at the calamity that has brought the Church to be the unlovely unnerved, unproductive thing that she is!
If we wept as much in the prayer closet as devout Jews have done at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, we would now be enjoying a prevailing, purging revival! If we would return to apostolic practice - waiting upon the Lord for apostolic power - we could then go forth to apostolic possibilities! This is the hour when we are asked over and over again, "Is everybody happy?" God's purpose for us is not happiness, but HOLINESS! Soberness has given way to silliness, even though Paul in writing to Titus warns both young and old, "Be sober."
We surely need again to climb Calvary's hill on our knees, to survey the wondrous Cross in an attitude of humiliation and adoration. The Church must first repent; then the "world" will break! The Church must first weep; then our altars will be filled with weeping penitents.
At the very pinnacle of his power, William James, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, was struck down by a mysterious malady. His nerves were upset. He had insomnia and deep depression, but knew no cure for himself. He dashed off to Europe. Would Berlin have the answer? No door of hope opened. What about Vienna? The same answer. Might not Paris shelter a cure? But the panacea was not there.
Despair was heightening. London was near, but his call was but an echo. Scotland had eminent sons in this field. But there was no balm in this Gilead either. Back to America he came, the thought of suicide dancing in his brain. At last a man of prayer and of great faith for healing was recommended. Faith healing was anathema to William James, the distinguished philosopher and famed psychologist. His acute mind and mental training strongly protested against going this way. But needs must. James went. The simple, unlettered man of God put his humble hands on William James' head, who later said, "I felt a mysterious energy thrilling and tingling through my body which was followed by a sense of peace. "I knew I was healed!" To cure the raging ills of this maddened world, the "Abana of Science" and the "Pharpar of Politics" are more attractive to our stubborn wills and warped intellects than the wondrous Cross. But for mankind to be made whole, we shall have to be as humble as William James was by getting back to the Cross of Jesus and its life-giving stream.
~Leonard Ravenhill~
An unprecedented tidal wave of commandment-breaking, God-defying, soul-destroying iniquity sweeps the ocean of human affairs. Never before have men in the masses sold their souls to the devil at such bargain prices. "There is none ... that stirreth up himself to take hold of Thee" (Isaiah 64:7). What hell-born mesmerism holds them? How does the spell bind? Who brainwashed them? Why don't they wake and stir themselves?
Directed by the devil, the world has given a new injection to the flesh. One of the signs of "the last days" is that men are lovers of pleasures." (Note that it is in the plural). And where is hell's broth stewed? In the breweries of the world. It is a lame argument that in some cased subsidies are granted to help the breweries keep men employed. Breweries are maternity clinics that breed men-slayers operating with guns, and men driving on the highways while drunken. Courts deal with the fruit of liquor; revival would slay this deadly tree at the roots.
The mad merry-go-round of sensuality is filled with millions awaiting their turn for initiation into iniquity. When wrong is so sweet a morsel, the sin-soaked, sex-slain youth could not care less about doing right. One crowded hour of glorious "life" - so they argue - is worth a gamble on the speculation of the theologians so-called "eternity."
Look for one bitter moment. Could anything be less intelligent and unmanly than a drinking match? The prize winner is the last man still standing on his feet when all others, grunting like hogs, have fallen to the floor, unconscious in drink. This is a sport not of stone-age men of the Baliem Valley, but of the new intellectuals, satiated in body, stained in soul, and recklessly abandoned to iniquity!
Loaded with lechery, gutted with gambling, damned in drink, such men (who are adult in body, but moral imbeciles) whine out Lord Byron's lament:
"I now have ashes where once I had fire,
The soul of my body is dead;
The thing I once loved, I now merely admire,
My heart is as gray as my head."
If the Church had something vital and victorious to offer, these men who choose golf clubs by day and night clubs by night might be drawn from these fleshpots.
Since in their freedom men will not heed God, will He have to enslave to Communism the mighty millions of America that they might have time to remember His day, His way, and His Son? Better to die bound in body and free in spirit than free in body and bound in soul!
We stand aghast when we see fine men magnetized by science, but mystified by the Christian religion. When these have forsaken faith, they feed on films and football. In the light of "a thousand years being as one day," it has taken science a matter of mere seconds to bring us from the chuck wagon to the station-wagon, and from the covered-wagon to the Sputnik.
But after admitting that science does hold and attract when it drills a hole two miles deep into the earth for oil, and if there is none, does the same thing in the sea - let us seriously consider that science has diabolic and deadly forms too - even lobotomization!
Keeping lobotomized millions in mind, meditate on this from the pen of famed Bertrand Russell, whose "Principles of Logic" has made him the uncrowned king of modern philosophers: "Man now needs for his salvation only one thing: to open his heart to joy, and leave fear to gibber through the glimmering darkness of a forgotten past. He must lift up his eyes and say? "No, I am not a miserable sinner; I am a being who, by a long and arduous road, has discovered how to ... master natural obstacles, how to live in freedom and joy, at peace with myself and, therefore, with all mankind."
Would it be hard to persuade yourself that this "false prophet" of peace is dedicated to deception, consciously or otherwise? The same Bertrand Russel has trouble in trying to accept the incarnation. But would the relatives of the massacred Hungarians think his message a gospel of hope?
This is an hour in need of burning hearts, bursting lips, and brimming eyes! If we were a tenth as spiritual as we think we are, our streets would be filled each Sunday with throngs of believers marching to Zion - with sacks on the bodies and ashes on the shaking heads, shaking at the calamity that has brought the Church to be the unlovely unnerved, unproductive thing that she is!
If we wept as much in the prayer closet as devout Jews have done at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, we would now be enjoying a prevailing, purging revival! If we would return to apostolic practice - waiting upon the Lord for apostolic power - we could then go forth to apostolic possibilities! This is the hour when we are asked over and over again, "Is everybody happy?" God's purpose for us is not happiness, but HOLINESS! Soberness has given way to silliness, even though Paul in writing to Titus warns both young and old, "Be sober."
We surely need again to climb Calvary's hill on our knees, to survey the wondrous Cross in an attitude of humiliation and adoration. The Church must first repent; then the "world" will break! The Church must first weep; then our altars will be filled with weeping penitents.
At the very pinnacle of his power, William James, a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University, was struck down by a mysterious malady. His nerves were upset. He had insomnia and deep depression, but knew no cure for himself. He dashed off to Europe. Would Berlin have the answer? No door of hope opened. What about Vienna? The same answer. Might not Paris shelter a cure? But the panacea was not there.
Despair was heightening. London was near, but his call was but an echo. Scotland had eminent sons in this field. But there was no balm in this Gilead either. Back to America he came, the thought of suicide dancing in his brain. At last a man of prayer and of great faith for healing was recommended. Faith healing was anathema to William James, the distinguished philosopher and famed psychologist. His acute mind and mental training strongly protested against going this way. But needs must. James went. The simple, unlettered man of God put his humble hands on William James' head, who later said, "I felt a mysterious energy thrilling and tingling through my body which was followed by a sense of peace. "I knew I was healed!" To cure the raging ills of this maddened world, the "Abana of Science" and the "Pharpar of Politics" are more attractive to our stubborn wills and warped intellects than the wondrous Cross. But for mankind to be made whole, we shall have to be as humble as William James was by getting back to the Cross of Jesus and its life-giving stream.
~Leonard Ravenhill~
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