Favorite Pastor Quotes 2

Favorite Pastor Quotes 2

Our Heavenly Father's Unconditional Love

Romans 5:6-11

Scripture tells us that love is the very essence of who God is (1 John 4:7). So if you don't believe that He loves you unconditionally, you'll never really know Him or have genuine peace about your relationship with Him.

How do you define "love"? It is Jesus unselfishly reaching out to mankind, giving Himself to us and bringing good into our life regardless of whether or not we accept Him. Romans 5:8 tells us that His care and concern are so immeasurable that He laid down His life for us while we were still His enemies. In fact, the Bible says that He first began to express His love toward us before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:3-5). That means your actions had absolutely nothing to do with His love for you!

God's commitment to us has absolutely no conditions or restrictions and isn't based on whether we love Him back. Nor does He have more love for "good" people who may strike us as more worthy. He loves us even in our sin, even when we don't repent. Does that give us license to disobey? No. It gives us power to live holy lives, walk obediently with Him, and learn to love Him the way He deserves. To follow Him is to receive the love He has been offering all along.

Every single moment, whether awake or asleep, we all live under the canopy of the Lord's wondrous, absolute love for us. But to fully experience that love, you must receive it. Say yes to this amazing gift that God wants to pour out on you. Bask in it, and let it overflow to those around you.

~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~

__________________________________

Rich Blessings

Let me ask you a question.  Do you believe God wants to bless you?  You may say, "Yes," but in your heart do you really believe this to be true?

Take a moment to read Ezekiel 34:26,

"...I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing."

I believe the Bible teaches us that just like there are seasons of trial, there are seasons of exceptional blessing that come from God.  And those seasons of exceptional blessing should not be taken for granted.  We should capitalize on them and seize the momentum when those seasons come.

Don't get me wrong, God is good all the time, and He is good to all.  His tender mercies are over all His works.  He causes His sun to rise on the good and on the evil, and He sends rain on the just and on the unjust.  The fact of the matter is, God is good even to people who are not good because it is His nature.

However, there are richer, more frequent blessings that come from the hand of God.  And they come to those who do a particular thing.

Tomorrow I want you to look with me in the book of Galatians.  As we look at these verses, we will find that though God is good to all, the richer and more frequent blessings come to those who do a particular thing.  Together we will see what that thing is.

Today, I just want you to grasp the truth that God does want to bless your life in an extraordinary way.

~Bayless Conley~

_________________________________

 No Greater Love

John 15:12-14

Perhaps the most intense love and protective instinct in the experience of mankind is that of parents toward their children. There is little that most mothers or fathers wouldn't do for a baby. If a truck posed a threat to the little one, it wouldn't surprise us if they jumped in front of the moving vehicle without a second thought.

Wouldn't you like to be cared for with this kind of intensity? You are. In fact, the Lord's love toward you is far deeper and more secure than that of even the most caring, tuned-in human parent. And what God did for us is proof. Romans 5:8 says that while we were living in disobedience, He sent His only Son to die on the cross for us.

Think about a father giving up his child for people who choose to rebel against him. What a tremendous sacrifice and cost! Jesus' death took the place of the punishment that we deserved. If we accept this gift and decide to follow God, He no longer sees us as guilty. Rather, He justifies us, makes us righteous, and changes our ultimate destiny: instead of facing everlasting separation from Him, we will enjoy His presence eternally. What's more, almighty God adopts us as His children forever. Our heavenly Father guides, protects, and counsels us as we walk through life--and promises us that we are secure in Him throughout eternity.

How incredible that the Creator of the universe would love you and me in this way! Do you know and experience the security and sweetness of His care? Gratitude and praise should flow from your heart. In turn, love others deeply out of thankfulness for the love that you have received.

~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~

_______________________________

The Path to Maturity

1 Peter 5:10 provides a very critical principle for those times when we are going through trials, a principle that is easy to miss,

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

You need to realize that even though God did not initiate your trouble, He can still use it to work something good in you.  What the devil means for evil, God can turn into something good.

Even though the devil's purpose is to destroy you, if you will respond correctly, God can work good things.  Notice the verse says after you have suffered a short season, God will perfect.  It brings maturity to you.

While we might hate it, how we respond in times of trial makes us who we are--and it fits us to accomplish God's will.  I hate some of the things I have gone through!  But you know what?  I would not be who I am had I not experienced those things.  It has fitted me to do the will of God.

And while it may not seem like it, your present difficulty may be instrumental in your future success.

It reminds me of the guy who was shipwrecked on a deserted island.  One day he decided to go across the island for food.  When he got to the other side he looked back and saw a plume of smoke in the sky.  He ran back only to find that his shack burnt to the ground!

It stung him to the core!  Except the next morning a ship arrived and rescued him.  When he asked the sailors, "How'd you know I was here?" they said, "We saw your smoke signal."

Your present trials just may be fitting you for something you would never expect! 

~Bayless Conley~

_______________________________

Lord, I Love You, but...

Hebrews 6:10-12

Most of us are quick to declare our love for God, but at times our reluctance to serve Him tells a different story. Honestly consider whether you have ever found yourself saying or thinking, I love you, Lord, but don't call me to do that! Or perhaps you served Him, but with a flawed attitude: If no one else will do it, then I guess I will. What causes us to be reluctant servants?

Busyness: Sometimes our schedules are so full that there's no space to follow the Lord when we hear Him calling us to minister in a certain area. We all need "margins" in our lives if we want to abide in God's will.

Inadequacy: Perhaps you feel unqualified to serve, and you're thinking, Surely there's someone more gifted who could do that job. But that's just an excuse; the Lord promises to equip those He calls (2 Cor. 3:4-6).

Selfishness: Sacrificial service is never convenient. It may require that we change our plans, give up our comforts, or even make financial sacrifices.

Lack of love: This is the hardest for us to admit--that we just don't care enough. Our reluctance to serve others reveals a lack of devotion to the Lord. Those who love Christ with all their heart will joyfully serve Him by ministering to those in their families, workplaces, communities, and churches.

Are you quick to follow the Lord's leading when a need arises, or are you a reluctant servant who's preoccupied with your own plans and desires? Any service we offer in Jesus' name will not be in vain. You'll experience the joy of giving and the assurance that the Lord won't forget your sacrifice.

~Dr. Charles F. Stanley~

Favorite Pastor Quotes

Favorite Pastor Quotes

His mercy is a boundless, fathomless, endless ocean!

(James Smith, "The Evening Sacrifice; Or, A Help to Devotion")

"You, O Lord, are good, and ready to forgive--and abundant in mercy to all who call upon You." Psalm 86:5 

What a beautiful representation of God is this! How comforting, at the close of another day's cares and troubles, sorrows and sins--to be reminded that our "God is good," and especially that He is "ready to forgive"--ready to pardon all the faults and follies of this day--ready to pass them by, and still treat me as His beloved child!

He only requires me to confess and be sorry for my sins--and in a moment, all is forgiven, all is forgotten, and forgotten forever! 

Then He is "abundant in mercy." The fountain of His mercy has not yet run dry. Run dry! It is not in the least diminished! His mercy is a boundless, fathomless, endless ocean!

God has plenty of mercy for miserable sinners . . .
  mercy to pardon them,
  mercy to purify them,
  mercy to comfort them,
  mercy to save them--
mercy for all who call upon Him!

O my soul, take home tonight this lovely representation of your God, and believing that He is good, ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy--go to Him, call upon Him, and plead with Him. Then you may obtain mercy, and find grace to help you in every time of need. 

Good and gracious God, I adore You for Your goodness; I bless You that You are ready to forgive; I rejoice that You are abundant in mercy. And now, O Lord, glorify Your mercy in me--show Your readiness to forgive, in me! Let my heart be eased of every sorrow--and let my conscience be cleansed from every sin! Let me lie down to rest tonight guiltless--rejoicing in the glorious fact that You have blotted out my sins as a cloud, and my transgressions as a thick cloud, and are now at eternal peace with me!
__________________________________


That miracle of Divine grace wrought in the soul

(Arthur Pink)

Regeneration is that miracle of Divine grace wrought in the soul . . .
  which enlists the affections Godward, 
  which brings the human will into subjection to the Divine,
  and which produces a real and radical change in the life. 
That change is from worldliness--to godliness; from disobedience--to obedience. 

At the new birth, the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit, and that love is manifested in a dominating longing and sincere purpose to please in all things, the One who has plucked me as a brand from the burning. There is a greater difference between the genuine Christian and the deceived professing Christian--than there is between a living man and a corpse. None need remain in doubt, if they will honestly measure themselves by the Holy Word of God.

Ah, dear readers, the test is fruit! Not knowledge, not boastings, not orthodoxy, not joy--but fruit; and such "fruit" as mere nature cannot produce. It is the fruit of the Vine--namely, likeness to Christ, being conformed to His image. May the Holy Spirit search each one of us.
____________________________________

Five Short Rules for Christians

(Brownlow North)

1. Never neglect daily private prayer; and when you pray, remember that God is present, and that He hears your prayers.

2. Never neglect daily private Bible reading; and when you read, remember that God is speaking to you, and that you are to believe and act upon all that He says.

3. Never let a day pass without trying to do something for Jesus. Every day reflect on what Jesus has done for you--and then ask yourself, "What am I doing for Him?"
4. If you are in doubt as to a thing being right or wrong--then go to your room and kneel down and ask God's blessing on it. If you cannot do this, then it is wrong.

5. Never take your standard of Christianity from other Christians--or argue that because such and such people do so and so--therefore, you may. You are to ask yourself, "How would Jesus act in my place?"--and strive to follow Him alone.
____________________________________

If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be

(Charles Spurgeon)

"When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men--they were astonished and theytook note that these men had been with Jesus!" Acts 4:13 
 
A Christian should be a striking likeness of Jesus Christ. You have read "Lives of Christ"--beautifully and eloquently written. But the best life of Christ is His living biography, written out in the words and actions of His people. 

If we were what we profess to be, and what we should be--we would be pictures of Christ! Yes, such striking likenesses of Him that the world would, when they once beheld us, exclaim, "He has been with Jesus! He has been taught of Him! He is like Him! He has caught the very idea of the holy Man of Nazareth, and he works it out in his life and everyday actions!"

"He who says he abides in Him--ought himself also to walk just as He walked." 1 John 2:6
________________________________

The lock-smith's great bunch of keys!

(Charles Spurgeon)

"He has given us His very great and precious promises!" 2 Peter 1:4
 
God's promises are precious, because they tell of exceedingly great and precious things. We have promises in the Bible which time would fail us to repeat, which for breadth and length are immeasurable. They deal with every great thing which the soul can need: 
  promises of pardoned sin, 
  promises of sanctification, 
  promises of teaching, 
  promises of guidance, 
  promises of upholding, 
  promises of ennobling, 
  promises of progress, 
  promises of consolation, 
  promises of perfection.

In this blessed book you have . . . 
  promises for time--and promises for eternity; 
  promises for every condition every believer!

I sometimes liken God's promises to the lock-smith's great bunch of keys which he brings when you have lost the key of your chest, and cannot unlock it. He feels pretty sure that out of all the keys upon his ring, some one or another will fit, and he tries them with patient industry. At last--yes--that is it--he has loosened the bolt, and now you can get at your treasures! 

In the same way, there is always a promise in the volume of inspiration, suitable to your present case.

The promises are precious in themselves . . .
  from their suitability to us,
  from their coming from God,
  from their being immutable,
  from their being sure of performance, and
  from their containing wrapped up within themselves, all that every child of God can ever need!

"He has given us His very great and precious promises!"

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 9

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 9

The Real Basis of Ministry

One great danger, with which many perils are connected, is that of recognizing distinctions and differences on a basis other than a spiritual one. The whole system of Christianity has gone astray on this very point, with disastrous consequences, and there is no end to it. Even among quite spiritual and evangelical people, there is a very great deal of this Old Testament mentality, and in so far as that is true, it is loss, it is confusion - it means limitation in almost every spiritual direction.

Now, in our systematized Christianity, we have made ministers into a class; we distinguish them from the "laity" as the "clergy" - the ministry and the laity; and these are classes, official, ecclesiastical classes - an utterly false apprehension of Divine truth. Ministry  is not based upon anything of that kind at all - upon anything that is external. Ministry is based upon an inward knowledge of the Lord, and no one has a right to enter into any kind of ministry - much less take upon them the title of "minister" - except in so far as they have a personal, inward, powerful knowledge of the Lord. The other is merely formal and ecclesiastical. Ministry is not official or hierarchical, but spiritual. It is a matter of spiritual measure, and spiritual measure is just the measure of Christ within. Christ is our measure. There is no other measure with God but Christ, and we can only minister according to our inward measure of Christ.
_________________________

Truth Alive In Us

You see, we can be governed...by objective truth. It can be "the truth" - orthodox, sound, Bible truth. We can be governed by that simply because it is taught; we do it objectively. But there is something more than that. There is such a thing as the Holy Spirit taking hold of the truth of God and making it something that lives in us.

Many Christians are just Christians; that is, after they are saved, after  they are born again, their Christian life consists in doing as they are told by the minister or the Christian leader or the Bible class teacher, because it is presented to them as the thing they should do. It is what is in the Bible, and they do it so. But there is a very much higher level of life than that. The thing is right, but it is altogether transformed when the Holy Spirit brings to home to us in an inward way, and adjusts us to it. We no longer do it just because it has got to be done: we do it because the Lord has done something in us, and shown us that that is the thing He wants done.
___________________________

Giving the Word of God Its Place

A spiritual person is first of all one who seeks to know the revealed will of God in His Word. You cannot not be a spiritual person, after the kind of which we are speaking, and neglect or be careless about the Word of God. You will be one who is really diligent in reading and searching the Word of God, with one object - to know what God wants where you are concerned. If there were more of that, there would be a different kind of Christian, stronger, purer, and far more satisfying to the Lord.

The Holy Spirit knows the Bible, He knows what He has written; and if the Spirit is in us, and we are seeking to live in the Spirit, we shall live in the Word. The Word is a living thing when that is so. Spiritual people are people of the Word, and consciously or unconsciously they are checked up by it.
_____________________________

Qualification for Platform Ministry

If you only take the matter of ministry itself - I mean public ministry - you find it is the most controversial point in all Christianity. More trouble has arisen over platform ministry than over anything else. But no one has a right to minister, no one has a qualification for ministry, who cannot quite easily sit back and do no ministry at all if the Lord wants it. It ought to be just as easy for a minister to take a back seat, and wait for the Lord, as it is for the natural soul to want to be on that platform.
______________________

Believing God

It is the hardest, the most difficult thing, but there it is - the matter of believing God, not because of what He can do or will do, but because of what He is. That goes a long way, and very deep down; it tries us on everything - God's postponements, God's delays, God's seeming contradictions and paradoxes, a thousand and one things. The end is, after all, what are we going to do about it? Is God? And is God what He says He is or not? Our interpretation, our argument, our position, our mind about things - does it really set God aside? Does it? Or is our attitude that of faith? God KNOWS what He is doing.
_________________________

Spiritual Stature

Spiritual stature is determined very largely by disinterested devotion to the Lord's interests, by how little we come into the picture, and by how much we are ready to serve the Lord's ends without any gratification to ourselves, without having our hand in it.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 10)

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 8

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 8

The Realm of Infinite Possibility

One of the things that you and I have to learn in our relationship to the Lord is that when we come into a living relationship with Him, we have come into the realm of infinite possibility. We have been placed upon a basic and set in a realm that is altogether above the realm with which we are familiar. We have been taken out of that realm and put into another where the possibilities are just infinite and where the word "impossible" does not have a place.

That is the education of our life. You get to the end of what is possible, the world has nothing to offer you, and the Lord does it in a simple way, with no trouble at all. He hardly has to speak, and there it is, and it is so simple. It works out in big ways as well as little. The education of our life under the hand of God is to know we have come into another realm where we need not close down at all with human possibility. God is other than that; He has everything in His hands. He can snap His fingers and every barred door can open. It works in so many ways.
________________________

The Key To Counting For Something

If you know the Lord, if you have that opened heaven, that which the Lord Jesus had of a life with God, a walk with God, a fellowship with God, you will count for something, not only as an influence, but as one who has the secret for other people, who can help by enlightenment and instruction, who has something to give - and oh, how much that is needed! Is it not true that the poor, weak, retarded state of the mass of Christians today is due to the absence of a teaching ministry that is truly under the Holy Spirit?

But, sooner or later, your significance will come into light; sooner or later you will find that conditions are forcing men beyond their own resources to the need of something which you alone have got, and that God gives you the opportunity because of your faithfulness. God will never give you opportunities unless you have been faithful. You have to be faithful in the least before you have your opportunity increased.
_____________________________

Essentials For Fullness of Life

There are three things which are essential to an adequate life with God; to a fullness of the Christian life. Firstly, the realization that God is concerned with the accomplishment of something worthy of Himself. We shall not get very far toward a full Christian life, or a life with God, until it breaks upon us and takes hold of us that God is really concerned with the accomplishment of something worthy of Himself.

The second thing is that people shall become aware of what that great something in the heart of God is, what it is that God is so concerned with, and then that they shall be moved to cooperate with Him in it.

And then, in the third place, that we recognize that this object in the heart of God and this cooperation with Him by His people involves very real conflict and cost, and that His people must face that and be ready to accept it.k
_________________________

The Essence of Ministry

We have thought of the service of God as a matter of preaching and teaching and doing a multitude of things for the Lord. They may only be the framework; they may only be the outer casing, like the bark of a tree. The Lord may pour His life through such methods and means, or He may not let us do any preaching or teaching. In the case of some, He may have  the greatest measure of fruit without every any preaching being done at all. Fruit is the spontaneous expression of a deep-rooted oneness with Christ, and there may be very much satisfaction and glory to God through people who are never allowed to preach or teach or do any of those things which we call Christian work. But to express Christ, to live Christ, to manifest Christ, to let everything around feel Christ, and be touched by Christ through our presence - that certainly is to the glory of God and the satisfaction of His heart, and that is service.

For what is this fruit? It is the life of Christ manifested, and God help both the preachers and the teachers and the workers, and those to whom they preach, if there is not a manifestation of Christ coming through what they are saying and doing. The real heart of it is this deep union of life with the Lord, and it is this kind of service which satisfies God.
________________________

Letting Our Ministry Go

"Ministry" is the cause of so much trouble. "My ministry," getting a place for our ministry, being able to fulfill our ministry. Oh, let it drop. The Lord will test us on this matter. Are we going to hold on to our ministry, our place, what we believe to be our Divine calling - hold to it in conviction that that is what God has called us to? Oh no! If God has called us to anything, He will hold us into it, and we must let go to Him if there arises a situation in which that is necessary. The Lord will see that the ministry is fulfilled and the position occupied that He for us. The thing that is far more than the ministry, and out of which the ministry must come, is that I should be a Christlike man,  and we can show Christlikeness in just letting others get into our place in ministry, being very meek about it, not fighting to keep our position. The Lord will look after the rest.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 9)

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 7

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 7

The Hiddenness of God's Workings

We are so often found looking for, praying for, expecting, some mighty, shattering intervention of God in our situation, something that is evidence and proof that God is with us, something we can lay hold of, to which we can point and on which we can report, and such does not happen. Again and again when we have passed most critical points in our history and turned most serious corners, we have had to say, "How did we do it, how did it come to pass?" Well, it just happened. It undoubtedly involved very great power on the part of God, and there is no doubt that, if God had not done it, that there would have been disaster; yet it is done. But how? We thought the Lord must come this way and that, and we were telling Him what He must do, but He never came by our way, never did it like that at all. It, so to speak, just happened. We are going on like that. It may be from time to time the Lord will show His hand. He is the God of the sudden leap as much as He is the God of the long process, but normally the way of faith is this way. Silently, almost imperceptibly, without any power to detect that He is doing it, the needed thing is being done.
_____________________________

Qualification for Serving the Lord's Purposes

The Lord does really need men and women to serve His ends. His need may be very great, and yet He may not be able now to open the way for you to come in to serve Him in meeting it. The Lord is waiting until your heart is broken over this whole situation, and it is such a heart-matter that you come to the place where you say, "Lord, the only justification of my life is that your interests are served." It must be a matter of heart-love for the Lord and for what is His,k and not for the work, the ministry; not for anything but for your Lord and what is His. When you get there, and you are found upon your face before the Lord breaking your heart because you see He is not getting what He ought to have, when this becomes the travail of your soul, you will find the Lord will begin to do something. This is the necessary basis for the Lord to bring out His servants.
_________________________

The Cost of Special Service to God

A thing which is to serve the Lord in a specially vital way is not born easily, and is not brought into being without some unusual suffering and travail. There is much bitterness of soul to be gone through, and many tears.

For a time, a drawn-out time, it appears that there will be nothing. The barrenness, with its attendant heartache and sorrow, seems long to remain. And yet there can be no philosophical acceptance or fatalistic capitulation. The Lord is a factor in this situation, and there is a "hoping against hope," a wistful look toward the "God Who quickeneth the dead and calleth the things that are not as though they were" (Rom. 4:17).

So it is, when the Lord determines to secure for Himself that vessel of peculiar purpose, and cuts off all the many activities, works,and occupations which, while being in the same household of faith and in some relation to Himself, are largely by the energies of nature and the ability of man. When and where there are not those usual accompaniments and out workings, those issues and results, the evidences and proofs; then there is criticism, taunting, pointing of the finger, and grievous imputations. The very acts of Divine sovereignty are given a twist to mean just the opposite of God's thought. So one system of things taunts the other. Well, well, so be it. It ever was; it ever will be.

When the Lord wants something for an hour of peculiar need, the methods have to be out of the ordinary. To those concerned He has to say, "Others can; you cannot."

We are entering more and more deeply into such an hour at this time. The general thing is not meeting the situation. The Lord must bring through something which will "come to the kingdom for such a time as this" (Esther 4:14).
___________________________________

The Surprising Ways of God With Us

If we do really walk with the Holy Spirit, we find that He is leading us into things that we never thought of, never intended - but as He does it we have to say, This is not something that has just arisen, this is something that was intended of God. I am just coming into a program; the Lord has not shown me the whole program, but this is like item after item on the program.

As we look more deeply into God's ways with us and know God's principles, we see a wonderful logic in it all.
_____________________________

Possessing Our Inheritance

How many Christians are enjoying the inheritance, are possessing their inheritance, are even progressing toward the possession of their inheritance? Many are not, yet they are children of God, legally heirs. Between being a legal heir and becoming a spiritual inheritor, something may happen so that you miss the inheritance. The New Testament is all the time telling us that we have a great inheritance - then do not miss it! we have great rights - then do not let them go; we are called into something from eternity - but be sure you "make your calling and your election sure." It is the difference between our legal status and our spiritual state.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 8)

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 6

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 6

Characteristics of Service to God

We may not be Jeremiahs, Isaiahs, or Pauls, but we are called to serve the Lord's interests, and there may be very much more sovereignty behind our lives than we are aware of. It may be only as we go on that we shall become conscious that the Lord evidently brought us into being for something - that there is something stirring in us that gravitates in a certain direction which is prophetic of how we are to serve the Lord. We find things taking shape in a certain way, with a corresponding deep exercise of our hearts about that. We come up against our own lack of qualification, our own unsuitability, and we are thrown right back upon the God of resurrection. We find that the very fact of our being thrown upon the Lord for everything is a sovereign act, with a view to safeguarding everything for the Lord. It is the safest thing, and perhaps one of the greatest evidences that things are of the Lord, when we feel, on the one hand, that we must, out of an inward compulsion,serve the Lord, and yet, on the other hand, that if there is to be anything at all for the Lord, it must be all of His doing. But let us note well that there is the vital turning point. Whatever we may have sensed before, until that day comes when the self-element gets right out of the way, until all the sense that we can do it and want to do it is thoroughly smitten and we are in the place where we really know that if there is going to be anything at all, it must be of the Lord, nothing can really arise. But when that day comes, then all that purpose which has been waiting stored up will begin to break out and take charge of our lives in a new way, we shall know that we are girded by God for something - not perhaps what we would have chosen. It may perhaps be for the most difficult thing ever given to anyone to do...once the Lord has set His hand to do a work, He will sovereignly carry the vessel of that service to full accomplishment so long as the vessel remains suitably yielded in His hand.
__________________________

Standing Alone

There are people who can move in crowds, and who will act when they have others supporting and encouraging them, but many fade out when it is a case of facing this tremendous thing alone. Superior greatness is shown by taking personal responsibility whether others do so or not.

Superior greatness is willingness to stand for what God has revealed as His will, though we have to stand alone. It may be one against many, there may be a considerable amount of aloneness, but that is where the test of our spiritual measure comes in, in initiative and responsibility that does not wait for an organization to come into being to deal with the situation, but makes it a personal matter - and a thorough going one, too.
___________________________

Reaching a Place of Strategic Value

Job's was a tremendous climb out of a miry condition, up and out into that place of vindication where the Lord could point to him in a new way and say to others, "This man is the key to the answer to your prayers and you will not get any answer to prayer unless he stands in the breach: your spiritual interests and destiny hang upon him." That is tremendous: that a man should have reached some specific point where the destiny of many others hangs upon him, and God has determined it and said it in so many words - "Your spiritual good is bound up with this man; I have had to bring him to this position for your sake."
___________________________

Standing for God's Full Thought

God has set His heart upon having His whole counsel represented. God must have that whole counsel found in representation or He is defeated, and so He sets to work to bring those who will come, who will pay the price, into this position which, in the first place, satisfies Him, and in the second place, serves Him in that purpose; and a basic essential is a passion in our hearts for God's fullest thought. If He is going to lead us into it, He must have that response in us for His own satisfaction.
______________________________

God's Wise Providences

The operations of the Holy Spirit, and the providential way of God - strange, mysterious Providences - these are all designed to keep us on the stretch. Any life that is really under the government of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, will never be allowed to settle down, will always be kept on the move - oh, yes, by strange means. The Lord knows how to deal with you and me. He knows the tendencies of our makeup, our constitution, our natures. He knows us exactly, every one of us, and (oh, that we could believe it, really believe it always!) the way in which we are going is the way that the infinite, inscrutable wisdom of God knows to be the only way by which we shall come to a greater measure of the Lord. He vetoes much in order to economize, to ensure that we shall not be spreading ourselves too widely but be directed into the essential channels.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 7)

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 5

Words of Wisdom and Revelation # 5

The Cost of Enlightenment

We know that the book of Joshua is the book of the inheritance. The people are going in to possess, to occupy, to exploit, in inherit. But what was the very first move, when Israel had come to the borders of the land, forty years previously? The setting up of Intelligence. Spies were sent to spy out the land. Joshua sent over intelligence officers, his intelligence Corps. Intelligence was a tremendously important thing here. We might say that Joshua and Caleb were themselves the very embodiment of the principle of intelligence. It was they who brought the report which, in the long run, resulted in a people going in and possessing. But note at this point an interesting and impressive and significant thing. The people thought to stone them! You see, the enemy is not only over there in the land - he is entrenched in the very hearts of the people themselves, he has got a footing there. How true that is to principle and to history! Let any of the people of God begin to get some new light, and, as the Lord's instrument, they will become the object of satan's hatred: he will stir up forces to stone that instrument. He hates instruments of spiritual enlightenment.
__________________________

The Word Of The Lord For Now

The food question among the Lord's people today is a very acute one, and a more or less good ministry is not going to meet the need. There is a growing concern to know, as distinct from the generalization of truth and service, what is the Lord's word for now, where we are, and what in the Divine purpose belongs to this present hour.
__________________________

The Work of the Lord

What is the work of the Lord? What is Christian service from God's standpoint? It is contributing to the fullness of Christ. It is in the measure of each several part ministering to that end, that all things shall be summed up in Christ, and that He shall be the fullness of all things. That great Divine goal has many ways and many means of attainment, and it is not a matter of whether you or I are serving the Lord in the same way as someone else. That is not the point at all. We standardize and departmentalize Christian work, and we think of the activities of ministers and missionaries and suchlike functions, and we call that work of the Lord; we think of that when we speak of going into Christian service. The work of the Lord is, and can be, no more than contributing to the fullness of Christ and ministering of that fullness to Him and from Him. How you do it is a matter of Divine appointment, but that is the work of the Lord. You might aspire to be an apostle Paul - probably if you understood a little more you would not! But you see, whether Paul is doing it along his Divinely appointed line, in his Divinely appointed way - or Peter - or John - or this one or that one - the object comes first, the way afterward.

The beginning of all service in relation to God is the servant himself. What makes a servant of God? We think of a servant of God being made by academic training, Bible teaching,by this or that form of equipment,and we think when we have all that, when we have been through the course and have in our minds all that can be imparted of that kind, we are the Lord's servants. But that is not the way the Lord looks at it at all. The Lord is going to require that He shall be able to say, "Behold, my servant", and the servant to whom He will call attention will be the servant who is the impression of Christ. Yes, Christ registered, Christ presenced, Christ apparent, in the servant. God is far more concerned with having His servants in a right state than He is with having them furnished with all kinds of academic qualifications and titles.

You can use the Scripture and it may have no effect at all, or you can use it, and it may have a mighty effect. A great deal depends  upon who uses the Scripture. It is the man of God who can use it in that way and be attested as the true servant of the Lord.

It is with you and with me that the Lord is concerned; it is with what we are, it is with our personal knowledge of Himself. It is that we may have within us the secrets of the Lord, that it may be true of us as it was of the Lord Jesus and of others that the key to the situation spiritually is in our hands.
______________________________

The Need to Press On

There is a vast amount in the Kingdom that we have never suspected - do believe that. There is more for all of us to know than anybody on this earth knows - for more than the very greatest saints, the most advanced Christians, know of the purpose of God. Paul intimates that. In his Philippian letter he makes it clear that even at the end of his life, he has yet to apprehend, he needs still to know. "That I may know..." (Phil. 3:10). There is far more to know. Are you going to allow your life simply to be boxed up within the measure that you know, or within the measure of other people? No - it is the measure of Christ that is God's end..."till we all attain unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). No movement, no society, no evangelical organization, no church on this earth has come to that yet, but that is the objective in view.
____________________________

The Testimony Before the Work

The Lord is more concerned for a testimony than for a work. We need to get clear on that. A good deal of confusion comes in when you begin to think of things in the light of a work. When you get a lot of people leaving their employment to go into "the work", all kinds of complications arise; and really the Lord is not, in the first place, after the work. I am not saying you are not to work for the Lord, but in the first place it is not the work the Lord is after, it is a testimony, it is a light, a living flame.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 6)