Author: awordinseason

Deep Calls Out to Deep

I Am Come for Thy Words

“Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words”
Daniel 10:8

There are depths in God which can only be touched through the bonds of relationship. This cry of the inner heart to know the One in whom are “hid All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” is a constant of those who have touched His purity and power. As Paul breathed out in his letter to the Philippians: “That I might know Him…” The seeing of Him leaves us speechless and steals the affection for all other things from our hearts. The hearing of Him rejoices the heart and makes our flesh tremble. No wonder the Bride in the Song of Songs cries out with fulness of heart,

“I sought him whom my soul loveth”
Song of Songs 6:3

This is no casual relationship; not some acquaintance we hold in high regard. This is the eternal Love of God indwelling the human heart. It is a contradiction beyond comprehension: The All-Knowing One, the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity choosing to offer through the mystery of Redemption access, and what’s more, relationship; relationship of the same substance and depth that exists between the Son and the Father! There are no words to convey such things.

“That they all may be one;
as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us…”
John 17:21

The heart that truly seeks this depth in Him will also seek such depths with His people. The evidence of His faith, His heart and His Life within is revealed by the longings for these things. Faith causes us to apprehend this truth, love necessitates it and hope sustains our pursuit of it. We seek Him because He first sought us. We love Him, because He first loved us. The seeking of Him, the pursuit of Him and the longing for the depths of His Being is the result of Him living in us.

“Deep calleth unto deep…”

This is the pure language of relationship. It is the cry for ever-deepening bonds as One heart reaches out to another. It is a language without words. It cannot be articulated, expounded upon or taught. The reality is that it can only be entered into upon the grounds of His sacrifice and grace. Love by its very nature draws that which it loves to itself. Its disposition is to share, express and replicate itself in all who are near. Seeking is simply the response to this eternal call. Obedience is the result for love ever seeks to please that which it loves. To serve Him is the greatest joy in life.

It is no wonder that Daniel set His heart to understand and to the “chastening” of himself. To such a heart come the words of grace “wherefore I am come for thy words”! To hear such things from God and to know His favor is the sum and purpose of life. It is the great prize for which Paul had set his mark. (Philippians 3:14).

Blessed are those who seek Him with one pure motive: to know Him. Let us set our hearts to have that singular desire.

“Seek ye me, and ye shall live”
Amos 5:4

Brian Troxel

The Ministry of Reconciliation

Healing and Reconciliation

“And all things are of God…
and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation”
2 Corinthians 5:18

What is torn can be mended.
What is separated can be blended.
That which is broken can find repair,
And joy can fill the life in despair.
Brian Troxel

To seek reconciliation with others is the revelation of a heart which has and is being reconciled to Christ.

“Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift”
Matthew 5:23-24

_____________

“Behold, I make all things new”
Revelation 21:5

Brian Troxel

Geoffrey T. Bull – The Full Knowledge

Geoffrey T. Bull

Three Degrees of
Spiritual Knowledge

“We are told of three degrees of spiritual knowledge which for us, are the true content of the Divine Wisdom.

  1. There is the knowledge of God Himself in Christ, thus Paul prays ‘that I may know Him’. For Paul this is the excellency of knowledge, compared with which all else is as the refuse of the field.
  2. There is the knowledge of God’s Will; thus Paul says ‘We do not cease to pray for you that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His Will.’
  3. There is the knowledge of His Gifts; thus Paul writes ‘We have received the Spirit which is of God, that ye might know the things that are freely given us of God.’

It is in this knowledge that Christ Jesus is made unto us Wisdom. It will make fools of us before the world, but we can be quiet in the assurance that the wisdom of God shall at the last be justified in all of her children.
– Geoffrey T. Bull

“That I might know Him”

This is the cry of every true believer. May we grow in the full knowledge of Himself, His Will and to be faithful stewards of His unmerited gifts.
Brian Troxel

 

 

Henry Drummond

Quote for Today

“Love rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.” I have called this Sincerity from the words rendered in the Authorized Version by “rejoiceth in the truth.” And, certainly, were this the real translation, nothing could be more just. For he who loves will love the Truth, not less than men. He will rejoice in the truth — rejoice not in what he has been taught to believe; not in this Church’s doctrine or in that; not in this ism or in that ism; but “in the Truth.” He will accept only what is real; he will strive to get at facts; he will search for Truth with a humble and unbiased mind, and cherish whatever he finds at any sacrifice. But the more literal translation of the Revised Version calls for just such a sacrifice for truth’s sake here. For what Paul really meant is, as we there read, “rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth,” a quality which probably no one English word — and certainly not Sincerity — adequately defines.
– Henry Drummond from the Book “The Greatest Thing“.

Faith Perfected

Faith Perfected

“Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father,
through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience…”
1 Peter 1:2

Faith is simply the result of hearing His Voice and the corresponding obedience to His call. As such, true faith can never be void of His Works; His Word producing His Works through the agency of a living faith.

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works,
when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?
Seest thou how faith wrought with his works,
and by works was faith made perfect?”
James 2:22

Jesus is the “Author” and “Perfecter” of our faith. He desires to perfect our faith by bringing us to the corresponding works of obedience in our lives. May we not settle for anything less! Faith is perfected by the doing of that which it inspires. Abraham’s faith was perfected in the offering up of Isaac (James 2:21). The Author of our faith is ever working to bring us unto the perfection of our faith to the intent that the things of which we speak are the things we do (James 2:12).

“…looking to Jesus,
the author and perfecter of faith…”
Hebrews 12:2

In God’s purposes the Faith to see
is to bring us into the Faith to do.

Brian Troxel

Prayer and Faith

Prayer and Faith

“The dividing line hereafter will not be a Credal one—not “How much do you believe?” Nor even a Devotional one—”How much did you pray?” But a Practical one — “What did you do?” The Apostle James shows that our faith is evidenced by our works (Jas 2:14-20). It is not enough to say “Lord, Lord!” We must show the same spirit as our Master in love for our fellows, or we shall be rejected at the last.”
– F.B. Meyer

Prayer and Faith

“Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is the true prayer of all who believe. It is this prayer of faith which unites the heart of the one praying with heavenly realities. Prayers of the religious do not touch the heartbeat of heaven; their lives remain unaffected and unempowered unto the doing of His Will. Those who pray in faith, walk in faith. In the garden Jesus prayed to accomplish the full offering of Himself unto the will of the Father and He “was heard in that He feared” (Hebrews 5:7). It is through prayer that faith comes to us by the hearing of the Word. One cannot hear the Living Word without the corresponding works of faith.

“By faith Abraham… obeyed”
Hebrews 11:8

Brian Troxel

Oswald Chambers

His

“They were Yours, You gave them to Me…”
John 17:6

“A missionary is someone in whom the Holy Spirit has brought about this realization: “You are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). To say, “I am not my own,” is to have reached a high point in my spiritual stature. The true nature of that life in actual everyday confusion is evidenced by the deliberate giving up of myself to another Person through a sovereign decision, and that Person is Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit interprets and explains the nature of Jesus to me to make me one with my Lord, not that I might simply become a trophy for His showcase. Our Lord never sent any of His disciples out on the basis of what He had done for them. It was not until after the resurrection, when the disciples had perceived through the power of the Holy Spirit who Jesus really was, that He said, “Go” (Matthew 28:19; also see Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).

“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). He was not saying that this person cannot be good and upright, but that he cannot be someone over whom Jesus can write the word Mine. Any one of the relationships our Lord mentions in this verse can compete with our relationship with Him. I may prefer to belong to my mother, or to my wife, or to myself, but if that is the case, then, Jesus said, “[You] cannot be My disciple.” This does not mean that I will not be saved, but it does mean that I cannot be entirely His.

Our Lord makes His disciple His very own possession, becoming responsible for him. “…you shall be witnesses to Me…” (Acts 1:8). The desire that comes into a disciple is not one of doing anything for Jesus, but of being a perfect delight to Him. The missionary’s secret is truly being able to say, “I am His, and He is accomplishing His work and His purposes through me. Be entirely His!”

  • Oswald Chambers

Paul Volk

Quote for Today

“We seek truths; God seeks to make us true. The difference is vast, and the kinds of men produced by each pursuit are vastly different”
– Paul Volk

“He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true…”
John 7:18

Make us true in spirit and in heart.
– Brian Troxel

Faith and Revelation

Faith and Revelation

“Then touched He their eyes, saying,
According to your faith be it unto you”
Matthew 9:29

The gift of sight to see the splendor of Him in His Word, to be able to sense the stirrings of His Love within, to be aware of the slumbering of the church in this hour, to grieve over the physical and spiritual malaise of others, to have the humility to receive His corrections, are all a result of His grace. Paul prayed for the Church at Ephesus:

“The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;
that ye may know…”
Ephesians 1:18

Spiritual Vision is the result of His Grace granting us the ability to see the unseeable, to touch the untouchable and to walk above and beyond the resources of self. Faith is the faculty to see and understand heavenly truths and purposes.

“Through faith we understand…”
Hebrews 11:3

Faith is the matrix from which He reveals and illuminates Himself to His children. It brings us into His World to see with our eyes, and to do with our hands, His works. Faith is the dynamic of Christ living within.

In God’s purposes the Faith to see
is to bring us into the Faith to do.

Brian Troxel

Photo by: Julia Joppin