“For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.”
Romans 14:8
Abandonment to God is the result of knowing we belong to Him wholly. It is in the secret place that the tendrils of His Spirit enfold our hearts. It is often a quiet and hidden work deep within recesses of our own being.
Few in our land comprehend how near is the day of the Lord. The enemy is arising and many of God’s people are unaware of his wiles. In this darkness God is preparing a people for Himself with lights shining, hearts ablaze, and a growing passion for the King of kings. There is the pulse of a new faith within those in whom His fire burns.
“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness…”
Psalm 112:4
The light that is arising is upon those who are walking in the obedience of faith. There is a dynamic of Christ beating within their hearts. God will not leave this darkened earth void of a vibrant witness.
The full abandonment to Him is coming. Even now it is growing in those who are upright of heart. The purposes of God to every generation have ever been fulfilled by the faithful.
“So therefore whoever of you who doesn’t renounce all that he has, he can’t be my disciple. “
Luke 14:33
“Go forth today, by the help of God’s Spirit, vowing and declaring that in life – come poverty, come wealth, in death – come pain or come what may, you are and ever must be the Lord’s. For this is written on your heart, ‘We love Him because He first loved us.”
– Charles Spurgeon
“Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect…”
Psalm 139:16
The work and wonder of God within our lives is a mystery. He shapes and orders our steps as we follow His leading. There is a contingency to our birthright in Christ. Many years ago I was struck with this verse:
“But as many as received him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God…”
John 1:12
The emphasis of the Spirit of God to me personally was the word “become”. I realized at that moment that the purpose of Christ coming into my life was not that I simply believe in Him, but to grant to me His power to become a life that glorified Him which was only possible by receiving that power. In that moment of revelation, I realized my inherent poverty to affect this genesis in my own life. All the forces and willpower of self would be utterly impotent to realize the Call of God to grow into something which would honor Him.
The concept of becoming has implications in our lives. The mystery of this call is wrought with ambiguity and perplexity which can be a source of angst and discouragement at times. Yet there is an indomitable faith that presses through the obscurity to where the mystery becomes an adventure. As time passes the heart no longer needs to understand the journey; it is enough to know the wonder and simplicity of obedience. We see doors of opportunity open before us. Rivers part as we step into them, and we feel His joy in us. It is called the “Joy of the Lord”! It is His Joy filling our hearts and in those moments His Joy becomes our own.
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared…”
1 John 3:2
The becoming is a work in progress but the press of God within the hearts of those who feel the spirit of adoption pursue Him through the power of Him at work within. John goes on to say this of those who have this press of God burning within their hearts:
“And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure”
1 John 3:3
The validity of this living hope within is revealed in a growing purity of heart. To simply believe in Christ without a passion to be pure is incongruent with His Life.
“As many as received Him…”
To them gave He power, the right, the privilege to become. The verity of His Life within is a quest and longing to “…know Him and the power of His resurrection”. A religious person is content with believing; the true child of God hungers and thirsts for actual righteousness which is ours in Christ.
“But now we see not yet all things put under him… But we see Jesus…”
Hebrews 2:8-9
There remain obstacles to our becoming; pride, brokenness, and the carnal things of our nature are not yet fully “put under Him”. Nevertheless, in the beholding of Him we do not grow weary, nor do we settle for a compromise in our lives.
“Everyone” who has the living hope of Jesus burning within “purifies themselves… even as HE is pure”! Perseverance is the pulse of the Holy Spirit. All who have received Him have the power to press into the battle of faith until every enemy of our heart is brought under the feet of Jesus. God has an answer to the mountains of self which stand before us.
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”
Zechariah 4:6-7
Our hope is not in a grace which is a sentiment; our hope lies in a grace which is the power of God. Let us not grow weary. Let us not allow our hearts to become complacent, apathetic, or lukewarm. Rather let us encourage and exhort one another to finish the race with God as our chief joy and purpose in life.
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it”
Zechariah 4:9
Jesus the Christ is our Zerubbabel! What He has begun in us He will surely finish!
There is nothing in the New Covenant concerning salvation, that can be known or held apart from Christ. The boundless riches of God are “hid in Christ” and in Him alone. Eternal life is not a decree; it is not a commodity that can be had apart from Christ. It is not to be had by merely a confession, a statement, a rite of passage, or some religious formula that has been agreed to. It is ours only by virtue of relationship.
“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life”
1 John 5:11-12
Eternal Life is nothing less than the LIFE of the Son dwelling in our hearts. Eternal life is to produce in us an abiding in Him who is the Life. It is crucial that we comprehend the Parable of the Vine in John 15; Christ is the Vine, and we are the branches. The branches only have access to the Life of the Vine by remaining joined to and abiding in Him. The key to our growth, to partaking of His grace, and His peace, is a current ongoing relationship with Christ ruling and reigning in our hearts. Religion reduces the living wonder of this salvation to confessions or beliefs separate from a living reality. The difference between those who live by confessions and statements, and those who know Him deep within their being in their daily lives, is enormous. Peter expressed this difference quite succinctly.
“Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner…”
1 Peter 2:7
To those who know the necessity of Him living within “He is precious”. They recognize the importance of obedience to Him to maintain the ministrations of His graces by which they can live a life that pleases Him. His presence in our lives becomes the atmosphere in which we live and breathe. But to those who are disobedient, He is disallowed; His graces are shunned and lost. The disobedient are those who hold their salvation in confessions alone by which they negate the need to obey Him. Their salvation is not contingent upon His Life being in them and therefore He is not precious to the point of necessity. This lack of the inherent need of Christ is revealed in lukewarm living and faith devoid of works. The confessions ofHim replace the inherent need for Him. They may honor Him with their words and may even teach good things yet walk independent of His life.
It was the Church of the Laodiceans which declared: “I am rich… I have need of nothing”. Our need for Christ determines how precious He is to us. How quickly we tend to move from the essentialness of Christ into a life lived outside of His resources. Too often we live uneventful, unremarkable, and impotent lives resting on promises which are only ours IN CHRIST.
“For all the promises of God IN Him are yea and IN Him Amen…”
2 Corinthians 1:20
The promises of God are YES and AMEN IN HIM. I have no access to the promises of God apart from Christ. To have victory over sin I need His Life daily. To know the power of grace enabling me to live righteously I need to be held by His Life within. To know experientially His Peace, I must abide in Him who is the Prince of Peace. Left to myself I am bereft of any hope. I dare not rely on any other means than Jesus Christ alone.
The heartbeat of every true ministration of Christ should reverberate with this One desire. We are not here to enlarge “our” church or “our” congregation; nor are we to seek selfish gain or the approval of men. Our only desire must be to see the influence, the impact, and the fire of God filling His people with the overwhelming Love of God.
Be Enlarged
Paul was not satisfied with the status quo of his relationship with Christ. His life was one of pressing, seeking, and pursuing a greater depth of “knowing” His Lord. Those who truly “taste and see” the vastness of God’s Being cannot be complacent in their walk with Him.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”
Matthew 13:45-46
Too many have contented themselves with a belief, comfortable in knowing their sins are forgiven, all the while moving through life isolated and insulated from the battlefield of faith. Their hearts remain untouched and unmoved by the immensity of God’s beauty and the Love He holds for all creation. It is the one who in truth had “found” the ONE Pearl of Great Price who sold all to acquire its beauty. His “works” were to forsake all for Christ. His heart had no room for other things.
Love without passion, love without fervor, and love without sacrifice are impossible. Those who have seen the Christ cannot help but speak of Him and live in the joy and the desire to make Him known!
Peter and John, when threatened by the religious leaders of their day, declared with unflinching words:
“But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.”
Acts 4:19-20
The unction and power of Christ within His own selflessly desires to see the people of God enlarged. Paul’s plea to the Church at Corinth was for their enlargement; that their faith would go beyond lukewarm living and apathetic confessions of faith. The Spirit of God is looking for firebrands, motivated by the pure love of God, who feel the same indebtedness to the ONE who first loved them.
“I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also”
Romans 1:14-15
The question becomes – what is in us? What is the fuel that ignites and burns within our hearts? True ministers of Christ have no interest in propagating themselves, their church, their ministry; they live to make Christ known. They plead with, they admonish, and they exhort the people of God toward the same heart as the merchant who in finding the Great Pearl sold everything to acquire its beauty. His desire is to so move in us that we become the full possession of Christ and He becomes our own.
“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine”
Song of songs 6:3
“Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world”
James 1:27
The verity of our faith in God reveals itself in the doings of His love and His Life through us. The Greek word translated to visit means “to look upon in order to help or to benefit”. The truth of Christ within flows out into the world around us effortlessly. Love strains not, it does not work up works, its life is easily demonstrated for within itself is the nature to give of itself. Christ is the fountain from which His works flow.
The Father revealed His Love in giving His Son, the Son revealed the love by the giving of Himself and so will the fountain of Him within us give by the same law of love. Faith without works, love without giving, and light without fellowship are the impossibilities of those who hold in truth the Life of the Son within.
Pure Religion is known by the expression of Christ in us and through us.
Life Shines
Love Gives
__________
“Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven”
Matthew 5:16
There can be no true holiness within a life that has not been broken by mercy’s touch, for true holiness is garmented in humility. The Mercy of God destroys pride and selfishness; it ruins a man’s trust in himself. The sheer weight of mercy leaves us without remedy in anything other than Christ.
Humility is the fruit of the mercy of God.
________________
Those who know mercy
are in debt to the person of Christ for eternity.
“For WE, though many, ARE one bread and one body; FOR we all partake of that one bread”
I CORINTHIANS 10:17
Love is the fruit of a relationship with Christ. Love surpasses knowledge, rejoices with the truth, stands for truth, and knows that the only hope for anyone to be truly free, truly righteous, and truly like the Son is by the ministration of truth. Where truth is neglected the corresponding result will be a “love” which will lack the holiness and power of His Presence. I cannot know what love is except in the true knowledge of God. Truth is my only hope for knowing what LOVE really is.
Love is the selfless and pure expression of the God who so loved the world that HE gave His only Son. That same Love that gave The Only Begotten Son is the same God who in total holiness and impartiality is the judge of all men. All the heavens and they that dwell there are awestruck with the Holiness, the Righteousness, and the Omnipotence of His Majesty. The holy angels who have never known sin or rebellion shield themselves from His glorious penetrating light; such a contrast with the apathy and religion of today. Where there is no unity in the midst of God’s people there will be little or no glory.
In every case of unity in both the Old and New Testaments, there was God’s glory to such an extent that men were bowed and the heavens were opened. The unity PRECEDES the moving of God. On the day of Pentecost, they were in ONE ACCORD prior to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We read in the Old Testament that when the singers and dancers were of ONE Voice the Glory of God fell (2 Chronicles 5:13). May we hear afresh His Word to us.
“And he spake also a parable unto them; “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed…” LUKE 5:35-38
The New Wine will not be poured out into old wineskins. They are old, inflexible, and weak. They have become rigid and have a form of righteousness that cannot be changed. God is not in the renovating business; HE TRANSFORMS anyone who dares walk in truth and in the light. His Love does not compromise with sin and religion. He cleansed the temple in His Day and He has not changed!
In His day men and women were satisfied with their paltry offerings, the money changers, and “business” of religion. Even the disciples (prior to Pentecost) were found marveling at the temple buildings in their day. Yet Jesus declared that there will not be left one stone of that old order. For the new was ready to break forth upon the grounds of the pure sacrifice of the LAMB OF GOD. Now it is a temple not made with hands; a living temple made up of living stones mortared together by the simplicity of the LOVE of God. Men no longer build their own edifices but are themselves built together INTO this glorious temple.
“In Him, you also are being built together
into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
EPHESIANS 2:22
The Living Temple
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ”
I Peter 2:5
The ONE BREAD is to bring forth the ONE BODY in truth and reality. Not a oneness based on the effort of men or the compromise of the truth! This ONENESS is the revelation of the truth not the ignoring of it. True love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is called the “Spirit of Truth”. When men love programs, teachings, the esteem of men, and self-promotion more than they love truth they reap the fruit of their own ways. This in itself is the great judgment of God. When men are content with such things nothing changes. Agnosticism*, apathy, and unbelief have rendered truth to a form and a concept instead of the living demonstration of Christ. Truth is seen as being relative; there is no concern for wrong teachings and soulish ways. We are not to say anything, do anything, that might offend others. God has a name for such a generation… ICHABOD!
“And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel”
I SAMUEL 4:21
It is time to read the scriptures for what they say and to see through the “status quo” of today. It is a day to return to the simplicity of truth and the power of His Spirit that can only be found where the New Wineskin is made up of those that love one another fervently out of a pure heart. We can no longer meet in the ways of the world. The true church is not an earthly organization but a spiritual organism living in the breath of the Holy Spirit, where men no longer walk in titles and positions but live and walk in the pure expression of His love. It is a place where our meeting together is no longer orchestrated by the programs of men but has become the place where the Spirit of Liberty is free to EXPRESS THE LIVING CHRIST. A place where His Glory comes in such power that the ways of Ananias and Sapphira are judged and God is glorified. A place where HIS Glory so permeates our gatherings unto Him that no earthly agenda can survive and men speak as the oracles of God (1 Peter 4:11).
Daniel and the Word
Daniel in captivity UNDERSTOOD by the reading of the scriptures that they would be in exile for 70 years and began to pray and repent; GOD ANSWERED! It is as His people read the scriptures and hear HIS voice that repentance and change come. Daniel did not simply say “Well, God is going to do it”… HE knew God enough to know that HE MUST RESPOND to God’s Word personally to experience the LIFE OF IT. Faith is simply the ability to respond to God’s Word.
The scriptures are read every day across our land but the famine of the word is not in the reading of it but in the HEARING of it. For FAITH comes by hearing not reading. So Jesus warns us to take heed “HOW WE HEAR” and “WHAT WE HEAR”.
“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of HEARING the words of the LORD”
AMOS 8:11
That day is upon us, but the promise of God to His Church is …
“He who has an ear,
let him HEAR what the Spirit says”
The unity of the true Body of Christ is only known by the simplicity of WALKING IN THE LIGHT…
“But if we WALK in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another”
I JOHN 1:7
*NOTE: “Agnosticism is the view that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is not known or knowable with any certainty” (Wikipedia) Can we not feel the spirit of this malaise permeating the hearts of many. Many believe in a god, many declare their “faith” in God but few reveal His reality in their lives. There is a fireless faith, a lukewarm attitude to His Word. The faithless teachings of men declare concepts and ideas instead of the fire to OBEY His Word. We hear many who say ‘be content’ with a God who remains hidden in the heavens rather than a God who breathes the power and the dynamic of Christ into His Own. How long will we tolerate the false, the carnal, and the pedantic atmosphere of unbelief? What many call “belief” in this day is unbelief, what many call faith is a trust in an idea of God rather than in the person and the truth of Christ.
Many mock the scripture… “Faith without works is dead…”. Yet it is certain that we will stand before Him at the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of what we have DONE with the measureless wonder of Christ Jesus our LORD! (Read the parables of the Talents and the Pounds)
“So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For WE must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others“
2 Corinthians 5:9-11
The measure of our believing His Word is found in our hearts and lives warning His people of their accountability. Read afresh the Word of the Lord.
Let us all take heed to our ways.
“Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Or do you not yourselves perceive that Jesus Christ is in you, unless you are disapproved”
2 Corinthians 13:5
Disunity is the result of sin, unity is the fruit of walking in His Light.
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“The unity of Christendom is not a luxury, but a necessity. The World will go limping until Christ’s prayer that all may be one is answered. We must have unity, not at all costs, but at all risks. A unified Church is the only offering we dare present to the coming Christ, for in it alone will He find room to dwell”
CHB
“It is more blessed to give than to receive”
Acts 20:35
God, Himself is such. The great supplier of all things is most Blessed and Joyful. Our poverty is His joy. Our needs only bring Him greater Joy. If we knew His heart we would ask largely, we would stretch our faith to draw from Him the “riches of His Glory”.
Our imperfections are the means of His redemption. His grace desires to fill every empty vessel. His wisdom knocks on the door of the foolish heart. His Love sent His Son to this sin-ravaged world. To the broken, He offers healing, and to the lost, He sends the Great Shepherd. It is to those who open the doors of their hearts who find His unlimited giving.
“Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
“Blessed are they that mourn:
for they shall be comforted.”
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
God loves a cheerful giver for such is He Himself.
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“There could be no riches but for need. God Himself is made rich by man’s necessity. By that He is rich to give; through that, we are rich by receiving”
– George MacDonald
“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples, saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sat on Moses’ seat. All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do.”
Matthew 23:1-3 (WEB)
There is much contained in the Words of Jesus. His words are full of truth and that truth pierces to the core of a man’s heart. In this discourse, it is striking to note the audience to whom He spoke.
“Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to his disciples”
The word that follows is important to all who call themselves by His Name. His warnings are given to everyone in general “and to His disciples”. It is a word to us, to all generations who desire to walk rightly before Him. There will always be those who ascend to prominent religious positions, speaking good things. Jesus declares what things people should hearken to and DO.
“All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do”
True disciples are to recognize God’s word even if it is spoken by some who may live hypocritically or carelessly. God’s Word is true regardless of its source. The emphasis in this warning from the Lord is found in a very short word… DO. A disciple is one in whom the word of the Lord influences their living. It is not the mental aspect; it is not merely the enlightenment of the mind while leaving one’s conduct unaffected. Doing is the revelation of true discipleship. Many hear, many teach. It is the focus of the Holy Spirit to bring us into the realm of becoming through obedience.
“…but don’t do their works; for they say and don’t do.”
Jesus considered their lack of works as their works. Their works were to talk of the things of the Lord without doing. Their non-doing became their works; much like not deciding inadvertently becomes a decision. True faith is the agency through which the works of God are born. The essential nature of faith is to reveal the Life and the Works of its Author. James declares:
“But he who looks into the perfect law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this man will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:25
The subtlety of Pharisee-ism is a fearful and easy thing into which any disciple can fall. We can become comfortable in our beliefs rather than in our relationship with Him. Disciples follow Him. They participate in the doing of His Will on the earth. They are involved in the works of Christ for He is their Head, and they are His hands, feet, and heart in this world. Because they are of His Body, they move with Him.
May we be warned in our own walk. Let us heed the exhortations of Him to flee the Pharisaical ways of speaking without doing, of teaching without being a demonstration in our own lives. The truth of our words is to be evidenced in our homes, in our workplaces, and in our fellowship with those who are His.
“…but don’t do their works; for they say and don’t do”
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“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion.”
Luke 10:30-33
Ω
“So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty”
James 2:12
