We have received . . . the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God —1 Corinthians 2:12
My experience is not what makes redemption real— redemption is reality. Redemption has no real meaning for me until it is worked out through my conscious life. When I am born again, the Spirit of God takes me beyond myself and my experiences, and identifies me with Jesus Christ. If I am left only with my personal experiences, I am left with something not produced by redemption. But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
Just before this lesson, I recceived a “one-two” punch or experience that manifest itself as a loss of joy and connection. I began trusting my experience of being disheartened, and disconnected. I felt as if I lost my connection based on the truth…Jesus Christ. However, I suspect I was simply under attack and needed to be connected. JDV
If you try to hold back the Holy Spirit within you, with the desire of producing more inner spiritual experiences, you will find that He will break the hold and take you again to the historic Christ. Never support an experience which does not have God as its Source and faith in God as its result. If you do, your experience is anti-Christian, no matter what visions or insights you may have had. Is Jesus Christ Lord of your experiences, or do you place your experiences above Him? Is any experience dearer to you than your Lord? You must allow Him to be Lord over you, and pay no attention to any experience over which He is not Lord. Then there will come a time when God will make you impatient with your own experience, and you can truthfully say, “I do not care what I experience— I am sure of Him!”
Be relentless and hard on yourself if you are in the habit of talking about the experiences you have had. Faith based on experience is not faith; faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.
And I, if I am lifted up . . . will draw all peoples to Myself —John 12:32
Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.
When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.
But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2 ). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.
The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us.
And in these opportuities we must be very, very careful that “we” are not in the way of the Holy Spirfit. If we are not completely and utterly connected to the Spirit of God we run the risk of judging others, and judging will damage both of us. jdv
We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.
Never be sympathetic (although being empathetic is perfectly alright..jdv)with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with someone so that He may be viewed as the tender One. If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up— he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power. It is impossible to deal sympathetically with people like that. We must reach down deep in their lives to the root of the problem, which will cause hostility and resentment toward the message. People want the blessing of God, but they can’t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter.
The song says that we are going right to the heart of the matter, and it is always Jesus. He is where we begin and end….jdv
If you are sensitive to God’s way, your message as His servant will be merciless and insistent, cutting to the very root.
If our message, with and especially without words, is about Jesus, there will always be healing, even though we may not see it. We can be confident that God will act when we are connected to Jesus and the connection is demonstrable to people arouind us, Christians and “pre-Christians”…..jdv
Otherwise, there will be no healing. We must drive the message home so forcefully that a person cannot possibly hide, but must apply its truth. Deal with people where they are, until they begin to realize their true need.
We can deal with people where they are by empathisizing with them, and demonstrating Jesus in us as we are connected to the Spirit of God, being Jesus to someone that needs Him. jdv
Then hold high the standard of Jesus for their lives. Their response may be, “We can never be that.” Then drive it home with, “Jesus Christ says you must.” “But how can we be?” “You can’t, unless you have a new Spirit” (see Luke 11:13 ).
There must be a sense of need created before your message is of any use. Thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God. But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to “bring . . . a sword” through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.
We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28
It is only a faithful (connected) person who truly believes that God sovereignly controls his circumstances. We take our circumstances for granted, saying God is in control, but not really believing it. We act as if the things that happen were completely controlled by people. To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty, or object of our faith— the Lord Jesus Christ. God may cause our circumstances to suddenly fall apart, which may bring the realization of our unfaithfulness to Him for not recognizing that He had ordained the situation. We never saw what He was trying to accomplish, and that exact event will never be repeated in our life. This is where the test of our faithfulness comes. If we will just learn to worship God even during the difficult circumstances, He will change them for the better very quickly if He so chooses.
It may be that none of us can worship God during the difficult circumstances UNLESS we are connected to Him. Perhaps this is an indicator or our connectedness; our joy and courage even in the most difficult of circumstances….jdv
And when we are “connected” to Him we understand this in a supernatural way because the Spirit of the living God is communicating with the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us. jdv
Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ.
However, the Spirit of the living God can provide the strength, courage and joy necessary to be faitful to Jesus when we are connected to Him and can receive these attributes. Connected we can receive these attributes, unconnected, and we are left to our own strength which never works. JDV
Galations 2:20
20I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.
The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him . . . —1 Corinthians 2:14
The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to us (believers) when we are not connected to God. If we do not maintain our connnection with God, it seems we keep our fire insurance and lose out on the kingdom of God in the here and now. We know we are connected when we are at peace and and feel the joy of our Savior regardless of our circumstances. JDV/DJR
We feel the joy and peace because we know God holds us in His hand regardless. This is a peace that passes understanding. Others cannot understand it unless they too are connecrted to the Spirit of God. …. DJR/JDV
The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe . . .” ( 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 ). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you . . .” (Matthew 7:7 ). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked.
When we surrender who we are and ask God to replace our will with His, we are connected and this connection creates in us the desire to stay connected and grow with it. jdv
The more connection we get, the more we need and want. This is self perpetuating because it is the way we are designed to live. djr
Our relationship with God, beginning with our redemption, begins for us when we ask, although the love, sacrifice and commitment to us from God has been there forever……jdv
The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.
Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” ( John 12:32 ). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” ( John 6:63 ).
Take up the whole armor of God . . . praying always . . . —Ephesians 6:13,18
You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural. If you ever do wrestle with God, you will be crippled for the rest of your life. If you grab hold of God and wrestle with Him, as Jacob did, simply because He is working in a way that doesn’t meet with your approval, you force Him to put you out of joint (see Genesis 32:24-25 ). Don’t become a cripple by wrestling with the ways of God, but be someone who wrestles before God with the things of this world, because “we are more than conquerors through Him . . .” ( Romans 8:37 ). Wrestling before God makes an impact in His kingdom. If you ask me to pray for you, and I am not complete in Christ, my prayer accomplishes nothing. But if I am complete in Christ, my prayer brings victory all the time. Prayer is effective only when there is completeness— “take up the whole armor of God . . . .”
Always make a distinction between God’s perfect will and His permissive will, which He uses to accomplish His divine purpose for our lives. God’s perfect will is unchangeable. It is with His permissive will, or the various things that He allows into our lives, that we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to these things allowed by His permissive will that enables us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will for us. “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . .” ( Romans 8:28 )— to those who remain true to God’s perfect will— His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the testing He uses to reveal His true sons and daughters. We should not be spineless and automatically say, “Yes, it is the Lord’s will.” We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength.
Mortals may note: Wrestling wrongly with God and against God can be hazardous to our health. Witness Ps 106:15… He gave them the desire of their heart but brought leanness into their souls. The solution to know how and when to wrestle and when to fight and what to fight and when to give up is found in our COMMITMENT TO CONNECTEDNESS. We are finding that to be the Umbrella Policy that covers everything. A trump card that supersedes man’s wisdom because it brings us into connection to His Wisdom, which is higher. djr
Among the benefits of this Connected way of life are two “Dashboard Meters” The Peace Meter and the Joy Meter. These metaphors are backed up by real God-Created neurology in the form of Visceral Tension. Visceral Tension and Peace and Joy dont occupy the same space, so when visceral tension shows up, we note simultaneously that Peace and Joy have left and can take a time out or whatever is necessary to get them back…. usually repent, sometimes surrender, but always regain the connection. Then, with peace in our hearts, move forward…. even if it is to continue wrestling. djr
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth —2 Timothy 2:15
If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed. You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.
Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn’t know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly.
When we speak boldly as directed by the Holy Spirit and through the winepress of experience, we are not to let the outcome or lack of evidence infleuence our opinion of the message. God and the Spirit of God know and control the outcome….The ourcome may be outside our ability to observe or understand. …JDV
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled . . . —John 14:27
Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint. We encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.
When we are close to God, or as we say, “connected” we are at peace. JDV
God’s mark of approval, whenever you obey Him, is peace. He sends an immeasurable, deep peace; not a natural peace, “as the world gives,” but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming. If you are acting on your own impulse, or out of a sense of the heroic, to be seen by others, the peace of Jesus will not exhibit itself. This shows no unity with God or confidence in Him. The spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal for simplicity and unity.
My questions arise whenever I cease to obey. When I do obey God, problems come, not between me and God, but as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God. But any problem that comes between God and myself is the result of disobedience. Any problem that comes while I obey God (and there will be many), increases my overjoyed delight, because I know that my Father knows and cares, and I can watch and anticipate how He will unravel my problems.
This one is as DJR said, “on target”. We have been studying and learning about staying connected to God. We have discussed and prayed about lsoing “visceral tension” regardless of our circumstances by staying connected and watching how God handles all our issues. JDV
. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . . —John 17:22
Personality is the unique, limitless part of our life that makes us distinct from everyone else. It is too vast for us even to comprehend. An island in the sea may be just the top of a large mountain, and our personality is like that island. We don’t know the great depths of our being, therefore we cannot measure ourselves. We start out thinking we can, but soon realize that there is really only one Being who fully understands us, and that is our Creator.
Sometmes when I feel as if no one understands me in general or in a specific situation, I know that I am “disconnected” from the Spirit because God understands and cares about me far beyond the capacity of anyone else. He made me and then gave His Son for me, so He must have seen something worthwhile in me. …..He saw the reflection of His Son in me.
How can I engage in a pity party, or a time of self doubt when the God of the universe knows me deep down and complete, and believed me worth the sacrifice He gave? By myself I am not worthy, so when I do the math I decide …..not to be by myself. I shall be connnected to my God. …….and when I am connected to my God I am truly me, complete in every way. JDV
Personality is the characteristic mark of the inner, spiritual man, just as individuality is the characteristic of the outer, natural man. Our Lord can never be described in terms of individuality and independence, but only in terms of His total Person— “I and My Father are one” ( John 10:30 ). Personality merges, and you only reach your true identity once you are merged with another person. When love or the Spirit of God come upon a person, he is transformed. He will then no longer insist on maintaining his individuality. Our Lord never referred to a person’s individuality or his isolated position, but spoke in terms of the total person— “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . . .” Once your rights to yourself are surrendered to God, your true personal nature begins responding to God immediately. Jesus Christ brings freedom to your total person, and even your individuality is transformed. The transformation is brought about by love— personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.
Jesus said to His disciples, ’If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .’ —Matthew 16:24
I hate this song! I love this song! It speaks right to where He has us…… Staying connected to Him and eliminating the obstacles to that pre-eminent objective. Whatever the cost. Whatever the collateral damage to my pride or career or….. or…. Bring the Rain… djr
Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love.
Ouch! I was thinking that individuality was a good thing. I see that it must be filtered and pummelled by the Holy Spirit if it is to have value in the Kingdom djr
However, when we think about it individuality….true individuality has no basis in self. We become true individuals when we do not seek to become “different”, we simply seek to become one with God. The character of God shines through, others see it and sense it in us. And true to God’s character, He has once again made us different but the same, …in His image. He made us complex and unique but part of a singular body. God understands our need for individuality and like all our other needs has provided for it. JDV
1 Corinthians 12:18
18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
Psalm 139:13 (GN) says this: “You (God) created every part of me. You put me together in my mother’s womb.” In the Living Bible, verse 14 says:“Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous.” Job 10:8a (GN) says: “Your hands formed and shaped me.
God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality.
Any other way? Oh crap! I thought that was my main gift. It is or can be, it simply must be a gift from God and not ourselves. JDV….There is no need to abandon our individuality, we are simply to abandon it to God.
If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24 ).
23“Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” ( Matthew 5:24 ). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “. . . let him deny himself . . .”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.
I wonder what that guy will look like. I’ve been so individualistic and contrarian and busy making sure I was coloring outside the lines and marching to no freaking drum and rebelling against authority that I dont know what and where the real me is…. djr No but God knows and that is all that matters. Him knowing and us letting Him exercise His will in shaping us. JDV
I suspect that when God is done with me, there will still be some contrarianism and swimming upstream and going against the grain. Jesus did that, didn’t he? But I see now that my main objective, His main objective in me is to get me swimming in his current, going with his grain, marching to His drum and then I can color outside all the other lines, swim against all other currents, and disregard all other drummers. Be contrarian to my hearts content. But come home to connection with Papa on all the things that are important to His Heart. djr
True individuality emerges when the Spirit of God is allowed to work in our lives. God shapes us and molds us as he would a snowflake once we let go of ourselves. JDV
Thank you for being with me and blessing me yesterday. Sneaking up on me. Pouring blessings on me. I was, like CS Lewis, surprised by joy. Let’s go do that again today! and every day. djr
Yesterday I took courage from God and faced some issues “head on” ……….I did not want to address the issues, and so I let go of them and God faced them for me. I discovered it was/is OK to be frightened as long as I use it as part of my dashboard to tell me I need to be connected to the Spirit of God in that area of my life. JDV
This CO2- (Church Of 2) is where two guys meet each day to tighten up our Connections with Jesus. We start by placing the daily “My Utmost For His Highest” in this WordPress blog. Then we prayerfully select some matching worship music and usually pick out a few lyrics that fit especially well. Then we just start praying and editing and Bolding and adding comments and see where the Spirit takes us.
It’s been a blessing for both of us.
If you’d like to start a CO2, we’d be glad to help you and your partner get started. Also click the link below to see how others are doing CO2.Odds Monkey
But experiences produced by redemption prove themselves by leading me beyond myself, to the point of no longer paying any attention to experiences as the basis of reality. Instead, I see that only the reality itself produced the experiences. My experiences are not worth anything unless they keep me at the Source of truth— Jesus Christ.
But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love.
Click Image for John White's Original Vision For CO2's
