You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up . . . [with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

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December 12, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

 

Lord, this devotional reminds me that my prayers should not  necessarily be that we be removed from our trials, but that You use the  circumstances and trials to bring us into your will. And while I know that  sounds a bit defeatist, it occurs to me that because of your abundant love, and  your omnipotence, being in your will guarantees Your best for us.

And God says…”If your  fathers, not being God, want the very best for their children, how much more do  you think your Father in heaven wants for you? You cannot grasp the love I have  for you. My love for you is beyond your comprehension. Consider the magnitude of My sacrifice, and not your circumstances or situation, and know that when  you are in My will, you are exactly where you must be for your ultimate well-being. Trust in Me with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding …and  I will make your paths straight.”

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.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.

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December 12, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, it is amazing and true that the transformation You  have begun in me has given me a different kind of appreciation for others.  The transformation seems to include  grace and forgiveness and a new kind of empathy.  When I am in communion with You I unconsciously  gravitate toward the needs of others, and when I am not in communion with you,  I seem to gravitate into a very small world that includes only me. Lord, help  me to turn my focus away from myself, and toward others.

The natural life itself is not sinful. But we must abandon sin, having nothing to do with it in any way whatsoever. Sin belongs to hell and to the devil. I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and to God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. This is where the battle has to be fought. The things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God’s best. Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle. Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh . . . .” The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself. . .” (Matthew 16:24). That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.

The natural life is not spiritual, and it can be made spiritual only through sacrifice. If we do not purposely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural to us. There is no high or easy road. Each of us has the means to accomplish it entirely in his own hands. It is not a question of praying, but of sacrificing, and thereby performing His will.

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December 9, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I used to pray then immediately go out and pursue my own agenda. I mean after all, I must be in your will; I prayed for guidance and then….took off! But over time You have been showing me that the plan, idea or practice does not need to make sense to me. It does not need to fit into my preconceived notions about how and why You work in my life and the lives of others. You have shown me that it is perfectly “normal” although not so “natural” for a believer to trust and depend on You to work in supernatural ways; in ways I can never understand nor anticipate.

And God says…”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. Simply trust me and let go of your own ideas about how I might respond to your prayers and cries for help. When you predetermine how I “should” respond to your prayers, hopes and dreams, you can limit your faith to those areas. Give Me room in your heart, head and life, to be God. Think, hope and
believe that I will respond in ways beyond your understanding. Think, hope, pray and believe that I will respond in ways that only the God of the universe could…. and on your behalf because I love you with a love beyond your imaginings. ”

We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. “. . . Christ Jesus . . . became for us wisdom from God–and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the death sentence is still in effect.No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “. . . there is no other name . . . by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In Him we have redemption through His blood . . .” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy people holy.

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Conviction of sin is best described in the words:

My sins, my sins, my Savior,
How sad on Thee they fall.

Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight . . .” (Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves he is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of God. Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex action caused by self-disgust.

The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable “goodness.” Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (see Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant.

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December 7, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, just before I began the mechanics of assembling the devotional this morning I caught a glimpse of this quote from Charles Spurgeon,
“You cannot sin so much as God can forgive. If it comes to a pitched
battle between sin and grace, you shall not be so bad as God shall be good. I
will prove it to you. You can only sin as a man, but God can forgive as a God.
You sin as a finite creature, but the Lord forgives as the infinite
Creator.”

Father God, this quote made me stop and consider just how  amazing You are. Your overwhelming grace and mercy just stops me in my tracks  sometimes. Your love goes beyond anything I can imagine. Thank You for the  reminder.

And God says…” I went  to great lengths to show My love and grace in a way that demonstrates  just how far I will go to have a relationship with You. There are no limits or  boundaries on My love and grace. You will never be able to out run, or “out-sin”  my love, grace and forgiveness. There is no limit nor can you ever be separated  from My love and the goodness I have for you. Trust in Me with all your heart  and do not rely on your own understanding….and revel in my grace and love.”

 

Waiting for God to act is fleshly unbelief. It means that I have no faith in Him. I wait for Him to do something in me so I may trust in that. But God won’t do it, because that is not the basis of the God-and-man relationship. Man must go beyond the physical body and feelings in his covenant with God, just as God goes beyond Himself in reaching out with His covenant to man. It is a question of faith in God–a very rare thing. We only have faith in our feelings. I don’t believe God until He puts something tangible in my hand, so that I know I have it. Then I say, “Now I believe.” There is no faith exhibited in that. God says, “Look to Me, and be saved . . .” (Isaiah 45:22).

When I have really transacted business with God on the basis of His covenant, letting everything else go, there is no sense of personal achievement— no human ingredient in it at all. Instead, there is a complete overwhelming sense of being brought into union with God, and my life is transformed and radiates peace and joy.

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December 6, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I am not quite certain what Chambers was teaching in this lesson. Is he teaching that we must have a covenant relationship with You? Of course I agree with that. Or is he teaching that I must do my part? I understand that the only part I am to play in this relationship is complete surrender. And yes of course I rely too much on my feelings. My feelings can play little, if any, part in my relationship with You, and there can be no personal achievement on my part for our relationship. I am to simply trust You and You alone will change me from the inside out.

And God says…”

DJR continues…  We keep coming back to the central point of relationship.  If the relationship is right your “peace meter” and its corollary the “frustration meter” will indicate that you are in my will.    That includes keeping in mind, at least in the background, a few keys … like Jesus saying, “It is finished,”   Paul saying, “no condemnation for those in Christ” , “more than conquerers” etc.   When you lay hold of all that, you are inviting me in and it is my Spirit empowering your life.   Then you really can switch to the passenger seat and let me drive.   With that mindset  frustration and stress can easily be replaced by acceptance and curiosity.

I am accountable to God for the way I control my body under His authority. Paul said he did not “set aside the grace of God”— make it ineffective (Galatians 2:21). The grace of God is absolute and limitless, and the work of salvation through Jesus is complete and finished forever. I am not being saved— I am saved. Salvation is as eternal as God’s throne, but I must put to work or use what God has placed within me. To “work out [my] own salvation” (Philippians 2:12) means that I am responsible for using what He has given me. It also means that I must exhibit in my own body the life of the Lord Jesus, not mysteriously or secretly, but openly and boldly. “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection . . .” (1 Corinthians 9:27). Every Christian can have his body under absolute control for God. God has given us the responsibility to rule over all “the temple of the Holy Spirit,” including our thoughts and desires (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are responsible for these, and we must never give way to improper ones. But most of us are much more severe in our judgment of others than we are in judging ourselves. We make excuses for things in ourselves, while we condemn things in the lives of others simply because we are not naturally inclined to do them.

Paul said, “I beseech you . . . that you present your bodies a living sacrifice . . .” (Romans 12:1). What I must decide is whether or not I will agree with my Lord and Master that my body will indeed be His temple. Once I agree, all the rules, regulations, and requirements of the law concerning the body are summed up for me in this revealed truth-my body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit.”

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December 5, 2011

 

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, when I read the scriptures about what I should do, what I should be like, how I should live, I feel convicted. Because I know that I am not being as responsible as I should be. I know that I am not as disciplined nor as “good” as I ought to be. I would like to believe and feel that I have been responsible to the temple of the Holy Spirit, but I know I make many wrong choices daily. What am I to do?

And God says…”First of all forget all your ought tos, should dos and must dos. Remember that there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. If you were/are able to be responsible and disciplined, there would have been no need for Christ Jesus. All things are complete in Him. Let Jesus live through you and let Him provide the discipline and focus you need. Simply be in relationship with Jesus and observe as your body, mind and spirit (over time and as a result of  Christ living through you) becomes the temple of the  Holy Spirit.”

The moral law does not consider our weaknesses as human beings; in fact, it does not take into account our heredity or infirmities. It simply demands that we be absolutely moral. The moral law never changes, either for the highest of society or for the weakest in the world. It is enduring and eternally the same. The moral law, ordained by God, does not make itself weak to the weak by excusing our shortcomings. It remains absolute for all time and eternity. If we are not aware of this, it is because we are less than alive. Once we do realize it, our life immediately becomes a fatal tragedy. “I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died” (Romans 7:9). The moment we realize this, the Spirit of God convicts us of sin. Until a person gets there and sees that there is no hope, the Cross of Christ remains absurd to him. Conviction of sin always brings a fearful, confining sense of the law. It makes a person hopeless— “. . . sold under sin” (Romans 7:14). I, a guilty sinner, can never work to get right with God— it is impossible. There is only one way by which I can get right with God, and that is through the death of Jesus Christ. I must get rid of the underlying idea that I can ever be right with God because of my obedience. Who of us could ever obey God to absolute perfection!We only begin to realize the power of the moral law once we see that it comes with a condition and a promise. But God never coerces us. Sometimes we wish He would make us be obedient, and at other times we wish He would leave us alone. Whenever God’s will is in complete control, He removes all pressure. And when we deliberately choose to obey Him, He will reach to the remotest star and to the ends of the earth to assist us with all of His almighty power.

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