He calls his own . . . by name . . . —John 10:3

When I have sadly misunderstood Him? (see John 20:11-18). It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus. A person’s soul is in grave danger when the knowledge of doctrine surpasses Jesus, avoiding intimate touch with Him. Why was Mary weeping? Doctrine meant no more to her than the grass under her feet. In fact, any Pharisee could have made a fool of Mary doctrinally, but one thing they could never ridicule was the fact that Jesus had cast seven demons out of her (see Luke 8:2); yet His blessings were nothing to her in comparison with knowing Jesus Himself. “. . . she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. . . . Jesus said to her, ’Mary!’ ” (John 20:14, 16). Once He called Mary by her name, she immediately knew that she had a personal history with the One who spoke. “She turned and said to Him, ’Rabboni!’ ” (John 20:16).

When I have stubbornly doubted? (see John 20:24-29). Have I been doubting something about Jesus— maybe an experience to which others testify, but which I have not yet experienced? The other disciples said to Thomas, “We have seen the Lord” (John 20:25). But Thomas doubted, saying, “Unless I see . . . I will not believe” (John 20:25). Thomas needed the personal touch of Jesus. When His touches will come we never know, but when they do come they are indescribably precious. “Thomas . . . said to Him, ’My Lord and my God!’ ” (John 20:28).

When I have selfishly denied Him? (see John 21:15-17). Peter denied Jesus Christ with oaths and curses (see Matthew 26:69-75), and yet after His resurrection Jesus appeared to Peter alone. Jesus restored Peter in private, and then He restored him publicly before the others. And Peter said to Him, “Lord . . . You know that I love You” (John 21:17).

Do I have a personal history with Jesus Christ? The one true sign of discipleship is intimate oneness with Him— a knowledge of Jesus that nothing can shake.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord. This was classic manna today. This is exactly how we want to live… Like Mary. Unshakeable by circumstances. It seems that the hindrances are when we get of into life management or guilt or sin management … then we walk away from this rich life that we can have. Perhaps the message of simplicity would be most helpful in staying tight with you.

It’s true that you get busy with many things. Most of them are good or neutral things. But because there are so many of them, you tend to fill up all of your days and I get squeezed to the side.

Yes, I know, and I have fought that for a long time. I need to simplify and “Just say No” to a lot of good? things that clamor for my attention.

Actually you’ll have better success if you “Just say Yes” to the important things … Like me and you and let the other stuff fall into place. It’s the Big Rocks story. Let me and us be the biggest rock you put in your fishbowl…. Life will be good.

You must be born again —John 3:7

“But as many as received Him. . .” (John 1:12). Is my knowledge of Jesus the result of my own internal spiritual perception, or is it only what I have learned through listening to others? Is there something in my life that unites me with the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior? My spiritual history must have as its underlying foundation a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. To be born again means that I see Jesus.

“. . . unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God ” (John 3:3). Am I seeking only for the evidence of God’s kingdom, or am I actually recognizing His absolute sovereign control? The new birth gives me a new power of vision by which I begin to discern God’s control. His sovereignty was there all the time, but with God being true to His nature, I could not see it until I received His very nature myself.

“Whoever has been born of God does not sin. . .” (1 John 3:9). Am I seeking to stop sinning or have I actually stopped? To be born of God means that I have His supernatural power to stop sinning. The Bible never asks, “Should a Christian sin?” The Bible emphatically states that a Christian must not sin. The work of the new birth is being effective in us when we do not commit sin. It is not merely that we have the power not to sin, but that we have actually stopped sinning. Yet 1 John 3:9 does not mean that we cannot sin— it simply means that if we will obey the life of God in us, that we do not have to sin.

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August 15, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, when I read that I can actually live like You, and live without sin in my life, I feel like such a failure, because that is not what actually happens in my life. I still find the ways and means to get angry, frightened, selfish, defensive and judgmental. Not to mention letting my eyes and mind wander off to where they should not go. If Chambers is right, and I am able to live outside of these behaviors, then I must be a failure, because just when I think I have overcome a particular weakness,..opps. There it is again.

And God says…”You cannot live your life being concerned or even conscious of “sin management”. You need to surrender this part of your life, along with everything else, to Jesus. It is not your role or responsibility to manage the wrong doing in your life. The sacrifice of Jesus dealt and deals with the sin and sin management for all that believe. How does this happen? What does it require of you and of God? What  part of the actual work belongs to you and what part belongs to Me? It all belongs to Me. You simply surrender to Me. You surrender your life and the sin management  to Me; the sacrifice of Jesus has dealt with it. …Listen to the Apostle Paul,

 Romans 7:17-25 (MSG)  

 17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My  decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong  deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

 21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

 24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?  25The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does. He acted to set things right in this life of contradictions where I want to serve God with all my heart and mind, but am pulled by the influence of sin to do something totally different.

My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him —Hebrews 12:5

It is very easy to grieve the Spirit of God; we do it by despising the discipline of the Lord, or by becoming discouraged when He rebukes us. If our experience of being set apart from sin and being made holy through the process of sanctification is still very shallow, we tend to mistake the reality of God for something else. And when the Spirit of God gives us a sense of warning or restraint, we are apt to say mistakenly, “Oh, that must be from the devil.”

“Do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19), and do not despise Him when He says to you, in effect, “Don’t be blind on this point anymore— you are not as far along spiritually as you thought you were. Until now I have not been able to reveal this to you, but I’m revealing it to you right now.” When the Lord disciplines you like that, let Him have His way with you. Allow Him to put you into a right-standing relationship before God.

“. . . nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.” We begin to pout, become irritated with God, and then say, “Oh well, I can’t help it. I prayed and things didn’t turn out right anyway. So I’m simply going to give up on everything.” Just think what would happen if we acted like this in any other area of our lives!

Am I fully prepared to allow God to grip me by His power and do a work in me that is truly worthy of Himself? Sanctification is not my idea of what I want God to do for me— sanctification is God’s idea of what He wants to do for me. But He has to get me into the state of mind and spirit where I will allow Him to sanctify me completely, whatever the cost (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).

When searching for the right song for today, I found two … and couldn’t decide. DJR

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Thank you for your love & grace this day. We can tend to feel guilty and feel like you are using guilt to get conformity when we read about not grieving the Spirit … have we done that? etc. Devotions like this one can exacerbate that in those of us who have a predisposition to judge ourselves harshly.

But we are reminded that your grace is sufficient and everlasting and stretches from the east to the west. It is becoming clear that our requirement is merely to show up. To show up surrendered … pre surrendered. Like the man who responded, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief”

So help us to show up with you and receive whatever you have for us this day.

Do not quench the Spirit —1 Thessalonians 5:19

Beware if in sharing your personal testimony you continually have to look back, saying, “Once, a number of years ago, I was saved.” If you have put your “hand to the plow” and are walking in the light, there is no “looking back”— the past is instilled into the present wonder of fellowship and oneness with God (Luke 9:62 ; also see 1 John 1:6-7). If you get out of the light, you become a sentimental Christian, and live only on your memories, and your testimony will have a hard metallic ring to it. Beware of trying to cover up your present refusal to “walk in the light” by recalling your past experiences when you did “walk in the light” (1 John 1:7). When-ever the Spirit gives you that sense of restraint, call a halt and make things right, or else you will go on quenching and grieving Him without even knowing it.

Suppose God brings you to a crisis and you almost endure it, but not completely. He will engineer the crisis again, but this time some of the intensity will be lost. You will have less discernment and more humiliation at having disobeyed. If you continue to grieve His Spirit, there will come a time when that crisis cannot be repeated, because you have totally quenched Him. But if you will go on through the crisis, your life will become a hymn of praise to God. Never become attached to anything that continues to hurt God. For you to be free of it, God must be allowed to hurt whatever it may be.

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August 13, 2012

Lord, I know that You will never leave me or forsake me because You told me so. I know that there is no limit to your grace and patience, and yet this lesson implies that if I fail to hear You or respond to the pleading of the Holy Spirit, that You will leave me. What is that all about? On the one hand You tell me that there is no limit to your grace, mercy and love and on the other hand I read this lesson about how I might quench Your Spirit? Your scripture tells me that nothing can separate me from the love of God, and then I read that I can grieve the Spirit of God. Help me understand.

And God says…”When you live in My will and are connected to Me, you can hear Me very, very clearly. When you are listening for Me, you hear Me. Perhaps you can understand it more clearly like this:  You will always find Me when you are searching for Me. You will always hear Me when you are listening for Me and you will always be connected when you are seeking connection. You can never hide from Me, nor run away from Me because I will finish the work I began in you. However, I can only be that part of you and your awareness; Savior, friend, mentor and provider, as you surrender these roles to Me.  And every time you reject Me and refuse to surrender your will, the more you hear your own voice and less of mine. I came to give you life and life more abundantly, and you can have it as you let go of your own strength. Trust in Me with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding and I will make your paths straight. I will never leave you and nothing can separate you from Me, but to hear Me, feel Me and know I am there, you must surrender yourself.”

Let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good . . . —1 Peter 4:19

Choosing to suffer means that there must be something wrong with you, but choosing God’s will— even if it means you will suffer— is something very different. No normal, healthy saint ever chooses suffering; he simply chooses God’s will, just as Jesus did, whether it means suffering or not. And no saint should ever dare to interfere with the lesson of suffering being taught in another saint’s life.

The saint who satisfies the heart of Jesus will make other saints strong and mature for God. But the people used to strengthen us are never those who sympathize with us; in fact, we are hindered by those who give us their sympathy, because sympathy only serves to weaken us. No one better understands a saint than the saint who is as close and as intimate with Jesus as possible. If we accept the sympathy of another saint, our spontaneous feeling is, “God is dealing too harshly with me and making my life too difficult.” That is why Jesus said that self-pity was of the devil (see Matthew 16:21-23). We must be merciful to God’s reputation. It is easy for us to tarnish God’s character because He never argues back; He never tries to defend or vindicate Himself. Beware of thinking that Jesus needed sympathy during His life on earth. He refused the sympathy of people because in His great wisdom He knew that no one on earth understood His purpose (see Matthew 16:23). He accepted only the sympathy of His Father and the angels (see Luke 15:10).

Look at God’s incredible waste of His saints, according to the world’s judgment. God seems to plant His saints in the most useless places. And then we say, “God intends for me to be here because I am so useful to Him.” Yet Jesus never measured His life by how or where He was of the greatest use. God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.

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August 10, 2011-2012

Thank you Lord for many things; including the process of learning to walk by faith, even when faith is the only avenue open to me.  And even though I often do not appreciate the difficult times while I am in them, I can look back and understand how you used a particular circumstance to help shape me. I can also understand how you might use difficult times to shape my brothers and sisters. And while it makes sense for me to love them while they are inside a tough  time, I also understand that You must have Your perfect will and perfect timing;  working through circumstances with believers. Lord help me to understand this in my life and the lives of others and praise you during these times: all the while not attempting to try and  help myself or others escape the trials too early.

And God says…”If you recall, we have been on the best of speaking terms when you were in the most need. When you have been overwhelmed by difficulties that you could not control, you always turned to Me. You have been learning this lesson over and over and over, so that now turning your daily life over to Me is not an occasional thing, it has become a pattern of living for you. Had you been able to handle your day to day circumstances there would have been no motivation for you to turn to Me so frequently and with the highest degrees of intensity. ”

Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ’Father, I thank You that You have heard Me’ —John 11:41

When the Son of God prays, He is mindful and consciously aware of only His Father. God always hears the prayers of His Son, and if the Son of God has been formed in me (see Galatians 4:19) the Father will always hear my prayers. But I must see to it that the Son of God is exhibited in my human flesh. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . . ” (1 Corinthians 6:19), that is, your body is the Bethlehem of God’s Son. Is the Son of God being given His opportunity to work in me? Is the direct simplicity of His life being worked out in me exactly as it was worked out in His life while here on earth? When I come into contact with the everyday occurrences of life as an ordinary human being, is the prayer of God’s eternal Son to His Father being prayed in me? Jesus says, “In that day you will ask in My name . . .” (John 16:26). What day does He mean? He is referring to the day when the Holy Spirit has come to me and made me one with my Lord.

Is the Lord Jesus Christ being abundantly satisfied by your life, or are you exhibiting a walk of spiritual pride before Him? Never let your common sense become so prominent and forceful that it pushes the Son of God to one side. Common sense is a gift that God gave to our human nature— but common sense is not the gift of His Son. Supernatural sense is the gift of His Son, and we should never put our common sense on the throne. The Son always recognizes and identifies with the Father, but common sense has never yet done so and never will. Our ordinary abilities will never worship God unless they are transformed by the indwelling Son of God. We must make sure that our human flesh is kept in perfect submission to Him, allowing Him to work through it moment by moment. Are we living at such a level of human dependence upon Jesus Christ that His life is being exhibited moment by moment in us?

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August 9, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I was just praying about my prayers reaching You as they seem to once again hitting the sky and falling down on me. I pray, and pray and seek Your guidance and direction and….nothing. I have been looking for your specific direction and help, but You seem so far away right now. Certainly I have made enough wrong choices to have made You angry and tired of my tendencies. I have sought my own vision and goals instead of simply seeking You. But then I remember your love and grace know no boundaries or end. Your love and mercy are an ocean. So then if your grace, mercy and love are all consuming and overcome even my most desperate choices, then where are you, where have you been?

And God says…” I am right here with you. I am holding you, caring for your life, heart and soul. You cannot sense my closeness because you are still looking for Me in the answers to your prayers. I am not the answers to your prayers; I am the answer for your life. I am the way, the truth, the life and light. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Often your prayer life seems dry as the desert because you are not seeking Me, first. You are or have been seeking answers to your prayers, to your uncertainty and circumstances. When you seek Me first, in all things…when you seek and see Me in everything, you then realize that I am all around and surrounding you, every day, in every way, all the time. Find Me in Your own life as I am living in  you.”

. . . that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God —Luke 1:35

Am I simple enough to identify myself with my Lord in this way? Is He having His wonderful way with me? Is God’s will being fulfilled in that His Son has been formed in me (see Galatians 4:19), or have I carefully pushed Him to one side? Oh, the noisy outcry of today! Why does everyone seem to be crying out so loudly? People today are crying out for the Son of God to be put to death. There is no room here for God’s Son right now— no room for quiet, holy fellowship and oneness with the Father.

Is the Son of God praying in me, bringing honor to the Father, or am I dictating my demands to Him? Is He ministering in me as He did in the time of His manhood here on earth? Is God’s Son in me going through His passion, suffering so that His own purposes might be fulfilled? The more a person knows of the inner life of God’s most mature saints, the more he sees what God’s purpose really is: to “. . . fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ . . .” (Colossians 1:24). And when we think of what it takes to “fill up,” there is always something yet to be done.

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August 8, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

It seems to me that all my hopes, dreams, shame and regret are rolled up into the one phrase of the song; I am redeemed. I have the hope, peace and faith to know that I am set free by Jesus. I am not who used to be. I do not have to be fearful or even anxious about what is going to happen when I trust Jesus. Lord, help me to live in this trusting way, all the while telling myself and the enemy; I am redeemed.

And God says…”It is a very simple and peaceful way to live…”in Jesus”. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and He will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Focus on Jesus, and trust in  His redeeming blood. Seek Him first and everything else you need… will be provided…..”you are redeemed”.

. . . they found Him in the temple . . . . And He said to them, ’. . . Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?’ —Luke 2:46, 49

Our Lord’s childhood was not immaturity waiting to grow into manhood— His childhood is an eternal fact. Am I a holy, innocent child of God as a result of my identification with my Lord and Savior? Do I look at my life as being in my Father’s house? Is the Son of God living in His Father’s house within me?

The only abiding reality is God Himself, and His order comes to me moment by moment. Am I continually in touch with the reality of God, or do I pray only when things have gone wrong— when there is some disturbance in my life? I must learn to identify myself closely with my Lord in ways of holy fellowship and oneness that some of us have not yet even begun to learn. “. . . I must be about My Father’s business”— and I must learn to live every moment of my life in my Father’s house.

Think about your own circumstances. Are you so closely identified with the Lord’s life that you are simply a child of God, continually talking to Him and realizing that everything comes from His hands? Is the eternal Child in you living in His Father’s house? Is the grace of His ministering life being worked out through you in your home, your business, and in your circle of friends? Have you been wondering why you are going through certain circumstances? In fact, it is not that you have to go through them. It is because of your relationship with the Son of God who comes, through the providential will of His Father, into your life. You must allow Him to have His way with you, staying in perfect oneness with Him.

The life of your Lord is to become your vital, simple life, and the way He worked and lived among people while here on earth must be the way He works and lives in you.

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August 7, 2012

Lord, it was just yesterday afternoon, or perhaps late last evening, when I last asked You “why these circumstances?” It seems to me that I am beginning to understand. These circumstances point me to You. And not just the difficult circumstances anymore, but the moment by moment circumstances of now point and remind me that You are where my focus needs to be for all things. When in need; look to You for answers to prayer. When my needs are met and prayers are answered; look to You and give thanks.  When I am “in between” look to You for direction, and my next steps. Perhaps I am learning to look to You in all circumstances of life.

And God says…”Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and all you need will be provided. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and do not rely on your own understanding and He will make your paths straight. Do not worry about anything but pray about everything, and the peace that is beyond all understanding will surround you. When you pursue Jesus at every opportunity, your world and all its circumstances remain in perspective as His faith, hope and love transform you, and you begin to understand that all things really do work for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”

The Cross in Prayer

Aug062012
In that day you will ask in My name . . . —John 16:26

We too often think of the Cross of Christ as something we have to get through, yet we get through for the purpose of getting into it. The Cross represents only one thing for us— complete, entire, absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ— and there is nothing in which this identification is more real to us than in prayer.

“Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace.

“. . . I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you . . .” (John 16:26-27). Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ? Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then “in that day” you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.

When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason— God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.

In that day you will ask in My name . . . —John 16:26

“Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why should we ask? The point of prayer is not to get answers from God, but to have perfect and complete oneness with Him. If we pray only because we want answers, we will become irritated and angry with God. We receive an answer every time we pray, but it does not always come in the way we expect, and our spiritual irritation shows our refusal to identify ourselves truly with our Lord in prayer. We are not here to prove that God answers prayer, but to be living trophies of God’s grace.

“. . . I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loves you . . .” (John 16:26-27). Have you reached such a level of intimacy with God that the only thing that can account for your prayer life is that it has become one with the prayer life of Jesus Christ? Has our Lord exchanged your life with His vital life? If so, then “in that day” you will be so closely identified with Jesus that there will be no distinction.

When prayer seems to be unanswered, beware of trying to place the blame on someone else. That is always a trap of Satan. When you seem to have no answer, there is always a reason— God uses these times to give you deep personal instruction, and it is not for anyone else but you.

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August 3, 2011-12

Father God, where does the spiritual fire go, one day to the next? Yesterday I was so certain, so focused and then this morning I seemed to have mislaid that surety of purpose. Yesterday I knew the direction you laid out for me, and yet I am not quite so certain this morning. What happened?

And God says…”I give you manna for each day. Do not try to carry over yesterday’s certainty for today. Meet me at the cross daily, then arise knowing that I will give you the manna you need each morning, afternoon and evening. Do not worry about tomorrow or this morning, or even the next hour. Live in the moment knowing I am with you. The purpose I gave you yesterday is still there, you simply need to meet Me at the cross each morning knowing I will reinforce your sense of purpose and certainty. I will remind you of your “promised land’ and give you the strength, purpose and provision to energize your new day. I am your way , your truth and your life. Find me at the cross every morning”