Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires —Galatians 5:24

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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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, is amazing how you speak to me with your promises, not just in your word, but in songs, and the words of friends and even the songs on the radio. Perhaps it is because I am listening for You that I can hear Your voice? Both thoughts are accurate…if I believe I can hear you I can , and if I believe I cannot…..well then…I cannot. I believe Lord, help me in my unbelief.

And God says…”I am the great I Am. Trust in me with all your heart, do not rely on your own devices…and I will make your paths and heart straight. You cannot come to me out of more discipline, more Bible studies, or my gritting your teeth and trying harder to be a man after My own heart. You come to me with a tiny sliver of trust and hope knowing you cannot do any good thing. Give Me your trying, effort and sliver of hope and I will be the light of your life. You can do all things through Christ Jesus. Delight yourself in Me and I will give you the desires of your heart.  “

. . . only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you —Genesis 41:40

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.”

To him who overcomes . . . —Revelation 2:7

Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.

Health is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces the mental balance called thought.

Morally it is the same. Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.

And spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation . . .” (John 16:33). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, “. . . but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.

Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.

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December 4, 2013-JDV

Lord, you have taught me to “give up, surrender” and let You engage the challenges of my life. Then I read the devotional form Chambers and he says we must be at war all the time; that we must fight to maintain a spiritual and moral balance. He also says that I am to fight to overcome the things that come against me, and yet I am told that You have already won the battle. Which is it Lord? Do I fight or surrender? How can I build moral and spiritual balance? Do I fight and struggle with the things that come against me, or do I give up and surrender my fight to You?

And God says…”Many life lessons are simple and paradoxical. Through Jesus, you have life that comes from His death. You are at your strongest when you surrender and rely on Me.  You are the most wise when you come to Me as a little child. As the Apostle Paul wrote; “When you want to do the right thing, you actually end up doing what is wrong. You struggle to do the right thing and then time and time again do the wrong thing. There IS a war going on inside of you. But once you realize that Jesus has already won all your battles, the struggle is transformed into a victory party. The real struggle is for you to surrender, to give up yourself.  The fight is not a fight that you take on, it is a surrender to Jesus……so that He can fight on your behalf. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and everything else you require, need or desire shall be provided.”

My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power . . . —1 Corinthians 2:4

If in preaching the gospel you substitute your knowledge of the way of salvation for confidence in the power of the gospel, you hinder people from getting to reality. Take care to see while you proclaim your knowledge of the way of salvation, that you yourself are rooted and grounded by faith in God. Never rely on the clearness of your presentation, but as you give your explanation make sure that you are relying on the Holy Spirit. Rely on the certainty of God’s redemptive power, and He will create His own life in people.

Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is in experiences, anything that happens is likely to upset that faith. But nothing can ever change God or the reality of redemption. Base your faith on that, and you are as eternally secure as God Himself. Once you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will never be moved again. That is the meaning of sanctification. God disapproves of our human efforts to cling to the concept that sanctification is merely an experience, while forgetting that even our sanctification must also be sanctified (see John 17:19). I must deliberately give my sanctified life to God for His service, so that He can use me as His hands and His feet.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord. Sometimes I think I’m doing the right thing, the good thing and the Godly thing … but it doesn’t turn out so well. Is that because my effort at sanctification was just that … My effort?

You cannot will yourself sanctified or set apart or cleaned up. If you try, it will be the work of your flesh and won’t be filled with my power. If you wait for my sanctifying work to manifest in your life, it will be a joy to walk in the way that I direct. If you cook up your own ideas, you will get tired and stressed out. It’s a pretty good test of whether you are working with my power or your own. If you are stressed and tired … It’s not me. I give my servants rest, even in the hard times. Back up and get yourself re-calibrated with my love and sacrifice. Listen for my voice, then go again.
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Not that I have already attained, or am already perfect . . . —Philippians 3:12

It is a trap to presume that God wants to make us perfect specimens of what He can do— God’s purpose is to make us one with Himself. The emphasis of holiness movements tends to be that God is producing specimens of holiness to put in His museum. If you accept this concept of personal holiness, your life’s determined purpose will not be for God, but for what you call the evidence of God in your life. How can we say, “It could never be God’s will for me to be sick”? If it was God’s will to bruise His own Son (Isaiah 53:10), why shouldn’t He bruise you? What shines forth and reveals God in your life is not your relative consistency to an idea of what a saint should be, but your genuine, living relationship with Jesus Christ, and your unrestrained devotion to Him whether you are well or sick.