If you want to know the power of God (that is, the resurrection life of Jesus) in your human flesh, you must dwell on the tragedy of God. Break away from your personal concern over your own spiritual condition, and with a completely open spirit consider the tragedy of God. Instantly the power of God will be in you. “Look to Me. . .” (Isaiah 45:22). Pay attention to the external Source and the internal power will be there. We lose power because we don’t focus on the right thing. The effect of the Cross is salvation, sanctification, healing, etc., but we are not to preach any of these. We are to preach “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). The proclaiming of Jesus will do its own work. Concentrate on God’s focal point in your preaching, and even if your listeners seem to pay it no attention, they will never be the same again. If I share my own words, they are of no more importance than your words are to me. But if we share the truth of God with one another, we will encounter it again and again. We have to focus on the great point of spiritual power— the Cross. If we stay in contact with that center of power, its energy is released in our lives. In holiness movements and spiritual experience meetings, the focus tends to be put not on the Cross of Christ but on the effects of the Cross.

The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.

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November 26, 2010

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

This is a wondrous time…..being able to sit on an airplane at 39000 feet and access worship music, create the devotional on line, and reach out to others online. Compared to other times and places, this is an awesome time and place to be a believer. Finding you in a song or translation or multimedia clip is amazingly easy. Worship music and devotionals abound. Thank you Lord for this time of media miracles, and all the wonderful tools available to me that support my worship and praise.

And God says…”Remember the lesson of the talents. Your tools and blessings are available as you leverage them to others. Remember that not everyone has access to these tools. Nor is everyone free to worship and pray as are you. Reach out to others, pray for them and help them gain access to the worship and praise tools you have available to you. Remember the more love, faith, truth and hope you give away, the more you will receive. Give and it shall be given to you, in like kind, overflowing your capacity to catch or consume.”