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

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.

Christian perfection is not, and never can be, human perfection. Christian perfection is the perfection of a relationship with God that shows itself to be true even amid the seemingly unimportant aspects of human life. When you obey the call of Jesus Christ, the first thing that hits you is the pointlessness of the things you have to do. The next thought that strikes you is that other people seem to be living perfectly consistent lives. Such lives may leave you with the idea that God is unnecessary— that through your own human effort and devotion you can attain God’s standard for your life. In a fallen world this can never be done. I am called to live in such a perfect relationship with God that my life produces a yearning for God in the lives of others, not admiration for myself. Thoughts about myself hinder my usefulness to God. God’s purpose is not to perfect me to make me a trophy in His showcase; He is getting me to the place where He can use me. Let Him do what He wants.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord, A popular Success Model has “Begin With The End In Mind” as one of the ingredients for a successful life. It seems that whenever we do that, we are in danger of missing out on the more important issue … having a relationship with you and then just living out of that relationship. Whether it seems “on point” according to our objectives or not, whether we are sick or well…

There’s nothing wrong with “Beginning with the end in mind” … as long as you “hold it in an open palm” and dont obsess over the goal to the point that you miss the things I would share with you if you weren’t so obsessed and focused on your goal. Consider my servant Moses, He was given a goal early on, Deliver the Hebrews from bondage to Egypt. Then he had 40 years of herding sheep in the desert before he was ready to go into the active stage of the vision. Your life may have stages of waiting and preparation as well. Dont give up on the vision if you got it from me. Dont doubt in the dark what you’ve seen in the light.

You may say that you dont have a grand vision, like Moses did. Remember, Moses got in trouble by chasing his grand vision before he was ready. The safe way to have a grand vision and chase after it and not miss it is to make relationship with me your grand vision. Then as we walk together your life will include some things that the world will consider grand and others mundane … but to the extent that you are walking with me and living out of that relationship… it will all be grand.

Whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. —James 2:10

…being justified freely by His grace… —Romans 3:24

…by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. —Galatians 6:14

…except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14

God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ… —Galatians 6:14

When a person is newly born again, he seems inconsistent due to his unrelated emotions and the state of the external things or circumstances in his life. The apostle Paul had a strong and steady underlying consistency in his life. Consequently, he could let his external life change without internal distress because he was rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not consistent spiritually because we are more concerned about being consistent externally. In the external expression of things, Paul lived in the basement, while his critics lived on the upper level. And these two levels do not begin to touch each other. But Paul’s consistency was down deep in the fundamentals. The great basis of his consistency was the agony of God in the redemption of the world, namely, the Cross of Christ.

State your beliefs to yourself again. Get back to the foundation of the Cross of Christ, doing away with any belief not based on it. In secular history the Cross is an infinitesimally small thing, but from the biblical perspective it is of more importance than all the empires of the world. If we get away from dwelling on the tragedy of God on the Cross in our preaching, our preaching produces nothing. It will not transmit the energy of God to man; it may be interesting, but it will have no power. However, when we preach the Cross, the energy of God is released. “…it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.…we preach Christ crucified…” (1 Corinthians 1:21, 23).

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
We look at Paul going thru tough circumstances, seemingly with a calm demeanor and without wavering. And we see Jesus going thru the crucifixion week also resolutely and without wavering. Of course both Jesus and Paul had their moments. If not, it wouldn’t have been “a cross, an instrument of death” Father, why have you forsaken me? … I do what I don’t want, etc Paul. But after those moments both Paul and Jesus yielded to the circumstances and “went on thru” … And came out the other side. It seems that Jesus had his moment in Gethsemane, but after that, he was resolute and calm. Is that the goal for us? And how do we get there if we find ourselves falling short of that model and stressing out, etc?

The reason that the stories are in the Book is for your study and growth in faith. You will note that lots of shortcomings are also recorded in the Book. They are for your learning and shaping as well. The saying that you must build your barn before the storm applies here. If you want to go thru tough circumstances with an inner calm… that ability and trust must be built before the storm hits. You are doing that as you wrestle with these issues. Stay connected with me and know that each little issue that comes your way is a practice opportunity for larger challenges.

Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters…, so our eyes look to the Lord our God… —Psalm 123:2

In Him we have…the forgiveness of sins… —Ephesians 1:7

Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy. The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours.

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.

Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.

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Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
Today, right now, I am grateful. Grateful for your salvation and atonement sacrifice that allows me to come into relationship with you and receive your love. Staying grateful, consciously grateful, as the challenges of life come my way … that is the challenge. I sometimes feel disconnected, and ungratefulness usually comes along with that. How can I hold onto the gratefulness more consistently?

There will be an ebb and flow. It’s natural and part of the human condition. After a busy schedule of being with people, I needed to get away and recharge and reconnect with my purpose and my power source. That’s what you are doing when you consciously re-connect. You wouldn’t need to reconnect if there had not been a disconnect. Life will do that to you. Expect it. But don’t live there. Reconnect with me. Make it part of your life structure. It is one of the few things that is safe to make a structure around.

If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. —John 8:36


If there is even a trace of individual self-satisfaction left in us, it always says, “I can’t surrender,” or “I can’t be free.” But the spiritual part of our being never says “I can’t”; it simply soaks up everything around it. Our spirit hungers for more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God, but sin, our own individuality, and wrong thinking keep us from getting to Him. God delivers us from sin— we have to deliver ourselves from our individuality. This means offering our natural life to God and sacrificing it to Him, so He may transform it into spiritual life through our obedience.

God pays no attention to our natural individuality in the development of our spiritual life. His plan runs right through our natural life. We must see to it that we aid and assist God, and not stand against Him by saying, “I can’t do that.” God will not discipline us; we must discipline ourselves. God will not bring our “arguments…and every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5)— we have to do it. Don’t say, “Oh, Lord, I suffer from wandering thoughts.” Don’t suffer from wandering thoughts. Stop listening to the tyranny of your individual natural life and win freedom into the spiritual life.

“If the Son makes you free….” Do not substitute Savior for Son in this passage. The Savior has set us free from sin, but this is the freedom that comes from being set free from myself by the Son. It is what Paul meant in Galatians 2:20 when he said, “I have been crucified with Christ….” His individuality had been broken and his spirit had been united with his Lord; not just merged into Him, but made one with Him. “…you shall be free indeed”— free to the very core of your being; free from the inside to the outside. We tend to rely on our own energy, instead of being energized by the power that comes from identification with Jesus.