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

Do not quench the Spirit —1 Thessalonians 5:19

Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? —Matthew 8:26

When we are afraid, the least we can do is pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God. We come to our wits’ end, showing that we don’t have even the slightest amount of confidence in Him or in His sovereign control of the world. To us He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.

“. . . O you of little faith!” What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought to themselves, “We missed the mark again!” And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, in spite of what we were facing.

There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible. But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him.

We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives? It will be expressed in our lives as a peaceful resting in God, which means a total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us not only blameless in His sight, but also a profound joy to Him.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning, Lord.
Thank you for the rain today. It’s a good picture of two ways to look at things. I could be stressed out that the camp is getting cancelled, so the schedule won’t be met … and the jobs won’t get done…. or I can rejoice in the “freed up time” in which I can re-calibrate and look to you, to see how to spend it.

These come from two different world views. On the one hand you can try to organize everything, think the best positive thoughts, and try real hard, attract good things, and wind up with a good life and “success.” In other words, you can try to be me. Not a good plan. Tiredness, Disillusion and Depression lie down that road.

The other world view is that since you are not God and are very imperfect, and you have an invitation from the God who is perfect to join Him in an adventure … that you set aside your preconceptions and look to me, learn to see as I see, feel as I feel. Then when you are confused by circumstances of life, you can just step back and be curious for a moment …knowing that I have all things under control and in due time all will be revealed. Perhaps in a way that currently seems good to you. But perhaps not. But it will be my way and I have good plans for you. A person who lives like that will live at rest and at peace. I can be trusted. Really.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NLT)

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him and He will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun” (Psalm 37:4-6).

. . . 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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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord
I really mean it. It is a good morning and I am grateful for all you’ve done and continue to do. Thank You.
The central line of the song today … Fix my eyes on you… and the message from Oswald, Get identified and stay identified with Christ as a child in the Father’s House … They go together and lay down a challenge: It is a simple recipe for the good life of a Christian, But I find it fairly easy to fall away and backslide into running things my own way and getting stressed out about it. Is there anything I’m missing?

You approach this with too much black and white thinking. You tend to categorize a thought as “from you” or “from me.” It would be better to invite me into all your thinking. Then I can take you into my thinking. You’ll be surprised. Many of your thoughts, I can make even better. And I can direct you on how to handle the ones that are from the dark side.

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

’. . . and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished.’ . . . But they understood none of these things . . . —Luke 18:31, 34


God called Jesus Christ to what seemed absolute disaster. And Jesus Christ called His disciples to see Him put to death, leading every one of them to the place where their hearts were broken. His life was an absolute failure from every standpoint except God’s. But what seemed to be failure from man’s standpoint was a triumph from God’s standpoint, because God’s purpose is never the same as man’s purpose.

This bewildering call of God comes into our lives as well. The call of God can never be understood absolutely or explained externally; it is a call that can only be perceived and understood internally by our true inner-nature. The call of God is like the call of the sea— no one hears it except the person who has the nature of the sea in him. What God calls us to cannot be definitely stated, because His call is simply to be His friend to accomplish His own purposes. Our real test is in truly believing that God knows what He desires. The things that happen do not happen by chance— they happen entirely by the decree of God. God is sovereignly working out His own purposes.

If we are in fellowship and oneness with God and recognize that He is taking us into His purposes, then we will no longer strive to find out what His purposes are. As we grow in the Christian life, it becomes simpler to us, because we are less inclined to say, “I wonder why God allowed this or that?” And we begin to see that the compelling purpose of God lies behind everything in life, and that God is divinely shaping us into oneness with that purpose. A Christian is someone who trusts in the knowledge and the wisdom of God, not in his own abilities. If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord. Wow, that last sentence really sums it up. This and yesterday’s devotional go together in summarizing the points you have been teaching us … that our higher purpose has little to do with money, things or worldly accomplishments and that your purpose can’t be discerned from psychological or business inventories but only thru connection with you and discerning with our inner spirits what it is that you would have us be about. And you’ve given us a “peace meter” which can be an indication of how we are walking in your plans for us.

“If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.”

So, if we notice, or if our friends notice, or if our physician notices that we are stressed out….. it’s a pretty good indicator that we are somehow missing your best plan for us.

So, we’ve got a pretty good dashboard indicator or “idiot light” to let us know when we aren’t trusting in you alone or when we’ve overloaded ourselves with more than you’re calling us to. But once we realize it, getting out of that stress and overload trap, and staying out of it, has proven to be quite a challenge. I find it easy to backslide into the stressed out mode and find my mind wandering into my own interests and ideas…..

As you are learning, The solution is in the problem. Connection is the answer. Through connection, I will show you the way out of your stress right now … Come unto me and I will give you rest… and show you the way to live continually. As long as things are working in your own human power, you won’t “Come unto me” So when things fall apart and you get stressed out, see it as an invitation. An invitation to a better way of life. A life marked by “simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.”

By the way, you mentioned falling back into thinking about “your ideas.” Where do you think those ideas come from? Especially in this, Connection, Curiosity and Expectation is the way to live. Invite me into all your thinking, yes, all of it, even those things you think I would be repulsed by. I will sort it out. Things that need to be left behind … I will guide you and help you and empower you when you “Come to me.” How well has gritting your teeth and making resolutions worked for you?

He took the twelve aside . . . —Luke 18:31

Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing —James 1:4

Many of us appear to be all right in general, but there are still some areas in which we are careless and lazy; it is not a matter of sin, but the remnants of our carnal life that tend to make us careless. Carelessness is an insult to the Holy Spirit. We should have no carelessness about us either in the way we worship God, or even in the way we eat and drink.

Not only must our relationship to God be right, but the outward expression of that relationship must also be right. Ultimately, God will allow nothing to escape; every detail of our lives is under His scrutiny. God will bring us back in countless ways to the same point over and over again. And He never tires of bringing us back to that one point until we learn the lesson, because His purpose is to produce the finished product. It may be a problem arising from our impulsive nature, but again and again, with the most persistent patience, God has brought us back to that one particular point. Or the problem may be our idle and wandering thinking, or our independent nature and self-interest. Through this process, God is trying to impress upon us the one thing that is not entirely right in our lives.

We have been having a wonderful time in our studies over the revealed truth of God’s redemption, and our hearts are perfect toward Him. And His wonderful work in us makes us know that overall we are right with Him. “Let patience have its perfect work . . . .” The Holy Spirit speaking through James said, “Now let your patience become a finished product.” Beware of becoming careless over the small details of life and saying, “Oh, that will have to do for now.” Whatever it may be, God will point it out with persistence until we become entirely His.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord
Today there were many songs that speak to the lesson. I’ll add at least one more at the end.

But the message we seem to be hearing is that directed self effort is not the way to eliminate our character faults or sins. We’ve got lots of experience with those self improvement methods with marginal results. It’s true … a diet or exercise program rigidly adhered to, even with gritted teeth, has some value and will generate some change. Olympians do huge amounts of it with tremendous results.

1 Timothy 4:8(NLT) “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

So what is the difference between training for physical events and measurements and “training for godliness?”

Good question. Confusing the methods for each has led to much pain and disillusion over the centuries. Physical training can be measured and quantified and checked off a list. Training in Godliness cannot because everyone has a customized program. The way you engage in training for Godliness is to connect with me, stay tuned, stay curious, stay expectant and stay ready. Then jump into obedience to whatever you hear or see that We, Father, Holy Spirit and I want to be accomplishing in any situation. You can’t distill that to a checklist of religious activity. You can only distill it to those characteristics, curiosity, expectancy, and readiness to obey. Then just live out of what comes your way. It will be totally customized, just for you and unlike anyone else on the planet.

Here’s another song that goes with the message today

Jesus did not commit Himself to them . . . , for He knew what was in man —John 2:24-25

Behold, He is coming with clouds . . . —Revelation 1:7

In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. “The clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness.

It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. Is our relationship with God becoming more simple than it has ever been?

There is a connection between the strange providential circumstances allowed by God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Until we can come face to face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God’s character, we do not yet know Him.

“. . . they were fearful as they entered the cloud” (Luke 9:34). Is there anyone except Jesus in your cloud? If so, it will only get darker until you get to the place where there is “no one anymore, but only Jesus . . .” (Mark 9:8 ; also see Mark 2:7).

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
So you want me to “unlearn” some things…… I guess that makes sense. The things I’ve learned that turn out not to be true, seem to cause me the biggest problems. One of the biggest is, “If it’s to be, It’s up to me” Although there is some truth in that common self improvement mantra … it can lead to much wasted effort. Perhaps the way to sift out the kernel of truth in that statement would be to say, If I connect with you and discern what your will in a situation is and am obedient to that … then it will be.

That is true, but it is also true that you can use your own effort to cause a thing to happen without any regard to me or my plans. People do it all the time. It doesn’t bring about my best for them but it does happen. Will power and organized efforts are merely tools. They can be used positively or negatively. They can run you into situations of overload and stress. But if you stay connected, I will show you how to navigate thru the stressors and choose the path of peace that I have for you, even in the storms of life. The peace meter and the stress meter on the dashboard of your life are pretty good indicators of how well we are connected.