He said, ’Take now your son . . .’ —Genesis 22:2

“So Abraham rose early in the morning . . . and went to the place of which God had told him” (Genesis 22:3). Oh, the wonderful simplicity of Abraham! When God spoke, he did not “confer with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16). Beware when you want to “confer with flesh and blood” or even your own thoughts, insights, or understandings— anything that is not based on your personal relationship with God. These are all things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.

Abraham did not choose what the sacrifice would be. Always guard against self-chosen service for God. Self-sacrifice may be a disease that impairs your service. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential will of God means a hard and difficult time for you, go through it. But never decide the place of your own martyrdom, as if to say, “I will only go to there, but no farther.” God chose the test for Abraham, and Abraham neither delayed nor protested, but steadily obeyed. If you are not living in touch with God, it is easy to blame Him or pass judgment on Him. You must go through the trial before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because by going through the trial you learn to know God better. God is working in us to reach His highest goals until His purpose and our purpose become one.

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November 11, 2013-JDV

God, whenever I hear or read about someone that hears your voice, and responds…or not; I think…”If I just knew it was God talking to me, I would respond.” I would do exactly what You want me to do God, if I only knew it was your voice.  But oftentimes I am uncertain about the still small voice inside my head. Is it You, is it my own voice or the voice of my parents, church or???  If I just knew it was You Lord.

And God says…” When you are connected, truly connected to Me, you know it is Me. When you have abandoned your own methods and devices, you know it is Me. You are uncertain about My voice only because you are not surrendered and connected. When you abandon your own notions, the notions of others, even the notions of the church and church leaders, and listen for Me, you will hear My voice. My sheep know My voice. And when you respond to Me you will hear Me even more clearly as  your next steps, become clear, one step at a time.  You then can respond to the church, and the voices that confirm I am God and I gave My Son for you. You can respond to the understanding that your first step is to be loved by Me. Surrender, and listen for and to Me, and you will hear My voice and know it is your God.  Seek first the Kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and everything you need will be provided.”

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God . . . —Romans 8:28

The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.

Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.

Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, “. . . but the Spirit Himself makes intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.

Journal DJR

Good morning Lord,
Today I need a little help in discerning the circumstances that come in my life. I get it that all things work together for good … and that acceptance is a good mindset. But also there is the “devil running around like a raging lion seeking who he may destroy” When circumstances come against me, seemingly to destroy, or ready to destroy … I’m having trouble balancing acceptance with actively getting involved and fighting for my life or my future or my share,or my, my, my……..

I didn’t design you not to fight for survival or even for justice or your share. But it will work better for you if you do as Ms Underwood sings… and let me take the wheel. Of course you can do that when your life is sliding on black ice. But can you give me the wheel when things are going well? Staying curious about how I am going to work things out for good and expecting that I will … That’s your best mindset and your best chance of letting me keep the steering wheel of your life.

Do you believe this? —John 11:26

Is the Lord dealing with you in the same way? Is Jesus teaching you to have a personal intimacy with Himself? Allow Him to drive His question home to you— “Do you believe this?” Are you facing an area of doubt in your life? Have you come, like Martha, to a crossroads of overwhelming circumstances where your theology is about to become a very personal belief? This happens only when a personal problem brings the awareness of our personal need.

To believe is to commit. In the area of intellectual learning I commit myself mentally, and reject anything not related to that belief. In the realm of personal belief I commit myself morally to my convictions and refuse to compromise. But in intimate personal belief I commit myself spiritually to Jesus Christ and make a determination to be dominated by Him alone.

Then, when I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and He says to me, “Do you believe this?” I find that faith is as natural as breathing. And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been in not trusting Him earlier

. . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . —1 Peter 4:13

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
I dont know anyone who would ask for more suffering … except those who need medication and therapy. But the fact is that suffering will come to all of us… one way or another. It is good to remember things like Romans 8:28 that you are able to make all things work together for good, And that you have plans for good, for a future and a hope. Jer 29:11. Rehearsing these facts is helpful when we find ourselves in the middle of disappointments or sufferings.

Things which you call sufferings are difficult only to the extent that you dont see as Jesus saw. So walk with me and gain my perspective. Then you’ll be like Jesus who only did what he saw me doing and only said what he heard me saying, Jn 5:19. He still “suffered” … but did not percieve it as suffering, but rather as opportunity to promote his (my) mission on earth. You can suffer and complain in your circumstances or look at them like Jesus did … You know which will make a happier life. So choose to walk with me and I will show you a way to live that will transform suffering into opportunity.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you —James 4:8

When a truth of God is brought home to your soul, never allow it to pass without acting on it internally in your will, not necessarily externally in your physical life. Record it with ink and with blood— work it into your life. The weakest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is liberated the second he acts and God’s almighty power is available on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, confess we are wrong, but go back again. Then we approach it again and turn back, until we finally learn we have no business going back. When we are confronted with such a word of truth from our redeeming Lord, we must move directly to transact business with Him. “Come to Me . . .” (Matthew 11:28). His word come means “to act.” Yet the last thing we want to do is come. But everyone who does come knows that, at that very moment, the supernatural power of the life of God invades him. The dominating power of the world, the flesh, and the devil is now paralyzed; not by your act, but because your act has joined you to God and tapped you in to His redemptive power.

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November 4, 2013-JDV

When I am focused on You Lord, it seems that it is all I need. When I am connected to You, Jesus, I can be at peace without answers or solutions, because You are the answer and solution. You fill up my heart and head, when I seek You and You alone.  How is this Lord, and how can I sustain this kind of intimacy and how can I, regularly and normally, as a part of my day, reach out to others with this message?

And God says…” You cannot capture nor seek intimacy with Me, and you cannot try to reach out to others as a part of your work, you can only surrender. When you surrender to Me, you are connected, and when you are connected, I can do the reaching out, you are simply available. You are not connected when you try to find Me in your efforts, works, study or even prayer or conformity. Although those are all things that are good .You will find our intimacy and ability to reach others in your surrender, allowing Me to live through you; outreach, works, study prayer and transformation can then occur.  Do not try to touch others, it will be demonstrated as artificial and contrived.  Let Me touch them as a result of your surrender.  Seek first the Kingdome of God, which is Jesus; acknowledge the Lord in all you ways. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you —Matthew 17:20

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.

Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
In the last two days two devastating facts have come across my consciousness. The intense poverty in West Virginia coal towns, and the intense poverty in Haiti. The stories that went with these two made me cry. Earlier in my walk I may have thought, “how could a good God let that happen?” Same for tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and mass murderers. I dont think that anymore. That question has been replaced by 2 curiosities: …. What are you doing? and What shall I do about it? Thanks for making us curious beings. Curiosity has been a refuge for me to run into when things dont seem to make sense. Choosing and cultivating curiosity about what you are doing and how I can be involved has been one of the best things to keep my faith growing. Thank You

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21

That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (seeGalatians 4:19).

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Today I see where I have gotten tangled up in the past… Confusing the event and the process of my salvation. The event was a once and for all event. While the process of me “working out my salvation” continues on daily and will continue until I arrive there. The temptation is to work for salvation instead of toward Christlikeness. Aren’t we really working together on the project of my life? And your part is already done. It’s kind of like, you brought a Christmas gift … and I am spending a lifetime unwrapping it? Why dont I unwrap it faster and get more perfected in holiness faster? To continue the analogy of the Christmas gift, it would be one of those gifts that is a box inside of a box inside of a box …. As areas of sin and carnality get exposed and dealt with … more and deeper areas will just show up. So it’s a life long project, getting more and more of the gift unwrapped. Your ways are good. I am happy with the project. Thank you. I love you.

If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life —Romans 5:10

The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

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October 28, 2013- JDV

Lord,

This is an ongoing struggle; to trust You and simply surrender or to surrender and then engage in activities and efforts to get closer to You. I often wonder that if I am justified then why do I seem to go back to revisit the sacrifice of Jesus so often? Why am I drawn to the cross over and over as part of my surrender? Why can I not simply “move on” to the next step? Why can’t I move on past my need for Jesus redemptive sacrifice?

And God says…”There is no “next thing”, there is no “moving on” past the cross. Being drawn back to the cross daily…hourly and minute by minute is a powerful step in surrender and connection. Jesus made the sacrifice and humans do not and cannot understand it. Do not try to understand it. What you can do is meet Him every day at the cross and surrender to Him. Let His life work in and through you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not rely on your own devices and He will make your paths straight. Focus on Jesus and His sacrificial gift. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and everything else you need will be provided.”

Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 2:14

The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him . . .” (Romans 8:37).

“We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . .” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.

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October 24, 2013- JDV

Lord, I do want to have the proper perspective. But I need you to take me over and give me that perspective. I seem to crumble too early, stumble too often and go my own ways.  Help me be a captive of Jesus, Lord.  Like the father said to Jesus, I believe, help me in my unbelief. So I say Lord, I believe You will take me over and give me your perspective, but I ask You to please help me in my unbelief.

And God says…”As Oswald Chambers says in this devotional, to maintain My perspective, it must be little by little every day. Seek Me and you will find Me. Knock on My door and it will be opened.  Trust Me to do what I have said I will do for you.  Meet and connect with Me (that is surrender yourself to Me) in the morning and be curious about your day as I live through you.  Acknowledge me in all your ways and I will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new —2 Corinthians 5:17

Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Jesus, when I have looked for You inside of certain kinds of blessings or events, it seems I am disappointed. When I expect to see you I do not. But it seems when I look for you in everything and every event, You are there. I cannot explain it.

And God says…”You cannot put God into a place or time, and pull Him out when you are in need or have time for worship. Seek first the Kingdom of God, which is Jesus. When you look for Me in all things, all day, every day, I am there. Seek Me first, delight yourself in Me and I am there. I am there because you put Me first and want to see Me in all things, not just some religious times, or times when it occurs to you. Acknowledge Me in all your ways and I will make your paths straight.”