Vital Intercession

May 3rd, 2012 by Dave No comments »

. . . praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit . . . —Ephesians 6:18

As we continue on in our intercession for others, we may find that our obedience to God in interceding is going to cost those for whom we intercede more than we ever thought. The danger in this is that we begin to intercede in sympathy with those whom God was gradually lifting up to a totally different level in direct answer to our prayers. Whenever we step back from our close identification with God’s interest and concern for others and step into having emotional sympathy with them, the vital connection with God is gone. We have then put our sympathy and concern for them in the way, and this is a deliberate rebuke to God.

It is impossible for us to have living and vital intercession unless we are perfectly and completely sure of God. And the greatest destroyer of that confident relationship to God, so necessary for intercession, is our own personal sympathy and preconceived bias. Identification with God is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with Him it is because of our sympathy with others, not because of sin. It is not likely that sin will interfere with our intercessory relationship with God, but sympathy will. It is sympathy with ourselves or with others that makes us say, “I will not allow that thing to happen.” And instantly we are out of that vital connection with God.

Vital intercession leaves you with neither the time nor the inclination to pray for your own “sad and pitiful self.” You do not have to struggle to keep thoughts of yourself out, because they are not even there to be kept out of your thinking. You are completely and entirely identified with God’s interests and concerns in other lives. God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.

Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
There are so many needs. I could never pray for them all so I tend to get fatalistic and not even try. Help me to hear your voice and pray for the ones that you have specifically for me to pray for.

As you walk closely with me, you will know my heart and mind.

But you have a heart for all the hurting people. I dont have the capacity that you have…

True, so as you commune closely with me, you will “see” and “hear” the ones I illuminate for you to pray for.

I tend to get caught up in sympathy like Oswald talks about today. How do I stay in empathy and compassion and avoid sympathy that can take me down the wrong path?

By staying close to me. Spend time with me. Get to know me and my heart. I will show you how you are to love and reflect me into your world.

I guess that is always the answer….

Yes it is.

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The Patience To Wait for the Vision

May 2nd, 2012 by JDVaughn No comments »

Though it tarries, wait for it . . . —Habakkuk 2:3

Patience is not the same as indifference; patience conveys the idea of someone who is tremendously strong and able to withstand all assaults. Having the vision of God is the source of patience because it gives us God’s true and proper inspiration. Moses endured, not because of his devotion to his principles of what was right, nor because of his sense of duty to God, but because he had a vision of God. “. . . he endured as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). A person who has the vision of God is not devoted to a cause or to any particular issue— he is devoted to God Himself. You always know when the vision is of God because of the inspiration that comes with it. Things come to you with greatness and add vitality to your life because everything is energized by God. He may give you a time spiritually, with no word from Himself at all, just as His Son experienced during His time of temptation in the wilderness. When God does that, simply endure, and the power to endure will be there because you see God.

“Though it tarries, wait for it . . . .” The proof that we have the vision is that we are reaching out for more than we have already grasped. It is a bad thing to be satisfied spiritually. The psalmist said, “What shall I render to the Lord . . . ? I will take up the cup of salvation . . .” (Psalm 116:12-13). We are apt to look for satisfaction within ourselves and say, “Now I’ve got it! Now I am completely sanctified. Now I can endure.” Instantly we are on the road to ruin. Our reach must exceed our grasp. Paul said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on . . .” (Philippians 3:12). If we have only what we have experienced, we have nothing. But if we have the inspiration of the vision of God, we have more than we can experience. Beware of the danger of spiritual relaxation.

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May 2, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

…I thought by now Lord, I would have conquered some of my failings; I would have overcome most of the traits and habits that get in the way of my daily Christian walk. But it seems as if I can go two steps forward and two or three back. When we are tightly connected Lord I just know I can face anything and overcome anything. But when I am not tightly connected to You I am overwhelmed by my old nature and the sense that I cannot “measure up”.

And God says…”remember what Paul said…”Who will save me from the wretched Man that I am? Paul said who will save me from who I am, not who I was.  And the answer is Jesus. He also wrote under the direction of the Holy Spirit …Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Your old nature  will whipsaw you around as will the troubles and trials of the world, but when you stay anchored and connected to Jesus, you simply know that God has you in  His arms. When you have a sense or feeling that you are not in My arms, do not believe it. Believe my word”

Romans 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor   demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

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Faith— Not Emotion

May 1st, 2012 by Dave No comments »

 

We walk by faith, not by sight —2 Corinthians 5:7

For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.

If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
We really like the mountain top experiences … but have come to the point where we’ve been disappointed by not being able to maintain the clarity when we come back down into the valley … that we are suspect of the revelation. Is it only good for the mountaintop, and we have to live another way when we return to our work a day world in the Valley?

The MountainTop times have always been important times for me and my people. They built altars and monuments in the old times to commemorate those experiences. Even then, there was a tendency to worship the monument or the memory … rather than Me. So I don’t send them all the time. My people need to learn to live in all circumstances, light, darkness, clarity and confusion. Stick tight and close to me and you will be safe in the dark times.

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Spontaneous Love

April 30th, 2012 by JDVaughn No comments »

Love suffers long and is kind . . . —1 Corinthians 13:4


Love is not premeditated—it is spontaneous; that is, it bursts forth in extraordinary ways. There is nothing of precise certainty in Paul’s description of love. We cannot predetermine our thoughts and actions by saying, “Now I will never think any evil thoughts, and I will believe everything that Jesus would have me to believe.” No, the characteristic of love is spontaneity. We don’t deliberately set the statements of Jesus before us as our standard, but when His Spirit is having His way with us, we live according to His standard without even realizing it. And when we look back, we are amazed at how unconcerned we have been over our emotions, which is the very evidence that real spontaneous love was there. The nature of everything involved in the life of God in us is only discerned when we have been through it and it is in our past.The fountains from which love flows are in God, not in us. It is absurd to think that the love of God is naturally in our hearts, as a result of our own nature. His love is there only because it “has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5).If we try to prove to God how much we love Him, it is a sure sign that we really don’t love Him. The evidence of our love for Him is the absolute spontaneity of our love, which flows naturally from His nature within us. And when we look back, we will not be able to determine why we did certain things, but we can know that we did them according to the spontaneous nature of His love in us. The life of God exhibits itself in this spontaneous way because the fountains of His love are in the Holy Spirit.
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April 30, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, the lines in the song, “why don’t You break my heart till it moves my hands and feet”, caught my attention once again as I heard the song. Why is it that something inside must break or circumstances must become so pressurized before I move my hands and feet? I wish I could simply read the word, pray, and be changed. In fact for years I thought that is the way it worked for everybody else besides me. But the way I live my life out, I seem to get comfortable in my old ways, means and habits until storms and circumstances press me up tightly next to You. I wish I could learn my lessons and take my teaching in softer and easier ways.

And God says…”You have a mind of your own, and an old nature that has a path all its own. It is not natural for you to give up your life, and surrender it to me daily. This is supernatural. Your life has been conditioned to respond to what you can see, hear, feel, touch and smell. Your old nature seeks pleasure, all the while doing all it can to avoid pain. But if you are to be transformed, your old nature must be crucified with Christ. The natural man does not go quietly, without a fight. Often he must be broken and subdued. When this occurs in your life remember that your father in heaven loves you more than you can comprehend, and is transforming you into the very likeness of Jesus.” 

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What Do You Want?

April 27th, 2012 by JDVaughn No comments »

Do you seek great things for yourself? —Jeremiah 45:5


Are you seeking great things for yourself, instead of seeking to be a great person? God wants you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than simply receiving His gifts— He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large thing we want is only incidental; it comes and it goes. But God never gives us anything incidental. There is nothing easier than getting into the right relationship with God, unless it is not God you seek, but only what He can give you.If you have only come as far as asking God for things, you have never come to the point of understanding the least bit of what surrender really means. You have become a Christian based on your own terms. You protest, saying, “I asked God for the Holy Spirit, but He didn’t give me the rest and the peace I expected.” And instantly God puts His finger on the reason-you are not seeking the Lord at all; you are seeking something for yourself. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you . . .” (Matthew 7:7). Ask God for what you want and do not be concerned about asking for the wrong thing, because as you draw ever closer to Him, you will cease asking for things altogether. “Your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him” (Matthew 6:8). Then why should you ask? So that you may get to know Him.Are you seeking great things for yourself? Have you said, “Oh, Lord, completely fill me with your Holy Spirit”? If God does not, it is because you are not totally surrendered to Him; there is something you still refuse to do. Are you prepared to ask yourself what it is you want from God and why you want it? God always ignores your present level of completeness in favor of your ultimate future completeness. He is not concerned about making you blessed and happy right now, but He’s continually working out His ultimate perfection for you— “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . .” (John 17:22)._________________________________________________________

A journal reprint from 2011

April 27, 2011-JDV

The distinction is subtle and yet substantial. A relationship based on love not leverage? I suspect that in the right relationship with You, our desire is not for heaven or blessings or rescue. You do not desire a relationship based on what You can and will do for us, but a relationship based on Your love. All else will follow and is incidental to our relationship.

And God says…” You are starting to understand the relationship I want with you. The relationship I desired when I first created Adam, and the relationship I enjoy with My Son.  I understand your needs and I will meet all your needs…but I seek a relationship based on love, not wants or needs. The depth of My sacrifice is a testimony to My love for you.  And I give you My love freely, without reservation or requirement. Simply accept My love and the sacrifice of Jesus. Come into relationship with Me.”

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The Supreme Climb

April 26th, 2012 by JDVaughn No comments »

Take now your son . . . and offer him . . . as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you —Genesis 22:2


A person’s character determines how he interprets God’s will (see Psalm 18:25-26). Abraham interpreted God’s command to mean that he had to kill his son, and he could only leave this traditional belief behind through the pain of a tremendous ordeal. God could purify his faith in no other way. If we obey what God says according to our sincere belief, God will break us from those traditional beliefs that misrepresent Him. There are many such beliefs which must be removed-for example, that God removes a child because his mother loves him too much. That is the devil’s lie and a travesty on the true nature of God! If the devil can hinder us from taking the supreme climb and getting rid of our wrong traditional beliefs about God, he will do so. But if we will stay true to God, God will take us through an ordeal that will serve to bring us into a better knowledge of Himself.The great lesson to be learned from Abraham’s faith in God is that he was prepared to do anything for God. He was there to obey God, no matter what contrary belief of his might be violated by his obedience. Abraham was not devoted to his own convictions or else he would have slain Isaac and said that the voice of the angel was actually the voice of the devil. That is the attitude of a fanatic. If you will remain true to God, God will lead you directly through every barrier and right into the inner chamber of the knowledge of Himself. But you must always be willing to come to the point of giving up your own convictions and traditional beliefs. Don’t ask God to test you. Never declare as Peter did that you are willing to do anything, even “to go . . . both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). Abraham did not make any such statement— he simply remained true to God, and God purified his faith. 

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April 26, 2012

Journal Entry forToday-JDV

Lord, this is a prayer I want to recall every morning…my surrender. I surrender my life, hopes, dreams, and vision for my future to You; one day, one hour one minute at a time. Whenever I try to dedicate my future life to you, I inevitably fail and fail miserably.  But when I dedicate my minutes and hours of every day, we seem to be truly connected and I know You are here with me, living in and through me.

And God says…”I am the God I am. I am with you in the present. Be in the present with Me. When you seek me for your past in is because you are seeking relief for regret and remorse. When you seek me for your future, it is because you seek me for relief from anxiety and worry.  Jesus has covered all your past and provided for your future so that you can stay in the present with me, in relationship. Surrender your past and future to Jesus, and stay in the present with Me.”

Journal, DJR
Good Morning, Lord.
Oswald brings the point that we humans can get off track by ascribing causality to the wrong person. Maybe something came from God, maybe Satan was involved or maybe it was just our own sowing and reaping. Believing one of those stories strongly (but differently than the other person) can start wars, cause divorces and all sorts of human mischief. You have your work cut out for you … straightening out our human wrong thinking. But of course you are up to the task. And have all the tools you need to get it accomplished.

Do as Abraham did, Just stay determined to follow me and I will show you my ways and my love. It is helpful to know my character. Then you wont be so likely to blame me for the works of Satan or your own fallen humanity. Make that the goal of your study … to know my character and love. Not to clarify argument positions or simply to “gain knowledge”

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NLT)

Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.

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The Supreme Climb

April 26th, 2012 by Dave No comments »

Take now your son . . . and offer him . . . as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you —Genesis 22:2

A person’s character determines how he interprets God’s will (see Psalm 18:25-26). Abraham interpreted God’s command to mean that he had to kill his son, and he could only leave this traditional belief behind through the pain of a tremendous ordeal. God could purify his faith in no other way. If we obey what God says according to our sincere belief, God will break us from those traditional beliefs that misrepresent Him. There are many such beliefs which must be removed-for example, that God removes a child because his mother loves him too much. That is the devil’s lie and a travesty on the true nature of God! If the devil can hinder us from taking the supreme climb and getting rid of our wrong traditional beliefs about God, he will do so. But if we will stay true to God, God will take us through an ordeal that will serve to bring us into a better knowledge of Himself.

The great lesson to be learned from Abraham’s faith in God is that he was prepared to do anything for God. He was there to obey God, no matter what contrary belief of his might be violated by his obedience. Abraham was not devoted to his own convictions or else he would have slain Isaac and said that the voice of the angel was actually the voice of the devil. That is the attitude of a fanatic. If you will remain true to God, God will lead you directly through every barrier and right into the inner chamber of the knowledge of Himself. But you must always be willing to come to the point of giving up your own convictions and traditional beliefs. Don’t ask God to test you. Never declare as Peter did that you are willing to do anything, even “to go . . . both to prison and to death” (Luke 22:33). Abraham did not make any such statement— he simply remained true to God, and God purified his faith.

Journal, DJR
Good Morning, Lord.
Oswald brings the point that we humans can get off track by ascribing causality to the wrong person. Maybe something came from God, maybe Satan was involved or maybe it was just our own sowing and reaping. Believing one of those stories strongly (but differently than the other person) can start wars, cause divorces and all sorts of human mischief. You have your work cut out for you … straightening out our human wrong thinking. But of course you are up to the task. And have all the tools you need to get it accomplished.

Do as Abraham did, Just stay determined to follow me and I will show you my ways and my love. It is helpful to know my character. Then you wont be so likely to blame me for the works of Satan or your own fallen humanity. Make that the goal of your study … to know my character and love. Not to clarify argument positions or simply to “gain knowledge”

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 (NLT)

Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.

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The Warning Against Desiring Spiritual Success

April 24th, 2012 by Dave No comments »


Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you . . . —Luke 10:20

Worldliness is not the trap that most endangers us as Christian workers; nor is it sin. The trap we fall into is extravagantly desiring spiritual success; that is, success measured by, and patterned after, the form set by this religious age in which we now live. Never seek after anything other than the approval of God, and always be willing to go “outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Hebrews 13:13). In Luke 10:20  , Jesus told the disciples not to rejoice in successful service, and yet this seems to be the one thing in which most of us do rejoice. We have a commercialized view— we count how many souls have been saved and sanctified, we thank God, and then we think everything is all right. Yet our work only begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation. Our work is not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace, and our work as His disciples is to disciple others’ lives until they are totally yielded to God. One life totally devoted to God is of more value to Him than one hundred lives which have been simply awakened by His Spirit. As workers for God, we must reproduce our own kind spiritually, and those lives will be God’s testimony to us as His workers. God brings us up to a standard of life through His grace, and we are responsible for reproducing that same standard in others.

Unless the worker lives a life that “is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3), he is apt to become an irritating dictator to others, instead of an active, living disciple. Many of us are dictators, dictating our desires to individuals and to groups. But Jesus never dictates to us in that way. Whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He always prefaced His words with an “if,” never with the forceful or dogmatic statement— “You must.” Discipleship carries with it an option.

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Do You Worship The Work?

April 23rd, 2012 by JDVaughn No comments »

We are God’s fellow workers . . . —1 Corinthians 3:9

 


Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.But the opposite case is equally true–once our concentration is on God, all the limits of our life are free and under the control and mastery of God alone. There is no longer any responsibility on you for the work. The only responsibility you have is to stay in living constant touch with God, and to see that you allow nothing to hinder your cooperation with Him. The freedom that comes after sanctification is the freedom of a child, and the things that used to hold your life down are gone. But be careful to remember that you have been freed for only one thing–to be absolutely devoted to your co-Worker.We have no right to decide where we should be placed, or to have preconceived ideas as to what God is preparing us to do. God engineers everything; and wherever He places us, our one supreme goal should be to pour out our lives in wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might . . .” (Ecclesiastes 9:10).
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April 23,  2012

 

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, please let me know that you are here with me right now, leading me. Lord, please help me to let my lifesong sing to you. I am concerned that my lifesong has been too much about me recently; my needs, my hopes, dreams and vision. Lord please give me Your hopes, dreams and vision for my life. Help me to want to be and then to actually be your arms and feet living out your plan for my life.

And God says…”In order to live in My will, you will need to surrender your own will, daily. In order to experience the love I have for you and for those around you, you must let go of your own needs and give them to me daily. I will meet all your needs, and show you how you can live a most abundant life, when you give it up. If you want to save your life, you will lose it. Seek first the kingdom of God which is
Jesus, surrender everything else to Me, and your lifesong will sing to Me and to many that will need to hear and see it.”

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Can a Saint Falsely Accuse God?

April 20th, 2012 by JDVaughn No comments »

All the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen . . . —2 Corinthians 1:20


Jesus’ parable of the talents recorded in Matthew 25:14-30  was a warning that it is possible for us to misjudge our capacities. This parable has nothing to do with natural gifts and abilities, but relates to the gift of the Holy Spirit as He was first given at Pentecost. We must never measure our spiritual capacity on the basis of our education or our intellect; our capacity in spiritual things is measured on the basis of the promises of God. If we get less than God wants us to have, we will falsely accuse Him as the servant falsely accused his master when he said, “You expect more of me than you gave me the power to do. You demand too much of me, and I cannot stand true to you here where you have placed me.” When it is a question of God’s Almighty Spirit, never say, “I can’t.” Never allow the limitation of your own natural ability to enter into the matter. If we have received the Holy Spirit, God expects the work of the Holy Spirit to be exhibited in us.The servant justified himself, while condemning his lord on every point, as if to say, “Your demand on me is way out of proportion to what you gave to me.” Have we been falsely accusing God by daring to worry after He has said, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you”? (Matthew 6:33). Worrying means exactly what this servant implied— “I know your intent is to leave me unprotected and vulnerable.” A person who is lazy in the natural realm is always critical, saying, “I haven’t had a decent chance,” and someone who is lazy in the spiritual realm is critical of God. Lazy people always strike out at others in an independent way.Never forget that our capacity and capability in spiritual matters is measured by, and based on, the promises of God. Is God able to fulfill His promises? Our answer depends on whether or not we have received the Holy Spirit.
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April 20, 2012
Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, this line from Chamber’s devotional; …..”Worrying means exactly what this servant implied—I know your intent is to leave me unprotected and vulnerable” struck me as a very powerful indictment on my worrying. It occurs to me that being concerned (worrying) about not being spiritual enough, obedient enough, or studious enough as a believer can also fall into the category of not trusting God. Is it possible that my concerns about not being “good enough” fall into the category of accusing God? Lord is it possible that because You began the work in me, and promised to complete it, that any worry about my progress could be accusing You?

And God says…”Seek first the kingdom of heaven which is Jesus. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways, and trust that as you look to and for Jesus for every hope and need, you are transformed into His likeness. There is no requirement for measuring up, keeping the rules or adhering to certain disciplines. There is only your surrender to Jesus. Surrender your needs, hopes, dreams; yes all of your life, and experience life and life more abundant. Nothing can separate you from My love, mercy and grace. You need not even try to measure up. Simply surrender and allow Jesus living through you to meet all the requirements that you cannot.” 

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