Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom —1 Kings 2:28

Joab withstood the greatest test of his life, remaining absolutely loyal to David by not turning to follow after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. Yet toward the end of his life he turned to follow after the weak and cowardly Adonijah. Always remain alert to the fact that where one person has turned back is exactly where anyone may be tempted to turn back (see 1 Corinthians 10:11-13). You may have just victoriously gone through a great crisis, but now be alert about the things that may appear to be the least likely to tempt you. Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall.

We are apt to say, “It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world.” Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect. They may not be forceful and dominant, but they are there. And if you are not careful to be forewarned, they will trip you. You have remained true to God under great and intense trials— now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be abnormally examining your inner self, looking forward with dread, but stay alert; keep your memory sharp before God. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.

“. . . kept by the power of God . . .”— that is the only safety. (1 Peter 1:5).

Journal DJR
Good Morning, Lord.
I found two songs with lyrics that spoke to the message today, so I’ll put the second one here. In the scripture, Joab wasn’t diligent and made a bad decision toward the end of his life. Earlier David had made some bad decisions. How do we stay diligent, when there are so many areas that we can get off track in? A regimen of constant diligence doesn’t seem right, especially when it probably isn’t enough to guarantee never falling anyway.
You will never get to where you “never fall” You will get to where you never fall in some basic areas that you may have struggled in in the past. But then new vista and opportunities will open up. New ways to fall. New targets to aim for and also to fall short of. Dont worry about those. I don’t get tipped over when you miss the mark. Look at it as feedback. When you fall, get back up and keep walking with me. You cannot escape my love and my sacrifice covers all of your mishaps (sins) Some might say, “well then why wouldn’t I just go out and sin up a storm?” You can do that, but let me ask, “How well has that worked out for you? And for others in history?” As you gain wisdom, you will see that walking in close communion with me is the highest and best way to live.
Yes, I see that Lord, help me keep on seeing it.

God called to him . . . . And he said, ’Here I am’ —Exodus 3:4

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment . . . and plunged into the sea —John 21:7

Have you ever had a crisis in your life in which you deliberately, earnestly, and recklessly abandoned everything? It is a crisis of the will. You may come to that point many times externally, but it will amount to nothing. The true deep crisis of abandonment, or total surrender, is reached internally, not externally. The giving up of only external things may actually be an indication of your being in total bondage.
Have you deliberately committed your will to Jesus Christ? It is a transaction of the will, not of emotion; any positive emotion that results is simply a superficial blessing arising out of the transaction. If you focus your attention on the emotion, you will never make the transaction. Do not ask God what the transaction is to be, but make the determination to surrender your will regarding whatever you see, whether it is in the shallow or the deep, profound places internally.
If you have heard Jesus Christ’s voice on the waves of the sea, you can let your convictions and your consistency take care of themselves by concentrating on maintaining your intimate relationship to Him.

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Journal, DJR
Good Morning Lord. At first I was feeling guilty that I had not had the total emotional surrender that Oswald talks about at the beginning … but then he ties it all together in the last sentence and we both said, “Yes, that’s what we’ve been learning” Making the decision ahead of time is also a good technique.
I did that in Gethsemane. After Satan came and tried 3 more times and saw that my mind was made up … he departed … and I marched through the next events without having to make decisions … I had already made them, It was now just a matter of walking them out. You can do that too. It’s what Oswald is talking about today.
I will try to pre-decide to 100% surrender all to you in various potential situations. Like you did in Gethsemane. It seems helpful to imagine possible situations, in addition to a general blanket surrender. Help me stay on the surrender track. I seem to get off track when circumstances arise that are different than I imagined. Sometimes I am half way through a situation, or all the way through it, before I remember consciously to surrender. I’m glad you are patient with me.
I’m glad you keep coming to me. Together we’ll work it out. There is no other way to overcome that lethal dose of humanity that you inherited from the Fall. But I see past your sins to what I created and what I died for. Keep coming to me.
OK, I love you.

While you have the light, believe in the light . . . —John 12:36

Cast your burden on the Lord . . . —Psalm 55:22

Death no longer has dominion over Him. . . . the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God . . . —Romans 6:9-11

Co-Eternal Life. Eternal life is the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human level. And it is this same life, not simply a copy of it, which is made evident in our mortal flesh when we are born again. Eternal life is not a gift from God; eternal life is the gift of God. The energy and the power which was so very evident in Jesus will be exhibited in us by an act of the absolute sovereign grace of God, once we have made that complete and effective decision about sin.
“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you . . .” (Acts 1:8)— not power as a gift from the Holy Spirit; the power is the Holy Spirit, not something that He gives us. The life that was in Jesus becomes ours because of His Cross, once we make the decision to be identified with Him. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is because we refuse to make this moral decision about sin. But once we do decide, the full life of God comes in immediately. Jesus came to give us an endless supply of life— “. . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19). Eternal life has nothing to do with time. It is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here, and the only Source of life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Even the weakest saint can experience the power of the deity of the Son of God, when he is willing to “let go.” But any effort to “hang on” to the least bit of our own power will only diminish the life of Jesus in us. We have to keep letting go, and slowly, but surely, the great full life of God will invade us, penetrating every part. Then Jesus will have complete and effective dominion in us, and people will take notice that we have been with Him.

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Journal DJR
Good Morning, Lord.
I like the music today, it was the best I could find on the topic. But it only captures half of the deal you offered us with your sacrificial death. It captures the ransom, the rescue, the undeserved love so amazing, and the source of all our hope. But it doesn’t mention what Oswald focuses on today. That we must totally identify with your death in order to totally grasp the life you offer. Meaning a total death to sin and our old carnal “natural” selves. ie Pick up the cross daily. I searched, but couldn’t find any songs about that part. … Then I re-searched and found this one, which captures more of what Oswald is saying today. It boils down to what JD has been saying … It’s all about Surrender! Thankyou.

Only now that I inserted the second song and took a final look did I notice the similarity of the images used in the 2 videos. It’s appropriate … perhaps because the songs are two sides of the same coin? Your supreme sacrifice and totally free love gift … and what it takes on our part to walk in the blessings that you’ve freely provided. Oswald summarizes this little discussed side of the equation … “any effort to “hang on” to the least bit of our own power will only diminish the life of Jesus in us”

If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection . . . —Romans 6:5

….our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin —Romans 6:6

Co-Crucifixion. Have you made the following decision about sin—that it must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you-not simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified—just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be mentally and spiritually convinced, but what we need to do is actually make the decision that Paul urged us to do in this passage.

Pull yourself up, take some time alone with God, and make this important decision, saying, “Lord, identify me with Your death until I know that sin is dead in me.” Make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to death.

This was not some divine future expectation on the part of Paul, but was a very radical and definite experience in his life. Are you prepared to let the Spirit of God search you until you know what the level and nature of sin is in your life— to see the very things that struggle against God’s Spirit in you? If so, will you then agree with God’s verdict on the nature of sin— that it should be identified with the death of Jesus? You cannot “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin” (Romans 6:11) unless you have radically dealt with the issue of your will before God.

Have you entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ, until all that remains in your flesh and blood is His life? “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . .” (Galatians 2:20).

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4 15 12 Journal, DJR
Good morning, Lord,
Thank you for the many ways you speak to me and show me things. This last Easter week was full of metaphor. I hadn’t been bothered by predators for several months, then Satan came to my house Saturday, in the form of a fox. In broad daylight he slaughtered one of my 3 red hens and hauled her off. Then around midnight I went to check on the girls and both remaining red hens were gone. One was laying there 20 feet from the coop, cold and dead, torn up and eviscerated … but not eaten. I was devastated. My chicken raising operation had been wiped out … down to one black chicken that Abigail calls Strawberry Shortcake? I went to bed sadder than I’d been in a long time.
Sunday Morning I heard a chicken outside and went to greet Strawberry. To my surprise and joy, there was my last red hen. She had escaped the fox attack and had survived out in the forest all night. What an Easter surprise. It was like she had risen from the dead. Thank You.
The comparisons gave me lots to think about. In every case your pain, anguish, sacrifice and return was infinitely greater … but this personal loss helped connect me to you and your sacrifice.
Like the fox, Satan left you earlier … for a more opportune time.
Like the fox, he comes to kill, steal & destroy.
Like my dead chicken, the tomb was cold and dead on Saturday night. And like Mary, I was devastated … because we didn’t see the future.
Like Mary, on Easter Morning, I had joy at the return of what had been stolen.
Like the prodigal, that which was lost has been found. We must rejoice.
Like the fox, Satan is my adversary. The fox wants my chickens. Satan wants my friends and family. I will stay vigilant against him on both counts.
Like Satan, who, If he had known … would not have crucified the Lord of Glory … that fox didn’t know that his actions have raised my counter measures to a higher level.
Thanks for all these lenses that provide different views into your sacrifice of this last week. For sure they are imperfect, but essential comparisons. Us humans, me at least, need this personal experiential stuff to help us connect to the spiritual realities. An experience like this does not make your death and resurrection more real … but it makes it more real to me. Thank You.

 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them . . . —Mark 16:12

Being saved and seeing Jesus are not the same thing. Many people who have never seen Jesus have received and share in God’s grace. But once you have seen Him, you can never be the same. Other things will not have the appeal they did before.

You should always recognize the difference between what you see Jesus to be and what He has done for you. If you see only what He has done for you, your God is not big enough. But if you have had a vision, seeing Jesus as He really is, experiences can come and go, yet you will endure “as seeing Him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). The man who was blind from birth did not know who Jesus was until Christ appeared and revealed Himself to him (see John 9). Jesus appears to those for whom He has done something, but we cannot order or predict when He will come. He may appear suddenly, at any turn. Then you can exclaim, “Now I see Him!” (see John 9:25).

Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no one can see Jesus with your eyes. And division takes place when one has seen Him and the other has not. You cannot bring your friend to the point of seeing; God must do it. Have you seen Jesus? If so, you will want others to see Him too. “And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either” (Mark 16:13). When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don’t believe.

O could I tell, you surely would believe it!
O could I only say what I have seen!
How should I tell or how can you receive it,
How, till He bringeth you where I have been?

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April 9, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Jesus you are Savior, the way, truth and the source of my transformation. You have become my joy, truth and my light. I ask You to make me in Your image and do not stop shaping me until I am transformed into the very image of You. Thank You for your sacrifice and the grace, mercy and power that comes to us as a result.

And God says…”You are now learning that the transforming part of the believer’s life does not come without a cost. You are reshaped and transformed from the inside out by circumstances, trials and difficult times. These trials, circumstances, and difficult times drive you to the time and place where you finally surrender all of yourself to Me. Right inside of these trials you learn to praise and worship Me. You learn to trust and obey, relying totally on the Holy Spirit to provide the direction and guidance for your life. Trust in Me with all your heart, and do not rely on your own control, efforts or understanding, and I will make your paths straight. Seek first the kingdom of heaven, which is Jesus, and I will add all the other things you need to your life.”

He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead —Mark 9:9