{"id":2709,"date":"2010-08-30T05:41:55","date_gmt":"2010-08-30T13:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/wordpress\/?p=2709"},"modified":"2010-08-30T08:24:28","modified_gmt":"2010-08-30T16:24:28","slug":"usefulness-or-relationship-8-30-2010","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=2709","title":{"rendered":"Usefulness or Relationship? 8-30-2010"},"content":{"rendered":"

Usefulness or Relationship?<\/h2>\n
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August 30, 2010<\/div>\n
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Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven \u2014Luke 10:20<\/a><\/div>\n
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Jesus Christ is saying here, \u201cDon\u2019t rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me.\u201d \"\"<\/a>The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service\u2014 rejoicing in the fact that God has used you. Yet you will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you keep your relationship right with Him, then regardless of your circumstances or whoever you encounter each day, He will continue to pour \u201crivers of living water\u201d through you (\u00a0John 7:38<\/a> ). \"\"<\/a>And it is actually by His mercy that He does not let you know it. Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember that whatever your circumstances may be, you have been placed in them by God. And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill His purpose, as long as you continue to \u201cwalk in the light as He is in the light\u201d (1 John 1:7<\/a> ).<\/p>\n

Our tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make their request for help on the basis of someone\u2019s usefulness. \"\"<\/a>If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure who ever lived. For the saint, direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint\u2019s usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that our Lord gives His attention to in a person\u2019s life is that person\u2019s relationship with God\u2014 something of great value to His Father. Jesus is \u201cbringing many sons<\/em> to glory . . .\u201d (\u00a0Hebrews 2:10<\/a> ).<\/p>\n

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August 30, 2010<\/p>\n

Journal Entry for Today-JDV<\/p>\n

My stomach has had a hollow feeling for a while. I was on the receiving end of one more surprise, one more sideways emotional ambush to accompany the missed expectations; the missed expectations being the ones that I would not be able to deliver.<\/p>\n

I used to pride myself on being able to deliver on the expectations; it was one of my sources of pride. If I made a commitment I would keep it, come well or wide water. But it seems that source of pride is no longer available to me.<\/p>\n

And God says\u2026\u201dYour abilities and responsibilities have no place in a transformed life. And you know that pride has no place in your life at all. I will meet your needs, and deliver all the abilities you will ever need. I will meet all your needs as soon as you let go of them and let Me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd just because your circumstances get in the way does not mean that you ignore expectations or responsibilities, or try to forget them. Bring them to Me. Let Me meet all your needs. Let Me deliver on the expectations through you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot have it both ways; prayer for deliverance and the personal power to meet your own needs, AND prayer for Me to meet your needs. Trust in Me with all your heart and do not rely on your own plans, efforts and experience and I will meet all your needs.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBring Me your broken and contrite heart and let Me continue to transform you. I do this Not because of what you have done, or will do. I do this because I love you.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Usefulness or Relationship? August 30, 2010 Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven \u2014Luke 10:20 Jesus Christ is saying here, \u201cDon\u2019t rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me.\u201d The trap you […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2709"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2722,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2709\/revisions\/2722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}