Spiritual Vision Through Personal Purity (2)

March 27th, 2012 by JDVaughn Leave a reply »

Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place . . . —Revelation 4:1


A higher state of mind and spiritual vision can only be achieved through the higher practice of personal character. If you live up to the highest and best that you know in the outer level of your life, God will continually say to you, “Friend, come up even higher.” There is also a continuing rule in temptation which calls you to go higher; but when you do, you only encounter other temptations and character traits. Both God and Satan use the strategy of elevation, but Satan uses it in temptation, and the effect is quite different. When the devil elevates you to a certain place, he causes you to fasten your idea of what holiness is far beyond what flesh and blood could ever bear or achieve. Your life becomes a spiritual acrobatic performance high atop a steeple. You cling to it, trying to maintain your balance and daring not to move. But when God elevates you by His grace into heavenly places, you find a vast plateau where you can move about with ease.Compare this week in your spiritual life with the same week last year to see how God has called you to a higher level. We have all been brought to see from a higher viewpoint. Never allow God to show you a truth which you do not instantly begin to live up to, applying it to your life. Always work through it, staying in its light.Your growth in grace is not measured by the fact that you haven’t turned back, but that you have an insight and understanding into where you are spiritually. Have you heard God say, “Come up higher,” not audibly on the outer level, but to the innermost part of your character?“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing . . . ?” (Genesis 18:17). God has to hide from us what He does, until, due to the growth of our personal character, we get to the level where He is then able to reveal it.

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March 27, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

 

Lord, just when I think I have become bulletproof, protected by my faith and obedience, I up and do something or say something….or just think something far and away from the man and character I thought I had become. Just when I thought I was “measuring up” to your standards, I fell to earth. My selfless thoughts and prayers for others suddenly shifted into a selfish concentrated focus onto myself and my wants and needs….and carry with them an intensity that I had forgotten was inside of me. How can I deal with this? How can I reclaim the man I thought I was and am in you?

And God says…”You are no more saint or sinner than the Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Romans about wanting to do the right thing and then being pulled in another direction…..”Romans 7: 21-25 (MSG)…It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that
delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge. I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is  there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question? The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does.”

“Focus on Jesus, who He is and what He has done for you, and you will be energized, and transformed, as the song says…one day at a time.”

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