You must learn to wrestle against the things that hinder your communication with God, and wrestle in prayer for other people; but to wrestle with God in prayer is unscriptural. If you ever do wrestle with God, you will be crippled for the rest of your life. If you grab hold of God and wrestle with Him, as Jacob did, simply because He is working in a way that doesn’t meet with your approval, you force Him to put you out of joint (see Genesis 32:24-25).

Don’t become a cripple by wrestling with the ways of God, but be someone who wrestles before God with the things of this world, because “we are more than conquerors through Him…” (Romans 8:37). Wrestling before God makes an impact in His kingdom. If you ask me to pray for you, and I am not complete in Christ, my prayer accomplishes nothing. But if I am complete in Christ, my prayer brings victory all the time. Prayer is effective only when there is completeness— “take up the whole armor of God….”Always make a distinction between God’s perfect will and His permissive will, which He uses to accomplish His divine purpose for our lives. God’s perfect will is unchangeable. It is with His permissive will, or the various things that He allows into our lives, that we must wrestle before Him.

It is our reaction to these things allowed by His permissive will that enables us to come to the point of seeing His perfect will for us. “We know that all things work together for good to those who love God…” (Romans 8:28)— to those who remain true to God’s perfect will— His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the testing He uses to reveal His true sons and daughters. We should not be spineless and automatically say, “Yes, it is the Lord’s will.” We don’t have to fight or wrestle with God, but we must wrestle before God with things. Beware of lazily giving up. Instead, put up a glorious fight and you will find yourself empowered with His strength.

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If you cannot express yourself well on each of your beliefs, work and study until you can. If you don’t, other people may miss out on the blessings that come from knowing the truth. Strive to re-express a truth of God to yourself clearly and understandably, and God will use that same explanation when you share it with someone else. But you must be willing to go through God’s winepress where the grapes are crushed.

You must struggle, experiment, and rehearse your words to express God’s truth clearly. Then the time will come when that very expression will become God’s wine of strength to someone else. But if you are not diligent and say, “I’m not going to study and struggle to express this truth in my own words; I’ll just borrow my words from someone else,” then the words will be of no value to you or to others. Try to state to yourself what you believe to be the absolute truth of God, and you will be allowing God the opportunity to pass it on through you to someone else.

Always make it a practice to stir your own mind thoroughly to think through what you have easily believed. Your position is not really yours until you make it yours through suffering and study. The author or speaker from whom you learn the most is not the one who teaches you something you didn’t know before, but the one who helps you take a truth with which you have quietly struggled, give it expression, and speak it clearly and boldly.

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Whenever we experience something difficult in our personal life, we are tempted to blame God. But we are the ones in the wrong, not God. Blaming God is evidence that we are refusing to let go of some disobedience somewhere in our lives. But as soon as we let go, everything becomes as clear as daylight to us. As long as we try to serve two masters, ourselves and God, there will be difficulties combined with doubt and confusion. Our attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. Once we get to that point, there is nothing easier than living the life of a saint.

We encounter difficulties when we try to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own purposes.God’s mark of approval, whenever you obey Him, is peace. He sends an immeasurable, deep peace; not a natural peace, “as the world gives,” but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or seek to find out why it is not coming. If you are acting on your own impulse, or out of a sense of the heroic, to be seen by others, the peace of Jesus will not exhibit itself. This shows no unity with God or confidence in Him.

The spirit of simplicity, clarity, and unity is born through the Holy Spirit, not through your decisions. God counters our self-willed decisions with an appeal for simplicity and unity.My questions arise whenever I cease to obey. When I do obey God, problems come, not between me and God, but as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God. But any problem that comes between God and myself is the result of disobedience. Any problem that comes while I obey God (and there will be many), increases my overjoyed delight, because I know that my Father knows and cares, and I can watch and anticipate how He will unravel my problems.

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December 14 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Good morning God and thank you for what seems like a “wrap up” lesson. “Whenever peace does not come, wait until it does, or find out why it is not coming” seemed to wrap up what You have been teaching us about surrender, connection and curiosity over these past several months. We have found that our surrender (giving up our rights to ourselves, our own ideas, perceptions and religion) leaves us in a place where we can actually let go and trust that all things work together for the good of those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose. You have been teaching us that we are to let go of our ideas about prayer and what we believe are the “right outcomes”. And that our circumstances and or the circumstances of those we love do not matter; You are God and You are good all the time. Is this truly the lesson Lord?

And God says…”You can call it situational surrender. The process whereby you surrender, pray or reach out when things do not seem to be going your way, or the difficulties or anticipated difficulties seem too much for you or yours. It is easy to surrender when things are overwhelming and not going your way, but what about the times when you can see your goals, your dreams and visions emerging? What about when things seem to be going well for you and your family? Do you still surrender? Can you give up your views of good, excellent and amazing for Mine? And how do you know when it is My will and not your own ideas and vision about family, church, relationships and material things? Surrender, connection, curiosity, that is followed by obedience and the peace that passes understanding is one very good way to always start. Acknowledge Me in all your ways, and I will make your paths straight. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and I will give you everything else you require, including the vision, ideas, and perceptions that bring a peace that passes all understanding, regardless of the circumstances facing you and yours. Delight yourselves in the Lord, and I will give you the desires of your heart. “  

Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.

 

The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, “I can’t believe,” it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, “I will not surrender,” or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge.

 

The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24). It is your individuality that refuses to “be reconciled to your brother” (Matthew 5:24). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. “…let him deny himself…”— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.

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December 11 2015

Journal Entry for today-JDV

Good morning Lord and thank you for Chambers’ devotional on individuality. This lesson rings consistent and true to the teaching You have been giving Dave and me. Especially the line…”Surrender breaks the hard shell of individuality”. And the scripture for today says it specifically…”Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” —Matthew 16:24”. And then the conclusion of the lesson for me was the line from Oswald Chambers, “Our individuality must be brought into fellowship with Him”. Is this the lesson Lord? That our individuality must be brought into fellowship with You?

 

And God says…”When you surrender your right to yourself; your ideals, goals, hopes and dreams to Me, you are saying that You no longer are the God of your life. And when you do this, you are denying yourself so that you can come after Me. What occurs when you surrender yourself is as the song says, a glorious unfolding. When you seek Me first, I can make your paths straight. When you delight yourself in the Lord, I can give you the desires of your heart. When you surrender to become a believer, and continue to surrender as a daily, hourly and minute by minute process of living, your individuality is changed and you know you will never be alone, ever, again. Your ideals, goals, hopes and dreams are transformed and you are able embrace the uncertainty of this life with the certainty of My love. When that occurs, as a matter of course and daily living, you find you have discovered a wonderful new daily adventure;  living the abundant life.”

The natural life itself is not sinful. But we must abandon sin, having nothing to do with it in any way whatsoever. Sin belongs to hell and to the devil. I, as a child of God, belong to heaven and to God. It is not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence, and my self-will. This is where the battle has to be fought. The things that are right, noble, and good from the natural standpoint are the very things that keep us from being God’s best. Once we come to understand that natural moral excellence opposes or counteracts surrender to God, we bring our soul into the center of its greatest battle.

Very few of us would debate over what is filthy, evil, and wrong, but we do debate over what is good. It is the good that opposes the best. The higher up the scale of moral excellence a person goes, the more intense the opposition to Jesus Christ. “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh….” The cost to your natural life is not just one or two things, but everything. Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself…” (Matthew 16:24). That is, he must deny his right to himself, and he must realize who Jesus Christ is before he will bring himself to do it. Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.

The natural life is not spiritual, and it can be made spiritual only through sacrifice. If we do not purposely sacrifice the natural, the supernatural can never become natural to us. There is no high or easy road. Each of us has the means to accomplish it entirely in his own hands. It is not a question of praying, but of sacrificing, and thereby performing His will.

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December 9 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, the first thing that hit me when I began reading this devotional was guilt. Guilt for not having overcome selfishness, greed, lust, anger, spite, fear…..well, You know. And then it occurred to me to look through the rear view mirror. Look at who I was then and who I am now. I also began to consider your reassurances like: There is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. And Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. Lord, is this what You would have me consider rather than my failures?

And God says…”The power of Jesus has conquered sin, death and condemnation. There is no reason at all for you to ever see your greed, lust, anger, spite, fear….any of it when you keep your eyes on Jesus. I do not see it. When you are focused on Jesus, when you surrender and give up your rights to yourself; your need to be right, look good, feel good and to be in control, observe what occurs. You are supernaturally transformed over time. You no longer need doctrine, facts, or even your own “perfect” behavior to assure you that you are mine. You just know because you are allowing Me in live within you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding, and I will make your paths straight.”

 

Conviction of sin is best described in the words:My sins, my sins, my Savior,
How sad on Thee they fall.

Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when the Holy Spirit stirs a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight…” (Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves he is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of God. Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.” The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex action caused by self-disgust.

The entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of repentance colliding with man’s respectable “goodness.” Then the Holy Spirit, who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the person’s life (see Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant.

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December 7 1025

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, how does repentance fit inside of the teaching You have been giving us about surrender? Is it the same thing? Do we feel the need to repent, and the need to surrender when led by the Holy Spirit? Are they separate human responses? Do we feel one thing and then another? How do we view this, given Your teaching of the last months and years?

And God says…”It is true that of yourselves you would feel no need for repentance and or surrender. The Holy Spirit brought you to the place of repentance when you first became a believer. And the Holy Spirit will also speak to you about confession (some call it repentance) after you became a believer. That is to say the Holy Spirit will point out to you where and when you fall short of the mark in your relationship with Me. However, there is no condemnation for those that are in Christ Jesus. And when you acknowledge Me in all your ways, I will make your paths straight. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and I will provide everything else you require, even the awareness of your right standing before Me, regardless of your actions, behaviors or doubts. Do not get confused about repentance, confession and surrender. Simply give yourself and your right to yourself to Me every day and at every opportunity during the day, and see how your life unfolds. Simply live out of that. Love God with all your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. Then look back after a time, and see how much like Jesus you have become.”

 

 

Life without war is impossible in the natural or the supernatural realm. It is a fact that there is a continuing struggle in the physical, mental, moral, and spiritual areas of life.Health is the balance between the physical parts of my body and all the things and forces surrounding me. To maintain good health I must have sufficient internal strength to fight off the things that are external. Everything outside my physical life is designed to cause my death. The very elements that sustain me while I am alive work to decay and disintegrate my body once it is dead. If I have enough inner strength to fight, I help to produce the balance needed for health. The same is true of the mental life. If I want to maintain a strong and active mental life, I have to fight. This struggle produces the mental balance called thought.Morally it is the same. Anything that does not strengthen me morally is the enemy of virtue within me. Whether I overcome, thereby producing virtue, depends on the level of moral excellence in my life. But we must fight to be moral. Morality does not happen by accident; moral virtue is acquired.

And spiritually it is also the same. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…” (John 16:33). This means that anything which is not spiritual leads to my downfall. Jesus went on to say, “…but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” I must learn to fight against and overcome the things that come against me, and in that way produce the balance of holiness. Then it becomes a delight to meet opposition.

Holiness is the balance between my nature and the law of God as expressed in Jesus Christ.

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December 4 2015

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Good morning God and thank You for this day, this devotional and Your leading. However, a still small voice inside of me tells me that I cannot fight and overcome all the things that come against me in this world. And my experience confirms it. The trials and tribulations of this world wear me down Lord. The pressures of life, the daily issues of family, relationships, work, friends, finances; they all seem to bring with them enough and new daily trouble of their own. And my track record of winning in the fight(s) against them does not look all that promising. However, You have shown us that our fight is not with the trials of this life, our fight is to simply surrender and let You fight the fight on our behalf. Is that right Lord? Is it right that we are not to fight the trials and tribulations? We are to surrender to You and allow You to fight them on our behalf?

And God says…”That is correct. In your daily life you can only win the fight against the moral, physical and spiritual trials by allowing Me to fight those battles for you. And it always starts with your surrender to Me. You are to fight to overcome those things that come against your surrender; your distractions, service, and “spiritual” work from your own effort and strength. Regardless of your standing and ideas about your strength and position, let it go!”

“And remember that I may not choose to remove your trials. You may need them to have their perfect result. But you know by now that you can still face the trials and tribulations while living an abundant life; one filled with peace that passes all understanding.”

“Acknowledge Me in all your ways and I will make your paths straight. Take my yoke upon you, it is not heavy, My burden is light. And recall that when you are surrendered you will know; simply know, by the power and voice of the Holy Spirit, that all I make all things work together for your good. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and I will provide everything else you need, including the fight against the trials and tribulations of your life… and/or I may simply give you a peace that passes all understanding while you are right in the midst of them. Your role is to simply surrender to Me and let Me be God.”