…fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ… —1 Thessalonians 3:2

We know that all things work together for good to those who love God… —Romans 8:28

Do you believe this? —John 11:26

Martha believed in the power available to Jesus Christ; she believed that if He had been there He could have healed her brother; she also believed that Jesus had a special intimacy with God, and that whatever He asked of God, God would do. But— she needed a closer personal intimacy with Jesus. Martha’s theology had its fulfillment in the future. But Jesus continued to attract and draw her in until her belief became an intimate possession. It then slowly emerged into a personal inheritance— “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ…” (John 11:27).

Is the Lord dealing with you in the same way? Is Jesus teaching you to have a personal intimacy with Himself? Allow Him to drive His question home to you— “Do you believe this?” Are you facing an area of doubt in your life? Have you come, like Martha, to a crossroads of overwhelming circumstances where your theology is about to become a very personal belief? This happens only when a personal problem brings the awareness of our personal need.

To believe is to commit. In the area of intellectual learning I commit myself mentally, and reject anything not related to that belief. In the realm of personal belief I commit myself morally to my convictions and refuse to compromise. But in intimate personal belief I commit myself spiritually to Jesus Christ and make a determination to be dominated by Him alone.

Then, when I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and He says to me, “Do you believe this?” I find that faith is as natural as breathing. And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been in not trusting Him earlier.

____________________________________________________________

November 6, 2014

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, it seems that when a crisis appears like the one that Martha faced, her brother sick and dying, I turn to you because I have nowhere else to go. When I am at the end of my own power, knowledge and resources, it is much easier to turn to You. When I cannot find any solution, it is natural that I turn to You. I pray that You will help me surrender myself, my life, activities, resources, and all that is occurring around me to You, regardless of the pressure or lack of pressure. Help me to surrender to You, be connected and remain curious, regardless of the pressure or circumstances.

And God says…”The human condition is that you will try and “do it yourself” until you cannot. The apostle Paul said that he learned how to be content with much or with little….Philippians 4 says from the Message, “Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am.” Paul learned, over time to trust Me regardless….but he too often let his own power and strength govern his responses when other disciples did not agree with him. This added pressure was instrumental in helping shape and mold him. Just as pressure helps shape you. Don’t try to get out of your trials too soon. Let them shape and mold you to a perfect result. (James 1). Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own devices and I will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and I will give you the desires of your heart. And when you cannot find the faith or strength to trust Me; let my love, grace and mercy fill those needs as well. Remember that Jesus provided all you need, you simply need to surrender and accept His love, grace and mercy and remain curious.”

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. —James 4:8

It is essential that you give people the opportunity to act on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual— you cannot act for him. It must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message should always lead him to action. Refusing to act leaves a person paralyzed, exactly where he was previously. But once he acts, he is never the same. It is the apparent folly of the truth that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Once I press myself into action, I immediately begin to live. Anything less is merely existing. The moments I truly live are the moments when I act with my entire will.

When a truth of God is brought home to your soul, never allow it to pass without acting on it internally in your will, not necessarily externally in your physical life. Record it with ink and with blood— work it into your life. The weakest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is liberated the second he acts and God’s almighty power is available on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, confess we are wrong, but go back again. Then we approach it again and turn back, until we finally learn we have no business going back. When we are confronted with such a word of truth from our redeeming Lord, we must move directly to transact business with Him. “Come to Me…” (Matthew 11:28). His word come means “to act.” Yet the last thing we want to do is come. But everyone who does come knows that, at that very moment, the supernatural power of the life of God invades him. The dominating power of the world, the flesh, and the devil is now paralyzed; not by your act, but because your act has joined you to God and tapped you in to His redemptive power.

_________________________________________________________

Journal DJR
Good morning Lord,
You’ve made it clear over the last many months that connection with you is the key to the Christian Life. Now I’m seeing the difference between connection as a player in the game compared to merely being connected as a spectator at the game. It’s not actually new. You’ve shown us the value of staying connected, curious, expectant, surrendered and obedient. It’s those last two that are getting the focus today. Continuing the spectator vs player metaphor… It’s hard to say I’m really connected if I just stay in the stands, watching the game. At least not at the same level as if I get out there and play, take some hits, swing at the pitch…..

John said that “I only did what I saw the Father doing, only said what I heard Father saying… John 5:19 I was connected. And I fought to maintain that connection. When the stressors built up, I would slip away to renew that connection. You should too.

Are we to strive to be consciously connected all the time? Or is the goal to be “unconsciously connected?”

Checking your connection every few minutes will lead to navel gazing and self absorption. You can be more unconsciously connected than that. Start your day with a strong connection. Check yourself from time to time. But live in the moment, unconsciously bringing those things you’ve stored in your mind and heart to bear on the situations.

Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me… —Galatians 2:20

Without faith it is impossible to please Him . . . —Hebrews 11:6

Faith in active opposition to common sense is mistaken enthusiasm and narrow-mindedness, and common sense in opposition to faith demonstrates a mistaken reliance on reason as the basis for truth. The life of faith brings the two of these into the proper relationship. Common sense and faith are as different from each other as the natural life is from the spiritual, and as impulsiveness is from inspiration. Nothing that Jesus Christ ever said is common sense, but is revelation sense, and is complete, whereas common sense falls short. Yet faith must be tested and tried before it becomes real in your life. “We know that all things work together for good . . .” (Romans 8:28) so that no matter what happens, the transforming power of God’s providence transforms perfect faith into reality. Faith always works in a personal way, because the purpose of God is to see that perfect faith is made real in His children.

For every detail of common sense in life, there is a truth God has revealed by which we can prove in our practical experience what we believe God to be. Faith is a tremendously active principle that always puts Jesus Christ first. The life of faith says, “Lord, You have said it, it appears to be irrational, but I’m going to step out boldly, trusting in Your Word” (for example, see Matthew 6:33). Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes. God brings us into particular circumstances to educate our faith, because the nature of faith is to make the object of our faith very real to us. Until we know Jesus, God is merely a concept, and we can’t have faith in Him. But once we hear Jesus say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9) we immediately have something that is real, and our faith is limitless. Faith is the entire person in the right relationship with God through the power of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

________________________________________________________

Journal DJR
Good morning Lord
Chambers mentioned, “Turning intellectual faith into our personal possession is always a fight, not just sometimes.” I have experienced the joy of finding a new truth at an intellectual level … and then been frustrated when it didn’t seem to work out in my physical circumstances. Many times it was years later, after some molding and tenderizing by life circumstances and trials, that the original truth came to make sense. That’s when I really owned it. I guess that’s what Moses was doing for 40 years in the desert, between the time he set out in his own power to deliver his people and killed the Egyptian and when you (and he) were ready to really deliver them.

You realized it after the fact. Stay connected to me and I’ll show you what I’m doing sooner. You can rest in Rom 8:28 …All things work together for good, for those who love me …and you do. So rest in it. When things dont make sense, stay curious and expect that there is something deeper going on. Something that will be for good and for growth.

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21

If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life —Romans 5:10

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . —Matthew 28:19

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new —2 Corinthians 5:17

Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

__________________________________________________

October 23, 2014

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I understand the reasoning and direction …for us to give up our prejudices, our old ways of doing things and live through the direction and guidance of the Holy Spirit. I hear Chambers when he says we must give up our own ways and means and trust You completely; when he says we need to surrender completely.

But Lord, when the diagnosis is very bad, or the bank account way too low, the boss hands out a pink slip, or our beloved says they are moving on without us; how can you expect us to rely on our faith, hope and love when everything we sense screams us into fear and we feel abandoned and or unworthy of your rescue? How is it that You can expect us to find the faith and trust to overlook all the evidence and pressure crashing down on us when we can see, touch and feel the impending disasters, but cannot see, touch and feel your intercession?

And God says…”I do not expect you to demonstrate faith, hope, love, or trust when you sense impending disaster. I expect you to sense the futility of your own power, strength and effort, and surrender to me. It should be easy for you to surrender when you sense impending disaster and know you cannot do enough, if anything to prevent the disasters.  Isn’t that when humans surrender? When they know they are unable to accomplish what needs accomplishing?”

“How can you trust Me to rescue you, to use the disaster for your good, to make a positive outcome out of the overwhelming circumstances? Just look at your overwhelming circumstances; know you cannot impact them, and then surrender them to Me because you must.”

“You can also recall all the times in your life when I have met all your needs and turned the difficult circumstances into good for you and yours. You can also recall the scriptures that offer you My promises for example: “all things work for the good of those that love the Lord….seek first the kingdom of God , which is Jesus, and everything you need will be provided you, …trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own strength, and methods, and He will make your paths straight, and… I know the plans I have for you, plans for good and not for bad, and I will meet all your needs according to My riches in heaven.”

“Just surrender, and let Me fill your heart and mind and I will provide the strength, hope, faith, trust and love you need.”

_______________________________________

Journal DJR
Good morning, Lord. I’ve always known (on an academic level) that from the time we first say “yes” to you, until we get to Heaven … is a process. A journey toward Christlikeness. But recently I can actually say that I feel the process. I feel the squeezing and molding. I’m liking it. (most of the time) It’s getting easier to surrender. I think that’s because I have seen the folly of pushing my agenda thru and the way that your agenda is always better. It’s actually becoming a game … staying curious and keeping an objective view (hopefully a balcony view, standing next to you, looking down on that guy named Dave) Looking to see how he is getting molded …. Is that a good way to look at myself and life?

Yes. That’s just a result of being connected. I direct all who connect with me to that way of living. Some use different words and some come faster or slower but I direct my sons and daughters toward a surrendered life. So come to me. Get and stay connected and I will show you great things. Including aspects of your own shaping.

Jeremiah 33:2-3 (MSG)

2-3 “This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’ to rise above your trials.”