. . . except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14

The feebleness of the church is being criticized today, and the criticism is justified. One reason for the feebleness is that there has not been this focus on the true center of spiritual power. We have not dwelt enough on the tragedy of Calvary or on the meaning of redemption.

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November 26, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, thank You for bringing me right back to the focal point; the cross. Sometimes I get so caught up in my own mind and heart, chasing my own idea of spiritual connection. Other times I chase You in hopes of answered hopes and prayers, requests and pleadings. Then You pull me right back to the focal point; the cross and I am sweetly broken and surrendered once again. Once again Your cross can have its impact on my connection and life. Thank  You for bringing me right back to the focal point.

And God says…”Whatever it is you think you need, bring yourself back to the cross of Jesus. Whatever help and hope you think you require, whatever prayer you believe you need answered, bring yourself to the cross of Jesus. It is here at the cross that you become fully surrendered and open to the life of Jesus living in and through you. When  you live like this, all things are new, all things are possible and all things available to you. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and all things will be added unto you. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and He will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. When you come to the cross surrendered the Holy Spirit can and will reshape your morning, day and life. Your thoughts, hopes and prayers become brand new as you are transformed.”

I have finished the work which You have given Me to do —John 17:4

The death of Jesus Christ is the fulfillment in history of the very mind and intent of God. There is no place for seeing Jesus Christ as a martyr. His death was not something that happened to Him— something that might have been prevented. His death was the very reason He came.

Never build your case for forgiveness on the idea that God is our Father and He will forgive us because He loves us. That contradicts the revealed truth of God in Jesus Christ. It makes the Cross unnecessary, and the redemption “much ado about nothing.” God forgives sin only because of the death of Christ. God could forgive people in no other way than by the death of His Son, and Jesus is exalted as Savior because of His death. “We see Jesus . . . for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor . . .” (Hebrews 2:9). The greatest note of triumph ever sounded in the ears of a startled universe was that sounded on the Cross of Christ— “It is finished!” (John 19:30). That is the final word in the redemption of humankind.

Anything that lessens or completely obliterates the holiness of God, through a false view of His love, contradicts the truth of God as revealed by Jesus Christ. Never allow yourself to believe that Jesus Christ stands with us, and against God, out of pity and compassion, or that He became a curse for us out of sympathy for us. Jesus Christ became a curse for us by divine decree. Our part in realizing the tremendous meaning of His curse is the conviction of sin. Conviction is given to us as a gift of shame and repentance; it is the great mercy of God. Jesus Christ hates the sin in people, and Calvary is the measure of His hatred.

In Him we have . . . the forgiveness of sins . . . —Ephesians 1:7

Forgiveness is the divine miracle of grace. The cost to God was the Cross of Christ. To forgive sin, while remaining a holy God, this price had to be paid. Never accept a view of the fatherhood of God if it blots out the atonement. The revealed truth of God is that without the atonement He cannot forgive— He would contradict His nature if He did. The only way we can be forgiven is by being brought back to God through the atonement of the Cross. God’s forgiveness is possible only in the supernatural realm.

Compared with the miracle of the forgiveness of sin, the experience of sanctification is small. Sanctification is simply the wonderful expression or evidence of the forgiveness of sins in a human life. But the thing that awakens the deepest fountain of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven his sin. Paul never got away from this. Once you realize all that it cost God to forgive you, you will be held as in a vise, constrained by the love of God.

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November 20 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I do not understand the depths of your grace and mercy. When I stray and willfully disobey, You are right there to catch me, love and comfort me just when and as I need it. Your forgiveness, mercy and grace is something I could not and do not earn. And You show me that those around me that need my forgiveness may not deserve it either, but that is not the question or point.

And God says…”Indeed it is not the point. The point is You need to forgive and extend love, mercy and grace, because it will make you whole. Just as My love, mercy and grace makes you whole. The very definition of life and  life more abundantly begins with unconditional love, the very extension of Jesus. Be connected to Jesus and observe His love and forgiveness for you and through you……and look back to see how this has made your life much more  abundant.”

When He has come, He will convict the world of sin . . . —John 16:8

Very few of us know anything about conviction of sin. We know the experience of being disturbed because we have done wrong things. But conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit blots out every relationship on earth and makes us aware of only one— “Against You, You only, have I sinned . . .” (Psalm 51:4). When a person is convicted of sin in this way, he knows with every bit of his conscience that God would not dare to forgive him. If God did forgive him, then this person would have a stronger sense of justice than God. God does forgive, but it cost the breaking of His heart with grief in the death of Christ to enable Him to do so. The great miracle of the grace of God is that He forgives sin, and it is the death of Jesus Christ alone that enables the divine nature to forgive and to remain true to itself in doing so. It is shallow nonsense to say that God forgives us because He is love. Once we have been convicted of sin, we will never say this again. The love of God means Calvary— nothing less! The love of God is spelled out on the Cross and nowhere else. The only basis for which God can forgive me is the Cross of Christ. It is there that His conscience is satisfied.

Forgiveness doesn’t merely mean that I am saved from hell and have been made ready for heaven (no one would accept forgiveness on that level). Forgiveness means that I am forgiven into a newly created relationship which identifies me with God in Christ. The miracle of redemption is that God turns me, the unholy one, into the standard of Himself, the Holy One. He does this by putting into me a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Today’s devo differentiates between a full Conviction of Sin by the Holy Spirit and the twinges of guilt which are the more common experience. With these minor twinges of guilt, we are tempted to do “guilt management” and try our best to clean up our act. This is an exercise of will power and although we may manage our sin for a while, it never achieves the glorious realization of your love that David had after being busted by Nathan the prophet. I wonder how many times per lifetime we can expect an experience of that magnitude. … And if the ones of lesser magnitude can add up to the impact and revelation that is referred to here?

The key to remember is that I deal with all my children differently. It is dangerous to count and compare experiences. I put them in the Book so you could know some of my ways. But I don’t fit in a recipe book. or a spreadsheet, or bar graph and your experiences shouldn’t either. The main thing is to stay tight with me and I will show you great insights. I don’t usually shout. I mainly whisper … The busy-ness and stress of your life can drown it out and you will miss it. Come away with me … even in a crowd, and I will show you my ways.

Peter . . . said to Jesus, ’But Lord, what about this man?’ Jesus said to him, ’. . . what is that to you? You follow Me’ —John 21:21-22

One of the hardest lessons to learn comes from our stubborn refusal to refrain from interfering in other people’s lives. It takes a long time to realize the danger of being an amateur providence, that is, interfering with God’s plan for others. You see someone suffering and say, “He will not suffer, and I will make sure that he doesn’t.” You put your hand right in front of God’s permissive will to stop it, and then God says, “What is that to you?” Is there stagnation in your spiritual life? Don’t allow it to continue, but get into God’s presence and find out the reason for it. You will possibly find it is because you have been interfering in the life of another— proposing things you had no right to propose, or advising when you had no right to advise. When you do have to give advice to another person, God will advise through you with the direct understanding of His Spirit. Your part is to maintain the right relationship with God so that His discernment can come through you continually for the purpose of blessing someone else.

Most of us live only within the level of consciousness— consciously serving and consciously devoted to God. This shows immaturity and the fact that we’re not yet living the real Christian life. Maturity is produced in the life of a child of God on the unconscious level, until we become so totally surrendered to God that we are not even aware of being used by Him. When we are consciously aware of being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, we have yet another level to reach— a level where all awareness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is completely eliminated. A saint is never consciously a saint— a saint is consciously dependent on God.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
It is counter intuitive that being conscious of our Christ-Likeness isn’t really the objective … but rather being unconsciously aware of the Christ-motivated things that we do … and then realize when looking back, that our connection with you was functioning and your love and blessing came thru. Usually to someone else, but also to us. It is similar to the same concept in business, being unconsciously competent, where the desired responses become second nature.
Prayer: Lord, help me stay connected so closely today that you are able to flow your love and blessings thru me to those you send across my path, and at the end of the day, show me some of what we’ve done together.

As for me, being on the way, the Lord led me . . . —Genesis 24:27

We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires the growth of spiritual discipline to see God in every detail. Never believe that the so-called random events of life are anything less than God’s appointed order. Be ready to discover His divine designs anywhere and everywhere.

Beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, “I will never do this or that,” in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. There was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent with His Father. The important consistency in a saint is not to a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life that continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him.

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November 14, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord I wonder why I doubt You? Why I seem to revert to my own strength when I have lived lesson after lesson. I know the scriptures and have experience after experience to remind me that You are the Great I AM. And yet when I see the raging sea or waterfalls approaching, I feel fear and uncertainty.  How can I live outside my own strength, just trusting You?

And God says…”You have a fallen nature, and  are living in a fallen world, surrounded and bombarded by messages that tell you to “stand on your own two feet”, “take the bull by the horns”, and “face your issues head on”.  It is not natural for you to surrender everything to Me; it requires the work of the Holy Spirit and your own surrender every day, every hour, every minute. Begin your day acknowledging your own weakness and desire to surrender your will to Me, through Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit lead and guide you through this every day…..do not rely on your own devices. Seek first the Kingdom of God, (which is Jesus) and everything you need will be given you.”

. . . the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me —Galatians 2:20

We should battle through our moods, feelings, and emotions into absolute devotion to the Lord Jesus. We must break out of our own little world of experience into abandoned devotion to Him. Think who the New Testament says Jesus Christ is, and then think of the despicable meagerness of the miserable faith we exhibit by saying, “I haven’t had this experience or that experience”! Think what faith in Jesus Christ claims and provides— He can present us faultless before the throne of God, inexpressibly pure, absolutely righteous, and profoundly justified. Stand in absolute adoring faith “in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How dare we talk of making a sacrifice for the Son of God! We are saved from hell and total destruction, and then we talk about making sacrifices!

We must continually focus and firmly place our faith in Jesus Christ— not a “prayer meeting” Jesus Christ, or a “book” Jesus Christ, but the New Testament Jesus Christ, who is God Incarnate, and who ought to strike us dead at His feet. Our faith must be in the One from whom our salvation springs. Jesus Christ wants our absolute, unrestrained devotion to Himself. We can never experience Jesus Christ, or selfishly bind Him in the confines of our own hearts. Our faith must be built on strong determined confidence in Him.

It is because of our trusting in experience that we see the steadfast impatience of the Holy Spirit against unbelief. All of our fears are sinful, and we create our own fears by refusing to nourish ourselves in our faith. How can anyone who is identified with Jesus Christ suffer from doubt or fear! Our lives should be an absolute hymn of praise resulting from perfect, irrepressible, triumphant belief.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Once again, Oswald paints the picture of a perfect walk with You … one that I compare my everyday life with and find that I dont measure up. Can I observe that without guilt? Not that I’m not guilty, It’s just that guilt by itself doesn’t do anything to make me better or more Christlike.
You can stay on the path and journey along the path and get farther with less angst if you just let me drive. Keep me in the center of your picture. When circumstances come your way that are not what you wanted or expected … you can stress out over it …or you can stay expectantly curious about how I am going to work it out for good as I promised in Romans 8:28.
OK, that is where I will try to live when challenges and stress come my way … Expectantly Curious.

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

What difference has my salvation and sanctification made? For instance, can I stand in the light of 1 Corinthians 13 , or do I squirm and evade the issue? True salvation, worked out in me by the Holy Spirit, frees me completely. And as long as I “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7), God sees nothing to rebuke because His life is working itself into every detailed part of my being, not on the conscious level, but even deeper than my consciousness.

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November 12, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I think you can find many things in me to rebuke. I seem to be messing up constantly lately, trying to scramble to avoid pain or scramble to hold on to some vestige of self-control, doing all I can in my power to make things turn out the way I want them to turn out. And then I fill in the open time with things that will keep me from thinking about  life’s uncertainties. Am I truly redeemed when I live like this?

And God says…”When I look at you My son, I see Jesus. I see His life, not yours. And while I know you are scrambling to try and make sense of the pain, hurt and struggle I have given
you Jesus, and He provides all your answers. You are not worthy, you never will be worthy,  but Jesus is worthy and He has given His life to you for this very purpose; so that it is no longer you that live but Jesus through you. Do not focus on what you do wrong or how you have “messed up”, focus on Jesus and you will understand that you are redeemed, you have been set free. Seek Jesus and everything else can and does fall into place, regardless of your circumstances.”

We do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered —Romans 8:26

We realize that we are energized by the Holy Spirit for prayer; and we know what it is to pray in accordance with the Spirit; but we don’t often realize that the Holy Spirit Himself prays prayers in us which we cannot utter ourselves. When we are born again of God and are indwelt by the Spirit of God, He expresses for us the unutterable.

“He,” the Holy Spirit in you, “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27). And God searches your heart, not to know what your conscious prayers are, but to find out what the prayer of the Holy Spirit is.

The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. “. . . your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit . . .” (1 Corinthians 6:19). When Jesus Christ cleansed the temple, “. . . He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple” (Mark 11:16). The Spirit of God will not allow you to use your body for your own convenience. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple, and said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer . . . . But you have made it a ’den of thieves’ ” (Mark 11:17).

Have we come to realize that our “body is the temple of the Holy Spirit”? If so, we must be careful to keep it undefiled for Him. We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don’t know, but we must pay careful attention to and guard the conscious part for which we are responsible.

Journal, DJR
Good Morning Lord,
It is good to realize that we are only responsible for the conscious part of our mind … and that the Holy Spirit uses the rest of it for his intercession and other purposes. It brings to mind the study on “Free Will” that we are doing as a group at church. How free are we? Did you cause a behavior or just know about it from before time began? That whole thinking quagmire that humans of all and no religious persuasions have tinkered with for millennia. Today we add another aspect … that the Holy Spirit may have an agenda and want to use us and our prayers for his ends.
Prayer: Help me today to walk in the Spirit, reckognizing the nudges and whispers … and obeying quickly. And help me do my part of keeping my temple clean for you and watching with expectation to see what you will do.

Isaiah 26:3 (NLT)

3 You will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

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

Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession— utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.

Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, “. . . but the Spirit Himself makes intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord over the past few weeks I have abandoned the idea that You are behind all things in my life, and consequently have been fighting hard against all the circumstances instead of trusting You. Somehow I forgot how to surrender. Well, it did not take long for me to “suddenly” get it. You would allow me to stay right there as long as I chose to handle my circumstances and difficulties by myself. I wonder why it takes so long sometimes. Thank You for once again showing me the need and opportunity to surrender this portion of my life to You as well.

And God says…”You know the scriptures…”seek first the Kingdom of heaven (which is Jesus) and all things shall be added to you…delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart, ….acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and He will make your paths straight.  However, your circumstances imbed them in your heart. You must learn surrender just as you learned your independence as a child. Trust Me in everything, even trust me for the faith and hope you need to trust Me. I will provide all you need in this life, simply look to Me. And very often your circumstances lead you here to this place of surrender and remind you of this process.”