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

Journal, DJR
Good Morning Lord,
The recurring theme that comes thru to me is that the really good things in our walk with you are not available by directly trying to achieve them …. Rather they are more like by-products of other actions. “Trying harder to believe” or trying to increase my faith, always seems to lead to a work of the flesh with frustration and ultimate failure. So it seems that just “walking in the Spirit” as relaxed as I can, and letting you bring me the agenda and bring me thru it….. Then, later I look back and see that my faith was exercized and increased.
Prayer: Lord help me walk in the Spirit today, holding the events and stresses in an “open palm” and letting you lead. Keep me learning, learning your ways, which are different and higher than my ways.

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JD’s prayer for today-

Lord, help me to simply trust you and let the outcomes and results belong to You. Help me to understand that the focus today is intimacy with You. And please give me the reassurance of knowing that everything else will  …or will not occur based on Your love and grace. Thank you in Jesus’ name.

Amen

. . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . —1 Peter 4:13

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”

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November 5, 2012

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I really do not want or need to hear one more lesson about suffering and why and how it is the process through which you help me grow as a believer. I have heard all the lessons and read all the scriptures about how and why suffering is something “I get to go through”….well when I am in the middle of some major hurting, all I want is “out of it” now! Like my cosmic bellhop I want and need you to stop my pain, heal my hurt, and dust me off and send me back refreshed and renewed and upbeat again.  I mean after all, you made me, you know how and why I hurt. You know my strong parts and weak parts, why not just tune them up a bit and get me back to square one? Lord, when I am hurting, I just want to stop hurting. Is that too much to ask?

And God says…”No it is not too much to ask, it is too little to ask. I love you too much to do so little for you. My ways are not your ways, and in your fallen earthly body, (mind and spirit) you want and desire more pleasure, less pain and less waiting. But less pain and more pleasure are not the nutrients for shaping you into the image of Jesus. Do not try to get out of suffering too early, let it have its perfect result. Do not pursue pleasure or distractions at the expense of  feeling your pain and suffering, the pain and suffering are the building blocks I am able to use. Just like a silversmith heats silver until the impurities can be poured out, I will keep the heat on you (just the right amount) so your impurities and imperfections can be removed ….over time. Trust Me. I loved you enough to give you My Son; you must know I love you enough to give you exactly what you need…even if it may not be exactly what you want this very moment. Trust in me and I will give you the desires of your heart. And remember, all we have is time.”

Do you not know that . . . you are not your own? —1 Corinthians 6:19

There is no such thing as a private life, or a place to hide in this world, for a man or woman who is intimately aware of and shares in the sufferings of Jesus Christ. God divides the private life of His saints and makes it a highway for the world on one hand and for Himself on the other. No human being can stand that unless he is identified with Jesus Christ. We are not sanctified for ourselves. We are called into intimacy with the gospel, and things happen that appear to have nothing to do with us. But God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way. If you refuse, you will be of no value to God in His redemptive work in the world, but will be a hindrance and a stumbling block.

The first thing God does is get us grounded on strong reality and truth. He does this until our cares for ourselves individually have been brought into submission to His way for the purpose of His redemption. Why shouldn’t we experience heartbreak? Through those doorways God is opening up ways of fellowship with His Son. Most of us collapse at the first grip of pain. We sit down at the door of God’s purpose and enter a slow death through self-pity. And all the so-called Christian sympathy of others helps us to our deathbed. But God will not. He comes with the grip of the pierced hand of His Son, as if to say, “Enter into fellowship with Me; arise and shine.” If God can accomplish His purposes in this world through a broken heart, then why not thank Him for breaking yours?

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord
One focus of today’s devo is that you come thru our pain and Christlikeness is accomplished in the valleys of life. And you accomplish your will thru broken hearts. This is true but it must be only one facet of your workings. Cannot you also accomplish your will thru blessings and mountaintop experiences.
Yes, of course. And I have blessings in store for my people. But my ways are not your ways … my thoughts not your thoughts. They are higher, and a thing you count a curse, may turn out to be a blessing. Isn’t that what you’ve found when looking back.
Yes, sometimes. Some of them may need even more time for me to gain your perspective.
I use it all, Pain and Prosperity, the question is, will you believe me that I’ll use it all, and thank me in the storms and in the calm?
Well as you know, it’s a work in process.

If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you —Matthew 17:20

Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15)._

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October 31, 2011

Journal for Today-JDV

Lord, it is so easy to talk about faith and hope when they are not the glue of our days and nights. It is easy to stand back in the distance and study faith and hope and love. It is when I am required to live in intense faith and hope that I am drawn even closer to You though. And even as I am
drawn closer and closer to You through pain and sorrow it seems clear that my faith and hope become renewed.

And God says…”Do not try to get out of your trials too easily or quickly, let them have their
perfect desired outcomes, namely bringing you closer to Me. Praise Me in your trials and notice how their meaning and power shifts. Seek first the Kingdom of heaven, which is Jesus, and all the things you want or need will be added to your life. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Acknowledge the Lord in all of your life, even the trials, and
notice how your capacity for love, faith and hope is increased.”

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
The thing about faith that I’ve noticed is that I dont usually notice it … until looking back at an event. If I am in the middle of something and trying to ramp up my faith … it’s usually too late, and I come up with some kind of will power carnal thing that never works your kind of miraculousness. So faith gets built and faith gets tested and it seems to happen without me recognizing it. Except for the general belief in Rom 8:28 that all things work together for good because I love you and you love me. And the general belief that you have plans for me, for good (Jer 29:11) Analyzing it deeply gives me a headache … but understanding the concept is helpful.

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

The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy for us. Yet the New Testament view is that He took our sin on Himself not because of sympathy, but because of His identification with us. He was “made. . . to be sin. . . .” Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the only explanation for His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy for us. We are acceptable to God not because we have obeyed, nor because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and for no other reason. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the fatherhood and the lovingkindness of God, but the New Testament says that He came to take “away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the revealing of the fatherhood of God is only to those to whom Jesus has been introduced as Savior. In speaking to the world, Jesus Christ never referred to Himself as One who revealed the Father, but He spoke instead of being a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9 , where Jesus said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father,” was spoken to His disciples. That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (seeGalatians 4:19).

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October 29, 2012

Journal Entry-JDV

Lord I pray that You help me remember your sacrifice and recall your love and commitment of a future as well. Sometimes right in the middle of the hurry up of life and self-centeredness of my own issues I forget to recall your love and sacrifice for which I am truly thankful. Lord, help me to see my status and position as your child.

And God says…”Seek first My Kingdom, which is Jesus. 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. Simply stay connected to Jesus in all you say and do and you will know your secure position with Me. Whenever life seems to be too fast, too uncertain and painful, check your connection to Jesus. When you are secure in your connection, all else fails into place; regardless of circumstances. And I know the future I have for you…for good.”

“I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.”
1 Corinthians 9:22

A Christian worker has to learn how to be God’s noble man or woman amid a crowd of ignoble things. Never make this plea – If only I were somewhere else! All God’s men are ordinary men made extraordinary by the matter He has given them. Unless we have the right matter in our minds intellectually and in our hearts affectionately, we will be hustled out of usefulness to God. We are not workers for God by choice. Many people deliberately choose to be workers, but they have no matter in them of God’s almighty grace, no matter of His mighty word. Paul’s whole heart and mind and soul were taken up with the great matter of what Jesus Christ came to do, he never lost sight of that one thing. We have to face ourselves with the one central fact – Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

“I have chosen you.” Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God but that He has got you. Here, in this College, God is at work, bending, breaking, moulding, doing just as He chooses. Why He is doing it, we do not know; He is doing it for one purpose only – that He may be able to say, This is My man, My woman. We have to be in God’s hand so that He can plant men on the Rock as He has planted us.

Never choose to be a worker, but when God has put His call on you, woe be to you if you turn to the right hand or to the left. He will do with you what He never did with you before the call came He will do with you what He is not doing with other people. Let Him have His way.

Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 2:14

The proper perspective of a servant of God must not simply be as near to the highest as he can get, but it must be the highest. Be careful that you vigorously maintain God’s perspective, and remember that it must be done every day, little by little. Don’t think on a finite level. No outside power can touch the proper perspective.

The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him . . .” (Romans 8:37).

“We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . .” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
It’s sometimes hard to believe that you are excited about me. Especially when I’m not excited about me … and probably when I am excited about me. I guess the difference between you and me (one of many) is that you dont change … whereas I go up and down. You made a decision a long time ago that you were going to pay a high price and redeem a bunch of sinning humans. Ever since that decision, history has marched on, the humans kept on sinning and you kept on loving.
It seems that we can get to a level of stability and unchanging, this side of heaven. Paul and some of the other gospel writers say so. So that is my prayer today. Make me more like you in that way … unchanging in the face of changing circumstances. Not just Stoic. But reflecting and channeling your love into the world … the same, no matter how pleasant or unpleasant the circumstances.
I love you.

Note: Sometimes when we are searching for the right song … we find two songs that together bring a more complete complement to the written material. In those cases we’ll put the second song in at the end. DJR

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.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord.
I dont actually consciously think and believe that you will skip over my prejudices while dealing with others. The variation that I tend toward is acknowledging that my sin is there in me, and will be dealt with someday … but in the meantime it’s covered by your blood. So I try to focus on what you have already done in me and not on what is yet to be done. Focusing on trying to improve my sinful parts falls into “Sin Management” or Guilt Management, and only makes me a better Pharisee … which adds pride and judgementalism to my list of problems. So I walk in some level of freedom, knowing that there is sin in me, sin that will be dealt with … But it will happen in your way and your time. My job is simply to show up, Surrendered and ready for whatever molding toward Christlikeness that you have for me today. Surrendered of all that you’ve already shown me and ready to surrender to whatever you show me today.

(the song was written spontaneously, to honor the victims of the recent Colorado shooting. But see if it doesn’t speak to today’s message as well. djr)

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . —Romans 8:16

We are in danger of getting into a bargaining spirit with God when we come to Him—we want the witness of the Spirit before we have done what God tells us to do.

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28 , “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord.
Today you remind us again that you are the source and the power for anything good that we do or become. Since you provide the redemption and the empowering of the Spirit and the witness of the Spirit and the conviction of the Spirit … we are left with the question: “OK, then, what is our part? What are we to do without it being in the power of our own flesh. It seems that our job is to simply “Show Up” daily with a context of belief and expectation. Belief in what you’ve already shown me and expectation that you have plans for me … plans for good and a future and a hope. (Jer 29:11) So why study? Not so I can know more, the Pharisees knew lots, but so I can believe more and expect more … and from that context, I will be able to obey more.