Very few of us have any understanding of the reason why Jesus Christ died. If sympathy is all that human beings need, then the Cross of Christ is an absurdity and there is absolutely no need for it. What the world needs is not “a little bit of love,” but major surgery.When you find yourself face to face with a person who is spiritually lost, remind yourself of Jesus Christ on the cross. If that person can get to God in any other way, then the Cross of Christ is unnecessary. If you think you are helping lost people with your sympathy and understanding, you are a traitor to Jesus Christ. You must have a right-standing relationship with Him yourself, and pour your life out in helping others in His way— not in a human way that ignores God. The theme of the world’s religion today is to serve in a pleasant, non-confrontational manner.But our only priority must be to present Jesus Christ crucified— to lift Him up all the time (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). Every belief that is not firmly rooted in the Cross of Christ will lead people astray. If the worker himself believes in Jesus Christ and is trusting in the reality of redemption, his words will be compelling to others. What is extremely important is for the worker’s simple relationship with Jesus Christ to be strong and growing. His usefulness to God depends on that, and that alone.The calling of a New Testament worker is to expose sin and to reveal Jesus Christ as Savior. Consequently, he cannot always be charming and friendly, but must be willing to be stern to accomplish major surgery. We are sent by God to lift up Jesus Christ, not to give wonderfully beautiful speeches. We must be willing to examine others as deeply as God has examined us. We must also be sharply intent on sensing those Scripture passages that will drive the truth home, and then not be afraid to apply them.

__________________________________________

December 20, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, when I read one of these stern directed devotionals  from Chambers, I wonder. When he says it is our responsibility to expose sin  and hold up Jesus Christ, I get the picture of a judgmental Christian pointing out  some other person’s flaw, while carrying around a large helping of their own.  Your scripture points this out many times; that we are to forgive and offer up  Jesus to a world that knows they have need of Him, and we are to accomplish  this by living out Jesus…allowing Him to live through us.

And God says…”Simply  stay in relationship with Jesus; He can and will live through you. When you allow  Jesus to live through you, you can then observe as He manages the circumstances  to touch others. There will not be any need for you to decide what to say, or  how to act toward others. When you are connected to Jesus, you can allow him to  make the choices, let Him touch others as only He is able in concert with the
Holy Spirit. Jesus gave you but two commandments. When you are engaged in the
first, the second supernaturally follows.”

If you are sensitive to God’s way, your message as His servant will be merciless and insistent, cutting to the very root. Otherwise, there will be no healing. We must drive the message home so forcefully that a person cannot possibly hide, but must apply its truth. Deal with people where they are, until they begin to realize their true need. Then hold high the standard of Jesus for their lives. Their response may be, “We can never be that.” Then drive it home with, “Jesus Christ says you must.” “But how can we be?” “You can’t, unless you have a new Spirit” (see Luke 11:13).

There must be a sense of need created before your message is of any use. Thousands of people in this world profess to be happy without God. But if we could be truly happy and moral without Jesus, then why did He come? He came because that kind of happiness and peace is only superficial. Jesus Christ came to “bring . . . a sword” through every kind of peace that is not based on a personal relationship with Himself.

__________________________________________

December 19, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, this devotional suggests that I make the decision about  who needs compassion and who does not. I am not certain I am capable of making  that kind of decision. In fact my history says I am not even remotely (and never will be) capable of making that kind of distinction. When people are in  need I suspect I must simply trust You to lead me to my calling.

And God says…”That is  exactly right, when you encounter people in need of Me; you are to rely on Me to respond through you. You are not capable of making those kinds of  distinctions. Trust in Me and simply be available. Trust in Me with all your heart  and I will make your path straight. When you have absolutely no idea what to say or do for a person that needs Me, simply trust Me and place yourself on My  alter. Let Me deal with them through you; simply be available. Acknowledge Me  in all your ways, and I will make your paths straight.”

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.

_________________________________________________

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.

_______________________________________________

December 15, 2011

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.

________________________________________

December 14, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, this devotional seems to bring the lessons of the last  few days into focus; namely that You do not necessarily remove the difficult  things of this life.  You allow me to face  them with a peace that passes all understanding. I know I am in relationship with You when I examine the circumstances of this life with a peace and  understanding that I am right where you want me to be. …as Chambers said…” When I do obey God, problems come… as a means to keep my mind examining with amazement the revealed truth of God.”

And God says…”I do not  give you a peace that is dependent on your outward circumstances, that are  constantly changing in a fallen world, I give you a peace that passes all understanding  as you allow Me to live through you. And how do you allow Me to live through  you? You surrender yourself to Me, all day, every day, and then watch and live  in wonder.”

 

 

You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up . . . [with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

________________________________________

 

December 12, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

 

Lord, this devotional reminds me that my prayers should not  necessarily be that we be removed from our trials, but that You use the  circumstances and trials to bring us into your will. And while I know that  sounds a bit defeatist, it occurs to me that because of your abundant love, and  your omnipotence, being in your will guarantees Your best for us.

And God says…”If your  fathers, not being God, want the very best for their children, how much more do  you think your Father in heaven wants for you? You cannot grasp the love I have  for you. My love for you is beyond your comprehension. Consider the magnitude of My sacrifice, and not your circumstances or situation, and know that when  you are in My will, you are exactly where you must be for your ultimate well-being. Trust in Me with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding …and  I will make your paths straight.”

Personality is the unique, limitless part of our life that makes us distinct from everyone else. It is too vast for us even to comprehend. An island in the sea may be just the top of a large mountain, and our personality is like that island. We don’t know the great depths of our being, therefore we cannot measure ourselves. We start out thinking we can, but soon realize that there is really only one Being who fully understands us, and that is our Creator.Personality is the characteristic mark of the inner, spiritual man, just as individuality is the characteristic of the outer, natural man. Our Lord can never be described in terms of individuality and independence, but only in terms of His total Person— “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30). Personality merges, and you only reach your true identity once you are merged with another person. When love or the Spirit of God come upon a person, he is transformed. He will then no longer insist on maintaining his individuality. Our Lord never referred to a person’s individuality or his isolated position, but spoke in terms of the total person— “. . . that they may be one just as We are one . . . .” Once your rights to yourself are surrendered to God, your true personal nature begins responding to God immediately. Jesus Christ brings freedom to your total person, and even your individuality is transformed. The transformation is brought about by love— personal devotion to Jesus. Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.

______________________________________________

December 12, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, it is amazing and true that the transformation You  have begun in me has given me a different kind of appreciation for others.  The transformation seems to include  grace and forgiveness and a new kind of empathy.  When I am in communion with You I unconsciously  gravitate toward the needs of others, and when I am not in communion with you,  I seem to gravitate into a very small world that includes only me. Lord, help  me to turn my focus away from myself, and toward others.

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.

______________________________________________________

December 9, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, I used to pray then immediately go out and pursue my own agenda. I mean after all, I must be in your will; I prayed for guidance and then….took off! But over time You have been showing me that the plan, idea or practice does not need to make sense to me. It does not need to fit into my preconceived notions about how and why You work in my life and the lives of others. You have shown me that it is perfectly “normal” although not so “natural” for a believer to trust and depend on You to work in supernatural ways; in ways I can never understand nor anticipate.

And God says…”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. Simply trust me and let go of your own ideas about how I might respond to your prayers and cries for help. When you predetermine how I “should” respond to your prayers, hopes and dreams, you can limit your faith to those areas. Give Me room in your heart, head and life, to be God. Think, hope and
believe that I will respond in ways beyond your understanding. Think, hope, pray and believe that I will respond in ways that only the God of the universe could…. and on your behalf because I love you with a love beyond your imaginings. ”

We trample the blood of the Son of God underfoot if we think we are forgiven because we are sorry for our sins. The only reason for the forgiveness of our sins by God, and the infinite depth of His promise to forget them, is the death of Jesus Christ. Our repentance is merely the result of our personal realization of the atonement by the Cross of Christ, which He has provided for us. “. . . Christ Jesus . . . became for us wisdom from God–and righteousness and sanctification and redemption . . .” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Once we realize that Christ has become all this for us, the limitless joy of God begins in us. And wherever the joy of God is not present, the death sentence is still in effect.No matter who or what we are, God restores us to right standing with Himself only by means of the death of Jesus Christ. God does this, not because Jesus pleads with Him to do so but because He died. It cannot be earned, just accepted. All the pleading for salvation which deliberately ignores the Cross of Christ is useless. It is knocking at a door other than the one which Jesus has already opened. We protest by saying, “But I don’t want to come that way. It is too humiliating to be received as a sinner.” God’s response, through Peter, is, “. . . there is no other name . . . by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). What at first appears to be heartlessness on God’s part is actually the true expression of His heart. There is unlimited entrance His way. “In Him we have redemption through His blood . . .” (Ephesians 1:7). To identify with the death of Jesus Christ means that we must die to everything that was never a part of Him.God is just in saving bad people only as He makes them good. Our Lord does not pretend we are all right when we are all wrong. The atonement by the Cross of Christ is the propitiation God uses to make unholy people holy.

___________________________________________

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.

______________________________________________

December 7, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, just before I began the mechanics of assembling the devotional this morning I caught a glimpse of this quote from Charles Spurgeon,
“You cannot sin so much as God can forgive. If it comes to a pitched
battle between sin and grace, you shall not be so bad as God shall be good. I
will prove it to you. You can only sin as a man, but God can forgive as a God.
You sin as a finite creature, but the Lord forgives as the infinite
Creator.”

Father God, this quote made me stop and consider just how  amazing You are. Your overwhelming grace and mercy just stops me in my tracks  sometimes. Your love goes beyond anything I can imagine. Thank You for the  reminder.

And God says…” I went  to great lengths to show My love and grace in a way that demonstrates  just how far I will go to have a relationship with You. There are no limits or  boundaries on My love and grace. You will never be able to out run, or “out-sin”  my love, grace and forgiveness. There is no limit nor can you ever be separated  from My love and the goodness I have for you. Trust in Me with all your heart  and do not rely on your own understanding….and revel in my grace and love.”