Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him— that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our “spiritual face” before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.

Don’t plan with a concern for evil in mind. Does God really mean for us to plan without taking the evil around us into account? “Love . . . thinks no evil” ( 1 Corinthians 13:4-5  ). Love is not ignorant of the existence of evil, but it does not take it into account as a factor in planning. When we were apart from God, we did take evil into account, doing all of our planning with it in mind, and we tried to reason out all of our work from its standpoint.

Don’t plan with a rainy day in mind. You cannot hoard things for a rainy day if you are truly trusting Christ. Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled . . .” (John 14:1 ). God will not keep your heart from being troubled. It is a command— “Let not. . . .” To do it, continually pick yourself up, even if you fall a hundred and one times a day, until you get into the habit of putting God first and planning with Him in mind.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

July 5, 2010

I woke up a bit out of sorts….sore and a little more than still tired. Oh I got enough sleep, but riding that 10 miles on Saturday took its toll.

My legs were still a bit rubbery, and unusual for me; I seemed to be taking a while to wake up. I reached for praise and connection with my Lord, and it felt a little “disconnected”. I wonder why? What had I done to break the connection? Why couldn’t I “feel” the connection?

Why couldn’t I “feel” the Spirit of God inside of me? Where was it? Why must I struggle to find it?

And God says… “I am with you always…., nothing can separate you from my love…I have made it very clear in My word in deed that I am always with you, regardless of how you feel about it. You will be constantly under attack from the enemy, especially as you continue to seek me in all things and before you step out into anything. The enemy sees your obedience, and is angry about your happiness and faithfulness. You need not “feel” the Spirit to know that I am there, however, whenever your spirit senses a “distance” between us; know that it cannot exist unless you allow it through your lack of faith. There is never a distance because I have never moved except to be even closer to you.  

The enemy will try to make you believe that there is a distance between us, resist him and he will flee.

There is power and strength in My word and your worship, praise and reliance on me. Within worship, praise and reliance you will always find and “feel” the connection because within the worship, praise and reliance your faith is strengthened.

Fretting means getting ourselves “out of joint” mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, “Do not fret,” but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It’s easy to say, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him” ( Psalm 37:7  ) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people. Is it possible to “rest in the Lord” then? If this “Do not” doesn’t work there, then it will not work anywhere. This “Do not” must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

Worrying always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and “abide under the shadow of the Almighty” ( Psalm 91:1  ). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.

If the closest relationships of a disciple’s life conflict with the claims of Jesus Christ, then our Lord requires instant obedience to Himself. Discipleship means personal, passionate devotion to a Person— our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a vast difference between devotion to a person and devotion to principles or to a cause. Our Lord never proclaimed a cause— He proclaimed personal devotion to Himself. To be a disciple is to be a devoted bondservant motivated by love for the Lord Jesus. Many of us who call ourselves Christians are not truly devoted to Jesus Christ. No one on earth has this passionate love for the Lord Jesus unless the Holy Spirit has given it to him. We may admire, respect, and revere Him, but we cannot love Him on our own. The only One who truly loves the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit, and it is He who has “poured out in our hearts” the very “love of God” (Romans 5:5  ). Whenever the Holy Spirit sees an opportunity to glorify Jesus through you, He will take your entire being and set you ablaze with glowing devotion to Jesus Christ.

The Christian life is a life characterized by true and spontaneous creativity. Consequently, a disciple is subject to the same charge that was leveled against Jesus Christ, namely, the charge of inconsistency. But Jesus Christ was always consistent in His relationship to God, and a Christian must be consistent in his relationship to the life of the Son of God in him, not consistent to strict, unyielding doctrines. People pour themselves into their own doctrines, and God has to blast them out of their preconceived ideas before they can become devoted to Jesus Christ.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

July 2, 2010

This morning I woke up a couple of times and I noticed that I awake with the words and lyrics of songs of worship. It occurred to me that I was communing with God through Jesus in song. My heart was resting in Him and I was reaching out silently in my head and heart. It has been happening more and more, but it is still not an all the time thing, so I noticed and enjoyed the interlude.

I noticed that I was asking God His direction……and listening closely for His answers. It was not a conversation, but it was, I mean is a constant conversation. And when I am in this constant conversation, I know that I am in the will of God regardless of my circumstances.

And God says………”When you heard the scripture, pray without ceasing, you may have thought originally that I was talking about getting on your knees and praying all day. But as you matured you began to realize that praying without ceasing is simply another way to say, stay connected to Me at all times.”

“As I told you yesterday, I paid an enormous price for our intimate relationship. Without the sacrifice of Jesus we could not have a relationship, because you were not holy. However, when you became holy through Jesus, we were now able to have an intimate relationship with each other. This is the relationship I have sought since the Garden of Eden.”

“Now that we can have this relationship I want to be close to you all the time (I always have wanted this for and from you). But this can only happen when you freely and completely open up to Me. I cannot force myself on you.”

“So now that you have discovered the continuous connection with Me and the intimate relationship and peace and joy it brings, you can reach for it at all times. You and I can be connected all the time. Simply knock and I will answer……all the time. When you are aware, knock, and over time, a transformation will take place when you will not even have to knock. You will simply be in me.”

“Remember this can only occur in the moment. I said I am. Not I was or I will be. You can only find me in the moment. Stay in the moment with Me. This is the very first step of true discipleship.”

There is no heaven that has a little corner of hell in it. God is determined to make you pure, holy, and right, and He will not allow you to escape from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit for even one moment. He urged you to come to judgment immediately when He convicted you, but you did not obey. Then the inevitable process began to work, bringing its inevitable penalty. Now you have been “thrown into prison, [and] . . . you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny” ( 5:25-26 ). Yet you ask, “Is this a God of mercy and love?” When seen from God’s perspective, it is a glorious ministry of love. God is going to bring you out pure, spotless, and undefiled, but He wants you to recognize the nature you were exhibiting— the nature of demanding your right to yourself. The moment you are willing for God to change your nature, His recreating forces will begin to work. And the moment you realize that God’s purpose is to get you into the right relationship with Himself and then with others, He will reach to the very limits of the universe to help you take the right road. Decide to do it right now, saying, “Yes, Lord, I will write that letter,” or, “I will be reconciled to that person now.”

These sermons of Jesus Christ are meant for your will and your conscience, not for your head. If you dispute these verses from the Sermon on the Mount with your head, you will dull the appeal to your heart.

If you find yourself asking, “I wonder why I’m not growing spiritually with God?”— then ask yourself if you are paying your debts from God’s standpoint. Do now what you will have to do someday. Every moral question or call comes with an “ought” behind it— the knowledge of knowing what we ought to do.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

July 1, 2010

I think I hear your voice clearly, giving me specific directions. I think I hear you leading and guiding me…..but then I wonder is it really you? Inside my head I am at war, yes, no, yes no. It couldn’t possibly be God speaking to me, what am I thinking? God wouldn’t be speaking to me …..Would He?

And what He said, that couldn’t possibly be true could it? It seems too far-fetched, too risky, too over the top wonderful. How do I know that it is God talking and not just my own imagination?

I need to be certain; I need to be absolutely sure. Or do I?

And God says….” If you listen closely and act on my direction you will begin to hear Me more clearly. I am always talking to you, but you simply do not listen for me and act. As a consequence you begin to doubt and then because you doubt, you quit listening. When you hear Me, stop and ask Me if it is Me, and I will answer you right then, immediately. (My sheep know My voice) ……….You will know and you can act on my direction. When you begin to do that you will notice our relationship taking on a new growth and new growth rate. Because you will hear Me and act on my direction, I will then give you more and more direction. My desire is to have a more intimate relationship with you. I have invested a great deal in creating this relationship, so why would I not speak with you? Listen, and then be obedient. Our relationship will grow even more than you could ever imagine, and people will begin to see even more of Me in you.

Never choose to be a worker for God, but once God has placed His call on you, woe be to you if you “turn aside to the right hand or to the left” ( Deuteronomy 5:32 ). We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has “laid hold of” us. And once He has done so, we never have this thought, “Well, I’m really not suited for this.” What you are to preach is also determined by God, not by your own natural leanings or desires. Keep your soul steadfastly related to God, and remember that you are called not simply to convey your testimony but also to preach the gospel. Every Christian must testify to the truth of God, but when it comes to the call to preach, there must be the agonizing grip of God’s hand on you— your life is in the grip of God for that very purpose. How many of us are held like that?

Never water down the Word of God, but preach it in its undiluted sternness. There must be unflinching faithfulness to the Word of God, but when you come to personal dealings with others, remember who you are— you are not some special being created in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace.

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do. . . I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” ( Philippians 3:13-14 ).

Today’s Journaling , DJR

Good morning Lord.  I hear what Oswald is saying today.   I dont feel gripped the way he talks about.  Usually at least.   What is up with that?   Is my faith defective, weak or is something else wrong with me?

You suffer from some of the same malady that my servant, John noted about the people in Laodacea.

Yes, I know this.  What is to be done?

Oswald is right, you cannot choose your calling or your passion.   You are to discover it.    And then be obedient to it and there is room for diversity in how you work it out.      But you can water  and fertilize the seeds and that is what you do by your choice to meet me here daily and other disciplines that I offer you to choose to do.    Dont crank up passion.  Let me build it as I have created you to be a vessel of passion and creativity to be a blessing. My eyes are looking thru the whole earth to find those who will say, with Isaiah, “here am I, send me.”   and not draw back.

I want to be that man.   But my experience is that of starting and running out of gas and falling back to a level of mediocrity, lukewarmness….

Wait on the Spirit for the passion and direction.  You must start in the Spirit and finish in the Spirit.   The flesh will always run out of gas.    Stay connected to me and practice obedience to the small things first.   Then they will get bigger.  Just stay connected and stay obedient and dont worry about lukewarmness.   I’ll take care of the temperature of all who will seek me and keep on knocking…  they will find me.

We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them.

Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me. You cannot find or receive yourself through success, because you lose your head over pride. And you cannot receive yourself through the monotony of your daily life, because you give in to complaining. The only way to find yourself is in the fires of sorrow. Why it should be this way is immaterial. The fact is that it is true in the Scriptures and in human experience. You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. But if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you will receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people.

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Journal for Today-JDV

June 25, 2010

I struggle with the concept that I must have sorrow in my life. I struggle with the notion that I must feel the pain and experience the difficult times of life. For years I prayed that God would keep me from the trials and difficulties; that sickness and financial pressures would be removed. I prayed that my family and friends would be well and that days would be smooth for me and mine. I hoped and prayed for positive diagnosis,  great jobs and wonderful events and circumstances. And yet I know that the Lord has told me that in this life I would experience difficulties.

I am  being led to understand and internalize the notion  that life’s difficult circumstances will never go away, but that God will and does give us the power and courage to joyfully live in difficult circumstances that are a part of day to day living. And as we live inside and yet above difficult circumstances, God is glorified. He is glorified when we can live joyfully inside of difficult circumstances.

And Jesus says…”I came to give you life and life more abundantly, but I did not come to change this world. I came to honor and glorify the Father, and to change you. You can walk in this world, be a part of it, but you are no longer bound to or by it. When you see Me in the circumstances of this life, you know that the Father and I are holding you up. Others can see this as well and the Father is glorified.

When you “pray without ceasing” you are connected to Me, in anticipation of all the world can throw at you. And you can be joyful in the knowledge that in a world full of trouble, I will provide the peace, hope, courage, grace, knowledge and wisdom to overcome the world. Look for me in all things and you will find life exciting and surprising; even in the midst of sorrow. Let Me be God by expecting Me to deliver you or to protect and delightfully surprise you in a world full of sorrow.

Not being reconciled to the fact of sin— not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it— produces all the disasters in life. You may talk about the lofty virtues of human nature, but there is something in human nature that will mockingly laugh in the face of every principle you have. If you refuse to agree with the fact that there is wickedness and selfishness, something downright hateful and wrong, in human beings, when it attacks your life, instead of reconciling yourself to it, you will compromise with it and say that it is of no use to battle against it. Have you taken this “hour, and the power of darkness” into account, or do you have a view of yourself which includes no recognition of sin whatsoever? In your human relationships and friendships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. But if you will reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately and say, “Yes, I see what this sin would mean.” The recognition of sin does not destroy the basis of friendship— it simply establishes a mutual respect for the fact that the basis of sinful life is disastrous. Always beware of any assessment of life which does not recognize the fact that there is sin.

Jesus Christ never trusted human nature, yet He was never cynical nor suspicious, because He had absolute trust in what He could do for human nature. The pure man or woman is the one who is shielded from harm, not the innocent person. The so-called innocent man or woman is never safe. Men and women have no business trying to be innocent; God demands that they be pure and virtuous. Innocence is the characteristic of a child. Any person is deserving of blame if he is unwilling to reconcile himself to the fact of sin.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

June 23, 2010

I wonder what point Oswald Chambers is trying to make in this devotional? It is another about the impact of sin in our lives. He is focused on the fact that human nature is not good; that we all have sin in our lives and that our goal is not innocence but purity. He reminds us that our friends and neighbors all have sin as a part of their nature as well.

Being reminded of this fact makes me wonder why I would ever reach out to anyone but Jesus. When I need hope or help and direction, why would I reach out to another human first? Why would I go to anyone except Jesus? I suspect I would and could reach out to a brother or sister in whom I could see Jesus, just as I hope others see Jesus in me.

And God says…”Stay close and connected to Me through Jesus. When you miss the mark, and you will, allow the Holy Spirit to point it out to you, AND allow Jesus to make the changes in you. Your job is to be obedient and trust Me and be receptive to the Holy Spirit’s direction. You know your position with Me in Jesus. You can easily identify brothers and sisters in Christ as well. You can reach out to other connected believers and seek their counsel, knowing that they too (just like you) will have great capacity to be disconnected. The Spirit of God within you can and will, connect with the Spirit of God within them and you can know when you can reach out to them. You can reach out to me through Jesus, and you can reach out to Jesus in others just like others can and will reach out to Jesus when they see Him in you.

The natural state is for others to see the flaws in you. They can see the sin that is obvious and always a part of a human. However, when you are connected to Me through Jesus, they will always see Jesus.

We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.

We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.

Either Oswald Chambers has a more complex meaning to his phrase…”Sin will kill the life of God in us” or I misread Philippians 1:6 and Romans 8:38-39….God will complete the work he has begun in you….and……. Nothing can separate us from the love of God (my paraphrase).

Perhaps Oswald is talking about the grief and pain we cause our spirit when we sin, and sin we will. However, I am convinced that  we can overcome all sin in our lives, over time, through Christ Jesus. We conquer sin day by day. and totally overcome sin just like and just when  we also conquer death through Christ Jesus. And  until then, by the grace and love of God, we get back up again every time we fall. We grieve but are not locked into grief forever,  we stumble and are not crushed, we are dissappointed and discouraged but do not give up, thanks be to God  through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. JDV

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAA0ASlh1HU

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Journal for Today-JDV

June 23, 2010

When I read a devotional like this one I wonder about the power of grace and love of Jesus Christ. I wonder if we are to be trapped between the grace and forgiveness and the grief of falling as we do inevitably. I wonder and speculate that others may be able to simply decide to stop sin in their lives, but I cannot, and then as a result my thoughts begin to run off with the idea that perhaps I am not as worthy as others, or perhaps I missed the “stop sin” tool that was distributed at a private church meeting somewhere.

And God says….”You are forgiven all things through the blood of My Son. But grace is not license. When you fall you “get back up again” through prayer and repentance. Prayer not to repent of your sin and ask forgiveness again, that was settled at the cross, but a prayer of thanks and appreciation confirming that you no longer have to be trapped in sin. The evidence will follow.

This statement is not some haphazard theory, but it is an eternal law of God. Whatever judgment you give will be the very way you are judged. There is a difference between retaliation and retribution. Jesus said that the basis of life is retribution— “with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you have been shrewd in finding out the shortcomings of others, remember that will be exactly how you will be measured. The way you pay is the way life will pay you back. This eternal law works from God’s throne down to us (see Psalm 18:25-26 ).

Romans 2:1 applies it in even a more definite way by saying that the one who criticizes another is guilty of the very same thing. God looks not only at the act itself, but also at the possibility of committing it, which He sees by looking at our hearts. To begin with, we do not believe the statements of the Bible. For instance, do we really believe the statement that says we criticize in others the very things we are guilty of ourselves? The reason we see hypocrisy, deceit, and a lack of genuineness in others is that they are all in our own hearts. The greatest characteristic of a saint is humility, as evidenced by being able to say honestly and humbly, “Yes, all those, as well as other evils, would have been exhibited in me if it were not for the grace of God. Therefore, I have no right to judge.”

Jesus said, “Judge not, that you be not judged” ( Matthew 7:1 ). He went on to say, in effect, “If you do judge, you will be judged in exactly the same way.” Who of us would dare to stand before God and say, “My God, judge me as I have judged others”? We have judged others as sinners— if God should judge us in the same way, we would be condemned to hell. Yet God judges us on the basis of the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

June 22, 2010

I have heard two sermons and have had one or or two devotionals rise up to greet me on the subject of forgiveness and grace. On Sunday the pastor delivered a sermon on forgiveness and grace and how we receive what we give, and how hard it is to live life forgiving others.. On the way home from Los Angeles, driving and listening to a sermon on the radio I heard a similar message. And then this morning, Oswald Chambers reminds me of the lesson of forgiveness and the law of reciprocity. One lesson, Hmmmm. Two? Ok perhaps I need tuning up a bit. But three or four lessons on this topic in the last few days? Hmmmm. Ok God here I am open and receptive.

And God says…”This is a lesson you should review regularly. It is not enough that you help people and reach out for and to many that need help. It is not enough that you pray for others and hold your enemies up for blessings. The very best you can do for others will not ever be enough. And you will never develop your own spirit of love and grace and forgiveness for others. It is not possible. Your natural state will be to want things to be fair, and to strike out when someone hurts you or curses you or someone you love. Your natural state will be to protect yourself, and to criticize those that are not like you and yours, and to be defensive when someone else criticizes you or your beliefs and values.

You will and can however, allow me to live through you and let my grace and love pour out on others through you. You can be connected to me so that your natural state does not respond as it is “supposed” to respond. You can stay open to me, and allow My forgiveness, grace and peace to flow through you. You can be connected to Me, and let Me connect with others. You can do all things through Christ Jesus.