When He was alone . . . the twelve asked Him about the parable —Mark 4:10

May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless . . . —1 Thessalonians 5:23

Abraham built an altar . . . ; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar . . . —Genesis 22:9

This event is a picture of the mistake we make in thinking that the ultimate God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, that is, sacrifice our lives. Not— “Lord, I am ready to go with You . . . to death” (Luke 22:33). But— “I am willing to be identified with Your death so that I may sacrifice my life to God.”

We seem to think that God wants us to give up things! God purified Abraham from this error, and the same process is at work in our lives. God never tells us to give up things just for the sake of giving them up, but He tells us to give them up for the sake of the only thing worth having, namely, life with Himself. It is a matter of loosening the bands that hold back our lives. Those bands are loosened immediately by identification with the death of Jesus. Then we enter into a relationship with God whereby we may sacrifice our lives to Him.

It is of no value to God to give Him your life for death. He wants you to be a “living sacrifice”— to let Him have all your strengths that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus (Romans 12:1). This is what is acceptable to God.

Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, This concept seems clear to grasp but harder to implement. Kind of like the man who said, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. Yes, I choose to sacrifice my life for you and your kingdom but help me with the part of me that doesn’t.

Know that it is a process. You see my men and women in the Bible who were in process. Abraham in this story and David and Paul and Peter and all the others. They wrestled the same fight with their flesh that you are wrestling. Try to learn from their experiences. What you can learn from others will be valuable, but limited. What you will learn most from is your personal life and our personal relationship. I will teach you and you will learn quickly and well as you walk closer and hear better. So let’s walk this life together. It’s the best way to live. Best for you. Best for me.

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. . . All my springs are in you —Psalm 87:7

Our Lord never “patches up” our natural virtues, that is, our natural traits, qualities, or characteristics. He completely remakes a person on the inside— “. . . put on the new man . . .” (Ephesians 4:24). In other words, see that your natural human life is putting on all that is in keeping with the new life. The life God places within us develops its own new virtues, not the virtues of the seed of Adam, but of Jesus Christ. Once God has begun the process of sanctification in your life, watch and see how God causes your confidence in your own natural virtues and power to wither away. He will continue until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through this drying-up experience!

The sign that God is at work in us is that He is destroying our confidence in the natural virtues, because they are not promises of what we are going to be, but only a wasted reminder of what God created man to be. We want to cling to our natural virtues, while all the time God is trying to get us in contact with the life of Jesus Christ— a life that can never be described in terms of natural virtues. It is the saddest thing to see people who are trying to serve God depending on that which the grace of God never gave them. They are depending solely on what they have by virtue of heredity. God does not take our natural virtues and transform them, because our natural virtues could never even come close to what Jesus Christ wants. No natural love, no natural patience, no natural purity can ever come up to His demands. But as we bring every part of our natural bodily life into harmony with the new life God has placed within us, He will exhibit in us the virtues that were characteristic of the Lord Jesus.

And every virtue we possess
Is His alone.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
I think maybe You are showing me some of the things the deco is talking about today. There are areas where I am at the end of myself. Areas of total failure … where I am backing up and saying, “This isn’t working … I think I’ll try another way. Is that You, Lord? Are you in that? Or am I just looking for another way out of my problems.
Getting out of problems is not a bad thing. It’s whether or not you are doing it my way or your way. If it’s just your next idea, well good luck. If you’ve been hearing my voice, then you won’t need luck. It will be right and you’ll know it and see the results soon enough. When you hit on “my way” you’re home free. Even if all the problems dont dissolve instantly (and they probably won’t) … you’ll walk in peace because you’ll know we are in this together.

God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ . . . —Galatians 6:14

I did not come to bring peace but a sword —Matthew 10:34

Never be sympathetic with a person whose situation causes you to conclude that God is dealing harshly with him. God can be more tender than we can conceive, and every once in a while He gives us the opportunity to deal firmly with someone so that He may be viewed as the tender One. If a person cannot go to God, it is because he has something secret which he does not intend to give up— he may admit his sin, but would no more give up that thing than he could fly under his own power. It is impossible to deal sympathetically with people like that. We must reach down deep in their lives to the root of the problem, which will cause hostility and resentment toward the message. People want the blessing of God, but they can’t stand something that pierces right through to the heart of the matter.

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.

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

Being faithful to Jesus Christ is the most difficult thing we try to do today. We will be faithful to our work, to serving others, or to anything else; just don’t ask us to be faithful to Jesus Christ. Many Christians become very impatient when we talk about faithfulness to Jesus. Our Lord is dethroned more deliberately by Christian workers than by the world. We treat God as if He were a machine designed only to bless us, and we think of Jesus as just another one of the workers.

The goal of faithfulness is not that we will do work for God, but that He will be free to do His work through us. God calls us to His service and places tremendous responsibilities on us. He expects no complaining on our part and offers no explanation on His part. God wants to use us as He used His own Son.

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December 18, 2013-JDV

Lord, sometimes it seems like all the promises of God are under the umbrella…”if I obey, if I do the right thing, if you want to straighten out my circumstance, if all things are in alignment. “I know my failings, my wandering heart. I know that I do not stay connected all the time. Does this mean that when I am frightened, disobedient, uncertain and disconnected that You are not there working out my life? Am I required to do “the right and Christian thing” all the time, in order to receive the blessings and benefits of being a child of God?

And God says…”The very reason for the magnitude of the sacrifice of Jesus is that I must see perfection when I look at you for our relationship. However, you are unable to live a perfect life. And I cannot grade on the curve; 90% of perfect does not work…getting or being better does not work. I require perfection, and because you are unable to live up to this requirement I gave you the perfect sacrifice and substitute; Jesus Christ.  So do not try to be perfect, do not even try to live the perfect or almost perfect life. Live life more abundantly, by staying connected to Jesus, knowing that as you are near to Him you will be transformed, over time.  Seek first the kingdom of God, and everything else you need, including how to be connected, curious and in the present with God will be provided.”

The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him . . . —1 Corinthians 2:14

The gospel of God creates the sense of need for the gospel. Is the gospel hidden to those who are servants already? No, Paul said, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe . . .” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4). The majority of people think of themselves as being completely moral, and have no sense of need for the gospel. It is God who creates this sense of need in a human being, but that person remains totally unaware of his need until God makes Himself evident. Jesus said, “Ask, and it will be given to you . . .” (Matthew 7:7). But God cannot give until a man asks. It is not that He wants to withhold something from us, but that is the plan He has established for the way of redemption. Through our asking, God puts His process in motion, creating something in us that was nonexistent until we asked. The inner reality of redemption is that it creates all the time. And as redemption creates the life of God in us, it also creates the things which belong to that life. The only thing that can possibly satisfy the need is what created the need. This is the meaning of redemption— it creates and it satisfies.

Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself” (John 12:32). When we preach our own experiences, people may be interested, but it awakens no real sense of need. But once Jesus Christ is “lifted up,” the Spirit of God creates an awareness of the need for Him. The creative power of the redemption of God works in the souls of men only through the preaching of the gospel. It is never the sharing of personal experiences that saves people, but the truth of redemption. “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
It seems to me (us) that saying that you only work thru preaching is too restrictive … You are God, and can work however you want. And you can get a person’s attention however you want. The aborigine who’s never heard the “gospel” but looks up at the stars and says Wow – Thank you.

Psalm 19 19 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

You are correct, I am God and I can achieve my objectives many different ways, including some that dont fit in the lists of traditional ways. Like the aborigine you mentioned. But this does not mean that I dont also work thru those other methods … Sometimes. I love to work through yielded vessels who are listening to me and who want to team with me in my work. Those are doing what they do for the right reason. Remember though, I am bigger. I can even get my work done through those who do what they do for the wrong reason and those with less than pure motivation. It is not for you to analyze my motivation and predict when and where I will or won’t work. You will do best to just connect with me and follow me and share as I lead. And share that same message to those I bring across your path. That message contains enough “gospel” My Holy Spirit can take it from there inside the hearts of the hearers and observers.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God . . . praying always . . . — Ephesians 6:13,18

Always distinguish between God’s order and His permissive will, i.e., His providential purpose towards us. God’s order is unchangeable; His permissive will is that with which we must wrestle before Him. It is our reaction to the permissive will of God that enables us to get at His order. “All things work together for good to them that love God” – to those who remain true to God’s order, to His calling in Christ Jesus. God’s permissive will is the means whereby His sons and daughters are to be manifested. We are not to be like jelly-fish saying, “It’s the Lord’s will.” We have not to put up a fight before God, not to wrestle with God, but to wrestle before God with things. Beware of squatting lazily before God instead of putting up a glorious fight so that you may lay hold of His strength.

. . . men always ought to pray and not lose heart —Luke 18:1

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.

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December 13, 20130-JDV

God I am afraid I don’t know much about intercessory prayer versus simple prayer for others. When I pray for others, is there a formula?  Does this mean I cannot simply pray for others as I become aware of their needs, hurts and difficult circumstances?  Please help me understand and become a man that effectively prays for others early and often.

And God says…”There are no formulas. Jesus gave you but two commandments, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

“When you love Me with all your heart, mind and soul, and are connected to Me, you are transformed and cannot help but pray effectively. Concentrate on your connection with Me, and then your love and connection with others will evolve from your transformation.  Seek first the Kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and everything else you need, including an effective intercessory prayer life, will be provided you by the Holy Spirit. “