November 30, 2011

By the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain . . . —1 Corinthians 15:10

The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, “Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint.” But to say that before God means, “No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.” That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.

Conversely, the things that sound humble before God may sound exactly the opposite to people. To say, “Thank God, I know I am saved and sanctified,” is in God’s eyes the purest expression of humility. It means you have so completely surrendered yourself to God that you know He is true. Never worry about whether what you say sounds humble before others or not. But always be humble before God, and allow Him to be your all in all.

There is only one relationship that really matters, and that is your personal relationship to your personal Redeemer and Lord. If you maintain that at all costs, letting everything else go, God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.

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November 30, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, Thank you for reminding me through this devotional and  music that it does not matter what I think I am or am not. It does not matter what  I have and have not done or said. My position in you is not dependent on my contribution.  Your sacrifice was enough and You said it is finished. Thank you for this reminder.

And God says…”Jesus has paid it all. And yes, it is finished. The enemy would like you to believe that you must contribute something; so often you feel compelled to contribute good works, bible study and prayer to the case of your spiritual wellbeing. And while those are all  good things, they cannot and do not bring you closer to Me. The sacrifice of Jesus is enough. Simply focus on Jesus and what He did and you will always find  your peace and place in the kingdom of God.

He will glorify Me . . . —John 16:14

The holiness movements of today have none of the rugged reality of the New Testament about them. There is nothing about them that needs the death of Jesus Christ. All that is required is a pious atmosphere, prayer, and devotion. This type of experience is not supernatural nor miraculous. It did not cost the sufferings of God, nor is it stained with “the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11). It is not marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit as being genuine, and it has no visual sign that causes people to exclaim with awe and wonder, “That is the work of God Almighty!” Yet the New Testament is about the work of God and nothing else.
The New Testament example of the Christian experience is that of a personal, passionate devotion to the Person of Jesus Christ. Every other kind of so-called Christian experience is detached from the Person of Jesus. There is no regeneration— no being born again into the kingdom in which Christ lives and reigns supreme. There is only the idea that He is our pattern. In the New Testament Jesus Christ is the Savior long before He is the pattern. Today He is being portrayed as the figurehead of a religion— a mere example. He is that, but He is infinitely more. He is salvation itself; He is the gospel of God!
Jesus said, “. . . when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, . . . He will glorify Me . . .” (John 16:13-14). When I commit myself to the revealed truth of the New Testament, I receive from God the gift of the Holy Spirit, who then begins interpreting to me what Jesus did. The Spirit of God does in me internally all that Jesus Christ did for me externally.
Journal DJR
11 29 11   
Good morning Lord,
At the first reading of todays message I was sad … comparing my life to that which Oswald paints of the New Testament and other saints. Perhaps those were normative and that type of devotion is expected. If so, I fall way short. But whenever I feel like a failure, I suspect the work of Satan.

You are right, and the message is also right. But comparison is not what I want my children to be involved with. Never measure yourself by others … only by me. Dont even measure yourself by me … just come to me and receive the strength to be what I call you to be in the special circumstance that you are in. They are like no other … so no comparison is valid and will only mess you up, put you on a squirell cage of waste, the specialty of Satan.
But the message of the Lukewarmness of many today and the institution is true. Without comparing … Dont let it be true for you. Come to me. I am your source. If you can find others who hunger, come together. But in the end, it’s you and me. I want to fill you and empower you. Leave your fears behind and let’s make a ruckus, something different and special is what I want for each of you.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you —James 4:8

It is essential that you give people the opportunity to act on the truth of God. The responsibility must be left with the individual— you cannot act for him. It must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical message should always lead him to action. Refusing to act leaves a person paralyzed, exactly where he was previously. But once he acts, he is never the same. It is the apparent folly of the truth that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Once I press myself into action, I immediately begin to live. Anything less is merely existing. The moments I truly live are the moments when I act with my entire will.

When a truth of God is brought home to your soul, never allow it to pass without acting on it internally in your will, not necessarily externally in your physical life. Record it with ink and with blood— work it into your life. The weakest saint who transacts business with Jesus Christ is liberated the second he acts and God’s almighty power is available on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, confess we are wrong, but go back again. Then we approach it again and turn back, until we finally learn we have no business going back. When we are confronted with such a word of truth from our redeeming Lord, we must move directly to transact business with Him. “Come to Me . . .” (Matthew 11:28). His word come means “to act.” Yet the last thing we want to do is come. But everyone who does come knows that, at that very moment, the supernatural power of the life of God invades him. The dominating power of the world, the flesh, and the devil is now paralyzed; not by your act, but because your act has joined you to God and tapped you in to His redemptive power.

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November 4, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, thank you for showing me over and over again how to “get close to you”. When it feels like my prayers are hitting the ceiling and falling back on my head or when I cannot, for the life of me, find the connection that was right there just a minute ago. Lord, thank you for reminding me that You are always near, regardless of how or what I feel.  Thank You for reminding me that all I need to do is surrender and ask You to draw me near.

And God says…”Ask and you shall receive, knock and the door will be opened.  Seek and you will find. Seek first the kingdom of God….  and all these things shall be added.

The times you feel “disconnected” and separated occur when you are seeking solutions for your life; searching for rescue from trials and tribulations, looking at your circumstances and reaching for Me as your rescuer.  I will always rescue you and meet you at your point of need…..when you surrender and seek me first as your life, not simply as your rescuer. Like Peter on the water, look to Me, not the storm or circumstance. Seek Me first, and although the storm may rage all around you, I will hold you near.”

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me . . . —Galatians 2:20

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-ytcvXP8BI

If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life —Romans 5:10

I am not saved by believing— I simply realize I am saved by believing. And it is not repentance that saves me— repentance is only the sign that I realize what God has done through Christ Jesus. The danger here is putting the emphasis on the effect, instead of on the cause. Is it my obedience, consecration, and dedication that make me right with God? It is never that! I am made right with God because, prior to all of that, Christ died. When I turn to God and by belief accept what God reveals, the miraculous atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly places me into a right relationship with God. And as a result of the supernatural miracle of God’s grace I stand justified, not because I am sorry for my sin, or because I have repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The Spirit of God brings justification with a shattering, radiant light, and I know that I am saved, even though I don’t know how it was accomplished.

The salvation that comes from God is not based on human logic, but on the sacrificial death of Jesus. We can be born again solely because of the atonement of our Lord. Sinful men and women can be changed into new creations, not through their repentance or their belief, but through the wonderful work of God in Christ Jesus which preceded all of our experience (see 2 Corinthians 5:17-19). The unconquerable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. We do not have to accomplish these things ourselves— they have been accomplished through the atonement of the Cross of Christ. The supernatural becomes natural to us through the miracle of God, and there is the realization of what Jesus Christ has already done— “It is finished!” (John 19:30).

October 27, 2011

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . . —Matthew 28:19

Jesus Christ did not say, “Go and save souls” (the salvation of souls is the supernatural work of God), but He said, “Go . . . make disciples of all the nations . . . .” Yet you cannot make disciples unless you are a disciple yourself. When the disciples returned from their first mission, they were filled with joy because even the demons were subject to them. But Jesus said, in effect, “Don’t rejoice in successful service— the great secret of joy is that you have the right relationship with Me” (see Luke 10:17-20). The missionary’s great essential is remaining true to the call of God, and realizing that his one and only purpose is to disciple men and women to Jesus. Remember that there is a passion for souls that does not come from God, but from our desire to make converts to our point of view.

The challenge to the missionary does not come from the fact that people are difficult to bring to salvation, that backsliders are difficult to reclaim, or that there is a barrier of callous indifference. No, the challenge comes from the perspective of the missionary’s own personal relationship with Jesus Christ— “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” (Matthew 9:28). Our Lord unwaveringly asks us that question, and it confronts us in every individual situation we encounter. The one great challenge to us is— do I know my risen Lord? Do I know the power of His indwelling Spirit? Am I wise enough in God’s sight, but foolish enough according to the wisdom of the world, to trust in what Jesus Christ has said? Or am I abandoning the great supernatural position of limitless confidence in Christ Jesus, which is really God’s only call for a missionary? If I follow any other method, I depart altogether from the methods prescribed by our Lord— “All authority has been given to Me . . . . Gotherefore. . .” (Matthew 28:18-19).

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October 27, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, the more I read and understand about your grace and love, the less and less I see of it in the institutional church. Instead of accepting your righteousness, we try to find it in our activities and works. We aren’t led to grace, holiness and love and then works out of love, we are often led to works out of obligation and guilt, from the church or well-intentioned brothers and sisters. What are we to do when we find works, obligation and guilt being offered up instead of your grace and love?

And God says…”Let Me live through you and respond in love. Love conquers all things. If I am living through you, others will respond. And be very careful trying to explain or evangelize grace and love. It can be threatening to those that have built their lives on their own righteousness. Simply let Me shine through and love will prevail.  Stay in the church, and let the gospel of grace and love simply shine through your life. Spread the good news of freedom, grace and love without words….let My life in you speak volumes.”

October 26, 2011

Jesus said to them again, ’. . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you’ —John 20:21

A missionary is someone sent by Jesus Christ just as He was sent by God. The great controlling factor is not the needs of people, but the command of Jesus. The source of our inspiration in our service for God is behind us, not ahead of us. The tendency today is to put the inspiration out in front— to sweep everything together in front of us and make it conform to our definition of success. But in the New Testament the inspiration is put behind us, and is the Lord Jesus Himself. The goal is to be true to Him— to carry out His plans.

Personal attachment to the Lord Jesus and to His perspective is the one thing that must not be overlooked. In missionary work the great danger is that God’s call will be replaced by the needs of the people, to the point that human sympathy for those needs will absolutely overwhelm the meaning of being sent by Jesus. The needs are so enormous, and the conditions so difficult, that every power of the mind falters and fails. We tend to forget that the one great reason underneath all missionary work is not primarily the elevation of the people, their education, nor their needs, but is first and foremost the command of Jesus Christ— “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations . . .” (Matthew 28:19).

When looking back on the lives of men and women of God, the tendency is to say, “What wonderfully keen and intelligent wisdom they had, and how perfectly they understood all that God wanted!” But the keen and intelligent mind behind them was the mind of God, not human wisdom at all. We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the divine guidance of God being exhibited through childlike people who were “foolish” enough to trust God’s wisdom and His supernatural equipment.

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October 26, 2011

Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Lord, this lesson you have been teaching me about your love and grace is wonderful and overwhelming at the same time. However, if I am not to try and BE righteous by reading my bible, praying and helping others, and if I am not to try and “be a good Christian” or become a “better person” then where is my motivation?

And God says…”You are truly motivated by the grace and knowledge of how much I love you. Do not pray to love Me more, pray to know how much I love you. And while you cannot truly fathom (this side of heaven) just how much I do love you, you are and will continue to be transformed by this growing knowledge. I cannot and do not accept you and love you “more” because of your own efforts, regardless of your motives.  I love you and can accept you because of Jesus.  Trust in Jesus. And your works that follow become acceptable because it is Jesus living through you.“