The water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life. —John 4:14

He who believes in Me…out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. —John 7:38

Stay here and watch with Me. —Matthew 26:38


“Watch with Me.” Jesus was saying, in effect, “Watch with no private point of view at all, but watch solely and entirely with Me.” In the early stages of our Christian life, we do not watch with Jesus, we watch for Him. We do not watch with Him through the revealed truth of the Bible even in the circumstances of our own lives. Our Lord is trying to introduce us to identification with Himself through a particular “Gethsemane” experience of our own. But we refuse to go, saying, “No, Lord, I can’t see the meaning of this, and besides, it’s very painful.” And how can we possibly watch with Someone who is so incomprehensible? How are we going to understand Jesus sufficiently to watch with Him in His Gethsemane, when we don’t even know why He is suffering? We don’t know how to watch with Him— we are only used to the idea of Jesus watching with us.

The disciples loved Jesus Christ to the limit of their natural capacity, but they did not fully understand His purpose. In the Garden of Gethsemane they slept as a result of their own sorrow, and at the end of three years of the closest and most intimate relationship of their lives they “all…forsook Him and fled” (Matthew 26:56).

“They were all filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 2:4). “They” refers to the same people, but something wonderful has happened between these two events— our Lord’s death, resurrection, and ascension— and the disciples have now been invaded and “filled with the Holy Spirit.” Our Lord had said, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you…” (Acts 1:8). This meant that they learned to watch with Him the rest of their lives.

…it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” —1 Peter 1:16

We must continually remind ourselves of the purpose of life. We are not destined to happiness, nor to health, but to holiness. Today we have far too many desires and interests, and our lives are being consumed and wasted by them. Many of them may be right, noble, and good, and may later be fulfilled, but in the meantime God must cause their importance to us to decrease. The only thing that truly matters is whether a person will accept the God who will make him holy. At all costs, a person must have the right relationship with God.

Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe that God can come into me and make me holy? If through your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I then resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it is designed to reveal my unholiness, but it also awakens an intense yearning and desire within me. God has only one intended destiny for mankind— holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and He did not come to save us out of pity— He came to save us because He created us to be holy. Atonement through the Cross of Christ means that God can put me back into perfect oneness with Himself through the death of Jesus Christ, without a trace of anything coming between us any longer.

Never tolerate, because of sympathy for yourself or for others, any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means absolute purity of your walk before God, the words coming from your mouth, and every thought in your mind— placing every detail of your life under the scrutiny of God Himself. Holiness is not simply what God gives me, but what God has given me that is being exhibited in my life.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
The term “holiness” is difficult for me. It has connotations (for me anyway) of lofty and unattainable expectations and “holier than thou” and hypocritical outside holiness. Can I just assume that opening the door as John said in Revelation 3:20 will generate holiness, almost as a by-product?

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.

That will indeed happen if some of your assumptions are kept. Surrender is essential. Mainly surrender of your ego and the impulses from your false self or “flesh.” The Big Four, your need to Look Good, Feel Good, Be Right and Be In Control. When those are surrendered you will have made room for me (us) in your heart and you will start seeing the bigger picture, seeing thru our eyes, You will find compassion in your heart that wasn’t there before. You could call it a by product, but actually it is the main product. It is the holiness that was the objective all along.

These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. —John 15:11

Do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven. —Luke 10:20

Jesus Christ is saying here, “Don’t rejoice in your successful service for Me, but rejoice because of your right relationship with Me.” The trap you may fall into in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service— rejoicing in the fact that God has used you. Yet you will never be able to measure fully what God will do through you if you do not have a right-standing relationship with Jesus Christ. If you keep your relationship right with Him, then regardless of your circumstances or whoever you encounter each day, He will continue to pour “rivers of living water” through you (John 7:38). And it is actually by His mercy that He does not let you know it. Once you have the right relationship with God through salvation and sanctification, remember that whatever your circumstances may be, you have been placed in them by God. And God uses the reaction of your life to your circumstances to fulfill His purpose, as long as you continue to “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1 John 1:7).

Our tendency today is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make their request for help on the basis of someone’s usefulness. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure who ever lived. For the saint, direction and guidance come from God Himself, not some measure of that saint’s usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that our Lord gives His attention to in a person’s life is that person’s relationship with God— something of great value to His Father. Jesus is “bringing many sons to glory…” (Hebrews 2:10).

Journal DJR
Good morning Lord, I totally resonate with what Chambers is saying… to focus on our relationship and let the service and actions flow out of that. I had difficulty finding a song that expressed that perfectly. This one mentioned it but also seemed too allow the trap that Chambers mentions: the tendency to put the emphasis on service. Which can lead to relaxing in our pursuit of the relationship.

Of course both are important. You’ve heard Richard Rohr say about the organization that he leads, the “Center for Action and Contemplation” that the most important word in the title is the word “AND” You can’t thrive without both. Service and Relationship. Action and Contemplation. It’s just a matter of which comes first and drives the other. Here’s the order.

Think about what happens in that Relationship, especially if you get serious and dial down your clamoring thoughts and seriously strive to give heart space and head space to me and the relationship.

Revelation 3:20 I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

John 7:37-39 ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’ (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit)

So you and the Holy Spirit will both come and dine?

All three of us. We’ll be teaching you more about that as the restoration project moves along. Just know, we can’t be isolated for parsing and analysis as some like to do. For us, it’s a dance, a circle dance and the partners are always moving. And we’re inviting you into our dance.

Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” —John 11:40

Every time you venture out in your life of faith, you will find something in your circumstances that, from a commonsense standpoint, will flatly contradict your faith. But common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. In fact, they are as different as the natural life and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture out with courage on the words of Jesus Christ, while the realities of your commonsense life continue to shout, “It’s all a lie”? When you are on the mountaintop, it’s easy to say, “Oh yes, I believe God can do it,” but you have to come down from the mountain to the demon-possessed valley and face the realities that scoff at your Mount-of-Transfiguration belief (see Luke 9:28-42). Every time my theology becomes clear to my own mind, I encounter something that contradicts it. As soon as I say, “I believe ‘God shall supply all [my] need,’ ” the testing of my faith begins (Philippians 4:19). When my strength runs dry and my vision is blinded, will I endure this trial of my faith victoriously or will I turn back in defeat?

Faith must be tested, because it can only become your intimate possession through conflict. What is challenging your faith right now? The test will either prove your faith right, or it will kill it. Jesus said, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me” Matthew 11:6). The ultimate thing is confidence in Jesus. “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end…” (Hebrews 3:14). Believe steadfastly on Him and everything that challenges you will strengthen your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith up to the point of our physical death, which is the last great test. Faith is absolute trust in God— trust that could never imagine that He would forsake us (see Hebrews 13:5-6).

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August 29, 2016

Journal for Today-JDV

Thank you God for this day and for this opportunity to learn more about Your love and guiding hand. Unlike Chambers message today, “…the test of your faith will either prove your faith or kill it “ we believe Romans 8:28; all things work together for the good of those that love the Lord. We also agreed that our faith needs testing, but that our tests are simply tests to surrender knowing our inabilities and weaknesses are overcome by your strength as we surrender and live connected lives. Is this right Lord, is this the way to live past our own weaknesses and imperfections?

And God said…”Absolutely. If you try to live in your own strength, knowledge, faith and hope you will live in defeat. It is when you learn to let go and allow Me to carry you that you truly live. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and I will meet all your daily needs. Acknowledge the Lord in all your ways and do not rely on your own strength, knowledge, faith and hope and I will make your paths straight. When you say you cannot “handle it” or life is “too much”, that is right where I can meet you. I meet you right at the point of your surrender.”

What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? —Matthew 7:9

When you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. —Matthew 6:6

Jesus did not say, “Dream about your Father who is in the secret place,” but He said, “…pray to your Father who is in the secret place….” Prayer is an effort of the will. After we have entered our secret place and shut the door, the most difficult thing to do is to pray. We cannot seem to get our minds into good working order, and the first thing we have to fight is wandering thoughts. The great battle in private prayer is overcoming this problem of our idle and wandering thinking. We have to learn to discipline our minds and concentrate on willful, deliberate prayer.

We must have a specially selected place for prayer, but once we get there this plague of wandering thoughts begins, as we begin to think to ourselves, “This needs to be done, and I have to do that today.” Jesus says to “shut your door.” Having a secret stillness before God means deliberately shutting the door on our emotions and remembering Him. God is in secret, and He sees us from “the secret place”— He does not see us as other people do, or as we see ourselves. When we truly live in “the secret place,” it becomes impossible for us to doubt God. We become more sure of Him than of anyone or anything else. Enter into “the secret place,” and you will find that God was right in the middle of your everyday circumstances all the time. Get into the habit of dealing with God about everything. Unless you learn to open the door of your life completely and let God in from your first waking moment of each new day, you will be working on the wrong level throughout the day. But if you will swing the door of your life fully open and “pray to your Father who is in the secret place,” every public thing in your life will be marked with the lasting imprint of the presence of God.

Journal DJR
Good morning, Lord. Today Chambers hit on exactly what I’ve sensed that you have been teaching me, or trying to teach me these last several months. Since my cancer diagnosis, I have been sensing a “chapter change” in my life. This included the basics of research and treatment selection and improved diet and health habits, but mainly focused on, where am I to go next in my spiritual journey?…now that I’ve had this wake up call?” I have been led toward expanding my prayer life in many ways, through books, blogposts and conversations that have come my way and just an increased interest and draw in that direction. Today’s selection confirms what I’ve been hearing…. How do you do that, anyway?

I’m seeing two secret places. First is a physical location that is conducive to getting to the other secret place where You live, and want to commune with me… which is in my heart. Historically, I’ve been a little lax on having that special place, but I’m sensing your direction to finish up the tree house project that has stalled. Thanks.

That other secret place…”when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place” I had always assumed that secret place was in heaven or “out there” somewhere. But I’m becoming persuaded that this secret place is actually in my own heart – whatever that is. Verses like Colossians 1:27 come to mind.

“For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”

That part about “shutting the door” speaks to the thoughts and ideas that spring up and want center stage in my mind… especially when I determine to pray. So I’ll be looking for your training and tips on how to shut that door. I’ve proven that plain old will power doesn’t get me very far. There isn’t too much written about the contemplative life and meditation in our Western Church, especially in the last 500 years. But there is some. I’m seeing Lectio Divina and Centering Prayer as possibilities. Of course You are my main teacher. But don’t I need some coaching by some leaders who are further along the path? Please guide me on my search. I want to be led deeper into that secret place by anyone and anything that you have for me.

I indeed baptize you with water…but He…will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. —Matthew 3:11