. . . but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings . . . —1 Peter 4:13

If you are going to be used by God, He will take you through a number of experiences that are not meant for you personally at all. They are designed to make you useful in His hands, and to enable you to understand what takes place in the lives of others. Because of this process, you will never be surprised by what comes your way. You say, “Oh, I can’t deal with that person.” Why can’t you? God gave you sufficient opportunities to learn from Him about that problem; but you turned away, not heeding the lesson, because it seemed foolish to spend your time that way.

The sufferings of Christ were not those of ordinary people. He suffered “according to the will of God” (1 Peter 4:19), having a different point of view of suffering from ours. It is only through our relationship with Jesus Christ that we can understand what God is after in His dealings with us. When it comes to suffering, it is part of our Christian culture to want to know God’s purpose beforehand. In the history of the Christian church, the tendency has been to avoid being identified with the sufferings of Jesus Christ. People have sought to carry out God’s orders through a shortcut of their own. God’s way is always the way of suffering— the way of the “long road home.”

Are we partakers of Christ’s sufferings? Are we prepared for God to stamp out our personal ambitions? Are we prepared for God to destroy our individual decisions by supernaturally transforming them? It will mean not knowing why God is taking us that way, because knowing would make us spiritually proud. We never realize at the time what God is putting us through— we go through it more or less without understanding. Then suddenly we come to a place of enlightenment, and realize— “God has strengthened me and I didn’t even know it!”

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
I dont know anyone who would ask for more suffering … except those who need medication and therapy. But the fact is that suffering will come to all of us… one way or another. It is good to remember things like Romans 8:28 that you are able to make all things work together for good, And that you have plans for good, for a future and a hope. Jer 29:11. Rehearsing these facts is helpful when we find ourselves in the middle of disappointments or sufferings.

Things which you call sufferings are difficult only to the extent that you dont see as Jesus saw. So walk with me and gain my perspective. Then you’ll be like Jesus who only did what he saw me doing and only said what he heard me saying, Jn 5:19. He still “suffered” … but did not percieve it as suffering, but rather as opportunity to promote his (my) mission on earth. You can suffer and complain in your circumstances or look at them like Jesus did … You know which will make a happier life. So choose to walk with me and I will show you a way to live that will transform suffering into opportunity.

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

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, 2013-JDV

When I am focused on You Lord, it seems that it is all I need. When I am connected to You, Jesus, I can be at peace without answers or solutions, because You are the answer and solution. You fill up my heart and head, when I seek You and You alone.  How is this Lord, and how can I sustain this kind of intimacy and how can I, regularly and normally, as a part of my day, reach out to others with this message?

And God says…” You cannot capture nor seek intimacy with Me, and you cannot try to reach out to others as a part of your work, you can only surrender. When you surrender to Me, you are connected, and when you are connected, I can do the reaching out, you are simply available. You are not connected when you try to find Me in your efforts, works, study or even prayer or conformity. Although those are all things that are good .You will find our intimacy and ability to reach others in your surrender, allowing Me to live through you; outreach, works, study prayer and transformation can then occur.  Do not try to touch others, it will be demonstrated as artificial and contrived.  Let Me touch them as a result of your surrender.  Seek first the Kingdome of God, which is Jesus; acknowledge the Lord in all you ways. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . nothing will be impossible for you —Matthew 17:20

We have the idea that God rewards us for our faith, and it may be so in the initial stages. But we do not earn anything through faith— faith brings us into the right relationship with God and gives Him His opportunity to work. Yet God frequently has to knock the bottom out of your experience as His saint to get you in direct contact with Himself. God wants you to understand that it is a life of faith, not a life of emotional enjoyment of His blessings. The beginning of your life of faith was very narrow and intense, centered around a small amount of experience that had as much emotion as faith in it, and it was full of light and sweetness. Then God withdrew His conscious blessings to teach you to “walk by faith” (2 Corinthians 5:7). And you are worth much more to Him now than you were in your days of conscious delight with your thrilling testimony.

Faith by its very nature must be tested and tried. And the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character must be proven as trustworthy in our own minds. Faith being worked out into reality must experience times of unbroken isolation. Never confuse the trial of faith with the ordinary discipline of life, because a great deal of what we call the trial of faith is the inevitable result of being alive. Faith, as the Bible teaches it, is faith in God coming against everything that contradicts Him— a faith that says, “I will remain true to God’s character whatever He may do.” The highest and the greatest expression of faith in the whole Bible is— “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
In the last two days two devastating facts have come across my consciousness. The intense poverty in West Virginia coal towns, and the intense poverty in Haiti. The stories that went with these two made me cry. Earlier in my walk I may have thought, “how could a good God let that happen?” Same for tsunamis, hurricanes, floods and mass murderers. I dont think that anymore. That question has been replaced by 2 curiosities: …. What are you doing? and What shall I do about it? Thanks for making us curious beings. Curiosity has been a refuge for me to run into when things dont seem to make sense. Choosing and cultivating curiosity about what you are doing and how I can be involved has been one of the best things to keep my faith growing. Thank You

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him —2 Corinthians 5:21

That Christ died for me, and therefore I am completely free from penalty, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (2 Corinthians 5:15)— not, “He died my death”— and that through identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have His very righteousness imparted as a gift to me. The substitution which is taught in the New Testament is twofold— “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” The teaching is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me (seeGalatians 4:19).

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Today I see where I have gotten tangled up in the past… Confusing the event and the process of my salvation. The event was a once and for all event. While the process of me “working out my salvation” continues on daily and will continue until I arrive there. The temptation is to work for salvation instead of toward Christlikeness. Aren’t we really working together on the project of my life? And your part is already done. It’s kind of like, you brought a Christmas gift … and I am spending a lifetime unwrapping it? Why dont I unwrap it faster and get more perfected in holiness faster? To continue the analogy of the Christmas gift, it would be one of those gifts that is a box inside of a box inside of a box …. As areas of sin and carnality get exposed and dealt with … more and deeper areas will just show up. So it’s a life long project, getting more and more of the gift unwrapped. Your ways are good. I am happy with the project. Thank you. I love you.

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

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).

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October 28, 2013- JDV

Lord,

This is an ongoing struggle; to trust You and simply surrender or to surrender and then engage in activities and efforts to get closer to You. I often wonder that if I am justified then why do I seem to go back to revisit the sacrifice of Jesus so often? Why am I drawn to the cross over and over as part of my surrender? Why can I not simply “move on” to the next step? Why can’t I move on past my need for Jesus redemptive sacrifice?

And God says…”There is no “next thing”, there is no “moving on” past the cross. Being drawn back to the cross daily…hourly and minute by minute is a powerful step in surrender and connection. Jesus made the sacrifice and humans do not and cannot understand it. Do not try to understand it. What you can do is meet Him every day at the cross and surrender to Him. Let His life work in and through you. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, do not rely on your own devices and He will make your paths straight. Focus on Jesus and His sacrificial gift. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Seek first the kingdom of God, which is Jesus, and everything else you need will be provided.”

Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . . —2 Corinthians 2:14

The proper perspective to maintain is that we are here for only one purpose— to be captives marching in the procession of Christ’s triumphs. We are not on display in God’s showcase— we are here to exhibit only one thing— the “captivity [of our lives] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5). How small all the other perspectives are! For example, the ones that say, “I am standing all alone, battling for Jesus,” or, “I have to maintain the cause of Christ and hold down this fort for Him.” But Paul said, in essence, “I am in the procession of a conqueror, and it doesn’t matter what the difficulties are, for I am always led in triumph.” Is this idea being worked out practically in us? Paul’s secret joy was that God took him as a blatant rebel against Jesus Christ, and made him a captive— and that became his purpose. It was Paul’s joy to be a captive of the Lord, and he had no other interest in heaven or on earth. It is a shameful thing for a Christian to talk about getting the victory. We should belong so completely to the Victor that it is always His victory, and “we are more than conquerors through Him . . .” (Romans 8:37).

“We are to God the fragrance of Christ . . .” (2 Corinthians 2:15). We are encompassed with the sweet aroma of Jesus, and wherever we go we are a wonderful refreshment to God.

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October 24, 2013- JDV

Lord, I do want to have the proper perspective. But I need you to take me over and give me that perspective. I seem to crumble too early, stumble too often and go my own ways.  Help me be a captive of Jesus, Lord.  Like the father said to Jesus, I believe, help me in my unbelief. So I say Lord, I believe You will take me over and give me your perspective, but I ask You to please help me in my unbelief.

And God says…”As Oswald Chambers says in this devotional, to maintain My perspective, it must be little by little every day. Seek Me and you will find Me. Knock on My door and it will be opened.  Trust Me to do what I have said I will do for you.  Meet and connect with Me (that is surrender yourself to Me) in the morning and be curious about your day as I live through you.  Acknowledge me in all your ways and I will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new —2 Corinthians 5:17

Our Lord never tolerates our prejudices— He is directly opposed to them and puts them to death. We tend to think that God has some special interest in our particular prejudices, and are very sure that He will never deal with us as He has to deal with others. We even say to ourselves, “God has to deal with other people in a very strict way, but of course He knows that my prejudices are all right.” But we must learn that God accepts nothing of the old life! Instead of being on the side of our prejudices, He is deliberately removing them from us. It is part of our moral education to see our prejudices put to death by His providence, and to watch how He does it. God pays no respect to anything we bring to Him. There is only one thing God wants of us, and that is our unconditional surrender.

When we are born again, the Holy Spirit begins to work His new creation in us, and there will come a time when there is nothing remaining of the old life. Our old gloomy outlook disappears, as does our old attitude toward things, and “all things are of God” (2 Corinthians 5:18). How are we going to get a life that has no lust, no self-interest, and is not sensitive to the ridicule of others? How will we have the type of love that “is kind . . . is not provoked, [and] thinks no evil”? (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). The only way is by allowing nothing of the old life to remain, and by having only simple, perfect trust in God— such a trust that we no longer want God’s blessings, but only want God Himself. Have we come to the point where God can withdraw His blessings from us without our trust in Him being affected? Once we truly see God at work, we will never be concerned again about the things that happen, because we are actually trusting in our Father in heaven, whom the world cannot see.

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Journal Entry for Today-JDV

Jesus, when I have looked for You inside of certain kinds of blessings or events, it seems I am disappointed. When I expect to see you I do not. But it seems when I look for you in everything and every event, You are there. I cannot explain it.

And God says…”You cannot put God into a place or time, and pull Him out when you are in need or have time for worship. Seek first the Kingdom of God, which is Jesus. When you look for Me in all things, all day, every day, I am there. Seek Me first, delight yourself in Me and I am there. I am there because you put Me first and want to see Me in all things, not just some religious times, or times when it occurs to you. Acknowledge Me in all your ways and I will make your paths straight.”

The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit . . . —Romans 8:16

Why doesn’t God reveal Himself to you? He cannot. It is not that He will not, but He cannot, because you are in the way as long as you won’t abandon yourself to Him in total surrender. Yet once you do, immediately God witnesses to Himself—He cannot witness to you, but He instantly witnesses to His own nature in you. If you received the witness of the Spirit before the reality and truth that comes from obedience, it would simply result in sentimental emotion. But when you act on the basis of redemption, and stop the disrespectfulness of debating with God, He immediately gives His witness. As soon as you abandon your own reasoning and arguing, God witnesses to what He has done, and you are amazed at your total disrespect in having kept Him waiting. If you are debating as to whether or not God can deliver from sin, then either let Him do it or tell Him that He cannot. Do not quote this or that person to Him. Simply obey Matthew 11:28 , “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden . . . .” Come, if you are weary, and ask, if you know you are evil (see Luke 11:9-13).

The Spirit of God witnesses to the redemption of our Lord, and to nothing else. He cannot witness to our reason. We are inclined to mistake the simplicity that comes from our natural commonsense decisions for the witness of the Spirit, but the Spirit witnesses only to His own nature, and to the work of redemption, never to our reason. If we are trying to make Him witness to our reason, it is no wonder that we are in darkness and uncertainty. Throw it all overboard, trust in Him, and He will give you the witness of the Spirit.

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October 22, 2013

Journal for Today-JDV

Lord, when I read a devotional like this it makes me think that I am not capable of doing what it takes to be connected to You. Then it occurs to me, that You did it all, and I cannot add more. I cannot make myself more acceptable to You, even with obedience, study or prayer. I can only and simply surrender.

And God says…”It is easy to try and measure your standing with me by your works; study, prayer and obedience. But you have no standing with Me except the standing provided by Jesus; His sacrifice and your acceptance of that sacrifice. Study, obedience and prayer follow as a natural byproduct of your surrender.  Trust in Me with all your heart and do not rely on your own devices, and I will make your paths straight. Delight yourself in the Lord and I will give you the desires of your heart.”

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith . . . —Jude 20

There was nothing of the nature of impulsive or thoughtless action about our Lord, but only a calm strength that never got into a panic. Most of us develop our Christianity along the lines of our own nature, not along the lines of God’s nature. Impulsiveness is a trait of the natural life, and our Lord always ignores it, because it hinders the development of the life of a disciple. Watch how the Spirit of God gives a sense of restraint to impulsiveness, suddenly bringing us a feeling of self-conscious foolishness, which makes us instantly want to vindicate ourselves. Impulsiveness is all right in a child, but is disastrous in a man or woman—an impulsive adult is always a spoiled person. Impulsiveness needs to be trained into intuition through discipline.

Discipleship is built entirely on the supernatural grace of God. Walking on water is easy to someone with impulsive boldness, but walking on dry land as a disciple of Jesus Christ is something altogether different. Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus, but he “followed Him at a distance” on dry land (Mark 14:54). We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises—human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God—but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets, among ordinary people—and this is not learned in five minutes.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord,
Today it’s pointed out that surviving crisis can be handled with pride and ego, impetuousness and individuality. Adrenaline can get us through a lot of the crises that we face regardless of the quality of our connection with you. But when the adrenaline fades and it’s time to walk through the mundane and drudgery of everyday common events … and exude Christlikeness in the process … That takes a good connection with Christ. An academic understanding of theology won’t do.

You get 24 hours each day to practice this. Punctuated by some crisis type of stressors. You should evaluate yourself in both the mundane and in crisis. I will be there with you in both types as I have been with my children in all lands and all centuries. If you are unhappy with what you see as you evaluate … the answer is in tightening the connection with me. Start the day with connection on purpose. Then ask yourself a few times a day how you are doing. You will probably find it harder to flow my life thru your mundane circumstances than your crises. So practice it more, and dont expect perfection in a week. I give you all of your days to practice this. And know that I see you and cherish every move you make toward Christlikeness, especially in the mundane circumstances of life.

. . . I say to you, he who believes in Me, . . . greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father —John 14:12

Prayer does not equip us for greater works— prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher powers that simply prepares us for God’s work. In the teachings of Jesus Christ, prayer is the working of the miracle of redemption in me, which produces the miracle of redemption in others, through the power of God. The way fruit remains firm is through prayer, but remember that it is prayer based on the agony of Christ in redemption, not on my own agony. We must go to God as His child, because only a child gets his prayers answered; a “wise” man does not (see Matthew 11:25).

Prayer is the battle, and it makes no difference where you are. However God may engineer your circumstances, your duty is to pray. Never allow yourself this thought, “I am of no use where I am,” because you certainly cannot be used where you have not yet been placed. Wherever God has placed you and whatever your circumstances, you should pray, continually offering up prayers to Him. And He promises, “Whatever you ask in My name, that I will do . . .” (John 14:13). Yet we refuse to pray unless it thrills or excites us, which is the most intense form of spiritual selfishness. We must learn to work according to God’s direction, and He says to pray. “Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38).

There is nothing thrilling about a laboring person’s work, but it is the laboring person who makes the ideas of the genius possible. And it is the laboring saint who makes the ideas of his Master possible. When you labor at prayer, from God’s perspective there are always results. What an astonishment it will be to see, once the veil is finally lifted, all the souls that have been reaped by you, simply because you have been in the habit of taking your orders from Jesus Christ.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord, These admonitions to keep it simple and focus on prayer seem like excellent logical advice. But then we ask ourselves, “How do we do that?” and when focusing on the How, we lose sight of “Who” (you). How then, can we “come as a child” especially when we find ourselves unchildlike?

You analyze too much. You will do better to focus on my first two commandments, Love God & neighbor, and then just focus on me and stay curious  about the circumstances that come your way … keeping just those two commandments in mind. Let me lead you beyond that.

OK, Please help us do that today.