July Issue 2008

Follow After Holiness

"Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter 1:4 Vanish for ever all thought of indulging the flesh if you would live in the power of your risen Lord. It were all ill that a man who is alive in Christ should dwell in the corruption of sin. "Why seek ye the living among the dead?" said he angel to Magdalene. Shoud the living dwell in the sepulcher? Should divine life be immured in the charnel house of fleshly lust? How can we partake of the cup of the Lord and yet drink the cup of Belial? Surely, believer, from open lusts and sins you are delivered: have you also escaped from the more secret and delusive lime-tiwgs of the Satanic fowler? Have you come forth from the lust of pride? Have you escaped from slothfulness? Have you clean escaped from carnal security? Are you seeking day by day to live above worldiness, the pride of life, and the ensnaring vice of avarice? Remember, it is for this that you have been enriched with the treasures of God. If ye be indeed the chosen of God, and beloved by Him, do not suffer all the lavish treasure of grace to be wasted upon you. Follow after holiness; it is the Christian's crown and glory. An unholy church! it is useless to the world, and of no esteem among men. It is an abominatin, hell's laughter, heaven's abhorrence. The worst evils which have ever come upon the world have been brought upon her by an unholy church. O Christian, the vows of God are upon you. You are God's priest: act as such. You are God's king: reign over your lusts. You are God's chosen: do not associate with Belial. Heaven is your portion: live like a heavenly spirit, so shall you prove that you have faith in Jesus, for there cannot be faith in the heart unless there be holiness in the life. "Lord I desire to live as one who bears a blood-bought name, as on who fears but grieving Thee, and knows no other shame." Charles Spurgeon

God's Painful Grace

No greater grace that I have seen

than the painfl grace of Calvary

each drop of blood, speaks of Your love

with every stripe, and every bruse

no greater grace can there be proved

than the painful grace of Calvary

and with every thorn upon Your brow

nail pierced hands and feet

no greater grace that I have seen

could ever be so sweet

this bitter cup, on my behalf

oh, what wondrous love

the painful grace of Calvary

(by D.M. 2008)

Righteous Judgment

OK this is cool, or at least I think so. Last night I was dreaming about standing before a judge for sharing the gospel, and said respectfully to him, that some day we will all stand before the "Righteous Judge", that He was no respector of persons, and that for one He will say, "Well done thou good and faithful servant" and to the other, "depart from Me I never knew you". And today as I was reading, I came across this short devotion and it was so near my dream I thought this has to go in the publication. So here it is.

"He shall judge the people righteously Psalm 96:10"

Righteous Judgemnt, Justice Gray of the Supreme Court once said in a lower court to a man who would have been sentenced, except for a technicality: "I know that you are gulity and you know it, and I wish you to remember that one day you will stand before a better and wiser Judge, and there you will be delt with according to justice and not according to law." How assuring to the people of God! How frightening to those who are not! God the Creator, God the Provider, is also God the Righteous Judge, better and wiser than man. He is all-pure, never corruptible, all-knowing, all-merciful Judge of souls. "He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth" (Verse 13). Judgement Day will be a day of great rejoicing for the people of God, rewarding time, the crowning day. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only but unto all them also that love his appering.--II Timothy 4:8 It will be a day for which we have lived to hear Him say."Well done, good and faithful servant...enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matt. 25:23). (A Psalm In My Heart)

His Strength His Glory

2 Cor. 12:9 And he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Yes Lord, thy grace covers all my weakness, and brings strength. You are sufficient for all circumstances, what ere may be, Thou art with me. Shyness has been one of my battlefields, a weakness in my character. I do not consider it a flaw because "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14, but it is a weakness. I say that because it causes me all too often, to avoid some situations. It causes me to not reach out, and sometimes fail in the grace of God. It keeps me bound at times, and brings about a feeling of loneliness, and isolation. Other times it brings on the thoughts of helplessness, failure, regret, fear. Shyness can be debilitating in many ways. It can keep you from froming friendships, or from speaking up when you should. Shyness can prevent you from doing everyday tasks, like going to the bank, or grocery store. Shyness can cause you to do or not do many things. But the good news is that in all these things we can be more then conquers through Christ Jesus. Romans 8:37. relying on God to provide the strength needed to face the day in and day out struggles is not something that comes all at once. It is a process that spans across the years of ones life time. But He gives us the grace that we need; it is a love gift to us. I can not imagine my life apart from Christ, when I look back at all the victories He has given; all the times He has provided the strength and even boldness, to face what are to me giants. I am more in awe of who He is. I have had glimpses of life spent outside of Gods grace and the conviction and heartache that it brought about was so acute that it caused me to run and fall to my knees before God, repentant, seeking His forgiveness, to be so contrite before Him, and the joy of His grace and forgivness was and is like a warm gentle embrace that makes you feel safe and loved. Perhaps the thorn in my flesh is being shy; for only God knows how and what I would be or do, had I not been shy. Perhaps I would have relied on my strength, instead of His, or used the talents He gave, not for His glory but for mine. I used to pray that I would not be shy, but I still am. So now I pray, "Lord in my weakness, be my strength." For His strength is made perfect in weakness. (D.M. 08)

The Discipline of Disillusionment

"Jesus did not commit Himself unto them...for He knew what was in man." John 2:24-25

Disillusionment means that there are no more false judgements in life. To be undeceived by disillusionment may leave us cynical and unkindly severe in our judgement of others, but the disillusionment which comes from God brings us to the place where we see men and women as they are, and yet there is no cynicism, we have no stinging, bitter things to say. Many of the cruel things in life spring from the fact that we suffer from illusions. We are not true to one another as facts; we are true only to our ideas of one another. Everything is either delightful and fine, or mean and dastardly, according to our idea. The refusal to be disillusioned is the cause of much of the suffering in human life. It works in this way--if we love a human being and do not love God, we demand of him every perfection and rectitude, and when we do not get it we become cruel and vindictive; we are demanding of a human being that which he or she cannot give. There is only one Being Who can satisify the last aching abyss of the human heart, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Why our Lord is apparently so severe regarding every human relationship is because He knows that every relationship not based on loyalty to Himself will end in disaster. Our Lord trusted no man, yet He was never suspicious, never bitter. Our Lord's confidence in God and in what His grace could do for any man, was so perfect that He despaired of no one. If our trust is placed in human beings, we shall end in despairing of everyone. Oswald Chambers.

Worth Repeating

I have been thinking a lot lately about God's painful grace; the whys, the reasons, the wherfores. Intellectually I know that we live in a fallen world, but still there are things that make my heart cry out, "WHY". Then while I had set this portion of thought aside for a few days, I came across a writing from Oswald Chambers, called "Worth Repeating" it says; "The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on Jesus Christ's errands, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, "Do not be bothered with whether you are being justly deat with or not." To look for justice is a sign of deflection from devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we begin to grouse and indulge in the discontent of self-pity-"Why should I be treated like this?" If we are devoted to Jesus Christ we have nothing to do with what we meet, whether it is just or unjust. Jesus says, "go steadily on with what I have told you to do and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance." The most devout among us become atheistic in this connection; We do not believe God, we enthrone comon sense and tack the name of God onto it. We do lean to our understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts". This is exactly what I needed to hear right now! For the last month I have had several painful encounters which have caused me to try and "reason" them out, and "justify" myself, for they are unwarranted. But God has clearly said; "Lean not upon your own understanding" so though painful these circumstances may be. I will believe God that He is the "Justifier" and my defense. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience...Romans 5:1-3. Whatever form His grace comes in, rest assured; and it is worth repeating, it is "Sufficient"

Grace For The Journey

2 Cor. 12:9 "And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." I am challenged by this scripture, the depth of its reality in light of my inward desire to please God and my outward shying away. For inwardly I know God's grace truly is sufficient; and His strength is made perfect in weakness; but outwardly it's like pulling teeth to get me moving. This is ironic concerning the ministry God has placed me in. But truly is a testament to His strength and grace. For I am well aware of the fact that apart from Him; I can do nothing! (John 15:5). So with this in mind I can move to the second half of this verse, which requires laying down any self-erected pride or preservation. For God resist the proud and gives grace to the humble, (James 4:6). Therefore as th Apostle Paul proclaimed, "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities," Why? "that the power of Christ may rest upon me." Not for my glory, but His! And perhaps those who struggle with the same or similar weakness can find the courage to step out of their comfort zone, taking one step at a time in faith, thus passing on the encouraging reality, that God's grace truly is sufficient! This can be a life long journey; but; "What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us" (Romans 8:31). (D.M)

Simply Praise

July 2008