Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

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6-24. GRATUITOUS GRACE

"Sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law but under grace" (Romans 6:14).

Grace forsaken is freedom forfeited.

"In considering the whole testimony of the Bible, it is almost as important for the believer who would do the will of God to recognize that which does not concern him as it is for him to recognize that which does concern him.

"It is obvious that, apart from the knowledge of dispensational truth, the believer will not be intelligently adjusted to the present purpose and will of God in the world. Such knowledge alone will save him from assuming the hopeless legality of the dispensation that is past or from undertaking the impossible world transforming program belonging to the dispensation which is to come." -W.S.C.

"The Law of Moses is interrelated and wholly dependent on the sacrifices and ritual provided for Israel in the land. The laws of the kingdom (Sermon on the Mount) are only related to the future kingdom conditions which shall be in the earth under the power and presence of the King when Satan is bound, creation delivered, and all shall know the Lord from the least unto the greatest.

"All harmony of truth is shattered when there is the slightest commingling of the principles of law and grace. Grace alone now reigns through Christ to the glory of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

"By the grace of God I am what I am; and His grace, which was bestowed upon me, was not in vain, but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

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6-25. PLUS, OR MINUS?

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love" (Galatians 5:6).

Grace + Law = Death. Grace - Law = Life!

"Covenant theology, which has molded the major theological conceptions for many generations, recognizes no distinctions as to ages, therefore can allow for no distinctions between law and grace. This dominating attitude of Covenantism must account for the utter neglect of life truth (growth) in all their works of theology.

"No more representative theological dictum from the Covenant viewpoint has been formed than the Westminster Confession of Faith, which valuable and important document recognizes life truth only to the point of imposing the Ten Commandments on Christians as their sole obligation, and in spite of the teachings of the New Testament which asserts that the Law was never given to Gentile or Christian."-L.S.C.

"While freeing believers from the bondage of Rome, the Protestant Reformation brought them back, in large measure, under the bondage of Sinai. The Reformation took away one set of bindings, but bound the believers with another--and this has atrophied the spiritual life of multitudes." -D.G.B.

"Not a single cluster of living fruit ever was, or ever will be, culled from the tree of legality. Law can only produce 'dead works,' from which we need to have conscience purged just as much as from 'wicked works.'" -C.H.M.

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1 ).

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6-26. EDIFYING EQUILIBRIUM

"That ye may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world" (Philippians 2:15).

There should be neither undergrowth, nor overgrowth, but balanced growth. Spiritual equilibrium alone will bring forth much fruit both in us and in others.

"A popular notion that the first obligation of the Church is to spread the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth is false. The first obligation is to be spiritually worthy to spread it. . . to spread an effete (worn out) and degenerate brand of Christianity to pagan lands is not to fulfill the Great Commission."

"We were created for more than our own spiritual development; reproduction, not mere development, is the goal to mature being--reproduction in other lives. There is a tendency in some characters, running parallel to the high cultivation that spends its whole energy on the production of bloom at the expense of seed.

"The flowers that are bent on perfecting themselves, by becoming double, end in barrenness, and a like barrenness comes to the soul whose interests are all concentrated upon its own spiritual well-being, heedless of the needs around. The true, ideal flower, is the one that uses its gifts as means to an end; the brightness and sweetness are not for its own glory; they are but to attract the bees and butterflies that will fertilize and make it fruitful." -L.T.

"Holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain" (Philippians 2:16).

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6-27. TRUTH, OR CONSEQUENCES

"I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you" (1 John 2:14).

Experience may ratify, or it may repudiate, truth. The Word alone, to faith, is truth unalterable.

"If I allow the thought that what I am toward God will in some way or other affect what God is toward me, I shall be filled with the spectre of bondage. But when I see that what God is toward me is altogether the outcome of what He is, and that He is this though knowing perfectly what I am, it puts my heart in the right direction for liberty." -C.A.C.

"God speaks to us according to His estimate of our standing, our position: it may not be our heart's experience. There is a distinctness between the operation of the Spirit of God in bringing me unto the Lord Jesus, bearing witness to me of God's love, and of the efficacy of what Christ has done--and His operation in my soul to produce the image of His Son.

"That which is the subject of experience is what is produced in my soul, whereas that which gives me peace is His testimony to the work and life of Christ. A Christian who doubts the Father's love to him, and who looks for peace to that which passes in his own heart, is doubting God's truth. The Word is the revelation God has given of Himself; it displays the love of God toward us, and what is in His heart. I can trust the declaration of what is in God's heart, and not what I think of myself." -J.N.D.

"If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine" (1 Timothy 4:6).

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6-28. THE TREE OF LIFE

"Not I, but Christ" (Galatians 2:20).

It is not a matter of what fruit, but of which tree!

"What salvation has done is not merely forgiving me my sins; forgiveness, cleansing, justifying, applies to my responsibility and guilty condition in the first Adam; but salvation applies to my standing in the Last Adam. It is a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17).

"What would you do if you wanted to make something of a crab tree? Not nurture, and prune, and dig about it. That God has done with His fig tree (Israel). If you know anything about it, you will cut it down and graft it. Until you find out that the old man is utterly bad, and that there is no mending it, you will not give it up. If you cultivate the old crab tree you will have fair blossoms but only bigger and more sour crab apples." -J.N.D.

"Before we were saved, worldly objects and affairs usurped the place of Christ; but after being saved, spiritual objects and affairs now tend to occupy His place. Earlier God took from us the things of this world; presently He is taking away our spiritual thing or things. He removes our personal patience, love, power, gentleness, humility.

"Indeed, He removes all, that we may not live by these good things but live by a Person instead. We are patient not because we have received a power to be so, but because we have got a patient Person. So it is with humility and the rest: not a power but a Person." The fruit of the Spirit is the life of Christ.

"For to me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:27).

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6-29. APPLICABLE APPLICATION

"Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort" (2 Corinthians 1:3).

We have all cringed at the sad spectacle of the "nouveau riche." And yet many of us as believers present the same failure--flaunting and mishandling our spiritual riches in Christ Jesus.

"The Lord deals with us in order that we might be able to minister in an apt way. His stewards are to be men of understanding, who can touch the various needs, who can reach the heart, so that the Lord's children are saying: That just fits me! That touches my case! That person must know! That one must have been through it! Yes, the Lord knows, and He would take you and me through experiences such as will make us sharers in a living way--and that is what He is doing." -T. A-S.

"It is a new day to your soul when you realize that Christ is the Source of everything, and that it is from Himself you must draw, and not from ministry about Him. Many can explain Scripture and even apply it, who are not under the effect of it themselves. They have not come from Him, and are not themselves imbued with that which they are trying to convey.

"There is much wise counsel and good teaching which is not applicable to the moment and to the need. It does not effect what is the Lord's desire as the end of the ministry, which is to lead the soul to Himself, because it is not spoken in communion with Himself. You must first get to where He is, and then you are brought into harmony with the scene where He is."

"Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble, by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God" (2 Corinthians 1:4).

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6-30. NO CROSS, NO CHRIST!

"Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:27).

One hears much today about "body life," with its emphasis upon New Testament gathering, rather than Christ-centered growth. The Body is meant to manifest the Head, and that necessitates spiritual members.

"Where there is no Cross there is no life, and no ministry of life. The object of suffering is that there may be a full and abundant ministry. . . . We are not to invite trouble, nor by austerity to ill-treat our bodies. The Holy Spirit Himself takes responsibility for our experience, leading us in paths where we encounter, in body, heart, or spirit, that measure of 'the dying of Jesus' that will mean enrichment of our ministry."

"There are many today who seem to think that it is all or largely a matter of the order, technique, and form, and if we are to return to the 'New Testament' form or order of churches all would be well. The fact is that, while certain things characterize the N.T. churches, the Word does not give us a complete pattern according to which churches are to be formed!

"There is no blueprint for churches in the N.T., and to try to form such churches is only to create another system which may be as legal, sectarian and dead as others. Churches, like the Church, are organisms which spring out of life, which life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers. Unless believers are crucified people, there can be no true expression of the Church." -T. A-S.

"God forbid that I should glory, except in the Cross" (Galatians 6:14).

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6-31. MANUALLY CONTROLLED

"Having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them" (Colossians 2:15).

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:15-17). Amen!

"The sovereignty of God is what alone gives rest to the Christian heart in view of a world full of evil, which is gone astray from Him. To know that after all, in spite of the rebellion of the creature, things are as absolutely in His hand as ever they were--this brings, and alone brings, full relief. Still He rules over all, and where evil cannot be turned to good, limits and forbids it: He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath (what would go beyond this) He restrains (Psalm 76:10)." -F.W.G.

"People may quarrel with the sovereignty of God, but I love it, because I know enough about my natural bent and will to be sure that if left to myself I should have gone straight to perdition. Some believers talk about man's free will when they are on their feet, but all are firm believers in God's sovereignty when they get on their knees." -C.A.C.

"Human history is not in the grip of fate, but in the hands of Him Who was pierced for us on Calvary." -W.G.S.

"Now thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:14).

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7-2. PERSONAL APPRECIATION

"As ye have, therefore, received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in Him, rooted and built up in Him " (Colossians 2 7).

We appreciate His benefits toward us, but are we appreciative do we express to Him our appreciation? "Let us be very watchful that the inner life, communion with the Lord Jesus, be the true source of our activities. "

The Lord Jesus longs for fellowship with us. He does not want patronage. It does not meet the desire of His heart to be followed, or admired, or gazed at, because of what He can do or give. He delights in a heart taught of the Spirit to appreciate His Person, for this glorifies and gratifies the Father. He retires from the gaze of an excited and tumultuous throng who would fain make Him a king, because they had eaten of the loaves and were filled; but He could turn with touching earnestness to the little band of disciples who still remained, and challenge their hearts with the question, 'Will ye also go away?'

"Love could never be too near to its object. Nearness to the Lord Jesus is the instinct of divine life, as we see in the first question of the two disciples who followed Him, 'Where dwellest Thou?' Why is not this the first question now? Because there is not simple devotedness of heart to the Lord Jesus Christ."
There is nothing in all the world so precious to the Father as a heart that, in any measure, appreciates His Son. "

"Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and l will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

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At the next coming of Christ it will be our condition, not our position, which will change because our present position of acceptance with the Father could not be efficacious than it is now; for “He hath made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6).
 
Presently, the believer is guiltless before the Father, but conditionally, not sinless.  This will not be until “the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:23), when it will be “the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body” (Phil 3:20, 21) and only then will it be “That He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Eph 5:27).
 
Positionally, all believers are equal but conditionally, they vary.  A believer’s manner of living is determined by the response acted upon concerning the Word of God, because it is the Word through which the Holy Spirit applies the life of Christ to change us “into the same image” (2 Cor 3:18).
 
What are the “spot, or wrinkle” and “blemish” that we will be lacking when “we shall be changed” (1 Cor 15:51, 52) to “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess 4:17)?  The corruptible body and the Adamic nature! -NC

7-3. NOW AND FOREVER FREE!

"Waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:7,8).

We can trust Him for our matriculation here, and we can trust Him for our examination and graduation in Glory!

That word, 'blameless,' may be translated 'unimpeachable' or unaccusable.' In other words, when we stand at last at the judgment seat of Christ, God Himself is going to see to it that no charge can stand against any believer, because the Lord Jesus Christ has atoned for all our sins with His own precious Blood. Every failure in life will be dealt with there, and all the wood, hay, and stubble will be burned in the fire of that day and we shall stand before our Lord unimpeachable, unaccusable." -H.A.I.

"Instead of my sins being between myself and Him, as before, it is Himself who is now between me and my sins; and the One who has thus interposed has given me to know that in the doing it He has brought me to Himself, and tuned my heart to His own praise.
He has borne the judgment due to my sins, and condemned sin in the flesh; in the Person of my Substitute I am clear from, and carried beyond, the judgment forever, the power of death is annulled, that of Satan finally broken."

"Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? Shall God that justifieth? Who is he that condemneth? Shall Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is ever' at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us?" (Romans 8:33,34).

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There’s nothing more needless and unnecessary for the believer than to contend with the “old man”. Are we settled with the idea to continually turn everything over to over to the Lord?  We can “wrestle” (Eph 6:12) without contending, for we are admonished, nay, commanded in “Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7).  Failure in this is to incur a hindrance, “for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage” (2 Pet 2:19).
 
To attempt to battle and overcome sin itself is to unknowingly misunderstand that it has been dealt with: “I am He who lives and was dead and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.  And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Rev 1:18).  We “overcome evil” when attempted against us, by doing “good” (Rom 12:21); that is, overcome the evil man and the evil he has done you by doing good to him, as presented in the four preceding verses 17-20.
 
The believer is not to “give place to the devil” (Eph4:27) but rather, “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you” (Jam 4:7).  This accomplishment involves “That ye put off . . . the old man” that we may “put on the new man” (Eph 4:22, 24).
 
“The putting off of the old man is not a removing him from the saints, nor a destroying him in them, nor a changing his nature; for he remains, and remains alive, and is the same old man he ever was, in regenerate persons; but it is a putting him off from his seat, and a putting him down from his government; a showing no regard to his rule and dominion, to his laws and lusts, making no provision for his support.” -JG
 
We can “enter into His rest” (Heb 4:10) by realizing and remembering that Christ has already, for the believer, triumphed over all evil; whether it be evil from our fellow man, our “old man” or “spiritual wickedness in high places”, we should identify and acknowledge the evil and cast our concerns of it on the Lord. -NC

7-4. REST AND REJOICE!

"Rejoice in the Lord always!" (Philippians 4:4).

Exhaustive effort brings home the necessity of strengthening rest. The believer will not be ready to enter into his spiritual rest until he is utterly worn out by his unsuccessful efforts to conquer sin and the old man. There is no rest for the "wretched man" of Romans 7-that struggle must lead to the rest of Romans 8.

"Grace is sufficient for favorable circumstances, but they are by far the most trying (spiritually) to the believer. There is an easy way of going on in worldliness, and there is nothing more sad than the quiet comfortable Christian going on day by day, apart from dependence upon the Lord.

"It must be as with Israel and the manna; there must be the daily gathering and daily dependence upon God. If circumstances come between our hearts and God, we are powerless. If the Lord Jesus is nearer, circumstances will not hinder our joy in God ."

"The heart of man naturally seeks rest, and seeks it here. Now, there is no rest to be found here for the believer; but it is written, 'There remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God' (Hebrews 4:9).

"To know this is both full of blessing and full of sorrow: sorrow to the flesh; because it is always seeking its rest here, it has always to be disappointed; blessing to the spirit, because the spirit, being born of God, can only rest in God's rest, as it is said, 'If they shall enter into My rest' (Hebrews 4:5). What God desires for us is to bring us into the enjoyment of all that which He Himself enjoys." -J.N.D.

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently' for Him" (Psalm 37: 7).

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7-5. HIS CROSS -- OUR CROSS

"He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him. . . take up his Cross daily " (Luke 9. 23).

We go all the way to Calvary in faith and there find ourselves identified with the Lord Jesus in His death and resurrection. And Calvary comes all the way to us in experience as the Holy Spirit applies that finished work to our lives.

"In the Reformation there was, through grace, a great deliverance. The groundwork of Christianity was recovered; namely, justification by faith. But though this was recovered, it was not maintained that the old man was crucified on the Cross, and hence they only refused the exactions of popery, but recognized the flesh as still before God. Refusing the exaction was right; but the retention of that in which the exaction could be made, the old man, was the weakness of the Reformation. "

"I do not see the Cross truly if I only see it as opening a way of escape for me, and yet allowing that in me to escape which has incurred the judgment of the Cross. "

"In the present day (1867) the truth is lowered to the measure of man's need; hence if the need is met, which grace does, the convert makes little or no advance; he rests in the satisfaction of his need, instead of being directed to the scope of God's thought, which only begins with his need. "Where would souls be put if they were simply and definitely instructed in Christ Jesus and Him crucified and risen; connected by faith with the living One, who was crucified, and whose death terminated man in the flesh?" -J.B.S.

"Whosoever doth not, bear his Cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple'' (Luke 14:27).

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7-6. AFFLICTION'S EFFECT

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ " (Philippians 3:7).

Our Father has many reasons for administering trial— all good. Trial teaches us the futility of the old life, and the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus-our new life.

"The Christian suffers the same calamities as others, perhaps even worse; he faces difficulties and losses in the things of this life; he has to be prepared to meet death itself. In all these circumstances he is calm and trustful; he is not only sure of ultimately going to heaven, but already abides there and enjoys something of it in his own heart.

"God is real to him and ever near. He knows a peace which passes all understanding, and he experiences a joy which no man can take from him. This, surely, should be our testimony in the world, but it can only be as the Lord Jesus Himself lives out this life in us." -H.F.

"The world is divided into two things-pleasures and afflictions; I am more afraid of the pleasures than the afflictions. In afflictions you turn to the Lord. The danger is of being carried away by the very favors God has given to man. "

"Those who suffer from chastening ought to be before the Father, owning His hand; and He who has wounded will heal. The Lord Jesus did not take the cup which He had to drink from us, from man, nor from Satan; but from His Father's hand."

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (Philippians 3:.

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7-7. "PEACE ON EARTH"

"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts " (Colossians 3:15).
Peace does not, and cannot, exist in the fallen Adam life; and as long as the old man reigns within, there is going to be turmoil both within and without. The path of the Cross is alone the path of peace.

"The moment came when the Lord Jesus could say, 'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you' (John 14:27). This could only be on the ground of His death, for the man in Adam could never give up his will: to do so would be to give up his very existence. But the death of the Lord Jesus is-judicially, and for faith-the end of that man, and the Christian walking in the Spirit owns him no more.

"The believer can thus, and only thus, have freedom from the tyranny of sin as he reckons himself to have died unto sin, and to be alive unto God as one 'alive from the dead.' He presents his body a living sacrifice unto God, and proves what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Thus walking, the peace of the Lord Jesus becomes an experiential reality in the heart of the believer. Thank God! we are no longer linked with the fallen Adam, and the Holy Spirit has placed us in union with Christ risen and glorified." -C.A.C.

"The more clearly we enter, by faith, into objective truth, or what is true of us in the Lord Jesus, the deeper, more experiential and practical will be the Spirit's subjective work in us, and the more complete will be the manifestation of the moral effect in our life and character. " -C.H.M.

"Both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one" (Hebrews 2:11).

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How often have we forgotten when enduring a hardness, that the Lord is not only with us in it but knew it was inevitable and that even if we think we may not have not properly responded to it, He always works it “together for good” to our advantage?  If we think it’s the result of something in which we've made a wrong decision, He still works accordingly.
 
He knows we never want to ultimately decide on anything that would displease Him, so we need not to ever allow the Enemy, our old self or anyone to use anything to make us feel guilty, concerning anything (this doesn’t include non-repented wrongs); remorseful for wrongs but not guilt.  It's not as though we are on probation, because all forgiveness has been settled for us and everything is now part of Him teaching us.

7-9. PATH PROXIMITY

"God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency, may abound to every good work " (2 Corinthians 9:.
Suffering takes us in condition where truth has us in position.

"We will never learn any truth in experience excepting in the deepening knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the lack of this which is the cause of weakness among believers; bare doctrine is not personal fellowship with Him. We have that which is lovely and full of blessing in Him; but if we are to know it as such; to prove its truth, to enjoy it always, it must be in taking these things as connected with Him." -J.N.D.

"The passive power of faith needs for its sustenance closer communion with the Father than its active energy. Action, as it were, nerves us to the conflict; but quiet endurance of wrong, or suffering of any kind, which neither friend nor foe sees, but only God, this indeed needs divine power, and without God's support none would bear the strain. Many a saint has shown the courage of faith before his enemies, as Elijah when he faced Ahab, but who, like him, quails and flees, where there is nothing to do, but quietly trust in God."

"There is but one thought with our Father in disciplining us, namely, to make our trials an opportunity for our heart to learn and discover more of His love, and the resources which are in Him as He has revealed them to us in His Son." -J.B.S.

"There is no way of learning faith except by trial. It is God's school of faith, and it is far better for us to learn to trust our Father than to enjoy life."

"As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things " (2 Corinthians 6:10).

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