Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

[Netchaplain]

4-2. CONSTANT CARE

"The Lord recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee by the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust" (Ruth 2:12).

The Lord Jesus not only died for every sin in our life, but He lives for every second of our life. We cannot rest in Him until we realize that there is never an instant that He is not caring for us. It is as though each of His own were His only one.

"So many saints are disturbed, so many are restless, because they are not living in the knowledge that they are under the care of the Lord; and then there is no power to walk. Why have you so little power in walk or service? It is because you are not yet clear that the Lord is caring for you, that He is in all watchfulness over you, that He has let down the strong pinions of His protecting care till they sweep the ground around you, and, if you are wise, you will creep up close under His wings, into the very down." -J.B.S.

"It belongs to the nature of our pilgrimage and life of faith, that we cannot see the land for which we are bound. If only thou hast bid farewell to thy past, have confidence in thy God; trust Him to bring thee into a better land than the one thou art leaving. Should we find that Divine things do not at present correspond with our hopes, we may be quite sure they will eventually exceed our expectations; we shall realize above all we ask or comprehend." -O.S.

"And a man shall be like an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; like rivers of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land" (Isaiah 32:2).

[Netchaplain]

4-3. GROWTH FOR SERVICE

"My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Galatians 4:19).

A ministry of life, whether it be at the kitchen sink, or from the First Church pulpit, must flow from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. That life must be developed in and shared through the growing believer, by the Holy Spirit. We are to rest in Him for spiritual growth, and He will work through us for spiritual service.
"He, whom the Lord cannot trust with the faithful care of his own vineyard, will not be trusted with the tending of God's Vineyard of living, immortal souls. How shall we face the Owner of the Vineyard, if we have neglected our own lives; if we have not entered into that which God has shown us; if we must say, when He asks us about the lack of fruit and the neglect which is so sadly evident: 'Lord, I was so busy tending Thy Vineyard, that my own vineyard I have not kept' (S.S. 1:6)." -C.H.MacI.

"Our Lord is more concerned for a testimony than for a work. We need to get clear on that. A good deal of confusion comes in when you begin to think of things in the light of a work. When you get a lot of people leaving their employment to go into 'the work,' all kinds of complications arise. It is not that we aren't to serve the Lord, but in the first place it is not the work the Lord is after, it is a testimony, it is a light, a living flame."

"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God" (Colossians 1:10)

[Netchaplain]

The significance in the lesson learned isn’t as valuable as the process of learning the lesson. Trusting that “all work all things together for good to those who love God” (Rom 8:28), esp. in the hardest of times is more faith building than arriving at the moment of obtaining that which is sought, because it teaches us to know our support is not in the need being fulfilled but in the Fulfiller.

“Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him” (John 6:26, 27).

Conformation (Rom 8:29) and not confirmation is where the work of the Spirit resides (2 Cor 3:18) and until a mature level in Christ’s image is attained (through accurate bible study) it will be expected of a Christian to seek more in the evidence of the Provider than in trusting Him to provide.
-NC

4-4. INTERNAL PRIORITY

"Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

Beware! The world, both secular and religious, is seeking to destroy your individuality by conforming you to the mass of faceless ones. But our heritage and destiny in the Lord Jesus Christ is to be conformed to His image--not at the loss of our individual personality, but by the gain of His nature and character. "I in you"; "Christ liveth in me" (John 15:4; Galatians 2:20).

"Something has got to be done in us as well as for us. We want to proceed on the line of having things done for us, heaven intervening for us, our difficulties removed for us, having a straight path made for us. Heaven may be ready to come in, the Lord may be prepared to work for us, but it is not sufficient for Him--and it would not prove good enough for us--if that were all. The very principle of spiritual growth and maturity demands that He keep the objective and the subjective balanced; that is, that something is done in us as well as for us." -T. A-S.

"We are apt to think that if and when the circumstances and conditions of our lives are changed and we are in another position than the one we now occupy, then something will happen, the purpose of God will begin to be fulfilled. But the Lord says, 'No, it is not circumstances, not conditions, at all; it is you.'"

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). - mjs/withchrist.org

[Netchaplain]

4-6. RELIANCE IN TOTO

"Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace" (2 Thessalonians 2:16).

It has been well said that "it takes a lifetime to learn real dependence upon God, and to accept practically our own inadequacy." We are going to learn this only through experience, and now is the time to settle down to this schooling--a day at a time.

"We are to understand that God loves us, and that He justifies us by the work of His Son. We have no longer conscience of sins before God, because He Himself has taken them away before His eyes; we know that being united to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has fully glorified God in that which concerns our sins, we have been made the righteousness of God in Him. So the heart is free to enjoy His love in the presence of the Father." -J.N.D.

"I no longer attempt to produce that which will satisfy God from myself as originator. I know that even if I try I shall only fail. But I do seek to please God by faith in the activity of Another. The Son of God who indwells me by His Spirit is able and willing to carry out in me 'those things that please Him'; and I count upon Him to do so. Consciously, day by day, I take the attitude that I trust Him to work the will of God in me, and in that attitude I go forward and serve Him. I do not trust myself. 'I live by faith in the Son of God.'" -A.I.K.

"Comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good word and work" (2 Thessalonians 2:17).

[Netchaplain]

4-7. HAND HEWN
"Hearken unto Me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord; look unto the rock from which ye are hewn" (Isaiah 51:1).

If we care for His glory, we will want to serve. If we care for others, we will want to be well prepared for that service. And that care will enable us to hold still and trust Him through all that is entailed in the preparation.

"When a certain breaking down of self takes place in a believer's life, it produces a marked change in him; but afterwards he has to learn it all in detail." -J.N.D.

"This is a fact borne out in the case of every servant of God in history who has really come under the hand of God--that the real values of their lives for all time have been those which correspond to the wine of the grape, the thing trodden out in the winepress, the agony of heart; and you know that it is true in your case that if ever you have had anything at all which you knew to be worthwhile and which has helped someone else, it has been born out of some travail in your own experience."

"If we knew the heart of our Father we would never question any of His dealings with us, nor should we ever desire His hand lifted off us till we had learnt all He would teach us." -E.D.

"Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone" (Ephesians 2:19, 20).

[Netchaplain]

When is victory over a trial present for the Christian? When it transpires? Is it in the midst of the trial or at the beginning? Even if we have yet to realize it, all of our victories are present prior to the beginning of all our trials!
 
Kicking or screaming, hardly enduring or “patiently enduring” (Heb 6:15; 2 pet 2:20); how we respond to all our trials does not determine their outcome because God has already ensured they will eventuate to our benefit for the purpose of Christ-conformity (Rom 8:28, 29). Our response to all things is not a cause, but an effect which reveals the presence of a cause. “For it is God who works in you (cause) both to will and to do (effect) for His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).
 
If the strength of our faith in God is in our power and might (Zec 4:6), our trials will “trouble us” (John 14:1, 27) but God’s blessings will remain ours. The level of our position in Christ, mature or immature, does not determine the Father’s blessings to us because they were all foreordained (1 Pet 1:20) and cannot be withdrawn (Rom 11:29).
 
It's better to go through a trial with God than to go around one without Him!
 
We can needlessly labor with besetting weights
And be troubled, harassed and assailed
Or take pleasure in infirmities
Either way you’re in the Lord and will not fail
(Heb 12:1; 2 Cor 2:10; Jude 1:24)
–NC
 
 
4-8. TRIUMPH IN TRIAL
 
"Always guarded by the power of God through faith.... In such a hope keep on rejoicing, although for a little while you must be sorrow-stricken with various trials" (1 Peter 1:5, 6, Wms.).
 
There are testimonies, and there are testimonies. Some can testify as to how God cleared up adverse circumstances for the victory; but others can testify to the triumph God gave in the midst of difficult circumstances. The essential consideration is that our Father be glorified in all His dealings with and for us. How He brings it all about should be secondary to us.
 
"If there is a great trial in your life today, do not own it as a defeat, but continue, by faith, to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you more than conqueror, and a glorious triumph will soon be apparent. Let us learn that in all the hard places our Father brings us into, He is making opportunities for us to exercise such faith in Him as will bring about blessed results and greatly glorify His Name."
 
"God has put you in exactly the right crucible to burn up what He sees needs to be burnt up. Many think 'victory' means getting your circumstances put right. No! true triumph is within--when in the midst of your circumstances the Spirit of God can so energize you and strengthen you in spirit, that you can stand quiet in the thick of it all, and say, 'God is God,' and know that you are held by Him--which is infinitely better than all your trying to hold things steady."
 
"Therefore, my brethren . . . stand fast in the Lord" (Philippians 4:1). –mjs/withchrist.org
 

[Netchaplain]

4-9. LlTTLE-KNOWN REQUISITE

"My beloved children, I am again bearing the pangs of travail for you, till Christ be fully formed within you" (Galatians 4:19, Cony.).

It is essential that we "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," for three reasons: (1) that our Father may be glorified; (2) that the Lord Jesus might be manifested in us; (3) that the Holy Spirit might have a suitable instrument through which to win and establish others.

"Paul had one great consuming purpose to be brought to birth by his sufferings for the Galatians, and that was the living expression of the Lord Jesus Christ in them. Nothing less could satisfy God, and nothing less than this should ever satisfy a servant of God. Numbers were still good in Galatia, activities well maintained and zeal unabated, but the Lord Jesus was being crowded out--and that is the greatest tragedy possible." -H.F.

"It is a marvellous grace that we should be conformed to the image of God's Son. I think it is very sad that the highest thought which God has about us, and that which His heart is set on, is that which is least known by Christians; for I know no truth that is so little realized as union with Christ." -J.B.S.

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9).
-mjs/withchrist.org

[Netchaplain]

Is our sufficiency resting on experiences, as Israel, esp. in the wilderness, required signs and wonders (1 Cor 1:22) or in the “more sure word of prophecy” (2 Peter 1:19)? Faith constructed by experience can be misleading because it accustoms the believer to that which is by sight (temporal) and not by faith (eternal) (2 Cor 5:7). Faith in God differs from faith about God. Can one know God exists (wilderness Israel) without trusting Him? “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief” (Heb 3:19).
 
This always eventuates in disappointment because the expectation is not in Christ alone as much as it is in His physical confirmations. Faith and sight teeter in opposition to one another, so when physical evidence is up, faith is down. God uses that which is seen to confirm His existence (Rom 1:19, 20), not to confirm our faith, which requires no physical proof.
 
Faith is to be our substance (Heb 11:1) before God confirms anything in the physical. I believe proof is being reduced to its minimal form so that faith can be allowed to be at its greatest potential, because this life is the only opportunity for faith to be at its greatest activity. “Hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?” (Rom 8:24)?
 
We “will come to revelations of the Lord” (2 Cor 12:1) but they will come only through Scripture. It is commonly said that “it is to be Scripture which imparts credence to experiences and not the opposite”, so that faith has room to increase (Luke 17:5).
 
Let our joy already be sufficed in times of need by knowing “that all things work together for good to those who love God” (Rom 8:28), regardless of our maturity status in Him.
-NC

4-10. TRUTH, THEN EXPERIENCE

"But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).

The Christian who relies mainly upon "experiences" for growth will manifest little spiritual discernment, dependability or maturity, whereas the believer who relies upon doctrinal truth will be found to manifest these aspects of a healthy walk. If we bypass truth, we fall short of spiritual reality.

"Many people today are seeking for a new religious experience and when the last grows old, they seek to get yet another experience. The actual need of most believers today is not an experience, but a true apprehension of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on the Cross for us and of our present day union with Him.

"When a person begins to apprehend what it means to be united to the Son of God and what he has through this union, he will at once realize that his spiritual growth depends upon a clear understanding of truth rather than upon an experience. However, those who really appropriate this truth cannot fail to have daily experiences with the Lord." -L.L.L.

"Nowhere in Scripture is it taught that there is a sudden leap to be taken from carnality to spirituality, or from a life of comparative unconcern as to godliness to one of intense devotion to the Lord Jesus. On the contrary, increase in piety is ever presented as a growth, which should be as normal and natural as the orderly progression in human life from infancy to full stature." -H.A.I.

"Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all" (1 Timothy 4:15).
-mjs/withchrist.org

[Netchaplain]

The most effective witness for outreach is one in whom the Lord takes up every place in him so that the work is, not by us in the Lord, but by the Lord in us—everywhere in us.  It’s very instructive to know there is no place in us the Lord is not to take up and that it is attained by the law of displacement.
 
John the Baptists inspiringly stated, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Similar to as we have two physical eyes we also possess two spiritual “I’s”—the old I and the new I. The Lord does not want to displace you, but your nature. He does not want it to be, all Jesus and none of you, but Jesus and you. God’s desire is to have you in your personhood, plus the new nature!
 
Notice John did not say, “I must be eliminated”. This does not design the removal of the old nature but its restraint (Gal 5:17), because the Lord continues use the Adamic nature to teach us for our growth in Christ, just as He used it to draw us to Christ. We came to Christ because we were made to realize the seriousness of sin and the more we are shown the depths of its decadency, the more we realize the depths of God’s holiness.
 
I like what John Gill commentated concerning something Christ said on the Cross; “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Jesus was referring to their ignorance to the fact that they did not realize they were crucifying the Messiah, nor the prophecies concerning Him, nor the evil they were committing in putting Him to death: not that their ignorance excused their sin; nor was it without sin; nor does Christ use it as a plea for pardon, or found His intercession upon it, which is always done upon His own propitiatory sacrifice; but this is mentioned as descriptive of the persons Christ prays for, and points out a branch of His priestly office He exercises, in having compassion on the ignorant, and them that are out of the way. (J. Gill bible commentary)
 
The issue of sin is not so much the wrongs of people as much as it is their lacking the realization of the seriousness of the wrongs; which comes not by discovery but by revelation--by the Spirit’s enlightenment (John 14:26). One cannot judge, nor expect an unregenerate person to live the Christ-life any more than expecting a pig to stay out of the mud after cleaning it. A sinner is expected to sin willfully just as a pig is expected to willfully return to the mud. If the model is to keep a clean pig, the goal is not in cleaning its body but in addressing its nature.
 
“Most would say, “The work of the Holy Spirit is to save souls.” Yes, but why? Just to have them saved? No; but in order that the Lord Jesus might have His place. These souls are the residence of Christ. The Spirit may instruct believers and build them up—for what purpose? Just that they should be more mature Christians? Not at all; but so that the Lamb of God shall have a larger place. No matter what the Holy Spirit does, He has one all-inclusive object and end—the glorifying of the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, giving Him place and then filling all things with Him. Do not think of the “being filled with the Spirit”, or the “fullness of the Spirit”, in any other way than this: the Holy Spirit’s filling of all things with the Lord Jesus—He is “all, and in all” (Col 3:11). –MJS/Person To Person/WithChrist.org.
 
“. . . that in all things He may have the preeminence.” (Col 1:18).
-NC

4-11. INWROUGHT FOR OUTREACH

"Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:7).

At first our concern is to be used, to serve; but it is our concern. Then He begins to impress His concern upon our hearts, that we be like Him. Finally, it is His concern and ours that others may be reached by Him and established in Him.

"The Holy Spirit indwells us and thereby accomplishes our sanctification--an adjustment of our personal lives to His own person and character, to the dropping away of sin's power over us and the implanting of His Christ-imparting attributes in us. But to what purpose is all of this? For the beautifying of our personal lives? To terminate upon us? Not at all. His work in us is that He may have an instrument adjusted to His use, thus to work through us to the blessing of others. -N.B.H.

"It is not so much a matter of our attainments or full conformity to Christ, but rather our progressive movement towards the final goal. Even if we were perfect in ourselves, that would not make us ministers, for ministry consists in the Spirit's manifesting in our lives something more of Christ that was not there before, and then making it shine out for the blessing and transformation of others." -H.F.

"And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men" (1 Thessalonians 3:12).

[Netchaplain]

4-12. NOT HOW, BUT WHO!

"Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).
We never question how He works, once we know Him for who He is. When I gain the treasure of knowing Him, I can well afford to trust Him.

"The heart that is captivated by an object could never be at rest until it was with the one who had won it; for satisfaction you must be where He is. Love really does not think of anyone but its Object until it is quite sure of its place with Him, and then when at rest about itself it studies the mind and heart of the Object.

"I find that Christ loved me, and gave Himself for me when I was in a most unattractive state; but He makes me suitable to Himself, and I am so assured of the permanency of His love and of my association with Him that my heart is free to study Him. The more I am in His company, the more I acquire the tastes and characteristics which answer to His mind."

"There is an amazing effect of beholding the Lord's glory. You may be transformed from some old taste without even feeling it; but you are transformed! and you cannot tell how. It is not the process that occupies you, but you are engrossed with the Lord. We are united to the glorified Lord where He is at home, and, blessed by God, that is our home, our life is there." -J.B.S.

"Your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).

[Netchaplain]

The Christian life is not living by what Christ can do but by what He has already done. There is nothing we do not already possess in order to ever increasingly be conformed (Rom 8:29--by the Spirit through the Cross) to the Christ-life. “Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ” (Eph 1:3). Nothing can be added to that which “is finished” (John 19:30) and makes us “complete in God’s will” (Col 4:12).
 
This first involves realizing we work from and not towards God’s spiritual blessings, by appropriating--through reckoning. Paul’s pressing toward the prize of eternal life (Phil 3:11) was due to already possessing God’s blessings and as the Holy Spirit increases our understanding of the written Word, the presence of all of God’s blessings in our loves will become more evident.
 
We reckon--by faith, and to reckon on God’s written Word is to be convinced it is always true. I believe the most crucial issue concerning reckoning, faith and God’s written Word is to know that God’s blessings are in our lives “through the faith of the operation of God” (Col 2:12), esp. when at times (some call it a “pause”) our faith may seem weak (2 Cor 12:9, 10).
 
Regardless whether or not we think we deserve His blessings, He “works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11), not according to the performance of our lives. For Christians this means we do not receive something good because we do good, nor do we receive something bad because we did something bad.

Everything is foreknown by God and is being used to teach us of Himself. A Christian’s desire is always toward pleasing God and therefore, in spite of mistakes, is sowing to the good. The totality or summation of everything a person does is toward good or evil and only “He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God” (3 John 1:11).
-NC

4-13. DUAL RECKONING

"For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2:9).

"Reckoning" on the work of the Cross is the only relief from the carnal burden of self. Then comes the spiritual burden of Christ--to be more like Him. "Reckoning" is the answer there, too. "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through [in] Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6.11). If we seek to escape the death, we will not experience the life.

"We are not to try to crucify self, but we are to agree (reckon) with what God has said and done. In the lives of most believers self has usurped the place belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a criminal worthy of death, but the trouble is that they do not realize that this self-life has been crucified on the Cross. They do not believe the facts of the Word, and sin therefore reigns in their lives; they live in bondage to sin, praying for deliverance, praying that they may die to sin, but refusing to believe what God says He has already done." -L.L.L.

"The constant tendency is to try to improve the manner of one's life here below by adopting Christian principles, whereas you will never arrive at it unless you start from 'crucified with Christ.' Then it is not thinking of what I am, but of what He is, 'Christ liveth in me.'" -J.B.S.

"And ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:10).

-MJS/WithChrist.org

[Netchaplain]

After being saved, the next most significant issue is our worship to God, which involves everything we do (John 4:23, 24) and it is how we glorify Him (Mat 5:16). The next most significant issue after our worship to God is our witness to others. After all, outreach to others is how everyone comes to Christ, by God using those who are His to draw them to Christ, beginning with the twelve.
 
So, this is a list of three pillars in the faith: personal salvation; worship to God; outreach to others. Is anything missing from the list? What could be your next item? How about personal growth in our salvation? Yes, this concludes the pillars of faith to be four and this last element is as significant as the first because it will determine the effectiveness of the second and third elements.
 
As we know, God uses His Spirit to conform us to the life of Christ and the Spirit’s primary item of use is the written Word of God. Just as the more Sun we’re exposed to, the more tanned we get; the more Word we’re exposed to, the more Son we get. Concerning God’s word, our primary responsibility is to continue to expose ourselves to it and it is God’s responsibility to cause it to mature us in His Son’s image (Rom 8:29).

“All scripture [is] given by inspiration of God, and [is] profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim 3:16, 17). “It is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).
 
The quickest and most effective growth in the life of Christ involves direct Son-light, which is by the written Word of God because it is the only source unfiltered.
-NC

4-14. APPRECIATION, NOT DEPRECIATION

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly" (Colossians 3:16).

As believers we rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus died for us, but few are affected by the fact that He arose for us. Fewer still realize that we died and arose with Him. Learn the facts! There will be continual struggle and failure until we gain adequate understanding of the liberating truth.

"The Lord Jesus on the Cross removed the barriers which separated me from God--my guilt, my sin, the law; and He dealt with my enemies--the world, the flesh, the devil. These six things were dealt with, so that we need no longer be in bondage through fear and that we may come boldly to the throne of grace.

"Have we given a hearty assent to these things which the Lord Jesus did for us? Or have we, as we read the Word, drifted by them, taking it all for granted? Let us lay hold of that for which God has laid hold of us. Let us gird up the loins of our mind and consent to that which He did for us. Let us enter into all that which being united to Christ as our Life means. Let us rejoice in all that was accomplished for us on Calvary." -L.L.L.

"It is necessary that the truth conferred by grace should be known as a possession and the virtue of it apprehended, before there can be any walk in keeping with it. For if there be ignorance or misapprehension, the truer the conscience, the more defective is the practice." -J.B.S.

"Set your affection on things above" (Colossians 3:2)

-MJS/WithChrist.org

[Netchaplain]

The Father in His mercy has been teaching you that there is no solid advancement in growth apart from personal fellowship with Himself. It is not only His infinite love that you need, but it is your own heart-love that He longs for. Think of it, the Creator yearning for the love and companionship of the re-created.
 
Ponder the infinite pathos of the Lord Jesus’ plea to the Twelve, while many of His disciples were forsaking Him: “Will you also go away?” (John 6:67). Does not your heart all but break as He asks the same of you? Surely your loving response can be no less than that of Peter’s: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (John 6:88). –MJS/Person to Person/withchrist.org

4-15. PURPOSE, PROVISION, PROCESS

"I beseech Thee, show me Thy glory" (Exodus 33:18).

There are three vital factors that will keep us on the path, and in the power, of spiritual growth: (1) study to know that God's purpose in saving us is to conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28, 29); (2) learn to reckon upon the finished work of the Cross as His provision for that purpose (Romans 6:11); (3) yield to the Holy Spirit as He carries out the daily process of that purpose (2 Corinthians 4:11).

"Christ Jesus' earthly life showed the path, His heavenly life gives the power, in which we are to walk. What God hath joined together no man may separate. Whosoever does not stand in the full faith of the Redemption, has not the strength to follow the Example. And whosoever does not seek conformity to the Image as the great purpose of Redemption, cannot fully enter its power. Christ lived on earth that He might show forth the image of God in His life; He lives in heaven that we may show forth the image of God in our lives." -A.M.

"God has but one way of revealing Himself, it is 'Christ in you.' He has no other way of showing Himself to men except as Christ lives in us; not by the Shekinah glory in the temple built with hands of men, but in lives redeemed and freed and cleansed as they walk about in this dark world with Christ living in them." -L.L.L.

"And we all, while with face unveiled we behold in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are ourselves transformed continually into the same likeness; and the glory which shines upon us is reflected by us, even as it proceeds from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18, Cony.).

mjs/withchrist.org

[Netchaplain]

I believe the most applicable word to describe everything in our life as a Christian and our fellowship with God could be “vicarious”, because nothing we do or have (esp. salvation) of God originates from us. Everything which has to do with God in our life precedes forth from the Holy Spirit through our regenerated self--by way of the “new man” because this new nature within us is created after the image of Christ (Col 3:10) and Christ is the image of the Father (2 Cor 4:4; Heb 1:3).
 
“Yielding ourselves unto God” (Rom 6:13) means presenting our new self to Him, not the old self. When we are discouraged it’s because we’ve yielded our old self, which He cannot use (Rom 8:7). It bears repeating that when we are disappointed it’s because we’ve based our support on human strength (Eph 6:10) and not on God, because He never disappoints.
 
Therefore, it is a refreshing thing to realize that “he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works” (“own works” which are apart from God--Heb 4:10). It’s God’s works and not ours which “keeps us from falling” (Jude 1:24).
-NC
 

4-16. HANDICAPPED FOR CHRIST

"My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in [your] weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

In self we are crippled; in Christ we conquer. The secret is to face up to the former, and rest in the latter. The disadvantaged believer has all the advantage--he knows it must be "not I, but Christ."

"It is a great step when the believer fully consents to his own weakness, and the abiding consciousness of it, and so works faithfully on, fully assured that his Lord is working through him. He rejoices that the excellence of the power is of God, and not of us. Realizing his oneness with his Lord, he considers no longer his own weakness, but counts on the power of Him of whose hidden working within him is assured.

"It is this secret assurance that gives a brightness to his look, and a gentle firmness to his tone, and a perseverance to all his efforts, which of themselves are great means of influencing those he is seeking to win. He goes forth in the spirit of one to whom victory is assured; for this is the victory that overcometh, even our faith. He no longer counts it humility to say that God cannot bless his unworthy efforts. He claims and expects a blessing, because it is not he, but Christ in him, that worketh. The great secret of abiding in Christ is the deep conviction that we are nothing, and He is everything." -A.M.

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God". (2 Corinthians 3:5).
-MJS/withchrist.org

[Netchaplain]

Until we learn to “labor to enter His rest” (Heb 4:11) much of our work will be unnecessary because instead of it being “Not I, but Christ” it will be “Not Christ, but I”. Continuing in our “own works” delays, but not inhibits, God’s work in our life. Our old man-related works are to be shunned in order to yield to God to work through us—“by His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph 3:16). It is the Spirit of God who causes us to avoid many wrongs in our lives which we would otherwise encounter (Gal 5:17).
 
As God rested from His works of creation (Gen 2:2, 3) and never needing to repeat it, He will progressively reduce in our life works which derive from our "old man"  which, by law of displacement, will allow more works which derive from the "new man"--through the Spirit.. “For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Heb 4:10).
-NC


4-17. REST AND RECEIVE

"I long to know Christ and the power which is in His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10, Wey.).

The difficult thing for most hungry-hearted believers is to wait in dependence upon the Lord for everything. Truth is not to be grasped, but received--received by faith, mainly through study. How true this is concerning reckoning! Many seek to reckon before they understand the scriptural facts upon which to count, and that adds up to failure. The secret is to learn the truth of our identification with the Lord Jesus so thoroughly that reckoning and its resultant growth will come as a matter of course, just as in our justification.

"The death of our Lord on the Cross has depths of meaning that can only be plumbed by way of discovered need, but then reveals 'unsearchable riches.' To the believer who still has hopes of 'attaining' in the Christian life, a verse such as Romans 6:11 is a rather meaningless jargon used by those who give messages on the 'deepening of the spiritual life.'

"To the believer who has been taught by the Holy Spirit something of his own utter, inbred sinfulness, it comes as a message from God full of hope and encouragement. He grasps the rescue rope flung to him by the right hand of Omnipotence, and with humble thankfulness sets out to learn how he can reckon himself dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord. When he looks at the Cross he sees there the fact that not only did the Lord Jesus die for him, but that he himself was taken down into His death, in order that the practical reality of His resurrection life might transform him into the divine likeness." -J.C.M.

"For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection" (Romans 6:5).

-MJS/withchrist.org