Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

The doing of the will of God centers more on passivity than activity; passive on our part and active on His. Because our Adamic nature is a leaven which unavoidably mixes with what we do, the doing of God’s will on our part is in yielding to His Spirit to work through and by us into bringing about the Father’s desires concerning everything in our lives.

When we “yield” ourselves to God (Rom 6:13), it is the new self (new man), not the old self (old man) that we present to Him and through this new nature we realize the substance of the doing is not of us but the Spirit and thus, He has His way; “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph 3:16).

W.J. Hocking’s comment adds some light to the issue: “Man had no life from which the Father could expect anything and so he gave a new life in His Son, that He may produce it. Do I find sins rather? He is the propitiation for our sins. I believe that and enter into fellowship”.

“Why do you find fear and torment when you find sin in yourself? Cannot you trust that love? Have you had the Father on your neck in your rages (Luke 15:20). You must know the love your Father has for you and then you know Him. His Son is your righteousness; why should you not have rest? “As He is, so are we in this world.”

“The effect of grace is that we should feel sin and know it’s blotted out (Acts 3:19) in Him, as well as our old life (old man). “The glory thou hast given Me I have given them . . . that the world may know that . . . thou hast loved them, as thou hast loved Me” (John 17:22, 23). “There is no fear in love.” It is a matter of fellowship. “Perfect love casteth out all fear.”
NC

FROM LAW TO LIFE

"Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" (Romans 7:24).

As sinners, the law revealed our need of deliverance from the penalty of sin; as believers, the law reveals our need of deliverance from the power of sin.

"Our Father knows that we are weakness incarnate; that we can do nothing. The trouble is that we do not know it. He must bring us all to the place where we see that we are utterly weak and helpless.

"The more we try to keep the law the more our weakness is manifested and the deeper we get into Romans Seven, until it is clearly demonstrated to us that we are hopelessly weak. The Father knew it all the time, but we did not, and so He has to bring us through painful experiences to a recognition of the fact."

"'It is God who worketh in you' (Philippians 2:13). Deliverance from law does not mean that we are free from doing the will of our Father. It certainly does not mean that we are going to be lawless. Quite the opposite! What it does mean however is that we are free from doing that will as of ourselves.

"Being fully persuaded that we cannot do it, we cease trying to please God from the ground of the old man. Having at least reached the point of utter despair in ourselves so that we cease even to try, we put our trust in the Lord Jesus to manifest His resurrection life in and through us, 'that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit' (Romans 8:4)."

"What would be effected by the law, if all its commands and precepts were carried out and maintained? It would form man in the flesh; it would make Adam what he ought to be for God in the world. The law would form Adam in us." -C.A.C.

"I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Romans 7:25).

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HIDDEN TO REVEAL

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).

As we walk in the Spirit, worship in the Spirit, and pray in the Spirit, we shall come to know, not the Spirit, but the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus explicitly said, "He (the Comforter) shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you" (John 16:14, 15)

"What is it to 'walk in the Spirit' (Galatians 5:16)? It is to walk in communion with the Father, in dependence upon the Spirit, having the Lord Jesus as my one object. What held the attention of Stephen, 'full of faith and of the Holy Spirit' (Acts 6:5)? Two things: the Word of God on earth, and the Christ of God in heaven (Acts 7:55)."

"To walk in the Spirit is not self-occupation, nor even occupation with the Spirit. Walking according to the Spirit is occupation with the Lord Jesus. When the believer looks to the Lord Jesus, depends upon Him, draws all he needs from Him–if the Lord Jesus is his all, then the believer walks in the Spirit." -A.C.G.

"To be Spirit-controlled does not mean the loss of free-agency. A free agent acts as he pleases, and the Spirit-controlled individual pleases to act in accordance with the mind and will of the Spirit." -A.McC.

"'I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not (in no way) fulfill the lust of the flesh' (Galatians 5:16). It might be objected, if a Christian were not under the restraint of the law that his life might be careless. The 'no way' of our verse forbids such a notion." -H.F.W.

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Romans 8:2) .

WithChrist.org

ON TO MATURITY

"That I may know him" (Philippians 3:10).

"The one unchanging factor on this earth is the Word of God. It is upon the written Word, and in the Living Word, that the Christian life is to be established. Yet there are Christians throughout the world who are seeking to get along on the basis of questionable blessings, and fluctuating self-centered experiences.

"How many rest on the initial step of the new birth, 'Begotten again. . . of incorruptible seed through the word of God' (1 Peter 1:23), and fail to press on to know 'Begotten. . . by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. . . unto an inheritance' (1 Peter 1:3).

"If our hearts are really true to Him we may be assured He will lead us on in the knowledge of Himself just as fast as we are able to advance. He knows how much we can take in, and He does not fail to minister to us the very food that is suitable to our present need. We may sometimes feel inclined to be impatient with ourselves because we do not make more rapid progress, but we have to learn to trust the Lord with our spiritual matriculation.

"If our eyes are upon the Lord Jesus, and we follow with steadfast hearts as He leads us, we shall find that He leads us by the right way and brings us through all the exercises we need in order to form our souls in the appreciation of Himself, and of all those blessed things which are brought to pass in Him. We have to trust Him all the way through, and to learn increasingly to distrust ourselves." -W.N.

"The enemy will encourage you to do anything but carry out the systematic, Spirit-taught study of the Bible. He will give religious experiences, feelings and pious thoughts–all apart from God's Word. Do not be deceived. The Scriptures are our only sustenance–there are no substitutes." -J.B.

"Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord" (Hosea 6:3).

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PRAYER PREPARATION

"He shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and fit for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21).

"Prepared unto every good work"–especially prayer.

"It does not follow that because a thing is the will of God, He will necessarily lead you to pray for it. He may have other burdens for you. We must get our prayers from God, and pray to know His will. God was dealing with Hudson Taylor for fifteen years before He laid upon him the burden of definite prayer for the foundation of the China Inland Mission (now the Overseas Missionary Fellowship).

"Our Father is not in a hurry. He cannot do things with us until we are trained and ready for them. We may be certain He has further service, further burdens of faith and prayer to give us when we are ready for them." -J.O.F.

"In the true 'prayer of faith' the intercessor must spend time with the Father to appropriate the promises of His Word, and must permit himself to be taught by the Holy Spirit, whether the promises can be applied to this particular case. He remains in the presence of God, till He, by His Spirit, awakens the faith that in this particular matter the prayer has been heard." -A.M.

"In praying there are two alternatives set before us. The one, prayer as a means by which we get from heaven what we need. The other, prayer as infinite grace of God, lifting us up into His fellowship and love, and then when He has thus brought us to Himself, bestowing upon us the blessing we need. In the former case, the gifts that I can receive through prayer are the chief things. In the latter, God and His love, and fellowship with Him, and the surrender of the suppliant to His glory and His will is the supreme objective." -A.M.

"Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:2).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

“Labor to Rest”: Heb 4:11

Our work is not to come from the strength of the “old man”, which is our “own works”, but from the Spirit in the inner man or “new man” (Eph 3:16); “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord” (Zec 4:6). We are to love God “with all our strength”; --“which answers to the phrase in Deuteronomy 6:5, "with all thy might"; “that is, with the greatest vehemency of affection, in the strongest expressions of it, and with all the strength of grace (Spirit) a man has” (parentheses mine) –J Gill.

God used six days to create everything, and then on the seventh day from the beginning of the first day He rested. That is, He rested or ceased from creating and will never need to repeat it, for “God ended His work which He had made” (Gen 2:2).

The believer rests from his “own works” in order to rest in His works; “For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His (Heb 4:10). God, through His Spirit and in the “acceptance” of His Son (Eph 1:6) uses us to do His will in His strength and this is exemplified by the understanding of “entering into His rest” (Heb 3:11, 18, 19; 4: 1-11).

God did not expect Adam, Israel or the rest of mankind to learn to live this life completely free of any thoughts or actions of sin; “according to His own purpose” and “after the counsel of His own will (2 Tim 1:9; Eph 1:11), He has chosen, from eternity past, to allow our sin nature to remain (Rom 7) “until the redemption of the purchased possession” (Eph 1:14; Rom 8:23) and therefore, it stands to reasonable assumption that the believer cannot possess the sin source without ever being affected by it.

We are to be aware of its presence and “live circumspectly . . . redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Eph 5:15, 16). We are also to be mindful that “where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom 5:20). The key is not to seek in ourselves that for which is to be found only in God's Son, which is righteousness, and since it is imputed to us from Christ (1 Cor 1:30), it is what our Father regards in us in place of the unrighteousness in our "old man".
-NC

REST VIA STRUGGLE

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

Hard as it is for the believer to finally come to rest concerning his spiritual birth, it seems to be even more difficult for him to simply rest in the Lord Jesus for his life and service.

"There are two stages in the Christian life. The one in which, after conversion, a believer seeks to work what God would have him do. The second, in which, after many a painful failure, he ceases from his works, and enters the rest of God, there to find the power for work in allowing the Father to work in him.

"It is this rest from their own work which many Christians cannot understand. They think of it as a state of passive and selfish enjoyment, of still contemplation which leads to the neglect of the duties of life, and unfits for that watchfulness and warfare to which Scripture calls. What an entire misunderstanding of God's call to rest!

"Truly to rest in God is to yield oneself up to the highest activity. We work, because He worketh in us both to will and to do (Philippians 2:13). As Paul says of himself, 'I labor, striving according to his working who worketh in me with might' (Colossians 1:29). Entering the rest of God is the ceasing from self-effort, and the yielding of oneself in the full surrender of faith to God's working." -A.M.

"Not only does the Lord Jesus live in us, but He becomes the motivating Object of our life as Christians. The law is no longer our motive or rule of life. It is entirely displaced by a Person, and that Person 'the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.' Henceforth the soul has a new center and source--it is no longer self-centered, but Christ-centered." -C.A.C.

"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Matthew 11:29).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

BELOVED ENEMY - Miles J Stanford

"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13).

The legal Christian considers the law to be his best friend who will enable him to live righteously. But in reality the law, in the hands of the Holy Spirit, is his beloved enemy. The Spirit's purpose is to bring the well-meaning believer down into defeat, wretched and ready to realize, "I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord" (Romans 7:25).

"It is perhaps the most alarming symptom of decay to be seen amongst evangelical believers today, that so many have accepted (at any rate mentally) the fact that they cannot be justified before God except by the sacrifice for sin once made for all upon Calvary, proceed to build a new legal code by which to live, and seek to be sanctified by their own efforts and endeavors.

"The more conscientious, when faced with the failure of this scheme of things, become the victims of the condemnation of the 'accuser of the brethren'; and take their place among the great company of Christian men and women who are constantly beset with doubts and fears, and who, often in spite of intense activity in the cause of the Gospel, are living in the conscious bitterness of defeat. " -J.C.M.

"The law cannot be broken or divided. It stands as a unit. To undertake any part of it is to be committed to it all. Nothing can be more unreasonable or more unscriptural than to borrow some portions from the law system, either that of Moses or of the millennial kingdom, and, at the same time, reject other portions. He who will choose the law must, to be consistent, do the whole law (Romans 10:5), and if he should break it at one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10)." -L.S.C.
"The law was our schoolmaster. . . . But after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster" (Galatians 3:24, 25).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

It has been said that “the unsaved needs deliverance from the guilt of sin and the saved needs deliverance from the dominion of sin”. Though the believer has trusted Christ for his place in salvation, there remains the need for learning to trust Him for our walk in salvation.

This is summed up in understanding that our acceptance with the Father will always be solely upon our being “accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6), and that His divine attributes (holiness, righteousness and justification) cannot be produced but only vicariously possessed—in the possessing of Christ. All of these godly attributes are part of us being “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4); thus, they come not from us, but from Him in us through His Spirit and we can only witness-bearers to this.
- NC

CHURCH PLIGHT

"For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God" (Acts 20:27).

In regard to the external Cross, the obvious fact is that "Christ died for our sins." As to the internal Cross, while not so obvious, it is still a fact that we are to be "always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:11).

"Popular Fundamentalist theology has emphasized the utility of the Cross rather than the beauty of the One who died on it. The saved man's relation to the Lord Jesus has been made contractual instead of personal. The 'work' of Christ has been stressed until it has eclipsed the Person of Christ. Substitution has been allowed to supersede identification. What He did for us seems to be more important than what He did to us." -A.W.T.

"The death of the Lord Jesus was not only an atonement for sins, but a triumph over sin. By faith we see our sins not only on His head for our pardon, but sin under His feet for our deliverance. Multitudes who glory in the outward Cross know nothing of that inward crucifixion which it has also made possible, whereby they are delivered from the power of self and sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil. That they do not know: That their 'old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, so that they should no longer be in bondage to sin' (Romans 6:6)." -G.M.

"We are not only to take by faith the fact that the Lord Jesus died for us to pay the price and penalty of our sins, but we are to appropriate by faith the fact that He also took us to the Cross with Him. In Christ, God put to death our old man that we might be delivered from the power and dominion of sin in our lives. So the story of the pathway of faith begins with Calvary and our identification with the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus." -G.M.

"You were set free from the tyranny of sin" (Romans 6:18, Wey.).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

The believer, Jew or Gentile, now under the “New Covenant” (new in its dispensation, not in its conception from eternity past) has been separated from law; the Jew from the Law of Moses (Josh 8:31) and the Gentile from the “law unto themselves” (Rom 2:14, 15).

It goes from the knowledge of morality to the desire of godliness. This is the difference between having to be told (law) to desire good, due to the lack of an unbroken desire for good (which only proceeds from God; Mat 19:17), and having the continuous desire for being good instilled (grace) within. In this way our actions derive from “newness of spirit (grace), and not in the oldness of the letter (law)” (Rom 7:6).

The transition is from the old commandment of “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” (Lev 19:18) to the greater work of “a new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (John 13:34).
- NC

SACRIFICIAL SERVICE - Miles J Stanford

"For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:11).

The growing Christian is often accused of passivity by the doing Christian. The Lord Jesus was not passive; the Apostle Paul was not passive; nor is the believer passive who seeks to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). Compulsive activity is not necessarily fruitful, as the "works of the flesh" attest.

"The Lord keep you in the freshness of faith in Himself, going forth in His work, not undertaking more than He gives you grace for. I have pressed upon my brethren not to give up their secular employment until the work of the Lord so increased upon them that they must give up one or the other."

"The one who knows best the Father's love will be the best exponent of that love--the best qualified servant for the Father to send on a mission of interest to those who are ignorant of it. Abide in Him. 'The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him' (John 1:18)."

"Under the Mosaic law-system, love for others was to be in the degree in which one loved himself; under grace it is to be in the degree in which the Lord Jesus has loved the believer and given His life for him (1 John 3:16)." -L.S.C.

"Perversion of truth takes its rise from having the eye turned to man, and seeking to make the truth suit him, and not to conform man to the truth; so that the way to resolve this difference is by the simple question, Is it God-ward I am looking, or man-ward?"

"If you only know the work of the Lord Jesus you are prepared to make sacrifices, but if you know Him as your life then you are ready to suffer for Him."

"So then death worketh in us, but life in you" (2 Corinthians 4:12).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

HEART TO HEART - Miles J Stanford

"That I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12).

Our spiritual puppy-love is soon lost, to be replaced through the years by our bridal-love. The bride always gravitates to her Bridegroom. "My beloved spoke, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away" (Song of Solomon 2:10).

"All of our Father's arrangements for us, if rightly accepted, will lead us above, instead of binding us to what is here below. His gifts come down to ease us in a world like this, that our hearts may rise the easier to the scene where He displays the fullness of His love for us.

"And if there be chastening in the circumstances here, it is only to detach us the more effectively from all here, and to lead us to the place where He has given all to us. So that seeing the things above ensures every good thing for us in every condition."

"You may know the Lord Jesus as your relief–for what He has done; but it is quite another thing to know Him as your resource–for what He is. It is one thing to know Him as the One who has relieved you from every pressure, it is another thing to know Him as the One attraction of your heart." -J.B.S.

"The Lord grant that you may know the wonderful blessing, and portion of light and joy we are brought into, instead of going through the world trying to overcome this and that, and saying, 'I must give up this thing and the other.' It is not a question of giving up at all; but I have something better, greater, brighter, and I just let it drop."

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (Philippians 3:8).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

OINTMENT POURED FORTH - Miles J Stanford

"Death working in me works life in you" (2 Corinthians 4:12, Cony.).

At first the heart hunger for maturity in the Lord Jesus is personal, subjective–and necessarily so. Later, when the path to maturity is known and entered upon, this hunger is projected to His Body, and becomes sacrificially objective.

"The great lack in servants is not having a sufficiently self-less walk, because you cannot lead anyone beyond where you have been led yourself. Moses was himself many years in the wilderness before he led the people. I cannot ask anyone to leave anything that I have not left myself. It is not the man who sees defects, but the man who removes them who is being used of God."

"Will you choose the path of death that others may have life? Will you choose to 'fill up the afflictions of Christ for His Bride's sake'? But what does it mean? It means living, weeping, suffering, loving with infinite patience, infinite tenderness, unwearying love for every member of the Body of Christ. It means the whole being bound up, not in your own progress, but in the progress of the Body of Christ. It means sinking all the personal element into the service of God, wanting neither credit, nor notice, nor recognition. It means an utter dropping of yourself, and a handing over of yourself to God to be poured out for His Body's sake, the Church."

"The unwearied care of our Father for us, His patient grace, His gentleness, His leading us on from the world nearer, in spirit, to Himself, indicate what should be the character of our love's activity towards one another. Our joy in the Father's presence, as He Himself and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, are made manifest to our hearts, gives us the character of the joy of true fellowship one with another." -H.F.W.

"I, Paul. . . rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body's sake, which is the church" (Colossians 1:23, 24).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

MY FATHER'S CHOICE - Miles Stanford

"What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7).

When our Lord takes us down into an area of processing and trial it seems as though He deliberately takes away our understanding, and we often react as though we had never gone through anything before. One of His reasons for this is that we may receive the full effect and benefit of the child-training.

"We should give our consent to our Father when He seeks to lead us through devastating processes. And we need have no fear, for He knows how to apportion our suffering. He exactly matches the suffering to our condition. He measures all things with unfailing accuracy and selects the particular trial suited to our particular need.

"He invariably chooses the lot of each with this in view–an increase of the divine content in our lives. If He chastens us, it is always 'for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.' And 'all things work together for good to them that are called according to his purpose.' What good? What purpose? This, 'that we may be conformed to the image of his Son.'"

"Let suffering come from any cause in the universe, if we give it over entirely into the hand of our Father, and sink ourselves into His blessed will, with the desire for Him to work His purpose in us, He will make every pain, every tear, every particle of our suffering work in us a death to sin and to the old man, and to all things on earth which will be for our highest development and for His glory." -G.W.

"If we lay claim to the blessing of our Father, we must not fear what may lie in the path of blessing. It is ever through suffering to glory, through the Cross to the Crown." -O.S.

"In every circumstance of life be thankful; for this is God's will in Christ Jesus respecting you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18, Wey.).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

SELF-IMPOSED BURDEN -- Miles J Stanford

"Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

Few see and stand upon the fact that our history in Adam ended on the Cross. Our past will plague us until we acknowledge that we are now clear of Adam and safely hidden in the risen Lord Jesus–newly-born creations in Him. One of the penalties of self-occupation is self-pity and corroding remorse.

"Regret for a sinful past will remain until we truly believe that for us in the Lord Jesus that sinful past no longer exists. The man in Christ has only His past and that is perfect and acceptable to the Father. In the Lord Jesus he died, and in Him he rose, and he is now seated in Him within the circle of the Father's favored ones. He is no longer angry with himself because he is no longer self-regarding, but Christ-regarding: hence there is no place for regret."

"The knowledge of our union with the Lord Jesus is what will deliver the believer from all that is low and feeble, and will lift him to a life of joy and peace. To gaze upon our risen Lord in the Father's presence, to whom all things are subject, will transform us into heavenly Christians, dwelling all the day in the Father's presence." -A.M.

"The believer shares the Lord Jesus' Cross ('knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him' Romans 6:6); His death ('ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God' Colossians 3:3); His burial ('we were buried with him by baptism into death' Romans 6:4); His resurrection ('as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we' Romans 6:4); His ascension ('made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' Ephesians 2:6)." -F.J.H.

"There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

LIFELESS LAW - Miles J Stanford

"For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law" (Galatians 3:21).

Paul devoted two full chapters to establish our freedom from the fallen Adam. Romans Six sets forth our freedom from the dominion of Adamic sin; Romans Seven explains our freedom from Adamic law.
Whereas our liberty was won on the Cross, it is worked out in our daily life and experience by the Holy Spirit. On the Cross, by the Spirit, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"If ministers and teachers of God's Word would set saints free and establish them in the Gospel, let their preaching and teaching be based upon the sixth and seventh of Romans, the central theme of which is our union with the Lord Jesus in death and burial; and our resurrection and ascension with Him into newness of life; where not the law, but grace, reigneth; where not the letter but the Spirit, moveth the heart and life of the believer. Satan will fight most fiercely against such teaching, but no other will establish the Lord's people."

"If God has declared that we died, we did die. If God has declared us discharged from the law, we are discharged and are hereby God's free children, 'new creatures,' 'created after God in righteousness and true holiness.'

"Our longing for conformity to the image of God's Son shall be confirmed and fulfilled by the Holy Spirit who hath been given unto us. No man can believe he has a right to walk freely and fully in the Spirit until he believes himself to be free from the law." -W.R.N.
"Law cannot give eternal life, nor have, therefore, any control over it." -L.S.C.

"But now we have been discharged from the law, having died to that wherein we were held" (Romans 7:6, ASV.).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

Personal Righteousness

We are not to be as Peter when he said, “Depart from me, I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:8). There may be good desires and tenderness of conscience, but it will run into legality, because of not resting in the favor of the Father. These experiences may be all very useful in their place, but they are not peace. We have peace made and divine righteousness wrought out. I can now look upon my Father without hiding my sin. The way I come to the sense of the immensity of sin is the immensity of the grace that has met it all.

The reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit, who has come down to dwell in us, is most important. He is given as a seal. The Lord Jesus said, “If I go away, I will send Him unto you.” The Comforter brings to me the fullness of His grace, being the witness of accepted righteousness to our hearts. He convicts, or demonstrates of righteousness and that righteousness is mine in the Lord Jesus. He is made unto us righteousness (1 Cor 1:30) and I stand in it because I stand in Him.

The Spirit convicts the world of sin, of unbelief; but His demonstration to me is of righteousness—righteousness wrought out for me, which my Father has accepted. Now He is perfectly free to bless. My thought now is not, I am so full of sin that He cannot bless me; but rather, my Father has accepted the righteousness of His Son and I stand in that (Eph 1:6). We are born of God and as such need something to bring to Him. It is all furnished in the One who is my Christian life (Col 3:4).

There is not only peace as to the past, but I have the Lord Jesus’ standing in the presence of the Father now (Eph 2:13). We stand in the Last Adam and have that Second Man’s position in virtue of our eternal redemption. So sure as I had the first Adam’s place as totally rejected because a sinner, so I have the Last Adam’s place as totally accepted according to the counsel of the Father in the Son (Eph 1:11).

At the end of John 17 we have the Lord Jesus’s righteousness title (v 22) spoken of. He is bound to bless. “I am glorified in them.” He could not bless sin, but now righteousness being perfected, all the purposes of His heat in love can flow out to us, because we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:21). Whatever the love of God – the righteousness of God – all that by which He stands in the presence of the Father, because of His work and Person, we have and are blessed in virtue of it all. –G V Wigram

ANOTHER, ALTOGETHER - Miles J Stanford

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matthew 17:5).

Seeing the blackness of my heart provides the perfect backdrop for the bright and shining glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is my life. I am to be as well pleased with Him, and Him alone, as is my Father.

"The learning of what I am and of what I have been in Adam, is truly humbling; but it need not be distressing if I see that all those conditions which have been present with me have just been the occasion for my Father to bring to light what is in His heart concerning me. When I see this, those very conditions magnify before my soul the greatness of His salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"The weakness that is in myself, and the many things which I have to deplore in my past, or perhaps even in my present, make me thankful to know that my Father has brought in another Man, and has secured in Him all his own thoughts of blessing manward.

"There is what is perfect and absolutely for God's satisfaction and delight in the Lord Jesus, and it remains unaffected by what I find in myself. Nay! every self-discovery makes His perfection more a necessity to my heart. What I learn and experience in myself makes me rejoice to believe on Another in whom every promise of God is Yea and Amen." -C.A.C.

"The secret of being like the Lord Jesus is, that we are to count ourselves dead to the old and alive in the new. We are to give up our self-efforts after likeness to Him; we are to distrust our own strength as much as we distrust our own weakness and our own sin; and instead of striving to live like the Lord Jesus, let Him live through us, as He greatly desires to do."

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shone in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 4:6).

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REIGN IN PAIN - Miles J Stanford

"For you have had the privilege granted you on behalf of Christ–not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer on His behalf" (Philippians 1:29, Wey.).

The Father prepares His sufferers, by means of their sufferings.

"I believe in perpetual favor with God, but I do not believe in unbroken sunshine here. On the contrary, 'we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.' I say this that you may not think it strange when the collar which you have rightly accepted becomes trying or difficult to you; for surely if it be service it must be so; the servant must be more or less a sufferer."

"The Lord grant you to be so assured in heart of His interest in you, that daily you may more and more answer to His pleasure; and not be in any way cast down because you apparently do so little. The fragrance of His name is a crown of glory to the greatest invalid."

"'Unto you is given on the behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake' (Philippians 1:29). Yea, 'if we suffer, we shall also reign with him' (2 Timothy 2:12). The gracious gift of suffering is as distinct and specific a gift as any other of God's gifts. But this gift transforms the blessed recipient more surely perhaps than all the others into resemblance to Himself, and is for this fellowship, the highest, greatest, noblest of them all."

"We naturally shrink from trials and sorrow, but when we find ourselves enjoying the resources that are in our Father, to which our trials have caused us to have recourse, we remember no more the path of affliction which led us thereto."

"The child of God is ever in the light, though not always in the sunshine."

"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him" (2 Timothy 2:12).

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UP HERE! - Miles J Stanford

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).

The spiritual babe has faith for the wondrous fact that he will go to heaven when he dies. The spiritual father has faith for the inexpressible fact that he has died in Christ, and that he is now hid with Him in God.

"When I look at this place, He is not here; and when I look at myself naturally I am not fit for Him. How happy then to know that I belong to the place where He is; and that through grace I am made suited to Him in that new place; so that I set my mind and affections there, as the place where my deepest joys are to be realized." -J.B.S.

"The truth is, we have a position in heaven and the Lord Jesus is now our life there; and if this be not simply enjoyed, there will be an effort to modify the desolation here, and an inability to interpret the various inroads which death makes on us."

"My taste is formed in glory, and there it is nurtured and strengthened, and as it is, so do I find nothing here in keeping with my taste. Association with the Son of Man, the One most perfect, and in every way the most beautiful, develops my new nature, which is the same as His. Where He is, is my home–there I feed and rest; but here, on earth, I am learning to set aside in death everything in me which hinders the manifestation of the life of the Lord Jesus." -J.B.S.

"The reason there is so little growth is that there is so little occupation and fellowship with the Lord Jesus where He is. The glory invites now, instead of the law repelling, and the practical effect is 'changed into the same image.'"

"For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3, ASV.).

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HE DARES TO DISCIPLINE! - Miles J Stanford

"My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline, and do not faint when he corrects you" (Hebrews 12:6, Wey.).

Most of us sought to avoid our natural father's discipline, when he sought to administer it. And most of us seek to avoid our heavenly Father's discipline, until we finally learn that "He does it for our certain good, in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character" (Hebrews 12:10, Wey.).

"There is an idea that often troubles people, namely, that God always wants to bring us down when He chastens us. When He corrects a man it is not that He may bring him down, but that He may lift him up. He says, 'Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time' (1 Peter 5:6). I discipline my child in order that I may exalt him morally."

"Our Father purges us on the principle of 'we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake.' In service you are sure to find some kind of pressure on you.

"It may be on your body, and often is; or it may be persecution; but you will hardly ever have a fruitful field of service before you, unless you are crippled for it. 'He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.'"

"We come to feel our need, and often attempt independently to supply it by our own means; the Lord must confound us in the attempt; but having done so, He leads in dependence to find and acquire an inconceivably greater answer to our wishes than even that which we prescribed for ourselves. The prodigal only sought 'sustenance' from the citizen in the 'far country,' but back in his father's house he found not bread merely, but abounding welcome and a fatted calf."

"For those whom the Lord loves he disciplines: and he scourges every son whom he acknowledges" (Hebrews 12:6, Wey.).

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THE LAST IS FIRST - Miles J Stanford

"As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:48).

Christians have a poor self-image simply because they are thinking and looking upon the condemned and crucified first-Adam life within, instead of being occupied with their glorified Last-Adam life above. "Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

"'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new' (2 Corinthians 5:17). Does this not mean a new sort of creature, as the Word implies? Do we go back to Adam, the innocent man in the garden in which God set him to dress and keep? No, that would be no creature new in kind. Adam even, pure and good before his fall, was yet of the earth, earthy.

"Is the Lord Jesus but the first man set up afresh? No, He is 'the second man, the Lord from heaven.' He is a heavenly man, the Last Adam–head of a new race; beginning of a new creation–and you and I who believe are 'in Him,' seen and accepted before the Father 'in His Beloved.' The full image of Him we have not yet: true. That will be ours in the day of His coming. The thing we are!" -F.W.G.

"A sinner in himself, the believer has, by faith, taken upon him the beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is 'in Him,' he has been made the righteousness of God in Him. He is 'accepted in the Beloved' (Ephesians 1:6). Faith alone gives him all this comeliness. He has been recreated in the Lord Jesus. This is the beauty of the believer; and he is lovely in the eye of the Lord Jesus. 'So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty; for he is thy Lord, and worship thou him' (Psalm 45:11)." -J.C.B.

"And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:49).

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MANSION THERE–MISSION HERE - Miles J Stanford

"The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs" (Romans 8:16, 17).

It is the Holy Spirit alone who can draw us from the flesh and its earthly environment. He does it in the practical sense by manifesting to our hearts, via the Word of God, the risen Lord Jesus Christ in our heavenly environment. "Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts" (Romans 13:14).

"When the Lord Jesus' love is before you, you find this love is drawing you from darkness to light. He begins by showing His desire for your spiritual advancement, and not by advancing you in earthly position.

"It is beautiful to see that the work of true love is to set aside darkness, or whatever would interfere with fellowship; and therefore it is not esteemed as it ought to be, because we are looking for something on the earth, and the tendency is to judge of His love by earthly gifts or favors down here."

"We have died with the Lord Jesus out of our old Adam position: our old man was crucified with Him. The flesh is in us still indeed, but in us a foreign thing; we are not in it before God, nor identified with it in any wise, but with Him in whom it was never found. We are in Him, as He is and where He is.

"Can we say quite confidently, each for himself, 'Yes, we are identified with Him who represents us there before the eye of our Father–as He is, in whom no spot was ever found nor can be, but perfectness after God's own heart wholly'?
"That is to be in Christ–a new creature. Our rule is, to walk in Him, as being what we really are–heavenly, citizens of heaven, pilgrims and strangers upon earth." -F.W.G.

"Heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ–if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:17).

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