Fellowshipping & Praise the Lord with Doc329 (23)

[doc329]

We are all very much in love with the world. And God's method of weaning us from the world is to put us through the fires of tribulation so that we become not earthly but heavenly.
We all know what it means to wean a little child. When it is very young it is on it's mother's breast and it takes milk but as it gets older it takes more solid food and the transition is called weaning and God weans the weakest child by trials until it becomes strong.
It's what a gardener does with seedlings.
When the seedling is very small it's in a greenhouse, warm and comfortable and artificially watered and so forth, but when it's ready the gardener takes it and plants it out in the garden to harden it up, as they say, to harden the plant to make it robust and strong to face the weather.
That's why God does this to us. He takes us out of the pot plant and plants us in the garden and in so doing the Lord's people go through trials.

 

[doc329]

1 Corinthians 1:30
"Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption"

More and more we are coming to see the supreme importance of getting the right conception of sanctification, not as a blessing, but as a personal union with the personal Saviour and the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thousands of people get stranded after they have embarked on the great voyage of holiness.

They find themselves failing and falling, and are astonished and perplexed, and they conclude that they must have been mistaken in their experience, and so they make a new attempt at the same thing and again fall, until at last, worn out with the experiment, they conclude that the experience is a delusion, or, at least, that it was never intended for them, and so they fall back into the old way, and their last state is worse than their first.

What people need to-day to satisfy their deep hunger and to give them a permanent and Divine experience is to know, not sanctification as a state, but Christ as a living Person, who is waiting to enter the heart that is willing to receive Him

 

[doc329]

In this world, the dividing line between right and wrong, between good and evil, is actually, at the foundational level, the line between faith and unbelief.
We are invited to believe that God is “for us,” and we are invited to draw this conclusion, not by peering into His secret counsels, but rather by looking to the gracious terms of His covenant with us.
And this is done by means of looking to Christ.
Christ is our law, Christ is our promise, Christ is our grace.
Look to Him and conclude that “God is for me.

 

[doc329]

Just after the Civil War an extremely wealthy man up north died and left his huge estate to his closest relative. It so happened that all his really close relatives had already died and so the attorney began searching for the next closest relative.
After much searching he finally discovered a far removed nephew who lived in Philadelphia. When he went to talk with this nephew he found the nephew on the streets of Philadelphia begging for his livelihood.
At first the nephew would not believe this attorney when told of the great inheritance which was his. But finally he came to the point that he really believed the attorney and began his new life of wealth.
You see, once he really understood who he was his whole life was completely transformed.

In our lives as Christians it is absolutely essential for us to see who we are because of the riches of Christ which have been shed upon us.
After we see who we are, we can then live accordingly.
The book of Ephesians is a perfect example of this. Paul spends chapters 1-3 describing who we are by virtue of our position in Christ.
And once we see who we are from God's perspective, then, and only then, comes the call to practice.
"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the vocation to which you were called" (Ephesians 4:1).

 

[doc329]

Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you.

It is one of the most frequently quoted of all passages from the Bible, and the one that we most hope is true, at least the first seven words: "Ask, and it will be given you." What can be more assuring than believing we will receive whatever we ask for?
It seems like we have just won the sweepstakes of heaven and can go shopping there with abandon, choosing anything we want from the overstocked shelves. Unfortunately, this reduces prayer to nothing more than a medium of exchange, rather than the sharing of a relationship of the deepest richness.

We are unable to see all the nuances, subtle needs and patterns of our lives that shift like mirrors in a kaleidoscope. But the Holy One who created us in the tenderness of unconditional love not only sees those nuances, needs, and patterns, but is ready to care for them in ways more meaningful and lasting than we could ever imagine on our own.
God always has our best interest at heart. And yet, we are told to ask and seek and knock. Why?

Because when we ask, we are expressing our desire to communicate with the Holy One. When we seek, we are showing our desire to find the Holy One. And when we knock, we are letting loose our longing to be in union with the Holy One.
Prayer is our way of saying that we are willing to share in that rich relationship with the Holy One.
And, always, when we ask it is given to us, when we seek we find, when we knock the door is opened.

 

[doc329]

James 4:8
Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.

Every space and time is filled with the presence of the Holy One. We can make the mistake of thinking that prayer requires heroic effort, a certain lifestyle, a mindset that is clear and unconfused. There are, of course, times when we pray out of some terror that has surrounded us like a hard shell around a nascent and tender seed. We know we are desperate for God’s immediate aid if we are to continue breathing the breath of life.

At times like those, our prayer is often little more than one word: Help. Yet, apart from those times of desperation, we can shy away from developing a regular and steady prayer practice because we think the Holy One has certain criteria that will either be onerous or impossible to meet. Instead, we continue chugging out our days and nights, struggling alone with our trials and temptations, our hurts and questions, our stress and anxiety with only a casual communication with the loving Creator.

This is the surprise: There are no criteria. There are no expectations. We do not have to become perfect before we pray. We do not have to achieve holiness before heaven will stoop to hear our poor and paltry voice. It takes only a glance, an intention, a sliver of desire, a moment of acknowledgement and suddenly the gap that seemed as deep as a sliced crevasse is nothing more than a whisper. God has come near.

 

[doc329]

When we remember the immortality of the soul, its coming destiny of happiness or woe, and especially the fearful assaults made upon it now for its overthrow and ruin, we may well ask where is the spot or what is the condition in which it can be said to be safest.
We all well know that absolute and complete deliverance from all danger is to be found alone in Heaven.
When the Gates of Pearl close behind the entering soul, no human or infernal power can ever assail, distress, endanger or injure it again. Until the foot then presses the golden streets there is no such thing as certain and unconditional safety.

But while this is so, yet there is no question but there are places or conditions where even this side of heaven a person can be said to be safer than in other localities or states, and one that must be the safest outside of glory. It is quite amazing to see the mistakes made by different classes of people in regard to this most important fact. As usual false saviors and sandy foundations come to the front, a will-o'-the-wisp is taken for the Star of Bethlehem, and a bank of intellectual fog for the Rock of Ages.

One fictitious hope or resting place is Innocence.
It is remarkable how many laud and glorify this negative state of spirit, this infantile or unformed stage of character. Men write, and sigh, and rave about the spotless whiteness of "childhood's sunny years." They sing, "I would I were a boy again," whereas when they were in that interesting stage of life they were certainly in mischief with its resultant penalties, and as anxious not to be a boy.

Poems are written about the purity of a baby's heart, when such is not the case, and can never be, until the Holy Ghost with His baptism of fire makes the nature holy.
Innocence is nothing but ignorance of evil, and the rule is that if God and religious training have not come in, all that such an individual needs is to behold the sin, and he at once falls into guilt.

 

[doc329]

Because it is of the essence of the Christian's experience. Now you may think that's going too far but I'll prove it.
Listen to the apostle Paul; all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall what?
Receive praise from the Lord because they were such noble characters and did such unselfish actions?
No, no he doesn't say that.

Does he say all that live godly in Christ will have the respect of their fellow men and they will nod their heads at these noble Christians passing by?
No, what he does say is this:
All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
All that really walk with Christ must go through the fires.

Listen to Paul again, if we suffer with Him we shall also reign with Him. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.
Well I leave it to your consciences whether I'm right or wrong in saying that the Christianity of our day and age has grown very cold; a people that cannot bear to suffer for Christ, can they?

People cannot tolerate it. They will cave in and give in and bend and twist so as not to go through the pain. But you and I must tell ourselves that if our Savior can squirm and wiggle out of trouble as some seem to be capable of doing where would the gospel be, where would the church be, where would the way to heaven be?

Our Lord could have avoided the cross but He would not have saved us had He done so. We must be prepared also to take up our cross and follow him.

 

[doc329]

To be honest, to be kind—to earn a little and to spend a little less, to make upon the whole a family happier for his presence, to renounce when that shall be necessary and not be embittered, to keep a few friends but these without capitulation—above all, on the same grim condition, to keep friends with himself—here is a task for all that a man has of fortitude and delicacy.
He has an ambitious soul who would ask more; he has a hopeful spirit who should look in such an enterprise to be successful.
There is indeed one element in human destiny that not blindness itself can controvert: whatever else we are intended to do, we are not intended to succeed; failure is the fate allotted.
It is so in every art and study; it is so above all in the art of living well. Here is a pleasant thought for the year's end or for the end of life: Only self-deception will be satisfied, and there need be no despair for the despairer.

 

[doc329]

''Pray without ceasing"​

An important help in the life of prayer is the habit of bringing everything to God, moment by moment, as it comes to us in life. This may be established as a habit on the principle on which all habits are formed, of repeated and constant attention, moment by moment, until that which is at first an act of will, becomes spontaneous and second nature.

If we will watch our lives we shall find that God meets the things that we commit to Him in prayer with special blessing, and often allows the best things that we have not committed to Him to be ineffectual, simply to remind us of our dependence upon Him for everything.

It is very gracious and mindful of Him thus gently to compel us to remember Him and to hold us so close to Him that we cannot get away even the length of a single minute from His all-sustaining arm. "In everything ... let our requests be made known unto God

 

[doc329]

God does not have two ways for any of us; but one; not two things for us to do which we may choose between; but one and choice.
It is a blessed thing to find and fill the perfect will of God. It is a blessed thing to have our life laid out and our Christian work adjusted to God's plan.

Lot of strength is lost by working at a venture. Spiritual force is expended in wasted effort, and scattered, indefinite and inconstant attempts at doing good.
There is spiritual force and financial strength enough in the hands and hearts of the consecrated Christians of to-day to bring the coming of Christ, to bring about the evangelization of the world in a generation, if it were only wisely directed and utilized according to God's plan.

Christ has laid down a definite plan of work for His Church, and He expects us to understand it, and to work up to it; and as we catch His thought, and obediently, loyally fulfil it, we shall work to purpose, and please Him far better than by our thoughtless, reckless, and indiscriminate attempts to carry out our ideas, and compel God to bless our work.

 

[doc329]

God'S Love For A Sinning World
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."—John 3:16

Sin is the most expensive thing in the universe. Nothing else can cost so much. Pardoned or unpardoned, its cost is infinitely great. Pardoned, the cost falls chiefly on the great atoning Substitute; unpardoned, it must fall on the head of the guilty sinner.
The existence of sin is a fact everywhere experienced—everywhere observed. There is sin in our race everywhere and in awful aggravation.
Sin is the violation of an infinitely important law—a law designed and adapted to secure the highest good of the universe. Obedience to this law is naturally essential to the good of creatures. Without obedience there could be no blessedness even in heaven.
As sin is a violation of a most important law, it cannot be treated lightly. No government can afford to treat disobedience as a trifle, inasmuch as everything—the entire welfare of the government and of all the governed—turns upon obedience. Just in proportion to the value of the interests at stake is the necessity of guarding law and of punishing disobedience.

The law of God must not be dishonored by anything He shall do. It has been dishonored by the disobedience of man; hence, the more need that God should stand by it, to retrieve its honor. The utmost dishonor is done to law by disowning, disobeying, and despising it, All this, sinning man has done. This law being not only good, but intrinsically necessary to the happiness of the governed, it becomes of all things most necessary that the law-giver should vindicate his law. He must by all means do it.

Sin has involved God's government in a vast expense. Either the law must be executed at the expense of the well being of the whole race, or God must submit to suffer the worst results of disrespect to His law—results which in some form must involve a vast expense.

 

[barb754]

In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be
afraid. What can mortal man do to me?
-- Psalm 56:4

TRUST
When all is said and done, there really isn't a whole lot we can
trust. Most of us have been hurt at one time or another by a friend
who has betrayed our trust. The world economy is volatile and
things can turn sour in just a few days. The weather shifts and
changes by the hour. But in our world of change, in our heartbreak
and disappointment, there is one constant. We can trust God. We
don't have to fear change. He is our anchor that holds in the
strongest storms. He is our strength in our worst battles. His word
and his promises speak of good things for us. We don't have to be
afraid; we can trust in him.

 

[Angeldove97]

Thank you for your wonderful Biblical messages, doc!!

 

[doc329]

"The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him." Nahum 1:7

We have all found ourselves in times of trouble and the LORD has always been there for us, as a refuge from the storms of life. Whether we take refuge in Him is up to us, He cannot force us to run to him when we are in distress. He just waits and lets His presence be known, if we will but look up and away from our distress to Him.

The choice is ours: do we wish to battle life's storms alone or do we wish to run to Him for help and protection?
The LORD is our caring Father, our protector, our refuge. He really cares for those who trust in him. Trust is something that our Father greatly desires from us. He knows that once we have learned to trust in Him there is nothing in this life that can take us down.

When we run to Him we are safe from all of life's storms and nothing can move us from our place of safety. This is His desire for us; that we might overcome the trials of this life and grow. Yes, the LORD is good and we are in need of nothing when we take refuge in His arms and put our trust in Him!

 

[doc329]

Let me say, if you want to be strong, let Scripture truth occupy and fill and be always present to your mind.
There are powers to rule and to direct all conduct, motive powers of the strongest character in these great truths of God’s revelation.
They are meant to influence a man in all his doings, and it is for us to bring them to bear on the smallest things of our daily life.

Suppose, that you go to your work, and some little difficulty starts up in your path, or some annoyance ruffles your temper, or some lurking temptation is suddenly sprung upon you.

Suppose your mind and heart were saturated with God’s truth, with the great thoughts of His being, of His love, of His righteousness, of Christ’s death for you, of Christ’s presence with you, of Christ’s guardianship over you, of Christ’s present will that you should walk in His ways, of the bright hopes of the future, and the solemn vision of that great White Throne and the retribution that streams, do you think it would be possible for you to fall into sin, to yield to temptation, to be annoyed by any irritation or bother, or over weighted by any duty?
No!
Whosoever lives with the thoughts that God has given us in His Word familiar to His mind and within easy reach of His hand, has therein an armlet against all possible temptation, a test that will unveil the hidden corruption in the sweetest seductions, and a calming power that will keep his heart still and collected in the midst of agitations.

If the Word of God in that lower sense of the principles involved in the gospel of Jesus Christ, dwell in your hearts, the fangs are taken out of the serpent. If you drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt you, and you will ‘be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.’

 

[barb754]

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not
made perfect in love.
-- 1 John 4:18

While I approach God with reverence and awe because he is the
holy and majestic God, I don't have to fear his presence. Because
of Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I know God is my Abba Father. He
longs for me to draw near him. He has shown me his heart by sending
Jesus. He has shown me his love by having Jesus die for me. If he
loves me that much, then I can trust that his desire is to save and
bless me. I don't have to fear his presence or his judgment as I
continue to serve him. As his child, his love should drive fear
from my heart and replace it with love from his abiding presence,
the Holy Spirit.

 

[doc329]

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray and when the evening was come he was there alone.
—Matthew 14:23

It can simply be too much. Life, that is. Work, people, the media, the noise, the demands, the stress can squeeze out the energy and enthusiasm that should characterize the wonder all around us. We feel life has become like an old, lumpy, overstuffed chair that has long since lost its ability to provide comfort. We search about for an escape, a change, a way to turn the craziness into some semblance of order and peace.

It was the same for him. Jesus had spent hours teaching, listening, touching, healing. He had not had any lunch break, no respite at the local Starbucks, no time to share the concerns of his own heart, no relaxing moments in a quiet place. It was just people and their needs, people and their needs, people and their needs. What was different for him, however, was that he was not afraid to step away from stress into solitude.

While we may be adept at claiming an hour here or there for being "alone," we rarely hear and respond to the inner need to be absolutely and completely apart. Such solitude is not escape from something, but entry into Someone. We send the world away in order to create a space where we can pray to the God who waits for us in the sheer silence of our own solitude.

 

[doc329]

Do you remember the story of Job?
Job was a righteous man, but God allowed him to be tested by Satan. His friends came and began trying to figure out why Job was suffering. They accused him of being a pretender (Job 8.13).
We have to be careful about throwing the accusation of "pretender" around. Sometimes Christians go through periods of weakness, temptation or testing, but that doesn’t mean they have turned away from Christ. The other extreme, however, is to use the cover of "weakness" for that which in reality is "lack of faith." How do we know which is which?

The most common characteristic of the pretender is that they associate themselves with Christians.
With their lips they profess to be disciples of Jesus, but in their hearts they are far from God.
There are many examples in the Bible: Cain worshiped but didn’t have faith. King Saul offered sacrifices but didn’t trust in the Lord. Judas walked with Jesus for three years, but didn’t believe in him. The true test of faith is not found in the knowledge of God. You do not need faith to know about God. Some of the greatest Bible scholars of all time were not believers.

The test of faith is not in works. There have always been many "noble pagans" who are good and upright people. They do many things for others, and yet they do not have faith in God.
The test of faith lies in repentance.
If you are sorry for your sins, and if you believe that only Jesus can save you from your sins, then you are a true believer.

Pretenders rarely talk about repentance. They are uncomfortable with it. You will not find them in their rooms alone crying out in their prayers, "Lord have mercy on me!"
The repentant heart is the most difficult thing to fake! The pretender may go to church for different reasons. They may go to gain knowledge.
Most go to do a good deed (or to keep the pastor from visiting them!). But they don’t go because they know they need Jesus’ forgiveness. They don’t go for the cleansing of repentance and forgiveness.

 

[doc329]

Romans 15:4
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

The Bible comes to us with great powers of which is a quarantee of its truth, and should cause us to value it above all other books.

Tradition-The sayings that are handed down by word of mouth become altered, and so would God's Words had he not caused them to be written, and then to be delivered to appointed guardians.
We should thank God that he has given us His Holy Church, Jewish, and Christian, to be a witness and keeper of his Word, enabling us to know that in believing it, we are not following some devised fables.

Prophecy- The Bible contains the history not only of the past and present, but also of the future. And we feel sure all that is predicted will be fulfilled, because all that was prophesied, the Jews, and Jerusalem, and Christ has been fulfilled. And then, if the prophecies of the Bible are true, all else which it contains, we know for sure, its true.

Edification-There are many who say ," parts of the Bible are hard to understand, but none, however unlearned, ever yet studied it, prayerfully and humbly, without finding that it built them up in faith and love.
Did you ever find any other like it in this respect?

How should we use the Bible so as to prove that we really value it?

We should read the Bible every day. We talk a lot about the blessings of an open Bible, yet to a large number the Bible is kept like some rare treasure to be looked at, and not used. It is a very good thing to read the Bible through continuously,to grasp the teaching as a whole. It is also a good thing to read a few verses and that way all day long we may have in our minds some word of God to rest upon.

And if we commit them to memory so much the better. Then in time, we should have our minds stored with holy thoughts, and when Satan approaches, The Sword of the Spirit will be in our hands.

We should read with the definite desire of hearing God's voice. And this means that we must read in a humble and teachable spirit, not approaching the Bible with our minds prejudiced, or that we may find some confirmation for our own theories and practices, but saying, " Lord what would you have me to do?

In that order, in reading of the Bible, we may listen for and respond to the voice of God, we must prepare our hearts and minds by earnest prayer. As the Bible is the best book of private devotions, we should use it as such.
Don't be discouraged because there are some things in the Bible which you don't understand.