Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

[netchaplain]

FROM HERE TO THERE - Miles J Stanford

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

When we finally understand that the Lord Jesus is our life, we, with Paul, no longer think in terms of things.

"Every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit" (John 15:2).

"One may eat with an appetite and feel revived, but the sense of life or sustainment from the food in the hour of toil, is a far greater and better thing. Thus, you have to learn now that the Lord is with you, however great may be the winds and the waves; and that He is with you to prove to you now the value of the truth about Himself, which He has heretofore taught you. The learning is at one time (head), the proving (heart) at another." -J.B.S.

"Our Father must wean us. Oh, what days and nights of bitter tears we shed when the soul is being weaned from some long enjoyed mercy. Is it that He who gave His Son for us would not indulge us? Is it that our Father would deny us anything? No, but He must wean us, or we shall never know what it is to depend on Him apart from any human or natural intervention."

"The Lord Jesus before our souls in the power of the Holy Spirit–the glorified Lord–is our Father's means for bringing us into conformity with His beloved Son. But then it is through the chastenings of His hand, through the trials and sufferings of our path, that He weans the hearts of His own from other objects, that the Lord Jesus Christ alone may fill the vision of our souls." -E.D.

"It is quite right to obtain a knowledge of Scripture, as to its general meaning. It is well to read and get knowledge, but unless you are in communion with the Lord Jesus, you will not grow in likeness to what you admire, as recorded in the Word."

"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]

 

[netchaplain]

Wishing everyone the Lord's best Holiday wishes for Christmas!

"RISE UP, MY LOVE" - Miles J Stanford

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).

It is sad to have to say that the present-day Church is so earthy that it is of little earthly good. "Sir, we would see Jesus"! (John 12:21).

"The great failure of the Church was in giving up Paul. 'All. . . in Asia' did not give up evangelical truth but they gave up Paul; anything popular you may have, but not Paul. Why? Because Paul is heavenly." -J.B.S.

"It is essential that a believer have a clear understanding of his position before the Father–his place in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. This alone will give true peace of mind, joy and comfort of heart, strength for conflict and power for service. We will never be able to properly understand or fill our place for God on earth if we do not realize our God-given standing before Him in heaven.

"And never forget that our place before the Father is His gift, and a gift worthy of the Giver; not a gift according to the measure of our worth but a gift intended to display the exceeding riches of the grace of the Giver. The greatness of the Giver then is the measure of the blessings that are mine in the Lord Jesus Christ, not what I am or what I deserve."

"When you see and stand on your heavenly ground, you come to rest, just as the Father rests. You need not worry–only keep on that ground by your attitude of heart. If you are going to worry–if you must worry–worry lest you get down on earthly ground, for that is the ground of worry. Abide above! Heavenly things are in safe keeping–in the keeping of One who is 'far above all.'" -T. A-S.

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

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

HEART AFFECTION - Miles J Stanford

"If ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).

Spiritual hunger and thirst are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus, while at the same time they are enlarged for more of Him. This satisfaction overwhelms all lesser longings. Fleshly yearnings are never fulfilled, and every attempt at such satisfaction soon cloys.

"Do we think of, and rejoice in, our blessings more than in the Person in whom we have them? As to even our doctrinal blessings, there is a wonderful charm about them when they are new to us, and they sustain the soul for a certain time; but when the first joy of them passes away, a settling-down process commences. Every new bit of blessing may seem to put a new bit of life into us, but it gradually loses its luster and power, and we become just ordinary Christians–we make very little progress.

"It is as we take the Lord Jesus by faith into the affections of our hearts that we make spiritual progress. It is as He occupies an enlarged place in our affections that we go on. The head may be filled with general theological information without producing one spark of heart-affection for the Lord Jesus, and the soul remains in a state of spiritual emaciation.

"Many have been misled by thinking that by reading the Bible you become like Christ–transformed; but you will find diligent students of the Word, who may never say anything incorrect in doctrine, yet who never seem to grow in grace and walk in spiritual reality.

"All blessings of this dispensation of grace are wrapped up in a Person, and, by means of the Word of God, we make spiritual progress as our hearts learn to find everything in Him–the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us." -C.A.C.

"He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness" (Psalm 107:9).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

ACCESSIBILITY - Miles J Stanford

"For we. . . worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3)

Failure to live the Christian life is due to one's utter inability, but it is all governed by the Father. He teaches us to become proficient in failure (within ourselves), in order to bring us to total reliance upon His Son, who is our Christian life. "For to me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21).

"It is a wonderful moment for the believer when we by faith occupy our standing in the favor of the Father–when we know that we are received by Him in all the acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We do not then think of ourselves, of our worthiness or unworthiness, at all. We think of the Lord Jesus–His perfections, His suitability to divine favor, His infinite acceptance with the Father–and by faith, we have access into the favor of which He is so worthy." -C.A.C.

"To find that we are objects of consideration to the Lord Jesus is an infinite solace, and it brings Him before our hearts in such a way that we are sustained above the consideration of ourselves."

"There is an infinite difference between self-improvement and growing in the Lord Jesus, nourished and cherished by Him. Instead of being elated by our own improvement, or depressed because we cannot effect it, we are to be occupied with the grace and beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ, in which we are thus made to share."

"We cannot be in the presence of the Father in innocence, for we are guilty; so that we must be there in His righteousness, and that place which used to repel us, now forms me into a likeness of itself. I am not tolerated there (as in myself), I am at home; and where the distance was, there is now nearness and attraction." -J.B.S.

"Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God"(Ephesians 2:19)

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

In Spirit-led sharing there is always a principle involved. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom" (Luke 6:38).

Dig channels for the streams of love, that they may broadly run; for love has overflowing streams, to fill them every one.

But if at any time thou cease these channels to provide, the very fount of love for thee will soon be parched and dried.

For thou must give if thou would'st keep, that good thing from above; ceasing to give, we cease to have–this is the law of love.

"The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you, to the end He may establish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father" (I Thessalonians 3:12, 13).

Miles J. Stanford; April 1985.

WONDER OF WEAKNESS

"He said to me, My strength is sufficient, for it is only by means of conscious weakness that perfect power is developed" (2 Corinthians 12:9, Wms.).

Our Father does not test our faith so much as He exercises and develops it. In time, He makes us aware of our utter weakness; and, in time, we trust and rest in His all-sufficient strength.

"Until we are carried quite out of our depth, beyond all our own wisdom and resources, we are no more than beginners in the school of faith. Only as everything fails us and we fail ourselves, do we draw upon abiding strength. 'Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee'; not partly in Thee and partly in himself. The devil often makes men strong, strong in themselves to do evil–great conquerors, great acquirers of wealth and power. The Lord on the contrary makes His servant weak, puts him in circumstances that will show him his nothingness, that he may lean upon the strength that is unfailing. It is a long lesson for most of us, but it cannot be passed over until deeply learned. And God Himself thinks no trouble too great, no care too costly to teach us this."

"Faith counts on the Word of God outside and apart from everything and everyone here. When you are in faith your life is centered in the Lord Jesus. The moment the heart is detained by anything here, faith is obstructed. The visible is antagonistic to the invisible. If you walk in the Spirit you will be sensible of this in a moment; the effects and influences of the visible are counter to the invisible. Eve had lost faith when she saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasant to the eyes. If she had kept faith–dependence upon God–she would not have looked, but she had parted with the faith which overcometh the world when she 'saw.' The moment one becomes occupied with the visible one has parted company with faith." -J.B.S.

"Since His power is so glorious, may you be strengthened with strength of every kind, and be prepared for cheerfully enduring all things with patience and longsuffering" (Colossians 1:11, Wey.).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

CROSS PURPOSES - Miles J Stanford

"The Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and guard you from evil" (2 Thessalonians 3:3, R.V.).

When once we see and accept His purpose for our lives to the extent that it becomes our will also, the details of His process cease to matter. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him" (Job. 13:15).

"The one purpose our Father has in view, in all His ways, is to conform us to the image of His Son. This may explain our perplexities as to the past; it will govern our behavior in the present; it is to be our guide in the future. The chief concern of our Lord is not to instruct us about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials which we are called to pass through. He is working out everything to serve His one supreme aim in manifesting the character of His Son in His saints." -H.F.

"The God-given experiences of the Spirit's working within many a time passes away, and leaves the believer apparently dull and dead. This is only until the double lesson has been fully learned: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God, even when all feeling and experience appear to contradict the truth (Romans 8:28, 29); and (2) that the Divine life only predominates as the life of the old man is held in the place of death, inoperative (Romans 6:11a). The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Corinthians 4:11,12), and as in weakness and nothingness we look to Him (2 Corinthians 3:18)." -A.M.

"While our Father is dealing with someone in discipline, when He is applying the Cross in a life, be careful how you sympathize with him. You may be taking sides with him against God. By such sympathy, you may, indeed, draw him away from the work of the Cross."

"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).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

STAND YOUR GROUND! -Miles J Stanford

"The law is not of faith" (Galatians 3:12).

The law will break you; grace will make you.

"Nothing can be more sure than the steps of one guided by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, and yet nothing more complicated than to have to walk in 'separation' from all that exists around. It is indeed difficult to have to wind one's way through things so perplexing and so complex as the religious systems of our own day. We have to avoid on the one hand organizations formed in imitation of things past (Israel-law), and on the other systems more characterized by anticipation of things future (Kingdom-law). We have to allow that such things were once given by God, and that they will yet again be introduced by Him; while invariably contending that they are positively opposed to His present working by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven." -J.L.H.

"With many Christians, it may be almost thought that the Lord Jesus was but the introduction to Moses. That His death procured the payment of sin's debt, so that the debt being paid, the believer might be in a position to keep the law, and that, accordingly, the law, and not the 'Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' might be the believer's rule of life." -H.F.W.

"The walk of the believer should ever be the natural result of realized privilege, and not the constrained result of legal vows and resolutions–the proper fruit of a position known and enjoyed by faith, and not the result of one's own efforts to reach a position 'by works of law.' All true believers are a part of the Bride of Christ; hence, they owe Him those affections which become that relation. The relationship is not obtained because of the affections, but the affections flow out of the relationship." -C.H.M.

"For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Galatians 2:19).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

MY FATHER REIGNS! - Miles J Stanford

"Put on the whole armor of God " (Ephesians 6:11a).

My sovereign Father gives me a subservient Satan.

"Our Father has better thoughts for us than a portion here. He is educating us for a blessed and eternal rest, free from evil and all that could cause it, and He is bent on the blessing of His children; and moreover He is bound by His holiness to purge us suitably (though most graciously) for the place He has called us to. How often He lets Satan do this painful work, and try to sift us as Job! But the Father's hand and will are behind it all. He gives His saints up to Satan's hand to a certain point, but only so far as to bring the heart fully to a bearing before Himself." -J.N.D.

"It is a wonderful thing to see the way in which through the overruling power of the Father, the efforts of Satan against His people only bring them out the more distinctly in their own place of blessing."

"We cannot judge God's ways without judging God: we may love Him in His ways, but the moment we judge or question that which He has revealed, we get above God, we make ourselves gods, and we put Him in the place of the creature as subject to us. This brings our souls under the power of everyone that is more clever than ourselves: we are in their hands, and they can do what they please with us.

"Now the devil is more clever than we are. Therefore we ought to keep God ever in His place of God in our souls, lest Satan should make gods of us, and set us judging God Himself. If God be displaced, we get into the place of those who are irresponsible, and as creatures the prey of any more cunning than ourselves." -J.N.D.

"That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11b).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

CHRIST OUR POSITION - Miles J Stanford

"In [this] freedom Christ has made us free–completely liberated us; stand fast then" (Galatians 5:1, Amp.).
We are never going to be able to stand before our Father in prayer and fellowship because we are fit in ourselves. We finally come to see that we are in His presence because of our position in His Son.

"The ground upon which our Father deals with us is grace. Every blessing we receive of Him as His children is undeserved. In all of our spiritual existence we are debtors to the rich, free, sovereign grace of our Father. And what is it we are privileged to enjoy on that ground, when we enter 'into this grace wherein we stand'? We then have a new position, and that position is the glorified Lord Jesus Christ.

"We are not only pardoned, but justified–made righteous; and this is not merely by that which He has done, or by what He has procured or bestows–but in what He is. 'As He is, so are we in this world' (1 John 4:17). The believer must never lose sight of this fundamental truth: that the basis of his fellowship with the Father is not his own personal holiness, or what the Lord Jesus is in him, but his judicial position before the Father, or what the Lord Jesus is for him. He, 'the Lord our righteousness,' is the foundation and source of everything–of walk as well as of position." -E.H.

"Most look to get victory in order to get peace, but it is peace already made by the Lord Jesus' work and risen life that is ours. Conflict we shall find, but we know that the Father is for us, and that makes all the difference." -J.N.D.

"Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. . . righteousness" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

SOLITARY SOURCE - Miles J Stanford

"That l may know Him" (Philippians 3:10).

It takes us years of trial and error to finally realize that nothing outside the Lord Jesus Christ can fully satisfy and rejoice our hearts. Joy in Him includes 'the fellowship of His sufferings.' So, 'rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings' (1 Peter 4:13).

"We sometimes have the idea that if we were going on rightly, things would be much smoother here for us. Hardly. There is a discipline to correct us and a discipline to develop us. If you are in a wrong path, as you seek the Lord, you will be corrected; but on the other hand, the more you are set for Him here, the more you will find that there is nothing for you here, though at the same time you are daily finding more in Him. 'We which live are always delivered unto death.' The more you enjoy the Lord Jesus who has been refused here, the more you are practically severed from all here." -J.B.S.

"It is a solemn moment when one who has been going on for years with a flourishing profession wakes up to the fact that his heart is entirely unsatisfied. I believe we have very little idea how natural feelings may be mixed up with what we think is our spiritual joy. Many go on happily because their surroundings are happy, and they have no opposition to speak of–perhaps in a Christian family, or in a happy Christian fellowship. They are carried along by the stream of compatible things around them.

"But anything that outwardly contributes to our joy will sooner or later fail us. Our Father loves us too well to allow us to rest in anything or anyone short of Himself–not even Christian fellowship, or what people call 'the means of grace.' He wants to be so known by us that He becomes the deep eternal spring of satisfaction and joy for our hearts." -C.A.C.

"Give your mind to the things above" (Colossians 3:2).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

HEAVEN, OR EARTH - MIles J Stanford

"Having. . . boldness to enter into the Holiest" (Hebrews 10:19).

We are to draw nigh in faith where we already are in position.

"Instead of the priest coming out to bless, as in Judaism, we are to go in for blessing. There are no barriers now. The Father has removed every hindrance and now it is for me to go in and abide. The teachers of Christendom have practically stitched up the veil which He rent. The rent veil in the Gospels is the Father's coming out, but the rent veil in Hebrews is the believer's going in." -J.B.S.

"Judaism has all the sanction of a divine origin and the splendor of an imposing ritual; yet, for the early Christians, all this was a weight to be laid aside, a useless encumbrance, a positive hindrance. And we have the same hindrance to lay aside today, for Christianity has been perverted into a modified kind of Judaism, in which people are occupied with religious things on earth, and thus hindered from running the race to heaven." -C.A.C.

"Typical of the past, there is a great deal of Judaising in Christianity today. The Ten Commandments have a place assigned to them as the sine qua non, the recognition of which was necessary for true religion while man was in the flesh and under law. To insist on their having that place now tends to bring men into fearful bondage, and to hinder them getting into the full liberty of the children of the Father." -G.V.W.

"Judaism, in its full results, is the manifestation that God is come down to man upon the earth; and this will again be displayed in the millennial days of Israel's blessing. But Christianity is based upon the wondrous fact that man, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, is gone up to the Father into the heavens."

"Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith" (Hebrews 10:22).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

SANS EFFORT - Miles J Stanford

"To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 4:5).

There is no work involved in our receiving the Lord Jesus for life, and there should certainly be no self-effort involved in the manifestation of His life in and through us. The principle is the same, from re-birth to maturity.

"'Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Corinthians 15:57). That is grace. That is the test of the real or the counterfeit. Just remember this: any victory over the power of any sin whatsoever that you have to get by working for it is counterfeit. Any victory that you have to get by trying for it is false. If you have to work for your freedom, it is not the real thing, it is not that which the Father offers you in His Son."

"The effortless life is not the will-less life. We use our will to believe, or receive, but not to exert effort in trying to accomplish what only the Father has done. Our hope for freedom from the power of sin is not 'Christ plus my efforts,' but 'Christ plus my receiving.' To receive victory from Him is to believe His Word that solely by grace He is, this moment, freeing us from the dominion of sin. And to believe on Him in this way is to recognize that He is doing for us what we can never do for ourselves." -C.G.T.

"The Father has left us as much dependent on the Lord Jesus' work for our deliverance as for our forgiveness. It is wholly because we died with Him on the Cross, but unto sin and unto the whole legal principle, that sin's power for those in Him is broken."

"Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt" (Romans 4:4).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

UNOBJECTIONABLE OBJECT - Miles J Stanford

"That. . . the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him (Christ)" (Ephesians 1:17).

The object of the Christian life is that we may center in the Object of the Father–His Beloved Son.

"If we go on with the Father, sweet as is the assurance that we belong to Him, yet the uppermost thought will in the long run be Himself. We shall come back to His Person. We shall in our praises weave with them what the Lord Jesus has done, suffered, and won for us; but the primary thought in our hearts is, not what we have gained, however true, but what He has been for us and what He is for us, yes, what He is in Himself." -J.B.S.

"There is usually only occupation with the Lord Jesus for the relief of the conscience, and if so, where does it stop? It stops when the relief is gained. But if He is the object of the heart, you will never be satisfied but in fellowship with Him where He is."

"I know of no arguments, and I am acquainted with no power, that will move the heart to devotedness except the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Himself and His love. It is possible to read books by the score, and to listen to the most faithful and blessed ministry for years on end, and yet never know the Lord Jesus as a present loving Object in heavenly glory. It is nigh impossible to see and know Him there by faith without a resulting intense desire to be wholly devoted to Him here." -C.A.C.

"We have a new Person before us as the Object of our faith and affections; and as we drop ourselves and have the Lord Jesus as our Object, He is formed in us. What has been judicially accomplished at the Cross has its fruition by the Spirit in our souls, and it is by that principle that we grow." -C.A.C.

"For it pleased the Father that in Him (Christ) should all fullness dwell" (Colossians 1:19).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

In the Christian’s life there are two occurrences on which everything hinges: one is a single occurrence which is our regeneration producing our rebirth; the other is an ongoing occurrence involving our “being conformed” (Rom 8:29) which is “being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18).

The primary difficulty in the conforming - transforming process is in our limiting that place of nearness to the Father which He has reserved for us. The agenda of the Adamic nature, which is the same as the Enemies, works against us in attempting to persuade us to accept that its condemnation is to be carried over to us; which condemnation is of the Adamic-life, from which we have been separated, concerning its ruler-ship (Rom 6:6,12, 14; 8:9).

Though the continued presence of the “old man” means that we are still affected (tempted) by it, we are cleared of its guilt and the Father no longer regards us after the life of sin, which He causes us to no longer desire (Gal 5:17; Phil 2:13). How He regards His Son is how He regards us (Eph 1:6) and in this light we need not to allow the presence and persuasions of that condemned nature (Rom 8:3) to place even a scintilla of substance (concerning guilt) between us and the Father, allowing us to "draw near to God" (Jam 4:8).
Bob Hall (NetChaplain)


BIRTH: SAVIOR; GROWTH: SPIRIT -- Miles J Stanford

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

We receive life by reliance upon the Savior; we grow in that life by reliance upon the Spirit.

"Many think that because of faith they are cleared of everything before God through the Cross, and therefore by faith they are clear of everything in themselves. But that is the error of 'holiness by faith.' The objective (position) is that we are clear before the Father; the subjective (condition) is that we are cleared from ourselves by the growth ministry of the Holy Spirit."

"As you by faith in the positional facts realize that you are in the Father's presence, you will not try to depend upon any sense of His presence. You know His presence because you know that your position in the Christian life is a life of faith in the facts–nothing else. That the Father forces you to live by faith so as to draw you into His presence–not you, by sense, trying to draw Him into yours."

"We are, naturally, suspicious of any offer to make us happy in God. Because our moral sense, our natural conscience, tells us of our having lost all right even to His ordinary blessings. But in the Word of our Father, faith reads our abundant title to be near to Him and happy with Him, though natural conscience and our sense of the fitness of things would have it otherwise. Faith feeds where the moral sensibilities of the natural mind would count it presuming even to tread." -J.G.B.

"The moment we walk by sight we are outside of faith. The Father would never have us outside of faith; hence, even in answering faith, He so answers it that we need it again the next moment, even while we are enjoying the results of it." -J.B.S.

"Faith is. . . the evidence of things not seen" (Hebrews 11:1).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

FROM EXPOUNDER TO EXPONENT - Miles J Stanford

"Now we have received. . . the Spirit who is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God "(1 Corinthians 2:12).

The Holy Spirit ministers the truth of the Word via the mind, that we may share the One who is Truth via the heart.

"If you do not know the Bible as the very Word of God, all is lost! Where have you learned anything from the Lord distinctly, but where every counter influence was inadmissible–in the sacred enclosure of His own Word and Presence, where nothing to qualify what He says can exist?"

"I must not only be an expounder of the truth, but an exponent of it. There should be the sense, I have learned that word for myself. It is not just being able to describe it, or to put it in correct dispensational order; but having that word for myself from the Spirit."

"The mistake with many saints in the present day is that they think because they can describe a truth, that therefore they have learned it. When a truth is really accepted, the conscience demands that there should be accordance with it."

"The Scriptures tell me what the Father gives me, but they do not give it to me. The Spirit applies the Word to me in its divine meaning, and then I possess what Scripture tells me is mine through God's grace. For instance, the Word tells me that if I behold the Lord's glory I shall be transformed. It doesn't transform me, however clearly I may see what it states. It communicates to me a very great thing, but it is the Spirit who makes it experiential to me." -J.B.S.

"Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. " (2 Corinthians 3.18).

Hungry Heart Devotional [Frame Site]

 

[netchaplain]

LIBERATED FROM LAW

"In Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature" (Galatians 6:15).

"The law is not our 'rule of life' for the simple reason that it was the Israelite's. The Christian not being a Jew, the law is not for him. 'Holy, just and good' it is, but the Christian's rule of life is 'in Christ. . . a new creature' (Galatians 6:15). The believer's place and rule is to walk as a 'pilgrim and stranger' upon the earth. The law has nothing of this. Had it been fulfilled, it would have made earth morally a paradise; and will, when written upon Israel's heart in millennial days. But strangership on earth and a heavenly walk, it never taught." -F.W.G.

"The Christian is on larger, higher, firmer ground than that on which Israel after the flesh stood. The law is good if a man use it lawfully; and its lawful application is expressly not to form, guide, and govern the walk of the righteous, but to deal with the lawless and disobedient, ungodly and sinful, unholy and profane, and, in short, with whatever is contrary to sound doctrine (1 Timothy 1:9,10)." -F.W.G.

"Any aspect of life or conduct which is undertaken in dependence on the energy and ability of the flesh is, to that extent, purely legal in character, whether it be the whole revealed will of God, the actual written commandments, or the exhortations of grace. Dependence on the arm of flesh is consistent with pure law; dependence on the power of God is demanded under pure grace." -L.S.C.

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Galatians 5:1).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

"The place of man under grace is that he has been accepted in Christ (Eph 1:6), who is his standing and therefore is not on probation. As to his past life, it does not exist before the Father; he died in Christ on the Cross and now Christ is his life.

Grace once bestowed is not withdrawn (irrevocable; Rom 11:29 - NKJV); for the Father knew all the human exigencies beforehand and His action was independent of them, not dependent upon them. The failure of devotion does not cause the withdrawal of bestowed grace (as it would under law).

For example: the man in 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 and also those in 11:30-32, who did not “judge” themselves and so were “judged by the Lord – that they might not be condemned with the world.'"
- William Newell

The New Covenant of the Christian (Mat 26:28; Mar 14:24; Luk 22:20; 1Cr 11:25) which is now, is different from the New Covenant of Israel, which will begin during the Millennial Kingdom (Jer. 31:31,32; Ezek. 36:26,27; 37:14). –NC (Bob)

DEVASTATING DEVIATION

"Study to show thyself approved unto God" (2 Timothy 2:15a).

There is as much error produced in failing to divide the Word at all, as there is in wrongly dividing it.

"Covenant Theology (Law), at the utmost, is forgiveness of sins and divine favor enjoyed; and all that concerns their position in the Lord Jesus is ignored, or alas! guarded against as dangerous. Men are placed under the New Covenant (millennial Israel) which does not go beyond remission of sins and the law written in the heart. But being in Christ, and knowing it by the Holy Spirit, and what it involves now has dropped out of their creed altogether."

"We are come 'to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant' (Hebrews 12:24). We (Jewish / Gentile Christians) are not come to the new covenant (of Israel), but to Jesus the Mediator of it. I am associated with Him who is the Mediator; that is a much higher position than if we merely come to the covenant. He will make this new covenant with Israel on the millennial earth." -H.S.

"Non-dispensational teachers have endeavored to bring over the many promises of the physical and material aspects of kingdom salvation into the present dispensation, giving hope of material prosperity and physical health, as well as political peace. Failure to realize these promised goals has caused many to lose faith and to become bitter toward God Himself. The failure, of course, is not of God, but of teachers who have refused to rightly divide the Word of Truth."

"Calvin attempted by discipline of Church and State to make everyone live like a Christian–as did the Puritans. As a result, this effort resulted in the need to use the Old Testament rather than the New as an ethical guide."

"A workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15b).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

THE HEART OF THE MATTER

"You. . . hath He reconciled" (Colossians 1:21).

Our Father's Cross-love was personal; we were there in the Son. Our Father's heart-love is personal; we are hidden there in the Son.

"Have you ever thought of the Father dealing with you not as to what you are in yourself, but as to where He has positioned you in His Son? Have you ever thought that it is the affections of the Father's heart which flow down to us where we are, seeing us in the Son, not in our poor wretched selves? What we are in the old man is not the thing to scan, but what we are, and where we are, in the Son; and what there is in the living affections of the Father, who has raised us up together with His Son, and has given us all heavenly blessings in Him." -G.V.W.

"Nothing can make up for a lack of personal acquaintance with the Lord Jesus. Intimacy with Himself is certainly the secret of true devotedness. Occupation with Him, the heart readily detects, and rejects the voice of the stranger, and cannot but own the Lord's claims to be paramount. Nothing so thoroughly tests the state of our hearts, as whether or not we have intimacy with the Lord Jesus Himself." -H.H.S.

"A great deal of our time is spent in learning that there is nothing here to meet the requirements of our new affections. There is a wandering in the wilderness in a solitary way, and yet no city is found to dwell in. But our Father allows this in order that His children may find that their desires can only be satisfied by and in Him. We must learn that we are not of this world." -J.B.S

"To present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight" (Colossians 1:22).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

The Christian life is never that of independence but of dependence. There is nothing within ourselves to trust, but rather to “yield” it all to Him (Rom 6:13) and He will deal with it in us (Rom 8:13; Gal 5:17). Faith is not in that which it produces but in Him who produces faith in us.

Otherwise, we would be self-deprived of “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7), which places strength in Him and not ourselves. It has been well said, “To be disappointed is to have trusted in the arm of flesh and not the arm of God, for God does not disappoint.”

If we believe that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom 8:28), we should not be disappointed even with ourselves, which concludes of regret; this detracts in our conscience from enjoying God’s complete forgiveness and acceptance in Christ (Eph 1:6).

Regret is a worldly sorrow and can interfere in knowing complete forgiveness. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Cor 7:10, NKJV).
- NC

SPIRIT-DEPENDENT

"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

To be Christ-centered, we must be Spirit-dependent.

"It is basically the belief of the truth; it is not belief of the fruits. The Holy Spirit cannot present to me the fruit He has produced in me, as the object of my faith. He speaks to me of my faults, of my sins, but not of the good works that may be in me. He produces them in me, but He hides them from me; for if we think of them, it is but a more subtle self-righteousness. It is like the manna which, being kept, produced worms. All is spoilt–it is no more faith in action. The Holy Spirit must always present to me the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may grow and have peace." -J.N.D.

"An understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is basic to Christian growth. Spirituality is Christ-likeness, and Christ-likeness is the fruit of the Spirit. Spiritual power is not the miraculous or the spectacular, but rather the consistent manifestation of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer's life. All this is the work of the Spirit, of whom the Lord Jesus said, 'He shall glorify Me' (John 16:14).

"What are the ingredients of spirituality? First, a spirit of dependence, whatever may be the state of faith and the blessings we may have realized. Secondly, an entire confidence in the goodness of the Father; for He is love. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus as the constant object of the affections of the heart, for the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart is to fill it with contemplation of and fellowship with the Lord Jesus in glory."

"Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

WithChrist.org

 

[netchaplain]

God never punishes His own, but rather in love, chastens and rebukes them (Heb 12:5-11); which affords great comfort in the knowledge that regardless the occurrences in our lives He is always for us and accepts us. The remorse the Spirit causes us to feel is His loving hand guiding us to know that “the goodness of God leads you to repentance” (Rom 2:4)

The “hardness” the believer is commanded to “endure” (2 Tim 2:3) in trials has a single method of accomplishment; “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (v 1). Never will anyone owe God for His grace because it is His “gift” (Eph 2:8, 9) and therefore requires no merit to be retained. Our work is not repayment, which thing is impossible; but is gratitude out of love which will “glorify your Father” (Mat 5:16).
-NC

CHASTENING = CHILD-TRAINING

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous" (Hebrews 12:11a).

Our Father chastens us "for our own profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness" (Hebrews 12:10). We are not chastened because we deserve it, but because we need it. And there is no wrath in His child-training.

"Many have the wrong idea of that word 'chastening.' We think, perhaps, that it represents God as having a big stick in His hand and knocking us about all the time. You have only to make a mistake and down comes the big stick! That, of course, is a totally wrong conception of the Father, and is not at all what the word means. The word 'chastening' simply means child-training, which has to do with sonship. Sonship in our Father's mind is to have people who are reliable and responsible, who know in their own hearts what is right and what is wrong, and do not have to be constantly told and admonished.

"We should always look at our difficulties in the light of this training. It often seems that the life of a Christian is more difficult than any other life, and more troubles come to us than to anyone else. Whether we recognize it or not, these difficulties and troubles which come to us are to train us for something and to develop in us the spirit of sonship; that is, to develop spiritual intelligence and spiritual ability in us." -T. A-S.

"One of the main purposes of all the Father's dealings with us is to bring us into a greater knowledge of His Son. We never know anything about greatness unless we have a great need to know it. Therefore we are brought into situations where we must know something much greater than we already know. This is why our Father brings His children into difficult circumstances–that they may learn how great their Lord Jesus is." -T. A-S.

"Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it" (Hebrews 12:11b).

WithChrist.org