Verse of the day — Colossians 3:5
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
Colossians 3:5(NASB)
Open Windows by T. Austin-Sparks
The Heavenly Reality
Come out of her, My people, so that you don't participate in her sins and also suffer from her diseases. (Revelation 18:4 ISV)
What is the spiritual life in the matter of worship? Oh, it is not ecclesiastical architecture, it is not vestments, it is not ordinances, and it is not rites. They pass out with Calvary; the perpetuating of anything like that is a contradiction of Calvary. See where we are today. The maintenance of that sort of thing is because of a failure to perceive what the Lord Jesus has brought in.... Why, then, perpetuate a thing which God has dismissed in the Cross and, by keeping to the lower, fail to reach the higher? Do you see where things are astray today? I know how sweeping this is, but all this has to do with worship. Now note that when there is a failure to recognize the spiritual meaning of all this and to enter into it... and a maintaining of the old thing... you are still on a soul level, and you are open to deception; the whole thing may be a ghastly deception. And how does that deception work? In this way: that so many good Christian people are absolutely in bondage to a traditional system which is cutting clean across Divine revelation for them. It is their traditional system which is simply barring the way to spiritual revelation, whereas the Cross of the Lord Jesus represents the liberty in the spirit for God to lead into the fullness of His Life and Light.
That is the whole purpose of the Letter to the Hebrews. It was for that very purpose. Here were a people that had received light concerning the true nature of fellowship with God in Christ that the Lord Jesus had taken the place of the Temple and the priesthood and the sacrifices and the ordinances... and even the Sabbath. Now it is no longer a matter of form, ceremony, external rites, buildings, priests, sacrifices; it is all Christ. They had seen that. The writer had called upon them to go outside the religious, formal, historic, traditional camp, and that brought persecution, ostracism, isolation, loneliness, and all manner of things. The official religious people made it very hard for them because of that. The price to be paid for what is truly spiritual and heavenly was... and is... great, and they were dangerously in peril of going back to the old thing. The Letter to the Hebrews was written just to save them from that peril and to tell them more fully about the great change that had come about in the Cross the work of the Lord Jesus... to tell them that one system, the earthly representation, had passed and the other, the heavenly reality, had come in.... To know the Lord in Life, we must be free from the grave clothes of outward systems. Why, then, perpetuate a system? The Lord Jesus put all that away in His Cross; it is all gone.
Morning Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
O God, my heart is steadfast.
The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. § He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies.
Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. § In the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
May the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever.
Ps. 108:1; Ps. 27:1; Isa. 26:3; Ps. 112:7,8; Ps. 56:3; Ps. 27:5,6; 1 Peter 5:10,11
Evening Daily Light by Samuel Bagster
The Lord has established His throne in heaven,and His kingdom rules over all.
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord. § If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?
I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.
He does according to His will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand or say to Him, “What have You done?” § If God is for us, who can be against us?
He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. § Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Ps. 103:19; Prov. 16:33; Amos 3:6; Isa. 45:5; Isa. 45:46 Isa. 45:7; Dan. 4:35; Rom. 8:31; 1 Cor. 15:25; Luke 12:32
None but the Hungry Heart by Miles Stanford
True Sanctification
Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us. . . sanctification" (1 Cor. 1:30).
If we keep in mind that the Lord Jesus is our Sanctification, the seemingly difficult subject will clearly unfold for us day by day.
"Many fall into the Methodistic, or Quaker, or Pearsall-Smith scheme of sanctification - all of which is substantially the same. The true scriptural means of sanctification is that you are set apart to God. It is not at all a question of whether there is evil in your flesh, for there is a great deal. Why, that is all the old man is made of!
"But yet you are sanctified. Sanctification has nothing whatsoever to do with the extinction of evil in the flesh. That idea, begun with Pelagius, revived by Thomas a'Kempis, handed down through Jeremy Taylor, the French and Dutch mystics, Wm. Law and John Wesley, has passed into other communions where they have no notion whatever whence it came." -W.K.
"The Christian life is nothing short of the life of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:4). It is His life reproduced in us. That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh' (2 Cor. 4:11). The common conception of sanctification is that every area of the life should be holy; but that is not holiness, it is the fruit of holiness: holiness is the Lord Jesus Christ.
"When we are conscious of pride we fancy that humility will meet our need, but the answer to pride is not humility, it is the Lord Jesus, and He is the answer to every need. The Father will not give you humility or patience or love as separate gifts of grace; He has given you the Lord Jesus, and if you simply trust Him to live out His life in you, He will be humble, patient, loving and everything else you need."
"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thess. 2:13).
Devotional Studies by Elizabeth Haworth
The Nature of Christ
Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead, He emptied Himself, by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men.
Philippians 2:6-7
Kinsman Redeemer
Jesus is equal in every respect with the Father and the Spirit – with one exception. The Lord Jesus Christ became man. He was born a man and took on human flesh. Christ became a man, so that humanity had a Kinsman Redeemer to atone for their sin. Christ, though equal with the Father and the Spirit – is unique in His humanity.
God-Man
All power in heaven and on earth has been given to this unique God-Man, Christ Jesus, Who ascended to heaven, and at this moment is sitting on the Father’s throne in glory. And for 2000 years a member of the human race has been seated at God’s right hand.
Two Natures
Jesus has two separate natures in one body - His nature as God and His human nature. This personal union of two natures is where undiminished deity is uniquely united with true humanity, remaining together in one person forever and without confusion. This “hypostatic union” took place so that you and I might be saved from our sin.
Radiance of God’s Glory
Because Christ was conceived and born of a human mother, He is able to empathise with our human weaknesses, having been tempted in every way, like us – yet without sin. In Hebrews, we read that Jesus is also the radiance of the glory of God and His exact imprint. He also upholds the universe by the Word of His power and after making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
God the Father
God in His wisdom and grace designed the plan of salvation before the world began. God in His love and mercy purposed to save humanity before we were even created. God the Father by His grace, loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so
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Knowing Jesus Devotional by Elizabeth Haworth
Scarcity of the Hour
Lack of Love
The Lord Jesus told us of a scarcity of one vital element as the day approaches. He told us that at the end of the age there would be a critical characteristic lacking. Jesus told us that there would be a lack of love in the body of Christ. He tells us in Matthew that.. “the love of many shall grow cold.” Matt.24:12
Evil Multiplies
We discover that as evil multiplies, an icy coolness will replace genuine love. The wickedness in the world will cause many to lose all sense of gracious propriety. Although this is a verse that is directed to Israel, in the time of Jacob’s trouble. Paul points out that a similar demise in loving-kindness will pervade Christendom.. and its infiltration into the church will discourage, to a point of exhausted despair,
Agape Love
This is both a sad and a shocking fact and one that we need to examine carefully. This is not a love associated with the world. It is not what man considers to be love. This is godly love; pure love; unselfish love; agape love. This is the love given of God – the agape, godly love of Christ in many shall wax cold. Only believers are equipped with Christ’s love. We alone have His love working in us, for it is only as Christ’s love flows through us, that His love can stream out to others, We have been commanded to "love as I have loved" – in the power of the Spirit.
Traitors and Quislings
The sad fact is that some Christians will betray and persecute their fellow believer, and a spirit of ungodliness is infiltrating many church organisations and pastors. The error of lawlessness has become entangled in many ministries and ministers, and many Christians are shocked to discover traitors and quislings in the flock.. men and women who betray; gossip; deceive and beat their fellow workers – Christians eaten up with jealousy; factions; backbiting; alienation; bitterness.
Outward Appearances
Many with an outward appearance of godliness are wolves in sheep’s clothing.. for the love of many will
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