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Spirituality – A Practical Reality

All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3 NLT)

Some people seem to think that spirituality is a kind of mystical or mythical "something" that spirituality is something remote from reality, a kind of frame of mind. Well, spirituality is certainly not a frame of mind in the first place. We speak of a calm and heavenly frame... and there may be something of this kind as a fruit of it... but spirituality is not a nebulous, mythical, or abstract thing. Spirituality is the most practical thing.

When men or women are called by God into some piece of Divine ministry and, in the face of the demand, are conscious to the last degree that they have no ability, no resource, no power to fulfill that ministry, that in themselves the thing is utterly impossible, that for them to essay to do it would be the utmost folly and absurdity when in such circumstances they recognize that they have a living Christ in whom are resources more than enough to meet that demand... and by faith lay hold of Him and go forward into the ministry with that consciousness... that is spirituality; and that is practical, tremendously practical. The issues prove that it is practical. It is in that way heavenly things are done.

You are my hope in the day of doom.

There are many who say, “Who will show us any good?” Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. § I will sing of Your power; yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; for You have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.

In my prosperity I said, “I shall never be moved.” … You hid Your face, and I was troubled. I cried out to You, O Lord; and to the Lord I made supplication:  “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it declare Your truth? Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me; Lord, be my helper!”

“For a mere moment I have forsaken you, but with great mercies I will gather you. With a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you,” says the Lord, your Redeemer. § Sorrow will be turned into joy. § Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.

Jer. 17:17;  Ps. 4:6;   Ps. 59:16;   Ps. 30:6,7; Ps. 30:8,9;  Ps. 30:10;   Isa. 54:7,8;  John 16:20;  Ps. 30:5

Adam . . . begot a son in his own likeness.

Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? § Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.

Dead in trespasses and sins … by nature children of wrath, just as the others. § I am carnal, sold under sin … What I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do … For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells.

Through one man sin entered the world … by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners. § If by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many.

The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Gen. 5:3;  Job 14:4;  Ps. 51:5;  Eph. 2:1,3;  Rom. 7:14,15,   Rom. 7:18;   Rom. 5:12,19;   Rom 5:15;  Rom. 8:2;  1 Cor. 15:57

Devoted Disciple

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of love" (1 Thess. 1:3).

The Cross cost God all that He had, for us. That same Cross will cost us all that we are, for Him, for growth, for others. "For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you" (2 Cor. 4:11, 12).

"Devotion, utter devotion, to God's purpose concerning His people, is going to make the uttermost demand upon any servant of God. It is going to test and find out our spirit of service. And if we are going to be used of God in this utter way, it is going to bring us to the point where we have nothing left to fall back upon, either of personal interest, position, or blessing: it is simply a matter of God, and God only! If God does not do it, we are finished. We have no alternative; we have no second line; we are in this matter of the Lord's purpose to the last drop of blood. The purpose of God in His people will demand that. It is no use - we cannot have any alternatives; we cannot have a second course: it is everything or nothing." -T. A-S.

"There are those who would be more useful in the Lord's work if only they were more devoted. They are absorbed in something else, and this not only distracts them from their work, but when they do set themselves to it, there is not that maturity, that finished condition of soul, that knowledge of hearts, and of the way in which the Word suits itself to their needs, which gives lasting value to ministry." -J.N.D.

"They loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev. 12.11).

God, My Benefactor (God - All I Need-4)

Patiently Trust