◄ ►

The Great Light

I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. (Ephesians 3:16 NLT)

The strength of the Lord's people is none other than the strength of the Holy Spirit in the inward man. Right at the very center of the being, deeper than thought or reason, deeper than emotion or feeling, deeper than all that which comprises the more outward man which, under given circumstances, may prove weak and incapable of standing up to the situation. In the variations of our soul life, the changes of our moods, our ideas, our attitudes, our feelings, our minds; deeper down there is that strength which does not let us go. That is the true nature of spirituality. It is not the tremendously forceful conviction of our intellects or the mighty power of our wills. When these cannot stand up to conditions of intense spiritual antagonism, opposition or perplexity, there is that more inward thing, right in the inward man, which is of God the Holy Spirit: i>Strengthened with might by His Spirit into the inward man./p>

Test that out and the result is that when the mind is bewildered by the perplexity of a situation, and the arguments are all in the direction that a mistake has been made, a wrong course has been taken, everything is false when all the feelings are churned up, disturbed, anxious, fearful, or when there are no feelings at all, they are simply petrified by the position when circumstances are all arguing in the opposite direction of that which we, in the purest moments of our fellowship with God determined upon. The world around us and very closely around us, even within the sphere of our own natural life, our own soul life is an inexplicable mystery. Then spirituality is proved by that inward strength which abides: that standing when you cannot go forward; that holding when you can do nothing; that remaining when all the forces are seeking to sweep you off your feet. That represents a measure of spirituality. That is the true nature of the child of God. The opposite is to be carried away by argument, reasoning, appearance, circumstance, and all such things. That proves a lack of true spirituality. In a sentence, true spirituality is not to live on the outside; it is to live with God right down deep in the inner part of your own being, where He, the Spirit, is.

Who is able to stand?

But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands … “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb …

They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” There is … no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. § Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free.

Rev. 6:17;  Mal. 3:2;  Rev. 7:9,  Rev.14:16,17;  Rom. 8:1;  Gal. 5:1 

Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no one living is righteous.

Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me. § Now acquaint yourself with Him, and be at peace.

Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. § A man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. § By the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight.

By Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.

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

Ps. 143:2;  Isa. 1:18;  Isa. 27:5;  Job 22:21;  Rom. 5:1;  Gal. 2:16;  Rom. 3:20;  Acts 13:39;  1 Cor. 15:57

Truth, Or Consequences

I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you" (1 John 2:14).

Experience may ratify, or it may repudiate, truth. The Word alone, to faith, is truth unalterable.

"If I allow the thought that what I am toward God will in some way or other affect what God is toward me, I shall be filled with the spectrem of bondage. But when I see that what God is toward me is altogether the outcome of what He is, and that He is this though knowing perfectly what I am, it puts my heart in the right direction for liberty." -C.A.C.

"God speaks to us according to His estimate of our standing, our position: it may not be our heart's experience. There is a distinctness between the operation of the Spirit of God in bringing me unto the Lord Jesus, bearing witness to me of God's love, and of the efficacy of what Christ has done - and His operation in my soul to produce the image of His Son.

"That which is the subject of experience is what is produced in my soul, whereas that which gives me peace is His testimony to the work and life of Christ. A Christian who doubts the Father's love to him, and who looks for peace to that which passes in his own heart, is doubting God's truth. The Word is the revelation God has given of Himself; it displays the love of God toward us, and what is in His heart. I can trust the declaration of what is in God's heart, and not what I think of myself." -J.N.D.

"If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine" (1 Tim. 4:6).

God’s Divine Transcendence - Character and Attributes of God (3)

The Most Needful Thing