◄ ►

The Church of the Firstborn

Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:27)

What does this mean? Not that I come before God saying, have had pure motives; I have been very honest, earnest and conscientious, and my intentions have all been of the best.Let us stop talking nonsense. It is utter folly to talk like that. We do not know ourselves. Only God knows the truth about us, and none of that finds a place with Him or counts with Him for a moment. The point is, have I recognized that the Cross of the Lord Jesus was the smashing and ending of me, good and bad, so that I am not holding up before the Lord anything? I am as capable of the worst as any being in God creation is. For anybody to take the attitude that they are not capable of the worst is an attitude of the deepest deception. We do not know the power in our beings until we are put to it. If we have never committed the worst, it is because we have never been put to it in the mercy of God, but it is all there. The Lord puts His finger upon it in principle when He says, e that hates his brother is a murderer./i> It is the same spirit. You have only to extend that, provoke that anger enough, put that nature into certain circumstances, and you will discover that you are capable of things of which you would have stood in utmost horror at one time.

You and I have got to come down before God and admit that we are capable of the worst, not standing on the ground of our right. The only right one is Christ from God standpoint. The only safe one is Christ, and therefore the only one who stands in God eyes is Christ, and it is as you and I, in all the brokenness, frailty, conscious weakness and humility of our own beings, by faith cling to Christ that we shall find the way out, the deliverance, the salvation. We must look behind God words to see bigger things than words on the surface indicate. o this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at My word./i> That statement embodies all that we are saying.To what one will He look? To the one who never says, am right!but to the one who says, may be as wrong as ever a man or woman was wrong, there is nothing of which I am not capable; my only ground is Christ; so help me God, Christ is my ground!To stand on Christ is to stand always in the consciousness and recognition that this other ground, ourselves at any point, is dangerous ground. He is so Other, and there is the great divide, there is no overlapping. Between Christ and us there is a gaping chasm. God never sees that bridged, but thank God He will put Christ into us by the Holy Spirit, and while the two will ever remain apart, the old creation will go one day and that which is of Christ, as wrought into us, will abide.

Whom the Lord loves He corrects.

Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. § I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. § “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. § As a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you. § Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. § Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

Prov. 3:12;  Deut. 32:39;  Jer. 29:11;  Isa. 55:8;  Hos. 2:14;  Deut. 8:5;  Heb. 12:11;  1 Peter 5:6;  Ps. 119:75

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.

She did not know that I gave her grain, new wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold … Therefore I will return and take away My grain in its time and My new wine in its season, and will take back My wool and My linen.

All things come from You, and of Your own we have given You. For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope. O Lord our God, all this abundance … is from Your hand, and is all Your own. § Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.

The living God … gives us richly all things to enjoy. § Every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Ps. 24:1;  Hos. 2:8,9;  1 Chron. 29:14;  1 Chron. 29:15  1 Chron. 29:16;  Rom. 11:36;  1 Tim. 6:17,  1 Tim. 4:4,5;  Phil. 4:19

Hidden To Reveal

This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16).

As we walk in the Spirit, worship in the Spirit, and pray in the Spirit, we shall come to know, not the Spirit, but the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus explicitly said, "He (the Comforter) shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you" (John 16:14, 15)

"What is it to walk in the Spirit' (Gal. 5:16)? It is to walk in communion with the Father, in dependence upon the Spirit, having the Lord Jesus as my one object. What held the attention of Stephen, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit' (Acts 6:5)? Two things: the Word of God on earth, and the Christ of God in heaven (Acts 7:55)."

"To walk in the Spirit is not self-occupation, nor even occupation with the Spirit. Walking according to the Spirit is occupation with the Lord Jesus. When the believer looks to the Lord Jesus, depends upon Him, draws all he needs from Him - if the Lord Jesus is his all, then the believer walks in the Spirit." -A.C.G.

"To be Spirit-controlled does not mean the loss of free-agency. A free agent acts as he pleases, and the Spirit-controlled individual pleases to act in accordance with the mind and will of the Spirit." -A.McC.

I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not (in no way) fulfill the lust of the flesh' (Gal. 5:16). It might be objected, if a Christian were not under the restraint of the law that his life might be careless. The no way' of our verse forbids such a notion." -H.F.W.

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2)

Teach Me To Pray - Study in Prayer (11)

The Light Of The LORD