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The Cost of Service

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. (1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV)

Mental activity, emotional life and the will is exactly that which the New Testament calls the natural man, who as a oulish/i> man is incapable of accepting what comes from the Spirit of God. Nearly all so-called revivals have happened on this basis. They were mighty movements for the shaking of emotions: mighty persuasions and argumentations were used to influence the understanding and will. What was the result? The natural man has been maneuvered into Christianity and been made a Christian. We cannot, however, recognize the thoughts of God in this and it has nothing to do with being born again. It may be that ebirthshave occurred in the revivals mentioned above. But there is a difference between, let us say, a psychological rebirth and a rebirth in the Spirit. The one might temporarily carry all the characteristic features of a real rebirth. And yet all of that does not necessarily have anything to do with the Spirit, and in innumerable cases it has had nothing to do with the Spirit. It is a work of man... Christianity has become a system of human interpretation of the thoughts of God. Spiritual death hovers over it. It is no living testimony for God. God has given us a burden in our hearts concerning His thoughts. We do not speak to criticize. We speak because we have to....

People that stand without reserve for the rights of God will always be considered as enemies by those who reject the thoughts of God.... Wherever a religious system has come to reign, it will always be held against them that it is they who bring the people of God into confusion. This is what makes the ministry so difficult. This is what makes the ministry so costly. Israel was so deceived that it thought it was doing right in its idolatry. This is the highest level of deception, not seeing that everything one does, also that which is sincerely intended, actually serves the devil. The prophet disagreement is not in the first place with Israel. His battle is with the whole spiritual system into which Israel is entangled. eligiouspeople would not even rebel against the ministry of the prophet, if the enemy did not instigate them. So they become instruments of the devil. But the prophet is ready to encounter this. He is misunderstood, he is slandered and seen as an enemy; he is marked as the one who troubles Israel. But he has a vision. He does not serve himself. He knows that his standpoint leaves no room for personal ambition. But he has seen God. He is connected to God. And in the special standing which he has with God, the difference between the godly and the human has been revealed to him. With this vision he has become prepared to carry the cost that the service of God demands.

By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us.

The love of Christ … passes knowledge. § Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. § You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. § Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. § Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. § [Bear] with one another, and [forgive] one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you. § For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. § Christ … suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps.

You also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. § We also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

1 John 3:16;  Eph. 3:19;  John 15:13;  2 Cor. 8:9;  1 John 4:11;  Eph. 4:32;  Col. 3:13;  Mark 10:45;  1 Peter 2:21;  John 13:14,15;  1 John 3:16

The Son can do nothing of Himself,but what He sees the Father do; forwhatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

The Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. § I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.

Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. § My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.

Those who are called, sanctified by God the Father. § Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren.

“Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lord. § The fullness of Him who fills all in all. § I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior. § This is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. § Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

John 5:19;  Prov. 2:6;  Luke 21:15;  Ps. 27:14;  2 Cor. 12:9;  Jude 1:1;  Heb. 2:11;  Jer. 23:24;  Eph. 1:23;  Isa. 43:11;  John 4:42;  Titus 1:4

The Excellent Glory

We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. . . " (2 Cor. 3:18a).

During the first half of your Christian life you are concerned about your doing; in the second half you will be burdened about your being. "The more simply devoted you are to the Lord Jesus, who is worthy of all devotion, the more fragrance there will be in all your ways; for it will be manifested that you are not seeking yourself, not wincing because your rights are invaded, or that you are not as much cared for as you are entitled to be. Rather, there is only one governing thought of your life about everything, and that is, how you may distinguish Him who fills every need in your heart, and lights it up with unfading joy." -J.B.S. "Nothing can be so divinely beautiful on earth as a believer so transformed by the Spirit of God, that he is in heavenly manners here on earth; so that he does not in any of his ways deny the Lord Jesus Christ; but in the most trying hour of his history upon earth the Lord can say of him, thou hast a little power, and hast kept My Word, and hast not denied My Name.'" -J.B.S. "In creation God planted a man in the garden in innocence; in redemption He has planted a Man in heaven, in glory. There is a glory that excelleth. The glory in redemption leaves the glory that was once in creation as nothing." -J.G.B. "For every believer who actually crosses over into the Promised Land there are far too many who stand for awhile and look longingly across the river, and then turn sadly back to the comparative safety of the sandy wastes of the self-life."

". . . are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord " (2 Cor. 3:18b).

Believe It or Not

Garden Of Delight