A Full Study Of JOB
Our Examples
Some of the best guidance for believers in living the Christian life are through 'types'.
Job: who so exemplifies the life of a believer from salvation to the millennium.
Knowledge of God
Recently I’ve been very strongly prompted to explore the life of Job as a 'type' and as we approach the soon return of the Lord, we would do well to consider Job.
In-depth Look
As I have explored more and more the spiritual links of the Christian life with Job..
This is only until the double lesson has been fully learnt: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God, even when feeling and experience appear to contradict the promise (Rom. 8:28, 29); and (2) that the divine life only predominates as the life of the flesh is held in the place of death, inoperative (Rom. 6:11a).
The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Cor. 4:11, 12), and as in weakness and nothingness we look to him (2 Cor. 3:18). -A.M.
This is only until the double lesson has been fully learned: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God, even when all feeling and experience appear to contradict the truth (Rom. 8:28, 29); and (2) that the Divine life only predominates as the life of the old man is held in the place of death, inoperative (Rom. 6:11a).
The life of the Lord Jesus is revealed as His death works in us (2 Cor. 4:11, 12), and as in weakness and nothingness we look to Him (2 Cor. 3:18).” -A.M.
“While our Father is dealing with someone in discipline, when He is applying the Cross in a life, be careful how you sympathize with him.
For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor. 4:11)
The silence of His early years and young adult life was broken forever, as He stepped out into three and a half years of blessing for humanity – joining His voice with that of His herald - Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand – the King was here.
Unique Role
It is a beautiful picture of the triune Godhead uniting on the banks of the Jordan to encourage the Lord Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man to fulfil His unique role as Prophet, Priest and King – as He took His first step on the road that led to Calvary. Let us never be content to skip through the pages of Scripture without a deeper look into the gracious soul of our Saviour – Who gave His life as a ransom for you and me.
Only in one way that others are receiving Life through us, that we minister the Life of Christ to others, that when hungry and needy people come into touch with us they feel the touch of Life.
There is something about them that I feel, and it is what I really need.' That should be true of every Christian because Christ is in us, expanding Himself through us and ministering His Life through us.
Oh, do pray, dear friends, every day as you get up: 'Lord, make me a channel of Life to someone today.
Lord, minister Your own Life through me to someone today.
May I bring Life wherever I am.' The Lord has no other purpose for you and for me.
We may try to do a lot of things, but if we belong to the Vine we are no good for anything but to bear fruit; and that is to bring Life to others.
This covenant has two sides.... The New Testament takes many warnings from the history of Israel, and we may fail of all that that covenant means if our hearts are divided and we try to live life in two worlds.
His life was lived in spirit and truth – submitted to the Father, in loving obedience.
He was the example- the life-pattern for all who would become God’s children, by faith – they were not to copy what He did, but to live they way He lived – in submission to God.
The Lord Jesus derived much strength from this knowledge of purpose with which His life was bound up.
If he succeeds to rob us of that sense of purpose in our life, to make us doubt with regard to our testimony, our work, or the value of the suffering we have to go through, we shall lose our strength and the enemy will get the upper hand.
If we hold fast the purpose of our life, if we keep in view our heavenly calling, we too shall be maintained in strength.
for all things belong to You, whether the world or life or death, or things present or things to come; all things belong to You, 1 Corinthians 3:21
He desires everything connected with His glorified life to be our portion as well. He who is to sit on the eternal throne of David has chosen us to share in His rule. He has appointed us a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and we will reign with Him on the earth.
This newness of life does not involve strenuous effort in our witnessing of Jesus – for is it not in Him that we should live and move and have our being.
so your sphere of witness can fan out into all the interactions of your daily life… so that you, on a daily basis can, preach the gospel….and if necessary, use words.
Many have been on our position in Christ rather than the circumstances of life; looking away from the world and looking to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Specific Man
Today, I look back to a specific man – a man who exemplified and lived a life of trust.
And he was able, through the Spirit’s leading to grant his young disciples request.. for Elijah said: if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so.” 2Kings 2:10 your request shall be answered. By faith Enoch, Elijah, Simeon believed the promise and lived in expectant waiting. Enoch waited his translation. Elijah waited his transport and Simeon waited to see the Lord’s Christ. Enoch waited over 400 years and Simeon waited for the rest of his life. Their promise was given, accepted, believed and they waited – they waited in humble anticipation.
What of the healing, correcting, maturing work He is carrying out in your life?
The Spiritual Sphere
And throughout his epistles, he gives countless instructions for a spiritual life.
Throughout Paul’s writings, he instructs us how to live our life as God desires… to walk in the spirit; to live in the spirit; to pray in the spirit – and we are told that when we walk in spirit and truth we will bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Check your life to see if you are living by God’s standards or your own.
day by day and moment by moment throughout our Christian life.
Pray and Praise
For you tarnish your life with much fretting. You spoil your walk with much worry. Fretting and worry crush the treasures that the Lord has to offer, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, confess your faults and your needs, and His peace that surpasses understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus.
New Mercies
New every morning is the loveOur wakening and uprising prove;Through sleep and darkness safely brought,Restored to life and power and thought.
To abide in ourselves is simply to try to do this living, and this working for the Lord, of ourselves; asking the Lord to help us to do it, instead of recognizing that a Life wholly pleasing to God has been lived and that faith appropriates that accomplishment in Christ.
We’re to strip our life of every obstacle and encumbrance that may impede our growth – such hindrances may not be sinful, but nothing must obstruct our trust in the Lord.
There is a tremendous value connected with the spiritual family life and with the training in the family.
The tragedy of so much of the work of God is the tragedy of broken relationships between workers who are put together in an organized way, and they have never gone through the discipline of family life to know how to live triumphantly with difficult people.
These Jewish believers were going to see the temple and the whole temple system wrecked, and then they would discover just how much they had got of Christ, or how much of their life was bound up with earthly things.
Whether you like all that we have said, or agree with it or not, does not worry me; but I am concerned that we have come to Christ, to show that Christ in heaven is our Life, Christ in heaven is our All, and appointed to be so by God, and nothing here can take the place of Christ.
Calvary’s Victory
The life-walk of Paul illustrates his relationship to his Lord, Jesus Christ.
What a testimony of a changed life – what a celebration of Calvary’s victory.
Christ’s Life
But Paul’s life-walk exemplified another aspect of the cross: Christ living in him.
Paul exemplified a faithful life engaged in the spiritual battle of all ages.
Paul, throughout His life, envisioned the triumphal train of His Lord and Saviour - a victorious, divinely appointed procession, with the defeated enemy displayed – a celebration of Man’s great victory accompanied by His few faithful followers – even a testimony of Christ’s great and mighty conquest at Calvary’s cross.
Paul’s Perseverance
Time and again it appeared, in Paul’s life, that the encounter ended disastrously - Like at Philippi, Lystra, Ephesus.
Paul held on through many bitter encounters, when he despaired even of life.
Christ Alone
Paul demonstrated in brilliant technicolour and stroboscopic lighting how to live. Paul displayed through his life what our relationship to the Lord really should be.
Paul depended to the last breath of his battered life, on Christ and Christ alone.
Life is in the blood and without the shedding of blood, there is NO forgiveness of sins.
separation from God forever and only the shed blood of the Son of Man could have paid for our sin – and only the resurrection of the Son of Man would give us newness of life – a new life in Christ – a new creation in Christ.
Unreachable Standard
The unreachable standard of God’s Law was to be set aside for a new life in Christ. A man seeking to live by any Law must be prepared to keep every part of that law.
But a believer with a new life in Christ is to live his life by grace and not by works of the Law.
New Life in Christ
A man who seeks to live by the Law must be prepared to keep every part of that law, but the one who died to the Law with Christ has been given a new Christlike nature. A Christian with a new life in Christ must die to self so that Christ lives in him.
Life and Light
Yet in Him was life and in Him was light to all men – and in Him was grace and truth.
The loose-living woman at the well in Samaria warranted death by stoning under the Law, yet was offered living water by the Messiah,rather than words of condemnation.. and by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ she was given eternal life.
The life under law is bondage.
But the life of the one who drinks the water of life is not one subject to outward restraint but a life that is like a well-spring of living water, that springs up from within.
It features the Creator of the universe and tells of the Most High God Who loved the world so much that He purposed to give His only begotten Son to redeem the sinful race of mankind, so that all who believe on Him would not perish, but have eternal life.
And at centre stage of His holy life stands an old rugged cross – as the eternal emblem of God’s love for man.
Beautiful Romance
For Whoever believes in the only begotten Son of the Most High God will not perish but have everlasting life, for He will be great..
Concerning this fact the Apostle Paul uses the wordbut But all things are of Godas though he would anticipate, intercept, or arrest an impulseto rush away and attempt life or service upon an old creationbasis, or with old creation resource.
In accepting God’s position of manhood, He utterly depended upon God – demonstrating a perfect life of humble obedience to the Father in every realm.
This is the unattainable ideal way to live that God demands from all His disciples – and His disciples (those who are under discipline) are to learn this Christ-life.
It is hearkening to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, the pride of life.
Willing Body
While the Lord was on earth he worked in “a prepared Body” Hebrews 10:5 Now the Lord works from the Father’s throne, through a willing Body - Take my life and use me to do Your will, I pray.
The Spirit of God has laid out in the Word of God how to live the Christian life – not in the Law nor in the works of the flesh– but through Christ in us – Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Heavenly Sovereignty
When Adam forfeited his God-given dominion, God set a guard over the tree of life.
God set a guard over the tree of life until man could resume his role as king – until His Man, (the Man Christ Jesus) would govern the earth through God’s heavenly sovereignty.
even the problems and difficulties that you are now facing in your life..
Gospel of God
There is so much more to the Christian life than just being saved! Being saved is not the end of the glorious gospel of God, but the first step..
Moses: Set Apart
Moses was a sign to Israel, through his life and through his disobedience! This humble man was used of God, to save His people from Egypt’s oppression. This great man was chosen and separated by God, to be His mouthpiece, And this consecrated saint was once disobedient – and had to be judged..
Genuine consecration is not the easy route in life, but often a cruel and difficult path.
Jesus: Set Apart
The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example of a life, consecrated to God. He spent His earthly walk living His life through the power of the Father.. Every work He undertook, each word He spoke, was a sign of consecration to God. His was a life that signified the infinite wisdom, power and sovereignty of God, His was the life exemplifying God working in and through a man – He was a Man set-apart to God.
Christ in Me
Being His witnesses does not necessarily mean going out and talking. Being a consecrated man or woman – ‘being a sign’ may not mean what you think. It may not mean becoming a missionary or starting a ministry… This may be a fraction of the call on a sanctified life.
It means in everything we do – living the life of the Lord.
Isaiah 64:8 Thy will not mine be done in my life to the glory of God the Father – Amen
Wrong Perspective
How our hearts cleave to the dust of this world. How frequently we become unduly occupied with the things of this world. How we cling to the properties and possessions of this life. How we focus on the interests of this life at the expense of the life to come.
Life of Faith
We are called to live by faith.. to live by faith and not by sight..
to trust in the One Who is to be trusted. We are also called to live a life of faith.. a life that relies on Him; a life that trusts in His love; a life that submits to His commands – a life that yields itself entirely into His keeping. When we look beyond the things of this life, heaven becomes more real than earth.
When we can trust Him with every day of our life, lack of earthly comfort holds little dread.
For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.Colossian 3:3
Glorious Habitation
What a wonderful truth – that our life is hidden with Christ in God. What a perfect place to shelter from the storms of this temporal life. What a precious privilege we have, to repose in this glorious habitation. What a thrilling dwelling place it is, to be enfolded with Christ – in God.
Inner Peace
This positional truth needs to be accepted and reckoned on as fact. It is the glorious truth that we can live in consummate, inward peace in Christ. It is an amazing fact of scripture that nothing need disturb our peace of mind. It is the thrilling assurance that we are delivered from the fear of the future – because your life is hid with Christ in God. 1Cor.16:13
Simply Profound
These truths are profoundly simple and yet simply profound. They are simple truths that are life-changing and life-transforming, They are profound truths we need to accept and appropriate in their simple grandeur. These are real life-facts we need to affirm and believe as God’s steadfast oath – to us.
He Continues:
Let us cease laying down to the saints long lists of ‘conditions’ of entering into the blessed life in Christ; and instead, as the primal preparation for leading them into the experience of this life, show them what their position, possession, and privileges in Christ already are.
ow. Never let the quaking circumstances of life shake your trust in God. Never let the devastation of this terrestrial plain rock your trust in Him. Never allow circumstances to shake you out of your secure position in Christ.
Stand on these mighty scriptural truths in faith, and make these all-important truths from God an integral part of your life.
As the result of the work of His cross, and as the grand issue of His resurrection, eternal life is received already by those who believe.
But while that life is in itself victorious, incorruptible, indestructible, the believer has to come, by faith, to prove it, to live by it, to learn its laws, to be conformed to it.
But the course of spiritual experience, of spiritual life..
is to discover, to appropriate, and to live by all that the life represents and means.”
No, though sadly some believers do worry that they are not truly born again. Get once and for all the gospel truth ever firmly fixed in your mind and heart.. believe… just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved – forever. No, the majority of truths in Paul’s epistles are for the saved man or woman, so that we can live the life that is best for us, as directed by the Holy Spirit.
Godly Witness
Paul’s life, witness and work demonstrates a man that lived in fellowship with God. Paul’s instructions explain in detail how every believer may also live a victorious life. His life experiences were some of the worst that one could ever imagine.
Godly Joy
The circumstances of Paul’s life can hardly be called cushy or comfortable..
and yet throughout it all and despite all the difficulties of his life, Paul could rejoice.
He didn’t grudgingly accept the pains and difficulties that shadowed his earthly life.
Godly Thinking
He had a Single Mind – in spite of all the problems and circumstances of life. He had a Submissive Mind – regardless of the way that people behaved towards him. He had a Spiritual Mind – where he set his heart on the right thinking. He had a Secure Mind – where worry and fear was replaced with trust and love. He had a Surrendered Mind – where each thought was captured and given to God.
Godly Focus
When Paul’s heart and soul and mind was set on the Lord Jesus, his life was one of victory, joy, faith and love... despite life’s circumstances.
The peace of God and the provision of God comes to the one with a single mind – a thought life that trusts in the Lord… no matter what life tries to throw at it..
Imperfect Man
No doubt he studied the Scriptures diligently thinking that in so doing he would earn eternal life and yet these very writings testified of Jesus in Whom abides eternal life.
Impossible Standard
The reality that the Law, in which Nicodemus trusted was related to the flesh, must have been shattering to this religious-minded Pharisee – this esteemed teacher. Though the Law was God’s benchmark for the man that is born of the flesh it was an impossible standard to keep – but the new life in Christ, which is a gift of God’s grace to the one that believes, is a new work of God in man – a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Spiritual Life
Man must be born of the Holy Spirit – if he is to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual life of which Christ spoke is something entirely separate from the Law. The spiritual life is rooted in grace and truth, which comes to us from Jesus Christ.
Law Verses Grace
The lessons that Nicodemus learnt on this night visit were of immense proportions. He had a glimpse into the heavenlies, yet did not even understand earthly truths. He discovered Christ was to be lifted up, like the serpent in the wilderness, so that all who look to Him will be saved and that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life. He discovered that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Present Application
Your life may be strewn with deep disappointments; great sorrow; unspeakable loss..
You may be bound in prison chains or have a Patmos banishment, in order to allow patience to have her perfect work in your life – that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
It is the only sufficient tool we need as we address all the important issues of life, in a manner well-pleasing to Him: emotional issues; relational issues; family issues; social issues and spiritual issues.
But for those who have broken free from the bondage of man-made rules, and trust in Christ’s finished work alone, discover the Bible to be their sole Source of divine authority and the singular sufficiency for every aspect of their Christian life.
Instead of experiencing eternal death and separation from God we are given eternal life, which can never be lost, left, forfeited or removed – and it is all by His grace and power, and for His greater glory.
Enemy of the Soul
It is always wise to remember we live in a fallen world, knowing that the enemy of our soul is ever present in every aspect of life, and is seeking to devour our testimony, which renders the authoritative text of Scripture and its singular sufficiency, increasingly precious.
God did not remove us to heaven the moment we believed, but left us in a hostile environment for a greater purpose: He has a plan for each life.
Journey Thru Life
Just as God had a plan for our salvation so He has a life-plan for each of us.
Eternal Perspective
And so we are reminded that in this world there will be trials and suffering, but Scripture urges us to view the trials of life in light of God’s wider plan of His great salvation, in the eternal ages to come.
We should view life from an eternal perspective and live a life that result in practical sanctification – so that we grow spiritually as we walk with the Lord, and become more and more like Him.
We should respond to life’s trials as instructed by God, and keep away from worldly desires that wage war against our very souls.
The life and ministry of the Lord Jesus took place before today’s Church Age started.
Messiah’s Mark
Jesus lived His whole life under the shadow of the Law.
A Future Church
He fulfilled biblical prophecy – identifying Himself as the anointed One from God, yet we see an occasional glimpse of God’s future plans for His future church. He was fully God, and He was fully Man but He lived His life as an example to us all. He adhered to the Law of Moses for Jesus lived all of His life before Calvary’s cross.
By faith we have moved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light:- from the kingdom of death to the kingdom of life; from the kingdom of sorrow to the kingdom of joy – from the kingdom of fear to the kingdom of love.
Life Troubles
In Psalm 46 we are told that God is a very present help in time of trouble, but He permits trouble to pursue us, as though He were indifferent to us.. as though He were disinterested in its overwhelming pressure, that we may be brought to an end of ourselves. That we may be led to discover the treasure of darkness – the unmeasurable gains of tribulation.
Old or New
A believer must know and understand the nature of his new life in Christ and apply it, and he must understand the nature of his old sinful life to oppose it.
He looks back to their pre-salvation life and reminds them: at one time you also were servants and slaves of sin.
Before salvation they were enslaved by the old sin-nature – they were in bondage to sin and slaves of sin, but after salvation, they were given a new nature and became servants of Christ – with a new life and a born-again spirit.
Now we are servants of the new nature in Christ rather than the old sin-nature, and these verses contrast an unbeliever’s former relationship as slaves of sin with a believer’s new relationship to their new life-in-Christ, which we all receive at salvation and which has made us all servants of righteousness.
Death or Life
A slave of sin functions through the old sin-nature, while a slave of righteousness functions through the new life in Christ.
A servant of sin relates to the old sin-nature, while a servant of righteousness relates to the new life in Christ.
The old sin-nature is in servitude to sin and functions under the law of sin and death, while the new life in Christ is in servitude to righteousness and functions under the law of Christ – the Spirit of life.
He has two ways to live his Christian life – either under law or under grace.
A believer has two choices – he can either submit to the evil enticements of the sin-nature, or he lives his life through the new life in Christ.
And the believer is empowered to live his life this way, by virtue of what Christ did on the cross – because we are now free from sin.
at salvation, connection with the sin-nature was severed, but sin’s influence remains throughout our life.
The connection with the sin-nature is severed but the influence of the sin-nature remains throughout our life.
However, the more we starve sin by submitting to the new life in Christ, the more our new nature will grow.
Inner Conflict
At salvation the believer also receives the permanent presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, causing two sets of demands to have an influence on a believer’s life.
Only as he submits to the leading and guiding of the Spirit in his life will his new born-again spirit be empowered to live in newness of life.
Romantic Nonsense
There has been much romantic nonsense written about the early life of the Lord Jesus, but Jesus lived a hard life and yet a simple life in the little despised village of Nazareth. There have been many false gospels written about the time that God in His wisdom chose to keep Jesus hidden from our view – with a few, thought-provoking exceptions.
Veiled Life
In the main, God chose to veil our view of Jesus, until the time of John the Baptist’s ministry, when Jesus started to walk in and out among the disciples of John. And yet there is much that we know of His character – His spirited zeal for the Lord – His love for the Scriptures of God and His humble dedication to His Father in heaven.
Carpenter’s Son
One thing that we do know is that the Lord Jesus spent His teenage and early adult life in submission to His parents and learning the trade of His adoptive Father – Joseph. Is not this the carpenter’s son?
He will never mirror the workings in your life, with those He undertakes in mine – but both will be equally effective, for it will bring both of us, to the fullness of Him.
But His working in your life will complete the life-long work He desires for you – just as His workings in my life will complete the life-long work He desires for me.
He will take your life’s circumstances; your hurts; your disappointments; your joys… and He will take your life-span and your life-situation to complete His good work in you – and you know what, He will do the same for me!
When you permit Him to remove all the safety-features of your personal life and when you dare to listen to His voice and dare to trust His Word implicitly – even when you don’t understand or when the very circumstances of life seem to thunder the opposite – then He’ll reveal His nearer presence to you, in a different way than ever before.
He was at my side and glorified God there both in His walk here and in His death; but He is now at His own side, and it is there I intelligently realize the vastness of my life, for He is my life.
It is enjoining with Him – at the very sphere, center and circumference of life.
In death, He would be their abiding life.
Timely Acquaintance
It was in Nice, in France, where his life journey was ended - but some of the final words to his little flock in his hometown were these:- O brethren, I stand here among you today, as alive from the dead, if I may hope to impress it upon you, and induce you to prepare for that solemn hour which must come to all, by a timely acquaintance with the death of Christ.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day; Earth’s joys grow dim; its glories pass away.
One day we came to Him in utter need and reliance, and received life.
Every day we are to abide in Him in utter need and reliance, that He may live that life in and through us.
They know not that the life of grace is always and only a life of faith, and that in the relationship to the Lord Jesus the one daily and unceasing duty of the disciple is to believe, because believing is the one channel through which Divine grace and strength can flow into the heart of man.
The old nature of the believer remains evil and sinful to the last; it is only as he daily comes, all empty and helpless, to his Saviour to receive of His life and strength, that he can bring forth the fruits of righteousness to the glory of God. -A.M.
When, however, you and I are prepared, in simple humility, to make the fact of our death with Christ our daily basis of life and service, there is nothing that can prevent the uprising and outflow of new life, and meet the need of thirsty souls around us. -J.C.M.
The growth and consolidation of one's spiritual life is predicated upon clear knowledge of the dual facts of Romans 6:11 - dead unto sin; alive unto God.
Preordained Acceptance
But God preordained that all who believe in Jesus are fully accepted in His beloved Son. The peace and love and acceptance of God is only through His beloved Son. Without assurance of this precious fact, many live a life of daily dissatisfaction. Without confidence in His Word, many spend their years in constant mistrust. If the failing beauty of a wife doesn’t influence the ardour of a devoted husband, how much more God’s never-failing acceptance is of the believer in Christ. God’s acceptance of you and His acceptance of me is based on one thing – the finished work of the Lord Jesus, on Calvary’s cross: being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.
You are accepted in the Beloved. If we live in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.. He will certainly judge us according to our works – which will burn as wood, hay, and stubble, but God never changes.
Bestowed Grace
William R Newell puts it this way: There being no cause in the creature why grace should be shown, the creature must be brought off from trying to give cause to God for His care. He has been accepted in Christ, who is his standing! He is not on probation. As to his life past, it does not exist before God – he died at the cross, and Christ is his Life. Grace, once bestowed, is not withdrawn.. for God knew all the human exigencies beforehand.
worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3)
Failure to live the Christian life is due to one's utter inability, but it is all governed by the Father.
He teaches us to become proficient in failure, in order to bring us to total reliance upon His Son, who is our Christian life.
It is a wonderful thing to have the consciousness that we are in living union with the Lord Jesus in heavenly glory, knowing our position in that risen sphere, participating in all that constitutes His life in the blessed circle of love and rest where He lives unto the Father.
Many a justified one might describe his experience in words like this: I fully recognize, and rejoice in the fact, that I am righteous before God according to Christ risen; and this being so, nothing but Christ can be my standard of holiness or rule of life.
This fact prepares one to see that the death of the Lord Jesus severed us from our old man, and that the Lord Jesus is now our Christian life.
We are free, by the finished work of the Cross, from the domination of the man who is now so repugnant to us, and we discover with untold delight that the One who so attracted our hearts is our very life. -C.A.C.
And your (new) life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3, ASV).
Rather, as we count upon the finished work of Calvary, the Holy Spirit will apply the Cross to the old life.
What next, Lord?’ ‘Now you pass to another sphere where you become aware that you are joined to Me as your life.’” “Our identification with Christ in His death was a death unto Sin-the principle of Sin as a master and a tyrant-Sin, not sins.
The Holy Spirit is ready to apply that finished work of death to the depth of our self-life, until Sin loses its mastery at point after point.
Hopes have precarious life; They are oft blighted, withered, snapped sheer off In vigorous youth, and turned to rottenness; But faithfulness can feed on suffering, And knows no disappointment.
John stood his ground, maintaining his testimony in the face of every foe, and as a consequence has exercised a mighty ministry of life down through the centuries. -T.
Much depends on the way great eras of our life are entered on.
Nature or disposition may have much to do with our external manner, but it is faith in our Father which stands the wear of years, and the sorrows of life.
Trial teaches us the futility of the old life, and the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus - our new life.
The Christian suffers the same calamities as others, perhaps even worse; he faces difficulties and losses in the things of this life; he has to be prepared to meet death itself.
This, surely, should be our testimony in the world, but it can only be as the Lord Jesus Himself lives out this life in us. -H.F.
The enemy was seeking to devour the plan and purpose God had for his servant Job – just as today, the enemy seeks to overthrow God’s plans in the life committed to Him.
However, the believer’s life does not start and end at rebirth – that is only the beginning.
We all find ourselves in life’s cul-de-sacs, having to retrace our spiritual steps.
Many believers are encouraged to consecrate and re-consecrate their self-life.
This ‘love motive’ is a good motive, but it is not the correct path to spiritual maturity, for this path of devotion can lead the old-self trying to live for God, by being good, and the consequences of this path is often in living the self-life instead of the Christ-life.
As our representative Christ’s life – our new-life must remain in Him alone.
New Life in Christ
Christ’s Life has no place in the old life.
It is the new-life about which Paul says “It is not I that live but Christ lives in me”.
It is the new-life in Christ and not the old-life in Adam that the Spirit will sanctify.
Our Sanctification
Sanctification can only take place in the new-life in Christ.
Sanctification can never take place in the old-life in Adam.
God consigns the old fallen Adam-life to the cross forever, and God will have nothing to do with the old life in Adam.
It treats the fallen creation (the self-life) as capable of improvement.
In doing so, the meaning of the cross is nullified, for the old Adamic life is beyond repair,
We have to ask Him to examine our rebellious and carnal nature – to know the difference between 1) Christ as substitute and Christ as representative. 2) between sanctification truths and identification truths. 3) between the new-life in Christ and the old-life in Adam. 4) between the spiritual believer and a carnal Christian.
We have to want to move on into maturity and grow in grace. We must not get our whole life stuck in perpetual Christian infancy.
Death no longer has dominion over Christ, for the death that Christ died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God – likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our life and ministry will bring glory to our Father to the extent that we abide in the Son, and are controlled by the Holy Spirit.
The object of all Christian life and ministry, of whatever kind, must surely be to bring glory to God.
It is only when our whole outlook is made radiant by His glory, because we are hungry to do His will and that only, that our activities will be quickened into new life, and others be truly blessed. -J.C.M.
It is not just life; acceptance; redemption and righteousness that are in Him, but the creation; our hope; spiritual blessings; consolation… and consummation – and Peace and Effectual Prayer and Strength and Riches are all “In Christ”.
Growing In Grace - STUDY
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.1 John 5:13
A believer who trusts God’s word in this matter will live his life the grace-promise-faith way.
Believer’s Choice
We can choose to live our Christian life God’s way or man’s way.
The one who doesn’t live grace-promise-faith way doesn’t negate his eternal security in Christ, but will live a defeated Christian life, for eternal security “kicks-in” immediately at rebirth, and each person of the Godhead guarantee their eternal security.
All-Embracing Guarantee
God’s guarantee of eternal and life is for all believers, whether they choose to live the grace-promise-faith way or ignore God’s word and live the law-works-merit way.
When we trust God’s promise of eternal life, it delights His heart: for without faith it is impossible to please Him,
A believer who doubts 1% of God’s word, may as well doubt it all, for unbelief in one ‘small’ area can impact an entire life.
Accepted in Christ
Life experiences, feelings and pressures may all combine to cause a believer to doubt the truth of God’s word, but life experiences, feelings, and pressures are no criterion for God’s truth.
And this God purposed to work in your life and in mine, to make us His children and to bring us to perfection, and He explains in His Word Who he is what He is doing and how.
What of the faith that would remain fallow, but for the deep, chill of life’s bitterest waters?
His Refining Fire
Are these nothing but unconscious cries, to be tried in His refining fire..? An inner longing to be honed to His perfection, under the great Craftsman’s ‘tool’? Is not GRACE discovered through the crushings of life’s journey? Is not FAITH exercised as the storms of life assault our very foundations? Does not Faith flourish and Grace grow, through the Master’s sanctifying trials?
Cross Work
Christ’s work on the cross and His glorious resurrection gave us eternal life.
Eternal Life
Eternal life is a non-returnable gift given to those who believe – it’s already done.
Eternal life is a triumphant, imperishable, enduring life – given to all who believe.
So why is this victorious, incorruptible life not the experience of all Christians?
Why do some live a defeated life for so much of their Christian walk?
a deposit is given when we are born again as God’s assurance that eternal life is ours. All believers received this down-payment at rebirth – but many just do not access it.
Given Life
The believer can choose to accept and use this deposited ‘given life’ – or not.
Not to appropriate this life is like having a full fridge of food – but going hungry.
The believer has to appropriate and use this ‘given life’ – in his earthly walk.
He must appropriate this triumphant, imperishable, enduring life – BY FAITH.
Given Life
One Christian writer put it this way:- As the result of Christ’s work of His cross, and as the grand issue of His resurrection, eternal life is received already by those who believe.
But while that life is itself victorious, incorruptible, indestructible – the believer has to come, by faith, to prove it... to live by it, to learn its laws, to be conformed to it.
Living Life
But through the course of spiritual experience, (of spiritual life), the believer is to discover, to appropriate, and to live by all that the life represents and means.
The full triumphant, imperishable, enduring LIFE is ours – but needs to be put to use.
Christ’s Life
But how do we use this deposit of a full; triumphant; victorious; enduring life..? Well, it all goes back to recognising who we are in Christ and then appropriating it!!
It goes back to knowing that Christ is our life and then living unto Him.. or it must be His life flowing through our life to produce His life within us – for it pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell.
Colossians 2:9 So all we need to do is to appropriate His life in us – to allow Him to live through us. that you may be filled with all the fullness of God for your life is hid with Christ in God so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. Ephesians.3:19
They must be appropriated to work effectively in our everyday life – and this is done in the same way that we were saved – by FAITH.
Deposited Gift
In his 'Green Letters', Miles Stanford explains “appropriating” like this: How often we simply admire and talk about the truths the Holy Spirit reveals to us in His Word, whereas His primary purpose in giving them to us is that we might stand upon them in faith, waiting confidently for Him to make them an integral part of our life.
It is by faith that we grow in them and it is by faith that we walk in them – until through simple trust these scriptural truths become inherent in our life in Him.
This early blossom may be a sign of life, but it is not the life itself.
A sign of early life belongs to the early Spring, showing that the Winter is past and resurrection is at work.
The Life is working and will show itself in stronger and deeper forms....
But if, on the one hand, eternal Life operates to cut us off from our natural life as the basis of our relationship with God, on the other hand, it is perfectly wonderful what is done.
The Lord even comes in as our physical life to the doing of more than would have been possible to us at our best, and certainly far beyond the present possibility, because He has made us know that as men we are nothing, even at our best.
Life does that.
Life forces off one system and brings on another, making room for it as it goes.
The believer, having received the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' comes under the influence of the law' of that Spirit (Rom. 8:2).
The operating principle of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' ever works in the direction of profound self-judgment, and of the consciousness that we have in the Lord Jesus not only righteousness, but a divine Source of satisfaction and strength.
And thus it makes the one in whom it operates free from the law of sin and death.' It gives the consciousness that divine goodness is an unfailing resource for our hearts, and that all the treasures of that goodness are stored up in Christ Jesus, that we may learn them there, and find the life of our spirits in the growing knowledge of Him. -C.A.C.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' made me free from the law of sin and death' - not the life,' but the Spirit of life,' - not our effort, but divine strength; not self-occupation, but occupation with Him in whom we are before the Father, and in whom the divine favor rests upon us full and constant, because on Him it rests. -F.W.G.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).
a testimony of my close friend and sister in Christ – a testimony of the way God has worked in one life..
an assurance that God can work through every life… that comes to Him.
I wanted to share with you what the truths written in this hymn means to me and how it reflects the Amazing Grace that has never failed to abound in my life.
Living in sin?Feeling the effects of our sin?No hope?No future?No promise of eternal life?In condemnation?
It is music to my ears, there is no greater or sweeter sound than the assurance of Father God’s grace and the evidence of His grace in my life and the lives of others:-
for us, for our sins so that we may be forgiven and reconciled to Him, with the promise of eternal life.
There was no worse a wretch than me when I gave my life to Jesus – no worse a past.
I had gone so far down the wrong roads that it seemed that my life would never get back on the right track.
the effect that had on my life..
I saw the assurance of eternal life.
And I now see the hand of Father God in my life, from creation, through Jesus’ coming and resurrection to His saving grace.
In some situations in life it’s inevitable and sometimes appropriate to express fear.
If we went around rushing headlong into life in fearless ways we wouldn’t have to exercise our faith, so it’s normal and healthy to worry about that exam coming up..
My Testimony
When I gave my life to Jesus during the Billy Graham crusade event in Chesterfield in 1984, I remember being blown away by the fact that not only had my sins been forgiven and I had the assurance of eternal life but I had a direct line to Father God.
and yet I’m still learning to rely on His Amazing Grace to abound in my life and my trials.
Battle-Scarred and Weary
I was born with my ‘dukes up’ fighting for my life and with Father God’s grace I won that battle – the first of many to come.
Not surprisingly each battle I have fought, each trial in my life I have had to face, more often than not I have tried to ‘go it alone’ and I have been well into the battle and sometimes battle-scarred and weary, before I have ‘Let Go and Let God’!
It’s only by maturing in my faith and by looking back on my life, and seeing Father God’s hand on my life and the evidence of His grace abounding in me and my life, that I come to a place of peace, pain-free and in the perfect state of grace.
The clearest evidence I see of Father God’s Grace abounding in Jesus’ life is in the run-up to His death on the cross, in particular when He said ‘Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do’! Not only was He willing to die that horrible death on the cross for their sins and ours, but by His Father’s Grace, He was also able to forgive them, then and there – as He was crucified.
In dying on that cross our Lord Jesus Christ, as He had promised, reconciled us to Father God in the forgiveness of our sins and the assurance of eternal life with Him and His Father – and the promise that He was leaving His Holy Spirit with us to live in us and amongst us until we die or until He returns.
What the Lord was doing in washing their feet was a reflection of His entire life.
He gave us an example of righteous living; of gracious actions; of a worthy life.
He modelled the only way that mankind can live a godly life – in Christ Jesus.
Christ-Like
It is not that we copy Him by doing what He did but to live life in the way He lived - not to mimic His actions or parrot what He said but to live a life that is pleasing to God - not to try to become Christ but to be Christ-like by walking in spirit and truth.
Childlike Reliance
It is a simple, childlike reliance on the Lord; a life free from all self-dependence.
Trusting Humility
A godly life rests in God’s sovereign grace and eternal power to perform all He says. It is rooted in obedience to God’s will and is founded on a spirit of trusting humility.
Example of Godliness
His was a life in submission to the Spirit. His was a life that was lived for the glory of God alone.
Living by Faith
The father of faith – Abraham, is singled out as the primary example of a godly life.
Impossible Reality
What is impossible in the minds and imaginations of man is the reality of God truth that fills every page of the Word of God, and the most amazing of all the impossible realities that flood the pages of Scripture, is the miraculous conception of the young virgin Mary, when she submitted to the work of the Holy Spirit in her life and prayed her beautiful song of praise to the Father: be it unto me according to Your Word.
and have come to fullness of life.. for in Christ we too are filled with the Godhead—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—reaching full spiritual stature.
Having been, born into His family, gained the wonderful birthright of eternal life, and made complete in Him, we too have a body that is being prepared for us, in heaven.
The Holy Spirit will be a Helper akin to that which the disciples experienced during Christ’s earthly sojourn – but He’ll remain alongside us all through life and into eternity.
Man of God
Paul was a man who loved his Saviour and a man whose service to his Lord is one that we hold up as an example of a great man of faith – a man of God that we ourselves would seek to emulate, and yet his comparatively short life in the ministry was one that was engulfed by an overabundance of problems and difficulties – a ministry that was packed from start to finish with unbelievable severities and significant hardships.
either death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither fears for today nor worries about tomorrow, not even the powers of hell, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God.
The knowledge of the Son of God is the secret of the true Christian life.
Resist or Submit
The glory of the Son of God is demonstrated in the life of the Lord Jesus, and with our permission… He will change each of us to be like Him.
We can quench the work of the Spirit in our life to our detriment, OR we can permit Him to work by submitting to His leading – to our advantage.
The creative power of God gives light and life and hope to a believing soul, and God points to Jesus, when He declared: hear Him, from His fiery throne.
Listen, I have told you the open secret, discovered in the pages of Hebrews - a secret that will indisputably change your life!
Churches, like the Church, are organisms which spring out of Life, which Life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers.
A real walk with God, and a growing knowledge of Christ, a life in the Spirit?
Experientially, He applies the work of the Cross to our old life, thereby progressively holding it in the grip of that death.
He is unforming the old nature in death, and conforming the new nature in life.
Life more abundant requires that what He did for us shall be made good in us.
It is as we ourselves are dealt with in the power of the Cross that the way is made for His life to express itself in ever deepening fulness.
The fact is that it is the old life which is in the way of the new life and its full expression.
It is the natural life which obstructs the course of the divine life.
Thus what has been done for us has to be done in us, and as it is done in us that life becomes more than a deposit, more than a simple, though glorious possession; it becomes a deepening, growing power, a fulness of expression. -T.
You may have been in the fires and have been having a pretty hard and painful time in your spiritual life, but that only means that God has been preparing you for something more.
Lying Influences
Circumstances of life and wickedness in the world may seem to scream the reverse, but you must never base your faith in Christ Jesus on your feelings – nor must you allow the circumstances of life to influence your trust in God.
Paul’s Words
Given the facts of their high character and destiny as saints Paul says; ‘I therefore … beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called’ Ephesians 4:1 Let us cease laying down to the saints long lists of ‘conditions’ of entering into the blessed life in Christ; and instead, as the primal preparation for leading them into the experience of this life, show them what their position, possessions, and privileges in Christ already are.
And the result of the work of Christ’s cross, and as the grand issue of His resurrection... eternal life is received already by those who believe.
But while that life is itself victorious, incorruptible, indestructible, the believer has to come by faith to prove it, to live by it, to learn its laws, to be conformed to it.
But the course of spiritual experience, of spiritual life, is to discover, to appropriate, and to live by all that the life represents and means.
When Christ is in the centre of our life – appropriating scriptural truths is simple.
Let us wait until we know His pattern for our life lest, in our impatience, we seek to throw aside the very things permitted of Him to fit us for some special service in His vineyard.
In a somewhat extended life and ministry, again and again I have seen dear people of God who were out in the open going on with the Lord in the liberty of the Spirit with great promise and then theye been caught in some sm.They simply are helpless to escape themselves from the tenets of that sm.Again and again Ie seen it!
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved, is the Bible’s clear instruction, for there can be little or no stability in the Christian life when this truth is doubted – but until this is resolved in a believer’s heart there can be little spiritual growth.
Eternal Life
God, the Son, tells us that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will have eternal life.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.
Many Christians keep themselves in a perpetual foment through hoping they will get into a situation where they can enjoy a better (and easier) Christian life.
It has not dawned upon them that at the heart of these very circumstances they are to find the Lord Jesus, find His grace sufficient, find the life more abundant. -L.E.M.
And I, in my nothingness, had ceased to look for good in myself, and began tasting the deep joy of being in Christ, and free to have Him as my Object; while as to life, I entered in some degree into the blessedness of knowing that it was not I, but Christ liveth in me.' -C.A.C.
The Holy Spirit gives a living knowledge; His light is the light of life; He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.' We see the Father and the Son as seeing us.
You have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
Christ is your life.
We are very often inclined to think that the Life of the Lord in us needs in some way to be improved, to be added to, when really what is required is that we should discover what we have, and, discovering it by experience, live according to it.
This Life is not something apart from the Lord Jesus, and we can never think of His standing in need of some improvement, nor of the possibility of something being added to Him to make Him complete, or more complete.
And this Life is one with Himself.
As the Apostle says, it is Christ who is our Life, and our need is to discover what Christ is in us, and to live accordingly.
So in a very real sense it is a matter of the Life getting more of us, rather than of our getting more of the Life.
We are left in this world, and it is in this world where death reigns and works as a great energy that we, by this sovereign ordering of God, have to come to prove the values of the Life which has been deposited in us, and to discover its potentialities.
It therefore resolves itself into battle between that which is in this world and the Life which is in the believer.
It is the battle for Life, not as to the forfeiture of that Life not as to whether death can take eternal Life away from us, for that is not the question at issue but as to the triumphant expression and the full manifestation of the power of that Life.
But He has a further work to achieve in your life, not for the moment but for eternity, and delay is one of the many ways the Lord uses to correct and train and perfect us.
I know not what He seeks to correct and train and perfect in your life, but I must ask Him to search my heart to discover what needs to be changed in me.
– Do You see any rebellion in me – as in my independence as I seek to go it alone? Do You see any areas in my life that you choose to sever with Your holy scalpel? Do You have areas in my life that You desire to perfect? Do You see an area in me that needs to be conformed into the image of Jesus?”
The Real Christian Life
How easy it is for us to misrepresent the Christian life. How easy to imply that life is filled with joy with no place for sorrow.
Fires of Suffering
If the understanding love of the Lord is to be shed abroad through your mean life; if you long for patience of spirit and humility of heart, you must needs be tried in the fires of suffering.
They are heated seven times hotter… where not only life’s little actions and the words of your mouth are scrutinised by Purity’s eyes of refining flame, but thoughts of the mind and motives of the heart are squeezed through His mangle of purification.
His life’s walk established the basis and nature of His permanent work among men.
Physical Representatives
The Church, which is His Body, is the only physical representation of God on earth today, and God has chosen the Church, in Him, before the foundation of the world.” While the Lord Jesus was on earth, we read many stories of His life and His work.
The Church is His eyes and ears; His hands and His feet; His heart and His life… just as our own physical bodies stand in relation to our own inner beings.
This truth is insightful to us, as it reaches the root of all matters of life and service..
In the unfolding law of His own life Christ laid great emphasis on this one point: that the word He spoke and the things He did were not out of Himself: I do nothing of Myself; but as my Father hath taught Me, I speak these things. John 8:28.
Christ – The Head
This was a non-negotiable in His life but is not always so in the life of the believer: The Son can do nothing out of Himself, but only as He sees the Father doing.” John 5:19.
Thus the law of an effective and life, service, and prayer is a oneness with Him – a oneness with Jesus - a oneness with Christ, that we only do, but surely do what He does.
Oneness with Christ
T.Austin Sparks puts it this way: “Our life and prayers must be that of the Lord, prayed in us and through us, by the Holy Spirit.
I’ll stay where You’ve put me; I’ll work, dear Lord,Though the field be narrow and small,And the ground be fallow, and the stones lie thick,And there seems to be no life at all.The field is Thine own, only give me the seed,I’ll sow it with never a fear;I’ll till the dry soil while I wait for the rain,And rejoice when the green blades appear; I’ll work where You’ve put me.
I’ll stay where You’ve put me; I will, dear Lord;I’ll bear the day’s burden and heat,Always trusting Thee fully; when even has comeI’ll lay heavy sheaves at Thy feet.And then, when my earth work is ended and done,In the light of eternity’s glow,Life’s record all closed, I surely shall findIt was better to stay than to go; I’ll stay where You’ve put me.
Man’s 2 Natures
As children of God we were given a new life in Christ – a baby life that needs to grow. Our life should be a fruitful, victorious life that matures into a spiritual believer – a life submitted to the Spirit, so it may be conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus. But we still have a sin nature that seeks to gain supremacy over our new Christ-life. We were freed from its power over us, at the cross, but it remains our deadly enemy.
And for the rest of our life on earth a tug of war exists between these two rivals.
2 Opposing Natures
The more we feed one of these two bitterly opposing natures, the more it grows and develops – and the stronger it becomes the greater its capacity for good or for evil. The new life in Christ, we received at salvation, is the very life of Jesus Christ, that was breathed into us by God’s Spirit, so we could grow in grace and spiritually mature.
Old Nature and New Life
The old sin nature we received from Adam is at enmity with God and kept us in bondage and condemnation, but it was crucified with Christ, and its power was severed at the cross – freeing us forever from the bondage of sin and death.This new life in Christ is His sinless life – which was imparted into our very beings. The old sin nature is our terrible Adamic heritage – which keeps us in bondage to sin. Unsaved men can only function under the power of the old sin nature, and whatever they do, whether good or ill, is worthy of nothing more than God’s utter condemnation.
New Life in Christ
The new life in Christ should be nurtured, while the old sin nature must be subdued, and though all Christians are positionally sanctified, (set apart unto God), we must also grow in our Christian life to be practically sanctified – and it’s all by grace. Whether we are talking about our sanctified position or the sanctifying process that continues throughout life – our spiritual growth, our growing in grace, our maturing in the faith and the good works that God has prepared for us to do, are ALL by grace.
Put Off the Old
Paul tells us that to be practically sanctified as we journey through life, we must put off the old man and put on the new man – and we are not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but we are to be changed – transformed, by the renewing of our minds.
In this way the new life in Christ will have a chance to grow and mature, and gradually be conformed into the image and likeness of the Lord Jesus. If we ignore the clear guidance in scripture on how to live a spiritual life, that’s pleasing to God, and submit to the old sin nature, we place ourselves back under the bondage of law.
Put on the New
Let us put to death the deeds of the body, so our new life in Christ can grow: for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. Let us not copy the behaviours and customs of this world, but rather let us submit to the Spirit, so that God can transform us into a new person..
The second Man is the Lord from heaven, a life-giving spirit. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.
And through Whom a new creation was formed – by Whom new creatures are born from above into newness of life. The former race bore the marks of its origin – fallen Adam. The new race is to bear the marks of its Founder and Fount – the last Adam; the Lord from Heaven; The Son of God and Son of Man.
for God, in the eternal council chambers of His Divine Wisdom, ordained it to be so – so that whosoever believes on this Man should not perish but have everlasting life – so that whosoever will “Behold the Man” – will live.
Light of Christ
The light of Christ has been given to every single man who has entered the world. Not one member of the human race has ever been excluded from God’s gracious gift. Though now crowned with glory and great honour, Jesus tasted death for everyone. By God’s grace alone every man and woman has an opportunity to receive eternal life.
Chasm of Unbelief
Eternal life is one of many gifts that’s bestowed on all who believe in God’s Son, BUT ALL who reject the gift of grace are eternally separated from God – due to unbelief. There is a huge chasm between the two – which can only be crossed by faith.
Eternal Life
This is eternal life that they might know Thee – the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. It is that simple, and yet how many reject God’s grace. The shocking reason that men turn their back on God’s free and gracious gift of salvation is wrapped up in the notion that man can produce his own righteousness.
Death or Life
But self-righteousness comes from the LAW and is a ministration of DEATH.
Christ’s righteousness comes from GRACE and is the ministration of LIFE.
Eternal life is the gift of God to all who believe – and grace upon grace is our portion.
Grace of God
Let us carefully consider the immensity of the grace of God towards all who believe. Let us never take for granted the enormity of the life we have received – by grace.
By Believing
John wrote his gospel so that we might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God – and that by believing we might have life, but he NEVER uses the word ‘repentance’. Paul in his letter to the Romans gives step-by-step instructions on how we are justified, sanctified and glorified by grace, through faith – but only uses the word ‘repentance’ a couple of times..
True Friend
A true friend will help to hone and improve your life. A friend that sticks closer than a brother will help to put an edge on your life. Such a friend will make you sharper as a person and help to prevent a fall.
He may use a life experience; a verse of scripture; a thought in the conscience.
He says, I am time and eternity all in a moment, and you need not accept anything in the matter of time; you accept Me, and you may be well-nigh dead in the morning and be very much alive before the day is over. 'I am the resurrection and the life.' Mary said, i>I know that He will rise again in the last day.For her resurrection was a matter of time.
We are dealing with God, and He is not bound by anything that is known to our human life at all.
The mighty deeds' may mean the greater works,' but death-fellowship means much fruit.' You might toil all your life, and only do so much, even with the wonderful deeds; but if you are willing to die with Him there will be effortless multiplication.
An increasing number of the Lord's people are seeking to enjoy the power of the Lord Jesus' life by accepting the fact of their union in His death as expressed by Paul, That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death' (Phil. 3:10).
We died with Him, but most of us are not being conformed to His death and hence are not like Him in life. -L.L.L.
In the measure that one dies to the old, in the same measure does one experience life in the New.
Men and women who were removed from the law of condemnation to that of liberty and life, had willingly returned to the old ways of death, despite Paul being their teacher.
Now this truth from God is a simple fact of our Christian life, but sadly many Christian revert to the old ways of the law – saved by grace through faith but living under law.
Each member of the body has his own work to do for the benefit of the whole, and the Spirit provides us with all that we need to carry out His work in our life.
And throughout our life, we will grow and mature..
Life of Christ
Every member of the body has Christ’s life imparted to them, by the Spirit of God.
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him, Who called us by His own glory and goodness. 2 Peter 1:3
Should we not examine our hearts in humility to see if we are living His life in us?
This is true Christianity-the heart drawn off things here, and lovingly occupied with the One who is our Christian life.”
Who does not know of this second stage of the Christian life, at first so painful, so humiliating, and filling the soul with perplexity?
It is thus that we learn that the Spirit who has renewed our spirit must also sustain our new life; that we depend entirely on divine grace and strength, not merely to bring us to the Lord Jesus, but to keep us abiding in Him where He is.” -A.M.
The whole purpose of salvation is that men and women may grow in the deeper stable characteristics of the Christian life - that they might be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. -G.D.
The Christian life is not merely a converted life nor even a consecrated life, but it is the Christ-life.
This is what constitutes spirituality - this is what makes a life or service spiritual: it is the drawing upon heavenly resources, living the life as out from heaven.
That constitutes a spiritual life and a spiritual walk.
Everything is so utterly from above - and so utterly not from man - that the life or work becomes spiritual as a consequence.
Jesus said, ” I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.John 6:51
Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life..John 10:10
Food for the Human Heart
No bread that is grown on earth will furnish food for the human heart. No nourishment for the body can suffice the deep need of the believer’s soul. Jesus alone can satisfy the longings and desires of the hungry man, for He is the Bread of LIFE.
“I Am that Bread of Life” said Jesus, “come to Me and you will never hunger.” How is Christ the Bread of Life?
Man’s Deep Need
Another deep craving of the believer is HOLINESS. There is no art or make-up that can restore the human soul to moral beauty. No restoration can restore to original nobleness, a soul ravaged by the fires of life: there is none righteous, no, not one.
Man’s Need of Acceptance
Satan has robbed many believers of their full ASSURANCE of eternal salvation, and many crave for reassurance of spiritual life here and eternal life to come. Many seek through good works and spiritual activity to confirm their acceptance..
but Jesus is the Life and the Way and the Truth and He alone can suffice.
Jesus has given those who believe Life – and Life more abundantly.
Hungering for more of the Bread of Life is a most blessed thing.
Thirsting for the Water of Life is a favoured state, and both will be satisfied.
How often we have murmured under trial only to see later the preparation of the Lord Jesus of our hearts that we might be His ministers of comfort in an hour of need in the life of another (2 Cor. 1:4).
Life, power, blessing, deliverance for others - and nothing for thyself, but to lie in the will of the Father, and accept from His hand all that He pleases to permit to come upon thee.
If there has been dependence upon orders, churches, systems, even meetings and conferences, the many things which in themselves are looked to as the means of support of the Christian life, when they are gone, broken, the question will be, How much of Christ is here?
No Christ, no Life, nothing to live for, everything gone!
When the life of senses ceased, the outward order came to an end, they had nothing left, they were in despair, and their faith was shattered.
A barren life means barren service, and no amount of self-effort will ever make up for that!Not I, but Christ.' The Lord Jesus does not ask that we should work for Him, but He intends to work through us.
The one ends in futility and disappointment; the other in life, progress, and joy.
In the one I slave and work worthily for Him, and constantly feel the barrenness of a busy life; in the other I let His life flow through me in all His glorious effortlessness, and rest in the assurance that the Lord Jesus at work cannot fail.
The one is a life of endeavor, always being keyed up to do something greater; the other is a life of faith always looking to the Lord Jesus to reveal the next step and then give the enablement to carry it out. -H.G.
Each divinely convicted sinner knows death and judgment are sin’s inevitable reward. Nothing but the spilt blood of Another can alter that destiny and can accomplish life.
Life in the Blood
Blood and fat, in type set forth the life and the inherent excellency of the Lord.
Physical life is in the blood.
Spiritual life is only found in the blood of Christ.
Jesus said: I am come that they might have life….
This is life and this is health and this is peace to the soul.
It is the self-centred life verses the Christ-centred life.
The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2). ...hath made me free....' Let me walk in it; let me enjoy it, and I am free.
They may have had their businesses, their trades, their professions, their different walks of life and occupations in the world, but they had one all-dominating thought, concern and interest Christ.
After all, nine-tenths of all our troubles can be traced to the fact that we have other personal interests influencing us, governing us and controlling us other aspects of life than Christ.
It is the triumph of Christ over the life.
Shall we ask the Lord for that life captivation of His beloved Son?
All through his life, Jacob was identified by God as His chosen son, but for much of his life Jacob determined to do things his own way and not God’s way.
God’s Blessing
And yet Jacob shrewdly schemed and cleverly planned his way through life.
Jacob had fought his way though life..
Jacob had fought his way through life with his brother Esau.
Jacob had fought his way though life with his uncle, Laban.
And through his life, God blessed Jacob in many ways and Jacob prospered.
Jacob sought God for a blessing, a paltry, little, insignificant, pathetic, blessing: Save me and my family, save me from the wrath of my worldly brother, who seeks my life.
Bless me in this life.
All Jacob sought that dark night was a mess of pottage in his journey across his earthly life.
All Jacob bothered about was blessings in this earthly life….
God had to be given His rightful position in Jacob’s life.
That night, Jacob became insignificant in his own eyes for the rest of his life.
Salvation by grace through faith is certainly the most wonderful news that any sinner can be told but the Christian life is not an easy path to tread and all too frequently suffering and pain comes in its wake.
Difficulties and trials are inevitable as we travel through life, but how important for Christians to understand the cause of sin, the effects of sin, the consequences of sin and how to live godly in Christ Jesus.
Victory of Defeat
We all delight in the wonderful news that all our sins have been forgiven, past present and future, and rightly so – but new believers should also be trained up in the Christian life and understand about post-salvation sins, and all to often they can affect our relationship to God and our fellowship with Him.
If the reality of the Christian life is not understood, believers can all too often become spiritually defeated – because they never learned the truth.
Difficulty and disappointments are integral to the believer’s world, but in Christ, we have been supplied with all we need to live a godly life and we are even exhorted to be joyful in our sufferings.
A Sin Check
Suffering and pain is indeed a reality but sin is also a reality in a believer’s life.
And although the power sin has been severed in our life, and we have been given a new live in Christ, believers still commit sins and although forgiven through the blood of the Lamb, often have consequences to face.
How important to know that sin in the life of a believer has consequences and how to address them
A believers’ sin of stealing is forgiven, but may result in the loss of a friend’s trust, but most serious of all is that any sin in our life puts us out of fellowship with the Father – eternally saved but devoid of communion with God.
Christ-Centred
There is nothing more simple than a life that has Christ at the centre.
There is nothing more beautiful than a life that has Jesus as its focus.
There is nothing more purposeful than a life that concentrates on Christ.
There is nothing more needful than a life that simply rests in Christ Jesus.
A life with Him as central is a life that’s simple, beautiful, purposeful, and needful.
Purposeful Plan
When Christ is central, all the stresses and strains of life are shared with Him. When Christ is central, all the beauty of His perfection is reflected in His servant. When Christ is central, all divine resources are ours to use for His praise and glory. When Christ is central, our selfishness will be exchanged for God’s purposeful plan.
Pattern for Humanity
The simple, beautiful, purposeful portrait of Christ is God’s pattern for humanity, but fallen man in his own selfish cocoon fails miserably to copy His perfect standard – for fallen man in His own foolish pride tries to live the 'Christ-life' in his own strength.
but it is not achieved by changing our nature but by exchanging our self-life for His.
When Christ is central life becomes simple, beautiful, purposeful, and fruitful.
Spiritual Walk
A life with Christ as central is a life that abides in Him; rests in Him; trusts Him.
The fruit of a life that looks to Christ in all things is one that walks as He walked. And Christ walked in spirit and truth by obediently listening to the Father’s voice. Christ lived a life in submission to the Holy Spirit – He lived a spiritual life.
Central Focus
Christ lived a simple, beautiful, purposeful life... with His Father as His central focus..
and we can live a simple, beautiful, purposeful, spiritual life when Christ is central.
Everything we need to live a Christocentric life is found exclusively in Christ, and we have been given the heavenly riches of God’s grace for we are in Christ.
All the resources we need to live a godly life, pleasing to God are given us in Christ.
When we abide in Christ, we have simply appropriated the riches of God’s grace – and the end result is a simple, beautiful, purposeful life that keeps Jesus central.
The believer that keeps Christ central to life is the one that walks in spirit and truth.
That Christian is Christocentric, because he abides in Him and walks like Christ – he lives a spiritual Christian life that is pleasing to God. He is a spiritual believer.
That Christian is not Christocentric and doesn’t abide in Him, nor walk like Him – he lives a carnal Christian life that is not pleasing to God. He is a carnal believer.
Abiding in Christ
Both have been endowed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places – in Christ.. but only one is abiding in Christ and living the Christ-life – the spiritual man. Only one has appropriated their heavenly portion, which is theirs in Christ..
Purposeful Life
There is nothing more simple than a life that has Christ as its centre.
There is nothing more beautiful than a life that has Jesus as its focus.
There is nothing more purposeful than a life that concentrates on Christ.
There is nothing more needful than a life that simply rests in Christ Jesus – and a life with Him as central, is a life that’s simple, beautiful, purposeful, and fruitful.
Young Jesus
From Bethlehem’s crude stable to His temporary sojourn in Egypt, little is known of Jesus, other than that the death of Christ was Satan’s evil plan from the start of His life.
Sinless Life
Oh, there are many false and spurious legends that have grown up surrounding the early life of the Lord, with untrue and foolish stories of childhood miracles He did – but all are erroneous and blasphemous and are the product of a vivid imagination. But what we do know is that the Boy Jesus lived a sinless life, which is equally true of the many silent years of His childhood as it is of His three intense years of ministry, for He was God and He was Man – not just for 3 years but throughout His whole life.
Lord and God
He was not permitted to forego the painful growth from childhood into adulthood, nor was He exempt from the hardships that accompanied His simple life in Nazareth. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Life of Contempt
His could not have been an easy life, being the oldest in a family of brothers and sisters, and His virgin birth brought with it a life of contempt and accusation – for He was considered as the illegitimate offspring of a woman – pregnant before her marriage.
He lived a sinless life in a cursed world, among a race of sinners – to save us from sin.
Unique Person
In one sense the birth and life of the Child Jesus was like any other child, for He was conceived and born into a world of sorrow like any other man and His life was one of toil and poverty.
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
God’s Justice
God in His justice purposed that sin must be punished and the wages of sin is death. But God in His grace so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, to die... so that Christ would identify with man and become the propitiation for our sins – so that all Who believed on His name would not perish but have everlasting life.
Oh, those subtle suggestions that are ever being whispered in our ears, that if we give up this and that we are going to lose, and life is going to be poorer, and we are going to be narrowed down until we have nothing left.
Life must be much less than it need be if you are not going all the way with the Lord; and what obtains in the matter of our consecration to the Lord, our entire and complete abandonment to Him in our life and our complete cut with all that is not of the Lord, obtains in the realm of service.
But a life of dependence upon God can be a life of continual romance.
Then He does it again; and so life becomes a romance; yet no one would ever guess you were depending on the Lord for your very breath.
I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.John 14:6
The mind of man has been deceived into following countless dead-end directions, but God’s Word proclaims the one way – the one truth and the one life, is Christ.
Jesus Himself clearly stated, I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Me.
One Way
There is a need in the life of all mankind for God – for His forgiveness and love, and multiple methods have been designed in an attempt to reach humanity’s goal. But the futility of those that are searching for a bloodless way is tragic and pitiful – for Christ not only told us the Way, but He alone is the Way – the only way to God – and all the questions that are deep in the heart of man have been answered in Him.
God’s Wisdom
There is a need in the life of all mankind for God – for His forgiveness and love, but the true and only God has been swept aside in preference for man’s imaginings. Multiple methods have been designed in an attempt to reach humanity’s goal. God will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders.
If in any way (and we are speaking to the Lord people now, and speaking of the life which we would call the Christian life), or in any measure we areearthbound, it will be in that measure impossible to attain unto God thought, and to know God resources.
Christ is not a second personality or power, to come along to reinforce us, to vivify us, to strengthen us, for us to use in life and in service, and that He should make us something.
The truth is that Christ shall be All, and that we decrease that He may increase; that He should be the primary Personality, and that the impact and registration of any life and any service should not be: What a good man he was!
He charges us not to fear this life, not to fear death nor to fear what is after death. He has His words of comfort in every walk of life - and in every touch of death - and He would have each of His own living fully in Him... full of that perfect love that casts out all fear ... and care..
Adam one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone. (Romans 5:18 NLT)
For them Christianity is a manner of life composed of various rules and regulations.
Life for them has become a strenuous business, fraught with much disappointment and many failures.
So it is that people find the Christian life burdensome; they long to know real victory, true deliverance and the joy of the Lord, whereas they experience the ups and downs of a constant struggle.
The Christian life depicted in the New Testament seems so different from their actual experience that the devil is never slow to pounce in with his suggestions that a life of constant victory is quite impossible, so that all their hopes are but unreal dreams.
But there is an altogether different life, different because it is based on the entering into something already completed in Christ; not something to be attained to but rather that which has already been accomplished.
It is impossible to measure the vast difference between these two kinds of life.
The ground of all this is in thefact that man is a psychical being, and when Satan interferedwith man at the beginning and man consented along the line of hisown soul-life, Satan made man suitable to his own government.
You see what happened when man violated the very organ of his union with God, his spirit.... So the enemy governs man, and the whole of therace now through the nature of the soul-life.
You can have your quiet hour in your soul, which is themost perilous hour of your life.
Wages of Sin
Only a perfect member of the human race was equipped to become man’s Redeemer. The requirement for humanities “kinsman redeemer” was a perfect Man : a sinless life. Adam was made in the image and likeness of God – the created son of the Father, but Adam sinned and lost his inheritance – He forfeited his ruler-ship of the earth. The wages of Adam’s sin were death – death for humanity and separation from God, so death passed to all men, for that all have sinned – and all mankind was condemned.
The new will is a permanent gift, an attribute of the new life in Christ.
It is the one who is conscious of his own utter powerlessness, as a believer, who will learn that by the Spirit alone he can live the Christian life. -A.M.
Oh, that the Spirit might be held in honor as the One to fill us with the very life of our Lord Jesus Christ! -A.M.
What a burden we have taken upon us in relation to the maintenance of our own spiritual life!
We have almost assumed the whole responsibility for our spiritual life, and made it as though it depended upon our labors in prayer, our labors in the Word of God, our labors in the Lord service, our effort, our stress.
No one will think that we have said you must have no care whatever for your spiritual life, but there is such a difference between assuming responsibility for ourselves and recognizing that God has assumed that responsibility.
And then you go out and talk to other people about your prayer life as a kind of setting up against their own.
You may bring the noblest thoughts which ever sprang from a human mind, you may couch them in the most fragrant rhetoric that ever distilled the perfume of literature in the book lover's nostrils and you will not quicken a single pulse of the new and spiritual life.
Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers puts it this way:- a devotee to doctrine does not need to 'think', but a man who is devoted to Christ is obliged to think, and to think every day of his life.
You must be prepared to be utterly, completely, and totally broken before Him, and He will lift you up into newness of your life in Him with His own life in you.
I must now realise that my life is hid with Christ in God, and that He is my life
We were dead and buried with Him in baptism, so that just as He was raised from the dead by that splendid Revelation of the Father's power so we too might rise to life on a new plane altogether.
As to the internal Cross, while not so obvious, it is still a fact that we are to be always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11).
You have a life, and that life is a great trust, a great responsibility.
Will you give your life to God, will you let it go to Him, will you put it on the altar and let the knife be taken that God may have it utterly?
If you will, God will multiply your life, God will extend your life, God will make much more of it than ever it would have been if you had kept it in your own hands.
Have you got something in your life that you are holding on to as a Christian; you are not letting that go to the Lord?
And it simply means that in the Cross of the Lord Jesus, the natural life and the reasoning of the natural life, or the self-life the willing of the self-life, the desiring of the self-life has been cut off by the Cross.
Every expression and aspect of the self-life has been cut through by the Cross and is put in the place where the door is shut.
There is no open door to any expression of the natural life.
Still there is the reasoning and the arguing of the Self, of the natural life.
Scriptural self-Examination
There is a place for Scriptural self-examination in the Christian life.
And our inward personal life also needs the very deepest scrutiny..
this Spirit-led introspection, is the secret of the holy life of many of His saints. No excuses for sins are permitted in the pure presence of the Lord. And while He graciously understands all extenuating circumstances..
Clamour of Life
The world is being rocked by earthquakes and submerged in mud-slides.
and come aside to the fountain of Life and drink deeply of Him.
Come ye yourself apart into a desert place and rest awhile. Come to me, that ye might have life. Come, come, come and follow me. Let him that is athirst, Come. But there are those that He bids to Come … but they will not come.
One resting place is the night-time, where our empty life-fountain can be refilled.
Anxiety of Many
Sadly, in this increasingly dark world, many lives are in a state of unbroken anxiety. Other fret and fume, while others search relentlessly for unachievable answers. To be perfectly at rest amid the hurly-burly of daily life is a secret worth knowing. It is only achieved in a life abandoned to the Lord – a life that trusts His Word. Looking away from the raging world and fixing your eyes upon Jesus. It is achieved by the one that will come to Him – and rest.
It is a divine Life : a divine Love : a divine Rest.
Possibility of Rest
As the Son rested in the love of the Father through His life and death and grave, so the love of Christ is to be our rest in and through this time of turmoil.
And how do we achieve this divine life, this divine love, this divine rest?
Perfect Through Obedience
Understanding that like Christ, we are being prepared, is similarly foundational, and that means that every circumstance of life is used of God for His ultimate good.
Jesus Himself our perfect example was perfected in life – through obedience. Hebrews tells us that by His being made perfect: Jesus became the author of eternal salvation..
And after initial acceptance in Christ, is the 'learning obedience' in life.
All these are vital principles of the Christian life and foundational gospel facts.
One old saint explained the fact of being 'complete in Him', this way:- First, the Lord Jesus is the source of our Christian life – we were born into Him.
This fact enables us to hold still while He patiently works into our character that life of ours which is hid with Christ in God.
and we can rebel or we can submit. We can remain a babe in Christ – OR we can mature in the faith. We can get stuck feeding on the milk of the word – OR we can start to eat strong meat. We can grieve and quench the Spirit’s work in our lives – OR we can grow in grace. All these are vital principles of the Christian life – and all these truths are foundational gospel facts and Jesus is coming back very soon – are you ready?
How much more does our spiritual life require a reliable Source.
God is our patient Teacher, Who is taking our life-time to teach eternal facts.
He uses the natural Adamic-life to instruct us in the spiritual Christ-life and His teaching principle is based on an essential truth – the ‘source‘ rule, which is found in Genesis 1:24: everything after its own kind – flesh after flesh, and spiritual after spiritual.
we walk in newness of life…and you are complete in Him.
FIRST: the Lord Jesus Christ is the source of our Christian life.
Four Steps
This fact allows Him to patiently work His life into our personality, bit by bit.
To form the character of our life – a life that is hid with Christ in God.
He writes: Christ’s resurrection was our resurrection to a life of holiness, just as Adam’s fall was our fall into spiritual death.
And by union with Christ, we partake of that spiritual life that He took possession of for us at His resurrection, and thereby we are enabled to bring forth the fruits of it; as the Scripture showeth us by the similitude of a marriage union.
Birth and Growth
We are not to produce but to receive the life of Christ in our bodies.
Our life is complete in Him.
A tiny cornflower seed embodies the life of a cornflower within its fragile self.
The little seed embodies in full reproduction – of the life from which it came – and we are similarly, complete in Him, and our life is hid with Christ in God.
Development of Life
The development of the divine Life in the believer is like the natural growth in the world of flowers and vegetables.
Whereas most feel that personal weakness is the great hindrance to a sound Christian life, the real tragedy is the astonishing strength of the old man.
Let no one imagine that he can be effectively used in the Lord's service, or even make progress in the Christian life, without some measure of real entrance into the valuable principle: When I am weak, then am I strong' (2 Cor. 12:10).
As the finished work of the Cross is applied to the life by the Holy Spirit, thereby progressively holding the old man in the position of death, the believer is conditioned for the Spirit's fulness.
It is not a surrendered self, but a crucified self that gives the Spirit freedom in the life.
It is Himself which He is seeking to establish as the object of man's life, and not the things that have relation to Himself: and I say again, you meet something intensely fierce if you touch a thing, even though you are touching it maybe with a view to getting people to move on with the Lord Himself.
It is something that threatens your very life, to slay, and this in principle and essence, beloved, is idolatry; because its ultimate effect is that even the Lord cannot have what His heart is set upon and get His people spiritually where He wants them, because they are so bound up with His things.
Chosen by God
The eyes of the Lord had been upon the young Mary for many a year, for she was called and chosen to be His special vessel for His Unique Son. The righteousness of this woman had not gone unnoticed before the Lord, for the eyes of Mary had been upon the Lord for many a year during her short life. Her devotion to God dictated an equal devotion to the Son of His love. Her poverty and lowly state were no barrier to the Lord, for her delight was in the Lord. Indeed, her humility of heart and modest estate was what attracted His attention: for who can find a virtuous woman?
you argue… my life is not like – not like the mother of our Lord.
My life was raised in the gutter and my heart has been bloodied in life’s cruel walk. How?
But shall not the God Who scheduled every day of our life before birth do right? Shall not the One Who knows the number of our hairs do righteously? Shall not the God of all the earth do right by us? Does His hand not lead us into the dungeon’s-doom as well as the mountain-tops?
And yet the restrictions of his environment did not prevent him from being used mightily, by the God to Whom he submitted his life.
Cautionary Tale
A story is told of a king who went into his garden one morning, and found everything withering and dying. He asked the oak that stood near the gate what the trouble was. He found it was sick of life and determined to die – because it wasn’t tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine was all out of heart because it couldn’t bear grapes, like the vine. The vine was going to throw its life away because it couldn’t stand erect and have as fine fruit as the peach tree. The geranium was fretting because it wasn’t tall and fragrant like the lilac; and so on through all the garden.
Disqualified
Saul didn’t have a teachable spirit, and so his life became one of deepening failure.
He didn’t think God would work in the various ‘life-threatening’ situations he faced and Saul did this repeatedly, and seemed not to understand that God is in control.
Man of God
David was prepared to accept responsibilities for his life – not to blame others. David was prepared to often confess his sins and faults to the Lord..
David was a man after God’s own heart and his life can be summed up this way:
David knew that God determines life’s purposes, not our own selfish ambitions.
Second -
SECOND: David never questioned that the Lord was in sovereign control of his life.
Ours is the choice - not I, but Christ (Gal. 2:20); His is the work, for He is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:2).
The great secret of the Christian life is found in ceasing from self, in which the power of the Cross manifests itself in us.
We all know how our Lord Jesus, ere He could receive the new life from the Father in glory, and the gift of the Holy Spirit through whom He could impart His life to His people, had first to give up the life He lived upon earth.
His death on the Cross was indispensable to the life of the Spirit.
As we yield ourselves to be united with Him in the likeness of His death, we can share with Him in the glory and power of the life of the Spirit.
The soul that understands that the death to self is in Christ the gate to true life, is in the right way to learn what and who the Holy Spirit is. -A.M.
Put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man (Eph. 4:22, ASV).
The flesh need not be an ugly form of life, indeed it can be apparently very nice, but it is alien to this new life in the Spirit.
It belongs to another race; it is not the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we are told that the Holy Spirit is in open conflict against the self-life (Gal. 5:17).
He will not quietly accept this rival to the rule of Christ, so He stands, with His great weapon of the Cross, to render inoperative everything which is a menace to the life of Christ in us.
True spiritual leadership involves this principle: Death working in me works life in you (2 Cor. 4:12, Cony.).
A bridge means something - generally a life laid down.
The very simplest bridge, a plank thrown across a stream, was once part of a tree standing erect, sapping life from the earth, and beautifying all the area around it.
This is the problem of teaching the identification' truths without the consequent conformity of death which brings forth life.
That delivery unto death' must become deeper and deeper, until the conformity to His death' in the path of the Cross becomes a very real characteristic of the life.
the one that can watch the dried brook and trust in God’s unfailing faithfulness; the one that holds an empty cruise of oil and yet believes in God’s provision; the one that stands by the Red Sea’s raging waters and expects his deliverance; the one whose barren womb can spring forth with life, by faith – the one who amidst the flooding tsunamis of life, can simply rest in His love. How blessed the one that is not living at crossed purposes with the purpose of God.
All Circumstances
God uses all life’s circumstances, including years of carnality, to perfect His saints. Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Child Training
Blessed is the man who endures Satan’s temptation. Blessed is the man who endures God’s testings – (for the temptations of Satan are used by God in His child training). So blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
His life was also developed and honed and made perfect through suffering.
God’s Purpose
God’s plans and purposes for humanity are continuing to be played out. God is not mocked and His purpose for your life will reach its goal. And this is the will and the purpose of God:- even Your sanctification. 1 Thes.4:3 This is the will, of God concerning you that in everything give thanks 1Thes.5:18 This is the purpose of God..
Each cross-road is today, and each ‘today‘ is on the continuum of your life’s journey.
You stand on the apex of your life-journey and stare into an unpredictable way..
He Will Not Fail
Remember, I scheduled each day of your life – as may be best for you.
As you stand at the cross-roads of your life, you have a glorious assurance..
He Knows You
When you stand at the cross-roads of your life..
And the life…(the new life ~ which is Christ in me and I in Him) … the life, which I now live in the flesh.. (my natural physical body) – I live by the faith of the Son of God – Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.Galatians 2:20
Crucified Life
In writing this verse Paul is stating what should be true in the life of all believers. This should not be seen as an unattainable hope, but as the norm of all Christians. This is not something to strive for but something that we should accept in essence, but the life that is lived by most believers is not the life that God wants us to live. The Christian life should be a crucified life – until it is no longer I – but Christ.
Normal Christian Life
To have Christ living in me and I in Him is what the Christian life is all about. It is a mirror of the life that flows between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father, Just as You are in Me and I am in You, were the words that fell from His lips.
Only Christian Life
Many see this as heady heights of Christianity – reserved for the very few.
Yet in fact, this is the normal life that the Spirit desires that all believers attain.
This is the standard Christian life, that Paul outlines in so many of his epistles.
The Shed Blood
Christ went to the cross not only to die for our sins – but to die unto SIN. His blood not only to paid the price FOR sin but it also broke the power OF sin in us. Many do not appreciate that Christ’s cross dealt with more than forgiven sins. The shed blood of Christ also gave us victory over the power of sin in our life,
We were 'in Christ' when He died and so His righteousness is imputed to us. Christ not only paid the price for our sins but He also broke sin’s power within our life.
Biblical Truths
Christ died FOR us – He died as our substitute – He paid the full price for all our sins. We died WITH Christ – we are identified with Him – He broke the power of sin in us. Substitutionary truths are linked with our birth from above – we are saved by grace. Identification truths are linked with growth in the Christian life – we grow by grace.
We are saved by grace, which is the gift of God – and all we do is believe. Our Christian life is also designed such that our works can contribute nothing.
Willing Victim
Christ died instead of us for our forgiveness – He lives instead of us for our deliverance. When we start to see the significance of the fuller cross – it produces liberty in life.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.
We must face the fact and we must seek help from God always to bear in mind that we are going to have a path of suffering if we are in fellowship with the Lord Jesus.... There has to come a point when we sit down and do some calculating and come to a definite conclusion on this matter that, although very often we may not be able to see that our suffering is because of our relationship to Him (the sufferings are so manifold and diverse, and very often they look as though they have no relationship at all with our Christian life) at the same time, whether we can discern it or not; the fact remains that the pathway of the child of God, of the fellow of Jesus Christ, is the pathway of suffering.
Has that first flush of fervour faded as you trudged the walk of life’s weary wilderness?
Earthly Struggle
Peter preferred the transfiguration mount to the toils and struggles of earthly life.
Faithful Endurance
But do not lose heart, and do not be disobedient to the heavenly vision” of former days…”but be thou faithful even to the point of death, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Rev.2:10. Be faithful… not only to the point of physical death... but to the death of Self – death of the old sin-nature itself.
to die to the self-life. We are told die to the fleshly, carnal life of nature..
the life of the first Adam.
Christ Life
To die to self (to die to the self-life) we must discover it is not I..
But to know the Lord, we must first come to know the self-life.
We must first recognise the self-life – to understand what it truly is.
death to all that is self : always delivered unto death. 2Cor.4:11. Then, Christ’s life..
that the life of Christ might be manifested in me.” Col.3:4
New Life
Resurrection arises from death..
His risen life, His new life – not my amended old life.
It is not a resurrection of my old life..
my amended, improved old self-life.
The old sinful life comes from the first Adamic birth – Self.
His risen new life comes from the second spiritual birth, in Christ Attempts to amend my old life is to deny that I am nothing.
It’s amending self, seeking to change the old Adam life into the new Christ life.
His Life
But elements start to pull us back to self..
We learn that “Christ’s life” is not a reformed self, but His new life.
We learn that “Christ’s life” comes through heartbreak..
Failure
Until we recognise the deadly sin-life for what it is, our walk will fail. It is not “self” – that can be improved through introspection and trying. It is not “I” that can live a holy life by trying to improve the old self….
End of Self
It is when Self is identified as irreparably damaged and incapable of improvement, that we are brought to the end of our self-life and cry out at long last. Self must no longer have sway in my life, for it is not the “old I” but the “new life in Christ” that lives – and it must only be Christ.
Newness of Life
When Christ died on the cross, our old sin nature was identified with Christ’s death.
The righteousness of Christ is imputed to us – in our new life in Christ, for Christ is the power of God and that power has raised us up into newness of life.
Baptism INTO Death
Therefore, we have been buried with Him through baptism INTO death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Baptism INTO Life
For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection - knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. S0…..
We speak much about the upward side of things, life in the heavenlies, sitting in the heavenlies, and our warfare and work the fruitfulness of our life in union with the Lord.
So that the Holy Spirit's way with us is to bring us into living, actual conditions and situations, and needs, in which only some fresh knowledge of the Lord Jesus can be our deliverance, our salvation, our life, and then to give us, not a revelation of truth, but a revelation of the Person, new knowledge of the Person, that we come to see Christ in some way that just meets our need.
And only then do we find that we have learned the lesson of faith; to find our tiny craft of life rushing onward to a blessed life of fruitfulness and service undreamt of in the days of our fleshly strength and self-reliance.
There is something here much more than typology interpreted and the interpretation accepted as to salvation from sin and judgment; it is the essential and indispensable heavenly relatedness and life of the Lord's people as inwardly detached from the natural life even in a religious sense.
All progress, as all life, rests upon that knowing Him.
The Christian life here is meant to be one of continuous growth and development and progress, but that only takes place as we come to know more, and still more, of the meaning of the Lord Jesus.
Stagnation is no mark of Life, and Life there will be ever manifesting itself in new and more wonderful fullnesses and forms.
There the believer shared the death of the Lord Jesus; for when he became a believer, the life he received was life in Christ, that is, life out of death, resurrection life, newness of life'; and the relation to sin and the law which Christ had, became those of the believer!
If we seek to escape the death, we will not experience the life.
It is a criminal worthy of death, but the trouble is that they do not realize that this self-life has been crucified on the Cross.
The constant tendency is to try to improve the manner of one's life here below by adopting Christian principles, whereas you will never arrive at it unless you start from crucified with Christ.' Then it is not thinking of what I am, but of what He is, Christ liveth in me.' -J.B.S.
Fullness of Life
I am sure all true believers in Christ want to come into a vital relationship with God.
I am sure all born-again Christians long to know the fullness of Christ’s life within.
I am sure many in the church of Christ long to be effective in their service to Him, but fullness of life and service in the inner man is birthed from Christ’s imputed life.. and for a believer to live in newness of life in Christ – he first must die on the cross.
First, his self-life must remain crucified on the cross of Christ – until He lives in me.
Christ’s New Life
Being made in the image of God means we are made up of spirit, soul, and body.
The old sin nature of the old life in Adam must die, so that Christ’s new life can live. I assure you: unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself – but if it dies, it produces a large crop.
Sacrificial Reproduction
Individually and corporately the church is an organism that is to grow and multiply, but like every living thing, reproduction is sacrificial. Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it produces a large crop and a lot of grain. God’s law of increase is first, sacrifice – God’s law of life is first, death.
The Lord Jesus Christ shows us the nub of this principle within His own godly life.
He was the first single and singular seed of wheat to fall into the ground and die, for without His death there would have been no resurrection of the dead – and without His resurrection, there would be no newness of life for you or me.
Imparted Life
The risen life of Christ is to be the inner experience of all that are born from above. The resurrected life of Jesus is to be the vital expression of the Christian’s new life. Because Christ rose from the dead His risen life is imparted to all who trust in Him.
The fruit of Christ’s death and resurrection is manifested in the life of all believers.
Resurrected Life
The glory of the risen Christ is His life reproduced in all who are in Him.
Heavenly Abundance
We should all desire to know Christ’s resurrection power in our own life, for because He died we too have life, eternal life – HIS life more abundantly. But the path to the cross was strewn with suffering and sadness – pain and sorrow - but unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains alone.
But because Christ died, His resurrection-life has produced heavenly abundance.
Spirit and Truth
The risen life of the Lord Jesus is to be the same risen life indwelling each of us... living life in submission to the Spirit – a life that says, Thy will not mine be done.
The life of Christ, in the believer, is to be a reproduction of the life He Himself lived – a life that walked in spirit and truth – a life that learned obedience through suffering.
Catalyst for Life
The death that He died was the catalyst for the life that we live – in Him: for we know that our old self was crucified with Him.. so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with – that we should no longer be slaves to sin.
Law of Reproduction
We have been raised to newness of life through the death and resurrection of Christ, and the law of reproduction dictates that we too must fall into the ground and die: for unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains by itself.
One Lone Voice
When the fluency and eloquence of poetic utterances about God is hushed.. when the extravagant tints of religious art have been stopped… when the last harmonic strains of musical praise drift into silence – there is one lone voice that remains: I am the way and the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.
So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but under [obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life] (Rom. 7:6, Amp.).
The Lord Jesus has poured out His blessed Spirit that we believers, while on earth, might walk in that spirit of life and liberty that prevails in heaven where Christ is.
For He lives the same life of blessed freedom from bondage, and of joyful service to God, within us by His Spirit, as He does seated in a body, in heaven before God His Father. -W.R.N.
Storms of Life
When the storms of life and the pain and difficulties of life appear to overwhelm us..
Chastening
Do not resist the difficulties and trials that He brings into your life.
Knowing that those He loves He 'chastens' or trains, as they crucify the self-life, and enthrone Him alone.
Thy will not mine be done in my life.
O Love that wilt not let me go,I rest my weary soul in thee;I give thee back the life I owe,That in Thine ocean depths its flow –May richer, fuller be.
O Cross that liftest up my head,I dare not ask to fly from thee;I lay in dust life’s glory dead,And from the ground there blossoms red –Life, that shall endless be.
Paul’s Epistles
Paul’s epistles give us much to rejoice our heart, for we are positioned in Christ. We are seated with Him in heavenly places and have been endowed with eternal life. We have become children of God, joint-heirs with Christ and in-dwelt by the Spirit.
Their life was to be lived in entire dependence upon God and not on self or others. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him. Colossians 2:6
Pressures and problems of life routinely contribute towards this sorry state, yet the scripture indicates a deeper and more insidious reason for this famine.
It will be this natural life of ours cropping up in some direction or another, and as it crops up it will cut clean in between us and the all things which are of God, and we shall find that it is ourself which brings us up short, which creates the arrest.... If we look withinourselves to find more good, we are going to look in vain.
Why such spiritual infancy? Why is there such a dearth of spiritual perception – a deficiency of discernment? Why are there so many that live out their Christian life in spiritual infancy?
Fruit of Christ
The natural life with its many preponderances must be laid underneath His grace. The self-life must die, so that our soul may be purged and sweetened in His... until its temperament, disposition and constitution is transformed into His likeness..
until the fruit of Christ; which He desires in all His own become a lasting reality - until I am nothing in my life – and He is all and He is everything.
Early Life
In the first flush of the Christian journey, the saved saint rejoices in God his Saviour, and God’s grace is experienced as prayers are answered and love starts to bud. And the believer’s early path becomes a way of joyful expectation and euphoric bliss..
Establishing Life
God established His principle – that new converts must grow and mature.
As the old but sombre adage goes:- you advance or retreat in the Christian life, but you never stand still.
Christian Life
Have your years of waiting been a waste of time?
For whatever your life-situation – God is using it to establish your need of Him.
Whatever your life-situation, God is using it to establish your need of Him.
God is using all life’s situations..
It means dying to the self-life which as Moses found can be very painful.
God has set eternity in the heart of man, and this is eternal life..
But it means a dying to the self-life, which as Moses found – can be very painful.
Growing In Grace - STUDY
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.John 5:24
Instability Issue
Understanding eternal security is crucial to healthy Christian living, for doubting this truth causes instability in a believer’s life.
Jesus Himself reassures His children: I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
His deity equipped the Son of God to be good enough to pay the ransom price for the sin of world – but only His humanity qualified the Son of Man to become our kinsman-Redeemer, so that He could pour out His life-blood at Calvary, as the one and only perfect human Sacrifice for sin – the Sin Offering. Not only was He the perfect sacrifice that went to the cross as an obedient Son in submission to His Father – but He willingly walked the way of the cross for the depth of love He had for His Father.
His life was a living sacrifice that was pleasing to the Father – and so He was raised up to become our perfect High Priest, Who ever lives to make intercession for us all.
The federal head of mankind was a body of clay that had been fashioned out of the dust of the earth by the hand of God – into which the Spirit of God had breathed the life-breath of God..
Just as the whole human race was imputed with the sin of the first man Adam – so also those that have trusted Jesus as Saviour have the new-life of Christ breathed into them by the Spirit of God – and they are imputed with His righteousness.
Second Man
Just as sin entered the world through the disobedience of one man, and death came through sin, causing condemnation and separation from God to be the inherited status of all people – so also redemption came to the world through the obedience of one Man, resulting in the forgiveness of sins for all humanity – and light and life and hope and peace and renewed fellowship with the Father – to ALL who would believe on His name. It was divine grace that provided a second Adam to redeem the fallen race of man.
He is now the head of a race of redeemed sinners (the last Adam) and He is the ‘second man’ whose heavenly origin sets Him apart from all the men who went before Him – for the first man Adam became a living being – but the last Adam – a Life-giving Spirit.
You may think it is quite fortuitous that you are hearing it just one of the chance happenings of life; but if you knew the truth it is this infinite love of God which has held you to this time in relation to the infinite purposes of that love to let you know it.
The resurrection of Christ deserves our most glorious worship and praise – for by His resurrection He also broke the power of death in the life of the believer.
rather than the glorious surrender of a life, utterly yielded to Him – a life that is truly, totally, and completely broken before the Lord.
Surrendered Life
Praise God for those that focus on the initial surrender of a forgiven sinner, but how crucial that we go on to that glorious surrendered life of a saint.
What is it that prevents us from keeping our focus on this life, yielded in utter surrender?
Anything that comes before the totally surrendered life becomes a hindrance.
Anything that is placed before a life surrendered to Christ becomes an obstacle.
Anything that eclipses a life self-surrender to Christ becomes a legalistic impediment.
What can become such interfering encumbrances in the life of a believer.
We need to check if any such self-effort is leading us away from the crucified life.
What is needed today is not so much a revival as a resurgent form of awakening – the incoming of the tremendous life of God in a new form.
The spiritual cure for triviality, is a new note of greatness born of the realisation of what it cost Jesus to produce His salvation in us – a sanctified life.
a heart that is truly, totally, utterly and completely broken before the Lord – a life that has reached the absolute end of ‘MY-self - to focus upon HIM-self.
Comfort and Care
Exhortation and encouragement is a beautiful aspect of our Christian life. Peter is the apostle that encourages us to care for one another, in Christ. Peter tells us: above all, keep loving one another earnestly, for love covers a multitude of sins. 1Peter 4:8. We should be concerned for the well-being of fellow believers in many ways.
We are to comfort each other and help to underpin each other in life: Exhort yourselves together – Heb.10:25 Comfort one another – 1Thess.4:18 Love one another earnestly. 1Peter.1:22
He utilises the tediousness and tasks of life to overwhelm and overtake us.
When we come to real life, and we are really up against things and the issues are of the greatest consequence, we do not want just information, we want experience, and we go where experience can help us.
So you see if we are looking for the actual death of the old nature in us, we are looking for something that will never come to pass in this life. -N.D.
Whilst we really believe God's Word that we have died with Christ unto sin, and count upon Him as the Living One to manifest His life through us, others will see that self is inoperative, whilst we are occupied with Christ.
But too often we try to continue our Christian life by works through unbelief instead of by grace through faith.
A Careful Check
Let us look carefully at our own Christian walk, to ensure that we are not slipping into unbelief in our own, fleshly attempt to live a good Christian life!
Testing Faith
The faith of every child of God is precious to Him, for He knows how important it is that we mature in our Christian life, so that we are not tossed about by every wind of doctrine or deceived by every lie of the enemy.
And so God uses the circumstances of life, both good and bad, to test our faith so that it grows strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
And tested faith meets the stresses and strains of life..
For it is God Who provides the sufficient grace to meet the accumulated pressure of life – and when we have been tried and tested, we will come forth as pure gold if we do not give up.
Standing Firm
Faith stand firm and faith is increased by trusting the Word of God and applying it on every step on the journey of life.
There is no other way to develop faith except through the testings and trials of life – and there is no other way to face those trials except by standing on the promises of God.
And the epistles of Paul, Peter and John guide us through the labyrinth of life, reminding us that in all things we are more than conquerors through Christ, Who loves us and gives us His sufficient grace for every challenge we may meet.
Twelve Apostles
Matthias was the man that replaced Judas Iscariot to become Christ’s 12th apostle. All these disciples including Matthias, were eye-witnesses of Christ’s life and death. They all were with Him the entire time that Jesus travelled in Judea and the Galilee.
You cannot find what is perhaps the most tremendous fact of every real Christian life, that of his personal union with the Lord in glory.
Essential Element
There are some qualities in life that we can afford to be without, but without faith we are not even able to begin the Christian life.
Without faith we are not in a position to continue the Christian life, and without faith – without trust, it is impossible to please God.
Faith is needed for a life that is being conformed into the image of Jesus, for though it is by the power of the Holy Spirit – it is accessed through faith.
Pleasing God
Faith is critical in averting our sight away from our current circumstances, and faith is equally critical in recognising our present position “in Christ,” where we are seated together with Him in heavenly places… where life’s earthly conditions have no influence on our heavenly position, in Him.
I need to trust that God says what He means and I need to thank Him for His blessed gift and rejoice in His loving forgiveness – or I live my life enchained and entrapped behind the prison door of unbelief.
I must believe what He promises, accept His gift and refuse to be anxious, or I live a defeated life — a life where I see the condition of my problems, instead of my position, as a blood-bought Son of the Highest.
Christian Life
Faith is the soul resting on the Word of God.
Faith is the secret to a rewarding Christian life..
Only a regenerate man has had the breath of life breathed into him by the Spirit of life. Only a believer in Jesus is able to function on the spiritual plane – by faith. Only a new man in Christ, who has passed from darkness to light can act by faith. Faith is simply believing God. Faith is simply trusting God to do what God has said, and faith comes by hearing which comes through the Word of God.
Man, within his spiritual capacity, is able to avail himself of what God has said, and then man (redeemed man), is to live and to act and to pray accordingly. The ‘just’ shall live by faith… the ‘righteous’, ‘redeemed’, ‘spiritually-alive’, ‘new man in-Christ’ shall live by faith. Why, you ask – why should we live by faith? What, you ask – what is the point of simply trusting God to do what God has said? Let us eat, drink, and be merry, and party in this life, for tomorrow we die!! Why you ask… because God has ordered His amazing creative plans and purposes to include you. Before the foundation of the world, He set these plans in motion, to involve you. He has designed that those with patient endurance will receive the great promise: for you have need of patient endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Heb.10:36
Praise God, our spirit was redeemed, when the Spirit of God breathed in new life, Regeneration – salvation of the spirit. Praise God, our soul, through “patient endurance” in this life, is being saved. Sanctification – salvation of the soul.
We shall go on, and, if we live twice or three times the length of our present life, we shall still be making discoveries of what we owe to Paul's faithfulness as a steward.
The Character of God
What do you do if things in your life seem to conflict with all that God has promised?
Do you look at your life and the world situation and question what He is doing. 'I see persecutions throughout the world – can He be a God of love and care?
– I am experiencing the most trying time in my life – can He really love me?'
Have you ever looked at your life and made biblically conflicting presumptions?
Scriptural Examples
Scripture gives many examples of people who built up false assumptions about God. From Adam to Malachi and from Matthew to John, God was often misunderstood. His ways seemed so strange and life’s circumstances conflicted with man’s expectations.
Though Job did not understand the devastating trials that marred his life, he finally cried:- I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear..
Devotional Study - FEAR NOT
Fear not life may be very startling message from the Lord Jesus to His children, but fear not death, is truly staggering.
Process of Dying
Breathing out the last breath of life and giving up the spirit is one simple, short act..
but by man and man’s sin came death. Man was not made mortal. Man was made a living soul, in-breathed with God’s life, but the wages of sin are death..
Death becomes the gateway to Life – and Life more abundantly.
Gateway to Life
Recently my own father exhaled his last gasp of air as death claimed its latest ‘victim.’ As I stood and looked at the empty shell that my father cast off… I was truly able to claim: Oh death where is your sting and victory…1 Corinthians 15:55 for to be absent from the body – is to be present with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:6 This truth is faithful and glorious to all who trust in His name.
to a dearly loved one, whom we know we will never see again in this life – but praise God.
Devotional Study - FEAR NOT
Life and Living
Jesus tells each of us not to fear the things of this life..
yet life and living is one of the most fearful experiences, and few would likely engage in this life from mere choice.
Responsibilities of Life
The responsibilities in life are crushing; its circumstances can be momentous; its risks are terrifying; its issues can be traumatic..
The facts and realities of life can cause the stoutest heart to shrink back in horror.
Troubles of Life
Yes, life means a liability to pain and sorrow – to weariness and grief.
To millions, their life-story is one of pain and toil – hunger, hurt, crushing burdens.
Job 14:1 Life ushers in poverty and its accompanying handmaidens – hunger; squalor; cold; nakedness; ruin; contempt; bondage; travail.
Brevity of Life
To multitudes, life is a slog, and slavery – as fraud and failures envelop life’s journey.
Job 3:2 Life similarly is accompanied by loneliness, rejection, and failed friendships..
and as life slips past, we discover ourselves in a world of strangers, bereft of love.
Temptations of Life
And Life is awash with temptations, as trials pour through the floodgates of time.
And sin, and the eternal ruin of our race, can cause man and woman to despair of life.
To believer and heathen alike – it can appear that life is an unwanted gift.
yet how is it that He can so confidently proclaim, Fear not – fear not this life?
God’s Plan for Life
He knows that we are but dust and has purposed that it should not always be so.
His plans and purposes are for man to escape from a life of sin and slavery – a plan made from before the foundation of the world.
And eye has not seen nor ear heard what He has in store for those that love Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 And yet, I hear you say:- I am living now… in this sin-sick, forsaken world – and life is rushing me by..
His Life
Fear not – for the things in this life are passing away..
but in Him you have His Life.
You have been raised to newness of His Life – to reign with Him in the age that is to come, for 1000 years..
Therefore, put on the whole armour of God and stand firm to the end – and fear not life.
Do not fear life and do not fear death, were both staggering statements – but perhaps the boldest statement of all was, fear not that which is after death!
Both life and death are difficult without the revelation from God.
life and living..
The Bible is our guide regarding what is to happen in this life and the life to come, but the Word contains truths that must chill the heart of the unsaved, sinner..
The believer does not go through life alone – however disappointing and difficult.
Coming Kingdom
And He informs us:- I go to prepare a place for you among the many mansions of the Father. And if I go to prepare a place you, I will return for you and I will take you to be with Me, (in the heavenly Jerusalem). Eternal Life throughout the ages that are to come..
Eternal Life is entered into at the point of believing on Him..
Saved in life, saved from death, and saved from that which is beyond the grave.
Eternal Life is all of Him and none of Me – only believe….
Inherited Life
But He also offers an inherited life that is connected with His coming kingdom.
Inherited life..
Kingdom life..
Life for the age – His millennial rule.
Oh yes, He also offers an inherited life to those that believe… Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom, prepared for you from before the foundation of the world Matt.25:34.
Yes, eternal life is a free gift to the lost sinner..
Eternal life includes inheritance and rewards for His saved children – an inheritance to be won or forfeited – an inheritance that depends on works carried out through Christ..
We need fear nothing in life, in death or beyond death..
as long as we are His own – For I am persuaded that neither death nor life….. nor things present nor things to come…. can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Living a fleshly or carnal life, instead of a spiritual one is disobeying the Lord – and prayers and intercessions will only be received from the one that is pure.
That has to be reduced to the minutia of daily life.
And from those details of everyday life and experience out to the wider ranges, and up to the place where we may be the Lord responsible servant, the Word and the Spirit have to govern; and the Word and the Spirit have one object: Christ everything and in all.
John’s gospel is a wonderful record of the wonderful life of his wonderful Jesus.. and much can be learned through his inspired penmanship.
Way - Truth - Life
Nothing of the old order will be remoulded or remodelled for the old life must die. Nothing of the old ME will be remodelled or remoulded for my old nature must go.
God’s way of life and light is in the Son – there can be no other Way.
God’s way of the heavenly nature is in His Son – there can be no other Life.
Our one responsibility, that of concentrating upon the Lord Jesus, has a three-fold result: (1) fellowship with Him; (2) growth in His image; (3) ministry of life to others.
Usefulness is not activity; it is not merely being used, but it is fitness, cleanness, preparedness, and separation of heart, singleness of eye, the affections set on things above - all, in fact, that proceeds from the judgment and denial of self, and the manifestation of Christ in the life by faith.
All my ability to act for the Lord Jesus here depends on my conscious identification with Him where He is, not where He was for me; though as I receive power from Him I walk here even as He walked; His life is manifested in me. -J.B.S.
The Christian life is essentially a continuous dying, and a continuous living.
Of course, there may come a particular crisis in experience where the Spirit of God brings the soul face to face with a definite issue as to a willingness for the Cross, and a yielding of the life to God.
Yes, the first revelation of the secret of victory also may constitute a real crisis in the life of the believer, but that crisis or experience can never, in itself, avail for the future.
The victorious Christian life is a Person, not an experience.
Following the crisis, whatever phase or landmark in the life that may represent, there must be the daily reckoning, the moment-by-moment abiding and the control of the Holy Spirit.
It is the power of endurance through the years, and it is an awful thing to come to a Christian life which has got to be kept up without that love for the Lord in the heart.
It is only that love that really makes the Christian life possible under all the strain of the years.
Two Options
First a carnal Christian life:– born again but walking in the realm of the flesh and second a spiritual Christian life:– born again and walking in the sphere of the spirit.
Indeed, Paul here prescribes the remedy to the carnal life versus the spiritual life.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.Galatians 2:20
Fix in your heart His purpose for you is to conform you into His image, and that He uses every circumstance of life, good or ill, for our eternal benefit.
Root and Source
Life can be no better than its root and source.
We must accept as fact what has already been made ours through faith in Christ, but we must be aware of our need of these truths in our daily walk – and only the Holy Spirit can reveal these truths to the seeking believer: for the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him: neither can they be known to them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Corinthians.2:1 There are many ways to live that fail to deal with ‘self’ and the ‘self-life’. We have to recognise that God’s way, to self-denial, is at the cross.
The believer there sees not only that Christ died for him — substitution — but that he died with Christ — identification” (Thoughts on Life and Godliness, p.50).
And now Christ lives in me, and ‘the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.’ Nor should we look upon this experience, these truths, as for the few.
Assurance of deliverance from the sphere of the ‘flesh’ and of the de-thronement of ‘the old man’ rests upon the apprehension and acceptance of this fact of co-crucifixion” (Life on the Highest Plane, Vol.
The blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my ‘old man’, I need the cross to crucify me – the sinner. (The Normal Christian Life).
Jesse Penn-Lewis:
“If the difference between ‘Christ dying for us,’ and ‘our dying with Him,’ has not been recognised, acknowledged, and applied, it may safely be affirmed that the self is still the dominating factor in the life” (Memoir, p.26).
Accept by faith the further fact that you died with Him, i.e., that your ‘old man was crucified with Him'” (The New Life, p.51).
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
Let any of our old man, whether of our old temper, our old way of judging, our old disposition, any of it come up at all, if we are children of God, we know quite well that at that point a barrier is set up and we cannot get past, we are held up in our spiritual life and we have to go back and have that thing cleared up.
In so far as we move in the newness of Life, work bythe Spirit of God, and walk after the Spirit, death is done away andwe are in Life and we can go on and can get through, no matterhow much there may be of handicap and weakness in nature, we canget through as we go on in the Spirit.
The law of theSpirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sinand death.
We were without life; without light; without peace and without citizenship or state.
Great Exchange
Our hopeless depravity was exchanged for the hope of glory and adoption to sonship. We were translated into the kingdom of Christ and covered in light and life eternal.
a fact of abundant life; the fact of eternal life; and it is a non-negotiable fact, for it is signed in the blood of Christ.
Newness of Life
In Adam, we receive an old sin-nature, which has a controlling influence on our lives.
But in Christ, our sin nature died at the Cross and we were raised into newness of life.
When Christ Who is our life shall appear and we shall all be changed to be like Him.
In Him we are delivered from the sin-nature and placed in eternal union with Jesus. This is the fact of life – the fact of abundant life – the fact of eternal life.
The certainty and the assurance that was right at the root of his Christian life and service came because of this one thing: he'd seen everything in Jesus.
They cannot understand that it is not to the law, but to a living Person, that we are now bound, and that our obedience and growth are only possible by the unceasing faith in His power and life ever working in us (Phil. 2:13). -A.M.
Not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life (Heb. 7:16).
Upon conversion, the new believer feels that every opposition to a joyous, fruitful Christian life has been overcome once for all.
Just as the Lord Jesus came into this world where this old humanity was and came into it not to ally Himself with it but to take it into death by the Cross, even so He now by the Holy Spirit, in regeneration, comes into us where there is this old fallen life and not to ally Himself with it, but to hold it in the place of death by the same means - His Cross. -N.D.
I am not saying that; but I am saying that if that represents for them their spiritual life if they must have that, if that is the realm in which they live... that they do not see beyond that and are not free from that as a thing in itself then they have missed the meaning of Calvary, and they are bound to miss all the meaning of Christ crucified the wisdom and the power of God.
Through our death with Him at Calvary we have escaped forever from the old Adam life.
There is no way to a full abiding fellowship with our Father, but through the rent veil of the flesh; through a life with the old man crucified in the Lord Jesus.
When we finally understand that the Lord Jesus is our life, we, with Paul, no longer think in terms of things.
One may eat with an appetite and feel revived, but the sense of life or sustainment from the food in the hour of toil, is a far greater and better thing.
Having at least reached the point of utter despair in ourselves so that we cease even to try, we put our trust in the Lord Jesus to manifest His resurrection life in and through us, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit' (Rom. 8:4).
It is a part of the calling of saints to show men how to suffer: how, even in the midst of the hard and bitter experiences of life, the Lord Jesus is sufficient to give joy and comfort. -H.F.
The child inherits the boons of life, love, and light from the suffering of the mother.
Guilt often suffocates the breath of life that came from the cross announcing, “It Is Finished”
Renouncing Anger
To forgive others you need to renounce anger and resentment against the other, but have you been willing to accept God’s forgiveness of all of your sins? Are you prepared to bestow on another the gift you received from God? Can you honestly withhold forgiveness towards another, when the Lord gave His beloved Son’s life in order to forgive you?
Pain of Unforgiveness
I once allowed wounds and anger and pain of unforgiveness to build up in my life.
Golden Gate
Forgiveness opens the golden gate to God’s loving fellowship in your life.
Reflect upon his past life, privileges, and inheritances which he at one time believed were so utterly and absolutely of God for him, and that he really was in God's will.
As Christians we are going to be controlled by one of two powers: the self-life, or the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
The former will make life hell, the latter, heaven.
He who knows that awful power of the self-life within; its enmity with God; its carnality; its grieving and quenching of the Spirit; its deadly blighting of all the blessed fruits of the Spirit; its fierce and desperate resistings of his hunger to enter into the full life of the Spirit, needs no other explanation of the lack of the fulness of the Spirit than the fulness of self. -J.H.
There is nothing in self worth holding on to; it ought to be handed to the Cross; we have submitted ourselves to such a life as that, and our Father is going to give us every opportunity to allow the Holy Spirit to hold the old nature in the place of death, with the glorious end in view that our Lord Jesus will have the preeminence. -F.M.
Multiplicity of Creatures
And then… A multiplicity of creatures: cattle and living beasts charged onto life’s canvas. Butterflies and badgers; pigs and pandas; large and small; hairy and smooth; all designed to glorify God – all unique in their praise of their heavenly Creator.
A garden resplendent with all the lushness of living life – and everything that was good.
Picture of Redemption
And then comes into view the river of life – living water to nourish all He made.
And then we see the tree of life that will feed the saints and heal the nations.
Search the scriptures for in them you think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.” John 5:39 And here in this simple passage, in this extreme transformation – we see Christ.
Is He not the light of life that lights every man that comes into the world?
Is He not the tree of life and has He not the power of life and death?
Sum and Sphere
Is He not the river of Life - the One that is the only refreshment we need? Is He not the One with all knowledge and wisdom? And are not all the deepest secrets of God concerning good and evil bound up in Him? He is the sum, the sphere – the centre and the circumference of all things.
All in All
If we want to partake of all that is summed up in the delights of His kingdom... His life..
Natural Man
Natural man is incapable of any spiritual intercourse with the Spirit of God. This is a law that God dictated and God has His one way – His only Way; His only Truth; His only Life. Divine life imparted to a born-again soul is essential for communion with God. Divine life, (the free unmerited gift of grace from God) is the only uniting bridge.
if that unbridgeable gap is to be crossed – if the immeasurable gulf is to be spanned. But this first step to God is often halted a few steps down the path on the new-creation, and the spiritual newborn is halted in his spiritual life and spiritual growth. For just as the first requirement for the free unmerited gift of grace was by faith.. so too the ongoing wilderness walk through the plains and pains of this earthly life.
Spiritual Maturity
Living by faith is not the automatic outcome of the born-again believer. A life of sanctification is not the natural outcome of saved humanity. Spiritual maturity is a decision the believer makes – it’s a day-by-day choice. The ‘laws’ of sanctification (not the Law of Moses) must be applied by the believer..
Spiritual Strongholds
Without the innate sin nature, every new believer would certainly choose life.
But abuse from others and neglect from self, ravages the fragile new-born soul, and spiritual strongholds erected throughout life inhibit this maturation process.
Life or Death
But this isn’t God’s will for our life and He has supplied the tools of life and freedom. God has set before each Christian ‘soul’ life or ‘soul’ death. God has set before each believer the route to a sanctified ‘life’ or a burdened ‘soul’
Such rationale grieves the Holy Spirit and quenches His work in your life.
Laws of Life
Time is short and each of us needs to prepare for the any-day return of the Lord, and God has set out the ‘laws’ of the sanctified life, in the middle of scripture… The first step towards sanctification is right thinking, and right thinking is recognising your own strongholds, doubts, and fears, so that you can turn away from the sin of erroneous thinking about God, for right thinking always starts with your own thoughts.
He demonstrated a life lived perfectly according to His statutes, and according to His precepts. He fulfilled all righteousness, as described by the former prophets. The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake. He magnifies the law, and makes it honourable.
And the Life of Jesus – thus lived was the life laid down in sacrifice.
The life of Jesus became thus acceptable as the sin offering. The life of Jesus became the burnt offering – a sweet savor to the Lord - casting out upon the sea of humanity gifts: “Oh that men would praise the name of the Lord: for His name alone is exalted: His glory is above the earth and heaven”.
How can life’s stumbling blocks become wonderful stepping stones?
I believe it’s through a Christ-centred approach rather than a self-centred life.
Seeming Contradictions
It seems the word of God is full of antonyms and seeming contradictions, for instance, Paul tells us, “For my strength is made perfect in weakness.” and: “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it”. Luke 9:24.
How can we possibly thank God for our trials and for life disappointments?
How can our hearts be unfeignedly thankful for life’s deep embarrassments?
God’s Anomalies
Sometimes He removes life’s carpet of flowers and pools of great joy, replacing them with insurmountable barriers to our own pain and chagrin.
Worried Thoughts
We live in difficult times – anxious times, and life is a real struggle in so many ways.
Supply of Grace
His primary provision is His grace in providing against the coming judgment, for the wages of sin is death – but God provided us with the gift of life – life to all who believe in Him.
He not only forgave our sins at the cross, but He rose to provide us eternal life.
He is our glorious, heavenly and eternal Provider But your faith, beloved – and my faith is of such great importance to Him, that He permits life’s earthquakes; relational volcanoes and situational tsunamis – so that in all things we will hold fast to Him, as our Creator; Lord; Captain; Leader; Friend… as our beloved Bridegroom..
Truthful God
And the God-breathed Word cannot lie, for He is Light and He is Life and He is Truth: “and He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and Holy is His name,” Luke 1:49. Can you say with Mary, “He that is mighty hath done great things to ME:… or are you wallowing in your own guilt and shame? Can you accept His Word..
But to observe the Sabbath (no one will take that literally as meaning the observance of a particular day of the week), to recognize Christ as God's Rest through righteousness, to observe that, to keep that Sabbath, is Life which conquers death, because it is righteousness which cannot be destroyed.
And we shall discover that while there are the compensations, for there are undoubtedly the compensations in this life and the mighty compensations for eternity, this is a way which is not easy for the natural man by any means.
A life in the Spirit is one succession of confirmations that God is working out a plan.
Only rebellion, stubbornness, self-assertiveness and all forms of self-life will hinder or arrest; but a life in the Spirit will be a constant succession of proofs, of evidences, that you were chosen for something.
We all have resurrection Life if we are joined to Christ as Resurrection, but there is something more than that; there is resurrection power, which carries us eventually (if it has its full outworking) to the Throne, and not all will come to the Throne.
He wholly followed the Lord, not the popular and general standard of Christian life.
They are of the same species, and they have the same life in them.
The difference between a bunch of flowers which are all alike, all sharing the same life, and the root and the plant, is a very great big one.
Well, I shall have this difference that, whereas the bunch of flowers has the life, it just goes so far.
It is true they are all of the same species: they are Christians, they are children of God, they are all sharing the same Life, but oh, they are not there as one organism in one place growing with the increase of God, passing through corporate convulsions of death and resurrection and making spiritual increase in that way....
Yes, they belong to the Lord, and they have the same Life, they are all the Lord's children; but they just come to a certain point and they never go beyond that.
Storms of Life
But, you say, I know my eternal future is secure but I am living now.
Storms of life are battering at my door. I’m sinking in a sea of trouble – now.
He not only died to save you and rose to give you newness of life, (a gift that all who believe on Him receive freely and without cost) but our lives are hid with Christ in God, Who IS that mighty Anchor!
His prayers for you are to keep you from being overwhelmed by this life.
I have prayed for you, (in THIS life) – I have prayed for you that your faith fails not. Luke 22:32
But in this life, we are also being saved.
We are going through the process of sanctification – and in this life we must lay hold of that hope that is set before us – by abiding in Him, resting in Him – relying on Him to keep us amidst the storms of life - trusting Him, day by day by day.
Future Hope
Our anchor was secured heaven at the point of salvation, but in this life, we also have a responsibility.
We are to mature in the faith or we will find ourselves drifting amidst the storms of life. In this life, we must lay hold of the hope that is set before us – or shipwreck is inevitable.
In this life, we are to lay hold of Christ, the Anchor of our soul, if we are to be rewarded as a good and faithful servants. If we lay hold on anything else in this life we will find ourselves adrift.
Secure in Christ
Are you anchored on Christ and is your hope in Him or have you fastened your anchor to the things of this life? Will your anchor truly hold in the tumultuous tempest of this life by resting and remaining in Christ, body, soul, and spirit?
Will you anchor your hope on Christ, or will you allow the pain, problems, and disappointments of life to overwhelm you?
Our Anchor Is Christ
Will your anchor hold in the storms of life,When the clouds unfold their wings of strife?When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain,Will your anchor drift or firm remain?
May your anchor hold in the storms of this life and may my anchor hold fast too… on the Rock of our salvation.
Do I thus honour the Lord with my unfaltering confidence in Him or does my heart falter when life implies, in all its fullness – the opposite?
Here in its simplicity is an oft-concealed truth and one of life’s great lessons – and from it cascades many blessings.
Here is the essence of the inner secret of a happy Christian life – that God is my Assurance – let us draw near in full assurance. Hebrews 10:22
I have become an heir of salvation, purchased through Christ’s sacrifice – purchased of God – born-again in His Spirit, washed in His life-giving, atoning blood. Perfect submission, all is at rest. I in my Saviour am happy and blessed. Watching and waiting, looking above. Filled with His goodness, lost in His love. This is my story and this must be my everlasting song.
STUDY - God, All I Need
Bless the Lord O my soul… and forget not all his benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth my life. Who crowns thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; Who renews my youth like the eagles.Psalm 103:2
It needs an acceptance that even in the storms and stresses of life, God will provide.
Let us praise and thank our faithful God and join our faith with theirs as we pray, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, in my life and in yours.
Who forgives all my iniquities; Who heals all my diseases; Who redeems my life from destruction; Who crowns me with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfies my mouth with good things; Who renews my youth like the eagles. Bless the Lord O my soul… and forget not ALL His benefits. Psalm 37:14
Spiritual bravery is not resultant on displayed heroism or gallant deeds. Spiritual boldness is displayed in men and women, who place their trust in God and look to Him, for deliverance. It is people who will stand amidst the crumbling circumstances of life and cry.. I know in Whom I have believed. 2 Timothy 1:12
They see Him stripped of life and devoid of friends – hanging naked... dying on a cross.
Yet in that life there resided wondrous courage; supreme bravery; a great and mighty victory.
It talks of being able to hear the truth about yourself, twisted and falsified, without resorting to trying to justify yourself….“if you can watch the things you gave your life to broken, and stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools.
Victory in Christ
He will strengthen with His power to enable us to face all situations of life.
Pilgrimage of Life
There are many vacillations in the convoluted pilgrimage of life.
He both defends me from the externals of life that pervade my peace and hope – and His truth becomes my defence when the world’s finger points accusingly at me.
Only the defence of the indwelling Spirit – induces towards death of the old man… as the fleshly lusts and the pride of life seek to overthrow our witness of Him.
And faith must not falter when difficulties and problems arise in my life.
But faith grows by means of my submitting to Him. Faith matures by Him living in and through me, and working His work through me – until it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
All the norms of human trust are diametrically opposite to this life of faith.
Well, life is full of choices.
I can choose to trust His Word or blame Him for life’s difficult circumstances.
A Maturing Grace
It is only as I am prepared to decrease and allow the Lord to increase in my life, that faith in self will be gradually replaced by faith in Christ – and the faith in which I live..
How often we should remind ourselves that 'hope in Him' should be preeminent – and yet how often I tend to become downcast when things just seem to go wrong… when friends fail or misunderstand; when life’s problems just seem to multiply.
Hope in Him invigorates us to rise above life’s obstacles and discouragements.
so shred the encumbrances that mar hope in your life – however, they are clad - whether a covering of fear; a cloak of disappointment, or a stronghold of Satan.
I am the LIGHT of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the LIGHT of life.
How can this mystery be translated into your life and mine?
I am the moon to the Son – refracting to others the light of His Life.
But if as a believer I choose not to walk in His light and to return to the Law… if I choose to live my Christian life in legalistic pursuits and works of self-effort – then I am part of the Church that has chosen to hide its light under a bushel, and no refraction would be possible through me, for it would be self, working through ME – and not Christ being reflected in me.
In 1943 Abraham Maslow proposed his own 'Hierarchy of Needs', in every area of life. Starting with basic physiological needs, he progressed up his graduation ladder:- physiological needs; safety needs – the need to love and be loved and to have a sense of belonging; the need for esteem and self-actualisation.
However applaudable and true this gradation on the human 'need' scale is, two of the most important human needs were overlooked or ignored by Maslow – needs that should have been the capstone of his research and pinnacle of man’s hierarchy of need:- 1 My need of God Himself and 2 And my need of the things in life that God alone can supply.
Eternal supply
Intimacy with our Saviour and Lord, is the most precious grace He has given us, for He is the well-spring of our life, both physical and spiritual.
All the blessings in life, flow in abundant measure, from His eternal supply. But most people give neither thought nor thanks for His moment-by-moment provision.
Philippians 4:19 He has also has promised to heal all your infirmities - Psalm 103:3 and God can foil the tempter’s power in every believer’s life.
1 Needful Thing
Do you remember Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus? Oh, How she flapped and bothered about the needs and necessities of life.
Mary’s need of Jesus, was placed before everything – above all in her whole life.
Christ Our All
We think of this life as being on a timeline with there being one final day… death or the rapture being that last concluding mark of our life. How foolish are our little minds and thoughts – for that is untrue.
The termination of this life on earth is nothing more than a portal.. a door into the closer reaches of His love and His heart.
There is one needful thing in life – and the pinnacle of all we need, is our need of Christ.
Challenges of Life
What is the greatest challenge in life – to run a marathon..
Probably the greatest of achievements in life is to be clothed with patience.
The youngest Prime Minister of Great Britain retired at the age of 34 – but patience, is a grace that only develops through the gruelling school of life – and it’s only perfected as I become increasingly transformed into HIS likeness.
Trusting God in every, and all life’s circumstances..
He makes you a promise, and then you have to wait and wait and wait and wait. He capsizes all the circumstances of life, and turns them into disasters.
Response to Praise
Don’t nurse your wounds when others, through ignorance or stupidity, cause you pain – but remember the Christian’s secret of a successful and profitable spiritual life.
Salvation is a once for all, full cleansing – but we are required, from that day on to be cleansed… cleansed from the influences of life... cleansed, day by day, from all that infects and debilitates our witness for Him… cleansed from any daily sins.
Blessed are the Pure in Heart
Blessed are the pure in heart,For they shall see our God.The secret of the Lord is theirs;Their soul is Christ’s abode.Our Lord, who left the heavensOur life and peace to bring,To dwell in lowliness with menOur pattern and our King.
We must receive the breath of life before we travel down the path of life, so that we are enabled to face the torturous mountain paths of experience..
And even my emotions are God-given spices to enhance my life, and others, but the pains, wounds, and disappointments of life, so often distort rational thought, and we flood our conversations and bury our actions in false imaginings that we consider as truth.
allow His Spirit to conform your reason into His perfect will for your life.
It is important that we have a good reason for all of life’s decisions and choices... but with your limited knowledge; finite experience and distorted perspective, you will falter and fail and fall – and so will I.
This matter of reason is one of primary importance in the life of all believers, but it must be His reason, not mine – His reason not yours to which we bind our hearts.
ot merely a break in life’s routine, or a cessation from the round of daily toils, but a peace and harmony within.
But amid the turmoil of life; the confusion of hearts; the agitations of living, we have an invitation from the God of Rest… to come aside and rest awhile… The Psalmist gently reminds us to, rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him..
It is not simply to His attitude towards life that He bids us come… not to His teaching.
Salvation of Man
There is only one place in Scripture where the question is actually asked, What must I do to be saved..? and the answer is given clearly and simply, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The spirit of man which was born dead in trespasses and sins is saved simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our sacrifice for sin. But our initial salvation (our salvation of the spirit) is of course the first step on a life journey for the salvation of the soul of man, for once we have been eternally saved we are told by Paul, in Philippians 2:12, that we must work out our own salvation. This aspect of salvation is called sanctification and is ongoing throughout the whole of our whole Christian life.
Our soul is being saved throughout our entire Christian life and our body will be saved at the end of this church dispensation when the dead in Christ shall rise first and then we that are alive and remain, shall be caught together with them, to meet the Lord in the air – and so we shall ever be with the Lord.
Astoundingly, John tells us in his gospel that God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
God so loved YOU, that He gave His only begotten Son that if YOU believe on Him, you will not perish but have everlasting life. What must I do to be SAVED?
Run the straight race through God’s good grace,Lift up thine eyes, and seek His face;Life with its way before us lies,Christ is the Path, and Christ the Prize.
Cast care aside, upon thy Guide,His boundless mercy will provide;Lean, and the trusting soul shall proveChrist is its Life, and Christ its Love.
The Lord Himself called His own disciples aside when life’s pressures pressed in.
Quiet Meditation
Such peaceful meditation with the Lord Himself becomes increasingly difficult – as the pressures, problems, and pain of life press in on every side – and we faint. Tensions, trials, and temptations test us to the limit of our endurance.
For how can we have ears to hear His still small voice through the shriek of life.
and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of Thy peace. Receiving His tranquillity does not necessitate our removal from life’s little tasks.
Life’s little duties must continue and we must occupy until He comes.
Knowledge of Truth
Knowledge of the truth is no insignificant advantage, for it affects every facet of life. Understanding the truth affects the eternal soul of man..
Distortions of Truth
Often, in a heart damaged by life’s traumas, the truth becomes distorted – even the truth of God becomes twisted and perverted through the influence of sin.
The Spirit of truth and the Word of truth combined point to the Person of Christ, Who is the way and the truth and the life.
He loves with an everlasting love – and denial or distortion of that fact in any life is a lie – for if the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. John.8:36.
The Right Way
We are all pilgrims on a journey – a journey across the wilderness of life.
If I am to successfully complete my passage through life, I must walk the right way.
Many Christians choose the wider path through life, where self is the focus, for if you seek to save your life, (and note, that the word life in the Greek is the same word as soul)..
you will lose your life (you will lose your soul) Luke.17:33 Should a believer choose the broad way, he would be eternally saved, for eternal salvation is the free gift of grace to all who trust in Jesus as Saviour… eternally saved but choosing to live your own self-life and not His Christ-life.
You would receive the unconditional gift of eternal life that is given to all believers – and yet like Esau, you would be despising your inheritance.
Way of the Cross
There are a few who seek to follow Christ in the way of the Cross, where Christ remains their first love and remains as the focus of their heart, for as Jesus said, if you lose your life (your soul) for My sake, you will find it… for many are called but few are chosen, and I have chosen you. If I sincerely and earnestly progress along the path of Christ… the way of the Cross, my experience in life will be patterned after His life and my earthy walk will reflect His earthly walk, and I shall discover that as I try to spend my life for others, I shall not be able to spare myself.
Way of Christ
All the superfluous necessities that flood my life need to be hammered out.
For the life that follows the path that Jesus walked – for the need is not the call, and the urgent is not the important – If I am to follow the path that Christ trod before me – then I must follow the way of the Cross.
Any other route we travel through life that is not totally centred on Him is the wrong way… and we will discover that any other way will always be a dangerous way.
Child Training
Loving the Lord with every fibre of our being is not an option but His clear command, for God knows that all that makes for life and peace, wholeness and health is in Him.
God’s Promise
The way of the world is in stark opposition to the directive of our Lord and King, but this is a promise that we should both apply in life and continue to pray through.
Go back to the place where, for the time being, the Lord has put you, where He has called you to live your life and do your work in all the trial and difficulty and suffering of it, and do not strain to get out of it.
I can think of few things more regrettable and grievous than that we should look back upon any part of our life and have to say, I might have realized some great purpose of God in that period of my life if only I had taken another attitude toward it than the one I did take; I was chafing, impatient, all the time looking for a way of escape; I was rebellious, living in another mental world of my own creating, in which I would do and be this and that; and I missed all that God intended at that time.
So we must go back to the sphere and conditions in which the Lord has placed us, with this attitude God has a thought which relates to me as one of His Own; and that thought is, that through the conditions and sufferings of my life He should develop in me the features of His Son.
The one, can incubate pride while the other can foster independence from God. And both result in a believer being removed from God’s best purpose in their life. But God can correct many decades of dormant growth in a stunted Christian life, and God can reverse the worldly ways of a saint’s fleshly independence from Him… if the believer changes his mind, and looks to Jesus and away from all else… if the repentant believer approaches His majesty in genuine humility of heart.. if the man or woman of God sincerely recognises his own lack and need of God.
even incorrect training in early Christian life. God uses all life’s circumstances, including years of carnality, to perfect His saint.
Rom.8:28. There may be ramifications for seeking fast-track spiritual development, and there may be consequences for a paucity or lack in a spiritual life, but there will also be reward… if that one earnestly seeks God in his lack, indifference, disinterests or rebellion, for God has a purpose for all that are blood-bought saints in Christ Jesus – but He chooses to do it His way, and will often wait many years for our compliance.
God’s Best Purpose
Let this precious promise of God be the bedrock of your trust in Him. Let the truth of these words to His erring child, sink to the very core of your being. We may not understand the life-storms that upset the fragile craft to which we cling. We may be confused and ‘wrest’ in life at ‘some things hard to be understood.’ 2Pet.3:16. But as with the Word of God..
the promises of God are all ‘yes’ and ‘amen’ in Christ 2Cor.1:20. Let us accept that God’s best purpose in our life is being carried out despite life’s twists. We are being changed into the likeness of Christ so that we too will be a sweet aroma unto the Lord..
Job.13:15. It is the expression of a self-life… that confesses the truth – a life willing to admit that God alone has the answers. Christian growth can often be stunted at rebirth with poor ‘discipling’. Spiritual maturity can frequently go into hibernation through a believer’s fleshly ways..
The secret is to know and accept that God uses all things in life for good, and then to thank Him by offering up a freewill ‘burnt sacrifice’ of praise to the honour and glory of His name. For only as we recognise and Grasp that we’re being changed into Christ’s likeness will we be prepared to cry.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
The Key to Success
Knowledge, we are told, is the key to success, and knowledge is acquired from teachers, books, and the circumstances of life.
Paul the apostle, to whom was given the mystery of the Church – the bride of Christ. Paul the prophet who wrote so much of Holy Scripture – inspired by the Holy Spirit. Paul whose instructions to the Body were on how to live a life pleasing to the Lord.
And Paul at the end of His life had one deep and one intense desire and longing – that I may Know Christ.
Factual Faith
But we live by factual faith in God’s Word and not by sensual sight. We live by factual faith in God’s Word and not by fluffy feelings. Oh yes, Adam hid from the Lord, and Cain went out from the presence of His God... and we too can grieve the Holy Spirit in the way we live our Christian life.
Human feelings are not the plumb-line for His divine omnipresence in your life.
Security and Assurance
Without security and assurance of our salvation, there is no stability in a believer’s life.
Eternal Benefit
The assurance of our salvation and promise of eternal life is an established fact in scripture, and each person of the Trinity is involved in our salvation and security.
For the believer in Christ, God ensures that everything in life works together for our eternal benefit, and for His greater glory.
It was the Father Who determined that all who believe on His Son would not perish, but be adopted into His family and receive eternal life.
And every jot and tittle of scripture has been written for a purpose: that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life through His name.
and the life which I now live in the flesh (the day by day process of living in this physical body) I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me (Christ’s Spirit indwelling and living in me) – and gave Himself for me.
This promise to Israel will happen at the end of the tribulation, but this promise to the Church has already happened: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God.
– because this is the only way to live a faithful, overcoming Christian life.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Life of Faith
“The world is going crazy,” and this truly is a life of faith.
Faith in the One Who saved, for His initial salvation at the time of rebirth – trusting the indwelling Spirit, for a lifetime of His working in and through us – believing in God to work out His plans and His purposes in your life and in mine.
Faith in His word translates into Hope in His word: for if in this life only we have hope in Christ, then we are of all men most miserable. 1Cor.15:19
John 17:17 – and Jesus came crying: I am the Way and the Truth and the Life..
This is an attitude of life and health, and inherent in this attitude is a salutary effect: for every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure. 1John.3:3.
But there is more, for this is not an easy life.
This is a life that is beset with trials and disappointments – hurt and harm.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Life of Faith
God has given us the gift of faith and the righteous are to live their life by faith.
Love pulsing through the warp and weft of life despite the shadow of the cross.
Love that we in this life of sin and sadness, pain, and problems are instructed to mirror.
We only can see through the current prison bars that restrict our present life..
Interceding Love
Let me tell you my friend, Christ’s whole life was lived under the shadow of His cross.
He knows that the enemy is increasing His attacks on the elect night and day, but every lash in life that you receive, He is there with you – this is fact, not fiction.
Grace Upon Grace
Our sins are forgiven and we’re made alive – quickened into new and abundant life, and the supernatural grace of sanctifying grace cascades into God’s glorifying grace.
that we seek a life that is Christ-centred – that we seek to know Him more – that in love we might do all to His praise and glory, for He alone is worthy.
Born Again
If you are a believer, there is one point in your life when you were born again.
That was the most important day of your life, for it has eternal consequences.
Ransom Paid
It was paid in full by the blood of the lamb – the willing Sacrifice Who paid our debt. We were released from Satan’s clutches with a ransom, paid in Christ’s own blood. The ransom price for our freedom was the life of the Lord Jesus – His life for ours.
Purchase Possession
The life is in the blood, and the lifeblood from His veins secured our full salvation.
He paid for our life with His lifeblood, and we’re now His own purchased possession.
Greater Plan
Every believer in Christ rejoices in their salvation, knowing that their sins have been forgiven and that they have received eternal life – knowing that they have a glorious inheritance, which is laid up for them in heaven.
The length and breadth and depth and height of God’s eternal plans and purpose are so much greater than the individual circumstances of your life or mine..
Law of Death
The truths that Nicodemus learnt on his night visit to Jesus Christ were staggering. During an evening conversation his long-held religious values had been fragmented. The requirements of the Mosaic Law were impossible – unattainable to mortal man! The notion of a new birth with a new life – was beyond the concept of human reason!
Law of Life
The idea of flesh born of flesh and spirit born of God’s Spirit was inconceivable! The old law of death was having to be set aside and replaced with the new law of life God’s perfect Law was to be superseded by His perfect grace – which came by Christ.
Call to Repent
Jesus was not sent to the righteous but to call sinners to repent – but what the pious Pharisees had not grasped was that there are no righteous men – except God’s Son. Jesus was not sent to save good people but to call sinners to change their hearts – and the whole life-philosophy of Nicodemus was being challenged to the core.
Two Natures
The old sinful life can never be reformed – only the new life i acceptable to God.
The old nature must die to self and the new nature be conformed to Christ-likeness. The old Adamic nature cannot be improved – only a new nature is sufficient to God. My old life must die to self and my new life be conformed to the image of Christ.
A New Creation
Jesus wasn’t sent to teach a race of fallen sinners how to live under the perfect Law. He was sent to reveal that only a new life, with a new nature can satisfy the Father.
He came to demonstrate how the life He lived was the only life that would ever please the Father – a life that He Himself would impart to all who believe in His name – a new life – a new life in Christ – a new life born of the Spirit – a new creation.
A New Life
No surprise that Nicodemus did not understand all these concepts that Jesus taught – for the new life in Christ was a mystery – a mystery, which from the beginning of the world was hidden in the heart of the Father, Who created all things by Jesus Christ. The mystery of the new life in Christ was hid from saints and prophets of old. This was a mystery that had been hidden from ages and from generations – and yet it was a mystery which would one day be made manifest to his saints – to you and to me.
God and Christ
What comes to your mind when you think of God and His Christ? What false perceptions of God have you developed in your life-time?
False Perceptions
A low and debased view of God has infiltrated the secular and Christian world. A perception of God has built up in Christendom that does not truly reflect Him, and today a low view of God and of His Christ is almost universally embraced – and a new ‘philosophy’ of God has developed: a philosophy that is far from the Truth, the Way and the Life.
throughout our imperfect life we’ve not discovered Who He is, or are ill-prepared to search our souls to discover the baseness in ourselves – or our biased perceptions.
Chambers Comment
Oswald Chambers puts it this way:- “There are times when our peace is based upon ignorance, but when we awaken to the facts of life, inner peace is impossible unless it is received from Jesus.
His words are ever “spirit and life.” Have I ever received what Jesus speaks, when He said: “My peace I give unto you”? This is a peace which comes from looking into His face and realising His un-disturbedness.
He lived a life amidst folk who despised Him – but He leant obedience through suffering.
God’s Life
What an astonishing happening that God should choose man to be just like Himself.
But rather He took of the dust of His created earth and fashioned and moulded and sculptured and built the body of a man – then breathed His own life into His frame.
God’s Knowledge
God Who knows the end from the beginning was not taken aback when the son, he so carefully created with His own hands, rebelled against the One who gave him life. He knew man, through his own free-will, would despise his God-given birthright.
Giver of Peace
The Lord our God is both the Creator of peace and He is the Giver of peace – for He is all that makes for life and peace.
Life-Giving Peace
Peace with God and the peace of God stretches through time and into eternity, for all who trust Christ as Saviour and learn to keep the eyes of their hearts looking to Jesus for it was our Saviour who calmed the ocean of God’s wrath against a sinful world, which He procured for us by His sufferings and death on Calvary’s cross. He broke down the middle wall of hostility that divided Jew from Gentile and the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom announcing that the gaping void between a holy God and sinful man had been spanned by the blood of the Lamb – for by Hs death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way, through the curtain which is His body.
We are all part of the body of Christ and we all have our own particular part to play, but this mortal life and our eternal future are bound up in Christ, the beloved of God.
Eternal Plan
At first, we were called out of darkness into His glorious light. We were called out from the bondage of sin and death into the freedom of God’s Son, and throughout this life, we are witnesses to the amazing grace of God – and throughout this life we are being trained to carry out our part in God’s eternal plan.
Eternal Purpose
Being born into God’s family is our first step along the road of our new life in Christ.
Christ’s Heart
Christ’s only consideration throughout His earthly life was to do the Father’s will.
Christ’s heart's desire and joy was to carry out and complete God's will for His life.
He did that which was pleasing to God, each day – every day, throughout His life: I do always those things that please Him.
His life work and His life prayer and His whole life-focus and joy was to do the Father’s will: not as I will but as Thou wilt.
Life Purpose
God has a plan and purpose for the life of every believer: man, woman, or child.
Plan of God
The plan of God in each life is not that they do service, but He does it through them.
The will of God is to transform those that believe into the likeness of His Son – and God will take a lifetime, if necessary, to achieve His purpose in each life.
God’s Purpose
Is this not a great comfort and immense surety amid the demands and pain of life?
The circumstances of life in this dying world may imply something different.
Life’s situation can be so dire that we can't always recognise the truth, but God is able to accomplish the impossible in your life – without your help.
God’s Truth
God’s truth is stated in His infallible word, but the circumstances of life – are the lies of the enemy to take our eyes of the Lord.
Now here is the key to success… Take your eye off the circumstances of life and rest them on the Lord Jesus.
Life’s Circumstances
Life’s circumstances, whether instigated by Satan or caused by self, are used by God for good, but when we struggle to work things out on our own, He will wait and wait and wait.
God wants each of us to stop trying to act as the god of our own life, and recognise our position In Him.
Satan’s Attacks
Satan will always seek to cut down God’s flock from the way of the Lord. Satan will attack when we’re drooping, flagging, indifferent or exhausted from life. Satan will seek to shipwreck us when we lose heart thru the problems of life we face. Satan will attempt to ambush any of us – all of us… when our guard is down – and sometimes it even seems that God is not acting the way we expect.
God’s gift
The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.
The payment for our sins is eternal separation from God, but He gave His unique Son through Whom comes life. Eternal life is God’s gift – Salvation is God’s gift – Jesus Christ is God’s special gift. The gift of salvation was no afterthought on the part of God.
Unique Saviour
He is not only the root and stem of David, but He is the good Shepherd that was born in humble circumstances so that He could save us from our sins and seat us together with Himself in heavenly places for He is our unique Saviour and God’s very Special Gift – so that all Who believe on His name will not perish but have everlasting life.
Unbroken Fellowship
And throughout His earthly life, Christ demonstrated how God wants man to live..
a life lived in unbroken fellowship..
a life that learns obedience through suffering..
a life that lives and moves and has its being – in the power of the Spirit of God.
The life of Christ was governed by the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit, so that the Father might be glorified in and through the life of the Son.
Governed by God
The pre-eminent mark of a spiritual man is a life governed by the Spirit of Christ..
so that God, through Christ , might be glorified in the life of the believer.
The 'new-life' in Christ is a baby-life that must grow and develop into maturity.
Christian maturity is to live our life as God intended – to live as Christ lived; to pray Thy will be done; to be guided by the Holy Spirit; to live and move and have our being in spirit and truth.
Transformation Process
Then God uses life’s circumstances to start to conform us into Christ’s image. This transformation process into Christ-likeness is no rhetoric or foolish notion. This is a life that lives and moves and has its being in Christ and Christ alone.
God set the standard and pattern for life in the Lord Jesus.
God presents His model for humanity in the life of His Son.
The school of Christ, and transformation into His image, is arduous and most painful – and living the Christ-life is the most challenging test in any Christian walk.
Historical Context
Acts is a transition between Old Testament living and New Testament life. Acts is a changeover period between the four gospels and the epistles of Paul. Acts is an historical document.
Deeper Understanding
God’s chastening in Job’s life, as in our own, is not His wrath or punishment, never, but is used of the Lord to draw us into deeper fellowship with Himself, as exemplified, when God turned the captivity of Job – even to the benefit of the religious-minded, accusational friends, as well as to the benefit of his wife, who herself was overcome by the enemy. And if we permit Him, we too will come to a deeper understanding of Him – and like Job will become one of His mighty men.
We see it bursting into bud through so many pronouncements of Paul – and it will blossom in your life and in mine... if like Job, we submit to His chastening.
He would not have known that coveting was wrong if the Law had not said, “You must not covet.” King Saul was also a prideful man who tried to address the problem of life in his own fleshly strength, rather than depending on God’s provision and trusting His word. The Galatians were a group of believers who demonstrated pride, rebellion, and independence from God, by insisting that the righteous requirements of the Law should be achieved by human merit – having failed to learn God’s vital lesson.
Divine Purpose
God knows the end from the beginning and He knows all who will trust in Christ. God predestined all who would believe in Jesus to be conformed into His image. God was well-pleased with the Lord Jesus, Who is His only begotten and beloved Son, and it's God’s divine purpose is that His children are made in the likeness of Jesus Christ. We are to all to be conformed into the image and likeness of God’s dearly beloved Son, and it is the Holy Spirit Himself that is to do this amazing work in the life of a believer.
See and Learn
The first work of the Holy Spirit in the life of all believers is to reveal Christ Jesus in us.
Christlike Life
A life governed by the Spirit is a life that becomes increasingly like Christ. The mark of a Christian is a man or woman that is led by the Spirit of God.
Such a man or woman lives a life that becomes occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ.
His Fullness
The effect of this move of the Spirit in a Christian is that we are filled with His fullness, for when a man or woman is occupied with Jesus they get more and more like Him – and yet a life overflowing with Christ only scratches the surface of all that He is.
To Know Him
At the start of his life, we are told that it was God’s pleasure to reveal Christ in Paul, but at the end of his life, Paul longed to know the Lord Jesus more and more and more, and throughout his ministry, it is Paul’s longing that we also come to know Him more.
Paul was a man whose life was governed by the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul was a man that longed that we also should know Christ – in an intimate way.. that you may to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19
I believe that if we are living in the radiance of Divine Life, there will be something of it betrayed by our faces.
The progress and increase of spiritual Life means this, that the gap widens all the time between the children of God and those in the world who are not such.
The Law
He is the eternal Word, the incarnate Word – the Word of God made flesh, forever, and He is also Light and Life – contrasting with all that is of darkness and death. The Mosaic Law was perfect in all respects, but the Law was a ministration of death, for the perfect requirements of the Law could never be attained by man’s own merit.
The Cross
But God in His love and mercy sent grace and truth through the incarnate Word.. so that all that believe in His name would not perish – but have everlasting life. The expression of God’s grace is seen in the gift of His Son and His work on the cross, so that by believing on the person of Jesus Christ we may have life in His name.
God’s Grace
Just as sin ruled over all people and brought them death – so the marvellous grace of God now rules instead, giving us right-standing with God and resulting in eternal life – through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Law requires works, which could never reach the perfection required of God.
but grace and truth has come to us all through the lovely Lord Jesus Christ, so that by simply trusting in the name of Christ Jesus we might be given life – through His name.
Love of God
What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that He should shower on sinful man the grace and favour that we do not deserve and cannot earn- but in His perfect life the Incarnate Word of God, in His sinless body on the tree, met all the righteous requirements of the Law – to free us from condemnation so that we might have LIFE. The law indeed was given to Israel through Moses, but the unfailing love of God and His everlasting and faithfulness - is only seen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The word of God is from God, and His word is truth and life. God’s method of grace as written in Scripture is perfect, but grace is frequently distorted by man’s interpretation. God’s character as outlined in Scripture is perfect, but God’s character is frequently distorted by man’s interpretation.
Influence in Life
Our concept of God and the idea of grace will always influence how we live.
He will live his life just trying to do his best.
Built-Up Concepts
A believer who lives a life in fear has built up their particular concept.
Search the Scriptures
Almost without exception you will discover some little ‘add-on” to grace, deceiving many into a life of fear; works; legalism.
Showers of Grace
Grace, grace and more grace is what is showered on all that believe in Jesus Christ. Grace for salvation, grace for this life, grace to mature, grace in the ages to come.
Continuing Grace
Too often we limit the grace of God to salvation from the penalty of sin – alone. We often forget that salvation was the start of our eternal journey and not the end, for grace is poured out throughout life and grace continues into the ages to come.
Because we are in Christ and identified with Him, we can access His life in us.
His grace is sufficient to deal with every situation and circumstance of life.
His grace is available for every eventuality that seeks to overwhelm us in life.
Accessing Grace
Paul found the key to accessing God’s grace in all the twists and turns of his life.
Eternal Grace
He knew his eternal abundance of life was not due to his own merit or hard toil..
Ye have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
But as we abide in the risen Lord Jesus, that new ground of our position, His life will be manifested in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23).
If you stand on the ground of what the Lord Jesus is (abide), you will find in your growth that all that is true of Him is becoming true of you; but if you remain on the ground of what you are in yourself, you will find that all that is true of the old man is true of you in life and walk.
It is only natural to feel that our need requires immediate victory, but the truth is that we cannot come to maturity apart from the Holy Spirit's processing and development of our life, day by day.
But often in a believer’s life, He uses the natural to accomplish the supernatural.
In the life of a believer God uses a life-span of time to prepare him for eternity, and... like the chronology of the world, God uses a lot of time to fulfil His works.
A tiny seedling can be placed in a hot-house to force an unnatural spurt of growth, but such artificial progress, early in the life of a believer has disastrous results.
And God takes time in the life of a believer to bring him to maturity in the faith.
Spiritual Growth
But he grows slowly and looks very insignificant for many decades, as silently within the Word of God nourishes the spirit, soul and body – while without the raging storms and buffeting winds of life, develop a trusting faith.
How much more is this the case for we who are God’s sons, where our life in time is preparing us for eternity.
Spiritual Maturity
God knows what’s best in the life of each believer to bring him to strong, full maturity – and God takes time to bring a man or woman from new-birth to final maturity, God takes time to conform each of His children into the likeness of His beloved Son.
This is not backsliding as so many consider it, but the Work of God deep within, for all of self must go so that all of Christ can be manifested in the believer’s life.
Heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.Luke 21:34
Deep Entrapments
And these warnings are burning embarrassments for the one who seeks holiness. The things that can easily entrap us are listed as the excesses of careless living.. lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting /dissipation /excess.. lest at any time your heart be overwhelmed with drunkenness – lest at any time your heart be overwhelmed with the cares of this life. We would do well to keep in mind this warning of the world’s is deep entrapments.
Guard You Heart
Each believer has a life – a saved life which can be used or squandered away. Each servant has talents – which can be used to His glory or wasted unwisely. Each Christian who does not die to self – wastes rather than increases their talents.
Such a one prevents or quenches the work of the Holy Spirit in their life.
It is often linked in the physical with a refusal to face the realities of life.
Put on the New
Each believer has a life that needs honing – yet spiritual realities are not always faced. Each servant has talents to use – yet opportunities to live for Christ can be wasted.
Such a one that doesn’t face the spiritual realities of life – ceases to guard their heart.
Trust in God
The final snare is to permit the trials of this life to overwhelm us with worry, lest at any time your hearts be overwhelmed with the cares of this life. And the caution against the physical sin translates into a spiritual warning.
We must not allow the worries of life to encumber us with a need to ‘do it ourself”, Pre-occupation with the problems of a life excludes a need for faith in God.
Heed to Yourself
Oh, we all have many family and business, financial and relational problems, but it is giving these problems preeminence in your thoughts – in your heart.. lest at any time your hearts be overwhelmed with the cares of this life.
heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.”
Watch and Pray
Many have become overcharged with ‘dissipation’, and ‘drunkenness’, Many have become ensnared with the ‘cares of this life.
We have but to see in the Word what He has accomplished on our behalf in the Lord Jesus, and then quietly rely upon Him, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life (Ps. 23:6).
The motivating principle of the old life is the law; the motivating principle of the new life is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
At this point Satan, appearing as an angel of light,' will seek to misdirect the believer's life by making use of a morbid conscience, a mistaken impression as to duty, or a lack of understanding as to the exact teaching of God's Word.
When a certain breaking down of self takes place in a believer's life, it produces a marked change in him; but afterwards he has to learn it all in detail. -J.N.D.
Many of the Lord's people have complained that their circumstances were too unfavorable for a life of full devotion, of close fellowship with Him, or pressing on to maturity.
The duties and difficulties, the cares and troubles of life, render it practically impossible, they say, to live a fully consecrated life.
No matter what we may encounter in this life, we who belong to the Lord Jesus have this definite knowledge - our Father will use it all in love as an instrument in the carrying out of the glorious purpose to which He has destined us.
Throughout his long and bitter life-season, Job didn’t sin against God with his lips.
God trusted this man of prayer, who needed to die to self and be raised to the new life.
And God raised Job up in newness of life.
Never Limit God
When you are being assailed by the circumstances of your own life-tribulations, don’t limit God to your current understanding of Him, as Job did, for if you do, God will wait and wait and wait as He did for Job.
A Full Study Of JOB
Word-Picture
Job seems to be the most complete word-picture of the Christian life in Scripture.
Job appears to trace a believer’s life, from new-birth to the Millennial-Kingdom..
Spiritual and Carnality
Like Job, his wife is a virtuous woman, who holds to her husband's trust in God, but one who allows the long, spiritual battle in Job’s life, to cause her faith to fail.
No wonder she crumpled and broke under the strain of such enormous calamities. No surprise that she was unable to endure the consequences of life’s bitterest blows.
Oh yes, we know from James 5 that Job alone depended on God’s tender mercies. We know that Job alone endured – until God had His end through His way in Job’s life. And though he sinned not with his lips, Job’s questions lacked true understanding.
Contemplate these thoughts the next time you are overwhelmed by the facts of life.
In the life of any believer, spiritual or carnal, God has much refining to do.
A religiosity – exposed in the life of our first parents, who sought to be as God.
A religiosity, which seeks to dominate the ‘new life‘ – choking it of the reality of Christ in our life.
Any one of us that thinks that we are past this fault of pride within our own life should soberly consider the words of Paul’s in 1 Corinthians 10:12, Wherefore, let him that thinketh he standeth take heed, lest he fall.
Refining Tools
And right to the end – in a 'type' in Job and in the life of Paul, God refined his child... so that his bond-servant would have a deeper knowledge of their Lord and Saviour.
In the life of any believer, spiritual or carnal, God has much refining to do, for God’s way is to make the reality of Christ, increasingly real in each one of us.
But whether a believer is blinded to his need or broken in her life’s circumstances… whether a servant exhibits prideful self-righteousness or deep discouragement, the primary agent of leviathan’s grip, is the 'religious' nature of the 'old man', which is exhibited in a multiplicity of ways.
but God also permits evil in the life of saints as well. But ALL good that comes to man comes from a good and faithful God.
But there were elements in Job’s pure, virtuous life, needing the Spirit’s refining touch. Elements the moral, upright, proud, self-governed heart of Job, needed to learn, and God used the circumstances in Job’s life to bring him into a closer walk with God – just as God uses happenings in our lives, to draw us closer to Himself. Chambers once wrote, One of the most cunning travesties, is to represent Satan – as the instigator of external sins.
Underlying Lesson
The underlying lesson of the life of Job has nothing to do with sins. It has nothing to do with any sin righteous Job did or did not commit.
Past, present, and future sins of the believing man are forgiven and forgotten. The same holds true for the man of God today – all sins are forgiven and forgotten – past, present and future – all forgiven and forgotten. So don’t pride yourself that your forgiven sins are influencing the troubles in your life.
Divine Fullness
But God does have a purpose for each life and He uses trials and tribulations, instigated by Satan, to achieve His perfect will.
The one area in the life of this upright man – (one of Ezekiel’s 'These Three Men'….
Job2:45. God will expose the roots of the old Adamic nature, with its prideful religiosity, until the old self-life is crucified and the new-life is transformed into His image. He will take your personal ‘seed of affliction‘, turning you into a ‘vessel of comfort’.
Choice of Travail
But the choice is yours. God will never force his servants to submit against their will. You can choose His way or you can choose your way. You can say my will be done in my life – or Thy will be done in my life. The Lord blesses all that endure like Job.. but likely not in this world for our citizenship is in heaven.
Have you considered God’s bond-slave that had to come to an end of himself? Have you considered what this same decision would mean for you – in your life?
Consider Satan’s Way
Have you considered Satan and his bloodthirsty attempts to shipwreck your life – seeking to halt the fullness of the knowledge of Christ becoming a reality in you? Have you considered the prideful outcome of Levithan’s manipulative strategies..
The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” He calls His own by name… and in Psalm 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd. Scripture gives us many pictures of God.
But the purpose of the Good Shepherd is to give life in all its fullness.
He wants to protect us from the dangers and disappointments of life.
He cares so deeply and so passionately that He has laid down His life for us.
Life-Journey
All the offspring of Adam are travelling without a road or a map. They are all moving towards eternity with no guide – until HE finds us; until HE knows us – until HE leads us. Those whom He finds and knows He leads. Those whom He leads need to keep close to Him day by day – moment by moment.
Guiding Hand
Life is a trackless desert and a wild wilderness, but the way is known to Him, for He tells us:- I AM the Way, and we are safe with HIM, for He reminds us I am your Shield and the lifter up of your head.
Spiritual Lessons
Life’s journey is an education. It affords us opportunities to learn many spiritual lessons.
Right Choices
Let us not only be guided by Him, in the crisis of life, but in the daily duties of life.
And He waits in all circumstances of life to meet the deepest longings of your heart, too.
As we desperately try to determine how to cope with life’s mounting troubles; as we look for any form or escape from the downward spiral of the world’s affairs, Jesus waits and He waits.
Can you obey the Word that I speak, for My Word is life and health and peace.
for He longs to pour out His love over your dry and thirsty life. Come – let him that is athirst COME.
God Hears and Cares
As I get up every morning and write these daily devotionals, it is because I believe that His Word is true, even when everything in life seems to scream the opposite.
God Understands
Remember – His life like those of His children was spent in difficulty and adversity, but He endured the cross for the joy that was to come in the morning.
Every new bit of blessing may seem to put a new bit of life into us, but it gradually loses its luster and power, and we become just ordinary Christians - we make very little progress.
Deliverance from the reign of sin, and liberty in the life of Christ, are set forth as a doctrinal unit in Romans Six, Seven and Eight.
This is the great master key to spiritual life and liberty.
When we thereby come to Romans Eight, we know at last that the Holy Spirit will produce in our experience what God completed for us on the Cross and in Christ our life.
Romans Eight tells us the means and the method of our deliverance - that it is through the blessed Holy Spirit alone that we are actually delivered in everyday life, from sin's reign; the moment we cease from all our own efforts and let Him do all the work, He will begin delivering us from the power of sin.
Many and varied are the false perceptions of this life after death – but check out the Word of God, and you’ll discover your answer.
Jesus said: this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Him Whom Thou did send – even Jesus Christ, your Lord.
Christian Heaven
The Christian life (the Christian faith) is having a relationship with a person.
This was His life-purpose, being translated in a resolution shared with the Father.
to be with Him, forever – not just to escape the trials of life, for these are His training tools, but to be with Him; in Person – in spirit, soul, body, and truth.
Victorious Life
He came to be with us and He came to be like us, so we could be with Him forever.
The secret of a victorious life is knowing Him intimately and abiding in Him: you in Me, and I in you John 15:4 which is: Christ in me and I in Christ.
The result of a victorious life is being conformed into His image and likeness until we can say with Paul: I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
Right Perspective
If each of us could really get this into our thoughts and minds and heart and being, I believe with all my heart that the trials of life would be put in proper perspective.
Come, Lord Jesus,
If we keep Christ as the centre of our focus we will overcome the stresses of life, for everything will fall into perspective.
In the first stage of our Christian life we seek to bring the Lord Jesus down to our level, for our use; later on we learn to take our position in Him at His level, for His use.
If this question was honestly faced, and answered affirmatively by the members of our churches, there would be no need to endeavor to whip up a revival.' There would be a spontaneous upsurge of life and blessing - the direct work of the Spirit of God Himself. -J.C.M.
Everything from beginning to end of the Christian life depends upon a proper faith-apprehension of that which the Father has bestowed upon him with and in His own Son in glory. -J.C.M.
Very little abiding growth and fruit can be known by the believer until he accepts the fact of identification (Rom. 6:6), and to it responds by an attitude of faith (Rom. 6:11), thus yielding himself to the Holy Spirit for the life of the Lord Jesus to be manifested in and through him (Rom. 6:13). -G.W.
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God right hand. (Colossians 3:1 NLT)
Our prayer life has got to be on a heavenly basis.
It is so easy to get up in the morning and hurry through a few words asking the Lord to bless us and ours, and our earthly things for the day, as though these things of this life were all.
Lord, don let anything bad happen today, because it would spoil our life today!
Set your affections upon the things which are above, not on the things which are on the earth, for ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God(Col. 3:1-3).
ur citizenship is in heaven.Now the life of the believer is to be, therefore, one with heavenly interests always in view, and our prayer life is in relation to those interests.
Perfect Sacrifice
Christ lived His perfect life in a perfect body of flesh and blood – a human body.
He went to the cross willingly, for the perfect sacrifice had to be a willing body. Christ rose from the dead in a perfect body of flesh and bone – a glorified body. His death secured our pardon from sin and His resurrection secured our eternal life.
Eternal Perspective
Because we are already positioned in Christ, we are eternally safe and forever secure, and our life should display a heavenly attitude and reflect an eternal perspective. Our heart and mind should be set on heavenly things – for we are already in Christ, and we are blessed – already blessed – we are already blessed above all measure in Him.
We may be perplexed and cast down, but in Christ, we have all that makes for life.
When the Lord Jesus gets the complete mastery as Head in our lives, then all independence of action, and life, and all self-will, self-direction, self-seeking, self-glory and self-vindication will go.
Their spiritual resources of life, power, wisdom, knowledge, and purpose must be heavenly and by mediation of the Holy Spirit alone.
We have known more than one to be faced with this issue, and in trying to keep something here miss the Lord's highest and best, and later in life to know that it was so.
Today we are imprisoned in terrestrial bodies where the life is in the blood.
Tomorrow we will be released into celestial bodies – life from the Spirit of Life: bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, Ephesians 5:30..
we can live our life in Him in victory or we can live our lives in defeat and despair.
That is what our life in this world amounts to – trials and pain.
Christian Challenge
And Paul reminds us how we are to live each day of this life: brethren, he writes, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus Phil.3:13, and THEN comes the challenge: therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind. Philippians 3:13ff
It is a great thing to have the consciousness that we are bound up with Him there in heavenly glory, and to know that we are with Him in that sphere of ascension to participate in all that constitutes His life in that blessed circle of love and glory where He lives unto the Father.
He was at my side and glorified the Father perfectly in His walk here, and in death; but He is now at His own side, and it is there I intelligently realize the vastness of my life in Him, for He is my life.
Old Self Life
Do you often ask for God’s help? “Help ME do this God” and “help ME do that Lord” or “Help ME change myself…” “Help ME stop being like this Father,” and “help ME start being like that?” Think!
God is never going to change the old YOU – the old self-life!
Christ’s Life
When God saved you, He did not plan to help you live YOUR life.
God purposed that HE would live Christ’s life in you!!
Immaturity sees the Lord Jesus as helper in MY Christian life.
Maturity knows the Lord as the very LIFE itself, within my new man.
Conant wisely wrote the following:- “Christian living is not our living with Christ’s help, it is Christ living His life in us.
Therefore, that portion of our lives that is not His living is not Christian living; and that portion of our service that is not His doing is not service; for all such life and service have but a human and natural source, but Christian life and service have a supernatural and spiritual source.” That supernatural, spiritual source – is the Spirit of Christ in you.
God did not help the sinner to be born again... He gave him a new life in Christ.
He’ll conform the new “You-Life” into “Christ-life”.
Your old soul-life is the old man in Adam, the carnal self that can work for ill.
Your new soul-life is the new man in Christ, the spiritual man that works for good.
Your soul can allow the sinful flesh to raise its ugly head and rule your life. Never ask God to help your soul yield to His Life working in your new life.
Huegel declares: “When a Christian’s prayer life springs from a right position (a thorough adjustment to Christ in His death and resurrection), a vast change in procedure follows: Much of our begging fails to register in heaven because it fails to spring from right relations with the Father in union with Christ in death and resurrection: in which position one simply appropriates what is already his.
His Will
We’re not to approach God’s throne asking Him to help us and bless our plans. We are to seek Him to do His work in us – His will, His plans. We are to seek His will in our life, to live and do to His good pleasure. We are to trust His will, in all the decisions we make and the problems we face.
When you cease from your own strivings and say, Thy Will Be Done In My Life… He will move the greatest mountain, that you’ve struggled with for years.
If Christ were not fully deity, He could not have paid the price for our sins. If Christ were not fully God He could not have broken the power of sin in our life.
Spiritual Life
The personal, physical presence of Christ in the world was first revealed at His birth.
His nature, method, means, and law were manifested through His lovely life.
The Cross Life
If God’s will is to be done on earth as it is in heaven it can be done one way only.
He puts the cross in the figure of baptism 'baptised into His death.' … Romans 6:3. If the life of Christ is to be lived out in this plane, it is only through the cross.
To strive to replicate and reproduce the Christ-life without the cross is doomed to fail.
And throughout life, from the cradle to the grave – some people just let us down.
Strong Prison
One travesty of this is that mistrust across the board, becomes the norm in life, as a myriad of strongholds begins to be erected in our lives, as a protective shield.
Strongholds that result in self-condemnation, guilt, worry and a life of defeat.
And the Israelites’ life of bondage in Egypt reflects this ever-present prison today.
Such 'protection'f chokes the heart into a defeated, overcome, and depressed life.
Strategy of Satan
Satan’s entire strategy in the life of all believers is to build up distrust of God.
No 12-step program has been developed to address life’s developed strongholds –though many attempts have been made.
Surrendered Heart
Help and healing comes from total surrender of your entire being to the Lord..surrender of all and everything in your life – past present and future..surrender of all past, present and future hurt, guilt, pain, fear, doubt, and worry..
Satan’s entire strategy in the life of all believers is to build up distrust of God – and God longs that we trust Him but trust only grows as we get to know the person.
Precious Promise
Peter wrote: Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness – through the knowledge of HIM that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these, ye might be partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:2-4.
All things.. towards which His lowly birth and suffering life pointed.
He is ever ready to pour His Life-giving waters of refreshment into our thirsty souls.
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Contentment is sought for in the indulgences of this world's stagnant puddles, but to those who cry, I thirst, He continues to answer: Come…… take of the waters of Life freely….without money and without price…. for Christ is truly the living Fountain of Life – the Living Water.
Let him who is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
You are being renewed – remade in the likeness of His dear Son, for your benefit, so that Christ is all and in all – in your life.
God Who knit you together in your mother’s womb scheduled every day of your life.
God delights to exercise our faith in life, and His purposes span the ages to come.
Waiting Heart
Don’t rush out and try to rectify what you perceive as a mistake or you could stay the hand of God and prevent His better purpose in your life.
Will of God
Throughout His life, Jesus has one purpose for living – to do the will of the Father.
Luke writes to tell us that the young Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. Luke 2:52 Christ never deviated from His sole life’s mission – to carry out His Father’s will.
God-Man
Christ never wavered throughout His life from the purpose for which He came.
The Father
The life of Christ was not to be an expression of His own character and personality. His whole being was to demonstrate the attributes and character of the Father above.
His teaching was about the very life of His Father.
Identified with Him
Throughout His life, Christ identified with us so that we could be identified with Him.
He showed us by His own life that this was the way that God expects all men to live.
His sinless life and perfect example demonstrated that in Him we too can live godly.. not in our own strength, for in ourselves dwells no good thing. But in His strength and power and sufficiency we CAN live godly in Christ Jesus.
but so that He could become our LIFE in US – so that in HIM we too can live godly in Christ Jesus.
Perfect Life
Because He was perfect, we could never COPY His life – for we are not perfect.
So the only way that we can live LIKE Christ is to have HIS LIFE IN US. But in order for His life to become OUR life, He first had to pay the penalty for our sin. And only He could pay that penalty, for only He was perfect and lived perfectly.
Perfect Sacrifice
His perfect life made Him the perfect candidate to be the one and only perfect sacrifice.
His resurrection broke the power of sin in our life, for all that believe on His name. And because the power of death was broken in US, we have HIS LIFE IN US.
One Purpose
Throughout His life, Jesus had ONE purpose for living - to do the will of His Father.
Throughout our life we should have one purpose – to let Christ be formed in us..
Deep Love
John had experienced the love and forgiveness of Christ in His own turbulent life, for this son of thunder who thought to strike others with fire and brimstone..
The source of our Christian life is a Person, and the growth of that life in us is a gradual process - comparable to a grain of wheat, or a branch in the vine.
A person whose ancestors for three or four generations have all been Christians, may inherit their virtues; but although affecting his life for good, they do not count before God as righteousness, for they are not the fruit of the directly imparted divine life.
Sustaining Peace
Just because we are Christians does not exempt us from the problems in this life. Indeed, not only did Paul remind us to be patient in tribulation… but in order to be one with Christ, we need to participate in His suffering - the fellowship of his sufferings, with patient endurance.
Life is never easy. Life is full to the brim with sufferings of the body and disappointments of the heart.
Weariness of body; sickness of mind; frustration of the soul, and hurt to the heart fuse together, and all combine to draw our attention and focus on self – self-interest, self-pity, self-indulgence – just self! Worries; angers; anxieties; vexations; disappointments and busyness of life…unite..
they integrate, to draw our attention and focus away from the One Who sustains all life.
One Day – Soon
It will not always be like this. Life will not always be restricted inside this mortal frame.
Hushed Anticipation
To this end we have already been made children of God, partakers of His Life, and the whole of creation groans to see the day when we shall be brought into glory.
“Christ”
When we refer to Him as ‘Christ’ we express His mission, function and life-work.
A ministry and work that is linked with the very Spirit of God, for He shall baptise with the Holy Spirit, and with the fires of judgement, for He was made a quickening, life-giving spirit. 1Cor.15:45
Life Circumstanced
We are daily surrounded by the drama of difficult circumstances..
the trauma of hurting people; the crisis of life’s myriads of problems; of the intense pain of a precious loved one; of the deep darkness of depression’s icy grip – the disappointed heart..
Christ’s Life
Root out all areas that shadow Your holy Presence from me.
After receiving the instruction, we have to return to the ordinary activity of a life of responsibility, and to those relationships with our brethren in which love is developed and exercised, as it is put to the proof, either in the assembly or in individual relationships.
Denying Self
Assuredly this entreaty to the Father demonstrates a life given over to the love of God..
demonstrating the final step in a life that lived, from start to finish, unto God. Demonstrating the concluding comment in a life..
exemplified as ‘good‘ – demonstrating a life that denied self..
a life teaching us that we should also, only do the things the Father shows us to do.
exemplified the life lived unto God.
Paul explained how we too can live that same typical, exemplary life unto God.
and it is in that same power that we will be quickened to live in newness of life. For it pleased God that in Him, should all the fullness of the Godhead dwell bodily.
as we live out this life of affliction and woe – as His representatives on earth.
Patient endurance under life’s tremendous testing trials is the saint’s chief objective.
Tremendous Trials
Patient endurance under life’s tremendous trials and testing is the saints chief object, and overcoming is the beneficial product of a believer who patiently-endures – and works of righteousness are the clean, bright, shining clothes of the bride.
Saints taken to the extreme limit of their endurance under life’s trials and testings, are exhorted to hold on..
The Daily Round
Life is full of busyness and chores and things to do and activities to be done. The daily round of daily life certainly keeps us occupied..
There is no sin in such everyday tasks and necessary activities, but they can be weights, distractions, and stumbling blocks in our spiritual life.
They can take our focus from what is truly important – to the ‘urgent‘ things of life.
Discouraging Distractions
We live a life of busyness and chores and things to do and activities to be completed. We live in an anxious and instant society, with it’s ‘must have it now,’ mentality, and sometimes we lose sight of the fact that our spiritual development takes a lifetime – God is in no hurry to pander to our desires for instant answers.
Important Focus
We are told to lay aside every weight and every distraction and fix our eyes on Jesus. We are reminded to set aside the sin of disbelief that so easily torments and frustrates us. We’re encouraged to run with patience the race set before us and keep Him in focus. We are clearly told to look away from the urgencies of life to the important One.
He is the ‘all in all’ that we require for life and godliness, and it is all to be discovered in the Word of God.
Jesus said to them: “I am the Bread of life: he that comes to Me shall never hunger; and he that believes on Me shall never thirst” John 6:35 But He also warned us against adopting the ways and traditions and doctrine of men..
The practices of much of Christendom today, would have been regarded as disgraceful – and viewed with stunned shame in years gone by. The growth of sin in the corporate life of nations and the domestic life of individuals, causes one to tremble as one kneels at the feet of a Holy God.
And every day of this life is a step forward from the things that were.. to the things that shall be hereafter, For we are confident of this very thing - that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work..
will day by day and step by step continue His perfecting work, in your life and in mine..
A New Creation
A new creature; a new man; a new creation; a new nature; a new life in Christ. A new body that is being conformed into the image and likeness of her Saviour – a unique body that is possessor of the life of Christ and the nature of her Lord.
His family is to include both Jew and gentile; male and female; slave and freeman. Not only the Spirit’s life breathed into us but His very life indwelling our frame – and then the most astonishing revelation is given to the church – which is His body.
Abiding Fellowship
A life that is submitted to the leading of the Spirit of God walks in spirit and truth.
A believer that abides in Christ is a life that maintains fellowship with the Father.
The Father’s Will
Throughout His life, Christ listened to every word proceeding from the mouth of God.
The meat and drink that sustained His spirit, was to be obedient to the will of God... for He lived in willing submission to God’s training programme for His life, and even though He was God’s Son: He learned obedience through what He suffered.
Hebrews 5:8 And His life is to be the pattern of our life if we are to live in abiding obedience.
When we act independently of God, our disobedience affects our Christian life, and disobedience affects fellowship with the Father and halts our spiritual growth.
Humble Submission
It seems that for a little time at least; the Lord was among the followers of John! He had humbled Himself for many silent years under the authority of His parents, and He seems to have spent some time learning from the ministry of the Baptist. What a wonderful example we have in the silent years of our developing Saviour. Though little is written of His life and learning there are many little clues that demonstrate that the Lord Jesus lived His entire childhood and early adult life in humble submission to those that were in authority – as He waited for God’s timing when He would continue His long, painful..
Learned Obedience
Every step down the pathway of His life was with His Father’s business in view. Every stride He took was in humble obedience to the will of His heavenly Father. Every moment of His journey through life was lived out for you and for me.
Christ’s entire life was in preparation for His final victory at Calvary..
for He learned obedience, throughout every stage of His life, through the things that He suffered as a babe; as a child; as a youth; as a learner and teacher, and as our Saviour.
All through his life, Jacob was identified by God as His chosen son..
but for much of his life, Jacob determined to do things his own way and not God’s way.
Yet Jacob shrewdly schemed and cleverly planned his way through life.
Jacob had fought his way through his life with his father and mother.
Jacob had fought his way through his life with his brother Esau.
Jacob had fought his way through his life with his uncle, Laban.
Jacob’s Lesson
And through his life, God blessed Jacob in many ways and Jacob prospered.
‘Save me from the wrath of my worldly brother, who seeks my life‘ he whimpered, “I will not let You go unless you bless me,” was his cry as he feared his brother’s rage.
God had to be given His rightful position in Jacob’s life.
That night, Jacob became insignificant in his own eyes for the rest of his life.
Uniqueness of God
There is a time before time began. There is a place before space existed. There is Life before all things created were spoken into being, There is God – Who alone can claim I AM that I AM.
But man prefers to remain the crowned king on the throne of his own life.
The old Adamic self-life must die-to-self and remain in the place of death – this is an uncomfortable position indeed!
Let us examine every nook and cranny of our life so that we can say with Paul:- I have been crucified with Christ.
A total identification with the oblation was pictured here – a full transferral of trespasses, as sins passed from the sinner to the sacrifice. The innocent animal was to die. The guiltless creature was offered in the stead of the sinner. The life of the sinless beast was thus to be fully accepted – fully accepted as the life of the sinful man.
Innocent for Guilty
And day after day the bloody ritual would signify covered sins for another day – a life for a life, which meant innocent death in order for the guilty to live.
His death/life has also made necessary the transfer of His sovereignty to us.
He was the willing victim, Who spent His life and shed His blood for me.
Should not I fully identify with this blessed Saviour and Lord, every moment of my life, forever and ever, AMEN.
A Peculiar Nobility
Have you faced death to self – the crucifixion of your soul? Only if you have, will you see life and living in its true perspective. Only then will a peculiar nobility, with its roots in humidity be displayed in you.. as a stately strand of godly meekness, ribbons through into your entire character. Death to self often comes through suffering and there are two outcomes of suffering.
Christian Living
A man’s profound, solitary spiritual life is between himself and God alone, but life’s superficial activities may replace a Christ-centred life with a self-centred one, Am I willing to permit God to dominate both my profound and shallow activity? Am I prepared to allow Him to influence both spiritual and superficial things?
Spiritual Life
It was once written… No one ever becomes spiritual without being fanatical for a season.
It is the swing of the pendulum to the opposite extreme of what the life used to be.
Our Father is going to teach us, mainly through personal failure, that the life we live is the life of our Lord Jesus alone.
The Christian life is not our living a life like Christ, or our trying to be Christ-like, nor is it Christ giving us the power to live a life like His; but it is Christ Himself living His own life through us; no longer I, but Christ.'
There is no answer to infidelity like the life of the Lord Jesus displayed through the Christian.
We desperately try to imitate Christ’s perfect life but tumble flat on our faces.
It is a seemingly ideal life that is so often generously laid before the believer!!
A life of quiet and calm; a life of hope and fulfilment: a life of peace and rejoicing... a life of unbroken fellowship with the Lord; a life of love and joy and hope; a life nestling in the bosom of the Father; a life where darkness has melted away; a life where sorrows of the night have softened into joy of an eternal morning.
Ideal and Actual
Such a model etches a rude distinction between the ideal and the actual. A life of noise and clamour; a life of darkness and disease; a life of pain and despair; a life of where the Lord seems distant; a life lacking love, joy and peace; a life of sorrows and sin; of sickness and sadness; deterioration and death.
What do you think of the ideal life so generously laid out before the believer!
The Christ-Life
But as so often in life we sometimes miss the forest for the trees.
We are not to imitate His life but to participate IN His life – in the Christ-life.
Dependence on God
The whole of Christ’s life was lived in dependence upon the Spirit.
The whole of His life was submitted to the will of the Father.
Throughout His life, Christ chose to walk the way of obedience to God.
Throughout His life, He listened to the Spirit and walked in spirit and in truth.
We have conceived of the Christian life as an imitation of Christ.
After months, even years of deep darkness and soul struggle to realise more life, more holiness, more power in his soul, I finally come in utter self-despair to “rest upon the Faithful One.” The sweetest part, (if one may say of one part being sweeter than another) the sweetest part is the rest which full identification with Christ brings.
Permanent Relationship
When we first believed in Jesus we were placed in a permanent relationship with Him. The old former life in Adam was forever replaced with our new, eternal life in Christ. We who were dead in trespasses and sins were made fully alive and given His life.
God looks on the heart and He knows!! He became our life by means of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.
Life of Christ
Forgiveness at the cross is the first of numerous acts of the Spirit in a new believer… but from the beginning, we are placed in Christ.
We share in the LIFE of Christ, and this is the testimony... God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12 Faithful is the saying - For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 2 Timothy 2:11
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness.
Thus it will be a sharing of life, through which others will be born and will grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18).
A Saviour born Who is Christ the Lord, Cancelled the sins of all who believe; Eternal life – a gift to all who receive.
Letters of Grace
Often a sermon on salvation is beautifully woven into the initial letters of GRACE, G – Salvation is a Gift of God – a Good Gift that is Granted to allR – Salvation is Redemption – Received by faith, Reuniting us with GodA – Salvation is Accepted by God’s love, Available to All, Accessible through faithC – Salvation Comes thru Christ Crucified Who paid the Cost at the CrossE – Salvation Ends in Eternal life and is an Everlasting gift – and an Escape
We have not been left as orphans or widows but have been filled with the Spirit. The Lord has equipped each one of us with His Spirit of unity and His Spirit of life.
Ephesian Promises
We are empowered with the indwelling Spirit to work in and through us – now. In Ephesians Paul outlines the work of the Spirit in a life that is submitted to Him..
We have the Spirit of fullness, making all our life spiritual:- don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless actions, but be filled by the Spirit.
So do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.Romans 6:13
Bottom line... total dependency on God in our Christian life is the only acceptable way, but when we yield to His Spirit within, He works through us for our eternal benefit.
The Works of God
The only way that man can work the works of God, is to depend upon God completely. The only way that a believer can live the Christian life pleasing to God, is in His power.
Scripture clearly tells us that yielding to God’s power in life is the only acceptable way – while trying to please God in our own human vigour is never acceptable to Him.
Name of Jesus
This is a lesson that so many Christians simply fail to understand or to apply, and the result is a life that is lived in defeat instead of a victorious life in Christ.
Trust in God
Indeed, we personally had a death sentence within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God. 2 Corinthians 1:9 So do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
If that is true universally, and if that is true sovereignly and providentially; if that is true not only in the whole history of things in this universe, but true in a special way in human life, it is true, perhaps, in the most essential way in the Word of God as the expression of God thought.
Many can fluently list historical facts of His life, or other documented chronology.
Many see His life as a model to emulate, and His works as an ideal to imitate. Many regard the belief system that has built up around Jesus as one worth following. Many see His epistemology as truth worth seeking out – knowledge worth acquiring.
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End.
Is He the love of your life and the joy of your heart?
Fully Man
As fully Man – He was born as Jesus of Nazareth - the carpenter’s ‘Son. He started life as a Seed in the virgin’s womb – begotten of the Father and born. As the God-Man, He is the unique Person of the Trinity – the Christ of God.He is appointed Heir of all things – Judge of all men – Pre-eminent among people.
Beginning of Faith
The Christian life begins with a simple act of faith – believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
This one small act of trust brings us out of sin and into salvation; out of darkness into His perfect light; out of Satan into Christ in God; out of death into life; out of despair into hope – out of ashes into beauty.
But the Christian life continues on, in this same principle of trust.
At the start, the grateful love of a cleansed life was your rapt enthrillment.
Maturing Faith
But as your believing life progressed, God sought to take you deeper into Himself.
I do it until you are nothing and I am everything in your life.
His Peace
God tells us that life with Him is never immune from difficulties, but He also tells us that He gives us peace – peace, within our stresses and strains.
Our difficulties, doubts, stresses, and strains can be underpinned with His peace, for He is our peace – and peace can become our vesture in the turmoil of life.
He is the love in our life. For our light afflictions which is but for a moment, worketh in us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; where-unto ye do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts. 2 Peter 1:19
individuals who through patient endurance will finish life’s race.
An Example
Paul who throughout his life spread the gospel in every part of the known world, reached toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. He wrote…. I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind I reach forward to those things which are ahead.
Paul at the end of his life..
eternally saved on the road to Damascus years before – earnestly strove at the end of his life to attain to BEING made conformable unto his death.
Life of Faith
By faith we BEGAN… 1 Corinthians 15:1-4By faith we STAND… 1 1Corinthians 16:13By faith we WALK… 2 Corinthians 5:7 Colossians 2:6By faith we LIVE... Galatians 2:20By faith in CHRIST and by faith in Christ alone.
And only then do we find that we have learned the lesson of faith; to find our tiny craft of life rushing onward to a blessed victory of life and power and service undreamt of, in the days of our fleshly strength and self-reliance.
Therefore, we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life.
Moment by moment I’m kept in His loveMoment by moment I’ve life from aboveLooking to Jesus, ’til glory doth shineMoment by moment O Lord I am Thine
Where is He in the trivial toil of today – and the daily routines of life?
Word of Life
Surely it is the Word made flesh that should be the thing that moves us.
Should not the words of our worship focus on the Word of Life.
Should not these simple hymns of truth be applied in every moment of life?
Should He not have access into every nook and cranny; corner and crevice of life?
Do we allow Him into each decision of life – each conversation – each activity?
Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;Moment by moment I’ve life from above;Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;Living with Jesus, a new life divine;Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;Moment by moment I’ve life from above;Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
A disproved hypothesis must be fanned into life – to submerge the awful truth, that man is accountable to a higher Being and not master of his own destiny.
Are there areas in your self-life that you want to hang onto a little longer?
but the shocking, appalling, scandalous, odious thing is that there’s no good in me. All that is of me and my flesh must go if Christ is to be all in all in my life.
And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent (John 17:3).
The heartbreaking knowledge of self brings a life-giving compensation, which is knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is the normal course of a true, Holy Spirit-governed Christian life that, in order to get through, an increase of Christ, a growing discovery of Christ, is necessary. -T.
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).
“The believer who sees that self is incurably evil (‘know’), and that it has been taken into death (‘reckon’); who gives self utterly to that death as he sinks before God in dependence and surrender to His working (‘yield’); who consents to death with Christ on the Cross as his position, and in faith accepts it as his only deliverance; he alone is prepared to be led by the Holy Spirit into the full enjoyment of the Christ-life.
I cry for resurrection, for Life, for something to happen, for a filling, a consciousness, a sensation, a movement, an energy, a omething.The Lord answer is, i>I am the resurrection and the Life at any moment, in My will, anywhere.Oh that we might live on that ny moment anywherebecause of Him!
i>This is life eternal, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.Do you not understand?
This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:11 NIV)
If we are turning to teaching, to tradition, to interpretations, to human associations, to Christianity, we are going to miss something, but if we are turning to the living God, in the realization that He is the living God, we are going to come into Life; everything is going to be all living in our experience right from the beginning.
I do know that it is true to fact in the life of a great many, that the day comes when, though they have been associated with the things of the Lord for a long time, they suddenly wake up to the fact that the Lord is a living Person.
Confidence is an essential and inevitable fruit of this knowledge, and in those who know Him there is a quiet restful strength which speaks of a great depth of Life.
Woman in Labour
Isaiah, Jeremiah and others described their own life-testimony as a woman in labour, and Jesus likened the end-time tribulation to a period of intense and painful labour: – a woman, in labour, has sorrow because her hour has come.
The blessed position of a Christian is, that he has died even to the best things of the world, religious and otherwise, and he is alive to the highest things in the presence of the Father; for the Lord Jesus Christ is his life, in whom he is hidden (Col. 3:3). -W.K.
In Christ Jesus we are motivated by a higher law, the law of the Spirit of life' (Rom. 8:2).
But you are not living the life of the flesh, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit of God [really] dwells within you - directs and controls you (Rom. 8:9, Amp.).
Bread of Life
Jesus claimed to be the Bread of Life, and all who eat of Him will live... but this truth was a difficult statement for many of His followers to accept and from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked with Him no more. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
Often it’s a distortion developed in early life, through the actions or attitudes of others.
Word of God
Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, but what exactly does this mean?
Well, it means that Jesus Himself is the Way and the Truth and the Life!
I AM THE WAY I AM THE TRUTH I AM THE LIFE
Developed Distortions
Some people do play ‘pick and mix’ with Scripture to resolve life’s experiences and throughout Christendom many good men ‘clip’ and ‘cut’ the Word of God.
It may be distortions, developed in early life, through the actions or attitudes of others.
If there is any conflict with the Word of Truth in your life or mine..
Two Instructions
Jesus said during His earthly walk, take My yoke upon you and learn of Me.” Paul later challenged us when he was sharing about the risen Lord to “learn Christ”.The indwelling Spirit of Christ is to be our life in everything that we do. There is an enormous change and challenge between these two instructions.
It is important to know about Christ, but for a victorious life, we must learn Him.
Earthly Life
During His earthly walk, the disciples were encouraged to learn about Jesus. They were to watch His walk; to witness His character; to observe His attitude. They were to obey in His commands, abide by His teachings and they were to hear Him. During Christ’s earthly walk, His followers were challenged to learn about Jesus.
It was no longer to be an imitation of His life but an identification with Him.
The permanently indwelling Spirit of Christ is to be our life in all that we are.
Early in Christ’s ministry, the disciples believed the Lord because of His signs, but to develop into mature believers, they were to be participators of His life.
Victorious Christian Life
Today, objectively imitating Christ will result in a stunted Christian life.
Today, subjective participation in Christ’s life will avail a victorious Christian life.
We are to identify with the indwelling Spirit of Christ, Who is our life.
Learned Obedience
Christ’s earthly life was a pre-cross life of humiliation – a life of learned obedience.
Submitted to God
And so His life was one of submission to the Father, for He prayed Thy will be done. His life was lived in subjection to the Spirit, so the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him.
Christ lived a perfect life and was the perfect example of perfect humanity.
It is not an imitation of the life of Christ but an identification with Christ Who is life.
To learn Christ is the mark of a life governed by the Holy Spirit.
To learn Christ is a life that delights to say to the Father, Thy will be done. To learn Christ, is a life that is continually, and evermore occupied with Jesus.
In Romans Seven Paul is describing the inevitable conflict that every believer knows when he undertakes to lead a holy life on the principle of legality.
Still you restlessness and hand Him the reins of your life.
His Peace
The way will open up as we hear the still small voice saying.. this is the path walk in it – these are the words speak them. No evil shall befall you for I AM your God, and I have scheduled every day of your life.
Lay Aside Unbelief
When we look to Jesus, we have no option but to lay aside all that hinders our walk. When our faith is the Lord we have to remove our trust in ourselves and in the world. When we trust the Lord, we look away from the circumstances of life and rely on Him, alone.
God uses all the trials in life for our sanctification – and we are to patiently endure.
Sanctifying faith is living our life by faith in Jesus.
Spiritual Maturity
God also desires that we are faithful and diligent in our prayer-life for He knows that prayer is a beautiful channel of heavenly grace and spiritual maturity that is poured out in abundance upon those that sit at His feet, listen to His voice and trust in His word.
The law is not our rule of life' for the simple reason that it was the Israelite's.
Holy, just and good' it is, but the Christian's rule of life is in Christ. . .
Any aspect of life or conduct which is undertaken in dependence on the energy and ability of the flesh is, to that extent, purely legal in character, whether it be the whole revealed will of God, the actual written commandments, or the exhortations of grace.
“It is a harmful perversion of the truth of God to teach (as did the Puritan theologians) that while we are not to keep the law as a means of salvation, we are under it as a ‘rule of life.’ Let a Christian only confess, ‘I am under the law,’ and straightway Moses fastens his yoke upon him, despite all his protests that the law has lost its power.
Life of Grace
Once we have been saved by grace, we are to be sanctified by grace; to grow in grace, and to mature in the faith – to live our lives “grace-promise-faith” way.
They substituted the promise of the Christ-life for a works-orientated life.
They replaced the life of faith for one of living by self-merit.
They exchanged a spiritual life for a carnal walk.
We know that keeping the law will never save us and we should know that living the Christians life under the law will never sanctify us.
Roots of Legalism
The root of all Christian legalism is often trying to live our Christian life to please God.
We have to rid ourselves of the notion that God blesses us because of who we are or what we have done – or anything connected with me, my works or my life.
On the death side, we are to receive deliverance from sin's power through the Spirit from the Cross; on the life side, we are to receive growth through the Spirit from the Lord Jesus.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2). -G.G.
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11, ASV.).
But there is one: the life motive.
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).
Hence there is only this left for us - to die to the law, and be joined to the risen Lord Jesus in a resurrection life absolutely beyond the sphere of the law. -W.R.N.
The law is for the man who departed from God - that man has been removed from God's sight in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I rejoice that now by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' I am free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).
Not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life (Heb. 7:16).
To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life.
If, in the midst of others, the Lord can get but two of His children, in whom His Life is full and free, to live on the basis of that Life, and not to seek to gather others to themselves or to get them to congregate together on the basis of their acceptance of certain truths or teaching, but simply to witness to what Christ means and is to them, then He has an open way....
Growth is by Life, and this, to begin with, may be by the entering into Life of but one soul, and then after a long waiting time of another; or it may be more rapid.
But the point is that it is increase because of Life.
For the growth of His Church, the Lord must have Life channels, Life centers.
I believe that, given a Life center, sooner or later one of two things will happen, that it will be abundantly manifest that Christ is fully and finally rejected there, or else there will be an adding, a growth.
There is tremendous power in Life, and the Life of the Lord either kills or quickens.
He is a savor of Life unto Life, or of death unto death.
This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.John 17:3
He has seen Christ's beautiful life.
God Incarnate
He did not know Him as the One that was revealed of the Father. He did not know Him as the Divine glory, full of grace and truth. He did not recognise the radiance and life that streamed from Him. He did not know that: this is My beloved Son in Whom I Am well pleased.
Intimate or Afar
Not to know the Lord in this capacity is not to know Him as all. Not to know as the Son of God’s love is to miss out on intimacy with Him. We may be quite familiar with the facts of Christ’s life – His birth in Bethlehem; His marvellous miracles; His ascension from Olivet.
We may know the prophecies that tell of His life and death and even His return.
It is akin to a seed: the life of the Lord Jesus within must grow; and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can only be found in the young man, or the rich experience and stability of the fathers.
The process of conformity to the Lord Jesus' image is going on day by day in the growing believer's life.
As the maturing one gets a larger vision of his perfect Pattern through the daily study of God's Word, he takes higher ground along the line of that blessed revelation, so that his life is a progressive growing up into the Lord Jesus in all things. -R.P.
But the vine furnishes the branches, not only with the principle of life, but with the type of life. No pressure or molding from without is needed to shape them to the pattern of the parent stock.
A true believer, therefore, will ask no better thing of the Lord than that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in his body (2 Cor. 4:11).
Straining, driving effort does not accomplish the work God gives a man to do; we must partake of Christ so fully that He more than fills the life.
It is by the appropriation of His death that I reach liberty and newness of life; that death has severed me from all that I was as in fallen Adam.
I have been crucified with Christ.' I am free from myself, and free to have the One who is my Christian life before me. -C.A.C.
Every fear to go down into daily death, ever clinging to that which belongs to us, every grasp on our own personal position or ministry, will only hinder the manifestation of His life.
It is to be life out of death.
For ye died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
It is union with Him as the new creation, as the new creation Man; union with Him in the Life which is the life of the new creation by the Spirit of Life.
It is a matter of what God is doing, and life-union with Him in Christ for the accomplishment of that.
For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law (Gal. 3:21).
Whereas our liberty was won on the Cross, it is worked out in our daily life and experience by the Holy Spirit.
If ministers and teachers of God's Word would set saints free and establish them in the Gospel, let their preaching and teaching be based upon the sixth and seventh of Romans, the central theme of which is our union with the Lord Jesus in death and burial; and our resurrection and ascension with Him into newness of life; where not the law, but grace, reigneth; where not the letter but the Spirit, moveth the heart and life of the believer.
Law cannot give eternal life, nor have, therefore, any control over it. -L.S.C.
The entire history of the Lord's people, and of the spiritual life, is one of light and darkness, of truth and falsehood, of purity and adulteration or mixture, of clearness and cloudiness, of openness and secretiveness.... Truth may be in word, in doctrine, but there has to be a corresponding truth in heart, truth in life.
Breath Of Life
The dawn-chorus, which ushers in the first rays of sunshine to a sleeping earth, begins with the first melodious strain of a single little blackbird’s throat.
just as the lifeless clay body of man required the Breath of Life to light his spirit... just as the Spirit overshadowed Mary in the Incarnation of the Light of the World – so the Holy Spirit, the ‘Ruach’ of God, breathes in life and light.
Life and light to the dead sinner’s spirit: You, He also quickened.
Mystery Of God
Just as God’s directed light followed darkness and dawn at the world’s creation... just as dazzling light filled the newly formed clay vessel (Adam) with spirit and life – so is the new creation called from darkness to light, and from death to life. And here, in these wonderful words, God’s purpose was seen. The first sight of God’s amazing purpose was proclaimed:- a mystery and a plan... formed in the heart of God from before the world was created. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world…..” Rom.13:8. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery – even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world, unto our glory.” 1Cor.2:7
Light Of Life
To the saved believers, the light of His life cascades into a darkened soul.
The way of His wisdom is the way of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” Proverbs 3:17 But only those that follow His footsteps have quietness of spirit and amity with God. Only those who trust His love are in concord with themselves and with others. Only they who truly know how to die to self, utterly and completely – only they are truly at peace with life’s circumstances. They find no strain within; no hostility without; no alienation from God. They have no pricks of an accusing conscience; no unsatisfied longings or desires, for they trust in His love completely – for they know that: “all things work together, for good…” Rom.8:28
Walk of Life
Take the hand of the One that knows how to lighten those that sit in darkness. Walk with the One Who will truly guide your feet into the way of peace, and you will have contentment in this age despite the hardships and disappointments – and in the age to come – the Millennial Age, you will discover joys unspeakable, for you will live 1000 years, in time – time recaptured from the today’s devouring locusts. Only put your hand into His and say:- order my walk; order my every moment… order my way and my life to your good pleasure – for whither Thou goest I will go. What you decide I will accept.
That secret abode that houses all the deepest desires of your longing heart, with its affections and emotions; its passion and plans – that private place that buries all the deepest lacerations that life can throw at it; its failures and disappointments – its wounds and its pains – blameless. (i.e.
– the new life in Christ and not the old sinful Adamic nature).
With its ever-present outward link to this sin-sick world, that tramps the tempting dust and the seductive grime of earth’s pathways – with its deepest lusts through eye, or flesh, or pride of life – blameless.
We must never belittle that power of His work in a human life..
So take each prayer and take every promise at its full value and claim its full richness for your own life.
Living Life
Behold, this is the way we should live:- as chastened, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
A Righteous Life
Once in the Old Testament and three times in the New Testament we are told – the just shall live by faith.
The righteous man shall live by faith – a life of complete dependence upon God.
My righteous servant shall live by faith – a life that rests its entire trust on the Father.
It is through faith that a righteous person has life – a life of dependence on the Lord.
The righteous shall live by his steadfast life – a life of complete trust on God.
Galatians and Hebrews
In Galatians the main focus is on life – of the righteous person LIVING by faith, and how faith frees us from the curse of the law so we can LIVE by trusting God.
for without faith it is impossible for the believer to live a life pleasing to God.
Without faith, it is impossible for the Christian life to produce the fruit of righteousness.
But living a life of righteousness can only be lived by faith – dependence on God, and of course, faith has no merit on our part, for it is ALL by God’s grace.
Godly Living
Godly living – a righteous life, is a life that demonstrates dependence on God – an unfailing dependence on the grace of God in every area of life and living.
A righteous life is one that has come to rest entirely on God’s sovereign grace.
Faith says with Peter: to Whom shall we go, You have the words of eternal life.
Self Identified
When Self is identified as irreparably damaged and incapable of improvement, we are brought to the end of our 'self-life' and cry out at long last, “self must no longer have sway in my life.” For it is not the “old I” but the “new life in Christ” that lives, and it must only be Christ.
Phil.1:21 This is a truth that discerning men of God have come to understand, but often after many years or decades of heart-break when the struggle with the self-life ends up with a life broken before the Lord.
Romans 7:15), and, in consequence, he feels that the bottom has fallen out of his Christian life; and then perhaps the Devil whispers to him that it is just no good his going on, because he will never be able to make the grade.
All through life, God has to show us our own utter sinfulness and need, before He is able to lead us on into realms of grace, in which we shall glimpse His glory.”
He is being lovingly led by the Lord into death – the only basis of true Life.
Life’s Paradox
The Christian walk is one huge paradox: Success comes through failure. Life springs out of death. Hope arises out of despair. Joy is born out of pain: For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” 2Cor.4:11
God takes all things and God uses all things, for all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Rom.8:28 And He takes time – He often takes a life-time to gently lead one into this truth.
We shall take our place on the resurrection side of the cross, and in so doing we leave behind the old self-life for the new Christ-life.
To live in Him, Who is our life, is to be in the power of God.”
We must be willing to let all of Self be crucified, so that our life is not your own.
To rise into the newness of His life in you – the old Life must remain crucified, until the NEW Life in Christ becomes.. not I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”
You are to overcome in this life, as did Job, and you will reign with Him in the next.
Patiently Endure
Forget the problems of this life, for in this life you will have tribulation.
We are to patiently endure in this life.
We are to be rewarded in the life to come.
Hope in God
Our hope is not eternal life..
Our hope is to live this life, as unto the Lord.
Our hope is that our life comes forth as gold, silver, and precious stones – not as wood hay or stubble.
Strain every muscle to achieve until ‘life’ – So….what manner of man ought you to be?
Be Steadfast…
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labour is not in vain in the Lord 1 Corinthians 15:58 This is LIVING LIFE
a sweet smelling savor. (a burnt offering) The Lord Jesus Christ offered up His life – as a 'sacrifice of praise' to the Father. He lived His life as a Burnt Offering. A burnt offering is just another word for a voluntary, non-compulsory sacrifice.
Burnt Offering
But as Burnt Offering, He gave His life as a pure act of voluntary worship..
a life, given unreservedly to God..
a sacrifice becoming a sweet savor to the Lord – to glorify the Father which is in heaven. For thirty-three years Christ yielded up His sinless life daily. His life was a daily 'sacrifice of praise' to His God.
For thirty-three years Christ’s life was lived as a living sacrifice – a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to His Father.
His Voluntary Sacrifice
Then on the cross, Christ yielded up His sinless life as a voluntary offering of Himself to God..
Our Voluntary Sacrifice
And this is what He asks of us - not just that we believe and are saved, but that we love Him all our heart and soul and mind and strength – and that we live our Christian life as a willing 'sacrifice of praise' . I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice – a voluntary offering – a ‘burnt’ offering a sweet savor to the Father… holy, acceptable to God.
The whole self-life in us has got to be definitely dealt with, and a great separation has to take place there.
Presently when he really enters upon his life work, his life service, one of the things that he will need most will be patience, and there is nothing more calculated to produce patience than the discipline of inaction.
It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me – and gave Himself up for me.Galatians 2:20
Union with Christ
At rebirth, we come into union with Christ, and I cease to exist as His life begins in me.
My old life in Adam is crucified and left nailed to the cross.
My new life starts to grow.
The new-life in-Christ takes time to grow – much time.
The new life in Christ takes a lifetime of growth.
Old and New Life
At the same time, the old self endeavours to get down from the cross and resume control – and a battle ensues between the old sin nature and the new life in Christ.
Although crucified with Christ, the old life desires to get down from the cross and reign supreme.
A constant tussle for supremacy between the old and new rages for the rest of our life.
Tug-of-War
Sometimes it’s not an easy decision for a believer to submit to the Holy Spirit of Christ, for the old nature lusts against the new life in Christ.
Often a tug-of-war ensues between the old sin nature and the new life in Christ, but the old life and the new nature can never live in harmony with each other.
All that is of me must go, All that I am must be nailed, once for all, upon the cross, and from that point on, we begin to realise the egotistical immensity of our self-life.
Die Daily
As we learn to die daily to all that is of self we begin to bear in our body His death in us. As we sacrificially yield all we are to the cross, Christ’s life starts to be formed in us, and in the measure that the Lord Jesus starts to increase, so the old 'me' must decrease.
By the power of Christ’s life working within, He becomes all as I diminish to nothing.
Austin Sparks
Austin Sparks made this profound observation: Everything which demands that we accept a fresh measure of the meaning of His death, means that as we accept it, there will be a larger measure of Him in risen life – so that the meaning and value of Christ risen, as an inward life, is a reproduction of Him in us – and there is no other way. The increase of the number of the Lord’s own, is not by joining something to the outside, it is by coming to the cross and dying – that is the only way.
From that point onwards He must increase and I must decrease, for we are identified with His death and with His life.
Christ is All in All
God’s long-term plan is that Christ is all and in all – and we are to be in Christ. As I cease to exist so the life of Christ begins to grow and develop in me. As my old self ceases to exist – so my new life in Christ begins to grow.
Growing in Grace
My old life in Adam is crucified and left nailed to the cross as the new starts to grow.
The new growth in the 'new life in-Christ'..
The new life takes time to grow – much time – a life-time of growing in grace.
Unbelieving Israel
Here was the God of life and glory, sent to redeem His own precious people, and He had to turn away bearing the precious gifts He wanted to bestow - the kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Matt 23:39 For I say unto you, ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, 'blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord.'” Matt 21:43
He is the only Truth, the only Life, and the only Light that came into the world.
I poured over chronology and typology, from the start of Genesis to the end of Revelation and I eventually discovered the Man on the road to Emmaus – the One Who opened up the scriptures, which all point to Him – the One of Whom Paul said at the end of his life, that I may know Him.
Eternal Life
2000 years ago the children of Israel reflected the church of today. Many were more interested in thoughts of their deliverance than an interest in their Deliverer, and as a result they missed three years of untold blessing in their lives.
Many looked to the scriptures instead of the One about Whom they were written: you diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life – these are the Scriptures that are about me John 5:39
Straight Course
Hebrews is a book that is written to both encourage and warn Christians in their walk. It helps maturing believers to steer a straight life-course through this world of unbelief. It warns that faith in God is the compass that guides us through the dark storms of life.
4 Progressive Steps
FIRST:- We are to strip aside every part of life that hinders our growth in our Christian life, for a surfeit of earthly things, whether good or evil, will hinder our spiritual walk.
SECOND:- We are to renounce the besetting sin of unbelief, which has caused so many to stumble.. for what God requires of us all is that we have faith Him and trust His Word – for without faith in Him we are unable to grow in our spiritual life.
THIRD:- We are to travel through life with patient endurance as we maintain our trust in God.
Life Journey
The wise mariner takes every precaution to steer a straight course towards his port. He must be 100% correct in his navigation if he is to arrive safely at his destination. He must not plot his course on a movable marker not anchor his ship to shifting sands, and believers in the spiritual realm must be equally vigilant in our own life journey.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Image and Likeness
The triune God created man in His own image with body, soul, and a spirit, and in His grace God gave fallen man a threefold life-experience with his Creator:- salvation, sanctification, and service, and it is all through the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is a profound mystery, but the life-giving Spirit which comes through new birth is that same life-transforming Spirit of Christ that lives in each believer.
Life-giving Spirit
It the same life-transforming Spirit that does His work through each believer: until it is no longer I that live but Christ that lives in Me.
Sanctification
Norman Harrison wrote: The secret of sanctification is the cordial acceptance of a life thus bounded, with a joyful appropriation of the transforming power, found alone within these bounds.
True contentment in all of life’s trials only comes from Jesus and not from self.
True service emanates from recognising that Christ is Lord of our life, no matter what - for you are bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1Cor.6:20.
But work - true work – work that lasts, is only effective if it is Him working in you: until the life that I live in the body is no longer I, but Christ Who lives in me. 1Cor.6:20
LORD → of your life, to will and to do of His good pleasure.
Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Divine Sustainer
Just gaze on, Jesus the true Vine and divine Sustainer, Who pleads:-abide in Me, Rejoice in the Father, the heavenly Husbandman – the surety of our growth and fruiting, Who removes those unfruitful areas in each precious life… to bring forth fruit, more fruit, much fruit.
Just gaze on Jesus and rejoice in the Father, Who challenges every jot and tittle of the life of the believer – until He produces.
Abiding in Christ
A life of entire consecration, to the glory of His name. A lesson of perfect conformity, to the nature and character of the lovely Lord Jesus.
Undoubting confidence in Him, producing a life yielded to Him alone.
His life received in into our life, as we recognise our position in Him.
and this is an incredulity to my arrogance! Is there not but one little thing that I can do? Is there not one little quality in my life that You can take and use? But the answer is unequivocal, unambiguous, indisputable, and clear….
This deep conviction of truth is an astonishment, and yet it lies at the foundation of a strong and spiritual life. Thus my impotence becomes my strength in Him, and my nothingness becomes my highest blessing..
All may be good and worthy causes and may be His call on a life..
Love One Another
This is My commandment… that you love one another – as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for a friend. These things I command you, that you love one another. Jesus said, THIS is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you… by this shall all men know that you are My disciples.
Uncompromising Trust
Much of Christ’s life exemplified how the man of God should live and pray. Christ’s life demonstrated an unfailing, trusting obedience to the heavenly Father.. a simple, uncompromising trust in the Father – that did only what the Father did.. a life that remained in continuous and ongoing fellowship with the Father.. a life that is in love with the Father and a heart that prays, Thy will be done – a life that translated into unceasing; persevering; grateful; obedient; trusting prayer. Christ’s life reflected a life of continuous; gracious; thankful; trusting communion.
Trial and Difficulties
Thanksgiving is not always a sentiment accompanying a life of trial and difficulties. Praise and worship is not the first behaviour displayed in times of desperate need. Grateful thanks are hardly an emotion we adopt when we are in deep pain or trouble.
Thanks and Praise
Yet mixed with diligence and obedience, thanks and praise is a highly potent weapon.. as exemplified in the lives of many saints of God – and even proved in my own!! – as evidenced in a number of passages in the pages of Scripture and beautifully demonstrated in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself.
No life is a better illustration of man’s of ceaseless, purposeful, thankful intercession.
Use me to carry out Your will in my life – Thy will be done. Such is a prayer that all God’s children can pray – when His will is central, (but it can only be uttered by a continuing, persevering, thankful, obedient heart) I delight to do Thy will, were the words that fell from Christ’s lips… (I desire, I am grateful; I am thankful – I am well-pleased to do Thy will.)
It is knowing God is using your life to help achieve His eternal purpose.
All things in the life of all believers are working together for God’s good and for God’s end.All things are working God’s way to them that love their Lord – to those who are the called according to His purpose.
So often we apply this verse when we are going through difficulties in our life..
Trusting Obedience
Today, as for the Lord Jesus, we live the life of sorrow and suffering.
Point of Need
The Lord Jesus had a wonderful way of meeting with people at their point of need. He offered living water to the Samaritan woman at the well and promised that He would become in her a fountain of living water springing up unto everlasting life. To the hungry crowd He was the Bread of Life.
Startling Picture
But as with the woman; the hungry; the hurting and lost – Jesus met his specific need. He used the book of Moses and the wilderness wanderings as a startling picture. As Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up – so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish – but will have eternal life.
Life Eternal
We will never know when Nicodemus finally came to an understanding of what Christ was teaching him, when he came to Jesus by night.
If I were God, I would do it this way… If I were Him I wouldn’t allow such and such to happen in my life or the life of others !!” You brainless man – you stupid woman! Do you really think you know better than Almighty God – how to achieve His plans and purposes?
Not just before the birth – but throughout her married life, and right until her dying day..
And all His life He was considered bastard..
and all His life his parents were mocked.
because the circumstances of life are not what WE think God should be doing. 'Oh foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have said in His Word'... all that has been written in the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation:
Saving of the Soul
Paul writes in First Corinthians 15: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. 1Cor.15:19. 'But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul'.
strengthen your brethren.' Luke 22:32 'Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the Desire comes, it is a tree of life'.
And though the power of sin has been broken in our life at the cross, there are times when we fall into sin, causing our fellowship to be broken, and so here we discover ourselves to be in a ‘Catch 22′ situation.
This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom thou hast sent.John 17:3
This Disciple
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? This disciple had been with the Lord Jesus for three years. He had seen His beautiful life..
Facts of Life
Not to know the Lord in this capacity is not to know Him at all. Not to know the Son of God’s Love is to miss out on KNOWING Him.
We may be quite familiar with the facts of Christ’s life..
We may know the prophecies that tell of His life and death and even His return.
for ye died and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col 3:2, 3)
The spiritual recession that occurs after the early joys of the new birth is not necessarily backsliding at all.
The discovery of the sinful old man is the first and foremost step in the discovery of the righteous Christ-life.
Redemption, we read, was the gift of grace, that was offered to the human race – so that whoever will believe on the only begotten Son of God will never perish, but have everlasting life.
God’s Shepherd
How curious that simple shepherds, who were so despised by the Jewish leadership, should have been the first to be told of the arrival of Israel’s long-awaited Messiah-King – for this tiny infant was also God’s Great Shepherd of the sheep – the Good Shepherd Who lays down His life for His sheep… and one day He will return to earth as the Chief Shepherd, Who will award the crown of glory to all the under-shepherds of God’s little flock, who have faithfully fulfilled the work that God has prepared for them to do.
Is not the reason of all this that we want to grasp the hidden wisdom of the Father with our mind alone, forgetting that the Holy Spirit intends to work it into the heart and inner life also? -A.M.
All he needs for maturity is encompassed in his new life. All a Christian needs, is in his new life in Christ and he is complete in Him, for nothing can be added and nothing can be subtracted – for Christ is ALL in ALL. He is ALL we need and we are COMPLETE in Him.
The Old Life
But the old life in Adam contains the antithesis of the new life in Christ. The old, sinful Adamic nature is the entire opposite of the new life in Christ.
Christ’s Life Within
The old sin nature of the old Adamic life must be crucified and remain on the cross.
The new life in Christ must be the life within that grows into the likeness of Christ.
We are a new man, with a new life in Christ – and all that is of the old must go.
The old and the new must not be combined, for the old life in Adam is at enmity against the new life in Christ.
Christlike Nature
It is not to be the old ‘ME’ but the new ‘ME’ that has supremacy in the life I live, so that it is not I that lives, but Christ Who in me Galatians 2:20… so that it is not the old sin nature but the new Christlike nature that develops – for ye are in Christ and ye are complete in Him. Colossians 2:10
Remain Crucified
The new life is additional to the old life in Adam – but it alone must grow and mature.
But conflict rages between the two for supremacy in the life of a believer... so the old must remain in the place of death – the old must remain crucified.
Process of Maturity
BUT… it does not end there. The new nature of the born-again believer makes that saint complete in Christ. This allows the life of Christ to be exhibited in the believer, which matures over time.
BUT, and this is important, mingling the old nature with the new life – retards the process and prevents maturity.
Christ Alone
Most Christians spend much of their Christian life trying to mingle the old with the new, and it just does not work!!!! BUT … and this is the astonishing thing, unless you try and fail, you don’t appreciate God’s principle of Christ alone.
Fruitfulness is all encompassed within the new life of Christ alone, and the new life in Christ is received at rebirth, by every believer.
God Works Within
We are to put off the old and put on the new and then... we are just to rest in Him, for it is God who works in us (through the new life in Christ) Both to WILL and to DO of His good pleasure.
Let Go and Let God
Why do we have to live our life doing God’s will... and for God’s good pleasure?
For all things in life work together for good, when we let go and let God… All things work together for good to those that are called…..
We may not be like Joseph of Arimathea – living the open secret life of a disciple, but each of us likewise, are called, cleansed commissioned and consigned to duty.
God-Orchestrated Mission
No blood-bought believer walked this earth without a God-orchestrated mission. Each day of my life was fashioned for me: when as yet there were none of them.
Men of Like Passion
Mighty men of yore like Moses or Isaiah, John the Baptizer or Paul, were each men of like passions – sinful to the core, men of unclean lips and lives. Each had to be buried in the waters of death to the old life of lust..
Are you living the life and performing the assignment apportioned to you? Are you living the thought and plans that God had for you before you were born, or do you constantly beat yourself because of your unworthiness to perform His will?
But it is Christ Who lives in me, and the life that I now live I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me – I myself no longer live but Christ lives in me Gal.2:20
Accepted IN Christ
Many believers fail throughout their entire Christian life to fully accept this truth..
Self-inflicted suffering is often the result of our own volition – our own wrong life-choices.
Wrong Choices
Some pressures we face are a direct result of the wrong choices we make in our life.
Have you ever made a bad choice in your life?
Just one simple bad choice can change the entire direction of a man’s life.
So many of the issues we face in life are clearly outlined in God’s word – if we would but listen.
Hos.4:6, but how often people make important life-decisions, based on anything but the Word of God.
I’ve made many wrong choices in my life and suffered many painful consequences, and it hurts.
Ignorance or misapplication of God’s Word can be very costly, but instructions for godly living can be found within the pages of God’s word, and we would do well to take it to heart and apply it to our lives as the pressures of life continue to mount.
Never forget that God’s word is life and health and wisdom and truth and His grace is sufficient, for Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path – forever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heave
Seeking Happiness
Man seeks after happiness, fulfilment, contentment in so many different ways. Many seek it through the insatiable desire for wealth and riches in abundance. Others see it as just getting to the end of a week to escape from the rat-race of life.
Faith in Christ
Christ became a permanent resident in our heart the instant we trusted Him as Saviour. His indwelling Spirit took up His habitation on the basis of faith in God’s Son, but the Spirit of God has an ongoing work throughout the rest of our life… by faith.
Let us praise our gracious God for the BREADTH of God’s Superlative LOVE for God SO loved the world that He GAVE His one and only Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE.Let us worship our Superlative God for the multiplied dimensions of His love.
It may not seem here on earth to mean very big things; wide open doors and all that, but somehow you may take it that there is Life there, spiritual influence there, something that is counting there.
But this does sometimes first of all necessitate that conflict with ambition where all those suggestions and influences have to be laid low, and we come to the place where we see that the way of Life is to go on with God though it costs us everything.
The law of the Spirit of Life works in that way.... The way of Life demands that we shall get before the Lord again, and say, ord, though all my earthly prospects fade, though all my ambitions are disappointed, it is You I want.
If I have You, these other things will count for much less.I believe that, as we can get there and not many of us have got a long way on that road but as we can get there, we find the secret of Life, of joy, of release.
But He lifted me out of the miry clay and raised me up out of the putrid filth and scum of my life – and clothed me in righteousness and put a ring on my finger, and hope in my heart.
So much of our Christian life is a matter of teaching, of things about Him.
Oh, he saw enough to take the heart out of any man at the end of such a life, but he did not say: or me to live is to see my life work standing as a monument, intact; to have all my old friends faithful and around me; to know that my message has had universal acceptance and appreciation!No!
True Image
Denominations and individuals alike envisage the God in whom they trust, and all too often the image that emerges is a distortion of the truth. All too often His resemblance has its poisoned roots in our early life. Role models we should trust and ached to believe in, let us down. Teachings of the church we attended or avoided..distorted God’s character, and over time, plus the input of life, God emerges – masked by our own imaginings. There are probably as many perceptions of God as there is sand on the seashore. But there is only one true character and likeness of God – the man Christ Jesus.
with God as a loving Father. The trauma and pain of life has caused many to colour their opinions of God, and failure of trusted loved ones – have built up distrust of His Word of Truth.
It is rather the rule of life that has influenced us all. We are all guilty of some distortion of God’s truth – some error in our thinking. We are all guilty – just as surely as each of us nailed Christ to the Cross.
We both twist God’s character in different ways. But our own distortions are unique to our own particular life-journey, and each, must recognise any erroneous thoughts of God that we have built-up.
Proud Perceptions
Each must be prepared to humble our proud perceptions, and confess our foolishness. Each of us on our life journey, have sought to understand the incomprehensible. I believe we must put away the erroneous opinions that we’ve developed of God. We must see Him as He is – not through the sinful lens of our own imagination.
My soul needs the living God – the One “Whom to KNOW is life eternal”.
ponder on the precious things of life.
We needs must value His fellowship, more than that of friends or family, until like Abraham we would willingly give up ALL we hold and love dearest in this life.
Grow in Grace
But – praise God this dear apostle, Peter, continues with the next verse. He explains in simple terms how this is achieved… 'but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ 2 Peter 3:18 We grow in grace and mature in the faith when we fix our eyes on the Lord, and the mature believer is the one that will not be overwhelmed by life’s circumstances.
We are made children through the new birth, but we can remain children throughout our Christian life.
And this I know – Jesus reached maturity through suffering, deep suffering – and too many Christians fail, for they want a cushy life on a feather-down pillow, but those that reach true maturity will be ones willing to participate in His lot.
Daniel was thrown to the lions, and experienced significant trials throughout his life, but Daniel became one of the greatest intercessors, for love of his people.
The Christian life is not regulated by Moses and the Law, but lived by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Some good men who in grievous error would impose the law as a rule of life for the believer mean very well by it (for they strive to be pious); but the whole principle is false.
The law, instead of being a rule of life, is necessarily a rule of death to one who has a sin nature.
At first, we consider the shocking revelation of self the greatest of calamities; later, we realize that it is the pathway to the blessed revelation of our life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
and it is by faith in God that He performs this change – and He takes His time! God uses life’s circumstances, (good and ill).
to prepare us for ultimate maturity and though we are accepted in Him, we need to be conformed into His likeliness. And so God has built His universe upon certain unchangeable principles and precepts -life principles -relational principles -business principles -national principles. As with the dispensation of Law, there are specific of principles for the age of grace… for we are not under the law, but under grace.
and God uses this inbuilt operative of the human heart, to develop faith. God uses this innate function of man’s soul, to turn him from self to Christ. When others fail us, it is to the open arms of His comfort that we fly. When things go wrong, it is to the one source of His supply that we turn. When life’s circumstances shatter our hopes, we discover our ‘need‘ of Him.
“Not I, but Christ.” This God-breathed principle is uniquely established in the life of each believer. This living truth is specially fashioned according to our individual requirement. Christ talked of this principled truth in Matthew, by saying :- according to your faith be it unto you. Matt.9:29 – and likewise..
Life Through Death
At the soon coming of the Lord the believer whose life has been sown in dishonour; will be raised in glory.
Nehemiah 1:9 Nehemiah had lived his whole life in exile, but he never forgot the word of the Lord – and his prayer reflected a man that placed his full trust in the promises of God.
Man of Action
Nehemiah had spent his life in Persian captivity- far away from his homeland in Israel, but he had proved himself trustworthy- having been appointed cupbearer to the king. He was also a man of action.
If we are seeking to go on with God to any degree beyond that which is commonly accepted as a true Christian life; if we are called to pioneer the way for any further advance in spiritual life or Divine service; if we are given a vision of God's will and purpose not seen by the general mass of God's people or even the larger number of the servants of God ours will be a lonely way.
It needs that the heart be carried into the glory of Canaan beyond; in the present sense of peace with the Father, and the consciousness of standing in His present favor - the favor that is better than life. -F.G.P.
If you have a Cross and a grave in your experience, in your history, the Holy Spirit has got what He requires, and it is blessedly possible for you to have the abiding of this risen Life in which all these values are made good, and growingly good.
Oh wretched man that I am Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thanks be to God, Who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 7:25
Perfect Law
The Law of God is perfect and restores life.
Insufficient Law
The Law may be perfect and man may desire to obey the perfect Law of God, but it is insufficient to save a guilty sinner – and we discover it to be a ministration of death – for it tells us God’s standard for man, but then shows us that we can only fail. The Law may be good and spiritual and the born-again life in Christ may desire to keep God’s commandments – but the old sin nature is carnal and in bondage to sin. This is why Paul failed when he tried to keep the Law in the strength of his old fallen nature, which caused him to cry out:- Oh wretched man that I am!
Who will deliver me from this body of sin – and free me from this life that is dominated by death.
Restrictive Measure
The Law though perfect, had no way to remove the death sentence – so death reigned from Adam’s fall to Moses and continued to rule from the time of Moses to Christ. The Law was God’s perfect tool to direct us to Christ so that we might be justified. But the Law can be equally problematic to the one that has been justified, for if one starts to live a Christian life under the restrictive measure of the Law of Moses or any self-imposed legalistic system, it can only be done by the old sin nature being guided by the lust of the flesh and not the new nature in Christ, that is led by the Spirit of God.
Old Sin Nature
Paul discovered, after his Damascus Road conversion, that trying to live the Christian life in the power of the old sin nature was doomed to failure, causing him to cry out… O wretched man that I am!
Way of the Cross
Paul had discovered the answer was Christ – the way of the Cross – the only Way. His elated cry was: thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord. And this is how it works!!! Christ lived a perfect life and by fulfilling all the requirements of the Law, He was able to go to the cross and become the one and only Sacrifice for the sin of the whole world. This broke the power of death in His life and hence Christ rose from the dead.
The Father, Who has life in Himself, granted the Son to have life in Himself too.
He is given a new life – a born again life – the life of Christ – Christ’s very own life.
Open Secret
It was living his life, through the new-life in Christ, that was given to Paul – when he was born again, that was Paul’s open secret of how to live the victorious Christian life. It was living this new-life in Christ that broke the power of sin in Paul’s life. It was living this new-life in Christ that delivered Paul from the body of death. And it is living our Christian life, by means of the new born-again life of Christ in us, that will give you and me the victory over the power of sin in our lives too.
New-Creation
A new creation and new federal Head was to be the new order of redeemed humanity. New, born-again creatures in Christ – that were to become partakers of the divine life. A heavenly people with a heavenly inheritance – a heavenly king and heavenly home.
the promised life of grace upon grace is a free gift to all who receive Christ Jesus, but He must be received.
For as many as received CHRIST; the Messiah of Israel – Son of God and Son of Man; the giver of Life and Light of the world – the Author and Finisher of our faith….
A New Life
In Christ we belong to a new order – a new creation, with a new heart and a new life. The old self which used to be the dominating influence in our life has been exchanged.
We now have a new life in Christ and we are to dress ourselves in the spiritual man.
Christ in Me
However old or young in the faith we are we all are to put on the new man in Christ, We are to put away all that is old and put on the new – until Christ is formed in us. The new man is to be the manifestation of our Christian life – Christ living in me.
Take off the Old Life
The wonderful thing is that God, through Paul explained how to live.
Paul tells us not to walk like unsaved people, in the futility of their mind, being darkened by their understanding... excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them... because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
Put on the New Life
He reminds us we did not learn Christ in this way, if we were correctly taught. He continues in reference to our former manner of life that – you are to lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
Godly Nature
Our new life has been created in Christ’s righteousness and holiness of the truth. And the old sin nature does not want to be superseded by the new godly nature.
Purposeful Life
The new nature wants us to put away anger that flares us in the heat of our flesh, for such behaviour gives the roaring lion an opportunity to devour our hope.
We have all been given a new nature in Christ – a new life in Him - Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Ephesians 4:24.
Put On The New Self
We are to lay aside the old self, with which we were clothed in our old life, and put on the new set of clothes we received when we first trusted the Lord Jesus.
One hears much today about body life, with its emphasis upon New Testament gathering, rather than Christ-centered growth.
Where there is no Cross there is no life, and no ministry of life.
Churches, like the Church, are organisms which spring out of life, which life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers.
The Reformation brought back the birth truths, but the Cross and the Life truths are necessary for our growth.
So many rest content with the thought that their sins are pardoned, and that they are in the path of life, but know nothing of a personal attachment to the risen Lord Jesus Christ as their life, or of faith that lives in the invisible and walks with the Father.
The old life is neither to be recycled nor reformed.
We could not be saved by Him, and keep the life on account of which He died.
If there were true apprehension of the work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross - that He so bore the judgment on man that all the man who had offended against God has been judicially removed to His infinite satisfaction, and that He who saved us from death is now our Life - there would be a wonderful testimony to the grace of God.
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).
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free (Rom. 8:2).
As in the apostolic days so now the desire exists for the manifestation of the Spirit in marvelous ways; but a life sober, righteous, holy, lived in the hope of the glory to come, is the more excellent way of the Spirit's manifestation and undeniable proof of His indwelling.
Early in the Christian life we naturally feel that it is our obligation to overcome self and become spiritual.
The self-life is surely our first and most bitter foe, and the believer who will serve God acceptably must learn His way of victory over this subtle and dangerous enemy.
The flesh is irrecoverably fallen and you and I make no real progress in the Christian life until we have learned in experience to say with the apostle: For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing' (Rom. 7:18). -J.C.M.
Paul's great endeavor, in all his great struggle of Romans Seven, was to make ‘the flesh,' his old self-life, consent to do that holy law which his new self approved.
And it was through this terrible experience that he found the new or inward' man to be distinct from the old man; that the realm of the spirit' was absolutely separate from that of the flesh', that all of the old self, with its life and energy, was to be despaired of, not sanctified.
For the death which He died He became, once for all, dead in relation to sin; but by the life which He now lives He is alive in relation to God (Rom. 6:10, Wey.).
If we attempt to prune the branches of the old life, we find that its root has thereby been strengthened.
But remember it is only as the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death a reality within us, that we shall know, not by force of argument or conviction, but in the reality of the power of an endless life, that we are in very deed dead to sin. -A.M.
Not by a stringent cutting off' of exterior things, nor by seeking a mental apprehension of death with Christ' in the conscious life, but by a simple reckoning upon His death as yours - shall you experience in the inner depths of your life, servant of God, the divine spiritual reality that Christ in you' is in truth your very life, displacing the old life of nature and continually making to die' its inclinations and habits
Once we come to rest in the fact of what He has accomplished for us in Christ, there need be no concern as to how and when He will carry it out in our daily life.
Every failure in life will be dealt with there, and all the wood, hay, and stubble will be burned in the fire of that day and we shall stand before our Lord unimpeachable, unaccusable. -H.A.I.
The principle underlying resurrection life is, of all things, death.
Only by thus standing in your position will you begin to experience the likeness of His resurrection.' Reckon on your life-union with Him.
Reject the old life on the basis of your death in Christ on the Cross, and count yourself alive in Him until He makes experiential your resurrection position.
The sharing of His life is our blessed experience just in the measure in which we share His death.
It was resurrection, and it is the risen life, shining forth in the believer, that alone can carry out the purpose of God in redemption.
When the standard of the Christian life is low, the responsibility for growth is placed upon the believer.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Christian's very life, and the Holy Spirit dwells within our spirit to manifest Him, to work out all that is in Him and to reproduce Him in us.
This truth is very discriminating, and goes to the root of all matters of life and service.
In the unfolding of the laws of His own effective life the Master put tremendous emphasis upon the fact that the words that He spoke, and the works that He did, were not of (out from) Himself, it was the Father both speaking the words and doing the works.
Thus the law of effective and fruitful life, service, prayer, etc., is that there shall be such a oneness that we only do but surely do what He is doing.
That is giving diligence to keep the unity.... Life is by unity, and unity can only adequately be found in Christ being in His place as the One for whom we let go everything that is personal.
Is not that the tragic, dark story of the Church; man in his old creation powers and life pressing into the things of God, and making a name for himself?
There are things in life that are irreparable and there is no going back… his children, his property, his reputation, his hope – all had evaporated.
Cross of Christ
Man’s native wit shouts, 'this is not right, my life is tragic and unbearable, what must I do to be saved..?' Common sense screams that life was not created to face such heartaches – until, like the Job’s of this world, they face the brutal cross of Christ.
They Overcame
It is only the heart that has fully embraced the Cross that can withstand the attacks… vicious attacks of a vicious enemy that accuse the bedrock of a man’s belief in God. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb. And they overcame him because of the word of their testimony, And they overcame him because they did not love their life – even when faced with death.
Pilgrim Life
When a Job is brought to an end of himself..
This is the one desire of the Lord in each pilgrim’s life. While a man can face and furnish his own desires, there is little need of a Saviour – but when a man denies self and rests in Him alone – this is the Way that God intended.
Balm of Gilead
God’s very hedge of protection around a faithful man of God often has sharp thorns; the sharpest of thorns - thorns which rip and tear at the heart.. thorns that take him to the edge of helplessness. But the balm of Gilead is waiting to be applied after life’s lengthy season of sorrow..
And also in the timeless ages to come – in life eternal, when He will wipe away all tears from their eyes.
This is a general difference, but it is a very great one, and it may represent all the difference between bondage and liberty, between limitation and fullness, even between Life and death in ministry.
And that applies to every stage of the Christian life.
If there are any reading these lines, who have never in the first place had their eyes opened to see, so that the result is Life eternal for knowing is only another word for seeing, and Jesus said, This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ (John 17:3); that they should know another word for seeing if you have not yet entered into Life, received eternal Life, remember that it will not just happen to you; it will not simply happen.
Spiritual Life is not only a miracle in its inception; it is a continuous miracle in this matter right on to the last.... We do not seek for new revelation, and we do not say or suggest or hint that you may have anything extra to the Word of God, but we do claim that there is a vast amount in the Word of God that we have never seen, which we may see.
You and I, on the broadest basis of the Christian life, are here... to represent a check; and because we are here for that, we shall be called trouble makers.
Before His cross His incomparable, innocent life prepared the Lord Jesus to be our perfect Sacrifice – our kinsman-Redeemer – so that we could be saved from our sins.
Obedient in Life
The Lord Jesus had lived His whole life in the world of men.
His miraculous conception, His humble birth in Bethlehem – His simple life in the little town of Nazareth where He laboured as the Carpenter, all prepared our Lord Jesus for His work on the Cross and equipped Him to become God’s sacrifice for our sin.
Obedient in Death
He lived His whole life in spirit and truth – doing only those things that He heard from the Father and in humble submission to the Spirit of God.
The Lord Jesus lived His life and died His death in humble obedience – learning to say, Thy will, not Mine be done.
Great High Priest
His life of obedience qualified the Lord Jesus to become our great High Priest, and as such, He sits at the right hand of the Father carrying out His high priestly ministry on behalf of all who are part of His body – all who believe on His name. As our great High Priest, He comforts and succours all those who are weary and heavy-laden and who come to Him for rest.
His high priestly ministry is founded upon the life that He lived on earth.
Sanctified Life
For 33 years our great High Priest, identified Himself intimately with the strains and stresses of this life.
His whole life was interlinked with the adversities, misunderstandings, weariness and pain, that is the equal-lot of all humanity.
The Lord Jesus Christ lived a sanctified life – a life set apart to God – a life separated from the world, so that all who trust in His name, could also be truly sanctified.
Let us quietly meditate on the following well-loved hymn and the role of the Holy Spirit in our life, as we submit to His leading and guiding willingly and submissively.
It all goes to prove this tremendous fact: that it is Christ IN you that is the indispensable necessity for Life and for work.... What a marvelous thing it is that we are in the dispensation when the one thing, above all others, that God will make true, is Christ in you Christ IN you!
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And He paid the price in full so that we could receive the gift of eternal life instead.
Salvation in Christ
The gift of God is salvation through Christ and eternal life is a beautiful consequence. Salvation is offered to all and given to those that believe on the Son of God: for all have sinned and the wages for all is death – but God sent His Son so that all who believe in His work on Calvary would be saved.
Total Righteousness
And His gift to all who trust on His name is a justifying righteousness:- regeneration; sanctification; glorification; a new creation in Christ, and the grace of God and peace with God, and faith and hope and love and joy, and the indwelling Spirit and a heavenly inheritance – and eternal life: for He washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.
Perfect Trinity
It is because He is holy and perfect. It is because He is perfect God and became perfect Man. It is because He has saved us by the blood of His perfect Son. It is because He dwells in us by His perfect Spirit. It is because He can do the perfect in our imperfect life. It is because He can do the impossible…. and so He demands the impossible of all His children – for things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Luke 18:27
The first man – Adam, in his disobedience to God had placed himself under Satan’s authority... while the second Man – the Lord Jesus, in His obedience to God, must also be made a little lower than the angels that He Himself created – if humanity was to be redeemed by His life-giving blood, and regain Man’s God-given rulership of the earth.
He paid the price for the sin of ALL people, so that whosoever believes on His name should not be condemned – but have everlasting life.
Fully Alive
When we first believed in Jesus we were placed in a permanent relationship with Him. The old former life in Adam was forever replaced with our new, eternal life in Christ. We who were dead in trespasses and sins were made fully alive and given His life.
God looks on the heart and He knows!! He became our life by means of the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit of God.
We share in the LIFE of Christ: and this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12 Faithful is the saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. 2 Timothy 2:11
His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of Him Who called us by His own glory and goodness. He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world. 2 Peter 1:3
Price for Sin
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross His death paid the price for all sin, so that all who believe on Him would receive forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
Power of Death
His death is sufficient for it satisfied God’s judgement of sin, in your life and mine. His resurrection is sufficient for it broke the power of death in all who believe. Christ’s glorious sufficiency meets every need in this life and the one to come, and we are fully accepted by God for time and eternity, because of His sufficiency.
Christ is sufficient for every circumstance of life and He is all we need in everything.
Living Word
He is all we need in the ups and downs of life, its joys and woes, for He is sufficient.
He is the focal point of all Scripture, the great “I AM,” in Whom all revelation unites, for He is the Alpha and Omega of our life, the Beginner and Perfecter of our faith.
The sufficiency of Christ equates to our every need in this life and the one to come.
It is Finished
This is not a future hope... although it’s final manifestation is indeed future. It is a completed and finished fact in your life and in mine – as a child of God. Just as Christ defeated death and Satan, as once and for all he cried, It Is Finished… so these truths are accomplished and finished in your life and in mine.
Job is probably one of the fullest and most accurate 'types' of the Christian life.
Early in our Christian life the general conception is that God is a wonderful Helper.
Everything you need in the Christian life, no matter what it may be, comes from the Father alone.
You will see more and more the utter futility of trying to make yourself a keen Christian; that your best efforts are as futile as your worst failures; that your Christian life is to be a continual miracle that the Father must work every minute; that the only thing you have to do is to depend utterly, and altogether, and all the time on Him.
You get to the heart of everything in the case of the Lord Jesus when you recognize that the one question which constituted the testing ground of His life was: Will this Man act alone, speak alone, choose alone, decide alone, move alone?
Christianity can be made into an imposed system just as much as Mosaic law was, and there are many Christians today who live under the fear of the Thou shalt and the Thou shalt not of a legalistic conception of the Christian life.
You can take the Bible as God's standard for your life and try to fulfill it and yet still be burdened with a sense of constant failure.
It is God's standard, and it is a very exhaustive one which leaves no part of the practical life untouched, but those who make the effort to try to live up to it only end in disillusion.
To be in Christ is a matter of Life and not of legalism.
Blessed promise!If you aspire to be a son of consolation; if you would partake of the priestly gift of sympathy; if you would pour something beyond commonplace consolation into a tempted heart; if you would pass through the intercourse of daily life with the delicate tact that never inflicts pain; you must be content to pay the price of a costly education - like Him, you must suffer.
Oh, it is quite true, and we know it, that He is our Life, He is our Savior, He is so much to us and we are right when we say that we could not live without Him.
Language fails... that He has just so captured us, so utterly captured us, that not only is He our Life in the sense that we couldn't get on without Him, but that He is a passion for living.
The Lord Jesus was in our place of death and judgment; we are in His place of life and glory.
Romans Eight describes the experience of the believer who knows what it is to be in Christ, and who is being made free experientially from the law of sin and death by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
On the other hand, we have life in One who is risen from the dead.
God has never been in a hurry to achieve His plans and purposes in your life or mine, and we’re instructed over again that patient endurance is the way of the believer.
The author of this book invites us all to travel along the journey of life this same way.
Let us.. strip of every hindrance in our life that inhibits our spiritual growth.
Let us.. run with patient endurance the life-race that is set before us.
Sowing and Reaping
The apostle Paul was a man that both taught and lived his life this way. He stripped away all hindrances and set his face as a flint to trust God unflinchingly, and Paul ran with persevering, patient endurance the race that was set before him.
Pattern for Life
The Lord Jesus Christ is our pattern for life and living – God’s representative man. He lived a life in submission to the will of the Father – Thy will, not mine be done.
He lived a life being guided by the Spirit of God, walking in spirit and truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ learned obedience through the things that He suffered.
Standard for Life
The Lord Jesus Christ illustrated the way that God ordained that man should live.
Obedience is a necessary step towards being conformed into the image of Christ. Obedience frees us from the bondage of sin to the liberty of life in Christ Jesus.
and in Him, we may be imputed with righteous. In one we received death and condemnation and in the Other, life and reconciliation, for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners -so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.
Too often we regard obedience as rules and regulations limiting our freedom, but when filtered through the purity and grace of God, it delivers His life and light.
Paul yearns that we appropriate the multiplied riches of God’s grace in our life – today.
Fullness of God’s Love
As we abide in Christ so He will dwell in our hearts by faith – with thanksgiving.. That we may not only know about God’s love, but to know God’s love in reality.. that we not only know He is life – but to have His life living within our heart – that we might be filled will all the fullness of God’s love – as an actuality.
I don’t mean basing faith on emotional feelings which can fluctuate to and fro – but a trust that God provides sufficient grace no matter what we are facing in life.
Indwelling Assurance
When the indwelling Spirit works His peace within – we realise His residing power. When storms of life batter our being – His indwelling assurance gives perfect peace.
After the believer enters into life by faith, he wonders why it was so difficult for him to see that it was all of grace - the humble reception of a finished work.
And yet he goes through the faithless struggle once again before he sees that his daily Christian life is also a finished work - complete in Christ.
Peace does not, and cannot, exist in the fallen Adam life; and as long as the old man reigns within, there is going to be turmoil both within and without.
The more clearly we enter, by faith, into objective truth, or what is true of us in the Lord Jesus, the deeper, more experiential and practical will be the Spirit's subjective work in us, and the more complete will be the manifestation of the moral effect in our life and character. -C.H.M.
Right Sphere
How do we keep ourselves in the sphere of intimate love, trust and knowing God? Well – for all questions of life and death, Scripture gives the only answer. The Word of God is our sole plumb-line and one source of understanding and aid.
Submitted Life
When a life is submitted to His leading, He can produce the impossible.
The perfect God-Man lived a perfect life.
He lived the life God wants for each of us – here and now.
He lived a life where the cruelty and brokenness of sin could never permeate.
Our Circumstances
There is no circumstance in life so overwhelming that is beyond His control. There is no burden too heavy that He cannot carry.
Our Sin
There is no sin so gross that He cannot forgive. There is no life so ruined that He cannot make whole. There is no heart so broken and fragmented that He cannot restore. There is no deep desire of your heart that He can’t fulfil. There is no lack of anything which He cannot supply in full.
To be perfect means to be whole; to be healthy; to be mature; to be complete... just as the Lord Jesus was perfect – the perfect God-Man, Who lived a perfect life.
Our Life
To be perfect means to let Him live His life through us..
To let Him fill to the brim our void with Himself. To permit Him to mend the heart, broken by life’s cruel circumstances – to actually believe what God says.
Similarly, when the Father placed us in Christ,' He also made provision in Him for our whole life.
As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrates through a gradual process that sets free the new life, even so does the Father deal with our old man by delivering it to death with the Lord Jesus once for all, and then bringing about its mortification in detail through the circumstances of life, until the power of the flesh has lost its hold. -L.T.
Let us be very watchful that the inner life, communion with the Lord Jesus, be the true source of our activities.
Nearness to the Lord Jesus is the instinct of divine life, as we see in the first question of the two disciples who followed Him, Where dwellest Thou?' Why is not this the first question now?
We should ever remember that Christianity is not a set of opinions, a system of dogmas, or a number of views; it is pre-eminently a living reality - a personal, practical, powerful thing, telling itself out in all the scenes and circumstances of daily life, shedding its hallowed influence over the entire character and course, and imparting its heavenly tone to every relationship which one may be called of God to fill.
One of the true tests of one's spiritual growth is in one's influence: affecting others that they not only begin the Christian life but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
We may be made the means of conversion, but we will never help people on to a higher standard of spiritual life, and when we pass away a great deal of our work will pass away too. -A.M.
In the heat of controversy or under unjust criticism, haste of temper, slowness to forgive and forget, quick words and sharp judgments, often reveal an easily wounded sensitiveness, which proves how little the Spirit of the Lord Jesus has full possession or real mastery of the life. -A.M.
One may have a measure of relief and the assurance of eternal security because we trust the shed Blood and His finished work on the Cross, but when we come to divine favor and the reality of the Christian life, that is all connected with a Person, and inseparable from that Person. -C.A.C.
He demonstrates how He built a beautiful world that was designed for life and living.
Breath of Life
From the dust of the earth, that was spoken into being, God formed His own likeness.
The old sin nature meant that man could NEVER, EVER do what pleased God, but alongside the old sin nature was the new nature in Christ – the new life of Christ.
Innocent and Sinless
The old life we still retain – the old, fallen sin nature is totally incapable.
and because of His choice, we have His new life in US.
And because of His choice, we are been saved by His redeeming work have His new life in us.
Life of Christ
We have this treasure (THE LIFE OF CHRIST) in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.
Our free-will choice as believers is to let the life of Christ live in us, until it is not I that live but Christ that lives in me!!!
Sacrificial, because its source is the life of One who gave Himself a sacrifice, and stated that the path of leadership was by the lonely road of sacrificial service. -O.S.
This dominating attitude of Covenantism must account for the utter neglect of life truth (growth) in all their works of theology.
No more representative theological dictum from the Covenant viewpoint has been formed than the Westminster Confession of Faith, which valuable and important document recognizes life truth only to the point of imposing the Ten Commandments on Christians as their sole obligation, and in spite of the teachings of the New Testament which asserts that the Law was never given to Gentile or Christian. -L.S.C.
The Reformation took away one set of bindings, but bound the believers with another - and this has atrophied the spiritual life of multitudes. -D.G.B.
Differences
Christians are made sons of God, given eternal life, and are seen by God as perfect.
Condition in Christ
Our CONDITION relates to our current situation as we journey through our life. Our condition as we travel through life may seem to conflict with our position in Him.
Living the Truth
As children of God, the experiences of life we face can be very difficult and painful.
The life-circumstances we face often seem to contradict our perfect position in Him. But our position in Christ is as secure and steadfast as the eternal character of God.
Whatever our life-condition – we’re exhorted to hold fast to our positional truth.
But at rebirth, we are newborn believers, who have to learn the Christian life.
Two Opposite Sides
Position and Condition are the two opposite sides of the same Christian life.
Since then you are risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sits on the right hand of God and let us grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ... for in Christ we all are “quickened,” “raised up,” and “made to sit” together with Christ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
As the result of the work of His Cross and resurrection, eternal life is received complete by those who believe.
But while that life is itself victorious, incorruptible, and indestructible, the believer has to come by faith to prove it, to live by it, to learn its principles, to be conformed to it.
The life in itself in the believer needs no addition, so far as its quality and quantity are concerned.
But the course of spiritual experience, of spiritual life, is to discover, to appropriate, and to grow in all that the life represents and means. -T.
Or, we can abide (rest) in the risen Lord Jesus, the Source of our new nature, and thereby become the glad recipients of His life and liberty, as depicted in Romans Eight.
The Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death (Rom. 8:2).
Look at Him as the very source of your Christian life.
The past blotted out, the pardoned sinner accounted crucified with the crucified Lord, henceforth joined as a new creation to the risen Lord and now sharing His life (Rom. 5:10).
Your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
They who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:17).
He has been made to sit together with Christ in heavenly places in order that, having received an abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness, he might reign in life by one, even the Lord Jesus.
Two Distinct Factions
The human race is divided into two camps – two parties – two distinct factions. Every member of the human race is either connected with Adam or with Christ. Initially, every person is connected with Adam from the moment we are born.. but those believing in Jesus are removed from Adam and put into Christ – forever. Those that move from Adam to Christ are born again into a new life.
In 1 Corinthians 15 we read: – so also in Christ, all will be made alive. All who transfer from Adam into Christ are given eternal life.
Every born-again believer is freely given salvation by God’s grace – through believing, and the consequences of this is everlasting life and eternal union with Christ.
Born Again
The choice depends on whether or not they choose to trust Christ as their Saviour. Those choosing to trust in Jesus are immediately transferred from Adam into Christ – they are born again into a new and abundant life and are given eternal life.
Romans 5:19
Yes, Adam’s one sin brings condemnation for everyone, but Christ’s one act of righteousness brings a right relationship with God and new life for everyone.
So as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death – now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:12-21
The only way of Life and deliverance from such a paralysis is a deliberate faith in God which causes us to take the attitude that we are going on with God, understanding or not understanding, explaining or not explaining, having light or having no light; we are going right on with God on the basis of what God has done in us, made real in us, of what God Himself is to us by what He has effected in us.
We, beloved, shall come there and may come there more than once in the course of our life; we shall come to the place where we realise we are going right out into outer darkness and despair and paralysis, to be ruled completely out of any effectiveness, fruitfulness, or value whatever, unless we pull ourselves together and say to ourselves, The whole thing is an inexplicable, bewildering confusion, a tangle from our standpoint or the standpoint of man; but God is, God is faithful.
Hebrews 11:6, How important, therefore, to know what faith actually is, what it means and how we can objectively act in our Christian life, by faith.
There are a number of different words in the Bible that exemplify what faith is and how faith is applied in the life of the great men and women of faith that are listed in Hebrews 11.
YAHAL – In Psalm 119 we read: remember Your word to Your servant, in which You have made me HOPE.. (yahal) and this too refers patient endurance as we wait for God in the trials of life and trust His promises.
There would be little harm in trying to imitate Christ if such an endeavor did not hide from us what our Lord really desires; and so keep us back from life more abundant.' Christ has come Himself into our hearts to dwell there, and what He wants is to live His life in us, as the Apostle Paul says, For to me to live is Christ.' Christ was the very source and mainspring of all he was and did.
they continued. Most people find that the more things we have to do the less time there is to pray... Oh sirs, was her simple reply, the more I pray the easier it becomes to pray!- and she explained how her heavenly Father was with her in every aspect of life.
Joys and Pain
When grief strikes – I pour out my hurt to Him. When joy fills my life – I thank Him for His blessings. When difficulties surface – I cast them on the Lord as instructed. When others are in distress – I lift them up into His heavenly keeping.
Daily Grace
I thank Him for my life, my home, and the grace that He showers on me daily and in troublesome times I shoot out an arrow of prayer into the throne-room of God.
Intimate Prayer
It’s good to take quiet time alone with the Lord in intimate prayer behind closed doors – but it is also incumbent on us to pray without ceasing – in every part of our life.
For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us, (taking paths which He prepared ahead of time) that we should walk in them - living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live (Eph. 2:10, Amp.).
According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3).
Areas of Hostility
There is not one area of life where spiritual fighting does not permeate. Hostilities rage in the home; the street; the workplace; the shop and the church. Conflicts percolate the media; entertainment and the corridors of government.
Grace Thru Faith - STUDY
Grace Thru Faith- study [24]
Period of Preparation
There must be a long and deep period of preparation, in the man and woman of God, if that life is to shed abroad the attributes of the Lord Jesus in thought word and deed..
if that life is to work in entire submission to the leading and guiding of the Spirit – if the Spirit is to expose the infinite contrast between the 'self-life' and the 'Christ-life'. You think I am labouring this point?
Well, it needs to be laboured, for that is the teaching of Scripture to the Church. This is what Paul laboured for – so that Christ’s life may be established in the believer.
Preparation certainly does have relevance to this brief breath of life here and now, but the work of God’s Spirit is to prepare us for the future ages to come. This is the reason that almost without exception time is needed for preparation.
Spirit and the Flesh
Some people spend their entire Christian life in this struggle – what about you? Ironically, this battle that Paul describes in Romans chapter 7 is healthy. It is what God designed to bring each of us to a point of despairing in self. One saint puts it like this:- Not in our early Christian walk are we able to continually abide in His presence, regardless of our surroundings and that which we are doing. Not when we serve with intermittent zeal does our own soul grow and thrive. Not when we are indifferent are we watered from the presence of the Lord. It is after we have been subdued, refined, and chastened.
He wrote:- The value of both the struggle to free ourselves from the OLD Adam-life, and the equally fruitless efforts to experience the NEW Adam-life, (the Christ-life) is to finally realize that it is utterly futile. Our personal, heart-breaking failure in every phase of our Christian life..is our Father’s preparation for His success on our behalf.
Our stand and attitude from the beginning of each day is to be a settled matter as we rest in our risen Lord Jesus: the death of the Cross separates me from the enslavement of sin and self, and I continually abide in my new life, Christ Jesus.
My life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
So that he can no longer spend the rest of his natural life living by [his] human appetites and desires but [he lives] for what God wills (1 Pet. 4:2, Amp.).
Future Prophecy
But Zacharias trusted God to fulfil His promises – to raise up a horn of salvation in the house of His servant David… to save His people from their enemies and from the hand of all who hate them… to show mercy promised to the fathers and to remember His holy covenant, which he swore to Abraham… that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him, all the days of our life – and that day is coming… very SOON.
He bore the derision and ridicule of every foul-mouthed mocker, in silence – so that they, with us, could regain peace with God – so that they with us, could secure life eternal.
Despite the agony of death and the load of sin He bore, Jesus gave life to this dead soul.
Words for Today
For the believer, today is the ongoing work of the Spirit in each life..
Anything that makes us unnaturally big is evil, whether it be the individual life, or whether it be what is called the work of God, trying to make it bigger than its real spiritual measure, inflating it beyond its genuine spiritual degree; that is something evil, that is leaven....
Because these teachers appeal to the natural life.
Christ Jesus' earthly life showed the path, His heavenly life gives the power, in which we are to walk.
Christ lived on earth that He might show forth the image of God in His life; He lives in heaven that we may show forth the image of God in our lives. -A.M.
Saved by Grace
Even when we were dead in trespasses and sins God quickened us; He made us alive; He gave us spiritual life together with Christ, and raised us up to heavenly places and gave us every spiritual blessing.
Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. (2 Corinthians 4:10 NLT)
His risen Life can now energize thesebodies; not, for the present, to change them into the likeness ofHis glorious body, but to quicken them for service.
There isrisen Life for these mortal bodies now, but it has to bedeliberately appropriated, chosen, drawn upon.
The Lord has never come in and mademe suddenly to feel myself being filled, permeated with Life, andrising up.
I have known the moment very often come when the Lord,not in an audible voice but in what is as good, a suggestion, aprompting, has said, Lay hold of Life; lay hold of Me as yourLife!
There were no spoken words, but the intimation was to thiseffect: The time has come to repudiate this state and lay hold ofChrist for Life!
The Lord does not take us up like anautomaton; He causes us to cooperate with Himself on the basisof His risen Life.
All the values of Christ risen are found byour deliberate and definite taking hold of His risen Life.
The one essential is to stand definitely in Christfor the situation.... The whole realm and range of Christ for experience is dependent upon His risen Life in us, and our laying hold of it, standing on it.
He evermore learns to abhor himself as he sees the sinfulness of the old man within, only to delight himself the more in the Lord Jesus who is his life. -W.R.N.
However, the reign of self is overthrown by its own enmity, since it creates the needs that cause us to hunger for and appropriate Christ's life and liberty.
Thus it is that freedom comes through bondage, life through death. -W.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).
have not the nerves been jangled, and the heart racked with pain, now that the race is nearly run? How often, as the end is in view, have the lust of the flesh and the pride of life..
of those who sped along life’s journey with brave heart and stout will… until in sight of the goal; until the finishing post loomed into view; until their courage failed; until they submitted to the world, the flesh, the tempter, the failing nerve.
But they stumbled and fell... never to realise, until the last day of revealing, the closeness of life’s goal.
Let us be fully abiding in the One who is Life, and sin when it acts, will find us dead to it. -E.H.
It is what the Lord Jesus did there that counts, and what He did becomes a growing force in the life of the believer when it is seen, and rested in by faith.
The Spirit delights in acceptable prayer. He enlightens the mind to request HIS will to be done, in and through your life. He quickens the heart to desire His perfect will –in and for the lives of others.
She recognised early in her young life, that her focus was to be on Him and not on Self.
False Joy
The joy of the world is short-lived and soon replaced by life’s clamour and discontent. The joy of the world may thrill a few notes to tempt and entice the believer, but the joy of the world sounds a discordant clash as the pain of life returns. When waves of sorrow break on the shores of the world – joy’s voice is drowned. The world cannot maintain joy through loss or bereavement – sorrow or death. The world cannot maintain joy in the fiesta; the party season or the festival day..
Fountain of Life
His joy is a fountain of life – welling up and over-spilling. His joy is a reservoir of love – in his Christ-filled heart. But Satan as a roaring lion seeks whom he may devour and robs us of this godly joy. And Satan places doubt and uncertainties in the hearts of the believer, and seeks to entice the believer back to the emptiness of the world’s fleeting thrill.
Pain of the World
There is much in life’s circumstances that gives the believer pain. There is much in the world in which he lives that causes him distress. The injustices of life; the sufferings of so many; the neglect of the truths of God; the rejection of the love of the Father; the compromise of the gift of Salvation; the venomous hatred of the Giver of Salvation; the ignorance of so many who have never heard His Word of Salvation. Yes, there is much in life’s circumstances that gives the believer pain.
Gift of Hope
Eternal Life is not the hope that we may or may not receive. Eternal Life is not an inheritance which we may or may not obtain. Eternal Life is not it is not a reward a prize….
it is a gift. Eternal Life is a free gift of God, already bestowed on all believers.
But the Lord Jesus, who is our life, never was, nor ever is, passive.
But we have new life capable of receiving and delighting in the very thoughts of our Father. -J.C.B.
There may be a measure of truth in this kind of reasoning; for, if there be life in my soul, fruit will be apparent; but this is not to give me peace any more than the evil that is in me is to hinder my having peace. -J.N.D.
The Lord is trying to get us out of our variable and varying soul-life where we are at the mercy of all our feelings, thoughts and reasonings and all that kind of thing, into a realm where, in spirit, we are steadfast.
The Sixth of Romans is not an aspect of truth, but the foundation truth upon which every believer must stand if he is to grow and mature in the not I, but Christ' life.
The death of our Lord on the Cross has depths of meaning that can only be plumbed by way of discovered need, but then reveals unsearchable riches.' To the believer who still has hopes of attaining' in the Christian life, a verse such as Romans 6:11 is a rather meaningless jargon used by those who give messages on the deepening of the spiritual life.'
When he looks at the Cross he sees there the fact that not only did the Lord Jesus die for him, but that he himself was taken down into His death, in order that the practical reality of His resurrection life might transform him into the divine likeness. -J.C.M.
The turning point in our Christian life comes when we begin to let God be God, the day we throw all caution (fear) to the winds and look to Him to carry out His purpose for us in His own time and way.
When we look back over our life, we bow and acknowledge that all was prepared of God.
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, it is much more [certain], now that we are reconciled, that we shall be saved [daily delivered from sin's dominion] through His [resurrection] life (Rom. 5:10, Amp.).
Lord, as I think about my home problems, my business pressures, my personal difficulties in every sphere of life, I bring them all, and give them all to Thee.' And believe that He keeps you.
According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue (2 Pet. 1:3).
Look not upon a life of holiness as a strain and an effort, but as the natural outgrowth of the life of Christ within you.
And let ever again a quiet, hopeful, gladsome faith hold itself assured that all you need for a holy life will most assuredly be given you out of the holiness of the Lord Jesus.
Hard as it is for the believer to finally come to rest concerning his spiritual birth, it seems to be even more difficult for him to simply rest in the Lord Jesus for his life and service.
There are two stages in the Christian life.
They think of it as a state of passive and selfish enjoyment, of still contemplation which leads to the neglect of the duties of life, and unfits us for that watchfulness and warfare to which Scripture calls.
Not only does the Lord Jesus live in us, but He becomes the motivating Object of our life as Christians.
The soul in which the wondrous combination of quiet passivity with the highest activity is most completely realized, has the deepest experience of what the Christian life is. -A.M.
Peace Accomplished
The Man of prayer and Son of God, who through His perfect life offered God His prayers and praise and supplication, gave us a perfect example, when He said, Father, into Thy hands, I commend My spirit.
We too should daily cry out, Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit – into thy hands I commend my soul, my body, my life – my all.
Each day of His life, were thus commended into the hands of the Father... as in spirit and soul and body, He trod the way of the Cross.
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. (Colossians 3:1 NLT)
Resurrection Life means that we are outside of the world spiritually, and in a superior position....
This is a very important lesson to learn, how to be in Life in the midst of death.... In the resurrection of the Lord Jesus we are delivered from the curse that is, from the death which works vanity and we have been brought into the place where we can go right through to the Divine end, the full realization that vanity no longer rests upon us.
The fruit of Life can come to perfection because the power of death in the curse has been canceled in the power of His resurrection.
It is not a system to be perpetuated, but a Life to be possessed.
The value of the Scriptures is that they contain depths and fullnesses which have never yet been fathomed; and when we speak of revelation we do not mean anything extra to them, but of that which is in them, but only known by the inward writing and shining of the Holy Spirit.... A thing can be in the Bible, and we can have read it a thousand times, but until the Holy Spirit makes it Life to us it will be unfruitful.
This revelation of Christ in us, when it is a true, real, living revelation, not only leads to and makes for stability and assurance and confidence, wonder and freshness and Life, but it leads to loneliness, and I should be false to you if I did not say so, and indicate what that means; because the majority even of Christians are still hide-bound by tradition.
And what’s more important in life, than to know the Lord and to trust our God?
Communication from God
What is more important in life than to know and trust God… Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for He is our God and we are His beloved children?
That is, we have not to take this as a gift salvation as a gift or anything else of the Christian life as a gift in itself; we have got to look at that and say: What does that signify as to the Giver?
You may not grasp the point but it is of infinite importance because all progress in the Christian life and all power in Christian service comes from not the grasping, the apprehending, and the enjoyment of salvation as such, but seeing Jesus!
a mind that is set on Him and Christ alone – a single mind – in spite of all the problems and circumstances of life..
Defeat or Victory
If you correct your thinking, you will break out of a life of defeat to one of victory.
this is an open truth in scripture that few bother to recognise or apply. If you have the courage to challenge your own thoughts and thinking, you will discover a lifetime of wrong thinking will change your life.
Renewed Mind
You will, at last, discover that a life of depression and doubt and worry can be transformed, by the renewing of your mind – as you take every thought captive, and just believe His Word.
Perfect Standard
And the life that Christ lived was a life lived under the Law. And the life that Christ lived was a perfect life, an exemplary life, the perfect standard..
Justification and Sanctification
It is also vital also to rightly divide between justification and sanctification. 1) Justification – the salvation of the spirit : born into the family of God. 2) Sanctification – the salvation of the soul... living as a child of God. 1) Justification – born again once and in eternal union with Christ forever. 2) Sanctification – growing in grace throughout life.
Death or Life
God gave Israel rules to follow through Moses - the Mosaic Law was the law of death.
God also gave the Church rules to follow through Paul: Christ’s law of life and liberty.
And the law of life and liberty and the new creation becomes an unveiled mystery. Christ’s body becomes bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh – a spiritual body.
Through a life of tribulation, we at last come to a glorious heavenly inheritance..
Those who appropriate their position in Christ feed no longer merely on the manna, which represents Christ as supporting our life while we yet know Him not' as regards any intimate fellowship.
So we, as believers, have been already brought by Jesus Christ our Head, in His death and resurrection, into the heavenly places,' and to us have been given all things that pertain unto life and godliness' (2 Pet. 1:3).
And through Christ we have receive the law of the Spirit of life, which has freed us from the power of sin that leads to death.
Roman Road
We should know, understand and apply the law of life in Christ Jesus, and Romans 6 is a vital passage, which describes this victorious Christian life, but is founded on an understanding of the previous chapters.
Chapter 5: the glories of trusting Christ, contrasting the old life under law with the new life under grace, and Chapter 6: as slaves of Christ we are no longer slaves to sin and death.
Mountain Top to Valley
And a crescendo of hope and excitement builds as we pass from the ministration of Law and death to the ministration of life, freedom and grace.
And although chapter 6 rejoices in the victorious Christian life, chapter 7 brings us to a jarring halt, as we tumble headlong from the glittering mountain top to the shocking realisation that the reality of our own life does not mirror the requirements of a holy God – rather our lives demonstrate the opposite of what we were called to be in Christ, and we cry out with Paul: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?
A Life Example
Romans 1-7 shows a perfect example of the normal Christian walk.
In chapter 6 our Christian life is wonderful for a time – until we reach the reality of our failure in chapter 7.
A Shocking Discovery
And here in chapter 7 we come to the shocking discovery that we are incapable of living the godly life we desire to live, and our own efforts inevitably end in failure and despair.
The reason most Christians have to go through the Romans chapter 7 experience, is by living under the wrong law – living under the destructive law of sin and death rather than the liberating law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Indeed, God wants to teach us through our Romans 7 experience that behind every life experience is a divine purpose to demonstrate that: God’s grace is sufficient and that without Him we can do nothing – but I can do all things through Christ, Who gives me the strength.
God Incarnate
Were Jesus not fully God He could never have become our Saviour nor could He have imputed us with His own righteousness or given us the free gift of eternal life – for only God is good and perfect and sinless and eternal.
However, were Christ not a living, breathing human being, with His own lifeblood pulsing through His veins, He could never have shed His life-giving blood on the cross.
Fully Man
Were Christ not fully man He could not have redeemed humanity; broken the curse of sin and death; imputed believers with His own righteousness; given us eternal life and reunited us forever with God the Father our Creator.
were Jesus not fully God, He could not have been our Saviour nor could He have imputed us with His own righteousness or given us the free gift of eternal life – for only God is good and perfect and sinless and eternal.
Fully Man
However were Christ not also a living, breathing, human being, with His own lifeblood pulsing through His veins – He could never have shed that life-giving blood on the cross.
But Christ is both the Root and the Offspring of David breaking forever the curse of sin and death – and imputing on all who believe His own perfect righteousness – giving us eternal life and reuniting us forever with God – our Father and Creator.
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh accomplishes nothing.
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. (John 6:63 ISV)
Do you notice that whenever the Spirit is mentioned the Spirit is related to Life?
Life, then, is a matter of righteousness.
The ministration of righteousness means the ministration of Life, or the standing in Life with an unveiled face, without fear of condemnation, or judgment.
So it is necessary for us to be thoroughly instructed in the Word, and this is one of the things about which we must be perfectly clear in heart and mind, and assured in spirit, that Life, with all that it means the Life of an unveiled fellowship with the Lord, the Life which in itself sets forth victory over death and the abolishing of condemnation that Life is rooted in righteousness, a ministration of righteousness.
Standard of Patience
The Lord Jesus is our pattern and example of patience – our model and our standard. His life is a true example of perseverance, tolerance, long-suffering – and patience.
For 30 years He worked patiently at the carpenter’s lathe until God’s call on His life.
Christ’s Patience
There was an enduring patience, and a patient endurance, seen in the life of Jesus!
It was patiently waiting for the goal of His calling as He did the menial tasks of life.
Enduring Patience
As believers, we have His life and His strength within, upon which to draw daily.
Waiting Patience
Like Christ, our race of life is marked out by God, and each day is scheduled by Him. Christians are to draw on His grace alone – to run with patience the race set before us: for those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall rise up with wings as eagles.
Obedient Patience
Patient endurance and enduring patience is seen throughout the life of Christ! At one time His life was waiting in obedience... at another a running obedience.
Unique Patience
Throughout His life, the Lord bore many griefs – unshared and unspoken.
But for the whole of his life – Christ ran with patience to the cross.
Through the victory won on Calvary we enter into newness of life; and as the old nature seeks to assert its supremacy, each uprising of it must be handed over to the Lord Jesus Christ, that He may deal with it.
That He has dealt with it, through His death on the Cross, in a way which satisfies God and makes deliverance possible for us, is the foundational fact for Christian life and work. -G.W.
For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life (Gal. 6:8).
For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11).
Under the Mosaic law-system, love for others was to be in the degree in which one loved himself; under grace it is to be in the degree in which the Lord Jesus has loved the believer and given His life for him (1 John 3:16). -L.S.C.
If you only know the work of the Lord Jesus you are prepared to make sacrifices, but if you know Him as your life then you are ready to suffer for Him.
So then death worketh in us, but life in you (2 Cor 4:12).
If there be progress upward there must be progress in life and ways down here; you cannot see the need for a change in your ways here until you are transformed by the influence of nearness to Him there.
Your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3).
Day of Preparation
Each day of a believer’s, life is a day of preparation for the bridegroom’s return. The bride is to make ready her fine linen, before the arrival of her beloved bridegroom. Each godly acts she undertakes in spirit and truth, adds to her spotless bridal gown.
Righteous acts don’t have their source in my old sin nature but in the new life in Christ: for in myself I can do no good thing, for all my righteousness is from the Lord… not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness which is from God by faith.” Philippians 3:9
If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
Christian Life
Throughout our Christian life, a process of progressive sanctification takes place.
Often this is called growing in grace, maturing in our spiritual life – discipleship. Christian discipleship is misunderstood today but is closely linked to sanctification.
God’s Gift
Salvation involves what God gives to us – His own life, not what we give to Him, for Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Free-Will Choice
Discipleship involves what we give to God – ourselves: our own life.
Grow in Grace
Throughout our Christian life, a process of progressive sanctification takes place.
Often this is called growing in grace – maturing in our spiritual life – discipleship. Let us be those that come after Christ and love not the things of this world. Let us be those who carry our own cross and come after Him. Let us be those that forsake all that we have – to become His disciple..
But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life – through His name.John 20:31
Lordship Salvation
Some ministries say that in order to be saved you must make Jesus Lord of your life.
They say that if you do not make Jesus Lord of your life, you are not properly saved – Or that if you stray from this path into carnality you have lost your eternal salvation.
Making Jesus Lord of your life is good.. but not a requirement of scriptural salvation.
But the gospel of John was specifically written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life – through His name.
Why is a Christian left to face a life of such hardship, disappointments, pain and failure?
You are living this life in order that through your life, God may be glorified!
How can God be glorified in my life – how is He glorified through my hardships, disappointments, my pain and failure? I would be better off to be dead, you argue.
Life Opportunities
Remember, this life is the training ground for the next.
Every day of your life is a gift from Him.
Every day is an opportunity for you to fulfil your life’s work.
You only have one chance to mature in the Christian life..
Christ in Me
Every future day of your life that remains is an opportunity, not a curse.
Paul was given a revelation of what the sanctified life entailed, and Paul strained until the very end of His life to attain to it..
Can you honestly say that you lived your life through Christ’s work in you?
God still has work to do in your life, just as He still has work to do in mine.
Maturing, sanctifying grace takes ugly scars from the cross of your life and beautifies them – but the measure of how you meet your trials, is the measure with which you will gain – and you can only meet them victoriously in Christ, as Christ lives in you.
When you were saved, the Holy Spirit came to indwell you forever and He desires to live Christ’s life in you.
Your being was like a dry sponge, saturated with pure, clear, refreshing, hydrating water – and, in a little way, that’s like the start of the Christian life..
Abiding in Christ
In a similar manner, when you are in Christ and He is in you, every aspect of life is touched by Him..
for He is that life-giving Spirit.
In every aspect of my life, I just meditated on what it really meant to be in Christ. Christ in me and I in Him.
Pondering on abiding in Christ and He in me changed my entire life.
until this life that I now live in this body is no longer me that lives, but Christ living in me and through me.
His Mind in You
Nothing that flows from my self-life can ever be accepted by the Father, but all that Christ does in me and through me..
Just spend one month with every thought, word, deed and motive Christ-centred – and you will find those few days will be a life-changing experience.
Christ in me and I in Him until… the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
There is no work involved in our receiving the Lord Jesus for life, and there should certainly be no self-effort involved in the manifestation of His life in and through us.
And yet this deceptive seed can grow and blossom.. in the heart of many a careless saint. As soon as my eyes are taken from the face of Jesus, I also fall prey to this cantankerous disease. How can I search out and rid myself of this bane.. in the life of all who would live Godly? How can I root out this evil that seeks to separate me from the One Who is my Sustainer?
We need to copy His example – we ought also to wash each other's feet. Is pride an issue in your life and is pride an issue in mine? These stark and serious cautions to seasoned saints – need to be dearly examined.
Challenge to Pride
As I seek to challenge the elevation of Self in my own life..
The Letter to the Galatians really can be summed up in this way: a Christian is not one who does this and that and another thing which is prescribed to be done; a Christian is not one who refrains from doing this and that and another thing because they are forbidden; a Christian is not one at all who is governed by the externalities of a way of life, an order, a legalistic system which says, You must, and You must not, a Christian is comprehended in this saying, It pleased God to reveal His Son in me (Gal. 1:15-16).
Spiritual pride is the illusion that you are competent to run your own life.
Spiritual pride finds a purpose big enough to give you meaning in life without God.
Spiritual pride sets God aside and places 'Self' on the throne of your life.
Spiritual pride is an idol in your life and the idol you worship is your own Self.
Idolatry is trusting something smaller than God, to give your life significance.
Either – Or
EITHER, we can the Lord as King, permanently on the throne of our life – and keep Self nailed to the Cross, OR we can deliberately remove ourselves from precious communion with Him – and leave His close covering by elevating king Self.
Only you can make the choice to tear Self from the throne of your life.
How do I know that Self is on the throne of my life?
You place your self-life, actions, and motives under the Spirit’s microscopic scrutiny.
You confess those times when self replaced Christ with self as Lord of your life.
You remember and return Him to His rightful place in your life.
your eternal salvation is secure, for you are forever accepted in the Beloved, but check if Christ is the main influence on you or is 'Self' manipulating your life-deeds?
But there are choices we can make in this life that affect our relationship with Him.
The more you focus on Self the more your life will become bloodied and battered. The more you focus on Christ the more you will become like Him.
The knowledge of our union with the Lord Jesus is what will deliver the believer from all that is low and feeble, and will lift him to a life of joy and peace.
The believer shares the Lord Jesus' Cross knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him' Rom. 6:6); His death:- ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God' Col. 3:3); His burial:- we were buried with him by baptism into death' Rom. 6:4); His resurrection:- as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we' Rom. 6:4); His ascension:- made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' Eph. 2:6). -F.J.H.
Beloved, service for the Lord is just as important when it is rendering some kindly act of helpful service to some rather depressed child of God in the ordinary domestic things of daily life; just as valuable as getting on the platform and giving a message.
You see it is strengthening the hands of the Lord's children, it is coming in to check the crushing overweight of the adversary, coming alongside to lift up the testimony in some life or home where the enemy is trying to crush the testimony out and the testimony is something maintained in domestic relationships, in family life, private life.
It is accomplishing the heavenly-will – the divine purpose in each life.
I’ve fought a good fight, I’ve finished my course, I’ve kept the faith” 2Timothy 4:7 A man who can truly say, “I have finished my course,” is an entirely broken life.
this is the servant-spirit - the servant-mind - the servant-life.
The Lord needs such bond-slaves with a servant-spirit, a servant-mind, a servant-life.
Perhaps some may choose to live the self-life and walk with Him no more.
Perhaps some may not desire a servant-spirit, a servant-mind, a servant-life.
But if you can pray, 'Lord – whatever it takes, do this work in me… Lord – Thy will not mine be done in my life… LORD – Here am I, send me', then you too have the makings of a servant after His own heart..
Here Am I
But it will cost you your life – your self-life.
It will cost you every tiny portion in life that you hold dear, for He will break every ounce within you that clings to your own independence.
The Lord is still seeking those with a servant-spirit, a servant-mind, a servant-life.
Some may be wondering why there is so little up-springing from the inner well, when they are sitting back in a wrong kind of modesty, failing to bring in their own personal contribution to fellowship life and ministry.
Shyness and diffidence can equally rest like a stone on the flow of Life.
It is difficult, yet not impossible, that in the raging of the street and the rush of business life the Lord should say something; but He will only speak to those who recognize the value of listening to the Lord and who are giving Him His place of silence to speak when possible.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Threefold Life
The Christian life is a three-fold experience – three phases, planned by the Trinity. 1) Salvation : 2) Sanctification : 3) Service. FIRST: we come to Christ for salvation.
Our entire life from then on is being conformed into His image, as we die to self, and we grow from babyhood to maturity, as He trains us through it. THIRD: we work for Christ in service, but we work His way and not ours.
Saved to Serve
Many sincere Christians start out their Christian life determined to serve the Lord.
they believe in Him as the Word of eternal life, and yet they try to serve Him in their own strength.
They recall with horror the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life..
and in utter horror of their old life and in thanks to God, they try to make recompense.
Work of God
Jesus said: this is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent.” John 6:29 Believe in Him for the forgiveness of your sins – believe Him that through life’s trials you are being changed into his likeness..
by sanctification – so that the service you do is not of yourself, but Him living His life through you.
if your three-fold Christian life is to be pleasing to Him.
We are sanctified. We are positioned in Christ and we are positionally sanctified. We were positionally sanctified when we were justified by faith in Christ, but must move to practical or progressive sanctification, if we are to grow in our Christian life.
The power of sin and death in the lives of all believers was broken forever at the cross, and so we are enabled to live a life of holiness – a life that is “set apart unto God”.
Born-again Life
When we were reborn, we received a brand new baby life – our new life in Christ, but the old sin nature will remain in our dying bodies until we are glorified – until Christ comes to take us home to heaven.
But the old nature seeks to regain supremacy over our new life in Christ. Only the new, born-again life that is positioned in Christ is positionally sanctified – and Only that new born-again life in Christ can be progressively or practically sanctified. The old sin nature is incapable of godly living.
New Life in Christ
If we are to be practically sanctified, it can only take place in our new life.
Only our new life in Christ can be holy..
Only our born-again life can do the good works, which God prepared for us to do.
Only our new life, has been made alive by the imputed life of the sinless Lord Jesus. His sinless, righteous life has been given, by grace, to ALL who believe on His name.
And that life is holy – set apart – positionally sanctified unto God.
And that same holy life within, must also be practically sanctified.
Sinless Perfection
It was John who said that whoever abides in Christ does not sin – nor can sin. This has nothing to do with the erroneous teaching of “sinless perfection..” This verse simply refers to the new life in Christ – the new life does not sin. The sinless life of Christ that is imputed to all believers, does not sin..
and this is the only life that can ever be progressively sanctified unto God – set apart unto Him.
Old Sin Nature
However, the believer who does not abide in Christ, and has not set their life apart unto God will live from the source of the old sin nature, which can do nothing but sin!! The believer’s old sinful life can never be sanctified, for it is riddled with sin. There is nothing in the old sin nature that is acceptable to God and any attempts to set apart our old sin nature unto God will utterly fail. Until we go to be with the Lord, both the old sin nature and the new life in Christ are in bitter conflict – for the spirit lusts against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit.
Abide in Him
May our new, born-again life in Christ be progressively sanctified. May our new, born-again life in Christ be practically sanctified. May our new, born-again life in Christ be set apart unto God, for only as we abide in Him will we grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The moment you believed, the Holy Spirit did a series of works in your life.
Purchase Price
The purchase price of the life of every believer was the perfect life of the Lord Jesus. He bought us with His blood for He was the only purchase price for you and for me.
Oh, we can grieve the Holy Spirit when we live a life that is not pleasing to God – and Paul calls it quenching the Spirit in our lives and he chastises the Corinthians Christians for living carnal lives which quench the work of the Spirit within us.
Jesus is the Starting and Ending - the Genesis and Revelation of our love. Jesus is the First and Last - the Origin and Objective of our life.
One brings with it a heart of contentment: despite life’s overwhelming circumstances.
Definitive Reality
The above quote came in a text to me today… it was a woman who had to face some overwhelming problems and many of cruelties… someone who has overcome some of the worst life-experiences I have ever known.
the Origin and Objective of our Life. He is the Root and Stem..
Two Fundamentals
There is too little emphasis and understanding on the difference between SINS and SIN. Both are fundamental problems in the life of a believer, but there is a solution to both.
When the believer first becomes aware of the sinful self-life, he often makes the mistake of attempting to deal with its symptoms.
The old life is crucified; the new life is manifested.We are apt to think that what we have done is very bad, but that we ourselves are not so bad.
This goes to the root of the everpresent weakness and poverty of spiritual life.
There is much prayer for revival,' and much effort for the deepening of the spiritual life.' The only answer to this is a new knowing of the Cross, not only as to sins and a life of victory over them, but as to Christ as supplanting the natural man. -T.
We have knownpeople to do that; point to some outstanding figure in the workof God, in whose life was a certain thing - that one has beentaken as the model, to be copied, and so the thing has been takenon.
Spiritual power is not the miraculous or the spectacular, but rather the consistent manifestation of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer's life.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, but we can resist Him. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth, but we can grieve Him. The Holy Spirit achieves His purpose through us, but we can quench Him. The Holy Spirit feeds us with His healing words of life, but we can neglect it – but in all our life and in all our pain, He is never far from us.
The Christian Journey
Throughout the Christian journey from start to finish, He is to be our entire life.
The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and pride of life, often shape our focus and the enemy as a roaring lion also prowls around the Christian, seeking to devour.
But this was not how it was meant to be from the start. For once He had breathed into man the breath of life, He gave them all manner of food and all the requirements of life to the full..walking in the garden in the cool of the day and communing with our first parents.
The Spiritual Walk
Our Christian walk is similarly not meant to be a life of defeat, but spiritual growth, (though of-times painful and fraught with difficulty) and He gives us spiritual food through the Word of God..
Communion Through Prayer
This blessed communication through prayer is the vital breath of life. Just as the body must breathe in and out, so the soul of the Christian must pray: men ought always to pray and not to faint, is a key to spiritual well-being, for He is our Source and our Sustainer.
Continuous Provision
Sometimes we are so intent on breathing out, that we neglect to in-breathe Him. We pour out our request and demands and questions and pain and supplications.. and we think our communication is all one-sided, for He seems to keep silent – and we rise from our prayer-closet disillusioned again, for heavens seems shut. And sometimes life’s pain is so immense that we fail to see His gracious provision..
The Holy Spirit feeds us with His healing word of life, but we can neglect Him.
Any abiding spiritual progress must be based upon our taking sides with God against the old life.
The life of Christ is the holiness of Christ.
The reason we so often fail in the pursuit of holiness is that the old life, the flesh, in its own strength seeks for holiness as a beautiful garment to wear and enter heaven with.
It is the daily death to self out of which the life of Christ rises up. -A.W.T.
In receiving Christ we receive the divine-human life, a life that is death to the life of fallen nature, which finds its fruit in sin and self.
To have life is not enough: the life of the Lord Jesus demands the death of the flesh, if that life is to be fully developed and become fruitful in us.
The engrossment with the work and its multifarious concerns; the rush and hurry of life; the restless spirit of the age; these, with an exhaustive provision of external religious facilities, all tend to render the inner place of Divine speaking inoperative or impossible of functioning.
The latter is a ministry of Life to both, and is inexhaustible in freshness.
It may all go to make up this life here, and relieve it of its drabness, but it ends there.
Yes, an artificial world.... The tragedy in this melodrama is that it is real life to so many.
It is all false, wherever we may find it, whether associated with religion or not.... The Christian Faith embraced as a religion, a philosophy, or as a system of truth and a moral or ethical doctrine, may carry the temporary stimulus of a great ideal; but this will not result in the regeneration of the life, or the new birth of the spirit.
The spiritual and the heavenly is pressing for a larger place and becoming absolutely imperative to the very life of the instrumentality and those concerned.
If you were ordinary people in this world, you might get on very well, but being Christians you have to meet the whole force of Satan working upon any little bit of natural life he can find.
The carnal believer is unfaithful, unwise, and overcome.. 0vercome by Satan; the flesh; the world. The void between spirituality and carnality lies in the life-choices of the Christian, and you alone will stand before the judgement seat of Christ: for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 2Corinthians 5:10
Christian Responsibility
You alone will be the one to give an account of your life to Christ. Blaming circumstances or accusing others for your life-choices is not an option. Responsibility for your Christian walk is yours alone.
Christian Maturity
The way to maturity in the Christian life is the focus of most of Paul’s messages. Every Christian has clear instructions on the life he is to live and the way he is to walk, and there’s no excuse for anyone to hear the accusation: oh, wicked, unfaithful servant, but few seem prepared to challenge themselves and their Christian walk. Few are courageous enough to examine their walk with the Lord and fewer still are willing to plead with Him to: search the depths of my heart O God.. pleading: see if there is any worldly way or carnality in me that needs to be dealt with.
Our Spiritual Need
There is a threefold need in the life of a spiritual man.
They begin to commune with His Spirit with delight and they start to obey His commands with great joy. But there is no standing still in the Christian life.
and Paul warned and instructed of the need for maturity in the Christian life. Obedience is the most important exercise in the Christian life: obedience to His Word; listening to His Voice – compliance His Commands. And instruction on spiritual maturity in the body of Christ, is the focus of most of Paul’s messages to the Church of God. Paul tells us that: he that is spiritual judges all things..
Christian Spirituality
And nearly a hundred years ago, Norman Harrison put it this way:- “It remains for the spiritual man to prove the reality and worth of his spirituality, by laying hold of all his resources in Christ.. by giving them practical expression in day-by-day living. And in a day when the Christian life claims but slight attention.. or even respect, from the world – what a call for spiritual stalwarts, fully-developed, determined by His grace, to demonstrate the beauty, power, and practicality of the Spirit-life – to an unbelieving, even scoffing social order.”
demonstrating the only way that man can live a spiritual life.
Walk by God’s Word
Spiritual growth comes only by abiding in Him and He in us. This type of life is not easy..
We have a choice in life..
a carnal nonspiritual life or a spiritual life in the Spirit – and throughout the Word of God, we are told exactly how to live: Man shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
Peter tells us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and we grow by living in Him and He in us, by assimilating His life into ours.
Feeding on the Word
Feeding on the Word of life is the scriptural way to life..
Failure to feed on the Word of Life means a stunted unnatural spiritual growth for failure to feed on the Word of life means carnality and not spirituality – and the Corinthian Christians exemplified carnality.
A Christian life that does not take on board spiritual growth, lives in the flesh.
Living For Christ
A Christian life that takes on board the words of Jesus and the instructions of Paul lives in the spirit of Christ; works in the spirit of Christ; prays in the spirit of Christ and has his being in the Spirit of Christ. But it means an uncomfortable daily examination of the carnal self.
Then one day it was as though the heavens opened and the thing broke upon your spirit, and you saw it; and all kinds of adjustments became necessary in life.
No pressure, pushing, punishment or rewards can speed “reading readiness” So often principles in the natural world, spill over into the life of the spiritual.
And in the life of a believer, it’s rarely reached without there being a need.
ow you must grow – Now you advance in your Christian life.
A carnal Christian is one that is exhorted in Hebrews 6 – to grow spiritually, and many principles in the natural world spill over into the life of the spiritual.
I can’t escape this defeat - leaving the discouraged believer in a life that seems doomed to failure and pain.
We have faith in Him. We don’t look at the crushing circumstances of life but trust in His love.
Abound in all Speech
How do we abound in all SPEECH? Well, we speak His Word into every situation of life – for His Word is life. We guard our tongue and we take every thought captive in love.
The very logic of things demands that it shall be a seeing; for this reason that the whole of the Christian life is to be a progressive movement along one line, to one end.
Those are the five senses of our physical natural life.
There is a faculty of spiritual sight, of spiritual hearing, of spiritual smelling or sensing, of spiritual taste and spiritual touch, and these senses are very important to the life of the inward man yes, more important even than the senses of the physical man.
It is a great loss; it is an imperfect life, a life of limitation.
And how true it was of His heavenly life: what it saved Him to scent the enemy and what the enemy was up to, to scent what the Father wanted and when He did not want things.
This remnant man had lived a life of blind faith, love, patience... and he waited.
Life of Faith
As we face the future we must humbly seek to live out His new life in us and through us.
This is a life of faith.
This is a life of love.
This is a life of patience, and it is a life of waiting... for the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Romans 8:16
The Church – an Example
God loves you so much that your life is to be an example in the ages to come..
Job whose life is another ‘typical’ example of the remnant believer in the church, repented in the dust for his wrong perception of God and was shown a vision: I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You Job.43:5
Rev.22:12 Had Satan and his hosts understood the consequences of their actions: they would not have killed Him: they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, 1Cor.2:8 for His death brought life to you and me.
But many fall at the last hurdle and lose their faith: So I urge you like Joseph, Job and Jesus to say, Thy will be done in my life – to Your praise and Your glory forever and ever – Amen.
Be thou faithful to the point of death and I will give you a Crown of life.
Supreme Test
What is the supreme test in the life of a believer?
but there came a point in his life when he turned away from his Lord to another.
The lusts of the flesh and eye, and the pride of life were shunned at the start, but the prince of this world secured his prey near the conclusion of his career.
dedicated prayer warriors to stand in the gap and pray ‘beyond themselves.’ Believers, with a heart for God’s glory; children, with a love for the Lord; Christians who stand between life and death, for the many; warriors, to fight between heaven and hell, for fellow brothers and sisters.
Should we not similarly stand in the gap for brothers and sisters in Christ, who like the world are being overwhelmed with the cares of this life – who seem to have lost hope in the Lord’s return to claim His precious bride.
That His death procured the payment of sin's debt, so that the debt being paid, the believer might be in a position to keep the law, and that, accordingly, the law, and not the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' might be the believer's rule of life. -H.F.W.
Desire the Milk
The apostle Peter tells us that a little baby has a great appetite for nourishment and believers likewise should desire the pure milk of God’s Word, which will result in growth: Therefore, laying aside all sin, as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby. 1 Peter 2:2. Every believer starts their Christian life on the way to maturity, but Hebrews warns us that many fall by the wayside due to life’s circumstances; feelings; wrong doctrine; lack of teaching or biased perceptions.
Subject of Scripture
Jesus said to those that rejected Him, You search the Scriptures: because you believe they give you eternal life, but the Scriptures point to Me!– John 5:39 All scripture points to the Lord Jesus Christ – science, prophecy, life, and death must all have Christ as the one, unique focal point.
We are to put away everything that diverts us away from our life-calling, and the life into which we are all called is to know God and to know Christ.
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.
Such unconscious weights can become a way of life – such unconscious hindrances can weigh us down.
My Cross means that not even for Me can you be or do anything out from yourself; but if there is to be anything at all it must be out from Me, and that means a life of absolute dependence and faith.' -T.
Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”John 15:13
Laying Down A Life
What thoughts cross your mind as you consider laying down your life for another? Almost certainly the first consideration is death – your own physical death.
Total Surrender
Laying down of that precious life was more than forgoing His physical life alone, it encompassed a note of total surrender of every aspect of human life and existence. He sacrificed His entire holy life to the Father – “Thy will ..
be done“, Luke 22:42 – but He did it for our sake: “for their sakes I sanctify myself.” John 17:19 He did it for you and He did it for me. Christ demonstrated throughout His whole life, what true submission to God means.
Yet Christ, although He was God’s Son, learned to be obedient throughout His life.
Our will touches every aspect of our active being…. but how difficult we find laying down our life at our Master's feet.
Spiritual Struggle
Sometimes we struggle throughout our entire Christian life to utter the words… Thy will – not mine be done…” Luke 22:42 Thy will be done, in every sphere of my sovereign being.
Abiding Reality
He desires each life to be sanctified for His use, and patiently waits for submission, until like our Lord we can say:- “I do nothing of myself..
However, for the Lord Jesus to be fully manifested, it is going to involve a lifetime of the Holy Spirit's deep dealing with the more subtle and deadly characteristics of the self-life always delivered unto death (2 Cor. 4:11).
By the daily supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ' (Phil. 1:19), the believer united to his Risen Lord grows continually to a more perfect knowledge and likeness of his Creator,' and grows up after the image of Him that created him, in the sphere where Christ is all, and in all.' The child naturally grows up in the likeness of his father, and the new life communicated to the redeemed grows up in the likeness of Him who is the Creator of the new creation if so be that the death with Christ is unflinchingly recognized, and old things' are truly allowed to pass away to make room for the growth of the new man, which is after God . . .
How many earnest and religious people belong to the Old Adam Improvement Society.' It is the recognition of the Christ-life, it is union with the Risen Christ, that men need instead of the culture of the religious self-life. -E.H.
Christian Call
Being a believer in the Lord Jesus is not a popular calling. The true Christian soon discovers his lot is no easy option, for Christ was crucified by the world, and the world loves the Lord of Life no more today than it did 2000 years ago. His pure standards are different and shunned by the masses. His Godly objectives are counter to the self-seeking nature, and despised – despised and rejected of men, and so He became acquainted with grief. While men of the world serve themselves and please their selfish selves.
Am I to accept as the norm a life that is set apart, holy and different.
God’s Grace
Like each and every gift of grace, His strength is ministered to each of us according to our need. We have no need of a bank deposit of $upply, No spiritual battery from which to draw our spiritual £trength. His supply is a continuous flow, received by faith as need requires. Life is divided into days – and day after day after day, He provides and supplies the strength. Down through the weeks which flow into months and years, He continues to provide ‘Strength for the day and bright hope for the morrow!’
The Father placed us there, permitted the trials for a purpose, and He stands ready to bring us out into a life of liberty, if we will stand with Him in trust and endurance while He works it out.
Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life.
Walk Worthy
Having been taught who we are in Christ, believers are called to walk worthy, our life is to be a light shining in a dark world – a world where evil is increasing.
Normal Christian life
Paul was a man who learned how to appropriate the riches of God’s grace.
Paul was a guy who practiced living in the sufficiency of Christ – by faith. Paul was a person that demonstrated how the normal Christian life should be lived.
It was a supply, which was always available, but it was only appreciated and appropriated as and when the apostle came to know his need. Life is meant to bring a succession of discoveries of our need of Christ, and with every such discovery, the way is opened for a new inflow of His supply.'
Sufficiency of Christ
What a clear message to us who long to live a life that is worthy of our calling, What a realisation - that our practical necessities cause us to appropriate God’s word.
How astonishing – that life’s trials are the means to prove the sufficiency of Christ. What a lesson – that it is through our impotence that our inward need is met.
Paul’s Discovery
There was a time in Paul’s life when he did not know or appropriate this truth – for in Romans chapter 7, Paul himself cried out Oh wretched man that I am… who shall deliver me from this body of sin – and Paul discovered the answer – I thank God!
Christ’s Supply
Paul learned that life is a succession of discoveries of our need of Christ in our life.
When ‘self’ remains nailed to the cross, the life of Christ is given free access within. And with every discovery, a way is opened for a fresh inflow of His supply.
But each test is an opportunity to appropriate God’s word in our life and being.
STUDY in PRAYER
By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way.Hebrews 10:20
Interceding Sacrifice
And every Christian is called to offer their lives as a living, interceding sacrifice – mingling their prayers with the crushed life of our great – high, heavenly Priest.
Remain in Christ
Teach me Lord to REMAIN IN CHRIST– teach us to remain in His love and guard and keep ourselves in the love of God; to expect and patiently wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ – Who will bring us unto life eternal.
You examine the Scriptures carefully because you suppose that in them you have eternal life.
Prophesied Redeemer
Had the Lord Jesus been anything but fully human, many of the prophecies of Scripture would have remained unfulfilled for only as man’s Kinsman-Redeemer, Who was like unto His brothers in every way – (and yet was without sin), could the Lord Jesus Christ have become our Saviour, and obediently carry out the demands of a holy God, in submission to His Father – and in so doing give His life as a ransom for many.
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.
These are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life. (John 5:39-40 NIV)
It is the livingness of it all which is proving itself in all ways, that this risen Life of Christ should prove itself.... That is a strong thing to say, it is a searching thing to say.
There is a counterpart of that by His risen Life imparted, that we have been raised together with Him.
Lessons of Life
The artists outlined sketch on the canvas is not destroyed by the oil or paint.
No knowledge or experience is lost to the heavenly Weaver, Who skilfully blends heartaches and joys into each life’s canvas.
Lessons of Discoveries
Our Christian life is a life of discoveries, each building on the prior base.
It is normal and healthy to begin our Christian life victoriously.
It was right at the end of Paul’s life that he cried out :- that I may know Christ.
a man whose earthly ministry was expressed in sacrifice for others… a man whose self-life and pride was being ground to powder – a life that cried in the end, that I may know Him.
But He tells us if we seek Him and His kingdom and live righteously before Him. He will supply all things needful and all essential things will be added to us. He will better provide for His children than for lilies and sparrows! He will ensure the daily necessities of life will be added and poured into our lap. If God’s promises are sure, then no circumstances can displace His assurances. If God’s Word is true, then no action or governmental law can overthrow His oath.
Prayer is the outflow of the new life; as one grows, as the Cross frees the new from the old, there is the growth of effective prayer.Without the Cross, prayer becomes a mere religious formality - without prayer, the Cross is arrested in its purpose.
You say, here is something wrong here, this does not tally.There is the kitchen aspect of the spiritual life: all those practical, everyday, humdrum things where the beauty of the Lord must be seen, just as much as up there in the heavenlies in Christ.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.John 5:26
Familiar Word
How familiar we are with scriptures such as this: the Father has life in Himself. As we read through Scripture we so often glibly read and continue to read, with little thought as to its inner depth and its extraordinary significance..
God’s Sufficiency
The Father has life in Himself.
He needs no time, no heat, no light, no grace, no joy, no love – no life… God needs nothing.
from the lowest form of life to the mighty cherubim and seraphim... all have need of God.
a little faithful flock. Many are called to be sons of obedience but few choose to answer the call. Many Christians prefer a legalistic life to a life of spiritual faithfulness and grace. Many believers prefer a carnal life to a life of surrendered obedience and faith.
Crucified Life
For many saints don’t have a clue how to live the crucified life to God’s glory.
God Dependency
And all His life He only lived through the All-Sufficient Spirit living in Him... demonstrating the only way that insufficient, created man should live his life... demonstrating a life of utter and total submission... demonstrating complete and perfect reliance and a willing dependence on God – demonstrating to imperfect man how to live a perfect life.
As devoted servants, we are committed to be the Master’s diligent servants all our life.
As Christians, we are pledged to be Christ’s steadfast soldiers to our life’s end.
To some, He gives a leadership gift to be exercised in public ministry and service but to most, He bestows the quiet endowment for the hidden life of helping others.
This life is not easy for the faithful servant..
He too endured a life of shame and suffering.
He lived a life of pain and rejection.
He did it to show us HOW to live the life of a faithful servant – in this world system.
The apostle John informs us in that fellowship with God is the healthy Christian life, while Peter reminds us that God’s Word is the food we need for healthy spiritual growth – and God desires that we mature in the faith.
But it is our new baby life is Christ that is to grow and not the old sinful life from which we were saved.
Hebrews 5 warns us against spiritual sluggishness and backsliding in our Christian life.
It is His life which must be in evidence; His Spirit, imparting and renewing His own life within – the beauty of the Lord shining forth.
as His life is growing up within.
Lord, take my life,And make it wholly Thine;Fill my poor heartWith Thy great love divine.Take all my will,My passion, self and pride;I now surrender, LordIn me abide.
Walking in Truth
Knowledge of the Truth is no insignificant advantage as it affects every facet of life.
Distorted Truth
Often, in the heart damaged by life’s traumas- truth becomes distorted.. even the Truth of God can become twisted and perverted. The Father-heart of God -Who loves with His infinite love – can be distorted, and the Truth of His Father-heart of love – can become warped and twisted. God can be manipulated into the image of a demanding brother; a scornful mother – an abusive father..
Character of Man
God wrote a few brief verses revealing how He created the world – what He did. God wrote the entire Scripture telling us about Himself – Who He is. It is not what a man does in his life that is of final significance, it is what a man IS in life that is of consequence – not what he does.
Near the end of Paul’s life, his deepest desire was, That I may know Him. At the end of Job’s deep season of anguish, he emerged knowing Him more. If it is through rationalisation that I know God, then I am miserably deceived.
Do I allow visible facts of life to distort my understanding and affect my faith?
Relationship God
Chambers says it this way… Theology is a great thing and so is a man’s creed… But God is greater, and the next greatest thing to God – is my relationship to Him. The book of Job is probably the most extensive 'type' of the Christian life penned.
The book of Job takes us from the old creation in Adam to the new creation in Christ… from a self-dominated life to a spirit-dominated life.
Spiritual or Carnal
The book of Job takes us on a journey – from the New Creation in Christ, through a spirit-dominated or self-dominated life. The book of Job takes us – from rebirth to the day when our eyes are opened, and we shall see Him as He is. The book of Job takes us….
The others bespeaking of the saved man, who reverts back to a Pharisaical self-life.
It exemplifies in Job’s life..
One - throughout life’s journey – seeking to KNOW the Lord more.
The other - throughout life’s journey, daring to accuse God’s character.
Life Lessons
The Christian life teaches us many lessons. Life’s lessons are not always easy to learn. Some lessons are quickly understood and others take a lifetime to grasp. Sometimes we are required to learn a teaching again and again. Some instructions need to be assimilated little by little..
but God’s choice for your life is His very best for you, even though you sometimes kick against the thorny path that you are forced to trudge; even though you may feel caged in by circumstances; even though you may be dissatisfied with your lot; even though you sometimes long for the open road and the mountain tops – even though you are beset by doubts that your life is accomplishing anything.
or will you be so often checked by events and happenings of life, for you will follow the controlling signal, which is found in Christ alone. Keep on keeping on with your God-guided life.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.Colossians 3:2-3
My-Self. We all know that what a man sets his heart on has a mighty influence on his life. The self-regarding man that seeks after his own interests – becomes selfish.
One that seeks a 'god' of their fancy will be unsettled by every wind of doctrine. One who seeks the living God, will have Him take possession of his heart and will, and the book of Hebrews gives warning after warning of missing the point of this life.
For many, it’s just to get to the end of the day, in a life that has become unbearable.
For others, it’s to preserve a high profile, lest anyone peep behind their mask. Believers often set their hearts on a myriad of issues that are close to their heart, but Hebrews gives warning after warning of missing the point of this life.
Clear Message
And this life is but a breath in the eternal corridors of the ages upon ages to come, and our decisions of this life is a foundation upon which we build an eternal future. Set your affection on things above, not on things of the world, we are warned, in Colossians 3, for self must lie in the place of death..
for our life hid with Christ in God. And Hebrews gives warning after warning of missing the point of this life. And the decisions and choices we make in this life will affect our eternal future. And Hebrews warns of the consequences of missing God’s clear message.
We need to know Him aright, personally, and fill our minds with all that is of Christ. He is the food of faith, and the life-giving stream.
He alone is the water of life.
Focus of Life
For a whole chapter, Hebrews points to the One Who should be the focus of our life.
Surrender your life into His hands through the sanctification process.
The blood of Jesus is often only seen in the context of forgiveness of sins, but there is more that this cleansing flood has achieved in a believer’s life.
Sometimes it is almost uncanny when the Lord has something in view in relation to His testimony of Life, how for no reason whatever, on no account at all, we discover that we are involved and ours is not an isolated experience.
Grace Thru Faith - STUDY
Foundational Facts
God has given us vital principles of the Christian life – foundational gospel facts.
How many can’t get their heads around being perfect in God’s sight – through Christ? How many object to His child-training in their life when it becomes uncomfortable?
And God is taking a life-time and possibly longer to bring us to maturity. He takes the normal, natural things of life and uses them as His teaching tools.
Some pass through life still kicking against the pricks of God’s sovereign will.
After initial 'acceptance in Christ' – we are to 'learn obedience' in life.
that faith without love is really very ineffective. Thirdly, every promise in Revelation 2 and 3 brings you back to loving Jesus. Fourth, every crown we can gain has its roots in love. Fifth – there is nothing we can do of ourselves. All these are vital principles of the Christian life. All these truths are foundational Gospel facts.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
For God SO loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life John 3:16
A Tiny Glimpse
Were we to be given the slightest glimpse of the true love of God.. through the lowering clouds of unknowing in the mists of life’s uncertainties, I doubt temptation’s unbelief would ever darken our questioning hearts again.
If our love were but more simple,We would take Him at His word;And our life would be thanksgivingFor the goodness of the Lord.
This self-strength, whether it be intellectual and mental or whether it be emotional or whether it be in the will, that strength of the natural life has got to be broken as truly as the sinew of Jacob thigh had to be touched and withered.
The passion of the Cross is the way of our release, and if you consider your own spiritual experience, those of you who have any experience of a walk with God, you know quite well that it has been through times of deep and acute suffering that you have found fresh releases; fresh releases in your spiritual life.
Yes, we would never have resented being told that there was pride or something like that about us, but we would never have believed how deeply rooted and terribly strong that thing is until it was put to a fiery test and everything was held up, and we saw that everything in our life and work for God was held up on that point.... And we know quite well that what the Lord was after was not the pulverising of us, as we thought, the winding up of us, but to bring about enlargement, to bring about release, and release always lies along the line of the Cross, the passion.
Old / New Creations
How should we live the Christian life?
BUT… There is an inevitable ‘but’ in the life of every Christian.
There is an inevitable ‘but’ in your life and in mine.
Fleshly Life
One evidence of carnality is stunted spiritual growth..
One indication of a believer’s fleshly life, is stunted Christian development.
for the old sin nature overshadows the new life in Christ.
The ‘old man’ dominates the ‘new life’.
The teachings of Paul overspill with ways to immobilise the exulted, carnal self, and Paul voices the open secret of his life… it is no longer I but Christ lives in me. Gal.2:20
He cried “search me Oh God”, but God’s examination and scrutiny into the recesses of life is even more traumatic.
As we cry out, “seek out all the hidden depths in me that are displeasing to You”, and as we give Him permission to root out wrong attitudes, actions, and perspectives, He will search out the depths of our hearts for things that grieve His Spirit – for our whole Christian life is a process of being conformed into His image..
Centrality of Christ
This marriage of spirit with Spirit in this life is the preparation for our future.
I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.Jeremiah 21:8
Life and Death
It has been said, “in the midst of life we are in death,” yet for the believer, it is truer to say that, “in the midst of death we are in life.” There is no death in the sphere into which a risen Christ brings His own children – how could it be?
O grave, where is thy victory? 1Cor 15:55 God is love and God is light and God is life, and at rebirth, God breathed into us the breath of His life.
Our Life in Christ
Satan cannot touch anyone that has a new life in Christ.
He cannot touch the SOURCE of our life in Christ, for God is its source.
He cannot touch the CHANNEL of life to us, for Christ is our channel of life.
He cannot touch the POWER of life in us, for the Holy Spirit is life’s power within.
He cannot touch the SPHERE of our life, for heaven is the sphere.
He cannot touch the DURATION of our life, for eternity is the duration of our life.
Satan cannot touch the source, channel, power, sphere, or duration of our life in Christ.
Christ’s Own Life
God emptied the scene of death in us and filled it with His life – Christ’s own life. It is not death but glory that lies before the believer – Christ’s own glorious life.
Abundant Life
Death is forever behind the believer. It is true that many have fallen asleep in Christ – physically died, but to sleep in Him is never death, but life and life more abundantly.
Sin snapped the link with the source, channel, power, sphere, and duration of life.
When sin is present, there is no fellowship save in His Life.
Light can have no fellowship with darkness, love can have no fellowship with fear and life cannot fellowship with death. 2Cor 6:14
Choose life or choose death – there is no middle ground, Man must meet God on a new principle – one decreed by God Himself – a principle we see in Abel, Enoch, Noah, and many others – even faith.
For faith secures the believers’ source, channel, power, sphere, and duration of Life: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof Matt.6:43 – so live this day by faith.
Instructions To Follow
We are told to abide in Christ, but some choose not to abide in Him. We are called to walk in the light, but some choose to walk in darkness. We are directed to walk in the spirit, but some choose to walk the way of men. We are instructed to walk in truth, but some deny the Lord that bought them. We are commanded to walk in newness of life, but some choose to walk in the old flesh.
Position and Condition
Some believers allow the trials and circumstances of life to shipwreck their faith. They only see the condition of their life instead of accepting their position in Christ. Oh, the trials of life are waxing worse and worse, but faith holds fast to His Word.
They are lured by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
Oh, they are saved if they believe in Christ, for God spoke and His word is true, but this grieves the Spirit and quenches the work He desires to do in that life.
walk in the light and in newness of life, and this is not an impossible task set by a cruel overlord.
Right Life
God knows the only way to newness of life and this will lead to a life of deliverance, power, and victory in this world – and in the world to come life everlasting, with an inheritance that passes understanding – all because we chose His way.
Right Living
We are commanded to walk in the light, and we are directed to walk in newness of life.
Let that be the starting point; let that be the governing rule and reality in all matters of life and work, and see at once the nature and vocation of the Church.
This vast, incomprehensible heavenly system, of which Christ is the personal embodiment, touches every detail of life, personally and collectively.
What the bloodstream is to the human body, the Divine Life is to and in the Church which is His body.
They have not seen that God has closed the door to the old creation, and that God attitude is this: The only thing that can satisfy Me, that can serve Me is My Son, and if you are going to come into My service, He has to be the energy of everything, the Life of everything, the Wisdom of everything!
Moses became a duel sign to the nation of Israel – as a pattern and as a warning, He became a sign to Israel through his outstanding life... and his disobedience.
Difficult Path
Consecration is not the easy route in life... and it can be a cruel and difficult path, but it is also a misunderstood principle, which causes many to shy away from it.
The call to rededicate one's life is a frequent occurrence in mainstream Christianity.
Misunderstanding
Believers can be almost pressured into a round of committing their life to God, and so a constant round of repetitive alter calls to dedicate and rededicate result.
Such activity is the total misunderstanding of a life that is consecrated to the Lord.
How sad that this is the normal ‘expectation’ of the life set apart unto the Lord!!
Yet, after years of trying all he can do is give up and say – it can't be done in this life.
God organised it like that for nothing that is from me can be accepted by Him – including my own form of consecration rather than a life truly set apart to God.
Set Apart
Let us, like Paul, be set apart for the gospel of God and live a life, consecrated to God’s plans and purposes – set apart for Him.
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.
Peter’s Boast
Yet Peter wanted to know where the Jesus was going, and when Jesus simply told him that he could not follow Him, Peter demanded to know why… “Lord, why can I not follow You right now?” and then boasted, “I will lay down my life for You…” And the confused Thomas joined in, for we read that Thomas said.. “Lord, we do not know where you are going.
Well He trusted God’s word – He lived a sinless life – He had pleased the Father.
He knew that in laying down His perfect life voluntarily, He would be raised again. He knew that His death and resurrection would bring many sons to glory. He knew the cross was before the crown – the church age was before the kingdom.
There is no way through otherwise.... There was a revolution in my life thirty years ago when that principle of the Cross came flat up against ministry ministry that for years I had been producing against all my study, reading and late nights, to get up the stuff for ministry, till the whole thing became an intolerable burden in myself.
As this great principle opens up to us, it will help us to understand how in our life, and in our fellowship with the Lord Jesus, it is impossible for us to share the fulness of His life until we have first in very deed surrendered ourselves every day as having died to sin and the world.
The fellowship of the Cross is to be the life of a daily walk - His taking the form of a servant, His humbling Himself and becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross; this mind that was in the Lord Jesus is to be the disposition that marks our daily life.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.Galatians 2:20
Legalism is a destructive enemy of the Christian life – in opposition to God’s grace.
Legalism puts you back under the law and is an enemy of the crucified life in Christ.
The life of Christ has now become the power and purity in our life. His life is our life simply because we believed – with NO additional man-made laws.
Christ in Me
We must start to realise that the new life in Christ is complete in itself. There is no need for rules and regulations, rites and rituals or laws that enslave us.
When we believed, we were crucified with Christ and took on His life – in us.
When we believed, we became a new creation, with Christ as our life-source.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Here the very heart and kernel of the Lord’s work was to bring light. “I am the light of the world: he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
Throughout time men of faith looked for the day when the day-star would appear, for it is at one point on life’s horizon, at the break of the day, that the Son arises.
The Mission of Believers
Should not we who are thus destined to be sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ... should not we who through life’s difficulties are being conformed into His image... should not we similarly proclaim the way to Life and Light.
Should not we who are now children of the Light announce His soon return? Should not we take up the mantle of the Baptiser to proclaim the Day of the Lord? Should we not recognise our role of proclaimers means humiliation and hardship? Should we not understand that the way to the Light of Life is death to this world?
Death Sentence
What is the basis of all that God wants to do in the life of the believer?
In second Corinthians 2, he was speaking of a wide range of trouble, trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. 2Corinthians 2:8
Paul had no hesitation in proclaiming that he despaired even of life.
Paul was no lily-livered little, milk-sop of a man, and yet crushing circumstances made him despair even of life.
Reality of Life
Sometimes it takes years for this underpinning gospel truth to be recognised.
Often it takes a lifetime, for this to become a reality in the life of a believer.
Resurrection Life
This sentence of death is the work of God – and the work of God in us, triumphs over this death sentence.
In Paul’s life, the Lord swept away all self-confidence and all faith in himself, so that He Who raises the dead to life might show forth His life in him..
so that He might show His great resurrection life – to be fruitful in us.
It must be that I that live my life, but Christ that lives in me.
This is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. (1 John 5:11)
You may believe it; you may be willing to lay down your life for that faith; you may state it with tremendous emphasis, and yet you are not thereby proving it.
By the expression and manifestation of His risen Life, that is all but it is a mighty all!
It is that extra factor to the statement and presentation of truth which is the power of a Life which conquers death.
The proof of it will be a death-conquering Life that expresses itself in you.
It is one thing to come to a situation from the outside, and link ourselves on with it, and take it up, and make it our work for life, our life-interest; it is quite another thing for the Lord to put into our hearts, in secret, an almost unbearable, intolerable burden which is His own heart-burden, and for us first of all to bear that thing secretly in the presence of God upon our hearts in a deep out-pouring of travailing prayer; quite another thing to come to the Lord's interests in that way.
None Negotiable Truth
More shockingly still, if He is not a member of the triune Godhead and equal with the Father, His life was a sham and He a blasphemer, Who could never be seen as good!!
Whole Hope
One godly saint of old wrote these words for posterity: With all possible conviction and faith I confess my Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, on Whom my whole hope of eternal life and present rest and strength depends – in the proper and ultimate sense, we say – He is God… eternal; all-holy; almighty; One from eternity and to eternity, with the Father and the Spirit… forever and ever Amen.
Picture courtesy of Larissa
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
For God SO loved the world that he GAVE His one and only Son, that WHOSOEVER believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.John 3:16
The length of God’s love is the gift of God’s supreme love in the Son of His love – to effect eternal life.
And yet He knew that He – the Giver of life and love, would be so despised and rejected. He knew that the precious Son of His love would be oppressed, and afflicted by men. He knew His chosen, anointed One, would be led as a lamb to the slaughter by those He came to save.
Self Murmurings
We murmur like the idolatrous children of Israel, when life gets uncomfortable.
Waiting in Life
Your path is difficult, very difficult for you.
Often you have to wait in life.
No work in life is as hard as waiting. Wait – wait for God. Micah 7:7 tells us: I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
I am your Father – I will not overwhelm your spiritual strength, I will come to you – walking on the stormy waters of life’s confusion, as you paddle on your helpless raft, 'mid oceans tempestuous turbulence. I am your Saviour – I will uphold you with My righteous right hand, lest you sink beneath the squally waves of life’s uncertainties. Look, One comes to hold you up. One, like as unto the Son of Man. Oh, wait child of God.
I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. (John 10:10 ISV)
Remember In Him was life (John 1:4).
Everyone can see that He is different from other men in His very nature, and the difference is made by this Life that is in Him.
This Life brings with it a new and different consciousness.
The consciousness of the Lord Jesus was of the very closest union with God as His Father, and that was because the very life of God was in Him.
His life was a God-conscious life; but God-consciousness in the sense of perfect oneness.
And that is what it means to have this Life.
Jesus came to bring it in His own person: not to talk about union with God, but to live out a life of union with God and to bring His disciples into the same union.
I came that they might have life in other words: I am come that they may have the same consciousness of God as Father that I have and that they may have the same Divine nature in them as I have.
It is an organism; a living structure; a life-force with a purpose – it is the Church.
Guiding Principle
God often uses the natural life as a guiding principle for the spiritual life, He takes foundational truths from the physical and applies them to the spiritual,. The first creation in Adam contains principles that apply to the new-creation in Christ. The first man became a living being but Christ became a life-giving Spirit. 1Corinthians 15:45
Sacrificial Reproduction
But there is always a cost of bringing forth of life – and the price for life is death.
Reproduction is sacrificial – life means death, and the Lord Himself summarised that guiding principle in John’s gospel, for unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone ….
Law of Life
Unless life propagates more life it remains barren – and a sterile soul has little purpose.
The law of life is death.
Jesus said I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.
John 10:10 And the life that Jesus offers is a perfect life, an abundant life, an eternal life.
Life of Christ
And yet this perfect, abundant, eternal life is the start of so much more. This perfect, abundant, eternal life is not simply a new life which is immortal. The new life that He gives is His own perfect life – it is His life, living through us.
Our life, both here and into eternity is to be His risen life, working in us..
and the life that we live is to be an expression of Christ and not of ourselves.
Guiding Principle
The natural life is always a guiding principle for the spiritual life. The physical often forms a foundational truth that relates to the spiritual.
Life and death in the old has its counterpart in the new-creation in Christ.
The law of reproduction is the law of life and death.
This same law must pass to us – our old self must die for His new-life to produce.
Our old life in Adam must die if the new life in Christ is to grow and be fruitful.
It means that all of me must be done away with – so that His life is formed in me.
Divine Life
This is the divine life but for some believers, this is an astonishing concept.
Some translate the joys, woes, and trials of this life as the sum of their new ‘life’.
Some think if they don't receive all God promised in this life, He has somehow failed. But this is not the way God designed it – God has eternity in view.
We can submit to the principle of reproduction in this life and die to self… OR – We can fight against God’s will for our lives – and live to self. We can choose His perfect, abundant, eternal divine life – or live the self-life.
Living His way is a continuous, progressive walk – which may become increasingly difficult – the divine way is death to self but it produces His life in us.
As the laws which mould the stars and move the gigantic orbs of Saturn and Uranus in their tremendous circuits, shape the dewdrop that glistens at the end of a blade of grass, so should everything in the Christian's life be regulated by the principles which lie in the Person and Cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is as our hearts are under the sway of that grace which is ministered to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we are knit to Him in affection, that we touch and taste a new life, and are severed in heart from all that constituted the life of our old man.
What we have got to be quite sure about is that that thing is not being carried on by the momentum of man, or the momentum of organization, the momentum of machinery, the momentum of human zeal and energy for God, nor by the momentum of a program, but that it is being energized by the Holy Ghost, that it is Christ Himself who is the Life and the power of that thing.
But it is very important that we should recognize that foreverGod has bound up everything with His Son, and that nothingwill ever be had or enjoyed apart from Christ, while for thispresent life that is only by faith in the Lord Jesus.
He always looks at Him in an absolute way, and when Christ is implanted at the beginning of our life it is not as though God implanted Him in a fragmentary way.
Core of Life
Sometimes however the stark reality of life shadows this amazing eternal God, and past promises of love and grace..
as we are bombarded by the pressures and panics that erode away the core of life.
Times of Life
But however long and arduous this mortal strain and trivial rounds appears..
however deep the scars that have wounded the soul of the soldier of Christ, our times are in His hand. Every moment of every day of the life we live here… our times ARE in His hands.
Pressures of Life
One day this life with its pressures and pain will be over.
Eternal Life
The eternal God, Who LOVED you from the before time began..
Eternal Life
There are many Old Testament passages that testify to Jesus Christ as the Eternal Son of God. It was Micah who stated that His origin is from long ago – from the days of eternity. The Psalmist tells us that His throne was established from all eternity, while Isaiah proclaims, You LORD, are our Father – You are our Redeemer from of old.
And Jesus Himself had power to give eternal life – the almighty power of God.
He also holds the keys of death and hell – and He is the only doorway to eternal life.
Claim to be Saviour
He has the power of God to forgive sins, and the power of God over life and death.
The Father loved Him, because He lay down His life, that He might take it again.
No man takes it from Me, He cried, I lay it down Myself – I have power to lay it down I have, and I power to take it again – and His coming kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Jesus Christ Is Eternal – and in John 10:28, Jesus said, “And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
Claim to be Eternal
If Jesus Christ isn’t eternal, he has no authority or power to give “eternal life”.
Were this untrue He would be a blasphemer and His life and our hope would be a sham.
But there is also a wider world that is in equal need of redemption from sin and everlasting life from above. There was the intriguing story of Moses the prophet, who was raised up by God to lead His people out of Egyptian bondage, and to guide them safely them through their wilderness walk, who declared:- the Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.
Rejected Saviour
The first time the king of glory visited the earth to redeem His people from their sins He came as a helpless baby, born in a humble stable and lived a simple life as a poor carpenter, until He was finally rejected and cruelly crucified by those He came to save.
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.
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.
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.
Ever Watching
The Lord is ever-watching everything that is going on in your life and in mine.
He is watching over you and guarding your life as a shepherd protects His sheep.
Nothing can happen that is outside His plan and purpose for your life.
Rule of Life
For the ways of a man are always before the eyes of the LORD for He ponders all their paths, and He watches their walk. The eyes of the Lord are upon all the righteous and He hears their prayer.
Cup of Suffering
To be pinched by poverty; to be maligned by loved ones; to be fettered by some disability. To be stripped bare of loving comfort; to stand alone in the shocks and quakes of life; to be overwhelmed by man's indifference to man and man's hatred of God.
The Time to Trust
When is the time to trust?Is it when all is calm,When saves the victor's palm,And life is one glad psalmOf joy and praise?Yes but more time to trustIs when the waves beat high,When storm clouds fill the sky,And prayer is one long cry Oh help and save!
He believes the Psalmist's declaration that every step of his life's pathway has been ordered by the Lord.
You can, therefore, be confident in every circumstance of life, however baffling, that it has been permitted in your own best interest by the wisest and most loving of fathers, who knows our load-limit' (1 Cor. 10:13). -O.S.
Research now confirms that worry and concerns of life envelop our thinking..
for worry is the root cause for the vast majority of life’s problems, resulting in sickness of body and sickness of soul.
Good News
This good news announced the eternal life penetrating the dying, terrestrial world. These good-tidings of great joy show us unequivocally, that God delights in mercy. This angelically proclaimed gospel message, announced deliverance..
so that He could raise both of us up, into newness of Life – so that we could both become His heavenly, joint-heirs.
Care and Concerns
How often and how frequently our hearts are prone to worry and anxiety, fret or fear. How often our brow is furrowed with tension as the pains of life reflects in our face. How frequently fear of the future or personal problems divide or distract our hearts. How regrettable that cares and concerns of life should steal the Lord’s perfect peace.
Tests and Trials
Sometimes we allow the responsibilities of life and living – to rob us of the Lord’s rest. Sometimes our fears and failures, problems and pressure – weigh heavy on our heart. Sometimes our safety and security, health and finances rise up into mountainous difficulties as we fret and fear about the mounting tests and trials that we are facing.
His word brings life and light – health and wholeness – grace and perfect peace.
Worry and Unbelief
To doubt and disobey the Lord – can even be construed as belying God’s existence! Worry can become such a fact of life, that our hearts declare that there is no God… Who loves and cares for me, because He is insufficient to take care of all my distress!
Precious Time
The time one spends on worry is precious time that had been lost to life forever and effort spent on worry is of little worth – for it wearies the soul and exhausts the heart.
The life I now live by faith - by adherence to and reliance on and (complete) trust - in the Son of God (Gal. 2:20, Amp.)
I have relinquished all by receiving Christ, and I take my stand in Him dead and risen again, as one alive from the dead, to yield myself as a new creation' to God and walk in newness of life.' -W.K.
When we recognize that that is the aim and object of the Holy Spirit, we have life and ministry defined.
If you are the Lord, your life should be governed by the Word of the Lord and by the Holy Spirit.
Whatever your work is it may be in the home as a parent, it may be in household duties, it may be in business if you are there in relation to the Lord, so far as you personally are concerned, your life has got to represent Christ; and that is the ministry.
If we carried that into every sphere of life, things would be very different.
Enriching Grace
The elements of the Law placed men under bondage, for the letter of the law kills, but the personification of grace gives abundant life – a life that’s enriched by grace.
You are in Him, made full and having come to fullness of life. (Colossians 2:10 AMP)
It is just in so far as you and I bring our lives at this time of the day back to God fullness in the Cross that we are going to know this progressive development and increase of Life - so far and no more.
Firstly, it makes a broad division between those who never get into Life, and those who do.
Whether men and women get into Life at all depends entirely upon their acceptance of the Cross.
It divides between those who do get into Life, and those who go right through to fullness of Life, and there is quite a real division there.
There are many Christians who are in the way of Life, that is, who have entered the way of Life, but are not going right on to fullness of Life.
That is really what the New Testament is about - trying to get Christians who have entered into Life to go on to fullness of Life.
The Cross divides between those, because, while we come into the way of Life by the Cross, we also only come into the fullness of Life by the Cross, and that is another thing - a fuller, deeper application of the Cross.
So the Cross makes three categories, those not in Life, those in Life, and those in Life going on to fullness of Life.
He was anointed of God and He was humble - He, Who had not where to lay His head throughout His earthly life.
How the Lord Jesus learned humility through every facet of His wonderful life – a life that demonstrates the glorious truths of humility.
Lonely Road
Should not we, who seek to know Him more and more, follow in His path - HIS path of humility; HIS walk of suffering; HIS trail of rejections and pain? Should we not submit to the penetrating eye of the Holy Spirit in our life - asking Him to identify pride and self-interest, that so readily tracks our earthy walk? Should we not seek Him, where He is found – on the lonely Road of Humility? Should not we seek to cover ourselves with humility as Jesus did – covered with the cloak of humility; clothed with the garment of grace.
How solemn that our love for God will be found to be a delusion, unless its truth is proved in standing the test of daily life with our fellow man.
Crucified Life
But the natural heartstrings must be snapped; broken; smashed; crushed..
Victorious Soul
Without the real death marks of Calvary, there can be no glorious, triumphant life. Without self crucified, there can be no sweet, gentle, victorious, overcoming soul – a life in Christ, that flows like a spring morning from an empty tomb.
God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16
was the gospel reality to the Philippian jailer, and John the Baptist and Jesus both proclaimed the gospel of the coming Kingdom. I am the Resurrection and the Life..
the divine type of what God intended His race to be – what His creation should be….that is God, contracted to the span of human life; God manifest in the flesh; combining His Own essential nature with another kind of creation called ‘man’.
And some are destined to be conformed into the image of the Son of God – those who become identified with Him, in oneness of the Divine Life.
Life of Pain
At the start of his ministry, Moses saw the glory of God pass by..
but that glimpse was the precursor to a life of rejection, pain, and grief.
And for the rest of his life he had responsibility, hardship, disappointment, and pain.
God’s Servant
And Moses, the faithful servant of God, finished His life in the desert.
Moses spent his life in obedience, looking forward to the promised land, but Moses never entered the promised land.
Picture Example
Is not Moses a typical example of this weary life that we all lead..
as we in our Christian walk see the glory of God in so many ways? He saves us from the world and baptises us into the Body of Christ. He gives us living bread and water of life..
times of refreshment and peace – and He shows us His glory-life in the flush of new-life in Christ..
Hid In Christ
And then for the rest of our life we have the responsibility – responsibility, hardship, disappointment, and pain.
and we must lose our life in this world and be hated and despised of all men.. if we would one day partake of His transfiguration – if we would one day see the glory of God.
Life of Christ
Unless faith and works have His Life in-breathed into them, they are of little worth.
All of Him
Faith and works without the breath of life will be marked by failure.
for faith comes through Him alone: and the life which I now live in the flesh..
Christianity is Christ
Impersonal Christianity results in a life that is dead; fruitless; pointless; frustrating, but a personal view of Christianity results in a life that is quickened and transformed.
Most Important Thing
If your Christian life is lived without Christ..
For knowing the person of Jesus is more vital and more important than anything else in this life.
He also knew that spiritual death which is caused by sin, means separation from God: They are excluded from the life of God because of ignorance and hardness of heart. Men are separated from God and life, because of pride and the blindness of their heart. He who has the Son has life.
He who doesn’t have the Son of God does not have life.
But every man, from Adam on, can choose spiritual life rather than spiritual death.
Only those who do not believe on the Son of God – by faith, do not have life.
First Evangels
It was an angelic throng who were the first evangels that proclaimed the good news of a Saviour, as they abruptly burst through the blackness of night with their joyful news – the Light of God was in the world to bring peace and life to all who would believe. The world needed to know that the Prince of Peace had come to earth to bring hope to a dying race and peace to men of goodwill… peace to all who trust Him as Saviour.
Transitional Period
And Acts covers a special, unrepeatable period of time – a unique time of transition. It was a period of history that bridged the old covenant with the new covenant. It was a bridge between Old Testament living and New Testament life.
The mark of a life governed by the Holy Spirit is that such a life is continually and ever more and more occupied with Christ, that Christ is becoming greater and greater as time goes on.
Is this the kind of life that we know?
That is the mark of a life governed by the Holy Spirit.
If that is true, well, that is the way of Life.
If ever you and I should come to a place where we think we know, we have it all, we have attained, and from that point things become static, we may take it that the Holy Spirit has ceased operations and that life has become stultified.
If there is fellowship in the things of the Lord, let us use it, but let us be quite sure that we do not take things outside and submit them to those influences which are not in the Light, not in the Life, and not in the good of heavenly things, and take our direction from something less than that which is wholly under the government of the Holy Spirit.
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.
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.
Just as He, being the resurrection and the Life, means resurrection at any moment, and not merely at the last day you remember Martha said, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day, and the Lord, in effect, said, Stop, I am the resurrection and the Life, and I being here, the last day may be here so far as the resurrection is concerned; it is no time matter when I am present, it can be now!
only perceiving a dim shadowy silhouette. You stand in the centre of His incomplete - partially developed plan for your life. You sometimes kick against the pricks of correction, which are sent in love, to you. You ofttimes resist the chosen tool He appointed, to refine and perfect you.
You are the one that stands so tall and proud against life's horizon..
The life that emerges from death is administered by a loving, nail-pierced hand.
As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrated through a gradual process that sets free the new life, even so does our Father deal with our old nature by delivering it to death with the Lord Jesus once for all, and then bringing about its mortifying in detail through the circumstances of daily life, until the power of the old man has lost its hold on us. -L.T.
We are going to have to learn death in order to know life.
This whole question of heavenly relationship with the Lord is a tremendously searching one, the fact that Christ has transferred everything to heaven and that nothing less than a life in heavenly union with Him will stand the test at any time.
What is the spiritual life in the matter of worship?
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.
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.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
For God SO loved the world that he GAVE His one and only Son, that WHOEVER believes in Him shall not perish but have ETERNAL LIFE.John 3:16
Love In Christ
The HEIGHT of God’s Love is to seat you in heavenly places in Christ, so that all who believe shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16).
life for the ages… life for the eternal ages to come.
Refining Love
It is those He will break and calm and heal and clean and cleanse and love. Those are the ones in whom He will live His life – through them, and they will be told to come up higher. (Luke 14:10)
Wise Words
There is nothing so low in your life that He can’t lift up to the height of His love.
To take hold of Christianity and mold it, and shape it, and systematize it, and crystallize it, and make it some mighty movement here; with its roots here, with all its associations such as man can see, appreciate and approve; to register itself upon the ordinary consciousness of this world as being something; all of that is contrary to the Word of God and is contrary to spiritual life and spiritual power.
Now, this does not only apply in the matter of our salvation in its first steps, but it comes in new revelations and calls at different times in the Christian life.
The issue is between the life which has been with its limitations known or unrecognized, and that which God offers.
Christ’s Early Life
But God is not mocked by man nor angel and the Holy Child was born and for 12 years He grew and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was on Him.
He was to travel to the House of the Lord - the reconstructed Temple of God, to meet His heavenly Father and take up the baton of responsibility that would last the rest of His life.
The Holy One
What mysteries must have passed from Father to Son on that holy, consecrated visit. What a weight of responsibility fell on those young shoulders – the Holy One of God. For the rest of His life He undertook to fulfil every letter of the Law of Moses so that in the body prepared by His Father, He would live and move and have in being in God.
Gift of Love
He has set aside the glory He had with the Father before the world was created and lived His entire life in humble obedience to the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Every Passover Lamb since their escape from Egypt was a death that pointed to Christ. Every sin offering prefigured Calvary’s cross and every morning and evening sacrifice pictured His entire life as a freewill gift of love – a sweet savour – offered daily to God.
Perfect Saviour
As God He was still the omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, eternal, universal Creator – as Man He began His life as a babe in Bethlehem – and gave His life a ransom for many. The reality of Christ’s human nature links Him irrefutably with the whole human race, and though Christ must never be divorced from His deity, He became a man and He participated in the history of humankind – having come to this world in the likeness of sinful flesh. It was for us that the perfect uncreated God of the universe, became perfect Man and Who in the fullness of time – and for our sakes become our perfect Saviour.
Unique Person & Work
The two natures of Christ is a simple concept and yet it contains a profound reality. Without the two natures of Jesus Christ humanity has no Saviour and no Salvation, but by faith in the unique person and work of Jesus Christ – as Son of God and Son of Man we are given the free gift of life – eternal life – abundant life – by God’s grace.
Merry-Go-Round
Death claims many, and betrayal or disinterest have waved others farewell.. and life marches on.
Eyes start to dim and memories to fade. The lithe strength of youth is replaced with memories of what it used to be. Teeth are capped and pressure of daily life replace a long-lost free spirit.
Decaying World
In the carousel of life, even the man of faith is dissatisfied with his earthly lot, and we long for stability in just something – anything..
until we begin to understand the reason for the impermanence. God designed a mutating life with innumerable ever-changing scenes, so that we would become dissatisfied with this decaying world system.
Metamorphic Round
God organised life’s’ metamorphic round to cause dis-ease in the soul..
Source of Stability
May all life’s disappointing variations point us to the only Source of stability.
Exemplary Life
He lived a sinless life and so there was no requirement for Him to confess His sins. His words were always seasoned with salt and His actions were full of gracious truth.
He lived the only sinless life in a world of sinners.
He lived each day of His life in submission to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit.
His life was a lovely example of the only way a man can live a life that’s pleasing to God.
Sinless Life
There’ve been many religious leaders, but all died, and their body remains in a grave. There are good teachers who teach God’s word, but only He is the Word of Life.
There have been many men who have influenced many people, but the Lord Jesus is unique in the kingdom on men for He alone lived a sinless life – a life pleasing to God.
Submitted Life
Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and unique Son of Man.
Jesus Christ is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. He walked a path of righteousness – He lived the only sinless life in a world of sinners. He lived each day of His life in submission to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. His life exemplified the only way a man can live a life that’s pleasing to God.
Word of Life
And though fully God and fully human in His singular body, He laid aside His glory..
The measure of our spiritual life is no greater than our heart; the knowledge that is in the head is not the measure of spirituality, the way for your release, emancipation, increase, abundance is the way of the heart.
However magnificent a gift we receive from family or friends, it pales to insignificance in comparison with the inexpressible gift of Christ Jesus, the eternal Son of God – for God so loved the world that He GAVE His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes on His name, would not be condemned (as he justly deserves) but be given eternal life.
It’s suitable for all occasions no matter what the time – and for all persons whether bond or free. God’s unutterable gift of His Son multiplies into a plethora of additional gifts, which explode into an astonishing display of God’s amazing grace and unconditional love. Spiritual death is removed and the new life of Christ is breathed into our dead spirit – we were dead in our sins, but made alive in Christ.
We are part of a new creation – new creatures in Christ, for our old sin nature was severed at the cross and we are imbued with a new nature – the new life in Christ. Our status of sinner is changed into saint.
broken the power of sin in our life and will one day remove sin’s presence – forever. The curtain of separation has been torn from top to bottom granting access to the throne-room of grace and we’re covered from head to toe with the armour of God, for we are clothed with Christ and one with Him – His body, His church – His bride.
We are the temple of God with the permanently indwelling Spirit of God as God’s deposit of grace. We were foreknown of God and chosen by Him – sealed and adopted forever, Amen. We were showered with the riches of eternal life – endowed with God’s spiritual gifts. We were baptised into Christ – made peace with God and given the peace of God. He started a good work in us and prepared good works for us to do in His strength – and then in His grace rewards us for the work He carried out in our lives – what grace. Thanks be to God for His unimaginable gift!
God’s Inexpressible Gift
Through Christ Jesus we possess life – eternal life – abundant life. We are part of the body of Christ and made saints of the Most High. We are become ambassadorship of Christ on earth and have a heavenly citizenship. We are joint-heirship with Christ and have an inheritance held in trust for us by God.
We have been made living stones and become part of the dwelling-place of God. We are a chosen people; a royal priesthood; a holy nation; God’s special possession… that in this life and in the ages to come – we may declare the praises of Him Who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light. Let us thank God for His inexpressible gift!
It is a great thing to which we are called in Christ, but how many Christians are really in it, and if they know they are in it, are tasting of the meaning of it: that this Life is an inexhaustible Life, that there are new vistas all the time?
Oscillating Faith
And faith in God fluctuates between good and bad circumstances. And trust in God ping-pongs as emotions rise and then tumble. And life has no stability because we have not fixed God’s Word in our heart.
Peter orders us to know and grow in our knowledge of Him….and in grace, in 2 Peter 3, and Jesus instructs us that to know that God is life eternal, in John 17.
How often life is unstable, because we have not fixed Who God is in our heart: Elohim – the Strong One – the Powerful God.
Unlimited Glory
But this does not increase the grace of God – for His grace is infinite to start with. It cannot add to the glory of His Name – for His Name is already infinitely glorious. All that is connected with this mortal life has gross and distressing limitations. The limits and boundaries that are forced on the human creature are frustrating. Limitations that flood in from without and limitations that well up from within.
Infinite Table
When we start to compare the infinity of God with the days of our life here on earth..
Infinite Grace
Why has God designed this life to be one of hardship and sorrow? Is it not so that in learning obedience, He can bestow on us His infinite grace? Christ was the first to go through the process of a life of obedience: for the joy that was set before Him, (infinite joy), He endured the cross.
You can say, I have SEEN, and that has revolutionized my life.
That has become a dynamic in my life which, in spite of myself, keeps me going.
We may know what Paul meant when he said: We were pressed out of measure, beyond our strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life (2 Corinthians 1:8).
Let Elijah seek out his juniper tree and say: Take away my life!, but the Lord does not agree.
Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.Proverbs 3:12
To he that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.Revelation 2:7
Difficulties of Life
There are times when things look very dark..
This is the place where the greatest patience and trusting hope must be exhibited… where Love and Faith support the weary arms of Hope.. just as Joshua and Hur held up the weary arms of Moses, until the precious desire blossoms forth as a Tree of Life..
for Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes it IS a Tree of Life.
Rewards of Hope
For hope deferred maketh the heart sick – but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. How glorious that little word BUT.
endured the cross, despising the shame – so that we may eat of that Tree of Life: for to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life. Revelation 2:7
when the desired hope at long last appears, remember it is a Tree of Life.
Blessed are they that do His commandments, for they have the right to eat of the Tree of Life.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
He demands nothing from this world, but in the life of the Lord Jesus he contributes to it, of the grace that nourishes and comforts him outside it. -J.B.S.
And alongside that, many are looking to the organization, the society, the mission, the church connection to which they are related, and expecting a new day for themselves to originate there, and that when the institution, whatever it may be, takes action, then the work of their life will begin.
It is an inward life from God, an inward power of God.
It cannot understand that our Lord Jesus was willing to accept exactly the same basis of life with its limitation in which we live, although without sin.
So we are called to live, by the Spirit, a life triumphant over all our weaknesses, a life where Christ is everything, and where His victory is our victory.
Christians have a poor self-image simply because they are thinking and looking upon the condemned and crucified first-Adam life within, instead of being occupied with their glorified Last-Adam life above.
Just as the sin of one man, (Adam) resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act of the one Man, (Christ Jesus) resulted in justification and life for all people.Romans 5:18
Christ’s Blood
His perfect life would be a payment – for the sinful lives of the entire human race. All sin that was covered by the fleece of a lamb would be atoned for by His blood. Until the blood of the perfect Sacrifice was offered, man’s sin would remain covered – covered but never forgiven UNTIL the final Sacrifice for all sin was offered.
God’s Grace
But grace was in God’s heart when He purposed to give His Son as a ransom for many, Christ was to come bringing with Him grace and truth for all condemned by the Law. His perfect life and sacrificial death was to break the power of sin, resting on man, His death on the cross was so that man could be released from ALL condemnation.
Instead of the LAW being the criteria for perfection that man must attain, the life of Christ Jesus was to be God’s standard – and He was to do it all for us, – and the ONLY requirement of us is to believe that Christ died for our sins, and rose again the third day.
New Life of Christ
Punishment from ministration of condemnation was completed at Calvary – and the ONLY requirement is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, for there is no condemnation for those that believe in Christ Jesus – for those that are ‘IN Christ’.
When we believe we are immediately given a new life – the perfect life of Christ, and when we yield to the Holy Spirit – HE works in and through our NEW life.
Condemnation Lifted
This new perfect life of Christ cannot sin.
And when we sin as a believer we lose precious fellowship with our Saviour – and when we sin we live our life in our own strength and not in Christ’s strength.
Rules for the Church
Some Christians mistakenly adhere to Israel’s Law, but Paul argues that: we are not under law but under grace, Romans 6:14. and yet we are not exempt from a godly code of living, which Paul calls: the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus Romans 8:2. and which is seen in Romans 8.
James also writes about: the perfect law of liberty, James 1:25. or the royal code and Paul reminded the Galatians to: bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2. Indeed, the law of Christ, [the law of the Spirit of life] Romans 8:2. freed us from the heavy bondage of the Old Testament Mosaic Law – and yet we are called to the highest standard of all of God’s servants.
and this is love for God: to obey His commands, and His commands are not burdensome. 1John 5:3. Never forget that: the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
I may be going through a very great deal of suffering without you knowing anything about it so far as the natural life is concerned, you are not affected by it, but beloved, there is a realm where if one member spiritually suffers the whole Body is involved in that suffering, which shows this Body is a heavenly thing and its relationships are not natural, they are spiritual, and that the unifying factor of the Holy Spirit operates apart from the natural consciousness.... You see what is involved, you see what a motive we have in our relationships for keeping them on a high level.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2)
The law of the Spirit of Life inChrist is like that.
It is a law of Life, and it works out in apractical way when respected and honored.
The law of the Spirit of Life in Christ is that law bywhich we become aware.
The Lord Jesus knew that at a certain time He could notact, could not speak; He had no movement of the Spirit inquickening, no Life to do so at that time; in His spirit therewas no movement of Life; the law was not active in the positiveway.
Thelaw of Life became active in that direction, and He knew by aninward quickening what the mind of God was.
That is what Paulmeans when he says, The mind of the Spirit is Life.
May you… being rooted and grounded in love… experience the love of Christ, though it is so great you will never fully understand it. Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.Ephesians 3:17-18
According as His divine power He hath given us all that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue.2 Peter 1:3
Fragile Self
A tiny cornflower seed embodies the life of a cornflower within its fragile self. The little seed contains in full reproduction of the life from which it came. We too are complete in Him – and our life is hid with Christ in God, and like the cornflower seed, all of Christ is embodied within our “new man,” And we will be fully like Him when we see Him as He is.
Divine Life
The divine Life in the believer’s new nature is to grow and develop throughout life.
The believer’s new life within, is to be conformed into the likeness of Christ’s life.
Godly Living
Not only is our life positioned in Him – it is complete In Him.
God has given us all that we need to live a holy and godly life: according as His divine power, He hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through knowledge of Him, Who called us to glory and virtue. 2 Peter 1:3 If only we believed our life were truly complete in Him – and then, were to act on it.
In the end, it will be the End that judges our Christian life.
And we shall discover that while there are the compensations, for there are undoubtedly the compensations in this life, and the mighty compensations for eternity, this is a way which is not easy for the natural man by any means.
He came to give life and health instead of sickness and death.
Light in the World
We are not a “Christ” as some like to claim, for we are all members of His one body. Christ is the Head and we are His body – both individually and corporately, and we are to act as His life and His light in the world.
We cannot give life to any dead being, nor can we forgive sins, but we can point the lost to Christ Jesus our Lord and our Head.
The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6)
If you want to know what the Spirit is against, you will know it because there is death in that direction in your spirit, you have no Life, you say, in that direction.
All right, that means you know the Lord, you know the spirit, you know what it is to move on the basis of the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ.
Guidance, direction, is a matter of Life in the Spirit, Life by the Spirit.
The Lord Jesus had His life ordered, governed, conducted, arranged in every detail by the quickening Spirit; the Spirit of Life in Christ.
Life and the letter are often contrasted in the Word.
He must have the Esther instrument who flings fear to the winds, and goes, taking life in hand, to besiege the throne for the life of her people, for the deliverance of the people of God from the threat of the enemy.
Some people seem to think that to become more spiritual we must become more intense and tied-up and occupied with this whole matter of the spiritual life, and really they are the most unbearable people, the joy has gone out of them.
a Father Who binds up those aching wounds; a Father Who heals the brokenness of life; a Father Who creates afresh a life of meaning; a life of purpose.
A life, where empty hearts are filled to overflowing with His love; a life where aching souls are restored to fullness of purpose.
A life, where a soul steps out as did Christian on his 'Pilgrims Progress' – to ford the 'Slough of Despond'; to defeat the fierce Giant Despair; to triumph over Apollyon’s attacks – to slay the many mighty dragons of doubt, distrust, and disbelief.
We are not merely adopted as into an earthly family, but He has imparted to us His own life – the very breath of His life.
All who take time to study the disposition and character of Christ discover Him to display perfection throughout His lifetime and grace in all circumstances of His life.
Heart for God
God is looking for men after His own heart like David, who will shepherd His people, and He is searching for prayerful men of integrity, like the prophet Daniel. He is looking for willing men like Isaiah who volunteered to do the Lord’s bidding – trusting men like Habakkuk, who lived a life of trusting faith.
Right Relationship
All these people were in right relationship with the Lord and each of these characters displayed a characteristic that pleased the Lord – a godly disposition that was precious in His eyes – a quality that is dear to the heart of our God. God laid His hand on each of His people in a unique way and God took time in each life to develop in each one a peculiar and distinctive quality that was a dim reflection of His own perfect grace – one that would be seen in the face of Jesus Himself.
ot my will but Thine be done – in my life/ Break me; Melt me; Mold me; Fill me –; Pattern me after Your Beloved Son.
The key to everything with God is Life.... We must realize that Christ's ascendancy, supremacy, power, ability and all that goes with Headship, is in terms of His prerogative of Life.
He is the Son, vested with Life; He has the right given Him of God to give Life to as many as believe.
But bring in one who has the power of life over death, be he ever so humble on this earth, he is head, he is master, he is lord.
But supposing you bring in a little, insignificant person who is nobody, with no capabilities whatever in this world, no training, and that one be invested with the power of life over death, he rules out all these others, they are as nothing in his presence, he is lord of the situation.
Christ is Head, not just by appointment, but in terms of Life.
We may be very insignificant people on this earth, nothing at all to be taken account of by the world, but if only we have Christ in fullness of Life we are in a supreme position, we make all the great organizations and institutions as nothing.
It is a spiritual thing, the impact of Christ; not tradition, not history, not theology, but the spiritual power of His presence in terms of Life through faith and righteousness.
Perfect Standard
The Lord Jesus is our ‘standard.’ He is the One true and only ‘benchmark’ for life.
Way, Truth, and Life
He not only shows us the way and points out the way... but He is the Way.
John 8:32 He not only gives us life and breathes new life into us... but He is Life.
He is life and health and wholeness and peace and freedom.
A Different Dimension
He is not the life and peace that the world craves but life on a different dimension.
Godly Reminders
The life we live depends on the thoughts we think, as a man thinks so is he. Proverbs 23:7. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus Philippians 2:5.
A Challenge
I challenge us all to begin today to consciously take every thought captive, and we will discover that we have taken the first step away from bondage into the mind of Christ Jesus, and the life of His freedom.
And He answers these impossible things in the normal way for it is the normal way; the abnormal would be by signs and wonders and extraordinary happenings: demonstrations to our senses; but the normal way in the Christian life is the way of the continuous transcendence of His Life over the working of death.
You have to live your life and do your work in a sphere of spiritual death where everything is against spiritual Life, and there is nothing to support you at all, and yet you go on there in the Lord, and are not swallowed up, engulfed and destroyed by that atmosphere and by those conditions.
That is the miracle of Divine Life working silently.
Yours, then, is a life as is the life of everyone set in the presence of the great stone of death, spiritual death.
Well, I appeal to those of you who have any spiritual life and history at all.
And His perfect life was one of deep, willing, passionate, yielding love.
We will do everything in our power to avoid the disgrace of His crushing humiliation, but He must increase in each and every part of life..
In disheartenment and despair – He is our JOY. In thick shadow and deep darkness – He is our LIGHT. In weakness and sickness – He is our LIFE. In our utter and total submission and surrender – He is our ALL in ALL.
So the Lord neither can, nor will, nor does, commit Himself fully to the temporal aspects of His own work.... Spiritually the position in union with a heavenly Lord means fullness, and the measure of fullness depends entirely upon that heavenly life and the heavenly nature of everything.
A few divinely inspired instructions can summarise the meaning of life and how to live..
Examples of Grace
It is grace that called us to be His children and gave us an inheritance as sons. It is grace that made us heavenly ambassadors and has planned every step of our life. It is the grace that will make us examples of His grace in the ages that are to come. It is grace that ordained us to every good work and grace that equips to do it.
Spirit’ Guidance
Life’s circumstances may indeed be a gateway to understanding, Experience also can teach us many things but they are not an end in itself.
The Spirit of God takes life experience and combines it with His Word.
It is then that through life’s circumstances, some of God’s secret things can be revealed.
Trials and Temptations
God reveals patience and other graces through life’s trials and temptations. God develops faith in the man or woman that is thus broken before Him. James tells us to count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
but how do we understand the value of trials if we don't know the word of truth? And how do we learn that God is working in life to procure ultimate perfection in us?
Many make great effort to emulate and copy the life of the Lord Jesus.
God uses all the facts and realities of life to humble us before His throne of grace, and through our self-analysis or introspection, we discover our efforts are in vain..
He is the Alpha and Omega of all life’s struggles.
Christ lived a perfect human life – living, walking, and praying in spirit and truth.
Christ is Believed on
The 5th principle in this great assurance is that Christ is believed on in the world.. 'for he that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeys not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on him.' John 3:36.
Perfect Reflections
Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life we need to stop and think. Sometimes in the hurly-burly of living we need to focus our thoughts. We need to think on whatsoever is good..
to reflect on whatsoever is perfect, for our minds can become overwhelmed with the cares of this life.
my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,My Prophet, Priest, and King,My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,Accept the praise I bring.
An era of insanity, as natural man plans humanities next move – on the chessboard of life: but God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. 1Cor.3:19 And a young child, brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord has greater wisdom, than the anti-theist minds of the world’s ministers, who so love to play “god“.
God the Father by His grace, loved us so much that He gave His only begotten Son so that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of all believers today, is to glorify Christ.
We were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.
My Cross means that not even for Me can you be or do anything out from yourself, but if there is to be anything at all it must be out from Me, and that means a life of absolute dependence and faith.
At this point, therefore, we awoke to the fundamental principle of our Lord's own life while here, and it became the law of everything for us from that time.
For you died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
ALIVE unto God – Our life hid with Christ in the Father.
ALIVE unto God – Living – Life – Eternal Life,and because I live, you will live also.
John 14:19 ALIVE unto God – we who were once alienated from the life of God.
Glory of Eternal Life
And life; eternal life – His life became our life..
And so our Christian life began, when we became alive unto God.
From Death to Life
We have passed from death..
And we have passed unto life..
We rose in Him as He conquered death – and our life is hid with Christ In God.
A Hidden Life
We are to seek the things of heaven..
Ours is to be an 'other-worldly' life..
a life lived on a different plain..
a life bound by a contrasting set of principles – a life hid with Christ in God.
Word of Life
Jesus said: he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life..
John 5:24 and Paul expounds: for I through the law died to the law that I might live to God, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
They see the value of theChristian standard of life, and Christian teaching, andhave thought if only it could be applied, how different theworld would be.
The only way inis by our receiving Divine Life as a gift through faith inJesus Christ, and that becomes the new basis of the newcreation, the basis upon which everything begins and iscarried through, the basis of Divine Life.
That Life has in itall the qualities and energies of the new creation.
The anointing means that, and if that is not the nature of your spiritual life, there is something wrong in your case in relation to the anointing.
To Nathanael the Lord Jesus said, Henceforth (our old English word is hereafter, but I think many people have mistakenly thought that means the after life) ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Oh, how an unsettled issue does paralyze the life.
Have a controversy with the Lord, an unsettled issue with the Lord, and your whole life is lamed, is paralyzed; you are limping first one way and then the other; there is no sense of stability about your way.
But until that is done you are crippled, you are paralyzed, and the whole secret of your being in that weak, indefinite, unstable, uncertain place is that God is not having His full rights; there is a dividedness in your life, a dividedness in your own soul, because other interests and considerations are in view.
The dividedness may be in your home life, where you have power, authority and influence, and you are not standing one hundred percent for the Lord interests there.
You may be busy, you may be occupied, you may be rushing hither and thither in the Lord name, but you know that deep down there is a lack, an uncertainty, an unsettled state; your spiritual life is limited and paralyzed.
It will always be so until the issue is settled and God has His place in fullness in every part and relationship of your life.
That is what John brings out so clearly, by way of illustration in his Gospel, and by way of direct statement in his epistle ...God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath the life.
The fellowship is explained as being that of possessing His very Life.
The basis of union with God is that God's own Life is given to us in new birth, and upon that God builds everything, on that He counts for everything.
In order to reach and realize all God's thought, God must put Himself into man in the very essence of His being, His very Life.
God cannot realize spiritual, eternal, universal intentions on the basis of natural life.
The Scriptures make it very clear that man's own natural life can never be the basis of the realization of any of God's purposes, that God's own Life alone can be that.
God's hope is in His own Life, not in ours, and He puts the basis of His hope within at new birth, and on that basis He proceeds to the development of all His thought, and the realization of all His intention.
You never do touch the Lord Jesus in His death in any new measure without knowing a new measure of resurrection Life.
When the Lord Jesus by His Spirit brings us in a further measure into the meaning of His death, let it be settled with us, once and for all, that that is in itself a new measure of resurrection Life.
It is death unto Life.
The Life and the gain are of a different sort from the death and the loss.
The death and the loss is simply all that which, sooner or later, will go in any case, and even while it remains is of a very doubtful value, but the Life and the gain are eternal, and have in them all the values of God.
Because of what that leads to, all the possibilities of that resurrection Life and power, because of its ultimate issue: because of the place to which it can bring him, no less a place than the very Throne of the Lord Himself.
Do recognize that the Cross is the end of the risen life, and not only the beginning.
The Cross is the end of the risen life, as well as the beginning: That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death.
The power of His resurrection presupposes that there has been a death, but the very resurrection-life leads to the Cross.
The Holy Spirit in the power of the risen life is always leading you back to the Cross, to conformity to His death.
It is the very property of Life to rule out all that belongs to death.
That place is none other than the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ where the natural life is put aside.
It would be a poor look-out for you and for me were we to be conformed to His death in entirety apart from the power of resurrection in us, apart from our already knowing the Life of the Lord.
There would be no survival were it not that His risen Life is in us.
No other price would satisfy a holy God, and so we were bought at a price – the precious blood of our Lord and Saviour, – but the free gift of salvation to all who believe, cost God the life of His beloved Son.
Purchased, in Love
What awesome grace to be purchased, in love, by God and so become His child. What an honor to be brought into His kingdom from a life of slavery to sin and Satan.
Should we not live each day of our life for Him, in grateful thanks and devoted service.
His was a life that willingly and cheerfully walked the way of the cross.
Phil.4:11 Paul is the most astonishing example of a man that was utterly dependent on God, He is an example and sign that his life was not his own, but hid with Christ in God.
The Spirit of Life that raised Jesus from the dead, was Paul’s total dynamism.
Typical Example
This prisoner of the Lord had no life of his own – the sentence of death was on him.
His life becomes the typical example..
No-one but a man like Paul could have walked this painful path through life – yet Paul himself would vehemently argue that all his strength was drawn from above.
Paul demonstrated through his life a total abandonment to the Lord.
one are sufficient to rest upon in the spiritual journey upon which we’ve all embarked, but all will be used in the eternal plan, for a life who truly cries: Thy Will Be Done.
For God works all things together for good to those that trust him, and God gives back the years consumed by the locusts of life – but it is a lifetime process of learning to trust God.
Fruitful Life
There are no shortcuts to spiritual growth.
for God uses all things in the life of a believer in producing the end result!
for the fruit of the Spirit takes time to grow and to ripen in the life of a believer – just as the fruit on the tree requires sunshine and storm to yield its produce.
Lifelong Journey
One writer puts it this way: The Husbandman’s method for true spiritual growth involves: pain as well as joy; suffering as well as happines; failure as well as success; inactivity as well as service; death as well as life.
In the words of the Lord Jesus: When tribulation or persecution ariseth... he is offended (Matthew 13:21).Clearly, then, if you and I are going to persevere to the end we must have a greater power than that of our natural emotional life.
The letter to the Galatians is devoted to emphasizing the place of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer, for He alone can supply the necessary energy of love for us to go on running well.
Evaluation of Christianity
Some years ago I spent weeks evaluating one such highly popular religious book, as Christians throughout the world rushed headlong to discover their life’s ‘Purpose.’ I concluded, along with other biblically sound witnesses, its unscriptural inconsistencies. I discovered false teaching – overflowing with atheistic authors and new age teachings.
God’s Purpose For Man
God’s Purpose for us does not have to be extracted from a 12-step programme. God’s Word is the true source of knowledge in understanding His purpose and will. Trace the truth of God’s purpose from before the foundation of the world. Explore the meaning of life from the pages of Scripture – starting with Genesis. God said..
Praise the Lord of Heaven and earth, that His ways and purposes are not ours. His purpose in life will be carried out in the life of a believer – by faith. His plan for each life will take time..
an entire life-journey to complete.
for you are accepted. His plan, purpose and will for your life is that Christ is formed in you – that we are conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus, Rom.8:29
God’s Purpose In Christ
There is no 12-step program that can effect this transformation – only a life of humility, submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit..
a life that can finally say in thought, word, deed, and motive.. it is not I that lives in me, but Christ. Gal.2:20. This is my commandment, that you love… John.14:34. Love one another as I have loved you.
I have come that they may have life. (John 10:10 ISV)
If, on the one hand, eternal Life operates to cut us off from our natural life as the basis of our relationship with God, on the other hand, it is perfectly wonderful what is done.
The Lord even comes in as our physical life to the doing of more than would have been possible to us at our best, and certainly far beyond the present possibility, because He has made us know that as men we are nothing, even at our best.
Life does that.
Life forces off one system and brings on another, making room for it as it goes.
That, I believe is what the Lord meant when He said, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10).
We are always asking for life more abundant that we might feel wonderfully elated and overflowing and energetic.
The Lord is preeminently practical, and more abundant Life means that, having Life, you will find the need of more to lead you a little further, and you will need it abundantly as you go on, because that Life alone can bring you into the fullness.
And it is His will that there should be the full provision of Life unto the full end, because the purpose is such an abundant purpose.
When we pray for Revival let us be careful as to what we are after and as to what means we use to promote it, or carry it on.... The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that the secret of everything in his life and service was the fact that he received his gospel by revelation.
When the Scriptures say so much about the knowledge of God and of the truth as the basis of eternal life, resulting in being set free, doing exploits, etc., they also affirm that man cannot by searching find out God, and they make it abundantly clear that it is knowledge in the spirit, not in the natural mind.
Thus, a rich knowledge of the Scriptures, an accurate technical grasp of Christian doctrine, a doing of Christian work by all the resources of men's natural wisdom or ability, a clever manipulation and interesting presentation of Bible content and themes, may get not one whit beyond the natural life of men, and still remain within the realm of spiritual death.
Human Heart
The human heart desires to know answers to so many unanswerable questions. Believers are not exempt from a longing to know answers to imponderable issues. Man’s mission in life is to discover the unknowable which is hidden deep in the mind of God.
But this I do know – there is One Who is the Answer to all life’s ills and wrongs, All questions and every answer is bound up in one Person – the Lord Jesus Christ.
One Answer
There is only one answer when faced with the troubles of life and His name is Jesus – and this He promised: I, if I am lifted up, will draw all men and women to Me to save and forgive and to heal the hurt.
John 12:32 There is only One God, Who was sent to heal all brokenness and pain in life, and His name is Jesus.
So, on the other hand, if we seriously faced the things which the Spirit of God has again and again ruled out when He has had His way, would not the way be opened for a morepermanent high level of spiritual life, fullness, and effectiveness?
The law of God's highest work is the biological, the law of Life; it is organic.
Personal Love
Christ’s love is a precious love – betwixt Him and His Church. It’s a penetrating love – between Christ and His Body. It’s an intimate love, that flows from the Son to His own darling dove. It was for the Church that the Lord Jesus gave up His life. It was for this pearl of great price – the Lord gave all to purchase her for Himself.
Love for the Bride
He loved her as Himself and has seated her together with Him in heavenly places. He treasures her so dearly, that He betrothed Himself to her as a Bridegroom. He gave Himself for His bride, that He might set her apart as unto Himself. The Lamb of God sacrificed His life..
Christ’s Prayer
Christ did all this so that His Body might eat of the sweet fruit of the Tree of Life.
This love is so amazing - so divine, it demands our soul, our heart, our life, our all.
And He is truly our Councillor for the Spirit of counsel rested upon His whole life..
He scheduled each day of Your life – from before you were even born.
Eternal Father
Jesus is indeed the Eternal Father, and unlike human parents whose life fades and passes away like the grass of the field – eternal means forever and ever – Amen. He has promised never to leave us or abandon us as orphans.
By His resurrected life He gives us the peace of God which passes human comprehension and when He went to the Father to prepare a place for us with Him in heaven – He left us His own perfect peace. He said, I’m leaving My peace.
We live in the Lord Jesus for sanctification, throughout our Christian life.
Salvation of the soul (or sanctification) takes the complete life-span of a believer.
Others prefer the trinkets of this life to the treasures that are stored up in heaven and many can’t comprehend that faith comes to the church by hearing not by sight – unlike Israel for whom signs were designed, so they could recognise their Messiah.
We are nothing but dead sticks without His life.
Sanctification and maturing in the Christian life is open to all believers and all believers will eventually be sanctified, for we shall all be like Him – but that happens after we leave this earth.
Willing sanctification is a life-process now, where we willingly submit to Him..
Christ’s Likeness
And for years I have made it my daily prayer to ask the Lord to search out every nook and cranny of my life, that’s displeasing to Him..
to do whatever it takes to conform my soul-life to His Christ-life – to make me willing to change into the person He wants me to be.
Sanctification Steps
God has also set out His method for sanctification, and we are to grow in the Christian life the way He dictated, and not try to do it our own way.
Rejecting part of scripture, doubting His word, or mistrusting His character if they conflict with our preconceptions affects all of life.
If we think Him unfair in one area of life, we deny the truth of His whole character.
His Word of truth is staggering, and if we are unprepared to see ourselves through God’s eyes, our whole Christian life will become distorted.
Ah, He was taking all the risks necessary about this because the reality, the awful reality of this: you CANNOT, you cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven while you cling to this kingdom inimical to God, in any way.... How much the New Testament has to say about this, a walk in holiness that is separate unto God in heart, in spirit, in life, from this world.
And if we knew it, a very large degree of our education, our spiritual education and our discipline in the Christian life under the hand of the HOLY Spirit, has to do with those things in us which are mixed up....
The Lord calls for distinctiveness of life and testimony, real distinctiveness of life and testimony.
Is our life, dear friends, is your life and my life in this world in our connections and associations and so on, quite distinct, no mistaking to what realm we belong, to Whom we belong?
Seat of Power
But Christian doctrine has been twisted in many areas to elevate mans supremacy. Man may accept God’s gift as His Saviour and may even sacrifice much for God.. but man prefers to remain the crowned king on the throne of his own life.
New Life
But until we can truly examine every nook and cranny of our life and say with Paul.. I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live – yet not I, but Christ lives in me…” Gal.2:20. Until that time our heart must remain rebellious towards the Self-Existent One – the Self-Existent God, Who loves us so much and gave Himself for us.
Spiritual Effectiveness
The cost of accountability in each life is very high. The greater the degree of spiritual effectiveness given to an individual or ministry.. the more spiritually accountable that one becomes. For to him that has been given much, much will be required Luke 12:48
The whole of our life is a process of sanctification..
To be prepared to discover areas within our soul (our life) that hurt or grieve Him, and permit Him to root out the puss within and to fill that empty space with Himself. Search me O God and know my heart. Test me and know my thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You. Psalm 139:3.
It is possible to go out and work, labor, and die of the strain of trying to serve Me and yet it still remains true that you cannot, out from yourself, by any natural resources whatever, bear fruit unto Me.' The only thing that can ever get through to God's end, and that can be in Life eternal, Divine, heavenly Life is that which proceeds from the Holy Spirit.How sweeping that is!
Complete in Him
Not only is our life positioned in Him and complete in Him, but He has given us all that we need to live a holy and godly life.
We read in 2Peter 3:3 according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
If we believe that our life truly is complete is Him then we need to act upon it..
No doubt he wondered sometimes to what purpose he was there, whether his life had any value.
God knew how to equip this man, how to get His way in that life.
A Holy Spirit possessed life is always marked by purpose.
Nothing can be lost in such a life; let us not believe in mere generalities.
Let us abandon all personal desires, and be filled with the Spirit of urgency traight away.Those who know that they are called of God, and who definitely recognize the purpose of their life, will be wholly given up to it.
until it is His Life being lived through me with my self-life nailed to the cross.
Human Development
A lifetime of trying to achieve this in one's own strength will result in failure, and we have an example written in the life of every baby that’s born.
Spiritual Development
The babe in Christ likewise has a new life: the new life in Christ.
The immature Christian likewise has access to a new mind – the new-mind of Christ, but the new life and this new mind must grow and mature into Christlikeness, and there is only one way, laid out in Scripture to spiritual growth and maturity.
For exercise: the child of God needs to develop a life of obedience.
Bread of Life
This precious combination is the key to unlock the only path to spiritual growth, but many neglect the Hidden Manna, the Living Bread and Water of Life.
Jesus said: I am the bread of life.
Breath of Life
Many neglect the vital breath of Life, which is daily and unceasing prayer.
Word of Life
And many neglect the exercise of the soul – obedience to His commands.
She missed out on sitting at His feet and receiving food from the Bread of Life.
Fleshly Striving
What a shock it is to discover our whole Christian life has been lived in the flesh.
Life Choice
We are to be of the same mind..
It is one of many choices we make in this life.
Salvation Choice
Initial Salvation or being born of the Spirit, is a choice we all make in this life.
But throughout the life of a sinner, the Spirit is convicting that sinner of his need.
Sanctification Choice
Sanctification or being matured by the Spirit is also a choice we make in this life.
Another way of putting it is you can live a spiritual life or a carnal life.
Believers can choose to submit to His will in our life, and daily grow into His likeness, OR we can choose to resist His will in our life, and quench His work in our lives.
Today’s Choices
What we choose today will affect our life in the kingdom for a thousand years, for the millennial rewards in Revelation 2-3 – are rewards for the coming kingdom, and we will be judged by the works that we do in this life – for good or bad.
And throughout the life of a saint, God will work through us, if we permit Him.
Wrong Choices
Life is full of choices – and so often we make the wrong choices.
Many choices that I have made in my life have often been foolish and rebellious, but amazingly God works everything together for good, even our bad choices.
So as long as there is breath in these bodies, the carnal Christian can submit and cry out to the Lord: Father I have sinned against You, I have quenched your Spirit and resisted His holy work in my life – and He will kill the fatted calf and put a ring on your finger.
Each one lived much of their life in the flesh.
And a believer who has lived the most carnal life can still become spiritual.
Seven 7-fold Work
There is a sevenfold work of the Spirit of God at our salvation, which can be resisted:- 1) He convicts us of our need of a Saviour (John 16:8-9) 2) He regenerates the forgiven sinner, giving a new life (Titus 3:5) 3) He baptises the new believer into the body of Christ (1Cor.12:13) 4) He indwells the new believer permanently and forever (1Cor.3:16 1Cor.6:19) 5) He anoints the new believer (2Cor.1:21 1John 2:20-21) 6) He earnests a first-fruit pledge of full fruit (Eph.1:14 Rom.8:23) and 7) He witnesses with an assurance of son-ship (Rom.8:16).
The context of grieving the Holy Spirit in Ephesians 4 which tells us: do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption (Eph.4:30) – let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking be put away from you, along with all malice (Eph.4:31) – and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (Eph.4:32) – The life-long sanctifying process is carried out in the power of the Holy Spirit, but the sanctifying process cannot be accomplished by the work of the flesh.
3rd : Service
THIRD: Christ lived a life of service demonstrating the work of the Spirit through Him, so that we would understand that our service can only be carried out in His power.
Disallowing this vital work in a believer’s life is the quenching of His Holy Spirit.
God loves you with a deep, deep, deep love and longs to work in your life.
Bring a broken heart, a contrite spirit, and a life - surrendered of uncluttered love for Him.
As you trust your life into His hands, He will show you a way of escape, for there hath no trial taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tried above that ye are able, but will with the trial also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
The Greatest Person
Never allow the obstacles that this world affords to distract you from your life’s ministry.
Never allow your heart or spirit to depress at this time, though the world spirals out of control... for He is faithful to go ahead of all circumstances of life to redeem the impossible.
Does not this multi-hued gemstone reflect the life of the perfect Man?
Was not His life one of guileless trust in the Father through the Spirit’s power?
Did He not live a life of sincerity and truth?
Was not the life of the Lord Jesus Christ the inspiration for Paul’s “Supreme Good”
Consider His Sacrifice
Consider His sincerity: “I am the way and the truth and the life, and in John 14 He tells us: ” in my Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you.
Here, after all that, near the end of his life, he is crying passionately: That I may know Him.The very least that we can say about this is that the Christ in view was a very great Christ indeed, who outstrips the greatest capacity and comprehension of man.
For those who, like the New Testament writers, have a real burden and sense of responsibility for the spiritual life of God's people, one of the most heart-breaking things is the way in which so many who gave promise of going right on with the Lord are caught in some side-track and turn to something other or less than He meant for them.
Well now, of course that is just the key that opens the door to everything when you see what new creation Life means.
And with that you introduce the whole matter of the proper order, the proper regulated order of heavenly Life.
Heavenly Life is according to heavenly law.
There is a regulating order with this Life.
This Life expresses itself according to its own laws, as life does in every part of the organic creation.
That part of the creation follows the laws of the life which it possesses, and this is the Life of the Spirit, and you have not to organize or systematize this.
The thing happens if the Life has its way.
We have learned this, yet, much as we know about the truth, we are still so much governed by our own natural life, even in our spiritual activities.
It will come about if the Holy Spirit is really having His way in terms of Life.
Ongoing Salvation
Timothy, who was already saved in the past from the penalty of sin, is now being instructed on how to be saved in the present - from the POWER of sin, for he, like all believers, is in the process of being saved in his Christian life – SANCTIFICATION.
The Godhead created Adam with spirit, soul, and body, for a threefold life:- a life of salvation, sanctification, and service.
Threefold Life
In his epistle to the Romans, He guides us with clarity on the essential guidelines. Man, spiritually dead is separated from God in sin, and it is then that the threefold life begins.
Transformation begins when the old life in Adam becomes a new life in Christ.
Free Gift of Life
How vital that we understand what the threefold life really means to the believer.
The free gift of life… of salvation is offered to all sinners: for the wages of sin is death, but God’s gift of life is to those who believe.
The free gift of life (of salvation), is offered to those that believe in the Son.
Sons of God
Jesus said: I am come that those who believe in Me may have life, and have it more abundantly.
But the saving life in Christ can only be possessed by one that comes to Him, and the Lord yearns to have men come to Him: come unto Me – all of you..
It tells us how God took a fallen dead, dark world, and breathed life into it.
Everlasting Story
Being born again is like the first chapter in the never-ending book of eternal life..
but that first chapter must be written in the life of a sinner, for the book to begin… for God so loved mankind, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that all who believe on Him..
all who relate to Him, will have life – eternal life.
And then continue through the ongoing process of sanctification and service, so that the believer can have that life and have it more abundantly.
You may not have very much in your daily life to make the calling seem positive.
It would be so easy in a situation like that to say: Well, in my sphere of life there is not much of the glamor of a heavenly calling!
How do you know but that in that very uninteresting, perhaps unpromising sphere of life you are on test on some of those great matters, such as faith, patience, or patient endurance?
He is working throne elements into us now in the drab, uninteresting life day by day.
There may be bound up with the least interesting course of life some very, very real intention of the Lord.
The Lord would teach us and this is the lesson that my heart is bent upon learning, and that I would urge upon you to make your quest also that the ground of assurance is not in our having decided for Christ, nor that we persist in the Christian life, nor that we feel strong, nor that we have certain ability as Christians and are able to do this or that.
It is not the measure of our activity in the work of the Lord, nor any one of these things which constitutes our Christian life.
If only in the face of all you may see of a multitude of contradictions in your own life in weaknesses, and imperfections, and lack of attainment, you will persistently believe in Him as having it in Himself to bring you through to the end, you will go through in spite of all.
This is a day for travail: whether it be a travail for the unsaved or for the Lord's people; every true spiritual activity is born out of travail, and those who have been most used of God in every time have been men and women who had this travail in their soul, in their secret life with God.
Growing In Grace - STUDY
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
Grace-Promise-Faith
There are two paths believers can follow in their Christian life, either grace or law, either faith or works, either promise or merit, either God’s way or man’s way.
The “grace-promise-faith” way is described in Scripture as a ministry of life: the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Rom.8:2. This path promises freedom from the law of sin and death and by living our life God’s way we are not placing ourselves under any man-made regulations or laws – we are not placing ourselves back not under condemnation.
A Christian living the “works-merit-law” way, will find death, failure, and misery, while one living the “grace-promise-faith” way will have life more abundantly.
Normal Christian Life
There are God-given principles for the ‘normal’ Christian life in Scripture, which are all founded on grace and Paul sets out the grace-walk within his epistles.
And in Galatians, he writes: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me.
Heart of Man
Once this astonishing principle is embraced, God can work in a believer’s life, and he is freed from the law and enabled to walk by means of the Spirit rather than by means of the flesh.
Law is called a ministry of death and its source is the old sin nature, (the flesh), while grace is described as a ministry of life, and its source is the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.
Any believer who has strayed along the “works-merit–law” path and its ministry of death can be restored to the “grace-promise-faith” way and its ministry of life for, His mercies are new every morning – great is His faithfulness.
The true Jew is one who belongs to God in heart, a man whose circumcision is not just an outward physical affair but is a God-made sign upon the heart and soul, and results in a life lived not for the approval of man, but for the approval of God. (Romans 2:29 Phillips)
The Cross, as the instrument of spiritual circumcision, has to be applied to this self-life deeper and ever more deeply, because there seems to be no end to it.
Even in our Christian life, in our devotion to the Lord, we are so happy that other people see how devoted we are, and how humble we are!
Luke’s gospel informed Theophilus about the life and the work of the Lord Jesus.
Acts covers a special and unrepeatable period of time – a unique time of transition. Acts was a bridge between Old Testament living and New Testament life.
Life and Health
To Moses, He unveiled Himself I AM the God Who Heals - the almighty Physician and God said: “If you diligently heed the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments (His Word), and keep all His statutes (His Word) I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have brought on the Egyptians: For I Am the LORD who heals you.” I AM your Healer – YHWH ROPHEKA Exo.15:26. And He comes to us as the God Who heals us our almighty Physician.
Jesus said to her: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.
And to us, He has is our Good Shepherd– that Great Shepherd of the Sheep: “I AM the Good Shepherd the Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep”.
Jesus said:-
Jesus said:- I AM the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me shall never hunger.” John 6:35
Jesus said:- I AM the Light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
Jesus said:- I AM the Good Shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for His sheep.” John 10:11
Jesus said:- I AM the Resurrection and the Life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.” John 11:25
Jesus said:- I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.” John 14:6
Unique Son
He laid aside the glory He had with the Father during the time He walked on earth, yet He retained His pre-existent knowledge – while learning obedience as a Son. He remembers the glory that He shared with the Father before the world was created. He recalled How He was the bread of life that came down from heaven for in Him is life, and that life is a light that shines in the heart of everyone coming into the world.
Unique Priest
He had neither beginning of days nor end of life, but has become High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek – He is now the eternal High Priest of the Most High God. He came forth from the Father and He returned back to the Father to resume His eternal Sonship, but He returned in the body of a glorified Man : the Man Christ Jesus.
Those who start down the second path will make a conscious decision, to renounce all false imaginations and images of God built up over time – to refuse to believe the minds-eye photo that has been developed through life – and to believe without doubting that God’s Word is true and His promise sure.
Broken Words
“I promise I’ll take you to the park tomorrow,” and then tomorrow comes and goes. “I’ll always be there for you, no matter,” then circumstances, feelings or life changes. How quick we are to believe that promise. How easy it is to break our word. How desperately hurt we feel.
How obtuse to build perceptions of God, based the pain of life’s experiences, and yet we link the Word of God to the experiences of ‘words’ that let us down.
Immediately you begin to contemplate or purpose a fuller prayer-life, the enemy launches a new scheme for keeping you more busy and occupied, heaping up the work and crowding in demands so that you will have no time or opportunity for prayer.... But we must recognize this: that the enemy will construct his best arguments about responsibility, duty and conscience to stop us praying, and there is a place where, if we see prayer is utterly ruled out, or brought down to such a limited place that it is completely inadequate for a life of spiritual ascendancy and victory, we have to say: Lord, I am going to trust the responsibility with You while I pray, that You will not allow my breaking away for this time to have detrimental results, and that You will protect this prayer-time which I seek for Your glory from the inroads of the enemy.
Word Made Flesh
Today God continues to speak to us, and He speaks to through His Son, the Word of God. Today God continues to speak to us, through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God. You diligently search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life, but the Scriptures point to Me; John 5:39
Living Sacrifice
Give your life as a sacrifice..
Watch – Prepare
Live the life of a spiritual man – put off the carnal lust of the flesh. Look at your position in Christ – not the condition of your circumstances. Prepare your heart for the Lord’s return is near – at the very door. Keep your lamps trimmed, and be filled with the Spirit. Understand what scripture says about these end times in which we live.
God’s Voice
If I have not learned to recognise His voice in the cries of the unlovely I have not learned to know His heart. If I cannot identify His voice in the dull and daily routine of life.. with equal enthusiasm as when He calls to me on the mountain top, I cannot realise that He wants to lift His loved one over the drudgery and monotony of daily living.
‘Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’John 4:24
Jesus said, I shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
His living water from God brings life and health and healing and wholeness.
And He showed me a pure river of water of life – clear as crystal.
The tree of life is a healing stream, whose leaves are used for wholeness – for the healing of the nations” Revelation 22:1
His living streams bring the glorious hope of salvation to all who drink of Him, just as redemptive salvation flooded into the life of the woman of Samaria, the moment that she believed His Word and obeyed His command.
Fountain of Life
His sparkling river of life threads through Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation..
This water of life tells the story from start to finish that all who will, may come.
Only Jesus can give the waters of life.
River of Life
No matter what we have done in the past, nor what dark secrets hide in our hearts, He is ever willing to sit by the many wells of the world and wait for one soul to come. And whosoever will... let him take the water of life freely. And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Born again in Christ, (the 2nd man) -a believer inherits righteousness, obedience, and life.
All humanity starts their life on earth, dead in trespasses and sins.
Heb.9:22 Cain offered no blood-let, sacrificed-life, to meet the holy requirements of God.
Perfect Sacrifice
Jesus demonstrated a sinless life.
He spent His whole life in service and good deeds, but naught but His death and spilling of His sinless blood caused the Temple veil to be rent in two.
God is not worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath and all things” Acts 17:25.
We were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. (2 Corinthians 1:8 ESV)
He was crushed and broken, but out of that breaking has come the Life which you and I have, and which so many in all the nations have received.
It was out of the breaking and crushing of the Church that the Life came to the world.
but what Life has come out of that man's pressure!
We are not talking about preaching and Bible teaching, but about this great ministry of Christ giving His Life through us.
It may be passed on to others through preaching, or through teaching, or through living, but if it is His Life it will come out of experiences of suffering.
A preacher or a teacher who has never suffered will never minister Life.
Through all the failures and distresses of life, God is working victory in you.
You see, God is using your life’s circumstances on the life-path you are treading, to fulfil IN you, His perfect plans and purpose FOR you – as is best for you.
But God is preparing this Christian to understand the power of the self-life.
All the dire circumstances of life are controlled by your heavenly Father.
A life out of control can result from the old Adam, which Paul calls, “the old man”.
Such a life can result from ‘the old sin nature” as well as wiles of the evil one.
When we get to the point when our spiritual life-breath is all but exhausted..
when we find that we have nowhere to run to save to the Lord – then we discover that He has been carrying us throughout all life’s difficulties.
Jesus said, I am the way and the truth and the life.
A Shattering Statement
When Jesus made His earth-shattering statement: I am the way and the truth and the life, He was informing us that only through His perfect life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection, can we ever become reconciled to God and united with Him, for only through Jesus can we live a God-breathed life in spirit and truth.
He behaved how man is intended to behave and He lived His life in perfect communion with the Father, just as God intended, when He first created man in His image and likeness, and breathed into him the breath of life.
Though fully divine, He lived out His life within the limitations of human flesh.
He set aside His divine qualities to demonstrate a life lived in willing submission.
Christ lived a perfect life establishing God’s perfect pattern of obedience.
Life-Source
Adam in his innocent, sinless state chose to disobey..
Christ in His sinless innocence learnt obedience – transmitting His life-power to us.
Adam’s disobedience is the power and ruling force in the life of all humanity.
Christ’s obedience becomes the righteous life-source for our new-life in Christ.
Consequently, just as one offence resulted in condemnation for everyone, so one act of righteousness results in justification and life for everyone.
Death and Life
Death and disobedience are transmitted, through union with Adam, to his entire seed.
Life and righteousness are imputed, through union with Christ, to all children of God and that life is being transformed into Christ’s likeness – through obedience.
Obedience was a fundamental principle that was the essence of Christ’s life on earth.
Nothing but the Divine Waters of Life can satiate the soul’s deepest yearnings.
I have secured for myself eternal life.” O fools, and slow of heart to believe ALL that the prophets have spoken: Luke 24:25.
Eternal life for the believer?
Everlasting Life
He is removing every semblance of comfort from our lives, to rely on Him alone.
He knows that whosoever drinks of this world’s water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
But here are some of the halls am the bread of life... he that eats this bread shall live for ever(John 6:58).
e that believeth on Me shall never die(John 11:26), ..shall not hunger(John 6:35), shall never wander like sheep without a shepherd, he shall have a governing, controlling reality like a shepherd in his life.
hall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.What I AM shall become true.
am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on Me shall never die.What I AM is made good when you believe.
I can never be other than dead, but He as the Life can become Life in me in my death, if only I believe.
The one, this life in the wilderness, with its wanderings and its wants, its unbelief and its murmurings.
The other, the land of promise, with rest instead of desert wanderings, and with abundance instead of want - symbols of the two stages of the Christian life.
The other, where He is known and welcomed as our Life in heaven; Who, in the power of that endless life, leads us to find our home in the Holiest of our Father's presence. -A.M.
Life situations, like your own, where Satan seeks to shipwreck your trust in God.
This was Satan’s intent in the lives of Paul and of Job – just as it is in your life, and mine.
But instead, these five conditions were used by God to fulfil His purpose in Job’s life.
And these five conditions were used by God to fulfil His purpose in Paul’s life.
Infirmities; reproaches; needs; persecutions; distresses – were used by God – used to remove ALL that hindered the Lord Himself from living in and through Job – used to remove ALL that hindered the Lord Himself from living in and through Paul. And God will use these five things in your life too.
Look To Christ
Paul and Job eventually learned to look away from life’s circumstances – away from life’s situation and to look to Him, The Author, and Finisher of their faith. Yes, Satan’s attacks on ALL God’s bond-servants are used by the Lord – used to remove ALL that hinders the Lord Himself from living in and through you.
And God may use these five things to remove hindrances in your life and in mine.
In the life of a Christian, the profundity of the lessons of Job, are immense.
In the life of His people, God’s eternal purpose in Christ is its clear, central message.
Christ-Life or Self-Life
From beginning to end, it exemplifies two choices for the 'One New Man In Christ'.
It contrasts the spiritual walk with a religious life.
There are only two choices, for the one that has been born again. 1) either to live the Christ-life, or 2) to live the Self-life – there is no alternative.
Prevailing Prayer
Such intercession becomes a progressive reality in the life of the man-of-faith.
Such prevailing prayer is the power behind the life that is 'hid in Christ'.
Churches, like the Church, are organisms which spring out of Life, which Life itself springs out of the Cross of Christ wrought into the very being of believers.
In living the Christian life, one must keep in mind what ought to be and what is!
Scripture outlines the ideal – a life of quiet, calm, unbroken fellowship with the Lord – a life lived in the love of God, where His glorious face shines upon our pathway – a life where dark shadows flee away and morning joy surpasses the night of sorrow.
Victory Versus Defeat
Apostolic teaching implies the possibility of Christian holiness and joyous living – championing the justification that the life of heaven has already begun on earth!! But while the pages of scripture emphasise an ideal Christian walk – actuality can be very far removed.
Instead of a life of sunshine and gladness – dark clouds of unknowing often glower – as broken fellowship with God, and frustrations with others is more often the norm.
Such darkness can sweep over a Christian life in many alternative ways.
Truths to Remember
Jesus said: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:28. While Paul told Timothy to: Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 1 Tim6:12 Job confessed: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
He also shall be my salvation. Job 13:15-16 While in Revelation 2:10 John told us: Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Fallen World
We live in dying bodies, and this mortal life is not immune from difficulties and pain. We live in a fallen world..
This does not mean a life of music and roses – of cosseting and chocolates, for God sometimes bars the road we would travel..
and He sometimes removes the dear ones we love, but it does mean that His hand leads and guides in all life’s circumstances.
His will for your life may not seem joyous or desirable… but bitter and hard.
a distinct motivation – a solitary intent in life.
to inhibit their life’s purpose, without recognising their position in Christ – a position in Christ that has gained them complete acceptance with God.
One targeted objective in life is more likely to achieve than fluctuating between two purposes.
Should it not be to seek after Him – in our entire life, in thought word and deed?
Should it not be to spend our life, to its very last breath, to glorify Him?
I am the One that brings wholeness into every part of life.
entombed in a little 10th-century church, far away from the hustle and bustle of life and one by one, little by little..
Seek to know Jesus – that your entire life, in thought word and deed, glorifies Him.
Born of God
Each member of the body of Christ has made a commitment to Him, a commitment to be a faithful follower right to the end of our earthly life.
Our life’s end could be the door of death, The finish line of our terrestrial trail could be at the call of the last trump..
but none of us know the date and time that the end of our life will be, but from the moment of believing faith, we were accepted by God, through Jesus.
Most talents are fitted to the individual for a hidden life of secret service.
When Paul was suddenly engulfed by the great light on the road to Damascus, his immediate cry was “Lord, what would You have me to do?” Acts 9:6 – and his life became one of dedication until Christ became his all in all.
Total Surrender
Christ was wholly dedicated to doing the will of the Father, and yet... as the final step in His life’s journey drew ever closer, He reestablished His total devotion to His Father.
Thy Will not Mine
I am willing to be thrown into the pit of humiliation for Your sake. I am willing to be your bond-servant unto my life’s end.
How wonderful to know that God will finish His work in the life of each believer.
God is working in each life for eternity, and we must grasp hold of the scriptural fact that maturing in the faith takes time.
“The average for these was 15 years after they entered their life work..
before they began to know the Lord Jesus as their life and ceased trying to work for Him and began allowing Him to be their all in all, and to do His work through them.
Wonderful Prophecy
That wonderful prophecy from Joel appeared to begin on that day of Pentecost – when Peter called the nation of Israel to repent of their sins and turn back to God as did John the Baptist, Jesus and the apostles during Christ earthly life. That wonderful prophecy from Joel will have its full and final fulfilment on that amazing future day, when the Jews shall look on Him Whom they have pierced – when Israel as a nation cries, Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.
Two of the major elements in the spiritual life and experience of His own are the seemingly slow and hidden ways of God, and the demand for persistent faith in His servants. -T.
Soulical perfection: perfection of the soul takes time a whole life-time.
He begins to know something of the experience that Paul so graphically describes: “What I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do.” I (Rom.7:15), and in consequence, he feels that the bottom has fallen out of his Christian life; and then perhaps the Devil whispers to him that it is just no good his going on, because he will never be able to make the grade.
The paradoxes of our Christian life – conceal the work God is performing within..
It was a life under the shadow of a cross..
It will be a life of power seated on the throne – crowned with authority – victorious.
And so rejoice in whatever circumstances of life you find yourself, for He Who has begun a good work in you will complete it at the day of Jesus Christ Jesus.
As a result, many Christians live a life of spiritual defeat or spiritual depression, and as a result, many Christians settle for less than God’s will for their life – because the believer so often lives a life, relying on the flesh and not on the Spirit.
And whether 4, 14, 24, 44, or 94, growing in the faith takes time in our life-journey.
For it is only when we truly die to self that we can truly live a life to Christ.
The wonderful thing is that whether maturity is sought immediately or delayed – all things in life will be worked together for our good, and for God’s glory.
The difference is living your life in the discouraging failure of Romans chapter 7 – where we read: O wretched man that I am!
Living Faith
Living your Christian life in the wonderful freedom of Romans Chapter 8 – where we read: There is therefore now no condemnation..to them which are in Christ Jesus (that is to them which are living their lives in Christ Jesus, and not living in the failure of the old man of Romans 7) There is therefore now no condemnation..
The process of overcoming throughout this life is being addressed in these words.
Pursuit of Salvation
But the first flush of joy fades as life and its problems start to invade the blue skies.
Why, when the urgent, repetitive message of the Lord is – overcome in life? Well, it seems that most believers stop their pursuit of salvation when they are saved.
Being born again is the first completed step of the rest of your Christian life, and the majority of Scripture tells about this journey through life – a journey through life of sanctification.
Written Instruction
Some Scripture is particularly directed to Israel and God’s specific plan for them. Some is written as instruction to the Church, to show us how to live a Christian life.
Some is vital to tribulation saints – others open up life lived in the millennial kingdom. But all Scripture is given to all people for our understanding of God’s eternal plan.
Memorable Day
Today is my mother’s birthday. Her diaries catalogue showers of blessings amidst a mountain of difficulties. Today is my daughter’s wedding anniversary – her life also is peppered with deep hurts and trial and a cascade of Gods graces. My times also have had its deep pains and great joys and I am sure yours has too. Indeed, I know of no-one who has not been deeply affected by this world of sin.
Journey of Life
“My” word (the word ‘Wait‘) wait on the Lord, has been the mainstay of the past year.
Soon Forgotten
A few have left an indelible mark in the pages of history – some for good and others for ill. Names may be remembered – people will be forgotten as the grass of the field, but today is the day to make your life count. Moses told the Israelites: today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord. Exodus 32:29
Day of Salvation
Life is like a cloud of steam.
Life is swifter than a bird in flight.
Word of Wisdom
Caesar is gone – Queen Victoria is passed away – Columbus is no more – as are so many others. Stripped of human glory; destitute of fame and fortune; bereft of state and symbol – awaiting the final day, to stand or fall in the presence of God their Judge. How we need to apply the prophet's words of instruction: You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of your presence Psalm 90:8 How we need to pray with the Psalmist – The years of our life are few.
Prelude to Eternity
This human life is but a prelude to eternity. The decisions made on this mortal coil are fixed in the books of eternity. May each of us make today count – for today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord. The believer’s time of probation and training needs to be enacted out for the serious purpose.
And as we trusted Him in yesterday’s trivial round of life’s mortal cycle..
Words of Life
In Revelation 1:17 we read that: He laid His right hand on me, saying, “Fear not” while in Psalm 37:1,7,8 we read the words: Fret not! And Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:4 reminds us to be: exceeding joyful in all the trials of life.
Insecurities in life..
New Mercies
We know that all things in life are changed for the one born of God.
How can the insecurities and difficulties of life be lifted and lightened today – when burdens; worries; cares; responsibilities; insecurities; troubles and anxieties… misunderstandings; frustrations; and other undesirable things strew our path?
Your Priority
I wonder – what takes priority in your life today? What is your prime concern?
or perhaps responsible for others? Is it retaining your independence, or perhaps having others dependent upon you? Is it helping others – living a good life – reading 10 chapters of the bible each day? I wonder what is the primary concern and principal interest in your life today.
Primary Consideration
Whatever prime issues we have in life, the Lord Jesus should be our top priority, For when He is our primary consideration, other issues inevitably fall into place.
When Christ is central and supreme in a life – that life is well-pleasing to God.
We have been given a free choice in every part of our life and all the priorities we set..
but when He is central in our life every problem and pursuit becomes His responsibility,
All-Embracing Word
The word ‘salvation’ is one all-embracing word that unites a variety of concepts; redemption; rebirth; justification; security; sanctification; growth; maturity; foreknowledge; election; predestination; righteousness; glorification; grace; reconciliation; new-life-in-Christ; new creation; adoption; saved by grace; born-from-above; baptised into Christ; accepted-in Him; citizens of heaven - and more.
Our new-life-in-Him, our acceptance-in Christ.
All God’s Work
How sad that so many believers strive in their own strength to live a godly life, when all that is needed is to yield to the power of God working within them. But the truth is that salvation from the penalty and power of sin is ALL God’s work.
Acceptance by God, eternal life, and glorification have nothing to do with our merit.
God’s divine power working within us alone can produce the divine life required.
God’s Standard
The saving of believers is all by grace and requires complete dependence on Christ. The sanctifying, maturing life can only be lived effectively when dependent upon Him. But too often instead of yielding to the power of God, we strive in our own strength.
A Life Process
What an act of devotion and total consecration to sit and to worship and to anoint His feet, as did Mary of Bethany.
A life process that leads to a bitter-sweet isolation.
A life that leads to a total immersion in the heart of the Beloved.
A Life Separated
This increasingly blessed state not only demands separation; separation from the clamours of the world; separation from the taunting enticement of fleshly lusts..
but also a life dedicated to Him; a life submitted completely to Him and His will; a life of total consecration to Him; a life that produces purity of heart and holiness of life; a life, utterly in love with the Son of His love; a life that kneels at His feet in brokenness of spirit; a life that washes His feet in humility of heart – a life that can say without reservation:
Take My Life
Take my life, and let it beConsecrated, Lord to Thee.Take my moments and my days,Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
The new life which we have in Him comes to us from Him in heaven, the risen and glorified Man before the Father. -H.F.W.
Now His life was necessary to vindicate the Father and His holy law, as well as to manifest Himself and His love; but the righteousness that we are made in Christ is another thought altogether - not the law fulfilled by Him, but the justifying righteousness of the Father founded on the Lord Jesus' death, displayed in His resurrection, and crowned by His glory in heaven. -W.K.
The Ten Commandments require no life of prayer, no Christian service, no evangelism, no missionary outreach, no Gospel preaching, no life and walk in the Spirit, no union with the Lord Jesus Christ, no fellowship of saints, no hope of salvation, and no hope of heaven. -L.S.C.
Children of Grace
All who have received a new life in Christ, BY grace, must be trained THROUGH grace. Grace brings to our understanding the great love and goodness of God towards us.
If there is a great trial in your life today, do not own it as a defeat, but continue, by faith, to claim the victory through Him who is able to make you more than conqueror, and a glorious triumph will soon be apparent.
While spiritual strength is always marked by love, warmth, life, fellowship, openness, confidence, and trust in the Lord.... At the end, in the Revelation, the dragon, the whole power of Satan is overthrown by the Lamb.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that every believer has TWO ‘lives’ the old life and the new life.
1 the old sin nature from Adam and2 the new born again life of Christ
Old Nature
Any attempt whatsoever to consecrate the old Adamic life will lead to certain failure.
But what a blow to the believer who wants to consecrate his old life and tries to do so.
This too often has a devastating effect on believers as life becomes increasingly hard.
He wants to live a consecrated life, as outlined in scripture, but find it’s impossible.
He explains in Romans chapter 6, where you want to get to – a life lived for God. He explains in chapter 7 that it is impossible to ever live a life for God – our way.
This almost never happens in the early flush of faith – but after decades of training... for the old sin nature must be recognised for what it is – a life of self.
Succinct Outline
Metcalf gives a succinct outline of the problem and the solution – he writes:- The modern teaching of consecration, which is tantamount to the consecration of the ‘old man,’ seeks to bypass the death sentence and, and therefore, only leads to frustration and failure. When, however, you and I are prepared, in simple humility, to make the FACT of our death with Christ our daily basis of life and service, there is nothing that can prevent the uprising and outflow of the new life in Christ, and meet the need of thirsty souls around us.
Consecration Sign
Genuine consecration is not the easy route in life, but a cruel and difficult path.
The Lord Jesus is the perfect example of a life, consecrated to God.
Jesus spent His entire earthly walk living His life through the power of the Father. Every work he undertook – every word He spoke, was His sign of consecration to God.
Consecrated Man
His was a life that signified the infinite wisdom, power, and sovereignty of God.
His was the life exemplifying God working in and through a consecrated man – a Man set-apart to God.
And He too – the great Creator of the Universe, became a ‘spectacle’ to man.. a sign of suffering, affliction, and ridicule, but also a sign of wisdom, a sign of power... a sign of great resurrection glory – the sign of a life consecrated to God.
Maybe in the physical, but predominantly and principally in the spiritual… “Ye are My witnesses .” the Lord Jesus tells us. Being His witnesses does not necessarily mean going out and talking. Being a consecrated man or woman – being a sign, may not mean what you think. It may not mean becoming a missionary or starting a ministry… though such may certainly be a part of the sanctified life.
Christ’s Mind
It means in everything we do – living the Life of our Lord. It means in all that we say – that we say everything as from Him. It means the Lord working out His will and purpose in our lives with no opposition. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus… Have Thine Own way Lord – Thou are the Potter, I am the clay. Thy will not mine be done – to the glory of God the Father.
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.
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.
They had the traditions, they had the oracles, they had the ordinances, they had the testimonies; they had the forms, they had the system they had it all; but, in the days of the prophets, there was ever this vast gap between the externals and internals of life in relation with God.
The flesh and the devil pretend to have the answers. Look away from the clamours of life that drowns out the still small voice. Look away from the visual signs that nourish the ego. Reject the things which give empty comfort, but for a moment.
In every field, whether the arts, industry, sports, or the Christian life and service in general, the necessary training goes far deeper and is much more rigorous than the actual performance.
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.
Nowhere in Scripture is it taught that there is a sudden leap to be taken from carnality to spirituality, or from a life of comparative unconcern as to godliness to one of intense devotion to the Lord Jesus.
On the contrary, increase in piety is ever presented as a growth, which should be as normal and natural as the orderly progression in human life from infancy to full stature. -H.A.I.
Grace OR Works
Scripture contrasts two ‘ways’ a believer seeks to live the Christian life.
There is probably no more important message to the church today than this, for most believers having started their Christian life by grace through faith, revert from grace back to the law, by trying to live their life for God.
Blessings abound for those humble enough and courageous enough to seek to live their life the grace-promise-faith way.
Paul’s Challenge
Paul challenges those given initial salvation by grace through faith with these words: are ye so foolish, having begun in the spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? He is saying, having begun ‘the grace-promise-faith way’ are ye now made perfect by ‘the works-merit-law way?’ Many believers aren’t properly schooled in these two contrasting ways of living the Christian life and fall into the works-merit–law trap.
Within the inner ‘being’ of man are two continuously conflicting camps:- the old sin nature (the flesh or self-ego) is gained from the old birth in Adam, while the new life in Christ (the spirit of life in Christ Jesus) comes from our new birth.
The sin nature often displays itself the ‘works-merit-law way’, by Christians trying to live a good life the wrong way.
The old sin nature opposes the new life in Christ, but the inner ‘flesh’ often manifests itself through good deeds, which are carried out in our physical body, by trying to do God’s will the wrong way.
Works-Merit-Law
Believers will not grow spiritually or mature in their Christian life, the ‘works-merit-law’ way, but will have stunted Christian lives and interrupted and unsatisfactory fellowship with God.
There is so much more to explore about living by grace in the book of Galatians, which step by step brings us from persistent failure and self-effort, into a victorious Christian life, which is only possible by God’s grace – through faith.
Grace Thru Faith - STUDY
Questioning Heart
Have you ever looked back over your life and just wondered..
how can God love me after all that I have done in my life..
and shame and guilt infuse into a sort of shamefaced-pride of a past life..
and life becomes wonderful and you bathe in the gracious presence of God’s love.
Have you ever looked back over your life and really just wondered?
Have you ever looked back over your life and really just wondered - well I have..
He continues: What devastation often permeates the life of one, young or old, rich or poor, saved or unsaved, who is not sure of being accepted, even on a human level, and yet so many believers, whether 'strugglers' or 'vegetators', move through life without this precious fact to rest on and build upon.
Scriptural Fact
If you have not once and forever accepted your acceptance by God.. you will live a defeated life until the rapture or your death – and this is a non-negotiable fact in Scripture.
If you have not once and forever accepted your acceptance by God, you will live a defeated life until the time that you die or until Christ returns.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created being, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Then one day it is as though the heavens opened and the thing broke upon your spirit, and you saw it; and all kinds of adjustments became necessary in life.
Fellowship is broken when a Christian prevents the work of the Holy Spirit in their life, for we can both grieve Him and quench His work in our lives through sin, but how few really understand what sin is.
One made its appeal to the limited resources of the natural man and conditioned his life on the earth; the other sets aside the natural man, secures a whole new creation in Christ Jesus, and counsels that new being in his pilgrim journey to his heavenly home.
So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death (Phil. 1:20).
Hence it is essential that we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is our life; He is not a legal example to emulate, but the source of life from which we grow.
The truth is, we have a position in heaven and the Lord Jesus is now our life there; and if this be not simply enjoyed, there will be an effort to modify the desolation here, and an inability to interpret the various inroads which death makes on us.
Where He is, is my home - there I feed and rest; but here, on earth, I am learning to set aside in death everything in me which hinders the manifestation of the life of the Lord Jesus. -J.B.S.
For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God (Col. 3:3, ASV.).
Jesus the Jew
Jesus was born a Jew and lived His life in full accordance with the Jewish law, for the law, promises, prophecies and salvation must all come through the Jews. And so on the eighth day, after the custom of the law, Jesus was brought to the temple, and there He was seen by Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Simeon was a wonderful example of a man who continued seeking God, all his life.
Simeon Waited
Simeon never stopped watching, waiting, and seeking the Lord, and throughout his life Simeon patiently waited for His Redeemer to come.
Spirit-filled Life
We none of us like to see the daily deteriorating advance – but Simeon had learned the exquisite secret of retaining an exciting, spirit-filled life.
Faithful Life
This faithful godly man was given illumination in his old age, because he demonstrated a life of faith, of love, of patience and – Simeon waited.
Brink of Despair
God will bring us to the brink of despair in ourselves, to attain His fullness in us. To achieve this a sentence of death must be planted at the core of our old life.
It is despair of MY life and no hope in MY-self that God is waiting to discern in me, When we discover we can do nothing of ourselves, His Life starts to be formed in us.
Full Purpose
God wants to achieve His full purpose in the life of every believer – but some refuse. God wants to bring out His supreme purpose in His own – but few hear His voice. God wants His life wrought in us – executed through Christ’s cross and resurrection..
He knows we’ll never be effective in His work, while the natural life seeks supremacy.
All our inborn assets, however fine and splendid, are alien to the New Life in Christ.
No-one has been more amazingly equipped with wisdom than this young king… yet his life which started so wonderfully became a bitter example of self-indulgence.
Vanity of vanities, all is vanity – all in this self-life is vain, foolish, stupid folly, except to love God and to serve Him forever.
Various Vanities
It is vanity to seek after riches and money – for the wealth of this world is perishing. It is vanity to hunt out worldly honour and acclaim – for this worlds’ wisdom is folly. It is vanity to seek fleshly fulfilment – for it lasts a fleeting moment and then flees. It is vanity to seek long life – for this life is a transient breath in eternity’s fullness.
Nothing in this world, and the self-life that seek supremacy in your life, is of value.
All in this self-life is vain, foolish, stupid folly - except to love God and serve to Him.
a deceitful balance If you seek after wisdom you will gain wisdom but be careful that you use it wisely, for there is only one, truly wise choice in this life, and that is death to the self-life – and living for Christ.
It is only as His life comes to us by means of the sentence of death in ourselves, that we begin to be effective and fruitful in this world.
New Life in Christ
So often this self-life we nurture and tend is the wrecker of our fruitfulness; yet this sentence of death to self is not the end of the story in your life or in mine.
This sentence of death is the start of a New Life In Him.
There is human, soulish power and persuasion that can produce “decisions,” and “commitments”; but only the Holy Spirit has the life and power to bring a lost sinner to healthy re-birth in the Saviour.
Men may be saved through hearing the Word of God that it contains but, unless they get purer light later, their dependence for life and service will be primarily upon human strength, and not upon the power and demonstration of the Spirit.' Paul (in spite of the Corinthians' demand for it) refused to permit any human wisdom to enter into his ministry for that reason - because he wanted purely spiritual fruit: converts who have seen the power of the Spirit and expect to know it in their lives and service.
When the old man is buried in the grave of our hearts, we will also share the resurrection life and fruitful activity of our risen Lord. -J.E.C.
God used these life-shattering experiences to mature his spiritual understanding.
He is the One that makes ALL the comfort of God a living declaration in our lives; a life emptied of the old, prideful Adamic self; a life filled with the Spirit of Comfort.
Rules of Grace Life
Living by grace is the antithesis to the way that man has learned to live in this world.
The life of grace can only be understood if one has learned how to live by faith, and then apply it.
But it is nonetheless a fact of the Christian life.
Flight Rules For Life
VFR or Visual Flight Rules is hair-raising navigation and more often than not results in tragedy.
Most Christians live their life the VFR way rather that the IFR way – by the Visual Flight Rules of life.
How frustrated Paul was with the Galatian believers who use the “Visual Flight Rules” of life rather than living God’s way: Oh you foolish Galatians, he asks, did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by believing what you heard.?
These men and women moved from darkness to light; from bondage to freedom; from death to life.
They had been freed from the law of condemnation to that of liberty and life, and yet they willingly returned to the old ways of death, despite Paul’s careful teaching.
They had learned the liberating truth of grace but then reverted to a Christian life under the law.
Biblical Life Rules
Every believer is identified with the Lord, the moment they trust Him – forever, and all we have had to do is believe, but this is counter to human logic.
We have been asked to have trust in God even though we don’t understand and are expected to live our lives trusting Him to navigate, using His “Instrument Flight Rules” rather than the more comfortable “Visual Flight Rules” of life.
It often means that that we need to re-examine our Christian life and all that we have been taught in the past.
This is not something that is extra to the Christian life, or for those who advance to certain heights and degrees.
It is not some extra thing to which you attain by struggle and effort, or by years of laborious Christian living, or by some specific act, some terrific upheaval in your spiritual life.
We are learning inwardly that such and such is not the way of Life and we should do well to avoid it; and that such and such IS the way of Life, and that is the way for us to go.
Expectant Waiting
By faith Enoch, Elijah, Simeon believed the promise and lived in expectant waiting. Enoch waited his translation, Elijah his transport and Simeon to see the Lord’s Christ. Enoch waited for over 400 years and Simeon waited for the rest of his life. Their promise was given, accepted, believed, and they waited in humble anticipation.
What of that precious parent or that dearly loved, lost friend… that nasty neighbour? What of the healing and correcting and maturing work He is carrying out in your life? And what of the healing and correcting and maturing He's doing in mine? Could ye not watch with Me… could ye not intercede with me on their behalf, one brief span?
Elijah’s Wait
Day after day with unfaltering step and steadfastness of spirit, Elijah sat still and watched the dwindling brook, and waited. Week after weary week with steady gaze and tireless heart, Elijah sat still and watched his life-giving brooklet cease its babbling flow. And Elijah trusted God and Elijah waited. And Elijah sat still and watched the little stream become a sliver thread. And Elijah sat still and watched the silver thread reduced to a standing pool. And Elijah sat still and watched the standing pool shrink to nothing on the dusty earth. And Elijah sat still and trusted God – and Elijah waited.
Indeed, from one standpoint, we may summarize the whole of his life and say that it headed up at last to the triumph of faith upon that particular factor.
At the end of his life he was still looking for the fulfillment of the promise.
The Christian Life
Scripture lays out the truth of who we are in Christ..
The Christian life is not based on rules and regulations or standards of conduct.
It is not striving to live a life that you hope will be good enough to please God.
Position in Christ
It is recognising that you cannot live the sort of life that is pleasing to the Lord, but rather that your position in Christ releases you from such self-strivings to please.. so that the life you live is Christ’s life living through you – so that YOU are nothing in your life but Christ is all and in all.
Christ in You
It is not just knowing Christ is our life, but that we possess His life, nature and spirit.
It is not only that we are a new creation in Him but, that His life is expressed in ours.
We are to take possession of our new life in Christ and let Him live through us, until the words I speak are Christ’s words not mine and the acts I do are His acts.
Life in Christ
We can be saved and be in union with Christ without accessing His life within ours. We can be positioned in Christ as a believer without our life being submitted to Him. But when our life is possessed of His, we live and move and have our being in Him, When Christ is given governance of our life, we take possession of what we have. We possess His very presence, His nature, and His life, within ours.
We already have His Spirit dwelling in us... to walk with us and to live through us, for we are possessed of His person, His nature, His mind and His very life – in us, and we are to live worthy of our standing in Christ as we walk on the earth.
Our Position in Christ
I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
Unity of the Spirit
But how is a believer to walk worthy without striving – without our own self-effort? How are we to live a life that is worthy of the calling wherewith we have been called? Well, Paul tells us in the next verse of Ephesians chapter 4.
Yielded to Christ
Well, it is to be the Christ-life... not MY-life that lives in and works through me.
It is to be the new life in Christ that works through me not MY old sin-nature and His life in us is lived out in our life as the Spirit Himself lives in us. Christ’s nature is reflected in our new nature, as we yield to the indwelling Spirit.
Spiritual Readiness
Being unprepared does NOT mean that a believer loses eternal life – that’s finished. The work on the cross was a ‘done deal’ forever, when you were washed in His blood.
Careless Unpreparedness
But this is not the only sphere of life that can catch a Christian unaware. Lives that are comfortable, clean and plodding carelessly along may be unprepared. Lives that have left their first love or lost their focus on Christ will not be ready.
Today we are in a battle of life and death: for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds.”
That which is called Christianity is essentially a spiritual thing, and not an earthly order or system, and every fragment of it has to be entered into in a spiritual way, by way of Life and Revelation.
There is all the difference between imitation and Life.
Oh, what a difference there is between seeing a thing in an objective way and coming into it in Life!
Now that it has broken like this it is transfiguring,and has brought real joy and delight, life and ecstasy.That is what we mean by entering into things by Life andby Revelation.
If we become spiritual in this sense, if the Holy Spirit is the commanding reality in our life, and we are walking by the Spirit, we are bound inevitably to come into all God's thought.
God’s Foreknowledge
In His omniscience, God knows in advance every person that will choose to believe. God’s grace is extended to everyone and all we have to do is to believe in Jesus. And God has plans for everyone, who freely chooses to trust in Christ as Saviour. God foreknew all who would drink of the waters of life and become His child, and before the world was made He had plans for all those – who would believe on Jesus.
God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for all mankind, so that anyone who trusts in the name of Jesus, would not perish but have eternal life.
Justification is a past event in time – and happened when we first believe, and Glorification is a future event in time – and will be finalised at Christ’s return. Sanctification is connected with our Christian life today.
We moved from death to life, from darkness to light and were no longer condemned.
In His omniscience, God knew in advance each of us that would choose to believe. God foreknew we would drink of the waters of life and become His children – and before the world was made He had plans for us, and for all who believe on Jesus.
A New-Life in Christ
As His children we were given a new LIFE in Christ – a baby life that needs to grow into a mature spiritual believer -– a life that will be fruitful – a victorious life – a life that will be conformed into the image of Jesus during the time we live on earth. But we also have a sin nature that seeks to gain supremacy over the new Christ-life. Oh!
Lifelong Process
God wants all his children to be sanctified and set apart unto Him, just as the Lord Jesus, who learnt obedience during His life as He grew in favour with God and man.
We too are to live the sanctified life as He did if we are to grow in grace and mature.
Although justification happens at a point in time – sanctification is a life-long process.
Sanctification is an ongoing, life-long process in a believer, BUT though God desires all His children to be sanctified – not all believers are willing to be set apart unto Him.
Spiritual Life
We may choose to live a spiritual life and abide in Him or walk the carnal route. We may choose to submit to the Spirit’s leading or we may quench Him in our life. But neither the spiritual nor the unspiritual believer is condemned – for God will never go back on His word.
Findlay…
The cloud, shading and guiding the Israelites from above, and the sea making a path for them through its midst and drowning their enemies behind them, were glorious signs to “our fathers” of God’s salvation; together they formed a washing of regeneration, inaugurating the national covenant life; as it trod the miraculous path between upper and nether waters.
Scripture Truth
Whosoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life.John 3:16
He that believes on Me hath everlasting life.John 6:47
Tough Lessons
But Saul of Tarsus met Jesus and had to be taught some of life’s toughest lessons. He learned that his own wisdom; knowledge; charisma and ability counted as nothing. He learned about faith: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1Cor.2:5.
Life of Trial
It was not when that dazzling light, blinded his eye on the road to Damascus, but through years of isolation and a life-journey of trial – he came to understand.
Through Paul’s rich, full, unusual, astonishing life – his vision of his Lord grew.
To Know Christ
God unfolded to Paul the truth, that God desires that we all come to apprehend. And so at the end of his earthly life Paul cried out – that I may know Him.
We read in Galatians 1 verse 6 that it was God’s good pleasure to reveal His Son in me” Gal.1:6 But at the end of his life it was as if he knew nothing of his Lord and King.
Discovering Christ
It is Paul’s comprehension of Christ that individually and collectively we should seek – an ever-growing understanding of Christ; a discovery of Christ; exploring of Christ. This was the thing that maintained Paul in his life and throughout his ministry.
All through his life was an ever-growing unveiling of what God was maturing in him.
Absolute Surrender
And as his life advanced so his conception of his Lord developed and increased, until Saul of Tarsus, that master of Israel, that magnetic, self-sufficient guy… Saul of Tarsus..
Unparalleled Purpose
The work in Paul’s life is the work that the Lord seeks to do in each of us, but we have to willingly submit to His challenging examination of self.
God has an eternal purpose in all of life’s trials and troubles – an unbroken, uninterrupted, unparalleled purpose from eternity to eternity - that in the ages to come God might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Should we not count all things loss for the excellence of knowing Him? Should we not accept that in this life we will have many troubles and sorrow? But He has overcome this world, for love of you for love of me.
Still the small inward voice I hear,That whispers all my sins forgiven;Still, the atoning blood is near,That quenched the wrath of hostile heaven.I know the life His wounds impart;I know the Saviour in my heart.
that each arrives at his own deeper understanding of Paul’s exhortation:- that through suffering, these bodies of ours constantly share in the death of Jesus – so that the Life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” 2Cor.4:10
Fruit of Suffering
The fruit of suffering and training is the drawing closer and nearer to Christ. The outworking of sufferings are the benefits this closeness to Him gives to others. The learning and knowledge of Christ in a life, is through the school of suffering. The exercise and outworking of Christ in a life, is enhanced and refined through trials. Paul reckons we should embrace trials: for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory, which shall be revealed in us.
His Chastising
As we track through this mortal life there are times His training seems futile and hard, and as we face the daily trial and pain of life, we sometimes wonder what is the point?
Kicking against the pricks now will invalidate your present life-service.
Author and Finisher
Let us in this life accept His child-training – His chastening – our sufferings: looking unto Jesus, Who is the Author and Finisher of our faith; Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the suffering of the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. Heb.12:2. Yes, Jesus..
We pray for peace that passes understanding as promised by the Prince of Peace, but life overturns into one impassioned turmoil, that triggers the question Why?… as trials of every hue impair our forward march and pain our hurting soul – until we see that peace is only achieved as we whisper..
We pray for unselfishness and He introduces circumstances beyond belief, that not only require the laying down of our life-breath... but all that we have and are, and He brings us to the point of realising that all things only come from Him.
This is no cute little bed-time fantasy to escape from the drudge of a hard life.
It is a choice between the two – for only one can rule your heart and life.
But life, from start to finish, is made up of many choices.
Whosoever shall gain His life shall lose it..
but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall gain it. store up for yourselves treasures in heaven we are warned, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
But the criteria for entrance into the gates of glory will never rest on my own merit. There is one reason and one alone that God flings wide the gates to His kingdom.. and that is trusting in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour. This is eternal life – that they know God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. Heaven’s admissions policy is to know God and His only begotten Son – our Saviour.
Spiritually Dead
When we entered this life we were born into sin – we were sinners at birth, because we are sinners we are dead in trespasses and sins – separated from God. We are physically alive but our spirit is dead = separated from God; separated forever. Man throughout the centuries has devised many ways to get to God – to please Him, and they are based on good deeds, religious works, keeping the ten commandments.
BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and your sins are forgiven. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are not condemned. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are given eternal life. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are put in union with the Lord Jesus. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are forever in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ – and you are no longer separated from the Father.
Christians who choose to live under moral section of the Mosaic Law, [the 10 commandments], instead of living under the law of the Spirit of life, [the Law of Christ] are living under the ministration of death rather than the ministration of life.
Christ was born during the dispensation of the Law and had to live a perfect life under the Law, so that He would could become the promised Days-man, who would redeem those born under the law.
Indeed all but one of the 10 commandments are repeated in the Church age epistles, instructing believers how to life godly in Christ Jesus.
Christ has freed us from bondage to the Law, but Christians need to know how to live under: the law of Spirit and life.
And unless this is taught and understood a disciple’s growth can be stunted, and worse still – believers try to do the work in their life that only God can do.
The death penalty for sin was paid. Sin in the life of every believer is totally acquitted, for Christ died for our sins.
Foundational Truth
I once heard about a godly man who read Romans – once, every month of his life.
He explains how Jesus us the Federal Head of an entirely new creation – in Christ – for the old fallen creation in Adam have the sentence of death upon their heads, but the new creation in Christ has the free gift of eternal life in their hearts.
Two Laws
But then comes the wonderful TRUTH of Romans chapter 6 – identification. Because we are in Christ, we are not subject to the law of sin and death. Because we are in Christ, we are subject to the law of life and liberty in Christ. One saint of God describes it in these terms… He has put our old man – our original self – where He put our sins… namely, on the cross with Christ.
Adamic Life
Just as the sins we committed were placed on Christ 2000 years ago… when He died, so our sinful nature (our old self-life), was nailed to that cross, when He died – our Adamic propensity; the old man; our sin nature was nailed to the cross.
And that is where it needs to remain – crucified through the duration of this life.
New Life
And that was why Paul was able to say: 'My old self-life has been crucified with Christ.
Faith is needed for a life that is being conformed into the image of Jesus, for maturing and sanctification is by the power of the Holy Spirit..
Christian Life
Faith is necessary for living the Christian life.
Habakkuk put into words what Abraham demonstrated in his life: Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.Rom.4:3
Faith in Hebrews 11
Faith is certainly an important element in this Christian life.
Faith is a vital quality in life that we just can’t afford to be without.
Without faith, we cannot begin the Christian life.
Without faith, we are not able to continue the Christian life.
Without faith, we are not in a position to live the Christian life: for without faith, it is impossible to please God.
Life’s circumstances can never influence our heavenly position in Him, but we must reckon it to be so as..
Faith and Forgiveness
But what of forgiveness of the sins that I commit during my Christian life?
I need to thank Him for His blessed gift and rejoice in His loving forgiveness, or I live life chained and entrapped behind a prison door of guilt, doubt, and disbelief.
What of the peace that I have been promised during my Christian life?
I must believe what He promises, accept His gifts and refuse to be anxious, or I live a defeated life..
a life where I see the condition of my problems, instead of my position as a blood-bought son of the Highest – seated in heavenly places..
Faith is the secret to a rewarding Christian life that triumphs.
“Once you have begun the Christian walk, and know the blessedness of it, you are not trying to correct yourself, for you know that all has been removed from the eye of God; and you insist on the fact that self has been to the Cross, and that Christ is your