Hungry Heart Daily Devotional Anthology -mjs

4-31. WHY STRUGGLE?

"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Our Father allows the believer to struggle with self, not for victory, but for defeat. Then the "wretched man" learns to rest in the Victor.

"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 life. The old man was crucified, and you cannot reform him; all attempts of amiable people to reform him are only denying the fact that he has been dealt with in judgment. The responsible (law) man is not before God now. It is now the day of grace. Everyone who receives His grace is set free from the domination of the old man. The appeal to the believer now is not to do, but to look." -J.B.S.

"The believer is never told to 'overcome sin,' but to reckon, on the ground of his death with Christ, that he has died to it. On the basis of death, he is told not to 'let' sin reign in his life. It is to be dealt with by an attitude of death, not by 'overcoming.' The believer therefore is not to be spending his whole life in getting victory over sin, but understanding his position as having died unto sin."

"[We] are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
mjs/WithChrist.org
 
“While we were yet sinners” it was all about us making our way to God. Now, being in God, it is all about us drawing close to Him (Psa 73:28; Jam 4:8). Christ’s first descent procured the redemption of our spirit (Gal 3:13); His last descent will procure “the redemption of our body” (Rom 8:23), then we shall finally see the face of “the invisible God” (Col 1:15), who is the Father and “do we with patience wait for it” (Rom 8:24).

I do not believe absence makes the heart grow fonder but that it causes us to be more appreciative of its object. Loving God “with all of our heart” is a constant degree of intensity which never varies, but our gratitude for it will never cease to increase!

Love is at the pinnacle of its gratefulness when in the company of its object, so entering our eternal union with God is only part of grace; the other part is to also be in fellowship with Him, which is where He wants us.

Regardless the level of our understanding in what God has shown us, the believer is unified with Him and He’s causing everything to make us to be “true worshipers” in our fellowship with Him because “the Father is seeking such to worship Him” (John 4:23).
-NC


None But the Hungry Heart #5
What is shared herein is designed to further your acquaintance with the Lord Jesus on high, and to enrich your fellowship with Him and with the Father. Through prayerful meditation in None But the Hungry Heart #5, we trust the Holy Spirit will bring about a strengthening of faith and an upward drawing of heart.

Furthermore, it is hoped that these thoughts may provide you an opportunity to try your "faith wings"--to learn more fully the need to abide above, and thereby walk here below in the "Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:2).

"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment (discernment); that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:9-11).
-Miles J. Stanford; Sept. 1973


5-1. THE GREATEST

"We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

We first come to know something of the Lord Jesus' love by what He did for us; but that is only the basis for coming to know His love in what He is to us. The first is known at the Cross, the latter is entered into through personal fellowship with the risen Lord.

"There are three steps in appreciation of His love for us. First, I learn that He loves me so much that He saved me. He is our treasure 'My Beloved is mine' (Song of Solomon 6:3). The second step of affection is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He has a right to me. He would have me for Himself. 'I am my Beloved's' (Song of Solomon 6:3).

"The third step is the consciousness that He loves me so much that He wants my company 'His desire is toward me' (Song of Solomon 7:10). Love's delight is found in the company of its object. May we know in a deeper way, and in a fuller measure, the sweetness of personal intimacy with 'the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me' (Galatians 2:20).

"Much ministry is lost upon us as to any practical result, because we are not prepared to be detached from things here, so as to be simply here for Christ. And the preparation for this is to come personally under the influence of the blessed attractiveness of the Lord Jesus. When we sit under His shadow with great delight, everything else becomes so small, and loses its hold upon our hearts." -C.A.C.

"But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
The believer can encounter many learning experiences from Scripture when the understanding of the right insight concerning the theme of Christianity is apprehended. One has said that religion is man reaching to God and Christianity is God reaching to man. I believe the theme of Christianity is well displayed in the following scriptural passage: “Your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3).

Everything we have of God is hidden from the world, from the natural man who does not see with the eye of spiritual discernment (1 Co 2:14). The method of being “in God” is being "hid with Christ", which also involves His intention of manifesting Himself only to those who are His. This was understood by Judas (not Iscariot) when He asked, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world" (John 14: 21,22)?


The most prepared readiness is to remember to address everything in this life with the life of Christ and not our own, because “Christ is our life” (Col 3:4). This will teach us to realize the immensely significant difference in God’s plans, for us, between an earthly life and a heavenly life.

The earthly life of Adam, even “before sin entered the world” (Rom 5:12), was not a position as elevated as “the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18), for being with God on the Earth is a lesser position of glory than being in Him in Heaven.

This has been God’s plan in His thoughts of us from eternity past which He has pre-arranged, that we, through “the natural life first, then afterward that which is spiritual” (1 Cor 15:46), would “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mat 25:34).
-NC


5-2. INITIAL PREPARATION

"Saul armed David with his armor.... And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not tested them" (1 Samuel 17:38, 39).

Years of preparation are worth a moment of truth! Rest assured that once we are developed and trained by the Holy Spirit, the work whereunto He has called us will be ready and waiting (Acts 13:2). "Our Lord must have an instrument which He has formed in the fire and to which He has given peculiar knowledge of Himself."

"The greater the knowledge committed to a servant, the more necessary and important it is that he should be much alone with God about it, in order that he may realize the nature and effect of it on himself before he undertakes to make it known to others.

"It rebukes the haste and readiness with which many now enter the ministry, attempting to impress others with a measure of the truth which they have not proved for themselves. Surely the servant should ever be able to say: 'I believed, and therefore have I spoken' (2 Corinthians 4:13). It is better to lose time as to work in preparation for service than to lose time in repairing one's mistakes in undertaking a work for which one is not yet qualified."

"A servant's discipline must always be in advance of the service prepared for him. He cannot lead beyond the point to which he himself has been led. But when the depth and reality of the truth has been established in his own soul, he is made the channel of it."

"I have found that many a thing which I had presented in an extreme way because I was sure of it, I put forth in a simpler and a more real way when I had touched it in my own experience." -J.B.S.

"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you" (1 John 1:3).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
"If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple” (Luke 14:26). Of course, this passage is not Christ instructing us to hate anyone because it would conflict with His “second great command”, to “love one another”.

He is using a hyperbolic expression to intensify the desire of our love for Him compared to our love for self and all others. It intends that to be His, we would need to love Him, even if loving Him required hating family and self, which would never be (hyperbole). Matthew 10:37 clearly delineates this which writes, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me”.

Both of these passages are followed by, "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me”. Instead of not preferring people to Christ, this passage is in reference to not yielding to things, trials and hardships which compromises, not our desirous love to Him but our practical love for Him. One may have a desirous love to Christ without an actual practicing love for Him.

The crux of the preceding material focuses on making Christ our object instead of self, which I believe J.B Stoney so aptly commented concerning true devotedness: “When I rest in the Lord Jesus, then I begin to find all my joy and strength in Him, and I occupy myself with Him. This is the first step, or the foundation of true devotedness. I do not become devoted in the true sense until I have found rest in Him. I am, up to this, rather looking to receive from Him, thus, I am more an object to myself; but when I find how fully I am an object to Him, then my heart is at liberty to make Him its object, He having made me His.”
-NC

5-3. APPREHENDED TO APPREHEND

"I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord" (Philippians 3:8).

Positionally, our Father subjected our old nature to the Cross and its resultant death. 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. In His Cross He dealt with our sins, and He also dealt with ourselves; but that is something which has to be made good progressively. 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 fullness.

"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 fullness of expression." -T. A-S.

"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. No, God is not a God who believes in bringing everything to an end. He is always after something more. And if He has to clear the way for something more by devastating methods (Cross), well, that is all right, for it is something more that He is after. There is so much more, far, far transcending all our asking or thinking."

"I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:12).
 
The believer is always in a life and death situation. The living-dead are fictional but there are those who are the dead-living because as a believer, “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3) and therefore we, “walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). Being “dead indeed unto sin” results in being “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:11).

Reckoning ourselves to be “dead indeed unto sin” does not cause us to be dead unto sin. We are dead to sin because we are “alive unto God” and therefore we “reckon” or realize we are dead to sin. In other words, we cannot make ourselves dead to sin; this was Christ’s work on the Cross. All we can do is count is so, that it has been done and know that it is an ongoing crucifixion to our old nature – by the Spirit. This causes us to live in the new life we have in God through Christ.

We count none our victories, esp. that over death, as results of what we do, but what God is always doing. What we do results from what He does; not, what He does results from what we do. He is always the cause and we are the beneficiaries of the effect--life out of death. His best for our worst!
-NC



5-4. FIXED POSITION

"And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me" (Luke 9:23)

True spiritual experience will result from our standing immovable in our position "in Christ." All too often believers allow certain "experiences" to move them from the faith-ground of their objective position, and they are soon adrift on the sea of subjective feelings and unscriptural influences.

"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.

"There is a subtle danger in relying upon some isolated experience of 'sanctification,' so-called. 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. Whatever may have been our experience of holiness, and the measure of spiritual attainment in the past, we can never get beyond the need of abiding in Christ and the continuous reckoning of faith." -R.W.

"For we, alive though we are, are continually surrendering ourselves to death for the sake of Jesus" (2 Corinthians 4:11, Wey.).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
5-5. OLD REJECTED, NEW ACCEPTED

"You were set free from the tyranny of Sin, and became the bondservants of Righteousness" (Romans 6:18 Wey.).

The principle underlying resurrection life is, of all things, death. "For since we have become one with Him by sharing in His death, we shall also be one with Him by sharing in His resurrection. Surrender your very selves to God as living men who have risen from the dead" (Romans 6:5, 13, Wey.). Let the facts of your position overwhelm the feelings of your condition.

"By exercising faith in the Word, apart from any feelings, be 'planted together with Him in the likeness of His death' (Romans 6:5). 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. Do not forget that you must stand firmly upon the specific truths: 'dead indeed unto sin--alive unto God in Christ Jesus' (Romans 6:11).

"The sharing of His life is our blessed experience just in the measure in which we share His death. So many of us are content merely that the Cross should be the power to save us from the penalty of sin, but death was not the end of the manifestation of Christ. 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. The believer, in whose daily attitude the mark of resurrection is seen, becomes what the world is looking for, a convincing witness to the power of the Living Redeemer." -G.W.

"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection" (Philippians 3:10).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
As we encounter the experiential realizations of God’s blessings we are to understand that they come by way of His truths, so, our faith is to be in the truth of the blessing and not in the blessing. The blessings are the effects of our faith in God’s truths and faith in what He has said is to have faith in Himself.

Encountering God’s blessings brings salvation and the joy which comes from all within it, but the primary purpose of salvation isn’t just to be saved but to be in union with God. It’s normal for one young in the Lord to be more caught up with the blessings than the Blesser, as a child’s focus and sustenance is on the parent’s provisions more than parent. But as the child advances, his attention eventually focuses more on the parent as he realizes that his trust is not in the provisions, which are the effects and not the cause of his union with his parent. Faith is the substance of our objective and Christ is our objective! (Heb 11:1)
-NC

“Attainment follows faith in the truth”, not faith in the blessing, which H.F. Witherby aptly explains: ‘We speak of the truths themselves, not of the experiential realization of them. We realize what we believe. Realization is not a stepping-stone to faith. Faith is the foundation of practical realization. Experiential acquaintance with the truth is not the truth itself, thank God! And the truth of God, not our realization of it, is our confidence and rest. Therefore, as our souls, by the ministry of the indwelling Spirit, enter into the truths of our Father respecting our blessing, we begin to experientially enter into the blessing we seek. We obtain by faith, not to faith.’”



5-6. TRANSFERRED AND TRANSFORMED

"If [since] ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God" (Colossians 3:1).

The growth truths seem complicated and difficult to understand on first encounter. However, with progress in grace we find them to be as clear and logical as the truth of justification. For both time and eternity, all is summed up in John 17:3: "And this is life eternal. . . [to] know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ." Study on!

"The marvel of divine grace is that not only has everything according to the heart of God been secured for me through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, but that I, a child of Adam, should be, not only in peace with God where I was under His judgment, but that I am transferred from Adam to Christ, and I am to have Christ formed in me now.

"I am born of God--of new and divine origin--a new creation to be here on earth now where I was a child of Adam, in the grace and beauty of Christ, led by His own power to stand for Him; daily more and more 'transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord' (2 Corinthians 3:18)."

"I used to study this passage and that passage to obtain guidance and light. I see now that if I were really near Him beholding His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), I should be transformed, should come from Him so impressed with Himself that His interests would, as it were, naturally control me." -J.B.S.

"When the heart has found its rest and satisfaction in Him, it can turn to Him naturally and continually in every circumstance."

"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth" (Colossians 3:2).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
It can be difficult at times to picture ourselves in Heaven, “where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Col 3:1), even though we are presently positioned there, because the Father has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). As often as we can, we’re to “seek those things which are above” and “Set your mind on things above” (Col 3:1, 2). Doing these things will not affect our position above but our condition below.

It’s encouraging to realize that regardless of our present understanding in all things, our condition cannot affect our position. We can go through with joy and singing or kicking and screaming, but regardless which, we are going through because “He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day” (2 Tim 1:12). What is it that Paul committed to God, but his soul, as Peter wrote, “Commit the keeping of their souls to Him” (1 Pet 4:19). Speaking of keeping, God “is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 1:24).
-NC


5-7. ABIDE ABOVE

"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6).

The Cross has separated us from the power of sin (Romans 6:11), the old man (Romans 6:6), the world (Galatians 6:14), the law (Romans 7:4), and the devil (Hebrews 2:14). The Spirit has joined us to our risen Lord, and we are "hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3). We are free--to abide above; free--to fellowship with our Father in glory.

"The lack I find in souls is, that while they know that their sins are forgiven, they do not know their new place. What place do you have? Is it earth or heaven? It could not possibly be earth, for the Lord Jesus was rejected from the earth. It has a great moral effect upon a person to be able to say, 'I have a place in heaven; I have no property on earth at all, it is all in heaven.'

"'It is the Lord's property I have on earth, but in heaven I have my own.' In the garden of Eden, man lost his place; the question to him then is, First--Where art thou? then, What hast thou done? Every believer seeks to be clear as to the latter, but very few are clear about the former." -J.B.S.
"Many do not go beyond Christ's resurrection; they do not extend to His ascension. They do not know Him in glory. They are occupied with Him in relation to their own side. 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."

"My mind must rise above what I am to what God is; then it is that one is formed by the revelation of what God is. To this we are called." -J.N.D.

"Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it" (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
The law of sin and death states that “The soul that sinneth, it shall die” (Eze 18:4, 20). God first introduced this law, or, principle in Genesis 2:17 when He revealed to Adam His first command just prior to creating Eve.

Before “the elect” are “drawn” (John 6:44) to salvation, they are, by the Father, poised for Christ. After being in God they are positioned in Christ, so, “as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). There remains nothing for the Christian to obtain (in order to secure his assurance of eternal life) but, to attain, in his earthly walk of (of which the Spirit, and not the believer, has overall control - Gal 5:17) “godliness” which “is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Tim 4:8).

Righteousness, justification and esp. holiness are attributes the Christian already possess, so, we work from these elements, not for them, as C.H. Mackintosh explains: “The more we realize the truth that everything has been accomplished on the Cross, for the perfect establishment of our peace in connection with the holiness of God, the more we shall see how futile is every thought about ourselves. A question as to the believer’s peace, is, in reality, a question as to the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you touch one, you touch the other; for ”Christ is our peace.” Our Father’s estimate of Him and of us is the same – “Ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col 2:20). “Wherein He hath made us the accepted in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6).

The believer needs only to understand to appropriate, by reckoning, all that he now possess in Christ because God “hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Pet 1:3).
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5-8. POSITION POSSESSED

"The God of peace . . . working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ" (Hebrews 13:20, 21).

Abiding involves a dual choice. We can abide in the old nature and thereby become the victims of the internal civil war as depicted in Romans Seven. 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" (Romans 8:2).

"How do we abide? 'Of God are ye in Christ Jesus' (1 Corinthians 1:30). It is all the work of God to place you there, and He has done it. Now stay there! Do not be moved back onto the ground of the old nature. Never look at yourself as though you were not in the risen Lord Jesus Christ. Look at Him and see yourself a new creation in Him. Look at Him as the very source of your Christian life. Abide in Him. Rest in the fact that God has placed you in eternal union with His Son, and let the Holy Spirit take care of His work in you. It is for Him to make good the glorious promise that 'sin shall not have dominion over you' (Romans 6:14)."

"We should be spared years of struggle and failure if we learned at once--as the converts did in the days of Paul--that we ourselves were taken through the death of the Lord Jesus. 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 (Romans 5:10)."

"The Lord Jesus is all that we need for all that we are."

"Your life is hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).
MJS/Withchrist.org
 
The problem is not just sins (effect); it goes deeper than that. It is sin itself (cause). The source of man’s sin is his carnal nature, not the devil. The devil is the originator of the sins of angels but not of the sins of man because man’s sin is internal (self), not external (devil). It’s not as if the Enemy put something in but rather, brought something out.

Therefore, man is blamed and accountable for himself. This is evidenced by the two companion verses Gen 3:6 and 1 John 2:16: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), and that it was pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and a tree to be desired to make one wise (pride of life).

God forgives sinners but not their sins. When God “forgives us our sins” (1 John 1:9), He is forgiving us, but not the sin, because sin has always been inexcusable and condemned; and that, at its source – the old man (Rom 6:6; 8:3).

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom 8:8). Many a Christian has still yet to realize what our focus is to be centered on concerning our fellowship with God in this life. Just as the vertical part of the Cross aligns with the Father and us, and the horizontal part aligns with one another, the sacrificial ministry of Jesus joins them at the center and is always, in every issue, the center of focus.

When we rely on self to do the work of God in us, we do not understand that it is “He who works in us” (Phil 2:13), not we. Since the things of God in us must be done by Him, the things of God from us must also be done by Him. Who do you choose to depend on, self or Christ? Whatever we seek to receive our security of assurance from is what we depend on to suffice all our needs. If we feel threatened, it’s because we’ve depended on self-performance and not on Christ’s performance. “It is finished.”

The sooner we are aware of the won battle we are in, the sooner we find that He “will give you rest” (Mat 11:28). When did we win? When we chose to take His yoke upon us (Mat 11:29). If we are “heavy laden” it’s because we have yet to utilize His yoke by “casting all our cares on Him” (1 Pet 5:7), as through His yoke all hardship is transferred. To take on the “yoke” of Christ means you are paired with Him, but it’s not the same type as oxen yoke, where the work is shared. This yoke causes us to rest (Heb 4:10) because Jesus does the work; and the work of Christ can only be done by Christ—through the Spirit, of course.
-NC



5-9. WRONG SOURCE

"Rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Philippians 3:3).

There are two ways in which God reveals to us the true condition of the natural man. The first is via the Word: "In me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). The second is via experience: years of struggle with the constant sinfulness and failure of that old nature. If we were more willing to face up to the incorrigibility of the Adamic life within, it might not take us so long to be freed from its domination.

"It is quite possible for every one of us to have a perfectly good conscience. A happy state to be in! Have you a good conscience? Are you under accusation, under condemnation? Are you fretting and worrying about the badness of your own heart? That means that you have not the answer of a good conscience to God. What is the matter? You are still looking for something from nature, from the old man. You had better give it up, as that is the only way out; repudiate it.

"Tell yourself and tell the accuser once for all that in you, that is, in your flesh, dwelleth no good thing, and you never expect to find anything. The enemy knows it, and yet he is trying to get you on an impossible quest for something he knows you will never find, and that is how he worries you. Years of it! Then why not come onto the Lord's ground and out-maneuver him? Let us settle it that we can never expect to find any good in our old nature. All our good is in another, even our Lord Jesus. It is'the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' (Romans 8:2)." -T. A-S.

"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1).
MJS/WithChrist.org
 
Our strong-hold is “the new man” or new nature, and I believe this is the medium the Spirit works through to conform us to the life of Christ (it being created after Christ – Col 3:10). Our weak-point is our carnal nature, which I also believe is the only medium through which the Enemy can influence us, and is more of a Trojan-horse than an Achilles-heel, because the Christian has no fatal vulnerabilities (Jude 1:24).

Walking after, or, in the Spirit does not mean to follow but to be in the Spirit, which is related as a control issue, not just instructional. The Spirit who “teaches you of all things” (1 John 2:27) first enlightens us, then controls (conforms) our (Gal 5:17) lives to the things of God.

In this Spirit-Saint relationship we are helpless as to performing the things of God because He is the only one qualified for the work. We cannot “conform” ourselves but are “to be conformed” (Rom 8:29) and “are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18). In this light we can understand that everything we do, as pertaining to the things of God, is being done by the Spirit using us, not by us using Him. “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of hosts” (Zec 4:6).

Our part is but to continually “yield yourselves” (Rom 6:13) to the Spirit and, even in this He controls us to do; as a rescuer must wait for the drowning victim to become helpless, so does the Holy Spirit first reveal the futility in our attempts to yield, or present our carnal nature, instead of our new nature, to God.

The first realization pertaining to the holiness of God is in being knowledgeable of the indwelling enmity (Rom 8:7; 7:17, 20), because the comprehension (never fully) of knowing the holiness of God is commensurate with the level of understanding the depths of the decadency of our carnal nature, as the Spirit progressively reveals to us.
The lesson-learned is in realizing we cannot, within ourselves, address the carnal nature as to its influence on us. This is the Spirit’s continuous work in us through the work of the Cross of Christ; for it is not the old man “was crucified” but, “is crucified” (ongoing – Rom 6:6).
-NC

5-10. "SEARCH ME, O GOD"

"I, the Lord, search the heart" (Jeremiah 17:10).

During the early, carnal years we are afraid to face up to the sinful nature within, not fully realizing that it was dealt with in condemnation to God's full satisfaction at Calvary. When we come to see that all the old nature was taken down into the death of the Cross, and in Christ Jesus we are completely clear of its penalty and power, then it is that we begin to welcome the work of the Cross upon all that of which the Holy Spirit convicts us.

"The natural man cannot bear the thought of being searched by God; he cannot stand to think of being found out in his true condition and character. But to the truly hungry believer it is a positive comfort to be assured that God knows everything about us; He knows the very worst that can be discovered. He has searched out all that we are, and in spite of all He has thoughts of blessing concerning us. There is, therefore, no fear of anything coming to light that might cause Him to change or reverse His thought of blessing and acceptance." -C.A.C.

"Our acceptance with God in Christ is perfect, and therefore unimprovable. It never alters; never varies. And it is very important for us not to mix the acceptance itself with our enjoyment of it. Our acceptance is 'in Christ,' and therefore eternal; the enjoyment is 'by the Spirit,' and therefore (because of the working of the flesh) often hindered." -J.B.S.

"The sense of His goodness removes the guile of heart that seeks to conceal its sin." -J.N.D.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jeremiah 29:11).
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Where our dependence is, that’s where our faith rests. The proper placement of our faith brings independence and dependence: The Cross of Christ brings independence from the rule old the “old man” (Rom 6:12, 14); and the Spirit of Christ (Holy Ghost) brings dependence on God in the “new man” (Eph 3:16).

If we are discouraged there are two unnecessary weights (Heb 12:1) at, or in, hand: depending on man; and not depending on God. Is there anything we can do which He has not already done (Eph 1:3; 2 Pet 1:3) that we might remain encouraged? Remember, disappointment means to trust in man and not God for He never disappoints!

Until we learn consistency, it’s acceptable to be occasionally distracted from remembering God is always “for us” (Rom 8:31), that is, we in our new nature; and it helps our memory to realize that this also means God is against us, that is, we in our old nature, but threat not for “the Lord of the harvest” (Mat 9:38; Luke 10:2) has foreseen not to harm you in the new man, during His judgment in this life on the old man (Mat 13:27—30).
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5-11. RELIANT REST

"Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
Our Father allows us to be independent until by that means we come to know our own weakness and need. "Strength is always the effect of having to do with God in the spirit of dependence."

"Some say, 'I want to feel that I am strong.' What we need is to feel that we are weak; this brings in Omnipotence. We shall have a life of feeling by-and-by in the glory; now we are called upon to lead a life of faith. What believer but knows from the experience of the deceitfulness of his own heart, that, had we power in ourselves instead of in Christ, we should be something. This is what God does not intend."

"The very essence of the condition of a soul in a right state is conscious dependence. Now one may use the fact of completeness in Christ to make one independent. Two things are implied in dependence: first, the sense that we cannot do without God in a single instance; and, secondly, that He is 'for us.' In other words, there is confidence in His love and power on our behalf, as well as the consciousness that without Him we can do nothing." -J.N.D.

"We are to walk humbly and lean ever and only on the mighty arm of the living God. Thus the soul is kept in a well-balanced condition, free from self-confidence and fleshly excitement, on the one hand; and free from gloom and depression, on the other. If we can do nothing, self-confidence is the height of presumption. If God can do everything, despondency is the height of folly."

"But my God shall supply all your need according; to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19).
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5-12. TRUSTED TRAINER

"He knoweth the way that I take; when He hath tested me, I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).

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. "Now, at the time, discipline seems to be a matter not for joy, but for grief; yet it afterwards yields to those who have passed through its training a result full of peace--namely, righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11, Wey.).

"The Father chooses the servant who is suited to carry out His will; but though that servant be endowed by Him with power to do so, yet unless he be controlled and disciplined by the Spirit of God he will continually fall into the devisings of his nature, no matter how godly and divine may be his intent. For we greatly err if we think that having the divine thought is all that is necessary as to our service; we must truly and efficiently be expressive of the thought; and this subjects us, as servants of God, to discipline which we often cannot understand.

"Discipline for known faults or shortcomings we can easily comprehend; but when it is that peculiar order of training which fits a man to be God's instrument and witness, we can no more understand it than the plants of the earth can understand why they must pass through all the vicissitudes of winter in order to bring forth a more abundant harvest." -J.B.S.

"God leaves us in the world that we may learn the sufficiency of His grace in practice, as we know the triumph of it in Christ."

"Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7).
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NOTE TO ADMIN: Please inform me if any of my materials become excessive. God's blessings to your Families for your labors!

5-13. FREE, TO SERVE

"No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier" (2 Timothy 2:4).

God has a unique plan concerning each one of us. The secret of realizing our personal calling is not to look at others, but simply to walk in close fellowship with the Father. "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5).

"No one Christian has a right to stop on his way for another; he must go forward himself in individual faithfulness. The effort to drag others along with us is in reality but a device of Satan to keep ourselves back. Note Jehovah's word to Jeremiah, 'Let them return unto thee; but return not thou to them' (Jeremiah 15:19). Are any desirous of going forward, let them not stop to carry along with them 'the men of Ephraim.' Far better is it to go on with but a few to follow, than to get numbers with us who are only halfhearted."

"You may say, 'Show me a pattern man.' We all like to copy; but there is no gain in copying. You have to learn the Lord for yourself. All you learn for yourself will remain, and nothing else. Every one has his own history."

"It is plain enough that every believer is called of God to something definite. The real difficulty is to ascertain the specialty, and this I do not think can be discovered but in nearness to the Lord, and when you are interested in His interests. We first learn that He is interested in us, and then we gradually become interested in His interests. It is then you apprehend your mission in life." -J.B.S.

"And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully" (2 Timothy 2:5).
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5-14. FULL PROVISION

"Let him ask in faith and have no doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed into spray. A person of that sort must not expect to receive anything from the Lord--such a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every step he takes" (James 1:6-8, Wey.).

First, we are to rest in the fact that our Father has made full provision for all our needs; positionally, we are complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then it is that we can trust Him daily for His "exceeding abundantly above." "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19)

"It is true that all God requires of us we lack; but it is also true that all we need He supplies. The believer can give thanks that God has supplied all his need as to standing, and He engages to supply all his need as to walk. But while we see our Father's requirement, and recognize His provision, let us not overlook our responsibility.

"When we fail it is to this our failure may be traced. It is not because the provision has been insufficient, or unavailable, or afar off--but because the channel has been obstructed, the avenues of the soul have been closed, so that the need has remained unsupplied. Our responsibility lies in the exercise of faith." -E.H.

"I will not think of the infinities of my need, except to lead me to the divine simplicity of the infinity of His supply." -H.C.G.M.

"And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him" (1 John 5:14, 15).
 
5-15. THE FIRST CAUSE

"A man's goings are established of Jehovah; and he delighteth in His way" (Psalm 37:23, ASV.) .

Throughout time and eternity the God of circumstances has every situation planned for our good and for His glory (Romans 8:28, 29). That is all that should matter to us. "Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee" "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God" (Psalm 76:10; 2 Corinthians 4:15).

"What the other person said or did to you was undoubtedly wrong and cannot be justified. Nor did he do it at God's direction; but God permitted him to do it for some wise reason which will yet prove to have been abundantly worthwhile for you. By the time that action reached you it had become the will of God for you, since to a yielded believer there are no second causes.

"He believes the Psalmist's declaration that every step of his life's pathway has been ordered by the Lord. No trial or affliction can reach you who are abiding in Him, without His permission. 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 Corinthians 10:13)." -O.S.

"All that we pass through is that we may get a fresh view of the Lord Jesus, or a deepening of a former one; but often we are so occupied with ourselves and the circumstances, that we fail to 'behold the glory of the Lord.'" -C.T.
"If the external plannings of men or Satan further God's plans, they succeed; if not, they come to nothing." -J.N.D.

"Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand" (Psalm 37:24).
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The strongest love treats each person as if they were the only one in existence - because they are! Each person is the only one in existence like their self, because there is only one of you. We may have similar characters, desires and habits, but each is unique in identity, the same as no two fingerprints are alike; similar but not identical.​
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This surely is how God’s love is to all and is our goal in His neighborly-love training class. This lesson is reciprocal when we “in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Phil 2:3). A common acronym for “joy” represents Scripture’s order of priority – Jesus, others then you. Love is selfless, but pride is self-first and there is no single individual who does not need to realize the latter and practice the former.​
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As the result of selflessness can be reciprocal, so is the method in its lesson. We become increasingly selfless when we persevere in the mindset of self-last. It’s not to avoid thinking of self at all, just last. Every time the Spirit causes us (Phil 2:13) to put others before ourselves, we place Christ first.​
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This is the crux of the “two commands” of Christ (Mat 22:36-40), which are reciprocal, in that we keep the first by keeping the second; “For he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?​
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5-16. SELFLESS SERVICE​
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"In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His own will!" (Ephesians 1:11).​
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It is easy to just "let George do it," but it is so unrewarding. There is a Christ-honoring ministry of being and sharing awaiting each believer, and the secret is to let Christ do it!​
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"Our Father has a different line of things for everyone, and each of us has been sent into this world for some special mission. It is not a question whether it is great or small; it may be only a flower to shed fragrance, though this is really the greatest of all.​
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"There is no higher service than moral influence, 'thy whole body . . . full of light'; and this, of all the highest moral order, is within the compass of all. 'Christ shall be magnified in my body whether by life or by death' (Philippians 1:20)." -J.B.S.​
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"A mark of the true servant is that he is consciously nothing. John could speak of himself as only a 'voice,' and a greater than John was consciously 'less than the least of all saints.' The moment we think ourselves to be anything, we are out of the servant's true position and spirit. There is a beautiful contrast between John's account of himself, and the Lord's description of him (John 1:22-27; Luke 7:26-28). The more worthy we are of the Lord's commendation, the less do we think of ourselves." -C.A.C.​
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"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:10).​
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Our battle of “wrestling” (Eph 6:12) is not a matter of winning or losing the war of sin, for the believer fights an already won war (John 19:30). Our battles involve the issue of our posture in our salvation; “that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day [trialing times]” (v 13). We can go through crawling or standing, but regardless of how we respond to our trials, He’s taking us through; “and having done all, to stand” (v 13). Of course, the goal is to endure the trials (2 Tim 2:3) and not allow them to “trouble” you (John 14:1, 27) and in doing so can teach us to grow in our faith in Christ.

Like the story of the women on a ship at sea in a storm, she became so fearful that she ran to the wheelhouse and asked the captain concerning their seemingly dilemma. The captain pointed out to her the large shaking plank in the port side and said, “If that board falls off, we’re going down.” Then he pointed out the billows of smoke from the boiler stack and said, “If that boiler blows, we’re going up.” Then he finished with, “But unless either one occurs, we’re going through!”

Let it be known that the Enemy will not be allowed to overcome the believer, as evidenced in Job’s case, but beware that the Enemy is allowed to use his primary devices (old self, society in general - 2 Cor 2:11) and can distractingly trouble you, but “He is able to keep you from falling” (Jude 1:24).
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5-17. FRUSTRATED ENEMY

"Then saith Jesus unto him, Begone, Satan" (Matthew 4:10).

There is a great difference between a foe, and; defeated foe. A conquered enemy can be put to valuable use in the hands of the victor, and that is exactly what God is doing with that old serpent. Satan is allowed to sift, and try the believer; he is used of God as a winnowing machine to clear away the chaff in us.

"No power in present things allowed to Satan annuls the will of the invisible God." -W.K.

"The story of Job shows clearly that it is God who sets the limit to the extent of the devil's activities and power. From the human viewpoint the Cross looks like a colossal failure. In it the victory of the power of evil seemed complete. But 'the weakness of God is stronger than men' or the enemy, and by the power of weakness having 'spoiled principalities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it' (Colossians 2:15)." -C.J.M.

"It is inevitable that in a world like this the faith of Christians must be tried. For we are in an enemy's land, and he resents our presence. And we have an enemy within our gates--the old man--that opposes us too. But take heart fellow believer, the trials of your faith will be 'found unto praise, honor and glory at the appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Peter 1:7). The happy outcome is a foregone conclusion. Trials work patience, experience, hope--and these are abiding qualities. Satan, as it were, is God's scavenger, and all he can do is to remove out of your life those things that mar your joy, your growth, and your service."

"For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy [undo] the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).
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5-19. ABIDING PRAYER

"And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us" (1 John 5:14).

In order for us to pray according to His will, we must first know His will; not only that, but His blessed will must become our will. "If ye abide in Me . . . ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John 15:7). Prayer is the fellowship of an intimate, living union; as with all of the Christian life, it must be carried on in dependence upon the Holy Spirit. He is known as "the Spirit of grace and of supplications" (Zechariah 12:10).

"If I ask anything of God, and have received His answer, I then act with assurance, with the conviction that I am in the path of His will; I am happy and contented. If I meet with some difficulty, this does not stop me; it is only an obstacle which faith has to surmount.

"But if I have not this certainty before I begin, I am in indecision, I know not what to do. There may be a trial of my faith, or it may be that I ought not to do what I am doing. I am in suspense, and I hesitate; even if I am doing the will of God, I am not sure about it, and I am not happy. I ought therefore to be assured that I am doing His will before I begin to act." -J.N.D.

"All flows from the soul being consciously in the place where it is set, in Christ risen. He can then trust us with the knowledge of His will; He can trust the sons of the family with the family affairs."

"And if we know that He hear us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him" (1 John 5:15).
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5-20. SPIRIT-MOTIVATED SURRENDER

"Keep on seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:7, Wms.).

When the Spirit of Christ has the hungry heart prepared, there will be surrender. No struggle; no questions. "We reason when we ought to repose; we doubt when we ought to depend. Confidence in our Father's love is the true corrective in all things.""For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him" (2 Timothy 1:12).

"If a believer surrenders or lays aside anything without an adequate divine motive, he will either secretly hanker after it, and probably long to return to it, or he will take credit to himself for having given it up, and will thus reveal self-righteousness and spiritual pride.

"A certain school of religious teachers make much of 'surrender' as the way to attain blessing, but it ends in self-sufficiency, because the only motive that is presented for it is the acquisition of a better spiritual state, or power for service, or something of that kind. A divine motive and attraction is needed if souls are to be drawn into the race and prepared to surrender in a truly spiritual way, and this divine motive and attraction is our risen Lord in Glory." -C.A.C.

"Communion with the Lord Jesus requires our coming to Him in the Word. Meditating upon His person and His work requires the prayerful study of His Word. Many fail to abide in Him because they habitually fast instead of feast." -J.H.T.

"Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us; for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us. O Lord our God, other lords beside Thee have had dominion over us; but by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name" (Isaiah 26:12, 13).
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