AM I CONVINCED BY CHRIST?
"Notwithstanding in this rejoice not . . . , but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:19, 20
Jesus Christ says, in effect, Don't rejoice in successful service, but rejoice because you are rightly related to Me. The snare in Christian work is to rejoice in successful service, to rejoice in the fact that God has used you. You never can measure what God will do through you if you are rightly related to Jesus Christ. Keep your relationship right with Him, then whatever circumstances you are in, and whoever you meet day by day, He is pouring rivers of living water through you, and it is of His mercy that He does not let you know it. When once you are rightly related to God by salvation and sanctification, remember that wherever you are, you are put there by God; and by the reaction of your life on the circumstances around you, you will fulfil God's purpose, as long as you keep in the light as God is in the light.
The tendency to-day is to put the emphasis on service. Beware of the people who make usefulness their ground of appeal. If you make usefulness the test, then Jesus Christ was the greatest failure that ever lived. The lodestar of the saint is God Himself, not estimated usefulness. It is the work that God does through us that counts, not what we do for Him. All that Our Lord heeds in a man's life is the relationship of worth to His Father. Jesus is bringing many sons and daughters to glory.
(Oswald Chambers)
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Thank You, Father, for the harrrd
in my life that You are using to woo me to Yourself. Thank You that the nicest, sweetest, kindest, most miraculous thing you ever do for me, is to send Your Spirit to freshly convict me of my sin of independence, rooted in my sin of thinking I have wisdom worth leaning on, which leads me to trying to find LIFE in my idols, instead of in Jesus. Thank You for lovingly thwarting my dreams and schemes, so I end up fearful, frustrated, discouraged, or bored, with fresh motivation to come running back to Jesus, and find my all in Him. Thank You that nothing in this world comes close to comparing with Jesus and His unconditional love for the likes of habitual prodigals. Thank You, thank You, thank You, for the perfectness of Your plan for my life, the perfectness of my circumstances right now, many of which my flesh hates with passion. Thank You that no one loves me nearly as well as You, or I would certainly go awhoring after their lo ve, leaving You behind in a cloud of dust. Thank You that my love for You, my faithfulness to You, has nothing to do with Your love and faithfulness to me. Thank You that my biggest need is never changed circumstances, but always, more of Jesus at the core of my life.
(Dave McCarty)
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If I needed to know,
God would make it clear. The enemy wants me confident/independent/self-reliant, so I'm not enjoying God, not asking Him about everything, not thanking Him for everything, especially the harrrd. Uncertainty is not a bad thing: it's fertile soil for growth in dependent living. Each uncertainty, a trust opportunity. But my flesh hates uncertainty. Control freaks hate uncertainty. Why? Cuz we hate trusting God. So we get busy working, planning, to rid ourselves of the uncertainty that's part of a Cursed world, and end up captains of our souls, masters of our fates, but living in denial of the extent of our self-sufficiency. The enemy works hard to keep us self-deceived.
(Dave McCarty)
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Adultlikeness is the human condition,
since The Fall. I think this is precisely how Satan was tempting Adam and Eve: wisdom worth leaning on, so they didn't have to be asking God all the time, so they wouldn't be dependents any longer, so they could make their own decisions, run their own lives, engineer feeling good about themselves. Eat the fruit of this tree and you'll be adultlike. Cool.
Only adultlikes -- fools -- are clueful enough, wise enough in their own eyes, confident enough, to attempt engineering feeling good about self. So only adultlikes can be agendified.
Then Jesus comes along and offers to live His life in ours, to reverse the effects of The Curse in us, leading us away from foollike to health, LIFE. Childlike. Embracing dependency. Jesus did nothing on His own, but only what the Father told Him to do. And His offer to live His life through us, enables us to return to childlikeness, from the hell of trying to be adultlike. All my problems in life, come from thinking I have wisdom worth leaning on, so I don't ASK my Daddy. Adultlike.
We grow up, hearing, from outside the Church, and from INside, that I OUGHT to be able to be make decisions, make my life work, for the ultimate goal of feeling good about self. Living adultlike seems so natural, doesn't it? As natural as ambition, and agenda. But if feeling good about self is the goal, it means living independently of God, and when we do that, we feel The Curse, and are miserable. Or live in denial of our misery. We Christians are just like nonChristians: we're all on a quest to feel good about self: so we don't ask Him about everything, but rather assume or willfully do. Adultlike, not childlike. Fools, not wise. TV, periodicals, books, film, mental health professionals, even Church, all assume that adultlike is normal. Satan could not be more pleased than for us Christians to be so influenced by the world around us, pursuing feeling good about self, based on our own performance/righteousness/success. Christian fools.
A three-year-old child doesn't experience the suffering of adultlikes. S/he is largely protected by parents, from the stresses, the miserableness of adultlike life. Life is FUN as a three-year-old, where there's a loving, nurturing parent. Jesus invites us to experience the sweetness of living as a cherished three-year-old. But our flesh doesn't want dependency, because the enemy has convinced us, like he convinced Adam and Eve, that independency is more fun, that feeling good about self, is the ultimate high. Father of lies.
An uptight adult who becomes childlike, is unconcerned about appearances, reputation, and is uninhibited, naturally authentic, and FREE. And what a childlike enjoys most, is sitting on Daddy's lap, feasting on His unconditional love, feeling cherished, delightfully enjoyed. The ultimate high.
Adultlikes are so wise in their own eyes, that they know which things are thankable, and which aren't. Childlikes are clueless about such things, and thank God for everything, believing His promise to work all things together for the good of us kids.
So how can I become more childlike, wise? I am powerless to change myself. But I can confess my sin of adultlikeness, my sin of not thanking Him for the harrrd in my life -- or for the easy -- and ask God to change me. And I can ask others to ask God to change me. The nonChristians around us are not wowed by the Jesus in adultlike us, because there is so little of Him in us.
(Dave McCarty)
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The danger of getting my news from TV,
radio, or the Internet, is that I'll look at everything in my day from a human perspective, so I tend to be awed by the powerful, talented, influential, instead of The Creator. Before I open my mind to be brainwashed by a human perspective on life, it needs to be prepared for the onslaught. Or. I'm doomed to live just like the nonChristians around me: with my focus on human achievement, inspiring my own human achievement, so I can feel good about myself, so I don't need Jesus and His performance/righteousness/somebodiness, so I operate like an orphan, by puny human power, so that nonChristians are not wowed by a Jesus in me who is making me different.
(Dave McCarty)
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Somebodiness is more addictive than cocaine...
Once you've tasted of it, you're hooked for life: you rarely can bear the thought of being without it. It's the drug of choice for the ambitious: we emotionally needy/fragile people who appear so normal. Life becomes one long journey to be superior to others, in some way, shape or fashion, so we feel good about self.
Jesus came to cure us of the curse of somebodiness addiction. But we resist Him, resist the sanity He offers. The upside-down Kingdom of Jesus is very different than the right-side-up kingdom of this world.
When the Creator lovingly strips us of our somebodiness, He loves us supremely well, for at that point, we have the potential to be momentarily freed from the horrible bondage of needing somebodiness. But the world, flesh, devil, are allied against us, always looking for ways to tempt us back into the orphanage of somebodiness addiction, and away from basking in the unconditional love of the Creator, in His mansion. Dumb sheep in the mansion are the happiest people anywhere.
Somebodiness addiction is never cured in this life, but it's arrested, each time the Spirit freshly convicts us of our dissatisfaction with Jesus and His unconditional love for the likes of us.
(Dave McCarty)
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THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST
1 COR 15:1-5
For our first devotion on the website, it is fitting and proper for us to look first at the topic that is the centerpiece of all time and eternity, dear to the heart of our Heavenly Father, and is the basis of our salvation.
Let’s read 1 Cor 15:1-5
For us to be “saved”...”born again” is called redemption...to “redeem” something means to “buy back with the purpose of setting it free”
Now: Redemption, as spoken of in the Bible, has three distinct aspects:
1. The Work of Jesus Christ FOR us (Titus 3:3-8/Eph:2:8) It’s the Root! Jesus’ “work” FOR us is called in the Bible, The Gospel. l...The Gospel is:
The life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ...nothing more, and
nothing less!! It took Jesus 33 years to produce the Robe of Righteousness
through his spotless obedience unto God FOR us; however, it took His Death
to make it AVAILABLE to us...remember the garden of eden!
Note: Remember, this “work” FOR us was accomplished by God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit... what a team!!! A “perfect team” produces a “perfect work”...the Work = Our Salvation! You and I were not involved, never made a contribution to this team or to their work... Jesus lived the life I could not live, and died the death I should have died, and set me free... or, redeemed me!!!
Remember: This “work” of Christ is perfect, it’s a past, historical event, it happened one time, and it stands alone without any need whatsoever...it’s Meritorious!!!
2. The Work of the Holy Spirit IN us ( 2 Peter 1: 3-11/Eph 1:13-14) It’s the Fruit!!!
Jesus Won the Spirit for us and gave Him to us (Acts 2:31-32)...He has come
to live IN us...He has created a New Nature IN us....this event, this happening,
this process is called in the Bible “sanctification”.. This word actually means to “set apart”...it’s the process by which The Holy Spirit makes us “righteous”...
being “righteous” means that we are being conformed to an image of God’s
standard...Righteousness, in the Old Testament, meant The fundamental
Character of God...therefore, the new testament definition of righteousness
means conformity to the standard decreed by God.
Note: Now, remember that this “work” by the Holy Spirit “IN” us is accomplished by
the Holy Spirit working WITH us as we cooperate... the “Product” is, therefore, not perfect because “we” are involved; the work is present, on-going and it cannot stand alone but must have Jesus to “mediate” or “deliver” it unto the Father for us... this “work” is “typed” for us in the Old Testament by the office of the High Priest that took the person’s sacrifice, prepared it properly, and offered it to God in Heaven.
3. The Work of the Holy Spirit THROUGH us (Eph 2:9/...5:1,2) as you read the scriptures, look at anything you are told to do, not do, as regards others and you can see clearly what the work of the Holy Spirit Through you will do, has come to do, etc .
Anything we do should be done in “loving response for what Christ has done FOR us”
Now, never confuse #1 with #2 & #3....#1 is All of God’s power...Rom 1:16,17....#1 is the Gospel...this is what we are to preach and teach in order for people to be saved...#1 is Root....#2 & #3 are FRUIT of #1...The Gospel produces Fruit!!!
For us to be “saved” we must hear the Good news of the Gospel, we must believe this news, we must place our “faith, our trust” in this work of Christ FOR our Salvation!!!
To Believe in Jesus, means that we have heard of the life He lived on our behalf, we accept that no less than His perfect life is acceptable unto God the Father for Salvation, and we place our Faith and hope in the Life, the Death, and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ for our Eternal Salvation!!!
#2 & #3 are the result of our “Belief, our Faith, our Trust”...
Faith that Saves you will also be lived out in works in loving response. Those around us will clearly see that the new life we are living is in direct contrast to the old life we lived before salvation. James 2:14-26 is the most clearly taught cooperation between “faith and works” in the New Testament!!
Lastly, always remember that our Father wants our hearts. The scripture teaches that we are to “do good works” in loving response for Jesus’ great life, death, and resurrection. We are not to work for acceptance; we are to work because of acceptance! Redemption, salvation, means the restoration of mankind to a right relationship with God, with his neighbors, and with the entire creation of God!!
To conclude, read Romans 3:21-26, for
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