Perspective

'Thanks be to God who always leads us in
triumph in Christ.' 2 Corinthians 2:14

'The proper perspective to maintain is that 
we are here for only one purpose--to be 
captives marching in the procession of  
Christ's triumphs. We are encompassed with 
the sweet aroma of Jesus, and where ever 
we go we are a wonderful refreshment to 
God.' (OC)

Reader, when did it become about us?
It begins and ends with Him. He captured
our hearts, we are His love slaves to do
with us as He wishes. But note the 'love'
part. Lavish, unending pure unselfish love
on His side; we the victors by His power,
for His intense pleasure!

Fruitfulness

God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.
Gen 41:52

A poet stands by the window watching a summer 
shower. It is a fierce downpour, beating and pounding 
the earth. But the poet, in his mind's eye, sees more 
than a rain shower falling. He sees, a myriad of lovely 
flowers raining down, soon breaking forth from the
freshly watered earth, and filling it with their match-
less beauty and fragrance. 

No, it is not raining afflictions on you. It is raining
tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a 
thousand other flowers and fruits of the blessed
Holy Spirit. And they are bringing to your life
spiritual enrichment that all the prosperity and ease 
of this world could never produce in your innermost
being.  JMM

Reader, are times tough? God is working in you all
that you cannot attain by your own efforts. The
beautiful fruits of the Spirit.

He Concealed Me

In the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into 
a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 
Is 49:2

'"In the shadow"--each of us must go there. The glare
of the sunlight is too bright, and our eyes become
injured. Soon they are unable to discern subtle shades
of color or appreciate neutral tints, such as in the
shadowed sick room, the shadowed house of grief, or
the shadowed life where sunlight has departed.

But fear not! It is the shadow of God's hand. He is
leading you, and there are lessons that can be learned
only where He leads. The photograph of His face can
only be developed in the dark room. But do not assume
He has pushed you aside. You are still "in his quiver."
He has not thrown you away as worthless. He is only
keeping you nearby till the moment comes when He
can send you quickly and confidently on some mission
that will bring Him glory. O shadowed, isolated one,
remember how closely the quiver is tied to the warrior.
It is always within easy reach of his hand and jealously
protected.'  FB Meyer

Reader, The words of FB Meyer are so encouraging. I
went through many years of concealment and anguish.
Nothing I tried opened a door. I read mystery books,
and then read them again because each time they were
new! My memory, energy, was shot. This blog over four
years ago was the crack in the darkness that led to an
ever widening door--and eventually to better health.
New relationships have formed, and so have new
opportunities. It was during this time I discovered that
I could NOT make the Christian life work. It was during
this time that I began to realize just how much He loves
me!

See my story: The Crucible of Lyme Disease

http://www.hisvictoriousindwelling.com/story.php?id=8

Faith in Your Faith?

God who does not lie, promised. Titus 1:2

'I often hear people praying for more faith, but
when I listen carefully to them, and get to the
essence of their prayer, I realize it is not faith
they are wanting at all. What they are wanting
is there faith to be turned into sight. Faith
when walking through the dark with God, only
asks to hold His hand more tightly.'

'The shepherd does not ask of thee
     Faith in your faith, but only faith in Him,
And this He meant by saying, "Come to Me."
     In light or darkness seek to do His will,
     And leave the work of faith to Jesus still.'
LB Cowman

Reconciled

...much more, having been reconciled, we
shall be saved through His life.
Romans 5:10

'When I turn to God and by belief accept 
what God reveals, the miraculous 
atonement by the Cross of Christ instantly 
places me into a right relationship with God. 
And as a result of the supernatural miracle 
of God's grace I stand justified, not because 
I am sorry for my sin, but because of what 
Jesus has done.' (OC)

Reader, it is only in Jesus...

Deep Fellowship

I was a Christian for a very long time before I began
to understand some very puzzling scriptures:

'Knowing this, that our old man is crucified.'
Romans 6:6

'God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is 
crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' Gal 6:14.

These scriptures speak of something that has been
done in Christ, and I enter into His work on the
cross by faith.

'If I am crucified and dead with Him, then I am a 
partner in His Life and Victory.' (Andrew Murray)

There is one big problem and that is our flesh. God
has left it alive so that we must depend on Him for
the victory. This comes by recognizing that 'no good
thing dwells in my flesh.'  God does not want to save
the flesh; He wants to kill it! The cross has the
power; the victory is in the resurrection. Our part is
to surrender.

Reader, I know that this message goes against my
grain, against the grain of the world, and against
most of church teaching today. To surrender to His
sovereign will moment by moment allows the cross
to work deeply into me. It is painful. I find myself
going to my Dad over and over in some of the more
difficult things,
--not my will, but Thy will --
however, abiding in Him in this way leads to life,
joy, and deep fellowship with Him that goes beyond
just having a 'quiet time.'

Life Out of Death

'I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live;
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me...' Gal 2:20

'The cross is the chief mark of the Christian as 
it was with Christ. The crucified Christ and the 
crucified Christian belong to each other. One 
of the chief elements of likeness to Christ 
consists of being crucified with Him. Through 
faith in Christ we become partakers of Christ's 
life. That life is is a life that has passed through 
the death of the cross, and in which the power 
of that victorious death is always working. 
When I receive that life, I receive, at the same 
moment, the full power of the death on the 
cross working in me in its never ceasing energy.'
Andrew Murray

Reader, the cross is misunderstood, leaving
the church of today without power. We are
being asked to be in unity around Jesus, but
not around the power of the cross. Have you
noticed that God works in ways opposite to
what we see and hear in our culture? God says
'Look at my Son and see that His Life comes
out of death.'

Nothing of the Old

'If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; 
old things have passed away; behold, all 
things have become new.' 
2 Corinthians 5:17

'God pays no respect to anything we bring to
Him. There is only one thing God wants of 
us, and that is our unconditional surrender.'
(OC)

Reader, it takes a life time, it seems, to grasp
the wonderful truth of yourself as a new
creation! Most of us do the behavior check
and our hearts plummet at how turkeyish we
still are. We see only our flesh instead of the
new heart and Life that God has poured into
us. Truly, it is as I surrender to Him instead
of resisting the things that come into my life,
that I find I can soar. I have a new heart; I am
a new man. The old man was crucified with
Jesus. The turkey died; I am an eagle.
Are you?

The Will of God

'This is the will of God, your sanctification...
         1Thessalonians 4:3

'Receive Jesus Christ to become sanctification
for you by absolute, unquestioning faith, and
the great miracle of the atonement of Jesus
will become real in you. Sanctification makes
me one with Jesus Christ, and in Him one
with God, and it is accomplished only through
the magnificent atonement of Christ.' OC

Reader, do you know that? Do you know that
you do not have to read the Bible, work, pray,
or help others in order to be sanctified?
Sanctification comes the same way as salvation.
It is accomplished through the atonement of
our Savior. Our part is believe and to receive
through faith.

The Unheeded Secret

"Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this 
   world.'"
   John 18:36

'We must get rid of the plague of the spirit
of this religious age in which we live. The
central point of the kingdom of Jesus Christ
is a personal relationship with Him, not
public usefulness to others.' (OC)

Reader, Oswald Chambers lived a generation
ago and it is much more difficult for us in our
day to be still and take the time to hear from
our Lord.

Suffering Wrongfully

'For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
For what glory is it, when ye be buffeted for your
faults, ye shall take it patiently? But if, when ye
do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this 
is acceptable with God.
1Peter 2:19, 20

'Christian, do you want to have strength to suffer
wrong in the spirit in which Christ did? Accustom
yourself, in everything that happens, to recognize
the hand and will of God. This lesson is of more
importance than you think. Whether there is some 
great wrong done you, or some little offense that 
you meet in daily life, before you fix your thoughts 
on the one who did it, be still and remember, God 
allows me to come into this trouble to see if I will  
glorify Him in it. This trial is His will concerning 
me. I recognize it first and then submit to God's 
will in it. Then in the rest of the soul that this gives, 
I will receive wisdom to know how to behave in it. 
With my eyes turned from man to God, suffering 
wrong is not as hard as it seems.'
Andrew Murray

Reader, talk about opposites! The culture says we
should take care of self first, drop those who hurt
us, and move on. God says to take these hurts to
Him because the hand of God is in it and He will
give grace and wisdom. 

Old Nature; New Nature

'Even as I,
So ye also.
Jn 15:10

The life of the vine and the branch is so
identified as being one, that the
manifestation of that life in the branch,
looks like the vine.

'When the Lord Jesus redeemed us with 
his blood and presented us to the Father
in His righteousness, He did not leave us 
in our old nature to serve God as best we 
can. No, in Him dwelt eternal life--the 
holy divine life of heaven--and anyone who 
is in Him, receives the same eternal life in 
its holy, heavenly power into the new nature. 
Jesus tells us that the new life has been 
bestowed so that we may walk, even as He 
walked. A Christian is to think, speak, and 
act as Jesus did; as was Jesus, even so are 
we.' Andrew Murray

Reader--What if we think that we still have
our old sinful nature? So many Christians
talk about their sinful old man. Bottom line
is that we have to know that we have a new
nature and then make the deliberate choice to
walk like Him. It must be sought with strong
desire. It is our choice to surrender--or to
resist God in any given situation. The world
tells us to grab all you can get; our Lord says
'give yourself to Me and fully abide.' It is
possible to walk even as He walked.

I am so challenged by this today!

Like Him

'He that abideth in him,
ought also to walk, 
even as he walked.
1John 2:6

Many reading this blog have tasted the joy
that comes from abiding in Him. When one
has tasted the fruit of abiding, it gives rise to
the cry, 'Blessed Lord, give to me unbroken
abiding!'

The second half of the verse above, 'walking
like Christ,' is very significant, but it is not
thought possible so we skip over it.

'The two are inseparably connected. The
abiding IN always proceeds the walking 
LIKE Him, yet the desire to walk like Him 
must equally proceed any large amount of 
abiding.' Andrew Murray

Friendship with God

'Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...?'
                    Genesis 18:17

'True friendship with God means being so
intimately in touch with God that you never
even need ask Him to show you His will.
You are God's will. And all of your
seemingly commonsense decisions are
actually His will for you, unless you sense a
check in your spirit.' (OC)

I have talked with Christians who rarely talk
to God about little things. The relationship just
isn't there! These same Christians ask God for
His will, but never seem to hear from Him.
True friendship is tied into intimacy. One of the
sweetest things for me is that when I can't find
something, I ask my Dad where I put it--and He
shows me either by a memory or a picture of
where it is. I get the feeling that He loves the
game!

He Went Out

'He went out, not knowing where he was going.'
                 Hebrews 11:8

'Living a life of faith means never knowing where 
you are being led. But it does mean loving and 
knowing the One who is leading. It is literally a 
life of faith, not of understanding, and reason--a 
life of knowing Him who calls us to go.'
(OC)

We had many opportunities in the Air Force to
'go out,' without knowing much of anything.
Our leaving America to dwell for three years in
the Netherlands, was truly an adventure in many
respects. (You can find two stories on this by
clicking into my website and then going into
stories. Moving--Military Style.)
http://www.hisvictoriousindwelling.com

Actually, reader, each day is a walk into the
unknown, but we usually take it for granted
that things will never change...

Amazing!

'I have been crucified with Christ....'
           Galatians 2:20

'Once I reach this monumental decision and
act upon it, all that Christ accomplished on
the Cross is accomplished in me. My
unrestrained commitment of myself to God
gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to
grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.'
(Oswald Chambers)

Reader, I had to read this quote several
times before it began to sink in.

Our Blessed Hope

This morning I was reading the prayer of Paul in Eph 1
and I saw something I had never seen before.

He prays 'that the God of or Lord Jesus Christ,
the Father of glory, 
may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation 
     in the knowledge of Him, 
having the eyes of your hearts enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope to which he 
      has called you, 
what are the riches of his glorious inheritance 
         in the Saints,
 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his 
     power towards us who believe, 
according to his great might that He worked in 
Christ when he raised him from the dead...'

Paul is praying that we would have a full and complete
revelation of the unseen world and of the coming
Rapture of the Church. He wants us to know the
'blessed hope' of 'our being gathered together to 
Him;' that He will gain in us the riches that He died for,
his glorious inheritance; and the immeasurable greatness
of His power, the resurrection power at His coming for
us, His Bride!

I have prayed this prayer for years but never grasped
that Paul is pouring out his heart for Believers to live in
the light of our full inheritance, that this Christian life
has within all the promise of full redemption, and change
at the rapture, where both the dead and the living will be
changed forever. Read the glorious chapter of 1 Cor 15.

Morning is about to break!

This is a great summary of many things that are coming
together with great speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp1MOV2ZMuk

Look Up!

We seem to be in a vey intense period of history. It
is like we are being herded in a direction we don't
want to go. This is a longish blog, but I think that
though it is a subject on the heart of many, it is
not discussed much anymore: It is the coming of
Jesus to get His Bride! The hour is late.

You know the story of the Wise Men and how they
watched the stars as indicators of prophetic events.
It was these men, not the religious leaders of the day,
who discovered that a King had been born and they
followed the star. We know today that this star was
made up of Jupiter and Venus. These men had read
Numbers 24:17:
'...a star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter 
shall rise out of Israel...' 

which they connected with Genesis 49:10
'The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a 
lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (the
Messiah) come; and unto him shall the gathering 
of the people be.'

The first part of the verse was fulfilled when Jesus
came as a babe. The second part of the verse about
the 'gathering' of the people will be fulfilled with
His second coming.

Jupiter is called the king planet and also a scepter.
Leo the Lion in today's language, was called Judah
the Lion. In Isaiah 33:22 the King and the Lawgiver
are seen as the same person.

Scripture is telling us that at some point the planet
Jupiter will be located in the feet of Leo and will
not depart from that place until 'the gathering of 
the people.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:1, Paul uses the same words:
'Now we beseech you brethren, by the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ,  and by our gathering 
together unto him...'

Luke 21:28 has something to say to our generation.
'And when these things begin to come to pass, then
look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption
draws nigh.'

What things? The coming of a world government,
lawlessness, immorality, earthquakes, famine, floods,
disease, terror, war, weather changes. Yes, these
things have always been present, but some of these
calamities are in the news everyday! Jesus says that
when these signs BEGIN to come to pass, look up.
Look up before He reveals Himself.

Look up into the night sky soon after sunset and you
will see a single bright star in the west that becomes
brighter as it gets darker. That star is the planet Jupiter.
When the sky is dark stars near it form a large sickle,
which is the front of Leo and the easiest way to
recognize the constellation. Jupiter will be in Leo until
July 14th when it moves on. It will not be in Leo again
for twelve years.

Last night I checked soon after sunset and Jupiter
was the only visible light in the sky. I stayed up until
midnight to see Jupiter in Leo because the western
sky is bright a long time in this area. God is writing
things for us to see in the heavens: Blood Moons,
Blue Moons, Strawberry Moons, Honey Moons, and
in the stars.

And God said, 'Let there be lights in the expanse of
the heavens to separate the day from the night. And
let them be for signs and seasons....(Genesis 1:14)

Reader, do you not think that if the Wise Men were
alive today that they would be intrigued by what is
happening on earth and with the signs in the
heavens?

No, we cannot know the day or the hour but Jesus says
we are to know the 'times and the seasons.'

Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may 
be accounted worthy to escape all these things 
that shall come to pass, and to stand before the 
Son of Man. (Luke 21:25,26,36)

I am not predicting but sharing what is happening
in the sky right now. None of us know the future,
but we are told to watch and pray. Ask God to show
you what needs to be removed from your life and
to give you a far greater revelation of Himself!

For those of you who wish to explore this further
there is a site where they look at the Bible and
how world events, entertainment, what they are
messaging, and celestial signs seem to be coming
together. It was his blog yesterday that sat me down
to write this. The blog on Matt 24 is helpful.

http://informedchristians.com/index.php