Strangers and Pilgrims

The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the
world all who dwell in it. Psalm 24:1

The true Christian, in strict propriety of speech, has no
home here: he is, and must be, a stranger and a pilgrim
upon the earth: his citizenship, treasure, and real home
are in a better world; and every step he takes, whether
to the east or west, is a step nearer to his Father's house.

On the other hand, when in the path of duty, he is always 
at home, for the whole earth is the Lord's: and, as we see 
the same sun in England or Italy, in Europe or Asia, so, 
wherever he is, equally sets the Lord always before him, 
and finds himself equally near the Throne of Grace at all 
times and in all places. God is everywhere; and, by faith 
in the Great Mediator, he dwells in God, and God in him.
John Newton 1725-1807

Reader, even as a child I knew this was not my home, as
I bellowed out the song, "This world is not my home, I'm 
just a passin' through. My treasure is laid up somewhere 
beyond the blue. The angels beckon me from heaven's o-
pen door, and I can't stay at home in this world anymore." 
Now, 65 or so years later I realize just how quickly life
passes and where our treasure really lies.

John Newton is a showcase of God's power both to save
and redeem one who despised anything good. Newton's
godly mother died when he was seven but her prayers
and words surely kept him alive and brought him to God
at just the right time.

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/pastorsandpreachers/john-newton.html

God Promised

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

Faith is not conjuring up, through an act of your will,
a sense of certainty that something is going to happen.
No, it is recognizing God's promise as an actual fact,
believing it is true, rejoicing in the knowledge of the
truth, and then simply resting because God said it.

Faith turns a promise into a prophecy. A promise is
contingent upon our cooperation, but when we exer-
cise genuine faith in it, it becomes a prophecy. Then
we can move ahead with certainty that it will come
to pass, because "God...does not lie."
From Days of Heaven upon Earth

Reader, all of us have something that we are trusting
God to do in our lives. Sometimes it is only wishful
thinking and one cannot expect the outcome to be
what is wished. But, when there is a booming voice,
or a quiet whisper that brings us into joyful faith,
then, it becomes prophetic, and a place of rest. Sarah
was not quite there, but Abraham pleased God be-
cause He believed God. ( I still need to renew, some-
times, a "prophecy"given to me 26 years ago in a
booming voice!)

Abraham believed God and it was counted unto 
him for righteousness... 
But to him that works not, but believes on him 
that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for 
righteousness. (Romans 4:3, 5)

He IS Coming

...and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, 
and we shall be changed. I Corinthians 15:52

Thou art coming, O my Savior, Thou art coming, O my King,
In Thy beauty all resplendent, In Thy glory all transcendent;
Well may we rejoice and sing: 
Coming in the opening east 
Herald brightness slowly swells; 
Coming! O my glorious Priest, Hear we not Thy golden bells?

Thou art coming, Thou are coming; 
We shall meet Thee on Thy way,
We shall see Thee, we shall know Thee, 
We shall bless Thee, we shall show Thee
All our hearts could never say:
What an anthem that will be, Ringing out our love to Thee,
Pouring out our rapture sweet At Thine own all glorious feet.
  
Thou art coming, at Thy table We are witnesses for this;
While rememb'ring hearts Thou meetest
In communion clearest, sweetest,
Earnest of our coming bliss,
Showing not Thy death alone, And Thy love exceeding great,
But Thy coming and Thy throne, All for which we long and 
     wait.

O the joy to see Thee reigning,Thee, my own beloved Lord!
Every tongue Thy Name confessing,
Worship, honor, glory, blessing
Brought to Thee with glad accord:
Thee my Master and my Friend,Vindicated and enthroned;
Unto earth's remotest end Glorified, adored, and owned.
Frances Havergal  1836-1879

Reader, it has been two thousand years since Jesus was
taken up to heaven with the promise that He will return.
The Apostles and early church Fathers wrote that the
church at that time needed to be watching. The Good News
is that He is still coming "at a time we think not." The pro-
mise of His coming has fallen off the church radar recently
and yet, the signs of a coming one world government are
everywhere, if we could just see how fast the tribulation is
coming together. Jesus said we were to "watch and pray."
Paul wanted to bring as many into salvation as he could.
Nothing kept him from preaching the Gospel. Oh, that we
would understand that the time is short and many are lost.
Ask God to be a witness, through you, of His salvation.

"Did anyone ever tell you that God sent His only Son to
die on the cross for your sins so that you can have eternal
life in heaven?"

I have had many responses to this question. At the very
least it is an opener to a deeper discussion. I dare say,
many have never heard this. If you are reading this and
are unsure of your salvation, get hold of the Gospel of
John and ask God to show you just who Jesus is.

Below is a beautiful biography of "Fanny" Havergal. She
KNEW Him.
https://www.truthfulwords.org/biography/havergaltw.html

Behold The Lamb

God has given him a name which is above
every name  Philippians 2:9

Jesus! the name high over all,
In hell, or earth, or sky;
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.

Jesus! the name to sinners dear,
The name to sinners given;
It scatters all their guilty fear,
It turns their hell to heaven.

Jesus! the prisoner's fetters breaks,
And bruises Satan's head;
Power into strengthless souls it speaks,
And life into the dead.

O that the world might taste and see
The riches of His grace;
The arms of love that compass me
Would all mankind embrace.

His only righteousness I show,
His saving grace proclaim;
'Tis all my business here below
To cry: Behold the Lamb!

Happy, if with my latest breath
I might but gasp His name;
Preach Him to all, and cry in death:
Behold, behold the Lamb!
Charles Wesley 1707-88

Reader, 18,000 college students sang this hymn
at Urbana, IL  in 1967 just before we piled into
busses on New Year's Eve. I headed back to
Colorado. Every student generation IVCF had
a missionary conference which had grown from
3,000 students to the 18,000 in seven years. It
was amazing to be surrounded by so many voices
in worship. Glen and I both attended that con-
ference and committed to pray about going into
missions in the future. I met him in NYC in Jan-
uary of 1969 and in 1999 we joined MAI to help
plant churches by bringing communities into
health in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Wow!

I love this hymn! (only one was good enough to
send to you, but the organ and the singers are not
quite together. It was produced in London... I did
enjoy the majesty of it.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSeAYKG-8Ko

A Faith That Rests

For we which have believed do enter His rest...
the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. Hebrews 4:3

A great many people have the faith that seeks, but they
have not a faith that rests. The Lord Jesus is here, rest
in Him, let the burden go. "Lord I trust You now. I a-
bide in You now. Lord, as I think about my home pro-
blems, my business pressures, my personal difficulties
in every sphere of life, I bring them all, and give them
all to You." Believe that He keeps you. I am sure this
rest of faith is the center of all activity.
Evan Hopkins 1837-1918

Reader, Few believers today have any concept of "rest"
that comes from knowing God and how it impacts every
phase of life. We can rest even on our busiest days. It is
the anxiety and unbelief that gets us. I love the phrase
that "the works were finished from the foundation of 
the world." Think on this...

Resting But Not Lazy

There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people
of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also 
rests from his own work, just as God did from
his.  Hebrews 4: 9-10

It is this resting from their own work which many
Christians cannot understand. 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 undermines watchfulness and
warfare to which Scripture calls.

Yet, this is an entire misunderstanding of God's call
to rest. As the Almighty, God is the only source of
power. In nature He works all. In grace He waits to
work all too, if man will but consent and allow.
Truly to rest in God is to yield oneself up to the
highest activity. We work, because He works in us
to will and to do.

As Paul says of himself, "I labor, striving according
to His working who works in me with might" which
literally means "agonizing according to His energy
who energizes me with might. Entering the rest of
God is the ceasing from self-effort, and the yielding
up oneself in the full surrender of faith to God's work-
ing.

How many Christians are there who need nothing so
much as rightly  to apprehend this word. Their life is
one of earnest effort and ceaseless struggling. They
do long to do God's will, and to live to His glory. Con-
tinued failure and bitter disappointment is their too
frequent experience. Very often as the result they give
themselves up to a feeling hopelessness: it never will
be otherwise. Theirs is truly the wilderness life--they
have not entered into God's rest.

Would that God might open their eyes, and show them
Jesus as our Joshua, who has entered into God's pre-
sense, who sits upon the throne as High Priest, bring-
ing us in living union with Himself into that place of
rest and of love, and, by His Spirit within us, making
that life of heaven a reality and an experience.
Andrew Murray  1828-1917 His work was in South
Africa. The biography below is excellent. Murray is
one of my favorite authors!

Reader, learning to rest in God can take a lifetime!
or not...

https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/innertravelers/andrew-murray.html

Murray's prayer:
"May not a single moment of my life be spent outside
the life, love and joy of God's presence. And not a
moment without the entire surrender of myself as a
vessel for Him to fill full of His Spirit and His love."

He Will Do It

He will do this   Psalm 37:5

I once believed that after I prayed, it was my respon-
sibility to do everything in my power to bring about
the answer. Yet God taught me a better way and
showed me that self-effort always hinders His work.
He also revealed that when I prayed and had confi-
dent trust in Him for something, He simply wanted
me to wait in an attitude of praise and do only what
He told me. Sitting still, doing nothing except trust-
ing in the Lord, causes a feeling of uncertainty, and
there is often a tremendous temptation to take the
battle into our own hands...

Often we fail to give God an opportunity to work,
not realizing that it takes time for Him to answer
prayer. It takes time for God to color a rose or to
grow a great oak tree. And it takes time for Him to
make bread from wheat fields. He takes the soil,
then grinds and softens it. He enriches it and wets
it with rain showers and with dew. Then He brings
the warmth of life of life to the small blade of grass,
later grows the stalk and the amber grain. After a
season Man harvests the ripened grain to make the 
bread.

All this takes time. Therefore we sow the seed, till
the ground, and then wait and trust until God's pur-
pose is fulfilled. We understand the principle when
it comes to planting a field, and we need to learn
the same lesson regarding our prayer life. It takes
time for God to answer prayer.
J. H. M.  Charles Henry MacIntosh 1820-1896

Reader, when my dad was a boy he planted a seed,
then every day when he watered it he dug is up to
see how things were going. Well, they weren't. I
think that we are prone to try and see the progress
that God is making--when it is mostly below ground.

A nineteenth century saint:
https://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bmackintosh2.html

To Know Him

That I may know Him.  Philippians 3:10

The initiative of the saint is not towards self-reali-
zation, but towards knowing Jesus Christ. The spiri-
tual saint never believes circumstances to be hapha-
zard, or thinks of his life as secular and sacred; he 
sees everything he is dumped down in as the means 
of securing the knowledge of Jesus Christ. There is 
a reckless abandonment about him. The Holy Spirit 
is determined that we shall realize Jesus Christ in e-
very domain of life, and He will bring us back to the 
same point again and again until we do. Self-realiza-
tion leads to enthronement of work. Whether it be 
eating or drinking or washing disciples' feet, what-
ever it is, we have to take the initiative of realizing 
Jesus Christ in it. Every phase of our actual life has 
its counterpart in the life of Jesus. Our Lord realized
His relationship to the Father even in the most men-
ial work. 

"Jesus knowing...
that He was come from God, and was going to God...
Took a towel... 
and began to wash the disciples' feet."

The aim of the spiritual saint is "that I may know
Him." Do you know Him today? If not, I am fail-
ing Him. I am here not to realize myself, but to
know Jesus. In Christian work the initiative is too
often the realization that something has to be done
and I must do it. That is never the attitude of the
spiritual saint; his aim is to secure the realization
of Jesus Christ in every set of circumstances he is
in. Oswald Chambers

Reader, it is interesting to me that whoever is follow-
ing the devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, will
recognize the three blogs as coming to them recently.
I have not paid attention to the dates, but it seems to
me that these treasures are worthy of repetition!

This one, "He will bring us back to the same point un-
til we do," has been the story of most of my life. A-
round and around the same mountain, but in recent
years it is not as much. Praise God for His faithfulness.
He won't let me get away with anything!

A High Goal

Till we all come...unto the measure of the stature of the 
fulness of Christ. Ephesians 4:13

Rehabilitation means the putting back of the whole human 
race into the relationship God designed it to be in, and this 
is what Jesus Christ did in Redemption. The church ceases 
to be a spiritual society when it is on the lookout for the de-
velopment of its own organization. The rehabilitation of the 
human race on Jesus Christ's plan means the realization of 
Jesus Christ in corporate life as well as in individual life. 
Jesus Christ sent apostles and teachers for this purpose--
that the corporate Personality might be realized. We are not
here to develop a spiritual life of our own, or to enjoy spirit-
tual retirement; we are here so to realize Jesus Christ that 
the Body of Christ may be built up.

Am I building up the Body of Christ, or am I looking for 
my own personal development only? The essential thing 
is my personal relationship to Jesus Christ--
"That I may know Him."
To fulfill God's design means entire abandonment to Him.
Whenever I want things for myself, the relationship is dis-
torted. It will be a big humiliation to realize that I have 
not been concerned about realizing Jesus Christ, but only 
about realizing what He has done for me.

My goal is God Himself, not joy nor peace,
Nor even blessing, but Himself, my God.

Am I measuring my life by this standard or by anything
less?  Oswald Chambers

Reader, I can't help thinking that the modern church is
all about blessings and what He has done for us. Surely
this will not carry us when persecutions and tribulation
come. We must know Him. Do I? Do you?

Vision

In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.
Isaiah 6:1

Our soul's history with God is frequently the history of
the "passing of the hero." Over and over again God has
to remove our friends in order to bring Himself in their
place, and that is where we faint and fail and get dis-
couraged. Take it personally: In the year that the one
who stood to me for all that God was, died--I gave up
everything? I became ill? I got disheartened? or--I
saw the Lord?

My vision of God depends upon the state of my charac-
ter. Character determines revelation. Before I can say,
"I saw the Lord," there must be something correspond-
ing to God in my character. Until I am born again and
begin to see the Kingdom of God, I see along the line
of my prejudices only; I need the surgical operation of
external events and an internal purification.

It must be God first, God second, and God third, until
the life is faced steadily with God, and no one else is
of any account whatever. "In all the world there is none
but thee, my God, there is none but thee."

Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing
to live up to the vision. Oswald Chambers 1874-1917

Reader, I get far more out of these posts than you do!!!

Ten things you never heard about Oswald Chambers
Oswald Chambers
His biography--not very long
https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/innertravelers/oswald-chambers.html

Commit to Him Your Plans

Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans
will succeed. Proverbs 16:3

Seek entirely to depend on God for everything. Put
yourself and your work into His hands. When think-
ing of any new undertaking, ask, "Is this agreeable
to the mind of God? Is it for His glory?"

If it is not for His glory, it is not for our good, and
you must have nothing to do with it. Mind that!
Having settled that a certain course is for the glory
of God, begin it in His name, and continue it to the
end.

Undertake it in prayer and faith, and never give up!
Pray, pray, pray, pray! Do not regard iniquity in
your heart. If you do, the Lord will not hear you.
Keep that before you always. Then trust in God.
Depend on only God. Wait on Him. Believe on
Him. Expect great things from Him. Faint not if
the blessing tarries. Pray, pray, pray!

And, above all, rely only upon the merits of our
ever-adorable Lord and Savior, that, according to
His infinite merits, and not your own, the prayers
you offer and the work you do, will be accepted.
George Mueller  1805-1898--was active in the
Plymouth Brethren movement but most widely
known for his work in establishing orphanages
which were run totally on faith. He concluded
his last worldwide mission tour at the age of 87.

Reader, what a great encouragement to check in
with God about both going into something new
and  whether or not it is to continue. This man
had great faith. His bio is posted below. Wow!
So challenging...
Not what you might think.

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/george-muellers-strategy-for-showing-god

A Supernatural Transfusion

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

The true Christian life, which begins with a super-
natural transition, consists and continues in a 
supernatural transfusion.

The very life and nature of Christ are transfused
into the innermost being of the Christian believer
by the Holy Spirit. Thus our Savior's word is ful-
filled: "Because I live, ye shall live also." John
14:19. Paul not only says, "I live, yet not I;" he
goes on to say, "but Christ liveth in me." There
is not only transition; there is transfusion. This is 
the most precious sacred secret of the Christian 
life. The man of the world neither understands it 
nor even suspects it. Yet oh, how real it is to our 
Lord's own!

Now just because of this supernatural transfu-
sion, the New Testament ideal for our Christian
life is that there will be within us a continual
displacement of the old self-life, and an ever-
clearer enthronement of the new Christ-life. 
All of us, by nature, are ego-centric, self-cen-
tered; but we are meant to become Christ-
centered. Christ is to be the new life within 
our life; the new mind within our mind; the 
new will within our will; the new love within 
our love; the new Person within our personality... 

The whole of our consciousness is meant to 
be penetrated with the consciousness of His 
indwelling life and mind and will and love, 
even as the air in Summer is transfused with 
sunshine.  
J Sidlow Baxter (1903-1999) is a prolific 
author on the Christian life. His books in-
clude,
Awake My Heart and Explore the Book.

Reader, I have never heard of this man so I
looked him up and found a wonderful bio-
graphy. I think you will enjoy looking over
the ups and downs of his life. He lived out
what he preached.

http://www.disciplemagazine.com/www/articles/122.226

Power Through Weakness

That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weak-
nesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions,
in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am
strong.  2 Corinthians 12:10

The literal translation of this verse adds a startling
emphasis to it, allowing it to speak for itself with
power we have probably never realized. It is as
follows: "Therefore I take pleasure in being with-
out strength, being insulted, experiencing emergen-
cies, and being chased and forced into a corner for
Christ's sake; for when I am without strength, I 
am dynamite.

The secret of knowing God's complete sufficiency
is in coming to the end of everything in ourselves
and our circumstances.  Once we reach this point,
we will stop seeking sympathy, because we will
recognize these things as the necessary conditions
for blessings. We will then turn from our circum-
stances to God, realizing they are the evidence of
Him working in our lives. AB Simpson 1844-1919

Reader, what if we posted this on our refrigerators,
bathroom mirrors, or the dash of the car? "When I
am without strength, I am dynamite!" What if I
really believed it? At the very least I would smile
more; laugh more easily. So, I challenge all my
readers to seriously consider the verse above.

More on Solitude

God has made me a lonely person...I was always
a solitary soul, thinking more for, than with
people:  but it is good to be more alone--most
good, if it be more alone with Christ. What a
place that is!  John Darby

A little bird I am,
Shut from the fields of air;
And in my cage I sit and sing
To Him who placed me there;
Well pleased a prisoner to be,
Because, my God, it pleases Thee.
Jeanne Guyon  1648-1717

Reader, there will come a day when loneliness,
being misunderstood, rejection, will pass away
forever. There is a day coming when we will see
Him face to face. In the meantime He has said,
"I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Madame Guyon found herself in hot water from
an early age with both her mother-in-law and
the Catholic Church. Guyon was married off at
age fifteen by her parents. She was widowed at
age 28 having born five children, two of which
survived childhood.  She was imprisoned in
France because the Catholic Church thought her
teachings to be heretical. Guyon believed that sal-
vation is by grace alone and that it is possible to
pray without ceasing. Very radical!

Solitude

Thou shall hide them in the secret of thy presence.  
Psalm 31:20

All our best experiences come when we are alone
with God. There are sorrows which we can endure
in no other place. Grief is of many kinds, but all 
grief that is really terrible and heart-crushing sends
us into speechless solitude to weep it out upon the
heart of God.

There are temptations which can be overcome only
when alone with Him. The fight with the adversary 
is a solitary combat after all. And there are deep joys
that can come into us only when alone with God, the
joy of feeling Christ's personal love, the joy of find-
ing His strength made perfect in our weakness, the
joy of bringing our empty vessels to the Divine full-
ness of His grace, waiting till he fills them, and see-
ing them overflow...

We need deep communion with Christ if we are to get 
it at all. There is no part of a tree so invisible as its 
roots: but none more essential to its growth and fruit-
fulness: and just as the visible condition of the tree is 
an unfailing index of what the unseen roots are doing, 
our visible lives will soon tell whether or not our invi-
sible roots are going deep: for dryness below ground 
soon means deadness above ground.
G H Knight

Reader, many of you know what it is like to be alone;
who may even now be feeling deeply lonely. May you
be enabled to enter into the "secret of thy presence."

Thy Way, Not Mine

Pray for us...that the Lord thy God may show 
us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing
that we may do.  Jeremiah 42:2,3

Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
However dark it be!
Lead me by Thine own hand.
Choose out the path for me.

Smooth let it be or rough,
It will be still the best;
Winding or straight, it leads
Right downward to Thy rest

I dare not choose my lot;
I would not if I might;
Choose Thou for me, my God,
So shall I walk aright.

Take Thou my cup, and it
With joy or sorrow fill,
As best to Thee may seem;
Choose Thou my good or ill:

Choose Thou for me my friends,
My sickness or my health;
Choose Thou my cares for me,
My poverty or wealth.

Not mine, not mine the choice,
In things or great or small;
Be Thou my strength,
My wisdom and my all.
Horatius Bonar  1808-89

Reader, our lives are made up of boredom, excite-
ment, "suddenlies," and hard work in between. I
just finished a whirl-wind week of family where
12-20 gathered at the table each day--then the si-
lence of just two. It is good to go back to scripture,
back to Jeremiah, and be reminded that God has
the script. He wants us to trust Him all our days.
He plans delightful surprises on the way:

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude
of the heavenly host praising God...Luke 2:13

For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
and with the trump of God: and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive 
and remain shall be caught up together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: 
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Where-
fore comfort one another with these words.
I Thessalonians 4:16-18