Inner Vigilance

'...perfecting holiness in the fear of God.'
2 Corinthians 7:1

"Christ always maintained an inner vigilance to
continually submit His spirit to His Father. I also
have the responsibility of keeping my spirit in
agreement with His Spirit. And when I do, Jesus 
gradually lifts me up to the level where He lived--a 
level of perfect submission to His Father's will, 
where I pay no attention to anything else." OC

Paul speaks of godliness in his first letter to Timothy,
nine times. In chapter 6:11, Paul says:

"...But flee from these things, you man of God; and 
pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of 
faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were 
called..."

Reader, the Christian life is not a passive thing, not
then; not today. Chambers says to 'maintain an inner
vigilance and to submit to the Father.'

(Sometimes my blogs cut me. This is one of those.)

Remember

'Remember Lot's wife. 
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it.' 
Luke 17:32

'Had Lot's wife not left Sodom? Indeed she had. But 
her flesh still fed on Sodom's sweets, and so her heart 
had not left it, had not lost it.'

'To God, Sodom was only fit to be turned into a cinder;
to Lot's wife it was still worth saving. She still sought
to save her "life" from the falling fire--not her bodily
life--for she was already outside the city; but the things
of her desire, the things of the world that remained in
Sodom.'

'She so loved that life and longed for it that she looked
back and lost it all--her life in Sodom and indeed, her 
bodily life; her all. There she stood, a pillar of salt, an
external warning to those who long after the flesh.'

My friend, the Lord is coming. What is your life? Is it
lived in the Spirit? Oh the power of the cross to sever
every relationship that would bind us to the flesh! We 
are debtors only to the Holy Spirit. Give the cross full 
place in your life; abandon yourself recklessly to the 
Crucified, for over His crucified life the flesh has not 
one speck of power. Let the cross seize you and sever 
you from that enthrallment with the flesh.

It's been said that "Every strong conviction ends by 
taking possession of us; it overcomes and absorbs us,
and tears us ruthlessly from everything else."
     
'Has the cross so seized upon your life?'

'If it has, you can live for self nevermore. Rather, you 
will cry out with a determined saint of yore, "Oh my 
God, hear the cries of one on whom Thou has had 
mercy and prepare my heart to receive whatever 
Christ has purchased for me. Allow me not to rest 
short of it."'
LE Maxwell (1895-1984)

'The most miserable person on the face of the earth is 
the Christian who is trying to enjoy both worlds.'
Edward Dennett (1831-1914)

'I am most joyously content that Christ would break all 
my idols to bits. It renews my love for Christ to see he 
is jealous of my love, and will have all to Himself.'
Samuel Rutherford. (1600-1661)

Reader, sometimes it is worthwhile to hear from those
who have lived before us. (I checked out the biographies
of these men, all prolific writers from Scotland, England
and Canada.)

It bothers me greatly that in Matt 25 there are ten virgins
but only five are able to go into the kingdom. All of them
are Christians, that is clear in the text, but five were not
ready to receive their Bridegroom. We are nearing the
midnight hour, are you ready?

Dismay

As they followed Jesus they were afraid
Mark 10:32

'There is an aspect of Jesus that chills even a
disciples heart to its depths and make his entire
spiritual life gasp for air. When the darkness of
dismay comes, endure until it is over, because
out of it will come the ability to truly follow
Jesus, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy.'
(OC)

Aspen Trees

When I lived in Colorado I loved to go into the
mountains in early fall and walk through the Aspen
groves. The round leaves turned early to a golden
color and they would twirl in the wind. What I did
not know then was that each of the trees was tied
together by the same trunk. The trees grew from
the trunk not from a seed. None of the trees looked
the same. Some were large and healthy and some
were small and spindly--but each was attached to the
other and were of the same source. The large healthy
looking ones, however, were the ones that tended to
fall in the high winds. They fell and became food
for the deer and a place of safety for the small
animals.

The question I am asking myself is whether or not
I would be willing to fall, fail, if it meant that others
would find life? The trees had no choice in this, and
really, neither do I.

Anguish

In the last blog we looked at King David and how he
wrote out six verses that have brought comfort to the
suffering over thousands of years. Today I want to
look at a prophet called Jeremiah who is known as the
'weeping prophet.' Had he known what was ahead,
would he have signed up? Whatever he said was
ignored and whatever he said came true which got
him into more trouble! He had a bad reputation and
suffered along with his people in the time of famine.
The famine, the sword, the wasting away came to
his people because they failed to hear the word God
was saying to them through the prophets. We can see
the heart of Jeremiah in the book of
Lamentations:

'I have become the laughingstock of all
      peoples,
   the object of their taunts all day long.
He has filled me with bitterness;
     he has sated me with wormwood.
He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
     and made me cower in ashes;
my soul is bereft of peace;
     I have forgotten what happiness is;
so I say, "My endurance has perished;
     so has my hope from the Lord."'

The groaning of Jeremiah goes on for five chapters.
But right in the midst the prophet pens these words:

'But this I call to mind,
     and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
     his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
     great is your faithfulness.
"The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
     "therefore I will hope in him."
The Lord is good to those who wait for
     him,
   to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
     for the salvation of the Lord.'
(Lamentations 3)

Reader, all of us want to please God. So, what really
pleases our Dad? It pleases Him to see His sons
and daughters worshiping Him in the night seasons.
Say what you feel in the anguish, but always come
back to the place of truth. Put that "thing" at the
feet of Jesus--over and over until you come to the
place of peace.

(This blog was tested in my very own crucible!)

'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases'
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnOFh9WFe6k

The Hound of Heaven

Psalm 23 was penned at a time in David's life when he
was 'penned' in and helpless. His son, Absalom, had
taken the throne so David was forced to flee for his life
into the desert. No grass, no quiet waters, but there was
the deepest valley without light or end. David was not
even sure if it was not because of his sin that events
had gone south. It was a terrible time; one of the worst
for this king. Alone and forlorn David writes:

'The Lord is my shepherd...
Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me
all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house 
of the Lord forever.'

SURELY: a solid word that can be translated as
'ONLY.' this and nothing else
GOODNESS: in the widest sense, beautiful, favor, glad,
merry, welfare, joyful kindness, loving, bountiful favor.
LOVING KINDNESS: strong affection toward,
tender regard.

In this verse God is the initiator. You are His prize.
This is the way God is.
He is only goodness and loving kindness toward you
always.
Nothing depends on your good behavior.

Let me write it out for you:
'Surely or only His goodness--bountiful favor--and
loving kindness--strong affection, tender regard--
shall follow me--pursue me--through all my days
and His presence shall be my dwelling place forever.'

Reader--this verse has been getting into my very soul
over the past few days. The writer was in a very
difficult place but he did not write words of despair
and self-pity. He did not make silly statements:
'God does not love me.'
'God has forgotten me.'
'God is is angry with me.'
David does so in other psalms he wrote but not this
one. Perhaps it was because David had walked so
closely to God for many years. The king recognized
God's bountiful favor, strong affection for him, His
ongoing pursuit--the hound of heaven-- no matter what
and the delight of His presence!

If you want to dig deeper into this verse, check out this
video and watch how Malcolm Smith unpacks it. I only
hit the highlights.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeKp1iXaTo0

Oneness

'...after Moses was grown...he went out to his 
brethren and looked on their burdens.'
Ex 2:11

'In the beginning Moses had realized that he was
the one to deliver the people, but he had to be
trained and disciplined by God first. He was
right in his individual perspective, but he was
not the person for the work until he had learned
true fellowship and oneness with God.' (OC)

Individual discouragement blossoms into personal
growth as we lean into Him and surrender. Moses
spent 40 years on the backside of the desert. By
the time God called him, he was probably so
content that it was an effort to walk back into
Egypt and lead God's people!

Reader, we live in the culture of 'instant;'
God lives outside of time.