A Sweet Visitation

Yesterday, I was touched by Ephesians 5:20 since we are to give thanks to our Father for "at all times for all- things", even "bad times" and "good things". As the footnote (1) reveals: "Even in bad times we should give thanks to God...". This is especially poignant in the "present distress" but then a brother also shared with me today Romans 5:3, in which Paul even boasted of "tribulations". Why? Because "...tribulation produces endurance". Such tribulations are part of the "all things" (Romans 8:28) "that God causes "to work together for good that we might be sanctified, transformed, and conformed to the image of His Son..." (RcV, Footnote 1). Thus we can receive such tribulations as a "sweet visitation and incarnation of grace and thereby boast in them". Praise the Lord! (2 Cor.4:16-18 also adds further weight to this with reference to the consuming and wearing out of the "outer man" (the material body and the animating soul) while the inner man, our regenerated spirit, is renewed. Therefore, we do not lose heart! Hallelujah!

Losing our soul life

While we were covering the Kingdom of God in the Gospel of Luke, I was reminded again of how we ought not be distracted by the earthly and material things. Indeed Luke 17:31-33 are poignant verses. As the footnote to verse 31 states: "To linger in the earthly and material things will cause us to miss the overcomers' rapture...". If we seek to preserve our soul life, then we will lose it (in the age to come), as cited by verse 33. Furthemore, a parellel verse (Matthew 10:39) reveals how we "find" our soul life by seeking its enjoyment in this age, in addition to the desire to escape suffering (footnote one). Further on in Luke 17 (vv.34-36) some indication is given as to the kind of things involved in our soul-life: rest, home life and our occupation.

And the world is passing way....

Further to the previous post I also appreciated the word in I John 2:15: "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him". And for what reason should we not be so enamoured with this world? "...the world is passing away and its lust..." (v.17a). Therefore why would be so wrapped up in the worldly, material things, which are against the Father? These are passing away. They are temporary, fleeting and vain. "But he who does the will of God abides forever" (v.17b). Praise the Lord.

The Lord's coming

As I continue reading through the New Testament (now in 2 Peter 3), the word shows that there will be "mockers" in these last days, saying, "Where is the promise of His coming?", even implying that the Lord is "tardy"! However, verse 9 states: "The Lord does not delay regarding the promise". Nevertheless, while He is not tardy, we -- the believers -- ought to be "Expecting and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord" (v.12). Thus, not only do we have the expectation that the Lord will return but we also need to live in "a holy manner of life and godliness" to hasten that day. Yet, the Lord's mercy is such that His "...heart is set not on the time of the fulfillment of His promise but on His people...that none of us, His precious ones would be punished by His governmental judgement" (v.9, footnote 4). Praise the Lord.

"It is the Spirit..."

"...who gives life" (John 6:63a). A wonderful reminder that the Spirit is a person ("who") and this person is the Lord Himself, the One who, as Jesus Christ - the embodiment of the Triune God (Col.1:29) - experienced incarnation, human living, death, resurrection and ascension to "become the life-giving Spirit" (1 Cor.15:45b) to regenerate us. Hallelujah!

Enjoy more of Christ!

Continuing my reading of 1 Chronicles I appreciated a further word on the enjoyment of Christ in Chapter 5, verse 20: "They [the children of Reuben, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh] cried out to God in the battle, and He was entreated for them because they trusted in Him". Here there is a corporate aspect [the various tribes] of their calling on the Lord. What's more the Recovery Version footnote sheds more light on the significance of this verse: "...crying out to God that they might defeat their enemies and possess their land is a pattern for us today..." In what way?: "We too should cry out to God, telling Him that we want to gain more of Christ, possess more of Christ, and enjoy more of Christ as our God-allotted portion". Praise the Lord. How we need more enjoyment of Christ! O Lord Jesus, I need to gain You, possess You and enjoy You much more!

Pray to enjoy Christ

Praise the Lord for Jabez! The one who was held in "more honour than his brothers" (1 Chron.4:9). Reading through the first three chapters of 1 Chronicles may have seemed rather dry but among all the names -- some of them known to many -- Jabez stands out as a brother who focused on the enjoyment of Christ. V.4: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, Oh that You would richly bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand would be with me, and that You would so keep me from evil that it would not grieve me!" And the response to this prayer? : "And God caused what he had requested to come to pass". Hallelujah! As the Recovery Version to this footnote reads: "We all should have such a prayer, a prayer that God would enlarge the border of our enjoyment of Christ".

God is love

I appreciated today that love is the consumation of the partaking of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Although brotherly love is important, even this can be characterised by preferences, whereas agape is a nobler love, which encompasses love for even our enemies, as well as all saints regardless of our personal taste. However, only through such partaking - of all that God is - can we aspire to this love, which has as its issue holiness, the expression of God.

Partaking of the divine nature

Realise that my recent post is really a repeat of the original purpose for this blog. Still it's good to deuteronomise the life-practice which enable us to partake of the divine nature to grow in life and become God in life and nature.

Back again, in the wake of the first weekend into the Crystallization Study of 1 and 2 Peter and Jude. A sobering yet encouraging word from the outset concerning the Christian life under the government of God within the context of God's eternal economy as it's central focus and the operation of the Triune God (the Father's selection, the Spirit's sanctification and the Son's redemption) as it's basic structure.

As a consequence of the above training I was pray-reading 1 Peter 2:2-3 this morning and had the realisation that to "grow unto salvation" we have to feed on the "guiless milk of the word" (v.2), the emphasis on "eating" the word indicated by "If you have tasted..." (v.3). Although we may read, study the Word of God, unless we eat it by pray-reading, as did Jeremiah in the Old Testament (Jer.15:16) and Paul in the New Testament (Eph.6:18) we will not grow unto salvation!

Currently reading through the Book of Job and beginning to appreciate God's purpose in dealing with His holy one - the subject of this book as indicated in the Recovery Version. Job's sensitivity contrasts markedly with the apostle Paul's responses in the New Testament ("Always rejoice"; "Rejoice in the Lord, always, again I say "Rejoice!"). Right now I know with whom I identify in my experience - Job! Not that it's where I should be...

The Wise and Foolish in Matthew 25

Appreciated a sobering reminder this morning from the Gospel of Matthew 25. In the parable of the "ten virgins" (representing Christian believers) who await their coming Lord ("the Bridegroom") verse 5 reveals that "they all became drowsy and slept"; but "at midnight" they heard the cry and went forth to meet him. So, "all those virgins arose". Yet, five were foolish and five were prudent. The succeeding verses reveal the nature of their condition at the Lord's return. Unlike the prudent virgins the foolish did not have the "oil [Spirit] in their vessels [soul]. While they had received the Lord's salvation freely (Rom.6:23) they had not paid the price to buy the oil - allowing the Lord through prayer - to saturate their being.
While they had anticipated the Lord's coming there had not, in their lifetime, been the accumulation of the oil deposited into their being. Therefore, today we must be "watching unto this" (Eph.6:18) in terms of maintaining our prayer life which necessitates paying the price, instead of indulging in worldly excesses.

This morning I had the realisation of the need to live a life of rejoicing, praying and giving thanks to the Lord as indicated in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. Paul exhorted the Thessalonians to "Always rejoice...unceasingly pray, ...in everything give thanks...". The keywords here were "always", "unceasingly" and "everything". In other words this should be a matter of our daily, moment-by-moment living! We should ALWAYS rejoice (in the Lord; Phil.4:4), and pray WITHOUT ceasing (as in footnote one to 1 Thess.5:17: "...to have ininterrupted fellowship with God in our spirit") and thank the Lord for EVERYTHING (Phil.4:5; Rom.8:28-9). So, the Christian life is not a once-week religious duty but a matter of our daily living!

I've been enjoying the experience of Abram (Abraham) recently as related in Genesis 12. This is someone whom I used to consider one of the spiritual giants as cited in Hebrews 11 but his experiences of life are not dissimilar to ours. Having initially lived a life of the "tent and altar"--a life of living by faith--"calling on the name of Jehovah" (Gen.12:8), Abram's departure to Egypt in response to a famine sees him tested by God (v.9-10). Fearing that the Egyptians would kill him to take his "beautiful" wife, Abram encourages her to pose as his sister to save his life. The plan works but his conduct brings plagues upon the Egyptians which in turn causes Pharaoh to send Abram and Sarai out of the land.

In actuality, the famine was a test from God to see whether or not Abram would depend on God for his daily necessities (see, v.10, RcV, footnote 1). Unfortunately, he failed this test, deciding to go to Egypt to escape the famine rather than to look to Jehovah to provide for him in it.

Nevertheless, while in Egypt he was kept by God's grace: "By this experience in Egypt Abraham learned that God who called him also took care of him and that everything was in His sovereign hand" (v.20, footnote 1, Rcv). Furthermore, in His sovereign care for Abram God also brought him back to the life of the tent and altar and recovered the matter of calling on Jehovah (Gen.13:3).