"None But The Hungry Heart" -Miles Stanford

[NetChaplain]

The Christian life is never that of independence but of dependence. There is nothing within ourselves to trust, but rather to “yield” it all to Him (Rom 6:13) and He will deal with it in us (Rom 8:13; Gal 5:17). Faith is not in that which it produces but in Him who produces faith in us.

Otherwise, we would be self-deprived of “casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7), which places strength in Him and not ourselves. It has been well said, “To be disappointed is to have trusted in the arm of flesh and not the arm of God, for God does not disappoint.”

If we believe that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom 8:28), we should not be disappointed even with ourselves, which concludes of regret; this detracts in our conscience from enjoying God’s complete forgiveness and acceptance in Christ (Eph 1:6).

Regret is a worldly sorrow and can interfere in knowing complete forgiveness. “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death” (2 Cor 7:10, NKJV).
- NC

SPIRIT-DEPENDENT

"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth" (2 Thessalonians 2:13).

To be Christ-centered, we must be Spirit-dependent.

"It is basically the belief of the truth; it is not belief of the fruits. The Holy Spirit cannot present to me the fruit He has produced in me, as the object of my faith. He speaks to me of my faults, of my sins, but not of the good works that may be in me. He produces them in me, but He hides them from me; for if we think of them, it is but a more subtle self-righteousness. It is like the manna which, being kept, produced worms. All is spoilt–it is no more faith in action. The Holy Spirit must always present to me the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may grow and have peace." -J.N.D.

"An understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is basic to Christian growth. Spirituality is Christ-likeness, and Christ-likeness is the fruit of the Spirit. Spiritual power is not the miraculous or the spectacular, but rather the consistent manifestation of the characteristics of the Lord Jesus in the believer's life. All this is the work of the Spirit, of whom the Lord Jesus said, 'He shall glorify Me' (John 16:14).

"What are the ingredients of spirituality? First, a spirit of dependence, whatever may be the state of faith and the blessings we may have realized. Secondly, an entire confidence in the goodness of the Father; for He is love. Thirdly, the Lord Jesus as the constant object of the affections of the heart, for the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart is to fill it with contemplation of and fellowship with the Lord Jesus in glory."

"Changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

 

[NetChaplain]

The most growth-stunting opposition to the progress of being “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29) is that of not going “on to completion” (Heb 6:1). If the choice of a static position in the “foundation” remains, traversing beyond it onto the superstructure is not encountered.

Repentance is an internal activity of the heart involving desires which are toward the opposite of a pre-established behavior. When one chooses to “repent and be converted” (Acts 3:19), this is a single occurrence and means that one’s desires will always be toward the will of God, never requiring again to repent from the six articles listed in Hebrews 6:1, 2.

Even though this does not involve an unbroken doing of God’s will (sin), repentance remains unbroken and confession is to be maintained; this is the evidence (not the cause) of the soul’s standing in Grace, for we repent once and for all, but confess continually.

The Law was a “schoolmaster” which brought men “to Christ” (Gal 3:24), which was no longer necessary after being in Christ (v 25) and the doctrines of Christ taught by Himself and His Apostles, which esp. includes Paul, were centralized on the freedom in Christ’s atonement for the purpose of setting men apart from the Law.

This was continuously met (and still is) with opposition from those who chose to remain in Judaism, which now is the unscripturally supported concdept of a Judeo-Christian religion which if not intended for a Jewish conversion to Christianity, it is the error and weighty burden of many in modern Christendom who accept that salvation is not of the Law concerning its ritual ordinances, but believe the Decalogue (Ten Commandments - Covenantism) is still the rule of life for the Christian believer.

The are two Covenants which remain: the Covenant in Christ's blood, made in eternity past between the Father and the Son; and Israel's Covenant which God will make with them in the future (The Two NEW Covenants).
-NC

RECALCITRANT REFORMATION

"Everyone that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness" (Hebrews 5:13).

The Reformation, for all of its rise from Rome, to this day has never really gotten off the ground.

"Almost all the theology of the various 'creeds of Christendom' dates back to the Reformation, which went triumphantly to the end of Romans Five, and, so far as theological development or presentation of the truth was concerned, stopped there. Therefore, you must not regard yourself as bound to accept all that legal doctrine of sanctification, which has been and still is predominantly, the sine qua non of orthodox belief."-W.R.N.

"The contrast is painful in the extreme between the uniform language of the New Testament about Christians as thus called to worship in liberty and joy and nearness to the Father, and that of liturgies ancient and modern; and this because the results of redemption soon became merged and hidden in Jewish forms, and the law was recalled to the place of the Holy Spirit, and man in the flesh intruded wholesale into realms which belong only to those solemnly accredited as God's Church, the Body of Christ." -W.K.

"The liturgies of ritualism merely fall back upon the feelings of man, with a slight tincture of Gospel and a large infusion of law. There may be sublime language and glowing ideas, chiefly borrowed from the Old Testament; but in substance they are utterly beneath spiritual or even intelligent Christian use." -W.K.

"The only thing that God ever acknowledged in religion and ritualism was Jewish. It all had to do with the flesh. That is repudiated in the Cross; all is crucified: your life is now 'hid with Christ in God' (Colossians 3:3)."

"But solid food belongeth to them that are of full age" (Hebrews 5:14).

 

[NetChaplain]

THE SPIRIT'S OBJECT

"He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (with Him)" (1 Corinthians 6:17).


We are one spirit with the Lord Jesus by the one and only Holy Spirit.


"I can always know when the Holy Spirit is leading me, because He ever occupies me with the Lord Jesus. True, He may have to call attention to my own condition, but if He does, He turns me to the Lord Jesus, not merely to convict me, but to relieve me." -J.B.S.


"Spiritual growth is the Holy Spirit engraving the Lord Jesus on a man's heart, putting Him into his thoughts, his words, and his ways, just as the Law was engraved upon stones. It is not that there is no failure. A man who is seeking to make money does not always succeed; but everybody knows what his object is. Just so, the Lord Jesus Christ is the object of the believer's life." -J.N.D.


"The believer is not to clamor for the solution of perplexities or for intellectual mastery of divine mysteries. What knowledge he has in this realm is his because the Holy Spirit has declared it to him; and for the Spirit's declaration he must wait."


"None of us is ever beyond the work of the Spirit in us. Many think that because they have the light of a truth, they are in all the practical reality of it. No! You may know and reckon on all the Bible, but there is no growth beyond the measure of the Holy Spirit's work in you." -J.B.S.


"The Holy Spirit is only truly yielded to as the Cross, with its crucifixion of the flesh and the world, has become the attitude of our heart and mind."


"He (the Holy Spirit) shall glorify Me" (John 16:14).

 

[NetChaplain]

HAND-HEWN

"Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous" (Hebrews 10:11a).

You will be prepared, but never pierced, by the nail-pierced Hand.


"Sufferings are for chastening (child-training). And chastening is from love, a token of our Father's care. We live in a world full of trial and suffering. Many of the Lord's people have complained that their circumstances were too unfavorable for a life of full devotion, of close fellowship with Him, or pressing on to maturity. The duties and difficulties, the cares and troubles of life, render it practically impossible, they say, to live a fully consecrated life.


"Would God that they might learn the lesson of His Word! Every trial comes from the Father as a call to come away from the world to Him, to trust Him, to believe in His love. In every trial He will give strength and blessing. Let but this truth be accepted, in each trial, small or great; first of all and at once, recognize the Father's hand in it. Say at once, I welcome it from Him; my first care is to glorify my Father–He will use it all for my good."


"Do not be afraid of the Father's training school. He both knows His scholars, as to what they are, and He knows for what service they are to be fitted. A jeweler will take more pains over a gem than over a piece of glass; but the one he takes most pains over is longest under discipline and most severely dealt with. Once finished, however, the burnish never tarnishes, the brightness never dims. So with us. If we are placed, at times, as in a furnace, it is not merely for earthly service, but for eternity. May you so appreciate the plans of your Father that you can triumphantly glory in the love that subjects you to such discipline, though the trial itself be sharp and to the flesh hard to bear." -J.H.T.


"Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them who are exercised by it" (Hebrews 12:11b).

 

[NetChaplain]

FREELY COME; FREELY ABIDE

"That our God may make you worthy of His call, and by His power fully satisfy your every desire for goodness" (2 Thessalonians 1:11a, Wms.).


If we are born into the Lord Jesus by sheer grace, surely He can manifest Himself in us on the same principle.


"It is this quiet expectation and confidence, resting on the Word of the Lord Jesus that in Him there is an abiding place prepared, which is so sadly wanting among Christians. The idea many have of grace is that their conversion and pardon are God's work, but that now, in gratitude to Him, it is their work to live as Christians. There is always the thought of work (law) that has to be done, and even though they pray for help, still the work is theirs. They fail continually, and become helpless; and the despondency only increases the helplessness.


"Abiding in the Lord Jesus is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us and in us, and through us. It is a work He does for us–the fruit and power of His redeeming love. Our part is simply to yield, to trust, to abide, and to wait for what He has engaged to perform. As it was the Lord Jesus who drew thee when He said 'Come,' so it is the Lord Jesus who keeps thee when He says 'Abide.'" -A.M.


"The heart is constantly looking to God to give a testimony about itself; but the Father is giving a testimony concerning His Son, and not about what we are; if He were to give a testimony about us, it must be about our sin and unbelief of heart. But no; and it is of great importance in this day of infidelity to see that if the Father gives a testimony, it is about His Son, and what He is to the sinner. If you believe that, you will have peace." -J.N.D.


"And complete every activity of your faith, so that the Name of our Lord Jesus might be glorified in you" (2 Thessalonians 1:11b, Wms.).

 

[Coconut]

Abiding in the Lord Jesus is not a work that we have to do as the condition for enjoying His salvation, but a consenting to let Him do all for us and in us, and through us. It is a work He does for us–the fruit and power of His redeeming love.

Awesome word! I get excited every single time I come across another who has grasped this, its an amazing truth that never gets old, that is life-giving sap flowing straight from the Vine right there!

 

[NetChaplain]

Awesome word! I get excited every single time I come across another who has grasped this, its an amazing truth that never gets old, that is life-giving sap flowing straight from the Vine right there!

Amen! "No longer I, but Christ" (Gal 2:20); "Christ, who is our life" (Col 4:4).

With God's Blessings

 

[NetChaplain]

UNFEIGNED HUMILITY

"God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble" (1 Peter 5:5).


Humility is the hallmark of the servant resting in, and sent from, the Father's presence.


"There is a sense in which God's true servant is always a defeated man. The one who drives on with a sense of his own importance, who is unwilling to appreciate the worthlessness of his own best efforts and is always seeking to justify himself–that one will not be meek, and so will lack the essential enablement by which God's work must be accomplished. Our brokenness must not be feigned; we must not be content with the mere language and appearance of humility. We, too, must be as conscious of Divine mercy in our being recovered for God's service as we are of the original mercy which drew us from the dark waters of death." -H.F.


"Humility is quietness of heart. It is to have no trouble. It is never to be fretted or irritated or disappointed. It is to wonder at nothing that is done to me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have my blessed home in the Lord Jesus, where I can go in and shut the door and be with my Father in secret, and be at peace when all outside is trouble." -A.M.


"The Father may allow His servant to succeed when He has disciplined him to a point where he does not need to succeed to be happy. The man who is elated by success and cast down by failure is still a carnal man. At best his fruit will have a worm in it."


"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).

 

[NetChaplain]

There is only one place God wants the believer—close (Psa 73:28; Heb 7:19; Jam 4:8)! Many times we hinder this type of fellowship with the veiled hearts and fig leaf coverings of our conscience by not understanding the suffiency of Christ’s redemption and to base our support concerning this by any other source would be to “trod underfoot the Son of God” (Heb 10:29), due to doubting the efficacy of His atonement.

The primary evidence of a clear understanding here is “the answer of a good conscience toward God” (1 Pet 3:21), which can only be maintained when we accept the truth that “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them” (Heb 7:25).
-NC

NEW BIRTH PLACE

"(God) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:6)

We are to settle down to live and grow precisely where we have been re-born: in Christ Jesus above.

"Do we not often harbor the thought that something yet remains to be done–either by ourselves or by Him–in order to our drawing near? Do we not often thus become occupied with the circumstantials of worship rather than with the Lord Jesus–the substance? Are we not often false to Him in questioning our title to draw near, because we find distance in our own hearts, as if it was the warmth of our affections, instead of the Blood of the Lord Jesus, which brought us nigh?" -W.K.

"Our being perfectly cleansed by the Blood of the Lord Jesus, the Holiest of All is our place before the Father, and it is so simply upon the ground of what His sacrifice has effected. Our dwelling place is in the light, not by reason of our subjective condition, but because the Lord Jesus has made the position ours by the putting away of our sins, and by bringing us to the Father." -H.F.W.

"The heart must enter into something more than the look behind into those waters of judgment, out of which the Lord Jesus rose, having left our sins, and death, and judgment forever! Such a joy would never carry us through the desert where faith and patience are tried and tested every day. It needs that the heart be carried into the glory of Canaan beyond; in the present sense of peace with the Father, and the consciousness of standing in His present favor–the favor that is better than life." -F.G.P.

"Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the Holiest by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, through the veil" (Hebrews 10:19, 20).

 

[NetChaplain]

“We must remind ourselves that "without faith it is impossible to please him" (Hebrews 11:6a). Moreover, and this is all-important, true faith must be based solely upon scriptural FACTS, for "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Unless our faith is established upon facts, it is no more than conjecture, superstition, speculation, or presumption.” – M Stanford

“Since true faith is anchored upon scriptural facts, we are certainly not to be influenced by IMPRESSIONS. George Mueller said, "Impressions have neither one thing nor the other to do with faith. Faith has to do with the Word of God. It is not impressions, strong or weak, which will make the difference. We have to do with the Written Word and not ourselves or our impressions."

Once we begin to reckon (count) on facts, our Father begins to build us up in the faith. From his profoundly simple trust in God, Mueller was able to say that "God delights to increase the faith of His children. We ought, instead of wanting no trials before victory, no exercise for patience, to be willing to take them from God's hand as a means. I say -- and say it deliberately -- trials, obstacles, difficulties, and sometimes defeats, are the very food of faith."

James McConkey wrote: "Faith is DEPENDENCE upon God. And this God-dependence only begins when self-dependence ends. And self-dependence only comes to its end, with some of us, when sorrow, suffering, affliction, broken plans and hopes bring us to that place of self-help-lessness and defeat. And only then do we find that we have learned the lesson of faith; to find our tiny craft of life rushing onward to a blessed victory of life and power and service undreamt of in the days of our fleshly strength and self-reliance."

FILIAL FAITH

"He (the Spirit) maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Romans 8:27).

Neither the Lord Jesus nor the Holy Spirit ever thought of willing or praying outside the will of God the Father. Neither will we, while we walk in the Spirit, and abide in the Lord Jesus.

"Faith is not a power that one possesses, by which he can move the arm of God and work miracles. 'Faith accepts quiet guidance; only unbelief demands a miracle.' There is nothing in true faith that the flesh can glory in. The power is God's. It is the Father who works and does it according to His own wisdom and will. Faith is simply absolute confidence in the Father which gives the certainty that He will fulfill His Word." -A.H.

"Faith must be based upon certainty. There must be the definite knowledge of and confidence in the Father's purpose and will. Without that there can be no true faith. For faith is not a force that we can exercise or a striving to believe that something shall be, thinking that if we believe hard enough it will come to pass." -A.H.

"Let us not be discouraged if the transformation we long for does not take place immediately. Let us feel the need and lay it to heart. Let us stand in faith, and we shall never be put to shame. Cleaving to the Lord Jesus and His Word with purpose of heart can never be in vain. The hour will surely come when out of our hearts, too, will flow rivers of living water."

"Whatever sends us to the Lord Jesus–be it grief, disappointment or burden–is to that degree a blessing. No price is too great to pay in gaining this fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ."

"That ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Colossians 1:9).

 

[NetChaplain]

When the motive for learning God’s Word is to allow the Spirit to apply it experientially in our lives, we will find that our fellowship “with Christ in God” (Col 3:3) is always precedential. This is developed in only one way; to “know Him” (Phil 3:10), and the prerequisite for this is first, to know His Word, then to understand it.

As we maintain exposure to the written Word it provides more possibility for us to learn that “which the Holy Spirit teaches”, which will be commensurate with our motives for the use of this knowledge, in whether or not it is to “puff up” (1 Cor 8:1), which results “in words which man's wisdom teaches” (1 Cor 2:13).

In our zeal to serve the Lord Jesus we can easily encounter situations which occasionally distract our learning of Him, only to find ourselves remembering the need to refocus on His person in our serving Him. This is best exemplified in His visit with the two sisters Martha and Mary. Luke wrote (10:39-42) that “Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard His word” while “Martha was distracted with much serving” and when Martha complained to Him that her “sister has left me to serve alone”, He told her “one thing is needed and Mary has chosen that good part.”

Our present fellowship with Christ is best understood and maximized when we realize God “has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). This means we have an unbroken continuity with Him (through His Spirit) where He is now and it is as we also are in the Father’s presence, “because as He is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17).

As we continue to behold Him in this glory, we can rest in the assurance of living in His promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb 13:5); which was His promise to Joshua (Deu 13:6; Josh 1:5) and is extended to all who are His (Deu 4:31; 1Chro 28:20).
- NC

THE LIVING TRUTH

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14).

We must be truth-centered if we are to be Christ-centered.

"With an increase of knowledge and apprehension of the truth, there is a constant sense that we are not practically up to what we have received; and hence the measure of our strength is not the enjoyment of a truth, but the extent to which we maintain what we believe in spite of every obstacle. It is the way in which we surmount the difficulties in our path, and not the enjoyment of the truth, which defines our position." -J.B.S.

"We will not learn truth aright excepting in the deepening knowledge of the Lord Jesus. It is the lack of this which is the cause of weakness among us: bare doctrine is not connected with Him. When the flower is separated from that which is its source, its sustenance and support, it is henceforth doomed to decay. We have that which is lovely and full of blessing in the Lord Jesus; but if we are to know it as such, to prove its truth, to enjoy it practically, it must be in taking these things as connected with Him." -W.K.

"The Lord Jesus Himself, and not even truth about Him, must be filling our hearts if we are to grow. This is no unnecessary admonition in a day when knowledge of the most sacred truths may be intellectually attained by so small an effort. It is a happy and necessary thing to understand the Word of God, but, with that Word treasured, the aim of the believer's affections should be, 'That I may know Him.' Desires after the Lord Jesus, desires to live with Him in heaven now, and to manifest Him on earth, make the growing believer separate from the world, and separate him unto the glorified Lord." -H.F.W.

"That I may know Him" (Phil 3:10).

 

[NetChaplain]

SPIRIT SPIRITUALITY

"Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17).


Concerning the Holy Spirit, hidden as He is, faith is required above all else.


"Certainly the Holy Spirit directs in the countless details of daily life. Those who have faith, and are dependent upon His direction, will not be disappointed. But the Spirit leads according to Scriptural directions; hence that which is called the leading of the Spirit, and which has not the truth of the Word for its line of thought and action, is necessarily false." -H.F.W.


"The principle of walking in dependence upon the Holy Spirit must never be abandoned, however we may fail to carry it out. We must steer by divinely given principles, even if winds and waves at times do throw us off course. To give up the Father's principles because of opposing elements is to court shipwreck." -H.F.W.


"Being led by the Holy Spirit is the principle by which the Father deals in grace with believers. Outside the circle of the Spirit, men are led by the flesh; under the law His people were in bondage and under the schoolmaster. Now, in Christian privilege, the Spirit leads: 'if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law' (Galatians 5:18). -H.F.W.


"The Lord Jesus in glory is the standard of perfection, and the Savior on earth is the pattern for our walk. No one's walk is perfect, but the Spirit of Christ who dwells in us is perfect, and as the believer yields to the Father as one alive from the dead, the desires of the flesh are not fulfilled, and the Spirit brings forth His fruit in him." -H.F.W.


"Walk in (dependence upon) the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).

 

[NetChaplain]

There is more profitability in store for the believer to go through a trial with Christ than to go around one without Him. It is a “glory” (2 Cor 12:9) for a believer to “endure hardness” (2 Tim 2:3) because “as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation” (2 Cor 1:7).

We rested in God’s grace for our salvation and we must continue to rest in His grace for everything else, because He has made no other provision for our “sufficiency” (2 Cor 12:9). Basing our support on anything other than His grace is failure, thus delaying His teaching in our learning progression.

We can “patiently wait” (1 Pet 2:20) the trial out by just letting it “pass over” (Ex 12:23). Even if it is a self-incurred adversity due to a mistake, from which many a lessons will derive, we can be assured that “all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom 8:28). Whether we go through kicking and screaming or patiently trusting, the outcome will be the same, “deliverance”! The obvious difference for the former is just a lesson yet to learn.

A cruise ship was caught in a storm at sea, when a frightful women restlessly made her way to the helm to ask the captain what they were going to do. He took her to the port side and said “if you look near the center you’ll notice a plank flapping and if it dislodges we’ll go down. If you look at the smoke stack you’ll notice it is billowing full stream, so if the boiler blows we’ll go up. But unless either occurs, we’re going through!! (Fictional)
- NC

SUPPORT, NOT RELIEF

"In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
Relief from pressure may seem merciful, but support in the pressure produces growth and maturity.

"There is a greater blessing for us than relief; there is the Father's support, for it imparts to you an acquaintance with Himself which relief does not. Relief makes one more satisfied with things here. I have known some who could tell you of a long list of mercies, most touching, truly proof of the tenderness of God.

"Thank God, we all know something of His tenderness. But then there is a greater blessing, namely, that He does not remove the pressure, but raises you above it, so that, though you are not relieved, you are better off than if you were merely relieved, because you know His heart who supports you in the pressure. You have made a deep acquaintance with your Father, and your heart is more attached to Him." -J.B.S.

"It is not getting away from our circumstances, our environment, our associations, that we need, but the Lord Jesus' likeness where we are. The Father placed us there, permitted the trials for a purpose, and He stands ready to bring us out into a life of liberty, if we will stand with Him in trust and endurance while He works it out."

"Have you asked to be made like your Lord; that it might be 'not I, but Christ'? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for patience and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be a rich fruitage in the 'afterward.'"

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27).

 

[NetChaplain]

ACCUSATION

"Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1).

There will be no standing against the enemy's accusations until we are firmly assured of, and settled on, the fact that our Father is at peace with us because of our living union with His Beloved Son. And this alone will give us peace with our Father.

"We thought we were being more Christian by striving more, praying more, reading our Bible more, and confessing our sins more. But all that brought no relief. The awful gnawing in our vitals continues. The sense of guilt increases. We need not a Nathan to say, 'Thou art the man!' A thousand voices are forever ringing in our ears giving the lie to what we long with infinite yearning might be an altogether convincing testimony of a truly Christian walk.

"Now the way out is to be found in a clear-cut recognition of the fact that, as Paul says in Romans 8:1, 'There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.' Let appearances, voices and feelings to the contrary be what they may, still this is a fact. The reason, of course, is found not in ourselves, but in Another." -F.J.H.

"It is a wonderful thing to have the consciousness that we are in living union with the Lord Jesus in heavenly glory, knowing our position in that risen sphere, participating in all that constitutes His life in the blessed circle of love and rest where He lives unto the Father. If we apprehend this we shall not be deceived by what goes on upon the earth." -C.A.C.

"Stand fast, then, in the freedom which Christ has given us" (Galatians 5:1, Wey.).

 

[Coconut]

There is more profitability in store for the believer to go through a trial with Christ than to go around one without Him.

I suspect there is more profitability in store for the believer to go through a trial with Christ than to go around one with Him too...even when we don`t see why 'through the fire' is better. :`)

Thank you for these posts, they were balm for my weary spirit tonight <3

 

[NetChaplain]

Thank you for these posts, they were balm for my weary spirit tonight

Welcome Sis and I like your phrase "'through the fire' is better"!!

 

[NetChaplain]

THE EXCELLENT GLORY

"We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. . . " (2 Corinthians 3:18a).


During the first half of your Christian life you are concerned about your doing; in the second half you will be burdened about your being.


"The more simply devoted you are to the Lord Jesus, who is worthy of all devotion, the more fragrance there will be in all your ways; for it will be manifested that you are not seeking yourself, not wincing because your rights are invaded, or that you are not as much cared for as you are entitled to be. Rather, there is only one governing thought of your life about everything, and that is, how you may distinguish Him who fills every need in your heart, and lights it up with unfading joy."-J.B.S.


"Nothing can be so divinely beautiful on earth as a believer so transformed by the Spirit of God, that he is in heavenly manners here on earth; so that he does not in any of his ways deny the Lord Jesus Christ; but in the most trying hour of his history upon earth the Lord can say of him, 'thou hast a little power, and hast kept My Word, and hast not denied My Name.'" -J.B.S.


"In creation God planted a man in the garden in innocence; in redemption He has planted a Man in heaven, in glory. There is a glory that excelleth. The glory in redemption leaves the glory that was once in creation as nothing." -J.G.B.


"For every believer who actually crosses over into the Promised Land there are far too many who stand for awhile and look longingly across the river, and then turn sadly back to the comparative safety of the sandy wastes of the self-life."


". . . are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord " (2 Corinthians 3:18b).

 

[NetChaplain]

GROUNDWORK

"Ye have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3).


When we rely upon and cater to the old man, that ground produces "the works of the flesh" (Galatians 5:19-21). But as we abide in the risen Lord Jesus, that new ground of our position, His life will be manifested in "the fruit of the Spirit" (Galatians 5:22,23).


"God's Word declares that we are 'dead indeed unto sin,' but nowhere does it say that we are dead in ourselves. We shall look in vain within to find death there. We have died to sin; not in ourselves, but 'in Christ,' and our death with Him is as sure as His death, and since we died with Him it is impossible for His death to be certain and ours uncertain.


"We were crucified with Him because we were in Him (Galatians 2:20). We are raised in Him (Ephesians 2:6); we are complete in Him (Colossians 2:10); we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in Him (Ephesians 1:3); the entire work regarding us is not done in us but in the Lord Jesus–the Father has done all in His Son. If you stand on the ground of what the Lord Jesus is (abide), you will find in your growth that all that is true of Him is becoming true of you; but if you remain on the ground of what you are in yourself, you will find that all that is true of the old man is true of you in life and walk."


"The purpose of Paul, in Romans Six, is to show how completely the believer is identified with the Lord Jesus when 'He died unto sin.' To enter fully into the meaning of that death is to see that He has emancipated us from any further dealings with our old master, sin. The believer is privileged thus to take his position in the risen Lord Jesus, who is now 'alive unto God.' From that ground he is henceforth to regard sin." -E.H.


"Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free" (Galatians 5:1).

 

[NetChaplain]

TRUE LOVE

"If (since) ye, then, be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above" (Colossians 3:1).
Our Father may cripple our earthly standing in order to strengthen our spiritual state, but He will never detract from our spiritual state in order to enhance our worldly standing. Never. "The world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Galatians 6:14).


"It is not only that the Lord Jesus is the object of my heart, but I find that the One I love has made me the object of His heart! A great day for the soul. People are ready to say how they love Him, but how far can they say that they are conscious of His love for them; that they so prize it, that it is the greatest secret of their heart?


"When the Lord Jesus' love is before you, you find this love is drawing you from darkness to light. He begins by showing His desire for your spiritual advancement, and not by advancing you in earthly position. It is beautiful to see that the work of true love is to set aside darkness, or whatever would interfere with association; and therefore it is not esteemed as it ought to be, because we are looking for something on earth, and the tendency is to judge of His love by earthly gifts and favors down here." -J.B.S.


"Most growing believers rightly maintain that all must come from the Lord; but instead of taking their actual position of being dwellers in heaven, and coming from there to earth, they only look up to heaven for help as to their walk on earth; and their thoughts and labors are always influenced and dictated by the state and order of things on earth, and instead of seeking the mind of the Lord as learned in heaven, they are occupied with the blessings of man on earth." -J.B.S.


"Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God " (Colossians 3:2,3).

 

[NetChaplain]

Our heavenly Father desires us to “leave the principles of the doctrine of Christ” and “go on unto completion.”(Heb 6:1). This is our lives being “conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom 8:29) by appropriating what God has made available to us which concerns “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” (2 Pet 1:3). It is only through the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit that this is being done in all who are His and so our spiritual growth is increased by that “which the Holy Ghost teaches”.

He never works outside of the Scriptures because His way is “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (1 Cor 2:13), instead of men “measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves” (2 Cor 10:12). Thus, the only growth source is the Word of God and the Spirit will teach us through it as we continue to study it while asking that the “Lord give thee understanding in all things” (2 Tim 2:7).
-NC

In the overall development of the Church, it would seem that we are at the dawn of the Father's spreading of the Growth truths before His own. We are not only to share the Gospel truths with the lost, but also the Growth truths with the saved.

The Psalms was the only book of Scripture fully translated into Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Norman, and Old English, with the exception of Bede, who, with his dying breath, completed his translation of John.

Our fathers had to wait eight and a half centuries, from Caedmon to Tyndale, before the Epistles of Paul were translated into the common tongue, and thus they could have the full truth revealed by Paul in his proclamation of the Cross.
How readily we take for granted what the Father has given us, to give.

"Wherefore, also, we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Thessalonians 1:11,12).
-Miles J. Stanford; May 1985

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PERFECT PROVISION
"For when for a time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk, and not of solid food" (Hebrews 5:12).

It is a great comfort, during our growing up in the Lord Jesus, to know that He is our perfect provision, and that He provides the perfect processing.

"When the queen bee lays an egg, there is deposited in the cell with it the food on which the larva is to feed during its development. Similarly, when the Father placed us 'in Christ,' He also made provision in Him for our whole life. Christ is made unto us wisdom to enable us to walk aright in a perplexing world, righteousness to replace our sinfulness, sanctification to impart the growth we so greatly need, and redemption of the body to consummate the whole."

"As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrates through a gradual process that sets free the new life, even so does the Father deal with our old man by delivering it to death with the Lord Jesus once for all, and then bringing about its mortification in detail through the circumstances of life, until the power of the flesh has lost its hold." -L.T.

"Our Father is faithful and wise as well as a gracious and patient Teacher. He will not permit us to pass cursorily over our lessons. Sometimes, perhaps, we think we have mastered a lesson, and we attempt to move on to another; but our wise Teacher knows better, and He sees the need of deeper ploughing. He will not have us mere theorists or smatterers: He will keep us, if need be, year after year at our scales until we learn to sing."-C.H.M.

"Solid food belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14).