Thoughts for Life: #29 Unlocking Your Spiritual Treasure

Andrew Murray- "Be not drunk with wine . . . but be filled with the Spirit; Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:18-19).

Grieve not the Spirit! Be filled with the Spirit! All our duty to the Spirit is included in these two commands. The one is negative, forbidding everything of the flesh or self that would lead to unbelief or disobedience to Christ Jesus. The other is positive, calling us to yield our whole being in surrender to Him who reveals and maintains the life of Christ within us. (Google image, Man worshipping God)

To understand the command, "Be filled with the Spirit," we need to turn to the day of Pentecost. The disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and we know the dynamic change He worked in their lives. For three years they had lived day and night in close fellowship with their Lord.

His presence meant everything to them. When He spoke of His departure, their hearts were sad. He promised that the Spirit would come, not to take His place, but to reveal Himself as their Lord.

He would be present with them as much as when He was on earth, only far more intimately and gloriously. He would now live and work in them, even as the Father lived and worked in Him on the earth.

To be filled with the Spirit meant that Christ on the throne would be an every-present, living reality, filling their hearts and lives with all His heavenly love and joy. Their fellowship with Him on earth proved to be merely the shadow of that intense and unceasing union with Him which the Spirit revealed in power.

Our Part in Pentecost

The command, "Be filled with the Spirit," that all that the disciples conceived and enjoyed at Pentecost is for us, too. The Church has sunk down from the level of Pentecost to a life in which the spirit of the world and of human wisdom is far too prevalent.

Few believe in the possibility of the constant presence of Christ dwelling in the heart and conquering sin. We despair of a life of devotion and perfect self-sacrifice by the fire of his love, guiding us into all His will and work by the leading of His blessed Spirit.

The heavenly vision of Christ at the right hand of God, ministering salvation to the penitent and spiritual fulfillment to all He has sanctified, is scarcely known. As the result of this, few witness the greatness of His power toward us who believe.

The condition required for this blessing to be received can be studied in the disciples. They turned their backs on the world and gave up everything to follow Christ. They had learned to know and love him and do His will. As our Savior said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter" (John 14:15-16).

Jesus' disciples had remained with Him in His temptations. He carried them with Him through death and the grave. The joy and the power of the resurrection life filled their hearts with confidence and hope. Their whole being was yielded up and united with the ascended Lord on the throne. They were fully prepared to receive the wondrous gift that was to come upon them.

The Church of our day is sadly lacking in that separation from the world. The intense attachment and obedience to Christ, the fellowship with His suffering and conformity to His death, and the devotion to Christ on the throne seem almost forgotten.

Where is our confident expectation of the never-ceasing flow of living water from the throne of grace which gives the assurance that the fullness of the Spirit will not be withheld? No wonder that mighty power of God is seldom known and felt in our churches!

(Chapter 14, pp. 71-73, italics added for emphasis)

Receiving Power from God

by Andrew Murray
Copyright © 1984

by Whitaker House

Used by permission

www.whitakerhouse.com.

Let's pray-

"Father, Your Word is my Handbook for renewing my mind to think and speak as You think and speak. By the grace of God I will think on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report. Your Word will renew my mind with Your thoughts, Lord, driving out thoughts of fear, doubt, bad feelings toward others, self-hatred, depression and unbelief in the name of Jesus. Amen"

Germine Copeland

Prayers That Avail Much dailyprayers@prayers.org

Today's Bible verses-

Isaiah 40:31 (NASB) “Those who wait for the

Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up

with wings like eagles, they will run and not get

tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

Isaiah 43:18-19 (AMP) “Do not remember the

former things, or ponder the things of the past.

Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing,

now it will spring forth; will you not be aware

of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness,

Rivers in the desert.”

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NASB) “If anyone is in Christ,

he is a new creature; the old things passed away;

behold, new things have come.”

Today's quotes-

~ Dr. Wesley Duewel- "Receive every new day, every new hour, every fresh moment for what it is--a priceless opportunity to be joyfully given in holy love and abandon to Christ,

who loved you even to death on the cross. Love-dedicated moments never die--

they are caught up to the very throne and heart of God and last eternally,

for God is love." (REVIVAL Magazine in India, January 1960)

~ Oswald Chambers- "Beware of the pleasant view of the fatherhood of God: God is so kind and loving that of course He will forgive us. That thought, based solely on emotion, cannot be found anywhere in the New Testament. The only basis on which God can forgive us is the tremendous tragedy of the Cross of Christ. To base our forgiveness on any other ground is unconscious blasphemy.
The only ground on which God can forgive our sin and reinstate us to His favor is through the Cross of Christ. There is no other way! Forgiveness, which is so easy for us to accept, cost the agony at Calvary. We should never take the forgiveness of sin, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and our sanctification in simple faith, and then forget the enormous cost to God that made all of this ours."

From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

Words of wisdom-

~ Christ's willingness to suffer and die on the cross, though He could have called angels to free Him, proved His self-control to do His Father's will for our redemption. We can now proclaim His glorious Presence in the world.

~ Things look different from God's perspective; He sees the heart of worship in the simplest of activities.

Today's guest post-

Living Joyfully Free
by Lisa Buffaloe

"Living joyfully free is falling back into God’s arms and releasing your worries, problems, concerns, and fears.
Living joyfully free doesn’t mean you won’t have trouble or problems; it is allowing God to take full control—trusting and believing He has your best interest at heart.
This isn’t a regular devotion book. Each page is a stepping stone, a place to pause and ponder, a field to run through, a mountain to climb, a river to dive into God’s Living water. A picnic on the Bread of Life with The Bread of Life. Time along a garden pathway in the sun to be Son-kissed by God’s Son . . . "

List of recent sermons of CFC ministers. CFC Potsdam NY church has a live service at 10 am Sunday's for shut-ins. If for some reason you can't make it to the church you usually attend, click on the above link, and still get fed!

Jean's blog (Click to see snippets of the 7 recent posts)