Thoughts for Life: #39 Harmony Between God and Man

No More Excuses: Simple Ways to be in God’s Word

Andrew Murray- "Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God" (Luke 18:25-27). The great hindrance to the power of God's Word in the truth we have found in Ephesians is the thought—God's standard is an impossible one.

Our only response to this doubt must be to listen again to the voice of Christ as He tells us that what is impossible with man is possible with God. God can do for us what appears to be beyond His reach and ours. God can work in us what He worked in Paul. (Google image, No more excuses: simple ways to be in God's Word)

What is implied in the great gift of the Holy Spirit? No word is used in such a variety of ways as the word spirit. It can mean anything in which the mind of man exerts and proves its power, or it can mean the highest revelation of God's holiness and love.

The same word is used, increasing the danger that each person will only understand it according to his own point of view. We often suffer from our defective view of what is really meant by the Spirit of God and of Christ.

God sent His Son into the world as a man so that He would work out in His life a holy nature. This nature could then be imparted to believers in Christ as a thing already prepared and brought into existence for us.

Just as the grain of wheat dies and reappears in the full ear of corn with its hundredfold reproduction of the seed, Christ died that He may live again in our lives here on earth.

When Jesus ascended to the throne, the Father gave Him the Spirit to pour down His life in the hearts of His people. The Spirit communicates the holy nature of Christ with a divine power to all who believe. They live by the Spirit and are led by the Spirit. The Spirit is their life.

Working With God

In the wonderful union of the divine and the human life in the believer, everything depends on the true relationship being maintained between God and man. God works all in all, and man receives all from God to work it out in trust and obedience.

Where this relationship is not properly understood, man will use his own effort to take the place that God wants to fill. He thinks that if he can secure God's help in his efforts, he has found the path to holiness and growth. He does not understand that the Spirit must have absolute control, and he must exercise direct and unceasing dependence on Him.

The great secret of the Christian life is found in dying to self and being brought to nothing by the cross of Christ. Before our Lord Jesus could receive the new life from the Father and impart the gift of the Holy Spirit to His people, He had to give up the life He lived on earth.

He had to take His place among the dead in weakness and helplessness before He could live again by the power of God. His death on the cross was indispensable to the life of the Spirit.

As it was with Christ, so it must be with us. As we yield ourselves to be united with Him in the likeness of his death, we can share with Him in the glory and power of the life of the Spirit.

To know what the Holy Spirit means implies knowing what death means. The cross and the Spirit are inseparable. The soul that understands that death to self is the gate to true life is ready to learn what and who the Holy Spirit is.

Why is our understanding of what the Holy Spirit can and will do for us so limited? The great mark of the New Testament Church was the presence of the Holy Spirit in power. Today we only see a feeble representation of the Spirit's work.

Our conversions, preaching, fellowship, life, aggressive work for God and His kingdom—everywhere it is obvious that the power of the Spirit is seldom known.

Endless discussions and efforts are made to lift our churches to a higher level and to convince people to accept the truth of God's Word. But there has not yet been, on the part of the Church as a whole, anything like the intense and sorrowful confession that, as churches and as Christians, we have grieved the Spirit of God.

Our calling is to honor Him and to prove by His presence in our life that Christ is indeed Lord.

(Chapter 19, pp. 95-98).

Receiving Power from God

by Andrew Murray
Copyright © 1984

by Whitaker House

Used by permission

www.whitakerhouse.com

Let's pray-

"In the name of Jesus, I come before the Throne of God and cry out, 'Abba Father.' My desire is to live according to the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. This Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing me from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of abuse. Since I am now free, it is my desire to forget those things that lie behind and strain forward to what lies ahead.

I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which You in Christ Jesus are calling me upward. The past will no longer control my thinking patterns or my behavior. Praise be to You! I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away; and, behold, all things have become new.

I declare and decree that henceforth I will walk in newness of life. Forgive me, Father, for self-hatred and self-condemnation. I am Your child. You sent Jesus that I might have life and have it more abundantly. Thank You for the blood of Jesus that makes me whole. Father, because You have forgiven me I choose to forgive those who have abused me in the name of Jesus I pray, amen."
Germaine Copeland

Scripture References:Romans 8:15; Philippians 3:13; 2 Corinthians 5:18; Romans 6:4; John 10:10

Wonderful Peace on YouTube

Bill Gaither

Today's Bible verses-

2 Cor. 5:18-21 "Now all things are of God, who has

reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has

given us the ministry of reconciliation, (19) that is, that

God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not

imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed

to us the word of reconciliation. (20) Therefore we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading

through us: we implore you on Christ's behalf, be

reconciled to God. (21) For He made Him who knew

no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the

righteousness of God in Him."

Today's Special post:

Sanctification

Oswald Chambers- "Our interpretation of what this means, may not be what God intends for us to have! Let’s examine the reasons He wants to accomplish sanctification in the born-again Christian’s life . . ."

Today's quote:

~ Oswald Chambers- "The reason some of us have not entered into the experience of sanctification is that we have not realized the meaning of sanctification from God’s perspective. Sanctification means being made one with Jesus so that the nature that controlled Him will control us. Are we really prepared for what that will cost? It will cost absolutely everything in us which is not of God."
From My Utmost for His Highest Updated Edition

Words of wisdom-

~ If what we're believing for doesn't require much faith, great prayer, inspiration, and sleepless nights, it's too small!

~ What we do today is preparation for our next assignment. The timing for everything is important, as God's involvement is to help us accomplish His purpose for our lives. His timing for everything will be perfect. He knows what's best.

The Dating Maze: Week one
God's wisdom to guide through dating,
with Rick Sinclair and Jonathan Puglia,
CFC Potsdam church
Monday night Youth Life Group,
led by Pastor Ben Levendusky, helper, Aaron Cote

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)