Archive for the ‘the remnant’ Category
Posted by appolus on July 16, 2021
Psa 19:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
The Lord turns the whole of the heavens into a tabernacle for the sun. It rises out of the darkness and brings light. Our God brought light into the darkness. When we were without form, when all was void and dark the Lord commanded that there be light and He lit up the universe. There was nothing hidden from its heat and He created it so that nothing would live without its light.
The heavens testify to His glory. The earth testifies to His glory. It shouts it out so loudly that one only has to look up to see the glory of God. The law of the Lord is perfect, the testimony of the Lord is sure, the statutes of the Lord are right, the commandments of the Lord are pure. The fear of the Lord is clean, the judgments of the Lord are true. He converts the soul, He makes wise the simple, He causes the heart to rejoice, He enlightens the eyes of those who see, He endures forever, He is true and righteous altogether.
When the Lord our God is acknowledged, His attributes are revealed to us. And we are rich in His mercy. The things of God are desired more than all the riches of this world. They are sweeter than honey on my lips. They feed the very depths of my soul. I am alive and dwell in the heat that comes from His unadulterated light. This light illuminates any darkness that dwells within me, how could I have known without this Light? Let me never presume upon the riches and the mercies of my God. Let my proud heart remain humbled by His majesty.
Out of the abundance of our mouths let the heart speak. Let that abundance be formed in the meditations of my heart as my thoughts are towards you. Let the words that flow from my mouth glorify you my Lord and be acceptable in your sight. And may I find strength oh Lord, your strength and your assistance as I seek to serve you all the days of my life.
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Posted by appolus on July 13, 2021
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Imagine brothers and sisters, if we simply took the Lord at His word and obeyed that command. After describing all the things the “gentiles do,” He told us not to do them. We have not to worry what we shall wear. We are not to worry what we shall eat. He is talking about life in general. We often quote that we cannot serve two masters, and we have in mind God and “mammon.” And yet, that was only a part of it.
Jesus goes on to talk about what ails most of us and He begins with a “therefore,” meaning given everything I have just said do not do ………….the rest of the chapter. For if you do, you are assuredly trying to serve two masters. If you are taken up with worries about tomorrow then this is self-serving. You cannot serve yourself and serve God. You cannot be taken up with worries about tomorrow and seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It is not possible. Something has to give.
The thing about being your own master, you are a tyrant. Your feelings are tyrannical. Your heart is deceitfully wicked. A beautiful woman can look in a mirror and see something ugly looking back. A good man can look in the mirror and and see a vile worm. Remember saints, the light of the body is in the eye. If the eye has a single focus on God, then your whole body will be full of light. If your focus is on the things of this world then it cannot be on God, you cannot possibly be seeking God and His righteousness. It is time to take Jesus at His word. Focus on God and not tomorrow, only then will you be able to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and walk in that Kingdom and in that righteousness.
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Posted by appolus on July 13, 2021
A wise man once said that discontentment in the mind puts discontentment in the mouth and discontentment in the mouth puts a shackle on the neck. In America and Europe you are seeing divided populations which has led to violence in the streets. In Haiti we see an unfolding civil war. In South Africa stores and business are burning and open looting is taking place. I want to tell you brothers and sisters, a much more transmittable virus than Covid is spreading around the world. It has an incubation period that spans the human life. Discontentment rises up and sweeps over cities and nations and populations like an unseen tsunami. It has a critical mass. For the most part is is contained to local regions and smaller groups of people. Yet there was always coming a time when people would rise up and destroy themselves.
Jesus tells us in Matt 24 that in the beginning of sorrows that nation would rise up against nation. The word nation here is the word “ethnos,” it’s where we get our English word ethnic or ethnicity from. I want to use South Africa as an example. One would have thought that Apartheid was the root cause of all the South African problems. It was not. It was a problem, but not the problem. The virus runs much deeper than obvious societal problems. It is a fundamental flaw in our humanity. It awaits critical mass. It awaits to try and seize what it can never have, contentment. Once the levels reach critical mass it then needs a spark. It needs a way out. Once it is out it seeks the company of its own and garners strength in numbers.
George Floyd was a such a spark in America. His death was the spark that caused the virus to come forward. It will not be the last spark as the fire has not fully taken hold. Yet the fire is coming and we shall be consumed by it. Jesus said it and it will come to pass. In any inequitable society (every society that ever existed) the virus of discontentment is loose. There are certain forces that can contain it, for a while. Men rise up and champion its cause. Examples of its rise is without number down through history. The Chinese so called cultural revolution is one. The Russian revolution is another. The two great wars. The French revolution. The American revolution. Every war ever fought, the virus of discontentment lurks just underneath the shadows of such event.
Saints, it is a deadly enemy and will eat away your soul from the inside out. It will cause you to join its ranks, for it cannot truly exist on its own, its great strength comes in numbers. The human experience is to either be striving for riches and more riches, or to be striving to hold on to those riches once gained. It can never acknowledge any gain, it can never acknowledge that it is indeed rich or better off, lest its deadly enemy, contentment, the antidote, destroy it. A reflective heart that is bathed in thankfulness for what one has, perhaps simply the food on ones table and the roof over ones head is a highly effective counterpart to discontentment.
And so, the enemy of our souls, through his champions, must always have our eyes fixed upon what we do not have. In this scenario the glass is undoubtedly and eternally half empty. See it in every aspect of our lives. Our relationships, it is the major cause of divorce. Finances, it is the major cause of our anxieties. Politics, it is the major cause of our hatreds and divisions. Religion, it is the major cause of our divisions. A perpetual state of discontentment is perhaps one description of an eternal hell.
Now, the man or woman who has found Godliness with great contentment has found great gain. Paul tells us this in 1 Timothy 6:6-6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. Consider Gods advice to all men in regard to riches and the desires of it ….(1Ti 6:7-10) For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
And what does God say about all men who stir up such discontentment?(1Ti 6:4-5) He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself. Withdraw brothers and sisters, from all men who promote discontentment with your lot in this world. That would cover just about every politician and also those who promote the ills of society for their own gain and advancement ( almost all men and women)
Thanking God in everything is the remnant’s stand at the end of the ages. It will protect us from the deadly disease of discontentment that is rising up in the world to levels we have never seen before. The “ethnos,’ are attacking the “ethnos.’ The peoples of the nations are destroying themselves as they drown in their own dark hearts. And according to Jesus, this is but the beginning of sorrows. Content in Christ, quite apart from our circumstances, is the key to an abundant life and is the solid Rock upon which we stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Can’t you see that the world is sinking? Come up and dwell together on higher ground brothers and sisters.
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Posted by appolus on July 11, 2021
2 Cor 12:9 Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
What drives us deeper into the arms of our Lord and plunges us into the depths of the Father’s heart? Not the delights of this world and its so called blessings but rather when the darkness comes and touches us. We discover that the light pierces the darkness and is as a lamp unto our feet.
Can someone who is so hopelessly lost do anything other that cry out when he is found!! When the waters of life overcome him and he is to drown and the hand of God reaches down and pulls him up. What joy, what glory! The closer the saint is to death the closer he is to life and that more abundant.
When he is stripped down and left naked and emaciated by this world and he is redeemed from the market place and his nakedness is covered, what absolute joy in the depths of ones soul! When by the power of God we can kiss the rod that strikes us and love the one who bears it then we know, then we absolutely know, that the power of Christ rests upon us.
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Posted by appolus on July 10, 2021
I have often thought that the best of Christians are found in the worst of times. And I have thought again, that one reason why we are no better is because God purges us no more. I know that these things go against the grain of the flesh but they are not against the graces of the Spirit (Bunyan)
Brother John here speaks of something I have long since argued. The Body of Christ is the same yesterday today and forever. How can the Body not be the Body? What do we saints lack today to our disadvantage? Opportunity. Opportunity to suffer for the cause of Christ and it does not help us that we find ourselves in such a situation at least here in the west. It is to our severe detriment. What, in the natural, causes hunger and thirst and atrophy, paradoxically in the Spirit causes the Body to be full and to be strong and vital. When we are weak then we are strong, strong in the Lord and the power of His might. He is glorified in our infirmities. We have a good testimony if we bear the marks of persecution with joy and gladness.
Paul says that if he would glory in anything, he would glory in his infirmities. He goes even further and says that he takes pleasure in his infirmities in 11 Cor 12:10. Now why would he say such a thing? In verse nine lies the key not just for Paul but for you and I. God had spoken to Him in the midst of his afflictions and infirmities and Jesus Himself says to Paul “My grace is sufficient for you for (because) My strength is made perfect in (your) weakness.” This is beyond paradoxical, this truth lies at the heart of the Kingdom walk and turns the world upside down. When Paul walks in such a way, the very power of Christ rests upon him. What kind of power is this that transforms the weakness of man into the power of God? The enemy of our soul is altogether rendered powerless in regard to the saints in this matter. For the more horror and darkness that he rains down on the saint of God, the greater the revelation of Christ to the world.
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Posted by appolus on July 8, 2021
Rom 12:20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
John Bunyan said “let us learn like Christians to kiss the rod, and love it………many of our graces are kept alive by those very things that are the death to other men’s soul.” Speaking for myself, I can imagine, perhaps, on my best day, kissing the rod, but loving it? It is just as well it is not my best efforts that empowers me to truly love my enemy. To walk in such a way, empowered by the Spirit of God, is to know that we have truly turned the corner on this world and see only the Kingdom perspective.
You simply cannot be walking in the world and be dictated to in anyway by the flesh if we are to kiss the rod that wounds us and greater still, love the unrepentant one who wields that very rod. Yet Bunyan would argue that many of the graces we enjoy and walk in are empowered by the very testing of our souls by the cruel actions of our enemies. Outside of the Spirit of God the actions of such cruel enemies engender rage, hatred and revenge and leave the soul embittered and dying. So to one it means death and to another, life. Shall we live brothers and sisters or shall we die? Our chains were broken and our fetters loosed on the cross, let us cling to that very cross and say with Christ “forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”
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Posted by appolus on July 8, 2021
My wife and I know something of the pain of losing. Our first child lived only for two days. In the end it was God’s unfailing healing love that brought us through. He gives, and He takes away, blessed be the Lord as Job would say. None of that negated the pain nor stopped the tears, but it did restore my broken heart. He wipes away the tears and catches them in a bottle as a memorial. And my pain ebbed like the slow receding tide as the world continues to turn. I have a firm assurance that when this tide rises again one day, and takes me up into my eternal home, there I will see the child of my youth. The why’s of it all are really just a faint echo of the world as I lay down wrapped in the arms of the one who ever weaves this tapestry of life.
In the end I had “two” funerals for my son, Stephen. The first was on an overcast rain soaked day in Scotland, which perfectly matched my darkened closed down unsaved heart. The second would come fifteen years later, many years after being saved. It came from nowhere and broke over me like a violent thunderstorm. Thunder and lightening and a torrential rain of tears. Healing, never saw it coming. God was working His way into every chamber of my heart, and everywhere the waters of life flowed, there was healing, and there was healing for me. These are the mysteries of life and a God who works in mysterious ways whose thoughts and ways are so much higher than ours. As you ponder your own loss in this world, it is very likely that no answers will ever come as to the why. When we learn to put aside the why and live this life rather than die, then once again we shall surely fly.
Great loss is a clipping of our wings. Here is the definition of wing clipping …..”Wing clipping is the process of trimming a bird’s primary wing feathers or remiges so that it is not fully flight-capable, until it moults, sheds the cut feathers and grows new ones.” I have had my primary wings clipped many times over the years as I am sure that you have dear reader. The moulting and the shedding of cut feathers and the growing of new ones takes time and comes with its own unique pains. And then one day………we fly. We live again, fully restored. A process full of mystery and undoubtedly unique to every single person.
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Posted by appolus on July 7, 2021
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isa 55:8-9)
The context of these well known verses comes in the verses prior. It is an appeal to the wicked to repent and He will “abundantly pardon.” Imagine that, God calls you to repentance with a promise of an abundant pardon. It is hard for us to imagine that in our earthly minds. If someone consistently sinned against us, over weeks and months and years, decades even, it can be almost impossible to think that we could so forgive them as to never even give all the previous crimes against us a second thought. To have the slate so wiped clean as to be brand new. This is miraculous. We could, in and of ourselves, never do this.
Yet, out thoughts are not His thoughts. His ways are so much higher than our ways. In our own power it would be beyond our ability to grasp. You might as well throw punches at the moon. Yet we do not stand by our own power. Those who know Jesus stand by the power of God, by His Spirit. Now, if the Lord our God offers such an abundant pardon to the wicked what does He offer to His children? “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” An abundant pardon leads to an abundant life. You may think that you have blown it with God but His thoughts are higher than your thoughts saint. If you have been hiding behind the tree with some fig leaves, it’s time to emerge from there and to stand before God.
The rain that falls from heaven falls also upon your head. And the snow that falls from heaven and waters the earth waters you too oh child of God. It causes the buds to bloom and the seed to come forth and gives bread to the hungry and water to the thirsty. This is the Word of God and it does not return to Him void. It speaks life to you and prospers your soul. You shall go forth from here with joy and His peace shall lead you as the mountains and the hills break forth in praise and worship and the trees of the field shall clap their hands in wonder at His ways. A word to one of His children today.
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Posted by appolus on July 6, 2021
The Spirit of God is always the Spirit of liberty; the spirit that is not of God is the spirit of bondage, the spirit of oppression and depression. The Spirit of God convicts vividly and tenesly, but He is always the Spirit of liberty. God who made the birds never made birdcages; it is people who make birdcages, and after a while become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on one leg. When we get out into God’s great free life, we discover that that is the way God means us to live “the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Oswald Chambers)
There are two main types of garden in this world. There is the garden designed by man. Wonderful and regulated in its design, measured distances between flowers, well thought out patters that please the eye. And then there is the seed that has committed itself to the Wind of the Spirit which carries it and deposits it where it will, and there it springs up and flourishes in the garden of our God. The wide open fields of God’s great free life. The so called wildflowers that grows in open meadows or drainage ditches. or in the side-streets of slums or in valley floors or mountain ranges. Who knows where the wind of the Spirit shall deposit them. God knows.
So, shall you commit the seed of your life to the wind of the Spirit? Shall you surrender yourself to be taken wherever you shall be taken? Or shall you commit yourself to the hand of man? To the designs of men? To the relative safety found in regulation? One of those choices involves great risk but also results in great freedom. The other guarantees certainty and the price is conformity. Imagine a bird, designed to fly in open skies, trapped in a birdcage. What a tragedy. Guaranteed food and shelter but the cost is no flight in open skies. Maybe the one who constrains you lets you out of your cage every now and then and you fly straight to the window. There is something in you longing to be free as you gaze at open fields or eternal skies. It’s Gods calling. Are you free today or are you being called to freedom today?
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Posted by appolus on July 5, 2021
2Pe 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
Grace and peace, multiplied to us adds up to an abundant life in Christ. Multiplied by many factors. In the very next verse we see that we have everything that we need to to live this abundant life, it is through the knowledge of God. The word is Epignosis, to acknowledge God in all of your ways. When we acknowledge God in everything, recognize Him in every part of our lives and seek Him first and His righteousness then we shall live in Godliness, Godliness meaning a continual awareness of Him which leads to holiness.
The enemy of our soul knows well that if saints begin to walk in Godliness then this is a tremendous threat to his kingdom here on earth. So, he must distract us. That is one part of the struggle. Life itself is the the other and may even be the greatest distraction of all. How many plates do you have spinning in your life saint? All of them demand your attention. All of them are a distraction away from this Godliness that walks hand in hand with a multiplied peace.
Our marriages, our children, our parents, our careers, even our walk with the Lord can be tyrannical distractions and we run to and fro, exhausting ourselves trying to keep these things altogether. And in the end many of the plates fall and break despite our valiant efforts. They have to be surrendered and vanquished. We cannot hold onto them and walk in the abundant life of grace and peace if we do not surrender all these things into the hands of God. We must commit our very lives, our soul, into His hands and that includes everything that occupies our hearts and minds and souls.
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Posted by appolus on July 2, 2021
Whosoever finds in the contemplation of God’s love, rest and peace and joy only, should carefully scrutinize his feelings lest they be excited by an erroneous view of the Eternal Majesty ; representing Him as being actuated by a mere tender affection melting into compassion. Stretching forth His hand only at an impulse of pity, that guilty men may cease to fear, and take to themselves rest ; as if His eyes looked not upon their guiltiness. The Eternal is not a being of mere emotion, but of unchangeable and untainted righteousness, and there is a law which all the universe knows “the pure in heart alone can see God,” -and the eye must behold Him, glorious in holiness, to measure in any way the depths of His love (William Carey 1827)
That my friends is totally profound. It is worth reading a few times over. What our brother is saying is that only the eye that has beheld His glory, the glory of His holiness, can rightly speak to the depths of His love. For within the depths of His love lies grace and majesty and glory and justice. Isaiah glimpses the majesty of God and falls down upon his face as one who is dead and cries out “woe is me…..I am undone.” Yet, of course, he also sees the glory of God who is high and lifted up and the train of His robe, His majesty and His glory, fills the temple. The fire of this encounter, both terrifying and glorious, changes Isaiah forever. He now has the fire of God’s glory in his bones.
Behold the goodness and the severity of God. The heads and the tails of the one coin. Focus on one part of God to the detriment of the other and you do God, yourself and humanity a disservice. The man that only “knows” God’s wrath knows not God at all, he has a mere head knowledge. The man who only knows God’s love, knows not God at all, he has mere “tender affections,’ which will not save him or anyone else. God’s love is a consuming fire. It has the power to save and the power to consume. The eye that has beheld the Lord our God can plumb the depths of His love. God is not the God of the vain imaginations of tender men and woman given over to emotions. Neither is He the wrathful vengeful God of the religious zealot. He is good and He is severe. He pardons and He rightly judges. Has the eye of your spirit beheld His glory?
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Posted by appolus on July 2, 2021
1Pe 4:19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
How is it that the saints of old and the martyrs were so able to withstand the sufferings they endured for the cause of Christ? How could Paul and Silas sing praises to God at the midnight hour in the depths of a dungeon having been scourged to within an inch of their lives? How could Stephen have a vision of God’s glory in the midst of being so cruelly stoned stoned? In order to stone Stephen unencumbered, those wicked men laid down their coats at the feet of Saul. They laid down their coats and they picked up their stones.
When we lay down our lives, when we commit our very souls into the hand of God, then we are free to pick up His glory. When the very essence of who we are is given over to God, committed into His hands then we find a tremendous freedom in this, its called the Spirit of glory. It falls upon the unencumbered soul. It strengthens the inner man. Our “outer garments,’ the cares of this world are cast aside and we are filled to overflowing. So much so that we can sing songs of glory in the midnight hour of our trials. We can praise the living God as we are cruelly treated by man, so much so that we can love our tormentors.
Are you suffering today saint? Have you cast off your outer garments? Have you committed your very soul into the hand of God? When you deliver this into His hand, He delivers you from the torment of your circumstances. He shuts the lions mouth and He stands with you in the midst of the fire in a very real way, it is His manifest presence. It will lift the hands that hang down. It will feed the hungry soul. It will quench the thirst of those in drought. So, suffering saint, while outwardly you may be perishing, there awaits for you a crown of glory in the kingdom to come. This presence is you exceeding great reward.
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Posted by appolus on July 1, 2021
The greatest revelation of God in my life has come in the midst of my needs. It has not come in my wants or desires or accomplishments it has come in my needs. The greater the need the greater the revelation. The next time of greatest revelation of God in my life has come when I have sinned against Him. There is no deeper humiliation for a saint than to have failed his Lord badly. Yet, when I approached the throne of grace with my head hung low and with a spirit within that was crying out ” woe is me for I am undone,” suddenly I am encountered with love and forgiveness even although I myself had desired punishment and penance to atone somehow for my sin.
Now I am undone not because of my unworthiness but because of the realization of the depths of His love and faithfulness to me, one who is so unworthy. It is His holiness that saves, it is his grace that is sufficient and it is His faithfulness that will never fail. He increases in my heart and I decrease as I realize the very source of all that I am in Him and in Him alone. The encounter itself dramatically increases my intimacy with my Lord. It solidifies in my mind who He is and who I am in the presence of the Almighty.
If our sins lead to humility and repentance and brokenness before the throne where we receive a greater and deeper revelation of who God is, and they do, then would not the enemy of our souls do everything in his power to keep us from this place? And the easiest and most effective way to do that is to convince us that we never have to seek that place out. Do not be fooled saints, God is glorified and revealed to us in the depths of our needs, our infirmities and our failures. Should we then seek to be in need or to be infirm or to sin so that God may be glorified?
God forbid. I can guarantee that you wont have to seek out needs or infirmities or sin. They will find you because you are finite and corruptible. But an infinite God will one day raise you up in in-corruption. And until that day comes His grace will be sufficient for you. He will meet you in the depths of your needs. He will be faithful to forgive all of your sins when you come before Him and confess them. And in all of that you are drawn ever deeper into the heart of the Father.
1Jn 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
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Posted by appolus on June 30, 2021
Our temperamental outlook is altered by thinking, and when God alters the disposition, temperament begins to take its tone from the new disposition. These things are not done suddenly, they are only done gradually, by the stern discipline the life under the teaching of the Spirit of God (Oswald Chamber)
It might be helpful to give something of a definition of these two word, disposition and temperament. Although closely related there are some key differences. Temperament could be described as the emotional traits of a person. These traits can be many. You can be thrifty, angry, sad, funny, sensitive, sensual. standoffish, authoritarian, controlling and so on.. The list is endless. You can be some of these things. Now, disposition is typically the predominant trait. The one trait that rules over all the others. This would ultimately describe your character.
We often use our disposition to excuse our behavior. We will hear it said “that is just the way I am.” It might even be added to by “you can take me or leave me.” Or maybe we are describing our spouse or another “that is just who he is.” Now, while this may fly in the world, it is tragic for the saint. God is after our disposition. Our temperaments are led by our dispositions. When we say “that is just who I am,’ we are, in effect, saying to God “back of, this is my territory.” This far and no further. Do you say that?
Now, as Chambers rightly points out, our dispositions are not changed overnight, but they must be changed. If you have been following Jesus for years and your disposition remains the same, this is definitely a sign of an unruly spirit. A rebellious spirit resists the Spirit of God. This rebellion must be crushed. When the Holy Spirit invades the spirit of a man, He has come to conquer. By stern discipline (we love that, dont we) He will bring us to heel. Time and again our dispositions, our dominant characteristics will be challenged.
The thrifty man will be challenged to relinquish his hold on his money. The angry man will be challenged by countess situations that anger him until his anger is defeated. The sad woman will be encounter joy and life and be drawn into it. The overly sensitive will encounter situations that would make them withdraw until they withdraw no more. The authoritarian will lose his throne, he will cede control. The sensual woman will no longer seek to attract as she is convicted by how she carries herself.
What will they put upon your headstone brothers and sisters? Here lies an angry man? Here lies a sensual woman? The world knows you by your predominant characteristic. This is why the battle for your disposition is so fierce. For when the world sees you it should see Jesus. When it hears you it should hear the words of a transformed man or woman. A man or woman who is under the authority of the Spirit of God. Are you under His authority? Have you said to yourself or others “that is just who I am?” Rebel! You are not saying it to yourself or others, you are saying it to God. And you are saying that there is a huge part of you, in fact your predominant part of you that you will not relinquish.
Brothers and sisters. The saint who has surrendered his or her disposition to the Spirit of God has it replaced by the disposition of Christ Himself. How often we so easily say “He must increase and I must decrease.” This is it, right here is where the battle lies. Will you really decrease? If you do, then the world will see our Lord in you. Have we not been called to be the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved? I guarantee you that if your predominant characteristic is not that of a yielded soul to Christ then there shall be no sweet aroma, only the smell of your sweated flesh.
My prayers are with you saints as you yield to the stern discipline of the Spirit of God in your life. Not a popular subject for sure but it lies at the heart of who we are, who we want to be and what the Lord desires of us. Make it your lives work. You have been empowered to make this happen.
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Posted by appolus on June 30, 2021
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;
Only that which flows from an uninterrupted gaze on the Lord Jesus is real. Everything else is the shadow of the object. Granted, the shadow of the Lord is more powerful than all that can be seen, and one can even enjoy the heat from the sun in the shadow. Yet the glow from the face of Moses was not the glow of a man who stood in the shadows. I believe that the Lord can pour out his unadulterated light if it is not diffused by the efforts of self appointed middle men or intermediaries.
Can it be that simple? Can we simply come into His presence and be changed? Does everything begin and end with the Lord Jesus? How does one continue to look to Jesus? It is a conscious act of the will to take our eyes off our circumstances and cast them upon Jesus. This is the great battle of our lives, not our circumstances. Our circumstances can simply be doors that if walked through leads directly into His presence. It is in that place, looking unto Jesus, that we are changed. Trust is the key that opens the door. To trust in God is to walk through the opened door of our circumstances into the throne room of God.
There are two Kingdoms. The kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God. One is seen and affected by our senses and circumstances. The other is unseen and if walked in, relegates our circumstances to mere opportunities to go deeper into its depths. Now these two kingdoms compete for our attentions. You must cry out to God every day to bind up the reality of the kingdom of this world and to loose the reality of the Kingdom of God in your life. Cry out to God to give you eyes to see what He sees and how He sees it. Can you imagine the prospect of every situation you face being an opportunity to grow in grace and power? This is the Kingdom reality, will you walk in it today?
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Posted by appolus on June 28, 2021
I thank you for the righteousness you see
For it is the righteousness You imputed to me
My chains fell of and I was healed
When this truth to me was finally revealed
I bring nothing to His righteousness
And the Spirit of this truth has guided us
That even on my very worse day
Tis your truth alone that lights my way
Not by might nor power I stand
But by the righteousness found in thy Hand
That flows from feet and wounded side
In the shadow of thy wing is where I'll hide
This is my life tis from above
It hovers over me like a heavenly dove
This truth alone has set me free
Higher than the heavens and deeper than the sea.
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Posted by appolus on June 27, 2021
2Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.
Every triumph we have we have in Christ. He is our victory and in Him we have victory. If we overcome it is because He overcame. If we love it is because He first loved us. If we forgive it is because we are forgiven by Him. When we weep, we know that He wept first. And when we give comfort to others it is because we ourselves were first comforted by Him. Every good thing, every triumph we have we have in Christ. This is why He leads us in a triumphal procession. And as we follow Him in victory then the world gets to witness the knowledge of Him and His victory over hell and sin and death.
They get to see how He broke every chain and how He healed our broken hearts. Every obstacle removed. They see a new creature in Christ who in Him has taken captive that which had formerly held us captive. We are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus. You see that phrase “in Christ.” This is the key to everything. We must be found “in Him.” Paul suffered the loss of all things to be found “in Him.” And when we are found in Him, then and only then is the fragrance of His beauty and glory and majesty and knowledge spread abroad in the hearts of man everywhere.
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Posted by appolus on June 27, 2021
When my wife and I came back from vacation, we discovered that one of the plants that stands guard at our door, had been over-watered. The one on the left was fine, and flourishing, the other had wilted and the blooms were dying or dead. When we researched what had happened, it seems that if you over-water a plant to this extent then the soil will be rancid and the roots themselves will be rotting from the bottom up. There is a slight chance that you can save the plant, but only slight. It involves uprooting the plant and laying it to one side, removing all of the soil, cut away as much of the roots that you can, then replace all of the soil and replant it.
We did this and just as the research suggested, the soil was rancid, so bad that we had to wear masks as we removed it. The roots were rotten almost all the way to the top, we cut them away. And now the replanted plant will either live or die, no one knows. Can I suggest that the Western world is over-watered. We are rancid as we drown in our abundance. The very roots that held us are rotten from the top on down. The flowers of our culture are dying on a rotten vine. There is drastic change to come. There is an uprooting so that which can be saved and shall be saved. The soil which has held us will be removed. The roots of everything we know is being cut away. We shall be replanted in different soil.
Will you survive the cutting brothers and sisters? Shall you resist it? The old soil is being shoveled away as we speak. The saints of God shall be ripped away from this world and all its hold upon us. We shall be laid bare and put aside while the Master deals with what is left of this world. We shall not be watered for a time. It is vital that we “dry out.” Think not that we have been abandoned. We have not, but it will seem that way. This time of of our troubles is for our saving.
The new soil will be rich and deep. It will be watered by the blood of the martyrs. The name of the new soil is persecution. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. Can you hear the drumbeats of war brothers and sisters? A war that for all intents and purposes will be one that we shall lose. For a time it shall seem that all is lost. Not just for a day or a week or even a month, this season shall be much longer than that. It will be long enough to make you doubt everything that you have ever believed. You will be tried in this.
Yet God has cultivated a people for Himself. They have a few banners that fly over their lives and the battles they have waged. One of the banners that flutters in the wind of the Spirit says “Even if He kills me, yet will I trust Him.” Another banner reads “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” There are two more banners. One says ” And they loved not their lives unto death,” and the last one reads “If God does not deliver us from the fire, let it be know, we shall never bow down to the gods of this world.”
It is these saints that shall survive the uprooting. All others shall die in the rottenness that is this world. This mindset of the saint is to glorify God. It is to yield and to surrender to His will for their lives. It is what the Master wants that is all important. It is His desires that fill the hearts of the saints. It is their blossom that causes color to exist in another-wise black and white world. Shall the flower bloom? Shall it survive the trauma of the uprooting? Some will, most will not. In the end, the heart of the matter is revealed as everything is stripped away. It cannot be otherwise. The heart of the matter, the only heart that matters is the Heart of God the Father and Christ His Son. Let us be found there, even if He slays us. For the things that we see are temporal and of little value, but the will of God is eternal and flowers in the heart of His children.
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Posted by appolus on June 25, 2021
I was made to see, that if ever I would suffer rightly, I must first pass a sentence of death upon everything that can be properly called a thing in this life, even to reckon myself, my wife, my children, my health, my enjoyment, and all, as dead to me and myself as dead to them. The second was to live upon God who is invisible as Paul said in another place the way not to faint is to “look not upon the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen, for the things that are seen seen are temporal, but the things which are seen are eternal (John Bunyon)
Our brother John discovered the great depths of what it means to serve God with all of your heart. He knew he was going to suffer, and suffer indeed he did for the cause of Jesus. And yet, to “suffer rightly,’ he must count all things as loss. All the things of this world must be dead to him and he must be alive to God. This in no way meant that he did not love his family, clearly from his writings the opposite was true. Consider his agonies of knowing that his wife and family suffered greatly, especially his young blind daughter, because of his stand for Jesus. It tore him to pieces…….
“The parting with my wife and poor children hath often been to me in this place (prison) as the pulling of the flesh from my bones……I should have often often brought to mind the many hardships, miseries and wants that my poor family was like to meet should I be taken from them, especially my poor blind child, who lay nearer to my heart than all I had besides; Oh the thoughts of the hardship I thought my blind one might go under, would break my heart to pieces.”
You see brothers and sisters. Bunyon’s faith that led him to prison and his knowing that he must die to everything of this world, including his family, was not the actions of a cold, religious stoic man, quite the opposite. Amazingly, John could have spared himself the 12 years in prison and all the suffering he undertook and that of his family by simply recanting his faith. He could have walked out of prison at any time. How cruel the enemy is. Yet here is what he said in that regard ….
“If nothing will do unless I make my conscience a continual butchery and a slaughtershop, unless putting out my own eyes, I commit me to the blind to lead me, as I doubt not is desired by some, I have determined, the Almighty God being my help and shield , yet to suffer, if frail life might continue so long, even till the moss shall grow on mine eyebrows, rather than to violate my faith and principles.”
John would suffer the loss off al things rather than to violate his conscience in regard to preaching the Word of God. It did not come easy, it was in fact an agony, yet his great desire was to “suffer rightly.’ How then brothers and sisters, should we live in such a dark age as ours? Should we not also desire to “suffer rightly,” for the cause of Christ? Should we not love the Lord out God with all of hearts and all of our minds and bodies? Should we not love Him above all other things, even the most dearest things to our hearts? We should. God bless you and help you as you follow hard after God.
Posted in bible, christian blog, christian living, Christian quotes, Christianity, church, Church history, church of england, church of scotland, God's love, God's voice, Jesus, new wineskins, revival, spiritual growth, testimony, the crucified life, the deeper life, the gospel, the persectuted church, The presence of God, The Psalms, the remnant, The State of the Chuch and Manifest presence, the state of the church, theology, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Posted by appolus on June 25, 2021
When all the world has lost its appeal to you When you find yourself wandering in the wasteland dunes of anxiety and emptiness and disappointments, know that God is near. You must know it for you will not feel it. Keep walking saint, this is the desert place known as despair. No man or woman can help you. This is simply between you and God and the refiners fire. You will be tested in this. God is looking for a people who seek to worship Him with their whole hearts.
And if you think that all of your troubles are without purpose then you are wrong saint. There is a purpose in every trial, in every trouble, in every disappointment. There is a purpose in every step you take through the desert of despair and loneliness.
You must pass through these places in order to continue the journey home on the narrow path. there are no short-cuts, no way around these difficult places of death. The enemy will whisper in your ear when you seem to be surrounded by darkness and defeat ” what was it all about?” He will ask you to consider the possibility that your life has been for nothing and that there has been no purpose in any of your suffering. Liar! Brothers and sisters, he is a liar and I know I speak to someone who needs to hear that today.
Psa 84:6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
The Valley of Baca, the valley of weeping, the valley of tears. The road to the altar, traverses many valleys. Some are narrow some are deep . There is no avoiding them. You will shed tears in these valleys. You will often times feel abandoned in these valleys. What should you do as you travel through them? Dig deeper. Dig holes in these valleys brothers and sisters. These valleys are without rain and it would seem to many that they will surely die as they go through them. You will not die. So why should you stop and dig holes in this valley? Why not rush through as quickly as possible? The truth is this valley cannot be rushed. No matter how much you run you still have to go through the valley. Even if you run with everything that is in you, the valley will last exactly how long it is supposed to last. So when you stop in the midst of it, when you resist the urge to panic, when you embrace the fact that this valley has to be gone through, these “dark nights of the soul,” will become an oasis and a place of refreshment to those who have faith and continue to trust in the Lord.
You will not be tempted more than you are able. The Lord has not abandoned you. He will minister to you. When you dig deeper, you are emptying yourself in preparation to receive the Lords presence. He will come to you on your journey, on your pilgrimage , in your deepest valleys. And to those who dig, their holes will be filled abundantly when the flood of His rain comes. The steeper the valley, the bigger the flood. The holes ensure that when the flood ends, their will be pools of water left over that will not only minister to you, but will comfort and encourage those who will come along after you, for remember, there is only one path, the narrow one, and all must traverse it. Let your tears fall saints, your tears shall remain. They shall refresh another. Stand fast brothers and sisters. You keep on walking no matter how dark it has become. You are surrounded by troubles on every side and inwardly there are fears? You are not alone, this is the path and you are where you should be and it shall not overcome you.
Inside of you lies the treasures of God, inside your earthen vessel. You have been called to comfort those with the comfort you yourself have been comforted with along the way. When you pass through this place of death and you are not overcome, you will testify of it and comfort others and glorify God. Remember saints, we are always bearing about in the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, the life of the cross, the way of sacrifice, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our lives. The greater the trial the closer our God. You say ” but this trial is such that I cannot feel Him, I cannot sense His presence.” Saints, one of the greatest trials of all is trust. Our foundation is built upon faith. The enemy will try to pull you down and destroy you by coming against the very foundation of your life, your faith. Your life in the Spirit stands upon faith in Jesus. Stand today brother, stand today sister.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Wait upon the Lord and He will come to you. Wait, wait, keep waiting, keep trusting, keep abiding, keep praying, keep trusting, keep praising, keep reading His word. You will not faint, you will not fall in this desert. When the rain comes and it will come, you will walk and you will run and you will mount up with wings as eagles and you will revel in the presence of God. One day, one moment in His presence is better than a thousand elsewhere. In one moment, in one word, in one breath of the Holy Spirit there is life and eternity and hope and joy. One more thing brothers and sisters, and never doubt this. Your Father loves you. He sees you. He has not forgotten you. His love for you is an everlasting love. His thoughts towards you cannot be numbered, they are greater than the sands of the seashore. Stand fast in this and know that you are known. Let your tears fill the valleys, none are lost.
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A Call To The Remnant 