Easily offended, self-indulgent- Cross Bearing Opportunity.

'The cross which condemned sin to death is an accomplished fact: all which remains for us to do is to acknowledge and receive it. But the cross through which we forfeit our soul life is different. Self-denial is not a matter already and completely accomplished; this we must experience daily.'

The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

The power that enable us to choose God not once, but daily- hourly, minutely, is the same power that leaves us room to choose otherwise.

Think about it for a moment. If in a moment of -once and forever choosing - your choice was sin and you were never able to find forgiveness after that, how horrific would that be?

We long to be able to choose to follow Christ once and forever never to sin again, never to leave His path, never to lose Him. We wish the power of choice was taken away after we make that choice so that it'd be impossible for us to ever stray from Him.

Yet in desiring that choice as long as sin exists is also desiring that once and forever choice to sin.  We can't have one without the other.

We can't have our power of choice stripped from us.

The angels had to make a choice- a once and forever choice without chance of any change once that choice was made. They had their moment of decision and 1/3 chose to leave God, and 2/3 chose to remain with God.  Those 1/3 who chose to leave God made that forever choice and have no chance at all whatsoever to be God's again.

We all have a choice to make, and in making that choice we then have a daily choice to live by. And as long as we live and have our faculties of discernment we must make that daily choice. The daily choice consisting of living each day by taking up our cross no matter what that cross may be.  Taking up that cross and choosing the path God that lays before us -over the path that satan invites us to walk down. Ours isn't an angel choice but a human choice given to us by God made flesh. Our power of choosing comes with choosing to live in Christ, surrendered to Christ. 

Satan will lay out traps for us on a daily basis using all his wiles to do so. The first trap of the day could be as simple as finding a piece of dirty laundry on the floor instead of the hamper- something that has been known to irritate you into lashing out at the laundry offender. 

So there you have it, a cross to pick up or ignore.  Do you deal with the laundry situation in a way that you imagine Christ would have you deal with it, or do you choose to use a way Satan would enjoy witnessing?

You say you have a right to be angry, upset, or generally miffed at the offender. Yes, there is such a thing as righteous indignation- a right to be angry, but how often does that righteous indignation lead us down the path of unrighteous action?

Ask yourself why you are angry? Is the offensive piece of laundry defying God in any way? Probably not. Is the dirty laundry offending you? If you answer yes, how is it offending you?  Do you instantly think that you should NOT have to pick up someone else's dirty laundry? That the offender should pick up after themselves? That by leaving the laundry right there on the floor where it doesn't belong you are being shown a lack of respect?  Is your SELF offended by the laundry offender? It could be any number of these reasons, or all of them, right? You want dirty laundry in its rightful place - the hamper. It's your desire for it to be where you've determined it belongs.  Do you happen to notice the number of the word 'you' being used?

Is it a fact the dirty laundry belongs in the laundry hamper? YES.

Is it a fact that not everyone feels an inclination to be tidy? YES.

Is that laundry a deciding factor on Your eternal life? Maybe.

What? Maybe? Why- maybe? Because you could let that irritant infuriate you into acting completely unloving towards another person. 

Is there a way to deal with that dirty laundry without letting yourself get caught up in going overboard and being hurtful towards another?  Yes. You could be a matter-of-fact in asking the person to pick up the laundry, without any judgment on their lack of respect towards you. You could pick up the laundry yourself- it is after all only a piece of clothing out of place for whatever reason the offender had. And I'm sure there are even more ways to deal with the situation.

The point being made here, or trying to be made, is satan using our lives to get us to focus on ourselves so that we become easily offended by any number of things. Whether it is dirty laundry strewn about the floor out of its proper place, or dirty dishes, or an unwashed cupboard after a very messy bout of snack making, truly no matter what the situation- when we perceive we are being disrespected, used, not taken into consideration, overlooked, and so on and so forth we are focusing on OURSELVES and esteeming ourselves into a place where we can be offended, hurt, hurtful and more.  

THESE are some of the crosses we must bear and if you think I'm kidding, I'm not.  SELF focus is feeding the soul NOT the spirit! SELF focus on many levels is feeding our natural man, our flesh nature.

I've heard it said and I believe it, we are living in the generation of the easily offended. We are so easily offended because we've esteemed ourselves into positions much higher than every intended.

Satan is HARD at work putting obstacles in our way. We have many chances to pick up our daily cross and bear the MANY, MANY undeserved OFFENSES just as Jesus endure UNDESERVED offenses in a way we can't begin to fully fathom. And every time we get it in our heads that we do NOT deserve to be treated in any certain way, we MUST consider how Jesus was treated- DID HE DESERVE IT?  Never, in absolutely no way did Jesus deserve any of the many abuses He suffered yet He ENDURED all the way to the cross.  He had more right, more justification than any of us ever could have to be offended by the abuse, yet He chose a different way and He showed us that way- through HIM.

By HIS AMAZING GRACE, HIS LOVE!  In the name of our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ, our LORD forevermore! 

Do you ignore your cross?

'If in the disposition which Christ displayed in relation to His cross we are willing to take up ours, then we shall find that the power of His cross abides in us and enables us to lose our natural life.

Each time the cross is taken up, each time does the soul life suffer loss.

Each time the cross is circumvented, each time is the soul life fed and preserved.'    - Watchman Nee - The Spiritual Man.

We need to lose our natural life because of this- 

1Co_2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

If we cling to our natural life, holding fast to our natural man, then we CANNOT receive the things of the SPIRIT of GOD.

Isn't that what we want? Don't we want the things of the Spirit of God? If we don't then why are we bothering with any of this- stop reading now and go do whatever it is you want to do without the Spirit of God. I want the things of the SPIRIT of GOD, but I cannot receive them with my natural man in control!  The things of the Spirit are foolishness to our natural man. We CANNOT know  the things of the Spirit of God, we can't receive them, we can't know them in our natural state! So, YES, we need to LOSE our natural life!

The power of Jesus Christ's cross will abide in us and we WILL lose that natural self.

We have a natural self that the soul can choose to indulge in.  The spirit life in us needs the Spirit of God and does NOT need the natural life.  When the soul life indulges in the fleshy, natural temptations and sin is conceived we are wounding the spirit in us.

When Watchman Nee says this--

'Each time the cross is taken up, each time does the soul life suffer loss.

Each time the cross is circumvented, each time is the soul life fed and preserved.'

Our natural life suffers a loss when we TAKE up the cross that Christ has prepared for us individually, the cross that will forever be connected to HIS cross.  We NEED the natural life to suffer a loss, we need it desperately. 

When we CIRCUMVENT the cross, when we refuse to take up the cross presented to us and skirt around it to indulge in our natural life- we are hurting the spirit and feeding the natural life we need to LOSE.  How often we are presented with our daily cross only to ignore it. We must stop ignoring our cross!

More tomorrow by the grace of our LORD, our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!

Self-Denial- A learning experience.

Another excerpt from-

The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee

(Keep in mind what we've been studying the last few days. If you haven't been following the little study please go back the last few days, maybe a week and read it if you can.  We're discussing our need of humbling, our need of carrying our cross daily, our need of LIVING in Christ fully.)

'If in the disposition which Christ displayed in relation to His cross we are willing to take up ours, then we shall find that the power of His cross abides in us and enables us to lose our natural life.

Each time the cross is taken up, each time does the soul life suffer loss.

Each time the cross is circumvented, each time is the soul life fed and preserved.

The Lord Jesus does not imply that dealing with our natural inclinations is a once for all matter. We find in Luke the word “daily” is added to our Lord’s call to take up the cross.

Cross-bearing is continuous.

The cross which condemned sin to death is an accomplished fact: all which remains for us to do is to acknowledge and receive it. But the cross through which we forfeit our soul life is different.

Self-denial is not a matter already and completely accomplished; this we must experience daily.

Now this does not mean that the soul life will never be lost or only be lost slowly. It simply bespeaks the fact that the cross which deals with the soul life operates differently from that which deals with sin. And the reason? Because death towards sin is accomplished for us by Christ: when He died, we died with Him. But the denial of the soul life is not an accomplished matter.

We are required to take up our own cross daily by the power of the cross of Christ and determine daily to deny self—until it is lost.

Renunciation of our natural life is not something which is done once and forever. As for sin, we only need take the ground of the cross (Rom. 6.6) and immediately we are freed from its power and our servitude to it. In a moment this can be experienced with a full and perfect victory. But the self life must be overcome step by step.

The deeper the Word of God penetrates (Heb. 4.12), the deeper works the cross and the further the Holy Spirit completes the union of the life of our spirit with the Lord Jesus.

How can believers deny the self when it is yet unknown to them? They can deny only that part of the soul life which they already recognize. God’s Word must lay bare more and more of our natural life so that the work of the cross can probe deeper and deeper. That is why the cross must be borne daily. To know more of God’s will and to know more of the self- furnishes the cross increased ground to operate.'

*******

Tomorrow we'll study this more in-depth. For now, please read this a few times, soak it in. Look up the Bible verse if you can.

By the grace of God we have to learn this, study this, please God, please help us to learn what we need to! Help us to learn the truth of YOUR WORD! Guide us, help us!

All through the name of our Savior, our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever!

AMEN.

No two crosses we bear are the same.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

'… The Lord says to us that this cross is ours, for we each receive from God our own particular cross. That is what we ought to bear. Although it is our cross, it nevertheless is closely connected with the cross of the Lord. '

P198 The Spiritual Man  - by Watchman Nee

This is truth.

We each have our own cross, to say otherwise is to lie.  I can look at you and imagine what your cross may be- there may be some obvious clues to what your cross may look like - outward afflictions and such, but I can't know truly what your cross is like to bear.  We each carry weight differently- mentally, emotionally and even physically.  If I carried twenty lbs of cat food and you carry the same twenty lbs of cat food and your muscles are stronger than mine, then it would be easier for you to carry than for me.  Emotionally something could affect you more than me, or me more than you- the gauge we go by is truly ours and no others. There can't be a true standard. Society tries to imagine their standards based upon majority reactions, and test results and other data they collect and they make it the norm so that people tend to forget how truly individual we are in so many ways. No two people can ever experience life in the same way simply because we are not ever the same- not ever.  Our crosses are different, but we ALL have a cross.

However, not all of us TAKE UP the cross that is ours.

Jesus said- IF…    IF any man -  meaning if WE choose to follow Him then we choose to DENY ourselves, we TAKE up our cross DAILY and we follow Him.

The cross is the life we choose to give up- the flesh life. We take up all the hardship of DENYING ourselves and there are plenty of them. We take up the cross of recognizing all the Spirit revealed flesh lusts in our lives and in the recognition we submit to the spirit denying those flesh lusts. Daily we will be allowed to see the SELF we must give up and that self is a terrible thing. We bear the cross of being UNLIKE those who live to the flesh.  There is persecution, there is ostracizing, there is awkwardness, there is misunderstanding, there is ridicule, there is death for those who choose to follow Christ. We take up a cross, we follow Christ not to receive ANY earthly reward whatsoever! We do NOT follow Christ to have a life of ease, to have a hotline to heaven for prayers to be answered in our favor.  When we choose to follow Christ we must comprehend that we are choosing a life that will be ANYTHING BUT EASY.

If we learn to deny ourselves, to take up our cross we understand that our HOPE is in CHRIST'S life, in the life HE PROMISES us, not in this life. 

We are taking up the cross of our Savior- His cross was one of self-denial, He lived solely for OTHERS and He died for others.

Please LORD, please.  My heart cries out to You, please let the Holy Spirit utter the things I can't begin to comprehend. Please.

All in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ OUR LORD now and forever and ever!

Please.

Thy will be done.

Are you a cross bearer?

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Luk 9:24  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it.

Luk 9:25  For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?

What does it mean to take up our cross.

A cross is -

Definition- an upright wooden post with a shorter post fixed across it at right angles toward the top, on which, formerly, people were nailed or hanged in public executions

When we take up our cross we are putting on ourselves the weight of our SELF death.

Remember this--

Joh 19:16  Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away.

Joh 19:17  And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha

Jesus bore His own cross until He could bear it no longer.

Luk 23:26  And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus.

The weight of the cross, the instrument of His impending death, lay upon His wounded, bleeding shoulders. 

Bearing a cross, when we say those words- or these words-  'I have a cross to bear.'  We know it means that what we are bearing is a heavy weight, a burden of some kind.  If I tell you-  "That's your cross to bear." - I mean that's your weight, your burden to deal with.

Picking up our cross daily.  Each new day we have a cross we have to bear. We have a burden, we have a weight, we have an instrument of death - OUR instrument of death to endure.

Does it sound like something pleasant?

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

It's not pleasant at all. We are to DENY ourselves.  What's it mean to deny ourselves?  When you deny yourself you are giving something up, not partaking of something.  What are ways you can deny yourself?

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

We are to deny- UNGODLINESS.

We are to deny- WORLDLY LUSTS.

We should- LIVE SOBERLY.

We Should- LIVE RIGHTEOUSLY.

We should0 LIVE GODLY.

And to live soberly, righteously, and godly we have to deny our ungodly ways - ALL OF THEM and we have to deny ALL our worldly lusts.

Do we comprehend the scope of our cross, of all we need to deny ourselves?  Or are we too busy indulging ourselves without a single thought of denial? 

Jesus said- 'take up his cross daily'

Jesus said- 'deny himself'

WHY would our Savior say these things if we were simply to enjoy any and all things believing that if we deny ourselves we are somehow trying to save ourselves, working for our salvation.

Php_2:12  Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

We are to work out our own salvation and do it with FEAR and TREMBLING.

We work it out not with the ability to save ourselves but the with the ability to put ourselves where we can be saved. The choices we make - this is an action we need to commit.

Please, read the following verses, we'll be studying a lot more of this by the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST!

Help us, teach us LORD!  TEACH US. Please, LORD, save us- we believe… HELP OUR UNBELIEF!!!!!

*******

1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Luk 14:26  If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

Luk 14:27  And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

Mat 16:23  But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

Mat 16:24  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mat 16:25  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Mar 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Mar 8:35  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.

Mar 8:36  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Mar 8:37  Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Mar 8:38  Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry

Tit 2:12  Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ

Self must die, crucified with Christ.

Quote from yesterday- studied more today by God's will--

'God’s purpose cannot be accomplished as long as Satan continues to find opportunity to work through that soul life which remains uncommitted to the death of the cross. Self-pity, self-love, fear of suffering, withdrawal from the cross: these are some of the manifestations of soul life, for its prime motivation is self-preservation. It is exceedingly reluctant to endure any loss. This is precisely why the Lord summons us to deny self and take up our cross so as to crush our natural life. Every cross which passes before us beckons us to forsake ourselves. We should not harbor any self-love but lay down our lives by the power of God. The Lord says to us that this cross is ours, for we each receive from God our own particular cross. That is what we ought to bear. Although it is our cross, it nevertheless is closely connected with the cross of the Lord. '

Are we committed to the death of the cross-

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Are we crucified with Christ?

We must be.

Yet we live.

BUT

It's NOT us who live it is CHRIST!

This life we live in our flesh…

We have to live by FAITH in the Son of God who loves us, and died for us.

WE must be crucified with Christ.  Truly part of us must be crucified and obviously NOT our body, our flesh.  We couldn't LIVE at all if we took it literally in the physical sense. Some part of us MUST be crucified. There is a part of us that can't live, a very real part of us. What part?!

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

We must crucify the FLESH (no, not hanging ourselves on a cross) the flesh nature - the AFFECTIONS, the LUSTS.

Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Rom 6:5  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:

Rom 6:6  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

We have to WALK IN THE SPIRIT - and only then will we NOT fulfill the lusts of our flesh nature.

Our flesh nature has to die.

We have to DIE DAILY.

1Co_15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

2Co 4:10  Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

2Co 4:11  For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

Luk_9:23  And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

DENY ourselves - taking up the cross DAILY- Follow CHRIST.

If we are to DIE daily shouldn't this be a goal of ours?  A very serious goal.  Upon waking, shouldn't we seriously think about dying to self?  Awake to die to our flesh nature. Awake to realize that our fleshy desires must die. Awake and know that any selfish, self-centered, self-severing desire we may have are to perish. Submitting ourselves to GOD, submitting ourselves to the Holy Spirit, asking God to live in US, to help us to live for Him, for His will, for His glory and not for our own. 

We have to turn off the SELF focus!!!!!!!

But how.

May we learn how through our God.

More on this tomorrow by HIS WILL!

In Jesus always!

Self preservation or Christ preservation?

'God’s purpose cannot be accomplished as long as Satan continues to find opportunity to work through that soul life which remains uncommitted to the death of the cross. Self-pity, self-love, fear of suffering, withdrawal from the cross: these are some of the manifestations of soul life, for its prime motivation is self-preservation. It is exceedingly reluctant to endure any loss. This is precisely why the Lord summons us to deny self and take up our cross so as to crush our natural life. Every cross which passes before us beckons us to forsake ourselves. We should not harbor any self-love but lay down our lives by the power of God. The Lord says to us that this cross is ours, for we each receive from God our own particular cross. That is what we ought to bear. Although it is our cross, it nevertheless is closely connected with the cross of the Lord. '

P198 The Spiritual Man  - by Watchman Nee

We've been discussing humbling recently and this ties right in with humbling ourselves, doesn't it?  We can't be humble if our main focus is ourselves. If we wake up every day with the hope that it won't be a hard day for us- a hard day at work, a hard day at home, a hard day at school, what are we really hoping for? Seriously, ask yourself this question, and truly attempt to answer it.

What do you mean when you say you had a hard week at work and really hope next week is different?  What are you saying when you stress to a friend that things have been really hard at home and you just want things to settle down. Perhaps you've uttered the words that school has really been difficult lately, that you can't wait until it's over.  You know you've heard all this before, you know you've even been one to say something along these lines, in this context of having a really difficult, hard time in your life.

If I've had a hard day I might mean that people have been contrary towards me, not acting, or saying things I want to hear but rather warring against me. I might mean I've had the hard task of undertaking some difficult work that has tired me out, exhausted me. And I might mean I've felt out of sorts - mentally, emotionally, or even physically, sometimes all three or any other combo.

The point being is- the hardship comes to me based on my particular perception of what it means for me to have a good day versus a bad one.  My bad day full of taxing physical labor outside in the yard might be another's bliss, another's joy.  No one likes to be argued with- or do they? Feeling physically unwell truly is something the majority of people do not like, so having a bad day based on physical health is understandable, but again we are focused where, when we are enduring our physical hardship? Self. We believe we should not have this physical hardship based on what? Just based on being alive? Based on the idea we can be hardship free and if we can be then we should be and if we aren't then it's a difficulty undeserved. If others have a hardship free life then we should too, right? If another doesn't have a bad back then we certainly do not deserve one. If another doesn't have difficulty walking then why must we? If people in general don't seem to have the ailments we suffer from then we are being unduly burdened. We base our belief on the idea of what we believe to be a difficulty free life.  Yet part of us has to realize NO ONE has a difficulty free life. We have this predisposition to believing we are owed certain things in life or else our life is filled with difficulty. 

Do you think it is true that some of the most humble people are those who have very little in life and have grown up with extreme hardship, accepting things for what they are without believing they are owed a better life?

Self-focus.

Can a person be taught to be self-centered?  Is it a person's fault if they turn out to be self-centered? Is self-centeredness a permanent condition? 

We exist, how can we help but be focused on who we are, we are and can be no other, or can we?

Can we be another? Can we be something other than self? What does this mean…

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me

What does it mean? I live yet not I, but Christ lives in me-  WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

I live yet not I.      We are to live but NOT LIVE TO OURSELVES, not live to that 'I'.   The 'I' shouldn't live- in its place CHRIST should live. 

The above paragraph by Watchmen Nee states - 'Self-pity, self-love, fear of suffering, withdrawal from the cross: these are some of the manifestations of soul life, for its prime motivation is self-preservation. It is exceedingly reluctant to endure any loss. This is precisely why the Lord summons us to deny self and take up our cross so as to crush our natural life. Every cross which passes before us beckons us to forsake ourselves. We should not harbor any self-love but lay down our lives by the power of God'

Is our prime motivation SELF PRESERVATION at all costs?  Are we reluctant to endure ANY LOSS?  Do we shun the crosses presented to us on our path to denying ourselves?  Is SELF LOVE so strong in us that we find our lives - confronting hardship after hardship one day from the next - the degree in which we measure our having a 'good' life-  in NOT having to endure too much hardship- is this the measure of our lives?!   I've had a good life, I haven't had too many hardships. Is this what we focus on?

Christ died in our place, Christ should also LIVE in our place, in us!  And if Christ is allowed to live in us doesn't this mean our lives are not our own but the focus of our lives would be what the focus of Christ's life was and is? OTHERS, not self. GOD the FATHER, not self.  Christ did NOTHING without the Father, we should do nothing without the Father. 

By the grace of GOD we will be TAUGHT to take up our CROSSES and DENY SELF so that the soul-self part of us is truly under the control of the SPIRIT which is CHRIST in Us! Our hope, our glory!

PLEASE FATHER, please help us!

All through the sacrifice of Your ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD and SAVIOR NOW and FOREVER!!!!!!!

Double minded people.

Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Is this true? It has to be, doesn't it? If we draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to us.  We can't get close to God without His getting close to us, it's impossible.  That's not all the verse says though. We are told to CLEANSE our hands. We are told PURIFY our hearts.  We are called sinners and double minded. 

The truth is so blatant, so real right there for us to see.

We want to be sinners but we want God at the same time. We are at WAR with ourselves! We fight against ourselves and we do this because we all too often choose sin when we want God and we can't have both.

How many people have altered God to fit their desires so they don't have to feel the guilt that accompanies their choosing sin? They change God's very nature and tell themselves that God accepts their sins and doesn't mind them, they can keep on enjoying their sins because hey, God understands that it's too hard for them to stop sinning.  Long gone is the remorse for sin, the true remorse that convicts our hearts of its evil. Long gone are a lot of sins because we've changed them. WE HAVE CHANGED SIN! We have taken sin and we have labeled it GOOD.  This didn't happen overnight, it was a very gradual progression, a subtle changing. The ground work was laid long ago and today we have SO many acceptable sins it's all but impossible for a person not to sin.  You say sinning in ignorance is okay?  I won't argue with you. What I will say is that if you have a single chance to recognize sin for its evil and you turn a blind eye to that chance so you can continue in sin, you are no longer ignorant.  Choosing to be purposefully ignorant is NO excuse, none.

People have stopped caring about sin in so many forms. People have labeled the real sinners as those who recognize sin and speak out against it.  People call the sin revealers hateful, and evil. People want ALL things accepted, all things.  They've made the mistake of equating accepting all things with accepting all people while not recognizing all things are not acceptable.  They believe if we do NOT accept the things that people do- we are in effect- not accepting them, and this is far from the truth.  We've TAKEN THINGS and labeled them an integral part of us, our make-up, our dna, our genes, we were born this way and that way.  We are born with a desire for something and so it has to be acceptable because we were born that way.  What we've failed to realize is we are ALL born with the ability to sin, we are all born with that propensity towards letting temptation become conceived in us.  One person's propensity doesn't have to be another's.  If your propensity is to steal and you have war with that desire you've had since you were little- as long as you can remember, does that mean because it is a part of you it needs to be accepted?

We have CHANGED SIN!  We have forgotten we are but creatures in need of recognizing our need to be saved from all sin through Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior.  Instead we desire acceptance of all the sins we now call genetically given to us, no matter what they are!  If you come from a long line of prideful people and one of those prideful people had a child they adopted out to strangers and that adopted child still grew up very prideful because it was in the genetic makeup, does that mean their prideful trait should be excused? Yes, I'm talking about PRIDE here, because pride is a very deadly sin!  Many people cling to their pride holding fast to it as a badge of honor, they say it's not one of those other nasty sins. It is a nasty sin, a very nasty sin- only we have changed it to be considered something good.

No matter what propensity you have towards the various sins in existence, not a single sin becomes acceptable simply because we can't help ourselves, we were born this way.  If you were born with the propensity towards several sinning ways and you indulge in them all and tell yourself it's fine because you were made this way, then you are LYING to yourself in a very deadly way. 

Isn't it possible we could say to all our sinful desires that we were born to desire that particular sin? We could, couldn't we.  We do! We do it all the time. Yet the person born with the desire to murder is deemed unacceptable while the person born with the desire to steal is a bit more acceptable, and the person born with the desire to covet is accepted without a qualm.  We've taken our sins and labeled them ACCEPTABLE or UNACCEPTABLE.  We've excused so many sins rather than confessed and repented of them.

At what point do we say someone is born with a propensity to a certain sin rather than they just sinned on the spur of the moment and really didn't desire to do so. Can you sin without a desire to do so? Can you sin without choosing to sin?

'Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.'

Lord, please help us double minded people! Help us, purify us, teach us to purify our hearts, to cleanse our hands! Please Lord, we don’t want to call any sin in is good, no matter the sin's origin in us.  Sometimes, Lord, we feel that our whole life is one of sin and desiring sin, and we know YOU came to save us from our sins! Save us LORD, help us! Heal us! Draw us closer to YOU! Be in us what we cannot be without You! Forgive us! Forgive us now for every single sin in us! Forgive us, Lord and help us look to YOU who are sinless- for our HOPE, not to ourselves where no hope lives. You are our HOPE, You are our REDEEMER!

All in YOUR LOVE, now and forever!!!!!!!

In Your name heavenly redeemer, Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior, our High Priest, our King!

Humbling our tongues.

Jas 3:5 Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!
Jas 3:6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.

Jas 4:6  But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

In humbling ourselves I believe one of the hardest things to do is to watch what we say. In our day and age what we think is what we speak. The words flow out of our mouths with very little thought. Our pride rears up so brightly in our words. We want to be heard! We want our opinions voiced and not only voiced but appreciated! We don't desire criticism when we speak, we want … yes… appreciation. And barring that, we just want our opinion known even if it's very harsh, and sometimes outright offensive. We have the right to speak and we want to be heard even if it is only the family dog listening, seriously, we will speak even to ourselves if need be.  We swear, we are outright vulgar in our speech and this day and age it's so acceptable on many levels- not all- but many. The little inoffensive swear words are common speech. The movies we watch, the television shows we enjoy have a lot of what was once considered unacceptable language.  We might wince when we hear the Lord's name taken in vain, we might cringe a tiny bit inside over that baddie f-word, but we tuck it away and keep on watching, becoming more and more hardened to what was once considered bad- until eventually it will be considered good.

Words.

Speaking.

Our wicked tongues can defile us.

We have a GOD who will help us in spite of our very NON-humble tongues. We have to draw NIGH to GOD so HE can draw NIGH to us! We have to CLEANSE our hands, purify our hearts, and STOP being double minded. Stop, just stop being of two minds. We can't be proud we have to be HUMBLE!  God will resist those who are proud, too proud do admit their need, their total dependence upon God.

God save us! Humble us! Teach us to do all You would have us do, all through YOU.

Please, Father, save us from ourselves!

Help us, Lord, help us we need you more now than ever before! This world is turning inside out, and so much that was once considered evil is now considered good. Please, Lord, please help us.

All through Jesus Christ our LORD now and forever!  AMEN.

Humbled Daily.

Discussing our humbling, or lack thereof.

Jesus said--

Mat_18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

We are told--

Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up

Humble… yourself in the SIGHT of the LORD.

Less of ourselves. How? We are, what we are and to change ourselves seems almost impossible. Our only focus can be self in all situations even in the most selfless of situations we can only be the person we are.  Have you ever been so caught up in something you forgot about your own needs?  I think most of us can say we have. But more often than not we are NOT caught up in a lot of 'something else' to the inclusion of our self needs. While we work endlessly our thoughts stray to that time clock. If we are working in something we love (which not many get to do) we are wishing for that time clock to slow down. Our thoughts are for the future- our future and it's a constant thought.  'I have to do this when I'm done with that. Tomorrow I have this to do. What's my schedule look like for the next week. Oh dear, holidays are nearing I have to make some plans. In the morning I have to do this, then that, and go here and do this. When I'm done I have to stop here, get that, do this and then after that I have to do some more. What will I watch on tv? What will I eat? Do I really want that to drink? I have to choose what to wear. I have so much to do I'm not sure I'll have enough time to do it all. My schedule is full. Even when I plan my down time and I'm relaxing that is what I want to do and I do not want to be interrupted- I'm busy doing what I want even if it's absolutely nothing. 

Do any of the above sound familiar to you?  How do we get away from all that? I'm not sure we do. However, we can CHOOSE to humble ourselves first before we do any and all of those things, can't we? Is it within our power to humble ourselves before we take over ourselves- so to speak- making plans?  

We do not get a daily, hourly, minutely itinerary from God. He doesn't email us or text our phones to tell us what's on the schedule.

We do have some instructions about our schedule from God though, and it's a weekly instruction. Once a week on the seventh day of the week we are to worship the Lord our God, setting aside ourselves as much as we possibly can- especially if we can't seem to do it throughout the rest of the week.  A true humbling if we truly honor the Sabbath- and it's not sitting in a room secluded from everyone. Honoring the Sabbath is doing God's will as fully and purposefully as we possibly can.  Honoring the Sabbath is HUMBLING ourselves in a very special way. We put ourselves as LAST as we possibly can on the Sabbath, purposefully! We seek out God and helping others in whatever we choose to do. We pray, we study, we gather together, we HUMBLE ourselves to God's will!

The rest of the week we aren't supposed to seek NOT to be humble. Humbling ourselves is an ongoing full time experience, a choice.  We need to ask ourselves if we are being selfish, if we are being arrogant, if we are being prideful and we need to do this in all we do.

Too often we think of others interfering in our plans as something awful, a hardship on us, an imposition. We have to check our schedules, we have to see if we can fit it in, we have to weigh all the facts- do we really need that nap more than helping out a friend? Does our body ache a bit too much to help?

If you are one of those people who drop everything in a moment's notice and hurry to aid another no matter the reason, GOD BLESS YOU!  Or maybe you drop everything but at the same time you're a tiny bit resentful of having to do so. Or maybe you love the self-back-patting you can give yourself for being a good person. Hopefully you are doing it very sincerely, and God's guiding you, His Spirit working with you and your spirit, this is our desire- isn't it?!  Praise God if YOU' VE attained this!

Self is us, and truly we NEED to HUMBLE OURSELVES!

We need to keep all our scheduled plans, but before EACH and every plan I think we need to pray.

We need to pray - God, may YOUR will be done before I start my day, before I go to work, while I'm at work, when I go to the store, when I pick up the kids from school, when I go see a friend, as I'm eating. Not our will God!  While we may be doing things that we choose to do, uncertain if we are following Your plans, let Your will be done. Guide us, help us, teach us, show us, and forgive us! Please forgive us! Humble us Lord, teach us to humble ourselves as You desire we do! We need You, Lord! We believe, help our unbelief!!! 

We can't read this, listen to this and then go away and forget it all. We can't think this is okay advice and then turn around and NOT seek humbling! We can't, we just…can't! Please. We would be humbled.

May God help us, please, please us always. 

More tomorrow by the grace and WILL of God!

In HIS LOVE ALWAYS!

In the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ our LORD!

Now.

And forever!

Don't put on your own armor, it won't work.

Remember, we were discussing being humble, why? 

Because we are very far from being a humble people. Okay, I can't speak for you or anybody else really, but I don't believe I am anywhere near as humble as I could be, as I should be.

Mat_18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 

Jas 4:9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 

Jas 4:10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up

Submit…  to GOD.

Resist…  the DEVIL.

Draw nigh… to GOD.

Cleanse… your hands.

Purify… your hearts.

Be… afflicted.

Mourn.

Weep.

Humble… yourself in the SIGHT of the LORD.

HE- the LORD- will lift us up!

We were talking about resisting the devil and how Jesus had to resist the devil. If Jesus had to resist the devil and his tempting why do we imagine we wouldn't have to?

Resisting the devil - this is a topic that could go much further. I do want to talk just a little more on this and then we'll go on …

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

This mentions the wiles of the devil and he has A LOT of wiles to use against us.  To STAND AGAINST the wiles of the devil is in fact- RESISTING the devil. And we can do this- we are told we can do this. We have to put on the WHOLE ARMOR of God.

We are NOT ever to put on our own armor! Yet we try. We try so hard to manufacture our own armor and then wear it way too proudly believing it works effectively.  We like the fit of our own helmets, a bit more comfortable to wear, not too tight under the chin.  We want our own breastplate- it's a lot lighter and a bit more fancy to look at. And hey, how about the boots we are wearing, stylish yet mostly effective.  Not to forget our protective skirt and best of all, look at the incredible sword we are wielding!  Our armor, our plans on how we need to resist the devil. We carefully lay out our plan of action and a lot of time, a WHOLE lot of time, the devil lets us believe that our plan is working that our armor is amazingly effective against him. He wants us DECEIVED and so many of us desire to be deceived because it means we can continue on in our sinful, selfish, self-serving ways. We don't have to look too hard at our own lives so we don't have to witness the sin we are clothed heavily with, our deceptive armor hides a lot of that sin clothing we love to wear. 

We need to RESIST the devil, NOT SIDE with him, not take up his banner and root for him.  Resist the devil! Put on the whole armor of God so we can WITHSTAND the devil's evil, all his wiles need to be stood against!  There is SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS surrounding us! 

We need the WHOLE armor of God! ALL OF THAT ARMOR!!!!

We need every bit of it if we hope to resist. And we get that armor FROM GOD and no other! Read this again…

Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints

TRUTH. RIGHTEOUSNESS. GOSPEL OF PEACE. FAITH. SALVATION. WORD OF GOD. PRAYING ALWAYS.

We need all of these pieces of armor and we will stand against the devil!

Please, Savior, please give us the armor, YOUR armor!  Help us! Save us!

More tomorrow ALL by the LOVE of our SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST our LORD NOW and FOREVER!!!!!!!

Do we truly worship and serve God?

Excerpt from yesterday-- 

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

Jesus told the devil to go away and then He used the power of the written word of God-

Thou shalt WORSHIP the LORD THY GOD, and HIM ONLY SHALT THOUGH SERVE.

Jesus would NOT bow down and worship the devil - not for the entire world!  

How many of us give up worshipping the Lord- for so much less?

Tempted with the kingdoms of the world-  but NOT the world itself. The devil did NOT tell Jesus he'd give him the world, or everything in the world. He tempted Him by telling Him, he would give him the kingdoms and the glory of those kingdoms and yes, that was a lot of to offer, but to our Savior it was nothing. Jesus didn't want the kingdoms and their glory, Jesus wanted the lost, the sinners, the love of those He created.

The devil wanted Jesus' worship. The devil wanted to be like the god -of the God who created Him.

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High

The devil wanted to be like the most high, and if he could get Jesus to worship Him, he would accomplish that goal.

Jesus wanted nothing to do with the devil, He knew him for what he was, the evil He was through and through.

The words Jesus used to answer the devil's third temptation- 'Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written'

He told the devil to go away!

He told the devil -  "IT IS WRITTEN"

And He told Him something very, very important, something we ALL need to remember constantly. "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."

This is TRUTH! We need to WORSHIP the Lord our God!

We need to only SERVE God!

We need to comprehend what this means, truly comprehend it, not just read it and nod as if we understand without truly letting it sink in.

Worshiping the Lord our God- ONLY.   We need to think about what it means to WORSHIP and then- worship as God desires of us.

We need to serve ONLY GOD and like worshiping, we need to comprehend what it means to serve God.

By HIS GRACE may we study this so we know, truly know what it means to worship and serve God.

We do NOT want Jesus to tell us to get away from Him and He will… He really will…

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

Mat 7:23  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

More tomorrow all by the GRACE and MERCY, the overwhelming, unfathomable LOVE of our GOD!

Forever and ever!

AMEN.

Temptation can lead to lust conceived.

The Devil tempted Jesus… make no mistake… the temptation was REAL to our Savior.  We may think that because our Savior came back with what seemed like quick retorts to the Devil's temptations that He was impervious to any temptation.  Jesus COULDN'T have been immune (if you will) to temptation. No, Jesus did NOT sin.

Read this…

Jas 1:13  Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

Jas 1:14  But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.

Jas 1:15  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

Jas 1:16  Do not err, my beloved brethren.

Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed.

A lust is a desire for self-gratification. When we lust for anything we are wanting that thing and even if our lust is for a good thing it can be wrong.  We are tempted with things we desire. And when we are tempted we get drawn away into our lust- wanting that thing right or wrong, wanting that thing before we want the things of God. Putting our desires first before God, making our desires our god. Once that lust is conceived- it is a done deal, no longer a temptation, no longer a drawing away, but conceived, accepted and then it brings forth the sin.

Jesus, our Savior was TEMPTED by the DEVIL. Jesus was very hungry- He desired to eat- but He DID not let that tempting turn into a conceived lust!  Jesus could easily have jumped off the pinnacle of the temple and had the angels catch Him just to shut the Devil up, but even if the thought was there it was NOT a conceived lust! 

Let's read the next temptation the Devil brought to our suffering Savior.

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;

Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.

Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

The top of the temple was not high enough a perch, the devil took Jesus next to a EXCEEDING high mountain and show him ALL the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Think about that, on that high mountain the devil used visions to reveal ALL the kingdoms of the world. I say he used visions because even on the highest mountain you wouldn't see everything without a special vision adjustment. Allowed to visualize all the kingdoms of the world and the GLORY of them, Jesus was shown marvelous things, wondrous things of the kingdoms and then the devil OFFERED those kingdoms to Him.  The devil owns the kingdoms of the world, because when mankind sin under his temptation they gave over their claim to the world God made for them. The devil offered Jesus all the world and isn't that what Jesus wanted? Think about it, Jesus came to save the world and the devil was offering Him a very quick fix.

Again, the LUST WAS NOT CONCEIVED!

Jesus told the devil to go away and then He used the power of the written word of God- Thou shalt WORSHIP the LORD THY GOD, and HIM ONLY SHALT THOUGH SERVE.

Jesus would NOT bow down and worship the devil - not for the entire world!  

How many of us give up worshipping the Lord for so much less?

Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

More tomorrow all by the grace, the love, the mercy of our Lord and Savior- Jesus Christ!!!