Foreign World.

 We are owed nothing, but we are freely gifted with the opportunity for life in a future world- perfect in the way we can only long for now as life rips us apart at every turn.

Is God with you in all you do? If not, He should be. When we exclude God from any part of our lives we are only part-time Christ followers, and Christ won't know you at all when He returns.

Good or bad, whatever you're doing let God be there with you. Yes, even as you do something you know is contrary to the will of God, don't exclude Him. Acknowledge your weak flesh, acknowledge it -not as a way to excuse doing wrong when you know right from wrong, but because truly we are incredibly weak in our flesh. Acknowledge God not as an act of defiance, but as knowing you are weak and in need of rescuing. Acknowledge God in all honesty, He knows all truth and our acknowledging the truth before Him isn't wearisome to Him. Acknowledge your creature status before your Creator. Ask for miracles, ask for help, ask for forgiveness over and over again, without ceasing. 

The torment we experience right now in so many ways is excruciating to us on emotional, mental, spiritual and physical level. We can, and do ask God to release us from the myriad of agonies, and see no relief in sight. God answers us from His word, our treasures should be in heaven, our hope is in Christ, the world of the future is our reward. Right now we are but pilgrims, aliens in a foreign world knowing the corruption which has caused all the horrors of this existence are not the world we belong to. We know this world is temporary, we know our lives here are temporary and we can't ever take our eyes off that prize- eternity.

God help us as we seek to follow His will- serving others as He served, working hard now as He worked hard, all through HIS love! HIS LOVE!

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Excerpt - E.J. Waggoner-

"I Am Debtor." 

That was the keynote of Paul's life, and it was the secret of his success. Nowadays we hear of men saying, "The world owes me a living." But Paul considered that he owed himself to the world. And yet he received nothing from the world but stripes and abuse. Even that which he had received before Christ found him was a total loss. But Christ had found him, and given himself to him, so that he could say, "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." Gal. 2:20.

As Christ's life was his life, and Christ gave himself for the world, Paul necessarily became a debtor to the whole world.

This has been the case of every man who has been a servant of the Lord. "David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep." Acts 13:36. 

"Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant; even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many."

Personal Labor. 

There is a foolish notion prevalent that ordinary labor is degrading, especially to a minister of the gospel. It is not all the fault of the ministers themselves, but largely the fault of the foolish people about them. They think that a minister must always be faultlessly attired, and that he must never soil his hands with ordinary manual labor. Such ideas were never gained from the Bible. Christ himself was a carpenter, yet many professed followers of him would be shocked if they should see their minister sawing and planing boards, or digging in the ground, or carrying parcels.

There is a false dignity altogether too prevalent, which is utterly opposed to the spirit of the gospel. Paul was not ashamed nor afraid to labor. And this he did not merely occasionally, but day after day while he was engaged in preaching. 

See Acts 18:3, 4. He said, "These hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me." 

Acts 20:34. He was speaking to the leaders of the church when he said, "I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive." Vs. 35.

Presence of the Spirit.

 Established by Spiritual Gifts.  (Excerpt- E.J. Waggoner)

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal." 

What is the profit? 

"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ;  till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Eph. 4:12, 13.

The gifts of the Spirit must accompany the Spirit. As soon as the early disciples received the Spirit in accordance with the promise, they received the gifts. One of the gifts, speaking with new tongues, was manifested that very day. It follows, therefore, that the absence of the gifts of the Spirit in any marked degree in the church, is evidence of the absence of the Spirit, not entirely, of course, but to the extent that God has promised it.

The Spirit was to abide with the disciples forever, and therefore the gifts of the Spirit must be manifest in the true church until the second coming of the Lord. 

As before stated, the absence of any very marked manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit is evidence of the absence of the fullness of the Spirit; and that is the secret of the weakness of the church, and the great divisions that exist. Spiritual gifts establish the church; therefore the church that does not have those gifts can not be established.

Who May Have the Spirit? 

Whoever asks for it with earnest desire. 

See Luke 11:13. If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? 

The Spirit has already been poured out, and God has never withdrawn the gift; it only needs that Christians should ask and accept. (End Excerpt)

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Remember the spiritual gifts we talked about yesterday…

Wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, different languages, interpreting different languages.

We can't assume we will each have all these spiritual gifts.

1Co 12:8  For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 

1Co 12:9  To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 

1Co 12:10  To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: 

1Co 12:11  But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. 

DIVIDING to every man severally as HE WILL.

1Co 12:12  For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. 

1Co 12:13  For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. 

1Co 12:14  For the body is not one member, but many. 

1Co 12:15  If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 

1Co 12:16  And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? 

1Co 12:17  If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? 

1Co 12:18  But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. 

1Co 12:19  And if they were all one member, where were the body? 

1Co 12:20  But now are they many members, yet but one body. 

1Co 12:21  And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. 

1Co 12:22  Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: 

1Co 12:23  And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 

1Co 12:24  For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: 

1Co 12:25  That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. 

1Co 12:26  And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. 

1Co 12:27  Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

 

1Co 12:28  And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues. 

1Co 12:29  Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? 

1Co 12:30  Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? 

1Co 12:31  But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. 

1Co 14:12  Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. 

None of the spiritual gifts are given to us for self-satisfaction, self-glorying, self-serving, not a single one. All the spiritual gifts that we are zealously seeking are solely for the edification of others- for sharing Christ, and His salvation, His gospel with all others. Not a single spiritual gift is good for anything other than glorifying God! If you are seeking spiritual gifts so you may consider yourself 'good enough', 'accepted by God', 'importantly spiritual enough to be God's and used by Him', then you are seeking for the wrong reasons- IT'S NOT ABOUT US! Satan would have us make it all about US, but it's NOT, it's just not!  Pride will try to ensnare us at every turn of our existence and it will trap us over and over, but we need to recognize the trap and know that the release from that trap is putting Christ first, it is seeking Christ's righteousness only found in Christ, not given outside of Christ to us, but only found in Christ when Christ is in us! It's not about us. We have to tell ourselves that over and over and over… and yes, over! Christ will use us for His glory, not for us to glorify ourselves in any way. Spiritual gifts to Christ's glory! No glorying in ourselves or patting ourselves on the back , no, no, no!  All praise goes to GOD, not to ourselves!  

Lord, please keep me completely in You and not in myself. Help me not to seek self-adoration, self-congratulations, self-serving… please, Lord, let my life be all about YOU. Please kill the pride in me that threatens to rise up constantly as I seek selfish self-worth, as if I can be anything without You! You are everything! Be my everything! All glory to You, God! All glory to YOU now and forever!!!!!!!

Gifts

 

All Things...

 Do you believe this-- 

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 

The good, the bad… all things.

The Bible is filled with truths of men and women who suffered terribly being ultimately used by God for good, for His purposes. 

We don't have to comprehend, in fact to tell ourselves we must comprehend or else not believe - would be damning ourselves to the nothingness of eternal death. To want to comprehend all of God is to commit the very first sin ever committed- that of pride, that of self-adulation.  Do you remember that Satan told Eve she could be like God- be gods themselves? He said, GOD knew that SHE could be a GOD- A LIE, from the father of lies, Satan himself.  

Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 

When we want to know all of God's way, all of God's reasoning, all of God's knowledge, all the whys and wherefores- we are saying we want to be a god rather than a creature of God- this is truth! 

We must accept the our GOD will work everything together for good in ways beyond our comprehension. Us creatures must bow down to our Creator in all ways, at all times. By the grace of God may we do this!

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Excerpt- EJ Waggoner-

"A Prosperous Journey." 

Paul prayed earnestly that he might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to visit Rome. Read the twenty-seventh chapter of Acts, and you will learn just what kind of journey he had. Most people would say that it was not a prosperous journey. Yet we do not hear any complaint from Paul; and who can say that he did not have a prosperous trip? "All things work together for good to them that love God,"  Therefore it must have been prosperous. It is well for us to consider these things.

We are apt to look at matters from a wrong side. When we learn to look at them as God looks at them, we shall find that things that we regard as disastrous are prosperous. How much mourning we might save if we always remembered that God knows much better than we do how our prayers should be answered!

Rejoice

 

People of Prayer.

 Paul a man of prayer, an example to us all. Yesterday we talked of persevering in prayer, the need for us to never stop praying. Will we ever lose our need of God's intercession on our behalf? No. Will we ever lose our need of communicating with God? Will we ever lose our need of God? NEVER. We will never lose our need of God. We were created, we are creatures and we need our Creator. We will NEVER be in a position, nor were we ever created with the idea that we should live completely independent of God. Companionship, never means being alone. Don't get me wrong, right now we are often separated from those we long to be companions with but let me ask you this- when you are separated from them does your heart, your love still belong to the missing one? Yes. The separation does not tear apart your connection. God created us, gave us a planet to inhabit, all the while intending to forever remain a part of our lives- always!  Too often it is portrayed that we were created and left to fend for ourselves, a lie! God hasn't left us, we left Him, and still He remains.  Through prayer we remain forever in touch with our God, forever! The importance of being a man (woman) of prayer cannot be overstated, not ever. 

God help us to forever persevere in prayer. Ready always to communicate with our God.

A Man of Prayer. 

This is what Paul was. He made mention of the Romans in all his prayers. To the Corinthians he wrote, "I thank my God always on your behalf." 1 Cor. 1:4.

To the Colossians, "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you." Col. 1:3. 

Still more emphatically he wrote to the Philippians, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy." Phil. 1:3, 4. 

Again to the Thessalonians, "We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith," etc., 1 Thess. 1:2, 3. 

And further, "Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face, and might perfect that which is lacking in your faith." 1 Thess. 3:10.

To his beloved son in the faith he wrote, "I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day."  2 Tim. 1:3.

Persevering In Prayer.

 Praying without Ceasing.

The apostle exhorted the Thessalonians to "pray without ceasing." 1 Thess. 5:17. 

He did not exhort others to do that which he did not do himself, for he told the Romans that without ceasing he made mention of them always in his prayers. It is not to be supposed that the apostle had the brethren at Rome on his mind every waking hour of the day, for in that case he could not have thought of anything else. No man can be consciously in prayer every moment, but all can continue "instant in prayer," or, as Young translates it,  "in the prayer persevering." Rom. 12:12.

This is in harmony with what the Saviour said, that "men ought always to pray, and not to faint," or grow weary.  Luke 18:1. In the parable that follows, the unjust judge complains of the "continual coming" of the poor widow.  That is an illustration of praying without ceasing. It is not that we are to be every moment in conscious prayer,  for then important duties would be neglected, but it is that we should not grow weary of praying.