I eschew any sneakiness in you. Don't adapt yourself to the climate of the age, which seeks to put one past the rules or laws of the land. Resist falsehood so there is no chink for Satan to get a foothold in you.
Be light yourself in a childlike, transparent way.
On browsing the blogs of some children’s book editors yesterday, I began feeling overwhelmed, somewhat directionless, down on myself for not being more focused, and even – confused? Yes a little. This morning I felt this check in my spirit:
Did I tell you to go there? Are you getting direction from Me or from common sense and the industry? Stay close to Me. Stick on the path right on My heels – and I will surely lead you to the next thing, and the next, and the next…
Practice My presence. Review what I am to you. Remind yourself that I am with you … as you read emails, blog, consider your day, plan your day, water your flowers, care for your home, talk with your family.
For my birthday recently, my sis gave me a copy of the devotional God Calling, by Two Listeners, edited by A.J. Russell. Each day’s devotion consists of a short message –
from God. As Russell explains in the ‘Introduction’:
Not one woman, but two have written this book; and they seek no praise. They have elected to remain anonymous and to be called “Two Listeners.” But the claim which they make is an astonishing one, that their message has been given to them, today, here in England, by the Living Christ Himself.I too am amazed at how ‘right on’ this book feels with the tone of the Bible and the personality of Jesus. And these writings have challenged me to listen for myself. So in the next while, I am going to record here, what God says to me. I have decided to cast these messages in first-person, just as the Two Listeners did. Forgive me if that sounds presumptuous or like some extra-biblical stuff. It isn’t meant to be. Rather I choose to do it that way to give the sense of immediacy and the personal that addressing one in first-person gives. (In fact if anything I say here doesn’t line up with Scripture, I’d be happy to be put straight.)
Having read their book I believe them.
I do not of course believe that He whispered to them all that He intends to say to this generation. But I am confident that He opened their eyes to many things which they and this generation greatly need to know.
I do not believe in the verbal inspiration of this or any book. But I do believe that these two women have been led and that much of what is written is very clear leading indeed.
4Jesus answered them, Be careful that no one misleads you [deceiving you and leading you into error].
5For many will come in (on the strength of) My name [appropriating the name which belongs to Me], saying, I am the Christ (the Messiah), and they will lead many astray.
6And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened or troubled, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.
7For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in place after place;
8All this is but the beginning [the early pains] of the birth pangs [of the intolerable anguish].
9Then they will hand you over to suffer affliction and tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
10And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred.
11And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error.
12And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,
13But he who endures to the end will be saved.
14And this good news of the kingdom (the Gospel) will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then will come the end.- Amplified
"The journey only took twelve minutes, but on this occasion that was long enough for a startling new truth to penetrate my ten-year-old consciousness so profoundly that it has affected almost everything I have done since that day.
As I sat on the front seat of the big green Maidstone and District bus, a sixpenny bit and a penny clutched in my hand ready for the conductor, a phrase I had read earlier repeated itself over and over in my mind.
“Everybody is I.”
For some reason I sensed an important inner core of meaning in the words. But I was unable to dig it out.
Everybody is I... Everybody is I ...
Suddenly I stiffened. Body erect, hands flat on the ledge of the window, I pressed my forehead against the glass and stared in amazement at the crowds on the pavement below. The true meaning of those three simple, but puzzling words had exploded into my mind, destroying the illusion that I was the center of the universe, and leaving me to cope, for the rest of my life, with a burden of knowledge. Every one of those people down there in the street, walking the pavements, driving cars, waiting for buses – every single one, whatever they were, whatever they looked like, whatever I thought of them, were as important to themselves as I was to myself!
I shook my head trying to clear it of this incredible notion. Everybody is I ... That funny, bent old lady with the mouth drooping on one side – she mattered, she was vital – central. The bus conductor who had interrupted my mental churning earlier; he wasn’t just a bit player in my world. He was the star in his own. He had a head full of thoughts and feelings; a life inside him; he was the reason that the earth went on turning. My own father and mother, my brothers, aunts, uncles, all my friends – all were “I”. Everybody was I, and at that moment I was somehow aware that I would probably never learn a more important lesson."
"Give and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." - Jesus, Luke 6:38
Who doesn’t salivate at Jesus' word picture of abundance? Yes, bring it on!
But I wonder how often I don’t recognize the abundance I already have.
We have an abundance of food in our freezer and a well-stocked pantry
We have an abundance of books (this bookshelf x about 5).
I have an abundance of clothes.
We have an abundance of good memories in shelf-fulls of photo albums and many more photos in boxes and on computer disks.
We have an abundance of CDs (these are just the ones in my office).
I have an abundance of pens, pencils and paper.
I have an abundance of Bibles (many more than this!)
You get the picture?
I think this "good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over" has already hit me in many areas of my life. I’d better have an abundance of thanks!
Saturday afternoon driving into Vancouver, we again passed the site, in front of the Chinese Consulate, where for five years Falun Gong members demonstrated against the Chinese Government. They were protesting the persecution of their brothers and sisters China.
The city tried to shut down the protest last summer. Thus people no longer sit and stand there 24/7 as they used to. But there are still posters and banners. As we sped by, I caught sight of a woman’s face on a poster, emaciated and bruised, hair a mess, eyes filled with pain. And I thought of how much she looked like pictures of persecuted Christians I have seen.
This morning when reading Jesus’ woes in Luke 6: “Woe to you who are rich....Woe to you who are full....Woe to you who laugh now....Woe to you when all men speak well of you....” I thought of my rich, full, accepted life, and what a contrast is the life of Christians in places where persecution is the norm. And I also thought of that Falun Gong protest site.
It was not my choice to be born in Canada – a land of tolerance and plenty. But I do have other choices. One of them concerns what to do about my persecuted brothers and sisters in India and Uzbekistan and Pakistan and China and Myanmar and Thailand etc. etc. Like the Falun Gong, should I consider making myself a little uncomfortable and unpopular by protesting against governments that deal oppressively with Christians and which my country supports with respect and trade? That monument of their dedication on Granville Street is a rebuke to me.
At the very least, I know I should pray regularly for my persecuted brothers and sisters. For if I don’t take some of their present woe on myself in this least (and perhaps most) thing I can do – intercession – I can consider myself warned. Jesus said someday the tables would be turned:
“Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who hunger now, for you shall be filled. Blessed are you who weep now. Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you and cast out your name as evil....For your reward is great in heaven (Luke 6:20-23).
That's the question that came to me this morning as I was thinking about the day ahead and the list of things I’d like to get done. List-making has always been for me an efficiency tool or self-check guide to focus me and help me make sure I’m staying on-task. As such, though, lists can easily rule me, making me resistant to serendipity and interruption.
Jesus, on the other hand, comes across as a very anti-list person, the way He drifted from incident to incident – one day in Galilee, another in Capernaum, then Bethany, then Jerusalem – with seemingly no plan or agenda but to do His Father’s will.
And then this morning, just after thinking about Jesus and lists I came to the place in Luke where He made one! Yes indeed, in Luke 6:12-15 Jesus comes to His flock of followers one morning with a list of twelve people He’s picked to be disciples. Though I’m sure he didn’t make His list because He was in a panic, feeling overwhelmed, or wouldn't otherwise remember (more reasons I make lists), I imagine He had one reason in common with mine -- His time was limited. He had lots to get done and needed to focus His efforts.
But there is also a big difference between Jesus’ list-making and mine, and that is what He did while He was making that list: He “continued all night in prayer to God.” Luke 6:12. Now there’s a novel thought – praying over my lists. Presenting them to God and letting Him strike out some items and add others to my to-do list, prayer list, grocery list, list of people I’d like to have over, books I want to read, things I’d like to do before I die ...
I’m definitely a list person, though I must admit that more than once I’ve questioned the lists I’ve made because they so easily spin me off into my own little agenda. But if Jesus made lists surely it’s okay for me to make them too – as long as I don’t forget to invite Him to be part of the process. Oh, and I just thought of a way to shake off the tyranny of any list that thinks it's the boss. I'll make sure that "serendipity" and "interruption" are always on the list!
It hit me yesterday that when Isaiah answered *"Here am I, send me" to God’s question "Whom shall I send and who will go for us?" he didn’t even know what he was volunteering for. It was only after he’d signed up that he got the job description.
In a way that’s scary and anti-common sense - giving God carte blanche to give us whatever assignment He chooses. Does this mean it’s out the window with yearly goals and five-year plans and adjusting our present course by the life we envision for ourselves life ten years from now? As I remember Oswald Chambers saying, when you’re absolutely His, your life may make no sense to you, let alone to others.
But neither do we need to live tentatively.
God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our great aim is to pour out a wholehearted devotion to Him in that particular work. "Whatever thy hand findeth to do , do it with all thy might."
- Oswald Chambers.
And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
Matthew 19:24
A while ago we were, in blogland, passing around conversion stories – the stories of how people have met Jesus. I love hearing these and am always on the lookout for more. Last week as I was browsing in our church library I came across the book Only Love Can Make a Miracle - the Mahesh Chavda Story. In it, Chavda tells the story of how he came to Jesus, or really, how Jesus came to him. The story below, is retold in my own words from that book, with quotes from the original. (Italic emphases are in the original)~~*~~*~~*~~Mahesh Chavda’s search for truth began with the Hindu faith. This is not surprising since he was born (in 1946) to devout Hindus. His father and mother, Keshavlal and Laxmiben Chavda, were members of the princely Rajput caste. His father was a well-known and -loved figure in Mombasa, Kenya, where he was a civil servant in the British colonial government. After his father died, when Mahesh was only five, his mother continued his training by modeling a life of Hindu devotion and opening their home to traveling holy men.
Mahesh’s early life was characterized by a love of reading. He would rather read than play football or join in holiday festivities. He was also consumed with the search for truth. Even as a youth, unlike other boys his age, he visited the Hindu temple three times a week to burn incense, bow to the images and talk to the priests. However, he soon began to question the truth of Hinduism’s teachings. He was especially disillusioned by the hypocrisy he saw in the lives of the holy men who visited their home. One day, when he was thirteen, he knew he had had enough. As he walked out of the temple that day, he knew it was for the last time.“God,” he prayed, “I believe you exist. Every ounce of my being is telling me that you are real, that you are out there somewhere. But you are not in that temple. I am never going back in there again. I want to find you – but where?”
Some years passed. One day when he was about sixteen, his seven-year-old niece Rajesh came to the door of his home. With her was a pale-skinned woman. Because of the heat, the woman needed a drink of water. After Mahesh had brought her one, she introduced herself as Sid Pierce. She told him she was holding children’s street meetings and Rajesh had come to listen. She also said that she was a missionary and began talking about the Christian faith.
Mahesh, resenting that she was starting to preach to him, answered her questions politely but evasively. Soon she rose to leave. But before she left, she fished a book out of her bag and handed it to him. “If you are seeking truth,” she said, “you will find it in this book.”
Mahesh began reading the book she had given him, the New Testament (New English Bible), in Matthew. He quickly became fascinated with Jesus and the way his life was different from the lives of the priests he’d observed. As he read on, he was especially mesmerized by the book of John – noting the many times Jesus claimed to be God and identified himself with truth. Mahesh sensed a powerful pull inside to accept this Jesus.
At the same time, there was resistance. What about everything in his life to this point – his proud Rajput ancestry, the years spent studying the Hindu scriptures and living by its tenets. In some way his identity was all bound up in Hinduism. How could he ever give up all these things that were such a part of himself?
The battle went on as he, completely fascinated by Jesus, never got past the Gospels but read and reread them. Finally one day, tired of the struggle, he decided he couldn’t live like this any longer. It was time to make a decision one way or another.
He was sitting at his desk late that night, wrapped in his bed sheet except for his eyes, to keep mosquitoes from biting. He was reading his Bible as he usually did. Now he closed the book and, in his own words:“No more,” I said to myself. “Enough is enough. I am never going to think about Jesus Christ again. I am never going to read this book again. My mind is made up”
And that was that.
Or so I thought.
The next thing I knew, I heard my head hit the desk. I mean I literally heard it, as if it were happening to someone else. Bang. I seemed to be in a sort of half-sleep, no longer fully awake and in control, but aware of what was going on. I remember hearing the noise and thinking to myself “That’s my head, hitting the desk.”
I immediately found myself in a strange and wonderful place. My body was still there at the desk, but in my spirit I was somewhere different, somewhere wonderful, somewhere I had never been before. The thought came into my consciousness, very simply and clearly, “I am in heaven.”
Then Mahesh describes what he saw – streets of transparent gold, grass as thick as a blanket, colors more vivid than any he had ever seen, music that he experienced more than felt.I felt I was home. This was where I wanted to be, where I was supposed to be. This was why I had been created.
Then he became aware of a brilliant white light coming toward him. Within that light was a man. He sensed immediately that this was Jesus – even though he had never seen any pictures of him. And though he looked like an ordinary man and walked like an ordinary man, he was so brilliant Mahesh could hardly bear to look at him. Again, in his own words: As he came closer to me, I could see that he was smiling. It was the same kind of smile you see on the face of a mother or father when they pick up their little baby, a smile of utter love and delight.
[...] Then, as I stood there gazing into his eyes, he stretched out his hand and placed it on my shoulder and said to me simply, “My little brother.”
As suddenly as it had begun, it ended. I was once again on the second floor of my house with my bed sheet drawn around my face and my head resting on my Bible – but something strange had happened. When all this had started, when my head had fallen forward onto the desk, my Bible had been closed. I had just made a decision never to open it again. Now, however, it was open. I looked down and saw that it was opened to chapter eighteen of Luke’s Gospel, the story of the rich young ruler.
[...] I knew how the story ended. The young man had turned away from Jesus with inexpressible sadness in his heart because he could not bring himself to pay the price of becoming Jesus’ disciple.
I heard a voice within say to me, “Are you going to turn away from me the same way he did?”
I said, “No sir.”
Then I did something that, to my knowledge, no ancestor of mine had ever done, that no one in all the eight hundred years of our family history could even have imagined doing. I got down on my knees and said, “Jesus, I’m sorry. Please forgive me for all the wrong things I’ve done. I want you. I want to give my life to you. Please come and live in my heart.”
Mahesh Chavda was true to his commitment to follow Jesus. Today he and his wife Bonnie pastor All Nations Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a result of their international teaching and evangelism ministry over 750,000 people have come to Jesus.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
and a two-edged sword in their hand.
Psalm 149:6
A Prayer of High Praise
Our Father in Heaven
Hallowed be Your name
I am the Alpha and the Omega
The Beginning and the End
Who is and who was and who is to come,
The Almighty.
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
The First and the Last.
I am He who lives and was dead
And behold I am alive forevermore. Amen.
And I have the keys of Hades and Death.
The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness,
The Beginning of the creation of God.
The Lord, the Lord God,
Merciful and gracious, longsuffering,
and abounding in goodness and truth,
Keeping mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and sin.
Holy, holy, holy
Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come.
Your Kingdom come.
O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven
And do You not rule over all the Kingdoms of the nations,
And in Your hand is there not power and might
So that no one is able to withstand You?
Then to Him (the Ancient of Days),
Was given dominion and glory and a kingdom
That all peoples, nations and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom
And all dominions shall serve and obey Him.
Lift up your heads O you gates!
And be lifted up you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty,
The Lord mighty in battle.
Lift up your heads, O you gates!
Lift up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
He is the King of glory.
Blessed are You Lord God of Israel
Our Father forever and ever.
Yours O Lord is the greatness
The power and the majesty;
For all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours;
Yours is the kingdom, O Lord
And You are exalted as head over all.
Both riches and honor come from You
And You reign over all.
In Your hand is power and might;
In your hand it is to make great
And to give strength to all.
Now therefore Our God,
We thank You and praise Your glorious name.
We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty
The One who is and who was and who is to come,
Because You have taken Your great power and reigned.
Your will be done on earth.
You are worthy O Lord
to receive glory and honor and power
for You created all things
and by Your will they exist and were created.
My soul magnifies the Lord
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior
For He who is mighty has done great things
And holy is His name.
No one is like the Lord,
For there is none besides You,
Nor is there any rock like our God.
The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
He brings low and lifts up.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s
And He has set the world upon them.
I will sing to the Lord
For He has triumphed gloriously
The Lord is my strength and song
And He has become my salvation;
He is my God and I will praise Him;
My Father’s God and I will exalt Him.
Your right hand, O Lord has become glorious in power;
Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces
And in the greatness of Your excellence
You have overthrown those who rose against You.
Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
Fearful in praises, doing wonders?
You in Your mercy have led forth
The people whom You have redeemed
You have guided them in Your strength
To Your holy habitation
The Lord shall reign forever and ever.
Great and marvelous are Your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are Your ways,
O King of the Saints.
Who shall not fear You O Lord,
And glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy,
For all nations shall come and worship before You.
For Your judgements have been manifested.
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
The whole earth is full of His glory.
Your will be done . . . as it is in heaven.
Behold heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You.
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
To receive power and riches and wisdom
And strength and honor and glory and blessing!
Blessing and honor and glory and power
Be to Him who sits on the throne
And to the Lamb forever and ever!
To God our Savior
Who alone is wise
Be glory and majesty
Dominion and power
Both now and forever
Amen.
For Yours is the kingdom
And the power and the glory forever
Amen.
Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
Thanksgiving and honor and power and might
Be to our God forever and ever
Amen.
*******************
Scripture References (quoted from the NKJV - in order of appearance):
Part 1: Matthew 6:9; Revelation 1:8,11, 18; Revelation 3:14; Exodus 34:6,7; Revelation 4:8
Part 2: Matthew 6:10; 2 Chronicles 20:6,7 (King Jehoshaphat's prayer); Daniel 7: 14, 27; Psalm 24:7-10; 1 Chronicles 29:10-13 (King David's prayer); Revelation 11:17
Part 3: Matthew 6:11; Revelation 4:11; Luke 1:46, 47, 49 (Mary's song); 1 Samuel 2:2, 6, 8-10 (Hannah's prayer); Exodus 15:1,2,6,7,11,13,18 (Moses' song); Revelation 15:3,4; Isaiah 6:3
Part 4: Matthew 6:11; 2 Chronicles 6:18; Revelation 5:12,13; Jude 25;
Part 5: Matthew 6:13; Revelation 7:12
"They were living to themselves; self with its hopes, and promises and dreams still had hold of them; but the Lord began to fulfill their prayers. They had asked for contrition, and had surrendered for it to be given them at any cost, and He sent them sorrow; they had asked for purity, and He sent them thrilling anguish; they had asked to be meek and He had broken their hearts; they had asked to be dead to the world, and He slew all their living hopes; they had asked to be made like unto Him and He placed them in the furnace, sitting by “as a refiner and purifier of silver,” until they should reflect His image’ they had asked to lay hold of His cross, and when He had reached it to them it lacerated their hands.
"[...] But now at last their turn has come. Before, they had only heard of the mystery, but now they feel it. He has fastened on them His look of love, as He did on Mary and Peter, and they can but choose to follow.
"Little by little, from time to time, by flitting gleams, the mystery of His cross shines out upon them. They behold Him lifted up, they gaze on the glory which rays from the wounds of His holy passion; and as they gaze they advance, and are changed into His likeness, and His name shines out through them, for He dwells in them. They live alone with Him above, in unspeakable fellowship; willing to lack what others own (and what they might have had), and to be unlike all, so that they are only like Him.
"Such are they in all ages, 'who follow the lamb withersover He goeth.'"
(Extracts from an essay by A. W. Tozer)
There are large numbers of persons who have not left the true way but who want a rule by which they can test everything and by which they may prove the quality of Christian teaching and experience...Briefly stated the test is this:
How has it affected my attitude toward and my relation to God, Christ, the Holy Scriptures, self, other Christians, the world and sin.
By this sevenfold test we may prove everything religious and know beyond a doubt whether it is of God or not.
1. God
The health and balance of the universe require that God should be magnified in all things.
[...]The big test is, What has this done to my relationship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? If this new view of truth – this new encounter with spiritual things – has made me love God more, if it has magnified Him in my eyes, if it has purified my concept of His being and caused Him to appear more wonderful than before, then I may conclude that I have not wandered astray into the pleasant but dangerous and forbidden paths of error.
2. Jesus Christ
Whatever place present-day religion may give to Christ, God gives Him top place in earth and in heaven (verses cited: Acts 2:36, 4:12)
[...] He must stand at the center of all true doctrine, all acceptable practice, all genuine Christian experience. Anything that makes Him less than God has declared Him to be is delusion pure and simple and must be rejected, no matter how delightful or how satisfying it may for the time seem to be.
[...] If the new experience tends to make Christ indispensable, if it takes our interest off our feeling and places it in Christ, we are on the right track. Whatever makes Christ dear to us is pretty sure to be from God.
3. Holy Scriptures
Did this new experience, this new view of truth, spring out of the Word of God itself or was it the result of some stimulus that lay outside the Bible?
[...] Whatever is new or singular should also be viewed with a lot of caution until it can furnish scriptural proof of its validity.
[...] What does it do to my love for and appreciation of the Scriptures?
While true power lies not in the letter of the text but in the Spirit that inspired it, we should never underestimate the value of the letter.
[...] If the new doctrine, the influence of that new teacher, the new emotional experience fills my heart with an avid hunger to meditate in the Scriptures day and night, I have every reason to believe that God has spoken to my soul and that my experience is genuine..
4. Self Life
Before the Spirit of God can work creatively in our hearts He must condemn and slay the “flesh” within us; that is, He must have our full consent to displace our natural self with the Person of Christ.
[...] A good rule is this: If this experience has served to humble me and make me little and vile in my own eyes, it is of God; but if it has given me a feeling of self-satisfaction, it is false and should be dismissed as emanating from self or the devil. Nothing that comes from God will minister to my pride or self-congratulation.
5. Fellow Christians
Any religious experience that fails to deepen our love for our fellow Christians may safely be written off as spurious.
[...] we conclude that whatever tends to separate us in person or in heart from our fellow Christians is not of God, but is of the flesh or of the devil. And conversely, whatever causes us to love the children of God is likely to be of God. (John 13:35)
6. The World
(The definition of the world he refers to here is from 1 John 2:16,17)
This is the world by which we may test the spirits. It is the world of carnal enjoyments, of godless pleasures, of the pursuit of earthly riches and reputation and sinful happiness. It carries on without Christ, following the counsel of the ungodly and being animated by the prince of the power of the air....
Any real work of God in our heart will tend to unfit is for the world’s fellowship... It may be stated unequivocally that any spirit that permits compromise with the world is a false spirit. Any religious movement that imitates the world in any of its manifestations is false to the cross of Christ and on the side of the devil – and this regardless of how much purring its leaders may do about “accepting Christ” or “letting God run your business.”
7. Attitude toward sin
The operation of grace within the heart of a believing man will turn that heart away from sin and toward holiness.
[...] Anything that weakens his hatred of sin may be identified immediately as false to the Scriptures or to the Savior and to his own soul. Whatever makes holiness more attractive and sin more intolerable may be accepted as genuine.
"God had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength and to let him see that in his own body he could do nothing. He had to consider his own body as good as dead, and then take God, for the whole work; and when he looked away from himself, and trusted God alone, then he became fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform. That is what God is teaching us, and He has to keep away encouraging results until we learn to trust without them, and then He loves to make His Word real in fact as well as faith."
I have chosen the way of truth - Psalm 119:30
chose = bachar (Strong’s 977)
To choose, select, elect, determine to have one in particular. The kind of choosing that is made when more than one item is examined, with only one or a few being selected.
(New Spirit Filled Life Bible 'Word Wealth' sidebar - ref. 1 Kings 11:40 - where the Ahijah is prophesying about the fate of David’s line uses this word to describe how David came to be king: “My servant David whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes.”)
Beware of not acting upon what you see in your moments on the mount with God. If you do not obey the light, it will turn into darkness.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
When thou goest thy way shall be opened up before thee step by step - Proverbs 4:12 - free translation.
The Lord never builds a bridge of faith except under the feet of the faith-filled traveler. If He builds the bridge a rod ahead, it would not be a bridge of faith. That which is of sight is not of faith.
There is a self-opening gate which is sometimes used in country roads. It stands fast and firm across the road as a traveler approaches it. If he stops before he gets to it, it will not open. But if he will drive right at it, his wagon wheels press the springs below the roadway, and the gate swings back to let him through. He must push right on at the closed gate, or it will continue to be closed.
This illustrates the way to pass every barrier on the road of duty. Whether it is a river, a gate or a mountain, all the child of Jesus has to do is to go for it. If it is a river, it will dry up when you put your feet in its waters. If it is a gate, pit will fly open when you are near enough to it, and are still pushing on. If it is a mountain, it will be lifted up and cast into a sea when you come squarely up, without flinching, to where you thought it was.
Is there a great barrier across your path of duty just now? Just go for it, in the name of the Lord, and it won’t be there.
– Henry Clay Trumbull (quoted in Streams in the Desert)
