Christianity Oasis Forum

[Netchaplain]

3-6. RESPONSIBILITY

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace" (John 16:33).

There are far too many irresponsible believers. At the same time, there are far too many over-responsible believers who are seeking to carry out the Lord's responsibilities. Our primary concern is to trust Him, and rest in Him, while 'it is God who confirms and makes us steadfast and establishes us...in Christ'" (2 Corinthians 1:21, Amp.).

"The good fight is the fight of faith. Nothing is easier than to step out of faith into feeling, or sight. But then it is failure, and no longer a fight of faith. When we abide in the Lord Jesus, the force of the assault is borne by Him. He takes the strain and the burden; whilst the believer passes into His triumphs, and is kept in perfect peace through it all.

"The believer then understands the meaning of Asa's words: 'Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power....O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee...' (2 Chronicles 14:11). Against us? No; against Thee! Why? Because the battle is the Lord's! How often we have looked at the battle as ours and have asked that man shall not prevail against us. But perhaps you are not wholly on the Lord's side; and this may be the secret of your failure. If you want continuous victory, you must be on the side of Him who knows no defeat. The question is not whether the Lord is on your side, but whether you are on the Lord's side." -C.A.F.

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee: because he trusteth in Thee" (Isaiah 26:3).

[Netchaplain]

3-7. IMITATING IS IMITATION

"For to me to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:2l).

Once we learn the truth of our union with the Lord Jesus, and of the Holy Spirit's indwelling, any attempt to imitate Christ will be seen for what it is: unscriptural, and futile.

"Our Father is going to teach us, mainly through personal failure, that the life we live is the life of our Lord Jesus alone. The Christian life is not our living a life like Christ, or our trying to be Christ-like, nor is it Christ giving us the power to live a life like His; but it is Christ Himself living His own life through us; 'no longer I, but Christ.'"

"The end of Christ's incarnation, death and resurrection was to prepare and form an holy nature and frame for us in Himself, to be communicated to us by union and fellowship with Him; and not to be able to produce in ourselves the first originals of such an holy nature by our own endeavors."

"Thc believer's true education is in the growth of Christ within. The Church's real ministry is not multitudinous public services, so-called, but the forming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the lives of His people; the reproduction of Christ; epistles made alive by the Holy Spirit, to be seen and read of all men." -C.A.F.

"There is no answer to infidelity like the life of the Lord Jesus displayed through the Christian. Nothing puts the madness of the infidel, and the folly of the superstitious more to shame and silence than the humble, quiet, devoted walk of a thorough-going, heavenly-minded, and divinely-taught believer."

"But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you" (2 Thessalonians 3:3).

3-8. IN-BORN MINISTRY

"It is not you who chose Me, but it is I who chose you and appointed you that you might go and be fruitful" (John 15:16, Wey.).

We must be born into our ministry, our service; and it must be born in us. Thus it will be a sharing of life, through which others will be born and will "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).

"Our Father will never put work or service in the place of character; and, if we do that, eternity will reveal that, however much we may have done, we are very small amongst the inhabitants of the Land, whose stature will be measured by 'the measure of Christ.' It would be well if all who contemplate or are engaged in the work of God were governed by this one absolute final law: that, both as to themselves and as to those amongst whom they minister, the ultimate test is--not how much work is done, but how much of Christ is present, or results from the sharing." -T. A-S.

"The Gospel can never be fully preached by the eloquence of the evangelist; it finds its true authority only in the lives of those it has laid hold of. We live in a day when it is easy to evade the Cross worked out in our lives, and in which we are apt to place our confidence in modern methods, and techniques of evangelism. But lacking the solid evidence of godly living and devotion to the Lord Himself, these will become 'a fanfare of trumpets or the crashing of cymbals--nothing more' (1 Corinthians 13:1, Philippians) ." -J.C.M.

"Ye are My witnesses, saith the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen" (Isaiah 43:10).

3-9. PRAYER PERSEVERANCE

"God . . . hath quickened us together with Christ and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6).

What is our attitude concerning our needs in the Christian life and warfare? Are we outside the armory, struggling and pleading for supplies? Or are we inside the arsenal, ready to be fully supplied and armed as our daily needs require? "Be strong in the Lord--be empowered through your union with Him; draw your strength from Him" (Ephesians 6:10, Amp.).

"It has come these days with new light and power that the first thing we have to see to as we draw near to God day by day is that our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. If we listen in the stillness till our hearts begin to respond to what He is thinking and feeling about the matter in question, whether it concerns ourselves or others, we can, from that moment, begin praying downwards from the Throne, instead of praying upwards from ourselves." -L.T.

"We must not think the revelation as to the will of God is an end in itself; it is but the first phase of a prayer ministry. When Daniel had prayed through to an understanding of the ways of the Lord, he then set himself three times a day to persevere in prayer for the fulfillment. His prayer ministry took him into the lion's den, but it also brought him out again, and he was able to see the things through to the glorious end." -H.F.

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need"(Hebrews 4:16).

[Netchaplain]

The works of a believer produce only one effect; to manifest and glorify God (Mat 5:16), because it is He who continually causes us “to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

Our good works (which are technically His) do not effect God’s blessings to us, nor do our wrong works detract them from us because His blessings are not contingent on our performance, good or bad (unintentional of course—Num 15:28, 30; Heb 10:26), but on Christ’s performance and “The gifts and the calling of God [are] irrevocable” (Rom 11:29 NKJV).

It’s understandable why one would think God requires payment from us for salvation but He didn’t want it to be something we owed Him but desired it to be a gift, not a debt. We respond out of love and not as one who attempts to earn the Gift. It has been well said that “love does not function according to the quality of its object but according to its nature.”
-NC


3-10. REST OF SANCTIFICATION

"According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue" (2 Peter 1:3).

It is necessary for our Father to utilize very firm means in order to separate us from the ingrained idea that sanctification is produced by our work, plus His help.

"A superficial acquaintance with God's plan leads to the view that while justification is God's work, by faith in Christ, sanctification is our work, to be performed under the influence of the gratitude we feel for the deliverance we have experienced and by the aid of the Holy Spirit. But the earnest Christian soon finds how little gratitude can supply the power. When he thinks more prayer will bring it, he finds that, indispensable as prayer is, it is not enough. Often the believer struggles hopelessly for years, until he listens to the teaching of the Spirit, as He glorifies Christ again, and reveals Christ, our Sanctification, to be appropriated by faith alone." -A.M.

"Look not upon a life of holiness as a strain and an effort, but as the natural outgrowth of the life of Christ within you. And let ever again a quiet, hopeful, gladsome faith hold itself assured that all you need for a holy life will most assuredly be given you out of the holiness of the Lord Jesus. Thus will you understand and prove what it is to abide in Christ our Sanctification. -A.M.

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).

[Netchaplain]

3-11. BENCH, OR ARENA?

"Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to Him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator" (1 Peter 4:19).

Initially, all we are able to trust God for is our justification. During this stage we are usually satisfied to remain spectators in the battle of life. Later, when we know Him better and are thereby able to trust Him more fully, we become willing to let our Father take us down into the arena and make us participators. "No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier" (2 Timothy 2:4).

"If you would know victory you must have conflict; it is ridiculous to talk about having a victorious life when you have never been in conflict. You must be prepared to enter the arena with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and He will give you lessons day by day. No one can enjoy freedom without paying the price, even in the ordinary values of life. If you would know what it is to triumph, you must certainly pass through tribulation. If you want patience, then it is tribulation; if you want victory there must be conflict."

"Does Paul regret the thorn in the flesh that drew forth words that have comforted countless millions? Do the men for whom the winds were contrary wish they had been spared the storm that brought their Lord to them, walking on the sea, and caused Him to speak that immortal 'It is I; be not afraid'?"

"The things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel" (Philippians 1:12).

[Netchaplain]

3-12. NOT PRUNING, BUT DEATH

"For the death which He died He became, once for all, dead in relation to sin; but by the life which He now lives He is alive in relation to God" (Romans 6:10, Wey.).

When we seek to suppress self in one area, it will express itself in another. If we attempt to prune the branches of the old life, we find that its root has thereby been strengthened. The one answer to this enemy, both God's and ours, is the daily crucifixion of the Cross.

"Romans Six is one of the most blessed portions of the New Testament, teaching us that our 'old man,' our old nature that is in us, was actually crucified with Him, so that now we need no longer be in bondage to sin. But remember it is only as the Holy Spirit makes Christ's death a reality within us, that we shall know, not by force of argument or conviction, but in the reality of the power of an endless life, that we are in very deed dead to sin." -A.M.

"Not by a stringent 'cutting off' of exterior things, nor by seeking a mental apprehension of 'death with Christ' in the conscious life, but by a simple reckoning upon His death as yours--shall you experience in the inner depths of your life, servant of God, the divine spiritual reality that 'Christ in you' is in truth your very life, displacing the old life of nature and continually 'making to die' its inclinations and habits"

"In the same way you also must regard yourselves as dead in relation to sin, but as alive in relation to God, because you are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11, Wey.).

[Netchaplain]

The miracles of God are not for the converting of the soul but to lead to conversion. It’s not the miracles which will transform an individual but the One from whom they flow because it’s faith, not proof, which God uses to convert sinners from the error of their ways.

The more physical proof one has of God, the less room remains for faith (John 20:29)and I believe this is why He has not chosen to use works of miracles as He did in the past; so faith can be at its’ strongest, since this is the only life faith will be extant. This doesn’t mean not to request and pray for blessings of which He wishes to bestow in our lives but they’re not to be relied on. We’re to rely on Him. We’re to “walk by faith, not by sight” (2Cr 5:7) and this means not to let what Christ does for us in the physical, but what He does to us in the spiritual, to be what supports and increases our faith (Luke 17:5). It’s not to be what He can do, but who He is.

Jesus answered them and said, "Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him” (John 6:26, 27).

Therefore they said to Him, "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? "But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe” (John 6:30, 36).

Believing is seeing!
-NC


3-13. NOT INFLUENCE, BUT LIFE

"For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free" (Romans 8:2).

The more fully the Lord Jesus controls within, the less we will be influenced by externals. The more we are affected by externals, the less freedom He will have within.

"The Lord Jesus' miracles did not have a character changing effect upon the people who saw them or participated in them. They were but for a testimony to who He was. With all His miracles, in the end the principle of unbelief has not been rooted out of a single individual! Though they saw all that He did, the deep-rooted unbelief was untouched. The amazing thing--even with the disciples themselves--was that they were still capable of deep-seated unbelief. 'O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe....' 'He upbraided them with their unbelief....' With all they saw, it did not touch character, it did not touch their nature." -T. A-S.

"As in the apostolic days so now the desire exists for the manifestation of the Spirit in marvelous ways; but a life sober, righteous, holy, lived in the hope of the glory to come, is the more excellent way of the Spirit's manifestation and undeniable proof of His indwelling. The prayer should not be so much for this or that gift, or this or that result, as for Christ Himself to be made manifest to us and through us. The Apostle who was most filled with the Spirit sums all up in that one great word, 'For to me to live is Christ.'" -W.F.E.

"It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20).

[realtmg]

Amen.
Thanks bro.

GBU

Real

[Netchaplain]

Thank you too Realtmg for the hello! God's blessings to you too!

GBB (God BE Blessed)

[Netchaplain]

3-14. LIGHT AND SHADOW

"Before I was afflicted l went astray: but now have I kept Thy word" (Psalm 119:67)

The head-knowledge of Spirit-taught study becomes the heart-knowledge of Spirit-led life, via Romans 8:28 and 29. How good it is to have a sovereign Father controlling all!

"You will find that no one learns truth easily. He who built on the rock was not secure merely because he built on the rock; but he also digged deep. What springs up quickly has no root. The more you understand the nature and scope of the Word, the more will you see the demand it makes on you and how unreserved must be your subjection to it; while as you are subject to it, you learn the blessedness and virtues of it.

"The true value of anything is known only when it is wanted. For this reason bright days must be succeeded by dark ones. In the dreary and desolate hour to nature, we begin to know the value of the truth communicated to us in the bright day. The learning is at one time, and the proving at another. In fact, we ought to be prepared for the dark hour; so that, though it be dark, there is something so blessed, so suited, pouring its comfort and sustenance on our souls, that, after all, the dark and dreary hour becomes a more really festive time to the heart, because of the virtues of the truth now made known, than the time of its reception, which was so happy and exhilarating." -J.B.S.

"But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while . . . stablish, strengthen, settle you" (1 Peter 5:10).

3-15. EARTHLY, OR HEAVENLY?

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3).

The New Testament believer's spiritual growth is not based upon Old Testament doctrine. We are not to neglect the Old, but its introduction of the law was designed to lead to the grace of the New. For a believer who is not yet established in the risen Lord Jesus, it is a temptation to go to the promises of the Old Testament for comfort. This may result in some help at times, but also may bring frustration. It is simply not our ground. "So now we serve not under [obedience to] the old code of written regulations, but under [obedience to the promptings] of the Spirit in newness [of life]" (Romans 7:6, Amp.).

"'The Law made nothing perfect' (Hebrews 7:19). It was given to discover sin and imperfection, not to impart holiness or perfection. The Lord Jesus has poured out His blessed Spirit that we believers, while on earth, might walk in that spirit of life and liberty that prevails in heaven where Christ is. God has given unto us His human-divine nature, and put within us His Holy Spirit. Shall we not therefore walk in that liberty in which Christ liveth? For He lives the same life of blessed freedom from bondage, and of joyful service to God, within us by His Spirit, as He does seated in a body, in heaven before God His Father." -W.R.N.

"If I would bring forth fruit and live to God, I must see myself as having died to law. Law is a principle on which we cannot live to God any more than we can be justified."

"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God" (Galatians 2:19).

[Netchaplain]

3-16. CHRISTIAN CULTURE

"And He shall stand, and shall feed His flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God: and they shall abide" (Micah 5:4, ASV).

To an overwhelming degree "we are what we eat--spiritually as well as physically. "Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts"(Jeremiah 15:16).

"The best merely human literature that was ever written will not feed the new nature. You may bring the noblest thoughts which ever sprang from a human mind, you may couch them in the most fragrant rhetoric that ever distilled the perfume of literature in the book lover's nostrils and you will not quicken a single pulse of the new and spiritual life. Shakespeare may analyze, Milton soar, Bacon lead us step by step up the royal stairway of induction to the throne of logic, yet not a gleam of light or pulse of strength will be added to the Christ within." -I.M.H.

"With God all is uncultured which is not in accord with the likeness of Christ--of Him in whose image man was first created. Christ is the typical Man, and all in our education which is not after the pattern, after His likeness, is uncultured--only a caricature. We have only that degree of culture which results from the measure in which the image of the Lord Jesus Christ has penetrated us."

"But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Hebrews 5:14).

[Netchaplain]

Righteousness is said to be fulfilled, not by us but “in us” (Rom 8:4). We must be “made righteous”, for as we know we have no input concerning righteousness, only its output--by the Spirit in His fruit. We never produce righteousness because it cannot originate from us, for Christ “is made unto us . . . righteousness” (1Cr 1:30). This helps us to understand that righteousness, along with justification, is imputed and not imparted.

Realizing it’s all God—through us, allows us to rest in Him, “ceasing from our own works” (Heb 4:10) and yielding (Rom 6:13) to Him to be the input. He must work it into us; “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil 2:13).

“Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” (Zec 4:6).

-NC


3-17. PAST HISTORY

"For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Lord Jesus was in our place of death and judgment; we are in His place of life and glory.

Romans Seven describes the experience of the believer who has been shown by the law principle the terrible consequences of his position in Adam. Romans Eight describes the experience of the believer who knows what it is to be"in Christ," and who is being made free experientially from "the law of sin and death" by "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus."

"It is of immense importance for every Christian to know that 'our old man' has been fully judged and ended before God. Not changed or forgiven but utterly condemned in the death of the Lord Jesus. 'God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh' (Romans 8:3). Where sin brought us, love brought the Lord Jesus--even to death; and His death is the end before God of all that we were as children of Adam--men in the flesh.

"On the other hand, we have life in One who is risen from the dead. We did belong to the race of which Adam was head; but the death of Christ is, in God's reckoning, the termination of our history in Adam. A new Head has been provided for us, and we have been transferred by divine grace from Adam to Christ." -C.A.C.

"He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves; but unto Him" (2 Corinthians 5:15).

[Netchaplain]

3-18. COST OF LEADERSHIP

"Love suffereth long, and is kind" (1 Corinthians 13:4).

The price of leadership remains high and hard; it may be cheap and easy for the dictator, for the hireling, but never for the shepherd. The dictator dominates; the hireling flees; but the good shepherd loves his sheep and is loved by them. He lays down his life for the sheep. True spiritual leadership involves this principle: "Death working in me works life in you" (2 Corinthians 4:12, Cony.).

"It is the quality of leaders that they can bear to be sat on, absorb shocks, act as a buffer, bear being much plagued. Moses put up with the complaints and the waywardness and revolt of the people. He pursued a steady course, enduring as seeing Him who is invisible. The wear and tear and the continual friction and trials which come to the servants of God are a great test of character." -F.M.

"Bridge the gaps! A bridge means something--generally a life laid down. The very simplest bridge, a plank thrown across a stream, was once part of a tree standing erect, sapping life from the earth, and beautifying all the area around it. Now it is dead, but perhaps saves other lives; anyway it helps to make others useful, and is content to push others on, unnoticed, unthanked. 'Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not,' just be a bridge. It is so simple. See that others are placed on the right track with God through the Lord Jesus. When they get there, they will not thank you, will never look back probably at the bridge; but the Great Architect will know and love and care." -E.W.

"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).