Another Insight - needs a song to go with it

September 6, 2009
The Far-Reaching Rivers of Life

He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water —John 7:38

A river reaches places which its source never knows. And Jesus said that, if we have received His fullness, "rivers of living water" will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even "to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8 ) regardless of how small the visible effects of our lives may appear to be. We have nothing to do with the outflow— "This is the work of God, that you believe. . ." ( John 6:29 ). God rarely allows a person to see how great a blessing he is to others.

A river is victoriously persistent, overcoming all barriers. For a while it goes steadily on its course, but then comes to an obstacle. And for a while it is blocked, yet it soon makes a pathway around the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, only later to emerge again even broader and greater than ever. Do you see God using the lives of others, but an obstacle has come into your life and you do not seem to be of any use to God? Then keep paying attention to the Source, and God will either take you around the obstacle or remove it. The river of the Spirit of God overcomes all obstacles. Never focus your eyes on the obstacle or the difficulty. The obstacle will be a matter of total indifference to the river that will flow steadily through you if you will simply remember to stay focused on the Source. Never allow anything to come between you and Jesus Christ— not emotion nor experience— nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source.

Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.

This is another devotion from Chambers on the RBC website.

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WHAT'S IN YOUR WALLET

I guess a better title would be "What's in your heart?", or "What's in your temple?" I had two ah-ha moments this morning when the Spirit illuminated some things. From the NEB, in Jeremiah 9: parts of verses 23 and 24 -

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom nor the valiant of his valour; let not the rich man boast of his riches; but if any man would boast, let him boast of this, that he understands and knows me."

In LBLA and SRV they use entender and conocer.

Much of the recent leading I have been receiving is that the ultimate goal of God's work in us is for us to know and understand Him - not to do or be anything else but yielded, and not to focus on the goal (other than this one) but to focus on the journey and the present. This passage today seems very worthy of memorization and frequent consideration.

The second moment was triggered by the daily reading from Oswald Chambers (MUFHH) for August 8. One statement was elaborated there: "What was true of the Virgin Mary in the historic introduction of God's Son into this earth is true in every saint. The son of God is born into me by a direct act of God." We need to let that son of God be about his father's business and not to reclaim our ownership and pride over the "temple" he has given. We are not to usurp the true king and crucify him within our life by wresting back control and ownership when emotion or selfishness rise up.

So who is inside you, and is he about his father's business?

Thought For Today

"We give credit to human wisdom when we should give credit to the Divine guidance of God through childlike people who were foolish enough to trust God’s wisdom and the supernatural equipment of God."

This resonated with me today and I wanted to share. It is from October 26th "My Utmost For His Highest"

IS THIS MY CALLING?

Zec 3:7 If you truly obey me, I will put you in charge of my temple, including the courtyard around it, and you will be allowed to speak at any time with the angels standing beside me.

Zec 8:23 When this happens, ten people from nations with different languages will grab a Jew by his clothes and say, "Let us go with you. We've heard that God is on your side." I, the LORD All-Powerful, have spoken

ANOTHER "WOW" by Oswald

December 29, 2007

Deserter or Disciple?

From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more —John 6:66

About this cover

When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave to ideas and views that are completely foreign to Jesus Christ. Don’t look at someone else and say, "Well, if he can have those views and prosper, why can’t I?" You have to "walk in the light" of the vision that has been given to you. Don’t compare yourself with others or judge them— that is between God and them. When you find that one of your favorite and strongly held views clashes with the "heavenly vision," do not begin to debate it. If you do, a sense of property and personal right will emerge in you— things on which Jesus placed no value. He was against these things as being the root of everything foreign to Himself— ". . . for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" ( Luke 12:15 ). If we don’t see and understand this, it is because we are ignoring the underlying principles of our Lord’s teaching.

Our tendency is to lie back and bask in the memory of the wonderful experience we had when God revealed His will to us. But if a New Testament standard is revealed to us by the light of God, and we don’t try to measure up, or even feel inclined to do so, then we begin to backslide. It means your conscience does not respond to the truth. You can never be the same after the unveiling of a truth. That moment marks you as one who either continues on with even more devotion as a disciple of Jesus Christ, or as one who turns to go back as a deserter.

CONTINUOUS CONVERSION

from today's MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST from RBC

December 28, 2007
Continuous Conversion

. . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven —Matthew 18:3


These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual, obeying the orders of the Spirit of God. Just because we have responded properly in the past is no guarantee that we will do so again. The response of the natural to the spiritual should be continuous conversion, but this is where we so often refuse to be obedient. No matter what our situation is, the Spirit of God remains unchanged and His salvation unaltered. But we must "put on the new man . . ." (Ephesians 4:24 ). God holds us accountable every time we refuse to convert ourselves, and He sees our refusal as willful disobedience. Our natural life must not rule— God must rule in us.

To refuse to be continuously converted puts a stumbling block in the growth of our spiritual life. There are areas of self-will in our lives where our pride pours contempt on the throne of God and says, "I won’t submit." We deify our independence and self-will and call them by the wrong name. What God sees as stubborn weakness, we call strength. There are whole areas of our lives that have not yet been brought into submission, and this can only be done by this continuous conversion. Slowly but surely we can claim the whole territory for the Spirit of God.

Fantastic Video

Let's see if I can embed this!