Iconoclastic eclectic

8:37:41 AM EDT
CLOUDS AND DARKNESS

"Clouds and darkness are round about Him." Psalm 97:2

A man who has not been born of the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when you are baptized with the Holy Ghost, you find "clouds and darkness are round about Him." When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first insight into this aspect of things. The only possibility of understanding the teaching of Jesus is by the light of the Spirit of God on the inside. If we have never had the experience of taking our commonplace religious shoes off our commonplace religious feet, and getting rid of all the undue familiarity with which we approach God, it is questionable whether we have ever stood in His presence. The people who are flippant and familiar are those who have never yet been introduced to Jesus Christ. After the amazing delight and liberty of realizing what Jesus Christ does,   comes the impenetrable darkness of realizing Who He is.

Jesus said: "The words that I speak unto you," not the words I have spoken, "they are spirit, and they are life." The Bible has been so many words to us - clouds and darkness - then all of a sudden the words become spirit and life because Jesus re-speaks them to us in a particular condition. That is the way God speaks to us, not by visions and dreams, but by words. When a man gets to God it is by the most simple way of words.

http://www.myutmost.org/01/0103.html

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3:46:25 AM EDT

Take me to your mountain LORD!

Let me be wrapped in the presence of you.

I want to encounter you in a new and powerful way.

May your joy and peace flow through me?

And then let it eclipse any other experience I have ever had.

*

Take me to your mountain LORD!

And let me learn to be a better disciple of yours.

To receive instruction and guidance from you.

Help me to learn more of you and constant ways.

And LORD, as I descend may my face be radiated by your glory?

Amen.

New Psalms

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9:23:01 AM EDT

BUT IT IS HARDLY CREDIBLE THAT ONE COULD SO PERSECUTE JESUS! "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" Acts 26:14 Am I set on my own way for God? We are never free from this snare until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Obstinacy and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Jesus. Whenever we stand on our dignity we systematically vex and grieve His Spirit; and when the knowledge comes home that it is Jesus Whom we have been persecuting all the time, it is the most crushing revelation there could be. Is the word of God tremendously keen to me as I hand it on to you, or does my life give the lie to the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of one thing only - a perfect oneness with the Father, and He says, "Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart." All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that I can be easily put upon, easily over-reached, easily ignored; but if I submit to it for His sake, I prevent Jesus Christ being persecuted. Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest

http://www.myutmost.org/01/0128.html

 

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12:54:58 PM EDT

                        Psalm 34

1	I will bless the LORD at all times:          his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
2	My soul shall make her boast in the LORD:          the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
3	O magnify the LORD with me,          and let us exalt his name together.
4	I sought the LORD, and he heard me,          and delivered me from all my fears.
5	They looked unto him, and were lightened:          and their faces were not ashamed.
6	This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him,          and saved him out of all his troubles.
7	The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him,          and delivereth them.
8	O taste and see that the LORD is good:          blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
9	O fear the LORD, ye his saints:          for there is no want to them that fear him.
10	The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger:          but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
11	Come, ye children, hearken unto me:          I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12	What man is he that desireth life,          and loveth many days, that he may see good?
13	Keep thy tongue from evil,          and thy lips from speaking guile.
14	Depart from evil, and do good;          seek peace, and pursue it.
15	The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous,          and his ears are open unto their cry.
16	The face of the LORD is against them that do evil,          to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17	The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth,          and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
18	The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart;          and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
19	Many are the afflictions of the righteous:          but the LORD delivereth him out of them all.
20	He keepeth all his bones:          not one of them is broken.
21	Evil shall slay the wicked:          and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate.
22	The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants:          and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.

 

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12:52:23 PM EDT

Are You "Too Good" To Be Humble?

Thursday's Devotion (1-26-06)

"And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Matthew 23:12 (KJV)

Before you read this, ask yourself... Do you think you're too good to be humble? Answer that before reading any further.

Some of us are very proud people, we wouldn't humble ourselves for anything. Some of you are very rich people and you live in the nice part of town. You think that you're too good to even visit the ghettos, or the slums. Maybe you earned that right when you earned your money, right? But then again... Maybe none of us have really earned that right. Because think about it, Jesus moved from a nice place to a ghetto/slum. He moved from Heaven to Earth on his own accord. Can you imagine the fact that God humbled Himself for us? You have to know that it was a humbling experience for Jesus to leave His Father in Heaven, and join us on earth. Another question before you read any further, if God could humble Himself... Why can't you?

It's a funny thing really, if you humble yourself... You will be exalted (Lifted higher in life.) If you exalt yourself (If you're proud,) you will be abased (lowered.) In other words if you're a proud person you will find humiliation, and you will be brought to your knees in life. If you're humble, then God will bless you, and exalt you. It's pretty simple really. I hope that hearing about Jesus' humbling experience humbled you. It does a number on me when I think about it, so maybe it's something that we need to keep in mind always. If Jesus can humble Himself, then why shouldn't we? If you think you're better than Jesus, then you can't really say that you're a Christian. And just because you think you're better than Jesus, doesn't make you better. A humble person is always better than a proud one, and God is always better than His own creations (You, and me.)

Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this message, and for all things. Please forgive us of all our sins, and we forgive all those who've wronged us. Please help us to be humble, and to appreciate the things that you've done for us. In Jesus name. A-men!

http://www.godslovingkindness.com/

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7:42:02 AM EDT

Psalm 69

1Save me, O God; for the waters are come in unto my soul.

 2I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.

 3I am weary of my crying: my throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God.

 4They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away.

 5O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and my sins are not hid from thee.

 6Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.

 7Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.

 8I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.

 9For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

 10When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

 11I made sackcloth also my garment; and I became a proverb to them.

 12They thatsit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

 13But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O LORD, in an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.

 14Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink: let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters.

 15Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.

 16Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

 17And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.

 18Draw nigh unto my soul, and redeem it: deliver me because of mine enemies.

 19Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.

 20Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.

 21They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

 22Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap.

 23Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake.

 24Pour out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them.

 25Let their habitation be desolate; and let none dwell in their tents.

 26For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.

 27Add iniquity unto their iniquity: and let them not come into thy righteousness.

 28Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

 29But I am poor and sorrowful: let thy salvation, O God, set me up on high.

 30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.

 31This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.

 32The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.

 33For the LORD heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.

 34Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.

 35For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.

 36The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2069&version=9;

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7:43:14 AM EST


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7:49:59 AM EST

Individual Discouragement and Personal Enlargement

Oswald Chambers

"Moses went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens." Exodus 2:11

Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his own spirit he started to right their wrongs. After the first strike for God and for the right, God allowed Moses to be driven into blank discouragement, He sent him into the desert to feed sheep for forty years. At the end of that time, God appeared and told Moses to go and bring forth His people, and Moses said - "Who am I, that I should go?" In the beginning Moses realized that he was the man to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in the individual aspect, but he was not the man for the work until he had learned communion with God.

We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and we start to do the thing, then comes something equivalent to the forty years in the wilderness, as if God had ignored the whole thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged God comes back and revives the call, and we get the quaver in and say - "Oh, who am I?" We have to learn the first great stride of God - "I AM THAT I AM hath sent thee." We have to learn that our individual effort for God is an impertinence; our individuality is to be rendered incandescent by a personal relationship to God (see Matthew 3:17). We fix on the individual aspect of things; we have the vision - "This is what God wants me to do;" but we have not got into God's stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a big personal enlargement ahead.

My Utmost for His Highest

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11:19:35 PM EST

God is the Physician of body and of soul.

Brother Lawrence

To one who is in great pain. God is the Physician of body and of soul. * Feels that he would gladly suffer at His wish.

I DO not pray that you may be delivered from your pains; but I pray GOD earnestly that He would give you strength and patience to bear them as long as He pleases. Comfort yourself with Him who holds you fastened to the cross: He will loose you when He thinks fit. Happy those who suffer with Him: accustom yourself to suffer in that manner, and seek from Him the strength to endure as much, and as long, as He shall judge to be necessary for you. The men of the world do not comprehend these truths, nor is it to be wondered at, since they suffer like what they are, and not like Christians: they consider sickness as a pain to nature, and not as a favour from GOD; and seeing it only in that light, they find nothing in it but grief and distress. But those who consider sickness as coming from the hand of GOD, as the effects of His mercy, and the means which He employs for their salvation, commonly find in it great sweetness and sensible consolation.

I wish you could convince yourself that GOD is often (in some sense) nearer to us and more effectually present with us, in sickness than in health. Rely upon no other Physician, for, according to my apprehension, He reserves your cure to Himself. Put then all your trust in Him, and you will soon find the effects of it in your recovery, which we often retard, by putting greater confidence in physic than in GOD.

Whatever remedies you make use of, they will succeed only so far as He permits. When pains come from GOD, He only can cure them. He often sends diseases of the body, to cure those of the soul. Comfort yourself with the sovereign Physician both of soul and body.

I foresee that you will tell me that I am very much at my ease, that I eat and drink at the table of the LORD. YOU have reason: but think you that it would be a small pain to the greatest criminal in the world, to eat at the king’s table, and be served by him, and notwithstanding such favours to be without assurance of pardon? I believe he would feel exceeding great uneasiness, and such as nothing could moderate, but only his trust in the goodness of his sovereign. So I assure you, that whatever pleasures I taste at the table of my King, yet my sins, ever present before my eyes, as well as the uncertainty of my pardon, torment me, though in truth that torment itself is pleasing.

Be satisfied with the condition in which GOD places you: however happy you may think me, I envy you. Pains and suffering would be a paradise to me, while I should suffer with my GOD; and the greatest pleasure would be hell to me, if I could relish them without Him; all my consolation would be to suffer something for His sake.

I must, in a little time, go to GOD. What comforts me in this life is, that I now see Him by faith; and I see Him in such a manner as might make me say sometimes, I believe no more, but I see. I feel what faith teaches us, and, in that assurance and that practice of faith, I will live and die with Him.

Continue then always with GOD: ’tis the only support and comfort for your affliction. I shall beseech Him to be with you. I present my service.

Practice of the Presence of God           

                                                                                    The Breadsite

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8:18:58 AM EST

Inferior Misgivings About Jesus

"Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with." John 4:11

"I am impressed with the wonder of what God says, but He cannot expect me really to live it out in the details of my life!" When it comes to facing Jesus Christ on His own merits, our attitude is one of pious superiority - Your ideals are high and they impress us, but in touch with actual things, it cannot be done. Each of us thinks about Jesus in this way in some particular. These misgivings about Jesus start from the amused questions put to us when we talk of our transactions with God - Where are you going to get your money from? How are you going to be looked after? Or they start from ourselves when we tell Jesus that our case is a bit too hard for Him. It is all very well to say "Trust in the Lord," but a man must live, and Jesus has nothing to draw with - nothing whereby to give us these things. Beware of the pious fraud in you which says - I have no misgivings about Jesus, only about myself. None of us ever had misgivings about ourselves; we know exactly what we cannot do, but we do have misgivings about Jesus. We are rather hurt at the idea that He can do what we cannot.

My misgivings arise from the fact that I ransack my own person to find out how He will he able to do it. My questions spring from the depths of my own inferiority. If I detect these misgivings in myself, let me bring them to the light and confess them - "Lord, I have had misgivings about Thee, I have not believed in Thy wits apart from my own; I have not believed in Thine almighty power apart from my finite understanding of it."

Oswald Chambers

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