By J. Farrell Fisher, July 9-11, 2017

Paul gives us holy, eternal, and life-changing truth when in 1 Corinthians 2:14 he wrote: “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned,” even mentioning in 1 Corinthians 3:3 about those, in the Corinthian church, who “are carnal and behaving like mere men”!

How clear was Christ Jesus when in John 3:6 He said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh,’ and that’s true of every natural man – and born of flesh, his greatest need is to be “born of the Spirit”!

As you study the Word of God, are you clear about why Christ Jesus “exposed” the religious Jews of His day? In John 8:31-44 is an unveiling of the “True seed” and those of Satan’s family loyalists! It says: The Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free.” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin (present tense, continuous action!) is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered Him, “Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.”

Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father – God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from (or out of) God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word.

You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.”

To be confronted by Christ Jesus is to have one’s heart and mind exposed to Truth, to the need of blood redemption, to the alternative of ‘life in Christ’ or death under Satan’s domination, or to “the desires of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do,” or to resurrection life, resurrection power, or resurrection hope!

If you continued in John 8:48-51, you’d discover your greatest hope! Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.”

“Never see death”? We all ‘see’ death, but Christ Jesus was saying that if anyone stands in His Word he’ll never be held in death’s bondage eternally but live in His life throughout eternity, and those who live without Him will be held eternally under Satan’s control in the death that never dies with all unbelievers! And dare I to say, “to live without Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior and Master of one’s life is to be bound by a hopeless and unfulfilling existence forever and ever”?

And one has to wonder: “Why the great chasm between ‘professing Christians (?)’ and true disciples, true followers, true sold-out-disciples?”

I was highly impressed and encouraged when I read in Dallas Willard’s book, “The Great Omission”, in his introduction, he satiated, “The governing assumption today, among professing Christians, is that we can be ‘Christians’ forever and never become disciples.” And he called it the Great Omission with Great Disparity flourishing, or, “Will they break out of churches to be His Church”? So, I would assume, one of the greatest needs across ‘modern-day’ church life is the necessity of re-instituting “making disciples”!

So, let’s examine, FIRST, in discovering YOUR greatest need: HAVE YOU TRULY BEEN RECONCILED TO GOD THROUGH THE GIFT OF CHRIST JESUS IN REPENTANCE TOWARD GOD AND TRUE FAITH IN CHRIST’S REDEMPTIVE WORK THROUGH HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION?

In 2 Corinthians 7:10 Paul tells us, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” Didn’t Jesus say in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted”?

My concern? Sometimes one’s grief about his circumstances and situations in life is but the shadow of God’s convicting presence apart from a true desire to be reconciled to God! But Isaiah 61:1-3 unveils a true repentant mind and heart! It says: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn,

To console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”

It was William Cowper who once wrote: “The path of sorrow, and that path alone, leads to the land where sorrow is unknown; no traveler ever reached that blessed abode who found not thorns or briers in his road.” And I would ask YOU, “Have you recognized, repented of, and seen the blood of the Lamb removing from you what separated you from Him? Is there, was there, sorrow in your heart when the Holy Spirit convicted you, if He did, of your sin and separation from Holy God?

It was Harriet Beecher Stow who many years ago wrote: [The Encyclopedia of Religious Quotations, Fleming H. Revell Com., Westwood, N.J.], “Sorrow is divine. Sorrow is reigning on all the thrones of the universe, and the crown of all crowns has been one of thorns. There are many books that treat of the sympathy of sorrow, but only one that bids us glory in tribulation, and count it all joy when we fall into divers afflictions, that so we may be associated with that great fellowship of suffering of which the Incarnate Son of God is the head, and through which He is carrying a redemptive conflict to a glorious victory over evil. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.”

How familiar ARE YOU WITH THE Book of Lamentations? [But, of course, there are those who would say, “Old Testament truths have nothing to do with New Testament disciples,” but I would say, “These folks are far, far from the Truth!”]. You should read ALL of Lamentations, but let me share Lamentations 1:12-16!!

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought upon me, which the Lord has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger.

From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it overpowered them; He has spread a net for my feet and turned me back; He has made me desolate and faint all the day. The yoke of my transgressions was bound; they were woven together by His hands and thrust upon my neck. He made my strength fail; the Lord has delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.

The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst; He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord trampled as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah. For these things I weep; my eye, my eye overflows with water; because the comforter, who should restore my life, is far from me; my children are desolate because the enemy prevailed.”

SECOND, HAS YOUR LIFE SITUATIONS BROUGHT YOU TO THE ETERNAL SITUATION OF EXAMINING YOURSELF, DETERMINING WHAT REALLY HAS YOUR HEART? I’m really sorry if the Word offends you, but YOU must examine what really has your heart! It’s as if some church folk today, and certainly those in and of the world, are convinced it’s their choice as to what rules and reigns in their own hearts!

And it was Oswald Chambers who once commented on either ‘selective affinity (that) dies’ or the ‘sanctified abandonment’ of lives that live in and through Christ only! [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.120]. He said: “You cannot consecrate what is not yours; there is only one thing you can consecrate to God, and that is your right to yourself (Romans 12:1). If you will give God your right to yourself, He will make a holy experience out of you. God’s experiments always succeed. The one mark of a saint (One set apart to God’s glory!) is the moral originality which springs from abandonment to Jesus Christ. In the life of a saint there is this amazing wellspring of original life all the time; the Spirit of God is a well of water springing up, perennially fresh. The saint realizes that it is God Who engineers circumstances, consequently there is no whine, but a reckless abandon to Jesus.”

And the question of this very moment for you before Holy God is: Are you abandoned only to the glory of Christ alone or does ‘selective affinity’ rule and reign over you? What YOU face in your life’s pilgrimage up until now, have those ‘life experiences’ brought you to what or who has your heart?

THIRD, HAVING BEEN RECONCILED, HAVING DETERMINED WHO HAS YOUR HEART, AND NOW AS “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST JESUS”, ARE YOU EXERCISING THROUGH GOD’S DIVINE POWER ALL AUTHORITY OVER THE THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS?

You do understand that in the ‘religious world’, including even your local church setting, that you will find some awareness or awakenings we all need to be alerted to! For example: There can be an inclination to without the appropriation of, there can be thoughtful considerations without transformation, there can be argumentation without acceptance by God, there can be theories of the mind religiously without Truth that transforms, and one can possess a ‘thirst’ but no desire for the “Living Water’!

In 2 Peter 1:1-11 Peter awakens us to the true righteous remnant! (And I’ll never forget Miss Bertha Smith, missionary to China most of her adult life, who said on an occasion, teaching in a church I pastored: “Probably 90-95% of the church pastors in America need to be “born again”!” I tell you, it scared Hell out of some pastors that day!) Peter wrote:

“To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue,

To virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren, nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

THEREFORE, brethren, be even more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Our modern-day world, related to ‘Christian activity’, is faced with, I believe, three distinct choices that people everywhere can choose from: 1) Cultural Christianity (where a very significant number have chosen to live, 2) World religions, that number millions upon millions, or 3) Christ-Given Re-Birth! In fact, in John 3:3, Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” In the kingdom of God, King Jesus rules and reigns! Does He rule over, in, through your heart, mind, spirit, and body?

A spiritual evaluation? 1) Is there in you “undivided devotion”? Check Luke 14: 26! 2) Is there costly commitment? Check Luke 14:27! 3) Is there costly analysis? Check Luke 14:31! 4) Is there “awesome and full surrender? Luke 14:33!

Frank S. Mead wrote “The March of Eleven Men”. Listen with both mind and heart!! “James the brother of Jesus and James the son of Zebedee preach and are killed by mobs in Jerusalem; Matthew is slain on a sword in Ethiopia; Philip is hanged in Phrygia; Bartholomew flayed alive in Armenia. Andrew is crucified in Achaia, Thomas is run through with a lance in East India, Thaddeus is shot to death with arrows, a cross goes up in Persia for Simon the Zealot, and another in Rome for Peter. Matthias is beheaded; only John escapes a martyr’s grave.”

D.W.Whittle and May Whittle Moody wrote an old hymn entitled “Moment by Moment”. (The American Hymnal of 1933). It says: “Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine; living with Jesus, a new life divine; Looking to Jesus till glory does shine, Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.

Never a trial that He is not there, Never a burden that He does not bear; Never a sorrow that He does not share, Moment by moment, I’m under His care.

Never a heartache, and never a groan, Never a teardrop and never a moan; Never a danger but there on the throne, Moment by moment He thinks of His own.

Never a weakness that He does not feel, Never a sickness that He cannot heal; Moment by moment, in woe or in weal, Jesus, my Savior, abides with me still.”

In “Christ Ascended,” Michael Bruce wrote: “In every pang that rends the heart, The Man of Sorrows has a part.” He’s with you, He’s in you, He works through you!

Can you say that Christ Jesus is your “everlasting portion”, more than a friend or life, all along your ‘pilgrim journey’, but the Lord and Savior of your inner strength?

Can you say, “not for ease or worldly pleasure, not even for fame will your prayer be, but you’ll gladly toil, even suffer, if it gives glory and honor to Him”?

Can you say, “Lead me, if necessary through the vale of shadows, Just bear me over the fitful seas, Knowing the gate of life eternal, Open it wide, Lord, for You and me”?

In Ephesians 1:11-14 are powerful verses unveiling “our greatest needs” met and fulfilled in and through Christ alone! It says: “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise pf His glory.”

YOUR GREATEST NEED? To be reconciled to Holy God through Christ! To be forgiven because of His shed blood! To come into oneness with God through Christ, His ambassador and reconciler! To be made a part of the Holy Family as sons and daughters birthed by the Spirit of God! To understand and make yourself available to others as His messenger! To see the significance of being joined with the choir of angels and fellow family members singing in the heart daily the “Hallelujah Chorus” as a “born-again” song-bird of Saving Faith!

By J. Farrell Fisher

It’s so highly interesting to me that in the early history of mankind, through God’s creation of human presence on His earth, in Genesis 3:8, Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, “and Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

But the one thing I pray you learn from this time together around God’s Holy Word is that God isn’t interested in you hiding from His Holy Presence but letting Him unveil Himself to you! In Luke 24:31-32 we read of the early disciples, seated at a table with the Lord, but unsure of WHO He really was! It says: “Then their eyes were opened and THEY KNEW HIM; and (then) He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while HE OPENED THE SCRIPTURES TO US?”

I tell you, there is nothing dull or dreary when Christ Jesus knocks on YOUR heart’s door – there IS “a burning heart sensation that pulsates within you”! In Revelation 3:20-22 we hear our Lord speaking to us! “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, AND HE WITH Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

What does the word of wisdom say to us in Proverbs 1:24-32? “Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, When your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.

Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.

Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies. For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.”

You are aware that many have no desire to hear anything God has to say to them! In Psalm 10:3-7 we read: “For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire; he blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord. The wicked in ‘his proud countenance’ does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.

His ways are always prospering; God’s judgments are far above, out of his sight; as for all his enemies, he sneers at them. He has said in his heart, ‘ I shall not be moved; I shall never be in adversity.’ His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.” Oh, and then in Verses 8-11, the psalmist, inspired of the Spirit, describes the “godless, the faithless, the unredeemed” with the images of “wild animals”!

Did Luke 24:32 say, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road…”? Is there a “road” called “wherever you go”? Doesn’t Joshua 1:9b tell us: “..do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go”?

Do you remember Moses saying to both Israel and Joshua, as he faced his earthly departure, these words? Deuteronomy 31:6, “Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them (the world, your enemies, the devil and his demon-tribes?); for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.”

“In Christ” every disciple has begun a ‘faith pilgrimage’, like Moses and Israel in the journey of the “Promised Land”- walking with our Lord and Savior AND His people, His servants, His ‘soldiers of the Cross’! And as I was reading in Luke 10 as the “seventy were sent out” commissioned by the Lord Jesus, I was uplifted to the seventh heaven again when I read Luke 10:17! Then the seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” Do you think those early disciples learned about walking, serving, and ministering in and with His Holy Presence?

How strange it is that somehow, someway, by some insane reasoning, many ‘professing Christians’ have never entered the “blessed, holy land of oneness with and in Christ”! But then the Holy Word enlightens us! In Colossians 3:1-11, Paul instructs us and challenges us:

“If then you were raised with Christ [brought out of sin’s death in you to resurrection life in Him!], seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. [Is seeking those things which are above the reality of ‘pressing in to the eternal’ rather than captured by the temporal?].

Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth [the ‘fleshly,’ the ‘devilish’, the worldly’?]. FOR YOU DIED [ with Christ!], and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory [When you get to Heaven someday or the manifestation of heavenly glory in His resurrection presence in you through His Spirit here and now?].

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked WHEN YOU LIVED IN THEM. [But “in Christ” you don’t live or walk their anymore!].

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have PUT OFF THE OLD MAN with his deeds, and HAVE PUT ON THE “NEW MAN” who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor fee, but CHRIST IS ALL IN ALL.”

The passage you’ve just read is one of those ‘identifying passages’ of true believers! Have YOU been “raised with Christ”? Are YOU a “seeker” of eternal things? Is your MIND easily adaptable to world thinking OR is it “fixed” on eternal Truth revealed in Christ? Are you ‘comfortable’ with ‘world thinking’ or captured by Christ on His Heavenly Throne equipping your mind in Eternal Truth? Were YOU “crucified with Christ” or does your ‘religious (?) sin-nature’ still reign?

Did Paul tell us that “in Christ” our life “is hidden with Christ in God”? No wonder Paul said in Galatians 6:14-15, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”

FIRST TRUTH I WANT TO NAIL DOWN ABOUT LIVING IN OUR LORD’S PRESENCE: Does ‘deliverance from the bondage of sin and death, from devilish captivity, or world allegiance’ speak to you at all? What do we see related to how we should respond to or react to Old Testament events? But I see a physical picture that has eternal meaning and relevance in our journey through life with enemies like the world, the flesh, and the devil, out to take us down! In 2 Samuel 22:1 we read: Then David spoke to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. And he said:

“The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; the God of my strength, in whom I WILL TRUST; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold, and my refuge; my Savior, You save me from violence. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.” David then spoke about “waves of death that surrounded him,” about “floods of ungodliness made me afraid,” and then in Verses 17-20, David sang: “He sent from above, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought me out into a broad place; He delivered me because He delighted in me.”

It was in Psalm 17:8-9 that David also prayed: “Keep me AS THE APPLE OF YOUR EYE; hide me under the shadow of Your wings, From the wicked who oppress me, from my deadly enemies who surround me.”

Don’t you find it extremely sad when in Deuteronomy 32, in the song of Moses, there was a sad refrain when he said in Verse 18: “Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten the God who fathered you”? Oh, but then in Verse 43d, Moses sang, “He (God) WILL PROVIDE ATONEMENT FOR HIS LAND AND HIS PEOPLE!” In Israel there was a faithful remnant WHO “RESTED” IN HIS HOLY PRESENCE AND PROMISES! What a tower of blessed assurance!

SECOND, THERE IS A TOWER OF SACRED TRUST! In 1 Timothy 4:10 we read Paul strengthening our foundation of assurance, protection, and the overcoming Life in Christ when he said: “For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach, because we TRUST IN THE LIVING God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of all men, especially of those who believe (trust in, rely upon, adhere to).”

In Proverbs 28:25-26 we read God’s discernment about the ‘foolish’ and the “faithful”; “He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife, but he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered. He who trusts in his own heart (I say, or mind!) is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered.”

Have you, as a disciple of Christ, ever found yourself centered in the midst of trouble, testings, turmoil of the world opposed to the reign of the King of kings and Lord of lords, even questioning your survival because you’ve been ‘burdened beyond measure’? In 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 Paul wrote to the Corinthian church then, and us now, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia; that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death (that’s dead in our trespasses and sins!), and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…”

In Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘wisdom’ speaks! “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him (give Him His rightful place as Lord of your life!), and He shall direct your paths.”

THIRD, THERE IS THE TOWER OF SPIRITUAL TRIUMPH! Aren’t you thankful, every day, as a true follower of Christ, that Holy God has given us a “hymn of praise” of “Victory in Jesus”? Spiritual triumph? And, even if we go “through the valley of the shadow of dark trials and deathly circumstances”, in Christ we reside in the ‘tower’ of spiritual triumph!

In Romans 8:18-25,28-30, and Verses 35-39, we read: “For I (Paul) consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the EARNEST EXPECTATION of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.

Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body. FOR WE WERE SAVED IN THIS HOPE, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? BUT if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.

Come to Verses 28-30! And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those WHO ARE THE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

OH, AND THEN IN VERSES 35-39, WE COME TO THE “HALLELUJAH DECLARATION”! “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’

YET, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created things, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And you doubt yourself in Christ as a servant who lives in “the tower of spiritual triumph”? This isn’t “the power of positive thinking” – it’s the gift of living in His tower of spiritual triumph, and “resting” in His finished work! In Colossians 1:19-23 we receive the Apostolic message of true reconciliation!

“For it pleased the Father that in Him (Christ Jesus!) all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And YOU, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight – if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.”

Here’s the question: If God declares us “in Christ” to be more than conquerors, then WHY did Paul state in the Colossians passage, Colossians 1:22-23, “present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight – IF INDEED you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are NOT MOVED AWAY from the hope of the gospel…!??” But tragically there are some who become so totally deceived, they ‘move away from the hope of the gospel’ to live in “their main attraction” of proving their self-worth, without Christ!

Never forget Colossians 2:9! “For in Him (in Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

FOURTH, THERE IS ALSO THE TOWER OF SET TIMES BY THE LORD! In Psalm 118: 24 God’s people gathered together and they sang: “This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

I began pastoring in the early 1960’s as I finished my final year at Baylor University, attended Southwestern Seminary for three years, and from the early days of pastoral ministry, mission enterprises in Brazil, India, and other nations, and I can tell you without a fear or a doubt, I’ve seen and heard many men, women, children and youth, on their ‘death-beds’ proclaim the goodness of the Lord, yes, even in the day when they knew they had come to their final breath in their physical bodies, and because of true, redemptive faith, they understood, “absent from the body, present with the Lord.”

True born-again believers live in God’s time-clock – not their own! “My times on earth are in His hands – and He assures me, in Christ, “I” never die!” And they are at peace, whether on earth or in heaven around the throne of the King of kings and the Lord of lords!

Oh, certainly, there are vessels of wrath fitted for Hell, but vessels of grace are adorned in Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope! They are clothed in the glory of the Glorious One even Christ! They are heirs of all Jesus is and has! They are ‘marriage partners’ in Christ with all His great covenant promises! “As He is so am I in this world!” “As Jesus sits on the throne of Heaven as King, as He is so am I!” It’s not a matter of ‘common sense’ but “sacred trust”!

It was Spurgeon, in his “Spurgeon’s Sermons,” (Vol.19, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Mich.,p.356) , who said: “The things we have to preach of, such as everlasting life, union with Christ, resurrection from the dead, reigning with Him forever and ever, seem to the dull hearts of men to be as idle tales. Tell them of a high interest for their money, of large estates to be had for a venture, or of honors to be readily gained, and inventions to be found out, they open all their eyes and their ears, for here is something worth knowing; but the things of God, eternal, immortal, boundless – these are of no importance to them. They could not be induced to go from Ur to Canaan for such trifles as eternal life, and heaven, and God Himself!”

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it,” because we “lean not to our own understanding, but in all our ways, we acknowledge Him, we give Him His rightful place as Lord and Master of our lives and all He desires to do through us, and we become “living sacrifices”, taking the sentence of death unto ourselves, that His resurrected Presence may be manifested in mortal flesh!”

H.G.Spafford and P.P.Bliss wrote the old hymn, “It Is Well With My Soul.” [American Hymnal, The Broadman Press, Nashville, Tennessee, 1933]. It says:

“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea-billows roll; Whatever my lot, You have taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And has shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin – oh, the bliss of this glorious thought – my sin – not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the Cross and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

And, Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll, The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend, “Even so” – it is well with my soul.

It is well, with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.” Is it well with YOUR soul?

OR VICTORY THROUGH THE WORD OF GOD?

By J.Farrell Fisher

September 30, 2014

Hebrews 4:12, “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword..”

Have you ever considered that you as a believer are to be guided by God’s Holy Word? Being united WITH Christ in your heart, soul, and mind, is it in the fabric of your redemptive faith to “be being saved” by your devotion to His Holy Word? Is it possible that in your “wedding vows” with Christ you omitted “devoted to His Word and His will”?

Is it in you as it was with David as he wrote in Psalm 25:4-5, “Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day,” but you know nothing of the daily discipline of His Word to be personally taught day by day by the King of kings and Lord of lords?

“Your will be done” but you never daily yield yourselves to discover His will, His ways, His directive word, but you settle in, “I’m saved; that’s all I need to know?” I believe that I read in Psalm 25:12, “Who is the man that fears the Lord? Him shall He teach in the way that He chooses.” And God’s choice? Matthew 4:4 But He [Jesus] answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

I would challenge you as you’re reading this to evaluate your “saving experience” in Christ if you are void of His Word! So-called “religious experiences” that never leads one to His “revelation” and a hunger to know His will and Word absolutely frightens me! If one has been “born again,” I believe one of the evidences is “that we might KNOW the things that are freely given to us of God,” [I Corinthians 2:12].

To his spiritual son, Timothy, Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” I look upon God’s revelation of divine truth in both the Old and New Testaments as magnificent promises for maturing men and women, boys and girls, who have come to Him in true repentance and faith.

It was Peter who told us in 2 Peter 1:2-4, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that THROUGH THESE you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Tell me about your reception daily through God’s Holy Word of His “exceedingly great and precious promises,” of your daily discovery and acquired knowledge of “the things freely given to us of God,” yes, and your appropriation of His truths that show you the “escaping [of] the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Do you remember Abraham’s servant, sent by Abraham to find a bride for his son Isaac? In Genesis 24:48 the servant speaks: “And I bowed my head and worshipped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, and blessed the Lord God of my master Abraham, who had led me IN THE WAY OF TRUTH to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son.” Thank God for His servants who are “led in the way of truth!”

In Mark 4 Jesus had been explaining His parables to the new disciples. Verses 33-34 tell us, “And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples.” The very desire of Jesus for you right now is that you listen to Jesus and let Him “explain all things in the Word to you” by the Holy Spirit who “guides us into all truth.” In John 16:13-14 our Lord told His disciples, “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.” The Holy Spirit is Heaven’s personal “Tutor” in the Holy Word of God!!

But haven’t you heard it? “I don’t need a personal “Tutor” to teach me the Bible! I don’t accept the Bible as the authoritative Word of God – I’m smart enough in myself to sense there is no divine truth as there is no ‘heaven’ or ‘hell’ – find a brain-dead ‘christian’ and you’ll probably fool them!” And if you haven’t learned it yet in your classrooms or from many university professors who are smarter than God Himself, they believe, by human interaction you will learn that the most harmful ‘curse’ in life’s spiritual realm is personal pride and intellectual superiority, yes, even superior to Jesus Himself who IS “God in Flesh”!

Have you ever examined thoroughly Jesus’ passionate prayer in John 17 for you and for all mankind as He described “grace” as that which reveals Him and then He unveils “eternal life” by His “grace”! John 17:3 says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You [God Himself], the only true God, AND Jesus Christ whom You sent.” Oh, and then in Verse 17 Jesus prayed, “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Sanctify? “Set them apart,” “save them, redeem them, declare them ‘holy’ by Your Word”!! As Josh MacDowell used to say of Jesus: “Liar, lunatic, or the Lord God?”

But “void of the Word of God” men will, at least some, profess a mental knowledge of Him but never experience “victory in Him through His eternal Word”! Oswald Chambers wrote in his famous book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” [p.4], “Natural devotion may be all very well to attract us to Jesus, to make us feel His fascination, but it will never make us disciples. Natural devotion will always deny Jesus somewhere or other.” What did the Lord Jesus tell us in John 3:3-7?

Jesus answered and said to Nicodemus, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”…

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water [that’s the “water” of the Word!], and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’” All believers, true believers, born again believers, will face worldly and satanic opposition to their true faith, but Paul tells all believers in Ephesians 6:10-19…

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;…

Above all, taking the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which IS THE WORD OF GOD; praying always with all prayer, and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints -…

And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel…”

Natural mankind poses fierce opposition to Jesus because they in their natural minds are “void of the word of God” and have no heavenly understanding. Even the early disciples like Philip had a hard time understanding who Jesus was and what He was about. Look at John 14:7-11!! “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”…

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works…

Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Natural mankind is void, opposed, and ‘willfully’ resists Biblical Truth that “the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin.” Natural mankind is highly opposed to Biblical Truth that says “obedience to Jesus is required: as evidence of a born-again life”, even when Jesus said in Matthew 7:21, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” In fact, in Luke 6:46 Jesus said: “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” Obedience is not an option in the age of grace but is the evidence grace is at work in you finishing its work in you!

We do know beyond a shadow of a doubt that not all of Israel was “lost” because of rejection of the coming of the Promised Messiah – there was a ‘remnant’! But Romans 10:21 says, But to Israel he says, “All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” And even as “Jews” there are those who lived in the “natural”, yes, fully opposed to “saved by grace”! Natural mankind are those who are “a disobedient and contrary people” who have no desire to live by the Life of Another, even by Emmanuel, “God in flesh”!!

Natural mankind does not “know” Father-God or the Son of God or the Holy Spirit! We ALL came into this world through “fallen Adam”, yes, “hiding from God, without hope in ourselves, or hope in each other” – we needed a miracle of God! In John 17:25-26 Jesus prayed, “O righteous Father! THE WORLD HAS NOT KNOWN YOU, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” Yes, Jesus prayed for YOU and ME that God’s love would capture our minds and hearts and wills, drawing us out of the land of darkness of unbelief to the “Promised Land” of heavenly living on earth through His Resurrection Life, Resurrection Power, and Resurrection Hope!

“Void of the Word of God”? I pray you have not set aside the Epistle to the Hebrews! In Hebrews 1:1-3 we read, “God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”

But those who are “void of the Word of God,” “void of Christ Himself”, willfully shut the door to His saving grace and mercy and have no seat in the heavenly places! Read carefully Ephesians 2:4-7! “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), AND RAISED US UP TOGETHER, AND MADE US SIT TOGETHER IN THE HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST JESUS, that in the ages to come “He Might Show” the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

“Void of the Word of God”? That’s those blinded by the world, the flesh, and the devil! It’s why in Galatians 6:7-8 Paul tells us all: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh [that’s his old sin nature, old man, First Adam] will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit [of God] will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.”

“Void of the Word of God”? Are you aware of the “stumblers”? Peter told us in I Peter 2:8, “…they stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.” God Himself read their hearts and appointed them to their just reward, yes, because of a mental, willful, head and heart rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ!

I think it vitally important to have you read I Corinthians 1:18-31!! Receive it for yourself: “For the message [or word] of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…

For it is written: ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.’ Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer [debater] of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?…

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;…

But we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God…

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

And the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh [First Adam, old sin nature], should glory in His presence…

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God – and righteousness and sanctification and redemption – that, as it is written, ‘He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” Foolishness of men ‘void of the Word’ OR Victory through the Word because we “glory” only in the finished work of Christ “At The Cross” living a celebratory life because of His Resurrection from the dead?

How about for you an eternal shift by the grace of God to “Victory Through His Word”? In I John 5:4-5 John tells us: “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. [Our trust in Christ, our relying upon Christ, our total dependence upon Christ, through His shed blood, His death, His Resurrection, His ascension, and His soon coming to celebrate with Him eternally!!] Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”

I’m forever sorry and broken that ‘religious’ people will never see Jesus in heaven but only at the Judgment Seat as He tells them, “Depart from Me, you who work iniquity!!”

But “born of God”? Are you familiar with Galatians 1:15-16? “But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me…” What an awesome revelation!

Do you remember what Jesus said in John 5:38-40? “But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”

There are those who will “read” the Word without “resting” in its Author. There are professors of allegiance to the ‘paper’ of the Book but fail to possess its Author and His Resurrection Life, Power, and Hope! There are ‘historical verifiers’ without “blood-bought, redeemed hearts”! And certainly there are devoted legalists without the Person and heavenly love of the Lord.

The Holy Word tells us: 2 Timothy 3:14-17, “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus…

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Have you been “made wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus alone”? What did Paul tell us in Romans 5:10? “For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be [“being”] saved by His life.” Have you forgotten “justified by His blood”?

The author of the Hebrews letter put it like this in Hebrews 9:11-14, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation…

Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,…

how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

If your life is not a testimony of continuous rejoicing in God for His forgiveness and, yes, forgetfulness of your old sin nature and your pattern and participation in fleshly sins, I believe I would seriously examine what I “thought” was my salvation and what God Himself “says” it is!

Hebrews 10:12-14 tells us, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool…

For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Your sin became His “pain,’ your pain became His suffering, His suffering became your freedom, and your freedom became the theme of your praise to your true Savior and Lord! So you take the sentence of death daily that the Resurrection Life of your Lord and Savior may be manifested in and through you for an unbelieving world to see and seek!

Have you forgotten, overlooked, or never seen Paul’s word to us in Galatians 5:24? “And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires,” so…Verse 25, “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.” Is it your daily ambition to honor Christ in your earthly walk?

I close this teaching with Oswald Chambers’ words: “Beware of refusing to go to the funeral of your own independence.” [“My Utmost For His Highest,” p.256].

AMEN?

I really am not sure how to begin this, I pray, a biblical study on man’s or one’s search for meaning to their ‘existence’, if that, to them, is all they sense about their earthly presence or ‘fleshly’ pilgrimage. One thing I’m sure of: most men without God are out to find the ‘filling’ for their empty, tortuous, godless living, and are not even sure they want to learn about His “eternal intent” for them as ‘vessels’ or ‘containers’ of His Heavenly Presence in their hearts and lives! If they are not in control, they’ll substitute anything, anyway, any-how, any-‘who’, if they can find even a moment’s relief from their ‘pointless lives’!

Societies, lives, families, nations, even churches, have choices: Christ or the chaotic, fleshly or the spiritual, sin-nature determinations or ‘vessels of Christ’s Holy Presence that he calls “temples”’, or compromise with convenience or conviction of His Holy Truth, or a participant in societal disintegration or a soldier of Biblical discipline trained in the Lord’s army, or a ‘self-determined idolater’ worshipping what his sin nature dictates or a life convicted, converted, captured, and controlled by His Indwelling Holy Spirit?

I know that the Prophet Hosea was a tool to speak to the rebellious nation of unrepentant, unredeemed Israel, but I also know “All Scripture” does speak to any man, any where, any time! The national judgment of Israel did not apply to the repentant, redeemed, blood-bought sons and daughters of true faith within Israel! But in Hosea 4: 6 God spoke and still speaks: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because YOU have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because YOU have forgotten the law of God, I also will forget your children.”

Oh, and in Verse 8, God said: “They (demons and ‘the religious of the mind and not the heart’, and unfaithful, unbelieving powers of darkness) eat up or feed (on) the sin of My people; they set their heart on their iniquity,” even approving of all that is opposite to the Truth and Holiness of God!

There IS a ‘world’ of “Yesterday-minded men and women, even boys and girls” who fall into the devilish trap of “Has God really said? You surely will not die – if you sin and fall away – God’s too loving”! Really?

“YESTERDAY”? I pray that YOU see that there was a time when your life was WITHOUT HIM, life without purpose, meaning, a goal or God! “Yesterday”? Pain, emptiness, no spiritual goal or intent at all, no God but simply the ‘god’ you willingly bowed down to daily, your ‘self’!

“YESTERDAY”? Striving but failing, trying but drooping, attempting but falling ‘short’, seeking to prove yourself worthy but wilting short of God’s intent and purpose and plan!

“YESTERDAY”? It’s either a forgotten or painful memory OR that stone on which you choose to stand without Him to determine your next step without God with accumulated failures of emptiness, and the ‘hole’ seems to get deeper and wider – and you’re surprised, even shocked by your own spiritual ineptness!

YESTERDAY”? For most, it’s just sad memories because that ‘emptiness’ and ‘unfulfilled desire’ wasn’t seen as God’s provision of an exposure of life without Him, but just a human failure, a cultural blunder, and a sad reward. When ‘self-awareness’ is all one sees in his fleshly journey, it’s difficult for some to see, “This is the day the Lord has made – I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

“YESTERDAY”? That’s a backward look at an empty space without any consideration, contemplation, or confidence at all of divine intent and eternal purpose! At the same time, how many do you know who are pleased in the arrogance of their ‘fleshly successes’ without one ounce of understanding or consideration of the eternal plan and planting

of God for their lives?

“YESTERDAY”? That’s a backward look at one’s ‘age of anxiety’ without any consideration at all of the Historic Day of Atonement! That’s even a backward look at those who enter churches or temples or religious sanctuaries with no understanding that God doesn’t make His abiding in places made by human means but in the “new-born” temples of men’s repentant, regenerated hearts! In John 17:3 Jesus declared: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent,” with 1 Peter 2:4-5, telling us, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up “a spiritual house”, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

“YESTERDAY”? That’s man’s fleshly will in full control even if he/she ‘professes’ faith in Christ! There’s a huge gap between ‘believing’ and ‘belonging’ to Jesus Only! It was H.W.Webb-Peploe who once said: “Joy is perfect acquiescence in God’s will because [at last! JFF!] the soul delights itself in God Himself.” That’s God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, and a redeemed heart and mind trusting in Him alone!

“YESTERDAY”? It was Leo Tolstoy who once said, “I lived only during those times when I believed in God,” and I couldn’t help but wonder: “How fleshly is that? Life on, life off, life on, life off – blessed when I believed but cursed when I departed from Him?” Temporary belief or temporary loyalty is not “Oneness with Christ”! That’s, no doubt, why C.S Lewis could describe some spiritual journeys as “an ever increasing desire for an ever diminishing satisfaction.”

The holiest interpretation of Christ is not any man, any woman, at his/her ‘best’, but the “with Christ crucified” that His Resurrected Life may be God’s interpretation of Holy Presence in a present-day earthly setting – your redeemed body as the ‘temple’ of His Holy Presence! Perfect good is not man at his earthly best, even attempting to interpret His Holy Presence, but the “born-again life” in which Resurrection Presence is allowed to be Himself in us, our only hope of glory!

I was reading Kurt Bruner’s book entitled “Inklings of God,” [Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49530, Copyright by the author! P.79], when he wrote about Mother Teresa in India before she died. She was one stout lady of true faith who ministered the Truth in India. Bruner wrote, speaking of the Hindu religion, “Its law of karma teaches that those who suffer are paying off debt from a former life, purifying themselves in this life so that they can reincarnate into something better, like a cow, in the next. The entire caste system depends upon the premise that we are destined to pay in one life for messing up in another. To help those suffering is to extend their payment plan. That is why the sick, poor, and disabled suffer so in and beyond India. Their suffering is meant to be. So, in the name of compassion, their religion tells them to avert their eyes [or ‘turn aside’ from how God sees them!].”

Dare I tell you that Hindus in India, unbelieving ‘self-sufficient’ in the U.S., “yesterday” men and women unrepentant, unbelieving anywhere, live breathing the air of ‘personal, self-omniscience’, smarter than God, yet living with illusions encouraged by the devil himself! And they live in the ‘death’ of their hopelessness, not interested in God’s eternal Word of hope, Christ alone! Should I dare tell you that what you believe in the spiritual realm of fallen humanity determines how you live it out, to the glory of fallen flesh or to the glory of Holy God!

“YESTERDAY”? That’s men on their own, even in a religious sense or scene, determining what should be ‘acceptable to God’ on the basis of their “best efforts”! It’s really, really interesting to me to hear Jesus say in John 6:44, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him,” saying later, in John 12:32, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” Verse 33 then says, This He said, signifying by what death He would die.” And if the Cross hasn’t drawn you to God, nothing else will!

Yesterday’s men and women are drawn by religious activity that leads nowhere – but the “blood-redeemed” understand the willingness of full surrender to the Lordship of Christ! A born-again believer is “drawn” to Christ by the Spirit, while the ‘pretenders’ attempt by best effort to disassociate themselves from godless living but always fall far short of “Redemptive Truth” in and through Christ alone!

Isn’t this why Paul said in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”?

“YESTERDAY”? Have you heard the ‘religious world’, world-wide, proudly asserting that “There are many ‘doors’ to God – any ‘door will do’ as long as you promote the religious door you entered and uphold its religious dogma,” which I believe means “eat any old ‘dog-ma meat’ you desire – you’ll be okay,” but I trust only the divine Word like 1 John 1:7 which says, “But if we walk in the light as He (Jesus) is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His (God’s) Son cleanses us from all sin.” Hear me! The Holy Word just declared the eternal way only by which fallen man’s sin-nature is transformed into “new life” is through the shed blood of the Lamb of God, and His shed blood on the Cross unveils the seriousness of my need of deliverance from the penalty of sin and its presence, imparting to me the eternal Truth that I have been made complete in Christ, lacking nothing, but daily ‘resting’ in Him and His manifestation through me of His fullness, His blessing, His purpose, His power, and His desire to express His love, prove His power, and manifest His eternal will through an available ‘vessel’!

In Romans 13:11-14 Paul challenged both the redeemed remnant of Israel and the newly-birthed redeemed of Rome and us in the 21^st Century: “And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us was properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in envy and strife. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”

“YESTERDAY”? Loyalty to lust or loyalty to the Lord Jesus? Loyalty to the ‘flesh’ or loyalty to the Spirit? Loyalty to one’s natural affinities or loyalty to His eternal birth-marks, God-honoring giftings, and the servant-understanding that, yes, “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose,” (Romans 8:28!)? Loyalty to ‘my interpretation’ or loyalty to His revelation, like John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments”? Loyalty to the ‘privacy of my own desires’ or loyalty to His “blood-bought possession” of my life, like 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 declaring: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

And how many ‘doors’ are then shut TO God, and ‘self-serving’ folks, some religious ‘church-goers’, because, even though they ‘profess’ loyalty to Christ, when it comes to ‘religious activities’ they still “call the shots for our own lives”! Paul went on to say in 1 Corinthians 6:17, “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him,” and HE IS LORD OF ALL OR NOT LORD, for them, AT ALL!!

THEN, WHAT ABOUT “TODAY” IN YOUR SPIRITUAL JOURNEY? Do you remember Zacharias’ prophetic utterance in Luke 1: 67-79? He had been filled with the Holy Spirit, and then he prophesied! “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, [Is God the Lord over every nation in the world? YES, whether they yield to Him or not!], for He has visited and redeemed His people, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David [Or in the house of His servant J.Farrell Fisher or YOU?], as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who HAVE BEEN (and still are!) SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN,

That we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, To perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham: To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; (The Beloved John?], for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people by the remission of their sins, Through the tender mercy of our God, with which the Dayspring from on high has visited us; to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

There’s another ‘prophetic word, not only about the birthing of the Promised Savior, of the Coming Savior of the world, the Lamb of God to be sacrificed by merciful God on the Cross for our redemption,’ but to the true faithful sons and daughters who “TODAY” unveil the Resurrected, Reigning Christ to a needy world: Psalm 2:7-12 is about “The Richness of Relationship In God’s Eternal Son AND sons!” It says:

I will declare the decree: The Lord has said to Me, ‘You are My Son, TODAY I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, AND the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron (Biblical Truth?); You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’

Now therefore, be wise, O kings (“In Christ” are we declared “kings and priests unto God the Father”?); Be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. BLESSED ARE THOSE WHO PUT THEIR TRUST IN HIM.”

In his book, “My Utmost For His Highest,” (p.227), Oswald Chambers quoted 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?”

“Crucified with Christ, raised to “New Life” in Him, and now, “Today”, the new “Temple of Resurrection Presence,” with the biblical awareness: “I AM NOT MY OWN,” agreeing with, aligning with, receiving the instruction of Paul and Chambers: “We are not sanctified for ourselves, we are called into the fellowship of the Gospel, and things happen which have nothing to do with us, God is getting us into fellowship with Himself. Let Him have His way, if you do not, instead of being of the slightest use to God in His Redemptive work in the world, you will be a hindrance and a clog.” OR, shouldn’t you and I daily choose: “I take the sentence of death daily that the Resurrection Life of Christ may be manifested in my mortal flesh” TODAY?

What did Isaiah say in Isaiah 60:1? “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.” Do you daily live with that awareness?

ONE OTHER OBSERVANCE AND REFLECTION: WHAT ABOUT “TOMORROW”? And, have you reflected upon what Paul quoted and wrote about in 1 Corinthians 15: 49, and Verses 54-58? 1 Corinthians 15:49, “And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.”

1 Corinthians 15:54-58, “So WHEN this corruptible has put on the incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’ ‘O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’ The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.”

You may, at times, sense the ‘onslaught of Satan’ and his demonic forces, but remember, IN CHRIST, WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS! Are YOU “at Rest” in Christ as you face YOUR “Tomorrow”? C. Wordsworth, in the old “The American Hymnal”, wrote the words to this hymn entitled “O Day of Rest and Gladness.”

“O day of rest and gladness, O day of joy and light, O balm of care and sadness, Most beautiful, most bright; Om You, the high and lowly, Bending before the throne, Sing, Holy, Holy, Holy, To the great Three in One.

On You, at the creation, the light first had its birth; On You, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth. On You our Lord victorious, The Spirit sent from Heaven; And thus on You most glorious, A triple light was given.

Today on weary nations The heavenly manna falls; To holy convocations The silver trumpet calls, Where gospel light is glowing With pure and radiant beams, And living water flowing With soul-refreshing streams.

New graces ever gaining From this our day of rest, We reach the rest remaining To spirits of the blest. To Holy Ghost be praises, To Father and to Son; The Church her voice upraises To You, blest Three in One.”

Will YOUR “Tomorrow” be the ‘curse’ or the Everlasting Blessing in Christ alone?