Wednesday, January 5, 2011
A.W.Tozer: Jan5
January: Personal Life
Some things may be neglected with but little loss to the spiritual
life, but to neglect communion with God is to hurt ourselves where we
cannot afford it. The Root of the Righteous, page 9
January 5 Personal Life: Let God Alone But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. --James 1:4 God is saying, "I stand ready to pour a little liquid fire into your heart, into your spiritual being!" We respond: "No, Lord, please excuse me. That sounds like fanaticism--and I would have to give up some things!" So we refuse His desire, even though we want all the benefits of His cross. There is this thoughtful phrase in The Cloud of Unknowing: "He wills thou do but look on Him and let Him alone." Let God alone. In other words, let Him work! Don't stop Him. Don't prevent Him from kindling your heart, from blessing you and leading you out of a common state into that of special longing after Him. You don't have to coax God. He is not like a reluctant father waiting for his child to beg. The blessings are His to give and He waits for us to let Him work.... "Look on Him and let Him work, let Him alone." Get your hands down to your side and stop trying to tell God where to cut. Stop trying to make the diagnosis for God. Stop trying to tell God what to give you. He is the Physician! You are the patient.... Let Him work and your spiritual life will begin to blaze like the rising sun. I Talk Back to the Devil, 63-64. "Lord, I know there is a work You want to do in my life today. I'll try to stay out of the way, take my hands off, and let You work! I'll put my hands to my side even now as a sign that I'm going to let You alone today to do Your work in me. Amen."
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GregLaurie: Jan5
Wednesday, January 5, 2011 Intrepid Peter Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. —Acts 4:13 Apart from Jesus himself, no name is mentioned in the New Testament more often than Simon Peter. He was a central figure of Jesus' three years of ministry and of the first three years of the early church. No other person speaks as often or is spoken to as often in the Gospels as Peter. Then again, no other disciple was reproved and corrected as often as Peter was. While others may have thought certain things, Peter would say them. He seemed to say whatever came into his mind at any given moment. People always knew where they stood with Peter. We are familiar with the story about Peter's walking on water, and much is said about the fact that he sunk. But it also should be pointed out that Peter is the only one who dared to take such a bold step of faith and, at least for a time, walked on the water with Jesus. In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked the disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" and Peter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). Yes, Peter later denied the Lord. Yes, he failed miserably. But he was recommissioned by Jesus. And he stood up on the Day of Pentecost and preached the first sermon to the early church, which resulted in 3,000 people believing in Christ. According to church history, Peter was forced to watch as his wife was crucified. Afterward, he, too, was crucified and asked to be executed upside down, because he felt unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord. Peter was a hero of the faith who shook his world like few others. And God is still looking for men and women to shake this world.
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DailyDisciples: Jan5
January 5 Today's Reading: Genesis 13-15; Matthew 5:1-26 Today's Thoughts: Glorify Our Father "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 I was meditating on this verse today and saw something different. Jesus has just finished teaching the beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit…. Blessed are those who mourn…. Blessed are the meek…." Then He summarizes this section by encouraging the believer to continue doing all those things that are making them poor in spirit, mournful, meek and persecuted because the prophets were treated the same way. This leads into being salt and light. Jesus is instructing the believer to remain salty and bright, to keep burning and stinging for Him. The transitions in the message flow beautifully and make perfect sense. However, when I would read Matthew 5:16, I wondered: "How would the ‘men' glorify the Father in heaven as a result of seeing the believers' good works? If these same men are the ones causing the believer to be poor in spirit, meek and persecuted, how can they be hurting the believer while glorifying God?" Today, I realized that the believer is the one who is instructed to glorify the Father. We, as believers, are to remain faithful to continue on regardless of the reaction of the people. We are to remain diligent, to stay sharp and be alive in living for Jesus. We don't hide who we are or apologize for what we believe. We stand strong and continue. Not only will men see our good works which will bring glory to our heavenly Father, but also we glory in our heavenly Father that we are able to endure in His good works. There will be times that others will also glorify the Lord because of your good works. Jesus' ministry caused others to thank God. But we don't look at others for affirmation to know that the Lord is blessing… we look to God. We need to be faithful to things God has called us to do and leave the results with Him, as we glorify our Father who is in heaven. Our mission is to evangelize the lost and awaken the saved to live empowered lives by the Work of God and His Holy Spirit. Daily Disciples Ministries makes a difference for the kingdom of God by teaching and training believers how to be in God's Word, how to pray and how to walk with Jesus every day, as His daily disciple.
Daily Disciples Ministries, Inc.
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DailyStrength: Jan5
January 5 That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.--EPH. v. 27. Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house.--I PETER ii. 5. One holy Church of God appears A temple there has been upon earth, a spiritual Temple, made up of living stones; a Temple, as I may say, composed of souls; a Temple with God for its light, and Christ for the high priest; with wings of angels for its arches, with saints and teachers for its pillars, and with worshippers for its pavement. Wherever there is faith and love, this Temple is. To whatever worlds He carries our souls when they shall pass out of these imprisoning bodies, in those worlds these souls of ours shall find themselves part of the same great Temple; for it belongs not to this earth alone. There can be no end of the universe where God is, to which that growing Temple does not reach,--the Temple of a creation to be wrought at last into a perfect utterance of God by a perfect obedience to God.
Through every age and race,
Unwasted by the lapse of years,
Unchanged by changing place.
S. LONGFELLOW.
J. H. NEWMAN.
PHILLIPS BROOKS.
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DailyLight: Jan5
January 5 We which have believed do enter into rest. They weary themselves to commit iniquity. — I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? He that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works. — Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. — This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing. EVENING Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? — They provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. A whisperer separateth chief friends. — There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment. — The tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Put off ... anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. — This is the will of God, even your sanctiflcation. — In their mouth was found no guile.
MORNING
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. — Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
HEB. 4:3. Jer. 9:5. -Rom. 7:23,24. Matt. 11:28. Rom. 5:1,2. Heb. 4:10. -Phi. 3:9. Isa. 28:12.
PSA. 141:3. Psa. 130:3. -Psa. 106:33. Matt. 15.11. Prov. 16:28. Prov. 12:18,19. Jas. 3:8,10. Col. 3:8,9. -I Thes. 4:3. -Rev. 14:5.
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