Hope Available

"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." Romans 15:4

Read the Book. Our only hope in a confusing world is between its covers and in acquaintence with God the Holy Spirit who inspired it.

In Christ the final battle is already won

I daily receive a short devotional from the Institute for Creation Research-ICR. Todays devotional was too good not to share. So, here goes.
In Jesus' Conquering NameOctober 8, 2009 "Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:37) The first verse of the well-loved hymn "Faith Is the Victory" describes preparation for the battle between the forces of light and darkness. The second verse tells of marching into battle, and the third, of the actual attack. For the soldier of faith, empowered by love and obedience to the commandments of God, the victory is assumed. The last verse relates the rewards of victory and a commitment to wise governing, once the battle is over. To him that overcomes the foe, White raiment shall be giv'n;Before the angels he shall know, His name confessed in heav'n.Then onward from the hills of light, Our hearts with love aflame;We'll vanquish all the hosts of night, In Jesus' conq'ring name. Jesus, when the Apostle John saw Him in His present glorified, victorious state, made this promise to the churches: "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels" (Revelation 3:5). Earlier, He had made a companion promise: "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33). In this life we will have battles to fight, but the ultimate victory has already been won. As He left this world following His resurrection, He said: "Go ye therefore . . . and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:19-20). No wonder, then, as we see in our text, we are "more than conquerors" in every situation, as we battle in Jesus' conquering name. "Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:14). JDM
What more to say, The battle is won in Christ.

Hope in the Valley

We all like to enjoy the sense of God's presence in our services and relish the sense of God's power and all sufficiency. But then, we have to go back to the daily grind and sometimes nosedive into despondency.
Oswald Chambers has this comment from his book My Utmost for His Highest -Oct 1.
"We are not built for the mountains and the dawns and aesthetic affinities, those are for moments of inspiration, that is all. We are built for the valley, for the ordinary stuff we are in, and that is where we have to prove our mettle. We feel we could talk like angels and live like angels, if only we could stay on the mount. The times of exaltation are exceptional, they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware lest our spiritual selfishness wants to make them the only time."
Oct 3rd Chambers shares this thought.
"Can I face things as they actually are in the light of the reality of Jesus Christ, or do things as they are efface altogether my faith in Him, and put me into a panic?"

OUCH

I think we often mistake our "faith" on the mountaintop for emotional elation. Faith can operate at all times in all places if we remember that "God can do anything" is true in the valley as well as the mountaintop. This faith has to grow, therefore I must show my faith by my works in all circumstances and be ready to see God at work everywhere and at all times. God help me to believe his word and trust his grace always.

Comment from Doctor Henry Morris of ICR

I receive an inspirational message from ICR -The Institute for Creation Research- each morning. Please read carefully what this godly man has to say.
"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (Colossians 1:27) The fact that Jesus Christ is actually in each believer is both a great mystery and rich in glory. In fact, it is our very hope and assurance of glory in the age to come. How Christ may be both seated at "the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:3) and yet living in us is surely a mystery, yet it is fully true. He Himself told His disciples: "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. . . . Abide in me, and I in you. . . . He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" (John 14:23; 15:4-5). The apostle Paul also confirmed this great truth: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20). One of his prayers for the Ephesians was "that Christ might dwell in their hearts by faith" (Ephesians 3:17). The mystery as to how this can be is resolved in yet another mystery--that of the tri-unity of the Godhead. Christ, the Second Person, is present in His people through the Holy Spirit, the Third Person. Christ said: "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter. . . . Even the Spirit of truth; . . . for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you" (John 14:16-17). In fact, as our text says, His indwelling presence is our very hope of glory, for "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). Thus, where we go, He goes; whatever we say, He hears; even what we think, He knows. Christ, by the Holy Spirit, is our ever-present comforter and guide and counselor. This is, indeed, a glorious mystery! HMM"
I won't further comment as this servant of Christ has said it well.

The God of Hope within

I have recently rediscovered the wisdom of Oswald Chambers in his book My Utmost for His Highest. September 20th's entry blends in with my previous posts as to the presence of the Holy Spirit becoming our motivating power to bring us into the obedience to Christ.
No person is a biblical Christian without Christ's spirit dwelling within them. How does He dwell in us? That's a bit of a mystery except when we step back and take a look at the full picture and realize who God is and what he is capable of. How He does it is somewhat mysterious to us but works out well in the reality of the every day. Like the wind, we can't see it, but we certainly feel its power exerted against what we can see. We have to be reminded every once in a while that He is our salvation, not our works or the works of any other man whether a religious leader or political figure. God is God alone. We only can know Him through His son.
Chambers says:
"God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not as a human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian is that the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the experience of this works out in the practical details of life."
The Spirit of Christ makes us godly, and that godliness is manifested in practical living. Although hampered by our faulty humanity that is subject to temptation and human reasoning, God chooses to dwell in us and try to reveal himself to the world.
Further exerpts from Chamber's September 21st entry:
"...The whole human race was created to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever...I am created for God, he made me. This realization of the election of God is the most joyful realization on earth, and we have to learn to rely on the tremendous creative purpose of God...The love of God, the very nature of God, is introduced into us, and the nature of Almighty God is focused in John 3:16__"God so loved the world..."...We have to maintain our soul open to the fact of God's creative purpose, and not muddle it with our own intentions.... Our Lord never enforces obedience; He does not take means to make me do what He wants. At certain times I wish God would master me and make me do the thing, but he will not, in other moods I wish He would leave me alone, but He does not.... He wants us in the relationship in which He is easily Master without our conscious knowledge of it, all we know is that we are His to obey."
Christ himself walked in humble obedience to the Father, and sought every opportunity to commune with God and to glorify Him in everything he said or did. What a wonderful plan. Many religious sects, including many Christian sects, force their people to adhere to a set of laws and give them sharp reprimands if they fail to obey. History records numbers of wars that were begun because of a religious group trying to enforce their beliefs on other nations. We face this today by some groups.
Christ appeals to our reason and heart, He does not force himself on anyone. He may bring strong conviction to convince us of our sins and our sinfulness, but he offers deliverance from sin IF we choose to accept His method of grace- "Christ in you, the hope of glory". The choice remains ours, we accept his means of grace and lifestyle, or we reject it and continue on in the hands of Satan living an ungodly life.
Many years ago a fellow parishoner of mine used to frequently testify in church as to the grace of God in his life. William Gallon lived a careful walk with God, and was faithful to give God the glory, his favorite ending to almost all of his testimonies was "It's Him". That has sunk into my soul like God's finger on stone when he gave the 10 commandments to Abraham.
Our only mission in life is to "Know Christ and Make Him Known". That quote is taken from the home church of my almamater Hobe Sound Bible College. It is simple and to the point and is our only calling. We make him known by our words and our godly life. Our humaniy gets in our way at times and we feel discouraged, but that should only cause us to further realize "It's Him". We can only live the Christian life by the help of the Spirit of God.
God help me, I see it, please help me to remember it and throw off everything that hinders my walk with the Holy and omnipotent God of all creation.

The overwhelming power of rivers

In my devotional time today I was reading from My Utmost For His Highest and discovered this little gem.
Oswald Chambers "A river is victoriously persistant, it overcomes all barriers. For a while it is baulked, but it soon makes a pathway round the obstacle. Or a river will drop out of sight for miles, and presently emerge again broader and grander than ever.... Keep paying attention to the Source (God), and God will either take you round the obstacle or remove it.....Never allow anything to come between yourself and Jesus Christ, no emotion, or experience: nothing must keep you from the one great sovereign Source."
The scripture lesson Chambers chose was John 7:38
"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water"
Gleaning the overreaching thought of his writing was this awesome gem: Christ is the Source of the headwaters of the rivers of living water, staying connected to the source leads to an unending supply. We sometimes are so dissapointed with our own walk with God because we don't see how we are doing any great exploits for God. God wants us to simply to know him, stay connected by faith, and let his living water flow through us as he sees fit. If we do every action to please God, keep walking in faith, and follow his leadership the water will flow. As Chambers says the river may appear submerged or less apparent but it will flow unconquerable because God is the Source. If a river keeps getting filled with water from an overwhelming supply, something is going to move. If we begin to try to divert the flow to our little projects we may end up with a landlocked pond of putrid mire. Rivers have been diverted by military or excavaton teams to help them achieve an objective: we sometimes try to achieve our own ends by diverting our energies and "spirituality" to some pet project, but we grieve God and the water somehow just doesn't flow. We've got to let God choose the path and supply the living water.
I get two things from this lesson: keep connected to the Source and let the river flow whereever God decides it needs to. Christians are just to be channels through which living water can flow: the glory is in the living water supplied by God.
Lord help me to not block the flow, attempt to divert the flow, or disconnect from the Source.
If I hope to share God's hope with others, I've got to do it God's way: Christ in me.

To be like Him

I Peter
3 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—

(We don't feel so imperishable or fadeless, and sometimes tempted to dispondency or even dispair, but God says as long as we walk in obedience to his Spirit we can not perish, spoil, or fade. Probably the reason we don't feel this way is because it is not US but Christ within us.)
　
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls

(We are still human when Christ abides in us and we are tempted to trust in what we can see, measure, or "put in the bank", instead of believing God's word being fully potent and true.)

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

(If we are to be like him, we must be holy. He makes us holy, not any devices of our own.)

Some mechanical things we buy have maintenance plans available. Some are not worth the paper they are written on, but not God's promises. He not only has a perfect plan of maintenance but gives us his Spirit as a constant "mechanic" to see that all works according to God's plan.

Can't get any better than that.