Presence - Henri Nouwen

"More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not as simple as it seems. My own desire to be useful, to do something significant, or to be part of some impressive project is so strong that soon my time is taken up by meetings, conferences, study groups, and workshops that prevent me from walking the streets. It is difficult not to have plans, not to organize people around an urgent cause, and not to feel that you are working directly for social progress. But I wonder more and more if the first thing shouldn’t be to know people by name, to eat and drink with them, to listen to their stories and tell your own, and to let them know with words, handshakes, and hugs that you do not simply like them, but truly love them."
Henri  Nouwen from Gracias

Abide in Christ

Abiding in Christ
Grace Walk by Steve McVey, p 145
"As believers abide in Christ, they can act in confidence that the Holy Spirit will guide every thought and deed. Christians need to give as much (my input, more) credit to God's ability to lead us as they give to the ability of Satan to mislead. Grace tasks the responsibility of knowing the will of God off of us and places it on Him.  . . .  Under law, one must find the will of God! In the grace walk, the will of God is revealed by the Holy Spirit to the believer, whose only responsibility is to rest in Him."

My questions are: 
1)  Do I believe these words above? 
2)  What does 'resting in Him' mean and what does it look like in practical terms?
3)  Is my confidence in Him more than my confidence in the evil one or my own fleshly desires?
4)  What am I going to do with His will once it is revealed to me and how important is it to do something?

Grace and Peace

My Daily Prayer

I (individually and corporately) want to be known by God and the world as a person with “this one mark – completely yielded to God’s will.” This is made possible “through His wonderful Holy Spirit, primarily His indwelling presence. . . . .  His holy presence consciously abiding in us, and through Him we continually walk with God and hear His voice.    . . . . even unto death.” Through this and in faith (with “it” being His will)
"I see it
I desire it
I expect it
I accept it
I trust Christ for it"  (quotes from Andrew Murray, A Life of Obedience)
Finally, from Frances Ridley Havergal’s My King devotional
“It is when the King has really come in peace to his own home in the “contrite and humble spirit” . . . . when He has entered in to make His abode there – that the soul is satisfied with Him alone. It all hinges upon Jesus coming into the heart as His own house. For if there are some rooms of which we do not give up the key, some little sitting room which we would like to keep as a little mental retreat, with a view from the window, which we do not quite want to give up – some lodger whom we would rather not send away just yet – some little dark closet which we have not resolution to open and set to rights – of course the King has not yet full possession; it is not all and really His own . . .  Only throw open all the doors, “and the King of Glory shall come in, “ and then there will be no craving for other guests. He will fill this house with glory and there will be no place left for gloom.”

 Lord, I give You every room (and nook and cranny) in me, and when there may be a portion which I have forgotten to submit to You, show me. 

Amen
mike hearne

The Fullness in Christ

Another devotional thought.  It seems everywhere I read and study the Word, the fullness of God in Christ and through Him in us keeps coming up.

30 August
by Daily Open Windows<https://www.facebook.com/DailyOpenWindows> on Thursday, August 30, 2012 at 5:09am ·
God in all His fullness was pleased to live in Christ. (Colossians 1:19 NLT)
Do not take these as just words. Do understand that in every fragment there is this truth: In the dispensation in which you and I are now living God has come to us in all His fullness. There is no more to be added. In His Son we have the absolute fullness of God, and it is out of that fullness that He speaks to us in His Son. God has only one Son in that sense - His only-begotten Son, which means that there is no one to come after Him. Therefore, God's last word is in His Son. The Son brings both the fullness and the finality of God. It is that which gives the solemnity to this whole Letter. It says: "If you fail to hear the voice of the Son there will never be another voice for you. God is never going to speak by another voice. God hath spoken in His Son, and He is never going to speak by any other means." Hence this Letter contains this word of warning and of exhortation: "Because this is the fullness and this is the end, be sure that you give heed...." To come into touch with the Lord Jesus is more than coming into touch with a teaching: it is coming into touch with a living, active Person. "It is God with whom we have to do." It is a glorious thing to come into touch with God in Christ - but it says here that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). No, it is not a book, a teaching, a philosophy: it is a living, positive, powerful Person....
 Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!

By T. Austin-Sparks from: The On-High Calling - Chapter 10
http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/000975.html

The Ground of Resurrection

I am enjoying periodically a daily reading from T.Austin Sparks.  I do not get to it every day, but whenever I do, the 'deep things' of the Lord are revealed to me.  Today's reading touched me and here is a portion.

"Resurrection is not to be only something that happened with Jesus, but it is something that has happened in us and taken place inside of us. There is a counterpart of that by His risen Life imparted, that we have been raised together with Him. And that is not just doctrine either. That is real, that is vital truth and something to happen in us as well as in Jerusalem so many years ago. It is not just history and tradition, it is experience.... We have not only to believe that Jesus rose from the dead, but we have got to be alive ourselves with Him in that resurrection and on that ground."
(the author's italized and my bold)
If you get a chance, read the beginning of this and see why the author makes the statements above.
Grace and Peace

http://www.austin-sparks.net/english/openwindows/003344.html

The "Much More" of your salvation

One of my father's (Lewis) favorite verses was Romans 5:10, "For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled shall we be saved through His life." I remember Dad getting real excited about the words 'much more' and the life we receive from the Father through the Son by the Spirit. I thought of him as I read this quote from Ian Thomas in the book I have been reading, The Indwelling Life of Christ.
     "Are you being saved by Christ's life? . . . this is the 'much more' of your salvation.
     Reconciled to God by Christ's death . . . and saved by His life - the one is a crisis of the moment; and the other is the process of a lifetime and on into eternity.
     . . . the crisis involves an initial act of faith that accepts Christ for what He did; the process involves an attitude of faith that continues to enjoy all that Christ is! For He not only died for what you have done; He rose again from the dead to take the place of what you are, which He does by His Holy Spirit indwelling you.
     This is the gospel, the whole of it. Anything less than this falls short of the gospel as revealed in the Word of God."
Amen and Amen.

Any Old Bush Will Do

A few months ago I stated that I would share a passage from a book by Thomas about how God can use any old bush. Let this truth permeate your being and bring you closer to Christ in you step by step.  Amen
Here is a possible monologue from the Father to Moses.

Ian Thomas, The Saving Life of Christ  p.68-69

 “Do you see that bush over there? That scruffy, scaggy looking thing – that bush would have done! Do you see this beautiful bush, so shapely and fine – this bush would have done! For you see, Moses, any old bush will do – any bush – if only God is in the bush!

   . . . it is not the bush that sustains the flame, it is God in the bush; any old bush will do!
(end of monologue)

   Did you ever make this discovery? Have you ever come to the place where you realized that all you can produce, at your best, is ashes? Did you ever come to the place where you presented yourself for what you are – nothing – to be filled with what He is – everything – and to step out into every new day, conscience that the eternal I AM is all you need, for all His will!

   This is the forgotten tense of the church of Jesus Christ today. We live either in the past tense or in the future tense. . . .  But we forget that He is the eternal I AM, the eternal present tense, adequate right now for every need!

   If you are born again, all you need is what you have and what you have is what He is! He does not give you strength – He is your strength! He does not give you victory – He is your victory!

   Do you understand the principle? Christ is in you – nothing less than that! You cannot have more, and you do not need to have less. Every day can be the glorious fulfillment of the divine end – “proving what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,” as you present your body a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Rom. 12:1-2)

   Only remember this – any old bush will do!”