Dwell on these things

Would anyone like to expound on what this passage and this example reveal to us and are they similar?

 

Phil 4:8-9

8Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

 

From Dr. Thomas L. Constable, Study Notes on Gal. 5:22

My wife and I used to live on a beautiful wooded lot. The largest tree on the property was a stately red oak that was over 100 years old. In the fall, most of the other trees would shed their leaves and remain bare through the winter months. But that red oak tree would usually retain most of its leaves through the winter. When the spring came, the sap flowing through that tree would cause buds to develop, and in the process the buds would push the old dead leaves off the branches. Similarly, the life of the Spirit normally expels the old dead habits of the flesh as the new life within grows stronger. Rather than trying to remove all of our former sinful practices ourselves, we should cultivate the spiritual life, and the Holy Spirit will deal with them. This phenomenon has been called "the expulsive power of a positive affection."

 

Grace and Peace

 

Obsession

My Lord, I will be obsessed with You.  My want for everyone.

 

Quote from AW Tozer:

You become like that which obsesses you, which occupies you. Is that not true? You see what people are occupied with, and you can see their character changing by their obsessions. They are becoming like the thing which is obsessing them; they are changing; they are becoming different. Something has got a grip on them; they can never think about anything else, talk about anything else; and it is changing their character. Now Paul said, "For me to live is Christ – being occupied with Him." It is the wrong word to use, but nevertheless it would be a good thing if He became our "obsession," our continuous occupation. As we steadfastly fix our gaze upon Him, the Spirit changes us into the same image.

By T. Austin-Sparks from: Men Whose Eyes Have Seen The King - Chapter 4

The Crucified Life - AW Tozer

As we contemplate Him, His death and resurrection, I was moved by this passage from Tozer.  Read, consider and lift your hands in praise of the life He has given us.  Amen.

Christ’s triumph over death, the foundation and fountain of our faith, was everything to the early enraptured believers. Christ’s rising from the dead was first an amazing thing, then it became a joyful wonder, and then a radiance of conviction supported by many infallible proofs, witnessed to by the Holy Ghost. This became to the first Christians the reason for everything. The battle cry of those early Christians was “He is risen,” and it became to them outright courage. In the first 200 years, hundreds of thousands of Christians died as martyrs. To those early Christians, Easter was not a holiday or even a holy day. It was not a day at all. It was an accomplished fact that lived with them all year long and became the reason for their daily conduct. “He lives,” they said, “and we live. He was triumphant, and in Him we are triumphant. He is with us and leads us and we follow.” They turned their faces toward an altogether new life because Christ was raised from the dead. They did not celebrate His rising from the dead and then go back to their everyday lives and wait for another year to pull them up from out of the mire . They lived by the fact that Christ had risen from the dead and they had risen with Him. “If ye then be risen with Christ . . .” That word “if” is not an “if” of uncertainty. The force of the word is “since ye are then risen with Christ.”

Tozer, A. W. (2011-09-09). The Crucified Life: How To Live Out A Deeper Christian Experience (Kindle Locations 396-407). Gospel Light. Kindle Edition.

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