† Disciple of Christ-Part II

Where do wars and fights come from among you?

Do they not come from your desires for pleasure

that war in your members? You lust and do not have.

You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war.

Yet you do not have because you do not ask.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that

you may spend it on your pleasures. Adulterers and adulteresses!

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world

makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you think that the scripture

says in vain, "The spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously"?

But he gives more grace. Therefore He says:

"God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble"

James 4:1-6

To some that up "Pride promotes strife". There are many forms of pride,

we've all been guilty of it...wether it's not admitting when we are wrong

because well that would hurt our "pride" or some form of vanity

or simply just an overall self pumping up, where all we seem

to care about is ourselves.

The thing is though, Pride and being a follower of Christ,

well..they don't mix.

a servant of Christ is called to be humble..

Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom

Let not the mighty man glory in his might

Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;

Jeremiah 9:23

And if some of the branches were broken off and you

being a wild olive tree were grafted in among them

and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree

do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast remember that you do not support the root but the root supports you.

You will say then "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in."

Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches

He may not spare you either.

Romans 11:17-21

For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves;

it is the gift of God not of works lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9

Yet many of us struggle with pride, and many boast of the "wonderful"

things that they do in the name of Christ. Trust me if you are one of those

"Look at me" "Christians" God will break you down and He will humble

you real quick. Being boastful/full of pride is not of Christ at all,

it is of the world. This all comes back to the whole idea of "Dying to self"

because if we would let Christ live through us, if we would stop living

for our fleshly desires we obviously wouldn't be so full of pride.

I'm not even referring to people that are of the world, I'm talking

about "Christians" who are prideful. I mean there are so many different

subjects and areas that could be brought up that i'd end up writing

a book. Look at the church, prosperity is the main subject week

after week... It's become not about surrendering to Christ and

dying to self it's become about "Come to Christ because he'll bless

you" "give to the poor and suffering, so you'll get ten fold back".

It's all because it's human nature for us to want. Look at what James

is saying in chapter four, he is not speaking to non-believers here..

he is talking to believers and calling them prideful.

He's calling followers.... adulterers and adulteresses, because they all

were literally being adulterers? no...think about it, what is

after all the sin of adultery? it is a selfish act..no? it is you

getting pleasure out of a need and want for your own desire,

without a care for anyone else but yourself. So hence he was calling

them "Adulterers" because when they would ask God for things

it was all out of a care for themselves...

for example... "God please give me lots of money so I can be rich,

and have 3 cars a big mansion and a hot model wife" obviously

that is an extreme example, they probably were not like that,

The fact is God knows your true intentions,

He knows if you are seeking Him because you are so overwhelmed by

his Grace and mercy or if you are only seeking him because

you want to be "blessed". As James said:

"You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss,

that you may spend it on your pleasures"

It's obviously not all about money either, it could be many things...

another example might be...

"Please God give me the ability to understand your word"

a great thing to ask, but what if the person is only asking it

so that they can look "Holy then thou" and be respected

and looked up to, deep down they are not asking God because

they truly want to know him more, they have other motives.

James also says "Do you not know that friendship with the world

is enmity with God"? and whoever wants to be a friend to the world

is an enemy of God.

What does that mean? People generally like to throw their own ideas

when they see "don't be a friend to the world" just like with

Romans 12:2

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind"

What they mean(what God meant) by "world" is the "world view",

the world is all about pride, it is all about selfishness, in the world

view we are our own gods, and we do whatever makes us feel good..

without a care for anyone else. James(in James 4:4) and

Paul(in Romans 12:2) are saying you can't have that worldly view!

why? because it totally contradicts the word of GOD! You can't say

i'm a "Christian" but then only care about yourself, because being a

Christian means dying to yourself and living for God, It means putting

others above yourself. If all you care about is how you look, or

what you have, or what this person can do for you or what God

can bless YOU with, then YOU are not of Christ at all.

This is what James was ranting about, he was furious because

they were not seeking to live for God and to do what God wanted

them to do. They wanted to live like everyone else, they lusted

after what their "neighbors had" they cared about their image,

they wanted to still live in worldliness and have God. HOWEVER

it doesn't work like that, God wants all of you...he wants to be your provider, yes absolutely! but you have to surrender to Him,

you have to stop living to "GET" and start living out what you have

already been GIVEN!

You are suppose to live by Gods word, live for Christ and that's it,

you have everything you will ever need! I'm not saying God doesn't

bless people, I'm not saying he doesn't heal, I'm not saying he doesn't

answer prayers, I'm not saying don't pray for struggles going on in

your life. I'm saying one who is truly walking closely with Christ,

knows humility, he knows this world can't save him, he knows that nothing

he can do can save him, and he knows he is not perfect and that through

his imperfections through his humbleness he can bring others to the

freedom that is in Christ. It's not through judgment and condemnation

that we bring others to the freedom we have been given... to the

price that was paid for us. We share our imperfections, not to celebrate

our wickedness but to show that we didn't earn grace but that it

was freely given to us, and we shoulder our burdens together.

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,

you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded. Lament

and mourn and weep! let your laughter be turned to mourning

and your joy to gloom. HUMBLE yourselves in the sight of the Lord,

and He will lift you up.

James 4:7-10

I'm going to make this very easy to understand, simply because that's

how I am, I'm very simplistic. To me it's not complicated, being a Disciple

of Christ is all about being humble. It's not about living for you, but

living for others. The word of God constantly speaks of being humble,

and generally if you think about it, yes we have our mountains to climb,

but being a disciple being a true Christian is fundamentally easy...

as it's all about surrendering yourself to Christ, I.e Die to Self...

Why do we put ourselves on pedestals? why do we think we are bigger

then we are, as if anything we do somehow amazes God? It doesn't amaze anyone else how our God wants a relationship with us? as if we deserve

such a thing, as if we deserved Him dying on the cross.

HUMBLE yourself before God, let his word be the defining thing in your life.

Just let go of self. Remember Solomon? for those who read the blog..

it's a couple blogs back where I talked about Solomon.

He was the wisest King that ever lived, not to mention the most wealthy.

Did you know he wrote Ecclesiastes? some scholars deny it, but how can you? Ecclesiastes is famous for it's "Everything is meaningless" verses..

who could make such statements? How about a man who had everything,

and in his old age started to see that all his wealth all his power on this

earth wasn't going to last for ever, and to see how short his life was...

to see it was coming to an end, and to see everything he's done, and

all the wealth and wisdom he had was overall meaningless.

Living for yourself....Living for this "worldliness"...it truly is meaningless.

Broken down one by one
They'll take your pride and crush it
The fall that comes is real, by pure degradation
Amputate – Humiliate
Who can take this punishment?
Create something new – A warrior where there once was nothing

Destroy the body and mind – Behold the spirit can survive
Destroy the body and mind – Today is a good day to die

(Broken mind) – Face down in the sand
(Spirit) Spirit – (Rise) Rise

Destruction comes only once in a lifetime
Cannot be great in your mind
This is the time to say your last prayer
If you desire peace, then prepare for war

Destroy the body and mind – Behold the spirit can survive
Destroy the body and mind – Today is a good day to die
Destroy the body and mind – Behold the spirit can survive
Destroy the body and mind – I am ready for mine

(Broken mind) – Face down in the sand
(Spirit) Spirit – (Rise) Rise

(Broken mind) – Face down in the sand
(Spirit) Spirit – (Rise) Rise
Prepare for war – Rise
Prepare for war – And rise

Disciple of Christ

If the things I do, I do for myself... then I am not in the

right frame of mind.

I struggle in so many areas of my walk,

and one of those areas is my motivation.

What I mean by that is...

Am I for example praying/reading Gods word

or seeking to spread His word

out of a true love for him or am I doing it

for some pharisaical reasons, thinking with

my self righteousness and "works" I can

save myself.

The word of God is crystal clear in the fact

that it is not about what "I Do" in the sense of

the "Things that I do", If "I Do" anything it should

be to choose to surrender myself.

The fact is any good that is inside me is Jesus Christ,

without Him I am NOTHING. We can't save ourselves and

no matter how many "Good deeds" we do, none of it matters

if we are not surrendering ourselves to Christ.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit."

Matthew 5:3

Beware of placing Our Lord as a Teacher first.

If Jesus Christ is a Teacher only,

then all He can do is to tantalize me by erecting a standard

I can not attain. What is the use of presenting me with an ideal

I cannot possibly come near? I am happier without knowing it.

What is the good of telling me to be what I never can be -

to be pure in heart, to do more than my duty, to be perfectly devoted

to God? I must know Jesus Christ as Saviour

before His teaching has any meaning for me other than that of an ideal which leads to despair.

But when I am born again of the Spirit of God, I know that Jesus Christ did not come to teach only: He came to make me what He teaches I should be. The Redemption means that Jesus Christ can put into any man the disposition that ruled His own life, and all the standards God gives are based on that disposition.

The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount produces despair in the natural man - the very thing Jesus means it to do. As long as we have a self-righteous, conceited notion that we can carry out Our Lord's teaching, God will allow us to go on until we break our ignorance over some obstacle, then we are willing to come to Him as paupers and receive from Him. "Blessed are the paupers in spirit," that is the first principle in the Kingdom of God. The bedrock in Jesus Christ's kingdom is poverty, not possession; not decisions for Jesus Christ, but a sense of absolute futility - I cannot begin to do it. Then Jesus says - Blessed are you. That is the entrance, and it does take us a long while to believe we are poor! The knowledge of our own poverty brings us to the moral frontier where Jesus Christ works.

"My Utmost For His Highest"

July 21st

What does Galatians 2:20 say?

"I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

"I do not set aside the grace of God;

for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

Galatians 2:20-21

Christ died because we couldn't live up to the law, Our calling

as disciples is not to live up to something we can't live up to,

because through Jesus Christ we can live up to it!

We need to stop living to our own "Ideals" stop riding

on our high horses and just die. It's not about what I DO...

IT'S ABOUT WHAT CHRIST DOES THROUGH ME!

If you keep living for yourself, keep trying to earn what

you never will be able to earn then you are hopeless.

GIVE everything you are to Jesus Christ, surrender yourself

to Him...and let Him guide your path.

"Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of

the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the

kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 5:20

The characteristic of a disciple is not that he does good things, but that he is good in motive because he has been made good by the super-natural grace of God. The only thing that exceeds right-doing is right-being. Jesus Christ came to put into any man who would let Him a new heredity which would exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus says - If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure. Who can stand in the Eternal Light of God and have nothing for God to censure? Only the Son of God, and Jesus Christ claims that by His Redemption He can put into any man His own disposition, and make him as unsullied and as simple as a child. The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within, and that is what Jesus has undertaken to do by His Redemption.

No man can make himself pure by obeying laws. Jesus Christ does not give us rules and regulations; His teachings are truths that can only be interpreted by the disposition He puts in. The great marvel of Jesus Christ's salvation is that He alters heredity. He does not alter human nature; He alters its mainspring.

My Utmost For His Highest

July 24th

"The steps of a good man

are order by the Lord,

and He delights in his way.

though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down

For the Lord upholds him with His hand."

Psalms 37:23-24

Paul Washer has a great sermon on "Dying to self"

and explains it far better then I can do.

King Solomon

Solomon is credited as being the wisest King that ever lived..

Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked

long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself,

nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked

for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold,

I have done according to your words; see, I have given

you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not

been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you

arise after you.

And I have also given you what you have not asked:

both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone

like you among the kings all your days.

1 Kings 3:11-14

Solomon was David's son who's mother was Bathesheba.

Solomon was also the one who built the temple, the temple

David himself wanted to build for the Lord God, but God

told David that his son would build it. Solomon was so wise

that people from all over came to seek his advice, so well respected

was Solomon that he even had Pharaoh's daughter as his wife

(Well one of his wives).

You may be thinking so what? well...while it was popular in those times

to have marriages between other nations, as it was a way of creating

alliances between the two nations involved,(the idea being

that through the marriage the two nations became an extended family)

It was not something the Egyptians did, they were totally against giving

their daughters to foreign kings. So obviously Solomon was looked

at with great esteem by the egyptians because it would obviously

be looked at as quite the privilege for him to be married to Pharaoh's

daughter.

Probably the most popular story of Solomon's wise judgment

is the story of the two "harlots"...

Now two women who were harlots came to the king,

and stood before him. And one woman said,

"O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I

gave birth while she was in the house. Then it happened, the third day

after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth.

And we were together; no one was with us in the house, except

the two of us in the house. And this woman's son died in the night,

because she lay on him. So she arose in the middle of the night

and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept,

and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom.

And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead.

But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not

my son whom I had borne."

Then the other woman said,

"NO! but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son!"

And the first woman said,

"NO! but the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son!"

thus they spoke before the king. And the king said,

"The one says, 'This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one';

and the other says, 'NO! But your son is the dead one, and my son

is the living one.' "

Then the king said,

"Bring me a sword."

So they brought a sword before the king. And the king said,

"Divide the living child in two, and give half to one,

and half to the other."

Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for

she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said,

"O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!"

But the other said,

"Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him."

So the king answered and said,

"Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him:

she is his mother."

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they

feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him

to administer justice.

1 Kings 3:16-28

Further more just as Solomon's father David was credited with writing

"Psalm's", Solomon is credited with writing "Proverbs" from the wisdom

granted to him by God. Israel thrived under Solomon and his wisdom..

And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding,

and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's

wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all the wisdom

of Egypt. For he was wiser then all men- then Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman,

Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the surrounding

nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand

and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to

the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke of animals, of birds,

of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings

of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom

of solomon.

1 Kings 4:29-34

One person who came to see Solomon was the Queen of Sheba

(In modern times Sheba would be somewhere around ethiopia and

Yemen) showing that Solomon was obviously not just a wise man

to the Israelites and Egyptians, but just as the word of God says

he was considered wise amongst all nations that have heard

of him.

Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon

concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue,

with camels that bore spices, very much gold,

and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon,

she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.

So Solomon answered all her questions;

there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not

explain it to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen

all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,

the food on his table, the seating of his servants,

the service of his waiters and their apparel,

his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up

to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.

Then she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard

in my own land about your words and your wisdom.

However I did not believe the words until I came and saw

with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me.

Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard.

Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!

Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever,

therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness."

Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold,

spices in great quantity, and precious stones.

There never again came such abundance of spices as

the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

1 Kings 10:1-10

God promised Solomon that as long as he didn't turn away from him

and worship other Gods that God would bless Solomon and Israel.

It turns out that's exactly what happened in Solomon's old age....

Solomon had seven hundred wives...most of which came from

other nations that did not worship God, even still some came from

nations God warned the Israelites not to intermarry with, because

they would turn their hearts away to other gods. In the end

Solomon's heart was not right with God as he let his wives

turn his heart to other gods, even with all the wisdom and the wealth

that God provided for Solomon he still turned away. Should be

a lesson in there somewhere right? Gods wisdom is something we can't even begin

to even try to comprehend, even us calling God "Wise" is a joke

as our understanding of wisdom is extremely limited. Our wisdom

is like the size of a grain of salt compared to Gods almighty wisdom.

...you can know all there is to know, you can be the smartest

person on this planet, but if you don't know God...you know nothing,

your "wisdom" is pointless.

The FEAR of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: [but] fools

despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

Who said that? oh yeah......only the wisest king that ever lived.