Disciple of Christ III

These things I have spoken to you,

that in Me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation;

but be of good cheer

I have overcome the world.

John 16:33

I've talked about being a "Disciple of Christ"

mainly about dying to self, and that generally speaking

it's not hard to be a follower of Christ. I want to get across

the fact that by saying "It's not hard to be a follower of Christ"

I do not mean... you will not face difficulties/tribulation.

You see generally speaking I don't think people

have a problem with "accepting Christ". Honestly who would

seriously have a problem with someone dying for every wrong

they ever did or will do, who would have a problem with someone

saying; give me your worries/burdens...answer? NOBODY...

that's probably why so many people claim to be "Christian"

because they have no problem with someone forgiving their

wrong doing, they just want to continue living selfishly and still

be of Christ. The problem is being a "Christian" and being "Selfish"

don't go hand and hand, as again that kind of gets in the way of

"Dying to self"

To get back on point about difficulties/tribulation, People seem to think

(Specially still on the bottle Christians) that when you become a

"Christian" all tribulation all struggles just magically disappear,

like all because "you decided" to follow Christ that He will just

heap blessing after blessing upon you and no trouble will

come your way. All because you decided to be "Christian" and you

go to "church" and you "Tithe your 10%" and you have your little

"Jesus fish bumper sticker" that God is just going to bless you with all

that your little heart desires. Don't get it twisted once again, I'm

not saying God doesn't bless people, I'm saying if you think

life will be all sunshine and lollipops and you deserve some kind

of credit for being "Christian"...pshhh.. THINK AGAIN, as a matter of fact

where are your priorities? are they on the things YOU want? are they on

the hope that you will go through no struggles? OR are they where they

should be... ON GOD ALONE...no matter what trouble/burden

that comes your way.

The fact is, trouble is going to come your way,

struggles are going to come and go...it's about what you do

when that struggle comes that defines you and your faith or

lack there of.

When things come around and knock us down, when tribulations come

as "Christians" we should remain positive, after all...things happen for a reason,

God is bigger then any worry/stress or tribulation that comes our way.

I've probably said this 100 times but why not 101...

YOU DON'T PROVE YOUR FAITH WHEN EVERYTHING IS GOING RIGHT

YOU PROVE IT... WHEN EVERYTHING IS GOING ALL WRONG.

"An average view of the Christian life is that it means deliverance from trouble. It is deliverance IN trouble, which is very different. "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High . . . there shall no evil befall thee" - no plague can come nigh the place where you are at one with God.

If you are a child of God, there certainly will be troubles to meet, but Jesus says do not be surprised when they come. "In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world, there is nothing for you to fear."

Men who before they were saved would scorn to talk about troubles, often become "fushionless" after being born again because they have a wrong idea of a saint.

God does not give us overcoming life: He gives us life as we overcome. The strain is the strength. If there is no strain, there is no strength. Are you asking God to give you life and liberty and joy? He cannot, unless you will accept the strain. Immediately you face the strain, you will get the strength. Overcome your own timidity and take the step, and God will give you to eat of the tree of life and you will get nourishment. If you spend yourself out physically, you become exhausted; but spend yourself spiritually, and you get more strength. God never gives strength for to-morrow, or for the next hour, but only for the strain of the minute. The temptation is to face difficulties from a common-sense standpoint. The saint is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God."

My Utmost for HIS highest

August 2nd

Difficulty is a part of life, troubles/worries... oh we all get our share,

and things obviously don't always go how we want them to,

but when you are in that moment when you are faced with

adversity, the key is just surrendering to God. Like the good saying goes:

"What doesn't kill you,makes you stronger"

Now this is all meaningless if it's just a nice "thought",

actions speak louder then words.

Seek to live for God, stop crying about the things that

seem to be going wrong and realize you have been

given everything you will ever need. How about

caring for someone else, showing love to someone

and lifting another up, instead of wondering why

"God is not blessing you". Do you not know that we

are called to show the love of Christ, how can you show

that love... when all you do is worry about yourself?

The truth is, Love as we know it, our love is imperfect,

hence why you need to "Die to self" and live for Christ,

live to the Holy Spirit inside of you... that knows how to truly love.

It's like Love has become about requirements I.e

I'll love you if you do this,that or this. Here's a question for you,

what did YOU do... to deserve Gods love?

Yeah, think about that one. (by the way, the answer is NOTHING.)

Further more people have no problem showing love to those who

show love back, but guess what? we are called to have more love

in us then that..

"But if you love those who love you,

what credit is that to you?

For even sinners love those who love them.

And if you do good to those who do good to you,

what credit is that to you?

For even sinners do the same.

And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back,

what credit is that to you?

For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back.

But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.

Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful. "

Luke 6:32-36

Forgive as we are forgiven, Love as we are loved...simply said,

but not easily done. It's not impossible though, people always like to say

"Well, we can't be like Christ! if we could he wouldn't have had to die

for our sins"

you are right, indeed we can not be perfect, you know what we can do

though? DIE TO SELF! we were crucified with Christ! stop thinking about

what "I can't do" and what CHRIST Can do through you!

Those who love those who love them, and those who love

only to receive something in-return should think long and hard,

and should be thankful that the God they claim to follow

wasn't and isn't like that.

A real Disciple of Christ, A real "Christian" doesn't have to walk around

saying "I'm a Christian" you will know them by the love that shines through them. NOT BY WORKS, no no no...NOT BY WORKS....but by the Love

of Christ that overwhelms their whole being.

† 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.