Devotional 070309

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good Afternoon. We thank God for rain. I think my allergy will be better after the cleansing of rain. Praise the Lord! Lately, a message has been capturing my attention ever since last Thursday. It was a testimony shared by a brother who went to visit a Muslim community in China. The unity of this community had impressed him so much that he wondered why we Christians could not share the same unity in Christ. It is a fact that Christians some how do not get along even though we said we shared the same faith and love in Christ. That's why we have so many different denominations. What divides us? Do we share the same Holy Spirit who lives within us? Yes, we do. Then, why can’t we unite as one family? Muslim believes all Muslims belong to one family. This family tie is so strong that they can risk their lives for other Muslims if they are under attack or danger. Why can’t we do the same? The devotion we read today may give us some insight.

"As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead" (Mark 9:9). Say nothing until the Son of man is risen in you - until the life of the risen Christ so dominates you that you understand what the historic Christ taught. When you get to the right state on the inside, the word that Jesus has spoken is so plain that you are amazed you did not see it before. You could not understand it before; you were not in the place in disposition where the Word of Christ could be borne in you.

Our Lord does not hide these things; they are unbearable until we get into a mature condition of spiritual life. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now." There must be communion with His risen life before a particular word can be borne by us. Do we know anything about the impartation of the risen life of Jesus? The evidence that we do is that His word is becoming interpretable to us. God cannot reveal anything to us if we have not His Spirit. An stubborn outlook will effectually hinder God from revealing anything to us. If we have made up our minds about a doctrine or theology, the light of God will come no more to us on that line, we cannot get it. This insensitive stage of mind will end immediately when His resurrection life has its way with us.

"Tell no man…" - so many do tell what they saw on the mount of transfiguration. They have had the vision and they testify to it, but their life does not register with such vision, because the risen life of Christ is not in them yet. I wonder when He is going to be formed in you and in me?

Church history tells us that Protestant churches had been arguing among themselves who were more “correct or dogmatic” than others in their theology, to a point of persecuting one another and dividing the Body of Christ. As a result, Protestant Church has so many different denominations among us. If we have the life of Christ within us, why couldn’t we get along with one another? Unless our theological arguments did not really come out of the risen life of Christ, but was an expression of our self-righteous spirit of pride. Knowledge divides and love unites.

I am the first one to repent when I made such statement. I need to remind myself from time to time not falling into this snare of Satan. Jesus said, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand” (Matt 12:25). If Christians continued to fall into this trap of self-righteousness, we will not be able to stand against the satanic force that swift through the Christian world today. If we all shared the risen life of Christ, let’s listen carefully to the prayer of Christ before He went to the cross, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one” (John 17:20-22). As we entered into the Easter week, let’s be reminded of the fact that Jesus went to the cross for the sake of our union with God and with one another. Remember. The New Commandment from Christ is to "love one another."

Love you because of His command,
Lawrence