Thursday, May 14, 2009

Devotional 140509

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. My throat feels much better even though I still have some lingering cough. His grace is always sufficient for us. Our well being depends on Him always. Illness reminds us that we are not invincible and we are just human being. We learn to accept our limitation, but at the same time recognize the invincible power of God within us. We are not God. But the Holy Spirit lives within this finite body of ours in order to give us strength to live for His glory. Amen?

"We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:10). We have to form habits to express what God's grace has done in us. It is not a question of being saved from hell, but of being saved in order to manifest the life of the Son of God in our mortal flesh, and it is the disagreeable things which make us exhibit whether or not we are manifesting His life. Do I manifest the essential sweetness of the Son of God, or the essential irritation of "myself" apart from Him? The only thing that will enable me to enjoy the disagreeable is the keen enthusiasm of letting the life of the Son of God manifest itself in me. No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say - "Lord, I am delighted to obey Thee in this matter," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.

There must be no debate. The moment you obey the light, the Son of God presses through you in that particular; but if you debate you grieve the Spirit of God. You must keep yourself fit to let the life of the Son of God be manifested, and you cannot keep yourself fit if you give way to self-pity. Our circumstances are the means of manifesting how wonderfully perfect and extraordinarily pure the Son of God is. The thing that ought to make the heart beat is a new way of manifesting the Son of God. It is one thing to choose the disagreeable, and another thing to go into the disagreeable by God's engineering. If God puts you there, He is amply sufficient.

Keep your soul fit to manifest the life of the Son of God. Never live on memories; let the word of God be always living and active in you. Once we look back to our days in the bondage of sins and lust, we give foothold to Satan to plant a seed of doubt within us. Immediately, Satan will make us compare with pre-Christian friends around us, and he will say to you, “Look at their lifestyle. They have more fun than you…why bother to manifest the life of Christ in you. Forget it! After all, you will never be like Christ. Why bother to try and fight a losing battle in you? Give in to your nature and entertain your flesh. Be true to your human nature – you are a sinner. You will never be a saint…Just quit trying!” Does it sound familiar to you? I went through those kinds of trial before. From time to time, Satan will attempt to convince me again to yield to my nature. The spiritual battle never ends.

But praise God for His loving mercy. Our Holy Spirit knows our weakness; He will always come to our rescue provided that we yield to Him as He offers His hands to us. Paul testified, “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will” (Rom 8:26-27). The more we focus on what our Holy Spirit is working within us, the easier we become in our struggle with our flesh. Our God is much powerful than Satan, even though Satan will try to convince us otherwise. You can always choose to listen to God instead.

Love you according to His prayer,
Lawrence

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