Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Devotional 031109

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. It is so beautiful today that I should take a day off to enjoy this special warm weather in autumn. Thank God that I have a great view of the city of San Francisco from my office. It is so refreshing to just watch the Nature for a few minutes, and to meditate on the greatness of God and His beautiful work around us. Praise the Lord!

"I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me." (Galatians 2:20). These words mean the breaking of my independence with my own hand and surrendering to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. No one can do this for me, I must do it myself. God may bring me up to the point three hundred and sixty-five times a year, but He cannot put me through it. It means breaking the husk of my individual independence of God, and the emancipating of my personality into oneness with Himself, not for my own ideas, but for absolute loyalty to Jesus. There is no possibility of dispute when once I am there. Very few of us know anything about loyalty to Christ - "For My sake." It is that which makes the iron saint.

Has that break come? All the rest is pious fraud. The one point to decide is - Will I give up, will I surrender to Jesus Christ, and make no conditions whatever as to how the break comes? I must be broken from my self-realization, and immediately that point is reached, the reality of the supernatural identification takes place at once, and the witness of the Spirit of God is unmistakable - "I have been crucified with Christ."

The passion of Christianity is that I deliberately sign away my own rights and become a bond-slave of Jesus Christ. Until I do that, I do not begin to be a saint.

One student a year who hears God's call would be sufficient for God to have called a Chrsitian College into existence. A College as an organization is not worth anything, it is not academic; it is for nothing else but for God to help Himself to lives. Is He going to help Himself to us, or are we taken up with our conception of what we are going to be?

It is not easy to surrender totally to Christ. We got too used to be our own boss. We do what we desire. We choose our own way at our own speed. We are conditioned to win and to be competitive. We want to go ahead of others rather than to yield to others. The more we try to show off the more we remove ourselves from the cross of Christ. If I want to earn the adoration of man, my life is not yet broken. Have mercy on me. O Lord!

I came across this passage at our staff prayer meeting. It is Paul’s testimony to the Thessalonians, “You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed--God is our witness. We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else” (1 Thess 2:5-6). The reason why Paul said this word to the church at Thessalonica was because some Jewish believers did not stand up for Christ within their own community. They were afraid of rejection within their Jewish community, which could mean losing support, business connections and financial crisis. This is their test of faithfulness. Most of us will pass the test of faith – believing in Christ Jesus as personal Lore and Savior. But many of us may not pass the test of faithfulness – to remain steadfast in Christ despite persecution or rejection from our own peers. I recognize that this is beyond man’s will power to do so. It has to be the work of the Holy Spirit within us to make it happen, provided that we walk close with Him each day. May God grant you the strength to shine for Him at wherever you are!

Love you in Christ,
Lawrence

No comments: