self | Grace and Truth

October 6, 2017
by GraceandTruth 5 Comments

The Way of the Cross

The Way of the Cross is hard

The Way of the Cross is unyielding

The Way of the Cross is sharp and pointy

The Way of the Cross hurts

The Way of the Cross shatters self

and self-belief

The Way of the Cross breaks open a Way

And this is from where Life springs

Eternal

The Way of the Cross is death

That leads to Life

Stop resisting the Spirit of God. Why do you kick against the goads? Yield to Him.

He has a better Way.

April 29, 2016
by GraceandTruth 2 Comments

I Believe in Brokenness

This vessel

broken by

anxiety

depression

This vessel

broken by

persecution

rejection

This vessel had been hard,

callous

and full of Self

But this vessel needed to be

used

and taken from the shelf

God knew it would take

some major breaking,

even some smashing-

For the Self-life

to be conquered

’twas so secure there

in its bastion

And oh I’m glad He did

that He cared enough for me

to take me and break me

pastorsponderings.org

From Self to set me free

It hurt, it killed

at times too hard to bear

but my God – He did it

For Himself He had to share

September 19, 2015
by GraceandTruth 6 Comments

The Night is About to Get Colder

“Crystal meth is the devil’s drug,” Jacob said.

“You mean ice?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered, “It is the devil’s drug. I was on it. It ruined my life. I lost my family and my friends.

“Everyone’s on it,” he went on, “it’s taking over this city.”

I was talking to Jacob last night on the street. A young guy who looked like he had done some heavy stuff in his young life.

“One time, ” Jacob told me, “I went straight up through the clouds to heaven (on a trip). But when I got there the gates were locked and they wouldn’t let me in. I have had a bad past. So they sent me to hell to work as a slave. It was so hot there I could feel the flames. I knew I wasn’t fit enough or strong enough to stay in hell forever though and I didn’t know how to get out.”

Ice is crystal methamphetamine, a synthetic drug, in its purest form. Ice is now endemic in Australia. The government and law enforcement are powerless against this demonic drug, but so far are unwilling to admit that they have lost control and have no idea what to do about it.

I believe that we are entering a new season my brothers and sisters. And ice is only a small part of what is coming. God is going to all0w everything that can be shaken to be shaken. Everything we have trusted in – money, global economics, security, the things Western culture was built on, even Christianity – everything that can be shaken will be shaken.

“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.” Haggai 2:21, 22

The birth pangs have already begun : earthquakes in diverse places, mass deception, wars, rumours of wars, men are now lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (see Matthew 24 and 2 Timothy 3)

All this was prophesied 2000 years ago, and it is happening right NOW. There’s not time left now. God is permitting a huge shaking to come and it is going to begin in the church.

Why would He do that?

“”I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it…” Ezekiel 21:27

Because He needs to sort the wheat from the chaff.

The only way to separate precious wheat kernels from the inedible husk (or chaff) is to shake, shake, shake it with a winnowing fork till

farmer winnowing on his threshing floor

the chaff breaks off. The wind then catches the useless chaff and blows it away, leaving only the lovely kernel of wheat.

“He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” Luke 3:17 (John Baptist speaking of Christ)

Jesus is now looking to see who will stand. Who will stand when the shaking comes? When all we have put our trust in topples and falls… will we be blown away as chaff? Where will we put our trust… Will it be in Christ alone?

Will the Son of Man find faith on the earth?

This is it my friends. Now is the time to topple Self off the throne of your life and allow the rightful king back on His throne. It is Jesus Christ only who will provide refuge in the coming storm. It is Him alone who can save you.

Jacob said to me last night on the street after I’d shared the gospel with him that he is the “god of his own life”.

(Is that the case with you?)

My answer to Jacob was : “Well, you are going to hell then.”

He half-gasped/ half-laughed in surprise: “I can’t believe you just said that to me.”

Yeah, because no one says the honest, blatant truth anymore.

The essence of sin is self-love. That is it. The devil had it, he tried to elevate himself to god-hood and he is on his way to the lake of fire to burn with the chaff for eternity.

There’s no time left for seeker-sensitive rubbish and I can’t be bothered with it anymore. For goodness sake, Christ has died for us. He took the punishment for your sin and mine at the cross. He shed His sinless blood to pay for our horrendous crimes against God. What wondrous love is that? What more could He do?

Get right with God now or face Him at the judgment seat of Christ. Your choice.

Jacob took a New Testament last night. He said that he is going to seriously consider what we talked about.

I pray that he will. I pray that you will too.

In the love of Christ,

Belinda

http://tim-shey.blogspot.com.au/2010/07/sword-is-sharpened.html

Friend of God or Friend of the World?

June 1, 2015
by GraceandTruth Leave a comment

None of Self and All of Thee

” Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be
When I let the Saviour’s pity
Plead in vain, and proudly answered,
“All of self, and none of Thee.”

Yet He found me; I beheld Him
Bleeding on the accursed tree;
Heard Him pray, “Forgive them Father;”
And my wistful heart said faintly,
“Some of self, and some of Thee.”

Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and ah! so patient,
Brought me lower while I whispered,
“Less of self, and more of Thee.”

Higher than the highest heavens,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered:
Grant me now my soul’s desire,
“None of self, and all of Thee.” ”

Hymn by Theodore Monod

May 21, 2015
by GraceandTruth 2 Comments

From Confinement to Enlargement

John the Baptist said “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30)

For Christ to increase, I must decrease. This is the whole point of the Christian life. It is

“…Christ in you, the hope of glory” Colossians 1:27

We saw in God’s Victories Look Like Defeats that the human Self is a powerful force. The Adamic nature is strong and naturally Self-ish and self- absorbed. Followers of Christ contain His righteous nature in our mortal bodies by the Holy Spirit. Simultaneously we still have the Adamic nature, or the Flesh, within.

The cross dealt with our sins once and for all through Christ’s substitutionary atonement, and once we have repented of our sins and put our faith in Christ, we are justified before God.

However God deals differently with our sin than with our Self.

Positionally we are crucified with Christ. The believer is now to “reckon (them)selves dead to sin and alive unto Christ”. It is now no longer I that live but Christ that lives in me. This is a spiritual fact and something we need to receive by faith. But at the same time God is dealing with our flesh over the course of our lives by working His Son in us experientially. This is the process of sanctification.

It is not God’s desire after we are born-again that we would stay spiritual babes, stunted in growth. Rather it is His design to bring us to a place of enlargement. Or, to put it another way, it is His will to enlarge His Son in us and to bring us to maturity. It is only through the impartation of the divine life of Christ that we are enlarged and there is no enduring enlargement apart from Him.

However, in preparation to receive the impartation of the divine life of Christ our flesh needs to be “straitened”. (I have previously written on this subject here). Every time God wants to bring us to a new place of enlargement we first go through a straitening or confining process. Primarily the means God uses to straitening our flesh is the cross – affliction, suffering and trial. We probably all know the metaphor of the empty vessel. The emptier the vessel, the more of Christ that can fill it. But how is the vessel emptied of Self?

I love this old-fashioned word “straitening”. The KJV uses this word and I don’t think any other translation can beat it. It means to constrict, pinch, restrict, squeeze, confine, distress, compress. A “strait-jacket” in its purpose to confine and restrict gives a good picture of this word.

Jesus said: “But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Luke 12:50

We see that Jesus Christ Himself went through a straitening process in His sufferings and ultimately His death on the cross. He was straitened. He was God wrapped in human flesh yet His eternal divinity was compressed into the limitation of humanity.

“This limitation could be removed only by the baptism of dying on the cross. Then the unlimited divine eternal life within the Lord Jesus could be released.” The Experience of Christ, Witness Lee

source:brokenbelievers.com

So why did the Lord of Life have to be straitened?

He was straitened so that we could be brought to the place of enlargement.

It was through His death that His divine Life was able to be released and imparted to us limited human beings. He interceded for us by becoming a human-being like us. He was confined, restricted, distressed and squeezed for us so that we could be brought to the place of enlargement by partaking of His divine life.

“Verily, verily I say unto you, unless a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” John 12:24

It is only through the impartation of the divine life of Christ that we are enlarged and there is no enduring enlargement apart from Him. This is God’s purpose and He is working in us every day to bring this to pass. Afflictions, trials and suffering have a divine purpose – to straiten our flesh. Not to repress our flesh, but to deal with the stubborn, wilful Self that resists the Holy Spirit.

Christ was straitened so that the Divine Life could be released and imparted to us. We are straitened in order to empty the vessel of the Self-life so that we are able to receive the impartation of the Divine Life.

If you are going through a period of straitening, restriction or confinement don’t despair. Rather be encouraged: Know that God is preparing you, His vessel, at this time to receive a greater impartation of the life of His Son. Simply allow the Potter to work with His clay, He knows His art.

God bless!

More on this subject in the Next post…. The Way to Bear Fruit