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BranchinVINE
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 #8 “I AM in you” – Received in union with Christ _ 9

Excerpts from Andrew Murray’s book “The True Vine”:


Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. (John 15:9 NASB)


“Abide in My love—We speak of a man’s home as his abode. Our abode, the home of our soul, is to be the love of Christ. We are to live our life there, to be at home there all the day: this is what Christ means our life to be, and really can make it. Our continuous abiding in the Vine is to be an abiding in His love.”

“The love of the Father to the Son is not a sentiment—it is a divine life, an infinite energy, an irresistible power. It carried Christ through life and death and the grave. The Father loved Him and dwelt in Him, and did all for Him. So the love of Christ to us too is an infinite living power that will work in us all He delights to give us. The feebleness of our Christian life is that we do not take time to believe that this divine love does really delight in us, and will possess and work all in us. We do not take time to look at the Vine bearing the branch so entirely, working all in it so completely. We strive to do for ourselves what Christ alone can, what Christ, oh, so lovingly, longs to do for us.”

“Occupy yourself with that love, worship it, wait for it. You may be sure it will reach out to you, and by its power take you up into itself as your abode and your home.”


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 2016/6/29 2:29Profile
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 #8 “I AM in you” – Received in union with Christ _ 10


“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” (John 15:8 NASB)


The fruits we, the branches, bear glorify God. These fruits are to the glory of God. These fruits declare the glory of God.

The glory of God is in Christ, is Christ.

Christ is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s nature (Heb. 1:3). The knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).

The riches of Christ are the glorious fruits of the branch.

“And my God will fill up all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:19 BLB)

Christ in us is the hope of glory! (Col. 1:27)

The fruits of the Spirt are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal. 5:22-23). These are all riches in the Lord Jesus’ Name, I AM.

So, let us all “with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18 NASB)

Yes! Till all the unsearchable riches and fullness of God in Christ, in His glorious Name, fill us and we are exactly like Him in glory and our Heavenly Father can say to each one of us as He says of His Beloved Son (Luke 3:22), “You are My beloved son, in you I am well-pleased!”


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 2016/6/30 23:31Profile
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 #8 “I AM in you” – Received in union with Christ _ 11

“Behold, I bring you good news of great joy!” (Luke 2:10)


Let us repent. It is a JOYFUL thing to do.


Repentance is turning away from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). It is to be rescued from the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the Kingdom of God’s Beloved Son (Col. 1:13).

Repentance is turning away from all things outside of Christ that ARE NOT to all things that ARE in Christ alone.

Repentance is turning away from all things that bind us to sorrow, toil, failure and misery to boundless joy and abundance and freedom in Christ.

Repentance is leaving the place of utter lack and poverty and famine and running back into our Heavenly Father’s widely open arms of Love and Compassion and to the Great Banquet He has for us.

“‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight…….”’ So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.” (Luke 15:18 , 20-24 NASB)

“He has brought me to his banquet hall, And his banner over me is love.” (Song of Solomon 2:4 NASB)

Repentance is detaching ourselves from everything else to be attached to Christ alone, to be that fruitful branch in the Great Vine.

The Lord is my Vine. I am His branch. All His riches are for me and my Heavenly Father’s Great Love will unfailingly and eternally make it all real for me. According to my faith it will be done for me.

Do we still sin? Of course not. How can we when Christ who is Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption is in me?

His yoke is very easy. His burden is amazingly light. And He gives us complete and joyful rest. (Matt. 11:28-30)


“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24-25 NASB)


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 #8 “I AM in you” – Received in union with Christ _ 12


Excerpts and Quotes from “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret”:

(Taylor, Dr & Mrs. Howard 1989 “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret”, Moody Press, Chicago)


“We thank Thee, Lord, for pilgrim days
When desert springs were dry,
When first we knew what depths of need
Thy love could satisfy.” – Selected

“Hudson Taylor had many secrets, for he was always going on with God, yet there were but one – the simple, profound secret of drawing for every need, temporal or spiritual, upon the ‘fathomless wealth of Christ’”.

“Faith is not an option but the basis by which God’s power and resources are made available to His servants. Our generation needs to hear afresh that God does answer prayer, that He is utterly faithful to His Word.” – Daniel W. Bacon

“Bear not a single care thyself,
One is too much for thee;
The work is Mine, and Mine alone;
Thy work – to rest in Me.” – Selected

“Nothing before, nothing behind;
The steps of faith
Fall on seeming void, and find
The rock beneath.” - J. G. Whittier

“But Hudson Taylor, young though he was, had learned to know God in a very real way. He had seen Him, as he wrote, quell the raging of a storm at sea, in answer to definite prayer, alter the direction of the wind, and give rain in a time of drought. He had seen Him, in answer to prayer, stay the hand of would-be murderers and quell the violence of enraged men. He had seen Him rebuke sickness in answer to prayer and raise up the dying, when all hope of recovery seemed gone. For more than eight years He had proved His faithfulness in supplying the needs of his family and work in answer to prayer, unforeseen as many of those needs had been. How could he but encourage others to put their trust in the love that cannot forget, the faithfulness that cannot fail?”

“We have to do with One (he reminded his hearers) who is Lord of all power and might, whose arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear; with One whose unchanging Word directs us to ask and receive that our joy may be full, to open our mouths wide, that He may fill them.”

“Human nothingness, divine sufficiency”

“Against me earth and hell combine;
But on my side is Power Divine;
Jesus is all, and He is mine.” – W.T. Matson

________________________________________________________

J. Hudson Taylor (1832-1905) was an English missionary to China. He founded the China Inland Mission which at his death included 205 mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christians.


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 #8 “I AM in you” – Received in union with Christ _ 13

Excerpts and Quotes from “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret”:

(Taylor, Dr & Mrs. Howard 1989 “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret”, Moody Press, Chicago)


(THE EXCHANGED LIFE)

“Yes, in me, in me He dwelleth—
I in Him and He in me!
And my empty soul He filleth
Now and through eternity.” – H. Bonar


“How then to have our faith increased? Only by thinking of all that Jesus is and all He is for us: His life, His death, His work, He Himself as revealed to us in His Word, to be the subject of our constant thoughts. Not a striving to have faith ….. but a looking off to the Faithful One seems all we need; a resting in the Loved One entirely, for time and for eternity.”

“It was resting in Jesus now, and letting Him do the work – which make all the difference.”

“I prayed, agonized, fasted, strove, made resolutions, read the Word more diligently, sought more time for meditation – but all without avail. Every day, almost every hour, the consciousness of sin oppressed me.”

“I knew if only I could abide in Christ all would be well, but I could not. I would begin the day with prayer, determined not to take my eye off Him for a moment, but pressure of duties, sometimes very trying, and constant interruptions apt to be so wearing, caused me to forget Him. Then one’s nerves get so fretted in this climate that temptations to irritability, hard thoughts and sometimes unkind words were all the more difficult to control. Each day brought its register of sin and failure, of lack of power. To will was indeed ‘present with me,’ but how to perform I found not.”

“I thought that holiness, practical holiness, was to be gradually attained by a diligent use of the means of grace. There was nothing I so much desired as holiness, nothing I so much needed; but far from in any measure attaining it, the more I strove after it, the more it eluded my grasp, until hope itself almost died out, and I began to think that – perhaps to make heaven the sweeter – God would not give it down here. I do not think that I was striving to attain it in my own strength. I knew I was powerless. I told the Lord so, and asked Him to give me help and strength. Sometimes I almost believed that He would keep and uphold me; but on looking back in the evening – alas! There was but sin and failure to confess and mourn before God.”

“…sometimes there were seasons not only of peace but of joy in the Lord; but there were transitory, and at best there was a lack of power. Oh, how good the Lord has been in bringing this conflict to an end!”

“All the time I felt assured that there was in Christ all I needed, but the practical question was – how to get it out. He was rich truly, but I was poor; He was strong, but I was weak. I knew full well that there was in the root, the stem, abundant fatness, but how to get it into my puny little branch was the question. As gradually light dawned, I saw that faith was the only requisite – was the hand to lay hold on His fullness and make it mine. But I had not this faith.”

“I strove for faith, but it would not come; I tried to exercise it, but in vain. Seeing more and more the wondrous supply of grace laid up in Jesus, the fullness of our precious Savior, my guilt and helplessness seemed to increase. Sins committed appeared but as trifles compared with the sin of unbelief which was their cause, which could not or would not take God at His word, but rather made Him a liar! Unbelief was I felt the damning sin of the world; yet I indulged in it. I prayed for faith but it came not. What was I to do?”

“But how to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by resting on the Faithful One.”

“….I saw it all! ‘If we believe not, he abideth faithful.’ I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said, ‘I will never leave thee.’”

“Nor was this all. He showed me, nor one half. As I thought of the Vine and the branches, what light the blessed Spirit poured direct into my soul! How great seemed my mistake in wishing to get the sap, the fullness out of Him! I saw not only that Jesus will never leave me, but that I am a member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine is not the root merely, but all – root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit. And Jesus is not that alone – He is soil and sunshine, air and showers, and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for or needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth! I do pray that the eyes of your understanding too may be enlightened that you may know and enjoy the riches freely given us in Christ.”

“… it is a wonderful thing to be really one with a risen and exalted Savior, to be a member of Christ!.”

“The sweetest part, if one may speak of one part being sweeter than another, is the rest which full identification with Christ brings. I am no longer anxious about anything, as I realize this; for He, I know, is able to carry out His will, and His will is mine.”

“No fear that His resources will prove unequal to the emergency! And His resources are mine, for He is mine, and is with me and dwells in me.”

“And since Christ has thus dwelt in my heart by faith, how happy I have been! I wish I could tell you about it instead of writing. I am no better than before. In a sense I do not wish to be, nor am I striving to be. But I am dead and buried with Christ – ay, and risen too! And now Christ lives in me, and ‘the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.’”

“.. do not consider Him as far off, when God has made us one with Him, members of His very body. Nor should we look upon this experience, these truths as for the few. They are the birthright of every child of God, and no one can dispense with them without dishonouring our Lord. The only power for deliverance from sin or for true service is Christ.”

“’But are you always conscious of abiding in Christ?’ Mr Taylor was asked many years later.
‘While sleeping last night,’ he replied, ‘did I cease to abide in your home because I was unconscious of the fact? We should never be conscious of not abiding in Christ.’”

“I change, He changes not;
The Christ can never die:
His truth, not mine, the resting place;
His love, not mine, the tie.”


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 #8 “I AM in you” – Received in union with Christ _ 14

Excerpts and Quotes from “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret”:

(Taylor, Dr & Mrs. Howard 1989 “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret”, Moody Press, Chicago)


“I used to try to keep my own heart right, but it would always seem to be going wrong. So at last I had to give up trying myself, and to accept the Lord’s offer to keep it for me.”

“Once I used to try to think very much and very often about Jesus, but I often forget Him. Now I trust Jesus to keep my heart remembering Him, and He does so. This is the best way.”

“Oh, it is a joy to feel Jesus living in you; to find your heart all taken up by Him; to be reminded of His love by His seeking communion with you at all times, not by your painful attempts to abide in Him. He is our life, our strength, our salvation. He is our ‘wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.’ He is our power for service and fruit-bearing, and His bosom is our resting place now and forever.”

“My path is far from easy. I never was more happy in Jesus, and I am very sure He will not fail us; but never from the foundation of the Mission have we been more cast upon God. It is well, doubtless, that it should be so. Difficulties afford a platform upon which He can show Himself. Without them we could never know how tender, faithful and almighty our God is… The change about Mr and Mrs Berger has tried me not a little. I love them so dearly! And it seems another link severed with the past in which my precious departed one, who is seldom absent from my thoughts, had a part. But His word is, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’”

“Now that this work has grown, more helpers are needed at home, as abroad, but the principles of action remain the same. We shall seek pecuniary aid from God by prayer, as heretofore. He will put it into the hearts of those He sees fit to use to act as His channels. When there is money in hand it will be remitted to China; when there is none, none will be sent; and we shall not draw upon home, so that there can be no going into debt. Should our faith be tried as it has been before, the Lord will prove Himself faithful as He has ever done. Nay, should our faith fail, His faithfulness will not --- for it is written, ‘If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful.’”

‘Long after, when prayer had been fully answered and the pioneers of the Mission were preaching Christ far and wide throughout those inland provinces, a leader of the Church of Scotland said to Mr Taylor:
‘You must sometimes be tempted to be proud because of the wonderful way God has used you. I doubt if any man living has had greater honour.’
‘On the contrary,’ was the earnest reply, ‘I often think that God must have been looking for someone small enough and weak enough for Him to use, and He found me.”

“I do feel more and more the blessedness of real trust in God. Faith, He tries, but sustains. And when our faithfulness fails, His remains unshaken. ‘He cannot deny Himself.’”

“The Lord Jesus, this year of very peculiar trial from almost every quarter, does make my heart well up and overflow with His love. … and He so wonderfully makes all loss to be gain!”

“Flesh and heart often fail: let them fail! He faileth not. Pray very much, pray constantly, for Satan rages against us …”

“Here was a man almost sixty years of age, bearing tremendous burdens, yet absolutely calm and untroubled. Oh, the pile of letters! Any one of which might contain news of death, of lack of funds, of riots or serious trouble. Yet all were opened, read and answered with the same tranquillity – Christ his reason for peace, his power for calm. Dwelling in Christ, he drew upon His very being and resources, in the midst of and concerning the matters in question. And this he did by an attitude of faith as simple as it was continuous.”

“Yet he was delightfully free and natural. I can find no words to describe it save the scriptural expression ‘in God.’ He was in God all the time and God in him. It was the true abiding of John fifteenth”


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 #8 “I AM in you” – Received in union with Christ _ 15


A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE


Early in my Christian life, the Lord showed me a truth about faith.

It was a very hot summer day. Our air-conditioner had died. It was a really old unit that needed to be replaced as they did not sell spare parts for it anymore. The temperature had exceeded 40 degree C and was still rising. The heat was unbearable so I asked the Lord to make the air-con work. A short while later I switched it on and ... it worked!! And it worked perfectly. And it continued to work most efficiently for about a couple more years!

Soon after that, the lock on our rear security door failed to work. Encouraged by the Lord’s answer to my prayer for the air-con, I asked the Lord to make the lock work. A few days passed. Nothing happened. My faith failed. So I told the Lord I am so sorry I didn’t have the faith that works. I told Him I was sure it was not a problem for Him to fix the lock but I just didn’t have the faith for that.

So we made arrangements to replace the lock.

Just before the lock was about to be replaced, however, I tried the lock again and ... it worked! And it worked like new! And it is still working today.

I was perplexed. How can God work when my faith had failed?

Then the Lord put the strong word in my heart that it is not about me but about Him. It is not I but Christ. God does not work according to our striving to have faith but by His own great faithfulness.

So today, I see Jesus only. I don’t focus on my weak faith anymore. But I hold on to the Lord’s great faithfulness to His unchanging Word.


"For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.”
(Isa. 55:10-11 NASB)


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 #9 And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches


“By wisdom a house is built,
And by understanding it is established;
And by knowledge the rooms are filled
With all precious and pleasant riches.”
(Proverbs 24:3-4 NAS 1977)


The knowledge that will fill us with all the treasures and riches of eternal life is the knowledge of God our Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ.

“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3 NASB)

In Christ are all the unsearchable riches and fullness of God (Eph. 3:8, Col. 1:19). “….. all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine” (John 17:10 NASB)

“the same Lord of all is rich to all those calling upon Him” (Rom. 10:12 YLT).

And we receive Him by believing in His Name.

“… as many as did receive him to them he gave authority to become sons of God -- to those believing in his name” (John 1:12 YLT)

But how can we believe in Him if we have not heard about Him? (Rom. 10:14)

Scriptures reveal Christ (Luke 24:27, 44-45; John 20:30-31, 5:39; 1 John 5:13).

Therefore we study the Bible to see Christ and to know Him so that we can receive Him by believing in His Name.

How beautiful also are the feet of those who bring good news of good things, who bring the word of Christ (Rom. 10:15,17)! How good are the messages of preachers who determine to know nothing among us except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Cor. 2:2)!



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 Re: #9 And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches_2

“The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” (Psalm 118:14 NASB)


I have great joy in Bible Study. There is great joy in discovering and knowing WHO the Lord Jesus IS, what HE IS for me, and what HE can and will do for me. In the pages of His Word, from Genesis to Revelation, I will know Him, “I AM”. “I AM” … HE IS everything that I desire, everything that I need. By simply seeing Him, remembering Him, and believing in His Name, He has been real to me and in me.

This earth and this world is not my home.

On this earth, the ground is cursed and men toil all the days of their life, amidst thorns and thistle, for their meagre bread of life (Gen. 3:17-19). Moths and rust destroy men’s prized possessions and thieves break in and steal them away (Matt. 6:19).

“Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” the Lord says, “where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” (Matt. 6:20).

And the Lord says:

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 NLT)

We are in the world but not of the world so the world will hate us (John 17:14) and persecute us (John 15:20) and we will have tribulation (John 16:33).

But for every fear and every lack and every need in our life’s journey on this earth and in this world, the Lord is able to comfort us and give to us “far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20 NASB).

The name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous run into it and is safe (Prov. 18:10). The Lord will keep in perfect peace all who trust in Him, all whose thoughts are fixed on Him! (Isa. 26:3 NLT)

As I live my life in this world, I rest in the knowledge that every moment in every step of the way, the Lord is carrying me as a father carries his son (Deut. 1:31 NASB) and underneath me are His everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27 NLT).

In the storms of life and in troubled times, I have remembered that HE IS the Master of every storm and HE IS Peace and He lives in me and I have had peace in my heart. (Luke 8:22-25; John 14:27; Phil. 4:6-7)

He tells me not to worry about everyday life--whether I have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. (Matt.6:25 NLT). He says: “Look at the birds. They don't plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren't you far more valuable to him than they are? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don't work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?” (Matt. 6:26, 28-30 NLT)

I rest in His Word. I believe in His Name. “I AM” the Mighty One who takes wondrously good care of me!

God is Love! And I rejoice in His Love. I live in His Great Love that tells me:

"Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.”
"You parents--if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?
Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not!
So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him." (Matt. 7:7-11 NLT)

The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love!
(Psalm 145:8 NIV)

He is not the stern and harsh taskmaster who is always looking to find faults in me and punish me and demanding of me what I am unable to give. Christ has died for me and as far as the east is from the west, He has removed my transgressions from me (Psalm 103:12). Now He carries me in His bosom (Isa. 40:11) and His precious blood eternally cleanses me from all sin. Now it is not by my own futile struggling (and inevitable failing) but by the new heart that He graciously gives me that I am enabled and empowered to easily and victoriously and perfectly live a life free from sin (Ezek. 11:19-20). Now He keeps me and protects me under His soft comfortable feathery wings (Luke 13:34; Ps. 57:1, 61:3-4, 63:7, 91:2-4) and surrounds me with favor as with a shield (Ps. 5:11-12) and He dearly loves me (John 17:23,26; 21:20). Now He tells me to approach His throne of grace for my every need (Heb. 4:16).

God’s own infallible Word tells me these are so!!

“’…..I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,’ declares the LORD." (Ezek. 37:14 NASB)

Don’t disbelieve! For “… He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.” (Matt. 13:58 NASB)

Sometimes I become my own shepherd and I wander away from Him and become lost and starved and hurt in desert places and my joy is gone. But the Lord is my Good Shepherd and He looks for me and I hear His voice and return to Him and He brings me back to His green pastures and feeds me and heals me and strengthens me (Matt. 18:12-14, Psalms 23, Ezek.34). Because the Lord is my Good Shepherd I will never perish and no one can snatch me away from Him (John 10:27-28).

Have we been defeated by our enemies (i.e. all things that take us out of Christ) because we have fought them on our own by our own weaknesses or have we victoriously conquered them in the name of the Lord? (1 Sam. 17:45-47)

Have we failed because we tried by ourselves to live righteously when we should be looking to the Lord and totally abandoning ourselves to Him to keep our feet out of the net? (Psalm 25:15)

Have we been oppressed and depressed because we did not know that He is with us in our trouble (Ps. 91:15), that He is a stronghold for the oppressed (Ps. 9:9-10)? Had He been unable to deliver us and set us on high because we did not know His name? (Ps. 91:14 NASB)

All that the Lord Jesus can be and can do for me, “if they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.” But what is written in the Bible has been written so that by believing we can have life in His name. (John 20:30, 21:25)

As we journey through this life, we do not lose heart, for “though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Cor. 4:16-17 NASB)

And we who are in Christ live in a peaceful habitation, in a secure dwelling and in a quiet resting place (Isa. 32:18).

God is making all things new and our true and eternal riches are in Christ and in the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem (Rev.21).

Now we have a deposit. In timeless eternity, we will fully know the boundless heights and depths of the fullness of joy in our Lord’s presence (Ps. 16:11) and God will show us the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:7).


“O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (Ps. 34:8 KJV)


“Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:13-14 NASB)


I will fight the good fight, I will finish the race, I will keep the faith.” (2 Tim. 4:7)




_________________
Jade

 2016/7/8 9:50Profile
BranchinVINE
Member



Joined: 2016/6/15
Posts: 1268
Australia

 #9 And by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches_3


It is so important to correctly see and know the Lord Jesus for “we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18 NASB)

According to our faith it is done for us (Matt. 9:29) and we can only believe according to what we see and know. So, if our vision and our knowledge of Christ are flawed, what we believe in would be incorrect and according to our incorrect belief it will sadly be so for us.

For example:

God is Love and God’s Great Love fills the pages of His precious Word. If we will delightfully read the Bible through the eyes of God’s Great Love and hear His Word through the voice of His Great Love, then we will be able to know and see the vast treasures that God in His Great love has given to us in Christ and by faith receive them as our own.

But if we see God as a stern and harsh Judge, we ourselves will become a stern and harsh judge and we will read the Bible, not to see the treasures in Christ that God’s Great Love has for us, but to draw up a list of things to do or not to do to impose on ourselves and others and the Bible says by works are no man saved (Eph. 2:8-9).

If we do not see and believe that Christ IS Wisdom and Righteousness and Sanctification and Redemption, and He lives in us, we will remain sinful.

If we do not see and believe that Christ IS Provider, and He lives in us, we will not have His provisions.

If we do not see and believe that Christ IS Protector, and He lives in us, we will not have His protection.

If we do not see and believe that Christ IS Healer, and He lives in us, we will not have His healing.

If we do not see and believe that Christ IS Peace, and He lives in us, we will not have His peace.

If we do not see and believe that Christ IS the Mighty One fighting for us, and He lives in us, we will not have His victories.

If we do not see and believe that Christ IS ALL, and He lives in us, He cannot be all in us

If we do not see and believe that it is by various trials that God perfects us, then we will reject the trials to our great loss (James 1:2-4, 12).

And if we can see and believe that the new creation is wholly God’s own workmanship (Eph. 2:8-10) and not our own, we would understand that only God Himself is qualified to examine and perfect His own workmanship and we would fully trust Him to do so and keep our own hands out and at the end of the day God Himself will surely be able declare of each one of us, “And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” If we miss this, then we would make the grave mistake of unworthily inspecting GOD’S workmanship (in ourselves and others) by our own knowledge of good and evil and by our own work mar God’s image in ourselves and others too. We may self-righteously pursue and hunt down others to judge them and denounce them, and try to take the speck out of their eye when behold the log is in our own. (Matt. 7:4).

We must see what Jesus sees which may be very different from what we see. For where Simon the Pharisee saw a sinful woman to be ostracized, the Lord Jesus saw a much forgiven woman who loved Him very much. (Luke 7:36-50)

May the Holy Spirit lead us into all Truth and disclose Christ to us that we may all be filled with all the riches in His Name.




God is Love!

I have utmost reverence for God’s Love. It is most precious to me.

And our Lord Jesus’ Love Story for us is the greatest, most beautiful, sweetest and most romantic Love Story ever told! (Song of Songs; the whole Bible).

Lord Jesus, I love You!

"May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.” (Song of Songs 1:2 NASB)

“… We will extol your love more than wine. Rightly do they love you." (Song of Songs 1:4 NASB)


_________________
Jade

 2016/7/13 12:13Profile





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