VIDEO He Will Do It

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it. 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24

This is a great passage for those of us who become discouraged with our spiritual progress. We’re beset with temptations, interruptions, adjustments, weaknesses, and relapses. It’s often two steps forward and one step backward.

If that’s the way you feel today, study these verses and notice: (1) God is the One who will sanctify you and cause you to mature into the image of Christ. Yes, it takes work on your part, which is detailed in the book of First Thessalonians. But God is the source and strength of our progress. (2) One day you’ll be completely whole, perfect, and pleasing to God in every way. (3) This will happen at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (4) Until then, we’re works in progress—and it involves our whole spirit, soul, and body.

He has called you, and He will be faithful to work in you what is pleasing to Him.

God has staked His reputation on the work of Jesus Christ in the souls of the men and women whom He has saved and sanctified. Oswald Chambers

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1 Thessalonians 5 (Part 2) :12-28 • Final comments

A Ripening Process

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight. Jeremiah 15:16

Early in his fifty-year ministry in Cambridge, England, Charles Simeon (1759–1836) met a neighboring pastor, Henry Venn, and his daughters. After the visit, the daughters remarked how harsh and self-assertive the young man seemed. In response, Venn asked his daughters to pick a peach from the trees. When they wondered why their father would want the unripe fruit, he responded, “Well, my dears, it is green now, and we must wait; but a little more sun, and a few more showers, and the peach will be ripe and sweet. So it is with Mr. Simeon.”

Over the years Simeon did soften through God’s transforming grace. One reason was his commitment to read the Bible and pray every day. A friend who stayed with him for a few months witnessed this practice and remarked, “Here was the secret of his great grace and spiritual strength.”

Simeon in his daily time with God followed the practice of the prophet Jeremiah, who faithfully listened for God’s words. Jeremiah depended on them so much that he said, “When your words came, I ate them.” He mulled and chewed over God’s words, which were his “joy” and “heart’s delight” (Jeremiah 15:16).

If we too resemble a sour green fruit, we can trust that God will help to soften us through His Spirit as we get to know Him through reading and obeying the Scriptures.

By:  Amy Boucher Pye

Reflect & Pray

How has reading the Bible changed you? Why might you sometimes not read it?

God, the Scriptures feed me and protect me from sin. Help me to read them every day.

Developing Spiritual Discernment

Titus 1

In our individualistic society, we may think we don’t need anyone’s help in making decisions, forming convictions, or distinguishing truth from error. But such self-reliance doesn’t lead to true wisdom and spiritual discernment. To know the Lord’s mind about a matter, we must rely on His Word. In the pages of Scripture, God has revealed who He is, how He works, and the way His followers are to deepen both their understanding and their relationship with Him.

God has also appointed leaders in the church to help us develop spiritual discernment. They do this by teaching sound doctrine and refuting any ideas that contradict Scripture. Under the instruction of these mature believers, we can grow in righteousness by learning biblical truths and then applying them.

Since every aspect of life is influenced by our capacity to make wise, godly judgments, it’s essential that we read the Bible and heed the instruction of our pastors. The truths we learn become a filter for everything we see, hear, and experience. Then, if we encounter error, our internal alarm will go off to protect us from deception.

We all need help when it comes to wisdom. So let’s ask the Lord today to guide us away from self-reliance and towards His holy Word.

My Savior Makes Me Whole

“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.” (Isaiah 40:26)

The hymn “Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners” mentions the frequent failure of our friends and the persistent opposition of our enemies. Conversely, Jesus Christ, who loves us completely, never fails. “For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).

Jesus! what a Friend for sinners!
Jesus! Lover of my soul;
Friends may fail me, foes assail me,
He, my Savior, makes me whole.

The hymnist was not writing for believers only but also for those who still reject God’s gift of salvation. Jesus loves them and came to Earth on their behalf. A favorite Scripture reminds us “for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Abraham was one of those who loved and believed God, “and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23).

Christ taught His disciples that He would soon die, but they didn’t believe. Jesus taught them that “greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13), and “ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you” (v. 14). They were growing in the understanding that He was God Himself. “Henceforth I call you not servants…but I have called you friends” (John 15:15).

Later, John wrote they were more than friends. “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). JDM

Let God Alone Is Enough

But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. —James 1:4

God is saying, “I stand ready to pour a little liquid fire into your heart, into your spiritual being!”

We respond: “No, Lord, please excuse me. That sounds like fanaticism—and I would have to give up some things!” So we refuse His desire, even though we want all the benefits of His cross.

There is this thoughtful phrase in The Cloud of Unknowing: “He wills thou do but look on Him and let Him alone.” Let God alone. In other words, let Him work! Don’t stop Him. Don’t prevent Him from kindling your heart, from blessing you and leading you out of a common state into that of special longing after Him….

“Look on Him—and let Him work, let Him alone.” Get your hands down to your side and stop trying to tell God where to cut. Stop trying to make the diagnosis for God. Stop trying to tell God what to give you. He is the Physician! You are the patient….

Let Him work and your spiritual life will begin to blaze like the rising sun.   ITB063-064

Lord, I’ll try to stay out of Your way, take my hands off and let You work! Amen.

Knowing by Experience

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil. —Isaiah 1:16

In post-biblical times many who were filled and possessed by the Spirit were by the limitations of their literary gifts prevented from telling us much about Him. They had no gifts for self-analysis but lived from within in uncritical simplicity.

To them the Spirit was One to be loved and fellowshiped the same as the Lord Jesus Himself. They would have been lost completely in any metaphysical discussion of the nature of the Spirit, but they had no trouble in claiming the power of the Spirit for holy living and fruitful service.

This is as it should be.

Personal experience must always be first in real life….Knowledge by acquaintance is always better than mere knowledge by description, and the first does not presuppose the second nor require it. POM062-063

Happy is the man who will not allow himself to be diverted and distracted, but having emptied and cleansed his heart, will stand waiting…for Christ to descend, fill and ever remain as the glorious indweller of the soul. SAN037

I Bring My Heart to Jesus

Proverbs 23:26

I bring my heart to Jesus, with its fears,

With its hopes and feelings, and its tears;

Him it seeks, and finding, it is blest;

Him it loves, and loving is at rest.

Walking with my Savior, heart in heart,

None can part.

I bring my life to Jesus, with its care,

And before His footstool leave it there;

Faded are its treasures, poor and dim;

It is not worth living without Him.

More than life is Jesus, love and peace,

Ne’er to cease.

I bring my sins to Jesus, as I pray

That His blood will wash them all away;

While I seek for favor at His feet,

And with tears His promise still repeat,

He doth tell me plainly: Jesus lives

And forgives.

I bring my all to Jesus; He hath seen

How my soul desireth to be clean.

Nothing from His altar I withhold

When His cross of suffering I behold;

And the fire descending brings to me

Liberty.

Herbert Booth, The Salvation Army Song Book