Article of the Month
May
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Article of the Month May | |
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| The Power
of Choice in our Spiritual Growth And
He said to them
all, If any man
will (willingly choose to) come after Me, let him deny himself, and take
up his cross daily, and follow Me. Luke 9:23 (comment added) Each
of us who desires to personally know and serve the Lord must first make
this life changing decision to take up our cross. When we willingly do this, our present
relationship to the Lord, and also, our eternal position in the ages
to come, will be greatly affected. If
we accept this challenge (If anyone will come after
Me), the taking up of our cross must become a practical, daily
reality in our lives. Many do
not realize, or take seriously the tremendous value of all that our
Lord will make available to us as a result of the willing submission
of our lives to His Lordship. Come,
My beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish,
whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give you My loves. Song of Solomon 7:11-12 The
Word of God tells us that our salvation is through faith, and is a gift
of God. For
by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 Once
we have received this gift of eternal life through the blood
of Jesus and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit, we will begin to face
choices that affect our rate of spiritual growth, as well as our position
in the eternal ages before us. Therefore,
we must recognize that there are spiritual laws which apply to our spiritual
development. If
you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land. Isaiah 1:19 The
if indicates there are conditions that must be met
before we will be enabled to partake of the spiritual nourishment which
is promised. To
be willing and obedient is to be one with our Lord
in both thought and action. This
means that we must set the direction of our will away from disobedience,
and toward being obedient - our will merged into His will.
Only to the extent that we have died to our self-life
can our lives reflect His life. The good of the land that we are to partake of,
results from this identity with Jesus. He will
then be able to invite us to enter with Him into an active personal
relationship Come My beloved,
let us get up early to the vineyards.
Here, in union with Jesus, we will receive spiritual understanding
and strength that will enable us to fully follow Him and expand spiritually. The
Lord is much more interested in our coming into a quality relationship
with Him than we are, but He is a perfect gentleman and will not force
either Himself, or His desire, upon us.
Thus, He begins each of these promises with a conditional if. The
Lord has placed within us not only the capacity for obedience, but also
the potential to rebel. We may
shake our fist against Him, if we so choose.
Therefore, when we submit ourselves in joyful obedience to Him
- in anticipation of all that will follow, we are not responding as
puppets; but rather, out of a willing desire and love for Him. We
have within us this power of choice. For
example, at times we may not feel like worshipping the Lord.
But during these times, as we set the poise of
our will toward the Lord, and give to Him our sacrifice of praise, our
worship is especially appreciated by the Lord.
Usually it is after an act of obedience such as this,
that the Lord will pour out His grace upon us, and an overflow
of blessing will emerge. This
can be applied to any aspect of our lives where obedience is required
by the Lord. Yet, if we look
only toward being blessed, or the reward, we will miss something.
We must press on, for it is in the sufferings of the refiners
fire that the pure gold - His Divine nature, is brought forth in
our lives. The
Lord has shown us how this is to be accomplished. If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow
Me. If
we truly desire to follow the Lord, then we must actively resist our
flesh by denying all carnal desires, and take up our own cross in obedience
to His Word. What
is this cross, and how do we take it up? For
the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the
Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary (cross) the one to the other:
so that you cannot do the things that you would. Galatians 5:17 (comment added) There
is an ongoing warfare, a struggle between our natural desires and His
spiritual desire for us. Thus,
there are two contrary wills at war with each other I will
and Thy will. When the Thy will (His purpose for us) is contrary to and crosses out the I will (our own wants), our cross is formed. As
we die to our own self-will, and then submit to and come into alignment
with His will for us, we are indeed taking up our cross, thereby becoming
one with Him (because our life is merged into His life, only the vertical
member of the cross is left- we have become one with Him). We
are to overcome all self-centered feelings, such as spiritual indifference,
laziness, self-will, and rebellion, and then apply these to the cross,
that we might prosper in the outworking of His will for us. We then become an upright, fruit-bearing branch
on the tree of life, as a reflection or extension of His life and purpose. We are doing as He would do. The
Apostle Paul cried from the depths of his being, Not
as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I
follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12 Notice
that Paul said, That I might apprehend. He understood that he had a choice to make.
We too have a responsibility to apply the cross to the very root
of our self-lives; our hungers, fears, and
our reactions, that we might better follow Him. The
There
is a spiritual battle to be won in entering the Kingdom realm. Those who truly love the Lord, and who desire
to be rightly related to Him in His Kingdom will press through. The
most important time for us in all of eternity is right now. We are making choices and decisions today that
will effect our eternal position and reward. Eternal life is not future; we have that now
as part of our redemption. Where
we will be is a settled fact. What
we will be in eternity will be the result of the accumulated choices
and decisions that we are making - now.
Our new creation life is as a seed that has
been deposited within us, which is being formulated and developed into
completeness. When eventually it is released into the soil
of eternity, it will unfold, revealing the full manifestation of what
it had become during our present life experience. Any
seed, when planted, grows to express its particular nature. We need not add anything to it, but simply expose
it to the right elements. Then,
it will develop into the fullness of what it is. The extent to which we spiritually develop in
the here and now will become our measured state (30, 60, or 100 fold) for all eternity. Our
present life (our spiritual development), primarily involves
the formulation of this seed
through the outworking of our willing obedience to Him
(overcoming) in taking up our cross daily. Then,
when we find ourselves in the atmosphere of eternity, the life
that had been developed within this seed will be released into
its full expression, in His eternal presence and purpose. The
promise of the Lord is To him that overcomes. As we overcome through our willing obedience
to the Lord (taking up our cross), He will bring into
our life experience this good land, providing the atmosphere
to fertilize and water the soil of our obedience.
This will prepare us for the coming harvest in which that which
we have become will be lifted up from the earth into His higher purpose
- The willing and the obedient shall eat the good of the land. We
must allow this process to find its full outworking in our lives. Then, when we stand before Him in that day,
He will look upon each one of us and give us a new name, according to
what He sees. To the one overcoming, I will
give him to eat from the hidden manna. And I will give to him a white
stone, and on the stone a new name having been written, which no one
knows except the one receiving it. Revelation 2:17 Literal translation |
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