December 6

“....Francis of Assisi, whose direct and simple and joyous dedication of soul led him close to men and to God till he reproduced in amazing degree the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  It is said of St. Francis not merely that he prayed, but that he became a prayer.”  Thomas R. Kelly, 1939, Daily Readings from Quaker Writings, 11/13

That word “became/become” intrigues me.  In the Bible it is first used to tell us that man “became a living being” (Genesis 2:7).  In the New Testament we are told to “become as little children” (Matthew 18:3), “become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17), and He gives us power to “become sons of God” (John 1:12).  The 1998 (MICRA, Inc.) Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary gives this definition: To pass from one state to another; to enter into some state or condition, by a change from another state, or by assuming or receiving new properties or qualities, additional matter, or a new character. So when St. Francis is said to have become a prayer we realize it is a state of being and no longer just an activity.  Man became a living being and then was given the power to become a Son of God.  How many of us treat it more like an activity?  What does it actually mean to be a living being and a Son of God?  God answered this when He became a man.  We know Him as Jesus.  We have the perfect example of what it means to be a living being and a Son of God, but we must first become as little children.  In the process we will become fishers of men, just like Jesus.

“In the beginning was the Divine Expression [Word], and the Divine Expression was with God, and the Divine Expression was God.  He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.”  John 1:1-4

October 26

“Sin is, after all, resistance to God.  And as we continue to resist, we continue to hinder the creative power of this new and glorious life within us.  The Creator God Himself has come to indwell our mortal bodies.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 10/7

“Stop resisting” is an even better way to look at our new life in Christ than the use of the term “surrendering”.  Too often people have given me a hard time for insisting on the usage of the right word.  They’ll say, “It’s just semantics.”  But I believe the right word can make a difference when you’re trying to communicate a truth.  “To surrender” and “to not resist” could sound like the same thing to some people, but to others--like me--they are a world apart.  To me surrendering means to give up the fight for something I obviously believed in--or why would I have bothered to fight for it. It’s very difficult to change people’s minds outright.  They have to be shown why before they will believe something different. To stop resisting, on the other hand, emphasizes that I already am under the power of what it is I’ve been fighting.  Since I’ve already taken the step to give myself back to God, to surrender would be redundant.  Instead, as a new creature in Christ, I must stop resisting that new life in me.  This makes so much more sense to me.  I don’t have to “reinvent” myself because God has already done that.  I just need to follow the path already laid out for me, making sure I don’t take any detours where I might get lost. 

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”  Galatians 5:25

September 27

“The New Testament teaches that our lives are temples because Christ abides in us.  We cannot assume by this that our lives are pleasing to Him.  Like Solomon, we must thoroughly prepare ourselves so that God will choose to reveal His presence in our lives.”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 9/17

Solomon prepared the Temple to receive the glory of God by sacrificing animals as payment for his and the people’s sins.  2 Chronicles 7:1 tells us that fire came down from Heaven and consumed the sacrifices on the altar.  For us, Jesus laid Himself on the altar, bearing our sins for us.  In doing so, our sins were “consumed with fire” and we were made fit for God’s Holy Spirit to inhabit us.  This was done once for all time.  Yet we act as though we have to keep going to the altar and perform this act all over again each time we become aware of our sin.  We think it is somehow spiritual.  But all it serves to do is keep us in chains.  Instead God wants us to confess our sins and with thanksgiving acknowledge His Goodness for having freed us from having to pay for them ourselves.  It is this gratefulness that will keep our hearts purified and therefore pleasing to Him.  It’s in exercising the faith that God has given us that we are freed from the guilt of sin.  As children of God we will experience His presence because His glory shall fill us.

“His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion (KJV: lust), and become partakers of the divine nature.”  2 Peter 1:3, 4

September 23

“When God said in the beginning, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,’ we cannot for a moment suppose that he meant we were to be made in the image and likeness of his body.  He must have meant that we were to be made in the image and likeness of his nature and character.  Neither could he have meant that we were to be created full-fledged in this image, but that we were to be begun, as all adult life is begun, in helpless and ignorant infancy.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 9/14

As a child I could not wait to grow up.  As an adult I could not wait to be wise.  It seems I’ve always wanted things to happen as soon as I think of them.  Even years of having to wait haven’t changed my mindset about this.  Now that I’m nearing the end of my parenting years I have a better understanding of this whole process called life.  We enter it helpless and as we subject ourselves to our loving parents we are formed into productive members of society.  My role as a parent will never end though.  My adult children still call upon me from time to time to answer questions or lend a hand.  My spiritual life isn’t any different.  God, who made me and knows even better what I need than I knew for my children, raises me in His love to become a productive member of His family.  But unlike my parenting skills, God knows exactly what I need and when I should receive it.  As I look to Him only to receive my needs, trusting His timing, I can be assured that I will indeed be conformed to his likeness.

“Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”  Colossians 3:10

July 26

“I had found in the Lord Jesus a deliverer from the guilt of sin, but I wanted to find in Him a deliverer from the power of sin, and I did not know how to set about it.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 7/25

Hannah went to a Christian teacher that she felt must know how.  He told her that she could never expect to be delivered from the power of sin while here on earth.  This was very discouraging to her and for years she, too, was like the Israelite spies that had brought back a bad report from the Promised Land that their enemy was too strong for them.  She said she caused many people to wander with her in the wilderness for many years.  But then she discovered in God’s word that she could be delivered from the power of sin and all she had to do was claim it.  Like any gift, until we take possession of it, it is not ours yet.  So, I ask myself, “What gifts are still sitting on the shelf, unwrapped?”  Actually, I think I have some in a trunk, out of sight.  If I really want to be honest, though, I have to admit there are plenty sitting in plain sight, already unwrapped, but not being used.  It’s like all the musical instruments we have but do not play.  We’ve become collectors.  I know this is not what God intended and He has clearly stated that He expects us to invest what He’s already given us if we want more.  It’s time I started putting to good use all that God has already given me.

“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do; sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”  Romans 8:3, 4

April 20

“No safe teacher of the life of faith ever says that it becomes impossible to sin; he only insists that sin ceases to be a necessity and, therefore, continual victory is available to us.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, God is Enough, 4/20

This is one of those truths I espoused for years yet have not lived.  What does this say about me?  Am I just all talk?  Am I of the “do as I say not as I do” generation?  This bears looking into, I’d say.  Do I merely take pride in what I know?  I can see why God would put me into the background these past few years--I was like a loose cannon with no plan for going into the bombed territory with help to rebuild.  How can I expect to help people rebuild their lives after I’ve “exposed” their weakness if I am not an example myself of the victorious life in Christ?  Thank you, Lord, for putting me here, despite my protests.  I shall learn not only how to be a good example of a person who no longer needs to sin, but I shall also learn contentment.

“I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.  I can do all things in him who strengthens me.”  Philippians 4:12, 13

April 2

“One of the greatest obstacles to an unwavering experience in the spiritual life is the difficulty of seeing God in everything.  People say, ‘I can easily submit to things that I know come from God--but I cannot submit to man, and most of my troubles come through other men and women!’ ”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Safe Within Your Love, pg. 135

God’s not going to let me leave this subject I see! Hannah went on to say what is needed is to see God in everything and to receive everything directly from His hands. After writing yesterday’s devotion I found myself struggling once again with those things not within my control.  So I was up early reading my Bible and was led to the passage in Mark 2:22 where Jesus said you wouldn’t put new wine into old wineskins because it would cause them to break.  This made sense, but then I read the same passage in Luke 5:39 that adds, “And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”  I know enough about wine to know old does taste better.  But if the new wine represents Christ and the new wineskin is our redeemed lives, what could this “old wine is better” mean?  And how did this relate to what Hannah was showing me?  Our "old skin”, the old man, will always want the old wine so we can’t pour the new wine into the old wineskin.  Therefore, as new creatures in Christ, everything that is poured into our lives will be this “new wine”, Christ Himself--and yes, it may taste bitter at first because it hasn’t aged yet--but this is the work of faith, to make it sweet.

“How sweet are thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”  Psalm 119:103

January 21

“Satan will try to convince you that your sin renders you useless to God.” H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 1/21

It seems that all my reading material at the moment concerns the power of sin, or is it like when you’re pregnant you suddenly feel the whole world is pregnant because you notice all the other pregnant women for the first time.  It is also interesting how the mind works in conjunction with the eye.   Simple shading of an object and its placement can fool the eye we say--but the eye is only the vehicle for the information.  It is the brain that translates it and therefore must be held accountable for the deception.  

Yesterday I was thinking that Christianity came down to a battle within the mind.  This thought greatly discouraged me.  It’s ALL just in my head?! But, praise the Lord!  His Light shone on one little word “in” and His truth revealed that the word should be “for”.  Now I am no longer discouraged.  What I understand now is that the battle is not IN my mind, but FOR my mind.  I no longer need be the one fighting against the deceiving thoughts--which is tiring and overwhelming--I can’t keep it up for long.  Instead, I need only step aside and let God fight the battle.  He has already won the war, but the battle also belongs to the Lord!

“Thus says the LORD to you, ‘Fear not, and be not dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s.’” 2 Chronicles 20:15b

January 18

“Not only must we decide what it is that we must have changed in our thought lives, we must decide to let God change it.  When we choose to be delivered, we are given the power to follow Him in the deliverance process whatever it costs.  You and I can cast out those wrong thoughts at once In the Name and in the power of Jesus.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 1/18

Choosing is what free will is all about.  I don’t think there is anyone who hasn’t experienced free will.  It’s that pull we feel when we do what we don’t want to do.  Or it may feel more like a push.  Whatever it feels like, I believe it’s the struggle that ensues in our consciences when our free wills clash with God’s will.  I think that’s why I love the verses in the Bible that talk about our consciences being cleared.  It’s not at all like the unregenerate person’s conscience.  In order for an “unsaved” person to resist God’s grace, he must deaden his conscience.  The new creature in Christ, however, has his conscience awakened and it feels wonderful.....until it’s alarm goes off.  Now we are faced with choosing.  Do I allow this thought that my conscience wants to boot out which will eventually lead to some inappropriate behavior or do I deny myself?  It feels so natural to have this thought.  I’ve always thought this way.  This thought is me!  If I boot out this thought where will “I” be.  But my new creature knows this isn’t who I am anymore because now Christ lives in me--I’m born again.  My old life has been exchanged for a new life.  And so the struggle ensues.  Sometimes the old thought pattern wins.  Sometimes the New Creature wins. This is why we must never forget we are new creatures--fully sanctified and immune to sin.  Otherwise, we have psychosomatic sin.   Every sinful thought that enters our minds we will “catch”.  Once caught it develops into a full-blown disease--some sinful behavior.  But if we truly believe we are sanctified--holy in God’s eyes--when sinful urges/thoughts blow through our minds, they’ll have no place to land and dig themselves in.  We’ll reject them because they are not who we are any longer.  Jesus Christ and the power of His Holy Spirit is our inoculation against the disease of sin.

“Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and our members to God as instruments of righteousness.  For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”  Romans 6:13, 14

January 13

“The old “good dog, bad dog” teaching that we all cut our spiritual teeth on is the devil’s smoke-and-mirrors baloney.  It’s not biblical.  The Bible teaches unequivocally that the old man died in Christ and was buried with Him (Romans 6:2-8).” Bill Gillham, “What God Wishes Christians Knew About Christianity”

Gillham’s book is putting into biblical terminology that which God has been revealing to me concerning my self-worth and why I struggle so to be obedient.      The way Gillham explains it is that because we were crucified with Christ we are now new creatures no longer subject to our old sinful natures.  Our new nature wants to obey Christ who is now in us and we in Him.  Any sinful thoughts that now arise do not originate in us, but rather are planted there by Satan.  He uses the first-person-singular “I” or “me” to confuse us into thinking it is our desire.  This is easy to do because the old thought pattern is still burned into our brains and if we are lazy, fall easily back into the old pattern.  Our diligence, then, is not in being new creatures, but rather in not allowing our minds to be deceived into thinking we aren’t new creatures.  Our new natures hate sin.  Our battle, Gillham says according to scripture, is “the new man fighting against the power of sin” (Romans 7:23). What this revelation does for me is to settle once and for all my self worth issues as well as give me a handle with which to hold the pan I will use to beat Sin over the head!  So then, if I act according to what I think, and if I think as though I’m a new creature because I am, then Sin won’t make any sense to me.  I’ll be aware that if “I” wants something that doesn’t reckon with what I know to be true about Christ, that it’s not me but Sin that desires this thing.  This will be my power over it.  I understand now why I’ve battled with feeling deprived.  I did not think as though I believed I was a new creature--a new creature whose every need is supplied.   My new nature never feels deprived because it is in Christ and Christ is in it.  If “I” feel deprived I can be sure that “I” is that smoke-and-mirrors trick!

“We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.”  Romans 6:6