THE MARK OF A MATURE BELIEVER

The mark of a mature believer is a refusal to be "tossed to and fro . . . with every wind of doctrine" (Ephesians 4:14). Such believers cannot be manipulated by any teacher. They do not need to run around, because they are feasting in green pastures, growing up in Christ. They have learned Christ.They will not be captivated by music, friends, personalities or miracles, but by a hunger for the pure Word.

Paul said, "That they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things" (Titus 2:10). What is Christ's doctrine? The grace of God teaches us that “denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world (Titus 2:11-12).

The doctrine of Christ will conform you to the image of Christ. It will expose every hidden sin and every evil longing.

Is your teacher rebuking with authority, speaking and exhorting you to forsake sin and lay down all idols as instructed in Titus 2? Are you learning to hate sin passionately? Or do you leave church, still not deeply convicted? The message of the doctrine of Christ is, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God"
2 Corinthians 7:1.

Many write to us saying that their pastors tell them, “I'm not here to preach against sin; I'm here to lift up Jesus.” Or, “You’ll hear none of that condemnation preaching from this pulpit! I'm here to lift the fear and depression off my people.” Even Pentecostal preachers have two extremes. Some scream a hard, legalistic gospel without love, merely of works; others preach against sin like cowards, taking it all back in the same message.

The doctrine of Christ is a doctrine of godliness and holiness. "If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; he is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings"
(1 Timothy 6:3-4).

The preaching of Christ's doctrine will bless, strengthen and encourage you, but it will also convict you so deeply you cannot sit under it and still cling to a secret sin.


~David Wilkerson~

 

Paralysis Or Faith

Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Faith is going to determine which of two things is going to characterize us. 

This is the real point. It is either going to be that we are living under a terrible paralysis, as altogether petrified through confusion, perplexity, inability to understand, being unable to disentangle, to sort things out, to see straight and see clearly, to know what is meant by happenings.

That means utter paralysis, simply standing with our hands on our hips, helpless and hopeless. 

That is the effect of the absence of a positive faith.

The only way of Life and deliverance from such a paralysis is a deliberate faith in God which causes us to take the attitude that we are going on with God.

Understanding or not understanding, explaining or not explaining, having light or having no light; we are going right on with God on the basis of what God has done in us, made real in us, of what God Himself is to us by what He has effected in us. We are going on!

We, beloved, shall come there and may come there more than once in the course of our life; we shall come to the place where we realize we are going right out into outer darkness and despair and paralysis, to be ruled completely out of any effectiveness, fruitfulness, or value whatever, unless we pull ourselves together and say to ourselves, "The whole thing is an inexplicable, bewildering confusion, a tangle from our standpoint or the standpoint of man;

But God is, God is faithful. That is what He Himself says He is."

Thus without questioning God we go on believing God.

We have even to believe God to the point of putting over on to Him the responsibility for failures, for mistakes, in so far as we have really and honestly put our lives at His disposal and have become utter for God

And are free from personal interests and worldly interests and are here only for God. 

We have to make over to the Lord's account things which may have been mistakes or failures, and trust Him with these and go on.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The FATAL Race

                                                                                
The word race suggests competition and in Hebrews 12:1, God’s people are likened to runners in a long-distance race. Today, the race has been corrupted and the prize has become carnal.

If we could spend just a few minutes in heaven, we would never again compete in a carnal race. If only we could experience a short walk within the gates of that city of God; drink in the peace, the beauty, the heavenly splendors; listen to the grand choirs of angels singing the glories of the Lord; mingle with the patriarchs, the martyrs, the apostles, those who came out of great tribulation; visit with departed loved ones; feel the glow of God's holy light; and best of all, catch a glimpse of the face of the resurrected Lamb of God and feel the glory and warmth and sense of security shining forth from His presence!

Would we ever come back to this earth and take up the fatal race again? Never! You and I would live only for the Lord, rejecting the world and all its pleasures and carnal things. We would run His race!

If we could spend even a few minutes in hell, we would never be the same. Imagine what it would be like to be drawn into that black furnace of fire and everlasting darkness; to suddenly be cast into a demonic world of godlessness, cursing, hatred, lust, and corruption; to hear the groans of the eternally damned and witness their terror, their gnashing teeth; to rub shoulders with the workers of iniquity, the crucifiers of the Lord Jesus; to listen to the endless sounds of hopeless, useless prayers of the damned, shaking their fists at the God of justice, cursing the day they were born; to feel what being lost means, cut off from God and truth and love and peace and all comfort.

How could you return to earth from your short visit to hell and ever be the same again? Would you go back to neglecting God's Word, His house, His love? Would you go about your selfish pursuits of accumulating, hoarding gold and silver, and praying for even more? I hardly think so. No, you and I would live every hour as if it were our last.

Do you want to quit running and beating the air in vain? Set your face and heart to seek the Lord as never before!

~David Wilkerson~
 

The Purpose Of Delay

Now in Genesis chapter 15 you have the promise, and although it does not look like it, since the story is so quickly got over, it seems that it was at least fifteen years before the promise was fulfilled. It was fourteen or fifteen years at least, but how much more we cannot say as the Hebrew is very uncertain in this matter.

You remember when the men came to Abram's tent and ratified the promise, their words in our translation are something like this: "at the time" or "about the time", or "in the season" Gen. 18:14. The words are very indefinite. Some have translated it, "This time next year it shall be", but we cannot render it so with certainty. 

All we can say is that it was a definite ratification of the promise, that in God's appointed time it should be fulfilled. That ratification in the tent was some fourteen or fifteen years after the events of chapter 15 when the promise was given.

Now, taking every other circumstance into consideration; promise, age, and so on, you can see that this was a real matter of faith, this time factor. The time is getting on. We are getting farther and farther away from any possibility of fulfilment. Abram was ninety and nine years old when this ratification of the promise was made. 

You see the time factor was a real test. 

Moreover it was a deliberate and definite movement of God.

Why did not the Lord, knowing what He would do, wait until He was about to do it and just come and say, Abram, this shall be! and bring it about? But no! He came, announced it, and went away, and year after year passed by.

Then He came again, ratified His promise, and upon that there was still more waiting.

The Lord has strange ways. He deals with us like that. 

He must bring His instruments into oneness with Himself.

There is a little phrase in the New Testament which runs like this: "When once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah". If that word means anything it means that delay.

In a case like that of Abram's, it is not a pleasant thing for Abram, not a thing that he would choose for himself.

It would at least imply that if the Lord could have His way He would perfect His purpose at once.

Long-suffering, forbearance, patience, endurance; these things on God's part are not the things that He would choose in carrying out His purposes, seeing all the suffering, and the distress and the pain that there is.

But He suffered, and suffered long, and His instruments must come into oneness with Him, oneness with His heart.

The point is that it lifts this thing on to a certain level. It is not that the Lord is just dealing with you and with me like a schoolmaster, trying to get something in us.

It may be the Lord wants moral qualities developed in us; patience, longsuffering, and so on; there is no doubt that is true, but it is not just that.

The Lord is saying, I am not going to do this until you show signs of certain qualities.

The Lord is lifting us right up on to the same level as Himself, bringing us into actual oneness with Himself, so that we have the same feeling towards others and toward the situation, toward the need, that He has.

I believe that when the Lord can get a corporate cry in His Church which is His own cry, then His time has come.

The Lord is not just waiting for a time. There is something bound up with that time, and He is seeking to produce in the heart of His instrument that which is in His own heart, so that it cries one cry with Him.

The Church has to cry, and it has to cry God's cry, and that one cry is not yet in the Church.

There are many voices, conflicting voices; and by the agony of delay, and the agony of the growing impossibility of the situation, and by the agony of the need for that which is of God as over against all this other, the Church will be brought to cry that cry.

At midnight there shall be a cry! Now that is oneness with God in His time. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Praying Payson

                                                    
Dr. Edward Payson, known as "Praying Payson," was a pastor in Portland, Maine, nearly 200 years ago. In 1806, just a few years after the Declaration of Independence, America was devastated by a severe depression. It was a dark period and Dr. Payson vividly recorded the tragedy in his area. He wrote:

Business has stagnated, many are failing. Hundreds have been thrown out of employment, and they are destitute. I tremble for my poor country. I fear our sins have helped call down judgment upon us.


Some of our wonderful young converts have lost their all, and had their homes stripped away; but it does my heart good to see them cheerful and quiet under it all. Others, who have no God, have lost their reason, they worry incessantly, and are apparently dying of a broken heart."

Dr. Payson and his congregation suffered the spoiling of all their goods. Dr. Payson himself lived on pennies during those hard times. On December 28, 1807, in a letter to his mother, he wrote:

Conditions worsen. A large number of the wealthy merchants live in poverty now. Businesses are failing daily. The poorhouse is already full, and hundreds are yet to be provided for. Many who have been brought up in affluence are now dependent on others for daily food.

Perhaps, Mother, you will grieve for me and say, ‘Poor Edward!’ But you never had more reason to rejoice on my behalf, and cry, ‘Rich Edward!’ than now. Blessed be God, my faith does not stand on such tottering foundations as to be shaken by these commotions.

God keeps me quiet, resigned, and even happy in all these troubles. I do not mean I don't feel pain—I do. All my worldly hopes are destroyed. In these circumstances it is impossible not to feel pain.
 
I thought I knew before that this world is treacherous, and its enjoyments but for a moment; but these hard times have taught me to wean myself from creature things and pursue the things of God.

It is my prayer, that if God has any worldly blessings in store for me, He would be pleased to give me His grace instead."

Edward Payson had quit trying to run the race of life on his own (see Hebrews 12:1). He could take joyfully the stripping away of all he possessed, because he was in this world but not of it.

My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me
2 Corinthians 12:9.

~David Wilkerson~


 

Heal My Unbelief

Ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord
James 1:6-7.

The world is full of Christians who will not hold on to God's Word. 

They think it is an innocent thing to sit at the table in the house of God and murmur and complain, as if God doesn't hear. God does hear our murmurings! They are
accusations that He does not care, insinuations that He has let us down.

God has warned me not to give voice to nagging doubts and fears—not to my wife, not to friends, not to loved ones, not to colleagues.

God says to take those doubts to the cross and say,  
"Jesus, heal my unbelief. Take it out."

Israel spent forty years in turmoil—backbiting, complaining, full of bitterness and jealousy. What a miserable existence they led while claiming to be the children of God, claiming to be holy. But that was their testimony, not God's.

You must come to a place where you trust Him. 

If you learn it now, the next time a crisis comes you will sing and shout with praises to your Deliverer!

Oh, the victory will be there but more importantly, you will have dealt a deathblow to all doubt, fear and unbelief.

Where do you start? By looking right into the mirror of God's Word. Consider your words and actions over the last thirty days: Have you been murmuring?
Complaining?

You may answer, "Yes, but I haven't been murmuring at God!" Oh yes, you have! No matter where or to whom you complain, it is all directed at God.

Every place I turn in my Bible, I see, "Trust Me and I'll see you through. 

Just commit your ways to Me." What does that require? Simply this: Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. You ask, "But what if nothing happens?" That response reveals doubt and fear.

Beloved, turn to God today and say, "Lord, I've done everything I know how to do in my situation. I know there's nothing I can do to fix the problem anyway. I'm going to trust You and wait for Your victory.”

Let God make you a testimony to the world, a witness of His faithfulness. 

Love Him with all your heart right now. 

Give Him all your problems, all your faith and all your trust!

~David Wilkerson~

"GODS Secret" The HIDDEN Meaning

Psa 25:14  The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.  

There are certain secrets of God’s providence He allows His children to learn.

Often,however, at least on the surface, His dealings with them appear to be harsh and hidden.Yet faith looks deeper and says,“This is God’s secret.You are looking only on the outside, but I look deeper and see the hidden meaning.”
 
Remember, diamonds are found in the rough,and their true value cannot be seen.

And when the tabernacle was built in the wilderness, there was nothing ornate about its outward appearance. In fact, the outer covering of the thick hides of sea
cows gave no hint of the valuable things inside.
 
Dear friend,God may send you some valuable gifts wrapped in unattractive paper. But do not worry about the wrappings, for you can be sure that inside He has hidden treasures of love, kindness,and wisdom.

If we will simply take what He sends and trust Him for the blessings inside, we will learn the meaning of the secrets of His providence, even in times of darkness.
 
A. B. Simpson

The Nature Of Light~As To Character~Transparency

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1Jn 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Light is transparency; light is clearness; light is absolute purity; light is honesty; light is openness of character. 

Light hides nothing; its whole action and nature is contrary to hiding anything. It has nothing to hide; it shows everything; it shows all:

In other words, it is not deceitful. It does not want to cover anything, or to pretend or make believe that something is other than what it is. 

Light is single; it is not double; there is no duplicity about light. And light is just - light! There is “no darkness at all” where there is light.

How many shades and aspects of darkness there are! - a whole vocabulary of words.

The Spirit has come to bring all that to an end by applying the Cross, in which it was all brought to an end in the Person of the Lord Jesus; to work out the meaning of the Cross in our lives, so that everything that belongs to that kingdom of darkness is removed

So that in the end, with us too, there is no darkness at all. 

Is that really what we think of, when we think of having, receiving, and being filled with the Holy Spirit? Here again, perhaps, a little re-shaping of our ideas is called for.

It is true that He is many other things, as well as light: He is the Spirit of Power, He is the Spirit of Wisdom; yes, He is many other things; but, with them all, He is this. And we must not make more of those “demonstration” aspects of the Spirit, in power, in gifts and capacities, in works, than we do of His character side.

If He really does His work in you and in me, He will make us to be people who can bear to be “looked into” without any fear, without any drawing of the blinds.

Our lives and our motives will bear looking into.

~T. Austin Sparks~