Most believers don't know that Oswald Chambers, who wrote the most popular devotional of all time named "My Utmost for His Highest," was highly influenced by the writings of Jeanne Guyon and Fenelon.
In the June 16 entry in the devotional, he comments on a couple of things that are very insightful and needful for the times we live in.
Commenting on laying down our lives, he correctly identifies the difference between that "heroic" dying that everyone remembers, and the day-to-day laying down of our lives in the quiet obscurity, which most of our lives are.
What Oswald Chambers says is it's far easier to die in that heroic way than to walk the daily path of life in this way before the Lord and toward our brethren.
Chambers adds, "We are not made for brilliant moments, but we have to walk in the light of them in ordinary ways." He refers to Jesus not having these types of moments, other than possibly the transfiguration, which was only witnessed by three men.
I might add when he came in riding on the donkey and was hailed as the King, may have been another moment, but even there strong opposition happened as He humbly rode in the midst of the people. It wasn't exactly the things made of kings which the world would have wanted.
When John said "we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren," he wasn't speaking of that very public and heroic way that disciples like Peter envisioned, but rather, again, the daily laying down of our lives for one another.
This reminds me of the very godly sister named Margaret Barber, who had a profound effect on Watchman Nee, and by extension, an untold number of Chinese believers of that day, and many more long past her and Watchman Nees deaths.
Barber was stationed at one town in China, and opposition from Christians arose, and she refused to harm Christ and His testimony in any way, so she moved to a tiny little village, where she worked unto the Lord in obscurity, although many of those used by the Lord would travel there to get her input and insights.
There she battled for Watchmen Nee and others having an impact on China for Christ by pushing them to knowing Christ experienctially, rather than primarily as an intellectual knowing and understanding.
She didn't attempt to gain attention, and other than maybe a dozen pages of writing about her, there is almost nothing known of her life on earth for the Lord, yet she had an extraordinary spiritual impact - the only one that really counts.
You can only have that by laying you life down for others and not looking for the attention so many others crave when they're working and living unto Christ.
Remarkably, very few believers are willing to walk this quiet way before the Lord, simply living unto Him and pouring themselves out daily for their brethren.
We need far more of this among believers today, and hopefully those that may discover this little encouragement will find it within themselves to lay down their lives for one another on a daily basis and in a way that desires no attention or need for being acknowledged.
Being known is overrated, and it's far better to live before the Lord in a quiet, peaceful and unpretentious way, than to attempt to be noticed.
Very few people can successfully live in the public eye while maintaining their walk in Christ. And even if they find themselves able to keep away from falling, there is, for the most part, an almost impossible challenge of maintaining a close walk with the Lord, laying down of their lives, and not thinking of themselves as more important than they really are.
Paul was exasperated by this when he wrote letters to the churches, reminding them that men are nothing and Christ is everything. Those with reputations didn't impress Paul, and neither should it impress us - nor should we seek for it.
Far too many believers think of the "ministry" as some type of extra thing they go out and do outside the body of Christ, while in practice it was meant to be a daily sharing of the life of Christ together, where people simply talked about Christ and what He was doing in their lives.
That was really what was ministry, which today has become the disastrous idea of professionalism and being special, rather than being a part of daily laying down of our lives unto the Lord and for one another.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
New Jerusalem
For many Christians buying into the myriad causes and schemes to save "mother earth" through environmental activism, it's past time to throw that mostly nonsense away and find you who your real mother is. It isn't earth, it's New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven.
Environmental activism is one of the biggest swindles since Darwinism, and far too many Christians are entering into it in belief they're saving mother earth, which as I said for Christians, isn't our mother.
As a matter of fact, if Christians were to do a little research and studying past the hype and tenets behind much of environmentalism, they'd find out a lot of it is not only based and sourced in paganism, but a lot of it is based on lies and innuendo, rather than facts and reality.
Global warming is one of those, as the earth has been cooling for over a decade, thousands of scientists say the computer models it's based on are faulty, and many of the areas it's being measured in are close to local areas like plants that are warmer than the real air around it.
I could go on with this, but I don't want to get off the real purpose for writing this article, and that is to remind believers in Christ that New Jerusalem is our mother and not the earth.
We are born again from above by the Spirit, and when that truly happens in someone, we are no longer part of this world, in the sense that we don't live by its premises and ways of life, which are always against the image and reality of Christ Himself.
Jesus said of His disciples near the end of His time on earth that just like He wasn't of this world, neither were they, and by extension, neither should we be.
Paul said again in one of His letters to Timothy that a good soldier of Christ doesn't get involved with the affairs of this world.
The New King James Version says, "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier."
In Colossians 3:1-3 Paul said, "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
How much plainer can it be than that? Paul says "if." If you've been raised with Christ (which you have been if you're really a believer in Christ), then you are to seek those things which are above, not things on this earth. Any questions? There shouldn't be.
This is part of what Jesus meant when the disciples asked Him to teach them how to pray, and part of Jesus' response was for the Father's kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
When we see New Jerusalem -our true mother - coming out of heaven, that's part of what that is referring to; not some silly idea of a physical entity dropping out of outer space, like some people have implied.
What is New Jerusalem? It is God in His people. That's our mother: Christ in us. (But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all Gal 4:26.)
When we read about New Jerusalem and listen to the language describing it, we can get so caught up into its grandeur, that we miss the simple and easy understanding of what's inside of it.
So what is inside New Jerusalem that makes it our mother? There's a throne, a street, a river and a tree, and an exit out where all the evil lies. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie."
We must understand that when Jesus came to earth, He was New Jerusalem come down out of heaven, it was just that He was all of it in Himself, which wasn't His purpose, as He was meant to inhabit and fill a people with and unto Himself, which results in the fulfillment of His eternal purpose, which is to be all in all.
This is why when John is taken to the city he first sees the patriarchs and the twelve apostles before entering the city. That's significant. Not because man is first, but because the new man holds that which John was about to be revealed: Christ Himself in His people; the very purpose for creation.
There are a lot of things mentioned about the outer part of the bride of the Lamb, but it's because of what's inside that makes the outer what it is.
So what does it mean to have New Jerusalem as our mother? It means the spirit of God has now come down from heaven and inhabits His people. He's brought His throne, a river, a tree, fruit, light, a lamb, God and a street of gold with Him. Those things are what make up what births us in Christ. That's what begins to work in us when we are born from above, or born again.
Another significant factor in John seeing this is there is a oneness there between Christ and the people He's indwelling. She has been "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."
What is New Jerusalem adorned with? The very nature of Christ which we partake in. When the description of the outward things of the bride are revealed, it's saying what is being seen without is the result of that which has been birthed within. This is something that has come down out of heaven from the only and one true God and planted within His people. That's what's supposed to happen when a person is born again. The very life or sperma of God is planted within him as a seed, and it grows throughout his lifetime as an open heart before God is retained.
The two now have become one, as the inner and outer are without contradiction, like the life of the Father and Jesus when He lived on the earth as the son of man living only by the life of the Father in Him.
This is what we are called to in this world, as New Jerusalem, our mother who is free, comes down out of heaven to dwell within His people. New Jerusalem is Christ in us.
We need to quit focusing on a false mother and live by our mother who is free, coming down now from heaven.
New Jerusalem
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