This morning we were enjoying some simple ways to cooperate with Christ in His heavenly ministry in the day of His warfare. First of all, we need to rise up early in the morning to contact the Lord whom we love so that we may enter into the womb of the dawn to be conceived […]
Christ was like a lone sparrow on a housetop, spending much time with the Father
As a lone sparrow, Christ spend much time in prayer and watching with the Father, caring for God’s interest and God’s house. What do you think He prayed about? Do you think the Lord Jesus prayed about Him still being single, about His business, about His welfare, or about Him being physically unattractive? No, the Lord didn’t care about Himself but He cared for God’s interest, the desire of God’s heart. In His loneliness – in the sense that He couldn’t open the depths of His being to any human being – Christ spent much time with God and took God as His companion! [read more online]
making our nest at the cross and finding our home in Christ at the golden altar
We can now clearly see that the two altars are related in our experience. Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:2, “I did not determine to know anything among you except Jesus Christ, and this One crucified”. What we want to know is only Christ and His cross – the cross is our refuge and our hiding place, and Christ Himself is our acceptance and our rest. Day by day we need to come to these altars – we need to come to the cross, where we find our refuge and deliverance from all the troubles and the problems, and we need to further come to Christ at the golden altar, where we rest and are at home in God. [read more online]
the solution to all our problems can be found by entering into the sanctuary of God
Psalm 73 speaks of a man who does his best to keep the law and God’s commandments, who is puzzled and almost stumbled when he sees that he is in suffering and pain while the evil men prosper and nothing seems to bother them. While the righteous man is being plagued and persecuted, going through all kinds of not-so-pleasant things, the evil men prosper. Why is it like this? The psalmist found the answer when he entered into the sanctuary of God – there he perceived their end, and he realized that God is his unique portion and reward! We also need to see this by coming into the sanctuary of God – here we have the answer! [read more online]
the secret to be content in all things: abiding in Christ (students training, South Africa)
The experience of Christ is in our spirit but the enjoyment of Christ is in our soul. We need to experience Christ in such a full and complete way so that our experience seeps through to our soul to be our enjoyment, joy and delight. How do we do this? In Phil 4:12 Paul says he has learnt the secret to be both abased and to abound and in the previous verse to be content in all circumstances. The secret is simply to be in Christ, to abide in Him. To be content in everything means the good things and the bad things. To be content in all things means to be content in all the ordinary things too! Our Christ does not change, our contentment therefore cannot change. [read more online]
we are earthen vessels containing a priceless treasure, the Christ of glory!
When God shines on us through the speaking of His Word, the glory of God in the face of Christ is being infused into us to become the indwelling treasure in our spirit (see 2 Cor. 4:6-7; 1 Pet. 3:4). This is so wonderful! We are earthen vessels – worthless, fragile, temporal, ephemeral, and passing away – but we contain a priceless treasure – the face of Christ, the person of Christ, the image of God Himself – in our spirit (2 Cor. 2:10)! There is nothing more precious and valuable in the whole universe than beholding the face of Jesus [read more online]
man has a spirit to contact God and a mind to be continually set on the spirit
Though we may think we are “normal” and “we think as normal people do”, our mind is sick with a terrible disease – we need to have our mind healed, cleansed, purified, and even lifed by setting it on our mingled spirit again and again! We don’t “switch on once and for all” by turning to the Lord in the morning – all throughout the day we continually need to set our mind on our spirit! “Lock your mind on the spirit” (as if you would lock the GPS to the destination) and don’t go to the left or to the right! May our mind be occupied with Christ to the point that we are sick with love for the Lord! [continue reading this portion online]