Determinedly Discipline...

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5 NKJV

This is another difficult aspect of the strenuous nature of sainthood.
Paul said, according to the Moffat translation of this verse,"...I take every project prisoner to make it obey Christ."

So much Christian work today has never been disciplined, but simply come into being by impulse.

In our Lord's life every project was disciplined to the will of His Father.

There was never the slightest tendency to follow the impulse of His own will as distinct from His Father's will. - "the Son can do nothing of Himself" John 5:19 NKJV

Compare this with what we do - we take "every thought" or "project" that comes to us by impulse and jump into action immediately, instead of imprisoning and disciplining ourselves to obey Christ.

Practical work today for Christians is greatly overemphasized today, and the saints who are " bringing every thought [and project] into captivity" NKJV are being criticized, and that thy lack zeal for God, or zeal for the souls of others. But true determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined human nature.

It is inconceivable, but true nevertheless, that saints are not "bringing every thought [and project] into captivity," but are simply doing work for God that has been instigated by their own human nature, and has not been made spiritual through determined discipline.

We have a tendency to forget that a person is not committed to Jesus Christ only for salvation, but is also committed, responsible, and accountable to Jesus Christ's view of God, the world, and of sin and the devil. This means that each person must recognize the responsibility to "be transformed by the renewing of [his] mind." Romans 12:2 NKJV
-Oswald Chambers -

I ask you?

"Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye will hear His voice, Harden not your hearts,..." Hebrews 3:7-8a

Has your heart been hardened by circumstances beyond your control?

We are to depend upon God for everything.

We are to depend on God for what He has already done for us.

When we truly see the great truth, we will never again try to save our self by our good works.

Knowing that we cannot save ourselves, should give the believer a certainty, a security that we are not to depend upon what we do, but what God has already done.

If I did not believe in the Holy Spirit is real...

If I did not believe that the Holy Spirit is in my heart, my friend, I would not be writing to you.

I believe that the Holy Spirit will come and minister to you right where you are.

God's Spirit talks to the human heart,

If you are sad, lonely, depressed, upset, no matter how you feel good or bad, He will come and talk to you.

the Holy Spirit is no respecter of persons, race, color, or creed.

The greatest book that has ever been written.

The inspired Word of God.

The Bible is one of God's eloquent tongues.

If you will just read it, you will find that there is something uncommon about it.

I read it now as if I have never read it before.

It means more than it ever has meant before.

It is a good feeling.

You see, my friend, when I read it now it has meaning, it is God speaking right to my heart.

The Holy Spirit speaks through the interpretation of God's written Word, to the hearts of men and women.

Do you read God's Word?

You should read God's Word.

You should read it in your homes.

Keep in mind that it is not just for Wednesday and Sunday, it has daily treasures to be uncovered.

You are not a Christian just because you go to church twice a week, neither is a mouse a cookie if he be found in a cookie jar.

We need to read God's Word to help with our daily walk with Christ.

We need to read to our children, or better yet, let them read to us so that their understanding can grow.

There is no better time than having family time in the Word of God.

There is no sweeter moment in any home than when a family gathers to give thanks and to hear the reading of God's Word.

God's Holy Spirit speaks to us through the fellowship and association with others.

It is not meant for you to stay away from the church.

God is not foreign in this world.

God does not speak through lightning and thunderclaps.

God does not shuffle around in the dew mist of the morning.

God does not come at anytime of the day as a phantom ghost.

He lives where you and I live.

He lives where men live.

Deity is closer than our hands and feet.

He is a close as you breath.

He is a God that is close, not faraway.

The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Bible and Christian fellowship.

I ask you...

Is He speaking to your heart?

"The reason why I believe that this is the inspired Word of God is that when I read it, it finds me. It takes hold of me. It does something to me." - President Woodrow Wilson -

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness;" 2 Timothy 3:16

God's righteousness in demonstration....

I saw one hanging on a tree
In agonies and blood,
Who fixed his languid eyes on me,
As near His cross I stood.

Sure never til my latest breath,
Can I forget that look;
It seem'd to charge me with His death,
Though not a word He spoke.

My conscience felt, and own'd the guilt,
And plung'd me in despair;
I saw my sins His blood had split,
And help'd to nail Him there.
---------------------------------
Another look He gave, which said,
"I freely all forgive,
This blood is for thy ransom paid,
I die that thou mayest live."
- John Newton

This is the righteousness of God!

This is what my hope is placed in.

My hope is not placed in the government, or man, or even the president.

My hope is in God.

Where is your hope?

Is your hope placed in Jesus Christ?

One can see the righteousness of Christ more clearly when you see that God was in Christ, even on the cross, reconciling those that are His unto Himself.

There was no other way in which it could have been done!

Jesus Christ in His sinless living climbed upon that cross for you and me, my friend.

When Jesus came out of the grave, manifest Himself to show that He had triumphed over death.

When He ascended to the right hand of the Father.

All of the acts are found in the righteousness of God.

This is where our salvation comes from - through the righteousness of God in Christ.

"For ye were dead and your life is hid with Christ in God." Colossians 3:3

Right there is the righteousness in God.

When the Holy Spirit convicts one of their sin, it is because of the righteousness of God.

The conviction is through what God has done for us.

We cannot save ourselves.

We cannot atone for sin.

We cannot redeem the world.

We cannot make right what is wrong, pure or impure, or what is holy or unholy.

Only the Sovereign God can do all those acts.

He already has made the perfect atonement.

The redemption of Christ is not an experience, it is an act that was performed when Jesus went to the cross.

Our Lord and Saviour died for you, do not be afraid to trust Him who loved you enough to die for you.

The Holy Spirit is the interpreter of God's Word.

The Bible is the eloquent tongue of the Holy Spirit.

If you my friend, have any fears as to the outcome of the Kingdom of God and of His righteousness, you simply do not know your Bible.

The prince of this world has already been judged, already condemned.

The serpent has already received the mortal wound upon his head.

"And the God of peace shall bruise satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." Romans 16:20

Regardless of what happens in the world, I am not going to be a pessimist.

I am simply going to look to Jesus.

Let all the nations collapse and fall.

Let America fall.

The reason that America will/has fallen is that we have taken God out of our lives.

We are no longer to pray in school, they have taken the ten commandments out of the public view, they even have taken "in God we trust" off the new money.

No wonder we are in such a pickle.

There should not be anything that can shake your faith.

Whatever happens, I pray that my faith will hold strong, the harder that it is shaken.

When all happens, and it will, everything will point to God.

It will demonstrate the fact that the Holy Spirit is still seeking to convict the depraved human race; and that the prince of this world is condemned.

"And when He is come, He will convict the world of sin..." John 16:8 Ryrie Version

Does He know me?

"And He calleth His own sheep by His voice, and leadeth them out." John 10:3a

Have you ever thought that you know all there is about God, that you don't need what He has to offer you?

Do you know that it is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know who Jesus is?

Our soul becomes in very much danger when doctrine heavily outweighs that intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

Why have we doubted?

We all at one time or another have doubted something about Jesus.

Could it have been an experience with Jesus that others have previously had, but you have not had?

When He comes, When He touches, we know not when, but when they do, oh how precious they are!

Have you ever thought that there is s preacher alive that could not make a appeal for your heart?

My friend, do you not realize what kind of confession that you just made by saying that.

God's Holy Spirit strove with you, but over the months you have refused Him.

You would not hear His voice when He spoke to you.

God's Spirit has left you.

God's Spirit will not forever dwell, strive with man.

"And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man," Genesis 6:3a

You my friend have grieved the Holy Spirit.

I pray that there still may be grace for you.

I must remind you that the Holy Spirit is God.ly

Unlike man we can not insult and turn Him aside forever.

My suggestion for you, my friend, would be to fall upon your knees and cry out to Him seeking Him earnestly!

I pray that God's Sprit has not left you forever, but that He may come back to you in redeeming grace.

I know that if I were out of church, were not a professing believer, or of a hardened heart, I would pray to the living God to give but one more moment in which you could settle the matter.

You have that opportunity here and now to settle that question.

Now, is the time for you to respond!

You do not know what will happen if you choose to walk away this time.

This could very well be the very last time He will call you.

Will you not respond the speaking, the calling of God's Spirit?

Will you not allow Him to work regeneration in your heart through the truth of the living God, while making you a new creation in Him.

The new testament teaching on regeneration is that when a man is struck by a sense of need, God will put the Holy Spirit into his spirit.

Your personal spirit will be energized by the Spirit of the Son of God, until Christ be formed in you.

Until you start looking like Christ.

"Just as the disposition of sin entered into the human race by one man, so the Holy Spirit entered the human race by another man; Redemption means that I can be delivered from the heredity of sin and through Jesus Christ can receive an unsullied heredity, viz., the Holy Spirit." - Oswald Chambers

You are the only person who can judge whether or not God's Spirit has spoken to your heart or not.

You can just laugh or you can swallow a few times and choke it down.

You have the power to walk out into that darkness, while choosing to leave God out of your life.

Won't you choose the light.

Won't you choose the one who is speaking to your heart right now?

Is He talking to your heart?

"For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation." 2 Corinthians 7:10

Do you ever feel that church is such a bore?

Would you rather be out and about doing anything but being in church?

Was there ever a day when you were interested?

Was there ever a time when the preached Word of God made an appeal for your heart?

Has there ever been a time when you felt you were a sinner, and you needed the grace of God?

Have you ever felt like you ought to be doing something about those heartstrings that are being torn apart?

Conviction has got a hold upon you, my friend!

Conviction of sin is when the Holy Spirit rouses a man's conscience and bring him into the presence of God!

In other words, it is not the relationship with others that bothers you - it is your relationship to God.

Repentance is when a man comes to the point and says: I have sinned, I have sinned against Thee.

Repentance is not an emotional thing necessarily.

Sometimes deep emotions do attend repentance, but it means a change of mind and heart on the part of him or her.

The surest sign that God is at work is when a man or woman says it and means it, anything less is just remorse for what he or she has done.

True repentance is when he or she acknowledges one's misdeeds, errors, and failures, one's sins. He or she is in deep regret for all past sins, and enters upon a course of life.

Our sin is against God!

Repentance toward God is the only way to get it removed.

Each one of us have come into the Kingdom of God through a variety of experiences.

Some have deep emotions and some have seemingly no emotion at all.

Is it not wonderful what God has done for us.

Just drifting along with a cold membership in church is just wrong, downright treachery.

"And why call Ye me Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?" Luke 6:46

One must say with his mouth and believe in his heart that Jesus died upon the cross, and that He is who He says He is.

There is no need for anyone to go out into eternal darkness.

God has made it so plain, so simple for you and I.

Won't you believe on Him today?