WALKING IN THE FULLNESS
OF OUR INHERITANCE
JANUARY 31st
SELF-DENIAL IS NOT A FORM OF PUNISHMENT
...."Come,
let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For He is
our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today,
if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in
the day of Massah in the wilderness; when your fathers tested Me, they tried
Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation,
and said they are a people who err in their heart and they do not know My ways.
Therefore I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter into My
rest"....
Psalm 95:6-11 NASB
In this last hour the Holy
Spirit is calling the children of God to remain in the place wherein their
heart is continually sensitive to the deepest thoughts and intentions of the
Father's heart. As we study the story of the wilderness journey of the
Israelites, we must take heed not to follow after them through unbelief and
hardness of heart in our own lives. As we unite our faith with the Word of God
continually, we derive many marvellous benefits. As we keep our eyes
"fixed" on Jesus - and bring our every thought captive to the things
above - "all" of the fear and doubt which had hindered us shall
vanish, and as we diligently live the life of faith [trust] we are called to,
we will surely be empowered to rise above "every" evil circumstance
and situation that confronts us. It is also certain that as we draw continually
closer to the Heavenly Father in intimate fellowship and communion, we shall
come to know and understand the deepest desires of His heart - thus enabling us
to discern "all" things through the eyes of love and righteousness.
How clear it must become in the heart of every believer, that we can do nothing
apart from the mind of Christ. In order to be "one with God" in all
things, we must be separate from the world and keep ourselves free from sin for
sin that is maintained only leads one into greater fear and darkness. As we are
diligent in our obedience to the Word of God and the voice of the Holy Spirit,
the true work of the Lord will be the joy of our heart, and we shall be consumed
by the desire to do His will, His way, at "all" times, and by His
power. It is only the constant denial of the "flesh" that will enable
us to truly enter into the "rest" of God: rest from sin, and rest
from "self" - and the spontaneous and ungodly "effort" that
it produces. Self-denial is not a form of punishment it is what allows us to
experience the fullness of the abundant life which is ours in Christ Jesus. Let
us continually beware of the "poison" of self-desire for that
is what causes one's heart to be hardened towards God and let us allow the Holy
Spirit to keep our heart soft and receptive at all times to His still, small,
voice.
Related Scriptures: Hebrews 3:7-4:13; Colossians 2:8; Ephesians 4:17-24;
Hebrews 12:2; John 15:4-5;
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