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Eternal Life is to Live Christ - Norman Grubb
NORMAN GRUBB - Click On Stained Glass Window
Beliefs: By Norman P. Grubb
No, the curious thing is that it is here precisely we differ
from the holiness brethren. I will send you a reply I’ve just written to Ted
Hegre, who kindly wrote, because it hits the very spot. If we humans have a
nature spoiled by sin, then sanctified by a second work of Grace, then how do
we sin again without becoming unsanctified? That is why they are accused of
“sinless perfection”. But we are saying that we in our humanity can respond,
because it was not a change in us which took place, but in the Indwelling one
in us (Rom.8.9 in place of 7.17). Then I grant you the way of saying “as us”
does raise questions such as you say, implying “obliteration”. But we might say
Jesus saying “Ye are the light of the world” is about the same, when we are in
reality only lamps manifesting the light. And such phrases as “ye bear fruit”,
when it is the Vines fruit manifested in us the branches etc. And our main
point is, as you know it well enough among our Weccers, and far more so among
millions of believers, they stumble along in maintaining an abiding
relationship as two related to each other, and it is only those in whom there
has been the revelation of a fixed inner union consciousness, who freely act as
spontaneous Christ-expressors – the “abiding” being merely a recognition of an
experienced fact. Paul again says it, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me”. He admittedly kind of contradicts himself when he adds “liveth in me” when
he had just said “yet not I”: but that is just the almost impossibility of
expressing a paradox; and we in “union life” move more strongly over to the
emphasis that we are He in our form, He as us; for then we are equally
spontaneous in us “having the mind of Christ”, and we willing and doing because
it is He willing and doing in us. I know it is a fine point, and open to
question; but we see the whole Bible full of men, and finally Jesus Himself
when The Dove entered Him, speaking and acting as speaking the words of God
(Matt.10.20), and doing the deeds of God (John 5:17,19). And as for saying “we
spontaneously operate Him”, again it may be a clumsy effort for saying that “we
have the faith of God” (mark 11:22); and what else is it if we say to a
mountain “Be thou removed” etc. We are operating as God, He at our disposal!
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
The Journey: By Madame Guyon
The Journey
By Madame Guyon
If knowing answers to life’s questions is absolutely necessary to you, then forget the journey. You will never make it, for this is a journey of unknowables – of unanswered questions, enigmas, incomprehensibles, and most of all, things unfair.
By Madame Guyon
If knowing answers to life’s questions is absolutely necessary to you, then forget the journey. You will never make it, for this is a journey of unknowables – of unanswered questions, enigmas, incomprehensibles, and most of all, things unfair.
Christ in Our Everyday: Norman P. Grubb
Christ in Our Everyday
By Norman P. Grubb
His ways are not our ways. My life seems so much easier than yours, with time to spend in the things of God, and even one’s work centering around Him. But all are God’s ways. When once we have seen that it is nothing less than Christ Himself living His life in us, then that makes Him a very ordinary person, marking papers and preparing lessons, as you say. It is He Himself doing this; and as you recognize it in this fact, then you relax in Him, even though your mind has to be centered on these mundane things. Don’t let resentment or rebellion against the way He has chosen to live His life in you mar the central rest which proceeds from the not I, but Christ relationship. That is living; and to “live in the truest sense” is only Christ living in His most mundane way through us, as He pleases. Christ is really seen in deeds of faithfulness, such as your teaching life, not in the many words and nice thoughts which make up so much of ours! So let Him live on in you!
Knight of Faith, Volume I
By Norman P. Grubb
His ways are not our ways. My life seems so much easier than yours, with time to spend in the things of God, and even one’s work centering around Him. But all are God’s ways. When once we have seen that it is nothing less than Christ Himself living His life in us, then that makes Him a very ordinary person, marking papers and preparing lessons, as you say. It is He Himself doing this; and as you recognize it in this fact, then you relax in Him, even though your mind has to be centered on these mundane things. Don’t let resentment or rebellion against the way He has chosen to live His life in you mar the central rest which proceeds from the not I, but Christ relationship. That is living; and to “live in the truest sense” is only Christ living in His most mundane way through us, as He pleases. Christ is really seen in deeds of faithfulness, such as your teaching life, not in the many words and nice thoughts which make up so much of ours! So let Him live on in you!
Knight of Faith, Volume I
Human reactions: By Norman Grubb
Human reactions
By Norman P. Grubb
We are forever humans and have human responses and are meant to, but they are overflowed by Christ in us; and indeed unless we were first living human persons with human reactions, we should not be the persons by whom He unveils Himself.
Knight of Faith, Vol. I
By Norman P. Grubb
We are forever humans and have human responses and are meant to, but they are overflowed by Christ in us; and indeed unless we were first living human persons with human reactions, we should not be the persons by whom He unveils Himself.
Knight of Faith, Vol. I
Men Have Forgotten God: By Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Men Have Forgotten God
By Alexander Solzhenitsyn
More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
What is more, the events of the Russian Revolution can only be understood now, at the end of the century, against the background of what has since occurred in the rest of the world. What emerges here is a process of universal significance. And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: Men have forgotten God.
From “Men Have Forgotten God” – The Templeon Address - 1983
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
By Alexander Solzhenitsyn
More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.
What is more, the events of the Russian Revolution can only be understood now, at the end of the century, against the background of what has since occurred in the rest of the world. What emerges here is a process of universal significance. And if I were called upon to identify briefly the principal trait of the entire twentieth century, here too, I would be unable to find anything more precise and pithy than to repeat once again: Men have forgotten God.
From “Men Have Forgotten God” – The Templeon Address - 1983
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Choosing - By Norman P. Grubb
Choosing
By Norman P. Grubb
Bill has now written that too much weight is put on choice, whereas in reality we hardly choose, we just ARE – a driven people, though of course we can temporarily deviate. He has written me so well on this about us basically not “choosing” but just “being”, where our primary choice first fixed us, and even that was hardly a choice but just going where I couldn’t help going when I had seen my need and saw the reality of Christ’s love. I was caught and yet in the “mystery” of the law of opposites the paradox of my friend Kierkegaard, there does remain that amount of choice as in the final word of Revelation...“Whosoever will”. Never beyond the dialectic, which as Kierk says puts passion into life!!
Knight of Faith, Vol. I
By Norman P. Grubb
Bill has now written that too much weight is put on choice, whereas in reality we hardly choose, we just ARE – a driven people, though of course we can temporarily deviate. He has written me so well on this about us basically not “choosing” but just “being”, where our primary choice first fixed us, and even that was hardly a choice but just going where I couldn’t help going when I had seen my need and saw the reality of Christ’s love. I was caught and yet in the “mystery” of the law of opposites the paradox of my friend Kierkegaard, there does remain that amount of choice as in the final word of Revelation...“Whosoever will”. Never beyond the dialectic, which as Kierk says puts passion into life!!
Knight of Faith, Vol. I
The Grace of Wonder: By Joshua Abraham Heschel
The Grace of Wonder
By Joshua Abraham Heschel
Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Delight me to see how your Christ plays in ten thousand places. . .to the Father through the features of men's faces. Each day enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all.
By Joshua Abraham Heschel
Dear Lord, grant me the grace of wonder. Surprise me, amaze me, awe me in every crevice of your universe. Delight me to see how your Christ plays in ten thousand places. . .to the Father through the features of men's faces. Each day enrapture me with your marvelous things without number. I do not ask to see the reason for it all; I ask only to share the wonder of it all.
The Inward Experience of Christ: By James M. Campbell
The Inward Experience of Christ
By James M. Campbell
The Christ who lived In Palestine upward of eighteen hundred years ago lives in the world today. He has direct and constant access to the spirit of man, touching sin-stricken souls with His healing power; quickening dead souls by the inbreathing of His life-giving Spirit; "combating, defeating, expelling the slow death which has crept over the body of humanity." In all His activities within the soul His seeking and saving love is manifest. The eternal love outwardly expressed in the cross is inwardly expressed In His tireless effort to make His great salvation an actuality in human experience. The four Evangelists have given the record of His outward life; those alone, who know Him, not after the flesh but after the spirit, can give the record of His never-ending activity within the inner sphere of the spiritual nature of man.
Of the two hemispheres of truth which constitute the whole gospel - the work of Christ for us, and the work of Christ in us, the latter often suffers a well-nigh total eclipse. Many think almost exclusively of what Christ has done for them, and overlook what He is doing in them; they look at redemption upon the divine side as a finished work, and fail to look at It upon the human side as a continuous work; they are so much taken up with the ideal of Christ dying upon the cross for their offenses as almost to forget that He is living in their hearts to guide, to inspire, to bless, to save.
Before Christian experience can be rounded out to completeness the Godward and manward sides of Christ's work must be embraced in a comprehensive faith; the work of Christ in its entireness must be brought within the inner sphere of personal consciousness; the outward Christ of history must become the Christ of inward experience; the dead Christ of Calvary must become the living Christ of the present; the Christ embalmed in a book must dwell and reign within the heart. It is not Christ upon the cross, nor Christ within the Bible, nor Christ in heaven that saves; but Christ deeply hidden in the inmost spirit; Christ constantly present in the life; Christ the inspiration of every thought and word and deed. Christ in the soul and not Christ buried in a tomb, enshrined in a temple, or seated upon a throne is the life's true Life.
From: The Indwelling Christ. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company
By James M. Campbell
The Christ who lived In Palestine upward of eighteen hundred years ago lives in the world today. He has direct and constant access to the spirit of man, touching sin-stricken souls with His healing power; quickening dead souls by the inbreathing of His life-giving Spirit; "combating, defeating, expelling the slow death which has crept over the body of humanity." In all His activities within the soul His seeking and saving love is manifest. The eternal love outwardly expressed in the cross is inwardly expressed In His tireless effort to make His great salvation an actuality in human experience. The four Evangelists have given the record of His outward life; those alone, who know Him, not after the flesh but after the spirit, can give the record of His never-ending activity within the inner sphere of the spiritual nature of man.
Of the two hemispheres of truth which constitute the whole gospel - the work of Christ for us, and the work of Christ in us, the latter often suffers a well-nigh total eclipse. Many think almost exclusively of what Christ has done for them, and overlook what He is doing in them; they look at redemption upon the divine side as a finished work, and fail to look at It upon the human side as a continuous work; they are so much taken up with the ideal of Christ dying upon the cross for their offenses as almost to forget that He is living in their hearts to guide, to inspire, to bless, to save.
Before Christian experience can be rounded out to completeness the Godward and manward sides of Christ's work must be embraced in a comprehensive faith; the work of Christ in its entireness must be brought within the inner sphere of personal consciousness; the outward Christ of history must become the Christ of inward experience; the dead Christ of Calvary must become the living Christ of the present; the Christ embalmed in a book must dwell and reign within the heart. It is not Christ upon the cross, nor Christ within the Bible, nor Christ in heaven that saves; but Christ deeply hidden in the inmost spirit; Christ constantly present in the life; Christ the inspiration of every thought and word and deed. Christ in the soul and not Christ buried in a tomb, enshrined in a temple, or seated upon a throne is the life's true Life.
From: The Indwelling Christ. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company
Beliefs: - By Norman Grubb
Beliefs
By Norman P. Grubb
No, the curious thing is that it is here precisely we differ from the holiness brethren. I will send you a reply I’ve just written to Ted Hegre, who kindly wrote, because it hits the very spot. If we humans have a nature spoiled by sin, then sanctified by a second work of Grace, then how do we sin again without becoming unsanctified? That is why they are accused of “sinless perfection”. But we are saying that we in our humanity can respond, because it was not a change in us which took place, but in the Indwelling one in us (Rom.8.9 in place of 7.17). Then I grant you the way of saying “as us” does raise questions such as you say, implying “obliteration”. But we might say Jesus saying “Ye are the light of the world” is about the same, when we are in reality only lamps manifesting the light. And such phrases as “ye bear fruit”, when it is the Vines fruit manifested in us the branches etc. And our main point is, as you know it well enough among our Weccers, and far more so among millions of believers, they stumble along in maintaining an abiding relationship as two related to each other, and it is only those in whom there has been the revelation of a fixed inner union consciousness, who freely act as spontaneous Christ-expressors – the “abiding” being merely a recognition of an experienced fact. Paul again says it, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. He admittedly kind of contradicts himself when he adds “liveth in me” when he had just said “yet not I”: but that is just the almost impossibility of expressing a paradox; and we in “union life” move more strongly over to the emphasis that we are He in our form, He as us; for then we are equally spontaneous in us “having the mind of Christ”, and we willing and doing because it is He willing and doing in us. I know it is a fine point, and open to question; but we see the whole Bible full of men, and finally Jesus Himself when The Dove entered Him, speaking and acting as speaking the words of God (Matt.10.20), and doing the deeds of God (John 5:17,19). And as for saying “we spontaneously operate Him”, again it may be a clumsy effort for saying that “we have the faith of God” (mark 11:22); and what else is it if we say to a mountain “Be thou removed” etc. We are operating as God, He at our disposal!
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
By Norman P. Grubb
No, the curious thing is that it is here precisely we differ from the holiness brethren. I will send you a reply I’ve just written to Ted Hegre, who kindly wrote, because it hits the very spot. If we humans have a nature spoiled by sin, then sanctified by a second work of Grace, then how do we sin again without becoming unsanctified? That is why they are accused of “sinless perfection”. But we are saying that we in our humanity can respond, because it was not a change in us which took place, but in the Indwelling one in us (Rom.8.9 in place of 7.17). Then I grant you the way of saying “as us” does raise questions such as you say, implying “obliteration”. But we might say Jesus saying “Ye are the light of the world” is about the same, when we are in reality only lamps manifesting the light. And such phrases as “ye bear fruit”, when it is the Vines fruit manifested in us the branches etc. And our main point is, as you know it well enough among our Weccers, and far more so among millions of believers, they stumble along in maintaining an abiding relationship as two related to each other, and it is only those in whom there has been the revelation of a fixed inner union consciousness, who freely act as spontaneous Christ-expressors – the “abiding” being merely a recognition of an experienced fact. Paul again says it, “I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. He admittedly kind of contradicts himself when he adds “liveth in me” when he had just said “yet not I”: but that is just the almost impossibility of expressing a paradox; and we in “union life” move more strongly over to the emphasis that we are He in our form, He as us; for then we are equally spontaneous in us “having the mind of Christ”, and we willing and doing because it is He willing and doing in us. I know it is a fine point, and open to question; but we see the whole Bible full of men, and finally Jesus Himself when The Dove entered Him, speaking and acting as speaking the words of God (Matt.10.20), and doing the deeds of God (John 5:17,19). And as for saying “we spontaneously operate Him”, again it may be a clumsy effort for saying that “we have the faith of God” (mark 11:22); and what else is it if we say to a mountain “Be thou removed” etc. We are operating as God, He at our disposal!
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
The Three Stages of Self:- by Norman P. Grubb
The Three Stages of Self
By Norman P. Grubb
We have, in fact, to pass through three phases in our attitude towards and understanding of ourselves. We start life by a false attempt at self-appreciation. We try to make out we are all right: "going about to establish our own righteousness", the Bible calls it. That finishes when we become honest about ourselves in the sight of God, and our repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is an end to our false self-appreciation.
This is followed by often a long period of self-depreciation. As new-born Christians, we are making the discovery that it is not in redeemed self, any more than it was in unredeemed self, to be what we should be. So we are much more conscious of our failings, our inadequate human selves, than we are of Christ in us. We condemn ourselves, we stress our weaknesses, we speak of our hunger and need, our inadequate love for God, our sins. We say that if God does anything with our lives, it is in spite of us (whereas in fact it is because of us), and so forth. This is the phase of temporary self-depreciation, necessary for us to learn the truth about ourselves, but only temporary.
The third and final phase is rightful self-appreciation. From false self-appreciation, through temporary self-depreciation, to true self-appreciation. This is when in the union we have found for ever we are only the vessels that contain God; but we are vessels, and more, we are vessels who are really persons; and our humanity is now the self-expression of the Living God. We are the light of the world. We are the eternal love in action. The center of our inner consciousness has moved over from self-depreciation to God-appreciation and thus to self-appreciation. It is a significant proof that we have not life yet in gear, we have not yet come full circle, when our normal reactions in situations are to emphasize our weakness and need rather than our ability.
"I can do all things," said Paul. "We are more than conquerors," said Paul again. "We are well able to overcome it," said Caleb. "I am full of power," said Micah. But in each case they added that it was "through Christ", or "by the Spirit of the Lord", or some such statement. However, the primary emphasis was not on Him in them, but on themselves, and they "able ministers of the new covenant"-through Him. Their emphasis was not on their weakness but on their strength-by Him. This is the true self-affirmation.
taken from The Spontaneous You by Norman Grubb
By Norman P. Grubb
We have, in fact, to pass through three phases in our attitude towards and understanding of ourselves. We start life by a false attempt at self-appreciation. We try to make out we are all right: "going about to establish our own righteousness", the Bible calls it. That finishes when we become honest about ourselves in the sight of God, and our repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is an end to our false self-appreciation.
This is followed by often a long period of self-depreciation. As new-born Christians, we are making the discovery that it is not in redeemed self, any more than it was in unredeemed self, to be what we should be. So we are much more conscious of our failings, our inadequate human selves, than we are of Christ in us. We condemn ourselves, we stress our weaknesses, we speak of our hunger and need, our inadequate love for God, our sins. We say that if God does anything with our lives, it is in spite of us (whereas in fact it is because of us), and so forth. This is the phase of temporary self-depreciation, necessary for us to learn the truth about ourselves, but only temporary.
The third and final phase is rightful self-appreciation. From false self-appreciation, through temporary self-depreciation, to true self-appreciation. This is when in the union we have found for ever we are only the vessels that contain God; but we are vessels, and more, we are vessels who are really persons; and our humanity is now the self-expression of the Living God. We are the light of the world. We are the eternal love in action. The center of our inner consciousness has moved over from self-depreciation to God-appreciation and thus to self-appreciation. It is a significant proof that we have not life yet in gear, we have not yet come full circle, when our normal reactions in situations are to emphasize our weakness and need rather than our ability.
"I can do all things," said Paul. "We are more than conquerors," said Paul again. "We are well able to overcome it," said Caleb. "I am full of power," said Micah. But in each case they added that it was "through Christ", or "by the Spirit of the Lord", or some such statement. However, the primary emphasis was not on Him in them, but on themselves, and they "able ministers of the new covenant"-through Him. Their emphasis was not on their weakness but on their strength-by Him. This is the true self-affirmation.
taken from The Spontaneous You by Norman Grubb
Illusions - by Norman P. Grubb
Illusions
By Norman P. Grubb
I believe God gives dark moments, and apparent clouds (II Cor. 12:7), so as to teach us that these things are an illusion and a mere outward appearance, and thus to teach us to live where we really are - with Christ joined to us within, Spirit with spirit. I believe the great lesson of life is with the outward eye to see and feel evil and dark and lonely appearances around us, but for us to learn not to believe in them (for we experience what we believe), but to transfer our faith to the Unchanging One with whom we are in union within. That is where we really live, right in the midst of outward darkness.
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
By Norman P. Grubb
I believe God gives dark moments, and apparent clouds (II Cor. 12:7), so as to teach us that these things are an illusion and a mere outward appearance, and thus to teach us to live where we really are - with Christ joined to us within, Spirit with spirit. I believe the great lesson of life is with the outward eye to see and feel evil and dark and lonely appearances around us, but for us to learn not to believe in them (for we experience what we believe), but to transfer our faith to the Unchanging One with whom we are in union within. That is where we really live, right in the midst of outward darkness.
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
Beliefs: By Norman Grubb
Beliefs
By Norman P. Grubb
It seems clear to me and I seek to make it plain in the Romans booklet, (and yet by responses already received hardly any seem to me to see the depth and radicalness of this problem which really almost defeats the church of Christ), that the great number even of those who do ‘see’ far enough to affirm “Christ in me”, and hopefully stand square on our Galatians 2:20 faith affirmation, while they say, “Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me”, are tangled up by the first phrase of the “I am crucified with Christ”. I have had several letters lately taking that first phrase to be “death to self”, and say so. But then the tangle is, when we are honest, self does not appear by any means to be “dead”, but I have constant trouble with fears, resentments, depressions, lusts, and a whole list of other ‘flesh’ diversions rising up thru my “me”; and the best I can do is “counteract” (an old favorite phrase of Keswick) by the fact of Christ in me: and I surely have to live very carefully preserving my “abiding” life, for ‘death to self’ to have any real meaning to me. (And actually that phrase is not in the Scripture!).
We are forever humans and have human responses and are meant to, but they are overflowed by Christ in us; and indeed unless we were first living human persons with human reactions, we should not be the persons by whom He unveils Himself.
So I want to say again that this is where the vast error and delusion has captured the vast majority of believers. The delusion is that I have a very, to say the least, inconsistent self, which often seems by no means ‘dead’. I give it a bad name by calling it “flesh” (though actually my ‘flesh’ is God’s beautiful human creation) – “the life that I now live in the flesh!”
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
By Norman P. Grubb
It seems clear to me and I seek to make it plain in the Romans booklet, (and yet by responses already received hardly any seem to me to see the depth and radicalness of this problem which really almost defeats the church of Christ), that the great number even of those who do ‘see’ far enough to affirm “Christ in me”, and hopefully stand square on our Galatians 2:20 faith affirmation, while they say, “Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me”, are tangled up by the first phrase of the “I am crucified with Christ”. I have had several letters lately taking that first phrase to be “death to self”, and say so. But then the tangle is, when we are honest, self does not appear by any means to be “dead”, but I have constant trouble with fears, resentments, depressions, lusts, and a whole list of other ‘flesh’ diversions rising up thru my “me”; and the best I can do is “counteract” (an old favorite phrase of Keswick) by the fact of Christ in me: and I surely have to live very carefully preserving my “abiding” life, for ‘death to self’ to have any real meaning to me. (And actually that phrase is not in the Scripture!).
We are forever humans and have human responses and are meant to, but they are overflowed by Christ in us; and indeed unless we were first living human persons with human reactions, we should not be the persons by whom He unveils Himself.
So I want to say again that this is where the vast error and delusion has captured the vast majority of believers. The delusion is that I have a very, to say the least, inconsistent self, which often seems by no means ‘dead’. I give it a bad name by calling it “flesh” (though actually my ‘flesh’ is God’s beautiful human creation) – “the life that I now live in the flesh!”
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
His Love in Your Spirit - By Gene Edwards
His Love in Your Spirit
By Gene Edwards
Most of us have a very poor opinion of ourselves. It is a Christian disease. And you would think God had an even worse opinion of us. He doesn't. Why does He have such a high opinion of us? Everything negative ended on the Cross. It was done, finished. He emerges from the smoke and fire a passionate Lord. He does not care what you were. He is not interested in the old creation. Or its fall. Or what used to be here. Is God enamored, then, with what He did for you? I am utterly amazed at the way He forgot it all! He does not care about what He did on the cross. It is over. It is done. It is finished. He got what He wanted. You are part of His bride; you are perfect, pure. You are holy. You are a virgin. He is only wanting one thing. He wants you to start loving Him. Now! Hang the future. Forget the past. There is only one thing left and it is right now.
"Lord Jesus, You said I was beautiful. I'm not going to argue the point. I am beautiful. You Lord, cannot see that I am a fallen being. You are no longer capable of that. I see I am. I feel I am. I know I am. But Lord, You do not know these things. I am just going to stop being bothered by it all. I know about my terrible state. I am going to take Your view. I am not here to be a forgiven sinner. I am not here to know that I have been made perfect. I have been made perfect. Today, I sin, but for Your sake, I must not let that get me down. In some amazing, incredible way, these things do not even bother You. You see me on a different plane, in a different dimension, in another creation. Lord, You want just one thing out of me. You want me to stand here and let You love me. You want me more than anything in the universe. As of right now, You've got me. You have forgotten everything, I forget everything. Do what you wish, love me."
What we are dealing with are things we just do not want to believe. You are almost repelled by such an idea. And yet, you want to believe it. If you ever do start believing it, there will be no event that ever happens to you but what you will sit down in front of it and rest.
I heard someone pray, "Lord, we are not worthy of this love." That has got to go. I heard someone else, "Teach me to love You and receive Your love." That has got to go. There is no more future. There no more, "Lord, teach me. . ." There is no more, Lord, my sinfulness." "Now" is a big word in God's universe. Get to the now. Love your Lord. Now. With all your heart. Now. The Lord Jesus Christ is looking for someone who will turn around and say, "Lord, I am blind to what I know about myself and to what is a space-time reality. I am open to all that You DO NOT know, or things You think are true which I believe cannot be true. I forget that You made a great mistake in educating me. I believe what You believe. . . about me. I believe You love me. I open my being to You. I embrace You. I yield utterly; You are free to love me. Let love begin." It is like He is waiting for someone in the universe to be so daring as to dare to believe the absurd; to believe the ridiculous; to dare to believe what He sees. In that moment He gets His bride. Either God is God or He is not. Either He loves you or He does not. Either He died for you and it is finished or it is not. Either you are a holy, precious, beautiful, flawless, blameless, perfect, glorious virgin or you are not. Either He wishes to pour out His love on you right now or He does not. It is so easy to find out what is real. How? Yield! No. Crumble.
By Gene Edwards
Most of us have a very poor opinion of ourselves. It is a Christian disease. And you would think God had an even worse opinion of us. He doesn't. Why does He have such a high opinion of us? Everything negative ended on the Cross. It was done, finished. He emerges from the smoke and fire a passionate Lord. He does not care what you were. He is not interested in the old creation. Or its fall. Or what used to be here. Is God enamored, then, with what He did for you? I am utterly amazed at the way He forgot it all! He does not care about what He did on the cross. It is over. It is done. It is finished. He got what He wanted. You are part of His bride; you are perfect, pure. You are holy. You are a virgin. He is only wanting one thing. He wants you to start loving Him. Now! Hang the future. Forget the past. There is only one thing left and it is right now.
"Lord Jesus, You said I was beautiful. I'm not going to argue the point. I am beautiful. You Lord, cannot see that I am a fallen being. You are no longer capable of that. I see I am. I feel I am. I know I am. But Lord, You do not know these things. I am just going to stop being bothered by it all. I know about my terrible state. I am going to take Your view. I am not here to be a forgiven sinner. I am not here to know that I have been made perfect. I have been made perfect. Today, I sin, but for Your sake, I must not let that get me down. In some amazing, incredible way, these things do not even bother You. You see me on a different plane, in a different dimension, in another creation. Lord, You want just one thing out of me. You want me to stand here and let You love me. You want me more than anything in the universe. As of right now, You've got me. You have forgotten everything, I forget everything. Do what you wish, love me."
What we are dealing with are things we just do not want to believe. You are almost repelled by such an idea. And yet, you want to believe it. If you ever do start believing it, there will be no event that ever happens to you but what you will sit down in front of it and rest.
I heard someone pray, "Lord, we are not worthy of this love." That has got to go. I heard someone else, "Teach me to love You and receive Your love." That has got to go. There is no more future. There no more, "Lord, teach me. . ." There is no more, Lord, my sinfulness." "Now" is a big word in God's universe. Get to the now. Love your Lord. Now. With all your heart. Now. The Lord Jesus Christ is looking for someone who will turn around and say, "Lord, I am blind to what I know about myself and to what is a space-time reality. I am open to all that You DO NOT know, or things You think are true which I believe cannot be true. I forget that You made a great mistake in educating me. I believe what You believe. . . about me. I believe You love me. I open my being to You. I embrace You. I yield utterly; You are free to love me. Let love begin." It is like He is waiting for someone in the universe to be so daring as to dare to believe the absurd; to believe the ridiculous; to dare to believe what He sees. In that moment He gets His bride. Either God is God or He is not. Either He loves you or He does not. Either He died for you and it is finished or it is not. Either you are a holy, precious, beautiful, flawless, blameless, perfect, glorious virgin or you are not. Either He wishes to pour out His love on you right now or He does not. It is so easy to find out what is real. How? Yield! No. Crumble.
taken from The Love of God by Gene Edwards
The Overshadowing of God's Personal Deliverance :By Oswald Chambers
The Overshadowing of God's Personal Deliverance
By Oswald Chambers
. . . I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord — Jeremiah 1:8
God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally—". . . your life shall be as a prize to you . . ." ( Jeremiah 39:18 ). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.
The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, "Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly." Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, "Why should I be treated like this?" If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, "Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance." Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard—we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6 ).
By Oswald Chambers
. . . I am with you to deliver you,’ says the Lord — Jeremiah 1:8
God promised Jeremiah that He would deliver him personally—". . . your life shall be as a prize to you . . ." ( Jeremiah 39:18 ). That is all God promises His children. Wherever God sends us, He will guard our lives. Our personal property and possessions are to be a matter of indifference to us, and our hold on these things should be very loose. If this is not the case, we will have panic, heartache, and distress. Having the proper outlook is evidence of the deeply rooted belief in the overshadowing of God’s personal deliverance.
The Sermon on the Mount indicates that when we are on a mission for Jesus Christ, there is no time to stand up for ourselves. Jesus says, in effect, "Don’t worry about whether or not you are being treated justly." Looking for justice is actually a sign that we have been diverted from our devotion to Him. Never look for justice in this world, but never cease to give it. If we look for justice, we will only begin to complain and to indulge ourselves in the discontent of self-pity, as if to say, "Why should I be treated like this?" If we are devoted to Jesus Christ, we have nothing to do with what we encounter, whether it is just or unjust. In essence, Jesus says, "Continue steadily on with what I have told you to do, and I will guard your life. If you try to guard it yourself, you remove yourself from My deliverance." Even the most devout among us become atheistic in this regard—we do not believe Him. We put our common sense on the throne and then attach God’s name to it. We do lean to our own understanding, instead of trusting God with all our hearts (see Proverbs 3:5-6 ).
FREEDOM By Norman P. Grubb
Freedom
By Norman P. Grubb
Freedom is never being anything. That is a kind of LSD delusion which runs us into nothingness. Freedom is the necessity of choice, for we are only consciously free because we stand between alternatives and have to choose, and such choice makes us captive to our choice. So the eternal issue is presented to us – is freedom choosing self-interest and the bondage of self-gratification or is freedom choosing with God’s other-interest and the bondage of other-love: and we find that heaven, for it is God.
By Norman P. Grubb
Freedom is never being anything. That is a kind of LSD delusion which runs us into nothingness. Freedom is the necessity of choice, for we are only consciously free because we stand between alternatives and have to choose, and such choice makes us captive to our choice. So the eternal issue is presented to us – is freedom choosing self-interest and the bondage of self-gratification or is freedom choosing with God’s other-interest and the bondage of other-love: and we find that heaven, for it is God.
The Basis of our Community:By Dietrich Bonhoeffer Bonhoeffer
The Basis of our Community
By Deitrich Bonhoeffer
The fact that we are brethren only through Jesus Christ is of immeasurable significance. Not only the other person who is earnest and devout, who comes to me seeking brotherhood, must I deal with in fellowship. My brother is rather that other person who has been redeemed by Christ, delivered from sin and called to faith and eternal life.
Our community with one another consists solely of what Christ has done to both of us. I have community with others and I shall continue to have community only through Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and His work become the one and only thing that is vital between us.
Christian community is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.
Excerpts from 'Devotional Classics' edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith
Deitrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
By Deitrich Bonhoeffer
The fact that we are brethren only through Jesus Christ is of immeasurable significance. Not only the other person who is earnest and devout, who comes to me seeking brotherhood, must I deal with in fellowship. My brother is rather that other person who has been redeemed by Christ, delivered from sin and called to faith and eternal life.
Our community with one another consists solely of what Christ has done to both of us. I have community with others and I shall continue to have community only through Jesus Christ. The more genuine and the deeper our community becomes, the more will everything else between us recede, the more clearly and purely will Jesus Christ and His work become the one and only thing that is vital between us.
Christian community is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate.
Excerpts from 'Devotional Classics' edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith
Deitrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)
An Habitual, Silent and Secret Conversation : By Brother Lawrence
An Habitual, Silent and Secret Conversation
By Brother Lawrence
When I reached the point where I wanted to quit, I found myself changed all at once. I found a sense of peace in my soul. Ever since that time I have walked before God in simple faith, with humility and with love and I apply myself diligently to do nothing and to think nothing which might displease God. I hope that when I have done what I can, He will do with me as He pleases.
I no longer have any pain or difficulty in my devotional life because I have no will except that of God's which I endeavor to do in all things. I make it my practice to preserve His holy presence by simple attention and a general fond regard of God. In other words I make hole a habitual, silent and secret conversation with God all day long.
This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastening me, embraces me with love, invites me to feast at His table, serves me with His own hands and gives me the key to His treasures. He converses with me and takes delight in me and treats me as if I were His favorite. this is how imagine myself from time to time in His holy presence.
If sometimes my thoughts wander from God because of necessity, I am recalled back to God soon after by inward sensations so charming and delicious that I am afraid to speak of them.
I desire only Him and to be wholly devoted to Him.
Excerpts from 'Devotional Classics' edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith
Brother Lawrence (1611-1691)
By Brother Lawrence
When I reached the point where I wanted to quit, I found myself changed all at once. I found a sense of peace in my soul. Ever since that time I have walked before God in simple faith, with humility and with love and I apply myself diligently to do nothing and to think nothing which might displease God. I hope that when I have done what I can, He will do with me as He pleases.
I no longer have any pain or difficulty in my devotional life because I have no will except that of God's which I endeavor to do in all things. I make it my practice to preserve His holy presence by simple attention and a general fond regard of God. In other words I make hole a habitual, silent and secret conversation with God all day long.
This King, full of mercy and goodness, very far from chastening me, embraces me with love, invites me to feast at His table, serves me with His own hands and gives me the key to His treasures. He converses with me and takes delight in me and treats me as if I were His favorite. this is how imagine myself from time to time in His holy presence.
If sometimes my thoughts wander from God because of necessity, I am recalled back to God soon after by inward sensations so charming and delicious that I am afraid to speak of them.
I desire only Him and to be wholly devoted to Him.
Excerpts from 'Devotional Classics' edited by Richard Foster and James Bryan Smith
Brother Lawrence (1611-1691)
Sufferings of Christ: By Norman Grubb
Sufferings of Christ
By Norman P. Grubb
We see continual identification with Christ in His death, both in our initial entering into our union relationship with Him, and then in all the “pressures” of daily living as a permanent daily sharing of His dyings whether in large or small ways, but it is to us the hidden background to living in resurrection reality in and as Him, and on into ascension. We see this is precisely the whole glory tone of Paul right thru his great intercession letter of II Cor, and particularly given us in the victory paragraph of 4.7-18. We go along with C.T. Studd (a great “sufferer” in human terms as I lived with him in Congo) who wrote “Take my life and let it be, a hidden cross revealing Thee”. And now you see we have not been seeing the glory, as with Paul, but almost total emphasis on your sufferings, which make us regard them as not the true sharing in HIS SUFFERINGS. BUT RATHER flesh-sufferings, not “died to” as the Scriptures shew us to do in our union reality with Him.
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
By Norman P. Grubb
We see continual identification with Christ in His death, both in our initial entering into our union relationship with Him, and then in all the “pressures” of daily living as a permanent daily sharing of His dyings whether in large or small ways, but it is to us the hidden background to living in resurrection reality in and as Him, and on into ascension. We see this is precisely the whole glory tone of Paul right thru his great intercession letter of II Cor, and particularly given us in the victory paragraph of 4.7-18. We go along with C.T. Studd (a great “sufferer” in human terms as I lived with him in Congo) who wrote “Take my life and let it be, a hidden cross revealing Thee”. And now you see we have not been seeing the glory, as with Paul, but almost total emphasis on your sufferings, which make us regard them as not the true sharing in HIS SUFFERINGS. BUT RATHER flesh-sufferings, not “died to” as the Scriptures shew us to do in our union reality with Him.
From Knight of Faith, Vol.I
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