Limiting God

I have some more things I want to post that are from the same author I have been posting from. Hope you can get something from them. Part 1

God gave a gift - His Son - and I accepted that gift. I received Jesus Christ. Not only did I believe His work, but I accepted His Person. God's salvation isn't a place or a passage. It is a Person. So Colossians 2:6 tells us, "As ye have received . . . so walk." How did I receive Christ? I received Him by faith and with empty hands. I did nothings toward my salvation - "not by works of righteousness which we have done" (Titus 3:5). I simply realized my need, believed God's answer to my need, and accepted Christ as my Saviour. The moment I accepted Him I was saved, delivered out of Egypt's bondage (a world that held us bondage to sin) by the shed blood of Christ. Also, I was in Christ, and because I was in Christ, I became a new creature.
Now that is perfectly true positionally and potentially, but very often it is not true practically. What I failed to do was to go on - to walk as I had received. I thought that because I had received Jesus as my Saviour, that was that. My sins were forgiven, I was saved, so now I had to be a good boy and live the Christian life. But that is where I got stuck in the wilderness, wandering and limiting God. I thought it was up to me now to live a good life, doing my best to serve Him - but nothing ever seemed to happen. I spent many years wandering in the desert. I wasn't in Egypt any more. I had been delivered, but I found it rather miserable, and sometimes monotonous living in the wilderness. Sometimes I came upon a little oasis which was very thrilling, but it only served to make me long for more such places.
Then one day God opened this verse to me. As I had received Christ Jesus, in just the same way I had to walk, day by day, in Him. I had to walk in Him, not in the wilderness. Jesus Christ is Canaan (the Promised Land). God brought me out so that He could bring me in - in Christ. Praise God, I had discovered the secret of progress. In His mercy, God let me see the simplicity of the whole thing. I just have to walk, receiving. When I came first, I received Christ. Now as I walk day by day, I continue to receive Him. He is all I need. He is made unto me all I can ever want.
So now my daily Christian life is a moment by moment experience of receiving Christ. Whatever problem, fear, anxiety, temptation or frustration comes into my life, it isn't my job to meet it. My job is to expose the whole situation to Christ Jesus the Lord, and then to walk believing that what He has promised H will also perform.
That is what God means when He says in II Corinthians 5:17 that "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." So many of us are positionally and potentially new creatures in Christ, but practically we are still doing the old things, still wandering in the wilderness and getting nowhere. But all things can become new if only we will walk day by day, moment by moment, receiving "all that He is, for all that I need."
---- John E. Hunter ----- Limiting God

Living Sacrifice Continued

This is part 2 of what I started posting yesterday:

The sacrifice that I present to God - that is my whole self - must have three characteristics. It must be living, holy, acceptable. If I have made this threefold sacrifice, then I will prove the will of God to be threefold - good, acceptable, perfect. The trinity of presentation brings a trinity of proof.
If my sacrifice, my presentation of myself, is living, alert, ready and fully prepared, then the will of God will always be good to me. The mercy of God that gave me life will lead me always to expect nothing but good from such a Heavenly Father. Because I now live, He can be nothing but goodness to me.
If the presentation of myself to God is holy, then whatever His will may be, it will be acceptable to me. The word "holy" here means separate, set apart for God, and the word "acceptable" means well-pleasing. Thus if I am truly set apart for God and His purposes, whatever His will may be, it is well-pleasing to me.
If my offering is acceptable, then I will find His will to be perfect. "Acceptable" again means well-pleasing, and "perfect" here means complete, with nothing missing. How appropriate this third part is then. If I am well-pleasing to God, His will will be complete, nothing will be missing. Thus, if I present myself, I will most surely prove His will to be good, well-pleasing and complete. And so it will come to pass that my prepared heart, ready always to do His will, will never limit the purpose and counsels of God.
Another truth we find in Romans 12:1,2, is that "presentation leads to transformation." As I present my body, living, holy, acceptable to God, the command then comes in verse 2, "Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed." This transformation is not something I can do myself. I can only be transformed by the renewing of my mind - or as the Amplified Version says, "by the [entire] renewal of your mind - by its new ideals and its new attitude."
This is the cost of having a prepared heart.
--- John E. Hunter ----

On Being A Living Sacrifice

I read something really good and I thought I would spend the next few posts sharing it with you. So, here is part 1:

"Maximum possible preparation" - that is how you and I ought to be in relation to God. Not that when faced with an opportunity of service for Him, we consider it and think about it then and there. But that we have a heart which has been properly prepared right from the start. We have faced Romans 12:1 and on our knees we have come to the only possible decision. From that moment we. . .are fully prepared, awaiting only the word of command. The tragedy is that so many Christians have dodged the issue at the start. They never said "Yes" and they never said "No". There was just a hazy indecision which meant but one thing, an unprepared heart. So, as always, God was limited because they were unprepared.
Let us bring this verse into the open and face up to it, once and for all. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." We should first of all realize what it doesn't mean. To present my body a living sacrifice doesn't mean giving a little more to the offering in church. Nor does it mean going to church more often. Nor does it mean being a better man or woman. Neither does it mean going to Bible College, or to the mission field, or becoming a pastor, or a Christian worker. It means exactly what it says.
I must first of all consider the mercies of God to me - how good He has been to me, how HE has saved me from a lost eternity, how He has made it possible for me, at the end of this very short earthly life, to be with Him in a place of perfection - a new heaven where there is no hunger, no separation, no pain, no sorrow and no sin. This blessed place will be my home for eternity! How amazing are the mercies of God, when all the time I might have been left in my sin to go to a Christless eternity of separation from God. I should think on these things until, "by the mercies of God" and because of His everlasting goodness, I kneel before Him to say, "thank you."
But my feeling of gratitude is such that words are not enough. Instead of speaking, I present myself to God. I present not only my time, my talents, but my very self, with words like this: "O Heavenly Father, my heart is full of gratitude for all Your goodness to me. I am only a poor wretched sinner, and yet You have made me Your child. You have received me into Your family and into Your everlasting Kingdom. Now, O God, I present myself as a living sacrifice to You, for You to use, as and where You will. My heart is prepared, O God, my hands are off my life. I am ready waiting Your command. For Christ's sake. Amen."
If we are honest about the whole thing, this is the only possible decision to make. As Paul puts it, this is "your reasonable service." (How unreasonable some of us are!) Having made that decision, having presented our bodies in one solemn act of dedication, we may arise and go forward with a prepared heart. We are then in a position of permanent availability, so that God can call on us at any time, and under any circumstances. When the opportunity arises for witness or service, the question of what we should do need never arise. We have made a complete, once-for-all presentation of ourselves, and we expect God to take us at our word.
--- John E. Hunter, Limiting God

For Now

Although it's most likely not the greatest thing you ever read, this sort of sums up me at the moment. Please forgive this clumsy attempt at the literary form of poetry; it is all I can manage at the moment.

Me and You

When life's so crazy it doesn't make sense
When my heart's so broken it can't be fixed
When my world is in shambles all around
When I've been knocked to the cold, hard ground
You're still there to pick me up
Hold my hand and help me stand
Your strong arms cradle and steady me
Your embrace, so sweet, warms and fills me.
When tears like drop start from my eyes
When one, then two, then thousands stream
When hurt engulfs and there's too many "why's"
When questions haunt and answers are a dream
You're still strong, your love so real
You breathe on me, "Peace, be still"
You're a healing salve, a soothing balm
You bring such relief, work such calm.
When my soul aches from its endless torture
When my tongue is mute, no words can form
When cries and groans are all I can utter
When I'm so weary, so weak, so worn
You're always there, my One and Only
The I Am that I Am - everything I need.
You're my Refuge, my Fortress, my All in All;
You make me whole, help me continue to be.