The Glory of God

[Sean James]

Jesus loves you and has a perfect plan for your life. No matter what your past, and no matter what crisis is taking place in our world, you may freely come to Jesus as did Mary and become one of His "Final Moment Miracles"--a portrait of what His grace can do to transform the most sinful, broken and helpless soul into a new creation whose heart and mind are in fully surrendered harmony with the divine nature so that the attributes of heaven--love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance may flow forth through your soul as freely as did the anointing oil that Mary lavished on Jesus. Oh, how Jesus longs to see the revelation of His character in us!! As we come to Him in penitence and humiliation, realizing our continual need of Jesus, He lifts us into His service with a purpose and love that dispels our fears and gives us courage for the final crisis stealing upon our world! Let us look to Jesus, the amazing Savior who has never lost a case entrusted fully to Him!!

Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. You may say, I am sinful, very sinful. You may be; but the worse you are, the more you need Jesus. He turns no weeping, contrite one away. He does not tell to any all that He might reveal, but He bids every trembling soul take courage. Freely will He pardon all who come to Him for forgiveness and restoration. 

Come as you are, for there is no other way to come to Christ. But give Jesus full permission to unite your finite weakness to His divine strength to keep you steadfast by the word of God, the transforming agency applied by the Holy Spirit in renewing us into the image of His purity! Oh, what wondrous love is this that Jesus would leave heaven to save such a worm as you and I! Jesus saves us not because we are are so good, but because He is so good, and He sees what we may become through His grace! Through the merits of Christ's blood each soul is of infinite value in God's sight, and we may so experience oneness with Christ that His light, His character, shines through to reach other hearts with hope in earth's final hour!

[Sean James]

May we realize that the same doom that came upon Jerusalem in 70 AD is about to fall upon the entire world as the seven last plagues will be poured out upon the impenitent and unbelieving. May we see in Christ's yearning for the repentance of His people during His triumphal ride a heart appeal to us to turn completely to Jesus with a full-heart surrender so He may give us the miracle of conversion in our hearts! Oh, let us see the true value of each soul for whom Christ died by beholding Him laying down His life for us on Calvary!

Jerusalem had been the child of His care, and as a tender father mourns over a wayward son, so Jesus wept over the beloved city. How can I give thee up? How can I see thee devoted to destruction? Must I let thee go to fill up the cup of thine iniquity? One soul is of such value that, in comparison with it, worlds sink into insignificance; but here was a whole nation to be lost. When the fast westering sun should pass from sight in the heavens, Jerusalem's day of grace would be ended. While the procession was halting on the brow of Olivet, it was not yet too late for Jerusalem to repent. The angel of mercy was then folding her wings to step down from the golden throne to give place to justice and swift-coming judgment. But Christ's great heart of love still pleaded for Jerusalem, that had scorned His mercies, despised His warnings, and was about to imbrue her hands in His blood. If Jerusalem would but repent, it was not yet too late. While the last rays of the setting sun were lingering on temple, tower, and pinnacle, would not some good angel lead her to the Saviour's love, and avert her doom? Beautiful and unholy city, that had stoned the prophets, that had rejected the Son of God, that was locking herself by her impenitence in fetters of bondage,--her day of mercy was almost spent!

As we choose to respond to Christ in full surrender of the heart to Him, He will blot out our transgressions and give us a new heart and a new mind imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit--not one missing. Otherwise, we will inevitably drift in the downward course to eternal ruin, and oh how that would break the heart of Jesus! He gave all for us, and shall we not yield all to Him so we may gladden His heart by the joy of being with Him--one of His redeemed sons or daughters for eternity? Let us look and live, and know the depth of that love given us in Christ more fully this day!

[Sean James]

I choose Jesus this day, and desire His help to be in complete harmony with His will. Looking upon Jesus whose heart was pained by the fruitless fig tree that represented His nation that had not responded as a corporate people to His pleading love, I pray that each of our hearts may be sensitive the Holy Spirit and willing to accept the gift of repentance in turning us away from our iniquities. Only true repentance will bring true fruit into the life. What fruit? "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:22-23). We cannot originate or perpetuate these traits of the divine nature. Like a complete whole (like light from the sunshine that contains every hue of the light spectrum), all these traits of the infilling of the Holy Spirit will be manifest in one who has invited Jesus into the soul temple to abide there and live out His self-sacrificing life. Only in Christ is there life. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12). May you today--for only today is granted us--respond to Jesus' loving invitation to have Him give you His life, for apart from Him there is only eternal death, the results of resisting His loving call to repentance.

All the trees in the fig orchard were destitute of fruit; but the leafless trees raised no expectation, and caused no disappointment. By these trees the Gentiles were represented. They were as destitute as were the Jews of godliness; but they had not professed to serve God. They made no boastful pretensions to goodness. They were blind to the works and ways of God. With them the time of figs was not yet. They were still waiting for a day which would bring them light and hope. The Jews, who had received greater blessings from God, were held accountable for their abuse of these gifts. The privileges of which they boasted only increased their guilt.

The greater part of the world's teeming billions have not yet seen an accurate picture of the character of God. Jesus understands all this. And so it is to those who have had the privilege of knowing the loveliness of His character that He calls upon to walk with Him in total heart surrender in an ever-deepening repentance, that the final movement to prepare for His second coming may be fulfilled: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come" (Matthew 24:14). My prayer is that we may be found faithful to do our part in sharing this revelation of Jesus' character--not merely in words, but in how we allow the Holy Spirit to so shape our thoughts and aims that we are doing God's will continually--and inviting others into the miraculous joy of what it means to be converted and live for the glory of God and the benefit of humanity. The world needs a message of hope, and Jesus has entrusted that to us as we commune with Him! I pray that you will be able to join, starting on April 17, 2020 at 7pm ET/6pm ET and also 7pm Pacific for "Hope Awakens," a free online event that will present hope in these final moments of earth's history. You can register and invite others to do so simply by going to hopeawakens.com! May God bless you in letting Christ in you, the hope of glory, bear fruit through your life this day on a moment-by-moment basis!

[Sean James]

This morning I was impressed with the thought of how God holds out the same character of love to all people, and it is by the choices we make that determine our destiny for this world and the world to come. Many will blame God for the bad things that happen in life or in the world--even the Covid-19 crisis, failing to realize that there is an enemy who has done this. Matthew 13:28. Oh, that we may more fully value things of eternal worth, and this Sabbath reflect on Jesus who holds out His invitation for our hearts to be "all in" for Him, so He can align us with His plan that means an experiential realization of His character!

And on "whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." The people who rejected Christ were soon to see their city and their nation destroyed. Their glory would be broken, and scattered as the dust before the wind. And what was it that destroyed the Jews? It was the rock which, had they built upon it, would have been their security. It was the goodness of God despised, the righteousness spurned, the mercy slighted. Men set themselves in opposition to God, and all that would have been their salvation was turned to their destruction. All that God ordained unto life they found to be unto death. In the Jews' crucifixion of Christ was involved the destruction of Jerusalem. The blood shed upon Calvary was the weight that sank them to ruin for this world and for the world to come. So it will be in the great final day, when judgment shall fall upon the rejecters of God's grace. Christ, their rock of offense, will then appear to them as an avenging mountain. The glory of His countenance, which to the righteous is life, will be to the wicked a consuming fire. Because of love rejected, grace despised, the sinner will be destroyed.

We can choose to behold Jesus' loveliness and respond with an entire heart surrender. We need not choose the downward path, the easier-to-the-flesh way that leads to death. We can look and live as we let Christ live in us, the hope of glory, by allowing His atoning blood to cleanse us from our sins and imbue us with His Holy Spirit, who brings love, joy and peace with all of the fruits of the Spirit so that not one is missing.

[Sean James]

As we reflect on the resurrection of Christ and how that offers us His life and power over sin and death, we can rejoice that the victory is gained in Jesus, and now He invites us to yield our whole heart to Him and have an abiding experience of complete victory! When we really grasp how much God loves us and that, as a tender Father He plans good things for us both in this life and in the life to come, it become easier and easier to trust Him COMPLETELY even in great trials, like what our world is facing! Christ is finishing His work in heaven and is about to return to take us to Himself for eternity, because of what He has accomplished for us in His death and resurrection!

By His words and His works, Christ testified to a divine power that produces supernatural results, to a future life beyond the present, to God as a Father of the children of men, ever watchful of their true interests. He revealed the working of divine power in benevolence and compassion that rebuked the selfish exclusiveness of the Sadducees. He taught that both for man's temporal and for his eternal good, God moves upon the heart by the Holy Spirit. He showed the error of trusting to human power for that transformation of character which can be wrought only by the Spirit of God.

We can safely look unto Christ as our guide in our trials and know that He has done what none other could do, for He is divine: He gave up His life at Calvary and took it back up at the call of His Father early that first day of the week, thus promising us His presence in all our experiences--even unto death!! We can rejoice for "HE LIVES" and now Jesus is willing to LIVE IN US by the Holy Spirit to produce in us all of the fruits of the Spirit--so not one will be missing as we gladly obey Him in all He has revealed to us!

[Sean James]

What a blessing it is to be able to abide in Christ and experience His character of selfless love as we let Him serve and bless others through us. We can offer our lives in willing service because He first loved us, and came to seek and save the lost.

 "But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Again and again Christ had taught that true greatness is measured by moral worth. In the estimation of heaven, greatness of character consists in living for the welfare of our fellow men, in doing works of love and mercy. Christ the King of glory was a servant to fallen man. 

We find our highest joy in service and blessing others, even as Jesus went about doing good and found joy in His Father's will. Often He was found in prayer--interceding for those whose hearts could be reached with the power of grace to transform them from sinners trapped by Satan in the works of the flesh into converted saints who would manifest through complete surrender to Him all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

[Sean James]

The more time we focus on Jesus' infinite sacrifice, the more joy we find in His experience being wrought out in our lives. Only by the most universal law--by beholding we become changed--is lasting transformation possible. We need to look above the pull of the world, self and sin and fix our eyes on the glory of Calvary--the glory of our God becoming flesh to die in our place, to show us the depths of infinite love, and the power of His grace to transform us from being unrepentant rebels into obedient, willing, loving saints whose lives in continual complete surrender to Christ will inevitably bear all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we covet pain, toil and sacrifice for His dear sake!

"If any man serve Me," said Jesus, "let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be: if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor." All who have borne with Jesus the cross of sacrifice will be sharers with Him of His glory. It was the joy of Christ in His humiliation and pain that His disciples should be glorified with Him. They are the fruit of His self-sacrifice. The outworking in them of His own character and spirit is His reward, and will be His joy throughout eternity. This joy they share with Him as the fruit of their labor and sacrifice is seen in other hearts and lives. They are workers together with Christ, and the Father will honor them as He honors His Son.

The joy of Jesus is not a static joy--it does not only relate to a past experience, but it is meant to be exponential in its growth and blessing. While the devil is wreaking havoc on our world with the exponential spread of the coronavirus (for Satan is the author of all suffering, disease and death), we know that Jesus is simultaneously working an exponential miracle of hearts that are responding to His grace because they FEEL THEIR NEED of His help!! Oh, what a privilege it is to live in these closing moments before Jesus comes!! Let us spread the hope! You can share with those you love the opportunity to be blessed by the free completely online series "Hope Awakens," starting this Friday, April 17, 2020 at 7pm ET/7pm PT at hopeawakens.com! Let us keep our eyes constantly on Jesus!!

[Sean James]

What we watch changes us. If we are spending more time watching unto prayer and meditating on Jesus and God's word, than the final events of this world's history are something we can face with courage and grace, knowing that if we have invited Christ into our heart and surrendered fully to Him, His perfect love casts out fear. We can speak of His loveliness of character for we have seen the king in His beauty morning by morning. I pray that we will use the time God has given us before Jesus returns to overcome through Christ and to spread the good news of the everlasting gospel so souls around us can also be ready, and turn from beholding the vain distractions of this world to see the value of eternal realities!

 Solemnly there come to us down through the centuries the warning words of our Lord from the Mount of Olives: "Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." "Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." 

As we choose to look to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, our life and example can encourage others to "go and do likewise." God does not force any to follow Him, or to take time each day in personal devotional time. But we can live a life so surrendered to Christ and so happy in Jesus that we make such an experience attractive to others so that they will also desire to "taste and see" (Psalm 34: that the Lord is indeed very good, and that union and communion with Christ is far sweeter than ANYTHING the world, the flesh or the devil could EVER try to offer us!!

[Sean James]

Whoever you are, wherever you are, and no matter what you have gone through, Jesus has a mission FOR YOU!! When we invite Jesus into our hearts by unreservedly surrendering to Him, He not only atones for our sins by His blood, but He imbues us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, and thus sends us on a mission of mercy to bless others! Let us rejoice in Jesus today and point them to the true joy of life--unselfish ministry to do others good in helping them come to eternal salvation in Christ!

The Saviour has given His precious life in order to establish a church capable of caring for sorrowful, tempted souls. A company of believers may be poor, uneducated, and unknown; yet in Christ they may do a work in the home, the neighborhood, the church, and even in "the regions beyond," whose results shall be as far-reaching as eternity. 

As we make a beginning, however small it may seem, Jesus works by the Holy Spirit to accomplish something beyond what we can ask or think. The key it staying linked up with Jesus by continual surrender to Jesus who knows what is best for us each day and will lead us to be a blessing! On that note, I sure hope you will join the series and invite others to "Hope Awakens" that starts on Friday, April 17 at 7pm Eastern/7pm Pacific, available for free at hopeawakens.com!! May you be blessed in inviting others to come also be blessed and learn of the hope that Jesus offers us!!

[Sean James]

Jesus is calling us higher--to a higher, holier experience with Him. And yet He shows us how that experience is gained. To advance in the kingdom of God is to condescend, to serve, to give and to be willing to be anything or nothing as God's providence directs. Jesus, the King of the universe, would gladly wash His disciples feet to show us what true greatness is all about: it is about having a thoroughly converted heart that is willing to serve others in true humility, that others may come also to partake of the divine nature. Christ offers us His union and communion with the Father, and each time we embrace the lessons of self-sacrifice and walk in the path His providence assigns, we are blessed by being a blessing! May you diffuse the light of the loveliness of Jesus today by looking unto Him continually and inviting others to share of His character, for by beholding we become changed!

As the lesson of the preparatory service is thus learned, the desire is kindled for a higher spiritual life. To this desire the divine Witness will respond. The soul will be uplifted. We can partake of the Communion with a consciousness of sins forgiven. The sunshine of Christ's righteousness will fill the chambers of the mind and the soul temple. We "behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. 

[Sean James]

May God bless you with a fresh experience in beholding the loveliness of Jesus! By beholding Him we become changed as we surrender our fallen, sinful hearts in exchange for the new heart He gives us that, renewed by divine grace, partakes of the divine nature and becomes imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit so not one is missing! What wondrous love is this that God the Father would send His Son to die for us, and give us His Spirit to transform us into His very image!! Hallelujah!!

Looking upon the crucified Redeemer, we more fully comprehend the magnitude and meaning of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven. The plan of salvation is glorified before us, and the thought of Calvary awakens living and sacred emotions in our hearts. Praise to God and the Lamb will be in our hearts and on our lips; for pride and self-worship cannot flourish in the soul that keeps fresh in memory the scenes of Calvary.   
     He who beholds the Saviour's matchless love will be elevated in thought, purified in heart, transformed in character. He will go forth to be a light to the world, to reflect in some degree this mysterious love. The more we contemplate the cross of Christ, the more fully shall we adopt the language of the apostle when he said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." Galatians 6:14.

Let us ever keep our focus on Jesus Christ and Him crucified, seeing that the Bible is a revelation of His love and invites us continually to enjoy union and communion with God by faith working by love!!

[Sean James]

When we face great trials and things do not go as we had hoped, we can remember that we are but partaking of the same experience of our loving Savior, Jesus. Satan is enraged at efforts to bring hope and salvation to the souls in this dark world, but we can rejoice in tribulation, continue to pray earnestly, and remember that "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28). Let us abide in Christ in our trials and point all that we can to Christ the One who can save to the uttermost by blotting out our sins with His blood and imbuing us with His Spirit! As we abide in Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing.

As the world's Redeemer, Christ was constantly confronted with apparent failure. He, the messenger of mercy to our world, seemed to do little of the work He longed to do in uplifting and saving. Satanic influences were constantly working to oppose His way. But He would not be discouraged. Through the prophecy of Isaiah He declares, "I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely My judgment is with the Lord, and My work with My God. . . . Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and My God shall be My strength." It is to Christ that the promise is given, "Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and His Holy One, to Him whom man despiseth, to Him whom the nation abhorreth; . . . thus saith the Lord: . . . I will preserve Thee, and give Thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. . . . They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them." Isaiah 49:4, 5, 7-10.

Jesus understands what it feels like to be faced with great opposition and trial. We can come to Him in earnest prayer and faith and remember that the plan of salvation still goes forward and will culminate in glorious triumph!

[Sean James]

Jesus saw you--and even now He sees you--and it was love that moved Him in His decision to save us in His agonized struggle in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, knowing the need we would have for His redeeming sacrifice, contemplating the full cost of the agony in being separated from His Father by becoming sin for us and experiencing what we deserve, would choose to become our atoning sacrifice, and now He offers us the cup of blessing in turning us away from our iniquities. May we never see sin as a light thing, for it cost the death of the Son of God. May we, in contemplating His love for us, be changed into His image, fully surrendered to Him so He can transform us, and be deeply imbued with His Spirit!

Three times has He uttered that prayer. Three times has humanity shrunk from the last, crowning sacrifice. But now the history of the human race comes up before the world's Redeemer. He sees that the transgressors of the law, if left to themselves, must perish. He sees the helplessness of man. He sees the power of sin. The woes and lamentations of a doomed world rise before Him. He beholds its impending fate, and His decision is made. He will save man at any cost to Himself. He accepts His baptism of blood, that through Him perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the courts of heaven, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission. He will become the propitiation of a race that has willed to sin. His prayer now breathes only submission: "If this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done."   

So now Christ offers us the cup of blessing in the experience of salvation--that all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives, and not one will be missing as long as we are partaking by grace through faith of His divine nature and choosing to resist the temptation to sin and self by keeping our eyes on Jesus and depending upon Him in a moment-by-moment attitude of surrender. Jesus counted the cost, and love moved Him to die for us. May we too count the cost and realize that heaven in cheap enough, and that Jesus longs for His reward--you and me redeemed and with Him in heaven. Even now, after His agony in Gethsemane has been culminated at Calvary, Christ is ministering as our High Priest in the sanctuary in heaven, and yearns to fully transform us into His character and blot from the records the sins He has led us to repent of and confess. He longs to be WITH US IN PERSON!! He is coming VERY SOON!!

Let us allow Jesus to have all of us today for His plans and His will to be wrought out in our lives--that we may partake of the cup of blessing in salvation: "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord" (Psalm 116:13).

[Sean James]

Everything that was heaped upon Jesus in His trial was not what He deserved--but what we deserved. We deserve to be condemned for our sins, but Christ, the innocent Savior, bore uncomplainingly all that cruel men could heap upon Him. He loved His enemies. Yet all will reap what they have sown, and nothing that took place in Jesus' trial will be forgotten, for the angels record all we do as evidence to the universe as to what decision we make as to how we treat Jesus. Will we open our hearts to the One who left heaven because He wants to save us? Will we allow Jesus to transform our characters into His image? I pray that we will allow Him in, for Christ loves to save His people from their sins.

The angels of God faithfully recorded every insulting look, word, and act against their beloved Commander. One day the base men who scorned and spat upon the calm, pale face of Christ will look upon it in its glory, shining brighter than the sun.

Though Jesus was sorely tried and His pale face was witnessed after He passed through the mock trials before Annas and Caiaphas, we know the end of the story--He will return in power and great glory and His face will shine brighter than sunshine, for He is the King of the universe. When we remember that in surrendering fully to Christ we are only acknowledging what is REALLY TRUE--that Jesus Christ is Lord, then we can have joy and patience in trials like He faced by abiding in Him, loving our enemies, praying for those who despitefully use us, and desiring all to come to the knowledge and love of the truth, that they may be saved, even as Christ's desires become our desires by abiding in Him!

[Sean James]

There are many who are hoping and desiring to be Christians, but, like Judas, they never come to the point of yielding themselves FULLY to Christ so that they may receive from Him a new mind, a new heart and a life imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit so that not one is missing. Apart from such a complete surrender, our own will and plans will ever seek to strive for the mastery, even as Lucifer had plans for how to take God's throne and be like the Most High. Ever since the fall of the human race, self is ever seeking its own way. The only way to find relief from this insatiable lust for "my way" is to come and learn at the feet of Jesus, experience true repentance, and become like the One who left heaven to seek and save the lost. Judas' "repentance" in the end of his betrayal was not true repentance, but rather a selfish desire to seek to relieve the terrible burden of guilt he felt for what he had done--but that is not the same as yielding fully to Christ with a desire and willingness to be truly converted. The "repentance" of Judas in many ways mirrors the demise of Saul and Balaam, both men who had great light, but went in the downward path and did not turn to God to be transformed in character. Oh, may we learn that we have a CONTINUAL NEED of Jesus to do any good thing!!

Judas now cast himself at the feet of Jesus, acknowledging Him to be the Son of God, and entreating Him to deliver Himself. The Saviour did not reproach His betrayer. He knew that Judas did not repent; his confession was forced from his guilty soul by an awful sense of condemnation and a looking for of judgment, but he felt no deep, heartbreaking grief that he had betrayed the spotless Son of God, and denied the Holy One of Israel. Yet Jesus spoke no word of condemnation. He looked pityingly upon Judas, and said, For this hour came I into the world.

Yet Christ loves even the rejecters of His grace. As persecution comes upon God's people in various forms, we love and pity those who are so deceived and entrapped in the devil's snares, but we do not become cruel towards them. We pray for them like Jesus did upon Calvary, even if many by their impenitence will not yield to Christ's saving grace. Oh, let us not tamper with sin, for we see in the life history of Judas that one sin (covetousness, in his case--the desire for money), finally came to control Him. Behold, now is the day of salvation! Let us look to Christ and live that we may be His witnesses of the blessed true happiness that comes from continual surrender to Christ in contrast to the misery and destruction that is in the path of sin, guilt and shame.