The Glory of God

[Sean James]

Are you grateful that Jesus came to save you from sin? Then prayerfully find ways to express your gratitude to Him! By beholding Jesus' loveliness of character and surrendering fully to Him in true repentance, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the life that is empowered to true obedience to God's commandments! Let Him lead you in the path of gratitude today, having "Mary Magdalene Moments" of creative ways to express how grateful you are to Him for His amazing salvation!

The same want is evident in our world today. But few appreciate all that Christ is to them. If they did, the great love of Mary would be expressed, the anointing would be freely bestowed. The expensive ointment would not be called a waste. Nothing would be thought too costly to give for Christ, no self-denial or self-sacrifice too great to be endured for His sake.

What a privilege it is to be a vessel in Jesus' hands to bless others! He loves us and desires to share with us the joy of seeing souls redeemed by giving us a part in sharing with others in reaching them for His kingdom! Praise God!

[Sean James]

We have a sure word of prophecy! Jesus IS the Messiah and the word of God is clear evidence that He fulfilled the prophecies so all who would come to Him could experience salvation!

The events connected with this triumphal ride would be the talk of every tongue, and would bring Jesus before every mind. After His crucifixion, many would recall these events in their connection with His trial and death. They would be led to search the prophecies, and would be convinced that Jesus was the Messiah; and in all lands converts to the faith would be multiplied.

Souls are still coming to Christ to this day! Jesus is coming again SOON and He calls us all to accept Him as Lord and Savior, abide in Him in full surrender so He can manifest through us His character (true obedience to His commandments accompanied by all the fruits of the Spirit without one missing)! What a blessed experience is ours in being saved to the uttermost from sin to do His holy will!

[Sean James]

Are you thankful God is giving you time to be reconciled to Him?

In every age there is given to men their day of light and privilege, a probationary time in which they may become reconciled to God. But there is a limit to this grace. Mercy may plead for years and be slighted and rejected; but there comes a time when mercy makes her last plea. The heart becomes so hardened that it ceases to respond to the Spirit of God. Then the sweet, winning voice entreats the sinner no longer, and reproofs and warnings cease.

If we appreciate what God is offering us in Christ, surrender the whole heart to Him in true repentance of sin, confessing and forsaking all that is transgression of His law, we can rejoice in the experience of true conversion whereby all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing come into the life! Then the law we once broke by our sins we find delight in keeping out of love for the God who sent His Son to live, suffer and die in our place so we could be with Him forever. Let us not seal our own doom by neglecting so great salvation.

[Sean James]

He can carry it. Jesus, having already borne the guilt and weight of the sins of the whole world, can certainly bear ALL your sins and griefs. As our Savior and High Priest, He is even now in heaven, ministering in the sanctuary there to completely blot out the record of the sins of each of His children who have cone to Him in true repentance and confession. In surrendering fully to Jesus, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be manifest in the life as God empowers affectionate obedience to all of His commandments!

In infinite wisdom, God chose the foundation stone, and laid it Himself. He called it “a sure foundation.” The entire world may lay upon it their burdens and griefs; it can endure them all. With perfect safety they may build upon it. Christ is a “tried stone.” Those who trust in Him, He never disappoints. He has borne every test. He has endured the pressure of Adam’s guilt, and the guilt of his posterity, and has come off more than conqueror of the powers of evil. He has borne the burdens cast upon Him by every repenting sinner. In Christ the guilty heart has found relief. He is the sure foundation. All who make Him their dependence rest in perfect security.

Rest in God. He is able to keep you from sinning as you maintain the union and communion of the soul with Him in continual abiding trust. Praise God for such an amazing experience with Jesus each day! May you go forth with moral courage and power to bless others!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! Oh, how wonderful are fresh glimpses of Jesus! When questions arose that were intended to draw Jesus into controversy, He wisely answered by asking questions, letting the questioners answer what they asked. He pointed to the law of God as a divine unity, and it is as we receive Christ into the heart as a personal Savior that we are enabled to obey the law from the heart with the supernatural accompanying witness of all of the fruits of the Spirit in the life without one missing. True conversion--the result of entire surrender of the heart, mind, will and character to God--is a far happier experience than any counterfeit path of sin that Satan has devised.

The scribe was near to the kingdom of God, in that he recognized deeds of righteousness as more acceptable to God than burnt offerings and sacrifices. But he needed to recognize the divine character of Christ, and through faith in Him receive power to do the works of righteousness. The ritual service was of no value, unless connected with Christ by living faith. Even the moral law fails of its purpose, unless it is understood in its relation to the Saviour. Christ had repeatedly shown that His Father's law contained something deeper than mere authoritative commands. In the law is embodied the same principle that is revealed in the gospel. The law points out man's duty and shows him his guilt. To Christ he must look for pardon and for power to do what the law enjoins.

Trust God to work out His will in your life as you surrender fully to Christ as personal Lord and Savior. Nothing is too hard for God to do. He can save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him!

[Sean James]

What an example we have in Christ! As Lord and Savior, He could not be silent while the very people He came to save were pursuing a course to destroy themselves. Let us follow in His steps and lovingly warn souls of the danger and peril of sin, which is the transgression of the law. Christ came to save us from our sins and restore us to the image of God. When we allow Him to heal us from the wounds of sin in true repentance, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will come into the life as true obedience up to the light revealed becomes both possible and delightful!

Christ's indignation was directed against the hypocrisy, the gross sins, by which men were destroying their own souls, deceiving the people and dishonoring God. In the specious deceptive reasoning of the priests and rulers He discerned the working of satanic agencies. Keen and searching had been His denunciation of sin; but He spoke no words of retaliation. He had a holy wrath against the prince of darkness; but He manifested no irritated temper. So the Christian who lives in harmony with God, possessing the sweet attributes of love and mercy, will feel a righteous indignation against sin; but he will not be roused by passion to revile those who revile him. Even in meeting those who are moved by a power from beneath to maintain falsehood, in Christ he will still preserve calmness and self-possession.

The godly character of Jesus is offered us by the Holy Spirit. Let us trust God to lead us in faithfulness and choose continually to walk even as He walked!

[Sean James]

The selfless act of God giving His Son to save the human family that led to the sufferings and death of Christ on the cross is so opposite to the character of Satan. Christ's death would destroy the hold of Satan on the hearts and minds of those who would be drawn to God in His love. As each soul is drawn to God and chooses to fully surrender to Him, a supernatural new birth takes place in which all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing come into the life. Then the soul that used to be a slave of sin now delights to obey God's Ten Commandments from the heart. Let's learn to daily keep the sacrifice of Christ before us to strengthen and motivate us to walk in God's loving will!

“Now is the judgment of this world,” Christ continued; “now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die.” This is the crisis of the world. If I become the propitiation for the sins of men, the world will be lighted up. Satan's hold upon the souls of men will be broken. The defaced image of God will be restored in humanity, and a family of believing saints will finally inherit the heavenly home. This is the result of Christ's death. The Saviour is lost in contemplation of the scene of triumph called up before Him. He sees the cross, the cruel, ignominious cross, with all its attending horrors, blazing with glory.

The glory God revealed at Calvary's cross will be our science and song not just in this life, but for eternity. Praise God for the power of His love and grace to transform sinners into saints and renew lives into His image! What is bearing the cross for the human agent who responds to Jesus?

We are to bear the yoke of Christ that we may be placed in complete union with Him. “Take my yoke upon you,” He says. Obey My requirements. But these requirements may be in direct opposition to the will and purposes of the human agent. What then is to be done? Hear what God says: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” The yoke and the cross are symbols representing the same thing,—the giving up of the will to God. Wearing the yoke unites finite man in companionship with the dearly beloved Son of God. Lifting the cross cuts away self from the soul, and places man where he learns how to bear Christ’s burdens. We cannot follow Christ without wearing His yoke, without lifting the cross and bearing it after Him. If our will is not in accord with the divine requirements, we are to deny our inclinations, give up our darling desires, and step in Christ’s footsteps.

Let us choose continually to walk in harmony with Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit!

[Sean James]

Cut loose before it is too late! So much around us is competing for our attention! Look to Jesus, His prophetic word, and let Him transform your inmost thoughts and emotions so that in heart you can turn from the world and its unsatisfying pleasures to have a life that is being fitted for heaven! We are each building character day by day, and it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit converting the soul that we can resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. When we do surrender fully to Christ and experience the miracle of conversion, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in the life, and Christ abiding within makes it possible to find highest delight in obedience to all His commandments in willing service to further His kingdom!

The crisis is stealing gradually upon us. The sun shines in the heavens, passing over its usual round, and the heavens still declare the glory of God. Men are still eating and drinking, planting and building, marrying, and giving in marriage. Merchants are still buying and selling. Men are jostling one against another, contending for the highest place. Pleasure lovers are still crowding to theaters, horse races, gambling hells. The highest excitement prevails, yet probation's hour is fast closing, and every case is about to be eternally decided. Satan sees that his time is short. He has set all his agencies at work that men may be deceived, deluded, occupied and entranced, until the day of probation shall be ended, and the door of mercy be forever shut.

There is still time, but we do not know how much more time. Choose this day to serve the Lord and be ALL IN for Jesus by following His word!

[Sean James]

You never know. Only in eternity will we fully see the far-reaching results of even one kind word, deed or prayer. God calls us to do what we can according to our ability in blessing others, and thankfully we have a perfect example in Jesus. As we acknowledge our need of Him, surrender fully to Him, and let Him fill us with the Holy Spirit (whereby all of the fruits of God's character will be in our lives without one missing), we can go forth day by day to be a blessing because we have first been blessed of God with salvation from sin! Jesus abiding in us gives us power to do good from the heart made pure by His divine grace! "We love Him, because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

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.

Won't it be awesome to read the accounts in the "book of remembrance" (Malachi 3:16) that show all the things God did through each person's life to further the kingdom of heaven? Let's seek to crowd all the good works possible into this life because Jesus is COMING SO SOON and He fills us with His desire to see MANY MORE be ready to meet Him by having a character transformed by His grace!

[Sean James]

He has so much for us. As we learn of Christ each day, there is always more He desires to give us in a deeper spiritual life that brings us up from where we were to where He has planned for us. As we surrender the whole heart to Christ and accept His divine grace that has the power to transform us into new creatures in Christ Jesus reflecting all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, what a blessing it is to go forth in selfless service in true obedience to all of God's commandments!

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.

By beholding we become changed. Keep looking to Jesus. The Holy Spirit will impress His word upon the heart and mind and make us more like Jesus whom we adore. Praise God!

[Sean James]

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.

Look and live! Jesus living in you by the Holy Spirit produces love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance without one fruit of the Spirit missing as long as you maintain a living union and communion with Christ! By receiving and acting upon His word, the character becomes more and more like Jesus, for by beholding we become changed!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!

“Herein is My Father glorified,” said Jesus, “that ye bear much fruit.” God desires to manifest through you the holiness, the benevolence, the compassion, of His own character. Yet the Saviour does not bid the disciples labor to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him. “If ye abide in Me,” He says, “and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” It is through the word that Christ abides in His followers. This is the same vital union that is represented by eating His flesh and drinking His blood. The words of Christ are spirit and life. Receiving them, you receive the life of the Vine. You live “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4. The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living in Christ, adhering to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the similitude of Christ.

Let us allow Jesus to reproduce His character experience in us! When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives; not one will be missing. Such grace and strength as we see revealed in Christ's life are available to us today by receiving His promises and putting our will on the side of Christ. He is giving us all we need for this life and the life to come by the Holy Spirit, making us more and more like Him each day as we behold His loveliness and choose to overcome even as Christ overcame!

[Sean James]

It was worth it. Praise God that Jesus chose to endure the agony of what we deserve on account of sin, and though it seemed that few were responding, He persevered through the horror of what sin did to His soul, feeling His Father's wrath against transgression, and by faith kept moving forward to complete the great sacrifice that would make it possible for each soul to be redeemed who would choose to come to Him and have life. May His great sacrifice for you not be in vain. Behold Him daily and pray earnestly; let the things of this world be strangely dim in comparison to the exceedingly great light and love we see in Jesus' sufferings and death, obtaining eternal victory for us! As we yield the WHOLE heart to Him, Christ fills the life supernaturally with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, empowering the soul to true, affectionate obedience to all of the Ten Commandments. This law, broken by sin, can be kept through the faith of Jesus working by love by all who let Christ abide within, the hope of glory!

And what was to be gained by this sacrifice? How hopeless appeared the guilt and ingratitude of men! In its hardest features Satan pressed the situation upon the Redeemer: The people who claim to be above all others in temporal and spiritual advantages have rejected You. They are seeking to destroy You, the foundation, the center and seal of the promises made to them as a peculiar people. One of Your own disciples, who has listened to Your instruction, and has been among the foremost in church activities, will betray You. One of Your most zealous followers will deny You. All will forsake You. Christ's whole being abhorred the thought. That those whom He had undertaken to save, those whom He loved so much, should unite in the plots of Satan, this pierced His soul. The conflict was terrible. Its measure was the guilt of His nation, of His accusers and betrayer, the guilt of a world lying in wickedness. The sins of men weighed heavily upon Christ, and the sense of God's wrath against sin was crushing out His life.

The reality of what Jesus went through has a way of changing what is important. Let this sink in deeply.

When men and women can more fully comprehend the magnitude of the great sacrifice which was made by the Majesty of heaven in dying in man's stead, then will the plan of salvation be magnified, and reflections of Calvary will awaken tender, sacred, and lively emotions in the Christian's heart. Praises to God and the Lamb will be in their hearts and upon their lips. Pride and self-esteem cannot flourish in the hearts that keep fresh in memory the scenes of Calvary. This world will appear of but little value to those who appreciate the great price of man's redemption, the precious blood of God's dear Son. All the riches of the world are not of sufficient value to redeem one perishing soul. Who can measure the love Christ felt for a lost world as He hung upon the cross, suffering for the sins of guilty men? This love was immeasurable, infinite.

By beholding God's infinite love in sending His son to live a perfect life, suffer for all our sins (for all the human race), and die to save us, the Holy Spirit impresses eternal realities on our hearts and minds, changing us from glory to glory, from one experience of character to the next. This is why spending a thoughtful hour each day upon the life of Christ, especially the closing scenes, is such an important blessing! "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).

[Sean James]

Do we understand how powerful God's holy angels are? Reflect on their power as well as how they witnessed Jesus' trial leading up to His crucifixion.

The angels of heaven witnessed every movement made against their loved Commander. They longed to deliver Christ. Under God the angels are all-powerful. On one occasion, in obedience to the command of Christ, they slew of the Assyrian army in one night one hundred and eighty-five thousand men. How easily could the angels, beholding the shameful scene of the trial of Christ, have testified their indignation by consuming the adversaries of God! But they were not commanded to do this. He who could have doomed His enemies to death bore with their cruelty. His love for His Father, and His pledge, made from the foundation of the world, to become the Sin Bearer, led Him to endure uncomplainingly the coarse treatment of those He came to save. It was a part of His mission to bear, in His humanity, all the taunts and abuse that men could heap upon Him. The only hope of humanity was in this submission of Christ to all that He could endure from the hands and hearts of men.

Oh, what wondrous love of Christ to endure without complaint all that was heaped upon Him in His innocence and purity. As the angels could have intervened, this is an encouraging reality for God's people to realize heading into the final events of this earth's history, as Jesus WILL SEND HIS ANGELS to comfort and protect His children in their times of peril. Just read and mediate upon Psalm 91. While we are not always delivered in the way we may expect, God promises to not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear while abiding in Him, for He is the WAY of escape continually! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will come into the converted life of a true Christian who gladly is empowered to obey God's law. We can be thankful for the ministry of the angels, as well as the infinite sacrifice Jesus made for us in His blameless life, suffering, death, and resurrection. He is now ministering as our High Priest in heaven, blotting out the record of the sins of His people who have truly repented and chosen to walk with Him in faithfulness, and He is coming VERY SOON as our King to take us home to the mansions He has prepared for us! Let us rejoice and invite others to follow Him!

[Sean James]

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (1 Timothy 6:10).

Judas is case in point. May we realize that if we love anything more than Jesus, it will lead to our eternal loss. The wages of sin is death, and even though Christ gave Judas every opportunity to repent and turn to experience eternal life, Judas would not make that full surrender. We are all free to choose whether we will surrender fully to Christ and have Him give us a new heart with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing which enables us to obey God's law of love, or to choose the downward path of sin and self under Satan's deceptive control. Let us realize our deep need of Jesus and not go the way of Judas.

Judas had naturally a strong love for money; but he had not always been corrupt enough to do such a deed as this. He had fostered the evil spirit of avarice until it had become the ruling motive of his life. The love of mammon overbalanced his love for Christ. Through becoming the slave of one vice he gave himself to Satan, to be driven to any lengths in sin.

It was shortly after Judas got what he thought he wanted in betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver that Judas went out and hanged himself. Judas' life and history is in the Bible to warn us that sin that is not renounced will lead to death. Praise God that Jesus can keep us from going in that path, helping us to choose His love and grace, His selfless service as best of all. Trusting God to provide for our needs as we learn to make wise life choices, let us not make the love of money the ruling motive in our lives. How? By surrendering fully to Christ and seeking His kingdom first. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).