The Glory of God

[Sean James]

With God all things are possible! By complete surrender to Jesus on a moment-by-moment basis we can enjoy the experience in our souls whereby God supernaturally brings forth love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and temperance! By grace through faith we may be partakers of the divine nature by receiving the exceedingly great and precious promises of God's holy word! What a privilege! Let us go forth to bless others as we abide in Jesus!

It is impossible for finite minds to comprehend the work of redemption. Its mystery exceeds human knowledge; yet he who passes from death to life realizes that it is a divine reality. The beginning of redemption we may know here through a personal experience. Its results reach through the eternal ages.

While we may not fully realize the value of the gift offered us in Christ, let us CHOOSE HIM today and help others choose Jesus!!

[Sean James]

Let us look to Christ who is the truth, and as we approach Him as the great center, we may experience true unity!

Those who are true to their calling as messengers for God will not seek honor for themselves. Love for self will be swallowed up in love for Christ. No rivalry will mar the precious cause of the gospel. They will recognize that it is their work to proclaim, as did John the Baptist, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. They will lift up Jesus, and with Him humanity will be lifted up. "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15. 

Unity among Christ's converted disciples is evidence of the Holy Spirit revealing what is important--beholding Jesus and letting self be swallowed up in His will. As we abide in Christ, there will be love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance without one of the traits of the divine nature missing! Christ in us the hope of glory will be uplifted, and all who look and live may have truly converted hearts that long to bear His image, breathe His Spirit, and please Him in all things!

[Sean James]

Start right where you are. Share what Jesus has done for you! As you behold His loveliness of character and yield the whole heart to Him, He will imbue you with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing and cleanse your soul from all sin by His atoning blood!

The Saviour did not wait for congregations to assemble. Often He began His lessons with only a few gathered about Him, but one by one the passers-by paused to listen, until a multitude heard with wonder and awe the words of God through the heaven-sent Teacher. The worker for Christ should not feel that he cannot speak with the same earnestness to a few hearers as to a larger company. There may be only one to hear the message; but who can tell how far-reaching will be its influence? It seemed a small matter, even to His disciples, for the Saviour to spend His time upon a woman of Samaria. But He reasoned more earnestly and eloquently with her than with kings, councilors, or high priests. The lessons He gave to that woman have been repeated to the earth's remotest bounds.

Then as you start in the very place where you are with the people you can share with of what Jesus has done, it will spread like wildfire as others "taste and see" that the Lord is good by a personal experience! Like the woman at the well in John 4, you may be a missionary with what God has revealed to you of His everlasting love! Go and share Jesus' love and let other hearts be melted and transformed by the revelation!

[Sean James]

God answers prayer not because we feel it, but because of His grace. He will turn no one away. We may come in our great need and find healing from sin by an immediate, complete surrender of our will to Him, thus receiving a new heart and a new mind imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing. Then, as we pray for earthly blessings, we will let God choose how to answer best and in what timing. Apart from a continual union and communion with Christ we are by nature selfish and cannot change ourselves--that is why we need Jesus CONTINUALLY! The nobleman in Capernaum experienced the healing of his son once Jesus had converted his heart, thus giving him a greater blessing than he initially sought!

Like Jacob he prevailed. The Saviour cannot withdraw from the soul that clings to Him, pleading its great need. "Go thy way," He said; "thy son liveth." The nobleman left the Saviour's presence with a peace and joy he had never known before. Not only did he believe that his son would be restored, but with strong confidence he trusted in Christ as the Redeemer. 

We may let God orchestrate His healing plan for our lives in the way that is best. Let us believe He answers every sincere prayer and be earnest, fervent, and consistent. With God all things are possible!

[Sean James]

The people in our fallen world are trying so many ways to do things apart from God's will. It is quite an experiment. But it is not leading to genuine happiness. We find true, genuine and consistent happiness in union and communion with Christ who has the power to convert the heart and fill us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Let us choose what Jesus chose--conformity to God's will!!

But the Son of God was surrendered to the Father’s will, and dependent upon His power. So utterly was Christ emptied of self that He made no plans for Himself. He accepted God’s plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will.

As we do God's will, our lives will continually reflect more and more of the loveliness of Jesus' character, for by beholding we become changed!

[Sean James]

Let us trust God's leading in our lives, even though we do not see the whole picture yet! Jesus is coming soon, and He will make the mysteries of this life plain as we abide in Him and overcome through His grace. Such an experience of complete surrender to Jesus in the most trying experiences of life allows the Holy Spirit in the converted heart to bring forth all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in even sweeter and greater abundance! Hallelujah!!

God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning, and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in the dungeon. "Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Philippians 1:29. And of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon men, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor.

Because God loves us, He gives us what is best. Trusting in Him, let go forward today that others may find the joy of salvation no matter what their circumstances may be!

[Sean James]

Jesus is coming soon! Now is the time to look upon Him by faith ministering as our High Priest in the sanctuary in heaven where He is blotting out the record of the repented and confessed sins of His people whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life! May we earnestly seek to invite as many as possible to come to Christ, accept the salvation so freely offered, and thus experience in our characters the transformation that is manifest in all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

As the message of Christ’s first advent announced the kingdom of His grace, so the message of His second advent announces the kingdom of His glory. And the second message, like the first, is based on the prophecies. The words of the angel to Daniel relating to the last days were to be understood in the time of the end. At that time, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” “The wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:4, 10. The Saviour Himself has given signs of His coming, and He says, “When ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.” “And 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.” Luke 21:31, 34, 36.

To truly live in readiness for Jesus coming means to be in constant union and communion with Him and allow us to go about our Father's business to give the final everlasting gospel call revealed in Revelation 14:6-12 which when truly accepted will bring forth a people whose lives are in harmony with the faith of Jesus and the commandments of God!

[Sean James]

The only real greatness is humility. Entire surrender to Christ motivated by beholding His loveliness of character (grace) moves us to surrender completely in true repentance (faith working by love) so we may walk in constant union and communion with Him! Then He brings forth all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing from our lives that are joined to Him!

Because their understanding was darkened by selfish prejudice, they could not harmonize the power of Christ's convicting words with the humility of His life. They did not appreciate the fact that real greatness can dispense with outward show. This Man's poverty seemed wholly inconsistent with His claim to be the Messiah. They questioned, If He was what He claimed to be, why was He so unpretending? If He was satisfied to be without the force of arms, what would become of their nation? How could the power and glory so long anticipated bring the nations as subjects to the city of the Jews? Had not the priests taught that Israel was to bear rule over all the earth? and could it be possible that the great religious teachers were in error?

Yes, many a time religious leaders are in error--not simply because they are religious leaders, but because if they do not surrender fully to Christ on a moment-by-moment basis, then the heart is not open to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is to lead each one of us and teach us so we will uplift Christ and then humanity also will be uplifted in beholding Him!

[Sean James]

Be encouraged! Connect your life in complete surrender to Jesus and press onward and upward in God's appointed plan for your life!

During that sad night on the lake, when they were separated from Christ, the disciples were pressed hard by unbelief, and weary with fruitless toil. But His presence kindled their faith, and brought them joy and success. So it is with us; apart from Christ, our work is fruitless, and it is easy to distrust and murmur. But when He is near, and we labor under His direction, we rejoice in the evidence of His power. It is Satan's work to discourage the soul; it is Christ's work to inspire with faith and hope. 

Christ will give a converted heart, filling us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we surrender fully and continually to Him and become partakers of the divine nature! Then like the disciples Jesus first called, we may be encouraged to go forward to win souls to His kingdom!

[Sean James]

God's word is so powerful and can subdue our iniquities as we learn of Christ and abide in Him! Then He will manifest in and through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

The means by which we can overcome the wicked one is that by which Christ overcame,--the power of the word. God does not control our minds without our consent; but if we desire to know and to do His will, His promises are ours: "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." "If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." John 8:32; 7:17, R. V. Through faith in these promises, every man may be delivered from the snares of error and the control of sin.

The victory is in Christ! Let us experience all God has for us!

[Sean James]

Let's allow God to choose for us in every area of life--but know that He will ALWAYS forgive our sins IMMEDIATELY! In all other areas of prayer, we can trust that He will provide what is best in His best timing, for He makes everything beautiful in Him time. The converted soul renewed by divine grace, cleansed from sin like the healed leper or the restored paralytic, will have a testimony of what God's grace can do! Grace changes sinners into saints who by faith lay hold of Christ's merits and, reconciled to God, will manifest what their souls united to Him will inevitably manifest--all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in affectionate obedience to all of God's commandments to the extent that they are known at that point in the perfection of Christ appropriated to the soul!

In some instances of healing, Jesus did not at once grant the blessing sought. But in the case of leprosy, no sooner was the appeal made than it was granted. When we pray for earthly blessings, the answer to our prayer may be delayed, or God may give us something other than we ask, but not so when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His will to cleanse us from sin, to make us His children, and to enable us to live a holy life. Christ "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father." Galatians 1:4. And "this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him." 1 John 5:14, 15. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.

Do not doubt that if you confess your sins to God in true repentance that He forgives you, for repentance is the power of God to confess sin. He delights to restore us FULLY to His image and to remove the only thing that separates us from Him--sin. He does so by giving us a new heart and a new mind, and thus a new will (the power of decision, or choice) that He sanctifies from the hereditary and cultivated tendency to unbelief as we accept what His word says over our feelings and walk where His providence directs!

[Sean James]

When we experience the power of the gospel, we will value fellowship with Christ over anything offered in this whole world! When Jesus has the whole heart, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be manifest in the life and we will gladly obey Him out of an intelligent appreciation of all He is to us and is offering us in union and communion with Him!

To Matthew in his wealth, and to Andrew and Peter in their poverty, the same test was brought; the same consecration was made by each. At the moment of success, when the nets were filled with fish, and the impulses of the old life were strongest, Jesus asked the disciples at the sea to leave all for the work of the gospel. So every soul is tested as to whether the desire for temporal good or for fellowship with Christ is strongest.

Let us keep looking unto Jesus!! He will finish what He starts in our lives!!

[Sean James]

Each time the seventh day of the week comes at sunset on Friday, let us rejoice in those sacred 24 hours until the sunset on Saturday and find increased joy in experiencing true rest in Christ by receiving His righteousness by faith!

"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," Jesus said. The institutions that God has established are for the benefit of mankind. "All things are for your sakes." "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's." 2 Corinthians 4:15; 1 Corinthians 3:22, 23. The law of Ten Commandments, of which the Sabbath forms a part, God gave to His people as a blessing. "The Lord commanded us," said Moses, "to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive." Deuteronomy 6:24. And through the psalmist the message was given to Israel, "Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise." Psalm 100:2-4. And of all who keep "the Sabbath from polluting it," the Lord declares, "Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." Isaiah 56:6, 7. 

Let us look to Christ continually who gives every good and perfect gift--including salvation as exemplified in the gift of the Sabbath, for we enter into the rest of Christ and cease from the works of sin (the flesh) by being truly converted in heart so that all of the fruits of the Holy Spirit are manifest in us, for we get to live by the Spirit!

[Sean James]

Unity is what we need. But how does it come? True unity comes from complete surrender to Christ, so that the converted heart renewed by His divine grace will manifest all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in affectionate obedience to the law of God. Then, no matter how much you may differ from a person because of your genetics or background, if you are both abiding in Christ, there will be true unity in proportion to how you approach Christ. Let us uplift the Christ of Scripture and come into the unity of the faith of Jesus, for He is coming soon for a people that reflect His loveliness!

The apostles differed widely in habits and disposition. There were the publican, Levi-Matthew, and the fiery zealot Simon, the uncompromising hater of the authority of Rome; the generous, impulsive Peter, and the mean-spirited Judas; Thomas, truehearted, yet timid and fearful, Philip, slow of heart, and inclined to doubt, and the ambitious, outspoken sons of Zebedee, with their brethren. These were brought together, with their different faults, all with inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil; but in and through Christ they were to dwell in the family of God, learning to become one in faith, in doctrine, in spirit. They would have their tests, their grievances, their differences of opinion; but while Christ was abiding in the heart, there could be no dissension. His love would lead to love for one another; the lessons of the Master would lead to the harmonizing of all differences, bringing the disciples into unity, till they would be of one mind and one judgment. Christ is the great center, and they would approach one another just in proportion as they approached the center.   

As we look to Jesus, the One who finishes what He has begun in our lives, we can rejoice that we can look upon our brothers and sisters in Christ and reflect to them His character so that our joy will overflow to reach others, too! A truly unified people in love in Christ is an attractive family to be a part of! Let's allow this love to shine in our countenances and in all we say and do by having constant union and communion with Christ!

[Sean James]

Hungry? Your deepest soul hunger can only be satisfied by Jesus. He alone is the true Bread of Life, and He will fill us with His words so our hearts are renewed by divine grace so that all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be manifest through us as we are partaking of the promises of His word that nourish our souls unto eternal life, making partakers of the divine nature!

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness.” The sense of unworthiness will lead the heart to hunger and thirst for righteousness, and this desire will not be disappointed. Those who make room in their hearts for Jesus will realize His love. All who long to bear the likeness of the character of God shall be satisfied. The Holy Spirit never leaves unassisted the soul who is looking unto Jesus. He takes of the things of Christ and shows them unto him. If the eye is kept fixed on Christ, the work of the Spirit ceases not until the soul is conformed to His image. The pure element of love will expand the soul, giving it a capacity for higher attainments, for increased knowledge of heavenly things, so that it will not rest short of the fullness. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”

God will fill you just in proportion to your capacity to receive, and the more you receive to impart of His infinite loveliness, the more you will be given to share with others, for by God's word we are freed from sin and born again unto the joy of eternal life!!