The Glory of God

[Sean James]

What does God desire?

“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” Psalm 51:17. Man must be emptied of self before he can be, in the fullest sense, a believer in Jesus. When self is renounced, then the Lord can make man a new creature. New bottles can contain the new wine. The love of Christ will animate the believer with new life. In him who looks unto the Author and Finisher of our faith the character of Christ will be manifest.

Then all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in the life of every soul fully surrendered to Jesus! His love will lead to happy obedience to His law of freedom!

[Sean James]

Jesus gave us the Sabbath to be a blessing as we rest in Him. Each week as the sun sets on Friday night, Christ is inviting us to enjoy a day devoted to our relationship with Him as we rest from our business cares and find joy in fellowship with Him, others, and nature! As the Sabbath comes to a close each Saturday evening at sunset, Christ invites us to carry the blessings of His rest into the new week so we may be strengthened to do His will!

And the Lord says, "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable; . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord." Isaiah 58:13, 14. To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ's creative and redeeming power, it will be a delight. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in Him. The Sabbath points them to the works of creation as an evidence of His mighty power in redemption. While it calls to mind the lost peace of Eden, it tells of peace restored through the Saviour. And every object in nature repeats His invitation, "Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28.

If it is your desire to rest fully in Christ, would you also like to embrace the joyful rest He offers us in the gift of the seventh day Sabbath? When Christ has the whole heart, we gladly obey His will revealed in His word, for His commandments are definitional freedom from sin found only by abiding in Christ! Then the heart completely surrendered to Christ is renewed by His divine grace and will spontaneously bring forth all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

[Sean James]

The gospel truth is revealed in how by beholding the character of Christ, we will become transformed into His image. The heart and mind are renewed as we yield the will to Christ, choosing His divine merit (grace) to renew us by His atoning blood that blots out our sins and imbues us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Then the law of love as seen in the Ten Commandments and lived in the life of Jesus will become our joyful experience!

Jesus reproved His disciples, He warned and cautioned them; but John and his brethren did not leave Him; they chose Jesus, notwithstanding the reproofs. The Saviour did not withdraw from them because of their weakness and errors. They continued to the end to share His trials and to learn the lessons of His life. By beholding Christ, they became transformed in character.

As His representatives among men, Christ does not choose angels who have never fallen, but human beings, men of like passions with those they seek to save. Christ took upon Himself humanity, that He might reach humanity. Divinity needed humanity; for it required both the divine and the human to bring salvation to the world. Divinity needed humanity, that humanity might afford a channel of communication between God and man. So with the servants and messengers of Christ. Man needs a power outside of and beyond himself, to restore him to the likeness of God, and enable him to do the work of God; but this does not make the human agency unessential. Humanity lays hold upon divine power, Christ dwells in the heart by faith; and through co-operation with the divine, the power of man becomes efficient for good. 

[Sean James]

What a miracle takes place as we behold the loveliness of Jesus and surrender fully to Him on a continual basis!

“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."

What a blessing to have the Holy Spirit not cease to work in our hearts the transformation and gracious work that He alone can accomplish! When the whole heart is yielded to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing, but indeed these fruits--traits of the divine nature accessible to us by God's word--will be richer and more abundant the more we commune with Christ in every life experience!

[Sean James]

Speak but the word, and my servant shall be healed. 

God did speak the Word--Jesus--and by Him we are healed as we to Him our hearts fully yield. Then all of the fruits of the Spirit will flow in our lives without one missing!

[Sean James]

A complete surrender is the key to abiding in Christ. The motivation for the surrender is beholding His loveliness of character so clearly revealed at Calvary!

When the soul surrenders itself to Christ, a new power takes possession of the new heart. A change is wrought which man can never accomplish for himself. It is a supernatural work, bringing a supernatural element into human nature. The soul that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a revolted world, and He intends that no authority shall be known in it but His own. A soul thus kept in possession by the heavenly agencies is impregnable to the assaults of Satan. But unless we do yield ourselves to the control of Christ, we shall be dominated by the wicked one. We must inevitably be under the control of the one or the other of the two great powers that are contending for the supremacy of the world. It is not necessary for us deliberately to choose the service of the kingdom of darkness in order to come under its dominion. We have only to neglect to ally ourselves with the kingdom of light. If we do not co-operate with the heavenly agencies, Satan will take possession of the heart, and will make it his abiding place. The only defense against evil is the indwelling of Christ in the heart through faith in His righteousness. Unless we become vitally connected with God, we can never resist the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. We may leave off many bad habits, for the time we may part company with Satan; but without a vital connection with God, through the surrender of ourselves to Him moment by moment, we shall be overcome. Without a personal acquaintance with Christ, and a continual communion, we are at the mercy of the enemy, and shall do his bidding in the end. 

God can keep the weakest soul who yields fully to Him. We need not be discouraged in the battle of life, for we may have the Victor, Christ Himself, living in our hearts by the Holy Spirit! Cooperation with Christ always means victory as revealed in the life filled with all of the fruits of the Spirit so not one is missing! Then we may gladly walk in the path of obedience (freedom defined) that God has shown us in the Ten Commandments and as exemplified in the life of Jesus! He is soon to return and promises to keep us moment by moment! "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day" (Isaiah 27:3).

[Sean James]

What a privilege it is to yield the whole heart to Christ now so He gives us the blessing of heavenly union and communion with Him by the Holy Spirit!!

As through Jesus we enter into rest, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, Come, learn of Me, and in thus coming we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a ceaseless approaching to God through Christ. The longer we are in the heaven of bliss, the more and still more of glory will be opened to us; and the more we know of God, the more intense will be our happiness. As we walk with Jesus in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here. But what is this compared with the hereafter? There "are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Revelation 7:15-17.

The Bible clearly shows that God desires us to experience heaven while still on earth: "That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the Lord sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth" (Deuteronomy 11:21). I choose to yield fully to Jesus so He may bring forth in the new heart and mind that He creates by His grace, and thus He gives me all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Will yield fully to Him, too?

[Sean James]

What a blessing that the two demoniacs Jesus healed were sent forth to share their testimony! As we are transformed by God's grace that can convert a rebellious sinner into a repentant child of God who has received a new heart and mind imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit, we can gladly walk in the path He chooses for us--the path of obedience to the Ten Commandment law of love!

And souls that have been degraded into instruments of Satan are still through the power of Christ transformed into messengers of righteousness, and sent forth by the Son of God to tell what "great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion on thee."   

God loves to hear YOUR STORY--and He loves individuality! We are as unique as the snowflakes, but each one of us is significant to God! Let Him lead you this day to be a blessing to everyone He guides you to connect with! May God bless you to be a blessing!!

[Sean James]

Praise the Lord for the privilege of having Jesus in our hearts by beholding Him and yielding fully to Him!

 The wondering crowd that pressed close about Christ realized no accession of vital power. But when the suffering woman put forth her hand to touch Him, believing that she would be made whole, she felt the healing virtue. So in spiritual things. To talk of religion in a casual way, to pray without soul hunger and living faith, avails nothing. A nominal faith in Christ, which accepts Him merely as the Saviour of the world, can never bring healing to the soul. The faith that is unto salvation is not a mere intellectual assent to the truth. He who waits for entire knowledge before he will exercise faith, cannot receive blessing from God. It is not enough to believe about Christ; we must believe in Him. The only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour; which appropriates His merits to ourselves. Many hold faith as an opinion. Saving faith is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God. Genuine faith is life. A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which the soul becomes a conquering power. 

Let us walk in the victory of Christ on a moment-by-moment basis, so He may reveal through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

[Sean James]

How does God see the soul that is truly converted, fully surrendered, and allowing the Holy Spirit to manifest in the life all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing while walking in the path of true obedience?

 Jesus continues: As you confess Me before men, so I will confess you before God and the holy angels. You are to be My witnesses upon earth, channels through which My grace can flow for the healing of the world. So I will be your representative in heaven. The Father beholds not your faulty character, but He sees you as clothed in My perfection. I am the medium through which Heaven's blessings shall come to you. And everyone who confesses Me by sharing My sacrifice for the lost shall be confessed as a sharer in the glory and joy of the redeemed.   

Even though converted, the character still needs to be changed from "glory to glory" (2 Corinthians 3:18)--from one degree of maturity and growth to the next. The Father sees us clothed in Christ's righteousness as long as we are abiding in Christ. Let us remember, though, that if we neglect Jesus or choose another master (sin, self, and the devil) that instead of our characters in their growth being clothed in Christ's righteousness, we are indeed in deep need of repentance, that we may have Christ abiding in the heart again! What a blessing that Christ does not leave us in an unconverted state without earnest appeal, for He says, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20). As we hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us to again surrender fully to Christ, we find that there is an immediate change when we do fully yield, for Jesus always brings His loveliness of character into our hearts and minds: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance will all be manifest in the character because Christ abides there with His OWN DIVINE NATURE by the Word (2 Peter 1:4)! What a blessing to have this constant union and communion with Christ by grace through faith!

[Sean James]

What a friend we have in Jesus! Our hearts may be happy, peaceful and obedient as we commune with Jesus and trust Him to guide us continually! He gives us the entire Sabbath from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday to enjoy a day of rest in abiding in Him (Exodus 20:8-11). Let us come to Him and experience what He had with the Father by the same things He did--by taking time to be in nature, to pray, to read our Bibles, to commune with our own hearts, and to hear Him speaking to us personally and individually! What a joy it is to surrender fully to Christ so all of the fruits of the Spirit may be seen in our lives without one missing!! No matter what may be going on around us, let us know His still, small voice saying, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth" (Psalm 46:10).

In a life wholly devoted to the good of others, the Saviour found it necessary to withdraw from the thoroughfares of travel and from the throng that followed Him day after day. He must turn aside from a life of ceaseless activity and contact with human needs, to seek retirement and unbroken communion with His Father. As one with us, a sharer in our needs and weaknesses, He was wholly dependent upon God, and in the secret place of prayer He sought divine strength, that He might go forth braced for duty and trial. In a world of sin Jesus endured struggles and torture of soul. In communion with God He could unburden the sorrows that were crushing Him. Here He found comfort and joy.

With God all things are possible--and the experience Jesus had is offered to us all. Not one of the fruits of the Spirit will be missing in our lives as we abide in Christ and having a living faith surrender to His will on a moment-by-moment basis! Then the very law of God--the Ten Commandments that are perfectly seen in Jesus, become our heart experience in a lifestyle of love!

[Sean James]

We need a living connection with Jesus!! How do we get one? We realize that by nature our hearts and minds are disconnected, and therefore we sense our great need, so we behold Jesus dying for sinners at Calvary, and finishing His work for His people now in the heavenly sanctuary to blot out all sin, and we realize that it is His loves that constrains us to go forward in His faith working by love! Then the heart and mind yielded fully to Christ will bring forth all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, as the repentant converted child of God lives in affectionate obedience to God's law of love as revealed in the Ten Commandments lived in Christ!

The disciples were the channel of communication between Christ and the people. This should be a great encouragement to His disciples today. Christ is the great center, the source of all strength. His disciples are to receive their supplies from Him. The most intelligent, the most spiritually minded, can bestow only as they receive. Of themselves they can supply nothing for the needs of the soul. We can impart only that which we receive from Christ; and we can receive only as we impart to others. As we continue imparting, we continue to receive; and the more we impart, the more we shall receive. Thus we may be constantly believing, trusting, receiving, and imparting.   

As we receive to give today, we will be blessed to be a blessing, and find great joy in knowing with God all things are possible!

[Sean James]

Let us not forget our continual need of Jesus today to do any good thing. When the whole heart is yielded to Him, He brings forth all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

Those who fail to realize their constant dependence upon God will be overcome by temptation. We may now suppose that our feet stand secure, and that we shall never be moved. We may say with confidence, "I know in whom I have believed; nothing can shake my faith in God and in His word." But Satan is planning to take advantage of our hereditary and cultivated traits of character, and to blind our eyes to our own necessities and defects. Only through realizing our own weakness and looking steadfastly unto Jesus can we walk securely.

Jesus knows the best way to lead us today. Let us walk by faith abiding in Him so He may bring forth the peace of His presence--a peace that passes all understanding--even in the midst of the greatest storms of life!

[Sean James]

We become like what we behold. We are to look away from self, the faults of others, this dark world, and the trials that come our way, and look upon Christ and let Him lead us step by step. He has a plan for this day of each of our lives and He desires to work in and through us for His good pleasure!

By looking constantly to Jesus with the eye of faith, we shall be strengthened. God will make the most precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. They will find that Christ is a personal Saviour. As they feed upon His word, they find that it is spirit and life. The word destroys the natural, earthly nature, and imparts a new life in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit comes to the soul as a Comforter. By the transforming agency of His grace, the image of God is reproduced in the disciple; he becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine similitude. This is what it means to live "by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven.
     
When we realize the privilege of suffering with Christ and partaking of His divine nature by the word of God, we shall gladly live in harmony with the law of love--the universal definition of freedom in the universe that allows for all relationships to thrive between God and all others! Then the very fruits of the Spirit (not one missing) that are the overflow of the Word of God in our hearts and minds will be a blessing to all around us!

[Sean James]

Let us not get distracted. Jesus is coming VERY VERY SOON! He is preparing a people to stand without a mediator during the time of the seven last plaques, the time of Jacob's trouble such as never was (Daniel 12:1). The message of the loveliness of Jesus in the everlasting gospel--the righteousness of His character in the law of God as He lived it in humanity--is freely offered to us! Let us surrender unreservedly to Christ and not become entangled with any hindering device of the enemy! May this day be one spent in constant union and communion with Christ by a living faith surrender so all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing!

Whenever the message of truth comes home to souls with special power, Satan stirs up his agents to start a dispute over some minor question. Thus he seeks to attract attention from the real issue. Whenever a good work is begun, there are cavilers ready to enter into dispute over forms or technicalities, to draw minds away from the living realities. When it appears that God is about to work in a special manner for His people, let them not be enticed into a controversy that will work only ruin of souls. The questions that most concern us are, Do I believe with saving faith on the Son of God? Is my life in harmony with the divine law? "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life." "And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments." John 3:36; 1 John 2:3. 

Walking even as Jesus walked in this life in the most exciting time of all--let us realize the privilege of being in harmony with God no matter how sinful we may be, since Jesus came to save sinners and by His grace make them renewed saints!!