The Glory of God

[Sean James]

As we realize that God's work can only be done by abiding in Him by His Spirit in complete surrender to His will, we will yearn to spend more time with Jesus and reflect the loveliness of His character to those around us! Let us learn from the disciples' experience the importance of a constant connection with God! When we are truly converted, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives, and we will gladly go where God leads us in affectionate obedience to His law of love!!

 In order to succeed in such a conflict they must come to the work in a different spirit. Their faith must be strengthened by fervent prayer and fasting, and humiliation of heart. They must be emptied of self, and be filled with the Spirit and power of God. Earnest, persevering supplication to God in faith--faith that leads to entire dependence upon God, and unreserved consecration to His work--can alone avail to bring men the Holy Spirit's aid in the battle against principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, and wicked spirits in high places.

We are in a war--but there is One who already won it! At Calvary the exclamation point of the great controversy between Christ and Satan was sounded: "It is finished" (John 19:30). Now all heaven is waiting to witness that Christ's victory will be wrought out in the lives of His people so fully that there is no risk of sin ever rising up again in their lives because they have learned to depend on Him FULLY and ALWAYS, and to such a witness is sounded "It is done" (Revelation 16:17). Because God's purpose to have a people who reflect Him in a world of sin will reach its fulfillment, Christ and His bride, the church, are seen as united in such an intimacy that forever the purpose God conceived in His infinite mind of love will never be thwarted, and the promise will forever ring true: "What do ye imagine against the Lord? He will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time" (Nahum 1:9). Let us be a part of God's plan in the fulness of the gospel experience by letting God do in and through us exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think!!

[Sean James]

What are you looking at? What we focus on changes us. As we behold the infinite loveliness of Jesus, we will become like Him in mind and character as we yield the whole heart to Him, and in contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Like a little child, we shall be happy to let Him lead us moment-by-moment, for the truly converted heart will ever manifest all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing in a life of affectionate obedience to all the light of God's law that is known and understood! Let us be living witnesses of Jesus' character today!!

Let the repenting sinner fix his eyes upon “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29); and by beholding, he becomes changed. His fear is turned to joy, his doubts to hope. Gratitude springs up. The stony heart is broken. A tide of love sweeps into the soul. Christ is in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. When we see Jesus, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, working to save the lost, slighted, scorned, derided, driven from city to city till His mission was accomplished; when we behold Him in Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood, and on the cross dying in agony,—when we see this, self will no longer clamor to be recognized. Looking unto Jesus, we shall be ashamed of our coldness, our lethargy, our self-seeking. We shall be willing to be anything or nothing, so that we may do heart service for the Master. We shall rejoice to bear the cross after Jesus, to endure trial, shame, or persecution for His dear sake.

No matter what the future holds, Jesus has a path suited to your strength and capacity that will bring you joy as you seek and save souls who also will become happy, peaceful and obedient in coming into union and communion with Christ! May God bless you to be a blessing today!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! Read the Owner's manual (the Bible). Jesus created you and He knows what will make you happy. If you want to try other things to satisfy your soul that do not lead to eternal happiness, you will experience loss and disappointment. But as you surrender your whole heart and mind to Christ because you see His loveliness in dying to save you from your sins, your whole life may be transformed and you may experience all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as you are truly converted! Then the happiness instructions in the Bible will be your chief delight and you will gladly obey the law of God revealed therein because Christ writes His character in your mind and heart!!

Jesus knew the wants of the soul. Pomp, riches, and honor cannot satisfy the heart. "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me." The rich, the poor, the high, the low, are alike welcome. He promises to relieve the burdened mind, to comfort the sorrowing, and to give hope to the despondent. Many of those who heard Jesus were mourners over disappointed hopes, many were nourishing a secret grief, many were seeking to satisfy their restless longing with the things of the world and the praise of men; but when all was gained, they found that they had toiled only to reach a broken cistern, from which they could not quench their thirst. Amid the glitter of the joyous scene they stood, dissatisfied and sad. That sudden cry, "If any man thirst," startled them from their sorrowful meditation, and as they listened to the words that followed, their minds kindled with a new hope. The Holy Spirit presented the symbol before them until they saw in it the offer of the priceless gift of salvation.

We are all looking for happiness, but we are tempted to try the things the world is rushing after to satisfy us. Thankfully, Jesus navigated this entire earthly life and followed EVERY WORD of the happiness manual, the Bible, and though He experienced great sorrow and trial in dying for us, He was cheered by the thought and the realization that He was bringing happiness to all who would come and accept the priceless gift of salvation. Only as we look to Jesus can we realize that happiness is the result of holiness, conformity to the will of God, and that in order to be happy ourselves we must live to make others happy! May this be your experience today and always by constant union and communion with Christ!

[Sean James]

The woman caught in adultery was seen through the eyes of Jesus as having infinite value. He knew her sin could be pardoned and forgiven. He saw her potential. He sees your potential. Fix your eyes upon the loveliness of Jesus and walk by faith in His character. Surrendering the entire heart to Him, your sins He freely pardons by His atoning blood and His grace empowers you to live a new life manifesting all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!

In His act of pardoning this woman and encouraging her to live a better life, the character of Jesus shines forth in the beauty of perfect righteousness. While He does not palliate sin, nor lessen the sense of guilt, He seeks not to condemn, but to save. The world had for this erring woman only contempt and scorn; but Jesus speaks words of comfort and hope. The Sinless One pities the weakness of the sinner, and reaches to her a helping hand. While the hypocritical Pharisees denounce, Jesus bids her, "Go, and sin no more."   

Let us go forth in His grace today to reflect the tenderness and compassion of Christ by having Him live in us, the "hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

[Sean James]

We have a problem. It is an infinite problem. Sin separates us from God and only Jesus can solve our problem. But when we admit our need and come to Him in total surrender, He offers us His infinite help, converting grace, and power to recreate us into His image! The result of accepting by faith such a miracle is that our lives will reflect all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing and we will be gladly obeying all of the light of God's law of love that is known to us!

The manifestation of divine power that had given to the blind man both natural and spiritual sight had left the Pharisees in yet deeper darkness. Some of His hearers, feeling that Christ's words applied to them, inquired, "Are we blind also?" Jesus answered, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin." If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. "But now ye say, We see." You believe yourselves able to see, and reject the means through which alone you could receive sight. To all who realized their need, Christ came with infinite help. But the Pharisees would confess no need; they refused to come to Christ, and hence they were left in blindness,--a blindness for which they were themselves guilty. Jesus said, "Your sin remaineth." 

Why would we choose to have our sin remain on the books of heaven? Jesus is about to leave the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary and He is preparing us to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator because His grace has restored us to His image in such a way that during the time of trouble such as never was His people will be kept from falling because they so fully trust His character that they would rather die than sin, and Christ has matured His character in them. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death" (Revelation 12:11). Let us keep our eyes on Jesus because He is ABLE to HELP us and SAVE us FULLY!! What good news this is!! May our lives bear witness of the loveliness of Jesus this day and each day!

[Sean James]

Why follow? What leads us to respond to Christ and continue to go where He invites?

It is not the fear of punishment, or the hope of everlasting reward, that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They behold the Saviour's matchless love, revealed throughout His pilgrimage on earth, from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, it softens and subdues the soul. Love awakens in the heart of the beholders. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.   

By faith today we may hear the voice of Jesus saying, "Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30).

As we unlearn the ways of the world with its false theories, standards and expectations and come under the tender care of Jesus, we can know that He will lead us in the way that is best to save our souls and to use us as witnesses of His loveliness to those around us! When we surrender the whole heart to Him, He comes and makes it His abiding place, forgiving our sins by His shed blood, filling us the Holy Spirit so that not one of the fruits of the Spirit is missing, and gladly leading us to obey the definition of loving freedom found in the Ten Commandments. Let us keep listening the Savior-Shepherd each moment of this day and invite others to do the same. If everyone in the world would but listen to Jesus in His word, He could come VERY SOON!

[Sean James]

Are you afraid of caged lions? Or what about defeated foes? Let us remember that Christ defeated Satan at Calvary and let us praise God who has power to keep us from coming under Satan's power as we yield our whole heart to Christ on a moment-by-moment basis! The only reason Satan still exists is that the whole universe may see the irrefutable evidence of how sinful sin and rebellion is, and give all free moral agents the opportunity to fully choose Christ or Satan. We need not be afraid for the future as we rely on God's promises which make us partakers of the divine nature! Then, abiding in Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives!

Henceforward Christ's followers were to look upon Satan as a conquered foe. Upon the cross, Jesus was to gain the victory for them; that victory He desired them to accept as their own. "Behold," He said, "I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
     The omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit is the defense of every contrite soul. Not one that in penitence and faith has claimed His protection will Christ permit to pass under the enemy's power. The Saviour is by the side of His tempted and tried ones. With Him there can be no such thing as failure, loss, impossibility, or defeat; we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. When temptations and trials come, do not wait to adjust all the difficulties, but look to Jesus, your helper. 

As we see the goodness of God, it leads us to an ever-deepening repentance. We may gladly go forward on the mission God has entrusted to us because Christ has defeated the devil, and soon he will no longer exist, because the wages of sin is death. Thankfully, all who know their need of Christ and come to Him are set free to do God's will and find great joy in His plans which are always best!

[Sean James]

With so many errors and poor examples in the world because of sin, what is the true solution?

The way to dispel darkness is to admit light. The best way to deal with error is to present truth. It is the revelation of God's love that makes manifest the deformity and sin of the heart centered in self.

Selfishness is death. Christ came to break the power of selfishness by manifesting self-sacrificing love, the true character of God, and show us the path of true happiness which is the result of holiness. To break sin's power and pay the penalty for our sins, Jesus died for us at Calvary. Now He is in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary ministering to blot out even the record of the confessed and forsaken sin of His people, as He is preparing His people to stand in the sight of a holy God without a mediator by living His character in this world consistently. When we live by faith on the Son of God, the Holy Spirit lives in the converted heart that is cleansed by the blood of Jesus and renewed by grace so that all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in the life without one missing! The effect of such union and communion with God is that we will gladly obey the law of love and seek and save the souls around us that need Jesus. Let us go forth today to bless others by looking unto Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith!

[Sean James]

The world is becoming more corrupt, but the gospel of the grace of God is still the only lasting solution to change hearts and lives. We can look around us and know that the things Jesus said would transpire before He returns are happening, but thankfully, there has never been a better time to uplift Jesus and share that as we behold Him and yield unreservedly to Him with the whole heart and mind, He blots out our sins by His atoning blood, fills us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing, and then lives out His life in us in complete obedience! Let us look keep looking higher and higher as the coming of Christ is SO SOON!

Now, as in Christ's day, the work of God's kingdom lies not with those who are clamoring for recognition and support by earthly rulers and human laws, but with those who are declaring to the people in His name those spiritual truths that will work in the receivers the experience of Paul: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." Galatians 2:20. Then they will labor as did Paul for the benefit of men. He said, "Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20. 

An ambassador is someone who lives in another land representing another. We are representatives of heaven, and as such are to keep our identity clear and district. We represent Jesus who promises to prepare a place for us. Though we are strangers and pilgrims in this short earthly life, we can be thankful that He is willing to work in and through us and appeal to the hearts of those around us to be adopted into His kingdom by a true heart conversion! Let us be faithful by abiding in Him today!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! As you accept Jesus into your heart, may you let the Holy Spirit reflect His love, joy and peace along with all of the fruits of the Spirit through your life to the children of God around you who need Christ in their hearts, too! 

As you win their confidence in you as followers of Christ, it will be easy to teach them of the great love wherewith He has loved us. As you try to make plain the truths of salvation, and point the children to Christ as a personal Saviour, angels will be by your side. The Lord will give to fathers and mothers grace to interest their little ones in the precious story of the Babe of Bethlehem, who is indeed the hope of the world. 

Whatever our age, everyone begins life through childhood. Let us cultivate the happy trust in Jesus that is best cultivated early in life, even from babyhood! May you be like Jesus to everyone you meet--especially children!!

[Sean James]

In complete surrender to Christ there is perfect peace, along with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Then the life bears witness to the eternal realities that God intends to reveal to us, manifesting through us His divine nature made accessible to us by His infinite promises! Let us realize we are all in high positions of trust simply because of WHEN WE LIVE! We live RIGHT BEFORE Jesus returns, and we have a message to bear (Revelation 14:6-12) and a Savior who will finish the mystery of His character being fully manifest in us (Colossians 1:27, Revelation 10:7). The key is being fully surrendered on a moment-by-moment basis! As we let our Heavenly Father cut away any and all forms of selfishness and unlikeness to Christ in our characters, the message of the loveliness of Jesus in the context of the everlasting gospel will blaze with glory, and the Holy Spirit will be poured out in FULL measure!

To those who, like the young ruler, are in high positions of trust and have great possessions, it may seem too great a sacrifice to give up all in order to follow Christ. But this is the rule of conduct for all who would become His disciples. Nothing short of obedience can be accepted. Self-surrender is the substance of the teachings of Christ. Often it is presented and enjoined in language that seems authoritative, because there is no other way to save man than to cut away those things which, if entertained, will demoralize the whole being.

Had the rich young ruler realized that Jesus was offering him a promotion from his current experience to one that was in harmony with the present truth, he would gladly have yielded. Why the struggle for him? And why do we struggle to surrender so often? Because we have a fallen nature that is naturally deceptive and we must learn to walk by faith (what God says) rather than by feeling. What our flesh, the world, and the devil seek to deceive us to believe is all an attempt to get us to miss out on the eternal life Jesus has planned for us and the most weighty trust and highest honor this side of His coming--fellowship with Christ in His sufferings. Had the rich young ruler been like Moses who forsook Egypt  and all its "advantages," that young man would have been such a help to Christ's work and there would have been MANY MORE SOULS in heaven because each soul saved in total surrender to Christ becomes another agency that God can use to save MANY MORE SOULS!! Let God use you in ANY WAY He chooses and you will always be happiest in light of eternity, even though trials and tribulation come because of following God's word!!

[Sean James]

Try to imagine the scene. Jesus is standing before the tomb of Lazarus, and He speaks in such a clear, ringing voice: "Lazarus, come forth" (John 11:43). This is the test of Christ's divinity. Can He raise the dead?

There is a stir in the silent tomb, and he who was dead stands at the door of the sepulcher. His movements are impeded by the graveclothes in which he was laid away, and Christ says to the astonished spectators, "Loose him, and let him go." Again they are shown that the human worker is to co-operate with God. Humanity is to work for humanity. Lazarus is set free, and stands before the company, not as one emaciated from disease, and with feeble, tottering limbs, but as a man in the prime of life, and in the vigor of a noble manhood. His eyes beam with intelligence and with love for his Saviour. He casts himself in adoration at the feet of Jesus.

So it will be when Jesus raises ALL THE DEAD IN CHRIST when He returns VERY SOON! All who have surrendered their lives to Him fully and accepted His saving grace by faith need not fear death, for it is likened in the Bible to sleep, for "the dead know not any thing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5), but those whom Christ raises will know His power over death and be given new, immortal bodies!! Lazarus' resurrection is an ASSURANCE that Jesus can DO IT AGAIN and we can go forth today to be His witnesses by the life He gives us--a life that will manifest all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as long as Christ has ALL THE HEART!! What joy may fill our hearts as we approach the soon coming return of Christ and the resurrection of life of all His believing children! If we are privileged to be alive until that day, having passed through the time of trouble, we will be given the blessing of a new body even though we never died!! 

[Sean James]

Be consistent. By beholding Jesus, become like Jesus in complete surrender to God's will. Jesus consistently did the Father's will, and that was why He was persecuted. We do not seek to arouse antagonism or cause conflict, but as hearts choose either to respond to or reject the grace of Christ, there will be persecution. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).

Jesus had now given three years of public labor to the world. His example of self-denial and disinterested benevolence was before them. His life of purity, of suffering and devotion, was known to all. Yet this short period of three years was as long as the world could endure the presence of its Redeemer.   

When God's people are reflecting Christ's character in all its glory as it is prophesied in Revelation 18:1, persecution will be inevitable. We are to do what the early church did, though, and rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for Him! As far as possible, if we are persecuted in one place, we should go to another to keep spreading the light. Jesus will keep us as we look to Him by faith, for when we are abiding in Him in living faith surrender, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing! We will affectionately obey His law of love from a heart renewed by divine grace, and though loss, persecution and suffering may be our lot, we will rejoice to go where He leads, because Jesus is coming again soon and we have nothing to fear for the future except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us and His teaching in our past history!

[Sean James]

Freedom is good. God loves freedom. But the definition of freedom is love, and the definition of love is the Ten Commandments as exemplified in the life and character of Christ. (A "freedom" outside the context God created is really a deceptive form of slavery to sin, the world, the flesh, and the devil.) When we live by faith on Christ as a personal Savior in continual union and communion of our souls with Him, He cleanses us from our sins and imbues us with all of the fruits of the Spirit, for "against such there is no law" (Galatians 5:23). When we realize that our greatest need is to abide in Jesus on a constant basis, we will live in total freedom to do God's will which is defined by His word and revealed in His providences by the Holy Spirit. Oh, let us realize the HIGH PRIVILEGE of being free to do God's will that we may invite others to go and do likewise!

In matters of conscience the soul must be left untrammeled. No one is to control another's mind, to judge for another, or to prescribe his duty. God gives to every soul freedom to think, and to follow his own convictions. "Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." No one has a right to merge his own individuality in that of another. In all matters where principle is involved, "let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind." Romans 14:12, 5. In Christ's kingdom there is no lordly oppression, no compulsion of manner. The angels of heaven do not come to the earth to rule, and to exact homage, but as messengers of mercy, to co-operate with men in uplifting humanity.   

As we go forth to be a blessing today in whatever way God's providence directs us in harmony with His word, let us encourage others to know that God is able to do more than we ask or think when we simply trust Him with the whole heart by surrendering fully to His love!

[Sean James]

Merry Christmas! Let’s look to Jesus and remember He came to save souls as broken as we!

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.

This is good news! Share this grace in how you live and treat others today by looking upon Jesus, yielding the whole heart to Him, and letting Him imbue you with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Then we can gladly obey the Holy Spirit’s promptings like Mary Magdalene did in how she anointed Jesus in gratitude! Affectionate obedience from a converted heart is the miracle He offers us as the greatest of all gifts! One soul is worth more than worlds!