The Glory of God

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!!

Jesus longs to reveal Scriptures to us that prepare us to bear the future trials on the horizon of our experience before He comes again in power and great glory! What a joy it is to abide in His love and overcome sin by His grace!

As Joseph and Mary should return from Jerusalem alone with Jesus, He hoped to direct their minds to the prophecies of the suffering Saviour. Upon Calvary He sought to lighten His mother's grief. He was thinking of her now. Mary was to witness His last agony, and Jesus desired her to understand His mission, that she might be strengthened to endure, when the sword should pierce through her soul. As Jesus had been separated from her, and she had sought Him sorrowing three days, so when He should be offered up for the sins of the world, He would again be lost to her for three days. And as He should come forth from the tomb, her sorrow would again be turned to joy. But how much better she could have borne the anguish of His death if she had understood the Scriptures to which He was now trying to turn her thoughts!

As Jesus prepares a people to stand in the time of trouble without His mediation because they are settled into the truth intellectually and spiritually so they cannot be moved, He is helping us recognize that fellowship with Him in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor! All we need to do is keep walking in the light in full surrender to Him, as from union and communion with Christ all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will flow forth from our lives in affectionate obedience to all of God's commandments!

[Sean James]

Praise the Lord that it is possible to be trained in a godly way. If we surrender the whole heart to Jesus, learn of Him, and exercise temperance in our habits of life, even from our early years, it can make a difference for eternity! I am so thankful for a praying, Christian mother who loved me and taught me to be healthy, abstaining from drugs, alcohol, caffeine and appreciating eating foods lots of fresh fruits and vegetables! As the Lord saves us by grace through faith, we can enjoy being temperate so our minds can be clear to hear the Holy Spirit's voice and do God's will!

In childhood and youth the character is most impressible. The power of self-control should then be acquired. By the fireside and at the family board influences are exerted whose results are as enduring as eternity. More than any natural endowment, the habits established in early years decide whether a man will be victorious or vanquished in the battle of life. Youth is the sowing time. It determines the character of the harvest, for this life and for the life to come.

As we sow to the Spirit, we will reap to the Spirit, growing in grace and godliness as we thrive in His love! All of the fruits of the Sprit without one missing will be manifest in the life fully surrendered to God, walking in affectionate obedience to all of His Ten Commandments!

[Sean James]

You are very loved by God! He has power to save us and to prepare us for heaven, and we see in the life of Jesus the joy of true victory available to us! In complete surrender of our will to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be manifest as Christ lives in us, the hope of glory!

And the word that was spoken to Jesus at the Jordan, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," embraces humanity. God spoke to Jesus as our representative. With all our sins and weaknesses, we are not cast aside as worthless. "He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. The glory that rested upon Christ is a pledge of the love of God for us. It tells us of the power of prayer,--how the human voice may reach the ear of God, and our petitions find acceptance in the courts of heaven. By sin, earth was cut off from heaven, and alienated from its communion; but Jesus has connected it again with the sphere of glory. His love has encircled man, and reached the highest heaven. The light which fell from the open portals upon the head of our Saviour will fall upon us as we pray for help to resist temptation. The voice which spoke to Jesus says to every believing soul, This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.

God loves to speak His words of love over you, so rejoice in Him and overcome by His grace day by day!

[Sean James]

There are so many ideas of what is true these days. But what is the ONLY thing we can safely trust in this world?

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.” Often the follower of Christ is brought where he cannot serve God and carry forward his worldly enterprises. Perhaps it appears that obedience to some plain requirement of God will cut off his means of support. Satan would make him believe that he must sacrifice his conscientious convictions. But the only thing in our world upon which we can rely is the word of God. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33. Even in this life it is not for our good to depart from the will of our Father in heaven. When we learn the power of His word, we shall not follow the suggestions of Satan in order to obtain food or to save our lives. Our only questions will be, What is God's command? and what His promise? Knowing these, we shall obey the one, and trust the other.

Only the word of God is a safe foundation for making wise decisions for this life and the life to come. As we surrender our whole heart to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be manifest in and through our experience of character as we abide in Christ and overcome by His grace! True, affectionate obedience to all of God's commandments will flow like a stream from the heart that has learned to depend only on God's word for an eternal character foundation.

[Sean James]

Wow! If you and I could realize HOW MUCH GOD LOVES US and HOW MUCH CHRIST GAVE UP in giving Himself to save us, our perceived value of salvation would catapult us into such zealous, earnest, loving service for Jesus who left heaven and chose to lay aside His omnipotence for eternity so He could become our Brother! Amazing love! Received into our lives, we will yearn to bless others and find creative ways to reach souls so they can taste the bliss of relational selflessness (also known as true obedience)! Such grace, dwelt upon and appreciated, is so powerful that it can change us into the image of Christ and propel us to live such selfless lives that the only way to understand the self-sacrifice is to continually behold the loveliness of Jesus and overcome as He did, too!!

Never can the cost of our redemption be realized until the redeemed shall stand with the Redeemer before the throne of God. Then as the glories of the eternal home burst upon our enraptured senses we shall remember that Jesus left all this for us, that He not only became an exile from the heavenly courts, but for us took the risk of failure and eternal loss. Then we shall cast our crowns at His feet, and raise the song, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.” Revelation 5:12.

When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing! We will gladly go forth in God's plans for us as we discover more and more of His loveliness of character--which will be our experience for eternity as we choose to keep letting God's will become our own!

[Sean James]

Imagine how you would have felt beholding Jesus, the just-announced Lamb of God by John!

Was this the Christ? With awe and wonder the people looked upon the One just declared to be the Son of God. They had been deeply moved by the words of John. He had spoken to them in the name of God. They had listened to him day after day as he reproved their sins, and daily the conviction that he was sent of Heaven had strengthened. But who was this One greater than John the Baptist? In His dress and bearing there was nothing that betokened rank. He was apparently a simple personage, clad like themselves in the humble garments of the poor. 

Chrsit's humility was not a detraction from His greatness, but a revelation of His true loveliness. We, through abiding in Him in complete surrender, may also have His humble character in any lot to which God's providence assigns us! Let's rejoice in His loving presence and walk by grace through faith in Him! All of the fruits of the Spirit come into the character of one truly converted to Christ, and then we are enabled to joyfully obey God from the heart in which He dwells! Now, by faith, behold the Savior as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, soon to come as our King in glory to take us home to heaven!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!!

It was all out of love. Everything Jesus did was because He loved the Father and the souls for whom He came into this world to lay down His life to save. As we abide in Christ's love by a complete surrender of all we have and are, His experience becomes ours. All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will spontaneously "break forth as the morning" Isaiah 58:8. This converted experience will lead to selfless obedience to God's law of love as manifest in unselfish ministry to those in need, even as Jesus gave us the perfect example!

Jesus reproved self-indulgence in all its forms, yet He was social in His nature. He accepted the hospitality of all classes, visiting the homes of the rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant, and seeking to elevate their thoughts from questions of commonplace life to those things that are spiritual and eternal. He gave no license to dissipation, and no shadow of worldly levity marred His conduct; yet He found pleasure in scenes of innocent happiness, and by His presence sanctioned the social gathering. A Jewish marriage was an impressive occasion, and its joy was not displeasing to the Son of man. By attending this feast, Jesus honored marriage as a divine institution.

When we realize how much God loves us and trust the way God leads us, we can be happy, peaceful and obedient Christians who thrive in doing God's will!

[Sean James]

Happy new year 2023!! What is to make us bold? Jesus power to save us!!

"Seeing then that we have a great high priest, . . . Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Heb 4:14-16.

When we realize how sinful and weak we are, rather than trying on our own to make ourselves better, we will come to Christ just as we are--sinful, helpless, and dependent, and let Him bind up the wounds of our soul with His atoning blood and fill us with the Holy Spirit so all the attributes of His character are manifest in our lives without one missing! Praise God for the power of grace to change sinners into saints and keep us from falling back into the path of rebellion!

[Sean James]

Let Jesus draw you to Him!!

Nicodemus was being drawn to Christ. As the Saviour explained to him concerning the new birth, he longed to have this change wrought in himself. By what means could it be accomplished? Jesus answered the unspoken question: “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

Here was ground with which Nicodemus was familiar. The symbol of the uplifted serpent made plain to him the Saviour's mission. When the people of Israel were dying from the sting of the fiery serpents, God directed Moses to make a serpent of brass, and place it on high in the midst of the congregation. Then the word was sounded throughout the encampment that all who would look upon the serpent should live. The people well knew that in itself the serpent had no power to help them. It was a symbol of Christ. As the image made in the likeness of the destroying serpents was lifted up for their healing, so One made “in the likeness of sinful flesh” was to be their Redeemer. Romans 8:3. Many of the Israelites regarded the sacrificial service as having in itself virtue to set them free from sin. God desired to teach them that it had no more value than that serpent of brass. It was to lead their minds to the Saviour. Whether for the healing of their wounds or the pardon of their sins, they could do nothing for themselves but show their faith in the Gift of God. They were to look and live.

As we look and live, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives, as we are enabled to bear much fruit to the glory of God in winning souls to His kingdom and teach others the simplicity of the gospel! We will gladly obey God when Christ lives in us, the hope of glory! Praise God!!

[Sean James]

In reading about the woman at the well in John 4, what is a key lesson to learn from her experience that is an example to us? Once she surrendered fully to the grace of Christ, her heart was converted and she left her sinful past, gladly obedient to God and empowered to reveal all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Such a missionary experience is available to each of us through complete, continual surrender to Christ!

This woman represents the working of a practical faith in Christ. Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. He who drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the soul is like a spring in the desert, welling up to refresh all, and making those who are ready to perish eager to drink of the water of life.

As we go forth by God's grace to bless others, we find the joy of salvation so wonderful that our experience will overflow to bless others!

[Sean James]

What if you came to realize that God's love for you is so great that He would even let you realize how sinful you are, so you could become transformed in character? After all, our character is the only thing we get to take to heaven with us when Jesus returns! Let us learn from the experience of the nobleman in John 4 how Christ reads the heart--not to condemn, but to purify and save! Then, when the ENTIRE heart is yielded to Christ and we are willing to seek Him for His will to be done and not our own, we can experience all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as long as we are abiding in Christ! We can affectionately obey God up to the light He has revealed to us because we have Jesus living in us, the hope of glory!

He who blessed the nobleman at Capernaum is just as desirous of blessing us. But like the afflicted father, we are often led to seek Jesus by the desire for some earthly good; and upon the granting of our request we rest our confidence in His love. The Saviour longs to give us a greater blessing than we ask; and He delays the answer to our request that He may show us the evil of our own hearts, and our deep need of His grace. He desires us to renounce the selfishness that leads us to seek Him. Confessing our helplessness and bitter need, we are to trust ourselves wholly to His love.

When you trust God's love fully, worry no longer makes any sense. The only thing that does make sense is complete surrender and joyful union and communion with the God who gave His Son to save us fully! Can we not then trust Him in every other area of life? Praise God for the experience that comes to us when we do!

[Sean James]

Is anything too hard for God to do? He can raise the dead and bring the spiritually dead back to life! Such a new life comes when we behold Christ's loveliness of character, believe in His power to save us, repent of sin, confess our sins to Him, and submit the whole heart to Christ to grow in His grace! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will come into the life that is truly converted! Then we can affectionately obey God from the new heart given by Christ that is vitally connected to His divine nature!

The Saviour continued: “What things soever He [the Father] doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.... As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom He will.” The Sadducees held that there would be no resurrection of the body; but Jesus tells them that one of the greatest works of His Father is raising the dead, and that He Himself has power to do the same work. “The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” The Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead. Christ declares that even now the power which gives life to the dead is among them, and they are to behold its manifestation. This same resurrection power is that which gives life to the soul “dead in trespasses and sins.” Ephesians 2:1. That spirit of life in Christ Jesus, “the power of His resurrection,” sets men “free from the law of sin and death.” Philippians 3:10; Romans 8:2. The dominion of evil is broken, and through faith the soul is kept from sin. He who opens his heart to the Spirit of Christ becomes a partaker of that mighty power which shall bring forth his body from the grave.

We are to present the word of life to those whom we may judge to be as hopeless subjects as if they were in their graves. Though they may seem to be unwilling to hear or to receive the light of truth, without questioning or wavering we are to do our part.

Present the truth as it is in Jesus, and help others to overcome sin by bringing them to the Savior who has power to restore the soul to wholeness! Trust that God can take the very most desperate case and transform such a soul into a monument of His grace and mercy!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!! There's always more with Jesus!! John the Baptist had an important ministry to point people to Jesus, but there was still so much more that he did not understand! As we look to Christ and abide in His love, surrendering all we have and are to Him, He unites us to His grace so we can overcome sin and be ready for the future, immortal life!

The prophet John was the connecting link between the two dispensations. As God's representative he stood forth to show the relation of the law and the prophets to the Christian dispensation. He was the lesser light, which was to be followed by a greater. The mind of John was illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that he might shed light upon his people; but no other light ever has shone or ever will shine so clearly upon fallen man as that which emanated from the teaching and example of Jesus. Christ and His mission had been but dimly understood as typified in the shadowy sacrifices. Even John had not fully comprehended the future, immortal life through the Saviour.

What a joy it is to walk with Christ and look forward to what is to come! Yet in this life we can grasp by faith the experience of being a new creature in Christ as He manifests through us all of the traits of His divine nature, enabling us to affectionately obey God from the heart He renews!

[Sean James]

Angels are involved! Our experience in learning the truth is connected with the ministration of the angels! What a blessing that the angel Gabriel would be so involved in helping to guide in the unfolding of truth to those in need of prophetic counsel. Just as surely as Daniel and John were blessed with God's help through the angel Gabriel's ministry, we can be assured that the heavenly angels are involved in seeking to awaken in our hearts the desire to receive God's truth and study it so we can be faithful to do God's will in the times in which we live!

It was Gabriel, the angel next in rank to the Son of God, who came with the divine message to Daniel. It was Gabriel, “His angel,” whom Christ sent to open the future to the beloved John; and a blessing is pronounced on those who read and hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written therein. Revelation 1:3.

The great blessing God desires for us is salvation, and that blessing is guarded and protected by receiving the prophetic truth for the time in which we live, for the three angels' messages, the return of Christ, and the final conflict with religious apostasy through the work of Satan are clearly foretold in Revelation in connection with the book of Daniel, helping us to walk a safe path for our feet in these last days. In complete surrender to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will come into the life as the converted soul is empowered to live up to all the light that God has sent to shine upon the life path, and as we follow the truth, we grow more and more like Jesus with a better preparation to reach others in these last days! May you value the prophetic truths of God's word as they reveal Jesus and His plan to save all who come unto God by Him!

[Sean James]

What can cure the unbelieving heart? Learning from the experience of those who rejected Christ at Nazareth in the beginning of His ministry, we see that unbelief must be surrendered to the light of God's word, enabling the soul to overcome by grace through faith, giving us a new capacity for God's will to be done in our lives! Self must be crucified and yielded to Christ. As we surrender all we have and are to Him, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives as we are enabled to obey God from the heart. We must learn to trust God's word over every other influence, relying upon God's glory and not seeking our own. Since real greatness can dispense with outward show, it is well for us to value truth because it is truth, regardless of who presents it to us. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).

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?

Throughout time, many religious leaders have been in error, and it was the religious leaders in Christ's day that were very intent on His crucifixion. Oh, let us cease from trusting man and rely completely upon God as He has revealed Himself in the word of God!