The Glory of God

[Sean James]

What is the best way to watch and pray for the second coming of Jesus? We daily need to behold Him, fully surrender to Him, repent and forsake sin, experience the baptism of the Holy Spirit, get active in mission service, and let the Holy Spirit lead continually in a life experience manifesting all of the fruit of the Spirit without trait of the divine nature missing! We can know what God wants us to do because we have a more sure word of prophecy to guide us heavenward!

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.

Jesus is coming soon!! Does your life reflect this reality in how you use your time, resources and influence? Let us fall on our knees and ask the Lord to lead us to value what heaven values--the salvation of souls--and do all we can to help them be saved by cooperation with Christ in loving obedience to all of His commandments!

[Sean James]

Since real greatness can dispense with outward show, it follows that being like Jesus is a revelation of true wisdom.

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?

Look at Jesus. He lived truth, even when many religious teachers walked in error and did not accept Him. As we surrender fully to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives as we are empowered to true obedience to all of God's commandments. May we walk even as Jesus walked by fully surrendering to His will for us as He reveals it to us day by day.

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!!

When we look at Jesus in His infinite loveliness of character and experience the joy of divine communion by a complete surrender to Him, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will flow into our lives! We can gladly go where God leads us to go by His divine grace, humbly and happily obeying God because we have learned day by day that His ways are higher and better than anything we can ask or think!

He who loves Christ the most will do the greatest amount of good. There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, by putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon his heart, and lives a life wholly consecrated to God. If men will endure the necessary discipline, without complaining or fainting by the way, God will teach them hour by hour, and day by day. He longs to reveal His grace. If His people will remove the obstructions, He will pour forth the waters of salvation in abundant streams through the human channels. If men in humble life were encouraged to do all the good they could do, if restraining hands were not laid upon them to repress their zeal, there would be a hundred workers for Christ where now there is one.

By beholding we become changed, and as we behold Jesus, learn of His complete dependence upon the Father, and then learn to fully depend on Jesus through the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, it is a joy to go forth on His missions of mercy to seek and save souls in copartnership with Christ!

[Sean James]

Beholding the loveliness of Jesus, who Himself is the word of God, reveals to us the way of victory over Satan, sin, this fallen evil world, and our own fallen nature. We need to surrender to and abide in the word of God so its eternal principles of love enter into our thoughts and feelings, making us partakers of the divine nature, giving us continual access to God's strength and grace for His purposes to be fulfilled.

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.

Jesus is coming again very soon, and He is preparing a people who will rely fully on His word for the plan and purpose of life. What a joy to have clarity and victory in Jesus by His word, for the Holy Spirit who inspired the word of God brings to the converted soul all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we are simultaneously empowered to obey God's law up to the light He has revealed!

[Sean James]

Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let us do all we can this Christmas day to spread the light of His love, joy and peace! Christ came to save from sin and all the effects of Satan's deceptive rebellion! We can be restored to wholeness in Christ! As we behold His infinite loveliness, reflecting on His amazing sacrifice for us and realizing His power to save, we can truly have fullness of joy in His presence as we surrender fully to Him and let Him also give us the fullness of all of the other fruits of the Spirit without one missing! The wonderful testimony of the man restored from palsy whom Christ first forgave all his sins gives us great encouragement to realize the power of the gospel is found in complete life transformation!!

In the home of the healed paralytic there was great rejoicing when he returned to his family, carrying with ease the couch upon which he had been slowly borne from their presence but a short time before. They gathered round with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes. He stood before them in the full vigor of manhood. Those arms that they had seen lifeless were quick to obey his will. The flesh that had been shrunken and leaden-hued was now fresh and ruddy. He walked with a firm, free step. Joy and hope were written in every lineament of his countenance; and an expression of purity and peace had taken the place of the marks of sin and suffering. Glad thanksgiving went up from that home, and God was glorified through His Son, who had restored hope to the hopeless, and strength to the stricken one. This man and his family were ready to lay down their lives for Jesus. No doubt dimmed their faith, no unbelief marred their fealty to Him who had brought light into their darkened home.

Joy to the world, the same Lord that came to Bethlehem, lived a holy life in Nazareth, carried on a blameless ministry, and went to Calvary for us is RISEN, and SOON TO RETURN in power and great glory to take us to the heavenly mansions He has planned for us! Praise God!!

[Sean James]

What is your desire? What are you longing for? In what do you find your highest satisfaction? If we behold the loveliness of Jesus and surrender fully to Him, our converted hearts will have the infilling of the Holy Spirit without one of the fruits of the Spirit missing. Such a "new heart" (Ezekiel 36:26) is enabled, through continual union and communion with Christ, to resist the temptations of the fallen nature, also described in the Bible as the heart that is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9). That old heart needs daily to be crucified with Christ and replaced with the new heart that is enabled to obey God up to the light He has revealed because we love Him who first loved us.

But if one has listened to and become accustomed to false teaching, Satan seeks to make truth undesirable and unwelcome, so the soul will cling to false theories and opinions that are really mental idols, keeping one from truly desiring and living in the truth as it is in Jesus. May we realize the need we have to see Jesus as He is in truth and let the heart experience the wooing of God's love to truly satisfy us! Upon true conversion in complete acquiescence to Christ of all we are in soul, body and spirit to God, there is no limit the usefulness of such a life transformed by divine grace!

Jesus pointed out the power of false teaching to destroy the appreciation and desire for truth. “No man,” He said, “having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better.” All the truth that has been given to the world through patriarchs and prophets shone out in new beauty in the words of Christ. But the scribes and Pharisees had no desire for the precious new wine. Until emptied of the old traditions, customs, and practices, they had no place in mind or heart for the teachings of Christ. They clung to the dead forms, and turned away from the living truth and the power of God.

The truth as it is in Jesus is sanctifying in its power, for by His love, love is awakened in the soul. We can go forth to bless others rather than focus on self and the false theories that would make the seed of His word unfruitful. Let us keep pressing on the upward way with Jesus!

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:4-8).

[Sean James]

What is your favorite part about the Sabbath? Each week at Friday sunset God reserves 24 blessed hours that He has sanctified for us to enjoy His holy presence because He has the power to make us holy!

"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.

When we experience true conversion by a complete surrender to Christ, the Sabbath becomes increasingly meaningful to us as all of the fruits of the Spirit are manifest in our character while also gladly obeying God’s law because Jesus lives in us, the hope of glory!

[Sean James]

What a joy it is to become converted, having a childlike trust that our Heavenly Father knows what is best and that He will provide for all of our needs as we go forward in doing His holy will. May we cultivate a godly character like we see in the experience of Nathanael!

In happy contrast to Philip's unbelief was the childlike trust of Nathanael. He was a man of intensely earnest nature, one whose faith took hold upon unseen realities. Yet Philip was a student in the school of Christ, and the divine Teacher bore patiently with his unbelief and dullness. When the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples, Philip became a teacher after the divine order. He knew whereof he spoke, and he taught with an assurance that carried conviction to the hearers.

We may become like Jesus in mind and character as we keep our eyes of faith steadfastly fixed on Him and surrender fully to Him. All of the fruits of the Spirit will be revealed in our lives without one missing as long as we are truly converted, obedient to the light of truth shining on our path! Praise God!!

[Sean James]

Why did Jesus give the sermon on the mount? He longed for all who heard His word to receive His grace, His righteousness, and His character experience. He offers it to all of us, so that by an unreserved surrender to Him we can reflect all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we are empowered to truly obey the law of God as an affectionate experience of fellowship with Him in continual union and communion of our souls with the divine! Hallelujah!

Jesus had shown in what righteousness consists, and had pointed to God as its source. Now He turned to practical duties. In almsgiving, in prayer, in fasting, He said, let nothing be done to attract attention or win praise to self. Give in sincerity, for the benefit of the suffering poor. In prayer, let the soul commune with God. In fasting, go not with the head bowed down, and heart filled with thoughts of self. The heart of the Pharisee is a barren and profitless soil, in which no seeds of divine life can flourish. It is he who yields himself most unreservedly to God that will render Him the most acceptable service. For through fellowship with God men become workers together with Him in presenting His character in humanity.

Working together with God is so exciting--because God is always on the move to do what is best for His children--both for this life and the life to come! Trust Him!!!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! As we see the true heart of God in Christ--a heart of unchangeable tenderness--we can know that in coming to Him, He is able to comfort and bless us just the way we most need. He is able to convert our inmost soul, purifying the springs of motives, purposes, thoughts, and feelings to be in perfect harmony with His unselfish law of love in a life filled with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! If Jesus has power to raise the dead, He CERTAINLY has power to make and keep us from sin, which leads to death. He can give you spiritual life that will not fail, for it is Him living in you, the hope of glory! Trust Him FULLY!!

He who stood beside the sorrowing mother at the gate of Nain, watches with every mourning one beside the bier. He is touched with sympathy for our grief. His heart, that loved and pitied, is a heart of unchangeable tenderness. His word, that called the dead to life, is no less efficacious now than when spoken to the young man of Nain. He says, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Matthew 28:18. That power is not diminished by the lapse of years, nor exhausted by the ceaseless activity of His overflowing grace. To all who believe on Him He is still a living Saviour.

[Sean James]

Who is the closest to you?

Closer than father, mother, brother, friend, or lover is the Lord our Saviour. “Fear not,” He says, “for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” “Since thou wast precious in My sight, thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life.” Isaiah 43:1, 4.

Thankfully, even if every human dependence were cut off from us, we would still have One who is the closest to us in a saving, abiding relationship with Jesus! He invites us to become vitally united to Him in a living faith surrender so He can fill us with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we are supernaturally empowered to obey the law of God from the new heart given to us!

[Sean James]

Happy new year 2024!

We can start having heaven in our hearts by inviting Jesus to live in and through us! What a joy and privilege it is to be adopted into the royal family by grace through faith in a surrendered continual union and communion with Christ! All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be revealed in our lives as we are empowered to obey God from the heart renewed by His word!

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.

So when we finally get to the location of heaven when Jesus takes us there at His second coming, it will be but the continuation of the relationship of heaven that we have already begun in this life! Praise God it will just get better and better forever and ever! Hallelujah!

[Sean James]

What has Jesus done for you? Are you fully surrendered to Christ and letting Him save you from sin? If so, you have a testimony to share that will bless others and strengthen in your own heart and mind the reality of the gospel's transforming influence upon your mind and character! A life lived in true obedience to all of God's commandments with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing is such a powerful evidence that Jesus not only saves, but TRANSFORMS the life of one in whom His Spirit abides! That is why Jesus sent forth the two restored demoniacs to witness in their own home and area, so that many more could know how wonderful Jesus is as a Savior! "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).

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.”

When we share with others what Jesus has done, we are twice blessed--blessed to know others are encouraged by a living testimony, and also blessed to realize the truth of what Christ has done and is still doing in our hearts! Praise God!

[Sean James]

Do you have hope? It is amazing how much hope in God changes a situation. When the woman who was afflicted with an issue of bleeding for 12 years got closer to Jesus, she began to despair, but Jesus had planned to pass by where she was to heal her according to her need. Whatever you are facing right now--whether it is physical, financial, mental, emotional, relational, or spiritual, just know that at the point when you are tempted to despair, Jesus is drawing very near. Go to Him. He will NEVER cast you away. "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me; and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). He yearns to bless and save us to the uttermost!

On the way to the ruler's house, Jesus had met, in the crowd, a poor woman who for twelve years had suffered from a disease that made her life a burden. She had spent all her means upon physicians and remedies, only to be pronounced incurable. But her hopes revived when she heard of the cures that Christ performed. She felt assured that if she could only go to Him she would be healed. In weakness and suffering she came to the seaside where He was teaching, and tried to press through the crowd, but in vain. Again she followed Him from the house of Levi-Matthew, but was still unable to reach Him. She had begun to despair, when, in making His way through the multitude, He came near where she was.

Thankfully, when Jesus comes into the fully surrendered heart, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in the life, for His presence kindles faith that works by love making true obedience to all of God's commandments a delight! Jesus brings us joy over our temptation to despair. There is hope! "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost" (Romans 15:13).

[Sean James]

What a blessing it is to behold Jesus and trust that He is able to make us like Him in mind and character to go forth in His service as true missionaries! By His grace each soul that surrenders fully to Him is imbued with all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing and is enabled to obey the law of God up to the light He has revealed to the soul! May we daily choose to walk closely with Jesus in His purpose of giving the gospel to the world!

The followers of Christ are to labor as He did. We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the suffering and afflicted. We are to minister to the despairing, and inspire hope in the hopeless. And to us also the promise will be fulfilled, “Thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rearward.” Isaiah 58:8. The love of Christ, manifested in unselfish ministry, will be more effective in reforming the evildoer than will the sword or the court of justice. These are necessary to strike terror to the lawbreaker, but the loving missionary can do more than this. Often the heart will harden under reproof; but it will melt under the love of Christ. The missionary cannot only relieve physical maladies, but he can lead the sinner to the Great Physician, who can cleanse the soul from the leprosy of sin. Through His servants, God designs that the sick, the unfortunate, those possessed of evil spirits, shall hear His voice. Through His human agencies He desires to be a Comforter such as the world knows not.

Praise God that the greatest joy we can ever know will come from sharing the gospel with souls who need to know Jesus' loveliness of character and the truths of His word that give clarity and confidence in a world of confusion, suffering and pain. We can help hasten Jesus' return by being converted missionaries who love to do God's will and cheerfully step into His plans, led moment by moment by the Holy Spirit!