Something I read today....

[mizpeh]

From The Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll page 19

"Instead of striving for a manmade ticket to heaven based on high achievemnet and hard work (for which we get all the credit), I suggest we openly declare our own spiritual bankruptcy and accept God's free gift of grace. "Why?" you ask. "Why not emphasize how much I do for God instead of what He does for me?" Because that is heresy, plain and simple. How? By exalting our own effort and striving for our own accomplishments, we insult His grace and steal the credit that belongs to Him alone."

[mizpeh]

From The Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll pag 20-21

"Most people I know look forward to payday. You do, too, right? For a week, or perhaps a two week period, you give time and effort to your job. When payday arrives, you receive a hard-earned, well-deserved paycheck. I have never met anyone who bows and scrapes before his boss, saying, "Thank you. Oh, thank you for this wonderful undeserved gift. How can I possibly thank you enough for my paycheck?" If we did, he would probably faint. Certainly, he would think, What is wrong with this guy? Why? Because your paycheck is not a gift. You've earned it. You deserve it. Cash it! Spend it! Save it! Invest it! Give it! After all, you had it coming. In the workplace, where wages are negotiated and agree upon, there is no such thing as grace.We earn what we receive; we work for it. The wage "is not reckoned as a favor but as what is due".

But with God the economy is altogether different. There is no wage relationship with God. Spiritually speaking, you and I haven't earned anything but death. Like it or not, we are absolutely bankrupt, without eternal hope, without spiritual merit; we have nothing in ourselves that gives us favor in the eyes of our holy and righteous heavenly Father. So there's nothing we can earn that would cause Him to raise his eyebrows and say, " Um, now maybe you deserve eternal life with me." No way. In fact, the individual whose track record is morally pure has no better chance at earning God's favor than the individual who has made a wreck and waste of his life and is currently living in unrestrained disobedience. Every one who hopes to be eternally justified must come to God the same way: on the basis of grace; it is a gift. And that gift comes to us absolutely free. Any other view of salvation is heresy, plain and simple."

[Sam]

Greasy Grace!!!!!

Easy Believism!!!!

Weak on the Message!!!!

OK, I'm just kidding.
I agree with what Chuck Swindoll is saying.

The Apostle Paul said, "the wages of sin is death" (that's what we earn, that's what we get based on our works)
BUT
the gift of God is eternal life

Thank God for that gift!!!

[Sam]

This is a note written in the margin of my Bible at Jeremiah chapter 31

The New Covenant is a "gift certificate" for salvation.
The merchandise is not free. Someone paid the price.
We just go to the store and claim the purchased item.

[*AQuietPlace*]

Awesome stuff!

[commonsense]

Good words mizpeh. But I can tell you it's not the way I heard it.....

Very little mention of grace in fact.

[mizpeh]

From Joyce Meyer's The Battlefield of the Mind, a devotional #84

Right Action Follows Right Thinking

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. Romans 12:2

A friend once talked about a church building their congregation had bought. "Function follows form," he said, as he explained that the shape of the building and the size of the rooms had already determined how they could best use the building.

As I thought about it, I realized that's exactly how our lives work. Once we decide the form, the funtion follows. This could be stated another way by saying, once we set our minds to something -- that's the form-- the function, or the action, follows.

Too many people want to change their actions but not their thoughts. They want to be free from anger, gossip, lust, dishonesty, or lying. They want the bad behavior to stop, but they don't want to change their bad thinking.

The principle of God's Word is simple: Right action follows right thinking. None of us ever walks in victory unless we understand and put this principle into practice. We won't change our behavior until we change our way of thinking.

Many people struggle over trying to do the right thing. One woman told me that she had been a real gossip-- not that her words were always evil, but she just liked to talk. It was as if she felt compelled to be the first person to know anything and then to pass it on as quickly as possible. She struggled with holding back or saying less, and it didn't work.

My advice to her was, "Until you change your way of thinking, you won't be free." Then I said I would be glad to pray for her, but added, "You must be accountable."

"I am-- and I will be--"she interrupted.

"No, you haven't heard me. You want deliverance from all the gossip, but you don't want to make any changes in your thinking. It doesn't work that way. You need deliverance in your mind; then your words and actions will change."

She resisted my words, but she did ask me to pray for her, which I did. When I finished, she began to cry. "As you prayed, I understood. God showed me how insignificant and unimportant I feel. When I'm the first to pass on information, it makes me feel good--at least for a while--and important."

She had been asking us to pray for her to change her behaviour, but she still wanted to feel good about what she did. She had to shift her thinking and learn to accept that she was worthwhile and loved by God just for being who she was. Once she learned to change her way of thinking-- and she did over a course of weeks--she no longer had a problem with her tongue.

It's impossible to change wrong behavior to right behavior without an attitude adjustment, which means that first we change the way we think.

I like the way Paul taught in Ephesians 4. he contrasted the old nature with the renewed mind. He admonished his readers: "Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion: And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness (4:22-24).

Another translation puts it this way:" Let the Spirit change your way of thinking, and make you into a new person. You were created to be like God, and so you must please him and be truly holy." (4:22-24 CEV)

There it is: Let the Holy Spirit change your way of thinking. that's the only way you can make permanent changes in your life.


Holy Spirit, thank You for Your ability to help me change my thinking. Help me strip myself of the old ways of thinking so that You can work in me to make me more like Jesus Christ. It's in His name that I pray. Amen.

[mizpeh]

Mark 22:37-38 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.



The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence


Brother Lawrence emphasized that all physical and mental disciplines and exercises were useless, unless they served to arrive at the union with God by love. He had well considered this. He found that the shortest way to go straight to God was by a continual exercise of love and doing all things for His sake.

Also, he noted that there was a great difference between acts of the intellect and acts of the will. Acts of the intellect were comparatively of little value. Acts of the will were all important. Our only business was to love and delight ourselves in God.

He then said that all possible kinds of self-sacrifice, if they were void of the love of God, could not efface a single sin. Instead, we ought, without anxiety, expect the pardon of our sins from the blood of Jesus Christ, endeavoring only to love Him with all our heart. He noted that God seemed to have granted the greatest favors to the greatest sinners as more proof of His mercy.

Brother Lawrence said the greatest pains or pleasures of this world were nothing compared to what he had experienced of both kinds in a spiritual state. As a result he feared nothing, desiring only one thing of God - that he might not offend Him. He said he carried no guilt because, "When I fail in my duty, I readily acknowledge it, saying, I am used to do so. I shall never do otherwise if I am left to myself. If I do not fail, then I immediately give God thanks, acknowledging that it comes from Him."


http://www.practicegodspresence.com/...resence08.html

[Sister Alvear]

I like many of his sayings and writings.

[mizpeh]

Originally Posted by Sister Alvear

I like many of his sayings and writings.

I want to learn how to walk with God.

Here's an excerpt from his 4th conversation:

Being questioned by one of his own community, to whom he was obliged to respond, by what means he had attained such an habitual sense of God; Brother Lawrence told him that, since his first coming to the monastery, he had considered God as the aim and the end of all his thoughts and desires.

In the beginning he spent the hours appointed for private prayer in thinking of God, so as to convince his mind and impress deeply upon his heart the Divine Existence. He did this by devout sentiments and submission to the lights of faith, rather than by studied reasonings and elaborate meditations. By this short and sure method he immersed himself in the knowledge and love of God. He resolved to use his utmost endeavor to live in a continual sense of His presence, and, if possible, never to forget Him more.

When he had thus, in prayer, filled his mind with that Infinite Being, he went to his work in the kitchen where he was then cook for the community. There, having first considered the things his job required, and when and how each thing was to be done; he spent all the intervals of his time, both before and after his work, in prayer.

When he began, he said to God with a filial trust, "O my God, since Thou art with me, and I must now, in obedience to Thy commands, apply my mind to these outward things, grant me the grace to continue in Thy Presence; and prosper me with Thy assistance. Receive all my works, and possess all my affections." As he proceeded in his work, he continued his familiar conversation with his Maker, imploring His grace, and offering Him all his actions.

When he was finished, he examined how he had performed his duty. If he found well, he returned thanks to God. If not, he asked pardon and, without being discouraged, he set his mind right again. He then continued his exercise of the presence of God as if he had never deviated from it. "Thus," said he, "by rising after my falls, and by frequently renewed acts of faith and love, I have come to a state where it would be as difficult for me not to think of God as it was at first to accustom myself to the habit of thinking of Him."

As Brother Lawrence had found such an advantage in walking in the presence of God, it was natural for him to recommend it earnestly to others. More strikingly, his example was a stronger inducement than any arguments he could propose. His very countenance was edifying with such a sweet and calm devotion appearing that he could not but affect the beholders.

It was observed, that even in the busiest times in the kitchen, Brother Lawrence still preserved his recollection and heavenly-mindedness. He was never hasty nor loitering, but did each thing in its turn with an even, uninterrupted composure and tranquility of spirit. "The time of work," said he, "does not with me differ from the time of prayer. In the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are at the same time calling for different things, I possess God in as great a tranquility as if I were upon my knees at the Blessed Supper."