We are prepared to serve the Lord only by sacrifice. We are fit for the work of God only when we have wept over it, prayed about it, and then we are enabled by Him to tackle the job that needs to be done. May God give to us hearts that bleed, eyes that are wide open to see, minds that are clear to interpret God’s purposes, wills that are obedient, and a determination that is utterly unflinching as we set about the tasks He would have us do.
God, trying to tell us that our current popular version of Christianity – comfortable, humorous, superficial, entertaining, worldly-wise is exposed (by the lack of power to transform lives) for the irreverent presentation of the Gospel of Christ that it really is. A preacher is commissioned to give the people not what they think they need. No man has any business walking into the pulpit to entertain. He is there [instead] to present Calvary in all its fullness of hope and glory.
Never undertake more Christian service than you can cover by believing prayer.
There is nothing – no circumstance, no trouble, no testing – that can ever touch me until, first of all, it has gone past God and past Christ right through to me. If it has come that far, it has come with a great purpose, which I may not understand at the moment. But as I refuse to become panicky, as I lift up my eyes to Him and accept it as coming from the throne of God for some great purpose of blessing to my own heart, no sorrow will ever disturb me, no trial will ever disarm me, no circumstance will cause my to fret – for I shall rest in the joy of what my Lord is! That is the rest of victory!
If you look up into His face and say, “Yes, Lord, whatever it costs,” at that moment He’ll flood your life with His presence and power.
[I can imagine Paul saying,] “Within the scope of the test of apostleship, what counts is not my doctrine or my orthodoxy, or my connections, but that my heart and life bear the brand of the cross: it has cost me something to follow Jesus.”
The immense step from the Babe at Bethlehem to the living, reigning triumphant Lord Jesus, returning to earth for his own people–that is the glorious truth proclaimed throughout Scripture. As the bells ring out the joys of Christmas, may we also be alert for the final trumpet that will announce his return, when we shall always be with him.
The Life of Victory. Christianity Today, v. 39, n. 14.