The I AM Shall

Joh 6:35  And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

I am the bread of life (John 6:35). “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14). “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Here is the great I AM saying what He is.

And then you notice how frequently He links with that a ‘shall’. The ‘shalls’ of the ‘I am's’ in John’s Gospel are tremendously impressive – not always using the exact word, but in the context you will find the same conclusion. 

But here are some of the ‘shalls’. “I am the bread of life... he that eats this bread shall live for ever” (John 6:58). “I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness” (John 8:12). 

The link between what He is and ourselves is this, “he that believeth on Me.” What I AM shall become true of him. “He that believeth on Me shall never die” (John 11:26), “...shall not hunger” (John 6:35), shall never wander like sheep without a shepherd, he shall have a governing, controlling reality like a shepherd in his life. “Shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

What I AM shall become true. “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on Me shall never die.”

What I AM is made good when you believe.

Now it is not what we are. I am dead; He is alive. I can never be other than dead, but He as the Life can become Life in me in my death, if only I believe.

I am hungry, spiritually starved; He is Bread, and I need never hunger; although I shall always hunger in myself, yet He will become the Bread to supply me. Think of it! I need never hunger.

I am down there in the country, isolated, getting no fellowship, no food; I am away in some place where there is no spiritual bread, and He says, “He that eats Me shall never hunger.” Is that dependent upon where I am, what my situation and circumstances are as to available spiritual meat? No, it is Himself, not a place; it is Himself, not circumstances. But how can it be? – “He that believes.”

~T. Austin Sparks~

IF You SEEK HIM

                                                                               
But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly" (Matthew 6:6).

When Jesus speaks of going into a secret closet to seek the Father, He is talking about something much greater than a physical closet. The Old Testament tells us God divided His people into two categories: those who regularly seek Him in their secret place of prayer, and those who do not.

When God became angry with Israel over their idolatry, Moses pitched his prayer tent outside the camp. Scripture says, "It came to pass, that every one which sought the Lord went out unto the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp" (Exodus 33:7). In the midst of all the idolatry taking place in Israel, God’s people still took time to seek the Lord. 

This seeking remnant knew they had to go outside the camp lest they, too, fall into the apostasy sweeping over the people.

Centuries later, the people under King Asa understood why God blessed and prospered them and kept them at peace with all their enemies: "Because we have sought the Lord our God . . he hath given us rest on every side. So they built and prospered" (2 Chronicles 14:7).

At one point during Asa's reign, an army of one million Ethiopians came against Israel. "And Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said . . . O Lord, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee. So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and the Ethiopians fled. They were destroyed before the Lord" (verses 11-13). When Asa was attacked, he fell on his face and turned to God in prayer—and God answered with victory.

Shortly after that triumph, however, Azariah the prophet came to Asa and said: "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you" (15:2). In other words: "If you stop seeking after God and calling on His name in all you do, He will forsake you."

Every time Israel sought the Lord after that, God blessed them: "When they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord the God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them" (15:4). Israel enjoyed rest when they sought God in prayer and He always delivered them and gave them order and strength.

~David Wilkerson~

DON'T BE A MULE!

I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule,which have not understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee Psalm 32:8-9

In these two brief verses God gives us a great lesson concerning guidance. We can build a great faith upon the foundation of knowing that He is willing to lead and guide us in everything.

Yet the Word of God says a person may be a believer who enjoys all the spiritual benefits of being a child of God and yet remain a stubborn mule when it comes to submitting to His ways of guiding and leading. God said of Israel, "Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways" (Psalm 95:10).

Think of what God was saying: "After forty long years of receiving My tender guidance and miraculous deliverances, they still don’t have the slightest idea of the way I work. They never even try to understand My principles of guidance. To them, My leadings are just a series of unrelated blessings, nothing more than open doors and escapes from crises."

Personally, I am tired of being a mule-headed Christian with no understanding of the principles of God’s leading. I do not want God to say of me, "Yes, David was forgiven. He prayed and I delivered him from trouble, time after time. Indeed, I led him in wonderful ways and My hand was upon him. But in his heart he never had a settled knowledge of My ways."

Beloved, don’t make the Lord be stern with you in His leadings. 

Don’t be as the mule, without understanding. 

God does not want to bark directions at His children or have to force us to do His bidding. 

God wants a people who know Him well enough to move at His slightest urging.

~David Wilkerson~

The Savour Of Death Or Life

2Co 2:16  To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

2Co 2:17  For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

The Lord has not called upon us to form churches. That is not our business. Would to God men had recognized the fact! A very different situation would obtain today from what exists, if that had been recognized.

It is the Lord Who expands His Church, Who governs its growth. What we have to do is to live in the place of His appointment in the power of His resurrection.

If, in the midst of others, the Lord can get but two of His children, in whom His Life is full and free, to live on the basis of that Life, and not to seek to gather others to themselves or to get them to congregate together on the basis of their acceptance of certain truths or teaching, but simply to witness to what Christ means and is to them, then He has an open way....

The Church is not increased by your going and taking a building and trying to get people to come to it, and to your meetings, and then forming them, by a church roll, into a local church. That is not the way.

Growth is by Life, and this, to begin with, may be by the entering into Life of but one soul, and then after a long waiting time of another; or it may be more rapid. But the point is that it is increase because of Life. That is the growth of the Church.

For the growth of His Church, the Lord must have Life channels, Life centers. I believe that, given a Life center, sooner or later one of two things will happen, that it will be abundantly manifest that Christ is fully and finally rejected there, or else there will be an adding, a growth.

There is tremendous power in Life, and the Life of the Lord either kills or quickens. It depends on the attitude taken toward it. He is a savor of Life unto Life, or of death unto death.

Things can never remain neutral.

~T. Austin Sparks~ 

Forsake The Foolish And Live

Pro 9:6  Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. 

Forsake (leave,to loosen,relinquish,forsake,refuse) the foolish(silly,seducable,unwise,marked by folly) and live(alive,life,recover,repair,save), and go in the way of understanding(wisdom)

Break off from all bad company: “Forsake the foolish, converse not with them, conform not to their ways, have no fellowship with the works of darkness, or with those that deal in such works.”  

The first step towards virtue is to shun vice, and therefore to shun the vicious. Depart from me, you evil-doers. They must awake and arise from the dead; they must live, not in pleasure (for those that do so are dead while they live), but in the service of God; for those only that do so live indeed,

                                                                      

GOD Accomplishes Your SURRENDER

 

                                                                            
I am sure there is many a heart that says: "Ah, but that absolute surrender implies so much!" Someone says: "Oh, I have passed through so much trial and suffering, and there is so much of the self-life still remaining. I dare not face entirely giving it up because I know it will cause so much trouble and agony."

Alas! alas! that God's children have such thoughts of Him, such cruel thoughts. I come with a message to those who are fearful and anxious. God does not ask you to give the perfect surrender in your strength, or by the power of your will; God is willing to work it in you. Do we not read: "it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13)? 

And that is what we should seek-to go on our faces before God, until our hearts learn to believe that the everlasting God Himself will come in to turn out what is wrong. He will conquer what is evil, and work what is well pleasing in His blessed sight. God Himself will work it in you.

Look at the men in the Old Testament, like Abraham. Do you think it was by accident that God found that man, the father of the faithful and the friend of God? Do you think that it was Abraham himself, apart from God, who had such faith and such obedience and such devotion? You know it is not so. God raised him up and prepared him as an instrument for His glory.

Did God not say to Pharaoh: "For this cause have I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power" (Exodus 9:16)? And if God said that of him, will God not say it far more of every child of His?

Oh, I want to encourage you, and I want you to cast away every fear. Come with that feeble desire. If there is the fear which says-"Oh, my desire is not strong enough. I am not willing for everything that maycome , and I do not feel bold enough to say I can conquer everything"-l implore you, learn to know and trust your God now. Say: "My God, I am willing that You should make me willing." If there is anything holding you back, or any sacrifice you are afraid of making, come to God now and prove how gracious your God is. Do not be afraid that He will command from you what He will not bestow.

God comes and offers to work this absolute surrender in you. All these searchings and hungerings and longings that are in your heart, I tell you, they are the drawings of the divine magnet, Christ Jesus. He lived a life of absolute surrender. He has possession of you; He is living in your heart by His Holy Spirit.

You have hindered and hindered Him terribly, but He desires to help you to get a hold of Him entirely.

And He comes and draws you now by His message and words. 

Will you not come and trust God to work in you that absolute surrender to Himself Yes, blessed be God! He can do it, and He will do it.

God not only claims it and works it, but God accepts it when we bring it to Him. 

~Andrew Murray~

Heart Burden

                            

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

Paul knew something of that "suffering for His Body's sake"; "filling up that which was lacking of the sufferings of Christ." We must face that! The thing that is going to count for God is the sharing in His travail.

There is all the romance of Christian work but, that is mere glamor; all the enthusiasm and interest of organized Christian activity; but it is not what we are before men in this matter that counts, but what we are before God in the secret place, having heart concern for the Lord's testimony.

Have you a burden, a passion?

Is the breakdown in the Lord's testimony in the earth among those upon whom His Name is called a heartbreak to you?

We shall never get anywhere till, in measure, His travail is entered into by us.

Ministry, in its real, abiding, eternal value, will depend upon the measure in which the travail is entered into by us. 

This is a day for travail: whether it be a travail for the unsaved or for the Lord's people; every true spiritual activity is born out of travail, 

And those who have been most used of God in every time have been men and women who had this travail in their soul, in their secret life with God.

Have you got it? Perhaps you say no. Then ask the Lord to bring you into His concern; stretch yourself out before God to be brought into His burden for the time in which you live.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Do You Want To Know GOD?

                                                        

Gal 4:6  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

I am the Alpha. The very first syllable of the knowledge of God is the knowledge of Jesus Christ. 

It begins with "A"; it is the first lisp of a babe. God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6). 

The first syllable of the Christian life begins with "A" – "Father." We do not know the Father until we know Jesus Christ: He it is Who has revealed the Father. The beginning of all knowledge of God as Father comes to us through Jesus Christ.

What He said in His prayer was indeed true: "I have manifested unto them Thy name" (John 17:6) – and that name was "Father."

Do you want to know God?

Do you want to know Him as Father?

Do you want to know what He has to say to you, to make known to you?

Do you want to know all or any of the vast wealth God would reveal to you? You can only know it in Jesus Christ; you can only know it in Him Who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. 

There is no knowledge without words made up of letters (except perhaps for our Chinese friends!), and all the letters are between these two. 

There is no knowledge that is knowledge indeed, knowledge that is Life eternal, except in Jesus Christ. "This is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only true God, and Him Whom Thou didst send... Jesus Christ" (John 17:3).

There is no knowledge outside of Jesus Christ.

And there is no communication from God outside of Jesus Christ. 

Set Jesus Christ aside, and God is silent – He has nothing to say to you.

If you fail to give His Son His place, God is just mute; He will communicate nothing.

The more you honor the Son, the more the Father will come out to you and communicate with you.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Christ's Estimate Of Money

                                                                               
Jesus watched how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. And a certain poor widow came, and cast in a farthing. Jesus called His disciples, and said to them, This poor widow has cast more in than all the others: for all they cast in out of their abundance; but she in her lack cast in all that she had, even all her living.Mark 12: 41.

In all our religion and our Bible study, it is of the greatest consequence to find out what the mind of Christ is, to think as He thought, and to feel just as He felt. There is not a question that concerns us, not a single matter that ever comes before us, but we find in the words of Christ something for our guidance and help.

We want today to get at the mind of Christ about money; to know exactly what he thought, and then to think and act just as He would do. This is not an easy thing. We are so under the influence of the world around us, that the fear of becoming utterly unpractical if we thought and acted just like Christ easily comes upon us

Let us not be afraid; if we really desire to find out what is His mind, He will guide us to what He wants us to think and do.

Only be honest in the thought: I want to have Christ teach me how to possess and how to use my money. 

Look at Him for a moment sitting here over against the treasury, watching the people putting in their gifts. Thinking about money in the church, looking after the collection: we often connect that with Judas, or some hard-worked deacon, or the treasurer or collector of some society.

But see here -- Jesus sits and watches the collection. And as He does it, He weighs each gift in the balance of God, and puts its value on it.

In heaven He does this still.

Not a gift for any part of God's work, great or small, but He notices it, and puts its value on it for the blessing, if any, that it is to bring in time or eternity.

And He is willing, even here on earth in the waiting heart, to let us know what He thinks of our giving. 

Giving money, is a part of our religious life, is watched over by Christ, and must be regulated by His word. Let us try and discover what the scriptures have to teach us.

Money giving a sure test of character.

In the world money is the standard of value. It is difficult to express all that money means. It is the symbol of labor and enterprise and cleverness. It is often the token of God's blessing on diligent effort. It is the equivalent of all that it can procure of the service of mind or body, of property or comfort or luxury, of influence and power. No wonder that the world loves it, seeks it above everything, and often worships it. 

No wonder that it is the standard of value not only for material things, but for man himself, and that a man is too often valued according to his money.

It is, however, not only thus in the kingdom of this world, but in the kingdom of heaven too, that a man is judged by his money, and yet on a different principle.

The world asks, what does a man own? Christ, how does he use it?

The world thinks more about the money getting; Christ about the money giving.

And when a man gives, the world still asks, what does he give? Christ asks, how does he give? The world looks at the money and its amount, Christ at the man and his motive.

See this in the story of the poor widow. Many that were rich cast in much; but it was out of their abundance; there was no real sacrifice in it; their life was as full and comfortable as ever, it cost them nothing. There was no special love or devotion to God in it; part of an easy and traditional religion.

The widow cast in a farthing. Out of her want she cast in all that she had, even all her living.

She gave all to God without reserve, without holding back anything, she gave all.

How different our standard and Christ's. We ask how much a man gives. Christ asks, how much he keeps. We look at the gift. Christ asks whether the gift was a sacrifice.

The widow kept nothing over, she gave all; the gift won His heart and approval, for it was in the spirit of His own self-sacrifice, who, being rich, became poor for our own sakes. They out of their abundance cast in much: She, out of her want all that she had.

But if our Lord wanted us to do as she did, why did He not leave a clear command about it? How gladly we then would do it.

Ah! there you have it. You want a command to make you do it: that would just be the spirit of the world in the church looking at what we give, at our giving all.

And that is just what Christ does not wish and will not have. He wants the generous love that does it unbidden. He wants every gift to be a gift warm and bright with love, a true free will offering. If you want the Master's approval as the poor widow had it, remember one thing: You must put all at his feet, hold all at his disposal.

And that, as the spontaneous expression of a love that, like Mary, cannot help giving, just because it loves.
All my money giving -- what a test of character! Lord Jesus! Oh give me grace to love Thee intently, that I may know how to give. 

~Andrew Murray~

Thine Eyes Shall See The King In His Beauty

                                                                            
Isa 33:17  Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.

There is a phrase in the Word: "Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty; they shall behold the land of far distances," and that two-fold statement can quite truly, and rightly, be applied to Him.

He is the King in His beauty; and He is also the Land of Far Distances.

Now, to come into a living relationship with the Lord Jesus is to come, sooner or later, to the impasse of the incomprehensible, and we just have to say: "Lord, You are beyond me! Lord, I cannot comprehend; You are too much for me!"

That, of course, on the one side, means difficulties, for it puts us into a difficult position in that we cannot trace Him, follow Him, and understand Him. But, on the other side,we would not have it otherwise; we would not have a 'little' Christ whom we could comprehend and altogether understand with our little minds.

No, He is beyond us altogether, and what you and I, as His people, are destined to come to if we go on with Him, is just this: that He is ever reaching farther and farther beyond us, and drawing us out beyond ourselves, beyond our resources of mind and will, yet drawing us on, and making us know that we have got to go on. We just cannot stand still; we have to go on.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Joy And Confidence On The Day Of Judgment

                                                                           
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say
unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:32-34).

On the day of judgment the first thing on the Judge's agenda will be to separate His sheep from the goats. He will not allow His righteous ones to be numbered with the transgressors.

The Bible is very clear that those who have been abiding in Christ and looking for His appearing will have boldness and confidence on that day:

And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming (I John 2:28).

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world 
(1 John 4:17).

How can you have such boldness—such joy and confidence—on the day of judgment? It comes only through knowing the Judge as your friend, brother, redeemer-kinsman, high priest, advocate, intercessor, Lord, the love of your heart—your very life!

If you know in your heart you are not ready to stand before Jesus—and that time is coming very soon—then you have to answer for what I have written here. This one message is enough to damn you to eternal hell if you reject it.
It will stand as a witness on judgment day.

Have your interests—your work, your possessions or even your ministry—become more important to you than the Lord's interests? Have you neglected your family? Are you satisfied because you go to church on Sunday and say, "I've done my part for God"? God's Word to you is clear: It is not enough!

If you have judged yourself and come up short, then pray this from your heart:

Jesus, I need You. I need to be forgiven and loved by You. I confess all my sin and stubbornness. I've neglected You, Lord. I've not put You first and from
this day on, I make You my life, my everything.

~David Wilkerson~

Known ONLY After The SPIRIT

                            

2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. 

We can Only Know Christ after the Spirit, so that Christ for us in this dispensation is spiritual in the sense that all that we know of Him or can have to do with Him can only be in the Spirit.

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. (2 Cor. 5:16).

He is Known after the Spirit. Our Resources are Spiritual. The Weapons of our Warfare are Spiritual. 

Everything has got to come to us from above.

The one great effort of the enemy, which is again and again successful through this dispensation, has been to bring the things of God down to the attachment with this world, attachment to this earth, to make them something here....

You only need to read John to see how unattached everything is, how everything is lifted clean out of this world

And everything is bound up with the fact that Christ is in heaven, and that the Lord’s people are here, but not here; here, but not known; in the world, but not of it; a mystery people in this world so far as the world is concerned... unrecognized, unknown. 

And yet by that very means and for that very reason, the most potent force that this universe knows: the spiritual, hidden, secret people of God in this earth.

To take hold of Christianity and mold it, and shape it, and systematize it, and crystallize it, and make it some mighty movement here; with its roots here, with all its associations such as man can see, appreciate and approve; to register itself upon the ordinary consciousness of this world as being something; all of that is contrary to the Word of God and is contrary to spiritual life and spiritual power.

Christ is in heaven, and we are lifted out, translated, seated together with Him in the heavenlies.

Our present purpose in this world is testimony only, by which others will be taken out of the nations, a people for His name.

~T. Austin Sparks~

I WILL RESTORE TO YOU

                                                                           
I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten  (Joel 2:25). 
 
This promise is incredible! We want to make up those lost years when we weren’t following Him, to make amends and repay Him! But He says, "Wrong! You cannot repay Me for a single wasted hour. 

Walk before Me in righteousness now and turn from your sins, and I will make up all the losses, whether they were yours, your family's, or Mine!"

To repentant sinners the Lord declares, "Fear not be glad and rejoice: for the Lord will do great things" (Joel 2:21). 

You need not be ashamed of your wasted years. God is going to remove from you the evil army, and you will eat and be satisfied. You will never again be ashamed (see Joel 2:19-20, 26-27).

You were born for His eternal purposes. He planned for you a life of satisfaction, joy and usefulness in His kingdom but then sin entered, and God's plan for your life was interrupted. The devourer moved in and years were wasted, lost.

But now, in Christ, all is new—even the calendar! The Lord goes back to the day the locust came, and He removes all those wasted years and starts counting again from the moment you repent. All those blessings you missed were stored up. All the joy, peace, revelation and usefulness that you thought were dead and gone forever were actually kept by the Lord.

In hell, the damned may be haunted with a vision of what their lives could have been. Some may see what they lost.

But this is not so for the repentant. All will be restored. They need never again say, "Oh, what I missed. What I could have been. God had so much for me, but I blew it."

No! God can restore all the wasted blessings.

The Lord desires to pour out on us all the blessings and joys in Him that we missed earlier. Yet He does not make it all up with outpourings alone. 

The outpourings become overflowings!

And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil"
Joel 2:24

There is such power in repentance.

It brings back to us all that the cankerworm destroyed. 

God resurrects it all!

~David Wilkerson~

Judgment

                                                    

Have you ever felt the grief of GOD'S heart over the sin of this world and the sin of His own people? We very much have felt the heart of GOD this week as we enter into this year of 2013. 

 

Judgment is the word for this year for the wicked and even for the rebellious of GOD'S people. Remember though that the LORD loves judgment and brings it because He wants the wicked to turn and those rebellious children of His to turn! But if they do not turn and fall upon the Rock (Jesus Christ) and be broken then He The Rock will fall upon them and grind them to powder.

 

There is not anything left if they are ground to powder. He weeps and we weep for we Know what is coming.

 

You can mock this Word you can joke and play games with this Word but Be Warned To Take Heed To This Word...and....Repent of any sin or rebellion against GOD. If you hear His Word Repent and Obey His commands then He will hear you in this hour. If you do not He will not hear you.

 

Zec 7:12 Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
 

Zec 7:13 Therefore it is come to pass, that as he cried, and they would not hear; so they cried, and I would not hear, saith the LORD of hosts:

John and I have spoke Truth to you. We have obeyed what the LORD has told us to do crying out all this time for people to come to repentance and into that deep walk with the LORD.

You will need a rooted deep walk with the LORD to endure this time. If you do not have that deep rooted walk with the LORD and have been a mocker of the way and rebellious towards God and the True Walk of GOD and come against the True Messengers of GOD then Repent today and Come to the Holy One Jesus Christ and let Him wash you clean while you still can.