Sun, Jan 27th - 6:21AM

The Logic of Faith

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.  Heb. 11:8

          Faith is an illogical proposition.  The Scriptures chronicle the lives of a lonely people, individuals who ventured out alone at the call of God with all the uncertainties that such obedience would entail.  Their going out was always an illogical, non-sensical and foolish thing to the worldly folk around them.  They forsook the comfort and security of their immediate surroundings as they turned their faces toward another country, another realm, another kingdom and another king to follow after.  In this eleventh chapter of Hebrews we are given a condensed account of the hardships, the great sufferings and persecutions these pilgrims endured because they heard the call of faith and listened to it, never to turn back to their old ways of living again.  How different is the order of this present world than the eternal, heavenly order of God Almighty, how opposite the fundamental principles that each operate under!  In the one is strength, whereas weakness characterizes the other.  In the one pride, while meekness and gentleness rule supreme in the other.  These are contrasts that cannot be fathomed with the human mind, with human logic.  For surely, one kingdom shall ultimately reign supreme over the other.  The power of faith working through love will accomplish this conquest.

          In the 60^th year of this pilgrim’s life, he continues his journey home through a foreign and hostile world.  Each mountain of difficulty he scales, each valley of sorrow he walks through, each plain of loneliness and disappointment he must traverse all bring greater assurance of the certainty of his ultimate reward because of his faith.  With every doubt, every fear and apprehension, with every contrary reason this present world hurls at him, there is a corresponding token of hope supplied by a faithful Master and Guide who would not forsake the helpless soul who follows obediently to the very end.  Though the burdens do, indeed grow greater, and the voice of human reason continually assails with the cry to surrender to the worldly power and thus save his present life, faith, strengthened and tempered through adversity beckons and encourages his oft fainting heart.  “Go, on!  Be not dismayed, for your reward is awaiting in unimaginable glory!  Just a little longer and your deliverance will manifest in full measure.  Fear not.  Help is on the way.  Take courage my child, I have not forsaken thee!”  This is the illogical logic of faith as a life principle for the one who knows and abides in the living God.  Jesus said, “Have faith in God.”  Paul said, “...we walk by faith, not by sight.”  The reasons for allowing our distress are not always given us.  If they were, there would be no need for faith.  God has determined that faith is the means of our salvation and of our entry into the blessedness of His everlasting favor. 

...By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  Rom. 5:2

          But O what clarity of vision this faith, when continually cultivated can bring to the pilgrim journeyman!  How the pain and disappointments of this life can be utilized in gaining a view of the wholeness and fulfillment to come in the next!  He is learning to make use of every glimpse of heavenly goodness and spiritual satisfaction that emerges from the constant surrender and death to self that his Lords asks him to endure.  Mature faith sustains through greater difficulty.  As the battle becomes more intense, the grace supplied through refined faith is more abundantly available and useable.  Emotions, human loyalties, traditions of men, circumstances, favorable and not, all lose their power to propel and sustain the soul.  The true disciple goes from one level of faith to another, as though being propelled by successive sections of a large rocket carrying him into the heavens.

For therein (the Gospel) is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.  Rom. 1:17

When the human spirit is fully converted to the fuel of faith and weaned from all means of earthly propulsion, he can be said to have entered his orbit, so to speak of constant abiding in Christ.  Here, the God of all creation and of eternal redemption is fully glorified.  It is in the realm of faith that all of the promises of  God are “yea and amen,” coming into fulfillment in the believer’s life.  Overcoming sin, walking in consistent holiness, victory over discouragement, and abiding in continual peace are the objects of faith.  These are all very attainable through faith that is intelligently cultivated and nourished by the follower of Jesus.  For it is Jesus that is the author and finisher of faith, and is fully able to sustain His child through all of the many conflicts he must endure on his way to his heavenly destination.

          O may this illogical faith continue to carry us on, unhindered by the reasoning of this present, deceptive world, and into the very presence of our blessed Lord!  Then shall we find our perfect rest in God, and the joy of knowing that we have walked through this vale of tears and heartaches in full obedience to the Lamb who led us all the way, as we followed in simple faith!

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of [them], and embraced [them], and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.  And truly, if they had been mindful of that [country] from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned.  But now they desire a better [country], that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.  Heb. 11:13-16

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.  1Cor. 13:12

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  1Jn. 3:2

Fri, Jan 11th - 9:30AM

New Year Reflection

Today and Forever

By E. A. Gafford

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.  Heb. 13:8

Not many people live today as if they were to live that way forever.  No one can be sure that he will be watching the old year out and the new year in.  But every person should know that when time is gone, he will be fixed forever in the state that he is in when the last moment is past.

            Are we allowing Jesus to be to us all that He has been to those in the yesterdays?  Do lives of holy men and women call us to be godly?  Or, are we of the number who carelessly let things slip from them—those who say, “Oh no, I am not what I should be, but I’ll try to do better tomorrow?”  Careless people have not brought on revivals.

            What Jesus did for hearts yesterday, He does for others today.  The awakening which He gives causes us to want the fullness of His grace.  We do not want to remember Him only when we meet some overwhelming sorrow.  He is our delight when all is going well.  To find the fullness of joy in His presence today is the beginning of everlasting rest.  He is not left out of our life while we enjoy other things.  One moved by the Spirit in other days said, “To me to live is Christ.”

            Only the heart which has heaven’s glory hidden within it today will be a partaker of Christ’s glory when He is revealed tomorrow.  Heaven has no place for the heart which is fixed with some worldly attitude in it.  When the world passes away, worldly hearts will pass into outer darkness.

            God has placed witnesses in His Word who declare that Jesus cleansed their hearts   from all sin yesterday.  If He is fully obeyed, He does that today.  Only pure hearts will be with Him forever.

            Many who entered last year never saw the last of its days.   To some “forever” meant that a need was never met.  This year should bring greater measures of heaven into our hearts, since we may be in heaven before it closes.  Yesterday is gone, today is going, and forever takes the place of tomorrow.

Taken from Devotional Readings on the Book of Hebrews by E. A. Gafford

Sat, Jan 5th - 8:21AM

Selling Out to Sin

by E.A. Gafford

...Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble [you], and thereby many be defiled;  Lest there [be] any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.  For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.  Heb. 12:15-17

            The  apostle Paul, in describing the natural heart of man, said, “For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.”  The law demands that man’s spirit be in such harmony with God that God’s will is His delight.  But giving in to sin’s rulership offers great pleasure at the first.  There is an intoxicating ease which comes from sharing in the satisfaction which the world derives from those who become its slaves.

            Selling out causes man to become the worst of weaklings.  As a man who had allowed himself to be captivated by the spirit of liquor said, in the midst of the shame he was suffering, “I have no will of my own.”  He found that drink had become his master, and it had sold him into disgrace.  The spirit of the world is no less deceptive and soul-damning than that of liquor.

          A soul-destroying plea presents itself by saying, “Give in to sin a little bit, and you will win the sinner.  Do not aim to live in full harmony with the law which demands that you be spiritually minded.  Break it somewhat and make it less embarrassing for other carnally-minded people.  Allow yourself to be ruled enough by sin to satisfy the world, and you may win them to Christ.   Let the world decide what is most proper for your outward conduct, and keep your obedience to God if have any hidden.  Vacate your throne and let carnal men make merchandise of you.  Since the carnal heart will not be subject to the law of God, let it rule, so that all men can enjoy the same things.  Lead men into some form of religion which never crosses their will.  Just slyly leave God out, unless you can profess to use His power, to satisfy the lusts of the flesh."

            The religious world is selling out at bargain prices the truth which cost the blood of Jesus.  It is despising its right to rule over sin and to rule it out.  Men are generally becoming slaves to base desires, and are not embarrassed in the least.   It is called being smart.

            To sell out to the spirit of the word is to sell out to sin.  Sin then sells its prisoners to the devil.  Judas tried to make merchandise of Jesus, but he sold himself to the devil and went to his own place—the place prepared for the devil and his angels.  Even before he died, Judas knew that selling out did not pay.

The above essay is taken from "Devotional Readings on the Book of Hebrews"  by E.A.Gafford     Though Mr. Gafford lived and died over a geration ago, his message is especially relevant today.

Wed, Jan 2nd - 9:13AM

The Way for the True Disciple

“Follow Peace...and Holiness”

Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:  (Heb. 12:14)

          Jesus knew that man is definitely inclined to follow something.  The greatest leaders of men have been ardent followers of some interest which captivated their spirit.  The devil believed that any leader would want the crowd to follow him.  He also knows that man has a spirit which will follow the crowd.  In two of the three temptations set before the Lord was the promise that He could have the crowds follow Him if He took the way that Satan suggested.

          Multitudes have followed what they supposed was the miracle working power, which gave its benefits to “the first Adam” man.  Other crowds have gathered to see some leader who ascended high on the pinnacle of religious fame and seemed to be supported by the soft wings of angels.  Multitudes wait to almost climb over each other in order to be followers of one who gains a place of importance among all the kingdoms of this world.  Each one of these offers was bluntly turned down by Jesus.

          The Lord of glory is the only true Leader among men.  When He walked this earth, He alone had the will of God as the sole objective of His life.  The crowds did not follow Him completely, for they did not choose to have God’s will done in their hearts.  He went on alone.  He, the true Shepherd, led the way through and safely past all satanic allurements and violent carnal opposition of men.

          Jesus speaks to His own and says:  “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you:  not as the world giveth, give I unto you.”  The writer of the Hebrews gives the same call, “Follow peace with all men....” Someone might say: “Lord, that is impossible.  I cannot be at peace with all men, for they are not at peace within themselves or with each other.”  But Jesus would say to such a one: “You are thinking of the wrong kind of peace.  You are called to follow peace with God whether you are with the crowd or whether you are alone.”

          If the enemy meets you in the wilderness and bids you follow some strange path which offers carnal satisfaction, hold firmly to the way which Jesus took when He said, “It is written.”  Leave opposing powers which dare to fight God.   You are to follow the peace that you found when you were justified through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

          Further on, another crossroad will come into view.  It will mean that you must choose to follow holiness in order to keep peace with God.  The way in which you settle this question will depend on what peace with God has meant to you.  Has it meant more to you than any other pleasure, ease, or fellowship that you could have had by following God’s enemies?  If so, you will delight in accepting holiness as your leader while you find the path of perfect peace among all men.

          A new power took control of you when you first found peace with God.  It was then as natural to follow the Spirit as it had been to follow the flesh.  The crowd lost interest in trying to persuade you to follow the world.  Your heart was made warm by making a thousand choices in favor keeping peace with God.  The Lord chose to betroth you to Himself.  You were glad for the times when you could be away from the crowd to be alone with Him.  You had no desire to turn back to the peace which the world gives.  You know that people of the world were missing that which the Lord would have given them had they truly followed Him.

          Now your heart feels an all-consuming desire to be able to fully fellowship Him who is holy.  To become unreservedly His, you gladly take the way which crucifies the carnal self-life.  You know that the violence of death by the cross is the just deserts for the sin which stole man’s affections away from the Lord.  In you purified heart there remains nothing which is interested in anything short of true holiness.  The carnal spirit, which was enmity against Christ, is dead.  Your Lord has claimed all there is of you.  The earnest of the Marriage Supper is yours.  Your affections are set on things above, and not on things on the earth; “for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

          In every perplexing tumult of life the sanctified heart has it settled as to which way it will take.  Till heaven’s gate opens to receive your spirit, you will follow holiness whether all men forsake and oppose you or not.

Tue, Jan 1st - 11:23AM

New Year's Reflection

The Grapes of Eschol

...And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this [way] southward, and go up into the mountain:  And see the land, what it [is]; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they [be] strong or weak, few or many;  And what the land [is] that they dwell in, whether it [be] good or bad; and what cities [they be] that they dwell in, whether in tents, or in strong holds;  And what the land [is], whether it [be] fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not.   And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land.  Now the time [was] the time of the firstripe grapes.  So they went up, and searched the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, as men come to Hamath.  And they ascended by the south, and came unto Hebron; where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, [were]. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)  And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and [they brought] of the pomegranates, and of the figs.  The place was called the brook Eshcol, because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from thence.  And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.  And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.  And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this [is] the fruit of it.  Nevertheless the people [be] strong that dwell in the land, and the cities [are] walled, [and] very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.  The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.  And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.  But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they [are] stronger than we.  And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, [is] a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it [are] men of a great stature.  And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, [which come] of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.  Nu. 13:17-33

            Picture yourself seated on the couch in your living room with one or more of your little ones snuggled next to you.  The Bible is in your hand as you are reading this account of a people, long ago and far away in a distant land.  They have come to a crisis in their journey from bondage to freedom, and a great challenge is before them.  What shall they do... what should they do, what did they do, and what would we do in that same situation?  Sadly, they respond wrongly and refuse to believe the God who had heretofore delivered them from every obstacle they had encountered in their sojourn to freedom.  Their decision at that juncture is one of great disappointment to their God, and results in a prolonged period of chastening and grief that is, after the fall in the garden one of several tragedies in the Old Testament.  To describe it in contemporary language, “they just didn’t get” what God was trying to communicate to them, and perform in their lives.  He had gone to great lengths to prove His own willingness and ability to save them out of their slavery to the Egyptians, and to lead them for about two years through a barren wilderness and provide for all of their needs.  The large vine of grapes from the brook Eshcol were a sample of the goodness He had in store for these children of Israel, if they would only commit their trust entirely to Him in this new land that awaited their habitation.  But, to use the comtemporary idiom again, they blew it, big time.  God had had enough of their belly-aching and stubborn resistance to His leadership.  Though He forgave them this needless, but serious trespass, these grapes and the likes of many such luscious fruits of the land would not be theirs to enjoy. 

            Now, back to you and your children on the couch.  You, as the parent are reading, and very aware that the story you are passing on to these little souls is pressing an indelible image into their young minds.  You tremble within, as the weight of its implications, both in your own life as well as theirs bears down in a stark and fearful realization.  To the world and to many, if not most professing Christians, this is little more than an entertaining fairy tale with an obvious, though practically obscure moral.  But you know better than that, because you, yourself have tasted of the Lord’s goodness, yet seriousness in His dealings with you in your life.  As your children listen with awe and wonder, you know that eternal precepts are being set forth in their consciences, and their little hearts are being inspired, as well as challenged.  The groanings of your soul cascade into earnest and desperate, though silent prayer offered almost involuntarily and simultaneous to your reading aloud.  These are prompted by an acute remembrance of the past failings of your own life in obeying fully all that the Lord had asked of you, and intensified in an awareness of the natural, moral frailty of these little beings entrusted to your spiritual care. 

            How does this story transpose its analogy to your life, and the present life of your family?  Where are you and they in your journey to the Caanan that the Lord has made such wonderful preparations in and for you to receive and to inhabit?  Freak thoughts speed through your mind.  Could I be numbered with those ten spies and the remainder of the Hebrew congregation that believed not, and were condemned to forty years of futility, and then death in the wilderness, while their children were determined to enter in afterwards?  Is God not merciful in providing me with this lesson so that I and my children might heed its warning and avoid the mistakes made by the Israelites?  Are we not now under grace, and not under law?  Suddenly, you tighten your grip on the children, and in your mind hold them before the Lord just as Moses stood between the children of Israel and Jehovah.  Deep repentance is suddenly bestowed as the Spirit of God sweeps over you to deposit grace you had not heretofore known, and tears begin pour forth from your eyes to the amazement of your children.

            As we begin the year 2008, on the very first day of it, may we be granted a supernatural view, and perhaps a re-view of our lives with a truly heavenly perspective.  May the land of Caanan, figurative for us living in the New Testament dispensation, but real nevertheless be ever before us in our minds and hearts.  Our sandals have not worn out in our travels thus far.  All things have been adequately and abundantly supplied to us along the way.  But there is so much more in store for those who would hearken to the call of full, abiding, obedient sonship, both here, and in the fullness of the kingdom ahead of us.  There are graces to be had here, and great rewards there; fruit to be had now, large delicious grapes of eshcol, and eternal joy when we gain our Master’s commendation then:  “...well done, thou good and faithful servant!... Enter thou in to the joy of thy lord.”

            For us humans, the beginning of the new year is just a marking place in time, but it can be also place of reflection, of contemplation, of renewed determination, and above all an occasion for deeper surrender and yieldedness  to the One whose children we are, if we do truly follow and obey Him.  May today and the coming days be thus so, as the gracious God continues to make a gracious way for His undeserving redeemed ones!

            May the new year upon us be a happy and a holy one to all who read this, as we seek to abide in Jesus, and allow Him to abide in us!