Part 2
Let us ask the Lord to create in us a passionate ambition to express the Lord Jesus more than anything else. Not to preach great truths, or to be preachers, teachers, anything like that as such, but to express the Lord Jesus, that out of Himself, His own presence, His own measure, His own nature, our opportunities for preaching, if we are going to preach at all, will come, not because we can talk, but because it is known that we have something of the Lord. Do not let us live too much in the upper stories of the house of God. The house of God is one, and it has a basement and it has a kitchen. We do not want to always live up on the top flat, so heavenly, so spiritual, so abstract, so high up in truth that the practical things of the kitchen are left unattended to.
What would you say if you went into a house and were taken upstairs and shown a very glorious, wonderfully adorned upper flat, and then somehow you managed to get down to the kitchen and found the most awful filthy mess, out of all consistency with what you found upstairs? You‟d say, "There is something wrong here, this does not tally." There is the kitchen aspect of the spiritual life: all those practical, everyday, humdrum things where the beauty of the Lord must be seen, just as much as up there in the heavenlies in Christ. Do not let us live exclusively up there. We must live down here. That is what the Word of God does. That is what Paul did in his Ephesian letter. He wrote half of it about the heavenlies, then, without breaking it into chapters, he went straight on with his letter: "I... beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith ye were called," and then – husbands, wives, children, parents, masters, mistresses, servants – that is coming down to the kitchen, bringing the glory of heaven with you. It is a very important side of things. Preciousness must be found down here. "As in heaven, so on earth."
From: Features Of Zion - Chapter 4 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002135.html
February 3
If another believer is overcome by some sin, you who are godly should
gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path.
(Galatians 6:1 NLT)
If really we have come to any kind of spiritual appreciation of the greatness of the thing the Lord has done for us in the Cross – brought us into His own fullness and subdued all our enemies – we cannot be a mean people, we cannot be small and petty, we must be generous because of the greatness of our position in Christ. It simply works out in this way: the larger our apprehension of what the Lord has done for us in His Cross, the more generous we ought to be to others – the more longsuffering and forbearing, the less ready to quickly return evil for evil, more ready to bear and to suffer wrong. It must be a very limited apprehension of Calvary when we very swiftly snap at one another for things that we feel are wrong. There has to be a very great deal of overlooking, a great deal of generosity, grace has got to triumph by reason of the exalted spiritual place: the elevation of our position in the heavenlies. These cities must rule, grace must predominate in the heavenlies. There is provision made for mistakes, even when you get to the heavenlies in Christ. It does not look like sinless perfection. It does not look as though all the faults and the mistakes and the blunders and the injuries have ended, even when you come into the heavenlies. It looks as though grace will still be necessary to bear with things that go wrong. There must be some wrong, then, even when we get spiritually to that position. The Lord says that there is grace for that.
From: Filled Unto All the Fullness of God - Chapter 13 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002869.html
February 4
Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great.
(1 Timothy 3:16 NIV)
Very often it may seem but poor comfort to us in times of suffering, times of trial, times of adversity, times when Satan is pressing hard, to be told that, while we can see nothing of the meaning of all this, God is instructing angels, and that principalities and powers are deriving the benefit of it all. We do not draw a great deal of comfort from that, but if we understood I think we would realize that, while we may not at such times be fulfilling a very big ministry on the earth, there is a big ministry going on towards principalities and powers through our instrumentality. Do not think that running about taking meetings, and doing work for the Lord, is the only kind of ministry that members of the Church can fulfill. Ministry may be equally being fulfilled when these things have been brought to a
standstill, and all earthly activities for the Lord stopped, and we are in one of these painful periods of inaction. Do not conclude that because of such inaction no ministry is being rendered, or that everything of that kind is cut off at such a time. Here is the word: "...that now unto the principalities and the powers in heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wisdom of God" – not in the coming age, but now. They are learning from the Lord, by reason of those very difficult and trying experiences through which the Lord is taking us, what He is doing in the Church.
From: The Battle for Life - Chapter 4 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/000705.html
February 5
All things work together for good, for those who are called according
to His purpose. (Romans 8:28 ESV)
The Lord Jesus derived much strength from this knowledge of purpose with which His life was bound up. There is no doubt that we too shall get strength from that sense of purpose, that consciousness of a Divine vocation which is ours. That is why the enemy always tries to discourage us. He seeks to raise questions and doubts in our hearts as to the reaching of the goal, telling us that our labor is in vain. If he succeeds to rob us of that sense of purpose in our life, to make us doubt with regard to our testimony, our work, or the value of the suffering we have to go through, we shall lose our strength and the enemy will get the upper hand. Jesus Christ was maintained in God‟s strength all the way through, because He was dominated by the sense of His mission, because He kept firm His purpose. If we hold fast the purpose of our life, if we keep in view our heavenly calling, we too shall be maintained in strength. But if we try to fulfill some ambition of our own, if we carry out our own programs, if we keep some movement going, there will be no Divine resources available for us. In order to be maintained in strength it is essential that we know that we are in the purpose of God. Our service must always be the result of a Divine purpose. It is of the greatest importance for us to realize that we have a place in God‟s plan. We have to deny ourselves. In God‟s purpose there is no room for personal interests. "To them that love God," to them whose heart is taken up with God and the fulfillment of His purpose, "all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose." That is a definite statement showing believers are called into a Divine purpose. We have got to know as definitely as the Lord Jesus knew, that we are in God‟s purpose.
From: Christ Our All - Chapter 10 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002942.html
February 6
They knew Him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read
every sabbath. (Acts 13:27 ASV)
We would remind our readers that these messages are constituted by a principle which governs so much of the Bible. It is that, deeper than the words of Scripture, there is a voice; that it was – and is – possible to hear the words and miss the voice. The words are the statements; the voice is the meaning. We have proved this to be the case by such a statement as that in Isaiah 6:9: "Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed (margin: „continually‟) but perceive not." This is the condition lying behind our basic quotation in Acts 13:27.
It is sometimes positively amazing and staggering what even Christians – and Christian leaders – can do and say because of this deaf ear to the Spirit. They can take up and pass on most pernicious reports which are sheer lies and do untold harm to others and the Lord's interests because they do not so walk in the Spirit as to have Him say within: „That is not true.‟ It is one thing to include belief in the Holy Spirit as a tenet of Christian doctrine, and it may be quite another thing to know when "the Spirit of truth" witnesses within the heart to the truth or the falsehood. It is significant that both the Remnant and the Overcomer are marked by this „hearing the voice‟. Jesus placed the ultimate issue of Life or death upon this „hearing the voice (not just the words) of the Son of Man‟. "Every Sabbath" they heard the words, but not the voice.... Let us pray for the ear of Samuel –
"Oh, give me Samuel's ear – An open ear, O Lord! Alive and quick to hear Each whisper of Thy word!"
From: The Voices of the Prophets - Chapter 10 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001775.html
February 7
My yoke is easy, and My burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)
Dear friends, if any truth has the effect of turning you in upon yourself, making you introspective, self-occupied in a spiritual way, that truth has been wrongly apprehended. You may assume the position of the most spiritual, but you are all wrong in your apprehension. This great work which Christ did in His Cross was never intended to make anybody miserable. Of course, that goes without saying; yet there are multitudes who are miserable after trusting the Lord, miserable over the sin question
in their lives; and the number, I am afraid, is increasing. Always keep a very distinct and broad line between fuller revelation, deeper truth (whatever you may term it – all that going-on-to-full-growth realm of things) and this whole matter of introspection.
Some people seem to think that to become more spiritual we must become more intense and tied-up and occupied with this whole matter of the spiritual life, and really they are the most unbearable people, the joy has gone out of them. I am certain of this, that nothing will ever come to you, however deep, however mighty, however tremendous, by revelation of the Holy Spirit, that will make you miserable. The revelation of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit – and there is no other revelation – will never make a soul miserable.
There is something wrong if a Christian is miserable on spiritual matters, and it is either failure to apprehend the one great, absolute reality that the victory was God‟s and that He won it in Christ, fully and finally, and we are not called to share at all in that battle; or the truth which has come subsequently has been misapprehended and has become something that is a burden grievous to be borne. The Lord Jesus said, "My yoke is easy, and My burden is light" (Matt. 11:30).
From: The Battle Which is Not Yours www.austin-sparks.net/english/002099.html
February 8
When you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever
you wanted. (John 21:18 ESV)
The "eyes which are as a flame of fire" are looking for reality. They pierce through many things. In the first place, they pierce through traditional and formal religion or "Christianity." Their interrogation is – Is your religion a matter of attachment or adherence to a system, a historical tradition, a family inheritance; and so on? Or is it born – is it a birth in you; is it something that has happened to you; is it your very life, your very being? Secondly – and I concentrate more especially upon this for the moment – they pierce through temperament and disposition. They demand to know whether the reason why you are where you are, are concerned for what you are concerned for, are connected with what you are connected with, and are disposed as you are, is because your particular temperament leans that way. You are artistic and mystical in your tastes and constitution: therefore you choose or make your religion after your own image. Your temperament is melancholic, and so the more abstract, profound, serious, intense, introspective, and speculative, appeals to you and finds a natural response in you. You make God, Christianity, Christ, the Bible, after your image.
Or again, you are of the practical temperament. To you everything is only of value as it is "practical." You have no patience with these contemplative people. You are irritated by the "Mary‟s" for "many dishes" are your concern. To you, how the end is reached is of much less importance than the end itself. You are not bothered much with imagination, and you would put all the value on things done – how much there is actually to show for your day. Your God and your Christianity are entirely, or almost entirely, of the practical kind, after your own image. And so we could go on with all the other temperaments. But this will not do, for Christ is not any one of these; He is different. He may combine the good in all, but that does not wholly mean Divine nature. He is different. All this is the human soul, but the essential nature of Christ and true Christianity is of the Divine Spirit – it is heavenly! If new birth means anything, it means this, that another nature and disposition is born into the believer, so that he or she is "carried whither they (naturally) would not."
From: The Only Reality www.austin-sparks.net/english/002048.html
February 9
God sent out the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
"Abba, Father!" (Galatians 4:6 YLT)
"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.
From: The Alpha and the Omega www.austin-sparks.net/english/000659.html
February 10
The anointing you received from Christ lives in you.
(1 John 2:27 GW)
When will the Lord‟s people, who have the Scriptures and who know the Scriptures so well in the letter, when will they come to realize and to recognize that if truly they have been crucified with Christ, if they have died in His death and have been raised together with Him and have received the Spirit, they have Light in their dwelling? "The anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that anyone teach you, but... His anointing teacheth you concerning all things" (1 John 2:27). When will believers, when will Christians, come to realize that? Why must Christians who have the knowledge of the Scriptures in the letter, run about here and there to seek advice from others on matters which vitally affect their own spiritual knowledge? I do not mean that it is wrong to get counsel, wrong to know what other children of God of experience think or feel about matters. But if we are going to build our position upon their conclusions, we are in great danger. The final authority and arbiter in all matters is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of the anointing. We may get help from one another, but I do hope that you are not going to build your position upon what I say now because I say it. Do not do that. I do not want you to do it. I do not ask you to do it. What I say is: listen, take note; and then go to your final authority Who is in you if you are a child of God, and ask Him to corroborate the truth or to show otherwise. That is your right, your birthright, the birthright of every child of God: to be in the light of the indwelling Spirit of Light, the Spirit of God.
From: The Anointing: Light Within Our Dwellings www.austin-sparks.net/english/000660.html
February 11
The law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the
supervision of the law. (Galatians 3:24,25 NIV)
Sometimes revelation will bring to us the fact that things have been but tentative, provisional.... As Paul puts it: "a schoolmaster," to bring us
to Christ, to lead us to Christ. The test for Saul of Tarsus is as to whether he will adjust to the light of the fact that, while he has been right, up to a point, that was only intended to lead him to something else. The Lord, in His sovereignty, allows us to come into something which is only tentative, but not in His final and full thought. That should lead us to a certain point, and at that given point something else is coming in. At that point a revelation will be given us which will make us say, "Well, that has served its purpose, but it has come to an end now, unto the greater fullness." It depends upon whether we cling to the thing that we say the Lord led us to and make it the final thing, when the Lord only meant that to lead us to another thing.
So often in looking back upon a thing that has been used of God, and perhaps blessed of God, people say: "Well, if that is the case then we should cling to that way, should stay with that, or in that." Not necessarily. For Paul the challenge was whether now, with the fuller revelation in the light of which he saw that this first thing while not wrong was only provisional, he was prepared to leave that and come on into the fullness and adjust to the fuller revelation. In all these connections you see that it is a matter of obedience to the heavenly vision, because this obedience to the heavenly vision is marked by cost. There is a price attached. In every case mentioned we see there was a cost. It meant that a price had to be paid, or, in other words, it meant that difficulties had to be faced. There would be a great deal of misunderstanding, a great deal of having to go on alone. Others who had not seen would not be able to follow on. There would be loneliness, misunderstanding, and in many other ways difficulties would arise in relation to obedience to the heavenly vision.
From: That Which Was From The Beginning - Chapter 3 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002955.html
February 12
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.... (John 3:6)
It is possible for a man to be marked by an analytical mind, so that he wants to argue out everything, reason out everything and subject everything to the microscope of his own brain, his own reason, and just see the whole thing right through in that way – not accept it until he can understand it like that. And so he becomes very analytical, very investigating in his mind over the thing, and until he can have the very best answer to all his questions from every side, he is not going to accept it. That man will make very slow progress. The same will apply to one who thinks that by getting a mighty wave of religious emotion he is going to enter into the things of God. That is one of the great snares of the devil today. Religious emotion is no criterion; it is no ground of true spirituality. Our knowledge of the Lord, the very remotest bit of it and the very first ray
of it, depends upon our spirit being awakened and illumined by the Holy Spirit. Progress in the things of God is simply the growth of our inner man and not the acknowledgment of our intellectual capacity to grasp truth. We may have an increasing capacity, by reason of association and familiarity with truth, for grasping ideas and grasping truth and teaching. And that capacity may expand and expand until there is very little that is available to be grasped, and yet with such there may be the very smallest measure of real spirituality.... The child of God is one whose spirit has been renewed and who has, at the center of their being, a union and a communion with God which is not the possession of any man by nature, and which cannot come in any other realm but in the renewed spirit.
From: Filled Unto All the Fullness of God - Chapter 9 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002865.html
February 13
The fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
(1 Corinthians 3:13 ESV)
There are many things to which the name of the Lord is being affixed which are being constructed, and which appear fine and great and like "the Church," but the twofold reality is neither in the builders or the buildings. They are destined to collapse when God‟s hurricane and fire test every man‟s work. Good works: philanthropy, hospitality, reform, education, religion, relief, etc. may be the products, or by-products, of what is called "Christian civilization," and things for which to be profoundly grateful, but let us not confuse these with "a new creation," regeneration, a being "born from above." The Church is nothing which man can build by any resource in himself personally or collectively.
The Church is an organism, not an organization. "Behold, I show you a mystery, we are members of His flesh and of His bones." Build that, if you can! Launch that; organize that; "run" that! It cannot be done. It is the spontaneous outworking of spiritual forces released, in the acceptance by faith of tremendous facts concerning Christ; which facts are proclaimed out of experience in the power of the Holy Ghost. Not the theological Christ; not the doctrinal Christ; not the Christ of the letter, much less the Jesus of history; but the Christ of eternity in all the meaning of His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension into the Throne of God revealed in the heart by the Holy Spirit. This alone is authority to preach, to serve, to occupy position, to "build" in relation to the house of God. It is folly to spend time and strength otherwise. It is wisdom to labor on this foundation.
From: "The Servant of the Lord" - Chapter 3 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/003686.html
February 14
I am glad when I suffer for you in my body, for I am participating in
the sufferings of Christ that continue for His Body.
(Colossians 1:24 NLT)
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 glamour; 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.
From: The Time in Which We Live www.austin-sparks.net/english/000531.html
February 15
Some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert
the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:7 NIV)
It does not require a great deal of intelligence in order to recognize that, throughout the history of God‟s work, the master-stroke of the great perverter has been confusion. God is not the God of confusion, but of order. Satan is the god of confusion. To get order out of chaos, God said: "Let there be light." To get chaos out of order, Satan says "Let there be confusion." His it is to confuse issues and elements. To do this, he must – as the word suggests – fuse (or try to fuse) elements which are constitutionally different and do not belong to each other. Thus there is a constitutional contradiction and inconsistency. It is only when his mastermethod runs amok that we have utter and unmitigated wickedness. His main work is deception by mixture.
It is just here that the place, meaning, and sovereignty of the Holy Spirit in the life of the child of God has its meaning and importance. He is "The Spirit of Truth." He alone knows where truth ends and falsehood begins. Only as we truly "walk in the Spirit" shall we know the truth and be made free from error. A walk in the Spirit demands a "circumcised heart," a heart in which the severance has been made between flesh and spirit, Christ and self. There has never been a heresy that has not had in it sufficient truth to deceive very good people. Likewise, there has never been anything wholly of God but the strategy of the Evil One has been to fasten on to it some implication, insinuation, interpretation, or suggestion that would make it questionable or "dangerous." He even did this with the Lord Jesus Himself. He did it with Paul all through his life.... A good thing can be made its own enemy, by being either confused, or taken out of its true meaning.
From: The Danger of Coming Short www.austin-sparks.net/english/002966.html
February 16
I have come that they may have life.... (John 10:10 ISV)
If, on the one hand, eternal Life operates to cut us off from our natural life as the basis of our relationship with God, on the other hand, it is perfectly wonderful what is done. It is "the Lord‟s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." The Lord even comes in as our physical life to the doing of more than would have been possible to us at our best, and certainly far beyond the present possibility, because He has made us know that as men we are nothing, even at our best. Life does that. Life forces off one system and brings on another, making room for it as it goes.
That, I believe is what the Lord meant when He said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" (John 10:10). We have thought that just to mean that we are to have abundance of exuberance. We are always asking for life more abundant that we might feel wonderfully elated and overflowing and energetic. The Lord is preeminently practical, and more abundant Life means that, having Life, you will find the need of more to lead you a little further, and you will need it abundantly as you go on, because that Life alone can bring you into the fullness. And it is His will that there should be the full provision of Life unto the full end, because the purpose is such an abundant purpose. The Life is commensurate with the purpose.
From: All Things In Christ - Chapter 9 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002775.html
February 17
We are His household.... (Hebrews 3:6 ISV)
With all that the Lord needs and desires to do in the recovery of His first thought, His original idea for His people, not the least is the recovery of the spiritual family. Any fresh movement of God which relates to His original thought will most certainly reintroduce the spiritual family, and all that that means. That may mean the breakdown of a lot; it may mean that a good deal of misconception will have to be set aside; it may be that a whole traditional system will have to be discarded.
There is a tremendous value connected with the spiritual family life and with the training in the family. There is no training better than the training in the family. You cannot find an adequate substitute in the institution. Really, the Lord‟s responsible and useful men and women are not trained in the institution; they are trained in the family. It is because of the lack of that family background of training that so often those who go out into the Lord‟s work break down in the matter of relationships. The tragedy of so much of the work of God is the tragedy of broken relationships between workers who are put together in an organized way, and they have never gone through the discipline of family life to know how to live triumphantly with difficult people. There is an immense value in the training of the spiritual family and that necessitates very close relationships.
We have heard Christian people (church-going people) say that they do not want to come into too close an association with their fellow Christians and church members; they would rather not know too much. That is defeat, and that means the loss of a very great deal for the Lord. The Lord‟s way is to bring His people together in the closest relationship and not to eliminate the most difficult ones. He has a very peculiar family, made up of all sorts, and some of the sorts are very funny sorts; and that all provides the basis of a wonderful training.
From: Filled Unto All the Fullness of God - Chapter 6 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002862.html
February 18
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because
we are united with Christ. (Ephesians 1:3 NLT)
Some people seem to think that spirituality is a kind of mystical or mythical "something" – that spirituality is something remote from reality, a kind of frame of mind. Well, spirituality is certainly not a frame of mind in the first place. We speak of a calm and heavenly frame... and there may be
something of this kind as a fruit of it... but spirituality is not a nebulous, mythical, or abstract thing. Spirituality is the most practical thing.
When men or women are called by God into some piece of Divine ministry and, in the face of the demand, are conscious to the last degree that they have no ability, no resource, no power to fulfill that ministry, that in themselves the thing is utterly impossible, that for them to essay to do it would be the utmost folly and absurdity – when in such circumstances they recognize that they have a living Christ in whom are resources more than enough to meet that demand... and by faith lay hold of Him and go forward into the ministry with that consciousness... that is spirituality; and that is practical, tremendously practical. The issues prove that it is practical. It is in that way heavenly things are done.
From: Boundless Heavenly Resources www.austin-sparks.net/english/001521.html
February 19
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the
bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:3 NIV)
The new creation is a company, it is a Body indwelt by the Holy Spirit, actuated by the Holy Spirit, actually made one by the Holy Spirit. "In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body" (1 Cor. 12:13). The oneness is the oneness of the Holy Spirit. "Giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit" (Eph. 4:3), not to make it, but to keep it. A new creation.
Well now, of course that is just the key that opens the door to everything when you see what new creation Life means. And with that you introduce the whole matter of the proper order, the proper regulated order of heavenly Life. Heavenly Life is according to heavenly law. It is not lawless. Each member of this body is not a law unto himself or herself. We are bound by this integrating, regulating law, that we are not allowed to be independent. Here the Holy Spirit forbids it. We are not allowed to take the law into our own hands. We are not allowed to act as individuals; the Holy Spirit will not allow it. There is a regulating order with this Life.
This Life expresses itself according to its own laws, as life does in every part of the organic creation. It follows its own lines. That part of the creation follows the laws of the life which it possesses, and this is the Life of the Spirit, and you have not to organize or systematize this. Immediately you begin to do it, you bring death in. It is as fatal to try and make a New Testament church after the New Testament pattern as it is to have no pattern at all! It can be deathly to do that. The thing happens if the Life has its way. We have learned this, yet, much as we know about the truth, we are still so much governed by our own natural life, even in our spiritual activities. There is disorder and running before the Spirit. However, we are
all in the school, and we are just stating the laws, the principles and the truth that here you have no need to go and organize something on a New Testament basis. It will come about if the Holy Spirit is really having His way in terms of Life.
From: The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 7 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002986.html
February 20
To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these
things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God....
(2 Corinthians 2:16,17)
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.
From: The Risen Lord and the Things Which Cannot be Shaken - Chapter 11 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002226.html
February 21
In Him we live and move and have our being. (Acts 17:28)
This whole Bible is about bringing man back to God, bringing him into God, and restoring him to his environment. "In Him we live and move and have our being" is the fundamental truth of the spiritual life. There is one thing I suggest to you, or hint at, which, if you grasp it, would be such a tremendous help to you. When the Lord says anything, it may look on the face of it something very simple and not at all profound and wonderful; but anything that comes from the Lord, though it be apparently very simple, contains all the vast knowledge and understanding that the Lord has, and not to take account of that "simple" thing may bring you into a vast amount of trouble. When the Lord Jesus says: "Abide in Me" it sounds so simple and so ordinary, but it contains all this history, and this great principle and truth: "If you get out of your environment you are exposed to all the poisons and all that creates spiritual disease. Abide in Me for your health‟s sake! For your life‟s sake! For the sake of everything! Abide in Me, and I in you!" Have you got that? You look again at any seemingly "little" thing that the Lord says, and if you could see you would find that you have a universe of meaning in it.
From: Divine Order – In Christ - Chapter 3 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002837.html
February 22
We had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in
ourselves but in God who raises the dead. (2 Corinthians 1:9)
You know that those who are not the Lord‟s people are not alive to the fact that they are dead. Death is not the great reality to them until they come to their body dying. But in their ordinary life when things are going on and there is health and provision, death is no reality to them. But death is brought home to the child of God. Immediately we get into God‟s hands this thing begins to be brought home to us – that we are not much good, we cannot stand up to things, we cannot go through. Our natural life and resources do not count here. The course of a true Christian life in the hands of God is that of being more and more brought to the experience of helplessness. Is that not true? Yes, of helplessness, of the impossibility of everything. Do not think things have gone wrong if that is becoming your consciousness. You may take it that you are in an immature spiritual stage if you have not come to that realization that in the realm into which you have been introduced in your relationship with God, you have no resource. You are as a dead man. The death fact is brought home to you, is made real.
Ah, but on the other side, resurrection is taking a certain form over against that. With that background and with that basis, more and more the child of God is being brought to the position where he or she has to say: "That was the Lord, it is the Lord; I cannot account for that, I am not the one who accounts for that, it is all of God," and you know quite well that resurrection is all of God. You can go a long way in many clever things and inventions, but you have not got as far as raising the dead yet. That is God‟s prerogative. That is only God.
And so in the hands of God the child of God is being brought progressively more and more, and still more, to the place where they have to say, "It is of God, it is all of God" and that is the testimony coming out. The Lord did that, the Lord is doing this. Is that not in Israel‟s history in the wilderness? See how again and again they were brought to an end, which did seem to be an end... nothing beyond this, and then they had to come out with a new song – "The Lord did it!" It is victory over death, it is the power of resurrection Life.
From: The Testimony of the Christ - Chapter 6 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002985.html
February 23
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is
neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Galatians 3:28)
When we are really "in Christ," to use Paul‟s phrase, we are always regarded as being together, though we may be thousands of miles apart. The Lord Jesus does not look upon us as being in this country, in that country and in another country. He Himself is the only Country in this universe, and so we leave our country and our own nationality when we come into Christ.... The Jews were exclusive and said: "We are the only people and our country is the only country." Jesus went outside those frontiers and touched the world outside....
In the Lord Jesus every earthly division is removed. There are no British, Swiss, German, French or Indian in Christ. He is only one Nationality and that is a heavenly one. He is only one Language and that is a spiritual one. He is the heavenly Country. No matter what we are here, in Him we are all together as one Man in Christ. All the earthly distinctions of place and time disappear in Him. It may take us a long time to travel about this world, though men think it is a very wonderful thing to travel at so many hundred or thousand miles a minute and get to the moon in no very great time! But, dear friends, in this very moment in Christ we can touch our brethren six or seven thousand miles away. That is a miracle.... This
Life is eternal Life; it is timeless; it knows no space; everything is present when Jesus is present.
From: Discipleship In The School Of Christ - Chapter 4 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001451.html
February 24
I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter the kingdom of God
without being born of water and the Spirit. (John 3:5 GW)
No one has ever yet been "volitionalized" into the kingdom of God; that is, so appealed to in their wills to make a decision, and to determine to be in the kingdom of God, as by the strength of that decision and that determination to have got through. It cannot be done. A great deal of mistake has been made in that connection, and an entirely false position has been brought about for multitudes of people because the effort has been made along those lines, and they have been appealed to along those lines to exercise their own reason, and their own feelings, and their own wills, as though that would regenerate them. Thus interest and activity in Christianity is one thing, but being in the kingdom is quite another. Multitudes of good-meaning people are interested in Christianity, and are active in Christianity. They see the value of the Christian standard of life, and Christian teaching, and have thought if only it could be applied, how different the world would be. So they have become busy in Christianity, and have thought they were in the kingdom of God. Not at all! You can have all the interest in Christianity without being in the kingdom. This is what the Lord Jesus said, in effect, and in other and more concise words, to Nicodemus. The only way in is by our receiving Divine Life as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ, and that becomes the new basis of the new creation, the basis upon which everything begins and is carried through, the basis of Divine Life. That Life has in it all the qualities and energies of the new creation. It constitutes our being in what is called the Kingdom of God.
From: The Meaning of Divine Life - Chapter 1 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002996.html
February 25
Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
(Hebrews 12:26 ESV)
Everything is going to be shaken in earth and in heaven, with a view to finding out just how much there is of Christ living in it. These Jewish believers were going to see the temple and the whole temple system wrecked, and then they would discover just how much they had got of
Christ, or how much of their life was bound up with earthly things. They would see what was left when that was all gone. God is not only going to shake Judaism, but this heavenly thing. He will shake heaven and earth, and we shall find out by that shaking what we have left when the earthly system passes, when even the representation of heavenly things in Christianity is tested (for Christianity has developed a representation of heavenly things, just as Judaism has). Men have made an earthly representation of the New Testament revelation of the church, and ministry, and priesthood. It is all going to be tested. For many it is now in the melting pot. The issue is the shaking of heaven and earth. What have we got left? The issue is Christ. Whether you like all that we have said, or agree with it or not, does not worry me; but I am concerned that we have come to Christ, to show that Christ in heaven is our Life, Christ in heaven is our All, and appointed to be so by God, and nothing here can take the place of Christ. God will bring everything to an end that takes the place of Christ. He has determined from eternity that in all things Christ should have the preeminence, and have the fullness, and that nothing shall glory before Him or take His place. The Lord bring us into a larger measure of Christ, and a larger measure of Christ into us.
From: That Which Was From The Beginning - Chapter 2 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002954.html
February 26
There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man
Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)
God‟s answer to everything, God‟s explanation of everything, and God‟s means of realizing everything is a Man, "the man Christ Jesus." When this world has run its evil course, this inhabited earth will be judged in a Man. Men will be judged by what their inward relationship is to that Man. The question at the judgment will never be of how much good or bad, right or wrong, more or less, is in a man; it will turn upon this one point, "Are you in Christ?" If not, more or less makes no difference. God‟s intention, God‟s proclamation is that all things are in His Son. Are you in Him? Why not? The basis of judgment is very simple. It is all gathered up in a Man, and what is in that Man of God for us. That is the basis of judgment. It all comes back to the very simple, and yet comprehensive and blessed truth, that it is what Christ is that satisfies God, reaches God‟s end, and meets all our need. It is all summed up in a Man, "the man Christ Jesus." The Lord continue to open our eyes to His glorious and Heavenly Man, Who is also the Divine Servant.
From: All Things in Christ - Chapter 15 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002781.html
February 27
The Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine to
carry My name...." (Acts 9:15 ESV)
The Lord must have an instrument, a Daniel instrument, whether personal or collective, that moves out towards God for His testimony. He must have a Nehemiah with a heartache over the people because of the breakdown of the testimony. He must have an Ezra who is not for a moment compromising with anything contrary to the mind of God. He must have the Esther instrument who flings fear to the winds, and goes, taking life in hand, to besiege the throne for the life of her people, for the deliverance of the people of God from the threat of the enemy. Oh! What those prayers wrought! And, beloved, the burden of the Lord must come on our heart in like manner if we are to be effective instruments for the Lord in His end-time activities; we must be exercised in a very deep way with the interests of God. We must hold back nothing that will count for the Lord and His interests. You would be surprised how the Lord would come through if you gave Him a chance.
The whole thing begins with a recognition of the need, and the burden of these things upon our hearts. When we are really in it by the urge of the Holy Spirit, the common features found in these Old Testament instruments will be found inwrought in us; and we shall be found an abandoned people unto this ONE THING – the Lord‟s burden and heart concern for His testimony in His people.
From: The Time in Which We Live www.austin-sparks.net/english/000531.html
February 28
He shall see [the fruit] of the travail of His soul
and be satisfied. (Isaiah 53:11 AMP)
Well, we know more than the Prophet Isaiah knew about that! We have been with Him in Gethsemane in the time of the travail of His soul, and we are with Him, on the other side of the travail. How many are the seed of Christ since then! Dear friends, if ever you are tempted to think that Christians are few, and that we are only a very small people in the millions of this world – open the windows! Look into the book of the Revelation: "A great multitude, which no man could number… ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." The number cannot be expressed in human language – and they have been gathered since the travail of the Lord Jesus. He is indeed seeing His seed! Gethsemane has been the most fruitful garden in all history – and you and I are of His seed! We are born out of His travail and are in the covenant made with the new Israel.
But do remember that the meaning and the value of the covenant depend upon our devotion to the Lord! This is a thing which is so evident: the greatest fruitfulness has always come from the lives most devoted to the Lord, the people of the undivided heart. This covenant has two sides.... The New Testament takes many warnings from the history of Israel, and we may fail of all that that covenant means if our hearts are divided and we try to live life in two worlds. We never lose anything when the Lord has everything, and that is what it means to have a circumcised heart. May that be true of everyone!
From: God's New Israel - Chapter 3 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/003614.html
February 29
If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from
Me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in Me, you are like a
branch that is thrown away and withers. (John 15:5,6)
Take a bunch of flowers, a bunch of roses or any other particular kind of flower. They are of the same species, and they have the same life in them. That is a congregation, not a body! The difference between a bunch of flowers which are all alike, all sharing the same life, and the root and the plant, is a very big one. Give me the rose, root and plant or bush, and what shall I have? Well, I shall have this difference that, whereas the bunch of flowers has the life, it just goes so far. That is all and there it ends. It will never go beyond that. Give me the plant or bush, and it will grow. It may pass through a paroxysm of death for a season, but next year it will come back again and there will be more; and then another experience of dying and resurrection, and again there will be more, all in the same plant. That is a body, that is an organism, not a bunch. And that is the difference between a congregation, so many Christians, units coming together as units, and a spiritual organism, a local expression of the Body of Christ: and it is the Body which is God's thought, not a congregation, not the bunch of flowers. But oh, the Lord's people are so much like the bunch of flowers! It is true they are all of the same species: they are Christians, they are children of God, they are all sharing the same Life, but oh, they are not there as one organism in one place growing with the increase of God, passing through corporate convulsions of death and resurrection and making spiritual increase in that way....
Yes, they belong to the Lord, and they have the same Life, they are all the Lord's children; but they just come to a certain point and they never go beyond that. That is true. I have had enough experience to make me sure it is true. Alas, many of them do not want to go any further, and many of them resent the suggestion that it is necessary to go any further. However, that is not God's thought about it. God's thought is of the root
and the plant as a whole, a living organism here and there as representing and expressing Christ Himself. The plant grows and makes increase. The bunch simply goes so far and then it stops.
From: God's Spiritual House - Chapter 4 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/000922.html
March 1
I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so
great you won't have enough room to take it in! (Malachi 3:10 NLT)
There is very much prayer being made, and appeal being pressed for revival.... If the Spirit of God either ignores or transcends so much that marks the Christian system, and makes it as though it counts so little, (and the Holy Spirit never compromises on what is vital and really of God), does it not mean that He calls for a reconsideration of very much that obtains? The days of the Church's greatest spiritual power and impact were days when ecclesiastical forms, architecture and ritual were nil, and the Lord Himself was everything.... To get away from the lesser things we need a mighty visitation of the Spirit of God; this, and this only, will do it. Most people agree to this, and we have heard very much said along this line. What has always perplexed us is that, while things of this kind have been so repeatedly and strongly stated, the implication seems never to have registered itself with sufficient strength as to result in practical adjustments. So, on the other hand, if we seriously faced the things which the Spirit of God has again and again ruled out when He has had His way, would not the way be opened for a more permanent high level of spiritual life, fullness, and effectiveness?
Is not reformation an essential part of revival? Does not the Lord call for certain drastic adjustments before He can "open the windows of heaven"? (Mal. 3:10). Whenever and wherever, by a new revealing of Himself, His purpose and method, the Lord has secured those who have moved out on to the ground of Christ only and in fullness, they have always had to meet a great and painful cost. Usually it has been their own brethren in Christ who have exacted it.... How difficult it is for organized Christianity to believe that anything very much of real value can go on without machinery, publicity, and all the framework of organized work! May it not be well to pause and consider whether God's mightiest and most fruitful works in nature and in grace are not done hiddenly, quietly, unobtrusively, and – in many cases – done before anyone knows about it? What of the resurrection of nature every Spring-time? The law of God's highest work is the biological, the law of Life; it is organic.
From: The Release of the Lord - Chapter 7 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002113.html
March 2
God… Who saved us and called us to a holy calling,
not because of our works but because of His own
purpose and grace. (2 Timothy 1:9 ESV)
The Lord Jesus did not come in just as a rescuer of man and of man‟s lot. We should almost be led to believe by certain emphases that redemption is the greatest thing in the universe, and that all God‟s interest is in redemption, and that we should be occupied solely with redemption. Redemption is a great thing. We can never, never exaggerate, and I doubt whether we shall ever know what a great thing redemption is; and yet, great as redemption is in its scope, in its depth, in its cost, redemption is only incidental to the eternal purpose. Christ came into time to rescue His own inheritance. In that, of course, man is rescued, but it is something very much bigger than that. It relates to the Son primarily, and until the Lord‟s people get the right attitude, the right point of view, that is, that all things in God‟s full and final concern are centered in God‟s Son, they have not come into line with all God‟s resource. While the direction is toward ourselves – redemption, sanctification, glorification, and so on – or toward anything less than the Son Himself, we have not got God‟s dynamic for accomplishing His work, and therefore it becomes necessary, as the sufficient, the adequate basis of the Holy Spirit‟s operation, that there should be a revelation of Jesus Christ in the heart, for it is in relation to Him and what God has purposed concerning Him that all the energies of God are released and made active.
From: The Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken - Chapter 6 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002069.html
March 3
I came to send fire on the earth… (Luke 12:49)
Fire always finds things out. As it creeps and encroaches and overtakes, it makes one discrimination between things that it can devour and things over which it has no power. It puts them into those categories; the finding out, the classifying, the deciding. Look at the context, Luke 12:51 – "Think ye that I am come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division." He goes on – "There shall be from henceforth five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. They shall be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother in law against her daughter in law, and daughter in law against her mother in law..." – discriminating, setting things in the category to which they belong.
One category is that which can go on and abide and endure because it is of God. The other will be licked up by the fire, and simply pass out of existence. "The fire shall try every man‟s work," said Paul (1 Cor. 3:13). The fire of unavoidable and unerring discrimination. That has ever been the effect of a work of the Holy Spirit; to put us into the place to which we belong. It is a kind of dividing thing all the time. Are you for, or are you against? Are you with, or are you not with the Lord? Are you going on with the Lord, or are you not going on with the Lord? The Holy Spirit is pursuing that course all the time to find us out and to just classify us like this, so that when the Holy Spirit has worked we are in definite categories. Division has come, and it is unavoidable.
From: The Cross and Way of Life - Chapter 1 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/002845.html
March 4
His eyes were opened, his sight was restored,
and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8:25)
You and I, dear friends, individually, and if we belong to a company of the Lord‟s people, that company, will only make progress toward that full, ultimate end of God in Christ if we have a spiritual vision of Jesus Christ. Vision is essential to progress. Is it necessary for me to stay with the word "vision"? I am not thinking about something objective that you see with your eyes of flesh. It is something that has happened inside of you, and your inner spiritual eyes have been opened. You can say, "I have SEEN, and that has revolutionized my life. That has put me on my feet. That has set me on a course. That has become a dynamic in my life which, in spite of myself, keeps me going." Yes, thank God, it works like that.
I know the aspect, the factor, of our responsibility, but God help you and me if it is all going to be left to our responsibility and what we do! I tell you – and this may have been your experience, or it may interpret your present experience – many, many times I would have given up the race. That is an awful confession! Indeed many times I have given it up in my heart. It became so difficult that I could go no further, so I gave up. It was not, therefore, my persistence that enabled me to go on, but what the Apostle calls "the power that worketh in us." What is that? The Holy Spirit has put a dynamic in us and we have seen. We cannot un-see! We cannot go back. The seeing may fade, and it may even be eclipsed by days of darkness and trouble. We may know what Paul meant when he said: "We were pressed out of measure, beyond our strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life" (2 Corinthians 1:8). That was a terrible thing for the greatest of all apostles to say! What happened? Did Paul give up and say: "Well, I cannot go on!"? No, not at all! "The power that worketh in us" got him on his feet again and again. Let Elijah seek out his juniper tree and say:
"Take away my life!" but the Lord does not agree. He has given Elijah a part in His great, eternal purpose, and so he will come up again.
From: The Will Of God In Relation To His People - Chapter 3 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001131.html
March 5
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it
through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:12 ESV)
Those of us who have tasted of this world‟s springs have recognized the kinship between what is there and what is in religion so far as that soulnature is concerned. It is only a matter of difference of realm, not of nature. What the music and drama of the world produce in one way – the soulstirring, rousing, craving: the pathos, tears, contempt, hatred, anger, melancholy, pleasure, etc. – are all the same, only under different auspices and in a different setting, and the fact is that it passes and we are really no further on. A little better music, a change of preacher, a less familiar place, a few more thrills, will perhaps stimulate our souls, but where are we, after all? How Satan must laugh behind his mask! Oh, for reality, the reality of the eternal! Oh, that men might see that, while a highly cultured soul with a keen sense of the beautiful and sublime is immeasurably preferable to a sordid one so far as this world is concerned, it is not necessarily a criterion that such has a personal living knowledge of God – of God as a Person – and has really been born anew! When we pray for "Revival" let us be careful as to what we are after and as to what means we use to promote it, or carry it on.... The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that the secret of everything in his life and service was the fact that he received his gospel "by revelation." We may even know the Bible most perfectly as a book, and yet be spiritually dead and ineffective. When the Scriptures say so much about the knowledge of God and of the truth as the basis of eternal life, resulting in being set free, doing exploits, etc., they also affirm that man cannot by searching find out God, and they make it abundantly clear that it is knowledge in the spirit, not in the natural mind. Thus, a rich knowledge of the Scriptures, an accurate technical grasp of Christian doctrine, a doing of Christian work by all the resources of men‟s natural wisdom or ability, a clever manipulation and interesting presentation of Bible content and themes, may get not one whit beyond the natural life of men, and still remain within the realm of spiritual death. Men cannot be argued, reasoned, fascinated, interested, "emotioned," willed, enthused, impassioned, into the kingdom of the heavens; they can only be born; and that is by spiritual quickening.
From: What is Man? - Chapter 5 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001341.html
March 6
Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and
don‟t get tied up again in slavery to the law. (Galatians 5:1 NLT)
Legalism always crucifies Christ afresh because legalism cuts out the greatest word in Christianity. The word over the door into true Christianity is the word: "Grace." Legalism always wipes out "Grace," and puts in its place "Law." Grace is the chief word in the vocabulary of the Christian. Do you notice that where legalism reaches its fullest expression, it always puts the crucifix in the place of the empty tomb? The badge of the Christian is the empty tomb. That is "Life from the dead." The badge of legalism is a crucifix, "a dead Christ." Legalism always brings death, and the chief thing about Christ is resurrection. It is Life from the dead. This was something that Paul came to see when it pleased God to reveal His Son in him. And he said, "Let me get out of all this legalistic system. Jesus of Nazareth Whom we crucified is alive. He has been revealed alive in my heart."
If we really see the Lord Jesus, we shall be emancipated. Some of us have had that experience. We were in legal systems; our horizon was that system. Then the day came when the Lord opened our eyes to really see the significance of Christ. And that whole system fell away as being all nonsense. No, it is not our business to say, "Come out of this and that, and come into this other." The word "must" or "thou shall" does not belong to this realm. That belongs to the old legal realm. The "must" becomes a spiritual thing, not a legal thing. We could say of Paul, there was a mighty "must" in his spirit. "I have seen the Lord, and I am seeing more and more of what the Lord is, and this is creating in me this great imperative. „This one thing I do, leaving the things which are behind, I press on toward the mark of the prize of the on-high calling.‟" So we do not say, "Change your system." But we do say, "Ask the Lord to reveal His Son in you." Then the great work of emancipation will begin.
From: "That They May All Be One, Even As We Are One" - Meeting 29 www.austin-sparks.net/english/books/001098.html
March 7
In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ
you have been brought to fullness. (Colossians 2:9,10 NIV)
If you and I, dear friends, are going to make anything like the progress that Paul made as a young convert and as a growing Christian, and if we are going to have anything of the wheat that he has had in spiritual impress and impact, and if we are going to count in any degree as he counted in the work of the Lord; one thing is absolutely essential and do
get hold of this. The youngest Christian get hold of this and everybody else; that if we take our salvation, our conversion or anything that has to do with it as something in itself, there‟s going to be limitation. We have got to see everything in the light of the Person, Jesus Christ! That is, we have not to take this as a gift – salvation as a gift – or anything else of the Christian life as a gift in itself; we have got to look at that and say: "What does that signify as to the Giver? What does that signify as to Christ? What does that mean as to the Source of my salvation?" You may not grasp the point but it is of infinite importance because all progress in the Christian life and all power in Christian service comes from not the grasping, the apprehending, and the enjoyment of salvation as such, but seeing Jesus! Because, you see, Jesus is the sum total of ALL Divine fullness.