FEBRUARY 29
SUGGESTED READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 3:9–15
If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward (1 Cor. 3:14).
Probably the most severe disillusionment we encounter in our walk with God is when He removes a teacher or leader because that person is worshiped.
Have you seen the picture of medieval saints with a circular halo on their heads? The saints of God are apt to install a halo on certain teachers, preachers, or leaders and put them up where God does not want them. God will remove the halo. And if you have been following these “haloed Christians” instead of God, you will go down in humiliation. God will break the props from underneath them—and us—and let us fall until we learn that it is “Jesus ever, Jesus only, Jesus all in all.”
God is wonderful! He brings the friends we need just at the right time, and He removes them just at the right time. It is their removal that is the hardest lesson for us to accept.
PRAYER THOUGHT: On You, Lord, will I set my affections.
SUGGESTED READING: GALATIANS 5:1–16
Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage (Gal. 5:1).
The Lord Jesus Christ is our Judge. Any standard of spiritual measurement and examination must be based on Him. This fundamental consideration is many times ignored.
Too often we find saints in bondage to one another’s personal convictions. They suppose freedom will be theirs only if they live according to these human convictions. A false spirituality has increased this bondage among so many of us. This false spirituality is overly concerned lest it offends anyone’s scruples.
Did our Lord hesitate to offend the scruples of the religious Jews when He strolled through the cornfields on the Sabbath and allowed His disciples to pluck the ripe ears and eat them? Did our Lord hesitate to heal the afflicted on the Sabbath, for fear of offending the Pharisees?
There is a major difference between “offending” other people and “causing them to stumble.” Our Lord offended many, but He never caused one to stumble. His disciples must know the difference also!
PRAYER THOUGHT: Deliver me from bondage to other Christians. May I truly enjoy freedom in Christ.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 14:1–15
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).
There is a perilous danger in having no standard of spirituality except our own inward impressions. If we allowed everybody the same liberty, this would end in religious anarchy. The New Testament utterly opposes such a practice among the saints of God.
The Lord Himself is the one standard of conduct and character in the New Testament. People do not object to a man or a woman becoming outwardly holy, but they do object to his or her becoming a personal devotee of Jesus Christ.
The standard for creed, conduct, and character is Jesus Christ only. The standard of my life must be the same as the Lord’s—holiness of walk and character. My limitations and liberties must spring from my personal devotion to Jesus Christ and to nothing else. All who observe me should perceive that I have been with Jesus, not that I have formed some personal convictions about conduct and character, whereby I measure the Almighty and everybody else with whom I come into contact.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord Jesus, thank You for Your holy example.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 7:1–5
… He that judgeth me is the Lord (1 Cor. 4:4b).
We dare not judge one another, and certainly not ourselves. When the Bible exhorts us to “walk in the Light,” it does not mean the light of our own convictions, but the light of the Lord. The Light of the world is Jesus, and one’s own point of view is darkness.
It is not obedience to a standard that matters to God, but the fulfillment of the highest standard by the Spirit that is within. Holiness and purity are not obedience to an actual law, but the unconscious natural characteristics of the indwelling Holy Spirit. No one can imitate either. This is why so many who have never experienced the baptism in the Holy Spirit are so stern and unchristlike, and such sticklers for obeying the letter of the truth. These carnal Christians are not spiritual in God’s sight.
What a man is—not what he does or has done or hopes to do—will be the standard of judgment on the Judgment Day. There will be no acquittal or appeal.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Heavenly Father, cleanse me of self-righteousness. I want to obey You.
SUGGESTED READING: PSALM 139:23–24
… Yea, I judge not mine own self (1 Cor. 4:3b).
Who has not met sensitive Christians who are so hyper-conscientious that they are almost afraid to breathe, lest they err? Such bondage is obviously not in accordance with the New Testament. There is no element of freedom about such a tyrannizing standard of introspective self-judgment, for “perfect love casteth out fear.” Such conscientiousness is selfishness, inverted from glowing pride into a creeping fear.
Paul was not bound or limited by his own introspection or by any subjective standard of judgment whatsoever. He did not live in the light of his own convictions. He walked in the Light that produces convictions of the most definite order.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Not my will but Thine be done, Lord Jesus.
SUGGESTED READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:23–33
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31).
If an individual says he will be offended because I wear a necktie, or drink tea, or eat meat, then let him be offended. It is moral courage to ignore such bondage. But if I find that my wearing a necktie, or drinking tea, or eating meat makes any brother or sister to stumble, then I will never do those things again.
Offense arises from wounded personal opinion. Stumbling arises from following another person you love, rather than following Christ.
Most of our “isms” have arisen from following the prescribed limitations of someone’s personal convictions, instead of the Lord. Most of these “isms” have a logical and sensible basis. Take “vegetarianism” for an example. A lot can be said in favor of it; but it becomes a law to me if I make it a standard for judgment of others. Consequently, I put myself in a place where I cannot fulfill the rules of spiritual convictions as cited by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 10.
PRAYER THOUGHT: May I not cause another to stumble, Lord.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 11:23–33
If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities (2 Cor. 11:30).
When the letter of God’s law is enforced contrary to its spirit, or some unjust edict is passed, or some self-effacing step has to be taken by the Christian community, then the atmosphere grows ominous, hot, and sultry. Just at the moment when it seems most logical to compromise, when it seems so easy to compromise, when legitimate compromise seems the sanest and safest thing—to stand up calmly and say with Paul, “It is a very small thing that I should be judged of you,” is beyond human language to describe.
This attitude of Paul was no boyish exuberance nor a defiant shout. No! This was the profound statement of a cultured, somewhat delicate Jew who was passionately in love with the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can also humbly feel and express a holy love toward others and the Lord Jesus Christ.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Like You, Lord, help me to love others in spite of their conduct and circumstances.
SUGGESTED READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 4:1–5
But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment (1 Cor. 4:3a).
This Scripture is not written in an irritated mood or a defiant spirit, but under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the purpose of pointing to the one fundamental source of all Christian freedom. Paul regards it lightly that he was judged or scrutinized by his friends. He knew that his Lord was his Judge.
To be misjudged by those who are not one’s friends is unimportant to a person who has real friends. But when the examination by one’s own friends produces harsh and cruel judgment, it is hard to bear. None can endure this but the man or woman baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire.
The spiritual autobiographies of many lives are full of the pain suffered from the harsh condemnation of friends, until those sufferers took the attitude of Paul—not callously indifferent, but patient, with the large-hearted graciousness of one who endures “as seeing Him who is invisible” (see Heb. 11:27).
PRAYER THOUGHT: O God, it hurts when friends falsely accuse me. But forgive me if I complain.
SUGGESTED READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 10:1–14
Neither murmur ye … (1 Cor. 10:10a).
Perhaps the most subtle false standard of spirituality arises from a selfish adherence to one’s own convictions. A sad history of severities, stunted lives, broken hearts, and distorted visions of God has arisen from not understanding this wrong and warped method of Christian living.
There is a spiritual sensitiveness which makes one’s own personal convictions the standard of spirituality, and which is more concerned about adherence to these convictions than obedience to the Lord. It is a moment of eternal value when we discover that God does not guide us by abstract principles, but by Jesus Christ our Lord.
When we worship the holiness of our own convictions instead of our holy Lord, there is an element in human nature that makes us all possible popes and intolerant upholders of our personal views.
PRAYER THOUGHT: From my heart I cry “Holy, Holy, Holy” is the Lord God omnipotent.
SUGGESTED READING: GALATIANS 1:1–16
Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father (Gal. 1:4).
The nearest and choicest friends will at times misunderstand God’s way with you and may even become very demons in advice, even as Peter was to Jesus.
At the very outset of the sanctified life, cruel judgments and condemnations by our friends will be encountered. In such moments as these, to stand with the silence of God in the heart and the clear understanding of the misjudgment of the dearest and innermost circle of friends is to know with Paul (and our Lord) the introduction to a larger and more useful life, through the hurt of a broken circle of friends.
It is perilously easy for us to react to the critical comments of our friends and to feel that, after all, “I may be wrong, for those I love and who love me see spiritual things so differently.” Yet the inward heart knows, when alone with God, whether His way points differently.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Dear Lord, help me to remain steady and sure in the security of Your Word and its guidance.
SUGGESTED READING: 2 CORINTHIANS 4:7–11
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us (2 Cor. 4:7).
“My utmost for the highest” was the motto of that great artist G. F. Watts. My utmost for His highest in actual life, as depicted by Paul, involves loving attitudes and holy actions on our part when there are not ideal conditions in our lives. Through these attitudes and actions, we seek to carry out the ideals of our heavenly Father.
The highest Christian love is not devotion to a certain work or cause of God, but to Him. Causes and works are good, but love for them will fail us. Our Lord was viewed as erratic because He did not identify Himself with the cause of the Pharisees or with the Zealots. Instead He laid down His life as the servant of His Father.
Thank God, we have opportunities of identifying ourselves with our Lord’s interests in other people, by manifesting the love that never fails. That love “suffereth long, and is kind; [love] envieth not; [love] vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Cor. 13:4–7). Love never fails.
PRAYER THOUGHT: God of love, help me to exhibit love in all I say and do.
SUGGESTED READING: PSALM 118:1–8
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man (Ps. 118:8).
We never receive a complete knowledge through mere research, with our minds. Knowledge of God comes through our hearts—the windows of our souls.
During the Boxer uprising in China, a lady I knew learned of the murder of her husband and two of her children. Their bodies were found beheaded and mutilated. After this astounding catastrophe she testified: “I could not pray, have faith, or lay hold of God. But my heart knew Him and no matter how this tragedy seemed to contradict so many things, I rejoiced in Him.”
So many people believe in their beliefs, have faith in their faith, and are confident in their confidence. All of this is of no avail. It is our confidence in God that abides, faith in God that remains, and belief in God that lasts.
Hallelujah! Not joy or peace, but God is our God.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I worship You, heavenly Father, for You are full of grace and goodness, love and longsuffering.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 14:12–14
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son (John 14:13).
The royal way in which we partake in Christ’s sufferings is in intercession for others.
Do you know what God will do when you begin to take a soul before Him? He will put the condition of that soul on you until you go through all that person experiences, so to speak. And new converts will abide if you will present them steadfastly day and night, in the blood of your soul and the passion of your prayer, straight before God.
Though the Garden be before me,
And the scornful Judgment Hall,
Though the gloom of deepest midnight,
Settle round me like a pall;
Though the cross my path o’ershadows,
Thou didst bear it once for me,
And whate’er the pain or peril,
“Jesus, I’ll go through with Thee.”
Jesus Christ interceded for us. To be like Him, we must be intercessors.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Give me a burden for the souls of mankind.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 7:32–39
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:38).
A lady said to me the other day, “Well, Brother Chambers, I am sure that I once was more visibly used of God than I am now; and yet I know God better now than I ever did. I do not know where the trouble is.”
Jesus said, “Drink of me and out of you shall flow rivers of living water.” Am I to watch the flow? Never. I am to pay attention to the source. He will then look after the flow.
Almost invariably, a preacher will tell you that at the beginning of his ministry God seemed to use him more mightily than at the present. Now he knows God tenfold better, and yet is not being used in the same way by God. What is the implication? God is making character.
I think that, at the beginning of our Christian experience, God encourages us by letting us see His wonderful doings and marvel at them. Then He quietly begins to be manifested through our mortal being in new ways. Allow Him to do so in your life. Do not complain.
PRAYER THOUGHT: God, use me for Your glory. Help me not to question Your ways.
SUGGESTED READING: PSALM 86:1–7
Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily (Ps. 86:3).
When the Holy Spirit really grips someone in conviction of sin, there is only one of two places for that person—namely, an insane asylum or the cross of Jesus. Conviction can be the origin of saving faith. Justification is given to a sinful person who willingly, as a pauper, accepts the forgiveness of God on the basis of what Jesus did for him through His death on the cross and His resurrection from the grave.
Holiness is likewise a gift of grace, given to a surrendered soul by God. It comes whenever a justified person willingly gives up the right to oneself and presents one’s body “a living sacrifice … acceptable unto God …” (Rom. 12:1b).
A life of faith, after a supreme act of faith for salvation, is as natural and unconscious as breathing.
Not by wrestling, but by clinging,
Shall we be most blessed.
Wrestling only brings us sorrow;
Clinging brings us rest.
When we stay our feeble efforts
And from struggling cease,
Unconditional surrender
Brings us God’s own peace.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I need You every hour, Lord Jesus. Thank You for Your promised presence.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 6:51–66
From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him (John 6:66).
Faith, in the New Testament sense of the word, is the act of changing one’s will and staking it determinedly on Jesus, the living Word of God.
Let me illustrate what I mean. A boy comes in for dinner and knows that the food on the table will satisfy him. He does not doubt it. He sees the food on the table and knows that it will satisfy. But when will he be satisfied? When he sees the meal? No, only when he eats the food. Not before.
This is what offended the disciples of Jesus. He told them, “… Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. …” The Word says, “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (John 6:53, 66). They became deserters. You will be a deserter too, if you do not accept what God has given you in the Lord Jesus.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Consciously and willingly I accept the truth of Your Word.
SUGGESTED READING: GALATIANS 3:17–29
For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal. 3:26).
Who are the children of Abraham—the Jews? Yes, but there are more. All who believe in Jesus Christ are the children of Abraham. All the promises of God are for every man and woman who believes.
What do I mean by believing? Believing is when people make a willful commitment of their all to God, and stake their all on Him.
For twenty centuries, God has not said another word. The Cross was His last word and Pentecost was the explanation of the Cross. Now God is waiting. When the next word is spoken, what do you think He will say to the hosts of people who have been playing loosely with the promises of God, as if they were nothing at all? When the wrath of the Lamb of God bursts forth, and the judgment of our God begins, it will be unspeakably terrible.
Take heed: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). When we willfully yield to God, He will witness by the Holy Spirit to this act of faith on our part in response to His promises.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I love being a member of the family of God.
SUGGESTED READING: ROMANS 10:1–10
… If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (Rom. 10:9).
Sentimental theology says that we are saved by admiring Jesus. This makes about as much sense as saying that when the whitewashed gable of a house reflects the glory of sunlight, the sun is shining inside the house.
By voluntary sacrifice of Himself, Jesus became sin for us; He repaired the evil that Adam brought on the whole human race. Jesus became the recipient of the punishment that you and I should have received. God is satisfied with Jesus; and when we unite ourselves by faith to Jesus Christ, we find that God imputes to us His righteousness.
When Jesus saves us, He destroys the personality of sin and gives us a personality of holiness.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, I am not worthy of salvation. With gratitude I will live for You.
SUGGESTED READING: GALATIANS 6:1–5
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted (Gal. 6:1).
The probable reason that some Christians condemn other servants of God who have fallen and been reclaimed is that they have never encountered the same trials and testings. They have been shielded.
God have mercy on us when we forget the horrible pit and miry clay out of which the sovereign grace of God dug us! When we do forget, we are apt to allow spiritual pride to put a barrier between us and others.
Certain forms of sin shock us unspeakably. But the sin that shocks God and broke the heart of our Lord on Calvary is the sin of “my right to myself”—pride. God hates pride and will not tolerate this evil in sinners or saints.
We have no right to have a “holier-than-thou” attitude toward fallen men or women. A holy man does not keep his eyes on his own spiritual cleanness.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Forgive me if I tend to belittle and degrade others.
SUGGESTED READING: ROMANS 12:1–9
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service (Rom. 12:1).
Every time God gave Abraham the promise of a blessing, he erected an altar and gave it back to God. Paul says this should be true even in our lives. God gave us our bodies; we are to give them back to Him as living sacrifices. This is something that God cannot do for us. It is something we have to do. We have to give Him a definite gift of ourselves.
God grant that you will come to this point of giving! God grant that this passionate entreaty of Paul be mightily fulfilled in your life today, for the glory of the Lord!
The Lord will spoil you for this age. Your passionate love for God will refashion you from a love of this world.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Possess me fully, Lord, and fashion me according to Your will.
SUGGESTED READING: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:55–58
… Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:57).
The fundamental characteristic of a life of faith is a definite breaking away of everything that ruled our sinful past, and a determined and disciplined claiming of God’s Word. The spiritual life of faith operates as unconsciously and naturally as our physical bodies, bringing us victory as a matter of course.
Sin rules our conscious lives apart from God. Entire sanctification removes this “personality of sin,” upsetting the conscious life and all its human reasoning, and puts a new “saintly personality” in its place. So to speak, the power of God begins the construction of a new consciousness.
Jesus Christ finished on the cross the greatest work in the world. He overcame Satan, death, and sin, so that “whosoever will” may become in Him a victor over Satan, death, and sin.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Father, I claim victory by virtue of what Jesus Christ did on the cross for me.
SUGGESTED READING: LUKE 10:30–37
Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God (James 4:4).
The pity of this modern age goes out to Judas, not to Christ. Pity does not overflow for that lonely Nazarene who came and died to save and sanctify us, but for the one who hated and betrayed Jesus. In the same line of thought, some modern Christians, if they had lived at the time of the Good Samaritan, would have pitied the thieves and left the poor victim still lying on the roadside.
Our sympathies have gone rotten! Anyone who is a friend of this age is the enemy of God; and anyone who befriends the enemy of God hates Jesus Christ.
If you are called of Christ and acquainted with His Cross—if you are not wedded to the present age—then share the message of the Cross and see if you will not be despised. Jesus said, “Whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (Matt. 12:50).
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord, help me to be Your true friend.
SUGGESTED READING: JOHN 16:1–14
Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come (John 16:13).
God does not always convict people when I think they ought to be convicted. Do I think that people can be convicted just when I like? Never! My praying cannot make someone listen to God.
But if you are professing to be saved and sanctified, and God knows you are not, He will begin to convict you. To the soul who will listen, God will—with unerring finger—point to the one hindering thing.
Do not tell me, when you have not gotten through to God, that you do not know why it is. You do! If there is one faithful power on this earth, it is the power of the Holy Spirit. He will reveal to you the hindering thing. After you obey Him, then—and only then—will God give you faith.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Break my stubborn will, blessed Holy Spirit, and have Your complete way and will in my life.
SUGGESTED READING: ACTS 17:17–27
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24).
Where in the Bible do you read that you must have a long, peaceful life? Paul held to this world very lightly. With magnificent meaning, he said to the Romans,
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? … For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:35, 38 – 39).
The soul that Jesus has saved and sanctified goes with a calm and unwavering tread through earth’s heartbreaks, sorrows, and joys—through death itself—with the whisperings of Christ, “Let not your heart be troubled, for I have gone before you.” Glory be to God!
PRAYER THOUGHT: Lord of life, I commit my earthly days into Your hands.
SUGGESTED READING: PHILIPPIANS 3:1–7
For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3).
The apostle Paul was of a noble line of birth, had noble blood in his veins, and was a genius of heart and mind. And yet, this great man said, “I have no confidence in the flesh.”
When you are having difficulty spiritually, physically, or financially, where do you go for help? If you are a child of God and your work for Him is experiencing serious problems, what are you doing about it? Do you put your trust in some preacher who has mighty gifts? That is to have confidence in the flesh!
We are to have no confidence in human wisdom. This was the very problem with the children of Israel; God told them to go over Jordan and possess the land, but they said no. They thought they could follow their human wisdom and do something better. But God banished and blighted them.
God will do the same thing to you if you insist upon having confidence in the flesh instead of faith in Him.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Your wisdom, dear Father in heaven, is my need this very hour.
SUGGESTED READING: LUKE 14:25–33
Whosoever doth not bear his cross, cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:27).
What is the Christian’s cross? It is not the cross Christ carried. We cannot carry that; on that cross God took away the sin of the world. Nor does the Christian’s cross consist of the trials one has to bear if one is a Christian. It is distinctly and emphatically the result of being one of the Lord’s disciples.
The cross is my sign that I am crucified with Christ, dead to the world. If I am dead, how then can I live as before?
How much provision does one make for a corpse in the house? None. One must bury it. When Christ delivers you from sin, you are able to reckon the death of the “man of sin”; you make no provision for him.
Have you your cross, my friend? The cross is marked from the place of death, not to it. Conviction for sin is not the cross by which Jesus marks His disciples. The sign of the cross is that you are crucified with Christ; you are not your own. Jesus is first!
Do you desire this life in Christ?
PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me, God, to bear acceptably my cross for You in the days and months before me this year.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 23:1–12
Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things (Rom. 2:1).
To accuse “the brethren” is devilish in nature and practice. Yet many professing Christians do this. They are carnal! Carnality, in blunt American talk, is bossism. When self-appointed know-it-alls speak of things pertaining to holiness, they manifest carnal behavior.
Carnal behavior will not suffer long with others, is not kind to people, envies, always is rash in judgment and attitudes, seeks its own selfish ways, rejoices in iniquity when it is discovered, and will not rejoice in the truth.
Moral lepers are the first to detect moral leprosy in others; so carnal people see in others what is often within themselves. Carnality is the genius of discovering defects and sins in others, so that one can excuse sins and defects in oneself.
Carnality always ignores God’s claim to us as creatures of His. It emphasizes the idea that “I have the truth of God and whoever does not agree with me shall be damned.” But our Lord said to the carnal Pharisees in His day that they would not escape the damnation of hell (see Matt. 23:13–23).
PRAYER THOUGHT: Father, help me to be peaceable and not a source of trouble in the family of God.
SUGGESTED READING: PHILIPPIANS 4:1–9
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Phil. 4:8).
Genuine saints will discern whatsoever things are true, just, pure, lovely, and of good report. True holiness discerns virtuous and praiseworthy people and deeds, and delights in these.
The discerning of spirits is one of the gifts of the Spirit (see 1 Cor. 12:10). Real discernment does not consist of the vague impressions of a lively imagination. Discernment works by the Word of God. The Holy Spirit glorified Jesus; and the Spirit-filled, sanctified saint intuitively discerns any person, teaching, or doctrine that does not glorify Him as Lord.
A sanctified person immediately recognizes spiritual error because the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance all that Jesus taught. The Holy Spirit will lead one into all truth and will help every “sheep of the Lord” to detect a stranger’s voice.
Spiritual discernment is keenly sensitive to the glory of God. A spiritually discerning saint walks in the light and with the Light who is Jesus Christ.
PRAYER THOUGHT: I desire to know truth. Grant to me, Lord, wisdom to discern the truth.
SUGGESTED READING: MATTHEW 10:16–28
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved (Matt. 10:22).
There are times in the life of every Christian where one does not know what to do or say. Things look unclear and very difficult. Friend, such times of darkness come to discipline your character; they will increase your knowledge of the Lord. These seasons of darkness are for listening, not for speaking.
In times of darkness, our Lord shares the darkness with His disciple. He is there. He knows all about it. There must be a sense of mystery, for mystery requires you to be guided by someone who knows more than you do. This is true, both physically and spiritually speaking. Never forget this fact.
Let me mention a very important point in this matter of fellowshiping with God when darkness prevails all around us. You and I should not say in our hearts, “I must have a breakthrough; God must reveal Himself.” God wants us to listen, not fuss with Him. Only “in quietness and confidence shall be your strength” (Isa. 30:15).
The listening ear is characteristic of a Christian in darkness. We should not listen to the voices of sympathizing fellow Christians, nor to voices of self-pity. We should listen only to the voice of the Lord.
PRAYER THOUGHT: Speak to me, Lord, even through the dark circumstances of life.