No man is worthy to succeed until he is willing to fail. No man is morally worthy of success in religious activities until he is willing that the honor of succeeding should go to another if God so wills.
Born After Midnight, 58.
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October 22
Failure and Success: Our God is Too Small
Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. --Psalm 34:3
I am positively sure after many years of observation and prayer that the basis of all of our trouble today, in religious circles, is that our God is too small.
When he says magnify the Lord, he doesn't mean that you are to make God big, but you are to see Him big. When we take a telescope and look at a star, we don't make the star bigger, we only see it big. Likewise you cannot make God bigger, but you are only to see Him bigger....
My brethren, God calls us to magnify Him, to see Him big. A meeting is not big because a lot of people are present. A meeting is big because a number of people see a big God in the meeting. And the bigger God is seen, the greater the meeting. A friend of mine has a little saying, 'I would rather have a big, little meeting than a little, big meeting.' There are a lot of big meetings that are little because the God in them is a small God. And there are a lot of little meetings that are big because God is big in the midst of them....
That is the first thing--magnify God. Your ministry will be little, and you will live and die little unless you have a bigger God. Success and the Christian, 36-37,40
"Lord, help me always to not only be satisfied with, but in fact to strive for, that 'big, little meeting' rather than a 'little, big meeting.' Amen."
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Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers
Friday, October 22, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Spurgeon October 12, Evening
“The (Comforter], the Holy Spirit.” — John 14:26
HIS age - is peculiarly the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in which Jesus cheers us, not by His personal presence, as He shall do by-and-by, but by the indwelling and constant abiding of the Holy Spirit, who is forever the Comforter of the church. It is His office to console the hearts of God̓s people. He convinces of sin; He illuminates and instructs; but still the main part of His work lies in making glad the hearts of the renewed, in confirming the weak, and lifting up all those that are bowed down. He does this by revealing Jesus to them. The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ̓s name and grace. He does not take of His own things, but of the things of Christ. So if we give to the Holy Spirit the Greek name of Paraclete, as we sometimes do, then our heart confers on our blessed Lord Jesus the title of Paraclesis. If the one is the Comforter, the other is the Comfort. Now, with such rich provision for his need, why should the Christian be sad and hopeless? The Holy Spirit has graciously engaged to be your Comforter: do you imagine, 0 you weak and trembling believer, that He will be negligent of His sacred trust? Can you suppose that He has undertaken what He cannot or will not perform? If it is His special work to strengthen you, and to comfort you, do you suppose He has forgotten His business, or that He will fail in the loving office which He sustains towards you? No, don̓t think so harshly of the tender and blessed Spirit whose name is “the Comforter.” He is pleased to provide the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Trust in Him, and He will surely comfort you until the house of mourning is closed forever, and the marriage feast has begun.
From: Morning and Evening, by Charles H. Spurgeon Page 573
HIS age - is peculiarly the dispensation of the Holy Spirit, in which Jesus cheers us, not by His personal presence, as He shall do by-and-by, but by the indwelling and constant abiding of the Holy Spirit, who is forever the Comforter of the church. It is His office to console the hearts of God̓s people. He convinces of sin; He illuminates and instructs; but still the main part of His work lies in making glad the hearts of the renewed, in confirming the weak, and lifting up all those that are bowed down. He does this by revealing Jesus to them. The Holy Spirit consoles, but Christ is the consolation. If we may use the figure, the Holy Spirit is the Physician, but Jesus is the medicine. He heals the wound, but it is by applying the holy ointment of Christ̓s name and grace. He does not take of His own things, but of the things of Christ. So if we give to the Holy Spirit the Greek name of Paraclete, as we sometimes do, then our heart confers on our blessed Lord Jesus the title of Paraclesis. If the one is the Comforter, the other is the Comfort. Now, with such rich provision for his need, why should the Christian be sad and hopeless? The Holy Spirit has graciously engaged to be your Comforter: do you imagine, 0 you weak and trembling believer, that He will be negligent of His sacred trust? Can you suppose that He has undertaken what He cannot or will not perform? If it is His special work to strengthen you, and to comfort you, do you suppose He has forgotten His business, or that He will fail in the loving office which He sustains towards you? No, don̓t think so harshly of the tender and blessed Spirit whose name is “the Comforter.” He is pleased to provide the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. Trust in Him, and He will surely comfort you until the house of mourning is closed forever, and the marriage feast has begun.
From: Morning and Evening, by Charles H. Spurgeon Page 573
Monday, October 11, 2010
Watchman Nee
The following is from: http://www.godissues.org/how-to-be-empowered-by-god/
How to be empowered by God
Oct 10th, 2010 in Jim's Blog by Jim Denison
2 Comments Comments
Watchman Nee
Watchman Nee
I am speaking tomorrow morning in chapel at Dallas Baptist University. In looking over my notes tonight, I felt moved to share with you a quotation with which I’ll close the message. It comes from Watchman Nee, the remarkable Chinese theologian. Nee planted churches across China for 30 years, then spent the last 20 years of his life imprisoned for his faith. His example makes powerful this exhortation:
“A day must come in our lives, as definite as the day of our conversion, when we give up all right to ourselves and submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ…There must be a day when, without reservation, we surrender everything to Him—ourselves, our families, our possessions, our business and our time. All we are and have becomes His, to be held henceforth entirely at His disposal. From that day we are no longer our own masters, but only stewards.
“Not until the Lordship of Jesus Christ is a settled thing in our hearts can the Holy Spirit really operate effectively in us. He cannot direct our lives until all control of them is committed to Him. If we do not give Him absolute authority in our lives, He can be present, but He cannot be powerful. The power of the Spirit is stayed” (The Norman Christian Life, 134-5).
Has this day come yet for you?
How to be empowered by God
Oct 10th, 2010 in Jim's Blog by Jim Denison
2 Comments Comments
Watchman Nee
Watchman Nee
I am speaking tomorrow morning in chapel at Dallas Baptist University. In looking over my notes tonight, I felt moved to share with you a quotation with which I’ll close the message. It comes from Watchman Nee, the remarkable Chinese theologian. Nee planted churches across China for 30 years, then spent the last 20 years of his life imprisoned for his faith. His example makes powerful this exhortation:
“A day must come in our lives, as definite as the day of our conversion, when we give up all right to ourselves and submit to the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ…There must be a day when, without reservation, we surrender everything to Him—ourselves, our families, our possessions, our business and our time. All we are and have becomes His, to be held henceforth entirely at His disposal. From that day we are no longer our own masters, but only stewards.
“Not until the Lordship of Jesus Christ is a settled thing in our hearts can the Holy Spirit really operate effectively in us. He cannot direct our lives until all control of them is committed to Him. If we do not give Him absolute authority in our lives, He can be present, but He cannot be powerful. The power of the Spirit is stayed” (The Norman Christian Life, 134-5).
Has this day come yet for you?
Friday, October 08, 2010
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Failure and Success: If a Man Falls
October: Failure and Success
No man is worthy to succeed until he is willing to fail. No man is morally worthy of success in religious activities until he is willing that the honor of succeeding should go to another if God so wills.
Born After Midnight, 58.
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October 2
Failure and Success: If a Man Falls
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. --1 John 1:9
Next, are you allowing Satan to magnify the memories of your spiritual failures? He will always keep them before you unless you take your stand and move up in faith.
The devil will whisper, "You didn't get very far along toward the deeper life, did you?"
He will say, "You made a big 'to-do' about wanting to be filled with the Spirit and you really flopped, didn't you?"
He will taunt you with the fact that you may have stumbled in the faith--and perhaps more than once! The devil wants you to live in a state of discouraged chagrin and remorse.
Remember, the Bible does not teach that if a man falls down, he can never rise again. The fact that he falls is not the most important thing--but rather that he is forgiven and allows God to lift him up! I Talk Back to the Devil, p. 7
"Father, I worship You this morning and thank You for the wonderful truth of 1 John 1:9. Amen."
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Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers
No man is worthy to succeed until he is willing to fail. No man is morally worthy of success in religious activities until he is willing that the honor of succeeding should go to another if God so wills.
Born After Midnight, 58.
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October 2
Failure and Success: If a Man Falls
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. --1 John 1:9
Next, are you allowing Satan to magnify the memories of your spiritual failures? He will always keep them before you unless you take your stand and move up in faith.
The devil will whisper, "You didn't get very far along toward the deeper life, did you?"
He will say, "You made a big 'to-do' about wanting to be filled with the Spirit and you really flopped, didn't you?"
He will taunt you with the fact that you may have stumbled in the faith--and perhaps more than once! The devil wants you to live in a state of discouraged chagrin and remorse.
Remember, the Bible does not teach that if a man falls down, he can never rise again. The fact that he falls is not the most important thing--but rather that he is forgiven and allows God to lift him up! I Talk Back to the Devil, p. 7
"Father, I worship You this morning and thank You for the wonderful truth of 1 John 1:9. Amen."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today's "Insight for Leaders" is taken by permission from the book, Tozer on Christian Leadership, published by WingSpread Publishers
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