Daily Devotional & Other Inspirations

[Vine Abider]

Here's today's from T. Austin Sparks' "Daily Open windows." Isn't this simple!?  As it says at the end, "Spiritual progress is the increase of Christ - there is no other!"  True . . . so true.

Quote

We have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)

Our natural mind is a great obstacle in the race which we are running, cropping up all the time with its complexes, its arguments, its interests and its methods. When the Corinthians were brought into the Church they left behind their obvious sins, but they carried over into their new realm the old, natural ways of thinking and reasoning which belonged to the world and not to the Spirit of God. But the apostle remonstrated with them: "But we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16), so urging them to allow the Cross to be planted between the natural mind and the spiritual. We shall only come to the fullness of Christ as we leave behind the mind of the natural man and move on more and more in the progress of the mind of Christ. On everything; every judgment, every conclusion, every analysis, every appraisal; we must ask the Lord: "Is that Your mind, Lord, or is it mine?" We may sometimes feel that we have the strongest ground for taking up a certain attitude or coming to a certain conclusion; we may feel that we have all the evidence and so are convinced; and yet we may be wrong.

The man who wrote the letter to the Corinthians knew from deep and bitter experience that this was the case. "I verily thought... that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth," he said (Acts 26:9). There was no man who had stronger convictions as to the rightness of his course than Saul of Tarsus. The great revolution which took place in him when he came to Christ was that he had to say: "I have been all wrong in my fundamental way of thinking." After that confession he made good headway in the race because he was always ready to subject his thinking to the jurisdiction of his crucified Lord. This is the way of spiritual progress. We shall not get very far while we hold to our own opinions and our own conclusions, even though we may have the support of others; we have to learn to conquer our natural mind by submission to the mind of Christ. This is most important if we are concerned about spiritual progress. And spiritual progress is the increase of Christ – there is no other.

 

[Vine Abider]

Good one today by T. Austin Sparks.  Growth in Christ is not what we know, but it's a Who we know - how much we're in relationship with and gaining Christ!

January 9   He must increase, but I must decrease. (John 3:30) What is spiritual growth? What is spiritual maturity? What is it to go on in the Lord? I fear we have got mixed ideas about this. Many think that spiritual maturity is a more comprehensive knowledge of Christian doctrine, a larger grasp of scriptural truth, a wider expanse of the knowledge of the things of God; and many such features are recorded as marks of growth, development, and spiritual maturity. Beloved, it is nothing of the kind. The hallmark of true spiritual development and maturity is this: that we have grown so much less and the Lord Jesus has grown so much more. The mature soul is one who is small in his or her own eyes, but in whose eyes the Lord Jesus is great. That is growth. We may know a very great deal, have a wonderful grasp of doctrine, of teaching, of truth, even of the Scriptures, and yet be spiritually very small, very immature, very childish. (There is all the difference between being childish and child-like.) Real spiritual growth is just this: I decrease, He increases. It is the Lord Jesus becoming more. You can test spiritual growth by that. By T. Austin-Sparks from: Christ - All, and in All

[Vine Abider]

Another good one today by T. Austin Sparks - He's not over all just because He's King, but also because He's the Lord of Life!

January 10   Everything was created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16 NLT) The key to everything with God is Life.... We must realize that Christ's ascendancy, supremacy, power, ability and all that goes with Headship, is in terms of His prerogative of Life. He is the Son, vested with Life; He has the right given Him of God to give Life to as many as believe. That is why He is Head. You can set up people in office and make Popes of them and they may make great claims, but what does it amount to? When you come up against death, what can they do? But bring in one who has the power of life over death, be he ever so humble on this earth, he is head, he is master, he is lord. You may bring all the greatest physicians that the world knows into the presence of death, and when death takes charge, they are helpless. But supposing you bring in a little, insignificant person who is nobody, with no capabilities whatever in this world, no training, and that one be invested with the power of life over death, he rules out all these others, they are as nothing in his presence, he is lord of the situation. Christ is Head, not just by appointment, but in terms of Life. We may be very insignificant people on this earth, nothing at all to be taken account of by the world, but if only we have Christ in fullness of Life we are in a supreme position, we make all the great organizations and institutions as nothing. It is a spiritual thing, the impact of Christ; not tradition, not history, not theology, but the spiritual power of His presence in terms of Life through faith and righteousness. By T. Austin-Sparks from: The Meaning of Christ - Chapter 1

 

[Vine Abider]

Think I'll post one more to this, as not sure anybody reading/appreciating.

These verses are from Daily Light today.  Lord open our eyes to see that you have chosen us to be the place in which You live!

"You are the temple of the living God.  As God has said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them.  I will be their God and they shall be my people.'"  "Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God." "You also are being built together for a dwelling of God in the Spirit."   2 Cor 6:16, 1 Cor 6:19, Eph 2:22 

[Vine Abider]

Okay, I saw that even though no replies, this thread is getting hundreds of views . . . so I'll add another for today.

A couple verses from Daily Light.

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory" "the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."

So this is what occurred to me when I read those verses . . . What is this mystery?  Colossians 1:27 tells us: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ living in us is the hidden wisdom of God and is our glory.  This mystery - the living & indwelling Christ - has been deposited in regenerated ones and we are the church.  It is because of this that the church makes the enemy quake!

[Vine Abider]

I was touched by today's entry in The Supplied Life!  This puts things together so well for me . . . first, it is abundantly clear that Christ lives in us.  And from numerous verses we see that the Spirit of Christ (aka Holy Spirit) resides in our human spirit.  The next connection to make is that since our spirit is part of us, we can feed our spirit and exercise it.  This means to nourish our spirit through the taking the word (in a living way), prayer, fellowship and singing with our heart to the Lord.  By this our spirit gets stronger and as we set our mind on the things of the Spirit/spirit, we walk accordingly more and more in Him!

Discovering His address

January 13th

 "But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with
Him." 1 CORINTHIANS 6:17 (NASV)

The secret of Christ becoming everything to us is found in this

mingled spirit, where the two spirits have become one. Our
wonderful Christ, who is our relationship with everything, is dwell-
ing in our spirit. Like the other parts of our being, our spirit is subject
to us (1 Cor. 14:32). When we realize that exercising our spirit is as
simple as squeezing our hand, it will revolutionize our daily life. We
can enjoy Christ anytime, in any place, and under any condition.
Joining ourselves to the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18), to be one spirit
with Him, activates a oneness in which the integrity of the two spirits
and the distinction between them is still preserved (Rom. 8:16).

When we know the address of Christ in us and learn to abide with
Him in that place (John 15:4-5), we can consistently experience the
unsearchable riches of Christ in our daily life. There is no need to
wait for a "mountain-top" experience. Years ago when I went to
retreats, I would always feel close to God in the atmosphere of the
mountains and big trees. Then a few days later, after returning home,
I would wonder what happened to those feelings. I would try to
imagine how to recapture that mountain-top atmosphere in order to

be close to the Lord. But one day I discovered the address of Christ
in me. I saw from the Word that Christ is dwelling in my spirit; and
from that time forth, I began to experience Him in a way that I had
never known was possible.

[Vine Abider]

I loved this entry in The Supplied Life today! In my Christian life, He is showing me more and more that Christ really is my life!  Without His life being lived in me there is NO Christian life whatsoever, just a futile outward activity that tries to look godly.  Without Christ living through us, we have merely the form, but deny the power thereof.  Lord give us a clear seeing of this reality!

Christ is the Christian life    January 14th

"For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When
Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him
in glory." COLOSSIANS 3:3-4

The oneness between believers and the practice of the church are
both dependent on the centrality of Christ. Christ is the center.
Indeed, Christ Himself is the reality of the Christian life and the
church life. When Christ is my center, I am free from my self. I am

free from self-consciousness. l am free from self-condemnation. I
am free from anxiety. I am totally free because I died and my life is
now hidden with Christ in God. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me" (Gal. 2:20).

Christ is our joy. Christ is our encouragement. Christ is our
faith. Christ is our living. We interact with Him in everything in our
lives. We interact only with Christ. Our interaction is not with
ourselves - with self-reflection and self-condemnation. Christ is
our righteousness (1 Cor. 1 :30). He is "all and in all" to us (Col.
3:11). Jesus Christ is the Christian life. We need to look away to
Him. Look away from yourself. Look away from your failure. Look
away from your bad mood. Look away unto Jesus. Christ is the
centrality of everything in our Christian life. He is the Christian life
itself in every aspect.

[Marilyn C]

On 1/13/2023 at 6:17 AM, Vine Abider said:

Okay, I saw that even though no replies, this thread is getting hundreds of views . . . so I'll add another for today.

A couple verses from Daily Light.

"But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory" "the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places."

So this is what occurred to me when I read those verses . . . What is this mystery?  Colossians 1:27 tells us: "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Christ living in us is the hidden wisdom of God and is our glory.  This mystery - the living & indwelling Christ - has been deposited in regenerated ones and we are the church.  It is because of this that the church makes the enemy quake!

Hi VA,

Yes, we often forget the silent majority reading what we post. Just found your thread and enjoyed reading through especially your personal contributions.

Now, may I suggest, as has already, that you write your own devotions. They need not be daily and even thoughts coming from something you have read. The blog area is good for this for in the General Discussion forum your topic gets `lost` down under the everyday chatter. Something to think about. Also, the blog list is always displayed on the front page so people can easily find yours if you stated one or a series. 

Marilyn. 

[Cntrysner]

On 1/13/2023 at 11:35 AM, Vine Abider said:

I was touched by today's entry in The Supplied Life!  This puts things together so well for me . . . first, it is abundantly clear that Christ lives in us.  And from numerous verses we see that the Spirit of Christ (aka Holy Spirit) resides in our human spirit.  The next connection to make is that since our spirit is part of us, we can feed our spirit and exercise it.  This means to nourish our spirit through the taking the word (in a living way), prayer, fellowship and singing with our heart to the Lord.  By this our spirit gets stronger and as we set our mind on the things of the Spirit/spirit, we walk accordingly more and more in Him!

Discovering His address

January 13th

 "But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with
Him." 1 CORINTHIANS 6:17 (NASV)

The secret of Christ becoming everything to us is found in this

mingled spirit, where the two spirits have become one. Our
wonderful Christ, who is our relationship with everything, is dwell-
ing in our spirit. Like the other parts of our being, our spirit is subject
to us (1 Cor. 14:32). When we realize that exercising our spirit is as
simple as squeezing our hand, it will revolutionize our daily life. We
can enjoy Christ anytime, in any place, and under any condition.
Joining ourselves to the Lord, the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18), to be one spirit
with Him, activates a oneness in which the integrity of the two spirits
and the distinction between them is still preserved (Rom. 8:16).

When we know the address of Christ in us and learn to abide with
Him in that place (John 15:4-5), we can consistently experience the
unsearchable riches of Christ in our daily life. There is no need to
wait for a "mountain-top" experience. Years ago when I went to
retreats, I would always feel close to God in the atmosphere of the
mountains and big trees. Then a few days later, after returning home,
I would wonder what happened to those feelings. I would try to
imagine how to recapture that mountain-top atmosphere in order to

be close to the Lord. But one day I discovered the address of Christ
in me. I saw from the Word that Christ is dwelling in my spirit; and
from that time forth, I began to experience Him in a way that I had
never known was possible.

Thanks for sharing, I felt that.

Christ in us the hope of glory!

[Vine Abider]

10 hours ago, Marilyn C said:

Hi VA,

Yes, we often forget the silent majority reading what we post. Just found your thread and enjoyed reading through especially your personal contributions.

Now, may I suggest, as has already, that you write your own devotions. They need not be daily and even thoughts coming from something you have read. The blog area is good for this for in the General Discussion forum your topic gets `lost` down under the everyday chatter. Something to think about. Also, the blog list is always displayed on the front page so people can easily find yours if you stated one or a series. 

Marilyn. 

Thanks sis - I'll consider it!  Haven't been in the blog area yet . . .