Touched By God Ministry
Thursday, July 01, 2004
A Place For The Lord
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produced by "Touched By God Ministry"
"News about Jesus spread fast, and crowds of people were coming to hear Him
teach and to be healed of their sicknesses: but Jesus often withdrew to lonely
places and prayed" (Luke 5:15,16).
Many of us share a remarkable testimony. I have spoken with several who can
confirm my own experience. It is this: while sitting or standing within the
church service many of us have had the sense that Jesus is quite lonely, in
spite of all the praise, worship, and things which are done in His Name. I
recently found a book published nearly twenty years ago in which the author
claims to have experienced the same feeling. It is as if Jesus is on the outside
looking in. After much prayer we have come to understand that most of what is
done in the name of "church" is not for the Lord at all, but it is for us.
Perhaps this explains why Jesus often withdrew Himself to a lonely place, and
why perhaps He is withdrawing Himself from much of what is being done "in His
Name". If someone asks why we do not participate more often in meetings or in
gatherings, all we can say is that, most of the time, the Lord's Need is not
being met in those places.
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THE REMNANT PRINCIPLE - 4
by Chip Brogden
http://www.watchman.net/articles/daniel4.html
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"He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself" (Philippians 3:21b).
What a mighty God we serve! Exactly how the Lord goes about bringing all things
into submission unto Himself is... how can we describe it? It is an art. It is a
science. There is a process at work in this universe. Do you see it? It is a
process through which the Lord is continually refining, purging, molding,
chastening, disciplining, judging, and conforming all things. This process is
working itself out on every level, from galaxies, to nations, to the innermost
recesses of the souls of men, right down to the very last disciple and sinner.
Throw yourself onto the Rock and be broken; or wait for it to fall on you and be
ground into powder (cf. Luke 20:18, Daniel 2:34,35). Either way, sooner or
later, the Rock wins, for "He MUST increase, but I MUST decrease" (John 3:30).
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"If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
children, and brethren, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My
disciple" (Luke 14:26).
I have seen a lot of altar calls, but never in my life have I ever seen an altar
call based on Luke 14:26. Why not? Because no one would respond!
What is Jesus talking about? He is talking about a holy hatred. Becoming a
disciple means Jesus will have the preeminence in my life from this moment
forward. "Preeminence" means the first, the highest, the best, the supreme, the
most favored place. It means putting Him before everyone and everything else,
even those most dearest to me. It means giving up all my rights and demands,
hating my own life and giving it over to Him. It is the death of Self. Jesus
will not be thrust in a corner, or relegated to a couple of hours on Sunday
morning, while we live any way we please under the delusion that we are "saved."
Either He is Lord OF all, or He is not Lord AT all.
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"Jesus took the five loaves, blessed them, and gave them to the disciples to
pass out to the people who were sitting. He did the same with the two fish. And
everyone ate until they were filled... and they gathered twelve baskets of
loaves that were left over" (John 6:11,13ff).
When confronted with such a circumstance we should remember that if we have the
Blessing of the Lord then He can multiply what little we have and will even give
us "twelve baskets" remaining. But without the Blessing of the Lord, "two
hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them to even taste a little"
(John 6:7). So the issue is never what we have or what we are doing, but rather,
do we have the Lord's blessing?
With the Lord's Blessing we have Infinite Supply. Practically speaking, it means
instead of trying to convince the Lord to bless what I want to do or what I
think needs to be done, I should find out first what the Lord wants to BLESS and
do THAT instead. Remember, "Jesus already knew what He was going to do" (John
6:6b). Thus, we pray, "Not my will, but Your Will be done; not my kingdom, but
Your Kingdom come." And then we enjoy the Lord's Blessing on our work.
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posted by Touched By God Ministry | 4:14 AM | 4 comments
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