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The Voice of the Nature of God " I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ " —Isaiah 6:8 When we talk about the call of God, we often forget the most important thing, namely, the nature of Him who calls. There are many things calling each of us today. Some of these calls will be answered, and others will not even be heard. The call is the expression of the nature of the One who calls, and we can only recognize the call if that same nature is...

Do You Walk In White? " We were buried with Him . . . that just as Christ was raised from the dead . . . even so we also should walk in newness of life. " —Romans 6:4 No one experiences complete sanctification without going through a "white funeral"— the burial of the old life. If there has never been this crucial moment of change through death, sanctification will never be more than an elusive dream. There must be a "white funeral," a death with only one resurrection— a resurrection into the life of Jesus Christ. Nothing can...

Called By God " I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ’Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ’Here am I! Send me.’ " —Isaiah 6:8 God did not direct His call to Isaiah— Isaiah overheard God saying, ". . . who will go for Us?" The call of God is not just for a select few but for everyone. Whether I hear God’s call or not depends on the condition of my ears, and exactly what I hear depends upon my spiritual attitude. "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Matthew...

Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (2) " When He was alone . . . the twelve asked Him about the parable " —Mark 4:10 His Solitude with Us. When God gets us alone through suffering, heartbreak, temptation, disappointment, sickness, or by thwarted desires, a broken friendship, or a new friendship— when He gets us absolutely alone, and we are totally speechless, unable to ask even one question, then He begins to teach us. Notice Jesus Christ’s training of the Twelve. It was the disciples, not the crowd outside, who were confused. His disciples constantly asked Him questions,...

Have You Ever Been Alone with God? (1) " When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples " —Mark 4:34 Our Solitude with Him. Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be used...

What My Obedience to God Costs Other People " As they led Him away, they laid hold of a certain man, Simon . . . and on him they laid the cross that he might bear it after Jesus " —Luke 23:26 If we obey God, it is going to cost other people more than it costs us, and that is where the pain begins. If we are in love with our Lord, obedience does not cost us anything— it is a delight. But to those who do not love Him, our obedience does cost a great deal. If...

The Opened Sight " I now send you, to open their eyes . . . that they may receive forgiveness of sins. . . " —Acts 26:17-18 This verse is the greatest example of the true essence of the message of a disciple of Jesus Christ in all of the New Testament. God’s first sovereign work of grace is summed up in the words, ". . . that they may receive forgiveness of sins . . . ." When a person fails in his personal Christian life, it is usually because he has never received anything. The only sign...

Prayerful Inner-Searching " May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless. . . " —1 Thessalonians 5:23 "Your whole spirit . . . ." The great, mysterious work of the Holy Spirit is in the deep recesses of our being which we cannot reach. Read Psalm 139. The psalmist implies— "O Lord, You are the God of the early mornings, the God of the late nights, the God of the mountain peaks, and the God of the sea. But, my God, my soul has horizons further away than those of early mornings, deeper darkness than the nights...

Is My Sacrifice Living? " Abraham built an altar . . . and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar . . . " —Genesis 22:9 This event is a picture of the mistake we make in thinking that the ultimate God wants of us is the sacrifice of death. What God wants is the sacrifice through death which enables us to do what Jesus did, that is, sacrifice our lives. Not— "Lord, I am ready to go with You . . . to death" (Luke 22:33). But— "I am willing to be identified with...

Intimate With Jesus " Jesus said to him, ’Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?’ " —John 14:9 These words were not spoken as a rebuke, nor even with surprise; Jesus was encouraging Philip to draw closer. Yet the last person we get intimate with is Jesus. Before Pentecost the disciples knew Jesus as the One who gave them power to conquer demons and to bring about a revival (see Luke 10:18-20). It was a wonderful intimacy, but there was a much closer intimacy to come: ". . . I have...

Worship " He moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord " —Genesis 12:8 Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love-gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act...

The Life of Power to Follow " Jesus answered him, ’Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward’ " —John 13:36 "And when He had spoken this, He said to him, ’Follow Me’ " (John 21:19). Three years earlier Jesus had said, "Follow Me" (Matthew 4:19), and Peter followed with no hesitation. The irresistible attraction of Jesus was upon him and he did not need the Holy Spirit to help him do it. Later he came to the place where he denied Jesus, and his heart broke. Then he received the Holy...

Why Can I Not Follow You Now? " Peter said to Him, ’Lord, why can I not follow You now?’ " —John 13:37 There are times when you can’t understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings a time of waiting, and appears to be unresponsive, don’t fill it with busyness, just wait. The time of waiting may come to teach you the meaning of sanctification— to be set apart from sin and made holy— or it may come after the process of sanctification has begun to teach you what service means. Never run...

Clouds and Darkness " Clouds and darkness surround Him . . . " —Psalm 97:2 A person who has not been born again by the Spirit of God will tell you that the teachings of Jesus are simple. But when he is baptized by the Holy Spirit, he finds that "clouds and darkness surround Him . . . ." When we come into close contact with the teachings of Jesus Christ we have our first realization of this. The only possible way to have full understanding of the teachings of Jesus is through the light of the Spirit of...

Will You Go Out Without Knowing? " He went out, not knowing where he was going " —Hebrews 11:8 Have you ever "gone out" in this way? If so, there is no logical answer possible when anyone asks you what you are doing. One of the most difficult questions to answer in Christian work is, "What do you expect to do?" You don’t know what you are going to do. The only thing you know is that God knows what He is doing. Continually examine your attitude toward God to see if you are willing to "go out" in...

Let Us Keep to the Point " ". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death" " —Philippians 1:20 My Utmost for His Highest. ". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . ." We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s...

Yesterday " You shall not go out with haste . . . for the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard " —Isaiah 52:12 Security from Yesterday. ". . . God requires an account of what is past" ( Ecclesiastes 3:15 ). At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise when we remember our yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God’s grace tends to be lessened by the memory of yesterday’s sins and blunders. But...

"And Every Virtue We Possess" " . . . All my springs are in you " —Psalm 87:7 Our Lord never "patches up" our natural virtues, that is, our natural traits, qualities, or characteristics. He completely remakes a person on the inside— ". . . put on the new man . . ." ( Ephesians 4:24 ). In other words, see that your natural human life is putting on all that is in keeping with the new life. The life God places within us develops its own new virtues, not the virtues of the seed of Adam, but of...

Deserter or Disciple? " From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more " —John 6:66 When God, by His Spirit through His Word, gives you a clear vision of His will, you must "walk in the light" of that vision ( 1 John 1:7 ). Even though your mind and soul may be thrilled by it, if you don’t "walk in the light" of it you will sink to a level of bondage never envisioned by our Lord. Mentally disobeying the "heavenly vision" ( Acts 26:19 ) will make you a slave...

Continuous Conversion " . . . unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven " —Matthew 18:3 These words of our Lord refer to our initial conversion, but we should continue to turn to God as children, being continuously converted every day of our lives. If we trust in our own abilities, instead of God’s, we produce consequences for which God will hold us responsible. When God through His sovereignty brings us into new situations, we should immediately make sure that our natural life submits to the spiritual,...