Walking in the Light - Zac Poonen

The Bible says in 1 John 1:7 that we cannot have fellowship with God if we do not walk in the light. If we walk in the light, we certainly can't hide anything, for the light exposes everything. The man who walks in darkness is the one who has something to hide in his life. If we walk in the light, our life is an open book. We can then invite people to examine our private life, our account books and everything. There is nothing we want to hide. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. No, it only means that we are honest.

The first thing that God requires from all of us is honesty - absolute honesty. If we are willing to be honest first, many of our other problems will be solved very quickly. We will progress in leaps and bounds in our spiritual life if we live by this fundamental rule of honesty before God and men.

But you'll find that this is a battle. You may say, "I'm really going to take that exhortation seriously. I'm going to be honest from now on." But you'll find before the week is out that you're tempted to be an actor again, and to seek for the praise of men rather than the praise of God. So you have to determine to fight that battle and win.

It is a great grief to God that there are so many Christians today who have been born again for twenty, thirty or forty years, but who haven't progressed spiritually because they have not learned this fundamental lesson of being honest. We can't progress if there is hypocrisy in our life. Our prayers will not be heard. We can have all-night prayer meetings; but we are wasting our time. Our prayers will not be heard if we do not get rid of hypocrisy first.

We must recognise that our true spiritual worth is what we are before God and nothing more than that. Our spiritual state is not determined by our knowledge of the Bible, nor by how much we pray, nor by how many meetings we attend, nor by what the elders or others in the church think of us. On the contrary, ask yourself, "What does God, who can see into every area of my life, think of me?" The answer to that is the real measure of how spiritual you are. We need to remind ourselves of this daily, or else we may find ourselves becoming actors again.

I love those words that Jesus said about Nathaniel, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" (John 1:47). If Jesus could say that about you and me, that would be a greater commendation than almost anything else. Nathaniel was not perfect. He was imperfect. But he was honest about his imperfections. He didn't pretend to be something that he wasn't. That's where he was different from Ananias and Sapphira.

First Love – Love for the Lord and Love for One Another - Zac Poonen

In Revelation 2:2-3, The Lord commends the messenger at Ephesus for his toil and perseverance and for his efforts to keep the church pure from evil men. No doubt he had fought a battle against worldliness to keep it from entering the church. Not only that, he had also striven to keep the church pure in doctrine. He had tested those who claimed to be apostles and had proved their claims to be false.

The messenger in the church at Ephesus had also "endured" for the sake of the Lord's name without giving up (Rev 2:3). What a wonderful man this messenger was, according to the standards of most believers. And what a wonderful church the Ephesian church appeared to be - one that toiled, persevered, kept away evil men, kept out false doctrine and exposed deceivers - thus emphasising both purity of life and purity of doctrine. One would have thought that such a church had everything that the Lord wanted to find in a church. But alas it was not so. It lacked the main thing that the Lord looked for. It had left its first love - love for the Lord and love for one another (Rev 2: 4).

What the Lord said to them was essentially this: "In the midst of all your zeal and your activity, you have lost sight of ME. You have lost that fervent devotion that you once had for Me. You have kept yourself from evil and you have steered clear of doctrinal error. But remember how you loved Me fervently when you were first converted and how you did everything out of love for Me then. Now everything has degenerated into a dry routine. You're still going to the meetings, reading your Bible and praying. But it has all become a ritual." The church here had become like a wife who once served her husband joyfully out of love for him, but who now considers the same tasks a drudgery - because the fire of love has gone out of her marriage. In the olden days, she used to wait eagerly for her husband to come back from the office every evening. But not now. She is still faithful to him, but she has lost her first love.

What does a true husband desire from his wife first of all? Is it her love or her labours? Certainly, it is her love. It is the same with the Lord. He desires the love of our hearts first and foremost. When that is gone, everything that we do becomes dead works. Good works become dead works when love for God is not the motivating force behind them.

The believers here had also lost their fervent love for each other. They were no longer able to bear with each other's weaknesses or to overlook each other's sins. They had lost their first love for one another too. The messenger had lost his first love - and gradually the church too had become like its messenger.

This was not a small error. It was a great fall - for the Lord says, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen." We usually think of a believer as having fallen only when he falls into adultery or theft or smoking etc. When we become sensitive to the voice of the Spirit, however, we will recognise that even a slight loss of devotion to the Lord and a slight cooling off in love for others is also evidence of backsliding.

There was only one solution for this problem. "Repent and do the deeds you did at first", says the Lord (Rev 2:5).

The Beauty of Jesus Christ by Paul Washer

Deliver Us From Distractions - Chip Brogden

"I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."
2 CORINTHIANS 11:3

I have said many times that we do not need more of the Lord, since we are already complete in Christ – we just need less of everything else. There are many things that spoil, hinder, distract, and lead us away from the simplicity of an abiding relationship with Jesus. Many of them are spiritual and religious. The spirit of Antichrist is not necessarily seen in something that is obviously satanic or demonic. Instead, the spirit of Antichrist is revealed in anything that seeks to spoil us by taking our eyes off of Christ – it is anti-Christ, against Christ, antithetical to the great Purpose of God.

How easy it is for us to become distracted into something less than Christ! Are you centered on Christ? Is Jesus your obsession? Is He your focus? Or have you set your sights on something beneath Him?

Source: The Church in the Wilderness by Chip Brogden

©1997-2013 TheSchoolOfChrist.Org. Permission is granted for non-commercial (free) distribution provided this notice appears.

A Daniel-Ministry And A Lucifer-Ministry - Zac Poonen

(An extract from the book THE FULL GOSPEL – Published in 1996)

Daniel was a man whom God could use in his generation. When he was a young man, "he determined in his heart not to defile himself" (Dan.1:8). When Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah saw young Daniel taking a stand for the Lord, they too got the boldness to stand for the Lord themselves (Dan.1:11). They did not have the courage to stand on their own. But when they saw Daniel's stand, they became bold. There are many people like those three today, who do not have the boldness to take a stand for the Lord on their own. They are waiting to find a Daniel who will take a stand. Then they will join him.

Will you be such a Daniel? Will you say, "I will not defile myself. I will not seek to please any king, or commander, or backslidden elder, or any relative or anyone. I shall stand 100% for what the Word of God says."

There is a great need for such Daniels today – men and women who will "lead many to righteousness" (Dan.12:3). That verse does not refer to those who preach righteousness, but to those who lead others to righteousness - by word and by example. This is the Daniel-ministry.

We read in Scripture of another ministry that is the exact opposite of this "Daniel-ministry". It is the "Lucifer-ministry".

In Revelation 12:4, we read that Lucifer succeeded in getting one-third of the angels (stars) of heaven to follow him in his rebellion against God. These millions of angels became demons. Why did God permit Lucifer to lead so many angels astray? So that heaven could be purged of all the disgruntled and rebellious angels. Their rebellious hearts would not have been exposed, had not a Lucifer arisen in their midst to lead them in their rebellion against God.

And so, even today, God allows brothers and sisters to have a Lucifer-ministry in our churches. God permits them to go from house to house backbiting, accusing, telling lies, speaking evil, sending emails, so that all the disgruntled, rebellious and worldly believers in the church can be identified, exposed, gathered together and taken out of the church – so that the Body of Christ can be purified.

God will not stop those who are engaged in such a Lucifer-ministry today from moving around among believers in the church, just like He did not stop the original Lucifer in heaven, millions of years ago. That is Divine wisdom.

We can warn believers about such Lucifers, just like we warn them about Satan (See Rom.16:17). But we are not afraid of what these Lucifers will do. They cannot corrupt the church. They will only take out the weeds from God’s garden. God Himself will preserve the church. And at the right time, He will destroy those who defile the church (as He has said in 1 Cor.3:17). But God is long-suffering and waits many years before He judges. But when He does judge, His judgment will be severe.

It is foolish for any church to boast that it has never had a split. There was a split in heaven itself, among the angels, right at the beginning. Such splits are necessary. The Holy Spirit says : "There must be divisions (splits) among you (in the church), so that those who are approved (by God) can become manifest" (1 Cor.11:19).

In the very first paragraph of the Bible also, we read of another split. God separated the darkness from the light (Gen.1:4). That separation also was necessary. Without such separations of people from the church today, God's testimony on earth will be corrupted.

All of us can have either a Daniel-ministry - building unity and fellowship in the church - or a Lucifer-ministry - sowing discord. God hates those who sow discord (Proverbs 6:16-19). We cannot be neutral in this matter, for Jesus said that those who do not gather with Him are scattering people away from Him. There are only two ministries in the church - gathering and scattering. (Matt.12:30).

In our churches in India, the Lord has wonderfully and deftly arranged circumstances, so as to expose and remove from our midst those who sought position and honour, or who had a controversial spirit, or who were jealous of younger brothers going ahead of them, etc., God has caught the “clever” people and the “big” people in our midst "in their own craftiness" (1 Cor.3:19) and thus frustrated their secret plans to "hijack" the church!! This is a mark of the Lord's care for us, and of His intense desire that there should be a pure testimony for His Name in our land.

We praise the Lord that He watches over us constantly to preserve us from such Satanic attacks. "Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchmen keep awake in vain" (Psa.127:1) It is only where brothers dwell together in unity that the Lord can command His blessing (Psa.133:1,3). Only a united church can triumph over the gates of Hell. So the Holy Spirit works mightily in our midst, to remove all those who hinder that unity, so as to preserve us as a united Body in our CFC churches.

We must pray that the Lord will continue to do this work in our midst in the future as well – because there is always the possibility of people becoming proud in our midst at any time. God’s promise to us however is: "I will remove from your midst the proud, exulting ones,.......and I will leave among you a humble, lowly people, who take refuge in the Name of the Lord" (Zeph.3:11,12). The church can be built in unity only with humble, lowly people.

The Lord is jealous to preserve His church in purity, and so He Himself will expose and remove self-seeking people in His own way and in His own time, just like He drove the money-changers out of the temple at the right time. All glory and praise be to Him.

Source - http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/word_for_the_week.php?display=01_02&year=13

God will Either Open or Close the Door at the Right Time for Overcomers - Zac Poonen

In Rev 3:7 The Lord describes Himself as the One who can open or shut any door. ("And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens…)

If we are overcomers, we need never stand before a closed door at any time, when it is the will of God that we should go through.

But the Lord also shuts certain doors before us, so that we don't go into paths that He has not ordained for us - paths that He knows will not be profitable for us.

It is really an exciting life to be an overcomer. The Lord Himself decides which doors we should go through, and which doors we should stop knocking at.

In the book of Jonah, we see how the Lord shut one door (of a ship, by getting Jonah thrown overboard) and opened another (of a fish's mouth, by getting it to swallow Jonah). When the fish came to the coast of Israel, the Lord opened the fish's mouth once again to place His servant ashore. Thus God brought Jonah back to "Square One". Then He told him once again to go to Nineveh, where He wanted him to preach. Then Jonah went.

If God wants us in any place for any purpose, He has ways and means of closing the wrong doors before us (getting us thrown out of somewhere perhaps!) and of opening the right doors in front of us. He even has means of transporting us back to "Square One" in our lives, so that we don't miss His best! What He did for Jonah, He will do for us too. He will do even more.

The key to every door is in His hand. If you are a wholehearted disciple of the Lord, with no ambition in life but to glorify God, you can be certain of one thing - that nothing can stand in your way. Like automatic doors that open as soon as a person comes near them, every closed door that hinders you from moving forward in the fulfillment of God's will, will open up before you - as soon as you come near it. He opens each door at the right time - not too soon and not too late. He will also close those doors that would make you miss His perfect will for your life.

Source - http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/word_for_the_week.php?display=01_03&year=13

Recall What God Remembers - Oswald Chambers

Thus says the Lord: ’I remember . . . the kindness of your youth . . .’ —Jeremiah 2:2

Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Does everything in my life fill His heart with gladness, or do I constantly complain because things don’t seem to be going my way? A person who has forgotten what God treasures will not be filled with joy. It is wonderful to remember that Jesus Christ has needs which we can meet— “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7). How much kindness have I shown Him in the past week? Has my life been a good reflection on His reputation?

God is saying to His people, “You are not in love with Me now, but I remember a time when you were.” He says, “I remember . . . the love of your betrothal . . .” (Jeremiah 2:2). Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He ever find me pondering the time when I cared only for Him? Is that where I am now, or have I chosen man’s wisdom over true love for Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me? Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him?

As I recall what God remembers about me, I may also begin to realize that He is not what He used to be to me. When this happens, I should allow the shame and humiliation it creates in my life, because it will bring godly sorrow, and “godly sorrow produces repentance . . .” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Source - http://utmost.org/