I was reading Watchman Nee's book "The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation" today, and would like to share an excerpt from it. Below is a verbatim passage from the book:
"All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11.24). According to human understanding, to "pray and ask for" is something done now, but the "shall have them" happens in the future. In between "pray and ask for" and "shall have them" is a gap of time. I now pray for healing of the sick, I now pray for the salvation of sinners, I now pray for the success of the work; but I do not know when the sick will be healed, when a particular sinner will be saved, and when this work will be accomplished. According to man's idea, the answer to prayer is bound to come in the future. Yet what the Lord Jesus says here is most amazing. He shows us what is real faith. He asserts that "all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive [Greek, received] them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24 mg.). In our mind we often convert the word "receive" into "may receive" or "shall receive"; but such a change betrays unbelief. Only one kind of faith is real faith - which is the faith that believes that "God is." "Believe that ye received them" means for me that I believe I have now received them - that I do not wait to receive them in the future. Do we now see how this whole approach differs from our natural concept of the future, for in Christ there is no future tense. Oh, let us not take these words as just another teaching. We need to realize that this has much to do with our spiritual life. This is something about which we cannot afford to be negligent.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Deception
I started reading (re-reading)THE LAST BATTLE by C.S. Lewis this afternoon. It struck me how the deception which the ape used to fool and deceive the Narnians is exactly how the enemy deceived me during the last few years before I came back to truth and God.
In the book C.S. Lewis talks about how the agents of the ape and "Aslan" (really a donkey in lion's clothing), were felling trees, enslaving free talking Narnians, and sending them to Calormen to work as slaves. Basically they were doing evil things which Aslan would have not condoned. All of these things did not seem to the Narnians and the King as something that Aslan would do. However, the rationalization that came up again and again was that Aslan is not a tame lion. He is not bound by the moral laws and decent ethics that the Narnians were used to and had ascribed to Aslan. Thus even though the actions did not match the character of Aslan at all, they believed the lie because they saw the lion (in reality a donkey) and thought it was Aslan. Also, they justified the horrid actions of "Aslan" by saying He was not a tame lion, and could act (in their minds) as he wished. For example when one of the wise Centaur said that the stars did not line up and did not foretell that Aslan was on the move (and he said stars don't lie, but men do), the Unicorn which was the King's friend said "He is not the slave of the stars, but their Maker", and he went on to make the point that he is not a tame lion.
I am stressing this point that even though the actions of "Aslan" did not match His known character at all, people were taken in by it because they saw "him" and also because they could justify his actions by saying that he was much bigger than how the old stories had depicted him, was not bound by any certain moral law.
This is how the devil fooled me for years. I was faced with actions that did not match God's character at all. For example I thought God wanted me to do all kinds of bizarre and strange things, and although this did not match the character of God that I was told about and read in the Bible, I was taken in because I thought I knew God (just as the Narnians thought they saw Aslan, when in reality they were seeing a donkey in lion's clothing). Thus, I would even do stuff which I knew in ordinary times was sinful, but because I thought God is not a "tame" God, and because I thought I "knew" Him, I went ahead and did them anyway.
All this to make the point that as the Narnians had believed a lie because they did not personally know the lion Aslan, and they rationalized all the wicked behavior of "Aslan", so for years I had followed a lie believing it to be the truth, because I did not know God as well as I should have, and I also rationalized all the wicked commands "god" was ordering me to do.
Thus to sum everything up, it is important to know the character of God, and to have it engraved in our hearts, so when deception comes (and it looks like the truth), we won't be taken in by things that seem to come from God and feel like they are from Him, but we will be able to discern them for what they truly are.
In the book C.S. Lewis talks about how the agents of the ape and "Aslan" (really a donkey in lion's clothing), were felling trees, enslaving free talking Narnians, and sending them to Calormen to work as slaves. Basically they were doing evil things which Aslan would have not condoned. All of these things did not seem to the Narnians and the King as something that Aslan would do. However, the rationalization that came up again and again was that Aslan is not a tame lion. He is not bound by the moral laws and decent ethics that the Narnians were used to and had ascribed to Aslan. Thus even though the actions did not match the character of Aslan at all, they believed the lie because they saw the lion (in reality a donkey) and thought it was Aslan. Also, they justified the horrid actions of "Aslan" by saying He was not a tame lion, and could act (in their minds) as he wished. For example when one of the wise Centaur said that the stars did not line up and did not foretell that Aslan was on the move (and he said stars don't lie, but men do), the Unicorn which was the King's friend said "He is not the slave of the stars, but their Maker", and he went on to make the point that he is not a tame lion.
I am stressing this point that even though the actions of "Aslan" did not match His known character at all, people were taken in by it because they saw "him" and also because they could justify his actions by saying that he was much bigger than how the old stories had depicted him, was not bound by any certain moral law.
This is how the devil fooled me for years. I was faced with actions that did not match God's character at all. For example I thought God wanted me to do all kinds of bizarre and strange things, and although this did not match the character of God that I was told about and read in the Bible, I was taken in because I thought I knew God (just as the Narnians thought they saw Aslan, when in reality they were seeing a donkey in lion's clothing). Thus, I would even do stuff which I knew in ordinary times was sinful, but because I thought God is not a "tame" God, and because I thought I "knew" Him, I went ahead and did them anyway.
All this to make the point that as the Narnians had believed a lie because they did not personally know the lion Aslan, and they rationalized all the wicked behavior of "Aslan", so for years I had followed a lie believing it to be the truth, because I did not know God as well as I should have, and I also rationalized all the wicked commands "god" was ordering me to do.
Thus to sum everything up, it is important to know the character of God, and to have it engraved in our hearts, so when deception comes (and it looks like the truth), we won't be taken in by things that seem to come from God and feel like they are from Him, but we will be able to discern them for what they truly are.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Meditations
God is showing me how I need to put Him above everyone and everything else. I need to trust Him with my whole heart, and not have any idols before Him. He should be my highest desire and my loftiest aspiration. Even for confirmation I should look at God. He is showing me how I need to have one goal in mind - to be pleasing to God. I need to look at Him for all of my needs. I need to be totally depended on Jesus. For every need, every hurt, every desire, there is Jesus.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Christmas Meditation
I am thankful to God this Christmas season. It was because of His advent that His resurrection was possible. He became like us so He could die and take all our sins on Him, so we could have everlasting life. No one was worthy of His love, but He lay down His life for us. Let's each one of us be thankful to Jesus Christ.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Return
I have been inactive as far as blogging goes for a long time. I have been through alot after the last time I posted something on my old blog. But God has been good. He brought me to a place where I did not even dream I would ever be. So, for right now this is it. I hope to keep you updated about what's happening to me, and what God is doing in my life.
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