I must realize that the closer I walk with God, the more subtle sin will become. The natural man does not hate sin as sin; he only hates the mess he has gotten himself into. But the disciple soon discovers that sin has great undoing power, the power not only to neutralize the present but also to cancel the past.

Israel made a calf of gold and said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 32:4). This was a direct contradiction to what Israel said earlier, “Thou hast led the people whom Thou hast redeemed” (Exodus 15:13).

Sin is always contradiction. It is the great no to every manifestation of God’s truth and power. Even more, it destroys the present benefit that past blessings have brought us. The great strength occasioned by the song of Moses was wiped out by the creation of the calf.

God answered prayer for me yesterday, and I found that it still nourished me today-until I made my calf of gold. Yesterday’s blessing is dissolved by today’s idolatry.

The subtle power of sin is that it prevents me from relying on my spiritual savings account. Sin not only defeats me but it also strips me of my armor.What is my defense against the insidious thing? Only my bedrock relationship with God. That is one thing sin cannot change, remove, or
dissolve. God has vowed my salvation, not on the basis of what I experience, but on what His Son experienced for me. While sin can eliminate a day’s or a year’s growth in my soul, it cannot eliminate the thing that made that growth possible-the vibrant, pulsating life of God.

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2).

From Daily With the King, Moody Press

September 25, 1897

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Someone once said to Dwight L. Moody “that the world has yet to see what God will do with and for, through and around the man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.” That statement is certainly true of the life of William Raws, founder of the Colony of Mercy.

William Raws’ life was radically changed on February 17, 1886 when he trusted Christ as his personal Savior in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. His bondage to alcohol was broken and Raws was gloriously saved. In his own words William Raws said, “One day, fairly dying from the effects of rum, unable even to keep hot rum brandy on my stomach, I staggered penniless too my room and fell against an old arm chair.Although under the influence of drink, a poor dying drunkard, a swearing, lustful, sinful man, I cried unto God. He heard my cry and save me. For days and nights thereafter I could neither eat nor sleep. I was on the verge of delirium tremens.But peace came at last and victory through our Lord and Savior.”

Raws went on to begin the Whosoever Gospel Rescue Mission in Philadelphia but was burdened years later to begin a work in the country for men to escape city life and get alone with God. On September 25, 1897, the family and some friends met around an old pump organ and sang ALL HAIL THE POWER OF JESUS’ NAME. The crowd pooled their resources of $1.87 and claimed
the promise from Philippians 4:19 — But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” God birthed the ministry of THE COLONY OF MERCY. And the rest is history.Thousands of lives have been transformed by the power of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the transformed life of William Raws. The ministry continues over a hundred years later with the good news that Christ can set men and women in bondage to sinful addictions and through Christ, can live victoriously.

God used the ordinary life of William Raws to impact thousands. He wants to take your ordinary life and doing extraordinary things. Are you willing to allow your life to have a ripple effect on others? Surrender you ALL to Him today.

Bill Welte

Scripture Reading: Song of Solomon 6-8; Galatians 4

from the KESWICK DEVOTIONAL — REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE

(Adapted from a message by our friend Dr. Stephen F. Olford . . . now with the Lord).

Text: Luke 18:1

“Pray when you feel like it; pray when you don’t feel like it; pray until you feel like it.” — Dr. W. Graham Scroggie

1. Pray in the Spirit (Romans 8:26-27; Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20)
2. Prayer the Scriptures. (John 15:7)
3. Pray with a system (Philippians 4:6; Matthew 6:9-13)
Adoration — “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name . . . ” Here is reverence and penitence in prayer.
Dedication — “Your kingdom come. Your will be done.” Here is allegiance and obedience in prayer.
Supplication — “Give us this day . . .” Here is trustfulness and thankfulness in prayer.
Intercession — “Forgive us our debts …” Here is confession and concern in prayer.
Preparation — “Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Here is contest and conquest in prayer.
Veneration — “For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen!” Here is wonder and worship in prayer.
4. Have a prayer list for the saints, sinners, subjects and situations. (1 Timothy 2:1-7)
5. Pray to sensibilities:
A. Make sure you are physically ready for prayer. (Mark 4:34-37; 1 Corinthians 9:27a)
B. Make sure you are morally ready for prayer. (Psalm 66:18)
C. Make sure you are spiritually ready for prayer. (John 15:7)

Good words to ponder about your personal prayer life.

“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and goodness.” (2 Peter 1:3)

1. We have been given the MIND of Christ so we can THINK like Him. (See 1 Corinthians 2:16; Philippians 2:5; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
2. We have been given the WORD of God so we can know WHAT to do. (Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:16; Psalm 1; Psalm 119)
3. We have been given PRAYER so that we can realize the power OVER temptation. (Matthew 6:13; 26:41)
4. We have been given the HOLY SPIRIT so we can EXPERIENCE freedom. (Romans 8; John 15)
5. We have been given FAITH so we can face WHATEVER Satan sends our way. (Hebrews 11:6; 1 Corinthians 10:13)
6. We have been given SPIRITUAL ARMOR so we can experience VICTORY. (Ephesians 6:10-20)
7. We have been given the NAME of JESUS so we can win, not just endure. (James 2:19; Revelation 12:11)

Adapted from TAMING YOUR PRIVATE THOUGHTS

Good words to ponder today!

1. You’re blessed when you are at the end of your rope. With less of you, there is more of God and His rule.
2. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
3. You’re blessed when you are content with just who you are — no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourself the proud owner of everything that can’t be bought.
4. You’re blessed when you worked up a good appetite for God. His food and drink is the best meal you’ll ever eat.
5. You’re blessed when you care. At the moment of being ‘care-full’ you’ll find yourselves being cared for.
6. You’re blessed when you get your inside world — your mind and your heart — put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.
7. You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of competing or fighting. That’s when you discover who you really are, and your place in God’s family.
8. You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you deeper into God’s kingdom.

These are the words of Jesus from THE BEATITUDES — from THE MESSAGE.

Good words to ponder today.

“I must avoid the popular and shallow form of Christianity that appears so prominently today. There is a kind of triumphant living trumpeted everywhere in which Jesus is simply the instigator or inciter of a flow of positive thoughts and ideas that bring me personal and material
success.

That kind of Christianity says I am a bundle of both negative and positive attitudes. Simply encourage the positive and discourage the negative, and lo, I am a victorious person. The problem is, however, that kind of victory is simply the victory of the NATURAL man. There is
nothing redemptive, remedial, or sanctifying about it.

Before a Christian can TALK about victory, he must talk about dying. As J. Gregory Mantle says, the first place the natural man has got to go is to the cross. If I want Jesus at all, I have to find Him ‘outside the camp’; and if I want to know His victory, I have to bear ‘His reproach’
(Hebrews 13:13). Once I get to the cross and experience the crucifixion of the natural man’s selfish greed’s, desires and attitudes, then I am in a position to rise with Christ ‘in newness of life’ (Romans 6:4) and allow HIS new life to become the POSITIVE thing that my natural self
could never be. That is more than positive thinking; it is POSITIVE LIVING!

Jesus Christ did not die on the cross to make me a confident super salesman but a normal mass of clay reflecting His power, glory, and personality. That does not mean I lose my identity; rather, I confirm it. The life of Christ flowing through my personality becomes a unique
miracle in God’s kingdom; I am authenticated by Christ. Thus, Jesus Christ is not only my Savior; He is the Establisher and Definer of my true self. Then it becomes sublimely and personally true that ‘in HIM we live, and move, and have our being’ (Acts 17:28).

‘. . . And raised us up with Him, and sealed us with Him in the heavenly places IN CHRIST JESUS, in order that in the ages to come HE might show the surpassing riches of HIS grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6-7)

from DAILY WITH KING by Evans, published by our good friends at Moody Press.

“I am glad that you have found the qualities you were looking for in the person you told me about. God puts WHAT HE please WHERE He pleases. He sends us help and light through many different people and circumstances. Should this matter to you? If you see that God is sending you the help, then you will no be so taken up with HOW He sent it. His ways are above
our ways.

Trust HIS way and you will grow in humility and simplicity. The Lord will show you that you have no power in and of yourself. Receive what HE gives and depend on His Spirit, who blows where He wills. (John 8:38) You do not need to know the secrets of God — just be obedient to what He shows you to do.

Thinking too much will distract you. If you become trapped in your thoughts, they will blow out your inward spiritual sense like a wind blowing out a candle. If you keep company with people like this, you will see how dry their hearts are and how far their minds have drifted off center. It is best to stay away from such people.

I also want to warn you about people who appear to have an inward spiritual life. It is easy to mistake a vivid imagination for true spiritual experience. Watch carefully and you will see that they are still improperly attached to outward things. Your wayward desires, left unattended, will lead to obsessions that strangle your inner peace and silence before God. Stay away from people who sound good but never exhibit true fruit of an inward walk. Their talk is deceptive and you will almost always find them restless, fault-finding, and full of their own thoughts.

These spiritual busybodies are annoyed with everything, and are almost always annoying.” from THE SEEKING HEART by Fenelon Good words for your consideration on this Monday, September 19th, 2005.

“Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13).

Hope is an indispensable quality of life, and yet the cry of humanity seems to be, “Is there no hope?” Perhaps that is the echo of your heart. Dark clouds have invaded your horizon. Boisterous waves threaten to destroy your frail vessel. Friends and family have disappointed you. Dreams lie shattered at your feet. Sickness has invaded your body. All seems hopeless. With God, however, there are no hopeless situations, just those situations about which we grow
hopeless.

Listen to the Lord’s health-giving advice in Matthew 11:28: “Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” One of the most trying means by which God accomplishes His purpose in our lives is when we are forced to sit still When our hearts yearn to do something for Him, when we would like to be active witnessing for Christ, when we long to do something important, probably even spectacular, then the Lord Jesus places us in a position of
inactivity, causing us to learn the lesson of quietness and stillness where our hope is found only in Him. Be grateful that God is working out His purpose in your life. Those trials are evidence not of abandonment but of His confidence that this trial will produce glory to His name. Thus you can leave the future in God’s hands without demanding a detailed road map. Real security comes from saying yes to God’s plan for your life. In the challenge of darkness, with waves and
breakers sweeping over you, Jesus brings a calm, a “Hush, be still!” to the human heart. Not only can we hold on, we can be strong in His strength.

As we allow God’s joy and peace to invade our souls, He will cause us to abound in hope instead of helplessness. Everything will be all right! The God of hope guarantees it. It’s not our strength that God needs, but our willingness to use His strength. No situation is beyond the touch of Omnipotence.

Rev. W. Claire Greiner

Scripture Reading: Exodus 7-8; Matthew 15:1-20

from our KESWICK devotional — REAL VICTORY FOR REAL LIFE

Here are the symptoms:

They can drain your energy immediately.
They can cloud any meeting sometimes with just their presence and sour attitude.
They can hijack your time, draining hours at a stretch.
They drag you into their daily dramas and crises.
They can burden you with imagined problems, keeping you from ministering to others with more pressing needs.
They love being dependent and in need.
They contribute little or nothing to the Lord’s work, being professional complainers.

“One of the clearest signs of a true, malignant spiritual hypochondriac is that the carrier refuses to believe he is infected. Most live in denial, assuming the entire community is conspiring against them. They feel unappreciated, unloved, and misunderstood. They consistently feel betrayed by their friends, ministers, and family. And they never realize their condition.”

If you know someone in this condition, or maybe you are suffering from this malady, here are five actions you can take to correct the problem, from the compelling book WHY CHURCHES DIE by Mac Brunson and Ergun Caner (published by Broadman & Holman):

1. Focus on the blessing of God. Make it an obsession to notice the greatness and graciousness of God. In every situation work to discover the hidden positive dimensions rather than dwelling on the problems. Focus on Christ rather than yourself.

2. Change your thought life. Read Philippians 4:8. The term THINK in this verse is an agrarian term that farmers used to describe the method by which a cow chews food. Masticating the food and constantly passing it through their four stomachs, a cow thoroughly chews food. Our thought life is the same. We are commanded to develop the discipline of carefully choosing to concentrate on those edifying things.

3. Surround yourself with joyful believers. Develop relationships with those “ministers of joy” who fill you and lift you to new levels of faith and strength. Remember, their iron will sharpen your iron (Proverbs 27:17)

4. Learn to pray for others. Nothing forces us to get our attention off ourselves more than learning to pray for other people’s burdens. The added blessing of seeing God intervene in people’s lives is mandated by God. Bearing one another’s burden fulfills the law of Christ, according to Galatians 6:2.

5. Get into a ministry now. Christian service not only gives glory to God, but infuses us with a new focus — a focus on others. Good words for you to consider today.

We are living in an age where many in the “body of Christ” in order to reach the post-modern world refuse to teach certain truths because they are afraid of offending the very people they are trying to reach. They shy away from the word “sin,” “the Cross,” “the blood.” One of our dear friends in Christian music was invited to sing at one of America’s leading churches. She was told that she could not sing anything that spoke of the blood of Christ or the Cross. Guess what — she refused to sing there!

Drs. Mac Brunson and Ergun Caner remind us in the compelling book, WHY CHURCHES DIE, that the blood of Christ, “according to the Bible, redeems us, sanctifies us, and enables us to live peaceably with one another.

1. The blood of Christ cleanses us from sin. But if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
2. The blood of Christ obtains our eternal inheritance. He entered the holy of holies once for all, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. (Hebrews 9:12)
3. The blood of Christ cleanses our consciences to serve Him. How much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9:14)
4. The blood of Christ sanctifies us. Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that He might sanctify the people by His own blood. (Hebrews 13:12)
5. The blood of Christ causes us to worship. Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips that confess His name. (Hebrews 13:15)
6. The blood of Christ reconciles all to peace. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:19-20)

What wonderful TRUTH that unfortunately some will never hear! I am thankful today for the blood of Christ that was shed for me. “ARE YOU WASHED IN THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB?”