Author: bonniefaurote

CONFESSION

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NEW BIRTH

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 2.48.03 PM…FATHER, increase my understanding of regeneration—Your ability to alter my natural-born heredity. My “natural virtues are the remnants of a design that has been broken, and that the only way the design can be fulfilled is by…being made all over again” Oswald Chambers (ref#83, p90). However, “…when the new disposition is put in the old physical case is not taken away. It is left there for me to discipline and turn into an obedient servant to the new disposition” Oswald Chambers (ref#118, p35).

 “Jesus says—If you are My disciple you must be right not only in your living, but in your motives, in your dreams, in the recesses of your mind. You must be so pure in your motives that God Almighty can see nothing to censure…” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, July 24th).

CHRIST is the only one who is above censure. And He is the only One who can put His own disposition into people who ask for it. “The purity which God demands is impossible unless I can be remade within…” Oswald Chambers (ref#7, July 24th).

“From the divine side, Christ is living in us and enabling us to live the way he teaches us to live. It’s his work. But from our side, it’s experienced by trusting him moment by moment to be with us and to help us” John Piper (ref#92, p87).

FATHER, I desire to take hold of CHRIST’s disposition and mold my life after His. And, praise You, that He will accomplish that when I give myself over to Him.

ADORATION

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GOD GIVES WHAT HE COMMANDS

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 2.34.43 PM… “THOU ART THE BLESSED GOD,

happy in thyself,

source of happiness in thy creatures,

my maker, benefactor, proprietor, upholder.

Thou hast produced and sustained me,

supported and indulged me,

saved and kept me,…” The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p115).

FATHER, how vast is the ways You demonstrate Your love. You stand so majestic over Your creatures and yet go to such great lengths to establish relationship. We are like sheep—created needy. You are a Shepherd—life-sustaining.

You are so very high—holy and righteous and command me to rise up to a similar position. Since I cannot, You reach down and bring me up. You call Your covenant with me an “everlasting covenant” (Gen 9:16), because it is kept by You keeping Your part as well as mine.

The Psalmist knows very well his weakness when he writes: “I will run in the way of your commandments when you enlarge my heart” (Ps 119:32 ESV)! Or: “I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant…” (Ps 119:176 ESV).

I reminisce with joy that covenant keeping does not depend on me. You say: “I will remember my covenant that is between me and you…” (Gen 9:15 ESV). You do not ask me to remember for I am prone to forget, but You remember.

“It is not my remembering God and my laying hold of His covenant, but it is God’s remembering me and His covenant’s laying hold of me” Charles Spurgeon (ref#34, Aug 13th PM). Truly, “in His sovereign grace He gives what He commands and delights in the result (Phil 2:13)”  The Reformation Study Bible (ref#56, p1739, “Pleasing God”).

VALLEYS TO MOUNTAINTOPS

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JUST LIKE PETER

1/15/2016

Screen Shot 2016-02-03 at 2.25.40 PMToday I identified myself with Peter in the Matt 16:13-23 story. Animated by the HOLY SPIRIT, he declared JESUS was CHRIST, the Son of GOD and then turned around and doubted JESUS’ words causing CHRIST to call him a “stumbling block” (Matt 16:13-23). That was me this morning.

I’ll begin with the stumbling. Started the car to warm it up which gives me 10 minutes to get myself out the door. The strategy usually works. But today—not . Discovered more things I had to do so I hurried, then slammed, then growled at Jerry. Suddenly a thought stuck: “I’m irritated just like I was Sunday because things are not going my way.” So, my problem is not just Sundays. I verified that conclusion with a little reminiscing.

It sobered me and I responded with a heartfelt apology to GOD. And apologized to Jerry and confessed to my prayer partner since I was warming up the car to go pray with her.

The situation was good for it clued me that I have a deeper more universal sin in myself than I thought. My first clue was anger.

FATHER, please put Your face in front of me the moment I start with anger. I need to be sobered by Your presence.

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The exciting thing that happened was a revelation from the SPIRIT over breakfast: Always in the back of my mind is my desire to keep the Sabbath holy and I’ve said it before, conversations before and after church are my biggest problem. I don’t seem to be able to conjure up any affinity for it and am at a lost for a place to begin.

But, as I ate breakfast daydreaming about the process of praying the SPIRIT apprehended me by revealing I could use the same process for conversations as I do with prayer.

When I’m praying with a sister, as she prays her words trigger for me subjects I would like to pray about. So, by the time she is finished I find fixed in my mind the prayer subjects my next prayer can consist of.

The thought about prayer is the answer to my quandary of what to discuss with my fellow believers before and after church and the rest of the day… or for that matter, any day. I can be running across my mind spiritual subjects that relate to what the other person is saying. I just have to teach myself to think spiritually as I listen to conversations. “What can I share that will spiritually encourage or teach?” Please SPIRIT, as You animated Peter, animate me during conversations with my sisters and brothers.

SABBATH

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MY REST

The Sabbath rest is to remind myself that GOD rested after He ceased the work of creation, and JESUS rested after He ceased the work of redemption. These two facts should be the subjects I attend to on Sundays. But the “rest” the Hebrew’s writer speaks of is a daily rest.

“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His” (Heb 4:10 NASB).

Since I believe CHRIST JESUS has given what GOD requires from me, I enter into rest (ref#15, [Heb 4:10]). My experience of rest is ceasing from my own works of righteousness, and from the burdensome works of the law (ref#18, [Heb 4:10]).

Since CHRIST impresses the FATHER I don’t have to impress the FATHER. Resting in CHRIST is a state of happiness. My salvation does not depend on my continuing work of being righteous!

“Externally, that meant ceasing from his ordinary tasks in order to meet with God. Internally, it involved ceasing from all self-sufficiency in order to rest in God’s grace” Sinclair Ferguson (ref#193).

Yet, I need to keep myself abreast of situations that threaten my rest. Situations continually rise to steal what GOD freely gives me through CHRIST. Happiness disappears when I lose fellowship with my LORD and default back to trying in my own strength to be righteous.

Impress upon me that if I don’t rehearse the Gospel I will fall back into burdensome works and be void of rest. I know preaching the gospel to myself each day will equip me with more boldness to believe what GOD says. I’ll recognize and benefit more from His grace and be more willing to embrace His commands (ref#60, p52). By reveling in CHRIST I retain my fellowship with GOD and find my rest! As I rehearse the Gospel, “give me that rest without rest, the rest of ceaseless praise” The Valley of Vision (ref#76, p172).

“…we must praise God – in the morning and every night, not only on Sabbath days, but every day; it is that which the duty of every day requires. We must praise God, not only in public assemblies, but in secret, and in our families, showing forth, to ourselves and those about us, his lovingkindness and faithfulness” Matthew Henry (ref#18, [Ps 92:1-6]).

SUPPLICATION

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NON CHRISTIAN, RESISTERS

[We all have friends and family that do not want anything to do with Christianity so it is up to us to pray for their salvation. Here’s an opportunity to pray for them. Fill their name in the blanks.]

BACKSLIDERS CAN BE RESTORED

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 12.31.23 PM…FATHER, You restore souls (Ps 23:3). You convert a “soul from sin that it may not eternally perish” Adam Clarke (ref#15, [Ps 23:3]). You bring back life from destruction, heal backsliders, and restore them to Your favor (ref#15, [Ps 23:3]).

“He breaks down the hard heart, arrests the soul in its onward progress of departure, places upon it some powerful check, lays it low….” Octavius Winslow (ref#61, Sept 1st).

FATHER, I plead to You for the same power You used to initially draw ____ to take up again Your work in ____’s heart (ref#61, Sept 1st). Even though (he/she) presently plows a wicked way, reaps a crop of evil, and eats a salad of lies (Hos 10:13), You will kindly give (him/her) another chance to turn (himself/herself) around again.

It is encouraging to know that since ____ is not in the pit of hell, (he/she) is on the ground of mercy and that You, FATHER, see a way for (him/her) to escape when I see none. I will depend on You and call on You for You only give a promise of deliverance (ref#124, p89-90).

THANKSGIVING

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CHRIST’S VICTORY OVER SATAN

 Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 12.22.50 PM…FATHER, satan began his spiritual war with mankind by deceiving Eve, but his beginning was his end. As soon as the devil revealed himself, You, FATHER, prophesied his demise.

“I will make you and the woman enemies to each other. Your descendants and her descendants will be enemies. One of her descendants will crush your head, and you will bite his heel” (Gen 3:15 NCV).

“Christ baffled Satan’s temptations, rescued souls out of his hands, cast him out of the bodies of people…by his death, he gave a fatal and incurable blow to the devil’s kingdom, a wound to the head of this beast, that can never be healed” Matthew Henry (ref#18, [Gen 3:14-15]).

You, FATHER, established a perpetual overthrow of the devil and will shortly cast him into the lake of fire where he will be tormented day and night forever and ever (Rev 20:10). Praise to You, FATHER, for overwhelmingly assuring me that You were, are, and always will be in complete control of my arch enemy.

CONFESSION

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GOD IS BOTH JUST AND JUSTIFIER

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 12.15.28 PMWhat do I do with my guilt? FATHER, I am to be perfect as You are perfect (Matt 5:48)! Since I was born in Your image (Gen 1:26) the deepest desire of my heart is to live with You, but I don’t do the things I know I should do (Rom 7:15). I disappoint and have no ability to clear my own name before You (Rom 3:23). I just can’t always do what I know is right—sometimes I can, but not all the time. And You demand that I be perfect… (Matt 5:48).

But, what I could not do, You did (Isa 52:10).   Since You require justice, You, Yourself, must be the justifier (Rom 3:26). And this You did, all on Your own, without any help from me. So, You are both just and the One who brings justice.

Even though I am a sinner (Rom 5:8), You confer—You reckon—You count me as righteous (Rom 4:22). You consider me righteous when I am a sinner. You pronounce sinners righteous! You don’t change me so I am righteous, but You “pronounce” me righteous.

FATHER, You give the free gift of a right standing before You because of what Your Son JESUS did. I am drawn into Your favor because You have accepted the blood of Your Son in His death to soothe Your anger for all my sins—past, present, and future (Rom 3:25).

CHRIST’s dying on the cross does not automatically defuse Your anger toward every sinner.   You confer righteousness only upon sinners who support Your way of reconciliation—who believe CHRIST provides the only way to make peace with You—in contrast to believing that any efforts on my part has any power at all for my justification (Rom 3:28).

“Sinful men and women can be changed into new creatures, not by their repentance or their belief, but by the marvelous work of God in Christ Jesus which is prior to all experience…I am not saved by believing; I realize I am saved by believing. It is not repentance that saves me, repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in Christ Jesus. The danger is to put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause” (ref#7, Oct 28th).

ADORATION

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Prayer Facts:

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 12.08.08 PM“Conformity, to live one with God, is a far higher and more divine life than to live simply in submission to God. To pray in conformity—together with God—is a far higher and more divine way to pray than mere submission” (ref#54, p51,52).

Reasons for Waiting for GOD:

Because in CHRIST I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of my trespasses (Eph 1:7), therefore I will wait for You.

Because in CHRIST I am set free from the law of sin and death and given the law of the Spirit of life (Rom 8:2), therefore I will wait for You.

Because in CHRIST I am a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17), therefore I will wait for You.

Because in CHRIST neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from His love (Rom 8:38,39), therefore I will wait for You.

VALLEYS TO MOUNTAINTOPS

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BLOGGING ON THE SABBATH

Screen Shot 2016-01-28 at 11.55.30 AMWas reading about the Sabbath on the Sabbath—particularly GOD speaking to the Israelites about manna:

“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day…On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily’” (Ex 16:4-5 ESV).

“…The LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days…” (Ex 16:29 ESV).

“This pattern embodies trust in the Lord’s provision for something Israel has no part in producing; later, when Israel has settled in the land and is depending more on its own labor, the regular Sabbath rest will be seen as an expression of divine mercy” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p171, [Ex 16:22-30]).

“… the manna’s condition is controlled, as their lives should be, by the word of the Lord (see v.28)” ESV Study Bible (ref#125, p171, [Ex 16:24]).

The whole manna thing was to test them to see if they would trust GOD. It corresponds to the words we have in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” GOD wants no storing up and forgetting who provides daily for us.

All this reminds me again that the LORD creates my circumstances and is able and willing to walk me through every one of them. Everything everyday I need He provides and all I have to do is trust Him.

So, like the Israelites, the LORD provides for my Sabbath! He has plans for me. Therefore, honoring the Sabbath is not so much about what I do on the day but who I trust and follow as each hour goes by.

Part of my weekday work is writing a blog. But, here I am sitting at my desk writing this on Sunday. Am I keeping the Sabbath holy? Well, I feel that the SPIRIT of GOD is putting words in my head and that always prompts me to come to the computer and write them down. I feel I’m following the LORD and trusting Him in this situation. But, am I? Maybe if I would resist getting His words in print today He would bring them to my memory on a weekday. Maybe I’m writing so I can have something good to post. Yes, maybe I’m taking GOD’s goodness and giving glory to myself and not Him. I could easily persuade myself to close this computer. The logic of law tells me that I should not do weekday work on Sunday. So, do I have a catch in my spirit about what I’m doing right now?

Actually, no. First, one thing I’ve learned is that when the SPIRIT is speaking I need to write it down immediately. His thoughts are foreign to my thoughts therefore I have no affinity to remember them therefore I must write them down. And, I have never had Him repeat Himself. Obviously, for me at least, if I take His words lightly by not writing them I grieve Him. And, secondly, if I don’t act immediately on His prompts He immediately leaves.

Today He has illuminated the passage of Scripture about manna and I must follow Him as He teaches me. I have no self-gratifying motives. I simply delight to do the will of my FATHER (Ps 40:8). For me this activity is perfect. For me today this work like my weekday work is a Sabbath rest.

NOTE: “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day…” (Rev 1:10 ESV). I am glad the Apostle John allowed himself to write on the Sabbath otherwise he would not have penned the book of Revelation.

 

SABBATH

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SATURDAY EVENING WORSHIP: SUNDAY EVENING WORSHIP

Let’s start with the one established in the 1520’s. “Until recent decades, the second service was an essential part of the Lord’s Day observance…” Jon D. Payne (ref#170). More meetings were established on Sunday so Christians would hear more of the Word of GOD.

“Having not one but two (and sometimes three) public services on the Lord’s Day reinforces belief in the power, efficacy, and sufficiency of the ordinary means of grace to save, sanctify, and comfort God’s elect. On the sacred day that God set apart for sacred worship and the building up of his church, why wouldn’t we want more—rather than less—preaching, singing of the psalms and hymns, prayer, participation in the sacraments, and corporate worship and fellowship” Jon D. Payne (ref#170)?

“By attending morning and evening worship…We will hear an additional fifty-two carefully prepared expository sermons,…sing hundreds more psalms and hymns, and pray myriad more prayers” Jon D. Payne (ref#170).

“Faithful attendance to both morning and evening worship bookends this special day with God-centered worship and helps us not to turn the rest of the Lord’s Day into something God never intended. Evening worship guards the Lord’s Day from becoming just like any other day of the week” Jon D. Payne (ref#170).

***

So, what about the Saturday evening service? How can we have the audacity to offer a Lord’s-Day service on Saturday? We can because JESUS CHRIST is Lord of the Sabbath.

“If Jesus were here today, he would say something like this: ‘If priests in the temple and pastors in the Christian church are permitted to work 16 hours on the usual day of rest, then the saints are permitted to worship one hour the day before. The Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. Come, learn what it means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’

“He would send us to consult the words of his apostle in Romans 14:5, ‘One man judges one day above another, while another man judges all days alike. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind.’ We can take this to imply that some think that all days qualify for the Sabbath. Some think that only Saturday qualifies. Others only Sunday. Do not condemn one another over these disagreements. Let every one be fully convinced in his own mind” John Piper (ref#169).

If you attend Saturday night services, are you fully convinced in your own mind that this is the service you should attend? Remember, if you think it is a sin, it is a sin (James 4:17). John Piper, the author of the last quote also says, Saturday worship is NOT a replacement for Sunday Sabbath keeping (ref#169).