George Muller

Serving the Lord

It is a great honor to be allowed to do anything for the Lord. When the day of recompense comes, our only regret will be that we have done so little for Him, not that we have done too much.

The Autobiography of George Muller
George Muller 1805 – 1898

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Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” John 11:40

Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something in your common-sense circumstances that flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture heroically on Jesus Christ’s statements when the facts of your common-sense life shout – “It’s a lie?” On the mount it is easy to say – ‘Oh, yes, I believe God can do it’; but you have to come down into the demon-possessed valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at the whole of your mount-of-transfiguration belief. Every time my programme of belief is clear to my own mind, I come across something that contradicts it. Let me say I believe God will supply all my need, and then let me run dry, with no outlook, and see whether I will go through the trial of faith, or whether I will sink back to something lower.

Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? The test will either prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. “Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” The final thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly on Him and all you come up against will develop your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death. May God keep us in fighting trim! Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.

Originally posted 2009-08-29 05:46:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Psalm 1

1  Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

Those in Christ are blessed with eternal life according to the promise of God’s Word, by faith in the completed work of Christ alone, and not of anything to do with their own efforts. However the blessedness in the sense of our happiness, peace and stability as believers is conditional. We must strive to enter and remain in the rest Christ secures for us, by turning away from ungodly counsel, departing from sinful lifestyles, and refraining from hypocrisy and scornfulness.

True godly counsel can only be found through the counsel of Scripture, and from those who look alone to the Scripture as a complete revelation from God for the fullness of their teaching and instruction.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.

As followers of Christ we must delight in His Word, allowing it to take hold of our thoughts day and night. It is not sufficient to simply read through the Bible out of a sense of duty. Rather we shall find a passionate obsession for Christ and His ways grow within us through the internal work of His Spirit. It is the love of His truth, and intimate knowledge of Him that sets us free.

3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

If we are submitted to Christ in this manner, we shall be like a tree planted by a river. We shall bring forth fruit for His glory effortlessly, for just as a tree by the river, it is not the effort of the tree, but the location it is planted that causes abundant growth.

Also, just as with the tree, our leaves shall not wither. It is the leaves that help the tree to absorb the light, and expel oxygen. In the same manner, if we are rooted in Christ we shall draw from His strength, and our leaves shall be sensitive to draw in the Light of His Word, and expel that which should be expelled from us.

We shall prosper in the works that God has created us for. It is not like an empty “prosperity gospel” promise to become wealthy and affluent whilst clinging to the world. It is a promise to those who sacrifice all to abide in Christ, that they shall prosper in all that He has called them into.

4 The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

The ungodly are like dry and dusty chaff that is at the mercy of the wind. This can still apply to Christians who are in a place of rebellion in some measure, and only true repentance, and belief expressed through obedience, can lead a person back to a place of peace with God.

5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

Just one of many verses right the way through Scripture that flies in the face of universalism. Only those abiding in Christ shall stand in the Day of Judgement, and only those who abide in Christ, shall be considered worthy to dwell in His eternal congregation.

6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

The Lord knows those who are His, and has written their names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. All who put their trust in Him shall be named in this Book, and as a result shall inherit eternal life. However all who refuse to repent and believe the Gospel of Christ, and whose names are not recorded in this Book, shall be damned for eternity.

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Originally posted 2010-01-14 10:03:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Luke 19:9-10

As with millions of other Christians, I am so very much aware of the wonderful saving hand of Christ upon my life, and how I was dead in my sins at one moment, and then saved for all eternity the next. I am constantly reminded of how the simplest victory would have been absolutely impossible without His sacrifice, and I am also aware of how fully and completely His sacrifice has redeemed my life.

Obviously I would never wish to be forgetful of these things, yet it has begun to dawn on me recently, and to my deepest shame, how I have been ignorant to something of equal importance, and that is the way in which Christ indwells believers by His Spirit, not purely for their own benefit, but that they may become vessels to continue His mission to seek and save the lost in this world. We are reminded of this in His Word quite clearly:

How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”

Isaiah 52:7

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:14

For far too long I have allowed myself to be insulated against the shame that accompanies the Gospel message. I can join the throng of professing believers in the West and say to myself that I do not face persecution because I live in a Christian nation, or I can be honest with myself, and say that the reason I do not face persecution for the namesake of Christ is because I fail to live as the witness He commands me to. Yes it’s true that on the ‘net, behind my own little PC monitor I may have quite a loud voice at times, and I thank the Lord each day for the way He has allowed me the privilege to be involved in such ministry. However truth be told, in my personal life, face to face with the hard and Godless of this world, I remain as a dumb and silent bystander, and this truth is splitting me in two!

It is my prayer that the Lord will take me as I am, and use me as a tool for His glory, living to boldly proclaim the Gospel message to all who will listen, and regardless of personal cost. I don’t know what that may mean in practical terms, but I do know deep down in my heart that these are desperate times, calling for desperate measures, and oh how I pray that I may enter the Kingdom of God on that Final Day, bruised and battle scarred, along with the true and faithful saints from through the ages.

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Originally posted 2010-03-13 13:30:34. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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Joshua 3:8-17
8  You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ”
9  So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God.”
10  And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites:
11  Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.
12  Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe.
13  And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap.”
14  So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people,
15  and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest),
16  that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
17  Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

As I was reading through this passage of Scripture earlier today, there seemed a clear call to those in Christ today to fulfill their duty as priests of the Living God, and willingly step into death for the glory of Christ alone, and for the salvation of those He has called. We can know from 1 Peter 2:9 that those in Christ now are in the same role that the Levite priests in this passage were in, and that as believers, we now bear the Spirit of the One who has given us a new covenant by His own blood, as the very temple He now resides within 1 Cor 3:16.

In the Old Testament picture above, we see the promised land that awaits the Israelites beyond the Jordan river, swollen and unpassable, as a representation of death itself. However in Christ we have One who goes before us, and stills the rolling waters in an instant, holding them back until we have all passed through safely. The parallel to the account in Joshua that we see for today however, is that it is necessary for those bearing the ark to stand in the Jordan themselves. To enter death for the glory of Christ therefore, is not simply a noble act carried out by a few Christian believers, but it is the very command of God to be obeyed by every Christian believer, for we have been chosen by God to carry the Ark of the New Covenant right through the midst of death, for the glory of Jesus Christ alone, and that those around us may see the path opening up before them, and hear the call of His voice to follow too.

We can jump up and down all we like, sing loudly and joyfully, clap our hands, pray to our hearts content, and shout “Jesus is Lord!” from the rooftops, but the crunch question we need to ask ourselves is this: Am I willing to march into death itself, and risk losing every single solitary thing that is precious to me for His glory? If the answer is anything but a resounding “Yes!”, then we need to repent and cry out to the Lord with all our hearts that it may be so.

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Originally posted 2010-01-28 17:46:27. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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When I read these words of Paul, they make me long for the same attitude to be manifested in my own life too. I can talk the talk with the best of them, and maybe on the surface at least, it may appear that I walk the walk. But with hand on my heart, I could not confidently and boldly make the statement Paul makes above, and truly mean it from the heart.

I pray that the Holy Spirit does a work in my heart to make that type of belief I long for, to be that which is truly on display in my life. As much as I cherish my family and those dear to me, and the creature comforts that the Lord has graciously bestowed upon me, I long for sincerity of heart to consider those things as nothing before Him. Even my health, and every moment I live and breathe; how I long to truly let go of it for His glory alone.

Yet in all this longing, can I say that I am anywhere near my goal? Unfortunately not. However what I do have in my favour is the life surrendered by my Lord and Saviour, whose redeeming blood has purchased my own redemption before a Holy and Righteous God, who has sworn to judge the sin of this world in His Wrath. In Him my life is hidden, and His righteousness has been astoundingly credited to my own account.

So does this mean I should quit being concerned about my sincerity of heart concerning surrendering to my God? Shame on me if I ever stop doing so in this lifetime, for what else do I have to offer in thanksgiving for all that He has done for me, apart from the wretch that I am? Yet at the same time, I have no need to be anxious and worried about my lack, for the Lord has given me His own life as my own, and taken my sin upon Himself as if it were His own, nailing it to the Cross of Calvary and covering it with His own blood.

When I look at the life of the apostle Paul, from whose lips came the title of this article, and then I look at my own pathetic attempt to live a life holy unto the Lord, I am ashamed of myself. But by the faith that Christ has placed within me as a gift, and because of His magnificent grace and mercy, I am clothed with the same righteous clothing as the apostle Paul Himself, no more and no less. And out of an eternally grateful heart, I will endeavour to follow his example, and others like him, who were completely surrendered to the service of God, and to the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and risen again.

What more can I say regarding this life here on earth, or how I should live it for His glory? One thing I do, is remember that I have a sure and confident hope in Christ, that gives me great and glorious promises of that which is to come. And though it is true that the thought of pain, suffering, and mortal death can at times strike me with fear, I have absolutely no doubt at all that when the chips are down, and I am called to take a final stand, even if similarly extreme to that taken by some of the early believers; the Holy Spirit within me will keep me standing until the bitter end, and once again it will have nothing to do with me, and everything to do with Him.

I know full well what it means when Scripture tells us such things as, “it is impossible to please God without faith” and “the righteous shall live by faith”, for it is all about what someone else has done, and has absolutely nothing at all to do with what I have done. For pity’s sake, I was unable to even choose of my own accord to follow Him in the first place! How on earth could I place any hope or expectation in being able to measure up to His righteous standards? Instead I will glory in all that Christ has accomplished on my behalf, patiently and eagerly awaiting the promise of Heaven that is sure to come.

Colossians 3:1-4
1  If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.
3  For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
4  When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

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Originally posted 2009-12-27 01:21:39. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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διώκω δὲ εἰ καὶ καταλάβω, ἐφ’ ᾧ καὶ κατελήμφθην ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ [Ἰησοῦ].

With certainty the pilgrim advances in sanctification, eagerly anticipating the promise fully realized. During the intervening times and seasons of wanderings on the earth the saint is ever mindful of the occasion when by grace the Lord revealed Himself, quickening the living dead to life, forever altering the focus of personal ambitions and affections, “And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:5).

How newness of life from the Lord arrives is in itself glorious, but of greater magnificence and wonder is that it comes at all when a sober accounting of fallen humanities dreadful standing before a holy God is considered, “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (Gen. 6:5-6).

Misplaced religious zeal—all that is opposed to Christ—is evil before the eyes of the Lord and an abomination to Him. That which is anti-Christ denies that the Son of God has come in the flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist….” (1 Jn. 4:1-3). And to man made religious systems which suppress and distort the truth as to the person and work of the Son of God the wrath of God is revealed (Rom. 1:18).

Therefore, evil in the eyes of the Lord is Islam, Mormonism, Judaism, Christian Science, Buddhism, Hinduism, Pantheism, Atheism, Secular Humanism, Baha’i Faith, Confucianism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism, Native American Spirituality, Scientology, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the New Age, Animism, Witchcraft, Voodoo, Horoscopes, Divination, Wicca, and every other form of misplaced worship that depraved human minds manufacture. The zeal of adherents to these various false religions has been and can be intense. The spiritual war between the children of light and darkness knows no cessation, and only the grace of God can release the captives, opening blind eyes, unstopping deaf ears, indeed, quickening the dead.

Agents of Satan are slaves to unrighteousness, hell bent on opposing the Seed of righteousness. Once quickened to life the pilgrim’s response of devotion is to forget what lies behind and to press forward, “…to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” As a new born babe instinctively cries in order to be fed its mothers milk, the new born child of God craves the pure milk of the Word. It is the child’s zeal to know Him whose Person is beyond the capacity of flesh and blood to be fully known. And yet the child is undaunted and in reckless abandon pursues Him without regret, forsaking all things and all others in order that he might be found in Him on that Day.

The Apostle states his aim, that “I might seize” (καταλάβω) or take hold of Christ. The aorist tense verb indicts a simple occurrence yet to be fully realized, and it is in the subjunctive mood to denote a certain outcome; viz., the fulfillment of the promise of salvation revealed in him. The Greek construction of the verb expresses his hope as an absolute certainty yet to be realized, and not merely wishful thinking. This outcome of salvation finds its origin and governance in Christ who is the author and finisher of faith, for earlier in this letter the Apostle stated, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose” (Phil. 2:13). And to what is the Apostle referring when he makes this claim?, is he not clear in this text, “for which Christ took hold of me.” At one time he was at enmity Christ, a persecutor of the Way, hating its leader and labeling Him as a blasphemer, glutton, and drunkard, one who shares His company with vile sinners and tax collectors.

Once regenerated the Spirit of God continues to perform His work in the child of God, new affections come, passions for righteousness are aroused, and as it is the nature of a moth to be drawn toward light in the evening darkness, so too the regenerated man has been given a new nature, one instinctively drawn toward the Light of the Son of God in a dark and perverse world, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17). The new disposition of the Apostle of love toward Christ, his earnest desire to pursue Christ, is the outward evidence of the miracle of regeneration, for where a passion and love for Christ is absent regeneration has not occurred, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ” Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:6).

The transformation within some, as with the Apostle, comes as a thunderclap in a moment. For others it takes the form of a slower dawning or awakening to the truth of Christ through the ministry of the Word. However it comes it does so with a certainty and inward calling difficult to articulate to the living dead. For they neither understand the things of the Spirit of God, nor indeed can they, for all such talk is foolishness to them, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God’” (Jn 3:3). As a dog can only view the world in black and white it cannot comprehend the brilliance of a red rose, deep green grass, or the beauty of a sunset at the beach. Similarly, the natural man cannot fathom the realities of things unseen, those only known through revelation by the Holy Spirit, his world is in black and white, while the saints is in glorious color.

The Apostle next states the basis for his new found insight and love for the Savior, declaring that his affections are the end result of God’s predicate action upon him, “…Christ Jesus took hold of me”, no doubt recalling his Damascus road encounter with the risen Savior. The aorist verb “took hold of me” (κατελήμφθην) means God seized him forcefully at a specific time in the past; it is in the passive tense and indicative mood as a statement of fact. The sense is that the Apostle was the passive recipient of divine initiative resulting in regeneration. It is for this reason that John states, “We love, because He first loved us” (1 Jn. 4:19), and that Jesus said, “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain….” (Jn. 15:16).

With regard to this choosing and effectual calling toward the elect the Lord declared, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day” (Jn. 6:44). Often Armenians cite this verse in the hopes of proving mans “free will”, whereby they claim the Spirit “woos” sinners, but does not compel them to respond to the Gospel. To the Armenian fallen sinners have the innate ability in themselves to come to Christ. Needless to say that premise does not find biblical support as even the Lord Himself stated.

Curious is the translation of the Greek word “elkusē” (ἑλκύσῃ) as “draw.” While certainly that is one rendering of the word, it is also translated quite differently in other New Testament passages. The same word is given a decidedly forceful compulsion in Acts 16:19 and 21:30. In 16:19 we read of the arrest of Paul and Silas in Philippi, “But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged (εἵλκυσαν) them into the market place before the authorities.” In this passage “dragged” comes from the same word as “draw” in John 6:44. In Acts 21:30 the disruption regarding Paul in Ephesus is described, “The whole city was aroused, and the people came running from all directions. Seizing Paul, they dragged (εἷλκον) him from the temple, and immediately the gates were shut.” Again, the same Greek word used by Jesus in John 6:44 is used in these texts as a forceful compulsion. The Greek rendering by the translators in John 6:44 is curious.

The question, then, is this: which rendering best harmonizes with the whole council of God in regards to the divine initiative in salvation relative to the inability of fallen sinners to come to Christ in their own stead? Therefore, returning to the Apostles statement, “..I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” informs the pilgrim that his ability and passion to lay hold of Christ is the direct result of Christ first laying hold (ἑλκύσῃ) of him, regenerating him, and irresistibly compelling him to desire Christ and come to Him. Soli Deo gloria!

Copyright (c) 2010 Immutable Word Ministries (“…the word of our God stands forever.” Isa. 40:8).

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This morning after sending the kids off to school, I read through some of the latest articles in my feed reader, only to come across this excellent and uplifting post. As I read it, I couldn’t help but feel conviction as to why at times I feel that my joy in the Lord is robbed, and it is for the very reason that my eager expectation of the return of my Lord has been dulled.

Many times in the past, discussion about the return of the Lord Jesus descends into a sometimes heated debate about the timing of His return, the timing of the Rapture of the Church etc., until we cannot see beyond the end of our own noses. As with other debatable matters of faith, we can get so caught up in our efforts to be right, that we completely miss the point!

My exhortation in this message, which has been kindled in my spirit due to the faithful encouragement of my sister in the article I linked earlier, is to see an eager anticipation of the Lord’s return established in your own heart. I’m not talking about being bolstered by the hearty confession of a man, not even a man on fire for the Lord. Rather I am talking of looking to the Scriptures, hearing the command of God’s Word to look to His return with great anticipation, living godly lives each day as if it were your last.

Sourced from: HeartCry!

Originally posted 2010-04-19 08:20:43. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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