Christianity Oasis Forum

[Netchaplain]

To “walk in the Spirit is to have the Lord Jesus as actual source of all that arises in us of thoughts and feelings. A man’s spirituality is measured by this. What freedom from sin and all besides to fellowship with the Father, and to serve Him! “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Rom 8:2). For the Lord Jesus is the only Object of faith, the only One that satisfies us, as indeed, He is the Father’s Object; and if we have got but one mind with Him about the Beloved (Eph 1:6), our communion is with the Father, and with His Son.

We do need to be taught of the Spirit, to enter, more deeply than we have done, into what the Father has given us in His Son. If we do not, some difficulties will arise which will demand the knowledge of that which we have not got, and there will be weakness; there will be the consulting of flesh and blood (natural discernment of what we think instead of what He thinks—NC), instead of going forward in the strength of God, with the eye fixed upon the Lord Jesus.

To be saints of God, to be in His presence, at ease and at home before the throne of our Father, to have the privilege of beholding His beloved Son, and seeing Him in the glory which He had with the Father before the world was: there “is the hope of His Calling” (Eph 1:18). He has called us there, where no angel can be, no creature (heirs of salvation making us children of God wherein is no nearer fellowship—NC), save those who have a divine nature imparted to them; and who, by the Holy Spirit, are capable of entering into the deepest thoughts of God.

This is communicated to us, even here in this world that our hearts may rise up to the consciousness of the dignity of our position in the risen Lord Jesus. Conscience will not keep a person from sin (it’s just a register of memories—NC). There must be the affections brought into play, and such an acquaintance with the Father, such a familiarity with His thoughts and feelings that they become the meat and drink of the child of God.

Are not our souls too often satisfied short of this? Content with what is more simply suited to our need, or with what would be considered more practical. Why is it so, that we rest short of entering into what our Father gives us in His beloved Son as He is in His own presence now? It is because we are not walking in dependence upon the Spirit: it is the power of nature in exercise that hinders us. Nature always clings to something present—something that touches our wants as we see and feel them. Whereas, where the heart is more in the presence of the Father and in the enjoyment of the Son, while we are more sensitive as to what glorifies our Father, yet we learn a power in the Lord Jesus, and not merely in fact of certain things being right and wrong.

Growth is not a mere question of new habits. It is the Father unfolding His Son to us—His own thoughts and feelings as revealed in His Son; and this is what gives us reality. Because, if I see God has really wrought in Christ this wonderful work, far beyond that of creation—the raising of the Lord Jesus form the dead, and setting Him at His own right hand in heaven—if we read that act in the light of God, we see what sin was, what Satan was, what the judgment of God was, who now, in grace passes over it all. All is gone now (the curse and every relative judgement—NC); all is passed over for us, that our Father might magnify Himself.

While we are in the world, over which judgment is hanging, we are raised above it all—we have the liberty of heaven (presently using it—NC), while we are on the earth. We have passed in the person of the Lord Jesus outside this world; we have taken our position in heaven, we have been “made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:6). That is, we have been put at ease there, which the thought of sitting gives. All thought of pilgrimage is lost sight of in this range of truth (often having the sense of already being in heaven—NC). Our being pilgrims and strangers, though most true and blessed, is not so blessed a place as being seated together in places in Christ Jesus.

- G Gardiner



“Regeneration is a birth: the center and root of the personality, the spirit, has been re-created and taken possession of by the Holy Spirit. But time is required for that center to extend through all the circumference of our being. It is akin to a seed: the life of the Lord Jesus within must grow; and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can only be found in the young man, or the rich experience and stability of the fathers. Even where in the new convert there is great singleness of heart and faith, with true love and devotion to the Saviour, time is needed for a deeper knowledge of the old man and sin, for a spiritual insight into what the Father’s will and grace are.” – Andrew Murray (1828 – 1917)
http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/day/2019/10/31/