Christianity Oasis Forum

[Netchaplain]

The Lord Jesus in glory is the ground of my rest (trust—NC). In Him I learn what love is toward such a sinner as I am. I turn to look at that love, not in myself, but in Him; and I rest in my Father. What my soul rests in is what the Lord Jesus is, and what He has done on my behalf. My Father has loved me not only when I wanted it, but according to His knowledge of my need. He has not mistaken my case. I have found my Father. The cloud is taken away forever. My soul rests there.

It is important that we should know not only our need of the Lord Jesus in approaching our Father, but that He in His love gave His only Son that we might approach Him. “And we have known and believed that love.” Faith is always certain, and so I set my seal that my Father is true. Thus believing and looking to my Father, my soul is certain. “He that dwelleth in God, dwelleth in love.” My soul rests in His love.

[If grace then be what the Father is toward me, and has nothing at all to do with what I am, the moment I begin to think about myself as though He would judge me because of my sins, it is evident that I am not then consciously standing on the ground of grace.] J N Darby

And now I have fellowship—seeing the work He has done to cleanse my sins, as I learn it in the Lord Jesus and His Cross, and I am happy and at rest. Why should such a one murmur, or fret? “We have known and believed the love.” Man had no life from which the Father could expect anything, and so He gave a new life in His Son, that He may produce it. Do I find sins rather? He is the propitiation for our sins. I believe that and enter into fellowship.

Why do you find fear and torment when you find sin in yourself? Cannot you trust that love? Have you not had the Father on your neck in your rages (Luke 15:20—NC)? You must know the love your Father has for you, and then you know Him. His Son is your righteousness; why should you not have rest? “As He is, so are we in this world” (1John 4:17). The effect of grace is that we should feel sin, and know it blotted out, as well as our life in Him. “The glory Thou hast given Me I have given them, that the world might know that Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me.” “There is no fear in love.” It is a matter of fellowship. “Perfect love casteth out fear.”

We are called to learn our Father’s love by the communication of what the Lord Jesus is for us, and then we realize we are in Him before the Father as the Son is. If so, I find rest to my weary heart: it rests in the Father—knows He is perfect—knows He has met all its need and all its sin put away. Thus we “joy in God.” Now we pass through this sorrowful wilderness, leaning on Him who is bringing us through it.

Does your heart rest in the love of your Father? Granted that He ought to be loved; but you are not honoring Him if you do not trust (rest—NC) what His love has been in the work of His Son on the Cross. All is perfected for you. He Himself has done it, that you might rest, and honor Him with your trust.

- W J Hocking


Devotional: http://www.abideabove.com/hungry-heart/