You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled.
— 1 Thessalonians 5:5-6
. . . the Lord may soon return. I realize there is a lot that we do not know about prophecy, but most Christians are looking for the second coming of the Lord. They expect Him to come. They do not know when He will come, and the ones who claim they do, do not. Nevertheless, He may come in your lifetime. He said that He would come back in an hour when we think not. It could be that this present decline in expectation may have an ominous significance. It can easily be said that this would be the time when fewer people are expecting the Lord. Thirty years ago everybody was expecting the Lord and talking about it. Now few are thinking and less are talking about it. If you press people, they will admit that they believe in the second coming of Christ, but they are not looking for it expectantly.
The last thing that bears upon the imperativeness of doing something about our spiritual life now is that we have such a short time to prepare for such a long time. By that I mean we have now to prepare for then. We have an hour to prepare for eternity. To fail to prepare is an act of moral folly. For anyone to have a day given to prepare, it is an act of inexcusable folly to let anything hinder that preparation. If we find ourselves in a spiritual rut, nothing in the world should hinder us. Nothing in this world is worth it. If we believe in eternity, if we believe in God, if we believe in the eternal existence of the soul, then there is nothing important enough to cause us to commit such an act of moral folly.
thought
What would you do today if you knew for certain that the Lord was coming two weeks from today? Then do it today!
prayer
O God, You have given me today?opportunity to invest today with tomorrow in view. Thank You.
Be very careful, then, how you live?not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.
— Ephesians 5:15-16
It is imperative not only that we Christians get out of our rut but that we get out now. You know if you are in. If you are not getting any prayers answered, or if your prayers are so vague you are not sure but what any answer might have been an accident, you are in the rut. If you are living far from God, yet hoping you are saved, you are in the rut. If you are not progressing, if you are where you were months or years ago, if you have settled down and learned to live with yourself and adjusted to your present spiritual state, you are in the rut. There are some reasons why it is imperative that we as a church and as individuals get out, and get moving on our way to a better spiritual life.
One is that you have not much time to do anything about it. Your own interest is going to flag before long. Change is absolutely imperative to getting out of the rut, but the older we get the less we feel the need to change. If people have an urge within their spirits based upon a belief and conviction that they ought to move?to begin to reassess their lives and adjust their living?then they ought to do it right now while they are thinking about it.
thought
Opportunities are God-given. They are present tense, to be utilized at once, otherwise they are lost.
prayer
Father, thank You for Your patience with me. And thank You for the opportunity to change.
. . . Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.
— John 16:7-8
To apply pressure, a person projects himself or herself into the minds and consciences of people made in the image of God and forces them psychologically to do something they have no particular reason for wanting to do. They are not basically interested in it and have no satisfactory reason for doing it, but they are under pressure. If they do not have a reason for doing what they are going to do, they will not know why they are involved. Then when they get out they will not be sure that they were in, and so the whole process makes for weak, spineless religion. This violates the law of human nature, which dictates that all valid acts must arise from a natural urge or from a convinced mind. An example of a natural urge is when you are hungry.
You may be very hungry, but your hunger does not have a high intellectual content in it. Nobody needs to stand up and say, "Now, all you who are hungry raise your hands." You know you are hungry, and you just go out to eat. Hunger is a natural urge. Another legitimate reason for an act is a convinced mind. I am convinced that I ought to do something, and I do it because I have a conviction that it ought to be done. Those are the only two reasons for doing anything. If I force people under psychological pressure and steamroll them into doing something because they are too weak to resist, I have violated their nature. Our approach to getting people out of the rut, then, must not be to pressure them to do
thought
Can we trust the Holy Spirit to convict of sin, to reveal Christ, to open the minds of people to understand spiritual truth? If He doesn't do it, it doesn't get done despite all our efforts.
prayer
Lord, my greatest offensive weapon is prayer?believing, trustful prayer. I want to be Your instrument but keep me from trying to do what only You can do.omething they don't want to do. Instead, we must present the truth and let the Holy Spirit prompt them to want to escape.
Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity . . .
— Hebrews 6:1
Israel allowed themselves to settle down and became contented with circumstances that were all right, but which could and did break their spirit of adventure and cause them to accept the status quo as being final for them. Every once in a while through prophet, apostle or psalmist, God stretches out His hand and tries to arouse His people from their sleep. Somebody once said that man is made of dust and dust tends to settle. People tend to settle down and do the same things year in and year out, slowly going around in a circle. When this gets into religion, it is deadly and evil. The majority of Christians are asleep and in a spiritual rut.
Sometimes Christians who realize they are in a rut put pressure on others to adopt their viewpoint. But even if truth does not convince and persuade a man or woman, nobody has the right to set up a psychological squeeze on someone else. If people yield under pressure, it shows that they are too weak to resist. If they are too weak to resist, and if they take a religious position because they are too weak to resist, they will also be too weak to persist. When we follow Christ there must be persistence. We must go on.
thought
Let's go on! There is more to experience in Christ. There are promises to be fulfilled. There are opportunities to be seized. Let's keep walking by the Spirit. Let's persist in going on!
prayer
Father, I want to go on. I want to grow, to mature as Your child. I know that is Your will for me. Change me by Your Spirit! In Jesus' name.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, and pleasing to God?this is your spiritual act of worship.
— Romans 12:1
If you do not have this fascination, it could be that you are but another Esau. What a tragedy to be born of the red clay and live and die and be buried in the red clay. Shakespeare said of Caesar, "That though he be the emperor yet give nature time and nature will reduce him to a bit of clay that might be used to keep the wind away." The great Persian poet Omar Khayyam said, "When you drink out of that vessel, drink reverently; it may be your grandfather's dust out of which it is made." What a tragedy to be born out of the red clay and live a secular, earthly life and then die and be buried out of sight in that same red clay.
But if you feel the charm, the tug and the pull of God, you will know what the Holy Spirit meant when He said, "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God?this is your spiritual act of worship" (Romans 12:1). How do you get out of the religious rut? You get out of the rut by giving God your all, letting God have you completely. Concentrate your whole life on God and His Son Jesus Christ. Then seek to know the sweet fascination of loving God. You cannot stay asleep very long when the beauty of Jesus is before your eyes. Some have been asleep long enough. If you could only wake to the voice of your Beloved. If you could only be awakened and roused and hear Him speak, it would be sweeter than the voice of the mockingbird, sweeter than the sound of the harp. The voice of God's Son?that would get you out of the rut, and that would get you out of your sleep. Jesus Christ is God's music, God's poetry, God's art, God's beauty, God's all.
thought
Your money, your time, your abilities?lay them on the altar. But they have little meaning until you climb up on the altar yourself?giving yourself. Then live there?-on the altar. All else you give will then reflect a given heart.
prayer
Lord, there is no meaning to giving unless I first give myself. Here I am. Please receive me.
No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.
— John 1:18
There is only one Man whom we can trust to follow. That Man is Jesus Christ. Why is He different from any other person? Why do I refuse to follow other people, and yet follow this Man? Of no other person can it be said, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:14). Of no other person from Adam to now can it be said,
"He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). Of no one else can it be said that three days after He had gone into the grave He rose again. Of no other person can it be said that while they beheld Him," . . . he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven'" (Acts 1:9-11). . . . This is the King of glory, this Man; and this Man is the one who says, "Give yourself to me. Surrender to me and concentrate upon me. Be caught in the spell of the irresistible charm."
thought
Christ is the revelation of the unknowable God. He is the "exegesis" of God. The God-Revealer.
prayer
O Christ, You have made known what otherwise I could never know. I gaze upon You, the God-One.
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
— Colossians 2:9-10
In the New Testament, John tried to tell us about God. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (1:1). "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (1:14). John the Mystic tried to tell us how great God is. The Apostle Paul also gave us insight on who God is. . . . And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ" (Colossians 2:15-17). Why am I giving you all these passages of Scripture? Because I want to tell you who it is who says, "Present your bodies to me. Take your cross and follow me. Give yourself wholly to me. Surrender to me. Concentrate upon me and learn to be fascinated by me." He is the only One who can say it.
thought
We give ourselves to the One who has given Himself. We are given fullness in Christ. Are we experiencing that fullness?
prayer
Incomprehensible, Lord, that You would receive one like me. But You do! And to You I give myself.
It is possible for us to go through spiritual experiences that can rouse us, the spiritual equivalent of a springtime in the meadow.
I have seen it happen, and I would like to see it happen today. . . We can have the spiritual equivalent of springtime in the meadow, but we have to enter in.
The tree waits it out, and even the animals have to wait it out. But you and I, being made in the image of God and having wills of our own, can do something about it.
We can appeal directly to our hearts.
We do not need to lie like a field covered over with snow.
We can stir ourselves up.
We can run to meet the sun.
We can create our own crisis, because the job is not for meadow and grass, but for our own hearts.
These other things only illustrate spiritual springtime. We can stir ourselves up. We can bring out the sun, and we can bring on the springtime. How do we get this to happen?
First it must come to the individual.
I have no faith in anything that happens to a church that does not happen to the individual.
If it does not affect the individual, numbers of individuals, if it is only a sort of social overtone that affects everybody momentarily,
I have no faith in it at all.
verse
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
— Psalm 51:10
thought
Wrote William Quayle: "Christ is come and has changed my winter into laughing spring." He can change your winter, too!
prayer
Father, like the lost son, I get up and come to You. I embrace the springtime.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/
There is such a thing as a renaissance, a personal revival.
The best illustration is the coming of the springtime on the farm. The snow will lay all winter long, and in some places you don"t see the ground until springtime. How utterly dead everything looks, but you know that life is still there. The trees are stark, but there is life in them. The roots in the ground are all quiet, but there is life down there. Just below the frost line are the worms, the bugs, the mice, the moles and the chipmunks. They are all there, and there is life down there. They are all waiting for something, listening for Mother Nature to say, "Stir up the gift of God that is in thee." Then comes the spring; the snow goes, and the blotches and patches begin to appear. The bobwhites begin to whistle their happy but monotonous song on the sunny side of the hill. The cattle begin to kick up their heels and run about the fields. That is spring. Pretty soon all the snow is gone, calves are born and lambs are about, and we start all over.
Thank God, it is all new. There is such a thing in the Christian life as going under for a winter. In other words, something happens to you, little by little, until you get snowed under and frozen over.
There is life down there, covered up by the frost and ice. It may be hidden; it is there somewhere.
verse
I said, "Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest?"
— Psalm 55:6
thought
"Lord, to my heart bring back the springtime. Take away the cold and dark of sin," wrote Kurt Kaiser. The sunshine of His presence melts the snow and the ice. We feel we are growing again.
prayer
Lord, bring back the springtime into my life. Refresh, renew! For Jesus' sake.
https://cmalliance.org/devotionals/tozer/