"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, being in the form of God... made Himself of no
reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in
the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of
death, even the death of the cross." Phil 2:5-6
"He said to them
all, 'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever
desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his
life for My sake will save it." Luke 9:23-24
"I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the
faith of the Son of God,
who loved me, and gave himself for me. " Galatians 2:20
†
Chapter 1:
Brokenness
The Lord Jesus cannot live
in us fully and reveal Himself through us until the
proud self within us is broken. This simply means
that the hard unyielding self, which justifies itself, wants its
own way, stands up for its rights, and seeks its own glory, at
last bows its head to God's will, admits its wrong, gives up its
own way to Jesus, surrenders its rights and discards its own
glory -- that the Lord Jesus might have all and be all....
And as
we
look honestly at our Christian lives, we can see
how much of this self there is in each of us.... It is
always self who gets irritable and envious and resentful and critical and worried.... No wonder we need breaking. As long as
self is in control, God can do little with us, for
all the
fruit of the Spirit, with which God longs to fill us, are
the complete antithesis of the hard, unbroken spirit
within us....
Being
broken is both God's work and ours. He brings His
pressure to bear, but we have to make the choice....
[W]e can stiffen
our necks and refuse to repent or we can bow the
head and say, "Yes, Lord."
Brokenness in daily
experience is simply the response of humility to the
conviction of God.....
...we are not likely to be broken except at the
Cross of Jesus. The willingness of Jesus to be
broken for us is the all-compelling motive in our
being broken too. We see Him, Who is in the form of
God, counting not equality with God a prize to be
grasped at
and hung on to, but letting it go for us and
taking upon Him the form of a Servant....
We see Him willing to have
no rights of His own, no home of His own, no
possessions of His own, willing to let men revile
Him and not revile again, willing to let men tread
on Him and not retaliate or defend Himself. Above
all, we see Him broken as He meekly goes to Calvary
to become men's scapegoat by bearing their sins in
His own body on the Tree.
But
dying to self is not a thing we do once for all.
There may be an initial dying when God first shows
these things, but ever after it will be a constant
dying, for only so can the Lord Jesus be revealed
constantly through us. (2 Cor. 4:10)
... Every humiliation, everyone who tries and vexes
us, is God's way of breaking us, so that there is a
yet deeper channel in us for the Life of Christ.
You see,
the only life that pleases God and that can be
victorious is His life -- never our life, no matter
how hard we try. But inasmuch as our self-centered
life is the exact opposite of His, we can never be
filled with His life unless we are prepared for God
to bring our life constantly to death. And in that
we must co-operate by our moral choice.
"...if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the
body, you will live." Rom 8:12
"...reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive
to God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom 6:11
Dying with Jesus, by death reckoned mine;
Living with Jesus, a new life divine;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine,
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Moment by moment I’m kept in His love;
Moment by moment I’ve life from above;
Looking to Jesus till glory doth shine;
Moment by moment, O Lord, I am Thine.
Enjoy the melody:
www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/m/o/momentby.htm
Gutenberg
Ebook
The copyright on this book has expired
†
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