Others May, You Cannot

by G.D. Watson (1845-1924)

If God has called you to be really like Jesus He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways He will seem to let other people do things which He will not let you do.

Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it, and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.

Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their successes, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence upon Him, that He may have the privilege of supplying your needs day by day out of an unseen treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because He wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious, He may let others get credit for the work which you have done, and thus make YOUR REWARD TEN TIMES GREATER WHEN JESUS COMES.

The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, which other Christians never feel distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an Infinitely Sovereign Being, and has a right to do as He pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in His dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be His love slave, He will wrap you up in Jealous Love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.

Settle it forever, then that you are to DEAL DIRECTLY WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, and that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now, when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this PECULIAR, PERSONAL, PRIVATE, JEALOUS GUARDIANSHIP AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OVER YOUR LIFE, then you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.

First Fruits, Part II

I wrote to you several months ago about the tithe, or ordinance of first fruits (click for link).

It is a great pleasure to report to you today that, since originally writing to you exactly four months ago yesterday, I have not been able to outgive Him. I have tried very hard, but our blessings have indeed multiplied...and I have no explanation other than: The Lord is True to His Word and He is Good.

I will keep trying to outgive Him. And if I am able, I will be sure to let you know. Though, I believe the prospects are slim...

Praise and glory and honor to our Savior and King, Jesus Christ!

I love you.

-Daddy

Question and Answer

A brief conversation you initiated with me this morning:

QUESTION: Why do you like Jesus so much?
ANSWER: Because He saved me.

This will make sense to you one day. Never be afraid to ask why...

I love you.

-Daddy

"When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. -Colossians 2:13-14 NASB

This Moment

"And He said, 'Come!' And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus." -Matthew 14:29 NASB

When you decide to open your heart, to render all your inclinations unto Him, you will never be the same again. This is completely under your control...this moment. Then you will learn how it was chosen just for you. This Moment. Like Peter stepping out of the boat...A moment that defies all laws known to you. A moment etched into your mind for eternity. A moment of absolute purity and weightlessness. A morsel to savor until...until.

I love you.

-Daddy

Divine Mercy

Read this poem by Mitch Doolittle sometime...

God of Rest

"We must come to realize this: created things are nothing, and we must turn aside from them to love and have our God who is not made. This is the only reason we are not fully at ease in heart and soul: that we look to find our true rest in these things that are so little that they contain no rest. And we know not our God, who is almighty, all wise, all good. For He is the very rest. God will be known; He is pleased when we find our rest in Him. All that falls short of Him will never satisfy us. This is why no soul can be at peace until it is rid of all created things. Only when the soul turns away and denies itself so as to find Him who is All will it be able to receive true peace and rest." -Julian of Norwich, Revelation of Love

Just a quick testimonial...

I drove to a meeting out in the country on Sunday afternoon. It was a three hour drive, so I brought several praise and worship CD's to listen to along the way. As a short preface this story, Mommy and I have had a difficult last couple of weeks. We have been under quite a lot of stress at work, and our difficulties have seemed to follow us home each evening. I really needed some time alone to think and pray...

Back to the car: I was listening to my favorite of these CD's (from a recent ACTS Retreat I attended), singing along loudly as I drove. At that moment, I felt like the Lord was blessing me with His Holy Presence. I was openly crying and felt so free. The music and surrounding landscape was so amazingly beautiful!

The next song on the CD ("Come to Me" by David Kauffman) began playing as I continued to drive and sing along:

"My burden is easy. My yoke is so light.
If you need rest, come to Me.
You who are weary. You who are laden.
Give to Me your worry, your anguish,
And I will set you free..."

Then, as I was singing these words, I glanced to my right and saw the entrance to what was either a ranch or a new development. On the archway above the gate in huge letters were the words "EL SUENO." Now I don't know if you know this, but the definition of the spanish word sueno in english is "an unconscious state entered into by the body for the purpose of rest and rejuvination." The translation of "El Sueno" in english is "The Dream." However, "EL" is also used over 250 times in its basic form in the Hebrew Tanakh "as a title for God meaning 'strength, might or power'" (click here for reference).

Am I dreaming? I believe that He was right there with me on Sunday afternoon displaying His great love, power and goodness...along with His impeccable sense of timing:

EL SUENO = GOD OF REST ?!

I believe and...

I love you.

-Daddy

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." -Matthew 11:28-30 NASB

"My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him." -Psalms 62:1 NIV

"Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, 'So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest.'' And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: 'And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.' And again in the passage above he says, 'They shall never enter my rest.' It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." -Hebrews 4:1-11 NIV

"It is written: 'I believed; therefore I have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God." -2 Corinthians 4:13-15 NIV

"Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons." -Deuteronomy 4:9 NASB

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you." -Isaiah 26:3 NIV

Apart From His Grace

"'Behold, O my people, I will open your graves.' When God wants to show you what human nature is like apart from Himself, He has to show it you in yourself. If the Spirit of God has given you a vision of what you are apart from the grace of God (and He only does it when His Spirit is at work), you know there is no criminal who is half so bad in actuality as you know yourself to be in possibility. My 'grave' has been opened by God and 'I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.' God's Spirit continually reveals what human nature is like apart from His grace." -Oswalt Chambers in "The Staggering Question"

Do not take His Grace, Mercy and Love for granted. His Grace, Mercy and Love saves us from our own sin nature. Anyone who relies upon his or her own nature and intelligence, and denies Jesus' At-one-ment and the power of His Spirit, is "condemned already."

Listen to your heart. Is it at peace right now? If so, feel the Holy Spirit at work within you and praise the One who has united you to His Sacred Heart.

Make no mistake. You will know when He shows you yourself apart from Him. No matter when or where or how this happens, remember to CALL TO JESUS AND BELIEVE IN HIS HOLY NAME! These are the "labor pains" of a new birth in Christ. This is why He died...so you could live through Him and in Him.

I love you.

-Daddy

"I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." -Zechariah 12:10 NASB

"With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." -Micah 6:6-8 NIV

"He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." -John 1:11-13 NASB

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." -John 3:16-19 KJV