A Simple Word

"Always esteem it best to arrive at your journey's end by that way which divine Wisdom has chosen for you, however different it may be from your own choice, or from the devices of your own heart."

(John Arndt, TC, 40.6)


Reader, may the following be a description of your life with God, be read as thoughtful reflections, and be your prayer to Him.


Thou hidden source of calm repose,
Thou all-sufficient love divine;
My help and refuge from my foes,
Secure I am if Thou art mine;
And lo! From sin, and grief, and shame,
I hide me, Jesus, in Thy name.

Thy mighty name salvation is,
And keeps my happy soul above;
Comfort it brings, and power, and peace,
And joy, and everlasting love;
To me, with Thy dear name, are given
Pardon, and holiness, and Heaven.

Jesus, my All-in-all Thou art –
My rest in toil, my ease in pain,
The medicine of my broken heart,
In war my peace, in loss my gain;
My smile beneath the tyrant’s frown;
In shame, my glory and my crown;

In want, my plentiful supply;
In weakness, my almighty power;
In bonds, my perfect liberty;
My light in Satan’s darkest hour;
My help and stay whene’er I call;
My life in death, my heaven, my all.

(Charles Wesley)

Seeing Mercy

Greetings Friend.

Much time has passed since I last wrote you. I know you have challenges, but I trust your heart is well. Be encouraged. Life is more than the things which pass.

The World continues its activities in seeking out followers. The Flesh and its ways are equally as busy. The Enemy of souls never rests. Yet, even with these ever-present foes, I am convinced that each day provides us opportunity to understand the presence of these influences in our lives and the lives of others, and that "seeing" their presence and influences we may act accordingly.

This discernment lends itself to knowing our hearts and must continue. Through this understanding and discernment, we realize our separateness to God and can further position ourselves in spirit from all that is unclean. We can thereby see sufficiently to pray for others to be awakened to God and His redemptive works through His Son and for His mercy to be applied to their lives. The World, the Flesh, and the Enemy of souls do not desire such movement by you friend, nor can they ever desire it. They do not foster mercy. You, if you be of Christ, you alone in this world can live this desire and foster mercy. It is your heart. Do you know yourself this way? Is this at all descriptive of your Christian day?

What of the admonition to "freely give what we've been freely given"? What meaning does it have when considering the gift of illumination, which we as believers have received, as we move through the moments comprising our days and our relationships? Do the things God has shown you matter in your relations? After having been awakened to your separateness to God in Christ and from all that is worldly, how does your life transact? That which is of the World, the Flesh and the Enemy of souls strives to keep you in darkness (as if un-illumined) and transact your relations as if from darkness. May God grant you insight regarding this. Treasure the gift of illumination to the things of God and live from it.

Reader, it is, unfortunately, much more natural for us, even if we have some familiarity with our separateness in Christ, to see and respond from what is fleshly and in relation to what is of the world rather than what is of God and eternal. Consider Jesus' statement denoting a difference between mercy and sacrifice in Matthew 9:13 and 12:7, for example. I pondered this recently and had the following thoughts. They are presented without concern as to their being right or wrong. They are simply a record of where my mind went.

- Jesus Himself seems to be the primary interpretative focal point to understanding the use of this statement in the context each is given.

- Jesus was more moved to render mercy than requiring others to sacrifice.

- He knew He was God's sacrifice, thereby rendering Him free to extend mercy to those needing it and eliminating the view (demand) requiring others live lives of "supposed" merit or sacrifice, including what I call the imposed burden of merit.

- As followers of Christ, we are freed from any life driven by "supposed" merit and the imposed burden of merit, thus we are free, as was Christ, to live from mercy and to extend mercy to those in need.

- Doing such removes from others the requirement of meeting any demands we in the flesh would impose on them.

- This results in their experiencing what is of God in us, thus their experiencing God in the world, all a contrast to their experiencing only the World, the Flesh, and the Enemy of souls.

- The "imposed burden of merit" is what I call the transference and perpetuation of a merit-based, flesh driven, life dynamic that exists and gets passed along if we ourselves don't live from an illumined sense of God's mercy.

- If we impose the burden of merit on others in our relations, we prevent others from knowing and possibly living by mercy, thus reinforcing an ungodly basis for relationships and keeping what is of God from people's lives.

- Mercy is freely given. Sacrifice is demanded.

Reader, if you have been freed from all merit-based sacrifice requirement by God’s mercy, meaning you know mercy, do you require others to live sacrificial lives to you, or do you free them of that because you operate from extended mercy toward them?

Experientially knowing mercy begets mercy. Not knowing mercy, or having only an intellectual comprehension of mercy, leaves sacrifice operative, thereby it begets the demand of sacrifice. One is God's way. Jesus knew both in ways we never will, and he elected mercy. He sacrificed Himself to give others mercy. Contextually, Jesus offered this desiring mercy over sacrifice in contrast to the Pharisees. How do you read you soul at this point? Where is your heart?

May God grant you understanding friend. Know your separateness. Freely give what you freely received. Give mercy and abandon requiring sacrifice. Live a life of separateness to God and permit others to experience Him through your life. Ponder and pray regarding the condition of your heart.

While I continue to consider Matthew 13 and the idea of separateness, the thoughts stated in this letter seemed good to share with you. May you daily be built up not just in the knowledge which pertains to your faith but the life itself. Trials will persist. But knowing one’s heart and the promotion of mercy need also persist.

God's best.

Carl

Do You See What Is Coming Up From Behind You?

Greetings Friend.

I know life has been hard on you. We live in a fallen world. We are fallen individuals, and we live among fallen people. In addition, I know that since the last time I wrote, your fleshly passions have been at war with what is of God in you. This ongoing conflict is truly the severest struggle any human will experience, although we at times, or regularly, give greater attention to less important concerns and demands.

Many nights, before the evening’s rest, I read the prayers of a certain saint. I have found this habit both quieting to my mind and soul, as well as informative concerning how another Christian prayed. Last night’s reading contained a reference to Revelation 14:13:

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”

I ask you, friend, as I asked myself last night, first to consider or imagine your passage out of this life into the Lord’s presence. What do you envision when you consider this event? Has God brought you to the place where you view this as “blessed”? If you are in the Lord, then this experiential quality awaits you. If the day were today, would it be real for you?

Second, note that “rest” is provided from some type of labor. Rest is truly something we naturally desire. We can all rejoice and delight regarding this rest. The sting, though, comes from the works which follow. Reader, once you are fully in Christ’s presence your life works will join you. What testimony will your works give regarding your earthly life? Have you concerns as you envision this event unfolding in the presence of God?

Even though we live in a fallen world as fallen people, as a Christian (or as a non-Christian, for all must face death and should consider this event) what are the works which will most comfort you in Christ’s presence? Which life works will create the most dread and regret? May I encourage you, dear reader, that you begin by recognizing the deeper conflict you face daily is often more subtle than you may naturally perceive, and that the works associated with this reality of blessedness and rest originate from faith and love. Works which you will be glad to see join you in Christ’s presence are those which can be traced back to the work of God in your life: from God, by God, and for His glory. Works which you will dread the approach of are works of your flesh that can be traced back to what is ungodly in you, for self-glory, or corruptible intent, or worldly purposes.

I find it all too easy, my friend, to read the verse above, enjoy thoughts of blessing, and not allow opportunity for God’s Spirit (who is referenced as showing us this truth) the freedom and time to search me concerning the character and effects of my life as if present before the Lord. And yourself, dear reader, do you see what is coming up from behind you to stand with you before the Lord?

It is my strong desire to continue the series “Do You Sense Your Separateness,” and I trust our God will guide me in doing that soon. What I have just written you pertains to that theme. Do you sense that?

I close this writing to you with a hymn that can easily be a description of my life journey and yours, if you are in Christ, and can become a description of your life if you are now only of the world and do not yet know Christ. Either way, the hymn is rich and can be personalized as prayer or used for contemplation.

May God’s presence be known to you more every moment of each day that He gives you on this earth, and may you rest in His love, goodness and wisdom.

Carl


“O the bitter shame and sorrow,
That a time could ever be
When I let the Savior’s pit
Plead in vain, and proudly answered,
‘All of self, and none of Thee.’

Yet He found me; I beheld Him
Bleeding on the accursed tree,
Heard Him pray, ‘Forgive them, Father!’
And my wistful heart said faintly,
‘Some of self, and some of Thee.’

Day by day His tender mercy,
Healing, helping, full and free,
Sweet and strong, and O! so patient,
Brought me lower, while I whispered,
‘Less of self, and more of Thee.’

Higher than the highest heaven,
Deeper than the deepest sea,
Lord, Thy love at last has conquered;
Grant me now my soul’s desire,
‘None of self, and all of Thee!’”

(Theodore Monad, 1836 – 1931)

Do You Sense Your Separateness? (Part I)

Greetings Reader.

In this world, we have been told, we will not merely "have" but we will "know" affliction, suffering, and the affects of our sins and the sins of others. Yet, we've also been told, Christ overcame the world, and it is our faith which gives us the victory we long for. How goes it with your soul today with respect to this struggle? Are your longings being satisfied through Christ?

I have for some weeks desired to venture into Matthew 13, yet I have not known how to introduce the chapter and the, perhaps uncommon, view on this chapter that I have come to realize. Thus, this entry serves as an introduction to the topic of one's separateness and one's awareness of being separated. Do you, reader, if you are in Christ, do you know your separateness? Do you feel or sense your separateness? Do you live in light of this sense of separateness daily? If you do not, and you profess Christ, then you must ask yourself why you do not know your separateness? If you do not profess Christ, then not knowing your separateness is the most natural position for you to experience.

What follows, in this post, is a section from a classic, but rarely discovered, book by a man named John Arndt. His work "True Christianity" was the most likely book to be found on the table of early American settlers along with their Bible. In fact, True Christianity's first "published in American" edition was done by Ben Franklin, at the request of these early American Christian colonists. This edition was needed because these believers had so used the copies brought from Europe and beyond that they were worn out. If you have never read True Christianity (book one) by John Arndt, you owe it to yourself before the end of your earthly life to do so. You will learn, at a minimum, what a rich heritage of belief many who settled this country held, and you will see also how far we have moved from that heritage.

Subsequent posts will explore the concept of separateness as known through Jesus' words recorded in Matthew 13.

May you know, live, God's riches in Christ this day.

Carl


“He Who Does Not Live in Christ, but Gives His Heart to the World, Has Only the Outward Letter of the Scriptures, but He Does Not Experience Their Power, or Eat the Hidden Manna”

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.” (Rev 2:17)

“By this Scripture we are taught that no man can taste the inward sweetness of heavenly joy and comfort in the hidden Word, who does not first vanquish his own flesh and the world, with all its pomp and lust, and the devil himself. But those that crucify their flesh daily, with all its desires and lusts, by serious contrition and repentance, who die daily to themselves and to the world, and to whom this life is a cross and affliction; these are divinely fed with the heavenly manna, and drink the wine of the joy of paradise. Those, on the other hand, that love the pleasures of this world rather than those of heaven, render themselves altogether unfit to taste the hidden manna, preserved for him alone that overcomes. The reason is because like things (according to the proverb) rejoice in their like; and things of a contrary nature to not unite with one another. Since, therefore, the Word of God is spiritual, it is no wonder that worldly minds take no pleasure in it. For as the body receives no strength from the food which the stomach does not digest; so the soul receives no strength from the divine Word, unless it is entirely converted into itself, that is, into its own life and nature.”

John Arndt, True Christianity, Book I, Chapter 36.

The One Thing Needful

Beloved of God in Christ Jesus,

How goes it with your soul this day?

Christian, does this question sound strange to your ears? When your eyes read such a question, does your mind immediately bear you witness that the question speaks of an alien or distant reality too far away from your heart to have any familiarity of spirit? If so, then, "How goes it with your soul just now?" Why is there such distance in this instant? What road have you been traveling? Where does your heart venture? Does it not seem for the Christian that a question on “how your soul is” should be most natural? Perhaps we choose to avoid what is most real to us. Perhaps we simply do not know.

Each of us, if truly in Christ, must feel the inward tearing of our hearts, deep inward sadness, yet at times inexpressible joys. Our Lord did. Do you find it odd that you, as one in Him, should share similarity to Him in this regard? Are you familiar with the deep sorrows and joys that you find are yours with God alone? No human can carry the weight of these sorrows for you. They are God's, and He delights to hear you concerning them. He delights to receive them from you and give you His rest and peace in return. In like fashion, no human can truly receive your God-ward glorious praises and thanks! These, also, are God's, and He delights to hear you concerning them. By offering such to God, you are drawn more into His presence.

Why do we think it strange if we find no comfort in or from the world when we are not of the world? And, as sad as it is to say (yet I must acknowledge it), why do we think it strange to find no comfort in or from those in Christ with us, given that we share the same Lord? Is it because they have not the nature, capacity, nor interest for what is most alive within us? Can it be that “That” alone is God's, thus it is only for God and me to share and know? I must exist as an individual with God in this way. Do I? Do you?

Can you begin to comprehend the weight of Jesus' hidden relation to His Father? Jesus knew what was in man, and He committed Himself to the Father only. He lived at His deepest level separate with His Father. Do you yet see that you too, Christian, like Christ, in this way, are to walk in His steps? Beloved, do you know God as your life in your solitude, in your hidden-ness, that region of your interior where your deepest sorrows and greatest joys abide?

Whether or not the above description is my experience alone or one shared with you, I want to encourage you this day (and hopefully often) to ask yourself the question "What is the one thing needful?" For by allowing God to move in your life to reveal to and in you the answer, you will, I wager, see where life is found. God must show you the answer Himself. It is a work He delights in doing. Yours is to ask, to seek.

Christian, How goes it with your soul this day? What is the one thing needful?

“Divinity’s indwelling power sustained Him till nature was dead.”

(Joseph Swain, 1761-96)

A Reading By Carl Bogatzky

Carl Bogatzky lived in the 1500s. Below is the reading for November 19, which is taken from his devotional The Golden Treasury. Numerous editions of the devotional exist. Lines from an unidentified hymn conclude the reading. Enjoy.

The Lord is not far from every one of us: for in him we live, and move, and have our being. Acts 17. 27,28. Even the very hairs on your head are all numbered. Luke 7. 7.

Oh the close and tender love of the Lord over his people. Nothing is so mean, but it is under the providence of God, since even the least can either hurt or profit the soul. And how sweet is it to observe his footsteps, even in the minutest things, and to be satisfied that we may trust our greater and lesser concerns to his care! O Lord, grant that I may never swerve from, nor do anything without thee; but that my goings in and goings out may be always done in thy presence, as if I had to do with none but thee; nay, as if we both lived together alone in the world. Oh that I could transact all my affairs with thee alone, and in all places look upon thee as if thou only a God for me. Let me carefully mark the inward workings of thy grace, and the outward tokens of thy providence, so as daily to have a true sense of thy gracious presence in everything, more or less important, and thereby to be ever strengthened in faith, and kept in a composed state of mind; considering that nothing happens by mere chance, but all is wisely ordered by thy providential care to our good; firmly believing, if anything goes contrary to expectation, that something better will follow in its stead, if we can only can be quiet and wait the time.

God that must stoop to view the skies,
And bow to see what angels do,
Down to our earth he cast his eyes,
And bends his footsteps downwards too.

He overrules all mortal things,
And manages our mean affairs,
On humble souls the King of kings
Bestows his counsels and his cares.

A Hymn of Paul Gerhardt

Many of you may have only become aware of Paul Gerhardt through the mention of his name, and that of his wife Mary, by reading the previous blog post. I wanted to share with you a hymn of his that he read Mary, at her request, during the last moments of her earthly life. I trust your reading of it will not only convey Gerhardt's excellence with hymn writing, but also encourage you to consider if these word would so strengthen you at your final moments of earthly life. May the truths reflected in this hymn find home in your heart.


"Thou blessed Shepherd hail!
Whose hands all pierced and riven,
Are with the holy roses filled,
Whose sweetness gladdens heaven.
The bleeding prints of nails,
Which tore them on the tree,
These are the roses which Thy hands
Bear, blooming still for me.

Wide open are Thy hands,
Paying with more than gold
The awful debt of guilty men,
Forever and of old--
Ah, let me grasp those hands,
That we may never part,
And let the power of their blood,
Sustain my fainting heart.

Wide open are Thine arms,
A fallen world to embrace,
To take to love and endless rest,
Our whole forsaken race.
Lord, I am sad and poor,
But boundless is Thy grace;
Give me the soul-transforming joy,
For which I seek Thy face.

Draw all my mind and heart,
Up to Thy throne on high,
And let Thy sacred cross exalt
My spirit to the sky.
O, let me die with Thee,
Thy bleeding heart beside;
Let sin which lives and reigns in me,
With Thee be crucified.

To these Thy loving hands,
Whose pangs were wrought by me,
My trembling lips I fain would press,
To all eternity;
To these Thy mighty hands
My spirit I resign,
Living, I live alone to Thee,
Dying, alone am Thine."


(from Pictures from the Life of Paul Gerhardt)