by G. D. Watson
If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Matthew 16:24-25
If God has called you to be truly like Jesus in all your spirit, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility. He will put on you such demands of obedience that you will not be allowed to follow other Christians. In many ways, He seems to let other good people do things which He will not let you do.
Others who seem to be very religious and useful may push themselves, pull wires, and scheme to carry out their plans, but you cannot. If you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others can brag about themselves, their work, their successes, their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing. If you begin to do so, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others will be allowed to succeed in making great sums of money, or having a legacy left to them, or in having luxuries, but God may supply you only on a day-to-day basis, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, a helpless dependence on Him and His unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward while keeping 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.
God may let others be great, but keep you small. He will let others do a work for Him and get the credit, but He will make you work and toil without knowing how much you are doing. Then, to make your work still more precious, He will let others get the credit for the work which you have done; this to teach you the message of the Cross, humility, and something of the value of being cloaked with His nature.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch on you, and with a jealous love rebuke you for careless words and feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem distressed over.
So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and has a right to do as He pleases with His own, and that He may not explain to you a thousand things which may puzzle your reason in His dealings with you.
God will take you at your word. If you absolutely sell yourself to be His slave, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and let other people say and do many things that you cannot. Settle it forever; you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue or chaining your hand or closing your eyes in ways which others are not dealt with. However, know this great secret of the Kingdom: When you are so completely 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, you will have found the vestibule of heaven, the high calling of God.
Thank you Mike, Hope you are feeling ok and May the Lord give you His stength patience and peace to make it through these moments that are going on in your life. My brother forgive me but I know something isn’t right! And I can only again pray that you will be Ok. Miss your company.
In Christ,
David
Thanks David. I am going through a lot of family stuff right now that is taking time away from everything else. Also, my medical ban from driving is about up and so we are preparing for me to start driving again and that means driving myself to and from work everyday instead of working from home. All these things are “pressure” and are distracting. I think that after this weekend, things may settle down a bit. Please keep me in your prayers brother.
Thank you Mike for posting this. I am learning a lot from your posts and appreciate them much.
Again I pray the the Lord Jesus Christ gives you His Strength patience and peace to make it through these times, In Christs’ name I and others pray! For your postings have been following exactly what has been on my heart first thing in the morning. I do know that you are in need and are troubled. Still have problems with posting things here for I’d rather talk with you personnally and not let the whole world know everything. I still struggle all the time with things that are going on in my life and if I didn’t admit to it I’d be a liar. Please also keep me in your prayers. For there are a few people that I know here in Wisconsin that do pray for you daily. Again I thank the Lord Jesus Christ for your posts.
In Christ,
David
Good video.
Thats a big change for you regarding work. I will be praying for you.
In Christ.
Fiona.
@Mike, thanks for this video.
And I pray you will receive the strength and grace you need today (tomorrow and the days to come).
I don’t listen to the radio or watch TV (I’m not against technology or nothing, I just spend time on the computer instead) so I had never heard this song. It was wonderful! Very convicting indeed.
You are welcome Angie!
David, I am in the midst of praying for God to cleanse me and lead me to overcome as much as I can, lead by the Holy Spirit to be Christlike. That means I am praying for attitudes, thoughts, motives, everything to come under the Lordship of Christ. That includes not just ministry stuff, but all relationships at all times. I am no different than anyone else in that I am a sinner in deep need of grace in order to even serve my Lord so this is a time of “struggle” for me. It is also a time of refreshing in God’s Word as I am going deeper into Greek. This is also stressful as I am having to apply what I have been learning as I teach it here. On top of all of that I have to travel to OKC this weekend to attend a wedding. Right now I have my daughter and grandson staying with us this week. This is why my time is so short
. In any case, after this weekend, things should calm down some. In the first week or so in October, I should be cleared to drive again and will be able to drive myself to work. I have been working from home most of the time and having my wife drive me to and from work a couple of days a week since my seizures came back a year ago. In any case, they seem to be under control now and my doctors are thrilled with how I am doing so that part is good. The “troubling” or “stress” you are sensing is my own agony over my sin as I repent as God takes me through my own cleansing and transformation just as I have been praying for Him to do. He is good to those who belong to Him.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
“That means I am praying for attitudes, thoughts, motives, everything to come under the Lordship of Christ”…
You and me both!
Thank you Fiona!
You are welcome Janet and thank you for your prayers!
Kit, a friend sent me that video on Facebook. I have watched it over a dozen times since I got it yesterday. I had to post it.
Amen Kit!
Hi Mike,
This song and video is very good. Thanks for shaing it. It is amazing how it relates to the article you wrote yesterday on The Christian’s First Love; repenting from lukewarmness and being neither hot nor cold and leaving our first love.
Many blessings today and this weekend.
Thanks Diane. Yes, I thought they fit together very well. However, this repentance stuff isn’t a quick thing, but a long process of turning and staying with it. At least it is for me.
There was one part of that video that I really liked. It showed King Jesus with His crown and all of His saints in their white robes before Him. I so want to be there before Him there. I so want to be where He is.
In Christ
Mike Ratliff
So it is…every minute we repent, don’t we. I find something I need to repent of.
I know what you mean about that part in the video where the saints were in white robes before the throne. Beautiful.
I was thinking about Jesus’ prayer to Peter…where He said that He would pray his faith would not fail. Can you imagine! That prayer would never fail. It is a great encouragement for me to know that Jesus makes sure our faith will not fail. Our Great Intercessor and High Priest who ever lives to make intercession for us in heaven at the right hand of the Father—now that is a sight I want to see.
Diane! Yes, you know, some of my enemies love to call me a fundamentalist, but you know that the fundy preachers that they are characterizing would never talk about grace the way you and I are right now. Grace, grace, grace! Wow, where would we be without prayers from out Lord that our faith would not fail… So, when we see professing Christians whose faith has obviously failed then we know that it was never there to begin with. When we say things like that, then the fundy label comes out and is applied. God’s truth is TRUTH and there is no gray area. What God declares clean and holy is clean and holy and in our case, thankfully, it is not based on merit.
High view of man and a low view of God and His holiness, don’t you think? Do we believe the words of the Lord or not.
That’s it exactly Diane!
I was just discussing this morning with a dear brother about the tendency in the US of A to be content with our stuff and disobedient in taking every thought captive for Christ. Yet we must be wise in reaching the world – with the Gospel as the priority, not merely relief from physical suffering.
May the Lord continue to break my heart over my sin and draw me closer to Himself, for His own glory.
Many thanks for posting this video – I will make use of it on my web site as well.
Amen and you are very welcome Manfred!
I felt to compelled to pray more for you too, Mike….God bless you, my brother.
Thank you Heather!
Mike, I’m praying for you over the situation right now. It’s through the trials which God has allowed to make us understanding His grace is sufficient.
I found many seeker sensitive leaning churches, and even some Arminian-leaning Charismatic churches would love to use blanketly this passage accusing us abandoning our first love in Christ Jesus because we refuse to go the Rick Warren ways for be emotional-and-contemporary-above-all in service, but if you at what they call as works that “manifest our love for Jesus” it is either human fleshy emotional high or some humanist ecumenical humanitarian achievements. As you said, God’s holiness and relying on His grace are two of the things that need to be taught again and again at a majority of professing churches today. Amen.
Dear Mike,
“…’Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling your self before your God, your words were heard,’…” Daniel 10:12
Isn’t this amazing?! We have a relationship with a Savior who loves us and has a personal interest in every tiny detail in our life. When we humble ourselves before Him and repent of our unrighteousness He is just and kind to forgive us through Christ. He hears our petitions even if we don’t “see” with human eyes the outcome of our prayers.
“Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.’” John 20:29
God is working mighty things through His word being faithfully preached to His beloved:) Kept by His grace