March 31
Heedfulness or Hypocrisy in Ourselves?

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST, OSWALD CHAMBERS

If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death
—1 John 5:16

"If we are not heedful and pay no attention to the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other people are failing, and then we take our discernment and turn it into comments of ridicule and criticism, instead of turning it into intercession on their behalf. God reveals this truth about others to us not through the sharpness of our minds but through the direct penetration of His Spirit. If we are not attentive, we will be completely unaware of the source of the discernment God has given us, becoming critical of others and forgetting that God says, ". . . he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death."

...One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them (see Philippians 2:5 )...

(my comments on this devotional)

Wow. I only posted a portion of today's devotional, but I think you get the point. As God gives us discernment, the only purpose, the One purpose, is to ask God, that He may give them life rather than allow that sin to work (death in them) and a slow and painful death in their relationship with the Lord !! God's desire is that we would assume the responsibility for this intercession before Him WITHOUT any critical tendencies, without hypocrisy, remembering it is the Spirit of God who gives discernment for the purpose of asking LIFE for those who are committing this sin. Perhaps this is why Oswald describes this part of intercession and becoming Christ-like as a BURDEN. Discernment becomes a burden in the sense that we give no opportunity for critical tendencies, but rather the burden is one that we must labor spiritually speaking, in prayer and supplication ONLY, for the one purpose, that He may give them life.

I have sadly fallen into this trap of old Satan before, i.e. using discernment as an opportunity to become critical and harsh, all in the hope that I could somehow see myself as much more spiritual. (as a tool to further my own agenda of spiritualness) How far that is from what the Lord desires to accomplish. Forgive me Lord I pray. By God's grace may I have steadfast victory & overcome self-motivated agendas and become the living sacrifice that bears the burden of intercession without committing this sin.

May the Lord grant continued desire deep in our heart to travail in prayer and supplication according to the Spirit and keep ourselves from this perverse wickedness. So that as 1 John 5:18 continues to say a couple verses later in this chapter, "but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not."

Keepeth Himself .... we must be diligent to keep ourselves in the Light of His Word, which is the lamp whereby we can keep ourselves ! As God speaks to us today, through this Word, may we be changed and freed from the sin that easily entangles us. God is the one who births spiritual discernment and growth within us ....it is not our working and laboring hard to achieve spiritualness and depth that will keep us, but humbly, we keep ourselves as we instead acknowledge our weaknesses, our sins, our failures and desperate neediness in an honest and transparent child-like state before the Lord as we read His Word. I like what one friend has said, and I quote: "Our greatest captivity is not to any other person or system; it is to self. And the greater bondage here is not the appetites of the flesh we clearly know are sinful, but the agendas we hold for our own good!!" Let us see the root of self when we allow discernment to become opportunities to speak critical and harsh words. This does not bring the life that God intended. We cannot relate to the Lord until we carry this burden of intercession effectively. We must come to realize during this whole process of intercession we are changed as we carry this burden. We can get to the point then where we can help one another discover the depth of a relationship in Christ where we are truly free from contempt, manipulation, expectation. Free from the arrogance of setting ourselves above others. To truly be free, free to treat believers and unbelievers alike, recognizing that part of the freedom Christ offers us is to be real, honest and vulnerable before Him. To feel what you feel; to ask what you need to ask, to be wrong where you are wrong, and to extend that same freedom to others. Grace.

Therein might we instead be changed by the Lord through His mercy, through His Grace. This is the formation of Christ wherein God has begotten us ...and "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to HIS ABUNDANT MERCY hath begotten us again unto a LIVELY HOPE by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." HALLELUJAH!

"And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life."