Quote from Forum Archives on November 25, 2005, 10:13 pm

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Word for Today, Fri, 25 Nov 2005: The Secret Of Spiritual Coherence
Dear friends,

Again, Oswald Chambers really understands, not just the
basics of our faith, he also understands some of the
deeper things that really make a difference, not just
in the basic aspect of faith, but in the underlying
attitudes that lie beneath the deeper surfaces of our
minds. In today's issue, Oswald discusses spiritual
coherence, and also describes emotional incoherence.
Ouch, he describes how I have been pretty well!

Time to develop and mature in Christ. The apostle Paul
provides an excellent example to us of how that can be
accomplished. Paul dumped everything else, including,
and perhaps especially, his former notions about God
and his faith. What's left is an intimate, personal
relationship with the creator of the universe that does
not rely on anything else, and the ups and downs of
life around him have little, if any effect on where he
stands.

Wouldn't it be nice to have that kind of rock solid
stability in our own relationship with God?

Yours in Christ,
Brian

_____________________________________________________________

-//--------------------------------------------------------
/ MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST -- www.heartlight.org/
--/---------------------------------------------------------

November 25, 2005

THE SECRET OF SPIRITUAL COHERENCE

But God forbid that I should glory, save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Galatians 6:14
www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=ga+6:14&sr=1

When a man is first born again, he becomes incoherent,
there is an amount of unrelated emotion about him,
unrelated phases of external things. In the apostle
Paul there was a strong steady coherence underneath,
consequently he could let his external life change as
it liked and it did not distress him because he was
rooted and grounded in God. Most of us are not
spiritually coherent because we are more concerned
about being coherent externally. Paul lived in the
basement; the coherent critics live in the upper story
of the external statement of things, and the two do not
begin to touch each other. Paul's consistency was down
in the fundamentals. The great basis of his coherence
was the agony of God in the Redemption of the world,
viz., the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Re-state to yourself what you believe, then do away
with as much of it as possible, and get back to the
bedrock of the Cross of Christ. In external history
the Cross is an infinitesimal thing; from the Bible
point of view it is of more importance than all the
empires of the world. If we get away from brooding on
the tragedy of God upon the Cross in our preaching, it
produces nothing. It does not convey the energy of God
to man; it may be interesting but it has no power. But
preach the Cross, and the energy of God is let
loose. "It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe." "We preach Christ
crucified."

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers //
================================================= /===
www.heartlight.org/devotionals/my_utmost /

This devotional is copyright Oswald Chambers
Publications, < www.oswaldchambers.co.uk >.

--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________
Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005
mail.yahoo.com