"And we know that all things
work together for good
to them that love God,
to them who are the called
according to his purpose.
For whom he did foreknow,
he also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of his Son."
(Rom. 8:28, 29)
SPIRITUAL GROWTH
is to see that all things are working together
to make us more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
In spite of difficult things and frustrations,
we can pray "Thy Will Be Done."
"But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image
from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
(2 Cor. 3:18)
How does God accomplish this purpose?
One of God's mose effective means is:
FAILURE!
Failure in our lives, cause us to be
FRANTIC.
We want to hide it,
We try to ignore it,
We even rationlize it.
But this is God's instrument
to conform us to the image of His Son!
FAILURE!
causes us to turn completely from ourselves
unto the source of our life:
CHRIST JESUS
Who never fails.
The Holy Spirit
quietly and effortlessly
changes the center of our life
from self to Christ.
We pray, "Not I, but Christ."
"If I am to be like Him,
then God in His grace must do it,
and the sooner I come to recognize it the sooner
I will be delivered from another form of bondage.
Throw down every endeavor and say, I cannot do it,
the more I try the farther I get from His likeness.
What shall I do?
Ah, the Holy Spirit says,
You cannot do it;
just withdraw;
come out of it.
You have been in the arena,
you have been endeavoring,
you are a failure,
come out and sit down,
and as you sit there
behold Him, look at Him.
Don't try to be like Him,
just look at Him.
Just be occupied with Him.
Forget about trying to be like Him.
Instead of letting that fill your mind and heart,
let Him fill it.
Just behold Him,
look upon Him through the Word.
Come to the Word for one purpose
and that is to meet the Lord."
"For it is God which worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure"
(Philippians 2:13)
