Social Networking Creating New Adultery Risk, Author Says

from Washington Times...

Dave Carder, a California pastor and psychologist who has studied adultery prevention and recovery for more than 30 years, spoke last week at a Smart Marriage conference in Orlando, FL. In his latest book, Close Calls: What Adulterers Want You to Know About Protecting Your Marriage, he details a new adultery risk created by social networking, such as Classmates.com and Facebook. "There's a new phenomenon—the idea that you can locate and recapture old romances, old flames, old boyfriends and girlfriends from adolescence…in (this) case, the infatuation is already stored in your brain. So if you get back in touch with a person like that—a person you dated, that you kissed, maybe a first-love experience—some 10, 15 years later … Well, the saying in my field is, 'Thirty days of regular contact with an old girlfriend/old boyfriend and you create an infatuation explosion. And in 30 more days, you will find a way to be with each other.' So it's 60 days from the start, because infatuation is a mood-altering experience. It's a huge drug of choice and will sweep you off your feet." Carder warns that, especially in times of unusual or sustained stress, a "surprise adultery" can occur where the affair is really an attempt to heal, distract or support yourself from the stressful situations. He encourages couples to watch for the danger signs and "risk factors—certain seasons of life, certain ages, certain life experiences, certain marital stages, personal histories you bring to the marriage—that can set you up for an affair. That doesn't mean you are going to do it, but like in the disease model, there are risk factors."

The Washington Times 7/8/09 ...and what Scripture says...

(Leviticus 20:10) And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

(Proverbs 6:26) For by means of a whorish woman a man is brought to a piece of bread: and the adulteress will hunt for the precious life.

(Romans 7:3) So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the barbarians. Romans 1:14

Paul was overwhelmed with the sense of his indebtedness to Jesus Christ, and he spent himself to express it. The great inspiration in Paul’s life was his view of Jesus Christ as his spiritual creditor. Do I feel that sense of indebtedness to Christ in regard to every unsaved soul? The spiritual honour of my life as a saint is to fulfil my debt to Christ in relation to them. Every bit of my life that is of value I owe to the Redemption of Jesus Christ; am I doing anything to enable Him to bring His Redemption into actual manifestation in other lives? I can only do it as the Spirit of God works in me this sense of indebtedness. I am not to be a superior person amongst men, but a bondslave of the Lord Jesus. “Ye are not your own.” Paul sold himself to Jesus Christ. He says—‘I am a debtor to everyone on the face of the earth because of the Gospel of Jesus; I am free to be an absolute slave only.’ That is the characteristic of the life when once this point of spiritual honour is realized. Quit praying about yourself and be spent for others as the bondslave of Jesus. That is the meaning of being made broken bread and poured-out wine in reality."--

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. July 15

following my devotional blog?

Try my Facebook/Twitter account: facebook.com/troy.self or twitter.com search 'troyself'; devotional posts being made there regularly!

Thanks for the accountability and interest in what God's doing in my life!

from Chamber's 'Utmost for His Highest'

from the 25th devotional reading, 'The Test of Self-interest'

As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and luxurious prospects will open up before you, and these things are yours by right; but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God choose for you.

...if you are [living the life of faith], you will joyfully waive your right and leave God to choose for you. This is the discipline by means of which the natural is transformed into the spiritual by obedience to the voice of God.

Many of us do not go on spiritually because we prefer to choose what is right instead of relying on God to choose for us.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. May 25

I am black, but comely.

BEHOLD, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.--Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

I am a sinful man, O Lord.--Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair.

I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.--Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

When I would do good, evil is present with me.--Be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee.

I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.--Ye are complete in him.--Perfect in Christ Jesus.

Ye are washed, ...ye are sanctified, ...ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.--That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.

CANT. 1. 5. Ps. 51. 5.--Eze. 16. 14. Lu. 5. 8.--Ca. 4. 1. Job 42. 6.--Ca. 4. 7. Ro. 7. 21. Mat. 9. 2. Ro. 7. 18.-- Col. 2. 10; 1. 28.  Co. 6. 11. 1 Pe. 2. 9.

I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us.

HE brought me up...out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.--The Son of God,...loved me, and gave himself for me.--He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?--God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.--Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

      God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

ISA. 63. 7. Ps. 40. 2.--Ga. 2. 20.--Ro. 8. 32.-- Ro. 5. 8. 2 Co. 1. 22.--Ep. 1. 14. Ep. 2. 4-6.

In every thing ye are enriched by him.

WHEN we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.--He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

      In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.

      Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.--To will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.--Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

      If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.--Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom.

1 COR. 1. 5. Ro. 5. 6.--Ro. 8. 32. Col. 2. 9, 10. John 15. 4, 5.--Ro. 7. 18.-- Ep. 4. 7. John 15. 7.--Col. 3. 16.

As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.

WE . . . rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also.--I am filled with comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.--Believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.

      In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality.--Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

      Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?--God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in allthings, may abound to every good work.

2 COR. 6. 10. Ro. 5. 2, 3.--2 Co. 7. 4.-- 1 Pe. 1. 8. 2 Co. 8. 2.--Ep. 3. 8, 9. Ja. 2. 5.-- 2 Co. 9. 8.

He ever liveth to make intercession.

WHO is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, . . . who also maketh intercession for us.--Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

      If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.--There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

      Seeing . . . that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.--Through him we . . . have access by one Spirit unto the Father.

My Faith Has Found a Resting Place:

My faith has found a resting place,
Not in device or creed;
I trust the ever living One,
His wounds for me shall plead.

Refrain

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea,
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

Abraham believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead.

      The promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

      The just shall live by faith.--Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised).--Our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.--With God nothing shall be impossible.--And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.

GEN. 15. 6. Ro. 4. 20-24. Ro. 4. 13.  Ro. 1. 17.--He. 10. 23.--Ps. 115. 3.-- Lu. 1. 37, 45.

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty.

THOU art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.--Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest isholy ground. . . . I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.--To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.--I amthe LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.--I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour.

      As he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.--Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?--Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.--Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

REV. 4. 8. Ps. 22. 3.--Ex. 3. 5, 6.--Is. 40. 25.--Is. 43. 3, 11. 1 Pe. 1. 15, 16.--1 Co. 6. 19.--2 Co. 6. 16.--Amos 3. 3.

For the promise...

Romans 4:13-16

---

¹³ For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: ¹⁵ Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. ¹⁶ Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Faith works righteousness, not strict adherence to law. Faith is yoked with grace. 'of faith...by grace'

Abraham is the father of us all.

Fear the Lord!

Psalm 22:23-31

---

²³ Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. ²⁴ For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; neither hath he hid his face from him; but when he cried unto him, he heard. ²⁵ My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation: I will pay my vows before them that fear him. ²⁶ The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. ²⁷ All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. ²⁸ For the kingdom is the LORD’S: and he is the governor among the nations. ²⁹ All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship: all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him: and none can keep alive his own soul. ³⁰ A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. ³¹ They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.

Sarai to Sarah

Genesis 17:15-16

---

¹⁵ And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. ¹⁶ And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. (KJV)

Sarai, but Sarah: Sarai = princess Sarah = noblewoman
And I will bless her: in that she would bear children; children are a blessing not a curse! women today curse children and abort them or abuse them
kings of people shall be of her: The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.

Abram to Abraham

Genesis 17:1-7 1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, 4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. (KJV) perfect: entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth: - without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright (-ly), whole. Abram: high father Abraham: father of multitude Abram was a high father: wealthy, commanding with many servants under him, and powerful by wealthy middle-east standards of the time. He was also honorable: chosen by God to leave Ur, venerated by his own family insofar that his nephew Lot felt it worth his life to accompany his uncle on his travels; but Abram the honorable needed to become Abraham the father of multitudes...and so must I go from honor to soulwinning, becoming a spiritual father of multitudes of the everlasting covenant of Jesus Christ. In the literal sense of the text, God is not done with Israel, and has made Jew and Gentile one in Jesus Christ, so they are not put aside by reason of covenant and reason of Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews!

The blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

from Bagster's Daily Light for the Daily Path

EHOLD the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.--The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.--It is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.--By which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Abel . . . brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. . . . The LORD had respect to Abel and to his offering.-- Christ . . . hath loved us, and hath given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.--Having...boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus.

HEB. 12. 24. John 1. 29.--Re 13. 8.-- He. 10. 4, 5, 10. Ge. 4. 4.--Ep. 5. 2. He. 10. 22.--He. 10. 19.

I am the LORD who sanctify you.

AM the LORD your God, who have separated you from other people. And ye shall be holy to me: for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from other people, that ye should be mine.

Sanctified by God the Father.--Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.--The very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus . . . that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.--Our Saviour Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.--Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren.--For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified through the truth . . . Through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.

LEV. 20. 8. Le. 20. 24, 26. Jude 1.-- John 17. 17.--1 Th. 5. 23. He. 13. 12.-- Tit. 2. 13, 14.--He. 2. 11.--John 17. 19.--
1 Pe. 1. 2.

Sara...1 Peter 3:6

Peter writes, “Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord”

Sarah an older woman…and is proposed as an example, a template, a pattern, a mentor for the attitude and action Peter proposes for the winning of an unconverted husband.

One complaint from our older women is that the younger women ask them for counsel and then do the opposite of the advice given.

Choose right mentors, not Hollywood ‘babes’, nor Oprah nor The View!!!

You have worthy examples in your own congregation, even as Paul proposed: Titus 2:3-5

* The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; (Titus 2:3)
* That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, (Titus 2:4)
* To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. (Titus 2:5)

Sara obeyed Abraham, 1 Peter 3:6

Obeyed: Going along with him wherever he went, as from Chaldea to Canaan, and into Egypt, and the land of the Philistines, saying the words he put into her mouth, Gen.12:5 and doing the things he bid her do, as in last minute guests; Gen.18:6 "calling him lord"
Abraham: the father of faith
There are consequences to disobedience in the home…little eyes, and older eyes, are watching. Expect your behavior to be imitated!

1 Peter 3:1, Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands...

Wives of the ancient past were “in subjection unto their own husbands.” When Peter exhorts the female readers of this epistle to submit to their husbands, he bases his advice on a long-standing tradition. He knows that the women in ancient times demonstrated their submission with inner qualities that are highly favored in the sight of God.

We that are in this tabernacle do groan,being burdened.

LORD, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee...My iniquities have gone over my head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.--O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves, . . . which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, . . . groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.--Now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations.

Shortly I must put off this my tabernacle.--For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

2 COR. 5. 4. Ps. 38. 9, 4.--Ro. 7. 24.Ro. 8. 22, 23.--1 Pe. 1. 6. 2 Pe. 1. 14.--1 Co. 15. 53, 54.

be in subjection to your own husbands...

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; 1 Peter 3:1

Old Francis Quarles, in his homely rhymes, alluding to the superstitious notion, that the crowing of a hen bodes ill luck to the family, has said: -

“Ill thrives the hapless family that shows
A cock that’s silent, and a hen that crows:
I know not which live most unnatural lives,
Obeying husbands or commanding wives.”

...have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper...

¹ I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
extol: to praise; to exalt in commendation; to magnify
² O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. ³ O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. ⁴ Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. ⁵ For his anger^a endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

^a his anger...: Heb. there is but a moment in his anger Ps 30:1-5

¹⁰ Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper. ¹¹ Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; ¹² To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. Ps 30:10-12

Beauty-model?

Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; (1 Peter 3:1)
When you are in subjection, in order, you model peace and order in your relationship at home, including your children; just as your husband must be subject at work & to gov’t.
When you are in subjection to your husband, you are modeling Christ-likeness, as Christ was subject to the Father and lovingly did all the Father’s will.
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him. (John 8:29)

Is your imagination of God starved?

from: Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. February 10

Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things. Isaiah 40:26.

The people of God in Isaiah’s day had starved their imagination by looking on the face of idols, and Isaiah made them look up at the heavens; that is, he made them begin to use their imagination aright. Nature to a saint is sacramental. If we are children of God, we have a tremendous treasure in Nature. In every wind that blows, in every night and day of the year, in every sign of the sky, in every blossoming and in every withering of the earth, there is a real coming of God to us if we will simply use our starved imagination to realize it.
The test of spiritual concentration is bringing the imagination into captivity. Is your imagination looking on the face of an idol? Is the idol yourself? Your work? Your conception of what a worker should be? Your experience of salvation and sanctification? Then your imagination of God is starved, and when you are up against difficulties you have no power, you can only endure in darkness. If your imagination is starved, do not look back to your own experience; it is God Whom you need. Go right out of yourself, away from the face of your idols, away from everything that has been starving your imagination. Rouse yourself, take the gibe that Isaiah gave the people, and deliberately turn your imagination to God.
One of the reasons of stultification in prayer is that there is no imagination, no power of putting ourselves deliberately before God. We have to learn how to be broken bread and poured-out wine on the line of intercession more than on the line of personal contact. Imagination is the power God gives a saint to posit himself out of himself into relationships he never was in.

Ye were as sheep gone astray…

Ye were as sheep gone astray…

Gill’s commentary: Here the prophet represents all the elect of God, whether Jews or Gentiles; whom he compares to "sheep", not for their good qualities, but for their foolishness and stupidity; and particularly for their being subject to go astray from the shepherd, and the fold, and from their good pastures, and who never return of themselves, until they are looked up, and brought back by the shepherd, or owner of them; so the people of God, in a state of nature, are like the silly sheep, they go astray from God, are alienated from the life of him, deviate from the rule of his word, err from the right way, and go into crooked paths, which lead to destruction; and never return of themselves, of their own will, and by their own power, until they are returned, by powerful and efficacious grace.

The discipline of dejection

from: Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. February 7

But we trusted . . . and beside all this, to-day is the third day--Luke 24:21.

Every fact that the disciples stated was right; but the inferences they drew from those facts were wrong. Anything that savours of dejection spiritually is always wrong. If depression and oppression visit me, I am to blame; God is not, nor is anyone else. Dejection springs from one of two sources—I have either satisfied a lust or I have not. Lust means—I must have it at once. Spiritual lust makes me demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Who gives the answer. What have I been trusting God would do? And to-day—the immediate present—is the third day, and He has not done it, therefore I imagine I am justified in being dejected and in blaming God. Whenever the insistence is on the point that God answers prayer, we are off the track. The meaning of prayer is that we get hold of God, not of the answer. It is impossible to be well physically and to be dejected. Dejection is a sign of sickness, and the same thing is true spiritually. Dejection spiritually is wrong, and we are always to blame for it.
We look for visions from heaven, for earthquakes and thunders of God’s power (the fact that we are dejected proves that we do), and we never dream that all the time God is in the commonplace things and people around us. If we will do the duty that lies nearest, we shall see Him. One of the most amazing revelations of God comes when we learn that it is in the commonplace things that the Deity of Jesus Christ is realized.

ye were as sheep going astray

1Pe 2:25 ...ye were as sheep going astray;
Before we delve into the pictures Peter uses, notice his phrase,
…ye were as sheep…we were before Christ found us wandering, lost sheep…
Adam Clarke: Formerly ye were not in a better moral condition than your oppressors; ye were like stray sheep, in the wilderness of ignorance and sin, till Christ, the true and merciful Shepherd, called you back from your wanderings, by sending you the Gospel of his grace.

Peter gleans this picture from his knowledge of the OT, and this is one of several quotations from Isaiah 53 on which he draws rich insight: All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and Jehovah hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Sheep! God chose, of all the animals in creation, to call human beings ‘sheep’. He could’ve compared us to cattle or horses or pigs or rhinoceroses, or kittens; be he preferred to call us sheep. Sheep have a strong and consistent tendency to stray off and become lost; a remarkable capacity for going wrong. They are very dumb animals. They are completely defenseless. They are unable to care for themselves. They have to be cared for and led.

One man writes, I heard of an incident where there was a huge flock of sheep walking along a trail. One of the sheep jumped over an imaginary obstacle. All the sheep following did the same.

For ye were as sheep going astray

1Pe 2:25 For ye were as sheep going astray;

Nieboer: A teacher asked Johnny, “John, if your father had ten sheep and one of them crawled through a hole in the fence and got lost, how many would he have left?” Johnny answered, “None.” “Well, John, you don’t seem to know your arithmetic.” “Well, ma’am,” said John, “Maybe I don’t know my arithmetic, but I do know sheep. If my father had ten sheep and one crawled through a hold in the fence, and got lost, the other nine would follow him.”

This is just what happened with the human race. Adam and Eve sinned and went astray, and all humanity strayed after them. So all are lost by nature, and their tendency is to wander farther and farther and farther away from God. Only as the good shepherd goes out after them will they be returned to their proper fold.

Action and Attitude from 1 Peter 2

Peter is making important statements in the preceding verses regarding suffering not due to our wrong attitudes and actions, but to urge us on to right attitudes and actions:

* Attitude: v. 1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, (1 Peter 2:1)

* Action: v. 12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:12)

* Attitude: v. 16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God. (1 Peter 2:16)

* Action & attitude: v.17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king. (1 Peter 2:17)

Be strong, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts.

AM the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.--I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.--Strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.--The joy of the LORD is your strength.

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words by the mouth of the prophets.--Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not.--The LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might.

If God be for us, who can be against us?--Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.

Let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.--Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

HAG. 2. 4. John 15. 5. Phi. 4. 13.-- Ep. 6. 10.--Ne. 8. 10. Zec. 8. 9.-- Is. 35. 3, 4.--Ju. 6. 14. Ro. 8. 31.-- 2 Co. 4. 1 Ga. 6. 9.--1 Co. 15. 57.

Oh that thou wouldest keep me from evil.

Oh that thou wouldest keep me from evil.

HY sleep ye? rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.--The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.--I will deliver thee from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.--He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.--The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations.

1 CHR. 4. 10. Lu. 22. 46.--Mat. 26. 41.
Pr. 30. 7-9. Ps. 121. 7.--Je. 15. 21.--
1 John 5. 18. Re. 3. 10.--2 Pe. 2. 9.

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

RAIN up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

We have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.

Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.--Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

LAM. 3. 27 Pr. 22. 6. He. 12. 9, 10.Ps. 119. 67, 71. Je. 29. 11.--1 Pe. 5. 6.

Thou God seest me.

LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether...Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.

      The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.--The ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, and he pondereth all his goings.--God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.--The eyes of the LORDrun to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of themwhose heart is perfect toward him.

      Jesus . . . knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.--Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.

GEN. 16. 13. Ps. 139. 1-4, 6 Pr. 15. 3.-- Pr. 5. 21. Lu. 16. 15.--2 Ch. 16. 9. John 2. 24, 25. John 21. 17.

But it is hardly credible that one could so persecute Jesus!

from: Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. January 28

Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? Acts 26:14.

Am I set on my own way for God? We are never free from this snare until we are brought into the experience of the baptism of the Holy Ghost and fire. Obstinacy and self-will will always stab Jesus Christ. It may hurt no one else, but it wounds His Spirit. Whenever we are obstinate and self-willed and set upon our own ambitions, we are hurting Jesus. Every time we stand on our rights and insist that this is what we intend to do, we are persecuting Jesus. Whenever we stand on our dignity we systematically vex and grieve His Spirit; and when the knowledge comes home that it is Jesus Whom we have been persecuting all the time, it is the most crushing revelation there could be.

Is the word of God tremendously keen to me as I hand it on to you, or does my life give the lie to the things I profess to teach? I may teach sanctification and yet exhibit the spirit of Satan, the spirit that persecutes Jesus Christ. The Spirit of Jesus is conscious of one thing only—a perfect oneness with the Father, and He says “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.” All I do ought to be founded on a perfect oneness with Him, not on a self-willed determination to be godly. This will mean that I can be easily put upon, easily over-reached, easily ignored; but if I submit to it for His sake, I prevent Jesus Christ being persecuted.

Look again and think

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. January 27

Take no thought for your life. Matthew 6:25.

A warning which needs to be reiterated is that the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lust of other things entering in, will choke all that God puts in. We are never free from the recurring tides of this encroachment. If it does not come on the line of clothes and food, it will come on the line of money or lack of money; of friends or lack of friends; or on the line of difficult circumstances. It is one steady encroachment all the time, and unless we allow the Spirit of God to raise up the standard against it, these things will come in like a flood.

“Take no thought for your life.” ‘Be careful about one thing only,’ says our Lord—‘your relationship to Me.’ Common sense shouts loud and says—‘That is absurd, I must consider how I am going to live, I must consider what I am going to eat and drink.’ Jesus says you must not. Beware of allowing the thought that this statement is made by One Who does not understand our particular circumstances. Jesus Christ knows our circumstances better than we do, and He says we must not think about these things so as to make them the one concern of our life. Whenever there is competition, be sure that you put your relationship to God first.

“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” How much evil has begun to threaten you to-day? What kind of mean little imps have been looking in and saying—‘Now what are you going to do next month—this summer?’ ‘Be anxious for nothing,’ Jesus says. Look again and think. Keep your mind on the ‘much more’ of your Heavenly Father.

Let us go forth unto him!

For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Let us go forth unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.

ELOVED, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.--As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.

If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

They departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.--Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

HEB. 13. 13, 14. 1 Pe. 4. 12, 13.--2 Co. 1. 7.
1 Pe. 4. 14. Ac. 5. 41.--He. 11. 25, 26.

The overmastering direction

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. January 24

I have appeared unto thee for this purpose. Acts 26:16.

The vision Paul had on the road to Damascus was no passing emotion, but a vision that had very clear and emphatic directions for him, and he says—“I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” Our Lord said, in effect, to Paul—‘Your whole life is to be overmastered by Me; you are to have no end, no aim, and no purpose but Mine.’ ‘I have chosen him.’

When we are born again we all have visions, if we are spiritual at all, of what Jesus wants us to be, and the great thing is to learn not to be disobedient to the vision, not to say that it cannot be attained. It is not sufficient to know that God has redeemed the world, and to know that the Holy Spirit can make all that Jesus did effectual in me; I must have the basis of a personal relationship to Him. Paul was not given a message or a doctrine to proclaim, he was brought into a vivid, personal, overmastering relationship to Jesus Christ. Verse 16 is immensely commanding—“to make thee a minister and a witness.” There is nothing there apart from the personal relationship. Paul was devoted to a Person not to a cause. He was absolutely Jesus Christ’s; he saw nothing else; he lived for nothing else. “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”

The offence of the cross ceased.

F any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.--We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.--Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, and a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence.

God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.--I am crucified with Christ.--They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us.

GAL. 5. 11. Mat. 16. 24. Ja. 4. 4.--Ac. 14. 22. Ro. 9. 33.--1 Pe. 2. 7, 8.Ga. 6. 14.--Ga. 2. 20.--Ga. 5. 24. 2 Ti. 2. 12.

In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul

HEN my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.--Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee.

I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.--If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, . . . and it shall be given him.

Who is sufficient for these things?--I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.--My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee. . . . Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole.

My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; . . . when I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.

PSA. 94. 19. Ps. 61. 2. Is. 38. 14.-- Ps. 55. 22. 1 Ki. 3. 7.--Ja. 1. 5. 2 Co. 2. 16.-- Ro. 7. 18.--2 Co. 12. 9. Mat. 9. 2, 22. Ps. 63. 5, 6.

For ye were as sheep

For ye were as sheep going astray; (1 Peter 2:25)
I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments. (Psalms 119:176)
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. (Jeremiah 23:2)
My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search or seek after them. (Ezekiel 34:6)
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd. (Matthew 9:36)
How think ye? if a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? (Matthew 18:12)
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
(Luke 15:4-6)

Vision and darkness

FROM: Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. January 19

An horror of great darkness fell upon him. Genesis 15:12.

Whenever God gives a vision to a saint, He puts him, as it were, in the shadow of His hand, and the saint’s duty is to be still and listen. There is a darkness which comes from excess of light, and then is the time to listen. Genesis 16 is an illustration of listening to good advice when it is dark instead of waiting for God to send the light. When God gives a vision and darkness follows, wait. God will make you in accordance with the vision He has given if you will wait His time. Never try and help God fulfil His word. Abraham went through thirteen years of silence, but in those years all selfsufficiency was destroyed; there was no possibility left of relying on commonsense ways. Those years of silence were a time of discipline, not of displeasure. Never pump up joy and confidence, but stay upon God (cf. Isaiah 50:10, 11).

¹⁰ Who is among you that feareth the Lord,

That obeyeth the voice of his servant,

^kThat walketh in darkness, and hath no light?

Let him trust in the name of the Lord,

And ^lstay upon his God.

¹¹ Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with ^msparks:

Walk in ⁿthe light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye ^ohave kindled.

^pThis shall ye have of mine hand;

Ye shall lie down ^q in sorrow.

Have I any confidence in the flesh? Or have I got beyond all confidence in myself and in men and women of God, in books and prayers and ecstasies; and is my confidence placed now in God Himself, not in His blessings? “I am the Almighty God”—El-Shaddai. The one thing for which we are all being disciplined is to know that God is real. As soon as God becomes real, other people become shadows. Nothing that other saints do or say can ever perturb the one who is built on God.