...
"I am naught, I can do naught, I have naught, and I desire naught but Jesus and His love."
"I am naught, I can do naught, I have naught, and I desire naught but Jesus and His love.".
Yesterday was a horribly difficult day and I spent much of it in prayer for one who just can't seem to see nor comprehend the Glory of Christ. I read a message by this old minister that is still selfishly and arrogantly looking for rewards for himself. His desire to be elevated as a ruler pierced my heart so deeply that all I could do was cry out to God for four long prayerful hours for his soul. Then this morning I came across a young ordained minister I also know seeking and justifying the same selfish rewards. I have strived with both these brothers for a number of years yet they still mix their message. It is sad to see those that have received something of "God's deeper present truth" still seeking ministries, giftings and rewards. If there is one thing I know and only one thing I care to know, it is that "Christ is our reward" and with the gain of Him we have neither need nor desire unfulfilled.
Is there a more beautiful or succinct message of "the overcoming saint relinquishing any semblance of reward" than that which is portrayed wonderfully in this heavenly scene below.
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev 4:10,11
While so many in Christendom seek the things of Christ there are those few that have learned that, "in Christ, dwells all that is Good and when we gain Him we lack for nothing." How often I have also shared that God is found not only in the "all" but as well in the "nothing." This speaks of "death and resurrection" of which all things will be processed and reconciled. All must be brought to naught(death) and then raised(resurrection) until God be "All in All."
And once at the end of time, at the consummation, in eternity, “all in all” refers to God being all, when all things are found reconciled and united in the Christ "that God may be all in all." 1Corinthians 15:28.
Whatever has come out of God cannot be annihilated in the sense of it vanishing completely from existence. Paul related it once in a very short but powerful statement: "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36). Simply put, everything came out of God, it all passes through Christ and His cross. It returns back to Him from whence it came. It returns in resurrection glory changed to the same heavenly substance of Himself. "Out of, through, and back into God"
Keeping still with the theme of "Christ our reward", the "all in all" and the "all and the nothing" please allow me to share one of my very favorite quotes by Madame Guyon along with an excerpt from a sermon by Jeremiah Burroughs during his ministry in England in the 17th century.
"There are but two truths in the Kingdom, and only two; the "all" and the "nothing." Everything else is a falsity. (Guyon)
The Apostle Paul was a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ, to carry it up and down in the world. Indeed, his spirit was full of Christ. He desired to know nothing but Christ, to preach nothing but Christ, to be found in none but Christ. The very name of Christ was delightful to him. He seeks to magnify Christ in all of his epistles and, in these words I read to you, he omnifies Christ. He does not only make Him great but he makes Him all.
Is Christ all in all? Then if we have an interest in Him, it should satisfy and content us though we have nothing or though we are nothing. Why? Because if we have Christ we have all. Though you lack parts, friends, estates, outward comforts, know Christ is to be your all, and is He not enough? As He said, Am I not better to thee than ten sons? So Christ says to the soul, "What do you lack? You lack this comfort and the other comfort, but am I not all in all to you, and better than all?" Yea, be willing to be made nothing, for all is made up in Christ.
Therefore, give me Christ, whatever else You deny me."
Consider that parable in Matt.13:45-46, The merchant man sought after goodly pearls, but when he had found the pearl of price, then he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now gifts and parts and other achievements are these goodly pearls, but Christ is the Pearl of price. Therefore, whatever you have, be willing to part with it for Him. If God has revealed to you the Pearl of price, let no goodly pearls satisfy you. Many souls perish because they are satisfied with goodly pearls and do not endeavor to obtain this Pearl of price.
Christ says, If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me. (Burroughs)
I pray that if you have not caught a glimpse of God as the "all in all" and the "all and the naught" you are at least beginning to sense His unexplainable Majesty in such. Our God is unfathomably beyond our reason and even our imagination thus we with great lack can but describe Him as filling both the "nothing" along with the "all." Surely our language must always fall short in it's use as portraying such an Almighty and Infinite God.
In closing, please allow me to share this centuries old hymn by Henry Suso. I pray it blesses you as much as it did me yesterday when I discovered it.
"I Am Not"
"I am not;" O words unwelcome
To the lips of men
"I am not;" O words that lead us
Back to God again!
Speech of him who knows the pathway
To that refuge sweet,
Where is covert from the tempest,
Shadow from the heat.
Speech of Heaven, from wise men hidden,
Unto children taught;
Few the words of that great lesson,
Only "I am not."
Heart of man, another language
Is thy native speech,
Spoken by a thousand races,
All alike in each.
"I am,"rich, or wise, or holy
"Thus, and thus am I;"
For "I am," men live and labour,
For "I am," they die.
For "I am," men dare and suffer,
Count all loss as gain,
Toil and weariness and bondage,
Sin and grief and pain.
In the blessed Gospel read we
How a rich man bade
Christ the Lord and His disciples
To a feast he made.
Well it was to feed the prophet;
Thus the rich man thought,
But amidst his wealth and bounty
Lacked he "I am not."
Then there came a sinful woman,
Eyes with weeping dim
"I am not," her heart was saying
She had looked on Him.
He beheld her broken-hearted,
Ruined and undone,
Yet enthroned above the angels
Brighter than the Sun.
All the while in dust before Him
Did her heart adore,
"I am not," that song of gladness
"Thou art, evermore."
For His heart to hers had spoken,
To His wandering lamb;
In the speech of Love Eternal,
He had said "I AM."
Now she thirsts no more for ever,
All she would is given;
None on earth hath she beside Him,
None beside in Heaven.
Oh how fair that heavenly portion,
That eternal lot;
Christ, and Christ alone, for ever
Ever "I am not.
Is there a more beautiful or succinct message of "the overcoming saint relinquishing any semblance of reward" than that which is portrayed wonderfully in this heavenly scene below.
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, "Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." Rev 4:10,11
While so many in Christendom seek the things of Christ there are those few that have learned that, "in Christ, dwells all that is Good and when we gain Him we lack for nothing." How often I have also shared that God is found not only in the "all" but as well in the "nothing." This speaks of "death and resurrection" of which all things will be processed and reconciled. All must be brought to naught(death) and then raised(resurrection) until God be "All in All."
And once at the end of time, at the consummation, in eternity, “all in all” refers to God being all, when all things are found reconciled and united in the Christ "that God may be all in all." 1Corinthians 15:28.
Whatever has come out of God cannot be annihilated in the sense of it vanishing completely from existence. Paul related it once in a very short but powerful statement: "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Rom. 11:36). Simply put, everything came out of God, it all passes through Christ and His cross. It returns back to Him from whence it came. It returns in resurrection glory changed to the same heavenly substance of Himself. "Out of, through, and back into God"
Keeping still with the theme of "Christ our reward", the "all in all" and the "all and the nothing" please allow me to share one of my very favorite quotes by Madame Guyon along with an excerpt from a sermon by Jeremiah Burroughs during his ministry in England in the 17th century.
"There are but two truths in the Kingdom, and only two; the "all" and the "nothing." Everything else is a falsity. (Guyon)
The Apostle Paul was a chosen vessel to bear the name of Christ, to carry it up and down in the world. Indeed, his spirit was full of Christ. He desired to know nothing but Christ, to preach nothing but Christ, to be found in none but Christ. The very name of Christ was delightful to him. He seeks to magnify Christ in all of his epistles and, in these words I read to you, he omnifies Christ. He does not only make Him great but he makes Him all.
Is Christ all in all? Then if we have an interest in Him, it should satisfy and content us though we have nothing or though we are nothing. Why? Because if we have Christ we have all. Though you lack parts, friends, estates, outward comforts, know Christ is to be your all, and is He not enough? As He said, Am I not better to thee than ten sons? So Christ says to the soul, "What do you lack? You lack this comfort and the other comfort, but am I not all in all to you, and better than all?" Yea, be willing to be made nothing, for all is made up in Christ.
Therefore, give me Christ, whatever else You deny me."
Consider that parable in Matt.13:45-46, The merchant man sought after goodly pearls, but when he had found the pearl of price, then he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Now gifts and parts and other achievements are these goodly pearls, but Christ is the Pearl of price. Therefore, whatever you have, be willing to part with it for Him. If God has revealed to you the Pearl of price, let no goodly pearls satisfy you. Many souls perish because they are satisfied with goodly pearls and do not endeavor to obtain this Pearl of price.
Christ says, If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Me. (Burroughs)
I pray that if you have not caught a glimpse of God as the "all in all" and the "all and the naught" you are at least beginning to sense His unexplainable Majesty in such. Our God is unfathomably beyond our reason and even our imagination thus we with great lack can but describe Him as filling both the "nothing" along with the "all." Surely our language must always fall short in it's use as portraying such an Almighty and Infinite God.
In closing, please allow me to share this centuries old hymn by Henry Suso. I pray it blesses you as much as it did me yesterday when I discovered it.
"I Am Not"
"I am not;" O words unwelcome
To the lips of men
"I am not;" O words that lead us
Back to God again!
Speech of him who knows the pathway
To that refuge sweet,
Where is covert from the tempest,
Shadow from the heat.
Speech of Heaven, from wise men hidden,
Unto children taught;
Few the words of that great lesson,
Only "I am not."
Heart of man, another language
Is thy native speech,
Spoken by a thousand races,
All alike in each.
"I am,"rich, or wise, or holy
"Thus, and thus am I;"
For "I am," men live and labour,
For "I am," they die.
For "I am," men dare and suffer,
Count all loss as gain,
Toil and weariness and bondage,
Sin and grief and pain.
In the blessed Gospel read we
How a rich man bade
Christ the Lord and His disciples
To a feast he made.
Well it was to feed the prophet;
Thus the rich man thought,
But amidst his wealth and bounty
Lacked he "I am not."
Then there came a sinful woman,
Eyes with weeping dim
"I am not," her heart was saying
She had looked on Him.
He beheld her broken-hearted,
Ruined and undone,
Yet enthroned above the angels
Brighter than the Sun.
All the while in dust before Him
Did her heart adore,
"I am not," that song of gladness
"Thou art, evermore."
For His heart to hers had spoken,
To His wandering lamb;
In the speech of Love Eternal,
He had said "I AM."
Now she thirsts no more for ever,
All she would is given;
None on earth hath she beside Him,
None beside in Heaven.
Oh how fair that heavenly portion,
That eternal lot;
Christ, and Christ alone, for ever
Ever "I am not.
..
My dear friends, may we always see and reckon ourselves as
"I am not" until we be completely filled with "I AM"
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. Jhn 1:20
Jack
(note: one set of thoughts on "all in all" copied from Elwin Roach and "I am naught" intro taken from "The Parable of the Pilgrim" by C. H. McKenna)
And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. Jhn 1:20
Jack
(note: one set of thoughts on "all in all" copied from Elwin Roach and "I am naught" intro taken from "The Parable of the Pilgrim" by C. H. McKenna)
.
