SDCCM Blog

1 Corinthians 2:1 – I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

One who is determined has their mind made up. They have decided or resolved to do a certain thing. They are resolute and unwavering in their decision. Paul’s determination came from something beyond him. It came from the power of the cross of Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Watchman Nee wrote in his book, “The Latent Power of the Soul” that God put tremendous ability in man’s soul beyond what we normally use. The problem is that “soul power” belongs to the old nature and not the new. Determination for the believer must be associated with the cross of Christ and not some natural reasoning from our old nature.

A sign the Holy Spirit is at work in us is in the destroying our confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). In Philippians 3:4, Paul goes on to say that more than anybody, he could put his confidence in his flesh. He chose not to because he recognized he died with Christ and now his source of life came from the resurrection power of the Lord. If we try to cling to natural virtues while God desires to bring forth the life of His Son in us, we find ourselves fighting against God. The virtue of Christ is in the “Fruit of the Spirit” alone.

Our determination should be rooted in the freedom of Christ which brings true liberty in our life experience. The biblical order that leads to a determination to follow the Lord is found in repentance, forgiveness, conversion, and a life of trust in God.

Individuality, independence, and natural reasoning are all a part of self-preservation. True freedom comes when I let go of hurts, bitterness, resentment, and unforgiveness. This includes anything which relates to “self-preservation.” Only the wisdom of God through the cross of Christ can supply the power for our human condition.

Now is a great time to embrace Christ’s cross. For some, it may be the first time. For others, it could be a renewal of a commitment made years ago. Allow the Lord to conquer more of the natural man to include your plans, efforts, and reasoning. Ask Him to release a greater degree of His Life through the Holy Spirit in your planning, your work, and, your thought process. Be determined to know less of what you know and to know more of Jesus and Him crucified. Only through this kind of determination can we know the demonstration of His power and His life released through us.

Father, let the mind of Christ be in me. I want to embrace Christ more and more. Please conquer every area of the natural man. Cause me to become as determined as Paul became in knowing Christ and His cross each day of my life.

Proverbs 28:13-14 – He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion.

When we are faced with situations in life which keep getting worse, it is time to stop and evaluate the problem and then develop a plan of action to turn things around. This is exactly what the Father did for mankind through the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must face our present condition head on. Many try to ignore the conditions that are creating havoc in their lives. Many of God’s people have issues of depression, condemnation, and feelings of being bound with no way out of their circumstances. What is needed is a new way of thinking.

Here are some suggestions to help form a new way of thinking in developing a plan of action.

Accept “The New Man” God has made you to be in Christ. It is not just a theological position, but in reality we have been made new in Christ by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Apply biblical principles to your situation. Find out what the Bible has to say concerning your problem.
Set goals. Part of developing a plan is the setting of goals. Make sure that your goals are realistic. Pray over your goals and invite the Holy Spirit to empower you to attain what you have set.
Let others participate with you as you try to attain the goals. Your spouse or a close friend needs to know what you’re struggling with and what your goals are. It is a good idea to have a spiritual leader also involved.
Make a clear determination to what you are to give your mind. Establish disciplines and be accountable daily, weekly, and monthly.

The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty (Proverbs 21:5). What a helpful thought Solomon gives to us. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Solomon tells us that a plan gives us a distinct advantage. The old adage of “haste makes waste” is certainly true in the lives of many. If we have been hasty in the past, we can stop, evaluate our situation, make a plan and turn things around.

Father, I thank You for the plan You have for my life. I am sorry for any haste on my part in not waiting on You for clear direction. Help me to plan carefully, be accountable, and have a clear determination in my thoughts.

Hebrews 11:1-2 – Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval.

The writer of Hebrews establishes the fact, that “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). There are a number of different kinds of faith. We will consider three types in our devotional.

Natural faith is simply a mental assent. I have faith that my car will be in the location where it was parked. I have experienced a time when it was not where I parked it because it was parked illegally. Natural faith operates within the realm of natural reasoning. It is a reasonable expectation of a particular outcome.

Self-motivated faith falls into the category of “metaphysics.” Some call this kind of faith “mind over matter.” That is, if I can just believe hard enough, my circumstance will change. This kind of faith originates in the soul of an individual. It is self-generated and self-imposed on a particular area, which one believes for change to take place.

God-breathed faith is biblical faith. True faith is an operation of the Spirit of God. When the writer of Hebrews says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him” he is not speaking of a manufactured faith. He understands it is God who gives faith. When one looks up into the heavens and acknowledges God as creator one has an open heart where faith can operate. The essence of faith is rooted in the cross of Christ. Paul states, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20 KJV). It is not only faith in Christ, but His faith lived out through the believer.

The Father is raising up a body of believers who will demonstrate Christ’s faith to an unbelieving world. Many try to generate faith in the things they do for God, but the Father is looking for those who will open their hearts and allow the Holy Spirit to breathe Christ-like faith into their being. In essence, this is what being filled with the Spirit is about. It is the life of God filling the believer with the presence of the Godhead so that the faith of Christ may be manifested in the life of a believer. “Not I, but Christ”! This kind of faith captures the meaning of “sincere faith”.

Father, I thank You for opening my heart to receive Your kind of faith. First, to trust You for salvation through the cross of Christ and then to receive Your Spirit so I might fulfill Your intended purpose. Daily, breath Christ-like faith into my being I pray.

2 Corinthians 10:1 – I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent!

We have discovered in previous devotions how the Lord is helping us “Work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.” God is working in us for His good pleasure. He tells us, “Do all things without murmuring and disputing,” because He is working a divine emptying process in our lives to bring about biblical humility.

The Holy Spirit is not at work to make us weak and spineless, He is at work to reveal Christ in us through meekness and boldness. Society has emasculated manhood. God is not bringing us to weakness, but to be strong through gentleness!

Meekness is not weakness! Meekness is yielded strength under control. I think of the great stallion that has been broken and bridled. He still has the same strength and force, but he can be ridden and his power guided.

In meekness, Jesus was willing to empty Himself and do what the Father had appointed. Jesus chose to empty Himself and be guided only by the Holy Spirit throughout His entire human life. Jesus said, “Father, I will go through this shame and all the failure.” He was willing to die, not in a hospital taking pain medicine, but on the cross in great suffering. It was cruel and humiliating. He took all the shame and all the humiliation for us. He was humiliated so we could succeed. I too must choose to empty myself and be filled with His meekness which will result in strength.

“Meekness is an inwrought grace of the soul, and the exercises of it are first and chiefly towards God. It is that temper of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting; it is closely linked with the word humility. It is only the humble heart which is also the meek, and which, as such, does not fight against God and more or less struggle and contend with Him. This meekness, however, being first of all a meekness before God, is also such in the face of men, even of evil men, out of a sense that these, with the insults and injuries which they may inflict, are permitted and employed by Him for the chastening and purifying of His elect” (Notes on Galatians, by Hogg and Vine pp. 294 from Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words).

Why not say to the Lord, “Go ahead, Jesus, finish what you started in me.” Whatever our age might be, simply yield to the Lord and allow His strength to work in you mightily. The Lord is meek, but He is strong. Paul learned to walk in the meekness and strength of Christ. It is possible to know both Christ’s gentleness and His great strength as we yield to Him in the Holy Spirit. Ask the Father today to give you both meekness and boldness as you live out your salvation.

Philippians 2:5-7 – Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself.

We must be emptied in order to be filled. Philippians 2 reveals seven areas of Christ Jesus’ attitude about being emptied and allowing His Father to lift Him up through the exaltation of the resurrection. Through the resurrection, Christ is drawing men to Himself. “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to Myself” (John 12:32). Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die, death on the cross. It is in dying, life is found.

7a – Don’t exalt yourself
7b – Choose to be a servant
8 – Humble yourself through obedience, even to death of self
9 – Let God exalt and lift you up
9 – Let God give you a name that others honor
12 – Obey God in your private life
14 – Be content and don’t murmur or argue

The Lord is bringing about a divine emptying process in our life. He has called us to fully enter into Christ’s life and have His attitude in everything. The Lord Jesus Christ had one desire and that was to fully honor His Father, drawing all the attention to Him. What is our desire? Philippians chapter 2 reveals the example the Lord set for every believer. We are to follow His attitude. “I only want to be exalted in Christ and exalted by Christ.” If you are exalted by anything else, it only draws attention back to you. The world is filled with self-exaltation and honors its own.

Paul leads us from humility to exaltation and an understanding that it is God at work in us for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:12). This process starts in us when we confess Jesus as Lord. From that day, we are to serve God’s good pleasure. Christ’s attitude in us will continue all of our life as we choose Jesus’ Lordship in every choice we make.

Father, I choose for You to have Your good pleasure in me. My life is no longer my own, but it belongs to You. Establish in me the attitude of Christ, an attitude of humility and allowing Your Holy Spirit to be the One to exalt me for Your glory and praise.

Genesis 3:7 – Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked.

Before Adam and Eve sinned and fell from the place of honor the Lord had given to them, they knew nothing of shame. When their eyes were opened they became self-conscious and aware of their uncovered condition. They instinctively felt separated from the love of God. They hid from each other and from God, trying to cover up their shame. It is shame that keeps us from our destiny. The Greek word for shame means nakedness. We are born naked which speaks of our inherent condition.

It took God’s intervention to begin a true process of recovery. Only when Jesus became sin for us could a true recovery of man’s lost and shameful condition become possible. As we receive by faith His substitutionary sacrifice, shame must go because we are now fully accepted in the completeness of Christ.

Jesus demonstrated the Father’s commitment to removing shame when He ministered grace and broke shame in the life of an adulterous woman as recorded in John 8:1-11. Jesus turned the searchlight back on her accusers when He said, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). I see Jesus’ response as one of the greatest demonstrations of the love of God. Jesus found Himself alone with the woman. Her accusers had all left. Jesus asked her, “Did no one condemn you? She said, ‘No one, Lord’. Jesus said, ‘I do not condemn you either. Go. From now on sin no more’” (John 8:10-11).

Jesus broke the shame barrier by emptying Himself. In Philippians 2:5, Paul describes how Jesus totally emptied Himself so He could be shamed for each of us. Our shame was put on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we receive what the Lord has done on the cross, we are free to sin no more just like the woman in John 8.

Jesus overcame shame in both life and death. Jesus was born to die and to rise again. He went from swaddling clothes to grave clothes in order to break the shame barrier for all who would believe on Him. The writer of Hebrews instructs us when he says, “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus broke through the shame barrier both in His life and in His death. We also can break shame through His life, which is in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Father, I thank You for a life free of condemnation. I rejoice because the Lord Jesus has broken the shame barrier once and for all. I celebrate the power of the Holy Spirit who enables me to break the shame barrier because of what Your Son has accomplished in the work of the cross.