Ka-Pow!

I have started a new book during my times of morning reading.  It is a small little book; an old little book; one I would not have naturally picked up if it had not been strongly recommended.  However, I'm soooooo glad I picked this one up as it is absolutely blowing me away with every paragraph that I read.  I'm sure many of you are familiar with this book, but it is new to me.  It's called "The Calvary Road" by Roy Hession.  

And, as usual, I am feeling overwhelmingly compelled to share some things I've read with you today.  I share these things with you because these are things that I personally struggle with.  And I believe that if I struggle with them, someone else out there reading this blog might also have some of the same difficulties.  For me, perhaps 'struggle' is in fact too light a term.  'Plagued' or 'bonded' may indeed be more appropriate.  If you are at all feeling the same, then please read on and be challenged and encouraged.  Just as unbelievably challenged and as monumentally encouraged as I am right at this moment.

~lk

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On Brokenness: "... The hard, unyielding self, which justifies itself, wants its own way, stands up for its rights, and seeks its own glory, at last bows its head to God's will, admits that it is wrong, gives up its own way to Jesus, surrenders its rights, and discards its own glory in order that the Lord Jesus might have all and be all.  In other words, it is dying to self and self-attitudes."

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"It is self, too, who is often engaged in Christian work.  It is always self who gets irritable, envious, resentful, critical and worried.  It is self who is hard and unyielding in its attitude to others."

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"Constantly yielding to those around us [is] the true measure of how much we are yielded to God."

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"Just as water ever seeks and fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds you abased and empty, His glory and power flow in." ~ Andrew Murray

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"Anything that springs from self, however small, is sin.  Self-effort or self-complacency in service is sin.  Self-pity in trials or difficulties, self-seeking in business or Christian work, self-indulgence in one's spare time; all these are sin.  Sensitiveness, touchiness, resentment, and self-defense when we are hurt or injured by others, self consciousness, reserve, worry, fear, all spring from self and all are sin..."

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"The moment you are conscious of that touch of envy, criticism, irritability, whatever it is -- give it to Jesus and ask Him to wash it away by the power of His blood.  You will find the reaction gone, your joy and peace restored, and your cup running over.  The more you come for cleansing in this way, the less you will have these reactions."

****(This one is my favorite so far....)

"Suppose we are irritated by certain traits in someone.  It is not enough to take our reactions of irritation to Calvary.  We must first be broken, that is, we must yield to God over the whole question, and accept that person and their ways as His will for us."

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"We do not lose peace with God over another person's sin, but only over our own."

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"... Testing the depth and reality of a person's fellowship with God by the depth and reality of his fellowship with fellow believers... Everything that comes as a barrier between us and another, however small, comes as a barrier between us and God... Where these barriers are not put right immediately they get thicker and thicker until we find ourselves shut off from God and others by what seems to be a brick wall."