SONSHIP.008
Fretwell@aol.com (Fretwell@aol.com)
Mon, 6 Dec 1999 11:06:57 EST
AM I QUALIFIED?
If there is to be a people who will be
SPECIALLY
EQUIPPED to do a SPECIAL WORK WITH THE LORD as we
move into a different segment of the Plan of the Ages,
AM I
QUALIFIED for a position on the team? NO!
The sad fact is that we are completely HELPLESS
in
equipping OURSELVES for membership in this SPECIAL ARMY
which God will raise up in a DAY, in a MOMENT, in
the
TWINKLING OF AN EYE. Who would nail that last pound of
our flesh nature to our cross? No, the BEST we can do is to
fail.
Romans 7:24 O wretched man that I am! WHO SHALL
DELIVER ME from the body of this death? (Another
rendering
of this is: "Who shall deliver me from this body of death?")
The Holy Ghost was causing Paul to refer to a custom
in
some areas of punishing a murderer. The dead body of his
victim
would be fastened to his own body, and he could not get free
from
the putrifying, stinking dead body. He was forced to
carry it,
until it killed his own body. A very remarkable picture
of the
condition of each of us today. However we try, we can not
get
free from a body that is saturated with the results of the
disobedi-
ence of Adam in the Garden of Eden.
Our body (the nature of man) is "Sold under sin" and
can
not be changed by human efforts. We can give it fancy
names,
such as "disadvantaged", "challenged", etc., but it still
"stinks"
just the same.
Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh,)
dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but
[how]
to perform that which is good I find not.
Well, since we can not qualify by our own efforts,
WHY
EVEN TRY? We have run into this question many times.
The answer is really very simple.
The CHOOSING of the members of this ARMY will be
done BY GOD ALONE. We are totally helpless to change our-
selves into a vessel which He can use.
But, we are given to understand that He WILL CHOOSE
FROM AMONG THOSE WHO ARE STRIVING DILIGENTLY
TO BECOME CANDIDATES FOR THAT CHOOSING. The
best we can do is to become a CANDIDATE for the choosing.
SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINE OF OUR BODIES (NATURE
AND WORKS) IS MOST CRITICAL HERE.
Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall
die: but
if ye THROUGH THE SPIRIT do mortify (control) the deeds
of
the body, ye shall live.
I Corinthians 9:27 But I keep under my body, and BRING
[IT] INTO SUBJECTION: lest that by any means, when I have
preached to others, I MYSELF SHOULD BE A CASTAWAY
(Unfit for service).
Malachi 3:16-17 Then they that FEARED THE LORD
spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and
heard
[it], and A BOOK OF REMEMBRANCE WAS WRITTEN
BEFORE HIM FOR THEM THAT FEARED THE LORD, AND
THAT THOUGHT (GUIDED THEIR LIVES BY) UPON HIS
NAME. And they shall be mine, saith the LORD OF HOSTS
(THE LORD OF THE ARMY OF HEAVEN), in that day when I
make up my jewels (MY CONQUERING ARMY, MY REAPERS);
and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that
serveth
him.
When will this army be mustered? Only He knows.
Ephesians 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness
of
times he might gather together in one all things in
Christ, both
which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in him:
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