Overcoming Through His Presence

The Today Series ^ | Jefferson H Floyd

[Frapster]

Overcoming Through His Presence Posted on October 31, 2010 by Jefferson H. Floyd “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so” (Joshua 5:13-15).

Joshua and Caleb were survivors. They had survived the purging of the old rebellious and disobedient order that died in the wilderness. The secret of their survival was that they had hearts that were wholly for God. They didn’t falter and fall when the going got long or tough like their comrades did. They suffered the forty years in the wilderness with the rest of Israel but came through it with colors flying, being strengthened by its privation, and instructed by the ongoing lessons of obedience at the feet of Moses.

[Frapster]

In the early 1990's my father was diagnosed with Wegners disease. By then the disease had nearly taken him from us a number of times due to the effects its effects upon internal organs. Fortunately Jeff remained with us until 2008 when the Lord took him home.

Dad was a retired minister at the time of his diagnosis and had been spending his retirement focused upon a ministry of reconciliation and forgiveness. He was a champion of the lost cause and had been travelling the world bringing hope to pastors, lay leaders and churches struggling with deep issues in their lives.

When he became ill he found himself in a difficult and trying circumstance of his own yet he was a person of deep faith and so he looked to the Lord and out of his constrained condition he began to write letters to pastors and lay leaders using the Internet. He immediately called it the 'Today Series' and virtually wrote a letter a day for several years. He started with a handfull of e-mail addresses and over the years his list grew to several hundred people.

After my father passed away I knew that he had composed all of his letters in Word form prior to sending. We collected his messages and at last count we have over 2,000 original messages that we are sharing through a website that still carries the name he chose - The Today Series.

I am an infrequent Freeper but have lurked the forums since 1998 participating here and there and just wanted to share this source with you all. I hope it's a blessing.

Frap

[MHGinTN]

Thank you so much for posting this! You could not have known I was searching for a way to express something to precious souls who post at FR and are under demonic influence regarding the Gospel of God's Grace. But there it was, right in the passage at the link:

"He didn’t come to take part; He came to take over as the Captain of the Lord’s Hosts!"

Mormonism has a twisted belief in works and faith and how if Mormons are righteous enough in life God's Spirit will count God's Grace for them, adding to their works the atonement Jesus accomplished on Calvary. But that is contrary to what the Bible teaches. And now I have the phrase I was searching for to share with them!

When a person is Born Again, they are to have Him come into their human spirit and take over, not share their struggle from outside while they seek to 'do all that they can do' to earn the Gift of God's Grace in Christ Jesus. The 'taking over' takes longer with some (like me) and happens much quicker with others. But God's Promise is that He will never leave us or forsake us once we are Born Again. It takes the presence of God in our human spirit to manifest the Life of God in our behavior.

[Frapster]

His sufficiency is enough, right? What I see in most conservative religions (and I fit in there) is that we are reluctant to trust God to mean what He says about completing what he started in us but to trust that He means the same for those around us as well. Somehow a belief that we have something to add gives us a sense of security (false as it is). As a result we corrupt the spiritual response to God’s grace by trying to add to it.

Another picture is the nation of Israel - when given the opportunity they asked for a man to rule them rather than letting God be their ruler. We can’t trust in the spirituality of it - it offends our carnal nature. We expect ourselves and others (more so) to accede to some ideal ... what’s ironic is that ideal, when exposed to the light, is less than God’s best... always.

God bless you!