Eight Years Ago...By His Mercy

...not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit                   Titus 3:5

By His mercy eight years ago today I started this blog called inchristalone-byhismercy.

By His mercy there have been 240 posts, in which my goal was to glorify my Lord and Savior in some small way. Even if one person was directed to look away from themselves and unto Him for salvation it would be worth any time or trouble on my part.

Eight years ago when I started this blog I was not yet a mother in law, or a grandmother. I did not have an empty nest.

I was still working part time, still coloring my hair, still in my forties!

Where has the time gone? Day by day and moment by moment it's slipped away.

My father is gone now, and we are busy helping my mother into an assisted living facility in the next few weeks.

By His mercy, the day I was baptized at Northgate Bible Baptist Church, the pastor quoted this Titus 3:5 verse before plunging me into the water. That was over thirty years ago, but  still I remember it.

How I loved hearing that verse, not by works of righteousness that we have done...

It was like drinking an ice cold glass of lemonade when my soul was parched with trying to be "good enough."

It is the same way with my Christian life too. It is not by deeds of righteousness that I do that I grow in grace and knowledge of Him but simply according to His mercy.

Mercy in the Greek is eleos. In Vine's Expository Dictionary, the definition of mercy starts with: 

ἔλεος

ELEOS is the outward manifestation of pity; it assumes need on the part of him who receives it, and resources adequate to meet the need on the part of him who shows it. It is used... of God, who is rich in mercy, Eph. 2:4, and who has provided salvation for all men, Tit. 3:5, for Jews, Luke 1:72, and Gentiles, Rom. 15:9. He is merciful to those who fear Him, Luke 1:50, for they also are compassed with infirmity, and He alone can succour them...

Any progress I have made between then and now is by His mercy. I hope, when I stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ, there will be evidence of some. Yet consider this thought, which made me stop and think, for 7-17 in None But the Hungry Heart:

It takes more to break inertia than to ease momentum. Misdirected zeal is more easily corrected than inert sloth...

It is possible, and very humiliating, to be awakened to the fact, that though we have had a measure of zeal for the Lord, that we have barely known the things we should have known, nor the behavior that is becoming to us in this marvelous day of grace.  

But it is the love of the Lord Jesus that would lead us on, through the judgment of ourselves and ways, into deeper communion with Himself to be better representatives of Him here in whose likeness we shall soon appear. 

I could have done more in this eight years worth of time, but  I press on. I want to simply show the world by my words and actions that He is worth knowing, worth pursuing with all my heart.  Think back to where you were eight years ago. Are you where you want to be now? Let His love motivate you to press on. In the end, it is all that matters.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Phil. 3: 13-14

Serving with Helplessness

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.  2 Cor. 12:10 

I don't like sitting around doing nothing. I don't like feeling helpless.  But for the past couple of days, that is exactly what I have been doing. I am recovering from carpal tunnel surgery on my left hand yesterday morning, and also still having some pain from the surgery I had on my right hand almost two months ago. Using my hands in normal daily activity is painful in even simple chores.

My husband said to take it easy. So I have, but sometimes it is hard to sit when I think of all the things I should be doing. Like cleaning the house, or starting a new writing project, or.... the list goes on.

I have spent the last couple of months taking care of Mom, that throwing my normal life off schedule. Half of my stuff is at home, and half of it is at her house. I will be here a couple more days recuperating then back to her place, then back here when my sister comes, and on and on for this summer. It hurts to see her unhappy and saying she just wants to die.

I have never felt this unsettled. Never. I don't know what the future holds, it seems so uncertain. And more and more, the Lord shows me my own helplessness to even pull out of the rut I seem to be in.

One thing is certain. I cannot face the things ahead alone. I need Him desperately. Do you need Him that way too?

I used to think that was a bad thing, but now am learning to rest in it. He isn't expecting anything from dust like me but to look up in faith to Him.

Last week, on a farm near Mom's I saw a poor cow that had fallen down in the mud. The farmer tried several times and in different ways to lift the cow out of the muck but it just kept falling down again. I could not help but cry looking at that poor helpless cow, with udders full of milk, unable to lift herself or flick away the many flies assaulting her. In vain she swished her tail and lifted a leg. But it was of no use. A couple days later, I saw her lifeless body being hauled away on a truck from the neighbor's farm.

If I could have pity on that helpless creature how much more does my Heavenly Father pity us as His weak children?  I used to think that if only I tried just a little bit harder, then certainly I could succeed in the Christian life, and pull myself out of the pits I dig for myself. Now I rejoice to know that only when I am weak will His strength be shown in me. He can be glorified even in a weak vessel like me.

Just before I was ready to sign off tonight I found this little quote from None but the Hungry Heart (edited by Miles Stanford) for today, June 10. It encouraged my weary and discouraged heart. Maybe it will encourage yours too:

“Two glad services are ours, Both the Master loves to bless. First we serve with all our powers, Then with all our helplessness.” 

My Ticket to Freedom

Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. Then the people complained against Moses, saying, 'What shall we drink?' So he cried out to the LORD and the LORD showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet... Exodus 15: 23-25

Praise God! After recognizing the futility of self effort, I know only the Lord can make something beautiful from my life. The bitterest experiences of my life (which were many) were allowed in God's plan to point me in one direction: the cross.

When I was younger, I didn't realize that the cross Jesus died on was not just the centerpiece of our faith, it was everything to our faith. For He told us that when He died, we died, when He was buried, we were buried, and when He rose, we rose with Him. (See Romans 6: 1-14) 

But I didn't know that, to my shame. And so I tried and tried to do what was good and found myself in the same situation as the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, finally culminating in my exclamation "What a wretched person I am!"

It was such bad news, for me to say that I really was a wretched person. For in my ignorance I didn't believe that God did not hold those things against me, they were already paid in full by His Son. (John 19:30) He doesn't expect anything from me, but to look away from myself and constantly to Him.  The Israelites found that the tree Moses plunged into the bitter water made it sweet. In every situation, I see a "tree" submerged into the awful situations of my life and making it sweet. 

 This tree shows me my ticket to freedom, my finished work rest. I am free from trying all manner of self-help programs, for my "self" cannot be helped. The last time I was at the bookstore, I looked at some of the self-help books and finally realized that I don't have to "listen" to all these experts. All my answers are found in one Book, the Bible.

 Let's see it the way God does about efforts of self reformation:

"Why should you be stricken again? You will revolt more and more. The whole head is sick, And the whole heart faints.

From the sole of the foot even to the head, There is no soundness in it, But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; They have not been closed or bound up, Or soothed with ointment." Isaiah 1:5-6

Who really wants to admit to that about themself? On the other hand, I wonder how people looked at Christ when He was beaten to a pulp. He became sin for us. (II Corinthians 5:21)  Men turned away their faces.

"He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him." Isaiah 53:3

It was our own wretchedness that made Him despised. It was the awfulness of our helpless condition that we inherited from Great Granddaddy Adam. It's OK for us to realize that about our natural selves. Why?

God provided a perfect solution for that wretched person. It is  new life He gives us in Christ. A talented woman from my church, Mrs. Vicky Andreis, wrote and recorded a beautiful song called "The New Life He Gave Me." The next line after that chorus is "the very life of the Savior." His life is our life, instead of any efforts we  make on our own.

The solution is to learn through the Word how to let Christ live in us instead of us. I studied in Romans 7 where Paul talked about the Law being holy, righteous and good. But God's Law cannot help us. In the Dake Study Bible, on page 166 in the New Testament, Dake wrote this note on Romans 7:13:

"The Jew would ask, 'Do you mean to say that the law is holy, just, and good, and yet it is the cause of your death? The answer is, God forbid.' It was not the law that killed me, but sin that would not let me obey the law. That made sin appear what it really is-- a deeiver, a deadly enemy, and a killer."

It is still an ongoing process of learning this day by day, but God is so patient. It's the key to my happiness. I don't have to rely on Megan anymore, but in the infinite, limitless Person of Christ who lives inside me.

If this encourages you as it did me, there is a free resource online that gives daily encouragement about this "exchanged" life. It is called 'None but the Hungry Heart,' compiled by Miles Stanford. You can view the PDF form for free from this website: http://www.fbcva.org/filerequest/7883.pdf 

Sluggish from Summer Slumber

As the deer pants for water brooks, So my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God... Psalm 42: 1-2a

It's the good ole summertime, and sometimes I get sleepy and sluggish toward my relationship with God. The heat and humidity help me wilt into a sweaty mess, and soon my soul gets sloppy toward the urgent priorities of this life. 

You see, I only have one life, and it's passing away quickly. That I realize more each day, as I look at the newborn life of my beautiful grandson, or the fragility of my precious elderly mother.

I easily am caught up with a million distractions. Has there ever been a time in human history when there could be more of them? Think of all the books, the channels on television, the movie theater, social media, breaking news headlines, and the lure of beautiful weather and vacationing. How is it that reading that "same old" Book every day could bring me refreshment when there are so many other things to choose from?

Sometimes a little voice whispers that my Bible routine is legalistic.  Well, anything under the "law" is not for us in the Church Age. As so wonderfully stated in today's reading from a beloved devotional:

"All harmony of truth is shattered when there is slightest commingling of the principles of law and grace. Grace alone now reigns through Christ to the glory of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."      None but the Hungry Heart, Miles J.Stanford  June 24

But I need the Word, you see, as my daily bread, and don't read it "under law" to please God, but as a means to get to know Him.That's how t I respond to the lie that I am being legalistic. I go to the Word to find fresh manna for my soul each day, and to find out just how finished the work of Christ was on my behalf.

On hot sluggish summer days, there is cool refreshment to be found in the streams of His living water. Oh, the devil might try to distract  by saying we are legalistic or will be bored with the Word, but as always, he lies. How can an infinite God ever be boring? God's Word is always new, always fresh when we see it through the eyes of the Finished Work of Christ. The Old Testament spoke of Christ coming, and the tabernacle which the Israelities made foreshadowed Christ. The temple they worshipped in then is represented now in every believer's own body. 

"Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?   I Corinthians 3: 16

No matter how much we think we "know," we know nothing yet as it ought to be known. (I Cor. 8:2) One day soon, in glory, we will see this Person of whom we read about on our days on earth, and will realize that pursuing Him was the one and only thing that mattered in this life.

The Courage to Cast Down

3 "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." II Cor. 10:3-6

Like it or not, we are in a battle. If you haven't noticed, it is raging more and more with every passing day. In fact, I am sure you have noticed. Each day, we have a choice: to be defeated and dejected or to use the weapons God has provided us to walk in spiritual victory.

I have not learned this in an easy way. Nor have I learned it to the extent I need to. No way. For me, the battle is in my thoughts. How about you? In sermons, I have heard this statement: "A thought can make or break you." Every day, we are inundated with thousands of thoughts. The one secret I have learned is that I do not have to accept the thoughts that come into my mind as my own.

For we are surrounded by an atmosphere around this earth and this atmosphere is under the domain of God's enemy, the devil. He is called the "prince of the power of the air" in Ephesians 2.

1 "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others."

The thoughts, ideas, and opinions of this world system stand opposed to God's thoughts. God tells us in Isaiah 55 how our thoughts compare to His thoughts. There is no comparison.

8 ​​“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
​​Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
9 ​​“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
​​So are My ways higher than your ways,
​​And My thoughts than your thoughts."

Today I read in I John 2 and was struck again by how the world system is totally opposed to God's way of thinking. John tells us

"15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever."

So, that is one way I can test my thoughts. Is it concerning the lust of my flesh or eyes or having to doing with pride in my achievements? Then I can be certain it is not from God and I can cast it down as a vain imagination that rises up against the knowledge of God. For every thought has one of two origins: either from God and devoted to His glory or against God and devoted to the enemy's lies and destruction.

I used to foolishly think God was selfish in order to want every thought to be for His glory, until I learned that His glory gives the highest and best to fallen creatures such as us. Think of what happens when the opposite occurs: what is the benefit of evil being glorified? Only misery and bondage and death.

GOD is LIGHT! In Him there is no darkness at all! (See I John 1:5) When I summon the courage to deny a thought that comes into my head as not being true, and cast it down, I walk in the light with my God. Sometimes, this is hard for me because my mind is screaming that the thought just has to be true, but if I resist it, the devil will flee. James 4 reveals:

7 "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up."

Even if it is hard, even if it seems we are in a constant uphill battle, we will overcome if we do not lose heart. We destroy the mountains of lies that the enemy whispers in our ears one by one, like tearing down a brick wall. And then, as that wall of untruth tumbles down, we fill our mind with good things, the things God has for us, and promises for the life to come.

9 But as it is written:
​
​​“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
​​Nor have entered into the heart of man
​​The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” I Corinthians 2:9

If we do not faint today but let God's Word pour into us, we will have strength and courage to cast down the lies the enemy sends to defeat us.

Andrew Murray, quoted in the devotional, None but the Hungry Heart for the day 12-30 says: "The Father works to will, and He is ready to work to do, but, alas! many Christians misunderstand this. They think because they have the will it is enough, and that now they are able to do. This is not so. The new will is a permanent gift, an attribute of the new life in Christ. The power to carry out this will is not a permanent gift, but must be each moment received from the Holy Spirit. It is the one who is conscious of his own utter powerlessness, as a believer, who will learn by the Spirit alone he can live the Christian life."
(emphasis mine)

We receive hope and help moment by moment as we cast down vain imaginations which lie against God and His Truth.

I hope these thoughts have encouraged you today as you face the many thoughts that come your way. And speaking of hope, I would like to announce the publication of my book Sure Mercies: Hope for the Suffering is now available through 4RV Publishing.(It will also soon be on Amazon.) It tells the story of believers throughout the Church Age who overcame huge obstacles by their overcoming faith. http://www.4rvpublishingcatalog.com/megan-vance.php

Suffering for our own faults

21 "I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Romans 7: 21-25


What a time we are living in. I shake my head and wonder how it came to be like this. I am tempted to despair as I watch things slowly collapsing around me. I feel like the Psalmist, who said, "There are many who say,“Who will show us any good?” LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us." Psalm 4:6

Today I despaired because of my own sin. On top of that, I heard of a young man (a friend of my son's) who took his own life. I walked past the funeral home where people came from all over to give their condolences. I never saw so many cars lined up everywhere for a funeral. I couldn't help but think to myself, if only the young man would have known how many people cared about him, maybe he wouldn't have ended it that way? But it is too late now, too late for second chances, too late to tell him anything. He has passed beyond the veil.

And yet I remain on this earth, wondering what will happen next, and somehow must find strength to keep running faith's race. I didn't feel well today, and I let it get to me. I argued with my husband and then felt angry with myself for what I said. Yet why was I expecting anything good to come out of me, from my own human viewpoint without relying on Christ?

John Nelson Darby wrote once that, "We find the greatest difficulty often in bringing our sorrow to God. How can I do so, some may be saying, as my sorrow is the fruit of my sin? How can I take it to God? If I was suffering for righteousness' sake, then I would, but I am suffering for my sin; and can I, in the integrity of my heart towards God, take my sorrows to Him, knowing I deserve them?

Yes the Lord Jesus has been to God about them. This, then, is the ground on which I can go. There has been perfect atonement for all my sins; Christ has been judged for them. Will God judge us both? No, I go to Him on the ground of atonement, and God can justly meet me in all my sorrow, because Christ's work has been so perfectly done."
(From None but the Hungry Heart edited by Miles Stanford, for the day of June 7, emphasis mine)

Did you read what Darby wrote? Jesus has been to God about our failures for today, even though we should have known better. One might think He wanted us to do some good thing in order to make up for the bad thing we did. But that is telling God we don't quite think it was finished enough! But Jesus said it was totally finished, and so, even if we are tempted to berate ourselves for our failures, we can choose by faith instead to think of how great and merciful a God we have, who foreknew all our failures in advance.

It is not about us trying to be good, it is about Him being formed in us. Over and out. Christ inside of us is our only hope, as Paul wrote in Colossians 1:27:

"To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." (emphasis mine)

I glorify God when I take Him at His Word instead of wallowing in my own failure. The tricks of our enemy only grow more and more devious as he tries to ensnare us in these last days. But if I keep my eyes on Jesus, I will overcome.

Lord, let me be like the ones described in Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death."

Earning or Believing?

"how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" Hebrews 9:14

The Christian life is not easy but impossible to us by our first birth. How many years has it taken me to learn that? And I need reminded every single day!

At the Goodwill the other day, I found a little gem of a devotional called "None but the Hungry Heart." Edited by Miles J. Stanford, author of The Complete Green Letters, it is filled with snippets from some of the great teachers in Christianity. Apparently this devotional ran as a series, starting in 1968 and ran through 1987. My volume was from 1968. Perusing through it, I found an entry called "Mount Sinai, Mount Zion" for Feb. 23, where the message comes from Hebrews 12:18. ("For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,")

There is a world of difference we see between Mount Sinai where Moses received the law from God, vs. Mount Zion, which speaks of a "new and living way," entering into God's favor through the grace of Christ. The devotional by an author with the initials C.A.C. (not sure who that is ), reads:

"So long as one thinks that his blessing depends in any way, or in any degree, upon himself, he is under the shadow of Sinai, and naturally we all gravitate in that direction. Many truly converted persons are more occupied with themselves, and in trying to improve their own condition, than in seeking to learn the grace of God. The result is that where there is a shallow work of the soul they get lifted up with pride and conceit, and perhaps deceive themselves so far as to think there is no sin in them."

I don't know about you, but when I first was saved I tried so hard to be good. When I thought I did pretty good for the day somehow I thought that God was more pleased with me than on days where I committed a "whopper" sin. Then when I thought I had done pretty well, it was easy to look down on others critically. Somehow, Christ died to save me eternally but as far as the day to day went, well, that was still my job. After a long time, I knew that I really did not have what it took to live a life that pleased Him. All the while, though, I pasted on my Sunday Christian smile and kept up the facade. One day, though, I had enough and was ready to quit trying.

Instead of that being a bad thing, it was the best thing!I began a new way of life learning of the grace of God. God is very pleased with me because when He looks at me He sees the righteousness of Christ, not me in my trespasses and sins. He already dealt with them once and for all (seeing them in the future, for me), and when Jesus cried "It is finished," then the punishment for them was complete. Romans 4 says that if we work we are owed wages, as if we are trying to "earn" our Christianity, but when we believe in the finished work of Christ, we receive the gift of righteousness by faith.

Romans 4:4-5 "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,"

If we did nothing to earn it, then why do we think we have to maintain it by good works? We can't, but that really is good news. We then don't have to expect anything good coming from ourselves, but keep on relying on Christ living inside of us to do the works that are pleasing to God.

"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God,who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." II Corinthians 3:5-6

Reading in the Gospel of Luke, I've been using William Barclay's commentary (The Daily Bible Study Series). In the portion in Luke 7:11-17,
Jesus encounters the widow at Nain, who just lost her only son. Jesus had such compassion (in raising the young man from death), that there was no stronger word for it in all the Greek language. He identified fully with the plight of the stricken woman, and did what only He could do, bring the dead back to life.

In the same way, He has compassion on us. He knows that we cannot do it. It is like He is tapping His foot, just waiting for us to acknowledge that fact, and to look to Him then for everything we need, right down to producing in us what He requires of us. Another quote from January 13 (in None but the Hungry Heart) by T.Austin Sparks sums it up beautifully:

"It is for want of a complete or adequate realization of the meaning of the Cross, that so many Christians are carnal, or try to live for God out of themselves...There is much prayer for 'revival,' and much effort for 'the deepening of the spiritual life.' The only answer to this is a new knowing of the Cross, not only as to sins and a life of victory over them, but as to Christ supplanting the natural man."

In letting Him live in us that we find who we really were all along!

“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20