Unto all pleasing.... JND

"That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." Col. 1:10
. Here I am called today and tomorrow to walk worthy of the Lord-nothing that I do, say, or think, which should not be worthy of Christ Himself. Here it is all growth; I have got the life. I say to a child, You go and walk worthy of your family; but if he has no sense of what his family is, it is no use telling him to walk worthy of it. But if he has the sense of the integrity and standing of his family, then he knows how to walk worthy of it. "In everything commending ourselves as God's ministers" (2 Cor. 6:4
; J.N.D. Trans.).

You get the word worthy in three ways. In Thessalonians, "Walk worthy of God, who bath called you unto His kingdom and glory." In Ephesians, it is the same thing practically: "Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called."

Here in Colossians it is, "Walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing." Did He ever do His own will in anything? No; He did. His Father's. Are you content never to do your own will, but to take Christ's will as that which is to be the spring and motive of all you do? Then communion is not interrupted; and it is joy and blessing beyond all human thought. You say, Am I never to do what I like? Like! Do you not like to be always with Christ? This detects the workings of the flesh.

Then comes the activity, the growing acquaintance with God, "increasing in [or rather, by] the knowledge of God." The full joy of heaven is the knowledge of God. If I am going after the world, will this be increasing by the knowledge of God? It tests what I like. Do you like to be away from God, and do your own will sometimes? But He says, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." Psalm 40:8
. Do you delight to do it? Oh, what a thought it is, that in this dark world God has perfectly revealed Himself in Christ; nay more, that lie dwells in us! "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." 1 John 4:15
. There is God by His Spirit.

Now mark how this works. "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." I shall find plenty of difficulties in the way, and temptations of all kinds-possibly death, as has often been the case in some countries- but I am strengthened with all might. There is the strength. I have been brought into close relationship with God, and there I get this power. Unto what? "Unto all patience." This sounds like a poor thing, but you will find it is just what tries you. "Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Jas. 1:4
. And again, "The signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience." 2 Cor. 12:12
. Are you always patient? do you not need divine power for it? I may want setting right in the

Church of God, or in the Lord's work, or in a thousand things; but I must have patience. I must wait on God. Supposing my will is not at work, there comes meekness and gentleness. I can take things gently and meekly and quietly with others; and, then he adds, if that is the case, my life is in full display before God, and there is the enjoyment of God. I enter into all this blessedness, and am not merely "made meet," but "giving thanks," because I am in the positive and blessed enjoyment of all. When I am walking in patience of heart and longsuffering, my soul is with God. I get the blessed enjoyment of what He is, and I grow by the knowledge of Him; "Unto every one which hath shall be given." If I am honest, I say, I do not know what His will is-perhaps there is something in myself that I have not yet detected. Here I have all these exercises; but it is in the sense of the divine favor resting on me with consciousness of my being a child of God. The more a child is with his father, and delights in him, of course the better he will grow up, understanding what his father likes. It is so with us before God.

Unity. C.H. Brown

Unity in itself is no object unless it has a sound and solid basis. Otherwise, you have merely union, merely amalgamation, merely the assembling of a lot of individuals together. You do not have unity. Evidently, the unity of the Spirit must have been broken at some time, with the result that these two companies are going on apart from each other. The unity of the Spirit must have been broken, and indeed it was. Meetings have a history, and it is a matter that is accessible. If I want to find out why, I can find out, and I will find that there was a time, it does not matter how far back, when a question was at issue that affected the honor and glory of Christ, and those who wanted to abide in the apostles' doctrine, those who refused to compromise conscience and who wanted to be loyal to Christ, had to act for Him. They had to separate themselves from that which was evil, that which was a dishonor to the name of Christ. It is a sad thing, but oh, far better to separate than to go on with evil. For remember, we have read scripture after scripture that tells us not to go on with evil—not to go on in fellowship with that which dishonors Christ. If a man goes on in wickedness, 1 Corinthians chapter 5, tells us to put him away. That chapter is most familiar to all of us here. No, brethren, the idea that we are to go on with everybody—that we are to have fellowship with everybody that calls himself a Christian—there is not a shred of scripture for any such idea. All the body and burden of Scripture is in the opposite direction.

Walk worthy!

Then comes the activity, the growing acquaintance with God, "increasing in [or rather, by] the knowledge of God." The full joy of heaven is the knowledge of God. If I am going after the world, will this be increasing by the knowledge of God? It tests what I like. Do you like to be away from God, and do your own will sometimes? But He says, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." Psalm 40. Do you delight to do it? Oh, what a thought it is, that in this dark world God has perfectly revealed Himself in Christ; nay more, that lie dwells in us! "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." 1 John 4:15
. There is God by His Spirit.

Now mark how this works. "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." I shall find plenty of difficulties in the way, and temptations of all kinds-possibly death, as has often been the case in some countries- but I am strengthened with all might. There is the strength. I have been brought into close relationship with God, and there I get this power. Unto what? "Unto all patience." This sounds like a poor thing, but you will find it is just what tries you. "Let patiencehave her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Jas. 1:4
. And again, "The signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience." 2 Cor. 12:12
. Are you always patient? do you not need divine power for it? I may want setting right in the
Church of God, or in the Lord's work, or in a thousand things; but I must have patience. I must wait on God. Supposing my will is not at work, there comes meekness and gentleness. I can take things gently and meekly and quietly with others; and, then he adds, if that is the case, my life is in full display before God, and there is the enjoyment of God. I enter into all this blessedness, and am not merely "made meet," but "giving thanks," because I am in the positive and blessed enjoyment of all. When I am walking in patience of heart and longsuffering, my soul is with God. I get the blessed enjoyment of what He is, and I grow by the knowledge of Him; "Unto every one which hath shall be given." If I am honest, I say, I do not know what His will is-perhaps there is something in myself that I have not yet detected. Here I have all these exercises; but it is in the sense of the divine favor resting on me with consciousness of my being a child of God. The more a child is with his father, and delights in him, of course the better he will grow up, understanding what his father likes. It is so with us before God.

God knows...!!!

God knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim;
He gives the very best to those,
Who leave the choice with him.

Author unknown.

Where do I go? And why?

The Assembly of God;

C.H.M., Unity

Cick here:

Unity: What is it? And am I confessing it?

He met them, going away...

Emmaus
From:Christian Truth
 – Christian Truth: Volume 9

LUKE 24
There is a question that presses on me: How far are we morally in the condition of the truth of Matt. 18:20
? "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." The solemn question is, Am I in such a condition?—not simply going to a meeting and having intercourse with "His own." There is more still—a deeper, more important thing yet. Am I really gathered to the Person of the Lord Jesus? so that as I leave the meeting I may be like the disciples in John, who said, "We have seen the Lord." If we are occupied with the detail of what this and that one has done, we are incapable of knowing His mind. He will have the moral state and walk to be that of truth. He cannot allow the condition of saints to be different from His doctrine. What is the truth He is calling us back to? Himself—around His Person.

In Luke 9, the two men in glory were with the Lord. They were talking of His decease and were happy. It is not merely coming to the breaking of bread, but a living state of connection with Christ, like Moses and Elias, that must characterize us. Now in Luke 24, there is not a word of anyone seeing Christ; but there were two souls leaving Jerusalem, and these two were sad, although they too were talking of His decease. Something drew them away from Jerusalem, although with sorrow, and the Lord comes and talks to them. "Why are ye sad?" He says. There never had been a more wonderful day for the earth than this; for He who had been crucified and buried, had risen, and although angels were adoring at the resurrection, yet the souls of these two were sad. We learn from this the state often of our own souls. Why was there this slowness of heart? Their reply is given in verse 21. It was what the natural man looked for—a kingdom on earth. They say, in substance, "The One whom we looked for is crucified, is dead, and we have no hope."

It is when the soul is out of communion that we seek temporal deliverances. How does the Lord deal with them? As far as these two go away from Jerusalem, He goes with them. What grace! There was no communion nor intelligence with them, but He goes with them to the end and then shows them that He has no business at Emmaus. He reveals Himself. Depend upon it, if we are looking for some outside temporal removal of difficulties, we have gotten outside of our right place.

Was it the Spirit that was leading these two toward Emmaus? No, for the Spirit had been leading others to gather together in Jerusalem. The two had gone to Emmaus, little as they thought of it, to know Himself, and so when He had revealed Himself to them, they feel that they, like Him, have no place there. So they return to Jerusalem in spite of the distance and their fatigue, and find the disciples gathered together! Was it a matter of indifference to Him whether or not these two were going to Emmaus? Was He careful only of the number gathered in the little room? Oh, no; not till these two were brought back to Jerusalem to those who were already gathered there, does He reveal Himself among them. How precious to know the Lord is just like this!

Before the mountains...

Psalm 90:2
   Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.