For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. Luke 9:24

Jesus Christ is speaking a great truth here. The maxims of the Bible are contrary to the maxims of the world. If anyone wants to be exalted he must humble himself. If anyone wants to be filled with grace and power, he must first die. If anyone wants to be wise, he must first become a fool.

The Sermon on the Mount is the natural outcome of a regenerate life, developed fully. It is simply wonderful how Jesus states things that are going to be your experience. Unfortunately, we do not take God at His Word. Hence, we do not see the fruit. If people do not believe in humbling themselves and confessing their sins, how can they see such fruit? But if we are truly born of the Spirit, we will find that all that are God’s are ours and all ours are God’s. God will be in you and you in God.

How happy you will feel when all your children belong to God! Why do people hesitate to give their children to God? They do not accept the fact that their children belong to God anyway and not to themselves and they have no claim on them more than God.

“What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (I Cor.6:19) We are not our own. Do you know that your body is not yours? Then you will know how to adorn it, when you go to worship God. Your face is not yours. Is your face acceptable before God? When you wash your heart with the Word of God, heavenly beauty will come into your face.

I saw a woman whose face was shining because her heart was changed. You are not your own. It is a great step in spiritual life to know you are not your own. If you have not come to that level you must weep. Many mothers are to blame for the illness and the sufferings of their children. It is because they do not come to the place of knowing that they are not their own. The time is coming when you are going to throw away your body and your clothes.

You are not your own. You think that house is yours. No it is not. To the extent you use it for God’s glory it is yours. You have built a house, but you will not occupy it for long because you think it is your own. Saul thought the throne was his own. He lost it. “Now, therefore, let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, LORD, and it shall be blessed forever.” (I Chronicles17:27) David wanted God to bless Solomon. He asked Solomon not to depend on anything except seeking God with a perfect heart. Hence, the kingdom was retained by David.

He that loses his life, he that loses his property, he that loses his bigness shall gain them. Your wife is not your own. She is the gift of God. Do you keep her so and treat her so? If not, you are losing the riches of His glory referred to in John17:10, “And all mine are thine, and thine are mine: and I am glorified in them” and in John 17:21, “That they all may be one; as thou Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”

How glorious it is when we give up our all to God! What a great confidence you will have in God when you feel all those that are in your house and all the things in your house belong to God! I know a man who prayed for his son who was dying. God gave him back his son. That father is now bringing him up for the world. Ungrateful man! Abraham gave his son to God and God gave him back to Abraham. He brought up Isaac for God. Isaac then became a blessing to the whole world.

N Daniel

As a poor, pious man was sitting by his little fire one cold evening, with his wife and children, he said to them, “I have been thinking a great deal today about that part of Scripture, ‘The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.’ How wonderful it is, that we, who are so sinful, unworthy, and helpless, should be more favoured than he was!”

“It is wonderful, indeed, father,” said the eldest girl; “for though our house is mean, and our food scanty, compared with the houses and way of living of great folks, yet it seems that Jesus Christ was not so well provided for as we are.”

“I am right glad to hear you speak in that way, Sarah,” said the wife. “How happy we all are in our little dwelling this cold night; and as soon as we wish, we have beds to rest ourselves upon; wherein, sharp and piercing as the frost is, and bleak and stormy as the wind blows, we shall be comfortable and warm; and yet the Son of Man, as your father has just told us, ‘had not where to lay His head.’ O, that this thought may make us thankful for many mercies!”

"Tommy”, said the father, “reach that hymn, which our dear minister gave you last week at the Sunday School; and as our hearts are in a good frame, let us try to keep them so by singing it.”

“Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.” Psalms 107:6

“O depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”Romans 11:33

Without any doubt, we are living in a superficial and artificial age. It is all tinsel, veneer and glittering chrome. In the event of any disaster or accident, all that remains are only bits and pieces and an unrecognizable mass of twisted steel. But most people stake every thing on the short-lived glow and glitter of their earthly possessions.

Unfortunately, this shallow veneer has overtaken many churches too. Most of the preachers and churches today preach a conversion which requires no repentance. It hurts to dig deep, to uncover the wicked motives that rule one’s life and confess hidden sins. It is some thing which human nature revolts. We hate to be exposed, to be searched to the depths of our hearts. But this is what the Lord Jesus does. Exposure and diagnosis are essential for treatment.

You never try to mislead your doctor by stating symptoms which do not exist. You want to be as exact as possible in narrating the symptoms in order to help the doctor to locate the problem.

St Paul cries, Oh! The depths of the riches both of wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!

Yes, there are depths in Christ, depths in purity, power and perfection. It only reveals our shallow desire when we look around and see the state of affairs of Christians today. The early disciples were men who could face any situation with deep assurance that their risen Lord would deliver them through and through. Jesus was more than adequate for them. Such was their faith and they were more than conquerors in the midst of an idolatrous and immoral society.

Christ is adequate even today. His promises are enough for you. As you get deeper into the Word of God and the riches in Christ, your heart is thrilled with a new vision and hope. You are right there in the mine shaft and the cable car plunges you deeper and deeper into the solid veins of gold in the quartz around you. It is all yours. He is your wisdom. He is your salvation. He is your sanctification. In Jesus Christ you have all these riches. He gave Himself for us holding nothing back.

My father was a man of great spiritual depth and he sought depth in others. In his life time he was enabled by God to bring literally thousands into the deep experience of conversion. Nearly all of them learned to pray and cultivated the habit of getting alone for prayer every day. No wonder, they were mightily used of God in healing the sick and in casting out the demons. The Word of God prevailed over all the works of darkness.

On the other hand, the shallow Christians are always characterized by the light hearted way in which they speak of deep men of God. The very son of God was not spared from criticism. They called Him as a wine-bibber, friend of sinners and Beelzebub. They belittled Him as the son of the carpenter. But Jesus steadfastly set His face towards Jerusalem, where He must suffer and die on the cross.

Now, tear off the old paper and scrape away the thin veneer with which you disguised your true nature. Come to the cross with true brokenness. Call upon the Lord Jesus for a new life. There are depths of His love and riches which are still unexplored.

It was September 11th, 2001, just past 9 am. Stanley Praimnath, Vice President of Fuji Bank, was in his office in the South Tower at World Trade Centre in New York when his phone rang.

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This Fellowship is an inter-denominational missionary and prayer group working for revival in churches and amongst students in several countries. We invite every layperson to become God’s ally in changing his or her corner of the world. We train people in evangelistic work and to be self-supporting missionaries.