Brave Friendship

Mon Aug 6 16:24:50 PDT 2007

*"TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE" MINISTRIES*

*Jim & Marie Watt – Beth Chesed, **Tacoma***

*PO Box **25116 – Federal Way** **WA** **98093-2116***

*Web: www.2rbetter.org – Fax: 253.474.0189*

*Tel: 253.874.4265 – Email: jmbetter at gmail.com*

*August 6, 2007***

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*"THE BRAVE FRIENDSHIP OF GOD"*

*(From "My Utmost for His Highest" – Oswald Chambers)*

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*"He took the twelve aside …" (Luke **18:31**)*

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Oh, the bravery of God in trusting us! Do you say, "But He has been unwise
to choose me, because there is nothing good in me and I have no value?" That
is exactly why He chose you. As long as you think that you are of value to
Him He cannot choose you, because you have purposes of your own to serve.
But if you will allow Him to take you to the end of your own
self-sufficiency, then He can choose you to go with Him "to Jerusalem" (
18:31). And that will mean the fulfillment of purposes which He does not
discuss with you.

We tend to say that because a person has natural ability, he will make a
good Christian. It is not a matter of our equipment, but a matter of our
poverty; not of what we bring with us, but of what God puts into us; not a
matter of natural virtues, of strength of character, of knowledge, or of
experience – all of that is of no avail in this concern. The only thing of
value is being taken into the compelling purpose of God and being made His
friends (see 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). God's friendship is with people who
know their poverty. He can accomplish nothing with the person who thinks
that he is of use to God. As Christians we are not here for our own purpose
at all – we are here for the purpose of God, and the two are not the same.
We do not know what God's compelling purpose is, but whatever happens, we
must maintain our relationship with Him. We must never allow anything to
damage our relationship with God; but if something does damage it, we must
take the time to make it right again. The most important aspect of
Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the
surrounding influence and qualities produced by that relationship. That is
all God asks us to give our attention to, and it is the one thing that is
continually under attack.

*NOTE:*  This reading is a penetrating word. – It gets down deep into
motives and hidden thoughts. Periodically we all need to unmask our inner
selves – our spirits – to our conscious selves. This is a painful
experience, but absolutely necessary from time to time. Consider it like a
time to bring your car into the garage for an oil change and 3000 mile
check-up.

Alan Redpath, an accountant from London England, pastored the Chicago Moody
Memorial Church in the mid '50's.         I accepted his challenge to serve
on the board of the Africa Inland Mission of which he was chairman. It was
worth a monthly meeting for 2 years to hear him tell us of his difficulty of
maintaining a daily vital quiet-time with God. He affirmed that this was the
most difficult call of God in his life. That encouraged us as fellow board
members to hear this confession. It is like the story in Aesop's Fables of
the fox who lost his tail! It is encouraging to realize that those we
consider as saints who have arrived -- have the same difficulties that face
us also!

Three Scriptures help us to maintain a place of humility in this area. Paul
states in Romans 7:18, "I am persuaded that in me – that is – in my flesh –
dwells NO GOOD THING!"

Believe it! It is true for all of us!

On one occasion in 1949 Marie and I were staying in a pastor's home in
Minneapolis while we held meetings for him. At dinner table one day I
exclaimed, "My goodness." Without a moment's hesitation the pastor's wife
retorted, "You HAVE no goodness! Only Christ in you is good!" I have never
forgotten that.

Philippians 3:2-3 states, "Look out for the dogs, look out for the evil
workers, look out for the concision: for we are the circumcision, who
worship by God's Spirit, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have NO CONFIDENCE
IN THE FLESH!" (IP).

And lastly consider Galatians 2:20 (IP) "I have been crucified with Christ;
and no longer I live, but CHRIST LIVES IN ME: and what I now live in the
flesh I live by faith WHICH IS IN THE SON OF :GOD, who loved me, and gave
himself up for me!"

The SELF LIFE, not the devil, is our NUMBER ONE ENEMY! SELF-DECEPTION
because of a lack of exercising the "discernings of spirits" – is all too
prevalent in too many of our lives. And then when it is discerned by others
– too often they fail to lovingly but firmly confront those who are
self-deceived. Then the church – the body of Christ – suffers.

Truths of this nature do not bless us out of our socks at initial hearing –
but – afterwards – they yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

We at Beth Chesed are in the process of acting upon the above. Why not join
us in this?

And finally a word of explanation. Last Friday someone from Nigeria hacked
into our computer and sent out a false email in my name asking for $3500.
Then he changed my "password" in our Gmail server so that I could not send
out a word of exposure and explanation. Fortunately my grandson Keelan had
my up-to-date mailing list, and was able to send out an exposure and
explanation concerning this deception. Fortunately also many of you
contacted me by phone and said, "We KNEW this couldn't be from you: number
one, you don't beg for money; secondly, you don't have typos and grammar
errors; and lastly you couldn't have visited 3 countries in Africa and ended
up broke in Nigeria when we had just heard from you in the Seattle area."

However, our fear was based on the saying of Barnum & Bailey, the circus
managers who said: "There's one born every minute – a sucker!" As far as we
know, none of you failed in discernment in this direction. One of you
responded to this false request by asking the hacker for the name of his
wife. He knew *I* knew his wife's name; but the hacker did not respond!

So let us not be naïve. Let us not be gullible. Let us prove ALL things. Let
us hold fast to that which is GOOD!

Your friends – Jim & Marie Watt

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