Author: caroltwolisteners

December 4 – Man of Sorrows

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted
with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised,
and we esteemed him not. Isaiah 53:3

That these words strike a note of Beauty in the hearts of those attuned to hear the Beautiful, shows truly that the heart recognizes the need for the Man of Sorrows. That it sees nothing contemptible in One despised by the world. That it recognizes the vast difference between the values of Heaven, and those of the world. Fame and acclamation are accorded to earth’s great, contempt and rejection to the Son of God.

One of the things My disciples must ever seek to do is to set aside the valuation of the world, and judge only according to the values of Heaven. These are not for you.  Do not seek the praise and the notice of men. You follow a despised Christ. See the mob is hooting, throwing stones, jeering, and yet in that quiet little throng there is a happiness and Joy the reviling crowds could never know.

Follow that little throng with stones and gibes, and it appears to be of men, mean, ludicrous, contemptible.  Be one of the throng, and you feel the Majesty of God in the presence of Him, Who was despised and rejected of men. Wreaths around His Brow, and shouts of applause, would belittle that Majesty.

In your dark hours, when human help fails, keep very close to the Man of Sorrows. Feel My Hand of Love press yours in silent but complete understanding. I, too, was acquainted with grief. No heart can ache without My heart aching too. “He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

“Love not the world, neither the things
that are in the world…for all that
 is in the world…is not of the
Father, but is of the world.”
1 John 2:15-16

December 2 – The Ideal Man

Draw nigh, shoes off thy feet, in silent awe and adoration. Draw nigh, as Moses drew nigh to the burning bush.

I give you the loving intimacy of a friend, but I am God too, and the wonder of our intercourse, the miracle of your intimacy with Me, will mean the more to you, if sometimes you see the Majestic Figure of the Son of God.

Draw nigh in the utter confidence that is the sublimest prayer. Draw nigh. No far-off pleading, even to a God clothed with majesty of fire. Draw nigh. Draw nigh, not as a suppliant, but as a listener. I am this Suppliant, as I make known to you My wishes. For this Majestic God is Brother too, longing so intensely that you should serve your brother-man, and longing, even more intensely, that you should be true to that Vision He has of you.

You speak of your fellow man as disappointing you, as falling short of the ideal you had of him. But what of Me? For every man there is the ideal man I see in him. The man he could be, the man I would have him be.

Judge of My Heart when he fails to fulfill that promise. The disappointments of man may be great and many, but they are nothing as compared with My disappointments. Remember this, and strive to be the friend I see in my vision of you.

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you.” James 4:8

November 30 – From Self to God

The eternal God is thy refuge.  Deuteronomy 33:27

A place to flee to, a sanctuary.  An escape from misunderstanding, from yourself.  You can get away from others into the quiet of your own being, but from yourself, from the sense of your failure, your weakness, your sins and shortcomings, whither can you flee?

To the Eternal God your refuge.  Till in His Immensity you forget your smallness, meanness, limitations.

Till the relief of safety merges into Joy of appreciation of your refuge, and you absorb the Divine, and absorbing, gain strength to conquer.

The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God 
of Jacob defend thee: Send thee help from the sanctuary, 
and strengthen thee out of Zion. Psalm 20:1,2

November 29 – When Two Agree

If two of you shall agree.

I am the Truth. Every word of Mine is true. Every promise of Mine shall be fulfilled.

First, “gathered together in My Name,” bound by a common loyalty to Me, desires only of doing My Will.

Then, when this is so, I am present too, a self-invited guest, and when I am there and one with you, voicing the same petition, making your demands Mine, then it follows the request is granted.

But what man has failed perhaps to realize is all that lies behind the words.  For two to agree about the wisdom of a request, to be certain it should be granted, and will be granted (if it should be), is not the same as two agreeing to pray that request.

Nor forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the 
manner of some is; but exhorting one another, and so much the 
more, as ye see the day approaching.  Hebrews 10:25

November 28 – The Way of The Spirit

Jesus, we come to Thee with Joy.

The Joy of meeting Me should more and more fill your lives.  It will. Your lives must first of all be narrowed down, more and more, into an inner circle of life with Me (the three of us), and then, as that friendship becomes more and more engrossing, more and more binding, then gradually, the circle of your interests will widen.

For the present do not think of it as a narrow life.  I have My Purpose, My Loving Purpose, in cutting you away from other work and interests, for the time.

To work from large interests and a desire for great activities and world movements, to the inner circle life with Me, is really the wrong way.  That is why so often, when, through all these activities and interests, a soul finds Me, I have to begin our Friendship by cutting away the ties that bind it to the outer and wider circle.  When it has gained strength and learned its lesson in the inner circle, it can then widen its life, working this time from within out, taking then to each contact, each friendship, the inner circle influence.

And this is to be your way of life.

This is the way of the Spirit. Man so often misunderstands this.

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up together with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in  the air.  1 Thessalonians 4:17