13/05/2025
Maayong buntag.
WEEK 15-DAY 3
Morning Nourishment
Eph. 1:9 Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself.
Col.1:9 Therefore we also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease praving and asking on your behalf that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 1:9 speaks of God's good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself. In Ephesians 3:11 Paul refers to "the eternal purpose which He made in Christ Jesus our Lord" Furthermore, in Ephesians 1:11 Paul says that God "works all things according to the counsel of His will." The crucified Christ as the wisdom of God is related to God's plan according to His good pleasure and also according to God's way to fulfill His will. God's plan according to His good pleasure and His way to fulfill His will are deep and profound. Nevertheless, these profound matters can be applied to our experience. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 74-75)
Today's Reading
When we experience the crucified Christ, He becomes to us both the power of God and the wisdom of God. Since we have the crucified Christ as God's wisdom, there is no need for us to seek a way to carry out God's will. Simply by experiencing the crucified Christ, we spontaneously have a way to do God's will. We become very wise in doing the will of God. No longer is it necessary for us to make up our mind to do God's will or to determine to do the will of God...Christians everywhere pray for the will of God to be done... But no matter how many times believers pray for the will of God to be done, the will of God is not accomplished... As long as you experience the cruci-fied Christ, Christ will become to you the wisdom of God to ful-fill His plan. You will have the wisdom of God to do His will... If you look backward after a period of months or years, you will realize that you did have the wisdom of God to carry out His plan according to His will. This, of course, is not your nat-ural wisdom; it is the crucified Christ as the wisdom of God.
When we experience the crucified Christ, we are termi-nated. All that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do-all is completely terminated...You are terminated simply by experiencing the crucified Christ... It is impossible for any-one to crucify himself. But when we call on the name of the Lord Jesus, as we are enjoying Him and experiencing Him, His crucifixion will terminate us. All that we are is terminated by this crucified Christ.
Crucifixion is the way for us to be delivered from the flesh, the natural life, and the old creation. Christ crucified is not only the power; He is also the way... To us who have been called, the crucified Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God for us to be delivered from all negative things. We thank Him and praise Him that we are now in the process of being saved. The more we are saved by experiencing the crucified Christ, the more we enjoy Him. (Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 75-76)
Christ crucified is the power of God for saving us and the wisdom of God for fulfilling His plan. In order to achieve any-thing, we need both power and wisdom. Power is the ability, and wisdom is the way. Christ is first our power, and then He is our wisdom, that is, our way. Christ is the power of God to carry out God's economy, and He is also the wisdom of God, the way of God, to carry out God's economy.
Christ as the power of God strengthens us with a dynamic power, supplying and sustaining us in what we are and what we do. In all our circumstances and conditions, Christ as the power of God enables us to suffer, to bear burdens, and to stand firm. He also sustains us to the point of being unshakable. For this reason, Paul declared, "I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me" (Phil. 4:13). Christ as the power of God is daily supplying and sustaining us through His divine dispensing.
