Found our dear brother in Zimbabwe's update just now ( from 9/25 ) ... Jimm/James. I've always been impressed by the faith of James .. as I've gone back & perused various threads, since coming here ...I always took Bro James to be a man much older than I realize he is, after reading his testimony on the Testimony thread in the Lounge.Though James seems only to have recently come to the Lord ( in the past year ? ) ... his capacity to absorb spiritual truths ( and not get side-tracked by "rabbit trails" ) ... as a relative "spiritual infant" - to me, is remarkable.Below are pearls from James' recent update on his life in Zimbabwe, which astound me to read, coming from a 21 yr old "new believer in Christ".Anyone can quote these things out of a "spiritual book", but it's clear that our brother is finding these things to be "real" ... not just "knowledge about" the Christian life ...Many of us are trying to kill ourselves so that we can experience the newness of life in a deeper way, but the revelation and reality is that we are dead already.. that fact of Jesus being not only the Door into peace and new pastures but he is the Shepherd that leads me to this Door. In other words it is Jesus who leads me to Jesus. I do not have to repent of my own self, but Jesus is my repentance, all I have to do is confess and trust Him to work His grace through me. He doesn’t need my help! What a marvelous relief this has been.May God All-Mighty help us to have an active faith in Christ and not faith in faith, such faith is based on self what lies in me, but faith in Christ, relies on Christ, and what lies in Him. What a dangerously fine line! but let us realize that we are here for one purpose and one purpose only, that is to express a relationship with Christ: to express Life. What are we birthing in our travail you may ask? Simply put, “the Lord cometh”. Anyone who loses sight of this eternal purpose of God looses purpose with His call and with His relationship with God. Let this reality become a burning important issue in your chest and you will be less shaken (I say this both to you and to myself).A radical motivation for souls, and for “the Church” are nothing if they are not based on this foundation ( baruch's note - speaking of the quote above ); they will both fizzle out as the souls you reach for rebel against you, and you look in vain to find a “true expression of the Church”. But that the Lord will come is a reality that will never die change or loose its urgency. It is not so much doctrines, as these begin to loose the significance as Christ becomes more real in your life and your cling to Him more than your precious ideas.Is your very Life in Christ a statement against darkness, a statement that requires no words and one which invites martyrdom. If not then you may do well to point the finger within your own heart, and point by point, re-consecrate yourself to Christ by the grace of the great Shepherd, the only potentate, JESUS THE ANOINTED ONE. Amen, James
