glorycloud's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- the Lord causes a beam of His light to shine into his heart It is 5:22 PM Friday evening in the ice flow. I am down in the lower level of our home in the woods. I laid down for a nap from 3 o'clock PM till 5:15 PM. When I woke up I took my daily hot shower. Now I am updating my online diary. While I was writing in my blog earlier Carol yelled down to me when she got back her dentist appointment wanting to know if I wanted to go our for Mexican food for lunch. I answered Sure why not. So Carol and I went to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch. When we got back home after eating it was past 1 o'clock PM. Carol went to bed around 2 o'clock PM and I went to down here to take a nap around 3 o'clock PM. Existence keeps decaying. I have been reading today from these two books- "The Spiritual Espousals" by John Ruusbroec (1293-1381)[Classics of Western Spirituality] "A Spiritual Appeal To Christ's Bride" by Jodocus van Lodenstein (1620-1677) [Classics of Reformed Spirituality] I do not know what I will do this evening to kill Time. Lately there has been nothing on TV worth watching. I suppose tonight I will just read my books and wait for tomorrow to come. We are already half way through the month of February 2014. Well I suppose I will quote some more Jodocus van Lodenstein on divine illumination. "Doctrine #1: We thus observe here that a man is converted when the Lord causes a beam of His light to shine into his heart. This does not mean that such a person is then perfect. However, it becomes his desire to be perfect, and he perceives that he cannot be excused for his imperfections. Along with this light that proceeds from God comes a hatred toward sin and all that is ungodly. This light is accompanied with a great measure of holiness, for the soul acquires a clear view of God's precious attributes. If we lack a right understanding of God and His gracious all-sufficiency in Himself, and of how these truths benefit us, this can only be due to the inadequacy of our so-called "illumination." With such man-made illumination, a person can acquire knowledge that increases as the mind matures over the years or by way of diligence. By this "illumination," however, he does not acquire the blessed knowledge of which the Savior speaks in John 17:3: "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent." By this "illumination," one is not made spiritually alive; he does not receive the vivid perception in the soul that causes a person to cry out, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory" (Isa. 6:3). Our natural knowledge will not yield a knowledge of God and ourselves; such knowledge can only be acquired by divine illumination. What are the effects of divine illumination? First of all, a person's motives are changed. A man's motives completely influence his activities. If one is fully motivated toward himself prior to conversion, after conversion he is entirely God-focused. The fact that he refrains from sin is therefore no proof of conversion. Someone can be considered converted only if he was previously engaged in everything for himself but is now solely focused on the Lord in all his actions and thoughts. The converted person loves God not merely because He will provide a heaven for us, but solely and entirely because He is worthy, holy, and glorious. Whatever deviates from this motive is only superficial and may not be designated as conversion." pg. 100,101 "A Spiritual Appeal To Christ's Bride" by Jodocus van Lodenstein 5:48 p.m. - 2014-02-14 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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