Saturday, July 20,
2013, 4:38 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:
Fully Ready! / An
Original Work / June 19, 2013
Based off Acts 20-22, 26; Mt. 28:18-20; Ac. 1:8
Why are you weeping
and breaking my heart?
I’m fully ready to suffer
for Christ.
If I must die for the
sake of His name,
I am convinced it will
not be in vain.
Glory to God and to
His Son Jesus,
Who has redeemed us;
bought with His blood.
May I speak to you?
Jesus came to me;
Asked of me, “Why do
you persecute me?”
He said, “Now get up
and stand on your feet.
Go, and you’ll be told
all I have for you.
I have appointed you
as a servant,
And as a witness; you
have been sent.”
“Go into the world and
preach the gospel.
Open the blind eyes.
They will receive sight.
Turn them from
darkness to the light of Christ;
From power of the evil
one to God,
So they may receive
forgiveness of sins,
And a place among
those who’re in heav’n.”
Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Ephesians 5:1-21 (ESV):
Therefore
be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us
and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
But
sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among
you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor
crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.
For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure,
or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these
things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not
become partners with them; for at one time you were darkness, but now you are
light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found
in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to
the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose
them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.
But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything
that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Awake,
O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and
Christ will shine on you.”
Look
carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of
the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but
understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for
that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in
psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord
with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence
for Christ.
Imitators of God
When we think of the word “imitate,” I think we often get
the picture of someone who mimics or copies someone in the sense of poking fun,
mocking, acting, or pretending. Yet, in this context, this exhortation to be
imitators of God means that we should emulate, follow, follow the example of,
and model ourselves (our lives) after God. How do we do this? We should walk in
love, following Christ’s example to us.
Now, there are many different interpretations of what it
means to walk in love or to love others, so we must model our lives after the
life of Christ (God), and we should love others as he loved, and as he loves
us. The primo way in which Christ Jesus loved us is that he gave his life for
us so that we can go free from enslavement to sin and self-pleasure, free from
eternal damnation, and free to walk in his righteousness and holiness. And, we,
too, should give our lives to others in ways which will lead them to freedom in
Christ - from slavery to sin (away from darkness) to walks of faith (to the
light of Christ and his gospel).
Empty Words
“Empty” words are words that contain nothing of value, are
insincere, lacking truthfulness, meaningless, purposeless, hollow, shallow,
pointless and worthless. The warning and instruction here is that we not let
anyone deceive us with empty words. In context, it appears that the empty words
may have been coming from false teachers of the gospel who taught “gospel
lite,” i.e. they did not teach death to sin and walking in the light of Christ.
So, Paul (in the Spirit) made it quite clear to them that if we live immoral,
greedy, impure and idolatrous lifestyles, even though we may call ourselves
Christians, we have no part in God’s eternal kingdom. This is not to say that
Christians will never sin. We will. But, what it does say is that if we
continue in willfully sinful lifestyles we have no inheritance in heaven. So,
if anyone is telling you that Christ Jesus does not require repentance and
obedience, then know the word of God and what it teaches (See Lu 9:23-25; Ep
4:17-24; Ro. 6; 1 Jn).
Yet, “empty” words can be anything that is taught in the
name of Jesus Christ which has no eternal value, which leads people to a false
hope in Christ, which teaches what is false as though it is truth, and/or which
misleads people to believe as true what has no foundation in truth whatsoever
or what is founded in half-truths (lies). Not everyone who calls himself or
herself a servant (or prophet or minister) of Christ is truly of Christ. This
is why we must test everything we hear against the word of God, and we should
pray for discernment.
If someone is preaching a message, and he or she is telling
you that what he or she is teaching is founded in the word of God, but he or
she does not support this Biblically, then check it out to make sure that what
you are hearing is truly what the Bible teaches. And, if someone says he or she
is hearing from God and shares a message with you supposedly from God, then
check it out with God and his word to see if it really is from God or not. As
well, if a person says he or she is a prophet of God, and he or she speaks a
personal word of prophecy to you supposedly from God, and the words he or she
speaks are generic enough that they could apply to a lot of people, then test
what that person says, because God knows us, and if this is truly him speaking,
he would speak something to us that would be very specific to us and would
reveal the relationship we have with him. We know this by how he spoke to his
children all throughout Biblical history.
No Partnerships
We are not to be deceived by empty words, for because of
these sinful practices mentioned in this passage of scripture, which could
include the deceptive and empty words of false teachers, God’s wrath comes upon
the sons of disobedience. Therefore, we are not to become partners with them – with
the disobedient. A partner can be a spouse, a business partner, associate,
and/or colleague, etc., but to partner with someone can also mean to join with,
associate, unite, consort and team up with that individual or individuals. So,
this is saying, I believe, that we should not hang out with, be partakers with
or join with those who are living sinful lifestyles, especially not with those
who call themselves Christians and who are living sinful lifestyles. The reason
we should not hang out and partake with them is that we were once darkness, but
now we are the light in the Lord, so we should walk (live) as children of light
(all that is good, right and true), not as those still in darkness, and we
should try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.
Not only should we not partake in the unfruitful works of
darkness (all that is called sin or which glorifies or is entertained by sin),
but we are to expose (uncover; reveal) these unfruitful deeds of darkness for what
they are. We should expose what is false and that which stands opposed to God.
We should reveal what kinds of things Biblically speaking would be considered
“fruitless deeds of darkness,” so that we are aware of what we partake in and
how God views these things, and we should do so in the light of the truth of
God’s holy word. This is loving! This is kind! Jesus gave his life up for us so
we could go free from slavery to sin and so we could be free to walk in his
righteousness, so if we follow his example, and we walk in his love in this
way, it should involve lovingly pointing out what is false (Biblically
speaking), exposing these fruitless deeds of darkness for what they are, and it
should call people to turn from their sins and to turn to walk in Christ’s
righteousness.
Look Carefully
Yet, we should look carefully (examine carefully) how we walk in the Spirit of God
ourselves. Do we live what we say we believe? Or, are we riding the fence
spiritually with one foot in the world and one in God’s kingdom? Do we buy into
every wind of teaching just because it sounds good and it stirs us emotionally?
Or do we exercise spiritual wisdom and discernment so that we do not fall prey
to clever lies disguised as truth? Do we check out what we hear against the word
of God (of truth) to make sure it adds up? And, are we following after and
teaching the truth ourselves?
We need to make the best use of our time, because the days
are evil. This means that we need to be aware of the culture and times in which
we live, and that we need to live our lives with eternity in view and with a
reality check of our own lives, hearts and minds as to what evil we willfully
take into our hearts and minds each and every day, so that we may turn from all
known sin, so that we can walk in the light of the truth of God’s holy word.
Also, making the best use of our time, because the days are evil, carries with
it the real awareness that people are dying and are going to hell without Jesus
Christ as their Lord and Savior, that we have been given the keys to eternal
life, and that we have a God-given responsibility to share with others how they
can come to know Christ, too, and can be set free from the control of Satan and
sin over their lives, and how they can walk in Christ’s righteousness and
holiness one day at a time, turning away from sin, and following Jesus Christ
in obedience to his will and to his purposes for our lives (See Lu 9:23-25).
God’s Will
We need to understand what God’s will is for our lives. We
do this through careful and prayerful study of the scriptures, through time
spent at Jesus’ feet each day, and through walking in the light of his love and
of his word one day at a time in obedience to his commands and in surrender to
his will for our lives. The more we obey him, the more of himself he will
reveal to us, and the more we will come to know and to understand his will and
his purposes for our lives.
Lastly, we are to continually be “being” filled with the
Spirit of God. This is not a one-time experience. And, the whole of Ephesians 4
& 5 teach us how this works. We are to put off our old man, be transformed
in heart and mind of the Spirit of God, and put on our new lives in Christ
Jesus, created to be like Christ in true righteousness and holiness. We are to
put off the fruitless deeds of darkness, and we are to walk in the light of
Christ, i.e. in his truth and holiness. We do this, not in our own human
strength and reasoning, but in the power and working of the Holy Spirit of God
within us as Christ Jesus lives out his life through us, as we continually
yield to his Lordship and yield control of our lives over to him.
Then, filled to overflowing with the Spirit of God within
us, we encourage and strengthen and edify the body of Christ. One of the ways
in which we do this is through the sharing of songs one with another. Now, this
is not speaking of sharing professional recordings or songs that are sung in a
professional sounding manner in the eyes of man, but these are spiritual songs
which stem from our personal relationships with Jesus Christ and which are
founded in the truths of God’s holy word. We don’t even have to be able to
carry a tune to share a song in the Spirit for the purpose of encouraging and
uplifting each other. The main components necessary are that we are filled with
the Holy Spirit, that we are obedient to God’s voice in sharing what he gives
us to share, that we are acting in love one to another, and that we give thanks
and praise to God. And, then we trust God to use it for his purposes and for
his glory in other people’s lives.
My Heart’s Desire
/ An Original Work / June 29, 2013
Based off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26; Ep. 4:20-24
Loved Ones, Oh, my
heart’s desire
Is that you might come
to Jesus.
Many appear zealous
for God,
But they do not trust in
Him.
They have not
submitted to the One
Who saved them from
their sins;
Not forsaken their
sins,
Nor have they obeyed
their King.
The word of the Lord
is near you:
The word of faith
we’re proclaiming:
That you must confess
your faith
In Jesus as your Lord
and King:
Believe in Him as your
Lord,
And follow Him
where’er He leads.
Share the gospel; be a
witness,
And meet others’
needs.
Beautiful are the feet
of those
Who bring the good
news of Jesus:
Anyone who would come
to Him
Must deny himself
today;
Die to sin and self,
and
Let the Spirit
transform you in heart;
Put on your new self
in Jesus,
Yielding to the cross.
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