Psalm 95:1-2 ESV
Oh come, let us sing
to the Lord;
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of
our salvation!
Let us come into his
presence with thanksgiving;
let us make a joyful noise to him with
songs of praise!
Last night I was working through some emotions which were
tied into a recent situation in my life, which has been very troublesome to me.
I had been crying over this circumstance in my life for two days. It was very
heavy on my heart, and extremely painful.
I knew, too, that Satan was fighting hard against me, and so
I just poured out my heart to God in prayer, and he led me to sing some of the
hymns from the hymnbook, out loud.
So, I got out the hymnbook and began singing through the
hymns. These were hymns I knew or that I remembered from many years ago, but
the words were really speaking freshly to my heart. And, through that, God was
lifting my spirit, and he filled me with his peace, and he refreshed me and he
encouraged me, and he strengthened me in this battle I’ve been in.
And, today I have been at peace. And, the Lord has been
encouraging me so much, in different ways. He has been reminding me that he
never said that life would be easy, or that we wouldn’t go through tough times.
But, he does tell those of us who are his that he will never leave us or
forsake us, and that he is always with us, and that he will see us through
every situation which presents itself to us. For, he is still on the throne.
So, if you find yourself in a situation which overwhelms you
with sorrow, take it to the Lord in prayer, and sing songs of praise to him out
loud, and let the Lord fill your heart with his peace. Trust him with your
circumstances, too, and believe that he is completely sovereign, and that he is
working all this for good for those of us who love and obey him.
Psalm 95:6-7 ESV
Oh come, let us
worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
What does it mean to worship God? I think that many people
have a very limited or even skewed idea of what this means. I think many people
see worship as something that is done in a worship service where they sing
praise and worship songs and raise their hands in the air in praise to God.
Now, this can be worship, for singing songs of praise to our
Lord and lifting our hands to heaven are certainly some of the aspects of true
worship of God. But, that, in and of itself, is not worship. For, true worship
comes from our hearts and is evident in how we live our lives and in how we
treat God and his Word, and it is not something we do in form only.
Basically, true worship of God begins in our hearts in
humble surrender to our Lord. There we give our lives over to God as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, for this is our acceptable worship of
him. And, we are to no longer be conformed to the ways and attitudes of this
sinful world, but we are to be transformed in heart and mind of the Spirit of
God away from sin to walking in Christ’s righteousness and holiness (See Rom.
12:1-2).
As those who are true worshipers of God, we are his people,
his sheep, and he is our Lord (owner-master) and shepherd. As his sheep, we
listen to him and we follow (obey) him. For, true worship of God is humble, it
is submissive, and it is obedient. It submits to God and to his commands, and
it does not demand its own way.
Also, as true worshipers of our Lord Jesus Christ, our God,
we understand that we belong to him, for Jesus bought us back for God with his
blood shed on a cross for our sins. He didn’t die that painful death just to
forgive us our sins but to eradicate sin from our lives. He didn’t die just so
we could go to heaven when we die, either, but he died that we might live for
him every day we still have on this earth.
So, if you truly want to worship God, then lay down your
life on his altar of sacrifice, turn away from your sins and from your idols,
and follow Jesus Christ with your life, in surrender to him.
Psalm 95:7-11 ESV
Today, if you hear his
voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put
me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had
seen my work.
For forty years I
loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray
in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in
my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
The writer of Hebrews quoted this passage in chapters 3 and
4 of Hebrews. And, the warning was written to those who professed to believe in
Jesus Christ. He was letting them know that faith in Jesus Christ is committed
to the Lord, it is continuous, and it endures to the end, as well as it is
obedient to our Lord. He was telling them, too, that we are of God’s household,
his church, his body, IF we hold on to that faith to the end.
The warning here is that we must be cautious, when God
speaks to our hearts, that we don’t turn deaf ears to what he says, and we don’t
go our own way, thinking it doesn’t matter to God. And, he is using the
children of Israel of the Old Testament, the Jews, as an example to us of what
will happen if we take God’s grace lightly and we think we can continue in our
sinful practices and that God will do nothing.
Many people have been convinced that if they pray a prayer
to receive Christ or they make a decision at an altar or they make a public
confession of Jesus as Lord that it guarantees them heaven, no matter how they
live from that point forward. But, scriptures dispel that all throughout the
New Testament.
The Bible says that if we walk in the flesh, we will die in
our sins, but if by the Spirit we are putting to death the deeds of the flesh,
then we will live. It says, too, that if we claim to have fellowship with God
while we walk in darkness (sin, wickedness), we are liars who do not live by
the truth. And, then we are told, too, that if we make sin our practice, that
we do not have the hope of eternal life with God, but a fearful expectation of
judgment.
We have to realize here that true faith in Jesus Christ dies
daily to sin and self and it lives daily to Christ’s righteousness and
holiness. It is not perfect, but it does not use lack of perfection as an
excuse for willful sinful practices, either.
For, if we truly believe in Jesus, and we love him, we will
walk in his ways and in his truth, and we won’t be looking for ways to avoid
the truth or to skirt around it so that we don’t have to obey it.
Please know what the scriptures teach on that subject, for
they also teach that we will reap what we sow. If we sow to please the flesh,
from the flesh we will reap destruction (decay, death). But, if we sow to
please the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life (Gal. 6:7-8; Gal.
5:19-21).
So, if God is speaking to your heart today, and he is
putting a finger on something in your life that is displeasing to him, don’t
turn a deaf ear to what he has to say. Do not harden your heart. For, it is
only those who continue in Christ and who walk according to the Spirit who will
have eternal life with Christ. So, don’t be fooled. Don’t buy into the lies.
For, if we turn our backs on God, and we refuse him, we won’t enter into his
rest.
For
Our Nation
An
Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
Tuesday, November 20, 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment