Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!Psalm 100:1-2 ESV
What is joyful to the Lord? What brings him delight and
pleasure? It is us, his saints, delighting in his righteousness and in his laws,
which are for us to follow.
It is us appreciating and taking pleasure in the ways of the
Lord, which are the ways of truth, righteousness and purity. It is when we are
happy to do his will, and his law is within our hearts, being lived out through
our lives daily. And, he delights in truth in our inner being, and in broken
and contrite hearts, and when we walk in obedience to his commands.
“The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love” (Ps. 147:11 ESV).
And, to fear the Lord is to honor, value and respect him for
the mighty God that he is, which means we forsake our sins and our idols in
order to walk in his ways and in his truth. For, this is what brings him joy.
And, then he is joyful when we audibly give him praise and
thanksgiving reflective of what is in our hearts towards him, which is then
evidenced by how we live our lives for him and for his glory.
For, the Lord does not want our lip service only. He is not
interested in empty platitudes of praise to him if we are not walking in
obedience to him. He wants us totally in submission to him, living lives which
are holy and pleasing to him, for this is our acceptable worship of him.
And, he wants us no longer conformed to the ways of this
sinful world, but he wants to renew our minds in him so that we learn what his
will is, and so that we do his will, and so we serve him with our lives and we
no longer serve our flesh (Rom. 12:1-2).
Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.Psalm 100:3 ESV
What does it mean to belong to the Lord? What does it mean
to be his people? The sheep of his pasture?
“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” John 10:27 ESV
This really is it, in a nutshell. We listen to God, not just
with our ears, but attentively with our whole hearts, and we heed what he says,
and we follow him in his ways and in his truth, and we do what he says to do.
We no longer live for ourselves, for our own sinful
pleasure, but we live for him and for his purposes and for his glory and
praise. So, we die daily to sin and self, by God’s grace, and in his power, and
daily we put on Christ and his righteousness and we now honor God with our
lives and with our bodies (1 Peter 2:24; 1 Co. 6:20; 2 Co. 5:15, 21; Tit.
2:11-14; Eph. 4:17-24).
It means we now serve the Lord with our lives, and we do the
works he prepared in advance that we should do, allowing him to work his will
and his purposes in our lives and out through our lives. Now we say “NO!” to
ungodliness and fleshly lusts, and by the power of the Spirit living within us
we now live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s
return (Tit. 2:11-14; Eph. 2:10; Rom. 6:1-23; Eph. 4:17-24).
For, we now belong to him. We are his possession, his
people, and he is now our Lord (owner-master) and we are his servants, slaves
to righteousness.
But, that isn’t all. For, because we are his sheep, and we
are his followers, and because we are doing what he says, and saying what he
gives us to say, we are also hated and persecuted for righteousness’ sake by
those who are of this world (including the worldly church). So, we will have
all kinds of evil spoken against us, and we will be rejected and ostracized and
even kicked out of church fellowships because we are following our Lord in
obedience.
[Matt. 10:22; Matt. 24:9; Lu. 6:22; Lu. 21:17; Jn. 15:18-20;
Jn. 17:14; 1 Jn. 3:13; Matt. 5:10-12; Lu. 21:12; 2 Tim. 3:12]
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!Psalm 100:4 ESV
What are the gates of the Lord? Well, for one, Jesus is the
gate, the door, the only way to the Father in heaven through whom all must
enter if we want to have eternal life with God. And, we enter through that
gate, which is narrow (restrictive), by God’s grace, through God-given faith in
Jesus Christ.
But, this faith is not a feeling or an experience or some
intellectual assent to who Jesus is or was. It is not words we repeat after
someone else, either. This faith is God-given and divinely persuaded as to God’s
righteousness and holiness, thus it submits to Christ as Lord, and it
surrenders to his will, and it walks in obedience to his commands (Rom. 6:1-23;
Eph. 4:17-24).
And, that is why it is narrow, and why it is that few enter,
because not many people are willing to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ.
For, they still want to maintain control of their own lives (Matt. 7:13-14).
And, true thanksgiving to God, and true praise of our Lord,
again, is not with our lips only. Yes, we need to audibly give him praise and
thanksgiving, but it is empty if it does not come from our hearts first. And,
the only way it truly comes from our hearts is if we truly take pleasure in his
ways, in his truth, in his righteousness, and in walking in obedience to his
commands.
For, if we are still walking in the ways of our flesh, doing
what is pleasurable to us and what is pleasing in our eyes, then we are not
truly giving God our thanks or our praise. For, to truly thank him for what he
did for us is to do what he says to do, to honor him with our lives, and to
forsake our sins and our idols, and to walk in obedience to his will for our
lives.
For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.Psalm 100:5 ESV
God is faithful in all that he does and to everything he
said he would do. But, we have to understand his promises by reading them in
context. For many people read God’s promises in scripture and they broadly apply
them to anyone who calls himself a Christian or a believer in Jesus Christ.
But, along with all of God’s promises in scripture are
stipulations and restrictions and many “IF” statements, too, i.e. they are
conditional promises. They only apply to those who meet those specific
requirements and those conditions, too, which God determined in advance that we
should follow.
Therefore, not everyone who says he believes in Jesus Christ
has eternal life with God. Only those who walk (in practice, in lifestyle, in
conduct) according to (in agreement with) the Spirit of God have that promise
of eternal life with God. It is only promised to those who forsake their former
lives of living for sin and self and who now live to Christ and to his
righteousness, in the power of God at work within them (Lu. 9:23-25; Rom.
8:1-17; Gal. 5:16-24; Gal. 6:7-8; 1 Jn. 1:5-9; Eph. 5:3-6; Rom. 2:6-8).
So, it is critical that we know the truth of what the
scriptures teach regarding God’s promises and to whom they apply, and to know
what restrictions or what conditions apply, too, for there are many. So, we
need to study the scriptures in context, one book, one chapter and one verse at
a time, but always interpreting those scriptures in the full context in which
they are written.
For many people are being led astray by clever enchanters
who twist the scriptures to their advantage and who take scriptures out of
context to make them say what they want them to say. So, know what the
scriptures teach – the whole counsel of God – and then obey your Lord, for your
eternity depends on it!
I
Pray for Them
An
Original Work / June 4, 2013
Based
off John 17
“Glorify Your Son, that Your Son
May glorify our God in heav’n.
Father, You granted Him all power
And all authority over men,
That He might give eternal life
To all those whom now
You have given Him.”
“This now then is eternal life:
That they may know You,
Father, and Your Son;
That they may know the only true God,
And Jesus Christ whom the Father sent.
I have brought You the glory by
Finishing the work that You’ve given Me.”
“I have shown You to those whom
You gave to Me out of the world;
They were Yours. You gave them to Me
And they have obeyed Your words
And they accepted them. They knew
That I came from You, and they believed
With certainty, I was sent.”
“Holy Father, I pray for them by the
Power of Your name: Protect them,
So that they may be one as we are,
For they are still living in this world.
I have given them Your word;
Because of Your word, the world
Has hated them.”
“I pray they may have the full measure of
My joy now living within them.
Father, I pray You sanctify them
By Your word; truly Your word is truth.
As You sent Me into the world,
I send them to tell the world to repent.”
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