We're Called According to His Purpose

 Jeremiah 1:4-9 ESV

 

“Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

 

“’Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’

 

“Then I said, ‘Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.’ But the Lord said to me,

 

“’Do not say, “I am only a youth”;

for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,

and whatever I command you, you shall speak.

Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

declares the Lord.’

 

“Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me,

 

“’Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.’”

 

Before He Formed Us

 

We, as followers of Jesus Christ, are all called of God. We are his possession to do his will. Our lives are no longer our own to be lived however we want, for we were bought back for God (redeemed) by the blood of Jesus shed for us on that cross so that we might now honor God with our bodies (our lives).

 

God had a plan for each our lives from even before he created the world, and he is the one who formed us in the wombs of our mothers. And he placed us in the families we were brought up in for his will and purposes, to make us into the people he wanted us to be to be used for his glory.

 

Not one of us is here by mistake. Not one of us is an accident. God created us for a purpose. And that purpose is to give glory and honor to God by our lives, to be his possession, and to do his will. He called us, not just to save us from our sins, but to give us new lives in him.

 

And this means that every aspect of our lives is to be given over to the Lord to be used for his will and purposes, and that includes the words that we speak to others. We are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth, and we are to be his witnesses, and we are to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light.

 

For, when we trust in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, this is not just about us getting forgiven of our sins so that when we die we get to go to heaven. This is about a radical transformation of our hearts and lives away from living to sin and to self to now living for the glory of God.

 

We no longer can claim ownership over our own lives, for we are now God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God planned in advance that we should walk (in conduct) in them. For, he gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

 

[1 Co 6:19-20; Ps 139: Rom 8:29; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Eph 1:3-4; Rom 6:1-23; Eph 4:17-24; Matt 5:13-16; 1 Pet 2:29; Eph 2:10; Tit 2:11-14]

 

No Excuses!

 

So, we have no excuses for not surrendering our lives to Jesus Christ to doing his will. We cannot claim, “I can’t!” because he made us, and he can! Now, that doesn’t mean we can do everything, but we can do everything he has called us to do in his power and strength.

 

So, what has he called us to do? He has called us to be saints, which means to be holy, which means to be separate (unlike, different) from this sinful world because we are being made to be like Jesus in thought, words and in actions. So, this is a calling to purity, honesty, obedience, and faithfulness.

 

He has called us according to his purpose, and his purpose for our lives is that we die with him to sin daily and that we follow him in obedience and in surrender to his will. And it is that we give our lives to him as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to him, which is our acceptable worship of him.

 

He has also called us to freedom from our slavery to sin so that we would no longer live under the control of sin, but that now we would live holy lives, pleasing to him, now enslaved to him and to his righteousness. Sin should no longer be our master, but Jesus should be our only Lord.

 

He has not called us for impurity, but for holiness, not to walk in darkness, but to walk (in conduct) in this light (truth, righteousness), and not for our own glory and praise, but for the glory and praise of God, which includes our thinking, our words, our attitudes, and our actions.

 

[Rom 1:6-7; Rom 8:28; 1 Co 1:9; Gal 5:13; 1 Thess 4:7; 2 Tim 1:9; 1 Pet 2:9; 2 Pet 1:3; Rom 12; 1 Co 12; Eph 4]

 

Whatever He Commands

 

Jesus Christ is not to be part of our lives. He is to be our life! And our lives are to be surrendered to him to do his will. So, whatever God calls us to do, that we must do. And how do we know our calling? Well, there is a general calling for all of us, but we have specific assignments, too.

 

We are all gifted with spiritual gifts, and we are all given assignments (our parts) within the body of Christ which we are to do. So, how do we know what these are? If we are walking closely with our Lord, daily in his word, listening to his voice, he will show us, and we will know.

 

The gifts he has given us will become evident, and we will know what we are called to do, for his Spirit who lives within us will make it known to us. For example, in 2004, the Lord spoke to me clearly through Habakkuk 2 and he let me know he was calling me to write down what he teaches me through His Word, and that I was to place these writings on the internet.

 

If I had not listened to the Spirit’s promptings, I would not be doing this, for I would not have chosen this ministry for myself. I was content doing ministry within a local church fellowship, but the Lord had something specifically that he wanted me to do, and I’ve been doing it ever since then.

 

Is it easy all the time? No! Do I get tired? Yes! Do I want to give up? Never! Am I totally dependent on the Lord for this? Yes! He choses the passages of Scripture, and he teaches me what he wants me to learn, and he guides me in what to write, and he picks out the songs, too. I just type and then post.

 

Do I face opposition? Sometimes, yes! Is it fierce at times? Yes! But do I have encouragers, too? Yes, thank the Lord! But the Lord taught me that I must write what he gives me to write and that I must not fear opposition, but that I am just to obey the Lord, and he will accomplish his purposes.

 

So, the encouragement here today is to follow Jesus Christ wholeheartedly with your lives, let him be your master, do his will, let him lead you in what he has for you to do and then do it. And don’t be afraid of opposition or persecution, for the Lord is with you and he will see you through it all.

 

Just listen for his voice, and continue to do his will, for he created you for a purpose. So, let him work his purpose in your life for his glory and praise.

 

Seek the Lord  

 

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

 

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

 

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

 

https://vimeo.com/379408296

 

Beware the Spreading Influence of Evil

Luke 12:1-3 ESV

 

“In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.”

 

Trampling One Another

 

As recorded in Luke 11, Jesus had some sharp words he spoke against the Pharisees. And what he described has come to be a standard definition for the word “hypocrite.” For, he said that they were clean on the outside, in appearance only, but inside they were full of greed and wickedness.

 

He told them that they were good at tithing, but they neglected justice and the love of God. He said that they loved the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces, i.e., they loved to be important and to be recognized. And He said that they were like unmarked graves, and people walked over them without knowing it.

 

The scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say. And this, evidently, drew large crowds of people, so large that the people who were gathered together began to trample one another.

 

But I want to look at another aspect of this word “trample” which fits with this dialogue Jesus was having with the Pharisees, and the lawyers, too. The Pharisees, the scribes, and other rulers in the temple of God had it in for Jesus as soon as he began his ministry, for they were jealous of him, threatened by his popularity among the people, and they hated him, too.

 

So, they made it their mission to provoke, attack, oppress, oppose, and attempt to trick him and to trip him up with his words so that they would have cause to accuse him of wrongdoing. So, they hounded him left and right, always on the attack, always criticizing his every move, but not because he was doing wrong, but because he was doing right.

 

But, yes, they hated him, too, because he told them that their deeds were evil and that they needed to change. But they didn’t want to change, and they resented him and his interference in their lives. But they were oppressing people and they were “trampling” on (mistreating) the people, and they were people of influence, control, and authority over the people.

 

So, Jesus had to speak against the evil they were doing, and he had to warn his disciples against the spreading influence of the Pharisees so that they were not influenced by them, and so that they were not led astray by them, and so that they did not follow their example.

 

Beware of the Leaven

 

The word “leaven” here is intended to be taken figuratively as meaning the spreading influence of something usually hidden from view. And it is a symbol of the spreading character and influence of evil. The Lord’s disciples were being warned against this, and we are warned here, too.

 

For, hypocrites are those who make professions of one thing outwardly or who make a show of righteousness outwardly but who are secretly involved or engaged in and full of greed and wickedness. They like to do things outwardly that make themselves look good and that get them praise, but it is a performance, for behind closed doors they are doing what is evil.

 

Since outwardly they appear righteous and good, at least to those who can’t see past the façade, there is the danger that they may lead people astray, for they also can be very deceptive, charming, and manipulative, and they know how to get people on their good side so that the people trust them.

 

But their words can’t be trusted, for lying is what they do by nature. For, hypocrisy is a lie. It is a false image, and it is intended to trick people into believing something about them that is not true, and that opens the door then for them to have influence over people who think they are good.

 

For, if they can gain the trust of the people, then they have the opportunity, too, to deceive, to trick, to trap, and to lead them in the wrong direction. And we have many people these days who are doing just that who are in positions of power and influence over the people, and so Christians need to be warned not to trust everything they see outwardly.

 

This is why the Scriptures tell us that we must test the spirits, for not everyone who professes the name of Jesus knows Jesus, and they are not all truth tellers and they don’t all have the best interest of the people in mind. But many of them are “wolves in sheep’s clothing” out to deceive the people and to turn them away from genuine faith in Jesus Christ.

 

And many of them are teaching a cheap grace gospel which permits “believers” in Jesus to continue in deliberate and habitual and premeditated sin against God, and which does not require of them that they must repent of their sins or obey the Lord or submit to him as Lord of their lives. So, this is why we must test the spirits against the Word of God (in context).

 

Things Hidden, Things Revealed

 

I live in America. I know many of my readers don’t live in America, but they live in other nations in the world, and so I don’t know where all of you are with regard to modern technology other than you obviously (it would appear) have a way to read what is on the internet or you wouldn’t be reading this.

 

The Lord has me use modern technology as a way of communicating what he wants me to share with others. So, I am in possession of a computer and a smart phone, too. And one thing about modern technology you may be aware of is that someone is always listening to what you say.

 

There is no such thing as privacy anymore, unless you live out in the woods, and you don’t drive a car and you don’t have any kind of electronic communications with other people. For, our computers and our smart phones hear our conversations, or else they listen for key words.

 

So, whenever I read this passage of Scripture about nothing being covered that will not be revealed and what we have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what we have whispered in private rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops, I think about today’s technology and their listening ears and that whatever we say can be heard by someone.

 

But I also find this encouraging, because I know one day that all hypocrites will be exposed, and the things they are doing in the dark when they think no one else can see will come into the light. But I also know that not one of us is perfect, and not one of us says all the right things all the right ways all the time, but that is not what this is about.

 

What this is about is those who make it their practice to do evil while they preform for an audience and pretend righteousness on the outside. They are liars by practice. Their goal is to deceive others. One day their evil deeds will be exposed. And I pray many hearts now given to evil will repent of their sins and they will turn to follow Jesus Christ with their lives.

 

For, Jesus Christ died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness. He died to set us free from our slavery to sin so that we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness. So, I pray that many who are living a double life today will repent, and they will surrender their lives to Jesus Christ, and they will follow him now in truth.

 

Seek the Lord  

 

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

 

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

 

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

 

https://vimeo.com/379408296

 

Subtle Messages Intended to Deceive

Let Brotherly Love Continue

Hebrews 13:1 ESV

 

“Let brotherly love continue.”

 

What is brotherly love? It isn’t just for men. It is the love that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, are to have for one another. And how are we to love one another? Affectionately? Properly, yes, but not only with affection. This love still needs to be godly and holy and moral, and it needs to consider what is in the best interest of others, and it is not to do them harm.

 

So, brotherly love is not just being buddies with others or hanging out with them and playing games, eating food, and watching TV together, etc. Brotherly love also does not pacify sin or participate with others in sin. This kind of love looks out for other believers and cares about their spiritual lives and makes it a point to encourage them in their walks of faith.

 

And encouraging them in their walks of faith needs to be biblical encouragement which also includes urging, exhortation, counseling, nurturing, and persuading. It isn’t all heartening, reassuring, and cheering another believer in his or her walk of faith, especially if that believer is failing in his walk, and needs exhorting and urging to be faithful to the Lord.

 

Now, this brings me to something I saw on Facebook today. If you are not familiar with Facebook, it is social media. It is a place on the internet where friends, family, coworkers, neighbors, old friends, and fellow believers in Jesus Christ can gather together and share whatever it is they want to share with their friends and family, etc.

 

One of the ways in which they share with others is via the use of memes, which can be good, or which can be bad, because the memes can be manipulative in how they are written, and the people sharing them may end up conveying a message they don’t really want to convey, but it sounds good, and a lot of it may be true, but it may come with a hook.

 

For example, I saw a meme today which was talking about manipulation. It had an obvious message to it, although not openly expressed, but I also saw with it the potential of a hidden message which, if reposted, could, in fact, derail the gospel of Jesus Christ and this whole idea of brotherly love and encouraging one another in our walks of faith.

 

The meme was about how manipulation works and it gave four steps which had to do with fear, flattery, bribery, and violence. But the explanations going along with these could, if accepted, be used to say that the gospel of Jesus Christ is manipulative, which it is not.

 

For, the gospel warns us that if we behave in a certain way that bad things will happen to us, and the Bible tells us that if we follow Jesus with our lives that we are righteous in God’s sight, and it does tell us that if we follow Jesus with our lives that we will be blessed by God and have eternal life with him, and it does warn that if we don’t follow Jesus, we will die in our sins.

 

But that is not Jesus manipulating anyone, nor is it us manipulating anyone if we are sharing the gospel, but it is just the reality of what the gospel is about and what it teaches. For, Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us.

 

Marriage Held in Honor

Hebrews 13:4 ESV

 

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.”

 

I read another meme on Facebook similar to the other one I mentioned, and with a similar message, I believe. This one I could agree with part of it, but it still included words associated with the gospel of our salvation, such as “persuaded,” “reminded,” and “incentivized,” and “guilt-tripped.”

 

The message said “all,” which included “lied to”, but the subtle message was that if any of these are necessary to gain your compliance that you can be absolutely certain that what is being promoted is not in your best interest. But we can’t come to faith in Jesus Christ unless we are drawn to Christ by the Father, and the word “faith” means to be “persuaded”.

 

And the Scriptures are filled with reminders. Paul often used the expression that this was a “reminder” because the people needed to be reminded. And “incentivized” means encouraged and to be spurred on toward some particular action, such as faith and good deeds, and “guilt trip” means shame or remorse which are necessary for our salvation from sin.

 

Well, this fits perfectly with this subject of marriage, honor, faithfulness, an undefiled marriage bed, immorality, and adultery. For, many people today professing faith in Jesus Christ are living sexually immoral lives, and in adultery against their spouses, and thus their marriage bed is defiled.

 

But many of them don’t want “reminders”. They don’t want to be “urged” (encouraged, incentivized) to forsake their sins. And they will chide you for “guilt tripping” them if you do have to speak to them with regard to their sinful lifestyles and of their need to repent. And they are resistant against “persuasion” towards godly and holy living, too.

 

For, they are being convinced that faith in Jesus Christ means all their sins are forgiven so that it doesn’t matter if they continue living in deliberate, habitual, and premediated sin against God, against spouse, and against others. They believe their salvation and their eternity are sealed, and that nothing can take that away, no matter how they live their lives.

 

But our God, in the New Testament, under the New Covenant, is still the same God he was in the Old Testament and under the Old Covenant. His character has not changed. His will for us has not changed. His morals and his righteousness and uprightness have not been altered.

 

He still demands moral purity, faithfulness, honesty, uprightness, godliness, holiness, obedience, and repentance. And Jesus defined adultery as lusting after another (not one’s spouse) in one’s own mind. So, this includes the willful viewing of porn, self-gratification, fantasizing about those not your spouse, and flirtations with others not one’s spouse.

 

So, the marriage bed is defiled not just through actual physical relations with someone to whom you are not married, but through lust, porn, flirtations, and self-gratification, etc. And this usually includes lying to and deceiving one’s spouse, too. But please know that God will judge you if you are living in sexual immorality and in adultery.

 

And I guarantee that what is being shared here is indeed in your best interest, for if you continue living in sin guilt-free with no remorse and with no desire to be persuaded or encouraged or reminded to repent of your sins and to follow Jesus in obedience, you will die in your sins. You will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

What is being said here is also not for the purpose to manipulate you in any way. The facts are that Jesus died that you might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and that faith in Jesus Christ requires repentance and obedience to our Lord and submission to him as Lord. If you do not repent, and you do not obey, and you do not submit to him as Lord, you also don’t know him, and heaven is not your eternal destiny.

 

No manipulation! Just the facts! Your choice to choose Jesus or to choose your flesh, but if you choose your flesh, you will die in your sins.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:7; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; 1 Co 6:9-10; 2 Co 5:10]

 

Seek the Lord  

 

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

 

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

 

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

 

https://vimeo.com/379408296

 

But I Do Not Swerve

Psalms 119:153-160 ESV

 

“Look on my affliction and deliver me,

    for I do not forget your law.

Plead my cause and redeem me;

    give me life according to your promise!

Salvation is far from the wicked,

    for they do not seek your statutes.

Great is your mercy, O Lord;

    give me life according to your rules.

Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,

    but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

I look at the faithless with disgust,

    because they do not keep your commands.

Consider how I love your precepts!

    Give me life according to your steadfast love.

The sum of your word is truth,

    and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.”

 

Enduring Opposition

 

If we are following Jesus Christ with our lives wholeheartedly, in surrender to our Lord and to his will for our lives, and if we are holding fast to the truths of Scripture as taught by Jesus and his New Testament apostles, and if we are not wavering from those, we are going to be opposed.

 

For, genuine biblical salvation is far from the wicked who have altered the gospel message to make it more acceptable and appealing to human flesh and to the people of the world. For, they are those who are addicted to sin and to self-indulgence. And they are those who are intoxicated to sin and are drunk on its morsels of seductiveness and enticement.

 

And they are those who, although they pretend to be your friend, are really your enemy, for the message they are bringing is not the true gospel, but it is a diluted and cheapened form of the true gospel. They are pretending that what they are telling you is the truth, but in truth it is a big fat lie!

 

They are promising you hope and a future while they are leading you in the path of destruction. For, what they are telling people is that we can believe in Jesus, be saved from our sins, and have eternal life with God guaranteed, which can never be taken away, but that we don’t have to repent of our sins, follow Jesus in obedience, nor do we have to submit to him as Lord.

 

The Gospel Jesus Taught

 

But that is not the gospel Jesus taught. It is not the gospel that his New Testament apostles taught. Jesus taught that if anyone would come after him he must deny self, die daily to sin and self, and follow Jesus in obedience to his ways.

 

Paul, contrary to what some people want you to believe, taught the same thing Jesus taught, that we must die with Christ to sin and to self, that we must be changed in heart and mind, and that we must now follow Jesus Christ in obedience to his ways.

 

Both Jesus and Paul taught us that if we do not leave our sinful lifestyles behind us to follow our Lord in obedience to his ways, but if we continue living in deliberate and habitual sin against God, and sin is what we practice, and righteousness is not our practice, that we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

They Want to Destroy Us

 

But if this is what you are sharing with others, although you will have some people who will support you and agree with you, the vast majority will not, and you will be opposed by those who are pushing the cheap grace gospel on people, and they will try to persuade you to come their way, and if they can’t persuade you, they may attempt to destroy you, instead.

 

But, in reality, they are destroying you already if they can convince you to buy into the cheap grace gospel and to reject the true gospel of grace. And whatever destruction they may cause in your life because of your stand on the truths of Scripture are temporary, for heaven is your eternal home.

 

Sometimes our adversaries will try to trick us or to trip us up with our words, and they will lie about us, and twist our words, for their goal is to destroy us so that we will cease to share the gospel in its fulness. Their goal is to silence us, and they will use trickery to accomplish their goals.

 

We have no control over much of this. We can pray for wisdom to not be led into any traps, but sometimes we can be led into traps just by loving people with Christ’s love and by ministering to them and to their needs. But we do need to be wise and discerning and to be on the lookout for traps, too.

 

And we need to pray for the grace of God in our lives to endure unjust persecution and opposition, and that we would not cave to oppression, and that we would not fear opposition, but that we will commit our lives over to the Lord and trust him fully to accomplish his purposes in our lives.

 

And then we need to remain steadfast in our walks of obedient faith in our Lord and in doing his will despite all opposition from the wicked. We must not let them get the best of us, but we must persevere in following Jesus wherever he leads us and in doing and saying whatever he commands.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Jn 6:44; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2]

 

Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer

 

Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897

Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897

 

Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,

This is my constant longing and prayer;

Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,

Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,

Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,

Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,

Seeking the wandering sinner to find.

 

O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,

Holy and harmless, patient and brave;

Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,

Willing to suffer others to save.

 

O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,

Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;

Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,

Fit me for life and Heaven above.

 

Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,

Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;

Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;

Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg

*Caution: This link may contain ads

They Persecute with Evil Purpose

With my Whole Heart

Psalms 119:145-146 ESV

 

“With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!

    I will keep your statutes.

I call to you; save me,

    that I may observe your testimonies.”

 

My heart is my inner self, my mind, my will, my soul, and the core or the essence of who I am as a person. It is also the center of my emotions where I feel love, compassion, caring, concern, and sympathy for others. So, if I cry out to God with my whole heart, I am crying out to him with my whole being, from the depths of my soul.

 

There is also a sense here that I am crying out to God in all sincerity, earnestly, and fervently, not half-heartedly or in form only. My whole being is involved in this prayer. I am fully committed to what I am asking of the Lord. I am not double-minded. I am being honest with myself and with God and I am not playing games with God.

 

Sometimes we need to be saved from ourselves, from our own flesh, that it might not overtake us. Sometimes we need to be saved from our enemies, although God doesn’t always promise physical deliverance from enemies. But he will deliver from their influence or from traps they lay for us or from the fear of them so that we can continue in him despite opposition.

 

Sometimes we just need to be saved from fear itself, for Satan loves to attack us with fearful thoughts. So we need to let go of those fears and trust the Lord completely with our circumstances and with the people who are in our lives and who may be those who are oppressing us. And we need to be delivered from fear so that we can continue to obey our Lord.

 

My Eyes are Awake

Psalms 119:147-149 ESV

 

“I rise before dawn and cry for help;

    I hope in your words.

My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,

    that I may meditate on your promise.

Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;

    O Lord, according to your justice give me life.”

 

The Lord does not promise us 8 hours of sleep a night or even continuous sleep throughout the night. Sometimes he gets us up very early in the morning or he keeps us up late at night, or he may even awaken us in the middle of the night to pray for others, or to write something, or so we will listen to him when it is quiet, and we are free from distractions.

 

And we need to be willing to be awakened whenever the Lord wants to speak to us, or when he has something he wants us to do. For, the middle of the night when others are asleep and nothing else is going on is a good time to get alone with God and to hear him speak truth to our hearts.

 

So, if you can’t sleep at night, or you wake up in the middle of the night and you can’t get back to sleep, although you toss and turn, consider the thought that perhaps it is God who is awakening you and keeping you awake because he wants to have some undivided time with you when you aren’t distracted by all that is going on in the daytime.

 

And, instead of filling that time with the junk of the world or with restless tossing, inquire of the Lord and say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” Quiet your mind and your heart before him, and listen to him speak tenderly to your heart, but always with a desire to obey whatever it is he wants you to do.

 

Far From Your Law

Psalms 119:150-152 ESV

 

“They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;

    they are far from your law.

But you are near, O Lord,

    and all your commandments are true.

Long have I known from your testimonies

    that you have founded them forever.”

 

Not all persecution is violent or physical. A lot of it is mental or emotional. There is something called “gaslighting” which a lot of people use to try to manipulate and control others. And it is usually done in private, not in the presence of others, and since there are no physical signs of abuse, it can’t be proven, and the abuser will just claim it is all in the person’s mind.

 

They will do such things as tell you one thing and then deny they said it, because they want you to think it is all in your mind. Or they will set traps for you to fall into or set you up to try to make you look bad in front of others because they want others to think ill of you. They know right where to hit you, too.

Gaslighting is not usually a one-time thing, but it is continuous, for the object is to wear the other people down, to get them to question their own reality. So, it is doled out in increments over time. It includes many lies, snide comments, hurtful remarks, denying wrongdoing, and treating others like they are crazy, etc.

 

Sometimes they will be kind, thoughtful, and caring, and then they will turn around and be hateful, nasty, and mean-spirited, for part of the goal is to keep you off balance. They want you questioning your reality always. And they will often blame you for their own sinful behaviors or accuse you of things you did not say, hoping to shut you up.

 

They want you living in fear, not knowing what to expect next, while they are plotting evil against you, setting traps for you to fall into, and while they are trying to keep you off balance. For, they are those who are lying, manipulating, using, and taking advantage of others weaker than them. So, be aware that not all abuse is obvious, but much of it is hidden.

 

So, if we are ever faced with people like this, we must not give in to their manipulation tactics. We must not let them upset us or define who we are, and we must not fear them or what they might do to us or say about us. But we must submit our situations into the hands of the Lord and pray for wisdom and discernment, so we don’t fall into our enemies’ traps.

 

Living by Faith

 

Lyrics by James Wells, 1918

v. 4 by Robert E. Winsett, 1918

Music by J. L. Heath, 1918

 

I care not today what the morrow may bring,

If shadow or sunshine or rain,

The Lord I know ruleth o’er everything,

And all of my worries are vain.

 

Living by faith in Jesus above,

Trusting, confiding in His great love;

From all harm safe in His sheltering arm,

I’m living by faith and feel no alarm.

 

Though tempests may blow and the storm clouds arise,

Obscuring the brightness of life,

I’m never alarmed at the overcast skies—

The Master looks on at the strife.

 

I know that He safely will carry me through,

No matter what evils betide;

Why should I then care though the tempest may blow,

If Jesus walks close to my side.

 

Our Lord will return for His loved ones someday,

Our troubles will then all be o’er;

The Master so gently will lead us away,

Beyond that blest heavenly shore.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYswgnAhAqc

Caution: This link may contain ads

Do we Long to Obey our Lord?

My Soul Keeps Them

Psalms 119:129-131 ESV

 

“Your testimonies are wonderful;

    therefore my soul keeps them.

The unfolding of your words gives light;

    it imparts understanding to the simple.

I open my mouth and pant,

    because I long for your commandments.”

 

Some people have this idea that under the New Covenant we don’t have to obey the commandments of our Lord. But anything from the Old Covenant that is repeated for us under the New Covenant we must still obey. God’s moral laws never went away. Honoring God as holy, loving him, and loving others never went away, either.

 

But is that the right attitude to have to think that under the New Covenant that we don’t have to obey our Lord? Shouldn’t the Lord’s commands to us, his people, under the New Covenant, be our delight? Shouldn’t we love his commands? Shouldn’t we see that they are based in love for us, for God, and for others? So, they are for our good?

 

Yes, we don’t have to obey all the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, and purification laws the Jews had to obey. And that includes the keeping of the Sabbath. For Jesus and our salvation from sin are now our Sabbath rest, for we rest in our Lord and in what he did for us on that cross, and in our deliverance from sin, and in our new lives of righteousness in him.

 

But that doesn’t mean that, as followers of Jesus, we no longer have to obey our Lord. We do! But we shouldn’t do so begrudgingly, murmuring under our breath, wishing that we didn’t have to obey. We should view our Lord’s commands to us as wonderful, and as light to show us the right way to go, and as wisdom and understanding, so we should desire to obey him.

 

In fact, we should long for his commandments. We should hunger and thirst after righteousness and after the word of our Lord. We should look forward to time spent with our Lord in his word, studying his teachings, and then in walks of faith and obedience to him because we love him, and because we love his word, and because we want to do what pleases him.

 

Be Gracious to Me

Psalms 119:132-134 ESV

 

“Turn to me and be gracious to me,

    as is your way with those who love your name.

Keep steady my steps according to your promise,

    and let no iniquity get dominion over me.

Redeem me from man's oppression,

    that I may keep your precepts.”

 

Even though we have trusted in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of our lives, we have been cleansed of our sins, and we have been given new lives in Christ Jesus our Lord to be lived for him and for his righteousness, we still live in flesh bodies. We still have a propensity to sin against God. So, we must pray the Lord will keep steady our steps.

 

Now, this doesn’t mean that Jesus does it all and that we do nothing. The Bible doesn’t teach that. Yes, we are not saved from sin via our own fleshly works which we decide to do for our Lord. We cannot earn our salvation via good deeds. But our salvation from sin isn’t absent of good deeds, but they are the works of God which he prepared for us to walk in them.

 

But since we are still flesh and blood, we need the Lord to give us the wisdom and strength and power of God’s Spirit which we need to resist Satan and to flee temptation and to draw near to God. For, God’s grace trains us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for our Lord’s return.

 

So, when we are asking the Lord to be gracious to us, we are asking for his help and guidance, and we are asking him to intervene for us in circumstances beyond our control, and we are asking for strength and wisdom and determination to obey him and to not stray from him and from his ways. For, he is our helper.

 

We also need help in knowing how to respond to those who oppress us so that we do not fail to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord. And oppression isn’t always people being antagonistic towards us, although we will face that, too. For, they can oppress us via manipulation, persuasion, trickery and deception, so we need our Lord’s help in not giving in to that, either.

 

My Eyes Shed Tears

Psalms 119:135-136 ESV

 

“Make your face shine upon your servant,

    and teach me your statutes.

My eyes shed streams of tears,

    because people do not keep your law.”

 

When we are in genuine relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are following in his ways, in doing what he says, in practice, as a matter of life course, we are going to grow in love with him and we are going to be united with him in mind and purpose, and we are going to love what he loves and hate what he hates, and we are going to have his heart and passion, too.

 

Therefore, our eyes will shed streams of tears because people do not follow the Lord in obedience to his ways, but they continue living in sin, in sinning against others, in doing what is harming them and their relationships. Our hearts will weep just watching them live for sin and self without regard for God or for who they hurt in the process.

 

We will weep over the sins of others which do damage to marriages and families and to their own lives and to other relationships, and which keep them from submitting to the Lord with their lives. Just looking into the eyes of those steeped in sin should sadden our hearts to see how much the enemy of our souls has captivated their minds and hearts.

 

It is especially grievous when it is someone who claims to be a brother or a sister in Christ, who puts on a show of righteousness for an audience, while they are secretly sinning against God and against their spouses, and against their families and their church family, and while they are hurting themselves because they refuse to deny self and to die with Christ daily to sin.

 

If we are not grieving over sin, then there is something wrong with us. If it does not break our hearts to watch our fellow Christians living in sin, ignoring God’s commands, excusing away their sinful lifestyles, and ruining their lives and their relationships with others, then something is wrong. We need to be those who weep over such sin as this.

 

Living by Faith

 

Lyrics by James Wells, 1918

v. 4 by Robert E. Winsett, 1918

Music by J. L. Heath, 1918

 

I care not today what the morrow may bring,

If shadow or sunshine or rain,

The Lord I know ruleth o’er everything,

And all of my worries are vain.

 

Living by faith in Jesus above,

Trusting, confiding in His great love;

From all harm safe in His sheltering arm,

I’m living by faith and feel no alarm.

 

Though tempests may blow and the storm clouds arise,

Obscuring the brightness of life,

I’m never alarmed at the overcast skies—

The Master looks on at the strife.

 

I know that He safely will carry me through,

No matter what evils betide;

Why should I then care though the tempest may blow,

If Jesus walks close to my side.

 

Our Lord will return for His loved ones someday,

Our troubles will then all be o’er;

The Master so gently will lead us away,

Beyond that blest heavenly shore.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYswgnAhAqc

Caution: This link may contain ads

The Righteous Live by Faith

The Gospel of Jesus Christ

Romans 1:16-17 ESV

 

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith’.”

 

What is the gospel? It is the “Good News.” And what is the good news? It is that Jesus Christ, God the Son, gave his life up for us on a cross so that we could be delivered from our slavery to sin and so that we could now become slaves of God and of his righteousness, living holy lives, pleasing to God, not in our own strength, but in the power and strength of our Savior God.

 

It is that, through God-given faith in Jesus Christ, we can be born again of the Spirit of God to live new lives in Christ Jesus, our Lord, not like our old lives of living for sin and for self. For, Jesus died that we might die with him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and he died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him who gave his life up for us.

 

It is that Jesus shed his blood for us on that cross to buy us back for God (to redeem us) so that we would now be God’s possession, and so that we would now honor God with our lives. For, God’s grace, which brings salvation, trains us to say “No!” to ungodliness and fleshly lusts and to live godly, upright, and self-controlled lives while we wait for him to return.

 

And it is that we are now, by faith in him, in relationship and communion with Almighty God, and that we can live our lives on this earth in his strength and power, and that we can be ministers of his love and grace to others, and that we can know the love of God in our lives and be led by him and empowered by him and have eternal life with him, too.

 

The Wrath of God

Romans 1:18-23 ESV

 

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.”

 

Okay, so what is this saying in relation to the two preceding verses about the gospel of our salvation? It is showing us that living by faith excludes living by the flesh, doing whatever it is we choose to do. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

 

Now, in context, this is not speaking about a status of righteousness as something that we wear as a badge, but this is about whether or not we are living righteously. This is about our deeds, in other words. If we suppress the truth of the Scriptures by our unrighteous and ungodly deeds, then the wrath of God is against us.

 

For, it is not what we profess with our lips which matters for eternity, but it is how we live, whether for the flesh or for God and for his righteousness. We are either walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit, or we are walking according to the flesh. If according to the flesh, we will die in our sins. We will not inherit eternal life with God.

 

For, all people have had God’s divine nature revealed to them through his created works, so all are without excuse. Therefore, those who have had the word taught to them, and some who have even taught the Scriptures to others, are definitely without excuse if they continue in deliberate and habitual sin against God.

 

For, it isn’t that they are ignorant of God or of the truth, but that they choose to reject the Lord and his truth and to go their own way instead, many of them making up their own god and their own jesus in their own minds to suit their own will and purposes, and because they refuse to bow the knee to Jesus and to honor him as Lord (owner-master) of their lives.

 

The Lusts of Their Hearts

Romans 1:24-25 ESV

 

“Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.”

 

God doesn’t force his will upon us. We are not marionettes being controlled by strings which God has in his hands. He gave us free wills to choose him or to reject him. It is our choice, but there are serious consequences if we choose wrongly. And one of those is that he will give us over to our own devices to do what ought not to be done.

 

And when God gives us up to the lusts of our own hearts to dishonoring our bodies and to doing all sorts of evil, we may also pay the natural consequences of such actions. It could be loss of health, or loss of family and friends, although these can happen to those living righteously, too. Or it could be being caught in sin and having to go to jail, too.

 

But the worst of it all is the consequences they will have to pay in the end because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and they worshiped the creature rather than the creator. And this is what is happening in today’s church.

 

They are buying into the lie (the cheap grace), thinking they can continue living in sin without consequence while they profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips. But it doesn’t work that way. For, if we live by the flesh, we will die in our sins, but if we live by the Spirit, we will have eternal life.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:9-10, 19-20; 2 Co 5:10, 15; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:3-6; Gal 6:7-8; Rom 2:6-8; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

 

Seek the Lord  

 

An Original Work / July 20, 2012

Based off Isaiah 55

 

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.

Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,

And your soul will delight in richest of fare.

Give ear to Me, and you will live.

I have made an eternal covenant with you.

Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

 

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.

Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.

Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.

Freely, God pardons him.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,”

declares the Lord, our God.

 

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.

It will not return to Me unfulfilled.

My word will accomplish all that I desire,

And achieve the goal I intend.

You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.

The mountains will burst into song… before you,

And all of the trees clap their hands.”

 

https://vimeo.com/379408296