““Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? Does everything in my life fill His heart with gladness, or do I constantly complain because things don’t seem to be going my way? A person who has forgotten what God treasures will not be filled with joy. It is wonderful to remember that Jesus Christ has needs which we can meet— “Give Me a drink” (John 4:7). How much kindness have I shown Him in the past week? Has my life been a good reflection on His reputation?
God is saying to His people, “You are not in love with Me now, but I remember a time when you were.” He says, “I remember . . . the love of your betrothal . . .” (Jeremiah 2:2). Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him? Does He ever find me pondering the time when I cared only for Him? Is that where I am now, or have I chosen man’s wisdom over true love for Him? Am I so in love with Him that I take no thought for where He might lead me? Or am I watching to see how much respect I get as I measure how much service I should give Him?
As I recall what God remembers about me, I may also begin to realize that He is not what He used to be to me. When this happens, I should allow the shame and humiliation it creates in my life, because it will bring godly sorrow, and “godly sorrow produces repentance . . .” (2 Corinthians 7:10).
These words by Spurgeon provoked me to tears…and repentance.
Psalm 109:4
But I give myself unto prayer.
“Lying tongues were busy against the reputation of David, but he did not defend himself; he moved the case into a higher court, and pleaded before the great King Himself. Prayer is the safest method of replying to words of hatred. The Psalmist prayed in no cold-hearted manner, he gave himself to the exercise-threw his whole soul and heart into it-straining every sinew and muscle, as Jacob did when wrestling with the angel. Thus, and thus only, shall any of us speed at the throne of grace. As a shadow has no power because there is no substance in it, even so that supplication, in which a man’s proper self is not thoroughly present in agonizing earnestness and vehement desire, is utterly ineffectual, for it lacks that which would give it force.
Prayer must not be our chance work, but our daily business, our habit and vocation. As artists give themselves to their models, and poets to their classical pursuits, so must we addict ourselves to prayer. We must be immersed in prayer as in our element, and so pray without ceasing. Lord, teach us so to pray that we may be more and more prevalent in supplication.”
“Fervent prayer,” says an old saint, “like a cannon planted at the gates of heaven, makes them fly open.” The common fault with the most of us is our readiness to yield to distractions. Our thoughts go roving hither and thither, and we make little progress towards our desired end. Like quicksilver our mind will not hold together, but rolls off this way and that. How great an evil this is! It injures us, and what is worse, it insults our God. What should we think of a petitioner, if, while having an audience with a prince, he should be playing with a feather or catching a fly? Continuance and perseverance are intended in the expression of our text. David did not cry once, and then relapse into silence; his holy clamour was continued till it brought down the blessing.
You really need to watch this clip by Joshua Harris. Simple, funny, serious and important–all at the same time. A timely message in our post-modern church who frowns on those who still call sin “sin”.
“I t is difficult to articulate all the things swirling around in my head that the Lord is showing me. Everything I’ve read or heard lately seems to all tie together in an overarching connection that cannot be escaped. Let me give credit to our Bible study teacher, Mark Travers, who helped articulate some of the thoughts in this post.
First this:
“…Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Galatians 3:6
Watch this….miss this one thing and we view the entire gospel with a skewed understanding…
It doesn’t say that Abraham’s belief *in* God is what gave him a righteous standing. It was because he BELIEVED GOD.”
The difference is colossal. Consider this:
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.” James 2:19
Anyone can believe IN God. But believing God requires action of faith. When Abraham believed God, it was proven by the way he lived his life. He acted on his belief of who God is and what God said.
Do we? Faith in God changes the way we live–it just does! If affects everything.
And not just that…He believed the hard things. God commanded Abraham to do the hardest thing, hands down, that any human has ever been commanded–to take the life of his son. (And we complain about what God asks of us?) Abraham believed Him. No questions. No looking for anyone else’s opinion on the matter. Just raw obedience to what seemed grossly unfair.
There is a new-age gospel running rampant. Why? We don’t like unfair. And we’re incapable of holding a just God and a merciful God by the same hand. So we change His Word. God forbid. This new gospel is being swallowed like poison by the thousands. Why? Because it is a whole lot of truth peppered with a few lies–Christians being deceived just like Adam and Eve were. Remember? The serpent didn’t make up a ridiculous story, it would have been too obvious. He just asked questions mostly, until their thinking was just slightly off track, a subtle deception, and then THE FALL.
We must believe GOD. We must believe what He says, who He is, what He has promised, and how He instructs us to live. Be so discerning about what you hear! We must be thinking Christians!
The grace of the gospel has been stripped of its power because we have stripped God of His character. We try to serve a mutually exclusive God and Jesus. “Jesus is only love“, we say, “And God is fierce,and doesn’t like sin, so we’ll just keep Him hidden in the dusty pages of the Old Testament because that makes me feel better”.
No! Jesus and God are the same and He can only be Love because He is Just! And I can only be accredited with righteousness by believing that. My sin is an affront to a Holy God. It’s written all through the pages of Scripture. If I believe anything else, I believe no gospel at all.
My guilty record has been wiped clean because of His shed blood. Absolutely. But that acquittal changes me. It changes everything. I run out with new life and I shudder to remind him of the nails by my indifference to sin. I obey Him because I love Him. I love others because I love Him. (“If you love Me….“)
Let me never be comfortable in my sin. Sin I will. Until I die. But I pray for a heart that abhors it more and more.
“My Father, help me to believe You. All of You. Keep me from a false gospel that coddles my feelings. Let the truth of Your gospel be enough–a balm to my soul! I rejoice in Your love, Your justice, Your mercy and Your promises. May it be as You say.”
This post is not just something I felt the need to “tell”. It is a working in my own heart. My children are still asleep. When they wake up, I will wash their feet. I’ve never done that before. The Lord spoke clearly to me about it last night. I have sinned against them by my inconsistency, my impatience, my lack of gentleness. I have repented to God. But I must make restoration with them. I want them to see a contrite heart.
And please understand that I’m not writing that in some false humility. I write it as a record, and as an encouragement. I am a real mom, struggling daily to fight this weak, flesh-wrapped body whose spirit is willing. I really believe mothers–me and you–stand to receive the greatest attack of all. We are building homes. We are prone to be deceived. If we can be deceived, Satan can win a household. I am saying, and I hope you will say with me,
“Get thee behind me Satan–you may not have me or my children.”
From C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe:
The Beavers are describing Aslan to the children:
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; …”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King I tell you.”
We don’t fear God.
That’s why we are losing our marriages as rapidly as those outside the faith.
It’s why Christianity is not being effectively passed from one generation to another.
It’s why so many Christians suffer from foolish life choices.
It’s why the children in Christian homes are experiencing the same degree of heartache and brokenness as those who don’t know Christ.
It’s why we no longer live in a Christian nation.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Why do so many Christians–often myself included–choose our desires over what Scripture asks us to do? A couple struggling in their marriage decides to justify divorce some way rather than “forgive seventy times seven”, because it’s what their flesh wants.
A man sits in front of a television night after night and watches, what he will admit is “trash”, with no acknowledgment that the Bible speaks to the details of our lives.
Day after day, incidents, seeming small, slowly erode the fabric of our faith and give birth to a Christianity today that looks strikingly different than that of yesterday, and frighteningly close to no Christianity at all.
The last post on being separate from the world–living a life that looks different as a believer–has implications here; it is harder and harder to recognize a person, a family or a church that reflects the purity of the Bride of Christ and demonstrates the power of His redemptive work.
We fear man, not God, and that single error rules everything.
This is where our job as parents plays such a crucial part. We must fight against every notion seeking to diminish our responsibility and obligation to pass the torch to our progeny. It is not the church’s job, the school’s job or the daycare worker’s job…WE will give an account of our discipleship with our children. And don’t miss this…while salvation is done in the individual’s heart, we have clear command to instruct, nurture and direct those hearts toward the Lord. (Even when Eli’s grown sons were sinning against the Lord, He called Eli into accountability.)
And of primary importance is teaching them the fear of the Lord! God is a multi-faceted Being. He is LOVE personified and yet of such holiness that anything short of absolute reverence of His name and His Word is blasphemy.
How easily our understanding of Scripture is distorted by the fear of man rather than God! We are literally afraid of saying “fear the Lord”.
“Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”
So afraid, in fact, that we’ll go around the earth to explain away Scriptures such as these. They disturb our feelings-injected image of who we want God to be, and so we miss the glory of who He really is.
When we don’t fear the Lord, we don’t hate our sin and our lives become cesspools of lingering, unrepentant, slimy mire that bogs us down and renders us ineffective for the Kingdom.
I see the faulty pattern in the modern approach to parenting. We have failed to impart the ONE command to our children that is required of them: Honor your father and your mother.
Unless a child is able to honor and revere his parents, the lens through which he sees and relates to God is distorted. We love our children with our lives–as does God with us.
And yet BECAUSE of that great love, we should set boundaries, establish rules and expect them to be followed, chastening to bring obedience and restoration when needed. So it is with Him. And we should glory in the grave consequences of disobedience! It is purely His love for us that they are established.
“The love of God [without the fear of God] affects a carnal heart not at all; or if at all, then adversely, for the knowledge that God loves us may simply confirm us in our self-righteousness.” -A.W. Tozer
I grieve for the picture of God we have painted to this generation of children. How can we teach His love without teaching His justice? What kind of Father forgoes discipline? According to the very words of our Savior, only an illegitimate son gets that kind of treatment.
And if we love our children, as imperfect as that love, we must teach them to fear the Lord. It is the beginning. It is health and life.
“No one can know the true grace of God who has not first known the fear of God.” -A.W. Tozer
On this Lord’s day, my prayer is for your rest….my heart feels heavy tonight. I hear from so many of you, so many with burdens too large to bear alone, for prayers too big to pray alone, and for heartache too painful to suffer alone.
May you find that Jesus is sufficient. Being broken can be the most excruciating, and yet the most wonderful thing in the world. For it is there that we are most able to hear Him, and it is there that we are most likely to reach up our arms and admit that our own strength has failed.
I scarcely knew how a blog would give me a glimpse into so many lives…real people, real needs, and real hearts.
May He bring you peace.
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