2014-12-19
Good Morning Dear Ones,
Last week we saw that people who don’t make ethically difficult, rightful decisions and take the appropriate actions on them are ones who suffer negative consequences. It’s humiliating at times to confess a sin, especially a long-held sin, and genuinely stop the thoughts and behavior involved. That makes doing this tough; but once it is done, the heavy weight of the slippery slope that leads to sure spiritual death is removed. My experience in stopping some of my own sins has been a difficult, painful path indeed. And I still have more work to do. But my faith can only be attributed to the Lord’s love, patience, and guidance. Working through anger that was at times destructive in my past and learning to turn that energy into constructive behavior wasn’t easy, but God knows it was necessary! As a sinner, I’m still working at it, and frequently appeal to the Lord for His help. PS 107: 43, “Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.” PS 37: 5, “Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him to help you do it, and He will.” These two verses have helped to carry me through some very tough efforts to expunge sin, and they will help each of us too.
Today, I’m led to begin a new segment of these “Our Covenant” messages called “God Witnesses Covenants.” This is not written to frighten us, but instead, to lend comfort. That is because our God knows everything and is everywhere at once! He is patient, encouraging, helpful, and all-knowing of the content of our heart-attitude. PS 33: 13, “The Lord looks down from heaven and sees every person.” For believers in Jesus Christ, I firmly believe all we have to do is to ask God for His help, and He will give it in His own perfect time and way. It takes inner strength to face our foibles and sinfulness head on. But PHIL 4: 13, “I can do all things through Christ, Who gives me strength.” It’s appropriate to return to the covenant of friendship between David and Saul’s son, Jonathan [1 SAM 18: 1-3]. This covenant was tested when David asked Jonathan to warn him when Saul was on the attack. Jonathan had to decide if his loyalty was to David or his very own father. Both men knew God was watching, as we see in 1 SAM 20: 23, “And about the matter you and I discussed—remember the Lord is Witness between you and me forever,” David said.
It is at time like these that any masks we wear-hidden thoughts and opinions-- are uncovered; our real selves, be they reverent to God or evil, are revealed. Jonathan’s willingness to keep his covenant of friendship with David was revealed to his father as the story unfurls. God always sees us as we really are; only humans must wait for events to lay out which reveal our true feelings and loyalties. HE 4: 12-13, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and bare before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give account.” Only in the serially sinful would these words frighten. PS 145: 5-6, “Great is our Lord and mighty in power, His understanding has no limit. The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.” The Lord’s sight certainly is superior to any human eye, to any human-crafted surveillance device like a drone.
I’ve often reiterated Rev. Rick Warren’s assertion that each of us has both an immediate and a cosmic purpose, for which God created us. Our immediate purpose is something we can discover as our lives move forward. These purposes become a strong interest and often the “fire in our bellies” that propels us to do Kingdom work. In my own case, it’s the ministry-- the opportunity to serve God while I’m serving other people, encouraging them in their spiritual lives, influencing others for Christ, and spreading the Gospel to those who haven’t yet come to faith. However, we don’t always get to know our cosmic purpose, the purpose that extends our influence on others after our physical death. All we can know is that if we are faithfully obedient to God, His purposes will be carried out by and through us. It stands to reason that if we are not faithful to God, if we ignore His teaching and direction, His purpose can’t be carried out by and through us.
MT 5: 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The poor in spirit are those who know they need God’s love, direction, and intervention—His leadership-- in their lives. It takes submitting to God, seeking Him, and following His direction to be in this group. It means accepting that God is superior in every way to oneself and self-discipline in holding back the things of the flesh in favor of the things of God. COL 3: 1-2, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things there, not on earthly things.” This means stretching to think eternally, rather than just in terms of the earthly realm. JN 15: 5, “I [Christ] am the Vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” Understanding the principle of being “poor in spirit” can totally alter one’s thoughts, goals, and whole life for the better!
PRAYER: O Lord, once again we come to Your mighty throne to offer You the praise and thanks that You so richly deserve for Your wisdom, compassion, patience, and love, shown to us. Your grace is undeserved merit for us, and we are grateful. We seek You out, because we know we need Your loving influence on us to one day achieve the purposes for which You created us. We acknowledge Your superiority and our need to do much Kingdom work You have for us [EPH 2: 10]. We are imperfect sinners, who want badly to cooperate with You in the work You do to perfect and purify us. That is the on-going process of sanctification and spiritual maturation. COL 3: 9-10, 12-13 helps us understand what You do for us. “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator…Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord has forgiven you.” We acknowledge You as our Lord and listen carefully to Your words in JER 29: 11-13. “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which you hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Dearest Lord, we do seek You with all our hearts, asking for Your direction, acknowledging the blessings You give us and looking to You for intervention. Your healing and Your help are precious to us, as are You. We offer You praise, glory, honor, and thanks in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m led to continue writing the segment of the “Our Covenant” messages called “God Witnesses Covenants.” We’ll take another look at how David honored the covenant that he made before God with Jonathan. Looking into David’s story reveals to us how God worked in his life and how He works in ours. We must understand the principle of GN 1: 27 that we are created in God’s image. I went back to the Hebrew version and found the word “Eloheim” אֶלוֹהִים used here for God. To my understanding, this word is plural, indicating one God [DT 6: 4-5] with three personalities—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t create useless junk; instead, He created us to be “in His image.” That plan was compromised, against God’s will, when the original sin took place [GN 3: 1-6]. God loves His human creation so much that He didn’t stand still for all of us to be on a one-way path to spiritual death, eternal destruction. Instead, He brought His only Son to minister to us, to go to the cross for us, to be resurrected as the “First among many brothers” [RO 8: 29] for us, and to save those who would believe in Him from spiritual death by allowing them to gain eternal life with Him. God’s work to help us to know Him better requires Christ’s intervention and the direction of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It also requires our cooperation in this process, our willingness to make difficult choices and to follow Christ. We must never forget the effort and sacrifice that our heavenly Father goes to and has made for us, making it possible for us to enjoy a blissful and heavenly fellowship with Him. Praise and thanks be to God forever!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2014. All Rights Reserved.
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