And my people love to have it so....
The church of God has become like Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah, with the walls of protection torn down, and every evil beast can walk in and take His people captive and no one even raises their voice. Because sin still has place in a man's heart, he says "Who am I to judge truth" and lets mens souls be taken captive right in front of him and yet he utters not a word.
Why are none crying out to God for holy hearts as He promised us? Give us gold dust! Give us miracles! Give us prosperity!" the cries ascend up to Heaven as a stench in God's nostrils. Why do none cry out as the man in the temple "God be merciful to me a sinner!" Sadly we have grown quite content with a Christianity stripped of its power to save us from our enemy rather than come back to Him, broken and contrite for our foolishness and hardened hearts at the feet of Jesus, crying out for deliverance from our own sin-filled and selfish hearts.
Listen to the words of Jeremiah in chapter 5. They were written for our benefit:
"Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.
And though they say, The LORD liveth; surely they swear falsely.
And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them:
Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
This people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.
For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich."
But the saddest part? God's own people are the ones clamoring to run into the snares of these wicked men! And the wicked men gladly oblige. And it is not hidden from God's eyes.
"The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so."
But now the question of questions needs to be answered.
"and what will ye do in the end thereof?"
-God
It is not too late. God is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. Shall we not humble ourselves and cry out to him for real deliverance, real victory, real holiness? He has a walk for each of us that will astound us, a walk of real victory over the world, the flesh and the devil. A life of His love being poured out through us onto others. He asks but two things of us. Yield to His hand fully. Believe Him fully. Then simply watch Him work in your life miracles that if your own eyes did not see, you would not believe.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Dead, dying or not even trying?
How common today is the misunderstanding, or sadly, in some cases, outright unbelief, in the fact that when we died with Christ, "our old man was crucified with Him, and likewise, as Christ was raised to newness of life, so were we."
It is, without a doubt, the major cause of the decline of the church into a religious instiutution rather than the power packed church that spread the gospel over the entire known world in one generation. Unbelief is not a weakness, but a sin and God calls it "an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."
How satan has subtly thrown us back on our own efforts to "die to self". What a huge difference there is between "keeping our body under" by faith in His promises and trying to make our body go under by our efforts, our strength, our self control, especially if, in our hearts, we believe it is not even possible!
This error is no small thing and inevitably puts us back under the law, which depended on self effort to become holy. The result is death, not life. It ends not in the faith filled confession of Paul that says "I can do all things thru Christ that strengthens me" , but the sad confession of unbelief, cloaked in a false robe of humility, that we are "only human" and "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven". How "holy" and logical that mantra sounds, but it drips with the venom of the enemy.
How we need to re-read the story of Abraham. What shall we learn as part of His seed and why he was chosen to be the father of many nations,m and why he was considered one of the main heroes of faith:
"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."
Romans 4:20-22
Have we forgotten that this is the only way to please God? The only way to truly glorify God? Faith in his incredible promises to us!
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
2 Peter 1:4
Are we found staring at the impotence we find in ourselves to free us from the grip of sin, or are our eyes firmly fixed on the God who can "save us to the uttermost" and bring us by His efforts, not ours, into "the glorious liberty of the children of God".
God has said clearly that He came to set us free from sin's grip, not just its guilt. (John 8). Are we pressing toward this goal, believing God that we are His workmanship so that nothing is impossible to us, or have we sat down in unbelief, content to be forgiven and not even caring that we are not yet victorious over the lusts that come with our old nature? If so, it is a dangerous place to be found.
Lest we forget:
"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and the lusts thereof."
Galatians 5:24
The question before each of us remains:
"Believeth thou that I can do this?"
Or perhaps more appropriately, "Do you believe that I have done this?
Blessings, Bruce
How common today is the misunderstanding, or sadly, in some cases, outright unbelief, in the fact that when we died with Christ, "our old man was crucified with Him, and likewise, as Christ was raised to newness of life, so were we."
It is, without a doubt, the major cause of the decline of the church into a religious instiutution rather than the power packed church that spread the gospel over the entire known world in one generation. Unbelief is not a weakness, but a sin and God calls it "an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God."
How satan has subtly thrown us back on our own efforts to "die to self". What a huge difference there is between "keeping our body under" by faith in His promises and trying to make our body go under by our efforts, our strength, our self control, especially if, in our hearts, we believe it is not even possible!
This error is no small thing and inevitably puts us back under the law, which depended on self effort to become holy. The result is death, not life. It ends not in the faith filled confession of Paul that says "I can do all things thru Christ that strengthens me" , but the sad confession of unbelief, cloaked in a false robe of humility, that we are "only human" and "Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven". How "holy" and logical that mantra sounds, but it drips with the venom of the enemy.
How we need to re-read the story of Abraham. What shall we learn as part of His seed and why he was chosen to be the father of many nations,m and why he was considered one of the main heroes of faith:
"He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."
Romans 4:20-22
Have we forgotten that this is the only way to please God? The only way to truly glorify God? Faith in his incredible promises to us!
"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
2 Peter 1:4
Are we found staring at the impotence we find in ourselves to free us from the grip of sin, or are our eyes firmly fixed on the God who can "save us to the uttermost" and bring us by His efforts, not ours, into "the glorious liberty of the children of God".
God has said clearly that He came to set us free from sin's grip, not just its guilt. (John 8). Are we pressing toward this goal, believing God that we are His workmanship so that nothing is impossible to us, or have we sat down in unbelief, content to be forgiven and not even caring that we are not yet victorious over the lusts that come with our old nature? If so, it is a dangerous place to be found.
Lest we forget:
"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh, with the affections and the lusts thereof."
Galatians 5:24
The question before each of us remains:
"Believeth thou that I can do this?"
Or perhaps more appropriately, "Do you believe that I have done this?
Blessings, Bruce
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