“How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart.”

Psalms 119:2 NASB

Our nation has a problem with allowing God’s Word to penetrate the spirit and soul of his/her life. We are absolutely void of any type of righteousness in God’s sight and filled with much selfishness. Even with the new nature we are void of practical righteousness apart from Him. This is called sin.

Only the Word of God can pierce  and separate soul and spirit. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart. All is laid bare to God. And upon that premise we will be judged.

The Word of the Living God tells us that without Christ’s living reality we are doomed and left to ourselves. When a people turn away from God and His written Word then that people will find no hope or help. Everything we do or think should be confirmed by the Word.

Woe to a nation that forgets God. Woe to a people that does not apply the whole of God’s Word. When we turn our hearts away from His Word then we turn our lives toward the world, the flesh, and Satan. Unless there is repentance of falling short of God’s full intention in our lives, we hurt ourselves and those around us.

 

“And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love with which thou has loved me may be in them, and I in them”
(John 17:26).

People are looking for truth. They’re looking for reality. Deal with people in truth, and you will deal with reality.

Speaking the truth isn’t even enough, though. Truth must be spoken in love.

Many people think they are doing right by being very outspoken. Then, they put a veneer of respectability on what they say by commenting, “Well, I believe in telling the truth. You will always know what I think.” That is wrong, as well; for the child of God endeavors to balance that which “God says and what He says and how He says it”, in love.

God’s people are to much like a see-saw. Unbalanced, too top-heavy, no real leverage, prideful, and liking it with a sneer. If the peace of God does not rule, He is not ruling in that person’s heart. God balances the see-saw with a fulcrum of truth and love.

Truth balanced with love is Jesus on the cross praying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:33). “Forgive them” is love; “for they know not what they do” is truth. Mercy and peace kiss at the cross.

A New Start

“For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16).

Paul went through much of living in a culture that was antagonistic toward Christ. So many problems came and went against him, trouble on every side of him, problems that pressed hard against him, and yet he learned the secret of contentment.

Look at yourself in the mirror. Tell me what you see? I see in the mirror a man who is aging and breaking down externally. But, again,  take a look in the mirror of the Word. What do you see? Do you see the eternal springing up within you, the everlasting joy that comes from looking away from the obvious to the real?

Paul did not faint because he kept his eyes on the eternal and the internal. His daily focus was disciplined upon Christ and His Word. He learned that the outward things were temporal and could be discouraging. The things not seen were eternal and were an eternal weight of glory. What is discouragement? It is a temporary loss of perspective.

Focus on that which is unseen, the truths you know in your heart, for it is that truth that is a reality. We need to focus on the inner man. Life is passing us by. We have the opportunity to focus on the eternal and internal daily for the next 364 days of the year.

Spiritual Development:   Is it a Blessing? Or a Burden?   “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you” (Galatians 4:19). Most fathers are absent when it comes to leading their children to faith/life issues. Most mothers are misguided as well when it comes to patiently loving their children to Christ. There are very few lives where Bible and devotions are in the home. Today’s generation of youth know little of the Faith once delivered. They know little of the reason for the Bible and to why they believe what they do. Dawson McAllister states that ninety percent, “of kids active in high school church youth groups do not go to church by the time they are sophomores in college.” Rigorous teaching and training in the faith of children as taught in Scripture must be practiced, or the church will lose multitudes more to the god of this age. What a great time to invest in the lives of our youth. It is a good time to always reach out to children and youth, to lead them and to guide them to Christ. Evangelism and discipleship is never easy. We seem to want everything to fall into our laps. It is not the way of the Master. For discipleship works when we work as we are led by the Spirit of God. There will be trials, tears, and at times a desire to throw it all to the side–but it is not what God would have for us or for the youth of this day. Paul travailed in prayer, in practice, and in perseverance till Christ was formed in the church of Galatia. Should we expect anything differently?

 

 

“At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us (Nehemiah 4:20). When your faith begins to wane before the goal is finished and reached, remember the One who: * so agonized in prayer that He sweat drops of blood; * so despised, rejected, and crucified by the ones He loved very much; * suffered so often that He was referred to as the “Man of Sorrows” who was acquainted with grief. Remember that our strength is not compared to the enemy, on the other hand, we size up with the power of God. The enemies we have absolutely have no chance against God, the mighty Warrior!