We Close the Door

“In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them” (2 Chronicles 29:3).

King Hezekiah began to reign at the age of twenty-five years of age as King of Judah. His predecessors failed to follow the Lord. The condition at the temple was so much like many churches today–closed. Closed doors speak of no access to God and no service for God. While God has set before us an open door (Rev. 3:8), yet we close it by the way we live.

How do we close the doors of the church? We don’t witness. We don’t pray. The altar of prayer is cold. We don’t sacrifice. We think more of our lives then following the life God intends for each of us. When God looks around He sees plenty of rubbish in the church. No wonder the church of the Living God is so powerless.

What must be done? There must be a way given–for God wants to prosper His work. God’s heart is to get us to the point of total sanctification-set apart for God. Sacrifice of one’s person to the Lord’s service and a song in the heart leads to the reopening of the doors. God must start with you and me-the preacher and the people. For if God’s servants are not clean, God cannot bless His work.

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  • Today Matters

    “And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today” (2 Chronicles 18:4).

     

    In a day of rush and hurry up, with a mindset to have plenty of leisure so that we may do what we desire, it is good to learn a great lesson. That reminder from the Lord Himself is to “Inquire at the word of the Lord today.”

     

    The Lord Jesus said that we are to learn to lean heavily upon Him. And we lean hard upon Him by relying upon His Word so that we may learn to pray His heart and will. Today is the day of salvation. We need Him to save us and dismantle us from our sin and ourselves.

     

    “The glory of the Father must be the aim and end, the very soul and life of our prayer”, said Andrew Murray. God wants us to be in on what He is up to. Prayer becomes transformational when we embrace the enduring context for all praying.

     

    As we fix our eyes upon Him we will be transformed by the majesty of our great God, the person of Christ, the purity of His Word – and will excite within us an appetite for Him. Oh may we be renewed with a longing for His glory! Inquire of Him.

     

  • Want to be Great? Learn to be Small…

    “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…” (Phil. 2:5a).

    Think of how the Lord Jesus let go of all–status, position, respect. He
    gave up his rights to be respected, waited on, and adored.

    Jesus walked and lived in “Glory Town.” He gave up the praise of angels, who
    prostrated themselves and covered their faces with their wings when he
    walked by, and they sang harmoniously that reached the furtherest star when
    they found him near. Jesus humbled himself and became small for us.

    Dress yourself in modesty. Fall off the pedestal others and maybe you have
    placed yourself upon. There are a lot more important things to think of than
    to think of yourself subconsciously.

    Look at others. Look at the poverty around you–not just financial poverty,
    but also marital poverty–broken families and families abused. Dress for
    success by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. Even next to you in church
    there are hurts and pains. Do you see them?

  • Cream Puff or Rattlesnake

    “God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in Him sets us clear”

    (Rom. 3:25 MSG).

     

    One Sunday President Calvin Coolidge, a man of few words, attended church. Upon his return from the service he was asked what the sermon was about. He responded, “sin.”

     

    “Well, what did the preacher say about it?”

     

    “He said he’s against it,” replied Coolidge.
    No Christian can live with sin – day in and day out, year in and year out, without even the slightest change or attempt to stop – and remain a Christian! Christianity without any change in behavior over the long haul is synthetic Christianity – it is a false assurance. We either go to God in repentance and turn away from our sin, or we give over to sin.
    Here is the truth of the matter, we need to be afraid of sin. We have to treat it more deadly than a rattlesnake. That means we never dally with it.
    You play with fire, you will get burnt. You mess with a snake, you get bit. You dabble in sin, you slide down the slippery slope that separates from God. There is NOTHING more dangerous than accepting and excusing sin…that has the power to cast into hell.
    As we walk through life we need to follow the Appalachian warning about river trails: NEVER stop watching for rattlers! We have got to be alert and be on our guard. Sin can creep up when we least expect it.
    When it does we need to do as Barney Fife says, “Nip it in the bud.” We need to root it out even before it is a half-formed thought, before it is said…before it is done. Don’t touch sin with a ten-foot pole. And if you do, deal with it immediately.
    Stay close to Christ. Stay in God’s Word. Read it. Meditate upon it. Eat it. Memorize it. Pray it through.

  • Prayer That Works

    “To him whom my soul loveth, who wakens me morning by morning and helps me rise with “wings as an eagle.”

    It takes prayer and it takes work to meet with God.  Prayer and Work seem to be an oxymoron.  What are they doing in the same sentence?  The two words together seem so contradictory, like jumbo shrimp, civil war — or child safe!  Prayer and Work seem to be opposite concepts.  Yet we have discovered that prayer that doesn’t work, doesn’t work!

    Think about it:  it takes work to step out of time to enter into eternity.  It takes work to learn the art of leaving things undone so that the greater thing can be done.  It takes work to miss a meal to take special time to pray.  One might even lose some sleep to learn that prayer is work.  Prayer that works is work, and those who work at prayer realize that prayer works.  That’s not just a play on words, it is the concept of what it means to pray.

    Prayer itself is a gracious gift of God.  He made it possible for us to walk right into his presence and talk to him as our Father.  Every child of God has the right and the privilege to come into His presence.  God is available and ready to meet with us at the drop of a hat.  But Satan has a way, for he desires to get into your devotional life, for he wants you to let go of your devoted life to God.  As the little couplet says, “The devil trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.”

    He will do anything to keep you from loving your Savior.  He wants you to stay in bed until the last moment and he wants you to rise not with the “wings of eagles” but with the “forlorn look of a tired soul.”  Find in Jesus your all in all.  Develop your fellowship with Him through your prayer conversation with your God and your Father.

  • The “Red Cross”

    “He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean” (Numbers 19:12).

    When you and I feel overwhelmed with fear, guilt, or weariness, picture yourself at the foot of the cross, with your arms wrapped around it, hanging on as tight as you can. You will be covered by the blood and God will protect you.

    God desires His people to be holy and separated from sin. To touch the dead things of the world is to contaminate ourselves and those around us. God has given us the solution in the cross of Christ. There we find life…His life in us, alive and well.

    Someone has penned these words:

    I take, O cross, thy shadow for my abiding place; I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face; Content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss. My sinful self my only shame, my glory all the cross.

     

  • We Have a Message to Tell

    “And I looked and, lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads” (Revelation 14:1).

    In the previous verse the Bible speaks of a beast and his number is 666 — man pretending to be God.  Unless the people of that day (and I believe it to be soon) repent, they will take the seal of the beast which will enable them to settle down in the world to buy and to sale.  Therefore they will accept the seal of the beast which will be their doom.

    Though the man of sin will stand out in that future day he will not stand too long.  John sees the Lord Jesus Christ standing at the Temple Mount in the city of Jerusalem at a time in the future.  And alongside of the Lord Jesus and His return will stand those who have the mark of the Lord in their foreheads.  The Lord is saying, “These are Mine. Hands off!” These are My 144,000.”  Throughout these years of tribulation, they will be witnessing and testifying boldly about the Lord Jesus in the integrity of the Lord.

    You and I are not to take up the lifestyle of today.  These that are sealed are saved, sealed, and spotless men and women, those to whom lived for Christ in their generation.  These are those who will have an impact on their times.  You and I are to live with impact.  During these days of lies, deception, immorality, and violence we are to be truth-filled disciples; during our short days on earth we are to live the same.  If our mouths are filled with lies, if our lives are lacking in morality and integrity, then no one will listen to what we have to say about the gospel or the Lord Jesus.

    “Father, thank you for the seriousness of this chapter.  You have mapped out a plan that will ultimately bring glory to Your name, and we realize we must fit in Your plan.  May we bear the message and the fruits of repentance and godliness.  We commit our lives to You, in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.“