All our sins and griefs to bear
What a privilege to carry
Everything to God in prayer"
There was a time in my life, before I was a Christian, when I was a teenager, that I was (as most teenagers are) in turmoil over boyfriends, friends, peer pressure, battling emotions I didn't understand, etc. and I would lay on my bed and look at a picture of Jesus I had on my wall, and say, "Jesus, You're the only one who I can trust. I just want you to be my friend." I was beginning to seek Him more and more and wanted to find Him, but didn't understand that I couldn't just make Jesus my friend. That still small voice which I didn't quite understand at the time, would say to me, "I can't be your friend because your sin separates you from me." I began to be drawn to my Bible. I couldn't resist it. I had to read it and find out how I could be a friend of Jesus.
So often today I see those who want to be a friend of Jesus, but not the Jesus of the Bible. He's the only real Jesus. He is indeed very real. He's a person, not a religion. And He is indeed wanting to be your friend, and has made the way Himself so that though He is perfectly holy, without sin, and cannot tolerate sin in His presence, you can come to Him, and be made perfectly acceptable to Him. You can be a friend of the real Jesus. But rather than seek the real Jesus, people today want to make one up that is more to their liking. They want a fictional Jesus they find in a novel, or a very charismatic preacher tries to give them. They, don't want the real Jesus to judge their sin, or to tell them it must be repented of.
As I read my Bible I saw how grave my sin was. Nobody had to tell me I was a sinner. Today if someone tries to tell you that your sin separates you from God's love and friendship, they are accused of being hateful and judging. We are all sinners, and God is the One judging. A true Christian is only trying to tell you of His judgment, in order to let you know also of His remedy, His own sacrifice of blood - His own blood - for your sin, in order that you could simply come to Him in faith, accepting Who He is, what He did, and trust in Him to save you from that sure judgment. I'm so glad Jesus told me of my sin, convicted me of it, and led me to find His love.
In fact as I read God's law, I was gripped with how separated from God I was. I was gripped with my sin and its sure judgment, and so much so that I feared there was no hope for me. I thought I was beyond saving. I knew I had done things worthy of death according to His Word. I knew I was sure to end up in hell if I died. Many don't want to believe in hell. A loving God wouldn't send people to hell. But what they don't know is that a loving God did all for them, paid the ultimate price giving His own body to torture and rejection and a horrible death, completely undeserved, so that they could escape hell. It wasn't made for those He created to love. It was not intended for those He created to enjoy His glory forever. Hell is the ultimate separation from God. God is life, He is love, He is light, He is the One Who created all things for our enjoyment and pleasure, and they are not without Him. Right now the rain falls on the just and the unjust. All of life's good things, all that we see and enjoy, and even light itself, is enjoyed by those who love God as well as those who hate Him - for a time. Because of God's goodness He is giving much time for all to hear the Gospel and be saved, yet those who refuse, choose hell - eternal separation from Him. That is eternal darkness of the soul, no light, no pleasure, nothing that satisfies the passions or desires, no food, no love, nobody. All He created you for you rejected willfully. You chose rather to abuse and pervert His creation now for your own selfish passion, rather than to see that He gave it to reveal Himself and His love to you and to call you to an eternal inheritance with Him.
Well, after a couple years of terrible fear of death and condemnation in those teen years, I continued being drawn to God, seeking to find Him, asking Him to show me how, to show me the truth, and one day I was led to a church where I heard the Good news - the Gospel which means good news, and I was shown a Scripture, John 3:16, that told me I could indeed be completely forgiven and set free from my sin. This after trying to clean myself up, and to live like a Christian, which was not working at all. I kept stumbling. I kept falling into sin. I could not change my heart. But this day, I was shown something that changed me forever.
John 3:14-18
(14) And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
(15) That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
(16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
As I read those words, this woman said to me, "are you a whosoever?" I said, "yes." She then said, "then put your name in there and read those words again." So I read again, "that if Ginny believes in Him she should not perish but have eternal life." That happened in December of 1971. I had no idea that day of what would become of it, but I knew I was different. After reading those words, I put my faith in His forgiveness, and surrendered my life to Him. I invited Him into my heart, and He came in. I knew that He was there, that finally, this real Jesus, this Jesus of the Bible, this Jesus Who said these words, and spoke them clearly to me that day, was now my friend, and would be forever. What I did not know yet was just how wonderful He would be in revealing and manifesting His presence and love in my heart. I was not alone anymore. I was becoming more and more aware of this presence in me, of the fellowship I was having with Him in my soul.
John 14:23
(23) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Jesus had come into me and made His abode in me. Though I sought Him, I now know it was He all along drawing me, knocking at the door of my heart, waiting for me to open it to let Him in.
Revelation 3:20
(20) Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Now He was in my heart supping with me and me with Him. And over the years, that love and fellowship has grown. If one only has a religion or a philosophy of life, or an ideology, they can change it. But when one becomes a new creation through an act of God coming into them to dwell in their very inner being and give them a new heart, there is a life that grows and blossoms until it reaches its eternal goal, living right in the very presence and home of God, in heaven where He dwells, forever enjoying His perfection, all He is, and all the life and love He intended for His creation.
"Oh what peace we often forfeit
Oh what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer"
How grieved the Lord must be at those who He reaches out to continually, still giving them life and hope to find Him, bearing with their sins and blasphemies against Him, reaching out to them through others who try to bring them His Word of life, yet they call it hate speech, they turn it away, and they turn to the most perverted evils instead to fill up their passions and lust which will never be satisfied, becoming more and more hardened against all the life He wants to give them, and the true satisfaction their heart yearns for. They don't understand that they were created with a huge vacuum that can only be filled with His own presence living in them. So they go on to justify and fill themselves with the most perverted evils, until they are hopelessly lost and can no longer be reached or persuaded with the truth.
Love, hate, judging, all these words have been perverted by the enemy of our souls in order to turn people away from their creator and redeemer, in order to pervert the truth and the love of God. But God reaches out still, to whosoever will, to come and receive freely, to drink of the fountain of life, freely, to sup with Him and learn of Him.
Matthew 11:28-30
(28) Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
(29) Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
(30) For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
But who will come? Some think by turning away those who tell them of God's judgment of sin, and not listening to it they will escape it, but they don't realize they are already condemned and all they are trying to do is let you know you don't have to be! You have to understand your condition before you can understand your deliverance and salvation. It's hard to hear. It's hard to come into the light and see yourself. It's the most painful thing in the world. But it's the truth that will set your free. We're not trying to judge you, we're trying to show you the way out of His judgment.
John 3:17-21
(17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
(18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
(19) And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
(20) For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
(21) But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Thank You Jesus, for being a true friend to me. Thank You for showing me my awful sinful selfish heart. Thank You for making me to see it even when I didn't want to see it or acknowledge it. Thank You for showing me Yourself, Your love, Your truth, and coming into my heart to abide in me forever! What a precious gift! I cannot fathom the wonderful things that are yet to come!
1 Corinthians 2:9-14
(9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
(10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
(11) For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
(12) Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
(13) Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
(14) But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
If you want to know this Friend, and make Him your true Friend forever, I plead with you to go find a Bible and read it, and read it as though you were having a conversation with God, asking Him to reveal Himself to you in it, and reveal to you the truth of your own heart, seeking His heart for you.
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