WHO IS THIS GOD WE PRAY TO?

And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. (John 17:3)

Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud; be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek."

(Psalms 27:7-8)

There is something inside every human being that draws us to God, that makes us want to reach out to Him, to know Him.  The ultimate thing in life is to truly know God.  God gave us the gift of prayer in order that we may inquire of Him and learn to know Him and to reach out and find Him. Some, instead of reaching out to find Him create their own religions or their own gods.  That inward need is there, for a God, for an object of worship, yet if they don't seek to find and know the One true God, they will end up creating their own. This in itself is evidence of God. There is one prayer that the unbeliever can pray that will be heard of God, and that is the prayer to know Him, to be forgiven and to become a child of God.  All other prayer is the privilege of God's born again children alone - those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Prayer opens up our hearts to know God.  Even as we come before Him with our needs, we must humble ourselves and acknowledge Who He is.  Prayer opens the door of our hearts to Him.  The ultimate purpose of our prayer is to know God, be united with Him, and to submit our hearts to Him, that He may be glorified.  As His children, we have the privilege that no other has, to come before His throne of grace and mercy, boldly, through the blood of Jesus Christ and His merit alone.  We have unbroken access to Him.  What a great privilege! How little we make use of it!  What promises He gives us if we just come to Him in prayer!  He promises to hear. He promises to answer.  He promises His presence. 

Prayer is not just asking.  Prayer is listening.  Even as we sit at His feet through the reading of His Word, meditating on it, letting Him speak to us through it, we are in communion with Him and there is a fellowship.  It's so important to have this part of prayer in our lives in order to come to Him with our supplications and intercessions and requests.  When we lay our hearts before Him and let the Holy Spirit speak to us through His Word, we find our hearts brought nearer to His, our minds cleansed of our own or worldly thoughts and ways, and we are able to pray according to His will, and to understand His will and purpose more accurately.  Many times when it seems our prayers are not answered it drives us to seek His understanding through His Word and in the process of prayer the answer comes by His changing our hearts. 

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

(1 John 5:14-15)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

(Hebrews 4:12)

Without prayer we will not have the blessed fellowship with God which He desires for us.  Without prayer we cannot truly grow in our knowledge of Him the way He wants us to.  Without prayer we miss out on receiving all that He has for us as our gifts and privileges in Christ.  Without prayer, He is not glorified in us the way He desires to be.  Without prayer we become self-focused instead of God-focused.  Without prayer, we are only depending on ourselves, our own ability, wisdom, understanding, and strength, rather than leaning on Him.  We are saying, in essence, we don't need God. A church without prayer will be a lifeless ineffective church. How important then is it that we know the God we pray to, and what He is about?  How can we pray effectively if we don't?

Who is this God we pray to?  He is the One true God.  He is truly beyond our comprehension but He has revealed certain things about Himself in His Word and through Jesus Himself coming to us. He wants us to know those things that He revealed about Himself, to seek Him and to find Him.  He wants us to know Him rightly.  Anytime we have a wrong concept of Him or of His salvation, it lessens our ability to be effective in prayer or in our walk with Him, or in our testimony to others.  To learn of His attributes gives us more help in our prayer life and more faith and purpose as we pray.  We can only learn of His attributes through His Word and our giving ourselves over to it, to keep it, to meditate on it, and to obey it.  It is only God Himself Who can reveal Himself to us.  We cannot form our own concepts of God based on what kind of god we desire, as so many do today in the apostate church.  They don't like the God of the Bible so they form their own god, lessening His true attributes and bringing Him down to their own level, rather than letting Him bring them up to His.  They have no idea what they miss!  The god of their making is always more like them.  God wants to raise us up to where He is and make us like Him.  There is no higher glory! How awful it is then, when we have a lesser view of Him and do not seek to know Him rightly and give Him the true honor of Who He is as revealed to us in His Word.  Our prayers to this lesser god can never bring God's blessing.  We must know Him rightly and come to Him humbly. 

Who is this God we pray to?  Who He is not, is a genie we can use to get all we want in this world and manipulate according to our own use.  That, again, is to bring Him down to our level or even below that, where we become the god and He our servant that we think to command.  If we are to know Him rightly, we must also give Him the right place in our hearts.  I am always in awe when I hear God calling Himself "I Am."  He is so beyond our comprehension that there is no other way to describe Him other than simply "I Am."  He simply is, and always was and always will be.  He is the great I Am. He is Who He is, perfect in all His ways, with no need to ever change. That leaves us with a sense of great awe.  It is something we can't grasp fully, yet we know it is true.  How can He explain Himself to us?  Yet He has expressed Himself to us through Jesus Christ Who was the exact representation of Himself in the flesh.  God's attributes are simply what is true of Him, and He reveals that to us in His Word in many ways, even in the many names of God. Each name reveals to us a particular attribute of God.  Yahweh Shalom - the Lord is peace, Yahweh Shammah - the Lord is there, Yahweh Tsidkenu - the Lord our righteousness, Yahweh Nissi - the Lord my banner, Yahweh - the self existent One, and many more names of God are given to us in His Word, always revealing to us an attribute of God.  This is the God we pray to.  This God has so much about Him that we can never completely know all there is to know about Him.  Yet He reveals so much of Himself to us in His Word and in our relationship with Him through the Spirit when we become His child through being born again by faith in the finished work of Christ. What riches then to discover this awesome God!!  He is a God of love, a God of wonder, a God of perfection in every way!  How can we not be grateful for and want to pursue this God and pray to Him?  He gives us the privilege, as His children to do so.  Are we using this privilege?  Do we really grasp what He has given to us?

When we pray to God, many times we want God to be a certain way.  But we must learn to love, not what we want God to be, but what and Who He truly is.  In learning His attributes, we learn to love Him more and wonder at His glory more and more and desire that glory.  We learn to pray, as the song goes,

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

The more God is our true vision and the more clearly we see Him, the more effective our prayer life will be; and the more effective our prayer life is, the more clearly we will see Him and know Him, and the more He will be glorified in our lives. Our motives for prayer will be less and less of what we want and more and more what He wants.  Our Christian lives will become more fruitful.  If we abide in Him, truly, we must abide in Who He really is, not what we want or imagine Him to be. 

If God reveals His attributes to us in His Word, He wants us to discover them and He wants us to respond to them. We must form our own ideas of Him and our responses and our actions then, based on those true attributes of God, and as we choose to look to Him and walk with Him, we learn to "put on Christ" and those characteristics of Christ will more and more, hopefully be seen of Him in our own walk and interaction with others as well, bringing forth fruit, so that others are drawn to seek Him. 

Do we demonstrate to the world around us what God is like?  Or are we praying to a god of our own making and showing the world a god of our own making as well? The right answer will affect, not only our lives and walk with God, but the lives and destiny of others around us that we touch as well. 

The more we seek to know the One true God, the more love for Him we will have and that love will flow from us to others. What is the greatest attribute of God?  "God is love" - Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

(1 John 4:8-12)

Our prayers then, should flow from love, to a God of love - God's love for a lost and dying world, which He shed His precious blood for.

What a wonderful God we have!  What a blessing to know that He loves us, and wants us to know Him and invites us to do so! May we pursue Him harder and pray more earnestly while He gives us breath! 

*Edited, 7/14/2017

PUSHING THROUGH ADVERSITY

I went for a walk this morning, and noticed in several places along the side walk that there were things growing right through the black top. I was amazed.  Then I saw this little flower, so pretty sitting there in its glory having pushed its way through the black top, as though it were saying, "Nothing can stop me! I've broken through and I'm victorious and I'm beautiful!"

It made me think of our different responses to adversity in life.  This little flower's response to all hindrance to its life gave me faith.  It stirred up a kind of hope, a feeling of endurance and reluctance to give up or let myself become discouraged.  It was as though God placed it there for me to say, "Never grow weary, Ginny.  You will surely reap if you faint not."  This little flower had some pressure, some adversity, some resistance to push through but it endured.  Life gives us many types of resistance to the Gospel of our Lord.  It gives us much resistance to the message of life He has given us and wants to tell us continually, "give up! give up! give up! It's no use!  Why are you fighting against a world that is determined to hate God?"

Some have formed a movement of resistance today.  It's a resistance against anything of God, anything of the Bible, and anything Christian.  It manifests itself in politics, in religion, in counterfeit Christianity, and as the Bible told us, it comes against all that is of God with a vengeance.  How can we stand in such an evil day?  How do we push through the resistance of life that seems to never end. It's not enough that the world is against us, and a false church as well, but the circumstances of life and perhaps our health can be a heavy weight we must also push through.

We can overcome, just as this little flower. We can keep reaching up for the sun.  We can not even look at the adversity but instead look up to the Son and see He is there, He is faithful, He is ever giving us the grace, the power, the encouragement, the hope, and the promise that is sure, we will reap if we faint not.  we will by our endurance through His power, gain life and have victory.  We will win this battle.  We will break through every barrier and every resistance.  Why?  Because He has.

John 14:27  Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
John 16:33  I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world."

He Himself has overcome every resistance in this world that could possibly come against us and nothing can stop His plan for His church.  Nothing can defeat His children.  If He says don't be afraid, it's not just an empty phrase, but it is with power and meaning and truth.  We have no reason to be afraid if He says we don't.  So we do not have to "let our hearts be afraid."  Even though in this world we have tribulation and resistance and many times it seems, defeat...yet He has overcome the world and anything it can do to harm us or separate us from His love, or defeat His purposes from being carried out.  Our own purposes, goals and dreams may have to be taken to the cross, but His will be carried out, and His purpose for each of His children is more than we can fathom. 

So push on dear child of God! don't be dismayed.  Push through every obstacle that comes against you and keep looking and pushing forth toward the Son.  

COMMUNION WITH THE SON

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Helen H. Lemmel, 1922

"Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus"

Song of Solomon 1:4  Draw me after you; let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers.

Psalm 27:8  You have said, "Seek my face." My heart says to you, "Your face, LORD, do I seek."

Are you weary and troubled?  Aren't we all at times?  And more so as the days grow evil. So many times in our Christian walk, we find ourselves dry, empty, filled with the cares of this life or the bitterness of the evil and deception in this world, fearful of what may happen, and we have failed to see our eyes somehow have gotten off from the Lord, our hearts away from the fellowship and communion with Him, and we've become preoccupied and distracted and yes, manipulated.  The Lord is always faithful to draw us back, again and again, as we become distracted.  He is faithful to draw us again to His love, to the communion He desires to have with us daily.  That communion is but a glimpse of the perfect communion we will have with Him one day in eternity, when corruption puts on incorruption and we are clothed with perfection. 

We may sing songs in church, we may participate in "worship services" and think we are worshiping the Lord, yet if our hearts are not in a daily communion of worship, we have not yet entered into the true worship that that Father seeks.

John 4:23-24  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (24)  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

Is there maybe a lack of worship in your daily life?  Is this perhaps what is missing?  Do you take time to sit at His feet before you start your day, meditating on His Word, asking Him to speak to you there, interacting with Him as He does, bowing down to Him, praising Him, thanking Him, trusting Him, surrendering your heart to His?  Do you see your daily life as an act of worship as you go on in that fellowship throughout the day, pondering what He has spoken to you that morning?  Do you act on what He has revealed to you?  I know I find too often I fail to, until He reminds me again, in His loving way, that my act of worship is to take His Word to heart, bow down to it, and believe it and act on it, exercising faith in it. 

There are times we find ourselves in a spiritual dessert, and soon anxiety takes over our lives, or bitterness, or some other fruit of the flesh, rather than the Spirit.  When this happens it is a signal for us to again, "turn our eyes upon Jesus" and "look full in His wonderful face" and when we do the "things of this earth will truly grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace."  We do that by once again taking time to worship Him. 

Revelation 3:20  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.

John 14:23  Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

 

To think of it! God Himself desires our communion!!  God's love for us is greater by far than we can fathom!  We fail to receive and experience the love He longs to reveal to us.  He delights in us and wants us to delight in Him.  We are missing out if we think we are serving Him, yet are not enjoying that communion with Him each day through His Spirit in our hearts opening up His Word to us, making it personal and living and life giving.  If we are not responding to His love, giving thanks, offering ourselves in worship to Him, then we are missing out on the most vital part of our walk with Him.  If we are not abiding in Him each day how can we bare any fruit at all?

John 15:4-5  Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. (5)  I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Too often in my own life, when I find myself weary, dry, or fearful, I have to ask myself, "am I abiding?"  Another way of looking at it in modern terms "am I plugged in?"  "Am I vitally connected?"  He says it is in keeping His commands or His Word that we stay abiding in Him, and in doing so we show we truly love Him (John 15:9-12).  That does not mean to live by the law, but to hear His Word, His heart, and agree and seek to do all His will.  He has shown us His will in His Word.  If we abide in His love, we walk in His love toward one another.

One day I was depressed and weary of life and just complaining in myself.  I was prompted by the Holy Spirit as I read John 15 to "abide in Him" which meant keeping His Word which told me to trust in Him, to believe in His purposes and His love, to rejoice in Him.  I could not hold onto my weariness then, but had to give myself to His Word and do so.  His presence filled me and gave me the power of it as soon as I made the choice.  So many days I find in this dreary world I need fresh manna from above.  I need to go to Him and listen to Him and worship Him.  To worship Him is an act of surrender and faith.  You can't worship Him and hold onto your own ways of thinking and doing.  No wonder He calls us to worship Him.  It is for our own sake when we do.  As we delight in Him we are set free from ourselves and from any power on this earth that could harm us. 

Worship causes our attention to focus on Him, His glory, all He is and does and has promised.  We forget ourselves and are filled with faith as we do so.  Worship is a privilege only God's true born again children have.  No person who does not have His Spirit is able to truly worship Him.  It is His presence inside of us that draws us to Him and reveals Him to us so that we can truly worship His glory, which then becomes our glory and delight. 

Worship is not a hyped up emotion.  Anyone can have their senses stimulated and brought to a sense of euphoria through the flesh.  Loud music that stimulates the senses does not create true worship.  Worship is of the heart as we look at His glory, and see Him, and respond by bowing down our hearts in admiration and surrender to such an awesome God.  We may say we want to be like Jesus, but in order to do so we must walk with Him, fellowship with Him, and abide in His Word.  There is no other way.  We grow more and more like Him as we commune with Him. 

Lord, open our eyes to see, our hearts to receive, our ears to hear, and our spirits to worship You! 

LOPSIDED CHRISTIANS

Proverbs 18:17  The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.

Psalms 43:3  Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!

Grace vs. law, love vs. correction, works vs. faith, free will vs. predestination, eternal life vs. losing salvation, pre-trib, post-trib, or pan-trib, etc. etc. - there is a constant argument on these subjects and others in the Christian faith.  The "discussion" of them is good, since discussion - true discussion - causes us to go to the Word to discover what it is saying.  But many times we can become lopsided Christians, because we are not taking the whole of Scripture, but instead looking at just the Scriptures that fit our argument, for whatever reason, and trying to fit the rest into it.  I'm just seeing a lot of lopsidedness on the internet and on social media these days, so it has been taking up a lot of my thoughts.  I've seen myself as lopsided sometimes, and I've been in lopsided churches.  One thing I've noticed is that when the Lord opened up His Word to me and showed me the truth in a particular area, all the pieces fit together without being forced very nicely and understanding came along with joy and peace  and delight in His Word.  It brought life to me.  When I was lopsided there was not that, but always a striving to fit things together, and a sort of bondage, even though I was unaware of it until I was freed from it.  God's truth always sets free when accepted and understood.  It brought me closer to Him, and I enjoyed His unbroken fellowship.

When I was a young Christian I was under a strong bondage of legalism.  What I mean by that was that I felt that my works mattered greatly to my salvation, and that if I didn't measure up to the standard given to me by a certain denomination or even my own scruples, that I would lose my salvation.  I felt God was always mad at me. It was a very works based way of trying to live the Christian life.  I knew I was saved by grace, and that it was through the blood of Jesus, but somehow I felt it my obligation to "keep" it.  I was being taught a lopsided view and none of the pieces fit together right. They were always being squeezed in here or there. Many places in the Word seemed to contradict one another.

After years I discovered the other side - grace.  I discovered that I was saved through grace alone, by faith, and that it was not a performance based life at all!  It was such a blessing and deliverance to me that I became somewhat lopsided.  I was stressing grace so much in my discussions that I made it look as though sin was nothing - and people could have taken it to be antominianism. I didn't think that way, but I came across that way to some. I focused on this grace to the point that I was missing the importance of obedience and its rightful place.  As I grew in my Bible study I began seeing that the more I experienced of this grace and love of Christ, the more my heart desired to be obedient to Him in everything, and I grew in my disgust and hatred of sin in myself, all the while knowing I was not under condemnation - I hated anything that would displease Him, Whom my soul loved.  Once free from the principle of law, I was free to live truly by the law of love. My focus was now off from myself and performance and was on Christ. I began to understand grace and obedience rightly.  I began to see the danger of being lopsided in either direction.

So many times as believers, we become lopsided in our theology, because we focus on one aspect that has in some way ministered to us, or awakened us.  Or we focus on one aspect, that we are misled by men in, to the point where we cannot see the whole.  Many times we try so hard to hold to a particular teacher that no matter what that teacher says, we have to defend it, right or wrong.  We fail to check the Scriptures and study it ourselves asking the Holy Spirit to be our teacher. There are Scripture verses that seem to contradict one another.

Romans 3:27-28

(27)  Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

(28)  For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Romans 4:2-3

(2)  For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.

(3)  For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

James 2:21-24

(21)  Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

(Thayer on justified:  to show, exhibit, evince, one to be righteous, such as he is and wishes himself to be considered). (His works made manifest and showed evidence of his faith).

(22)  You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works;

(23)  and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"—and he was called a friend of God.

(24)  You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

So some, thinking there is a contradiction, choose either works or grace... but fail to see what is being said is not a contradiction at all, if taken in the whole of Scripture.  If you see it as a contradiction, you have to take one and discard the other, rather than to take them both and see what they are really saying and what the whole context says in both books.  If you do this you will see that they are saying the same thing. 

Scofield: These are two aspects of one truth. Paul speaks of that which justifies man before God, namely: faith alone, wholly apart from works; James of the proof before men, that he who professes to have justifying faith really has it. Paul speaks of what God sees -- faith; James of what men see -- works, as the visible evidence of faith. Paul draws his illustration from (Genesis 15:6) James from (Genesis 22:1-19). James' key phrase is "ye see" (James 2:24) for men cannot see faith except as manifested through works.

We have to be careful to lay the right foundation, which is always Jesus Christ and His finished work.  Many take their one sided view of Scripture, or obscure hard to understand verses as their foundation for their views rather than starting from the true foundation of His finished work.  Many also don't understand correct definitions of words and even as they are arguing their different sides to each other, they have different definitions so neither understands the other and nothing is settled.  "Never take a difficult passage of Scripture to explain away a clear cut passage of Scripture" - J. Vernon McGee.  I've seen this done many times over.  There is also correct hermeneutics in studying and "rightly dividing" the Word of truth.  You cannot just make a Scripture say what you want it to say out of context, or without understanding who it is for, or the time period it was given. 

I can tell when I'm with certain people, that there is no discussion because they only want to argue.  There is a difference.  When one wants to argue, there is no discussion, but only their lopsided view they want you to hear, all while they are not at all listening to you so that there can be a discussion.  A discussion involves give and take, looking honestly at the issues on both sides, pointing out the reasoning according to Scripture clearly, being willing to be taught, having a heart to learn truth, and realizing that Scripture is spiritually discerned and sometimes is a matter of maturity in the faith, realizing we have to allow the Holy Spirit time to work in a persons heart, even as He has in our own.  Love, with humility and grace, keeps from pride and anger and aggressiveness or "snarkiness." 

2 Timothy 2:23-25

(23)  Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels.

(24)  And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,

(25)  correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

We can be lopsided if we are so adamant at convincing someone of their error, that we forget grace and love.  We become dependent on our fleshly ability to convince by argument rather than seeing the real need or the real issue of the heart, as Jesus always did, and trusting the Holy Spirit to work through us, and to know when to speak and when not to. I am always impressed with the way Jesus, in Scripture never seemed to answer the direct question of some, but instead spoke directly to the real heart need, with true wisdom, in each case.  It seemed as though He were ignoring their questions, but He really saw their heart and knew what they really were dealing with and needed to hear (ex. Nicodemus when he came to Jesus by night, the woman at the well, many times with the Pharisees).  Only the Holy Spirit knows what is in a person's heart and what their heart is really seeking.  This is why our flesh cannot save anyone or convince anyone. Only His Spirit can, and we are only of use as we are led by Him.  If we are given to frustration and rage, or snarkiness, we are not being led by Him.  Do you want to reach your brother or sister, or do you want to be proven right and win an argument, which you don't really "win." 

Some become lopsided because the word "love" has been so redefined by the world to mean acceptance of every ungodly lifestyle and sin no matter how gross, and a disregarding of the well-being and salvation of the sinner.  So they jump all over it in their flesh and come across, just as they are accused of by the world, as mean-spirited, self-righteous haters.  It will do no good for them to try to convince the sinner that they love them and are trying to save them when they are lopsided and aren't showing them that.  Here again, the definition of words needs to be clarified as well as seen in the life. 

If someone is not yet prepared to "discuss" it does no good to argue.  To argue then, is only a matter of our pride trying to be "right" or vindicated in our stand.  I've seen Christians on social media become so disgustingly nasty or condemning in their remarks to one another, because they had to prove their view was the correct one, that I am just flabbergasted that they cannot see how they are coming across to, not only that person, but others who are watching.  It grieves my heart and I'm sure grieves the heart of God, when we claim to follow Him but pushing our theology or views onto others is more important than how we represent Him.  I've seen Christians post vulgar things that just astounds me, and use name calling and ridicule, and then they turn around and brag about their beliefs as being superior to others.  I've seen Christians post a mixture of occultic practices and Scripture and tear down anyone who tries to lovingly point them to see it.  How much we must grieve the Holy Spirit and quench Him in our lives!!  How much we play into the hands of the devil! Lord, help us to see our lopsidedness and to care about the things You care about, seeking truly to know You and walk in fellowship with You!  How sad to put ourselves in a place where those who see our error are afraid to come along side of us, because we are so obstinate and unteachable.  How sad if we have the truth but turn it into something else because of the way we present it.  God help us!  Do we want people to see You, or us?  Help us to discern our own hearts!

I'm sure this is not all I or others could say on this subject, and I'm sure there could be many discussions on this subject, but I hope it will at least be enough to cause each of us to question ourselves before a Holy God and loving Savior.  I hope it will not be used as another "argument" to throw in someone's face, but be used as a private moment of examination of our own hearts.  As I see these things online, that's what it has done to me.  It has made me much more thoughtful of how I am representing the Lord I love and how I am affecting people who I touch one way or another every day.  May the Lord enable me to always truly represent Him and to discern when I'm being lopsided.  

THE FAMILY OF GOD GROWING TOGETHER

In the family there are different relationships where we form bonds, learn to love, learn to bear with another, learn to forgive, and learn many things about our relationship with God as His children.  God shows us His love for us in many ways.  He is the author of relationships and family.  He gave us family for a purpose.  We have a husband and wife.  This relationship is said to be symbolic of Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:24-32). We have children and experience the tremendous bond of love between a parent and child, which is how God refers to us, as His children (1 John 3:1).  As children we learned the love of our mothers and Fathers and we see the perfect love of our Heavenly Father. We also have sisters and brothers in a family and in God's family we have sisters and brothers, not through blood, but through His Spirit given to us, causing a new birth into His family.  It is not the earthly family that teaches us so much of His love, because not all earthly family relationships are good.  Some are corrupted so much by sin that they become bitter relationships.  No, it is God's love that teaches us what a true family is and what love is, and His examples of the type of relationship He created through the family shows us the immense love He has for us in those different types.  As we live in our families in step with the Spirit, we demonstrate His love to our family and others.  Following, is an older article I wrote on relationships in the body of Christ.  We are learning to be a "family" in Christ together, and though flawed, we will be continually learning this throughout our sojourn here below. These are things we need to learn as believers in our earthly families as well as in our family in Christ.

I John 4:11  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

1 John 4:20-21  If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  (21)  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Relationships In Christ

It would be helpful today to read the entire chapter of Col. 3 for the background of what I would like to share today.

 Colossians 3:1-4  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  (2)  Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.  (3)  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.  (4)  When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Colossians 3:10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

Putting on the "new man"... that which is the new image of Christ in us... that which Christ has made us and which is "hidden in Him", v. 3, to be revealed when we are with Him.  Put that on now and put off all those things that cause aggravation in relationships... those fleshly things that bother us or clash in our personalities with one another, knowing that in our life in Heaven, those things will disappear as that image of Christ and love is pure and perfect between us all together in Christ and from us to Him.  Just as His love is perfect then our love for one another will be perfect without any fleshly differences.  Personality clashes and flesh rubbing against flesh will then be gone.  So as they happen now, be "forbearing" v. 13, and put on what you see in Christ, v. 12, knowing that that is your portion.

Ephesians 4:24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.

As we increase in the knowledge of God, and the image of His Son within us, all the more we are able to "put on" that image in our daily walk. We learn to walk in that which Christ has already made for us... that image which is hidden now in Him.  We have been made a "new creation in Christ Jesus," 

2 Corinthians 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Though we are a "new creature", and only that "in Christ," we are yet learning to know Him and put that image on outwardly that He has put in us inwardly.  We are yet growing in that.  But as we are continually renewed in the knowledge of that image, we are more and more being outwardly conformed to it.  We don't learn to put on that image by looking inward and seeing if we find it there.  No, it is "hidden in Christ", and we must look heavenward for it.  We must fix our eyes on things above, His redemption, His life, His finished work, and His attributes, learning of Him.  The more we see Christ, the more His image is being formed in us.  The more our affections are on Him and what He is preparing for us, the more we live in that.  If our affections are on things here below and what they can do for us in our temporal lives, we live according to that, and guard those things. 

1 John 3:2-3  Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  (3)  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

This can only be by faith in that which Christ alone has done.  His finished work must be believed in and apprehended for oneself, and by faith, as we learn more of that which He has done for us, in us, and saved us for, the more we are by faith enabled by the grace He alone gives, to walk in that new creation He has made us.  Again, it is by faith.  It is His work.  We submit to and walk in that work.  Unless we understand His work, and our position given "in Christ", we will not be able to "put on Christ".  All the putting on is under condition of that which was first stated in v. 1, being risen with Christ. We must see ourselves as now risen with Him positionaly, because God, Who is outside of time, sees all things as finished in Christ,

Ephesians 2:5-6  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (6)  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

 He sees us there in the Heavenlies with Christ already.  The rest of His instructions in this chapter are all based on this.  And even as we put off our own fleshly things, and put on Christ in His loving others, we also need to see them as that new creation in Christ, also loved by Him, therefore forbearing them as Christ us in these bodies of death!  We need to be merciful and gracious with our differences and irritations.  They may not sin against us, but they may just rub us the wrong way in personality or likes or dislikes or scruples, etc.  Should we avoid others in the body of Christ because of these things and cling to those who are more like us?  No... we need to "put off" our own preferences and love as we are loved, putting on Christ in His love, not thinking of ourselves or our preferences for one another, but of His love for that one.  When we see each other in His love, we see each other very differently.  Putting on His love, is putting on the "bond of perfectness." 

This is something I've been becoming more and more convicted of in my own life. Most of our friendships are formed because of mutual interests or needs.  We tend to spend more time with the person who validates us in some way, and agrees with us.  We tend to avoid people who stretch us, or make us feel uncomfortable in any way.  What if God sees something you don't see?  What if he sees Himself in you both and is wanting to use each of you, in a relationship, to help each other to see the flesh for what it is, put it off, and embrace His image in each other.  Sometimes it takes some work to do that.  I have to ask myself, am I seeking relationships for myself, or am I allowing God to bring whatever relationships in my life He chooses for His purposes and not mine.  Sometimes we "bear with" one another, as the Lord does us, and continue walking in that love, putting off ourselves, putting on Christ.  Sometimes we are hurt by friends who don't reciprocate our feelings.  We can't make people like us.  We can't make people agree with us.  But we can love them regardless.

Think of it. In Heaven there will be no favoritism among ourselves, and no jealousy, no slighting one another in favor of someone else's friendship, but there will be the bond of perfectness in our love for one another just as we are loved by Him.  All of that will be done away with.  All those things that we tend to do without realizing it because of our own flesh and it's comfort, preferences, likes and dislikes.  We hurt one another without meaning to or realizing it because we prefer one over another in the body of Christ. We form clicks.  We leave someone out because we may not feel we have as much in common with that one or maybe they have a personality that is harder for us to warm up to.  We can't help that in the natural we are drawn to some more than others.  All those things are done away with in Christ as we put on the "bond of perfectness" in His love.  They look past all and love for His purposes and not our own.  They bear with little personality irritations and love the brethren as we are all in Christ.  We are all His and He has stamped His image in each of us.  The freer we are of the love of self, the freer we are to love the unlovely, not looking to get something out of it.

Colossians 3:15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.

If the "peace of God" is in our hearts... that peace that comes from knowing He is in our hearts and has justified us and put us "in Christ," removing all doubt of our eternal life in Him, then we are also able to be ruled by that peace with each other in the body of Christ, as a "family," not quarrelling with one another but understanding ourselves as all of His body, united under His headship.  His peace acts as our "umpire" in all our relationships here.  We do not think of ourselves as individuals with our own interests, but as one body, all filled with His Spirit growing together under Him, being builded together as a dwelling place for Him.  Can He have any other dwelling place than perfect love?

Philippians 2:1-8  So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,  (2)  complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  (3)  Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  (4)  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.  (5)  Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  (6)  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  (7)  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  (8)  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

There are so many things within ourselves that can separate us.  There are so many differences of personalities, likes, dislikes, opinions, ways of doing every day things, etc.  We even let them cause hurt in the body of Christ and in some cases even divisions.  We hold onto grudges and hurts and side with one over another on issues that do not relate to eternity.  It happens in families, it happens in friendships, it happens in churches.  We are quick to speak up our opinion to put down someone else's instead of taking an interest in them and listening.  We are quick to have the last word to make sure we are validated, disregarding the other.  Do we always have to make sure we are heard?  Have we really listened with interest in what the other is saying? 

But we must "let this mind be in us that was in Christ".  If He, the Son of God, could humble Himself taking on the form of flesh, taking the form of a servant, can we humble ourselves enough to serve one another?  Can we allow God to use relationships He brings in our lives to serve Him rather than serving us?  We have the mistaken idea sometimes that God will only bring people into our lives that will be a strength and encouragement to us so we don't allow others in.  Sometimes we are called to be a strength and encouragement to others, and sometimes we're just called to love and bear with someone who is not so lovable, simply because they are His.  He loves them and we are to love them no less.  He sees their need for friendship and how hard it is in the natural for them to have that and He is their friend.  He wants to work in each of your lives in ways neither of you see.

I can't help but think of how drained the Lord must have gotten from the people around him, being God in the flesh, and knowing all He knew, yet putting up with sinful men with all their temperaments and self-serving attitudes.  Some people drain you. If you ever have a hard time putting up with someone, just think of how much the Lord has put up with you!  Should you do less toward your brother? 

Colossians 3:12-14  Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,  (13)  bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  (14)  And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Above all... love, which is the bond of perfectness.  This is what we are being perfected in, and ultimately will be... perfect in love. 

Abba, Father, enable us now and each day, more and more, as we gaze on things above to put on Christ in all His love. 

WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?

Isaiah 53:1-6

(1)  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

(2)  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

(3)  He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

(4)  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

(5)  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

(6)  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

David Guzik:

A tender plant is weak and vulnerable - unless it is before Him, that is, before the LORD God. In God’s presence, that what seems to be weak is strong. If the plant is before Him, it doesn’t even matter that the ground is dry. God will sustain it with His presence.

Men will reject whatever does not appeal to their own self-centered lusts, affections, and ambitions. They only "esteem" what they can find personal gain from in this world. They looked for a messiah that would deliver them, be strong in battle and overcome all their enemies in this world and bring them riches, honor, and peace.  They despised a suffering, weak Messiah, Who came to take on their sin and bring righteousness to their hearts. They had no concept of His kingdom, but sought a messiah who would build their own kingdom. 

Today, even in the "church," many who call themselves "Christians" will despise the true Christ of the Bible Who turns them from sin to His righteousness, because they want the riches of this world rather than His.  They have no "esteem" for the Christ of the Gospel. There is no appeal to Him in their eyes.  So they try to make churches that do appeal to the world, that will cause the world to esteem their christ, as making him just like one of them.  But this is not the Christ of the Bible - the One true living Christ - it is their own made up christ that they esteem.

(Psalms 50:21)  These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.

He could have put an end to them all, as they were blaspheming Him, scourging Him, mocking Him, and crucifying Him.  One word from Him could have ended their lives and stopped His suffering.  But He took it all upon Himself for our sake.  Has there ever been a greater love? 

(Isaiah 53:7)  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

Even today, men mock Him, saying, "If He is real, why doesn't He come now and strike me dead? Why does He allow evil?  Why is He silent? Why doesn't He make everything right?" 

The time was not yet right then, in Jesus day, as He had to first accomplish salvation for all men, "whosoever will" and the time is not yet right today as He is still drawing men and women to that salvation until that day when He does come and bring judgment of all evil and all evil and those who embrace it and reject Him will be destroyed, and only righteousness and peace and eternal life in His glory will remain.

2 Peter 3:7-10

(7)  But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.

(8)  But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

(9)  The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

(10)  But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

(2 Peter 3:13)  But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Just as sure as this prophecy in Isaiah, spoken over 700 years before Jesus came, was fulfilled to the letter, literally, all the rest of what the Scriptures prophecy of His coming again will be fulfilled to the letter, literally.  Whether or not we hold the Scriptures - His sure Word - in high esteem, valuing it, believing it, and abiding in it, all of it will come to pass.  We are given the opportunity now, and the choice.  What will we choose?  What will we esteem and what will we reject and despise?  Better to despise our own selves and turn to the One Who holds more value over our lives than even we ourselves do!  The One Who gave up His own life and suffered and shed His blood so that we could find real life - His life as our own! 

Revelation 21:3-7

(3)  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

(4)  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

(5)  And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

(6)  And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

(7)  The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

What a glorious salvation our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished for us! What love! What hope!  What a great and horrible sin it is to reject such a Savior and despise Him for this world.

Thank You dear Lord Jesus, for all You suffered for us, that You left Your glory in Heaven and came here to take on the weakness of human flesh, in order to redeem us all from its corruption, and make us fit for Your glory one day, when You come again to bring an end to all that corrupts!  Even so, come soon Lord Jesus!  We eagerly wait for You! While we wait, we seek to reveal Your glory in this dark world and bring Your truth to light.  Enable us to do so in Your name, by Your power.