Your ways or not My ways………… Part II

“Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt.5:7).

The first four principles of the disciple's character are related to one's inner life; the remaining five speak of the active side of our character in its relation to others.  For those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, love expressed as mercy toward others will be the evidence of such righteousness.  Mercy is a principle of conduct as well as character in the life of the disciple.  (Sermon on the Mount).

The wonderful promise to those who show mercy is that "they shall obtain mercy" (Prov. 18:24; Matt. 7:2).

 Jesus states in Matthew 7 the principle that we are to be judged on is the same basis of our treatment of others.

Do you, for example, ask God to forgive you your trespasses, while at the same time you have resentment or an unforgiving spirit toward others?

Then Jesus warns that "if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25-26; Matt. 6:12).

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (5:8).

As being merciful speaks of our relation toward our fellow man, purity of heart describes our relation toward God.  If our Spirit life is anything, it is purity of heart, holiness, and godliness.

The term "purity" means "to be clean."  It is, therefore, to have clean desires, affections, thoughts, and motives.  In contrast, it is said of the wicked that "out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication's, thefts, false witness, blasphemies" (Matt. 15:19).

The promised reward to the pure in heart is that "they shall see God."  Sin or impurity of heart acts as a veil and obscures our vision of God.  His Word is no longer illuminated to our hearts, and our prayers remain unanswered (Isaiah 59:1-2; Hebrews 12:14).

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (5:9).

This refers to the manifestation of love in the daily conduct of Jesus' disciples in their personal relationships with others.  In a world filled with hate, riots, social unrest, jealousy, greed, addictions, selfishness, strife, and war, the spirit-led disciple is characterized as a man of peace, as well as one who seeks to make peace with all with whom he comes in contact.

The New Testament clearly teaches nonresistance as the passive side of Christian character (Matt. 5:38-39) and peacemaking as the active side (5:9; I Peter 3:8-11).

The disciple who would follow Jesus and be like Him has peace in his own heart (Isa. 26:3), follows after peace with all men (Hebrews 12:14; Romans 12:18), and seeks to promote peace between all men (Matt. 5:9; Prov. 12:20; James 3:18).

The promise is that "they shall be called the sons of God."  By virtue of this characteristic, they shall be like God's Son, who is the Prince of Peace.

The doctrine of nonresistance is not for the unregenerate, nor for the “carnal” Christian who is weak in the faith and who feels he must resort to force in order to assert his so-called "rights" and defend himself at the cost of others.

All he indicates thereby is that he lacks the faith and willingness to suffer persecution with Christ, and that he lacks the spirit of humility to "turn the other cheek," but must avenge himself and return evil for evil.

People are going to make us angry but we are not to let it get the better of us.  We must not let anger cloud our thinking.  As Proverbs 29:22 says, an angry person starts fights and commits all kinds of sin.

Keep quiet and pray!  Seek God for the right way to handle the situation and for a solution as well as restoration.  He knows the answer and the hearts of all involved.  He will tell you when to speak and when to be silent, when to walk and when to wait.

Sometimes it is smarter not to speak at all while we are angry.   We should wait until we have had time to calm down, think clearly and pray.

James 3:5 tells us that what we say in the heat of the moment can cause a great deal of harm.  A word spoken in anger is just like a tiny spark that starts a forest fire. It cannot be taken back once it has left your mouth.

Revenge doesn’t belong to me. (Romans 12:19-21)

This may be the hardest part of His Word because it involves humility.

God produces supernatural results when we wait upon Him.

When we live lives that are pleasing to God, even our enemies will be at peace with us.   (Proverbs 16:7)

Our thoughts and ways are not God’s, His ways and thoughts are much higher than ours.    So if we will surrender our free will and do as He directs we will learn to walk deeper in His ways.  We will learn His heart and have a greater understanding of His ways!

He desires for us to walk in humility which requires dying to our flesh, emotions, selfish desires and pride.

Through the fire we will burn off pride, selfishness and worldly ways which will allow the true light of Christ to shine through us.   We will display the love of God beyond words!   Our actions will speak love!

In order to do this the first thing to die is our pride.   Obedience is the key to this way of life.   When the time comes and you feel you want to strike out to hurt another, obedience is knocking on your door.   Will you open it and obey or will you decide your feelings are more important than another’s? 

Will you use your razor sharp tongue to kill and destroy a person’s heart and steal their joy or will you step out of yourself and make the right decision?

Will love prevail?

The choice is yours…….who will you serve: Jesus or your flesh?

^“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.   Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”   James 1: 19-21 NIV

“Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.” James 1:26 NIV

“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.  Out of the SAME mouth come praise and cursing.  

My brothers and sisters, this should not be.  Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?   My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs?  Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”  James 3: 9-12 NIV

 

 

Your ways or not My ways………… Part I

As you have seen I have posted some questions that cause us step back and say, “Hmmmm.”

I have recently been challenged by the Holy Spirit to walk deeper according to Isaiah 55: 8-9;

‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord.

‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts. (NIV)

At first I was curious why He was telling me to live deeper by this passage.  I thought I believed it and was living by it but since He confirmed it through another person I decided I had better seek Him more diligently to find out why?

It has been an interesting journey in finding the answer and I would like to share a little portion of it with you. I have had the privilege to write a few sermons from this adventure, as painful as it was, the reward has been awesome. One of the amazing things was hearing me praise God for allowing me to experience the pain and growth of this adventure.

It all comes down to being led by the Holy Spirit instead of our flesh. 

Pride or humility.  

Forgiveness or revenge.  

Wait on God or react.   

Love or selfishness.

Mercy and grace or malice.

To believe the best in someone or act out our emotions.

You either live by the Word or you live by the world.

God is in control or Satan is in control.

 

So the previous post on the “Golden Rule” comes back to either we walk by our feelings, emotions and are controlled by our flesh or we step back and seek the Holy Spirit for guidance.

He has reminded me over and over to be still, calm down and decide if I want to grow and increase my faith or seek revenge. We are presented with the challenge to walk by faith and be changed in His likeness or allow our anger---our temper to strike out in order to hurt another.

If we choose to hurt another we have only hurt ourselves and usually find out afterwards it did not feel as good as we thought at the time we annihilated them.

Most of the time we say mean things because we want the other person to know we are mad, we are hurt, we didn’t get our way, or they didn’t do or say what we wanted.  So we strike out in hatefulness to ensure that they know we are mad.  

What Jesus asks of His followers according to the “Golden Rule” is to surrender the right to personal revenge.  In other words, surrender your free will.

Are you willing to give up your freewill to live according to His Word?

Are your feelings more important than another’s?

Your actions will reveal the true answer.  There may be times we react in anger and realize what we have done was wrong and it is at that point we should confess our sins and apologize.   But do we…………or do we decide to live by our pride?

Do we develop an attitude that they deserved it?  Better yet, when we realize we were wrong do we immediately correct the hurt or do we enjoy the power of controlling them by making them suffer a little while?

Do you feel remorse and apologize for what you did or do you find a way to make the other person feel it was their fault?   They made you react that way because ……………..?

How long did it take before you to said, “I am sorry”?

What I learned was about the attitude we should have toward those who wrong us. Rather than getting even, we should be willing to go to the opposite extreme. We need to be ready to humble ourselves for the kingdom of God.  We need to understand that vengeance isn’t ours, but the Lord’s (Romans 12:19).

The human tendency has been to seek the emotional satisfaction of revenge for perceived injury.  Our instinctive response to any kind of injury is hatred and desire for vengeance. This is why Jesus made it so clear in His Sermon on the Mount that not only outward murder but also inward hatred is subject to God’s judgment (Matthew 5:22-23).

Jesus implied that we must give up personal vengeance altogether.     There is a difference between confronting evil and seeking personal revenge.  It is possible to confront evil with a desire for the redemption of its perpetrator. We are called to love a sinner while confronting his sin, but when we seek vengeance we are motivated by hatred—a desire to make someone suffer for what they have done to us.

In Matthew 5:38-41Jesus is teaching us that we need to give up any sense of entitlement to personal revenge, to be purged of the motivation of personal vengeance.   By asking them to turn the other cheek, Jesus meant that His disciples should be motivated by love and a desire for the redemption and forgiveness of offenders—even when opposing their actions.

You may submit to or resist the person who is opposed to you but there is no place in "love" for "ill will".  There is no room in "love" for the desire to "hurt", or for the delight in destroying another person.

Several years ago when I wrote a sermon on careless words the Holy Spirit showed me a brief vision of Judgment Day.

It was a painful vision and one that I am sure many will be stunned by, for all of the things we have done and we will give an account for, I know I was.

I will share a brief portion of what I saw and heard:

“As we stand before Jesus we will give an account for our words…..imagine what it will be like to stand before Jesus and He replays an incident where you hurt someone. He allows you to see the hurt, the tears, the damage you did and how it affected their lives.

He will also show you what He saw in your heart at that time …..your evil intent, your malice towards them, your selfishness, your eagerness to hurt them, your thoughts and your pride. 

He will also show you how He tried to stop you and the very moment you made the decision to follow your free will which was empowered by your fleshly emotions. You will see what He saw to the degree of how much you really wanted to hurt that person because you were angry, hurt or disappointed.

The biggest hurt and embarrassment will come when He shows you how deeply you broke His heart. You broke His heart before you broke the heart of your victim.

As I watched this played out the remorse was too late and the person was so fearful that they were going to hear, “Depart from me you wicked servant, I never knew you.”  This person was crying uncontrollably and trying to say, “I am sorry” but Jesus said, “It is too late, I tried to stop you and I told you not to do it”.

Then when you disobeyed and hurt them I told you to go and say, “I’m sorry at the time but your pride prevented you.”

Jesus allowed that person to see the hurt they caused the other and the struggle they encounter to forgive.   He allowed them to see the hurt the other carried for the remainder of their life.

He showed them how pride had stopped them from being obedient and saying, “I am sorry”.   They had decided their feelings were more important than the other’s.

I will never forget the fear on their face, the intensity of trying to say they were sorry, and how they were begging Jesus to give them another chance.

He lovingly told them, “It was too late.””

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:35-37 NKJV

Revenge is the act of intentionally harming others, through harassment, assault, selfishness, jealousy or manipulation.

The purpose of hurting another is to wound the victim deeply through malice hoping to make them feel dejected, depressed, and/or fearful.  Usually this is followed by a sense of power and the desire to let the victim know you have struck and you will punish them in some way.

A person who tries to live and walk by the Spirit will use Galatians 5:16-25 as a blueprint;

“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.   For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.   But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.   Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.   Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”  (NIV)

Living by the Spirit is total commitment to discipleship (Luke 14:25-33) and it is crucifixion with Christ (Galatians 2:20).

 

 

Disposition to hate sin……

“The church then had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria, and it became stronger as the believers lived in the fear of the Lord. And with the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it also grew in numbers”.   Acts 9:31 NLT

The Scripture text in Acts 9:31 describes the state of the early church after the conversion of Saul.  Two conditions are described; they walked in fear of the Lord and they walked in the encouragement (comfort) of the Holy Spirit.

Is it strange that such things be blended: fear and comfort?

Are we normally in such a state as this, as was found in the early church?

Does fear dominate your conscience and are you comforted in the midst of this fear?

Is the church of today in such a state…..a true fear of God?

It appears that the church of today prefers to dwell upon the love of God, yet find no durable comfort in it.   The love of the world permeates the church, instead of a hatred for sin. 

Fear of man prevails and God is a convenience for Sundays and emergencies.

Many are persuaded today that the word fear really means respect.  There is a type of superficial respect to God that does not affect how one lives.   God is not in all their thoughts; when the world and their fleshly desires are gods of their heart: this is truly wicked and glory is in their shame.   They love the euphoric feeling that they are getting away with their sin.

“I have told you this many times before, and now I repeat it with tears: there are many whose lives make them enemies of Christ's death on the cross.  They are going to end up in hell, because their god is their bodily desires.  They are proud of what they should be ashamed of, and they think only of things that belong to this world”.  Phil. 3:18-19 GNT

How would those who know you describe you?

Would they describe you as one who walks in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit?

Is that, in truth how you do live?

What does a lack of the fear of God look like?

It is when a person takes sin lightly, casually, carelessly, obstinately, persistently and is either brazen or apathetic when confronted with sin.  

Sin is unconcerned with being offensive to God and unconcerned with His heart.

Sin complains at exhortation, despises reproof and instruction, refuses to submit, seeks its own way and justifies itself.

It is so common…..just look around you…….or……maybe within you?????

What does the fear of God look like?

“The fear of the Lord is to hate what is sinful.   I hate pride, self-love, the way of sin, and lies” (Prov. 8:13 NLV).

Fundamentally, the fear of God is a disposition to hate sin.  It is a hatred of sin that moves one to depart from it: “…by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil” (Prov.16:6 NKJV).

The fear of the Lord will NOT disobey God, regardless of the consequences.  It will seek to know God’s will and follow after Him, no matter what the cost may be.

 

A "glorious church........

Ephesians 5:27, "That he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish."

Jesus wants to present to Himself a "glorious church!

Learning God's ways produces this result in the people of God as they are instructed on the lifestyle that is pleasing to the Heavenly Father and how to be empowered to live it.

God wants to present to the world, a people who are His and who will display a quality of life that He produces in them, which the world cannot duplicate.  He wants to present a people who will demonstrate to the rest of the world what life is really like for a people when God is their Everything!

These people are those who submit to learn His ways and who obediently walk in His paths.

We need to learn the ways of God because when we come into the church as new believers, we bear a striking similarity to the children of Israel when they came out of Egyptian bondage.

The Book of Exodus tells the story of Israel's deliverance from 400 years of bondage and slavery in Egypt.  God had set them free and had taken them unto Himself as His people, but they were a people with a major problem that God was going to have to deal with.  All the Israelites had been born in Egypt.

Egypt's lifestyle had born into (molded) their lives. They had learned Egypt's ways of life, their language and their patterns of thinking.

They thought like Egyptians, they ate like Egyptians and they acted like Egyptians. They had an Egypt mentality and a slave mind set. God had delivered them out of Egypt, now he was going to take Egypt out of them.

The people of Israel needed their thinking changed.  God was going to have to retrain and reeducate them from Egypt's ways to His ways.  Israel must learn that they are what God says they are now and not what Egypt said they were. It was important that they be introduced to the laws and principles of God that He expected them to live by as His people in Canaan.

When you and I were delivered from the Kingdom of darkness and brought into the family of God, we came with a problem similar to Israel's problem. Still clinging to us was a world mentality and a slave to sin mindset that was going to have to be dealt with.  Like Israel, we too needed our thinking changed and we needed to be instructed in the ways of God that He expects His church to walk in.

It is important that everyone knows the way the government they live under operates.   It is to our detriment if we neglect to educate ourselves in the area of laws and regulations.

Are we to think that God would be any less specific in giving to the citizens of His Kingdom the information that is crucial for them to know how His kingdom functions and how the laws that govern it operate?  I think not!

God has given to us in His Kingdom a handbook called The Bible with all the information about His ways that we need to know so we can live successful, productive and victorious Christian lives pleasing to Him.

We need to learn His ways because we come into His house like little children that need training and discipline in the ways of God.

Many of us have thought that God's goal was to fill His house with as many people as He can get into it. 

No, not true, He wants more than that.

God is out to get people who can take instruction and are willing to be disciplined. He is looking for a people who will come into His house and say, "Here I am, Father, instruct in Your ways."

God wants to deliver us out of our empty unfulfilled existence that we had in the world and bring us into His house to be instructed in His ways that will lead us into paths of satisfaction and fulfillment.

 Many of us may be pleased with who we are now in our spiritual growth, but none of us are what we could be if we continue to learn God's ways.


God brings us into His house so He can write on us and stamp us with the Holy Spirit's seal and send us to the world. It is God's intention that by the time He is finished teaching His people His ways, every believer will become an open expression of God and all will be telling the same story.   

I Corinthians 3:3, "We become your letters known and read by all men."

We are to be an expression from His heart.

 I can't help but wonder: “What are people reading when they read you and I?”

 

 

 

Believe or Not to Believe………. Part II

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."    Isaiah 55:8-9

It is true God is the potter and we are the clay upon the potter's wheel. The potter is busy working out of us all the impurities that would hinder us being made into the vessel of the potter's choosing.

As we are instructed in God's ways, we are being changed day by day, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Our motives, our values, our ambitions and our priorities are being examined by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis and brought into line with the Word of God.  We are being transformed by the renewing of the mind as the Holy Spirit re-educates us with the truths of God's Word.

"Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is." Romans 12:2 NLT

Have you ever wondered why God is so set against us wanting to walk in our own ways after we become a Christian?

When a person wants to continue in their own ways rather than His ways, then that person is challenging the fact of what His Word says in Romans 12:2, “….that my will for them is good, acceptable and perfect.”  They are openly rejecting His direction and purpose for their life. They are saying they can run their life better than the Lord can.

Part of Satan's strategy is to encourage us to continue to walk in our own ways. He knows that as long as we keep doing our thing - we won't be doing God's thing. We will never embrace the will of God nor walk in it.

Trying to live the Christian life outside the will of God produces miserable, angry, frustrated, and unhappy people.  It is only as we walk in the will of God that we find His presence, His purpose, His provisions and His power.  If Satan can keep us from exchanging our ways for God's ways, he can keep us deceived, lost, discouraged, and easily defeated in our Christian walk.

 So I, ask you: “Doesn't it really make sense for us to trade in our ways for his ways?”

We were not born into this world knowing God's ways, much less understanding anything about them. They were not included in our DNA. They are completely alien to man's thinking.  God says this about it in Isaiah's writings.

Isaiah 55:8-9, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

When we come to Jesus we come knowing a lot of things. The ways of God are not one of them.  He brings His ways into our lives as Isaiah said, "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little.  He wants us to know. He gives truth to us as we are able to assimilate it. The more we desire to know, the more He opens up to us.

 

Believe or Not to Believe……….

“Therefore I esteem as right all, yes, all Your precepts; I hate every false way.”  Psalm 119:128  AMP

We should consider Psalms 119:128, and make a decision about it: “Do we believe it or do we not?”

This verse implies that God has given instruction in His Word concerning every area of our life and these instructions are always the right thing for us to do.

Always!  No arguing---no debate----no excuses.  Never!

At some point in our Christian walk, if we are ever going to go anywhere in it, we are going to have to make a decision on what God is telling us to do.

“Do I really believe what God has said to do is really the right thing to do?"

Sometimes it seems like the thing God tells us to do is opposite of what it should be or appears to contradict His Word.  Good example would be when He told Abraham to sacrifice his son.   God’s ways and thoughts are not ours and in times like this, we must trust and obey.  Faith is being tested and stretched.   (Isa. 55: 8-9)

Will we believe Him when it looks “wrong”?

If we will believe and obey what God says for us to do, we will eat the fruit of all He has promised.

If we refuse to believe and obey, we will eat the fruit of our own way. I have experienced both and I can tell you that His fruit taste so much sweeter.

We need to know that as we learn the ways of God, divine precepts and principles of a heavenly origin are being brought into our lives. To our great joy, we discover that those precepts and principles are workable in the 'here and now' where they are needed not in eternity.

If we receive, believe and obey them, we will find ourselves....

 Enjoying peace - where there is no peace.
 Having joy - where there is no joy.
 Receiving direction - where there is confusion all around us.
 Having deep, growing relationships - where so many around us are being polarized.
 Seeing our families being drawn together - where others are disintegrating.

We need to know that as we learn His ways, God begins a work in us that starts to produce some wonderful changes in our life. 

Philippians 2:13 says, "For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him."

Philippians 1:6, (NIV) "And I am sure that God who began the good work within you, will continue his work, until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again."

The Glory of Mount Zion…………

“This is what Isaiah the son of Amoz saw about Judah and Jerusalem that was coming:   In the last days, the mountain of the house of the Lord will be the most important of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills. All the nations will come to it. 

Many people will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. Then He will teach us about His ways, that we may walk in His paths. For the Law will go out from Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”   Isa. 2:1-3 NLV

To really appreciate what Isaiah is saying in these verses, we must understand what the conditions were like at the time that he prophesied these words. There was only one nation in the whole world that had any idea of God at all. That nation was Israel, and even their knowledge had become corrupted and polluted.  All other nations of that day were bound by satanic power and were blinded spiritually by the God of this world.

In the midst of this condition, Isaiah stands up and with prophetic anointing burning in his soul and declares that there would come a day in the future when people from every nation were going to come into the house of God to be instructed in His ways and that they would walk in His paths.

In the first chapter of Isaiah we were dealing with the consequences of Judah and its fallen state, but now Isaiah is telling about the time when Jesus returns.

Let’s stop for a moment and think about what will become of those that decide to conduct themselves contrary to the Word of God?

How hopeless will it seem to those that are left behind when the Lord calls His Church home?

The mountain of the house of God will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it. We are talking about the raptured church, and those nations that are streaming to the house of God are the nations of the Gentile people that have chosen to follow God’s will and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

It does not include those that comprised Biblical standards.  It does not include those that thought they were good enough.  It does not include those that have interpreted God’s Word in such a way as to act in behavior that is contrary to God’s Word and believe it is acceptable in the times we live in now, when it was unacceptable previously.  God’s Word does not change and neither does its consequences.

As we look around us and see the rapidly deteriorating condition of this world we are never to take our eyes off of the One who bought us from His place upon the cruel cross. For those that remain faithful in the meantime, for those that answer when God calls, for those that share the Gospel with others in need of its hearing, regardless if they heed or not, there are high hopes ahead for each and every one of us.

The Lord took Isaiah away into a future place through the Holy Spirit and showed him something awesome.

God showed him the glory of Mount Zion!