Telling Others All Is Well When It Isn't

We make it our aim…to be well pleasing to Him. —2 Corinthians 5:9

We make it our aim…. It requires a conscious decision and effort to keep our primary goal constantly in front of us. It means holding ourselves to the highest priority year in and year out; not making our first priority to win souls, or to establish churches, or to have revivals, but seeking only “to be well pleasing to Him.” It is not a lack of spiritual experience that leads to failure, but a lack of working to keep our eyes focused and on the right goal. At least once a week examine yourself before God to see if your life is measuring up to the standard He has for you. Paul spoke of the importance of controlling his own body so that it would not take him in the wrong direction. My worth to God publicly is measured by what I really am in my private life. Is my primary goal in life to please Him and to be acceptable to Him, or is it something less, no matter how lofty it may sound? - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

Living by faith and walking in the light does not just happen. It requires personal commitment and discipline. 

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.  Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation. - Philippians 2:12-15

Our new life of faith requires effort of the heart… to submit to the Lord requires us to lay our very lives - public and private - down on the altar before God the Father - every day.  Working out our salvation is not self-effort .. trying harder to be “good” …. it’s submission. 

So many people are satisfied with working on having a good-Christian appearance and miss the joy and peace that comes from living in obedience to the will of God.  I know too many people that are struggling with life and refuse to trust God.  (perhaps you do too) If you ask them, they may well tell you that “all is well”, when all is not well. They just want it to be - hope it will be - in spite of their personal struggles. Perhaps living in willful disobedience. There was a news report today about a pastor who was just arrested for child sex abuse. He had just preached at his church the Sunday before. How could that be you ask? That may be an extreme example, but it reflects the same spiritual struggle. 

For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! - 2 Timothy 3:2-5

Desperation because of the circumstances you are enduring can subvert your faith and divert your walk.  Unless you are willing to trust and obey.  I wish I could do that for others, but I can’t, just for me. I can only watch their struggle, pray for them and hope they look to God for answers instead of trusting in their own designs. Continue to trust in themselves even thought those designs that have consistently failed them in the past.  

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. - Proverbs 3:5-8

And I can be ready to be an encouragement to them if the opportunity presents itself.

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone

So - You Want To Be Like Jesus - Really?

When they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples. —Mark 4:34

Jesus doesn’t take us aside and explain things to us all the time; He explains things to us as we are able to understand them. The lives of others are examples for us, but God requires us to examine our own souls. It is slow work— so slow that it takes God all of time and eternity to make a man or woman conform to His purpose. We can only be used by God after we allow Him to show us the deep, hidden areas of our own character. Jesus will reveal to us everything we have held within ourselves before His grace began to work. We have to get rid of the idea that we understand ourselves. That is always the last bit of pride to go. The only One who understands us is God. The greatest curse in our spiritual life is pride. He will allow us to experience heartbreak or the disappointment we feel when our intellectual pride is wounded. He will reveal numerous misplaced affections or desires— things over which we never thought He would have to get us alone. Many things are shown to us, often without effect. But when God gets us alone over them, they will be clear. - Oswald Chambers, My Utmost For His Highest

For those whom he [God the Father] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. -  Romans 8:29  

Have you ever given any thought to what being conformed … molded .. changed … means?  Well, first you know it is a spiritual change, right?  Second … you know that the process is going to be contrary to your flesh. There will be resistance to it. God will show you things through the Spirit that you may not want to see or admit, even to yourself.  (One of the Spirit’s missions is to convict the world of sin.  The Spirit plus the Word of God are the “one-two” punch in the sanctification process.  The knock-out punch is when I surrender my will)

You know that there are certain aspects of your old nature that you want to hide or cling to.  Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves in the Garden… you know how that worked out for them. The only ones you can hide your sin from, for a season, is man.  The Word says (Numbers 32:23) “Your sin will find you out.”  God knows everything .. so why must we confess our sins (1 John 1:9) .. confess means to “agree with” not to reveal. 

The goal of this transformational – conforming process is not to make you miserable, but to bless you .. to make you better.  The pain or difficulty you experience is from the battle between the flesh and Spirit. My encouragement to you is the same as Paul’s to the Romans.  

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:1-2

God won’t make you do that.  You must surrender your will voluntarily.  Will you?

Think about it – Pray about it – Believe it – Walk in it. Let your light shine and give God the glory.

By Faith Alone By His Grace Alone And For His Glory Alone