Tag: increasing

31.p. “O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you”

 

Micah 6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

 Deuteronomy 10:12-13   “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,  and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?

 Hosea 6:6   For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

 Hosea 12:6   “So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.”

 Zephaniah 2:3    Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD.

 Proverbs 21:3   To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

 Isaiah 1:16-19    Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,  learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.  “Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.  If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land;

 2 Peter 1:5-8   For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 Psalms 73:28    But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

The want to do good needs a foundation. It needs to be based on something firm, lasting, and true. “Doing Good” needs definition. Where are we to find this foundation and definition? What are we to base “good” and “doing good” on? This all depends on where you look and where you are seeking answers from. Worldly good has some benefit but this secular good has little to no eternal foundation. If doing good is for the benefit of another this is good but what is the reason behind the act of goodness? Was it because you feel good after doing it? Was it done because of empathy? Was it a combination of both? Was it done so it could be seen by others and thereby you receive some sort of recognition? The foundation upon which good acts are done is more important. If I do good acts of kindness what is the reason and purpose behind the intentional choice to do them? 

The foundation of all good acts should be grounded in the desire to obey and honor and glorify Jesus Christ. It is when this foundation is present in the heart, soul, and mind that the good we do will be for something heavenly and lasting. There is so much to say about being able to discern the leading and being willing led by the Holy Spirit in acts of goodness, but the foundation of all our thoughts, speech, and acts needs to be from a humble and pure heart that believes, trusts, relies, obeys, and follows God’s Word for the honor and glory of Jesus Christ.

28.y. “I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.”

 

Colossians 1:9  And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light

 Psalms 119:99   I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.

 James 3:17    But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

 Psalms 143:10    Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground!

 Romans 12:2     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.

 Ephesians 5:17    Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

 1 Peter 4:2    so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

Spiritual ignorance is the constant source of error, instability, and sorrow. (Spurgeon)  Our Christian walk is based on our knowledge of God and our understanding of His will.  How are we to “bear fruit in every good work”, if we do not have knowledge and understanding in what is honoring, pleasing, and glorifying Jesus Christ? Neglect and complacency fill us with Ignorance and ignorance of knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding voids our lives of purpose, meaning, joy, power, courage, happiness, generosity, hope, and satisfaction. We think the spiritual things of God are for Pastors to understand and know and try to educate us in God’s will and purpose. Don’t misunderstand me.  Pastors can and do dive deep into spiritual things of God as they are led, fed, and grow in this understanding given to them by God. The problem is with us.  We leave the diving deep into God’s Word to them and expect our lives to have growth, meaning, purpose and bear the fruit of good works by nibbling on the breads crumbs of their prayerful study. We leave church with a crumb worth of knowledge and even less understanding, Sunday after Sunday, convincing ourselves we are good and pleasing to God. There is a feast before us in God’s Word.  Why would we choose to eat left over crumbs and lead spiritually starved lives? We seem to think being in spiritual starvation is natural.  If we had two mirrors, one worldly and one spiritually, would we see an overweight obese worldly person in the worldly mirror and a malnutrition, underweight, and starved reflection in the spiritual mirror?

How we choose to spend out time reflects our spiritual growth, maturity, knowledge, and understanding. We get to choose to eat and drink from the bountiful spiritual feast found in God’s Word.  When we seek and desire to eat from it, grow from it, get fulfilled from it, and be satisfied from it, we will begin to grow in spiritual knowledge and understanding, rightly dividing the Word of Truth, bearing fruit in good works, and honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ. 

12.k. “Choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom”

Acts 6:1  In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word.” This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.

We see the chapter starting off with some complaining.  Obviously this would be something that should just be handled but it is evident that is not the case.  They have witnessed great wonders and signs by the Holy Spirit through some of the apostles, and they also witnessed a great work of the Holy Spirit in people were living in unity and sharing what they had with the whole.  Cant you hear it, “I didn’t get my share today” “They forgot me again” “This isn’t fair” “Are they better than us” etc….  Does any of this sound a bit familiar?  Some things never change.  The apostles give a kind rebuke, “It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the Word of God in order to wait on tables”  So they told them to pick 7 who were spirit-filled and demonstrated wisdom.  Amazingly the whole group was happy at this and they chose men to fill these roles.  “The word of God spread and the number of disciples increased very fast”   a loser number of priests became obedient to the faith.  God’s Word has a way of opening up to hearts and minds that are open.  I would have to say God’s word even opens hearts and minds and this is somewhat of a mystery.  Have you ever wondered how it is that you came to the knowledge and understanding of the need for forgiveness?  It is not as though you gave this a great deal of in-depth thought and concluded that you were a sinner in need of salvation.  Somehow God opened your heart and mind to His Word and an intentional choice was made to confess, repent, and receive forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ.  PRAISE GOD!!!!  We would never have come to this understanding without His grace, mercy, and love opening it up to us.  May we never think that any part of this knowledge and understanding was from us.

12.j. “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind”

Zachariah 6:15 and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the Lord your God.”

Isaiah 58:10-14    if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.  And the LORD will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.  And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in.  “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;  then you shall take delight in the LORD

Romans 16:26    but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

2 Peter 1:5-10    For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.

Do you ever wonder if you are giving you all to Jesus Christ?  Are you being obedient?  Are you desiring and seeking Him with all your heart, mind, and soul?  Are your ears hungering to hear His Word?  Are you totally surrendered to go where He says? Do what He asks? Is your life more about honoring self or Jesus? Are you more concerned about striving for self-gain than Jesus’s honor, glory, and kingdom?  Are you listening and obedient?  Are you diligent in obedience??????

We lose sight and focus when our lives are lived in compromise with the world and what it has to offer.  Are we to expect God will bless us and our country when we neglect full surrender and humble honor and glory to Jesus Christ?  Are we to expect God will bless us when we intentionally choose to be complacent in service to Him and being satisfied and content with what this world has to offer?  Being diligent means there is a conscious choice to being zealous, dedicated, committed, driven, persistent, untiring, attentive, and tireless in our want to be obedient to Jesus Christ.  The world will tell us that a casual nod toward things of God is enough.  The world will tell us that is all we need to do to be in favor of God?  God’s Word says to be faithful, serve Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, obedient, trusting, relying upon and in full surrendered to Him.  Does this at all sound like something that can be taken lightly or that being lukewarm toward God is fulling His rightful honor, glory, worship, and praise? We are not going to be blessed as a person or a nation when our hearts and minds are being consumed by what this world has to offer.  Take a close look at the state of the world and our nation right now.  Fear, division, uncertainty, anxiousness, worry, hatred…… are the norm.  God is not God of these things, Satan is.  It seems as though he has captured the hearts and minds of millions of people and very few are seeing it for what it is, an attack on faith, trust, and reliance in Jesus Christ.  Do you think for one second that all of this just happens apart from the hand of God allowing it?  God is allowing those with eyes to see and ears to hear demonic influences being spewed out through leaders and media outlets.  When you see that which is wrong being applauded as being right, know that Satan is behind it and God is allowing it.