Instruction – Page 2 – Praying Pint

19.f. “But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ”

John 20:30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Luke 1:3-4     it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,  that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

Romans 15:4   For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

1 Corinthians 10:11  Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.

2 Timothy 3:15-17  and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.  All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

The Gospel – and all of the Bible – was written so that we may believe, not that we might doubt. “There is no text in the whole Book which was intended to create doubt. Doubt is a seed self-sown, or sown by the devil, and it usually springs up with more than sufficient abundance without our care.” (Spurgeon)

John understood that faith in Jesus as Messiah and God had value beyond the honorable recognition of truth. It also carried the promise of life in His name. This was the life that transformed John himself, and he wanted that same life and transformation for all through his Gospel account. This belief isn’t complicated. Our response is as simple as ABC: Accept, Believe, and Commit. It isn’t always easy, but it isn’t complicated.

We do try to complicate the gospel. We try to understand it with human understanding and human wisdom. The human side of understanding will try to make sense of Jesus Christ, redemption, forgiveness, and salvation by means of doing more good things than bad and thereby being good enough to deserve redemption and forgiveness. Scripture does not say “To whom so ever is good enough, God sent His one and only Son”. It does say that “God so loved the world, that He sent His one and only Son.” It is by grace, mercy, and love we have access to redemption, salvation, and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. The point being, you will never be good enough or do enough good to warrant eternal life through Jesus Christ. When the human mind is able to cast these thoughts aside, faith is born and godly wisdom and understanding take root. It is only then that we can begin to faintly grasp a sliver of the magnitude of God’s grace, mercy, and love.

12.w. “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.”

Psalms 19:7  The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults. Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Proverbs 8:10-11    Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,  for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

Job 28:12  “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

Proverbs 3:13-15    Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,  for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.  She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Proverbs 16:16     How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

Jeremiah 15:16  Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.

If God’s Word was removed from you would you miss it? Would your soul feel hunger pangs? Whenever you sit down and open your Bible, you’re feasting on something that is “more… desired… than gold… sweeter… than honey”, When people lose their appetites, we worry about them. As Christians, we should have a hearty appetite for God’s Word and for the kind of righteous living it produces. Hungering for spiritual food is a good indication of our walk with God. We lose our appetite for God’s Word there is a health decline in our hearts, minds, and souls. Our understanding of the spiritual things of God is lost. Our knowledge of His great and precious promises is lost. Our ability to see spiritual battles and lies of Satan is lost. Our ability to honor, worship, glorify, follow, obey, trust, and rely on God is lost. If you have no hunger and appetite for God’s Word there is a good chance you are nearsighted, blind, and have forgotten the great price that was paid through grace, mercy, and love for you. Your walk will have the appearance of godliness and your words will have the sound of godliness but in your spirit, you are dying or dead. God’s word is not to be taken lightly. How are you to claim promises you never know? How are you to fight spiritual battles you never see? How are you to recognize sin in your life? How are you going to be able to walk by faith? How are you going to encourage, build-up, and strengthen yourself, your family, your church, and the lost? Without an appetite for God’s Word, you are becoming nothing more than walking dead.

Peter said: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. 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. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of a reminder since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.”

11.v. ” If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name”

Nahum 3:5 Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and will lift up your skirts over your face; and I will make nations look at your nakedness and kingdoms at your shame. I will throw filth at you and treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle. And all who look at you will shrink from you and say, “Wasted is Nineveh; who will grieve for her?” Where shall I seek comforters for you?

Ezekiel 23:25  And I will direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire.

Jeremiah 13:22    And if you say in your heart, ‘Why have these things come upon me?’ it is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.

Habakkuk 2:16     You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory!

Malachi 2:2     If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart.

Malachi 2:9     and so I make you despised and abased before all the people, inasmuch as you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”

Isaiah 14:16-19 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,  who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?’  All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;  but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.” Do you ever wonder what is keeping God from just displaying the full force of His wrath and anger? It is His promise of redemption, not wishing any should perish but that all would come to the knowledge of salvation, forgiveness, and eternal life through Jesus Christ. His grace, mercy, and love are what keeps His wrath and anger at bay. It will not be like this forever. There is coming a time when He will call His children home to be with him forevermore. Then there will be a time of unleashing His wrath and anger and judgment. We see where He has felt with individuals, cities, and nations but a time is coming when it will be on all of those who have defied Him and His offer of salvation and forgiveness. A time is coming and when it comes it will not be compared to any other time in the history of mankind. Believing that it will not happen in your lifetime does not make it so. Believing you will, at some time in the future, make things right with God means you are choosing to deny Him right now. This choice has eternal consequences. Open your heart to the Good News message of Jesus Christ. You will find peace for your soul that you never thought possible, and a life with purpose, meaning, and eternal life with Jesus Christ.

5.k. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you

Job 12:12  Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

Job 8:8   “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.

Job 32:7   I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

1 Kings 12:6-8   Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”  And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”  But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.

Hebrews 5:12   For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

Pro 1:2  To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,  to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,  to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

There is worldly wisdom that comes to most. It comes with time and age. It is cultivated through experience and observing good and bad, right and wrong, worldly and godly, smart and foolish, and justice and injustice. This wisdom can teach a man how to walk a worldly path and avoid troubles that have come to others. This wisdom can make one appear to have the secrets of knowledge and understanding. However, in the end, this wisdom only has the ability to help in worldly things. It is missing wisdom that comes from a surrender of self to Jesus Christ. Without this godly wisdom, we will miss grace, mercy, love, forgiveness, salvation, redemption, and eternity in heaven. Godly wisdom is a gift to those who desire and seek after things of God. This desire and seeking drive us to His Word, to our knees or to our hands lifted high in praise and worship of Jesus Christ. It is in this reverence we touch the surface of godly wisdom and it is in this that we will grow and mature. Choose today to start fresh and committed to seeking and growing in Godly wisdom.

153. Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?

1Kings 15:33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha the son of Ahijah began to reign over all Israel at Tirzah, and he reigned twenty-four years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.

And the word of the Lord came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, “Since I exalted you out of the dust and made you leader over my people Israel, and you have walked in the way of Jeroboam and have made my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins, behold, I will utterly sweep away Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

Isaiah 1:4     Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

Isaiah 30:9    For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;

Acts 7:51-52     “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you

Jeremiah 2:17    Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the LORD your God, when he led you in the way?

Do you ever wonder what would be said about our country, our leaders, or our individual lives in comparison to what is said in these verses? Are we a country that is led astray by our leaders? Is our leadership leading us toward sinning against God? Are we rebellious individuals and easily swayed by those who do not follow after God? Are we able to discern what is acceptable and right in the eyes of God or are we confusing what is culturally accepted as being right?

Leaders who tiptoe through and around Christianity are way more damaging than one who blatantly disregards God. Leaders who tiptoe seem to be able to smoothly talk through their lukewarm positions as though they are commandments from God. They easily lead others to these same thoughts and soon a nation thinks it is not wrong to abort babies, or it is wrong to speak of God publicly. Their moral compass is directed on paths that are culturally accepted. Nations are made of people who may blindly follow leaders. If these leaders are stiff-necked and always resisting God then soon the people will follow thinking this is normal and has to be right because everyone is doing it.

As Christians, we are not called to blindly follow leaders who try to water down Christianity. We are told to follow God with our whole heart, mind, and soul with our eyes and ears wide open to the word of God and leading of the Holy Spirit. This only happens when we are intentionally desiring and seeking to live in humble service and in and through God’s word we seek His leading in our lives so that we honor and glorify and follow and obey Him. The problem is when people lose their daily desire and no longer hunger and thirst for His word and leading. Their lives of obedience, reliance, and trust become a watered down soup of, at best, meaningless attempts at being good enough and at worst never even giving God a passing thought on most days.

Life is not to be lived in a void or daily vacuum apart from God. Intentionally choose to live each day serving and honoring God.

118. “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far?

2 Samuel 7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel,’ and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.”

Genesis 32:10    I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant,

1 Samuel 15:17     And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.

Psalms 8:4    what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?

1 Kings 3:9    Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”

2 Corinthians 3:5     Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God,

When it comes to the knowledge of how one may stand before God and attain eternal life, that is truly not to be achieved by our work or power, nor to originate in our brain. In spiritual matters, human reasoning certainly is not in order; other intelligence, other skill and power, are requisite here – something to be granted by God himself and revealed through his Word.

Martin Luther – Of ourselves – in our own wisdom and strength – we cannot effect, discover nor teach any counsel or help for man, whether for ourselves or others. Any good work we perform among you; any doctrine we write upon your heart – that is God’s own work. He puts into our heart and mouth what we should say, and impresses it upon your heart through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, we cannot ascribe to ourselves any honor therein, cannot seek our own glory as the self-instructed and proud spirits do; we must give to God alone the honor, and must glory in the fact that by his grace and power he works in you unto salvation.

41. We must pay much closer attention

Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

Proverbs 3:1    My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

Proverbs 4:20-23     My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.  For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.  Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Proverbs 3:3     Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

Psalms 119:11    I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Proverbs 3:21    My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion,

Proverbs 7:1     My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

Joshua 1:18    Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

Revelation 3:3    Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Proverbs 4:1-13     Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,  for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.  When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,

  Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.

Hebrews 2:3     how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,

Hebrews 2:1    Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees when He said: “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” We choose what goes into and stays in our heart. Our heart reflects the treasures that are held, dear. Our heart treasure is often spoken of. Likewise, that which is not cherished or treasured or chosen will never find a place in our heart and will not be spoken of.

These verses today speak of choice, a choice to be diligent, steadfast, remembering, attentive, guarding, keeping, faithful, storing, receiving, and holding and clinging onto God’s word with the single purpose of honoring, glorifying, and obeying Him. We get to choose what comes into and stays in our heart. What we feed into our heart is what is going to be abiding and directing our thoughts, words, and actions.

Jesus stands at the door to our heart seeking to be invited in forever. I fear the door to many hearts is shut and Jesus is viewed through the peephole. They wrongly assume that viewing Him on the other side of the door is the same as having Him inside. And you know what is so sad about this, they are happy and content to live this way.

Inside their heart, they live for themselves and every now and then when the confusion, chaos, and troubles of this world affect them they run to the door and peep through the hole to make sure Jesus is still out there. They don’t invite Him in but rather speak through the door to Him and ask Him to fix what is on the other side of the door.

Be intentional with your choice to keep in His word, live for His word, cherish His word, honor His word, obey His word, speak His word, remember and meditate on His word. Open the door to your heart and invite Jesus into your heart forever.

Until there was no remedy

“Will you not receive instruction and listen to my words? declares the LORD.”

“But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.”

Hosea 11:2 The more they were called, the more they went away;

Acts 7:51    “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

Deuteronomy 29:2-4      And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,  the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.  But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

2 Kings 17:13-15     Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”  But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

2 Chronicles 36:15-16     The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.  But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Nehemiah 9:30    Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear.

Isaiah 30:9-11     For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD

Jeremiah 44:16-17     “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

Zechariah 7:11     But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

John 3:19     And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light

It might be easy to think these verses refer to the lost sinners who do not know God, but these speak to those who did know God and rejected His leading. When we neglect His word and the need for it to meet each day we become complacent coma and our ears become deaf to His instruction and leading. Soon the path we are on is one that looks good in our own eyes. We are void of God’s word. Our mind is being led by what we think is right and not by the word of God.

It is a dangerous slope to neglect His word and think for a moment we can find light, refuge, hope, rest, refuge, peace, or strength to fight our internal sinful nature and attacks from satan. Neglect is a choice. Neglect, whether we want to admit it or not, is a choice saying I don’t need His direction or His word in my life today, “I’ll be ok today”. This slippery slope is hard to climb back up because first it must be recognized as a self centered and self trusting sin. If this is recognized, repentance (turning away) is a choice.

Note the words of warning given in these scriptures – how sad to be in a place where the daily need of God in our life is not even a thought, unless things are going bad. How sad to be there so long that it would be said “there was no remedy”.

Be assured, neglect of His word does not end well. It leaves open to be influenced by culture or what seems right in our own eyes. Reflect on this. If you are finding this is the place where you are at – recognize, repent and choose to start fresh. Choose to keep His word active in your day. Seek and desire to hear God’s leading and direction. Above all humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow and obey Him in all that you say and do.

I am not worthy

““God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.””

Genesis 32:10 I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant,

2 Samuel 7:18 Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God! And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness, to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.

Isaiah 6:5     And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”

Isaiah 63:7     I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Luke 5:8    But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”

Luke 17:10     So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”

1 Timothy 1:12-15     I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service,  though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief,  and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.

I can remember telling someone the more I read the bible and study God’s word the more I realize and see how unworthy I am and how thankful I am. Being exposed to God’s holiness and truth will reveal how big the gap is, should we think that we could in anyway earn our favor with God. Rooted deep within us is that sinful nature and it has a way of remaining hidden so that we do not see it. Our life will change when it is exposed to God’s word with a humble heart and desire to be loved, corrected, educated, taught, led, and a want to honor, glorify, serve, follow and obey God.

It does not take much reading to understand how unworthy we are and how awesome God is. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” This is a gift of love from God and there is nothing we can do to gain the favor of this gift. In fact “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us”, So while we were living in sin and apart from God, God in His love sent His son to redeem us. We did nothing that would warrant such action from God. “this is a gift from God, not by works, lest any man should boast”

How many days are wasted trying to be good enough for God’s love when in fact He demonstrated this love through His son and the only work asked of anyone is to believe and repent. The forgiveness of sin does not come through any work of man but through belief and faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice.

When we come to recognize just how unworthy we are of God’s steadfast love and how much God has done, is doing, and will do out of His grace, mercy and love……our heart and soul will be humbled with gratitude, thankfulness and obedience.

Hear and Learn

Deuteronomy 31:12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Psalms 78:4-8 We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 11:2 And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm,

We have an awesome responsibility and privilege to speak of God and live for Him so that others might hear and see the hope we have in the power, might, strength, grace, love, and mercy of God.

We should not take this lightly for each day gives us opportunity to bring glory, honor and praise to Him. God’s word spoken will not return void, our prayers will not be unheard, and a softening of their heart can take place. Yet at the end of the day it each persons choice to believe in God and through faith come to salvation through Christ.

When we believe, and are saved, redeemed, forgiven and have heart, mind, and soul deep knowledge and understanding of God and the everlasting light He has opened up to us, it is hard to make sense of how we lived and believed before. We are born again, a new creation, where all things are new and morning by morning new mercies we see.

God’s word in our lives each day will have purpose for growing our love for Him and faith in Him. Many will try to make sense of the world through wisdom of man, denying God. Be mindful we too were once lost and without hope. Live to bring light of God to those still living in darkness. You never know who those who choose to live in darkness will have their heart softened by God through you. Tell of all of his glorious works, wonders, might, and ever lasting love for those who call upon Him.