Tag: sorrowful

25.j. “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,”

 

2 Corinthians 6:3  Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.

 Ezekiel 16:8    “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine.

 Luke 19:42-44    saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side  and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

 Hebrews 3:7     Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,

 Hebrews 3:13   But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

 Hebrews 4:7    again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

  God has an acceptable time for us to work with His grace. God has a day of salvation that will not last forever. This is no time for Christian lives consumed with ease and comfort and self-focus. It is time to get busy for the Lord and to be workers together with Him.  What is it that keeps us from seeing, knowing, and doing the Work of God?  Is it trials? Is it ease and comfort? Are we deceived or influenced into believing He can’t or won’t use us?  Do we find excuse after excuse, time and time again?  I am not knowledgeable in the bible enough to be used by God.  I am too busy.  I am not good enough.  I am not brave enough.  I am not worthy enough.  The list is as long as the number of excuses we make that keeps us from making a commitment to listen and then obey.  Is the world influencing your ability to listen?  Does it steal time away from working for God? Does it deafen your ears to hear His leading and calls for action in your life?  

When we understand that our purpose in this life is to honor and glorify God in all we say, think, and do, it is then we will begin to understand His leading and calling and purpose and plans for our lives.  Today is the day.  Now is the moment. Right now.  Make an intentional choice to make God-honoring and God-glorifying the reason for all you say, think, and do.

8. Whoever is of a generous heart

Exodus 25:1   The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me

Exodus 35:5-29    Take from among you a contribution to the LORD. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the LORD’s contribution: gold, silver, and bronze;

Deuteronomy 16:16 They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.

1 Chronicles 29:1-30  Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God:

Exodus 35:21    And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the LORD’s contribution

1 Chronicles 29:9    Then the people rejoiced because they had given willingly, for with a whole heart they had offered freely to the LORD.

2 Corinthians 8:12    For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have.

2 Corinthians 9:7    Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Mark 10:19  And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

A generous heart is a choice to give of what has been given to you by God.  Do we sometimes think we have worked for what we have and it is ours, all ours, with no thought of it being a gift from God?  Our brains, our job, our physical ability, our place in life is all from God, apart from those consequences of choices we have made outside of honoring, serving, following and obeying God. What we have are blessings and gifts from God.

I was thinking about Job and how he was blessed and then it was all taken away.  Some may look at this and say that it is not fair.  But if we were able to speak to Job I think he would tell us even when it was taken away he was blessed by a deeper understanding and knowledge of God.  In the end all and more was given back to Job.

We look at what we have and think it is not enough.  We strive to get more and more to buy more, travel more, experience more and more stuff that will never satisfy our soul.  We keep, we hoard, we want.

What would happen if we chose to be generous with what we have been blessed with?  What would our lives be like free from want and filled with giving?  A heart choice to be generous with our time, talent, and money are never bad.  However, a choice to not be generous leads us down paths that could end up not honoring or serving God.

6. What must we do

Mark 10:17  And as Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

John 6:28    Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”

Acts 2:37     Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Acts 16:30    Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Romans 10:2-4    For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

John 6:27     Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.

We see this young rich man who went away sorrowful and disheartened.  Why, because he could not give his all to follow Jesus.  We see others who asked what must we do to be saved.  We see the disciples asking what must we be doing to do the works of God.

The works we must do is to “Believe” and to believe is translated “Cling to, Rely on, and Trust in.”  Sometimes I think believe means something less to people.   It does not carry the weight of clinging total reliance and trust.

It is one thing to come to the knowledge of saving grace and another to live so that God is honored through continual reliance, obedience, and trust.  When we give belief a lesser application we will find we are thinking we are better off than we are.  We end up at a place where we think we are good enough and doing enough – we’re ok enough.  In reality, we become dull to the Holy Spirit, blind and deaf, as though we were asleep.  When we are to be spirit-filled we are spiritless.  When we are to be reaching out to a lost world we are hiding.  When we are to be listening and obeying we are deaf and doing what seems right to us.  When we ought to be seeking God we are neglecting.  When we are to be drinking the living water and bread of life from His word we are starving and dying from thirst. And don’t even know it!

We are called to active humble service to God, at His leading and at His timing.  The word “Called” is better translated as summoned.  When we see the word just as called it gives way to say yes or no.  When we see the word as summoned by God there is no room for denying action on our part.

It is a choice to commit heart, mind, and soul to God every single day.  It is a choice to be led by Him.  It is a choice to listen and obey Him.

Thinking you are ok enough leads to being asleep and deaf to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

What must you do?

Remember and Rejoice

“ I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,”

Psalms 70:4  May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you! May those who love your salvation say evermore, “God is great!”

Psalms 5:11    But let all who take refuge in you rejoice; let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may exult in you.

Psalms 35:27    Let those who delight in my righteousness shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, “Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!”

Psalms 40:16   But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

Psalms 97:12     Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name!

Isaiah 65:13  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be put to shame;  behold, my servants shall sing for gladness of heart, but you shall cry out for pain of heart and shall wail for breaking of spirit.

Lamentations 3:25    The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

“You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.”

Remembering who God is and the blessings that come from Him alone are the reasons for rejoicing. Those who seek Him will find Him and be blessed.  Their heart will see reasons to rejoice and be glad.  On the other hand those who do not seek Him will not find Him and will not have joy or peace or gladness in their heart.  These are the ones we are to show God’s love.  These are the ones we are to pray for.  These are the ones who we can be used by God to reach.  Remember we too were just like them, lost and without hope.  Rejoice in God and be willingly to be used by Him.