A Right Heart In The Midst of God's Work

-

Being a part of what God is doing is very different from responding to what God is doing in a way that pleases Him:

1 Corinthians 10:1-6 NLT — I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ. Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,

God is looking for faith that opens the heart to be led in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness, and self control.

Being in the middle of what God is doing with an unappreciative heart, a fearful heart, a doubtful heart... Complaining, criticizing, fact finding, and trouble shooting what God is doing is actually called unfaithful and displeasing by God.

Certainly, all across the world, men and women were rebelling against God while He led Israel through the Red Sea and the wilderness, but it was the doubts, fears, and complaints of God's people that God was provoked by. 

When I was a father of young children, the behavior of other people's children was never my responsibility, it was always my own children I was charged to lead. God is a Father in this way, as well:

Hebrews 12:6-8 NLT — For the LORD disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all.

God's discipline is always the least necessary to show us our hearts... He never starts with a heavy hand.  If we don't want to be corrected, we will miss it until His hand falls heavy on our lives.  This is His gentleness and love.

Right now many are in the move of God but not responding with joy, gratitude, faith, hope, love, humility... Embracing the knowledge God has and our own poverty. 

God is looking for faith that changes hearts. Mostly, we offer Him doubt, fear, and bitterness that doesn't just harden our hearts, but provokes God to a heavier hand... Not because of offense, but because of love.

There is a better way to walk through the return of the Lord.  It requires vision of where we are going, certainty of the goodness of God and DISCIPLINE to bring our wayward thoughts, doubts, complaints, fears, criticism, gossip, impatience... To bring all these as enemies to the feet of God.

The flesh hates weakness.  It attacks those who need help.  It accuses, criticizes, points the finger and plots to destroy... But the thing the flesh hates is what God has actually given all to save! The flesh fears error and weakness... But all God sees when He looks at humanity is error and weakness.  He knows we are dust. 

We do not like being lower than we want to be.  This is the arrogance of the fall.

Can we see it in ourselves?  The error isn't found in our information, it isn't an ignorance of God's goodness that drives our pettiness
..  it's our unwillingness to be weak. 

If I want to be put right again, I need a hopeful and certain heart response to the little truth I CAN see. FAITH pleases God, not right circumstances.

God has done more than enough for me to be glad, especially in the midst of error and weakness. Am I?

1 Corinthians 9:22-27 NLT — When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. I do everything to spread the Good News and share in its blessings. Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

Comments

Post a Comment

I appreciate your comments.

Most Popular Posts

The Difference Between True and False Teachers: The Flesh Cannot Save Itself

-
Image
The weight of true salvation is not on the person being saved. The Cross is the power of the gospel. That means the flesh cannot save itself. False teachers place the weight of salvation on people. Change this, tweak this, stop this, do more of this… if only we had done this, then God would have done more… These are vain thoughts. God is looking for children to make saints, not saints to make children . The flesh is arrogant. It does not want to be weak. The flesh hates being needy. It hates being a child. This goes all the way back to the original sin. Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, but outside of His leading. This delusion has infected all flesh. It is why Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit AND David’s seed. David learned to embrace weakness and need. This was the true source of David’s strength: getting out of God’s way. Jesus took David’s flesh and submitted it fully to the Holy Spirit’s leadership… even unto death on a cross. The false Gospel wants to save man’s ...
Read more

He Knows I am Dust And He Likes It!!

-
The more I get to know God and the longer I follow Him and listen to Him... The more I learn to hear Him... One thing has become plain to me:  He has made provision for my weaknesses, which are many. The strength of my relationship with God doesn't depend on my ability to do anything except learning to be honest about who I really am and learning to fully want (pray) to be faithful and obedient to Him. All God wants from me is an open, and honest, heart. Religion is the enemy of relationship.  It puts the weight of abiding in God on what we do, rather than what we want God to do.  God isn't pleased by my anxiety about my righteousness. He hates it when we teach others to be anxious about their sin and need.  Anxiety is incompatible with the Gospel, but most evangelists operate in the flesh and teach man's ways, not God's. Philippians 4:4-8 NKJV — Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be an...
Read more

Love is Required

-
1 John 4:5-8 NKJV — They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NKJV — Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The true and the false are so near to one another the only discernable factor is the fruit of the Spirit in the vessel proclaiming to know God. Do they rightly deal with others in love? Do they bring all things into the light? Do they put Jesus be...
Read more

Talking to God More Fully

-
To have a relationship with God is to truly know the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The only way to truly know someone is to talk with them and listen to them.   I have to let down my guardedness and fear of getting it wrong for God to really show me what is right. I need a prayer life with every person of the Trinity, according to the Trinity: ***Father Matthew 6:6 NLT — But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. John 16:23-27 NLT — At that time you won’t need to ask me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and he will grant your request because you use my name. You haven’t done this before. Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy. “I have spoken of these matters in figures of speech, but soon I will stop speaking figuratively and will tell you plainly all about the Father. Then you will ask ...
Read more

Weakness Embraced: The Prerequisite for Power Poured In

-
The first promise God gives to us is life.   The very act of creating life is a promise from God of sustaining that life forever:   Psalms 139:15-17   You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.   (16)   You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.   (17)   How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! Our lives are precious to God.  Eternal existence is guaranteed to all.  The quality of that experience for each individual person is dependent on recognizing the source of all life.  Life flows from One Place:   John 1:1-7   In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.   (2)   He existed in the beginning with God.   (3)   God created everything through him, and nothing was created except th...
Read more