“Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.”
Psalm 119 is a depository of godly wisdom. We do not know who wrote it, I like to imagine that David wrote it, but we are not told that he did. Each verse is loaded with meaning that can draw us closer to the Lord. Verse 33 spoke to me today. In it, the psalmist pleaded with God to teach him “the way of your statutes.” Another translation is “teach me to follow your statutes.” The psalmist did not just want to know the statutes; he wanted to obey them – to follow them. It is not enough to know God’s word; we must follow what it teaches. We are promised that the Holy Spirit will guide us in God’s truth and also enable us to follow what we learn. I want to share with you the thoughts that I had when I read this verse. The result is the title of this article: “What it means to Follow God’s Way.” It means that we will follow the right way. In Psalm 23:3b David shared his thought on what this means: “He (the Lord) leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake." We do not, indeed, we cannot, depend on our own strength to follow the right way. We need God’s guidance every step of the way in this life. If we follow the right way, we will save ourselves a whole lot of trouble. Prisons are full of people who failed to follow the right way. Clinics that deal with addictions are full of people who failed to follow the right way. You might be asking, “What is the right way?” The right way is the path set out by the word of God. I do not have room in this article to tell about all that the right way entails, suffice it to say that it means to follow in the steps of Jesus, to obey what we know to be right. If they are honest, most people will say that they know right from wrong, and that they know when they do wrong. This is why we need to stay close to the word of God and learn from it. It means that we follow the wise way. It is not wise to disobey the word of God. A lot of people would be a lot better off if they followed the wisdom of God instead of the wisdom of the world. One example that I saw in my prison ministry, was a seventy-year-old man who was in prison on drug charges. He had not been in prison very long. I asked him why, at his age, he did something that he knew would land him in prison. He said he did it because he wasn’t thinking, and didn’t stop to think about the consequences. Here is the point: This man was an otherwise wise man. He knew scripture. He was saved. But he got off the wise path and ended up in prison. Just look around you at the messes that people are getting into every day. They are hooked on drugs, alcohol, pornography, and a whole lot of other unwise things. They would be better off if they sought the wisdom of God instead of the wisdom of the world. All of us need to remember the old adage: “Except for the grace of God, there go I.” It means that we follow the prayerful way. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray like this: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” That is a prayer that we should pray every day, for Satan is still “walking about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Christians are not off limits for him. In fact, we are his main targets. He wants to get us off of the right and wise way so that people can justify themselves in going the wrong way by our example. God forbid that we forget the importance of walking on the paths that God lays out for us. If my tone here seems to be self-righteous, you need to know that I know how easy it is to get waylaid by Satan. I am certainly not smug in my righteousness, neither should you be. (I take "except for the grace of God, there go I" seriouslys.) We need to follow the example of the psalmist and say: “Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it unto the end.” Bro. Joe
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“Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”
Afflictions come in all shapes and sizes, and they come to everyone. Afflictions can be because of health problems, family problems, spiritual problems or any number of things. We should not be surprised when we have to face afflictions. We should not get mad with God when afflictions come, because we live in a fallen world and afflictions are part and parcel with this fallen condition. Who are “the righteous” mentioned here? They are people who are right with God through faith in God. David wrote, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous…” We would think that the righteous would be delivered from all afflictions. In fact, when we face afflictions, we begin to wonder why God is mad at us. We might think, :“I have been as good as I can be; why is this happening to me?” Read what David wrote again: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous.” You did not misread that. The Bible is filled with stories about the afflictions of the righteous. One Bible character who comes immediately to mind is Job. Job was declared to be righteous by God Himself, but God allowed him to go through afflictions beyond anything that we will ever know. Who was ever more faithful to Jesus, and to his service to Jesus than the apostle Paul? Yet Paul could write to the Corinthian church, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed: we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted but not forsaken: cast down, but not destroyed.” Paul didn’t waste his time complaining about his many afflictions, he just kept on believing and serving. Why do we go through afflictions? As already mentioned, we go through them because we live in a fallen world. Furthermore, we go through afflictions because God uses these afflictions to give us strength. The great people in the Bible were made stronger by the afflictions that they encountered. Moses was a stronger person because of all of the problems that he had with the Israelites, not to mention the problems that he had with his own humanity. The people in the church in Acts were made stronger through the persecutions that they encountered. It is noteworthy that when a great persecution broke out against the church in Acts, those early Christians did not give up, but they went to other parts of the world and shared the word of God way beyond Jerusalem. There is a promise in this text that we need to consider: “But the Lord delivers him (or her) out of them all.” When we suffer for righteousness sake, we can know that God is in the process of delivering us, even as we go through them. God “delivers him out of them all.” Notice that God delivers the righteous “out of them all.” This doesn’t mean that He delivers us from them all together, as noted above. It means that God will see us through all of the afflictions of life, and we will be victorious over them. Whether in this life, or in death, God delivers his people who are right with Him by faith in Jesus out of all their afflictions. We just need to face life’s afflictions in the faith that God will deliver us. Bro. Joe “And when (Jesus) had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, He was there alone.”
The definition of “solitude” is “being alone, or secluded.” (The American Century Dictionary) As our text reveals, Jesus was given to getting alone for times of solitary worship and prayer. I have discovered the advantage of this for my own life. For a good part of my life, I have not been given to solitude, but I have found that early in the morning is a good time for me to be alone to read the Bible, pray, all in the process of worshiping God. I love and enjoy public worship, but private worship has become a necessity in my life. I want to make the case for solitude from my viewpoint, hoping that it might help you find the time for solitary worship of God. The first case for solitude is given in our text. If Jesus, the Son of God, felt a need to get alone with God the Father, can we deny that to ourselves? Jesus often got alone to pray when He made important decisions. An example is given in Luke 6:12-13: “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. 13. And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles.” I don’t know why Jesus felt the need for this time of solitude before making decisions, but the fact that He did tells us that we might consider the importance of it for ourselves. The second case for solitude is that it affords us a time for reflection. I realize that some people are more reflective than others. In fact, I have never been a person who has spent a lot of time in reflection. But I can attest that the moments of early morning reflection have become important to me. Solitude helps us clear our minds of all of the noise around us and all of the clamor and simply enables us to see God’s will more clearly. In my time of recovery from cancer, I had to do a lot of reflecting on what I wanted to do in the future. The fact that I have decided to reenter the pastoral ministry after twenty-three years as an Associational Director of Missions, is a result of reflecting on what God wants me to do. Whether you are given to reflection or not, you need to do it and the best time to do it is in moments of solitude when you are alone with God. You will find His direction easier to determine. Hey, it worked for Jesus, why wouldn’t it work for you? The third case for solitude is that it can be a time of healing. I am not necessarily referring to physical healing, although that is certainly a possibility. Most of the healing that we need is healing in our hearts and minds. I can only speak for myself on this, but I know that a lot of healing has taken place in my life in moments of solitude. There have been things that have weighed on my mind, and some of it on my subconscious mind, and my time alone with God has helped me find the healing that I have needed. I guess all of us have had things happen in our lives that left open wounds in our hearts and minds. (If you haven’t, bow your head right now and thank God.) God alone can bring healing to these demonic and subtle things that eat away at our minds and hearts, and cause us to get a root of bitterness. Thank God that I have found peace instead of bitterness because of time alone with God. I have been strengthened in mind heart and spirit because of moments of solitude. That is why I do not hesitate to encourage you to find a time to be alone with God, and let Him speak to you alone. At least give it a try! Bro. Joe “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11. So is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire, and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
In these verses, God depicts His word as necessary for our growth and enrichment in life. He compares His word to the rain and snow which enrich the soil with minerals, which are important in the growth of plants. Just as God does not waste rain and snow, He does not waste His word. When His word goes out, it goes out for His purpose and will realize His purpose. We have God’s word in a book called the Bible, and there is not a wasted word in it. This text actually commands us to take God’s word seriously. The first thing that I think about is that God’s word should be important to us, and that we do not need to waste it. How can we waste it? We can waste God’s word by not taking it seriously, and by not believing that it is, indeed, the word of God. We can waste God’s word by not believing in what it teaches us about God and about life. We should let the teachings of the Bible help us in our daily lives. As we read it, the Holy Spirit who inspired it, will lead us to understand it. We can waste God’s word by not sharing it with others. One thing that I enjoy about being a preacher is that when I read the Bible, I will have an opportunity to share what I learn with others from the pulpit. But this does not apply just to preachers. You can also share what you learn in the word of God with others. God said that His word would not return to Him empty, but will accomplish what I desire.” Throughout the Bible we see God’s word fulfilled. Throughout the Bible, we see God’s word accomplishing what it set out to do. There is nothing more prominent that the promise in the Bible of a Messiah that would come to save, not only the Jews, but all people who trust in Jesus. Here is what God promised Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3: “I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great and you will be a blessing. 3. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” This was accomplished when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, lived a perfect life, died on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, and arose the third day and forty days later ascended to the Father. This was in God’s heart when He made the promise to Abraham. God’s word accomplished what God desired, i.e. that He would save people throughout the ages through His Son. Each believer in Christ shows how God’s word accomplished what He desired. God’s word to Abraham was not wasted, but accomplished what it was intended to do. God said that His word would “achieve the purpose for which HE sent it.” This can cover a lot of things in the Bible, but I want to stress one of His purposes, and that is that if we will put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ we will be saved. This is illustrated for us in Romans 10:8-9: “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9. That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” God’s word promises that if you will entrust your life to Jesus, you will be saved. Every Christian who has ever lived shows the world that God’s word is not wasted but will “achieve the purpose for which (He) sent it.” God’s does not waste words. You can take Him at His word. Bro. Joe “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.”
This text comes at the end of Paul lists of spiritual weapons that God has given us to fight Satan. We can’t fight him alone, but we can fight him. We do not have to be hopelessly ensnared by him as so many are today. Along with the “sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” prayer is our greatest weapon against the devil. When he comes at us with all of his demonic cunning, we need to meet him with the word of God and prayer. The power of prayer is available to every born again believer. I want to show how prayer can be used in our spiritual warfare. The word of God, and prayer are offensive weapons. On the mount of temptation, Jesus met each of Satan’s temptations by quoting scripture to him. When tempted to turn stone into bread, Jesus met Satan with “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” We need to have scripture in our hearts and minds in order to use it against Satan. We also need to be prayed up, as Jesus always was. Matthew 4:2 tells us that “when Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungry…” Fasting and prayer always go together. Jesus spent forty days fasting and praying before meeting Satan and his temptations. If Jesus did that, we need to take heed that we are armed with prayer. (Fasting wouldn’t hurt either.) We can see here how Jesus used the word of God and prayer as an offensive weapon against Satan. We need to know how to wield the “sword of the Spirit,” and bathe that knowledge with prayer. Notice that when Jesus was tempted, He went on offense. He didn’t let Satan take control and neither should we. The word of God and prayer are defensive weapons. At the same time Jesus was on offense, He was defending himself with the same weapons. We need to surround ourselves each day with a hedge of prayer. It is a good idea to start off each day with a systematic reading of scripture and moments spent in prayer to prepare ourselves to meet the day. I know that people’s schedules differ, and that it is not always easy to take that time in the morning, but whatever your schedule, you need to set aside a little time for prayer and Bible study. Make no mistake about it; Satan is aware when we are armed to face him in battle. He also knows when we are unprepared, at which time he will move in for the kill. If our scripture and prayer defenses are not up, he will lead us astray. In the sword fights that I have seen in the movies, it was always as important to be able to rebuff the other person’s thrust as it was to thrust. Surround yourself with the word and prayer. The word of God and prayer are sustaining weapons. Sustain means to have support to help in a time of need. We certainly need the support of God in the many needs that we have in this life. His support is realized through His word and prayer. Sustain also means to be encouraged. We need the encouragement of the word of God and prayer each day. The Lord will lead us to the right passage of scripture when we need it, and that passage will let us know how to pray. I’m not sharing this with you because I read about it, but because I experience it each day. These weapons are available to you also! Use them! Bro. Joe “For you were sometimes darkness, but now you are light in the Lord: walk as children of light: 9. for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth.”
In Matthew 5:14, Jesus referred to His disciples as “the light of the world.” In this text, Paul reminded the Ephesians that since they were now Christians, they were to walk as “children of light.” In this dark world, we are to shine God’s light into that darkness. Paul gave a similar reminder in Philippians 2:15: “That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in a dark world.” This has not changed. We are still God’s lights in a dark world. In the text, after reminding them that they were to live as children of light, he reminded them that since they were saved they were indwelt by the Holy Spirit and were to share His fruit with the world. In Galatians 5:22, Paul listed the fruit of the Spirit; here he tells us what will result as we live out this fruit. If we are to live as children of light, we will reflect these virtues to the world: “goodness and righteousness an truth.” Our goal as Christians should be to live out these virtues before the world. We are to live in goodness before the world. We need to be careful about how we use this word “goodness,” because we can easily be misunderstood. When we mention our goodness, the world hears us saying that we are better than they are. We do not need to talk about our goodness; rather, we need to live goodness before the world. What is goodness? I think that we reflect goodness by showing love and compassion to the world. The Good Samaritan comes to mind here. He did a good thing that neither the priest nor Levite would do. He shined a light of goodness upon the stricken man. We reflect the Spirit’s goodness by doing good things. This usually means doing good things for people. This is how Jesus lived, and is how we should seek to live as well if we are to reflect His light to the world. We are to live in righteousness before the world. Righteousness and goodness are closely related, but they are not the same. Again, we need to be careful how we use this word. We don’t need to talk about our righteousness, because people will hear that as self-righteousness. We need to live out the righteousness of Christ before the world. We need to remember that the righteousness that we have is not our own. It is given to us by our faith in Christ. When we live righteously, we are careful about how we talk and about how we behave before the world. We hurt our witness when we say and do unrighteous things. Of course, this begins by living righteously when we are alone as well. The righteousness of Christ needs to be reflected through our lives to a dark world. We are to live in truth before the world. I think that this refers to our truthfulness. We should be honest in all of our dealings with people. First, we should always tell the truth. For example, if we are going to sell someone a used car, we should tell them the truth about it and not let them find out down the road. When we promise somebody something, we should follow through with what we promised unless what we promised would do more harm than good. Even then, we would need to explain. Christians should be as good as their word. If we tell somebody something, they should be able to “take it to the bank.” We must use Christ as our example. He who is “The Truth” wants us to live out His truth before the world. In all of these things, we are to obey Christ and to reflect Him in our dealings with this dark world. Bro. Joe “Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.”
This verse was written when the northern kingdom of Israel was about to fall, and Judah’s faith was wavering. The people of Israel and Judah were looking to false gods and to their own power to help them in this time of need. Isaiah 51:6 is a reminder that God’s people had a resource that was superior to anything that they were depending on in that hour of crisis. We need to be reminded of this as well. The verse catapults across the years and speaks to our generation. What does it tell us? It tells us that the world as we know it is passing away and anything that we depend on that is in the world will not be of help to us. Isaiah reminded the people that “the heavens will vanish away.” We know that the “heavens” or the universe is of immense size. We will probably never be able to measure it, but it will vanish away. The people who were worshiping the sun, moon and stars needed to be reminded of this. The vast universe looks like it will go on forever, but it will not. He also reminded them that “the earth shall wax old like a garment.” We know that clothes do not last forever. There comes a time when we have to get new garments. The earth is like those garments that we wear, it will grow old, and the earth as we know it will vanish away. There is nothing “under the sun” as we would say or do on the earth that will last forever. It is difficult to tell that it is wearing away because we have limited vision - but it is. There are things in this world that we can enjoy and that we can keep as “treasures” but none of them will last forever. If we want to cling to that which is forever, we need to cling to the Lord Jesus Christ, for He is forever. The Bible tells us that the salvation of the Lord is forever. There is nothing in this universe or on this earth that can save us. Whatever we grasp in this world to deliver us and to help us keep going is in the process of passing away. Some people look to an accumulation of money to be their salvation. Money is good to have, but it will not save us. Some people look to the accumulation of material things to save them. We think that the more we have, the safer we will be. This is like hiding behind a fort of straw. Some people look to drugs to save them, to keep them calm and sane. This works only for the time that the drug has its effect, which is only a short time. Whatever we try to hide behind or depend on for our salvation and security that is of this earth will not save us. On the other hand, when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, we are covered here and now and forever. You might be thinking that even then we have problems. Yes, we do, but we have the resource of the power of the Holy Spirit to help us live beyond our problems. Besides that, we have the promise of eternity in heaven with Jesus forever and ever. It tells us that the righteousness of the Lord is forever. One of the “gods” of this age is pleasure. Most of the advertisements on TV remind us of the pleasures that we can enjoy on this earth. A lot of people today live for pleasure. Their lives are measured by one pleasure after another. Hey, who doesn’t want to have some pleasure, and all pleasures are not bad, but what we need to seek is God’s righteousness. Earthly pleasures last but a moment, but the righteousness of God is forever. We need to “seek first God’s kingdom and His righteousness” if we are to find fulfillment in this life. What are you opting for, things that will pass away or things that are eternal? Bro. Joe “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak then am I strong.”
We normally think of weakness as a negative thing, and in some sense it is. For example, when we are weak and cowardly, afraid to face life and to do our best, weakness is a negative thing. But the way Paul uses the word here it is a positive thing. Paul had just taken his unknown “thorn in the flesh” to the Lord to have it done away with. Instead of healing Paul of the “thorn in the flesh,” the Lord told him: “My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” That is when Paul wrote the words of our text that led him to write: “for when I am weak then I am strong.” What does Paul mean? First, we need to see what he does not mean. He does not mean that because Jesus didn’t heal him that he will just accept the fact that he is weak and there is no need to go on in the Lord. There have been many people who made requests of God and God did not do as they wanted; therefore, they just gave up church and gave up trying to overcome. Jesus does not want us to give in to weakness and determine that we can just sit on the sidelines and not do anything for the Lord in our church or community. Second, we see that when Paul accepted his own weakness, he more fully realized that his real strength lay in the Lord. We make a mistake when we try to serve the Lord and do it on our own strength. We do not approach service for the Lord in the spirit of, “I will do the best that I can.” That might be true in sports, for example, but when we seriously want to serve the Lord, we want to do the best that the Lord can help us do. Sometimes we feel like we failed because we didn’t sense that we “won” in our service for the Lord. But it doesn’t always work that way. If we go about our service in a slipshod way, with poor preparation in prayer and study, then we need to give ourselves a swift kick. But if we have depended on the Lord in prayer and study, no matter what the results are, we win. We win because we depended on the strength of the Lord. I have heard preachers say that they thought they had preached their sorriest, but at the time for the invitation the altar was full. I realize that when that has happened in my ministry, that the Lord did a mighty work in spite of my weakness, and I can say with Paul, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Jesus allows these things to happen to remind us that we are dependent on Him. Third, we need to understand that we do not just depend on the Lord in our work in the church. We depend on the Lord every day of our lives. What a wonderful thing it is when we realize that no matter what our weaknesses, the Lord will make us strong. For example, if we try to keep the Ten Commandments on our own determination, we will break them. Satan loves for us to depend on our own strength when he is tempting us to do things that will ruin our lives and our witness for the Lord. We are no match for him. He was the cause of Paul’s“thorn in the flesh.” Paul did the right thing by taking the matter directly to the Lord. The Lord’s powerful grace has not diminished since Paul’s day. The same power available to Paul is available to us. There are times when we take our weaknesses to the Lord when He will answer our prayer immediately. But there are other times, like in Paul’s case, where Jesus is using our problems to teach us how to depend on Him in spite of the problems. If it is a sin problem, the Lord will forgive. If it some kind of impediment, like a “thorn in the flesh,”He will give us the grace and strength to live beyond it. Take this as a personal reminder and rejoice! Bro. Joe “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”
I wonder why some people are so negative about the Bible. I think it is because they think that the God of the Bible somehow wants to rob them of something. They think of all of the things that the Bible forbids, but they do not think of all of the things that the Bible promises. Why would it be a negative thing to receive Christ as Savior and have the Holy Spirit’s guidance on a daily basis? The truth is that if people really want to do themselves a favor they will turn to the Bible and all of its many promises. The text for today is a good example. Here is how these two verses tell us that we can do ourselves a favor. If you would do yourself a favor, you would seek God first. After all, He is the God of the universe and anything beyond that. Why not seek first the one who created the world and watches over it even today? Why not seek the God who loved us so much that He sent His Son to die on the cross for us? Why not seek first the one who will forgive us for our sins even though we do not deserve it? Specifically, the text tells us to “seek ye first the kingdom of God.” This is an invitation to join the kingdom that can give you a better life here and will give you life in heaven when you die. The invitation to the kingdom is an invitation to come to Jesus and to let Him bless your life. I really can’t see a down side to that. Whatever you have to give up from the world, you will gain from your relationship with Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that all of God’s promises are “yes” in Christ Jesus. This means that through Jesus all of God’s promises will be available to you. If you have done yourself this favor, stop reading and praise God right now. You made a wise decision. If you would do yourself a favor, accept the God who wants to bless you. The promise in verse 33 is, “All these things shall be added unto you.” “All of these things” include the promise that God will provide for us those things that we need, like food and clothing. But beyond that, God wants to bring many blessings into our lives. We are reminded in James that “we have not because we ask not.” We just don’t realize how much God wants to bless us. There is a song that we used to sing in my prison ministry that speaks about the blessings of God: “Every time I turn around, God is blessing me, every time I turn around God is blessing me, every time I turn around God is blessing me. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, God is blessing me.” You read that right; there were several prisoners who really claimed the blessings of God. They quit fighting God and society and claimed the blessings of God. You can too! If you would do yourself a favor, you would stop worrying about tomorrow. There are a lot of things today that we should be concerned about, but there is nothing that we should worry about. The same God who was present today will be present tomorrow. It is true that God “has the whole world in His hands.” It doesn’t seem like it sometimes. If you will think about history, you will remember that there have always been difficult times, but somehow we made it. We shouldn’t worry because God will not stop loving us and he will not forsake us. If He doesn’t take us over it, He will take us through it and beyond it. We just need to trust Him each day, and ultimately we need to trust the future to Him. Matthew 6:27 reminds us that: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life.” Worry accomplishes nothing. Do yourself a favor and put your faith and trust in God. Bro. Joe “And whatever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things which are pleasing to Him.”
Is it possible to please God? According to the Bible it certainly is. When I think of the holiness, the majesty and the greatness of God, I wonder why in the world He cares whether or not we please Him. Part of the greatness of God is that He loves us and wants to be involved in our lives. Whether God is real to us or not, we are real to Him, and that makes it all the more important for us to please Him. How can we please Almighty God? To begin with we have to turn to Hebrews 11:6: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him.” We need to know what it means to have faith. The faith that is mentioned here is not faith in faith. It is not faith in our own abilities. It is faith in Jesus Christ –period. The Father sent the Son to die on the cross to save us from sin. A great price was paid for our salvation that is why it is impossible to please God if we do not begin with faith in His Son. Faith in Jesus means to surrender our lives to Him to be used for Him in His service. This doesn’t always mean that in order to please God, we have to move to another place. It is possible to have faith in Jesus and serve Him right where we are. It doesn’t matter what we try to do for God, nothing we do can please Him until we have faith in Jesus– period. What I have written above does not mean that works are not important. Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us that we are “saved by grace through faith: and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. 9. Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them.” We are not saved by works, but we are saved to work for the Lord. In the text written above, John wrote: “…and do those things which please Him.” This means that there are things that we can do to please God, but not before we surrender to Him by faith. New Testament faith is not just mental assent to the fact that there is a God, and that we can know Him through faith in His Son. It is a decision that we make that will change our lives and put us in a new direction. Let’s look at some things that we can do to please Him, after we have put our faith and trust in Jesus.The first thing that comes to mind is that we please God by doing what is His will for us. We don’t just start doing good things; rather, we pray and seek His will for what we are going to do. The second thing is that we witness to others about His love through Jesus. Keep in mind that we do not witness in order to be saved, we witness because we are saved. There are many ways that we can witness, but it begins with the example that we set before others in daily life. To quote a cliché: “If we don’t walk the walk, we do not need to talk the talk.” We please God by living a life of purity. Third, we please God by reaching out to other people in ministry. We don’t realize how important it is for us to show people the love of Jesus in ministry. It does not take a lot of training to minister to other people. We can begin by being good human beings, loving people and showing an interest in their lives. This is what Jesus did. Fourth, we can please God by staying in fellowship with Him through prayer and Bible study. There is no substitute for these two things in our lives. This is not a complete list of ways we can please God, but it gives some good ways to start. Is your life pleasing to God? Think about it! Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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