Know God

Isaiah 58:2

...They seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinances of their God; they ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

A bit of history on today's text is that the nation of Israel was seeking God daily in outward appearances in their worship and praises of Him, but was continuing to live in sin and in difference to God's holy ordinances.

Therefore, the question now becomes, how do we really get to know God? Knowing God is to establish a close personal relationship with Him by communing with Him daily through prayer, reading His Word and meditating on His Word, then committing one self to obeying and doing as the scripture states. It is noteworthy to say we cannot pick and choose what part of scripture we will obey. This is because all scriptures is given for our benefit as they were written by holy inspired men of God who wrote as directed by God the Holy Spirit. Our true knowledge of, love for and our commitment to God manifest itself in our lifestyles. Paul knew of God, but really came to know God with the Damascus Road encounter, which changed Paul's life forever. This is true for all true believers of all generations. A God encounter brings about a lifestyle change.

To really know God, seek Him with our total honesty and sincerity while committing to His ways.

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God, My All 'N All

Psalm 18:2

The Lord is my rock, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.

If the question was raised, what makes God our all 'n all? First, let us look at who God is. He is the creator and sustainer of all creation. He has no beginning nor ending. He changes not; because He is the same today, yesterday and will be the same forever more. He is the one God who created something out of nothing; just as He created man out of the dust of the earth and then breathed the breath of life into man who became a living soul.

Second, let's look at what scripture has to say about God being our all 'n all; He supplies all our needs regardless of the need (Philippians 4:19), which is supported by our  study text by stating that God is our rock, who is solid, trustworthy, and unmoveable. He is our fortress, which is a form of protection, so is being our shield and buckler. Being our deliverer means that God has the power to deliver us from any situation. He made a highway out of the Red Sea. He certainly can deliver you and me. If we need to be lifted up God is there to lift us high above the danger that all believers are sure to encounter. He can reach down into the pit of hell just as He can reach heights unknown; that's God. Being the horn of our salvation, God gave His only Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior who suffered, bled, died on the cross and then rose that glorious Sunday morning with all power in His hands; our deliverer and Savior.

God, my all 'n all; the only One who can do anything but fail, What a God!

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Knowing And Doing God's Will

Psalm 40:8

I delight to do thy will, O my God; yes, thy law is within my heart.

From the Psalmist words, he takes delight in knowing as well as doing the will of God as this is what pleases Him. The question now becomes, how do we know the will of God? We know the will of God through daily Bible reading and then meditating on His Word as well as applying it to our daily lives. God the Holy Spirit provides revelation as to what the Holy Scriptures is saying and their intent. God's Word is a set of instructions sometimes referred as His laws, but are designed for holy living as His Word makes plain how we are to live in obedience to Him.

God has a perfect will and a permissive will; His perfect will is what He desires to happen while His permissive will is what He allows to happen. To be in the perfect will of God is to live in total obedience, love and submission to Him. God's perfect will is that all be saved and spend eternity with Him, but God knew from the beginning of time that many will reject Him and His redemptive plan of salvation and be lost.

Once we know the will of God, the question is how will we respond? Our response should be, Lord I am willing to do thy will as this is what pleases You, just as it pleased You to sacrifice Your Son Jesus for my sins. I am willing to live in holy obedience and service to You.

Lord help me to know and do You will.

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Love Covered Sin

Proverbs 10:12

Hatred stirreth up strifes, but love covereth all sins.

In Proverbs 10:1-32, Solomon provides comparative looks at wise verses foolish or the righteous compared to the unrighteous, which gives readers then, now and for all generations the outcome of each. The righteous will flourish whereas the unrighteous will perish as noted in verse 8 which states the wise in heart will receive commandments, but the parting fool shall fall. This is true because the unwise will say in his heart I don't need God or will say there is no God, which leads the foolish person the feel that he is his own highest authority and that he is self-existence; wrong! Wrong!

It is noteworthy to say the foolish is lost and fail to realize his lostness, but thank God for His unconditional love and unending care that His love would not allow Him to leave man in his fallen state of despair.

Given the magnitude of His agape love God the Father gave His only Son to forgive the sins of the world; forgave He did as the world's sins was nailed to the cross with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Love of the righteous forgives others as it is a commandment given by Christ Himself. Loving one another as Christ loved us, and then the world will know that we are of God.

Love covers all; it covered you and me.

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Jesus Cleanse The Temple

Luke 19: 45-48

And He went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold therein, and then that bought. Saying unto them, It is written, My house is the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.

 Today's texts carry several important points that are applicable then, now and generations to come, and they are:

 (a) Christ's cleaning of the temple demonstrates His concern for the holiness of the church (John 17:17). Christ died to sanctify and cleanse the church as it is His bride who must be without spot or blemish (Ephesians 5:25-27.
(b) Worship must be in spirit and in truth as God is a Spirit (John 4:24). The church/temple is a place of worship, prayer where believers commune with God (Matthew 21:13).
(c) Christ prohibits using the church/temple or His gospel message for personal gain.
(d) All true Christians must protest against anyone who slander and or disgrace the church in any way. This includes buying and selling within the church as we see in our text.
(e) Sincere love for God and His kingdom will result in believers having intolerance for all unrighteousness within the church.
(f) As we allow Christ to rule our hearts and the church we have no problem with Christ purging the church of its immorality, secularization and desecration, because when He returns He is coming to get the true church that is pure and holy.
A clean church is what Christ wanted then and generations to come.

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Crucifixion Friday

Matthew 27:35

And they crucified Him, and parted His garments, casting lost; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, "They parted my garments among them and upon my vesture did they cast lots."

Much have been written, talked and preached about Crucifixion Friday, because this is the day our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sacrificed His life so that all who believe in Him will have everlasting life. He died for the sins of the world; all humanity, but to have this everlasting life one must believe. A life of righteousness is the result of Christ paying man's sin-debt reconciling him back to God the Father who is holy and righteous.

On the way to Calvary's cross, Christ our Savior suffered much from a mock trail by the religious leaders of His time to Pontus Pilate who found no fault in Jesus, but bowed to the will of the people who choose Barabbas to be released over the Savior of the world. They crucified the man who has power over life and death; the man who was in the beginning before time began. The man who had the power to come down from the cross, but couldn't because of His love for all humanity and obedience to the Father of providing salvation.

In Christ's dying hour, the Father couldn't look on sin and caused the sun and moon to turn away and the earth reeled and rocked like a drunk man; midnight came at noon. The curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom, which signifies that all believers have a blood bought right to go directly to God the Father for themselves.

No Crucifixion Friday, no Resurrection Sunday. O what a weekend!

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http://willie-writing.blogspot.com

www.goodshepherdwritingandpublishing.com