A Radically Real View of GOD

I LOVE the following from the pen of Martyn Lloyd-Jones. What he says in these few words is critically important to the success of our spiritual lives. Please read on . . .

"We are always in the presence of God. We are always in His sight. He sees our every action, indeed our every thought ... He is everywhere ... He sees it all. He knows your heart; other people do not. You can deceive them, and you can persuade them that you are quite selfless; but God knows your heart. ... When we wake up in the morning we should immediately remind ourselves and recollect that we are in the presence of God. It is not a bad thing to say to ourselves before we go any further": 

'Throughout the whole of this day, everything I do, and say, and attempt, and think, and imagine, is going to be done under the eye of God. He is going to be with me: He sees everything: He knows everything. There is nothing I can do or attempt but God is fully aware of it all. "Thou God seest me".'

"It would revolutionize our lives if we always did that ... the many books which have been written on the devotional life all concentrate on this. ... This is the fundamental thing, the most serious thing of all, that we are always in the presence of God. He sees everything and knows everything, and we can never escape from His sight [see Psalm 139]. ... If we only remembered that, hypocrisy would vanish, self-adulation and all we are guilty of by way of feeling ourselves above others, would immediately disappear. ..."

"If we were all to practise this it would be revolutionary. I am quite certain a revival would start at once. What a difference it would make to church life, and the life of every individual. Think of all the pretence and sham, and all that is unworthy in us all! If only we realized that God is looking at all, and is aware of it all, and is recording it all! ... the man who starts with a true realization of that is soon to be seen flying to Christ and His cross, and pleading to be filled with the Holy Spirit."

Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, ii, pp. 15-16

Prayer Is Universal-Biederwolf

"O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come." Psalm 65:2

If all nations of men seek after whatever they perceive to be their god, then how much more shall those who know Him seek after the true God? Here is William Bierderwolf's comment on this:

Wherever men have believed in a Higher Power--and such belief has always been universal--there they have not waited for an argument to prove the possibility of entering into converse with such a Being, but have taken for granted and acted upon the privilege of so doing.

William E. Biederwolf (1867-1939)

Most Of Humanity Prays to Someone

Rather than a command from the Deity, prayer has been a specific demand of man's own nature. Prayer is the heart of religion. Prayer is religion. It is the connecting link between God and man. . . . 

But For Christians This is All Changed

What is true of other religions is true of our own. The Christian is preeminently a person of prayer; not that he did not pray before, but that [which] was then a blind instinct becomes now an intelligent principle. What then was a dictate of his own nature gives place now to the promptings of God's Spirit within him. What then he was led to do out of sheer necessity, he now esteems the sweetest of all his privileges. What then he sought by sacrifice and penance he now obtains as a gracious bestowal in answer to his petition. What then he undertook with fainting heart he now pursues with boldness by the "new and living way." What then he sought to use as a means toward temporal blessing becomes now the channel of spiritual grace as well. What then was a mere pleading in his own behalf becomes now a gracious intercession for others as well. What then was mere asking of an infinitely removed Divinity is now the most intimate communion with the God and Father of us all. This is the difference between heathen prayer and Christian prayer.

Then, There's This . . .
Deprive the unregenerate man of prayer, and though his prayers avail not you make him miserable and forlorn; deprive the Christian of prayer and you not only deprive him of his sweetest privilege and dearest solace, but you take from him the key that open[s] the storehouse of his God; you not only take away his chief support, but you cut the never of his religious life; you rob him of his "vital breath."  

From: How Can God Answer Prayer? (1937)

Take Heed Lest You Fall . . .

“And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house.”
— 2 Samuel 11:2

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Be On Your Guard!
At that hour David saw Bathsheba. We are never out of the reach of temptation. Both at home and abroad we are liable to meet with allurements to evil; the morning opens with peril, and the shades of evening find us still in jeopardy. They are well kept whom God keeps, but woe unto those who go forth into the world, or even dare to walk their own house unarmed. Those who think themselves secure are more exposed to danger than any others. The armour-bearer of Sin is Self-confidence.

Be Where You Should Be . . . 
David should have been engaged in fighting the Lord’s battles, instead of which he tarried at Jerusalem, and gave himself up to luxurious repose, for he arose from his bed at eventide. Idleness and luxury are the devil’s jackals, and find him abundant prey. In stagnant waters noxious creatures swarm, and neglected soil soon yields a dense tangle of weeds and briars. Oh for the constraining love of Jesus to keep us active and useful! When I see the King of Israel sluggishly leaving his couch at the close of the day, and falling at once into temptation, let me take warning, and set holy watchfulness to guard the door. 
 
Watch For Good Intentions Turned Bad
Is it possible that the king had mounted his housetop for retirement and devotion? If so, what a caution is given us to count no place, however secret, a sanctuary from sin! While our hearts are so like a tinder-box, and sparks so plentiful, we had need use all diligence in all places to prevent a blaze. Satan can climb housetops, and enter closets, and even if we could shut out that foul fiend, our own corruptions are enough to work our ruin unless grace prevent. Reader, beware of evening temptations. Be not secure. The sun is down but sin is up. We need a watchman for the night as well as a guardian for the day. O blessed Spirit, keep us from all evil this night. Amen.

C. H. Spurgeon, Evening devotion for this day . . .

Tozer Again. Quiet Again.

 

“It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. ” (Lamentations 3:26) 

Several years ago I had been so blessed by the daily readings from A. W. Tozer, that I heartily recommended the daily email devotion to our church. Some have taken advantage of that free offer. Now, there are numerous solid devotional resources from which to choose, which I highly recommend, viz., Spurgeon's Morning & Evening, Chamber's Utmost For His Highest, etc. And if you wanted something to feed and challenge you, these would bring a great blessing. But don't miss Tozer. He writes well and will reward your effort. He is easy to read, yet deep in application.

I decided to resubmit my email and get on the list, having removed it a couple of years ago. I had read them and to great profit, but thought a hiatus would be appropriate. I had it, and now I am ready to "hear" Tozer again.

Here's the first thought I wanted to share. John the Baptist began his ministry out in the silence of the desert. Tozer focuses on the quietness of his beginnings and recommends it to us all. I say a hearty "Amen" to that! Here's what he says:

In our day we just cannot get quiet enough and serene enough to wait on God. Somebody has to be talking. Somebody has to be making a noise. But John had gone into the silence and had matured in a kind of special school with God and the stars and the wind and the sand....

I do not believe it is stretching a point at all to say that we will most often hear from God in those times when we are silent.

I do believe there are many voices straining to be heard. Some may actually have something to say! Others are there just to prevent our hearing what is most important to hear. It is those voices, it is in those times that we must recognize the pressure and back off, preferring rather to sit in silence before the Lord and to take in his blessing. This is a blessing that will hardly come but to those who wait for it. Let us get into the habit of waiting quietly before the Lord. They never lose who turn everything else off in order that they may listen closely to the loving tones from the Savior.

Get Up, Brush Yourself Off, and Keep Going . . .

“The righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity. ” -Proverbs 24:16

The holiday season is over, winter has settled in, and though it's getting lighter, still the days seem so dreary. Many Christians may be walking into these days with an unsettled heart that may lead to depression. But it need not be that way. In fact, it should not be that way. What we must learn is what Proverbs says above, keep getting up. Don't quit. C.S. Lewis explains:

No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.

Now, that's a good word of advice isn't it? Despite how it sounds, it is not the sin in us that is so bad as it is our disregard for it that matters. Stay alert, remain sensitive to sin's power, and you're on your way to a godly solution.

CHRIST IS YOUR LIFE - Part 4

Last post on this subject was on December 14. I left off with this paragraph and asking: 

You can see how it is evident that Christ IS our life, having provided for us by promising it, meriting it, providing it and bestowing it on us. But this, to me, doesn't really tell me all I'd want to know about the quality of the LIFE. It tells me THAT I have it. It tells me HOW I got it. I am prompted because of Jesus to give him THANKS for having secured life for me. But what is it to live this life?

Now, I hesitate to finalize my thoughts because I am not sure that I understand the answer. The previous three posts on Christ Is Your Life surfaced the problem of our not really seeing Christ intensely enough as an internal Savior. Maybe the best I can do for now is to reiterate the teaching of Scripture on this on allow the Holy Spirit to teach us what it means. I think Galatians 2:20 says summarily what we need to know: 

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

There is an identification here which goes well beyond a mere addition of salvation to our lives. God has completely closed the gap between Himself and man uniting us intimately through Jesus Christ. We learn that in new birth we first die -- to self, to sin's dominion, and to Satan's manipulative power. So, in a very real sense, any life that we think that we have has to be derived from elsewhere. Where? Paul makes clear that it is from "the Son of God." 

This means, it seems, that our lives are lived not by Christ leading us along a path like disciples, with Him in front, and we tagging along behind. True, we are disciples. Just not like that. Further, our loving Lord is not behind us pushing us where we are not willing to tread. Worse yet, we would do well to see that "Christ in you" means that our Father in heaven lovingly and willingly invites us into heaven. “It was the good pleasure of God … to reveal his Son in me” (Gal. 1:15, 16). No, He has so owned us, so saved us, so altered our lives that we become one with Him. It is possibly so good that we cannot "wrap our minds around it!" “But we all … are transformed into the same image from glory to glory as from the Lord the Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18). And, “For to me to live (is) Christ, and to die (is) gain” (Phil. 1:21).

I will leave this here, hoping that, as it has with me, so it will with you become an ongoing pursuit to discover what we already have in Christ. God help us to see more clearly.
 

Is The Pastoral Grass Greener Elsewhere?

In the closing chapter of On Being A Pastor, Derek Prime and Alistair Begg surface the oft recurring tendency of weary ministers to imagine that they will find a better ministry elsewhere. The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. Nonetheless, we who shepherd churches may find ourselves feeling overwhelmed and wishing to escape. The authors I just mentioned direct us to correspondence between Isaac Watts (the hymn writer) and a young man who assisted an older minister in a new chapel in Southampton [England]. After about 18 months, being unhappy there, he contemplated moving. Watts replied:

Your last is now before me with all the long details of discouragements. . . . I own many of them to be just . . . if we look merely to appearances. But I have a few things to offer which will in some measure, I hope, reconcile your thoughts to a long continuance among them. 

1) Consider how great things God has done . . . in Southampton by your means. . . . 

2) There are some person in whom God has begun a good work . . . by your means. Oh, do not think of forsaking them! 

3) There is scarce any people . . . who love their minister and honour and esteem him more than yours do you. . . .

4) Where is the man who is better qualified for carrying on God's work in the town than your are? 

5) If you leave, whither will you go? The case is the same in many places as it is with your and much worse.

6) Consider whether this be not a temptation thrown in your way to discourage you in your work. 

7) Let us remember that we are not engaged in a work that depends all upon reasonings, and prospects and possibilities, and present appearances, but upon the hand and Spirit of God. If He will work, who shall hinder? . . . Meditate on these things. Turn your thoughts to the objects which are more joyful, and the occasions you have for thankfulness. Praise and thanksgiving are springs to the soul and give it new activity.

OK, So Not a Pastor? 
Any Christian can apply this, don't you think? Be where you are. "Occupy till I come" said our Lord (Luke 19:13 KJV). Let us commit ourselves to not only being there, but doing so with all of our hearts. For it is this attitude of service which brings delight to us and to heaven. It is THIS attitude that glorifies God as worthy to be served!