Woodbury Lutheran Church  

Devotion Archive

True Faith: Judgement #111
14th May 2010

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Good Morning Dear Ones,

In the last few weeks, we have been developing a list of what false teachers [prophets] do. 1) They seek out emotionally needy people to join them; 2) their healing of brokenness is only superficial; 3) their preaching may have elements of truth, but its doesn't have the full counsel of God; 4) truths are taken out of context and put in an artificial construct; 5) the lifestyle recommended limits contact with non-members.

Today, we add to this list 6) people are not shown their poverty of Spirit, something needed for God's intervention. If one reviews the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount, the very first beatitude takes on this subject. MT 5: 3, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit; they will inherit the Kingdom of heaven." Exactly what does being poor in Spirit mean? We must begin with RO 3: 23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." We must understand that because of the original sin [GN 3: 1-6], we are born with sin inherited through Adam and Eve. In addition to that, we must add all the sins we ourselves commit. That renders everyone still on earth as a sinner, and there are lots of people who simply don't either understand that or believe it. Only people who have been perfected in God's sight will be glorified, that is, brought back to Him in heaven for a life of eternal bliss. This leaves us without the Holy Spirit to guide us to full righteousness, except for the intervention of our Lord Jesus Christ. After serving a three year ministry, the Lord Jesus suffered and died for us on the cross. In doing so, He became a Propitiation, an acceptable Sin-sacrifice in God's eyes for those of us who are willing to believe in Him [JN 3: 16; RO 3: 24-25]. This is central to an understanding of how a believer is saved. His death on the cross is a huge sacrifice on the Father's part in favor of those who make the choice to believe in Him. Once we have come to faith, we are given the gift of the Holy Spirit [RO 8: 24-26], the one Entity that can give us a conscience, encourage us, and lead us to making righteous and godly decisions.

Once a person recognizes his status as a sinner, then, it is possible for the Holy Spirit to lead him to godly attitudes, good decisions, and behavior that conforms to the teaching of RO 12: 2, "Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete renewal of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God-what is good and pleasing to Him and is perfect." This transformation in attitude and beliefs is not completed in an instant. The willingness to learn what is righteous is there right away, but it takes however long God decides for each individual to learn how to be living a godly life "in Christ." We are given some very comforting promises along the way which are observable. 2 COR 5: 17, "When anyone is joined to Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone and the new is has come." While that's all good and true, understanding what is meant by "a new creation" here is not immediate and yet is very important. Our work and God's work on us is only beginning. COL 3: 9-10 gives us insight into some of the work God is doing. "Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old being with its habits and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator , is constantly renewing in His own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of Himself." We were created in God's image [GN 1: 27], and God wouldn't detest something in His own image. Instead, He reveals His love and willingness to do hard, continuing work on us, so that we might really get to know Him. He does this, knowing that by getting to know Him better, we are likely to fall into a relationship with Him that is real and personal.

God also knows that along the way there will be suffering, loss, illness, and a host of other trials that beset mankind. And yet, He is eager to walk us through these trials, revealing His perspective on them and offering us His protection. PS 71: 20-21, "You have sent trouble and suffering on me, but You will restore my strength; You keep me from the grave; You will make me better than ever; You will comfort me again." There are times of confusion, because a lesson is unfamiliar to us, or God is communicating with us in subtle ways. All of this is designed to strengthen our resolve to believe without breaking it. We are never given a test that is designed to break our spirits [1 COR 10: 13]. We must learn to listen for God's messages, often given to us in the course of prayer, study, or the circumstances of our lives. God wants us to learn the disciplines of daily prayer and study, looking for Him at work, and turning to Him first. These are all things we need to know in order to take full advantage of His wonderful presence and intervention. We must understand that if we don't realize our poverty of Spirit, the process of sanctification [on-going work toward perfecting us] that God does is hindered and even can be brought to a stand-still. We should never do anything or make any decision that the devil loves [EPH 4: 26-27]. Above all, we should never feel like the devil can best God with his power and cunning. The only time he can is when we allow him to do this. We must never forget that another gift we receive when we repent and come to faith in the Lord Jesus is the same power to beat the devil at his own game as the Father used to bring Christ from death to eternal life. [EPH 1: 18-20]. Now in my book, that's considerable!

PRAYER: O Lord, we do come to Your mighty throne with an admission that requires us to depart from our egotism of the past. We are greatly in need of Your guidance, intervention, and ability to strengthen us. We need to know You better and to experience what growing faith in Your Son Jesus Christ can do in our lives. You have told us through Paul in PHIL 4: 13, "We can do anything through the power that Christ gives us." That is hugely important, because we are aware of how sly and cunning the devil is. We know that he knows where we are vulnerable [1 PET 5: 8], and we need Your guidance and intervention to overcome any strongholds he tries to build in us. We don't know without Your help how to be righteous and to please You. You hold nothing back from us, reminding us through Christ, in JN 15: 15, "I do not call you servants any longer, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from My Father." As You hold no secrets back from us, so You also know the contents of our hearts. We can't hide anything from You [HE 4: 13]. Without You, we are weak and ineffectual. With You, we can make the devil flee, lack apathy, and can forge ahead, cooperating with Your work of sanctifying us. You know that we must suffer insults for the sake of our faith. In 1 PET 4: 14, You tell us, " Happy are you if you are insulted because you are Christ's followers; this means that the glorious Spirit, the Spirit of God, is resting on you." If we suffer on account of being a believer, You tell us, in 1 PET 4: 16, "However, if you suffer because You are a Christian, do not be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ's name." What a different, but helpful way of looking at things. And if we are lied to, we must understand that the adversary comes from the "father of all lies" [JN 8: 44], and that we can fight this evil with weapons given to us by You, Dearest Father- ones that destroy the devil's strongholds, his false arguments et al. We are given the power to "pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ" [2 COR 10: 4-5]. We celebrate Your wisdom, compassion, and love for us with our pledge to try to be obedient and faithful. In the mighty name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Next week: We will complete the list of what false prophets [teachers] do by discussing the place of humility in our relationship with God. Each week, we strive to give the Lord more openings in our hearts to fill with knowledge of Himself at the hand of the Holy Spirit. We can't underestimate how powerful and righteous this gift of the Holy Spirit really is. Our personal and very intimate relationships with God are essential to our spiritual maturation, to cooperating with the Lord in this process of purification, and to working toward perfection. The nature of the Covenant of Grace is this two-way promise to be in relationship and to cooperate between ourselves and God. There is never any concern about God fulfilling His part in the covenant, but we must examine our own productivity in it. God wants us to produce spiritual fruit, as defined in GA 5: 22-23. This can't happen without us knowing what God's expectations for us are and what we can expect from Him. That is why we must pay attention to 2 TIM 3: 16-17, which tells us why study of His word is so important and PS 86: 5, 7, and 11 about the importance of prayer matters so much. Take the time to look up these citations and see what I mean. Remember this: PS 145: 15-18, "All living things look hopefully to You and You give them food when they need it. You give them enough and satisfy the needs of all. The Lord is righteous in all He does, merciful in all His acts. He is near to those who call to Him, who call to Him with sincerity." And to think, "His rule is eternal and He is King forever!" (13) Praise and thanks be to God!

Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn

© Lynn Johnson 2012. All Rights Reserved.

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