Grace and The Sovereignty of God

I have been doing more thinking than writing lately, a condition that is probably better for me in the long run. What I have spent a good deal of time thinking about is grace and God's sovereignty.

I have come to some preliminary conclusions. I say preliminary because of well what the conclusions are:

• My study of grace and God's sovereignty is a life-long process: Now you see why my conclusions are preliminary, I do not believe you ever fully plumb the depths of either topic. The more I study, the more I meditate, the more I learn. And the farther I find I have to go.
• I tend to try to limit God's sovereignty: At least I usually do. The more I worry about my little world or expand that worry to what is going on in the world, I am actually limiting the sovereignty of the Lord. He is in control, I usually do not have a clue as to what He is up to until after He has accomplished His purposes.
• I need to keep the His grace and my living the Christian life separate: While I need to accept what He has willed, and do so with at least a minuscule measure of the grace Christ exhibited on earth, and the Father lavished on us from heaven; I do need to try to achieve all I am capable of in living in a Christ-like way. I should not accept what happens in the world without trying to do my part to influence and change it, but I cannot take the burden for righting all the world's problem. It is probably better if I just try to discern what role He has for me in my small corner of things.

So acceptance of His grace and sovereignty comes down to three things: faith, trust and obedience. Faith in God's character, trust that Christ is my salvation and obedience to His will. 

And I need to keep thinking about all of this daily.

Good Riddance

But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your sides, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.

Numbers 33:55-56 (New American Standard Bible)

As the Lord readied the nation of Israel to possess the land He had promised them, He gave very specific instructions as to what to do with the current inhabitants. The Lord knew what these would do to the nation if allowed to stay, and indeed what happened to Israel after they played the harlot to the false gods.

The Lord knows what is good for us to have, what is right to be in our lives. If He wants something removed, I should move swiftly to do so. it will sting and prick me until I do.

Obedience is a blessing. For I will never master what the Lord would rid me of.

Glory and Joy

For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy.

1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 (New American Standard Bible)

In his book Simple Prayers, Ken Boa directly relates this to passage the people who he has the privilege to have a ministry with.

I have to admit, I do not often think that way, but I like where Dr. Boa has taken this. Clearly the glory and joy in our life should be from God, all joy emanates from pleasing Him, all glory should be His, and His alone.

But can a source of it in our lives come from ministering to people He loves, working that they may grow closer to Him as he draws them in, using us as His tools?

Oh yeah, it sure can.

So by ministering to others, I can generation a continual source of glory and joy in my life. By being obedient, I can be rewarded through His love with more than I can ever generate on my own.

My joy.

His glory.

That works for me.

What Is Easy, What Is Hard

There is nothing easier than getting saved, because it is solely God’s sovereign work— "Look to Me, and be saved . . ." ( Isaiah 45:22 ). Our Lord never requires the same conditions for discipleship that he requires for salvation.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: February 2 Devotional

Read this yesterday and it hit me hard. There really is nothing easier than salvation because God does all the work. There is nothing harder than discipleship because following hard after Jesus, living like Christ, cuts against our sinful and selfish nature.

What is His alone is easier for He is sovereign. What is ours to do is hard for we are sinners. Yet the first brings great joy to any who He calls in for it is eternal salvation that we face. The second pleases God because being like His Son is the highest goal we face and it is what He wants for us more than anything else.

You can have the easy through faith, you can get closer to the hard through faithful obedience. You cannot lose the first, but you will never achieve the second until He brings you home.

Technorati Tags: God, Jesus, faith, obedience, joy, salvation, discipleship

How and What Are You Asking?

Our Lord does not mean that our lives will be free from external difficulties and uncertainties, but that just as He knew the Father’s heart and mind, we too can be lifted by Him into heavenly places through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, so that He can reveal the teachings of God to us...Just as Jesus stood unblemished and pure in the presence of His Father, we too by the mighty power and effectiveness of the baptism of the Holy Spirit can be lifted into that relationship...Once in that wonderful position, having been placed there by Jesus Christ, we can pray to God in Jesus’ name—in His nature.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: May 29 Devotional

Jesus did not promise everything in our desire, He promised us everything in His name. If you feel that God is not listening, is it because you are not asking in His name?

The Lord wants us to have as He has, be in a relationship with Him that models the relationship within the Trinity. If you are not asking in the nature that Jesus prayed to His Father, do not be surprised at the answer you get. For that answer will be no. It doesn;t please God toi have to say no to us; the glory we give Him comes from our obedience, of our being in His name.

He Comes First

My post yesterday talked about peace, and coming to peace with God first. After writing that post, I read Oswald Chambers which I have excerpted below. I think I see a pattern here:

When we look at these words of Jesus, we immediately find them to be the most revolutionary that human ears have ever heard. ". . . seek first the kingdom of God . . . ." Even the most spiritually-minded of us argue the exact opposite, saying, "But I must live; I must make a certain amount of money; I must be clothed; I must be fed." The great concern of our lives is not the kingdom of God but how we are going to take care of ourselves to live. Jesus reversed the order by telling us to get the right relationship with God first, maintaining it as the primary concern of our lives, and never to place our concern on taking care of the other things of life.

Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: May 21 Devotional

I have been trying to walk in my faith long enough to realize when the same message comes through different means it is something I should stop, stand still and listen to. Have I been thinking about myself more than I have been thinking about putting God first? I didn't think so, but the message coming through is "Yes, you have."

So now I need to stop, stand still and listen to what it is God is trying to tell me, to get through that thick skull of mine. (I have always felt that if I had become President of the United States, I would wind up on Mt. Rushmore. No extra granite needed, just put my skull up there after I am gone from this world.)

My prayers need to focus less on worry and more on listening for God's voice and God's will. Future plans for school, ministry and life are in His hands, I need to await quietly for Him to open Them and show me what He holds in His palm for my future.

Less anticipation of what I seek, more expectation of what He will provide. Less praying for specific direction (which turns out to be my view of things), more praying for opportunities to discern His will (which forces me to look at things the way He does).

He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this:
Revelation 3:7b (NASB)

If God wills it, no one can stop it, nor make it happen if He wills it not. Let me put Him first in thought and prayer and the rest will work out. I get the message, I pray for wisdom and strength to carry it out.

The Only One Who Is Right

Some reflections culled out of a page in the day of the life of my journal.

Who is it that we should follow after?

Is it ourselves?

In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25 (NASB)

While it does not say it, you cannot read this verse and come away feeling that this is the right thing to do.

Is it others?

You shall not follow the masses in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after a multitude in order to pervert justice.
Exodus 23:2 (NASB)

That sounds like a problem.

If neither, who?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NASB)

Let's face it, I am not telling you something you do not already know.

So why are you having trouble doing it?