A Heart for God

A ‘heart for God’ reflects the heart of God!  Is that a true statement?

It is if that hearts love for God is based on an obedient knowledge of God’s heart as revealed in His word!

It is if the experiences of ones life reflect decision-making, interacting with others, a serving, prayerful, Spirit-filled life-style resulting from feeding on the revealed story of God and His grace found in the Bible.

As I think of the message from God’s Word that supports and ‘anchors’ my walk of faith, it is this over-all call of God to know Him, and to grow into His holy likeness!  1 Peter 1:15,16 says “..just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

A careful student of the Bible will be touched by the message that our God is “holy” and He desires that we be holy also.   But to us holiness in the human experience might smack of a “holier than thou” attitude.  How we have let Satan lie to us!

Of course the word “attitude” is a key in this discussion!  But, we must be careful not to buy into the idea  “we can never be perfect…God’s grace will cover it… so why even try?” (Romans 6:1)   We are told in many ways, “be holy, as I am holy.”  God would not tell us this if it were impossible.

My constant prayer for myself and my loved ones is that we will develop hearts for Him that grow out of becoming more and more acquainted, through the word, with His nature, His ways!  We know that Jesus told the apostles when He walked among them that He showed them the ways of His Father!  So there we find we have four books of the New Testament that feed our knowledge of what our holy God is like!! (And you can think of many other scriptures that describe His nature…Psalms being filled with such!)  But for us to be informed that the life/nature of Jesus Christ reveals what our God is like…..how tragic if we treat it lightly, and miss the blessing of knowing our God more intimately!!

One stellar example of the concept of knowing God and having a heart for him is found in Genesis 39:9, where Joseph (after being sold into slavery in Egypt by his jealous brothers, and now entrusted by Potiphar, his Egyptian owner/master, with running his affairs) is tempted by this man’s wife to sleep with her!  Instead of Joseph saying, “I can’t do this…..Potiphar would kill me!!,”  he said, “How then can I do this wicked thing and sin against my God?!”  Oh, if only our young people coming up in the Lord would understand this as a blessed “key” to resisting the temptations in their lives today!  A feeling of the presence of God in our lives is a huge anchor in keeping us strong and focused on the goal of our faith, the salvation of our souls! (1 Peter 1:9)

When we can grasp this true ’anchor point’ of Christian faith, that our decisions and actions must be based on our relationship with our God, our Maker, then we will truly be guided by Him.  We will be able to recognize the “way of escape” every time we are tempted beyond our own human ability to cope.  The One who has shown us the Father, who is our redeeming sacrificial Lamb, pleads at the Father’s side so we can know that our salvation is securely anchored for all eternity!

Prayer:

O Lord, God, our Maker and the One who loves us and is love, thank You, thank You for the assurances You give us in Your Word!  Make us so aware of Your presence in our lives that the Spirit of Christ will always prompt us to take Your way of escape when we are tempted and lured by calls to us from the dark side of this human existence!  I pray You will strengthen our young people for faithful and close experience of Your presence in their lives!  Like Joseph may they have consciences so filled with Your presence they will be strong to resist evil!  Please save your children all over the world now and forevermore without the loss of a one!  In Jesus precious name, Amen

Jan McCoy

Merkel, Texas

Listen Up!

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger. For human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness. So put away all filth and evil excess and humbly welcome the message implanted within you, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:19-21)

Relationships are paramount in our existence – relationships with family members, friends, co-workers, etc. When I read this passage, relationships are the first thing that comes to my mind. People just don’t do everything that we want them to. Sometimes they are unable to do it. Sometimes what we want is the wrong thing. Sometimes our expectations are unreasonable. And sometimes they should be doing what we would like them to be doing, but they don’t. Sometimes they actively pursue those things which they know are not in our best interests – that might harm us. Most of the time, this evokes a negative response from us. We want things our way. If not, get out of our way because we are on the war path!

This is wrong. We should listen, then be quiet. (There is a reason that God gave us two ears and one mouth!) The major problem for us is that we are quick to speak! That’s why we get ourselves into trouble – we are quick to anger because we are quick to speak. In the initial burst of emotion, we should be silent. This delay would greatly limit our fits of anger. Our anger is not godly. When we respond to someone with rage, we are not fulfilling the responsibilities that God has laid out for us. It’s not God’s way for us.

Anger is a very difficult emotion. It’s obviously tough to get a handle on for a lot of us! We can help ourselves by diving into God’s word. By getting into Word and surrendering to what the Spirit gives us we can learn how to reduce our explosive moments – perhaps even rid ourselves of them completely. In their place, we receive that which God requires of us in meekness. Prayer is also a major resource for us – let go and let God.

Father, please help us. Many of us are quick to anger – help us to rectify this. Help us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Grant us peace and an understanding of what your will for us is. Help us to let go of the things that we can’t control. Forgive us when we fail you. It’s through your son and our savior we pray, amen.

Casey Dacus

Graham, TX

He Who Has Ears to Hear

The parable of the rich man and Lazarus is arguably one of the most familiar stories Jesus told (Luke 16:19-31).  And, like every other parable Jesus told, it, too, has a powerful punch line.  After a first reading of this story, most people tend to get lost in speculating about the description of paradise and hell.  While the reality of reward and loss are imbedded in the story, the center of the story is about hearing the gospel.  Whether you take it as a hypothetical story about what the afterlife will be like for those who accept and reject the gospel, or an actually story that occurred on the “other side” of this life, one thing is clear:  the rich man wanted someone to go back to his family and tell them to seriously consider the gospel message.  He said, “I have five brothers and I don’t want them to end up like me.”  Abraham‘s response is interesting.  He understands the rich man’s concern, but he rejects the idea that a “resurrected persuader” would be any more effective than what they already have at their disposal, namely, the Word of God.  “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead” (Luke 16:31).  Hmmm?

Have you ever wished God would go miracle crazy for about a 30 day stretch?  We might envision God doing such things as restoring sight to the blind, healing diseases of every kind and doing scheduled broadcasts of resurrections at a few cemeteries.  Can you imagine the news coverage?  As tantalizing as it sounds, the truth is, Abraham is probably right.  We would commercialize it.  Sensationalize it.  Media moguls would want an exclusive with the people who “got raised.”  We would riddle them with questions about everything from portholes to who they saw to when their book will be published.  But, in the process of hearing and seeing what God had done we would most likely not witness mass conversions in the days that followed.  Abraham said, “If they want God – really want Him – then they can turn to His word.” 

Jesus decried his generation as a wicked generation because they were “sign hungry” (Matthew 12:29).  Give us “one more” and we’ll seriously consider your message!  As Jesus hung from the cross certain ones said, “Come down from the cross that we may see and believe.”   Just give us one more!  Not much has changed.  And, that’s why we need to read this parable every so often.  It underscores two important truths:  one about human nature and the other about the power and completeness of the Word of God.

The rich man got it “after the fact”.  He never accepted the reality and inevitability of death.  Did he ever think about ultimate things?  He lived like a god until he met the living God.  He understood too late.  I’ve often wondered how many times he was in conversations or overhead conversations or had exposure of some kind to “a word about the Lord”? 

We need the punch line of this parable.  It cuts through the noise, distractions and seductions that blind and deafen us to the call of God through the gospel.  It reminds us that we are not the masters of the universe.  But, we are the masters of our destiny as we pay attention to what God has done in Jesus Christ unto our blessing.  He preached it.  He wrote it down for us.  And, perhaps he has put someone into our life who has been trying to lay the blessed news of salvation into our ears.  If we love ourselves then we will listen to God’s wisdom in Jesus Christ.  And, as to whether God might go on another miracle crusade, the magnificent truth before us every day is that we encounter the most incredible supernatural moment a person can experience in this life every time the good news about Jesus Christ lands at our feet.  For it is through the gospel that the living God himself shoulder taps us and says “this is the greatest miracle the world has ever seen.  What do you think about it?”   

Father, give us ears to hear with.  Nothing else matters until we can hear as we should hear.  Give us the calmness of spirit, the serenity of heart and the humility to see our utter need of your grace and mercy in your Son, Jesus Christ.  Thank you for this indescribable gift.  Amen.

Randy Daugherty

Stephenville, Texas