Friendship with God!!
Verse for Today: Sunday, July 31, 2011
Psalms 25:14 - The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them.
Understanding God as a friend of His people is a truth that pervades the entire scriptures. God is generally understood as the Saviour, Lord, Master and Deliverer of His people. It is also not difficult to understand God who hears the prayers of His children and answers them. But when we inquire further, we can see that God is willing to keep a very close relationship with His children. They once ran away from God and turned their backs on Him. But He came back to man and offered to wipe away his sinful past if he confessed and truly repented. At the same time it is God's desire that man becomes His friend so as to share in the thoughts and plans He has for man. Abraham was a friend of God and God revealed His plans for the world as a whole to him. When God decided to pour out His wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah, it was revealed beforehand to His friend Abraham. God gave Enoch the privilege to walk with Him as a friend for 300 years. He spoke to His servant Moses just as friends talk. He took Paul to heaven and revealed divine mysteries to him. Such in-depth relationship is available to God's children if they are willing to know God deeply, take His Word seriously and fear Him as a consuming fire. Enoch feared and revered God because of the judgement of God that awaited the world and he sanctified God in his heart with utmost reverence and respect. Moses trembled before God and lived in the fear of the Almighty. Abraham knew God with His awesome holiness and magnificence and that made him live in the fear of God. Paul saw the glory of the Risen Lord which turned his life full of the reverence to the Lord. His servants like Samuel, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah and others feared the Lord and drew themselves as close to God as possible. He recognized their sincerity in devotion and treated them as His friends, and revealed His plans to them. Today He is willing to give us the privilege to know Him intimately and deeply to be able to fear Him with our whole heart, soul, life and mind. Then we would qualify to know the secrets of God.
Dear friend, how is the barometer of 'fear of God' in your life? It is one thing to act out our 'fear of God' in front of others, but a totally different thing to have the true fear of God in our hearts. It is not what we tell Him that matters, but rather what He sees in us which alone is taken seriously by the Lord. It depends on the extent to which we keep renewing our minds and live in a spirit of revival with continuous repentance of our sins and inadequacies. It is directly related to the extent of our desires, priorities and devotion to Him and His kingdom. It is a practical demonstration of how much we take His Word seriously and adjust our lives accordingly. It demonstrates whether we truly believe in His promises and live on the basis of the hope He has planted in our hearts. It stems from a life which is totally and absolutely dependent on the power of His Spirit and the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we thus know the Lord and become His through total and absolute surrender to His will, we will begin to walk closer to Him in fear of His awesome glory. Thus when we know Him, He will want to confide in us and share in the mysteries of His will concerning our lives and pathways. This is how our ministries will be impacted by the Lord as He makes us to amplify His glory. He will then use us as He used Noah, Elijah, John the Baptizer and Paul to warn, edify and encourage others to walk in the fear and admonition of God. May we seek a closer walk with Him so that He could confide with us and reveal His will in our lives and that of others around us!
John 15:15b - But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Thought for Today
The depth of our commitment, faith and fear of God are the yardstick on the basis of which we become friends with God.
Verse for Today: Sunday, July 31, 2011
Psalms 25:14 - The Lord confides in those who fear Him; He makes His covenant known to them.
Understanding God as a friend of His people is a truth that pervades the entire scriptures. God is generally understood as the Saviour, Lord, Master and Deliverer of His people. It is also not difficult to understand God who hears the prayers of His children and answers them. But when we inquire further, we can see that God is willing to keep a very close relationship with His children. They once ran away from God and turned their backs on Him. But He came back to man and offered to wipe away his sinful past if he confessed and truly repented. At the same time it is God's desire that man becomes His friend so as to share in the thoughts and plans He has for man. Abraham was a friend of God and God revealed His plans for the world as a whole to him. When God decided to pour out His wrath on Sodom and Gomorrah, it was revealed beforehand to His friend Abraham. God gave Enoch the privilege to walk with Him as a friend for 300 years. He spoke to His servant Moses just as friends talk. He took Paul to heaven and revealed divine mysteries to him. Such in-depth relationship is available to God's children if they are willing to know God deeply, take His Word seriously and fear Him as a consuming fire. Enoch feared and revered God because of the judgement of God that awaited the world and he sanctified God in his heart with utmost reverence and respect. Moses trembled before God and lived in the fear of the Almighty. Abraham knew God with His awesome holiness and magnificence and that made him live in the fear of God. Paul saw the glory of the Risen Lord which turned his life full of the reverence to the Lord. His servants like Samuel, Elijah, Jeremiah, Isaiah and others feared the Lord and drew themselves as close to God as possible. He recognized their sincerity in devotion and treated them as His friends, and revealed His plans to them. Today He is willing to give us the privilege to know Him intimately and deeply to be able to fear Him with our whole heart, soul, life and mind. Then we would qualify to know the secrets of God.
Dear friend, how is the barometer of 'fear of God' in your life? It is one thing to act out our 'fear of God' in front of others, but a totally different thing to have the true fear of God in our hearts. It is not what we tell Him that matters, but rather what He sees in us which alone is taken seriously by the Lord. It depends on the extent to which we keep renewing our minds and live in a spirit of revival with continuous repentance of our sins and inadequacies. It is directly related to the extent of our desires, priorities and devotion to Him and His kingdom. It is a practical demonstration of how much we take His Word seriously and adjust our lives accordingly. It demonstrates whether we truly believe in His promises and live on the basis of the hope He has planted in our hearts. It stems from a life which is totally and absolutely dependent on the power of His Spirit and the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we thus know the Lord and become His through total and absolute surrender to His will, we will begin to walk closer to Him in fear of His awesome glory. Thus when we know Him, He will want to confide in us and share in the mysteries of His will concerning our lives and pathways. This is how our ministries will be impacted by the Lord as He makes us to amplify His glory. He will then use us as He used Noah, Elijah, John the Baptizer and Paul to warn, edify and encourage others to walk in the fear and admonition of God. May we seek a closer walk with Him so that He could confide with us and reveal His will in our lives and that of others around us!
John 15:15b - But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
Thought for Today
The depth of our commitment, faith and fear of God are the yardstick on the basis of which we become friends with God.
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