Word for Today, Sat, 05 Nov 2005: Drawing Near to God

#1 · November 5, 2005, 6:04 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on November 5, 2005, 6:04 pm
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Word for Today, Sat, 05 Nov 2005: Drawing Near to God
Dear friends,

Do you know that relationships with God are personal? Yesterday, I
shared a powerful set of scripture passages that explain why we need
Jesus Christ and how we may be 100% certain that we may have an
eternal relationship with God.

Do you know, though, that even though we have an all powerful God, He
will not choose to ever force Himself upon us, though He is certainly
capable, at any instant in time, of accomplishing precisely what He
wants.

Frankly, what He wants is willing, willful praise and adoration from
the prize of His Creation, His people. He doesn't want anything from
us except for the adoration, attention, and attraction that He deeply
desires.

God let man go his own way and leave the Garden of Eden. He leaves us
choices to make today. Yet He greatly desires when we choose Him, for
He knows that we are returning gratitude when we seek God.

However, don't come to God like a genie, looking for your wishes to be
granted. God is gracious and He often does provide many good things
for us. He most certainly gives us everything we need, otherwise we
would not be still alive. God does often give gifts, but think about
children. As parents, we love to give them good gifts because we
enjoy watching the delight in their eyes when they get something new.
However, adults rarely enjoy a child who constantly begs for more and
more. Consider our own requests to God. He is gracious and provides
each one of us with many good gifts, but I am quite sure that He is
not pleased when we "stop by to pray" only when we are looking for
something.

If you have done this before (I know I have at times), confess it
before God. Tell Him that you realize that you have been selfish, and
ask Him to help you deal with self centered desires. Read God's Word
regularly and get a better view of what is truly on God's heart.

I can tell you one thing that I KNOW is on God's heart: redeeming as
many of His people as possible. That's where each one of us can give
back to God and demonstrate our gratitude for what He has already done
for us in saving us. Let others know of God's love. Explain how
Jesus Christ had to give His life in order to redeem us.

Here's why: God is just. God is love. God loves us. He wanted to
give us free choice, so that we could love Him freely, not as
programmed robots or non thinking beings, like the rest of the
animal kingdom. No, God had to make us with a brain containing a will
and a conscience. However, that presented a huge problem. God knew
that giving us a will would cause us to make damaging errors. We call
those errors sin. God cannot tolerate sin, it goes against His Holy,
pure, set apart nature.

Being all powerful and the very essence of love, God could do
something about it, but it would require great personal sacrifice.
Romans 5:8 tells us that God demonstrated His love for us in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. A few verses earlier
in Romans 5:1, we learn that there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Jesus Christ. In chapter ten, verse 13, we learn that
whoever calls upon the name of the Lord SHALL be SAVED.

Armed with those basic truths, which can be confirmed and solidified
with numerous other scriptures, you can know for certain of your own
state in life and your eternal destination, and you can also lead
others to a personal and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Every single believer ought to readily be able to share the hope that
they have and encourage others to accept what Christ has already taken
care of - saving us by accounting for our sinfulness and leading us
back to His beloved Father, our Creator, our God.

Draw near to God. Agree with God that we have been the ones to turn
away, for He is always ever near, and always there to be our constant
helper, guide, lover, and friend. What a wonderful God who made us!

Yours in Christ,
Brian

______________________________________________________________________

-//-----------------------------------------------------------------
/ MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST -- www.heartlight.org/
--/------------------------------------------------------------------

November 4, 2005

THE AUTHORITY OF REALITY

Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.

James 4:8
www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=jas+4:8&sr=1

It is essential to give people a chance of acting on the truth of
God. The responsibility must be left with the individual, you cannot
act for him, it must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical
message ought always to lead a man to act. The paralysis of refusing
to act leaves a man exactly where he was before; when once he acts,
he is never the same. It is the foolishness of it that stands in the
way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God.
Immediately I precipitate myself over into an act, that second I
live; all the rest is existence. The moments when I truly live are
the moments when I act with my whole will.

Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass
without acting on it, not necessarily physically, but in will. Record
it, with ink or with blood. The feeblest saint who transacts business
with Jesus Christ is emancipated the second he acts; all the almighty
power of God is on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, we
confess we are wrong, but go back again; then we come up to it again,
and go back; until we learn that we have no business to go back. We
have to go clean over on some word of our redeeming Lord and transact
business with Him. His word "come" means "transact." "Come unto Me."
The last thing we do is to come; but everyone who does come knows
that that second the supernatural rush of the life of God invades him
instantly. The dominating power of the world, the flesh and the devil
is paralyzed, not by your act, but because your act has linked you on
to God and His redemptive power.

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers //
=============================================================== /===
www.heartlight.org/devotionals/my_utmost /

This email is made possible by YOUR donations! If you've found
our service encouraging or inspiring, we pray you'll give a voluntary
donation to keep this ministry going. Donations are NOT required,
but they are appreciated!
www.heartlight.org/support

This devotional is copyright Oswald Chambers Publications,
< www.oswaldchambers.co.uk >.

======================================================================

--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________
Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.
farechase.yahoo.com

Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>

Word for Today, Sat, 05 Nov 2005: Drawing Near to God
Dear friends,

Do you know that relationships with God are personal? Yesterday, I
shared a powerful set of scripture passages that explain why we need
Jesus Christ and how we may be 100% certain that we may have an
eternal relationship with God.

Do you know, though, that even though we have an all powerful God, He
will not choose to ever force Himself upon us, though He is certainly
capable, at any instant in time, of accomplishing precisely what He
wants.

Frankly, what He wants is willing, willful praise and adoration from
the prize of His Creation, His people. He doesn't want anything from
us except for the adoration, attention, and attraction that He deeply
desires.

God let man go his own way and leave the Garden of Eden. He leaves us
choices to make today. Yet He greatly desires when we choose Him, for
He knows that we are returning gratitude when we seek God.

However, don't come to God like a genie, looking for your wishes to be
granted. God is gracious and He often does provide many good things
for us. He most certainly gives us everything we need, otherwise we
would not be still alive. God does often give gifts, but think about
children. As parents, we love to give them good gifts because we
enjoy watching the delight in their eyes when they get something new.
However, adults rarely enjoy a child who constantly begs for more and
more. Consider our own requests to God. He is gracious and provides
each one of us with many good gifts, but I am quite sure that He is
not pleased when we "stop by to pray" only when we are looking for
something.

If you have done this before (I know I have at times), confess it
before God. Tell Him that you realize that you have been selfish, and
ask Him to help you deal with self centered desires. Read God's Word
regularly and get a better view of what is truly on God's heart.

I can tell you one thing that I KNOW is on God's heart: redeeming as
many of His people as possible. That's where each one of us can give
back to God and demonstrate our gratitude for what He has already done
for us in saving us. Let others know of God's love. Explain how
Jesus Christ had to give His life in order to redeem us.

Here's why: God is just. God is love. God loves us. He wanted to
give us free choice, so that we could love Him freely, not as
programmed robots or non thinking beings, like the rest of the
animal kingdom. No, God had to make us with a brain containing a will
and a conscience. However, that presented a huge problem. God knew
that giving us a will would cause us to make damaging errors. We call
those errors sin. God cannot tolerate sin, it goes against His Holy,
pure, set apart nature.

Being all powerful and the very essence of love, God could do
something about it, but it would require great personal sacrifice.
Romans 5:8 tells us that God demonstrated His love for us in that
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. A few verses earlier
in Romans 5:1, we learn that there is now no condemnation for those
who are in Jesus Christ. In chapter ten, verse 13, we learn that
whoever calls upon the name of the Lord SHALL be SAVED.

Armed with those basic truths, which can be confirmed and solidified
with numerous other scriptures, you can know for certain of your own
state in life and your eternal destination, and you can also lead
others to a personal and saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Every single believer ought to readily be able to share the hope that
they have and encourage others to accept what Christ has already taken
care of - saving us by accounting for our sinfulness and leading us
back to His beloved Father, our Creator, our God.

Draw near to God. Agree with God that we have been the ones to turn
away, for He is always ever near, and always there to be our constant
helper, guide, lover, and friend. What a wonderful God who made us!

Yours in Christ,
Brian

______________________________________________________________________

-//-----------------------------------------------------------------
/ MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST -- http://www.heartlight.org/
--/------------------------------------------------------------------

November 4, 2005

THE AUTHORITY OF REALITY

Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.

James 4:8
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=jas+4:8&sr=1

It is essential to give people a chance of acting on the truth of
God. The responsibility must be left with the individual, you cannot
act for him, it must be his own deliberate act, but the evangelical
message ought always to lead a man to act. The paralysis of refusing
to act leaves a man exactly where he was before; when once he acts,
he is never the same. It is the foolishness of it that stands in the
way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God.
Immediately I precipitate myself over into an act, that second I
live; all the rest is existence. The moments when I truly live are
the moments when I act with my whole will.

Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass
without acting on it, not necessarily physically, but in will. Record
it, with ink or with blood. The feeblest saint who transacts business
with Jesus Christ is emancipated the second he acts; all the almighty
power of God is on his behalf. We come up to the truth of God, we
confess we are wrong, but go back again; then we come up to it again,
and go back; until we learn that we have no business to go back. We
have to go clean over on some word of our redeeming Lord and transact
business with Him. His word "come" means "transact." "Come unto Me."
The last thing we do is to come; but everyone who does come knows
that that second the supernatural rush of the life of God invades him
instantly. The dominating power of the world, the flesh and the devil
is paralyzed, not by your act, but because your act has linked you on
to God and His redemptive power.

MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST - by Oswald Chambers //
=============================================================== /===
http://www.heartlight.org/devotionals/my_utmost /

This email is made possible by YOUR donations! If you've found
our service encouraging or inspiring, we pray you'll give a voluntary
donation to keep this ministry going. Donations are NOT required,
but they are appreciated!
http://www.heartlight.org/support

This devotional is copyright Oswald Chambers Publications,
< http://www.oswaldchambers.co.uk >.

======================================================================

--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/

__________________________________
Yahoo! FareChase: Search multiple travel sites in one click.
farechase.yahoo.com