The world is five sunrises away from Christmas morning, and the day we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Thank God Almighty we aren’t still awaiting His birth, but celebrating that which has already come! As with the birthdays of my own children, I reminisce, and think about that day Jesus was born; it brings the same tears to my eyes. Now He is with us always, every minute, day, and week... so listen as I praise Him... listen as I speak...
Are you having a hard time touching God with your prayers? Do you pray only to find an empty feeling, and conclude by wondering if God has heard you at all? If this is so, then it is time to look not at God, but inward into yourself. Upon introspection you will find something in you that is standing between the Lord, and you... a sin you cherish more than the Peace of Christ, and your heavenly relationship; a sin that needs to be severed from you before you can reinvigorate your conversation with God.
Do you trust enough in God to allow yourself to be used unconditionally to accomplish His good will? Do you believe that He brings bad situations upon you, or do you believe He uses you amidst bad situations for His good purposes?
Hearing the gospel, and having it fall on that fertile spot within you creates a need for it that is unquenchable. Are you one of those in whom the gospel of Jesus Christ has found a slight furrow inside you into which its seed has fallen and taken root? If so then despite the season you you are in, you will be called to tend it... time and time again, day after day, until it bears sweet fruit. For all others there is darkness and a withering.
Are you completely dressed and ready for the day, or have you professed your belief in God and Jesus Christ, but not clothed yourself in those things they provide you that will protect you against the world? On top of that, are you ready to wrestle with the issues pertaining to God’s will for your life that require you to be more than an unthinking creature?
Do you read a simple devotional each morning? Is it one that speaks the truth to you in an interesting new way, or one that takes what is comfortable for you and bends the truth to fit it? Finding the right author who doesn’t caudal our humanity at the peril of our spirituality is the struggle... for both the author, who might be doing harm to God’s Word, and ourselves, as we accept a possibly false premise and feel comfortable in its fallacy.
Feeling the Peace of Christ is one of the most treasured and coveted aspects of the Christian faith; it is a reward for obedience and is our harvest for believing, and living our lives as Jesus instructed us. Do you have the Peace of Christ today? Do you understand the difference between the peace of the world and the Peace of Christ?
How do you pray in intercession? Do you give your own instruction to the person for whom you pray, or do you place their suffering or other need before God and ask His will be communicated, and done, for them? One of the greatest snares in intercession is to allow our sympathy to step between the person requesting prayer, and God. When this happens we attempt to fill the void that only God is qualified to fill.
Are you an individual? Do you see yourself as distinctly and physically individual? How about your personality? In fact, the one is what you are, and the other is who you are. As individuals we are referring to our physical selves, and although alike in many ways, God has made each of us unique. Our personalities, on the other hand are experienced more than seen, and so boundless in their nature that only God can truly understand them. When Jesus speaks in John 17:22-23, which of these is he referring to?
Do you attempt to hide who you are from God by covering yourself in some fashion? Do you pretend to be spiritually in control when in fact you are anything but? Are your sins hidden within you where you feel they are safe from God’s eyes? Who do you fool, but yourself? Lay your iniquities before you and seek God’s help in dealing with them, because He has known them all along... even in the recesses of your heart.
We are creatures of both natural and spiritual construction. It is God’s desire that our natural selves be disciplined, and come under the authority of the spiritual, but that wild and unschooled nature is not a passive student in this transition. Have you gained control over your natural self? are you waiting for God to make this choice for you? Well He has His desire, but the choice remains yours.
Have you given up everything you are to Jesus Christ? It is easy to lay down the sin, and bad things in our lives, but have you also laid down the good? Abandoning those things that we naturally identify as good is the most profound test of our faith. Being able to leave behind anything that is contrary in order to immerse ourselves in God’s will for us is the epitome of faithfulness and obedience.
We don’t enter into heaven to live an eternal life because we deserve it. That kind of thinking is based upon our own vanity and arrogance. Our salvation and ever lasting life is sealed by covenant, and that covenant comes by God’s acceptance of the death of Jesus Christ as our blood sacrifice. Only through Him can we be redeemed, perfected, and sanctified. Only through Him can we claim the covenant of grace.
Do you feel grief today before God? Is your heart breaking within you for some sin that convicts you unrelentingly? I am not speaking about a superficial knowledge of having done something wrong, but rather the understanding of a sin that emanates from your very soul. Are you seeking repentance for wrongdoing that has brought you to godly grief?
Are you in a covenant relationship with God? Have you accepted the blood of Jesus Christ as the inauguration of that covenant? Has God’s grace and forgiveness of sin through the sacrifice of Jesus become your blood offering that has sealed this covenant? We see the cross and say “this is the covenant”, but it is only a sign. We see the rending of the temple curtain and say “this is the covenant”, but it is only a sign. We see the empty tomb and say “this is the covenant”, but it too is only a sign. The covenant is forgiveness, and the blood of Jesus is the offering that seals it. Is His blood upon you?