Do you seek out the will of the Father as you go about living each and every day? Do you say that you do the things which Jesus taught, and yet neglect to ask, seek, and knock on the door of God in search of His Holy will? If this is true then you are in dire straights, and Jesus will know you not when you stand in judgement. Nothing was more important to Him than to do His Father’s will.
What does the sabbath mean to you, is it simply a day of rest, a day off from work, or is there much more to this day than sleeping a little longer than usual, and going to church for a couple of hours? The Sabbath is the only day of the week that is called holy. God blessed it, and set it apart from all the rest, but did you know that there were three sabbaths celebrated during the first Holy Week of Passover?
Do you read the Bible each day, diligently adhere to the commandments, and perform acts of mercy as a mater of daily routine? Do you pray that God forgive you of your sins as you prepare to walk out the door in the morning, and place a check beside that on your list of righteous things to do? Well all these things are good, but God doesn’t want to be reduced to a checklist; he wants to be your closest friend, your most trusted confidant, the one you come to with every thing that excites you in life... he wants a relationship that places Him at the true center of your life... your BFF. We can’t do this without constant prayer.
When you are serving God do you seek to further perfect what He has given you to do? If He tells you to build a neighborhood church do you build a parsonage as well? We hear the voice of God, we hear what He would have us do, and then presume we know what comes next. Have you been guilty of this? Did it seem innocent as you placed words in the mouth of God?
What do you think of during communion? What was happening on that day of the first communion in which Jesus offered the bread of His body and the cup of His blood to the disciples? On that day they were celebrating the Passover feast, eating the Seder meal, and it has a certain order and meaning to all of its parts. Every movement, every food, each cup of wine has meaning and timing. When did Jesus offer Himself to His disciples? What did it imply?
Do you win souls to Jesus Christ, and by doing so fill the nets of heaven for God Himself? What did it take for you to follow Jesus once you heard His voice calling you? Did you drop whatever you were doing and follow Him, or did you look away and think about it for a while? When Jesus calls us, His presence is so overpowering that we abandon our old life and begin our journey with Him at once, but at that moment... do we really know who He is?
How do you view holiness? Are you a humble and holy person? Are you this because you say you are, or because others see it in you and say “this person is humble, and holy indeed”? If you think you have achieved a certain degree of humility and holiness before God do you use it to separate yourself from those who have not? In Isaiah 65 we hear God speaking of such actions and He calls them rebellious.
Are you someone who is flirting with the idea of accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and are fearful of committing because you don’t know if you have within you the ability to stand by that commitment for a lifetime? Or perhaps you are already a Christian and worry that your faith isn’t strong enough to carry on in the face of the temptation that surrounds you. Well, do not fear, and trust in the Holy Spirit to sustain you, and build your faith.
Do you really live your life for God? Do you order your day to please Him, and follow Jesus with everything that is within you? Or, do you live your life from one repentance to the next asking for forgiveness of sins that you deem to be acceptable and unavoidable wounds that you receive each day as you live life in the world? A price was paid for you, and it wasn’t done so that you could almost accept the transaction; so that you would remain the property of the world.
How do we pray for others each day? I am not asking about those who have a specific need, and for whom we make intercession, but for our families, friends, those we don’t know yet, and even our enemies? Do you even think to pray for some of these?
Have you given up on certain desires because you prayed for them once, twice, three times, and they were not given to you? Have you resolved yourself to the fact that God just doesn’t want you to have this thing, or that He just doesn’t hear you? Well, if you are praying rightly in the will of God and not asking Him to go against His character and Word, then neither of these assumptions are correct. Persistent prayer leads us into the very crux of faith.
Do you suffer, or cry in this life? Do you hunger or thirst in your days here in this world? Do you long spiritually for fulfillment, and yearn to see the face of God? Well, take heart; for those who are washed in the blood of Jesus Christ have a heavenly existence waiting for them in which there will be no suffering, hunger, thirst, tears, nor longing to see the face of God. The blood of Jesus prepares us for the glorious eternity of heaven, and to be encamped with God.
Has God placed something on your heart, or called you to do a work for Him that you are not doing? Have you listened to his voice speaking within you and made excuses to avoid performing as He has asked? We make lots of excuses when God speaks, sometimes because what He asks sounds hard, sometimes because it requires sacrifice, and sometimes because we doubt our ability. Are you in the midst of this right now?
Do you seek the will of God in everything that you do? No? Then how often do you ask the Lord what He would have you do? We are inclined to wake up in the morning, get dressed, and go about our daily duties as we see fit while either assuming we are within God’s will, or not giving it a second thought. However, this is not what He would have us do.
Jesus loves us, this sounds like such a simple statement, and is indeed the repeating theme of a childish worship song whose lyrics begin “Jesus loves me this I know”, but do we really know this? Do we understand the depth and complexity of His love for us? A bigger question is, how do we experience this love.