09/17/2024
This morning let’s delve into wanting ALL of God. The praying Christian shouldn't be satisfied with having a minimum commitment to their faith, but should desire to grow each day into a fullness of faith, and more complete realization of God's presence. Falling into the trap of living each day as if it were our first, and never growing in our belief, and depth of faith, is an easy one. By merely accepting our infancy in Christ, and being satisfied with that, will win us eternal life, but it is the burning desire to know and love Him more which wraps us more tightly in His loving arms and leads us to a more perfect existence.
In his devotional writing Pastor E.M. Bounds recognized this overwhelming need to know the Father more, and to increase in His will, when he wrote these words...
"Praying people want all that God has in store for them. They are not satisfied with low religious life; superficial, vague, and indefinite.
Praying people constantly strive for more. They are not after being saved from sin, but saved from all sin, both inward and outward.
They are not only after deliverance from sinning, but from sin itself..." – E. M. Bounds
An attribute of the trap I spoke of is being satisfied with being forgiven of our sins each day, but for those who pray as they ought, the goal of those prayers is to escape sin all together. God gives us that ability, but it is a strength that only He can bring forth within us.
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 KJV
We study God's Word, and in so doing sin is not unknown to us, and we pray so that the temptations and the pitfalls of those sins don't overcome or defeat us. There is a saying... "Ignorance is no excuse", and sin proves this true. Psalm 19 contains a prayer regarding just such sin.
“Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”
Psalms 19:12-13 KJV
Jesus also knew that sins committed without our knowledge still need to be forgiven, and we see this in His prayer from the cross when He prayed for our unknown sins...
“Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.”
Luke 23:34 KJV
I pray each morning that "God forgive me of my sins, those I've committed knowingly, unknowingly, and by abstention." Each day we should pray for a closer walk with the Lord, one that gives us the strength to resist sin, that opens our eyes to sins previously unknown, and for those we commit by not doing His will. We should pray that He gives us the courage to stand up against all the sin that tempts us in the world. Our prayers shouldn't be chained to asking forgiveness for the same familiar sins we commit day after day, nor for our well known sinful natures. No, we should be seeking all that God can offer us as we battle sin in our lives… not just those we know we have committed, but those that we committed unknowingly, and those we commit by our inaction, and disobedience.
I have a child who talked in class during elementary school. Each report card contains a comment, and every parent/teacher conference started the same way "we need to get control of the constant talking in class." It was the same infraction being committed over and over again until finally maturity began to take hold and self-control won out over the desire to talk incessantly. We do the same thing in our lives with certain sins. We commit them over and over... each time praying emphatically for forgiveness. It isn't until we begin to ask God for the strength to resist those sins, or to teach us the way out of them, that we conquer them completely. In our prayers and in our faith, we shouldn't accept a state of immaturity, but we should seek ALL of Him and a faith that grows stronger each and every day.
I pray that we will each ask God to give us the strength to not only resist sin, but to escape it. I pray that our Lord will strengthen us physically, in faith, and in resolve, that our sins, and the notion of sin, can be defeated; overcome. I ask that we each seek ALL of God in our lives, and a fullness of spirituality so that Jesus will know us on judgement day, and that in our daily walk, it will not be necessary for Jesus to intercede for us with His merciful prayer from the cross... "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Prayer:
Father, thank you for the intercessory prayer of your Son Jesus as He prays for each of us. Thank you as He asks you to forgive us for ALL of our sins, and not just those we realize we have committed. Thank you Lord for His obedience to your will that led Him to take ALL of our sins from us, and unto Himself…. O, what grace you showed us in that moment, what love He demonstrated towards us, and what relief we receive in the absence of sin. Guide us in our unceasing prayers Heavenly Father, and let no stone go unturned as we join in the prayers of Jesus as He asks for our forgiveness, and righteousness. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who sent your only begotten Son to redeem us, and to free us from the clutches of our sin. Holy are you who loved us even though we were yet sinners, and who could see our perfection beyond the demise of that sin we carried. Hear our prayers today and forevermore as we praise you, honor you, and love you with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, for the merciful grace which flows over us through Jesus. Help us to find the perfection in Christ that you saw in each of us from before the foundation of the world. Help us to hear your voice as you not only say “It is good” in regards to our creation, but that you blessed us mightily. O, that we love you now as you have always loved us. O, that we go and sin no more as Jesus has so often told us to do. Hear the prayers of your Son as He prays for us Father, and hear our prayers as we join Him in praying for the remission of our sins. Hear us praising you, worshipping you, and giving you all the glory for your many blessings in our lives… hear us thanking you for extending eternity to us so that we could be in your arms, and in your presence forevermore.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen!
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
Genesis 1:27-31 ESV
“Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.””
John 8:10-11 ESV
Rich Forbes