Rewire Your Heart Day #10

[Mayflower]

Last day y'all!!! Thanks for doing the study with me.

Rewire Your Heart: 10 Days To Fight Sin • Devotional
https://bible.com/reading-plans/12779/day/10?segment=0

Scriptures:

"Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear."
Deuteronomy 29:4 NASB1995

“Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live."
Deuteronomy 30:6 NASB1995

Our Hearts Need God
David Bowden

This is the tenth and final day of our study of the “heart.” After everything we’ve looked at, there is one final question we need to ask. Can we change our own hearts?

Are we capable of doing the inner work of heart transformation necessary to follow God, adore Jesus, and listen to the Spirit? The answer is no.

We find a very strange statement in the book of Deuteronomy after God had given the people of Israel all the laws they would need to observe to stay in fellowship with him.

“But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear” (29:4).

Israel could not understand the things of God, nor could they truly listen to his commands in such a way that they would obey them. Why? Because their hearts were not right.

After this verse, God tells them that, in the near future, they are going to break his covenant and fall under his wrath. And sure enough, as we read the rest of the Bible, we realize this is exactly what happens.

So what hope did they have? What hope do we have? If we can’t follow God’s commands and stay in right relationship with him, what are they, and we, to do?

We need new hearts.

Thankfully, in the next chapter of Deuteronomy God makes a promise to fix our hearts. This is our text for today.

God says that he will circumcise our hearts, so that we will love him. God himself must and will perform an inner surgery on us. He will change our hearts.

This is what Jesus does for us through the work of the Holy Spirit. If you have put your faith in Jesus and his Gospel, then you have already experienced part of this work. We cannot believe in Jesus without this inner work of the Holy Spirit.

God continues to work on us every day as well. He operates on our hearts daily. And the point of the operation is told to us in this verse: that we may love him with our whole hearts.

Do you want to change your heart? Call out to God and ask him to change it. Only he can do it.

The only other thing to do is cast all your love on God through Christ. Consider everything he has done for you on the cross. Think about the fact that he is coming back to dwell with you forever. As your love for God grows, your heart will continue to change.

Rejoice in the Gospel, and God will rewire your heart.

For more on this idea, I invite you to check out my book “Rewire Your Heart.”

First Thought:

Praise the Lord who draws me to love Him more!!!! He circumcised my heart and is transforming me into His image!!!!

 

[Mayflower]

@Hidden In Him
@amadeus

Bumped.

 

[amadeus]

@Mayflower @Hidden In Him
When it comes right down to it... all alone we cannot change or replace our own heart with a heart for God. Jesus opened up the closed Door, but it seems obvious to me that not many of all the multitudes have really walked through it.

The power of the Holy Ghost is the very power of God Himself so with that power our heart can be renewed or replaced, but it also seems to me like many people who have met the Master have also quenched the Holy Spirit of God.

Our salvation is to be found in the name of Jesus if it is to be found at all:

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12

What does it take to get it done? Like little Samuel when we hear God call us or when we feel Him drawing us we need to respond to Him through His Son.

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" John 6:44

Having been drawn by the Father to Jesus then what?

What do these words mean to us?

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Ezek 36-26-27

Sounds like a description of the new birth in the NT. Does a new heart make a new man?

"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Eph 4:23-24

Once we have been drawn to Jesus and we have reached out to him, will he not help us as new born or reborn children, to become what God wants us to be?

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" Matt 7:11

Then again are we really hungry and thirsty?

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" Matt 5:6

 

[Mayflower]

@Mayflower @Hidden In Him
When it comes right down to it... all alone we cannot change or replace our own heart with a heart for God. Jesus opened up the closed Door, but it seems obvious to me that not many of all the multitudes have really walked through it.

The power of the Holy Ghost is the very power of God Himself so with that power our heart can be renewed or replaced, but it also seems to me like many people who have met the Master have also quenched the Holy Spirit of God.

Our salvation is to be found in the name of Jesus if it is to be found at all:

"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12

What does it take to get it done? Like little Samuel when we hear God call us or when we feel Him drawing us we need to respond to Him through His Son.

"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him" John 6:44

Having been drawn by the Father to Jesus then what?

What do these words mean to us?

"A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." Ezek 36-26-27

Sounds like a description of the new birth in the NT. Does a new heart make a new man?

"And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." Eph 4:23-24

Once we have been drawn to Jesus and we have reached out to him, will he not help us as new born or reborn children, to become what God wants us to be?

"If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" Matt 7:11

Then again are we really hungry and thirsty?

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled" Matt 5:6

Amen, Amadeus, and I believe this is the overall point the author was trying to make.

We are all the better the more we hunger and thirst after righteousness and pursue Him in transformation from fleshly desires.

 

[Hidden In Him]

Amen, Amadeus, and I believe this is the overall point the author was trying to make.

We are all the better the more we hunger and thirst after righteousness and pursue Him in transformation from fleshly desires.

Gonna check this one out in awhile. Been a busy day, but I haven't forgotten.

 

[Hidden In Him]

Last day y'all!!! Thanks for doing the study with me.

Rewire Your Heart: 10 Days To Fight Sin • Devotional
https://bible.com/reading-plans/12779/day/10?segment=0

Greetings Mayflower! So sorry this took so long. Been a rather hectic few days.

Ok, let me quote the full passage of scripture he is referring to here, and I am just gonna comment on a few things.


(29) 1 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. 5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

10 “All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today 16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, 17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold); 18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; 19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

20 “The Lord would not spare him; for then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, 22 so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it:

23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ 24 All nations would say, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ 25 Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; 26 for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. 27 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. 28 And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’ 29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

(30) 1 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 29 - 30)


Alright, I'm not 100% sure I know what argument the study writer is making. Is he saying that God circumcises our hearts purely by grace, or through a process like what He put the Israelites through? See, that is how I interpret the passage above. The WAY God brought them to that place of finally having eyes to see and ears to hear was by through the hardships they experienced. Before they experienced the 40 years in the wilderness, they might have not fully believed in the curses and blessings of God for either disobedience or obedience. Now they had proof of it. They had now seen what had happened to those who fell in the wilderness.

This was the same teaching Paul gave, referring to them as our examples, so that we not fall by the same example of disobedience and unbelief:

1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.... (1 Corinthians 10:1-14).

I think God was working on the New Testament church in the same way He worked on Israel in the wilderness. As stated in an earlier study, they too were suffering judgments from God, and some were "falling," or as he said literally, "some of you are sick and some have fallen asleep," i.e. because they drank the cup unworthily.

So I think the eyes to see and ears to hear can only really come through time, after we learn some things the hard way. Maybe not all of us have to learn the hard way, but I think many of us do. Again, this is also referred to in Hebrews when the writer discusses how "the Lord disciplines those He loves." But after that time of discipline there comes that "peaceable fruit of righteousness," and we learn to understand things better...

Let me stop here and ask if you think the study writer was saying the same thing, or maybe saying something different. I know with many Christians today there is this tendency to talk as if the Lord sort of does things magically at the moment of conversation, or after the Holy Spirit is poured out. But I've never found that to be the case. Certainly our hearts are alive unto God when we get saved, but I find that the way to sanctification is through the fires of adversity, just as both the Old and New Testaments teach.

Let me know what you think and feel free to speak. I'm sure there are others here who might disagree, and I'm fine with that. In fact, let me tag Mark for this. He's usually good for this kind of discussion.

@marks

 

[marks]

Certainly our hearts are alive unto God when we get saved, but I find that the way to sanctification is through the fires of adversity, just as both the Old and New Testaments teach.

I believe that God has as many ways of working in His children as He has children.

At the end of the day, I believe when we are born again, we become completely new, born from God, as spiritually alive as we ever will be. I believe that we are living in bodies which are corrupted by the effects of sin, and that these bodies being currupted this way act accordingly, in corruption and sin.

I think that when we are reborn, there needs to come a renewing of the mind, when is God retraining us to think in our minds His new way, and not our old ways.

I think that the body continues in this fashion until it's physical demise, and therefore we will always find ourselves in conflict with it, however, when we are reborn, it's power over us ends. But we have a tendency to not believe it.

Old ways are ingrained into our brains, literally. By faith we live a transcendant life of the spirit/Spirit, and these things don't matter. In those times we are not attaining to that "Higher Ground", we are seeking to promote what is good, and subdue what is bad, improving our character. I think of this as giving ourselves a better toolbox.

But in faith in Christ, we are able to sidestep that entirely, and simply trust and love, in a moment by moment life with our Creator, transcendant over the flesh. Totally deaf to it's screaming. Able to assess and appropriately address it's various appetites.

For me, this is what "rewiring your heart" is all about. It's trusting in the victory won for us by Jesus Christ. That it's real, and it's now, and that our life can be lived in that victory over all of our passions, walking in His good works.

Now we are children of God, but it doesn't yet appear what we shall be. But we know that when we see Him, we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure.

This hope . . . the expectation of the good to come, in this case, our transformation to be like Him . . . He will change our vile body to be like His glorious body . . . this hope causes us to live pure lives.

If you want to know victory over sin, and evil desires, the sinful passions of the flesh, this is how. Set your mind in faith on the fact that when you see Jesus as He is, you WILL be like Him!

This is the faith that He has won for us the victory.

Much love!

 

[Hidden In Him]

I believe that God has as many ways of working in His children as He has children.

At the end of the day, I believe when we are born again, we become completely new, born from God, as spiritually alive as we ever will be. I believe that we are living in bodies which are corrupted by the effects of sin, and that these bodies being currupted this way act accordingly, in corruption and sin.

I think that when we are reborn, there needs to come a renewing of the mind, when is God retraining us to think in our minds His new way, and not our old ways.

I think that the body continues in this fashion until it's physical demise, and therefore we will always find ourselves in conflict with it, however, when we are reborn, it's power over us ends. But we have a tendency to not believe it.

I never asked you this, Mark, but what do you think about the way the Old Testament saints were spiritually alive unto God, as opposed to being "born from above" as referred to in the New Testament?

 

[marks]

but what do you think about the way the Old Testament saints were spiritually alive unto God,

That's a fairly broad question, can you pick out one or more passages to illustrate what you have in mind?

Were they "spiritually alive" to God? What is the significance of saying "spiritually" alive? I'm thinking of Romans 6, we are to reckon we are dead indeed unto sin, and "alive" unto God in Jesus Christ our Lord.

I do not think those before Jesus' resurrection were alive unto God in the way that Romans 6 talks about us being alive unto God. They were born from Adam, and we are born from God.

Much love!

 

[Hidden In Him]

I do not think those before Jesus' resurrection were alive unto God in the way that Romans 6 talks about us being alive unto God. They were born from Adam, and we are born from God.

Ok, well this is what I was asking kinda. My question was essentially, what do you think was the difference between a relationship with God in the Old Testament and a relationship with Him in the New? You see, the passages I quoted together in Post #6 speak to me a lot of things. I think He was promising to open their eyes and ears and even circumcise their hearts way back in Old Testament times, so I'm wondering what you think the difference is between the two groups of people in light of the new covenant.

 

[Ronald Nolette]

Ok, well this is what I was asking kinda. My question was essentially, what do you think was the difference between a relationship with God in the Old Testament and a relationship with Him in the New? You see, the passages I quoted together in Post #6 speak to me a lot of things. I think He was promising to open their eyes and ears and even circumcise their hearts way back in Old Testament times, so I'm wondering what you think the difference is between the two groups of people in light of the new covenant.

The biggest difference between the relationships in the old and New TEstament is in the New we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as an eternal pledge, while in the Old they only had the ondwelling presence of the Spirit.

That is why David prayed in Psalm 51, take not your Holy Spirit from me. We do not pray this prayer because He will never leave us or forsake us!

Both Old and New testament saints had eternal security based on the blood of Jesus, but we have greater advbantages over the OT saints.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hidden In Him]

The biggest difference between the relationships in the old and New TEstament is in the New we have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit as an eternal pledge, while in the Old they only had the ondwelling presence of the Spirit.

That is why David prayed in Psalm 51, take not your Holy Spirit from me. We do not pray this prayer because He will never leave us or forsake us!

Both Old and New testament saints had eternal security based on the blood of Jesus, but we have greater advbantages over the OT saints.

Hope this helps.

Greetings, Ronald.

Never been a believer in eternal security myself, but I would be interested in any other scriptures you have suggesting the Spirit merely dwelt upon God's people in OT times. I have never come to a full conclusion on that, though I do recall reading an excellent post one time that quoted scriptures which seemed to say the opposite.

 

[Hidden In Him]

Greetings Mayflower! So sorry this took so long. Been a rather hectic few days.

Ok, let me quote the full passage of scripture he is referring to here, and I am just gonna comment on a few things.


(29) 1 These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He made with them in Horeb.

2 Now Moses called all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land— 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear, to this very day. 5 And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn out on your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or similar drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we conquered them. 8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to half the tribe of Manasseh. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant, and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

10 “All of you stand today before the Lord your God: your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones and your wives—also the stranger who is in your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water— 12 that you may enter into covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath, which the Lord your God makes with you today, 13 that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He may be God to you, just as He has spoken to you, and just as He has sworn to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 “I make this covenant and this oath, not with you alone, 15 but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord our God, as well as with him who is not here with us today 16 (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by, 17 and you saw their abominations and their idols which were among them—wood and stone and silver and gold); 18 so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood; 19 and so it may not happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, even though I follow the dictates of my heart’—as though the drunkard could be included with the sober.

20 “The Lord would not spare him; for then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy would burn against that man, and every curse that is written in this book would settle on him, and the Lord would blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this Book of the Law, 22 so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, would say, when they see the plagues of that land and the sicknesses which the Lord has laid on it:

23 ‘The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor does it bear, nor does any grass grow there, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath.’ 24 All nations would say, ‘Why has the Lord done so to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?’ 25 Then people would say: ‘Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt; 26 for they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they did not know and that He had not given to them. 27 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land, to bring on it every curse that is written in this book. 28 And the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’ 29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

(30) 1 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 29 - 30)


Alright, I'm not 100% sure I know what argument the study writer is making. Is he saying that God circumcises our hearts purely by grace, or through a process like what He put the Israelites through? See, that is how I interpret the passage above. The WAY God brought them to that place of finally having eyes to see and ears to hear was by through the hardships they experienced. Before they experienced the 40 years in the wilderness, they might have not fully believed in the curses and blessings of God for either disobedience or obedience. Now they had proof of it. They had now seen what had happened to those who fell in the wilderness.

This was the same teaching Paul gave, referring to them as our examples, so that we not fall by the same example of disobedience and unbelief:

1 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.

6 Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. 7 And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” 8 Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; 9 nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; 10 nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.... (1 Corinthians 10:1-14).

I think God was working on the New Testament church in the same way He worked on Israel in the wilderness. As stated in an earlier study, they too were suffering judgments from God, and some were "falling," or as he said literally, "some of you are sick and some have fallen asleep," i.e. because they drank the cup unworthily.

So I think the eyes to see and ears to hear can only really come through time, after we learn some things the hard way. Maybe not all of us have to learn the hard way, but I think many of us do. Again, this is also referred to in Hebrews when the writer discusses how "the Lord disciplines those He loves." But after that time of discipline there comes that "peaceable fruit of righteousness," and we learn to understand things better...

Let me stop here and ask if you think the study writer was saying the same thing, or maybe saying something different. I know with many Christians today there is this tendency to talk as if the Lord sort of does things magically at the moment of conversation, or after the Holy Spirit is poured out. But I've never found that to be the case. Certainly our hearts are alive unto God when we get saved, but I find that the way to sanctification is through the fires of adversity, just as both the Old and New Testaments teach.

Let me know what you think and feel free to speak. I'm sure there are others here who might disagree, and I'm fine with that. In fact, let me tag Mark for this. He's usually good for this kind of discussion.

@marks

@Mayflower.

No comments on the above response?

 

[marks]

(30) 1 “Now it shall come to pass, when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God drives you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, 3 that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. 5 Then the Lord your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 29 - 30)

A question to ask is, when does this come to pass?

And this?

Isaiah 59:20-21 KJV
20) And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
21) As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

And this?

Deuteronomy 4:30-31 KJV
30) When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31) (For the LORD thy God is a merciful God) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

Much love!

 

[Mayflower]

@Mayflower.

No comments on the above response?

It was a park day. Let me catch up. (I had 42 messages coming back on here. LOL. May need to disable the like alert.

 

[Hidden In Him]

A question to ask is, when does this come to pass?

For me, the fulfillment seems to be during Old Testament times - almost like a running narrative than a single instance, i.e. prophesying that He would deliver them time and again from captivity, such as to Assyria, then to Babylon, then to Persia.

But it would seem like it had to have been referring to deliverance from those captivities because the next passage in Deuteronomy reads:

7 “Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

What do you think? Or would it possibly be during the millennium, when the Law is restored in the land of Israel?

 

[Hidden In Him]

It was a park day. Let me catch up. (I had 42 messages coming back on here. LOL. May need to disable the like alert.

I think most of those were mine, Lol.

I got behind on the Encouraging Verses thread and sort of Like-bombed you.

 

[marks]

For me, the fulfillment seems to be during Old Testament times - almost like a running narrative than a single instance, i.e. prophesying that He would deliver them time and again from captivity, such as to Assyria, then to Babylon, then to Persia.

But it would seem like it had to have been referring to deliverance from those captivities because the next passage in Deuteronomy reads:

7 “Also the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again obey the voice of the Lord and do all His commandments which I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your land for good. For the Lord will again rejoice over you for good as He rejoiced over your fathers, 10 if you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

What do you think? Or would it possibly be during the millennium, when the Law is restored in the land of Israel?

To me the common link seems to be the latter days, when God gathers Israel back into her land, I'm thinking when Jesus returns.

Much love!

 

[Mayflower]

@Mayflower.

No comments on the above response?

I keep reading the same lines in the passage. I may have to come back when I can focus on something a bit deeper, brother. LOL I'll try again when the kids are asleep

 

[Hidden In Him]

To me the common link seems to be the latter days, when God gathers Israel back into her land, I'm thinking when Jesus returns.

Much love!

It's possible... I honestly don't know yet.

I keep reading the same lines in the passage. I may have to come back when I can focus on something a bit deeper, brother. LOL I'll try again when the kids are asleep

No sweat. That's a whole lot of scripture for just one post, LoL.