Guys, I pray some have ears to hear. Is it any wonder that even late in the 1st century, God was urging us to contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints? What do we not believe that they did? Here is the answer.
That we are dead to sin, dead to this world, dead to self and our life is hid with Christ in God.
We are not truly arming ourselves with the truth that we really are new creatures and that we have not only been forgiven, released from the penalty for our sins, but that we have also actually been delivered from the power of sin. Whoa!
We have been fed a lie that all we have to do is believe Jesus died for our sins. And praise God, He did. But that is to be the beginning of our walk of faith, not the end of it. We have an entire good fight of faith to wage. We are told to earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. We have the world, the flesh and the devil to overcome by faith. And we must start now to wage it, for the evil day is far nearer than we could ever imagine. It will spring like a trap, and many will simply be unprepared, even with Jesus warning us to watch so that we are not robbed by the enemy of our souls.
Are we so blinded by our American dream of nice houses, nice cars, cruises (Christian cruises. of course), and lavish church buildings that we cannot see how far we are from the heart of God. How are we not like those who hold men's persons in admiration because of advantage? How are we not the same as those who tell the poor among us "God bless you, be warmed and filled" and yet do not help them in their need?
Guys, I will tell you, we are not unlike them art all. We ARE them. I love His church…,MY church. I truly do, but I weep for what we have become. We have been led far, far from life, and yet we defend our take on Christianity like it is exactly what God wants. The world calls us hypocrites, yet we cannot see it. I suspect though that deep in our hearts, the wheat knows something is amiss. The tares just get offended as if they are fine and how dare anyone judge. Yet, we are told to judge righteous judgment, not to condemn but to lead His children back to life.
I know my words are hard. I wish there were another way to awaken us as we continue to refuse to acknowledge that our hearts are our own and God gets not only 10% of our income but also 10% of our hearts. Sadly, our actions far too often reveal that our treasure is here, not in heaven. We rationalize and respond "Heck, even if all our works are burnt up, we still get heaven, so what is the big deal?" What kind of mind thinks that way? I will tell you. A Laodecian mind. A deceived mind. A mind far from the mind of the God we serve. And yet God still loves us and is calling us back to Him in this late hour.
I share this message not to anger, nor to judge. I do it to warn the hard hearted and to encourage the discouraged ones who long to walk pleasing to God but are not told how to do so. I do it to encourage those weighed down by seemingly unwinnable battles with sin and self that there really is freedom awaiting them… in THIS life....and how to gain it. I do it in love and God knows my heart.
God is not mocked and every evil thought we have, our deepest secret sins, our shallow Christian lives, will come to the surface on the final day, if heart repentance is not part of that equation. Better they are confessed now, rather than then.
It is not too late to repent of our worldliness and our self-ruled lives. Yet how hard it is to admit that all our Christian ‘busy-ness’ is not even close to what God desires for our lives. We try to put a Christian spin on it to profess that grace makes our shallowness acceptable....even commendable. It is not, and we need desperately to awake to that fact.
Yes, God loves us, but He will spew us out of His mouth lest we get on our knees and seek Him for Him, not for the "benefits" our shallow Christianity gives us where we get to have our bus tickets punched and to heaven and still get to run our own lives, and hold onto our autonomy. That is not Christianity. That is enticement to deception, pure and simple.
God loves us, and in that love, He warns us. He will not be mocked. He wants ALL of our hearts. Not 10%. He wants to rule and reign over us, not to lord it over us as a tyrant, but to love and protect us, to change us, to free us from the flesh we have so taken for granted as the best we can do. It is not. God has more, MUCH more, and our eyes are about to see it.
May God reveal to us how very far we are from real obedience, real holiness, real peace. He pleads with us:
"Only acknowledge your iniquities, that your hearts are far from me."
It is not as if Jesus has not warned us of this grave danger. We have simply ignored His very clear worlds. Do we remember what He has said?
How dwells the love of God in you? Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord', and not do those things I have commanded you? Have I not told you to love not the world, nor the things in it? Have I not warned you about trying to have your treasure here and in eternity as well? Have I not clearly said that the love of money and the things it can buy is NOT from me and that the covetous will not inherit the kingdom of God? What more can I do to awaken you from your fleshly stupor without being direct? I love you. I want good for you, not evil, but your sins have separated you from me and repentance is far, far from your heart. Flee your flesh, reckon it dead, put it off, for in it you cannot please me, and I cannot draw you close to fill you with myself and transform you into my image.
Every promise I have made to you is yours.... IF you will willingly acknowledge your old nature cannot, will not, does not want to truly obey me in all things. Your flesh is what stands between you and I, and if you will acknowledge this truth, and cry out to me with all your heart for me to come in and change you and set you free indeed, where sin is no longer your master. I will... I WILL do it.
May God awaken us to what we are missing....being armed with our new natures that He promises He will cause to obey Him! Does that sound like a pipe dream, and too good to be true?
It is not at all, for God has promised to do just that to a fully surrendered, believing heart. He has said He will CAUSE US to walk in obedience, so…. Is He in your life? And if not, should our hearts not cry out to see Him take full control over us, changing us into His image from glory to glory? Let it be so, Lord. Let it be.
Blessings,
White Dog
