What is the Key to Finding Blessing? 2 Kings 23, 19,20

Some things are keeping us from knowing God's blessing. One of the most important is the easiest, and the hardest- but the most necessary.

“’Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord. Therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace, your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place.’ So, they took her answer back to the king.” 2 Kings 23:19,20 NIV

BACKGROUND
The scriptures were lost and forgotten, but workmen refurbishing the Temple found them. The king’s secretary read it to King Josiah, who mourned for his sin and that of the people; he ripped his robes, wept, and sought the Lord.

THE KING
We cannot experience much, if any of God's blessings, without humility, and here we see an example, for "He humbled himself before the Lord." There was outward evidence of inward response when he wept and tore his robes. This came from deep in his heart. This was not an accident; it was a decision to be humble. King Josiah had a responsive heart; he must have accepted God's word and believed it. He had the correct reaction to God's word, not resentful, angry, or bitter. King Josiah took God's word then God's word took King Josiah.

US
What if we were like King Josiah? It is a wonder that we do not weep over our sins and the sins of our loved ones. We need to be responsive to God's Word inside and out. Being humble is hard, it is to say that someone is better than me. Humility says, “You are right, I am wrong.” It is hard to bend our will to the other person, or in the case of sin, to bend to God.

HUMILITY
Humility is the opposite of pride. Pride is the attitude that I am more valued than the other person or even God. Pride was Satin’s chef sin, (Isaiah 14:13-15), it has no place in the Christian’s character profile.

POWER OF HUMILITY
Humility can be a powerful lifestyle. Especially since this Bible passage and so many others show how God cherishes and rewards humility. Let us walk humbly with God, with humble, repentant hearts, and may we pray that God creates in us responsive hearts.

(c) Adron (c) 9/4/13

What Sacrifice Is Acceptable To God In The 21st Century, Hebrews 13:15

Throughout time people sought to please God with a sacrifice; maybe with fruit, livestock, or money. What is acceptable to God in our enlightened 21st century?

"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise- the fruit of our lips that confess his name." Hebrews 13:15, NIV.

THE VANITY OF SACRIFICE:
Sacrificing something created to the Creator who made it is redundant at best, since the Creator is the maker of that which you sacrifice, so it is already His. If you give gold from the ground it was thereby His doing. If you give a sheep or chicken that creature lives by God's enabling. If you give money you have it only because He gave you life to earn and invest.

Service, too, is only giving back to God what is already His, your life, since he gives every breath we breathe and every beat of our heart.

UNIQUE SACRIFICE:
Only one thing that is unique and originates within us- that is our praise. When rational intelligent people consider God and the work of his Christ we are driven to praise God. In giving praise to God we are giving what only we possess.

FRUIT OF OUR LIPS:
What the Bible calls the "Fruit of our lips" is the result of a process; as fruit is the result of growth through seasons and nurturing husbandry so the fruit of our lips is the end of time spent knowing God and experiencing his blessings. Sometimes we lack this fruit because we have not encouraged our relationship with God. We must spend time with God...

• In daily prayer, 
• Bible reading, 
• Time spent in His service, 
• And participating in a community with those who live a life of faith in him. 

When we nurture a personal life with God we will have the offering of the fruit of our lips; for to know and experience God leads to worship and praise God.

THE GOOD CONFESSION:
The foundation of worship is to confess His name, the name of Jesus.  God has ordained one way to experience fellowship and expressed it through Jesus who said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life no one comes to the father but by me." John 14:6.

We must confess to God and man that Jesus is our Savior, that we acknowledge that he is the acceptable sacrifice when he died to pay for our sins, and we are trusting in him alone for our salvation from God's right anger for our sins, and the resurrection from the grave gives proof and guarantee of salvation.

May we all continually offer to God the sacrifice of praise.

© Adron 7/3/12

How Can You Tell If Someone Is From God 3 John 11

Our world is full of wickedness. We want to do good but how do we get away from the evil around us to be a positive influence?

"Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God, anyone who does what is evil has not seen God." 3 John: 11.

IS THIS A COMMAND FROM THE BIBLE?
It begins with the command, "Do not imitate..." A command is an imperative which must be followed. This command is simple, but we must still pay attention to it. Clearly, we can choose to "not do" evil and resolve to do "good;" we must not live reactionary lives where we act without weighing Gods opinion.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO IMITATE?
To imitate is to reproduce the actions of another in yourself. A student learns how to play the piano by watching the teacher put their fingers here and there and moves them so; the student then repeats all those movements and creates the same sound. With practice, the teacher's actions become the students. It is the same when we imitate evil or imitate good, we become what we imitate. We must make doing good daily practice and avoid reproducing the actions that God does not approve of.

RESOLVE
There are thousands of opportunities to "imitate evil" every day, so there are thousands of opportunities to "do good." Opportunities like a saying a kind word, a smile, a gift, a donation, a minute spent in prayer, a hug, or a warm handshake, a little note, or a helping hand. We tend to slip into doing evil, but must resolve to do "good." It takes effort and concentration and awareness.

IS GOOD FROM GOD?
Only God is good, "Anyone who does what is good is from God." Evil is not true of God's people. We should pray for God to show us the good to do and look for it. We must not let our gaze rest on evil, but fill our vision with good- with God.

WARNING
The acid test is that "Anyone who does evil has not seen God." Do we make a habit of doing evil? If we do it maybe we have never come to God in faith in the saving work of his son on the cross, and our salvation is in doubt.

Resolved to take this verse to heart and really refuse to "do evil but what is good?"

To learn more about finding a personal relationship with God then follow this link to my other blog.\

(c)Adron Dozat 5/11/11

What is God Looking For? Ezekiel 22:30

What is God looking for?

We are all looking for something but what about God, what is God looking for? Could we ever know just what God wants? Yes, and God used an ancient prophet to tell us exactly what He wanted.

"I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it but I found none." Ezekiel 22:30. NIV.

GOD IS SEARCHING

"I looked for a man..." God is gazing upon humanity and he is trying to find something. It is incredible that the All-Knowing God would search as if in spite of His omniscience He is still hopeful of finding a certain man; As if God is hoping he is wrong, and that he somehow overlooked this special man.

A MAN

You would think God is looking for someone who is a PhD., or a philosopher, or a Nobel Prize laureate, or a great humanitarian, or one who is the head of a university, a government, or a charity. God is not looking for any such celebrity; He is looking for “a man.” This definition is unexceptional, common, and mundane as if just a man; any of us could be that one!

THE GAP

The walls were the city's defenses, but these walls were broken down and weakened, they were a danger and not a security. The man the Lord sought then and seeks now is one who will build up the walls, to protect and defend the people of God's affection. We as a church and a world need a man to build up the walls of prayer around our communities.

What does it mean to stand "in the gap?" It is a term that comes from ancient warfare, it meant to fill in part of the defenses with your own self thereby becoming part of the wall against defeat and disaster.

There is a gap today between lost humanity and God's wrath. We need one who stands before God in the priestly function of intercessory prayer. We need to be people who pray for our nation and our brothers. We need to confess our own sins and the sins of those of our community. We need to plead with our God for mercy on our houses and our neighborhoods.

OUR WORLD IS SEARCHING
Our world today is looking for solutions through movements, government, institutions and even guns, but God is looking and waiting for one to stand in the gap, the gap between us and his judgment. In the ancient time of Ezekiel he found none, may it not be the case today. May you and I be such people that God seeks, who stand before him in prayer for those around us.

To learn how to know God in a personal way see my other blog, CLICK HERE.

(c) Adron 2/22/11

Modern Lessons From an Ancient Washing Ritual. Exodus 40: 30- 32.

I run to church without a thought about my spiritual attitude. I hurry through service to God without considering if I am soiled by the world or transgressions. The patriarchs did not approach God so casually.

“He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the alter and put water in it for washing, 31. and Moses and Aaron and his sons used it to wash their hands and feet. 32. They washed whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting or approached the alter, as the Lord commanded Moses.” Exodus 40:30-32.

We have the same God but our generation has forgotten how holy God is. The patriarchs would wash “Whenever” they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar. There was no exception, they washed every time. They feared God.

IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
They would wash when they entered “Tent of Meeting,” because it was a place of communion with God. They would wash before approaching “alter” because it was the place of service. Be it either worship or service they came cleansed. The washing was a reminder to lift up holy hands in service to God. It symbolized that they were cleansed spiritually by faith in the coming Messiah as we are saved by looking back in faith at the Messiah who died on the cross for us.

LAW OR GRACE/
Christians are not under Levitical law, but grace. The New Testament shows that the law was a teacher until it was fulfilled in Jesus. Aaron was anointed once as a priest, the washings did not add to the anointing but showed reverence to God. It is the same with the church- no act, ritual, or tradition will add more to God’s grace. These Old Testament verses remind us to approach and serve God with care and reverence, not with hands, or lives soiled by sin.

WHAT ABOUT US
Each day presents opportunities to do good to others, to serve God, and to commune with Him. Every little task may be done as an act of worship and service to God. We must serve and worship with clean hands and a clean standing before him. Since we step through a sinful world and our hands get dirty in the process, we should pause to reflect, confess, and put away the sins we pick up on the way before we come to the Lord's work or do any good deed in his name. Confession is not in an attempt to gain more grace but out of fear of the Lord.

They obeyed “As the Lord commanded.” They followed an external command but we should follow their heart example to show respect for God, and serve Him in holiness.

(c) Adron Dozat 3/16/10 

One of The Most Narrow Minded Things Jesus Ever Said. Matthew 12:30

Some of Jesus's words were pure poetry, beautiful teachings, or memorable parables, but here is something that really cuts to the bone.

“He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.” Matthew 12:30, NIV.

EITHER OR...
Jesus says you are one or the other, there is no middle. He says we must be “with” him as if our identity and future is one with his; and we are to “gather,” that is to work at bringing others to him.

AGAINST JESUS?
It is clear that if we are not with Jesus then we are against Jesus. Who would be "against" Jesus? Jesus lived the most beautiful life ever and offers the power to live that life to any who come to him. He lived perfect love, mercy, and compassion. He is himself the “Way the truth and the life,” (John 14:6). He is the “Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep,” (John 10:11). With or against- Jesus did not give a third option.

GATHER
So few "gather," and even in the church, many oppose the Lord and "scatter." We say, “I am with Jesus. I go to church, I tithe, and I give my time.” You can do all that and still not be "with" Jesus. We don’t consider ourselves against Jesus; we are just neutral or waiting for a better time. But to Jesus, neutral, passive, halfhearted, or waiting until later are the same as against and scattering.

To be with Jesus means:

• Having his purposes as your purposes.
• Being close in the companionship of Jesus.
• Participating in action and heart in the same task as Jesus.
• To share his identity and lot.
• To experience the same treatment as was given to Jesus.
• Performing the same work he did.

To be with Jesus is to be a gatherer. We are to draw people to Jesus, and our actions should attract people to Him. Our words should make others wish to know the Savior If our lives do not match up such standards then we are scattering.

Wolves succeed in the kill by scattering the sheep; if we are not gathering people to Jesus, then we are leading friends and family toward wolves that would devour their souls.

ON JESUS' SIDE
Let's resolve to be on Jesus' side, do what he did, and live out his life. Let's possess his actions and purpose. His hand is set to work and ours ought to be at the same task. He did good works among men and we should too. He brought redemption’s hope to people and so should we. May our actions never become a reason others do not come.

(c)Adron Dozat 3/5/10

Is There a More Important Question Than "Who am I" Psalm 118:28

Many of us are concerned about our identity, and want to “find ourselves.” We wrestle with these questions but the better question may not be who I am but who I belong to. The ancient poet knew this...

"You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God and I will exalt you."  Psalm 118:28.

FACT
“Are,” "my" and “will” are repeated in this verse, this emphases absolute facts. The psalmist is declaring that" God is his God," he is identifying himself with the Almighty. He is saying that the "God of heaven is his God."

MY
To say something is "mine,” can mean different things. We can say this is our car and mean we own it, if we say this is our city we do not mean we own it but that we have a relationship with it. To call God my God is to announce my relationship to God, a relationship where He is My Lord and I am his servant.

I WILL
Then he says, “I will give you thanks.” He is not giving thanks for a temporal blessing; he is thanking God for being his God, he is thanking God for who God is.

EXALT
This old word means to lift someone up with public praise and service.

We accept that our country may claim our loyalty and service so it should not be strange to think the God of Heaven, our Creator and Savior, has a claim on our service. This verse makes the connection between God being our God and us being His servant. If we are not His servant we are not acting like He is our God. If we claim God as our God we must exalt him. We can’t say God is our God and NOT exalt him such actions make our words null and void.

This verse has progression. It begins with an acknowledgment that God is his God. This leads to thanks, and that leads to the climax of the verse “I will exalt you.” We can exalt God in our actions, verbal worship and acts of obedience.

Life's fundamental question is not who we are but what God do we belong to? That will make everything else clear. To know God as your God leads you to serve and worship him, which will cause you to know you belong to him and then you will be who you are meant to be.

To learn more about know God and having eternal forgiveness see my other blog about the Gospel.

(c) Adron

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Thank you for visiting and reading my blog. I sincerely hope this post is helpful and an encouragement.  For more like this see the most popular post in the left sidebar, or use the search box above.  

Adron

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