seeking

  • don't waste your new year ~ teach us, satisfy us, make us glad (Psalm 90:12-15)

     
    At the end of this year, many of you have looked back at the previous year and are now asking God to help you to be wise with your time in the coming year, and that's a good thing.

    Psalm 90 (KJV)
    12  So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
    13  Return, O LORD! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
    14  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
    15  Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.

    In Psalm 90, the Psalmist tells us how we might be good stewards of our time and what is real wisdom for the Christian: that we might come to see that nothing at all outside of God in Jesus Christ can truly satisfy us. And, in contrast, we're unwise and foolish when we seek satisfaction anywhere else.

    First and foremost God wants us to be satisfied with Him and His steadfast love. As Christians, we have been born from above and we are no longer citizens of this world. How can we remain satisfied with the fare of this world? Should not the people of God be satisfied with their God?

    Isaac Watts' Hymn # 48 is titled "Love to the Creatures Is Dangerous." And so it is! I think that really summarizes it because love for the creature over the Creator is idolatry. We were made new creations in Christ to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. We are to have no other gods but Him and to worship Him alone.

    Love to the Creatures Is Dangerous

    1 How vain are all things here below!
    How false, and yet how fair!
    Each pleasure hath its poison too,
    And every sweet a snare.

    2 The brightest things below the sky
    Give but a flattering light;
    We should suspect some danger nigh
    Where we possess delight.

    3 Our dearest joys, and nearest friends,
    The partners of our blood,
    How they divide our wavering minds,
    And leave but half for God!

    4 The fondness of a creature's love,
    How strong it strikes the sense!
    Thither the warm affections move,
    Nor can we call them thence.

    5 Dear Saviour, let thy beauties be
    My soul's eternal food;
    And grace command my heart away
    From all created good.

    O grace! command our hearts away from all created good to the Creator God!

    Affliction and the child of God

    When you sit in the doctor's office and you hear the word "cancer" spoken, you begin to think about your life and what you're living for, particularly if you've had a couple close friends die of cancer in the past few years. This is the place I found myself in recently. Now, I will report there is no cancer, and the chance there would have been cancer was small in my case, but I will say this: I consider it a blessing each and every time God reminds me of the limited time I have here, that my life here is just a vapor. We all need to pray to God that we would have such a heart of wisdom, to see that our lives here on this earth are not all there is, so we might pray in earnest, "Teach me to number my days." And not just to pray those words as we close off one year and begin another, or not just to pray those words in times of crisis or disappointment, in those foxhole times, but to pray those words with a sincere heart all of the days of our lives: "Teach me to number my days!"

    Have you ever prayed the Psalmist's prayer for yourself?

    So teach me to number my days
    that I may get a heart of wisdom.
    Return, O LORD! How long?
    Have pity on your servant!
    Satisfy me in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that I may rejoice and be glad all our days.
    Make me glad for as many days as you have afflicted me,
    and for as many years as I have seen evil.

    Do you really mean it that you want to be satisfied with God's steadfast love?

    Have you prayed to God to turn your heart away from all created good?

    Have you prayed to God to wean you from all created good?

    That's one purpose of the affliction the Psalmist is talking about in verse 15. We get a picture of that in God's dealings with Israel and Judah in the Old Testament as He sent them into exile so they might no longer run after idols, but turn from their idols and seek Him with all their hearts, and come to be satisfied with Him and His goodness (~ Jeremiah 31).

    Our flesh doesn't like any sort of affliction or trials or suffering, not one bit! But for the Christian, God will ordain and use affliction in our lives in a similar way because like the prodigal son, many of us have left "home," and we need to be shaken to the core, so we might see that all we've been chasing after is in vain, all so we might come to our senses and run back to our Father in heaven (~ Luke 15). Most of us can quote Romans 8:28, and we like to say that God works all things for our good, but we begin to doubt that when we see things that don't look so good on the surface! But, my brothers and sisters, know this: for the believer, God uses ALL things for our good, no exceptions! (I'd encourage you to see my post All things (even bad things) work together for good... and examine in more depth some of the ways God uses even bad things for our good.)

    God's definition of prosperity is not ours!

    Many people latch on to that verse in Jeremiah 29 that tells us God's plans for us are to prosper us (NIV) (or are for our wholeness or peace, the Hebrew word there is shalom) – but as with all the Bible, we must take that verse in context! Stop drinking the prosperity gospel Kool-Aid! God's ultimate aim then – and God's ultimate aim has always been that His people might seek Him alone and learn to be satisfied in Him alone! And God's means to do that in the time of Jeremiah was to take His very own people away from the promised land into seventy years of exile! Hosea 2 gives us a picture of this, as well as much of the book of Amos...yet you did not return to Me. God must allow all of our earthy wells of satisfaction to dry up and fail, and in that process we often will feel miserable and such discipline is grievous to us, but know this: He is doing it for the welfare of our soul - for our true shalom, because He loves us, all so we might turn away from the created and seek Him as we ought, to stop drinking of stagnant water and hewing broken cisterns that hold no water and turn to The Wellspring and begin to drink and to keep drinking of Jesus Christ, the Living Water. Only when we're drinking of Jesus Christ are we prospering!

    So as you're praying for God to prosper you, unless you have God's mind about that and have a Biblical understanding of prosperity, you're going to have a very different sense about what that really means – and you will be shocked and nonplussed when things don't go according to your plan!

    Perhaps God is taking you into some kind of exile, or you have been in exile for some time. If you are His child, do not despise His chastening. He is doing it for your blessing and for the welfare of your soul. Our Father is doing it because He loves you and He wants you to turn back to Him alone for all your satisfaction and joy because that is for your ultimate good: all that is earthly cannot compare to Him. As Edward Payson said, "Who wants candles, when he has the sun?"

    How do your prayers compare with those of the Psalmists?

    Have you prayed to God and asked Him to satisfy you – or have you continued to badger Him with prayers asking Him to give you more and more and more worldly stuff to satisfy you? To bring you a spouse? Or a child? Or a friend? Or a job promotion? Or academic, career or ministry success? Or restored health? Or a new gadget? I'm not saying all these things are wrong or sinful, but they become sinful to us when we elevate them above God Himself.

    What characterizes your prayers? Have you pleaded for those types of things – or have you pleaded to know more and more of God's love for you in Jesus Christ (see the end of Ephesians 3)?

    Look at what the Psalmists were doing. Examine the words and phrases they were using: panting, fainting, thirsting, longing, crying out, following hard, and so on. Do such words describe your relationship with God, your pursuit of the living God – or do they describe your pursuit of the earthly? What are you zealous for? Are you seeking earthly joy – or are you seeking Jesus Christ, the believer's exceeding Joy? The supreme blessedness and the chief ambition in the Christian life is for us to seek the face of the living God:

    Psalm 27:4
    One thing have I asked of the LORD,
    that will I seek after:
    that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
    all the days of my life,
    to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
    and to inquire in his temple.

    One thing! Our God commands and demands our whole-hearted worship! But that command and that demand is for our good and our blessing for know this: any other worship and any other seeking will always end up a disappointment to us, but God Himself is NEVER a disappointment!

    Have you turned from idols?

    Jesus Christ opened the way for us to worship God, to dwell In His house, to gaze upon His beauty and to inquire in His temple through the sacrifice of His body and His blood. Are you wasting His atonement? Are you crushing the Lamb of God underfoot? The Son of God humbled Himself, He came to earth and took the form of a man, He was obedient unto death, even death on the cross. He died so you might live through Him. He died to bing you back to God. Apart from Jesus Christ, we were helpless, vile sinners, dead in our sins and transgressions and eternally estranged from a holy God, with no means to approach Him. How often are you availing yourself of that blood-bought privilege to go to God and to dwell in His temple, to abide with Him and sup with Him? Jesus Christ is our Captain and forerunner, having entered into the veil, in the very Presence of God in the Most Holy Place, all so His brothers and sisters might follow Him there and glorify God by enjoying Him together there. Are you showing contempt for Jesus' ripped flesh and shed blood?

    Is the testimony of the Thessalonian church your testimony: have you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God? Or are you continuing to seek after idols and serve idols?

    Have you prayed to God and asked Him to satisfy you? Have you asked God to wean you from your idols – all your idols? Do you hate the sin that drives Him from your breast? Have you asked God to help you to know Him and Him alone as your perfect portion and your great reward – to know that wherever He has you, no matter the circumstance, that place is a pleasant place because God is there with you – even in the night seasons, even as the world around you is shaken, even as you walk in the valley of the shadow of death? Have you continued to pray that you might be satisfied with Christ and Him alone, that you might rejoice all your days?

    The everlasting covenant begets everlasting joy!

    Matthew Henry wrote this about Psalm 90:14:

    Two things are pleaded to enforce this petition for God's mercy:-- 1. That it would be a full fountain of future joys: "O satisfy us with thy mercy, not only that we may be easy and at rest within ourselves, which we can never be while we lie under thy wrath, but that we may rejoice and be glad, not only for a time, upon the first indications of thy favour, but all our days, though we are to spend them in the wilderness." With respect to those that make God their chief joy, as their joy may be full (1 John i. 4), so it may be constant, even in this vale of tears; it is their own fault if they are not glad all their days, for his mercy will furnish them with joy in tribulation and nothing can separate them from it.

    There's a quality of joy offered to us in Jesus Christ that transcends and supersedes and surpasses any and all earthly joys:

    "all our days, though we are to spend them in the wilderness"
    "constant, even in this vale of tears"

    In Isaiah 24, we read of the coming judgment and the day will come when

    all joy has grown dark;
    the gladness of the earth is banished

    Any and all joys which are not rooted in Jesus Christ are going to grow dark. Any and all earthly gladness will be banished.

    Why should those who are united with Christ continue to seek joy outside Christ?

    Why should those who are seated in the heavenly places continue to seek earthly gladness?

    In Isaiah 61, we read of the LORD's everlasting covenant with us through Jesus Christ (the first portion of the chapter is read aloud by Jesus Christ in the synagogue in Luke 4 as He begins His public ministry) – and along with that everlasting covenant comes everlasting joy:

    7  Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
    instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
    therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
    they shall have everlasting joy.
    8  For I the LORD love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrong;
    I will faithfully give them their recompense,
    and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

    The devil, who has been a liar from the beginning and is the father of lies, has done a masterful job in deceiving the world, as well as many Christians, so they believe that our God is a stern and cruel taskmaster and Christianity is devoid of joy! O, far, far from it!

    The sorrows of the mind
    Be banished from the place;
    Religion never was designed
    Religion never was designed,
    To make our pleasures less,
    To make our pleasures less.

    ("We're Marching to Zion" by Isaac Watts, emphasis mine)

    God Himself is our exceeding Joy! (Psalm 43:4)

    God's covenant mercies include covenant joy!
    And since the covenant is everlasting, the joy is everlasting!
    Why would a covenant child seek joy outside the covenant!

    Christian, if you are not looking at your life as a gift from God, given to you so you might be satisfied with His steadfast love in Jesus Christ, then you are wasting your life – no, actually – you are wasting Christ's life in you! You are missing out on a joy and gladness that is exceedingly above all you could ask or imagine, exceedingly above any and all joys the world has to offer. You are showing contempt for the God who purchased you with His very own precious blood and you are refusing the gift of joy Christ died to give you!

    Everlasting joy is joy to the world!

    One more thing. As we come to know this joy, it is not just for our enjoyment but it is also for the enjoyment of all the nations. Many people slam what John Piper calls Christian hedonism ~ "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" because they consider it self-centered, but let me tell you this: such pure joy in God is truly joy to the world, flowing far as the curse is found!

    In Isaiah 61, after we read of the person and work of Christ in ushering in the New Covenant, after we read of those who are part of that everlasting covenant in Jesus Christ and the everlasting joy they experience, we continue to read how such God-glorifying joy is bubbling up and sprouting up and flowing out to all the ends of the earth as the waters cover the sea! THIS is the fulfillment of the great commission!

    9  Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
    and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
    all who see them shall acknowledge them,
    that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
    10  I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
    for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
    as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
    11  For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
    so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations

    On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out,
    “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
    Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
    ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
    (John 7:37-38)

    So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.
    Return, O LORD! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!
    Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
    Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil...

    for the renown of Your name in all the natnios, O LORD!

    Will you not revive us again,
    that your people may rejoice in you?
    (Psalm 85:6)


    Related:

    Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
    Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor
    Advent # 7 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might be satisfied with Him
    As a deer pants ... Is your soul panting for God? (Psalms 42 & 43)
    year end reflections, # 1: "end of the year ... in the midst of heartache" | Letter 97 on joy
    year end reflections, # 2: rejoicing in "The Often Unwanted but Necessary Gift" | Letter 98 on joy
    Naphtali News: God speaking to me about my failures & the one thing needful
    Why do I write poetry?
    All things (even bad things) work together for good...
    Our Twisted View of God
    Lenten Reflections: When he broke all supply of bread (My breaking is for your blessing)
    If the curly fry doesn't satisfy, what does ("Satisfy")
    How's your spiritual appetite? (Jonathan Edwards)
    Finding pleasure in Him
    Two Fountains ~ Where are you drinking? What is flowing? Don't waste your drinking!

    Letter 4 on joy (true joy is based on our relationship with God through Jesus Christ)
    Letter 16 on assurance and fighting for joy (our prayers, His wise denials and joy)
    Letter 25 on assurance and fighting for joy (a strong craving ≠ His joy)
    Don't Waste Your Singleness | Single one ... be single-eyed
    I'm anguished over you (Letter 39 on assurance & fighting for joy)
    to My seeking unmarried child (letter 40 on assurance & fighting for joy)
    my dear single sister in Christ: Christ & Christ alone for your joy (Letter 62 on joy)
    You whine and complain (Letter 70 on assurance & fighting for joy)
    a conversation with Jesus about misplaced joy ("do not rejoice in this" - letter 73 on joy)
    adopting God's purpose for the nations is for your joy & His glory (Letter 76 on joy)
    on our anniversary
    wives, your husband is not your Husband | letter 77 on assurance & joy
    Are you a radiant Christian or a drunken old woman? (letter 82 on assurance & fighting for joy)
    One Friend alone | letter 100 on assurance & fighting for joy
    "yet you did not return to ME" ~ (Amos 4:6-11) | letter 126 on assurance & joy

    my posts tagged Don't Waste Your Life
    my posts tagged Christian hedonism

    Scripture quotations unless otherwise indicated are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  • Advent # 5 WHY HAS JESUS COME? So we might draw near to God | Even a Vapor

    Last year, in addition to writing some other posts for Advent, I wrote a series of posts entitled "WHY HAS JESUS COME?":

    I'd like to pick up with that same question once again this year, starting with a poem and concluding with a personal note of testimony and an exhortation.

    Even a Vapor
    (letter 133 on assurance and fighting for joy)

    James 4:14b  For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

    What are our lives? Even a vapor
    All our days, LORD, teach us to number
    All our ways, LORD, help us consider
    Fully blessed and full of favor!
    Have mercy on us sinners, O Savior!
    Help us be satisfied in Christ our Savior!

    A handbreadth – moments turning to years
    Then the trumpet sound comes to our ears

    What are our lives? A vanishing mist
    Every breath heavenly stewardship

    May our lips not brim with complaints
    But spring forth with bountiful praises

    May we not finish our days with sighing
    But learn contentment, know Christ satisfying

    Sink ever deeper into the flowing river
    So our leaves remain green and not wither

    Abiding in the Scripture, seeking living bread
    Importunately crying till the heavens rent

    Ascending to the heavenlies, peering ever higher
    A sanctified expectation: Baptizer's descent with fire!

    What are our lives? Even a vapor
    All our days, LORD, teach us to number
    All our ways, LORD, help us consider
    Fully blessed and full of favor!
    Have mercy on us sinners, O Savior!
    Help us be satisfied in Christ our Savior!

    Christ died, Lamb's life He did tender
    So we might draw near and enter

    To seek Your face, desire no other
    To pant for You, all-satisfying lover

    To behold Your beauty and splendor
    Delighting in Your glory and grandeur

    To know Your abounding pleasure
    Surpassing all earthly measure

    To dance in Your delightful river
    To feel Your embrace, Comforter's whisper

    Single-eyed, Your willing slave forever
    For our affection no other contender

    To drink of the fount of holy pleasure
    To will and to do of Your good pleasure

    In plenty or want, whether rich or poor
    A weaned child, quieted and secure

    Your name and renown our soul's single desire
    Decreasing so You might be lifted higher

    With pure longings and pants, seeking You above all treasure
    Ecstatic joy in You as our portion and center

    To never forget the one thing necessary
    To fall on our knees and sup with Thee

    All our days, LORD, may we ever savor
    The true shewbread, Your excellent flavor

    From grace to grace, be fully sated
    Glory to God for so great a salvation!

    Experiencing Your strong and lively consolation
    Bubbling with the Spirit's lovely intoxication!

    May we run our course with jubilation
    This is the heritage of God's holy nation

    What are our lives? Even a vapor
    All our days, LORD, teach us to number
    All our ways, LORD, help us consider
    Fully blessed and full of favor!
    Have mercy on us sinners, O Savior!
    Help us be satisfied in Christ our Savior!

    Oil of grace, flow down and inflame!
    Perpetual fire, burn and sustain!

    That we might serve You with joyfulness
    Our hearts overflowing with gladness

    Can our God withhold from His infinite ocean of grace
    Plenty supplies for all whose hearts are set on pilgrimage?

    What are our lives? Even a vapor
    All our days, LORD, teach us to number
    All our ways, LORD, help us consider
    Fully blessed and full of favor!
    Have mercy on us sinners, O Savior!
    Help us be satisfied in Christ our Savior!

    What is my life? Even a vapor
    Have mercy on me, a sinner, O Savior!

    What is my life? Even a vapor
    All my days, LORD, teach me to number
    All my ways, LORD, help me consider
    Fully blessed and full of favor!
    Have mercy on this sinner, O Savior!
    Help me be satisfied in Christ my Savior!


    Haggai 1:5: Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

    Psalms 90:12: So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

    Psalm 105:43: And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness.

    Hebrews 3:4  For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.  5  And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;  6  But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, IF we hold fast the confidence AND the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

    Hebrews 7:19: For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

    Deuteronomy 28:47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;  48  Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.

    Deuteronomy 33:23a
    And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD...

    I recently made a comment on my friend Norm's ( @quest4god@revelife ) post Joy, joy, joy re: my experience in coming to receive assurance of forgiveness of sins and knowing the joy of the Lord as well as my posts on assurance & fighting for joy:

    I am the last person I would have expected to be writing so much about joy & assurance, for not so long ago I had NO sense of joy or assurance. My desire for believers is to read and study the Scripture and understand that the promises there are for them, so they might begin take hold of those promises and ask, and then keep asking the Holy Spirit to make them a LIVING reality. We have not b/c we ask not! Luke 11:13.

    I was not exaggerating that in the least. NO joy. NO assurance.

    Most Christians have a pretty good understanding that Jesus died for their sins, but many are remiss in beginning to explore and plumb to the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of what that really means for us – and as a result, many Christians end up in a perpetually joyless and unassured state.

    Hebrews 10:11  And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: 12  But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13  From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14  For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15  Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16  This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17  And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. 18  Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. 19  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21  And having an high priest over the house of God; 22  Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

    The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ in all ways, far above and beyond all the Old Testament types and symbols. He was the fulfillment of them all. The Son of God came to earth in the form of a man, born as a babe in Bethlehem, yet remaining fully God, all so fallen man might be redeemed and be privileged to draw near to God! How? He was the perfect and all-sufficient High Priest and sacrifice for sinners, and He entered the True Tabernacle in heaven as our Forerunner, our Surety, our Captain!

    Hebrews 7:19  For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God.

    When you look at that babe in your nativity set, consider it! ~ Consider HIM! ~ If you are Christ's, you who were once fatherless are now adopted in to the family of God! You who were once far, can DRAW NEAR as children of God!

    Consider why Jesus has come!

    Consider it! ~ We can DRAW NEAR to GOD!

    Consider it! ~ Consider Him!

    If that is not a wonder to you, if Jesus Christ and His incarnation and His atonement does not thrill your heart more today than ever, then get down on your knees and ask God to show you afresh and anew the great salvation and privilege He has made available to you through the Lord Jesus Christ! If you are Christ's, you can DRAW NEAR to GOD because your sins were punished in Jesus Christ once and for all and His righteousness was credited to you by faith! You can enter behind the veil with HIM! This is a spiritual reality available to all of us who have trusted in Him. And it will become a physical reality one Day when we are given our glorified bodies, and we see our Savior face to face – but let us not wait until then to begin to make that abundant entrance and begin to taste the firstfruits and Canaan's clusters and to sample the riches of our inheritance with all the saints! ... Don't waste your life on this side of the Jordan!

    Alas, many of you don't really consider these things. You look at your salvation as a way out of hell and a way into heaven, but you don't understand we have the high privilege to enter into the Most Holy Place beginning today! If all it were about were getting us to heaven, why are we here? So let us not waste the blessing we have to draw near to God! The scepter has been extended! The veil has been rent! The King of kings has lifted up dust and ashes to heavenly places!  Ephesians 1:18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints...

    I confess I didn't really consider these things very much at all until a few years ago. The words of Scripture to me were just words; they'd not become a living reality. And they'd not become a living reality because I'd not seen them as real possibilities for me, and so I never began to seek to know the living God in a living way! I was happy with head knowledge. Now, I have to make this disclaimer: we start with and remain rooted in that lovely and wonderful doctrine we find in the Scripture, HOWEVER we can't be content with and stop with a head knowledge. Let us go on and seek to know the living God (not merely to know about Him) and ask that His words be written in our minds and on our hearts, to become burning in the heart through the work of the Holy Spirit!

    John 16:14  He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15  All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

    After all, we are in the New Covenant now, are we not? Should the words of Scripture be only written on external tablets (in our Bibles)?

    Hebrews 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 11  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. 12  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. 13  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

    Are not Christians a people who were once dead, but now made alive in Jesus Christ, so we might have living fellowship with the living God?

    The devil is happy to have us take the Scriptures and study them to no end, so long as we never end up seeking a living relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ. Satan delights to have us quote Scriptures, so long as we continue to go around and around in circles and never truly DRAW NEAR to God and never to come TO JESUS, as our Lord described in John 5:

    Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

    The devil is perfectly fine with us reading, studying and doing any and all things with the Scripture, but he absolutely bristles when we begin to seek to come to Christ Himself, that we might have life and life more abundantly. Satan is incensed when we begin to read the words of Scriptures and by the grace of the Holy Spirit begin to see in the Scriptures, as Martyn Lloyd-Jones called them, "the glorious possibilities of the Christian life," and we begin to see such things as joy and assurance as real and vital possibilities for us – no longer abstract theological constructs and no longer only for others – and then we begin to seek in earnest a true and living experience of the living God based on and informed by the promises of Scripture as taught to us through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth.

    Peter tells us Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might BRING US TO GOD (I Peter 3:18a).

    Have you ever really considered the gift of God we have...

    Jesus came that we might DRAW NEAR TO GOD! Jesus came to BRING US TO GOD!

    Wretched, unworthy worms, vile sinners who were separated from a holy God are granted an abundant entrance into the Presence of God TODAY!

    Bankrupt sinners lavished abundantly with the riches of God in Jesus Christ!

    God in Christ did for us what we could not do in our helpless and powerless state!

    Dead sinners have been made alive and are now seated in heavenly places with Christ!

    Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly," and "this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do." Jesus' desire is that all those who are purchased with His precious blood might enter into fellowship with the living God beginning today... I am come that they might HAVE life... He that believeth on the Son HATH everlasting life... HAVE... HATH... LIFE that begins today! And our living out that life is to the glory of God! How despicable it is for us to refuse the fellowship God has for us! How abominable it is for us to disregard and despise our Savior's work and not seek to enter along with Him into the heavenly Sanctuary today!

    Children of God, enter TODAY into the living inheritance Christ died to give you! Don't waste His precious blood, but DRAW NEAR to God through Him, so you might really be a living monument of His gift of grace to you. Don't waste your life living outside the fullness of the life He died to give you! He came to BRING US TO GOD! He came that you might DRAW NEAR TO GOD!

    Take hold of the promises and plead, and keep pleading ... like Jacob, like the importunate woman...

    God forbid you find yourself in the position I was in a few years ago. I was grieving and quenching the Spirit of God by insisting, "Such assurance and such joy is not for me!" When we do that we are calling God a liar!

    But the truth is this: the devil is a liar! He keeps us from understanding and pleading and receiving the abundant life Jesus died to give us. Please, please immerse yourself in the Word of God and ask the Holy Spirit to make God and His Word become a living reality to you.

    Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again
    with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures.
    (Alan Redpath)

    I was over 50 years old when I received a Spirit-breathed assurance of forgiveness of sins, and only after that time did I begin to experience what Peter refers to as "joy unspeakable and full of glory." You are not too old – nor are you too young!

    A joyless, unassured and doubting Christian is very much in contrast to God's desire for us to serve Him with joyfulness and gladness of heart.

    After I chose my screen name for blogging as naphtali_deer, in my first post, why Naphtali?, I explained:

    So why Naphtali? Some of you may be wondering, "What's that all about?" Others may be familiar with the name. Naphtali was one of the sons of Jacob (Israel). In Bible Study Fellowship last year we studied the blessings Jacob gave his sons at the end of Genesis. The blessing to Naphtali popped out at me: "Naphtali is a deer let loose; he uses beautiful words" (NKJV, Genesis 49:21). In the months prior to that time I could see God beginning to loosen me from many things that were keeping me from worshipping and serving Him as He desired (and that, of course, is His continuing work in me). The phrase "he uses beautiful words" hit me since so often I have used my tongue in ways to harm others rather than to encourage and edify them, and it is God's desire for our words to honor and glorify Him (see James 3:10). My prayer is that this blog glorifies Him and encourages fellow believers in the Body of Christ.

    For His Glory,
    Karen

    I've added a few things to that post since then, but one thing I NEVER in my wildest dreams anticipated receiving, because I didn't understand it was available to me through the cross of Christ, was that blessing of Naphtali in Deuteronomy 33:

    And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of the LORD...

    I'm dead serious about your knowing such all-satisfying favor and full blessing of the LORD, or as I've continued to write of it now over the past couple years, knowing full assurance of faith and the joy of the Lord. This experience of the living God is not something available to only a select few believers. These blessings come from knowing the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit in ever increasing measure. And these blessings begin to break your heart and God's desires become your desires! The love of Christ will begin to constrain you, and you will find yourself increasingly offering yourself as a living sacrifice to God, seeking to hallow His name and praying for His Kingdom to come! These blessings will raise you to heavenly places and keep you from wasting your life and bowing to the carnal and earthly.

    I'm dead serious because I know the anguish, misery and lukewarmness and lack of direction that comes from living a life without a deepening sense of being satisfied with Christ and the blessings He has for us. So long as we continue to seek satisfaction, blessing, assurance and joy anywhere else, we are not enjoying God as He intends. And if we aren't enjoying God as He intends, we are not able to glorify God as He intends. God wants us to be satisfied with His favor and His blessing in Jesus Christ. Is He not more than enough to satisfy your every soul's need?


    "April 1, 1816 ...

    "I wish to mention to you some passages, which have been peculiarly sweet of late. . .

    "Another is the account of our Saviour's ascension, in the last chapter of Luke : 'And he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And while he blessed them,' &c. Observe 'while he blessed,' &c. The last thing he was ever seen to do on earth, was to bless his disciples. He went up, scattering blessings; and he has done nothing but bless them ever since."

    He comes to make His blessings flow
    Far as the curse is found,
    Far as the curse is found,
    Far as, far as, the curse is found.

    ("Joy to the World" by Isaac Watts)

    I am praying God might grant you grace to seek and enter into that Naphtali blessing, i.e. - an ever-increasing experiential knowledge of our Savior's favor and blessing!

    ~ Karen

    Related:

    My other posts on assurance and joy including:

    why Naphtali?
    postcards from England: are we excited over a dead fish and a car wreck? (considering the glorious possibilities)
    update w/ excerpt: Lloyd-Jones' sermons on the role of experience in Christianity
    The flags unfurled ... Christ's eternal banner | Lloyd-Jones ~ a third type of assurance
    The Father's Inheritance (Eleven days' journey ~ A lamentation & an exhortation)
    Why not pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit?
    Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
    "I will be like the dew" (Hosea 14:5) ~ Precious Dew, Heavenly Shower
    Is your ambition holy? / What are you living for? (Louis Paul Lehman) / The Christian's Aim
    Christian, don't waste your life whining
    Where are you lifting up your eyes? Psalm 121:1-2
    "Bread of Heav'n on Thee I Feed"
    Psalm 45:1 ~ Sovereign Grace Constraining, My Heart Inditing
    Psalm 131 ~ Lord, calm my soul; Lord, wean my soul in this mephitic air | W.H. Hewitson



    Work found at
    http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mist_Covering_a_Meadow_under_Forest_Encroachment.jpg  / CC BY-SA 3.0 / by Wingchi

    Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible.

  • come sinners, make consideration of Israel's Consolation ~letter 132 on assurance & fighting for joy

    Hebrews 4:12  For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13  And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

    Luke 2:25  Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27  And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28  he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

    29  “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word;
    30  for my eyes have seen your salvation
    31  that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
    32  a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation

    His sword has pierced
    your soul now grieves

    to the true Tabernacle flee
    make haste! His Salvation see

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    in Christ, grace and justice did meet
    Lamb's heel bruised, devil's sound defeat

    God's blood poured on the mercy seat
    atonement perfect and complete

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    Comfort for all Israel's seed
    Christ never breaks the bruised reed

    pardon for all your iniquity
    Comfort from the Lord's hand receive

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    for your captive soul, release
    praise for all your heaviness

    away to the great High Priest
    in your desert, a lavish feast

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    Consolation full and free
    for lost and tired, thirsty sheep

    Consolation strong, not weak
    everlasting Comfort seek

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    His sword has pierced
    your soul now grieves

    away to The Temple, drink
    into Love's vast ocean sink

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    at throne of highest Majesty
    be bold, find Grace in time of need

    Glory bursts at the mercy seat
    exceeding Joy your gloom will greet

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    in your arms hold Him and bless
    bless the LORD, your Righteousness

    exult in His excellent greatness
    to the praise of His glorious grace

    come sinners, make consideration
    of Israel's Consolation:
    Jesus Christ, the Incarnation
    God's Ransom, revealed Salvation

    with your mouth make confession
    and with your heart adoration
    to Israel's Consolation
    by His Blood receive sins' remission

    * * *

    Isaiah 40
    1  Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
    2  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
    that her warfare is ended,
    that her iniquity is pardoned,
    that she has received from the LORD's hand
    double for all her sins.
    3  A voice cries:
    “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
    4  Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
    the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
    5  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

    Isaiah 9:1  But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

    2  The people who walked in darkness
    have seen a great light;
    those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
    on them has light shined.
    3  You have multiplied the nation;
    you have increased its joy;
    they rejoice before you
    as with joy at the harvest,
    as they are glad when they divide the spoil.
    4  For the yoke of his burden,
    and the staff for his shoulder,
    the rod of his oppressor,
    you have broken as on the day of Midian.
    5  For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
    and every garment rolled in blood
    will be burned as fuel for the fire.
    6  For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
    and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
    7  Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
    on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
    to establish it and to uphold it
    with justice and with righteousness
    from this time forth and forevermore.
    The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.


    Luke 4
    16  And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. 17  And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

    18  “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to proclaim good news to the poor.
    He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and recovering of sight to the blind,
    to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
    19  to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

    I Timothy 2:5  For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6  who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

    Galatians 3:23  Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24  So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26  for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29  And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

    II Thessalonians 2:16  Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, 17  comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word.

    Have you come to know Israel's Consolation, Jesus Christ, as YOUR consolation?

    II Corinthians 6:1  Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2  For he says,

    “In a favorable time I listened to you,
    and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

    Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

    Isaiah 49
    8  Thus says the LORD:
    “In a time of favor I have answered you;
    in a day of salvation I have helped you;
    I will keep you and give you
    as a covenant to the people,
    to establish the land,
    to apportion the desolate heritages,
    9  saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
    to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
    They shall feed along the ways;
    on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
    10  they shall not hunger or thirst,
    neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
    for he who has pity on them will lead them,
    and by springs of water will guide them.
    11  And I will make all my mountains a road,
    and my highways shall be raised up.
    12  Behold, these shall come from afar,
    and behold, these from the north and from the west,
    and these from the land of Syene.”
    13  Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
    break forth, O mountains, into singing!
    for the LORD has comforted his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted.

    Have you come to know the JOY of Israel's Consolation –do you joy in Jesus Christ to the glory of God?

    Where do you seek consolation, comfort and joy?

    If you are a Christian and you continue to seek consolation, comfort and joy apart from Jesus Christ, not only are you robbing yourself as you settle for infinitely less than God can provide for you, but you are also robbing God of the glory due His Name!

    Should not a people seek consolation, comfort and joy in their God?

    Isaiah 61
    1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me;
    because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
    he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
    to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
    2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
    and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all that mourn;
    3  To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,
    to give unto them beauty for ashes,
    the oil of joy for mourning,
    the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
    that they might be called trees of righteousness,
    the planting of the LORD,
    that he might be glorified.

    ... that HE might be glorified!

    Here is love, vast as the ocean,
    Lovingkindness as the flood,
    When the Prince of Life, our Ransom,
    Shed for us His precious blood.
    Who His love will not remember?
    Who can cease to sing His praise?
    He can never be forgotten,
    Throughout Heav’n’s eternal days.

     (from "Here Is Love," verse 1 by William Rees)

    ... that HE might be glorified!

    Q. 1. What is the chief end of man?

    A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
    (Westminster Shorter Catechism)

     

    Related:

    My other letters on assurance & fighting for joy including:

    Two Fountains ~ Where are you drinking? What is flowing? Don't waste your drinking!
    Sovereign Glory (An Advent Hymn)
    Blessed Be God for His Kindness Which Leads Us to Repentance
    Bible Reading: Ezekiel 7–"But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more"
    Advent #1 WHY HAS JESUS COME? that we might have life & life more abundantly
    Advent #2 WHY HAS JESUS COME? to give his life as a ransom for many
    Advent #3 WHY HAS JESUS COME? not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance
    A little child shall lead us: Christ died for our sins (precious penal substitution)
    The Gospel: Penal substitution? Really? Yes, really!
    First Week of Advent: The Most Scandalous Bailout Ever
    Why preach the Gospel? # 1: Bad men need Good News!
    Why preach the Gospel? bad men need Good News (abridged)
    Why preach the Gospel? # 2: Dead men need Life!
    you say you want Jesus
    Dealing with past sins & guilt: God does not despise the broken & contrite heart
    Ash Wednesday: Do you despise yourself? | Job 42
    Have you believed with your heart ... all your heart? (Acts 8:37)

    Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

    Photo credit: "Simeon in the Temple" by Rembrandt (1669) found at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:61049_Simeon_in_the_Temple.jpg / CC BY-SA 3.0 / {{PD-Art|PD-old-100}}

     

naphtali_deer

About me...

Christian hedonist in training. Pressing on to know more and more of the joy of the LORD. Pleading with God to rend the heavens and revive and refresh my own soul, as well as His Church, to His praise, honor and glory.

Thank God. He can make men and women in middle life sing again with a joy that has been chastened by a memory of their past failures. ~ Alan Redpath

My other websites

tent of meeting: Prayer for reformation & revival

(See also Zechariah821. Zechariah821 is a mirror site of tent of meeting, found on WordPress)

deerlifetrumpet: Encouragement for those seeking reformation & revival in the Church

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