Good Morning, Meetpastordan Readers…A few years ago Grace Church St. Louis initiated a church-wide book study of “The Power of Prayer” by Mike Bickle. No doubt this is a powerful book, but there was one passage in particular that I will never forget because it changed the way I now go about reading and studying the Bible. Pastor Bickle, when talking about his own experience, reminisced: “I’ve learned that when I sit down to begin reading and studying the Bible, instead of jumping in with the intent of covering a certain amount of Scripture, I take time to relax; time to be still and clear my head of current thoughts. Then I ask the Holy Spirit to open my mind and my heart to receive the truth contained in these sentences. I ask Him to let my roots go down deep into the real meat of these words and draw up a new depth of spiritual nourishment better than anything I’ve experienced before.” Wow! Today I do the same thing, and it certainly changes the result of my reading habits and my praying habits.
I followed that process this morning before I started reading passages from the book of Jeremiah. I read about God’s anger against both Jerusalem and Babylonia for their disobedience and their idolatry. In God’s eyes, sin cannot go unpunished, and the Scriptures are very detailed and graphic concerning His impending wrath. And believe me, it’s quite horrific!
After I finished reading, and before I started writing today’s blog, I leaned back and asked the Holy Spirit to give me the “big picture” from what I just read, and also asked Him to lead me in the direction of today’s writing. Almost immediately I was drawn to this truth: Regardless of God’s burning anger against Sin, He always prefers mercy over judgement. God was speaking through the prophet Isaiah when He said, “I – yes I alone – am the One who blots out your sins for My own sake, and will remember your sins no more.” (Isaiah 43:25) This is repeated again in the book of Jeremiah when he was prophesying about the New Covenant: “And I will forgive their wickedness and will never again remember their sins.” (Jeremiah 32:25) What greater example of God’s unconditional, unending, and unfailing love for us than this truth; “He always prefers mercy over judgement.”
Regardless of who you are or what you have done, God longs for a repentant heart. We are His proudest creation, so He doesn’t want to lose even one of us. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “He doesn’t want anyone to perish, so He is giving us time to repent.” Just to be clear about the meaning of “repent”, it’s more than just saying “I’m sorry”; it’s about making a decision to change directions – to change the way we’re living. A repentant heart is a humble heart, and James 4:10 speaks to this: “When we come humbly before the Lord and admit our dependence on Him, He will lift us up and give us honor.”
No other religion or philosophy offers anything comparable to God’s gift of Grace. All others teach that the way to find favor with God is through good works; the more good works, the more we are worthy and acceptable in His eyes. For instance, if you give more, you’ll be blessed more; if you do more, you’ll be blessed more; if you help more, you’ll be blessed more. Unfortunately, none of these activities reveal the state of our heart, or the real motivation behind the activity. Too often our activities can have ulterior motives such as self-exaltation or self-pleasure. But the biggest shortcoming of the works yardstick is that it doesn’t deal with the true chasm that exists between Man and God, and that chasm is the issue of SIN!
Sin, by its very definition, is living separated from God. We’re born into this fallen world spiritually disconnected from Him. Unless we do something to re-establish that spiritual connection that was severed at “the Fall” (when Adam and Eve fell victim to satan’s wiles in the Garden and sin entered the world), we can go from the cradle to the grave and miss the whole mind-boggling transformation that God has planned for those who love Him and are called to His purpose. For those who accept His gift of Grace, we are instantaneously transformed into a “new creation”. 2 Corinthians 5:17 describes this transformation: “We’re a new creation in Christ; the old is gone (our old self that was enslaved to our sin-nature); the new has come, (the indwelling Holy Spirit). At this point we are “justified” in His sight, meaning we are reconciled to Him because we are covered with the blood of Jesus.
The truth is…at this point we are saved, but this is just the first step in the transformation process. To get all the blessings that come from being in Christ, we have to start the journey of becoming more like Him. 2 Peter 1:3 addresses this process: “The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, His divine nature (His supernatural power) gives us everything we need for living a Godly life.” That “everything” referred to is the indwelling Holy Spirit who equips us to do things we could never do through our own volition.
This is the secret weapon of every Christian. This is how we overcome the wiles of our adversary, satan. You’ll very quickly come to appreciate this gift, because now that you’ve been transferred from the domain of darkness into the domain of light, YOU are satan’s target! His whole purpose is to keep you separated from God through lies, deception, schemes, and accusations. And believe me, he is a master at his craft!
But here is the good news…God knows that through our own effort, we’re no match against satan and his evil minions. That is why He gave us the Holy Spirit to be our teacher, our guide, our comforter, and the One who will lead us into all truth. The spiritual warfare that we will experience during this transformation journey is not a power struggle, but a truth struggle. Satan will come at you unmercifully with his lies, deceptions, schemes and accusations. Your victory will come from the truth of God’s Word and knowing who you are in Christ. Satan’s lies cannot stand against God’s truth.
James 4:7 reveals this truth: “Submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Tell him, “I’m a Child of God”. Tell him, “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior”. Tell him, “the Spirit that is in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than the spirit in this world.” (That’s you, satan!) (1John 4:4) Tell him, “You were defeated by Jesus two thousand years ago at the cross”. Tell him, “I’m in Christ and Christ is in me!” Satan will flee at the name of Jesus.
What incredible hope is in the Gospel of Grace! It’s a gift from God given to you so you can become the person He created you to be. He forgives your wickedness and remembers your sins no more for His own sake! He gives us the indwelling Holy Spirit so we will be victorious in our battle with satan. Galatians 5:16-18 describes that scenario: “So I advise you to live according to your new life in the
Spirit. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just the opposite from what the Holy Spirit desires. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer enslaved to your sinful nature.” And the brightest jewel in this crown of victory is this truth: God always prefers mercy over judgement! Amen!
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May God Bless You abundantly…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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