From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] daily devotional
Evening...
Job 23:3
O that I knew where I might find Him!
In Job's uttermost extremity he cried after the Lord. The longing desire of
an afflicted child of God is once more to see his Father's face. His first
prayer is not "O that I might be healed of the disease which now festers in
every part of my body!" nor even "O that I might see my children restored from
the jaws of the grave, and my property once more brought from the hand of the
spoiler!" but the first and uppermost cry is, "O that I knew where I might find
HIM, who is my God! that I might come even to His seat!" God's children run
home when the storm comes on. It is the heaven-born instinct of a gracious soul
to seek shelter from all ills beneath the wings of Jehovah. "He that hath made
his refuge God," might serve as the title of a true believer. A hypocrite, when
afflicted by God, resents the infliction, and, like a slave, would run from the
Master who has scourged him; but not so the true heir of heaven, he kisses the
hand which smote him, an! d seeks shelter from the rod in the bosom of the God
who frowned upon him. Job's desire to commune with God was intensified by the
failure of all other sources of consolation. The patriarch turned away from his
sorry friends, and looked up to the celestial throne, just as a traveller turns
from his empty skin bottle, and betakes himself with all speed to the well. He
bids farewell to earth-born hopes, and cries, "O that I knew where I might find
my God!" Nothing teaches us so much the preciousness of the Creator, as when we
learn the emptiness of all besides. Turning away with bitter scorn from earth's
hives, where we find no honey, but many sharp stings, we rejoice in Him whose
faithful word is sweeter than honey or the honeycomb. In every trouble we
should first seek to realize God's presence with us. Only let us enjoy His
smile, and we can bear our daily cross with a willing heart for His dear sake.
John 16:23-24
(23) And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. (24)
Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your
joy may be full.
Matthew 7:6-8
(6) Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend
you. (7) Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it
shall be opened unto you: (8) For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that
seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Matthew 18:19
(19) Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as
touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father
which is in heaven.
Matthew 21:22
(22) And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye
shall receive.
Luke 11:9-10
(9) And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. (10) For every one that asketh
receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened.
John 14:13-14
(13) And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If ye shall ask any thing in my name,
I will do it.
John 15:7
(7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye
will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 15:16
(16) Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that
ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that
whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
1 John 3:22
(22) And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
1 John 5:14
(14) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any
thing according to his will, he heareth us:
Is it true that God has given us a blank check to ask anything of Him
just as one might ask a genie in a fairy tale? Some may misunderstand this to
be the case, but I John 5:14 qualifies what He will grant: "Now this is the
confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will,
He hears us." Real prayer is communion with God, and what is necessary for
communion are common thoughts between His mind and ours.
What we need is for Him to fill our minds and hearts with His thoughts.
Then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him in the form of
prayer. James 4:3 confirms this: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask
amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." If we ask amiss, we are
certainly not asking according to His will, and we will not receive.
But does not Jesus say in John 16:23, "[W]hatever you ask the Father in
My name He will give you"? He most assuredly does, but we still do not have a
carte blanche. To ask God for anything in the name of Jesus Christ, it must be
in keeping with what He is. To ask in Christ's name is to ask as though Christ
Himself were asking. Therefore, we can only ask for what Christ Himself would
ask. It is therefore necessary to set aside our own will and accept God's.
Jesus says in John 8:29: "And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not
left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him." If we do as Jesus
did, we are sure to receive answers as! He did. He adds in John 11:41-42:
"Father, I thank you that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear
Me."
We must come away with the realization that prayer is not dictating to
God, but a humble and heartfelt expression of our attitude of dependency and
need. Because of this, the one who truly prays is submissive to God's will,
content with Him supplying his need according to the dictates of His sovereign
pleasure. The result of this, combined with the infusion of God's attitudes and
thoughts as we draw near to Him, will work to create us in His image.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From The Sovereignty of God: Part Nine
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
daily devotional
Evening...
Psalm 93:2
Thou art from everlasting.
Christ is EVERLASTING. Of Him we may sing with David, "Thy throne, O God, is
for ever and ever." Rejoice, believer, in Jesus Christ, the same yesterday,
to-day, and for ever. Jesus always was. The Babe born in Bethlehem was united
to the Word, which was in the beginning, by whom all things were made. The
title by which Christ revealed Himself to John in Patmos was, "Him which is,
and which was, and which is to come." If He were not God from everlasting, we
could not so devoutly love Him; we could not feel that He had any share in the
eternal love which is the fountain of all covenant blessings; but since He was
from all eternity with the Father, we trace the stream of divine love to
Himself equally with His Father and the blessed Spirit. As our Lord always was,
so also He is for evermore. Jesus is not dead; "He ever liveth to make
intercession for us." Resort to Him in all your times of need, for He is
waiting to bless you still. Moreover, Jesus our Lord ever shall be. If God
should spare your life to fulfil your full day of threescore years and ten, you
will find that His cleansing fountain is still opened, and His precious blood
has not lost its power; you shall find that the Priest who filled the healing
fount with His own blood, lives to purge you from all iniquity. When only your
last battle remains to be fought, you shall find that the hand of your
conquering Captain has not grown feeble-the living Saviour shall cheer the
dying saint. When you enter heaven you shall find Him there bearing the dew of
His youth; and through eternity the Lord Jesus shall still remain the perennial
spring of joy, and life, and glory to His people. Living waters may you draw
from this sacred well! Jesus always was, He always is, He always shall be. He
is eternal in all His attributes, in all His offices, in all His might, and
willingness to bless, comfort, guard, and crown His chosen people.
Jude 1:13
(13) Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering
stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
Jude continues the nautical theme begun in verse 12 by calling the false
ministers "raging waves of the sea." He describes them as storms in the church,
causing trouble and turbulence wherever they go. James describes the doubting
person in a similar way ( James 1:6-8), as wind-tossed waves, double-minded,
and unstable in everything. Such people will end up causing problems. Such
waves toss people into hidden rocks, or as his brother Jude puts it, hidden
reefs. Naive members can become caught in the turbulence and eventually be
turned from the truth.
He then describes them as "foaming up their own shame." It is quite a
picturesque phrase. He alludes to the foam on the beach after a storm. The
strand is littered with all kinds of driftwood and other debris a storm can
dredge up. They brag about their past feats as great accomplishments, but a
godly eye sees them for what they are: shameful deeds.
He also calls them "wandering stars," another nautical allusion, this
time to the movement of the planets. Mariners used the fixed stars—not the
planets—to guide their ships over the trackless sea. They would align
themselves toward a certain star to reach their destination. These teachers are
supposed to be leaders, guides for those who are not as experienced on the road
of life, but as we would say, they are all over the map! They go here and
there, this way and that. It is the blind leading the blind, and anyone
following them will fall into a ditch ( Matthew 15:14). They are unreliable
guides. They give horrible advice. They are not worth even talking to about
one's problems because they will lead a person astray.
Jude foretells their fate at the end of the verse: "for whom is reserved
the blackness of darkness forever." The literal translation of this is really
dark: "Their fate is the utter darkness of darkness for eternity." Lights out
forever! James 3:1 says that those who are teachers will receive the stricter
judgment, and this is an example of it: the utter darkness of darkness forever.
God takes the deception of His people personally.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
From Jude
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