VIDEO Then What’s Next To Do?

Then What’s Next To Do?

Everyone who asks receives… —Luke 11:10

Ask if you have not received. There is nothing more difficult than asking. We will have yearnings and desires for certain things, and even suffer as a result of their going unfulfilled, but not until we are at the limit of desperation will we ask. It is the sense of not being spiritually real that causes us to ask. Have you ever asked out of the depths of your total insufficiency and poverty? “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (James 1:5), but be sure that you do lack wisdom before you ask. You cannot bring yourself to the point of spiritual reality anytime you choose. The best thing to do, once you realize you are not spiritually real, is to ask God for the Holy Spirit, basing your request on the promise of Jesus Christ (see Luke 11:13). The Holy Spirit is the one who makes everything that Jesus did for you real in your life.

“Everyone who asks receives….” This does not mean that you will not get if you do not ask, but it means that until you come to the point of asking, you will not receive from God (see Matthew 5:45). To be able to receive means that you have to come into the relationship of a child of God, and then you comprehend and appreciate mentally, morally, and with spiritual understanding, that these things come from God.

“If any of you lacks wisdom….” If you realize that you are lacking, it is because you have come in contact with spiritual reality— do not put the blinders of reason on again. The word ask actually means “beg.” Some people are poor enough to be interested in their poverty, and some of us are poor enough spiritually to show our interest. Yet we will never receive if we ask with a certain result in mind, because we are asking out of our lust, not out of our poverty. A pauper does not ask out of any reason other than the completely hopeless and painful condition of his poverty. He is not ashamed to beg— blessed are the paupers in spirit (see Matthew 5:3

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

It is perilously possible to make our conceptions of God like molten lead poured into a specially designed mould, and when it is cold and hard we fling it at the heads of the religious people who don’t agree with us. Disciples Indeed, 388 R

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Luke 11:5-13 – In Depth – Pastor Chuck Smith – Bible Studies

Abby’s Prayer

I urge . . . that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people.  1 Timothy 2:1

When Abby was a sophomore in high school, she and her mom heard a news story about a young man who’d been critically injured in a plane accident—an accident that took the lives of his father and stepmother. Although they didn’t know this person, Abby’s mom said, “We just need to pray for him and his family.” And they did.

Fast forward a few years, and one day Abby walked into a class at her university. A student offered her the seat next to him. That student was Austin Hatch, the plane crash victim Abby had prayed for. Soon they were dating, and in 2018 they were married.

“It’s crazy to think that I was praying for my future husband,” Abby said in an interview shortly before they were married. It can be easy to limit our prayers to our own personal needs and for those closest to us, without taking the time to pray for others. However, Paul, writing to the Christians at Ephesus, told them to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kind of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” (Ephesians 6:18). And 1 Timothy 2:1 tells us to pray “for all people,” including those in authority.

Let’s pray for others—even people we don’t know. It’s one of the ways we can “carry each other’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2).

By Dave Branon

Reflect & Pray

Who are the people—some you may not even know personally—who need your prayers today? How will you carve out some time to talk with God about their needs?

Jesus, open my heart to the needs of people around me—even those I don’t know. Take my heartfelt concern and intervene for them as only You can.

Warning Against Spiritual Drifting

Hebrews 2:1-4

Drifting down a lazy river in an inner tube is a relaxing way to spend a hot summer day, but it’s not a good practice for our spiritual life. No one drifts into godliness, but it’s quite easy to float in the opposite direction. The world’s current will inevitably draw us downward into the polluted waters of sin.

Despite this reality, many Christians are not paying attention to their spiritual life and are drifting from the Lord. It happens so quietly and gradually that they are often unaware of their condition until they begin to feel the negative consequences as the Lord seeks to draw them back to Himself.

What are the signs of spiritual drifting?

Neglect of God’s Word, prayer, corporate worship, and fellowship. These are the means Christ has provided for His church to be grounded in truth and to grow in spiritual maturity (Acts 2:42). If we neglect them, we’ll become prey to all sorts of deceptions and temptations.

The influence of other people. The verse “Bad company corrupts good morals” is certainly true (1 Corinthians 15:33). If we seek to please people more than we desire to know and obey God, we will be led astray. We must especially be careful not to imitate the attitudes and practices of those who don’t know Christ (Eph. 4:17-20).

The influence of the world. A preoccupation with materialism and advancement sidetracks us from pursuing things of eternal value (1 Timothy 6:8-10).

If you find yourself drifting away from the Lord, turn back to Him in repentance, asking for His grace to diligently follow Christ.

Temple’s Silent Construction

“And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” (1 Kings 6:7)

Here is a remarkable testimony to the engineering and construction skills of the ancients. In order to erect the magnificent temple of Solomon, every portion was so carefully fabricated, far away from the construction site, that the building could be completely erected in reverent silence.

Furthermore, the stones were not small and rough. “They brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house” (1 Kings 5:17). They were quarried from limestone beds beneath the city and had to be fabricated and brought to the temple site, all ready to be laid in place. “And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers” (1 Kings 5:18).

In both its unique beauty and its silent assemblage, the temple is a striking type of the spiritual temple now being erected by the Holy Spirit. “Now therefore ye are . . . built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).

In this spiritual temple, each new believer is a costly stone, carefully cut from the world’s dark quarry, then silently placed in the growing structure by the Holy Spirit on the foundation of Jesus Christ, “to whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4-5). “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). HMM

Worshipers Were Rebels

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

—Romans 5:11

Sometimes evangelical Christians seem to be fuzzy and uncertain about the nature of God and His purposes in creation and redemption. In such instances, the preachers often are to blame. There are still preachers and teachers who say that Christ died so we would not drink and not smoke and not go to the theater.

No wonder people are confused! No wonder they fall into the habit of backsliding when such things are held up as the reason for salvation.

Jesus was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, died on the cross and rose from the grave to make worshipers out of rebels!   WHT011

Lord, keep the cross in the forefront of our evangelistic preaching, and fill us with Your longing for sinners to become worshipers. Amen.

 

May the Lord bless thee, and keep thee

The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; the Lord make His face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; the Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.—Numbers 6:24-26.

The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.—Deuteronomy 33:27.

 

Thou wilt in time experience that thou dost belong not only to this life, but also art capable of enjoying and beholding God and eternal things, to thy perfect contentment and rest. Thou wilt then fix thine eyes, like a little innocent child, upon the face of God, steadfastly and joyfully; and He in return, like a faithful and loving mother, will keep His eyes upon thee, by which thou wilt be made holy through and through, and transformed into the same image from glory to glory. All thy delight, joy, and bliss will be in God, and God, in return, will have His joy and good pleasure in thee. He will rest and dwell in thee, as in His serene throne of peace; and thy spirit, that had so long gone astray, like a friendless child in a foreign land, will again sweetly repose in its true rest and home, in undisturbed peace. And thus thou wilt become a clear heaven of the ever-blessed God, in which He will dwell, and which He will fill with His divine light and love, and in which He will be glorified in time and in eternity.

Gerhard Tersteecen.

 

Trustworthy Name

“I will also leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord.” Zeph. 3:12

When true religion is ready to die out among the wealthy it finds a home among the poor of this world, rich in faith. The Lord has even now his faithful remnant. Am I one of them?

Perhaps it is because men are afflicted and poor that they learn to trust in the name of the Lord. He that hath no money must try what he can do on trust. He whose own name is good for nothing in his own esteem, acts wisely to rest in another name, even that best of names, the name of Jehovah. God will always have a trusting people, and these will be an afflicted and poor people. Little as the world thinks of them, their being left in the midst of a nation is the channel of untold blessings to it. Here we have the conserving salt which keeps in check the corruption which is in the world through lust.

Again the question comes home to each one of us, Am I one of them? Am I afflicted by the sin within me and around me? Am I poor in spirit, poor spiritually in my own judgment? Do I trust in the Lord? That is the main business. Jesus reveals the name, the character, the person of God; am I trusting in Him? If so, I am left in this world for a purpose. Lord, help me to fulfill it.