"Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled."-- Luke 14:23
We can never estimate the yearning love of God for the souls of men. He sees us absorbed with farming and industry; business and pleasure; with our homes and family-life, and knows that these will all pass away, as a dream before the first touch of eternity. With intense passion He desires that we shall be really satisfied with abiding joys.
The Feast that He spreads is abundant and ready (Isa 25:6; Isa 55:1-2). A banquet is a happy-making time. As the guests sit together, there is the brilliant flow of conversation, the sparkle of laughter, the enjoyment of the good things provided, the interchange of friendship and fellowship. Everything that a feast stands for God is waiting to give us. "He gives us richly all things to enjoy." How strange it is that men, mocked by the Evil One, are cajoled into forfeiting their places at the banqueting table, which God has spread for them!
The Jewish people were first bidden, but they were too much occupied with material things to respond to the gracious invitation. The excuses offered were shallow and stupid; the real reason lies much deeper, in the disinclination of the soul to arouse itself to lay hold of the life which is life indeed! But God's purpose of Love cannot be defeated (Luk 13:28-30; Act 13:45-48).
"Go out into the highways and hedges.'" Here is our work as His servants! The high-roads, along which the streams of commerce and pleasure, weddings and funerals, statesmen and business men, young men and women, housewives and children--are constantly passing! The hedgerows are the quiet sequestered lanes of the country-side, now covered with spring flowers, and again with autumn tints. The up-to-date motor car, or the slow-jogging country waggon are symbols of different modes of life, but the souls that use them alike need the message of Good News. Let us go forth and constrain them to come in that our Master's House may be filled!
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Fishers of Men (Our Daily Walk)
"Jesus saw two brethren, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."-- Matthew 4:18-19
It is thus that Christ adapts Himself to the understanding and the heart. He caught these fishermen with bait suited to them. Notice the undoubting certainty of His promise to make these two brothers fishers of men, casting their drag-net not into the waters of the sea of Galilee, but into the great ocean of humanity. How impossible it would have been to convince Peter then that within four years he would make the great haul of three thousand souls (Act 2:41). We never know what awaits us when we leave all to follow in obedience to the Master's Call!
"Follow Me!" Our Lord is always making this challenge (Joh 21:19-22). It means bearing the cross, but we must be willing to follow Christ until, like Him, we fall into the ground and die--die to our own ambitions, our love of power and influence, our own strength and gifts, that we may make way for God to work through us. We must learn not to obtrude ourselves, but to lie hidden. The first, the second, and the third condition of successful fishing is to be hidden from sight. The best line and bait for catching men are those where the human element is out of sight, and our one aim is to serve Christ's purpose, and to glorify Him.
There must be a leaving of our nets and boats, and even those who are nearest and dearest (Mat 4:20-23). It must have been something of a wrench for these brothers to leave their nets and fishing to follow Christ. But the attraction of His Personality prevailed. There is no difficulty in persuading men to surrender the lower and inferior article, if you can unfold to them the immense value of the Pearl of great price. Then they will gladly sell all that they have to buy it.
It is thus that Christ adapts Himself to the understanding and the heart. He caught these fishermen with bait suited to them. Notice the undoubting certainty of His promise to make these two brothers fishers of men, casting their drag-net not into the waters of the sea of Galilee, but into the great ocean of humanity. How impossible it would have been to convince Peter then that within four years he would make the great haul of three thousand souls (Act 2:41). We never know what awaits us when we leave all to follow in obedience to the Master's Call!
"Follow Me!" Our Lord is always making this challenge (Joh 21:19-22). It means bearing the cross, but we must be willing to follow Christ until, like Him, we fall into the ground and die--die to our own ambitions, our love of power and influence, our own strength and gifts, that we may make way for God to work through us. We must learn not to obtrude ourselves, but to lie hidden. The first, the second, and the third condition of successful fishing is to be hidden from sight. The best line and bait for catching men are those where the human element is out of sight, and our one aim is to serve Christ's purpose, and to glorify Him.
There must be a leaving of our nets and boats, and even those who are nearest and dearest (Mat 4:20-23). It must have been something of a wrench for these brothers to leave their nets and fishing to follow Christ. But the attraction of His Personality prevailed. There is no difficulty in persuading men to surrender the lower and inferior article, if you can unfold to them the immense value of the Pearl of great price. Then they will gladly sell all that they have to buy it.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Psalms 119 - Aleph
I am going to start doing a study of Psalms 119. I will take a section at a time and post my thoughts. It may take me a while to finish each section because I am going to put some deep thought into each and every verse. Now my thoughts are exactly that. Just what I am thinking when I read scripture. It's not fact....just my opinions of scripture verses.....God's word (the Bible) is the ONLY truth there is.
Aleph (vs. 1-8)
1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
I could not find the word undefiled in the dictionary. So, I looked up the word defiled instead. Dictionary.com's definition of defiled is: to make foul, dirty, or unclean; pollute; taint; debase.
The Bible gives numerous examples of things that are foul and unclean.
So, in order to be blessed by God, we need to abstain and remove ourselves from things of this world that are tainted by Satan. Now abstaining from evil is not as hard as people want to make it seem. God wrote out a set of simple instructions that we need to live and walk by in order to be redeemed. It's called the Bible. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you even have one, but it's sitting on a shelf in a corner of your house somewhere collecting dust. Now is the time to read God's life instructions. They are truly life savers.
Hold on though. There's more.
Not only are we blessed if we are undefiled, but we are blessed if we walk in the law of the Lord. In other words, your mouth shouldn't be the only thing moving. We have to put action to what we read, because that's what others are going to see. Matthew 7:20 says "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." It's what we do, not what we say, that will show who we truly are. God will know that we are truly earnest in following Him, if we stop saying "I will follow", and just get up and go...'walk in the law of the Lord'.......
2. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.
We have to seek God with our whole heart. This is something a lot of people recite or say, but they really don't stop and think about what this says. Seek God with our whole heart. Whole means: comprising of the full quantity. In other words, nothing is left to give to anything else. This is how it should be. If God has your whole heart, then Satan has no place to plant his evil seeds of sin. God should come first in our lives, but He should also saturate every part of our daily lives with our jobs, family, and friends. Oh what a perfect life this is. If only we would not give God small bits of our hearts. If only we would just take our whole heart, hand it to God and say "Here, it's Yours. Lead me and mold me the way You see fit." Our lives are complete only when God has our everything.
3. They also do no iniquity:they walk in His ways.
They (the ones spoken of in the previous two verses) do no iniquity and walk in God's ways. Now what exactly is iniquity? Iniquity is: gross injustice or wickedness; wicked act; sin. If we walk in the paths that God has set before us, we will not even WANT to sin. Those lusts of the old flesh will have no power over us because we are washed clean in the precious blood our our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now Satan will tempt us, but we will have power to resist that old serpent. James 1:4 says "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." It's as simple as that.
4. Thou hast commanded us to keep Thy precepts diligently.
God tells us to keep His precepts (directions or commandments) diligently. This goes hand-in-hand with us giving our whole hearts to God. Diligent means: constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything. So, we need to persistently and constantly keep God's commandments. We need to always be watchful of what we think, say and do. Our attentions need to be fully focused on God. If we are focused on God Satan will have a very hard time of wavering our attentions. We are keeping our souls safe when we lock-in on what God wants and put aside our own selfish desires.
5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
This is a simple prayer that we all should pray every day of our lives. Oh that God would direct our steps to keep His commandments and law. Everything falls into their perfect place when our feet are guided and our paths are directed by God.
6. Then shall I not be ashamed , when I have respect unto all they commandments.
I will not be ashamed for lack of understanding when I know God's commandments. When we know God's commandments and are deep in His word, we will not have to be ashamed because we cannot give an answer when our faith is questioned.
7. I will praise Thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned Thy righteous judgments.
I will praise the Lord when I have learned His righteous judgments. I cannot rightfully praise God if I do not know what I am praising Him for. We will be better witnesses for God when we know in our hearts why we praise Him and the contents of what we speak.
8. I will keep Thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
A promise is made to God, then a plea for assurance. God, I promise to keep your statues...please give me the assurance that you will not forsake me and leave me alone. Like a little child we come to our Father for forgiveness and then we evoke a response that lets us know God still loves us and will always be by our side.
Aleph (vs. 1-8)
1. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.
I could not find the word undefiled in the dictionary. So, I looked up the word defiled instead. Dictionary.com's definition of defiled is: to make foul, dirty, or unclean; pollute; taint; debase.
The Bible gives numerous examples of things that are foul and unclean.
So, in order to be blessed by God, we need to abstain and remove ourselves from things of this world that are tainted by Satan. Now abstaining from evil is not as hard as people want to make it seem. God wrote out a set of simple instructions that we need to live and walk by in order to be redeemed. It's called the Bible. Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you even have one, but it's sitting on a shelf in a corner of your house somewhere collecting dust. Now is the time to read God's life instructions. They are truly life savers.
Hold on though. There's more.
Not only are we blessed if we are undefiled, but we are blessed if we walk in the law of the Lord. In other words, your mouth shouldn't be the only thing moving. We have to put action to what we read, because that's what others are going to see. Matthew 7:20 says "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." It's what we do, not what we say, that will show who we truly are. God will know that we are truly earnest in following Him, if we stop saying "I will follow", and just get up and go...'walk in the law of the Lord'.......
2. Blessed are they that keep His testimonies, and that seek Him with the whole heart.
We have to seek God with our whole heart. This is something a lot of people recite or say, but they really don't stop and think about what this says. Seek God with our whole heart. Whole means: comprising of the full quantity. In other words, nothing is left to give to anything else. This is how it should be. If God has your whole heart, then Satan has no place to plant his evil seeds of sin. God should come first in our lives, but He should also saturate every part of our daily lives with our jobs, family, and friends. Oh what a perfect life this is. If only we would not give God small bits of our hearts. If only we would just take our whole heart, hand it to God and say "Here, it's Yours. Lead me and mold me the way You see fit." Our lives are complete only when God has our everything.
3. They also do no iniquity:they walk in His ways.
They (the ones spoken of in the previous two verses) do no iniquity and walk in God's ways. Now what exactly is iniquity? Iniquity is: gross injustice or wickedness; wicked act; sin. If we walk in the paths that God has set before us, we will not even WANT to sin. Those lusts of the old flesh will have no power over us because we are washed clean in the precious blood our our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now Satan will tempt us, but we will have power to resist that old serpent. James 1:4 says "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." It's as simple as that.
4. Thou hast commanded us to keep Thy precepts diligently.
God tells us to keep His precepts (directions or commandments) diligently. This goes hand-in-hand with us giving our whole hearts to God. Diligent means: constant in effort to accomplish something; attentive and persistent in doing anything. So, we need to persistently and constantly keep God's commandments. We need to always be watchful of what we think, say and do. Our attentions need to be fully focused on God. If we are focused on God Satan will have a very hard time of wavering our attentions. We are keeping our souls safe when we lock-in on what God wants and put aside our own selfish desires.
5. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!
This is a simple prayer that we all should pray every day of our lives. Oh that God would direct our steps to keep His commandments and law. Everything falls into their perfect place when our feet are guided and our paths are directed by God.
6. Then shall I not be ashamed , when I have respect unto all they commandments.
I will not be ashamed for lack of understanding when I know God's commandments. When we know God's commandments and are deep in His word, we will not have to be ashamed because we cannot give an answer when our faith is questioned.
7. I will praise Thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned Thy righteous judgments.
I will praise the Lord when I have learned His righteous judgments. I cannot rightfully praise God if I do not know what I am praising Him for. We will be better witnesses for God when we know in our hearts why we praise Him and the contents of what we speak.
8. I will keep Thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.
A promise is made to God, then a plea for assurance. God, I promise to keep your statues...please give me the assurance that you will not forsake me and leave me alone. Like a little child we come to our Father for forgiveness and then we evoke a response that lets us know God still loves us and will always be by our side.
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