As I stated in yesterdays post I was to day going to write on Prayer but again this morning while mediating on it it came to me that before prayers can be answered we must first be Obedient. The Old Testament is loaded on the side of those who became Obedient to the vision, voice or illumination they received while technically yet sinners. What set them apart was their obedience to GOD in the fashion that He used to get their attention and then they did as directed in the vision, by the voice, that is the audible word heard or an unusual internal illumination of Divine magnitude. All draw attention to GOD by so doing is why they are recorded in scripture as being Obedient to Him. What is important are those not written of because they failed to DO as directed and they could be greater in number. As is my usual custom I will again draw from the pen of Pastor Hoekstra's writings and make use of the ESV translation found in my E-Sword program. And as is also my usual custome I will edit parts of the teaching of Pastor Hoekstra's.
"Our Living as Servants and Witnesses of the New Covenant"
"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from GOD, Who also made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives Life." (2Corinthians 3:5-6)
"We who follow the LORD Christ Jesus are "ministers of the New Covenant." The term "minister" means servant or a subordinate. The phrase "New Covenant" speaks of relating to GOD by (through His) Grace. Thus, we are those who serve GOD and are subordinate by the resources of His Grace. In our day by day lives, lived in service of the LORD GOD Almighty, are to be developed by the Grace of GOD at work in us. What is involved in this biblical, heavenly approach to Life here on earth?
The first issue pertains to our own inadequacy. "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves." So often we overlook our personal insufficiency or try to convince ourselves that we can become sufficient, with just a little more time, effort, or preparation. This approach is in direct disagreement with the LORD. GOD wants us to agree with Him. In our being Subordinate to HIM.
Even when we begin to face our spiritual inability to produce the kind of Life GOD is looking for, we easily underestimate the extent of our deficiency. We may think that we are just not able to produce as much as GOD desires to see in our lives. The LORD has a more radical viewpoint. He says that we are not able to supply "anything" that He wants to see. Again, GOD wants us to agree with Him.
The second issue pertains to GODs adequacy. "Our Sufficiency is from GOD." The sufficient resources for living the "Christian" Christ-likeness Life are to be found in GOD alone. We are to be the recipients of GOD and His Grace, that is, His fully adequate supply. We are not to think we are the manufacturers of that grace. GOD is our source for all that is needed for Godly living. Once more, GOD wants us to agree with Him. And keep or stay this course continually in steadfastness anchored to Him through Christ. Being One with Them.
The difference between living by GOD's supply or by our own resources is a "life and death" matter. "The letter kills, but the Spirit gives Life." Living the "Christian" Christ centered Life by our own capabilities will spiritually kill us. It will eventually leave us exhausted, discouraged, condemned. Whereas, depending upon the Spirit of GOD to supply the Abundant Grace of GOD leaves us strengthened, encouraged, and comforted. We are said then to be in His rest."
Our Spiritual Obedience:
Exodus 20:4-6 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your GOD am a jealous GOD, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments."
Exodus 23:20-25 "Behold, I send an angel (pastor, teacher, a subordinate spiritual adviser) before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for My name is in him. "But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. "When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. You shall serve the LORD your GOD, and He will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you."
Deuteronomy 4:32-40 "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that GOD created man of the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your GOD did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is GOD; there is no other besides HIM. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might discipline you. And on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of that fire. And because He loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with His own presence, by His Great Power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is GOD in Heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Therefore you shall keep His statutes and His commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your GOD is giving you for all time."
Deuteronomy 11:18-25, 26-28 "You shall therefore lay up these words of Mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the LORD your GOD, walking in all His ways, and holding fast to Him, then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. No one shall be able to stand against you. The LORD your GOD will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as He promised you.
"See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your GOD, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your GOD, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known."
1Kings 11:34-39 "Nevertheless, I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand, but I will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of David My servant whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and will give it to you, ten tribes. Yet to his son I will give one tribe, that David My servant may always have a lamp before Me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put My name. And I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires, and you shall be king over Israel. And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in My ways, and do what is right in My eyes by keeping My statutes and My commandments, as David My servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. And I will afflict the offspring of David because of this, but not forever.'"
Isaiah 1:16-17, 18-20 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
Mark 3:31-35 "His mother and His brothers came, and standing outside they sent to Him and called Him. And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you." He answered them, "Who are My mother and My brothers?" Looking about at those who sat around Him, He said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the Will of GOD, he is My brother and sister and mother."
Luke 11:27-28 "As He said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which You nursed!" He said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of GOD and keep it!"John 7:14-18 "About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching. The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when He has never studied?"
So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not Mine, but His Who sent Me. If anyone's will is to do GOD's Will, he will know whether the teaching is from GOD or whether I am speaking on My own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of Him Who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood."
John 14:18-24 (Jesus is here speaking) "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.
In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We Will come into him and make Our home within him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word that you hear is not Mine but the Father's Who sent Me."
So it is not only the word spoken but also the thought of that word be it spoken or simply heard within our spirit, the motive of the revelation then spoken. Of this there are two types, physical and spiritual.....if we only apply the physical we miss the proper understanding and application.
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