By: Rob Peralta
Two important things are we measured by, I believe, in our walk with the Lord. Our faith and our ability to stand up for Him and His Laws. Blessed is the man (or woman) who can do both well. We can look at our founding fathers to see their examples of doing both well for inspiration.
Abraham's story was an original inspired example to show God his great faith. His faith was so great in God , he was willing to sacrifice his own son because GOD SAID SO. God "tried" Abraham and he proved God right, his heart was sold out to the Lord. God never tempts us but He does try us. Happy are we who pass His tests! Abraham became a great example of the 1st Commandment " Thou shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, and soul".
Then we have Joesph who was tempted by the Potipahr's wife. He was pursued continually by her until finally he bluntly told her he could not do such a wicked thing before God. Joesph stood up for God by not breaking His 7th Commandment "Thou shall not commit adultery". Even to the point of a demotion to prison.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego showed God their faithfulness by not bowing down to idols and false Gods. They stood up for God and His 2nd Commandment "Thou shall not worship idols or images". And the same with Daniel.
Moses stood up for God's 4th Commandment. Pharoah was angered because Moses was telling his people to remember God's Sabbath. So the Pharoah said to him "..You make the people Sabbath from their burdens (work)" (Exod. 5:5)
In the above examples, these men TOOK A STAND for God and His Laws. They proved to God their heart was right and sold out to the Lord. They just didn't "say" things about the Lord, they DID things to back up their faith. So too should we be doers of our faith. In (proverbs 7:12) we read " My son, keep my words and store up my Commandments within you, keep my Commandments and you will live, GUARD my teachings as the APPLE OF YOU EYE". Our Lord is basically telling us to look upon His Laws as VERY SPECIAL to us, our way of life! Are they not in the middle of His holy temple in heaven right now?
Now with all the above said, how can WE stand up for Him and show our faith in our daily walk?Let me give you some examples. How do you respond when someone profanes God's name in your hearing? Do you ignore it? Or do you politely correct them by saying "you know you reallly shouldn't say that" or " it's better to say Jeepers creepers or gosh darn". The whole point is that you should be "offended". They have insulted YOUR GOD. (Ezekiel 3:19) "If thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered they soul". We keep ourselves from "their" sins when we warn them. Silence in the above example means YOU have just taken the Lord's name in vain as well.
I occasionally like to go to the movies and recently I went to see "the Fockers". I sat down and watched what I thought would be a good clean film. About a quarter into it Robert Dinero says " Oh J---C----". I immediately got up and walked out. I felt the Lord's close hand upon me as I went out. (1 Sam 2:30)"...those that honor Me, I will honor"
Our Lord said something that we should remember in standing up for Him and His Laws "But whoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before my Father who is in heaven" ( Matt 10:33). Do not think sins done in your sight or hearing are "no big deal". You are in real danger of "denying" Him if you do not reprove them.
So keep in mind that our walk has many opportunities (placed by God) to "prove" our faith and love for Him, let us not deny Him, rather embrace Him and SHOW PEOPLE we stand up for Him! Amen.
Yes, we may try hard to do it,but one simple truth is - we can't.It takes Christ living out His life through us.'You are week in moral power, in slavery to doubt..you cannot control your thoughts,yr impulses,or yr affections..You cannot change yr heart,you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him...Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him'(Steps to Christp47) - Not by 'working', not by 'doing'-it is our choice by faith, to 'see' Jesus and permit His thoughts, impulses and actions to become ours.If we don't resist the Holy Spirit, Jesus,our Great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary, will work to impart His life to us-the greatest joy we can have to be totally 'at-one' with Him. It's only as we begin to appreciate the height and depth of the agape love that drove Him to the cross, that His 'mind' begins to be imparted to us. It is a miracle, and we don't know how He does it, but we then 'overcome...even as [He] overcame'(Rev 3:21)
ReplyDeleteCan I suggest something extremely important that so many need to understand - it is Christ's righteousness - not ours, pls check these out:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.helpinghandsministry.info/pdf/Christ_Our_Righteousness.pdf
http://www.audioverse.org/sermons/recordings/2480/abraham-s-saving-faith.html
Yes, Svetlana, Jesus' righteousness is indeed out pass to heaven. But nevertheless was are told "faith without works is dead" (James 2:17) And again "...I will show you my faith BY MY WORKS"(james 2:18) So please understand our works (as my examples above) SHOW God and people are faith is alive!
ReplyDeleteSvetlana, here's an even better scripture so you can grasp the meaning "works and faith" go hand and hand. (James 2:21-22) "Was not Abraham, our father justified by works, when he offered Issac his son upon the alter? See thou how faith was done with his works, and by works was faith made perfect". We must remember that God made us to please Him and by our good works, our faith is shown pure to Him. Rob.
ReplyDeleteThat scripture does indeed nail the point. We must never get to the point and say " The Lord's righteousness is all I need, my life and my works really don't matter" No. They must go hand and hand. Infact scripture says "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto GOOD WORKS, which God has made that we should walk in them" (Esp.2:10)
ReplyDelete