All of creation was spoken for this one purpose, to glorify God. He gave the ocean its boundaries and it obeys Him; He told the stars where to shine and they steadfastly obey Him; He told the mountains where to rise and they obey till this day; He told the sun, the moon and all the planets to map their courses and they consistently obey his voice, He tells the wind where to blow and it unquestioningly obeys…
He turns to us and with unconditional, self-denying love He says “Come.” and we say “NO!”
Friend, do you know what it means to come to Christ? It means to come before God! Do you have an understanding of who God is? Does that understanding make you afraid of Him? No? Then you do not understand God!
Matthew 10
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
FEAR! This is not simpy a moral resect! This is God almighty folks!! We have to get this!! Understand that He is the creator God! Understand what it is to be in His presence! Do you really know? Do you really understand? Have you read in the bible where it describes the presence of God? Have you seen the reaction of the men that were there? Do you see, do you feel their fear? These are men that God has chosen specially to serve Him, men that would put any one of us to shame and they are FULL of fear!!! The angels and saints and elders fall on their face continously in worship! The Lord’s prayer – “Hallowed, be thy name” A deep reverance and fear! And we seem to think that we can simply stroll into it!
Friends… We are missing that fear. We do not know God. We talk so casually about His presence, about His grace and yet we have no idea what power we are dealing with. When we pray do we stop to consider who it is that we are talking to? Do we stop to consider who He is? Do we give a second thought to addressing the spotless lamb of God, the creator of all things, the Lord of Hosts?!
When we read in the bible about the presence of God… it is no casual thing. There can be none of ourselves in the presence of God. All of mans thoughts, imaginations and good intentions are nothing! In God’s presence there is NOTHING that comes short of Godly. What folly to read about the atoning blood of Christ and say “Well, He’s done all the work so I’ll sit back and wait for Heaven!”. I urge that person to read their bible and learn to fear. And learn to LOVE! Oh for a people to love their Saviour as they ought!
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Our sole purpose in being is to glorify God. God requires every part! Jesus gave a willing and complete denial of self in order to offer us life. We must give a willing and complete denial of self in order to receive it!! So if you’re not giving Christ every desire, every pleasure, every habit, every problem…. every day…
Matthew 16
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
Have you ever drank a glass of water saying, Lord I drink this to your glory; I praise you for providing it for me, thank you that I can drink it, may it enable me to praise you before others? Simply from a recognisation of the power of God and a deep love, fear and gratefulness for His provision.
1 Corinthians 10
31 Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
We exist for the explicit purpose of glorifying God. He requires and he demands our every part! A willing and completely denial of our own lives to seek His will and His gloification! We breathe because He gives us breath and life. All of Life is His. He is life! So let us endeavour to glorify Him with every breath that we take, with every part of our life.
In the flesh this is not an easy thing to ask but it is more a question of the heart than of the practice. Do we seek to give our precious Saviour everything? We will never be perfect on this earth but is our attitude to strive for it anyway? Do our spirits yearn to please our Redeemer? When we wake, when we work, when we converse with others, when we shop, when we relax do our hearts long to see Jesus name glorified? Is that love and the very presence of Jesus bursting out from us? It should be!
Let’s seek to see more of Jesus. Let’s seek to see His glory so that we may know how truly short we fall. Then let us repent and ask the Holy Spirit to give us life so that He may let us serve our Lord. We can do nothing. Christ is all and in all. Only Christ, only His Spirit in us can accomplish God’s will. So let us be ever so careful to seek His will and to seek His glory only!
He searches your heart. He knows your thoughts and your secret deeds. He knows you. His test on your life is not your confession of Christ as Lord and Saviour. His test on His life is whether or not you are seeking His will above all and everything else! The ONLY way that God can get glory out of a human being is through DEATH!
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This is an excerpt from a message by Paris Reinhead called Ten Shekels And A Shirt. The following story is a lovely, wonderful example of the life that is required of us.
Two young Moravians heard of an island in the west indies where an athiest British owners had 2000-3000 slaves, and the owner had said, “No preacher, no clergyman will ever step foot on this Island. If he’s shipwrecked we’ll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave, but he’s never going to talk to any of us about God. I’m through with all that non-sense.”
3000 slaves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ. Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money to buy passage to the island, for he paid no more than he would pay for any slave and wouldn’t transport them.
And as the ship left the pier at the river Hamburg, the Moravians had come to see the two young lads off. Never to return again for this wasn’t a 4 year term. They’d sold themselves into lifelong slavery, simply that as slaves, they could be as Christians were these others were.
The families were there weeping for they knew they’d never see them again. And as the gap widened and the hawsers were being curled up on the pier, and the young boys saw the widening gap. One lad, his arm linked through the arm of his fellow raised his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were ever heard from them… They were these:
MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN, RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING.
This became the call of Moravian missions, and this is the only reason for being, that the lamb that was slain, may recieve the reward of His suffering.
I’m going to say to you dear friend if you’re out here without Christ, you come to Jesus Christ and serve Him as long as you live whether you go to Hell at the end of the way BECAUSE HE IS WORTHY!
I say to you Christian friend you come to the cross and join Him in union, in death, and enter into all the meaning of death to self in order that HE can have glory. I say to you dear Christian if you do not know the fullness of the Holy Ghost, come and present your body a living sacrifice, and let Him fill you so that He can have the purpose for His coming fulfilled in you and get glory through your life. IT’S NOT WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET OUT OF GOD, IT’S WHAT’S HE IS GOING TO GET OUT OF YOU.
Let’s be done, once and for all, with utilitarian Christianity that makes God a means, instead of the glorious END that He is. Let’s resign, let’s tell Micah we’re through. We’re no longer going to be his priests serving for ten shekels and a shirt. Let’s tell the tribe of Dan we’re through. And let’s come and cast ourselves at the feet of the nail pierced Son of God and tell Him that we’re going to obey Him, and love Him, and serve Him, as long as we live BECAUSE HE IS WORTHY!
Paris Reidhead – Ten Shekels and a Shirt
Learning With Lovell 