Good morning. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Who does the drawling near first – we do. If you're not close to God, guess who moved? Now you cannot draw near to God unless you: cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded. When you start putting your hands on things of the world, they get dirty. But just because you're not "doing something wrong", does not mean that you are pure. It all comes back to motives. If your heart is not pure, you cannot please God, and you will be double minded. What will be the result – be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy to gloom. Psalms says just the opposite for those who please God. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. You are the one with the responsibility to humble yourself. However, he just said that God gives grace to the humble. It can be exhilarating when those around you exalt you; but that pales in comparison to when God exalts you. How do we exalt ourselves – by putting others down. But we are to not speak against a brother nor judge him or her. There is only one lawgiver and judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? Remember: Judge not… Father thank You that the reader draws near to You with clean hands and a pure heart. He/she humbles himself/herself in Your presence and You exalt him/her!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners

  Good morning. So, was the law a bad thing? We know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully (not to control people, as some were), realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane…, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the Blessed God, with which I have been entrusted. I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer etc. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. Formerly Paul was good in the eyes of the law, but unrighteous in the eyes of God. Despite that, God was more than able to use him in a magnificent way to bring the gospel to the Gentiles. Father thank You that Your Grace is gre...
Read more

Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me

  Good morning. Paul then gives a list of a lot of things that he has gone through as an apostle. I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For if you were to have countless tutors in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. There could be many people that you listen to either in church or through the Internet or other means; but there was only one person (as a general rule it was a person) that lead you to Christ. Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me. He was saying that just like a child imitates his or her father, they were to imitate him. He says that again seven chapters later. Since it is easy to forget some things about people we have not seen in a while, Paul says that he sent Timothy to them to remind them of his ways which are in Christ, just as he taught everywhere in every church. Some have become arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. I shall find ou...
Read more

Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them.

  Good morning. Therefore, those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. Philip, who was one of the seven deacons, went down to the city of Samaria and began preaching Christ to them. This is the area where Jesus had the discussion with the woman at the well. Remember from Acts 1:8 that after Jerusalem, Samaria was mentioned. Samaritans were looked down upon by the Jews and considered more or less half Jews. A lot of the Jews of the northern kingdom were taken away and replaced by others who were not Jews. They intermingled with the Jews that were living in the northern kingdom. Even though Samaria was not far away, the disciples had not come there to preach the word before this. The disciples may have even thought that it was impossible for them to get saved, just like the Gentiles. The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. Even though he was “just a deacon”, God worked throug...
Read more