An Eye Opening Experience

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in his word today:

“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness. (Isaiah 42:6-7)

We are supposed to evangelize

 will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.

So what are we supposed to do again? Oh, noting much; we just have to free prisoners from the dungeon of despair, open the eyes of the spiritually blind, and free people from the prison of self. Should be easy! Now if only we actually knew how to do it… Well according to Matthew 5:14-16 all we have to do is just let ourselves shine in the World… Should be easy right? Well actually yes and no. According to the last part of Colossians 1:27 Christ actually lives in us, and therefore it’s Christ actually doing the work. But once again according to Matthew 5:14-16 it’s us letting ourself be seen (as it were). So which is right? Well the correct answer is both.

I’ll put it this way; without Christ we can do nothing, much less tell others about Jesus. Whereas with Christ all things are possible – Including evangelization. We need Christ in all areas of our life, but we specifically need him in evangelizing. Because without him we won’t so much as glimmer much less shine with the Glory of God!

God takes us by hand

“I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you;

Alright then, but what does that actually mean? It’s not like God is going to suddenly going to appear grab my hand and stay there for the rest of my life. – So I repeat; what’s it (this part of the verse) mean? Well, I think it means exactly what it says, only not physically like you and I would think but Spiritually.

How many times in your life  have you felt even the least bit sad, or depressed? – you don’t actually have to tell me – Well Christ comes, takes you by hand, and walks you through whatever the trouble your having might be. Believe me when I say there is no better psychologist then the very one who created the brain, Jesus.

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

The Fear Of the Lord

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in his word:

And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:13-14)

This makes perfect sense doesn’t? I mean, look at it! Because they are wicked God will bless them but make sure that don’t have discernment or wisdom… Yep, it makes perfect sense… So now then; we’ve established this is confusing. So what does is it in the bible for? Let’s review part of the verse:

“Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men

So, we should obviously be “Fake Christians” and not really believe in God. Right? … “By no means!”; We’re looking at this passage in the wrong way. So, let’s change our point of view:

The wisdom of the world is, quite frankly, nonsense. God was going to get rid of their “wise men” and their worldly “discerning men“. There are two types of discerning, there’s Godly discerning and worldly discerning, one is good, the other not so great. But how do you explain the fact that God is quite clearly saying that because they are “faking Christianity”, they are being blessed! Let’s look at what Paul says on the matter:

²⁰ The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, ²¹ so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? ² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:1-4)

In short, because they were sinning, God blessed them… But he blessed them so that they would stop sinning. It seems strange I know; but if you read the verse again, you’ll see how that works out. But, there is another matter; the verse also infers that their having “the fear of the Lord” was another cause for their being blessed:

²⁷The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened. (Proverbs 10:27)

²³The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil. (Proverbs 19:23)

So was the “Fear of the Lord” part of God blessing them? Well, the verse seems to say so:

and their fear of me – This is God speaking here – is a commandment taught by men, therefore, (etc)

So the point is, simply, does the fear of the Lord bring blessing or not? Well, it depends. God isn’t a dispenser waiting for you to get the correct level of fear before dropping millions (of dollars) on your head… So what and how do you and I get the correct fear of the Lord? – Incorrect fear of God would be if you were actually scared of him. Correct fear of the Lord is when you’re humbly submissive to him, because quite frankly, he’s God. – Well, as I mentioned in my happened off section, we can receive the fear of the Lord by simply fearing him correctly. Where that doesn’t mean we will suddenly be blessed by God, it is something that we all need to have (the fear of the Lord, that is).

You are loved!

Joshua Cleveland