“Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Exodus 3:5
Moses was a man who encountered God in a special way. He was called up a mountain to meet with God for an uniqus purpose.
Isaiah, the disciples at the Transfiguration, Paul and John all had face-to-face meetings with the Lord. From these special times came their power for faith and ministry.
The New Testament believer has access to God’s presence unknown to most believers previously.
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus.”
Hebrews 10:19
Will it be entertainment or an encounter? I wonder sometimes about my own heart. I know there are times when I settle on something else than a meeting with the Lord God, my Father.
Sometimes I wonder about this. Perhaps our pews need seatbelts and our ushers need to hand out life jackets. Maybe a fire extinguisher and a pastor trained in CPR would be wise. Who knows what will happen if God decides to really show up?
He forgives me, and that I suppose the principal thing. He seeks me out to come into His presence. His blood opens the way.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4who redeems your life from the pit.”
Psalm 103:2-4, ESV
You can’t help but respond to His deliverance of your soul. Stop and think.
You have been lifted to a place of safety. He has poured on you extraordinary blessings. Complete forgiveness, total healing, and a secure redemption–you’ve been purchased off “the slave block.” So much has happened to you since you met Jesus. Plus he loves you, present-tense. He has gifted you with the premium salvation package!
Our deliverance wasn’t just “once upon a time,” way back then. I suggest that it is for now, in this present moment. Do you remember when you first understood Jesus’ sacrifice for you? Can you recall the joy and peace when he “broke you out” of your miserable cell?
Dear one, a pit was dug to trap you. If you’ve fallen into it, you won’t be able to escape on your own. It will do its work, grimly and completely. Falling into it should not be part of your plan, it is a dark place. But there are many living who reside in this pit. It most evil and desperate place, and fully destructive to the souls of men.
In the light of this “atrocity of the pit,” deliverance is monumental. When we are lifted out of the darkness, we start for the first time living a life of worth and meaning. This alone should generate an overflowing heart. If you will only start to walk in understanding, you will start to find victory!
Forgiveness, healing and redemption: This triumvirate bores into our heart. These three words create salvation deep inside us. Each concept shapes us into ways that could never happen unless the Father wanted it. And He delights in delivering people from their darkness.
He lifts us out of that wicked trap. Look! He is coming to free us!
Our simple response must only be to worship. For many of us, it will take time and practice. Worship needs to be learned, we simply don’t do it naturally. But, thats ok. Simply put, we just need to start, and not forget all that He has done. Please, don’t forget. But remember all that He has done for you! Psalm 103 will teach you, and bring you to a special place.
Whom should we love, if not Him who loved us, and gave himself for us?
“Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.”
“He comforts us every time we have trouble, so when others have trouble, we can comfort them with the same comfort God gives us.”
-2 Cor. 1:4, NCV
“The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling has seized the godless: “Who among us can dwell withthe consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
Isaiah 33:14, ESV
There has to be some sort of confusion here. Some discrepancy, some incongruity, something overlooked. But things are never what they seem, and that is accentuated when we are in real pain. We think that whatever trouble we get enmeshed in, can’t have any real redeeming value. Or does it?
After a period of time walking with God, whose presence is true fire, we should process this prominent thought. Suffering is part of God’s idea. He has plans that hinge on our pain. It has been deliberately placed into our lives.
A competent pharmacist will be extremely aware of the drug he is filling for a patient. Never too much, nor too little. God is even more meticulous and acutely alert when it comes to suffering and pain. He has an intense love for you through it all. He drops in the proper amount needed for that moment. It is confined and designed to heal, grow, and strengthen. Never to harm or destroy. He is not punishing you.
“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experiences of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.”
Helen Keller
Keller understood. She was both deaf and blind, since infancy. From this dark and complete isolation, she broke through. Helen Keller became a potent and significant woman. She would graduate from college and became a famed public speaker of international renown.
“God never allows pain without a purpose in the lives of His children. He never allows Satan, nor circumstances, nor any ill-intending person to afflict us unless He uses that affliction for our good. God never wastes pain. He always causes it to work together for our ultimate good, the good of conforming us more to the likeness of His Son” (see Romans 8:28-29).
Jerry Bridges
Gold fears no fire.
We must believe pain has purposes. Life teaches us how to love. Some seem to go through life “charmed”, they are really not hurt in any substantial way. If that is the case, reach out and help someone else, for there’s certainly enough pain and evil to go around. (We should find ourselves actively sharing in the trials of others.)
I think that when a believer finally arrives in heaven, they will be ushered in limping, wounded, leaning on an angel for support. They will bring it all to Jesus, their scars remembered, and their sins forgiven. And we will be transformed, fit for heaven.
“He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”
John 16:14
We do not make Jesus real by conjuring up a mental picture of Him long ago in Galilee and trying to walk in imagination with Him there. We do not have to go back two thousand years or travel to Palestine to find Jesus. There is a fad for that sort of thing, but so might one inwardly visualize any character of history. Such mental association may, indeed, affect one’s life to some degree, but it is far from the way Christ is made real to the believer.
The Holy Spirit has come for that purpose.
All things spiritual are from God through Christ and are communicated to us by the Spirit. It was expedient that Jesus should go that the Spirit might come. He does not testify of Himself but of Christ, and He makes the Lord real to the heart. It is not a mere mental exercise but the work of the Spirit that enables us to say, “He is real to me.”
Broken Believers 