When You Begin Struggling To Obey God

                                                     When The Door Slams

"He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."                                                                                                                                                                             John 14:21  

        Obedience to God's commands comes from your heart. When you begin struggling to obey God, that is a clear indication that your heart has shifted away from God. Some claim: "I love God, but I'm having difficulty obeying God in certain areas of my life." That is a spiritual impossibility. If I were to ask you, "Do you love God?" You might easily respond. "Yes!" However, if I were to ask you, "Are you obeying God?" Would you answer yes as quickly? 

        Yet I would be asking you the same question! Genuine love for God leads to wholehearted obedience. If you told your spouse that you loved him, but at certain times you struggled with faithfulness. Your relationship would be so weak or in jeopardy at best. Yet we assume that God is satisfied with occasional love or partial obedience. He is not. 

        Obedience without love is legalism. Obedience for its own sake can be nothing more then perfectionism, which leads to pride. Many conscientious Christians seek to cultivate discipline in their lives to be more obedient to Christ. As helpful as spiritual disciplines can be, they never can replace your love for God. Love is the discipline. God looks beyond your godly habits, beyond your moral lifestyle, and beyond your church involvement and focuses His penetrating gaze upon your heart. 

        Think about this: Has your worship become empty and routine? Have you lost your motivation to read God's Word? Are you experiencing spiritual laziness? Is your prayer life reduced to a religion? These are symptoms of a heart that has shifted away from God. Return to your first love. Lover for God is the greatest motivation for a relationship with God and for serving Him. 

God will keep me strong to the end, so that I will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom I was called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.                   (1 Corinthians 1:8-9)

Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has entered the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.

                                                                        Never Rest Ministries                             

If You Honor God, He Will Honor You

                                                        When The Door Slams

"For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,                                                                                    and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."                                                                                                                                                    Luke 14:11

        There are two ways to attain high esteem. One is the world's method: take every opportunity to promote yourself before others; seize occasions for recognition and manipulate your way into the center of attention. The other way is God's way: humble yourself. Rather than striving for recognition and influential positions, seek to put others first. Cultivate humility, for it does not come naturally. One of the many paradoxes of the Christian life is that when God sees your genuine humility, He exalts you. 

        Proverbs 16:18 warns that if we put our efforts into promoting ourselves, we will be brought down. Jesus told of a man who tried to enhance his own image (Luke 14:7-11). While attending a banquet, he immediately claimed the seat of honor. When the host saw this, he humiliated this man by asking him to move to the least honorable place to make room for a more distinguished guest. Jesus said the wise thing to do is to seek the lowest position and allow others to exalt you if they feel you are worthy. 

        Think about this: There is an enormous difference between the way the world honors you and the way God does. Proverbs 25:27 indicates that glory is not appropriate if you seek it yourself. When the world exalts you, you are the one who receives the credit. When God exalts you, others will praise Him for what He has done in your life. If you honor God, He will honor you (1 Sam. 2:30). Strive to humble yourself and bring glory to God. Allow God to be the One to honor you in the way that pleases Him!   

No one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11).

It is by by faith that I stand firm (2 Corinthians 1:24). 

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, I have believed in Christ Jesus, that I may be justified through faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by works of the law, no flesh will be justified (Galatians 2:16).  

Pause to reflect upon these biblical affirmations.

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.  

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Think About This

                                                      When The Door Slams

 Adoration: May I fear You, the Lord my God; may I server You, hold fast to You, and take my oaths in Your name. For You are my praise, and You are my God, who performed for me these great and awesome wonders which I have seen with my own eyes. (Deuteronomy 10:20-21)

You are the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps His covenant of lovingkindness. (Nehemiah 9:32)  

Pause to express your thoughts of praise and worship.

Confession: From within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, sexual immorality, murders, adulteries, greed, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All these evil thing come from within and defile a man. (Mark 7:21-23)                                                                                                          

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.  

Renewal: I will not let sin reign in my mortal body that I should obey its lusts. Nor will I present the members of my body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but I will present myself to God as one who is alive from the dead and my members as instruments of righteousness to God. (Romans 6:12-13)

May I put away all filthiness and the overflow of wickedness, and in meekness accept the word planted in me, which is able to save my soul. (James 1:21) 

Pause to add your own prayers for personal renewal.

Petition: I have called on You, O God, for You will answer me; Incline Your ear to me and hear my prayer. Show Your wonderful lovingkindness, O Savior of those who take refuge at Your right hand, From those who rise up against them. Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me in the shadow of Your wings. (Psalm 17:6-8)    

Affirmation: The day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed by intense heat, and the earth and its works will be laid bare. The day of God will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt with intense heat. (2 Peter 3:10,12). 

There will be a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth will pass away, and there will longer be any sea. (Revelation 21:1)  

Closing Prayer: All Your works will praise You, O Lord, And Your saints will bless You. They will speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power, So that all men may know of Your mighty acts And the glorious majesty of Your kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures through all generations. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens And Your glory above all the earth. ("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Have mercy on me, a sinner"). When I have sinned against You, hear from heaven and forgive my sin and restore me. Teach me the good way in which I should walk. when I sin against You-for there is no one who does not sin-may I return to You with all my heart and with all my soul. Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. "Thank you, thank you, thank you through the power of the Holy Spirit.   

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We May Forget God, But God Remembers Us.

                                                     When The Door Slams

The word of the Lord came to me: "Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: "This is what the Lord says: " 'I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you love me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.                                                  Jeremiah 2:2

Even when our hearts grow cold toward God and our devotion to Him weaken, His love remains steadfast. We may forget God, but He remembers us always.

        God was concerned because the people of Judah had allowed their hearts to drift far from Him. In a powerful moment, God shared His heart with His people, recalling what it was like when they first began loving Him. God remembered how they had loved Him, as a new bride loves her husband, with excitement and enthusiasm for the future. God recalled the kindness they had expressed as they willingly followed Him wherever He led them. God reminded them of the love they once had for Him, so that the memory might rekindle feelings of devotion and their hearts might return to Him. 

       Think about this: If you do not guard your heart, you will grow cold in your love for Christ. A time may come when He approaches you and reminds you what your relationship was once like. Do you recollect the joy that saturated your life when you first became a Christian?  Do you recall the youthful commitments you made to Him, pledging to do anything He told you to do? Do you remember the thrill you experience each time you came to understand a new dimension of His nature. Spiritual memory is important. You may not realize how far you have drifted from God until you compare it to the love you are expressing to Him now with that of earlier days. 

        God has not changed. He is the same Person you gave your heart to when you became a Christian (Mal. 3:6-7). If your love for God is not as intense as it once was, return to Him. He will restore the intimate fellowship you once shared with Him. 

God 's divine power has given me all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called me by His own glory and virtue. Through these He has given me His very great and precious promises, so that through them I may be a partaker of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust (2Peter 1:3-4). 

I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, not height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord (Romans 8:38-39). 

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.  

("Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner"). Please, God, rescue me! Come quickly, Lord, and help me. "Thank you, think you, thank you through the power of the Holy Spirit".                  

                                                            Never Rest Ministries

      

Our Sin Caused The Death Of God's Son.

                                                     When The Door Slams

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.                                                                               Matthew 5:3-4

        God wants us to experience His joy (John 15:11). Yet we cannot experience His joy until we have mourned over our sin. If we do not grieve over the weight of our sin, we have no concept of sin's devastating power. If we treat our sin lightly, we demonstrate that we have no sense of the enormity of our offense against almighty God. Our sin caused the death of God's Son. It causes us to fall short of what God intends (Rom. 3:23). It brings pain and sorrow to others, as well as to ourselves

        The Bible says that those who grieve over their sin will draw near to God (James 4:8-10). Those who mourn and weep over their sin are in a position to repent (Luke 4:18-19). There can not be repentance without the realization of the gravity of sin. Regret for sin's consequences is not the same as sorrow for sinning against God. Confession of sin is not necessarily an indication of repentance. Repentance comes only when we acknowledge that our transgression has come from a heart that is far from God, and we are brokenhearted over our grievous offenses against God. 

        Think about this: Jesus said that those who are heartbroken over their sin will find comfort. They will experience new dimensions of God's love and forgiveness. His infinite grace is sufficient for the most terrible sin. Do not try and skip the grieving process of repentance in order to move on to experience joy. God will not leave you to weep over your sin but will forgive you, and fill you with His joy.

Jesus is the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through Him (John 14:6). 

Through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed, that through Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses (Acts 13:38-39). 

Through faith I am guarded by the power of God for salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time (Peter 1:5).

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.   

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Prayer Brought Them To A Place Where God Had Already Prepared

                                                       When The Door Slams

Now when the Day of Pentecost had full come, they were all *with one accord in one place.                                                                                                                            Acts 2:1

        Prayer does not give you spiritual power. Prayer aligns your life with God so that He chooses to demonstrate His power through you. The purpose of prayer is not to convince God to change your circumstances but to prepare you to be involved in God's activity. 

        The fervent prayer of the people at Pentecost did not induce the Holy Spirit to come upon them. Prayer brought them to a place where they were ready to participate in the mighty work God had already planned.

        Jesus told His followers to remain in Jerusalem until the Spirit came upon them (Acts 1:4-5). The disciples obeyed His command, waiting for God's next directive. As they prayed, God adjusted their lives to what He intended to do next. As they prayed, a unity developed among them. For the first time the disciples used Scripture as their guide in decision making (Acts 1:15-26). The day of Pentecost arrived, and the city of Jerusalem filled with pilgrims from around the world. When God released His Holy Spirit upon the disciples, He had already filled the city with messengers who would carry the gospel to every nation. Prayer had prepared the disciples for their obedient response.

        Think about this: Prayer is designed to adjust you to God's will, not to adjust God to your will. If God has not responded to what you are praying for, you may need to adjust your praying to align with God's agenda. Rather than focusing on what you would like to see happen, you need to realize that God may be more concerned with what He wants to see happen in you.  

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, they have become new (Corinthians 5:17).

We are the true circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh (Philippians 3:3). 

The mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:26-27). 

Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.  

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It Was Prayer That Set The agenda for Jesus' Ministry

                                                     When The Door Slams

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.                                                           Mark 1:35

        It was common knowledge among the disciples that they would find Jesus praying during the early morning hours. When they needed Him, they knew to go to the place of prayer. When Judas betrayed Jesus, he led his cohorts to Jesus' place of prayer.

        Every time the Lord Jesus faced an important decision, He prayed. When He was being tempted to do things by the world's methods instead of the Father's He prayed (Matt. 4). When it was time to choose His disciples, He prayed the entire night (Luke 6:12). If the Son of God required a night of prayer in order to determine the Father's mind, how long might it take us in prayer to clearly determine our Father's will? 

        Because Jesus was so often surrounded by crowds, He knew He must find a quiet place so He could clearly hear His Father's voice. Jesus had many people seeking to influence the direction of His life. His disciples wanted Him to go where the crowds were (Mark 1:37). The crowds wanted to crown Him king (John 6:15). Satan tempted Him to make compromises in order to draw a following (Matt. 4:3,6,9). 

        Think about this: Jesus knew that His mission was not to attract a crowd, but to remain obedient to His Father. It was prayer that set the agenda for Jesus' ministry (Luke 6:12). Prayer preceded the miracles (John 11:42-43); prayer brought Him encouragement at critical moments (Luke 9:28-31); prayer enabled Him to go to the cross (Luke 22:41-42); and prayer kept Him there despite excruciating pain (Luke 23:46). Follow the Savior's example, and let your time alone with God, in prayer, set the agenda for your life.  

God fashions the hearts of all And understands all their works (Psalm 33:15).   

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).    

 Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin. Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.    

                                                                        Never Rest Ministries