“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” (James 4:8-10)
“It is good for me to draw near to the Lord...,” said the psalmist (Psalms 73:28). Those who know God from far off will perish, he had earlier remarked. God is the source of all life and we need to be as close to Him as possible through the blood of Jesus. While living close to the heart of God is essential, it is not necessarily easy for creatures bound in flesh. We must always remember that we are approaching a holy God who expects holiness from those that seek Him.
Let’s face it, we often fall short. We sin and don’t always turn back at His first call. James tells us that there is a time to genuinely induce mourning, weeping, and heaviness in response to our failures and impurities. This is the road to repentance, which leads to confession, and ultimately, confidence in the presence of God where He, and only He, lifts us again to joy. Come close, but carefully, He invites.
The psalmist, in Psalm 139:23-24, prayed, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Muster up courage and, in your own words, tell the Lord that your heart lays open to His examination. Thank Him for His impartial and true findings, exercised, as always, in His tender mercy.
Consider: Psalm 15:1-5; 24:3-6; Isaiah 1:16-19; I Peter 1:15-16; I Jn. 1:5-10
9 comments:
God never leaves us or forsakes us. We either turn him out and live as we want, or get close to Him and He shines His light in our hearts and shows us what is wrong. God is our Father, when his children do wrong, God reproves us to improve us. All because He loves us. So when I draw near to Him I know My Father who is a consuming fire, is also kind, full of mercy, and full of grace and a loving Father. Like all children we want the approval of our Father, so we do the things that please Him. Why??? because we love Him.
The Holiness and awesomeness of God was what I kept coming back to last night at the prayer meeting.
We kept singing "Wonderful. Beautiful. Glorious. Matchless in every way." and I couldn't get beyond it... I didn't want to get beyond it.
We worship and serve a God that is matchless in every single way and He is faithful to draw us to Himself. WOW.
Tommy had a quote on the screen at the beginning of prayer last night from Leonard Ravenhill about revival. Whenever I think about Ravenhill, I can't help but think about the all-consuming fire of God. Then I noticed that Psalm 24:3-6 was one of the scripture references today, and once again, whenever I read those verses, I hear Ravenhill's voice. The icing on the cake for me today was turning on my CD player that has 100 CD's in it and is set to "random play". Who's voice do you think I heard talking about the fire of God?! Awesome God! At the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established!
Purify our hearts Lord!
Just wanted to share another very fitting quote about revival:
"A true Revival is an awesome manifestation of the presence of Jesus in which we are convicted of our bitterness, grudges, prayerlessness and deadness to the word of God. There is no work worthy of the word "revival" or "awakening" without this purifying manifestation of forgiveness and total devotion to Christ."
-David Wilkerson"
During this mornings prayer meeting I felt led to pray for unity in our body and I was led to read Eph 4 which talks about that. After I read that, Pastor Terry prayed the exact prayer that was on my heart. While he was praying, the words of Jesus about "two or three witnesses" was on my heart but I couldn't remember enough to quote it or reference it. What do you know, Liz used this quote in her post. God bless.
The confirmations and consistencies are everywhere. It seems that so many times I believe the Spirit is speaking something to me and then someone else will speak or pray the same thing. I am in awe - God is so amazing!!!
I believe He is unifying us and just earlier this afternoon I was thinking about the blood flowing through veins - I picture the Spirit of God as the blood flowing through the body. Some veins going in specific directions to different parts of the body, but many times crossing in the process where the blood is in sense the same word, scripture, ect...) Does that make sense to anyone???!!!
I am preparing for tomorrow's service and some of these comments are blowing me away... can anyone say CONFIRMATION??
Worshiping God is of course one way to usher in his presence. By placing ourselves before him, with our focus on him alone, being totally abandoned to him, his presence is all around us. This is drawing near to God and him then in turn, drawing near to us. This also brings a refreshing. To abide in the presence of God...by abiding in worship.
My reflection of this is Psalm 91 (my personal favorite!!)
I have just read the comments posted today and can say, Confirmation!
It is wonderful to see the Lord speaking the same thing to so many hearts.
I believe we are seeing an a revival. I noted the comments Jamie recorded about true revival and can say that they echo a conversation I had with Pastor Terry after the morning prayer meeting today. We are looking, not for outward thrills, but a stirring of heart that leads us back to God and to our service of men with true humility of heart. A broken and contrite are the sacrifices of praise that the Lord seeks from us at every moment.
We ofter look for God's power in outward manifestations, but it's His power in the hidden areas that we are seeking. If our hearts are ignited to serve, love, and care for one another, we will find ourselves where He wants us. We'll leave the rest to Him.
The overall message of the prayer meeting this morning was unmistakably the love of God as seen in the unity of believers. We prayed. We confessed. We're going forward.
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