Wednesday, June 29, 2016

To Desire the Lord - Part 1 - Know God/Follow Christ



This week Michael writes:
We're always looking for men and women to talk to them about the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, the one person we should be looking for is “the person in the mirror”. What is it that a man or woman of God should desire most?  God said through the Psalmist, "delight thyself also in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Ps. 37:4). In order to desire the things of God, we must actively, deliberately, and purposefully delight ourselves in the Lord. Then, when our delight is His delight, and our desire His desire, God will work in us and through us to will and to do of His good pleasure.  

To desire the Lord and to set our affection on things above, remember the acronym KFLO. The first and highest desire is represented by the letter “K” : to "Know God deeply and abidingly"... to know His character and His nature. The Bible says repeatedly, rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Know Him intimately. According to Philippians 3, Paul said, "I consider all things but loss except for the knowledge of God." Everything else is worthless, detestable, and repugnant except for knowing the Lord. The Lord, through the Apostle Paul, says in Ephesians 1:17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercy may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of himThe eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know the hope of your calling and the riches of the glory of your inheritance in the Saints. This passage refers to the precise and correct knowledge of our Father. We must know correctly who God is according to His rightly divided Word. Prayer cannot come from a depth of fear, rather prayer must come from a confident and faith-based trust in the sovereign Lord. Unless the Lord builds the house, it is built in vain. Jesus said in Matthew 22:29, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God." An intimate knowledge of God is required to appropriate the power of God.


“F” stands for "following Christ more closely." In any situation the best course of action is to closely watch Jesus. Our heart's desire must be to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and "choke in the Master's dust." Jesus said, "if you continue in my word, then shall you be my disciples (disciplined followers) indeed (John 8:31). When we follow Him closely, there is no distance between myself and my Lord. Follow Him in lockstep (marching in a very close single file in such a way that the leg of each person in the file moves in the same way). He knows the destination and the way. Jesus said, "If anyone comes after me he must deny himself, pick up his cross daily and follow me" – Luke 9:23

We'll continue Michael's message on desire the Lord tomorrow.
In Christ, Brian

No comments: