We Must Give Time to Knowing God
We Must Give Time to Knowing God
Progress in the Christian life is exactly equal to the growing knowledge we gain of the triune God in personal experience. And such experience requires
a whole life devoted to it and plenty of time spent at the holy task of cultivating our knowledge of God. God can be known satisfactorily only as we devote time to Him.
A thousand distractions would woo us away from thoughts of God, but if we are wise, we will sternly put them from us and make room for the King and
take time to entertain Him. Some things may be neglected with little loss to the spiritual life. But to neglect communion with God is to hurt ourselves where
we cannot afford it. God will respond to our efforts to know Him. The Bible tells us how, but it is altogether a matter of how much determination we bring to
the holy task.
- A. W. Tozer
He is our wall of fire
He is our wall of fire.
Zec 2:5 And I, says Jehovah, will be to her a wall of fire all around, and will be the glory in her midst.
At the particular time that this was written, Jerusalem was a city without a wall. She was naked and vulnerable, and open to attack. In those days, a city without a wall would be like an army without guns. Now , with broken down walls, God Himself would be a wall of fire to them. In these last days, the remnant people of God will be a people without walls. The conventional wisdom of the past will no longer apply. Not unlike the City of Jerusalem of that day, God’s remnant people will be a broken people, a vulnerable people, and a people without the traditional protection of the Church. They will seem lonely and isolated. Yet, when God brings this group of people together, He will be their wall. It will not be a wall that is built by human hands. Consider why Jerusalem was in such a position when the above Scripture was written. Their wall, built by human hands, had been breached, undermined, overcome, tore down and ultimately destroyed. If we are God’s remnant people, we will be a people that has been breached, undermined, our brokenness will be apparent, we will seek God will all of our heart. In our brokenness, in our hunger and because of our driving thirst for the things of God and for His presence, we will seek Him with all of our hearts and we will become fully dependent upon Him. When we seek Him in this way, He will be found by us. He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. His presence is our wall of fire! So, we will be a people without walls around our hearts. Walls are designed to contain, to keep out, to mark boundaries, to hide behind. We will not be a people who will be able to contain the things of God. As He pours out His latter rain upon us and it enlarges our capacity to receive (If I am a vessel that wants to be filled, I must first be emptied to make room for that which I seek), then we will freely give what has been given to us. We will love more and we will forgive more and we will do good to those who miss-treat us. And as we do all that, the world will hate us more and more. It’s ironic that the more love that will be poured out into a dying and ever darkening world, the more the world will reject it. When Jesus walked the earth in all His love and mercy, He was ultimately rejected by a multitude who at first received Him. As with the Lord, so it will be with His children. Yet, no matter, love will conquer evil, the gates of hell shall not prevail against Gods remnant children. Their love shall overcome evil even as it seeks to destroy them.
(via: A Call to the Remnant: http://acalltotheremnant.com/2013/03/28/he-is-our-wall-of-fire/)
Word for Today
“Oh how many have been coached to hell in the chariots of earth pleasures, while others have been whipped to heaven by the rod of affliction.” John Flavel
Taken from, Suffering and Sovereignty -John Flavel and the Puritans on Afflictive Suffering, pg 28.
Eight Symptoms of False Teaching – J.C. Ryle
Eight Symptoms of False Teaching
Many things combine to make the present increase of false doctrine especially dangerous.
1. There is an undeniable zeal in some teachers of error–their “earnestness” makes many people think they must be right.
2. There is a great appearance of learning and theological knowledge–many think that such clever and intellectual men must surely be safe to listen to.
3. There is a general tendency to completely free and independent thinking today–many like to prove their independence of judgment by believing the newest ideas, which are nothing but novelties.
4. There is a wide-spread desire to appear kind, loving, and open-minded–many seem half-ashamed to say that anybody can be wrong or is a false teacher.
5. There is always a portion of half-truth taught by modern false teachers–they are always using scriptural words and phrases, but with unscriptural meaning.
6. There is a public craving for a more sensational and entertaining worship–people are impatient with the more inward and invisible work of God within the hearts of men.
7. There is a superficial readiness all around to believe anyone who talks cleverly, lovingly and earnestly, forgetting that Satan often masquerades himself as an angel of light (2 Cor. 11:14).
8. There is a wide-spread ignorance among professing Christians–every heretic who speaks well is surely believed, and anyone who doubts him is called narrow-minded and unloving.
All these are especially symptoms of our times. I challenge any honest and observant person to deny them. These tend to make the assaults of false doctrine today especially dangerous and make it even more important to say loudly, “Do not be carried away with strange doctrine!”
– J. C. Ryle (1816-1900)
(via Mack Tomlinson, author of, In Light of Eternity)
