Will we allow Ourselves to be Found in Him
- Michael Smith
- Apr 14, 2007
How long will we seek after that which does not satisfy? We search out teachers who will somehow move us to freedom. We seek after books on " How to be set free from" just put in the need that is most revelant to you. We cry out someone liberate us. Is there no one? We have good reasons for our lack of faith. We have been enduring for so long. For many of us it is years. Just the very thought of how long brings tears to our eyes. We believe that God loves us, or at least want to. We yearn to serve our Lord and Savior, yet there seems to be a hopelessness. We find ourselves not wanting to "try" anymore. Quietly we go about our daily lives, existing.
Inside we know there must be more. We see it in others, why is it their lives seems to be one of mountain tops, as though their struggles is one of walking right through or just standing firm and getting their victory. As we contemplate our circumstances, we find that disappointment and discouragement are becoming our friends. As we quietly go about our daily lives we seem to increasingly be without hope, which begins a change deep inside of frustration and despair, which can subtlety turn to anger. An anger even at God.
We are christians we say, "why are our lives not one of victory, of healing or deliverance. Have we not served you, Oh God? Do we not go to church? Are we not involved in serving the body of Christ? Have we not been a Christian for many years? When Oh God, when? When will I be free from that which holds me?"
Our houses are full of teaching books. Books of hope and promises of freedom that soon become distant and fleeting. Our new understanding of our issue that comes from seeking out teachings leaves us disillusioned after some time has past having listened to a message that tickled our ears. We are then left believing that in the end, things will only remain the same.
Has our walk as a christian now come to this, to endure quietly, to suffer while believing we will never be free, healed or delivered? To find ourselves doubting rather then believing? Do we now find our lives as one of broken promises and becoming pessimistic?
Have we burden others to such a point they no longer want to hear about our struggles? As we realize we are becoming less desirable for fellowship do we now wear masks, because it is easier then explaining our circumstances again?
Oh, how we need a savior! We need the love of an all caring and loving friend! A friend who will never leave us nor forsake us. But wait, have we not heard that before? Did we not repent and turn from our ways? Have we not tried to do our best and follow after the Lord? Yet our Christian walk has now become one of getting through another day. Our words become " Lord just take me home" " life is not worth living for me". It becomes easier to give up than to continue the fight.
Therein lies the crux "continue the fight".
Eccl. 1:2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher,
"Vanity of vanities! All is vanity."
We long for our life to be victorious yet inside find ourselves agreeing with the the preacher of Ecclesiastes? Have we no fight in us left?
We need not give of hope. For Christ is our hope of Glory. Maybe we have been searching amiss and therefore disappoint and frustrate ourselves by our efforts. Do we not seek after that which is important to us? Do we seek after desired results and when the results are different than what we expected, do we then become angry? After reaching for false expectations do we become bitter after being let down?
If there is one theme it is the focus of our attention and affections are on ourselves. How arrogant we have become. Do we really believe God who created us now must do or be our bidding?
Rom. 9:20 On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?
Rom. 9:21 Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
Are our times not in His hands? If He is our creator and our God, will we now dictate our desires to Him. He who after creating us desires to fellowship with us, He also sacrificed His Son for us? If He is for us and not against us, can we not trust Him with our circumstances? Will He, after first leading us to repentance and salvation, now abandon us to our circumstances?
No and a thousand times no.
Phil. 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
Rom. 8:31 ¶ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Rom. 8:32 He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things?
Rom. 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies.
Rom. 8:34 who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.
Rom. 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom. 8:36 Just as it is written,
"FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED."
Rom. 8:37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.
Rom. 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Rom. 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
1John 4:16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Do we believe His love for us?
By faith we need to choose this day life and not death. By faith we can choose this day who we will believe, who we will align our thoughts with.
Heb. 10:38 BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH;
AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM.
Heb. 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.
Heb. 11:1 ¶ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Will we trust that which we do not see? We will trust that our heavenly Father loves us and is with us, even when we do not feel He is? By faith will we walk believing all things are working together for our good?
If so, then we can no longer murmur and complain about our circumstances or the way our lives are at this time, can we? Can we continue to find fault with others or God, if we believe our God is with us?
Matt. 16:25 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Phil. 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;
Our God has not forgotten us. His love for us is beyond anything we can imagine. Trials, persecutions and suffering only serve to provide us an opportunity to truly discover the depths of Gods love for us as we surrender to our lives to Him
1Pet. 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,
1Pet. 1:7 so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
1Pet. 1:8 and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
1Pet. 1:9 obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.
The true mystery hidden down through the ages is that Christ came to earth, died and rose again in order that the Father might send the Holy Spirit to live in us. Christ Jesus the hope of Glory living in us.
May we find true life and find it more abundantly, as we choose to believe Gods love for us and surrender to Him picking up our cross and dying daily. Following after our true example Christ Jesus our Lord.
Heb. 5:8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
There is a day of freedom coming only we cannot turn back or give up. We need to continue to believe and trust in our Fathers love for us. As we seek Him in scriptures and prayer, He will reveal His perfect will for us.
ByMichael Smith
