The one thing missing among God’s people these days in the midst of their many trials and tribulations is the seeking of your people after their God. They seek a great many things, but they don’t prepare their hearts to seek after their God. This is tragic. They seek knowledge but miss knowing their God. They study all the manuscripts and understand a great many things about the history, the languages, and the culture of biblical times, but miss knowing their God. They banter back and forth in their study groups and have heated arguments about certain words and meanings but have missed knowing their God. They know all the church doctrines and have the ability to recite their systematic theology and can discuss the finer points of their religion but have missed knowing their God. We will discover together how the Faithful Remnant seek to know their God.
The devil has blinded humanity and all its different religions from really knowing God. He has led them to discover and know things about their different gods but has blinded them from knowing the one true God. The Bible says, the god of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not the Gospel of Jesus Christ (See II Corinthians 4:4). Satan has led them down the path of learning about their individual religions and producing the works of righteousness as defined by their sect. He cares little that you learn things about your God, he just doesn’t want you to know your God. He does not want you to have an intimate relationship with God. So, if necessary he will even instill fear into the hearts of those who seek to know their God. Unfortunately, many who call upon the Name of Christ are not unlike the people on the ancient mountain who did not want God to speak to them directly. They were not interested in coming into His presence, lest they die (See Exodus 20:19). In the same way, we have a whole generation of believers who are not really interested in knowing their God intimately and are no longer interested in or think it possible to hear His voice. The Faithful Remnant seek to know their God.
The Bible says, “A word fitly (or aptly) spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). Well, the aptly spoken word today is, “seek” the Lord. If we seek the Lord properly then we will come to know Him intimately. On the other hand, if our hearts are not properly prepared then we will be doing evil in the sight of the Lord. The Bible says, “And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD” (II Chronicles 12:14). To prepare our hearts we must truly be on the path of transformation. Let’s be clear this is not evolution, its transformation. Humanity is not evolving, if anything humanity is regressing from its original created state. It’s original design by our Creator. Whereas transformation is growing, changing and becoming more like our original state of perfection and innocence. If we truly want to seek after our God, we must be on the path of transformation or what the ancients referred to as the Way. There is no shortcut. We cannot whip ourselves up into a spiritual frenzy, becoming ecstatic, and attempting to come into God’s presence without first preparing our hearts. The key to preparation is faith or belief that Christ will do exactly what He said He would do; to give us life, a bountiful life in Him.
Of course if we don’t believe that, then transformation is quite impossible, and without transformation knowing God is also impossible. So, let’s start at the beginning. The Bible says, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). A Superior (God) has extended His grace to an inferior (us), by giving us the faith needed in order to believe as a gift. We approach the mystery of godliness, that we can’t, but He can; and if we won’t, He will. To simplify this further, when we come to the Cross believing that Christ died for all of our sins, past, present, and future then we believe that the slate is clean. We have been rescued from the power of sin and the devil. But we can’t stop here! We also believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from death and the grave. He has paved a new Way, giving us a brand-new life in Christ. A clean slate and a new life. Praise God! The Bible says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17). If you truly believe all this then you are being transformed as you put off the old life and put on the new life in Christ. As we put our complete trust in Christ (we can’t) then the indwelling Spirit transforms our lives (He will).
We all without fail know the old life. We know the things we should not dwell on, the things we should not do, but how about the new life in Christ. It is much more than our religious duties. Simply put it is coming into the presence of our God through Christ who has given us the indwelling Spirit. Yes, we must come up to the mountain and leave the valley of frenzied behavior, of those seeking their false gods down below. Fear not! God has already given us the grace, unmerited favor, needed for walking in this new life. We will, especially in the beginning, say and do things that may feel uncomfortable and perhaps a bit frightening; but we must step out on faith believing that God is with us through the Spirit transforming us. For the unbelieving world it is a very frightening thing; to turn the other cheek, to go the extra mile, and to love your enemies. Yes, it takes a great deal of faith, but remember that faith was given to us through grace. Step by step, we will learn how to forgive those who have sinned against us; to bless those who have cursed us, and, pray for those who have persecuted us. Through repentance, confession, and humility we, the Faithful Remnant, seek our God through the indwelling Spirit.
Yes, as God’s children we learn to listen to the indwelling Spirit. We don’t ignore His nudges or His convictions. Remember it is He that’s transforming us. We don’t ask Him to step into a different room so that we can do something that we know that God would not approve. We never allow fallen man to explain away the clear teachings of His Scriptures made alive through the indwelling Spirit. If the Word says that He has given us everything we need for life and godliness, then we believe it (See II Peter 1:3) If the Word says we are a new creature and the old things are passed away, then we believe it (See II Corinthians 5:17). If the Word says that Jesus came to give us life and that we might have it more abundantly, then we believe it (See John 10:10). If the Word says we can participate in the divine nature, then we believe it (See II Peter 1:4). When we seek our God we do so in faith, believing all that He has taught us through the indwelling Spirit. We approach God in humility, in faith, with a clean heart, and in quiet meditation. A proud, faithless, unrepentant sinner, that’s undisciplined will not know God. On the other hand, we will enjoy intimacy with our God. Then we can finally say, “We have moved beyond just knowing about our God, to actually knowing God.” Amen.
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