Do you love and practice righteousness?

 13 Jul 26

Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One


Readings:

Psalms 10

Psalms 11

Psalms 12

Acts 17:16-34


For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright (Psalm 11:7). 


Do you love and practice righteousness?


Abraham asks God in Genesis 18:25, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” He knows that he can appeal to his righteous Father for Sodom. Moreover, our heavenly Father declares us righteous when we believe in the gospel. Paul heralds, “For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:17). Furthermore, God imparts His blessing to the saints who long for His righteousness. Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6). Let’s “flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart” (2 Timothy 2:22). 


Employment Point: Love and pursue God’s righteousness.

———————

Reflections

I believe for all who pursue the Lord will experience righteousness, knowing His righteousness, learning from it and also practice righteousness. The transformed life will also be one that is different from the past, as the Lord continues to sanctify us and make us more Christlike.


“He says to himself, “God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.” Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God. Do not forget the helpless.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭10‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • would you think that the Lord truly never notice? I think when we are down in our dark valleys, there may just be times when we think this way. Why didn’t the Lord help me. Why am I dealing with this alone, etc. However, we also need to check ourselves. Are we leaning on our own understanding and trying to battle things by ourselves. Did we remember the Lord and seek Him first?
  • I believe we come to a point where we all realised that it is not that the Lord isn’t there. It is because we ourselves fail to recognise that He never leaves us. The battle is His and all we need to do is to surrender and let Him take over. He can and He will deliver us but even if He doesn’t, I will still continue to believe in Him.


“The Lord examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion. On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. For the Lord is righteous, he loves justice; the upright will see his face.”Psalms‬ ‭11‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • The Lord looks at everyone, regardless of who they are. Even the righteous He will examine. But seriously, He is only interested in everyone’s hearts and He will definitely deal with the wicked. We may or may not be able to see judgement on those people but we have to trust that the Lord is just and He knows what He is doing.


“And the words of the Lord are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times. You, Lord, will keep the needy safe and will protect us forever from the wicked, who freely strut about when what is vile is honored by the human race.”Psalms‬ ‭12‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • the words of the Lord are flawless and His words are pure truth. Nothing can be more pure than this. And He is faithful, His words don’t fall on empty.


“For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you. “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.”Acts‬ ‭17‬:‭23‬-‭25‬ ‭NIV‬‬

  • many people do not really know what are worshipping. They may not even realised it has become their object of worship.
  • To them they are worshipping an unknown god-but it is still god. Strange isn’t it? But it is the same for some worshippers who worship the dead. They worship the roaming ghosts of the world who has no name. To them it’s like worshipping anything or anyone who falls into that category and it doesn’t matter if it has no name.
  • This concept isn’t new but we need to realise that we can only worship one god. And in this case, it is important that we only worship the one True God and not anyone or anything else.
  • Is there anyone or anything you placed higher than God? A friend of mine commented that they look forward to eternal life but then there would be no more marriage. What do you think?
  • Indeed the Lord does not require human hands or live in housed built by men. He is bigger than anything and His power above all.

————————-

The Price of Vision

BY OSWALD CHAMBERS

July 13


In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. —Isaiah 6:1


Our soul’s history with God is frequently the history of the passing of the hero. Over and over again, God has to remove our King Uzziahs—our friends and personal heroes—so that he can take his rightful place in our lives. Often when this happens, we faint and fail and get discouraged.

Take it to heart: In the year I lost the person who held the place of God in my life, what did I do? Did I give up on everything? Did I become sick and disheartened? Or did I see the Lord?


My ability to see God depends upon the state of my character. Character determines revelation. Before I can say, “I saw the Lord,” there must be something corresponding to God in my character, something I received when I was born again in the Spirit. Until I am born again and begin to see the kingdom of God, I see through the cloud of my own prejudices. I need an internal purification as well as the surgical operation of external events. It must be God first, God second, and God third, until my life is faced steadily with God and no one else is of any importance.


Whom seek they or whom find? for in all the world
There is none but thee, my God, there is none but thee.
—Frederic W. H. Myers


Keep paying the price. Let God see that you are willing to seek none but him.


Psalms 7-9; Acts 18


WISDOM FROM OSWALD

Seeing is never believing: we interpret what we see in the light of what we believe. Faith is confidence in God before you see God emerging; therefore the nature of faith is that it must be tried.

————————

Reflections

Perhaps what Oswald said is true. Only when God is our number one, number two and number three, would we then we able to see the Lord. Letting Him reign in our lives is our goal. 


For King Uzziah, he started well, having done all the right things and reigned in Judah for more than half a century. However, towards the end, pride took a hold on him. He did something which he should not have done-burning incense at the altar which only priests can do. Like so what if you are king, God’s law is to be obeyed and respected and not to be tested. If it was others, the Lord may have stuck him down. Remember Aaron’s son who offered unauthorised fire on the Altar? Here, King Uzziah had leprosy and was being put to isolation. 


In King Uzziah’s story, the application part to us is not to be proud. It is not just important to start well and also to finish well. In order for us to do that, we have to lean on the Lord and never on ourselves. It is a continuous giving up of ourselves and surrendering to Him more and more each day.


There will come a day where we reflect and look back and realised how much we have changed when we surrender our lives to Him. Others will be able to testify and tell you that you have been transformed-to someone more and more Christlike. Praise the Lord for His mercy, grace and patience towards us. Always pursuing us and never letting go.


Thank You Father 🙏🏻


Let’s pray:


Father help us to be able to surrender our lives into Your hands and give You the number one, two and three positions in our hearts. No one should ever come close to this. Father help us to recognise that only when we put You first will the rest of the things fall into place. May Christ continue to increase in me so that it is more of Him and less of me. In Jesus’s most precious name we ask and pray. Amen 🙏🏻 

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