03/30/2024 – “Holiness or Hardness Toward God” // “Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.” Isaiah 59: 15-16
“The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial — the our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.
Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5 // Insert: *See below! ). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshipping God or disputing Him when we say, ‘But God, Just don’t see how you are going to do this.’ This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don’t worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.
Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take old of Him, having such intimate contact with Him what we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?
Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work — work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.”
Soli Deo Gloria!
“Your attitude would be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2: 5-11
And take a look at John Gill’s online commentary on Isaiah 59:16, Oswald Chamber’s bible verse for this devotional (link below).
https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/isaiah-59-16.html