Fear Of Holy Enthusiasm

                                                                                                                        
There also seems to be a chilling fear of holy enthusiasm among the people of God.

We try to happy we are-but we remain so well-controlled that there are very few waves of glory experienced in our midst.

Some of you go to the ball game and you come whispering because you are hoarse from ting and cheering. 

But no one in our day ever home from church with a voice hoarse from shouts brought about by a manifestation of the glory of God among us.

Actually our apathy about praise in worship is like an inward chill in our beings. We are under a shadow and we are still wearing the grave clothes.

You can sense this in much of our singing in the contemporary church.

Perhaps you will agree that in most cases it is a kind of plodding along, without the inward life of blessing and victory and resurrection joy and overcoming in Jesus' name. 

WHY IS THIS? It is largely because we are looking at what we are, rather than responding to who Jesus Christ is!  

We have often failed and have not been overcomers because our trying and striving have been in our own strength. That leaves us very little to sing about!

Dr. A.B. Simpson wrote:
Fainting soldier of the Lord, Hear His sweet, inspiring word; I have conquered all thy foes, I have suffered all thy woes. Struggling soldier, trust in Me, I have Overcome for thee!

This has to be the secret of our praise and enthusiasm-Jesus Christ is our Overcomer!

In our own strength we cannot overcome anyone or anything.

Fear not though thy foes be strong, Fear not though the strife be long;Trust thy glorious Captain's power, Watch with Him one little hour.

Hear Him calling,  "Follow Me, I have overcome for thee!

Brethren, human activity and human sweat and tears work not the victory of Christ!

It took the sweat and tears and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It took the painful dying and the victorious resurrection and ascension to bring us the victory! 

~A. W. Tozer~
    

The Devil's Jackals

                                                                        

       

One evening David got up from his bed and strolled around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing–a very beautiful woman. 2 Samuel 11:2

At that hour David saw Bathsheba. We are never out of the reach of temptation! Both at home and abroad we are liable to meet with allurements to evil.

The morning opens with peril–and the shadows of evening find us still in jeopardy. They are well kept–whom God keeps! But woe unto those who go forth into the world, or even dare to walk their own house, unarmed.

Those who think themselves secure, are more exposed to danger than any others. The armor-bearer of sin–is self-confidence.

David should have been engaged in fighting the Lord’s battles, instead of which he tarried at Jerusalem, and gave himself up to luxurious repose, for he arose from his bed in the evening. 

Idleness and luxury are the devil’s jackals–and find him abundant prey. In stagnant waters–noxious creatures swarm. Neglected soil–soon yields a dense tangle of weeds and briers. Oh for the constraining love of Jesus to keep us active and useful!

When I see the King of Israel sluggishly leaving his couch at the close of the day, and falling at once into temptation–let me take warning, and set holy watchfulness to guard the door!

Is it possible that the king had mounted his housetop for prayer and devotion? If so, what a caution is given us to count no place, however secret–a sanctuary from sin!

While our hearts are so like a tinder-box, and sparks so plentiful–we had need use all diligence in all places–to prevent a blaze.

Satan can climb housetops, and enter closets! And even if we could shut out that foul fiend–our own corruptions are enough to work our ruin–unless God’s grace prevents it.

Reader, beware of evening temptations. Be not secure. The sun is down–but sin is up. We need a watchman for the night–as well as a guardian for the day. O blessed Spirit, keep us from all evil this night. Amen.

~Charles Spurgeon~

GOD Knows Humans

The Bible tells us often that God knows humans better than they know themselves - He doesn't have to wait for the information to come from the accuser, the devil.

God has said, Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth. For my own name's sake I delay my wrath; for the sake of my praise I hold it back from you, so as not to cut you off. See, I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. (Isaiah 48:8b-11a)
 
God does have a stake in each of us -and it is for His own sake that He will lift us up. 

He is not going to bless us for our own sake. He is going to bless us for Jesus' sake and for the sake of His own name!

If you think that there is anyone in the world so good that God could do something for that person's sake, you don't know sin; and if you think there is anything that God will not do for you for His sake and for His name, you don't know God!

If you have failed, remember that you are not responsible to men in this regard. You stand responsible before your heavenly Father and Jesus Christ at the right hand of God. 

Let us be encouraged by this good news!

In the third place, some are fearful that they will lose their reputation as sober and conservative and traditional Christians. In other words, they have never been willing to be a fool for Jesus' sake!

It is amazing that genuine Christians are not willing to stand up wherever they are and give a good word for the Lord.

There are great political ideologies sweeping the world now whose members will make double-eyed, long-eared donkeys of themselves for the sake of the party and the cause.

There are religious sects whose witnesses are willing to go to jail, to be pushed around, to be lampooned for the sake of a miserable, twisted doctrine!

But in our Christian ranks, we prefer to be respectable and smooth, and we have a reputation for being very solemn Christian believers.

I can only conclude from my experience that many solemn, professing Christians will never make any spiritual progress and will never really be happy in the Lord until God finds some way to shake them out of their deadly respectability!

Charles G. Finney, the great American evangelist, knew this experience of becoming God's man and God's mouthpiece in such a way and with such unusual blessing and results that many just stood as critics and tried to frown him down.

~A. W. Tozer~

"Feeding Sheep Or Amusing Goats"

The mission of amusement fails to effect the end desired.

---

An evil resides in the professed camp of the Lord so gross in its impudence that the most shortsighted can hardly fail to notice it. During the past few years it has developed at an abnormal rate evil for evil. It has worked like leaven until the whole lump ferments. The devil has seldom done a cleverer thing than hinting to the Church that part of their mission is to provide entertainment for the people, with a view to winning them.  From speaking out as the Puritans did, the Church has gradually toned down her testimony, then winked at and excused the frivolities of the day. Then she tolerated them in her borders. Now she has adopted them under the plea of reaching the masses. My first contention is that providing amusement for the people is nowhere spoken of in the Scriptures as a function of the Church. If it is a Christian work why did not Christ speak of it?     Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That is clear enough. So it would have been if He has added, "and provide amusement for those who do not relish the gospel." No such words, however, are to be found. It did not seem to occur to Him. Then again, "He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors and teachers, for the work of the ministry." Where do entertainers come in? The Holy Spirit is silent concerning them.  Were the prophets persecuted because they amused the people or because they refused? The concert has no martyr roll. Again, providing amusement is in direct antagonism to the teaching and life of Christ and all His apostles. What was the attitude of the Church to the world? "Ye are the salt," not sugar candy-something the world will spite out, not swallow.  Short and sharp was the utterance, "Let the dead bury their dead." He was in awful earnestness!   Had Christ introduced more of the bright and pleasant elements into His mission, He would have been more popular when they went back, because of the searching nature of His teaching. I do not hear Him say, "Run after these people, Peter, and tell them we will have a different style of service tomorrow, something short and attractive with little preaching. We will have a pleasant evening for the people. Tell them they will be sure to enjoy it. Be quick, Peter, we must get the people somehow!" Jesus pitied sinners, sighed and wept over them, but never sought to amuse them.   In vain will the Epistles be searched to find any trace of the gospel amusement. Their message is, "Come out, keep out, keep clean out!" Anything approaching fooling is conspicuous by its absence.  They had boundless confidence in the gospel and employed no other weapon. After Peter and John were locked up for preaching, the Church had a prayer meeting, but they did not pray, "Lord grant Thy servants that by a wise and discriminating use of innocent recreation we may show these people how happy we are." If they ceased not for preaching Christ, they had not time for arranging entertainments. Scattered by persecution, they went everywhere preaching the gospel. They "turned the world upside down. That is the difference! Lord, clear the Church of all the rot and rubbish the devil has imposed on her and bring us back to apostolic methods.   Lastly, the mission of amusement fails to affect the end desired. It works havoc among young converts.   Let the careless and scoffers, who thank God because the Church met them 'halfway,' speak and testify.   Let the heavy-laden who found peace through the concert not keep silent! Let the drunkard to whom the dramatic entertainment has been God's link in the chain of their conversion, stand up!  There are none to answer. The mission of amusement produces no converts.  The need of the hour for today's ministry is believing scholarship joined with earnest spirituality, the one springing from the other as fruit from the root. The need is biblical doctrine, so understood and felt, that it sets men on fire.   ~C. H. Spurgeon~

---

---

Satan Magnifies Memories

Are you allowing Satan to magnify the memories of your spiritual failures?

He will always keep them before you unless you take your stand and move up in faith.

The devil will whisper, "You didn't get very far along toward the deeper life, did you?"

He will say, "You made a big 'to-do' about wanting to be filled with the Spirit and you really flopped, didn't you?"

He will taunt you with the fact that you may have stumbled in the faith - and perhaps more than once! 

The devil wants you to live in a state of discouraged chagrin and remorse.

Remember, the Bible does not teach that if a man falls down, he can never rise again. The fact that he falls is not the most important thing-but rather that he is forgiven and allows God to lift him up!

Perhaps you have read of the saintly Fletcher, whose holy life became so recognized that he was called "the seraphic Fletcher."

His testimony reveals that he stumbled and miserably failed God seven times. But after the seventh failure he went to a room and did not come out until he was able to rest his case completely in the strength of God's hands, He came out of the room saying,

Dear Lord, I believe that I am delivered from the bondage of my sin. If you will keep me and help me I will never cease telling the world what you can do for a man!

For the rest of his life Fletcher exhibited to the world God's power to bless and to keep His transformed children on earth.

If our failures are going to hinder us forever, we might just as well never have taken the first step. But God knew all about us and He still loved us and desired His eternal best for us.

~A. W. Tozer~

Seeking Approval

2Ti 4:2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

 

I cannot believe in the spirituality of any Christian man who keeps an eye open for the approval of others, whoever they may be. 

 

The man after God's own heart must be dead to the opinion of his friends as well as his enemies. He must be as willing to cross important persons as obscure ones. He must be ready to rebuke his superior as quickly as those who may be beneath him on the ecclesiastical ladder.

 

To reprove one man in order to gain the favor of another is no evidence of moral courage. It is done in the world all the time.

We'll never be where we should be in our spiritual lives until we are so devoted to Christ that we ask no other approbation than His smile. 

When we are wholly lost in Him the frantic effort to please men will come to an end. The circle of persons we struggle to please will be narrowed to One. Then we will know true freedom, but not a moment before.

Lord, does anyone ever really get over the desire to seek the approval of others? That is a battle for which we are totally dependent on You for victory. Help me today to be content with only the smile of Your approval. Amen.

~A. W. Tozer~

This Is NOT A Game

                                                                               
Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, was on his way home from being with Ahab, the evil king of Israel.

The Lord sent a prophet out to meet him, with these strong words: "Jehu the son of Hanani the seer (prophet) went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord" 2 Chronicles19:2.

God was saying to Jehoshaphat, "You don't know the danger and consequences of what you've done. You may think it's a light thing to join an affinity with someone who is against Me. 

Ahab was my enemy—an idolater—and you made friends with him. You listened to his wicked talk and indulged his filth.  

Yet you didn't take a stand against any of it, Jehoshaphat. I have a controversy with you about this!"

At this point, you may be thinking, "I understand that Ahab was evil. But as I consider my own friends, there's no way I can think of them as God's enemies.” Yet, consider these passages from Scripture:
 
He that is not with me is against me" (Luke 11:23). Does your friend take the Lord's side in all things?

Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft 1 Samuel 15:23. Is your friend's counsel full of rebellion? 

He that condemneth the just . . . [is an] abomination to the Lord. Proverbs 17:15. Does your friend speak evil of godly people?

This is not a game! Your friends are a serious matter to God because their actions have serious consequences: 

Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest . . Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces" Psalm 50:19-22.

Thank God, Scripture says, "Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah" (2 Chronicles 20:3). 

The king humbled himself and repented: "Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord" (verse 18).

God responded to Jehoshaphat's brokenness by giving Judah total victory against the Moabites. Finally, the Bible says, "The realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about" (verse 30).

~David Wilkerson~

Ignoring GOD'S WORD

                                                                          
I am certain that Jehoshaphat was convinced he was acting righteously when he pledged to join Ahab in war. In fact, Scripture says, "Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today"

2 Chronicles 18:4. He said, "Let's ask the Lord for His counsel on the matter. We won't act until we hear from Him!"

God made His word to Jehoshaphat and Ahab clear, leaving no doubt as to what He thought about the whole affair: "It's doomed! Go at your own risk. Nothing but death and defeat await you on the battlefield" (see 2 Chronicles 18:16).

At this point, Jehoshaphat seemed willing to obey a true prophetic word and do everything God told him. Yet, for centuries, Bible scholars have marveled at what happened next: When the clear word came, Jehoshaphat ignored it!

Beloved, you can boast all you want about loving God and wanting to obey Him. But if you do not break away from the deception of ungodly friends and seek Holy Ghost discernment  you will end up ignoring God's Word!

You may accompany your friend in his war but when the chips are down, he will hand you over to the enemy. That's just what happened to Jehoshaphat when he went to war with Ahab. The evil king set up Jehoshaphat to be killed; he told him to dress in his kingly robes, while Ahab himself dressed as a soldier.That way, Ahab reasoned, the enemy would go after Jehoshaphat instead of himself.

Ironically, Ahab was killed by an arrow that pierced him through a tiny slot in his armor. And suddenly, Jehoshaphat was surrounded by enemy soldiers, who were ready to cut him to pieces. The king knew he was facing death and he cried out to God for help. Scripture tells us, "And the Lord helped him; and God moved them to depart from him" (18:31).

The war was a disaster. Israel's army fled in disarray, like sheep without a shepherd. And Jehoshaphat retreated to Jerusalem, his friend Ahab dead and his armies defeated. It was only by God's grace that he escaped death!

I can imagine the thoughts that must have raced through Jehoshaphat's mind as he hurried back to Jerusalem: "Oh, God, thank You for delivering me! Now I see the danger of walking with an ungodly companion. Never again, Lord! I won't be a part of that worldly system anymore. It's all over now!"

~David Wilkerson~