Category: Spirit

Searching the Mind and Heart

Whether you like it or not, your life and mine is an open book. God knows the hearts of all and searches the mind and heart.

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:13

Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. Psalm 139:4

The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, Searching all the innermost parts of his being. Proverbs 20:27

“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” I Chronicles 28:9

‘And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds. Rev 2:23

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:23-24

“I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10

“…You, O Lord, who know the hearts of all…” Acts 1:24

“… His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men, The LORD tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.

God dwelling in the dark cloud

A couple of posts ago I was meditating on how God dwells in unapproachable light. According to scripture, it is also true that He dwells in the dark cloud. It has been interesting to study various passages and especially to read the viewpoints of a couple rabbi’s relating to the dark clouds present at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Many old testament saints understood God dwelling in the dark cloud because of personal experience. Take Moses for example. When God descended on Mt. Sinai, He told Moses “Behold, I come to you in the thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.” Exodus 19:9. Then Exodus 19 tells us “Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.”(19:18)

Also, we know that God led the people of Israel with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. When the glory of the Lord filled the temple it was a cloud that the people saw.

When he dedicated the temple, Solomon prayed: “The LORD said He would dwell in the dark cloud.” (2 Chronicles 6:1)… and when he had finished praying the glory of the Lord had filled the temple (2 Chronicles 7:1).

Also, when Moses had met with God and came down from the mountain his face was shining… it was glowing with the glory of God. (Exodus 34:28-29, 35,2 Corinthians 3:7)

So in meditating upon this… think about how our Lord said “God is spirit and his worshippers must worship Him in spirit and truth” (John 4:24). Now think about “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12:29). Now think about what God says of His angels… “of the angels He says: Who makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flame of fire.”(Hebrews 1:7) And then referring to angels and in conclusion in Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”

Spirits, fire, clouds, light.

“Sing praises to God, sing praises to His name; Extol Him who rides on the clouds…” (Psalm 68:4)

So our God shrouds His glory in clouds. And yet He has graciously let us behold His glory in the person of Jesus. “…we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14. In Jesus dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. And yet as he was preparing to go to the cross, Jesus prayed to the Father “glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world began” (John 17:5). I am excited to see that glory. I like how Moses in Exodus 33 asked to see God’s glory… such a cool passage. And a few of the disciples saw Jesus transfigured. Well… soon we shall see His great glory.

Just as Jesus ascended in the clouds… so He will return in the clouds. “…they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30)

“…Who makes the clouds His chariot, who walks on the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:3)

Life seems ‘eh’, at times. But thanks be…

We go through life, day by day, and what for? We hang out with friends (or not), go to jobs to pay bills (or not), talk to family (or not), go to church (or not), and do stuff. Everyday we do this stuff. For what?

Without God there is no meaning in life.

Life is so short. I could get in a car accident and die today. I could contract a disease or get murdered… and so could you. What is your life for?

I have listened to a lot of atheist debates and arguments against the existence of God. They sound completely idiotic to me now. I walk outside and look around and think… damn, they are idiots. Professing to be wise they became fools.

Beyond that I have listened to people try and discount, nullify, degrade, and ridicule the Bible. I have heard all the 101 reasons why they think the Bible isn’t true… and they are stupid reasons. Dumb, foolish reasons that mask the greater problem of their own pride… well, our own pride. I am no better. Those would just as soon be my stupid reasons if God wasn’t merciful to me.

All flesh is as grass. The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the Word of God endures forever. It will never go away. It will always stand. It can never be defeated. I am thankful for that.

All that is good in this life comes from God. Everything good. Everything perfect comes from the Father of lights with whom there is no inconsistency. Everything that is not from God is not good. It is corrupted and messed up.

Satan, sin, and our sinful nature do not produce anything good. There is nothing good in our flesh. There is no one good but God.

I am thankful that even though I was dead in my sins, even though I was in darkness, even though I was born an evil sinner having already chosen of my will in Adam to sin against God… that God is rich in mercy. I am thankful cause there is nothing I could do.¬†I must come to him and yet I am evil and cannot come.

I am thankful that He gave me unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor. I think we get numb to the word ‘grace’… and forget that it means unmerited favor. He chose me of His own good pleasure and of nothing I had done.

I am thankful that God blinded the Apostle Paul on the road to damascus in order to save him from himself. I am glad that God ordained a marine to witness to my Dad in Japan. I am glad that I was born to my Dad and God ordained him to be the means by which His Spirit enlightened my eyes.

I hope I have been that for people I have come in contact with. People I have prayed with. People I have prayed for… I pray that the prayers I have prayed and the time I have had with them would be the means God has ordained to open their eyes by His Holy Spirit to see that life is pointless without God.

Though, in a great house, there are vessels for honor and vessels for dishonor… God will use both for His glory. That is the end of it. For His glory. For my life to have meaning, I desire to be a vessel for honor for the glory of God. Whether for honor or dishonor it will bring glory to God in some form (in His justice upon me or His mercy). Being that He has put the desire in my heart for Him, I see that the goal is His glory in all things. A worthy goal it is, and it will be done.

Having the desire to seek God is a good thing. “Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he who comes to Him must believe that He is and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him”. The ‘diligently’ part always hit me… well, the whole verse always ‘hits’ me.

So alot of people believe that God ‘is’… so what, so do demons. It’s the diligently seek Him part that gets you. It’s the “prepare your heart to seek the Lord”. It’s the “call upon the Lord”. It’s the “seek the Lord while He may be found”. It’s having your thought bent on it… your mind ever seeking Him. It’s ongoing. For the rest of your life, continually, never stop seeking, everyday.

When I think of ‘diligently’, in this instance I think of ‘all the time’. Daily seeking God. As He has revealed Himself in His Word, then that means daily reading His Word. Let him who boasts, boast in this “that He understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, executing lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these I delight”. The Bible is able to make you wise unto salvation. The Word of God is powerful. It teaches you not only about God but how to communicate with Him.

I am thankful that Jesus went to prepare a place for me and that any suffering of this present time will not compare with the glories that will follow. Beyond that, throughout history, many men have been used by God for showing His glory. God “makes” men (and women:), men do not ‘make’ men. There are no complete “self-made” men or women. One cannot be complete while being dead in sins and reaping the consequences of sin.

So how should I go out in this world? How should I continue? Should I submit to God? I will. And I will leave the consequences to Him.¬†And I will still mess up… and that will be of my own flesh that cannot work the righteousness of God… and God being the Good Parent that He is…

Life seems ‘eh’ at times. But thanks be to God who saved me. “For by unmerited favor you have been saved through complete trust and confidence, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God”

This post was written for three people, one being myself, the other being my Lord, and I hope the third is you… yes you… no, not you, but you.

“I will be even more undignified than this”

II Samuel 6

I love how David danced before the Lord with all his might when the ark of the Lord was being brought to Jerusalem. When his wife Michal saw it she despised him and said he looked like one of the fools who uncovers himself in front of all of the maids. His response was what struck me so much.

“I will be even more undignified than this and will be humble in my own sight.”…

He meant “I will be more vile than this” or “I will degrade myself even more than this” or “I will do worse than this” or “I will humiliate myself more than this”. That is an impressive attitude… I think it is repulsive when it is not done for the Lord God and yet when done for Him, it is wonderful. He humbled himself and worshipped the Lord with all his might.

“Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death”

The Lord must be hallowed

I am currently reading in the book of 2 Samuel for my quiet time and chapter 6 just totally hit me… as it always does. There are connections here though that are true throughout all scripture and time periods. King David is bringing up the ark from Kirjath Jearim and instead of carrying the ark with the poles they set it on a cart. When the oxen stumble, Uzza puts out his hand to make sure the ark is steady and God kills him for his irreverence.

“Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzza, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” 2 Sam 6:7

The same thing happened when Nadab and Abihu offered profane fire in censers before the Lord when He had not commanded it. He killed them both. I believe the answer to these outbursts is given in the same text in Lev. 10:3 “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified.”

God must be regarded as holy. He must be hallowed. He must be sanctified. He must be glorified. It is not an option for those who come near Him… it MUST be done.

This is also seen in the New Testament in several cases but I will mention one:

“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgement to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this reason many are weak and sick among you and many are dead.” 1 Cor. 11:29-30

Paul addresses the Corinthian church and rebukes them for treating the Lord’s supper lightly and tells them that they are eating and drinking judgement on themselves and that many are sick, weak, and dead because of it. This is all because they did not reverence or hallow or sanctify that which God had sanctified. They treated it irreverently. So God may judge things swiftly or slowly, or¬†any combination like swiftly yet with drawn out consequences (being sick or weak) or quickly with immediate consequences (striking you dead).

Having said that, I think the reaction of David is similar to many of ours. David was angry when God killed Uzza. He was angry and afraid of God and asked “How can the ark come to me?”. I think he was thinking that he would have done the same thing out of a good motive to protect the ark as what Uzza had done. The difference, I think, is that the Spirit of the Lord was on David and He was merciful to him and did not allow him to treat the ark irreverently directly but taught him a lesson by it. The lesson is: He must be regarded as holy. He must be hallowed. He must be set apart. David had the ark carried in a way that God had not commanded.

So it is with us, if we come near to God. We must set Him apart and He must be hallowed. I think it is one of the reasons I have a hard time with jokes that involve God or any depictions of God in an irreverent way. I of course do not want to be appear “holier than thou” with other friends, but at the same time I could care less because I would much rather appear that way when it is not true than be what my conscience tells me is irreverent and does not sanctify God and does not set Him apart and does not glorify Him. Of course I mess up and miss things… but when something is evident to me I do not wish to treat God irreverently.¬†

In fact, it’s not like we can treat Him reverently enough. For example when we use superlatives to describe something… like “awesome” or “most amazing” or “incredible” or “best ever”… often I, and we, use them to describe something like food. In that case we might say “that meal was awesome” and by doing so we are greatly overstating the case. Where as, when we say “God is awesome” we can never put enough force behind those words… we always understate with that superlative. So we can say we had the most amazing meal and that God is the most amazing being and yet with one we vastly overstate and with the other we immeasurably understate the significance.

After watching some of the movies I have seen (regrettably) and hearing the profane things said about God, if I were God I would have probably toppled the theater and killed everyone in it just for taking part. Especially after lavishing the lovingkindness on everyone that God lavishes. But thankfully I am not God and thankfully God is not only a just God but He is rich in mercy. He died for the rebellious, ungodly, sinner… like me. He is rich, rich, rich in mercy… overflowing with riches in mercy and lovingkindness.

So… back to David… after I kept reading, it looks like they got it right the next time and carried the ark as God had commanded. They regarded Him as holy and hallowed His name by obeying His commands. For they ¬†learned “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; And before all the people I must be glorified”.

The Lord must be hallowed.