Over 150 years ago, the missionary George Bowen said, “All human experiences of Christians must be put to the test of scripture.”
This is a powerful statement, and it gives us pause to stop and ask ourselves some questions. Do our deepening fears stand the test of scripture? Does our wavering faith stand the test of scripture? Is there any form of doubting that stands the same test?
There is little purpose in prayer if we do not fully believe God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
I am persuaded that God delights in generously pouring out blessings upon his beloved children. David the psalmist insisted that God is bountiful and inclined to compassion, that his mercy is great and that it is impossible for him to reject any who implore him for his help.
On April 9, 1680, the great Puritan preacher John Owen spoke the following message to his congregation: “You know that for many years, without failing, I have been warning you continually of an approaching calamitous time, and considering the sins that have been the causes of it… I have told you that judgment will begin in the house of God, that God seems to have hardened our hearts from his fear…and that none knows what the power of his wrath will be.
The Bible declares emphatically that not one tear of his children falls to the ground. David wrote, “You number my wanderings; put my tears into your bottle; are they not in your book? When I cry out to you, then my enemies will turn back; this I know, because God is for me” (Psalm 56:8, NKJV). The tears of the godly are so precious to him, he preserves them. If God preserves my tears, will he not preserve me?
In his psalms, David wrote, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire; my ears you have opened. Burnt offering and sin offering you did not require” (Psalm 40:5-6, NKJV).
When I speak of our servanthood to God, some people protest. Would you remind me that you are a son, and not a servant?
God's ways seem paradoxical to the human mind. He says, “To live, you must die. To find your life, you must lose it. To become strong, you must first become weak.”
One of the greatest paradoxes of all is this: To be truly free, you must become bound. To gain the greatest liberty in God, one must give up all rights and become a lifelong bondservant to the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a glorious servanthood that leads to the highest form of freedom. It is a voluntary surrender born out of love and affection, causing one to consider servitude even greater than liberty.
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NKJV). We become what we observe! The focus of our attention spreads its influence all through our lives. What we behold with our spiritual eyes obsesses us; it takes over.
The blood of Christ cleanses from all sin; it is our atonement. First of all, it is our security. It is God's way of securing to himself a people ready for a full deliverance. Remember that on the night of the Passover the Israelites were safe but not yet delivered. They still had to face a Red Sea, a wilderness, warfare with giants, imposing walls and enemy strongholds.
“Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces” (Exodus 15:6, NKJV).
Even though some Christians know they are forgiven and safe, they lack a sense of power against the flesh. They have not come into the knowledge of ‘full deliverance’ from their evil nature. By his blood, he secures us; then by his mighty hand, he breaks the power of sin in us. Sin still dwells in us, but it does not rule!