Re: Verse reading–Matthew 6:1-18 (day one) Welcome to a New Year of reading the Bible together! “Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” (vs 4) The Bible is clear on this point. “He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6) Some struggle against the idea, as if the promise of a reward cheapens our love for God, reducing it to nothing but self-interest. But God knows real love from false love. One indication is secrecy. Do we seek Him when no one else is watching or will ever know? Another indication is diligence. Do we serve without complaint even when the task is harder or more time-consuming than we anticipated? The Lord keeps an account of such sacrifice. We are certain of it. What a double blessing! He gives us a LIFE that we do not deserve and then rewards us for living it! Do these words give you hope?
“He gives us a LIFE that we do not deserve and then rewards us for living it”… what a great thought!… and what a Great/Good God we serve!! He is such a Good Father!
My heart today is so full of thankfulness to Him as I saw Him reward a good friend yesterday. I have come to know that God is a win/win God… as surely as Satan is a lose/lose god. As I see my God work, I notice how He always blesses others while blessing me. I absolutely love that about Him. This world teaches us it is dog eat dog and we raise ourselves by lowering others… not so in the Kingdom. We all win together!!
I am firmly committed to making Him my Lord this year. That is my resolution. He planted this desire in me and it is growing daily. This weekend He asked me to obey Him by returning to a church I previously attended (and write them an end of the year check). Neither were easy, but I am so serious about His Lordship over my life that I gladly did both. He taught me so many lessons leading up to this…. one was the example where the disciples had fished without success and He told them to do so again. They obeyed and were amazingly successful. The lesson was (true) obedience first… then blessing. It was the Lord that made all the difference. He told me this Pastor had changed his mind and to return. So I “went again” into a previously unsuccessful chapter and waited patiently for the Lord to work… assured by Him of His presence with me.
As I sat in the service, the Lord placed me to the side and a little behind a young unmarried female with a spirit of seduction all over her… using her… probably without her knowledge. (I am a discerning person spiritually, but that was not even needed to be able to “see” what was going on.) Then it came back to me that this relationship between this young girl and her “target” was why I really left this church… it was the straw that caused it all to fall. Earlier in the morning, as I prayed, I asked God for eyes to see what/like He sees… hoping it would give me compassion for the person who would likely not welcome me back…He did, but what I saw was a spirit of seduction harassing these two children of God and His heart of compassion that someone battle for them. Galatians 6:1 says if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. I now understand what this means… why it says you who are spiritual, as opposed to those who are not. It was my pleasure/honor to engage in spiritual warfare on their behalf… these dearly loved children of the Lord… and I will continue to do so. As a result of my recent experiences in several different churches, I am PASSIONATE about purity in the church…. I have seen its devastating consequences….and in all of this have discovered a way in which I can serve the Lord. This is important to Him and so it is important to me.
I am passionate that God’s children would understand the enemy’s M.O. in this area. It is so simple and so easily defeated once aware of it. I am passionate that we would truly understand that God gave us our imaginations and relationships and we are not powerless. We can sanctify them to Him… for His Glory alone and His purposes. If we just resist the enemy He must flee… but we must truly desire to have NO PART in his schemes… which is really easy to resolve to when we truly understand. Not a hint of sexual immorality… that is the standard…. for so many reasons.
The encouraging part was that I had prayed for this spirit’s target earlier in the morning (as the Spirit led) and he was so strong in the face of all this. I was so very, very, very proud of him… and so thankful to God for his faithfulness to him and to my prayers for him. God is so GOOD!! I love Him more each day… which is the true goal of each day.
May God give us all Grace that this year we will truly make Him LORD!!
(Pastor Guthrie, God is not the only one who notes your sacrifice and commitment in continuing this blog. Thank you very much. This blog has been such a vital part in God’s healing me this past year. May God’s richest blessing be with you and your family this year.)
Regarding this passage, Matthew Henry said “It is intimated, (1) That we must not let others know what [charity] we do. (2) That we must not observe it too much ourselves. Self-conceit and self-complacency, and an adoring of our own shadow, are branches of pride.”