God is holy. God is love. Let us come to Him with our prayers.
In Moses, we see the holiness and love of God: a deep hatred of sin
(Exodus 32:19), an intense longing for sinners to be forgiven (Exodus
32:32). Filled with ‘the fear of the Lord’, Moses was fearless before
men. God’s Word to sinners is clear: He warns them (Proverbs 29:1); He
calls them to repent (Acts 2:38); He invites them to return to Him
(Hosea 6:1). Moses’ faithful and fearless preaching emerged from his
closeness to God: ‘The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks
to his friend’ (Exodus 33:11). Moses prayed; God heard; God answered
(Exodus 33:17). Moses prayed for a revelation of God’s glory (Exodus
33:18). God revealed Himself as the good God, the God of grace and mercy
(Exodus 32:19). Let us go up to God and bring down all that is needed
to build the Body of Christ that God may take pleasure in it and that He
may appear in His glory (Haggai 1:8).
God is holy. God is love. Let us come to Him with our praise.
‘Exalt the Lord our God... Make a joyful noise to the Lord’ (Psalms
99:5, 9; 98:4, 6; 100:1). We are to worship the Lord with joy. We are to
glorify God. We are to enjoy Him. In our worship, we must never forget
the holiness of God: ‘He is holy! ... The Lord our God is holy!’ (Psalm
99:5, 9). In our worship, we rejoice in the love of God: ‘His steadfast
love endures for ever... He has done marvellous things!’(100:5; 98:1).
The God of ‘awesome purity’ loves us with the most perfect love of all:
‘No earthly father loves like Thee...’ Let us worship Him with holy fear
and heartfelt love: ‘O how I fear Thee, living God, with deepest,
tenderest fears... with trembling hope and penitential tears! Yet I may
love Thee too, O Lord, Almighty as Thou art, for Thou hast stooped to
ask of me the love of my poor heart’ (Church Hymnary, 356).
Our “God and Saviour” comes to us with His strength and salvation.
‘I am the Lord... I will strengthen you’ (Isaiah 45:5). How does the
Lord strengthen us? He strengthens us with salvation. He comes to us as
our ‘God and Saviour’. He calls us to come to Him and receive salvation:
‘Turn to Me and be saved...’ Through faith in Christ, we are ‘saved by
the Lord with an everlasting salvation’ (Isaiah 45:15, 17, 21-22). We
are strengthened with ‘everlasting salvation’. We look ahead to Christ’s
Return ‘in power and great glory’ (Matthew 24:30). On that Day, the
glory of our Saviour will be fully revealed: ‘At the Name of Jesus every
knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every
tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the
Father’. Jesus is our Saviour. His ‘Name is above every name’. Our
‘strength’ comes from Him (Isaiah 45:23-24; Philippians 2:10-11).
Let the Lord, the King of heaven and the King of love, be the King of your heart.
‘The Lord reigns’ (Psalms 96:10; 97:1). ‘The Lord is King!’. He is not
only ‘the King all-glorious above’. He is ‘the King of love’. He is ‘our
Maker, Defender, Redeemer and Friend!’ He is not only ‘the King of
heaven’. He is ‘the God of grace’. He is ‘the King of mercy’ (Church
Hymnary, 35, 36, 388, 360, 86). His reign is not to be restricted to
some faraway heaven. It is not to be a reign that is far removed from
the practicalities of our everyday life. He is to reign in our hearts.
He is to reign in every part of our life. Let His reign of love begin.
Let His grace and mercy control all that you do. We must pray, ‘Reign in
me, Sovereign Lord, reign in me’. When we say, ‘Let Your Kingdom
come’and ‘let Your will be done’, we must pray, ‘Captivate my heart.
Establish there Your throne’(Mission Praise, 570).
As you hear the Word of God, let the Spirit of God move in your heart.
If God is to be glorified through the preaching of His Word, there
needs to be more than the ‘words’ of the preacher. There needs to be
‘the power of the Holy Spirit’ (1 Thessalonians 1:5). Good preaching is
not a matter of ‘plausible words of wisdom’. We must look for ‘a
demonstration of the Spirit’s power’ (1 Corinthians 2:4). When the
Spirit is at work, there is effective communication, leading to a
life-changing encounter with God. ‘When you received the Word of God
which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as
it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers’ (1
Thessalonians 2:13). Don’t let God’s Word ‘go in one ear and out the
other’. The ‘message’ will do you no good if you don’t hear it ‘with
faith’- ‘Today, when you hear His voice, harden not your hearts’
(Hebrews 4:2; 3:15).
As you listen to the voice of the Saviour, may His Word increase your faith.
The Pharisees were subtle - just like the ‘ancient serpent who is the
devil’ (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 20:2). They tried ‘to entangle Jesus in
His talk’ (Matthew 22:15). They wanted to trap Him and bring a charge
against Him. They asked Jesus about payment of taxes to Caesar (Matthew
22:17). Jesus moved beyond this question to our greatest responsibility:
‘Render ... to God the things that are God’s’ (Matthew 22:21). If we
must speak words of political significance - ‘Render.. to Caesar the
things that are Caesar’s’ (Matthew 22:21) - , let them arise out of
this: Giving God His rightful place in His Church, the nation and the
wider world. Jesus’ words to the Sadducees, in Matthew 22:29, were not
simply a protest against the religion of the Sadducees. They were a
protest for the Scriptures and the power of God. A positive faith is
much more helpful than a purely negative reaction!
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