Psalm 103:1-5

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:

Who forgives all your sins,
Who heals all your diseases

Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies

Who satisfies your desires with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

His fruit

The fruit of the Spirit
is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
(Galatians 5)

These are some of the various ways in which the Spirit manifests Himself in us. Just as with any godly fruit in this life, it's not produced by our striving and struggling. These aren't our gifts to Him. Why do we think we can labor to produce what HE produces? These are benefits of Him residing in us, and of us resting in Him!

Psalm 103:10-12

He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who revere Him.

As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Be quiet, rest...

And what was said to the rose
-
To make it unfold
-
Was said to me here in my chest
-
So be quiet now
-
And rest

David Crowder Band - "Here is Our King"

I love the way the poetry in this song expresses the way the Living Word of God works in and through us. It isn't through hard labor and striving that a bud opens up to reveal what was inside all along.

We often underestimate the power of the Holy Spirit and God's grace working in us and others. We try to coerce ourselves and others into "working for God" to make the church grow and be healthy and thriving.

The book of Hebrews talks about a "rest" for God's people and we're told to be diligent to enter that rest. Jesus said that if we abide in Him, and His words in us, we will bear fruit. A branch doesn't labor or struggle or strive to produce fruit. The power of the Living God which flows from the Vine to the abiding (resting) branch, produces fruit. It's the only fruit that is truly spiritual, that is truly produced by God Himself.

So be quiet now, and rest... :)

Close to God

Yesterday I was listening to a tape of an old pastor of mine, named Mark, from 1997. He was talking about an ad he'd seen in a magazine, advertising Hosanna music. He explained that he and his wife are huge Hosanna music fans. They love that kind of praise and worship music. Well, the ad had a picture of a mountain, next to a picture of a Hosanna tape. The caption read something like, "Which will get you closer to God?"

So which will get you closer to God? Praise and Worship music, or climbing a mountain?

"Now wait a minute," Mark said. And I can remember his sarcastic grin like it was only yesterday. "I thought that Jesus came 2,000 years ago to bring us close to God!" He went on with something like, "And you're saying that now we can just bypass all that and listen to a Hosanna tape and be there in just a matter of seconds?!?!" You have to know Mark and his humor to get the full gist of his critical wit.

Anyway, this tiny break from the overall theme of the sermon had a huge impact on my soul yesterday. You know the feeling in life when nothing's really getting you down, and you feel like overall things are fine and you don't necessarily feel the need to release any heavy burdens - but then you hear or experience something and a heavy load that you didn't even consciously realize was there is suddenly lifted off of you? That is what I experienced while listening to Mark's humorous criticism of the ad he saw. The truth of what he was criticizing hit me in an instant.

And it's something I already knew... but yet the way I was trying to live wasn't representative of what I knew. I think subconsciously, even though I know that the person of JESUS is who already brought me close to God, and that NO experience on this earth, whether P&W music or prayer or good works - or anything at all - can bring me close or maintain that closeness with God, I was still trying to get close to God by the things I was doing, or by waiting for Him to do something "great" (tangibly or visibly) in my life.

Not that we don't want those feelings of closeness with God. Not that we don't want to experience it with our senses. Not that worshiping Him with music can't bring about great feelings and great praise for Him. But in the day-to-day, in the moment-by-moment living of life, we have been brought near to God and we remain near to God, solely by the blood of Jesus.

I poured out a great deal of emotion yesterday. :) Funny how something little like that, not even spoken with the intention of causing an emotional reaction, can cause such an emotional reaction! But I was balling - almost finding it hard to breathe! See, in the absence of "feeling" close to God we can often lose our perspective of the truth, that we are truly near to God all the time. We may consciously or subconsciously begin to try to create superficial atmospheres or experiences which we think will "bring us closer" to God, and when those things fail (to produce emotions, or feelings of closeness) it's very easy to think (again, either consciously or subconsciously) that something is wrong in our relationship with God. Our weaknesses and other failures in life just add to it. And for me, even though I know the truth, that Jesus alone is what has made me right with God and keeps me right with God - I still go off into that land where I have feelings of uncertainty about where I stand with God.

But this little bit of truth, presented as a sarcastic criticism of a magazine ad, caused MOUNTAINS of weight to be lifted off of me! Jesus alone has brought us near to God.

Here are just a few more examples of what Jesus accomplished for us by His blood – things that we could never do for ourselves. We have been purchased with His blood (Act 20:28). We have peace with God through His blood (Col 1:20). We have been sanctified with His blood (Heb 13:12). We have been justified by His blood (Rom 5:9). We have been redeemed by His blood (Col 1:14). By His blood, we have the forgiveness of sins (Eph 1:7). We have been cleansed and purified, and our sins are taken away by His blood (Heb 9:22-28). And “we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus” (Heb 10:19).

All these things are God's gift to us - not our gifts to Him! We have no offering that comes anywhere close to the blood of Jesus.