Good Morning,
I want to be a delight to God, well pleasing to Him. It is my
passion and desire to cause a smile to cross my Father's face every time
my name is mentioned. I know that most of us who love the Father want
the same thing. So this week I reminded myself again to place that
desire in the forefront of my mind, (we have to do a spiritual tune-up
regularly). It is amazing that when you place the desire of pleasing
God at the front of your mind, how the course of your thoughts change
and your actions follow. For instance, someone did something to me, that
would have normally sent my blood to boiling, but because I was
thinking only of pleasing God, I let it drop without giving it another
'evil and old' thought. That is why the Psalmist said, "let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my
heart, be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength, and my
redeemer." (Psalms
19:14) The meditation of my heart will birth the words of my
mouth, and the actions that follow. Then all that I say and think on
will be agreeable to God and His Word. Meditation is a
murmuring sound which denotes a close or continued thought; the turning
or revolving of a subject in the mind; serious contemplation; to dwell
on a thought. Well, when we dwell on
pleasing God, we will end up acting and speaking according to His Word.
To be a delight to God we must go down deep, to the root causes of our
outward actions, that are disagreeable to His Word. What is revolving in
your mind most of the time? Listen to the words of wisdom, "they who are willfully contrary in heart are
extremely disgusting and shamefully vile in the eyes of the Lord, but such as are
blameless and wholehearted in their ways are His
delight." Contrary means
to be adverse, in opposition of; moving against or in an opposite
direction, not merely different but inconsistent. We have to be sure that we are not trying to twist the
Word in order to move in our direction. God takes delight
in those who delight in doing His Word. This applies in every area of
the Word, loving, forgiving, changing our behavior and conduct, what we
do, as well as what we say. After all we are to become like Jesus, who
said, "sacrifice and offering You do not
desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity
to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin
offerings [which] You do not require. Then said I, Behold, I come; in
the volume of the book it is written of me; I delight
to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your law is within my heart." (Psalm
40:6-10) It is possible to do the will of God and bring Him
pleasure. It is as we choose to do the Word moment by moment while we learn to let the
Word be what is revolving over and over again in our minds verses the
old thoughts of the old man. We have the ability of God in us and upon
us, by the Word taking root in our hearts as well as the all powerful Holy Spirit. When we
choose to let the old man reign, we are negating the power of God. The
Psalmist said that God has given us, the capacity to hear and obey.
Capacity means the power of containing;
the extent or comprehensiveness of the mind; the power of receiving
ideas or knowledge; active power and ability. I keep hearing the word, power, we have the power and
the ability, both to hear and to do the Word. We know what the Word says, "for if anyone only hears (listens) to the Word
without doing (obeying) it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his
own natural face in a mirror; for he thoughtfully observes himself, and
then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like." (James 1:23-24) Doing the Word, delights our Father and brings a
blessing upon us. (but he who looks
carefully into the faultless law, the law of liberty, and is faithful to
it and perseveres in looking into it, being not a heedless listener who
forgets but an
active doer [who obeys], he shall be blessed in his doing (his life
of obedience). Our lives of obedience,
can be achieved by our thought life revolving in the Word. We can be
blameless and wholehearted in our ways, it is not impossible. This is
the spotless, purified church, that the Lord delights in.
Psalm 19:14
Love,
Pastor D.
Daughters of Z 