Western Hills Christian Church: “You are family here!”

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness,and sin is lawlessness.
1st John 3:4

It is a dangerous thing to live your life without a spiritual "plum line," or standard, by which you determine right from wrong.  God’s Word is that plumb line.  Spiritual laws, like physical laws, are meant to protect you, not restrict you.  You may exercise your freedom to challenge the laws of electricity, but to do so can bring you death.   Likewise, you will not break God’s laws, they will break you.  God established absolute moral and spiritual laws that we are free to ignore, but we do so at our own peril.  These laws are timeless.  Culture does not supersede them.  Circumstances do not abrogate them.  God’s laws are eternal, and they will save you from death if you follow them.

You may feel that God’s laws restrict and bind you.  On the contrary, God’s Word protects you from death (Romans 6:23).  For example, when God said that you are not to commit adultery, He wanted to free you to experience the fullest pleasure of a marriage relationship.  Furthermore, He knew the devastating heartache that would come to you, your spouse, your children, your relatives, your friends, and your church family if you broke this law.  How important the laws of God are for your life!  Without them, you would be robbed of the delights God has in store for you.

Sin is choosing a standard other than God’s law on which to base your life.  If you are measuring your life by that of your neighbors, or society at large, then you are basing your life on lawlessness, and lawlessness is sin.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him.
Mark 1:36

Simon Peter is well known to us for his foolish, extemporaneous statements throughout the Gospels (Matthew 16:22; 17:4; 26:33). But Peter was always seeking after Jesus. Peter followed Jesus from afar during the night of Jesus’ crucifixion (Matthew 26:58). Peter ran to the tomb when he heard Jesus had risen (Luke 24:12). Peter did not always say or do the right things, but he did constantly seek to be with Jesus. Because of this, he was continually encountering his Lord and growing to be a more faithful disciple.

Whenever we see Peter coming to Jesus he is always accompanied by others. Because Peter was seeking Jesus, others sought Him too. What are you known for by those who know you best? Do they see you searching for fame, power, success, or happiness? Are you known as a person who seeks after Jesus? God promises: “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13).

Did you begin today intent on encountering Jesus? Is your search for Him halfhearted, or are you seeking Him with all your heart? Have others grown closer to Jesus because they followed your example and sought Jesus? If your heart is set on pursuing Jesus, you will always find Him. “And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come” (Revelation 22:17).

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

The Father Draws You

He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
John 6:65

Throughout Jesus’ ministry on earth, He never seemed intimidated by the crowds.  Instead, He looked into the multitudes and focused on those whom His Father was sending to Him.  Jesus knew that because of sin, no one naturally seeks after God.  Sinful man’s inclination is to hide from God, rather than to come to Him (Genesis 3:8; Psalm 14:1-3).  Therefore, whenever Jesus saw that the Father was drawing a person to Himself, Jesus immediately began relating to that person.

Jesus observed the great lengths to which the despised tax collector, Zacchaeus, had gone in order to see Him pass by.  In response, Jesus immediately left the crowd and spent time with this man in whom the Father was obviously working (Luke 19:1-10).  When Jesus noticed a man following after Him, Jesus spoke to Andrew, “Come!” (John 1:39).  Every time the disciples experienced a new insight into the truths of God, Jesus recognized that it was the Father who had been at work in their lives (Matthew 16:17).

As your desire to spend time alone with Jesus, recognize that this is the Father drawing you to His Son.  You do not seek quiet times with God in order to experience Him.  The fact that He has brought you to a place of fellowship with Him is evidence that you are already sensing His activity.  As you read the Scriptures and pray, trust that God will honor your response to His leading by teaching you more about Himself.

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day

Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power.
Psalm 110:3

One mark of revival, during which God comes to His people in power, is that God’s people are compelled to offer their lives for His service. Many churches lack people who are willing to get involved in carrying out God’s redemptive work. The mission fields are crying out for Christians to go and share the gospel with those who’ve never heard it. What we need is not more pleas for volunteers, but an outpouring of the power of God. When God comes among His people in power, there is never a shortage of volunteers or resources for His work!

When Christians today are asked what aspects of the Christian life are most important to them, missions is not usually ranked as a priority. This is because we have lost track of why God called us in the first place. We were not saved from our sin simply so that we would qualify for heaven. God delivered us so we would have a relationship with Him through which He could carry out His mission to redeem a lost world.

Only the power of God can free us from our natural self-centeredness and reorient us toward the mission of God. There is no need to pray that God would come in power. That is the only way He ever comes. We need hearts that are so responsive to Him that He will choose to demonstrate His power through us. Is your heart so filled with love for God that you are watching for the first opportunity to say with Isaiah, “Here am I. Send me!”?

Henry and Richard Blackaby
Experiencing God Day-by-Day