Monday: God’s Love and His Law
Revival is all about knowing Jesus. It is a reawakening of the spiritual faculties of the soul.
Image © Krieg Barrie from GoodSalt.com
It is a personal and vital experience with the Savior. Knowing Jesus-really knowing Him as a friend-is the essence of all revival. From the depth of his personal experience with Jesus, the apostle Paul shared that he is praying for the Ephesians to “know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19, NKJV).
This is in contrast to the story of the end-time virgins, five of whom had an outer form of godliness and religion but lacked an intimate experience with Jesus. Referring to their great need, Jesus said, “‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you’” (Matt. 25:12, NKJV).
Knowing God always leads to obedience. God’s law reveals His love. A deeper relationship with Christ leads to a greater desire to please Christ. Obedience is the fruit of love. The more we love Him, the more we will desire to obey Him. Any so-called revival that does not emphasize repentance for the times that we have willfully broken His law is suspect. Religious fervor may stimulate a temporary religious high, but lasting spiritual change will be lacking.
For the apostle John, what are the evidences that one really knows God? 1 John 2:3-6; 4:7-8, 20-21.
In these passages John makes two crucial points. First, knowing God leads to keeping His commandments. Second, loving God leads to loving one another. John’s point is clear. Genuine spirituality results in a changed life. The heart of revival is not a warm sensation of feeling close to Jesus. It is a transformed life filled with the joy of serving Jesus. God’s great goal in all revivals is to draw us closer to Him, to deepen our surrender to His purpose for our lives, and to release us for witness and ministry in His cause.
How are you in your own personal relationships? What do those relationships tell you about your own walk with the Lord? In what ways might you need to progress in both your relationship with God and with others?
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I enjoy reading the daily lessons and they have really helped me in my christian Life.God bless you
May God help us to drown out the noise of this world, by immersing ourselves in His word and meditating on His law both day and night.
Can it be not to love Law but to love your neighbours, your wife, your God, your church, etc. Picture with stones of law in us looks lacking the point that law is not serving The law but relationships of men.
I need to discover the deeper meaning and sense of God's love so I may know Christ better and share that love with others more willingly.
Please pray for me and anyone else struggling with this concept of the power of God's love.
God draws us to Himself first. We need much time thinking about and connecting with God's Love, drinking deeply of the well! We are nothing without that picture of God's love. We need that Love for ourselves like it was demonstrated in Jesus' life on earth before we are able to share love and give love to others.
As we endeavour to be united with Jesus He is more willing to give to us His Blessed Holy Spirit so He can transform our lives. We have no power of our own and it is totally impossible to live a reformed and revived life outside of the Holy Spirit as it is Him we live and move and have our well being. Lets empty ourselves of every besetting sins and of every thing that works against and oppose Christ and constantly ask Jesus to fill us with His Holy Spirit so we can be empowered to be apart of the Latter Rain experience.
"This is in contrast to the story of the end-time virgins, five of whom had an outer form of godliness and religion but lacked an intimate experience with Jesus." Once again I disagree with a statement in the lesson. Have we forgotten that all ten had oil to start with? The question isn't who had oil and who didn't but rather the real question is who had extra oil to carry them to the end. "Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps" (Matt. 25:3-4 NKJ)
Tyler, it seems to me tha going to such "details", the lesson Jesus wants us to learn from the parable, is lost.
Same with the "statement" presented in this lesson regarding the foolish virgins. Example: you cannot buy the Holy Spirit/oil, yet, Jesus said about the foolish ones running to buy oil.
The point Jesus -and the lesson- want to make clear is that at the crucial moment the foolish ones didn't have oil/Holy Spirit and they were not counted as part of the weeding, even when they claimed they indeed got oil.
As for all accounts, they didn't have any single drop and could not go inside... And what kind of oil they had? (if they had the real and genuine type of oil, they will be then wise to think to have extra) ...and when they came back with oil/Holy Spirit, Jesus still rejected them ...too late.... ...And here again, we could miss the point of the lesson in the parable and SS lesson: If they indeed have the Holy Spirit even when late, don't you think they should be allowed to go inside and join the wedding party? See? That's not the point.
Same with the rich-man-Lazarus parable Jesus said. Yet, there are thousand who believe that there is indeed an eternal hell going on for eternity from their "details" in that specific parable. We must be careful about drawing away attention from the point the parable and SS lesson wants us to focus on regarding the foolish virgin parable.
I agree with the comment that the difference between the 5 wise and 5 foolish virgins was the extra oil which the former had.
Please remember that the oil represents our faith.
We all have faith, but in times of tribulation, those with extra faith will be overcome.
Tim, without getting too picky here, as I understand it the oil represents the Holy Spirit. That understanding is mostly derived from Zechariah 4 in particular Zech 4:6. The parable of the ten virgins is obviously connected to that vision but is also connected to Revelation 11. "And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth" (Rev. 11:3-4 NKJV).
I also think there is a connection to faith just not a direct one.
I am not sure that we need to be pedantic about the exact meaning of the oil. Clearly faith, the Holy Spirit, a relationship with Christ can all be included in the same bundle. For us to survive spiritually we must have a relationship with Christ, this is facilitated by the Holy Spirit and develops our faith in Jesus. I would add that such a relationship also enables us to relate to others. When we understand that responsibility we have the basis for revival.
At issue for the church is that we are in the "tarrying time" now and we are slumbering and sleeping (both wise and foolish). Maybe we need to do a little sharing and supporting of one another now before it is too late.
I however had a thought that the oil represented the word; thus the ten virgins had the word that shone but at some point in their life, they got used to the divinity such that they didn't regard it with impottance it deserves and they "slept". They were conformed to the world into spiritual slumber. At the time of the midnight cry, it was evident those who had deeply rooted themselves into the word and those had not.
Recently I was studying one of the chicken that is used to the house. One striking thing is that it can b fed from the hand while rest fear being approached. How about us being close to our GOD like this chicken of ours? Instead of feeling like we are just tied and constraned by the just and perfect law of GOD.
The emphasis is "an intimate experience with Jesus." It is not all about the forms, rituals and traditions, it is all about knowing Jesus personally. Yes they had the oil, in fact, they all had lamps and even all slept while waiting for the bride groom, the difference (like Tyler rightly said) is the extra oil. If the Holy spirit in us doesn't takes us beyond forms and traditions, if the Holy spirit doesn't lead us to knowing Christ personally, then, like the five foolish virgins, we are going through empty/external husks of religion.
I hear time and again the 'slogan': "KNOW JESUS"! However, what does it means? It sounds hollow. Anybody to clarify?
You are right Erwin, we do use a lot of slogans and cliches to express our Christianity; and we sometimes say it so many times that the recitation is more important that the meaning. My particular dissonance on this one is the current "God is Good" to which the audience must respond. "All the time!"
So here is what I think it means to "Know Jesus". If you read the gospels you will see how Jesus interacted with the folk he came in contact with. Some of the things that seem important to me are:
1) He risked everything for us.
2) He did not condemn the weakest of sinners but encouraged them.
3) He spent time with kids - so much so that it annoyed the disciples.
4) He did not mind spending time with people that others regarded as disreputable.
5) He did not let the conventions of the day get in the way of helping others.
Jesus lived for us an example of how we should live, not to earn our salvation but to reflect our salvation into the lives of others. Following Christ's example is part of what it is to know him.
Any description of an experience is only a set of words. While I have described part of what I believe is "knowing Jesus", knowing can only really occur if we are willing to live pragmatically in that experience. I can describe to you what ice-cream tastes like but it is a very poor substitute for eating it yourself.
I agree Maurice but I would like to add to your list those things we usually don't like to see in Jesus.
To me it's not good to only consider what we want to consider. We also need to look at those things that we don't like.
So what does it mean to "know Jesus?" I think you gave part of the answer but it is also understanding the character of God that Satan has be slandering and attempting to cover up. There are aspects of God's character that we don't think about because it is so against human philosophy even as a Christian. So foreign are many of these concepts that they don't even come to mind or when they do are warped and corrupted because of our sinful nature.
I have no problem with rebuking sin, but I am not very good at it. Being a sinner myself I find it difficult to point out the faults in others when I have so many faults of my own. There have been times when I have had to speak out about wrongs that I have seen, but it is only something I do after careful consideration. It is a big responsibility.
We can accomplish much through encouragement and understanding. It is harder to forgive someone who has wronged you (or society) than it is to condemn that person. Maybe if we learned to forgive and encourage first, we may just be more effective if we have to condemn.
I asked myself the same question Erwin. I have managed to understand that knowing Jesus is understanding his teachings and following them not for the fear that you will go to hell but with an honest heart and earnestly. Many people go to church for the sake of formality follow the church procedures as well they also hear the word but do not practise Christ teachings. Some even practice the word for different earthly reasons that only Christ knows.your heart should earnestly love Christ but you cant do it alone you have to ask the holy sprit to help you understand Christ that what you know about scriptures in your head be transformed in your heart and you may earnestly obey the commandments of the Lord. You may only know Christ through the teachings of the bible.
let us simply obey Gods commandments and love our neighbors as we love ourselves it is the greatest command.
Something to remember about Christ rebuking sin:
Unless I am mistaken, there is no record of Him ever rebuking someone we would normally regard as a "sinner." Instead, He rebuked the conservative religious leaders (the "good people") who had an external form of godliness and supposedly kept a long list of rules which were too difficult for the common people to keep. They had their theology "right," but they didn't know God. And I don't see Him doing even that very often.
Christ "exalted" the Law by living it - demonstrating that the Law of God is the law of self-renouncing love.
Don't we get to "know" people best by spending time with them - especially talking with them and working with them?
I believe "knowing Jesus" results from spending enough time with Him - talking to Him (prayer), listening to Him (Bible study and the promptings of the Holy Spirit) and working with Him (mingling with men as desiring their good, ministering to their needs and introducing them to Jesus)- that we act like Him. It means having a transformed hear that is motivated by love.
I believe that "knowing Jesus" is a living experience, not a mental exercise.