God Finds Tender Hearts

GOD FINDS TENDER HEARTS

By Given O. Blakely

"For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him." (2 Chron 16:9)

God will not overlook the individual that has a good heart. Men may fail to recognize those "whose heart is perfect" toward God, but He will not. As it is written, "The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry" (Psa. 34:15). Although isolated and in conflict with a wicked world, God is always aware of the righteous. He is preoccupied with them, waiting for their expressions of dependency upon Him. Peter said it this way, "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil" (1 Pet. 3:12).

Our faith must appropriate this reality on the individual basis. Much of the religion of our day is group-oriented, losing the identity of the person.

The premier example of a man particularly precious to God, and loved by Him, is the Lord Jesus Christ. With Him God was "well pleased" (Matt 3:17; 17:5; 2 Pet 1:17). He is the "beloved Son" (Matt 3:17), and "THE Beloved" (Eph 1:6). Never was a man held in such regard by heaven as the Lord Jesus Christ. Behind Him, and to a lesser degree, there are several others who are noted for the way God viewed them.

NOAH is a notable example of our text. In the midst of a decadent generation that so angered the Lord He determined to destroy it, the eyes of the Lord found Noah. "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Gen. 6:8). While grace is often defined as "unmerited favor," in Noah's case it was not unrelated to his character. Noah was not contaminated by his generation. He did not allow it to corrupt his thinking.

JOB stood out in "the land of Uz" (Job 1:1). So far as God was concerned, here was the key person in the land. He twice challenged Satan to consider him, even giving approval for him to be extensively tested.

ABRAHAM is the father of believers (Rom. 4:16). God was so confident in Abraham that He would not "hide" from Him the thing He intended to do (Gen. 18:17). He also observed that Abraham would command his children after him (Gen. 18:19). How greatly this man was used by God. His eyes searched for such a man, and when He found him, He made him a byword in the community of the faithful.

SAMUEL stands uniquely before the era of the kings. He was a man close to God, being acquainted with Him from a youth. On one occasion, God said that even the prayers of Samuel would not help the decadent nation of Israel (Jer 15:1).

MOSES was a "servant faithful in all of his house" (Heb 3:5). He had capacities that could be used in honoring God, and the eyes of the Lord found him. How marvelously God undergirded the work of Moses, bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt, and finally giving the Law through him.

DAVID was a "man after God's own heart" (Acts 13:22). He was the kind of man that brought great delight to God, and the eyes of the Lord found him.

DANIEL is the only person in Scripture of whom it is said that he was "greatly beloved," or "highly esteemed" (NASB/NIV) – and it is repeated no less than three times (Dan 9:23; 10:11,19). How precious he was inn the sight of God – during the Babylonian captivity, when Israel was being judged by God, and while he was away from Jerusalem in a foreign land.

PAUL the Apostle "labored more abundantly than they (the Apostles) all" (1 Cor 15:10). So singularly minded was he! The eyes of the Lord found him as he set about to proclaim the Gospel with power. The Lord undergirded his preaching, bringing forth fruit around the world.

Those who teach men that God loves everyone alike do well to ponder that God has not so represented Himself. It is not on the part of wisdom for them to do so. God is not looking for the person who needs help, but for the one whose heart is perfect toward Him. That is a matter of revelation.

THE CAUSE THAT GOD CAN UNDERGIRD. The cause God can undergird is one that is in harmony with His "eternal purpose." God does not come to the aid of self-conceived agendas. That He does this is an imagination altogether too common among professed believers. Objectives that are motivated by faith honor God. Those who are prompted by pride are destined to failure, and thus will never be supported by the living God.

Our text is a case in point. Asa formed an alliance with his enemy, hoping to secure the safety of his nation. Faith in God had nothing to do with his choice, and thus God forsook him. His latter end was not glorious like the beginning of his reign.

The Lord allows a lot of room for holy creativity in His kingdom. If the heart of His people is open to His will, He will undergird their efforts for Him. He is looking for opportunities to do this. Those who desire to spread His Gospel will soon be discovered by "the eyes of the Lord." He will strengthen them for the work, and supply their needs. That is involved in the promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world" (Matt. 28:20).

GOD WORKS IN US. It is one thing for God to work THROUGH us, it is quite another thing for Him to work IN us. The latter is His revealed desire. He can work through anyone, using them for the accomplishment of His purpose. However, that does not always work for the benefit of the one being used, as with Balaam and Caiaphas. (Num 23:19-23; John 11:49-52). Working IN us involves fellowship with us. That is what salvation is about. We have been "called into the fellowship of His dear Son" (1 Cor. 1:9).

To will and to do. God works "IN" us "both to will and to do, of His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13). Working in concert with our spirits, He accomplishes His "good pleasure" through our willingness and deeds. When it comes to doing, there is no greater activity than to experience the Mighty God working in us, both to will and to do what He has purposed. You do well to seek that kind of blessing.

PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, grant me grace to be a source of good pleasure to You.

Will You Be Restored?, by Chaplain Deanna

Editor's note: One of our writer's, Deanna Christian, desires to share some words of wisdom that she ministered to a woman who is living in sin. We share these impassioned, and profitable, thoughts here with our readers. They are as follows: I have been writing lately to confront one who has left the faith and returned to sin. She has left my teaching and gone on to be with Christians who offer her God's eternal grace regardless of her current behavior (living with yet another boyfriend, pregnant, completely incapable of caring for a child). I have much more I would like to say to her, but for now if you think these words are worth sharing with others in similar state, you may share them on your blog.--Chaplain Deanna Will You Be Restored? You began well. The word was near you, in your mouth but not yet in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); The Bible tells us that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. . . .” Romans 10:8-11, 13 [I] “urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, . . . that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like [those] who do not know God; [See to it] that no one transgresses and wrongs [a] brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. (I Thessalonians 4;3-8) But now you have defiled yourself by what has come out of your heart. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a [person].” (Matthew 15:19-20) Your heart has revealed your true state; for if you had believed God, you could not have kept on sinning. If you would now hope in God, you must purify yourself. “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as He is pure. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. 7 Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1 John 3:4-10) If you would be a child of God, you must not keep on sinning. Repent. Believe God. Truly believe in a way that changes not only your heart but also your actions. Abide in God and ask God to abide in you. Turn away from wickedness, and turn back to the true and living God (if perhaps you have not so grieved Him that He will not hear your prayers, even as he refused the Israelites who sinned against Him). It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.--deanna_christian@yahoo.com The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you Chaplain Deanna

The Idea of Man's Essential Passivity is False

"The idea of man's essential passivity in God's dealings with him through Christ is false in all of its applications. The charge to each believer is: You build yourself up in the faith; you keep yourself in the love of God; you pray in the Holy Spirit; and you look for the mercy of Christ" (cf. Jude 20-21).--Fred O. Blakely

When Jesus Comes Again, by Given O.Blakely

When Jesus Comes Again
By Given O. Blakely

" . . . at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." (1 Thess 3:13)

There is an appointed time when the necessity of holiness will be fully known. The aim of the Apostle is to prepare the saints for that predetermined day. There is a sense in which nothing else matters but this. To be unprepared to stand before the Father on this appointed day is to be condemned. Here is the reason for our lives and our labors in Christ Jesus.

AT THE COMING. There are few doctrines so marred with the opinions of men as that of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As if that were not bad enough, there are also few doctrines that are as rarely proclaimed with power as this one. Yet, this is one of the most pivotal teachings of the Scriptures. Upon it, the hope of the saints is suspended. There are at least 250 references to Christ's return in the New Testament Scriptures. Every Gospel contains numerous references to Christ's coming. The Epistles contain nearly sixty references to Jesus' return, and all of them are foundational and central.

Before He was betrayed, Jesus declared to His disciples, "I will come again" (John 14:3). Following His ascension into heaven, two heavenly messengers arrayed in white said to His disciples, "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). The resurrection of the dead will occur "at His coming" (1 Cor 15:23). That is when believers will be a crown of rejoicing to those who ministered to them (1 Thess 2:19). The great despot who will work in the power of Satan will be destroyed at that coming (2 Thess 2:8). This is the "coming" for which the saints are waiting (1 Cor 1:7). The keeping and perfecting power of God is to be performed until "the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess 5:23). Powerful pleadings and beseechments are made on the basis of this coming (2 Thess 2:1). Perseverance and endurance are maintained in view of this coming (James 5:7).

This is the day to which faith looks, and toward which it hastens, speeding its coming (2 Pet 3:12). This is "the day of the Lord" (1 Thess 5:2), "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor 1:8), and "the day of redemption" (Eph 4:30). The Divine agenda is progressing toward this day. Everything about salvation is readying believers for this day. A people who do not speak often of this day are a weak people. Preachers who do not proclaim this day are guilty preachers. Hearts that do not yearn for it are faulty hearts. Those who have no interest in this day have only confirmed the Lord is not perfecting them. They stand on the precipice of eternal disaster, regardless of their profession. If our religion does not focus on the return of Jesus and make us ready for that glorious event, it is vain and useless. As it is written, "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Cor 15:19).

The aim is to be "blameless in holiness before God . . . at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The only place in which such preparations can be made is this world, and the only time they can be made is now. Salvation is the environment in which the objective will be realized, and faith and love are the experiences through which it will be accomplished.

It is not possible to overemphasize the coming of the Lord. Of this day it is written, "He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed" (Acts 17:31). Nothing can thwart or delay the coming of that day. It is drawing closer, being "nearer than when we believed" (Rom 13:11).

WITH ALL HIS SAINTS. When our Lord returns, He will bring all of the faithful who have departed this life. Later, in an extended proclamation of this fact, Paul writes, "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him" (1 Thess 4:14). These are the ones who are "absent from the body" and "present with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:6,8). They will be presented blameless in holiness before the Father. It only needs to be established whether those who "are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord" will be included in the spotless number (1 Thess 4:15).

The desire Paul is expressing in this passage is that the Thessalonians will be among those who will be gathered by the reaping angels (Matt 13:39). That is the ultimate test of whether we are the Lord's or not. Faith unites us now with this vast body of redeemed souls, "the spirits of just men made perfect" (Heb 12:23). That unity is not to be taken for granted, as though everything from that point on is automatic. There remains much work to be done in the strongest believer, and only the Lord can perform it. He will not do it without the prayers of discerning ones. Nor, indeed, will it be accomplished apart from an increasing and abounding love. The objective of the work is to be blameless in holiness when He returns. We should expect, therefore, a marked increase in holiness here and now.

PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for the blessed hope of Christ's return. --Given Blakely