Your role as a seeker – People of God, when you are face to face with Jesus Christ, He is not interested in your appearance, education, eloquence, ability to inspire people, friendliness, stature, status, background or race, but in your faith in Him because that is what makes you one in unity with Him. Therefore, what is important to Jesus Christ is the ability to register one’s genuine willingness to receive Him and not one’s physical disposition before Him. Remember, only faith pleases God – nothing else. And our faith is increased when we focus only on what God says, because seeing only what God says will produce and increase our faith. This means that any man or woman can get rid of their doubts by looking steadfastly and only at the evidence which God has for our faith. What a means of blessing is the look of faith to Christ Jesus – there is life, light, wisdom, joy, perfect health – in fact, everything. Therefore, when you want to pray, look first to the cross where the price was paid for the blessing you seek. In other words, when you want to pray for a special object, such a prayer must be followed be an attitude of absolute trust Christ Jesus, that He is right now working the answer, slowly but surely.
Act 13:22 – Here, God testifies to David’s willingness to receive Him as genuine because his requests were always full of humility and broken heartedness. This testimony is a clear proof that God saw in David a faithful follower, a willing servant and a man of great perception. Indeed, David was one genuine seekers then. Are you one of the genuine seekers Jesus Christ is looking for today?
Psalm 51:1 -4 – In this text, David was humble enough and broken hearted in his request towards God because he understood the relevance of being cleansed first, before blessing. In other words, David did not see himself as a righteous man before God. Instead, he saw himself as a sinner in need of God’s mercy and favor. That is, David knew that with sin in his life, there was no way he could enjoy the grace of God; and grace in the soul is a new life in the soul. He knew that sin brings fear and fear is a thief of faith and hope. But one thing is certain, when sin – the bitter root of sorrow, sickness, fear or failure is taken away, then we can pray in faith. Otherwise, we are faithless and when faith’s light goes off, life becomes a weary road. In other words, sin regarded in our hearts spoils the comfort of His grace and ruins the success of prayers. David knew that, without the Holy Spirit destroying the seed of sin in us, we are bound to be tormented from the desire to return to our bad habits. Therefore, David’s concern was to get his corrupt nature changed but it was not in his own power to amend it. Therefore, he begged of God. David knew, God only that made the heart can make it new. To His power, nothing is impossible.
What is your past or present like? Are you feeling condemned because of the life of sin you have lived or are still living? Maybe in your mind, you are asking yourself the following questions: “How can I be pardoned? My sins are too many. Is it possible for God to forgive a bad sinner like me?” Remember you have not committed the unpardonable sin. Cheer up! There is hope for you because the worst of sins can be forgiven. We have seen a sinner’s character being healed. We have seen a drunkard become sober. We have seen an angry man become gentle. We have seen a liar become truthful. We have seen a harlot become chaste, only by trusting in Christ’s suffering.
People of God, to be humbled and broken-hearted, is to acknowledge one’s position as a sinner or dirty person in need of total cleansing by the power in the blood of Jesus Christ. David knew this that was why he said to the Lord, “Dirty as I am O Lord, you can still cleanse me”. David did not ask for blessing, comfort or prosperity but total cleansing from his sins. He knew that when one is cleansed by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, one is cleansed indeed. Unless you are cleansed from your sins, whatever blessing you receive will face greater challenges that will leave you worse off than you were before the blessing. If you are not cleansed of your sins, your mind cannot be at its best for God because the service of God is a thing of the mind. Remember, it is essential to serve the Lord with a willing mind and a willing mind always wants to be cleansed first before comfort, blessing or prosperity. David had a willing mind that was why he said, “Lord, do not comfort me until you cleanse me from my sin”. In other words, David knew that one great errand we have to the throne of grace is to pray for the pardon or forgiveness of our sins.
Act 13:22 – Take note of the expression, “A man after my own heart” – not a man after my own face, stature, appearance, color or race but “A man after my own heart”. What does this mean? This means that what God requires of us is planted in our hearts because we are made in our hearts to be like Jesus Christ, not in our appearance or physical disposition before Him. In other words, what God requires of us does not consist in the fat of rams, burnt offering, best sheep or costly sacrifices. The sacrifice of wicked people consist in the fat rams, best sheep, burnt offerings and the like but without a thorough reformation of heart and life.
If your willingness to come to Jesus Christ is under the check and conduct of the Holy Spirit, you will be connected to the right source and Jesus Christ is the right source. Those who come to Jesus Christ must do so in humility and broken-heartedness; because this is what genuine willingness is all about. Worship must be pure. I mean, the requirements of purity must be kept and sacrifices are to be offered from a pure heart – not a rebellious one.
Therefore, what the Lord requires of us is humility and broken-heartedness. That is genuine willingness on the part of the seeker. As genuine seekers with genuine willingness, the following are the essential qualities Jesus Christ expects of us in order to receive Him:
1) We must make a penitent acknowledgment of our sins.
2) We must offer God confession.
3) We must offer thanksgiving in everything that God has done.
4) We must develop a conscience of performing our duty or responsibility to God, with humble and thankful heart.
Remember that our duty or responsibility is to love God and reverence Him with all our substance – our love, time, money, strength, in fact every good thing Go has given us…..TBJ SCOAN
Have a blessed week.
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