From Pity to Praise

“Enter in by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it” -Matthew 7:14

This is something I don’t think too many churches remind people of often enough. I believe most people are in the dark about one of the most important summaries in the Bible, and it shows us exactly what the future holds for us and the basic choices we have to make.

The world has gotten so comfortable with sin, and thinking they will go to heaven, because Jesus loves them. I watched a lady sin, know she was sinning, and missed the warning signs that God was showing her, yet judged the one who told her she was sinning.

Jesus has probably spent several hours on a hot hillside teaching His disciples what a true follower is, what effect they were supposed to have on the world, and what His role was in coming to earth. Jesus gave many illustrations of a godly attitude and behaviors that define His children.

There are some points I want to make:

Ask:

Before anything can take place we have to ask to be forgiven. Jesus tells us to ask, which is the simplest yet profound, “Ask, and it will be given you” -Matthew 7:7. We are all sinners, and we know we need Jesus as our Savior, and because of this we simply have to ask Jesus to save us.

Many times I have spoken to someone about Jesus and salvation and they just sit silently, or outright refuse. I naturally was upset, but I know that nothing will happen until they ask Jesus to forgive them. I have come to learn that I am just the messenger, I deliver the message but they have the choice whether to accept it or not. The most basic need is to ask. Jesus won’t turn anyone down who asks for forgiveness from a place of humility and honest awareness of a need. And no one can save us until we ask for it.

Ponder this “Does my faith extend beyond the salvation of my soul and into the rest of my life? Because saving faith is essentially no more than belief or agreement with scripture. In this regard, the only difference between saving faith and belief of the hell-bound demons, is that they don’t ask for forgiveness. They believe all the same stuff about Jesus, but chose not to accept what He offered.

Someone once said that, if I seek assurance and security from the world, I have weak faith that has not moved beyond asking for forgiveness and getting a “get out of hell free card.”

I think that the trouble is with many so called believers, is they do believe in Jesus, but we don’t believe Him. In other words, they believe on Him for the salvation of their souls, but they don’t believe Him when He says our Father in heaven will provide for us, or that we have the full power of God available to us through the Holy Spirit.

But all it takes is a little faith to ask God and it will be given. If that’s not enough, the rest of this blog post won’t apply.

Seek:

Seek and you will find God. Just because we have accepted forgiveness this doesn’t mean we know God. After we are saved we have to seek Him. Most people think after being saved or baptized think they can just stop. God will handle everything from there. But after we are saved we are to seek Him with great effort. Matthew 5: 6, 8 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”

We don’t necessarily have that vital of a relationship with God, when we are saved. That is just like meeting Him. Like any other relationship, it develops over time and we are to seek Him once we are saved. Forgiveness and justification is what makes it possible to even begin a relationship with Him. Seeking requires more faith and action than just asking.

If we seek Him we will find Him, but as we will find His will if we truly seek it.

Some don’t consider who God really is, they don’t consider that we are literally His children and He wants what is best for us, and part of our inheritance is that He lives in us.

When we seek to live out faith, obey His will in our lives, rather than just take a deep breath because we are not going to hell, our faith has to increase as we see God do more in the through us. He becomes more and more real to us as we let Him take over,

If we spend even one minute a day meditating on what this means – the kind of care He had for us, and what He has empowered us to do, it would change everything. So seeking to understand in an experiential way what it really means to be a spirit powered child of God. You’ll be amazed at what you’ll find when you app,y this reality to everyday life.

Knock:

Knock and it will be opened to you. The gates of heaven will be opened. But we also have to ask for forgiveness, and seek Him through His Word and prayer, then we can knock. This means persistently pursuing righteousness and fulfill our sanctification through faith in Jesus.

We can’t just stop when we accept God’s forgiveness, we are then to seek and knock continually. We are not done when we accept salvation.

Salvation is supposed to cause us to seek and knock with all our might for the rest of our lives, knowing that we will never find it all, never have all the wisdom of God opened up to us, and never experience the entire fulfillment of heaven until our lives end.

It’s a door to God’s study room, the door to an intimate relationship with God.

After we ask, seek, and knock, Jesus invites us into a transformed life of active, daily relationship with Him. This involves shifting from seeking mercy to living in obedience, abiding in His presence, and extending His love to others.

Jesus wants us to maintain fellowship through prayer and abiding in His Word.

Persistence is rewarded and Jesus assures us that those who persistently pursue God will find Him.

Instead of seeking personal gain, focus on God’s righteousness and kingdom priorities.

Faith is not about the struggle to conjure up belief, but rather resting in the finished work of Jesus, acknowledging that strength comes from God, not perfect effort.

While trials and trouble will happen, faith is the assurance and trust in God’s promises, which often happens when we help our unbelief by relying on His grace rather than our own strength.

Faith is easy, it’s the resting that can become hard. It’s about trusting God’s power rather than relying on ourselves.

Even when we doubt God’s promises, He welcomes our honesty. In Mark 9:23-24 this is seen, “Yeshua said to him, If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes. Immediately the father of the child cried out with tears, I believe. Help my unbelief.”

The object of faith is to focus on trusting Jesus, not the intensity of our own feelings.

We must remember that the role of any trial is not intended to break us, but to build endurance and maturity.

Jesus promises us that His burden is light. This means true faith brings peace, rather than struggle.

In the world the strong often rule over the weak. In God’s kingdom, the principles that govern are the proper use of strength and power are different.

Strength is not given so that we can strut down the street like a rooster or peacock, drawing attention to ourselves. Strength is an asset that God enables us to be a part of so we can help others, not to rule over or exploit them.

Romans 15:1 tells us, “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak and not to please ourselves.”

I think it is power that corrupts people and causes them to forget God, and brings out the worst in people.

If we stay humble before God and use the power He gives us wisely and for His glory, God can trust us with much. It’s important to remember that we keep the right perspective on power and strength.

The Bible is full of examples of people who acknowledged their need and dependence on God. As long as they remembered that God was the source, and the strength they received was for His glory, everything went well.

A perfect example was Samson, He was dedicated to God from birth and was granted incredible, supernatural physical strength to fight the Philistines. But his arrogance and self-indulgence led him to treat His gift for his own personal power rather then stewardship from God. He lived a life of carelessness, pursuing women and acting on his own whims. He revealed the secret of his strength and his long hair. The consequence of that was when he didn’t realize God had left him when Delilah the philistine cutoff his hair, he didn’t realize God had left him. His strength vanished, and he was captured, blinded, and made to grind grain in prison. He repented and turned back to God, but accepted the consequences of his actions. (Judges 16).

The opposite of Samson was Paul. When Paul was troubled over a messenger of Satan, which he called the thorn of the flesh, he cried out to God to help. And God’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weakness, that the power of Christ may rest on me ” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Paul had become at the end of himself, and there he found strength from God. His weakness was turned to strength.

As we follow Jesus, we don’t need to fear that God will condemn us or look down on us because of our weaknesses. Jesus empathizes with and offers us comfort and support. Hebrews 5:15 tells us, “We don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who had been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.”

It might seem a bit paradoxical when we consider the power weakness relationship in the Bible, but remember that God is the one who will ultimately reconcile all things and make all things right. Those who arrogantly want power in a godless way will someday find themselves brought to nothing. But those who humble themselves before God and acknowledge their profound need for Him will find themselves being strengthened.

Is it possible that your thought life is holding you back? I’ve seen lots of people succeed or fail, and it always goes back to one thing. Change, how much they changed their thought life.

“Sow a thousand, reap an action. Sow an act, reap an habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character reap a destiny” -anonymous

I can remember certain aha moments when my mind envisioned something bigger than I had ever dreamed. I can remember times when I felt like a failure and encouraged myself with my thoughts. Every time, it seemed like a butt was either holding me captive or catapult me into a new dimension.

To have a successful thought life there are four secrets to know:

1. Capture your thoughts

Isn’t it funny how a negative thought can come into your mind out of the blue? Sometimes we wonder if Satan has access to our thoughts. He does. Even Paul spoke about doing spiritual warfare over our thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us “For our weapons of warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every though captive to the obedience of Christ.”

When you listen to your inner conversations, are your thoughts constantly fearful? Are they hopeless? Are they jealous? Cast them down, take them captive. say out loud, “Satan, you are a liar. These are not thoughts of God Word. I remove them from my mind.

2. Check your friends

Probably the greatest battle is your friends. You may have friends whose negative mindset tries to limit yours. Jesus’s brothers were always negative about who He was. Peter tried to stop Him from His mission. Be careful whose thoughts you are giving access to your mind. Whether it is your friends, social media, or television.

3. Remove the grooves

Neuroscientists tell us that our thoughts, travel in grooves in our brain. Our memories from trees, whose branches are filled with feelings of good and bad moments. We automatically think in those groves, because that’s what easiest.

But we can plow up those grooves and start over. Plant some new rows so new trees can be planted. Maybe our parents or grandparents thought with certain limitations. But you, we can begin to think of ourselves and totally different dimensions.

4. Renew your mind

For years I have read the Bible, prayed and worked on renewing my mind, from the negative grooves that have been planted in my mind. Slowing my thoughts have transformed more and more into thoughts that come from God.

When we meditate daily on scripture and speak certain verses allowed when they apply to our situation. Our mind begins to renew itself. We can ask God to change our thoughts when they are in conflict with His commands. Changing an old mentality is a slow process to renewal.

But when we stay with it, guard our minds, and expose ourselves to great thinkers, find friends who think like our renewed mind we can begin to think new thoughts. That’s when we begin to change.