Holiness or Hardness Toward God?

"He...wondered that there was no intercessor..." (Isaiah 59:16)

Here is a devotional from the classic daily devotional book My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers.

The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we only have an emotional interest in prayer. It sounds good to say that we pray, and we read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial--that our minds are quieted and our souls are uplifted when we pray. But Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at such thoughts about prayer.

Worship and intercession must go together; one is impossible without the other. Intercession means raising ourselves up to the point of getting the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (see Philippians 2:5). Instead of worshiping God, we recite speeches to God about how prayer is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say, "But God, I just don't see how you are going to do this"? This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping? When we lose sight of God, we become hard and dogmatic. We throw our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. We don't worship God, nor do we seek to conform our minds to the mind of Christ. And if we are hard toward God, we will become hard toward other people.

Are we worshiping God in a way that will raise us up to where we can take hold of Him, having such intimate contact with Him that we know His mind about the ones for whom we pray? Are we living in a holy relationship with God, or have we become hard and dogmatic?

Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then be that person yourself. Be a person who worships God and lives in a holy relationship with Him. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it truly is work--work that demands all your energy, but work which has no hidden pitfalls. Preaching the gospel has its share of pitfalls, but intercessory prayer has none whatsoever.

With all your Heart

"He did it with all his heart and prospered." (2 Chronicles 31:21 ASV)

Here is another daily devotional from Charles Spurgeon which speaks of earnestness and serving God with all of our hearts:

This is no unusual occurrence; it is the general rule of the moral universe that those men prosper who do their work with all their hearts, while those are almost certain to fail who go to their labor leaving half their hearts behind them. God does not give harvests to idle men except harvests of thistles, nor is he pleased to send wealth to those who will not dig in the field to find its hid treasure. It is universally confessed that if a man would prosper, he must be diligent in business. It is the same in religion as it is in other things. If you would prosper in your work for Jesus, let it be heart work, and let it be done with all your heart. Put as much force, energy, heartiness, and earnestness into religion as ever you do into business, for it deserves far more.

The Holy Spirit helps our infirmities, but he does not encourage our idleness; he loves active believers. Who are the most useful men in the Christian church? The men who do what they undertake for God with all their hearts. Who are the most successful Sunday-school teachers? The most talented? No; the most zealous; the men whose hearts are on fire, those are the men who see their Lord riding forth prosperously in the majesty of his salvation.

Whole-heartedness shows itself in perseverance; there may be failure at first, but the earnest worker will say, "It is the Lord's work, and it must be done; my Lord has bidden me do it, and in his strength I will accomplish it." Christian, art thou thus "with all thine heart" serving thy Master? Remember the earnestness of Jesus! Think what heart-work was his! He could say, "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." When he sweat great drops of blood, it was no light burden he had to carry upon those blessed shoulders; and when he poured out his heart, it was no weak effort he was making for the salvation of his people. Was Jesus in earnest, and are we lukewarm?

Paid for in Full

"There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one owed five hundred pence, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both..." 
(Luke 7:41,42 ASV)

Enjoy this devotional about our sin-debt and Christ's payment for it, written by Dr. J. Howard Goddard.

Darby's translation reads, "One owed five hundred denarii and the other fifty." Weymouth renders it, "One owed him five hundred shillings and the other fifty." Phillips has, "One owed him fifty pounds and the other five." Williams puts it, "One owed him a hundred dollars, the other ten."

Pence, denarii, shillings, pounds, dollars, or what-have-you, one of the debtors owed ten times as much as the other, but both were totally bankrupt. They differed in the amount of debt but were alike in their ability--or rather their inability--to pay. And when they had nothing to pay the creditor frankly--the Amplified says freely--forgave them both.

Note that it is the bankrupt debtors who are forgiven, not their debts. What, as a matter of fact, happened to their debts? The answer, while obvious, is full of meaning as an illustration of the way God deals with sinners and with sins. The answer is that the creditor himself paid the debtors' debts.

"All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). "The wages of sin is death" (Rom. 6:23). But "Christ died for our sins" (1 Cor. 15:3) and so "Through this man [Christ] is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: and by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38, 39).

What gives the believer settled peace in respect to his status with God is that his sins--every single one of them, whether he be a fifty-pence or five-hundred-pence sinner-- have been paid for in full by the precious blood of Jesus shed on the cross of Calvary. God cannot forgive sin. He must judge it. But Christ "his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24) and consequently sinners, like the two bankrupt debtors in our parable, may be freely forgiven. The sinners may be forgiven because Christ died for their sins. What a God! What a Savior! What a salvation!

Daniel

Everyone throughout my kingdom should tremble with fear before the God of Daniel. For he is the living God, and he will endure forever. His kingdom will never be destroyed. (Daniel 6:26 NLT)

The following is a worship profile of Daniel from the Praise and Worship Study Bible from Tyndale House Publishers. I highly recommend this study bible for all who want to learn more about biblical praise and worship.

Daniel

The exile of God's people to Babylon and their further dispersion throughout the Mediterranean world presented many dangers to them. One was that the Jews might assimilate the culture and beliefs around them, thus losing their own spiritual and cultural identity as God's chosen people.  Another danger was that if they remained faithful to the Lord, they might lose their lives. Either way, this pressure threatened to eliminate the Jews' worship of God. It is in this context that Daniel sets an important example for worshipers everywhere.

Daniel the Worshiper

Daniel's example is one of faithful worship in the midst of threatening settings, as illustrated by the story of Daniel being thrown to the lions (Daniel 6:1-28).

Clearly, the God whom Daniel worshiped is the Lord of history, for God ultimately controls history and is actively at work in it to help his people. Because of this, Daniel and his friends could remain faithful and confident in the face of death by fire or beast, and they could rest in God's sovereignty despite the constant turmoil of political change.

Learning from Daniel

In several instances in the book of Daniel, kings and officials worship the Lord because his servants are obedient to their calling (2:47; 3:28; 6:26-27). This can encourage us to maintain a faithful witness even in the face of opposition.

The foundation of Daniel's confidence and faithfulness was rooted in regular prayer and worship (6:10).

As we look at the lives of Daniel and his friends, we can see that God is faithful to those who follow him. He will rescue us, be it in this present life or in the life to come.

Following the Example

In a fallen world, worshiping the Lord can be hazardous to your physical health. Those who are blessed with religious freedom may have difficulty identifying with this. But there are many believers who live under governments that are hostile to Christianity and experience persecution daily. Daniel calls God's people to be faithful worshipers in whatever circumstances they may find themselves. God enables us to do this by promising to be with us and to provide for all our needs, both temporal and eternal.