Sunday, March 29th, 2009

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

Proverbs 28:9
If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

In my daily bible reading this morning, I am in the book of Proverbs. As I came to this verse, it had a profound impact upon my soul. This is not a complex or deep verse, rather it is quite simple and straight-forward. However, the impact on my heart was not quite so.

The essence of the verse is: “If you disobey God, then God won’t listen to you.” Disobedience…what is it? Not doing what God commands, and doing what God forbids. What is this? In a word, sin. Living a life of sin, living in sin, will produce an effect where God will not listen to my prayers.

So the question becomes, “then why pray, because we all sin, even the best of us, look the apostle Paul sinned, yet he still prayed…constantly.” To this I reply that Paul was in Jesus Christ. I am a believer, I believe, rest, rely and trust Jesus Christ, and not only are my sins put upon Him, but His righteousness is put upon me. Thus, I am without sin…at least as a standing before Almighty God. Thus, none of my prayers are an abomination are they?

Here comes the rub, John 14:15:

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Jesus Christ says that if I love Him, I will obey Him. Further on in John 14, Jesus also says, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”

So here it comes, the full circle of reasoning.

Love and obedience are completely united. They form a symbiotic relationship. One cannot live without the other. Obedience isn’t just strict adherence; it is also a heart issue.

I cannot be in God’s will and love unless I love Jesus. When I love Jesus it motivates me to obedience. When I have love for Jesus and obedience to Him, God will answer my prayers.

So, the application for my soul this morning is that I must love Jesus with all of my being, and this love motivates me for obedience. Because of this love, I will pray to God. When I pray to God, He will answer my prayer.

Ode to Christ
You say to me come and drink
You say to me come and eat
My spirit is willing my flesh is weak
You say to me that you are life
You say to me that you have joy
My Jesus, you are not a toy
You say to me to come and pray
You say to me that you are meek
My Christ, my King, may it be you only I seek

From Oswald Chambers, it is so apropos:

It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of child-wonder which He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious (that is, using religion as a higher kind of culture) and be spiritually real.[1]

[1]Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. March 29