BREAKER 1 9
Heard a
teaching today and I had remembered living in a wilderness area of Wyoming. Our
daughter had taken a name when using the radio to check in on the CB we used. She
had a call name which matched her own name. (Candy Cane) And she would open
with “Breaker 1-9 (assuming you were in the right place for that check), come
in radio check"! We had a CB radio in
our truck and our family members each had one in their trucks, so if out
hunting, or else, we had a check that radio was working to keep in touch. But do we check our
heart? Would we say yes or would we say: rarely????
David asked
for a radio check: Psalm 139:23-24 when he prayed, “Search my, O God and know
my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful
way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.” When was there a radio check
with the Lord God that you had?
David wanted to be searched on his heart matter. He asked God to know him and if he had anxious thoughts.
In having
love for others is the spiritual test. As we grow in that love, we will be
tested on that love we have within our own heart. Yes, the acid test of
spiritual maturity is a growing love for God and people. If it is not growing
for God and people, you are not growing in your Christian life!!!
Jesus
made it crystal clear that the most important commandments are (1) loving God
with all you are, and (2) loving people as you love yourself. If I am to grow
as a Christian, the proof of spiritual growth is not how much I know, it is how
much I care. It is not how often I go to church … or how many Bible studies I
am involved in … or how many people consider me a strong Christian … or how
many verses I have memorized. The real proof is how much my heart and your heart is growing
with love. Paul said that love is the goal of our instruction.
If
you will do a “radio check” with God, He will question back to you:
“Do
you love Me more today? Do you love Me more that what is before you?
Are you growing in your love and appreciation for Me?
Do you love what I love … people for whom I died?” Will you stand with Me in the purpose I have set before you???
If
love is truly the acid test of spiritual maturity (and it no doubt is), how are
you doing with this thing called love? If
you are really growing in your love for the Lord, your life will show it in
obedience to His commands. Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps
them, he it is who loves Me” (John 14:21). If you are really growing in your love for others,
your life will show it in the way you treat people, in the way you pray for
people. Christians who are really growing are praying daily for unsaved family,
friends, neighbors and associates. They have a burden for lost people who are
one heartbeat from an eternal hell.
I had a
fellow Christian send me a teaching they had this last Sunday. I thought of Esau who
shed tears for the moment, wanted soup in a moment and cared nothing of his
patriarchal leadership among his Jewish family. He wanted soup and do his own thing as in hunting!
As I write
this line I am remembering the one who saw writing on the wall and was found wanting!
God writing like He did to Belshazzar, your kingdom is numbered and
finished. You are found wanting and divided and slain…Found in Daniel 5:13-30…
..Belshazzar knew how God dealt with his father, Nebuchadnezzar, but he refused to be humbled by it!
Belshazzar,
used all the instruments of God’s house for his own glory. He desired to take
and use that which belonged to another in property. What Belshazzar did was for Belshazzar’s own
performance. He was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar. He had a great feast using
the sacred gold and silver vessels which grandfather Nebuchadnezzar had stolen
from the temple in Jerusalem. The king with his entourage drank themselves
drunk on wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood
and stone. Fingers appeared to write on the wall. The king terrified by what he
saw offered up his purple robe, a chain of gold and would promote anyone who
could interpret the meaning written on the wall before him, the king!
Daniel
would be called in. The queen suggested his being summoned to interpret. He is
of excellent wisdom and spiritually leaned on God. Daniel brought before the
king also rebuked him, the king, boldly for desecrating the vessels of the temple by
using them for a drunken party as in the idolatrous feast. For this king, Daniel
read Mene, Mene, tekel, upharsin, Mene. Daniel told the king God had numbered
the Babylonian Empire and finished it. He was told it was weighed in the
balances and was found wanting.
The king
would be die. He was found wanting and he was found divided. He chose to party
with the world and not hear God! Should his heart been checked to find such
going on? I believe most people will know they are going the wrong way indeed.
YOU do not and should not use God’s things to comfort the world. The world is made of those who
choose no rule nor boundaries. They despise the things of God!
Will you do a “radio check” today? And will you ask God to show you where you are
with Him? Is He with you in the trial or did you not call on Him before that
“trial” began?
Ask
Him to change you, to grow you, to help understand His love for you better … so
that you can love Him back . 1 John 4:19…. “We love, because He first loved us”
In
reading the Ten Commandments we find this requirement that we are love God and
neighbor. But the law could not produce this love in people. And we can do this
today because of the wonderful love that God gave in sending His Son Jesus to
die for us who were in sin! Is it possible to love God and have some less love
for our neighbor? Jesus loved the people who came to save. But not all will be
saved for they will not see their sin nor their darkness. We are told if they
slap you on the cheek, turn your face and let them slap you again. YOU can see
that today indeed. We love by praying for them. I do not understand their
breaking rules to suit their agenda, but God has His kingdom and to reside
there, we forgive others!
Ask
God: Ask Him to give you a heart for people, especially lost people who
desperately need to know about a Savior who can forgive all their sins and
change their lives if they will just surrender to Him.
Ask
Him to help you pray for your neighbor’s children. Ask Him for their safety if
they are not of the saved.
Proverbs 3:3-24 has much to speak about wisdom, about the
word bound to our neck to find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and
man.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths ( concerning life, spouse or marriage)or something else here______________ Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your possessions, And with the first-fruits of all your increase;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine. 11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. 16 Length of days is in her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take
hold of her, And happy are all who retain her.
19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He
established the heavens; 20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And
clouds drop down the dew. 21 My son let them not depart from your eyes- Keep sound wisdom and discretion; 22 So they will be life to your soul And grace to your neck. 23 Then you will walk safely in your way, And your
foot will not stumble. 24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid.......
I saw something written by William MacDonald ( he wrote commentaries on the Bible) : Discipline is a proof of love, not anger. Correction is proof of son-ship.
Are we
known as sons? Does not love look like our Father who created us? If we put
Christ Jesus in our hearts: then Jesus far surpassed any profit of man who has
silver and gold, any wealth, any song, anything indeed.
Jesus is the treasure inexhaustible, He is the
source of true delight. YOU might gain the world’s applause, but it is only
Jesus who can bring joy to our heart and a smile to our face that will never
stop being produced. He offers long life, gives eternal life with spiritual riches
and honor. He is pleasantness and His paths are peace. He provides sound wisdom
and discretion to give vitality to our souls. They allow us to walk safely in
our way free from danger of tripping and slipping. You and I have a guarantee
of good sleep tonight for we carry no guilt on the conscience and no fear on
our minds.
We had a “heart
check” with God! Disciplined in Him, we have no anger. God is our justice and
He is the judgment. And what He speaks determines the outcome of my life and
yours. His will is being done and He wins. That is communicating with Him indeed. Amen and Amen.
New teaching at: Voice of Prayer
That Sphere of Influence
