My Daily Walk 29/08/2015

My Daily Walk

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--

I was asked an interesting question by a friend of mine today: are good people automatically condemned to hell if they do not believe? This is a question that relates to the nature of God. What my friend was really asking me was how can an all loving God condemn good people to hell? My response is this: when we study The Bible we observe that God's standards for measuring goodness are much different from our own. Whereas we gauge a person's goodness by measuring their outward actions (works) against our own internal moral compass (which has been corrupted,) God on the other hand looks into a person's heart and sees that in spite of their good intentions they still invariably fall short of his perfect standards. This is because the human heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9,) and because of this nobody can do any good in the eyes of God (Romans 3:10.) This then is why we must turn from our evil ways and repent. Salvation is not the fruit of good works, rather salvation is a gift from God available to all who believe Christ on the cross paid the penalty for their sins. So the answer to the question is "yes," hell will tragically be full of good people, but only if we mean 'good' by the standards of men. What about those who have not heard the message then you ask? How can an all loving God condemn those who have not heard the message of salvation? That is another good question, one that I will answer another day.

My Prayer for The Day

Heavenly Father we thank you for the gift of salvation
and understand that it is not by works
but by grace through faith that we are saved.
Our best works are but dirty rags in your eyes
but the finished work of Christ on the cross
is the only good work that we know of in this fallen world.
Help us focus not on our own works
but on the finished work of Christ,
that we may be delivered by his sacrifice
and on the day of judgement appear blameless before you.

Amen

My Daily Walk 27/08/2015

My Daily Walk

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. 

Today was awesome. The Lord provided me with a couple of fantastic opportunities to get involved with some truly inspiring community outreach projects run by various churches in my local area. This just goes to show that the Lord truly does reward those who seek him. If there is one thing I have learnt recently though, it is that there is a BIG difference between seeking God with your head and seeking God with your heart, and ultimately it is the difference between being destined for heaven and being destined for hell. The difference is that those who are seeking God with their heads are seeking him for their own benefit, but those who are seeking God with their hearts are seeking him for the benefit of Christ. Will those who seek God for the benefit of Christ not also benefit too then if Christ is in them?

My Prayer for The Day

Instead of writing my own prayer today I will share one of my favorite prayers from the Bible: Psalm 86 (NIV) - A prayer of David.

1 Hear me, Lord, and answer me,
    for I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my life, for I am faithful to you;
    save your servant who trusts in you.
    You are my God;
3 have mercy on me, Lord,
    for I call to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to your servant, Lord,
    for I put my trust in you.
5 You, Lord, are forgiving and good,
    abounding in love to all who call to you.
6 Hear my prayer, Lord;
    listen to my cry for mercy.
7 When I am in distress, I call to you,
    because you answer me.
8 Among the gods there is none like you, Lord;
    no deeds can compare with yours.
9 All the nations you have made
    will come and worship before you, Lord;
    they will bring glory to your name.
10 For you are great and do marvelous deeds;
    you alone are God.
11 Teach me your way, Lord,
    that I may rely on your faithfulness;
    give me an undivided heart,
    that I may fear your name.
12 I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart;
    I will glorify your name forever.
13 For great is your love toward me;
    you have delivered me from the depths,
    from the realm of the dead.
14 Arrogant foes are attacking me, O God;
    ruthless people are trying to kill me—
    they have no regard for you.
15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
    slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.
16 Turn to me and have mercy on me;
    show your strength in behalf of your servant;
    save me, because I serve you
    just as my mother did.
17 Give me a sign of your goodness,
    that my enemies may see it and be put to shame,
    for you, Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

My Daily Walk 26/08/2015

My Daily Walk

1 Corinthians 15:34 (NIV) Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God--I say this to your shame.

Today was encouraging. Again I was able to go to the supermarket and come away with no drugs. The in store pharmacy still looked like a sweet shop, but I know now that God's love is so much sweeter. On Sunday it will have been two weeks since I last took my drug of choice; Diphenhydramine. The last time I took it I ingested just over 1g at a friends house over the course of an evening, suffice to say that he was not impressed by my increasingly delirious state. Diphenhydramine was the first hallucinogenic substance that I ever used, and also the last - what a fitting way to close this chapter of my life that was called "Addiction." I am now beginning a new chapter, it is called "My Walk with Jesus Christ."

Tomorrow I will be attending an evening of Open Worship at my local church. I last attended such an evening over half a year ago. I strayed from the faith shortly afterwards, but my shepherd in his infinite grace has found me and brought me home again. This was after I accidentally overdosed on methadone a few weeks ago. The Lord has drawn me closer to him ever since that day and I have praised him with tears of gratitude. The seeds of faith he planted in me a couple of years ago have now now moved from my head and down into my heart where they have finally been able to sprout and take root in me, as he always intended them to.


My Prayer for The Day

Lord deliver us from the bondage of all of our worldly addictions,
that we may be addicted to your love instead,
for your love is enough for us.
Your love is enough for us in our darkest hour,
it is enough for us today, tomorrow and forever.
Your Love is a gift from above that you pour out on us,
because you love us,
so pour your love out on us Lord
and we will thank you with worship and songs of praise
because we love you Lord
and Lord
we need you.

Amen.