Do you delight God?

As a parent I would like to have a child that delights me. It is a wish of every parent to delight in their children. I want to share two types of persons who bring delight to God. God allowed His people to call Him as: “God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God of Moses, God of Daniel, etc… 

The first type of person God delights is a person who gives to Him cheerfully.

"God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Cor. 9:7).

May be this is why God gives total freedom to all people and especially His children - both before and after conversion, and after being filled with the Spirit. If we are like God, we also will not seek to control others or pressurize them. We will give them freedom to be different from us, to have different views from ours and to grow spiritually at their own pace. All compulsion of any sort is from the devil.

The Holy Spirit fills people, whereas demons possess people. The difference is this: When the Holy Spirit fills anyone; He still gives that person freedom to do whatever he wants. But when demons possess people, they rob them of their freedom and control them. The fruit of being filled with the Spirit is self-control (Gal. 5:22, 23). Demon-possession, however, results in the loss of self-control.

We must remember that any work that we do for God, that is NOT done cheerfully, joyfully, freely and voluntarily is a dead work. God values a little done cheerfully for Him far more than a great deal done under compulsion or done merely to ease one's conscience.

The second type of person God delights is a person who is honest with others.

"If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another..." (1 Jn.1:7).

What does it mean to walk in the light? Nobody can hide anything in the light. This is so true with God. Light means honesty with God. We tell Him everything, exactly as it is. We can be sure God detests those who are insincere. This is the reason Jesus spoke against hypocrites more than He spoke against anyone else.

Holiness starts with being honest with oneself and from this spring flows everything else. One has to be careful not to call sinful thought by "decent" name. For example "I was only admiring the beauty of God's creation" when actually one lusted adulterously with one’s eyes. We can never have victory over sin if we are dishonest.

We have to be very honest with God. Let’s never call "sin", "a mistake", because Jesus' blood can cleanse all sins, but not from mistakes!! He does not cleanse dishonest people. There is hope only for honest people. "He who covers his sin will never prosper…" (Prov. 28:13).

Why did Jesus say that there was more hope for prostitutes and for thieves to enter God's kingdom than for religious leaders (Matt. 21:31)? It is because prostitutes and thieves make no pretense of being holy. Today many people turn away from answering the call of Christ because some church members give an impression that they themselves have no struggles.

           God delights in you. Will you delight God?

Another Season to let go.

Another season brings to mind the obvious. Old things have passed away and all things have become new - a new creation. But it is good to ask ourselves, "What are the old things that have passed away or that should have passed away?" Has "living for self" passed away? Has living for God my goal?

When you ask the question, "Why did Christ die?", many rightly answer. "Christ died for our sins." That is absolutely right, but unfortunately that is just one part of the answer. Here is the full answer: "Christ died so that I may never again live for myself, but for Him. (2 Cor 5:15) Living primarily for myself frustrates the purpose for which Christ died. Adapting a life style that compromises sin is taking advantage of the fact Christ died for our sins, and the grace of God. I remember somebody said: "Taking advantage of God's grace is like treating the Blood of Christ as tap water." Satan has blinded our eyes  to the FULL truth of God. The father of lies has always prevented us from understanding Christ's death, and in case we understood the first part, he makes all efforts to blind our eyes to the full purpose of Christ's death.

One can clearly see how self-centered life and sin are connected. We can safely say the root of all sin is self-centered life. As long as one lives for oneself, victory over sin can never be accomplished. As long as the root of the evil tree has not been chopped off, it will keep producing evil fruit. Getting rid of sin on the surface is easy but the root of living for oneself has to be chopped off.

Let's get deeper my dear brothers and sisters. Let's get to the root. Yes! Christ came to give us VICTORY and ABUNDANT LIFE. Don't settle for anything less. Live abundantly this season. In Christ we have the victory.

Remember Aristotle's words: "I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self."

But something greater is Christ's words: "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."