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"With Christ in the School of Prayer"
by Andrew Murray
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By
Christian Author Matt Hardy
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I think that
in North America, we've got it backwards.
So often, we speak about the benefits of the Lord, but we don't preach
on how to get them. Oh, we've got a million messages on the different
steps to receiving benefits, but as far as addressing the kind of foundation
that is needed before we can get those benefits, we rarely ever speak.
And that foundation that we need before receiving those kinds of benefits
only comes with obedience.
Complete obedience. It's a call to where you have
to die to yourself - your own desires, your own dreams, your own way of
doing things - and decide that you are going to follow and obey Him…no
matter what. And it's not a popular message.
I know that not many are preaching a gospel of repentance and obedience,
but it's what is true.
For better or for worse, you're going to follow Jesus.
We have a lot of people just "trying" Christianity, where they say they'll
follow Jesus. But what they're really going is just waiting to see if
He magically makes everything in their lives better.
More money. Better relationships. Perfect health. More recognition. More
things. More benefits.
And, most often, if they don't receive any of those things and their expectations
aren't met they quit and say that they "tried Christianity and it didn't
work."
But they have it all wrong. You can't try Christianity. You're either
in, or you're out.
You come to Christ and salvation by acknowledging Him as Lord and Savior
of your life. You acknowledge Him as the reigning Lord who became the
very sacrifice for your sins - the Master whom you will serve - you don't
"try" Him as a magical genie to see whether or not He will give you the
lusts of your flesh.
If God didn't do anything more than die on the cross for you - if He completely
ignored you for the rest of your life - that would be more than enough.
And more than you and I could ever deserve or ever hope for.
The Lord will bless you. The Lord loves to bless His children. It thrills
Him to bless someone financially, or heal them, or restore their broken
lives. But more than that, He loves people who truly love Him, and will
obey Him and follow Him regardless of what does or does not happen.
We see this whole idea laid out, step by crystal clear step, in the life
of Job.
Job was known as the greatest man in the East. He had the most money,
the largest herd of flocks, the greatest number of servants, and he was
known to be a righteous man.
Job had everything. Everyone knew who he was, because of how blessed he
was.
And then God allowed Satan to take everything from him. In one moment,
Job lost everything. He lost all his money. He lost all his flocks. All
his servants were destroyed, and even his children were killed. In fact,
before the first messenger could even completely explain all of the bad
things that had just happened to Job, other messengers came and interrupted
the first messenger with even worse news. In addition to all of that,
Job was afflicted with painful sores from head to toe.
If that weren't enough, in the midst of all of this unthinkable misery
and heartache, Job's wife tells him to "curse God and die", while his
friends sit by him and try to convince him that everything that all of
these terrible things that have happened to him have been because of some
hidden sin in his life.
And yet, with all of this going on, Job's response is to say, "Though
He slay me, yet will I hope in Him." (Job 13:15)
Soon after, God restored Job's life, and actually gave him twice what
he had before.
But Job had decided that he would follow the Lord regardless of what happened.
Regardless. Job's heart was completely set on following the Lord. And
then the Lord blessed him wildly. But so often, we speak about the benefits
and how to get the benefits of the Lord, but we've got to come to a place
where we're fully committed like Job before we can see those kind of blessings
released in our lives.
I'm not talking about you having to go through the kind of intense trials
that Job did before the Lord will bless you. What I'm saying is that when
we come to faith in Christ and make a commitment to Him, it needs to be
a lifetime commitment (for better or for worse) before we will see God's
hand of blessing in our lives. God is waiting for us to commit to Him
before He really acts and moves in our lives, because He has already done
so much for us in dying on the cross. He has already made His move and
is waiting for our reaction - to either commit to Him or to the world.
His heart longs for people who love, want and are focused on Him, and
not just the benefit package that He can bring.
If you have enjoyed this article, , you can
get more of Matt Hardy's writings in his book, The Destiny of an Overcomer:
 $20
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 $10
CAD
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