Live to Honor God

Purity of Heart

"Teach me your ways, O LORD, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you." Psalms 86:11 (NLT)

The Psalmist clearly understands that "purity of heart" is a requirement for honoring God. But, even more important, he understands that purity of heart is not within his ability without God’s power working in him. He states, "grant me purity of heart, that I may honor you."

As I’m sure you noticed in the title of this post, my main point is related to purity of heart, but before we dig too deep into that, let me say, I believe God is pleased when we desire to honor him. I believe that is one of the main reasons God says, David is a man after his own heart, because deep in his heart David truly desires to honor God with his life. Even when he fails miserably, David returns to God, in humility, and truly wants to honor God. His desire to honor God is already pure. But because of his human nature he lacks the ability to honor God in his actions. In this verse, he is asking God to help him make his desire a reality.

The key is "purity of heart." Purity of heart means our thoughts, our desires, and our attitudes must be focused on doing God’s will instead of our will. The ONLY way we can be truly pure of heart is through the incredible power of God, and this, only through the spilling of Jesus’ blood at his sacrificial death on the cross and the promise of eternal life we have through his resurrection.

David knew his sinfullness and the limits of his human frailty, but, he also knew the amazing mercy and love of God. He understood his need for purity so he might honor God and he also knew purity was only possible through God’s work in him. This reminds me of what Isaiah says in Isaiah 61:3 (NLT):

"To all who mourn in Israel, he will give beauty for ashes, joy instead of mourning, praise instead of despair. For the LORD has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory."

"He will give beauty for ashes..." We come into the relationship with God with nothing of value that would bring honor and glory to the name of God. Even our best attempts to be pure are pitiful and worthless efforts. It is impossible to please God in my human nature alone. Paul makes this very clear in his letter to the Romans.

"For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God's Torah [God’s Law] —indeed, it cannot. Thus, those who identify with their old nature cannot please God." Romans 8:7–8 CJB (The Complete Jewish Bible)

But, the good news is, we are not left in this pitiful condition. Once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we have the ability to ask God to help us just as David does in this Psalm. When we asked him to, he takes our ashes, our worthlessness, and gives beauty in return. He removes the dirt and filth and makes us beautiful. He gives us worth. We are able to have pure thoughts and motives, when we humble ourselves and allow God to work in us and through us. Because of our old nature we often find ourselves needing to renew our desire and our request for purity, but God is merciful and faithful and he welcomes us when we approach him in humility. If we ask, he will remove our ashes and leave beauty in our lives.

Honoring God as a process, it is not an event. It is a journey that begins with our desire to please God and approaching him in humility to request his help in making our hearts pure. As with any journey, you must pay attention to where you are and where you are going. When you find yourself straying from the path you must backtrack and find your way back to your true path.

We honor God when we desire to do his will and let him work in us to give us purity of heart and the ability to live a life that pleases him.

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Paul’s Prayer for God to be Honored

"And so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you worthy of the life to which he called you. And we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions and faithful deeds. [12]　Then everyone will give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus because of you, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the undeserved favor of our God and Lord, Jesus Christ." 2 Thessalonians 1:11, 12 NLT

Have you ever had the experience of the words on a page of your Bible seeming to jump off the page at you as you read? I know the words don’t literally jump off the page, but sometimes, they sure seem to. It’s like, all the sudden, a passage you may have read dozens of times seems to come alive as if it was written just for you, just for this moment. I had that experience recently as I read my daily Bible passages. The New Testamament passage was 2 Thessalonians 1:1-12. When I got to verse 12, I was stunned by this passage I have read many times before. Let me explain what I mean.

Verse 12 says, "then everyone will give honor to the name of our Lord Jesus because of you." If you know anything about me or have read much on this blog, you know honoring God through my life is my first priority and my greatest desire. After reading this verse I had to go back to verse 11 to see what exactly, "then" referred to.

In verse 11 we read, "and so we keep on praying for you, that our God will make you worthy of the life to which he called you. And we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions and faithful deeds." "Then" refers to several things, let’s look at each:

"And so we keep on praying for you" Paul is praying for the church in Thesalonica, ultimately, that God will be honored, in that part of the world, and specifically, by the lives of the people in this church. One of the most important things we all need, to successfully honor God in our life, is as many prayer warriors lifting us up to God as possible. The Bible demonstrates the importance of prayer over and over. Let me encourage you to make the effort to talk with family, friends, and church members and request prayer for you, to help you understand God’s will and to do his will once you understand it. Keep reading and you will see some guidance for how prayer warriors should pray for you.

"Praying for you, that our God will make you worthy of the life to which he called you." This sentence has many dimensions to it; I will try to keep it brief.

"That our God will make you worthy..." The only way we could possibly be worthy before God is that God chooses to make us worthy. There is no other possibility. Even in the Old Testament, under the old covenant, when a man would offer a sacrafice and be atoned and found guilt free through the blood of that sacrafice it was still by God’s doing. I am not able to make myself worthy, before God, in any way.

So, Paul reminds us of the importance of relying on God to make us worthy. The Holy Spirit makes us worthy as we grow in our Christian walk. Christian growth is a process. This process involves spending time, daily, in prayer and meditation, Bible study and learning to hear and obey the Spirit of God. Over time, we become more obedient and we begin to display the fruits of the Spirit, more and more, and as the Holy Spirit works in us and through us. As I have mentioned previously on this blog, the Fruits of the Spirit are a result of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. For example, we may be able to "love" to some degree in our human nature, but the true Fruit of the Spirit: "love" is beyond our ability. It is God, expressing his love through us, by the power and work of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit can "love" through me in ways that are beyond my human ability. This is part of the natural process of growing in our spiritual walk with God.This is true for all of the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

He goes on to say "...worthy of the life to which he called you." Not only does God make us worthy to stand before God-righteous (by the power of God, alone)- but it is Paul’s prayer that we be "worthy of the life to which [God] called" us. We honor God when our thoughts, words, and actions are in line with God’s calling on our life. This, also, is a process. As we grow in our Christian walk, we learn to hear and obey God’s will for our lives. Daily obedience is required for us to be in line with God’s calling. One of the mistakes I have made over the years, is thinking I know what God wants, and doing what I think God wants, before really taking the time to seek God and his will for my life, in prayer and meditation.

It has taken a while but I have learned the importance of waiting for the Lord to confirm his will for my life. Consider this verse, Psalms 27:14 (NIV) says, "Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." The Bible is filled with many similar passages. I encourage you to do a search for yourself; here are a few verses to get you started: Psalm 37:7, Psalm 130:5– 6.

"And we pray that God, by his power..." The key in this phrase is, everything is done by God and through his power alone. When we honor God it is done by his power working through us. Every good thing we do, if you trace it back to its beginning and source, it is done through the power of God working in us by the Holy Spirit. In addition, we should follow Paul’s example, and pray for God’s power to work in us and through us. I encourage you to ask others, your family and friends, to pray for God’s power to work through you.

"And we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions..." There is a fundamental difference between the way, God looks at a person’s intentions and the way men look at a person’s intentions. Humans are very quick to judge a person’s actions without regard to their intent. From a human stand point, this makes sense, because we are not able to look into the "heart" and see what deep thoughts and secrets are there. God, on the other hand, knows what is in our heart. God knows our thoughts and he knows whether our intentions are pure or malicious. The Bible gives us the perfect example of this in the story of King David. God says of David, he is "a man after my own heart."

"But God removed him [Saul] from the kingship and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘David son of Jesse is a man after my own heart, for he will do everything I want him to.’" Acts 13:22 NLT

Notice in this verse, God does not say, "David is perfect," or "David will never make mistakes." No, he says, "David … is a man after my own heart." This is good news since none of us are perfect, or even close. God judges our actions but he also judges our intentions and our thoughts. There are many times, in my life, I have made a huge mess because my actions were not as pure as my intentions. I am incredibly thankful that God is forgiving and merciful. I believe God does look into our ‘hearts" and honors good intentions. Men and women, on the other hand, judge very harshly based solely on results and actions. They don’t see the well-meaning intentions behind our failures.

"And we pray that God, by his power, will fulfill all your good intentions and faithful deeds." The ultimate goal is that God will empower us and fulfill our good intentions and help us accomplis his will by our actions done in faith.

Not only should we request our friends and family to pray these things for us I believe we should pray along the same lines for ourselves.

We honor God when we strive, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to accomplish God’s will for our lives.

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A Spiritual Word, Part 2

In A Spiritual Word, part 1, I shared that a spiritual word is a message from God, delivered through the working of the Holy Spirit. The Bible identifies many ways this can happen.

Let me give you a couple of examples for a Message of Knowledge:

• while reading the Bible I come across a story about someone who is going through something very similar to me. In some way, I see myself in this passage of Scripture. I can relate to this person’s experience and I’m encouraged by their faith and trust in God to help them.
• when speaking with a therapy client, I feel God is giving me the knowledge of some issues this person is dealing with. (Some might say this is just because I was trained as a therapist and had insight into behaviors or I was trained to have empathy. But there were times, more than I can count, when I knew more about this person and their background than I should have known. I’m not saying I new details about personal circumstances or situations in their lives or crimes they had committed or anything like that, simply, God gave me information or an understanding of something about this person--thoughts or feelings--that was important at the moment to help them work through their problem. Clients were often amazed that I knew so much about their private thoughts or worries. The truth is, this had nothing to do with me. it was all God. and once I figured out what God was doing, I was careful to always give him the credit.)
• when speaking with someone, I feel God encouraging me to talk with them about their relationship with God, including some specifics that I wouldn’t normally know, such as, why they were resisting a closer relationship to God.

Now a couple of examples of a Message of Wisdom:

• while reading my Bible God gives me some knowledge or understanding about a situation in, my life and specific understanding of how to apply this knowledge. For example, while reading Psalm 3, I suddenly understood that I do have enemies in the heavenly realms (Satan and his demonic forces) and that I need to be praying about and learning about Spiritual Warfare. Prior to this, when I read Psalm 3:1, "O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me!" I felt it didn’t really apply to me because, I’m a nice guy and I don’t know about anyone trying to hurt me, let alone, kill me. God showed me I needed to broaden my understanding of enemy-Satan, is certainly, my enemy.
• when praying for my family and friends I have experienced a strong feeling that I need to be praying about specific issues for specific people even though I have no specific knowledge of these issues related to these people. This has happened to me on many occasions and I found out later they had been dealing with the issues I had prayed about. I have come to realize I need to let the Holy Spirit lead me as I pray even if I don’t understand what or why God lays something on my heart or puts something in my mind to pray about. I just have to trust God and be obedient to what I believe God is telling me to do.

Let’s take a look at the passage from first Corinthians again:

"To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit," 1 Corinthians 12:8 NIV

Notice how Paul emphasizes these gifts are manifested through the Holy Spirit. They are not anything you or I can manufacture. Even if we think we have some great insight into a person’s life or motivations, at best, our insight would really be nothing more than an educated guess. We could never produce a message that would "connect" or " ring true" with a person like a spiritual word from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit knows our thoughts and our desires, and he knows how to connect with us in a way that will truly encourage us.

One of the most exciting parts of this is the very idea that the Holy Spirit wants to communicate with us. When people think of prayer, they usually think of themselves speaking to God. But when we receive a spiritual word, we are hearing directly from God through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the other side of prayer that many people miss because they think prayer is one-direction communication-us to God. God, the Holy Spirit, desires to have a conversation with us. That is an awesome idea!

Many people hear a spiritual word from God, but rather than giving the credit to God, they attribute it to another source, such as, a coincidence. A perfect example is, I read a similar theme in several different passages in the Bible and these coincide with what I have felt God has been teaching me, such as, obedience. Actually, that is true, God continued to bring the idea of obedience up to me repeatedly for more than a year--I used to be pretty stubborn and disobedient. I think it’s very important for us to pray about these situations and consider if they could be a message God is sharing with us. When we truly believe a message is from God, it is important to attribute it to God, in fact, we dishonor God, when we fail to give him credit. God deserves the credit. God may be using this spiritual word to encourage someone and let them know he cares for them. If I fail to give God the credit when I give a word of encouragement then I have stolen an opportunity for the other person to see God’s work in their life.

I have made a commitment to myself and to God that I will try to give him credit openly, whenever I have these experiences. I believe this is the least I can do to honor him.

One more thing, I strongly believe it is important to be careful how I deliver a message to someone when I believe it is from God. There are several reasons for this. One, is I want the person involved to hear from God rather than from me. Two, I don’t want to influence the other person to believe the message because of anything related to me. I don’t want any authority I may have, to play a part in whether this person believes the message or not. For example, if I am this person’s teacher I don’t want that relationship to overly influence how this person perceives this message from God. My goal is to deliver the message, as humbly and faithfully as possible, and leave the person praying and considering what God is trying to say to them. In this regard, we need to be as much like John the Baptist as we can. In John 3:30 (HCSB), he says, "He must increase, but I must decrease." Another, important reason is, I want God to get all the glory and honor from this interaction.

In other words, when I believe I have a message to share with someone else, I will approach them and say something like this:

"I was praying for you and I felt God was encouraging me to tell you "such and such." If this means something to you or if it confirms something God is already telling you, it might be a message for you from God. I encourage you to pray about it and determine if it is truly a message for you from God."

As I mentioned above, I want to be careful not to try and influence them one way or another--I am only a messenger and I don’t know what God is doing in their life or how they should respond to any message from God--that is between them and God. I am only human and I make mistakes. My experience with this is most of the time the other person has received the message and said it did in fact confirm what God was telling them or doing in their lives. But there were a few who said it didn’t mean anything to them. I’m not God and I don’t know if it really was a message for them; that is between them and God. But even in those situations I walked away confident and content that I had done what I believed God wanted me to do.

Most of the time when I have received a message I believed was for someone else, I was in the middle of a conversation with them and that message is part of that conversation. In which case, the conversation would probably include whether or not the message confirmed what God was telling them. I always encourage the other person to pray about it and make sure it is truly a message for them, from God.

It is an amazing thing when God chooses to use us to deliver a message to someone else. There have been some times in my life where this was a frequent occurrence and then other times, when it didn’t seem to happen much at all. I believe God has used me more frequently in situations like this, when I have been closer to him, more intimate, in my relationship with God. The truth is, God doesn't need me to be close to Him to use me to deliver a message to someone.  He is God.  God is all-powerful.  As I mentioned in A Spiritual Word, Part 1, God used a donkey to speak to Balaam. Numbers 22:28 (NIV) says,

"Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

God is able to use me no matter what my situation is but I believe He wants me to to be humble and receptive to the Holy Spirit's work in and through me.

Let me share one final word of caution, if you have delivered a spiritual word to someone and believe you have spoken a message from God-you have done your part. You are just the messenger. You are not responsible for whether or not the other person receives the message or rejects it. Don’t take it personal if they reject the message. Don't try to convince them it is a message from God.  Your have been obedient to deliver the message--your part is over.

"But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry." 2 Timothy 4:5 (NIV)

Paul wrote these words to Timothy, but they are equally true for each of us. Evangelism may not be your specific "calling" or "ministry," but it is one of the responsibilities of every follower of Jesus. The Holy Spirit uses spiritual words, in the form of "messages of wisdom" and "messeges of knowledge" every day in His ongoing, evangelistic efforts to reach out to people who are hurting and lost.

Honor God by saying, "yes," when He chooses to use you to deliver a spiritual word to someone.

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A Spiritual Word Part 1

Have you ever had a time, when you knew God was speaking directly to you? I don’t mean, you heard his voice, out loud, though the Bible says," nothing is impossible with God" (Luke 1:37). I’m talking about a time when you knew, in your heart, you had received a message directly from the Holy Spirit. It might have been when you were reading your Bible, talking to a friend, singing a song, listening to a sermon, or even watching a movie or a TV show. God can speak to you any way he wants. You may remember, God used a donkey to speak to Balaam. Numbers 22:28 (NIV) says,

"Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

 Certainly, if God is able to use a donkey to deliver a message, he is able to deliver a message to you in any way he wants. In fact, he might even choose to deliver a message through you to someone else.

My Experience with Spiritual Words

God has used me on many occasions to share a message of encouragement or hope or even salvation. It is a very exciting, amazing, and very humbling thing, to realize God is using you to speak to someone else. It took me a while to trust God really wanted to use me in this way. At first, I didn’t feel worthy to be used by the Holy Spirit. But God dealt with me about that and I realized it’s not about me or how worthy I am, it’s about being obedient to God and doing what he wants whether I understand it or not. Then I had to learn to trust I was hearing God correctly. I’m a little hardheaded and stubborn so it took me a while to trust I was hearing God’s voice. Some of the messages God wanted me to share had the potential to make me look foolish to the other person if they didn’t believe it was a message from God. God worked with me on this for a couple of years till I got to the point I would be obedient regardless of how it made me look. As I mentioned, I am stubborn, and it took me quite a while to learn obedience.

How Does God Speak With Us?

One of the most common ways God speaks to me is in the pages of his Word. Some people often describe this as, "the words jumping off the page" or, "coming alive" when they have had this experience. It often feels like the words are written directly to me, as if God is saying, "Tim, this is a message for you."  This isn't too hard to believe when you consider the Holy Spirit who inspired the Bible also inspires our reading of the Bible.  In Hebrews 4:12 NIV, the writer says, "For the word of God is living and active..." I believe the writer of Hebrews is speaking about this very phenomena in addition to other amazing ways God's word "comes to life." 

I have experienced this many times. It is an amazing feeling, when you realize you have just heard from the Almighty God. God has used this to encourage me when I really needed to hear a word of encouragement. Often, this has been a confirmation of what I already knew God was telling me, in my heart. There have been other times when the message I received from God was a rebuke. A rebuke is never pleasant but somehow it doesn’t seem as painful coming directly from God. I believe this is true because God corrects us because he loves us. Proverbs 3:11-12 NIV says, "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

Another method God has used with me is a movie or television show. For example, while watching a show, I have felt God was showing me a similarity between a character or the plot of the show and something that was going on in my life. I have also "heard" from God in music. There have been times when I was overwhelmed by the Spirit of God while listening to music or singing. I have even had to pull over while driving due to God "touching" me while singing along with a Christian song. One I remember vividly was the song "Beauty for Ashes" by Crystal Lewis. I was overwhelmed by the amazing love of God; I was praising God and weeping and had to pull over to make sure I didn’t wreck the car.

A spiritual word can come in many forms, as I mentioned before. Once you learn to recognize God's voice, you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it is a word from God. 

Spiritual Words in the Bible 

What I’m calling a spiritual word is described in the Bible as a message of wisdom or a message of knowledge. A spiritual word can also come in the form of prophecy or tongues (with interpretation), according to Paul in 1st Corinthians, but I’m going to be dealing with a message of wisdom and a message of knowledge. When speaking about these two gifts of the spirit, Paul says this:

"To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit," 1 Corinthians 12:8 NIV

Dictionary.com defines wisdom as "knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action." I define a message of wisdom as knowledge or insight and the understanding of how to apply it. This is knowledge I did not possess until the Holy Spirit made it known to me; the Holy Spirit also provides me with an understanding of how to apply this knowledge. All of this is for the purpose of honoring God and furthering His purpose in my life and/or through me to others around me.

On the other hand, Dictionary.com defines knowledge as "acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study, investigation, or experience." I believe a message of knowledge is, an understanding of someone or something I did not have but God, the Holy Spirit, gives to me for his purpose and glory.

God is not limited by the natural laws that govern our existence-he can do anything he wants.  Luke 1:37 says, "for nothing is impossible with God." God can speak to us in a dream, in a vision, through a newspaper or magazine article or any other way he chooses.

In part 2 of this post I will give you some examples and dig a little deeper into how God uses spiritual words.

Have you experienced a spiritual word from God? Leave a comment and share your throughts and experiences with us.

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