Don't Be Hardened Against God - Religion - Nairaland
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| Don't Be Hardened Against God by PastorAde: 9:32am On Apr 08, 2010 |
[center]DON’T BE HARDENED AGAINST GOD[/center] He (God) is wise in heart, and mighty in strength; who has hardened himself against Him, and has prospered? (Job 9: 4, emphasis mine). For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand, Today if you hear His voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways. To whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest (Psalm 95: 7-11). Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door; I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me (Revelation 3: 20). A new heart will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh (Ezekiel 36: 26). One of the greatest gifts God the Creator gave to man is the ability to choose. God does not enforce His will on humans. When God created Adam He gave him this commandment: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat of it: for in the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die” (Genesis 2: 16-17, emphasis added). Note the use of the word “you may freely eat”. God is not a dictator. He gave man a free will. That makes man a free moral agent. Adam disobeyed this commandment which, if he had kept, he would have been alive today. But rather, he hardened himself against God’s commandment and lost out. He was driven out of the Garden of Eden. Not only that, he lost fellowship and intimacy with God. He lost the very life of God and died spiritually. He became a sinner – and so all his descendants. For this cause, humanity was plunged into hardship, sorrow, death and poverty. No man can harden himself against God, or His word, and prosper. In the second passage above, we are told not to harden our hearts when we hear God’s voice. The fathers of the nation of Israel hardened their hearts in unbelief against God. For forty years, God was grieved with them. Because of the hardness of their hearts they did not enter God’s rest, i.e. the promise land. We ought to learn from this episode. We ought to learn from the mistake (i.e. the disobedience) of Adam and the resultant consequences upon humanity – sorrow, pain, hardship, death – and everything negative. At the same time we ought to learn from the obedience of Jesus Christ which brings salvation, healing, joy, blessing, righteousness – and every good thing – to those who open the doors of their hearts and hear the voice of Jesus so that He can dwell in them. To those who open their hearts, the stony heart of flesh is removed and they are given the heart of flesh so that the Spirit of God can dwell in them. The word of God is profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. Those who harden their hearts in unbelief will be destroyed without remedy. Those who yield their hearts and receive Jesus into their hearts will be saved. Will you be saved and experience God’s prosperity and rest? Will you enter into God’s blessings forevermore? If so, pray this prayer out loud: Lord Jesus, come into my heart, wash away my sins. I confess you as my Savior and Lord in Jesus Name, Amen. For prayers and counseling: write, call or e-mail; Prevailing Word & Prayer Ministries Inc. P.O. Box 11875, Garki, Abuja, Nigeria. Tel. 2348033155417. E-mail: josey500@yahoo.com |
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