Our Undiscovered Faults

Our Undiscovered Faults

Phillipians 2 ¹⁴ Do all things without complaining and disputing, ¹⁵ that you may

 become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the 

midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights

 in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life

   I’m sure most of you have one or more of the following . .

Ø It’s what makes you tick. .

Ø It’s what makes you ..you . .

Ø You are who you are because of this. .

Ø You were made this way . .

Ø Sayings a like as well as others.

 

 Our Holy Bible speaks of ‘sins ignorance’. These are sins which we commit, of which; we are not conscience of doing. In Psalms there is a prayer that once used it can help you to be cleansed of secret or hidden faults? We all have hidden faults that go unseen even by ourselves.

   We all have in us many things, some of good as well as those that are bad. That has lead us that we can’t reveal (portray) ourselves as wholly perfect, to our bosom (close) companions. With no real intention to hide those from the closest of our companions, just to pretend to live faultless lives. There will be yet many things in the inner depths of our inner beings which not even those closest to us may never know.

Jude 1 ²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you^[f] from stumbling,

And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy
 

   We are both better and worse than of what others think of us. The best things in good lives do not air their laundry in public.  None of us can ever show to others that which is not worthy in us. There are countless stars in the depths of the Sky which no eye can ever see, so in the depths of the most common place of our souls there are splendors unrevealed to the human gaze.

   There are evils in everyone, of which only the person knows, but others would never suspect of them. But, there are also faults, unlovely things & sins in our hearts, of which even we ourselves are unaware of. Many a person goes out of a morning to be loved & welcomed by their friends, praised & honored by the World, yet carrying in their breast the memory of some deed or sin or shame committed in secret the night before. “If people only knew” he says “ as I know myself today, they would scorn me instead of trusting and honouring me.” All of us are conscience of things hidden with us. Secret habit, the play of unholy thoughts and feelings, the rise up of jealousy. I say to you again there is evil in every one of us young and old ~ Man Woman Child. Of which you know, but of which others do not suspect.

   It was Paul who said . .  

1Corinth 4 v4  “. . For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not

 justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. .”

. .is it not enough to be innocent of conscience from transgressions. There is, so I’m told, sins of ignorance, not sure about this though, only God sees us through and through. We cannot see our faults even as our neighbour sees them. The Pharisees in his prayers, which were really not prayers at all, spoke much of the peoples sins but saw none in himself. 

-        We are much like him..

-        We are prejudiced in our favour..

-        We are very charitable towards our short comings..

-        We make all manner of allowances for our faults, and are wonderfully patient with our own infirmities.

-        We see our good things magnified, and our blemishes in a light that makes them seem almost virtues.

1 peter 2 ²⁰ For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, 

you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.

   With all these taken into account, if we today, the Christian in you, taken back to before we knew Christ, would you recognize you? I hope you answer . . . no . . because our own judgement of our life is not conclusive, in fact there always a self we neither see or recognize.

   It’s because we can’t see into the future to know whether the subtle tendencies of our life are leading us. Let me give a scenario here; you’re late leaving to collect your child from school. Your nearly there, you have made good time, one more corner, just need to cut this driver up in your way. Only you don’t care you will leave them. So mad, incensed, distracted, so much so this other drive, later, involved in a major crash. Why? Because of the way you left them, no longer concentrating on their own driving because of your actions.

   We all do many things that through our own eyes, we appear innocent and harmless, but unseen by us all, we have evil in us, if left unchecked, if we are not careful. We indulge ourselves in many things which to us don’t appear sinful, but which leave a blight on our souls, a soiling of impurity of which we dare not dream. . .

. .Why do we keep doing this then? . .

. .because though saved we permit ourselves many little, harmless, habits. In which we don’t see any danger in, we’d say to ourselves ‘ah this one little white lie will be OK?’ To late you have opened that door you had kept closed with the cross you had against it. Only all these ‘little white lies’ are forming habits again, silently twining their invisible threads into a cable which is binding our hands & feet again.

S  T  O  P

# There is another class of faults #

Ephesians 5 v15 &16   ^{“. .}See then that you walk circumspectly, 

not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, 

because the days are evil. .”

   Be aware that ‘Sin is deceitful’. No doubt that there are many things in most of us, such as ways of living; traits of character of, qualities of disposition; which we consider . . perhaps?

-        It is very easy for self-respect, consciousness of ability to pass over into miserable ‘self-conceit’.

-        It is too easy for a man to let gentleness to become his weakness and then tolerance of sinners grows into tolerance to towards to sin.

-        It is easy for a man to make himself believe his cherishing justifiable anger, when in truth he is giving way to a very bad temper.

. . which we all should ‘girde up our loins’ 1 Kings 18:45-6 (a directive that may have made sense to an ancient audience but which eludes us today. prepare and strengthen oneself for future actions, typically ones that may be dangerous or difficult). We ourselves are aware all of us have undiscovered errors with us, hidden faults the like of which only God knows.

Revelation 14 ^{5   “. .}And in their mouth was found no

deceit, for they are without fault before the throne

of God. .”

The above picture shows how this directive might have taken,

 at this time.

   If we are living truly, we want to find every little blemish, of whatever kind there is in us. He is a coward who shrinks from the discovery of his own faults. We should be glad to learn of every hidden unlovelyness with in.

It is a shame that I know not who wrote the following . .

“count yourself richer that day you

Discover a new fault in yourself

Not richer because it is there, but

Richer because it is no longer a hidden

Fault, and if you have not yet found

All your faults, pray to have them

Revealed to you, even if the revelation

Must come in a way that hurts

You pride”.

So to finish let’s say aloud this short prayer

Our Heavenly Father, may we never be to big headed,

 that all our faults be shown in the cold light of day, 

o so that our pride does not trip us up. 

May Lord Jesus help us to become stronger 

because of them, so we help other who may struggle?

Seeing & Believing

 

John 4 v48    Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see

 signs and wonders, you will by no means 

believe.”

 

   This verse is part of a tale about a man’s son who is critically ill. And has travelled some distance, in order to try and meet a guy who creates miracles. It’s a long shot, this is the last he has, (The distance, he had walked, means nothing compared to his son’s wellbeing). Making this journey today is nothing as in a car it would only take 15/20 minutes.

 

   Bare with me if will, but, imagine driving this distance to a Hospital, because you heard of a surgeon who can cure your son. Only to be met such a rebuff. You would be staggered to, and probably you would be angered even frustrated. There’s you who has unlimited riches, but would give it all away to have your son made well-made well again. Because of the station in life your wealth has brought, and am used to people saying ‘yes’ to. So how knocked back you would be to have been me by such a rebuff.

 

   All be it was a boy who was sick and knocking on death door. Illness has no respect for persons of wealth or station.  

 

 Isaiah 55 v11   Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you 

people see signs and wonders, you will by no means 

believe.”

 

   Yet there is no doubt there is a little explanation, such is our Lords anxiety to purify and strengthen our faith in Him. The rich man’s faith was such that his faith was rested on the miraculous. In this very moment our Lord Jesus wanted show that His ‘word’ carried the same weight as if He was praying over his son back at home. Today we just call home on the mobile to find out there and then if his son had been cured, instead he had to walk/run home if faith that his son was well made so by Jesus. Wandering all the time is he or not well again, it must have been torture.

“If God wanted me to believe, why does He not put a sign

in the sky?”

 

   Faith is a matter of the heart and not merely of the mind. Real faith though is called into being not by an miraculous sign by the word of our Lord Jesus. For if faith was to depend on the visible sign in the sky, though there is great doubt it would accomplish it’s objective.

 

If the hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they

be persuaded that He rose from the dead.

 

   How precious is Faith in the estimation of our Lord and what pain He must have took to produce ~ purify & strengthen it. What may one explanation of many of His strange dealings with the son of man. His great longing is to lead us into the life of Faith. But what is Faith? Even though most exercise faith in our lives, in various degrees, what we are conscience of or not.

 

Have Faith and believe

 

The first time we see the word believe used is in . .

Genesis 15 v6    “. .And he believed in the Lord, and

He accounted it to him for righteousness. .”

. .according to the literal meaning of the time ‘Believe’ was to mean ~ to stand one self, by leaning on someone or something ~ this being so we lay our weak and changeable selves on Gods strength.

 

   At this point I must bring 2 things to your attention. .

1.     True faith will have God as its Origin & Objective. Remember ‘Abraham believed God’. In John 6 our Lord Jesus refers to it as ‘Work of God’. Hinting that it is God who give the true inclination of mind in complete trust.

2.   Our Faith in God is an act and NOT a mere sentiment. It is not something that easily or simply comes to a man. He must believe in something or someone other than himself.

 

. . I would be a miss if I did not point out that there is a close relationship between Faith & Will. Observe here, that, in the literal and strictest of senses of the word Faith ~ is that we must use effort. Whereas Will ~ is to make it so. My summation comes but in 3 stages, which I hope will cement what Seeing & Believing has been about.. ..

Stage 1 : Belief in Him our Lord

Stage 2 : The Saving belief

Stage 3 : Believing in the Lord

 

Stage 1 : Belief in Him our Lord

…To begin with this would lead us to an acceptance of His Revelation. All be it that it shows us, not, tells us how to be saved. Though many Christians can testify, that the book of Revelation paints a more vivid picture than Michael Angelo’s cysteine chapels ceiling. Of what will happen during the end times. Whilst it is possible for someone to have faith, yet still be lost? I say yes. True faith is something far far more than this. Therefore the 2^nd stage it is far more imperative that this next stage be reached . . via . . simple belief in Him our Lord Christ Jesus our saviour

Stage 2 : The Saving belief . .

Hebrews 10 v39  “. . But we are not of those who

draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the 

saving of the soul. .”

. .This is where the saving comes in. When I go out and by a chair, I have faith without doubt, that when I come in weary from the day it will hold my weight. Merely believing that the chair will not give on me will give peace of mind, but, ‘believing ‘on’ it, that it will bear my weight gives me peace of mind. This is just one of many instances that we show in our modern living that an unconscious belief in . . the cars we drive . . the coats we wear will keep us dry and warm . . or even this very pen . . that they will do what it says on the tin, to coin a phrase here.

 

Stage 3 : Believing in the Lord . .

   I may believe in the chair to help me become rested and restored. Also as I believe in my car and the pen I write, the same way. But still the car pen and I remain separated and distant, though not so with Christ and my Soul. Believing  . . on . . Him will lead to . . believing . . into . . Him. Becoming one with Him, united to Him be ties of Love & life. What a blessed union this has become.

 

Words will forever fall short and are unable

to describe the union fully

 

 

   Lets say a short prayer I have come across to describe my feeling…

“My faith looks up to thee, thou Lamb of Calvary

Saviour divine”

Accessing Inspired Wisdom....1

Accessing Inspired Wisdom

 

 

Proverbs 20: 27  “. .The spirit of a man is the lamp of

the Lord . .”

 

Luke 11 : 33/36  “. .No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it in a secret place or under a basket, but on a lamp stand, that those who come in may see the light. The lamp of the body is the eye. Therefore, when your eye is good, your whole body also is full of light. But when your eye is bad, your body also is full of darkness.  Therefore take heed that the light which is in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, the whole body will be full of light, as when the bright shining of a lamp gives you light. .”

  

   When you see a blind person out, They know when the pavement (sidewalk) ends at the road, yet the for the most part live in perpetual darkness. I have always marveled at them and wondered how many of us could survive a single day in their shoes? How lucky are we that we can light a candle, or, just flip a light switch when darkness falls. Once we light the candle it shines light upon an area you are in and helps you see where to go so as that you don’t stumble thus fall over. It has the power to chase away the darkness, as the darkness can’t stand against it.

 

   How many of you know or have sung the song, “I’m gonna lit this light of mine shine”?

Luke 11 v33  “. .No one, when he has lit a lamp, puts it 

in a secret place or under a basket, but on a

lampstand, that those who come in may see the light. .”

 

   God will use this ‘candle’ to guide us, in effect God will use our inner man to guide us. The following are some occurrences of real guides. . .

-        The voice of the Holy Spirit is our conscience

-        Feelings are the voices of our body

-        Reasoning is the voice of our Soul

 

   Because of being ‘born-again’ we have Gods Spirit & graces already within us. This is free for us to tap into as much as we wish, so that we can fully trust our conscience (or our Lord Jesus voice). All we have to do is . . pause . . and listen . . and there it is . . the voice of our Lord Jesus guiding us.

 

   The next time we have a ‘hunch’ or, you a ‘gut feeling’.  STOP, and listen, as Jesus is trying to lead us/help us, only a fool would ignore such clear signs. So don’t stop, thus ending up in a mess or missing out on an opportunity of a life time.

   Trust in our Lord in order to begin to question us so we can receive what He has to freely . . give . . to lead us . . to instruct us. There is a parable which has found its way onto Birthday cards as a joke….

 

A man’s boat capsizes, a short while after he sees someone

on the beach. He starts waving franticly hoping this person

Will see him and get help, which the person dose. After which

a speedboat comes along and asks if they can save him. Only for

the man to decline, and tells them that Jesus is going to save

him, so the boat goes on leaving him behind in the water.

The Sea is getting a little cooler and more choppy as time

moves on, the guys is now calling out to his Lord God to save him. With that a large fishing vessel comes along, again they

call to the man asking if he wants to come on board? Yep

you guessed it, the man declines, again saying that his Lord

God is going to save him, so the fishing vessel leaves him

there. The Sea has now gone very cold and is rough, again he

calls out to Jesus to save him. He is getting weak now when he sees an helicopter looking for him. As they send a man down

to winch him up out of the Sea to safety the man waves

them away saying again the his Lord God is going to save him

and waves them away. With that the man drowns, and goes

up to Heaven, as he approaches the Pearly gates St Paul

is waiting for him. So he asks Paul what happened. To

which Paul says ‘you Were sent 2 boats and an helicopter

to save you, and yet you waved them away. What else was

 He (Jesus) to do?

 

Psalm 95 v7  “. .Today, if you will hear His voice:
Do not harden your hearts. .”

(AMP)1 Kings 3 v9  “. . an understanding mind. . . and an

hearing heart. .”

 

   What our Lord Jesus is trying to tell us is that no matter the bank balance, is that it cannot be bought by good deeds either. Though some may find what, is, needed is too difficult, for our Lord Jesus wants us to stop talking . . shut up . . be quite . . zip it . . say nothing. Simply by doing this we will find the answers to what ails us, when we take time to listen to Him, His grace will start to lead us by the Holy Spirit.

 

   Now moving in the same direction as the Holy Spirit, we start to feel empowered to become better, with more completed questions as we’re not drowning out Gods voice. The more we soften our hearts we can have a more receptive/hearing heart. In fact we will have at last a fully working ‘hear heart’.  

 

   Before we go on I want everyone to STOP, I want you to get the hang of this . . to be linked up to . . wired together . .  Hearts as one with Jesus.

#It’s time to stop whining, about what you

Don’t understand#

 

   There are those who really don’t want to know the truth, about where they are going to end up, as there those among us, that the truth would be too much for them to fathom & accept.

 

John 10 v27 “. .My sheep hear My voice . .”

 

   Hearing from our Lord Jesus is just as important as speaking to Him. So much so that once we truly know our Lord then the clearer & louder we will get to hear Him. We don’t always get to pick and choose when and where we hear from Him. You don’t need to be ready to receive when we do. But, just like a dry-sponge that soaks up the water, we do however need to act upon what He has said, for what He says is designed to pick you up and make you feel better about yourself. Or, it could be to deliver a message to someone you don’t know but who needs His words to help them. This is what I mean ‘to ready to act upon them’.

 

   Since being saved since 1998, I can say “ I know Him “ so that it no longer surprises me in the various places He will talk to me. .

-        Driving along in my car

-        On the Train/Bus/Plane

-        Even walking along with friends

. . All these places He has spoken to me and many more besides. Why? “. .When you hear Him, you will know Him. .”. Once you start to “. .Hear Him. .”, He can start to build you character up to with stand attacks.

 

   It would be a miss of me not to you tell you to listen. Have you ever had something important to tell a friend on the telephone? but, was not able to because they would not just shut up. Well the same applies here, we have to remember to be quiet or, your gona miss what God has to tell us.

 

   It has been said that to See & Hear are the most important senses we have but don’t use them properly. And so that many of you have a badly scratched record that keeps playing. .

-        You aint worthy

-        You’re not perfect

-        Look what you did last night

. . here is a sobering thought that will help you move that scratched record on, no matter what you have done or are going to do. You will never stop God from loving you, why? because all your sins Past – Present – Future have been forgotten, washed away with love. This is due because Jesus has bought your sins and so paid the ultimate sacrifice upon the cross, something that gets forgotten by many Christians sadly.

“Jesus Never sinned, even so, he loved us

So much He owned our Sins for us.”

 

   So many green eyed monsters like to try and put you down by saying this of Jesus love & mercies . .

·       You don’t deserve to own His blessings

·       How can you walk freely in His mercies

·       How do I deserve to receive all the revelations He gives?

 

   My paths cross sometimes with those who have back-slid for some reason, because they have beaten down by those who don’t them you to be happy. The worst offenders are those back-slid Christians who love to spout chapter and verse, and then twist the meaning, to make themselves feel good, or so they like to think. Some though I have found are back-slid because they never really knew Him, which is really sad. I once heard this prayer on TV, and so would like to share this in closing.

 

Prayer

Heavenly father I ask for wisdom to live this Life

under this covenant of grace. I ask for wisdom to

recover everything that the devil stole from me, I ask

for wisdom to walk in health and to walk in financial

 wealth. I ask for wisdom to live this life of love,

even with my enemies.

 

I receive this all in Jesus Name.

Amen