REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE DUST
Sunday, March 23, 2003
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. 13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; 14 for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. 17 But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children-- 18 with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts. Psalms 103:8-18 NIV
God is so good to His children. He is so compassionate, merciful, gracious, faithful and just. He is slow to anger and quick to forgive. He is abounding in love – He has more than enough love to give - His love is as high as the heavens are above the earth. He heals your infirmities and forgives your iniquities. Because of His love and mercy, He does not treat you the way you deserve to be treated.
When your life is one big mess - He doesn’t even care how messy your messes are – He is willing to jump right in the middle of them and clean you and them up. When the world has finished with you, lost patience with you and cast you aside, God has only just begun to work with you and help you.
Psalms 103:14 says that, “He knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust.” God remembers that you are dust, and He has mercy on you, but sometimes you forget. You think that YOU are all you need and then you think to call on the Lord only when you have failed to make it on your own or when you have boxed yourself into a corner.
You all have natural parents who care for you until you become independent of them and you no longer need them, but as you grow spiritually, God teaches you to rely less on yourself and more and more on Him. He wants you to trust Him completely and lean on Him entirely. He wants you to lay down your own visions, dreams, and desires and yield your will to His. He knows something you don’t know – that your greatest blessing comes when you lose yourself in Him.
Your natural mind has a hard time understanding this. You take a huge leap of faith when you first begin to rely on Him and His wisdom instead of your own. Luke 17:33 says, “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” And John 12:25-26 says, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.”
You must lose your life in order to find it. Lose yourself in the Spirit of God and you will find out who you really are. Realize that you are nothing and He is everything and you begin to open yourself up for His blessing.
There is a realm in God that you will never experience until you have yielded your heart, soul, will and strength to the Father. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all you need to make it in this life. You can trust the arm of the flesh and struggle for years, or you can place your whole life in the hands of the Father and be an over-comer in every arena of your life!
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Righteous Now
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17 AMP
“Therefore if any man be in Christ…” What does it mean to be “in Christ”? Galatians 3:27 says, “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” You are baptized into Christ when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And Romans 10:13 says, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The moment
Defeating Strife
These six things the Lord hates, indeed, seven are an abomination to Him: 17 A proud look [the spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate others], a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 A heart that manufactures wicked thoughts and plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, 19 A false witness who breathes out lies [even under oath], and he who sows discord among his brethren. Proverbs 6:16-19 AMP
Faith Facts
Faith is persistent
Luke 11:9-10 AMP
So I say to you, Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
John 16:24 AMP
Up to this time you have not asked a [single] thing in My Name [as presenting all that I AM]; but now ask and keep on asking and you will receive, so that your joy (gladness, delight) may be full and complete.
Faith is single-minded
James 1:5-8 AMP
If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. 6 Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the