Ruler Supreme!

(1John 5:14) “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

Can anything ultimately keep us from the love of God? Our immediate answer must be no! Why? Because there is nothing that can or ever will defeat God; “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:37-39)

 

God is the ruler supreme and yet with all His power He rules under the banner of love, yes He is the only true God but He is also our Father, who loves His children, because we have learnt and are still learning to love His Son, praise His glorious name! But having now stated the obvious we must understand our role as believers, we do now have a responsibility to walk in love, but that will take obedience to God’s Word and not opinion polls or preconceived ideas; “Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.” (John 14:22-24)

  

And only the elected will be equipped to keep his Words; all those whom He elected before the foundation of the earth: - Ephesians 1 – Probably the trickiest of all self examination is this, am I amongst those elected by God! Somewhere alone life’s journey we all ask this question and we must ask it! It is important to understand how true love operates; it definitely does not take the easy out, sin does! Do we always look for the easy out and succumb to sin, I know I am often guilty as charged, how about you? An Institution is not only ever filled with model students and if God has come to save sinners and not the righteous, what kinds of characters does He begin with! Those who receive adoption are often the off-scouring of the earth. God has a majestic brilliance about the way He chooses to reveal His glory, the way he exalts His name is often totally opposite to the way men deal with each other. His ways are far above our ways; “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33)

We must ask ourselves this question, am I subjected to God’s discipline when I ignore His Word? You alone can answer that question! If our answer is No! Then we need to fall to our knees and plead forgiveness for our sin and seek out salvation in and through the Lord Jesus Christ; forget religious intuitions and their traditions and what liars they may tell you, it is all about self-examination. Let’s say somewhere along life’s journey I responded to an alter call, but since then my life has continue with very little change and no discipline to it. Then I must conclude this may well have been a man-centred response to what I thought was salvation. This is simply not good enough; we must have a will in our hearts to love God and we prove this by looking to keep His Word. Even the apparent problem children (I fall under this category) will have a burning desire to eventually seek out obedience in pleasing our great Father by putting a smile on our great Saviour face when they seek out God’s will even if it may seem an impossible task as some often find themselves having to dust off their knees. We may have been batted and bruised along the way, mostly due to our own disobedience, but God who is love does not operate as men BUT AS GOD! He disciplines those whom He loves! If we are without discipline then we do not belong to Him, we have not received His Spirit, and we may even think we are but in fact we are bastards and not sons. Can I prove this statement from scripture? Yes! – “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ”My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:5-8) - And there will be many that fall under this category! - "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'” (Matthew 7:21-23) 

The question we need to ask ourselves is how do we respond to God’s discipline? Will we be like Samson, although he found himself enslaved and without eyes because he disobeyed God’s Word, yet through the acceptance of God’s discipline his hair once again began to grow as he called out to his God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our God! And he killed more enemies in his death that throughout his life; he is mention in the faith chapter of the bible, Hebrews 11! Regardless of our mistakes along the way (not that we should take them lightly, they will and must carry serve consquences), how is it that we respond to God’s discipline, let us not become bitter and twisted but rather thankful for it, whatever it may be, as it is for our good; “And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Romans 8:27-30) – It is all about His will and not ours, yes we are and will be the beneficiaries of His grace, yes we will be called the sons of God and yes we will receive a glorified body just like our Lord and Saviours. But it will always be about God’s will and not our wants if they oppose the Word of God. If we ask anything in accordance with His will we will receive what we ask, if not, then obviously we ask according to our wills which in turn are not aligned with His will. “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” (1John 5:14) - The theory is not difficult to understand! Therefore it is His will we must come to grips with as we learn to practically apply in to our lives!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, we will look at the little foxes that spoil the vine and rob us from walking in God’s love.

Signing off

Tyrone