5-22-17<\/p>\n
The worst prayer \u2013 the worst kind of prayer \u2013 that a Christian can pray begins from the attitude of \u201cForgive me, a poor sinner\u201d; or \u201cUnworthy!\u201d or \u201cLord, I am not fit to approach Your Throne of Grace\u201d\u2026 <\/p>\n
We do need forgiveness, all the time. We are poor sinners. We are unworthy and not deserving of being in His presence. These things are true\u2026<\/p>\n
Except for the factor of Jesus. The Person of Jesus. We are less than worthy, but we are more than conquerors.<\/p>\n
I do not contradict myself although, like Walt Whitman, I sometimes say, \u201cVery well, I contradict myself!\u201d But not as to what the Bible teaches \u2013 the core of Christianity. Above, I said that prayers offered with those ATTITUDES are mistaken. If we see ourselves in those relational positions, we reject the Truths of God to whom we pray. We insult the work of Jesus on the cross. We insult the Holy Spirit of God, who is sent to be our Helper, our Guide, our Counselor.<\/p>\n
What do people think \u2013 what do Christians think \u2013 God sees when He looks at them?<\/p>\n
Through history, many Christians have thought, hoped, and operated on the belief that He sees our good deeds. He does\u2026 but scarcely the totality of what He sees.<\/p>\n
Many Christians take comfort that He sees their charitable activities, missions works, volunteer efforts, even the merciful acts performed. Surely the case\u2026 but, I submit, not the main things He looks for.<\/p>\n
There are Christians who are confident, even in spiritual modesty, that their sacrifices and their service, their sweet spirits of forgiveness, please God. Of course these \u201cfruits\u201d please God\u2026 but we are told that such things are as dirty rags to a Just and Perfect God if we believe that they guarantee our home in Eternity once God sees them.<\/p>\n
The Bible is full of believers who were at the other extreme of spiritual modesty: presumption. We know of \u201cwhited sepulchres\u201d; of show-off givers; of those who pray loudly in the temple to be noticed; of hypocrites and vipers and wolves in sheep\u2019s clothing. Of these types God will say\u2026 \u201cBe gone, I never knew you! Depart from Me!\u201d <\/p>\n
So, what does God see when He looks down (or up, or over, or through) us? Many Christians will say, \u201cHe looks at our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, He does look at our hearts. He knows us better than we know ourselves. I happen to believe that if there is a choice \u2013 however, this is not a choice in life \u2013 but if there had to be one direction of \u201cknowing the heart,\u201d we should desire more that that we seek after God\u2019s own Heart, and fear that He sees ours. Which is the point of this message.<\/p>\n
Yes, when God sees us, He sees and knows our \u201chearts\u201d \u2013 our thoughts, motives, desires. But that is STILL not what sees first, last, and most important when He looks at us.<\/p>\n
I want us all to be reminded, and take comfort, and seize for dear life, the spiritual truth that when God looks at a Christian, a believer, a Christ-follower, those who believe in their hearts that Jesus is the Son of God, and confess with their mouths that God raised Him from the dead\u2026<\/p>\n
And when we are in that proper relationship with God\u2026 He does not see our deeds or our merciful works or our sacrifices or our forgiveness or our offerings or loud prayers or our memorials and names on church buildings or seminary dorms\u2026<\/p>\n
He sees these things, and He sees, yes, our hearts.<\/p>\n
But what God sees first and, I believe, most importantly \u2013 He sees the Blood.<\/p>\n
When we accept and confess Jesus, we are \u201ccovered in the Blood.\u201d As surely as its foreshadowing \u2013 the blood on the doorposts of the pesach lambs, so the Angel of Death would Pass Over \u2013 the believers in Christ are shielded from judgment.<\/p>\n
Those who truly believe on the Saviour can be free of guilt and shame and fear. Because when God sees you\u2026 He sees your elder brother Jesus, His only-begotten Son. The precious Blood was shed in order that God\u2019s judgment would pass over your sins and shortcomings and failings. \u201cDo not fear,\u201d as Jesus so often said to people.<\/p>\n
And the precious Blood also completes what you started, in faith and hope at your best times, in areas of charity and sacrifice and forgiveness. Jesus \u201cfinished\u201d many things on the cross, among them the spiritual assignments we accepted when we first believed. <\/p>\n
Thank God we did not conceive these things in our puny minds, but by the Great Commission He would have us undertake. We cannot really do them except by the teachings and directions of the Christ. We cannot find the required strength and wisdom but by His Holy Spirit. <\/p>\n
Hallelujah, when He sees us, God rather sees the Person and the Blood of Jesus. What does God see in you? He sees the Blood covering you, and the Christ in you. The proper relational understanding of God, and the confidence we can gain, should give us confidence in the ATTITUDE of the prayers we raise to God!<\/p>\n
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