David was well aware of his own failures and he grieved over them! He hated the weaknesses of his own flesh and despised himself for giving in to them. But one thing he could not and would not do is to deny who he was in God. If there was one thing he was sure about – it was his identity and the anointing that was on his life. God had ordained him in his youth to be a king and a king he would be! Though the world, the flesh, the devil and all of hell had tried to remove David’s God-given purpose, they could not!
Saints of God, the enemy of your soul is after your very identity in these last days! Do you remember when Jesus asked the disciples, “who do you say I am”? Every single religious authority had challenged Jesus’ very identity. In fact, they crucified Him for telling the truth of Who He really was! If those who said they loved him didn’t know who He was, then how could the world be expected to? Only by divine revelation of LOVE can any of us love the other as Jesus commanded.
One of the most devastating and psychologically damaging things that can happen to a person is to take away one’s identity. Sometimes this is done when people are abducted or kidnapped, sometimes when they are abandoned or imprisoned, sometimes when they simply move to a place where nobody knows them. The feeling of being unknown or anonymous is very close to feeling as if you do not exist at all.
As humans, we are relational and if we are normal, our desire is to know others and to be known, i.e. relationships. As spiritual beings, it is even more essential that we are known (intimately) in the recesses of the heart by our fellow followers of Christ. Jesus said, you don’t know ME because you don’t know my Father (referring to God the Father), because if you did know God the Father, you would have known ME! When others challenge your identity in Christ, you would do well to remember how Jesus handled that accusation. And if you challenge the identity in Christ of another, remember who the Accuser is. It is not your place to judge another’s heart – that is reserved for the One Who can.
It’s your job to LOVE one another and encourage each other.
Those who are survivors and champions of life, those who held onto the promises of God though none stood with them, and those who fought the good fight of faith; those who through it all, did not lose their faith or the knowledge of who God had called them to be…. are worthy of honor and of love and of respect.
The “Real Deal” Christians believe in restoration. They are humble and aware that “but for the grace of God, there go I.”
It’s sad that the spiritual battles that some fallen Christians have to face are from their very own brethren who seem to take more pleasure in their fall than in their restoration, and who cannot seem to let go of the natural knowledge of a failure.
Restoration is not a half-way principle in the Bible.
Biblical restoration means restored to the original… in all aspects.
The greatest joy of a “Real Deal” Christian should be when a fallen one is returned to the fullness of their original calling in God – and they won’t rest until it is so.
Pastor Jim,
We become “real-deal Christians” – if and when – we can finally and unhesitantly ADMIT to God and/or to other “believers”, THAT; just like OTHER “backslidden Christians” and non-believers; that, accordingly, we are just as “guilty” in committing SINS that we knew “perfectly well” that we NEVER should have been “committing” in the first place; given our FORE-KNOWLEDGE, according to the Word of God, of those “THINGS” of which we are WARNED to forsake or get rid of, out of our “new lives” in Christ. In other words, we become “real-deal” Christians when we can actually ADMIT to God – or to other believers; that YES, nearly ALL us – at ONE time or another – have done “things” that we already KNEW perfect well, that were “sins” against God. That is, admit to having WILLFULLY sinned against the Lord – even as King David willfully sinned against God, by committing “adultery” and “murder” – BUT then repented; specifically speaking on King David being in “intimate relations” with the wife of Uriah, Bathsheba; and furthermore, with Uriah himself, being one of David’s army generals, that the King deliberately framed Uriah to be killed in battle; so as to prevent “retaliation” from Uriah, given that David got Bathsheba pregnant.
It’s easy to repent of “accidental sins” – or unintentional ones – before God; since we can legitimately “claim” before Him that it was all indeed just THAT……..an “accident”, not intentional!
But how many of us can actually ADMIT to God – and REPENT of – willful or deliberate sins against the Lord??? Few of us can – and few of us do!! Far too often, we make flimsy excuses for our misdeeds, thinking erroneously that God didn’t actually “see” us do our “dirty thing” of which we so often justify in our guilty consciences.
This is what made King David “stand out”, before God, from his predecessor, King Saul. David was, at least, willing – from the heart – to ADMIT to God – his willful, even deadly, sins; as opposed to Saul, who had the Holy Spirit like David; but yet, would NOT confess his willful sins, and at least, TRY to “change” himself, to be more “obedient” to the Lord. Or if Saul did indeed “confess” any willful sins; it would be because – NOT out of a truly contrite heart; but only because he was FORCED to do so – begrudgingly, out of embarrassment, such as in front of the prophet Samuel, who the Lord used to confront Saul about his rank disobedience against the Lord; having very little – if any – contrition at all; while David, when confronted by Samuel for sin, was truly REPENTANT in his sorrowful heart; and determined to get his HEART truly “right” with God.
Pastor Jim, although BY NO MEANS am I advocating that we “take for granted” of God’s grace; that nevertheless, I say that we should have HEARTS like David; that is, one that is “after God’s own Heart”; that is, with our very HEART searching for God’s OWN Heart itself. And, of course, Jesus the Messiah, who NEVER sinned, automatically had a “heart” for God that was far SUPERIOR to that of David’s – or over anyone else’s, for that matter.
David sinned wilfully liked the rest of us. But Jesus never did! But BOTH had a “heart” for God!! However, Saul did not!
Any ONE of us so-called “Christians” – in having the Holy Spirit – cans “start off”, like Saul, having a “good heart” towards God and Christ; BUT then…….later on…….with our hearts, for various reasons, actually “turning against” Him – and without us even being AWARE of it!!!
This is why the great Apostle Paul admonishes the saints in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” [KJV].
As King David says in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (KJV).
Furthermore, we must not allow their powerful God-given anointing to blind us to the fact that even “honest” ministers – even in all of their sincerity – are still FALLIBLE human beings; and thus, are still capable of inadvertently promoting doctrinal teachings or executing religious practices that might hypothetically be CONTRARY to the will or purposes of God. All believers should be HUMBLE enough to accept the fact that NONE of us, as disciples of Christ – whether we be of the “eldership” or of the “laity” – are beyond scrutiny or above reproach. In regard to being held accountable to God’s Word, even Jesus himself told the unbelieving Pharisees to “search the Scriptures” as a means by which to validate his claims as being the TRUE Messiah; as he says in John 5:39, “…..for in them [i.e., the “Scriptures”] ye think that ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” [KJV]. And as Apostle Paul and Silas preached the Gospel in a synagogue of the Grecian city of Berea, Acts 17:11 commends skeptical Jews, by calling them “noble”, as they “…..received the word [of Paul] with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things [that Paul preached about Jesus] were so” [KJV].
Lastly, Pastor Jim, we are told by Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 11:31-33, that “…..if we would JUDGE ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world”.
And this is EXACTLY what Kind David did! He learned to “judge” himself and readily, from a broken contrite heart, come before God and CONFESS his sins – including his WILLFUL ones; and thus, receiving a most generous gift of MERCY from the Lord – even during time of divine chastisement.
So, yes, Pastor Jim……….
Let us make sure that we all have a “heart” towards God, like King David……..
And NOT like Saul!
this is very interesting to say the least