The Worship God Ignores

Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.”
—Isaiah 58:2-4

This clearly demonstrates that God will sometimes ignore our worship!! 

Why does God sometimes ignore our worship? That’s what the people in Isaiah’s day wanted to know. They asked, “Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” 

Here’s how God essentially answers: He ignores our worship at times because we’re self-centered. Notice the text says, “Behold, in the day of your fast...”The word behold means just listen up. Why does God not show up? He gives us two clues that reveal our self-centeredness at the end of verse 3.

The first clue is the phrase, “you seek your own pleasure.” It means that even spiritual actions can be practiced with purely selfish motives. We may think, I’ll try fasting or looking humble, because it will make me feel or look good. But in that approach, God is an optional add-on—or worse, treated as if He can be fooled by appearances. 

We’re just like the Israelites who asked, Why don’t You see us fasting? Don't You see our humility?

God refuses those shenanigans.  He sees right past the pretense. That’s why authentic fasting is prescribed in Scripture. It elevates our hunger and passion for God. We cannot pursue everything our heart desires and God! If we don’t “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Matthew 6:33), whatever else we’re seeking first will be idolatry.

This explains why there is so much spiritual apathy in the western world. We tend to think our material possessions are a sign of God’s blessing upon us—but His provision may be more of a judgment than a blessing. [ie: swagged out closet, Nike Shoe Collection, hoards of wrist watches, bigger house than you need, luxury car that makes you feel better than others or like you're something, etc..]

Instead of bringing about our humble attention, having so many needs met often results in a greater indifference toward God, and interest solely in our own pleasure. When our worship is focused on selfishly expecting something to inspire us or turn our crank spiritually, God doesn’t participate.

The second clue about our self-centeredness is the phrase, “oppress all your workers.” Today this applies in subtle ways. While you may appear to stop for worship, your little investment machine keeps going. You may not be an employer who insists on a 24/7 schedule for your workers, but your cell phone, tablet or laptop is always on, and "your system" of generating income [facebook pimpin'] never stops working. 

Would you ever think of shutting that down to give your full and focused attention to God alone? Self-employment can easily become worker oppression, too—God won’t accept you oppressing your workers, even if the only worker is you!!!! 

Worship is not FOR you. Worship is for GOD. As long as you come to receive and don’t come to serve and worship Him, you will walk out empty and disappointed—even when those around you are meeting with God in powerful, life-changing ways!!! 

Ask yourself honestly, Am I selfish? Have I been consumed with myself? Am I here to worship God, or am I expecting Him to be here for me? Your answer matters. Because in one scenario God shows up powerfully—in another, He doesn’t hear you at all! 

This is important and its not easy...but it is the heart of an authentic faith. 

5 Shot Americana...throw it back. It'll wake you up! 

Robbs

HELP MY UNBELIEF!!

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. (Romans 12:3)

In the context of this verse, Paul is concerned that people were “thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think.” His final remedy for this pride is to say that not only are spiritual gifts a work of God's free grace in our lives, but so also is the very faith with which we use those gifts.

This means that every possible ground of boasting is taken away. How can we boast if even the qualification for receiving gifts is also a gift?

This truth has a profound impact on how we pray. Yeshua gives us the example in Luke 22:31-32. Before Peter denies him three times Yeshua says to him, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Yeshua prays for Peter's faith to be sustained even through sin, because he knows that God is the one who sustains faith. So we should pray for ourselves and for others this way.

Thus the man with the epileptic boy cried out, “I believe; help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). This is a good prayer. It acknowledges that without God we cannot believe as we ought to believe.

Let us pray daily: “O Lord, thank you for my faith. Sustain it. Strengthen it. Deepen it. Don't let it fail. Make it the power of my life, so that in everything I do you get the glory as the great Giver. Amen”

AUTHENTIC FAITH VS PHONY FAITH

Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await him. (Hebrews 9:28)

The question before us all is: Are we included in the “many” whose sins he bore? And will we be saved by his coming “for salvation”?

The answer of Hebrews 9:28 is, “Yes,” if we are “eagerly awaiting him.” [Selah] 

We can know that our sins are taken away and that we will be safe in the judgment "IF" we trust Christ in such a way that it makes us *eager for his coming. (Keep in mind judgment -suffering - persecution - and possible death --precedes His return.) 

There is a phony faith that claims to believe in Christ, but is only a fire insurance policy. Phony faith “believes” only for the purpose of escaping hell. It has no "real" heartfelt desire for Christ. In fact, it would prefer it if he did not come, so that we can have as much of this world’s pleasures as possible. To include longer life amid this corruption. This shows that a heart is not with Christ, but with the world.

So the issue for us is: Do we eagerly long for the coming of Christ? Is "to die is gain" your mantra? Or do we want him to wait while our love affair with the world runs its course? That is the question that tests the authenticity of faith.

So let us be like the Corinthians who were “awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:7), and like the Philippians whose “citizenship was in heaven, from which also [they] eagerly waited for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).

That’s the issue for us. Do we love HIS appearing? Or do we love the world and hope that his appearing will not interrupt our plans? Eternity hangs on this question. 

Sip this cup slowly and savor the bold flavor. This is a serious "cup."

Robbs

WHEN REASON SERVES REBELLION

You and I can reason our way into disobedience and death. 

Here is how::

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!” (Proverbs 22:13)

This is not what I expected the proverb to say. I would have expected it to say “The coward says, ‘There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!’” But it says, “sluggard,” not “coward.” So the controlling emotion here is laziness, not fear.

But what does laziness have to do with the danger of a lion in the street? We don't say, “This man is too lazy to go do his work because there is a lion outside.”

The point is that the sluggard creates imaginary circumstances to justify not doing his work, and thus shifts the focus from the vice of his laziness to the danger of lions. No one will approve his staying in the house all day just because he is lazy.

One profound biblical insight we need to know is that our "heart exploits our mind to justify what the heart wants."  

That is, our deepest desires precede the rational functioning of our minds and incline the mind to perceive and think in a way that will make the desires look right.

This is what the sluggard is doing. He deeply desires to stay at home and not work. There is no good reason to stay at home. So what does he do? Does he overcome his bad desire? No, he uses his mind to create unreal circumstances to justify his desire.

Doing the evil we love makes us hostile to the light of truth. In this condition the mind becomes a factory of half-truths, equivocations, sophistries, evasions and lies — anything to protect the evil desires of the heart from exposure and destruction.

Consider and be wise. It's a learning journey! 

I hope this helps someone! 

Coffee Cup Theology....

10 minutes and an Iced Coffee half soy with 6 pumps of vanilla!! On Me! 

Robbs