Ropes of Sand
1 Kings 8:22 “ “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.”
God keeps His covenant...it’s not about me keeping something and trying hard. It’s about the mercy of God and what He is doing in my life.
Deut 7:9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
Heb 8:10-12 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 10:16, 17 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Jer 31: 31-34 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
God wants to do something special in my life. He wants me to surrender trying, surrender all my own efforts for “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” Isa 64:6 “ Rom 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
This is why the first covenant failed. It had nothing to do with God but it had all to do with the people. They thought they could do it without the power of God within. Hebrews tells us why we have a new covenant” Because finding fault with them” Heb 8:8 The people’s response to the first covenant was a declaration of their own desire to obey “Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Ex 19:8
“There are those who profess to serve God, while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. Their hearts are not moved by any deep sense of the love of Christ, but they seek to perform the duties of the Christian life as that which God requires of them in order to gain heaven. Such religion is worth nothing. When Christ dwells in the heart, the soul will be so filled with His love, with the joy of communion with Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Love to Christ will be the spring of action. “SC p 44, 45
I want my heart to be so moved by a deep sense of God’s love for me that Christ can come and dwell in my heart and thus He can write His law in my heart and He himself will teach me truth and righteousness and He will forgive my sins and cleanse me and make me whole. I will know Him. Everything comes back to me beholding the love of God.
I want to experience the new covenant of a faithful God at all times and to not fall back into the ways of the Old covenant, the ways of self. I want to be surrendered at all times, every moment of every day. Full surrender or all my thoughts and feelings and actions.
“”Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?" You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him. SC p 47
Today Lord I choose to serve you. Today Lord take my will and work in me your new covenant of righteousness by faith in the faithfulness, mercy and love of God.
God keeps His covenant...it’s not about me keeping something and trying hard. It’s about the mercy of God and what He is doing in my life.
Deut 7:9 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
Heb 8:10-12 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
Heb 10:16, 17 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Jer 31: 31-34 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
God wants to do something special in my life. He wants me to surrender trying, surrender all my own efforts for “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” Isa 64:6 “ Rom 7:18 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
This is why the first covenant failed. It had nothing to do with God but it had all to do with the people. They thought they could do it without the power of God within. Hebrews tells us why we have a new covenant” Because finding fault with them” Heb 8:8 The people’s response to the first covenant was a declaration of their own desire to obey “Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Ex 19:8
“There are those who profess to serve God, while they rely upon their own efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. Their hearts are not moved by any deep sense of the love of Christ, but they seek to perform the duties of the Christian life as that which God requires of them in order to gain heaven. Such religion is worth nothing. When Christ dwells in the heart, the soul will be so filled with His love, with the joy of communion with Him, that it will cleave to Him; and in the contemplation of Him, self will be forgotten. Love to Christ will be the spring of action. “SC p 44, 45
I want my heart to be so moved by a deep sense of God’s love for me that Christ can come and dwell in my heart and thus He can write His law in my heart and He himself will teach me truth and righteousness and He will forgive my sins and cleanse me and make me whole. I will know Him. Everything comes back to me beholding the love of God.
I want to experience the new covenant of a faithful God at all times and to not fall back into the ways of the Old covenant, the ways of self. I want to be surrendered at all times, every moment of every day. Full surrender or all my thoughts and feelings and actions.
“”Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?" You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair. What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him. SC p 47
Today Lord I choose to serve you. Today Lord take my will and work in me your new covenant of righteousness by faith in the faithfulness, mercy and love of God.
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