It is written; If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; (1Pe4:11), Although I know this verse is very important for a long time and wrote about it in the front page, but it only remained in my head as knowledge, I have no intention to fulfill it or even trying to. It did not come to my mind that I have to make serious commitment that at least everything I write here need to be the Oracles of God.
The fear of the Lord
After reading and meditating many psalms I suddenly start to question myself what did I do with this verse, do I have any fear of the Lord? Do I even have some respect for the word of God? I have to examine myself more and started to meditate and asking Jesus why I don’t have any fear of the Lord. After many weeks, my eyes are slowly opened and so many scriptures started not only making sense to me, but also see my true self.
It is written: ‘Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, Who have eyes but do not see; Who have ears but do not hear. ‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. ‘But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed. ‘They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.” (Jeremiah 5:21-24 [NASB])
I only understand recently what Psalm 36:1-4 is talking about: “An oracle that came to me about the transgressions of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes. He flatters himself too much to discover his transgression and hate it. The words from his mouth are vain and deceptive. He has abandoned behaving wisely and doing good. He devises iniquity on his bed and is determined to follow a path that is not good. He does not resist evil.” (ISV)
This refer to believers, because “He has abandoned behaving wisely and doing good.” Is that true he is deceived so badly that he can not discover his sin nor hate it? After meditating and seeking for quite some time, the word of God came to me; “For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on worldly things.” (Philippians 3:18-19 [ISV]) Because they set their mind on early things, so they “live as enemies of the cross of Christ”. Psalm 36 is speaking of believers, if God’s people has no fear of God, they will feel free to sin and maybe enjoy it, just as the scripture said, “their minds are set on earthly things”. Certainly they are not able to discover their sin, nor could they hate sin, and many walk like this all the time.
I suspect my condition maybe similar, I don’t know how to discover my sin and I don’t really hate sin. I have great difficulty avoiding set my mind on earthly things. Although I liked Psalm 90 and payed many times; “If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom..” (NIV)
My heart still don’t have much wisdom yet, for I have been praying these verses with half heart, such as Psalm 28 or 86: “I will cry to You, O LORD; my Rock, do not be silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.” “Teach me your way, Lord,that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” I have to admit my heart is so very slow to learn or believe this, despite repeating after these verses many times.
The days ordained for me
Now I am learning a new lesson, to pray according to Psalms is to pray the desire of God’s heart for his children. Here is Psalms 139:16-17 (NIV) “Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!”
I always know this is true and have prayed these verse many times, but it still did not catch my attention until now. How could this happen, I don’t treasure what God has ordained all the days of my life? Where is my heart, I can’t answer. Jeremiah 17:10 said; The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? Very true I don’t know my heart, have to make more effect on praying psalm 139’s last two verse all the time:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts,
And see if any wicked way is in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Daily bread — God’s will
Now I started to see more clearly God has ordained very detailed plans for all his children, before they come into the earth. God’s will is his children would carry them out on earth, as the lord’s prayer says “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.” Those who love God will consider it precious, and will seek the Lord. When Jesus ask his disciples to pray ” Give us this day our daily bread”, it means to seek God’s plan for details so that his disciples can fulfill God’s will. Psalm 143:10 is the example of how to pray; “Teach me to do your will; for you are my God: may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.”
Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground —— this is the key to do God’s will. We have to acknowledge that every lukewarm believer is blind as Jesus made it very clear in Rev 3:17; ” Because you say, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and know not that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” The scripture need to be taken seriously. Who think they have need of nothing? Are they not those who believe they have the salvation all figured out and therefore no need to seek the Lord’s face or to hear his voice?
Jesus explained what is this daily bread, He said (John 4:32-34), “My food is doing the will of the one who sent me and completing his work”. There is no doubt our Lord prayed daily for this food while walking on earth. For it is written: “Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him.” (John 8:28-29 [ASV]) It is not difficult to see why Jesus often pray over night because he do nothing of himself and always do things pleasing to the Father.
Now I can see Philippians 3:17-19 more clearly, verse 17 says; “Join together in imitating me, brothers, and pay close attention to those who live by the example we have given you”. This is the type of people who obey Paul’s teaching to imitate him. Verse 18 and 19 is another type who do not imitate him. “For I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on worldly things.” Today many of us have not yet committed to follow Paul’s example, to imitate Christ, we are still learning and seeking. We need to help each other, intercede with each other so that we maybe ready for Jesus’ second coming.
Warning from Isiah 66
It is written: “For My hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares the LORD. “But to this one I will look, To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word. “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog’s neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine’s blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.” (Isaiah 66:2-4 [NASB])
Who are those humble and contrite of spirit? The ones desire to pray psalm 143 “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground of uprightness”. Anyone who is serious about learning how to do God’s will have to wait on the LORD all the time. We see a clear contrast here; Jesus do nothing of himself but always do the things that are pleasing to the Father. The opposite are those who chose their own way to do some of the scriptures, but they don’t listen to the voice of the Lord, they did evil in God’s sight because they did not chose what God delight. Beware of those self-professing Christians who will not “trembles at My word … He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways“. They do not believe this scripture: “continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling”. We need to pray that somehow some of them may wake up and see the truth.
Warning from Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah (8:6-9 NKJV) I listened and heard, But they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his own course, As the horse rushes into the battle. “Even the stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD. “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the LORD is with us’? Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood. The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; So what wisdom do they have?
Those who do not like to pray psalm 143:10 are likely being deceived, not realizing they are repeating the mistake of Jeremiah 8 who do not repent, do not know the judgment of the LORD and rejected the word of the LORD. Besides, many modern day scribes certainly works falsehood, they twist the scripture to say what they wanted to say. They all have one thing in common, they hate Jesus’ teaching about sin; “So if your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into hell” (Mat 5:29)
God’s people need to spend the time on the scriptures, take heed the warnings, do not follow their example. Seek the Lord before it’s too late. The details of how to pray and seek guidance from the holy Spirit are all written in the book of Psalms, everybody can learn from the Holy Spirit. Only false leaders do not like to see that, they like to see many followers after them. Here are some examples from the book of Psalm teaching us how to pray;
Who can understand his errors? Oh, cleanse me from my secret faults; And keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; do not let them rule over me; then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. (19:12-14 [AFV])
Show me Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You do I wait all the day long. (25:4-5)
How long will You forget me, O LORD? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my heart having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall my enemy be lifted up over me? Look! Answer me, O LORD my God; enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, (13:1-3 [MKJV])
I will cry to You, O LORD; my Rock, do not be silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit. (28:1)
Summary
Today, the Oracles of God for this time and season is, as it is written: “Therefore I beseech you, be imitators of me”. (I Corinthians 4:16) Again “Be imitators of me, even as I also am of Christ”. (I Corinthians 11:1) Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness, (Hebrews 3:7-8)
Make no mistake, the way of the cross is by no means easier than physical war of life or death. If any one think he can survive without reading, praying and meditating the word of God for hours daily he is deceived. Everyday God’s people has been overwhelmed by lies and disinformation from the dark force of the world, from many wolfs in sheep’s clothing, from false teachers and fake brothers. And beware, many of God’s true servant are not ready yet, they maybe still sleeping or deceived or being taken captive by the enemy. Therefor obey the Word;
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;(Ephesians 5:16-19)
Now lets pray Psalm 143:
Hear my prayer O LORD; give ear unto my supplications; in Your faithfulness and in Your righteousness answer me.
And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no one living is righteous,
For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has beaten my life down to the ground; he has made me dwell in darkness, as those long dead.
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart is weary within me.
I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I consider the work of Your hands.
I stretch forth my hands unto You; my soul thirsts after You like a parched land.
Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails; do not hide Your face from me, lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning, for I do trust in You; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto You.
Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies; I flee to You to hide me.
Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground of uprightness.
O LORD, for Your name’s sake quicken me; in Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
And in Your mercy cut off my enemies, and destroy all those who afflict my soul, for I am Your servant.