"Even though I walk thru the valleys of shadow of death, I fear no evil. They rod and thy staff, they comfort me".
Friday, September 11, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Christian theology teaches the doctrine of prevenient grace, which, briefly stated, means that before a man can seek God, God must first have sought the man.
Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him. Imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.
We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me" said our Lord, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John6:44), and it is by this prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him. All the time we are pursuing Him we are already in the hand:"Thy right hand upholdeth me."
IN this divine" upholding" and human "following" there is no contradiction. All is of God, God is always previous. In practice, however man must pursue God. Our part there must be positive reciprocation if this secret drawing of God is to eventuate in identifiable experience of the divine. In the warm language of personal feeling, this is stated in Psalm 42:1-2 "As the hard panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." This is deep calling unto deep, and the longing heart will understand it.
We Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of his Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a person and as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.
God is a person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heard of New Testament religion.
This intercourse between God and the soul is known to us in conscious personal awareness. It is personal: it does not come through the body of believers, but is known to the individual, and to the body through the individuals which compose it. It is conscious. You and I are in little what God is in large. Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know him.
Before a sinful man can think a right thought of God, there must have been a work of enlightenment done within him. Imperfect it may be, but a true work nonetheless, and the secret cause of all desiring and seeking and praying which may follow.
We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. "No man can come to me" said our Lord, "except the Father which hath sent me draw him" (John6:44), and it is by this prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the outworking of that impulse is our following hard after Him. All the time we are pursuing Him we are already in the hand:"Thy right hand upholdeth me."
IN this divine" upholding" and human "following" there is no contradiction. All is of God, God is always previous. In practice, however man must pursue God. Our part there must be positive reciprocation if this secret drawing of God is to eventuate in identifiable experience of the divine. In the warm language of personal feeling, this is stated in Psalm 42:1-2 "As the hard panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God." This is deep calling unto deep, and the longing heart will understand it.
We Christians are in real danger of losing God amid the wonders of his Word. We have almost forgotten that God is a person and as such, can be cultivated as any person can. It is inherent in personality to be able to know other personalities, but full knowledge of one personality by another cannot be achieved in one encounter. It is only after long and loving mental intercourse that the full possibilities of both can be explored.
God is a person, and in the deep of His mighty nature He thinks, wills, enjoys, loves, desires and suffers as any other person may. He communicates with us through the avenues of our minds, our wills and our emotions. The continuous and unembarrassed interchange of love and thought between God and the soul of the redeemed man is the throbbing heard of New Testament religion.
This intercourse between God and the soul is known to us in conscious personal awareness. It is personal: it does not come through the body of believers, but is known to the individual, and to the body through the individuals which compose it. It is conscious. You and I are in little what God is in large. Being made in His image we have within us the capacity to know him.
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