Title: Longing for the Lord is a Treasure
Contents
Longing for the Lord is a treasure.
2004. 9. 22, Wed
Isaiah 33:1-6
Verse 1 = The woe of the invader Assyria.
Just as when a person has a loved one, he longs for his lover, so a person of faith longs for spiritual grace. If a person of faith does not have this spiritual longing, his spiritual condition is sick or dead. Because of their longing heart, they pray, pray all night, fast, study the Bible, listen to the testimonies of zealous saints, and participate in revival meetings to experience some kind of grace. When you have longing and earnestness to receive grace, you will receive grace in sermons, cry out loudly in prayer, and sing praises with earnestness.
Unregenerated (unbelievers) or formal, conventional Christians have no thirst or longing. There are many people who go to church as a culture or as a luxury of their spiritual life.
There is not even an hour a week to truly kneel.
1. What is longing?
It means to wait, to long for, to long for. What would you be upset about? It is because we value it because we love it, so we rejoice and like it. If it is a born-again soul, just as a wife longs for and waits for her husband, just as a bride longs for and rejoices with the groom, it is natural for us believers to long for, long for and wait for God.
Therefore, an unregenerate soul, a sick soul, or a weak soul has no desire for hope. The more earnestly the saints long for God, the more pleasing God is. The reason is that we have a heart that loves, rejoices, and values God. I know that you have all experienced the feeling that it doesn't feel good when others treat you badly, but it makes you happy when you value it and make them happy.
Matthew 5:3. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. The 'poor in spirit' here means those who wait for God. Psalm 42:1. As a deer longs for streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. It's like a deer longing for a stream.
In Malachi chapter 1, God hates Esau and loves Jacob. Jacob had more faults, mistakes, and shortcomings than Esau, so why did he love and bless Jacob? If we say that the reason is God's absolute sovereignty and God's will, there is nothing to say, but if we analyze it closely, Esau sells his precious birthright for a bowl of red bean soup, whereas Jacob is more than anyone who has the faith that he cannot live without God's grace and blessing. He is a person who longs for and thirsts for the grace of God.
That's why, even though the angel struck the hip bone and pushed it away until it became the upper bone, when he said, 'If you don't bless me, I will not let you go', and I eagerly cling to it. This is why God made Jacob more lovable and worthy of blessing. John 7:37. At the end of the feast, he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink, and rivers of living water will flow." You can see how important it is to longing and longing for your spiritual life.
2. Blessings for those who wait
Waiting for and fearing the Lord is my treasure. God is our property.
Those who constantly look to the Lord in their hearts will receive various graces and blessings.
1) I get refreshed every day.
You are supplied with the strength to overcome enemies and demons, the strength to never tire, and the strength to not fall.
According to Isaiah 40:28-31, “O LORD the Eternal God, who created the ends of the earth, he does not grow weary or weary; his understanding knows no bounds; he gives strength to the weary, he gives strength to the weak; and weary, and even the strength of one stumbles and falls, but those who wait on the Lord will find new strength, and they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not get weary, they will walk and not get weary.”
It is said that this kind of strength and power is given to those who long for it, to those who long for it, and to those who wait. He gives you the strength to overcome any situation.
Like an eagle ascends with its wings, He gives you the strength to ascend to that high place. Sometimes I lose the strength to preach the Word, I also lose the strength to pray, and I sometimes feel that my spiritual strength is weakening. At that time, he longs for grace toward the Lord and confesses his incompetence. Without the power of God, we cannot preach. When God gives you the power to pray, you can pray sincerely, and when you give us the power to sing, you can give praise from your heart to God.
There are times when we murmur with our mouths that God needs help, long for us in our hearts, and cannot leave our seats until we receive power.
Then there are times when we hear the still small voice of the Lord. “I will help you, and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Sometimes there comes a certainty about the content of the prayer. It happened without me knowing, God answered my prayer, and I gain strength when I mutter to myself and rejoice. Every morning God, I can't. God must help you. When we earnestly ask for the Lord's help, we recover our lost spiritual power and gain new courage.
He gives strength to those who wait. Nehemiah 8:10. “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” he said. 'To delight in the Lord' is to be longed for. Longing for material things, fame, or pleasure loses our spiritual power, but if we long for the Lord, we gain strength. When I asked musician Haydn, 'How joyous is church music?' It was overflowing with joy and the sheet music seemed to dance and jump.” Psalm 18:1. 'I love you, O LORD, my strength,' exclaimed the psalmist.
2) Receive the blessing of meeting God.
If you earnestly desire, seek, and crave to meet God, He will meet you and, like Esau, handing over the birthright for a bowl of red bean porridge, he will not meet people who are impatient, do not know how to wait, and do not yearn. Would it be easy? Jeremiah 29:12-13. “You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you; and if you sincerely seek and seek me, you will find me.” 'Crying out' and 'praying' means that we wait for God. The phrase 'if you sincerely seek me and find me' is also an expression of longing for.
3. Receive the grace of salvation.
A person who has no interest in God and is indifferent to matters after death cannot be saved. Isaiah 45:22. He said, 'Look for me, all peoples of the ends of the earth, and you will be saved, for I am God and there is no other. Those who wait for it will be saved. We are saved not only from the salvation of our souls, but also from the tribulations, calamities, and trials of the world.
4. Don't be put to shame.
When we rely on ourselves instead of relying on God, and we are arrogant, we are put to shame. When you receive blessings whether you succeeded or not, you should not be arrogant or conceited, but depend on the Lord and yearn for you moment by moment. 'I trust in You, O my God; do not put me to shame, and overcome me by my enemies, so that I do not call upon you. You who hope in You will not be put to shame, but whoever deceives innocently will be put to shame.'
5. Receive the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Those who yearn for grace earnestly receive the Holy Spirit and receive gifts. Isaiah 44:3. “I will give water to the thirsty, and streams will flow on the dry land, and I will put my Spirit on your descendants and on your descendants, my blessings on your descendants.” you will receive
Psalm 107:9. For he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good things. Those who yearn for them diligently attend morning, day, and night, listen to sermons, pray earnestly, and sing hymns diligently. Then you get grace.
If you do not desire, you will not receive grace, and even if Paul preaches, you will not receive grace. I hope that they will become long-awaited saints, bear fruit filled with the Holy Spirit, become sanctified, receive gifts, fulfill their missions, and receive praise from God.