Daily Bread - 06/07/07

Acts 2:25 - David also said concerning Him, "I always saw the Lord before me, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved."

Peter revealed that David was not speaking of himself but of Jesus Christ the Messiah (Psalms 16:8). We learn that Jesus found strength and stability by always seeing YHWH (the Father) before Him. Jesus never did anything unless He saw the Father do it and He never said anything unless He heard the Father say it (John 5:19, 20; 8:28; John 10:38). Seeing the Father before Him may have only been a conscious awareness of His presence yet at the same time Jesus may have interacted with the Father face to face. We do know that the Father spoke to Jesus with an audible voice on several occasions (Matthew 17:5; John 12:28). We can also be certain that the depth of the communication went deeper than what could be seen with the eye and heard with the ear (John 12:30). What Jesus revealed to us was that the Father was dwelling in Him and it was through this indwelling that the mighty works were done through His life (John 10:38; 14:10).

Through Jesus Christ we have been given the same kind of relationship with the Father. We have been baptized with the same baptism and given the same glory that the Father gave Jesus (Matthew 20:22-23; 3:11; John 1:16; John 17:22). Both the Lord Jesus and the Father dwell in us by the Spirit that He has given to us (John 14:23; 1 John 3:24). By the leadership of the Holy Spirit we are empowered to see Him and to know exactly what the Father would have us to do (John 16:12-13; 14:21; Romans 8:14).

As we become aware of how mindful Father is of us and how He is constantly watching over us a whole new dimension of accountability begins to take hold of us (Psalms 121:3; Matthew 10:30; Luke 12:7; Psalms 115:12). Too many times we have looked around to see who might be watching before we made the decision to do something that we should not do. Unfortunately, we did not have the eyes to see that the Father was watching. In times of urgent need we have wondered where God was but when we were being tempted to engage in something unholy we failed to give thought to His mindfulness of our situation. We must become aware of the fact that the eyes of the Lord behold us (Psalms 11:4). His mindfulness and interest in us causes Him to look at our lives very closely to see if there are any of the sons of men that desire to know him (Psalms 14:2). The Almighty is searching for someone that He might show himself strong on their behalf. God looks at us from His throne in His Holy Temple (Psalms 11:4; Hebrews 1:8-9). If we will respond to Him in love and obedience He will perfect everything that concerns us and empower us to be mighty (Daniel 11:32; John 14:12; Psalms 18:32; 138:8; Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 1:28). God desires to show himself strong for those whose hearts are perfect (2 Chronicles 16:9).

What other people think about us is much to important to us. We adjust our behavior to correspond to the expectation of those who we hope to win favor from. Yet, somehow we fail to realize that this is a snare. Our concern should be first towards what Father thinks of us. We need to have a conscious awareness of His presence in our lives. It should be our desire to win His favor more than the favor of men. If we will be honest and transparent before God the Holy Spirit will cause us to become more concerned about what He thinks rather than what men think. Jesus said that if we seek the honor of men then we are unable to believe (John 5:44). On the other hand if we live only for the honor and glory of God then faith will begin to work at a greater level in our lives and there will be no unrighteousness in us (John 7:18). Unfortunately, it is common for us to continue to practice wrong things so long as we think no one knows. Then as soon as someone discovers what we have done we feel bad and run for the mercy of God as Joab did when he had to face the consequences of his evil deeds (1 Kings 2:28). Even David was able to deceive himself and act like he had done nothing wrong until the prophet Nathan came and made his sin public (2 Samuel 12:7). Of course God is always there to love us and forgive us but at some point we need to understand that when we sin it is against the Lord and Him alone (Psalms 51:4)

We must allow the Holy Spirit to give us the wisdom and revelation that Father is always before us and on our right hand to help us (Ephesians 1:17; Psalms 84:11). As we yield to that which the Holy Spirit is teaching us we will become more aware of His indwelling presence (Ephesians 3:18; John 17:22; 14:20). Father is willing to make the relationship that we have with Him more real to us than any other relationship that we have. This is eternal life that we may know him (John 17:3; 1 John 4:16; 5:20).

Be blessed,

Pastor Mark Spitsbergen
abidingplace.org