"Only God Can Help" -2

"Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me." (Psalms 22:12) I know you might think that was a whole bunch of gibberish yesterday, but there was a whole lot of stuff swirling around in this crazy mind of mine; primarily, I was just writing whatever I felt the Lord was speaking into my heart, but the basic message I was hearing is one of complete surrender unto God. Within these eight verses we have the proof of the cross of Christ; and starting with that from yesterday, we see Jesus as placed upon that cross and lifted up above the crowd of people, far out of reach for help. If you read verses eleven to eighteen in entirety, and then envision the seen of the cross, and then go back and read them again individually, then you should be able to see contrast given within each of these verses. Today's and tomorrow's verses speak about all of those in authority among the Jews who stood around gazing and mocking Jesus as He hung upon that cross; but I have something else that I believe God has spoken to me, and it has to do with what I was getting at yesterday and what I believe He is speaking through this verse. First of all; we must be totally aware of something, and we must continually guard our hearts from being pulled into practices that cause us to drift away from this foundational truth: WE CAN NOT SAVE OURSELVES!!! No matter how hard we might try to be righteous and holy, we are still sinners that have been saved by Grace! All of these "bulls" that are be spoken of in the first portion of this verse are young and feisty bulls, compared to the older bulls that only will react when intimidated. This is something that God has shown me about my early life as a new believer, and how I was so energetic in my service to God; yet, having matured, I have become likened unto that old bull out in the pasture, who seldom fights unless provoked into something. The problem with what I have become, is that I have used that as some kind of gauge for my life in Christ. In other words; I have taken my lack of enthusiasm which was once there, and then considered myself to be less on fire for God that I once was; which may or may not be true; but I should not be looking upon my actions of service as the sole indicator of my salvation. God wants us to come to Him just as we are, so He can do a work in us, not so we can do a work in Him; it is His work in us that makes the difference in us and in those that surround us. In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus is speaking about some religious people that will be lost, and He says, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of the Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." The general idea of what just happen, is that those who were serving in His name, were doing so for their own personal gain and sacrifice of works, not out of a response to God working in them, but rather they were performing a work in God. The most important thing for us is our relationship with the Lord, and that He is doing a work in us; from that, His work in us then produces a work that bears fruit, because it is not our work that is being accomplished, but His work that is being spread abroad for many. Those 'bulls of Bashan" are another issue of judgement that we have a tendency to gauge our relationship with the Lord on, and that is our prosperity; as if how well off we are in our finances is some form of a way of judging our right standing with God. The main reason that Jesus instructs us not to be concerned about what we should wear, or what we should eat, or how we might provide for our livelihood, is because these things are traps which the enemy will use to have us place our attention on the material pattern of things instead of the spiritual. We will seldom realize that it is happening, because we always become what we eat the most of; but when it happens, we find ourselves more concerned about our material security than that of our eternal security. The easiest way to put this, is to consider your typical wedding vows, and then base your relationship with the Lord upon those: To have and to hold, from this day forward; for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, 'till death brings me into your presence...