The older I get the more concerned I'm becoming with sins of omission as opposed to sins of commission. I'd like to think I'm more aware of sins I commit than I am of sins that are things I should have done, or should be doing. I suspect I have no idea what most of those are - I need the Lord to show me. I need to pray "shine Your light, Lord, in the midst of my darkness, please. Teach me, please, Holy Spirit, how to be pleasing to my Father, as Jesus was, may I be now.
How many souls could I have helped to save that I didn't? How many Divine appointments have I missed? How often have I been looking inward - at myself, instead of outward at souls around me, in need of You? May I be your epistle Lord, read of all men. May my life, all my remaining days, be an epistle written by You. May my tongue be the pen of a ready writer. May the words in my mouth be the words You put there, and not my own, daddy. I don't want to mix my words with Yours. I love You. Thank You for being my Father.
"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."
Keep me from presumptuous sins - "Presumptuous" - Full of presumption, readiness to presume in conduct or thought, as by saying or doing something without right or permission. "Presumption" - assumption of something as true. Something that is presumed to be true but may not be. Unwarranted, unbecoming, or impertinent (rude), boldness as a result of presuming. This sin, the sin of presumption, could well be one of the most common and grievous sins committed by churched, religious Christiandom. So many, so often, commit this sin. They presume something to be true because in their ignorance, often mixed with arrogance and pride, they believe all their Pastor/Denomination teaches is truth. Often, false doctrines appeal to the mind, they are logical, they make sense - to the carnal mind. They incorporate the world's wisdom, which is the opposite of God's. See 1 Cor: chapter One.
Worse than believing a falsehood is becoming impertinent in their boldness to defend what they know to be true - though it is not. When I was first "Born again", I mean less than a week, a Baptist I knew from my school came to congratulate me on becoming a Christian. Immediately he told me "tongues are of the Devil". He told me he knew this because of a book he'd read. He said the author took ten years to research and prove "tongues are of the Devil". I immediately thought "if you need ten years to prove something, you're probably wrong". Anyway, I was facing my first "doctrinal dilemma" because the man whom God used to lead me to the Lord, Scott Hollister, spoke in tongues, as did his pastor. So what did I do? I did what I would continue to do throughout my walk with the Lord, something every one of us should consistently do - I asked the Lord. I sat down with my Bible in front of me (my big ol' Thompson Chain Reference, KJV, my favorite Bible which I still use today) and said "Lord, one man says tongues are of You, the other says they're of the devil, which should I believe? I opened my Bible and it randomly opened to a passage on tongues. I said "Lord, it says here tongues are a gift from You." I went back to the Baptist and told him God had showed me tongues are a gift from Him and he exploded in a fit of rage, basically saying, as he shouted at me, "how dare you, a brand new Christian, tell me, a much older Christian, that my belief is wrong?!" I thought " I can see what spirit you are of". "BETTER A POOR AND A WISE CHILD THAN AN OLD AND FOOLISH KING, WHO WILL NO MORE BE ADMONISHED (reproved or scolded, especially in a mild and good-willed manner). Reader, denominations are full of "Old and foolish kings who will no longer be corrected". They are unteachable! They think they know and no one, including the Holy Spirit can tell them otherwise. Pride prevents us from humbling ourselves and admitting we're wrong....especially when it comes to our pet doctrines. Very few in leadership have the wisdom to at least listen to an opposing viewpoint with an open mind. Very few seek and love the Truth so much they are willing to accept it and embrace it at the expense of their own pride and arrogance for this takes great humility. They identify more with their "doctrines of Christ" than they do with Christ himself. Very few remain teachable, able to be taught of the Holy Spirit, for if they were, He would lead them and guide them into "all truth" and they would not be able to remain in their Denominational church. Either the church will kick them out or the Holy Spirit will lead them out because lovers of falsehoods hate lovers of Truth.
To be continued....
How many souls could I have helped to save that I didn't? How many Divine appointments have I missed? How often have I been looking inward - at myself, instead of outward at souls around me, in need of You? May I be your epistle Lord, read of all men. May my life, all my remaining days, be an epistle written by You. May my tongue be the pen of a ready writer. May the words in my mouth be the words You put there, and not my own, daddy. I don't want to mix my words with Yours. I love You. Thank You for being my Father.
"Who can understand his errors? Cleanse Thou me from secret faults. Keep back Thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."
Keep me from presumptuous sins - "Presumptuous" - Full of presumption, readiness to presume in conduct or thought, as by saying or doing something without right or permission. "Presumption" - assumption of something as true. Something that is presumed to be true but may not be. Unwarranted, unbecoming, or impertinent (rude), boldness as a result of presuming. This sin, the sin of presumption, could well be one of the most common and grievous sins committed by churched, religious Christiandom. So many, so often, commit this sin. They presume something to be true because in their ignorance, often mixed with arrogance and pride, they believe all their Pastor/Denomination teaches is truth. Often, false doctrines appeal to the mind, they are logical, they make sense - to the carnal mind. They incorporate the world's wisdom, which is the opposite of God's. See 1 Cor: chapter One.
Worse than believing a falsehood is becoming impertinent in their boldness to defend what they know to be true - though it is not. When I was first "Born again", I mean less than a week, a Baptist I knew from my school came to congratulate me on becoming a Christian. Immediately he told me "tongues are of the Devil". He told me he knew this because of a book he'd read. He said the author took ten years to research and prove "tongues are of the Devil". I immediately thought "if you need ten years to prove something, you're probably wrong". Anyway, I was facing my first "doctrinal dilemma" because the man whom God used to lead me to the Lord, Scott Hollister, spoke in tongues, as did his pastor. So what did I do? I did what I would continue to do throughout my walk with the Lord, something every one of us should consistently do - I asked the Lord. I sat down with my Bible in front of me (my big ol' Thompson Chain Reference, KJV, my favorite Bible which I still use today) and said "Lord, one man says tongues are of You, the other says they're of the devil, which should I believe? I opened my Bible and it randomly opened to a passage on tongues. I said "Lord, it says here tongues are a gift from You." I went back to the Baptist and told him God had showed me tongues are a gift from Him and he exploded in a fit of rage, basically saying, as he shouted at me, "how dare you, a brand new Christian, tell me, a much older Christian, that my belief is wrong?!" I thought " I can see what spirit you are of". "BETTER A POOR AND A WISE CHILD THAN AN OLD AND FOOLISH KING, WHO WILL NO MORE BE ADMONISHED (reproved or scolded, especially in a mild and good-willed manner). Reader, denominations are full of "Old and foolish kings who will no longer be corrected". They are unteachable! They think they know and no one, including the Holy Spirit can tell them otherwise. Pride prevents us from humbling ourselves and admitting we're wrong....especially when it comes to our pet doctrines. Very few in leadership have the wisdom to at least listen to an opposing viewpoint with an open mind. Very few seek and love the Truth so much they are willing to accept it and embrace it at the expense of their own pride and arrogance for this takes great humility. They identify more with their "doctrines of Christ" than they do with Christ himself. Very few remain teachable, able to be taught of the Holy Spirit, for if they were, He would lead them and guide them into "all truth" and they would not be able to remain in their Denominational church. Either the church will kick them out or the Holy Spirit will lead them out because lovers of falsehoods hate lovers of Truth.
To be continued....
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