Toronto ResultsShe brings her talk to a conclusion by asking "So you say to me. What are the perceived results of this thing so far? One of the things they said to me in Toronto... 'Don't try to analyse this, Eleanor. Just receive. Don't come asking questions. Come as a child.' And I think that is the truth. I think if we analyse and try to work it out we lose it. I think if we come receptive and childlike, there is infinite blessing for the people of God at this time I've discovered in myself a love for Jesus—more than ever. I've discovered in myself an excitement about the kingdom I wouldn't have thought possible. I've discovered that I'm living in glorious days. There's no other time, no other place, where I would have chosen to be born and to live than here and now. God is on the move in this country. God is coming back for this country. ... I'm thrilled about Scripture. I have a heightened sense of my heritage and my past. I have a stronger sense of the whole church than ever I had. ... This is coming to the whole church, for Jesus is coming for His Bride. And He wants a Bride without wrinkle and without spot. He wants a Bride without division and dissension. He wants a Bride that is one in the Lord. And He has said it is a blessed thing when brethren dwell in unity, because there the Lord will command the blessing. He won't just invite. He won't just suggest. He will command, and when the God of Heaven and earth commands a blessing on His people no wonder we fall to the ground. No wonder we fall in awe at the presence of the Lord as He prepares His church and He comes back for His Bride." The Lord indeed commands a blessing on His people. There is a condition, however. "Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known." Deuteronomy. 11:26-28 The Lord doesn't simply command a blessing without any conditions. We are being told here that God will do anything for His people, freely, without any restrictions or qualifications. Ask and you will receive. Yet the Biblical truth is that God requires the obedience of His people to His revealed Word. When His people obey His commandments, and submit their will to His, then God is delighted to command a blessing. But the situation here is that we're being told to simply expect God to bless and He will. The inference is that it doesn't matter how we live, but that we experience what is there for us. The Lord does promise "Ask and you will receive", but it is in the context of right relationship with God through faith in Him. The criteria do not rest on the experiences one has, but the relationship with God that we have. God's blessing rests on the obedience of His people.
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Copyright © 2002 Homerton Baptist Church. |
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