If we could join our hearts to the Lord’s heart, and if we could join our minds to the Lord’s mind, I’m very encouraged this morning by how the meeting started: with the Scriptures that our brother shared with us, the songs that were sung, and the individual prayers.
They all seem to speak of the dwelling place, of communion, of abiding. And that’s exactly what has been on my heart. I carry with me all the time this issue of abiding. I trust that, as the Lord has been speaking, He is going to speak.
And so, as I pray, pray with me. If you are led even to pray out loud, then pray. Say, “Lord, we are so grateful to You.”
Again, we want to say, “Lord, there is nothing like You. You are a wonderful Master to serve. And we come now, as it were, together. We beseech the throne that You would speak, that You would present Yourself in a wonderful way, and that in seeing You and in hearing You, we would be changed. We trust, Lord, that You will do that. We thank You for it even now, in Jesus’ wonderful name.”
As of this past February, I have been in the Lord fifty-two years. That’s not credentials, because I’ve been in the Lord fifty-two years. That’s not credentials at all.
The truth of the matter is, I came to the Lord fifty-two years ago, but He knew me much longer than I have known Him. He knew me, and He knew you, while yet in your mother’s womb. He has pursued us by His love over all these years.
I have discovered over these years, and He has proved to me, His love. He has proved to me His keeping power.
When we think of it, we can look at ourselves and say, “How is it that I’m here today, worshipping the Lord, looking to the Lord, when the world has been against me? This world system, my own flesh, and the evil one have all been against me. How is it that we are here today?”
It is by the power—the conquering power—of His love and His keeping power that we are here today. How wonderful. How wonderful.
It’s a miracle, brothers and sisters. When I look out, that’s what I see. I see miracles sitting in all these chairs, and the miracle in my own life. It’s a miracle of God’s grace.
If we would turn to Colossians. It’s interesting because, over these past number of weeks, I’ve heard these Scriptures read. You’ll hear Scriptures today that we are all very familiar with, which can be dangerous, you know?
Unless the Spirit of God enlivens the Word to us, it just becomes sort of rote. We read it, and we have read it hundreds of times. We want to trust the Spirit of God that He would enliven that Word to us and really bring life to us—His life to us—in a fuller way.
So, in Colossians 1, I’m going to read from verses 9 through 13.
Paul, speaking to the Colossians, says:
For this reason we also, since the day we heard of it, do not cease to pray for you,
and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him,
being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
strengthened with all might,