Seeking Jesus First - May 16, 2023

Have you ever thought about the conditions for receiving from God? God in heaven, who loves all of His creation so much that He sent His Son to save the world, has conditions we have to meet in order to receive from Him…

We are familiar with Romans 10 which talks about hearing, believing and calling on His name, but did you know that being willing to receive God’s words was a prerequisite for being able to receive from God?

If a person is so hard-headed, stiff-necked and stubborn that he will not even listen or open his heart to hear the words of God, there is no way for them to receive from God.

Solomon gives us some insight into this when He writes about receiving the words of his father David.

“My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.” (Proverbs 2:1–9, NKJV)

• “If you receive my words”
• “If you treasure what I tell you to do”
• “If you lean in to hear and learn my wisdom”
• “If you apply your heart to deeper understanding”
• “If you cry out for discernment”
• “If you lift up your voice and ask for understanding”
• “If you seek after it as for treasure”

These are the conditions that “the wisest man who ever lived” (before Jesus) spoke of to receive wisdom.

What if we look at these as principles or conditions that help us to receive from God? Bear with me as I tweak these a little to apply to The New Covenant and to receiving from God what He wants to freely give us through Christ Jesus (And has freely given to us through Christ Jesus).

• We are attentive to the word of God.
• We treasure what He has said.
• We lean into Christ Jesus for greater intimacy so that we may know Him and receive His wisdom.
• As we grow closer to Him, we apply our heart to believe and understand everything that He says and does.
• We are attentive to Holy Spirit as we seek after true discernment.
• We ask in faith knowing that we will receive wisdom and understanding from God liberally.
• We count our past as dung and willingly “sell all that we have” so that we can “buy the field” where the true “great pearl” of wisdom is found.

Yes, I know that believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth produces righteousness and salvation in us.

That’s what this is.

We exalt the word of God over “religious” tradition.

We exalt the word of God over theology.

We exalt the word of God over our past.

We exalt the word of God over our soul (thinking, choosing, feeling).

We believe it and confess it just as we believe in and confess Christ Jesus.

We humbly exalt what God says in His word over every area of our life.

Men in the Old Testament called themselves worms, but Jesus changed everything. We don’t call ourselves worms. There is no wisdom of God in that. We call ourselves new creatures. There is wisdom in this. We don’t call ourselves sick or sinners. There is no wisdom in that. We call ourselves healed and righteous. There is wisdom in this.

Wisdom is not found in what the devil or darkness is trying to do. Wisdom is found in what God says about us. Wisdom is found in what God has done and is doing.

We receive the word of God and I keep His word in my mouth.