Psalm 27:4

Psalm 27:4 A Personal Prayer

 

“One thing I have desired of The LORD. That I will seek: that I may dwell in The House of The LORD all the days of my life. To behold the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His Temple.” NKJV

 

“One thing I seek LORD; my desire; that I may dwell in Your presence all the days of my life: to behold Your beauty and to receive of Your presence in my life.” My personal prayer.

 

When David wrote this psalm he did not have the HOLY SPIRIT living in him and he only had the books of Moses (The Torah) and maybe Joshua and some of the Judges; he should have know the story of Ruth, his ancestor. They had the Tabernacle, the temple was not built until after his death. So his desire was for something he did not have. The only presence of The LORD was with the Ark in the Tabernacle.

 

Since CHRIST rose from the dead and ascended to the Right Hand of GOD we have His SPIRIT who not only seals us to the day of salvation but lives in us making us living temples of The Living GOD. The SPIRIT that raised CHRIST from the dead dwells in us so that we are always in GOD’s presence.

 

We have His Word; representative of JESUS The Living WORD; which is living and sharper than any two edged sword. Given to us by His inspiration through men who obeyed Him to write as He led them.

 

We have everything that David desired and prayed for!

 

And yet! So?

 

And yet most people who call themselves Christian do not know GOD personally, they do not know His Word, The Bible, and His SPIRIT does not dwell in them. Most people who call themselves Christian want the good life not the Good News. The Good News comes at a price, our will! The good life only costs money and maybe some time. They go to meetings where they give money and a little of their time and they receive special anointing to live the good life. They mix in a little religion by trying to stop sinning; they drink less, try to curb their sexual appetite, maybe vote conservative, support a local church with attendance and money. But, they do not seek GOD’s presence and Will for their life, they want to live their life by their own dictates. They want to be good, if possible, and be blessed by GOD and the world. They want to avoid GOD’s judgment and eternal damnation.

 

So what did JESUS say was the cost of GOD’s free salvation from eternal damnation? Total surrender of our will, just as He did, He came as a man to show us how to receive GOD’s forgiveness and eternal life! He showed us that by being obedient to the Father’s Will we can overcome temptation, sin, death and hell!

 

Our problem is our current understanding of free and free will. When we talk of GOD’s free gift of salvation we think of it as a birthday or Christmas present. Salvation is free because we cannot earn it, no matter what we do or how we live our life we cannot gain salvation from eternal damnation. We have to receive it from GOD, it is free but not like a present, it comes at a cost, the exchange of our free will for GOD’s Will!

 

GOD created us with a free will, just like all living creatures. That’s why lucifer was able to become the devil, he exercised free will to rebel. So do we, every moment of everyday! We chose to obey GOD or not to obey GOD, we chose to obey GOD in some things but not in other things. The choice is ours and that is the cost of salvation, JESUS chose to obey GOD and go to the cross knowing the personal cost to Himself. He made that choice before the foundations of the earth were laid!

 

Free will is like a driver’s license, a driver’s license gives the holder the privilege to drive a motor vehicle, but there are costs, responsibilities, requirements and ramifications that go with the privilege. Free will comes with costs, requirements, responsibilities and ramifications! But free will only has two choices – fully obey GOD or not fully obey GOD!

 

If JESUS had yielded to any temptation before He went to the cross, than the purpose of His going to the cross would have been a failure. Only as a man who fully obeyed GOD could He take on the punishment for the sin nature and behavior of all of humanity! Only as GOD could He bear it! That is why the free gift of salvation is so precious! JESUS had to live in the flesh as a human and as GOD. The fullness of The GODHEAD in the flesh of humanity became sin for us and took our place under GOD’s just judgment of us.

 

That is why our free will has to be totally surrendered to GOD! It is not an easy task but it has to be done. We have to yield our will to GOD’s will if we are going to be a Christian and receive the free gift of salvation in CHRIST JESUS. Otherwise we are just being religious and might be those who miss out on eternity in GOD’s Kingdom!

 

Carefully study Matthew 7:12-29 and John 17! Understand what it is that JESUS is teaching us!