Your Thoughts, Your Words, Your Ways, or HIS?*

      Abraham Lincoln gave a famous speech at Gettysburg and part of what he said to describe the United States' republic was "a government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth." But is this what we really want? By the people?

     Scriptures tell us that the welfare and deliverance of a nation does not come from the people: "I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and he delivered me from all my fears...This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles...Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the LORD...The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles." (Ps. 34:1-17, excerpt, see also Ps. 50:15). David, the psalmist, wrote that a man who desires to live many days should keep his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking guile, to depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it (v. 12-14). The psalm says that the LORD "is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." (v. 18). The LORD looks for those who fear Him, whose heart is humble before Him and repentant. A man's thoughts become his words, and his words become his actions. The LORD is not looking for those who walk in their own righteousness, which is as filthy rags, but in His righteousness. It is the LORD who saves and delivers out of trouble.

     In Psalm 51, David, although he is a king, turns to the LORD, with a humble, broken and dependent heart. David prayed and sang: "Deliver me from my bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O LORD, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else I would give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." (Psa. 51:14-18, excerpt). The LORD said of David, 'He is a man after mine own heart,' because David understood what the LORD desired from David's heart. Second Chronicles 7:14 tells the people of God who are called by His name to turn from their wicked ways. In our flesh dwells no good thing.

     The prophet Isaiah wrote, "For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I will dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." (Isa. 57:15). The LORD who dwells in the highest place, dwells with those who are humble and contrite. We are promised to be seated with Him in the heavenly places.

     While we are told with whom the LORD desires to dwell, there are those who cannot depend on His deliverance: "But unto the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and casteth my words behind thee...Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; and thou slanderest thine own mother's son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes." (Ps. 50:14-21). The LORD is talking about people who speak His statutes and covenant but are wicked and unrepentant. The LORD said that we think that He is like us. The LORD has said that His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. Do we think that we are "I AM"? Our nation and Israel, the two nations on earth that officially declare God, are experiencing a day of trouble, but we are not calling on the LORD with humble and contrite hearts. Whose thoughts, words and ways should we be focused upon? Our own, or His? It is only His thoughts, Words and Ways that bring change.

     Some words being said today, even by those who call themselves Christians, are not the Words of God. Racism and anti-Semitism and violence have filled the speech of many. Jesus said this: "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." (Mt. 12:33-37). Jesus said: "I tell you, Nay: but except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." (Lk. 13:5). He then told a parable about a fig tree planted in a man's vineyard that had not produced fruit. The man said to the caretaker of the vineyard to cut down the tree since it depletes the ground to grow but doesn't produce the expected fruit. The caretaker of the vineyard asked permission to dig around the tree, dung it to fertilize it and then see if it will bear fruit. If not, then it can be cut down. If you're going through trouble, maybe God is looking for fruit that is not there yet.

     Jesus warned that there would be those who expect to enter into the kingdom of God, but they will find themselves shut out. When they knock to enter saying that they are familiar with the master, the master will say to them, "I know you not whence you are. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity." They will see others entering, but they themselves will be thrust out. Jesus said, "Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." (Lk. 13:24-30, excerpt). These are sobering thoughts. What a terrible thing to believe that one will enter the kingdom only to find that they are excluded. Even Jerusalem, the city of God, was familiar with the Savior and saw Him day to day, heard Him teach in many places, but when He called to them, they would not accept Him as the Savior sent by God to them (v. 31-35). It is not our own thoughts, words and ways that will cause us to enter into the kingdom of God, but His.

     Through His prophet, the LORD called out to us: "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:6-9). The LORD said that like the rain and snow that comes down from heaven to water the earth so that it can bring forth seed and bud for the sower and eater: "So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isa. 55:6-11). If God said it, He will do it. These are not just words in a book, but His words are words that produce according to His will, and they will never pass away.

     Man seeks to build things for God, whose throne is heaven and whose footstool is the earth. God's hand has already created these things. This is what the LORD desires instead: "...but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." (Isa. 66:1-2). There are those who sacrifice to the LORD but give it no consideration of reverence or value, thereby turning sacred concepts into abominations: "Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not." (v. 3-4, see also Prov. 6:12-19). When the LORD speaks, His Words become established. As He prophesied, a nation was born at once as the earth brought it forth in a day, in the same way as a birth must come at the end of the time of a labor for a mother. Israel, after 2,000 years, became a nation again in a day, and the Hebrew language, once dead, was revived. The LORD sent forth His word, and it was accomplished. Will we choose our thoughts, words and ways, or His? 

*Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 8/18/24 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on Dr. Stevenson's Facebook page. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook.