Thru the Bible - Minute with McGee on Oneplace.com

“Then spoke Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord.” Now could you ask for anything more than that, friends? He says, “I am with you.” The Lord Jesus said, “Lo, I am with you until the end of the age,” and that rested upon obedience, you see. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel.” And He didn’t say I will be with you if you sit upon your haunches and you don’t do anything for God. He said, “I am with you when you obey Me.” And that is the place of blessing. And we can have fellowship with Him. You can’t improve on that. You can’t have anything better than that.

This prophet Haggai carried around with him a measuring stick or ruler, a yardstick. He measured off everything because they were going to rebuild the temple, and you need to measure things off. And you need to get right down to the earth; right where the rubber meets the road, friends. And so, this man has a hammer in one hand and a saw in the other. He’s ready to go to work. And my friend, if you’re not ready to go to work, Bible study really is not going to help you very much. And if you’re not willing to do what God wants you to do, whatever that might be. And God believes in work! This is the gospel of work.

I’m wondering if you’ve been going your way, you may have thought it was right. God says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man,” but God says, “Man’s ways lead to death.” God says, “Hear My word. Come unto Me. I am the door. I am the way. Come this way.” It’s just that simple that you’ll hear His way. And if you’re a child of God and you’re out of the will of God; you’re not listening to the Word of God—therefore, not going the way of God. There’s no satisfaction in your heart. You don’t have to tell me that; I know something about it. I tried that. It won’t work. God says to you, “Consider your ways.”

How wonderful it would be if Christians, not just on Sunday, but every day of the week, would put God first in everything that they do. God says, “I can’t bless you,” I don’t mean now materially, “unless you do that.” This is very practical, very real. We’re dealing with God now in reality. You can’t fudge with Him. You can’t put up a front with Him. My friend, you have to be real with Him. Are you putting Him first in your life? And if you are, God says, “I’ll bless you. But if you’re not, I won’t bless you.” Isn’t that reasonable? Isn’t that practical? Isn’t that workable, my beloved?

Tomorrow when you go to the office, tomorrow when you go to the workshop, tomorrow when you go to school, what are your reasons, what’s your motives? Are you attempting to live so that tomorrow God can take pleasure in what you’re doing? Will He be glorified tomorrow in your life? You don’t have to go as a missionary for God to be glorified in your life. He can be glorified in the workshop, if you’re doing what He wants you to do, if that’s His will for you. This is practical. This is something that you gear to the life, my beloved. This is something that walks in shoe leather. God said, “I’ll take pleasure in it.”

I hear so many people complaining today, and these are good days to complain. Oh, look at what’s happening in the world. You’d better keep your eyes open. Lots more things are going to happen. But my friend, I would rather live today and get out the Word of God than to live at any other period in the history of this world. I say it’s thrilling today to get out the Word of God. These complaining and criticizing Christians today, God have mercy on them in a world that’s on fire today. But thank God, we can get out the Word of God today! And it’s thrilling.

Do you believe God loves you? That’s one thing that if you’re not sure of, ask Him to make it real to you. I had to do that, and He made it real to me, and He’ll make it real to you. You ask Him to make His love for you real. Whether you have that assurance or not, the Word of God says that He loves you. And He loved you when you were a sinner and, since He loved you when you were a sinner and saved you, oh, He loves you now. These problems that you have you can take them to Him and know that since He loves you He’s going to give you the solution.

You can’t keep God from loving you. You can get out of that love. And my illustration (and I’ll use it again) is the example of the sun shining. Now here today it’s shining outside. And you can’t keep it from shining. I can’t stop it. But I’m not in the sunshine. You see, I’m inside right now. Now you can put a roof over you of sin. And you can put a roof over you of stepping out of the will of God. You can put a roof over you of indifference. And you’ll not feel the warmth or the love of God in your life. But you can’t keep Him from loving you. So what he says here, “Keep yourselves out there in the sunshine of His love.” Let His love flood your heart and flood your life.

“Keep yourselves in the love of God.” Now we need to recognize that God loves the believer. All the way through this little epistle we’ve had the word “beloved.” He calls believers “beloved.” That doesn’t mean that He loves them or they love Him. It simply means they’re beloved of God” I close many times with the word “beloved.” And I don’t mean I love you, because I don’t know a lot of you. I know a great many of you and I can truly say, “I love you in the Lord.” But very frankly, I say it because you’re beloved because God loves you. You see, you can’t keep God from loving you.

Prayer has in it just more than excitement and exaltation. I think prayer is a real ministry and also a ministry that is not easy. Paul said to the Romans, you remember—he asked them that they pray for him, “that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.” And that’s Romans 15:30. We’re to pray like that. And then Paul again says in Romans 8:26, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us.

Praying in the Holy Spirit, I think, is a little different than handing in a grocery list to God about what we want. A great many things that we talk about we want, we want. We’re “gimme, gimme, gimme” is the way our prayers go. And don’t misunderstand. Petition, as it’s called in theology, is part of prayer. But how about praise? How about worship? Our prayer should be an adoration and praise to Almighty God. It’s amazing how many things we can ask God for; it’s amazing how few things we can thank Him for, and how little of praise goes up to Him. Have you thanked Him for this day? Oh, just have a good day and thank Him for it. That is the thing that we need to do today.

Paul and Peter urge that in the last days you’re to study the Word of God. Now you will recall that both Paul and Peter—Paul in his swan song, which happens to be Second Timothy—he said, “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” You’re to study. And that “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God.” In other words, the recourse that you and I have as a child of God in these days is the Word of God.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace ….” If you have those things in your life, you’re a child of God. Why all the conflicts today and the frustrations that we Christians have? We’ve got two natures, friends. And you remember the psalmist says we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Man is a very complicated creature. A man that walks this earth with a body that is taken out of the dirt but a man that has a capacity for God. How tremendous. A man that wants to worship God and serve God and a man that can become a son of God through faith in Jesus Christ. What a prospect is there.

Now he tells the Romans, “Ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the spirit of God dwells in you.” The Spirit of God dwells in you since you’re children of God. That’s the mark that you’re a child of God. The Holy Spirit is not something that you get ten days after you’re converted. If you don’t get it at the moment you’re converted, you’re not converted, you see. Because the Holy Spirit regenerates. And born of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit now is there, not only to help you but to interpret to you the Word of God. And the Word of God’s no longer foolishness to you because a new world is open to you. A new life has been opened to you.

“But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In other words, you’re to know what the Word of God has to say. I do not believe that you can stand in this world for God and not trip up unless you have a knowledge of the Word of God today. It is essential. I have seen individual after individual, both men and women, trip up and fall. And you can attribute (every one that I know about) you can attribute to a lack of a knowledge of the Word of God. How important it is for us to know what the Word of God has to say.

You and I are creatures; He’s the Creator. What right have you and I really to question anything that He does? Now don’t misunderstand me. If you think I piously accept everything that comes my way, you’re wrong. I want to know why He lets this happen to me and why this took place and all that sort of thing. Maybe you do that. But we need to recognize that God is the Creator. He’s also our Redeemer. He’s also the One who loves us. But our God is high, holy. And He’s a just, righteous God. He never makes any mistakes. He never does anything wrong. Everything He does is right. And you and I can trust Him.

Paul says, “… being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” It’s to know that God is not difficult to get along with. He’s not making it hard for me; He’s not making it hard for you. He today wants you to know that He hasn’t anything against you now. You’ve trusted Christ, know you’re a sinner. The world may point its finger at you, reject you, but He’s accepted you. And He loves you. But may I say? He wants to give you that peace. Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love God … those that are called according to his purpose.” How wonderful that is.

Why does a God of love permit cancer, you see? May I say to you, cancer is the consequence of sin. God did not give you cancer. Disease has come to man because of sin. Now the mercy of God, He sees the misery that sin has caused and the mercy of God goes out to men because of the consequence of sin. And God is rich in mercy. So if you come to Him as a sinner, accept His salvation, He’ll save you by grace. And then He’s rich in mercy. He’ll bring you comfort in that time. He’ll comfort your heart. He will help you and you can trust Him at a time like that.

So “God so loved the world,” and He loved the world with a merciful love, a love that had a concern and care for them. And because of that, He gave His only begotten Son. And now God, on the basis of this sinner not presenting anything to Him, but God now on a righteous basis can save him if he’ll come to Him and accept His salvation. And that’s called the grace of God. “By grace are ye saved.” Now you see the grace of God has to do with the sins of man. That is, God has provided a Savior who’s paid the penalty for sins. Now on that basis, God saves and that’s the grace of God.

Now the love of God is that He loves all of mankind. “God so loved the world.” It’s not His will that any should perish. And He today loves every human being, and He has no favorites at all. He made it very clear to Moses that He didn’t even answer His prayer because He was Moses. But God says, “I’ll show mercy to whom I will show mercy.” God says, “I do it because I find the explanation in Myself, I treat all My creatures alike in that sense.” So that God loves you today. And He loves you so much, if you and I today knew how much He loved us, actually, it’d break our hearts, we’d be in tears.