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Hypocrites - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) December 6, 2024
Jesus did not like many of the religious people of His day. He said that the Pharisees and Sadducees made a show of observing the Law of Moses but lacked love in their hearts. He called them hypocrites in Mark 7:6-7 - He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.'
Those of us who believe in and follow Christ cannot afford to follow in the footsteps of those He despised and expect to enter heaven. We cannot use our mouths to proclaim He is Lord but ignore His teachings and the instructions of His Father, God Almighty. He expressly warned in Matthew 7:21-23 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Proverbs 20:27 tells us God sees straight into the spirit of every person therefore no hypocrite can deceive or lie to Him. We are even told that hypocrites cannot come before the Lord in Job 13:16. He will not indulge their petitions and that says a lot because the only people whose prayers His ears are closed to are the wicked. These individuals will not have their names in the Book of Life and no amount of intercession on their behalf will change God's determination about them, until they choose to change.
The wonderful thing is that God is in the business of forgiving those who turn from their wicked ways. He is an expert in forgiving and forgetting the sins of those who genuinely repent and choose to behave differently from that moment on.
If the Spirit of the Lord is burdening your heart and pointing to areas in your life where hypocrisy reigns, today is the day to rid yourself of that issue. Allow the Lord to reveal the hypocrisy you've been carrying so you can drop that burden at His feet. Yes, this process may hurt. After all, nobody enjoys confronting their shortcomings. Nevertheless, God reveals problems to redeem His people. So, this is not the time to beat yourself up. This is the time to accept what the Lord highlights as an issue, repent for it, and ask God for a strategy to not return to that sin. The Lord is faithful and has promised to save all who call on Him (Joel 2:32). Let Him save you as today is the day of His salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).
Acts 3:19 - Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord...
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From L105 - Good to see you again and thank you for your response.
It is interesting that you believe you have heard not to pray for this person. Given that you yourself noted you are unsure whether that instruction was from the Lord, I have to go back to the beginning of my initial interaction with you today.
When you say you're a Christian, have you given your life to Christ and received the Holy Spirit? I ask these questions because they are crucial for discerning between spirits. And in your case, determining whether you are hearing from God the Father or whether your flesh is speaking to you loudly.
Regardless of your answer to my follow up inquiries, I pray that the lesson from today's message will resonate with you - it is important to prayerfully seek and allow the Lord to show us the parts of us that display hypocrisy so He can remove that from us. Matthew 7:21-23 highlights that a lot of us think we are Christians, but alas, God doesn't see us that way and no amount of Christian cosplay can change that till we decide to change ourselves per His word. Only then can we be in right standing with Him and avoid becoming the wicked, whom He detests.
The wonderful thing is that God is invested in bringing each of us to heaven. Thus, He wants to fix the condition of our hearts, which impacts the choices we make, thoughts we have and the things we say. As we submit to Him, He will do a transforming work, making us more like Jesus and less like who we were in our Before Christ days.
I pray you will allow the Lord to have His way, IJMN Amen.