Psalms 138:8 KJV
The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
This is both the expectation and the prayer of the earnest believer.
Our hope is in this promise.
What joy and fulfillment when we are finally perfected!
Our prayers are always toward the fulfillment of this promise.
We recognize our frailties and weaknesses, yea even our sins. We sense, and the more we seek the Lord the more we sense it, our unworthiness to name the name of Christ. Yet our God has promised to perfect us and to this end we do groan, longing for that day of final and complete perfection before the Lord.
And yet, at the same time, this is the battle our flesh most resists. The thing that is our soul's desire is the very thing our flesh hates. This perfection requires the mortifying of the flesh. The old man must be crucified to make way for the new man. And just as in Christ's day, crucifixion is a slow and painful process. The victim's physical pain would be forever relieved if only they would submit to the inevitable and relax but the survival instinct of the flesh will not allow that. So the victim battles for breath. Each gasp of air is painful to receive and only extends the whole experience of pain that much longer. So we would be so much better off of the old man would just surrender to death already. But he can't do that. He fights on, he struggles for life and breath and for control over the soul and spirit. It is inevitable that the flesh will be mortified when we finally stand in the presence of the Lord; still it fights on for another moment of control, of sin, of fleshly passion.
Oh for that day when I will be perfected!
The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
This is both the expectation and the prayer of the earnest believer.
Our hope is in this promise.
What joy and fulfillment when we are finally perfected!
Our prayers are always toward the fulfillment of this promise.
We recognize our frailties and weaknesses, yea even our sins. We sense, and the more we seek the Lord the more we sense it, our unworthiness to name the name of Christ. Yet our God has promised to perfect us and to this end we do groan, longing for that day of final and complete perfection before the Lord.
And yet, at the same time, this is the battle our flesh most resists. The thing that is our soul's desire is the very thing our flesh hates. This perfection requires the mortifying of the flesh. The old man must be crucified to make way for the new man. And just as in Christ's day, crucifixion is a slow and painful process. The victim's physical pain would be forever relieved if only they would submit to the inevitable and relax but the survival instinct of the flesh will not allow that. So the victim battles for breath. Each gasp of air is painful to receive and only extends the whole experience of pain that much longer. So we would be so much better off of the old man would just surrender to death already. But he can't do that. He fights on, he struggles for life and breath and for control over the soul and spirit. It is inevitable that the flesh will be mortified when we finally stand in the presence of the Lord; still it fights on for another moment of control, of sin, of fleshly passion.
Oh for that day when I will be perfected!
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