Silas
Beloved of All
Your prayer expresses a deep hunger to live close to the Lord, and that desire itself is evidence of His grace at work in you. The confidence you speak of to enter the holiest place by the blood of Jesus is exactly what Scripture holds out to us. Hebrews 10:19 and Hebrews 4:15 and 16 tell us that because Jesus is our sympathetic High Priest forever, who shed His own blood and rose and ascended, we may come freely to receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need. Hebrews 9:13 and 14 reminds us that it is that sprinkled blood which cleanses the conscience from dead works so that we can actually serve the living God, not trying to earn His favor but receiving from Him.
You pictured this well as a branch receiving sap from the vine and as a child receiving life without striving to earn it. That is the life John 15 speaks of. When we abide in Christ, His life flows into us quite naturally and fruit follows. The goal of that life together with Him is what you quoted from 1 Timothy 1:5, love from a pure heart and a faith without contradiction and a conscience that is clear before God.
As you seek to grow in that, remember not to offer the Lord your life and then quietly take it back, and not to ask for wisdom and then decide whether you will follow it. A double mind in asking will not receive. The Lord calls us to walk patiently on the path He has set, even when it requires denying the flesh and taking up the cross. Temptation always whispers the opposite. It suggests that God is holding back something good from you and that you can have fulfillment right now if you will just turn aside from His way and indulge the flesh. The man who is joyful in the fullness of the Spirit already has what the tempted man is searching for in the wrong place. Every person when tempted is drawn away by his own desires. Stay on the Lord's path and trust His timing.
That is where true wisdom shows itself. There is a wisdom that is earthly and sensual. It does not come from above. It leads to envy and strife and confusion and every evil work, even when people boast that they are wise. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. It sows peace and reaps righteousness. Wisdom is calling out in the open, inviting all to come. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. To fear the Lord and hate evil, to love His Word and keep sound wisdom and discretion before your eyes, is life to your soul and grace about your neck. Then you will walk safely and your foot will not stumble, and length of days and riches and honor in their true sense belong to that way, because her ways are pleasantness and all her paths are peace.
So continue to study the Word so that you handle it accurately and are not led into error that would misrepresent our perfect God. Continue to seek the Holy Spirit's strength to know the breadth and depth of Christ's love, and wisdom to understand the Lord's will and to walk in a manner worthy of Him, bearing fruit and making wise plans that are actually carried out for the needs around you. Keep simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you, as James 4:8 promises, and ask Him to renew first love where it has grown cold and to help you tend the garden He has placed in your care.
I join you in praying for clarity and order rather than confusion, for happy grace in daily duties, for fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and with His people, for faith and assurance, for the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus' name, and for the restoration of joy that leads sinners to turn to Him. And I join you in asking for protection from temptation and from the evil one, from stumbling blocks and wrongdoing, from fear and lies and deception, and for the ministering care the Lord promises to His own. He is the one Mediator between God and man, our Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and in His name we have confidence to come and to remain.
You pictured this well as a branch receiving sap from the vine and as a child receiving life without striving to earn it. That is the life John 15 speaks of. When we abide in Christ, His life flows into us quite naturally and fruit follows. The goal of that life together with Him is what you quoted from 1 Timothy 1:5, love from a pure heart and a faith without contradiction and a conscience that is clear before God.
As you seek to grow in that, remember not to offer the Lord your life and then quietly take it back, and not to ask for wisdom and then decide whether you will follow it. A double mind in asking will not receive. The Lord calls us to walk patiently on the path He has set, even when it requires denying the flesh and taking up the cross. Temptation always whispers the opposite. It suggests that God is holding back something good from you and that you can have fulfillment right now if you will just turn aside from His way and indulge the flesh. The man who is joyful in the fullness of the Spirit already has what the tempted man is searching for in the wrong place. Every person when tempted is drawn away by his own desires. Stay on the Lord's path and trust His timing.
That is where true wisdom shows itself. There is a wisdom that is earthly and sensual. It does not come from above. It leads to envy and strife and confusion and every evil work, even when people boast that they are wise. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. It sows peace and reaps righteousness. Wisdom is calling out in the open, inviting all to come. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. To fear the Lord and hate evil, to love His Word and keep sound wisdom and discretion before your eyes, is life to your soul and grace about your neck. Then you will walk safely and your foot will not stumble, and length of days and riches and honor in their true sense belong to that way, because her ways are pleasantness and all her paths are peace.
So continue to study the Word so that you handle it accurately and are not led into error that would misrepresent our perfect God. Continue to seek the Holy Spirit's strength to know the breadth and depth of Christ's love, and wisdom to understand the Lord's will and to walk in a manner worthy of Him, bearing fruit and making wise plans that are actually carried out for the needs around you. Keep simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you, as James 4:8 promises, and ask Him to renew first love where it has grown cold and to help you tend the garden He has placed in your care.
I join you in praying for clarity and order rather than confusion, for happy grace in daily duties, for fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and with His people, for faith and assurance, for the proclamation of repentance and forgiveness in Jesus' name, and for the restoration of joy that leads sinners to turn to Him. And I join you in asking for protection from temptation and from the evil one, from stumbling blocks and wrongdoing, from fear and lies and deception, and for the ministering care the Lord promises to His own. He is the one Mediator between God and man, our Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, and in His name we have confidence to come and to remain.
