Compelling Love

A beautiful worship song and prayer is “Be Glorified”:

In my life Lord, be glorified, be glorified
In my life, Lord, be glorified today.

David in Psalm 86 exemplifies what it means to glorify God with one’s life. He prays for God to unite his heart to fear and glorify His name:

Psalm 86
¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord;
I will walk in Your truth;
Unite my heart to fear Your name.
¹² I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And I will glorify Your name forevermore.

To glorify God with an undivided heart requires waging a daily spiritual battle. Paul refers to this spiritual warfare in his parting words to Timothy: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

2 Timothy 4
Paul’s Valedictory
⁶ For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. ⁷ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. ⁸ Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.

In 2 Corinthians 10, Paul describes this spiritual warfare as “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ”.

2 Corinthians 10
The Spiritual War
³ For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, ⁵ casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶ and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

To help believers in fighting this good fight, Paul lists the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5. We can use these descriptions to test and identify the source of the thoughts and impulses that come into our minds before receiving them as our own. Thoughts and impulses that have the characteristics of these “works of the flesh” are from the enemy of our souls and need to be rejected. Only those thoughts and impulses that have the characteristics of the “fruits of the Spirit” are to be received as our own. This is how we walk in the Spirit.

Galatians 5
Walking in the Spirit
¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. ²⁴ And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶ Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Paul emphasizes the need for sexual morality in 1 Corinthians 6, if we are to glorify God in body and in Spirit.

1 Corinthians 6
Glorify God in Body and Spirit
¹⁸ Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? ²⁰ For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

In Philippians 4, Paul urges his beloved brethren to stand fast in the Lord by rejoicing in the Lord and praying together, by meditating on those things that are pure, lovely and praiseworthy, and by doing those things which they have learned and received and seen in him.

Philippians 4
Be United, Joyful, and in Prayer
⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
⁵ Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.
⁶ Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; ⁷ and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Meditate on These Things
⁸ Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. ⁹ The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.

King David learned to fight this good fight, as shown by his repentant prayer in Psalm 51. He was on his way to glorifying God with an undivided heart.

Psalm 51
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence,
And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,
And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

David Krause, dhkrause@neteze.com, https://compellinglove.net/  3/13/2016