What about you? Are there any "wicked ways" about you? Here is a spiritual checklist to help you examine yourself in the light of Scripture. Be honest with yourself ~ for, God already knows the truth about you. And if you happen to be one who imagines that "believing in Jesus" is all you need to be holy; well, there really is nothing that can be done for you ~ until and unless God may be able to convict your heart and humble you and lead you to embrace the truth of His Word. As you read through the following checklist, everything appearing in blue lettering represents "wicked ways:"
- Do you truly love the Word of God? How often do you actually pick up the Bible and read it? How often do you do more than merely read the Word, but you furthermore apply yourself to study it? Or, do you seldom read the Bible and almost never apply yourself seriously to study it?
- Do you often meditate upon passages of Scripture during your waking hours? Do you oftentimes pray and ask the Lord to reveal to you the meaning of some passage(s) of Scripture? Do you in other ways seek to understand the teachings of Scripture? Or, do you seldom meditate upon particular Scriptures, while you moreover excuse your lack of effort or interest in the Bible, because, as you claim, "the Bible is hard to understand?"
- Do you make decisions in your life based upon what you understand about the teachings of Scripture? In other words, are you striving to live in obedience to the Word of God? Or, do you simply try to be a good person and do the best you can ~ without any conscious reference to judge your own decisions according to Scripture?
- In speaking with other people, is your conversation "seasoned with salt?" Meaning, is your conversation with other people generally centered around the Scriptures? Or, is there seldom any mention of Christ and His Word, in your communications with others?
- Are you faithfully teaching the Bible to your children? Do you regularly or at least frequently set aside time for family Bible study and prayer? Or, is that an area where you are seriously lacking?
- On average, how much time do you spend in purposeful prayer each day? No, do not count the 15 seconds or so that you (may) pray over your meals. How often do you pray for more than 15 minutes at any one time? Or, do you almost never pray for more than a couple of minutes or so at any time? Does the thought of actually praying for half an hour or more seem extraordinary to you?
- Are you praying daily for your own family members? Is there anyone ~ outside of your own immediate family ~ that you are earnestly praying for? Or, do you only occasionally pray for members of your own family ~ and even less often for anyone else, specifically?
- Would you say that you are experiencing God answering your prayers on a regular and ongoing basis? Or, has it been a long time since you could point to something that happened, which you knew was in answer to your own praying?
- On average, how many times in one week do you go out of your way to bear explicit witness of Jesus Christ, to total strangers? (Short, generic statements like: "God bless you," or "Have a blessed day," etc., do not count.) Or, do you only rarely dare to speak to strangers about their soul? and, then, only when they may say something that seems to give you the "green light" to go ahead and mention Christ to them?
- How often do you dare to tell a total stranger that he or she is in danger of going to hell, unless they repent and turn wholeheartedly to Christ? Or, is that something that you almost never do?
- How often do you share, with someone you don't know very well, what Christ means to you? Or, you do rarely do that?
- Do you approach each and every day with a determination to witness to as many people as you can ~ regardless of whether or not it may seem "convenient" to do so? Or, is your attitude to just "wait on God" to open wide a door of opportunity when He may want to ~ and then you will speak up?
- Are you striving to serve the interests of Jesus Christ, in connection in some way with the local Body of Christ in your area? Or, have you convinced yourself that everybody else is too much of a hypocrite for you to become involved with them?
- Are you striving diligently to be an instrument of real Revival wherever you go? Or, are you pretty much just going along with the flow?
Yes, Revival entails a lot of work. And there are no shortcuts ~ and no substitutes. A whole lot of people are being misled to believe that doing good works is a substitute for receiving God's power in Revival. But that is a trick of the devil to keep the Church from receiving a real move of God's Spirit. Besides, the flesh has very little objection to doing things which appeal to a sense of self-righteousness. Good works (feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, building homes or churches, etc.) can never take the place of sincere repentance and complete obedience to to God's Word and Spirit.
Many are familiar with the passage of Scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14, which states:
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; THEN will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.But we can never hope to meet those conditions, unless we meet all of them. Though we may pray for Revival; yet, unless we humble ourselves and each of us examine our own life ~ and then "turn from our wicked ways:" we otherwise deceive ourselves even by means of our own praying!! We can actually harden our own heart, if we do not truly humble ourselves before the Lord and allow Him to rule over us.
Even listening to good preaching, or reading spiritually challenging blogs, etc., can have a hardening effect upon our hearts ~ if we will not heed the call to true and thorough repentance and, so, present our own self wholly, entirely, to Christ. With God it truly is all, or nothing.
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