“My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.” (James 2:1)
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” (Psalms 51:17)
As we stood and prayed today, as we usually do at the end of the church service, and the preacher is praying for the souls of men to be saved; I found myself praying for only a selected few. Those selected few were identified by me, because I had associated their outward appearance with those, or as those, who had the need to be saved.
Of course the Bible says in 1 Samuel 16:7:
“…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”
Who am I to say, by looking at men with my natural eyes, who needs to be saved? And, if I had the ability to look at the heart of men – would I pray for certain ones to be saved? Or would I have the heart of God, who is, as 2 Peter 3:9 describes Him:
“… longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
And while we stood praying, I was corrected by God in the matter of thinking of those who I associated their faces in connection with certain sins or faults, as those who I thought needed salvation, instead just praying that the Holy Spirit of God would be dealing with the souls of the men who were gathered there who did have the need of salvation. Those who were there with the need – and God knew they had the need; because He knew who had come with the perfect, right sacrifices. He knew who was there with a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart.
While I was standing, calling out names in my mind, God was drawing souls unto Himself. Souls that needed compassion and mercy; souls that I believe were truly being drawn. Because Jesus Christ had truly been lifted up; and Jesus has said in John 12:32, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
And we know that He was the only true Sacrifice. The Perfect Sacrifice!
And I truly believe that until a man has been broken both in spirit and in heart, and has a contrite heart, that he will not call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again, who am I to say that the faces which I have seen, and considered to be doing just fine, don’t have a need, or the need, for a Savior as well.
The same James, who wrote one of our text verses, says in James 4:12, “There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?”
From this day forward, I desire to pray with the souls of men in mind who have a need for peace with God. Peace with God is the only cure for a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart.
While I pray, I will try to keep in mind what Romans 2:11 teaches; “For there is no respect of persons with God.”
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