Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the Lord,
And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
When we abandon our self-will and desire God to govern all that we are, He takes over and transitions us into an eternal creation filled and governed by Him. This magnificant new life is one of rest as God does all things in and through us. It is full of power because God is orchestrating and performing all things for us. Psalm 57:2 When He takes over His desires become our desires, thus we live by following our desires. Here I talk in more detail about this blessed gift and life.
Luke 18:17 “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”
One central aspect to being a child of God who enters into the Kingdom of God is trust; a trust that leads to a rest in your soul because you know your Father is working ALL out perfectly. Psalm 57:2, Hebrews 4:11 In a restful state there is no worry, angst, fear, anxiety, or any other emotion that takes you away from abiding in peace.
Matthew 7:11 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Growing up, I was blessed to never go hungry. Usually each night my mom prepared a balanced healthy dinner. I never wondered about dinner; if there would be any, how or where we would have it, how it was being cooked, or if it would be nutritious to help me to grow healthy and strong. I trusted in my parents to provide as they saw best and never gave it a second thought after all they were my parents. Matthew 6:8
Imagine if I trusted myself. After a day of playing, I would scour the neighborhood anxiously looking for a piece of bread. This lack of trust is what most do when it comes to God. They are like children scouring the neighborhood thinking God doesn’t care, He isn’t there, or they’re supposed to get their own dinner. It isn’t meant to be this way …
In ALL things we are to act in faith. Romans 14:23 This means trusting God and not ourselves, someone else, how we do something, or what we do. It means we trust God as the giver of all good things. James 1:17 We trust in His ability to work in and through us. We trust Him to provide in a faultless way because of His pure love. This type of trust is child-like faith. We don’t know how dinner will come, but we know we can trust God to provide it every time and it will be perfect because He IS our Father.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
Peaceful, Honoring Prayer
This perspective is a fundamental aspect of prayer. In prayer, we give our situation over to God to work it out perfectly; Thy will be done. We let it go. We don’t judge how He is working it out. This honors God as God our Father. As God’s children, when we ask for His help we trust that He IS working it out. Sometimes it will be what we expected, more often times not. But we trust God will do what is flawless. Hindsight shows His perfection. God takes away a job, but puts us somewhere better. God removes us from a relationship, only to realize it was unhealthy. We experience the consequence of our sin, but we learn to walk in His wisdom, not our own. When we ask for His help, He gives us the fulfillment of our true desires, not what we think we need in our extremely limited understanding.
We think we know what is best and good; we don’t, only God does. Mark 10:18 We have to trust His goodness and not what we see because of how differently He might lead us in the fulfillment of our true desires. 1 Corin 2:5If we trust Him, He will fulfill and exceed all we need in the perfect way and timing.
Psalm 34:10 The young lions lack and suffer hunger; But those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.
Let go of your expectations. Leave each step up to God. Trust He is working because He said He is to those who seek Him. Hebrews 13:21 Seek to walk according to His will and wisdom and not your own. James 1:1-8 This is the rest we are to have in every area of our lives.
In trust, we know whatever is happening God is in each detail bringing about what we need. Any one night, dinner may have come through my mom’s cooking, going out to eat, going to a friend’s house, or picking up dinner to bring home. I trusted them with the how and what. Do the same with God … leave the details up to Him. He loves you more than the perfect parent. Most don’t trust, so they go their own way to their detriment. God knows best. And when we trust, we are amenable to seek and followHis ways as He leads. If we expect our Mom’s meatloaf to be ready at 6PM, when it doesn’t come we’ll think she forgot about us. Meanwhile, she was waiting in the car to take us to our favorite restaurant. Leave it all to God. Follow where HE leads. He works outside of our understanding and for our best.
Want to trust God to this extent? Get to know Him. Spend time with Him one-on-one, each day seeking His face in spirit and truth. Most don’t trust because they don’t know truly know God or His love, get to know Him and you’ll know His love, then true trust will follow.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Ephesians 1:19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
As we buy and sell with God, which moves us to living by faith in Him in ALL things, we experience the manifestation of God in our lives …
For years, I’ve been buying and selling with God and as a result gaining deep rest and power in my life. One specific area I want to share with you (because it’s often overlooked for the death trap it is), is in the area of s l o w i n g down in life.
In my life a part of the old things was functioning as a Grand Master Taskmaster. I lived by lists, schedules and managing my time efficiently because I got a lot done (in my estimation) and felt internally & externally rewarded for it. Sure my body was tense and my life stripped of the rest, peace and enjoyment that could have been, but I was blind to all that.I didn’t realize there was truly a better way.
I would rush here and there … rush to relax. Letting the world govern what “needed” to be done, I was a slave to its demands that became my demands upon myself and my life. So who was I really serving? To accomplish all I “needed” to, I had to be efficient, highly productive and that meant being the ultimate taskmaster. But as I continued to buy and sell with God and gain faith in Him in all areas, this aspect of my life had to be purged for it was the world’s way of living, not His, thus a sin that manifested death in my life.
As a previous Master Taskmaster, this transformation was no small habitual rut to change because this mentality was deeply imbedded in me affecting most areas of my life in some form. When God first opened my eyes to this area, it seemed like a small issue, but as He showed me the ripple affect, the impact was vast and deadly. Obedience in the small things matters a great deal, because in reality what we may judge small isn’t when it plays out. If a plane is off course a few degrees from its desired endpoint, after miles of travel it ends up hundreds of miles from its destination. This was happening to me. The more I strived the further I got away from the abundant life God wanted to give me. Being in that state was the opposite of trusting Him.
In my alone time with God, He showed me how my spirit needs to remain in that same state that I am with Him in the morning; peaceful, trusting, connected and at rest so He could move through me as He willed. If I wasn’t at rest, I wasn’t in His will. The rushing around, as I use to do to fit in all my plans and lists, put me in a mindset of being focused on my effort instead of His. It’s a state where it’s difficult to hear Him, thus follow His lead. Did Jesus ever rush around?No, when you are walking in the power of God, you don’t need to.
As God showed me how my spirit needed to be in a calm state, I started to slow down, literally. On the flip side that meant I needed to trust Him with all that “needed” to be done. When I started to rush, in faith I stopped and functioned according to His power. As I did it His way, He rewarded my faith. Not only did I get done what was truly needed, but I was in a peaceful and enjoyable state the entire time, I more deeply engage others instead of rushing off to the next task, and I was more productive and had more downtime because I trusted in His power moving through me and not my efforts. …. But as you abound in everything–in faith2 Corin 8:7
As I was faithful in one area God moved me to the next; to forfeit my extensive planning and lists and trust His guidance. Being encouraged by the result of His previous counsel, I had the faith for this next step, again buying and selling with God. I stopped with all the lists. Again, He blessed my activities and time, and I accomplished more of what was important. Again, it seemed like a small thing, but I learned I was being driven by my will instead of His, which is HUGE.
A hurried and frazzled lifestyle, accepted as normal and even necessary in today’s world, is contrary to abiding in God’s rest, which is a central aspect of a believers life. God is Lord of our lives, not us. For this to be the case, we have to be in a state of trust which leads to a literal mindset of rest. It’s a state where we forsake our effort and let Him move through us as He wills in His power. In this state, God governs our thoughts desires, words and actions, which are paramount to living a life of faith in Him and having Him manifest Himself in our lives.
Hebrews 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience
Instead of being hurried and frazzled, I’m now dazzled by the perfection of His counsel and how His power moves through us when we trust Him and do it His way. When we do everything in faith (trusting in Him to performs all things for us and in His ways of working) then we find a life we’ve yearned for, we enter into His rest as He calls us to, and our lives glorify Him and His power.
Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
1 John 5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
A thick morning fog masks the creation that lies beneath. It hovers over the earth and prohibits our ability to perceive what is real. But as the sun streams through, we begin to see.
If you once were overweight, depressed, a work alcoholic, alcoholic, people pleaser, without hope, bound by illness, entrapped by fear, enslaved by religion, a fulfillment of your parents’ caustic words, agoraphobic or any type of phobic, then you know the power of a lie. The lies we believe travel deep scripting our lives.
Most of us grossly underestimate the extent that this world is under the sway of the wicked one. All is backwards, reversed, up side down and twisted causing grief, suffering, pain and death. Where do you think all these thoughts and concepts came from that put us and others in such states as above? Perhaps it’s too difficult to admit our world is so twisted, because then what? Ignorance isn’t bliss, the truth is.
Romans 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace
Over creation lays a dense fog of lies. Beginning in the womb, like a poisonous gas this destructive mist infiltrates every aspect of our belief systems, our minds, thus our lives. It touches everything, living little unscathed by its presence. Our perception has been crafted by it; thus all has been marred by its influence; education, history, money, economics, politics, media, medicine, marriage, sex, family dynamics, religion, and relationships. It defines who we are and how we are to live. It defines our value or lack of it. It defines how we work. It defines happiness. It defines how we think and what is important. It defines God. It defines everything.
The penetration of lies into our society, thinking, acting and ways of living is cavernous as an abyss … the more you see the deeper it goes. It’s expansive as the ocean … when you think you see the edge there is more. Like computers, our minds have been programmed by this fog teaching us how to think, act, and believe in ways that foster our destruction. Just take an honest look around and see what we have been creating.
Our minds are very powerful. What we believe, we act on, and manifest. If we believe in lies then we act on them and because they are lies they create pain, suffering, havoc and chaos. Our minds are easily manipulated and used against us on many levels. They can be a prison, and the greatest weapon against us. For one example, consider the type of messaging streaming over the airwaves and how those “airwaves” are demanding more of our constant attention. Look at how it’s altered your thinking. You will see the programming language of evil. It follows all the protocols to program us to think certain ways (repetition, playing on emotions, defining value etc) thus believe and live in a way that to our ignorance ultimately destroys us. Ephesians 2:2How wise we are to pursue wisdom from above.
The path out is truth, manifested by the Spirit of God. Truth comes from the source of truth, God. If we seek the truth from God, we are opening a door in our minds that allows the sun to start streaming in.
Yet many don’t seek truth from God, because the perception of God has also been marred by this fog. God is not far from us, as many of the lies dictate to keep us imprisoned. Acts 17:27 One of the greatest deceptions is God’s lack of love for us; a real love that affects the detailed interworking of day to day life. The reality is He is vey present in His love, but we can’t “see” Him because of the multitude of lies we believe about Him and us. The lies keep us from seeing and seeking Him. We’ve all had the experience where our own blindness about a situation kept us from seeing it for what it was. When later we become aware of what was really going on, we are amazed at “how blind we were”. In this fog of lies, the moment we glimpse God’s majesty, the experience is corrupted by the programming our minds have been shaped by, as pictured in the parable of the sower of the seed. Mark 4:1-20 Like everything else, our perception of God has been shaped by this corrupted fog keeping us far from Him, by keeping our minds from Him.
Defy the lies and seek. Seeking is key. Because of this consuming fog, seeking is required as the truth has been hidden. We have to seek to be able to see something new, which is the very nature of seeking. Initially, with such a deafening cloak shrouding our ability to see, it takes diligence to seek truth and continue to. This is where most fail, thus live the consequences of the lies they believe. We’ve been programmed to believe all sorts of declarations about what is truth and what it isn’t. But when we dare to seek to truly know, God rewards us with the truth. Truth doesn’t come all at once. It’s little by little, percept upon percept. In time, our minds, lives and souls are transformed.
Where is the door to this path of truth we seek? Christ, the Truth, is the door. John 10:9 God manifested Himself in a man, to show us the way, to show us the truth. He established a corresponding written word to assist us on this path. If we seek the truth, by the guidance of His Spirit, He teaches us the truth. Psalm 119:105, Matthew 7:7, Matthew 11:29 Without the lies, the barriers to experiencing God’s love and truth are removed. He laid a path for us to traverse to move us out of the fog and into the brilliant sunlight; a way of manifesting a new mind, thus a new being.
Pray for the gift of faith to believe that God, the source of truth, rewards those who diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11:6 Seeking to know Him as He is, is the path out of the prison of our minds and to true liberty and abundant life.
1 Corinthians 3:13-14 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.
The Day of the Lord (span of time and testing of Christ; the Word of God, The Day) will reveal each one’s work by fire. Though each one will experience the testing “fire” of this Day, it will turn out very differently depending on what type of “work” each one has engaged in.
The Work
What is the work? It’s what you have built your faith on and trust in. It’s what you’ve established your hope in. We all have faith, it’s a matter of what or whom it’s in. Our actions and decisions show what we truly trust.
The enduring work is establishing a life built on faith on the everlasting God of truth and love. Only God is life and eternal. If our lives are built upon Him and His truths, they will endure. John 6:28-29
The work that doesn’t endure is our faith in anything else of this world; worldly wisdom, our resources, our personal ability and strength, idols of our own making, elements of this physical existence, religious rituals, whatever we are trusting in other than the One true God. Ezekiel 14:4
The “fires” or trials used to test each one’s trust are many and varied. They can take on just about any form. They are what challenge our faith, test the sources of our trust, and push us to the edge of ourselves exposing the truth of our hearts and minds. As the trials come to us to test our faith, our responses will show who or what we honestly trust in, it will reveal the type of work we’ve been engaged in during our lives.
Enduring Work
For those who have cultivated a trust in God and whose work endures, though the fires of testing may look daunting, they will be as a small flickering flame, with no power and easily extinguished.
Their stories will resemble that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego in Daniel 3. They have built up a faith in God through their life experiences and knowledge. Thus when it comes to the ultimate test, they are able to stand strong and refuse to bow down and serve (look to anything for deliverance but God) any god but the God. Thus the fire will have no power in their lives. They know their God and their actions show their trust in His power.
Daniel 3:27 And the satraps, administrators, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered together, and they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.
These are those who will endure and receive the rewards of those who diligently seek God. Hebrews 11:6. Those who deeply trust God will continue to trust in the midst of the greatest challenges of their faith and will come out unscathed. Though the fires seem to be at their door, God goes before them and completely protects them. These will be kept from experiencing the Great Tribulation in their lives, for the fire has no power. Rev 3:10
How are they able to stand in the midst of the fire? Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, they have a life of seeking, knowing and cultivating trust in God and are able to stand at the greatest challenges. These were the ones buying the gold refined by fire from Christ. They are His disciples learning His truths directly from Him, and those truths refine their corrupted spirits to be vessels of light to hold the Spirit of God. Rev 3:18
1 Corinthians 13:14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward
Perishing Work
For those who trust in themselves and other idols and whose works are burned, the fires will be daunting. The fire of testing of the Day of the Lord will cause great grief as what they’ve trusted in comes to nothing. Fear will grip them as what they’ve relied on is threatened and consumed. These are the ones who experience the great tribulation. However, though all the elements that led them from the truth will be burned and they will suffer loss, they will be saved through the fire.
1 Corinthians 3:15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
Unlike the ones who bought gold refined from Christ, these did not. They bought their treasures from what isn’t truly life but death, this world’s wisdom and its lies and deception. Rev 13:17 Thus when their faith is tested it reveals their work – building up trust in entities other than God. They lived by their own will, followed what they deemed was good, and didn’t FIRST seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Matthew 6:33
What will your work reveal in the Day of the Lord? What is your hope in … truly?
Revelation 22:12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work.
Psalm 146:5 Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God,
Romans 15:13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit
Isaiah 35:6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in thedesert
God has been teaching me this “streams in the desert” level of trust He desires of His children. A level of trust in which His people KNOW He is able to make streams in their deserts so that they act on that faith. If you truly believe in this power of God in your life, how different would your responses be to life’s impossible circumstances?
Do you believe God can make streams in Your deserts? Honestly? What do your actions show? This level of trust is what God desires of us because this is who He is to those who trust in Him to be their God.
2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
When the circumstances of life exceed our illusionary control, do we believe God can make something new within those situations or do we run? Quitting jobs, leaving vocations, getting divorces, running from responsibilities, sedating emotional pain, withdrawing from life, and retreating from ourselves; when we come against a roadblock and we see there is no more strength or resources to continue forward, what do we do? Do we run? Does God run?
Many of us tend to run. I know I have in the past. Either, physically in abandoning a situation or relationship, or emotionally in withdrawal, or as our pride likes to frame it moving on, which sounds so much better, doesn’t it? Within our human means running away can seem like the only viable option. And it’s true when we rely on our strength. But what about God’s? Who does He say He is to us? Deut 3:22, Isaiah 45:2, 52:12, 58:8 God doesn’t run. Time and time again, He shows how He makes streams in the deserts. The Bible testifies to this power, and our lives testify to it if we are willing to stop running and walk His paths. I’ve seen it, have you?
God’s love always endures, always hopes, and never fails. He is the Creator and can do anything, and if He is OUR God then His power and strength abound to us IF we abide and trust Him. John 15:7, Eph 3:20
The turning point in our lives that enables us to experience the power of God is TRUSTING Him in TRUTH and SPIRIT, which comes from being a new creation in Him. It seems, we trust more in a psychologist or doctor to help us than God. We trust in self-help and the wisdom of this world to work through our “issues” more than the creative hand of our God who says He makes all things new for those who are in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 Are you exchanging trust in someone else, for trust in God? God does use the elements of this world for our good, but where is your trust? Big difference. God’s creative power isn’t a theoretical concept, it’s God in your midst.
If God is so powerful, why don’t we see more deliverance by His mighty hand in the lives around us? Lack of trust, real trust based on becoming a new creation fashioned by God. Trust is the fruit of abiding in the Word of God and being taught by the Holy Spirit, which transforms our souls into partakers of the divine. Romans 10:17
We can’t do what we don’t know. Without individually abiding in the Truth and letting the Spirit of Truth write the Truth on our minds and hearts, fear binds us to a carnal reliance on a physical world that is only a shadow. Fear sets in, takes over and we start running or fight in our strength, which is just as bad. Meanwhile, the power of God is dampened by the lack of belief. Matthew 13:58 Fear keeps us from trusting and waiting on God’s deliverance His way.
God offers a much better way. He goes before us to fight our enemies, He delivers us, and He makes our paths smooth, IF we TRUST Him in truth and spirit. (If we are trusting in a false image of God, it isn’t real trust, but idol worship) As we daily feast on the bread of heaven; abiding in the Bible seeking His face and to be taught by Him, then trust is the fruit. As He regenerates our lives into a new creation, His power starts flowing through us making streams in the deserts, our deserts.
In difficult challenges where there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, no hope … remember God’s ways are not our ways. Isaiah 55:8 There is no limit to His power. This powerful Creator working in our lives is who He is to His children; to those who seek His face. His people don’t act out of fear or hopelessness, but in power, truth and love.
In Hebrews 11, know as the faith chapter, God says He diligently rewards those who seek Him. Heb 11:6 Seek Him and abide in His truth and righteousness and see the Creator at work in your life creating something incredible from what seemed dead and hopeless.
Instead of running, seek the regeneration of God so that by the power of His Spirit in you, you love your husband, love your children, Titus 2:4, respect your bosses and employees. Colossians 3:22, 4:1 You work as to the Lord. Colossians 3:23 You lean not on your own understanding that sees no way out. Proverbs 3:5 You don’t complain, which doesn’t glorify the power of God. Phil 2:14 You don’t harden your hearts by being stubborn in continuing to do it your way or giving up. Heb 3:8 Seek the power of God, who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you ask or think. Eph 3:20
God is looking for those who trust in Him, not in their own strength and resources or of this world’s, but Him. Who do you trust in really? God has tremendous things in store for those who do. Psalm 31:19
1 Corinthians 13:7 love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
God saves and His Word sanctifies. John 17:17 Our part in this redemption and renewal is to believe in His Word, truth and promises. When we do (which is faith), we truly rest. Thus faith precedes true rest. You can’t rest without faith, thus the importance of gaining truth, which leads to faith. Romans 8:12
Here is the balance … our good works don’t sanctify us, God does. The true good works testify to our sanctification.
Because most of us struggle with sanctification without works, God designed a potent instruction tool, the Sabbath. God established the law of the Sabbath as a picture and foreshadowing of entering into this ultimate rest. On the Sabbath the Israelites were commanded not to do any work. The consequences of not honoring this day were severe. In Numbers 15:32-36, on the Sabbath, a man was gathering sticks; a seemingly low effort and harmless task. His penalty? Death. The Sabbath law was not to be taken lightly. Exodus 31:14
God established this day to teach and remind us that He sanctifies us and not our works. “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” (Ezekiel 20:12) If we try even with the smallest effort, like picking up sticks, we are going against the will of God. This requirement of rest pointed to Christ who would be our eternal rest and free us from having to earn our righteousness by the law. He, the Word of God, became our rest and when He dwells in us, we become holy. We are to accept what He has done and rest in grace. We all fall into the performance trap, but the question is in what race are we trying to run, of works or grace? Yet, grace doesn’t negate obedience, it leads to it. If we have the truth we will live by it, but not because we are trying to become righteous. We already are, but because it’s life, unity with God, truth and love. It’s who we are because we are in Christ and have the mind of Christ. True obedience is the result of Christ is in us.
From the severity of the consequences of the Sabbath Law, we can see how important learning and abiding by this truth is to God. It’s critical to our spiritual survival to rest from attempting to earn our righteousness. If we try to live by the law then that is how we will be judged. If we break one iota then we have broken it altogether and we are accountable. The man who picked up sticks was put to death. It’s all or nothing. And no one can fulfill the whole law. We are human and we will fall short. This path, which the majority of the world attempts to walk, has one end, death. If your hope is in being a good person, good luck. Conversely, if we live by grace then we are judged by grace, and we abide in freedom and perfect assurance of our salvation and sanctification.
Most of us trust Christ with saving our souls but when it comes to sanctification we intervene. If the core motivation to our actions is to earn a high ranking in His kingdom or make us more worthy then our trust is in the wrong place. It’s clear by the consequences of breaking the law that God doesn’t tolerate us attempting to sanctify ourselves. Resting means we trust God to sanctify us alone. When we rest, our trust is fully in God, not ourselves.
Before I have to you completely shaking in your flip flops, let me remind you God’s mercy abounds to those who seek to trust Him. God knows that believing is a process because He created it that way. But are you working to believe in His work in you or are you busy earning your worthiness?
Christ fulfilled the Old Testament law, but what about the instructions of the New Testament? The Word tells us love others, pray for others, and use our gifts for the benefit of those around us. Christ fulfills these too by working in and through us. We have tremendous freedom, dear friend. This rest is the simplicity, beauty, and grace of the gospel. These instructions are the work and fruit of His Spirit within us. They are the results of being attached to the vine, Christ. These actions pour out of our souls when the Spirit is in us thus it’s not of our own efforts. A tree doesn’t work to gain fruit. It’s the outcome of the roots being in rich soul. Good works don’t come from our efforts; they are the results of us abiding in Him, stirring the deep, and Him working in us. The instructions of the New Testament are the fruit that we should see sprouting up in our lives because we are in Christ. Our part is to rest in what He will do in us in His timing as we abide in truth. Our work is to believe. John 6:29
Ephesians 2:8-10 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
When we are truly abiding in Christ Jesus, our motives aren’t to earn anything; we do what we do because that is our desire coming from His Spirit within. We do what we do out of love. Dwelling in this truth keeps our motives pure. Pride and haughtiness remain at an arms length because it’s of Him and not us. It’s to our shame if we trade our glory that should be in God for glory in our works. He is our confidence not what we do.
The constant temptation is to prove, earn or work because it appeases our needs to feel worthy and good. Our worth and goodness are defined solely in Christ. Our focus is to be on abiding in His truth, and fruit, sown in love, will be the outcome. Further, we can’t be hung up on some protocol of what a follower of God does because often God wants us doing something else at that moment. We are to follow His Spirit every moment, not what we think He wants, but what He is whispering in our ear.
Overview: Wisdom and understanding form the foundations from which we think, feel and act. Our philosophies and beliefs that make up our wisdom or lack of it are what we live by every moment of our lives. They create filters through which we see ourselves, others, God, circumstances, everything. Therefore, our wisdom and the source of it are of the utmost importance and God is calling us to forsake the world’s masquerade of enlightenment and grab a hold of His pure Truth. In this show, I talk about gaining the wisdom of God and three areas of our lives it greatly impacts. This topic is essential for every true believer.
Living Light 