Some Thoughts On An Exerpt From A Cool Guy
Here's another quote from John Owens that I thought was pretty great:
-To suppose that whatever God requireth of us we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ to none effect.
I was actually thinking about this earlier today while I was reading Galations. My thoughts turned to the many people who are so focused on ceasing to sin that they never cease, because, contrary to their own belief most likely, they are still under some impression that they can do anything about it. We are unable to do anything about sin, unless it is by the movement of God's spirit within us. So many are frantically striving, trying to perfect themselves before God, in spite of the fact that they already are. They don't realize that every week when they pray, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" they are asking God to perfect them. Then they immediately make the prayer of no effect, because they striving all over again, taking the work of perfection out of God's hands again. This is awful to say the least, because a lack of understanding puts so many unnecessary burdens on so many. God wants us to walk in faith in Him, free from the burdens of striving to do something He already tells us we can't do anyway.
We are no longer under the law as a set of rules which we can at least attempt to follow on our own. We are under the law that has been written on our hearts, which is the law of Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, whereby we walk in the grace given us and allow Christ to perfect us. This doesn't come by following rules, it comes when we walk in fellowship with Him. We were never meant to reach God's plan for us apart from Him, but rather in relationship with Him completely free of shame. With this mindset sin is redefined not as the breaking of rules that have been set from a distance, it is the breaking of intimate fellowship with God. Not to worry however, the grace of God allows us to correct this problem quickly, through repentance (changing your mind). What does that look like? Well let me tell you: I'm walking along with God in fellowship when all of the sudden I do something, the fellowship is broken and I realize that I'm not walking in God's presence. This is how I recognize sin, because it grieves the presence of God away.
Once we realize that the fellowship is broken we have a few actions to choose from. We can a)freak out and start wondering why we're such awful crap people, b)we can ignore the problem and go on our merry way, or c)we ask God what we did to break fellowship (if you don't know), leave that behind forever and start walking with God again. Guess which one is the one that God desires from us. Well if you couldn't figure it out, the answer is option C. God wants us to walk with Him more than anything and so has provided us every way to get back to Him whenever we wander off. He doesn't want you to dwell on what you did wrong until you learn your lesson. He wants you to throw off every weight and the sin that so easily entangles and continue running the race. We play these stupid games where we dwell on our sin; as if that ever helped before. Why don't we dwell on the love, grace and power of God to deliver us from all sin by His spirit. Jude says "to Him who is able to keep us from falling." Why is it so hard to believe that if we start walking in faith God will do His work.
Here's some food for thought: the next time you sin don't think "oh why did I mess up again/when will I ever stop/anything that sounds like that." Of course you're going to sin if you wonder when you're going to stop, and to say otherwise is pride. You can't do a dang thing and to say otherwise is not humility because you're going against the word of God (if need a reference go read the new testament). The next time you start falling into self-pity or self-loathing, stop yourself and take an honest look at what God has said about you. That He loves and is pleased with you is a good place to start.
The key to overcoming temptation and sin in your life is not just acknowledging your complete inability to do anything. YOU ARE AN OVERCOMER THROUGH HIM WHO LOVES YOU! After acknowledging your inability and the fact of your sin, acknowledge the forgiveness and grace that is given you, freely and without condition. After that go even farther and have a big old victory-over-sin dance party and rejoice in God's power to deliver you from sin forever. You are not in bondage to sin anymore, stop saying that, (or anything like that) right now and never say it again. Instead praise God because He has written your name in the book of life and crucified your flesh, and then get back in fellowship with God.
God loves you and is leading you into all the wonderful things He has for you, don't worry about how anything will happen. Just trust.
gwwitt
-To suppose that whatever God requireth of us we have power of ourselves to do, is to make the cross and grace of Jesus Christ to none effect.
I was actually thinking about this earlier today while I was reading Galations. My thoughts turned to the many people who are so focused on ceasing to sin that they never cease, because, contrary to their own belief most likely, they are still under some impression that they can do anything about it. We are unable to do anything about sin, unless it is by the movement of God's spirit within us. So many are frantically striving, trying to perfect themselves before God, in spite of the fact that they already are. They don't realize that every week when they pray, "Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" they are asking God to perfect them. Then they immediately make the prayer of no effect, because they striving all over again, taking the work of perfection out of God's hands again. This is awful to say the least, because a lack of understanding puts so many unnecessary burdens on so many. God wants us to walk in faith in Him, free from the burdens of striving to do something He already tells us we can't do anyway.
We are no longer under the law as a set of rules which we can at least attempt to follow on our own. We are under the law that has been written on our hearts, which is the law of Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, whereby we walk in the grace given us and allow Christ to perfect us. This doesn't come by following rules, it comes when we walk in fellowship with Him. We were never meant to reach God's plan for us apart from Him, but rather in relationship with Him completely free of shame. With this mindset sin is redefined not as the breaking of rules that have been set from a distance, it is the breaking of intimate fellowship with God. Not to worry however, the grace of God allows us to correct this problem quickly, through repentance (changing your mind). What does that look like? Well let me tell you: I'm walking along with God in fellowship when all of the sudden I do something, the fellowship is broken and I realize that I'm not walking in God's presence. This is how I recognize sin, because it grieves the presence of God away.
Once we realize that the fellowship is broken we have a few actions to choose from. We can a)freak out and start wondering why we're such awful crap people, b)we can ignore the problem and go on our merry way, or c)we ask God what we did to break fellowship (if you don't know), leave that behind forever and start walking with God again. Guess which one is the one that God desires from us. Well if you couldn't figure it out, the answer is option C. God wants us to walk with Him more than anything and so has provided us every way to get back to Him whenever we wander off. He doesn't want you to dwell on what you did wrong until you learn your lesson. He wants you to throw off every weight and the sin that so easily entangles and continue running the race. We play these stupid games where we dwell on our sin; as if that ever helped before. Why don't we dwell on the love, grace and power of God to deliver us from all sin by His spirit. Jude says "to Him who is able to keep us from falling." Why is it so hard to believe that if we start walking in faith God will do His work.
Here's some food for thought: the next time you sin don't think "oh why did I mess up again/when will I ever stop/anything that sounds like that." Of course you're going to sin if you wonder when you're going to stop, and to say otherwise is pride. You can't do a dang thing and to say otherwise is not humility because you're going against the word of God (if need a reference go read the new testament). The next time you start falling into self-pity or self-loathing, stop yourself and take an honest look at what God has said about you. That He loves and is pleased with you is a good place to start.
The key to overcoming temptation and sin in your life is not just acknowledging your complete inability to do anything. YOU ARE AN OVERCOMER THROUGH HIM WHO LOVES YOU! After acknowledging your inability and the fact of your sin, acknowledge the forgiveness and grace that is given you, freely and without condition. After that go even farther and have a big old victory-over-sin dance party and rejoice in God's power to deliver you from sin forever. You are not in bondage to sin anymore, stop saying that, (or anything like that) right now and never say it again. Instead praise God because He has written your name in the book of life and crucified your flesh, and then get back in fellowship with God.
God loves you and is leading you into all the wonderful things He has for you, don't worry about how anything will happen. Just trust.
gwwitt