trusting God

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Seeing Things From God’s Point of View

“Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.” (Matthew 16:23)

Jesus had just shared with the Disciples that he was going to be arrested and crucified. Peter immediately rebuked him and said, “This shall never happen to you.” As the above verse indicates, Jesus rebukes Peter and tells him that he is seeing things from a human point of view not from God’s perspective.

Seeing things from God’s point of view is a key component to a successful Christian life. Matter of fact, I think it may be the greatest struggle most believers encounter. If our main purpose for existence is to glorify God, then it stands to reason that one important element of daily living is being able to see life’s circumstances from God’s point of view. In other words, we are to develop a God consciousness.

How do we develop this “God consciousness” toward life? We develop a God consciousness by getting to know God. As you get to know God you begin to know His character. When you know His character you begin to learn His ways, how He thinks and views certain aspects of life.

For example, by learning the many names of God you get a picture of His character and His ability. Here are a few of the names of God found throughout Scripture.

1. Elohim – Indicates His strength, the strongest of strong (Ps 19:1)
2. Jehovah Jireh – The Lord will provide (Gen. 22:13-14)
3. Jehovah Shalom – The Lord of peace (Judges 6:24)
4. Jehovah Rapha – The Lord is my healer (Exodus 15:26)
5. Jehovah Rohi – The Lord is my Shepherd (Psalm 21)

These are just a few of the names of God that indicate His power, strength and superiority. From these few names we can understand that God will provide, take care and watch over us and He is able to overcome any power in the universe.

That’s the reason it’s important to read, study and memorize the Scriptures. For in the Scriptures we get to know the character and ways of God. It helps us recognize when we may see things from a human perspective rather than from God’s perspective.

It is important to be able to relate to our culture. The Scripture tells us that we are to be salt and light in the world. However, our perspective of life and our worldview is to come from God’s Word, not from our culture.

Bottom Line

God gives us two supernatural elements to guide us through life, the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. The Scripture gives us a Biblical worldview and the Holy Spirit brings illumination and guidance for everyday living. As we look to the Scripture to learn of God’s character, we develop a trust that He will take care of every need and He is watching over us 24/7.

When we depend on the Holy Spirit’s guidance He will help us navigate life’s tough decisions. He is our divine “checker” giving us promptings when something isn’t right. He will always lead us in the right direction, helping us to see every challenge from God’s point of view.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NAS)

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Adversity

Have you ever heard the saying, “Adversity makes you stronger?” We would all agree that the statement on some level has validity. However, our real-life experience teaches us that adversity often leaves us confused, angry, hurt or depressed. Depending on the level and intensity, adversity often puts us in a weakened and vulnerable position. We are weakened because we don’t know what to do next and vulnerable because we often have a sense of desperation.

I believe the Lord has a purpose for us experiencing adversity. Here are three things to consider.

It’s about perspective
Adversity in and of itself has no value. The value to us lies in our perspective. We basically have two choices when adversity comes. One is a perspective of doom that keeps us in a confused, angry, hurt and depressed stage, or a perspective of hope that will allow the Lord to teach us a life lesson that will indelibly mark our life to the good.

The first step to getting out the “adversity funk” is to decide to change your perspective. Instead of living in an overwhelmed mode, decide to get up, dust yourself off and be intentional about discovering a good side to the situation.

It’s About Being Positive
Immerse yourself in positivity. I don’t mean the touchy-feely kind of emotion. But I am referring to the faith kind of positivity. You can be genuinely positive because you have the promises of God’s word to give you hope. Whatever situation you are facing God promises that He is “able to do exceeding, abundantly beyond all that we ask or think.” (Ephesians 3:29) In other words, there is no situation too hard for God.

It’s Time to stop talking and start listening
I had a good friend who had a bad habit of finishing my sentences. When I would engage in a conversation with him he would inevitably finish my sentences for me. He thought he knew where I was going in the conversation, so he would attempt to complete my thoughts. But most of the time he was wrong. He had terrible listening skills. I would often think, if he would just be quiet and listen we could make a decision.

Sometimes we are just like that with God. Because we so strongly believe in consistent prayer, we sometimes don’t take time to be quiet and develop spiritual listen skills. Once we bring our case to God, we are to leave it there, then rest and listen.

Bottom Line
God wants us is to fully trust Him through our adversity. When we worry, that’s a sign of a lack of trust. Taking things into our own hands is an indication that we know better than God.

When we face adversity, our perspective should be to look for God in the midst. He is there, but we must look for Him. Then we are to display a positive attitude based on the promises of God. The promises are for us, and they are based on absolute truth. Then we are to be intentional about listening for His voice. He promises us, “call upon on me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not. “

The proper response to adversity is God’s way of deepening our fellowship, teaching us valuable lessons and building our character.

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Facing Critical Moments

When we became followers of Jesus something inward happened in us that changed the way we approach life. First of all, spiritually speaking, we passed from death to life. We became someone we have never been before. We have a new identity. “…even when we were dead in our transgressions, (God) made us alive together with Christ…” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

Secondly, because of our new identity, we have a new belief system that drives our decision making. God’s Word and the Holy Spirit’s guidance becomes our new standard for decision making and handling life’s critical moments.

The Scripture plays a big part in our framework for how we make decisions. I use to wonder why God allowed all those stories of failure to become part of the cannon of Scripture. Then it dawned on me one day that all those Bible characters were just like us. We fail in a similar manner. The Scripture records many examples of failure and its consequences. We read of God’s instruction, His promise of blessing if we obey, and His warning of judgment if we disobey.

Throughout our life we have all faced critical moments of decision. These events are often designed by God to be pivotal moments in our life. These are moments when our walk with God is challenged. It becomes a pivotal moment by how we respond. Are we going to wait on God and trust Him, or are we going to take things in our own hands?

This is where the examples in Scripture become valuable instruction. In 1 Samuel 13 King Saul faced a critical moment. He was facing the Philistine army and there were only two swords among Israel’s army, one for Saul and one for his son Jonathan. Everyone else had to use makeshift weapons, such as wooden spears or crude farm tools.

A week earlier, Samuel had warned Saul to wait for him at Gilgal before going into battle with the Philistines. The prophet had said he would arrive after seven days to make the proper sacrifices to the Lord.

When the seventh day came and Samuel hadn’t arrived, the soldiers began to scatter. Saul didn’t have God’s direction for battle. At this point Saul had two choices. One, he could stand firm and wait on the prophet Samuel for God’s direction. Or, he could go ahead and have the local Priest make his own sacrifices. Saul chose the latter.

Saul panicked. Because of his impatience he decided that he couldn’t wait any longer. He manipulated his way around God’s Word. He took things into his own hands and ordered the on-site priest to make the sacrifices without Samuel. He allowed himself to be overwhelmed by his circumstances. In doing so he committed a grievous sin against God. To him, in that moment, his circumstances were bigger than God’s ability to deliver.

This was Saul’s pivotal moment. He chose not to trust God to deliver him. Because of Saul’s impatience and willful disobedience, God took away his kingdom. Soon after, he committed suicide when he fell on his sword during a battle.

Bottom Line
When we are facing a critical moment, like Saul, we have two choices. We can choose impatience and fear or we can choose to wait and trust God to deliver us. Just as God knew that the Philistines were pressing on the Israelites, He knows every detail of our predicament. Every crisis has the potential of being a pivotal moment. These pivotal moments are our tests from God to propel us to new heights of trust in His power and ability.

The Lord chooses crisis moments to bring us to a deeper fellowship with Him. He wants to know, in our moments of crisis, if we will trust His ability to deliver us more than we trust the Devil’s ability to deceive and destroy us. Remember, God is fully aware of every element of our life. Choose to trust Him and, “trust in the Lord with your whole heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6 -NAS)

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Six Spiritual Truths that Guide My Life – Part 1

1. I will live with the daily assurance that God loves me.

Knowing you are loved is one of the greatest needs humans possess. Knowing you are loved by someone, no matter what, is a basic God-given need. God wired us that way, to have an ever longing need to feel loved and accepted. He designed us that way in order that we may be driven to get our need of belongingess and love from Him.

Throughout Scripture we are told how God loves us and constantly cares for us, even more than the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. (Matthew 6). I know His love is constant and absolute because His love is a “vested love” because I am in Christ. God can never “unlove” us. Because we are in Christ, to stop loving us He would have to stop loving Christ.

2. I know God has a path for me.

All my Christian life I have heard the phrase, “God has a plan for your life.” It has become such a common place saying that most people glaze over when they hear it. But I think God’s plan goes deeper than the generic saying. God created us with a purpose in mind and a path to walk. The path includes lots of choices along the way, and it may include several different places we live and things that we do.

I don’t believe that there is a difference in the secular and the sacred. To a follower of Christ, everything is sacred. Your occupation, who you marry, how you train your children, where you live, how you spend your spare time is all sacred. There may be phases of your life you want to forget or do over, but as a committed follower of Christ, God is at work in and through you accomplishing His divine purpose.

Through the sovereignty of God, He opens and closes doors dependent upon His end purpose for you. You may think a certain part of your life was a failure, but God had you there for a divine purpose for a specific time in history. That even means your screw-ups and sin would somehow be woven into His overall purpose.

3. Trust God Completely.

Some prefer to say “put God first” but I think a more accurate phrase would be, “trust God completely.” Learning to trust God is a lifelong learning experience. As we go through the different phases of life, I am convinced that God’s intention for us is to grow in our level of trust.

New levels of trust are reached when we go through a trial or a difficult issue. Those things that cause you to be out of control when you were in the beginning of your trust level, is now just a little bump in the road. The more difficult the trial, the greater the trust level.

Sometimes we misunderstand the passage in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able to bear.” Some believers think that nothing we deem unbearable will ever come our way, but that is not true. He will sometimes allow you to go through trials that you know you can’t handle. Matter of fact, you may even feel that you had rather die than go through the trial.

When God allows some seemingly, unbearable circumstance in our life it may seem we can’t bear it. But God is faithful to His Word. The rest of the above passage says, “…but He will provide a way of escape in order that you can bear it.”

God is stretching your trust level. He wants us to go through things that put you out of control. Sometimes those things will shake our faith and cause us to question all that we believe. He wants us to have no place to turn for help but Him. That increases our trust level.

Bottom Line

This does three things for me.
1. When I have an unshakable assurance that God loves me I can run to Him with confidence that He loves and accepts me. That creates a state of rest and peace, even when the storm is howling.

2. Knowing that God has a path for me allows me to approach everyday as a new day. A new day where God can reveal Himself to me in a new and fresh way. Even though sometimes I can’t see it or feel it, I know He is at work in me manifesting Christ’s life to the world.

3. Learning a new level of trust creates a new level of fellowship with the Father. There is an inner circle of fellowship with the Father for those who are willing to have a greater level of trust.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path. “ (Proverbs 3:5)

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The Believer and Conflict

After his resurrection Jesus appeared to his disciples several times. One of the encounters occurred on a beach, after they had been fishing all night. They were close to shore and noticed Jesus on the beach; he was cooking breakfast for them.

After they had finished eating Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Most of us are familiar with this discourse between Jesus and Peter. Peter responded all three times that he truly loved Jesus. Jesus told Peter to “tend my lambs, take care of my sheep, and feed my sheep.” (John 21)

There is plenty to learn from the three questions Jesus ask, but I think the deeper and more profound words of Jesus is what He said to Peter next.

“I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.” Jesus said this to let him know by what kind of death he would glorify God. (John 21:18-19 NLT)

Jesus’ point to Peter is that his life from this point forward was going to be difficult. Jesus is telling Peter that there will come a time that he will be taken where he doesn’t want to go, and he will be treated like he doesn’t want to be treated, and then he will die.

The deeper message behind this foretelling of Peter’s future is not just Jesus telling Peter how he is going to die. The deeper message is Jesus telling Peter how is going to live. In a way, Jesus was telling him that life is not all about “Peter”. His life now is about a bigger story. Peter’s life is now about his mission, his mission of bringing the gospel to the nations. With that task comes a life of “being led about where you don’t want to go.”

Life is not about being the main player, but it’s about being a part of the big picture. In other words, life is not about creating a plan and knowing what is going to happen every season of your life. Life is about conflict, difficult days, disappointment and failure. But God has a purpose in all of that. He wants to lead us to the point of “If you want to keep your life you must be willing to lose it.”

God wants us to get to the point of surrendering every aspect of our life to Him, so we can give our life away. That’s where radical Christianity comes in. When we let go of our life, we will find it.

That’s how a highly trained Physician can leave a financially lucrative career and become a missionary doctor in the bush of a 3rd world country. It’s how a professional school teacher can quit her secure job with a good salary and benefits and go teach at risk, inner city children in the ghetto of a major city.

The issue is not “are you willing to be a missionary.” The issue is are you willing to lay down your life, your dreams and your plans at Jesus’ feet and give him a blank pad, and have him write your story as He sees fit.

The Bottom Line
All good stories and movies have an unpredictable and unseen surprise ending. It’s that conflict and tension that etches the story in your mind. Our life is one big story being written by the God. That means we are going to be led into situations that are uncomfortable, unpredictable, and like Peter, we may be led to places that we don’t want to go.

As a committed follower of Christ we must remember that life is about faith and trust. It’s trusting God in every situation, and even sometimes, being led down a path where we don’t want to go. Be encouraged because God passionately loves you and He always has a purpose for everything He allows in your life.

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Be Still and I Will Part the Waters for You

“He your teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you. “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right of the left.” (Isaiah 30)

God still speaks to his children by the voice of the Holy Spirit. God speaks to us through a “still small voice” and most often through the Scriptures. Sometimes a biblical passage will be the key to our deliverance. Whether it’s through the Scriptures or that still small voice, before we can hear His voice of direction, God requires something of us: We are to stand still and wait for Him to act.

Stand still and wait for Him to act. This is one of those principles that make easy preaching but difficult to implement. Somehow we think that our experience qualifies us to go ahead of God. Besides, God needs our help doesn’t He? I don’t think so. If we take the sum total of all our good days, it would not equal one of God’s moments of genius. God’s timing and method is always the best for our life.

Joshua was one of the few Israelites who were able to enter the promise land. As Joshua was leading the Israelites across the Jordan River God was saying to them, ‘When you get to the water, plant your feet in the water and just stand there. Be still, rest. Just wait for me to act and I will part the waters for you.’

The Hebrew word for “stand still” means to,“stop all activity, cease all striving”. I am sure some of the men must have said, “Let’s build a quick bridge. With the amount of workers we have we can have a functional bridge in a few days”. Some of the women must have said, “I can’t let my children stand in the water, they might catch cold. “

But in spite of all of the suggestions, and the grumbling, Joshua led the people to obedience and they waited on God, did just as God told them, and the waters departed and they crossed over on dry land.

The problem isn’t that God is not speaking, but the problem is that we are not being still long enough to hear His voice. In other words, we lack the patience to wait, and lack the faith that God will answer.

What is God saying to us through this passage? Stop all activity, cease all striving. Be still, rest…just wait for me to act and I will part the waters for you!

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen; I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)

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Attitude

Years ago I picked up a saying from my military training in the Air National Guard; “Your attitude determines you altitude.” This is one of those truths that stick with you throughout your life because having the right attitude impacts every stage of your life.

No matter what season of life you are in, your attitude is a key player in your level of contentment. Attitude is more important than wealth, education, good looks, popularity and almost anything else the world may consider important.

As a follower of Christ, your attitude is an indicator of your level of trust and devotion to God. Having a vast knowledge of Scripture will not necessarily make you a successful believer. Some of the most miserable people I have met are Christians. They weren’t miserable because their faith didn’t work, they were miserable because their attitude was rotten.

If you are a business person, your attitude will determine your success, but it will also see you through a tough business climate. If you think you can’t succeed or make it through the tough times, then your attitude will be your downfall.

As committed followers of Jesus, it is important to maintain an attitude that reflects our dependence and trust in a sovereign God. Knowing that He will guide and direct us is an important element in maintaining inner peace. Many times we can’t control our circumstances, or what others say about us or do to us, but we can control our attitude. Attitude is always a result of your reaction to a given situation. We can choose to trust God, and believe He is in control or we can choose to be fearful and hopeless.

When you live with a Christ-centered worldview, the normal response to any crisis is to let go and trust God to give you wisdom and peace. By trusting God in every situation, we develop an attitude of dependence. We have this inner peace that everything is going to turn out right – even though we can’t see the end result. Why? Because we know God is in control.

The Holy Spirit allowed Paul to use the word “Abba” when referring to God in Galatians. Abba is a term of intimate affection that denotes “Daddy”. Our heavenly Father is not only our God, but He is also our daddy/protector who loves and cares for every area of our life. “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his son into our hearts, crying “Abba! Father!” Galatians 4:6

Because we are loved, cared for and watched over in every way by our loving God, we should quickly deal with any attitude of discouragement and despair. Remember, your attitude determines your altitude.

“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NASB)

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The Joy of the Lord

“The Joy of the Lord is my Strength” (Nehemiah 8:10)

As a committed follower of Christ we enjoy a unique position. The moment we placed our faith in Jesus we became someone we have never been before. Our spiritual heritage changed from a helpless sinner doomed to separation from God, to a child of God with a home in heaven that anxiously awaits our arrival. But that’s not all.

Through Christ, we were given a relationship with the God of the universe that allows us to wade through and survive every challenge the world can throw at us. We were given a strength that is not of this world. This strength is not based on knowledge, wisdom, or even a spiritual formula. It’s not earned by religious ritual or good performance. It is a gift from God that is a by-product of our salvation… it is call “Joy”.

Nehemiah had the right idea. The strength to weather any storm or crisis is based on drawing on the “Joy of the Lord.” In this context, Joy is best described as “Inner peace”. God makes available to every believer an inner peace. But we can only draw on it when we choose to surrender our control to Him. The real question is do we believe that God is in control when things are not going well with us? Do we believe that He can and will work out all our circumstances for His glory and our good?

When we are allowed to encounter impossible situations, it leads us to a frustration with our own self effort to fix it. We then have no place to turn but to God. He wants our first reaction to any difficult situation to be to run to Him. Our heavenly Father wants us to need Him.

That’s what the “joy of the Lord” is about. It is not acting super spiritual on the outside and not letting anyone see you sweat. The “joy of the Lord” is a position and a belief system that says, “no matter what is going on around me, I am trusting God. His foreknowledge and wisdom teaches me that He is in control and it will all work out for my good if I will let go and trust Him.”

The Scripture tells us that we are made complete by the person of Christ within us. “In Him you have been made complete.” (Colossians 2:10) Therefore, all we are, and all we need is found in God within us. Our response to this incredible gift is to rest and trust Him.

Christian recording artist Larnelle Harris has a great song that speaks to subject of trusting God entitled “Strength of the Lord”. Here are the lyrics to the chorus:

It’s not in trying but in trusting
It’s not in running but in resting
Not in wondering but in praying
That we find the strength of the Lord

“But what joy for all who take refuge in him!” Psalm 2:12

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Waiting on God

I think one of the most difficult areas for Christians to grasp is learning to wait on God. In our world of “instant everything”, waiting on God doesn’t fit into our culture and lifestyle. When we are waiting on God to answer our prayer our attitude is often, “Oh God, give me patience, hurry up, right now.”

In some ways, I feel a great sense of inadequacy writing about waiting on God. Much of my Christian walk has exhibited a life of impatience. There have been times when waiting just wasn’t an option because I needed an answer or solution now. I now realize that most of the situations were not that urgent, it was my impatience that was being exposed.

But as I have grown older, and I hope a bit wiser, I am realizing the advantages of learning to wait on God. I think you will agree that instant gratification is not always the best thing for us. Listed below are 3 things I have learned about the importance of learning to wait on God.

1. Learning to wait on God causes us to reevaluate our prayer. How many times during the process of praying through a matter, have you changed how you’ve prayed? Often, my prayer at the beginning of the process was much different than the prayer when God answered. During my journey of praying and waiting the Holy Spirit refined my request and was able to give me the heart of God in the matter. By waiting on the Lord he had refined my prayer to line up with what he wanted to do. Prayer is not about thinking up something to pray, but prayer is getting to the point where we agree with God about what he wants to do in the matter.

2. Learning to wait allows us to realize God’s timing. One of the basic tenets of our faith is that God’s timing is always the best time. God has the ability to do multiple things just from one answered prayer. By waiting on his timing others could be eternally affected by an answered prayer at the right moment.

A great example of this principle is the story of Lazarus being raised from the dead. Lazarus’s sisters wanted Jesus to come immediately and pray for Lazarus so he wouldn’t die. It was an urgent need that meant death if he wasn’t healed.

But Jesus had a far reaching and even greater miracle in mind. By waiting Jesus did something even more sensational. He raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus had been dead and in the tomb for several days. The whole town knew Lazarus had died and many had observed and witnessed his burial. Now the town was buzzing about Lazarus being raised from the dead. Jesus had received greater glory because at just the right time his sister‘s prayer were answered. (John 11)

3. Learning to wait strengthens our faith. When doubting Thomas saw the nail prints in Jesus’ hands and the wound in his side, he quickly declared, “I believe.” But then Jesus responded with an important principle. Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me you have believed? Blessed are those did not see, yet believed.”(John 20:29)

Great faith is measured by believing God even though we see no physical evidence of answered prayer. It’s to believe that God will answer in his time and in his way. When we wait on God and he answers prayer our faith is strengthened and we can now believe him for greater things.

Waiting on God to answer a prayer or “come through for you” is sometimes very difficult. If we don’t have the right attitude toward “waiting” we create an atmosphere of doubt, fear and despair.

I am reminded of the story of Peter denying the Lord. After he had denied Jesus three times and the rooster crowed, Jesus looked over at Peter and looked into his eyes and into his heart. The scripture tells us that “Peter then wept bitterly.” That means that Peter was pierced to the heart with shame and conviction with one look into Jesus’ eyes. I don’t think it was a look of judgment, but it was a look of unconditional love. It was the love in Jesus’ eyes that brought brokenness and conviction to Peter.

I guess because of Peter’s story, I have this image in my mind that the moment I step into the portals of heaven the first thing I will see is the face of Jesus. I will look into his eyes and I will be overwhelmed with his love for me. A peace like I have never experienced will come over me and I will have the confidence that I am now finally home.

To me, learning to wait is taking the opportunity to spiritually look into his eyes, sense his overwhelming love, and then to have the assurance that he is working out all things for our good and his glory as we are learning to wait on Him.

“And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to them that are called according to [his] purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren; and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Romans 8:28-31)

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It is not about performance

“Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5)

One of the benefits of God’s grace is its ability, through the Cross, to deliver us from a law mentality. The law teaches us that “in order to “be” we must perform.” The law demands performance in order to measure up. The whole purpose of the law was to reveal our unrighteousness and our inability to perform enough good works to obtain any degree of righteousness, other than our own self-righteousness.

The whole religious system has always been based on a performance based mentality. The religious hierarchy, the ceremonial formality, and sometimes even the educational system feed the perpetuation of a system that teaches or implies that we must perform in order to measure up to some sort of religious standard. Religious rules are always about control and bondage.

This is not a new thing. Jesus encountered a religious system that fought his message of grace and it eventually put him to death. The disciples lost their lives preaching this same message of salvation by God’s grace.

Even though the religious system is still alive and thriving today, I am grateful for a few solid Bible preaching churches that exists to teach the message of God’s grace and Jesus’ provision for man’s salvation.

However, in spite of the good churches there are many believers who still live in bondage to the law. Even though they will quickly tell you they are saved by grace, they live as though they are still under the law. It’s the tendency of the flesh to mix law with grace. Ever since Cain’s attempt to appease God by his offering of vegetables from his garden, man has sought to add to what God has already provided through a blood sacrifice.

Paul gives a great example of this in Galatians 3. Some of the new believers were stumbling in their new found freedom by mixing law with grace. We read about some well-meaning men from Jerusalem who were attempting to persuade new believers that they must add Jewish ceremonial law to God’s grace. Paul says, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you…I want to find out from you, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”(Galatians 3:1-3 NAS)

Paul wanted to make it clear that salvation and God’s righteousness came by faith and God’s grace. They were made righteous by God’s gift not by any amount of works or law keeping. In other words, man is saved and kept by God’s grace and goodness, apart from any effort of works or law keeping.

Why is this important to know? The Christian life is not about working for God to gain His favor. It’s not about performance, but it’s about living your life in complete dependence on Him. Your Christian life began by putting your faith and trust in God’s provision for your salvation, and it is to be lived by placing your faith and trust in God’s provision to lead you every step of the way and in every season of your life.

The life of faith is about surrendering every aspect of your life to his control. As we abandon every area of our life to Him, the Holy Spirit will lead us in how to give our money, and how He wants us to serve Him. This same grace will also lead you through every major decision and crisis.

If you are trying to measure up to a set of religious rules or standards for God’s acceptance, then remember, you don’t have to “do things for God” to get his acceptance. Because you are in Christ, you are already accepted.

Then fully surrender every aspect of your life to His control and then listen for the Holy Spirit’s voice to lead you. It’s not about performance, but it’s about trusting and resting in His grace. Then, “HE -WILL- DO- IT –ALL- FOR -YOU.”

    “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him…for in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority.” (Colossians 2 NAS)