All for Love - Part VII

My identity: John 3:3-7, 1 John 3:1-2, John 17:16, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, 1 Peter 2:9

Throw away those old garments of sin, failure, and defeat, and put on Christ.

Right now your emotions may agree with Satan’s lie that you are just a sinner trying to please God-and a failure at that, but please remember what the mirror, the Bible, is telling you: you are a new creation, what is true of Christ is true of you. You can trust your Father in heaven not to give up on you until you admit you are his child in every way.

Christianity does not originate in the tree from which all other religions do; it springs from the other tree that was in the garden, the Tree of Life, rooted in the person of the Lord Jesus, and based on something much deeper than a mere struggle between good and evil. John 15. Our source of life comes from one source, Jesus Christ.

Every sin that was committed, idol trusted, and identity message received had to register in your mind, will, and emotions (your soul), and therefore, the complete history of your old nature is stored there. The baggage that was accumulated by living with the old nature for years is still stored in the mind, will and emotions. Is it any wonder that we are commanded in Romans 12:2 to renew our minds? Understanding the residue or baggage that was left by the Adam-life will help us to understand how a Christian can walk with the Lord, in the Holy Spirit, for days, weeks and even years, and in an instant find himself attracted to the old sins, idols and feelings of the past.

Imagine Christ’s life dwells in you about where your heart is, and just above that life is a door that opens and closes; we will call that door “the abiding door.” What opens the abiding door is humility and what closes it is pride. If there could be one word that describes God, it would be Love, but the one word that best describes Jesus is humility. Humility is not saying, “I am nothing”; rather, the humble man says, “I have nothing.” Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a man; he possessed nothing, yet he was the Son of God. In divine obedience, he received moment by moment what he needed from the Father. Jesus did not walk on water because he could, but because his Father told him to.

The same Spirit of humility allows us to recognize that we have nothing, and that our very existence must be supported by the Father moment by moment. If in pride we decide that we possess resources to better deal with daily life then he, at that moment the door closes to his life, and the unholy trinity seizes the opportunity to lure us with a temptation arising from something in our past.

God will not allow the old idols of a new creation to work. They will only cause anxiety depression etc.

We must be careful not to judge Christians as not really being born again for they may only have the door to Christ's life closed. The door can open and close as fast as a thought. Many believe that it can close as fast as a wicked thought, but few know that it also will open just as fast with a repentant prayer.

If you choose to believe and walk in your co-crucifixion with Christ, life often will get worse before it gets better, with dangers increasing. For you become a threat to the enemy!

You are able to walk as Christ walked, crushing the head of the devil, who must mount an attack to persuade you that your experience, not faith in what God says, must be your measure of truth. Satan will say that reality consists of your experiences of being a failure, and being worthless, and being rejected by God because your behavior is not good enough. Satan‘s plan is very simple; he must get you out of the light! Why? For in the light is the fountain of life; in the light we see light. Psalm 36:9. Jesus makes life makes sense, and once I find myself out of his light, life has no center or meaning. Therefore, the enemy wants to draw us out of Christ’s light into his darkness. Then, ever so subtly and unbeknownst to us, the door to Christ’s life closes.

The enemy has a myriad of tricks to take us into darkness. He will try to push your button, so to speak, to drive us back to a carnal existence. There are certain buttons the enemy has pushed for years to make you ineffective; once you are living out of Christ's life, he won’t simply go away! On the contrary, he will push buttons all the more frantically to get the responses of the past. When you see this happening, do take heart, for you have truly found the answer; if you hadn’t the enemy would not be attacking you.

The more we walk in the Lord, the more our emotions are calmed.

When we begin to walk in the will of God, there will be a more steady line, for the emotions begin to respond to what is occurring in faith. Rather than in the body or circumstances.

The spiritual man must be aware of temptations that are not calculated to bring immediate defeat, but downfall years away.

God is much greater than the enemy; this we must not forget! By his own action he will reveal your condition, for God alone can break through the darkness in which Satan has the carnal Christian living.

With the light of the Holy Spirit, the deception of the enemy can be seen clearly. This no man can do; it must be the work of the Holy Spirit. Ask 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25

When any of us realize the error of our way, the enemy steps up the attack for fear that all of his long efforts and deep deceptions might be for not. He begins to whisper in a voice that is calculated to be confused with conscience, “It has been too long; you have fallen too far and do not have the strength to return.“ “You will only be a phony if you try.“ “You are fake.“ “God has cut you off because of the length and depth of your sin.“ “You had your chance. “ “You are not saved.” “You can’t do any better.“ It is all said in hopes that we will not return and learn the true character of God.

The true depth of a person’s faith is revealed in his ability to accept forgiveness in the midst of his deepest defeat.

When you have done nothing wrong, perhaps the thought of death does not frighten you because you carry with you a nice little bag of good works with which you think the Lord will be pleased. However, failure reveals where you have really put your trust; if in its midst you shrink back in fear, you prove that your righteousness was based on what you could do, and not on what Jesus has done. Many in the midst of failure refuse forgiveness, continuing a self-inflicted punishment until they believe they have paid the price. Some are so unbelieving that they even begin to make up excuses for why God should not forgive them. The solution is repentance and pressing on.

We forget that ministry is a gift from God which is exercised as the door to his life in us is opened. If a leader sins, he must follow the prescription in the New Testament for sin and go on: James 4:7-10

If you have ever once experienced freedom from your failures, you can experience it once again for it is moment by moment. If as a believer, you have shut the door, repent, accept his forgiveness in spite of how you feel, and press on. Shortening the time span that you allow yourself to wallow after defeat will conversely give an increased time victory.