Strength in Weakness

                                                                                                                  

                                        Strength in Weakness

                                    2 Corinthians 12:7-10; 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; John 15:5; Zechariah 4:6

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV) ⁷ To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹ But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

We often can’t discern one from the other.  Some people claiming to be servants of God say all the right things.  One good test, though, is after all is done and said, do you forget the messenger and remember the message?  Do you end up holding the fruit of desiring to be closer to Christ, or closer to that person?  Many pastors and other servant occupations have started out hoping to only honor Christ, but as the crowds grow, so does ego.  In the end, the whole focus is the man. The fire of God is traded for “strange fire”.  Few people realize anything has changed.  The real life changing power of God is no longer there.  Then, all that is moved in the hearer is emotion.  Sometimes God will use even a lifeless, self-focused ministry to reach a desperate soul, but that is not because the instrument is yielded, rather, the seeker is desperate, and God is merciful.

In our passage for today, the Apostle tells of a physical difficulty that he is enduring.  It tormented him.  There is a lot of speculation on what this was, but we are never really told.  He prayed three times, but God did not see fit to remove it.  Then Paul realized it was a great help to him.  He had revelations of heaven that could have caused him to become prideful.  The Apostle realized how weak human nature is.  He knew he needed help to keep from becoming prideful.  The word God spoke to his heart causing him to realize that it was when he was weakest then he was the most reliant upon God.  That is when the power of Christ rested upon him.  It wasn’t when he felt full of power, or felt inspired, or had a fresh revelation, but when he was weak. 

Only when we realize how needy we are does the Holy Spirit come in with the power of God.  The Lord told Paul that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. When Paul heard that, he said, “Well then, if that is the case, I’m going to boast about my weaknesses.”  You see, the Apostle knew how much he needed the power of God.  He knew every good thing in his ministry was because of the power of Christ in him.  In fact, he said, “I’m just going to quit living and let Christ live in me.” (Galatians 2:20)  “Then the power of Christ will always be on me.”(2 Corinthians 12:9) 

Now look again at what he wrote in verse 10. ¹⁰ That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.   Not for himself, but for Christ’s sake he delighted in weakness.  Paul had his priorities right.  He wasn’t living to please himself; he wasn’t living for ego or recognition.  He just wanted to please his Savior.  For His sake, he delighted in weaknesses.  What a statement! Think about your weaknesses.  Do you delight in them?  I don’t! I hope I’m learning to.  May the LORD give us a new attitude!  If we really understand this principle, that God can anoint and empower us when we recognize our inadequacies, then we would have Paul’s attitude. 

When was the last time you thanked God for an affliction?  We usually rebuke it, put it on the prayer chain, run to the doctor, or anything to escape.  But have you ever thought, “Thank you Lord for this affliction so that I will quit relying on self and let your power show up”? (Psalms 119:71[notes1] ) That is when people can see God in our lives.   They don’t see Him when you are operating under your own fire – your own worked up enthusiasm.  But when you are in God…!   The power has to be more than you! 

What about insults?  When was the last time you thanked God for insults?  They keep us in check.  They make us turn to God and ask if there is substance to them. If it is substantial then I am instructed and turn to God.  If the insult is without basis in reality, it is probably because I am serving God – rejoice! Insults remind us that all the insults we receive fall on Him. (Romans 15:3[notes2] ) He is our shield. (Psalm 84:11[notes3] )  He takes all the fiery darts! God give us a new attitude about insults.  They usually make us bitter and poison our attitudes.  But if we are in Christ, glorying in our weaknesses, realizing that the less we think of our ability the more the power of God rests upon us, then we welcome those insults.  You can’t insult me half as bad as I deserve.  The problem is that we start to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to.  That is when the insults sting.  Our pride is wounded!  Thank God!  Wound it some more!  Wound it to death!

And what about hardships?  Are you delighting in them?  Persecutions, difficulties, it is all the same.  When I am weak, then I am strong, not in self but in the LORD!  That is where the real strength is. (Habakkuk 3:19a[notes4] )  Before the Holy Spirit can fill us with His power and enable us to bear fruit that remains, we must recognize how great our need is!  Listen to how Jesus put it so bluntly, “Apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5b)  He didn’t say you can’t do much, or you’ll do very little, or not be very effective.  He said you can’t do anything.  Nada – zero!  Do you believe that?  Most of us spend the day doing nothing of any eternal value.  The days turn into months and the months turn into wasted years and the years turn into a wasted life.  There was a lot of activity, just nothing of any lasting value.

Listen to how the Apostle Paul describes a life that doesn’t let Christ do the work in you. 1 Cor. 3:10-15 (NIV) ¹⁰ By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. ¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. ¹⁴ If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

You can only build with gold, silver and costly stones when you humble yourself and let Christ do the work through you!  All your efforts, as noble as they may appear, are wood, hay and straw.  It has to be Jesus doing the work or it will be consumed.

Sometimes we give lip service to the Bible.  We say it is our standard, our source of all truth, until we come across one of these hard sayings, and then we find out we aren’t acting like we really believe it.  You do or you don’t.  The word of God does not lend itself to cafeteria-style consumption.  It’s an all or nothing type of book.  Jesus says, “I do it, or it’s meaningless!”  The only way we grasp the reality of the Word is when we see the truth about our need and humble ourselves and plead for help. Jesus likens it to a child asking his father for a good thing.  He said the Father delights to give the Holy Spirit to those that ask for Him.  (Luke 11:13[notes5] )  You don’t ask unless you recognize the need.

Now listen intently as we journey through the Word of God and see how contrary to our secular humanist culture it is.  Everything essential to the Christian life comes when we realize our needy condition and look to God to meet the need.

That humble recognition of need is a prerequisite to salvation.  Psalms 18:27-28 (NIV) 27 You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty. 28 You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

God saves the humble!  Psalms 149:4 (NIV) 4 For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.  Who gets crowned with salvation?  You have to recognize that God is perfect and you are not to repent.  You have to recognize you can’t save yourself.  That requires humility. 

The humble recognition of need is a prerequisite to being filled with the Spirit.  I know some people say that they got filled with the Spirit when they got saved and that is all they need.  Please take a look at Acts 2 and Acts 4.  The same people that got filled with the Spirit in Acts 2 got filled again in Acts 4.  The first time, in Acts 2, they recognized their need for power to share the Gospel.  They’d been scared to death and were hiding.  Now, in obedience to Jesus, they waited and prayed for the power of the Spirit that they so desperately needed.  Pentecost happened! The second time, in Acts 4, they recognized they needed God to give them boldness in the face of new threats and BOOM!  The place started shaking and they were filled again with the Holy Spirit!  You say you never felt a place shake?  Well, maybe you have never seen how needy you are to the extent that they did.  It’s when you realize how desperately you need God that the power of the Spirit comes rushing in to meet the need.

The humble recognition of need is a prerequisite to serving God.   Zech. 4:6 (NIV) 6 So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.  God told Zerubbabel that if he was going to get the work done it had to be the Spirit of God, not human energy or effort.    1 Cor. 2:4-5 (NIV) My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, 5 so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power. Paul wrote that he did not preach by human wisdom, but relied on the Spirit of God to work through him the very wisdom of God. If you are going to serve God in your home, at your work, or in the church, you must see that you cannot serve God without Him empowering you to serve by the Spirit.  What is fallen man that He should serve the Eternal One?  It is ridiculous to think you can do something for God without His enabling power. 

The humble recognition of need is a prerequisite for effective prayer.   If we ask anything according to His will He hears us.  How do we know what to pray for unless the Spirit intercedes for us?  Romans 8:26-27 (NIV) 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.  Notice in this passage that the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  He doesn’t come running to our aid when we think we can do it, but when we recognize we can never do it without Him.  You might want to add 2 Chronicles 7:14[notes6]  here also.  Remember that humility is a prerequisite for the prayer that brings rain and heals the land. Also see 2 Chronicles 34:27[notes7] .

The humble recognition of need is a prerequisite to being led of God.  The proud do not follow.  You may have seen the Audi commercial that has one caption, “Never follow”.  Jesus says, “Follow me.”  He asks you to follow Him because He knows how incapable you are of leading.  He is the Leader and the only One capable to lead.  The more you recognize your need, your inadequacies, the more you will want to follow closely the One who is capable of leading.  Psalms 25:9 (NIV) 9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.  Who does this verse declare to be the person who is guided and taught the way of God?  The humble! 

The humble recognition of need is a prerequisite to being revived.  Isaiah 57:15 (NIV) 15 For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.  He is right there with the contrite, the repentant, and those who are lowly in Spirit, but the proud He keeps at arms distance.  James 4:6 (NIV) 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:  "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  Do you want the grace of God in your life, his nearness to you?  Then you must humbly recognize how much you need Him.  Recognize your complete inability to do anything without Him. 

We could go on with Biblical examples of the heroes of faith that recognized their utter inability to do anything. It seems like that is who God chooses, mainly because they are dependent entirely on God.  Moses declares he cannot speak.  David was the smallest of the family and asks why God would even consider choosing him. Peter says, “Go away from me, I’m a sinful man.”  Paul calls himself the chief of sinners.  We could go on and on.  Then we could mention the ones who started with a humble recognition of their inability and utter reliance upon God, who later in life began to take credit and lost the power of God, ending in their ruin.  King Saul, King Solomon, and Gideon to name a few.  You can think of pastors who have gone down the same destructive road. 

Now would you please ask yourself, “Is my life run in my own power?  Are my actions the work of Jesus, at His leading, or am I self-reliant?  Am I doing nothing but building with wood, hay, and straw, or am I doing something that lasts with gold, silver and precious stones?  Is it my might and power, or Christ in me?”

The Master was searching

for a vessel to use;

On the shelf there were many-

which one would He choose?

Take me, cried the gold one,

I'm shiny and bright,

I'm of great value

and I do things just right.

My beauty and lustre

will outshine the rest

And for someone like You, Master,

gold would be the best!

The Master passed on

with no word at all;

He looked at a silver urn,

narrow and tall;

I'll serve You, dear Master,

I'll pour out Your wine

And I'll be at Your table

whenever You dine,

My lines are so graceful,

my carvings so true,

And my silver will always

compliment You.

Unheeding the Master

passed on to the brass,

It was wide mouthed and shallow,

and polished like glass.

Here! Here! cried the vessel,

I know I will do,

Place me on Your table

for all men to view.

Look at me, called the goblet

of crystal so clear,

My transparency shows

my contents so dear,

Though fragile am I,

I will serve You with pride,

And I'm sure I'll be happy

Your house to abide.

The Master came next

to a vessel of wood,

Polished and carved,

it solidly stood.

You may use me, dear Master,

the wooden bowl said,

But I'd rather You used me

for fruit, not for bread!

Then the Master looked down

and saw a vessel of clay.

Empty and broken

it helplessly lay.

No hope had the vessel

that the Master might choose,

To cleanse and make whole,

to fill and to use.

Ah! This is the vessel

I've been hoping to find,

I will mend and use it

and make it all Mine.

I need not the vessel

with pride of its self;

Nor the one who is narrow

to sit on the shelf;

Nor the one who is bigmouthed

and shallow and loud;

Nor one who displays

his contents so proud;

Not the one who thinks

he can do all things just right;

But this plain earthy vessel

filled with My power and might.

Then gently He lifted

the vessel of clay.

Mended and cleansed it

and filled it that day.

Spoke to it kindly.

There's work you must do,

Just pour out to others

as I pour into you.

(Author unknown)

We don’t have anything going for us but Jesus!  Location won’t make a difference without Jesus.  A warm welcoming group of people will make us inviting, but if Jesus isn’t anointing us and loving through us, we’ll soon be at each other’s throats.   A great program and an exciting vision may get us worked up, but if it is to bear fruit that remains it must be from Jesus.  He’s all we have.  Without Him we can spin our wheels, make a lot of noise, maybe even draw a crowd, but it won’t make any lasting difference.  If we have seen this truth, that we can do nothing without Him, there is hope.  If you see that, would you commit yourself to pray daily asking the Lord to anoint me to preach in the power of the Holy Spirit?  Would you pray for all our teachers to be empowered? Would you join me in praying that we would all have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to us?  
If we will ask, the Word promises we will receive.  The answer may tarry, as God tests our resolve to see Him glorified. But by God’s grace let us persist in knocking, in seeking, in asking for God to work through us. 
I’m not talking about moving our emotions, though He should be free to do that.  I’m talking about something even deeper, changing the way we think, so that we see our weaknesses and glory in them, knowing that when we are weak, only then we are strong.  I’m referring to Him being LORD in all our thoughts and all our decisions.  I’m asking for a fire that will consume anything that is not of Him so that the only reason we gather is to worship Jesus with our whole being. Even more than that, the only reason we live is to be a vessel for Him.  We need a zeal for Him like He has for us.  What a difference that would make!  When God moves, those resisting His Spirit will be upset, but many more will be drawn to Christ.  It’s not about numbers, but I’d rather be in Numbers than Exodus.  Will you start asking with me daily for God to work in Wayside? Acknowledge our utter inability to do anything but fight and make a mess, and plead for God to do His work in us, will you? 
2 Cor. 13:7-9, 11 (NIV)⁷ Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong. Not that people will see that we have stood the test but that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. ⁸ For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹ We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is for your perfection.

¹¹… Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.

AMEN!

Suffering The Path of Glory

                                                                                                             

Growing Up

Adapted from Dr. Yu’s ‘Eight Experiences with New Life’

Spiritual growth is much like physical growth, it should happen continually, though sometimes in spurts, until we come to maturity.  We begin thirsting for milk, but as we grow we desire Christ as meat and bread.  I believe we can have growth spurts when we desire them, for God is more willing for us to mature than we are to deal with growth pains.  The author of Hebrews told his readers that for the length of time they had been Christians, they should have become teachers. They should have been ready for solid food, instead of milk.

Here are some of the stages of growth and their accompanying experiences.

When we come to Christ (not church or an institution or even theological teaching, but the person of Christ Jesus) it is usually with enormous relief and great joy.  The guilt is finally gone and we are thrilled with our new relationship with God, our new life, and our new family. Joy often overflows into song.  People ask us, “What in the world happened to you?” We are glad to tell them.  We are constantly talking to our Father about every detail of our life.  This is the place of first-love and we should continue in this intense freshness as we grow. 

With some, entering into this first phase is instantaneous.  With others, the process is much slower and gradual.  I think the rate depends on the revelation of the Spirit of our need and of the all sufficiency of Christ meeting that need. That depends on our willingness to face the truth about our condition. Few see their sin and its depths very clearly, right at the start.  With most, it takes time to come to grips with how bad their sin nature is.  In this stage God brings clear and obvious answers to prayer to increase our faith.

Secondly, everything is new.  We see and sense things very differently than before.  Let me share a true story by way of example. A missionary had witnessed to a couple in China who received Jesus as Lord and Savior. He left them with a Bible.  The new convert felt uncomfortable about getting drunk like he did most evenings, so he and his wife prayed.  They recognized the Spirit would not give them peace about doing things they did before.  When the missionary returned they shared with him about the changes in their life.  When the missionary asked how they knew God did not want them to do those things they replied, “Our new Resident Boss, tell us He not happy if we do that.”  In this stage we too find there is a new Resident Boss. He is holy and pure and desires us to be the same. Conviction is suddenly much stronger and real than ever before.  But unlike the days before we came to Christ, we can now say “No!” to sin.  This is the power of God working within us.  It is not in our ability, but all in His to Whom we yield, out of that love for Him that we have come to experience.

The third working in us is an insatiable appetite for “more and more of God.”  Before we sought pleasure in various ways, but now those things leave us empty and even convict us.  Instead our hunger is turned toward knowing Him and His Word. He has become our first desire.  We want to play praise tapes and hear as many sermons as we can get our hands on.  If someone speaks of spiritual things we are delighted to hear of Christ working in their lives.

This brings us to the fourth thing, a hunger for fellowship. We want to be with other Christians and hear their testimonies, ask questions of the more mature. We realize that we are a part of something and incomplete without them.  When we are away from them we sense there is something missing in our spiritual life.

The fifth thing is the burden for relatives and friends. We have a sense of urgency to share the Good News of what Jesus has done for them.  We look for every opportunity to talk of Him and how He has changed our life and given us hope.  When rejected, we hurt more for them than we do ourselves, because we are in unity with the love of Christ that will endure suffering for their sake.

All these experiences and feelings are just the beginning of a long process of Christ growing in us.  We are on the road to maturity in Him.   With some baby Christians these feelings only last for months, others may continue for years, before they move into the next phase.

Somewhere along the line we begin to become inwardly critical of others.  The Scriptures warn us not to compare ourselves among ourselves, but we do.  “Why is that brother so lax in his attitude toward knowing God’s word?”  “This group certainly does not have the desire I do to reach out to the lost.”  “Why don’t they grow as fast as I am?”   We have been blessed with a desire and zeal in certain areas and can’t understand why everyone does not have the same blessing.  Sometimes we may even voice this ‘concern’ to them, or even worse, to others who know them. Worst of all, we impose our personal dealings and convictions on others.  We think, “God made it clear to me, so I will help them see it too.”

Dr. Yu calls this sixth phase the “wind of God’s grace.”  It is one of the signs that we are still babes in Christ.  God’s grace has helped us deal with issues in our life.  That grace has been like a wind in our raised sail driving us forward.  But when the winds subside we begin to feel the old currents that move us helplessly in a direction we no longer desire to go.  Romans 7 becomes a reality. Romans 7:15-23 (NIV) 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law;23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

Why does God allow this?  Why doesn’t the wind just keep blowing strong right into the shores of heaven?  I have need of a deeper growth.  I’m in need of moving from milk to meat.  The seventh phase is some of the old temptations of my pre-salvation life begin to emerge.  The big obvious things you deal with quickly, but all the time wondering why they have even come up.  Some of the ‘little’ issues you let slide by.  After all, the ‘big’ things are being kept at bay.  Then we start to realize we are still as weak as we ever were. We begin to justify other things, which is bribing our conscience with our still-old (not renewed) reasoning mind!

To take us on deeper into Himself, Christ must deeply expose us.  In our natural self we have all the weaknesses and failings of those we were critical of.  Our very exalting of ourselves over them reveals how immature we are.  To bring the point home, Christ allows us to get even worse.  We face defeats and despair. Sometimes we even wonder why we should share Jesus when there is so little change in our own lives.  We wonder why we can’t get a grip on our thought life.

Instead of overflowing in songs of joy we are feeling miserable to the point of despair.  “Will I ever get the victory? Will God ever restore the joy I once had?” We plead with God to change us, but in His great love He allows us to fall even further and experience more failures.  We say with Paul, “In my flesh, there dwells no good thing.”  If in our unrenewed mind there is some little glimmer of the thought, “I am really not that bad,” if we have some justification, if we blame it all on the Devil, we go on in this phase. God must bring us to the point where we realize we are wrong as long as we live according to OUR thoughts and desires. 

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, (His thoughts are holy and true righteous and pure, and ours are vile and vain and self-centered and self-righteous) neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. (His ways are perfect, just, compassionate and full of grace, and ours are faulty, biased, callused and full of selfishness) 9 "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Do you see that they are worlds apart? We are still in the self-life, relying on our soul efforts, or determination (“good” flesh) our unrenewed mind.  That will never please God.  Not only are they not good enough, they are wicked.  The difference between our own goodness and God’s is as high as the heavens from the earth and as far as the east from the west.  There is nothing in our total old creation that could ever please God. Everything about the old creation is an enemy of God and brings death.

We come to the place of total despair that Paul came to at the end of Romans 7.

“Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”  “Get me out of this thing!  I want to please God and I keep deceiving myself and going in circles.  HELP! God, only You can save me from this condition.  I’ve tried, and I’m going nowhere.”

Look at Galations 5 with me and consider those works of the flesh. Gal 5:19-21 (NIV)19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  “I’d be ok on those sexual sins if Jesus didn’t tell us that if we even contemplate them we have as good as done them.” Idolatry is anything that I put before the Lord.  I don’t want to do that, but desire creeps in and soon I am justifying some purchase.  Discord, “I didn’t mean to sow it, and I thought I was just putting things right.”  Selfish ambition, “Is that why I let that information slip out?”  Factions, “Oh I don’t divide up the body of Christ into groups. I almost always realize our oneness, even though our group is best.”

Any of us, at any moment can slide into the depths of the flesh and all its subtle destructive tendencies. But the new creation in us is continually against all the old, and all its ways.  The Spirit is continually exposing the old and supplying us with super-abounding grace.  None of us has any excuse.  Everyday, moment-by- moment, each of us decides whether to let our mind indulge itself in the flesh or yield to the life of the Spirit.  Will I enter into Christ Jesus, into His mind and Spirit, and walk in Him, letting His Life be manifested or will I show the world the unholy trinity, me, myself and I?

Will you thrill the Father’s heart by laying down the old – nailing it to the cross – and enter into His Kingdom and His joy?  Just as you first received Jesus, you need to again and again give over your will, to let the Spirit take you into the Life of Christ.  We need Jesus as much today as we did the first day we were saved.  The road to maturity takes us to the realization that God is pleased with His Son and not in anything of our old nature. We have a desperate need to yield to His life continually. Are you willing to let go of your will and take on the mind and heart of Jesus? The Father wants to conform you fully into the image of His Son and only your will stands in the way.  Here is the question I want to present to you.  Will you let the Father continue to strengthen your inner man, so that you continually choose the Life of Christ, cooperating with the Spirit of Jesus, denying all that is of your flesh, to let God be All?

If you are living in the yo-yo phase – the up and down life that many settle for as normal, know that God is trying to bring you to the end of trusting in yourself.

He is showing you all your old creation is helpless.  The only answer is the one Paul exclaimed, “Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  Romans 7:25 (NIV) We must depend on Him alone for our continual salvation.  When we see our total depravity as He sees it, we will be humbled to continually give up all to Him, our criticism and gossip ends, for we recognize our old nature is just as sinful, just as abhorrent, just as vile as any criminal on death row. Then the Spirit works in you to desire more of His Life, all the fruits of the Spirit, in everything you think, do, and say.

In this stage of growth we recognize our works for God will produce nothing of lasting value unless they emanate from Him.  Programs and formulas are forsaken, and instead we seek the direction and Life of the One with Whom we live in communion. We recognize that only His work brings Life. Everything must continually come from above.

Recognizing the reality of our old man, we are broken and tender.  We are no longer quick to shout with Peter, “Not I Lord! The others may run but I would never run.”   Our constant prayer is, “Lord, live in me this very moment and manifest your life through your servant.”

There is an eighth stage.  It is a deeper revealing of self and a greater revelation of Jesus.   Here, we cling to the truth that we died in Him and were raised with Him to newness of life. Romans 6:4-7 (NIV)4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.

‘Done away with’ means ‘rendered jobless.’  Since your entire old man was crucified with Christ, sin has no medium, no channel through which to entice your body.   But most wonderful of all – Christ, the New Man, is living in your spirit and He is against sin and apart from sin.  So sin looses its job in your life. When you are in Christ, sin has no handle with which to entice you.  The Resident Boss is your Life. He who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. (1Cor 6:17)  As we have seen before in Colossians 3, in verse 3 we have died with Christ (past completed act) but in verse 5 we put to death what belongs to the earthly nature. (ongoing action) It’s a daily present need.

Everyday we either walk in, give our attention to, and cooperate with the Old Nature, which is animal like and results in death, OR the Spirit, which lives unto God and results in Life and Peace.  Will you stay one with Jesus in Spirit?  Will you let Him take you deeper and more extensively into Himself?  He mostly uses His Word to reveal His victorious Son in you, but He can use any situation to bring you more deeply into Himself. For you to give up your will to Him in trusting prayer all day is vitally important.  God’s grace is more than enough, (super-abundant), to cause you to grow up into the fullness of Christ.