What God Did

"God who created this planet knew how to fix this planet, and what He needed of us to perform it was our humanity."

WHY DO WE TRY so hard TO EARN the reward of faith? Most of us are not trying to follow Jewish customs as Paul described to the church at Galatia. But we have a multitude of other rules, instituted by the church. When to attend church, where to attend, how often we attend, what we should wear, what other people should not wear, the roles of men as opposed to women in preaching and teaching. Just yesterday, I saw a piece of a sermon by a man who was appalled by those who had forgotten Mary, Jesus’ mother. On the surface, I agree with his remarks. Mary is an example to us of great faith. But then, so is Joseph. They believed God in the face of intense social pressure. Joseph gave up his life for over a year to protect his family in Egypt. Mary was also in the upper room and received the Holy Spirit’s baptism in the book of Acts. But salvation is about the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who died and rose again for us. We honor Mary. We worship Jesus, the Anointed One.

What we can’t EARN of the benefits of salvation, we criticize in others. We condemn ourselves for not “being good enough” and for “not acting right” then apply our personal standard to others. “Well, if they hadn’t …” None of us can, and that is the point. Without God’s Spirit in us to cleanse us from sin, to lead us and direct us, to guide us and teach us, we will never be saved. There is no self-cure. And this includes walking by faith for physical or mental healing. Neither our spiritual salvation nor our physical and mental healing come as a result of our ability to cure ourself. No man can heal himself. Even the body’s basic ability to mend itself is God-given. And salvation comes only through belief in the finished work of Jesus Christ.

"For it was only through this wonderful grace that we believed in him. Nothing we did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the gracious gift from God that brought us to Christ! So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving." (Ephesians 2:8-9 TPT)

They are gifts of grace. Grace is a much-repeated word in the church that has little understanding. It can be translated “favor” but it is more than the permission to have something UNEARNED. It includes all the power needed for that which is UNEARNED to come to pass. It does no good to give a man a car without a key, or to give him the key, but the car has no engine. The frame of the car will not get him to work, nor will holding the key. It must go in the ignition and the engine be cranked. The driver must have a license which he applied for legally. Grace is the license, the key to the car, the power of the engine, and the gift of the car itself. In short, GOD HAS GIVEN us all we need to live life free of sin and the bondage of sin, free of the rules of the law (or any we have crafted), and He has filled us with His Spirit, who has all the wisdom and ability we need to live life successfully.

Jesus defeated death by not staying dead. In order to not be in bondage to death, He had to die physically. But He knew, though His body was dead, that His Spirit would be alive, and in three days, the Holy Spirit, the breath of the Father, would recreate His body, filling it full of the life of God so that it would never die. Death has no rule over Him because He can no longer die, and this is our guarantee of His return and our body’s resurrection. He cannot die. We are made one with Him through the love of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit, and NOT THROUGH ANY POWER OF OUR OWN. So we are as eternal as He is. And God’s grace did all of that.

“I will say even more: The fanciest delicacies, the richest treasures, the highest honors this world has to offer—they are all nothing but garbage compared to the greatest gift of all that comes from knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I give up everything this world has to offer so that I might be with Christ and be recreated in Christlike character—not from my own efforts or attempts to cure myself, not by observing some code, but by true re-creation of mind, heart and character that God accomplishes when we trust him. And this trust is established by the evidence of God’s supreme trustworthiness provided by Christ.” (Philippians 3:8-9)

It is an immense relief to me to know I don’t have to try to cure myself. What a burden it is to think that my behavior is responsible for my healing. Instead, I am to walk by faith, meaning to simply BELIEVE IN WHAT GOD did and what He will do because of my trust in Him to do it. This means renewing my mind, or changing how I think, so that I stop me from trying to fix me. I must think like Christ. I must think like the Holy Spirit and no longer like the dying processes of the natural mind, and I must speak like Christ, for my thoughts affect my words. I speak the Word and not fear or anxiety or worry. It is natural to fall back on negative emotions. Which is my point. We are no longer just natural. We are supernatural with the power of God’s Spirit working continually in us. God’s grace enables us to live to His standard, to live higher, and not just by our flesh, or old “me-me-me” way of thinking.

“When you’re placed into the Anointed One and joined to him, circumcision and religious obligations can benefit you nothing. All that matters now is living in the faith that is activated and brought to perfection by love.” (Galatians 5:6)

All of creation yearns for the complete redemption of this earth. Every plant and animal, every stream, every ocean wave, every human being, deep inside them, wants to be free of death. The deception of the devil is that we can either find it through our own efforts, or it isn’t possible and we’re all doomed. But the truth is Jesus came, as planned by God, died and rose again as planned by God, and now whosoever will believe is free because of what He willingly did. God who created this planet knew how to fix this planet, and what He needed of us to perform it was our humanity. He chose to become human forever and thus prove that God was and always will be greater than death. He succeeded.

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Romans 8:22-23)

Our humility comes in that we know that what He has done was not of ourselves. Our confidence comes in that we know what He has done is complete and unending. We are humbled in ourselves. We could not fix “me” but are bold in the One who found us valuable enough, who loved us to the extent He would do, unasked, what was required. This is our faith. Absent of ego and arrogance, we lay down what WE CANNOT DO IN OUR OWN EFFORTS in favor of what He has already done. Because if God spared not His own Son, won’t He freely give us all other things? (Romans 8:32) The answer is yes.

Image by Mike Ljung from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com