Growing in Christ
Going further for those who believed, but got lost in fear…
I used to fear that God might not want to me in case I tarnish his reputation. But it’s the other way around, God will tarnish my reputation. But I like his company. And there’s no one else who loves me, more.
Jesus says, “greater in heaven is the celebration over one sinner who repents than many righteous who need no repentance.”
Also, don’t miss this message… for those who fear God but don’t know if you’ve worked hard enough, let me highlight this for you. He said the “righteous need no repentance.”
The Savior’s name in the book of Jeremiah is The Holy One of Israel, The Lord Our Righteousness.
When you believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Savior you are also believing that he was and is his name: Our Righteousness.
When we believe his righteousness is our righteousness, we are believing that we get credited to our accounts all the profits of which he earned by works and by sacrifice at Calvery. We know he is the one because the Father glorified the Son in miracles. And we know he is the power of God because Jesus of Nazareth resurrected himself.
When I realize that he did it all for me, the fire of life burns. And I can feel it, again. And when I love him for it, the fire grows into a joyous blazing furnace in me: my Savior is amazing!
Love is the testimony of the Holy Spirit.
The True Vine is receiving the love from the Father for the Son, until you love the Son.
Because the Father loves the Son and the Holy Spirit loves the Son, so loving the Son is Oneness with the Father. And loving the Son is possible, only by fellowship with the Holy Spirit. If you love the Son, you will fear losing him. And if you love the Son you will respect him, like a wife respects her husband: in admiration, in joyous affection, and with a fire of strength that comes from being loved, by her husband.
What do you do if you feel like you can’t hear him?
If all your “try” has failed to make you feel closer to the Father, or filled with the Holy Spirit, or successful comparatively to the works of the Son, stop trying and look up.
When did Job encourage himself? Anytime he remembered God, he boasted in God as his Savior and Advocate and Help.
Being honest and childlike, I have gotten into some amazing conversations with God that lead to healings with this phrase, “Okay God, I know you’re real… talk to me about…” (when I’m in this attitude I get afraid that I’m a brat, but God never makes me feel that way.)
If suddenly letting your guard down doesn’t work because there’s a stronghold of fear, breath in some graciousness with yourself: just because you’re afraid doesn’t mean you’re in danger. A stronghold of fear will lie to activate the fight or flight response. Go slow. Trust God at his word.
A great first start is to write. If you’re stressed about things piling up, make a list. If that’s all I need to do, God will pick it up in spirit the moment I have written the last thing weighting on my mind, as though tearing it out of my hands with an “I’ll take that” declaration. And my heart feels so light, as though he’s already working on the list. And I would have to work at remembering what stressed me about it, but instead I go do something fun or relaxing. And I forget about the list until an item comes back around, again (Note: this has helped me not get robbed from fake emails at least twice.)
If there’s a stronghold of fear, then there might me a memory that’s weighing you down. One way to deal with the past is to write it out, in as much detail as you can manage. You don’t have to read it. The finishing touches to writing out a memory begins with inviting Jesus to talk with you about it. And he can handle the big questions. It’s important to ask him the big questions, which are kept close to your heart.
If you are lost in confusion or a fog or in darkness, take some time to reflect on what he’s done in your life, so far. Remember him and bring to remembrance all the reasons you love him. Even if the only thing you can think of is that you love how kind his is, sit there in remembrance because that is a success of one of Jesus’s commands: abide in him. And go back to the Bible and read, read without expecting to learn anything.
Sitting at his feet is the good choice, as we learned from the testimony of the sisters, Mary and Martha. Mary was learning from him, but what might her heart of been doing? The scripture gives us an idea by another encounter of Mary with Jesus: she pours quality perfume on his feel, and kissing is feet and washing them in her tears, wiping the perfume into his skin with her hair, she lavishly poured out the deep love of her heart on to him. How much does she love him? I’d say, as much as a woman can love a man that she’s not allowed to touch in another way.
She poured how love for him like a bride who is still forbidden to get closer to her husband, within the restraints of respect, she filled the area of affection up to the most affection she was allowed to exhibit. And those watching ridiculed her, but Jesus fervently defended her, exalted her and made a promise that she would be remembered anywhere the gospel was shared. I think, he knows that while she sat as his feet learning from his words of wisdom, she was learning about the man himself, and was falling in love with him.
And that is what the church is, a bride falling in love with the bridegroom, getting to know him, falling in love with him, until joyful expectation for oneness breaks forth inside as rivers of living water.
And let me tell you; God will never make you feel like you have to do more. He’s proud of Jesus. You’re not invited to replace him. You’re invited to marry him.
Making Sangria 