What It Means to Be Established in Righteousness--And How He Gets Us There

"In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isaiah 54:14)

This journey has been incredible.

I never thought that I would be facing down police officers, mobsters, left-wing thugs, Antifa, internicine fights, unemployment, over-employment, media attacks, media scares.

Yet in the midst of all of this, I have both known and believed that God is love.

I have been without a car for a while, too.

My goodness, just when I thought everything was falling apart around me, and it seemed to have gotten worse.

And yet ...

I sensed within me frequently that I needed to double down on the unshakable truth of God's gift to me, through His Son Jesus:

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)

Through Jesus, we are now receiving the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness!

Do I really believe that? Is it true that I am established in His righteousness?

For that reason, the trials will come into our lives. Do we rest assured in the truth that Jesus' Work at the Cross has accomplished all things, or not?

Peter would write to his fellow Jewish Christian believers during their trial:

"Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: 7That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:" (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Notice that our faith is worth more to God than gold--and gold is often used throughout the Bible as  a type of righteousness and divinity.

The gold which never perishes--that is our righteousness, granted to us through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus:

"Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification." (Romans 4:25)

During the final days of last year, a sense of heaviness did overcome me. I faced so many challenges, and worried about what I was going to do or how I was going to get through all of it.

How did I respond to these challenges? I began to read more of God's Word and listen to more of His Word. I asked for answers, and I asked God to show me more of what I needed to know or whatever I had believed that was wrong.

What has been resonating in my spirit all comes back to the Gift of Righteousness!

I realized that I had spent so much time ruminating on what was wrong, rather than seeing Him who has been from the beginning.

Then this passage came to my mind, from one of Paul's letter to the Philippians (a letter which he was writing in jail):

"Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content." (Philippians 4:11)

Let's not forget Paul's exhortation to rest our minds in good things (Philippians 4:8)

That's a choice that I had to start making in my life. It was still too easy for me to retreat into troubles and hardships, and for my mind to drift then settled into imagining the worst case scenarios. Every one of these fears and tumults must be met with God's Word, not our wonderings:

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28)

My Daddy God has been cleaning a lot of wrong thinking and habits in my mind. That's what spiritual growth in Him is all about!

"1I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:1-2)

It's good for me to reflect on how often my mind revert to worst-case scenarios. Many times in the morning, I would begin ruminating on bad outcomes. This is a faithless, bad habit and there is no excuse for it.

Oftentimes, I was struggling to effect some kid of solution, some kind of outcome, as though my standing or my well-being was wrapped up in any kind of outcome. Such thinking is simply untrue and unbiblical.

We have a promise, for God has called us to be "established in righteousness"(Isaiah 54:14)

When meditating on Romans 5:17, I recall that God invites us to keep receiving the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace. This promise fulfilled today for us reminded me of Amos 5:24, in which the prophet moved by the Spirit declared:

"But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream." (Amos 5:24)

That mighty stream is flowing over me!

Sometimes, the only way that we can know and believe is that we stay rested in the truth of our status as righteous. There is no way we can be sure if we did not endure hard trials. I have seen myself going through some unprecedented difficulties recently. Instead of wandering into fears, worries, tumults, and a lingering sense of condemnation, I stay focused on the truth:

I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:21). This revelation was so often absent from me. When I had faced trying times before, I would immediately start asking myself what I had done wrong or right. I looked at myself. Now that I know about the New Covenant, now that I know that Daddy God is indeed a God to me, I rest in the part of the clause which enacts and enforces God's New Covenant in my life:

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

"11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

"12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)

All of my unrighteousness has been paid for, and before God I never need worry about being condemned for my sins--past, present, and future--ever again:

"For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." (Isaiah 54:9)

and

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)

and

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:9)

Cleansed from all unrighteousness!

Let's be established in this promise, in this confirmation! God gave His best, and the least we can do is honor what He has done for us.

More Revelations in This Journey

I have found that my loving Daddy God has been cleaning out more wrong believing in my life.

1. I used to be jealous, or have a sense of lack for people who were enjoying things in their lives. I used to compare myself to others: "Why do they have it so good, and I don't?"

That's the wrong attitude to take.

I realize that in Christ I am truly blessed with all spiritual blessings (Ephesians 1:3).

I can be grateful for all that other people have. It does not mean that I can't have good things too:

"O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." (Psalm 34:8)

2. I had feared going back into the workforce. I imagined in my mind the succession of days, weeks, and years.

That's ridiculous! I cannot foretell one day.

And I don't have to!

"Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:" (Isaiah 46:10)

And there is GREAT news for those of us who know Christ Jesus!

"I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning." (1 John 2:13)

The same God who declares the end from the beginning, this same loving God we know personally.

More importantly, He knows us; he knows me. (Galatians 4:9)

The same wealth and worthy God wants to invest in my life, He will do in our jobs, in our careers.

To return back to the second point, it is essential that I stop projecting what will or could happen. That does not matter.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6)

I have also struggled with projected recriminations. We need to stop looking around us or within ourselves.

We need to look on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith. (Hebrews 12:2)

Consider the account of Peter walking on the water:

"28And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. 33Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God." (Matthew 14: 28-33)

There are inner turmoils which are getting put away from me little by little.

It's been tough, but it's worth it. This walk, this work, this is worth waking up for.

Jesus, our Life has never let me down.

God's Favor is Not for Those Who Deserve It

It really is amazing how often we still think that God owes us something--anything.

If we read our Bibles enough, or if we go to church.

If we start paying back debts, or if we write all those apology letters we had assured that we were going to do, then we think that God is going to bless us.

When we think that way, we are putting confidence in our flesh, and we are falling back under law:

"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3:3)

and also

"For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." (Galatians 5:3-4)

The flesh, living under law, all speak of self-effort. Abram and Sarai wanted to have a child, but instead of trusting in God's favor, they relied on their own effort:

"For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." (Romans 7:5)

and also

"But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise." (Galatians 4:23)

God wants to favor us, to rely on His grace:

"Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all," (Romans 4:16)

Let's stop striving for God's favor in our lives.

He has given us His Son, and in Jesus we are blessed indeed:

"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved" (Ephesians 1: 3-6)

Meditate on the Gift of Righteousness

"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5:17)

"They which receiving" is more properly translated "They which are receiving".

It's an active, continuous tense.

God's gift of righteousness is not something that we receive one in a while.

God our Daddy wants us to keep receiving it, even when we sin, fail, and fall short of God's glory:

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23)

We still fall short, but that does not mean we should run and hide in shame, the way that Adam and Eve did when they ate from the Forbidden Tree.

Instead, God invites us to look on His Son and be transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

We should come to the throne of Grace in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16)

God's new covenant in our lives is enacted by this gift of righteousness, that we know that we will never be punished for our sins and iniquities!

"10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

"11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

"12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8:10-12)

Remember that the word "merciful" should be rendered "propitious", in that God did not arbitrarily decide not to punish our sins.

They were punished in the body of His Son Jesus!

"Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed." (1 Peter 2:24)

He bore our sins, which signals to our conscience that we should never feel the need to punish ourselves for the wrongs which we have committed, and the sins which we will commit in the future:

"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:" (1 John 2:2)

Let's meditate on this great gift of righteousness, righteousness which rolls like a mighty, never-ending stream! (Amos 5:24)