It's Hard Work Believing -- This is a World Obsessed with Doing

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. " (John 6:28-29)

This passage brings out the truth about our Lord and Savior.

He is still our Lord and our Savior.

He asks us to believe on Him, to trust Him, and this trust is a growing process which takes us faith to faith, as we grow in grace!

Why do we struggle with this?

Because like the Israelites of Jesus' time, we want to know: "What can we do? How do we work the works?"

We have nothing we can give God, for God gives us everything.

We are not autonomous.

We do not even create ourselves.

Such is the nature of sin, that we think that we can take care of everything, including ourselves, and thus do not have to rely on anyone or anything else.

We do not need other people. We need life.

We need Jesus, and the Good News is that Jesus, Savior, came to us and provided us everything.

It is hard for us to believe this. There is an innate need for us to keep trying to be more, to do more, to have a part in all that Jesus has done for us.

For years, I was so busy on the inside. So busy trying to figure out what I needed to.

He is our Life, and He has taken care of everything. It is the height of arrogance for me to think that i have to add something that what He has already done.

Now, once again, why do so many Christians have a hard time with this?

They have not accepted the harsh truth: I am dead, separated from God in Adam. I need a new life, a new identity, a new standing, out of Adam and into Christ.

Do we really accept what Jesus says when He told His disciples: "Apart from me, ye can do nothing."?

Most Christians still think that they can -- and must -- do something.

There we find ourselves right back to the Israelite dilemma: "What must we do, that we may work the works of God."

Jesus rebuffed their demand for a list of demands, and told them:

"This is the work: that you believe on Him whom He has sent."

Faith is Not About Blind Allegiance, but Trust

I was a Kierkegaardian.

The Danish theologian-philosopher cast Christianity in a dark and dour light, imposing on readers the sense of guilt and shame about their sin before God.

I recall one of his sermons, in which he wrote: "You are always guilty before God."

At first, a lot of this heavy-handed moralism sounds good and true.

The truth is, however, that it is false.

Kierkegaard's theology is just as wicked as any other false preaching out there.

One of the most dangerous aspects of his philosophical system argued that faith was somehow irrational, a blind hope, and leap into absurdity.

That is simply not the case.

There is so much in our experience based on what other people say.

The notion that faith is a some mystical felling and that we have no assurance about anything -- that is a fantasy all to itself.

Biblical hope is not about "maybe" or "could be".

It is all about "He did it all" and "It is Finished".

We are not called to believe on something which may or may not be true.

We are invited to trust in Someone who has already proven Himself Trustworthy.

He took the leap onto the Cross and rose again. He took us all with Him, too.

Faith is not about a physical effort, If we belong long enough and hard enough, then whatever we are believing comes to pass.

As the writer of Hebrews clearly defines: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen."

Just because something is invisible (to us), does not mean that it does not exist. Just because I do not see or clearly understanding something in my midst does not mean that it is not true, either.

Faith is not a fantastic pressure placed upon us. It has nothing to do with our feelings or the facts in our face.

It is the foundation of what Jesus did at the Cross, and our growing awareness of all that He accomplished there.

I used to think that it was up to be to believe right to believe hard enough and long enough, to ensure that God was going to be there for me.

So much wrong teaching, so much misleading doctrine, too much emphasis on myself created this morass of confusion.

I was so convinced taht everything -- everything! -- in this life depended on me.

For a while, I knew that I needed to let go, and then He would take care of everything.

Then when things would go well, I was convinced, by lies and misleading frauds, that now I had to start doing something.

Never once did I understand that I was stepping into a Finished Work in every way.

I have been surrounded by church people who have been talking "Do! Do! Do!" all their lives.

Jesus was not kidding when He cried out on the Cross: "It Is Finished!"

And yet so many Christians run around hurrying and scurrying, as though everything in our lives will collapse if we do not hold it all together.

Once again, faith is not some kind of human effort to hold on in the face of painful opposition. Faith is an intelligent acceptance off something which He has already accomplished.

We are not jumping into the Unknown, but rather we are receiving By Him who is Known, and more importantly knows us!

He is Responsible for Us, not Vice Versa

Jesus is alive.

He is our life.

He is not a figment of the imagination.

We are not responsible for keeping Him alive and aware in our lives.

He is our life, and is responsible for us.

“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” (Galatians 4: 9)

Notice that Paul deliberately corrects himself, and so too more of us need to correct ourselves.

It is not about how much we know God. We need to realize that He knows us!

In this life, in our walk with God, we are not connecting with someone who may or may not know us. We are connecting with someone who knows everything about us, including everything that we are going through:

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4: 15)

And thus:

“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4: 16)

This revelation still tickles me, and gives me much room for pause.

My Savior, my high priest forever, knows what I am going through, and wants me to come to Him whenever I have a need.

He is responsible for us, not vice versa.

This is taking some getting used to for me. What about for you?

Be Still and Know that He is God

"Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46: 10)

Why is this exhortation so difficult?

Because the noise in our heads starts to scare us and spark us into panic:

"If you don't do anything, nothing will happen."

Last time I checked, there was nothing that I could do to be saved.

"8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast."  (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

And apart from Him, we can do nothing:

"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)

Notice that Jesus is the branches, therefore we can rest in Him.

Why was this so difficult?

We get a mixed message so much of the time,

"You have to do your part, so that God can do His part."

We have no part to play apart from Him.

I must say that in the past week, I have sensed a greater sense of rest than before.

For the first time, I did not feel that I had to generate life and options, outcomes or opportunities on my own.

I understand a little more every day why Paul prayed, declared to the Ephesian Christians "I bow the knee" that we would know the love of Christ for us. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

So, most of us refuse to rest because we do not believe that He is at work.

For me, especially, the reason why I believed that God was not on the job was that I kept looking at myself. What was I thinking or feeling? What was I doing?

This is an old discussion, perhaps, and a number of fearful thoughts have arisen for me.

The entanglements in which we find ourselves can cause so much frustration.

He is God, we are not. He is in charge, we are not. We need to know Him, and more importantly understand that He knows us.

I have spent so much time trying to figure myself out.

What?!

Let’s see more of Him, and how He is taking care of all things.

Jesus: Thank You for Being My Life

This is the hardest transition I have yet faced in my walk.

Notice that I no longer write "my life", for it was never my life to begin with.

The prophet Micah informed us about walking (identifying) with our God:

"He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" (Micah 6: 8)

All of these demands are met for us in Christ Jesus, who is our righteousness, has graced us in every way, and granted us His standing before God the Father, and thus we have no boast in anything that we did to get there (Ephesians 2: 8-9)

This rest is more than I can fathom sometimes.

I am not trying to bring Him into every conflict and hardship.

He is already there.

I am not praying for God to be with me.

He is with me already.

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." (Matthew 1: 23)

Not only is God with us, but He now lives in us:

"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:" (Colossians 1: 27)

The Devil has worked so hard to convince sons and daughters of the Living God that they must continue to work and strive to bring God into their lives, to fix their hardships, to restore,

The fact is that He is already here with us, in us, and working through us:

"Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 29)

and

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)

Jesus, thank you for being my life, and living in and through me.

Today, show me more of what you are doing, how you are working in and through me. Like Paul, I do not want to frustrate your grace working in my life.

We Work Too Hard in our Minds

Jesus is alive, and He lives in us, for those who believe on Him.

He is our life, and therefore we can stop working so hard to bring Him into our lives.

I love also what one pastor, Joseph Prince of Singapore, taught me.

"Worry is working in your mind."

How true that is.

Why was I working so hard in my mind?

Because I had believed that the life that I needed to live, was inside of my head.

I was not aware of the living, loving Savior taking care of every minute of my day.

Too many of my prayers were focused on bringing Him into my life,

He is already my life.

What happens, then, for those of us who do not have a revelation of Christ as our Life, will start working hard to fill in those "gaps" on our own.

I have a new appreciation and  deeper understanding for this verse:

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 20-21)

Jesus' Life does not come and go in our lives.

We do not have to struggle or to strain to ensure that He is with us forever.

He made the promise early on that He would come to us and stay with us forever:

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;" (John 14:16)

and then

"I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14: 18)

Jesus has come to all of us through His Holy Spirit.

We also have these comforts and assurances:

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

6So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Like many people, especially in the Body of Christ, I was frustrating the grace of God. I was trying so hard to figure everything out. If I felt bad or thought wrong, I was convinced that God would end up miles away, and I would be all alone.

I had misconstrued a number of passages in the Bible, not led by His Spirit  but by my own faulty reasoning.

I still did not see Him large enough. I was trying instead to figure everything out in my mind, through my head. I was working too hard in my mind.

There is no need for that. We already have the mind of Christ, and there is therefore no reason for us to strain through fear and trembling, weariness and worry, to figure out the truth, to understand what His will and his plans are for our lives, for in fact it is His life anyway.

I Was Praying All Wrong

This new revelation grants me so much peace.

I was praying wrong! I was praying all wrong.

When I was going home to school every day, I would  pray that God would be with me.

Of course He was going to be with me! I did not have to ask Him to be there.

He was already there. He is already in the midst of whatever you are going through.

He will be there for you and me no matter what may happen.

Where did I get this idea from that He would not be there for me?

You guessed it -- it was all about what the AA cult had taught me, especially that pernicious lie that every time I felt bad or had "wrong" feelings, that I would be cutting myself off from the sunlight of the Spirit.

So, what ends up happening to someone who thinks that God and His Spirit can come and go in their lives?

They will end up praying for things that He has already richly provided through His Son.

Therefore, a person misled by such errors will pray the wrong prayers.

"Please help me, Lord!" Guess what, He is already helping you!

"Please lead me, Lord!" He is already leading you.

What we need is to see  more of how gracious He is. We need to see more of Him. Not in our minds but in the Word, and thus a full recognition of all that He is doing for us -- that He is already doing!