Living in the Balance of Grace and Faith Part 6
In this New Testament age, we now have the reality that the Sabbath only pictured. We are resting and trusting in what G.o.d has done through the Lord Jesus Christ. We now have a relationship with G.o.d, and He's already provided everything we'll ever need.
Before you ever needed healing, G.o.d had already healed you. By whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter 2:24 You don't have to ask G.o.d to heal you. You don't have to do something, and then, in response to your action, G.o.d heals you. No, healing is already provided. All you have to do is just reach out, take it, and say, "Thank You."
You don't have to ask G.o.d to bless you. The Lord has commanded the blessing upon you in everything that you do. Before you were ever born, before you ever had a need, the blessing of G.o.d was already on you. You don't have to beg G.o.d for supply. Just rest in Him and trust, saying, "Father, I know You've already met my needs." This rest is what the Sabbath portrayed. This is the rest spoken of in Hebrews 4.
Very few Christians today are resting in what Jesus has already provided. Instead, they're operating with the mind-set that they have a problem and they need G.o.d to do something. They're waiting on G.o.d to create, to move, to do something new to meet their need. They don't understand that G.o.d antic.i.p.ated their need. They aren't resting in the Lord, as Hebrews 4 describes.
"Father, It's Done"
After saying all these things, the writer of Hebrews said: For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as G.o.d did from his. Hebrews 4:10 In other words, for people who have entered into this rest, they have ceased trying to make G.o.d do something. They've ceased trying to get G.o.d to bless them. They've ceased trying to earn His favor. And now they are just resting in the truth that, through Jesus, G.o.d has already supplied everything. In the same way that G.o.d created everything and now He doesn't have to create new plants, animals, or people today because they simply propagate as a result of His original creation, the Lord made a new creation-and that's us.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are pa.s.sed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 We are a new creation in our born-again spirit and in this new creation, when we need to be healed, G.o.d doesn't have to heal us. Healing is already in the spirit part of us-that new creation. When we need to be prospered, G.o.d doesn't have to prosper us. He has already commanded blessing and prosperity into our spirit man. He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. Now, in the new creation through Jesus, everything is already done.
The key to the Christian life is learning how to rest. Trust that the Father says it's done. My bankbook may say I'm broke, and I'm on the verge of bawling and squalling. I may have a strong desire to start praying, fasting, and doing something to make G.o.d move. But I'm going to rest and trust His Word. His Word says that He has already supplied all my needs. He's already blessed me. He's commanded His blessing upon me. I am blessed above all people. The Christian life is learning how to rest, not how to work and do something to make G.o.d move. That's what this pa.s.sage is talking about.
Trusting and Relying If you have entered into His rest, then you have ceased from your own efforts. It's no longer you doing something to make G.o.d move. It's you learning how to trust and rely on the truth that G.o.d has already done it.
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief Hebrews 4:11 This sounds like an oxymoron-a contradiction of terms. How do you labor to rest? This isn't saying that we should just "veg out," go to sleep, and do nothing. This is ceasing from your own works, from thinking that you have to earn G.o.d's favor. It's ceasing from thinking you have to do something to motivate G.o.d to get Him to love you and answer your prayers.
Saying, "Oh G.o.d, don't You love this person? I've been praying for them for twenty years. Oh, G.o.d, do something!" isn't resting. You think you're the one motivating G.o.d and if it wasn't for your intercession, the Lord would just let people go to h.e.l.l because He doesn't care. If you think it's your great intercession that is moving G.o.d, you're trusting in your own effort. You aren't resting in Him.
Rest is simply trusting and relying on G.o.d. It's saying, "Lord, You love this person more than I ever could. You've already provided salvation for them, so I know it's Your will that they be saved. Father, I thank You that Your will is coming to pa.s.s. Here am I. Use me. If You can open up a door for me to share Your love and Your Word with this person, then I will do it." That's how you pray for lost people. Don't plead with G.o.d as if it's up to Him whether or not they get saved. He's not the one determining who gets saved. G.o.d has made the provision. He's provided salvation for everybody but each person has to decide to accept that salvation. So you can only become a channel for G.o.d to flow through.
Depend on G.o.d When you understand rest properly, you understand it takes effort to rest. You must labor to rest. When the banker is calling, your checkbook is in the red, and your spouse has been saying, "You've got to do something!" it takes labor to say, "My faith is in G.o.d. I'm doing what He has told me to do. I trust Him and I'm not going to panic. I refuse to get out of rest. I'm not going to get into fear." When the doctor says you're going to die, it takes labor for you to respond, "That's not what G.o.d's Word says. By His stripes I was healed! I'm not going to be healed, I was already healed. He's already supplied healing, and I'm not going to panic. I refuse to get into fear." It takes effort for you to rest like that.
This is why we study the Word. We don't study the Word to get G.o.d to heal us. We study the Word to find out that G.o.d has already healed us, to calm our fears, and to anchor our faith. Then we can say, "Father, I'm operating on this knowledge that You've given me, and I'm not moving off of it!" This takes effort.
In the area of finances, I'm still learning to rest and growing. I haven't mastered this area by any means; however, I'm seeing G.o.d's supply in a way that I've never before seen in my life. In 2009, Andrew Wommack Ministries must have over $20 million a year just to break even, as we give many of our materials away at no charge. If you were to think about this and take the responsibility upon yourself for producing this money, you'd lose sleep. We must have around $2,000 per hour, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days per year to cover our expenses. Raising such a sum is just beyond my ability, and I know it so I have to labor to rest. I have to keep my attention focused on G.o.d, saying, "Lord, this is what You called me to do. You're the One who told me to do this. Therefore, it's Your responsibility to finance this ministry, not mine." Strangely, the bigger the financial needs of the ministry get, the easier it is for me to rest. You might think it's the opposite, but it's not.
Back when we were small, I remember going through a really bad time financially. I had a dream one night. In this dream, I just quit the ministry and joined the Air Force. I was going to pay off all of the debts I had incurred in ministry. It would take years, but I could- eventually-pay it off. Since I'm what they call a "lucid dreamer," I dream in color. My dreams seem so vivid and real to me that sometimes it's hard for me to tell whether I'm dreaming or not. That night, I woke up with a start. I laid there in bed thinking, Oh, it was just a dream. Thank You, Jesus, that I didn't join the Air Force. Then Jamie leaned over and said, "It wasn't so bad that you had to go join the Air Force." My heart started pounding as I thought, Oh, G.o.d. It wasn't a dream! I found out later that I had been talking in my sleep and she had heard the whole thing.
Back when our ministry was small and we had $20,000 indebtedness, I could pay that off in my own strength if I had to. But at the level we now operate on, I can't pay off millions and millions of dollars of indebtedness. So actually, it's easier for me to rest now because I'm in way over my head. I know that if G.o.d doesn't come through, I've had it, so it's been years since I've worried about finances. Now that my needs are way beyond my ability to provide, I have to depend on G.o.d.
"Do Something!"
Our flesh wants to get into "do something" mode. You feel the need to start praying, fasting, or doing something else to try to make G.o.d come through. Every time you do that, you've stepped out of faith in what G.o.d has already done and you've moved into legalism and works. You're going to do something to make yourself worthy. You're going to do something so that G.o.d has to come through. The moment you've done that, you're out of grace and faith and into legalism. Your sin isn't as truly offensive to G.o.d as your self-righteousness and self-dependence. It's as if Jesus isn't enough; you're going to do something and go through your own strength instead of through Jesus. That's the most offensive thing you could possibly do.
In a sense, you're saying, "Jesus isn't enough. I have to do something to motivate G.o.d. He has to move in my life because of what I've done." G.o.d has already provided everything. The Sabbath ill.u.s.trated this. The same way He created everything for man and all man had to do was just reach out and receive, so it is now in the new creation. G.o.d has provided everything for you. It's just a matter of reaching out and appropriating by faith what G.o.d has already provided by grace.
This is going to take some effort. You'll have to study the Word. This is not to so impress G.o.d with your Bible study that He will move because you're so holy. You need to study the Word to renew your mind. You aren't going to hear very many other people say what I'm saying. You aren't going to get this teaching watching As the Stomach Turns on the television. You're going to have to get into the Word of G.o.d and receive sound Bible teaching. You'll have to turn off the television and start studying the Word. You're going to have to spend time in the presence of G.o.d. It's going to take effort. You'll have to labor to rest.
When the pressure is on and the devil is screaming, "Do something. Do something!" trying to get you to take matters into your own hands, the hardest thing you'll ever do is stand there and say, "My faith is in G.o.d, and if He doesn't come through, I'm dead." That's it. It takes effort to rest. It takes a lot of faith to rest.
G.o.d has already provided everything. You just need to rest in it.
It Takes Effort There have been times when I've rested by praising G.o.d for what His Word says He's done, not what I see or feel. When I first begin to praise, I don't feel like praising G.o.d. I feel like crying and running because I don't feel like G.o.d is working. But when I take a step of faith and continue praising Him, saying, "Father, I thank You that I am healed. I thank You that I am blessed. I thank You that I am what Your Word says I am," then I begin resting in Him.
I may start in the flesh. I may not really feel like praising, but I'll do it because I know it's the right thing to do. And if I'll keep at it, I'll start listening to myself and truly believing that I am healed. I do believe that G.o.d has supplied my needs. I do believe that He has already done this. After a while, true faith begins to rise up in my heart. Then, I'm not praising anymore just because I know it's the right thing to do. I praise because I really believe in G.o.d's provision.
The moment I get over into faith-where faith is mixed with G.o.d's grace-boom! The power of G.o.d is released and I see the things of G.o.d come to pa.s.s.
This is going to take effort. You can't just float through your circ.u.mstances with the crowd. You'll have to swim against the current. You're going to have to go against your feelings and against what the circ.u.mstances say. It takes effort.
These truths are working in my life and they'll work for you, too. G.o.d has already antic.i.p.ated everything. Everything that you need is already done. You don't need to badger G.o.d, asking and pleading with Him. He has antic.i.p.ated every need you could ever have. G.o.d has already made provision for you. It's there. Now you just have to rest. You have to get into a position where you believe-not just say you believe. Faith is an active force on the inside of you, but it takes effort to release it. First, you must know and understand this truth that G.o.d has already supplied for your needs.
Chapter 16, Understanding G.o.d's Love.
In the new creation, through what Jesus did, G.o.d has already provided everything we need. We just need to learn what has been provided by grace. Then we must learn how to rest in it, trusting G.o.d and appropriating what He's already provided by faith.
Although this foundational truth has many applications, the number one way it has affected me is in my personal relationship with G.o.d. It has deeply affected my understanding of how much G.o.d loves me. Everything else in the Christian life comes as a result of relationship.
So many people are trying to work some kind of a formula. They're looking for some kind of a key, for two or three steps they can follow, something they can do. They treat G.o.d like He's a slot machine. "Give me something I can stick in there and pull the handle so that I can make G.o.d come out." It doesn't work that way.
The most important truth I've learned from all this is that G.o.d's love for me is unconditional. It's not based on anything I do. G.o.d's love toward me is consistent. It never fluctuates based on my performance. When I'm better, G.o.d doesn't love me more. When I'm bad, G.o.d doesn't love me less. I have come to recognize that G.o.d's grace- and therefore, G.o.d's love, favor, and acceptance of me-is unconditional. It has nothing to do with who I am. It has everything to do with who He is. It's not because I am lovely, it's because He is love. This is one of the greatest applications of this truth.
Uncontrolled Feelings In this was manifested the love of G.o.d toward us, because that G.o.d sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9 How do we know that G.o.d loves us? Such knowledge is not based on a feeling, or emotion. Feelings and emotions can be dangerous. Ephesians 4:19 says of the G.o.dless that they, going beyond, or...
.. .past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness...
Since lasciviousness isn't a word that we use often today, many people just skip over it without really thinking about what it means. Lasciviousness is uncontrolled, unrestrained, unfettered l.u.s.t and desire. This scripture is describing a coming generation of people who have given themselves over to lasciviousness-uncontrolled, unrestrained emotions, feelings, and desires that go beyond a natural, normal use of feelings. I believe we live in that generation.
This generation today has gone far beyond what G.o.d ever intended our emotions to be. People today have elevated emotions to a level that is absolutely unG.o.dly.
I've talked to thousands of people who have told me that they're depressed. I've asked them, "What's the problem? What is it that's depressing you?" They answer, "Well, nothing specific I can think of, but I just feel this." They don't have a reason for their depression other than, "I feel this."
We've elevated feelings to the point where if we don't feel something, then it must not be true. Feelings are fickle. G.o.d gave them to us, and in their proper place they're okay. But when you let your feelings dominate you, you're acting like a child. Children say, "Well, I don't feel like doing it." As the parent, you have to say, "I don't care if you feel like doing it or not. I told you to do it. Now get up and do it." You don't always feel like going to work, but part of being an adult is you get up and do what you need to do. Only a spoiled, affluent generation like what we live in has the luxury of doing what they feel like.
"Hard Keepers"
One or two generations ago, people were struggling to survive. It didn't matter how they felt. They didn't have time to sit around and discern their feelings. They were too busy scratching out a living and doing what it took to make ends meet. But now we sit around thinking, I don't feel like you love me anymore. I don't feel like doing this. You can't praise G.o.d when your thumb is in the way. Pull it out of your mouth, grow up, and quit letting feelings dominate you!
People have come to me by the thousands saying, "But I don't feel G.o.d loves me."
I answer, "Well then, your feelings are wrong."
"Oh, but I've got to feel it."
"Why do you have to feel it?"
"It's not real if I don't feel it."
That's stupid! And it's this same att.i.tude that is destroying a lot of marriages today. It would be wonderful if every spouse treated their mate exactly the way they were supposed to, but you're married to a fallen human being. They don't always say or do things just right. You need to grow up and give your spouse a little bit of slack sometimes. It doesn't matter that they don't always treat you perfectly, do what's right-not what you feel like.
You may not feel like they love you, but you know that they do. Perhaps your spouse doesn't tell you enough that they love you. Some people are just what I call "hard keepers."
You can nearly starve some horses and they'll still look full. These are "easy keepers." Other horses you can feed and feed and feed until they die of colic because they've eaten so much, yet they still look poor. These are called "hard keepers." We've become hard keepers today because we have elevated feelings to a place where we must "feel" to believe. That's immature and childish. There is a place for emotions, but not the prominent place it occupies with most people.
We have gone beyond feelings into lasciviousness-to where we have to feel everything.
Rule Your Emotions Some people may know what the truth is, but it doesn't matter. They are ruled by whatever they feel. That's very carnal. It's demonic. It's a perversion of the way that G.o.d made us to be.
A while back I listened to a tape of someone ministering. Most of what this minister said was really good; however in one of her examples, she was talking about a friend's daughter who had a certain problem. She was counseling the girl and trying to deal with her when the daughter said, "But my parents didn't treat me right. They didn't honor me. They didn't do this and they didn't do that." This lady on the tape said, "I knew the parents. These were good parents. They weren't perfect. They didn't do everything right. But what the daughter was saying about them wasn't true. Although they weren't perfect, these parents loved and honored that daughter."
Then this minister said, "I knew this girl was wrong, but I didn't correct her because it didn't matter whether she was right or wrong. To her it was real." When this minister said that, I immediately popped the tape out and threw it away. This is false teaching and I hate that. I hate it with a pa.s.sion.
Some people may say, "But that's right. To the individual, those feelings are real." Such teaching is deceptive. It's the truth that's going to set you free. (John8:32.) The proper thing to do would have been to stop this girl in the middle of that and say, "Your perception is wrong, and until you start wising up and realizing that not everybody is going to stroke you and treat you perfectly the rest of your life, and until you quit blaming other people for the offense that you've taken, and until you start shouldering your own responsibility, you're never going to grow and mature."
You may feel some things so pa.s.sionately that it doesn't matter to you whether it's truth or not. It's true to you. I'm telling you, it's only the truth-the real truth, not the "truth" that you feel-that's going to set you free. If this is an issue you struggle with, I recommend my teaching ent.i.tled, Harnessing Your Emotions. G.o.d intends for you to rule your emotions, not for your emotions to rule you.
"I Just Don't Feel It"
When people come up to me saying, "Would you please pray for me? I just don't feel the love of G.o.d." I'll begin to speak to them 1 John 4:9, saying, "Don't you know that G.o.d loves you? Jesus came and died for you."
"Oh, I know that Jesus died for me. And I know that G.o.d loves me. But I just don't feel it."
When I hear that, the spirit of slap just comes all over me. You know that G.o.d loves you, but you don't feel it. You don't have a goose b.u.mp. You don't have a feeling overwhelming you at the moment. And so, because you don't feel loved, forget the truth. Forget reality. Forget the Word. You just don't feel it.
To pray that we would "have a feeling" is lasciviousness. It's inordinate, perverse, and demonic! You don't have to always feel something.
No Excuse In this was manifested the love of G.o.d toward us, because that G.o.d sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 1 John 4:9 For G.o.d so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 If you comprehend these scriptures, you have zero excuse for ever being depressed, discouraged, defeated, or feeling lonely. You might think you have reasons, but you have no excuse. You have the knowledge it takes to set you free from the rule of emotion if you would just meditate on the truth saying, "Father, You love me."
But G.o.d commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 This love that G.o.d gave us through Jesus didn't come in response to your goodness, or because you've merited it by praying, fasting, and studying the Word. It wasn't because you humbled yourself and started being a good person. Think about what this verse says: G.o.d commended His love toward us-even died for us-while we were yet sinners!
A Religious Hypocrite You may have been a "good" sinner or a "bad" one, but we've all sinned and come short of His glory. (Rom. 3:23.) Compared to other people, you might look good, but compared to Jesus, we are all an offense against G.o.d. We have all fallen short of where G.o.d wanted us to be. The Lord doesn't look down on anyone and say, "Oh, they're so close. They are so good that I've got to help them and give them a little bit of a boost." No, from G.o.d's perspective-perfection-we've all fallen short of what He wants us to be. None of us was worth G.o.d sending His Son to die in our place. No one deserves the love of G.o.d.
Before you can really understand how much G.o.d loves you, you have to quit loving yourself so much. You must quit thinking that you are such a feather in G.o.d's cap that He just couldn't live without you. You must come to the end of yourself, quit trusting in yourself, and recognize where you are.
Although I had already been born again at age eight, the experience that turned my life around came when I was eighteen years old. I had become a religious Pharisee. I was living such a holy life that I was holier than the pastor of our church! I was leading more people to the Lord per week than he was. I've never in all of my life spoken a word of profanity. I'm almost sixty years old now. I've never taken a drink of liquor, smoked a cigarette, or even tasted coffee.
I was living a holy life, but I had fallen into this deception of trusting in my own goodness. As long as I thought that G.o.d owed something to me, I would never have a great revelation of how much He loved me. But on March 23, 1968, when I was eighteen years old, G.o.d just pulled back a curtain from before my eyes. It was a supernatural revelation. He shined His light on me and I saw myself for who I really was. Although I had been born again, I was a religious hypocrite.
The Beginning of G.o.d You may have lied, stolen, committed s.e.xual immorality, and done all kinds of other things that I never did, but I doubt very seriously that you have ever seen yourself as more of a sinner than I have. I saw myself from G.o.d's perspective. I saw how vile I was-my hypocrisy, my religiosity-and I came to the end of myself. I turned myself inside out confessing my sin for over an hour. I fully expected the Lord to kill me. I had been told that G.o.d was the One who killed my dad when I was twelve years old. I thought that G.o.d judged us. When I saw how bad I was, I thought it was the first time G.o.d had seen it too, and I fully expected Him to kill me on the spot. Honestly, I'm not exaggerating. I never expected to live through the night. So I just confessed everything-not only my actions, but my thoughts, emotions, and att.i.tudes too. I turned myself inside out, hoping that before G.o.d killed me, I would repent enough that He would at least take me into heaven.
To my surprise, when I humbled myself and quit putting any faith or confidence in myself, the love of G.o.d flowed into my life in a way that just revolutionized me. For four and a half months, Is was caught up in the presence of G.o.d. The Lord just loved me. Yet I never would have understood the depth of G.o.d's love if I were thinking there was something I did to deserve it.
If you are still maintaining your own righteousness, then you'll never truly understand G.o.d's love. You have to come to the end of yourself. That's why G.o.d gave the Old Testament Law, to expose how unG.o.dly we were-to bring us to the end of ourselves. The law condemns. It's harsh. Its purpose was to bring you to the end of yourself because only when you come to the end of yourself do you find the beginning of G.o.d.
Chapter 17, Unconditional.
G.o.d, by grace, commended His love towards us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He didn't see something in you that was just so wonderful He had to have you. .
But G.o.d, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us. Ephesians 2:4 The Lord was motivated to love us not because we are lovely, but because He is love. This is what the balance of grace and faith has taught me. G.o.d's love for me is not tied to any worth or value of my own.
Self-Esteem vs. Christ-Esteem You may think that this teaching is depressing or discouraging. You may wonder what I'm trying to do to your sense of self-worth. Your self is what made it necessary for Jesus to come to this earth and die. Your self may be better than my self, but it still has caused a lot of heartache and pain in both your life and the lives of others too.
As a believer in Jesus, I am not into self-esteem-I'm into Christ-esteem. I esteem what Jesus has done. I am thrilled with who I am in Christ, what G.o.d has done in me, but there is a part of me that is corrupt. There's a part that I deny and reject as I walk in the Spirit. (Gal. 5:16.) There's a part of me that's still not born again. My spirit is born again, but I still have flesh so there's a part of me that I don't esteem.
There are times when you feel absolutely rotten. There are times when you act like the devil. When you act stupid, you ought to feel stupid. G.o.d gave us emotions just as He gave us feeling in our hands. If you weren't paying attention and leaned up against a hot stove, you could do irreparable damage to yourself. But G.o.d gave you the ability to feel pain. None of us like to feel pain, but if you put your hand on a hot stove, the pain you feel in your hand will remind you to withdraw it before you seriously injure yourself.
G.o.d gave you the ability to feel depressed and discouraged, but not so you could live there.
All About G.o.d The Bible says in Isaiah 26:3, the Lord will...
... keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
If you're depressed, you aren't keeping your mind stayed on G.o.d. You're looking at circ.u.mstances. You've let your attention move off of Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. (Heb. 12:2.) The reason you're sinking into depression is because you quit looking at Jesus. You started looking at the wind and the waves around you, which caused you to fear. (Matt. 14:30.) There's a purpose for your feelings.
When discouragement comes against me, I don't ignore it. I recognize that it's there because I haven't been meditating on G.o.d. I haven't been focused on the Lord the way that I should. Once I get back to focusing on the Lord, my feelings realign to the Word.