So many people in the church today have the worst form of pride. That being a false sense of humility. It goes like this. “I’m just not good enough for God to love me. I’m just not worthy to even expect anything from God. I just haven’t done enough good things for God to bless me yet.”
I put these in quotes because I have heard people actually say these things, and some people have said them directly to me. Well, you know how that turned out. That’s right….I gently brought them to truth in love of course. I threw in a little “shock and aaahhhh” during the process. You know. Shock them with a statement that throws them for a loop and then show them scripture to prove what you said was true and if they’re not too proud they’ll go aaaahhh.
Oh! So you need an example. Okay, here’s one. I have several, but here’s a good one. “I AM HOLY.” I don’t need to try to be, I just am. Now if that was just me saying it, then I’d be arrogant, but I didn’t say that. Holy Ghost inspired Scripture says that. Look at Romans 11:16 in the NLT:
And since Abraham and the other patriarchs were holy, their descendants will also be holy—just as the entire batch of dough is holy because the portion given as an offering is holy. For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too.
I’m a descendant of Abraham – are you? I am the branch and He is the vine or root – are you? I mean Jesus said in John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches:” Now I don’t know what that says to you, but when I put what Jesus said about me together with the statement “For if the roots of the tree are holy, the branches will be, too”, it tells me I’m Holy. Still not convinced? Well here. Check these out.
1 Corinthians 1:30 – God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin
Ephesians 1:18 – I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance
Ephesians 4:24 – Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy
Wait….did that last reference in Ephesians actually say TRULY RIGHTEOUS AND HOLY? Yep…I think it did. Now if you’ve looked at these scriptures and heard what Jesus said and you still think you have to try and be holy, then you fall into the category of those who value their opinion above the truth of scripture. If you think you have to try and be holy, rather than just receiving the truth that you are holy, then you need to repent. That means discard your wrong thinking for the truth.
Now, getting back to people who don’t believe they are qualified to receive anything from God. They just do not know who they are in Christ and what they have as a result. They don’t feel qualified to even think about being God’s favorite or receiving anything from Him. Therein lies the problem. It’s the failure to simply receive all that God has for you. One of my favorite scriptures, next to Ephesians 3:20, is Romans 5:17. Here it is in the KJV:
For if by one man’s offense 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.
Here it is in the NLT:
For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.
In both these translations of Romans 5:17 we see the important word “receive”. That’s a very difficult thing for most Christians, because we are such a religious crowd with a works mentality, rather than a resting and receiving mentality.
Let me tell you that Jesus has already done all the heavy lifting for us, and He is still at work within us. Remember, He said IT IS FINISHED. So my question to you is, if Jesus said IT IS FINISHED, what in the world do you think you can add to that? Just receive all that He has done for you. The best thing we can do for Jesus is to simply embrace what He has already done for us. Well Shout!!!
Now I can teach this all day long to people, but it takes a revelation to make it real in your life. God gave me this answer one day when I asked Him why people just were not seeing the truth of His vast, marvelous, ridiculous, radical, inexhaustible grace. He said “A deeper Truth can stand before someone and do no good. It takes a revelation of that truth to bring it to freedom”. Now, if you haven’t seen that in previous blogs on this website, you will see it again in the future, I’m certain.
Along with that comes this statement by Bill Johnson about receiving a revelation about the deeper truths of God. “Whenever God invites you into His supernatural presence and gives you extreme revelation, He doesn’t invite you as a visitor, He invites you as an heir”.
Well, how about this qualification thing? We will look at some real examples in the bible to see who God was comfortable with as being qualified in part 2, so don't miss that. There are literally scores of examples, but we will look at just a few. Now you know that a few means eight…right? I can prove it in scripture. Look at 1 Peter 3:20:
Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. Come back for part 2. You'll like it. Grace and Peace.
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