Sunday, September 11, 2016

MY PART/GOD’S PART


“For although we are walking in the flesh, we do not wage war in a fleshly way, 
since the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly but are powerful through God for demolition of strongholds.”
                                                                                                                                                                  
II Corinthians 10:3-4
Becoming like Jesus is not a solo exercise for the God’s people. Spiritual maturity is a by-produce of a harmonic interplay between the child of God and their Heavenly Father. Until the child of God learns to discern and understand the ways of God in spiritual development, spiritual growth is a matter of fits and starts, advance and decline. What is true in natural life is true in life in the Spirit. Parents learn quickly how children often express excessive confidence in their abilities to their detriment. What parent hasn’t heard the words “I can do it by myself” just before an impending evidence of childish over-confidence? Our Heavenly Father must cringe when we do the same.


There are some things we can do and some things only God can do. None of us is equipped to deal with sin—but most wonderfully our Mighty God and Savior, Jesus Christ, dealt with sin through His redemptive sacrifice on the Cross. God doesn’t ask us to deal with sin; He calls us to reckon ourselves as “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”-Romans 6:11. If we reverse this order and begin to “attack sin” we will become moralistic religionists who are overcome with legalistic ambition. Sadly but inevitably the chaos of comparative spirituality begins and anger towards those who dissent from “our norm” ensues. This culture of comparison chokes out the liberty of walking in God’s Spirit.-II Corinthians 4:17



God will not do for us what we must do. God has dealt with our sin but we must face our human nature and its tendencies. We each have preferences and prejudices that may be used wisely or foolishly. Our harmful preferences for comfort and destructive prejudices for conformity must be squarely faced with God’s love. God’s love doesn't destroy our harmful preferences or destructive prejudices; we must do that by confessing them and destroying them-“demolition of strongholds”-II Corinthians 10:4. Some strongholds are destroyed by active resistance (like prejudice, selfishness, argumentation-“Reject foolish and ignorant disputes”-II Timothy 2:23), others are destroyed by purposeful neglect (like sloth, lust and worry-“flee youthful passions”-II Timothy 2:22).

Healthy spiritual growth results in us Becoming like Him as we trust God for what He alone can do and buckle down to do what only we can do.

pdan

LINK to the audio file for "How God Changes My Life" on September 11, 2016

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