Dead Works part 3
You can't do it all on your own. And that's ok. Because you are not expected to. Or required to. In fact, when you begin to understand the finished work of the cross you will see that everything that needed to happen... already happened 2,000 years ago. Look at Revelation 12:11, "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Now a lot of people will tell you that this is HOW you overcome. But really--since Revelation is an in-depth look at the cross--this is telling you exactly what it SAYS its telling you. They OVERCAME. Past tense. And the "him" that they overcame is, according the verse right before the one that we quoted, is the accuser of the brethren. And, according to that verse, he is cast down. What am I trying to say? We are overcomers not because we have the ability to overcome, but because Jesus already overcame! Because there is nothing left TO overcome. Jesus already brought every mountain low and every valley high. He made the Way straight so that we could we could walk in. Not in our own power--and thank God for that, because REALLY we don't have any power of our own. Until we understand that we are loved. Because love is all powerful. Which means love has ALL of the power--but by walking by faith. Faith in God. Faith in love. Following our heart. Letting the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, lead and guide us. Dedicating all of our ways to the Lord and letting His Word (again, Jesus... LOVE) be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Not fighting AGAINST things, but fighting the good fight of faith and laying hold of eternal life. Laying hold of the GIFT we've been given. Guys. We have to stop trying to earn the gift of God. If you can earn it--or, worse yet, if you HAVE to earn it--then its not a gift. A gift is freely given, and must only be received. Adam was under the cursed dimension of earning his bread by the sweat of his brow. Jesus sweated great drops of blood in order to redeem us from that curse. And, by the way, that's how the accuser was overcome; by the blood of the Lamb. By Jesus laying His life down and showing us that death was not the end of the story. By showing us that life trumps death every time. Love trumps everything else. Every time. All powerful. All of the power. Nothing can stand against love. So when we are looking at the question of: "What am I supposed to do?" The simple answer is: Love. Wherever you are. In whatever way you can. Whoever you come into contact with. If you don't know what to do... do what you know. Let what's inside come out. And notice that I didn't say MAKE what's inside come out. Don't force it. LET it come out. From a posture of rest. This little light of mine... I'm gonna LET it shine. Right? When we fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with, that's when this life stops being a struggle and starts being a flow. Its a river of living water that FLOWS out of your heart. Because that's what's already IN there. You don't have to (and can't) earn it. All you can do is receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. Let go and let God, right? Let it go, and let it flow. Don't try to do it all by yourself. And don't try to earn something that can't be earned. Don't try to be someone you're not. Just let God show you who you REALLY are... and BE who you really are!