Grand Scheme part 4
Trust the plan. "Work" the plan, by letting the plan work in you. That's what faith is all about. It's all about trusting God to have it--to have YOU--covered. Listen, faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. Faith isn't about making something happen that hasn't happened. Faith is about BELIEVING what HAS happened. It is finished. God's grand scheme--reconciling us to Himself--already happened 2,000 years ago. And because of that we are able to manifest the truth--the Word--on a daily basis. We are able to fill ourselves with the fulness of God... because He already filled us with Himself! He drew us into Himself when He was lifted up from the earth on the cross. And He planted Himself in us like the corn of wheat that abides alone unless it dies. But when it (He) died, it (He) brought forth a great harvest. That's us. When God did a new thing, when He made all things new, that was us. We are the new thing. He made US new. That was the plan. And that was ALWAYS the plan. Jesus was Plan A. and there was never any need for a Plan B. The "fall of man" didn't sneak up on God and make Him reevaluate things. He knew what was going to happen and He was prepared for it. It was all part of the plan. Because you can't have a redemption story without something to redeem. Man couldn't choose God unless he tasted the world first. Only by trying it himself could man come to the end of himself and realize his need for a Saviour. That's why the Law was given; not so that we might keep the Law and earn self-righteousness, but as the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. And I want to say this too: The Law was MAN'S plan. The Law was what MAN wanted. And so God did what He always does--He let man have his way. Remember when man wanted a human king and God warned us how awful it would be? And yet He relented and gave man what he wanted. Same with the Law. The carnal mind wanted something that made sense. Do good and be rewarded, do evil and be punished. That makes sense to the natural, carnal mind. But that was never what God wanted. That was never God's plan. God's plan was to give us life and that more abundantly. And that's why, at the appointed time, He sent His Son to set things right. We tried it our way and failed miserably. So Jesus did what we couldn't. He fulfilled the Law and nailed it to the cross. Brought us out of the Old Covenant and into the New Covenant. Set us back on the right road, if I can say it that way. The straight and narrow way--Jesus IS the Way--that leads to life. He made it all available to us. The mysterious plan, which is Christ Himself, was revealed to us IN Christ Himself. As Christ IN YOU the hope of glory. Our sweat was replaced by Jesus' blood. And now that we KNOW the plan, we can BELIEVE that the plan succeeded. We can rest. We can flow. We can stop trying to earn and start receiving and releasing. We can stop trying to work the plan, and let the plan work us. It's a FINISHED work. We are complete in Him. And that was always God's grand scheme.