Stand Fast part 4
Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just stand. To be still and know that HE is God. To understand that you don't have to fight every battle and right every wrong. In fact, understanding that Jesus has won the war to end all wars means we don't have to fight at all. We can let people be who they are without getting all worked up about it. The only fight left in the New Covenant is the good fight of faith. Which is laying hold of the gift that we've been given. Knowing and believing that we have what God says we have. Knowing that we have no lack because our God has no lack. Knowing that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His (our) hands. That's what faith is for. And faith works by love. Jesus said, "Have faith in God" (Mark 11:22). And God is love. So you could just as easily say, "Have faith in love." It's the same thing. That's what we have faith in. That's what we stand fast in (or on). When you are planted on the Rock--that is Jesus, that is love--you will not be shaken. How could you be? When Jesus--when love--is holding you up, how could anything knock you down? One of my favorite verses, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24). Give Him praise. Why? Because He is praiseworthy. Why? Becuase He is ready, willing, and able to keep you from falling. We spend so much of this life, especially, seemingly, this "Christian life" trying to pick ourselves back up. "Well, I'm only human." As an excuse for doing something we shouldn't. Here's the thing--just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. On the same note--just because you have done something doesn't mean you've disqualified yourself from God's love. Nothing can separate you from God's love. Nothing. So stand on it. Stand in it. Come into the understanding that you are the righteousness of God in Christ. Period. That's not just what you do. That's who you are. Even on your worst day... you are who God says you are. You are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. You are the apple of His eye. You are His favorite (and so am I). So on your worst day... don't run from Him. Run TO Him. He allows U-turns. When the Prodigal Son came back to father's house... daddy ran to meet him and couldn't have been happier to see him. And I'm telling you this: When you stand fast... you won't have to come BACK to Him, because you will have always been with Him! God swore He would never leave us nor forsake us. And He won't. He can't. He took up abode in us. He dwells in us. And that's why we can stick with Him. Or, yes, even return to Him. But sticking is better. Not in the way the older brother did in the story of the Prodigal Son where we are bitter because we feel like we're the "good" son and have no return on that investment, but in the way that the father laid it out, "You're my son. All I have is yours. If you wanted a party... you should have had a party." We disqualify ourselves so many times in so many ways. Everything we could ever need is available to us. The Kingdom is at hand. It's within your reach. Receive it and release it. Know it and believe it. Taste and see that the Lord is good. He has prepared a table for us in the presence of our enemies. All we have to do is sit down and eat. Fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've been filled with and let it come out of us naturally. Breathe in and breathe out the love of God. Love God and love people. Love God BY loving people. It's really that simple. Stand fast... on love. In love. For love. Because it's all about love!