The Holy One calls me today. It's an exhilarating new day. Even before first light, the Spirit is making His Presence known. Truth floods my mind. The Truth that has been there but today even before my first cup of coffee, my mind is standing at attention.
What, you might ask, caused such a powerful wake-up call?
I have been slogging through the mud-pit of legalism most all of my life. Having been raised up under the "law" and "wrath" of a Holy God. I was delivered the distorted message that a person has to come to Holiness with something to offer.
As life progressed, there was always this self-search of my worth and value that somehow had an impact over my peace with God. Religion has a way of doing that and it is disturbing to faith.
Early on, I learned from a season of personal "back sliding", how wretched I am in the flesh and how capable I am of the most complete depravity the human can conjure up. While that season held important lessons in my refinement on the issue of judgemental-ism, it did not cure the disease called legalism.
Recognizing that I had a "disease" of the heart and brain has been important to the cure. My desire for a closer walk with Holiness has brought out the necessity of a deep healing of the mis-understanding of my standing.
This morning's call from my Heavenly Counselor has me flying out of my sleep zone with great anticipation of what He is about to say:
"You have asked for healing and it is yours. You must understand that legalism flourishes where you look for reasons for My actions as some sort of reward. Conversely, you brace for and expect a punishment (discipline) when you make mistakes or fail in the 'law" You must leave all that behind and trust Me because I am God Eternal before you ever did one thing good or bad. My Sovereignty is not debatable, and no one will be able to come before Me with justified petitions apart from the Righteous Blood of My Son".
When Holiness speaks, I realize my real size in the universe. Somewhat like an ant to a gi-ant and then some. As I ponder this great truth about God and about me, I can "see" that a lot of my trust was based on a sense of my own rightness, or the rightness of a cause(s). That I did something to earn my salvation is a trap holding many victims.
The truth is that God's rescue is never based on any glorious rightness that we might claim. There are too many right causes that never find victory and too many evil ones that seem to prevail. If we keep the standard and expectation of victory on the basis of our goodness and not God's Holiness, we will be forever stuck in a dark place of not really knowing the Lord. Our goodness and His Holiness are light years apart.
God's Truth falls hard on human arrogance and pride. Even as a believer in the Savior Son of God, Jesus the Christ, I know I am out of control. The fact resounds throughout Eternity that Christ died for me before I did anything right or wrong, to prove that I was born in sin. Romans 5:8 (NIV) tells us that "God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
I must accept that God chose me to come to the place of salvation and even then drew me to Himself. Why do we take pride on our own salvation apart from the humble thanksgiving that we have been chosen. After that, why do we move into the "spoiled child"category instead of the place of wonder, of just being the Lord's Beloved? John 15:16, "you did not chose Me but I chose you".
I have nothing to bring as a reason for the Sovereign God of all Creation to choose me or act in my behalf. There was no "nugget" of goodness in me that caused Holiness to choose me. While that makes me nervous at first, the more I settle in, and grasp that truth, the more I realize the wisdom in His design.
His Glory does not rest on who I am or my actions or even my understanding of what really brings Him Glory. One look at the Cross from the human perspective reveals that lack of understanding.
What moves the Sovereign to rescue is a mystery too great for us to fathom here. It is somehow embedded in the Being of a merciful and loving God, who is beyond our comprehension now.
Today, the Lord my God has taken me deeper into the dark and mysterious cloud of His Holiness. Today I know I can and must trust God's Sovereignty without any other reason than because He is God. He can and will rescue because it is His Glorious character to do so and not because of all the right reasons that might be given by a human.
Today, I caught a little glimpse of His Majesty, and the Holy One draws me to my feet to stand in awe and wonder of our Sovereign and merciful God.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
What, you might ask, caused such a powerful wake-up call?
I have been slogging through the mud-pit of legalism most all of my life. Having been raised up under the "law" and "wrath" of a Holy God. I was delivered the distorted message that a person has to come to Holiness with something to offer.
As life progressed, there was always this self-search of my worth and value that somehow had an impact over my peace with God. Religion has a way of doing that and it is disturbing to faith.
Early on, I learned from a season of personal "back sliding", how wretched I am in the flesh and how capable I am of the most complete depravity the human can conjure up. While that season held important lessons in my refinement on the issue of judgemental-ism, it did not cure the disease called legalism.
Recognizing that I had a "disease" of the heart and brain has been important to the cure. My desire for a closer walk with Holiness has brought out the necessity of a deep healing of the mis-understanding of my standing.
This morning's call from my Heavenly Counselor has me flying out of my sleep zone with great anticipation of what He is about to say:
"You have asked for healing and it is yours. You must understand that legalism flourishes where you look for reasons for My actions as some sort of reward. Conversely, you brace for and expect a punishment (discipline) when you make mistakes or fail in the 'law" You must leave all that behind and trust Me because I am God Eternal before you ever did one thing good or bad. My Sovereignty is not debatable, and no one will be able to come before Me with justified petitions apart from the Righteous Blood of My Son".
When Holiness speaks, I realize my real size in the universe. Somewhat like an ant to a gi-ant and then some. As I ponder this great truth about God and about me, I can "see" that a lot of my trust was based on a sense of my own rightness, or the rightness of a cause(s). That I did something to earn my salvation is a trap holding many victims.
The truth is that God's rescue is never based on any glorious rightness that we might claim. There are too many right causes that never find victory and too many evil ones that seem to prevail. If we keep the standard and expectation of victory on the basis of our goodness and not God's Holiness, we will be forever stuck in a dark place of not really knowing the Lord. Our goodness and His Holiness are light years apart.
God's Truth falls hard on human arrogance and pride. Even as a believer in the Savior Son of God, Jesus the Christ, I know I am out of control. The fact resounds throughout Eternity that Christ died for me before I did anything right or wrong, to prove that I was born in sin. Romans 5:8 (NIV) tells us that "God demonstrates His love for us in this: While we were yet sinners Christ died for us."
I must accept that God chose me to come to the place of salvation and even then drew me to Himself. Why do we take pride on our own salvation apart from the humble thanksgiving that we have been chosen. After that, why do we move into the "spoiled child"category instead of the place of wonder, of just being the Lord's Beloved? John 15:16, "you did not chose Me but I chose you".
I have nothing to bring as a reason for the Sovereign God of all Creation to choose me or act in my behalf. There was no "nugget" of goodness in me that caused Holiness to choose me. While that makes me nervous at first, the more I settle in, and grasp that truth, the more I realize the wisdom in His design.
His Glory does not rest on who I am or my actions or even my understanding of what really brings Him Glory. One look at the Cross from the human perspective reveals that lack of understanding.
What moves the Sovereign to rescue is a mystery too great for us to fathom here. It is somehow embedded in the Being of a merciful and loving God, who is beyond our comprehension now.
Today, the Lord my God has taken me deeper into the dark and mysterious cloud of His Holiness. Today I know I can and must trust God's Sovereignty without any other reason than because He is God. He can and will rescue because it is His Glorious character to do so and not because of all the right reasons that might be given by a human.
Today, I caught a little glimpse of His Majesty, and the Holy One draws me to my feet to stand in awe and wonder of our Sovereign and merciful God.
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
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