Think for a Minute

Think for a minute about this question:

If you see a person drowning do you…

1. jump in and save them, no questions asked
2. stop and ask them how they got into that situation in the first place
3. throw them a book that teaches them how to swim
4. chastise them about not knowing how to do the breast stroke

Now apply this to Christianity. If a person is in need of healing, or freedom from whatever, what would you do?

Sadly, many Christians will say salvation is a gift, yet their actions show they believe we all need to earn it. That is similar to a person doing either 2,3, or 4 when they see someone drowning. To a person needing freedom they will say things like:

-“well you can’t get healed until we know how you got in this situation in the first place.”

-OR they say, “come to this course, or go to that seminar first and learn how you can be healed.”

-OR they say, “you should know better! You made your bed so you’ll have to sleep in it now!”

And it’s because of this kind of thinking that many Christians can’t understand why so-and-so (who leads an ungodly lifestyle) got healed, while Mr. Brown (who is the most moral Christian in the church) has been suffering for years.

The difference is: that sinner realizes the gift he’s been given. He is not looking at whether or not he deserves to be healed, he is only concerned with the fact that he just heard that God loves… him and he believes it.

But Mr. Brown has been looking at his own life rather than looking at Jesus. Mr. Brown is ‘stuck,’ like many Christians are, wondering why he hasn’t been healed. He may not realize it, but he is waiting to earn his gift. He has quoted many scriptures on healing (memorized several), fasted and he is a faithful member of his local church. So, why was the sinner healed and not him? Because the sinner believed God, while Mr. Brown believed in his own Christian accomplishments. One received the gift he was given while the other didn’t believe God really wants to give it to him. His own self-righteousness has created his unbelief.

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law then Christ died needlessly.” (Gal. 2:21)

Pastor Joseph Prince from New Creation Church in Singapore says, “in the New Covenant there is nothing for us to do, but there’s everything for us to believe.”

God made the New Covenant with Himself so it’s impossible that it will be broken. All we need to do is believe that what He did is enough.

God says, “I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” (Heb.8:12, Heb.10:17, Isaiah 43:25).

In these verses we see that God says He wants us to believe that we are forgiven.

He wants us to keep on counting on His forgiveness.

But more often than not I find that we don’t believe God isn’t dealing with us through our sin. I hear people say things like, “I did ____ and now ____is happening.”

What we are really asking when we say these things is: did God mean what He said? Will He really remember our sin no more?

Yes! He really means what He says. But the enemy knows, once we believe God, he’s (the enemy) in trouble. So, he crafted a clever way to keep us from believing God by using the covenants against us.

Like the first covenant in the garden. God told Adam not to eat of the fruit of one tree. All the other trees he could eat of, but not the one. So, the devil used that one small commandment against Adam and tempted him to disbelieve God.

We also see this happened with the Old Covenant law (see Romans 7).

But the New Covenant is a covenant of grace. In the NC all we need to do is believe that God is merciful and that He remembers our sins no more. God is so confident is this Covenant that He God put a safety mechanism in it. He says He will write His laws on our hearts and put it in our minds (Jer. 31:33). This means you are transformed from the inside out.

When a person is truly counting on their forgiveness, they’ll realize God has given them a new will and new desires. They see it as an assurance that they will never abuse God’s grace. They will never use their forgiveness as a reason to continue in sin.

A person who is more conscious of their failures is not counting on their forgiveness. They are counting on their own ability to sin. They are only aware of a “broken fellowship with God”, because that is what they’ve been taught.

If you’re only conscious of sin it’s impossible to be aware of His forgiveness through love, and you will live in bondage and in error.

1 Tim 4:1,2

But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

We think this means that this person has sinned so much they can no longer feel their conscience pricking. But the Scriptures paint a very different picture. Look at the word “sear” in Greek.

Strong’s 2743

kautériazó: sear with a hot iron (cauterize)

(A perfect past participle): whose souls are branded with the marks of sin,

i. e. who carry about with them the perpetual consciousness of sin

In conclusion, if you count on the fact that you’ve been forgiven, then it changes you. It transforms you inside out. The more you count on the fact that you’re forgiven the more you get a sense of God’s love.

I can tell you ‘God loves you, God loves you, God loves you’ but it might mean nothing to you. BUT if I can convince you that God has forgiven all your sins (past present and future), then I guarantee you will know God’s love because the love of God has been demonstrated through His forgiveness.

The more you know you’re forgiven, the more you’ll feel the love of God. The more you feel the love of God the more your heart is filled with love. You’ll love God because He first loved you. And you will no longer desire the things you used to.

Sin will be gone.

Addictions will broken.

Fear will be obliterated.

All because of His love.

And you’ll love people around you. It will be a normal response. You won’t feel like you’re in and out of fellowship with God if you sin. But you’ll freely receive the healing and freedom He has paid for and you’ll freely give it away.

Knowing this will keep you from burning out or becoming discouraged while living in the supernatural. Because the gifts of the Spirit are just that; they are gifts. They cannot be earned which means they aren’t a stamp of approval on your life. If you understand the Gospel, the rest is easy!