Michael gives us great counsel against this subtle
lie of the devil. Every Born Again Believer must POSSESS based on what God has
told us, not by the enemy’s definitions, our emotions, any experiences, or any
other qualifiers.
Many are working to have oneness or one in their
marriages, when in fact oneness is something that is given, not worked for.
Experience must come out of faith, which is the “conviction of things not yet
seen.” Because we have not experienced all does not mean that we do not possess
all. If the experience never comes, still we believe what He has spoken. The
other side of this problem is that the enemy would like to define for us what
the experience should be and have us believe that until we have those feelings
he specifies, we do not possess what God has given us.
Take, for example, the whole issue of knowing whether
a person is going to heaven. Many have allowed the enemy to define for them
what this assurance will feel like, such as a great emotional release, visions,
appointments, the list being as varied as are the believers. We must remember
that our assurance is based on what God tells us, not anything
else…
There are those who are so governed by emotion that
the worst thing the Lord could do for them upon first accepting Him would be to
give them an emotional experience, for in so doing, God would be encouraging
them to continue to be led by emotion. For this type of person it would be
important t have no emotional experience and to learn to walk by faith without
feeling. The experience that God gives each individual will always be just the
one needed.
We must also be careful to allow all experiences to
transpire without trying to force them, because the enemy (sometimes by way of
other believers) may have defined a particular experience as our assurance.
Know this, that one sure sign of assurance is questioning the fact of being born
again.
We must be careful to allow only God to define what
is ours in Christ, and not allow the enemy to add qualifiers. We also must not
allow the enemy to define what a successful believer is, because it will so
often have to do with accomplishing something great for the Lord; his logic is
characteristically, “If I can do something great for the Lord, then He will be
pleased, and I will gain His favor and acceptance.” Such a thought has its
roots in hell, for it denies the Christian’s standing before the Father by faith
in Christ’s work, not his own. Nowhere are we commended for doing the great
thing; rather, the emphasis is on faithfulness in the smallest of things: for
the child, in such as obedience; for the wife, simple respect for her husband;
and for the husband, loving his wife. Successful Christianity involves
forgiving, loving the unlovable, giving instead of storing up treasures on
earth, and abiding in Him. We must always allow God to specify what
Christianity is, and we will find that it is rarely what we think it
is.
Isn’t it beautiful what all God has done for every
believer, what all God has given every believer…all simply because of who we are
in Christ. Well, amen!
Michael clearly gives us two great truths to live
by:
1. We believe what GOD has spoken, therefore
possessing because HE has said so. It is only sad if we don’t experience what
we possess, but never an indication we don’t possess.
2. We live based on GOD’s definition of what an
experience should be. Again, it is only sad if we don’t experience an
experience exactly as God has prescribed, but we cannot let the enemy re-define
or add qualifiers to change God’s definition.
I so appreciate Michael telling us what
“successful Christianity involves," and also his telling us to “always allow God
to specify what Christianity IS.” We must not let “what we think it is” rule
our living as a Christian.
Thank You, Lord, that You have given us Yourself
to live in us, so that living life as a Christian is merely living the life that
is Christ. Hallelujah!
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