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Grace takes you from where you are to where God wants to be, in your life and in your walk with God. These are words summarised from the scriptures. And if you are satisfied in the place where you are right now, there is a place higher that God wants to take you to.
How does it come about ?
It is through a transformation that needs to take place in your thinking pattern, in your perspective that needs to be changed to come into alignment with God’s. It is then that peace and life will reign in you and in your circumstance. For the mind that is set on the Spirit is life and peace. [Romans 8:6] And for this to happen He writes His word in the tablet of your heart.
How does He do it ?
1. By giving in you the right understanding of God’s truth, that brings the right kind of change in you, to view the happenings of your life in His perspective, that is always infinitely higher.
2. Then He brings a change in the words you speak, for out of the overflow of your heart your mouth speaks, and when your word changes, your world changes.
3. And He makes your heart a treasure house. There is a change in your being, as out of your heart, your innermost being, flow rivers of living water that transforms barren land into fertile soil to bring forth a mighty harvest.
Grace that changes you:
Grace that transforms you finds it’s source in Christ and the Holy Spirit. There is a transformation in your being which leads to a change in your doing. You are being changed by the Spirit from one degree of glory to another in your innermost being so that you can be conformed to the image of Christ. This is what God causing all things to work together for good, [Romans 8:28], is all about. Do not look at your life’s happenings in isolation. God will use all things, even what you may consider painful to work together to transform you. It will see you increasingly rising higher in the path of being conformed to the image of Christ.
The change in your inner being:
It is all about grace and sonship, becoming heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we call out, Abba Father. [Romans 8:15] And it is the spirit of slavery, which is bondage and the root of all fear in your life that needs to be uprooted first.
Are you bound by something ?
It could be a negative thinking pattern that is keeping you bound, hindering your progress, keeping you from rising higher to reach your fullest God given potential. It could be the dominating people in your life. Or it could even be you yourself, keeping yourself bound with needless self made boundaries that restrict you from moving forward and fulfilling your God given calling.
God desires to release you, bring you to a place of freedom where you can call out, ‘Abba Father’, having received the Spirit of adoption. He can set you free.
How does one get bound ?
Referring to self-righteous religious people who were themselves in bondage but promised freedom to others the apostle Peter says, They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, by that he is enslaved. [2 Peter 2:19] A very simple principle by whatever a man is overcome, or in other words, by whatever a person is made to feel inferior, to that he becomes a slave. It is how people get bound in life, in their circumstances. It happens in human relationships too, and when people try to make you feel inferior, it is to take control of your life, bringing you to subjection. Dictators do it all the time. Slavery in the west found its root in this principle.
In a marriage relationship it can happen if the wife who chooses to stay at home is made to feel inferior just because she is not contributing to the family income. The root goes deeper than compatibility in education or social status. At the spiritual level it is bondage, from which Christ sets one free. For the moment one feels inferior, the spirit of slavery enters, leading to fear. It can happen to the husband too for various other reasons. But the spiritual reality is that husbands and wives are equal partners in the covenant of grace. And when sin overcomes you it leads you to become a slave to sin.
The path to bondage and fear:
When sin entered the lives of Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, it led them from a place of dominion and blessing of God to a place of fear, as they succumbed to the lies of the devil, and became subjected to him.
And even today satan who is a liar and the father of lies, has nothing new to offer. He still dresses up the same old lie in new attire. The sin principle works at an individual level in every person’s life. Sin will overcome you making you a slave when in truth you are a child of God. It is knowing and understanding the truth that sets you free. And truth is a Person, the Lord Jesus. Therefore if the Son sets you free you are free indeed.
Fear – the chief expression of slavery:
The first mention of fear in the Bible is in Genesis Chapter 3 Fear came into the lives of Adam and Eve as a by product of sin, when they became subjected to it. And God always deals with any issue by going to its root. He never addresses just the peripherals. The heart of a matter is always the heart. And God begins to bring about a change in your heart where fear has crept in because of sin. He enables you to conquer the power of sin that is in you, thus overcoming fear in your life.
The progression of sin:
Fear starts as a care, a concern about a particular person or an issue. But when it lingers in you it will become a worry, which is why God’s word encourages you not to be anxious about anything, but instead to take everything unto Him in prayer and petition with thanksgiving. And worry, when not addressed rightly will progress into fear. Fear will begin as just a thought, but it will trigger your imagination, raising in you a thousand ‘what if’ scenarios that will move you to a point of being controlled by it, developing into a stronghold in your mind.
It happened to Job, as God’s word narrates, for he declares in the midst of his pain, ‘What I dreaded has come upon me’. [Job 3:25] The Bible in all honesty depicts truthfully the lives of men, not covering up their wrongdoings or doubts and through it we are instructed. It gives hope to you and I, for as they overcame in God’s strength, you and I can also. Job was a righteous, God fearing man but he still had fears. It began in him as a thought, an anxious thought. But it need not happen to you, for ‘Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world’. You have the power of God and the authority in you to be set free.
Whether what you thought would happen has happened, or what you never in your wildest dreams thought would happen to you has happened, it need not make you fearful and hold you down. For ultimately the last chapter of your life is written by God. And what He has purposed for good in your life can never be thwarted. The Job who in his misery said that he had lost his ease, soon in faith declared, ‘I know my Redeemer lives’. And he lived to see his Redeemer restore double all that he had lost, and his latter days were more glorious than his former.
And in your life this day, no matter what has kept you in subjection, you can be set free. For the devil has been defeated on the Cross of Calvary, his head has been crushed by Christ, the Son of God, who on the Cross has disarmed principalities and powers putting them to open shame.
How then does the devil cause harm in a believing Christian ?
The one weapon that the devil uses is lies and you can overcome a lie only by knowing the truth and speaking it into your situation. When you are a child of God the devil has no authority over you or anything that belongs to you. But when he knows that you don’t know this truth, he can cause problems in your life. It is his job. On the other hand, when he knows that you know the truth, that he has been defeated, it will be a different story. He will flee from you. Christ is the answer to all your problems and He is in you. Therefore it is of utmost importance that you know your authority in Christ. You are called to be a ‘son’ and not a slave. And you overcome by the Word. Fear of old age need not keep you bound as you confess God’s word – ‘I will bear fruit in old age, be full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright’. [Psalms 92:14,15] When you can see the hand of the destroyer trying to bring harm in your life, you need to open your mouth, rebuke and exercise your authority as a child of God.
They overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. [Revelation 12:11] The devil will more often than not come to you in the guise of a person, speaking godly language but his ultimate aim is to steal, kill and destroy.
Holy Spirit the Helper and Enabler:
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control. [2 Timothy 1:7] Fear also includes a spirit of cowardice and timidity. Cowardice is operating in you when inspite of knowing the truth you are unable to speak it out and demonstrate it when the situation demands it. It happened in the life of king Saul, leading to his loss of kingship.
1.He hid himself –
After being anointed to be the king of Israel, when the situation demanded it, when Samuel wanted to present him as king before the people, Saul was nowhere to be found for he had hidden himself among the baggage. He had to be brought forward after the Lord revealed where he was. He stood tall outwardly in his physique, but inwardly was very small. [1 Samuel 10:20-23]
2. Unable to confront Goliath –
When Goliath was taunting the people of Israel saying, ‘Is there any one man who can come against me,’ Saul, the king who stood tall, could not take up the challenge. He just accepted the status quo for a long period of forty days till David came on the scene to confront the giant. It revealed the cowardly ostrich mentality in him, the spirit of denial, a refusal to face facts. [1 Samuel 17:10]
3. Jealousy, doubt and suspicion –
Saul was overcome with jealousy and filled with doubt and suspicions regarding David, and it is always a sign of the spirit of cowardice. And when they are insecure weak people resort to manipulation, saying different things to different people just to get the upper hand.
How does God enable you to overcome – He has given you the Spirit of power, love and sound mind. [2 Timothy 1:7]
God gives three attributes to overwhelmingly conquer and uproot fear in you, when it operates in you in three levels –
1. Power –
When you are physically weak you can become fearful. And it is then that you have to boldly confess, ‘Let the weak say I am strong’, for it is also written in His word that ‘My grace is sufficient for you’ and ‘My strength will be made perfect in your weakness’. [2 Corinthians 12:9]
2. Love –
When you are insecure in your relationships with other people fear can stealthily creep in to take a foothold in your life. But even if people do not like you, the unchanging truth is that God loves you. And His perfect love casts out, pushes out the fear in you, as it is written in His Word [1 John 4:18] and you can rest in the comfort of His everlasting love. He loved you even when you were a sinner. Now that you are saved it only proves His love for you even more.
3. Sound mind –
God has given you a well balanced, calm mind to combat the fear that can arise in you when you are ignorant about some situation, do not have the necessary knowledge concerning it in order to handle it rightly. You may not know but the All knowing God knows it all. And all that you need to know He will reveal at the right time. He has given you sanctified commonsense, a sound mind that says He will never leave you or forsake you. And Christ in you is greater than the devil who is nothing but a defeated foe.
When you are in Christ, you are a new creation, a ‘son’ of God, not a slave of the enemy. You are here to rule and reign in your circumstance, not be under the subjection of the devil. You are blessed. Greater is He who is in you. He will enable you to overcome. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power, the eyes of your heart enlightened to know the plans and purposes of God for you as He gives you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation. You have received the Spirit of sonship by which you can call out Abba, Father to the Almighty God.
You are a son, a child of God, not a slave to sin or the evil one, Amen.
