I remember years ago when the ‘Word-Faith-Healing’ movement was in full gear. Much emphasis was placed on our ‘believing and confessing’. And while there is good to be said about believing and confessing, some things can be taken to extremes. For example, a person who was visibly ill or afflicted might come down to the front of a church altar to be prayed over, even anointed with oil for a physical healing. Many would be instructed to get ‘filled up with the word’ and say it and confess it over and over. I can remember people being rebuked for even verbalizing something contrary to what they had been prayed over for. It was as if they ‘undid’ the prayer and healing if they suggested they were not…healed.
I’ll be honest with you having been around a bit…some of that stuff got real close to be nothing but a con artist show. The reason I say this is because a person who was obviously in need of healing was prayed over, and then told they were then ‘healed’ because the ‘word said they were’ citing some scripture references. It did not matter if they did not look healed or ‘feel’ healed, they were told they WERE healed and their confession better line up with that fact.
Now…before some of you start snickering and shaking your head over how easily ‘those folks’ could be deceived, how many people do that today…’confess with their mouths and believe in their hearts’ that they are ‘In Christ’ or ‘abiding in Christ’...simply because they read a verse and prayed a prayer…but it would be evident to most others…they are not? There are plenty of ‘goats running around today who think they are sheep’. (Yesterday’s post)
So again…can we truly even know? I would say …yes to that. And here’s some encouraging news…you won’t have to be convinced of the fact that you are truly…In Christ. You. Will. Know. It.
Now, if there is any lingering doubt at this moment as to whether you are, or not…I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is…if you are uncertain or not sure, chances are you probably are not. Even if…you had always had been told you are and you kept telling yourself you are…yet deep down, you have had lingering questions of doubt or suspicion.
And the good news? Ha…even if you are not ‘in Him’ and ‘abiding in Christ’, the door is still open for you to enter in. Remember that passage from Hebrews 4:1 I shared yesterday? We were admonished to “fear lest we fall short of entering in” to this place of peace and rest.
What is interesting when reading chapters 3 and 4 there is being told what keeps us out of this place of rest. It was a lack of faith…and obedience. Paul goes in to detail there citing the previous generation who God delivered from Egypt…yet…their hearts were always going astray. He points to them as examples of warning, much like he did in 1 Corinthians 10:4-11. Three times, he cites God’s warnings from the past where we read “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts’.
But look at 3:18-19 where we clearly read why they were kept wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, never entering in to this land of peace and rest. I’ve been sharing in recent weeks how this whole story of the Israelites who left Egypt, wandered in the wilderness were not going to be able to enter Canaan land which God had promised them. This is all a type or picture of our walk of salvation as God leads us to purify our hearts (clear the land of evil and wickedness). God ‘swore they would not enter His rest because they did not obey…so we see what they could not enter because of unbelief’.
If you would, please circle those two words, obey and ‘unbelief’ and then draw a line between them.
To obey…is to believe.
To disobey…is to have unbelief. Just ‘saying you believe’ does not mean you really do…believe.
Here is where I think much of the faith message and ‘trusting in Christ’ has got really blurry.
Look at the next chapter there in Hebrews…where we read that the “Son learned obedience by the things which He suffered, and having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who…OBEY Him.” (5:8-9). For some reason, those two words (faith & obedience) have become ‘trigger words’ for so many depending on which side of the fence they reside. No doubt, our enemy has his hand in this given he is the author of confusion. God’s pretty clear with His message regarding that. (1 Cor. 14:33)
Take a look at Acts 6:7 where we are told in the early days of the church’s inception that “the word of God spread and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priest were …obedient to the faith.”
Obedient. To. The. Faith.
“My sheep hear My voice and I know them…and they follow Me.” (John 10:27)
Need another ‘marker’ to help identify if you truly are ‘in the faith’? (2 Cor. 13:5)
If you are not following…you are not one of His.
IF…you are abiding in Him…you are walking just as He walked and no longer continuing to practice sin. (1 John 2:6; 3:6). His words, not mine.
I know I repeat this over and over and I am compelled to repeat this over and over because God is trying to get our attention and wake us up…like He did with those sleeping virgins in Matt. 25.
Here’s another word picture that I was thinking of the other morning (the day I ‘had off’) but was still up reading in Heb. 3 and 4. It had to do with this idea of ‘entering His rest’ and not ‘falling short to enter in”.
You have probably seen a show or movie at one point where somebody is out wandering in a fierce storm trying to find shelter. Whether it is raining or a freezing blizzard, the feature that stands out is the howling wind that is just relentless. You see that person cowered over trying to protect themself from the elements as they approach a wooden cabin. As they make their way up on the porch, you sense relief is near and of course, the door is always conveniently unlocked. But here is where the transition becomes almost mystical…as they open the door and enter in…the first thing they do is shut the door behind them…and at that very moment…the howling winds ceases to be heard at the same level prior to …’entering in’.
It's not like you don’t hear the faint din of the wind outside…but the difference is night and day. Then, they turn and there is that glowing fire cracking in the stone fireplace. Ahhhhh…peace and shelter and warmth and rest await them as they collapse on the big comfy chair or sofa that is parked up next to the glowing flames.
It’s not like this person has ‘arrived’ and are made whole. They simply have stepped out from the raging storm and now are in a place of safety and comfort and no longer subject to the dangerous winds and cold.
But IF…they were to open the door and ease outside again…then we have another story in the making. But WHY…would they, you ask? Good question…God asks that all the time when we do.
That is one way in which I feel comfortable sharing what it means to ‘be In Christ’ or abiding in Him. I can’t help but wonder if that is what Noah and his family felt when they entered the ark and the door was shut behind them. It did not stop the destructive floods…it simply protected them from the raging waters. That…is what it means to be ‘saved’ from the ‘wrath of God’.
Just getting to that front porch did not do it. You have to go through the door to enter in. That same ‘door’ that Jesus made mention of in John 10:7. If you want to go in to the sheep fold where there is peace and rest and protection from the elements…you have to go through the Only door there is…it is Jesus. And. You don’t enter in unless you are willing to lay everything down and surrender your whole heart to Him. As in…your WHOLE heart.
How many people lived close to Noah’s ark…maybe even helping him on the construction occasionally, when it was convenient. That, in the end, would prove to be in vain if they were not ‘in the ark’. ( I don’t know for a fact if outsiders helped with the construction, but it is not that big a stretch to consider the possibility)
For the record, you don’t ‘work’ your way in,, nor do you ‘earn’ your way in. I would even go as far to say that you can't just 'believe' your way in. But believing…and then obeying…is a really good start to entering in. And when you do…you will discover such a new awareness of His presence…waiting on you. It is quite remarkable to be honest. He’s been waiting on us for some time now. Took me several decades to get here…and it was not because God was playing ‘hide and seek’ either.
What did Jesus declare in Matt. 23:37…”O, how I long to gather you under my wings like a mother hen does her chicks…but you were not willing to come to Me.” You know when a mother hen does that…spread her wings? When a storm is coming. Might finish up reading Ps. 91 today if you have time.
I’ll see you tomorrow.
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