We Have Been Lied To

John 15:4-5: “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Abiding is such a strange concept and one that we rarely make an issue of faith—a truth that we must not only believe but also live. And, instead of resting in fact that God just wants us to be desperately connected to Him, we make our lives all complicated as we focus on “doing” for God. In fact, for many of us, some type of ministry has been our way of life; we could hardly imagine what we would do if we were not “doing” ministry. This paradigm is so hard to escape because it is pervasive and widely expected when you become part of a church or Christian organization. It is a burden we carry that God has not asked us to carry; a burden we put on others that God has not placed on them.  

There is something endemic to our old sinful nature that just loves to carry burdens, loves to be responsible, and loves to be the one to whom others look for help, and it is towards these desires that the enemy loves to feed us the lie that we must “do” something for God.

Well, here is the truth. God does not want us or need us to do anything for Him; He just wants us to be connected to Him. For if we are connected to Him, His life will produce in us the fruit that He desires. We become a vessel, a branch, through which His life flows. His requirements on our life are not this big list of disciplines, duties, and “to-do’s;” rather we are to hide ourselves safely away in His life. This is why He says in Matthew 11:28-30 that His burden is light and His yoke is easy. Jesus wants us to live in a state of total dependence upon Him where we let Him be our way, our truth, and our life and He will live His will in and through us. Do you realize that a branch can do nothing on its own? It can’t water itself, it can’t absorb nutrients from the ground, and it can’t even produce its own fruit. It is dependent upon the sap from the vine for every part of its existence. In the same way, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit as we are depending upon Jesus for all things. That is the only way to live. Now, it’s up to you to make it an issue of faith—believe it and live it!

Ok, this might be a little long for a blog but I was just blown away by this email that I received and what my friend understood from the Old Testament  (yes it is possible to learn amazing things about the love, grace and mercy of God from the Old Testament. Let me share with you:

Hey Everyone!

 

So these past few days God has been giving me some really cool verses. I was re-reading my journal entry from yesterday and it’s basically what Steve teaches us every week, to trust God, but these verses really stuck out to me and I wanted to share it with all of you:

 

I was reading in Joshua and I read the story about when the Lord commanded the Israelites to destroy Jericho and everything in it, not to keep anything for themselves. They had victory and took over the land but some didn’t listen to the Lord and kept things for themselves. They next went on to take over another land but were defeated.

 

Joshua 7:12-13

…I will not remain with you any longer unless you destroy the things among you that were set apart for destruction…

…you will never defeat your enemies until you remove these things from among you.

 

Joshua 7:15

The one who has stolen what was set apart for destruction will himself be burned with fire, along with everything he has.

 

God tells us that all who belong to him must become new. Our old man, our flesh must be completely destroyed. We can’t hold on to any part of it. It must all be layed at the lords feet because God can’t fix our old nature, he gives us a new one.

 

God promises that he will be enough, that he will give us everything we will ever need! So why do we hold onto things that aren’t of God? Why can’t we fully trust God will provide for us?

 

God tells us over and over that he will not abandon us. If we trust him, if we let go of everything and give it all to him then he will not only provide us with everything we need but that he will also protect and fight for us. We get to rest in his arms.

 

 

Each week we get to witness and share all the amazing things God has been doing in this body and in our lives. Whether good or bad, hard or easy God is so present and alive and living through each of us, yet we sometimes doubt he will really be there to take care of those deep deep painful areas in our lives that we hold so tightly too. God warns us:

 

Deuteronomy 4:9

But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live.

 

God loves us all so much. He wants to protect us, care for us. He rescued us from our old sinful nature, from the loneliness, from our depression, from the constant searching. He picked us to be his and to rest in his arms, to be relieved from all those things and to just accept his gift and honor him.

 

Deuteronomy 4:20

Remember the Lord rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today.

 

Deuteronomy 10:12-13

He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you must always obey the Lord’s commands & decrees that I am giving you today FOR YOUR OWN GOOD.

 

Deuteronomy 8:18

Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful.

 

We must not forget all God has done for us, everything that he has saved us from.

 

Deuteronomy 11:22

…show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways & holding tightly to him.

 

Deuteronomy 15:6

The Lord your God will bless you as he has promised.

 

God is enough. We don’t need to hold on to certain areas of our lives in fear he can’t handle them. Because he can, and the truth is he can do a much better job then we can.

 

Deuteronomy 20:3-4

He will say to them: Listen to me all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight your enemies today! Do not lose heart or panic or tremble before them. For the Lord your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!

 

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See it really is possible to experience God for real! It is possible!

Do you find that in your Christian experience it often feels as if you are lost? You think you have been “doing” what you’re supposed to do, but still it seems as if intimacy with God has all but dissipated. When you find yourself in this place it is important to stop and trace your steps back and see if you can discover that place where you first decided to start trusting yourself and not God because it is from this place that you need to reverse directions. I know this can be problematic because quite frankly our own “Christianity” is often the problem. Face it, most of us know how to behave and act like good Christians. We read our Bible, we hang out in our community, we freely give Godly advice, we make sure people are doing ok, and so on; yet, too often God is simply not in the midst of all this activity. I have found that our Christianity actually lulls us into passivity—not in behavior mind you, but in our willingness to actively be dependent upon the Lord for all things. Because we think we know what we need to “do” we forget that our walk with God is not about “doing” but about always believing that Jesus is our way, our truth and our life (and we are not)!

Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. This means that if what you do, what you think, and what you feel does not derive from an absolute dependence upon Jesus—trusting that He is your way, your truth, and your life—then it is simply NOT pleasing to God in any way shape or form. And there is no exception for trying hard, for good intentions, or for doing “Christian” things. All parts of your life must derive from faith, from your choice to believe the truth about Jesus: that He is your “I AM” and you are not; that He is your way, your truth, and your life and you are not! This is the starting place to experiencing intimacy with God on any sustained basis. So stop! Track your steps, and find the place where you trusted yourself and give yourself to Jesus and let Him lavish His love on you.