The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(a repeat that speaks to the issue we have considered in the last few days.)
"Like Him" - Part 3
"We"
"I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Galatians 2:20).
The truth that Christ lives in us and we live by Him presents an ongoing challenge of understanding and application. We must increasingly discover God's role and our role in the relationship. If we could presently engage in an audible discussion with our Heavenly Father, the consideration might proceed as follows:
"Heavenly Father, the commands of Your Word are beyond my abilities, I cannot fulfill them.
"Yes, I know, My child, you cannot."
"Well then, since You know my weakness, You will fulfill them for me. Thank You, my Father!"
"No, I will not fulfill them for you."
"But, Father, I cannot do it, I have no strength in myself equal to the task!"
"This is true."
"So then, Father, You must do it for me!"
"No, My child, I will not do it for you."
"But Father, You're telling me to do something You acknowledge I cannot do, and that You won't do.
"True. You cannot and I will not."
"But Father, how..."
"Still yourself and listen, My child. It is true that you cannot fulfill My will. And it is also true that I will not fulfill it for you. You cannot and I will not, but...
"Yes, my Father?"
"You cannot and I will not - but together we will!"
"We will, my Father?"
"Yes, we will. I will be the wisdom, the motivation, the power, the life, and most of all, the love that must fill and fragrance our every doing. You will be the trusting recipient of all that I am and all that I do. You will believe Me and by faith submit your whole being unto Me for My purposes and glory. You will live in the expectation of faith that prepares your heart to respond to My heart. Yes, I will be the Vine and you will be the branch upon which I bear My choicest fruit. Together, My child, we will."
"I see now, my Father. We will!"
The presence of the Spirit of Christ in our trusting hearts draws us into a relationship with God wherein both the Divine and the human actively participate. We are not merely robots programmed or compelled to do God's will. Our Heavenly Father spiritually births born again believers as living persons with whom He relates by revealing Himself and His truth. Thereby He leads us to the conscious, decisive response of faith and devotion to Him. The relationship is personal and free in the sense that neither party coerces the other. "When Thou saidst, Seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek" (Psalm 27:8).
God always initiates in progressively conforming us to the spiritual and moral image of the Lord Jesus. He ever calls, leads, draws, motivates, and empowers. Our calling ever involves response to His moving within us. Our experience and application of the relationship proceeds in direct proportion to our faith, submission and the determination to know the Lord in a manner mutually pleasing to both Him and to us. Yes, the Christian life is "we" - Christ lives in us and we live by Him.
"Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure."
(Philippians 2:12-13)
"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
(Philippians 4:13)
"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (II Corinthians 4:7)
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
(I John 4:9)
Weekly Memory Verse
Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
(II Corinthians 3:18)
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