book excerpt
Jesus often said, “Oh, you of little faith.†God desires that we live from faith to faith for our benefit, with no doubt, fear, worry or anxiety in between. It is only Satan who wants believers to doubt God’s love and complete and total forgiveness toward those who believe. He knows that if we doubt God’s forgiveness for our past, present, and future sins even a little, we will doubt God’s love for us. This will lead us to live in insecurity that manifests itself in acts of sin and the inability to love others as God loves us. We cannot love much and walk by the Spirit until we know for certain we have been forgiven totally (Luke 7:47). If we live in doubt, Satan wins in this life because he knows that love is the only thing that fulfills God’s law (Rom 13:8-10).
The truth is there is absolutely no condemnation under the New Covenant of grace and truth Jesus’s blood was shed to bring. If you are walking in fear, guilt, worry, repetitive sin or condemnation, you are displaying symptoms of unbelief to parts of the message of His righteousness and grace. There is also the possibility that you have been deceived by the enemy into subtly adding the Old Covenant letter of the law to grace, as I had done. Christians are under grace (Rom 6:14) and qualified to minister the Spirit of the law that brings life, not the letter that brings death (2 Cor 3:6). Even a little leaven -- a minute amount of law -- added to grace makes grace of no effect.
While you may protest and claim you are not under the letter of the law, I have come to realize that symptoms do not lie. Do you fear punishment from God if you fail? Are you walking in the victory Jesus died to give you? Are you reigning in life like the Bible teaches you should be? Do you reside in Jesus’s peace that overcomes all circumstances, or are your feelings up and down based on your circumstances? Incorrectly believing we are still under the letter of the law is what brings sin consciousness (Rom 3:20) and condemnation. This leads to doubt about our salvation, because if we believe we are under the law, we believe at least subconsciously that we must keep the law to be saved in addition to trusting Jesus. Just a little doubt opens the door for the enemy’s attacks and falsely places the burden of our salvation upon us in our thoughts and minds. This naturally leads to worry and fear. We know intuitively that we cannot keep God’s perfect standard in thought, word and deed. The letter of the law leads us to be self and sin focused, while the Bible teaches we are supposed to lose our life in Christ (Matthew 10:39). God’s way of stopping the acts of sin we still see in our life, has nothing to do with focusing on the law.
The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit convicts us as believers of our complete righteousness in Christ alone (John 16:10). We are called to agree with the Holy Spirit to take captive our minds and thoughts to obedience to Christ. We are called to be conscious of His finished work, His obedience on the cross and our righteousness in Christ always. This is how we live from faith to faith and walk in the Spirit, in His peace, in victory.
Once you are firmly established in the gospel truth of God’s great love for you and your righteousness in Christ, you will begin to naturally display the fruits of the Spirit which are peace, joy, patience, self-control, brotherly love and more. These fruits will naturally replace the sin, including doubt, worry and fear, you still see in your life.
Restlessness will leave your life and the peace of Christ will rest upon you in all circumstances. His peace will lead you to sin far less and serve God out of love and gratitude instead of guilt, without effort.
This is not a difficult process; it comes down to believing God our Father as a little child trusts a loving parent, with childlike faith. Jesus did not die to see if you can qualify to get into heaven; he fully qualified you. God does not lie. If you believe Jesus is Lord and have placed your faith in Him the best you can, even if your faith is far from perfect, you have been saved and have become a co-heir with Christ, qualified to participate in the inheritance of the saints (Col 1:12). God is faithful and keeps His promises. Do not doubt.
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