To Give Or To Get?
I want to talk about a simple yet deep message that has been on my heart for the past few years. In life, there are two big motivators: wanting to give and wanting to get. The self-existence, as I refer … Continue reading
3 amazing facts about God’s Grace!
I was excited to receive a message on my Facebook page today from a sister in Christ who’s had a revelation of God’s radical grace.
As I was responding to her message I realized there are 3 amazing things we should know about God’s grace.
- No Fear!
Do you think God wants us to live in fear?
There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear – because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not made perfect in love.
– 1 John 4:18
How are we made perfect in love?
We are perfect in love when we have no fear.
When we know our salvation is secure…
When we know and understand how wide and high and long and deep is the love of Christ…
When we understand that nothing in all creation can separate us from God’s love…
When we realize that we can no more limit God’s grace than we can set a time limit on eternity…
When we know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ…
And finally when we are assured that we can never, ever be punished for our sin ever again.
There is no fear in love but perfect love drives out fear – because fear has to do with punishment. Whoever fears is not made perfect in love.
– 1 John 4:18.
- Change Your Mind!
A question that comes up a lot with people who oppose the ‘hypergrace’ movement is repentance. People seem to think that hypergrace teachers are against repentance. Not true! It’s not that we’re against repentance, it’s just that we’re against using the word in the wrong way. The biblical word in Greek was metanoia which means ‘to change your mind.’
Biblical repentance means to change your mind about God’s grace.
Tweet that!
Martin Luther thought the same. He said –
Metanoia signifies a changing of the mind and heart – not only a change of heart but also how it is changed, that is by the grace of God.
Amen!
An article on Metanoia Ministries website says this:
The Reformation saw the new church fathers begin to go back to the Classical Greek. Both Luther and Calvin wished to remove the concept of penance from the meaning of repentance. Repentance meant “to change the mind.” Specifically—to change our minds about Christ.
This ties in with Paul. In his letter to the young church at Philippi he said he was a ‘perfect’ Pharisee. He obeyed all the laws. He was legalistically perfect:
Circumsized on the eighth day, of the tribe of Benjamin, of the people of Israel, a Hebrew of Hebrews. As for zeal, persecuting the church. As for legalistic righteousness – perfect!
– Philippians 3:6
Which leads us nicely on to —
- The Law is Rubbish!
When Paul discovered he was ‘righteous by faith’ he called his law-obeying ‘rubbish’:
But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of knowing Christ. More than that, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in Him – not having a righteousness of my own that comes from obeying the law but that which is through faith in Christ – a righteousness that comes from God and is by faith!
– Philippains 3:7-8
Paul ‘changed his mind’ about his legalistic righteousness. He used to think his self-earned righteousness was perfect. But now he considered it rubbish compared to being ‘righteous by faith.’
This was Paul’s ‘grace’ revelation!
He realized that nothing he could do could add to the righteousness God had given him – as a free gift.
Summing up –
We too, like Paul, have to change our minds about our own ability to be perfect.
We must rely totally on Christ and His grace.
If we think we can ‘get in God’s good books’ by ‘being good’ and stopping sinning we are trusting in our own ability rather than in Christ’s cross.
But, if we ‘change our mind’, admit we have no chance of getting in God’s ‘good books’ by ourselves and rely totally on God’s grace, then we are free.
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!
– Galatians 5:1
If we think our place in Heaven depends on our ‘being good’ we have lost all sight of the gospel. We are trusting in ourselves rather in Christ.
Summing up then, we cannot win, keep, or earn our place in Heaven…but thanks be to God! He loves us and He has saved us to be with Him forever.
Hallelujah!
Amen.
Filed under: Grace
God and Ant Man
I watched Ant Man yesterday.
It was brilliant.
Really fun.
Great story, superb dialogue, awesome action sequences. You’ll love it!
But it also carries the Gospel message.
Scott has just got out of jail. He’s a thief. Not a common robber but a high tech ‘cat burglar’ with a Masters Degree in electrical engineering.
It’s a real normal guy becomes super-hero story – the hero’s journey.
Scott’s got a daughter – Cassie – who he loves dearly but his ex-wife tells him he can’t see his daughter until he pays child support.
Scott complains he can’t find a job, to which his ex-wife replies:
You’re a hero in her eyes. Be the person she already believes you are.
And that’s us and God!
To God, you are a hero.
He already sees you as a hero.
We may see ourselves as sinners and failures but that’s not how God sees us.
God sees us as His beautiful children.
Not only that, He sees us as mighty warriors for the kingdom of God.
Heroes!
Look at Gideon. God calls him a mighty warrior, and Gideon’s like: “Who? Me?”
Let’s see ourselves as God already sees us:
By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who have been made holy.
– Hebrews 10:14
He sees us as perfect and holy.
If only we could see ourselves that way.
Surely great things would happen in our lives, in the lives of those around us and in the Kingdom of God.
Like Scott in Ant Man, let’s be the person God already believes we are!
Filed under: Grace
Are You Lukewarm?
Here’s a favorite question of some preachers: “Are you a lukewarm believer?” You’d better have a good answer because if you’re not sure – “Am I lukewarm?” – Jesus may spew you out of his mouth. What does that mean? He’ll reject you, you apathetic Christian! You may think you’re saved, but if you’re not […]
An Open Letter to Pastors from the Author of The Hyper-Grace Gospel
Dear Pastor, Over the past couple of years, much has been said about the so-called hyper-grace gospel and the effect this message is having on the church. Apparently the hyper-grace gospel is the deception Jude warned about. According to some it’s a destructive message preached by godless men. Here are some of the claims made […]
Forgiveness and Jesus’ blood.
Look, what I’m saying is this.
I’m not saying that asking God for forgiveness is wrong.
What I’m saying is our forgiveness doesn’t depend on our asking.
If it did forgiveness would be conditional.
We would have a part to play in our own salvation.
We would achieve salvation by ourselves.
But the fact is, we could not achieve salvation by ourselves so Jesus achieved it for us – all by Himself.
That’s right, folks – we didn’t help Him.
We have no part to play in our own salvation.
Jesus saved the whole world – single-handedly – on the cross.
That’s why we know we have been forgiven once for all.
It was a once for all sacrifice.
Sure we’re gonna feel bad when we screw up.
Yes we’re gonna want to get down on our knees and confess to God and ask for forgiveness as we promise never to do it again.
But God has already forgiven us.
And next time we screw up again He’s already forgiven us for that, too!
In fact, the very moment we screw up it’s forgotten. Tossed into the eternal fire. Consumed, dead and gone.
Our sin dissolves in Christ’s blood like a snowflake in a fire.
We may feel terrible.
We may feel unworthy of God’s love and forgiveness.
We may feel we need to get on our knees and confess until we receive God’s peace again.
But that’s us.
That doesn’t come from God.
God has forgiven us already, once for all, on the cross.
So when we pray we don’t have to say “Dear God, I messed up again. I know, I know, yep, that again. Please forgive me again!”
Instead we can pray:
Jesus, I screwed up again, but thanks to the cross I know that you have forgiven me once for all. I accept that forgiveness. I know I’m a new creation in Christ and that my right standing with God doesn’t depend on what I do anymore but on what you did for me.
How amazing is that?!
We are righteous not by our own self effort but because of Christ.
We are righteous as a free gift from our amazing, awesome, breath-takingly beautiful God – whose name is Love.
Amen!
Filed under: Grace
Leading People To Christ Made Natural, Easy And Fun
In this post we’ll expose the dirty lie that says that you need to befriend people to lead them Christ and exchange it for the clean truth of how to lead people to Christ in the right way, which makes it natural easy and fun.
Have you ever been challenged how to integrate your private faith life with your public life?
For example, you believe people come to faith by hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, yet in a social setting you don’t bring the conversation around to a “spiritual” topic. Then you wonder why you don’t share your faith…
Or you believe it’s God’s will to heal, yet when you come across a sick person you don’t always ask if they would like prayer. Then later you feel puzzled and condemned because you didn’t offer to pray.
Jesus did command us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:15-18).
It’s plain and clear Jesus expects us to tell about Him and operate in supernatural signs and wonders. Contrary to what most Christians think, however, He does not expect you with your will-power an determination to lead people to Him.
This might come as a shock to you but you are NOT suppose to “befriend” people or act friendly towards them or do stuff for them in order to lead them to Christ!
The vast majority of Christians does belief the lie that they should do something (like trying to be nice) in order to lead them to Christ.
You know what the result is?
Feeling guilty and condemned.
Why? Because there are always more unsaved, sick and hurting people you come across then you have time to minister to or that you are able to talk to or reach with your “evangelistic” attempts.
If you persist in the “leading-people-to-Christ-all-depends-on-me-doing-my-best” type mindset you’ll end up feeling condemned because there will be times – after meeting an unbeliever, a sick person or discouraged person – that you didn’t offer prayer, you didn’t lay hands to heal the sick, you didn’t cease the opportunity to mention Jesus, you didn’t steer the conversation to a “spiritual” topic.
As a result you feel bad about yourself, after all you belief that you’re not that great of an advertisement for Christianity. You might even be thinking God isn’t happy with you and isn’t proud of you since you’re falling short of His command to preach Him to all creatures.
The truth, however, is that it’s not up to you – yourself – to supernaturally reveal Jesus and His love to people!
What I’m about to show you next, might forever change the way you look at evangelism and lift a heavy, unhealthy religious burden of your shoulders.
Should you feel pressure because you know it’s a commandment to witness, offer prayer, encourage and lay hands on the sick?
Should you befriend people just to lead them to Christ?
The answer is a resounding NO!
Let me explain why it’s not a good idea to go out of your way to “befriend” people or act friendly towards them…do stuff for them…in order to lead them to Christ.
Click on the image below to watch the Vlog:
Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube
Understand Your True Identity
The answer is found in understanding your true nature – who you really are and to learn to just be yourself.
Who is Christ…and…who are you?
God is Love – Christ is God – Christ is Love.
Christ is in you – He is your true nature now.
So your true nature is to be LOVE.
Because you ARE Love, it comes natural to love people – without conditions.
Because you nature is to BE unconditional love towards people you should have no ulterior motives.
In the days I hadn’t tapped into the unconditional love of our Father I would say things like, “When we do evangelism we have an “hidden” agenda and that is to bring the “J” word into the conversation to get people closer to pray the sinners prayer.”
Now I say, “To understand God’s unconditional love leads us to having absolutely NO REASON to listen and talk to people!” There is just no “hidden” agenda when unconditional love is understood.
Consequently there is ZERO PRESSURE to perform a certain way in order to reveal Jesus and His love to people.
How then are we to go about the command to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, etc.? You just simply allow Christ (who is Love) to be expressed through you – to whomever you may meet each and every day.
When Christ was approached by the rich young man who wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life, scripture is clear about how He treated the man.
Mark 10:21 says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
How did Jesus approach this man? Jesus loved on him. You might be thinking, “Yes, but shouldn’t I try to lead them to Christ?” No.
Here’s what will happen: when you love unconditionally you are allowing Christ to express Himself through you. And people will notice. They’ll be magnetically drawn to you.
Side note: if you’re a guy women will definitively be magnetically drawn to you. Look at Jesus’ ministry, He always had women following Him around wherever He went. Why? Because He had NO ulterior motive for loving woman. (Most guys, however “act nice” or pretend to “love” a woman because they want something from that woman).
Jesus just simply loved them and they couldn’t get enough of Him. And they’ll want to know where this love comes from. They wonder “how can you be that way?” That’s when it’s time to tell them where this Love comes from…
That it comes from Christ who is now your life and identity and that you’ve a relationship with Him since He lives in you. You’ve exchanged your old life for His and now you’re just letting Christ love people through you each and every day. This is how you “win people to Christ.”
Let me ask you this question: Did Jesus ever start preaching to someone or healing someone before He showed them love? No. He first showed them love…showed them grace, compassion, forgiveness and sympathy (all of which come from love). Then people wanted to know “WHO ARE YOU?” And that’s when He introduced Himself as the Messiah.
No Pressure But Free To Be You
You might ask yourself, “Is there a place to tell people upfront about Jesus or offer prayer to heal the sick?” Of course. You’re free to express who you are and what you belief in any way, shape or form.
Or, you might ask yourself, “how can I ask strangers up front or in the middle of the conversation if they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior or if they are sick and in need for prayer?”
As soon as we try to answer these type of questions we inevitable get stuck in steps, principles and formulas. For example,
- 12 Strategies for effective evangelism.
- 8 Steps to start conversations and successfully share the Gospel.
- 4 Spiritual laws to help people understand God’s love and forgiveness to lead them to Christ, etc.
We already have seen that this is NOT what Christ had in mind when He said to make Him and His love known to the world.
Usually these steps, formulas and spiritual laws put pressure on you and make you feel insecure relating to people since you’re constantly thinking (read: worrying) if you’re doing it the right or wrong way.
The truth is that there is no wrong and right way, there is only the Jesus way.
How can you do life the Jesus way, thus be a great advertisement of love and grace to the world?
Just be yourself; allow Christ to express His love through you.
That’s the only way for you to be truly FREE to relate to people as you see fit in context of your unique personality.
No pressure to perform.
No condemnation.
If you think that you should befriend people just to lead them to Christ then your fooling yourself…but you’re not fooling anyone! People can tell if you’re being authentic. They can tell when you have a “hidden” agenda or ulterior motive.
You know how you feel when a Mormon knocks on the door, acts nice, and wants to talk with you. They’ll tell you, “If you need anything, anything at all – just give us a call!”
You KNOW exactly WHY they’re being so nice. They want to make you a Mormon too! It’s fake…a pretense…and act to try to get what they want from you.
It’s the same feeling you get from a salesman who really doesn’t care about you, but is acting REALLY nice. (my apologies to all the Mormons who watch this and are offended – I of course love you too – I am just making a point).
Here’s the downside of believing this lie that you should befriend people, act friendly and do stuff for them to lead them to Christ – it gives Christians a bad reputation…
And then what happens? You screw it up for the rest of us Christians who really are aiming at letting Christ express His love through us to people.
And unbelievers think, “Yeah, he’s just being nice because he wants to turn me into a Christian and make me go to church, and give up drinking, cussing, smoking, sexing, etc.,…I’m not falling for that one again!”
So, it seems you have two options my friend:
1) You can just be who you REALLY are – which is unconditional LOVE.
2) You can come off as a sleazy salesman or Mormon.
I know which one I’m choosing.
If you’re choosing the first option with me, you’ll live from the no-condemnation zone since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
Enjoy just being who you are and watch the world being transformed as a result without strain and stress.
This message will self destruct in 10 seconds,
P.S. BasRijksen(.com) is taking a summer break. That means you will receive your next Grace-filled post September 1.
P.P.S. If you know anyone who could benefit from this post make sure you share it by using the buttons below.
Leading People To Christ Made Natural, Easy And Fun
In this post we’ll expose the dirty lie that says that you need to befriend people to lead them Christ and exchange it for the clean truth of how to lead people to Christ in the right way, which makes it natural easy and fun.
Have you ever been challenged how to integrate your private faith life with your public life?
For example, you believe people come to faith by hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, yet in a social setting you don’t bring the conversation around to a “spiritual” topic. Then you wonder why you don’t share your faith…
Or you believe it’s God’s will to heal, yet when you come across a sick person you don’t always ask if they would like prayer. Then later you feel puzzled and condemned because you didn’t offer to pray.
Jesus did command us to “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover” (Mark 16:15-18).
It’s plain and clear Jesus expects us to tell about Him and operate in supernatural signs and wonders. Contrary to what most Christians think, however, He does not expect you with your will-power an determination to lead people to Him.
This might come as a shock to you but you are NOT suppose to “befriend” people or act friendly towards them or do stuff for them in order to lead them to Christ!
The vast majority of Christians does belief the lie that they should do something (like trying to be nice) in order to lead them to Christ.
You know what the result is?
Feeling guilty and condemned.
Why? Because there are always more unsaved, sick and hurting people you come across then you have time to minister to or that you are able to talk to or reach with your “evangelistic” attempts.
If you persist in the “leading-people-to-Christ-all-depends-on-me-doing-my-best” type mindset you’ll end up feeling condemned because there will be times – after meeting an unbeliever, a sick person or discouraged person – that you didn’t offer prayer, you didn’t lay hands to heal the sick, you didn’t cease the opportunity to mention Jesus, you didn’t steer the conversation to a “spiritual” topic.
As a result you feel bad about yourself, after all you belief that you’re not that great of an advertisement for Christianity. You might even be thinking God isn’t happy with you and isn’t proud of you since you’re falling short of His command to preach Him to all creatures.
The truth, however, is that it’s not up to you – yourself – to supernaturally reveal Jesus and His love to people!
What I’m about to show you next, might forever change the way you look at evangelism and lift a heavy, unhealthy religious burden of your shoulders.
Should you feel pressure because you know it’s a commandment to witness, offer prayer, encourage and lay hands on the sick?
Should you befriend people just to lead them to Christ?
The answer is a resounding NO!
Let me explain why it’s not a good idea to go out of your way to “befriend” people or act friendly towards them…do stuff for them…in order to lead them to Christ.
Click on the image below to watch the Vlog:
Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube
Understand Your True Identity
The answer is found in understanding your true nature – who you really are and to learn to just be yourself.
Who is Christ…and…who are you?
God is Love – Christ is God – Christ is Love.
Christ is in you – He is your true nature now.
So your true nature is to be LOVE.
Because you ARE Love, it comes natural to love people – without conditions.
Because you nature is to BE unconditional love towards people you should have no ulterior motives.
In the days I hadn’t tapped into the unconditional love of our Father I would say things like, “When we do evangelism we have an “hidden” agenda and that is to bring the “J” word into the conversation to get people closer to pray the sinners prayer.”
Now I say, “To understand God’s unconditional love leads us to having absolutely NO REASON to listen and talk to people!” There is just no “hidden” agenda when unconditional love is understood.
Consequently there is ZERO PRESSURE to perform a certain way in order to reveal Jesus and His love to people.
How then are we to go about the command to preach the Gospel, heal the sick, deliver the oppressed, etc.? You just simply allow Christ (who is Love) to be expressed through you – to whomever you may meet each and every day.
When Christ was approached by the rich young man who wanted to know what he must do to inherit eternal life, scripture is clear about how He treated the man.
Mark 10:21 says, “Jesus looked at him and loved him.”
How did Jesus approach this man? Jesus loved on him. You might be thinking, “Yes, but shouldn’t I try to lead them to Christ?” No.
Here’s what will happen: when you love unconditionally you are allowing Christ to express Himself through you. And people will notice. They’ll be magnetically drawn to you.
Side note: if you’re a guy women will definitively be magnetically drawn to you. Look at Jesus’ ministry, He always had women following Him around wherever He went. Why? Because He had NO ulterior motive for loving woman. (Most guys, however “act nice” or pretend to “love” a woman because they want something from that woman).
Jesus just simply loved them and they couldn’t get enough of Him. And they’ll want to know where this love comes from. They wonder “how can you be that way?” That’s when it’s time to tell them where this Love comes from…
That it comes from Christ who is now your life and identity and that you’ve a relationship with Him since He lives in you. You’ve exchanged your old life for His and now you’re just letting Christ love people through you each and every day. This is how you “win people to Christ.”
Let me ask you this question: Did Jesus ever start preaching to someone or healing someone before He showed them love? No. He first showed them love…showed them grace, compassion, forgiveness and sympathy (all of which come from love). Then people wanted to know “WHO ARE YOU?” And that’s when He introduced Himself as the Messiah.
No Pressure But Free To Be You
You might ask yourself, “Is there a place to tell people upfront about Jesus or offer prayer to heal the sick?” Of course. You’re free to express who you are and what you belief in any way, shape or form.
Or, you might ask yourself, “how can I ask strangers up front or in the middle of the conversation if they know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior or if they are sick and in need for prayer?”
As soon as we try to answer these type of questions we inevitable get stuck in steps, principles and formulas. For example,
- 12 Strategies for effective evangelism.
- 8 Steps to start conversations and successfully share the Gospel.
- 4 Spiritual laws to help people understand God’s love and forgiveness to lead them to Christ, etc.
We already have seen that this is NOT what Christ had in mind when He said to make Him and His love known to the world.
Usually these steps, formulas and spiritual laws put pressure on you and make you feel insecure relating to people since you’re constantly thinking (read: worrying) if you’re doing it the right or wrong way.
The truth is that there is no wrong and right way, there is only the Jesus way.
How can you do life the Jesus way, thus be a great advertisement of love and grace to the world?
Just be yourself; allow Christ to express His love through you.
That’s the only way for you to be truly FREE to relate to people as you see fit in context of your unique personality.
No pressure to perform.
No condemnation.
If you think that you should befriend people just to lead them to Christ then your fooling yourself…but you’re not fooling anyone! People can tell if you’re being authentic. They can tell when you have a “hidden” agenda or ulterior motive.
You know how you feel when a Mormon knocks on the door, acts nice, and wants to talk with you. They’ll tell you, “If you need anything, anything at all – just give us a call!”
You KNOW exactly WHY they’re being so nice. They want to make you a Mormon too! It’s fake…a pretense…and act to try to get what they want from you.
It’s the same feeling you get from a salesman who really doesn’t care about you, but is acting REALLY nice. (my apologies to all the Mormons who watch this and are offended – I of course love you too – I am just making a point).
Here’s the downside of believing this lie that you should befriend people, act friendly and do stuff for them to lead them to Christ – it gives Christians a bad reputation…
And then what happens? You screw it up for the rest of us Christians who really are aiming at letting Christ express His love through us to people.
And unbelievers think, “Yeah, he’s just being nice because he wants to turn me into a Christian and make me go to church, and give up drinking, cussing, smoking, sexing, etc.,…I’m not falling for that one again!”
So, it seems you have two options my friend:
1) You can just be who you REALLY are – which is unconditional LOVE.
2) You can come off as a sleazy salesman or Mormon.
I know which one I’m choosing.
If you’re choosing the first option with me, you’ll live from the no-condemnation zone since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
Enjoy just being who you are and watch the world being transformed as a result without strain and stress.
This message will self destruct in 10 seconds,
P.S. BasRijksen(.com) is taking a summer break. That means you will receive your next Grace-filled post September 1.
P.P.S. If you know anyone who could benefit from this post make sure you share it by using the buttons below.
You Are Qualified
Jesus can revolutionize your life and world view. The idea of grace in its fullness characterizes the very nature of Jesus and changes our concept of the worth of humanity. Our world view in the past has been filtered through religion, which tainted our ability to accept those that would not qualify to be a part of our family. All the while hoping that the outcast and the freaks would conform to our image so that we would be more comfortable with them among us. After all we don’t want that kind of person to representing us, right? How ugly is that, how sad, bland, boring and comfortable.
In the old covenant only the high priest could go into the holy of holies in the presence of God. The high priest were the very upper crust, the closest to perfect that existed. They were the only ones worthy to even attempt to meet with God and even they would drop dead if they did not fully qualify. How frightening, how intimidating, how confident, how self assured would you have to be to attempt a journey into the presence of God?
The magnificent exchange was that the very God that the high priest feared, the God that reigned down manna from heaven and whose presence lived in the form of Shekinah glory behind the veil had a plan all along to come to us. To go to the darkest places and the deepest earth to identify with us. The very God we feared became one with those who would never qualify. Because what we failed to admit is that no matter how hard any of us try, none of us can ever qualify. It is only by grace through faith in this man Jesus Christ.
So you see, it’s not a matter of qualifying to get to God, it’s a matter of God qualifying to get to us. Who am I to disqualify anyone? Who am I to claim Christ death returns insufficient on anyone’s behalf. God wanted us all along. He wanted us to admit our dependence on him all along. So if you are an outcast, freak or classified weirdo Jesus came to you, identified with you and brought you freedom, grace, and love. Not freedom from who you are, but freedom from having to be who you’re not. We are all dependent on him, we require him, we thirst for him and in him we find our life. Run to him, don’t be afraid!
Hebrews 4:14-16, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 12:9, 2 Corinthians 5:19, Ephesians 3:19
Be A Promise-Receiver And Not A Promise-Keeper!
Let me ask you a question: How can you grow spiritually in your relationship with God and enjoy all the things He’s given you without stress and strain?
It is critical to have the right answer to this question because there are two answers to this question. One makes you feel inadequate and guilty and the other makes you feel alive, awesome and significant.
So what are these two answers to how you can walk in fullness of identity and inheritance?
One answer is law-oriented (that is religion); the other is grace-oriented.
The law-oriented person will give you a long list of things you need to commit to, like ”You need to pursue this noble goal. You need to commit to these things…and you need to practice these spiritual disciplines.”
With a sincere heart and a real desire to want to live a Christ-like life you’ll end up making endless promises to God saying, “God, I’ll do this, I’ll do that, I’ll promise to be this type of person and I’ll promise to do these type of activities.”
But guess what…
The inevitable tragedy happens again.
You are not able to keep the promises you’ve made.
After a few weeks or months you fizzle and fail to keep those promises you once were so serious about of keeping them.
Talking about frustration, feeling inadequate and guilty!
Obviously this approach of “promise-keeping” doesn’t work and will never work. Why?
Because the whole idea and practice of promise-keeping is not Biblical.
By understanding what the Bible actually says about the whole matter of promise making will save you a lot of stress and strain.
Click on the image to watch the Vlog:
Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube
Your Role Is To Receive
So what is the answer to walk in fullness of all that Christ has done and given to you from a grace-oriented perspective?
The answer is found in understanding that you are to be a promise-receiver and not a promise-keeper.
We’re never told in the New Testament to promise anything to God. It’s not there. The Bible is, however, full of promises that God has made to us. That’s the part of grace that people find so hard to accept – it’s one-sided.
How are the roles divided?
Here it is: God gives and we receive.
We have nothing to offer in return nor is there anything He wants or needs from us.
Our only role is to receive all He has promised, but even that doesn’t come from our own effort.
Even understanding that God made promises to us isn’t enough, because if we don’t understand the whole story we will think we have to try to muster the faith to believe He will keep His promises.
The truth of the matter is this: God has already fulfilled every promise He has made to us! He has done it in Christ.
Paul said that the promises of God are all “Yes!” in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says,
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
The promises of God are all “Yes!” in Christ.
That means He is the embodiment of God’s promises.
God’s promises to us have been already fulfilled in Jesus!
What’s our part now?
Paul says it is simply to say “Amen!” How much work is that?
Through the life of Jesus Christ in us, we experience the realization of God’s fulfilled promises as we trust Christ every moment.
So Christ is the embodiment of God’s promises. And where does Christ live? In you!
You need to realize that you cannot keep your promises. Only Jesus Christ can successfully keep promises and live the perfect life. He lives in you and wants to reveal His promises and perfect life through you.
God doesn’t want you to stand on your promises to Him, but on His promises to you.
So before we can be effective promise-keepers we must be promise-receivers.
To try to be first a promise-keeper, before being a promise-receiver is to live a life of frustration and condemnation…
Because if you believe your grace walk is based on your promises to God rather than His promises to you, you’re putting yourself under the death-dealing system of the law. Let God down and you will need to make new promises and work harder to keep them. Where is the peace and security in this? There is none.
The moment you rely on your promise-keeping you’ve set yourself up to experience guilt and condemnation. You might start out “strong” but sooner than later you’ll fail in keeping your promises leaving you with a nagging sense of condemnation. And you know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Rom. 8:1).
Be A Promise-Receiver, Not A Promise-Keeper
“Ok, I get what you’re saying Bas, we are not called to be promise-keepers, but to be a promise-receivers or else we’re putting ourselves in trouble since we then put ourselves under the curse of the law. But what about that organization the Promise-Keepers?”
If you don’t know what it is: The Promise-Keepers is an organization that organizes events to gather thousands of man in one conference in order to have them make a bunch of promises.
The Promise-Keeper philosophy is based upon the premise that “Christian growth begins by making promises.”
Listen, I do not question the pure motives of Bill McCartney, the founder of the Promise-Keepers and the thousands of weeping, praying, hand-holding men who are seeking some enhancement for their family relationships.
But I do question – and I know for a fact – that the Promise Keepers is not the answer to spiritual growth and living a fulfilled and impactfull life.
Why?
Promise-keeping is not Biblical!
The whole idea of promise keeping reveals a a backwards way of thinking. Thus the wrong type of thinking that is opposite to how God thinks.
Ok, someone has to say it, so I’ll do it as plain as I can:
Anything that has to do with promise-keeping between you and God is NOT OK!
It crushes your faith and isn’t good for your well being, your health and your family.
So, indeed, the Promise-Keepers organization should find another name or just quit leading sincere, God-loving man down the destructive path of promise-keeping, but rather teach people to be promise receivers!
Why is it a destructive path?
1) God isn’t expecting nor asking you to make promises to do better and to do more.
2) Because making promises you want to keep is as silly as to throw gasoline on fire. It doesn’t extinguish the fire, it only makes it flare up more. Dedicating yourself to keep promises only makes you sign up for another miserable ride on the famous flesh-empowered cycle of motivation-condemnation-rededication.
If you’re interested, I have a video explaining this cycle in detail it’s called “The Key to break free from the cycle of motivation-condemnation-rededication.” Click HERE to watch the video.
Anyway, if we think we’re suppose to be a promise-keeper then we’re signing up to try to do better or to do more “good” works and that is living after the flesh.
Living after the Spirit, however, means to understand that God’s promises to you have been already fulfilled in Jesus – they’re all “Yes!” in Him – and that your part is ONLY to say “Amen.”
The moral of the story?
Be a promise-receiver and not a promise-keeper!
Claiming God’s Promises
If you’ve spend two minutes in the charismatic/evangelical circles you probably have come accross someone who is fanatically claiming the promises of God over their life or some situation that needs transformation.
They might tell you, “If you want to see all that Christ has purchased for you manifest in your life, then you need to name and claim the promises of God.”
Often the idea behind this is if you name and claim God’s promises long and hard enough then you’ll see the desired breakthrough, then you’ll see the healing or money appear, then you’ll have victory over sin or see the marriage being restored.
Here’s the deal…
If you think that your breakthrough or any change comes from just naming and claiming some promises then you might have put yourself under some self-imposed rules, thus fallen into the trap of putting your trust in what you do instead of what Christ has done.
The reason why many of us struggle is because we have focused more on our performance to make things happen then on Jesus Christ.
I’m not saying our words don’t have power. They do. Life and death is in the power the tongue, so we do want to watch what we say.
But my point is that we cannot put one iota of confidence in our actions, as if there’s magic power in your rebuking, naming and claiming, reading pre-formulated prayers itself.
We cannot put one iota of confidence in our actions, as if going through some religious ritual and applying this formula or these steps or this particular list of prayers, will give you the result you want. No.
Only faith brings results.
That is, only if you rest in Christ and let Him do His work through you’ll see God’s promises become a reality in your life, and that is without strenuous effort on your part.
“Well, should we then still claim the promises of God?”
Yes, and let me share what it means to claim the promises of God.
Claiming the promises of God is nothing more than simply resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
In other words, whatever God has promised us, we already have it in Christ.
We are “children of the promise” (Rom. 9:8) and as “heirs of the promise” (Hebr. 6:17) we can relax and know we don’t have to do anything to gain God’s blessings in our lives.
Everything He has ever promised to do on our behalf has been accomplished and given to us in Christ.
No wonder the Apostle Paul praised God by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).
Notice that he didn’t say that God will bless us with spiritual blessings but that in Christ we have already been “blessed” with every spiritual blessing.
The fulfillment of every divine promise will be realized in your life as you simply trust Christ to be who He is in and through you. Doesn’t sound like a lot of work, does it?
Simply put, you in and of yourself cannot bring any of God’s promises into fulfillment. No matter how often and how loud you proclaim God’s word.
Only Christ can successfully bring all the promises into your life and your environment and He wants to do that through you.
The 64.000 dollar question is: will you let Him? Will you cease from your own works and learn to rest in Christ.
Remember He is the embodiment of God’s promises. He lives in you. Only He can bring the promises into fulfillment, into existence, through you.
I paraphrase Philippians 2:13 here…”For it is God – not you – who is at work in you, both to will and to work out His promises for His good pleasure. To experience God’s promises in your life is based on His ability, not yours.”
Your only responsibility is to rely on His ability!
What You Must Do
When God got ready to enter into covenant with Abraham as the beneficiary, Abraham went to work to prepare for the ratification ceremony (See Genesis 15). He assumed that he and God were about to enter into covenant together.
He prepared the sacrificial animals by filleting them and laying the halves on two sides with a bloody path down the middle.
Normally, when two people entered into covenant together they would walk arm in arm down that bloody pathway together. In so doing, they were promising that they would each keep their part of the covenant, even if it meant shedding their last drop of blood to do it.
But when the time came for the covenant to be ratified with Abraham, God caused him to fall into a deep sleep and God walked alone down the bloody pathway. It was a flaming fire and a smoking wick that passed through that bloody pathway produced by the sacrifice.
What did that mean? It meant that there was no need for Abraham to make any promises. The covenant was between the Father (fire), the Spirit (smoke) and the Son (blood). Abraham had no part as far as having to keep up his end of the covenant. He didn’t have an end.
Keep promises to God?
The only thing he would have ended up doing was breaking them anyway.
So our Triune God walked the path and entered covenant together, and in so doing, proved that He would keep the terms of the covenant.
The only thing Abraham had to do was trust Him by realizing that he was the beneficiary. When it was all said and done, Abraham did believe it and “it was counted to him for righteousness”(Romans 4:3).
Still, our unrenewed thinking might be yelling, “but what must I do…give me at least one thing I can do in order to experience the fullness of God’s promises and my inheritance!”
Ok.
After sharing about grace and that you can’t do anything yourself to make God’s promises manifest…Now, I’ll tell you what you must do.
Are you ready for the answer?
What you must to is…
To be seated with Christ.
Mmm…
You are already seated with Christ, on a throne.
Yes, that’s all you have to do too.
Just believe you are seated and that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to you in every situation.
You don’t have to make anything happen.
You don’t have an end to hold up in this matter.
Religion insists that you “have to do your part” by naming and claiming promises or by working up enough faith to believe His promises or by making promises to Him about how we’ll do better and try harder…
But grace tells us that He has done it all.
We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
Are you ready for a statement you don’t want to forget?
We aren’t standing on the promises. We are seated on the premises with Him!
So just rest in what He has done and give a loud and hearty “Amen!” to Jesus.
That and that alone is what gives you the thrill of experiencing life and that abundantly.
Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease,
Be A Promise-Receiver And Not A Promise-Keeper!
Let me ask you a question: How can you grow spiritually in your relationship with God and enjoy all the things He’s given you without stress and strain?
It is critical to have the right answer to this question because there are two answers to this question. One makes you feel inadequate and guilty and the other makes you feel alive, awesome and significant.
So what are these two answers to how you can walk in fullness of identity and inheritance?
One answer is law-oriented (that is religion); the other is grace-oriented.
The law-oriented person will give you a long list of things you need to commit to, like ”You need to pursue this noble goal. You need to commit to these things…and you need to practice these spiritual disciplines.”
With a sincere heart and a real desire to want to live a Christ-like life you’ll end up making endless promises to God saying, “God, I’ll do this, I’ll do that, I’ll promise to be this type of person and I’ll promise to do these type of activities.”
But guess what…
The inevitable tragedy happens again.
You are not able to keep the promises you’ve made.
After a few weeks or months you fizzle and fail to keep those promises you once were so serious about of keeping them.
Talking about frustration, feeling inadequate and guilty!
Obviously this approach of “promise-keeping” doesn’t work and will never work. Why?
Because the whole idea and practice of promise-keeping is not Biblical.
By understanding what the Bible actually says about the whole matter of promise making will save you a lot of stress and strain.
Click on the image to watch the Vlog:
Click HERE to watch the video on YouTube
Your Role Is To Receive
So what is the answer to walk in fullness of all that Christ has done and given to you from a grace-oriented perspective?
The answer is found in understanding that you are to be a promise-receiver and not a promise-keeper.
We’re never told in the New Testament to promise anything to God. It’s not there. The Bible is, however, full of promises that God has made to us. That’s the part of grace that people find so hard to accept – it’s one-sided.
How are the roles divided?
Here it is: God gives and we receive.
We have nothing to offer in return nor is there anything He wants or needs from us.
Our only role is to receive all He has promised, but even that doesn’t come from our own effort.
Even understanding that God made promises to us isn’t enough, because if we don’t understand the whole story we will think we have to try to muster the faith to believe He will keep His promises.
The truth of the matter is this: God has already fulfilled every promise He has made to us! He has done it in Christ.
Paul said that the promises of God are all “Yes!” in Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says,
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
The promises of God are all “Yes!” in Christ.
That means He is the embodiment of God’s promises.
God’s promises to us have been already fulfilled in Jesus!
What’s our part now?
Paul says it is simply to say “Amen!” How much work is that?
Through the life of Jesus Christ in us, we experience the realization of God’s fulfilled promises as we trust Christ every moment.
So Christ is the embodiment of God’s promises. And where does Christ live? In you!
You need to realize that you cannot keep your promises. Only Jesus Christ can successfully keep promises and live the perfect life. He lives in you and wants to reveal His promises and perfect life through you.
God doesn’t want you to stand on your promises to Him, but on His promises to you.
So before we can be effective promise-keepers we must be promise-receivers.
To try to be first a promise-keeper, before being a promise-receiver is to live a life of frustration and condemnation…
Because if you believe your grace walk is based on your promises to God rather than His promises to you, you’re putting yourself under the death-dealing system of the law. Let God down and you will need to make new promises and work harder to keep them. Where is the peace and security in this? There is none.
The moment you rely on your promise-keeping you’ve set yourself up to experience guilt and condemnation. You might start out “strong” but sooner than later you’ll fail in keeping your promises leaving you with a nagging sense of condemnation. And you know that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Rom. 8:1).
Be A Promise-Receiver, Not A Promise-Keeper
“Ok, I get what you’re saying Bas, we are not called to be promise-keepers, but to be a promise-receivers or else we’re putting ourselves in trouble since we then put ourselves under the curse of the law. But what about that organization the Promise-Keepers?”
If you don’t know what it is: The Promise-Keepers is an organization that organizes events to gather thousands of man in one conference in order to have them make a bunch of promises.
The Promise-Keeper philosophy is based upon the premise that “Christian growth begins by making promises.”
Listen, I do not question the pure motives of Bill McCartney, the founder of the Promise-Keepers and the thousands of weeping, praying, hand-holding men who are seeking some enhancement for their family relationships.
But I do question – and I know for a fact – that the Promise Keepers is not the answer to spiritual growth and living a fulfilled and impactfull life.
Why?
Promise-keeping is not Biblical!
The whole idea of promise keeping reveals a a backwards way of thinking. Thus the wrong type of thinking that is opposite to how God thinks.
Ok, someone has to say it, so I’ll do it as plain as I can:
Anything that has to do with promise-keeping between you and God is NOT OK!
It crushes your faith and isn’t good for your well being, your health and your family.
So, indeed, the Promise-Keepers organization should find another name or just quit leading sincere, God-loving man down the destructive path of promise-keeping, but rather teach people to be promise receivers!
Why is it a destructive path?
1) God isn’t expecting nor asking you to make promises to do better and to do more.
2) Because making promises you want to keep is as silly as to throw gasoline on fire. It doesn’t extinguish the fire, it only makes it flare up more. Dedicating yourself to keep promises only makes you sign up for another miserable ride on the famous flesh-empowered cycle of motivation-condemnation-rededication.
If you’re interested, I have a video explaining this cycle in detail it’s called “The Key to break free from the cycle of motivation-condemnation-rededication.” Click HERE to watch the video.
Anyway, if we think we’re suppose to be a promise-keeper then we’re signing up to try to do better or to do more “good” works and that is living after the flesh.
Living after the Spirit, however, means to understand that God’s promises to you have been already fulfilled in Jesus – they’re all “Yes!” in Him – and that your part is ONLY to say “Amen.”
The moral of the story?
Be a promise-receiver and not a promise-keeper!
Claiming God’s Promises
If you’ve spend two minutes in the charismatic/evangelical circles you probably have come accross someone who is fanatically claiming the promises of God over their life or some situation that needs transformation.
They might tell you, “If you want to see all that Christ has purchased for you manifest in your life, then you need to name and claim the promises of God.”
Often the idea behind this is if you name and claim God’s promises long and hard enough then you’ll see the desired breakthrough, then you’ll see the healing or money appear, then you’ll have victory over sin or see the marriage being restored.
Here’s the deal…
If you think that your breakthrough or any change comes from just naming and claiming some promises then you might have put yourself under some self-imposed rules, thus fallen into the trap of putting your trust in what you do instead of what Christ has done.
The reason why many of us struggle is because we have focused more on our performance to make things happen then on Jesus Christ.
I’m not saying our words don’t have power. They do. Life and death is in the power the tongue, so we do want to watch what we say.
But my point is that we cannot put one iota of confidence in our actions, as if there’s magic power in your rebuking, naming and claiming, reading pre-formulated prayers itself.
We cannot put one iota of confidence in our actions, as if going through some religious ritual and applying this formula or these steps or this particular list of prayers, will give you the result you want. No.
Only faith brings results.
That is, only if you rest in Christ and let Him do His work through you’ll see God’s promises become a reality in your life, and that is without strenuous effort on your part.
“Well, should we then still claim the promises of God?”
Yes, and let me share what it means to claim the promises of God.
Claiming the promises of God is nothing more than simply resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
In other words, whatever God has promised us, we already have it in Christ.
We are “children of the promise” (Rom. 9:8) and as “heirs of the promise” (Hebr. 6:17) we can relax and know we don’t have to do anything to gain God’s blessings in our lives.
Everything He has ever promised to do on our behalf has been accomplished and given to us in Christ.
No wonder the Apostle Paul praised God by saying, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).
Notice that he didn’t say that God will bless us with spiritual blessings but that in Christ we have already been “blessed” with every spiritual blessing.
The fulfillment of every divine promise will be realized in your life as you simply trust Christ to be who He is in and through you. Doesn’t sound like a lot of work, does it?
Simply put, you in and of yourself cannot bring any of God’s promises into fulfillment. No matter how often and how loud you proclaim God’s word.
Only Christ can successfully bring all the promises into your life and your environment and He wants to do that through you.
The 64.000 dollar question is: will you let Him? Will you cease from your own works and learn to rest in Christ.
Remember He is the embodiment of God’s promises. He lives in you. Only He can bring the promises into fulfillment, into existence, through you.
I paraphrase Philippians 2:13 here…”For it is God – not you – who is at work in you, both to will and to work out His promises for His good pleasure. To experience God’s promises in your life is based on His ability, not yours.”
Your only responsibility is to rely on His ability!
What You Must Do
When God got ready to enter into covenant with Abraham as the beneficiary, Abraham went to work to prepare for the ratification ceremony (See Genesis 15). He assumed that he and God were about to enter into covenant together.
He prepared the sacrificial animals by filleting them and laying the halves on two sides with a bloody path down the middle.
Normally, when two people entered into covenant together they would walk arm in arm down that bloody pathway together. In so doing, they were promising that they would each keep their part of the covenant, even if it meant shedding their last drop of blood to do it.
But when the time came for the covenant to be ratified with Abraham, God caused him to fall into a deep sleep and God walked alone down the bloody pathway. It was a flaming fire and a smoking wick that passed through that bloody pathway produced by the sacrifice.
What did that mean? It meant that there was no need for Abraham to make any promises. The covenant was between the Father (fire), the Spirit (smoke) and the Son (blood). Abraham had no part as far as having to keep up his end of the covenant. He didn’t have an end.
Keep promises to God?
The only thing he would have ended up doing was breaking them anyway.
So our Triune God walked the path and entered covenant together, and in so doing, proved that He would keep the terms of the covenant.
The only thing Abraham had to do was trust Him by realizing that he was the beneficiary. When it was all said and done, Abraham did believe it and “it was counted to him for righteousness”(Romans 4:3).
Still, our unrenewed thinking might be yelling, “but what must I do…give me at least one thing I can do in order to experience the fullness of God’s promises and my inheritance!”
Ok.
After sharing about grace and that you can’t do anything yourself to make God’s promises manifest…Now, I’ll tell you what you must do.
Are you ready for the answer?
What you must to is…
To be seated with Christ.
Mmm…
You are already seated with Christ, on a throne.
Yes, that’s all you have to do too.
Just believe you are seated and that Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to you in every situation.
You don’t have to make anything happen.
You don’t have an end to hold up in this matter.
Religion insists that you “have to do your part” by naming and claiming promises or by working up enough faith to believe His promises or by making promises to Him about how we’ll do better and try harder…
But grace tells us that He has done it all.
We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places.
Are you ready for a statement you don’t want to forget?
We aren’t standing on the promises. We are seated on the premises with Him!
So just rest in what He has done and give a loud and hearty “Amen!” to Jesus.
That and that alone is what gives you the thrill of experiencing life and that abundantly.
Love, Peace, and Chicken Grease,
I’ve Come From:
From Adam to Christ
From death to life
From old to new
From darkness to light
From works to rest
From law to grace
From judgment to righteousness
From exhausted to seated
From me to Him
From busy to content
From do to done
From anxiety to peace
From religion to relationship
From “what’s next” to “what’s finished”
From “have to” to “want to”
From temporal to eternal
From glory to glory to glory
Wynema Clark 5/26/15
