GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION
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:
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.
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,
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.
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:
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.
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,
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.
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
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).
“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!
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!
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,
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.
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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).
“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!
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!
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,
Some Christians get mad when you say that the ultimate hero in the Bible is not Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, etc….but Jesus.
There seems to be an unhealthy attraction to find someone in the Bible other than Jesus who is ultimately worthy of our attention and emulation.
![As Jesus Is, So Are You...Not - As [Biblical Figure] Is, So Are You1](https://www.basrijksen.com///wp-content/uploads/2015/05/As-Jesus-Is-So-Are-You...Not-As-Biblical-Figure-Is-So-Are-You1.jpg)
There is a strange phenomena by many to protect Bible characters and to use them as inspiration as if living like Christ happens as a result of imitating some Biblical figure.
There’s a part in the “Jesus Storybook Bible” that reads:
Some people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but…most of the people in the Bible aren’t heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose). They get afraid and run away. At times they are downright mean. No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne – everything – to rescue the one he loves.
I think that most people, when they read the Bible (and especially when they read the Old Testament), read it as a catalog of heroes (on the one hand) and bunch of tales (on the other).
For instance, don’t be like Cain – he killed his brother in a fit of jealousy – but do be like Abraham: God asked him to do something crazy, killing his son, and he had the faith to follow through.
Running counter to this idea of the Bible-as-a-hero-catalog, the best news in the Bible is that God has demonstrated His love by sending His Son – Jesus.
That Jesus became like you, so that you could become like Him.
1 John 4:17 says, As Jesus is, so are you.
Since you are just like Christ in your spirit – in who you really are – do you think you should till try to look to someone else to see how your life would look like if you allow Christ to live His life through you?
Since you are an identical copy of Jesus do you think you should try to copy or act like any other person in the Bible then Jesus?
The answer, of course, is no.
But why is it that we hear Christians left and right say:
This all sound good during a gathering at your local church. But they are contrary to the reality at present.
If Jesus ever said such things right now, would it honor God? Of course not.
Then why do we – who are are like Jesus – say such things?
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Mat 11:11-14 reads,
I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, John himself is Elijah who was to come.
David, Moses, Elijah, Samuel, Enoch, Rachel, Rebecca – these were all great men and women of God, indeed.
Yet, Jesus Himself says that John the Baptist was even greater.
So if you want to strive to be like an Old Testament figure, then go for John the Baptist, not David.
Now, what’s even more amazing is what He says next – in the Kingdom of God, which has now come, anyone (including you) is greater than David, Moses, Elijah, and John the Baptist.
Greater.
Right now.
Yes, you!
You are greater than Abraham, David, Moses, Solomon, Elijah, and John the Baptist!
So why on earth would you hold up Moses or David as inspiration if you are already greater than them in the Kingdom?
Want my advice?
Hold up Jesus Christ as your inspiration and model, and no one else.
Here’s Smith Wigglesworth,
We must not measure ourselves by ourselves. If we do, we will always be small. Measure yourself by the Word of God, the great measurement that God brings to you and you’ll start to see yourself as BIG as that Jesus is.
1 Cor. 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one Spirit with Him.”
Since you are one Spirit with Christ, He’s become your identity.
Since Christ has become our true identity, we no longer need to put ourselves in the shoes of someone else in the Bible.
We no longer need to identify with anyone else, whether it be Job, Daniel, or Solomon, except for Jesus Himself.
We are now like Him, and no one else.
That means, you are not like John the Baptist, Ana, Mary, Moses, David, Elisha – you are like Christ.
I am not saying you cannot learn from these other characters.
Every character in the Bible has strengths that are reflected in the life of Christ but you’ve gone too far when you start thinking, “Oh, I’m suppose to be like Deborah, or David, or Joseph, or Esther or Ana.” No!
You are just like Christ.
There’s plenty to learn from all these figures in the Bible, but our identity isn’t rooted in any other than Christ.
Again, these Bible figures have characteristics that are good. But if that characteristic does not point to you being like Jesus, than you’ve missed it.
“I must be like David, because someone told me I am like David. I must a a worshiper.”
Great for you…
First of all, David was also a murderer and adulterer.
Second, Jesus said, worship in spirit and truth – this is pointing to Jesus, who is Spirit and Truth.
Third, there is no Davidic anointing, only a Jesus anointing.
Those characteristics in David’s life are a depiction of Christ.
But you´re not suppose to try be like David or any other Bible character.
Don’t model your life after someone who is not like you.
As a believer in Christ, you can only identify with Jesus because He is the person you’re exactly like in the spirit.
You are a Holy Spirit-filled, anointed, righteous believer.
The only person in the Bible that comes close to who you are is Jesus. As Jesus is so are you in this world!
![As Jesus Is, So Are You...Not As [Biblical Figure] Is, So Are You3](https://www.basrijksen.com///wp-content/uploads/2015/05/As-Jesus-Is-So-Are-You...Not-As-Biblical-Figure-Is-So-Are-You3.jpg)
By the way, I recommend you watch my video on: “What Would Jesus Do.” In that video you’ll come to see that asking yourself the question WWJD is a bad question because we’re not suppose to imitate Christ as if we should copy His life and actions….I think you’ll like it.
Gal. 2:20 says, “It is no longer you who lives but Christ who lives in you.”
What does that practically mean?
That it’s your responsibility, if you call yourself a Christian, to allow Christ to live through you, thus to live like Jesus, not any other person in Scripture.
Not Mary.
Not Anna.
Not Elijah.
Not John the Baptist.
Not Joseph.
Not Joshua.
Not John G. Lake.
Not Kathryn Kuhlman.
Not Smith Wigglesworth.
Not Paul.
Not Peter.
Not David.
But…Jesus.
“Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess” (Heb. 3:1).
Fix your thoughts on Jesus Christ, and Him alone. He is the expressed perfect image of the Father and His will (Heb. 1:3).
Far from being a book full of moral heroes whom we are commanded to be like or to emulate, the Bible is a book full of the so-called heroes that are not really heroes at all…They fall and fail; they make huge mistakes; they get afraid; they’re selfish, deceptive, egocentric, and unreliable.
So you can stop thinking in terms of “I want to be like such and such.” That’s a humanistic idea using human energy to try to live the Christian life. It’s like a turkey trying to live like an eagle. It won’t work.
If you’re still tempted to look to any Biblical figure and want be like them, other then Jesus, then allow me to give you this list to crush that idea.
Noah was a drunk.
Abraham was too old.
Isaac was a daydreamer.
Jacob was a liar.
Leah was ugly.
Joseph was abused.
Moses had a speech impediment.
Gideon was afraid.
Samson was a womanizer (and had long hair!).
Rahab was a prostitute.
Jeremiah was too young.
David was an adulterer.
Elijah was suicidal.
Jonah ran from God (and was a whining cry-baby).
Naomi was a widow.
Ruth was a foreigner.
Job went bankrupt.
John the Baptist was a really bad dresser.
Peter denied Christ.
The disciples fell asleep while praying.
Martha worried about everything.
The Samaritan woman was divorced (more than once).
Zaccheus was too small.
Paul was a murderer.
Timothy had an ulcer.
Oh yeah…and Lazarus was dead.
Still any aspiration to be like them?
Again, I am not saying you cannot learn from these people.
Every person in the Bible has strengths that are reflected in the life of Christ but you’ve gone too far when you start thinking, you’re suppose to be like one of them.
So even though there’s plenty to learn from all these people in the Bible our identity isn’t rooted in any other than Christ.
I wish you a happy discovering of who you are in Christ.
The majority of my Christian walk has been riddled with wild and exciting expectations. With every new revelation came a fresh sense of revival or rapture. Every unveiling brought a goal of something dramatic and big. But not with the New Covenant.
For me this New Covenant understanding has been something completely new, fresh and exciting, but it doesn’t lead to some big new event because it shines such a blinding light on the biggest event of all time, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It actually completely disarms my need for drama because I can’t think of anything more dramatic than what has already been done. I mean God will do what He is going to do regardless of my expecting it or not, but if I don’t know what He has already done I am robbed of the joy of completion in the work, the understanding of the deepest kind of love possible, and the total freedom in who I am today.
If God never did anything else (and I am not saying He won’t) I could spend a lifetime utilizing what He already did. I believe we have only experienced the tip of the iceberg, the cherry on the top of the chocolate cake of redemption.
I am so thankful for what He did and this new covenant of grace that I am able to walk in every day. I am thankful for the freedom and peace that it has brought. For the surety of a love that is bigger than my mind could ever grasp.
Have you ever tried to bake a cake with the wrong ingredients? It just never quite turns out. This example has been used by church leadership and ministries many times to evoke a need to re-evaluate what we are doing to see a desired end result in our lives. The other day I woke up thinking about this. As I lay in bed meditating on what that means from a new covenant paradigm I thought the most logical thing: If I am the cook then all this cake needs is Jesus to be perfectly perfect. Then the Holy Spirit stopped me and said why do you suppose that you are the cook in the equation? I had never thought that way before. I had always assumed that I had the major role in what goes in. But as I lay there in bed I realized that everything I need for life and Godliness has already been placed within me in Christ, so the ingredients are already there. Then as I rest in Him, He is cooking up His life and His nature through me that is as fragrant to a hurting world as baked cake is to a hungry nose. Neither the cook nor the ingredients are up to me the only thing I do is put myself in His hands and believe that He is cooking up more through my life than I could ever cook up on my own. I yield to His life within me, rest in what He has already done and then taste and see that the Lord is good. And when I say good, I mean Jesus, He is the “good” that will be seen in me and He is the fragrance that will be smelled on me. God really does have it in our lives.
2 Peter 1:3-8; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 1:21; Hebrews 4; Colossians 1:27; Romans 6:13; Psalm 34:8
