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 THE REST OF FAITH - by Malcolm Smith

We know that the inexhaustible life that rose out of death is available for us so that we might live triumphantly in this present world But how do we get that life into our own weak lives? God's infinite wisdom is within Himself, but we need His wisdom to walk through the problems and confusions of our lives.

Facing the hurts in the lives of people all around us, we feel callous and uncaring How do we get His compassion into our hearts? When others hurt us and we find no ability within ourselves to love and forgive them, how can we get His divine, forgiving love into our hearts?

The answer religion gives to this is always in terms of something we do In my youth, I asked that question of many pastors and always the answer was a variation on the same idea To have the flow of the life of God, one must set aside time to pray and read the Bible on a regular basis, our quiet hour with God is the key to abiding in Christ.

I do not believe this is true In fact, I believe it only adds to the problem and increases the frustration There are many reasons to set aside quality time with God; but if we are doing it in order to get the flow of God into our lives, we are only adding to our spiritual exhaustion.

To say that the life of Christ flows in and through our lives because we spend an hour in devotion today, is to turn prayer and Bible study into a work of the flesh It is to make the activity one more rung on the ladder to God.

The Pharisees pored over the Scripture and said prayers believing that, in this way, they would somehow tap into God's life Jesus plainly told them that in so doing they were missing the only source of life which is Christ himself.

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is these that bear witness of Me, and you are unwilling to come to Me, that you may have life." John 5:3940 NAS

Similarly, dedications, promises and vows to God that our life will be completely His from now on fall into the same category. How dedicated must a person be before the life begins to flow? What level of being "sold out to God" must we be at before the first trickle of the zoe begins to come? All of these works will only hurry a person along the slippery road of burnout.

In Colossians 2:6 (NAS), Paul tells us how to abide and walk daily in Christ As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.

We received Him by faith and, in the same way, we abide in Him and express Him to the world Paul spelled out what he was praying for the Ephesians May Christ through your faith [actually] dwell - settle down, abide, make His permanent home - in your hearts' (Eph 3:17 AMP)

Minute by minute, we live by faith in His ability within us In this way, the divine energy of His love is released through us into every situation in which we find ourselves.

We have come to the very heart of the Good News; it is faith and not works! In the New Testament, to accept the Gospel was seen to be an obedience of faith. That is, .a response to and rest in the Christ Who had become their Savior and Life . . . not obedience to rules imposed by man. It is not even obedience to the Ten Commandments, but the obedience that arises from faith:

. . obedience of faith. Romans 16:26 NAS

. . we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles. Romans 1:5 NAS

. . a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith. Acts 6:7 NAS

It is at this point that a believer, burning out in his efforts to please God, moves from exhaustion to rest. Tired and wearied with his struggle to perform acceptably for God through the disciplines and dedications of religion, he hears the grace of God and the Holy Spirit makes it alive in his heart.

Like the returning son in Jesus' story, most of us see very little of what God desires to give us. We are perfectly happy to come home at the level of a hired servant; we feel that the slave position is appropriate for us. If we can be forgiven and continue to receive forgiveness, we feel we can ask no more.

Faith is a response, and so it can only respond to the level it has seen and heard. It is after we have come home that we discover the Father's grace is infinitely greater than we had ever dreamed, and our faith responds to the increased revelation.

We realize that He is not only the past tense Savior from sin, but the One Who now lives within us in the present tense, our life and breath. Christianity is not a formula, but the Person of Jesus Himself.

Seeing that He is within, faith responds and allows that fact to invade all of life. Regardless of feelings and appearances, faith holds to the Word of God and declares that Christ is living within.

This simple commitment changes everything. Never again will the believer try to be like Jesus; the revelation of Christ living within has rescued him from religious ladder climbing. He no longer tries to live for God, he lives from Him Who is the source of his life.

When doubts arise, faith does not panic. It simply turns to Him Who is the source and perfecter of our faith, knowing that He is committed to His Word in this situation.

The Scripture is not a book of systematic theology that tabulates what we are to believe It is a book of biographies that show how very ordinary people through the ages have learned to walk in God's strength to overcome their problems In telling their stories, the Holy Spirit holds nothing back. He shows how they discovered the reality of God in the black holes of their personal failures.

Many of them illustrate exactly how they found the answer to the question we are posing How does a person get the life of God to flow into his life? How does a person become a functioning branch in the vine?

David was such a person and, because we know more of the inner workings of his heart than any other character in the Scriptures, he is an excellent model to study. In David's psalms, his every spiritual mood is open for us to see and study.

Again and again, David was brought to face and deeply feel his own human weakness and inability to handle situations in life He was unjustly accused, relentlessly pursued by a king who was insanely jealous of him, betrayed by people he thought were his friends as well as having to deal with all his own sins and failures in life.

The amazing thing is he never burned out! He freely expressed his feelings in the midst of all that went on, and they show a man in real distress.

And my soul is greatly dismayed, . . . I am weary with my sighing,

Every night I make my bed swim,

I dissolve my couch with my tears.

My eye has wasted away with grief. Psalm 6:3,6 NAS

O Lord, how my adversaries have increased!

Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of my soul, "There is no deliverance for him in God." Psalm 3:1,2 NAS

. . . For the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me. I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. . . . Those, who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head. Psalm 69:1-4 NAS

. . . I am restless in my complaint and am surely distracted, because of the voice of the enemy, because of the pressure of the Wicked; for they bring down trouble upon me, and in anger they bear a grudge against me.

My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling come upon me; and horror has overwhelmed me.

And I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.

"Behold, I would wander far away, I would lodge in the wilderness.

"I would hasten to my place of refuge from the stormy wind and tempest." Psalm 55:2-8 NAS

So that we can trace exactly how he went through pressure without having his spiritual strength sucked out of him, one of the times of deep distress that David went through is recorded in detail.

David and his men were living at this time in a remote wilderness town of Ziklag. They had been away for a number of days and were now returning home. As they came within sight of their town, they saw wisps of smoke in the sky and birds of prey circling high above. A few minutes later, they stood in the smoking ashes of what had once been their home.

In their absence, a passing band of Amalekites had plundered and left. Everything was gone, their families kidnapped, their homes burned to the ground.

It was too much. The strong men began to cry and David sobbed along with them. They cried until they could cry no more, and then sat in the ruins of their smoking homes, their feet in the warm ashes.

One by one, they began to express their feelings to each other. Someone was to blame for this outrage . . . someone had to pay. With wild rage in their eyes, one by one, they began to look toward David. Their looks said, "You brought us here, you will pay for this." It was a lynch mob in the making.

Then David and the people . . . lifted their voices and wept until there was no more strength in them to weep.

Moreover David was greatly distressed because the people spoke of stoning him, for all the people were embittered. . . But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. 1 Samuel 30:4,6 NAS

The reason David does not burn out is in the words "strengthened himself." Literally translated, they mean he "bound himself together; pulled himself tight" - as in a tightened muscle. The expression also translates the idea of binding together and is used to describe Absolom's hair being "caught fast" in the branches of a tree. (2 Sam. 18:9.)

It should be noted that it is not in the passive tense. It is not that David "was strengthened," but that he "strengthened himself." Walking in the faith that abides in the vine is not being a robot waiting passively for God to act for us. It is not whimpering to a "separated God," asking Him to come and do something.

Another way this could be translated is, "David took courage." Divine courage and strength was there waiting for faith to take, and David took it. Here was a man on the verge of mental, emotional and spiritual burnout who, by the exercise of faith, pulled himself together . . . and so strengthened himself in the Lord.

What did he see in he Lord that pulled him together like a tight muscle? He went to the only Word of God he had, the first five books of our Bible. It was the manuscript of the covenant and outlined all God had revealed of Himself, all He had promised to those who believed.

It was from this same covenant book that David had learned while he was yet a baby in his mother's arms As a teenager, alone in the wilderness with his sheep, he had studied, memorized and meditated on its words until they were part of him.

It clearly stated that God was the Rock of His people. (Deut. 32:4,30,31.) He was their Shepherd (Gen 49:24); He guided them through the trackless wilderness with a pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. 13:21,22); He fed them every morning with bread from heaven. (Ex. 16:35.)

Through the exhibition of His power in the judgments He inflicted upon Egypt (Ex. 7-11) and the dividing of the Red Sea (Ex 14), He established Himself as the Deliverer and Savior of His people from all their physical and spiritual enemies. When their Egyptian enemies were almost upon them, He became their Shield and Defense by putting the cloud of His Presence between them and their enemies (Ex 14:19,20.)

He had revealed Himself in His Names. He was YahwehJireh, the One Who promised that He would always be there to meet their needs (Gen. 22:14.) He was Yahweh Ropha Who promised to heal all of their diseases and was, in fact, their daily health (Ex 15:26.) He was Yahweh Nissi, the God Who was Himself their banner under which He was their victory over all their enemies (Ex. 17:15.)

All of this had been sworn in a blood covenant oath a thousand years before David was born, but David knew that his covenant God never changed. All He had revealed Himself to be to Abraham, Moses and the ancient people of God, He was that forever.

But the people of Israel had long forgotten that their God was the living God, they had paralyzed their covenant into a religion Most of them were spiritually burned out and exhausted

David had never had a role model showing him how a man lived as a branch in the vine with his God not even in his own family. Anyone in his family would have assured him that all the covenant stories were true, but they would have told him they were history from another age things were different now.

While meditating on the Scriptures, in the wilderness with his sheep, David's eyes were opened by the Holy Spirit to see that the revelation God had given of Himself was still true God waited for someone to respond with faith, allowing Him to enter his life and be to him all He had committed Himself to be.

In the last years through all his troubles, and now in the horror of Zikiag, David "strengthened himself in the Lord." He considered all that God had said He would be, and his faith responded to that revelation, rested in it, allowed God to be that to him Faith caused him to be caught up into it, entwined and united with the God he had met in the revelation contained in the Scriptures.

The leap of faith took place when he said, "The Lord is my , , ," From the period of his life when he was pressured with his worst troubles come some of his greatest psalms They hinge on this expression of faith with which he united with God in his experience. The Lord was not simply, the Shepherd of Israel, but The Lord is my shepherd. . . (Ps. 23:1 NAS). He was' not merely the Salvation of His people David said, The Lord is my light and my salvation. . . (Ps. 27:1 NAS).

Whatever God had declared Himself to be, David took Him for his own "The Lord is the Defense of my life, my Rock, my Fortress, . . . my Deliverer, . . . my Shield, . . . my Stronghold."

He saw that God was all of this to him personally. He realized that he, the human - failing, weak and frightened - was united as one with God Himself. All that He had declared Himself to be to His covenant people, He was that to David - as if he was the only one in the covenant.

Note carefully exactly what David did in this situation. He did not set aside time to read the Scriptures, as if he believed that activity would produce the needed help. Nor did he pray!

To have prayed would have been to ask God to become, at some point in the future, what he needed Him to be right now. What he did was to boldly lay hold of all God had revealed Himself to be and said, "He is this - now!"

David focused his faith to the specific need or challenge that was confronting him. If he felt his need for guidance and wisdom in the trackless desert of life, his faith said, The Lord is my shepherd (Ps. 23:1 NAS). If he was surrounded by enemies that threatened to exterminate him, he rested with the words, The Lord is the defense of my life, whom shall I dread' (Ps 27:1 NAS)

The need, the negative feelings, the darkness became the necessary trigger that released faith to rest in God, the specific answer. In that release of faith, David became consciously united to God. The Infinite Strength was now "my strength"; God Who is Light, was now "my light" Two, literally, have become one.

In the last years, I have spoken with hundreds of burned out, disillusioned people who have prayed and looked for their lives to be changed. However, the emphasis of the Scriptures is not so much on change, but exchange!

As faith waits upon the Lord, the believer's weakness is swallowed up in His divine strength. The sap flows through the branch and His fruit is seen in our lives.

Our faith has a clearer vision of God than David ever had. We are members of a "better covenant" that has "better promises." He only had the revelation of God from Genesis to Deuteronomy. We have the fullest, final revelation, the Word Himself, Christ Jesus.

David understood his union with God through the shadows of the Old Testament covenants; but the God David knew from afar, entered into our humanity, died for us and rose out of death that He might by the Spirit live within us.

When troubles come, when faced with opportunities to be God's love to others, we feel our weakness and do not feel like great men of God. Many times we feel like David . . . weeping until we have no strength left.

Religion calls us to bemoan our weakness, dedicate and rededicate ourselves to try and find strength within us for the battle. Trying to find the ultimate dedication or experience that will change us into strong men of God, will only bring guilt and increase our spiritual exhaustion.

Our feelings are the necessary trigger for faith to replace our weakness with His strength. We can now understand Paul's triumphant statement, . . . when I am weak, then I am strong (2 Cor. 12:10 NAS).

A fantasy illustration might help at this point. Let us suppose I want to learn the game of tennis. I go to the bookstore and purchase all the books I can that explain the game, outlining the rules and showing how the game is played.

For days, I pore over the books, memorizing the rules and some of the plays. I stand awkwardly in my living room and hold my arms in the positions shown in the pictures. Convinced I am ready to play, I purchase a tennis outfit, a racquet and some balls and head for the tennis courts.

Very quickly, I discover that, in spite of all the hours I have spent studying the game, when it comes to playing, I know nothing! My muscles refuse to cooperate and the balls fly everywhere - except the place I want them to go.

Having made a complete fool of myself, I slink off the court and return to my books. But every time I try to play again, it seems to get worse. In fact, the harder I try, the more tense I am and the worse my feeble attempts become.

I study the games of past players and even go to Wimbledon to watch the world champions play. When I come home, my pathetic attempts to hit the ball only announce to the world that I still cannot play tennis Finally, I hire a coach who is a world champion I listen to him and marvel at his ability, but when I try to do as he says and imitate his moves, something inside of me refuses to cooperate.

I have been trying to learn to play by the rules and regulations, taking instructions from books and people, coupled with my efforts to put it all into practice.

In fantasy, let's suppose I could invite the coach to actually step inside of me, into my mind, nerves and muscles. He would be within me, so he could think his thoughts in my head and let his muscles be my muscles, his memory of all his winning plays would be part of my memory . . . and yet, never take away my personality and freedom of choice.

I would be me and he would be himself - yet we would operate as one person My part would be to give up trying to play tennis and admit my helplessness I would have to understand that, if I insisted on trying to play, then the champion within me would let me return to my bumbling and making a fool of myself, the two of us could not play at the same time.

Standing on the court, freely admitting that I can't play, I choose to hand over to him. He plays, but I am choosing to let him. I begin to win all the games!

My coach did not teach me to play the game. If questioned, I would have to say, "The coach is my game." I now find myself doing everything the books had told me to do, the rules had demanded and my coach had ever taught me. But I am not doing it in my own ability, but by resting in the coach, who is the books and rules wrapped up in a person.

So Christ Jesus, by His Spirit, lives within us The rest of faith is when we choose to let Him play the game of life in and as us. It is one leap of faith that declares He is our life and, later, a million choices of faith as every challenge is presented.

He produces in us everything the Law and all the stepladders of religion were aiming at - Love, which is the fulfilling of the Law. (Gal 5:14.)

 2015/11/20 10:04









 Re: Christ's life within us produces in us everything that the Law demands.

Christ Jesus, by His Spirit actually lives, dwells, and has His home in us. He produces in us everything the Law and all the stepladders of religion were aiming at - Love, which is the fulfilling of the Law. (Gal 5:14.)

 2015/11/21 8:08





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