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9/15/2020 Comments

Are You More Powerful Than God?

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Do you think you are stronger than Jesus or more powerful than God?

The majority of people reading this would laugh and say no.
I would laugh and say no. But I’d be wrong.

I know I have written about this recently, but in my heart I believe someone needs this today~
because I needed this today. Again.

Satan has a way of twisting my thoughts and subtly making me believe that I have more power than Jesus does.
Do you want to know how?
By making me believe that I’m a big disappointment to God because I’m not doing enough to earn His favor.

What’s wrong with this mindset?
Good works are not wrong. They become wrong when we begin to believe that in doing these things God will love us more, He will answer our prayers or He will bless our lives. They become wrong when we believe if we don’t do these things He will be angry with us or even punish us.

And in believing that lie, we give the power to ourselves.
Read that again~
WE GIVE THE POWER TO OURSELVES. Somehow we believe that our power trumps Christ’s. Matthew 28:18

It is only through placing our faith in Jesus and his shed blood on the cross that we are given grace. Ephesians 2:8-9
Grace.

There’s not a single thing we can do that would make God love us more, because His unconditional love for us rests in the death of His Son on the cross and there is no love greater than that. John 15:13,
I John 4:10

Religions everywhere proclaim that if you just do more, God will be happy with you. Some teach that you have to dress a certain way or listen to the right kind of music. Sadly in the teaching, grace gets buried and good works and rules become the focus. We believe if we mess up the works, God will certainly chastise. With this mindset we tend to look down on others who do not obey our set of “rules” and trick ourselves into believing we are more righteous because of what WE do and not what CHRIST already did. In other religions the teachings switch to what you must do just to get into heaven. Confession to someone other than God, communion, steps and degrees of holiness, gaining God’s favor by giving to charities or serving (with the fear that this favor could be lost at any time). Once again, a religion of rules that buries grace.

All the while the religions are teaching that what we are doing somehow outweighs what Jesus already did.

Here’s the difference~
JESUS ISN’T A RELIGION.
JESUS IS A RELATIONSHIP.

It is certainly wonderful to have good works, but not out of guilt or want of reward. Our works should be an outpouring of our love for our Savior.

Please hear me friend.
You are not stronger than Jesus.
There is nothing you can do that could earn you a ticket to heaven.
You do not have that power.
There is nothing you do that can separate you from God’s love.
You do not have that power.
Once you have accepted that Jesus is the only way to heaven and truly believe that God’s gift in sacrificing His Son is the only gift of grace~and not anything you could ever do~then you will be free from the bondage of works. Titus 3:4-7. You will be free from the chains of guilt and trying harder. You will have a relationship with a Father Who continually gives amazing grace. Who will never leave you. Who will always love you.

No matter how hard we try we will always fail because we are human. We measure God’s standards by our human standards but praise God, He is not human and we aren’t Jesus. Psalm 103:10-14.

I too often find myself scared that God is angry with me. Scared that I screwed up again. So I try a little harder. I do a little more, but I fail time after time. All of this really hit home for me last summer. We took all 5 of our grandchildren (ages 2-8) up north to our family cottage. Our grandchildren absolutely love it there. Excitement filled the car the entire drive up. As we got closer they began chanting “Higgins lake, Higgins lake” over and over with smiles on their faces. The cottage isn’t anything spectacular. It’s a tiny two bedroom on a lot in the woods, but to our grandchildren it’s everything. It’s memories and love and time with family. We didn’t make them do a single thing to enter that cottage when they got there. We allowed them in because we love them. They are family. The following day Mike and I were surprised to see those kids outside raking and pulling weeds. They were working as hard as their little bodies would allow. With smiles on their faces. I asked why they were doing it and Ethan’s reply was “for Bapa, because we love him so much”
Ya that brought tears.

Do u see where I’m going here? Yes we need to realize how sinful we are but the moment we do and we ask God for forgiveness and for the gift of His salvation through His Son’s shed blood on the cross, we will always have a home in heaven~ because we are family. We become God’s child. We will be excited about our walk with God. We will want to serve and pray and give out of sheer love for our Savior.
Not for reward. Not out of guilt or shame or worry of punishment.
Simply out of love. The closer we get to Jesus, the more love out pours from our hearts and we find rest in His power to save us from ourselves.

AND THAT MY FRIEND IS GRACE.

Galatians 2:16-21, II Corinthians 12:9, Ephesians 3:7-12.

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