Flow Through Me to Others
As we were reading at the Bible Study, several Scriptures about how we were to love and forgive as Christ loves and forgives us, and how we are supposed to not judge, or we will be judged in the same way, I felt overwhelmed. I fall so short of that daily! And, I feared, I do judge wrongly at times. Is that why I am feeling judged, I thought? I know Christ has forgiven me completely; have I forgiven others in that same manner? And loving others, even the difficult people in my life, not to mention my enemies, how in the world can I love them as Christ did? Feeling this "law of love" bearing down on me, and with it the many violations before me in my mind, an awareness suddenly came to me. I am still trying to live up to Christ's standards in my own strength, or else I wouldn't feel so self-condemning of and disappointed in myself.
Immediately, the Spirit of God flashed a portion of His Word in my mind-"that the righteous requirements of the law, might be fully met through us."(See Romans 8:1-8, particularly vs. 6) In our study book, the author had said how the River of God flows to us, so it can flow through us. So, "through" was the operative word to me at that moment. I saw once again that it is only by His Spirit, with His Love, that the law of Love can be fulfilled. No, I can't do it. No, I don't do it, and no God doesn't want me, in my flesh, to even try to do it, as in my flesh is no good thing. In fact, if I love out of my flesh it will only be selfish and self destructive love. Or, it will be a co-dependent love, or even self-protective. Nothing good will come out of it.
I saw also at this moment, how because I hadn't been able to love as He loves, towards certain difficult people, that I had come up with the strategy of avoiding them to protect myself from what I saw as their "aberrant" behaviors, set out to hurt or overtake me, which I reasoned, no one could deal with. Well, again, this demonstrated to me that I was operating out of "condemned flesh" love rather than letting His love flow "through" me.
But, by letting His love flow through me, the love, the forgiveness, the acceptance that only He has in Himself, will fulfill the righteous standard that He requires. And, He is the only One who can do it, and He already did. I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, He's told us, and He did that on the finished work of the cross. And He wants to do that "through" us. We must let go of our attempts to "do it right" so that He can "do it right" through us. Wow! I'm overwhelmed again, but in a different and freeing way.
Do you see this, dear brother and sister? Do you see that, although your heart's desire is to "do God's will" that you can't? All the will-power, all the formulas tried, all the disciplines practiced, can not and will not make you able to live up to His standards of perfection. Only by letting Him free in you (and this will take letting Him remove the barriers in you of pride and self-protection that have been built up over the years) will this happen. Trying harder only leads to guilt and always feeling you fall short, which in turn keeps you in a state of struggle and despondency and disappointment, due to thinking falsely that you were supposed to be able to do it right; even that God required it of you. Oh, how the false impressions that operate through us can cause us so much heartache, but oh, how God can use them to lead us to the truth. Amazing!
"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."-John 8:32. (Aramaic Bible in Plain English) And, yes, be set free "from trying harder," in Jesus Name! Set His love free to flow through you!!
(Thank you, Marijo, (the author of the book, The Dynamics of Grace, for letting God show you this truth, for writing about it, and in this way, sharing it with others. By submitting yourself to this work, others out there, like me, are being set free! You can order through her website, Joyful Faith Ministries, listed as one of the links on the blog.)
P.S.-Brothers and sisters-I don't want to minimize the first part of "letting His River flow to you," as being hallmark and foundational in "letting His River flow through you." We love Him because He first loved us. And so, perhaps over a very long period of time, we are in the position of opening our hearts to receive that love for ourselves, to then be enabled to "let His love flow through us." It seems I had alot (and I'm sure still have) barriers and dams built in me, that blocked His Love from flowing out, so, much death has had to occur first. In my awakening, I am attempting to share that if we keep on in God, He will get us there, one way of the other.He is faithful to complete us. But, remember He doesn't expect us to complete ourselves.
Immediately, the Spirit of God flashed a portion of His Word in my mind-"that the righteous requirements of the law, might be fully met through us."(See Romans 8:1-8, particularly vs. 6) In our study book, the author had said how the River of God flows to us, so it can flow through us. So, "through" was the operative word to me at that moment. I saw once again that it is only by His Spirit, with His Love, that the law of Love can be fulfilled. No, I can't do it. No, I don't do it, and no God doesn't want me, in my flesh, to even try to do it, as in my flesh is no good thing. In fact, if I love out of my flesh it will only be selfish and self destructive love. Or, it will be a co-dependent love, or even self-protective. Nothing good will come out of it.
I saw also at this moment, how because I hadn't been able to love as He loves, towards certain difficult people, that I had come up with the strategy of avoiding them to protect myself from what I saw as their "aberrant" behaviors, set out to hurt or overtake me, which I reasoned, no one could deal with. Well, again, this demonstrated to me that I was operating out of "condemned flesh" love rather than letting His love flow "through" me.
But, by letting His love flow through me, the love, the forgiveness, the acceptance that only He has in Himself, will fulfill the righteous standard that He requires. And, He is the only One who can do it, and He already did. I came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, He's told us, and He did that on the finished work of the cross. And He wants to do that "through" us. We must let go of our attempts to "do it right" so that He can "do it right" through us. Wow! I'm overwhelmed again, but in a different and freeing way.
Do you see this, dear brother and sister? Do you see that, although your heart's desire is to "do God's will" that you can't? All the will-power, all the formulas tried, all the disciplines practiced, can not and will not make you able to live up to His standards of perfection. Only by letting Him free in you (and this will take letting Him remove the barriers in you of pride and self-protection that have been built up over the years) will this happen. Trying harder only leads to guilt and always feeling you fall short, which in turn keeps you in a state of struggle and despondency and disappointment, due to thinking falsely that you were supposed to be able to do it right; even that God required it of you. Oh, how the false impressions that operate through us can cause us so much heartache, but oh, how God can use them to lead us to the truth. Amazing!
"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."-John 8:32. (Aramaic Bible in Plain English) And, yes, be set free "from trying harder," in Jesus Name! Set His love free to flow through you!!
(Thank you, Marijo, (the author of the book, The Dynamics of Grace, for letting God show you this truth, for writing about it, and in this way, sharing it with others. By submitting yourself to this work, others out there, like me, are being set free! You can order through her website, Joyful Faith Ministries, listed as one of the links on the blog.)
P.S.-Brothers and sisters-I don't want to minimize the first part of "letting His River flow to you," as being hallmark and foundational in "letting His River flow through you." We love Him because He first loved us. And so, perhaps over a very long period of time, we are in the position of opening our hearts to receive that love for ourselves, to then be enabled to "let His love flow through us." It seems I had alot (and I'm sure still have) barriers and dams built in me, that blocked His Love from flowing out, so, much death has had to occur first. In my awakening, I am attempting to share that if we keep on in God, He will get us there, one way of the other.He is faithful to complete us. But, remember He doesn't expect us to complete ourselves.
posted by Patti Blount @ 8:01 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home