We've struggled for so long trying to know the truth about our walk and relationship with God. Many things we've heard and learned throughout the years, haven't been true according to His Word. We've walked in a false sense of humility for years because we didn't want to seem arrogant and boastful concerning our walk with God. Any hint about the fact we're righteous would instantly draw reproach and disdain from our elders.
We learned to pray "Our Father," but we're reluctant to call ourselves God's sons. We were taught that our sins were forgiven, but our sins weren't necessarily forgotten. For some reason, we've lived in fear of not living up to what God said. We were made more aware of our failures as mere men rather than the image we are now in Jesus.
It always seemed like the old man was magnified and the new man was for when we died. We were always fearful of walking in the flesh rather than in the spirit. We were constantly being told our making any small mistake would break our fellowship with the Father and bring us back to square one.
We were taught so many negative things about our covenant with God, that it's nearly impossible to be in His rest. Some have been mistakenly taught that God might do any awful thing, at anytime, to test us. We never seemed to be at a place where we could simply be at peace and rest in what Jesus has done for us.
Because we didn't really know about God when we were first saved, we depended on others to teach us. Jesus said that we were "the blind, leading the blind." We had no way of knowing that the persons teaching us, didn't know either. They only knew what they were taught and most of that was wrong. So, we've been mostly taught that we just had to hang on until the end and then everything would be alright in heaven.
As we dig deeper in the Word, we find that not only will it be alright when we died, but it was supposed to be alright now while we're living. We discover that Jesus is Lord now as well as when we reach heaven. We've heard a lot about what God used to do and what He's going to do, but nearly nobody can say what He's doing now.
I used to hear about Moses' parting the Red Sea and about David slaying Goliath and about Lazarus being raised from the dead and Jesus' walking on water. I heard about Paul and Peter and about the Holy Spirit and I heard about the Great White Throne Judgment and the Lake of Fire, But, for some reason, I didn't hear about God doing much of any of the things He'd been doing for nearly two thousand years.
I saw mega churches being built all over the place, but I didn't see much of the power or presence of God in most of the. As a lost man and sinner, I often wondered where God was. People told me to stop drinking and go to church. I tried to do that, but I was powerless to achieve any success at it. I was mostly left with a set of rules that I couldn't keep.
There was no power or trust because one could "never know what God will do." It was hard to trust a God Who could change at any second without our ever knowing why or when. It was impossible to try to rest or enter into the rest that the Word talks about.
As I began searching for the truth of God and a relationship with Him as my Father, I learned many things that are still foreign to many believers. When I try sharing some of the things the Holy Spirit has shown me over the years, I still run into opposition from the brethren.
I don't mean to imply that our walk with God is without opposition because it is not. But, the opposition comes from the enemy and not from God. If God wanted to get me for the mistakes I've made, then He would have destroyed me before I got saved and not after. If He loved me even before I knew Jesus, then would He love me less now? If God sent Jesus to pay for my mistakes and sin while I was still lost, then why would He try to punish me now that I've received Jesus?
I found in God's Word that Jesus bore my sins and my punishment. He was separated from God so that I could be united with Him. He was made sick with my sickness and was bruised for my transgressions. Why, then, would God put on me what He put on Jesus for me? I suddenly began seeing some light for me to live by and some strength for me to hold onto. I began to see that only God's Word was what I could live by and in and not the traditions of man. Living in God's Word isn't a popular thing even in the Church, but it's the only things I can rest in.
We read about this rest in Hebrews 4:11 (Amplified) which says, "Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves) that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell)."
As I looked into the Israelite's unbelief and disobedience in the wilderness from Numbers 13-14, I found there were only two men (Joshua and Caleb) who believed God. The rest of the people, remained in the wilderness until their deaths. A whole new generation had to take up trust in Him and go into the Promised Land. Are we the generation destined to stay in the bondage of unbelief? Or, are we the generation who will believe God and enter into the "rest" (belief in God's Word) of triumph and His glory? Do we dare believe or not believe?
God told Joshua in Joshua 1:6-7 (Amplified) to, "Be strong (confident) and of good courage, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." Verse 7 goes on, "Only you be strong and very courageous, that you may do according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded you (In our case, it's the Law of Love that Jesus commanded, faith works by Love) Turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go."
The new covenant isn't based on the Law of Moses, but on the Love and grace given through Jesus. The main principle, though, is still the same. We're to stay strong in the Lord and in the power of His might (not in ourselves). We're to be of good courage because everything around you will look like that giants Joshua and Caleb saw. You must be courageous and realize that whether they're Goliath or those in the Canaan Land, the giants never change. It's the same deception of the enemy.
It still takes courage to walk with God. Everything around you will tell you that you can't do it. But, remember that with God, "All things are possible." Labor to rest in His rest and not our own.
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