John 1:16-17 (Amplified) says, "For out of His fullness (abundance), we have all received, all had a share and were all supplied with, one Grace after another and Spiritual Blessing upon Spiritual Blessing and even favor upon favor and Gift heaped upon Gift. For while the Law was given through Moses, Grace (unearned, undeserved favor) and Spiritual Blessing and Truth, came through Jesus Christ."
Proverbs 4:7 (Amplified) says, "The beginning of Wisdom is; get Wisdom (skillful and Godly Wisdom), For skillful and Godly Wisdom is the principal thing. And with all you have gotten, get understanding (discernment, comprehension, and interpretation)."
Jesus is the Word and is Wisdom. When you received Jesus, you received Wisdom. 1Corinthians 1:30 (Amplified) says, "But it is from Him (God) that you have your Life in Christ Jesus, Whom God made our Wisdom from God, revealed to us a knowledge of the Divine plan of salvation previously hidden, manifesting itself as our Righteousness thus making us upright and putting us in right standing with God, and our Consecration, making us pure and holy, and our Redemption, providing our Ransom from eternal penalty for sin."
Most of us have probably read the above scripture many times and from various translations, but we've lacked understanding of it. Many believers have gone through the new birth and then went home to the Father in Heaven, without ever knowing or enjoying the righteousness of full fellowship with Him, while they were on earth.
The enemy has held the Church in an infant stage, because we haven't had understanding. We continue thinking, "If we could only be righteous enough before God, then we could and would do better." Or we feel like "we're not holy or pure enough to deserve being healed or Blessed by God". Some even believe they're not totally redeemed and free. These things comes from lack of Spiritual understanding. We did nothing to become righteous, but Jesus imputed His Righteousness to us. God declared us righteous, because of Jesus and not of ourselves.
John 1:17 tells us that, "Grace and Truth came through Jesus Christ." Truth has been here since Jesus came. Understanding Truth has been the problem since then. Man's wisdom says that "we are still sinners," "none are righteous," or that "God isn't pleased with who and what we are." We are who and what we are, because of Jesus. The natural man has no understanding of who and what he/she really is. Understanding the Truth of God's Word will reveal to you, exactly who and what you are. 2Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified) tells us who and what we are in God's sight, through Jesus. Thus, it says, "Therefore, if any person is ingrafted in Christ (the Messiah), he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old (previous moral and spiritual condition) has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come."
We try "making it come to pass by our own works," because we don't understand the Wisdom of God. This isn't Wisdom or understanding, but is prideful, trying to do through our own efforts, what only God could do through Jesus. We are only required to have faith, according to Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified), which says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists and that He is the Rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him out."
God never intended for us to "make it come to pass," but only to accept, by faith, that Grace can do it's work in you. This doesn't mean that we do nothing with our lives here on earth, but instead of spending our entire lives "trying to become righteous so we can be used by God." We must, by faith, accept the Righteousness of God and allow Him to use us, NOW.
Pride is a lying and deceiving spirit, that comes in many different ways. Declaring that we are "righteous in God's eyes," sounds boastful and prideful to some. Saying that "we're not righteous in God's eyes," is prideful. Jesus, Who is Wisdom, has made us righteous in God's eyes. We're not righteous in God's eyes, because of anything that we did. It's because of what Jesus did for us. We were created righteous, in the new creation. It wasn't something we "become over the years," but is what we became at our new birth.
We must renew our minds with God's Word to the understanding of Truth, and bring our minds and bodies in line with the new creation man/woman we became. We don't do this, in order to make ourselves righteous. We this because we are righteous in Him and to bring ourselves into compliance with our new nature. When we were made righteous, our new creation spirit man that is in God's Image, will not allow unrighteousness to continue any longer. It's not to become righteous, but because we are righteous.
We've believed that if we could only become righteous, then God could use us. By doing this, we hold back God's desire to use us more. When we yield to His Righteousness in faith and allow Grace to direct us, then He can lead us into His desire. Psalm 23:3 (Amplified) says, "He refreshes and restores my life (myself). He leads me in the paths of righteousness (uprightness and right standing with Him), not for my earning it, but for His Name's sake."
It's His Righteousness that God upholds and not our righteousness. We've been confused between the teachings of men and the teachings of the Holy Spirit. Man has tried teaching the new covenant saints, by old covenant standards. One cannot walk in both covenants and still function in faith. If your faith says, "God can't use me, if I fail," then you've lost sight of Grace. If you try walking where you have no responsibility, leaving everything to God, then you've lost sight of both Grace and faith.
We shouldn't listen to the pastor's telling us what's right and wrong, on a weekly basis. It's not a pastor's job. We already know what's right and wrong and need to know how to walk in faith above it and grow in understanding. When we understand righteousness, the battle over sin in our lives, is over. Most of the struggle in ourselves, stem from condemnation over things that we're dealing with, in order to "become righteous."
Romans 8:1-2 (Amplified) says, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong), for those who are in Christ Jesus, who live and walk not after the dictates of the flesh, but after the dictates of the Spirit. For the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus (the Law of our new being), has freed me from the Law of Sin and of Death."
Without understanding, we walk by the dictates of the flesh. The flesh will never allow you to be righteous before God, because it is hostile to God's Word and Paul says in the above scripture that it "cannot be reconciled to it." If you walk in the flesh, then the flesh or natural man's senses will never allow you to receive and walk in the righteousness that came upon you at the new birth. Only the Spirit will reveal to you, your true place in the Father. Even though we're born-again and have been made righteous in Christ, if we don't have understanding, then the flesh will hold us back from what God wants to do in and through us. The lack of understanding that God has brought us back into righteousness or right standing with Himself will hold us back from His purpose and Presence.
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