Today was sort of dry for me. It's one of those days where you just feel nothing and it takes an act of the will to believe that I am who I am in Christ and to walk accordingly. Some days my flesh is seemingly stronger than others. The days when there seems to be no excitement of the fact that Christ is in me. Days when I just want to do nothing but watch TV and tell everyone to leave me alone. Of course there are times of resting and thats good...but there are times where we need to ignore the feelings of our flesh and continue to feed off of Christ in us by the act of sheer faith and will, not feeling. But the feeling doesn't always remain. God gives us the strength we need, but there is first a simple act of moving forward, trusting Christ to be our life and disregarding our feelings.
I've been re-reading Malcolm Smith's "The Power of the Blood Covenant" and he talks a lot about actively resting in Christ. That our lives aren't just passively waiting for Christ to sort of take over and we have no part in it. We aren't robots. We have a choice...We either choose to participate in the Life of Christ inside us or we choose to give into the desires of the flesh. Malcolm calls the moving forward, trusting Christ as your Life the "acting as if" mode. It's where you take by faith Christ is your Life and then walk it out, trusting Him to empower you and to live through you. And it's not a one time dedication. It's a moment by moment decision to surrender to Jesus, not dedicate yourself to Him. It's a dance.
But it's not as though our lives are completely emotionless and we're under obligation to obey. Not at all. Who we really are loves Jesus and delights in obeying Him. But sometimes there are days when we don't feel like we're new creations. We feel the pull of the flesh and can easily be duped into believing that we're still sinners. This is not so! You have died and are risen again in Christ Jesus! So let us set our mind on things above where Christ is seated. For we have died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God! Christ is in you whether you feel Him there or not. And when you by faith take that Christ is in you and walk accordingly, you will find that He supplies you with the ability and power. So let's not waste our time indulging in the desires of the flesh! We are children of the most high God and we are His beloved!
1 comment:
Amen brother! I know what you are talking about the feelings of dry. I usually get that feeling when I become so busy in life, not spending enough time reading and being alone. Then I will start looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places such as food, TV etc. It surprises me that I can quickly fall for that lie that I need to 'do' something to be at peace. But one thing I have to say that while doing all fleshly things, I still know deep inside my heart that I am His child but I just don't 'feel' it. Its so weired but I think its part of being in this world and living as a child of God. It is also an opportunity to realize the weakness of our flesh and glorify God that if it wasn't His doing ((Salvation and living), we wouldn't have made it!
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