It is God who works in you

It is God who works in you:

Beloved,

After the message last week on the works that faith produces, I feel the need to throw more light on how this works out. I want to avoid anyone falling into that miry clay of relying on our own strength to produce the righteousness that God desires. So I am reposting this week an article I wrote last year that I feel excellently brings the balance we need.~Chim

Ezekiel 2: 1-2 ~ ‘He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.’

Our walk with God is not supposed to be sustained by our own strength but by his workings in us.

In the verses above God asks the prophet Ezekiel to stand up so he can speak to him. God was demanding something of the prophet. But notice what follows. ‘As he (God) spoke, the Spirit (God’s) came into me (the prophet) and raised me to my feet’. It was the very thing that God had asked him to do that God was giving him his Spirit to do in him.

What we see here is a principle that runs through all of Scripture: Whatever God demands of us, he also sends grace to see it done in us. This is what the apostle meant us to understand in Philippians 2:13 when he said; “For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose”.

God’s ‘good purpose’ is his will for our life and the reason for all the demands he makes on us. But you ask; ‘How shall I be able to get the ‘want-to’ and the ‘ability to do’ required to meet these demands’? The Bible replies: ‘It is God who works in you’.

When we understand this we will no longer find any of his demands too hard or grievous instead we will believe that he has given us the grace to obey and begin to respond to him accordingly. We will no longer look at a requirement of God and think ‘Ah, you don’t know me. That’s not a thing I could ever do! It is not like my personality’. No it is not a matter of what you can or cannot do. It is not a matter of your temperament or past experience. It is God who works in you.

I want you to notice here also in Ezekiel’s example, the means by which God puts into us the power to do what he demands. The Bible says ‘As he spoke, the Spirit came into me’ – it was as God’s word came to Ezekiel that the Spirit of God also entered him to accomplish what was demanded.

Whenever God wants to work in us, he sends us his word. With every light we receive of God’s word comes also the grace of God into us to do what the light we received demands. This is a lesson I learnt a long time ago. Such that I do not wait to feel capable of doing what God has demanded. I begin to step towards it because I believe that I have received grace to do it from the very act of gazing into the glorious law of liberty (the Word of God). This is why we must keep gazing into the Word for that is the means by which God works on us.

And notice that I speak of grace coming with every light he gives us. It is not just a case of hearing or reading the written word of God, we must seek to receive God’s light on every word. And the way to get God’s light is to come with hungry and receptive hearts every time we come to his Word. No one ever comes thus and goes away without light. And with every light comes the power to obey. This is real Christianity. Not our trying to do something for God, but God working in us as we yield to him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Comments? Questions? etc. If these messages have been helpful or unclear it would encourage us to hear from you, please write to chim_ibidun@hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PLEASE are you born again? It is not enough to believe in the existence of God, to go to church, or be interested in spiritual things. Jesus said “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus died to deliver you from sin so that you can come to God. (John 3:16) If you ask him to forgive you and give you a new heart he will. (Acts 2:38; Romans 10:9-11).Try it. I’d love to hear from you @ chim_ibidun@hotmail.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chim’sWRITE are regular articles on Christian living and cross-cultural missions from Chimezie Onyebilanma a cross-cultural missionary with Calvary Ministries (CAPRO). CAPRO is an indigenous African non-denominational cross-cultural  mission agency involved in reaching the remaining unreached peoples in 22 countries of Africa and the Middle East as of present. CAPRO is involved in missions mobilization, training, and research as well as church-planting and mercy ministries (literacy, rural development, primary health-care, relief and rehabilitation). CAPRO is a faith mission, both the ministry and its missionaries depend on God’s provision through the giving of his people. None of its missionaries are salaried. All gifts are used as designated.

Surface Address: CAPRO MISSIONS SA, Durban, 47 Sutherland Rd, Waterfall, 3610, Durban, P.O.Box 207, Hillcrest, 3650, South Africa.Tel: +2731 766 2336; +27 794737208 (cell)

To learn more about the ministry of Chimezie Onyebilanma and how you can partner with us please emailchim_ibidun@hotmail.com

To learn more about the cross-cultural missionary work of CAPRO visit www.capromissions.org.za

Do you know that your monthly gifts to support a missionary can make a big difference? To learn more about supporting missionaries please visit www.adopt-a-missionary.org    or enquire at chim_ibidun@hotmail.com

COPYRIGHT — It is required that permission be obtained from chim_ibidun@hotmail.com before these materials can be re-published on a website or in hard copy. However permission is granted to freely redistribute these materials via email, provided that such redistribution acknowledges the source and includes this phrase: “For a free subscription to Chimezie Onyebilanma’s weekly Chim’sWRITE, send a blank email to ChimWRITE-subscribe@yahoogroups.com “

The Works of Faith

(Offerings In Righteousness – Part 4):

‘Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years’ Malachi 3:3-4.

We have established that righteousness is by faith in the finished work of Christ. We cannot manufacture righteousness. It is a gift of God’s grace that we receive by faith. That is why it is so crucial that we allow the truth we have shared so far to truly sink in. You might want to go back and prayerfully go through the previous articles and especially the scriptural references there. As the revelation of what Christ has done in us dawns on us, faith will arise in our heart. This is crucial for it is only by faith that we can appropriate God’s grace.

Yet there is a misconception about faith in many quarters. Some people seem to think that to believe implies doing nothing. So they are confused about how to practise faith. They have come to equate faith with being passive.

But the scriptures teach nothing like that. Just read through that great chapter on faith (Hebrews 11) and you will see a faith that acts:

‘By faith Abel offered a sacrifice…By faith Noah…moved with godly fear…By faith Abraham obeyed…By faith Abraham…offered up Isaac…By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau…By faith Moses…refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter…By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land’

Notice that the faith of every one of these men (and women)  always made them do something. The Bible knows nothing of a faith that does not produce action. This is what James speaks of when he says ‘faith without works is dead’ (James 2:26 – KJV).

A faith that does not lead to a definite action on the part of a man is no faith at all. It is the very response of faith that makes faith, faith. James says ‘Show me your faith without deeds (which he knew was impossible), and I will show you my faith by what I do (by my action born out of what I believe – my response to the work of grace within me)’ (James 2:18b). You see, while it is possible to act without faith, it is impossible to have true faith and not act. For when we truly believe something we are going to begin to act as if it were true.

The action of faith is a response to what you believe. It is behaving as if what you believe is a reality.

We are talking of putting on Christ as our righteousness. We say this is to be done by faith. This means that we are to begin to act as if we have his righteousness. We ought to begin to behave knowing we have power over sin. This has nothing to do with how you may feel or how many temptations (sinful suggestions) the enemy throws at your mind or how many times you might have fallen in the past. It is based on the fact of what God has said you are, that is, his righteousness. So to appropriate it, we act on that assumption.

This is how faith always works (what I call the practise of faith) whether it be for salvation, physical healing or anything else that grace offers. First you accept what God says about you or your circumstance, then you begin to act as if it is so. It is when we do this that we will see the result of faith. James says of Abraham, ‘You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did’ (Jas 2:22). When our action comes from  our believing, then faith comes full circle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~