When you accept Jesus - not when you do something right, become a "good Christian," do enough good things, walk with God and be faithful, pray for others, witness or any of that stuff that is good in place - God hears you. Step one, realize you're not perfect and that you can't be perfect as long as you try. Step two, realize that Jesus is a real dude and really is God's Son. He is perfect and died so you could be perfect. Then He came back to life, so that you can live beyond death. Step three, decide you want that plan rather than your own plan of sucking at life and struggling. Um... Yes? It's not a trick question, it really is that good of a deal.
Ok. Yes.
BAM!
Instantly now you are on the same level as Mother Teresa, Billy Graham, Francis Chan, Bill Johnson, Mark Driscoll, St. Francis of Assisi, Paul the Apostle who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament, Mary - Jesus' Mama, Moses, Abraham, Adam (first and original), John (dude who got to go into heaven to see end of the world), Elijah, and a man who radically revolutionized the world... Jesus. Yes, you now have the righteousness of Christ. Instantly, God hears and answers you. How does that happen? It's impossible to earn grace, so it's grace given to YOU! No one earned it, so everyone's on the same playing field. We've all been given the same invitation. There's front row or nose bleed section - it's all equal playing field of the Righteousness of Christ put on us. Instantly we're transformed.
Let me share a story to illustrate my point. It's from Chris Overstreet's book called "A Practical Guide to Evanglism - Supernaturally."
Years ago in South Africa, we prayed for a family who all received Jesus into their hearts. One of the younger brothers had a problem in his stomach and needed prayer for healing. I asked his older brother, "Would you like to pray for your brother? You just received Jesus into your heart. And the Lord Jesus hears you just as much as He hears me. It's normal for believers to move in power. So go ahead and lay your hand on his stomach and command all the pain to leave."
As He did that, all the pain left his brother's body. This story illustrates to us that as soon as a person becomes a believer, they can operate in the Kingdom and demonstrate God's power in miracles, signs, and wonders.
How awesome is that? How normal should that be? Ok, now you've got Jesus inside, go be moved by His love and show more people His love in all of it's variety. We don't have to learn more or be equipped or "walk with God" for so long. No it's because it's not about you or what you've done to prove God's faithfulness. It's about Christ's faithfulness and Him now being in you. So don't worry about what you have or haven't done or how "equipped" or "knowledgeable" or "faithful" you've been. Just let Jesus be Jesus in you and go.
No comments:
Post a Comment