There are more works being performed in independence or under condemnation and guilt today than there are because it was birthed as a burden from the Lord Himself.
When the Lord births something in the heart it comes with the full deposit of His Grace to do it. Success is no longer dependant on how it looks to others, or how many participate in it. I simply do it because it is God breathed.
I can be assured of His heart in the matter and instead of condemnation I get the privilege of being convinced of His love, acceptance and grace. This is the result of abiding in Him.
So how can I know that I am experiencing an abiding relationship with Christ?
We must first address the matter of our attempting to be righteous on our own. Abiding is grace based through faith.
When we fall into the trap of presenting ourselves as being our best without being in fellowship with Christ we are denying the truth and we set up an atmosphere of non abiding.
Titus 3:5 not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit,
1 John 1 reminds us, 4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. 5 ¶ This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 ¶ If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
Pretending we have it together gets us no where and cannot produce an abiding in Christ lifestyle.
Pretending may help us keep face in the Christian community but it will prohibit the production of true fruit. The longer we remain in such a state the more dried up we become.
On any given Sunday in churches, people who are not abiding in Christ as they should are well dressed, singing the songs, and praying as though they have been tight with Jesus all week. Ongoing fellowship with Jesus is a stranger to them.
Denial is not the answer, confession is. This why the grace of God is so important to us.
You cannot pray hard enough or sing hard enough to fix this. God did not receive us because we had so been able to clean ourselves up to become presentable to Him. We came by faith.
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
