Your faith works by Love (Himself)

"Whatever happened to being happy with just me and Jesus. Whatever happened to constantly relying on Him. Why, at the bottom of the bucket do I look up and see Him instead of steadily continuing to gaze at Him. Why did my eyes ever come off Him?"

This was my hearts cry nearly 2 months ago. I was at a place where I began to work salvation instead of receive salvation. But this was my revelation:

"Your well is only as deep as you are in Him. You run dry if you step out of Him. Abiding in Him means you're lost to yourself, but are found in Him. Living in Him, breathing in Him, moving in Him, dreaming in Him. If you are in the Author and Finisher of your faith and are acting on faith, which can only be done through Him, then what you're believing for has no choice but come to past. Your faith works by LOVE (Himself)."

Follow the Example

The Word of God was written with such purpose and design, and the life of the Savior had such order. Today I was wondering when and John 14-17 happened. Chapter 17 of this book really speaks to me because it starts off with five verses where Jesus is praying for Himself and then ends with 20 verses praying for His disciples, us. And really in the five verses praying about Himself He is praying for us and giving revelation, verse 3,"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

So I investigated some and found that chapters 14-17 all happen at the Last Supper. And it all begins with Chapter 13 verses 3-5, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, ⁴ rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. ⁵ After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."

If I read only what is highlighted in my Bible of theses verses it reads, "³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, ⁵ ...began to wash the disciples’ feet."

What a Savior! What a God! Knowing that in His hands He held all the power of the universe, and then some, He wash the dusty, dirty, scarred, bruised feet of ordinary men. What love. Digging deeper in verse 4 it says He "laid aside His garments." He was clothed with righteousness, power, dominion and authority, and this He lays aside to wash unlovely feet.

But what is truly to be learned from this is found in verses 15 and 17. Verse 15, "For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." Verse 17, " If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."

Let us never forget what Christ has done for us on the Cross, and let us not hold back the grace He has given us. Let us not be old wineskin, retaining the grace for ourselves, but pouring it out only to be filled up again. Let us follow THE EXAMPLE.

Surrender

In church we sing a lot of songs about surrender and hear about surrendering things to the Lord. The Lord was talking to me about this one day and He started to put the word "surrender" in a battle term. Now, surrender means to yield, which means to give up contest. And we rarely see it in wars. Pride keeps men fighting to the death, rather than giving up their dignity, their land, their families, and in essence their lives. For to surrender you are wiling to no longer will. You give the power of your will over to another, and never pick it back up. Many times surrender took place for the sake of livelihood.

But what we do see often are surrenders with conditions, or peace treaties. This only happens when both parties are in position to negotiate, though one may be weaker than the other. In many cases these do not turn out well, like the Treaty of Versailles where Germany was strip of her glory rather than handing it over. As a result, Germany revolted and caused horror the earth had never seen before.

For us, to truly surrender to the Lord, to yield power to Him, to will to no longer will our own, does not strip us of our glory but crowns us with His. We do not lose dignity, land, family or lives, but we gain them. It is when we surrender with conditions, make treaties with God, tell Him, "This far but no more," where we end up like Germany, sorely defeated. We must remember, in and of ourselves we are nothing, we have nothing to bargain with or bargain for, we simply have nothing. But in and of Him we have everything...we are everything. Yet we must surrender with no bounds, no conditions, no treaties. We must hold nothing back, for the sake of our livelihood. From the moment of surrender, your life is no longer the same, for it is no longer your own.