DO YOU HAVE A CONNECTION AND COMMITMENT TO THE HOLY SPIRIT? IF NOT THIS BLOG WILL HELP YOU LIVE IN, FOR, BY AND WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT SO YOU CAN HAVE A VITAL LINK TO JESUS CHRIST.
My mind is so littered with the things of the world. I can’t stay still in you. I worry I am not a true follower of yours or that you cannot count me among your believers and if so you see me at the bottom of the class, so to speak. Even though I feel this way at this moment I know it is of Satan and not of me. For you have chosen me in strength and in weakness, in wisdom and in foolishness, in sin and sinlessness. There is no state of my mind or my being that I am not yours. No matter how I feel about myself be it from me, Satan or the world, I belong to you, always.
Dr. Don’s Reflections
The bottom line is I belong to God and no matter how I get down on myself through self-attacks or attacks from Satan or the world, I know I am his and he is mine. Knowing this puts any worries I have about how strong of a believer or follower I am in perspective.
Satan wants me to believe that I am unworthy of the love and peace of Christ and that you, God have abandoned me. He is right on the first part, I am unworthy, but Christ died on the cross to make me worthy and I do not have to worry about that. And he is dead wrong on his second perspective for God will never ever abandon me. End of story. Knowing that allows me to take these feelings and drench them with the love of Christ. This then takes the power of these feelings from Satan to the Holy Spirit allowing God to reassure me that no matter how I may feel about my effort in following Christ I am indeed a believer and his follower.
There is no grading by God relative to some soul being more perfect than I am or works harder than I do. I cannot earn grace it is given to me freely by God from my baptism. I just need to accept it and grow in it and with it.
God in his infinite wisdom and love never allows me to wallow in undeservedness. All I need to do is realize that my deservedness comes from the death of Christ on the cross. I do not have to earn it, it was given freely to me in the death of Christ on the cross.
Dr. Don’s Comments
We all get down on our spiritual life every once and awhile thinking we are not up to being a follower and believer of Christ. Of course, Satan is ready the minute you feel this way to pounce on you to convince you that you are a spiritual bum. Satan knows when you are feeling bad about yourself that is the time to penetrate through the grace of God to your very soul. When you are spiritually down Satan sees the greatest opportunity to get you to despair and sin.
You must remember that even when you are feeling bad about yourself spiritually God is feeling good about you. God loves you the same when you are spiritually down as when you are spiritually up. God is not going to abandon you because you feel you are not making the grade of a good follower or believer.
Look at it this way. Let’s say you are a parent and you have a kid whether he is a child or an adult. This kid is having a bad time. He is down on himself maybe because he failed a driver’s test or lost a job or did not get a promotion. As a parent are you going to give up on that kid? Are you going to tell this kid, you’re right you are a failure, you deserve to feel like a bum. No, of course not you love this kid, and if anything you are going to love and support this kid even more. Well, it is the same way with God, When you are feeling down and out all sorts of grace and spiritual strength are sent your way. In that way, you become convinced that no matter where you are in the army of Christ you are treasured and love as long as you are in the army and fighting the battle in some way. Maybe you are not fighting the best you can but you are in the fight. If this is so Christ will bring you to your best through power of the Holy Spirit.
Satan does not want you to believe this and understand it. He wants you to feel abandoned and worthless so he can convince you to be a deserter. But Christ is right there with all the ammunition you need to successfully fight off Satan and the World. The greatest gun you have against Satan is to realize and understand that you belong to Christ and he will be with you when you are up or down. Knowing that will save you every time. God loves you and will always be there for you.
If you have been walking with Christ for awhile you know that you are not always in an “up” mood when it comes to your spirituality. Sometimes you are feeling great about the progress you have made in becoming more Christ-like and other times you feel it is a hopeless, sinful walk that will not let you move spiritually ahead even a little bit.
Both of these mood swings are dangerous. The truth is when you’re feeling good about yourself for the spiritual progress you have made; you are usually not making as much progress as you think you are. And the other dangerous part of this thought is when you are feeling good about yourself for the spiritual progress you made, don’t give yourself the credit. That progress is not due to your efforts but God’s grace that supports your effort and it is not about you at all. It is all about the grace of God. With the grace of God, you will always be worth his blessing and support in moving closer to Christ.
