I'm Running Back

By the grace of God, there came a point in my Christian life when I realized that I would never escape the Romans 7 trap if I kept believing that I could obey God. But once I saw in the spirit that it is actually Christ in me Who is obeying God, my life started to change. Paradoxically, I began “obeying God on accident.” I realized the truth of Romans 6 — I really did die with Christ. There is no more “me” in the conventional sense; I’m a non-issue, a non-factor. I could finally say with Paul in Galatians 2:20:

“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

I no longer live. I died with Christ at Calvary. The only good thing dwelling in my flesh is my spirit who is in union with Christ’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). That’s it. Nothing in my soul, heart, will, subconscious, or flesh, in themselves, are pleasing to God. Nothing outside of my spirit in union with Christ’s Spirit will ever even be able to please God.

This sounds like defeat, but it is really victory. It’s freeing. We make this Christian life a heavy burden and a suffocating yoke for believers. But it isn’t supposed to be this way. It’s only this way because we haven’t understood Who’s doing the work. What does Philippians 2:13 say? It says it is God who is doing the work, not I. But if I don’t know that, I will continue to try to work, and grace, paradoxically, diminishes.

Listen to Pastor Cliff teach us the blessings, healing, and deliverance that come from true obedience to God.