Show Me More of Your Goodness and Glory

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. 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 will, subconscious, or flesh will ever produce righteousness or sanctification. Nothing outside of my spirit in union with Christ’s Spirit can accomplish this.

This sounds like defeat, but it is really victory. It’s freeing. We make this Christian life a heavy burden and 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 to become holy, which paradoxically makes holiness to be increasingly more elusive.

God doesn’t need me to help Him do anything, truth be told. That was the significance of Elihu’s statement to Job. God doesn’t actually need my help. He wants it. He doesn’t need it. What’s more, God isn’t interested in helping me do anything. He’s interested in me reckoning myself dead so that He can do everything.

A dead man has no life in him. A dead man can’t do anything unless some other power source gives him life. The Resurrection Life is available to us as Christians every moment of every day. It was a one-time event but it is also an ongoing event. I participate in Christ’s resurrection the moment I die and get out of the way.

I love the “God’s Word Translation” of Philippians 2:13:

“It is God who produces in you the desires and actions that please Him.”

Not only is God doing all the work, He’s producing in you the very desires to do the work! We live so much of our Christian lives in frustration because we’re trying in our soulish power to produce desires which are God’s alone to produce.

We often pray, “Father, please help me to do ______.” But once you get the revelation of Who’s doing the work, your very language begins to change. I no longer ask God to help me do anything. I realize I’m a liability in this equation. I understand that God doesn’t need to help me do anything, nor does He need me to help Him do anything. He’s God! The Almighty! The one who sat upon the circle of nothingness and spoke and galaxies and planets and stars and black holes came into being. He’s the sovereign, all-powerful Creator of the heavens and the earth. He doesn’t need me to do anything.

Jesus once told some disciples that God could make stones praise Him if he wants to. When I read passages like that, I hear the Spirit saying, “I. Don’t. Need. Your. Help.”