Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you and promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God?".....He shouted out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" John 11:40,43 These are the words that seem appropriate to portray my journey of God's deliverance and healing to me. How he longingly waited on high to rescue me and set me free. How He took a seemingly hopeless situation and is turning it into His glory, turning the enemies of my soul upon their heads. It was not a matter of hell into heaven. It was a matter of condemnation, not measuring up, and striving but failing over and over and over again. Signs of former abundant life in Jesus all but gone. My lack of joy was not because the honeymoon with Christ was over, it was because the Law sneaked in on me and suffocated the Spirit. "For the code [of the Law] kills, but the [Holy] Spirit makes alive." What I did not know was that as long as I submitted to a bunch of rules to achieve "godliness" Christ did me no good. (Galatians 5:2) Oh, he was still in me, and jealously desiring for me to dwell in the Spirit he put in me. But, my reliance had been led astray to the Law (the GCI code of conduct and loyalty) for acceptance and highter spirituality. I could not receive the grace I needed to obey God because my righteousness had insidiously come to rely upon a new code - the traditions of men in GCI. Though still eternally secure in Christ, I had lost my very present reliance upon GRACE. I had, in essence, fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:4) I was trying to be justified by the law now, which brought nothing but condemnation and a sort-of-death to Christ's Spirit in me. I liken it to being bound up in burial cloths a layer at a time with each code I tried to keep. Eventually, I was so tied up, I became captive to this toxic system."BUT THANKS BE TO GOD, WHO ALWAYS LEADS US IN TRIUMPH IN CHRIST" 2 Cor. 2:14
God was always with me as he promises. I had to be willing to
close my ears to the Law (of CGI) in order to
hear him alone. Some people going to the church, but not staunch GCI Pharisees like me, who seemed more interested in following God than a bunch of "loyalty laws" surprisingly helped me to get my ears unsuctioned from the "GCI false code of loyalty". I listened just enough to see
life outside of GCI legalism. They challenged some of their misplaced loyalty together as a group. Some became my friends and started opening my ears back to God.
Then, a christian friend at work told a lunch group of us about the book,
The Grace Awakening,
by Chuck Swindoll. I started reading it with a bit of trepidation because it was mostly
new stuff to me. As I read more and more
I seriously felt a fresh breeze wash over me. A sigh of relief. A breeze of freedom and fun and
intimate fellowship with God - not prideful legalistic relating to God. Wow! Just in time when I almost drowned in legalism. It was Him who sent the people and the book. I bravely came to the realization that I needed to be in a church that
embraced GRACE, instead of the law. I shared this with a friend in GCI who felt the same way, and we started church shopping. It wasn't easy. It was a bit scary and uncomfortable because we were treading outside "divinely sacred" confines, but God was definitely the one leading us in triumph. We were
truly growing in dependence on Christ and gaining true knowledge of Him, not mens' traditions. We were doing what fed the Spirit, not the fleshly pride. God was calling us out even though we weren't sure just where he would take us. Because of hearing
some lies so often it took others to come alongside to help us shake them off. In fact, the teachings I had received from GCI caused much conflict with the Bible teachings I now heard in a number of biblically sound believing churches. These warring thoughts required me to get much needed christian counseling. I needed other strong believers who understood and lived under grace to help unwrap the gravecloths I had worn for so long.
"And out walked a man who had been dead, his hands and feet wrapped in burial cloths, and with a burial napkin around his face. Jesus said to them, "Free him of the burial wrappings and let him go." John 11:44 HE had called out to me and rescued me into his loving arms with patience, compassion, and mercy, and SET ME FREE. When you are not accustomed to freedom it feels foreign at first. But God warns through Galatians 5:1 to
stand firm in your freedom so that you don't get enslaved again to a yoke of bondage. Though I still find little pieces of gravecloth stuck to me, and stumble afraid in dark confined places, I am learning daily how to walk in the living freedom Christ
paid dearly
for me. He is teaching me true victory through
faith alone. (Colossians 2:8,18,19) Not an impressive outward "godliness", but an inner strength and hope. This is the victory that overcomes the world, our
faith. Not any system of do and don'ts, of oughts and nots. Not our devotion to a man or an elite group of men, or system of a "specially annointed" man, but to our God
alone. He is to be relied upon
above all others. God warns us through Paul on several occassions in Galatians, Colossians, and in 2nd Corinthians, and other places to
have nothing to do with those who put you under a "higher code", a "better Christianity", a "holier calling" to ultimately puff themselves up and make you zealous for their ways, alienating you from other christians (Galatians 4:17). These "religious systems" actually
perpetuate unbelief.
They are toxic and kill faith as the scripture above says.
We already have
all the holiness we need in Christ who is in us. We, my friends, are majestic with royal robes of righteousness, ministers in the true temple for God Almighty, and need no approval from men. I pray we will not enslave ourselves any longer to the yoke of any Law. That's exactly why the gospel means "GOOD NEWS!". Everything has
already been done
for us. We must just
walk it out in FAITH.
Any other teaching is never, ever God's good news for us.
"Shake off your dust; rise up, sit enthroned, O Jerusalem. Free yourself from the chains on your neck, O captive daughter of Zion" Isaiah 52:2 Believe and rely on Him, and see the glory of GOD.
Your friend in Christ,
Janet
