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Author Topic: PUT ON YOUR VITALITY: Your Vital Robe of Righteousness  (Read 6509 times)
Janet Easson Martin
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« on: February 01, 2013, 01:08:09 pm »

An ad I saw today had this inviting and colorful robe being worn by someone seated on a couch.  It was a bright and lively color, bringing to life any who wore it.  It was also fresh and unsoiled, so soft and comforting like one you would want to get in right after a long cleansing shower.  God reminded me that I am to put on and relax in His Robe of Righteousness.  Isaiah 61:10 speaks of this crucial garment that must be actively put on by his people through claiming and thanking him in faith:


I greatly rejoice in the LORD,
I exult in my God;
for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation
and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness


One of our greatest SOURCES of joy in the Christian life is believing and abiding in the FACT (or Truth) that we HAVE ALREADY THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST!  Our endurance is dependent upon it.  ('The Joy of the The Lord is our Strength'.)  Our own understanding, of course, does not agree or accept this, because it seems TOO GOOD to be true.  Our observation from the outside is that we still sin.  Yes, that’s true.  In fact, facing and confessing these sinful things to God is humbling and often ‘yuky’.  So, to try to ignore them, we reflect our own service, boast in our accomplishments, and have confidence in our abilities so that we may not be discouraged.  However, thinking we have done ANYTHING good on our own is a deception.  In fact, the more we grow, the more we seem to understand why anything done apart from faith (even so called ‘good works’) is sin.  That verse in John 15 that says “apart from me you can do nothing” used to baffle me.  

It is out of a grateful and humbled heart that the believer loves Jesus in response back.  It is because we REALIZE and BELIEVE that he first LOVED US.  Only then can we naturally love him back through obedience.  When the Spirit is yielded to and thus tapped into the living water, it can then and only then overflow with the good works God specifically and meticulously planned for us to perform.  Miracles in and around us are felt and seen.  

God has a vital question for YOU that he wants you to ponder.  It has EVERYTHING to do with your vitality and obedience as a child of God.  Look at Galatians 3, verse 5.

 
“Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?”


Other ways I would specifically paraphrase that truth for those of us past or present in GCx would be:

   1.  Does God supply you with the Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of GCx or by hearing (him) with faith?

OR    2.  What miracles has GCx done in and for you through faith and trust in them?


I believe God wants to get your attention and to have you rejoice in puting on and standing tall in faith in HIS ROBE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS HE GAVE YOU!      He alerts us in Isaiah 52:1 to say:


Wake up, wake up;
put on your strength, Zion!
Put on your beautiful garments



« Last Edit: February 09, 2013, 09:18:52 am by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
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« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2013, 04:52:08 pm »

Thank you, Janet, for sharing those wonderful thoughts with us. 

God's timing is pretty amazing. Today He led me into a place of deeper reflection and exploration, to promote a deeper healing.  Not usually a pleasant thing in the moment.  But God is good, and His message to you, and me, and US ALL, was right there waiting for me when He led me to the forum today.  Again, thank you, and thanks to God for His grace and mercy and LOVE that knows no limit.

Your brother in Christ, and fellow GCMaryland survivor/recoverer,
Ed T
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« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2021, 10:37:23 am »

Wrapped Up in His Righteousness




“I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness...”

Isaiah 61:10


The Greek word translated as righteousness which God urges us to seek in Matt. 6:33 means "the approval of GOD" or "divine approval".  Let not a man define the righteousness of God for you.  God himself defines His righteousness for us in his own words.  

He said 'unless you have a ‘righteousness that exceeds the scribes' you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven;  And ‘be righteous or PERFECT as your Heavenly Father is perfect’. Well, we don't have trouble defining God's perfection.  It's flawless, without blemish, right every time and all the time.  It's something if we are honest with ourselves realize & admit we can NEVER attain.  So is it only a goal Jesus tells us to aim for?  Is it merely the journey of the chase we are to live?  To do our best, to always try.  But HUH? Who ALWAYS tries?  

What outward characteristics qualify one as "righteous" or “walking in righteousness"?

Years ago, while I was part of the GCx Organization in a GCx Church, I used to actually think I could judge another's righteousness factor!  Ha!  I would notice what books he had lying about his house, what he did with his free time, how his kids acted, how often he was in church, how much he volunteered at church, what type of music he listened to, how many verses he knew...   Not only did I put people on this "righteousness" (some call "spiritual") scale, I would commend or condemn myself for rating high or low depending on the day or hour I was assessing.  Good hours or days meant a quiet praise of myself & of my "spiritual-ness".  Bad hours or days meant a silent condemning of myself, not wanting to move forward until I had hated myself long enough or beat myself up hard enough to prove to God that I do love Him, in order to "be restored to my former standing" to "make up enough for the bad stuff".  So, in one sense, I had been continually trying to work my way back into God's good graces because I never seemed to stop messing up.  Others seemed so confident, holding up their heads; and sometimes, may I say, even their noses.

I remember being told by Jim McCotter (who boasted that he both knew & spoke for God) through his preaching to his very large “congregation” that there were people in attendance there that had such great "righteousness" that they probably hadn't sinned in a whole year! The silent shame and despair that must have swept those listening.  Erroneously, the empty arrogance that may have grossly inflated others.

Why couldn’t I be as self-controlled as they were?  Why can't I too be as "spiritual" or "righteous" as they appear?  They sometimes took great pride in telling you how THEY accomplished it.

I didn’t know until later that this is a farce.  If they truly were righteous in the sense Jesus demanded, they would give no credit to themselves.  They would have to be operating out of the Spirit of Righteousness, as Colossians 1:27 reveals, “Christ in you, the hope of glory”.  For, we can do NO good thing or righteous thing in our flesh.  No one is righteous, no NOT one.  No one EVER has a chance or being so.  No good thing dwells I our flesh.  

So, then, how does one keep the righteousness of God?    Can I tell you a secret?   I never have kept the righteousness of God & never will in my own power.  It is illusive among humanity.  I can't seem to go very long until something unloving is thought by me.  If, you want to build up some good discouragement, keep a running mental record of those failings.  

After years of pursuing righteousness in GCx, and never catching or holding on to IT, I finally understood after leaving that achieving righteous is impossible!!   Living a "righteous" lifestyle in my own strength is vanity!   Is silently being jealous of someone else's success righteous when compared to publicly slandering them?  Is being lazy righteous when compared to stealing?  Is holding a grudge righteous when compared to murder?  

The only way I can abide in righteousness actively is to abide in Jesus actively.  I purposely think about how his blood has and continues to cleanse me from every sin.  This realization produces in me a supernatural humility which enables me to receive moment by moment grace to walk in step with Jesus.  I sense the miraculous power flowing through me to have no desire to sin.  I am carried by something beyond  myself to both will and work for God's good pleasure.    I have tried to do this on my own apart from practicing faith in Jesus' finished work for me and found I cannot.  At best I might only fake it.   So, it is a person, not an activity or deed, that pursues and accomplishes righteousness in me!  And that person definitely is not me!  Remember Jesus said, "There is only one who is good".  And I know he certainly wasn't talking about me.  We cannot be good no matter how hard we try.  Even as children of God our  "good" deeds done apart from active dependence on Christ are not pure.  Anything done apart from FAITH is actually sinful, God 's Word says.  Apart from present active faith we can do nothing truly good.  In Colossians 1:27 God reveals the true secret of righteousness.


“For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you.”  
 
Colossians 1:27   NLT


« Last Edit: February 01, 2021, 08:23:18 am by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
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« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2021, 08:14:18 am »

OUR CONSTANT RIGHTEOUSNESS BEFORE GOD


John Bunyan who wrote The Pilgrim's Progress struggled with doubt, fear, anxiety, and guilt as a believer. But, found his freedom and peace in the REAL truth of the gospel of GRACE.  In his autobiography, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, he shared this as he still (as a believer) had thoughts and fears that he wasn't right with God:

     "suddenly, this sentence fell upon my soul. Thy righteousness is in heaven". He went on to say, "I saw with the eyes of my soul, Jesus Christ at God's right hand; there, I say, was my righteousness; so that whatever I was doing, God would not say of me, He wants my righteousness, for that was right before him. I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse; for my righteousness was Jesus Christ himself, 'the same yesterday, and today, and forever.'"

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« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2021, 11:12:59 am »

TRUE HOLINESS


”The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Psalm 19:1


What makes the skies and heavens identifiable as a work only God could do?  One inarguable characteristic is that they are impossible for men to reproduce.  No credit can be given for their magnificent magnitude, fathomless distance, and incredible design except to God alone.  Their beautiful  brushwork of glorious color and limitless form is unmatched at it’s setting.  Even talented artists cannot truly imitate their majesty.  There is a security in their faithful existence, demonstrating something greater than ourselves.  God made them beyond us.

Couldn’t it be that God’s plans of having Christ come to live in us also shares that same purpose?  To show off His glorious beauty in mere men.  To give hope that what God causes to flow from us is impossible for men to truly reproduce.  

His holiness is like that.  Sarah Young wrote in her first person devotional, “Jesus Calling”, “Holiness is letting Me live through you.”



”To them God has chosen to make known...
the glorious riches of this mystery,
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Colossians 1:27



« Last Edit: March 22, 2021, 08:00:13 pm by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
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« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2021, 11:42:49 am »

I love stargazing, so Psalm 19:1 is a verse I've often pondered. We might have assumed that the more we study the stars, the less mystery is left. That hasn't been the case. The more we learn, the more we see the vastness of God's creation. Stars and nebulae are huge on an unimaginable scale, and they're distinct from each other in ways we couldn't imagine a couple of centuries ago. The distances between them are so vast we can't even take it in with our human brains. What looks like a tiny dot of light to the naked eye is something else entirely when seen through a telescope. The more closely we look, the more varied and marvelous each thing is. We're continually being surprised by the discovery of things like ice volcanoes, a planet where the rain is made of diamonds (really!), and gigantic storms that last for hundreds of years.

As astronomy becomes more technically sophisticated, God doesn't begin to look smaller. On the contrary, His creation is vaster and more magnificent than anyone could have imagined. The heavens declare that we will never outgrow God.
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« Reply #6 on: June 11, 2021, 02:11:22 pm »


This Changes Everything!


Getting a small taste of his love is like that too. It’s so rich that it seems too good to be true. That’s how all good preachers of the gospel explain it. My favorite message series on God’s endearment toward us is “Sons Not Servants” by Robert Morris. I have posted it on here before, but I always pick up something new when I watch or listen to it again. The first of three parts is “The Robe of Righteousness”.  There cannot be too much said about this crucial covering. Re-learning about it myself in the last six years or so has been literally Life Changing. (Not exaggerating.) That’s also what Robert Morris claims about it, “This Changes Everything!”

Though it’s better and more accurate hearing this message from the actual video (which I posted at the bottom), I did take down some transformational points (sometimes in my own words and my own added thoughts) from the first half if you’re interested. They are below:


1.  We must view ourselves as sons rather than servants because that is where the overflow of gratitude to serve Him comes from.

2.  ‘We sometimes do things that make us feel we are not good enough to be a son. The prodigal son thought that. But, when this ashamed man came back to seek his father, his dad ran and embraced him before he even finished explaining his plan of hoping only to be a hired hand. He considered himself unworthy to be treated as a son. When we blow it, we may feel like that.’ Rather than feel God’s rejection, we plan to keep our distance. Often in GCx, I felt God would reject my works because they were not good enough yet as some leaders taught us. There was always more we should be sacrificing (for GCx’s or McCotter’s grand scheme). Heavens - they already had way more than they should have of our money, time, devotion, service, and ourselves.

3.  Anyhow, back to the prodigal. Instead of his father’s condemnation and rejection, he shockingly received divine demonstrations of lavish acceptance and unabashed love. He had the finest robe, family signet ring, and shoes put on. He was immediately accepted and publically celebrated. It seems Jesus was telling in this parable of a divine Robe that covers all our sin that he would soon purchase at his death to take away our shame.

4.  Pastor Morris explained that ’righteousness’ means right standing with God. It can never be earned. Though we may say it’s a gift we may act like it’s earned. He said, “If I could flip a switch in you that it is 100% a gift and 0% earned THIS WILL CHANGE EVERYTHING!” ‘It changes everything about the way you see and interact with God. It will change everything about the way you see yourself and your performance. It will change everything about the way you see others.’ I can also fanatically testify to this!

5.  He exclaims that we’ve never been worthy! ‘That’s actually the good news because there is nothing we can do to make us worthy. If we realize that God balanced our account apart from works we’ll enjoy and be happy in the righteousness that God imputed. He describes that the reason our account got balanced is because God took our debt out of our account and put it into Jesus’ account; and then put his assets of righteousness into our account.’ It is finished!


Our accounts have been balanced!



“The Robe of Righteousness”
from Robert Morris Ministries

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2qgHKJK4NSY



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« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2021, 02:13:48 pm »

To Huldah’s observation and insight above:

I agree, Huldah, it’s so cool when we get a small glimpse of how vast and intelligent God’s design of creation has been made. It’s mind-blowing. Like David said, ‘Your works are too wonderful for me to comprehend’.


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« Reply #8 on: January 16, 2022, 04:19:42 pm »


PUT ON YOUR VITALITY

Christ’s Righteousness - Not Yours



Some may not have seen the real stories of former GCxers published by Larry Pile in his March 11, 2006 - “Addendum to his Statement about Great Commission Association of Churches/Great Commission Ministries.” They are important in understanding the severe consequences of GCx Churches false representations of God.

Christian author Philip Yancey says he felt he “couldn’t look at God directly because he had been scorched.” The image of God he had learned in his extreme legalistic church (and it seems his parent) was that God was “just a bully trying to break people and ruin our lives.” It wasn’t until he was introduced to and understood Grace that he was able to draw near to God.

Endearing descriptions of being under grace and the heavy burden of being under the law are contrasted in the book of Galatians. That book continues to heal me from GCx’s false images of the character of God.
Here is yet another former GCXer’s story (from http://gcxweb.org/Misc/LarryPile-03-11-2006.aspx).



A young man writing several months after leaving GCI, i.e., Great Commission International, the first official name of the movement:

“...I have recently been reading through Galatians. The message of that book has quite literally changed my life... I discovered that the problems of guilt and disbelief that I had been continually experiencing for about the last year and a half sprung from a false concept of God spurred on by the ‘self-sanctification’ which seems to me to have been encouraged while [in the GCI group]. When I began to be pulled under the law again (self-sanctification) I was faced with constant condemnation. Not having a desire to do these things (witness, etc.) I continually prayed for the desire to appear. When I still lacked the desires I felt that God was withholding them from me. This led to a hatred of God, a picture of Him as that cruel sadist who loved to see ones suffer. It was as if He had let me hear the gospel of truth and let me adhere to it for a while and then snatched it away from me so that He could delight in my torture as I was consumed by my lust yet seeing the hope and blessings of Christ completely out of my reach...

But since reading Galatians the Lord has turned my heart. He has shown me the falsity of self-sanctification which is equal to self-salvation. Never has Gal. 2:20 meant so much to me since just reading it in the context of Galatians. Christ living out His life in each of us. NOT Christ in us to help us keep the law but Christ living out His righteousness thru us. The glory is all God’s because He is doing all things that are worthy of glory in us. Praise His name.

“...He didn’t save me because my heart was right towards Him and He isn’t going to perfect me because I cleanse my heart of iniquity either. It’s because He loves me, really, truly, beyond a shadow of a doubt Loves me and desires the best for me, His son.”

—December 27, 1977



So agree! PRAISE His Name!



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« Reply #9 on: May 06, 2022, 09:37:12 pm »

Yey! I found a link to the most life-changing book I’ve ever read next to the Bible. It is what I based so many of the ESSENTIAL AFFIRMATIONS on that literally free me to live in the power of mercy and grace through Jesus’ Blood. I have added bold emphasis to the excerpts below from Chapter One and Two of this awesome book. The abundant life Jesus promised can be found in The Blood.


It will become clear that there is no single scriptural idea, from Genesis to Revelation, more constantly and more prominently kept in view, than that expressed by the words-"THE BLOOD."
. . .
... By the sprinkling of the door frames of the Israelites with the BLOOD of the Paschal lamb; by the institution of the Passover as an enduring ordinance with the words-" When I see the BLOOD I will pass over you," the people were taught that life can be obtained only by the death of a substitute. Life was possible for them only through THE BLOOD of a life given in their place, and appropriated by " the sprinkling of that blood."
. . .
For victory over sin and the deliverance of the sinner God has no other means or thought than "THE BLOOD OF CHRIST." Yes, it is indeed something that surpasses all understanding.
. . .
It is not only the penitent sinner, longing for pardon, who must thus value it. No --the redeemed will experience that just as God in His temple sits upon a throne of grace, where the blood is ever in evidence, so there is nothing that draws our hearts nearer to God, filling them with God's love, and joy, and glory, as living in constant, spiritual view of that blood.
. . .
He who once gave His blood for us, will, oh so surely, every moment, impart its efficacy. Trust Him to do this. Trust Him to open your eyes, and to give you a deeper spiritual insight. Trust Him to teach you to think about the blood as God thinks about it. Trust Him to impart to you, and to make effective in you, all that He enables you to see.
. . .

As we seek to find out what the Scripture teaches about the blood, we shall see, that faith in the blood, even as we now understand it, can produce in us greater results than we have yet known, and in future, a ceaseless blessing may be ours.

Our faith may be strengthened by noticing what the blood has already accomplished. Heaven and hell bear witness to that. Faith will grow by exercising confidence in the fathomless fulness of the promises of God. Let us heartily expect that as we enter more deeply into the fountain, its cleansing, quickening, lifegiving power, will be revealed more blessedly.



From: “The Power of The Blood” by Andrew Murray

https://www.worldinvisible.com/library/murray/5f00.0572/5f00.0572.01.htm


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For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
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« Reply #10 on: June 03, 2022, 06:31:55 am »


The Truth That Delivers


When we think of “the gospel” we often apportion it only to “the truth that rescues The Lost.” But, it is THE MARVELOUS MESSAGE that DELIVERS The Found. Here is something posted a year ago, but it’s empowerment never gets old.


I took my spiral notebook of Affirmations (in Christ) with me in my car today.  When I found myself waiting I opened up my cherished spiral to find a page I hadn’t recently viewed to select a couple of affirmations to feast on.  They so often are my immovable entrance to joy and sanity.  The two I decided on go hand in hand.  As usual, they are needed reminders of my position in God’s sight and his acceptance of me.


Essential Affirmations


ALL MY SIN HAS BEEN IMPUTED TO JESUS.

ALL HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS HAS BEEN ACCOUNTED TO ME.



So, when you look in the mirror say to the reflection there, “Child of God, you’re not a little righteous. You’re A LOT righteous!”




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« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2023, 09:35:35 pm »


The Cleansing Blood
 


“Your eyes see your faults; your faith sees your Savior.
Your eyes see your guilt; your faith sees his cleansing blood.
Your eyes look in the mirror and see a sinner, a failure.
But by faith you look in the mirror and see a robed prodigal bearing the ring of grace
on your finger
and the kiss of your Father on your face.”

-Max Lucado


Resurrection Power - Max Lucado
https://maxlucado.com/listen/resurrection-power/





« Last Edit: July 27, 2023, 04:05:47 pm by Janet Easson Martin » Logged

For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
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