Confidence Through Christ

Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Song 8:5

The wilderness is a desolate place; a place of weeping; a place of cleansing; a valley of tears. It’s the place where we lose all self-confidence and learn to draw our confidence entirely from the life of Christ within.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 2 Cor 3:4

The wilderness is the place where the treasured old hymns of past generations become ours. The wilderness is a desert transformed into springs and pools of water as we build hope anew in Jesus’ blood and righteousness and cherish afresh the old rugged Cross.

As they go through the Valley of Baca [the Valley of Weeping] they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools. Psalm 84:6

When we truly come to the end of ourselves – our strength, our confidence, our abilities, our love – we are in a place to be flooded with the sweet Spirit of Christ. Our decrease facilitates His increase in our lives (John 3:30). And the Spirit of Christ has a fragrance – an aroma. How sweet! How altogether pure and reviving! In our broken and weakened state, this fragrance of the knowledge of Christ through us spreads everywhere.

For we are the fragrance of Christ… 2 Cor 2:15

Many of us spend a lifetime learning how to be strong, how to cope, how to dig deep, how to influence people and circumstances in order to make our way in the world. Then we re-learn through Christ how to be weak, how to surrender, how to rest, how to serve, and how to trust our God to make the way for us even through deserts and seas.

Then the thing, undreamed of in any Arabian Nights of fiction, becomes real in Christ. The desert turns into a trail of flowers; and the heart throbs pull at the bell-ropes of heaven until the music of the skies is heard again by mortal ears. The rocky hills are but the paths which lead upward to a transfiguration trysting place, together with the saints; as we love Him, who leads and guides us, more and more with every step of the way. - Charles S. Price (1940), The Real Faith.

Faith's Fuel

Faith works by love. Faith is fuelled by love. Without a personal revelation and ongoing experience of the love of God, faith has no fuel.

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. Gal 5:6

We can know things about God. We can be a theologian or a mystic; a zealot or a philanthropist. But without a personal revelation of Divine love and an ongoing, personal experience of Christ’s mercy and grace, we will not know the exhilarating life of faith.

Faith is substance. Faith is evidence without visible proof (Heb 11:1). Faith is the assurance of victory in the face of contradictory or pressing circumstances. As such, faith is essential for enjoying the protection, healing, provision, and Divine Presence available through our Covenant.

And he touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith be it done to you.” Matt 9:29

This essential faith works by love. Faith blossoms where love is assured. In that sense, faith is child-like (Matt 18:3). Children that are assured of their parents’ love have a radiant confidence and innocent expectation of good. As beloved children of God, this should be our witness also.

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been made perfect in love. 1 John 4:16-18

Through the selfless sacrifice of our elder brother and friend, Jesus Christ, we are free to love God and flow forth with Divine love. And faith works by such love. Let us be ever consumed by Christ’s love; ever assured by His death, burial, and resurrection in our stead.

Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith… Heb 10:23

Let faith be so fuelled in our lives to the wroughting of bountiful miracles and the liberation of our fellow man … to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

…He [Jesus] went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. Acts 10:38

The Greatest Gift

What is the most valuable gift that can be offered to a hurting world? Creation waits with eager longing for the manifestation of God’s sons (Rom 8:19). What is it that is so desirable in the sons of God? What unique and precious gift do they have to offer to the world?

Surely it is the ability to understand all knowledge and mysteries that is the greatest gift to the world. Or perhaps it is having faith strong enough to move mountains that is most needed in this hour. Now I think of it, perhaps it is the willingness to give away all one’s possessions that is most valuable. Wait. Perhaps it is other-worldly experiences and an ability to speak in the language of angels that is the highest achievement … or the possession of amazing prophetic powers … or a radical preparedness to lay down one’s life for the cause. Is it not a people that possess such knowledge and abilities and zeal that all creation groans for? Wouldn’t such a people transform the world with these gifts?

The truth is that even if we possessed all of these things, without Heaven’s humble gift of love, we are nothing. Brothers and sisters, without love, we could boast all these things and yet be nothing.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have to the poor, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Cor 13:1-3

Of our Heavenly Father’s three abiding gifts to humanity – faith, hope, and love – love is the greatest (1 Cor 13:13). Throughout the ages, humanity has witnessed the achievements of many gifted and zealous men and women. It is tempting to desire their noble human qualities and remarkable gifts and yet overlook the humble – and greatest – gift of all. Andrew Murray writes:

In the foreground [are] the manly virtues, such as zeal, courage, and diligence. But we need to see how the gentler virtues – kindness, humbleness, meekness, and long-suffering – are specially connected with dependence upon the Holy Spirit. They were never found in the heathen world. Christ was needed to come from heaven to teach them to us.

As a disciple of Christ, our maturity cannot be measured by our giftedness or spiritual experiences or knowledge or zeal. True maturity is seen in our ability to walk in radical love towards God and our fellow man. The Divine kind of love that Jesus taught and demonstrated simply cannot be sourced in fallen humanity. We can, in our own strength, love those who love us but … to love our enemies? That is Divine. We can, in our own strength, bless those who bless us but … to bless those who persecute us? That is Divine. We can, in our own strength, forgive those who repent and seek forgiveness but … to intercede for evil men as they unjustly take our lives? That is Divine.

We can be a courageous zealot in our labours for the Lord, a certifiable mystic when it comes to spiritual experiences, a formidable scholar when it comes to Bible knowledge. But if we don’t have flowing from our lives the sweet anointing that comes from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ, we have nothing. Maturity in Christ is not determined by our knowledge and revelations, our spiritual experiences, or our zeal. Maturity in Christ is seen in our ability to walk in the God-kind of love that Jesus taught and demonstrated. To walk in that kind of radical love is humanly impossible. It is only as we continually rest our head on Jesus’ bosom and learn of Him, that we can walk in and flow forth radical, Divine love. This is the measure of true maturity in Christ.

Peter was a zealot who became useful in the Master’s hands only after he became totally demoralised by his own weaknesses and marinated in the love of Christ. 

Paul was another zealot who discovered that his own strength was actually a hindrance to God’s power manifesting in his life. While Paul could produce a long list of credentials in the areas of knowledge and revelations, and spiritual experiences, and sacrificial zeal, he knew the folly in doing so. Paul understood the wisdom in boasting only of the things that showed his weaknesses (2 Cor 11:30).

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 2 Cor 12:9

The fullest life, with the greatest impact in this world, is discovered by those who become conduits of radical, Divine love through their sincere and pure devotion to Christ; through their life-long romance with Jesus. These are the sons of God that creation waits with eager longing to be manifested. Radical, Divine love never fails (1 Cor 13:8). This is the greatest gift to humanity. And faith worketh by such love (Gal 5:6).

...the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Rom 5:5