Living in the Abundance of God (7 page)

U
ntil a man is righteous, and
knows
that he is righteous, he will not live in the abundance of God and reign in life. “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17).

We must be informed from God’s Word of what belongs to us and learn to honor God by the way we live. God is not pleased when we disregard any of the great redemptive work of Jesus. He desires to bring us out of the realm of slavery and servitude and into our rightful position in the kingdom of God.

We must know:

The moment we receive Jesus as our personal Savior, we receive God’s nature and become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus became sin for us. As a result, we can stand in the presence of Almighty God free of sin—righteous and holy children of God. He no longer looks at us as sinners. He sees us as the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

However, a sense of unworthiness, no matter how it is produced in our lives, destroys faith, robs us of our peace of mind, and makes us ineffectual Christians. It is a work of the enemy to keep us from living in the abundance of God as kings and priests.

If we have a feeling of inferiority, we cannot reign in life. We are
in Christ
. That is our position by faith. We have been bought with a price, with the precious blood of Jesus, and we no longer belong to ourselves (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).

All of our success is in Him. We cannot fail when we understand that we have been made righteous.

Joined to Jesus Christ, the exalted Son of God, we have no room for thoughts and feelings of inferiority. We must replace those feelings with the knowledge of who we are in Christ Jesus.

Countless believers live under a constant sense of condemnation, feeling they will never be good enough to go to heaven or do anything for His glory. Many sincere and dedicated believers, for instance, have been
taught to believe certain doctrines and ideas that keep them in bondage and torment. I once talked with a woman who had been told that she would go to hell if she put on lipstick or cut her hair, and she was experiencing severe emotional problems over it. That may seem extreme, but many believers carry religious baggage that keeps them from living in Christ’s righteousness.

Let us examine two aspects of righteousness: the Divine Side and the Practical Application.

God, through Jesus Christ, has redeemed us from sin and shame: “… even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22–24).

Our righteousness comes only through faith in Christ Jesus. We have all sinned, but when we stand at the foot of the cross, we stand on level ground. We observe the cross and embrace it with the knowledge that we have sinned, and because of our faith in what He has done, we are forgiven and cleansed from all sin and unrighteousness.

Righteousness, being made just and holy before God, comes to us as a free gift. We can never earn it. We will never be good enough to receive it. It does not come by external observances—by keeping the list of dos and don’ts or wearing the proper clothing or not wearing lipstick—it only comes to us by faith in Christ Jesus.

In the beginning, man was created to be a king who was subject only to his Creator, but:

Every person must choose to live like a king, or he or she will automatically exist as a slave.

We have the power of choice to change our destiny! We should choose a personal relationship with Jesus. If we choose to live by rules and outward appearances, we are not going to live as kings in the abundance of God.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul tells us that the Gospel is for the salvation of all men (1:16). God has given to every man the same measure of faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (12:3).

“But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ down from above) or, ‘ “Who will descend into the abyss?” ’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For
with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation
” (Romans 10:6–10).

This is the practical application of righteousness. The righteousness that is of faith speaks! I want you to say out loud: “I Am Righteous!” Say it again, and say it again. Confess it as the truth and believe it in your heart!

We are able to come before the Father and worship Him because of what Jesus has done for us. We do not come in our own righteousness or our own goodness. We could never be good enough even to please ourselves. We come because we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus by faith.

God through Jesus Christ has made us new creation beings. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…” (Genesis 1:26). Man was created to show forth the likeness of God.

When Jesus came to earth as a man, He demonstrated to us the outward appearance of God. He also demonstrated to us the inward spiritual and moral nature of God. Jesus was God in a human body.

When Adam disobeyed God, the inner man died, but the outer man continued to live.

There are two families that dwell on the earth today—the family of God and the family of the devil. We are either the children of God or the children of the devil. “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it” (John 8:44).

Every man must choose to let the inner man dominate his life.

If we are going to live like kings and enjoy the abundance of God, our spirits must be in control. Given a choice to love or to hate, our spirits will choose love. Given a choice to be encouraged or to be discouraged, we will choose to be encouraged. These decisions come out of the newly created spirit—the inner man through the Holy Spirit. You can strengthen the inner man as you study the Word of God and begin to see what God says about you.

There is a story about a great roaring lion and a little puppy. No one would ask, “Which one do you think can whip the other one?” What a foolish question.

However, you could change the outcome of that fight. All you would need to do is stop feeding the lion and start feeding the puppy. If you were patient and continually fed that puppy week after week, he would become strong and healthy. After a time, the lion would become so weak that he could no longer lift his paw.

When you become a Christian, your inner nature is like that little puppy. It must be fed, taught, and trained. Your outer, fleshly nature, like the lion, must be starved until it has no strength.

The people who do not live in the abundance of God are those who feed the lion. They spend very little time in Bible study and prayer. They are unconcerned about attending a good Bible teaching church. Some sit in front of the television and computer screen and feed their carnal natures by the hour. The old lion roars, and they wonder why they do not walk in victory.

What you feed your spirit is important. The new inner spirit will not grow as you eat a steak. It must have spiritual food, and there is only one source. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

The devil’s trick is to keep many believers in doctrinal chains and hide the great truths of God from us. For years I was kept in ignorance. As a minister, I walked in all the light I knew for many years. I am sure other denominational ministers are doing all they know to do also, but many of us were kept in ignorance. We trusted our teachers and were not taught the complete truths of God’s Word.

We were taught fear and condemnation. We were beaten down and constantly reminded of how weak and unworthy we were. I was taught that part of my responsibility as a preacher was to keeping telling other people just how bad they were. The more I did it, the more acclaim I received. They thought that was good preaching.

It reminds me of the story of a little bird that was hatched in a cage. He did not know anything about life outside of that cage, for he had never been outside. As he grew, he began to notice those appendages on his sides and wondered what they were. One day he learned that his wings would lift up and down. He flapped his wings so fast that he flew into the side of the cage. He did that over and over. Deep inside he heard a little voice saying, “You are not made for a cage.” But that was the only life he knew.

Then someone mistakenly left the cage door open, and the bird flew out for the first time. Can’t you hear that little bird saying, “This is it! I was made for something bigger than a cage!”