For Those Who Believe

I have greatly enjoyed and have learned a lot from studying The Message of the Cross. The studying indeed continues, and I believe that I may never know the full extent of what He accomplished for me (us) on the Cross. That which I have been privileged to know and understand I do believe. I am grateful for the opportunity to hear The Truth, know and understand Truth, and to have the Holy Spirit working at 100% of His Power, in my life. I do not and will not hinder His work.

All that God has for us is in Christ Jesus, meaning His Finished Work (Death, Burial and Resurrection). Jesus is our EVERYTHING, and we get everything through the Cross. This means we need to be looking to the Cross which is the means to receive everything from our Lord and Savior! Once we exclusively believe, have our Faith, in the Jesus’ Finished Work, the Holy Spirit can begin the work that only He can do.

John 7:37-39 states:

Now on the last and most important day of the feast, Jesus stood and called out [in a loud voice], “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink! 38 He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’” 39 But He was speaking of the [Holy] Spirit, whom those who believed in Him [as Savior] were to receive afterward. The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified (raised to honor).

Jesus is telling us that He is the Source of the Living Water (Spiritual Life) – we are to come to Him and drink. He has what we need for every area of our lives. It is the Holy Spirit who administers Spiritual Life, but it is only for those who believe! Believes what? It is for those who believe (have Faith) in what He did to give them access to this Living Water (Spiritual Life). Well, what did Jesus do for you (us) to have access to the Living Water? He paid the price of the Sin Debt on the Cross of Calvary. In Him, we who believe died in Him, our old “man” was dead and buried with Him, and in Him we were resurrected into newness of Life. We who believe this now have a new spiritual life because of what He did there – on the Cross.

This Life, this new Life, we now have would NOT be possible had Jesus not died on the Cross. There is no other way, and there is no other way to receive all the benefits of Salvation and Sanctification without the Cross and His Resurrection. It all started there and continues there. So why is it that some Believers do not have their Faith exclusively in the Cross of Christ for their initial Salvation AND for everyday living which is Sanctification? We believe (have Faith) in the Cross for initial Salvation but moved into self-sanctification for everyday living. We look to ourselves and not to what He has done for us on the Cross as if it wasn’t enough – as if something more is needed. God forbid! It is Finished!

When we do not have the full Truth that sets us free which is the Cross of Calvary, we greatly hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives who is the ONLY one who directs and administer Living Water (Spiritual Life) to us. Again, we believe (have Faith) for our initial Salvation but move into “self” sanctification. Yes, I’ve said all of this before and will continue to say it to remind all of us. Faith comes by hearing and hearing…

Christ Jesus took our place and paid the wage of sin in our lives by dying on the Cross. He did this for ALL, but it is ONLY for those who believe that will receive. We all have a choice! Most Believer have a good understanding of this for initial Salvation. We, humans, sinned and Jesus atoned for all sins for those who believe. With sin atone for, the devil has lost his authority/claim over our lives, but for those who believe. Because of the Cross, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. His Grace, that we now have because He died for us and made us blameless, is sufficient for us; it catches us and undergirds us. We didn’t have this before we came to the Cross. Sin no longer has dominion over us – for those who believe (have Faith) in His Death, Burial and Resurrection for Salvation and Sanctification.

As Believers who have the full Truth and Faith in that Truth, sin has no dominion because when we do fall/fail we now have the privilege of forgiveness. Because we believe (have Faith) in God’s Plan for Redemption, which is the Cross of Christ, we can be forgiven. God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. Everything we get from God, including forgiveness, we get by Faith but Faith in the giving of His Son, Jesus, a sacrifice for us. All that God has for us come through and by the Cross of Christ – for those who believe. But you can’t believe, in the Cross, just for part of it, Salvation; you must believe in what He accomplished on the Cross and in His Resurrection, to receive the full benefits of the Word of God; it is by Faith in Christ Crucified. No man comes unto the Father but by Christ Jesus, and the way to get to Jesus is through the Cross.

When things are going wrong in people lives, they want to quote scriptures over their lives or over their loved ones’ lives. I know this is a very unpopular thing to say, but The Word of God is for the Children of God. Salvation is for those who do not know or live for God. And some Christians do not live for God; and I’ll go a bit further, if they do not live for God, they probably were never His. Everyone messes up; we all sin and miss the mark. I’m talking about those who claim and name the Name of the Lord, but their hearts are far from Him. They sin and think nothing of it. They live their best life but want to have Jesus when things aren’t going well.

1 Corinthians 2:14-16 states:

But the natural [unbelieving] man does not accept the things [the teachings and revelations] of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness [absurd and illogical] to him; and he is incapable of understanding them, because they are spiritually discerned and appreciated, [and he is unqualified to judge spiritual matters]. But the spiritual man [the spiritually mature Christian] judges all things [questions, examines and applies what the Holy Spirit reveals], yet is himself judged by no one [the unbeliever cannot judge and understand the believer’s spiritual nature]. For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].

That “natural” man (mankind) is also those Christians who live on a “human level”; they live and make decision in the realm on “self” and of the “world system” but do not question, examines and apply what the Holy Spirit reveals in the Word of God to their daily lives. The Holy Spririt through the Apostle Paul said "We preach Christ Crucified", but is this what is being preached in the Church? In all our getting, we should get understanding, but understanding cannot and will not come without having our Faith properly placed. The things of God can only be illuminated by the Spirit of God. And in a previous blog, I mentioned that the Spirit of God, The Holy Spirit, only operates within the parameters of the Cross of Christ – we must have our Faith exclusively there. It is only for those who believe.

We greatly hinder the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives when we do not have our Faith properly placed in the Cross of Christ. We have our Faith in Jesus the man, but do not have our Faith in that which Jesus did for us to become the Righteousness in God – it is through what Christ Jesus accomplished on the Cross of Calvary. Since the Holy Spirit works within the confines of the Cross, we hinder His being able to be the Helper when we need help. Some have their Faith only in part of what it needs to be in. Again we believe in Jesus and that He died on the Cross for Salvation, but we walked away from the very thing that allowed us to receive the Holy Spirit in our lives – The Cross.

Please understand that God blesses His Children – those who believe, but the devil also blesses those who belong to him. The thing is that some people don’t believe that they belong to the devil. Even in some Christian’s lives, they still allow the devil to have dominion in their lives, and it’s because they have not come to the understanding of where their Faith should be place. They only have their Faith in part of what is needed; they have the source, Jesus, by they do not have means in which to get everything He has for us – the Cross!

We haven’t received the full benefits of what He accomplish on the Cross here in the Land of the Living, but when He returns, and He will, we will receive the FULL benefits of having our Faith rooted and ground in the Cross of Christ. But these benefits are for those who believe in Jesus and in what accomplished for it all – Salvation, Justification and Sanctification! One central location for everything we need. We, humans, make this so complicated. We try to help God, the Holy Spirit, and He needs no help. We try this and that; we push and pull – it’s a lot of useless doings. He only requires us to have Faith in that which has done through His Son. All of our good deeds and words spring forth from the foundation of our Faith in Christ Jesus – His Death, Burial and Resurrection not the other way around! It is for us who believe!