If believers would only believe ......

IF BELIEVERS WOULD ONLY BELIEVE …..

Believe ….. that God is not only near us, but in us and more importantly, that we are in

Jesus, who is in the Father, a mysterious, but inseparable union.

Believe ….. that our temporal and eternal security rest on our union with Jesus by his

grace only. And that good works, however noble, do not enter this picture.

Believe ….. that ALL our sins are ALREADY forgiven.

Believe ….. that the blood of Jesus WAS shed for a complete remission of ALL our sins.

Believe ….. that New Testament believers are asked to CONFESS their sins and that

our Father has promised to do the cleansing.

Believe …. that Jesus is our Savior and our very life and not just an example for us to

follow.

Believe ….. that being in Christ, we are the very offspring of God, we are no longer

sinners, but children, saints of God.

Believe …... that our Father rejoices in his children at all times.

Believe ….. that righteousness is a gift we receive by grace, and not something we

achieve by righteous living.

Believe ….. our Father when he says that he will remember our sins no more.

Believe ….. that when Jesus died, we being in him, we really and truly died as well.

Believe ….. that when Jesus rose from the grave, that we, having been immersed in his

death and burial, that we now also fully participate in his resurrection.

Believe ….. that we, having been reconciled by Jesus’ death, now continue to be saved

by his life and not by doing righteous deeds.

Believe ….. That eternal life is not a promise for future realization, but a present reality

for every believer.

Believe ….. that when God says that he will never leave us or abandon us, he also

really means what he says.

Believe ….. that the Holy Spirit is not the One who empowers believers, but that he IS

the power, working mightily IN the believers.

Believe ….. that we, God’s children, have BEEN delivered from ALL the tyranny of the

devil.

Believe ….. and understand that our Father has ordained that his children would fail at

living the Chr. life, so that we, his dear children would come to see the utter

futility of living this life FOR him, and instead cast ourselves on Father’s

mercy and allow him to live this life through us.

Believe ….. that we will only find peace, God’s peace, when we surrender our feeble

efforts at self-sanctification, self-improvement by asking Father to do in

us, what we are completely unable to do ourselves.

Believe ….. that a loving Father would be grieved when his children choose death

rather than life, when they gratify the flesh.

Believe ….. and understand that God never redeemed his people with an eye to what

those redeemed people might do for him, but with an eye to what he might

do IN them.

Believe ….. that Jesus stands at the door of believer’s hearts and stands there asking to

be let inside, Rev. 3 : 20.

Believe ….. that God’s grace is so complete and all-encompassing and our in-ability so

absolute, that there is nothing in his Kingdom that we might earn, even by

our greatest efforts.

Believe ….. that our Father IS our provision for all things spiritual, for all things

emotional and for all things physical.

Believe ….. that our natural birth was not by our choosing and that the same holds true

for our spiritual or second birth. We are also unable to undo either birth.

Believe ….. there is nothing we can do to earn God’s favor or blessings.

Believe ….. that we can do nothing to make God love us more and that we can do

nothing to make him love us less.

Believe ….. that God’s blessings are not a sign of his favor, they are a sign of his mercy.

May believing these truths gleaned from the Scriptures help us to find the reality of rest, peace, God’s grace and mercy and all the fruit of the Spirit.

St. Thomas, May/’10. Simon VanderKooy.