Today, I was watching the movie based on the book of Esther called 'One Night with the King'. It was a real blessing from God as I've been struggling with confidence recently. Mostly because I was not putting my confidence squarely where it should be, Christ...that is, the Messiah.
This morning I had also read through part of 'Agape Road' and by God's grace He worked everything together. The topic was having confidence in the royal robes (Esther 5) of Christ as His Bride. Paul describes these robes in his letter to the Colossians (3):
'So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful.
Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.'
The interesting thing is that there is an active participation on our part, we have to 'put on' these things by and in faith as a response to the sprinkling of the blood that has come to us, that is, the Gospel of God and having received the implanted Word. This is very far from 'putting on' a mask of humility, kindness, etc...I am very good at that when I want to be, but God is no respecter of masks and so it's something I pray He continues to change in me as I seek Him. He drives into the deeper darker recesses of our hearts and shows us what's what and that is painful and scary at times because we have a tendency to believe the reality you put on when you have been doing it for so long.
Closed my eyes and an immediate sense of peace came upon me when God gave me the visual of actually putting on those royal robes. Seeing them as the gift from God that they are as a result of what He has done and is doing in our lives. Actively stepping into Christ by faith in such a real way was exactly what I needed. Does that mean I didn't have any troubles or worries today? Not at all. It means I was equipped to walk through them though, in His Spirit.
Tomorrow is Palm Sunday and we celebrate Jesus' humble, non-triumphalist entrance into Jerusalem as He headed toward the Passover celebration that would Rock the cosmos and change everything so that the dividing wall of hostility between Jew and non-Jew would be torn down in His flesh and all those who believe on Him and confess Him with their mouth would have the privilege of participating in the divine nature as a Kingdom of Priests in Messiah, our Lord, for the salvation of the world and the glory of God, our Father.
No comments:
Post a Comment