No human being could have dreamt up the new birth and all of the realities that took place in our born-again spirits. It"s just beyond our imagination that G.o.d would indwell us and that our spirits would be as He is in this world.
If you"ve received the revelation thus far, you can say, "I see it! I"m a brand-new person in my spirit. Old things pa.s.sed away, and all things have become new. As Jesus is right now, so am I in this world. My spirit, the real me, was created in righ-teousness and true holiness."
Many people who have seen these truths, who rejoiced over them, and who were immediately impacted have since sinned or gotten busy and forgotten. Something happened and they find themselves back in some of the same negative situations they were in before being born again (i.e., defeat, discouragement, etc.). Due to their own apparent failure, they feel, Maybe I was changed, but I"ve blown it...again. Regarding everything we"ve discussed thus far about what happened at salvation, they argue, "That may have been so before, but I"ve blown it so much since then that it can"t possibly be true of me now!"
I have good news-what G.o.d does in the spirit always remains constant and unchanging regardless of fluctuations in your performance!
Imprisoned Inmates are descriptive of us all. Everyone has prisons- problems in their lives that keep them bound up. It"s just that our problems aren"t always quite as obvious as those of someone who"s been placed behind bars.
In jail, many people realize that they"ve been ruining their own lives. No longer wanting the mess they have, they look around wondering, How can I change? I need to get out of here!
Then some minister comes across their paths preaching, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are pa.s.sed away; behold, all things are become new"
(2 Cor. 5:17). The thought that G.o.d loves them and wants to completely change their lives fits perfectly with what"s going through most prisoners" minds. They desperately want to change, get out of there, and see their lives go in a different direction. So they pray and accept the Lord-not only for eternal benefit but for the purpose of immediate change as well.
A newly born-again prisoner will often become vulnerable to discouragement, doubt, and unbelief because they don"t un-derstand that the change took place in their spirit, and the rest of the Christian life is renewing their mind to believe and release what G.o.d has already put inside them. The next morning they wake up to find themselves in the same cell, facing the same trials and the same penalties. Looking only in the physical realm, it"s easy for them to conclude, "It didn"t work. The Word isn"t true. G.o.d didn"t change me because everything"s still the same!"
This happens outside of jail too. Waking up the next morning, you find yourself still married to the same person, working the same job, facing the same sickness, and under the same moun-tain of debt. In fact, many times your problems intensify once you"re born again. That"s just the devil throwing everything he has at you because you"re no longer on his side, and he wants to stop your witness. If you"re not careful, you can become con-fused and think, I"m not sure anything really happened!
The change occurred in the spirit, not the physical realm. In fact, one-third of it is already complete! Your new man has been created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24). You"re not evolving into it because in your spirit, you already are.
Accepted Jesus became sin so you could become righteous. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of G.o.d in him" (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus became what you were so you could become what He is. He took your sin and gave you His righteousness!
Most of the church today acknowledges that Jesus paid the price for their sin but don"t really believe they have become righ-teous. They think this takes place in the future when they arrive in heaven. Second Corinthians 5:21 refutes this misunderstand-ing by declaring He took (past tense) your sin and made (past tense) you righteous. If you believe the first half of this verse, then you ought to believe the second half too-you are righteous!
G.o.d doesn"t look at you the way you look at yourself. He looks upon your spirit and sees that you are righteous. Most people pray, "O G.o.d, I"m so sorry. I"ve failed You miserably again. How can You love me? Have mercy!" They don"t recognize the truth that the performance of their bodies and souls, either good or bad, has absolutely no bearing on whether or not G.o.d accepts them. If you"re born again, it doesn"t matter if you"ve rebelled or just aren"t everything you should be. G.o.d sees you as righteous and truly holy because He"s looking at your spirit!
G.o.d is pleased with you! "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, accord-ing to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the be-loved" (Eph. 1:5-6). "Accepted" means more than just mere tol-eration. He"s literally pleased with you! You might not be pleased with the shape your mind or body is in, but G.o.d sees you in the spirit. When you were born again, you became a brand-new crea-ture, and He"s pleased with His workmanship!
"Accepted" in Ephesians 1:6 is the same Greek word trans-lated "highly favored" in Luke 1:28. "And the angel [Gabriel] came in unto her [Mary], and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women" (brackets mine). These are the only two places in Scripture that this particular Greek word is found. Therefore, as the woman who bore Christ was accepted, so you are highly favored of the Lord!
Preserved & Protected Once you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit. "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13). Your born-again spirit was created in righteousness and true holiness (Eph. 4:24). As Jesus is, so became your spirit right here in this world (1 John 4:17). It became one with the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Then, all of this goodness was immediately sealed tight with the Holy Spirit.
When a woman cans food, she seals the jar with paraffin. This makes an airtight seal that preserves and protects the food within. Airborne impurities are prevented from getting inside and causing the food to rot and spoil. That"s how this word "seal" is used in Ephesians 1:13!
When you were born again, your spirit was immediately encased-vacuum packed-by the Holy Spirit for the purpose of preservation. When you fail in any area of your life after being saved, the rottenness, uncleanness, and defilement that comes to your body and soul don"t penetrate your spirit. This Holy Spirit seal keeps the good in and the bad out!
G.o.d doesn"t look at sin the way people do. To Him, sin isn"t only doing something wrong by violating a command, it"s also not doing something right that you should have done. "There-fore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17). n.o.body loves their mate exactly like Christ loved the church. No one is as pa.s.sionate about ministering to others as they should be. None of us meditates on the things of G.o.d as much as we could. Therefore, according to G.o.d"s defini-tion of sin, everyone constantly falls short!
If you don"t understand that the Holy Spirit encased your born-again spirit, your conscience will eventually give you the impression that you"ve lost the righteousness and true holiness your spirit was created in. Your conscience, with its knowledge of right and wrong, constantly bears witness to your mind about your thoughts and actions. If you aren"t careful, you"ll allow the knowledge of your failures to affect you. You"ll think, Well, when I was born again, G.o.d gave me a brand-new start, but I"ve failed since then. You may confess, try hard, and get back to where you feel like, Now 1 "m back on track and everything s fine, but it won"t be long before your conscience shows you something else. If you go up and down like this day after day, year after year (which youdo), after a while, you"ll think. What"s the use?
Born of G.o.d I However, the truth is that your spirit was sealed. Sin, and its effects, cannot enter into your spirit. When you sin, your spirit does not partic.i.p.ate. It retains its original holiness and purity- and will for eternity! "Whosoever is born of G.o.d doth not com-mit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, be-cause he is born of G.o.d" (1 John 3:9). This means you are as righteous and holy now, in your spirit, as you will ever be!
Many people struggle to understand 1 John 3:9 because its context clearly shows that Christians do sin: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). "If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us" (1 John 1:10). "My little chil-dren, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the I righteous" (1 John 2:1).
These are three instances from the same letter where the writer, the Apostle John, talks about sinning. The first two communicate, "If you say you haven"t sinned, you"re a liar." He adds, "I"m writing to you so that you will not (future tense) sin. But if you do sin, you have an advocate with the Father." Then, in 3:9 he declares, "If you"re born of G.o.d, you cannot sin." That sounds very contra-I dictory!
Both Scripture and experience reveal that Christians can sin. The context of 1 John shows that 3:9 isn"t saying that it"s impossible for a born-again believer to do something that"s sin. Yet, it also clearly says that if you"re born of G.o.d, you cannot sin. How can this be?
Big & Little Sins?
Some people take 1 John 3:9 to mean you can"t "habitually" sin. Several Bible translations now even render it this way. People who think along this line preach: "If you were a drunk before you were saved, you might get drunk once or twice, but if you"re truly saved, you won"t habitually sin. Eventually, you"ll see victory in that area, or you weren"t truly born again."
In order to embrace this view, you have to categorize sin- which G.o.d doesn"t. To Him, there are no "big" sins and "little" sins. By His definition, we all habitually sin. We all habitually fail to study G.o.d"s Word as much as we should. We all habitually fail to love others the way we should. We all habitually fail to be as considerate as we should. We habitually get into self-centeredness, and G.o.d has to habitually deal with us about it.
Sometimes, we also pa.s.s over things that G.o.d calls sin. For instance, the Lord views gluttony the same as drunkenness, adultery, and murder (Deut. 21:20). Gluttony is a sin that can only happen habitually. You can"t become overweight by eating just one large meal. Even if you gorged yourself, it would only make a pound or two of difference. In order to gain an extra fifty to a hundred pounds, you"d have to do it again and again and again. Being overweight is a habitual sin. This isn"t to condemn anyone but to put things in perspective.
If you interpret 1 John 3:9 to mean that you cannot habitually sin if you"re truly born of G.o.d, then n.o.body would qualify because we all habitually sin! The only way this can be preached is to say, "Well, you can"t habitually do the "big" sins, but the "little" ones-yes, you can habitually sin." That"s not what this verse is saying.
If you understand spirit, soul, and body, the interpretation of 1 John 3:9 is obvious. Your spirit is the only part of you that"s been born of G.o.d. Your soul and body have been purchased, but not yet redeemed. Therefore, your spirit cannot sin even though your body and soul can. This means your performance doesn"t affect the purity and holiness of your spirit!
This truth is pivotal to your relationship with G.o.d! If you tie His acceptance to your performance, you"ll always come short. You might do better than certain other people, but your own conscience will condemn you. Eventually, it"ll keep you from enjoying G.o.d"s love and blessings because you know that you"ve tried and tried but still have faults after all these years. When you understand spirit, soul, and body, you know that it was your spirit that changed. Created in righteousness and true holiness, it"s been sealed by the Holy Spirit so no sin can penetrate it. The righteousness you were born again with stays uncontaminated. Since G.o.d is a Spirit, He always deals with you Spirit to spirit. Nomatter how you"re performing, you can always approach Him in your born-again spirit! That"s awesome!
Chapter 7.
Eternal Redemption Hebrews 9 contrasts Old Testament Law with New Testament grace. What we"ve received through Jesus in the New Covenant is far superior to the Old. Old Testament sacrifices couldn"t really set anyone free; they were put in place as an ill.u.s.tration and a reminder to the people until the real sacrifice came. Since they were symbolic and couldn"t really purge from sin, Old Testament sacrifices had to be offered over and over and over again. But now that Jesus has given His life as the sacrifice for sin, it never again needs to be repeated. Through Christ, the perfect sacrifice for sin has been made once for all!
Your born-again spirit never needs to be re-cleansed, re-purged, or born again, again! "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us" (Heb. 9:11-12). Your salva-tion is eternal!
"For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to G.o.d, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living G.o.d? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance" (Heb. 9:13-15).
Jesus "entered in once into the holy place" and "obtained eternal redemption for us" (verse 12). Then, in verse 15, He provided an "eternal inheritance." Each of these statements emphasizes a one-time sacrifice that works once for all.
Once!
G.o.d really wants this point driven home to us! "For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of G.o.d for us: Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation" (Heb. 9:24-28, emphasis mine). Old Testament sacrifices were offered constantly, but Jesus entered once into the holy place and made one sacrifice. Since we die just once, He suffered once, and that one sacrifice paid for sin forever!
Old Testament sacrifices could not do what the New Testament sacrifice of Jesus did. They were only temporary shadows of the real thing to come. "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins" (Heb. 10:1 -2). If the Old Testament sacrifices really could have made the people perfect, they wouldn"t have had to be offered over and over again. If they had worked, the worshipers- once purged-should have had no more conscience of sins!
New Testament believers need not be conscious of sin! The Old Testament sacrifices couldn"t do it, but the New Testament sacrifice could and did. If you believe the truth of G.o.d"s Word, you can literally reach a place where you are no longer sin-conscious. You would recognize that your spirit has been sanctified and perfected forever. G.o.d doesn"t see you as a sinner; He sees your born-again spirit and is pleased. If you focus your thoughts on who you are in the spirit, you"ll be conscious of righteousness!
This old phrase "I"m just a sinner, saved by grace" isn"t true! If you"re a sinner, then you need to be born again. If you were truly saved by grace, then you are no longer a sinner. Your spirit has been recreated in righteousness and true holiness and it cannot sin. Neither can it be penetrated by sin in your body or soul because of the Holy Spirit seal. Don"t approach G.o.d confessing "I"m an old sinner." Draw near to Him boldly because you are now "the righteousness of G.o.d in" Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).
Approach G.o.d through Jesus and what He did in your born-again spirit, saying, "Father, thank You that through Christ I have boldness to enter right into Your very throne of grace because You have made me righteous!" If you honestly think, O G.o.d, I"m so unrighteous! then you either need to be born again, or you need to renew your mind and start believing the truth of G.o.d"s Word. You"ve been made the righteousness of G.o.d in Christ Jesus!
Past, Present & Future You"ve been forgiven of your sins-past, present, and future! That"s what "eternal redemption" means. You might think, G.o.d can"t forgive me of a sin before 1 even commit it! Well, you better pray that He can because Christ only died for your sins once. If Jesus can"t forgive a sin before you commit it, then you can"t be forgiven at all. Why? Jesus Christ hasn"t died for sin in over 2,000 years!
Jesus paid for all sins-past, present, and future. Humans may not think this way, but G.o.d does. He"s Eternal-time, distance, and s.p.a.ce aren"t problems for Him. Through His perfect sacrifice, G.o.d has already dealt with all sins!
When Jesus died, He put a will into effect. "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Heb. 10:10). You were sanctified-separated, made holy-through the offering of Jesus Christ once for all time.
Generally speaking, Pentecostals were the ones who came up with this doctrine of backsliding, that every time you sin, you lose your salvation, and if you don"t confess it before you die, you"ll go to h.e.l.l despite the fact that you"ve been born again for twenty or thirty years. They erroneously interpret this verse to mean "one sacrifice for all people."
However, the context proves that Hebrews 10:10 means one sacrifice made you holy for all time. Notice all the words referring to time in the next four verses. "And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: But this man [Jesus], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of G.o.d; From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" (Heb. 10:11-14, emphasis mine). Christ"s one offering perfected and sanctified you forever!
In case you still aren"t convinced, Hebrews 12:23 is another verse from the same context. "To the general a.s.sembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to G.o.d the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect" (emphasis mine). How clear can it get? Your spirit has been perfected forever-all time. You don"t lose your right standing with G.o.d if you sin. What a radical, wonderful truth for the church today!
David Saw It Most Christians are taught that their performance affects their relationship with G.o.d. When you are born again, you"re forgiven, cleansed, and you become a brand-new person. However, every time you sin, you lose that right standing with Him until you confess that particular sin and put it under the blood too. If you don"t, G.o.d is displeased and cannot accept you. If you were to die before repenting and confessing all of those sins, you would go to h.e.l.l. In a sense, they"re saying you must be born again, again!
That"s not what G.o.d"s Word teaches! The Bible speaks of eternal redemption and eternal inheritance. You aren"t sanctified and perfected only until you blow it-which is constantly. You"re sanctified and perfected forever! People who believe they lose it all and have to start over again every time they sin will never really develop or see great growth in their spiritual lives. They"re stuck in the flesh, focused on the performance of their bodies and their souls. G.o.d"s Word reveals that your sins were forgiven- past, present, and future.
David saw by faith through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit just how great salvation would be. "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom G.o.d imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered [past and present tense sins]. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not [future tense] impute sin" (Rom. 4:6-8, Paul quotes Ps. 32:1-2, brackets mine). Psalm 32:2 even adds, "And in whose spirit there is no guile." David (an Old Covenant patriarch) saw prophetically the blessedness of your New Covenant relationship with G.o.d. Because of your born-again spirit"s righteous nature, the Lord no longer holds any sin against you.
Now that"s good news!
Chapter 8.
Standard Gospel Questions Serious questions usually start coming right about now. "What are you saying? G.o.d will love me, and I won"t lose my right standing with Him no matter what? Do you mean I can just go live in sin?" Paul dealt with this same thing! "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" (Rom. 6:1). The answer, of course, is "G.o.d forbid" (Rom. 6:2).
Unless this question comes up, you aren"t preaching the same Gospel as the Apostle Paul. He dealt with it four different times! "What am 1 saying? Do we continue in sin? G.o.d forbid!" Even though you have to explain what you mean, it should be a logical question.
n.o.body interprets most churches today as saying "You can just go live in sin" because they"re busy preaching so hard against it. This question never even comes up! Typical teaching today ties G.o.d"s love and acceptance to your performance. Therefore, these messages given "in the name of the Lord" produce a works-righteousness (self-righteousness based on your actions) in most believers. The Bible doesn"t teach that G.o.d accepts or rejects you because of your actions; it teaches that your actions can never be good enough!
G.o.d"s Word says He accepts you based on whether your spirit is righteous or not. That spirit doesn"t become righteous through your good actions and att.i.tudes. Righteousness comes through confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. As you are born again, G.o.d gives you this brand-new spirit. Righteousness is NOT based on your actions!
The next question people ask is, "Are you saying it doesn"t matter how I live?" No, that"s not what I"m saying. Paul continues in Romans 6 giving two reasons why a Christian should live holy: 1. Your new nature desires it, and 2. You don"t want to give the devil access to your soul and body through sin. How you live doesn"t affect your spirit"s righteousness, but it greatly affects your life!
Sin"s Strength If you are truly born again, G.o.d has changed your nature. "How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?" (Rom. 6:2-3). You are no longer a child of the devil who loves to sin. You do still sin, but it"s not your nature anymore. Your spirit has been changed, and you no longer enjoy it. Every born-again believer has a built-in desire to live holy (1 John 3:3). You might not be fulfilling it, but it"s there!
Preaching the Law-legalism and religious works-actually strengthens sin (1 Cor. 15:56). The Law makes you sin more by causing you to l.u.s.t for the very thing that"s forbidden. That"s why G.o.d gave it! Mankind was being destroyed by sin, but we deceived ourselves into thinking, I"m pretty good! G.o.d answered, saying, "Oh, you think you"re okay? Let Me show you what the real standard is." The Law made sin come alive so you"d recognize your need for a Savior (Rom. 7:9, Gal. 3:24).
Since I can"t give a detailed explanation of this truth here, I"d like to recommend to you The True Nature of G.o.d. In that teaching, I expound much more on this particular point. You"ll discover how G.o.d, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8), can act so differently toward mankind from the Old Testament to the New. Without understanding how everything changed when Jesus Christ came, you"ll think G.o.d is schizophrenic. I a.s.sure you, He"s not!
The Lord"s purpose in sending the Law was to make you bow your knee and confess, "G.o.d have mercy on me! I can"t do it. I can"t break this sin!" The Law wasn"t given to help you overcome sin. It was to show you that sin had already overcome you! The Law actually strengthened sin and gave it so much power that it would effectively remove the deception that you could ever get rid of sin on your own. Religion, however, turns it around and says, "The Law was given to help you overcome sin." That"s just not true.
If you"re truly born again, you have a desire to live for G.o.d. "And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (1 John 3:3). There will be varying degrees of this purity manifest in your actions and thoughts, but every born-again person seeks to purify themselves.
Sin gives Satan access to your body and soul. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?" (Rom. 6:16). Satan wants to bring death into your life any way he can-sickness, disease, poverty, shame, depression, discouragement, and all sorts of other nasty things. Why give your enemy an opportunity to come against you?
As a Christian, you don"t have to live holy in order for G.o.d to accept and be pleased with you. However, your actions and att.i.tudes do determine how you get along with other people. That"s why it"s still to your advantage to live a holy life!
Accidental Holiness Knowing that I can relate to G.o.d based on the perfection, holiness, and righteousness in my spirit has set me free from sin- not to sin. In my flesh, I"ll never be completely perfect until I receive my glorified body. Yet, in the meantime, 1 can go ahead and relate to G.o.d based on who I am in my spirit. This makes my relationship with Him stable and secure.
I"ve lived a holier life accidentally than most people have on purpose! Whenever these truths are taught, people criticize saying, "You"re just preaching this so you can live in sin!" You can"t accuse me of that because I"ve never spoken a word of profanity, drank liquor of any kind, smoked a cigarette, or even tasted coffee in all of my life! I"m not saying that coffee and booze are the same thing. There"s scripture for drinking coffee. Mark 16:18 promises, "If they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them." I"m just telling you that people can"t look at me and say the reason I preach this is because it allows me to live in sin. No, I live a very holy life.
I don"t live holy because I have to but because I want to. I don"t do it in order to obtain G.o.d"s blessing. I do it because He"s revealed this truth to me and changed my heart. I desire to live holy because it"s good for me. It helps me minister to others better, and it"s happier to live holy than unholy!
G.o.d would still love me if 1 lived in sin (because my spirit is changed), but I wouldn"t love me and other people wouldn"t either. Sin offends G.o.d, but it also offends people. If you"re truly born again, He"ll deal with you as His child, based on your born-again spirit. But people won"t love you if you steal from them. If they catch you, they"ll throw you in jail where you"ll suffer, be confined, and hurt. You won"t have as nice of a life, but G.o.d will still love you. You"ll still be righteous, but you"ll also be stupid! (I"m not trying to be harsh, just blunt.) Living holy doesn"t make G.o.d love you more, but it does increase your love for Him. Likewise, a lack of holiness won"t cause G.o.d to love you less, but it"ll definitely decrease your love for Him. Although G.o.d"s love for you doesn"t change, your performance directly affects your love for Him. Can you see now G.o.d"s purpose for holiness?
Come Boldly!
Sin is never a wise choice, but it"s also never an issue between you and G.o.d. He dealt with your sin-past, present, and future-when you were born again. You can come boldly before the Lord at any time-even when you"ve fallen short, even when you"re displeased with yourself, even when you"ve given Satan an inroad into your life. You can still come boldly into the very presence of G.o.d your Father and receive from Him because your spirit didn"t lose any of its right standing with Him!
The Word encourages you to come before the Lord when you need mercy and help! "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb. 4:16). Don"t just wait to come before Him until you"ve done everything "right." You can boldly approach the Lord and receive grace to help when you"ve totally messed things up. Your heavenly Father has invited you to draw near to His throne at any time by faith in His Son and who you are in Him. It"s your birthright as a child of the King!