Don't Get Stuck At The Cross

Once upon a time, you felt like you were moving forward. Now you feel like you’re sinking fast. You’re falling in quicksand. You want to move forward, but you don’t know-how. My question for you is, have you got stuck at the cross? Did you know there’s so much more than just salvation? There’s an intimately personal relationship that’s waiting for you and me. Sadly today, many people in the world and the church are STUCK! The Bible tells us that Christ came to give us life and life abundantly. We see in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”  Or more abundantly. It’s emotional, physical, spiritual, and financial. It’s not just for when we reach those streets of gold. However, that will be a fantastic day. No, my friends, the Father wants to bless us all with an abundant life now. He wants to heal us from anything and everything that we might face.

Unfortunately, when you look over the church body, we don’t see people living incredible lives. Many people are just going through the motions. People are emotionally, spiritually, and financially drained. The world and its daily sin have so beaten them up. Church, this should not be the case. Christ suffered and died so we could equip ourselves to have an abundant life of freedom. When we live like this, we aren’t saying we’re free. We’re saying that we’re trapped, entangled, and snared by the enemy. We’re saying that we’ve lost hope and that we’ve forgotten that our hope is in nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. So my question for you is, how do we stop? How do we break free? I believe it starts with trust. It begins with acknowledging that he can heal us. He can supply all of our needs and go above and beyond to shower us with abundant blessings. Why because he loves us. He wants nothing but the best for me and you, friend.

How do we transfer from the point of salvation to living a life of victory every day? How do we start believing that anything is possible? How do we stop doubting? Christ is more concerned with our character and how we live our lives than what we achieve. You could have all of the accomplishments in the world and still lack an intimate relationship with Christ. You could go through life knowing of him but never really knowing him. Did you catch that? It’s one thing to know his name. It’s quite another to invite him into your heart and begin to be indeed called a child of God. Don’t just be a person that’s heard others talk about him. Take the time to study the Bible. Read the Bible for yourself. Study it and show yourself approved. Start talking to him. Take the time to get to know him. He knows all about you. Now it’s time for you to get to know him the way that he lovingly knows you.

This world is suffocating under a world of people with a lack of Godly character or godlessness. Our world needs more people of character. I don’t know about you, but I want to learn everything there is to know about being a child of God. I want a life that will leave a legacy of hope and love. There’s only one thing you can take with you when you die. Do you know what that is? It’s your character. That’s right!! That’s the only thing that will end up in your casket with you. It’s what you can take up to heaven. Our character is what people remember about us when we leave this world. Ultimately on the day that they lay us to rest, it’s your character that is spoken of. It’s what made you. That’s what they’ll remember. We have a choice to make. We can be filled with Godly character of worldly character. What will you choose to be filled with today? For me, I choose God. I pray, and I hope that you will choose the same, my friends.

Are you building a life of character? Salvation is on one side of the river. The only way through to the other side that’s Heaven is Jesus. The next thing that happens is between you and the Holy Spirit. That’s building your character. This is what I mean to become like Christ. We can ask the Holy Spirit for help because he is our helper. Yet, he will not do this for us. We have to take action ourselves. We have to be ready and willing to make the necessary changes needed for our Spiritual growth. We can ask God to show us the fruit in our life’s that is lacking and perhaps needs a better daily harvest. Let’s take a look at Galatians 5:16-26 “So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” 

As Christians, we are called to do something that we naturally wouldn’t want to do. We are called to be different. This means that we have to be willing to work on our character. It is the only way we can become more like Jesus Christ. We have to be willing to work on our salvation. We have to keep letting the Father bring to full completion the excellent work that he’s started within not just our hearts but our souls. We have to keep fighting the good fight of faith. Knowing that the Father is with us every step of the way. Philippians 2:12-13 “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.”  You see my friends he’s doing a mighty work within us. The question is are we willing to step back and let him continue to do what needs to be done? In order for our character to blossom and flourish.

God has given us all the tools that we need to live a Godly life. We have to be willing to work on what God has already started with us. Will working on ourselves be easy? No, of course not. Yet nothing is impossible with God. He will be with us every step of the way rooting for us and cheering us on. The resources that we need have been freely given all along. One of those resources is faith. The more we walk with the Father, the stronger our faith will get. I have more good news. He’s done another great thing to help us build or character and faith. He’s given us something called the Bible, which stands for basic instructions before leaving earth. This book was created as a guidebook. It’s the Father’s instructions of love written out for us all. The Bible is full of his precious promises. Promises to help us along the way. These resources and tools will help you have victory. Through studying the Bible daily, you can be triumphant and learn how to live an abundant life. However, this is going to take work on our part. I don’t see anywhere in the Bible where it tells us that God is just going to make us pure, godly, and holy. No, my friends, we have to be willing to do our part sincerely. Please don’t get me wrong, and there is the initial salvation that takes place. We do not work for our salvation because salvation is a gift given to us all. How do we receive this gift? We receive it through faith. That said, God doesn’t want us to sit on our blessed assurance and to count our blessings one by one. No, we must hold ourselves accountable for our actions. Let us remember what James said. To have faith without works is dead. In other words, we should have real fruit in our life. Let’s take a look at 1st Timothy 4:7 “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.” 

Sadly, many Christians today are walking down an unrighteous path. Many people have adopted this mindset of not obeying what the Bible says. They have forgotten that the Bible is the key to living an abundant life full of blessings. Unfortunately, the world can’t see the difference between those born again and those who aren’t saved yet. Somewhere along the way, the lines between saved and unsaved have gotten blurred. Those who have been born again should be spreading love. Instead, their still spreading hate and wickedness just as much as they were before they got saved. No tangible concrete change is evident in their lives. We need to take action and do our part. We need to take off the old life and put on the new. We should be studying to show ourselves approved. We need to walk with the Holy Spirit and walk in holiness. These are not suggestions. These are commands. They’re here to help us walk in obedience and freedom. They’re what we need to have an abundant life.

God expects us to train ourselves to work out our faith. Imagine it like a faith gymnasium or exercising yourself towards godliness; this is a daily spiritual act of worship. Now I’m not saying that God doesn’t and won’t continue to do Miracles in any way, shape, or form. He’s still removing addictions instantly and transforming lives and relationships. Why? The answer is it’s who he is! He’s a God of great love and compassion. The actual act of walking out to be Christ-like is something that those in the church call sanctification. You may be saying, what in the world is that. Let me break it down for you. Sanctification is coming in and practicing who you already are in Christ Jesus—becoming more like Him. Everything our heavenly Father calls us to be, we already are in his mind. Praise the Lord because of his Amazing Grace. Grace meets us right where we are. His grace loves us so much! He doesn’t just leave us there. No, he walks with us. He leads us and directs us to be who we are created to be. He gives us the Holy Spirit. He also provides us with the word to guide us. This is all his process of enabling and equipping us to do in and through us what we could not naturally do for ourselves. My friend’s grace is such a gorgeous gift.

Having Godly character ultimately goes back to those fruits of the Spirit. You find this in Galatians chapter 5. The last one is self-discipline. We have to be willing to go to the faith gym every day. We have to work on our salvation as it’s the only way to become more like Christ. The old must die so the new version of ourselves can live. We must pick up our cross daily to become more like him. God’s vision for you and me as it’s his plan for your life. Joyce Meyers writes it this way. “I used to be a full-time sinner that every once in a while would accidentally do something right. Now, through a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ over the years, he has changed me. I’m not who I should be. Yet I’m better than I was yesterday, and I make fewer mistakes.” I don’t know if you know this, but mistakes can be costly, and I’d like to make less of them. Thankfully with the help of God’s word, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, we can stay in his word. He can be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. He will make our paths straight if we let him. Will you let him? I hope, and I pray that you will.

Sadly we’re not always going to get it right. Yet, we need to stop believing that we’re beyond help! These are lies straight from Hell! Everyone, yes, everyone is capable of receiving help from God. We may be imperfect people, but we serve a perfect God. Every day we can choose to ask the Lord to search our hearts and see if there are any wicked ways within us. We can ask him to reveal our sins. To help enable us and equip us to overcome these character defects. That way, we can become more like him. It all boils down to having a Christ-like character, a Godly character to be holy as He is Holy. It puts a whole new meaning to Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  Its alone time with him. When we come to him and say, God, I’m doing my daily check-in with you. I’m making sure that the attitude of my heart is right to see 1st John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  I praise the Lord that he’s the one that chose me and has anointed me to be able to do his work here on this earth until he returns. 2nd Timothy 3:17 “So that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  You see my friends he will, and he can use us all for his magnificent plans and glory. Start believing that we all have a calling that’s placed on every one of us. We all have beautifully unique gifts and talents. Ultimately our primary vision should be to be in his presence. To walk like him, and to talk like him, to act and react like him. If we truly were like him, then we would be in love because God is love! 1st John 4:16 “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. 

Dear reader’s are you building a bridge of character? A lasting legacy of God working in and through you. Are you thankful for his saving grace? Do you realize that his gift of salvation is just one side of the coin? There is so much more! Ultimately this is a journey of walking from death to life. I don’t know about you, but I want an abundant, blessed, wonderful life. I want to be a blessing to others. The only way I can do this is by fighting the good fight. It’s the only way I can be a blessing to others. So are you cultivating Godly Character? Do you want it? Do you think it matters? These are essential questions to ask yourself. I believe our friend Jesus is asking our heart directly!

Don’t be afraid to search your heart. If work needs to take place, be brave and do it. In the end, my prayer for you is that you would fall more in love with Christ. Having a deeper, richer Godly character is worth it! You, my friend, are worth it. Start trusting and believing in that truth today.