“It is your responsibility to do what is right; it is My responsibility to give you the desire and ability to do so. These are not responsibilities that I take lightly. They are pivotal to Our relationship and the expression of My covenant with you to those who are observing Our interaction. Our relationship demands nothing less than absolute trust and honesty with each other. It relies on the fact that I must create in you a new heart, one that will be obedient to My will in everything, right down to the minutest detail. The expression of My work is when you do it.
"My first creation, the angels as you know them, had no opportunity to work through obedience. When they rebelled, they were simply removed from My presence. I am working through obedience with you because of the nature of the relationship that I desire. Interaction is part of that relationship. Proper choices on your part declare the depth of your allegiance to Me. The progressive purity of your allegiance determines the depth of the flow of My work in your heart. That cycle continues until you see Me face to face. You submit, I build more of Myself in you. More of My nature in you creates more of a desire to submit, which brings more of My nature, and so on and so on. The cycle is necessary for My reasons.
"All heaven is watching this interaction and marveling at your opportunity to relate to Me in that way. You believe Our relationship is limited to what you can understand. I have plans that are far above your knowledge. For now, you simply trust Me and submit to My will as best you can. I will then give you what it takes to move deeper with Me.”
Psalm 51:10 AMP
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me.
Ephesians 3:10-12 AMP
10) [The purpose is] that through the church the complicated, many-sided wisdom of God in all its infinite variety and innumerable aspects might now be made known to the angelic rulers and authorities (principalities and powers) in the heavenly sphere.
11) This is in accordance with the terms of the eternal and timeless purpose which He has realized and carried into effect in [the person of] Christ Jesus our Lord.
12) In Whom, because of our faith in Him, we dare to have the boldness (courage and confidence) of free access (an unreserved approach to God with freedom and without fear).
The angels are amazed that we have free access and unreserved approach to God. What an astounding truth!
We have lost our awe of God. We have been given so much grace, and have functioned under so much mercy, that our perspective of what Jesus has done for us has been limited to our ability to reason. We go to God with a yawn, demand that He respond to our wishes with pompous attitudes, and receive from Him with ungrateful hearts.
God is allowing us to have access to Him so that His eternal plan can be worked out. He, for some reason that is far beyond my ability to comprehend, desires to be patient enough with our blatant disregard for His majesty and omnipotence in order to accomplish that work in us. We really don’t get it.
When I think about how we, as the body of Christ, misuse and misunderstand the incredible privilege we take for granted, I am reminded of a small child and his very caring parents. The child functions in his daily life, oblivious and unconcerned of what it requires of his parents. His expectations for the basics of life cause him to receive them mostly without any gratefulness, and sometimes even with a demanding attitude.
In their own little worlds, children demand their portion of respect, adulation, and honor, unaware that their basic freedoms are only theirs because of the graciousness of those around them - those who have built the kind of environment that facilitates their freedoms. They go happily about their self-centered little lives, giving little thought to the magnitude of the gifts in which they function.
Are we not very much the same with God, only compounded one thousand fold? I believe that if God would ever really expose us to our puny perspectives and naive attitudes, we would fall at His feet in repentance. We would also have a rekindled gratefulness for who He really is.
Show me the truth, Lord,
Jim Corbett
