"..the Spirit pours out life" - 2 Corinthians 3:6 TPT

We have done the part where we reach out to other people trying to get them to turn to Christ and the results have been disappointing to say the least because we have attempted to bring Old Testament concepts into a New Testament reality.  

The Old Covenant is what was based on the law (works) attempting to follow the Lord by our tacit obedience by deciding to follow Him and being good.  Everything about the Old Testament was doomed to fail, for there was no way we could ever keep up the facade for very long until we were found out to be a fraud, we could never be good enough in and of ourselves because of the standards of God were too high and unattainable.

There is only one man who was able to keep the demands of the law, and at the same time revealed a New Covenant which fulfilled the Old one, it was His life which became the requirement for the law that we could never live up to.  

The law was not only fulfilled in its completeness, but because of this Man’s endless life, the law is now defunct because all of its requirements have been met so that it is fully finished and no more to has power or control over us.

The law I speak of here isn’t just the law of Moses which has too many requirements to name here, I am speaking of the law that we all have in our minds which is constantly pushing us to please God by being better through our own efforts, this personal law which puts restrictions on us because we always fall short of our expectations.  For example, it is much like trying to keep a “New Years resolution” and failing to keep that commitment, we put ourselves under an expectation to perform to be better, and we struggle to keep up that commitment and oftentimes we had unrealistic expectations to begin with, so we set ourselves up to fail.

“So now the case is closed. There remains no accusing voice of condemnation against those who are joined in life-union with Jesus, the Anointed One.  For the “law” of the Spirit of life flowing through the anointing of Jesus has liberated us from the “law” of sin and death.”   Romans 8:1-2 (TPT)

The Man who has met every requirement of God in Christ Jesus, He has become everything to us because He lives a life which is sinless and perfect.  When we recognize that we can’t earn God’s favor we are left with only one option and that is to die to ourselves (our desires and expectations) and ask Jesus to enter into our lives to forgive us for attempting to play God and ask Him to be our God alone. 

It is only then that we live our lives through Christ Jesus, for His life is imparted to us and we receive His righteousness so we can stand before the Father in Heaven unashamed and free. Receiving Jesus is a win/win scenario.

Many believe that Jesus is only meant for when you are close to death, that we should make ourselves right with God before we die so that we can give an accounting of our life, this isn’t what God had in mind at all, the Father wants us to be close to Him so that He can speak with us and share His heart with us on a daily basis.  

It is from that relationship with the Father where Paul makes the statement “He alone has made us effective ministers”, it is Christ in you which makes you effective and powerful for we are connected to Jesus who is alive and living in us as we respond to His desires for other people.

This is where Paul is taking the statement we serve “an entirely new covenant” not one which is based on the law, “for the letter of the law kills”, the law was never meant for us to come to God, it was meant to drive us to Christ Jesus out of our inadequacy so that He could fill us with Himself and take us to the Father. 

“Christ suffered and died for sins once and for all—the innocent for the guilty—to bring you near to God by his body being put to death and by being raised to life by the Spirit.” 

1 Peter 3:18 (TPT)

So we have the Man who can be our salvation, it is Christ Jesus. 

Paul ends the passage above by saying “the spirit pours out life”, we have everything we need through Jesus.  
The Father has given everything to Christ and we have everything that we need to live a life of full of peace and Godliness because He lives in us.

“The Father has placed all things in subjection under the feet of Christ. Yet when it says, “all things,” it is understood that the Father does not include himself, for he is the one who placed all things in subjection to Christ. However, when everything is subdued and in submission to him, then the Son himself will be subject to the Father, who put all things under his feet. This is so that Father God will be everything in everyone!”  

1 Corinthians 15:27-28 (TPT)

This is speaking of when everything in our lives is in submission to Him, then and only then will the Father be everything in everyone.  Jesus Christ is enough for us, our total sufficiency is in Him.

Do you find that everything that you do for God falls flat? Do you need Jesus to become your strength so that you can rest from all of your effort trying to please God?  Jesus came so that we can enter into His rest so that He can be our access to the Father, come to Him today and give Him your life and surrender to the only one who can give you true rest and peace with God.  

Be Blessed;

Stephen Barnett