NOT I, BUT CHRIST

You have been lusting after that girl in your heart for sometime now. I do not like that.

Yes, it is true Lord. Have mercy on me. What do I do?

Focus on me. This will save you from distractions. If your eye be single, your body will be full of light. There are a lot of things on earth that distract men from seeing me.  You must make every effort to see and focus on me in the midst of all these. The world cannot see me. But you will see me. And because you see me, you will live. (Jn14:19). You shall love the lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mk 12:30). I want you to be so full of me that you have no more room for anything else. It is only when you are full of my fullness that all other lusts fade away.

But Lord sometimes you sound so selfish. OK, if I love you with all my heart, and all my soul, and all my mind and all my strength, what happens to my wife and children and friends and relations and even my country. Surely I’m supposed to love my country too. Isn’t it so?

This is where you get it all wrong my child.

How do you mean Lord?

Where did you ever find a dead man loving his wife or his children, or his country? When a man dies, his affections for the world and this life die with him. Many of my children lose sight of this. Therefore they struggle a lot through life.

That’s just like me Lord. I struggle a lot.

Dead men don’t struggle.

I know Lord. But I do struggle. I struggle to pray, I struggle to love, to give, to obey . . . even to preach Lord. To me, life is a struggle.

I know your struggles, my child. And you can never imagine how much it pains and grieves my heart. My last words on the cross were: IT IS FINISHED. It makes me so sad when I see my children struggle with what I have finished.

I’m so sorry Lord, for causing you grief. But Lord I try. I really am trying a lot. I want to do your will. I am trying my best Lord.

That’s your second problem. I never told you to try. It is not by trying.

You are confusing me Lord. What am I supposed to do?

Reckon yourself to be dead indeed. (Rom.6:11).

How? Lord.

You see, my child, I died on the cross for you. When I said IT IS FINISHED, I meant every word of it. Your life is a finished product from Calvary’s Factory. It’s like a seed. Its life is never released unless it dies. (Jn.12:24).  Your victory starts at the point of revelation of your death at Calvary. I did not call you to come to me so that I can change your life. When you come to me, you lose your life. If you are not ready to lose your life, you will never find your real life. Death is the gateway to life.

I am beginning to understand Lord.

Good. Once it dawns on you that you died when I died on the cross, another truth will automatically dawn on you.

What truth is that Lord?

That a dead man can neither pray nor love his wife and children. A dead man cannot preach or sing. I call it God’s mysterious design.

What is this mysterious design? I need more light Lord.

It is very simple: God purchased your body after the evacuation of your old life at Calvary, that it might be a container where I will live my life on earth.

What about my own life?

It has passed away.

There you go again Lord. How am I supposed to live when my life has passed away?

No son. You are not supposed to live anymore. You are supposed to let me live my life in you.

Oookaay! I understand it now Lord. So you will be living my life for me. Right?

Wrong again! When will you ever learn? I will not be living your life for you. I will be living my life in you. Your own life has passed away. You have no life to live anymore. (Gal.2:20)

Break it down Lord.

There is nothing to break down. Just let me live my life in you. Stop striving with your maker. Cease from your own wisdom. Trust in me with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge me. I will direct your paths. Your hope of glory is based on your knowing and seeing this:  That I am in you, walking, talking and living my life. You cannot live my life for me. Only allow me to live my life in you.

That means I am to do nothing Lord?

What can you really do but struggle?

I am tired of struggle Lord.

Then let me. The eagle soars the heights, not by the labour of its wings, but by riding upon the currents of the wind.

Once I was blind to this Lord, but now I see. It is no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me. Come in afresh Lord. Reign in me. Walk in me. Live in me. I surrender all sovereignty to you. Glorify your self in this earthen vessel called me.

Amen. So be it. You will see greater things!