Earlier, we discovered that we become God’s children simply by trusting in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and are born again as a free gift of God. God, the Creator of heaven and earth, comes to live in us (Colossians 1:27). As God’s children, we learned that God is calling us to be christlike—to live a godly life of love, doing good works and being a light in a dark world.
We also discovered that we are in a spiritual battle—a life and death struggle against Satan and his forces. If that was not discouraging enough, we now understand that our flesh (self-life) is an enemy to God and is naturally hostile to God’s purposes. The flesh is part of us until the day we die but is no longer our true identity. We are saints who still have a bent toward wrongdoing. Our flesh (self-life) is easily tempted by the lure of the world system. Our minds and hearts can easily be led astray by the wiles of Satan. We can also be weighed down and oppressed by the troubles of this life. This can drive us to despair—until we realize that Jesus Christ is to be our life! (Colossians 3:4). The high calling of the Christian life in the midst of such adversity is humanly impossible!
As God’s children, God helps us to recognize that we cannot produce His godly, loving life in our own strength. God knew that life was too difficult, so He came to live in us! What good news! In the midst of our human weakness, God’s power is perfected! (2 Corinthians 12:9,10). As we learned previously, Jesus Christ is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:24).
God’s goal is for us to abandon our self-effort for living the Christian life and, by faith, depend on Jesus to live His perfect life through our body—as we practice yielding to Him in every area of our life. Life’s difficult challenges, decisions, problems, and trials are the catalyst that leads to brokenness, which allows God to teach us to trust Him by childlike faith versus trusting in our human wisdom and strength. Our inadequacy allows for God’s ability to work as we learn to depend on Him. The submission of our will to God and trusting Him by faith allows the power of God to overcome our fleshly bent toward sin and self-sufficiency. Our human emotions and self-will need to be yielded to God. This can be a battle, since our feelings, at times, can be quite contrary to God’s will and plan for us.
Bible verses to think about:
A. Read 2 Corinthians 3:4-5, 4:7-12, 12:9-10, Philippians 4:13, and Galatians 2:20-21. These passages help us to see that we are not adequate to live the Christian life in our own strength. As we practice trusting and resting in Jesus as our life, He will strengthen us by living His life through us.
B. The trials allowed in our lives can seem totally overwhelming and impossible to bear. Read 1 Corinthians 10:13 and 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. The apostle Paul implies that the trials are too much for us to bear in our own strength and that only through God’s power can we bear them. Notice that, in 2 Corinthians 1:9, the apostle Paul indicates that God allowed the trial so that they would not trust in themselves! Individual prayer and corporate prayer play a part in God’s deliverance. If we are facing overwhelming troubles, we can call on the Lord to be our strength and have other believers pray for us. Remember: a life of faith is a life of prayer! This is why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 directs us to pray without ceasing—which means: If you have trouble, pray!
C. Read Mark 14:32-39, John 5:19, and Hebrews 4:14-15. Jesus, in the garden, suffered great conflict between His feelings and doing God’s will. Reread Mark 14:38 (“weak” means “totally without strength”). Jesus expressed that our flesh has no strength to carry out God’s will but that the Holy Spirit is willing to work through us—if we submit our human will to Him when we are tempted. (See Romans 8:26-27.) The Holy Spirit intercedes for us, even when we are too weak to pray for ourselves.
D. The key to our rest is God’s indwelling presence—He will be with us through life’s difficulties (Colossians 1:27). In Matthew 1:23, Jesus was called “Emmanuel”, which means “God with us”. (See Exodus 33:13.) God said, “My presence will go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” For the Christian, Jesus lives in us; and we are to practice resting in His life and power to work through us.
E. Colossians 3:4 states that Jesus is our life. Colossians 3:5 tells us that we are to practice putting to death the deeds of our flesh. Romans 8:13 implies that these deeds of the flesh can only be neutralized by the power of the Holy Spirit. Only by practicing resting in Jesus as our life can we begin to overcome the sinful passions of our flesh. Romans 8:10-11 suggests that, since Jesus lives in us, it is the Holy Spirit that produces His abundant life in us.