This week we’re continuing the series “What the Cross Means for You and Me,” adapted from Brilliant TV.
This article, as with the last handful of our articles, is based around Graham’s landmark book, “The Nature of Freedom.”
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You don’t have to try to “keep up” in your learning, because God is not in a hurry.
He’s happy to walk with you at the pace you and He find best.
So, travel in peace and joy, love the learning, and most of all, love living every day, all day with a sense of His love and affection for you.
I love the verse in John 14:19, “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.”
Everything about the nature of freedom is learning how to stand, and walk, and run and live with a constant and consistent awareness of the life of Christ in you. Christ in you is your Power to Prevail, which is the portion of “What the Cross Means for You and Me” that we are going to explore today.
Listen to what God is saying in this part of The Nature of Freedom:
“Life in fullness brings you to a life lived above your circumstances and not beneath them.
Being in Christ enables you to have victory in the present but also to learn to walk with Us and be ready for the future that is already here or close by.
You learn by the Spirit to look ahead and plan longer term. You also realize that some situations cannot be resolved in a few days or weeks.
In those circumstances your development is part of a long-term program of upgrading your identity and cultivating the trust, wisdom and growth necessary to becoming an overcomer.”
— “The Nature of Freedom,” Letter #2
The key here is discovering just how full a life of fullness really is, because fullness of life in Christ is what allows us to live above our circumstances, instead of being overwhelmed by them.
You’re going to be overwhelmed by something in this life. Let’s make it be the nature of God, just how good, and kind, and loving He really is.
When the nature of God is our greatest reality, when we are fully persuaded that nothing can separate us from who He is for us and to us, then we can abide in that place for as long as it takes.
We’re not enduring in our circumstances. We’re not giving them all our attention! Our full focus is on being alive to Him.
We are using any negatives in our lives only as signposts that point to who God wants to be for us now and who we are becoming because of our encounters with Him.
Waiting on the Lord is actively waiting with Him. It’s discovering the joy and peace in believing, looking at Him and saying, “I know who You are. You’re good. You are my peace. You are love and You love loving me. I know who You’ve been for me before. And I’m looking for who You want to be for me in this place.
“I can only expect You to be good, because goodness is who You are. So I’m going to enjoy this time waiting with You, because You are SO planning to enjoy this time with me.”
We never wait on God in a vacuum… and certainly never in negativity or negative speculation. Some circumstances in your life won’t resolve themselves in a week, or a month or even longer.
The gift of enduring circumstances is that they are our opportunity to learn how to patiently abide in who God is for us… and abiding is relational, not situational. Then patience – which vital to our learning – is cultivated in a place of rest and peace.
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There’s a lot more to this series, “What the Cross Means for You and Me” which you can find on here on Brilliant TV.
Also, you can find the book that this series was based on in our Store: “The Nature of Freedom.”
