"He made us with a capacity for the highest enjoyment. He made us with a capacity to enjoy Himself. There can be no joy higher. Because there is no one higher than God."- Eugina Price
God made us for Himself, and He alone can satisfy the longings that He created us to have. Also, not only is He the only one who can satisfy, but he is also the only one who can do the work that he asks of us. I think many times christians try to serve their way to satisfaction in Christ, and while that does bring joy to our hearts, Jesus is the only one who can make us truly satisfied. As humans it is our natural tendency to talk about our works and our salvation, but unfornuately we emphasize these things and the blessings of God more than we do about our actual Saviour Himself!"
"We trust him for the initial process called salvation then we try to grow, increase our faith, abide, and be peaceful while Jesus Christ stands reminding us with the simplicity and majesty of God himself that 'without me ye can do nothing'" -Eugina Price
The only way for us to grow in the Lord, serve the Lord, and experience His blessings, is for us to simply abide in Him. Nothing more. Nothing less. We have complicated things by talking so much about what is expected of Christians rather than talking about Jesus Christ. When we try and be good by ourselves, it is an epic fail, and im sure you don't need me to tell you that. We oftentimes look at the Bible and Christianity in general as a list of rules and standards to live up to. We are trying to fight off our sins and work our way to heaven while Jesus has already said "It is finished". Now we have the freedom from worrying about making sacrifices to pay for our sins like the old testament christians had to do. We can just abide in Jesus, and if we are truly abiding in Him, we WILL become more and more like him. This is the key to being sanctified (being made holy like Christ), to abide in Him.. not to work our way to Him. John 15:4-7 says,
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you."
These verses say it plain and simple. We cannot do anything apart from Christ, but if we abide in Him we will bear much fruit!
We ask God for safety, prosperity, peace, growth, and many other blessings, but how often do we ask God just for Himself? Do we want Jesus or His blessings? Yes, His blessing are great and He wants us to enjoy them, but it is a package deal. For instance, let's look at peace. This is a gift the entire world is begging for. How do we experience peace? We can't just think our way to peace. We must trust got to get rid of the enemies of peace. God is a holy God and cannot dwell where sin is. Therefore, when we are living in sin there cannot be peace in our hearts. The only way to stay out of a lifestyle of sin is through Jesus Christ. There is no way to go around Jesus and straight to his blessings. He is the door.
"Fellowship with God is something one dare not cover, for it smothers to death."
So I encourage you to open up your Bibles and spend time in prayer this week, not asking only for God's blessings, but asking that He reveal Himself to you. Spend time abiding in Him, dwelling on who He is and what that means for your life. Spend time resting in Him, resting in the freedom we have received through Jesus. And spend time waiting on Him. Don't lose hope in what he has in store for you. God has perfect timing that we most of the time do not understand. So just focus on abiding in Him and He will lead you where He wants you to be. Everything will fall in place.
“I can of myself do nothing to glorify thy blessed name, but I through grace cheerfully surrender soul and body to thee.”
