Chapter Ten
Concluding Thoughts
Throughout my journey, the Lord has taught me that the greatest Christians are not those who live perfect lives, but are those who not only allow God to pick them up after they've fallen but also penitently and reverently learn from their mistakes. I've also learned that the Lord has purposefully limited Himself for the sake of our own personal freedom. In other words, because of free will, God can only do as much as we allow Him to do in our lives and on the earth. He has also taught me that we will receive according to our faith.
This means that we will only receive as much as we believe. If we believe that God can work miracles, we will experience miracles. If we don't believe God can work miracles, we won't experience miracles. Therefore, in order to receive what I needed from God, I had to learn how to ask Him to empower me to believe greater in His abilities to change and heal me completely. He most certainly empowered me do this very thing. Today, I'm living proof of His everlasting goodness, grace, and mercy.
The Lord taught me about the eternal power of prayer. He taught me how prayer is the main thing that enables Him to move in our lives and upon the earth. God will not force His will upon us. Therefore, we must pray in order for His will to take place on the earth and in our lives. He taught me that prayer is simply communicating with Him. He taught me how the enemy will always try to prevent us from praying because he knows just how powerful it truly is. If the enemy can prevent us from communicating with God, then he's able to stop the flow of God's power in us and through us. This is why prayer is so crucial to our walk with God. This is also one of the major reasons why God commands us to “pray without ceasing.” God knows everything and, most certainly, has a perfect plan for us. One of the other main reasons of why we pray is so God can reveal His perfect plan to us, that we would believe in Him, trust in Him, and have hope in Him and His will.
While learning to deal with my sin, the Lord showed me how the root of all sin is fear. As we've learned, God is love, God is His powerful and living Word of truth, and sin is simply a transgression of God's commands. Therefore, fear is the root of all sin because fear is the opposite of love. The Lord dealt with me is this area, particularly while I was learning about forgiveness. As you all have observed, the unforgiveness I was harboring began to produce anger and bitterness in my heart. The Lord showed me that this unforgiveness was the result of a lack of knowledge of His promises and an inability to trust in Him completely. Therefore, I was not only sinning out of ignorance but also out of fear. Once I began to learn more about who God truly is and about His promises, His eternal, powerful, and living Word of truth removed my fear and I was able to forgive. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” (John 8:32, NKJV). Jesus was stating that freedom comes from not only having the knowledge of His powerful and living Word of truth, but from obeying it as well.
Something I still struggle with is forsaking my own will for the will of our Heavenly Father. I'm much better at it now then I was in the past, but I still have room to grow. Every day and night, I pray to our Father, just as Jesus did, “Not my will, Lord, but Yours.” Through studying the life of Christ, we can see that this is exactly how He lived while He was on earth—completely surrendered to our Heavenly Father's will. We also know that Christ is alive and well, reigning as the King of Heaven, and that He still lives completely surrendered to our Father. Several times throughout the powerful and living Word truth and of God, Jesus gives us significant insight into how exactly He is able to live this way. He ultimately teaches that He is able to surrender His own will completely, even unto death, because of His love for God.
Aside from teaching that His will is not His own, Jesus also taught that His power is not His own. Therefore, in order to live as Jesus lives, which is God's greatest desire for all people, we cannot do it in our own strength, but only through God's strength in us. If we are willing to truly surrender ourselves to God completely, we will discover the greatest power that has been made available to all of mankind. One of my favorite ways that Jesus explained this principle is, “...whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:12; John 14:11, NKJV). If we humble ourselves to God by forsaking our own will and power, God will give us His power to fulfill His will and we will be exalted. What an awesome promise!
You may have wondered a time or two, why people should believe in Christ in the first place. Many people encourage others to believe in Christ, that they would experience “the good life.” This reason for believing is completely contrary to what Jesus taught. If a person believes that being a Christian guarantees “the good life,” then when trials come they may lose their faith. Therefore, our decision for believing in Christ should not be to experience “the good life,” but should simply be because we need a Savior. We've all fallen short of the glory of God and Jesus is the only way to reconcile our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Christ said it like this, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me,” (John 14:6, KJV). If we allow what Christ taught to be our foundation for believing, we will never be let down and our faith will remain strong.
The world's laws and man's way of doing things are not of God. You are now a child of God and, if you abide in Him, if you are faithful to Him, if you believe in Him, and if you spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, you will bear much fruit, God will empower You to bring many lost souls to Him, and you will be richly blessed in many ways. I am so grateful to have been chosen to empower others to believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Savior. The reason I say this is because when God chooses to save you, your salvation is not intended to be just for you—it is intended to spread to others as well.
Life and Christianity may be hard to figure out at times, and I may not be able to provide all the answers you're seeking, but I do know that the Lord above will always be there for you. All you have to do is ask and He'll supply the love and guidance you're so desperately longing for. Praise Him and thank Him for every aspect and step of life. He surely does love you.
My fabulous and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how You have taught and empowered me to yield my will to Yours, how You have empowered me to repent to You first and then to others, how You have taught and empowered me to have a deep respect for You first and then others, how You have taught and empowered me to humble myself to You first and then others, how You have taught and empowered me to surrender my life to You, and how You have taught and empowered me to be Your servant first and to then serve others.
My awesome and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how You have taught and empowered me to believe, trust, and obey You, how You have healed my whole body, soul, and spirit with Your blood, how You have taught and empowered me to lean on Your understanding and guidance, and how You have taught me to pray for and receive Your protection.
My gracious and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how You have taught and empowered me to serve You and others in Your will with love, compassion, peace, and excellence, how You have taught me and empowered me to let the Fruit of Your Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—live in me and through me, and how You have taught and empowered me to praise, worship, honor, and glorify You with my life.
My powerful and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how much I love You, about all the wonderful, amazing, and terrific miracles that You have done for me, and how you have taught and empowered me to let Your Spirit live in me and through me to all people for Your honor and glory. I thank You and I pray in Your name, Jesus Christ. So be it. Amen! Your servant forever, Carol.
Concluding Thoughts
Throughout my journey, the Lord has taught me that the greatest Christians are not those who live perfect lives, but are those who not only allow God to pick them up after they've fallen but also penitently and reverently learn from their mistakes. I've also learned that the Lord has purposefully limited Himself for the sake of our own personal freedom. In other words, because of free will, God can only do as much as we allow Him to do in our lives and on the earth. He has also taught me that we will receive according to our faith.
This means that we will only receive as much as we believe. If we believe that God can work miracles, we will experience miracles. If we don't believe God can work miracles, we won't experience miracles. Therefore, in order to receive what I needed from God, I had to learn how to ask Him to empower me to believe greater in His abilities to change and heal me completely. He most certainly empowered me do this very thing. Today, I'm living proof of His everlasting goodness, grace, and mercy.
The Lord taught me about the eternal power of prayer. He taught me how prayer is the main thing that enables Him to move in our lives and upon the earth. God will not force His will upon us. Therefore, we must pray in order for His will to take place on the earth and in our lives. He taught me that prayer is simply communicating with Him. He taught me how the enemy will always try to prevent us from praying because he knows just how powerful it truly is. If the enemy can prevent us from communicating with God, then he's able to stop the flow of God's power in us and through us. This is why prayer is so crucial to our walk with God. This is also one of the major reasons why God commands us to “pray without ceasing.” God knows everything and, most certainly, has a perfect plan for us. One of the other main reasons of why we pray is so God can reveal His perfect plan to us, that we would believe in Him, trust in Him, and have hope in Him and His will.
While learning to deal with my sin, the Lord showed me how the root of all sin is fear. As we've learned, God is love, God is His powerful and living Word of truth, and sin is simply a transgression of God's commands. Therefore, fear is the root of all sin because fear is the opposite of love. The Lord dealt with me is this area, particularly while I was learning about forgiveness. As you all have observed, the unforgiveness I was harboring began to produce anger and bitterness in my heart. The Lord showed me that this unforgiveness was the result of a lack of knowledge of His promises and an inability to trust in Him completely. Therefore, I was not only sinning out of ignorance but also out of fear. Once I began to learn more about who God truly is and about His promises, His eternal, powerful, and living Word of truth removed my fear and I was able to forgive. This is what Jesus meant when He said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,” (John 8:32, NKJV). Jesus was stating that freedom comes from not only having the knowledge of His powerful and living Word of truth, but from obeying it as well.
Something I still struggle with is forsaking my own will for the will of our Heavenly Father. I'm much better at it now then I was in the past, but I still have room to grow. Every day and night, I pray to our Father, just as Jesus did, “Not my will, Lord, but Yours.” Through studying the life of Christ, we can see that this is exactly how He lived while He was on earth—completely surrendered to our Heavenly Father's will. We also know that Christ is alive and well, reigning as the King of Heaven, and that He still lives completely surrendered to our Father. Several times throughout the powerful and living Word truth and of God, Jesus gives us significant insight into how exactly He is able to live this way. He ultimately teaches that He is able to surrender His own will completely, even unto death, because of His love for God.
Aside from teaching that His will is not His own, Jesus also taught that His power is not His own. Therefore, in order to live as Jesus lives, which is God's greatest desire for all people, we cannot do it in our own strength, but only through God's strength in us. If we are willing to truly surrender ourselves to God completely, we will discover the greatest power that has been made available to all of mankind. One of my favorite ways that Jesus explained this principle is, “...whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted,” (Matthew 23:12; John 14:11, NKJV). If we humble ourselves to God by forsaking our own will and power, God will give us His power to fulfill His will and we will be exalted. What an awesome promise!
You may have wondered a time or two, why people should believe in Christ in the first place. Many people encourage others to believe in Christ, that they would experience “the good life.” This reason for believing is completely contrary to what Jesus taught. If a person believes that being a Christian guarantees “the good life,” then when trials come they may lose their faith. Therefore, our decision for believing in Christ should not be to experience “the good life,” but should simply be because we need a Savior. We've all fallen short of the glory of God and Jesus is the only way to reconcile our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Christ said it like this, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me,” (John 14:6, KJV). If we allow what Christ taught to be our foundation for believing, we will never be let down and our faith will remain strong.
The world's laws and man's way of doing things are not of God. You are now a child of God and, if you abide in Him, if you are faithful to Him, if you believe in Him, and if you spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, you will bear much fruit, God will empower You to bring many lost souls to Him, and you will be richly blessed in many ways. I am so grateful to have been chosen to empower others to believe in Jesus Christ and accept Him as their Savior. The reason I say this is because when God chooses to save you, your salvation is not intended to be just for you—it is intended to spread to others as well.
Life and Christianity may be hard to figure out at times, and I may not be able to provide all the answers you're seeking, but I do know that the Lord above will always be there for you. All you have to do is ask and He'll supply the love and guidance you're so desperately longing for. Praise Him and thank Him for every aspect and step of life. He surely does love you.
My fabulous and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how You have taught and empowered me to yield my will to Yours, how You have empowered me to repent to You first and then to others, how You have taught and empowered me to have a deep respect for You first and then others, how You have taught and empowered me to humble myself to You first and then others, how You have taught and empowered me to surrender my life to You, and how You have taught and empowered me to be Your servant first and to then serve others.
My awesome and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how You have taught and empowered me to believe, trust, and obey You, how You have healed my whole body, soul, and spirit with Your blood, how You have taught and empowered me to lean on Your understanding and guidance, and how You have taught me to pray for and receive Your protection.
My gracious and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how You have taught and empowered me to serve You and others in Your will with love, compassion, peace, and excellence, how You have taught me and empowered me to let the Fruit of Your Spirit—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control—live in me and through me, and how You have taught and empowered me to praise, worship, honor, and glorify You with my life.
My powerful and precious Lord, You have allowed and empowered me to write to the world, with pen and paper, to tell them of how much I love You, about all the wonderful, amazing, and terrific miracles that You have done for me, and how you have taught and empowered me to let Your Spirit live in me and through me to all people for Your honor and glory. I thank You and I pray in Your name, Jesus Christ. So be it. Amen! Your servant forever, Carol.
