Micah 7:8 (NIV) Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light.
This is the cry of a person of faith. Don’t gloat over me, or don’t deride me as being defeated because I have fallen….
Faith says…..
To fall is not defeat.
To err is not defeat.
To stray from God’s path is not defeat.
To be weak is not defeat.
For when I fall I shall arise
From the darkness of sin, we know and have confidence that the Lord will bring us forth to the light.
He has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us.
This is the nature of the Christian walk.
We often fall, but we shall arise.
Two ideas need to be understood in this our onward walk.
Our STANDING and our STATE
Because we are born again of His Spirit…
In the sight of God we are in Christ.
We have a status and a position in the heavenlies.
Because of Jesus..
We are NEW creatures in Christ
LEGALLY our standing is established with God the Father
This is our STANDING in God.
It is because of this that we are brought into a safe relationship with the Father and we become His reconciled children.
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Picture this little story.
We who walk with the Lord may be likened to a small aeroplane. See how it flies and battles against the powers of the air. It rises up or flies lower, it rocks and shakes in the storms of life…slowly it battles on towards the goal.
Suddenly something is wrong
A weakness…perhaps a small part breaks.
Perhaps some tiny thing is not doing its job.
Perhaps the engine stops.
The power of flight weakens or is lost.
The little plane cries out in fear.
How quickly the voice of the controller from a safe place speaks
and guides it to the nearest airport.
In spiritual flight this voice is the Holy Spirit….but notice the need to listen and keep the channels open.
For us these are prayer and the Word of God.
Soon the plane is in the hands of the engineer
SAFE but not SOUND.
As does God the Father with each of us, the engineer even while he works has a vision of the little plane flying again victoriously. In his eyes it is made to fly……Its STANDING inhieeyes is a machine that is a flier.
Its actual condition or its state is that it is unable to fly right now. In fact it needs constant attention in order to go on flying.
So it is with us…..
Our state is the degree we have
Appropriated Christ
…our daily experience of
the triumph of His resurrection
What a joy to know that our engineer is always there
To forgive and repair
God doesn’t see us a defeated but as having mastery of spiritual flight
Soaring in the spirit….Glorified in Christ Jesus.
Col 3:1-17 (NIV) Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language f 9 D 10 a 11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all 12 T 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful 16 L 17 A
These are key Scriptures about our standing and our state.
They tell us we are…
i..heirs of God
ii..citizens of heaven.
iii. redeemed and pardoned.
iv..reconciled and perfect.
v.. indwelt by divine glory.
vi.. complete.
vii. risen with Christ
viii.. dead to the world
But we know that our state is far from these glories.
1 John 1:8 (NIV) If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
BUT
NEVER FORGET:-
that in spite of our failings
our standing in these glories
is secure in Christ Jesus.
Let us not be…
–burdened by guilt and remorse.
–condemned by sins we commit
–downcast day by day.
— WE ALL FAIL MANY TIMES.
Let’s pick ourselves up..
repent and ask forgiveness.
stand again and go on from where we failed.
Our wonderful Lord will always see our standing..
holy and blameless
irreproachable
As we stand in Christ
Col 1:22 (NIV) But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation–
This is how it is possible for us to be as Micah puts it..
‘ brought forth to the light ‘
So we can say, “Rejoice not against me oh mine enemy, when I fall I shall arise.”
Scripture teaches us to have boldness to enter into the holiest,ie. God’s presence
We do this not on the basis of our faulty and faltering
STATE
but by our perfect and glorious
STANDING IN CHRIST.
Don’t look at the broken little plane being repaired again and again. Each time flying a little better but continuing to falter and fail.
But look at the vision of the great lover of our souls who has for each little plane the vision of a great eagle
The Holy Spirit picture
The soaring and gliding in mastery of all the powers of the air
–glorying in the light of His day’
–seeing with keen spiritual eyes the world below
–sharing more day by day the victory of Jesus
Coming more and more to that place where we may truly say…
Do not gloat over me oh mine enemy..
FOR WHEN I FALL I SHALL ARISE.