Security in Christ

Last night, I posted something about Peter, and his pride. What a surprise I had this afternoon when I pulled out Oswald Chamber's devotional, "My Utmost for His Highest." Now, this is not a devotional I regularly use, I haven't picked it up in over two weeks because I prefer Spurgeon. Prior to that, it had probably been more than a year since I had last read it. The date the marker was at was January 5th, but I went ahead and read it anyway, even though today is the 23rd . The title of it was "The Afterward of the Life of Power," which you can read here. He was talking about Peter, and used John 13:36 as his passage to expound on. This is when Jesus tells Peter to follow Him.

Here is a little of what Oswald Chambers had to say:

"Between these times Peter had denied Jesus with oaths and curses, he had come to the end of himself and all his self-sufficiency, there was not one strand of himself he would ever rely upon again, and in his destitution he was in a fit condition to receive an impartation from the risen Lord."

I liked what he had to say in the first line of the last paragraph:

"All our vows and resolutions end in denial because we have no power to carry them out."

That sentence is a reminder that we have no power in and of ourselves to do anything. The only power we have is Christ working through us. We can't even be born again without the power of the Holy Spirit drawing us, and God's giving us a new heart, enabling us to receive Him. Salvation is all of God, and it is Jesus who is not only the Author, but the Finisher of our faith. Knowing that we are kept by the power of God, and not by we ourselves, and walking in that truth is freeing. One who has previously believed they could lose their salvation, and then has understood the truth, can relax, and breathe a big sigh of relief once they have grasped that wonderful truth that they have been justified by faith through what Jesus Christ DID, and not what they themselves can do. What wonderful peace there is in knowing that, and living it out.

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!