Preparing for the Treasures that Lay Ahead

 “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1(KJV)

by Alexandra Copeland

One of the most important messages of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that we each have a part to play in God’s plan for the earth. Ephesians 4:7 (The Message) tells us, “But that doesn’t mean you should all look and speak and act the same. Out of the generosity of Christ, each of us is given his own gift.” This is truly extraordinarily good news. God has empowered each of us with something so special, that it is the key that will do more than unlock many of the blessings we seek today. When we begin to finally operate in our special gifts, it will cause the things we’ve lost to be restored. Relationships will be repaired, our enemies will be defeated, and we will reach a level of fulfillment in life that we never could have imagined.

God forever holds the highest vision for each of us because of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. When God looks at us, He sees us through the eyes of His Word. Now, our actions, behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes may not measure up to this standard, but that has nothing to do with what God sees. Some of us feel bad about how many times we’ve messed up. Well, God knows we’re going to mess up. He knows that we miss it sometimes, but this doesn’t alter the way He sees us. 

Through the Apostle Paul, Heavenly Father informs us in Romans 8:1(KJV), “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” It doesn’t matter how bad we feel about ourselves; God doesn’t condemn us. Amen! In John 8, the Pharisees brought to Jesus a woman that had been caught in the act of adultery. Under the Law of Moses, the penalty for such an act was death by stoning. As a way of tricking him, the Pharisees demanded of Jesus what they should do. He kneeled down and wrote in the sand. John 8:7 (NLT) tells us, “They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said, “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!””

One by one the Pharisees left, being convicted of their own wrong doing. In John 8:10-11(NLT), Jesus Christ asked the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.” Here we see the heart of the Father through Jesus Christ. He did not condemn this woman. He offered her compassion and forgiveness, and told her not to sin anymore.

Sin is the behavior we indulge when we do not fully trust and know the love of God, but once we see His love and compassion towards us, we can live and walk in the liberty of Christ, and be free from the grips of sin and darkness. This is what God wants for us.

In John 8:12 (NLT), Jesus Christ said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” This is the thing that so many of us have struggled with. We look to religion and tradition to purify us and make us whole, but in many cases we are condemned by the religious and made effectual by traditions. It is God working in us through Jesus Christ that leads to life.

In John 8:15(NLT), our Lord and Master said, “You judge me by human standards, but I do not judge anyone.” Jesus Christ did not come to judge us, but to show us the mercy of God. He could have judged us, and humanity would have been in dire straits if he had; for we deserved the worse judgement, but Jesus Christ came to show us the way to the Father. The problem with many of us is that we don’t understand that learning the way of Christ is a life-long commission. We think that just because we worship one day a week, carry our bibles, and look the part, that we’ve arrived. This causes us to cut ourselves off from spiritual development.

We start getting super discouraged by all the troubling things that are happening in our lives. We feel that these events shouldn’t touch us, because we think we’re doing all the right things, but it’s not about our works. “When is this going to pay off?” We ask. We’re going through hurtful situation after hurtful situation, enduring isolation and the gossip of others—still trying to stand strong in faith—but in the back of our minds we’re wondering, “Why am I continuing to go through this stuff—when is it going to end?” Could it be consequences for sinful behavior? Could it be that God has removed His hand of mercy or is it that God is teaching and preparing you to operate in the gift that He’s given you?

Could it be that in every corner of your existence, you are being taught to release your control so that you can finally let the spirit do what he has been sent by God to do in your life?

You are the vessel; the Spirit does the work. We need to get it into our minds that God isn’t trying to break us; we were broken when we came to Him. The work He is doing is a reconstructive work. It’s a work of restoration. He’s not rewiring our thoughts to make us change. He doesn’t want robots. He won’t overstep our free-will choices. He’ll let us think the way we want to think until we stop being stubborn and put on the mind of Christ. God is allowing the mirror of our own brokenness to show outwardly so that we will adjust our thoughts—adjust our attitudes, and get to that one critical place in our consciousness where we recognize that surrendering to God is the only true option.

So much of our suffering and struggles is forged from trying to make ourselves perfect, without allowing Christ to perfect us. We try and tell God what to give us, when to give it to us, and how to give it us; when we’re not yet prepared spiritually to carry through. The work that needs to be done in us, only Spirit can do.

It’s not that God isn’t going to give us the blessings we seek, but often the timing of the thing we ask for is out of synch with where we should be in the spirit. Sometimes we’re supposed to be alone for a spell, because being alone is exactly what we need in order to learn the lesson God is teaching us. We need to depend solely on Him, and be fully persuaded that He, and no one or nothing else, will fill our cups.

Through the Spirit, God has gifted you with something special. It’s an internal expression of His love that will manifest outwardly to such a degree that it will unloose manifold blessings in your life. It’s a higher elevation of your union with Him in Christ. Right now, it could be that God wants this for you more than you want it for yourself, and if that’s the case, be honest. We’re not always hungry for the food we need, but it is exactly the food that is going to fortify our souls and prepare us for the feast that is yet to come. This is what the Father wants you to realize.

God is healing our brokenness in places that we cannot see and in ways that we could never envision. Even if you don’t believe this you still have to trust Him. The spirit is doing what only he can do, and no matter how uncomfortable it may feel, we must trust that God’s love is dictating how He deals with us. We will be healed. We will be better than we ever expected. So pray and ask the Father to open your eyes to the revelation that you need at this point in your spiritual walk in Christ, because it’s connected to your purpose. It will launch you into an even greater closeness with Heavenly Father and prepare you for the treasures that lay ahead. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.