Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; 1 Cor 15:10 But by the grace of God I [Paul] am what I am
After you have overcome and stopped sinning for a week, two weeks, three weeks, or even four or five weeks, you think that you have become good, that you have changed, and that you have matured. You may begin to appreciate yourself and boast in yourself. Therefore, God will give you a test and make you fail so that you will realize that you have not changed at all. If you can endure anything, it is not because you have changed but because you are exchanged. The Lord has endured in your place. If you think that you are changed, you will surely fail. You have to realize that if there is any endurance in you, it is Christ who is enduring for you. If there is any meekness in you, it is Christ who is being the meek One for you. No matter how long you have overcome, you are still you; you will always be you, and you will never change... I thank and praise the Lord that victory is Christ and that it has nothing to do with me. I can still sin; I have not changed at all. A few missionaries once asked me about the difference between a change and an exchange. I said that without grace Paul, John, and Peter [the apostles] would have been just sinners. Paul, John, and Peter would have been the same as any ordinary men if grace had been taken away from them. If we take grace away from a person, he becomes the same as the robbers and the prostitutes in the streets. Grace means Christ replacing us.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, The Overcoming Life, pp. 131-132. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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