The List

Galatians 1:6-9, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”

I was presented a list to follow that would assure any believer’s deliverance from the enemy. Looking at the list I began thinking to myself how everything in the steps to freedom could be done by an unbeliever. That being the case, how could the list be Christ-centered? Jesus was not mentioned in even one of the ten steps. Any list that calls for the flesh to do something to improve itself is ultimately doomed to failure. There may be initial success, but in the long term, there will be none. Steps taken in the power of the flesh would have to eradicate flesh, and the flesh will have none of that! It will not participate in destroying or hindering itself! (The odd thing about Satan is that he loves to stir the flesh, but he is at the same time an enemy of the flesh, since he is involved in every suicide and murder to destroy man.) In these times there are myriad methods for club growth, personal growth, financial growth, family growth, and spiritual growth. Be alert and ask the question, “Could this method apply to an unbeliever? Could an unbeliever follow the same steps?” If so, Christ has been left out and we are fixing to be sidetracked. Start with what He has already done for us, get a firm grasp of that, and then move to more of what He has done for us. It is a struggle. I often find myself headed down a track that I do not want to take. I get a check in my spirit and stop talking about the latest book, method, miracle, experience, and doctrine and move back to Him. I have prayed for the last thirty-seven years that God would be gracious to me and not allow me to move from Jesus, add to Jesus, subtract from Jesus, or stop lifting Him up. It is true that He is our sufficiency. I cannot count the programs that are going around today, and few ask why the last program did not produce what it promised it would when introduced two years ago. Why are those that were so involved in the latest “move” of God back in the same place? Let hearts and minds dwell on the Man who did everything and yet did nothing, for it was the Father doing it through Him. Then ask for testimonies of growth and God’s faithfulness at the end of two years of that. MW