I mean if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, right? (King James Version, 1 John 1:9) I do not remember fearing much of anything when I was doing my thing out in the world.  I am not saying that I was fearless because I recall having fears like missing deadlines for classes or not being smart enough to meet someone’s standard, but somehow I always met the mark. Overall, these were minor fears in comparison to the paralyzing terrors that I have had since I have been saved. In my own eyes I was really good at what I did in the world. From elementary to undergrad I had been at the top or second to the top in all my classes, a great writer, and a dynamic organizer. You name it, I tried it and I nailed it. Was I perfect?  No, but I was something that counts for a lot – I was unafraid and uninhibited.

Now I could explain away such tenacity by saying that in the world as a sinner, there was no enemy to my soul, no hindrances to my greatness.  I mean there is scriptural evidence that God is not against the sinner, but that as a sinner I was against a God who was constantly trying to reconcile me to Himself. (King James Version, Ephesians 2:11 – 17, Colossians 1:21, 22) I could also explain that satan wasn’t against me either because as a sinner I was in his camp.  And unlike I do now, I didn’t have to fight my flesh when I was in the world, because I lived by its conduct. Yes, my flesh got me into some pretty hot water at times, but I finagled my way out by the dictates of the flesh under a sovereign God whose mercy kept me protected.  So, yes it is true. In the world, there is really no opposition to greatness, other than the everyday challenges of life and no one – sinner or saint -- is exempt from that.  So there we have it. That’s the answer. The sinner has no opposition. God is in pursuit of him. Satan is in cahoots with him. And the flesh is the tool used by him. And besides, as saints our focus is inner growth not outward manifestation, right? I mean all of this would explain why the world has endless success stories in every field when compared to the low numbers attained by the people of God, right?  Sound reasons, yes, but acceptable ones, they are not. Such religious rationalities are meager excuses falling short in the court of our God who has declared that Greater is He within us than he that is within the world. (King James Version, 1 John 4:4) It makes no difference that I – that we -- now have enemies raging against us that were formerly our running partners, and that our inner man alone has grown by leaps and bounds.  The reality is that Christ Jesus conquered all things in heaven and on earth and our full authority upon the earth has been restored. That looks like something in the earth realm and it is undeniable when it shows up.

Quite frankly I find that my issue – our issue if I may -- is that being great on this side of God’s Kingdom requires doing something and being someone that no one really wants. It requires a four-letter word called work. Yes, living a life of greatness in the Kingdom requires work and demands courage -- raw guts like I have never known. It is not enough to be results driven in the Kingdom of our God.  In fact, it’s a very dangerous thing because the Lord is more interested in whom we become than what we accomplish. I have discovered the craziest thing concerning this. I have worked harder on things in the kingdom than anything I ever did in the world and the results by worldly measures have flopped. Applying old tactics of hard work absent of God’s wisdom will not yield the same results it once did. Yes, it has yielded a new man having the peaceable fruit of humility, wisdom, and patience, but that man has also had to be a productive man yielding natural results in the earth realm.

What I have had to learn and continue to master is to press through the times of cultivation when my weaknesses are being strengthened. In those moments I have had to maintain that I am not a failure, but a conqueror in Christ. It is in those times that I am faced with a fundamental challenge. Do I allow fear to choke the life from me or face the challenge at hand? More often than not, I have given fear the victory and become paralyzed at the point of cultivation.  But truly God has not given me the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (King James Version, 2 Timothy 1:7) So why fear now?  Well, to choose faith over fear and life over death in those times demands that I repeat His written Word over my life. I have to tell myself, Rachael your father told you that you are more than a conqueror through Him that loved us. (King James Version, Romans 8:37). AND YOU ARE. He told you Rachael, that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. (King James Version, Philippians 4:13)   AND YOU CAN!  If I don’t believe this and hang on to it when everything is telling me that I am not that, greatness is nothing more than a fleeting thought and an unattainable goal. No pep talk of the glory days will change this.

So again, saints, children of God, I pose the question Why fear now? The time to fear was when we were headed to eternal damnation, and our souls were the enemies of the Living God. Now that we know Him and will be spending eternal life with the Creator of all life, the sum total of all victory, we should be the bolder, and more receptive to change and correction than ever before. But saints, it will not fall out of the sky. It takes tenacity, resilience (bounce back), and endurance. When the evidence in our lives indicates that we are not the greatness that we know we were created to be, we must fight back in Christ. We must fight back until He returns or we go to be with Him. Freedom in Christ is a decision not a foregone conclusion. Success in Him was deposited at Calvary, but we must make the withdrawal.  Saints, the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.(King James Version, Romans 8: 19, 22) We must show up. All of creation is waiting and failure is not an option.

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