I Am Sin, He is Righteousness Alone

Passages taken from Tozer's I Talk Back to the Devil

"O Lord, Thou art my righteousness, I am Thy sin!"

"Every time you take a new step forward for God, the devil will have some means of communicating to you that God is proud of you-and that You are wonderful. As soon as he can get you interested enough to say, 'yes, I guess that is true,' you have had it brother!"

"It is good for us to remember how strong He is--and how weak we are."

"Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselevs to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God." 2 Corinthians 3:4

This describes perfectly the humbling week I have had. I knew it was coming and though it's been extremely difficult at times, I praise God for it. I am sin, He is righteousness alone. Over this project I have grown so much and God has done so much with it all, but I was struggling with pride in that. For how do we have confidence in what Christ has done in us and created us to be and not be prideful? Throughout this week I've been learning so much of what it is to boast in Christ alone. I am nothing, nothing apart from Him! I have no right or anything to boast in myself! I think for a while, I was like, "well it's God working through me, but it's me allowing myself to be a vessel for Him." That's all wrong! Who is the one who paid my ransom when I was in the miry pit? Who has been the one who has taken me from sin and brought me into the marvelous light? ONLY him, ONLY! I have nothing to do with it except complete surrender and give Him all the glory! We have confidence in Christ, not ourselves. We boast in Him alone.

"Now Lord, if I do the things I know I should do, and if I say what I know in my heart I should say, I will be in trouble with people and groups, but there is no other way! Not only will I be in trouble for taking my stand in faith and honesty, but I will certainly be in a situation where I will be seriously tempted by the devil! Almighty Lord, I accept this with my eyes open! I know the facts and I know what may happen, but I accept it. I will not run. I will not hide. I will not crawl under a rug. I will danre to stand up and fight because I am on your side-and I
know that when I am weak, then I am strong!"

"Therefore since we have such a hope, we are very bold...Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gosepl is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unvelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gosepl of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed; perplexed but not abandoned; struck down but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. It is written: 'I believed, therefore i have spoken.' With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therfore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs theym all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is uneseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Corinthians 3:12,17-18, 4:1-18

I have seen a transformation in my heart this summer in the fact that I am becoming much more bold. It still scares me out of my mind at times to ask God for certain things, but He's been putting the question on my heart, "dare I ask?" "Dare I ask to see God's glory fully revealed in my life?" And with such a boldness comes a lack of understanding at times from those around me. However, I am no longer satisfied with the mediocre Christian life...there is so infinitely more if we are willing to claim it! We are being transformed into the likeness of Christ? Is that enough to put our hope in, to be bold? More than enough!

So often as we go out sharing the gospel here in Santa Monica and Los Angeles it becomes so apparent that the God of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. It's been getting to me quite a bit, and that's something that I will have to speak more on in time.

And no matter what my circumstances are or what they entail, wheteher I am hard pressed, perplexed, persecutred, or struck down, I have this treasure in jars of clay that shows the power of God! It is from Him and not from us! No matter what my circumstances are, they are light and momentary troubles. I fix my eyes on the unseen, the eternal...I have seen the temporary world in an extreme light this summer and it leaves me with such a longing for the eternal, the unseen.

With all of this comes a lot of spiritual warfare. But as I found myself in prayer the other night, I found myself accepting this with my eyes open. I prayed in earnest for God to continue to stretch me and mold me and break me, no matter how difficult it will be. I know it will be, but we are called to maturity in Christ! I want all that Christ has for me, and it doesn't matter what means He uses to do so. Above all, He is sovereign, and that is enough!

There's so much I want to write about because I have learned so much this summer, but due to the current circumstances, I wlll have to wait until after project. I am so looking forward to the 2 weeks of solitude I will have at my aunts house to be able to process all that has happened not just this summer, but this year! It's been a time of living in the moment in light of eternity. It's been a time of plunging head-first into every situation and walking by faith. But how GOOD it has been! How good! I can't wait to see what He has for me in these next 5 weeks before I go home because I know there are many more lessons and transformations of heart to occur. And when I do go home, how sweet it will be to tell of what God has done and experience the fruitful blessings He has in store...I'm really excited because God is the author of our lives and writes it far better than I ever could!

Blessings to all, and continue to seek out Christ for who He is! He is good! He is sovereign!

Of all these sinners, the worst is me
Selfish ambition to hold back the glory due
Consumed with rights and all my pride
The dictator of how I spend my time
A harsh lesson in humility
And still my praises must flow

To the One everlasting, steady and unchanging
Who is the same eternally
That for my sins He gave His life, paid the price
Laid down His everything
Now He opens my eyes and allows me to see
I am sin, He is righteousness alone