Living in the Balance of Grace and Faith Part 7

When I'm not feeling right, I don't stop believing that G.o.d loves me because I don't feel His love. I have written this truth in my heart. It's an absolute-a cardinal rule that I never deviate from.

But G.o.d commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 That means G.o.d's love has nothing to do with my goodness or anything in me. It's all about G.o.d.

Much More Now Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Romans 5:9 G.o.d loved you by His grace-not based on your performance. If He loved you while you were yet a sinner so much that He died for you, then how much more does He love you now that you're born again!

The average church teaches a watered-down version of G.o.d's love now. They won't admit to it, but their att.i.tude shows it. They say, "Come to the Lord just as you are. If you're a sinner, that means you're qualified. Jesus died for sinners." But what would happen if someone came into a church service drunk and reeking of alcohol? The typical Christian would walk up and say, "G.o.d loves you. He has a better life for you. Jesus died for your sins. Wouldn't You like to receive Him? Wouldn't you like to be forgiven?" The average Christian will extend grace towards a lost man, but what happens when that drunk prays to receive salvation and then comes back again drunk the next week? Once this person claims to be a believer, the average Christian would turn on him, telling him, "G.o.d is mad at you. He isn't going to bless you. G.o.d won't answer your prayers. The wrath of G.o.d is coming on you. You'd better repent, or else! Turn or burn!" They'd start preaching wrath to him.

This is the reason a lot of people go through what's called a "honeymoon" period when they get born again. As a sinner, they're told, "Regardless of what you've done, G.o.d loves you by grace. It's unconditional. It doesn't matter what you've done. Come, accept Jesus, and you'll get all of your sins forgiven." The person says, "That's good news," and they believe. They receive salvation and are just so in love with G.o.d. Colors are brighter, sounds are better, and smells are nicer. Everything is wonderful because they believe that G.o.d loves them.

"What's Wrong?"

Then that new Christian goes to church. He hears somebody testify that they were healed of something and they think, Well, I have something. I'd like to be healed too. The Church prays for them, but they don't instantly see a manifestation of their healing. So they begin to ask, "What's wrong?" The Church answers, "Sin." Confused, the new Christian says, "I thought G.o.d had forgiven me."

And here is the answer they get from these well-meaning church people: "Oh, yeah. He had back then. But you've sinned since then. You're going to have to start studying more. You're going to have to read the Bible an hour a day, pray in tongues, and go to church. Have you been paying your t.i.thes? G.o.d won't bless you unless you pay your t.i.thes."

All of a sudden, the feeling they once had that G.o.d loves them unconditionally based on grace is replaced with, Uh-oh! If I'm going to receive from G.o.d, I need to start being holy. I need to do all of these things or G.o.d won't bless me. They stop putting faith in grace, and they're now trying to merit and earn G.o.d's favor instead.

Romans 5:8 reveals that G.o.d loved you so much that while you were yet a sinner Christ died for you. Romans 5:9 says that much more now are you saved from wrath through Him. You may have come to Christ while you were living in adultery. You confessed Jesus as your Lord, believing in your heart that He was raised from the dead, and instantly you were in relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d. Adultery couldn't keep you from G.o.d. You may have lied and stolen. You may have been a drug addict or an alcoholic. You did all kinds of things, yet you came to the Lord. You believed and confessed Jesus as your Lord, and instantly you came into relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d.

But now that you're born again, you feel guilty. You know you ought to be studying the Word more. You've made a promise to have a daily devotion time, but you haven't kept it. You got mad at your spouse on the way to church, or you had an argument and haven't been home. You didn't go to your kid's ballgame, and you feel guilty. G.o.d accepted you when you were an adulterer, liar, thief, addict, and murderer, but now, if you don't read your daily Bible readings and pray He's liable to let you die of cancer.

A Works Mentality As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Colossians 2:6 In order to receive the Lord Jesus Christ, you had to first hear about the grace of G.o.d. G.o.d commended His love toward you. While you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. Two thousand years ago Jesus bore the sins of the world before you were ever born. When you heard the good news of the grace of G.o.d, your faith just reached out and appropriated it.

But now that you've become religious, you've started trying to earn things. You may be doing "good things" like fasting, praying, and studying the Word, but your motive is to merit G.o.d's favor. Your faith is no longer in the unconditional love of G.o.d that made everything available to you by His grace. Your focus is on how holy you're living. Your faith is in you, not grace.

Perhaps you are deflecting what I'm sharing and saying to yourself, "That's not me." Be honest with yourself before the Lord. This is where most people live. They are in a works mentality, which is why they aren't experiencing a greater relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d and manifesting their salvation benefits. They feel they have to earn G.o.d's provision, so they are constantly trying to perform instead of just receiving G.o.d's love by grace-putting faith in the unmerited, unearned, undeserved favor of G.o.d. G.o.d's love for you has nothing to do with how good you are.

Imagine that you're in one of my meetings right now and someone just fell over dead. I've seen three people raised from the dead, including my own son. He was dead for over five hours, but was raised up completely healed. I've seen blind eyes and deaf ears opened. I've seen cancers, AIDS, diabetes, and many other diseases healed. If I said, "All right, how many of you believe that G.o.d can raise this person from the dead?" you would be right there with me. If I continued saying, "I'm going to pray for them and we're going to see this person raised from the dead," you'd be excited, getting up out of your seat, and moving toward the front for a better look.

But I would probably lose you when I said, "All right. If you believe it, you come up here and pray for them." All of a sudden, the excitement would drain right out of you. Your faith would turn into unbelief and your antic.i.p.ation into dread. It's not that you doubt G.o.d can do it. You doubt G.o.d's willingness to use His ability on your behalf because you don't feel worthy.

Independent of You You haven't yet understood that all provision is totally based in the grace of G.o.d. You think you have to do something to merit and earn it. That's why you have more faith in my prayers than you have in your own. If you knew me as well as you know you, you wouldn't have any more faith in my prayers than you have in your prayers. It's true! You think that preachers have it all worked out and we live holy all of the time. Talk to my wife. She loves me in spite of who I am, not because of who I am.

The problem is, you know you so well you bear a sin consciousness. You feel unworthy because you don't fully understand that it's all by the grace of G.o.d. G.o.d hasn't ever had anybody qualified working for Him yet. I'm not qualified to do what I do. G.o.d doesn't use me because I'm qualified. I'm not holy enough in myself to be used of G.o.d. I have to stand up and believe in the goodness and grace of G.o.d.

This is the number one truth I've received from this revelation. I've applied it to my relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d, and I now know His love for me. I've experienced it. That day I realized how unG.o.dly I was and confessed all of my sins was the first and greatest revelation I've ever had of G.o.d's love. It wasn't based on any worth or goodness of my own. It had nothing to do with me. G.o.d loves you completely independent of you. You don't have to earn or deserve this love; it's the grace of G.o.d.

G.o.d, by grace, loved you before you were born again. (Rom. 5:8.) Now that you are born again, he loves you much, much, much more, (v. 9.) Even if you are the sorriest saint you know, G.o.d loves you infinitely more than He ever loved you before you were born again. G.o.d's love for you is unconditional. It's unending and unchanging. Since you didn't do anything to cause G.o.d to love you, you can't do anything to cause Him not to love you. G.o.d's love for you has never been tied to anything you've done.

All Things G.o.d loves you. If you could grasp this revelation, it would solve all of your problems. "But you don't understand. I'm dying. G.o.d's love wouldn't solve that problem." Yes, it would!

...faith... worketh by love. Galatians 5:6 If you understood how much G.o.d loved you, your faith would shoot through the roof. You'd be overwhelmed! G.o.d loved you enough to bear your sins, suffer the shame, and die for you.

He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Romans 8:32 Compared to being forgiven and loved by G.o.d, being healed is insignificant. You may not have ever thought of it this way, but if you're struggling to believe that G.o.d is going to heal you and that you'll see that healing, you're really struggling with the love of G.o.d.

A Standstill Once, a man brought his daughter in a wheelchair to one of our meetings. She was twelve years old and quadriplegic. Her brain was severely damaged, she couldn't talk or communicate in any way. She was totally incapacitated. She was twelve years old, but had never in her life responded to another human being. She was breathing, but she wasn't alive. This man became offended and got up, and left during the service when I declared that it is G.o.d's will for every person to be healed.

The people who brought this man to the meeting said, "Why don't you just wait until after the service is over and ask Andrew what he's talking about? Maybe he could explain it." The man stayed, and we talked afterwards. I stood in front of his daughter who was sitting in the wheelchair. He was behind the wheelchair, telling me that G.o.d had made his girl this way. This was G.o.d's will and He's getting glory out of this. This man was misinterpreting scripture.

I shared with him from James 1 that G.o.d is not the author of these things.

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of G.o.d: for G.o.d cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. James 1:13 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17 He thought I was misusing my scriptures, and I thought he was misusing his. We were at a standstill.

"What Kind of a Father Are You?"

Since this guy was already mad at me, I thought, I have nothing to lose, so I just looked at him and said, "What kind of a father are you in the first place? You don't even love your daughter. You don't care if she's ever normal. You don't care if she ever walks. You don't care if she ever interacts with anybody, if she ever gets married. You don't care! You don't love your daughter!"

This guy was hot! He was boiling mad, yelling at me, and saying, "I would do anything. If there was an operation, I would pay any amount of money. If I could, I would be like her so that she could be well."

Then I turned to him and said, "And you think G.o.d loves your daughter less than you do!"

We could have argued scriptures and doctrine forever, but when I brought it down to just love, he knew that there was nothing that would have kept him from ministering to his daughter and healing her if he could. Yet here he was thinking that G.o.d, who is all-powerful, didn't care about his daughter as much as he did. When I brought it down to relations.h.i.+p and spoke of love, he just had to say, "I see your point. If G.o.d is any kind of a G.o.d at all-any kind of a good G.o.d-it must be His will for my daughter to be well."

Chapter 18, You Qualify!.

Understanding G.o.d's love would solve your theological problems. It would get rid of this thinking that G.o.d is the One causing earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, and other bad things to happen to judge people. That's not G.o.d!

Religion has been misrepresenting the Lord. They will preach the Gospel to a degree. They sing the song, "Just as I am, without one plea," and preach grace for sinners to be born again. That's why it's so easy to be born again. Grace is presented, and faith is simply your positive response to what G.o.d has already done.

Suppose salvation had been presented differently: "Jesus might forgive your sins. He might come to this earth and die for you if you will repent and pray hard enough. If you promise never to do anything wrong again and live holy, then G.o.d might save you." You would never have gotten saved because you would have thought, It will never work for me. But the reason it was easy for you to receive salvation is because it was presented as already provided.

This is good news, not good prophecy. It's already happened. It has already taken place. The news is supposed to tell you about what has already happened. The reason it's easy to get born again is because you're told that Jesus already died for the sins of the world. He's already commended His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, He died for us. It's news. So you say, "Well, if it's already happened, I'll receive it."

It's easy to reach out and receive something that's already done. If it's already done, then there's no element of doubt in it, no wondering if G.o.d will really do it. That's the reason you get born again relatively easy. But then you run into the same problem as the Galatians.

"O Foolish Galatians"

The Galatians received the Gospel and were born again, but then shortly afterwards, religious Jews came in and started saying, "Faith in Jesus isn't enough. You also have to be circ.u.mcised, keep the law, and observe the feasts. You have to start doing this and stop doing that." These religious people started perverting and changing the Gospel. They said, "You may get born again by grace, but G.o.d won't bless you, answer your prayers, or move in your life until you start living holy."

Paul responded to this perversion of the Gospel by writing his letter to the Galatians. It's his most aggressive, vicious attack on this false teaching found anywhere in the Bible!

O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you... ? Galatians 3:1 The word translated "foolish" literally means "stupid idiots."

Paul is saying that this teaching is demonic. He was telling them, "You're living in deception!"

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him he accursed. Galatians 1:8 Some of Paul's readers must have thought, Oh, that's too hard. He couldn't have meant that. So the next verse says: As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1:9 Paul didn't want anybody to misunderstand what he was saying or the fervency behind his words. This is where the body of Christ is today. They're preaching salvation to a degree, saying that you get born again by grace. We sing, "Just as I am without one plea," but then after you're born again, we start singing, "Just as I'm supposed to be." We're consumed with trying to live right, wondering, Oh G.o.d. Have I done enough?

Performance People come up to me by the thousands saying, "Why hasn't G.o.d healed me? I fast and pray. I study the Word and pay my t.i.thes. I attend church and read the Word. I'm doing everything I know to do.

Why hasn't G.o.d healed me?" You just told me why you aren't healed. You never pointed to what Jesus did for you. You've pointed to what you have been doing, which reveals that your faith is in all of your doing, thinking that G.o.d responds to your faith. That's not a balance of grace and faith.

Faith doesn't move G.o.d. G.o.d has provided everything for you, independent of you. All faith does is reach out and appropriate what Jesus has already done. If you're pointing to your goodness, then you aren't putting faith in G.o.d's grace. You're putting faith in your efforts and performance.

It's good for you to do all these things-pray, fast, read the Word, attend church, t.i.the-but don't do them to affect G.o.d. G.o.d's love for you isn't based on what you do. He didn't save you because you were worth saving. He didn't save you because of some goodness in your life. It was His grace that commended His love toward you while you were yet a sinner. Your holiness, or lack thereof, does not change G.o.d's heart toward you. G.o.d loved you before you were holy. Now that you are semi-holy He doesn't love you any less, nor will He love you any more.

But your holiness will change your heart towards G.o.d. You need to study the Word to change your heart, but not because G.o.d is looking at your heart to reward you and answer your prayers now that you've been good enough. You need to attend church because it helps you. Meeting with other believers helps you as you hear the Word of G.o.d and fellows.h.i.+p with other people. You need to come to meetings where people are expounding the Word of G.o.d, speaking the truth, and displaying the power of G.o.d. You need to hear testimonies of people being healed, tumors being dissolved, and miracles happening. It's good for you. It helps you.

But none of this makes G.o.d love you any more. He's not keeping a record of your church attendance and you can't cash in so many meetings for one answered prayer. If you never go to church again, G.o.d would love you exactly the same, but you're foolish if you don't go to church. We're being bombarded with unbelief constantly. You need someplace where you can go hear the truth. You need to be around people who will love you and turn the other cheek when you do something wrong. You need to be in the fellows.h.i.+p of believers. You're foolish if you don't go to church. But G.o.d loves you anyway! His love for you is based on His grace, not your performance.

Not a Problem I can try to have a positive self-image, thinking that I'm never wrong and everybody else is the problem. It's never me; it's always somebody else. But eventually, I just have to look in the mirror and see that I do some dumb things. I make mistakes. It blesses me to know that G.o.d's love is not conditional.

Just recently, I was sharing with my partners that we've made the biggest expansion we've ever made in our ministry We took a huge step of faith and went on the second largest television station in America. It costs us nearly $70,000 a month to be on this station and I've been on it now for eighteen months. We've put nearly $600,000 more into this broadcast than what's come out of it, so I've had to take a step back. Some people just can't handle that. They panic at the thought of making a mistake. Well, this wouldn't be the first one I've ever made. They say, "I don't know if I can cope with that." It's not a problem for me.

Some people think that when G.o.d touches your life, you immediately become perfect. That's not been my experience at all. It's more like this: I'm moving in the direction that G.o.d wants me to go, but I'm not doing everything perfectly. G.o.d could have picked somebody better than me. He could have chosen someone with a much better grasp of the English language and much more charisma than I have. I'm definitely not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but praise G.o.d, I'm seeing good things happen just because I know that G.o.d loves me in spite of me and not because of me.

There are very few "perfect" people who think they are the greatest. Most of us deal with feelings of unworthiness and wonder, G.o.d, why did You choose me? I'm not qualified. If you follow people in the Bible, you'll see that every person the Lord called, said, "G.o.d, I can't do it!" They struggled for a period of time.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many n.o.ble, are called: But G.o.d hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and G.o.d hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath G.o.d chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of G.o.d is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

1 Corinthians 1.26-30 G.o.d has not chosen many mighty or n.o.ble people who just have it all together. G.o.d chooses the base things of the world, things that are despised and things that are nothing, to bring to naught things that are.

Apply Within If you're a loser, a nothing-you qualify to be used of G.o.d! G.o.d isn't against people who have all of these great abilities and talents, it's just that all of your abilities and talents compared to G.o.d's are nothing. You have to come to the end of yourself and say, "Oh Lord, it's got to be You." G.o.d says, "If you're a nothing, if you are base, if you're despised-apply within." You must come to the end of yourself and realize that it's not about you.

When you understand grace, you recognize that it's not based on any goodness of your own. It's just based on G.o.d's love. He loves you in spite of who you are, not because of who you are. G.o.d loved you before you were born. He loved you before you sinned. He loved you even after you had sinned. He commended His love towards you. Now that you've accepted Him, He loves you even more than He ever loved you before because now you have made Jesus your Lord. You are a part of Him. The grace-the blessing-of G.o.d is in your life unconditionally.

That's what I received from that experience in 1968. For the first time in my life, I saw that I was a zero with the rim knocked off. I had no confidence in and no satisfaction with myself, whatsoever. Upon this recognition of my worst state, G.o.d's love flowed into me. I just knew His love had nothing to do with me. I knew that G.o.d loved me because He is love. That's what changed my life.

Chapter 19, Forgiven.

G.o.d manifested His love toward us in that He died for us while we were yet sinners. (Rom. 5:8.) Yet through religion, the devil has convinced us that G.o.d's love, acceptance, and favor toward us is tied to our works and performance. You believe G.o.d exists. You know He is able. You just doubt His willingness to move in your behalf because you feel condemned over your sins.

For more on this subject, read these books: The War Is Over, Redemption, and Spirit, Soul & Body. They all deal with these truths more thoroughly than I'm able to here.

Most people think that G.o.d offers you forgiveness of all your sins committed up until the time you become born again. When you accept Jesus, your past sins are forgiven, but then every sin you commit after that has to be dealt with, repented of, and put back under the blood. There are primarily two versions of this. The extreme version says that if you have a sin in your life that isn't confessed and you were to die in a car wreck before you got that sin confessed, you would go to h.e.l.l. Even though you might have been born again for twenty years, if you have an unconfessed sin in your life when you die, you go to h.e.l.l. You lose your salvation even though you've walked with G.o.d for many years. Most Christians believe a lesser interpretation of the same principle. They say that G.o.d won't answer your prayer, fellows.h.i.+p with, or use you if there's any sin in your life. Both versions of this are wrong.

Missing the Mark According to Hebrews 9, 10, and 12, G.o.d forgave all of your sins-past, present, and future. Even sins you haven't committed yet have already been forgiven. Your salvation, G.o.d's love for you, His willingness to use you and answer your prayers are not dependent upon you getting every sin confessed. If it were, the moment you became born again you should hope to die immediately because that's the only way you could be certain of going to heaven. If this line of thinking were true, you could never walk in the joy of the Lord. Why? Because sin isn't only the wrong things you do. The Bible says: Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17 Sin is also what you should be doing but you're failing to do.

Every believer should love their spouse the way that Christ loved the Church. You might be doing better at loving your spouse than you've ever done, but you aren't doing it perfectly. Every believer is supposed to reverence their spouse the way that the Church should ******* insert P 175,6 Confess means to acknowledge your sin to G.o.d.[1] You're saying, "G.o.d, You were right. I was wrong. I turn from this sin." By confessing and repenting, you're closing the door on the devil. You're also drawing out into your flesh (body and soul) the righteousness and holiness that already exist in your born-again spirit. This will drive Satan out of your life. Even though you gave the devil a legal right to come into your life by yielding to sin, when you confess, repent, and turn from it, you give this power that is located in your spirit the ability to come out and cleanse you from all unrighteousness. You're saying, "G.o.d, You were right. I was wrong. I turn from this sin." By confessing and repenting, you're closing the door on the devil. You're also drawing out into your flesh (body and soul) the righteousness and holiness that already exist in your born-again spirit. This will drive Satan out of your life. Even though you gave the devil a legal right to come into your life by yielding to sin, when you confess, repent, and turn from it, you give this power that is located in your spirit the ability to come out and cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Never Fluctuated First John 1:9 doesn't mean that you must confess every sin in order to have relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d. That would be impossible. You don't even realize every time you sin! If I've rubbed some of your religious traditions the wrong way, you may be sinning against me right now. You could be thinking some evil thoughts toward me. But whether you like it or not, I'm your brother in the Lord. Who knows, perhaps we'll be neighbors in heaven. If you're hating me in your heart, the Bible says that you are guilty of murder. (1 John 3:15.) You can't live this way. Even if you aren't offended at me, some day you'll be offended with someone. Thinking that you have to keep everything confessed in order to be right with G.o.d puts the burden of salvation on you. You might as well try to save yourself. No, there's only one Savior, and you're not Him! Jesus died for all of your sins- past, present, and even future sins. You are forgiven.

You need to understand that there's nothing you've done that made G.o.d love you. There's nothing you can do that will make G.o.d not love you. He is love. (1 John 4:8.) However, there are lots of things you can do that will keep you from full understanding of the truth. Sin will make you spiritually r.e.t.a.r.ded. Your heart will become hardened, cold, insensitive, unyielding, and unfeeling toward G.o.d. (Heb. 3:13.) Sin isn't smart. It's foolish. It's an emotional response. When you sin, you put blinders on. You can't see or perceive. You become dull and lose your perception. Yes, sin has consequences. But G.o.d is a Spirit, and He's looking at you in the spirit. (John 4:24.) Even when you've sinned and given Satan an inroad into your life, G.o.d's love for you has never fluctuated. He loves you just as much as He ever did. He doesn't love you because you're lovely. He loves you because He is love.

Sober, Righteous, and Holy You may be thinking that I'm encouraging you to sin. No, I'm not! I hate sin. You can't say, "Andrew, you preach grace because it allows you to go live in sin." I've lived holier accidentally than most people have ever lived on purpose. My standard of holiness is much stricter than the vast majority of people. A true understanding of G.o.d's grace does not encourage sin.

For the grace of G.o.d that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying unG.o.dliness and worldly l.u.s.ts, we should live soberly, righteously, and G.o.dly, in this present world. t.i.tus 2:11-12 The grace of G.o.d teaches you to live a sober, righteous, and holy life. The grace of G.o.d hasn't caused me to go live in sin. You're mistaken if you think that I'm encouraging people to live in sin. I'm encouraging people to understand that G.o.d's love for them is unconditional. And if you ever get a revelation of that, you'll serve G.o.d more accidentally than you ever have on purpose.

Chapter 20, Religion or Relations.h.i.+p?.

Love will be a greater motivation to serve G.o.d than fear ever was. Fear has torment. (1 John 4:18.) Many Christians are tormented in their relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d thinking, I have to do all these things in order for G.o.d to love me.

What kind of a relations.h.i.+p would you have if your spouse came up to you and said, "All right, unless you do this, that, and the other, I'm not going to fellows.h.i.+p with you. I'm keeping a checklist, and the first time you get out of line, I'm not going to talk to you. You aren't getting any money from me. I'm going to punish you."

That's how religion has presented G.o.d. "He's not going to talk to you. He won't answer your prayers, or even listen to them. G.o.d has His fingers in His ears until you repent. He'll throw a fit and a temper tantrum. He's liable to strike your child dead because He's displeased that you haven't read your daily Bible readings." No one wants to live with a person like that!

You can't have a good relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d if you're basing it upon your performance and fear. This is the picture that religion has painted of G.o.d, and we wonder why people are struggling to maintain a relations.h.i.+p.

My Favorite Thing to Do G.o.d loves you because He's a good G.o.d. It's grace, and your faith doesn't move Him. G.o.d isn't responding to you. Your faith is a response to Him. You need to understand that G.o.d loves you and deals with you by grace. He's already forgiven all of your sins. You need to quit sinning so that you don't let Satan have an inroad into your life. But your holiness-or lack thereof-is not the basis of your relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d.

By understanding and applying these truths to your life, you'll move to a whole new level of relations.h.i.+p with G.o.d. It should be so easy to believe Him. If G.o.d loved you enough to die for you while you were an absolute enemy of the cross, how much more does He love you now that you're just His imperfect child? How much more does He want to move in your life now? This knowledge reduces the Christian life down to where it's simple, as G.o.d intended it to be.