When I Fall, I Shall Arise
"Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;" Micah 7:11How easily do we Christians that have the hope of eternal life still fall. When the desires of the flesh cause us to fall so quickly can the sound of our enemies rejoicing be heard.
But we have a promise. One especially against the God of this world.
When I fall, I shall arise.
We are not like our enemies who fall never to rise again for rightly does the good proverb say.
"For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again." Proverbs 24:16
For we are justified and our accuser who did have Moses to condemn us quickly stops rejoicing when we show him "the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient" 1 Timothy 1:9.
Jesus is the end of the law and now there is righteousness to every one that believes. Our would be prosecutor can not keep us down.
When I Fall, I Shall Arise
Add Your Comment(8)
When I Fall, I Shall ArisePosted by Correy Wednesday, February 22, 2006
After reading many creeds and belief statements
I decided to stick to my own
8 Comments:
What a great promise from God's Word.
Doug
Love this. Great encouragement.
Praise the Lord!
God's promise is great and pure.
I think often people don't claim this promise though. They let their sins beat them down. They don't confess or they confess and don't accept. My kids are taught the ABC's almost every week.
Accept
Believe
Confess
In this case,
Accept the promise.
Believe God can lift you up.
Confess the sin, the problem, the attitude, whatever it is that's keeping you down, and move on.
Michael Pendleton:
Those a great things you are teaching your children. It is always good for children to trust in Jesus for their comfort and salvation rather then things of this world.
I have a little bit of a different perspective with promises. Mainly that they always come true to those to whom the Lord has given them, for the Lord will make it so.
You will notice that there were no if's in this post. This is a promise to all those knit within Christ.
For example if you do not confess the sin will the Lords promise not come true? If this be so then according to the Proverb I used you would not be a just man but a wicked man.
"For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again. but the wicked shall fall into mischief" Proverbs 24:16
When I fall, I shall arise.
I am not saying we shouldn't confess the Lords goodness or think that we shouldn't believe this is ludicrous. What I am saying is that we believe and confess for the Lord is mighty to accomplish his good works even when it appears we are about to receive our final and fatal blow.
Just Michael is fine. =)
elessi:
This is a great question and I was hoping this post would bring this out.
I believe that we are slaves unto Christ not the law of Moses nor are we under any of its laws not one. Some people try and place the Christian under the moral law however this would include "do not covet" and therefore the man which does this is condemned for he would not be coming to Christ.
"Try to obey" This would end up in struggling and failing and being condemned for try would evidently mean by the flesh.
The Christian most certainly does obey Gods commands for he is a new creation made alive by the Spirit of Christ.
Otherwise scriptures such as John 14:21 could never be for us. (We could never be loved by the Father if all we did was try). This is why Ignorance was so wrong in Pilgrims Progress with his definition of Justification. God most certainly does not Justify our works or trying to be more righteous. He justifies the whole person.
We willing-fully do the things of Christ for we love him and He first loved us.
In regards to the times when we do go back to the flesh as Christians and start "trying to obey the law".(I wish it was not so but I do this every day) We do fail. The only way to be free from this loop is the comfort which we have in Christ and His Spirit. For the Christian is now manifest as having been made wrought in God.
I hope I do not but I would never load another brother up with the law. For I know how useless I was when I tried to obey the law and my feelings of condemnation for I could never fulfill the "Do not covet" and it made me guilty of all the other 9 commandments not to mention the ordinances.
Therefore if I find another brother/sister in Sin I would say they need to "practice the truth" This is not striving after the law but coming to Christ.
Have you ever found yourself caught in a sin that had conquered you?
When I fall, I shall arise.
My personal experience is that this Sin only ever was conquered by Jesus in me and his finished work. For I knew by the flesh I could never be free as I am today in striving or trying. There were a few little Sins that I thought I did get rid of by trying to obey however this is but a fleeting false sense of righteousness. The worldly conclusion here would be
"Those that aren't trying to obey certain laws will be in a horrible state committing horrible atrocities"
However this is worldly and foolishness for Jesus says
"Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest"
Some people think
"well yes this is true however after you come to Christ you need to try and obey the law even more for now you are given help by the Holy Spirit"
Their condemnation is just for they never came to Christ aright for they never received rest. In summary the law is for the lawless. The Christian is not striving after the law but being made manifest/consumed in Christ daily.
Most people/churches can not handle such an answer. What are your thoughts?
Thanks again for your question. I enjoyed reading both verses you pointed out.
"My understanding of it is pretty much that if you are saved, God changes your heart and makes you want to obey all his laws,"
So far so good. Yes we are a new creation the things we use to hate we now love.
"therefore you will automatically do what's right most of the time."
Now this is where it starts falling apart. Most of the time? Please read what I wrote before and you will notice that most of the time just isn't good enough.
No this is not what I was saying.
"And then if that's true, would you expect all true Christians to be nice, caring people?"
How many people can tell a sob story of some Christian that offended them or they found in sin. "Nice caring people" sounds more like Mother Theresa or a catholic gospel which never saved anyone.
When Jesus said this to the Pharisees would you consider him nice and caring?
"Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil" John 8:44
Not only that there are verses which say
"Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:" Luke 12:51
Of course people will say I am taking these verses out of context however let me tell you the context: It is all about finding out the truth. The truth by nature divides.
Jesus is truth and when we come to him we are free from striving after the commandments.
It is not about trying to fulfill the commandments but keeping them
You may ask well how do I keep them if I do not strive after them.
Answer: When you come to Christ you will know.
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