In an email I read this morning there was something said about not being afraid of the grandeur of God and to never shrink back in unbelief. Have you ever had God show you something or speak something to you that just seemed to good to be true? That is what I thought about at first. It was about God's provision and in my mind I could see God showing me the splendor of His kingdom and me shrinking back not only because of a wrong perception of myself, but also because I forget that the fulfillment of His word depends on Him, not me.
As I pondered that I realized how important it is that we see ourselves through His eyes. Have you ever realized how much the way you see yourself afffects the way you see God? As well as affecting your ability to receive from Him. I thought about Abraham and I thought about the Israelites and the difference in the way they walked out Gods promise.
Abraham not being weak in faith, did not consider his own body, already dead in terms of his ability to reproduce, and the deadness of Sarah's womb yet he did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strentgthened in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised He was also able to perform (Romans 4:19-20). Contrast that with the Israelites and their unwilllingness to obey the command of the Lord to take possession of the land, hence they ended up on a 40 year trip that should have taken 11 days.
Two things come to my mind here. One is the difference in their perception of God which in turn affected their perception of themselves. Second, what Abraham understood that the Israelites didn't is that when God makes a promise it is based on His ability to perform it, not ours. He watches over His word to perform it (Jerimiah 1:12), but have you ever been guilty of receiving a promise from Him then make the mistake as I know I have in thinking it depended on you for it to be fulfilled? Is it any wonder that sometimes even though we have a "word" we still find ourselves battling rather than resting? We don't doubt God's ability to do what he says, I think we just forget He is the one "doing" and not us. That would be the defining thing that determines whether or not we enter His rest. We see in Hebrews that they (the Israelites) were not able to enter because of unbelief, which in turn caused them to disobey.
Be careful about how you perceive yourself. Don't let a religious spirit keep you from seeing yourself through His eyes. It will make the difference in how you respond to the goodness of God in giving you His word to hold on to and whether or not you enter into His "rest" or continue to fight with something you have no control over anyway.
OR 
.png)
