Give Me Jesus

"Religion will put a new suit on your back
But a relationship with Him will put a new man in that suit" ~~ Jeremy Camp

The Holy Spirit reminds me daily, as I recover from legalism, to look at Jesus! And I am reminded what A.W. Tozer said . . . "that looking IS believing." And in the age-old battle of sin-consciousness vs God-consciousness, Tozer has hit the nail right on the head. This is very helpful to me and would be to anyone who would like some freedom from their religion. . . . Here is some of the best of Tozer:

"In the New Testament an important bit of history is interpreted for us by no less an authority than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is explaining to His hearers how they may be saved. HE TELLS THEM THAT IT IS BY BELIEVING. Then to make it clear, He refers to this incident in the Book of Numbers. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14, 15). . . .one would notice that "look" and "believe" were synonymous terms. "Looking" on the Old Testament serpent is identical with "believing" on the New Testament Christ. That is, the looking and the believing are the same thing. And he would understand that while Israel looked with their external eyes, believing is done with the heart. I think he would conclude that faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God. BELIEVING, THEN, IS DIRECTING THE HEART'S ATTENTION TO JESUS. It is lifting the mind to "behold the Lamb of God," and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives.

At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person, quietly and without strain. Distractions (especially religion) may hinder, but after each brief excursion away from Him the attention will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window.

~~~Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves---blessed riddance! The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience REAL RELIEF when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do. ~~

Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self where God should be . . .Faith looks out instead of in and the whole life falls into line.

Since believing is looking, it can be done without special equipment or religious paraphernalia. God has seen to it that the one life-and death essential can never be subject to the caprice of accident. Equipment can break down or get lost, water can leak away, records can be destroyed by fire, the minister can be delayed or the church burn down. All these are external to the soul and are subject to accident or mechanical failure: but looking is of the heart and can be done successfully by any man, woman or child standing up or kneeling down or lying in his last agony a thousand miles from any church.

~~Since believing is looking it can be done any time! No season is superior to another season for this sweetest of all acts. God never made salvation depend upon new moons nor holy days or sabbaths. A man is not nearer to Christ on Easter Sunday than he is, say, on Saturday, August 3, or Monday, October 4. As long as Christ sits on the mediatorial throne every day is a good day and all days are days of salvation.

Neither does place matter in this blessed work of believing God. Lift your heart and let it rest upon Jesus and you are INSTANTLY IN A SANCTUARY though it be at home or at work or on vacation. You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.

Ransomed people need no longer pause in fear to enter the Holy of Holies. God wills that we should push on into His Presence and live our whole life there. This is to be known to us in conscious experience. It is more than a doctrine to be held, it is a life to be enjoyed every moment of every day.Wherever we turn in the church of God, there is Jesus. He is the beginning, middle and end of everything to us .... There is nothing good, nothing holy, nothing beautiful, nothing joyous which He is not to all His servants. No one need be poor, because, if he chooses, he can have Jesus for his own property and possession. No one need be downcast, for Jesus is the joy of heaven, and it is His joy to enter into sorrowful hearts. We can exaggerate about many things; but we can never exaggerate our obligation to Jesus, or the compassionate abundance of the love of Jesus to us.

All our lives long we might talk of Jesus, and yet we should never come to an end of the sweet things that might be said of Him. Eternity will not be long enough to learn all He is, or to praise Him for all He has done, but then, that matters not; for we shall be always with Him, and we desire nothing more.

Between the scribe who has read and the prophet who has seen there is a difference as wide as the sea. We are today overrun with orthodox scribes, but the prophets, where are they? The hard voice of the scribe sounds over evangelicalism, but the Church waits for the tender voice of the saint who has penetrated the veil and has gazed with inward eye upon the Wonder that is God. And yet, thus to penetrate, to push in sensitive living experience into the holy Presence, is a privilege open to every child of God."

"They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed" (Psa. 34:5).

"I lift my eyes to you,O God, enthroned in heaven.We keep looking to the Lord our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal." (Psalm 123:1-2)

Believing, then, is directing the heart's attention to Jesus.. . .looking at Him. It is lifting the mind to "behold the Lamb of God," and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives.