You Cannot Save Yourself - 22-

Have you ever thought that through your efforts you will be saved?  It it a common belief that we have to do something to be saved.  It's true we do have to do something and that something is the hardest thing in the world to do. Surrendering your all to God is your part in your salvation.  That's all.  Read the following paragraphs and see if this is true.

Now you may cling to your righteousness, and you may think that you have tried to do everything right, and that, after all, you will be saved in doing this.  You cannot see that Christ does it all.  'I must repent first,' some say.  'I must go so far on my own without Christ, and then Christ meets me and accepts me.'

You cannot have a thought without Christ.  You cannot have an inclination to come to Him unless He sets in motion influences and impresses His Spirit upon the human mind.  And if there is a man on the face of the earth who has any inclination toward God, it is because of the many influences that are set to work to bear upon his mind and heart.  Those influences call for the allegiance to God and an appreciation of the great work that God has done for him.

Then don't let us ever say that we can repent of ourselves, and then Christ will pardon.  No, indeed.  It is the favor of God that leads us by His power to repentance.  Therefore, it is all of Jesus Christ, everything of Him, and you want to just give back glory to God.  Why dont you have the quickening influence of the Spirit of God when the love of Jesus and His salvation are presented to you? It is because you do not see that Christ is first and last and best, and the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the very Author and Finisher of our faith.  You don't realize this, and therefore you remain in your sins.  Why is this?  It is because Satan is here wrestling and battling for the souls of men.  He casts his hellish shadow right athwart our pathway, and all that you can see is the enemy and his power.

Look away from his power to the One that is mighty to save to the utmost.  Why doesn't your faith plow through the shadow to where Christ is?  He has led captivity captive and given gifts unto men. He will teach you that Satan claims every soul that does not join with Him as his property."  F&W 73

Pray over this problem and let Christ convince you that He does everything after we have surrendered our all to Him.  I know its true because Ive experienced it.  Grandma Joan