Ephesians 2:4-9: But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all He has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by His grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.

If we’re made complete in Christ, and we are according to Scripture, why do believers struggle with such feelings as rejection, unworthiness, and isolation after accepting Christ? Paul teaches us about salvation in a way that helps us to overcome the feelings in our hearts. If we have accepted the gift of God, salvation, then we have also received the Spirit of Truth as well. The Spirit of Truth will begin to reveal to us the inadequacies of our flesh nature—the old man. This is the point at which many Christians begin to struggle in their faith walk and might make a premature decision to give up and believe their feelings. This struggle stems us from being carnal beings who lived according to feelings and desires our entire lives until salvation set us free. Now we’re required to walk by faith. Even though we’re learning to walk by faith and not be driven by our feelings or desires, there will be times of weakness where our old mindset will try to pull us back into walking according to the flesh through guilt and shame of having those earlier feelings. However, we can overcome the feelings of our hearts by continuing to walk by faith.

Let’s use an example. A person isn’t feeling well, and they go to their doctor. Once the doctor has listened to the person’s description of the symptoms, he begins to examine the patient to determine what’s causing their discomfort. After the examination, the doctor determines that his patient is suffering from a health condition that is treatable through proper diet and exercise. This would be the equivalent of someone who is beginning to walk by faith according to the truth hearing the Holy Spirit reveal to them the weaknesses that have held them back from obedience in the past. Like the patient who receives directions from their doctor, we should be willing to hear instructions from the Holy Spirit as He reveals the weaknesses in our walk.

Instead of listening to the Lord for instruction, we tend to get hung up on the fact that we have a weakness or desire that must be corrected. Instead of moving forward by obeying the Holy Spirit, there is a tendency to want to give up because we’ve learned the root cause of our issues. If we draw back into unbelief instead of walking with the Lord in faith, it can cause us to either begin to take ownership of the feelings of rejection, unworthiness, etc., as a part of our new identity or to try doing works in the strength of our flesh nature to earn what is only freely given to us.

If this describes what you’ve been fighting in your spirit, and you know the truth, then submit to what the Holy Spirit is saying and follow His instructions. Just like the doctor gives a diagnosis and a prescribed cure, so does the Holy Spirit—but in a spiritual context. This means we have to accept it and obey His direction by faith. As we learn to walk by faith and listen to the leading of the Spirit of God, we’re learning to walk in our new identity by God’s grace. Sometimes, even though you follow your doctor’s orders and are on the way to recovery, you’ll have flare-ups from the condition; it can also be that way in our spiritual walk of faith to recovery. Sometimes we have a flare-up and lean on the understanding of our flesh nature. There will be those times when the flesh nature will hinder your development because we’re all humans. We must also remember, however, that this battle with our flesh nature and its weaknesses is fought and won by faith so that it might be by God’s grace. Salvation is the gift of God, and no one can earn it through the works of their flesh. Obey and walk by faith, and you will see victory in your life.  —submitted by Pastor Asa Dockery, US