One teaching I heard struck me as puzzling, if unsettling.
"We ask God to hold onto us. He is telling us to hold onto Him."
That seemed to run complete counter to Jesus' final words to His disciples:
"Without me, ye can do nothing. "(John 15:5)
What gives?
First of all, believers must never fear that they can be lost. God is crystal clear about His love, with which he clasps us to him forever:
"Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?" (Isaiah 43:13)
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." (Isaiah 49:16)
And in the New Testament:
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:28-29)
It's pretty clear, from the fact that our names are engraved on God's own hands, to Jesus' clear promise that no one can pluck (literally: ἁρπάζω to seize, snatch, obtain by robbery) No stealth, no cunning, no trickery catching us unawares can take away our right standing from God. Even if you lost your mind, even if you are deluded into think that you have lost your faith (which is not even yours, but a gift freely given from God), God will "never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 11:6)
Imagine such intense security, such intense rest! He takes us, he holds us, he never lets us go. We are engraved in the hands of God Almighty. No one can take you away, not even God Himself, for He has etched you forever in His hands. He really has a hold on you and me, a hold that no one, no thing can break!:
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)
Just believe, accept by faith through His word, that He has you in His love-grip; and ye need not ever fall from grace! Hallelujah!!
"We ask God to hold onto us. He is telling us to hold onto Him."
That seemed to run complete counter to Jesus' final words to His disciples:
"Without me, ye can do nothing. "(John 15:5)
What gives?
First of all, believers must never fear that they can be lost. God is crystal clear about His love, with which he clasps us to him forever:
"Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?" (Isaiah 43:13)
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me." (Isaiah 49:16)
And in the New Testament:
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (John 10:28-29)
It's pretty clear, from the fact that our names are engraved on God's own hands, to Jesus' clear promise that no one can pluck (literally: ἁρπάζω to seize, snatch, obtain by robbery) No stealth, no cunning, no trickery catching us unawares can take away our right standing from God. Even if you lost your mind, even if you are deluded into think that you have lost your faith (which is not even yours, but a gift freely given from God), God will "never leave you nor forsake you" (Hebrews 11:6)
Imagine such intense security, such intense rest! He takes us, he holds us, he never lets us go. We are engraved in the hands of God Almighty. No one can take you away, not even God Himself, for He has etched you forever in His hands. He really has a hold on you and me, a hold that no one, no thing can break!:
"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)
Just believe, accept by faith through His word, that He has you in His love-grip; and ye need not ever fall from grace! Hallelujah!!
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